Overall I am happy with our final product and believe it is a huge improvement from the first draft and our group achieved this by working together more and sharing the work load to make sure we all got an equal say and chance to have our own input.
In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The final product for our opening thriller sequence followed and developed many of the
typical conventions of a thriller movie such as the titles as often in this
genre of movie, the background of the titles is black to foreshadow that
something bad will happen as black is the colour we associate with evil. We
also developed on the mixture of positioning of the titles in the opening
sequence as some thrillers start with titles and some thriller have an opening
scene and then titles. We decided to take on board both ideas and combine the
two by starting with a couple of titles and then having our footage which then
led into the remaining titles.
The typical camera shots which are used in thrillers are pan shots to
show a location and the people who are present, and also gives the audience
knowledge on which characters may be important for the remainder of the film.
We used this idea with pans of the park and developed it to show the importance
of the boy as the pan follows his movement on the bike. Close up shots are also
well associated with thrillers as this
shows the character's expression which is often unusual in thrillers. We
challenged this as we used an upwards tilt into a mid close up of the man as we
didn’t want to reveal too much of his identity at the start.
A typical editing convention in this genre of films is the use of cross
cutting between different characters actions and we used this many times within
our final product as we showed the different movements of the boys and the man
which sped up as the footage progressed to build tension.
The sound of thrillers is usually eerie instrumental non-diegetic music and therefore I searched for eerie background songs on YouTube and listened to them all until I found one which I thought was best for our thriller opening. I chose the following clip as the sound is eerie and unusual as it has no beat or structure to the song and the instruments used appear to be mainly percussion so that each note is continued and fades into the next one giving the sound a mysterious tone and therefore creates tension to the footage, and without the music, the footage wouldn't seem like a thriller, as it would be natural sounds.
I decided to develop the typical conventions of a thrillers sound by adding a second song to the sequence in order to build tension further. I looked on YouTube for dramatic background music and found this piece which has a strong drum beat which builds up louder and faster as the music continues. It also has a sense of panic in the tone of the song as a chant builds up in the background which adds a sense of danger to the track.
To develop the convention of eerie sounds building tension further, I overlapped the eerie track with the dramatic track to build more tension as the different tones and instruments created a creepier and more exciting sound to accompany our product.
Another convention of a thriller would be to position the main
characters in the centre of the shot where they first appear, however' we didn’t
feel this was necessary for our thriller as we aimed to portray a natural
environment through the use of a variety of camera angles instead. The main character who is the older male that kidnaps the child in the footage, is first seen in the background of a long shot and we still don't see his face as he has his back turned to later reveal his identity which builds tension and makes the scene seem more mysterious.
The main character can be seen in the background of a long shot which challenges the typical convention of a thriller where a close up is used to introduce the character as we wanted to make the audience wait to see the males face to add mystery to our opening sequence.
This convention is also present at the beginning of 'The Black Swan' where the character has their back towards the camera, however this is not the first moment which we are introduced to her character as we are shown a sequence of her feet to start with and similarly in our sequence, we started with the main characters point of view of the floor, so we kept to a lower angle before introducing the character in a central shot.
How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
The final opening sequence which we created
represents two social groups. One is the social group of which the young boys
fit into which would be middle-lower class teenagers. This is represented
through mise-en-scene as the costumes of which the characters are wearing, are
casual clothes which boys of that age are expected to wear during sport such as
football.
The boy who receives
a phone call represents middle lower class teenagers through his dialogue as it
is not proper spoken English and his accent proves to be from the East
Midlands. The attitude that he portrays when he puts the phone down after being
told what to do by his Mum represents the stereotypical mood which the media
put with teenagers.
A screen shot showing the teenage boy's costumes.
This is a screen shot from the opening of the thriller 'Prom Night' which also represents this social group of middle class teenagers through her costume as she is wearing casual clothes with a hoodie and t-shirt and as the film is called 'Prom Night' the audience can estimate that she is older than the teenagers in our clip as she will be going to prom.
The other social group in our final edit was a
suspicious older man who is casted as a kidnapper aned therefore fits into the social group of a middle aged male criminal. The man is represented as
mysterious through the camera shots of low handheld point of view shots of his
feet as he walks leaving a mystery as to his whereabouts. He is also presented
as dangerous as his costume is dark and he has a hood up which suggests he is
trying to keep a low profile and hide his identity. The sound of his heavy
breathing makes him seem out of control and this represents him as a scarier
character in a small social group.
Screen shot of the older male's appearance.
This is a screen shot of a middle aged male criminal from the same social group shown in the thriller 'Prom Night' and we are able to class him in this social group as he is armed with a knife and is murdering members of the teenagers family therefore commiting crimes. The camera shots of him leave the idea of mystery to the audience as we see his feet before we see his face and short takes are shown of him so that we are not able to fully see his appearance, and this is what we tried to do in our thriller. Also this characters costume is dark and scruffy to give the audience the impression that he is a dangerous character.
We aimed to convey the two separate social groups and represent the older male as a criminal to contrast with the current stereotypical views in the media that the teenagers are the ones doing the crimes and causing trouble. We were successful as the teenagers are represented as the innocent victims, but are still represented as their social group through their costume and speech, and the male is clearly a criminal and the unusual use of camera shots such as introducing him slowly through point of view shots and upwards tilts to add mystery to his social group.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and
why?
Who
would be the audience for your media product?
How did you attract/address your audience?
We attracted our audience through the theme of the thriller which was
the idea of a child being ‘snatched’ by an older man, which is becoming an
increasing issue now more than ever so the younger generation will be attracted
to the film due to their interest and curiosity on such a topic. This topic of thriller can be compared with the film 'Taken' as it has similarities in the plot of the film such as the child getting kidnapped. The titles of our movies have similar meanings as 'Taken' and 'Snatched' are synonyms of something being removed and in both cases it is a person.
The trailer for 'Taken' which has a target audience of young adults for both genders, therefore comparing our thriller to this proves that our target audience is suitable.
The social group of the teenagers may also be easy to relate to for some audience members as they may be in the same social group and therefore the thriller will address them as they will feel as though they are a part of the action.
Also, we took
the idea from ‘The Happening’ to present the opening sequence as a normal day
at a park so the lighting is natural and the characters are acting as they
usually would in that environment, and then something bad happens.
The natural scenes of the park in 'The Happening'.
The natural scenes of the park in our final product.
This addresses the audience as they believe the narrative more as it
seems as though it could happen to them any day. Also as the characters are
young in our final product, the younger audience can relate to them and their attitudes
and presence throughout the footage which makes it more enjoyable for them to
watch.
What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have gained a lot of knowledge
about different technologies through the production of the thriller opening
sequences as I didn’t feel confident before when using video cameras and
computer software such as Adobe Premier Pro CS4 and after experiencing it
through the construction of the product I now feel comfortable with the
programs and equipment. I have learnt how to use the video camera correctly
such as using a tripod to achieve a steady and focused image when necessary as
we didn’t use a tripod in the preliminary task and the shots weren’t all
focused, however in the first draft we used a tripod and this made a huge
difference.
This is a photograph of the video camera we used during the filming and editing stages. It is a JVC Everio HD camera and we used it to film all of the footage in the first and final drafts, however it took me a while to get used to the different settings and how to approach different camera angles.
We used a different camera to record the sounds in the final edit as the JVC everio wasn't the best quality for audio. The camera we used to record the sound was a flip camera as the sound was loud and clear which made it easy to edit into our sequence.
This is a screen shot from our preliminary without using a tripod.
This is a screen shot from our draft using a tripod.
However for the final product we decided to not use
a tripod as the camera shaking added to the creepy character of the man who had
many point of view shots. I have also learnt a lot about using Adobe Premier
Pro CS4 and Adobe After Effects to edit the footage we had created. Before
producing these videos, I had never used these editing programs and therefore didn’t
have any knowledge about them, but after experimenting with the different
effects and looking at tutorials online, I now feel that I am able to produce a
high quality piece of footage using the programs.
I learnt how to add
transitions between shots to make them blend more smoothly such as the cross
dissolve which proved to be most successful in our products.
I learnt that I needed to look at the tool bar to the left of the screen and select effects. I was then able to type into the search bar which effect I desired to use and I dragged it into the footage at the correct point.
This is a screen shot from our final product, showing a cross dissolve transition.
I also learnt how to add sound to the footage from
other recordings and music and to adapt the volume accordingly to the part of
the scene it was heard in.
I did this by going onto sound controls and moving
the height of the bar which represented volume throughout the scene to the
correct level depending on what was happening in that footage. This knowledge
was very helpful when I put all of the sound onto the final task as I had experience
from the preliminary and draft task. The print screen above shows the stages I went through to ensure that the ringtone sound effect travelled through the scene at the correct volumes. The ringtone was first heard in the background of the point of view of the kidnapper and therefore needed to be quieter, and as it changed scenes to the boys I increased the volume as it would have been louder to them in reality.
The music didn't require a volume adjustment and I was able to adjust the positioning of the music at the right moments of the footage. I found that the eerie music was effective throughout the whole footage and therefore had to make the volume quieter at points where the other sounds such as the ringtone came in.
I learnt how to use Adobe after effects in order to create the titles on our final product. We did not use this program for the prelim task or the first edit and we found the Adobe premiere pro CS4 hard to work with when producing titles. I experimented with the titles and found that using different transitions were effective, and was able to import them into the correct part of the titles as the procedure was similar to adding transitions to footage on Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 and therefore I was using previous experience to help me with the new program.
This is a screen shot of the production of the titles which were positioned at the start of our final edit. This was created using the Adobe After Effects program as there were more options aimed at titles.
This is the tool bar for the program which enabled me to add different effects and transitions to the titles, improving the overall quality of them.
These were some of the options on the program that I could use for transitions on the title.
This is the timeline of our final product which was on the Adobe Premier Pro CS4 program which we created during the editing and sound stages.
Looking back at your preliminary
task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full
product?
I feel that I have learnt a lot
since the preliminary task as I was not aware on how much work goes into
producing a short film. In the preliminary task, we were successful when
planning what we wanted to film in the footage and worked well as a group to
share the roles and have equal parts of the production. I believe this helped
us to continue to work well throughout the production of the full product and
the preliminary task prepared us for how much hard work we needed to do.
In the
progression from the preliminary task to the final task, I have learnt many
different techniques when editing as before we started the preliminary task, I
had never used the editing software and found it interesting to experiment with
the different effects and options that it offered. The preliminary task
reflects my lack of knowledge on the program in comparison to the final task as
the different shots appear to jump from one another and it is clear to see we
tried to cover this up through the use of transitions, especially the cross
dissolve.
A cross dissolve in the prelim task to hide the lack of continuity between shots. In the final product, the camera shots appear to link together more
smoothly with a wider variety of transitions such as:
a fade in at the start
and a wipe which presents the titles at the end.
I believe that there is an improvement within my abilities to film and record sound since the preliminary task, as the camera shots in the preliminary task lack variety and the foucs is poor in comparison to the final product where we have used a variety of more imaginitive; camera angles such as handheld point of views and upward tilts. The sound in the preliminary task was of a poor quality as we weren't aware of how different it would sound on a computer compared to the camera and this is something that I have worked on to improve the overall product and I am pleased with the improvement between the videos. I have also learnt that I need to
manage my time more wisely as during the progression between these two tasks, I
have slacked and not produced the work in the period of time set which has
allowed me to fall behind and as a group we rushed to finish the preliminary
and first draft, however' we learnt from our mistakes and for the final task we
met the deadline which shows progression.
This area was our groups weakness when producing the draft opening sequence, so we paid extra attention to it this time in order to make our final thriller a success.
The sounds that we planned would work well with our footage were:
Heavy breathing
A phone ringing
Dialogue
Leaves rustling
To create these sounds, myself and Laura-Jo got a flip video camera as the sound quality was better than the other camera we were using to film, and came up with ways to produce these sounds so that they were clear enough to understand on the footage.
For the heavy breathing, I came up with the idea of breathing into an empty plastic bottle as the noise echos making it sound more creepy and the volume is louder and clearer. Laura-Jo did this as I filmed her and this created the heavy breathing sound effect. When I imported the sound into the editing program, I selected this video and dragged it onto all of the clips which were showing the hand held point of view of the man walking as it made him seem more mysterious. The sound we recorded was short so I had to copy the sound clip in and crop it to avoid any excess noise several times.
The phone call was the easiest sound to create as I simply played my phone's ringtone and recorded it on the camera. In the scene where the boy picks up the phone, I had to make sure that the ringtone played long enough so that it stopped at the exact moment he put it to his ear. This made it seem believable as his own phone ringing yet it was clear what was happening in the plot.
Straight after the phone rings, the boy has a conversation, therefore the dialogue needed to be clear enough for the audience to understand the next part of the sequence. Laura-Jo recorded him saying the dialogue at the same speed as he did in the original footage so that his mouth matched the speech. I then imported the clip into the program and took some time trying to match his mouth to the dialogue so it seemed as though we hadn't added any extra recordings. This was the hardest sound to put onto the footage as it had to match perfectly to work.
Finally, me and Laura-Jo recorded the sound of leaves rustling and we did this by me running next to a bush so the leaves rustled against my coat as I did it and this produced a convincing sound. I then edited this into the final shots where the boy is pulled over the bush and adjusted the volume to quite low as he is distant to the camera in the shot and if it was too loud it wouldn't sound correct.
I also found music online which was under the category 'Dramatic and Eerie music' as this was the type of atmosphere we wanted our thriller to create. After listening to lots, I found two pieces which I thought would work best and imported them both into the program. I then decided to use the dramatic music on the titles and the eerie music would continue throughout everything, overlapping the other track and sounds in the footage to make an unusual effect. Once all the sounds were in the correct position on the timeline, along with the music, the sound was a huge improvement from the draft and a success.
I was nominated for the role of creating the titles for our opening sequence, and as I didn't like using the same program as the footage and sound was edited on to create them, I decided to use a different program called Adobe After Effects which allowed me to add transitions and focus entirely on the titles.
I opted for a simple layout for the titles which was a black background with a bold, white font as this would stand out and look professional.
The first title would be positioned right at the start of our sequence and therefore represented our group with our production company's name which was a mixture of the first two letters of each of our names LaNiCh.
The name of our thriller was then projected onto the screen 'Snatched' which represents the idea of the boy being kidnapped. I added a transition which would then lead into the opening sequence footage so I knew it had to be powerful and dramatic, and I was able to create a shattering effect of the text which along with the music worked well.
The titles at the end of the opening sequence were all the same font and layout. I then decided to keep the transitions for each title the same and these entered with a transition which slowly developed the word letter by letter until all of the text was on show.
After the text has been on screen for around 2 seconds, another transition occurs where the text begins to fade in waves.
This transition continues and the text exits through a fading spiral of the letters.This continues throughout all of the titles that come on screen.
Titles
Produced by Laura-Jo Bowler, Nikki Brown and Chloe Burrows
Directed by Chloe Burrows
Script Writer Nikki Brown
Casting Director Laura-Jo Bowler
Editing by Laura-Jo Bowler, Nikki Brown and Chloe Burrows
We decided to make a schedule of when people were able to edit as this allowed us all to individually edit the footage and add any effects etc that we thought would look good and were therefore constantly improving each others work, and all had input. This also allowed us to meet the deadline as it was a speedier process.
We started the editing process by uploading all of the footage and shots from filming onto the program in the correct order. We then cropped the necessary shots to the correct length and played it as a whole to see if it needed further editing. We all had different opinions on the order of the shots such as I edited more footsteps nearer the end by using a previous handheld point of view shot of the footsteps on the bark and imported it a second time towards the end as it made the plot easier to understand. As we all had different opinions, the order of the shots got changed during the schedule for editing, but we all came to an agreement and stuck to it.
After all of the shots were in the correct order, we were able to see the areas which needed further editing. In comparison to the draft, there were little shots that required a transition as we planned our filming more wisely this time and managed to make the shots link together smoothly.
We decided to fade into the first shot of the footage as this would enter after a small title and would therefore link together better and also introduces the scene better as the lighting improves suggesting the reality of the plot.
In a couple of areas we needed to add the cross dissolve transition as without them the scene appeared to be jumpy and would make it harder for the audience to understand the plot, therefore we linked the shots together with this transition.
The other transition that we added in was at the end of the footage as we thought that it would look good if the shot wiped out to reveal the titles. This was the most difficult transition to apply as it wasn't as simple as dragging the transition across to the timeline and I had to look at tutorials to find out the correct way of applying it. I then managed to add it to the footage successfully, completing the editing for the visual aspects of the sequence.
The timeline at the end of all of our editing on the sequence
Last time we filmed for the draft, we filmed on one day and then didnt retake any footage to make corrections which led to it being jumpy and hard to understand. This time we scheduled two days to film so that after the first day we were able to upload all of the footage onto the editing program, put it together and see which shots were missing or needed re-filming which enabled us to create a better opening sequence.
We decided not to use a tripod when filming this time as many of the shots were point of view from the man and as he is an unusual character, the camera being shakey added a nervous and slightly spooky effect on the filming which we liked. We made sure that we took numerous takes of the same footage in order to get successful shots. We also took note of the previous poisitionings of the characters and background so that we were able to make a continous effect when edited.
We each took it in turns to film using the handheld camera and as my role as director, I made decisions of the positioning of characters and the different shots which would be effective at that point in the footage.
Different Shots
Close-Ups
We used close up's to show detail such as the football prop and the location of the man behind the bush as it informs the audience and gives them more background details to what is happening.
Handheld Point Of View
We used a handheld point of view shot various times when presenting that the man was walking as it showed his footsteps or his view as he walked of the ground which informs the audience that he is on the move, and leaves a mystery as they are unaware of his location to the boys.
Long Shot
The long shots allowed the audience to see the park as a whole showing the characters whereabouts in the background and showed reality in action.
Mid Shot
By using mid shots, it enabled us to show the characters expression without zooming in to a close up so that the location and characters in the background were still visible.
Pan
We decided to use a couple of pans as they gave us an opportunity to diisplay the location of the man through a point of view pan where it showed the whole of the view infront of him which shows he is always on the look out and alert as he checks his surroundings.
Point of view from the swing
As I had the role of director on the shoot, I decided to add in an extra shot which was filmed by me as I sat on the swing in the position of the man in the sequence. I think swang back and forth and held the camera directly infront of me as I did to create the motion that he would be experiencing as this let the audience know who it was looking as they know he is on the swing.
Upwards tilt
We used upwards tilts after the handheld point of view shots as this was a way of continuing the shots without jumping from the floor shot to a mid shot etc and it looked effective as a point of view shot.
Zoom In
We experimented with the zoom option on the camera and found that it looked good when we zoomed in on the man on the swing in the background of a long shot showing the boys playing football as it reminded the audience that he isn't far away from them adding a sense of danger.
As we filmed most of the shots on one day, we found that some shots were missing to complete the footage and were able to shoot these on another day which overall made a great improvement from previous filming for the draft.
This is a screen shot of a middle aged male criminal from the same social group shown in the thriller 'Prom Night' and we are able to class him in this social group as he is armed with a knife and is murdering members of the teenagers family therefore commiting crimes. The camera shots of him leave the idea of mystery to the audience as we see his feet before we see his face and short takes are shown of him so that we are not able to fully see his appearance, and this is what we tried to do in our thriller. Also this characters costume is dark and scruffy to give the audience the impression that he is a dangerous character.
