Looking back at my preliminary task, I've developed quite a lot. During the preliminary task, I had to edit on my own being I acquired a range of skills I otherwise wouldn't have done. This helped enormously within our actual thriller as I felt more confident and able when it came to the editing. I also learnt the importance of camera angles and shots and how these affect the audience thus I took this knowledge with me when continuing onto the actual thriller. Continuity is a major aspect of filming and I have since learnt the importance of such, we had to re film many shots due to minor differences in location (e.g. someones bag in one shot and not in another). Our team work skills also developed greatly as we all took part in every aspect of the the production from filming to editing to directing and acting. I've also learnt the vital importance of a cliffhanger, and how the leading action has to build suspense in order for the cliffhanger to work. Originally, we we're going to kill off a character straight away however, the ending to our opening would then have been irrelevant and the audience would not have wanted to watch on.
I have learnt a lot from creating out thriller and its given the upmost respect for those in media industry.
Saturday, 29 March 2014
Q6 Evaluation
I have used many different technologise throughout my AS blog including Prezi and embedding video.
- Prezi is a very effective way of condensing information and a more interesting way of presenting links between my own points.
- Moreover, uploading clips and embedding them onto my blog and copying screenshots from other thrillers as well as our own thriller has help to elaborate on my blogposts and to too make them more interesting.
- I also scanned in photographs such storyboards to demonstrate a more artistic, visual level of our productions.
The internet was crucial for research as websites such as IMDB allowed me to find out bursts of information on particular films as well as giving audience reviews. Youtube too as helpful as it often had specific scenes I needed to include rather than searing through entire DVDs or Television schedules.
When deciding on a location I took many photographs on my mobile phone, this was a quick way of visually seeing our thriller come to life, so to speak.
Both my Preliminary task and Thriller opening has been uploaded onto YouTube meaning it was at easy access to adapt certain blog posts, and allowed me to add screen shots and clips from them both easily to the blog.
In order to maintain in contact with the rest of my group we used social media to arrange when to shoot our thriller and to discuss any additionally information outside of the classroom.
The Shoot.
When shooting our thriller we used a digital camera to film with, this allowed us to easily review our footage whilst still out filming meaning we could quickly correct any shots. This also meant our footage was of high quality and could easily be edited.
When editing our thriller we uploaded our footage onto the computers via a USB stick and edited using various tools. We mainly used the cutting tool to rearrange our footage and to place it together so that it flowed. We also used slow motion and various fades to enhance suspense.
Q5 Evaluation
Our potential audience demographic will consist primarily of white British females between the age of sixteen and twenty; they are likely to be middle class with a keen interest in many indie, art house yet cult films.
Location
The location is aesthetically pleasing and aids the transportation of the audience into another world that is more myth than reality. This is reinforced by the use of the dissolves and fades to black we used that indicate ambiguity and mystery, much like a myth. Equally, the fades to black enhance the continuity and ensure the thriller opening flows.
Costume
The costume is contemporary high street fashion which our potential audience is able to relate and identify with, this also enables the audience to position themselves with the main characters and become emotionally involved in the plot. Moreover, the audience is empathic with characters as they see them as ordinary people like themselves within extraordinary situations such as murder. This enhances the situation making it more realistic and thus more chilling.
Lighting
Our thriller avoids using the generic 'chiaroscuro' lighting as the bleakness of the winter day we chose to film enhanced the actions so well, any editing or non ambient light would ruin the bleakness of the thriller and make it unrealistic. Those familiar and fans of the 1994 production of Heavenly Creatures will note the similarity between both location and lighting.
Soundtrack
Our soundtrack consists of mixed sections of The Eternal Forest is both melancholic and mystifying much like that of Madame Butterfly in Heavenly Creatures. Usually, media productions that have a teenage demographic use upbeat popular music and although this would have contrasted well with our thriller, it would have also taken away the reality of it. The soundtrack climaxes with action of Danielle (female character) murdering Billy (male character and therefore narrates the thriller.
Camera Angles
Our thriller used many common camera angles that are seen throughout media genres from Thrillers to Comedies. The most used shot we used as extreme close ups, we used such in order to give an alternative perspective much like art house /independent productions.
Stereotypes
We challenged the female stereotypes by attempting to make the main female character a femme fatal and not a damsel in distress, this is affective as the female dominant audience becomes empowered by such. However, some audiences may read the representation of our femme fatal as being misogynistic in that any woman who deviates from the normal behaviour of women is treacherous and is also going against the normal behaviour of society by murdering; therefore the deviation of women should be frowned upon.
Intertextual references
As previously mentioned, we took much inspiration from Heavenly Creatures (1994) therefore our location and lighting is representative of such, as too is our storyline which sees a female character take control. Billy is representative of Pauline's mother in Heavenly Creatures as he is vulnerable in the large open space surrounds and eventually killed. If our audience notes this connection they be anticipating Billy's downfall from the very beginning.
Another reference is to Kill Bill Vol. 1, Danielle represents The Bride both with long blonde hair and a motive of revenge. The demographic audience of Kill Bill Vol.1 is likely to also appreciate such similarity in our thriller, encouraging them to watch on. However, as mentioned in question one, Danille could also represent the character of Bill in Kill Bill Vol.1 through the close up of her hands and rings much like that of the opening sequence in Kill BIll Vol.1 when Bill wipes blood from The Brides face, suggesting the audience that she too is a strong character not to be messed with. The fact Danielle represents both The Bride and Bill suggests to the audience she has an alternative motive for her crime and encourages them to want to discover what such is; again, a similar response to the opening of Kill Bill. Vol.1
Cliffhanger
Despite referring to Danielle's actions as murder, the cliffhanger suggests that perhaps Billy could still be alive. The thought of not knowing will entice the audience to continue watching. The ambiguity of Danielle's actions as well as not much of her character being shown, mainly just her hands and shoes intrigues the audience. Additionally, our thriller does not specify that the action is happening in 'current time' it could be a flashback suggesting the films plot could perhaps be more focused on the relationship and not the actual murder. We also used a fade to black at the very end irritating the audience further by not showing the outcome of the rope around Billy's neck.
All of which makes the audience anticipate every scene, and want to know what happens next.
Lighting
Our thriller avoids using the generic 'chiaroscuro' lighting as the bleakness of the winter day we chose to film enhanced the actions so well, any editing or non ambient light would ruin the bleakness of the thriller and make it unrealistic. Those familiar and fans of the 1994 production of Heavenly Creatures will note the similarity between both location and lighting.
Soundtrack
Our soundtrack consists of mixed sections of The Eternal Forest is both melancholic and mystifying much like that of Madame Butterfly in Heavenly Creatures. Usually, media productions that have a teenage demographic use upbeat popular music and although this would have contrasted well with our thriller, it would have also taken away the reality of it. The soundtrack climaxes with action of Danielle (female character) murdering Billy (male character and therefore narrates the thriller.
Camera Angles
Our thriller used many common camera angles that are seen throughout media genres from Thrillers to Comedies. The most used shot we used as extreme close ups, we used such in order to give an alternative perspective much like art house /independent productions.
Intertextual references
As previously mentioned, we took much inspiration from Heavenly Creatures (1994) therefore our location and lighting is representative of such, as too is our storyline which sees a female character take control. Billy is representative of Pauline's mother in Heavenly Creatures as he is vulnerable in the large open space surrounds and eventually killed. If our audience notes this connection they be anticipating Billy's downfall from the very beginning.
Another reference is to Kill Bill Vol. 1, Danielle represents The Bride both with long blonde hair and a motive of revenge. The demographic audience of Kill Bill Vol.1 is likely to also appreciate such similarity in our thriller, encouraging them to watch on. However, as mentioned in question one, Danille could also represent the character of Bill in Kill Bill Vol.1 through the close up of her hands and rings much like that of the opening sequence in Kill BIll Vol.1 when Bill wipes blood from The Brides face, suggesting the audience that she too is a strong character not to be messed with. The fact Danielle represents both The Bride and Bill suggests to the audience she has an alternative motive for her crime and encourages them to want to discover what such is; again, a similar response to the opening of Kill Bill. Vol.1
Cliffhanger
Despite referring to Danielle's actions as murder, the cliffhanger suggests that perhaps Billy could still be alive. The thought of not knowing will entice the audience to continue watching. The ambiguity of Danielle's actions as well as not much of her character being shown, mainly just her hands and shoes intrigues the audience. Additionally, our thriller does not specify that the action is happening in 'current time' it could be a flashback suggesting the films plot could perhaps be more focused on the relationship and not the actual murder. We also used a fade to black at the very end irritating the audience further by not showing the outcome of the rope around Billy's neck.
All of which makes the audience anticipate every scene, and want to know what happens next.
Q4 Evaluation
Our thriller opening is likely to attract a primarily female audience between the age of fifteen and twenty-five; our thriller attempts to portray a deviant femme fatal lead character whom diverts the expected norm by taking control of the scene and not submitting under the male character, therefore a female dominated audience may feel empowered by this portrayal, encouraging them to watch on.
We expect our typical audience member to be well educated with an individual personality and style, this is due to the ‘art house’ impression of our thriller, with its extreme close ups and strong focus on the natural beauty of the location. The location is aesthetically pleasing and will especially appeal to those with an interest of the Norfolk boards / costal area. Equally, it’s worth noting that the outdoor location is easily identifiable for a universal audience. However, our demographic is likely to be white British as the actors we’ve used portray such, therefore the audience will identify more with them. Also, the location may suggest the audience is adventures and perhaps enjoy exploring the outdoors further making the thriller realistic.
Moreover, our thriller explores aspects of the contemporary moral anxieties related to stalking within Britain; the audience realises the male character is being stalked by a - perhaps mentally ill - female character, this then encourages the audience to become conscious of the people around them and thus to take greater vigilance. It also complies with the consensus that strange individuals lurk behind trees in the foggy outdoors; heightening the certain British paranoia.
Q3 Evaluation
Our thriller is an independent production that would attract a niche audience, thus if distributed would perhaps fall into the art house category.
Our thriller could be distributed via television companies such as Film4 which specialises in independent gritty British films such as This Is England. However it would be most successful online. Our audience demographic is largely teenage and therefore the most efficient method of attracting said audience is via an online social medium. Websites such as YouTube is very audience orientated and would work in creating a word of mouth advertisement for our thriller; the website would also allow sharing onto other social mediums such as FACEBOOK and Twitter which would enhance our demographic.
Moreover, Norwich's CinemaCity is the most probable exhibitioner to show our film as it fits the niche art house criteria. CinemaCity specialises in screening independent films aswell as educational ones such as British Working Title's 'Anna Karenina' a literary adaptation, which was shown specifically for schools.
Q2 Evaluation
Our thriller production represents two particular social groups.
Billy represents that of white British middle class teenage male, whom is dedicated and individual. We represent this group in a largely positive manner as the audience is encouraged to sympathise with him and his misfortune. Billy's costume is also reflective of this group in order to make an obvious initial connection.
Danielle represents that of white British, assumed middle class teenage females. We opted for presenting this group in a negative light. Danielle represents youth crime through her actions of stalking and murdering. This also shows an unusual division of gender as Billy is made vulnerable by Danielle's actions. We reversed the common dominant male antagonist, such as Bill in Kill Bill in order to encourage the audience to consider such crimes from both genders.
The fact both characters are middle class also subverts the norm as usually the media presents criminals as being lower/ working class or if middle class the crime will be white collar and intelligent. Danielle could perhaps be seen as working class by wearing a hoodie however this subjective.
Danielle's femmine qualities of pained nails and rings gives her a sense of femme fatal and thus almost flatters the female audience, this also makes it more relatable as the female audience may share a similar image.
Billy represents that of white British middle class teenage male, whom is dedicated and individual. We represent this group in a largely positive manner as the audience is encouraged to sympathise with him and his misfortune. Billy's costume is also reflective of this group in order to make an obvious initial connection.
Danielle represents that of white British, assumed middle class teenage females. We opted for presenting this group in a negative light. Danielle represents youth crime through her actions of stalking and murdering. This also shows an unusual division of gender as Billy is made vulnerable by Danielle's actions. We reversed the common dominant male antagonist, such as Bill in Kill Bill in order to encourage the audience to consider such crimes from both genders.
The fact both characters are middle class also subverts the norm as usually the media presents criminals as being lower/ working class or if middle class the crime will be white collar and intelligent. Danielle could perhaps be seen as working class by wearing a hoodie however this subjective.
Danielle's femmine qualities of pained nails and rings gives her a sense of femme fatal and thus almost flatters the female audience, this also makes it more relatable as the female audience may share a similar image.
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