Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Audience feedback
We were delighted when we were given positive feedback from a viewing we held, presenting our thriller on a large screen with an audience of 6th formers. The feeling of horror and the impact on the audience was incredible; Rosie Cammack was drawn in by the piece and was well and truely scared, "I can't watch that it's minging, what is he doing with his head?". In receiving a comment like that we had noticed that the masked characters had been instantaneously viewed as antagonists, which was intended. A student from year 13 Chris Hollington who took Media Studies and did the same project as last year was impressed by our work, "I am truly a big fan of this". I also gathered various students that did not take Media or Film and asked them to watch our piece. They enjoyed it and when I asked them the genre one person Jordan Sargent replied "Is it a horror?" and they said that they thoroughly enjoyed the piece.
In addition on the audience feedback above on the 30th April i proposed that we did our own premiere. We burnt 'Regent House' on to DVD, i then persisted as many people to view our thriller during free time. We had a projector, the lights were off, and around 25-30 people saw are thriller for the first time. This is as close as we could get to knowing how our thriller would go in an actual cinema. Whilst nervous of what the feedback would be it was resoundingly positive, a small laugh emerged when they realised a teacher was on screen (something that wouldn't be an issue when showing publicly) strangely everyone went silent, until a round of applause as it finished. A 10 minute video has been put unto the blog documenting the audience teaching and their feedback. From the feedback, we are extremely happy to see that it was positive, and from fresh eyes (having no idea of how any of the processes behind making the thriller) acknowledged a media product we knew so well.
Peter McLaughlin, Tim McNiven and Oliver Fitch
Thursday, 30 April 2009
‘In what ways does your media Product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?’
‘In what ways does your media Product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?’
Strangely Media products that are in the genre - thrillers, conventially are either hybrid genres (such as ‘Batman Begins’ which is an Action-Adventure /Thriller) or a sub-genre (such as ‘Goodfellas’ which is a Gangster-thriller). Ours almost follows both conventions, we originally
conceived it as a subgenre of psychological/thriller but became a Hybrid genre of a Horror/thriller. This was done through the destruction of the masked assailants which seems to follow the conventions of the latter, but its does develop the conventions of the former. As the violence is never linked, the office psychiatrist scene’s tension is done through performance and music.
Very quickly we decided that by embracing previous Thrillers, our passion for them would bleed through into our thriller. Hence there is a numerous amounts of influences and references.
Firstly that a media product, if done fictionally is never a true reflection of the real world, but a stylised version. Hence all the characters are archetypes making them instantly identifiable. Russell T. Davies (Executive producer and Head Writer of ‘Doctor
Who’ and ‘Torchwood’) said this of using classic monsters as the viewer immediately knows the rules and the story runs a lot quicker. This applied with our characters. Immediately the audience had a vague understanding of the dynamics between our two characters, because of this we’re immediately aware between the differences of the characters, meaning the tension begins immediately.
The same applied for our masked assailants to a less extent, Steven Moffat (Writer of BBC thriller ‘Hyde’) says the scariest moment is when the monster is about to arrive, hence all the
scenes with the assailants is preparation (we even cut a sequence we filmed where the assailants walk into ‘Regent House’, the building we named our 
piece after, and a further sequence was never filmed where both narratives meet and the assailants burst into the office. We cut these sequences, with regards to time but mainly because the monster ceases to be scary once they are there. Once the assailants were there they wouldn’t be able to use the weapons at all, it would undermine the aura that the first two minutes build up).
We wanted to avoid hooded figures, such as in the fantasy/horror/thriller ‘Demons’, whilst ‘hoodie’ culture is being tried to be tapped into by some modern thrillers, we found it makes the threat mundane. When the convention of a thriller is to have a mundane location with fantastical threat (e.g. ‘War of the Worlds’ where Cruise’s characters normal life is set up, to be disestablished by the earth tremors).
We wanted sharp suits, such as the sci-fi thriller ‘The Matirx’ a sthe Agent’s uniformity is what’s chilling, it plays on our inner drive to not follow ‘the man’. The crispness of their suits, and steely expression show them like tanks, they will always follow you.
We mixed that convention with that of the Joker’s henchmen in ‘The Dark Knight’, all the masks have tormented smiling expressions, there is something scary about a perverted euphoria. Something pure that has been tainted, something we can relate to that has been twisted. I believe that our media product, whilst divertingly develops conventions in a new light (such as when the assailants walking is dissolved in on it self, it gives a mystic effect to them whilst not breaking the reality. Many thrillers tend to stick firmly into a “real worlds” such as ‘Psycho’, or to go into a fantasy film such as ‘Watchmen’. We wanted a stylised world that whilst never contradicts reality, through editing we discombobulate the viewer slightly and hint at a supernatural element).
Yet ultimately our thriller obeys these conventions, as they have been well established, into the culture of film, every viewer on a subconscious basis is scared by the similar principles. We graded our pictures to increase the shadows, because shadows are chilling. We are scared of the dark, because we do not know what is in it. The masks go to the same effect, as we never see exactly what they look like under the mask, our imaginations are much more thrilling then what we could see on screen. We kept to the primary principle, to create mystery. Mystery always unnerves us, which is why thrillers are so successful because they thrive on mystery…
Strangely Media products that are in the genre - thrillers, conventially are either hybrid genres (such as ‘Batman Begins’ which is an Action-Adventure /Thriller) or a sub-genre (such as ‘Goodfellas’ which is a Gangster-thriller). Ours almost follows both conventions, we originally
conceived it as a subgenre of psychological/thriller but became a Hybrid genre of a Horror/thriller. This was done through the destruction of the masked assailants which seems to follow the conventions of the latter, but its does develop the conventions of the former. As the violence is never linked, the office psychiatrist scene’s tension is done through performance and music.Very quickly we decided that by embracing previous Thrillers, our passion for them would bleed through into our thriller. Hence there is a numerous amounts of influences and references.
Firstly that a media product, if done fictionally is never a true reflection of the real world, but a stylised version. Hence all the characters are archetypes making them instantly identifiable. Russell T. Davies (Executive producer and Head Writer of ‘Doctor
Who’ and ‘Torchwood’) said this of using classic monsters as the viewer immediately knows the rules and the story runs a lot quicker. This applied with our characters. Immediately the audience had a vague understanding of the dynamics between our two characters, because of this we’re immediately aware between the differences of the characters, meaning the tension begins immediately.The same applied for our masked assailants to a less extent, Steven Moffat (Writer of BBC thriller ‘Hyde’) says the scariest moment is when the monster is about to arrive, hence all the
scenes with the assailants is preparation (we even cut a sequence we filmed where the assailants walk into ‘Regent House’, the building we named our 
piece after, and a further sequence was never filmed where both narratives meet and the assailants burst into the office. We cut these sequences, with regards to time but mainly because the monster ceases to be scary once they are there. Once the assailants were there they wouldn’t be able to use the weapons at all, it would undermine the aura that the first two minutes build up).We wanted to avoid hooded figures, such as in the fantasy/horror/thriller ‘Demons’, whilst ‘hoodie’ culture is being tried to be tapped into by some modern thrillers, we found it makes the threat mundane. When the convention of a thriller is to have a mundane location with fantastical threat (e.g. ‘War of the Worlds’ where Cruise’s characters normal life is set up, to be disestablished by the earth tremors).
We wanted sharp suits, such as the sci-fi thriller ‘The Matirx’ a sthe Agent’s uniformity is what’s chilling, it plays on our inner drive to not follow ‘the man’. The crispness of their suits, and steely expression show them like tanks, they will always follow you.
We mixed that convention with that of the Joker’s henchmen in ‘The Dark Knight’, all the masks have tormented smiling expressions, there is something scary about a perverted euphoria. Something pure that has been tainted, something we can relate to that has been twisted. I believe that our media product, whilst divertingly develops conventions in a new light (such as when the assailants walking is dissolved in on it self, it gives a mystic effect to them whilst not breaking the reality. Many thrillers tend to stick firmly into a “real worlds” such as ‘Psycho’, or to go into a fantasy film such as ‘Watchmen’. We wanted a stylised world that whilst never contradicts reality, through editing we discombobulate the viewer slightly and hint at a supernatural element).
Yet ultimately our thriller obeys these conventions, as they have been well established, into the culture of film, every viewer on a subconscious basis is scared by the similar principles. We graded our pictures to increase the shadows, because shadows are chilling. We are scared of the dark, because we do not know what is in it. The masks go to the same effect, as we never see exactly what they look like under the mask, our imaginations are much more thrilling then what we could see on screen. We kept to the primary principle, to create mystery. Mystery always unnerves us, which is why thrillers are so successful because they thrive on mystery…
Tim McNiven & Oliver Fitch
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Who would be the audience for your media product?
After examining what techniques media researchers use to work out their prime audience, we are going to use the same techniques to find out what audiences our thriller should be aimed at.
We are trying to tap into the mass-audience as a broader demographic. Our thriller will appeal to more people. However we do not want to water down our ideal to fit a blockbuster pattern purely for the sake of it, so this will limit our demographics to a certain degree
Approximately, our Audience demographics are from C1 down (with a slight overlap into B) as we're hoping to appeal to everyday situations (along with the codes and conventions). The high-concept ideals may appeal on a more academic level.
Psychographics- there are 3 categories that we're aiming at:
Mainstreamers - This is the largest group, if we're successful then others will conform to see our thriller.
Strugglers. SEEKS ESCAPE - alienated and disorganised. Few resources beyond physical skills. Brand choice involves impact and sensation. Buys alcohol, junk food lottery tickets. D and E demographic.
Explorers - SEEKS DISCOVERY. Energy, individualism and experience. Values a difference and adventure. Brand choice highlights satisfaction, and instant effect. The first to try new brands. Younger demographic - students.
Although within marketing and demographics there are other issues that will need to be considered.
As media consumers we use or are entertained by media products on a literal daily basis. However, each of these media products has been marketed to appeal to us (even if on a generic basis). There are several means by which consumers are grouped as different types of audience.
A slightly more detailed way is through 'Audience Demographics', which are based on financial income:
'Group A - lawyers, doctors, scientists, managers of large-scale organisations - well paid professionals.
Group B - teachers, senior managers, some middle management - fairly well paid professionals.
Group C1 - 'white collar' junior management, bank clerks, nurses.
Group C2 - skilled 'blue collar' workers such as electricians, plumbers carpenters.
Group D - Semi and unskilled manual such as drivers, post sorters.
Group E - students, the unemployed, pensioners.
'However this does rather base upon very broad stereotypes, a more accurate but more time costly method is 'Audience Profiling'. Audiences can be defined by the following factors;
'-Age
-Gender
-Demographic (in this instance meaning where they live, regionally)
-Profiling (An example of this is the 'Tesco club Card' where all purchases accompanied with this card are registered to data system where vouchers are then sent to your address with vouchers to encourage you to purchase products tailored for you)
-Values, attitudes and lifestyles (this is more niche sections of the media product)'
This then leads onto demographic profiling which works on the same simple process calculating approximately through a consumer’s age, class, gender, geographical area, class, economic status and religion.
The most interesting of all these methods however must be 'psychographic profiling', where marketing executives do not merely define their consumers by age or region, but see what makes consumers want their product and, play on it to maximise its potential. It works out an average personality trait for different types of people. These are as following:
'Mainstreamers - SEEK SECURITY. The products they consume are domestic, conformist, conventional, sentimental-favour value for money family brands. Nearly always the largest group.
Aspirers - SEEK STATUS. Materialistic, acquisitive, orientated to image and appearance, persona and fashion. Attractive packaging more important than contents. Typically younger people, clerical and sales jobs.
Succeeders - SEEK CONTROL. Strong goals, confidence, work ethic and organisation. Supports stability. Brand choice based on self-reward, and quality. Typically higher management and professionals.
Resigned - SEEKS SURVIVAL. Rigid and authoritarian values. Interested in the past and tradition. Brand choice stresses safety, familiarity and economy. Typically older people.
Performers. SEEKS ENLIGHTENMENT - Freedom of restrictions and personal growth. Social awareness and independent judgement. Anti-materialistic, but aware of good taste. Has attended higher education and selects products for quality.'
Having examined how consumers are depicted and used within marketing, our group will need to replicate this as it will help make our thriller more appealing to our potential audiences.
(with quotes embedded from http://www.4cs.yr.com/ and http://www.nrs.co.uk/)
Written by Tim Mcniven, Edited by Peter McLaughlin. Further editing and formatting by Joseph Lawrence.
After examining what techniques media researchers use to work out their prime audience, we are going to use the same techniques to find out what audiences our thriller should be aimed at.
We are trying to tap into the mass-audience as a broader demographic. Our thriller will appeal to more people. However we do not want to water down our ideal to fit a blockbuster pattern purely for the sake of it, so this will limit our demographics to a certain degree
Approximately, our Audience demographics are from C1 down (with a slight overlap into B) as we're hoping to appeal to everyday situations (along with the codes and conventions). The high-concept ideals may appeal on a more academic level.
Psychographics- there are 3 categories that we're aiming at:
Mainstreamers - This is the largest group, if we're successful then others will conform to see our thriller.
Strugglers. SEEKS ESCAPE - alienated and disorganised. Few resources beyond physical skills. Brand choice involves impact and sensation. Buys alcohol, junk food lottery tickets. D and E demographic.
Explorers - SEEKS DISCOVERY. Energy, individualism and experience. Values a difference and adventure. Brand choice highlights satisfaction, and instant effect. The first to try new brands. Younger demographic - students.
Although within marketing and demographics there are other issues that will need to be considered.
As media consumers we use or are entertained by media products on a literal daily basis. However, each of these media products has been marketed to appeal to us (even if on a generic basis). There are several means by which consumers are grouped as different types of audience.
A slightly more detailed way is through 'Audience Demographics', which are based on financial income:
'Group A - lawyers, doctors, scientists, managers of large-scale organisations - well paid professionals.
Group B - teachers, senior managers, some middle management - fairly well paid professionals.
Group C1 - 'white collar' junior management, bank clerks, nurses.
Group C2 - skilled 'blue collar' workers such as electricians, plumbers carpenters.
Group D - Semi and unskilled manual such as drivers, post sorters.
Group E - students, the unemployed, pensioners.
'However this does rather base upon very broad stereotypes, a more accurate but more time costly method is 'Audience Profiling'. Audiences can be defined by the following factors;
'-Age
-Gender
-Demographic (in this instance meaning where they live, regionally)
-Profiling (An example of this is the 'Tesco club Card' where all purchases accompanied with this card are registered to data system where vouchers are then sent to your address with vouchers to encourage you to purchase products tailored for you)
-Values, attitudes and lifestyles (this is more niche sections of the media product)'
This then leads onto demographic profiling which works on the same simple process calculating approximately through a consumer’s age, class, gender, geographical area, class, economic status and religion.
The most interesting of all these methods however must be 'psychographic profiling', where marketing executives do not merely define their consumers by age or region, but see what makes consumers want their product and, play on it to maximise its potential. It works out an average personality trait for different types of people. These are as following:
'Mainstreamers - SEEK SECURITY. The products they consume are domestic, conformist, conventional, sentimental-favour value for money family brands. Nearly always the largest group.
Aspirers - SEEK STATUS. Materialistic, acquisitive, orientated to image and appearance, persona and fashion. Attractive packaging more important than contents. Typically younger people, clerical and sales jobs.
Succeeders - SEEK CONTROL. Strong goals, confidence, work ethic and organisation. Supports stability. Brand choice based on self-reward, and quality. Typically higher management and professionals.
Resigned - SEEKS SURVIVAL. Rigid and authoritarian values. Interested in the past and tradition. Brand choice stresses safety, familiarity and economy. Typically older people.
Performers. SEEKS ENLIGHTENMENT - Freedom of restrictions and personal growth. Social awareness and independent judgement. Anti-materialistic, but aware of good taste. Has attended higher education and selects products for quality.'
Having examined how consumers are depicted and used within marketing, our group will need to replicate this as it will help make our thriller more appealing to our potential audiences.
(with quotes embedded from http://www.4cs.yr.com/ and http://www.nrs.co.uk/)
Written by Tim Mcniven, Edited by Peter McLaughlin. Further editing and formatting by Joseph Lawrence.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The characters in our product represent social groups in several ways.
Protagonist
- White
- Male
- Young
- Lower middle class
- Scruffy appearance
- Mentally unstable
Our protagonist is a psychiatric patient, and represents the "misfit" within the film, common within thriller films. His mental condition shows a representation of disability, whilst his middle class accent and scruffy attire represents the typical "everyman" that gets dragged into a situation despite being an ordinary person.
Psychiatrist
- White
- Male
- Older
- Upper middle class, well qualified, good job
- Smartly dressed, professional looking
- Position of power over his patient
The psychiatrist is representative of the upper middle class professional, with a smart attire and highly qualified job. His accent shows him to be upper middle class, well spoken and literate, in contrast to the protagonist. He shows no sign of disability, and age suggests him to be wiser than the protagonist.
Antagonists
The antagonists are masked throughout the entire film, and have no lines of dialogue. We decided on this to remove them from representation, with their age, class, race, disabilities and profession impossible to determine. This makes them almost removed from being human, and makes them exist purely as a mysterious and scary entities within the film, with no discernible features aside from their costumes and weapons.
- Joseph Lawrence
Protagonist
- White
- Male
- Young
- Lower middle class
- Scruffy appearance
- Mentally unstable
Our protagonist is a psychiatric patient, and represents the "misfit" within the film, common within thriller films. His mental condition shows a representation of disability, whilst his middle class accent and scruffy attire represents the typical "everyman" that gets dragged into a situation despite being an ordinary person.
Psychiatrist
- White
- Male
- Older
- Upper middle class, well qualified, good job
- Smartly dressed, professional looking
- Position of power over his patient
The psychiatrist is representative of the upper middle class professional, with a smart attire and highly qualified job. His accent shows him to be upper middle class, well spoken and literate, in contrast to the protagonist. He shows no sign of disability, and age suggests him to be wiser than the protagonist.
Antagonists
The antagonists are masked throughout the entire film, and have no lines of dialogue. We decided on this to remove them from representation, with their age, class, race, disabilities and profession impossible to determine. This makes them almost removed from being human, and makes them exist purely as a mysterious and scary entities within the film, with no discernible features aside from their costumes and weapons.
- Joseph Lawrence
What kind of media institition might distrubute your medfia product and why?
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
In the same way the makers of Cloverfield described their thriller ‘as a monster movie for the Youtube generation’ we accepted that our media product would need to be distributed through many institutions and means to reach our target audience. Throughout this answer I plan to compare our techniques to the tried and tested (whilst pretty revolutionary) methods of ‘Cloverfield’’s distribution.
So firstly we started with Youtube, professionally it works on a financial level. To put your video on Youtube, it means anyone around the world can talk about this. This would raise issues however of getting your product noticed. The means to this is anticipation. We made a demonstration trailer, and for a real distribution these would be increasingly longer revealing more and more plot points, this would fuel the forums.
Also through advertising, a video that is on Youtube has never been advertised on the website itself, I think this would be an original means to get the video going.
If working with a corporation like Microsoft or Apple, we could use widgets. Widgets are pieces of software, which can be downloaded for free, they are various applications. Cloverfield used a technique of making a widget which contained an introduction by Produced J.J. Abrams and the first five minutes of the film. It offered a prize to the web user who shared that widget to the most amount of friends. This clever technique makes it’s own consumers distribute their product, for free. The opener of our thriller could be used in a similar manner.
The Major film networks now are Columbia, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Paramount and Universal. With Walt Disney’s ‘Buena Vista Motion Picture group’ emerging. We would have to
pitch it to all those companies through various meetings, any of these would be ideal for our movie, as they would have major budget to advertise and distribute, Pixar spent 53 million to advertise Cars.
After the films release, Television Premières must be thought of, whilst our film isn’t quite mainstream enough to go for ‘Sky Movies’, I would suggest ‘Film Four’ they make a careful balance between showing classic well known films, and mixing it so viewers might stay tuned to lower budget, less know films. Film Four would offer a one off payment, for the rights, then also pay royalties each time shown. This could even give the film a cult like status with the ultimate goal of being marketed as a cult film to build a heavy, loyal fan base.
Tim McNiven
In the same way the makers of Cloverfield described their thriller ‘as a monster movie for the Youtube generation’ we accepted that our media product would need to be distributed through many institutions and means to reach our target audience. Throughout this answer I plan to compare our techniques to the tried and tested (whilst pretty revolutionary) methods of ‘Cloverfield’’s distribution.
So firstly we started with Youtube, professionally it works on a financial level. To put your video on Youtube, it means anyone around the world can talk about this. This would raise issues however of getting your product noticed. The means to this is anticipation. We made a demonstration trailer, and for a real distribution these would be increasingly longer revealing more and more plot points, this would fuel the forums.
Also through advertising, a video that is on Youtube has never been advertised on the website itself, I think this would be an original means to get the video going.
If working with a corporation like Microsoft or Apple, we could use widgets. Widgets are pieces of software, which can be downloaded for free, they are various applications. Cloverfield used a technique of making a widget which contained an introduction by Produced J.J. Abrams and the first five minutes of the film. It offered a prize to the web user who shared that widget to the most amount of friends. This clever technique makes it’s own consumers distribute their product, for free. The opener of our thriller could be used in a similar manner.
The Major film networks now are Columbia, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Paramount and Universal. With Walt Disney’s ‘Buena Vista Motion Picture group’ emerging. We would have to
pitch it to all those companies through various meetings, any of these would be ideal for our movie, as they would have major budget to advertise and distribute, Pixar spent 53 million to advertise Cars.After the films release, Television Premières must be thought of, whilst our film isn’t quite mainstream enough to go for ‘Sky Movies’, I would suggest ‘Film Four’ they make a careful balance between showing classic well known films, and mixing it so viewers might stay tuned to lower budget, less know films. Film Four would offer a one off payment, for the rights, then also pay royalties each time shown. This could even give the film a cult like status with the ultimate goal of being marketed as a cult film to build a heavy, loyal fan base.
Tim McNiven
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Monday, 20 April 2009
Reasoning behind our Locations
London
An earlier post shows the efforts of our location hunting. But as the negotiations with the B.F.I. became harder as we needed to use a section closer to the entrance without anybody else in frame, this was obviously an issue for the B.F.I. with constant inflow and outflow of customers.
With one location down before we even left, it became increasingly aware that we were adding the London location for scale, it not only didn't not add anything to the narrative, it slowed it down, and complicated an already hectic plot. Ultimately the story is the main thing, and if something is holding back that story, even if a lot of work has been put into it, and it works in another context, it needs to be removed.
The drawbacks for this, is the odd location i liked, The tunnel myself and Peter found with the changing colors and lights. (Admittedly the changing colors did make more sense when each member of the gang had an individual color scheme, this was deemed unnecessary in later drafts of the script)
The Abandoned House
We located three different abandoned houses, the first two were abandoned due to the permission needed, we came lucky with the their house, as it's had plans to be demolished for a while now (there was even a JCB outside when we arrived) the company now in possession allowed us to shoot, (this was aided as we found out during the editing process the year above had used it in
2008).
We were incredibly fortunate with this location as the archaic setting adds to the rustik physicality of our media product.
An earlier post shows the efforts of our location hunting. But as the negotiations with the B.F.I. became harder as we needed to use a section closer to the entrance without anybody else in frame, this was obviously an issue for the B.F.I. with constant inflow and outflow of customers.
With one location down before we even left, it became increasingly aware that we were adding the London location for scale, it not only didn't not add anything to the narrative, it slowed it down, and complicated an already hectic plot. Ultimately the story is the main thing, and if something is holding back that story, even if a lot of work has been put into it, and it works in another context, it needs to be removed.
The drawbacks for this, is the odd location i liked, The tunnel myself and Peter found with the changing colors and lights. (Admittedly the changing colors did make more sense when each member of the gang had an individual color scheme, this was deemed unnecessary in later drafts of the script)
The Abandoned House
We located three different abandoned houses, the first two were abandoned due to the permission needed, we came lucky with the their house, as it's had plans to be demolished for a while now (there was even a JCB outside when we arrived) the company now in possession allowed us to shoot, (this was aided as we found out during the editing process the year above had used it in
2008).We were incredibly fortunate with this location as the archaic setting adds to the rustik physicality of our media product.
Tim McNiven
Monday, 6 April 2009
Regent House Trailer
A trailer i made durign a free hour on Windows Movie Maker, for the production sing stills made on the day. It links to many thriller trailers in creating an enigma (who are the masked assailants) whilst not giving a full picture and explaining very little of the plot. If this was a real film, fans would be able to go on Youtube (where it is available) and anticipate and speculate on the actual thriller...
Tim McNiven
Editing Diary
I was told before we even started by, a Year 13, Samuel Pate who claimed that the editor has more power over what the story will be like than the director. It was after this experience that we learnt what this meant. Throughout this i wish to convey how much of our vision altered through out the editing process, and how the software opened new opportunities whilst creating many obstacles. We edited over 4 days (twice the amount of time it took to film). With Peter taking two of those days. We tended to edit when ever we could.
Interestingly our editing technique varied to others. Where as all over groups edited chronologically. We edited small sections (the car pulling in to the house being the first) we felt this kept the experience fresh, if we got stuck with what to do on one section, we moved unto another then would come back to it. This meant we strayed form the original narrative we storyboarded but to great effect. The cutaways to the floorboards and the inkblots really make the viewer focus on both simultaneous plot strands.
The first thing we did was altering raw footage, this included grading. Something which is vital in creating an atmospheric tone. This included grading pictures, as we had no control of lighting (the office scenes were done under normal lighting. The House scenes were done in the day.) We found by decreasing the darkness it prolongs shadows, creating much more menace. Extreme colours are much more gripping, so contrasts were used, this proved great with the masks as sometimes the insides of the mask went black when contrasted, mystifying the characters. Another element to the picture we graded was the white balance, we found it creates this odd effect of making the lights of different colours stand out (for an example on the finished piece, where the assailant opens the bonnet, the car appears pure black, and the reflection fo the sky is shining white). Whilst we were concerned it ruined the reality, we found we preferred this, it glamorises the setting of the masked assailants. it also adds to this "Agent" (the antagonists of 'The Matrix') image, of them not fitting in with the our (the viewer's) world.
We weaved in six different soundtracks Peter found on freeplay.com. By using numerous soundtrack, all of them crossing each other fading in and out. It creates a complex, epic grandeur. All the track, especially when edited to together it was reminiscent of that of 'The Dark Knight' specifically the Joker's Theme.
There are several references that we created purely through editing. The first is to the recent Bond film ‘Quantum of Solace’. The moment where the two protagonists are walking along the desert dunes, the same shot dissolved to speed up the process of the characters walking. We wanted this for the section where the antagonists walk out of the house, especially as it is a long take. There was a draw back with ‘Vegas’ in that there is a limit to how much you can dissolve, I found this frustrating a sit hardly creates the subtlety that I wanted. But it does quicken the pace so it stayed in the final edit.
A massive section of filming remained on 'the editing room floor'. We filmed an entire section where the assailant reach ‘Regent House’ (which was to be revealed as the house stated in the title.) But we abandoned this section for three main reasons.
Our project was already overrunning and to keep to the suggested length we’d either have to seriously cut down on what we had, or take that section out
There was some flaws with how it filmed, whilst we took precautions, it was simply impossible, on a big screen, to film the porche close up without a reflection of the camera
It became too pushing of the viewer, the dialogue with the psychiatrist would be pushed out to thin, to the point the audience couldn’t recognise it as a conversation
We therefore made the decision in the editing room to remove it.
Finally something we caught unto very quickly was that another means of making our media product look as professionally, is to crosscut between a lot of frames, at a level that gives as much stimulating information as possible, without confusing the viewer. We did this by either placing cutaways in the middle of the same shot.
For example, when the camera tilts down one of the assailants, we cross cut to the patient, we calculated where one shot ended and the other started. This Match on Action works well.
Another example is match on action but with a jump, as we cut between a close up of an assailant looking at a hammer, to the patient, then to the assailant hitting the wall. This jump is my favourite cut in the whole piece, because it takes the viewer by surprise.
Through editing we found that not only could we add to the story we started constructing, but that is when the story is made. Filming is merely acquiring materials, editing is turning them into an effective story telling. Most of the elements that are linked to a thriller can be done through editing.
Tim McNiven & Peter McLaughlin
Influences IV
Written by Oliver Fitch
War is a 2007 action/thriller film written by Lee Anthony Smith and Gregory J. Bradley, directed by Phillip G. Atwell. War follows John Crawford (Jason Statham) an FBI agent determined to take down a mysterious assassin known as Rogue (Li), after his partner is murdered.
Getting to the point, the part of the film that may have influenced my addition to the story-line of our thriller may be the scene where Rogue the Yakuza/Triads (as it is unclear for whom Rogue is working for) assassin is sent to assassinate an FBI agent Tom Lone. In being a big fan of Jet Li and this film (War) I may have unconscientiously been influenced by the series while selecting certain elements within our film.
The sword in our media video may have also been influenced by my watching of War. As Rogue’s preferred choice of weapon it is a main aspect of iconography. The connotations represent predominantly pain, gore, blood and death which clarifies why it links more towards a horror, although knives in thrillers tend to show a less masochistic approach. However the main aspect of iconography that I thought mainly influenced our thriller was the white mask Rogue wore to assassinate his targets. This part of iconography is what transformed our psycho/thriller into more of a hybrid or a psycho/horror/thriller. The masks gave a disturbing image to the audience due to hiding the identity of the characters, which created suspense and enigmas. In War the mask Rogue wears is used to make the character seem more menacing and more of a violent killer. This creates a very disturbing mood when Rogue is sent to assassinate Tom Lone (An FBI agent). His ruthless character is shown through the mask when he not only murders Tom Lone but also his wife and daughter, as shown in the video below:
Character Profiles
The characters within our thriller are stereotypes common within the genre.
The protagonist is your typical psychiatric patient seen in a thriller, dealing with a problem that has caused him trauma. We approached his character by making sure to use close camera angles to make sure his eyes were seen looking intensely at the psychiatrist. This gave the viewer an insight into his state of mind. His costume is scruffy and he looks unkempt, showing that he has no care about his appearance due to his mental condition.
The psychiatrist is representative of order in the film, playing a straight and intelligent character, well dressed and professional. We decided to use him as a contrast to the disorder and chaos of the other characters, making him stand out and his role differ from the rest of the cast.
The antagonists are portrayed as stereotypical psychopaths, clutching weapons and wearing masks to hide their faces. The uniformity of their costumes makes them appear as one collective unit, rather than individual characters. We decided to do this to make sure that the viewer could tell that they were part of the same "team" and had the same agenda.
- Joseph Lawrence
The protagonist is your typical psychiatric patient seen in a thriller, dealing with a problem that has caused him trauma. We approached his character by making sure to use close camera angles to make sure his eyes were seen looking intensely at the psychiatrist. This gave the viewer an insight into his state of mind. His costume is scruffy and he looks unkempt, showing that he has no care about his appearance due to his mental condition.
The psychiatrist is representative of order in the film, playing a straight and intelligent character, well dressed and professional. We decided to use him as a contrast to the disorder and chaos of the other characters, making him stand out and his role differ from the rest of the cast.
The antagonists are portrayed as stereotypical psychopaths, clutching weapons and wearing masks to hide their faces. The uniformity of their costumes makes them appear as one collective unit, rather than individual characters. We decided to do this to make sure that the viewer could tell that they were part of the same "team" and had the same agenda.
- Joseph Lawrence
Saturday, 4 April 2009
Influences iii
Written by Peter McLaughlinBleach is a long running Manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of the Japanese teenager Ichigo Kurosaki who obtains the powers of a "Shinigami" (Death God in translation) and has to take on the role's responsibilities. Bleach Manga has been in production since 2001 and has been made into an Anime television series aired in Japan, the U.S.A and streamed over the internet. 3 Movies have been made and put to DVD in Japan and America showing the success of the series.
Getting to the point, the part of this series that may have influenced my addition to the story-line of our thriller may be the "Hollowfication" process. In being a regular reader of this series I have been influenced by the series while approving of certain elements within our film.
The sword in our media video may have also been influenced by my watching of the Bleach series as the sword is seen as part of the character. But the main influence from this series I can find is the "Hollowfication" process, which is a technique a character uses to gain power and the upper hand whilst in battle. This technique involves the character summoning a blank mask, which grants him greater strength, speed, mobility and power. The mask itself contains the characters "Inner demon" or "Hollow", which is an entity that lives inside a person and is their negative persona in the series meaning that they are evil and bent on destruction. The mask harnesses their evil power and the character is able to use it to their advantage, as shown below:
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Promotional site
Please view copy and paste the web address into your address bar, www.myspace.com/regent_house this is the promotional site for our video and is aimed to create publicity around the film and word of mouth.
Website created by Peter McLaughlin
Publicity
Here is an example of a fan made trailer. This is a prime example of how the internet would be a tool in publicising our thriller to our internet savvy demographic (predominantly male 15-45). The introduction of internet 2.0 has meant fans can actively participate in upcoming films. There are Myspace and Facebook accounts for fans to chat on forums of what they want from the film and and about upcoming news. This was even taken to a whole new level when fans were allowed to totally rewrite 'Snakes on A Plane'. On Youtube and video networks, exclusive photos are taken and put to their favourite tracks to make fan trailers.
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
29/03/09 - Production Diary (Part 2 Abandoned House and Exterior Office scene)
We chose our setting of an abandoned house in Wyatts Green which is on the way to Doddinghurst in Essex. We all met up at Peter's house at 12 o'clock, already in our costumes (black suits with white shirts and black ties) and brought our props (Samurai sword, wrench, hammer and of course the masks). Joe was the only one who was not in costume for the day's shooting, as he was shooting all the footage but he brought all his camera gear including tripod.
When I arrived at Peter's house we immediately set off. We had two cars transporting us around. Peter's dad had himself, Peter, Tim and Joe in his car. I was in my dad's Porsche and it would be a major part of iconography for our thriller. We could not have some Ford Ka for example in our thriller otherwise it would simple look amateur and unprofessional.
We weren’t entirely sure where the location of this abandoned house was. We had a rough directions given to us by Mark Bansor the Friday before but still we still got slightly lost and past the House a couple of times before we found somewhere close enough to the house to pull up because the road was very dangerous and cars were speeding round the bends of this country road. We discussed what shots we were going to do first as we only had the Porsche for a limited amount of time. As Joe set the tripod up we all saw a major problem, there was a Massive JCB yellow digger just outside the House so we just had to discuss with my dad where to pull up to the house otherwise the digger would be in the shot.
During the shots of the Porsche some other problems occurred as my dad was talking to us he put his hazard lights on to show he had stopped but because of our marks and props we drew a lot of attention. A woman was driving about 60 miles per hour looking at us instead of the road where my dad had stopped in front of her. Luckily a crash was avoided. Other minor problems that we came across filming the Porsche was trying to get a clear road with just the Porsche as it pulled up to the house and as it pulled away. Because of this Joe had to re shoot these shots a couple of times. The one other problem I can think of whilst filming the Porsche was because my dad had recently just washed it you could see ourselves, the camera and tripod in the reflection of the shot so we had to rearrange the position of the tripod and when we shot it we stepped back a couple of metres.
After finishing with the Porsche we started with a long shot of us walking towards the camera with the house in the background of the shot. The Digger again became a problem for Joe shooting it so he had to rearrange the tripod and camera in order for the digger not to be in the shot. Also we had to watch where we were walking as it was extremely muddy. After finishing the shots outside the house we proceeded into the house. We were horrified at the state of this house but the mise en scene was amazing and we knew we had an excellent location. We had a quick look around. Every window was smashed, there was at least one or more holes in all the walls, there was blood written on the walls. As freaked out as we were we knew that the mise en scene and iconography this house possessed was appropriate for the genre and hopefully would help get us the grade we wanted. It also matched the minds of the masked characters that they are completely insane and horrific people.
Firstly we each picked a room that Joe would film us in. We decided that Joe was going to first film hand held. He made his way round the house and we were just destroying things throughout the house. I found a saw smashed it a couple of times on a wooden bench and then threw it on the floor I was also pacing up a down to show that I was impatient and wanted to proceed to the location of the protagonist. I was also looking at my Samurai Sword removing it slightly from its case to check the blade. Tim hearing the noise from my room thought he had to doing something just as good if not better to make his character look even crazier than mine. Joe started filming Tim from a hole in the wall which linked our rooms together. He then moved in the room and Tim suddenly went a bit loopy with his hammer. He ended up taking about half a wall down whilst Joe filmed he got a great shot of the camera looking over Tim's Shoulder as he raises his weapon. Joe got the angle of the shot from sitting on a ladder that had collapsed.
After filming Tim, Joe noticed that we had access to the loft of the house but it was not worth shooting up there as the mise en scene was not as good as it was down in the house. Joe then moved into Peter's room where he tore an old Curtain with his wrench, putting another hole in a wall (as if the house did have enough). Put Peter was obsessed with the floor boards. He kept trying to pull them up and destroy them with his wrench. However after the destruction that we did to the house we decided not to do anymore in case anyone heard and called the police.
Finishing the hand held filming we decided to get a couple establishing shots in the front of the house which was quite difficult due to the mass of overgrown plants. Joe then got a tilt shot of Peter standing in front of the wall with blood written on it. I came up with an idea of carving a door within the house with the sword and tried to persuade the others that it would be a great shot but they didn't agree until later and we ended up using that shot for the opening of our thriller and it works really well.
We then had to film the masked characters leaving the house, firstly Joe filmed from behind us looking over our shoulders. He then moved outside and got a shot looking at us as we left the house. We also got two extreme closeup shots of our feet as we stepped out of the house which we were influenced by "Lost" for an extreme close up of our weapons grasped in our hands. The only problems we had with this was what hand we held our weapons in for contiuinity, we had to watch our step as we walked out of the house as there was broken glass everywhere and we had to remain in the same order as we left the house myself first then Tim and Peter last.
Overall the filming in the house and of the Porsche took about 2 and half hours and was shorter than we expected. We packed up the camera and tripod and we called Peter's dad to give us a lift to our next location. During the drive to the next location I called my dad as we needed the Porsche again. We arrived at the location which was an office building behind the Esso garage in Brentwood. We had time to set up the camera, tripod and ask the security guard for permission to film there before my dad arrived.
The first shot was of the Porsche pulling up to the location. I put on my mask and I said to Peter when Joe wanted my dad to start driving to ring my phone. We drove to the end of the road turned around a Peter called my phone. The next shot was of the front rim of the Porsche pulling up to the pavement which in my opinion was one of the best shots of the day. I then exited the Porsche shutting the door but after we looked back at this shot in the editing suit we noticed that there was a problem that we had come across before but when we filmed that time we missed it. Again the reflection of Joe, the tripod and camera was in the reflexion of the Porsche and you could see it in the shot.
The last shots were firstly an over the shoulder shot hand held by Joe of myself walking towards the building and Peter and Tim appearing from behind a pillar as they had be waiting for me. The last shot was a profile shot of myself as they appeared from behind the pillar. In total the last location shooting took only half an hour bring our day's shooting to a total of 3 hours. Overall I think the shooting went very with some problems but we were able to overcome them and we all thoroughly enjoyed the day's shooting.
Oliver Fitch
When I arrived at Peter's house we immediately set off. We had two cars transporting us around. Peter's dad had himself, Peter, Tim and Joe in his car. I was in my dad's Porsche and it would be a major part of iconography for our thriller. We could not have some Ford Ka for example in our thriller otherwise it would simple look amateur and unprofessional.
We weren’t entirely sure where the location of this abandoned house was. We had a rough directions given to us by Mark Bansor the Friday before but still we still got slightly lost and past the House a couple of times before we found somewhere close enough to the house to pull up because the road was very dangerous and cars were speeding round the bends of this country road. We discussed what shots we were going to do first as we only had the Porsche for a limited amount of time. As Joe set the tripod up we all saw a major problem, there was a Massive JCB yellow digger just outside the House so we just had to discuss with my dad where to pull up to the house otherwise the digger would be in the shot.
During the shots of the Porsche some other problems occurred as my dad was talking to us he put his hazard lights on to show he had stopped but because of our marks and props we drew a lot of attention. A woman was driving about 60 miles per hour looking at us instead of the road where my dad had stopped in front of her. Luckily a crash was avoided. Other minor problems that we came across filming the Porsche was trying to get a clear road with just the Porsche as it pulled up to the house and as it pulled away. Because of this Joe had to re shoot these shots a couple of times. The one other problem I can think of whilst filming the Porsche was because my dad had recently just washed it you could see ourselves, the camera and tripod in the reflection of the shot so we had to rearrange the position of the tripod and when we shot it we stepped back a couple of metres.
After finishing with the Porsche we started with a long shot of us walking towards the camera with the house in the background of the shot. The Digger again became a problem for Joe shooting it so he had to rearrange the tripod and camera in order for the digger not to be in the shot. Also we had to watch where we were walking as it was extremely muddy. After finishing the shots outside the house we proceeded into the house. We were horrified at the state of this house but the mise en scene was amazing and we knew we had an excellent location. We had a quick look around. Every window was smashed, there was at least one or more holes in all the walls, there was blood written on the walls. As freaked out as we were we knew that the mise en scene and iconography this house possessed was appropriate for the genre and hopefully would help get us the grade we wanted. It also matched the minds of the masked characters that they are completely insane and horrific people.
Firstly we each picked a room that Joe would film us in. We decided that Joe was going to first film hand held. He made his way round the house and we were just destroying things throughout the house. I found a saw smashed it a couple of times on a wooden bench and then threw it on the floor I was also pacing up a down to show that I was impatient and wanted to proceed to the location of the protagonist. I was also looking at my Samurai Sword removing it slightly from its case to check the blade. Tim hearing the noise from my room thought he had to doing something just as good if not better to make his character look even crazier than mine. Joe started filming Tim from a hole in the wall which linked our rooms together. He then moved in the room and Tim suddenly went a bit loopy with his hammer. He ended up taking about half a wall down whilst Joe filmed he got a great shot of the camera looking over Tim's Shoulder as he raises his weapon. Joe got the angle of the shot from sitting on a ladder that had collapsed.
After filming Tim, Joe noticed that we had access to the loft of the house but it was not worth shooting up there as the mise en scene was not as good as it was down in the house. Joe then moved into Peter's room where he tore an old Curtain with his wrench, putting another hole in a wall (as if the house did have enough). Put Peter was obsessed with the floor boards. He kept trying to pull them up and destroy them with his wrench. However after the destruction that we did to the house we decided not to do anymore in case anyone heard and called the police.
Finishing the hand held filming we decided to get a couple establishing shots in the front of the house which was quite difficult due to the mass of overgrown plants. Joe then got a tilt shot of Peter standing in front of the wall with blood written on it. I came up with an idea of carving a door within the house with the sword and tried to persuade the others that it would be a great shot but they didn't agree until later and we ended up using that shot for the opening of our thriller and it works really well.
We then had to film the masked characters leaving the house, firstly Joe filmed from behind us looking over our shoulders. He then moved outside and got a shot looking at us as we left the house. We also got two extreme closeup shots of our feet as we stepped out of the house which we were influenced by "Lost" for an extreme close up of our weapons grasped in our hands. The only problems we had with this was what hand we held our weapons in for contiuinity, we had to watch our step as we walked out of the house as there was broken glass everywhere and we had to remain in the same order as we left the house myself first then Tim and Peter last.
Overall the filming in the house and of the Porsche took about 2 and half hours and was shorter than we expected. We packed up the camera and tripod and we called Peter's dad to give us a lift to our next location. During the drive to the next location I called my dad as we needed the Porsche again. We arrived at the location which was an office building behind the Esso garage in Brentwood. We had time to set up the camera, tripod and ask the security guard for permission to film there before my dad arrived.
The first shot was of the Porsche pulling up to the location. I put on my mask and I said to Peter when Joe wanted my dad to start driving to ring my phone. We drove to the end of the road turned around a Peter called my phone. The next shot was of the front rim of the Porsche pulling up to the pavement which in my opinion was one of the best shots of the day. I then exited the Porsche shutting the door but after we looked back at this shot in the editing suit we noticed that there was a problem that we had come across before but when we filmed that time we missed it. Again the reflection of Joe, the tripod and camera was in the reflexion of the Porsche and you could see it in the shot.
The last shots were firstly an over the shoulder shot hand held by Joe of myself walking towards the building and Peter and Tim appearing from behind a pillar as they had be waiting for me. The last shot was a profile shot of myself as they appeared from behind the pillar. In total the last location shooting took only half an hour bring our day's shooting to a total of 3 hours. Overall I think the shooting went very with some problems but we were able to overcome them and we all thoroughly enjoyed the day's shooting.
Oliver Fitch
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
