Final draft of 'Sent'

Evaluation (Part 7)

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

There are some similar shots to those in our preliminary exercise and our final draft of our film:

As you can see, in both our preliminary exercise and our final thriller film draft, Billy walks across in front of the camera, in a mid shot.

Again, we see a similarity with the way Billy looks out of the window in our preliminary exercise, and how I spy on those inside of Billy's house in our final draft of Sent.

There are other similarities between both our preliminary exercise and final draft of Sent, however these are mainly shot types.

As a whole, out final draft of Sent is very different to our preliminary exercise, this is due to the fact we hardly knew what we was doing with the preliminary exercise, but we did when it came to our film. The preliminary exercise wasn't taken too seriously either, which on our final draft of the film we made sure everyone was acting correctly, and doing everything correctly. We also had longer in which to edit the film, and so we could make sure it was to be bes quality we could make it.

Evaluation (Part 6)

6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

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Evaluation (Part 5)

5)How did you attract and address your audience?

Our target audience was teenagers/young adults

We adressed our audience by firstly, using technology that is popular with these age groups, Facebook. By making the death threats be sent via Facebook in the film, we grab the audiences attention as its something that could happen, but maybe not in such an extreme way, to anyone. All the characters in the film are also teenaged, and so this will automatically make the audience associate themselves with the feelings of what is happening to the characters, as they the same or of a similar age to them. The film also deals with a real issue, cyberbullying, which is often talked about in the news, as there are many stories of more extreme cyberbullying talking place.

Here is an example of a real life account of cyberbullying. Stories like this is why we decided on our film storyline, to try and reach people who are being cyberbullied, but at the same time exaggerating it to try and make it entertaining at the same time.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7006473.stm

The issue of cyberbullying however in our film, is a very extreme case, and is very exaggerated. By doing this, not only have we grabbed the audiences attention by bringing up very real issue, we keep their attention by making it more extreme entertainment wise.

Evaluation (Part 4)

4)Who would be the audience for your media project?

The audience for my media project will be teenagers and young adults.

This is because the issue raised in the film is cyberbullying, which is something many teenagers have experienced or know someone who has experienced it, whether it was slight or more serious. It is also an often talked about occurrence, and most people have been warning about it, and how to stop it. The cyberbullying in it is done via Facebook which is a very popular social networking site for people around this age group. This may be because the minimum age for using the site is 13, and many older people don't really use social networking sites, even though it is becoming more popular, and so most of the people who join it will be around teenaged and young adult aged. This means the film is likely to appeal to them more if the aspects in the film are directly related to these age groups.

Also, the results of my survey monkey survey said that more teenagers watch thriller films than other age groups.

Evaluation (Part 3)

3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media project and why?

What insitutions are there?

• Cinema
• DVD
• TV

Cinema

Films shown at the cinema are films that will do well, a film that people will go to pay and see. And so, its mainly only the bigger film companies that put films on at the cinema, and so the

audience will expect it to be of high quality and to be worth the money they will pay to see it. As we are amatuer film makers, it probably would be best to not distribute our film. This is because it won't be the high quality of film that is mostly shown, sometimes low budget movies are shown at the cinema, but these are rare and are of the best quality without all the editing processes the big film companies use. Also, if it was shown at the cinema, it is likely that there are other films out too, ones that are the best quality and so people would be more likely to see the other films, as they will be better quality and value for money

DVD
Movies that are often put straight on DVD are of too low quality to be shown in the cinema. If

our film was to be distrubuted in this way, some people may be put off by the fact it wasn't g

ood enough to be shown at the cinema. Also

, people have to pay to buy a DVD, and evn though it will be significantly less than going to t

he cinema, this amy still put people off as they know it won't be too good quality.

TV
I think TV will be the best medai insitution to distribute our film. This is because a majority

of houses own a TV, and more and more households are owning more than one, so not only will many people have asscess to it, people are ready pay to

watch the TV and so they won't have to pay anymore, like they would at the cinema or DVD, to watch it. Even though there are so many TV and so many channels, a common statement made by people is 'Nothing is on'. This would help our film to be watched, as if there is nothing else the person or people want to watch, they are more likely to watch it. However, it is unlikely that big televison companies such as BBC, ITV and Sky will show the film, as it is not from a big company such as universal and Paramount, and so they won't show it as it won't be the quality they want, and may loss them viewers. One channel that would proably be willing to show it is Film4. This is because they often show movies from smaller and possibly unknown companies. With the amount of households with TVs, it is more likely that our film will be viewed by many people. Also, the fact it deal with a very real issue, Cyberbullying, but in an over exaggerated story which would rarely ever happen, it may cause victims of cyberbullying to come for ward. This may be because

the idea of the bullying actually leading to real death, may scare them into talking to someone about it. Even though they were scared to do so, the fact they told someone will help the situation to stop, before it goes any further. Often, some TV dramas deal with real issues, such as

Eastenders, in order to try and get people to talk about their situation and to stop it getting worse. So, it is a very common thing to deal with real issues in films and TV shows, in order to get real people to talk about the similar issues they are in, and with the amount of people that may see the movie, we may not only get our film seen, but help people to realise that they should talk about these things before they become out of hand.

Evaluation (Part 2)

2)How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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Evaluation (Part 1)

1) In what ways does your media project use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Thriller conventions:

In my thriller film I have included:

'A crime at the core of the narrative'

The crime in my thriller being murder.

'Themes of voyeurism'

As the murderer before hand follows Billy and Shelby, and also spies on them.

'Titles often reflect an aspect of the protagonist/antagonist's psychological state'

The titles are very jolty, and reflect the unstable state of the murderer, as often, people who murder have been hurt or are insane, and this is reflected in the titles

We decided it would be best not to include too many of the conventions, as it is only a film opening, and so if many more were included it may of become confusing to the audience as there is too much happening at once.

Final bits of filming and editing

Following the first draft, and deciding what to add and change, we went out for film the last few parts.

We decided to make it a little more obvious that the main characters were being stalked. We went back to the wooded area where we filmed 'The park scene' and more clearly showed me, the murderer hiding in the tree watching Billy and Shelby. We had to re film his as after we decided to re order the film, and make parts black and white, you could no longer see the murderer hiding in the tree. We decided to make it more clear, and actually have the murderer lean and peer out of the tree after Billy and Shelby walked past.

Next we went back to Billy's house, and filmed him typing again. We filmed a long shot of him typing, to give more of a range of shots. We also re filmed the reaction shots of Billy recieving the message, as the old shots were clearly filmed in a different location.

We then decided to film the murderer peering through the window, as well as them following Billy home. We filmed Billy walking, and as he got to his door, me, the murderer, peered round the corner to show they had followed him home.

We will edit the final bits in over the next few days.

First draft of the our thriller film

There are a few things we need to change about out thriller film. Firstly, is some of the editing. The scenes that are in black and white would probably look best if they were silent, with soft music playing in the background. With the reaction shots, it doesn't look like it is the same room, and so it would be better if we was to re film these shots in the actual rooms again. Also, it is a little unclear how cyberbullying, the main idea of our film, fits in. This is because a message is sent, and then a murderer comes, there isn't really a real reason the audience can see why there would be murderer. To over come this, we should film more memories of Billy and Shelby talking with me, the murderer, in the background looking angry/jealous to get it across clearly why the murderer was forced into murder. It may also be better if there was sound during the 'Sent' title, like typing noises as it appears, and maybe something when it flickers.

The majority of the film is done, all that needs to be done is a little bit of tweaking with it.

Re-editing the film

After editing our film, we watched it over, and decided it was unclear of what was going on. There was also no suspense, which is a key element of the thriller genre.

Due to this, we decided to change the film. Rather than have 3 separate clear scenes, we decided to intertwine them. The main part of the movie will be Billy and Shelby on webcam, with the 'park' scene and 'party' scene slotted between in black and white, as memories. While they are talking to each other, they are remembering how they met, and what happened earlier that day.

By re-ordering it in this way, its clear what is happening now, and what happened before. It also sets up the film as being nice and loving, until we get to the message being 'sent' to Billy, which is followed by Shelby, and then Billy being murdered. By doing it this way, we lure the audience into a false sense of security first, so when the murder goes take place, its more unexpected.

More editing

We continued to edit our film today in lesson.

We have nearly editied the whole movie now.

Filming the 'party' scene

Today we filmed the part scene.

We went to Billy's house again to film, as it was the closest to the school, and so we wasted less time traveling, and had more time to film.

Due to us having to cancel filming last week, many of the people who were to be our extras couldn't make it this week, and so the party turned into gathering. This however doesn't effect the film too much, as we could still get the main part of the party scene in, which was where Billy and Shelby first met.

Filming cancelled

Today we was meant to film the party scene of out thiller movie, but our main actress,Shelby, was ill, and so we couldn't. Due to this, we will film the scene next week.

In the mean time, we will continue to edit the footage we have, and leave a space for the party seen to be included later.

Editing our film

Today we started to edit our film footage we had so far.

This job was taken by Jessica, who made a very good start on the editing, and has been expertly putting the production company ident, title sequences and two of our 3 scene together using final cut express.

Filming the murder scene

Today we also filmed 'The murder scene' of our thriller opening.

We decided to film at Billy's house as it was closest to the school and so we wasted less time getting to the filming location, and could spend more time filming. We decided to use one of the bedrooms to film one of the murder scenes, this was because there was space for me, the murderer, to hide while waiting for my queue to appear and kill my victim with the football trophy.

My queue was when Shelby coughed, who was sitting on the bed with a laptop (in this picture with Billy, however he wasn't in this part of the scene)

My first few attempts of the murder however didn't go according to plan, the first time while getting up from behind the bed I hit my leg on the bed, and the second time I panicked and didn't 'hit' Shelby fast enough.

We then went into the dining room, as there was a desktop computer we could use when Billy was killed. This time I hid under the table, and my queue was when Billy re positioned his fringe as this was something he naturally did anyway.

There was however an incident, after my first attempt of hitting him with the weapon, Jess the camera girl said I didn't got close enough to his head, and so showed me how close to do. In the process of this however, she did hit Billy on the head with the trophy. Billy was fine as it wasn't that hard, but we made sure he wasn't hurt in any way before we continued filming.

Once again, we had the team of Jessica and Myles with their beloved camera and tripod, who once again made sure the filming went smoothly and according to plan.

Filming the park scene

Today we filmed 'The park scene'.

It had been raining a lot recently, and so the park was very

muddy, and so instead we found a sheltered area with pat

h for the main characters to walk down.

We then decided to have the murderer in our film, me, to

be spying on Billy and Shelby as they were walking together. As it is January, there was little trees with leaves I could hide in, and so I had to 'hide' in a holly bush. The fact that I was weari

ng purple clothes, and my hair being party purple, I wasn't totally hidden by the tree, which means as Billy and Shelby walk past me in the film, I will be in the background and can be seen by the audience, giving them a hint that something is going to happen. Voyeurism is also a common theme in thriller movies.

We also had our filming crew, Jessica who was in charge of filming,

and Myles the director and tripod guy.

Who both made sure the filming wen according to plan, despite them trying to get in the movie themselves at some points, and made sure we all knew what to do.

'Sent' title

I have made the title for our thriller, 'Sent', opening using livetype.

Sound effects

We have started looking into different sound effects we could use in our thriller opening.

So far we have chosen to use these sound effects,

This sound effect is for when Billy and Shelby are on webcam. This will give a subtle clue as to what is to happen next, which is that a mystery person will appear in their rooms.



This is the sound effect we will use when Billy is hit by the murderer.

Moby Gratis

Now we know exactly what our thriller opening will include, we can now find music to go into our movie, but it will have to be non-copyright music, so we signed up for Moby Gratis (http://www.mobygratis.com)

We requested a few songs, however, we probably won't be using all of them as there are too many to have in a film opening

. The reason we chose more than needed was because it is possible we will change our minds on what songs go, which may change as we edit the film. So, as it takes a day or so to get the music, we thought it to be best to get a few now, rather than panicking at the last moment as the music we had didn't go well with the film opening.

The art of the title

As part of our research into the opening of a thriller film, one of the things we have to consider is the title sequence as this is an important part of any opening, so we have looked at the website 'The art of the title' (http://www.artofthetitle.com/) in order to learn what makes a good title sequence.

What is 'The art of the title' about?

The site says that it is

'A compendium and leading web resource of film and television title design from around the world. We honour the artists who design excellent title sequences. We discuss and display their work with a desire to foster more of it, via stills and video links, interviews, creator notes, and user comments.'

Our Ident

This is my groups ident, our production company is 'Panda Productions'.



We also currently working on music to go with our ident.

Production companies and their Idents

This is the ident for the production company 'Paramount'

This is the ident for the production company '20th Century Fox'

This is the ident for the production company 'Universal'

Using these famous example of production company names and idents, we have chosen our own production company name 'Panda Productions' and are currently making our own ident.

Script for our thriller opening

Scene 1: The part scene

(Opens to people dancing at a party)

(Focuses on Shelby who is alone)

(Billy walks over)

(Billy and Shelby start talking)

Billy: Are you OK?

Shelby: Yeah I'm good

(continue to talk and flirt)

(They kiss)

-SCENE ENDS-

Scene 2:The Park scene

(Both walk in holding hands)

(Both go and sit on a bench and start talking)

(Both continues to talk, flirt and hold hands)

(They stand up)

(They kiss)

(They both walk away from each other, slowly letting go of each others hands before they walk off in opposite directions)

-SCENE ENDS-

Scene 3: The Webcam scene

(Billy sits on his bed with his laptop with his webcam on)

(Shelby appears on Billy's computer, also on webcam)

(Both are talking to each other)

(A Mystery person appears behind Shelby with a weapon)

Billy (Jumps up): Shelby, someones behind you!

(Shelby turns around, the person has gone)

(Billy sits down again)

(Shelby turns back to her computer and screams)

(Billy Turns around)

(The mystery figure appears, and hits Billy with their weapon)

(Shelby watches as the person attacks Billy)

(The mystery figure types something, then clicks 'Send')

-SCENE ENDS-

Characters in our thriller movie

Here is a list of the main characters in our movie, as well as the extras we will need.

Girl (Shelby Osbourne)

Boy (Billy Cove)

Mystery murderer (Louise Levitt)

Extras at the party dancing

Editing

In order for our thriller movie to be filmed, we need to understand how editing effects a film, and the different styles of editing.

Editing is the term given to describe the process of looking at all the footage which has been shot and then placing it all into the correct order.
Two areas of editing are:

1. Speed of editing
2. Style of editing

Speed of editing
When we watch a film, we see many different scenes joined together, some of these scenes may be a few seconds, or they may be a few minutes. The length of the scene changes with what's happening in the film, and will help determine the mood of what is happening, for example, if a relaxed mood is desired, the scenes last longer and change less frequency.

Style of editing

This is how the scenes of a film are connected together:

• Straight cut
• Fade-out, where the screen fades to black, can be used to show time passing.
• Dissolve, where one image is slowly brought in beneath another one.
• Wipe cut, where one part of the screen moves to wipe across the other.
• Jump cut, where the audience's attention is brought into focus on something suddenly.

The most used of these is the straight cut. Certain ty

pes of editing may appear in one genre more than another, for example, wipe cuts often appear in comedies.

Soviet montage

Audiences automatically join different scenes together in a logical order, for example, if we are shown a shot of a house, and then an armchair, we automatically assume the armchair is within the house we have seen.

Soviet montage is where this idea is played around with. Lev Kuleshov, a Russian filmmaker, in the 1920s experimented wit the idea of audiences putting scenes in logical order, by showing an audience a picture of a man. He then showed them a pi

cture of some food, and the audience though the man was hungry. They were shown again the man, followed by a dead woman. The audience then decided the man looked sad. Finally, the man was shown again, then a baby was shown, and the audience thought he now looked affectionate. The man's expression never changed, but due to the audience's natural desire to make the picture link logically meant the man looke

d different to them each time.

Sergei Eisentein, another Russian filmmaker, thought a film was more effective if shots were not obviously linked together, and so the audience will be more involved in the film, trying to work it out.

Graphic match
One way of joining two shots together is by using a graphic match. This is when two consecutive shots look similar.

Examples of graphic matches

Vertigo

Psycho