Evaluation

In my storyboard, many of the shots we didn't end up using due to the sheer difficulty of trying to make it work and actually look effective at the same time. For example, we tried to do the shot of the newspaper but this didn't look right and just didn't create a big enough effect on the audience. Below shows the shots that we did use in our film in the end:

these appeared to be the only shots that in reality would actually work and create a realistic and easy story line for the audience to actually follow. The rest of the shots appeared to make a harder story line and just weren't as easy in practice.

Final Opening Sequence

Above is the final opening sequence for my thriller.

Evaluation- Question Seven

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back to my preliminary task, I feel I have learnt a lot more about how much work it takes to direct and get the editing perfect when making a much longer, more intense piece of work. From it to the full product I feel I have learnt much more about how it is represented towards certain audiences and how it needs to be presented a certain way for it to get recognition from media institutions.
Below is the preliminary task that we made and this demonstrates how easy the editing etc was to do compared to how technical the final product of the opening sequence is:

Evaluation- Question Six

What have you learnt about technologies fromt he process of constructing this product?

In the process of constructing this, I have learnt a lot about technologies that I either didn't know about or use before. Making this film has allowed me to direct; using the camera a lot more than ever before and allowing me to really see how to use it effectively. Also, I have gotten to grips with using iMovie to edit my film which I now find extremely easy and interesting. I have learnt a lot of new effects and other things in order to make my film look the best of its ability. Furthermore, throughout all of this, I have learnt a lot more about blogs and how easy it is to store everything about my film that I ever need; the ability to add pictures, videos, links etc. makes the whole blog more interesting and allows to show off the film and make it really good. I now know how I can use blogs in everyday life. Below is an example of me working on my film through iMovie:

Evaluation- Question Five

How did you attract/address your audience?

I addressed the audience by making the characters and storyline clear straight from the beginning with various clips giving off many clues. This helps the audience in wanting to carry on watching and keeping them entertained as the film is starting. By introducing many of the normal, every day characters it helps the niché audience make connections e.g. with the victims shown, wearing hoodies etc.

Evaluation-Question Four

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media product would be a quite young and mainly male audience as they are the ones most likely to understand and relate to the characters in the film. This means they would be able to get into the storyline easier and really understand where as girls can't really relate to most of the characters and an older generation would find it hard to believe or get into.

Below is 2 males watching this opening sequence and when watching this, said how it attracted them and how they wanted to watch more of the film.

Evaluation- Question Three

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think many different media institutions would distribute my media product like big named companies. I think both film and TV institutions would chose to show it like for instanse the BBC could chose to show it as a feature film. Also, I think that big film companies could chose to disribute it as it is something that is different to the normal, everyday film in the cinema.

Evaluation- Question Two

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents a younger social group as it is based around quite young people being the victims of these killings. Not any older social groups are mentioned in the film so they aren't involved in representing them. However, the younger generation that is represented are varied in what they look like for example there are groups in hoodies and then the more sportier- looking people. Although they are varied, there are not many girls used which could be quite unfair but if the film were to go on, more girls would be used. Below is a screenshot from my film of an example of one of the younger, hoody characters that are represented:

Evaluation- Question One

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of media products?

In my opening sequence I have used many conventions of real media products in a variety of different ways. The use of eerie music and the typical build up to the start of the film is seen quite clearly. Also, the use of shots of different eerie places that look abandoned help to develop the forms and conventions of the media products and the close ups of these show the typical thriller genre. The music I have used is quiet and builds up to allow an atmosphere to be created and to effect the way the audience watching it; they want to focus on what is about to come. Furthermore, with the music I used two different pieces because the film is starting to move on at that point which many thrillers tend to do. It challenges the conventions of media products by using many different shots that vary from one to the other quickly and at the beginning of films.

Above shows some shots from se7en which prove the conventions and forms of real media products with the use of such extreme close ups and close ups of different objects; giving clues to the rest of the film which many thrillers do. Also, the use of the titles placed everywhere across the screen over the objects to show the titles in a different, interesting and clear way that doesn't distract too much from the close ups behind it.

Editing

In the last lesson I edited more of my film, adding more effects to many of the clips and just overall, adding transitions to allow it to run a lot smoother then it did before and for it to make sense. I think so far it has gone quite well and I think my opening sequence looks like an effective opening thriller. Now, I just have to get some peer feedback off of people in our class and off the teacher in order to know what others think can be improved.

Editing

I have now started the editing of my opening sequence and so far it has gone really well, apart from the first time I did edit, in the end it didn't save so I had to start all over again. When I did it the second time round, starting all over again, I managed to think of a lot more ideas and chose some effective transitions between shots of the victims etc. I also listened to some music and sound effects that was available for me to use so next time I do my editing I will start to incorporate some of this. However, what I did do was add some effects to a lot of the shots like the pictures of the victims are in a black and white effect and they are all split up with the credits splitting each picture up. I think this went really well and it would have been better if I had more time to do it then and there and if I had a bit more practice on the mac's but I soon learnt how to use it.

Filming

The last time any filming was done of shots like the ring being on Nathan's hand as he is going about during everyday life were taken, although I was absent from this lesson. It would have been good if I was actually there to help but the shot only needed to be of Nathan's hand clicking on a mouse and then the camera zooming in onto this, so I may not have actually been needed to do anything in particular. The shots however, are very effective and help the story progress. It would have been better if we stuck to the original storyline of having the tattoo on Nathan's wrist but it isn't actually needed in order for the story to keep going so it doesn't really matter, however it would have looked like this (how we planned it to look like on Nathan's wrist):

Filming

The second time we filmed, we managed to get a lot done. We went out onto the field which was full of snow and ice, and we filmed our main section that we really needed to do out there. We were able to get some red food colouring to pour onto the snow and ice which looked even more effective then we first thought and Casey acted as the victim on the floor. It would of been EBI the floor wasn't so cold for Casey to lie on as this did create a few problems, as he couldn't go a long time laying on the floor, but this couldn't be helped. We filmed Nathan dropping the ring in the blood, some shots of the snow and ice of the scenery like footprints and deserted benches etc. Shots of Nathan running were also made, as he runs away from the dead body and then down the main road, which we used a range of shots from zooming into him running off and a hand-held shot when he is actually running. WWW was the fact that we got a lot of shots available for us to use, including eerie shots of everything being deserted and quiet, full of ice and snow; the fact there was a lot of this also helped a lot as it made it look much more scarier.
Below is a picture of the snow surrounding the area we took some shots of:

Filming

We first started filming and so far it has gone ok; We got the pictures of the victims and then stuck them up on a board to look like a victims board. We then filmed this many times so then we had various shots of the board to chose out of, from zooming into each individual picture, to panning across to each one. However, we also tried to get a shot of a newspaper with the murders written about on it, but this did not look effective and didn't look real enough so we decided not to use this; This would be my EBI for this session of filming as it could of looked effective if we had made the newspaper and been more prepared for it. My WWW was the fact that we managed to get some pictures filmed and the amount of various shots we were able to take was very effective.

Questionnaire Answers

The answers of the questionnaire were quite similiar in many areas and many of them thought the same as one another. Below is a pie chart showing the favourite thriller answers:

This pie chart shows how Godfather and Sixth Sense are the most popular so, if by watching this and looking for conventions they use, our film could be as effective as these. The questionnaire also shows how many people felt that to be an effective thriller the use of close ups should be used as well. Dramatic thrillers and crime thrillers are also very popular due to how scary and they are and how they keep the viewers entertained. They also keep them asking questions- this came up a lot with everyone i asked as how a good thriller should have in its story. Death and flashbacks proved the most popular with how a good thriller should open and this will be taken into account for when we do our film; we have decided to include a death and a flashback to this death. This questionnaire has helped us to think of many more ideas to put in our opening sequence and how to make it even more effective so more people would want to watch it.

Questionnaire

I made a questionnaire in order to find out what different people think about thrillers and its conventions. I found out a lot from the different age groups I asked and I found a trending topic amongst the answers from them all. An example of one of my questionnaire is below:

The questions asked were:

1. What is your age?

2. Are you male or female?

3. What is your favourite thriller?

4. Why?

5. What shot types do you expect to see? choose 2 of the following:

Close ups, extreme close ups, long shots, mid shots, low angle, high angle

6. What type of thriller film do you enjoy most?

Gangster, Crime, Physiological, Action, Dramatic

7. What do you look for in terms of story with a thriller? e.g. twists, questions etc.

8. How do you think a good thriller should open?

Crime, death, everyday life, flashback, something unknown happening, images, other

Titles

For opening titles, the names of the people involved like the actors, director etc will appear right at the beginning just after the company and company logo of who made the film is shown. The distributor of the film gets a mention firstly and then after this the names of everyone else involved makes its way through. In thrillers there are mainly two types of titles that they stereotypically use which include either the titles being over a black screen and slowly coming up to create an eerie, strange atmosphere or they use it over pictures and hints to what the story will progress into. Some examples of these titles that would be used could be:

A '(name of company)' production, Directed by...., starring..., music by..., edited by..., written by...

For my own titles, I decided to use all of the specific titles mentioned above, using mine, Casey's and Nathan's names, changing them around so each person does something different. I also used the title at the end of the whole film instead of usually putting them at the front with the rest of the titles:

Casting

In our opening sequence we need a murderer, one clear victim that you actually see and then a few people to have pictures of them, posing as the victims he has already killed before. The murderer and the boy who is the victim focused on will be played by Nathan and Casey because this is easier for us to film as we can rely on them as it is their film too. They both know exactly what the story is as well so can play the characters exactly the way it needs to be and they also know the story well as they helped make it up. They are the best two to play the main characters in this opening sequence. The pictures of the victims will be me and people from our media class already as they will be around at the same time as us, and are not needed for anything major; only to take a picture that will appear on the screen when the titles come up right at the beginning.

Shooting Schedule

A shooting schedule is needed when actually filming the opening sequence of our film. It allows all of the people in our group to be there in order to film and it keeps shooting the film organised and so everyone knows what they are doing and when. It also helps the making of the film go smoother as then you know if all of the shots are in it or not. It helps to know what props, costumes, locations and cast are needed at what time so everything can be there and with the correct things in order for it all to appear in the film.

Our shooting schedule looks like this: