Final

This is the final copy of our opening.

Many changes have been made, thus being:

- The titles have all been moved to the beginning of the opening, giving us more time for more footage.
- The style of the titles have been changed; adding a 'flickering' effect and, also adding a 'watery' effect.
- We increased the shots of Jonny. We showed more of his environment, which allows the audience to engage with the character.
- Jonny is seen again looking into a mirror, so there is more of a link to the title. Also, a photograph of Abbie is seen to show that there is a past between the two characters. There is a low angle shot of Jonny walking down the stairs and a long shot of him walking into the kitchen. Then finished with a close up from inside the fridge of Jonny.

By adding these shots, this allowed the audience to engage with the protagonist more. In our rough cut, the number of shots on both characters were similar, which meant that there was a lack of engagement between the protagonist and the audience. Therefore, this has had a good effect on the audience; it is now clear who the main character is.

The title's being moved to the beginning are quite effective in our opening, as they enabled us to have more shots of Jonny. Furthermore, the effects used on the titles linked in well with the title.

One of the main changes of our opening was the change in music. In comparison to our rough cut and with feedback, the change in music fitted in much better with the narrative and created a suspense/ tense tone.

Feedback from the class:

- Running water v.effective at the start
- Music builds up well, mystery and intriguing
- You can clearly see where title came from - reflections used
- Having no dialogue worked well with the psychological thriller
- Jonny's costume could connote his characters role more
- Camera work is good and steady where required
- Music is good
- Good variety of shots/ music matches action well e.g. looking in mirror
- Excellent titles. Effective without drawing focus away from narrative
- Jonny's costume, in particular wearing white at the end connotes purity/ innocence.
- Great camera angles
- Confusing narrative - going to the fridge
- Great juxtaposition of shots.

Feedback from teacher

Provisional grade from teacher - Grade A

- Demonstrates excellence across all technical aspects
- Dual narrative structure is very effective with controlled choice of shots.
- Match on action is particularly effective with well exectued soundtrack that adds polish to the piece.

- Costume could have been better considered - not entirely convincing for this style of thriller
- Some shots could have been re-shot/held for longer

Filming session

29th April

We completed our final shots for our final piece. What we filmed were new shots for our opening - putting more focus on the antagonist, which was suggested to us by our feedback from our teacher. We decided to focus on the title of our thriller, Reflections, by adding a shot of Jonny looking into the mirror, with an image of Abbie lying against the mirror.

Other shots:

- Low angle of Jonny walking down the stairs
- Jonny walking into the kitchen and panning as he goes to the fridge
- The camera inside the fridge, giving a close up as Jonny looks for something

We chose these shots because they add normality, and juxtapose the narrative and the character himself. He has murdered someone, but is acting as if nothing has happened, which allows the audience to connect with the character and evoke an emotional response.

We worked and communicated well with the filming and we each agree that our new shots are very effective for our opening.

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.

Progress

As I did Media Studies at GCSE Level and got an A in my results, I felt confident, at the beginning, with my knowledge and felt that I could contribute well to the group - as 2 of my group members hadn't taken Media at a GCSE level. From previous knowledge, I feel I understand the codes and conventions of the films well and know the effective ways in which to engage the audience. What's more, I felt I had some good ideas to contribute to the group and found my group easy to communicate with. However, what I didn't feel confident with was the practical side of the task and I also didn't really know the people in my group well, thus I lacked in confidence. Nevertheless, having done the animatic tasks, my confidence began to rise with using the software and I now feel I can help with the practical side a lot more. As a result of this, I enjoy working with my group and helping out with the practical side - as well as the written side of the task. I am not as confident as other members of the group with the software, but I do feel I can help out effectively with it.

On the other hand, I do feel that there are certain individuals in the group who don't pull their weight - and others take too much responsibility. For example, I would like to be involved and given more opportunity in the practical side of the task, as this is one of the main processes in this piece of coursework. Nevertheless, I have enjoyed working with my group and I think that we communicate well, which makes it easy for me to be confident enough to contribute ideas etc. to the group.

Additionally, my progress with the blog has gone well. I do feel that I should update my blog on a regular basis more often and be more detailed and analytical in what I blog, but I am happy with the amount of effort I've put into keeping the blog up to date. I have found it difficult to remember to blog, as it's quite easy to forget to do so, but I am now starting to do this regularly.

Rough Cut

Our teacher discussed ways in which we could improve our rough cut, these included:

- Put some titles over the shot, to enable more time for footage
- Editing to be adjusted on shot 2
- Alter the shot of the female to an over the shoulder shot
- Include more footage of the male character. For example, where is he going? Where does he end up? Change rooms and show his environment
- Classic shot of character falling over
- Put the last three titles over black
- Male character to clear up after himself


Our teacher said our footage was good, with effective shots. We had previously changed a few of our shots and this improved our rough cut effectively. What's more, it was our titles that really let us down on our footage; it was felt that they were unorganised and took up too much time - thus meaning that we had less footage, so the effect of our opening wasn't felt as it should be. We had arranged our titles to be at the start and end. Our teacher gave us some ideas on how we could alter our titles and create a more effective opening. Therefore, we changed our designs, and decided that putting titles over footage would create a better effect to the audience, while enabling us to give more footage to the audience. Having the titles over the footage means that the audience have less to focus on - rather than spending time looking at titles, they can get a sense of the atmosphere and keep with the narrative - keeping the suspense. Overall, our comments on the rought cut have highlighted what we need to change and how we can improve our opening. The most significant being the titles, we as a group feel that having the titles over the footage will have a much better impact on the audience.