Evaluation Task One :

1.) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media product ? :

Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something. Conventions can be used, supported, reiterated. I have achieved this by using extremely professional cameras (or an Sony NX5 to be precise) in order to present a physiologically based thriller towards viewers. In evaluation of the question set I feel that I have drawn on the conventions of media products in my opening film sequence. This use of these conventions is evident in the construction of my own products, for example through the chosen setting use of a black box studio, I wanted to heighten the strong sense of intensity throughout the opening sequence.  This is supported by my own research into the thriller genre with films such as Quentin Tarantino's crime based thriller "Reservoir Dogs". This research informed of the conventions that I had to follow in terms of narrative/ theme and the ability to create suspense and drama.  I also had to adhere to conventions through the use of titles and sound.  I researched these visiting the website artofthetitle.com.  I found out a variety of different titles which then influenced my own thriller's title to be extremely simplistic through a black backdrop with visible white writing . At the same time I have sought to develop and been able to develop and/or challenge conventions, for example through "Reservoir Dogs"they use a black and white backdrop with red writing for the title, which I personally thought was to stereotypical due to the particular crime genre of the film. By using these conventions I have attempted to challenge audience expectations and bring something different and unexpected about my opening film sequence.  Understanding film conventions enable me to repeat these in my product, but also enabled me to use these in different ways bring unexpected pleasures to the audience by producing something different to that which had been shown in a thriller before. Media conventions are ultimately relied upon from communicating the right message to the intended audience.  They are a template for the success in producing my own opening film sequence. To conclude audiences produce meaning from the interaction of the conventional material in a text, and their understanding of conventions,as  for example through the camera angles constantly focusing on the blood, presented on our dominant characters face, just proves to an audience how severe and dangerous self harm can actually be which as directors, was what we were trying to achieve.
 

 The use of the close up establishes a strong sense of fear and anxiety.

 

The shot selection demonstrates a sense of plot in the idea that a man is being beaten up and the audience is asking the question why and what is happening to this man. This narrative enigma is 

 being plotted in the opening sequence through the editing process.

 

The use of this mid shot connotes the action associated with the thriller genre.  The clenched fist symbolizes aggression and masculinity is being represented as a gangster or crime thriller.  The use of the voice over adds at the start of the opening sequence has been used in films before and here signifies a crisis and enigma being set up between a convention of thriller dramas.

 

The use of the film title is conventional of opening sequences which demonstrates to the audience that the film is about to begin.  The overlaid soundtrack also adds a suspenseful dimension to the opening sequence – a conventions which builds expectation for the audience of the thriller genre.  These titles are used at the start of each film, for example this was shown even before the opening shot is presented.

  

The use of the film studio in the title sequence is a convention of film opening sequences. It provides a form of branding for the audience and the held frame of the shot signifies the style of the film.  This is conventional of the thriller film genre.

 

 The use of the high angle wide shot establishes a sense of character .  This shot is unconventional as it does not reveal a sense of place or setting, but does introduce or plot the centrality of this character who at the end of the sequence is represented as having a split personality upon which the thriller unfolds.  Consider what is unconventional e.g. the high angle and camera movement?

Here is a clip from Guy Ritchie's two thousand and nine adaptation of "Sherlock Holmes", where through the synopsis it is shown that Detective Sherlock Holmes and his stalwart partner Watson engage in a battle of wits and brawn with a nemesis whose plot is a threat to all of England. The scene which revolves around this action based thriller, involves Sherlock getting involved in an extremely abusive fight to which is what wanted are thriller represent to its audience throughout its opening sequence. However unlike Sherlock Holmes, who's actual aim is to destroy the man he is fighting against, our dominant character is fundamentally fighting against himself, this can lead towards the conclusion that through this strong aspect of self harm it can then suggest to the audience how serious and dangerous it actually is.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGCMfprPJoA

A Profile For Our Target Audience :

   I believe the appropriate target audience for my film would be fifteen to twenty year old's, as any younger then fifteen would find it extremely disturbing and gruesome due to the strong use of blood, as well as the abstract aspects of the film would not be as appreciated and respected through a younger age group.This particular audience would be attracted to our Thriller, by the strong use of violence, as well as the psychological aspect behind the film, which can be extremely intriguing for a young, contemporary audience, especially through the strong contrasts of action as well as the thriller genre basic of being a psychological thriller. This particular target audience would also be interested in reading novels, for example physiological thrillers, as well as detective/crime/murder mystery novels, as well are target audience would be fascinated by art, especially modern art which they would frequently go spectate at galleries, such as "The Saatchi Gallery" which is located in Duke of York Square in Chelsea, London , and there favorite artists would include Damien Hurst and Andy Warhol. They would be extremely interested in music and they would listen to contemporary artists such as "Alt-J", "Mumford and Sons" as well as "Royal Blood", as well as either playing the guitar (acoustic or electric), bass guitar, piano (electric or acoustic) or percussion/drums. As well as this our target audience would be extremely respectful and appreciative towards the film industry, and would prefer to watch it live in a cinema in order to experience the real film/cinema experience, however it could be easily possible that they would watch it from a home entertainment system, such as Netflix or Lovefilm. A daily life of our target audience would consist of waking up reasonably early such as eight to ten o'clock, to which would lead to a shower and a ten minute choosing of what they were going to wear today. They would have a reasonably healthy breakfast, to which would then lead them to attend college, university or a job. They would pay attention for a majority of there time during there chosen occupation to which when they had finished they would then go either to a cafe to work, an art gallery or they would go home to either relax, cook, complete work, listen to music, or produce a piece of creative art work to which then leads towards dinner at around eight or nine o'clock, to which would then be followed by a television series such as "The Office", to either bed time music or bed time reading which then eventually then leads to sleep. Our secondary audience, would be based on twenty to forty year old's, the reason why they would be our secondary target audience would be based around twenty to forty year old's, this was because we wanted our audience to be of a maturer age, to which could fully appreciate as well as fully understand our thriller.

Here are some particular films, which our first as well as secondary target audience would enjoy :

American Psycho Official Trailer :

The Artistic Vision :

The Artistic Vision : 

We wanted to create that sense of dark humor as well as an abstract vision which is represented throughout Christian Bale's character Patrick Bateman in "American Psycho" towards Calum. Inevitably we did this through stage make up to present the blood as well as getting inspiration from Bale, and providing Calum with a suit in order to present the two worlds to which Calum's character lives in, with the concept of having a normal job in the day, such as working in an office or in are case working in the kitchen as a chef, as well as on the other half of being a serial killer.

                                             

                         


   

Introducing Christian Bale :

A lot of our Thriller was inspired by Mark Harron's 2002 American psychological horror black comedy "American Psycho". Based on Bret Easton Ellis's novel, it starts Christian Bale, Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas, Chloe Sevigny, Samantha Mathis, William Dafoe, Jared Leto and Justin Theroux. Revolving around the life of Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) a wealthy investment banker living in Manhattan in the late 1980's. His life revolves around dining at trendy restaurants while keeping up appearances for his fiancee, Evelyn, and for his circle of equally wealthy and shallow associates, most of whom he dislikes, However, he also leads a secret life as a serial killer.

Evaluation Part Five :

12.) What are you looking forward to seeing the most in the edit ? 

I am most looking forward to processing the whole opening sequence together, in the same sense of placing all the jigsaw pieces together to make a jigsaw. I am looking forward to placing in a variety of different shots to which create the strong sense of contrasting emotions. As well I am looking forward to providing sounds in the piece whether that being non-diegetic or diegetic sounds, as well as exploring visual effects such as slow motion.

13.) How well do you feel that your production group worked as a team ? 

I felt that throughout the shoot process I was able to comfortably express my ideas to which we would then positively challenge, to which we would then discover that if they did not work we would then try something different in order to improve and create what we were trying to achieve. We were all very patient with each other and fortunatly were able to all agree on the same artistic vision for our "Thriller Shoot".

14.) Are their any lessons you learned today that could help you make your next shoot even more successful ? 


The most important thing I have learnt from the shoot day which I will keep in mind for the future, is to go into a shoot with an open mind in the idea of trying amount many different ideas if one idea does not turn out the way you wanted it to be, as well as to maintain a positive and trustworthy attitude, as well as a vigorous energy that will not only keep you going throughout the shoot, but will also create a satisfying environment for the cast and the crew.

Evaluation Part Four :

9.) Which part of the shoot do you wish had gone better and why ? 

The only part of the shoot day which I wished had improved on, was during the one hour we shot throughout the afternoon, where the actors were not as focused as I would of liked them to be, for example Fin was given one line to which he was constantly messing up due to getting distracted by the other actor (calum) and the crew (Loa and Ro) to which would then result to laughter. This then eventaully led us, (as the crew) to becoming a lot stricter with the actors but through are best efforts this was still not presented through the shoot, to which led us to the final conclusion to cutting Fin's line in order to save time. So in conclusion in a idealistic world I wish that Fin had stayed as focused as he was in the morning, as well as in the afternoon.

10.) How well do you think you managed your talent (actors) ? 

Like I said before in the previous question, I would of hoped that one of the actors would of appeared more focus throughout the shooting in the afternoon, however throughout the morning session the actors were incredibly focused and had incredibly high energy levels. They were very good at quickly picking up what we wanted to achieve, especially because we were very specific on what emotions we wanted them to portray, as well the actors would present there own interpretation on what we wanted them to do to which we sometimes agree or disagree with, which shows they determined to get involved as well presenting a passion for the character they were portraying.

11.) What was the part of the shoot you enjoyed the most ? 

On a whole, I enjoyed a vast majority of the shoot day, but personally for me, I felt that the moment after we had just finished shooting the opening shot, ideas started to fly into my head as well as the other members of the crew, and I knew from that moment, through al the wide range of creative ideas which were about to be revealed, we had everything under the control in our aim of creating a piece of work full of abstract, intense and physiological threats.

Evaluation Part Three :

6.) What do you think that you personally did particularly well ? 

Personally, throughout the shoot I really enjoyed taking up the role of the Director, this is because I enjoy being in charge as I love having a vast amount of control over people, as well as creating a positive working enviroment, this was shown greatly throughout the shoot, especially when the cast and crew weren't concentrating as well as when there energy levels needed increasing. Throughout life I have always been a perfectionist and will always accept criticsm with a positive attitude, so I enjoyed receiving feedback from whoever was in charge of watching the relay on how we could possibly improve are thriller.

7.) What problems did you have on the shoot day, how did you solve them ? 

The only main issue we had on our shoot day was at the very beginning where we struggling to come up with an idea for the opening shot, after many different ideas, Matt (our supervisor) then came up with the idea of filming Calum (the lead actor), up from a high angle to which we would be placed on a  piece of electrical equipment filming his body to which eventually his head would then rise. At first we did not feel that this would work but shooting a variety of test shots, we felt it was appropriate especially due to the intensity and mystery which would presented towards the viewers for that sudden urge to see Calum's face.

8.) What part of the shoot do you think was most successful and why ? 

I felt that the day as whole was extremely successful in terms of being able to produce a vast amount of footage, however the most successful moment for me personally, was through one shot sequence where Finn is shown constantly punching Calum in the jaw from the left to right to which goes on for eternity, to which I managed to focus the different directions of the camera through stable footage, to which I then watched, I was very proud as well as the other crew with this sequence as it is very hard to create readable footage when you are constantly jolting the camera.

Evaluation Part Two :

4.) Describe what the studio looked like when you started to shoot, how well do you feel you managed to create the look of your concept ? 

When we first arrived in the studio, it was already very simplistic with minimal equipment provided, this satisfied us immediately, as we wanted the studio to resemble a black box, we did this by getting rid of certain equipment such as a desk and sofa to which we covered with a black curtain which was already provided in the studio. I felt we managed to create the abstractly and intensity provided by the studio, through the use of a single spotlight which was designed for the centre of the studio against a pitch black background. 

5.) How did you divide the roles on your shoot day, what role(s) did you play ? 

Throughout the shoot day we constantly swapped the roles between the group, for example for one shot sequence I would take on the role as the director, to which Loa would then take up being in charge of the camera, and Ro would then be given the job of watching what was going on through the relay, to which she would then give constructive criticism's or advice to the actors or the camera crew on how to make that sequence better. These roles were constantly being changed , especially if one person wanted  was extremely passionate to take up a particular role for a certain shot which they had an creative idea on. 

Evaluation Part One :

1.)  What did you do the day before your shoot day ? 

The day before the shoot, Loa, Roe and I discussed what props we would need to bring for the next day as well as reminding Calum and Finn, about the clothes they needed to bring and what time they needed to be at school etc. We did not need to set up anything in the studio, as we needed an extremely simplistic set, with only a chair.

2.) How did you feel when you woke up on the morning of your shoot day ? 

I felt incredibly excited, intrigued as well as nervous, because I had never had the experience of shooting an opening sequence before, and I was incredibly excited to evaluate the process.

3.) How well prepared were you when you arrived for the shoot, how well do you feel you managed to create the look of your concept ? 

As a group, I felt we were extremely organised in the sense that we each knew in great depth about the "Mis En Scene" aspect of the opening sequence for example, knowing specifically about the costume, setting and props, as well as creating an extremely detailed storyboard for the continuity and plot aspect to the shoot, however we hadn't focused on the sound or editing of the opening sequence, but this could be created in the post-production aspect of the "Thriller". Unfortunately a grasp majority of our thriller idea was then altered, in the sense that we did not need to use Cornhill Manor, and the focus on the idea that we wanted our shoot to be incredibly abstract and inspired by "American Psycho".

We decided last minute to change our thriller concept on the day of our shoot we did this for numerous reasons including :

1.) The props we had provided/received had an extreme working class appeal, which would not represent the aristocratic wealth we were aiming for.

2.) Where we originally wanted to shoot (Cornhill Manor), was going to be an extreme risk which we were not willing to take, considering the fact that were not one hundred percent familiar with Cornhill.

3.)  The outside interior of Cornhill is extremely luxurious and big, to which you would expect the inside interior to match, however unfortunately, as a viewer you are highly disappointed by. 

Shooting Schedule :

Shooting Schedule : 

9:00 - 10:00 : Talking ideas through with Matt

10:00 - 10:30 : Setting up equipment the studio, such as the lighting and the camera's. 

10:30 - 11:30 : Shooting 

11:30 - 11:45 : Break 

11:45 - 12:45 : Shooting 

12:45 - 1:50 : Lunch 

1:50 - 2:30 : Shooting 

2:30 - 2:45 : Thriller Shooting Complete, (as well as packing up all the equipment in the studio).