Editing we have in mind…

My group members and I have quite a few editing techniques in mind. In the process of planning we came up with various things we could include in our film regarding editing. Our ideas are that we want our film to be black and white (film noire) but the inly colour that will stand out is the red lipstick. This will have an effect on the audience as their eyes will automatically be drawn to the red colour because its bright and eye catching. It will also make them spot a significant and an important part of the film.  We also want to include some fades especially during the ellipsis when it will say ’10 years later’ we want that to fade to black.

An example of the editing techniques we wish to use is used in an iconic film called Schlinder’s List. This scene is significant because there’s a little girl and her coat is in red when everything else is in black and white. Then after that you see people pushing a wooden trolley and there are dead bodies on there and there is the girls red coat on top of the bodies which symbolises that they girl must have got killed.

 

Harlequin – our final product ENJOY!!

Evaluation – question 6

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

For our preliminary task me and my group had to create a two minute video based around a scenario of our own, me my group chose to base our two minute video on a student who was called to her teachers office due to her not handing in her homework. The reason for us choosing this specific scenario was because we had many different ideas and we believed we would gain come enjoyment and excitement out of it. In this specific task we had to include different editing techniques such as match on action, shot reverse shot etc.

We realised how vital continuity editing and 180 degree rule is as we need the viewers to know what is going on and not to get confused.

With the prelim we were taught the rules of continuity and the 180 degree rule. This helped to add a sense of professionalism to our thriller as we knew what to do when filming. For example we were fully aware that when filming two different scenes that interlinked with each other if we had filmed them at different times everything had to be the same e.g. costume, setting, props etc.

 

 

Evaluation – question 5

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

Overall, I think that my group members and I have learnt many things about the filming products and equipment during our filming process. We have learnt that media technologies have changed and developed throughout the years and that there are advantages and disadvantages to the developed equipment.

Due to the changing of technology it is important for the media as the media needs to up to scratch of what is new so that maybe the quality of filming could be better. For example media has changed vastly throughout the years. Before the 1920’s there was no sound in films and just music to symbolise how the character is feeling or to express the atmosphere or the situation. That all changed in the 1920’s as the first appearance of the ‘talkie’ film appeared and example of this was The Jazz Singer which was a great phenomenon as it was one of the first talkie films and it gained a huge audience. So, this is an example of the change of media technology and it can make a huge success if productions used the newest technology in the process of making their films.

Another example for the development of technologies would be Avatar, it was made in to a 3D film and this made it very popular because the 3D technology developed very well by then and because the film was mostly computer generated and it would have been very spectacular if it was seen in 3D. Avatar made $2,782,275,172 worldwide which proves that the development of media technologies are very vital as it can cause success.

Digitalisation

Digitalisation was a great benefit to me and my group as it allowed us to film our media product on a digital camera.

Advantages

• It was incredibly easy to use and it had simple buttons to record, stop, play, pause, zoom in and zoom out, these buttons were placed on the camera noticeably which made it easy to press quickly and it easily came to grips within the first use.
• The footage saved automatically once we finished filming and stopped recording which was good as we did not have to worry about saving it or forgetting to press a save button. Also, there was a USB cable attached to the camera and had a little pocket which saved it from getting damaged. This was again positive we did not have to worry about bringing the USB, forgetting the USB, misplacing the USB because it is simply attached to the camera and can easily be taken out and plugged in to the computer to upload the footage.
• Another thing about the USB was that we could easily upload our footage and then tweak it.
• The process was quite fast as we did not have to take out some sort of memory card and plug it in the computer which was positive as there would not be a chance of losing the memory card as it is quite small.

Disadvantages

• The disadvantages of the digital camera we had was that the screen was quite small to be a touch screen and our fingers were too large to navigate and the click on the footage to look back at it. And if we wanted to click on the footage to review it, it would take long to click on it as the different pieces of footage were close together on the screen and we kept on clicking on the wrong one which was quite frustrating.
• The zooming in and out button was quite stiff as when pushed to zoom it was quite slow and when we pushed it slightly hard it zoomed very fast and it took a long time to zoom in slowly and fast how we wanted it to be.
• When we looked back at the footage on the computer the colour of the film looked quite dark and quite pixeled in some areas especially when we filmed in the dark.
• The camera went blurry at some places when we were filming especially when we were zooming in and when the rapidness of change in the lighting e.g. the scene when the baby sitter turned off the light when walking out the bedroom.

 

  blurriness when filming with the camera.

Flip camera

 

Advantages

• It was very easy to use due to the simple buttons and it was very handy if we wanted to quickly film something.
• It also was beneficial if we wanted to include some awkward angled shots.
• Had a USB attached to it so it was all in one and very fast to use so we’d record and flip out the USB and upload our footage.

 

Disadvantages

• When we wanted an angle it could not stay in that position as it was quite difficult to manoeuvre and if we wanted the shot to be a low shot or a high angle shot we would have to hold the camera with our own hands and some of the footage could turn out to be shakey.
•  Another disadvantage would be that the quality of the film when we uploaded it was not up to the standards we would have wished for as it was quite grainy and fuzzy at some parts.
• As it was quite a small device it could only be used by one person at a time whereas with the digital camera one person could be filming and the other could watch on the screen to see if anything needed to be fixed when considering the mise en scene.

 iMovie

Advantages

• On the iMac there was a software called iMovie, on this specific software me and my group uploaded our footage and began editing. We learnt a many different things when using this piece of equipment as when editing our footage we learnt how to insert transitions such as a fade to black, fade to white, cross blur etc. We also learnt how to insert different sounds into our footage and when to use them. We also learnt how to crop footage that was not needed in our thriller opening.
• It was very easy to edit and very easy to get to grips with as it was very user friendly and we could do whatever we could imagine and wanted to do and there was no sort of barrier of what we could do.
• We could just easily put in any transitions, sounds and they provided us with all these editing techniques.

Disadvantages

• It was quite nerve racking to log off when using iMovie as it does not have a save button and it would save automatically, even though the iMac’s were impressive by doing this we were paranoid if our footage and editing would just delete and not save.

 

USB

Advantages

• Easy to store sounds that we downloaded from freesounds.org from.
• Easy to upload on to iMac

Disadvantages

• Sounds did not work if the USB was not plugged in which was quite frustrating as we needed the USB to be in their all the time and we could not forget the USB.

Evaluation – question 4

Who would be the audience of your media product? How did you attract/address your audience?

Demographics

The demographic of our media product is ranged between 15-25. This is because we thought it would be appropriate for 15 years to view our thriller due to the previous thrillers related to ours as they have the same demographics for their audience as they have a younger audience. I believe that the age of the actors casted in the film play a role in this as they are quite young it would attract a younger and fresher audience as it is a natural instinct to feel more comfortable around those of a similar age to your own .I think this is due to the actors/actresses in our film as they would relate to the audience and therefore the audience would be engaged and would want to watch more. So, this would be our primary audience.

Our certificate is certified at 15. This is due to the themes within our thriller opening as there were some inappropriate themes such as a knife in the beginning when the villain is standing outside, the mask could be disturbing for younger viewers. They may be disturbed because in childhood clowns are child-friendly and they also are funny, and watching this media product could change their whole view on clowns and scare them to the fullest that they’d be quite scarred and they could even grow a phobia. This happened to me when I was younger as I watched Stephen King’s IT at 9-10 years old and it scared me and I grew a phobia for clowns.

Our secondary audience would be parents and fans thriller/horror movies. We thought parents to be the secondary audience because they could relate to the film because some parents may leave their children with a babysitter, and may have some worries and get paranoid of all the dangers that could possibly occur. And our thriller opening could relate to them because they may be thinking something dangerous could happen when their children are at home. The appearance of the psychopath could stay with them for a long time and make them paranoid which can be positive in a way because it would have an effect on the audience and it would be talked about and get well known through other people, this is known as ‘word of mouth’.

The genre of our thriller is a Thriller/horror which is quite well known and famous and most horror based films are part thriller, but thrillers have many sub genres as many films are meant to ‘thrill’ people. But there are many well known, classic films of our particular genre such as Halloween, Scream and Paranormal Activity 3 (PA3). These films are horror too, and the people who enjoy these films and are fans of them, they would enjoy our media product because it is very similar as it has similar characters, locations, producers etc. These films gained a lot of attention and audience which means they made a lot of profit in the box office. So, the people would watch our films if they enjoy watching classic, Hollywood horror/thriller movies.

We attracted our audience by putting in characters that would relate to them by putting in stereotypes of genders. This was the stereotype of a female who was home alone, vulnerable and was babysitting, which is a stereotype for what females do to earn money. Some females may do this job and feel quite paranoid when babysitting, so our thriller opening could relate to them thus attracting them. The stereotype of the male being a villain and violent could attract the audience because it shows that the male has some dominance and that he is quite violent. This would attract the audience as some male audiences enjoy violence and some action, this would attract them as they may want to see the victim and the psychopath/villain fight.

 

 

Evaluation – question 3

Evaluation – Question 3

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

Firstly the very known media companies are known as the big 5 companies and are –

• Warner brothers 
• 20^th Century Fox 
• Paramount 
• MGM 
• RKO 

All these companies have media conglomerates which mean companies come together to put all their specialized work and abilities in to create a huge, successful company.

Our ideal production company that would have made and produced our film would be Paramount because i think that they will be good with the film process and funding. I also think that Paramount would be a good company to produce our film because they have made very successful thriller movies such as Disturbia, Paranormal Activity, The Lovely Bones. They have also produced a number of Alfred Hitchcock’s films such as Rear Window (1954), The Trouble With Harry (1956), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), and Vertigo (1958) . All these films are a Thriller genre and for that I think Paramount should produce our film because of the well known and classic thrillers. Not only would it give our thriller media product a good name because Paramount has produced many successful thriller products it will also mean that our film would be funded and financed which means the locations, props and technologies would be at a high standard.

Paramount would also be a successful distribution company because they distributed all other thriller movies such as Paranormal Activity, The Godfather sequel, Psycho etc. These were the thriller films Paramount have produced and distributed. All the films listed above were very successful and made quite a lot regarding the box office. This was all due to how the films were distributed. Paranormal Activity 3 (PA3) made a box office of $205,703,818,

this shows that the film was distributed very well and gained a lot of audiences. PA3 was successful due to their previous films and due to the distribution techniques. These techniques were trailers, reviews, TV advertisements, posters o billboards, newspapers, magazines, social networking pages etc. This was beneficial for the film as the film got noticed a lot and most people like horror movies as it gives them a thrill and it is fun to watch with friends, partners etc. If our film was distributed in this way I personally think our media product would be just as successful as many people would know about it and would want to watch it by how much it is being shown and advertised.

My group members and I would want our thriller film to be known worldwide/internationally because we believe having Paramount pictures to produce our film and to distribute it would measure up to the standards of the other successful films they have produced. And because Paramount films are also successful worldwide, and so the more audience the more success. Also, I would like Weinstein Company to distribute our films because Weinstein films have been very well known in the UK. The Weinstein Company has ownership of Dimension which is a film company who has released a number of thriller movies that relate to our thriller opening such as Halloween and Scream. These movies are successful thriller/horror movies and our film being part of this distribution company would make our thriller product just as successful and well known. Also, if they knew the same producers that produced these films produced our thriller product there would be more of a chance for our thriller product to gain audiences thus being successful.

 

A Scene from Scream

Similar scene from our thriller opening

 

Our film should be exhibited in Multiplex cinemas as our film would be very well known so in this case our film should be shown in cinemas like VUE, Cineworld, ODEON etc. This is because these types of cinemas have many screens so our film can be shown in them which means we would gain a big audience.

 

 

 

Evaluation – question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product targeted and represented many social groups such as age, gender, social class, and ethnicity/race. On a whole I do think that our thriller opening was stereotypical regarding social groups.

Age

Age was represented through a number of ways such as through the stereotypes of character roles. For example the baby sitter was played by a teenage girl, which stereotypes that teenage girls do baby sitting as a part time job, also the baby is 3 years old. The young characters show innocents as young people are innocent, this is stereotypical but in some cases not all teenagers are said to be ‘innocent’. Well, in this case the teenage girl is doing a good, caring thing by taking care of the child and the child is a symbol of innocence. These character roles show the innocence and vulnerability of the youth. The age shown in our thriller opening is ages 3 and 16 years old as the baby sitter is 16 years old and the child is 3 years old, both very young ages which show vulnerability because people at these ages cannot fully depend on themselves and look after themselves.

Gender

Gender was represented through a range of stereotypical elements such as the main role which was the babysitter, as she was a female and the stereotypical gender of a babysitter would usually be a girl. Also, the psychopath in the film was played by a male which is also a stereotype as most psychopaths/murders in films are played by a male. These stereotypes show that the girl is vulnerable, young and weak and the male psychopath is dominant, strong, and powerful. This is because he gained access in to a home that is not his; he is taller and stronger which shows that he is more powerful and dominant. The babysitter seems weak because she’s scared in her own home and she is also young which shows that she is vulnerable and can be in danger because she may not be able to look after herself and defend herself.

 

Social class

My group members and I did not specifically and intentionally show or portrayed any social class within our thriller opening, but we did have elements that portrayed a social class. These aspects were the location, in a house which looks well presented, quiet, looks quite big and a reasonable size. This shows that the residents and the people who own and live in that house are middle/working class. The inside of the house is also  well presented, has luxury bed covers and the garden is quite grand too which shows that a lot of effort and money has been put in to it, this shows that it is middle class. Also, the job role of the babysitter is quite significant as it shows she is doing a part time job in order to earn some money which shows that she is working class.

Ethnicity/race

In our thriller opening we did not intentionally or purposely represent a specific race or ethnic group as we thought it was not necessary in for the opening. But one of the aspects that related to English/westernised culture was when the babysitter (me) was making coffee/tea and it shows that tea/coffee is overly consumed in the western countries and that most people drink it.

 

Evaluation – Question 1

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

Typical conventions for a thriller opening would be non-diegetic in the background to create tension and to feel what the characters are feeling and to set the scene. Maybe slow paced editing as it keeps the audience questioning and waiting for what is about to come. Maybe show the end of the film at the opening and then the whole film will be about why it actually happened and why it happened and to show the what the narrative is. This is a method and convention that thriller movies usually use in order to keep the audience wanted to watch more in order to find out more.

In some ways our thriller opening has used some usual conventions of a typical thriller opening. Such as, mysterious music in the background when credits come up. Our inspiration for our thriller opening was originally Stephen King’s IT but coincidently the film Halloween (1978) related to our film in quite a few ways as the conventions in the real media product was similar to ours. Our thriller opening also used some other conventions as the film Scream at the beginning had a girl by herself at home with no guidance, older figure there, she’s almost like a ‘demzel in distress’. This means a girl or a female needed help and is in trouble some how which shows that females are stereotyped for being vulnerable. And in our media product the female actress (myself) is by herself, no one to protect her and she is in a very vulnerable situation. This convention is usually used in thriller/horror films as the audience knows what is in store for them and know what is going to happen and they build a liking for the female character as they seem sweet and innocent until a psychopath comes along and the audience does not want them to get hurt or killed.

 

 

Both Halloween and our own media product had similar conventions because at first mysterious, non-diegetic music starts playing which also plays at the start of Halloween. This is significant as it shows that something mischievous or dangerous is about to occur, symbolizes what might be going through the psychopaths head and it could show the range the character has which creates the suspense of what is going to happen next.

Halloween is also similar regarding the characters as there are teenagers involved and children involved which is similar to mine as the main character is a teenage girl and she is a baby sitter too and there are children in the film as well as in our thriller opening. This shows that thrillers do share familiar conventions in order to gain the gain the thriller fans and the same audiences as other thriller movies. Another thing similar convention both Halloween and our media product has used was a mask, this hides and disguises the psychopaths identity which makes the whole film a lot for thrilling as the audience would want to know who the person is, why is he wearing a mask and why is he targeting a young girl. Also, both locations are similar as they are both filmed in a house, this is significant because homes are supposed to be safe, comfortable , relaxing and secure but this juxtaposes as a killer or a psychopath is in the comfort of their home and a psychopath does not make a home safe and secure as it usually is. This came from the idea of Alfred Hitchcock as you play with the characters mind and locations and you make it unexpected. This is also to scare the audience as it is important that the film stays in their mind, so when the film was located in a house, everyone has a home and this would scare the audience.

The film also juxtaposes when there is an innocent teenager and children and the psychopath for some reason wants to hurt them. This keeps the audience thinking why he wants to do such a thing to such innocent, young people. This creates empathy.  

 Psychopath in Halloween

 The babysitter from Halloween

The titling in our media product was appropriate in size and colour as the size was ideal because it was not too big so that the viewers were not able to see what was in the frame and it was not small so that the viewers could not be able to read what was written. The colour of our text and titles were red which connoted danger, blood, murder, evil, the devil etc. We also thought it was appropriate because it fit in with the clown theme as it was quite colourful and red is one of the main colours of a clown and it also had a dark meaning to it too. The name of our thriller is called ‘Harlequin’ which is another, old fashioned, historical name of a clown.

A Harlequin next to a mother and her baby.

Influences

Our influence at first and originally was Stephen King’s IT as the clown is to entertain children and but within this film the clown is evil and terrorizes children. Clowns are supposed to be funny, entertaining and child friendly but the movie went against that portrayal and made the clown opposite to what society thinks a clown should be like. We also used various ideas and influences from Paranormal Activity 3 because there are children in the film and there’s one part in the film where they are being babysit. Also, we realized that Halloween (1978) had a lot of similar aspects to it that we did not recognize at first. For example the masked psychopath, the baby sitter and the children were all the same type of characters played in our thriller opening.

 

In our thriller opening there’s a important scene where the babysitter sees the masked psychopath through a window and Halloween also has a similar scene. This seems like a typical convention as the scene through the window shows the psychopath is stalking the character, and you’re wandering why is he following the character and what he wants. The audience keeps wandering and it gives them a thrill for what is in store for them.

Thriller film openings :)

Some Thriller movies have typical conventions and they have similar ways of approaching things and introducing things. Some Thriller movies are quite different to one another depending on the sub genre.

Some Thriller openings have a slow opening and it does not usually show that much action as it keeps the audience questioning themselves and waiting and wanting to know and watch more. For example The Shining (1980) a psychological thriller, had a slow start and opening as it shows a car driving in some sort of abandoned place near trees, rivers and mountains, it does not show any real action but the non-diegetic music in the background has an effect as it gives off some tension and suspence as it is quite mysterious, deep and dark which makes the audience want to watch more as the car looks like an ordinary car driving along but the music shows that maybe something mysterious and dark is going to happen and it has to do with the characters inside the car but the characters have not yet been identified which keeps the audience watching and paying attention.

The opening that I’m going to analyse is the opening from Taken (2008) In the opening sequence, it seems like some sort of home video is being watched or viewed and shows a little girl and her birthdays, she’s blowing out candles and there’s a woman next to her, looks like her mother. You can tell its a home video by the quality of the film as the film is quite fuzzy and aged. Also, it could be a memory as it looks quite dream like due the saturation of the colours and it looks quite vivid. This could show that it could possibly be a dream or a memory.

 

 

 

The BFC

What is the BBFC?                            

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is an independent, non government body which has exercised responsibilities over cinema for more than 90 years.

Suitable for all.

It is impossible to predict what might upset any particular child. But a ‘U’ film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. ‘U’ films should be set within a positive moral framework and should offer reassuring counterbalances to any violence, threat or horror.

For example these films could be Disney films such as Toy Story 3, Cinderella, The Lion King etc.

Parental guidance.

General viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children.

Unaccompanied children of any age may watch. A ‘PG’ film should not disturb a child aged around eight or older. However, parents are advised to consider whether the content may upset younger or more sensitive children.

For example these films would be the Home Alone sequel.

Suitable for 12 years and over.

Exactly the same criteria are used to classify works at ‘12A’ and ‘12’. These categories are awarded where the material is suitable, in general, only for those aged 12 and over. Works classified at these categories may upset children under 12 or contain material which many parents will find unsuitable for them.

The ‘12A’ category exists only for cinema films. No one younger than 12 may see a ‘12A’ film in a cinema unless accompanied by an adult, and films classified ‘12A’ are not recommended for a child below 12. An adult may take a younger child if, in their judgement, the film is suitable for that particular child. Responsibility for allowing a child under 12 to view lies with the accompanying adult.

An example of a 12/12a film would be 17 Again.

 Suitable for 15 years and over.

No-one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.

An example of a certificate 15 film is Changeling.

No-one younger than 18 may see an ‘18’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 18 may rent or buy an ‘18’ rated video work. Suitable for adults.

An example of a certificate 18 film would be The Godfather.

GUIDELINES.

12A/12. Suitable for 12 years and over.

THEME – Mature themes are acceptable, but their treatment must be suitable for young teenagers.

LANGUAGE – Moderate language is allowed.

NUDITY – Nudity is allowed, but if in a sexual context must be brief and discreet.

SEX – Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed.

VIOLENCE – Moderate violence is allowed, but should not dwell on detail.

IMITABLE TECHNIQUES – Dangerous behaviour should not dwell on detail that can be copied or appear pain or harm free.

HORROR – Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted.

DRUGS – Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamourised or give instructional detail.

15. Suitable for 15 years and over.

THEME – NO theme is prohibited provided that treatment is suitable for 15 year olds.

LANGUAGE – There may be frewuent use of strong language.

NUDITY – Nudity may be allowed in sexual context but without strong detail.

SEX – Sexual activities may be portrayed but without strong detail.

VIOLENCE – Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury.

IMITABLE TECHNIQUES – Dangerous behaviour should not dwell on detail that may be copied.

HORROR – Strong threats and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.

DRUGS – Drug taking may be shown but should not promote or encourage it.