Evaluation question-7

Looking at the prelim task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

through our prelim task we have had lot of feedback and therefor we were hoping to eliminate any of the negatives to do with the film and therefor as a result would make our final product a lot better. However we took some of the positive as well to make our opening title sequence as realistic and authentic so that it will look as good as possible. In addition we had also learnt what worked well and what didn't work as well as we wanted again so we could highlight the positive and work around them.

For our prelim task we did a remake of the classic Quentin Tarentino film reservoir dogs during this remake we were within the school grounds. which meant we could see if we wanted to use such location for our official opening title sequence and it gave us a chance to also perfected what we could do in the editing room. We also got to see what sort of text and music we would want to use in our final piece to make sure that our target audience would enjoy what we make.

however as we put a modern twist on this film opening title sequence it meant that feeback was needed to see if we were going a long with what people would want to see and we would take note of what our target audience advice was there making sure we boost our grades for our final piece.

As well as this we got a feel for the new camera in which we would have been using as in previous years there would not have been as good quality and we had the use of the tripods and other sorts of equipment.

Evaluation Question 6

Here is a presentation in which i uploaded onto slideshare answering evaluation question 6

Evaluation Question 4/5

Here is my evaluation about the audience of our thriller film which i have done on prezzi

Evaluation Question 3

Here is my answer for evaluation question 5

Evaluation question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Within this slide share there are many different social groups. We had thought that including different social groups would help us get to a wider range of audiences and therefor our opening sequence would become more of a success. 
Visit jack stockman's profile on Pinterest.

Evaluation question 1

Final cut of our opening title sequence

Ultimatum - Final Cut of Our Final Opening Sequence


Below is our final product which we have been working on for a number of weeks. I have embedded the clip from youtube which also allows for audience feedback which will allow us to find out if our target audience liked our clip or not.

however below is our final cut if we had the budget for music which is in this clip and because we didn't have the right funding we had to use copyright free music.

Storyboard-Ultimatum

Ultimatum - Storyboard

Below are pictures of our Storyboards created for our Final Opening Sequence called Ultimatum. James Ellis illustrated the storyboards while Daniel Bruce described each scene. Through creating a storyboard our group was able to visualise each individual scene we were planning to film, and it gave us an actual description of what was wanted in each scene.

 

Risk Assessment-Ultimatum

Ultimatum - Risk Assessment
Below is the Risk Assessment which was written and completed by James Ellis, a member of our group.

For our production task we will be out of the traditional school location, as a result there will be some safety procedures that we will have to address in order to be certain that the production is conducted in a safe and sustainable way.

The locations for our production will include: Langley hill, Kings Langley common, Jack Stockman (actor) house and Daniel Bruce (actor) house.

Risks that we need to look out for whilst on production include:

Langley hill, as addressed in the name, is positioned on a large hill as a result suitable footwear would be needed at all time to reduce the chance of any slips or injuries occurring whilst on set which could potentially harm our chances of creating a production which is to our full capability.

Kings Langley Common includes a woods which is a vital part to our production. There are many risks which can occur whilst in a woods, most notably, the large amount of tree debris situated around the environment so carefulness is vital to the production. To reduce the chance or any injuries we will produce a clear path, which will be easily used by the actors without the risk of injury.

For our production we will be using props in enhance the professionalism of the production. Some of these include knifes which can be a highly dangerous positioned in the wrong hands. We believe that we are highly trustworthy to be with these props but as a safety procedure we will be using fake knifes which are made out of plastic to completely avoid the risk of any injuries.

In our production we will be using an actor of younger age of us who shall be positioned on a swing at one of the local parks near Kings Langley common, as a result there are some risks that come with being positioned in a park. To reduce the risk of falling off this piece of equipment, we shall be using crash mats to insure that if the worse happens, the actor will be safe and unharmed.

Another risk is another use of props. We shall be using a cap gun which fires out a smoke after fire, much like that of a real gun, for the professional effect. These can be dangerous, as a result we shall be using the gun as a safe distance away from the eyes and face which could be effected if not used appropriately.

One risk that we will be encountering is that of pedestrians and others in the local community. To ensue that everyone involve stays safe and can conduct the production successfully, we shall be filming when there are no pedestrians present. There may be others in the background that may appear to be people in the local community, but we can ensure that these are highly trained actors which are positioned for nothing but effect in the production.

Another prop used is that of a glass mug. Glass can be a very hazardous material if broken or chipped. To prevent any injures, we shall take extra care in case of breakage. If broken we shall have a trained first adder on hand to eliminate any threats that could become apparent in case of breakage or chips. 

Costume & Makeup- Ultimatum

Ultimatum - Costume & Makeup

 

Below is the Costume & Makeup post for our Ultimatum Production, which was written and completed by Daniel Bruce, the Director of our group.

When designing the costume and makeup for a thriller film you have to consider the structure and context of the opening title sequence. The portrayal of certain characters through how they dress and the make up they have on can completely change their position in the film, in many cases the miss-en-scene element of the film can make or break the reputation of a film.
 

The first scene will picture the father played by Jack Stockman and the son played by Connor's younger brother. The first shot has to establish a father son relationship the son could be dressed in his school clothes or something that connotes youth. Whereas the father needs to be dressed in more formal clothing maybe his shirt and tie after a long and tireless day at work. The picture on the right hand side is the actors from the first Harry Potter film, you can clearly notify their young age through the way they are dressed and the make up added to make them look younger, for example Harry's glasses show youth and that fact that he may like to read, his hair style is also simple connoting that youngsters aren't bothered by how they appear.
The next scenario is the father in an everyday environment like an office or cafe, in this case the father will have to be in a suit showing the audience that perhaps he is on his break, and has a well payed profession such as a salesman. The picture to the right hand side of this paragraph is a screenshot from the blockbusting thriller 'Shutter Island'. 
Both characters are portrayed as police officers from the 1950's, a good profession which should be connoted as professional and well presented showing their authority to the audience, i myself would like this to be the representation of the adult in the scene. Also the character which i play should also represented in this way as myself and Jack have similar professions in the current scene.
A character that is often hard to show in the thriller genre is the villain, and in our opening sequence we effectively have two. The first so called villain who is played by James is a target assigned to Jack by a mysterious caller, we felt that the target should wear dark shades adding a sense of mystery in the thriller film creating a question in the audiences mind, in our preliminary task where we replicated reservoir dogs, sunglasses aesthetically improved the look of our production adding a sense of professionalism. In terms of the overall costume James could also be wearing a suit, with a black tie and jacket or coat, the colour often represents evil and a sense of death which is about to follow.
 

The final characters that have to be represented are the assassins which are myself and Jack. A change has to be made from everyday office workers to highly trained assassins who are in search of a big pay off. Assassins have to be shown to the audience as serious, dark characters, perhaps dressed in all black suits with added extras such as dirty faces or balaclavas or even hoods covering the face. It is extremely vital that the two assassins are portrayed correctly, matching the thriller genre perfectly.

All of the following things must be considered in the making of our opening title sequence, and i feel that if the costumes are effective then our overall sequence will be aesthetically pleasing and appear professional to the audience. A big issue when making a Thriller film  brought up by Jake Hume and Simon Frame is how the film effects the audience, and so if they are focused on the plot rather than choice of clothing this means we chose the correct miss-en-scene elements in the pre-production stage.

Location recce- Ultimatum

For our film we needed to use many different locations.

 This picture is from daniels house where I would walk in after leaving the office 

This is taken from the edge of the woods where a part of our chase scene is set, this makes our opening title sequence look more professional as there are many different locations

This shot was taken within our school, as we needed a desk we thought that it would be prefect to use an already set up location, the fact that there are folders and cups shows its more authentic.

This is again within our school, we used this to show the reaction of my face when i get told about the person who I have to kill and about my son. The fact that it was raining helped to give our film more of a thriller feel about it.

This shot is to show the transaction when I enter the house to when i get the information about the person who i have to kill. 

This picture is taken in a near by field which was easy to get to, we used this to show the distance between the protagonist and the antagonist before the final scene.

We chose to use this barn as it gives our opening title sequence more of a thriller film as it looks dark and mysterious as these our conventions of thriller films.

We used the woods to create a chase sene as we thought that it would be the best way to create a fast pace scene.

Pre-cut of our final cut opening title sequence

›here is our pre cut before our final cut which we had put together. We did this so that we would have enough time to to finalise and make improvements to get that better grade.

Targets

Following skills learnt in the process, set yourself 5 SMART targets:

Mise-en-scene: This was a factor that our group took importantly into account whilst in production of our media texts. Due to the short given time period, it came apparent that on a number of occasions we would have to film and edit out production of our opening title sequence on the same day. Furthermore, we had limited props for our production so setting was an important feature which we strived on. I believe that we could have improved on the Mise-en-scene of our production to make it look as realistic as possible and demonstrate a both professional and engaging title sequence.

Sound: I believe that the overall sound of our production was very good but i believe that it could have enhanced further. Although we did use the art of foley, I believe that we could have used more of it to improve sound quality and make the production very well managed sound wise. For many of the scenes, we used the voicing used with the filming on the scene and it becomes apparent at times that the natural sound effect distort the sound of the production, which could have been improved if we had used more foley.

Production Planning: Planning is one of the most crucial areas that I believe that we were not as successful in. The planning of our production although sounding good at first, we encountered many flaws on the way and without back-up ideas, some of the scenes did not match the pictured design as we did not have the props or equipment available. In in hindsight, feel that it would have been more effective if we brainstormed ideas on a mind-map at the start of the production so we all were on page as to what we wanted.

Suspense: Suspense I feel lacked in the production of our title sequence as it was supposed to be a thriller genre sequence. It would have been effective if we included some suspense to make the audience feel on edge throughout the production and pose questions at the end about certain situations. There are a lot of mysterious parts in our production which diverse an enigma but the greater use of suspense would have greatly enhanced this.

Research- Another very effective target that myself and my group can follow and gain the potential results we believe we can achieve. We have recently started watching trailers and opening sequences for both new and old thrillers and discussed them as a group, however i feel that perhaps mind maps could be made to point out what makes a great opening title sequence great. If this target is met than we will be even clearer on what we need to incorporate in to our opening title sequence.

Three act structure

The author of Screenplay and The Screen Writer's Workbook, Syd Field, has outlined a certain paradigm that most the majority of screenplays follow. A paradigm is essentially an overall pattern created by a film that helps us categorise it. This particular paradigm is the structure that holds screenplays together. Syd Field said that screenplays follow a three-act structure. This means that the standard screenplay can be divided into three different parts, these being: Setup,Confrontation, and Resolution.

Act 1: 
This would be the act which usually lasts for the first quarter of the movie. If the movie is 2 hours long you'd expect Act 1 to take up 30 minutes of the film, however it varies from film to film depending on how long it is.


Dramatic Premise - The film is about Kale being under house arrest and discovers, after spying wit his friends, that his neighbour is a serial killer. But after the Police fail in discovering who his neighbour really is, Kale decides to take matters into his own hands with his friends.

Main Character - In the film, Disturbia, we are introduced to the main Protagonists within the first 30 minutes of the film. We are first introduced to arguably the "main" Protagonist, Kale, who is in a car crash and witnesses his Dad's death. Following this One Year Later we see Kale put under house arrest for hitting his school teacher.

We then are introduced to other character such as Ashley, Ronnie, and Julie (Kale's Mum). We see their relationships are how well they know each other, from here the audience have established who the Protagonists are. 

Inciting Incident - This is when the plot of the film is set in motion. For example in the film Disturbia the inciting incident is when Shia LeBeouf's character realises that his next door neighbour is a cereal killer while spying on him, as seen in the mobie poster, and this sets the plot up for the rest of the film.

Act 2:
Act two will normally last about two quarters of the film so if the film is about 2 hours then the second act will be around an hour.

Obstacles - Within Disturbia the first obstacle is that the main character is kept under house arrest and cannot go out of his house within a certain distance otherwise the Police will come, this isn't ideal for him as he cannot leave his house at all. The next obstacle would be when he first realizes his next door neighbor is serial killer, but cannot do anything due to the first obstacle, being under house arrest, and the fact no one would believe him.

First Culmination - This is the part in the film where the main character Kale (Shia LeBeouf) is close to achieving the final end goal but then something happens which will then prevent him from doing so. The first culmination is when Kale gets video evidence of his neighbor being a serial killer, but the serial killer anticipates this and attacks the house Kale lives in.

Midpoint - At some point in the film there is a point where the Protagonist looks as if he will achieve his goal, however this is the part of the film in which something happens to the Protagonist meaning he looks weak and there's the possibility of the Antagonist winning. This is the part in Disturbia when the serial killer attacks Kale's house and starts throwing him and almost killing him at some points. This makes Kale appear weak as at one point you think Kale is about to be killed.

Act 3:
This is the part at the end of the film where the Protagonist eventually and finally achieves his goal. There are only two parts to this section.

Climax - This is the part in which Kale has to go to the serial killers house to try and find his Mum, after the serial killer has taken her. This builds up a lot of tension as there are a lot of points where you think the serial killer neighbor could jump out any minute.

Denouement - This is when the film has reached its end and the Protagonist overcomes the Antagonist even though the odds were stacked up against him. The part in Disturbia when Kale finds his Mum and kills the serial killer with a pair of shears after he is attacked while helping his Mum.

Story board of a preliminary task

Below is the story board which was created before the actual filming of our Preliminary Task. It consisted of all our groups ideas and also included a brief description under each picture of what that scene would consist of. First of all there was the scene in the car between me and James which essentially was us being told to come back to the Police Station; both of us were acting as Police Officers. The next scene was a small clip of me and James walking through the corridor's of what was meant to be the Police Station, following this was another scene of us entering the door into the Interrogation Room. The next scene was again of me and James coming in through the door, leading onto a shot which includes Jack, the criminal in our Preliminary Task. From here, Shot-Reverse-Shot was used to bring across both Jacks and James' expressions as they both engaged in an argument. That is the simple form of what we created and noted down on the story board, but obviously the more complex and actual version of the Preliminary Task is seen in the video on the other blog post.

Remake of opening title sequence

For our remake we decided to do the classic thriller by Quentin Tarantino 'Reservoir Dogs'. We chose this because we knew that this film has a productive opening title sequence in which we have all familiarised ourselves with, As well as being able to remake the sequence with relative ease.

the original:

Our remake:

Continuity editing

Idents in thriller films

At the start of practically every film there is a image which appears for a short period of time which are called idents. Idents are basically a logo for a film as they help the audience understand who help produce the film and example of an ident would be from 20th century fox which is at the start of many many films. An ident is fairly simple as it will only be on the screen for a couple of seconds and consists of basic colours and the name of the production company.

One of the films in which the 20th century fox ident appears in is the Life Of Pi and is shown at the beginning

The picture below is the ident picture for lionsgate which again is at the star of a lot of films such as The hunger games and Twilight. 

There for using adobe after effects we will create our own ident to make sure that our opening title sequence has more of a movie feel to it. As well as this it will also make the film look more professional if the ident is of a high quality and make it look aesthetically pleasing.

Ultimatum production

For our A level media we have been constructing an opening title sequence for our film 'Ultimatum' we have used many different location. Within our production I had some different roles as location recce meaning I suggested the places we film as well as main actor within the film. Below are some of the places where we shot, The location being used have been mentioned it a previous blog.

Ultimatum shot list

Character Names

Jack Stockman: Jack Stockman

Daniel Bruce: Daniel O'Connor

Connor Crosby: Unknown Caller

James Ellis: Roberto Rodriguez

Shot	Size	Description
1	Long Shot	Jack and son Zack are sitting on the sofa with one another watching television, establishing Father, Son relationship to audience.
2	MCU	Camera switches to the television program the pair are watching, further establishing the scenario to audience
3	Medium Shot	Jack in the morning putting his suit on getting ready for work, could also show his son Zack putting on school uniform, showing audience occupation of both.
4	Establishing Shot	Jack in a work/office environment representing that he has a well respected job, could be typing on his computer or making a phone call etc.
5	Two shot	Daniel enters Jack’s office handshake establishing friendship to the audience, both dressed in suits and so both have good jobs.
6	Medium Long Shot	Jack sitting in his office alone late a night still working, showing signs of stress to the audience, and potentially making phone calls.
7	Close Up	Close up on Jacks phone, as it appears that an unknown number is calling him late at night in his empty office.
8	MCU	Shot shows Jacks confused facial expressions as he begins to realise the caller is interested in his past life
9	Medium Shot	Jack is getting his instructions and writing them down on a pad and then the printer starts printing a document in a background, as Jack turns to see what the document contains he realises that, its all of the information on the target he must kill.
10	CU	Close up on the document containing information on Roberto Rodriguez who Jack must hunt down and kill if he wants his son to live and if successful means he will be payed 20 million pounds for the job.
11	Long Shot	Jack arrives home greets his son and goes to bed.
12	Long Shot/ Establishing Shot	Both Jack and Daniel are sat on a park bench watching Jacks son Zack play on the equipment, the shot is behind both Jack and Dan to focus on Zack
13	Medium Shot	The camera is now in front of Daniel and Jack as Jack hands the document to Daniel explaining what he was told to do.
14	Establishing Shot	Montage plays of the dark past life of both Jack and Daniel, montage then switches to present with Jack walking home with son and then back to past life montage which is in slow motion.
15	MCU	Jack laying in bed at night looking up at the ceiling questioning his future, possible flashbacks of past lime and interactions with son could appear (pushing son on swings, Long Shot)
16	Long Shot	Perhaps a shot of Jack sitting in the back of a car in the evening on his way home from work, looking out the window thinking about the task he will be performing in the next few days.
17	Medium Shot	Jack enters garage to collect weapons from his past life that he will use on one last job
18	MCU	Camera focuses on garage light which flickers at first, giving off an eerie impression to the audience.
19	Close Up	Camera shows jack dusting off an old case/box which contains a clean box which Jack then opens, containing various knives and guns.
20	ECU	Camera zooms and focuses on individual weapons as Jack polishes them and prepares them for use in the following days, various ECU’s used in a montage focusing on weapons and clothing.
21	CU/MCU	Roberto Rodriguez who is the target then has to be established to the audience, shown in mainly CU’s and MCU in darkness not giving to much away however letting the audience see his cuts and that he is a villain
22	ECU	Used to show the weapons that Roberto is carrying, establishing his role as a target and villain, ECU of his shoes and him walking through deserted dark places also creates sense of fear in the audience.
23	Establishing Shot	Daniel and Jack enter a car to show them on their way to where the target (Roberto) is located
24	Montage, Multiple angles	Daniel and Jack on their way to find the target, montage creates sense of time passing and tension building.
25	Establishing Shot	As the pair walk to the house of the target the high establishing shot which is behind them shows the pair in all black with hoods up and weapons ready
26	Long Shot/ Two Shot, CU	As Jack and Daniel close in on the house the camera shows both facial expressions of anger and concentration, shot then changes to Two shot behind the pair of Roberto running from his house and down a darkened alley way.
27	Multiple long shots, Dolly shot, Tracking shot and Handheld camera	Multiple shots picture Roberto on the run from both Jack and Daniel, various shots show a sense of rush and thrill, all shots are also showing the pace of the chase which is getting closer and closer to its conclusion.
28	Extreme long shot/Establishing Shot	Used to show the sheer size of the barn in the deserted field that the chase has led Jack and Daniel too, the pair walk slowly towards the building with the shot still zoomed out
29	CU	Close up used of both the legs and shoes of both Daniel and Jack to build tension, establishing a sense of getting closer to the end goal as they get closer to the camera.
30	ECU	Emotions of both Daniel and Jack are shown on camera as the camera focuses on both their muddy-scarred faces pictured in the darkness of their hoods.
31	High angle Long shot	As both Daniel and Jack arrive in the abandoned building it then becomes clear to everyone in the audience that all characters are in the final shot
32	CU	Used to show the audience the scars and mud on Zack’s face who has been tied up and kidnapped by the Unknown caller
33	ECU/ Two Shot	Picturing both Daniel and Jack who are now helpless as the emotions rise because Jacks son is in serious danger
34	Medium Shot	Both the Unknown caller and Roberto are pictured with evil grins on their faces as the Unknown caller puts a gun to Zack’s head and begins counting down from 10
35	MCU	Both Jack and Daniel look at each other and nod with mud and sweat pouring off their endangered faces.
36	Medium Shot	In first fast pace which is then slowed down in to slow motion the pair both quickly pull out their guns to shoot down both the Unknown caller and Roberto
37	ECU	The shot then shows the end of Jacks gun as he quickly takes aim, Jack’s face is out of focus however the gun is perfectly shown to the audience, editing added where the gun will ripple and the screen immediately goes black and finishes the opening sequence.

The use of Foley

Foley is the reproduction of everyday sound effects which are added in post-production to enhance the quality of audio for films, television, video, video games and radio. These reproduced sounds can be anything from the swishing of clothing and footsteps to squeaky doors and breaking glass. The best Foley art is so well integrated into a film that it goes unnoticed by the audience. It helps to create a sense of reality within a scene. Without these crucial background noises, movies feel unnaturally quiet and uncomfortable.

Foley artists look to recreate the realistic ambient sounds that the film portrays. The props and sets of a film do not react the same way acoustically as their real life counterparts. Foley sounds are used to enhance the auditory experience of the movie. Foley can also be used to cover up unwanted sounds captured on the set of a movie during filming, such as overflying airplanes or passing traffic. In my school where most of my filming for my group will take place, there is an awful lot of unwanted noise generated from classrooms and students who are working around us, and so if we use Foley in our production it will give the film that crisp and slick edge that it needs and deserves matching the quality of the production on the screen.

I feel that Foley is an extremely exciting and enticing business and one which could really benefit both myself and my group if we can utilise it in our productions, Foley may be simple but its phenomenal how effective it can be, turning an average school production in to a very slick and professional opening title sequence in a matter of hours or minutes.

In our Preliminary task we did however use Foley when the two Policemen where conversing with the added voice played by me, using Foley helped create the impression that there was somebody in another location talking to the Cops, this adds a professional and realistic approach to our production which without Foley would not be possible.