In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
A typical thriller film would be expected to include a range of specific conventions and distinctive features unique to the thriller genre. These principles are identified in many categories within these conventions, from Mise en Scene to camerawork, and narrative structure to iconography. I believe our opening sequence of a thriller film meets the standards of many of these conventions in a variety of interesting and significant ways.
A critical sub genre which makes a big impact upon the form of a thriller is Mise en Scene. Mise en Scene is hard to define but is regularly described as the design aspects of a production. It has eleven groups within it and the main ones which make the biggest difference to understanding establishment are the setting and lighting.
You would expect to see the film set in a seedy environment in a urban setting, a good example of this would be ‘What Lie‘s beneath‘ which I‘ve analysed in a earlier blog post and gone into further detail. Our thriller ‘No Time For Goodbye’ is set in a secluded house in Bolney, but ours contrasts to the urban setting stereotype because ours is very unclear as to where it is situated, due to the fact we have a very strong enigma code and it’s extremely quick paced, therefore I think it would impair the suspension if it was such a clear location and obvious settings.
The other convention within Mise en Scene which backs up the suspension factor and unclear features of our thriller is the low key lighting used. In a thriller you would expect it to be based in a dark environment with dark shadows and effects to create a unpredictable atmosphere. Our thriller is based predominantly in a dark area, especially at the beginning from the slow panning establishing shot as the male character is breaking into the house to where he enters the main room used - the parents bedroom. I was in charge of the lighting and through research and practice I think the lighting created a impressive mood symbolising a good attempt at a thriller stereotype. There are many more areas of Mise en Scene which make up a thriller based film, which without being used in the right context correctly and effectively, would effect the whole sequence. But these all depend on the situation and storyline of the film, so therefore it fits in and counterbalances the right atmosphere and story which is trying to be built up. For example in the costume category you wouldn’t expect to see a theft dressed in a pink suit. Or in the body language section you wouldn’t anticipate to observe a character laughing and doing star jumps when they’ve just been scared. But with the other areas of Mise en Scene I will discuss them further in later sections as it would fit in better.
and editing used. Editing such as crosscutting is usually involved which is used to establish continuity, it can create a piece of film which moves forwards and backwards in time and can also move location too. Furthermore it creates suspense and with faster cuts it can generate a violent action or a tension based sequence. Our thriller used this technique for a large section of it, as it crossed back and forth between the male and female characters actions. The male’s actions took place inside the house as he was collecting items and it would sharply cut to the female’s actions and introduction of her character as she stumbles up the drive and into the house. Along with the music this created a very tense and upbeat impression, very common in a thriller sequence.
Another frequent camera technique is point of view (POV) shots, where it shows subjective views from individual characters. This way it can show many people opinions and judgments on the situation and is a clever way to create a sense of isolation and first hand reactions. In addition, it is regularly used in shots where such circumstances as a murderer approaching a victim occurs or a character being anxious or scared, to really emphasise the surroundings and emotions occurring in that particularly event or to show the exact movements being made by the character (e.g. hitting somebody over the head).
Characters are a very important influence of a thriller’s formation and if you get it wrong, it may have a bad impact on the whole story. There is usually a main protagonist who most of the action centres around, which are customarily detectives, police, victims or a normal individual. They are usually introduced in the set up stage and then is involved in the heart of the action for the confrontation or disruption stage. They are usually the character who figures out the problem which evolves in the confrontation stage. This is frequently against a character opposing them, called the antagonist/villain. These are always human in the thriller genre, because if they are too much on the supernatural side (i.e monster) it would be classed as a horror film, this is how a thriller and horror film is distinguished. When the two main character (the protagonist and the antagonist) oppose each other, this is called a ‘binary opposition’. This part of our thriller doesn’t occur later on into the film as we only filmed the opening, but the synopsise on our blog will identify when this occurs.
But it is clear as to who is the antagonist within the first few shots, due to his custom, actions, movements and situation he’s in. Whereas it is not so clear whether or not Keira is the protagonist as not enough of the story has occurred in the opening to establish this, but there are clues to suggest this. For example, her outfit is bright and glamorous, which isn’t usually associated with evil characters, and also with the brief understanding of the situation, she seems vulnerable and even in danger. Furthermore to emphasise her vulnerability she is clearly drunk from the distorted point of views shots as she staggers up the drive. In the picture below you can see the two main introduced characters.
Leading on from this point, iconography is used profoundly In thriller productions to confirm situation and verify character status and circumstances. For example police uniforms and badges are commonly used items for police characters in thrillers, to prove authority and position. Another prime example associated with thrillers are weapons used (usually guns). In our thriller we didn’t use too much iconography as we didn’t need to establish anything yet as it was all part of the enigma, but for the antagonist he was dressed so he was thought to be a theft, verifying his criminal characteristics.
As I’ve mentioned many a time already, we used a enigma code throughout our sequence. This means we ‘hold back’ information about what is going to happen and in its place raise a variety of questions in the audiences minds. This is a very common and useful convention of a thriller film, as it draws the viewers in to carry on watching. A popular example of this happening in another thriller opening, is the opening sequence of ‘The Usual Suspects’ where the character on top of the balcony’s identity is not revealed therefore making the audience want to watch on to answer their questions about his hidden identity and solve the mystery formed. The youtube link to this opening is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6msq8mgdnE.
We did a similar technique in our production, as we never reveal the identity of the antagonist, or even the protagonist, consequently raising a number of questions. Moreover many more questions are raised for example, why is the male character collecting up such insignificant items (e.g. hairbrush, teddy bear) in a bag? And where has the female been and where have her parents gone? Enigma codes often rely upon forms of restricted narration which is what I shall explain next.
Narrative is the organisation of story material, so the order in which the story is told and the overall arrangement of the story. Unrestricted narrative is where the narrative shows us everything, giving us more knowledge than the characters, contrasting to restricted narrative - where elements of the story are not presented in the narrative to create intrigue for the audience. Restricted narrative is commonly used in thrillers, to create curiosity and enigma. This is clearly what we have used in our production. Typical story features of thrillers usually involve the narrative being driven towards the solving of the crime/s or threats/pressures to the protagonist/s and the end of the criminals/antagonists. Although there are a few exceptions to this feature where flashbacks are used where we possibly may be shown the ending first. For example in memento, where the beginning sequence is a cleverly constructed viewing of the man shooting a male in a backwards sequence, as shown below in the you tube clip. I’ve also done a thorough textual analysis on some of the key aspects of this opening earlier on in the blog.
There are three stages of narrative, known as the ‘three act structure’. This three stages are named the ‘set up’ or the ‘equilibrium’, then the confrontation (also known as the disruption or the complication) and finally the resolution. Within these three stages certain events and situations are likely to take place although these all vary depending on the genre.
The Set Up -->
+ Introduced to the scenario
+ Characters introduced
+ Introduction to important features of the location and state of affairs
+ Common in thrillers - Enigma code created
The Confrontation -->
+ Early in the story something occurs to cause a disruption
+ (Typically) the main characters (often heroic figure) needs to resolve problem
Binary opposition occurs
Resolution -->
+ Problem eliminated
+ Characters typically go back to renewed situation of normality
In our thriller production, not a lot is revealed or occurred yet, but a big part of the action has begun already, with the male antagonist breaking an entry and taking their possessions. But through reading our synopsise, you can see the storyline takes the typical thriller three act structure.
Overall I think our production uses the thriller conventions very similarly to many other thriller productions, in a unique and clever approach.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Representation of character is a huge part in establishing many areas of a film, from genre to the set up and the storyline to relationships between characters. In our production it is mainly focused on two main characters, the protagonist female (Keira) and the antagonist male (Gavin).
Keira identity is concealed for the beginning of the opening until the part where she steps into her parents room, this creates enigma and suspicion. From the distorted point of view shots at the beginning of her introduction going up the drive you would anticipate to see most properly a older male character, as that is the stereotypical age and gender associated with drunkenness. But when it is revealed it is actually a teenaged girl, you automatically sense she is more vulnerable and the victim. She represents a drunken typical teenaged girl stereotype, which is most probably a clever idea as it opens a new range of audience, as teenaged girls can connect to her age and situation. The camera shots used for her are a lot more open and more statically visible, with many medium shots and clear medium long shots, suggesting she is a more exposed character in the story and verifying her protagonist status.
The Mise en Scene of her character is very distinctive, she is dressed in a very dressy bright outfit, suggesting she’s been to a party or social event. Her makeup and hair is very bold and daring (for example the bright red lip stick and dress), suggesting confidence. The worms eye view shot of her looking through the items in the bag asserts this suggestion, as it shows prominence. Furthermore, her subtle reaction to the fact a random range of her parents items were on her bed in her bag and her parents aren’t there suggest a independent confident personality. Her expressions, reactions and body language are usually quite blank and distant with a sense of unawareness of the situation at hand, and maybe even naive.
Gavin, the antagonists representation is a very stereotypical all dark robber character, commonly used in thrillers and just how you would expect him to be, as you would expect a male all dressed in dark clothing. But throughout the sequence he is not identified clearly at all. The camera shots used for him are a lot more sneaky, sly and dark.
Furthermore they are a lot more clever and interesting than the females shots, for example the eye level medium shot shower reflection one which also emphasises the mystery of his presence. These shots are a lot more sudden and sharp, which blend in with his movements and decisions. Additionally, referring to the fact these shots are a lot more complicated and creative (e.g. the low angle shot from low eye level behind the soap item) it corresponds to his clever reactions and judgments, as it seems he knows what he’s doing and he knows what he wants. There is also never a full shot of him full length, except the mirror shot where Keira looks in the mirror to turn around and find he’s not there, emphasising the fact his identity isn’t going to be revealed. This shot also seems to suggest his representation is similar to that of a fictional scary nightmare based character. His costume is very stereotypical of his character’s role, with the whole dark clothing and covered face. Which goes on to say his props are also very expected and iconic, for example his head piece and the bin bag.
For the vast majority of shots involving Keira they were a lot slower with lengthy editing pieces and the lighting was more commonly lighter and more revealing. This contrasts to the shots involving Gavin, where the lighting was usually dark and making his identity be masked and the editing was a lot quicker and sharper. The music throughout the whole sequence was on going and interspersed with each other’s shots, but it was noticeable that Keira’s main shots were done with the music quietened and more in the background, suggesting the shots to be significant. Whereas Gavin’s shots had the music quite loud and upbeat, to create tension, suspense, added enigma and to keep the opening flowing at a fast yet sensible pace.
Gavin’s role of a theft is evidently negative, and we did this to fit the stereotype and to make it obvious he is a antagonist. Whereas on the other hand I would say Keira’s role isn’t as clear. The fact she is drunk is a negative attribute but is a typical habit stereotype for teenagers, so doesn’t affect any decisions. But her costume, hair and vulnerable expression and actions would suggest she is classified as a positive character and representation. Nevertheless, I don’t think we get far enough into the story to solve the enigmas and classify her identity to be able to be certain on her defined representation.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
When thinking about the distribution of our thriller film, there are many different routes and choices we could take with contrasting consequences. There are three stages involved in the making of a film. These are the film production, which is obviously making the film, film distribution (often referred to as the ’invisible art’) which is the place the audience watch the film (e.g. cinema) and film exhibition which is securing the placement of the film on an exhibitors screen and for home viewing. Within our group we decided we would want to make our film a worldwide creation, being watched by many and hopefully being one of the leading mainstream films of the summer.
When thinking about which distributors to use, It was a hard choice due to a range of popular selection. A distributor is an company or organisation who will represent your film at festivals and markets around the world and who will attempt to sell it.
Through looking at a range of distributors through the independent cinema office website (http://www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/distributors) we eventually decided upon using the worldwide known ‘Lionsgate’. Close candidate’s were Momentum pictures (http://www.momentumpictures.co.uk/flash#main) and Sony Pictures (http://www.sonypictures.co.uk/) but I felt both were a little too none thriller based and even a little too action orientated.
I looked into research into Lionsgate through the website:
http://www.lionsgatefilms.co.uk/index_flash.php
On this website you can see there range of films are very thriller/horror based with films such as ‘My Bloody Valentine’ and the ‘SAW’ films being some of there huge success’s. I think our film ‘No Time For Goodbye’ would fit in well with there classifications and distributing skills as the genre is perfect and with Lionsgate being so popular and on high demand, we feel it could become very successful through it.
We would obtain a licence which will grant rights to the distributor and we shall market the film cleverly. A lot of advertising would be done through trailers, posters and television adverts etc. We would like to distribute it through to cinema standards which will then go on to DVD and television. You would also be able to download the film for a fee at the beginning of it’s selling at the cinema through the internet. Trailers would be shown through the television and internet links such as you tube, due to the fact a vast amount of the population own and use either and/or both a television and computer.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
We thought very carefully into the audience of our media production. First we thought into the certificate rating we would indicate it. We want to attract as many audiences as possible, but with the synopsise demonstrating distressing scenes such as ‘the detective tests the father’s dedication to the daughter by pointing a gun at her (his police gun, intended only for emergencies), he jumps in the way in order to save her life and is killed himself. (A tragic event, fairly conventional in thriller films).’, this indicates clearly the audience should not be under the age of 15 due to the violence and strong engaging story line. But we thought we didn’t have to rise the certification up to the age of 18, as our film would not be that intimidating and threatening for an audience between the age of 15-18. Furthermore if we did class it as certificate 18, we would be suppressing and limiting our audience range, which is not what we want to do. We also took a look at the website www.bbfc.co.uk which went into more detail about how to decide classification and this certified our decision of certificate 15.
Having this as our certificate has come quite nicely into the fact the main target audience of any film is typically 16-24 due to the fact this is the main stereotypical audience engrossed in not only the film media, but videogame industry and more.
The film seems to have a more male appeal and masculine impression about it, due to the thriller storyline and dark atmospheric conventions in it. But we feel we have balanced out the audience when considering gender. For example there is a range of both female and male characters throughout the story, with the main antagonist being male and the main protagonist being female, so the story isn’t overpowered by one sex. There are usually negative representations of females in films, for example they are commonly seen as either being stupid or a sex symbol. But in ‘No time for goodbye’ the main character Keira is not a negative representation of women, and I believe many females and especially teenaged girls would be able to relate with her, consequently bringing in a young and/or old female audience.
Due to stereotypical belief, men prefer the thriller genre and would therefore be thought to want to see this type of film more than a female would, but due to the fact our thriller is very enigma based and quite a mysterious puzzle to unfold - which requires concentration and alertness to be able to keep up and understand the story through to the end - we believe women would enjoy this type of film just as much as men. Carrying on from this point, I believe both young (from 15) and old would like to watch this film, especially for a social occasion or something, as it has a mixture of different features which would appeal to particular individuals in some way or another. Consequently, we believe there is a balanced gender appeal with a wide range of ages who would be interested in wanting to see our production.
How did you attract/address your audience?
There are a number of reasons why we think our thriller will attract and address our audience. Firstly, I think even the title ‘No Time For Goodbye’ is a catchy and intriguing name, which grabs the attention of the viewer as it seems to have hidden depths and a concealed meaning. The main title at the end of our opening sequence is very bold and striking which is a good impact on the build up to the cliff-hanger ending of the opening. This is also another reason as to why it is a appealing opening, as there is a mixture of anticipation and apprehension as to what’s next, which is then backed up by the intense amount of enigma. Our storyline and intended actions throughout the film are very disguised and cleverly complex, which means the audience has to think carefully and follow through vigilantly, this may be a appealing reason to many, as many film viewers enjoy a film that makes you think hard and deep.
NO TIME FOR GOODBYE
Another reason for the interest in our production would be how the audience can relate to the characters. The basic story setting and situation is realistic and some of the themes and issues can be addressed to the viewers and appreciated. For example teenaged girls and drinking, or people who experience family members going missing, or even robberies and dangerous situations etc. Furthermore, the attractiveness of the characters may influence the viewers desire to see the film, including the mise en scene aspects of the film.
An additional motivation for the audience to go and see it would be the music involved in the opening. It is extremely unique and upbeat which draws you in. The sound levels increase/decrease accordingly to the certain section of the opening, for example it quietens down when Keira enters the parents bedroom to investigate what’s going on.
Furthermore, we kept to the 180* rule concisedly which is where you don't cross the line, keeping the characters position in the frame consistent, therefore the whole film flowed nicely and there was no confusion with the positioning and continuity, furhtermore to emphasise this we used many eyeline matches to support this.
Throughout the sound aspects of the filming, we used a limited range of digetic sound as it it constantly over ridden by the upbeat music, but mainly over all used non digetic sound, which is sound not originated in the story world. We also used some foley sounds and parallel sounds to support the mood of the images.
The range of inside and outside shot varies the setting making it more attention-grabbing and deviating from being in just one place, creating more action. The camera shots and angles used are all very diverse and distinctive. Some of my favourites include the looking in the mirror to find nobody shot, which is the main part of the opening. I think this would attract the audience because you would want to watch on and know where the unidentified theft went and what she’s going to do about it. Other good shots which I think the viewers would appreciate are the very low angle shot from the bottom of the bag as you see him packing it up with a range of items, and also the other low angled shot from the drawer as he looks in, which sadly didn’t make it onto the opening as we had to cut down the film time as we kept going over our time limit. We were very good at making use of mirrors, which is a good way to manipulate the spectators minds and attract their attention.
A few examples of thrillers that our target audience would be likely to enjoy is one’s which are mind stimulating and have a lot of enigma within it, I would say a good example is 1995 ‘Se7en‘ film containing Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, as it received compliments which we are targeting for - ‘"Se7en is well crafted and ingeniously clever, making it one of the greatest films of the 90's". It includes a lot of enigma from the very opening sequence and requires a lot of attention and focus. A recent film I would say our audience would most likely enjoy similar to ours would be the 2008 ‘The Dark Knight’, as this is also very interesting and attention grasping.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
During the course of our production, we used a variety of technologies to construct our thriller carefully and effectively. The main user of the camera was Hannah, due to the fact she was the Head of Filming. But we all contributed towards ideas and adjustments, and through these experiences I’ve learnt how to control the white balance better, which was a big contribution I made due to the fact I was in charge of the lighting. Our white balance skills have increased from our preliminary task, as there doesn’t seem to be any mistakes from the white balance in our main production. We learnt to use the camera more creatively, for example with our cantered shots, as we’ve been more confident and experimental with this task.
. We also managed to keep our camera in focus well, which makes a big impact on the scale of professionalism of the piece. Another factor as to why these have improved is that all three of us broadened our ideas and stretched our imaginations to produce interesting frames and angles. For example, our shot from the bottom of the bag, and the beginning shot of Gavin’s feet running up the stairs (which also is a very good ongoing continuity shot). We also have evidence to back up the fact it was considered clever and steady camera work from our peer evaluations which state comments such as “a very good shot of the character looking in reflection” and “very steady camera work and a good tight focus”, both scoring 1.
Our editing skills were improved and developed through the practice and time spent investigating into the effects and variations we could use. For example the ghost effect we used on the point of view shots of Keira coming up the drive were very successful and blended well with the fast pacey rhythm. We also found some good shortcuts you can use on the editing software, for example control and ‘X’. We also discovered how to speed shots up, like we had to for the shot of the car pulling up as it was too time consuming. Furthermore we found out how to reverse a shot, which is what we did for the point of view shot from Keira’s view, when picking up and putting down the clock.
The lighting was my main area and I gained a lot of knowledge of techniques and methods when practicing and handling them. I used one main redhead light, which we discovered is extremely hot as it burnt some of the metal framing and set off my fire alarm at least three times! I also used filter paper to dim the lights into the perfect merge outside.
The credits of our names we used were very plain and small and came up every 4 or so shots in dark areas to subtly emphasise our names which were in white writing, whilst allowing it to not interrupt the main action occurring. Furthermore we did this so it built up to the main title at the end, which was cleverly adapted to be bold and brash to captivate the audience.
As a individual I think I completed my jobs to a good standard. I would have maybe improved some of the lighting position, as some peer evaluations stated you can see the reflection of light in some of the walls of the shots. My main strength is the creativity side of things, so I was in charge of the storyboard which I thought was pretty straight forward to follow, and although we didn’t stick to it very well, it was a good guideline for us. Furthermore I was in charge of being the location scout and photographer and thing I showed clear images of the areas we planned to use and chose a good setting and location (my house). I also did Keira’s makeover which I think was very good mise en scene decision! We are developed some good adventurous ideas, and our peer evaluations show a lot of compliments mainly towards our “excellent variety of shots” and “good music and titles”. As a group I think we worked really well, I personally enjoyed the group work as we had a good time. We really connected as a team, especially when developing inspirational suggestions and plans, and also at the editing stage as we all helped each other to create the best piece we could.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I think our group has progressed and made a huge improvement from our preliminary task back in December in a number of ways, both big and small. In my evaluation of the preliminary task, on the eighth slide, I talked about how we intended to improve practical work for the main task. The main point stated in the paragraph was ‘planning, I think we rushed into things too much without thinking ahead and planning a method/strategy and take notice of the time we have and make use of it accordingly’. I think we worked well as a team and took a lot of time to plan and make use of each others strengths to create the best thriller possible. Another point made in the last evaluation was ‘we will include more variety of shots and angles, as I think our production was a little weak on that front’. We have definitely succeeded on this point, as we have developed and included many interesting and unique shots and angles which we are very proud of. For example our point of view shots, our low angled bathroom shot behind the object looking at the door and our reflective shower shot. One of our main strengths we discovered is match on action shots, as we all have/had good ideas and techniques to create good continuity sequences, as shown numerous times in our production. A individual improvement I set myself was to ‘put in more lighting techniques and use more than one redhead for example’. I believe I stepped up to this challenge, as I tried my hardest to create a range of attractive and skilful lighting effects. I especially like my lighting in the montage parallel shots skipping between Keira and Gavin, as I believe it contributed to the realism and fast paced effect. Overall our technical skills have improved, for example our editing skills have extended. Finally, our last comment I made on my last evaluation was the fact I wanted to make the ‘final production a lot more interesting and individual, with more action and story, and it being a bigger and better challenge’. Personally, I think this was thoroughly achieved, as you can see from our synopsise the plan for the story is complicated and interesting and very individual. Our opening is very action packed and straight into it, with a good cliff-hanger. Conclusively, I think our production was a very big challenge, but between us all we’ve done an excellent job of it, consequently producing a unique and potentially high quality thriller opening.
No comments:
Post a Comment