The Sixth Sense, The Village and Lady in the Water

As a class, we analysed the thrillers - The Sixth Sense, The Village and Lady in the Water - all directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

We did this because it would give us an idea of what we need and don't need to include for our final opening. As our deadline is approaching, by analysing these, it could be established the changes that need to be made to the first draft.

From watching the three thrillers, I have been able to understand what needs to be changed and that there are many things in the opening that aren't even needed or haven't been included.

The Sixth Sense, The Village and Lady in the Water are all very different films, but hold the same level of audience engagement and create tension in similar ways.

- Music and sound is before action - building the suspense up, thus giving a gradual impact.
- There are also not that many shots used. This contrasts to our opening, in which we have used quite a lot of shots.
- The pace of music is very effective. For example, the pace of music increases in The Village after the main title.
- There is a focus on one particular character - having the longest amount of time on screen.

Therefore, from analysing these three openings, it's clear that our opening lacks in engaging the audience and doesn't hold an effective amount of suspense. We need to remove certain shots and change our music and its pace.

Evaluation Notes

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

- The narrative is similar to media representation - our portrayal of men; the more dominate + aggressive sex, shown in negative light, through rape and killing
- Portrayal of female character; the weaker sex and the victim.
- Stereotypical depiction of men and women
- Lighting and sound used to create suspense and tension

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

- Male youth - jealousy and obsession
- Female youth - fear and confusion
- Highlights the emotions and actions of younger people

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

- Internet or TV documentary
- Doesn't hold the level of quality to go into the cinema
- Could be used in a TV documentary to underline the behaviour of the younger generation

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

- People of the same age as the characters in our thriller
- 15+ audience; they would understand the storyline and maybe relate to the emotions involved. They would also relate to the process of making the opening - experience
- Male and female audience

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

- Looked closely at the themes linked to our chosen genre - psychological thriller
- Watched and analysed other, professional openings of the same genre
- Questionnaire - asked our target audience what they would like to see

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

- The software used was very useful and very effective
- Differences in quality of cameras - high definition

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

- To be quite blunt - simply get rid of things that aren't necessary
- Changing shots completely or just adjusting them can be very effective
- Use of different shot angles

These are notes to help with the final write up of the evaluation.

Comparison with another blog

It's instantly recognisable that my blog lacks in detail and contents.

Comparing my blog to another student's blog, I am aware of what's needed for a top grade blog. There are many things that I haven't blogged and there is also a lack of anaylsis.

It's evident that what's included in the other students blog is no different to what is included mine. However, there is a lot more analysis; for example, they have explained why they have chosen particular shots. Whereas, I tend to simply list shots, etc. They also use images and videos to present their ideas clearly. This is particularly evident in their chosen props - in which photographs are used and the title font choice. Furthermore, it's quite clear that this blog is updated on a regular basis, thus showing a detailed progress throughout and including a lot of detail.

Therefore, from analysing another blog, I can see the contrast of quality to mine. I need to ensure that my blog is updated regularly and remember to include, not only more detail, but more progress. For example, our choice of font for the title etc.

Sound choice

Our group used the website: freeplaymusic to find our piece of music.

Originally we used Personal Demons as our background music, which was included in our animatic and our first draft. However, our feedback from our final draft has highlighted that the piece of music we are using doesn't fit well with the opening. It's considered to be too fast and doesn't fit well with the mood. Thus, we will need to find another piece of music - as a group we think that a more ambient piece of music would flow better.

Furthermore, at the beginning of our opening, we have the gradual sound of tap running; this fits in with what the antagonist in our thriller is doing and leaves the audience in suspense. But, with feeback from our first draft, like our background music, we have to change the sound of the tap running. We are to make it much more gradual - to fit with the slow zoom of the door and create more suspense.

What's more, another sound we used is the creshendo music. This is felt to be very effective; it is timed well with the flashbacks and generates a 'jumpy' reaction.

Reflections

This is our first draft for our thriller opening - titled 'Reflections'.
We were unsure of what to name our thriller; we decided to changed it from our initial title, Portraits of Obsession. Nevertheless, Reflections was suggested to us by our teacher and it linked well with one of our shots - when the male character looks in the mirror, and looks directly into the camera. This shot is said to have an effective impact on the audience and thus would show a clear connection to the title.




This is the feedback and marks received from the teacher regarding the first draft of our opening:

Mark: 38
Level 3
Grade: C/D

Feedback:

- Camera work is controlled and steady throughout most of the extract
- Framing of shots is mostly well conceived with elements included / excluded as appropriate
- Shot distances are varied throughout the extract
- The material is appropriate to the task set, however it becomes quite repetitive. This results in the later half of the extract losing focus.
- Mise-en-scene has been clearly thought out with effective use of location choice, colour and lighting throughout the extract.
- Editing is competent - there is considerable scope for improvement here which will also improve pace and continuity. Particularly, in the development of the duel narrative.
- Shot transitions are effective but need to be better timed towards the later stages of the extract.
- Both diegetic and non-diegetic sound have been used effectively throughout the extract. However, as the editing falters towards the end of the extract, the match-on-action loses focus making the mood of the extract inconsistent.
- Titles are well made and feel appropriate to the genre, however they could be more evenly paced across the extract.

Targets for improvement:

- You need to include Production Company etc. at the beginning and hold a single frame of black for longer.
- I also recommend introducing the running water sound earlier and even more gradual - raising the volume very slowly - this will develop the mood of your opening more effectively.
- Later you have lost your way - some poor choices of shots have been included.
- Also, some shots need to be held for longer.
- Your titles need to be more evenly spread across the piece.
- Finally, you need to add more focus on to the antagonist as that is whom you are trying to establish.

Improvements we discussed as a group:

- Production Company with a very quiet sound of running water in the background
- Move titles to the beginning
- Remove music - maybe introduce it at the character
- Increase the length of the shot of the eye or move the shot
- Titles after Jonny washes his hands?
- Replace music with an ambiguous music
- Creshendo music at the end
- More focus on Jonny and his environment. More shots - less of Abbie.
- Music is overpowering - make it more subtle
- Slower zoom to the door
- Move the tilt of Jonny before he washes his hands
- Hold the shot of Jonny looking in the mirror (1-2 seconds longer)
- Running shots are ineffective - remove.
- Use different angle of shots for Jonny
- Jonny - show where he's going as he leaves the bathroom. Follow him into a room
- Include a mirror in the room - reflection of Abbie seen - links in with the title
- Shorter flash backs

Darkening Effects

For the final of our thriller opening, we chose to change certain shots by darkening them - giving a darker, red colour. It's felt that by doing this it fits well with the codes and conventions of the thriller genre. What's more, it creates a tense setting; the red reinforces blood, which links to danger and thus creates an impact on the audience. We feel it links well with the setting and the narrative of our opening.



This was used in our final opening and the colour fits very well with the other shots. For example, when the male character is washing the blood off his hands.