Wednesday 25 January 2012

Production company


After using logo ease we have decided that our production company name will be called J-PEC productions and the design looks like this.

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Garageband testing

I decided to experiment with some music ideas for our thriller opening by using garageband. This was very good although the customization available was very limited.

Name for the production company

After much consideration, me, Perry Cook and Charlie Spiers have decided to name our production Company 'J-PEC Productions'

Consideration of target audience

For the consideration of the target audience I have decided to publish my survey onto twitter and Facebook to get some feedback from some friends.

Analysis of Audience reasearch

From our results of audience research using survey monkey and interviews we have come to the following conclusion; Most peoples favorite genre of film is generally action, thriller or comedy. Also most of them seem to be Male and around the age of about 17-21. They believe that blood should be included into a thriller to make it interesting sometimes. Also the most popular place to watch films seems to be at home or in the cinema. Overall the target audience should be aimed at the age of around 17-21 year olds. It also seems that if blood is included in our thriller it will make the film more interesting.

Target Audience: Survey Monkey results

Target Audience: Survey Monkey results

Target Audience: Survey Monkey results

Audience research: Survey Monkey results

Planning

In todays lesson we had to plan out a thriller based film but only the first 2-3 minutes of the sequence, and in todays lesson Myself, Perry Cook and Charlie Spiers planned a thriller about a psyhcopath on a killing rampage and throughout the the film its going to have flash back of the people the killer has killed. There will be different technquies used while filming the sequence, this has taken alot of thought throughout the group, We hope to start filming as soon as possible once we have completed audience research.

Target Audience- Interviews

Friday 20 January 2012

Understanding film language

Camera
Camera framing is what we see within the actual frame. It concentrates on the angle of the shot and how far away it was taken. There is many different types of camera movement such as; A panning shot, A tilt shot, A crane shot, A tracking shot and A rolling shot.

Editing
Speed of editing is how long each shot lasts for and style of editing is how each shot is joined to the next. There are many types of styles of editing such as a straight cut, a fade out, a dissolve, a wipe cut and a jump cut.

Sound
A diegetic sound is an on screen sound which is apart of the film and a non-diegetic sound is a sound which is not a part of the film like voice overs and sound tracks.

Mise-en-scene
Mise-en-scene consists of setting and props, costume hair and make-up, facial expressions and body language, lighting and colour and positioning of characters and objects within a frame.

Opening title sequences

Seven
This film starts with disturbing music and dark disturbing scenes which unsettles the audience, there is also screams whilst the titles are playing which unsettles the audience more. This title sequence unsettles the audience for the rest of the film and asks the question of whats going in the rest of the film.

The Ring
At the opening sequence of this film, there is no sound and suspense is built up as the character walks down the corridor, there is then a scream to and a face appears on the scream. it then changes to the titles which are dark and they flicker. In the background there is child's music in the background which unsettles the audience. It then changes to dark more modern music.

Panic Room
It starts of with a long shot of the city with 3D writing of the credits of who made the film, it then goes from the general to the particular of the film, which is the main character of the film.

Shaft 1971
In this film it goes from the general of the city to the particular of the main character called shaft. The sound effects during this opening are all natural with sounds from cars and people talking. It then begins with some music typical of the time of this film which is quite groovy.

Tuesday 17 January 2012

Thriller conventions

Titles

After the IDENT use a FADE IN. The titles should then be in the following order:
(1) 'Your Production Company' Presents
(2) A Film by 'One name - usually the director'
(3) Starring or With
(4) Male star
(5) Female star or other way round
(6) Title of film - or could be at the end
(7) Also starring - 2/3/names - each on seperate title
(8) Then 3/4/5 of the following - you choose - each on seperate title
Editing
Music
Cinematography or Director of Photography
Casting
Set Designer
Costume Designer
Script
(9) Then Producer(s) - can be more than one
(10) Always finish with Director - one name, usually the same as A Film By ...
(11) Could put title here
Remember to use LiveType and try to make titles interesting. They can be either over black or superimposed over your film. Space them out over the two minutes of the film.Give the audience plenty of time to read the titles. 
(12) Finish with a fade out & fade music out

Friday 13 January 2012

My survey

Please can you take a few moments of your time to take survey on Thriller target audience.
Click here to take a survey

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Shadow of a Doubt 1943

This film is about a man called Uncle Charlie and his niece Charlie. In the opening scene it is a lively, happy environment with middle to upper class people dancing with happy, lively music in the background.
It then changes to a industrial landscape with scrap metal everywhere. This shows a working class environment. It then goes to a house in the industrial landscape where Uncle Charlie is just laying in the bed with a very sinister look. He is wearing a suit, and there is money on the floor and on the side. This does not portrait the area in which he is in which is a working class.
The landlord then enters the room and Uncle Charlie does not move until she leaves the room then sinister music comes and creates a suspicious mood in the film. This makes uncle charlie become the antagonist of the film, then with rage he smashes the glass against the wall which shows that he is capable of being violent.
He then leaves the apartment and walks past the 2 men who were asking for him and then they begin to follow him. He avoids the 2 men and does it very calmly and resourceful. This makes him come across as an antagonistic.
After this scene it goes to another scene in a middle class, more civilized neighborhood. It then goes to Charlie's room, who is Uncle Charlie's niece, where Charlie is in the same position as Uncle Charlie was. This shows that they are similar but opposite as she comes across as the protagonist in the film where as Uncle Charlie is the antagonist.
This creates suspense because Charlie don't know that Uncle Charlie is a bad person.

Monday 9 January 2012

Cultural Hegemony

One social set having power over other social sets within that society and they enforce their beliefs and ideologies upon the rest of that society and normal and everyday. These beliefs and ideologies become a way of measuring or categorising people within that society as they are seen the 'obvious' or 'commonsensical'.

Cliffhangers

Sometimes, although not always used. A film features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation.
An example is The Italian Job (1969)

'Red Herrings'

A Red Herring is the name given to a device which intends to divert the audience from the truth or an item of significance. It can work with other devices (enigmas) to create suspense.
An example is Saw.

Enigmas

This refers to a puzzle, something mysterious or inexplicable, or a riddle or difficult problem.
In thrillers this is commonly something which the protagonist has to try and find out solve before the narrative is resolved and the film finishes.

Narrative- Structure, formulas and devices

For example- Continuity editing
The clear establishment of 'cause and effect' plotting which establishes character motivations and helps tell an interesting story which proceeds logically and steadily.

The 'Physcological' thriller

The suspense created by physcological thrillers often comes from 2 or more characters preying on one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state.
Suspense can sometimes come from within one solitary character where they must resolve conflicts within their own minds. Usually this conflict is an effort to understand something that has happened to them.

Hitchcock's 'Maguffin'

A Maguffin is a plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story, but has little or no relevence to the story.
Alfred Hitchcock Quote "we have a name in the studio, and we call it the maguffin. It is a mechanical element that usually crops up in a story.In crook stories its always the necklace and in spy stories its always the papers"
An example of a maguffin is in 'Notorious'

Alfred Hitchcock's Rope (1948)

'Rope' tells the story of 2 young wealthy men who strangle and murder a friend of theirs just to see if they can get away with it.
They then invite close friends (including the murdered man's parents) to their apartment for a dinner party, whilst hiding the body in chest in the sitting room, just to see if they can get away with it.
The suspense is created through the body in the chest. It asks the question of do we want it to happen?