Dear Moderator,

Hello! I have now completed my individual blog. Here you can find all my individual research, planning and production work on our opening sequence as well as my evaluation of our final piece.I have labelled all posts either pre-lim, research,planning,  production or evaluation.

My prelim and final piece are bost posted at the top of the blog.

I have also included links to our group blog, which includes all our group work on "Deathly Shadow."

I have also linked each of my teammates individual blogs where you can find their individual contributions towards the task.

Finally, there is a link to the main Year 12 Film Blog, where you can find the other groups work.

Thank you for taking the time to look around!

Blog Closed

Closed.

Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our main product used several influences from other opening sequences such as Kill Bill and Casino Royale my personal inspirtations during this project.
In my research I learnt the importance of an opening sequence and it's conventions.
We therefore knew our opening sequence had to include institutional information, set up the style, genre, stars, setting and basic story of the film.
I have broken down my answer into several sections to show how we were influenced by other films and how we used and challenged their conventions in different areas of our opening sequence.

Genre-ACTION/ THRILLER

The film uses the following Action/Thriller genre conventions:

Guns

Hero Character/Anti-hero. In our film this is Lotus. Another example is The Bride from Kill Bill.

Villain. In our opening sequence this is the drug dealer. An example of a villain is Le Chiffre in Casino Royale.

We also used conventional iconography in our sequence such as:

Drugs

Money

Knives

Alcohol

Cigars

Narrative:
The narrative themes in our opening sequence include:

Defeating the bad guy

An Assassination

Drug Deals

A briefcase full of money

This is similar to films such as: Casino Royale, Bourne Trilogy, Kill Bill.

A particular example of the last point would be the briefcase full of money that Elle Driver gives Budd in exchange for the sword that belonged to The Bride in Kill Bill Part 2. (below)

Narrative Structure:

Opening:

Equilibrium: Guy is clearing up after dealing drugs, relaxed, chilled, having a drink.

Disruption: Shadow appears and assassin enters, prepares to shoot him.

Resolution: Guy is shot and assassin leaves

Restoration: Not clear as this is only the opening sequence.

This is similar to Casino Royale as there is a murder in the opening scene.

Whole Film:

Equilibrium: Lotus is a double-agent working a high-end crime organization for the government

Disruption: Lotus is found to be a double agent. The government withdraw their connections to her so she is on her own.

Resolution: Lotus takes down the boss

Restoration: Lotus becomes a freelance agent

There are similarities with the recent film Haywire as it is about an agent forced to fight for herself.

Our idea to make a film about a female assassin came from several recent female assassin films as illustrated here:

Female assasins

View more presentations from Francis Gillen.

Specifics:

Real-Time and Linear editing are used. It is a tense and slow sequence. Events build up during the sequence so the linear style makes sense.

It is similar to the Kill Bill opening which is completely linear to build the tension.

Function and Form:

Function:

Our opening follows the function of most opening sequences. It introduces:

Characters: The main character is introduced in a way which makes the audience want to know more.

Genre: It is clear it is an action/thriller. (See above)

Setting: The domesticated setting, which is a surprising place for an assassination and marks Lotus as different and interesting.

Titles: Makes clear who produced the film, who distributed it, who directed it, who starred in it and who produced it.

Form:

The action continues through the whole sequence however cutaway titles appear at regular intervals over the action. It is similar to the Kill Bill titles one of which can be seen at the end of the clip above. However we challenge this slightly by having the titles moving and at more regular intervals. We also have the action happening underneath instead of placing the titles at the end of the action as we thought this helped build up the tension as we can hear the man moving about under the titles which adds to the sense of unease. However similarly to Kill Bill we have a cutaway title after the shot which is dramatic and makes the audience pay more attention to the titles as they are shocked by the event that has just happened. If I could do this again I would put the director’s name after the gunshot as it is probably the most important credit, like Quentin Tarantino did in Kill Bill.
A film that similarly has text before any action starts is the Hunger Games an action/adventure film to explain the context to the audience. It draws the audience in as they have to read it and then try to decipher it with the action that follows. It also creates more enigma.

One form we did challenge was the idea of an establishing shot. Most opening sequences I have researched start with an establishing shot (for example Casino Royale) however our one opens on a CU. This brings the audience straight into the action and builds up enigma right from the beggining.This is similar to Kill Bill.

Style:

Tense, Slow, Foreboding Music/ Use of disorientating CU’s/ Dark, shadowy Mise-en scene/Blue colour Grading, Clean/Clinical surfaces and colours e.g. White, pale green and blue/ Low-Key lighting.

It is similar to the tense, slow opening of Casino Royale with its binary opposite of fast violent action in a bathroom and a tense conversation in an office.

See video above

The binary opposite in our film is between the calm, relaxed beginning and setting verses the violent murder at the end. This complies with Levi-Straus’s binary opposite’s theory.

The CU’S used are similar to the action/thriller TV show Dexter. It gives a similar disorientating and immersive effect. In our film this makes the audience suspicious of the male character and makes it clear he is a bad guy. Dexter is similarly a suspicious character as he is a serial killer.

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

We represented women in a non-stereotypical way. This was done through action codes and costume.

Challenging:  Gender stereotypes.

Lotus is the dominant character in the opening sequence and indeed the whole film. She is seen as the powerful, strong action hero instead of the stereotypical male action hero in thriller action movies such as James Bond/Jason Bourne.

In terms of inspiration we used the Bride from Kill Bill as well as the recent trend in female assassin/spy movies such as Hanna, Columbiana and Haywire.

The Bride is also a strong female character who is the antihero of the film and is constantly seen overpowering men such as her showdown with Bill at the end. Although our hero is less revenge driven, she equally has power over the man in the sequence. This does not conform to the stereotype of women as sidekicks, love interests or damsels in distress in action movies such as Princess Leia in Star Wars who although strong and resourceful has to be rescued by the male characters. The stereotype we are challenging is that the male characters are normally the stronger ones or more in control.

This is shown in our film in its action codes:

·         She is shown to be methodical and calculating in her actions when she appears behind the glass. She is in control.

·         She brings the gun quickly to his head and forces him to sit up.

·         She takes one last look at him at the end, again showing her control and calmness over the situation.

She wears gloves, a leather jacket etc. She is dressed practically to kill-not provocatively. Business-like.

Another representation in the sequence is the male. We wanted to represent him as a character the audience did not sympathise with so that his death was not upsetting to the audience.

The main way we did this was with the iconography, the unsettling CU’s and his slow methodical movements, as well as his obsession with money and greed. This is emphasised by the match on action of him clicking open the briefcase and then later the shot of him smiling sinisterly and leaning back.

Due to all of this the audience understand that this is an unsavoury character and don’t warm to him which would be the wrong reaction.

This image of the Godfather: Part II shows young Vito Corleone smoking a cigar which carries similar connotations of greed and corrupt morals.

In conclusion we used iconography, costume, action codes and camera angles.

Evaluation Question 3

 What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Miramax Films are the distribution company likely to distribute our film. This is because our film would be produced by an independent production company, and Miramax have previously distributed succesful independent films, with several British examples.

Production Company: Sigma Productions

Independent British production company, however not niche films. Quite broad appeal e.g. our film is an international spy film. For a lot of its films would probably need other studio backing.
Example: Similar to Relativity Media who produced Haywire.

Trying to reach British film fans, as well as target audience 16-25 year old males and females. Due to international locations there may be the possibility of global reach.

Distributor: Miramax Films

We decided to go with Miramax Films because they have disributed indie British films such as The Queen and The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas which have both enjoyed success at home and also moderate success internationally. It also distributes action films such as The Kill Bill Films and The Lookout.

This image shows some images of Miramax films and which ones are similar to ours.

As it is an independent film it is likely it would be picked up by Miramax at a film festival such as the BFI London Film Festival

Our film would be released in cinemas across the UK as well as a possible limited release in America. We could have a strong marketing campaign using the images of shadows and Lotus's silohuette which would create enigma.
This could feature on posters and we could have Facebook games, or mobile apps which would allow you to create your own assasin silohuette like Lotus.
We would also have teaser trailers and theatrical trailers which would be on YouTube, TV and before screenings of similar films.
After it's cinematic release it would then be released on DVD, and Blu-Ray Triple Play as well as being available for download on iTunes. Hopefully we could achieve an advertising square on iTunes with a link to the download for Ipods and Iphones.
It would also be released on PPV services such as BT Vision, Netflix or Lovefilm.

Finally it would end up on PPV TV channels such as Sky Movies Premiere and later Sky Movies Action/Adventure, Sky Movies Crime/Thriller or Sky Movies Indie. It would also probably be on terrestrial film channels such as Film 4.It could also be released on Youtube as a rental.

Looking back at our production, therefore, I think it is the kind of film that Miramax would distribute and so I think we have picked a good distributor.

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Audience Profile:
Age: Core 16-24. Secondary anyone who enjoys action thrillers, or strong female characters.

Gender: Male and female. Women identify/ aspire to Lotus, Men fancy her, enjoy the action.

Nationality: British. Possible Secondary International Reach.

Lifestyle: Film Fans, moderate to high income, students/workers, come to cinema to relax/unwind.

Tastes in Media: Likes British films/Action films with an intelligent/niche twist. More interested in a gripping story/character driven narrative then big special effects.

Film Consumption Habits: Visit cinema 1-2 times a month, Watches films on terrestrial TV/PPV/Phones/MP4 Players/Online/DVD’s or Blu-Ray. Wide variety of consumption methods, like to visit cinema more as a social thing.

Fandom/Expertise: British Films, Spy/Crime/Action/Thriller fans, Fans of strong female characters.

Audience Example:

I got this image from Google Images.
I think it is a good example of our target audience as they are all in the age range 16-24 and there is a  range of ethnicities and lifestyles depicted in this image.
They look like the type of people who like to hang out with their friends and "Deadly Shadow" would be an appealing film for them to go and see.

We held a screening of our opening which about 50 members of our target audience attended. We asked them to fill out a questionnaire

Most of the people we questioned were 16-18, both male and female. They generally liked the film and the main ratings we received were 7 and 8 out of 10 with a couple of 9's and one 6. There seemed to be little difference in opinions between female and male or age groups, and they mostly picked up on the same things.

 What they liked most was the enigma in the film. Many of them identified the "questions" or "suspense" in the film as one of their favourite parts as well as the "way her identity was hidden." Another thing that was praised was the realistic gunshot as most people thought it was very realistic and so suspended their disbelief. Pretty much everyone was able to identify the thriller aspect of the film, however the action was not so clear, as the action sequences would come later in the film.

Some criticisms were that the pace should be quicker, however the slow build-up was popular with a lot of the audience. Other criticisms was the background static which occasionally cut out which was an editing error, and a desire to know more about the characters. Many said that the build-up of the guy needed to be bigger or his character more explored, which is probably fair enough, although the time constraints of the project made this slightly harder. The fact they want to know about the characters shows that they were engaged in the film however which is a good sign.

Overall the audience seemed to greatly appreciate our film, and the things we identified as audience pleasures were picked up upon.

Evaluation Question 5

How did you address/attract your audience?

We addressed our audience through pleasures, fears,the themes/characters/plot/settings and audience needs and gratifications.
Pleasures: The build-up of enigma in the film, due to the CU’s at the beginning. The audience have many questions: Who is this man? What is he doing? As soon as these questions are answered a new enigma is introduced. Who is the shadow in the glass? What is going to happen? The final look back and reveal of Lotus’s face brings yet more enigma for the rest of the film, as we see her for a few fleeting seconds before she is gone again. We want to know more about her. Who is she and why has she done this? This immersion in the film helps the audience suspend their disbelief and become fully involved and invested in the film.
I also think the music is a pleasure for the target audience especially the second track as it has a beat to it and updates a classical piece for a younger generation.
Fears:
The fear of crime/murder/shootings. It is an abnormal event and so when a character is shot in the comfortable setting of his home in the first couple of minutes of the film, the audience are shocked and transported into the world of the film. The blood effect and make-up makes this more realistic for the audience and therefore more shocking.
We built on the abnormality of guns, the fear of death and therefore the excitement it induces and the sense of enigma with only the silohuette of the main character in our poster:

Audience appeal:
Our audience are young 16-24 years olds and so are more likely to want to see action/tension then slow-burning drama. The genre of action thriller is therefore appealing to them. The building tension will grip the audience and the iconography of drugs, knives and cigars will also interest them and pull them in as it makes the film seem edgy and atmospheric.

Themes, Plots, Settings, Characters:
Assassination-Exciting, Thrilling, Gripping, Fulfils the need for escapism.
Female Hero-Gives the film a twist, an edge to it, a selling point. Builds on current trend of female assassins.
Lotus as a character-Edgy, Mysterious, Attractive, Strong, Aspirational. Her character would hopefully gain a strong fan base and this would fulfil the need for social interaction especially as our target audience are the main users of social networks. This film would be a discussion point. To build on this we publicised the premiere of our opening sequence on Facebook.

Setting-The binary opposite of the relaxed and homely setting to the shocking and violent events that take place there, shocks and excites the audience. It is unexpected, and keeps them on the edge of their seat.
These techniques would mean that positive word of the film would be spread by word-of-mouth meaning that more members of the target audience would come and see their film to fulfil the need for surveillance.

I also came across an interesting quote about Kill Bill on Wikipedia:
Cultural historian Maud Lavin argues that The Bride's embodiment of murderous revenge taps into viewers' personal fantasies of committing violence. For audiences, particularly women viewers, this overly aggressive female character provides a complex site for identification with one's own aggression.
Our film would work similarly and so fulfill the need for identification.
In all these ways the film appeals to the audience and so attracts them to come and see the film.