Tony Bryant
Question one

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

One major way we have used a technique from real media thriller productions is the non-chronological order that we set the film out in. In thriller films such as Kill Bill they will do the exact same thing by using the ending scenes of the movie to make the opening. 

Ending:

 To the Opening:

Directors use this technique because it creates enigma and also most the time gives away key moments of the movie and can also deprive the viewer of some information to make them watch the whole way through to find out what actually happened.  

For example when our protagonist is having flashbacks he sees a man preparing to kill him. At first you don't know why but this scene plays out later in the film explaining what is going on.

B) The titles

Our film company logo at the beginning of our thriller is designed to be simple but memorable. The design is based on the front of a film camera lens with the shutter doors closing inside it. This is not obvious at first glance and is only recognisable after being told the context, This was intended as our thriller film is based of the repressed knowledge of the context around the action on screen until the end of the film.

Just like our company logo the title to our thriller opening, “Vengeance”,  has a less obvious meaning behind it. Just like the title to “Gravity” the word is very spaced apart and each letter seems to be on its own and is not affected by the others which was a metaphor towards the fact that at the beginning to the thriller opening there is very little evidence shown to link each flashback together. This is just like how each letter is so spaced apart it is hard to link them together until you read the entire word and realise the meaning, Just like at the end of the film when all the flashbacks (letters) link up to give the meaning.

C) Format

During three flashbacks there is a POV (Point of view) angle which makes a stronger link between the viewer's emotion and the characters, this would make the audience more e.g frightened during a scene that is quite intense and terrifying to the character.

All the flashbacks had a vignetting, Colour degrading and blur effect added to them in post production to make it more obvious that it is in the passed and not what is presently happening in the film.

Our main point of inspiration of information that we took from researching blockbuster thriller openings is that most of them try to create a sense of confusion, Bewilderment or disorientation by showing scenes that either are shown later in the film (In the plot of the film) or is later explained in the film no visually but auditory (In the story of the film). This all in turn creates enigma which then keep the view hooked for the rest of the film.

Tony Bryant
Question two

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Are dress code for our protagonist was run down, cheap and dole which was to create the assumption that he didn't have a large amount of money, which would lead to him making irrational choices towards things.

For our two minute thriller opening we used friends and connections that have had experience with acting before with the exception of Connor and Jake. The cast consisted of only men due to coincidence but this also coincides with the stereotype that men are normally more physical and get into trouble.

Tony Bryant
Question three

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

A company that specialises in distributing films created by low budget indie filmmakers, companies such as Dog woof do this. This would mean that they might be able to get the film into small cinemas.

Although our first film would not be made to turn a large profit but rather to get our names out as film-makers.

 

Tony Bryant
Question four

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our thriller film was not intended to be aimed towards a certain gender but if you stick to the gender stereotypes then this film would be aimed more towards men due to the mild gore and violence.

The action scenes in our thriller were directed more towards being an action film because we wanted to draw in a larger audience. This worked because it meant that there was several different aspects of the film to like e.g. the action scenes.

Our target audience would be young adults+ as there is no graphic scenes with would make it only available to adults, although the plot of the movie would be extremely confusing to a younger audience due to the fact that the scenes are not set in a chronological order but instead start with the ending to the movie and flashbacks to scenes throughout the movie, This was to create enigma.

Tony Bryant
Question Five

How did you attract/address your audience?

We used techniques that we saw in other blockbuster thriller film that were trying to address our target audience. Such techniques as showing key parts of the film at the beginning but not giving any context towards them which in-turn makes the viewer want to carry on watching to find out what happens. Other blockbuster thriller films that have used this is e.g. Kill Bill.

During the opening the flashbacks become more and more relevant to the situation of our protagonist laying on the floor as the heartbeat’s pace increases.

The flashbacks at the beginning of the film end with our protagonist waking from their injuries which makes the viewer want to carry on watching to find out what was done to him and why he didn't succumb to his injuries.

6.

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

I have learnt how to use a new editing program called final cut pro which took a while to get the hang of because i had to use a Mac therefore it was a completely different layout and operating system.

I had already had experience using adobe Photoshop but i had never used it on a Mac before so that took me a while to get used to as well.

Tony Bryant
Question Seven

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

I feel that i have learnt how to properly manage the video clips and audio within final cut pro on the Mac’s. I was able to easily find all the content for my short film and i also picked up most the different shortcuts to make my editing sessions quicker and more effective.

We had serious problems with our recording equipment in the preliminary task leading to us not being able to use any audio that was recorded on the day we shot the film, This meant that we had to re-record all our folly sounds and all dialogue. This was more time consuming but made the dialogue much clearer than it would have been. During the shooting of our final 2 minute short film I had learnt for our mistake and connected an extra on board microphone and also had Jake hold a microphone to pick up most the sounds created by our surroundings such as birds, car engines and the wind.

I realised how big of a difference it makes from using just natural and surrounding lighting to using that paired with our own lighting set up, It makes everything in the scene easier to see and also stops noise leaking through when using a high ISO.

During the preliminary task we rented out all the equipment for the first day of shooting but this lead to problems with footage being lost and we also had problems being able to hire the equipment while all the people in our production were free to shoot.

Title sequence analysis

Gravity

The title sequence of gravity is a metaphor for the rest of the movie. This is because the word gravity is all alone in the dark background just like in the movie where the characters are all alone in the darkness of space. The title sequence is the word gravity in white writing with a black background.

Skyfall
The title for Skyfall comes up during the opening credits sequence for the movie. It's when Bond it's falling through looks like a hole in the sea floor but also due to the colour of the floor it looks like the sky, this could be a metaphor for Bond falling through the sky as the title of the movie implies.

Problems on set while filming

During filming of certain scenes we ran into a number of problems. One of the main problems was with the use of prop guns.

Because the prop guns we were using for the death scene were completely blacked out this could have lead to the confusion that we had real weapons. This was obviously a massive problem as we didn't want to have the police being called so we had to print of signs which we would place around the scene out of shot where we were filming.

While shooting the car chase scene we ran into some problems with the people living around the area where we were filming. One lady came up to us and nicely asked us to leave due to the fact that she thought we were being too loud and that we were going to get in the way of other cars so we then had to leave and we were not able to film the rest of the car scene without that setting. This meant we had to change the car chase scene so the setting is not shown as much. We had chosen that location to film the car chase scene as it was a dead end and had great positions to set up my tripod.

Even though there were good places to set the tripod we chose to us the tripod as a camera stabiliser because it made a slight sake to the footage causing the scene to be more tense and created the illusion that the cars were goings faster than they were.

A small part of the chase scene (Not edited):

Media

Thriller opening Pre-production

Due - 29/01/16

Tony Bryant

Target audience

Would be target at an older more mature audience as the storyline is quite complex.

Our story is in a non-chronological order so it is quite hard to grasp what is going on as some points.

Setting

Travel distance will be to the Queen Victoria for the scenes involving the hospital.

Access to our location we have called up and they have agreed to try and help us out but it is not 100% certain yet.

The risk of the places we are filming; the hospital is about the safest place we could film but the driving scene could be dangerous for obvious reasons.  

Mood and atmosphere we want the setting to create; the hospital creates a confused, enigma atmosphere as the audience wonders why he is in there.

One setting that is key to the plot of our short thriller opening is a single patient room in a hospital where our protagonist is in serious pain in his bed.

If it doesn’t work out with getting hold of the Queen Victoria hospital then we have connections through another group member to get into a different hospital further away. It’s called the Burswood hospital. We have also been able to get in contact with

Props

We will need:

• Cars
• Guns
• Smart (Suit) and casual clothes
• Hospital bed
• Heart monitoring screen (Real/Fake)
• Hospital patient clothing

I have a prop gun which I have spray painted all black

We all know people that are able to use and their cars in our thriller opening. We have some prop guns but if we do not have enough we are able to borrow them from the college prop storage cupboard and if not there we are able to buy them.

We will need to make warning signs for the guns as they are going to be painted almost fully black making it hard to tell if it's a real gun or not.

Jake has family connections to help us with getting access to this hospital equipment and if we are not able to get access then we will create our own bed for it as all we need it a relatively close shot of their face while on the bed.

Getting hold of the equipment might be a lot hard to do so we may have to make it ourselves.   

We have asked for the hospital to supply us with the clothes for the scene of Callum waking from a comma. For the other scenes we will have our actors dress with causal clothes but have the antagonist wear darker clothes as this will passively create a darker mood while they are on screen.

Hair and make-up

For the protagonist hair it would be messed up as they have been in quite a physical event that has put them in hospital. There would be little blood as it would have been cleared up by the hospital staff but there maybe scars on their face from whatever happened.

For the idea of a scar on Callum’s face:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFyot9NL_h0

We will not be able to carry on with this idea thought if we are not able to get the make-up and equipment for it in time for the shoot.

Lighting and colour

When setting up the lighting we will want to create an even amount of light for most scenes but then in scenes where we are trying to create enigma we will use a semi lit or backlit scene.

Body position and facial expression

During our car chase scene we will have a close up on the facial expression that the protagonist will be giving as he is being shot at.

Media research task

Tony Bryant

Due 15/01/16

Mission impossible 1

Starts with a scene involving what looks like an interrogation of a man with information that they need. The camera work in the scene is incredible with the director using out of focus background shots to tell the plot of the scene while still having a close up on someone's face and his expressions.This also give a sense of confusion and this also creates dramatic irony when one of the characters unknowing has a  drink that was spiked with what seemed to be poison. There is a large number of cuts within the first 3 minutes alone just to create a sense of pace. During the whole conversation between Tom and the lady the 180 degree rule is not broken and shot reverse shot is also been put in, to create an overall well directed scene.

The opening scene is a dolly shot of a man watching the interrogation through a screen and seeming to be making notes about the information that they are trying to gather. This could also be an establishing shot of the setting

Then there is a cut to the guy watching and it is at an extreme close up so we can see his whole facial reaction to the action. He also says “Come on she's been under to long” as he looks at his watch which is a great use of props as it is almost passively put in and doesn't seem like they have taken the time to think into that much detail.

The same shot is used for the next sequence as well because while Ethan is hitting the man they are interrogating for information there are cuts back to the man watching to show his reaction to the violence. This give a little bit of emphasis to the beating and makes the scene slightly more enjoyable.

After checking back at his watch again he then starts to make facial expressions that you would not realise without an extreme close up on his face. These facial expressions suggest they have some sort of time limit towards the amount of time she can be “under”. The use of the word “under” also suggests she has been  put into some sort of deep sleep to face a death by using drugs.

The sound plays a big part in telling the plot within this scene as when the assistant is spiking the man's drink it is not very clear at first so the sound for it had to be put there to help make it more obvious for the viewer. The music in the background is not dark and is not joyful but it is somewhere within them which creates an uneven atmosphere between the characters.

The setting for the opening sequence of  the film is set in Kiev which is the capital of Cairn although it was actually filmed in the US and England. This is a good example of the director making you believe what he wasted you to.

Just like in Kill Bill this is a truly refreshing take on a thriller opening sequence and for its risks on trying something very different and new it was rewarded with great feedback on the movie.

Fargo

The first 2 minutes are almost made up of 2 single shots of a car being towed to what looks like a bar. When .. walks into the bar and over to the two men the 180 degree rule is broken but it is broken he does it in one take where the camera moves in front of him and then stays to that side while he has the conversation with the two them.There is also the use of shot reverse shot during the scene with the conversation.

There is an establishing shot of the building as he pulls up to the bar.

There is very little non-diegetic sound during the whole opening sequence other than the background music which again starts off strong and loud but then dies off during the majority of the speaking part but there is lots of off screen sound and foley sound effects. There is diegetic music during the talking scene which is a switch from the non-diegetic music at the beginning.

During the taking scene between the three men the camera slowly pulls in towards the men as if it is on a dolly and it does this in sync with the tension of the scene. As it becomes more tense between the men the camera pulls in closer.     

Kill bill

First whole scene is shot in one take lasting 1 minute and 24 seconds.

The clothing she is wearing seems to be the same as what the bride would wear on the wedding day which implies that she was going to or just has gotten married to someone. It could be Bill as she says she's having his baby and Bill talks about her having affection for him.

There is a sudden cut in from dark to reveal what the heavy breathing is and it is a lady who looks like she had been in a fight of some sort due to the amount of blood on her and the pain she seems to be in. The diegetic sound of the foot steps in the background give a clue as to why she is in so much fear.

When the man goes to “help” her by wiping blood of her face there is a very unique label on the tissue as the words “Bill” indicating to the audience that the man could be Bill. This is then reinforced when she says his name “Bill” at the end of the sequence.

Between each part of dialog there are very large pauses which may be for dramatic effect and also because it means it fit with the speed of what's happening on screen and the slow pace of editing.  

As Bill's speech pace starts to pick up so does the shivering of the lady as she is frightened at what Bill is going to do. Then you hear the sound of Bill cocking the gun off screen and that's when she says “Bill it's your baby”. Then cut to black a couple of frames after the bullet is fired so the audience knows that she has been shot dead.

This sequence is extremely frightening is because there is a technique used at the start that first confuses the audience which is the desperate breathing of the woman. This is a sensory technique which is used to confuse the viewer and also draw in their attention and then explain what is happening. This is done in the movie when it cuts from black to show the woman caked in blood and still furiously breathing.

During the whole scene her face is only half lit and half in darkness which may be a metaphor for Bill being very dangerous and dark as he shoots her from the dark side. The blood also creates a contrast with the white which could also be a metaphor for her  marriage’s struggles.

This take on a thriller opening is extremely different which can be very risky as different does not always mean better but in this case as it has created a very intense and frightful opening scene.

Although there seems to be an extremely little amount of camera work as it is a 1:24 minute long take where nothing seems to change, there is actually a very large amount of camera techniques being used.

One of the camera techniques that is used in the opening scene is where the audience has very little information to go off as to what has just happened or what is happening due to the extremely tight camera angle on her face. This means the rest of the action is happening off screen therefore leaving the viewer in confusion and having to guess what's happening which also creates a sense of enigma.

Inception

Long takes at the beginning in slow motion which may be because he is not in real life but instead in a dream world which may explain the differences in pace as if you were in a dream. The setting is a beach which seems to be inhabited by a small army/organisation. By the look of their clothing they are security guards

It starts with a medium close up on the “sea” the main character was washed up by and then cuts to a extreme close up of his face when he wakes so you can see his expression on his face to his children (You are not aware that it's there his children) that he has not seen for years. The shot of the children is a made disorientating by using effects on sound, camera focus and the cameras stability. It is a point of view shot from the main character and there is a focus pull on one of his children that shows us how he can see at that point in time. The stability of the camera is slightly off as well because he has not yet regained complete consciousness. The music in the background has not got a certain tone to it and is very erratic but slow which suits the pace of the action on screen.

After this there is a medium close up of a guard searching him and the music in the background suddenly changes and the disorientating humming sound in the background that was emphasizing that he was not completely conscious is made extremely silent in comparison to how loud it was before. There is a prop gun in his trousers which is what seemed to cause the guard to alert the others.

As the guard shouts the scene changes to an establishing shot of the building that he is taken into.

Throughout the whole sequence the music starts of loud just like the scene with the loud crashing waves but then the sound starts to die off and become quieter and then at the end there music suddenly increases when the dramatic reveal is told to the audience.

In the next scene the setting completely changes from a barren beach to what seems to be a wooden dining area.

This is where what seems to be there emperor is at and then he is also brought into this room after asking for their “emperor” by his name. At this moment there is a very considerable change in the volume of the music from very loud to extremely quite to the point where you can barely hear it. It is an extremely wide angle with a long shot of the room and at around the eye level of the “emperor”.

He then lays down some props that he said he had on the man and these props are a gun and a spindle which id for working out if you are in a dream world or not. The importance of this prop is not shown by his facial expressions but how his body movements suddenly change and almost pause. He reaches for a glass of wine but then pauses when he is shown the spindle as if he has just realised something extremely important.

He is brought into the room which is shown by another long shot which is partially blocked by the “emperor” and the table. He is sat down and there is a close up of his facial expression and then the same shot again just after the first English line is said, “Are you here to kill me?”.

It cuts to the old man reaching for the weapon and then reaching across to the spindle and says “i know what this is” and then there is a cut to a medium long shot. As this happens the music volume starts to build as the anticipation also builds.

Then the non-diegetic music suddenly explodes and the major plot detail is given away.

Conclusion of thriller openings - To conclude, The similarities of all the thriller; Almost all the openings had extremely long takes and very little cutting. They were also extremely confusing at the start and slowly started to explain what some of the actions in the sequence where for such as the man in Mission impossible 1 saying that she had been under to long, at the time the audience didn't understand what that meant or why he was saying it but by the end it was clear that she had been putting her life in danger so she could seem to be dead.