Evaluation question 1

Evaluation question 1:

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

In our thriller the conventions of a thriller we applied were tension and suspense, editing, sound, cliffhanger, protagonist and antagonist.

I think in our media product we can apply Roland Barthes' action code: 'Applies to any action that implies a further narrative action' this is shown when S Wavey pulls out his gun at Nortz, and because of this action we wonder what will happen next. Also I think we can apply the enigma code because the audience has no idea why Nortz has caused a hit-man to be hired to kill him.

 we compared our film to a film called “Get rich or die trying which stars 50 cent (Curtis Jackson) and Terrence Howard. We thought our thriller was very similar to this because of the way its based on the streets and it involves young black males who all trying to make it in life no matter good or bad.



Evaluating and going through our thriller I think we pretty much conformed to all the conventions of a thriller because I didn't pick up anything which challenged the conventions.

S Wavey is similar to the character of 50 cent in get rich or die trying his character is of someone who gets what they want when they want it because of experiences that they have been through, he is tough and is not afraid to use violence if he needs to. 

Film screening/audience feedback

After all the filming and editing was done we asked a small group to come and watch our finished product and tell us what they thought our strengths and weaknesses were and if they would watch/ recommend the film to other people.

From our feedback we found out:

Our strengths:
1) Editing - our class mates said our editing from the studio ident until the end of the the thriller was very neat and almost flawless
2) Sound - Our class mates also said the use of sound in our thriller was effect

Our weaknesses:
1) Camera - although our camera work was overall well done, our class mates noticed some errors that were quite noticeable which affected the quality of our final product.

Overall our classmates said was quite impressive considering the little experience we had of the hardware and that they would watch the rest of it if it were to be made.

3rd Production Meeting

This picture was taken just before we left to go to Elijah's house to do some filming of our final product.

Designing/Making: Title sequences

We kept our title sequence simple, firstly we put the main actors names after our studio ident, and then slowly as the thriller proceeded we names each actor and what their role was in creating the finished product.

I would say our title sequence is similar to that of 'The Man in Steel' :

first day of editing

Editing 

Today we started the editing for our thriller with the clips that we have. We managed to include all the sound we wanted to and put the beginning clips together for the start. The way we worked as a group using our different skills for making decisions I believe helped make the film as professional looking as possible.

Above is a screenshot of us at work and it was all coming together ver nicely and we are happy with the progress made so far.

Styles of editing

 Styles of editing

There are several styles of editing in film making and media which can all be used to make the filming or work more effective.

Graphic Match:

Graphic matches are an effective trick which directors use for a transition of scenes where the two image of objects are similar usually the shape, like in this example the drain hole and eye both have a circular shape.


Dissolves:

A dissolve is very popular in modern film making, it is usually used to show/cut a period of time for example it may show the sun in the afternoon the you may see a video description saying "4 hours later" and then it shows the sun setting the use of a dissolve is very useful and effective.


Straight Cuts:

Straight cuts are probably the most popular type of cut, it is when one shot jumps to another without any jumps or anything this can make a shot or scene to seem more realistic or relateable. 

Storyboard

Storyboard

Today we completed our final storyboard which can be viewed in our animatic, we are pleased with progress we are making hopefully all the filming goes to plan or better.

Studio Ident

The Studio Ident

We decide to make our ident simple but effective. Our studio ident is called 'Rider Productions' consists of a short scene of cars driving past and a bike that crossed the is like a connotation of our studio ident name. To make it look more professional we sped the cars up to 150% and then transitioned it into 75% and then our studio name comes out when we stop on the bike rider.

First Day of Filming

Today we met up to do our first day of Filming.

For our first day of filming we gathered a few school friends to act and dance, so that we could shoot our party scene. This was successful as everything went to plan with the music and the shooting angles, so it will be shown in our final thriller.

Animatic

Animatic of our storyboard:

Initial Ideas

Initial Ideas

we came together as a group and well all suggested what we thought our thriller should be about, and it was a bit of a struggle because we all thought our own ideas were the best so in the end we came up with a rough plan of what we would base our thriller on.

We started of by agreeing about what type of film we all would all like it to be and in the end we decide we all like black, ghetto filmed so we based it on this.Next we thought what people would like to see and we agreed that people usually like films based on real life stories so we used the idea of a rapper who is making music and trying to get out of the hood.

 Storyline:

1) Rapper is becoming famous but has many haters
2) He gets shot
3) His best friend plans revenge
4) Rappers assassin gets released from prison
5) Twist

First Draft/Evaluation

First draft/Evaluation

In our first draft our thriller was looking good except for a few significant errors which determined on if our thriller would be rated as high quality or low quality; for example there is a part where we jump straight from the party scene to Nortz walking away angrily but it dawned upon us that this was a bad edit because there is no way a member of the audience would be able to notice that Nortz had become angry and also it wouldn't make sense for him to all of a sudden go from a party and be confronted with a gun without a reason. 

Second production meeting

Today we had our second production meeting

In today's meeting we completed our planning:

we decided that we were going to film our thriller outside Elijah's house and what time we were going to film, Elijah who is the lad at the back of the photo above. We also decided that we were going to supply all the props we needed ourselves as we had the resources already. As well as this we were also doing our location sheet and the shooting schedule.

Introduction to the group

   

Members

Leon Macauley (Front) - Actor and Camera man
Elijah Smalling (Left) - Camera man, editor, actor
Tino Chimunye (Right) - Actor
Gottfried Nortey (Back) - Actor, Editor

The Birds

The Birds

A girl called Melanie Daniels played by Tippi Hedren meets a man called Mitch Brenner played by Rod Taylor in a pet store set in the city of San Francisco. Mitch plays a joke on Melanie and the two seem to like each other alot. Melanie decides to go with Mitch to drop off a present to his little sister of two love birds, oddly as she is on the speed boat she is attacked by seagull which leaves a cut on her forehead.


As the film proceeds we see there are several bigger and more ruthless attacks on the public including a kids primary school which caused a fatal death of one of the school teachers. The final attack was on Mitch's mothers house where the birds assemble and attack with all their might; with a little quick thinking and perseverance Mitch manages to keep them out but little do they know that they birds have managed to break in the room upstairs. After a while things settle down but Melanie decided to go and open the room which the birds broke through and gets attacked Mitch luckily comes and rescues her before its too late but she is badly hurt so their only option is to take her to hospital surprisingly they manage to get into the car and drive off with any birds moving.


This film fits in with Todorov's theory:
1) Equilibrium - A state of order and happiness
2) Disruption in equilibrium - An event or occurrence cause things to change
3) Realisation of a disruption
4) Attempt to repair damage of disruption and stop it completely
5) Restoration of equilibrium

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Released: 18 Feb 2011
Director: Jaume Collet - Serra
Main actors: Liam Neeson, January Jones, Diane Kruger

A man named Dr Martin Jones has had a serious accident and falls into a coma when he wakes up he finds out that someone else has taken his identity and everyone thinks he is crazy even his wife so he sets to prove his true identity and it wont be easy .....

how does Unknown meet the conventions of a thriller?

Firstly there is a lot of suspense and tension created, for example when he has that dangerous accident and the taxi falls into the river and is struggling to breathe and we wonder if he will make it out alive this particular scene almost makes the audience also hold their breathe.

Secondly Dr Martin Jones (Played by Liam Neeson), is a very resourceful hero (protagonist). He is in a country where he doesn't know anyone but still manages to come out on top and survive. As well as this, the antagonists in this thriller have a lot of power money and resources and also the upper hand.

There is also a very big 'red herring' used, because during the process of Dr Martin Jones claiming back his identity the audience is convinced that his name is really Dr Martin Jones but when the film starts to really unfold we find out that 'Dr Martin Jones' doesn't actually exist but is a mere fake identity used by the secret services.

Costumes and props

Shooting Schedule

Treatment

Psycho

Psycho is a film created and directed by Alfred Hitchcock in the year of 1960. Starring Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin and Janet Leigh.

This film, is based on the story of a girl who worked at the bank, but one day a man came in with a large amount of money which she knew what her future husband needed, so she decides to take it and run off to start a new life but things do not go so easily when she is continuously followed by a policeman. After a long night of driving she decide to stay at a motel for the night what happens no one could have predicted.

How does this film meet a thriller?

This film meets the criteria for a thriller because of the way it builds up tension and suspense and they way there is a total twist in the plot of the story. Throughout the film, Hitchcock makes the audience feel as if they have figured out the mystery before the film ends but continuously puts a twist in the story causing the audiences tension to increase until the end.

Also the film has an antagonist and a protagonist, in this case the antagonist is the motel keeper and there are several protagonists firstly, the inspector, the girls sister and future husband.