Evaluation 5

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Voicenote on school computers, will upload on Monday 19th.

Evaluation 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HWgjZlLMfc&context=C4a136ddADvjVQa1PpcFMf6TzZl-vW15S2QVt7Y2w90XwdTCaRWCo=vz

Evaluation 3

Research has been done into distributors and what types of films they distribute. Walt Disney and 20th Century Fox unarguably distribute the most films of a certain genre, and they distribute the most films which they feel will become successful.
Walt Disney Pictures is set in America and are a very successful distributor which was founded in 1923. They have a lot of hit films which include Pirates of The Caribbean Dead Mans Chest which brought in $1,066,179,725 of worldwide gross and Toy Story 3 which created  $1,063,171,911 in worldwide gross. But they do lack in distributing thriller films and films of the same family such as horror, which shows that it would not be a good choice for them to distribute our film, plus they most likely wouldn't. Walt Disney Pictures distribute and create films which are more family orientated, where the whole family can go to the cinema and watch a certain film.  

On the other hand, while studying 20th Century Fox films, they do have a wide range of films from different genres. They have also distributed films which have been really popular such as Avatar which brought in $2,782,275,172 worldwide. Avatar is the most successful film ever and this shows what type of films Fox would distribute. But Fox seem to not distribute many films which are of a thriller or horror genre. They seem to distribute a lot of action and adventure films. This means that this would possibly not be a good choice as a distributor for our film Mindgames.

Our film is definately of a Hollywood standard and a company like Hammer or Universal would be suitable to distribute our film as they distribute more thiller and horror films. This would be a good choice for us, but even then a company would have to take a major risk in having trust in our film.

Evaluation 2

http://prezi.com/8qy-sjqzdec6/evaluation-question-2-how-does-your-media-product-represent-particular-social-groups/

Evaluation Question 1 : In what ways does your media project use, develop or challenge forms, and connections of real media products?

1: Camera work:

Shot 6 and 4 are examples of unique camera work and these shots show the creativity that we had in planning and creating our thriller opening. Shot 4 shows a low angle shot from behind the radio to show the villains power. We also see the villain move towards the camera which creates a tension in the audience as he reaches towards the radio, very close to the camera. This shot just simply shows the power of the villain and his composed and concentrated posture. Shot 6 is an extreme close up of the villains hand as he reaches into a draw to get a self rolled cigarette and a lighter. This is a shot which makes the audience focus on the center of the screen where the drugs are placed. This also shows conventions we have used and it gives an insight into the villains personality and his life. From this you can tell he is most likely addicted to some sort of drug whether this be the cocaine and various other drugs in Shot 1 or others. This can show signs of disturbance and of weakness and it shows that he uses drugs to help him gain a positive buzz or feeling. This is vital for the story and is unique.

2: Lighting:
Shot 2 is an example of the way in which we used lighting to add to our opening as it is a convention of thriller. The shot contains a man who is quite badly lit and this adds to emphasis of what kind of person he may be. The darkness projected on his face does show that he may be a bad person and you can also see that from the look on his face, he doesn't seem right. This strengthens the thriller as we know later on in the movie something may occur, a murder, kidnapping, something negative. I think the lighting we employed in this shot really connects with conventions and shows that we have taken conventions strongly into consideration and how we would like to present them. 

3: Story : How does the opening set it up?:
Shot 1 and 2 are the two first shots of our thriller opening and they consist of a shot of cocaine and tobacco roll on a table, placed messily on the table. The darkness in both shots indicates horror/thriller due to the lack of visibility. Darkness adds in to the shot and is very significant. The shot was a slow pan of the drugs, as an extreme closeup This is a good sign of the thriller genre and it creates an image of the storyline and what the film could be about just by Shot 1 as drugs carry a negative aura and you can almost sense that there is something bad about the film. This leads the audience to think that the drugs belong to someone whos maybe not such a good person, but a significant and definitive person in the thriller. 

4: Title of the film and credits:
Shot 3 above shows the film title 'Mindgames'. We used a text with an added effect which we all felt it fits in with the genre of a thriller. The capital letters grab the audiences attention and the effect on the title also adds effect. The font looks mangled and looks like ravaged which is exactly what we had wanted for out title to look like. We wanted the background to be black just so that it would make the title bold and strand out. The colour red also adds effect as it gives the message, danger, blood, and warning. Shot 9 shows a credit from our opening. We chose to make the colour white so that it would stand out, becoming effective, even though the attention of the audience is probably more focused on the actually film.


5: How the characters are introduced:
Shot 2 shows the villain and his introduction into the opening and this is presented with the lighting being a key feature. As you can see the light is scarce upon his face and he can barely be seen while he is drowned in darkness. His facial expression also shows a much negative light of this character. This then creates an idea in the audience that maybe he isn't such a good character. The police officer is shown first in his car, after just parking up. He then steps out and walks towards the entrance of the flats and we can see from this his presence and authority. He comes across as big, brave and bold. This is positive and creates a feeling in the audience where they believe he is here to save the day and stop a criminal or crime, and he will succeed.

6: Genre, and how the opening suggests this:
Shot 1 shows a cocaine hill and tobacco on a table. These drugs fit in with thriller conventions as it portrays negativity. It creates a possible story for the viewers and from this one shot and we can see that the owner of these things is most likely troubled and relies on drugs to feel better about something. The extreme close up of the drugs also adds emphasis as the audience focus on the drugs. We also see a bit of the setting and and from the darkness and lack of lighting it seems as if the person who lives there, wants to keep themselves closed up and away from the world. The darkness plays such an important role in our opening and from the darkness in the opening the audience will understand that this is a thriller or horror. The thriller conventions that we included in our opening are well represented and we feel that they where successfully employed into our opening. This shows that thriller conventions have been used with the drugs, indicating negative activity and the darkness which creates uncertainty and suspense. These all add in to create a stronger picture of the thriller genre.

7: Editing:We used many techniques to try and show that we can create a high quality of editing. Shots 7 and 8 show our creativity and how we produced a piece of editing. They show cross cutting between the officer coming closer to the area which the villain is situated and then it shows the villain with a knife at the door listening. This created suspense as it the shot kept crossing from the villain to the officer. This links in with thriller conventions as the cross cutting creates suspense and a thrill. With Shot 4 shows a shot from behind the radio facing upwards towards the villain, this shot was created by us just placing some books underneath the camera and having it at a low angle. We felt that this shot shows how our editing was successful and creative.

8: How suspense is created:
Shot 7 and 8 are the most obvious shots to show how suspense was created as noted in Question 7. The cross cutting between these two shots creates so much suspense that the audience do not seem to know what is going to happen. There is much anticipation created within the audience and plus there is also a sense of fear for the police officer. In my own edit of our opening, i added a cliffhanger to the ending which creates so much suspense as the you haven't an idea of whats happened when the screen blacks out and the thumping heartbeat stops. This is also a convention of the thriller genre as it fits in with the characteristics which contain, uncertainty and suspense.

9: Setting and location
Shot 10 shows one of the several locations we used in our thriller opening. We used my room to film the scenes in the villains room. We also used a block of flats near my house in Mill Hill for the scenes in which the officer is walking up to investigate this person.

UK Film Companies Research

Working Title Films

Working Title Films is a British film production company, based in London in the UK. The company was founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983. It produces feature films and several television productions, including films starring comic actor Rowan Atkinson also known as "Mr Bean". Eric Fellner and Bevan are now the co-owners of the company. In 1992, PolyGram became the company's corporate backer. Radclyffe left Working Title, and Eric Fellner, a fellow independent film producer, joined the company. The company produced a variety of films for PolyGram's London-based production company PolyGram Filmed Entertainment. An Anglo-Dutch film studio, PolyGram Films became a major Hollywood competitor. In 1999, PolyGram was sold to Seagram and merged with MCA Music Entertainment, to form Universal Music Group. PolyGram Films was merged and sold to Universal Studios in 1999.

Narrative Research

There are different stages to a narrative of a film. From my research I found that this is what is contained within a film. Staring with an exposition which is an introduction, disruption which is a problem or dilema which could arise in the movie, a climax where there is a turning point and finally a resolution which ends in everything going back to normal.

Todorov's created his own theory and that was that there is an equilibrium which is where everything comes with an introduction, disruption where the antagonist comes into play, recognition where the problem becomes alerted. The effects of the problem start to take place mainly on characters. The disruption is repaired and resolved when is an attempt to correct arises. Finally a new equilibrium is added which concludes the narrative and this end with everything being restored.

Claude Levi Strauss studied man stories and fables. He came to a conclusion that we as humans see the world, events and people by using binary opposites. He also said that narratives are created with traits such as disagreement and conflist between binary opposites such as, Good versus bad and male versus female etc.

Iconic Thriller Director - Stanley Kubrick

This is a small timeline I created on Time Toast. It about Stanley Kubrick who was an iconic director.
http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/iconic-thriller-directors

Thriller Sub Genre Research

Action Thriller - Inglorious Bastards

A sub-genre of Action in a thriller movie would mainly include aspects which you would generally find in an action movie such as; violence, weaponry, physical and verbal fighting.As you can see in this picture above, there is a knife with blood which does represent the action and violence.


Psychological Thriller - Orphan

The sub-genre of Psychology in a thriller movie mainly includes conflict between main characters mentally and/or emotionally rather than physical, which leads stereotypically to a more putrid and disturbed resolution.

Crime Thriller - Four Brothers

In the sub-genre of Crime in a thriller movie, the main aspects which are included are mainly murders and investigation finding who did what and who had a part to play in the crime taken place. Four Brothers is about four brothers who go out and try to find out who killed their mother in a hold up, inside a 7/11. This leads them to investigating and taking the law into their own hands, to find who was responsible and to punish them.

Analysis : Silence Of The Lambs

As you can see in this opening shot it shows a forest with some very spooky trees. This is an example of iconography because the spooky tree's show that this film must be a thriller or horror. We can also see mist which makes the setting look even more sinister. The camera angle is a medium shot to not show the whole scenery but to show as much that you can conclude what type of location it is. The colour is mainly black and grey which is dark and mysterious.

This shot shows the women in a hurry and it shows her running as if she is running from someone or something and this creates tension straight away for the audience. She looks very rough and this could mean she was running away from someone in a rush and didn't think about getting ready or changing. The forest seems even darker in this shot and the mist is covering her like its trying to capture her. Her facial expression looks extremely fatigued. The lighting seems very dark. The camera shot is a close up to see clearly her expression. From this shot only you can come to the conclusion she is running away from someone but before this shot it shows the women pulling herself towards the camera with a rope, she is obviously training for something and going on a intensive workout/run.

As you can see she carries on running and it becomes visible that she isnt running from someone and that she is just jogging which brings the tension way down which is within the audience. She seems to have a neutral facial expression. The forest now looks much brighter and less freaky. The camera angle is from the side and is a medium shot.

She continues to run and then the camera angle changes. A man comes into the shot and she starts to talk to him. This shot shows an over the shoulder shot being used aswell as being a medium shot. They are both still located in the wood as is evident in the background. 

She continues to run and runs towards a building and then goes inside it, this is her workplace. She then walks into a room where there are many people cleaning and practicing with guns. By this time you can tell she is a police officer is of service to the force, with the surroundings showing many people in uniform with badges and Teflon   bulletproof jackets. She makes her way into an office with news papers on the walls and a man enters. They both engage in conversation. Medium and close up shots are used alot. The man is dressed smartly in a waistcoat, shirt and tie. This may show he is of a higher authority.

Analysis : Momento

In the first shot we have a person holding a photo. After looking deeper into the picture we can tell that it seems to be a blood splatter. This immediately has an effect on a watching audience as it gives us an indication that this movie could be a film with a horror or thriller genre. We also hear a non diegetic sound in the background. The sound is slow and mellow and this creates an eerie atmosphere. This also enhances the idea of a horror or thriller genre. The credits we see show that the movie title 'Momento' is written with spacing between each letter and in full capitals. This just attracts the audience and is unorthodox which does attract attention.

Then the man shakes the picture many times, maybe to help let the ink dry on the photo. Then the camera moves upwards towards his face where we can see the man with scratches along his face and blood covering it aswell. This shot is a close up. Then a very unique effect is used which shows blood dripping up a wall, then there is a close up on a bullet shell, a pair of glasses and then the dead mans head with blood seeping out of it. Then suddenly we see a high angled shot of the male actor with the camera standing over the dead body, with his arm out to the side and his hand open wide. Suddenly the gun flies into this mans hand as he crouches down and the bullet shell goes back into the gun. The dead man comes alive again and he is levitating upwards and the glasses fly back onto his face. As all this happens you begin to realise that that scene is being rewinded. Then there is a flash that comes from the tip of the gun, that must be the bullet firing itself back into the gun. Then there is a extreme close up of the mans face, where we see fire in his eyes and his facial expression.   We can then see his emphasised power which he has over this man. This shows the audience who he is and that he is a man who comes across as if he wants respect as if he deserves it. Then there is a close up of his hand picking up some keys, maybe car keys then looking around as if he is lost. 
Very intriguing the opening sequence is with its uses of diegetic and non diegetic sounds, camera angles, shots and editing. All these factors contribute towards creating tension and suspense within the audience.

Enemy Of The State - Tension Editing

              

In films, closeup's are used to show more detail and show the audience what the character's feelings are, through expressions. These could be facial expressions or verbal expressions.

In this close up from the film itself, we see the close up shot of a man inserting maybe a chip or a memory device of some sort into a machine. This emphasises how important that chip could be or how significant the information on there is. The background of this shot is blurred, this creates an image where the foreground is highlighted and focused on the person with the device showing significance.

You can see the pressure and tension in the shot and you can almost feel it. With these crosses going across it seems like they are caged in or trapped. This does give good emphasis as the whole film is about being watched and surveillance, and it seems a camera or a person i watching them while in hiding. This adds to the tension and makes you feel as if something is about to happen. This is a medium shot also from the film showing both characters in one shot. This conveys the idea that are concealed within a small space, as portrayed by the cross cutting. A medium shot also depicts emmotion, by looking at their faces emotions, we can clearly see that they are intrigued by something and are looking quiet serious as well.
our opinion.

Genre Film Conventions

                                                                                                                                                                                       Bourne Identity

Narrative:
The narrative does seem very cliché. Chase scenes and a lot of actions where the "bad guys" are after this particular person. The trailer mainly consists of violence, not to glorify but mainly to attract an audience. The main plot is that people are after this man and they create a plan in which to achieve their aim, then they set out and put their plan into action.

Iconography:
Fight scenes, violent and action packed driving along with destruction all depict action. The use of guns, the sound of racing cars skidding on the road are things we stereo typically expect in an action movie.

Characters Type :
Matt Damon (Victim)

Camerawork:
A lot of close ups are used on Damon sweeping paoramic shots of setting. Also some extreme close ups of important physical actions.

Settings:
The main settings are in the city, forests, hotels and work places.
Just Go With It

Narrative: 
This film is a comedy/romance genre. This is a typical rom-com as it consists of love and romance between characters, additionally the trailer contains funny scenes which enhance comedy. Iconography: 
Two characters who have fallen for eachother but something is restricting their relationship from going further. Romantic scenes and comedy scenes dominate the film. We do expect to see is that the relationship works out in the end.

Characters Type: 
Adam Sandler (Male Lover) and Jeniffer Aniston (Female Lover).

Camerawork:
Medium and close ups of the characters are mainly used as well as over the shoulder, low angle and long shots which are repeatedly used.

Settings:
Beach, classroom, restaurant

Screen Shots From Chipmunk Ft. Loick Essien - Beast

I really love the visuals in this video, so i thought i might as well put it up on my blog as inspirational pieces of work done.

My Prelim Task

This is a match on action shot of myself walking through the door while the camera is focused on my back. The shot on the right is a POV from Snehal looking at me look through the door. We feel Snehal's apprehension more when we see it from his eyes.

Our group came up with an idea for our prelim with would become very simple, yet effective and accurate. We had a good discussion and we all agreed on each others ideas which really helped and gave us a vast variety of ideas. The key decisions we made were the type of shots we were to use, such as the match on action, over the shoulder shots, and the two shot.


Snehal - "No call, no text, where've you been?"
Rahul - "Im sorry, I've been quite busy right now."
Snehal - "Thats not acceptable. You cant delay me like this, I'm on a tight schedule."
Rahul - "I've just been a home, I've got a lot of problems with my family right now."
Snehal - "Still doesn't solve it."
Rahul - "Look I don't wanna argue, lets just go out for a drink. So I'll see you at seven then?"
Snehal - *Nods head, wait for Rahul to leave the room, the sighs in shame.*


This picture shows my groups story board and plan. We could have created this more clearly but we still took in all ideas from around the group to grab the best ideas and act upon them.

We shot the whole prelim efficiently with ease. The shoot was completed efficiently in 30mins, because this time round we had a clear shot list.

We did make a lot of mistakes within filming our Prelim and within constructing it as well. Samir, Snehal and I found that we work well and really do get along, sharing and creating ideas with each other.

I think we could have maybe used more emphasis in our production and created a more grabbing production. But overall I could have used more dynamic camera angles.

Pineapple Express Opening Sequence!

In the first picture you can see the title of the film "Pineapple Express" clearly highlighted. The title is written in Yellow, contrasting with with Black which is behind it. The second shot shows the name of the main actor which stars in this film. There is also a man shown who is a character in this film. The same can be said for the third shot as well. The fourth shot shows a man who is wielding two guns, one in each hand. This is a perfect example of graphic iconography. This does show the violence within this film. The fifth shot shows a police car which is airborne. This shows that there is action in this film as well, with chaotic car chases. The sixth shot shows a closeup of the law enforcer within the airborne car. This is great because it shows the expression on her face while shes in an uncontrollable flying car. The seventh and eighth both glorify violence and show much more evidence that there is violence in this film.