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.

Evaluation Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Through making this product I have learnt loads about technologies. I have learnt how to use them, when they are effective and have enhanced our piece through their use.

Technologies used:

Equipment: Camera/Lighting/Tripod/ Shotgun Mic/ Headphones

IT: PC and Mac/ Premiere Pro/After Effects/Social Media/LiveType

What have I learnt?

I am not going to focus on all aspects of the different technologies I have used but the ones where I think I have learnt the most.

Lighting was a key learning point. I learnt how to use three-point lighting to create different moods and shadows, as well as to get rid of grain on the camera. This was very important for our project with all the shadows involved.

We used Adobe premiere pro on the PC to edit.

I learnt a lot of things on it, the most significant being:

Animatic: We learnt how we could successfully use an animatic to edit around to make sure our shots were all in the right place. However we didn’t use it throughout the whole process because our sequence had changed so much. Therefore this helped us to see how we should have updated the storyboard as we went along, but it still helped a lot. Here is a commentary explaining more on what we used the animatic for:

Cutting down clips:  We cut down clips and took the best bits from them so that shots didn’t linger and the continuity worked. For example the match-on-action shot of the man taking the glass was cut down both ways so that the character grabbed the glass as soon as his hands reached it in the previous shot. Similarly this was applicable with the shot-reverse shot of the man walking into his front room from the back and then the front.

Grading: I learnt how to make the colours of the film more blue, to seem colder. We used a clour wheel to achieve this.

Before and After (Blue Colour Grading)

ProCamp: We made the shots darker using this. It was especially useful for the shadow. This is shown in the split screen shot below.

We also used LiveType on the Apple Mac to create animated titles although the exporting took a while as the titles looked pixelated on Premiere which taught me it is important to leave time for technical issues such as this which luckily we did.  Similarly with After Effects I learnt how to create an effective blood splat our film. This is a great moment in the film which will hopefully get a great audience reaction.

We were able to watch our animatic on YouTube on our actual shoot to remind ourselves of what each shot was meant to look like which was very useful.

Would I do anything differently?

Labelled the captured shots more clearly as we had a few issues with these.

Some of the shots could be more still and the focus pull could be a little clearer.

Used the animatic more to help us while editing.

Used less unnecasary layers as it complicated the editing.

Used the headphones more to check what sound was being recorded.

To conclude I have learnt that these technologies are a vital part of film-making and have learnt how to use them to create a good film.

Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the whole product?

Since our prelim I have learnt lots about making a succesful opening sequence including organisation, the practacalities of our shoots and the importance of editing and different editing techniques.
First I will introduce the briefs for both tasks:

Brief for the preliminary task:
‘Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanged a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.’

Brief for main task:
‘The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.’

Our brief for the final film opening was a lot more open than the prelim brief. Therefore it also had a lot more complications however our pre-lim prepared us for these.

Pre-production:

Anna Francis Natasha Shot List


As compared to:

As you can see our second storyboard/shot list are both more developed and clear. We learnt on our prelim that it is really helpful to be able to look at these documents and know exactly what you're shooting. The visual nature of the animatic was therefore very helpful.

PLANNING THE SEQUENCE:

LOCATIONS:

We learnt about the importance of making sure that permissions are secured for locations. At first we were intending to shoot an extra scene in a hotel, on a group trip to Hollywood but unfortunately we were unable to as there was no filming in the hotel.

We tried to film it outside the next day but we didn’t go and check the location for noise levels and it turned out the traffic was too loud.

FROM THIS WE LEARNT THAT WALKTHROUGH’S AND RECCE’S ARE VERY IMPORTANT.

This wasn’t an issue in our prelim as our only location was the classroom.

Production:
Test Shoot: For our prelim we only had one shoot to do it in. For the real thing we learnt the importance of a test shoot. It showed us the limitations of what we could shoot, and we came up with several new ideas and shots e.g. the key shot of Lotus’s slowly moving shadow behind the glass. We also realised we needed better lighting/props and so bought lots of props together from a charity shop and had a lighting workshop.

This video shows us on our test shoot in the process of learning how to set up a shot.


Working to the Shot List: Working to the shot list was quite hard as we needed to be quite disciplined with ourselves, as we all wanted to move on to bits later on such as doing the head wound. Something we could have worked on was using the clapperboard for each take as we did a few takes back to back without using a clapperboard which led to some confusion when capturing.

Roles: We also learnt the importance of different roles on set. Although two of us were acting, we all had goes on the camera and had to delegate roles such as:

Dressing the set: Bin bags on the windows, Making the drink out of tea etc.

Recording the Shots:  Filling in each shot, how many takes the best takes and time codes on our shot list.

Continuity: We also learnt the importance of continuity. We had issues with reflections of the lighting in the windows, as well as issues such as which hand the glass was in.

Master Shots: We learnt the importance of shooting everything from different master shot angles when in the edit room, as we only had one for the gun scene and it didn’t comply with the 30 degree rule as it was too straight on. If we had an opportunity we would have re-shot this.

Time: Finally, time management was a major factor we learnt on the shoot. We had to fit a lot in to about 7 hours and we didn’t manage to do the head wound the first time round which meant a reshoot, which disrupted our editing process.

Editing:

Prelim:
When it came to the editing, the sound levels were varied and there were continuity errors such as the computer being left on in the background, which could have been sorted by changing the shot order. The cutting points were not exact either due to the editing being done quickly. However we did manage to stick to the 180 degree rule as well as using a match on action and a shot reverse shot. We utilized these skills in our real film as well.

We also learnt there is a lot more to editing then just simply re-ordering everything and putting it together. Music, Titles and effects all play a massive part. We didn’t realise that in our film there is a continuity error with the music, as it is shown as digetic but stops to allow for the conversation halfway through. However it is conceivable that what he was listening to has stopped and the second tack is non digetic.

We had a lot of footage but by looking through all of it we could find fixes to shots that didn’t fit or work. Therefore we learnt the value of trawling through all your footage and picking the best combination of shots.

We learnt that this means a lot of time needs to be set aside for editing, something which as a group we achieved by packing in as much time as possible over a three week period. Here is our editing schedule:

Team:

We all learnt the importance of co-operation on the shoot. We had different ideas of how to do things but learnt to do what was best for the group and overall project. Overall we worked very well as a group J

Pre-Production

Now we've finished our film we want to get feedback to see if we've made a succesful film that appeals to our target audience.

To do this we came up with a poster to promote our film which I then made. I also created a Facebook group to help promote our film.

Editing Week Commencing 5/03/12

Our film is almost complete. We are making the finishing touches such as titles, and the blood splat.I had quite an important role in the blood splat. Our technician gave us a tutorial and afterwards I started working on selecting the areas where we wanted the blood to go, and choosing which one of the stock blood splats we wanted, as well as what direction it came from.

Our work on After Effects


I also helped picked the font and style of the titles on LiveType.
The main thing I worked on during this week though was the grading. As well as conducting some research into grading for our group (group blog), I also spent several hours working through the shots and colour grading them.

Colour Wheel on Premiere

We are now almost finished and the final film is looking great!

Editing: week commencing 27/02/12

During this week our group captured all our footage, picked the best shots, and edited them into a continious sequence.
My individual achievements this week include:
Editing sound behind titles to achieve a continious feel.
Working on slowing down the beggining shots to give a more calm and relaxed feel.
Working on the new ending with the assasin leaving in slow motion.
As part of the group I also helped select and organize the shots into an order, decided where to put the titles, and worked to resolve issues in the sequnce e.g We had a nice low angle shot where the assasin wipes the blood off her face, but the blood was not applied to her face properly and therefore we decided to cut the shot, as it would build more tension seeing her face at the end anyway.
I particularly like the slower pace to the beggining and the slow mo at the end of the sequence, as well as the titles Natasha has started to work on and the new choice of music by Nico particularly at the end of the sequence as it makes it a lot more dramatic.
As a team I think we are working well and the edit is really taking shape.
This week we need to complete our opening sequence and I would especially like to work on the titles and the after effects of the blood splat as these would be useful new skills to learn.

Me and Natasha editing our sequence



Re-Shoot

Our re-shoot happened on Friday 5th March. During our media lesson we got a lift from our technician Chris up to my house to shoot two shots that we realised we needed to re-shoot after working on our final edit. These two shots were:
The picking up of the briefcase. In my opinion this shot really needed to be reshot becuase there was a light meaning we had to cut the beggining of the clip which meant the character jumped a bit. Also there was a shirt hanging out at the back which didn't suit the character.
The shadow shooting shot. This needed to be reshot due to the fact that the guy's head falls into shot without a wound from the gun and trying to cut his head out just didn't work.

Therefore we had to practice the make-up the day before on my hand. Natasha was responsible for the make-up as she did GCSE Art and in my opinion she did an amazing job.
Earlier in the morning Chris had bought all the equipment down to my house so when we arrived evrything was ready to go. We shot the head wound shot first and took three takes, with the blood dripping further down my face in each one. It was quite a challenge to shoot without getting any blood on the sofa however we managed to do it and it looks a lot better. One issue might be the fact that, to reduce mess, we didn't run the entire shot three times and instead went from when my head hits the sofa which might mean that matching up the shots in editing will be hard, however only time will tell.
We then completed the briefcase shot, which, apart from a brief reflection of the light in the glass in a few of the shots and a continuity error with the drink, went well with at least one take which was error free and looked good.
This re-shoot completes our shooting and now we have all our footage. We are continuing work towards the final edit.