Research and Planning : Sound

To be honest, sound is possibly the most difficult aspect of the trailer, it is very difficult to make my own music due to the fact that it is difficult to construct my own music for the project. I am currently looking at http://freeplaymusic.com/ because it has a large selection of copyright free music, however I do think that this website can be a little vague in terms of genre and sound on occasion.



As well as free sites like freeplaymusic, I looked at a site
that I am a member of, http://www.looperman.com/ which is based on the idea of creative commons and credited use and so if I were to use their tracks, I would have to credit them for their work and seeing as I have designed a slate, having more names to put in it could do no harm. So far, I have found a few tracks and a few artists that seem to be potential choices, I am already in contact with one of them due to a video I made outside school. So far, I have found the website to be easy to use, and I have decided that in the end the 3 categories from which potential tracks will come are Cinematic, Industrial or Metal because all three contain dark and heavy tracks that would suit the film. I am also planning to see if more electric tracks would fit with the trailer itself.

Here are a few URLs of good sounding potential music :
http://www.looperman.com/tracks_detail.php?tid=28588 (Some parts of this)
http://www.looperman.com/tracks_detail.php?tid=30432
http://www.looperman.com/tracks_detail.php?tid=11982
http://www.looperman.com/tracks_detail.php?tid=7915

Research and Planning : Titles, part 1.

I have decided on a temporary title and have been applying various effects to titles to make them look intriguing and not boring, the name of my film is currently 'ABSOLUTION', despite the religious undertones of the term, I think the word has connections with contemplation, redemption and potential revenge. As well as this, there may potentially be a church scene in the montage scene. These titles are the first simplistic design for graphics, I will soon be posting a collection of fonts that are possibilities. These are mainly simple filter jobs on Photoshop Creative Studio 3, but they show three clearly dissimilar concepts.

Research and Planning : Idents

First of all I searched for independent idents that looked reasonably professional and attempted to notice trends in the industry, I noticed that essentially one of most recurring factors in idents is the stationary logo. Many independent film companies have stationary logos central to the screen, and the more high budget company has a full screen animation. So, to begin to work on making a low budget ident. Below are examples of independent logos that are prime examples.

As you can see, they often have a 'boxed' image with text below, the image is often quite simplistic and preferably quite bizarre and memorable , sometimes they are connected to the film, e.g. (A high-budget example) the color changes and additions to the Warner Bros. logo in the Matrix or Harry Potter an often film companies that make certain kinds of film have logos that relate to the genre of film i.e. a thriller will not be made by a company that is represented by a cartoon bunny.

My first ident is designed to look like an independent studio. It has a stationary image that is

meant to look like some sort of scientific cell, the name 'Green Bros.' is both a pun on the idea of the Warner Bros. name and is also an anagram of my name. The colour of the logo is

of course, green. The image is meant to look like a green cell, there is no real reason for this other than it looks good on screen and does not disrupt from the mood of the trailer, in fact I would say that it retains it's own dark qualities. However, it does contrast from the general colour scheme of the trailer which is mainly going to be slightly greyscale footage and reddish maroon titles.

Recce - 3rd and 4th Shots.

Shot 3

I thought that this shot had an intriguing aspect to it, the angles of the walls all avoid strict 90 degree angles and I think that this makes the shot look sort of off. The arch under which someone could easily stand would make a good meeting place for two characters. I think as well that the shade and colour of the bricks (particularly in the first photograph.) are not too colourful and thus allow the shot to appear drained of colour and thus perfect for the idea of grieving and the negative themes of the film. I think it would be easy to film nice shots here, and it easy to travel here, but I may have to ask the permission of local resident.

SHOT 4

This final little alley way is once again, very close to my house and other locations that I will be filming at, unlike the areas I have looked at, this has significantly less space which might suggest less space for cameras, but at the same, it captures a more claustrophobic and tense scene, which could look better in a trailer, it gives a sense of pressure. As well as this, this area has more vegetation and appears a little more colourful on camera, to be honest this may be a negative thing, on the other hand, the area, if I am choosing to portray this as a meeting place arranged by the main character.

Research and Planning : My Trailer Animatic.

As well as making a storyboard, I scanned it in and made an 'animatic' from the original frames, I chose some temporary music and used a temporary font for the title, it is in no way perfect, but it is a vague overview of the order of my trailer.

Recce - 1st and 2nd Shots.

I went on a photographic recce over the weekend to a collection of places in the area that I could potentially film a few outside scenes, my aim was to find either run-down areas or shabby built-up areas. In the scene, where the main character meets his 'shifty' friend and I chose areas that are inconspicuous, because I thought these would be the best place for the characters to meet secretly.

SHOT 1

In my first shot, I thought this would be good because it is a secluded area around the back of a local football and near a substation, the walls are quite grimey and the bars and locks in the background look very foreboding and link to criminal activity and danger. In a way they are almost symbolic. As well as the sort of angle-shot that I would shoot from, I have included a picture of the locks and the door in detail. This location is good for several reasons: it looks good, it is within a kilometre of my house and thus is relatively easy for traveling to and finally it is not within in the vicinity of anyone's house and thus I will not be disturbing people when filming.

SHOT 2

I thought that this shot was good because it appears really wide and so there is a lot of space to film and yet at the same time, it feels quite compressed which helps give a good feel to the scene. I think this also looks good because it looks like it's a garage that could belong to the main characters friend. The garage doors alternating between vertical and horizon patterns, this looks quite nice in shot. I think it would look quite natural to film here as it seems like the kind of place people could meet one another. Again, this is reasonably close to my house although less secluded than the first location, being on an estate, I may have to ask people if I can film here, I do not know yet.

The 3rd and 4th Shots will go up soon.

Character Designs

PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR BETTER QUALITY

The Conventions of the genre of Revenge thrillers and trailers. My trailer and how it will fit with aforementioned conventions.

The main aspects of the revenge thriller are the first (and probably most important) scene, which will consist of an event that will ‘drive’ our character’s behaviour to beyond what we are expecting. This will usually involve an injustice being committed against our character e.g. a murder, a framing. Before this scene we will usually have character development but in a trailer, we are usual given some form of overview of this in a voiceover or small clip, this is done effectively in the Harry Brown trailer when his friend tells him that he fears for his life. This often adds some sense of moral duty for our character, and will later motivate his revenge. However these scenes do not provide the action that many of the potential audience will be looking for, that is why these sections must be short but effective, that is one of the reasons that some trailers use sound-bites. The first major scene takes up the largest section of the trailer, the aim is to capture the entire build-up and the main action, and the end result in the trailer is to use the entire scene of the ‘point-of-no-return’ or at least the main action because it is undoubtedly the most crucial scene, it is central to the plot. Also it contains the action that the audience will want to see.

The second section serves as a sort of contemplation scene, where the character is contemplating potential possibilities of what he must do, an inner conflict must be present both physically on screen as well as in some sort of sound-bite that will convey how unsure he is of what to do next. The other thing to do is to have an external source of advice e.g. a friend (in my case possibly a father) who shows him a way of thinking that inspires him to take justice into his own hands. These sections are often set in churches, graveyards and areas that are quite solitary, due to the mourning there is often an extended family involved.

The third section is the main section of the film, yet however much of this is not shown, there is a montage flashed of images that show violence and action, this is the clincher the bits that the audience do not see everything they want to see. The music always picks up pace quite rapidly and ends with a bang with an important shot and then the title and that thing that always come after the title with the cast and crew. It is important to give a massive build up that shows what the audience wants. Guns, fights, redemption, perhaps a message, a definitive bad guy etc. and finally some sort of shot that will stick solidly in the minds of the audience e.g. a twist, a selling point. The title itself should have a memorable font but not too over-the-top because that would end up making the film look less serious.

Trailer Analysis : Harry Brown

Does this trailer fit the usual conventions of a revenge thriller? if so how? (or if not then what is new?)

The trailer to Harry Brown is a very good example of a revenge thriller trailer. The trailer is clever in the way that it genuinely does make you want to watch the movie. The Trailer begins with the problem, violent youths on a council estate being watched by Michael Caine as Harry Brown. Yes, it sets up a victim, Harry's friend Leonard at the beginning of the trailer. As well as this it sets up the situation where the main character makes a decision that he must attempt to right, like when he fails to think properly about protecting his friend and then exacts his vengeance on the youths. However it diverts from the usual plot of a revenge movie in the way that the Police are, by the looks of it, not condemning Harry for his vigilanteism, most revenge films choose to view revenge as more

Which trailer conventions does this trailer use well?
(voice over? / dramatic sound? /is it structured into 3 parts? /does it establish the genre ? how? /what audience do you think it is aiming at? )

Most of the trailer is dominated by sound-bites and voiceover that really give us the structure of the narrative, Michael Caine's voice is very well known and so this gives us a sense of familiarity to him and as well as this, he manages to convince me that his vengeance is justified. The sound used, includes violent noises and the trailer itself ends on the sound of a gunshot, this prepares us for a violent, modern urban film. I would say that the trailer is structured into probably 2 or 3 sections, the first being his friend feeling threatened and being killed, then the impression on Harry and him pondering whether he can just let his friend's killer go un-punished, and the final section (by the look of it much longer than the first two) him exacting his revenge. I believe that this trailer knows it has a huge audience, Michael Caine personally draws a large audience as one of the most respected British film-actors, this will appeal to older fans who know Caine, the idea of rowdy youth as well would suggest an older viewpoint of young society. As well as this it could be seen as a film for a younger audience as it is filled with action and violence and has a soundtrack of young urban music and the British rapper, Plan B, is a co-star in the film.

3) What are three moments or images or edits that you think are particularly effective in this trailer?

The images of the youth rioting in this street from an above angle in the dark makes it seem really ominous, this shot encapsulated the fear that Leonard felt before he died, the second image that really makes an impact is Michael Caine crying due to the fact that primarily he is a good actor and we can see how much this means to the character, Caine is also famous for playing tough characters and thus it is a strange image to see. The other is the finishing image of the trailer, where he points the gun at the screen and says ''You failed to maintain your weapon, Son.' which is the image that we are meant to be left with, thinking that he is fixed on revenge and nothing is going to prevent.


4) look at the studio idents - (what can you learn about idents and their style from these?)

The Lionsgate is the text LIONSGATE in block capitals it is black on a background of clouds in a sepia sky of clouds. They are quite interesting

Trailer Analysis : Oldboy Trailer

The Oldboy trailer is a good example of a trailer that trys to appeal to a foreign audience. As a whole I don't think that it is a great trailer, but the movie was a huge international success. The first shot of the trailer remains unexplained adding mystery to the film. Then a selling point quickly pops up, "Winner of Grand Prix Festival of Cannes 2004", for many foreign films, it is quite difficult to sell them without the authenticity added by an award at a festival. We are then given some text with a distinctive font and a patterned background. Does not just tell the plot, shows it on screen. There is also a selective use of well-framed shots that show us the character as well as his surroundings. The trailer then changes to show our character having suffered, then action and revenge constitutes a change in the music. The trailer very much concentrates on our character 오대수 and I think it is quite clear that we are meant to view him as frustrated and obsessive by his behaviour and appearance. As it gets nearer the ending of the trailer,whilst flashing quotes from reviews to reinforce that it is infact a great movie, we get more of the impression of a tragic ending with the shots of the woman crying and our main character being beaten up. In this way, the trailer presents us with an outline of a story. Then the title comes up in a distinctive style of title.

Teaser Trailer Work : What is a Teaser Trailer?

What is a Teaser Trailer?

6 Months before Trailer, they are between 30-90secs .
They aim to tease the audience.
They show the name, the date, the stars.
Best bits of the film, good framing, ACTION, PLOT etc.

Dragon Tattoo

Closeup Image, the date comes second.
More graphics.
Characters, Text.
Faster pace, few soundbites, not much explanation.
Establishing single-shot characters.
Location.
Series of shots that seemed to link a crime.
Violence shown, the punch.

Played with Fire

US Version, the titles are very good
Uses visual effects, ripples the titles, multiple colours and capitalisation ‘they FRAMED HER for MURDER’ emphasis

Hornet Nest
Focus on a character.
A little shot between titles, and the music
Actor’s names
Only a bit of action, not actually needed…
Visual impression,

Analysis : Trailers : Winter's Bone

The Trailer

Camera
There are several establishing long shots showing nothing substantial on camera, this conveys that this is not a heavily populated area.
A majority of the shots shown are mid-shots showing conversation between characters.
Shots tend to be quite stationary at the start, movement increases later in the trailer, again highlighting the increase in intensity shown on screen.

Editing

The opening shots of the trailer fade to black and back from black to set the scene and at the same time. Then a lot of quicker transitions to convey the build up to a finale. It is clear that the film will have a large ‘reveal’ at the end and they show this in the trailer by cutting the shots quicker and quicker.

Sound - Non-diegetic

Build-up as if suggesting progression towards a finale
The singing man at the beginning is contrapuntal to what is shown on screen, the lack of backing music, similar to the typical use of singing minus backing instrumental in the horror genre to build tension.
The mood of the music changes from mellow to speedy and wild, highlighting the fact that what originally appears to be a simple mystery is far more complicated than expected.

Sound - Diegetic

The accents suggest the rurality of the area of America in which it is set.
‘You were warned and you didn’t listen’ suggests a strong conclusion
There is a clear link between each instance of speech shown in the trailer, each one highlights the fact that they don’t know where her father is, or maybe they do adding more and more to the mystery

Mise-en-scene

Grey sky, dull landscape
The yard with the dead dog and the charred furniture gives the sense of a lack of real community, alienation from real society.
There is realism in this world, we are made to believe in this community and the places in which they are taking place, there is nothing, at least in the trailer, to hint at the supernatural.
The titles fit with the filters and colours shown on screen, this allows a certain mood to be set, also assisted by the silent stationary text, which looks more sophisticated. Silent text is generally used in thrillers and dramas.

Analysis : Trailers : Inception, SALT and Heartbreakers

1) What cinematic techniques are used to establish mood and tone?

Visual Special effects show that this is largely an effects-driven film. Voiceover tells us a vague, maybe too vague idea of the concept of the film. Music is building, showing the progression in the plot and an increase in the tension throughout the film.


2)How does the trailer establish the themes and narrative?

Establishes plot using narration by Leonardo DiCaprio
They make sure that what he is saying and what is being shown on screen correlate, ‘A single idea can build cities’
We are intrigued to know what this idea is, and why he is stealing it

3) How does the trailer establish genre?
The effects and chase sequences suggest an action movie or a thriller. The idea of the idea being all-powerful suggests science fiction. I think I would describe as a

4) Who is the target audience and how is this audience targeted in this trailer?
The main target audience I would say is 15-35 year olds,it is also appealing to the audiences of other movies, it looks similar in many ways to ‘The Matrix’, what with the city being controlled by the mind being similar to that of the collective imagination in ‘The Matrix‘.

5) What is the reason/ effect for using the director's name and previous work?

The trailer states clearly that it has the same director as ‘The Dark Knight’ which was insanely popular. Christopher Nolan has a reputation for making great films and being a real upcoming film maker and so the audience will be great.


1) How does this trailer promote and focus on the big star? (look at camera work, editing, sound...etc..)

A vast amount of the shots clearly show Angelina Jolie’s face. As well as this, she has the largest amount of dialogue and all the other dialogue is used as voiceover to almost describe what she is doing on screen.

2) Action films are thought to appeal to a predominately male audience. How does this trailer target both a female and male audience separately?

The film is targeted at a female audience by having a woman as the protagonist, however this also appeals to the male audience because she is Angelina Jolie, who has been considered to be one of the World’s most beautiful women

3) How does this trailer use editing to create atmosphere?

It shows what I presume to be the most action-packed moments of the film. As well as that, there are fades to black in the establishing shots and they get faster. The trailer also attempts to make us excited by spending the entire first half of the trailer slowly setting out the plot and revealing the twist, which is the USP of the film.

The Heartbreakers trailer displays many cultural differences between France and the UK. The UK distributors know that they will sell less if they show that it is a foreign language film, so they include the only English dialogue in the movie, on the other hand, they do not show any of the real substance from the movie, the voiceover is unable to really demonstrate the tone of the movie. The British trailer portrays it as a romance film with comedy, the french trailer seems to portray it as a film that is mainly comedy with a romantic plot, the trailers show the film as two completely different films.

Practice Exam Qs - Doctor Who.

This extract represents Gender in a few certain ways. The immediate contrast in gender presented in the extract is that of Martha, the doctor's sidekick and the Master, a villain. The master appears smug and dominant over Martha as if asserting his superiority. The way that he makes her kneel shows that maybe he wants to make sure that she feels weak in his presence, you could view his way of making sure that she is embarrassed and humiliated as quite misogynistic and sadistic. He is also clearly asserting his dominance over the women in the room by having them stand around and watch him humiliate her, the woman in red to his right, stands on the spot wearing a rather lavish red dress and as soon as he begins to lose, she prays for the Doctor. As a whole he seems to be, possibly quite sexist and he likes to see others suffer. Rather stereotypically for a man, he is very confident and also very over-confident, he chooses to be a little arrogant with his countdown timer and he chooses amusement over practicality.

On the other hand, Martha as a character is a great heroine in this episode because she is strong, she does not fit with the sort of damsel-in-distress stereotype of a woman, she is wearing quite militaristic and usually masculine clothing. She is young and confident. In this extract we get the impression that she is the main protagonist, the cuts to the flashbacks of her traveling the continents are quite vivid and filtered in strong colours of blueish and orange tones tones, they also in the one of her crossing the cold wastelands, the camera appears to shiver with her.

What this extract seems to quite clearly show is a 'battle of the sexes', with the master judging Martha before he knows what her plans are. The level at which the shot is taken really affects the shot in question, the shots showing the master gloating over her are all shot from below, as if to suggest that he is the victor. She is shot entirely from above. However what I think is quite interesting is the way that the two characters are centered on the screen, whilst Martha gives her speech she is the total focus of the camera, unwaveringly looking directly into the camera, whilst the Master appears to be uncomfortable in the way that he strolls around the shot.

At the eventual arrival of the Doctor later in the extract, he dominates all the shots and everything is reversed so the Master is shot entirely from above, to show the doctor literally hovering over him. Interestingly, in my opinion it is quite odd that despite the fact that Martha and the human race are meant to be the stars of the Extract but they appear to be useless without the assistance of the doctor. I believe that essentially this extract if anything, gives the impression that men are over-confident and that women are the real heroes.

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

I have learnt many new skills and techniques since doing the preliminary task. We learnt how to use lighting more effectively, for example different colours and playing with shadows/silhouettes. For example, in the first shot, we positioned the light outside the house, so we could get some nice shadows on the wall. My preliminary task was very dark, so you couldn’t see much, so we tried to retain a sense of the same level of darkness, but to also allow the viewer to see precisely what we needed them to. Contrasting to the preliminary tasks which were rushed and not considered fully, we tried to focus on making this film quite serious and real, rather than comedic. We thought about the script for a long time, editing and polishing it, until we were completely happy. As apposed to our preliminary tasks, we also tried to focus on every tiny detail; the actress’s costume was that of a stylish businesswoman’s, as well as remaining reserved – because of her being a mother. Props, there were pictures surrounding the house, of her, her husband, children. Dialogue, we tried to make it as real as possible and took inspiration from our own homes. These were all considered in order to get the right Mise en scene. We asked the actress to bring in photos of her, which would suit her role in the film. Because we couldn’t find the dolly, we had to create our own using a skateboard and two planks of wood, so we have learnt how to replicate certain equipment in order to get the right effect. We have also learnt how to use music and sound effects more effectively, concentrating on the build up of sound to create tension and melodic music to accompany the action on screen. We made some sound effects by slowing down various violin sounds to 10% of their original speed. We also did this with various horns and pipes. We also decided to reverse the dramatic Beethoven music, because it sounded more sinister and disconcerting and wasn’t as obvious or overly dramatic as the original, in the end however, we didn’t use it, and instead used a fuzzy noise that sounded like the end of a tape of film, to go with the main title.

Editing the piece was probably the lengthiest part of the project. This is because we found it difficult to fit the film into two minutes. It was most difficult with the end, and after many different drafts we decided that the end didn’t work, (originally screams from the actress than a shot of the door closing.) It seemed too melodramatic and possibly almost comedic, and we didn’t want that at all. So instead we cut for the title as soon as the actress turns the light on. This left the audience on a cliff-hanger and it was very eerie with distant screams from the actress in the background, we tried to leave the audience wanting to know what would happen next.

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

I had used final cut before, so I had some idea of the things you can do, and the technology, but I had never used it to make something that was final and finished, so it was interesting polishing it to make it as good as my technical abilities could let me. I learnt to be selective with filters and effects in mind of how the film should look. We learnt how to use the camera effectively in getting the right result on the Audience. For example, to scare them we would use a tracking shot and slowly ease in towards the actress from behind, reminiscent of a murderer sneaking up on his victim. We also learnt how to build up sound in an effective manner in order to create suspense.

Evaluation - How did you attract/address your audience?

Because of the use of an American actress, we’re hoping it will attract an American audience. This fits in with the traditional tarns-Atlantic audience of Working Title films. The actress is around late 20’s and she will appeal to people of a similar age. Because of the location and film, a large number of British people will be attracted to the film. So we aim to attract quite a large multicultural audience irrespective of gender or age within the boundaries of the film’s classification. The other characters will be of similar age, perhaps even older. This could also attract an older generation, interested in conflicts between people of their age.

Evaluation - Why an 18 Certificate

We chose to use the 18 certificate because in the eyes of horror movie fans, the higher certificate is likely to attract a larger core horror audience. The other reason it is a 18 is because the content of the movie is not suitable for people under the age of 18 and thus we have to comply with British censorship laws

Evaluation - Who would be the audience for your media product?

Well, that is probably one of the reasons that we think the movie we have created is an appealing choice, is the fact it is accessible to a wide audience. The horror market has become one of the most successful and it is a genre that many of the greatest film-makers of all-time have tapped into; Hitchcock, Kubrick, Spielberg and Coppola, and many other great film-makers have used techniques from horror to make their films great. The horror film allows the film-maker to appeal to a main audience of 'thrill-seeking' under 30s and at the same time, show their talents for directing, the horror film is a film that allows the writer and director to truly be creative. I think as well as the younger audience who come to be scared, older audiences will come for the intriguing plot and what we hope to be an interesting film, as well as this, we intend to appeal to other audiences by having an emotionally complex '3-dimensional' heroine. Pre-release, we showed the opening scene to several people in order to determine whether our target audience would be enthralled by the film, the entire audience really enjoyed it.

Evaluation - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? + 2 other qs

Working Title.
We chose Working Title because the Company specialize in similar films to ours: A British film, financed by an Anglo-American company. Working Title has, in the past, made films that are transatlantic with British-American crew and casts, much like our film. Working Title also tend to provide money for more independent and low-budget features, again similar to the conceptual style that we are going for. A Working Title feature often also portrays the ideas of British culture to American viewers and our film is shot in London, the capital of England, with an American actress. We intend to make a thriller that has something that reflects Britain.

Evaluation - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social groups our media product represents are; single parents – There are some divorce letters on the side table, at the beginning of the film, (these would have been explained later in the film) and a great sense that she is alone. The middle class – The house or flat is very modern and big, there are some antiques, paintings, a good stereo system etc. A businesswomen – she is wearing smart clothes and her desk is very organised with books a printer and computer etc. Family’s – there are pictures of her and her family all over the house, some on a table, more on the fridge, the place is tidy but slightly cluttered with usual family household objects. She also represents an outsider, coming from a foreign country to England and not feeling entirely at home all the time, this also makes her more vulnerable. Used the stereotype of the single woman – isolated and in danger, typical in horror/thrillers.

Evaluation - Commentary

Ethnic Representation in Life on Mars.

In the extract, the different ethnicities are presented largely through sound and dialogue. The way in which the Irish is played very much in contrast to the English character of Gene Hunt. The obvious thing that signifies that the man is Irish is his accent and his Irish name. His dialogue conveys his discontent with the treatment of the Irish in England. The extract refers quite a lot to the problem of the IRA in the 70s and 80s, when Patrick says 'All our kind is good for is shovelling shit and making bombs and I'm tired of shovelling shit', I think that this is an effective way of showing that the Irish are persecuted and aren't going to take it any more. We get the impression that the English are inhospitable to foreigners who have come here to become successful, signified by the shout of 'where you going with that?' by Gene Hunt at a young Asian man moving in to his new house, this appears to be a reference to the replacement of the Irish as those who are persecuted and driven to fighting back in the 80s to the topical issues of young Muslim men nowadays.

In the next section we are provided with more insight into the White British ethnicity, as shown in the method that they drive the car onto the pavement, knocking over the bin, they are brash and loud, knocking over the bin. In the second scene they are loud and in the pub. The pub also has a Black Caribbean barman who represents the 4th ethnicity in this extract, he seems to represent the next part of the chain in the lives of immigrants in the UK, he appears to be content with a probably badly paid job, and despite the fact he is working for the White British people in his pub, he is not treated in the same way as the Irish or Asian people in the other section of the extract, it, in a way, shows the progress through stages for immigrants in the UK.

As well as this, the main character acted by John Simm, presents us with a view from Modern day that teaches us that these views are outdated and incorrect. What the extract in the end does is show us that the views held by Gene Hunt are quite ignorant and in a way it tells us that these views are responsible for terrorism and discontent of Immigrant Communities

Research and Planning - Shot List

Research and Planning - Props

Research and Planning - Characters

Characters

The main character is a mature woman, in her very early forties. She will have brown/mousy blonde hair and big brown eyes. She should be quite independent looking to begin with, and like a stylish businesswoman but also having aspects of a mother of two. She should look like she has had a hard days work but content to be at home. She should also be angry about her divorce but not letting it upset her.

Actors who inspired this role include:

Sandra Bullock

- Her mature and independent look is very good for this character.

Julia Roberts

- Her appealing look is good to make audience easily engage with her.

Jodie Foster

- Her slightly troubled but happy and confident look is a good representation of our character. She appeared in a film called Flight Plan, which is similar to our film in that her character gets framed and only she knows and tries to reveal the truth, but no one will believe her.

Research and Planning - Possible Film Producers

Possible Film Producers

Working Title - Working Title is a possibility because they are a British Company that is very involved in the production of international, particularly British-American movies (which is good because we are using an American actress in our starring role), though many of their British movies are comedies, they also have produced several American thrillers, such as State of Play, United 93 and the upcoming Green Zone. They are one of the best producers of internationally popular British films.

Pathé - Pathé is a large producer of films, based in France it produces lots of British films, particularly of young and alternative directors, with the American Blair Witch Project, the British, Adulthood and Slumdog Millionaire. As well as this, they produce really successful mainstream thrillers, like Memento, Apocalypse Now. They are also currently producing a British film called Centurion, with a nearly entirely British cast Dominic West, Noel Clarke and Riz Ahmed. They are quite a major producer of British films.

Research and Planning - Target Audience

The main audience is roughly between 15 and 35. The niche audience will be people older than those ages who are interested in horror. The certificate for the film will be ‘15’ because of the violent content and fear, but younger audiences will also be interested to watch the film when it comes out on DVD, with parental consent.

I believe that this is aimed at a conventional thriller or horror audience, so the main audience will consist of young people going to the cinema/DVD shop to watch a film that will provide them with thrilling plot and scary scenes, thus we need to provide them these thrills. On the other hand, there is a niche audience of perhaps more ‘middle-aged’ people, as a whole there are a wide variation of people who go to watch a thriller, we intend to attract a larger audience by providing an intelligent, deep plot. This will appeal to a widest range of audience.

Research and Planning - Style and Tone

The opening scene should start very unsuspecting; the mood should be very normal. This is to make the climax more surprising. To achieve this we will make the colours quite warm, make the scene homely, and wont add any scary music at the beginning. For the first shot, we want to zoom in on the woman while she is having the phone conversation, this will create tension. Camera shots will remain static or just a slow zoom to intensify the verisimilitude of the scene. When the lights come on in the bedroom, it might be effective to have the shadow of the body cast on to the wall behind the woman, and on her. This would emphasize a sense of mystery and want you to know what she is looking at. To achieve this without making it seem unrealistic the light behind the body would be a bedside lamp. The light in this room will also be quite blue/green to emphasize the change in mood.

The genre of our film is thriller/horror. There are quite graphic images and unexpected and perhaps shocking moments. No guns, or drugs like most thrillers entail. Perhaps the genre is slightly leaning to a psychological thriller also, for example, you do not know what is going on at times, and don’t know who is guilty or innocent.

The titles will be very simple, white on black. As a door opens, and the light enters the room, you realize that the black background was in fact the darkness of the room. The first shot will be a long one; it will start as a long-shot and pan round as the woman walks past. (The titles will continue to show at the bottom-right of the screen.) Then slowly ease in toward a mid-shot during the phone conversation. The easing in will also add a little tension to the scene. The very beginning will start in a quite regular way, it is meant to be like any other day, so no scary sound effects as of yet. As the opening progresses however, small incidents that aren’t every day, instead perhaps once in a while, start to happen to the protagonist, for example the phone cutting out. Very subtle eerie sound effects and also the increasing kettle can accompany these. The shots will also become more unconventional, close-ups on her lips, the clock, etc. The next shot will be in a dark room with a door open, showing the woman at her desk. Perhaps here to create suspense, the accompany of some ghostly droning music will be good, it should be very quiet though, almost subliminal. When the woman turns the light on and sees a dead body the music should have a great impact here and be frightening, showing her fear.

Research and Planning - Influences

The Shining – We want to achieve a similar style for the camera shots, for example long panning and tracking camera shots. We would like our actress to react in a similar way to the character ‘Wendy’ in the bathroom scene of this film. We think her fear and distress is very powerful. Kubrick plays with sound creatively and we want to try and adopting this technique for our opening, for example the sound of the clock ticking, and kettle. Kubrick gradually builds up tension very effectively in his films, and although he does it very slowly and over the course of the whole film, we will try and do the same in the two minutes.

Psycho – We were inspired by Hitchcock’s camera shots. His close-ups, and long shots, and his build up of cuts to develop tension. In Psycho, we like the thrilling quality of someone else being in the house/room. This film appeals to a mainstream audience, which is what we are also trying to achieve. The woman in our film is a similar age to the character in psycho who is murdered. She looks young, yet is a mother of two and is just reaching her 40’s. With this choice of age we are trying to appeal to young and older audience members.

Panic room – The idea of having a woman on her own with the responsibility of her child. The sense of paranoia is very effective in this film. We watched the film trailer to get ideas for building tension and for the story.

Flight Plan – The story is similar to that of ‘Flight Plan’ – a single mother whose child is kidnapped. This relates to part of our theme, ‘destruction of the family’ and to the woman being alone and vulnerable.

News – The case involving Tony Martin partly inspired the story. We were interested in the idea of how far one might go to protect their property and family in a burglary situation. Tony Martain was prosecuted for manslaughter after killing a sixteen-year-old boy because his home was being violently robbed. Our character wont reveal a gun, but we were interested in the frightening aspect that if someone is criminally trespassing in your home, you might not be able to defend yourself properly.

We were also inspired by North by Northwest, the way it didn’t seem like a thriller at first, until a sudden surprise. It showed the character’s normal life and displayed it naturalistically, this emphasized on the idea that it could happen to anyone.

Research and Planning - Script

[FADE FROM BLACK OR CAMERA IN DARKNESS AND DOOR OPENS]

[CATHERINE ENTERS, SLAMMING DOOR BEHIND HER, CONTINUES TO TURN ON LIGHTS AND SHE GOES OVER TO THE KITCHEN TO TURN ON THE KETTLE AND WALKS OVER TO THE ANSWER MACHINE TO LISTEN TO HER MESSAGES]

ELECTRONIC VOICE: (SOMETHING ALONG THE LINES OF) YOU HAVE ONE NEW MESSAGE...

[SHE PRESSES THE BUTTON FOR THE FIRST MESSAGE]

BENJAMIN: Hi, Cath, um, it’s me, err well I’m coming over to discuss, well, t-that problem, I’ll be over in an hour... [ANSWER PHONE SAYS ‘MESSAGE LEFT AT 4:54 PM’]

[SURPRISED, CATHERINE LOOKS AT THE CLOCK, IT IS 7:54, SUSPICIOUS AT FIRST BUT THEN ROLLING HER EYES AT HIS LACK OF PUNCTUALITY, SHE IS DRAWN BACK TO THE NEXT PRIORITY ON HER LIST, RINGING HER MOTHER]

MOTHER: Hello? Hello?

CATHERINE: Hello

MOTHER: Oh [AS IF RELIEVED], hello darling

CATHERINE: How are they? Are they OK?

MOTHER: The kids are fine, they’re just getting ready for bed now

[CATHERINE SIGHS, RELIEVED, IT IS EVIDENT THAT SHE IS A PROTECTIVE MOTHER]

MOTHER: Why are you ringing on the house phone, you never---

CATHERINE: I lost my mobile, probably been stolen, I just left it on my desk and it was gone, I can’t think of anyone at work who would do that

MOTHER: [PATRONIZING] I always said that you needed to take better care of...

[THE PHONE APPEARS TO FLICKER OUT]

CATHERINE: [RATHER SCARED, THE PHONE RARELY JUST STOPS] Hello? HELLO?

[SHE FOLLOWS THE MODEM CORD, TO THE MODEM ITSELF. NOTHING SEEMS TO BE AMISS WITH THE MODEM, HOWEVER SHE PEERS IN TO THE FLOOR MIRROR, CONFUSED BY SOMETHING THAT THE AUDIENCE CANNOT YET SEE]

[AS THE CAMERA CUTS TO A SHOT OF HER, IN THE DARKNESS OF THE ROOM THAT SHE IS STARING AT, WE NOTICE THAT SHE SEES SOMETHING IS DEFINITELY WRONG, THE CAMERA FOLLOWS HER IN THE ROOM, SHE TURNS THE LIGHT ON AND SCREAMS AT WHATEVER IS ON THE BED, THE CAMERA ZOOMS IN UNTILL JUST ON HER EYES, SHE LOOKS TO HER RIGHT SLOWLY AND THE BEDROOM DOOR SLOWLY CLOSES]

Research and Planning - Plot Sequence

Camera is in darkness, you hear a key in the door and a woman walks in her home. The light from the hall outside spills into the darkness. She turns the lights on and puts her keys on top of some divorce papers lying on a table next to a picture of her and her children. She runs to the kitchen and puts the kettle on, the noise of the kettle is an increasing and foreboding noise, for example the squealing, and this increases tension. She goes over to the telephone that is on a desk, sits down and realizes that there is a message on the answering machine, she presses play and a male voice says, ‘Hi Anna, um, its me, err, I’m coming over to discuss the, um… problem. I’ll be over in about an hour.’ Then the answer machine recalls, ‘message left at 4:54 pm.’ At this point the kettle stops to mark the suspiciousness. A close-up shot of the clock shows 7:14 and you can hear the ticking above the ambient noise. The woman is slightly skeptical but then rolls her eyes, remembering his terrible punctuality. She then rings her mother.

Mother; ‘hello’

‘Hello’

‘Oh hello darling’

‘How are they?’

‘Oh the kids are fine, they’re just getting ready for bed.’

The woman sighs with a smile.

‘Why are you ringing on the house phone you never—‘

‘I know, I lost my mobile, well, it could have been stolen but I can’t think who at work would do such a thing.’

‘I always say you need to look after your—‘

The phone cuts out, the woman is confused and says ‘hello?’ She follows the cord and looks at the modem. It seems fine. There is a floor mirror, next to the modem, she looks at it and suddenly turns around. The audience, at this point, doesn’t know what provoked her to react in this way, but they also don’t need to. Perhaps she did not leave the house in the way it is now. The shot that the camera cuts to as she whips her head around, is in a dark room with the door open; you can see the woman at her desk through the doorframe. She looks over and squints to see what is lurking in the darkness. She walks over skeptically, and slowly. She turns the light on, (with the switch inside the room.) Suddenly she screams so terrified and covers her mouth with her hand. She presses her back against the wall and stares with big eyes, while almost hyperventilating. The shadow of a lumpy and distorted shape is cast onto the wall and consequently her. The camera tracks towards her as she screams, getting closer and closer to a close-up, she doesn’t look away from the body. When her face takes up the whole screen and the camera stops she has a slight inkling and slowly looks in fear to her left. Blackout. Main tile.

Alternate ending: Perhaps she looks slowly to her right and then a shot from outside of the room shows the door slowly closing, with the camera tracking backwards at a similar rate to the door.

Across the rest of the film, our heroine escapes from her home. She then makes any effort to protect her kids from the murderer. She is also wrongly being trialed for the suspected murder of her husband and despite the fact that she has no experience, is going to have to take the law into her own hands to catch the murderer and reveal him as evidence to the police.

Research and Planning - General Outline

The genre is ‘thriller’ - an exciting plot, typically involving crime or espionage. Thrillers usually have sub-plots and a complex story line. Our thriller is partially about mixing the aspects of the genre of horror and film noir/neo-noir with the ideas of a mystery and psychological thriller, we intend to put a lot of emphasis on the fear/emotion of the main character through using visual style and a rather intriguing plot, we intend to make the film curve away from ‘gung-ho’ violent thrillers and make it more about entrapment and the feeling of being truly scared.

Deadfall - Final Cut - Luke Thompson and Ben Rogers

REsearch and Planning - Story Board

~~Part 6~~

.Did Millions go to see PotC2 in the first week of release because it is such a great film, or because it is such a great film, or because it is so well marketed? or Both?

Millions worldwide went to see the film partially because of a huge amunt of advertising and the film was, not the best film of all-time, but action-packed and full of laughs. The first film had been very successful because it managed to tap into all audiences, with jokes and action that really entertained all age-ranges. I think that people also went to see it because of the massive budget and special effects, as well as a cast of highly talented and of course highly attractive cast, Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly, Orlando Bloom etc. I think the previous film in the trilogy was one of the main reasons people came to see the second.

.Why are UIP virtually guaranteed to be successful? Find some recent releases by UIP to use as examples. Think about the kind of companies backing them?

They are joint owned by two of the biggest international cinema companies worldwide, Paramount and Universal Pictures, this allows them to have a large funding for distribution and advertising for that distribution. They also thus get the distribution rights to the biggest blockbusters with the biggest stars, they are the distributors of Green Zone and Shutter Island with Matt Damon and Leonardo diCaprio, out now, with the budget and casts of these movies, the company only really need to make people aware of the movie and it will 'sell like hot cakes'.

.What are your opinions on the debate surrounding film classification in this country? Use Spiderman and The Dark Knight as a starting point. Write about two paragraphs and try to think of some examples of your own.

I think that personally I think that just trying to get the largest audience should not be the priority, but due to the quantity of investment it has become almost necessary. Whilst 'Watchmen' 'Sin City' and '300' were large successes, if they had been 12-a certificates they would certainly have made more money, but the message of the movie would have been distinctly compromised and thus we would have a worse film. I believe that Spider-man was not a great film and there was no balance, it was a little too childish. On the other hand, Dark Knight was rather violent and kept it's message, this film probably should have had a 15 rating and the only reason it didn't is that in America, it got PG-13 which means that under 13s require parents to be with them but in America this applies to R-rated films as well, America tends to be more liberal on film ratings than the UK and what we did was trust their opinion. I also think that the Dark Knight contains a moralistic message, the movie's focus is often on gritty dialogue and conflicted ideologies, the violence in the movie is not glamourised to show it to be in any way right. It is not a beat'em up movie, and this means that the children if they go, probably won't enjoy it as much, I believe that essentially they should have gone the full way and made it a 15, like the classic Michael Keaton/Tim Burton movies. However there are Christian bloggers on the internet who do think that this movie teaches you moral lessons whatever age you may be, I think this is the sign that essentially people are not seeing this rating as bad, many people of different faiths believe that this movie should be available, and I also believe that if you don't want yor child going to a 12A, then don't take your child to a 12A. http://catholicinformation.aquinasandmore.com/2008/07/24/the-dark-knight/

.Why do you think that Cloverfield was such a successful movie? In your opinion what was particularly attractive about its marketing campaign. Go to the websites listed in the case study to see if they're still live.

The slusho.jp is still online, but the 1-01-08.com has been taken down, I think that the viral marketing of the film, such as the ARG of creating websites for the companies as well as creating mystery by putting up clips. As well as this, the odd format of the film, the handheld camera is an appealing concept. The idea of a revolution in cinematic and atmospheric effects also appealed to the audience. The other thing that appeale to many people is the involvement of LOST writer J.J. Abrams, who is notorious for confusing plots and is exceptionally popular at the moment with the success of Star Trek: Movie and of course LOST. The intriguing mystery that Cloverfield created in its advertising is probably what got it so much money, I know I went to see it after reading a review saying that the atmosphere and way of shooting were revolutionary.

.To what extent do you agree with the statement that the audience of tomorrow is online? What examples from your own consumption of films and media lead you towards the internet?

The prime example of internet consumption is the use of youtube for film trailers, where now instead of going to the television or cinema to see trailers. As well as this, there are reviewers like spill.com or rottentomatoes.com who provide a rating for new movies, the Empire magazine now have online reviews, so now people can know how good a movie. You can download movie, both legally and illegally off the internet, you can order movies cheaply from amazon.com. All of these examples show that the internet is replacing all parts of the industry, personally I am actively a part of this, I have my favourite online reviewers and I often order movies from amazon.

Part 5 Production Qs

.Choose an actress from the list above. What would they bring to a role in a film?

Kate Winslet- Winslet brings a certain character-type to the film, Winslet tends to play certain types of people. She nearly always plays upper class British characters, her characters are often quirky and strange, but at the same time either the main character or the love interest. She appears in romantic movies like Titanic, Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind and Revolutionary Road as well as Comedy/Rom-Coms like The Holiday. She has a definitive voice and look that are difficult to replicate.

.Think about the films you have seen recently at the cinema. Which ones were recommended by word of mouth? -Why did you go and see other films?

I tend to go to the cinema to see films that I have read a review of, and recently I went to see District 9 and Avatar based on the advice of friends so essentially I am swayed by the views that other people who have seen the film say about it.

.Find out the budget ofthe following three films, Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity and Avatar. Which of them made the biggest profit?

Paranormal Activity was made for only $15,000 and made $192mil
The Blair Witch Project was made for $60,000 and has made $248mil
Avatar on the other hand has made $2.6bil but cost in excess of $500mil
This means that Paranormal Activity based on budget would have made the most money. But if you take in to mind the fact that Paranormal Activity spent huge amounts on Advertising as did Avatar, so the Blair Witch probably made the most because it was released before Youtube and many internet sites which limits the quantity they could spend

.Find out the producers of the following British films; Harry Brown, Scouting Book for Boys and Heartless. How has film production changed in the UK since the 90s?

Harry Brown -
* Marv Films
* UK Film Council
* HanWay Films
* Prescience Film Fund
* Framestore
Scouting Book for Boys - produced by Celador Films
Heartless -
* May 13
* Cinema Two (in association with)
* CinemaNX
* Matador Pictures
* Regent Capital (in association with)
* Richard Raymond Films
What is clear from this list is that the films are now funded by smaller companies in Britain and the London Film Council, thus creating our own British Market separate from Hollywood. The responsibility of production is now shared.

Can you think of any recent film soundtracks that have proved popular with Audiences? Why?

One of the most successful soundtracks has been the Twilight soundtrack, I believe that this is probably due to the fact that it has a track on it, performed by Robert Pattinson, the movie's star who is very popular as a result of starring in this movie. As well as this, it has tracks selected by the author, by her favourite bands, who are of course popular artists like Muse, Linkin Park and Paramore.

Evaluation - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? + 2 other qs

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

We chose to really try and get Working Title on board and thankfully it paid off. The Company seem to specialise in the sort of movie that we have made. Working Title have, in the past, made movies that are transatlantic with British-American crew and casts, much like our movie. Working Title also tend to provide money for more independent and low-budget features, again similar to the conceptual style that we are going for. A Working Title feature often also portrays the ideas of British culture to American viewers and our film is shot in London, the capital of England and one of the World's most intriguing and multicultural cities, we intend to make a thriller that has something that reflects Britain.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Well, that is probably one of the reasons that we think the movie we have created is appealing to a wide audience. The horror market has become one of the most successful and it is a genre that many of the greatest film-makers of all-time have tapped into; Hitchcock, Kubrick, Spielberg and Coppola, and many other great film-makers have used techniques from horror to make their films great. The horror film allows the film-maker to appeal to a main audience of 'thrill-seeking' under 30s and at the same time, show their talents for directing, the horror film is a film that allows the writer and director to truly be creative. I think as well as the younger audience who come to be scared, older audiences will come for the intriguing plot and what we hope to be an interesting film, as well as this, we intend to appeal to other audiences by having an emotionally complex '3-dimensional' heroine. Pre-release, we showed the opening scene to several people in order to determine whether our target audience would be enthralled by the film, the entire audience really enjoyed it.

Looking back at your Preliminary Task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I think I have learnt several things when directing this film since the filming of the preliminary task and our group piece 'the Arrival'. What we have done in Deadfall has been to divert from the comedic route that the other two pieces and really focus in on the Thriller genre. We have created an altogether more balanced film as a result. I think what we did really well was really convey what we had planned onto screen. We made mistakes like in the previous tasks, however we have learned that we have the skills to correct our mistakes, the first mirror shot is actually shot without sound but using editing skills we recreated the sound and it is unnoticeable, this is a sign of our ability to overcome adversity. The fact that we managed to do all our shooting in one extra-long session allowed us no space for mistakes. Other difficulties included the fact that the set contained 9 people including directors and actor, this meant we had to move people as well as equipment and at the same time retain continuity, the control we maintained over the set was strong.