Harry Bernard Joyce's AS Foundation Portfolio Evaluation

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

• Enigma: Enigma is one of the key conventions of any thriller film. Enigma is what keeps your audience guessing throughout the film, keeping them on the edge of their seat. In a typical thriller film, enigma will be used early on in the film to start making the audience think about the characters. This is a good way of developing character building as the audience have to analyse the characters in order to figure out what is going on. 

• For example, in the film 'Minority Report', the opening shows a man leaving for work, and a few moments later, his wife begins having sexual relations with another man. The man who left returns shortly after leaving because he forgot something, however, he spots his wife having an affair and murders the other man. This opening is displayed in a non-chronological order, with parts of the opening being shown in reverse. The sequence is edited to be a fractured mess, and from this, the audience are supposed to decipher when and where this is taking place. The use of quick cuts and shifted shots makes this sequence effective at keeping the mystery behind it.

Distorted effect to show fracturing of sequence

Scissors beginning to move in reverse

• For our thriller opening, we applied our enigma through the use of props and lighting. For props, we used a balaclava to cover the antagonist's face. This keeps his identity a mystery throughout the entire sequence, and helps to raise questions about who he is. Although we used natural lighting instead of man made lighting, this worked in our favour. The use of natural lighting in the woodland provided us with a dark and gloomy setting. This was extremely useful for the last shot of the sequence when the antagonist takes off his balaclava. Despite using blur to conceal his face as he takes off the mask, the lack of lighting provides darkness around the antagonist, making it hard to see his face even when the blur disappears.

Antagonist's face kept hidden

Darkness surrounding the antagonist in the final shot

• Restricted and Unrestricted Narration: Restricted and Unrestricted Narration is an interesting convention used in thriller films. If your thriller film is restricted, it limits the information it provides the viewer to thing known only to one character. With restricted narration, it encourages the viewer to identify with that one character's perspective. This is an incredibly useful technique to use if you're attempting to build tension. For example, in 'The Bourne Ultimatum', the audience is restricted to Bourne and only Bourne. We know nothing about the situation except for what Bourne is experiencing. The use of restricted narration here keeps the audience on the edge of their seat as they helplessly watch Bourne evade capture. This is especially useful in films such as this one as fast paced thrillers rely on this type of narration to keep their audiences engaged.

Bourne walking quickly on the pavement

Bourne looking towards a train station

• Unrestricted narration is the opposite of restricted. Instead of the audience having their information limited, they instead know more, see more and/or hear more than any one character. This too can be used to build tension, and can also be used to set up later scenes. If the audience hear about people creating a plan to murder a main character, but they also hear about that main character planning to kill the other people, it sets up a tense filled outcome. The audience may know more than any one character, but they don't know the outcome until they witness it. This helps keep the audience engaged. For example, in 'The Dark Knight Rises', we know that the CIA agent's plan is to try and figure out who Bane is, but at the same time, we are given a shot of a larger plane hovering above the CIA plane. It is clear to us that the plane is going to have something to do with the CIA plane, but the CIA agent is completely oblivious as to what is going on. This builds a lot of suspense before the execution of the events.

Plane hovering above CIA plane

Plane hijacks CIA plane, ripping its wings off

• In our thriller opening, we decided to go with restricted narration. We wanted to follow 'The Bourne Ultimatum', using restricted narration to limit the amount of information the audience receive. It is clear that one character is being chased by another, but they are unaware of why this is happening. The use of restricted narration also prevents the audience from knowing the outcome of the chase. They have no idea whether or not any of the characters have plans, which adds to the suspense.

• Iconography: Iconography refers to the symbolic representation and conventional meaning attached to imagery. In thriller films, this refers to objects commonly found within the genre such as weaponry (particularly knives and guns) and fire. For example, in 'The Dark Knight Rises', gun props are used throughout the opening sequence. As we know, guns fire projectiles incredibly quickly. The speed at which these projectiles fly makes them incredibly dangerous. This adds to the tension of the sequence as anyone could be shot at any moment. This can also increase the pace of a sequence.

Gun Prop

Gun Prop (2)

• In our thriller sequence, we adopted the use of guns as it helps to build the tension and pace of the sequence. Because our sequence is a chase, the audience can sense that someone is going to get shot, but they are unaware of when this is going to happen. The use of a gun prop makes it incredibly effective at building tension during the chase.

Gun Prop used in thriller opening

• Binary Oppositions: Binary Opposition refers to a pair that are opposite. In relation to the thriller genre, this is things such as Protagonist and Antagonist. 'The Dark Knight Rises' does a great job of showing a comparison between the protagonist and antagonist in the opening sequence. The CIA agent is a small, normal looking individual, whereas Bane is a muscular, hulking figure with a frightening mask to hide his identity.

CIA Agent

Bane wearing his frightening mask

• Once again we decided to adopt this in our thriller opening. Spark (played by Charlie) is a small, skinny individual with a scar (possibly showing weakness), whereas JD (played by Harry) is a large, menacing looking individual who wears a balaclava to mask his identity.

Spark (Charlie). He's a skinny and small individual with a scar

JD (Harry). He's a large and menacing individual who wears a balaclava to mask his identity

• 3 stages of Todorov Narrative: Todorov's Narrative suggests that all narratives follow a three part structure: They begin with equilibrium (where everything is balanced), progress as something comes along to disrupt that equilibrium, and finally reach a resolution when equilibrium is restored. In thriller films, this is the typical structure that is followed. For example, in the film 'Se7en', there are two detectives, and at this point in the film everything is balanced. This balance is then disrupted when they are called to investigate a murder (the disruption). This disruption continues until the murderer gives himself up and one of the detectives shoots him. At this point, equilibrium is restored.

• Our thriller opening follows the same pattern. The opening begins with Bruce (Played by Erol) falling to the floor whilst JD talks to him. At this point everything is balanced. When Spark enters the sequence, this balance is disrupted and the chase begins. It is only when JD shoots Spark at the end of the chase sequence that equilibrium is restored.

Equilibrium (Everything is balanced)

Equilibrium is disrupted

Equilibrium restored

• Title Sequence: Title sequences are incredibly important in media products. The simple parts of title sequences include the names of actors/actresses and the name of the title. The audience can gain a lot of insight into a film by looking at how the title sequence has been styled. A good example of this is the title sequence of 'Se7en'. With this sequence, we are introduced to a number of different shots depicting photographs of people, tools etc. Accompanied by this are the actors and actresses who are a part of the film, as well of the title of the film. These names and the title are styled in a distorted and worn manner, suggesting many things to the audience. Could the film be to do with a mystery? Could it be to do with a murder case? The style of a title sequence helps the audience understand the main theme of the film.

Distorted and worn title

Name of actor with distorted imagery

• For our thriller opening, we analysed a number of title sequences to understand the stylistic choices for names, titles etc. Because our film is set in the 1980's and revolves around the criminal world (e.g. gangsters), we decided to style the title and names of our actors in a font that was easy to read and suited our theme (This would be slick and slithery to reflect the shadowy nature of gangsters and their operations). However, our title is accompanied by imagery of a gangster silhouette to aid the audience in figuring out what the film is about.

British Gangster (Title of Thriller Opening)

Font Style for names of actors

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product only represents three social groups - Gender, Disability and Regional Identity.

Gender

Gender is represented primarily through the use of Mise en Scene and Camerawork. Our thriller opening sticks to the stereotypical (and traditional) way in which thriller films are usually written - the protagonist and antagonist being male.

• The costumes used for our characters reinforces the stereotypical view of an average male during the 1980's (i.e. a suit (or jacket) and tie). Around this time period, it was considered that males were the dominant sex (i.e. the ones who provided for and protected the family) and in order to establish this male dominance in our thriller opening, we used framing to make our characters appear powerful and large. For example, about three quarters of the way through our sequence, our antagonist is positioned directly in the middle of the frame, running closer towards the camera. As he runs closer, he fills up more and more of the frame, appearing larger the closer he gets. The shot after this also displays a low angle looking up towards the antagonist, making him appear much larger than he is. It is common for men to be larger than women, and this use of camerawork reinforces this. 

Framing of antagonist (1)

Framing of antagonist (2)

Low angle to make antagonist appear large

• The reasons for making these choices were so that the audience would feel as though they had no control over the situation, and as a result, would dislike certain characters. As mentioned above, our antagonist appears larger the closer he gets to the camera, and we want our audience to experience a strong disliking for this character as he is the 'bad guy' of the sequence. We also wanted them to understand how it felt for women during the 1980's (i.e. being powerless against men). An example of a thriller film that does this is 'The Dark Knight Rises'. The antagonist, Bane, appears to be an incredibly large man who fills up a large portion of the screen in order to appear threatening and scary. It is clear that the audience are supposed to dislike Bane.

Bane appearing incredibly large

Disability

Disability is represented through camerawork. Disability isn't always seen in thriller films. Usually when a disability is present, it is a mental disability rather than a physical disability. However, in order to create sympathy or enigma, filmmakers decide to give certain characters physical handicaps. In our thriller film, we have followed this and given our antagonist a limp. 

• The reasoning behind giving our antagonist a limp is to create both sympathy and enigma. Despite being the antagonist, the audience are unaware of this. The fact that he has a limp makes the audience think about how this occurred. Was he born with it? Did the other characters in the sequence cause this? It creates a lot of enigma simply because the audience don't know how he received the limp. The audience are also supposed to sympathize with him because he has a physical problem with him that could have potentially caused a lot of issues for him throughout his life. Even though we used camerawork to make him appear large and threatening, these mixed feelings as to whether or not you should like or dislike him helps to mask the type of character he is. The use of high angles and different shot distances to show off the limp highlights the seriousness of the disability.

Antagonist dragging his foot across the ground

• A thriller film that makes good use of disability to confuse and trick the audience is 'The Usual Suspects'. In this film, the antagonist Keyser Soze is unknown throughout the entire film. The film is being told by a physically disabled man called Roger Kint. The audience are supposed to sympathize with this man as he tells the story of the film due to his disability, and are supposed to be shocked at the end of the film when Roger Kint's disabilities disappear and he is revealed to be Keyser Soze.

Roger Kint's limp disappearing

Regional Identity

The last social group represented in our media product is Regional Identity. This is done through dialogue. When talking about regional identity, people tend to associate this with skin colour, clothing and speech. In our thriller opening, we challenged the traditional stereotypes to do with regional identity by having a character who is one nationality but is able to speak a different language.

• Our antagonist, JD, is British like our other two characters, however he possesses the ability to speak German. We decided to do this because we wanted to make our thriller opening more enigmatic. For example, if you heard an Asian individual speaking, you would immediately understand that this person originated from/spoke a language from the East. However, the fact that our character is one nationality but speaks a different language begins to raise questions about where he's from and how/why he learned a different language.

• A good example of this is in 'The Bourne Ultimatum'. When the film begins, we are introduced to Bourne. However, he doesn't say a single word until he is confronted by a policeman. When confronted, Bourne begins speaking in Russian. What the audience isn't aware of is that Bourne is actually American and that his primary language is English. This creates a lot of enigma surrounding Bourne, and makes the audience begin questioning who he is.

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

When it comes to distributing a low budget thriller as an independent film production company, there are two choices available to you. You can either:

• Have your film distributed by an independent film distribution company, whereby you get a percentage of all the profits. If you choose this option, your film is more than likely going to be displayed on an exhibitor's screen in an independent cinema.

• Distribute your film yourself. With this option, you can take advantage of the possibilities in this digital age by distributing on different platforms. For example, you could distribute your film on YouTube, DVD, TV, Mobile etc. Despite not making as much profit as you would from having your film distributed by someone else, these different platforms allow your film to be seen all over the globe. This is incredibly useful to people who want to become known.

http://screenville.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/attendance-history-world-cinema-stats.html

• As you can see from the chart above, most of the world's theatrical attendance has declined as time has progressed. The ways in which films can be viewed has increased massively, especially within the last 20-25 years. Originally, cinemas were the only way to watch a film (You can see in the chart that theatrical attendance was high during the earlier years), but since then, different platforms have been made readily available for audiences, and films have been displayed on these. As a result, the attendance at cinemas has declined, however, that's not to say that it hasn't completely stopped. As you can see from the chart, the USA and EU have steadily increased in recent times.

• However, as I stated above, most of the world's theatrical attendance has been declining, and because of this, distributing our film through multiple platforms seems to be the best way forward. In order to demonstrate the success that platform viewing has, let's take a look at VHS and Betamax. These systems allowed you to record footage, so many families used this to record films so that they could be watched at any time they wanted. This meant that families didn't have to wait for the movie to be shown on television, and as a result, VHS and Betamax sparked both a lot of interest with companies and popularity with consumers.

• Now as you can see, the popularity of VCR's increased rapidly, however, you can also see that the popularity of VCR's decreased after a while. The reasoning for this is that companies took the concept of VHS and Betamax and began developing new technology so that audiences could view films in different ways. Technologies such as VOD (Video on Demand) allowed audiences to download films on systems such as Sky and play them whenever they wanted to. Other technologies such as Streaming allowed audiences to receive video data over the internet as a steady, continuous flow, meaning that they could watch it on their phones, computers, laptops etc. 

• In my opinion, the use of different platforms is a lot more beneficial for the party who are distributing the film as it enables them to become a lot more well known, and despite not gaining as much potential profits as distribution through cinema, you're getting your content out to the public. If the public enjoy your content, you can begin creating new content that may interest mainstream distributors (e.g. large cinema chains such as Cineworld).

Cinema

• As we're an independent film production company trying to distribute a low budget thriller, the likelihood that a cinema chain such as Cineworld would screen our film is incredibly slim. Cineworld and other similar cinema chains show large-scale production films, and aren't known for screening small productions. However, that's not to say that we can't get our film shown in cinemas. In fact, a lot of independent cinemas show small-scale productions. The problem with this is that they're independent cinemas, meaning that the only people who will be viewing these productions are those that live in the surrounding area to the cinema. This isn't a good choice for the companies who want themselves and their products to become well known around the world.

Cineworld Logo

Cineworld Listings (All of the films are large-scale productions)

Distributing our thriller

• If an independent film production company decides that they want to partner with an independent film distribution company, they'll have to take licensing into consideration. Licensing refers to the distributor being given the legal rights to exploit the film by the film production company in return for a financial return. This license will state what the distributor pays the producer. It should be noted that the percentage of revenue the producer gains will vary depending on the deal that is made with the distributor. Take note that if the film is unsuccessful, both the distributor and the producer may not gain any profits.

• If an independent film production company decides that they want to their film through modern day platforms such as TV, YouTube, DVD, Streaming etc., there are things that you have to consider. YouTube is massive social media platform that allows anyone in the world the chance to become known. For small time producers this is an amazing platform to use as they are able to show their film to the world at no cost, and can potentially earn money from it. The issue with YouTube is that the only way you can make money is through monetization. With this, adverts can be displayed around your film. When people click on these, you gain an incredibly small amount of money per click. This may sound great, but the problem lies in popularity. As I said above, YouTube is a massive social media platform, and only a small percentage of those who post videos on YouTube are successful. Your YouTube account needs to gain a lot of popularity for those advertisement clicks to mean something.

• However, other platforms such as Streaming are extremely useful for independent film production companies. The growth of broadband has allowed for films via the internet to be streamed through televisions, mobiles etc. Despite not making money through advertisements like YouTube, you're getting your film onto as many platforms as possible, which increases the chances of your film being seen by people. You also increase the chances of your production company becoming well known.

• No matter what choice we pick, there's always the chance of failure. In my opinion, I would choose to distribute the film myself. Despite running a larger risk of failure (because distribution companies have experience with distributing films), your chances of being noticed by audiences and film companies are greater because the film is able to be viewed on a lot of different platforms instead of one or two independent cinemas.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

• When we first began planning for our thriller opening, we decided that we wanted to fully immerse the audience in the atmosphere of gangsters. In order to reflect the livers of gangsters, especially in a time where gang warfare was common, we decided to make our thriller an 15. We wanted to be able to show the harsh brutality, violence and deceit that gangsters experienced, and the only way that this could be achieve was through increasing the minimum age limit on the film, otherwise it would be criticized for being too graphic. In our thriller opening, we wanted to use things such as weaponry (e.g. knives, guns) and make-up for serious bruising and bloodied faces. 

• In terms of a maximum age for our target audience, we decided that 25 would be suitable. That's not to say that anyone above the age of 25 can't watch and enjoy our thriller opening, but the stereotypical age range of 15-25 enjoy thrillers more so than anyone outside of this range. The reasoning for this is because they typically enjoy film that include thought provoking plots and explosive action. Despite being a fairly small range, the fact that anyone over 18 can watch it means that the demographic broadens massively, resulting in larger profits for our media product. However that being said, the demographic may be singled out to men. Even though this film may have some interesting plot points and action-packed scenes that can be enjoyed by any gender, the fact that this film is about brutal gangsters who murder people may appeal more to men more than women.

• A useful website that helped us to decide on the perfect age range for our thriller was http://business.pearlanddean.com/films_guide. This website allowed us to see the popularity of thriller films based on age. 

• As you can see with Captain America: Civil War, despite the age certificate not being announced yet (although it will be a 12), the comparable profile shows that the age range of 15-24 has the biggest percentage at 37%. Looking at the other ranges, those that are below 15-24 show a lower percentage than those above the 15-24 one. Using this information, we can see that age 15 and above has a higher potential profit. In terms of gender, Male has a higher percentage. Now the main reason for this is that this film includes a lot of fast paced action that appeals to the male audience more than the female audience (due to the stereotype of men loving adrenaline rushes and fighting). Similar to this film, our thriller includes fast paced action, so we believe that the male audience will love our film more than the female audience. (It should be noted that this film isn't out yet, but the fact that these predictions are being made tells you a lot about what the film industry thinks people will enjoy watching).

• Similar to Captain America: Civil War, the ideal age range for Now You See Me is 15-24. As well as this, the ages after this range have much larger percentages than the ranges below 15-24. The reasoning behind this is to do with the plot of the film. Despite having action scenes, a large portion of this film revolves around thinking carefully and trying to spot things in the film, something that a lower age range wouldn't be able to comprehend. Unlike Captain America, the gender is a 50/50 split. I believe this is primarily due to the fact that the film relies heavily on enigma rather than action. Enigma as a convention isn't specific to one gender as both males and females enjoy the thought provoking nature of thriller films. Even though our thriller is aimed more towards men simply due to the theme of it, we want our demographic to be as large as possible. This information has helped us with figuring out the balance between action and enigma so that both males and females can enjoy our media product. 

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

• We attracted our audience through a number of ways - through narrative, the technical codes used, the characters and theme of our thriller. The audience feedback that we were given helped us greatly in improving our thriller. It allowed us to iron out any flaws within the sequence and make it more suitable for our target audience. Two incredibly useful candidates for our audience feedback were Oscar and Jacob.

Oscar

(Unfortunately the video of Oscar's feedback cannot be placed within this blog post. See Research and Planning 11: Audience Feedback for the feedback video)

• Narrative and Theme - In terms of the narrative, Oscar liked that our thriller wasn't set in a modern time. He felt that this was unique compared to other thriller films as many of them are set during modern times. He believes that this time period suits the theme of the our thriller (e.g. gangsters). He personally enjoyed the the tie in of the Kray Twins for inspiration, and because of this, we found it incredibly useful when tweaking our opening as we were able to use the Kray Twins to achieve the desired theme of our thriller. This helped with attracting our target audience greatly as they are able to connect with these themes by seeing where we implemented elements of similar thriller films.

• Technical Codes and Character - For technical codes, Oscar liked the fact that our thriller opening was set in a woodlands. He said it's interesting and that it would be fun to watch. From this we gathered that the use of a woodland meant that we had a lot more to experiment with in terms of environment such as trees (for hiding behind; for collapsing; for climbing etc.) and enigma, one of the key elements of a thriller that will attract the female audience. The fact that a woodland can be a playground for disaster/action as well as a complete mystery helps to attract our target audience. Oscar also mentioned one of our characters being German and thought that it was a nice twist. Although some audience members (e.g. those who speak/understand German) will know what he character is saying, a large percentage of the audience won't understand what the character is saying. This again adds enigma to the opening, especially seeing as what he said could be important to the rest of the story.

Jacob

(Unfortunately the videos of Jacob's feedback cannot be placed within this blog post. See Research and Planning 11: Audience Feedback and Editing 3: Audience Feedback for the feedback videos)

• Technical Codes and Character - Jacob thought that the overall setting for our thriller was unique. He liked the change of scenery. Instead of being set in America (which is where a lot of gangster related films are set), our thriller film is set in London, and Jacob thought this was a great change from generic gangster films. We found this incredibly useful as we were able to think about how we could express British culture in our opening (different attire from standard American gangsters; the fact that one of our characters is German etc.). 

• Jacob also mentioned the loyalty that our main characters have to each other and their work, and with this being said, we believed that we could use this to our advantage. By establishing a strong relationship early on in the film, the audience can relate to the characters involved in this relationship. It also allows you to set up potential twists and impacts within the film. For example, the audience sit through an entire film thinking that two characters are bound together, and then all of a sudden, a betrayal occurs. The fact that the audience has taken the time to connect and bond with these characters makes the impact of the betrayal more dramatic. These sorts of things excite a younger audience, so we thought that it suited well for attracting our target audience.

• Pacing (Editing) - Because one of the key conventions of thrillers is action, Jacob liked the fact that our thriller opening included a large amount of shots in a short period of time. The use of quick cutting between shots really brought the feeling of being chased through the woods to life. He also liked that there's a conflict between the characters as soon as the sequence begins. We believed that this helped to grab the audience's attention as it establishes drama straight away. 

• Jacob also talked about the intensity of the music in our sequence. He liked that the music altered between intensities, switching between calming beats and loud bass. He especially liked the finale of the sequence when the music was completely cut off. This was done to add tension and leave the audience on the edge of their seats. The use of different intensities allowed us to control the pacing and the reactions/emotions of the audience for each scene. Because we could control how the audience reacted, it helped with attracting our target audience (i.e. we were able to use the intensity to intrigue and excite them). 

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

https://prezi.com/p7vgrflcxsgo/as-media-evaluation-question-6/

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

Camera, Sound, Editing and Mise en Scene

Camerawork (Preliminary Task): In terms of camerawork for the preliminary task, we used a variety of different shot distances and angles. For shots, this included Big Close Ups, Medium Shots, Medium Long Shots and Over The Shoulder Shots. For angles, this included Eye Level, Low Angle and High Angle. However, in my eyes, we didn't use a wide enough range of camera techniques during our Preliminary Task. By using camera techniques, you are able to build character. For example, in our prelim, one of our characters (the antagonist) is holding another character hostage. Despite this hostage situation giving the audience a clear indication that this character is the antagonist, there is nothing to show how much of a threat he is. When you think of the word antagonist, you think BIG AND SCARY, but this wasn't shown during our preliminary task. If we wanted to create the effect of the character being looming and menacing, the use of Worm's Eye View during his short conversation with the hostage would've been perfect. Aside from the lack of camera techniques, the footage that we captured at the time presented a decent looking thriller opening for the preliminary task.

High Angle used in Preliminary Task

Medium Long Shot used in Preliminary Task

Over The Shoulder Shot used in Preliminary Task

Low Angle used in Preliminary Task

Medium Shot used in Preliminary Task

• Camerawork (Thriller Opening): In comparison to the preliminary task, we improved upon our lack of camera techniques. As the thriller opening was a chase scene, whereas the preliminary was more of a tracking down a character scene, we needed to make better use of our camera techniques to show off both our characters and their surroundings. When watching a chase scene, you look for certain aspects about the characters involved e.g. their stance, height, figure, so in order to show these well (and to make for a better piece of film), we used extra camera techniques. These included POV, Worm's Eye View, Extreme Close Up and Extreme Long Shot. Even though this still doesn't cover the full range of camera techniques, it did make for a higher quality film as this time around, the audience were able to clearly see the threatening presence that the masked character exerted. It should also be mentioned that in the preliminary task, our camera movement was minimal. It mostly comprised of panning, with one tracking shot put in. In the thriller opening, we included a lot more tracking shots and pans, and the use of POV added to the movement. All of these combined made the chase scene feel like an actual chase.

POV Shot used in Thriller Opening

Worm's Eye View used in Thriller Opening

Extreme Close Up used in Thriller Opening

Extreme Long Shot used in Thriller Opening

• Sound (Preliminary Task): The sound within our preliminary task was lackluster. The main problem with our sound during the preliminary task was the background noise. Because we decided to film the prelim primarily in our college building, there were a lot of students going passed, meaning that the video camera picked up their voices. When filming outside, the sound of wind interrupted our filming. Because of these two issues, we had no choice but to remove the sound completely from the footage and start fresh. This in itself was a problem because the prelim film didn't sound natural, resulting in a poorer sounding product. However, the muted sound gave us a lot of freedom on what we could add. 

• In the end, we unmuted the footage when on screen diegetic dialogue was being spoken, and during the muted sections, we edited in some on screen diegetic dialogue (being spoken in someone's head), as well as the sound of a gunshot. We were also able to add a foley effect of the build up before the antagonist is shot, making for a more climactic finish to the film opening. The only other concern with the sound was the non-diegetic backing track. Due to poor planning, we didn't have much time to get our editing done. As a result of this, the backing track we used for the preliminary task repeated itself constantly for about half of the opening. The other half used another track. Only two tracks were used in the entire sequence.

Foley Effect of build up

Fast Half of Sequence (Track)

Second Half of Sequence (Track)

• Sound (Thriller Opening): In comparison to the preliminary task,  the thriller opening was a greater success. We planned out the thriller opening more carefully, providing us with more time to think about how we were going to incorporate sound. We took ideas from our preliminary task such as the on screen diegetic dialogue being spoken in someone's head, but the main thing we altered was the backing track. 

• Instead of having a small amount of tracks that repeated over and over, we decided to try and mix some tracks together to create a melodic and rhythmic piece. The good thing about this change is that it allowed us to experiment with different genres of music. This was extremely useful as it allowed us to convey different levels of emotion and tension during the chase. For example, when the chase begins, there's a beat mixed with a progressive guitar to simulate the start of the chase, beginning to build up the tension. Half way through, the guitar cuts out and a subtle beat is applied to simulate the pause in action and tension, then towards the end, the beat increases in amplitude and it's a lot more harsh sounding. At this point, it tells the audience that the climax of the chase is nearing, which builds up the excitement and tension.

Beat mixed with progressive guitar

Subtle beat

Increased amplitude and harsher sounding

• The mixing of the backing track also gave us ideas as to how to make the finale of the opening more epic and memorable. To do this, we decided to mix the sound of a gunshot and the sound of thunder. When the shot is fired, the crash of thunder can be heard, progressively calming down once the screen fades to black.

Gun shot mixed with crash of thunder

• Editing: In terms of editing, the preliminary task and the thriller opening are incredibly similar. Both the prelim and the thriller opening have their footage edited together in such a way that it fits what they're about. For example, the preliminary task is about a man trying to track down his partner who is being held hostage. The footage has been edited together to provide fairly quick cuts to simulate the pace of the character's movement as he runs around the area looking for his partner. The same goes for the thriller opening. In the thriller opening, the footage has been edited to match the pace of the chase. The only issue with the editing of footage is in the preliminary task, whereby some of the shots seem to have a longer than normal pause. To me, this disconnects the audience from the events on screen as they're used to the fast paced nature of the rest of the film, so for the next shot to occur so slowly makes it awkward.

(By 'they' I mean the audience)

• This is the same for the editing of sound effects. Both the preliminary task and thriller opening had their sound edited so that it fit with the events on screen. There were two issues with the editing of sound. The first is similar to the issue with the editing of footage. Once again, some of the sound effects in the preliminary task weren't matched up correctly to the events on screen. Due to the sound effects being out of time, the preliminary task didn't have the desired professional finish that I would have hoped for. The thriller opening on the other hand succeeded in doing this. The second issue was simply the lack of edited in sound effects. In the preliminary task, there wasn't a sound when the door was opened, and there were no sounds of footsteps as he ran across the floor. We addressed this issue in the thriller opening and added in footsteps, a thudding sound when the antagonist hit the ground and a scream when the character being chased got shot.

• The final piece of editing that made the thriller opening look more professional was the use of a title sequence. During editing, we incorporated a title sequence at the beginning and the end of the sequence. At the beginning, we faded in our company's logo. As the logo faded in, a sound effect also faded in. When the logo faded out, the sound effect faded out. At the end of the sequence, we edited in the title of our film and the names of the people involved. We used a backing track and timed it so that the title and the names would appear when the music changed. This neat bit of editing was the icing on the cake for our thriller opening.

Fading of company logo and sound effect

Title of film/names of people involved with backing track

• Mise en Scene (Lighting): In terms of lighting it's unfortunate to say... but the preliminary task did a better job of lighting than the thriller opening. The reason for this is that we didn't use any lighting during our thriller opening. In our preliminary task, we used a pitch black room for the interrogation room. In order to make it look gloomy yet still have that ominous feel to it, we used a light source at a low light intensity. In our thriller opening, the entirety of the footage was shot outdoors in the woods. 

• Now, you may be able to say that we could've used the light reflectors to add depth to the characters (for example use the reflector on the face of the antagonist to make him appear more frightening). However, we were unable to do this because of an error with the equipment. The light source we were provided with needed to be plugged in in order to work, but because we filmed outside, we were unable to do this. Fortunately the natural lighting of the forest gave the thriller opening a gloomy and enigmatic feel, however the use of lighting would've made this look even better.

• Mise en Scene (Colour): Colour wasn't an issue with the preliminary task. Due to most of the filming being done in doors, the vibrant colours of the building stood out. That being said, this could actually be seen as an issue as we were trying to create the opening to a thriller... something that is supposed to be either action packed or mysterious (or both!), and because of this, the preliminary task may have been better off with some colour correction to make it look more bland and dark looking so that it fit the style of a thriller film.

• In contrast to this, the thriller opening had one major issue with the colouring. Despite using White Balance to correct the colours on the camera, the footage looked blue. In order to correct this, we had to use Final Cut Pro and colour correct the entire footage. The plus side of having this blue footage meant that we could alter the look of it so that it appeared more 'foresty'. By this, I mean that the footage would look brown and green to reflect the colours of the woods.

• Mise en Scene (Hair, Makeup and Costume): The preliminary task was a complete mess when it came to hair, makeup and costume. Our poor planning meant that we had left the filming of the preliminary task to the last minute, and as a result of this, we had no time to prepare our hair, makeup or costume. In fact, we never even considered the hair and makeup. The only thing we decided upon was to use jackets as our costume. Aside from that, we wore our t-shirts and jeans. The end result was awful as the preliminary task looked like it had been made as a group of mates in a couple of minutes.

• In comparison, the thriller opening had a lot of planning behind it. We styled our hair like old fashioned gangsters (Slick and combed), whilst we used make up to create scars and a black eye. We also thought carefully about our costume, dressing in smart shirts, jackets and ties to appear like gangsters. The result made the film look more professional.

Erol's Black Eye Makeup

Erol's Scar Makeup

Charlie's Scar Makeup

Erol's Costume

Charlie's Costume

Harry's Costume

• Mise en Scene (Setting): The wasn't necessarily anything wrong with the setting used in the preliminary task, as it featured both outdoor and indoor locations. However, it didn't feel like a thriller film. The reason for this is the use of the college building as our indoor location. When you think thriller, you think mystery and action. Even though the action was present, the mystery of setting wasn't. You could clearly see that the building was being used, and it didn't feel mysterious at all. 

• The thriller opening did a much better job of this. The fact that the entire opening was filmed in a woodland immediately made it more mysterious. It was deserted, completely open, and it had an ominous feel to it that the college building didn't. It also gave us more to work with because of how empty it is. The college building was full of students, so it limited where we were able to film to create the illusion of a thriller setting, but in the woodland, there weren't many people around. This provided us with more opportunities such as camera positions, allowing us to show off more of the setting.

Open area of the woodland

• Mise en Scene (Props): Props were used throughout the preliminary and the thriller opening. In the preliminary, we used a gun prop which we got from the college's drama room, a classmate's hat to be used as a blindfold for our hostage, a chair for the hostage to sit on, and a mask to cover the face of our antagonist (which was also taken from the college's drama room). 

• When it came to the thriller opening, we actually used a smaller amount of props than the preliminary task. For the thriller opening we used a gun prop (which was bought by Erol and spray painted black) and a balaclava to cover the face of the antagonist. We did improvise a prop with one shot whereby our character is being shot at by the antagonist. In this shot, we used a twig to simulate the splintering of wood as the bullet hits the tree the character is hiding behind. 

• Mise en Scene (Facial Expression and Body Language): We experimented with our facial expressions in the preliminary task, but it didn't go as planned. Despite Erol being able to pull of a convincing shocked expression when he sees his partner being beaten, the final scene of the opening (whereby Erol and Charlie smile at each other after killing the antagonist) was awkward. It didn't come out the way we had hoped. In terms of body language, we never thought about it. Instead, we simply filmed the shots and got on with editing the sequence.

• The thriller opening was much better. Charlie worked on his facial expressions, providing us with a very realistic shocked expression (when he's spotted by the antagonist) and a pain filled expression (when he's shot). Erol did a superb job at looking as though he's out of breath after being beaten by the antagonist. With body language, we used our camera angles to achieve the effect we wanted. For example, in order to make the antagonist appear threatening, we used a low angle as he walks up to our character, creating the effect of a towering figure staring down at the audience. As well as this, the way we stand in the opening shows off some of the characteristics of our characters such as the antagonist being slightly hunched and spread out (showing us that he's bulky and less nimble, perhaps a henchman?).

Antagonist staring down at the audience

• Mise en Scene (Composition): There were issues with the composition in both the preliminary task and the thriller opening. When we did the preliminary task, we didn't take composition into account. Because of this, some of our shots made our main character appear on the left or right of the screen. In order to frame him correctly, we had to edit the footage in Final Cut Pro and shift the position of the footage. The problem with this is that it resulted in blurry imagery. To fix that, a blur effect was applied to the beginning of the sequence so that by the time Erol neared the camera, the blur had disappeared and the effect could be faded out.

• The thriller opening only had one issue with the composition. In one of the shots where our character is being chased by the antagonist, we set up the camera in such a way that the characters appeared on the right of the screen. In order to make them central, we did exactly the same thing as we did with the prelim footage, however, in order to stop the blur when the characters got near, we did some subtle editing whereby the footage returns to its normal size when the camera is covered by the antagonist's jacket.

• Title Sequence: For our preliminary task, we never considered adding a title sequence. When we were editing the sequence together, we had a short amount of time to complete the task, so our minds were focused on producing the best quality sequence we could make. As a result of this we had a great quality sequence but no titles to accompany it, making our sequence look unprofessional overall. The lack of titles meant that our class didn't know who was involved in the creation of the sequence (e.g. the names of the actors), and they didn't know exactly what type of film it was. Our sequence included both action and enigma, but it was impossible to tell from this if the the rest of the film would have been action heavy or enigma heavy.

• In our thriller opening, we made the title sequence our priority. Having edited the preliminary task sequence together well, we knew that we could achieve the same level of quality for our thriller opening. However, having not created a title sequence before, we decided to dedicate a lot of our time to analyzing different title sequences so that we could produce a high quality title sequence that fit the theme of our sequence.