1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The opening sequence to our Thriller generally follows the conventions and trends of film making and those of Thrillers. It is filmed using professional cameras to get a clear image of what is happening, with the audience as an outsider, rather than challenging the convention by using the style of seeing what’s happening through somebody else’s eyes. With the audience seeing the narrative in this way it enables them to really get into the film as they feel part of the experience. This is common in thrillers as it adds to the suspense. Suspense is built up in our opening sequence as there is an enigma as to who the boss is and why he has his ‘gangster friends‘beating up people in the kitchen. The fact we have a man as the boss being very dominant yet showing his weakness (i.e. filing his nails) roles in the film adds to typical conventions of thrillers as main characters often have weaknesses, which mixes power and enigma with violence to fulfil the aim of being all the more disturbing and graphic. The location we chose was an old kitchen, therefore the props we used were simplistic (i.e a meat cleaver and a hob combined with blood) these kitchen utensils add to the naturalism of the setting which is very characteristic of a thriller, as you have to believe it in order to experience tension. We also had to think about the time of day it is set in, ours was set at night and in the dark. This is so our thriller seems more naturalistic, as these kinds of things usually happen at night (it also makes it more thrilling to watch).We never are never told why the boss is ordering his boys to do his dirty work for him, but he is introduced to us as and it is clear the rest of the film will be telling his story, using a traditional British film convention.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The opening sequence to ‘Trigger Happy’ represents men in their mid thirtys’s/ forty’s as ‘bad boys’ who thrive on violence and money. Therefore the protagonists are men from aged 18 and above. Therefore we filmed it in a way in which we can see what’s happening through somebody else’s eyes in order to get the audience involved and draw them into the film: to do this we directed the boss to use direct address to the camera, and we used the hand held device to trick the audience into believing they can see the violence through their own eyes. We also held the camera low whilst tracking in order to create the idea of ‘creeping’ and not wanting to be seen by Adam Grant (Scouse) during his scene involving the leg chop. This builds up the tension and suspense for the audience. In terms of the mise-en-scene the props and costumes such as the boss’s suite represents him as the obvious leader, his placement (on his chair) suggests to the audience that he is in charge and the main focus of the film. He introduces his ‘men’ during the sequence, naming Scouse which suggests he is a Scouser and is a play on invention to suggest he is ‘hard’ as they are known for this stereotype, this is clearly seen during his scene as he screams in a scouser accent whilst chopping off an innocent boys arm. His men are wearing their normal clothes i.e. jeans and vest tops to convey this is a normal day for them and this type of thing usually goes on. One of the men (Matt) has a tattoo and this was particularly focused on during his ‘beating up scene’ as tattoos are stereotypical conventions for brutes.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
As a group we discussed that the distribution company for our film would be a high budget film. To pull in audience members we would also use famous actors, later on in the film as antagonists. This would be an English distribution company as we would use English actors such as Christian Bale and Gerald Butler. We would also use a famous producer’s name i.e. Shane Medows or Guy Ritchie so the audience know what kind of thing to expect. The distribution would mainly be focused in Great Britain and then the United States due to being English language countries and then being a high budget film, for profit returns we would hope for global distribution.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
The majority of the people watching this movie would be male but relevant for both sexes as some females are into gangster movies. They would be middle class and their age would range between 18 and older looking for a film that would acquire the taste of violence and character studies. On the Jicnars scale it would be A and B Class. The audience would have to be mature and intellectual to grasp the ideas represented in the film. Also people watching the movie would be Actualisers, Fulfillers and Achievers. Therefore, the audience would enjoy other thrillers such as “Get Rich Or Die Trying”. More mature and political and psychological and action movies also such as “Scar Face” are likely films to be popular amongst our target audience.
5.Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the final product?
Since our preliminary task I have gained confidence with using the technologies, from still cameras, to film cameras and the use of IT involved with it. It served as a practice to familiarise myself with the preparation processes of story boards, so we were therefore able to produce a longer, much more detailed storyboard for our opening sequence. From this story board of our original treatment, I learnt that throughout the process you will make lots of changes to the original idea, and it evolved further even once our story board had already been made so cuts and changes had to be made to it. Next time I would probably make the entire story board of digital photographs rather than drawing to be clearer and it would be easier to edit in changes later. Discipline is something I have learnt to be vital for the product to be successful. From setting deadlines for preparations to be done and meeting them would make the actual shooting day run much more smoothly. Working as a team we were able to decide quickly after seeing our location exactly how we pictured our thriller to turn out, however we did not get all of the footage recorded in one day therefore we had to go back another day to get one final shot. Being realistic with time schedules is also something I have learnt, and from the experience have realised how long it really takes to set up for a shot and how long it would take due to having to film various takes. I also realised when directing shots you have a very direct approach with the actors and have to be as precise and accurate with shots quickly so that you can get it all done in the time allocated. Regarding takes, we also had to be very aware of continuity to make sure the cuts would flow realistically. This process is carried through to the editing where it takes a long time to choose the best takes and cut them together. I learnt that editing is a long process too, starting with a rough cut of the sequence which then needs to be trimmed so that it does not linger and become monotonous and to keep the suspense high.
6. How did you attract your audience?
We firstly addressed our audience through the narrative which meant the audience who we expected to be of a mature generation, would have to be attentive. This is because they need to be mature enough in order to watch the scenes of violence without wanting to experiment with it themselves; they also would need to be attentive as the whole film would be based around the lives of characters. The generation being more mature, would possibly mean many 18 to 65, therefore, there would be expected violence and disturbing images, i.e. the stamping on heads and the blood .The music may attract this age group as its quite modern and lively which makes it more thrilling to watch. The audience’s tastes are also reflected in the mise-en-scene of the sequence, particularly the location, being a crappy restaurant in east London. The realism would also add to the enticing of the audience as most men have had fights or get excited by them. Also, the fact there is a boss would leave them on a cliff-hanger as they would want to know his reasons for beating up these innocent people i.e. burning a young girl’s hair off, they would want to know why he has a fetish for this type of thing. Our target audience is likely to be British as we would be using British actors, and it would be character focused which is a dimension used by only British film makers.
7.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Using technology became part of our process even before the actual shoot day. Preparations were essential for this day, and as part of this we used still image cameras and software such a Photoshop to create story boards and props. We looked at gangster films in order to get some idea of what we wanted our thriller to look like. We experimented a lot before we came to our final conclusion and we looked through a gangster’s book in order to create the ideal lingo. Before we could start filming, we had to establish the lighting to create keys of light in the darkness. We didn’t really have to do much as the room in which we were shooting was pretty dark- we just needed to black out the windows. I learnt how to direct the light by moving the shades and choosing good angles, we also tried using a reflector but realised it did not work. A good example of this lighting can be seen when the boss is talking at the camera, and when Al is pouring the ‘acid’ into the sink (we purposely created a shadow on the wall so you could see the water being poured). With regard to using the camera I learnt and practiced the importance of the camera display to make sure we had the best quality picture. We used hand-held some of the time so we had to be still with our hands and move our bodies with fluidity in order to create a flowing shot. At some points we we adjusted the height and therefore also had to re-bubble the camera to make sure the picture was not slanted. We also learnt we had to re-focus the camera regularly to keep the image sharp. On the actual day we had to work hard at getting the correct levels of lighting, so establishing the correct levels of aperture was really important. After the filming we uploaded our footage onto Final Cut Pro. I wasn’t familiar with using Mac computers, so I learnt to familiarise myself with new layouts and formats. Every time we started editing we ‘scratched’ the disk to save exactly what we did. I learnt the importance of saving every piece of relevant footage in a rushes bin, so that we could go back to the footage and use it whenever we wanted. I also learnt how important the cutting is to the flow of a sequence, such as that quicker cuts build up the tension and atmosphere. Because of this I learnt how to cut sequences, move them around to cut back to them and over laying sound from one take over another take.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Editing
Constructive Comments:
Tor: The difference in pace of the editing is effective as it drives forward the action of the sequence in the violent clips. I like the chiaoscuro choice of lighting as it highlights the juxtaposition between the light-hearted way in which the boss is talking, and the violence that he is talking about. However I think the size of the font could be smaller as large text is not generic to thriller texts.
Lily- I thought this was a very clever use of cutting to diguise the violence in your sequence. The sound effects also helped create a more menecing scene. A very well put together mise-en-scene.
Gio - i thought this was one of the best sequences I've seen, the music and the mise-en-scene were very well suited with the sequence. The camera angles I think were the most contributing thing, this since they created a very realistic look.
Tom - very good opening sequence nice use of tilt and tracks. nearly the best sequence. nearly... good use of mise en scene.
Steph: Fantastic, although i would say the titles were a bit blocky for a conventional thriller but i like the way the piece challenges the usual conventions of a thriller.
Youtube comments:
LauraLittle111 (3 days ago)Reply\: Well cut between the fight scene and Jason talking, this is effective. I like the transition between the rooms to show they are all in the same building.
jayhurtwood09 (2 days ago)Reply\: I thought this was edited very well - how it cuts from Jason speaking to the fighting and killing. This was very effective and I thought it captivated the audience - making them want to continue watching the film.
However, as we added the music into our opening sequence we were told it was perfectly suitable but it was 'copy right' therefore we took the music track out and experimented with different sounds at crucial points of the sequence. This slowed our thriller down and made it more earie rather than fast paced. We also imported screams and an 'arm crunch' so that it was more graphic for the audience.
Tor: The difference in pace of the editing is effective as it drives forward the action of the sequence in the violent clips. I like the chiaoscuro choice of lighting as it highlights the juxtaposition between the light-hearted way in which the boss is talking, and the violence that he is talking about. However I think the size of the font could be smaller as large text is not generic to thriller texts.
Lily- I thought this was a very clever use of cutting to diguise the violence in your sequence. The sound effects also helped create a more menecing scene. A very well put together mise-en-scene.
Gio - i thought this was one of the best sequences I've seen, the music and the mise-en-scene were very well suited with the sequence. The camera angles I think were the most contributing thing, this since they created a very realistic look.
Tom - very good opening sequence nice use of tilt and tracks. nearly the best sequence. nearly... good use of mise en scene.
Steph: Fantastic, although i would say the titles were a bit blocky for a conventional thriller but i like the way the piece challenges the usual conventions of a thriller.
Youtube comments:
LauraLittle111 (3 days ago)Reply\: Well cut between the fight scene and Jason talking, this is effective. I like the transition between the rooms to show they are all in the same building.
jayhurtwood09 (2 days ago)Reply\: I thought this was edited very well - how it cuts from Jason speaking to the fighting and killing. This was very effective and I thought it captivated the audience - making them want to continue watching the film.
fatboy22222222222222 (3 days ago)Reply\: mise en scene with the different types of guns are great
Over the last few weeks I have been editing my thriller. I found it very difficult to use as i had very little knowledge of Final Cut Pro. But after sitting down and learning the various techniques i.e. cutting and fitting them in smoothly, i began to grasp it quite quickly. I have discovered that it is not as easy as it looks to create a thriller, even though our footage was quite strong.
We decided to cut the long monologues of 'The Boss' and intercut them with the action going on around him. We decided to create a violent enviroment and to show this we used a greeny sort of lighting to suggest this. Adding the music was very tricky, we tried using a song first of all to see how it would fit in with the footage, we realised that certain parts of the song fittted in well. We therefore decided to speed some of the footage up and some footage down.
Another problem that occured was how we were going to show the opening shot to the audience. We tried various types of dissolve tools to try and create a sense of scary atmosphere. We also tried to have The Boss's voice appear before he is seen. This would be an effective start to the thriller, as it would provide an enigma and a clever introduction to his character.
Over the last few weeks I have been editing my thriller. I found it very difficult to use as i had very little knowledge of Final Cut Pro. But after sitting down and learning the various techniques i.e. cutting and fitting them in smoothly, i began to grasp it quite quickly. I have discovered that it is not as easy as it looks to create a thriller, even though our footage was quite strong.
We decided to cut the long monologues of 'The Boss' and intercut them with the action going on around him. We decided to create a violent enviroment and to show this we used a greeny sort of lighting to suggest this. Adding the music was very tricky, we tried using a song first of all to see how it would fit in with the footage, we realised that certain parts of the song fittted in well. We therefore decided to speed some of the footage up and some footage down.
Another problem that occured was how we were going to show the opening shot to the audience. We tried various types of dissolve tools to try and create a sense of scary atmosphere. We also tried to have The Boss's voice appear before he is seen. This would be an effective start to the thriller, as it would provide an enigma and a clever introduction to his character.
However, as we added the music into our opening sequence we were told it was perfectly suitable but it was 'copy right' therefore we took the music track out and experimented with different sounds at crucial points of the sequence. This slowed our thriller down and made it more earie rather than fast paced. We also imported screams and an 'arm crunch' so that it was more graphic for the audience.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Our Final idea: The brief and Research
Planning is key, therefore myself and Greg both decided to take on different roles, for example Greg did most of our camera work while I directed the shots. As there was only two of us, we both took on the role of producer and editing.
Four our location, we needed somewhere edgy and a bit rugged looking. For our first idea of 'Greasy chops' we looked at Beatrice Webb boarding house for our meal, and the old kitchen at school to act as the sterile hospital. We then had a brain wave - and decided to use the old run down kitchen as our location. As well as being idealic looking, it wasn't a nightmare in terms of transporting lighting equipment etc. We did not even need props so setting up would take us no time at all.
Our cast was not hard to decide as we had such a limited time to decide on our final idea, due to the loss of our other two group members. Therefore Jason Gilford (our media teacher) offered to be the boss, as he had the right clothing (an expensive suite) and fancied becoming a ' gay bully' for the day! We got other teachers and older looking students to appear in our thriller too. We decided to put the older looking students as the victims, and the teachers i.e. Adam Grant the Scouser as the Boss's brutes.
Prop list:
Blood
meat cleaver
nail file
shot gun
fur coat
table
comfy chair
buckets
Lock stock and smoking barrels - inspired us ( shot gun and gangster boss)
Costumes and makeup:
Boss: Suite, combed hair.
victims: normal clothes i.e. jeans and shirt, latex (on burn victim)
Bullies: fur coat, shaved heads, vests, casual looking
Running order:
8.45- meet in edit suite
9.00- have everything set up
9.15- start filming Jason's monolgues
10.00- start filming action shots
11.00- makeup on burn victim
11.30- tracking
12.00- retakes
12.30- lunch
1.30- shooting begins
2.00- Finish with victims
3.00- record sounds of screams etc
3.30- begin packing up
4.00- finnish
On the day:
The shoot day commenced at 8.45am whereby myself, Greg, Luke and Jason met in the editing suite. It didnt go according to plan as Jason was no-where to be seen! So while we were waiting for him to arrive, myself and Greg got the props together from the props cupboard. We then decided to start setting up and carried the cameras and lighting equipment into the old kitchen. We discovered that we didnt need much artifical lighting as the room was bright. However, we did need to block out the gap behind the boss with paper. Jason arrived at the set at 9.40am with his gangster booklet, providing him with his monologue and things to say. He memorised each little part and we filmed it in 4 sections, each lasting about 30 seconds. After filming Jason, we decided to take a tea break at 11.00am and proceed on with the action scenes - we were very behind our schedule however, it was all going well. The actions shots took a while as the shot including the scouser had to be done twice as it was hand held, this shot turned out to be very realistc and extremely disturbing (which was the intention!) The victim in this scene was asked on the day to appear in 'Trigger Happy' as we were short of victims. We had to film the action scenes very quickly as the teachers appearing in it i.e. Al the man torturing Victoria (the only woman in the play) had places to be and things to do! Therefore we did this in 2 takes, and his pouring of the 'acid' in one long take. The burning scene took a bit of time because it was a hard shot to film, I shot this one myself using a handheld device and had to follow the victim Ryan's movement with ease and fluidity. We managed to get the perfect shot after about 4 takes. The burn victims makeup took no time at all, therefore we were right on schedule for supper. However, as we reached the end of the day we realised we did not have enough footage, however the footage we did have was very good and powerful! Therefore in a way we were fortunate there was only 2 members in our group as things turned out perfectly. :)
We rejected our previous ideas as myself and Greg did not think we had enough time to do our previous ideas effectively, as there are now only two of us in the group as one left and the other got expelled. However, we still followed the brief we were given: to construct the opening/title sequence to a thriller for an 18audience that lasted up to three minutes max.
Our aims:
Four our location, we needed somewhere edgy and a bit rugged looking. For our first idea of 'Greasy chops' we looked at Beatrice Webb boarding house for our meal, and the old kitchen at school to act as the sterile hospital. We then had a brain wave - and decided to use the old run down kitchen as our location. As well as being idealic looking, it wasn't a nightmare in terms of transporting lighting equipment etc. We did not even need props so setting up would take us no time at all.
Our cast was not hard to decide as we had such a limited time to decide on our final idea, due to the loss of our other two group members. Therefore Jason Gilford (our media teacher) offered to be the boss, as he had the right clothing (an expensive suite) and fancied becoming a ' gay bully' for the day! We got other teachers and older looking students to appear in our thriller too. We decided to put the older looking students as the victims, and the teachers i.e. Adam Grant the Scouser as the Boss's brutes.
Prop list:
Blood
meat cleaver
nail file
shot gun
fur coat
table
comfy chair
buckets
Lock stock and smoking barrels - inspired us ( shot gun and gangster boss)
Costumes and makeup:
Boss: Suite, combed hair.
victims: normal clothes i.e. jeans and shirt, latex (on burn victim)
Bullies: fur coat, shaved heads, vests, casual looking
Running order:
8.45- meet in edit suite
9.00- have everything set up
9.15- start filming Jason's monolgues
10.00- start filming action shots
11.00- makeup on burn victim
11.30- tracking
12.00- retakes
12.30- lunch
1.30- shooting begins
2.00- Finish with victims
3.00- record sounds of screams etc
3.30- begin packing up
4.00- finnish
On the day:
The shoot day commenced at 8.45am whereby myself, Greg, Luke and Jason met in the editing suite. It didnt go according to plan as Jason was no-where to be seen! So while we were waiting for him to arrive, myself and Greg got the props together from the props cupboard. We then decided to start setting up and carried the cameras and lighting equipment into the old kitchen. We discovered that we didnt need much artifical lighting as the room was bright. However, we did need to block out the gap behind the boss with paper. Jason arrived at the set at 9.40am with his gangster booklet, providing him with his monologue and things to say. He memorised each little part and we filmed it in 4 sections, each lasting about 30 seconds. After filming Jason, we decided to take a tea break at 11.00am and proceed on with the action scenes - we were very behind our schedule however, it was all going well. The actions shots took a while as the shot including the scouser had to be done twice as it was hand held, this shot turned out to be very realistc and extremely disturbing (which was the intention!) The victim in this scene was asked on the day to appear in 'Trigger Happy' as we were short of victims. We had to film the action scenes very quickly as the teachers appearing in it i.e. Al the man torturing Victoria (the only woman in the play) had places to be and things to do! Therefore we did this in 2 takes, and his pouring of the 'acid' in one long take. The burning scene took a bit of time because it was a hard shot to film, I shot this one myself using a handheld device and had to follow the victim Ryan's movement with ease and fluidity. We managed to get the perfect shot after about 4 takes. The burn victims makeup took no time at all, therefore we were right on schedule for supper. However, as we reached the end of the day we realised we did not have enough footage, however the footage we did have was very good and powerful! Therefore in a way we were fortunate there was only 2 members in our group as things turned out perfectly. :)
We rejected our previous ideas as myself and Greg did not think we had enough time to do our previous ideas effectively, as there are now only two of us in the group as one left and the other got expelled. However, we still followed the brief we were given: to construct the opening/title sequence to a thriller for an 18audience that lasted up to three minutes max.
Our aims:
- We considered to organise as independantely as possible the successful construction of our first media text from concept to product.
- To handle the camera, sound and editing technology to produce a standard of work that would match a similar text procued by a genuine industry institution.
- To research and learn about industry production of the thriller genre.
- To study in greater detail the function and conventions of opening sequences and the importance and effect and function of titles.
- To attempt to accurately construct from concept, a sequence in which titles are an intrinsic and pivotal element of the mode of address.
Detail all class,group and individual research that I undertook on the thriller genre:
Get carter, performance, the beach, get rich or die trying, sexybeast, notorious, 8 mile, scarface, the departed, lock stock and two smoking barrels, casino etc.. looking at directors like Martin Scorse and Brian De Palma.
Lock stock and two smoking barrels:
Scarface:
What did we discover about generic conventions? The repetition of the gangster's in each movie as each are powerful, but have a weakness. Therefore we are going to reproduce this in our own thriller!
mode of address: 18years and over
fonts and colours: black and whites
Media text that inspired us:
We used the deception from the film 'The beach' to inspire us to look at the gangster side of thrillers.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Research into generic texts
Inspiration for our origional production ideas:
Edwardian/Victorian the dark side of christmas. Colours: greens, yellows, reds (rich colours) relates to the colours used in the grinch and the grotesque close up's on the grinch's mouth when he is eating : http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gtRReVWNrFc&feature=relatedtch?v=gtRReVWNrFc&feature=related
This sort of close up would be ideal for our thriller, however instead of the slugs he would be crunching through beef or lamb with blood leaking through his teeth.
However, we decided to expand on our idea as it was too brief so we decided to add in a hopital shots whereby two doctors were showing students around their lab of 4 dead people (4 people chosen from the dining table) who the audience would assume had died from their food consumption. However, theres a twist in which the 'heavier' doctor is also sitting around the table and at the end of our sequence dies.. this would strike up questions about whether the food was poisioned etc.
We also neglected the idea of having alot of random people eating, as we decided to go for the more basic 'family- feel' with a fat dad, and mother with plump kids and a baby. This we felt would give it more of a direction.
Story board:
Story board:
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