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

The Title Of The Film

The title for our film is simple yet effective. Keeping it short helps to attract the audience, which is what we wanted to do as the title is a main feature of any film. Common horror films are also single word titles as it grabs the audience's attention e.g. Halloween, Saw etc.

We decided the leave the title of the film until the end of our two minute opening. This allowed us to create suspense in the opening and for the audience to straight away be involved within the film and have their attention focused right from the start.

We decided to use a black screen with our title written simply in a white font. This allowed it to simple but still had an impact. It allows the audience to focus solely on the title of the film 'Isolation'. I think that this adds tension to the opening as the word isolation emphasises the condition that the young girl is in, creating the tension and fear for her from the audience.

Setting/Location

I feel that the setting we chose to film in, being a garage, allowed us to have good use of mise en scene and made the opening a lot more realistic. It also emphasised the fact that she has been kidnapped by her neighbour, and she is being held in his house which could happen to anyone. It allows the audience to feel vulnerable as they realise it could even happen to somebody like them.

Costumes and Props

As you can see in the frame, the costume we decided to give the character of Sam was very simple in the flashback scenes. The white top and shorts portray her innocence yet show the torment she has been through and what she is being subjected to wear. In the present shots, her large top and trousers create a rough and messy look which further emphasises the poor condition that she's being kept in.

The kidnapper character's costume was simple and everyday style wear. This is because we wanted him to appear a normal man and have nothing suspicious about him in the very beginning as it is more of a shock when the audience realise that he is in fact the man who has kidnapped.

Camera Work and Editing

The frame shows a close up of Sam's hand during a flashback scene where her hands were being tied up. We also chose to use sepia tone as it was a flashback so we felt it showed the transition from present day to the past much clearer and shows us that it has already happened. I chose this frame to use for this section as I felt it was a key part of the film as we experience some of what the character has been through.

Title Font and Style

We chose to use the font Papyrus for our titles as we felt the way it looked fitted in with our genre and gave it a mysterious and edgy feel. We decided to include a 'fade in' before the title came on and then a 'fade out' as it went off screen. The same font is used throughout on all of the titles.

Story and How The Opening Sets It Up

I decided to use the frame of when the male character picks up the missing poster of Sam. This is the first inclination in the opening of a real story behind what is happening on screen.

Genre and How The Opening Suggests It

The frame I chose to use is one of Sam being tied up and gagged which straight away shows that there is a background to the story and suggests the horror theme as we can see she has clearly been taken. This shot, like other thriller/horror genres, entices the audience in as we want to know how and why she has ended up where she is.

How Characters Are Introduced

I chose this shot as we are viewing the male character acting 'normally' and as anyone else would in an everyday situation. This automatically confuses the audience as we don't know what he's doing and what the significance of the missing poster is yet.

Special Effects

We didn't really include special effects as these aren't always used in the type of genre that our film is, plus we don't have the equipment to create effects that would look natural or realistic. The frame I have chosen is simply a shot with a sepia tone as this is how we chose to show situations that Sam's character was put in.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

The type of institution that would distribute our product would be a company most like 'Twisted Pictures' who created the Saw trilogy and gave us inspiration for our own company's name. They are not a Hollywood blockbuster style film company so they would be more suited in distributing our film which a genre such as ours. If our film was to be taken on by a huge distributor such as 20th Century Fox, I think they would more than likely lose profit as it is a low budget film and may not be enough to attract the large audiences that they usually receive from their other films.

The money from our film would most likely be a grant from something like The National Lottery, like the film 'This Is England' produced by Warp Films. This is because there would be a minimum amount of money available for us to use in the production of our film.

So a company such as 'Twisted Pictures' would definitely be more suited as it would bring in audiences who have seen other films distributed by them and could bring in avid fans of the Saw trilogy.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

6+7.

Exclusive Interview with Director and Producers, Luke Denny and Abigail Stilgoe of new upcoming blockbuster "Isolation!"


Q - Hi Guys, Welcome to the studio. Let's get straight to the point, We all know what this new film is about but what strikes the film market is the equipment you guys used. Why did you chose the use this equipment?



L - Well, We used a couple of differnt peices of equipment. This consisted of a mac computer, photoshop, garageband, video and still cameras. We chose to use all of this so we got a variation of different editing technigques and widened our experience with using different types of programme. For instance, we used imovie for the editing, and a video camera to film the shots. We then also used a still camera and photoshop for the film logo. For things like the titles in the film, were also done on imovie. Imovie also allowed us to change our font and titles and make them more interesting to the audience.

A - We used the equipment because we felt that it would really help us in finalising our piece and help us to create the clean finish, even though it may not have been the most expensive or high quality.

Q – What were the advantages of using these?

L- As i said before, all of these pieces of equipment we used allowed us to do so many things making our film better in many ways. While filming we used a tripod which created much smoother shots and allowed us to create a professional looking film.

A - Using the tripod really helped us to achieve steady shots so that it looked as professional as possible rather than having a shaky picture on screen. Using iMovie on the macs, gave us a lot of varied effects, transitions, sounds etc. that we could incorporate into our film to improve the final product.

Q – Do you feel you have learnt much from using these piece of equipment?

L- I feel that I have learnt much more than I ever thought I would. I knew to some extent I would learn about the programme, but to no standard as what I have. I feel that now I could start all again, with the feeling, and the editing, and know exactly what I am doing.

A - Definitely, I feel that I've really progressed with my skills after using them as now I'm more confident with what I'm doing and I know how to edit and polish clips so they look as best as possible.

Q – Looking back at a prelimary example of a film, How much do you think you have improved?

L - Looking back at our prelimary, I can't even believe we were so bad! One of the main rules in filming is the 180 degree rule, and we even messed that up. I am glad we did though, because through the whole process of creating our film, we were so careuful not to make silly mistakes like that, and without making that mistake early on in the process I think we would be less immune to the silly things that could go wrong.

A - A lot! During our preliminary we didn't even do the 180 degree rule! Now I think that we aren't making small mistakes like that and we know how to make things like the continuity of the film much slicker and look realistic whereas our preliminary wasn't a good example of that. Even things like titles, we didn't even add them into our preliminary whereas now we've included ones that relate to our film genre. Also, things like mise en scene, what we've shot now is only relevant whereas before we didn't really bother with finding a good location or storyline.

MediaQuestionPowerpoint

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Isolation Final.

Update On Filming

During our first session to film the new footage, Maddy was unavailable but we were able to film all of the other scenes and this meant we could still work on our film in the following week before we could re-film the other scenes so we were still making good progress with our work.

During our second session to film the new footage, Luke was unfortunately unavailable. This meant I had to film the rest on my own. However, filming still went well with both of our actors being able to complete the process and ready to film the final shots. We did face a couple of problems though, including the tape running out but luckily I had another tape I could use at home. Also, both of the batteries we were given for the camera hadn't been charged fully and ran out but I had managed to film the main footage I wanted to so it didn't ruin the whole thing.

Update On Filming

In today's lessons, we managed to complete our film. We still have to add finishing touches and make things more sharper and clear but we made a lot of progress today. We have still incorporated some things from our draft like shots of Maddy, as we are using them for the flashbacks which I think work effectively within the rest of our footage.

Recce Shots

These are shots of our location which is my garage. Obviously for filming we removed the car in order to make room for filming. However, I think this is a good location for us to use and has effective mise en scene that makes our footage more believable.

Gender + Ethnicity - Life On Mars

Ethnicity

• Reference to the sari that the Asian woman is wearing. The police officer refers to it as a 'nighty'. It comes across very unrespectful and some people may feel it could be seen as a racist comment.
• Representation of working class Irish man. We are shown this through his strong accent and his clothes with appear rough and dirty. This is also represented in where he lives as it seems to be a poor area. There is a reference to the work that the Irish end up doing which is the jobs that the English people don't want to do. "All our kind are good for is shovelling shit and making bombs."
• There is the assumption that the Asian man walking down the street with the T.V. has stolen it which the police officer bases purely because of his colour.
• The bar man in the pub is black and given stereotypical traits - strong accent and dreadlocks.

Sound - Defiance

The Soloist

The film, 'The Soloist' was based on LA Times columnist Steve Lopez columns about his relationship with schizophrenic Nathaniel Ayers, a former music prodigy who now lives on the streets of LA.

The director, Joe Wright, faced problems before filming as he was creating a film in America based on an American real life story yet he knew nothing about America. Before filming he spent time with people from the local community and after a week he decided he was positive about creating a film that was based on the society they came from.

Many of the extras that they hired for the film were locals from the community, living on the street, who had no experience beforehand.

The actor, portraying Nathaniel Ayers, Jamie Foxx, learned how to play the cello in preparation for the film and his character, and was taught by LA Philharmonic's Ben Hong.

The production team decided to not film in the actual setting of skid row as they had told the people who lived there that they wouldn't kick them out so they didn't want to cause more disturbances for them and push them away from their home.

Nathaniel Ayers was given a chance to watch the Los Angeles Philharmonic rehearse at the Walt Disney Concert Hall which the orchestra had never allowed anyone to do before.

The producers of the film suggested Joe Wright for the director as he has previously done films such as Atonement and Pride & Prejudice that were based on novels and a story behind it so thought he would be a good choice.

Working Titles films are moving away from their usual British films such as Hot Fuzz and The Boat That Rocked. They are introducing a new genre that they haven't generally done before, instead of their most used comedy films, so it shows how they are trying to reach wider audiences through the different films they are creating.

Target

For today's lesson, me and Luke are going to complete our logo for our film. We are hoping to create one that has the same feel to it as our film does and emphasise our film's genre.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Editing Techniques

This film trailer for One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, demonstrates a number of typical editing techniques. These include continuity editing as when Jack Nicholson's character of Randle McMurphy is at the counter talking to Louise Fletcher's character of Nurse Ratched, even though the scene would have been filmed twice from each person's point of view, Nicholson's hands are in the exact same position when we see both views.

The film follows the linear narrative as the story is told in chronological order, beginning with McMurphy entering the mental asylum and what happens whilst he is in there and how he affects the other patients.

Thumbnails For Draft

Pictures Of Model

Here are some shots which I took of Maddy whilst we were filming the draft of our film opening. We have given her a dirty look to show what she has been through but we are hoping to emphasise this even more in our final opening.

Coursework Progress

Me and Luke have finished a rough filming of our two minute film opening. We have started editing and have completed the titles to our film, including music and shots of things like the knife and rag etc. During filming we realised that we would have to cut certain elements for the rough draft as when we filmed we were not able to finish the shots of the kidnapper's camera. However, we still hope to incorporate this into our final edit of our opening.

The Soloist

Budget: $60 million

Gross revenue: $31,720,158

Critical Reaction: The Soloist grossed $9,715,000 in 2,024 theaters with a $4,800 average per theater. The film has an overall rating of 55% of positive reviews with an average score of 6/10.

Distributed by: DreamWorks (US)
Universal Studios (international)

Release dates: 24 April 2009 (US)
11 September 2009 (UK)

Star Persona: Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jnr and Catherine Keener.

Overall, the film received mixed reviews. Based on 120 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an overall rating 55% of reviews that are positive with an average score of 6/10. The actors performances were praised but the film was said to lack narrative focus in it's attempt to tell the story due to uneven direction by Joe Wright.

On its opening weekend, the film opened at number 4, taking in $9,715,000 in 2,024 theaters with an average of $4,800 per theatre.

Halloween Opening Sequence

I think that this is a great example of a good horror film opening. I like the use of POV as I feel it leaves the audience wanting more and they want to know who the character is and what he is doing. I think it would be good if I could somehow incorporate this into our own opening film sequence as we don't want the kidnappers face to be shown to the audience to leave it as a mystery to who they are. I also like how they show the pumpkin which your eyes are automatically drawn to and is a hint for the remainder of the film.

Film Title

We are currently trying to decide on a new name for our film as we didn't feel 'The Parker Riddle' had that much of an impact.

These are some other suggestions that we came up with:

The Parker Riddle

Question Existing

Save Me

Broken

Infatuated

Echo

Obsession

Isolation

Secluded

Eventually we decided on the title, 'Isolation', as we felt that it had much more of an impact and it emphasised the situation that our character was in.

Grey Hand Gang

http://greyhandgang.com/index

I found this website useful in giving me inspiration for types of shots, settings and camera angles etc. that I would be able to use in my film opening.

Audience Feedback On Pitches

Name Of Group And Task Idea
Luke and Abbi - Film Opening

Genre
Horror/Thriller

Target Audience
15+

Other Texts It Reminds You Of
Scream, Saw, The Ring, Kiss The Girls

Potential Problems
•Too much work
•Pictures
•Could be quite scary for 15 year olds
•Quite technical
•Not much happening may get boring
•The locations may not be appropriate - garage works best
•Offensive
•Who's perspective are we seeing it through?
•Lighting - Is it night?
•Mise en scene - Convincing location
•Could be a short movie

Positive Comments
•Really know what we're doing
•Good storyline
•Good ideas
•Very good pitch - nice consideration of costume and location
•I like thrillers
•Makes me want to watch the rest
•As it's similar to Saw, it could be quite hooking
•Good planning
•Really inventive and well thought out ideas, good setting and sinister ideas
•Good idea to be like Saw because it could bring Saw fans to watch it

Advice/Suggestions
•Keep it simple
•Garage would be best for setting - dark, cold and gloomy
•Don't complicate things too much
•Look at other thriller movies for more ideas
•Look into music which helps enhance the genre
•Research effective camera shots
•Build tension
•Don't reveal the kidnapper
•Flashbacks to abduction

Musical Inspiration

We think that a sound like this could be effectively used in our film opening to help build up the tension.

25 Word Pitch

Sam Parker, 17, Taken by her next door neighbour. The opening scene is her waking up in the place she has been taken to. Thriller genre.

About Our Film

Synopsis;

Sam Parker, 17, was abducted on the 19th August 2010. She was violated by her next door neighbour. As her parents struggle to find any clues to where she is, next door down in the basement un imaginable things are happening, and when they finally figure out the riddle, they're in a race against time to save their daughter.

The title of the film; The Parker Riddle

Catch line; Sometimes, what your looking for, is right next door.

Our Idea

After watching the opening to Saw 2, which I had posted on to mine and Luke's blog, Luke had the idea of creating a similar opening. This is because we think it would be possible to create the same sort of effects which are shown in Saw 2. So we have chosen to use some similar techniques used in the Saw 2 opening in our film as we feel it is a good inspiration for our genre of film.

This then gave us the idea of having somebody kidnapped and the opening of the film would be them waking up. The reason we think this would be good is because it is un explained and unknown and the audience would feel scared for the person waking up and also confused because they will have no idea what is going on.

After thinking about this we decided that this is the idea that we are going to use for our film opening.

Possible Ideas

http://www.eng.umu.se/monster/john/sound_music.htm

I think that this website could be very useful in helping us to decide what type of musical elements we may want to include in our film opening. We can see a selection of different varieties in music that are used in many popular thriller films e.g simple three note melodies as used in Jaws and the Halloween series. Therefore helping us to decide what style of music we want to include to help our opening fit the genre of thriller.

Scream - Film Analysis

Scream is a classic example of a great horror/thriller film. It is also a good example of a 'whodunnit' film. It allows the audience to join in with the characters at figuring out who the killer is.

The mise en scene is the opposite to the saw 2 opening because this doesn't look like the setting of a horror film, this looks like the setting of just a normal film but that could be what makes it so scary. This could happen to anyone. Later on in this seqeunce the character being played by Drew Barrymoore is murdered by the man on the telephone who is dressed in a long black cloak and a mask. It leaves the audience wondering who this person could be. It is not revealed til the end of the film.

This film was a succesful one and we can see why. What we want to take from it is the idea of not knowing who the 'bad guy' is and allowing the audience to also try and figure it out, along with the other characters.

Saw 2 - Film Analysis

I think that this is a good example of a film opening, as it leaves the audience with a question of how this man has got where he is and what is going to happen to him. It also appeals greatly to a lover of horror films as we can see from the start that something bad will happen, the music helping to build up the suspense.

The mise en scene in this clip is very important because you have to be careful with every litte bit of detial. Everything has to fit in together and fit perfectly in to the scene and i think this is does well.

This film opening really draws the audience in because everything is unknown and that can really scare someone because they know nothing.

From this we would like to take the idea of knowing nothing, and also the idea of it starting with somebody waking up to create that effect of knowing nothing.

Moodboards

Mise En Scene Power Point

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Deadlines

G321 Course Outline Dec 2009 to March 2010

AS Coursework Checklist

1. Juno opening titles swede
2. Analysis of film opening from Youtube
3. Analysis of student opening
4. Prelim task and evaluation
5. Four 25 word pitches
6. Make a company logo and Ident
7. Nine frames moodboard sheet
8. Titles timeline from art of the Title
9. Storyboard and animatic
10. Recce shots and photos on the shoot
11. Screengrabs throughout editing
12. Rough cut for feedback

Past Work

We looked at this video because it was given an A Grade.

The things we liked about it was the effects on the eye at the beginning. We also liked the titles of the people's name because it fitted along with the theme of horror and also had the same effects as what they eye had.

We have decided that we are gonig to create a horror/thriller start of an opening. We would like to use effects the same as these or close to them because they draw the audience in. It sets a very weary atmosphere.

Themes

We have already established that we are going to create a film opening for our coursework. We haven't actually been given the specification yet but we have been thinking about some ideas.

• A Horror theme - Night time, mysterious characters, dark colours (eg, red, black, grey etc)
• A Romantic theme - Candle lit dinners, Romantic Setting (Countryside), nice and relaxing colours
• A Thriller theme - Cliffhanger, very mysterious, maybe makes the audience jump.
• A Mystery theme - Nothing to be exposed, scary to some extent.

Musical Inspiration

This music inspired me alot. For our film opening we want a suspence opening and we thought that some music like this would create the type of atmosphere that we want. The only thing with this music, is that we don't want it to be cheesy and with this it could be percieved that way. We also wouldn't be able to use this exact song because it would be copyrighted. We could though, get some music which resembles this.

Film Analysis

I think that this is a great example of a horror/thriller theme opening. It straight away makes the ordinary house look creepy and you can already start to get a sense of something bad happening. When the girls are talking it seems like a normal night but as soon as one of them tells the story of the video, we are automatically drawn into the film's main plot. We can already assume that the video will have a reoccurence later on and the fact that she says people have died, we are left wanting to know what will happen.
Also, the fact that it is two ordinary girls we realise that it is happening in everyday life which makes it a more realistic situation.