Final Product - Thriller Opening Sequence

Zaynah Syed-Thriller Evaluation 7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

I have learnt recording main shots like the 180 degree angle shot aswell as the shot/reverse shot.The preliminary task was mostly based on these shots, it wasn't very difficult to get the hang of them. While editing the shots, it was mostly based on getting the shots right so we didn't use any transitions or other effects to make it interesting. What I learnt from that was you shouldn't waste time on what is irrelevent and always stick to the task set.

When it came to the final product it was more complicated as we had many other shots to work with. In our 1st edited draft of our film opening we found that there was too much dialogue and not many shots which made it boring. We decided to cut down on dialogue and add more shots and make the scenes only 2 seconds long, this allowed us to add more of the story line in to the opening, making it more interesting to watch. When we edited our opening for the last time we decided that we use only music which runs through the whole 2 minute clip with just one bit of dialogue in the end of the conversation between Pia and Elizabeth, this was much more effective in terms of being able to not just make the audience listen but to also visually attract and make it independent of them to try to establish the twist in the story.

Regarding the problems we faced such as lack in planning and organising the time allocated for shooting, we were still able to produce a decent product which we more or less planned to produce. It was right in the end that we decided to change our storyboard making it very difficult to get the cast together for a last few shots and then re-editing the whole opening. Although we didnt have enough time, we still managed to finish our product in time and more or less acheived our aims. I feel that our product is still successful because we stuck to our treatment from the start which made it a little easier.

Zaynah Syed-Thriller Evaluation 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

We learnt a lot about and from these technologies while constructing our media product. It was very difficult at first, working with a video camera and learning to take various shots such as a shot/reverse shot or the 180 degree angle, etc.

While getting to grips with handling the equipement, other technologies that we came across, during the pre-production process, were using the internet for research using excel for our audience research, scanning the storyboard, using the blog, keeping it up to date. We also came across a fun and innovative software called 'Prezi'. This software allows us to make presentations, it is also known as a 'storytelling tool'. I enjoyed using Prezi since it made presentations more attractive and enjoyable.

During the production we used a canon handheld camera, it was a challenge getting used to, we used the camera itself to record many of our shots such as the close-ups to capture real emotions of the characters, high angle shot of Elizabeth locked in the toilet, making her look small, banging on the door seeing that she is not able to set free. We also used a tripod which was a very useful tool in keeping the camera steady for shots like panning in a mid shot, recording a conversation at a leveled angle. We used the tripod for most of our shots because this enabled us to record everything in a steady position. We also used the tracks for one of our main shots, this helped as we were able to broaden out the variety of different shots and angles we used. Using the tracks allowed us to record a conversation while walking in a slow but steady pace making it more real the audience so they can feel part of the scene.

In the post-production we used a software called Imovie, it was brilliant tool to help us in editing, mixing music in our opening and allowing us to overlap shots with other shots, in particuar when we took the panning shot of the cast in a group and merging it with a shot of the newpaper article about Columbine.

Zaynah Syed-Thriller Evaluation 4. Who would be the audience for your media product? and 5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We used a variety of research methods to get the most reliable and valid research to help us make our media product of a thriller opening. We applied Questionnaires, interviews etc to gather the kind of data we are looking for. Our target was aimed at teenagers mainly, even though our film is rated 12. This is because 12 year olds are aware of the challenges they will have to face in the coming years of being a teenager.

In the questionnaires we found that our target audience liked realistic thriller produced by mainstream companies, as they provide with the audience's preferred material. We also found that in order for our media product to be successful it is important that we got our characters, setting and props exactly right. So we used characters that were that looked 16 years old so it fits the criteria. Our setting was in a school and we showed lockers, classrooms, corridors etc. to create a realistic feel for the audience, as they can easily relate to the surroundings. As for the props we tried our best to make our characters look like school children, they wore uniform such as a white collar shirt, grey skirt etc. We preferred not to use a specific school uniform because we thought that since our idea regards the issue of bullying, it would be better to have them being recognised as school children rather than of a specific school because they are representing all victims of bullying.

Zaynah Syed-Thriller Evaluation 3.What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Looking back at the audience research we found that our target audience preferred mainstream rather than independant production companies this is due to how largely mainstream production companies are presented. They attract more audience than independent as the audience presummably give more attention to mainstream films rather than independant ones because mainstream companies have symbols or logos that they use so the audience can easily remember them, as well as they meet the needs of their consumers. A production company handles budgeting, scheduling, scripting, the supply with talent and resources, the organization of staff, the production itself, post-production, distribution, and marketing. Production companies are maybe owned or under contract with a media conglomerate, film studio, entertainment company, or Motion Picture Company, these institutions act as the production companies partner or parent company. Examples of mainstream film production companies like Columbia pictures, which is an entertainment company owned by Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Universal etc, would produce and distribute our product.

Screen Gems are an American movie production company, owned by Sony Pictures, one of the main conglomerates, and they produced and distributed films like 'The StepFather', 'Prom Night', 'Obsessed', 'the Roommate', 'When a Stranger Calls' and many other thrillers. Since our film targets mainstream audiences, our product may be funded by the film council or the National Lottery.

Zaynah Syed-Thriller Evaluation 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product develops the idea of bullying and the kind of negative effect it can have upon its victims. The social groups used in our media product are 'bullies' and 'nerds' or 'geeks'. a similar example to our media product is the 'Inbetweeners' which is about four teenagers who are social outcasts and are also friends with eachother. This programme tackles bullying with the use of comedy although it is such a widely attracted issue, regardless of what genre used to portray the issue it has gained awareness successfully.

Our media product is represened in many ways. Our target audience can easily familiarise with our media product because of the stereotypes we have used. What we found in our audience research was that the majority of our audience consist of 13-19 years old who prefer watching thrillers which involves the concept of teenagers. A few examples where we witness events like paper being thrown at the outcasts or one of the outcasts are locked in the toilet, these are wildly recognised events which commonly occur in minor bullying incidents. Many teenagers can relate to these events as they have probably been a victim, the perpetrator or witnessed some sort of bullying in their lives.

Taylor Loring- Thriller Evaluation: 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Development of Conventions: Furthermore our knowledge of other films and conventional thriller narratives allowed us to create ideas based on the Hitchcock film, Memento we decided to focus on the idea of memories and looking back at the past. Therefore we decided to create several flashbacks that the girl's will suddenly remember, subsequently transporting the audience to a previous time in their lives, hinting at the up and coming narrative. The sequence of shots developed conventions of thriller films as using a series of extreme close ups of the girls features provided a "personal" aspect to our opening, as well as symbolising the girl's hidden emotions, rather than displaying emotions through a dramatic form. What we challenged: However despite using these conventions of a thriller to fit general features of the genre, I do not feel our product challenged thriller conventions in any way, the event taking place in a school being a popular narrative for films aimed at a teenage target audience, E.g Prom Night. Even though our product featured camera shots seen in Hitchcock's thrillers, our narrative restricted our product from developing conventions as to attain some realism within our familiar setting we could not elaborate our narrative.

Thriller Conventions on Prezi

Blog thriller research the birds on Prezi

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

Scene from Waterloo Road (left)

The social groups represented in our film are:

• Teenage 'outsiders', Teenage bullies, and featuring prominatntley by their absence, teachers.

Whilst carrying out our audience research we discovered the majority of our potential thriller audience were of the younger generation, teenagers aged 13-19 years. Therefore we decided to base our thriller in a school setting, our cast being predominantly 16 year old girls. Within our narrative we decided to focus on the social group stereotypically know as the "School Outcasts" or "Nerds" as our characters carry out their crime due to years of bullying by school cliques. We also wanted to represent teenagers of a higher "social status" to themselves, forcing them to conform to the stereotypical "Geeky School victims".

In order to do this well, I carried our research into bullying in the Uk, looking at statistics and visiting the Childline website to gain a deeper understanding of bullying and its increase in schools.

• 69% of children in the UK report being bullied
• 87% of parents report that their child had been bullied in the past 12 months
• 20% report bullying others
• 85% had witnessed bullying
• (admirably, 82% of them tried to intervene).

Childline Website

Representation: In many ways we wanted our media product to represent teenage 'victims' social group in a stereotypical way, portraying them as weak and helpless. We mimicked typical bullying scenes, recognisable to the younger generation, like being thrown against a locker and having notes thrown across the classroom. The subject of bullying being very recognisable to our target audience, due its portrayal in the media in general and on popular TV Dramas such as "Waterloo Road", designed to portray typical school life, in particular. The fact that the girls did not retaliate to the bullying represented them as intimidated, as violence is a form of outward behaviour that teenagers would associate with those more confidant and overpowering. This was the way in which we wanted to represent the Bullies' social group, obvious violence being the key to portraying their nasty personalities, Keziah grabbing Pia around the neck.


Here is a print screen of the shot in which Pia becomes victim to violence through bullying, against the locker.














At the same time, despite wanting to represented the bullies as over confidant and aggressive, we wanted to highlight a contrasting side to the stereotypical characterisation. Therefore, when filming the bullies kicking Charlotte's books, we decided to have their faces not visible in the shot, suggesting a "faceless", heartless quality and the idea that they do not want to be "caught out", highlighting a timid side to the bullies against authority figures such as teachers.

We wanted to use our narrative to send a message to our generation about the seriousness of bullying due to our target audience being an older teenage audience who may have experienced our witnessed bullying of some kind, aware of the social challenges within the school environment. Our hard-hitting storyline may appear to be a classic tale of the school "outcast" being made victims by those more confidant, however I feel the dramatic twist in which the victims suddenly become the dominant more powerful characters, breaks the stereotype of the typical "Geek", representing that particular social group as "secretly strong" individuals to which Peer Pressure "Flips over the Edge" and enforcing just how devastating bullying can be.

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

(Below chart)

• We devised a questionnaire in which we asked the preferable media institution when selecting a film, to ensure we appealed to the majority audience. Through our questionnaire we discovered the most popular was a mainstream institution, for example Universal or Warner Bros. Therefore, our thriller would be produced by a mainstream institution.

(Above chart)

• We then wanted to know the reasons behind the audience's preference in institution. Our questionnaire helped us to discover that popularity of the production company had the most significant affect when selecting a film, the second most popular being the company's values.

Therefore we decided to create a mainstream institution similar to that of Universal. As a group we came up with the name Digital Pictures.

We wanted to keep our mainstream logo simple, like the font used by Universal. The word Digital indicates a modern, "21 Century" aspect to the company, linking to the high production values that Universal own.

• Other reasons behind our choice of a mainstream institution similar to that of Universal was the production history, producing successful films such as Bourne Ultimatum
• Furthermore we looked at Universal's market share, based on the assumption we were actually going to produce a film. Universal recorded an 16.0% market share for 2011.

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

• When deciding on our target audience for our thriller we created a questionnaire to help us gain knowledge about a wide selection of individuals, reviewing afterwards the most common age group. By doing this we would have a good knowledge of our audience when appealing to them through film, as we knew their preferences in the film industry.
• We decided that a teenage target audience ranging between the ages of 13-18 would be the best audience for our thriller, as we were of a similar age, with knowledge of the teenage society as a result of being familiar with school life. We felt our natural connections to our target audience gave us an immediate advantage as we knew what they would find most appealing.

•  To ensure it reached our target audience as directly as possible through advertising using different areas within media, we researched common ways in which people consume media. T.V and Posters/Billboards were the most popular. Therefore at trailer would have to appeal to our teenage age range.

• Subsequently this told us that we would need to have posters. The trailer would also have to contain things that would appeal to our target audience. This would ensure that if our thriller was to be produced, it would be seen across a wide audience and directly appeal to our target group within society. Thrillers aimed specifically at  a teenage audience, in particular, Prom Night would give us a relatively current take on a "Teenage Thriller", as it was produced in 2008.

Prom Night 2008 Trailer

Taylor Loring- 5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Media Evaluation on Prezi

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

 Whilst making our preliminary task and final product we used a Canon hand held camera. I have learnt to use the camera to film a variety of shots, something I was not familiar with at the beginning of the process. We used a tri-pod to make sure we kept the camera steady and filmed the conversation shot at a level angle. I was able to use the leaver on the tri-pod to enhance the angle at which we shot the cast as a group, as I learnt to track steadily across the girls’ faces as they stood against the wall. The hand held aspect of the camera was useful too, as it enabled us to move freely with the camera. Zainab was able to stand on a platform in the toilet cubicle in order to film Elizabeth from a high angle. In doing this, we were able to represent Elizabeth as powerless against the bullies. This was successful as it created the representation of the stereotypical weak "teenage outcasts", mentioned earlier.  Having the handheld camera also enabled us to take shots from different perspectives to create variety for the audience. For example, Pia's bullying memory was filmed using an over the shoulder shot to almost put the audience in "the bully's shoes"

We also used the tracks when filming. This was a very useful piece of technology as it enabled us to "follow the action" at a realistic pace whilst keeping the camera steady. We were able to track both Elizabeth and Pia walking down the corridor, matching their pace. This meant the audience would feel at ease with what they were "following" on screen as the shot matched the action realistically. The tracks combined with the aid of a tri-pod to hold the camera completely still, helped us to film a successful conversation shot towards the end of our opening that hinted at the up and coming plot. As our  preliminary task itself was to master this shot, we found it easy to replicate the shot reverse shot through previous experience as well as our knowledge of the 180 degree rule within film.

When it came to the process of editing I had to get to grips with using Imovie software. Despite finding this very challenging due to my lack of experience with Imovie making technology, I was able to learn how to split and cut clips. I also learnt how to loop a track so that it plays continuously throughout the sequence of shots. Furthermore, I learnt how to create a "memory" through inserting transitions such as "Ripples"" before the bullying scenes to imply, "looking back in time".  Furthermore I learnt to overlap shots to give away aspects of the narrative. This is shown through the shot of the girls, overlapped by the Columbine newspaper article  Overlapping the newspaper article with the shot of the girls was successful as it allowed the audience to make a judgement about the following storyline, the Columbine paper hinting at the event that they girls become involved in.

 

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

Prelim Task
Looking Back on our preliminary task I feel we have learnt a lot during the progression to our final product. The preliminary task was ultimately the first time we had experienced using filming equipment such as the handheld camera and tracks e.t.c. In our preliminary task we were limited to a simple "shot reverse shot" (conversation shot). Even though it was restricting in some ways it was easy to replicate due to it being constantly used in soaps: Eastenders unusual converstion shot

Nevertheless, like in our preliminary task, we used a conversation shot in our final product in order to make our audience feel at ease with the characters, as they are immediately "let into" characters' personal  conversions. As our audience would already be familiar with shots of this kind, we decided it would help to create a sense of reality as the audience we be comfortable with the shots on screen as they have seen them before, in programmes that "mimic everyday life".

To make the build up to our conversation more interesting we decided to include an over the shoulder tracking shot to almost build suspense as I approached the room. This was successful as Zainab filmed it over my shoulder from inside the lift, capturing me just as the lift doors opened, creating a sense of place for the audience.

When creating our thriller opening we considered having a tracking shot of one of the girls slowly walking into school, coupled with tense non-diagetic sound to create a tense atmosphere as the audience don't know what's about to happen. However, due to lack of "extras" and an appropriate location, this was not successful. Therefore, in comparison to our preliminary task, we decided the symbolic route would be easier to film, and build tension as the audience would have to interpret for themselves the emotion behind their features. Close ups allowed us to confront the audience with raw emotion straight away, rather than prolonging their introduction to characters through over the shoulder shots used in our preliminary task.

When creating our final product I feel we had much more freedom to "play" with different shots. We created storyboard featuring several different shots as well as the typical shots that featured in our preliminary task, such as shooting the bullies from a low angle to make them appear powerful as it seems as if they are “towering over the audience”.

However when we actually began to shoot our opening our chosen shot sequence was not successful due to it being too literal and revolving around the actors and there dialogue.

Therefore, we decided to take a more symbolic route.  As you can see from the first part of our storyboard, a serious of extreme close up of the girls' individual features lead to flashbacks of the girls' bullying memories. I feel was extremely successful as it they also acted as a way for the audience to establish the characters as they were followed by close up of the girl's faces. This presented a direct contrast to our shots in our preliminary task, as they were basic and did not provide room for interpretation as they were so literal. For example we shot those engaging in the conversation using mid-shots, that did not reveal anything about their characters visually. Our final product included a panning shot of all the girls standing at an equal height against as wall. Despite them being of a equal position within the frame, their tormented facial expression hinted at "underlying truths" in what was once an equal group of friends.

I feel we have made progress from our preliminary task as we have learnt through trial and error that the symbolic route is a better approach as it helps to indicate details in the narrative more subtlety. It also builds suspense through interpenetration of the shots as the audience have to connect with the emotion on screen. 

I feel that we were unsuccessful in our planning as we did not spread out our filming prep time well enough, meaning our filming time was rushed and some of our editing time was limited. This was the major cause for us adapting our storyboard a few weeks before the deadline in order to make filming easier and faster using simple, shorter symbolic shots. As well as this I feel we did not come up with an original narrative, as I found overtime the fact it was based on Columbine became restricting as we had to make sure we communicated the idea of a shooting in the 3 minutes.

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

There are many different conventions that fit into the thriller genre to get a better understanding all of them I made a PowerPoint presentation to illustrate to myself the different qualities I would have to consider when we had to make our own opening.  http://www.slideshare.net/ZainabMorafa/thrillers-10774426 I looked at the opening of 'The Interpreter' http://www.slideshare.net/ZainabMorafa/the-interpreter I dissected the opening of the movie and looked at the different conventions, while looking at the opening. I looked at the aspects of the opening that stood out to me and thought of different ways I could use that in my own opening, whist watching the opening.

In the opening of our Thriller 'Dissimulate' we used close ups and extreme close ups to show the audience our main characters, and showed that they were in school to give them a general idea of what ‘Dissimulate’ would be about these two shots were also used in the opening of ‘Limitless’ when I watch it I realised that it gave the audience a better understanding of the movie so they aren't left feeling baffled   right from the start of the film.

We then added clips that were memories to do with each character to show the audience of their past so that they could get a closer understanding of what the characters have been through. Many of the Thriller openings that I had previously watched the non-diegetic sound used had a direct link to the movie, for instance ‘Limitless’ the non-diegetic sound used in the opening enhanced the idea of life moving at a rapid speed which links in with the movie itself.     We decided to use ‘Demented Dreams’ because the tempo of the track was slow, and eerie which linked in with the slow pace of our clips and the longevity of the bullying that these girls had been through. Though our film is based at school and about life its different to typical Thrillers that are based around school, they mostly focus on teachers and student relationships or about a school trip when pupils go missing, I thought that it would be better to make a Thriller that has a link to the real world I decided it would be best to base it on Columbine something that I had previous knowledge on so it would be easy to include the background information.

Zainab Morafa - Thriller Evaluation - 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Copy of Thriller Evaluation - 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups? on Prezi

Zainab Morafa - Thriller Evaluation - 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Thriller Evaluation - 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? on Prezi

Zainab Morafa - Thriller Evaluation - 4. Who would be the audience for your media product? & 5. How did you attract/address your audience?

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Zainab Morafa-Thriller Evaluation 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

The hardest concept for me to grasp for me was making our thriller opening have continuity i wanted to make sure that it gripped the audience and in order to do that i had to learn about various shot types such as the 18- degree rule, and over the shoulder shot and shot reverse shot, after watching endless hours of TV trying to pick up on the shots they had used I realized that the 180 degree rule always made the conversation between the characters a lot more continuous and many other shots that i thought we could use in our opening. there where sometimes where the camera and I seemed to disagree and we had to go over many shots over and over again just to able to get them right then in the end we didn't even use them. we used a Canon handheld Camera the hardest shot for me would have been the shot of Elizabeth in the toilet because it was a very small space i was on an higher angle than her in order to make her look inferior but also i had to make sure i kept my hand steady so that it didn't break the continuity
of the shot.




The panning of the Close Ups of each individual was an idea suggested by Taylor firstly i thought that it may be hard to do something like that but after hours of persistent attempt's we finally made it work and it fit perfectly into our opening. we used iMovie to bring all our clips together and cut all the handles on our clips our so we had a neat film, using iMovie wasn't to challenging because i enjoy the editing and cutting of shots   also the concept of iMovie wasn't that hard to grasp.

Zainab Morafa - Thriller Evaluation 7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

I feel our preliminary task was very good however it wasn't as tight and the shots weren't as close as they should have which did break the continuity a little bit but over all i feel  i learnt more different types of shots and also I learnt how to make sure that our opening would clasp the audience attention from he start. 

Age Certificate

Our film is based around the story of a tragic event in Columbine, the story involves 4 main characters played by teenagers who decide to re-enact the event in their school after much suffering as victims of bullying. We chose our opening sequence to be rated age 12 as it brings about an idea of carrying out a violent act.


Films under this category are considered to be unsuitable for very young people. Those aged under 12 years are only admitted if accompanied by an adult, aged at least 18 years, at all times during the motion picture. However, it is generally not recommended that children under 12 years should watch the film. Films under this category can contain mature themes, discrimination, soft drugs, moderate swear words, infrequent strong language and moderate violence/sex references.

Filming Progress:Problems we encountered

• There are several problems we encountered whilst beginning  to film. Whilst filming Charlotte running out of the classroom it appeared that Charlotte fit into the frame of the shot, however wen we played it back on Imovie we discovered her head was cut out of the shot as we did not increase the height of the camera angle enough, causing her head to be cut out of the frame, spoiling the continuity and the concept of mimicking "the natural eye". 
• Lighting also created a problem as it changed due the time in between filming outside and the location of the shot. We found the light shone on Elizabeth's face whilst walking around the corner causing her face to be barley visible. Furthermore, when she sits down with the other girls, the lighting decreases causing the shots contrast and not link together       visually, disrupting continuity. Therefore, we will shoot the series of shots again, ensuring we alter these specific problems.

New Shot Sequence Storyboard

As we decided to go down the symbolic route within our opening after completing a brainstorm, as a group we came up with a new sequence of shots to create our narrative. In order to make our new ideas clear and ensure we understand the order in which our shots appear on screen I created a new storyboard to help bring our ideas to life and give us a visual of our thoughts to help us when filming.

Narrative Brainstorm

Once we had realized that our shots had to be alltered it became apparent that our ideas had been too literal and not symbolic enough in order to make our opening interesting and capture the audience. As our shots were more "theatre like", ratther than that of a film opening, due to the duartion of the shots being too long with too much diaglogue. We decided that reviweing themes within our narrative would help us to create new symbolic shots, hinting at aspects within our storyline to create the narrative on screen as a whole. Above I have created a brainstorm of the themes identified. Each theme will now be the bases of individual shots,for example; extreme clse ups of the girls looking worried, followed by close ups of there features (eyes,mouth,hands) to emphasise their nerves as they rememebr being bullied.

Title sequence

Location shots

As our thriller is aimed at a teenage target audience we decided to film our opening in a school setting, using classrooms etc., as our characters are students and it will make our narrative more relatable for our audience as the set is an environment that they recognise as they have had there own experiences within familiar surroundings, for example; the playground bench is somewhere that teenagers often use as a "meeting place", along with the lockers being a typical feature of a school setting that everyone is familiar with. Not only this, but it is also a stereotypical place where bullies torment their victims. The toilet is somewhere personal in which teenagers often conceal their secrets or hide when vulnerable, therefore we decided it would be a perfect setting for Elizabeth to become victim to teasing.