This is our final version of our piece Night Falls Fast, by Ewan Leslie and Eliza Teale
Overall, we were happy with the way our Media product turned out. The action of our Protagonist running and panicking to escape the antagonist was followed through in the high speed editing and cross cutting.
This is also the final version of the music, which we were very happy with. we layered different atmospheric sounds along with the soundtrack to make our piece more thrilling and intense.
We used Cinematic Booms as well for some atmospheric effects, like our end titles.
If I were to improve my piece I'd like to have had more time to film and establish more professional locations so that i could use more lighting with some interior close up shots. This would help establish the characters more.
The task of creating only a 2 minute opening sequence was very difficult, if we had had a longer time frame, we would have been able to establish the characters more. From our audience research we found that they valued establishing a connection with the characters in thrillers as it got them more emotionally invested in the story and it therefore became more thrilling. However, in our opening sequence we think that the fast cutting chase sequence theme of it is exciting and thrilling, and we hope that leaving the narrative slightly unknown would work to make our audience want to continue watching.
Friday 20 March 2015
PRELIMINARY TASK
PRELIMINARY TASK
In our preliminary task we had to show we could successfully create a piece of film with a narrative and show proof of a match on action, a shot reverse shot and of obeying the 180 degree rule. The narrative was to follow someone's action down a corridor, into a room, across a room and then a conversation between two people.
My preliminary task went well, it was interesting to experience editing the footage and matching the action for myself, although it was difficult to get my actors to pay attention!
In our preliminary task we had to show we could successfully create a piece of film with a narrative and show proof of a match on action, a shot reverse shot and of obeying the 180 degree rule. The narrative was to follow someone's action down a corridor, into a room, across a room and then a conversation between two people.
My preliminary task went well, it was interesting to experience editing the footage and matching the action for myself, although it was difficult to get my actors to pay attention!
EVALUATION - QUESTION 7
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?
In our preliminary task we had to show we could successfully create a piece of film with a narrative and show proof of a match on action, a shot reverse shot and of obeying the 180 degree rule. The narrative was to follow someone's action down a corridor, into a room, across a room and then a conversation between two people.
The preliminary task introduced us to using formatting programmes such as Final Cut Pro. Although this was difficult to grasp at the beginning, I soon got the hang of it.
In using these programmes I figured out how to match on action and cut pieces of footage together to make a clean and clear piece of film.
This lead to our compulsory task 'The Package'. Each group was given the same objective: to create a film with the narrative of a package arriving and being placed on site at school. This process involved working in a group and learning how to incorporate transitions and music into our piece of film in Final Cut Pro.
These experiences were the foundation blocks of all the knowledge I have accumulated through completing this piece of media.
In working in a group, I learned that all shoots must be planned and organised with everyone's corporation. This lead to my development of my pitch and then story boards and shot lists of the piece to get an overall idea of how it would look. Planning like this allowed for mistakes and problems to happen and be solved quickly; a lesson I learned quickly from not having time to plan the shooting of 'The Package'. However, we still made mistakes during our shooting for our final piece, equipment was forgotten, not charged or even worse, left at school! Having already planned my piece and its shooting schedule before embarking on shooting it was valuable though, it allowed me in those moments of panic to think of a way around the problem and how what we were going to do instead.
'The Package' and my preliminary task helped me to understand that it was vital to take recce shots and to understand the location that we were filming in. Recce shots allowed us to see which locations worked on the screen instead of behind the camera. I learned that it was hard to get the perfect shot and you often weren't lucky in terms of lighting. However, through the recce shots, I was able to grasp an understanding of the location and are that I was filming in. Having already learned from 'The Package' that not only multiple shots are vital but multiple angles are vital too, I was able to get a clear image and understanding of each location I wanted to film in so that when it came to the shooting day, we were able to take more time on learning what shots we liked best rather than wasting time on setting up. Due to the planning we had done earlier, we were confident enough to experiment with different shots and angles and chose which ones we liked best with the location and lighting that we perhaps hadn't thought of on our storyboards.
In using these programmes in 'The Package', I began to get an understanding of how to use music, camerawork and editing to aid our film in creating a thriller atmosphere. In 'The Package' the camera had a perspective and a narrative of it's own. In our final piece I composed some shots from the new scenes that we added, to create a connection between the protagonist and the viewer. For instance the shot where our protagonist looks directly at the camera establishes a conversation and connection between the character and the viewer.
In our preliminary task we had to show we could successfully create a piece of film with a narrative and show proof of a match on action, a shot reverse shot and of obeying the 180 degree rule. The narrative was to follow someone's action down a corridor, into a room, across a room and then a conversation between two people.
The preliminary task introduced us to using formatting programmes such as Final Cut Pro. Although this was difficult to grasp at the beginning, I soon got the hang of it.
In using these programmes I figured out how to match on action and cut pieces of footage together to make a clean and clear piece of film.
This lead to our compulsory task 'The Package'. Each group was given the same objective: to create a film with the narrative of a package arriving and being placed on site at school. This process involved working in a group and learning how to incorporate transitions and music into our piece of film in Final Cut Pro.
These experiences were the foundation blocks of all the knowledge I have accumulated through completing this piece of media.
In working in a group, I learned that all shoots must be planned and organised with everyone's corporation. This lead to my development of my pitch and then story boards and shot lists of the piece to get an overall idea of how it would look. Planning like this allowed for mistakes and problems to happen and be solved quickly; a lesson I learned quickly from not having time to plan the shooting of 'The Package'. However, we still made mistakes during our shooting for our final piece, equipment was forgotten, not charged or even worse, left at school! Having already planned my piece and its shooting schedule before embarking on shooting it was valuable though, it allowed me in those moments of panic to think of a way around the problem and how what we were going to do instead.
'The Package' and my preliminary task helped me to understand that it was vital to take recce shots and to understand the location that we were filming in. Recce shots allowed us to see which locations worked on the screen instead of behind the camera. I learned that it was hard to get the perfect shot and you often weren't lucky in terms of lighting. However, through the recce shots, I was able to grasp an understanding of the location and are that I was filming in. Having already learned from 'The Package' that not only multiple shots are vital but multiple angles are vital too, I was able to get a clear image and understanding of each location I wanted to film in so that when it came to the shooting day, we were able to take more time on learning what shots we liked best rather than wasting time on setting up. Due to the planning we had done earlier, we were confident enough to experiment with different shots and angles and chose which ones we liked best with the location and lighting that we perhaps hadn't thought of on our storyboards.
In using these programmes in 'The Package', I began to get an understanding of how to use music, camerawork and editing to aid our film in creating a thriller atmosphere. In 'The Package' the camera had a perspective and a narrative of it's own. In our final piece I composed some shots from the new scenes that we added, to create a connection between the protagonist and the viewer. For instance the shot where our protagonist looks directly at the camera establishes a conversation and connection between the character and the viewer.
Or the handheld shot of the protagonist locking the door with keys which creates suspense, tension and thrills through the fast action and pace of the camera. This makes the viewer seem like they are in the position of the protagonist character themselves.
Or the over the shoulder close up shot that not only establishes the perspective of the protagonist but also makes the viewer seem like they are in the room with the character and experiencing the story themselves.
'The Package' and preliminary tasks overall gave me the tools and understanding work of the camera and the softwares that I needed to create a smooth shooting process and create a fluid clear aesthetic to our piece as a whole. They highlighted the importance of planning in advance and being confident when using the camera. They gave me the starter experience I needed to gain in order to tailor our piece to fit exactly the style and narrative we wanted to and therefore create as exciting a thriller as possible.
EVALUATION QUESTION 5
How did you attract / address your audience?
Initially Eliza and I decided to change our target audience from a lower age group to 20-30. This is because we discovered that younger ages where less keen on the idea of a social realistic thriller compared to a slightly older audience. This gave us a better idea of what the audience wanted and so allowed us to create a film specifically for that audience.
We rated our film a 15, and chose to target slightly older age group, but wanted to include the excitement of a thriller that might attract some of the younger age group as well. We generated a survey during our audience research, allowing us to see that it was the older age group that understood what a social realistic thriller was, which was the main motivation for our middle age group. We also learnt that people thought that the Mise En Scene and camera angles were very important in a thriller, and also the soundtrack, as these are all things that help make the thriller suspenseful. Through these studies we addressed our target audience and developed our product around these ideas to try and attract our audience.
Our audience response video is seen below:
We set up a Facebook page to help attract our audience, posting a survey to find out further what people were interested in. We continued to learn that a slow building suspenseful opening is what they wanted to see, and is hopefully what we achieved with our finished product. We really took into account what our audience suggested and developed our product around these ideas, which would help attract them, as they can then take more interest in our product.
We also wanted to attract our audience by having characters that people can relate to. The involved using verisimilitude to produce an opening that can involve the audience, to make it seem like a realistic plot so that they relate and take more interest in our product. We thought our soundtrack was a strong point to build suspense, as well as the contrasting settings, light and camera shots, which allowed for our slow building opening to be produced.
Survey response:
We also wanted to attract our audience by having characters that people can relate to. The involved using verisimilitude to produce an opening that can involve the audience, to make it seem like a realistic plot so that they relate and take more interest in our product. We thought our soundtrack was a strong point to build suspense, as well as the contrasting settings, light and camera shots, which allowed for our slow building opening to be produced.
Survey response:
Written by Ewan Leslie
EVALUATION - QUESTION 4
From our research and planning (vox pops, questionnaires and
online research) we found that an older audience of about 17-28 would enjoy our
film genre, psychological thriller, more. However, we hope to push the
boundaries by using a younger main protagonist and hope that this will open up
the range of our audience age to younger people too.
Our film is open and available to many different types of people, any gender and of any personality.
However, in order to understand the market audience for our film, we have compared our film to the
However, in order to understand the market audience for our film, we have compared our film to the
So, in general, we believe that a viewer interested in visiting arthouse cinemas like Greenwich Picturehouse or The Ritzy Brixton who enjoys developing an amateur critique of many different films would enjoy our film.
Since our film's plot is much like that of 'Taken', though in a completely different aesthetic, the audience who found the story of 'Taken' thrilling would also find ours thrilling. This would mean our audience could dip as low as 15 years of age.
We hope that through the distribution of our product would be available and attractive to all kinds of classes. However, since our film is a psychological thriller, we would aim it to be predominantly presented in city centre art house cinemas. This could mean that it might narrow our audience range as the prices might not be affordable to all classes of people in a city.
Essentially our audience for our film would be young adults (17-28) who are interested in psychological thrillers and go to art house cinemas regularly rather than blockbuster cinemas.
Eliza Teale.
EVALUATION QUESTION 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
There are two sides to the distribution process, that being two different styles: Independent and Major. Majors are large Hollywood companies, such Warner Bro's who distribute 18.3% of the films we see nowadays. Another example are United International Pictures who have distributed 10.2% in comparison to Warner Bro's. The films they distribute are often large; big budget Hollywood blockbusters then generate a large turn over profit, and work on a multi million-film budget. This is not the style of our film at all.
We would look to use a much smaller company, which release a larger range of films in comparisons to the larger companies. They target small independent audiences instead of world wide, allowing for more specific films to be distributed by certain companies. Companies like these often have very small budgets, using more general locations and less cgi. This is something our product incorporates.
An Art-house, or much smaller companies would most likely distribute our product. An example of this could be Vertigo, which is an independent British company who work on micro-budget productions. They are a London based company, who have previously worked with unknown thrillers and products. They generally aim their products at the British population, and would hopefully take interest in our small independent product. Film4 might also distribute our opening, with our minimalist indent, and low budget feel to the film.
There are two sides to the distribution process, that being two different styles: Independent and Major. Majors are large Hollywood companies, such Warner Bro's who distribute 18.3% of the films we see nowadays. Another example are United International Pictures who have distributed 10.2% in comparison to Warner Bro's. The films they distribute are often large; big budget Hollywood blockbusters then generate a large turn over profit, and work on a multi million-film budget. This is not the style of our film at all.
We would look to use a much smaller company, which release a larger range of films in comparisons to the larger companies. They target small independent audiences instead of world wide, allowing for more specific films to be distributed by certain companies. Companies like these often have very small budgets, using more general locations and less cgi. This is something our product incorporates.
An Art-house, or much smaller companies would most likely distribute our product. An example of this could be Vertigo, which is an independent British company who work on micro-budget productions. They are a London based company, who have previously worked with unknown thrillers and products. They generally aim their products at the British population, and would hopefully take interest in our small independent product. Film4 might also distribute our opening, with our minimalist indent, and low budget feel to the film.
Our ident has a sophisticated feel to it, with its minimalist style matching those that suit smaller independent companies. The titles are similar; creating interesting graphics that could be used on a larger film, but have a smaller budget feel and more of an arty presence. The rest of the titles, where only words are used compared to out actor titles, are dotted across the page, similar to the style of London to Brighton, a film that was low budget and was an inspiration for out product.
Written by Ewan Leslie
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