StoryBoards.

Storyboards.

Question 7

 When developing a comparison between one of your earliest and latest works in media, its easy to pick up upon what has changed through the editing and camera work developed between both pieces. For example, most of the sound in my preliminary is recorded through the camera, and has a lower sound quality when compared to the dialogue in boiling point, which was recorded with a more powerful microphone, however most of the audio in camera shots are muted, with the exception with some shots. Match on action is the term used to describe the edit between two shots with the action in one shot continueing in another, we use this techunique in our preliminary more than once, however the overall editing of these two shots isn't percise and isn't as short and simple as the edit should be, in Boiling point the match on action is reduced, but still is seen in the beginning of the opening sequence, although this is a good attempt at the techunique, it falls short as before we hear the glass hit the counter, the camera cuts to where the glass is already put down, this seems to be more of a jumpcut than match on action.   The 180 Degree rule is one in which a straight line is formed when two people are facing each other, between them is a line which the camera must stay on one side of the line, otherwise all forms of continuity are broken. In my preliminary task, I used the 180 degree rule well as the camera always stays on the right side of the room and never breaks this. Although the 180 degree rule isn't as used as it is in my preliminary, the sequences of shannen running are prominently on the right side of her, creating some forms of continuity.

Question 5 (Part 2)

Question 5

Question 6: What media technologies have we used?

When Given the task to produce a technology driven product such as the opening to a fictional big budget conventional film , we began to  develop skills when it came to using our technological skills to record footage, edit and plan the outcome to an exceptional standard.

In this breif overlook, we’ll cover each area of technology and how they’ve helped with the development with of my media product
Practical technologies are those which are used to initially produce our film, in more simpler terms, the equipment and technology we physically used to make our film. These include:

The Mi (or moving image) Camera: used to film the entire opening.

A Tripod to keep shots steady and is used to pivot the camera in some scenes (as will be shown)

A Fig Rig steadycam which allows more stabilised handheld shots (As shown below)

Theses technologies will have helped to create our production and develop our media skills by holding steady shots.In this clip we show how the tripod is used in an experimental fashion by tilting the tripod onto its two side legs, it creates this tilt, crane-like effect which turned out effective when shooting these two shots.Our second clip shows off how we used the fig rig to peform more steady, handheld shows which dynamically move around the objects as seen in the first shot and how free and flowing the movement is from the fig rig in shot 2.

My Media opening sequence.

Responding to Question 4: Our Audience.

The General target audience our thriller is aimed towards are women roughly aged between 18-23. We chose this group due to the mature plot points of the film and the more deeper context behind the film which is required for full establishment throughout the rest of the film.

We decided to generalise with a female audience, due to the use of two female protagonists, providing a strong bond with a feminine audience. We aim for our target audience to be university students who have a more established sense when compared to others, allowing their vast educated minds to interoperate the content in our film.
We also hope our audience is developed from Female Self Acutalisers, hopefully to become more emotionally attached to the characters and family bond portrayed in the first act of the film (later returning in the third). This would also help the audience understand the choices we made within our film can impact them more, therefore making it more enjoyable for them. 

Responding to Question 2: How does your media product represent various social groups?

Although our product is more initially focused on the change of society, there is a certain trend towards focusing on a female audience, as both protagonists in the two acts are both female and the only known antagonist is presumably male. We chose the female characters to be somewhat neutral with their approach to the dilemmas, neither are stereotypically 'ditzy' or too masculine, they present a strong figure when threatened but can let their confidence shrink if overwhelmed.


This section shows the female characters challenging the concepts of a female character.
We suggest that our audience is potentially female and therefore can relate more realistically to the character


 The male characters, or antagonist are presented as an empty vessel with little screen time, presented emotion or any basic feelings. The lack of this male character allows the audience to interpret their own instrests towards the character, developing a more deeper and challenging the conventions of a stereotypical male kidnapper.


 

Opening Sequence: Second Draft

Question 3

Pathe' is a French company founded in 1896. Have produced various innovations through films history, they were one of the first company's to produce hand coloured film. The reason why we chose to use Pathe' is due to the films that Pathe' have a trend to produce, they're a suitable company for a low budget shot on sight film set in the UK. The films Pathe' have recently produced all can fall into low budget set location films which focus on the emotions in which are developed throughout the media, placing unexpected twists and plot elements which change the course and flow of the film.

Pathe' use these films to fill a niche' of target audiences, which challange the traditional conventions seen in Hollywood produced films.
Our film sets itself out to begin as a somewhat traditional kidnapping thriller story, however in the first segment of the story we focus heavily on building a strong bond/relationship between the two characters. Instead of trying to produce instant emotions in the first five minutes, we want the relationship developed throughout the film, letting the audience eventually try to generalise with the characters. Later on throughout the film, the inclusion of another key point is the evolution of society, the point that this teenage woman has been kidnapped and hidden from society for the past 8 years, it shows how the turn of the millennium and the envelopment of the digital era can become almost too much to cope with for those stuck in the past.

 Our Audience is based around a more mature audience who can understand these points and how they affect the characters. Pathe' have produced titles such as Be Kind Rewind and 127 hours, both films start off as cliché titles to their respective genre but by the turn of the halfway mark both films instantly and continuously change in pace. 127 focuses away from the characters survival and shows us into his eventual mental downfall, reciting his last few memories before his supposive demise. As seen in this brief trailer, the beginning shots of the traliler develop the film supposedly as a high octane, feel good drama (especially in sequences seen in areas such as 0:50-1:02). The trailer also foreshadows itself, especially with the supposive Vlog style narritive being recorded the time he is stuck in the ravine, developing this huge sense of mental deterioration.
Be kind rewind changes from a comedy about spoofing blockbuster titles, to realising how much of an impact filmaking has produced towards people. Like our film, it breaks away from their conventional genre, letting the audience follow.

Question 1 Conventions of an opening sequence: An evaluation.

Conventions of an opening sequence. Lewis McNally Every film has to start somewhere; an opening sequence to a film holds a lot of responsibilities, mostly to grab the attention of its consumer so they feel interested enough to continue watching the rest of the film, filmmakers generally have a broad set of rules on developing a conventional opening sequence.


For example, the cinematography in the opening will have a vast variety and almost always include an establishing shot which gives some context of the films location. In the opening sequence of the Warriors, the first shot seen is an establishing shot of a train station, one of the key locations in the film.In our opening, we include a large panning establishing shot similar to that seen in the warriors, this lets the audience instantly recodnise the key locations of the opening and rest of the film.






 An accompanying theme or melody to subtly assist in developing emotions towards the audience. For example, Hitchcock’s Psycho’s iconic theme used in the opening is startling and makes the audience startled in return with its high pitched score. In our opening sequence, we use a low pitch and quite droning opening score to open with, this creates a more morbid and dulled atmosphere for the audience and accompanies what the audience should be feeling.






 Production logos, titles and credits providing information on the producers/actors who worked on the film, examples would be the various title animations for Hollywood distributors such as Universal. Using live type  we produce similar titles and used Photoshop to create a logo for our production company.





 Finally, opening sequences are edited and shot in way to develop an interest for the audience, giving them little information, forcing them to ask questions. The thriller Memento is shot using various close ups and extreme close ups, most of the content in each shot is limited and makes little sense until the full opening is viewed, it continues to ask the audience questions about the characters, the location, and the reason for the murder in the beginning of the film. In our opening sequence for a thriller, we used establishing shots occasionally; examples would include the large pan of the field you see near the beginning of the sequence. This is to hint to some of the locations/features present throughout the rest of the film, although the shots aren’t the first seen in the film.



 We included an appropriate soundtrack which develops a feeling of dread and loneliness; this is to accompany both the potential emotions for both the audience and our characters. Productions logos such as the paramount logo are present in the opening sequence along with titles with an appropriate typeface. We decided to keep very little dialogue in our sequence, however this is some narrative which foreshadows elements of the sequence, we did this to notify the audience of the films theme, and we did this without having any dialogue from the two main characters. The shot which includes a picture of the two characters creates an instant relationship between the two, thus why the film cross cuts between these two characters. We obscured the camera behind branches to develop that there’s a far bigger plot and theme beyond a classic kidnapping story, challenging the conventions of linear storytelling.

Opening Sequence First Draft

Title font

This is the font we're going to use for our opening sequence.

Producing a Shooting Schedule

Portrail of roles.

Hannah- The mother of the teenager that gets kidnapped. She is in the clips where it is set in the kitchen, Hannah will be dressed in normal, casual clothes because it is a mundane atmosphere. Shannen- I will play the teenage girl running in the field away from the kidnapper because i have clothes that fit the costume that my group wants her to be wearing. Lewis- Lewis will play the role of the kidnapper because he is the only male in our group and we envisioned the kidnapper to be a man. He also needs to help with the camera work while me and Hannah are in the frame because the kidnapper is the character that appears least.

Producing a storyboard

Producing an Animatic

Producing a script.

In our thriller opening, the use of dialogue is somewhat minimal, this is deliberate as although dialouge is a much faster way of bringing points across, visually portraying dilemmmas/themes portrays a more lasting appeal.

[Radio]: ‘So that’ll be coming up.

Breaking news on today, there has been a significant rise in the recent child abductions mainly effecting young women aged in their mid-teens. We would like to take this opportunity to alert both parents and children to be aware of their local neighbourhood for this recent incident. Mandy Corfeild was the last recorded victim abducted in London, her parents are avidly searching for her.'

Our script is based off a radio report which would diageticlly play through the first few moments of the opening sequence. Considering this line of dialogue is being produced by a radio, we plan to edit the audio quality by dropping the bass and eq level, and adding in a low level of white noise to create a more immersive atmosphere.

All the editing will be done on a free music editing program called Audacity

When planning the dialogue to be a radio broadcast, we wanted a convincing V/O artist to record the lines, the head of the Media department, Mr Metacalfe has previously worked in the radio buisness, announcing news bulletins, I decided to Email him about recording several lines for this broadcast. 

Copyright towards The use of the Hotline Miami Soundtrack.

Rights to use Scattle-Flatline

The opening Production Logo

In our opening, including our titles we had to produce a logo for our mock-up production 

company which has developed the film opening. 

The logo designed is influenced by the electronic soundtrack and historical decades in which the film is set in.

The logo itself uses a series of complimentary colors which create a contrast between the forms in the logo, much like the contrast between the mother and daughter in the film.

Props and Costumes.

 Costumes: Considering the setting of the opening, costumes are a setpeice towards the set period and the first impressions of the character, we wanted the mother to appear 'stuck in the past' To do this the costume of the mother is dressed in classic, floral dress/shirt inspired by the 70's the outdated look of the mother will hopefully give the audience the notifications of the setting, the daughter however will wear more modern casuals, jeans and some sort of sweatshirt.

 Props: One of the key props in one location of the family's living room is a boom-box radio (appropriate for the time period) the camera tracks from a newspaper to the radio and then cross cuts to another scene. Another major prop is the kettle, which boils over time as the camera cross cuts between segments, this use of personification through the kettle boiling develops the tension and emotions behind both characters.

Music in My Opening.

The music in this track appeals to the style of music I would pefer to use in my thriller opening, It starts with a minimal synth riff which could easily be looped to create a theme to the peice, the rapid drumbeat which accompanies, the style of the music itself fits well with the past atmosphere which we plan to create in addition, a rushed suspenseful opening which mixes elements of noire and surrealism.
This next song plays a very ambient series of melodies which I feel would could heavily accompany the climax of the opening, after the suspense has hit a high point the music slowly draws itself out to this monotone, ambient peice. Like the other track, the synthesised, 80's themed tembre produces an unsettleing series of emotions.

This final track, witchunt is unlike any other peice of music I have personally listened to.
I plan to use this track in the surrealist sequences of the opening, the mix features from ambient, electronic and darkwave peices of music create a heavilly unsettleing peice of music which again, creates a huge contrast between the two peices.