Friday, 27 February 2009
Thriller Evaluation
The slide show should be here. If it isn't please visit the link to flickr to view it
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35812551@N05/show/
Thursday, 26 February 2009
Sunday, 15 February 2009
What I've Done
I had took part in drawing up the initial story board. We knew we wanted one some parts of the story to take place in a dark room and or a forrest. During filming I was responsible for bringing the blinking light that we decided might be in the piece after the initial story board. We thought a swinging or blinking light in a dark room would match the mood of the piece. In the end we chose the swinging light as it was easier to controle. Also I helped edit and film our thriller.
Monday, 9 February 2009
evaluation not finished
When making our thriller opening there were many decisions that we had to take into account. There are certain codes and conventions that all thrillers have. We decided to stick with these by making our victim a girl as seen with a lot of thrillers. Our locations that we decided to use were also very typical. The dark room and the forest have featured in many thrillers before and we decided to use these locations, as they are very scary places that add a lot of tension to the beginning of our thriller. We took a lot of inspiration from previous thrillers like One Hour Photo, which uses a similar theme and the forest, which is very similar to Silence of the Lambs. Some of the decisions that we decided to take may not necessarily conform to the usual codes and conventions. For example, the music we used doesn’t necessarily conform to the conventions of a thriller. This is because we wanted the music to be more like the music that our target audience enjoys, a more hip hop style and less classical. We decided against using the typical blonde haired girl for our opening. This was because we wanted our thriller to show a different type of women. Typically thrillers have a blonde haired women who screams a lot and generally turns out to be the victim. We wanted a different type of women. A stronger woman who doesn’t just scream and die for the whole film. We also decided to shoot in daylight. This is because we thought that it is a lot creepier to be being watched in the daylight than at nighttime. This is because when you are out walking in the dark you expect things like this to happen so you are always very careful. You check over your shoulder while your walking. However in the daylihgt a lot less people are as careful. Everyone thinks that they are safe in the day light which is why we thought it was scarier. As if it could happen at any moment.
The media institution that we would like our piece to be distributed by is Fox searchlight Pictures. Because they distributed One Hour Photo. This leads me to believe that they would be interested in a story like this. Also I think that with Fox we would be able to distribute our piece to a wide audience because our target audience is quite small we would need to try and reach as many of them as possible. If we had a film with a wider audience range then we may not need such a high profile distributor.
The particular social group that our opening represents is teenagers to twenties. The reason for this is that we wanted the social group to be the same as our target audience so that they found it easier to relate to the characters that they were seeing.
Our target audience for this piece is teenagers to twenties. The reason for this is we feel this is the age that would be most likely to be prayed upon if this were to happen in real life. We decided to match up our protagonist and target audience to make it easier for them to relate. We also decided to make our target audience teenagers to twenties because this is the age group most likely to go to the cinema. However there is an argument that an older generation would also come and see our theiller. Thirty to thirty five year olds would also come and watch our thriller. The reason for this is the fact that this is the age group that most enjoyes watching thrillers. This age group like to think they are clever so when choosing a film they look for something to sustain there interest, keep them guessing and ultimately something to work out so that when the films finished this audience feels clever because they have been able to work out the plot and guess what was going to happen.
There were many ways that we attracted our audience. We used actors of a similar age to our audience. Also the camera shots that we used make it attractive to our audience with the use of fast cuts. Elder people may not have been able to follow these if we were aiming our piece for them. The locations we used will also help and interest the audience. We chose ones that are accessible to all of our audience. Everyone has been to a forest or knows of one and they know how scary these places can be. Finally we used the soundtrack of our piece to interest our audience. We decided to use a less classical soundtrack a bit more like the music our audience enjoys.
I now know how to use final cut pro and soundtrack pro. I already knew how to use final cut pro but I feel now that I am a lot more competent with it. I can now loop sound and make a lot more transitions, which hopefully have contributed to a more professional looking piece. Soundtrack pro was a completely new programme to me and I found it quite daunting. There were so many sounds I didn’t no were to start. However once we had got going I found it a fairly simple programme to use. However I did find that both of these programs have limitations. There were certain things that we wanted to do but we couldn’t because of the programme. However I think we managed to work around these problems well.
From the preliminary task I feel that I have made a lot of progress. In this piece I have learnt a lot. I have learnt how important planning can be before you go out and film so you know what u want to film and do not miss out anything I feel that the way in which I worked with the camera was a lot more professional. We managed to produce a lot better quality of shots for our piece. This helped when we came to edit because this meant that we had better things to work with. I also feel that the cuts that we have made when it came t editing were of a much higher quality to. I felt I knew my way round the software better so I was able to try things out for myself and I wasn’t so scared that I was going to loose my work. I could also work things out for myself instead of just asking the teacher how to do it. I new skill that I learnt was putting on titles. I have never done this before and I think the final results look really good because our titles are really original. I especially like the way the light swings in and I think that this adds a lot of tension to our piece. Finally I have learnt how to use soundtrack pro and what it takes to make a soundtrack. I had never appreciated what it takes and how difficult it is to make a professional soundtrack. I think the overall product that we have created was good but I still think that there is room for improvement. I think we would have been helped if we had had a music student in our group because all the people in our group new nothing of how to make music.
The media institution that we would like our piece to be distributed by is Fox searchlight Pictures. Because they distributed One Hour Photo. This leads me to believe that they would be interested in a story like this. Also I think that with Fox we would be able to distribute our piece to a wide audience because our target audience is quite small we would need to try and reach as many of them as possible. If we had a film with a wider audience range then we may not need such a high profile distributor.
The particular social group that our opening represents is teenagers to twenties. The reason for this is that we wanted the social group to be the same as our target audience so that they found it easier to relate to the characters that they were seeing.
Our target audience for this piece is teenagers to twenties. The reason for this is we feel this is the age that would be most likely to be prayed upon if this were to happen in real life. We decided to match up our protagonist and target audience to make it easier for them to relate. We also decided to make our target audience teenagers to twenties because this is the age group most likely to go to the cinema. However there is an argument that an older generation would also come and see our theiller. Thirty to thirty five year olds would also come and watch our thriller. The reason for this is the fact that this is the age group that most enjoyes watching thrillers. This age group like to think they are clever so when choosing a film they look for something to sustain there interest, keep them guessing and ultimately something to work out so that when the films finished this audience feels clever because they have been able to work out the plot and guess what was going to happen.
There were many ways that we attracted our audience. We used actors of a similar age to our audience. Also the camera shots that we used make it attractive to our audience with the use of fast cuts. Elder people may not have been able to follow these if we were aiming our piece for them. The locations we used will also help and interest the audience. We chose ones that are accessible to all of our audience. Everyone has been to a forest or knows of one and they know how scary these places can be. Finally we used the soundtrack of our piece to interest our audience. We decided to use a less classical soundtrack a bit more like the music our audience enjoys.
I now know how to use final cut pro and soundtrack pro. I already knew how to use final cut pro but I feel now that I am a lot more competent with it. I can now loop sound and make a lot more transitions, which hopefully have contributed to a more professional looking piece. Soundtrack pro was a completely new programme to me and I found it quite daunting. There were so many sounds I didn’t no were to start. However once we had got going I found it a fairly simple programme to use. However I did find that both of these programs have limitations. There were certain things that we wanted to do but we couldn’t because of the programme. However I think we managed to work around these problems well.
From the preliminary task I feel that I have made a lot of progress. In this piece I have learnt a lot. I have learnt how important planning can be before you go out and film so you know what u want to film and do not miss out anything I feel that the way in which I worked with the camera was a lot more professional. We managed to produce a lot better quality of shots for our piece. This helped when we came to edit because this meant that we had better things to work with. I also feel that the cuts that we have made when it came t editing were of a much higher quality to. I felt I knew my way round the software better so I was able to try things out for myself and I wasn’t so scared that I was going to loose my work. I could also work things out for myself instead of just asking the teacher how to do it. I new skill that I learnt was putting on titles. I have never done this before and I think the final results look really good because our titles are really original. I especially like the way the light swings in and I think that this adds a lot of tension to our piece. Finally I have learnt how to use soundtrack pro and what it takes to make a soundtrack. I had never appreciated what it takes and how difficult it is to make a professional soundtrack. I think the overall product that we have created was good but I still think that there is room for improvement. I think we would have been helped if we had had a music student in our group because all the people in our group new nothing of how to make music.
Friday, 30 January 2009
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Evaluation
This is an evaluation of the things in the last few months that has lead to the completion of our thriller opening. Our product is like many other thrillers in that it starts with string instruments, has many dark scenes and has credits that are in a cold colour(black in our case). One thing in our thriller that is different is that the forrest seen throughout isn't dreary in the least.
I think that Warner Bros. would be a good institution to distribute our media because although they've reprisented many thrillers such as Ocean's Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen it has also distributed less conventionall thrillers like The Matrix. Another institutuion that may be good to represent our flm is Fox Searchlight Pictures. Not only has it given us Slumdog Millionnaire but would be able to advertise to a large amount of people taking into consideration the amount of media power the owner of Fox, Rupert Murdock has.
The target audience for our film are mainly males with the average age ranging from 18-25. In our soundtrack for the film we had strings to start of with but then introduced an electro style wich surprisingly seemed to work. I think this made our opening seem a bit more up-to-date.
Having a dark room as one of the settings was very helpful as darkness is one of the things that gives an uncanny grittiness that thrillers are known for. In our film we've used the red light of a dark room, costume and a torch to provide the look of a swinging light in certain scenes. We decided to use the darkroom's light because we thought it would look more authentic then a filter.
From this project I've learnt a lot about filming pieces of action as it has taken longer than I thought it would to get a two minute amount of footage. Before I'd started the course I didn't even know how to use a camcorder. I have also learnt new skills in editing with Final Cut Pro and how to use Soundtrack Pro. This will be useful in future projects. If I did it agai I think I'd try to come up with a clearer and more detailed story board. A lot of valuable time was spent on decideing which shot to make next and where to put it.
I think that Warner Bros. would be a good institution to distribute our media because although they've reprisented many thrillers such as Ocean's Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen it has also distributed less conventionall thrillers like The Matrix. Another institutuion that may be good to represent our flm is Fox Searchlight Pictures. Not only has it given us Slumdog Millionnaire but would be able to advertise to a large amount of people taking into consideration the amount of media power the owner of Fox, Rupert Murdock has.
The target audience for our film are mainly males with the average age ranging from 18-25. In our soundtrack for the film we had strings to start of with but then introduced an electro style wich surprisingly seemed to work. I think this made our opening seem a bit more up-to-date.
Having a dark room as one of the settings was very helpful as darkness is one of the things that gives an uncanny grittiness that thrillers are known for. In our film we've used the red light of a dark room, costume and a torch to provide the look of a swinging light in certain scenes. We decided to use the darkroom's light because we thought it would look more authentic then a filter.
From this project I've learnt a lot about filming pieces of action as it has taken longer than I thought it would to get a two minute amount of footage. Before I'd started the course I didn't even know how to use a camcorder. I have also learnt new skills in editing with Final Cut Pro and how to use Soundtrack Pro. This will be useful in future projects. If I did it agai I think I'd try to come up with a clearer and more detailed story board. A lot of valuable time was spent on decideing which shot to make next and where to put it.
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