TASK 7; Basic Prelim task vs Main task (thriller)

In the prelim task the storyboard was written for us, it was very basic, involved only 2 people and didn’t have any complications.

Whilst in our main task we as a group had to come together and decide what would be in our storyboard, this of course required much more time and energy and group decisions often come with disagreements and agreements before coming to the final conclusion.

We got 2 people to do the drawings while the other two people came up with the ideas and shots but in general we all invented an idea to add to the story board.

The prelim task was shot in he media suite, done by 2 directors with 2 actors. We didnt change locations, we had no costumes and the only prop used was a wallet. We did plan ahead and choose the actors but the only thing we used from the story board were the words and shot angles.                                                                                However, when doing my main thriller we had to follow the storyboard to the exact and sometimes some things didnt work out so we had to change them on the spot. we had about 7 different location for each different character, we had to set up the studio to make it more alike to x-factor, we had a green screen set up for the graphics we were going to add during editing, we had to clear up the dustbins and set it up so ella denton would be able to enter. We used different guns as our some of our props.

   

 In our prelim task we used 3 basic shot angles, close-up, mid-shot and over the shoulder shots

while in our main thriller it went more complicated we had to use panning and tracking shots to follow through when our presenter was coming down and when we followed one of our actors. We used close-ups over-the-shoulder shot and mid-shots too. We used the mid -shots close-ups when when filming in the green screen

 We addeed fire/flamming effects on the green screen during the ediing process, showing more sophisticated use of media product than was expected in your prelim task.

We recorded our progress each time we logged onto final cut pro. I figured out new things it was capable of doing. We did more things with than we did with our prelim task such as adding sound effects and sound tracks to trigger certain emotions from the audience.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT

TARGET AUDIENCE

My target audience would be a niche audience because it is a low budget film. Also it will be male dominated and they would range between the age of 16-25 because my film is a reality action thriller and this age range is most likely to be interested in the whole thrill experience and shooting/action, etc and also because that’s the age that usually have less work to do so they have enough time to go out and buy the DVD and watch the film. Another reason this age range would be attracted to this film is because they fature in the film the most. Therefore the film would have personal resonance and relevance to that particular age range.However the thriller could also attract people in their 30’s who will then be the secondary audience, they would watch this thriller because of the sociological depth to the thriller and the ones that are really old could watch it because, perhaps they are going through some sort of mid life crisis. Because the film is male dominated, although males are the ones mostly busy in work but they are the ones most interested in the action. It would also attract a female audience because they are female characters in the play who are undergoing some sort of issues and that’s the reason why they would want to kill, the females might be able to relate to all these problems and in this way would be interested in the film, the female audience who are older might want to view this thriller because of perhaps their children are undergoing such problems. Sociologists might be interested in this film also because it talks about social problems and we interview them personally more like a documentary and they might be interested to view what they have to say. The thriller would also attract audiences from a working and middle class background because the one of the characters was homeless and she became the winner so this would generate hope.

this would be an example of the type of audience it'll attract (male dominated)

another example with a secondary audience included

Attracting my target audience

Attracting Our Target Audience[1]

Profile of my target audience

A good example of someone form my target audience would be:

Name: Channin Brown

Age:23

Interests: soccer, self defence, crime investigation

Channing tatum is an expiring Lawyer who enjoys reading crime books in his spare time, His favorite movies would be Inception. He spends most of his spare timje watching Law and Order and CSI maimi. He loves action thrillers and is easily excited by things like guns and weapons, and his excitement is also triggered by when people find out who the criminals are.

Warp Film Distribution

I would chose Warp as my film institution because I would like to film a thriller and it would revolve around British reality series, it would also be low budget and it is a low budget film making company, They have made other thriller films like ‘Kill list’ and ‘Tyranasaurus’ and they all thrillers and low budget. They also made ‘This is England’ which focuses on social realism and is some what an action thriller which is quite similar to ours as it’s more of a reality TV action thriller.
They focus and specialize on low budget thrillers. Warp can advertise the film using cross media convergence. For example, they have a connection to film four so they can then advertise it on television and then they can make a soundtrack on the film which can then create more awareness of the film. They would market my film through advertising such as using billboards and tv, newspapers and magazines and DVD sales. They also can use other film companies to advertise it. The film we are also set to a small audience so a high budget wouldn’t be needed as it would be more like a reality programme and set using low budget equipments. This film, is fairly successful, and would produce a lot of money because of how little money would likely to cost. Warps is likely to target an audience that range would be from 16 to 35 years olds, so its rather a young audience which is the range of audience which is likely to watch our thriller, also more of a male audience, and our thriller is more of action so its for a male dominated audience Given the type of film ours is it is unlikely to have more than a platform release at the Cinema if any. Therefore the DVD market and selling the film for European rights is going to be essential for our films success. Film 4 and Warp don't have the money or kudos to distribute the film worldwide therefore they would probably premiere it at film festivals around the world in the hope of finding worldwide distribution. By selling the rights abroad Warp can recoup some of their costs and offset this against the film. If they only sell cinema rights and retain dvd rights then they would have more chance of making money providing the film generates favourable reviews and creates a word of mouth buzz.

HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS

We portrayed the Druggie in a stereotyped way due to the fact that our thriller is based on socially rejected charcaters that are stereotyped and we thought a druggie would be a perfecct example as drug use is illegal and makes you do things that you are not aware your doing. Seeing that our thriller is based on a game where 'socially rejected people kill people to 'win' a druggie would be a good example as they wont be on their normal state of mind.

Newspaper article;

Signs of Drug Use

Drug users belong to a distinct subculture. For example, they have a language all their own. And in this electronic age, kids have more private means than ever before by which to shelter their activities and interaction.  
Nonetheless, despite the effort kids make to hide their drug use, the drugs prompt behaviors that signal their presence if you are alert to them. And you can interpret their lingo. And you can use those same electronic devices and computer features to keep them safe. This section will help you with that. 
Behavioral Signs of Drug Use

• Learn what types of behaviors you can monitor in the quest to keep your family drug free.

Get Smart about Digital Habits and Influences

• Technology has made it easier for children to communicate about many subjects-including drugs and drug activity. Learn about risks and what you need to know about the most popular online gathering places for teens.

Language Signs of Drug Use

• What may appear to be random letters, numbers and gibberish are actually phrases and "code words" that teens use.

HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS

We portrayed the Asbo in a very stereotyped way, as he was cursing and wore stereotyped outfits of an asbo e.g. grey trackies, a white dirty hoodie with a hat looking generally very scruffy. This was a negative representation of the asbo as in the society asbos a looked at as very bad people who have committed some kind of crime and in our thriller, the whole point of displaying these characters was to reflect on the reality of the society. We also interviewed the asbo in our thriller in the back of a van when he was alone, this was to reflect on the general ideology in the society of asbos being very anti social.  

We added the Asbo to our thriller in the first place, because the thriller consists of characters that are socially rejected because of their faults and who the society has labelled in a bad way. for an e.g. druggie and illegal immigrant

Newspaper article on Asbos.

• • 
    

    Asbo replacement orders announced by government

    Some say Asbos have not worked and are treated like a badge of honour among offenders

Task 1: Screen grabs

Our thriller starts with a voice over introducing the show, and because this is a reality show the characteristics make it different from a thriller film, however it conform to stereotype of reality tv shows as they usually have voice overs. we then added words (idea we got from x-factor) which we did during the editing process and to really outline the fact that it was a thriller the voice over said things such as 'one survivor' this would then bring about excitment from our audience a sort of thrilling feeling. This changes as the background of the title sequence during the voice over shows a tytpe of gun in a very dark area, this then brings a mysterious feeling to the audience.

 we used a logo for our thriller that shows very well the certain aspects of our thriller as it shows guns, which were used in the thrilller to kill the contestants, skulls, which represent the fact that people do die in the thriller and also it has one human like figure coming out with one hand held up high, representing victory. This outlines the fact we have only one survivor and therefore one winner. This logo conforms to stereotypes of reality tv shows and brings about an idea to the audience on what the show is about. this logo also conforms to stereotypes of game shows as the main point that it passes across are people killing eachother.

The visual introduction of each of the characters with a dramatic background of flamming fire all around them using a green screen and special effects. This also shows the aspect of this thriller as it then zooms in on the dangerous side of the thriller. this conforms to stereotypical game shows e.g. x factor as each of the characters are introduced in a certain way or so but however subverts to our audience expectations as at first the feeling they got would be an exciting feeling but the flammes intorduces the danger and dark side of the thriller.

We had an enthusiastic presenter on a stage talking and describing the show to the audience, this gives the audience a more detailed infrmation on the thriller so they would have a deeper understanding to it. It conforms to the stereotype of relity game shows as there is always a presenter to inform the audience about the show but however subverts the audience expectation as it contrasts with the flamming fire they just saw before the scene and shows them a more glammorous like tv show.

quick interveiws with the contestants also helped with building up more information for the audience

it also helps bring about emotion through the audience as the characters begin to talk about themselves and the audience can start to pick a favorite from the game show on who they want to win. This reflects the fact that such shows want the audience to feel excited and tense when watching such shows, so this conforms to the audience’s expectations of our film in reflecting reality TV shows.

we then had a dramatic introduction of the last years winner, Ella Denton. we had flames coming out of her head to show how level of danger and status. we did two medium shots and one close-up looking into the camera.we had her in an interveiw and got her to talk about everything she experienced last year, we made her seem like a hero which conforms to stereotypes of a game tv show, the winner always seems to be the hero.

we had her reminise about her past which was rough, she was homeless, we chose for her to have a hard past because thats what always happens in game shows such as x-factor the contestants always seem to have a rough past in other for the audience to feel bad for them again and for them to seem like a hero.

We cut away form the interveiw to visually show her past to the audience this would create deeper emotion from the audience this subverts the audiences original expectaions because a the tv show is doing more emotional work at this point than trying to thrill the audience and bring about shock and excitment. This process slowly builds up her success in the show but also explains how this show changed her life for the better. This is engaging with existing conventions of real media as many reality TV shows make their shows seem as if they are life changing and almost charitable to their contestants. We wanted to do this on a bigger level by showing her killing the other contestants, showing that not only does your life improve, but you also survive.

The ending of the thriller was kind of a contrastinf feeling from the audience as it ends with her killing her final opponent which is kind of intense and brings about a thrilling feeling from the audience but she rejoices about it and shows how happy she is this kind of makes the audience happy for her too and makes it more emotional than thrilling.

EDITING TASK

Our group took on a lot of shots as we have various montages I our thriller. We had more than half the clips to discard because we needed just about 2 seconds of a clip to be able to get the whole montage effect. We labeled our shots with 'best' alterative' 'good' and the bad one were just left blank. So before we started we already knew what clips we were going to use. We used the clips were the candidates facial expressions were extremely clear and outlined. For example a very angry facial expression or one of Freddie using the gun so that the audience is aware that the thriller contains violence.

Without montage we used a whole lot of mid shots ad close ups so that the audience ca really see what’s happening. We also have a part in which it shows all the faces of the people in the thriller close up but we left a space so there can be a dark blank space to increase the tension. We added a lot of graphics similar to x factor Our thriller is based on social realism of out casted/bad people I the society such as asbos and druggies so everyone was kind of the same status but there was a woman from 'the previous' show who had the most power and status as she won and she got the longest interview. We show this using montages of the previous show when she killed her fellow candidates and won the show. We also show how she grew within status and power as she was once homeless and then she won the show.

When the action is going on we used very fast pace music with the killing and this really shows the audience that it’s a thriller. We then showed the contrast with Ella Denton (the winner of the last show) before the show and after. For e.g. when she was homeless we used very slow and sad music to trigger emotion from the audience and used very heroic music when we showed the montage on how she won the last show using action hyped music which we then used to show the clear contrast to the audience on how she grew and changed in status from when she was homeless to when she was the winner of the show with greater confidence and higher power.

The editing process was very challenging but at the same time an enjoying experience for the group and i because our thriller has a whole lot montages and you really have to take your time cross cutting and creating montages to be careful not to make any mistake. For e.g. when we were creating the montage of the candidates of the show we tried to use only the mid shots then it did not work out so we had to change everything and add close up shots i the middle of every mid shot. Also it was challenging in the sense that we all had our different ideas and sometimes we wouldn’t know what idea to choose in terms of editing but usually we had votes and chose the one best suitable for the thriller and everything worked out just fine.

I would love to do the voice over in the beginning if had the chance to start again because I felt like it wasn’t of enough volume to go with the intensity of our thriller but we tackled that problem by editing the sound itself by making the voice a little deeper ad at the same time louder which turned out to be a success and it just flowed with everything we had done. This also enabled us to learn about the sound effects and how you can do different things like make it louder and deeper.  

I enjoyed the editing process because our group works perfectly well with each other and everyone is happy to take over and someone I the group if they’re stressed. I took on the role of writing down all the suggestions of graphics we needed for the beginning of the opening sequence and also did some labeling I the beginning and took an active role in editing some of the montages. Also we used time outside of our work hours to actually concentrate on our thriller and go and edit it because we were well aware our thriller was quite a task to edit because of the fact of the many montages and cross cutting so it we didn’t have to catch up with other groups when it was actually our work hours

This shows the clear difference of the preliminary task as then I did not really know what I was doing but then I used that process to learn things about the editing process that I was now to but now we hardly asked for help and we basically were more focused and knew exactly what we were doing and how to do the things we were doing.

I feel I have learnt that you need to be focused from the beginning of the whole film making because its the shots you do that will determine what you will have to work with during editing. We had to re-do some of the shots because when it came to editing it wasn’t exactly what we wanted. But I think our thriller is rather basic action involving guns violence and bad people in the society so it was not so hard for us to show our target audience that its a thriller, However we did use sounds to really portray the thrilling vibe of the overall thriller we used different synchronous diagetic sounds of the gun shots and used non diagetic action-like music at times where it was really fast paced to really zoom in to what is happening and bring about emotion such as shock and anxiety from the audience.