Miss B feedback

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Miss B

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I just wanted to say thanks to everyone, because this project was really enjoyable, thats everyone in the Media Department and my group.

Twas Fun.

My Group Production

Title - Double Edge

Actors - Bekah Murrel - Samantha - Hoaxer of kidnapping.
- Sian Parkinson - Miss K Williams - Really Kidnapped
- Adam Hawksbee - Anonymous - Posts Tape

Music - Track one - Opening
- Track Two - Inside Kidnap Shed
(Both downloaded from Freeplaymusic.com)

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

After the Preliminary Task I think that one of the things which I took on board was how much planning has to be made, and then scrutinised. Things which went wrong in the Prelim had to be planned for and avoided in the Final Piece. So in terms of planning, shooting and editing the Prelim was very important. This is what I learnt.

- Getting everything in order beforehand.

Location, actors, equipment and paperwork all need to be booked, alerted or prepared beforehand for a shoot to run smoothly and productively. In the Prelim this was not too bad as the location was just a teachers room, so we had to just ask in advance, whereas the final piece deadline took longer to find. Actors were just group members so this was not too difficult either, unlike the final piece where we had to make sure we had reliable actors, and brief them beforehand so that they knew when we were shooting and where to go. Planning was something which we did not do enough of for the Prelim but we got away with this, however we learnt that in order to successfully shoot our final piece more planning would be needed, we would have to put more thought into the storyboard and plan out our time to our shooting script plus any brakes or processes required.

- Use of Time

One thing about final piece shoots is that you have to plan how you are going to use your time efectively, for example in my group we planned preparation; like fake blood making, set preparation, shooting; each shot in order, not chronologically but logically, and breaks; whens lunch? In the Prelim you can get away with a bit of an unplanned approach due to the nature of only shooting half a minute, whereas for the final piece you need lots and lots of footage as there are so many more variables, like perhaps actors performances between takes amoung other issues like lighting, set, etc. One thing thats important is to not waste time, which sounds obvious but if time starts running out footage gets rushed and thats when you get weak footage, which leads to more reshoots than should be necessary.

-Shoot, shoot and shoot

After shooting the Prelim and getting into the edit suite the biggest issue was our lack of footage. We had only a handful of shots, of which we had way too few takes. Whats more we had minor differences between takes which lead to inconsistencies in lines of actions, which could break up continuity. So for the Final Piece we knew we had to return with an abundance of footage to make editing easier. On top of that we had to maintain things exact between takes.

Differences

The two Briefs did ask for different things, which does mean not everything about the Final Piece can be pre planned for just from doing the Prelim. This is in relation to duration and creativity, where the Prelim wanted a demonstration of complete control and continuity, and the Final Piece required the same plus creativity, music and titles. The major difference for me between the two briefs was the ability reshoot, this allowed us to quite majorly redirect our idea and restoryboard most of it until we were happy. This also meant that we could get shots to a very high standard on a second attempt if we did not execute well on a shoot. Which was sometimes the case.

Improvements

Between the Prelim sequence and the Final sequence I think that our work has improved so much technically. The editing and camera have both been improved alot, as creativity actually played a part in the Final piece. Our general Film making ability has shown improvements, and I think this comes from a process of learning from our mistakes during the Prelim.

Our Final piece implements many of the rules we learnt about for the Prelim like the 180 degree rule, shot - reverse - shot and match on action, but in a more interesting way, and in a more thought out sequence, where there is a narrative more meaningful than a conversation. I think that the Prelim was very important for teaching us how to monitor and work continuity in a sequence. Which we managed to do in our Final Piece.

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

HardWare
- A Canon Mini HD camera was used to shoot the film, It was the first time using this piece of equipment, but I had previous experience with loweer quality cameras. This camrea was great, I was able to learn about focus and I really improved my camera work, and composition.
- We used a Lighting Set, which was something really new to me, I learnt all about how to use lighting to light the set without drowning it out. And I learnt how very difficult it is to light sets well, and how controlled the set must be.
- Tripod, Directional Microphone and Headphones. These are all things that are only noticable in their absence, but by having acces to these things makes somethings less to worry about and much more proffessional, i.e. sound quality, which was very good.

Software

- Adobe Premier/ After effects, the non linear editing system was something I was familiar with, however in this project I was able to greatly expand my knowledge and understanding of editing, audio and visual alike.

- Razoring, Rendering and Keyframing. I managed to learn so much by experimentation, I think this is because we had so much access to the edit suites, so I was able to try things out, we finished with many timelines with alternate versions, some better than others.

- Contrast and Brightness, which is something I had only used in still images up until this project, but I learnt how to regulate and enhance these things for the sequence for a more professional look.

Evaluation - 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

Something that is becoming increasingly important to the audience, in order to create relevance and familiarity, is to use relevant technologies to those watching. This is apparent in films such as One Missed Call (Eric Valette, 2008) which uses mobile phones to tap into modern generations. In our film we used a modern friendship, turned ugly. By blowing things out of proportion we give our audience a ‘what if’ scenario, and this can provide our film with the emotion and personality it needs to attract young females. This is why we used characters our audience can relate to, in order to make events more meaningful to the viewer. We tapped into the recent kidnapping tapes that have circulated the internet, such as ones from the Middle East, in order to create a relevance to the world of today. We imitated videos of hostages from real life situations and amplified them a bit to add drama. I also think that our editing style is something that would attract a young audience, with very quick editing which would leave behind older audiences from the start. The quick cuts teamed with contemporary effects are something that a younger audience would enjoy. In the sequence we also used the Enigma Code to interest and involve the viewer, because this is something which the audience enjoys. We did this by having the early twist, when the ‘kidnapped’ girl gets up it makes the viewer wonder what is going on.

How we implemented this...

- The friendship between Samantha and K Williams is not clear cut. Two different sides are represented by having emotion from each of our characters. Each have their own close ups and ghosting effects.

- Realism, in terms of the hostage video. We wanted an uncluttered tape which is reminiscent of real kidnap videos, unlike maybe an over dramatic style of hostage in Saw (James Wan, 2004). We let the emotion bring the impact in the tape.

- Effects are used throughout, which attract younger audiences as they lean more and more about computing and like to see conventions broken. Ghosting effects are seen in films like Saw and are often used to show the hostage in agony.

- Age of actresses, simply put, it makes it easier for the audience to relate to someone of their own age.

- Enigma Code was something we wanted because it makes for the best types of films with suspense and tension. We did this by immediately including the first twist, what this offers is not only the first enigma of 'whats going on?' and 'why?' but it offers a promise of twists to come.

Did this all work...

Yes! Our feedback showed an average of 8-9 out of 10 for how good our film was, which shows that the audience enjoyed our film sequence, and whats more there were very few who said they would not watch the rest of the film. Our feedback also demonstrated the high understanding of our audience, who generally understood what was happening on screen.

Evaluation - 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

Primary Audience
- Age - 16 - 25 yrs
- Gender - Female
- Film Preferences - Thrillers, Chick Flicks (this is a thriller equivalent), Likes films which makes her think.
- Film Viewing - Goes to the cinema regularly and has many DVDs at home.
- Nationality - British
- Fans of - Se7en, Saw, The usual suspects.

Secondary Audience
- Age - 16 - 45 yrs
- Gender - Male/Female
- Film Preferences - Thriller Lovers!
- Film Viewing - Regular or non-regular depending on what films are out.
- Nationality -British
- Fans of - Thriller

I think that this Film is limited to a British audience because the American audience cannot adjust to British films like this. It would need an american makeover to have an impact in the US.

Evaluation - 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Ripple Productions is an independent British production company that aims to create contemporary, edgy, interesting films. Concentrated on thrillers Ripple productions uses young talented actors and produces films which could be shown at independent film festivals (maybe like Raindance Festival) and at some independent cinemas. For example The Pheonix in London is a well known independent cinema, and is a place where our Film could get some screenings. This is the case with Double Edge, which could use events like these to gain exposure for everyone included in the production.

In its current State I think the Film Double Edge would have to remain independent, I have decided that a relevant independent distributor is Guerilla Films (http://www.guerilla-films.com/), which hs distributed many independent thrillers, so fans of thrillers could know Guerilla for this. I also think if Double Edge were to recieve a top of the industry remake (Hollywood) it would be easy to make into a popular film, its not too arty or unusual to imagine in cinemas like the Odeaon or Cineworld chains, and it would be easy to brand and advertise. It follows conventions and is not too British to perhaps cross the pond and hit the US.

Another option is to distribute the Film through the internet, either as a full film or as a trailer for the full film. This includes using perhaps using Youtube.com to get people watching it.

Evaluation - 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Females

Perhaps the most important way our film represents particular social groups is to challenge the image of innocence which often surrounds females, and challenging the ‘mans world’ which is seen in most thriller subgenres. To use a simple plot with females as protagonists and victims challenges and replenishes something that would otherwise be very usual. This modern twist on an old story was put in place to make the opening sequence pack more of a punch when the first twist comes in. While we did not follow all conventions of females in film, we did use some which help the viewers make assumptions of our characters. These are that these females are bitchy and underhand in their ways, characteristics of the archetype film woman ‘bitch’. The age of our characters is for them to be young and naïve. These archetypes are used in film, which helps as viewers like familiarity; the whole ‘bitch’ archetype is optimised in Mean Girls (Mark Waters, 2005), but while that presents shallower blacks or whites in terms of a bitch or not a bitch, our film offers shades of grey where viewers will have to watch on to clear up who’s the villain of the two. This really goes against the Levi/Strauss theory of opposites, which I feel is outdated and irrelevant to deeper character development of our film. Nothing is clear cut in the opening. This is anchored by the title, Double Edge. We aimed to get more interesting character profiles, rather than simplistic and mundane stereotypes.

How did we do this?

- Make the one which is initially more evil have a consience (samantha)

This is done through the shots of contemplation and pause, like the smoking sequence at the end, effects help illustrate what is perhaps her frustration and indecision,

- Make the audience wonder...

By getting Samantha to call K Williams a bitch the audience wonder whether Samantha is in the right or if she was driven to this by an evil K Williams. This was picked up on by some audience feedback which refered to K Williams as the bitch, so they may have sided with Samantha.

- Using actresses of our target audiences age

By using actresses within the same age range (and same gender) the audience can easily relate to the characters. I think that our representation in particular means that the viewers will need to wait for more information before deciding on who they like or dislike and who is what archetype. We wanted to represent the age group relatively realisticly (young adults).

London

Honestly all that is shown is a quick snippet of a middle class suburban area, will people know its London, I doubt it. Unless their observant enough to read the adress on the envelope I doubt people realise. But it is a typically English mise-en-scen.

Evaluation - 1 - In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I think that the opening sequence to our film sets up for a psychological thriller; this is portrayed through editing techniques, which utilise audio and visual effects to show a lack of clarity and confusion within the lead roles. Often crime thrillers follow the criminal rather than the law, which is something we have done by concentrating on Bekah's character. The film also distances itself from being generalised as a horror by using the lead villain in the opening sequence and making this clear to the viewers, this is a convention used a lot by detective/crime thrillers such as Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino, 1992), which follows the bank robbers from the start. Another convention of the thriller genre is that most thrillers start off by introducing an event, which leads to issue that needs to be resolved, such as a killing, murder or news of any of those. For us this is the posting of a kidnapping tape.

The way in which our sequence focuses on the mind of the protagonist is similar to how Mr. Brooks (Bruce A. Evans, 2007) follows its killer (Mr. Brooks), who is mentally all over the place, and indulges in killings to please his mental alter ego self. Our film has a less mentally unstable lead, which gave us the problem of subtly implying her confusion. I think that this area is where some of our style is, to differentiate us from other thrillers. We use more effects than is the norm, by ghosting throughout our sequence to blur and confuse.For example the first shot on Ms Williams face uses an improvised effect made up of cuts and fades to put across this feeling of confusion and mental conflict. We used audio to potray confusion aswell in the shot where Samantha is shown kneeling over Williams in a Williams POV, Samantha's speech is echoed to disturb the normality of her dialogue. We used point of view shots from the victim to not completely put the viewer in the head of the kidnapper, instead to pull the viewer back a bit to keep them guessing.

I guess one of our biggest convention breakers is to use two female leads, which is rare, for almost any genre, but thrillers in particular. There are countless staples of the thriller genre in the form of male actors, but few females, some who feature in many thrillers are Sigourney Weaver (Alien, Ridley Scott, 1979; Eyewitness, Peter Yates, 1981; Vantage Point, Pete Travis, 2008; etc) and Nicole Kidman (Peacemaker, Mimi Leder, 1997; The Others, Alejandro Amenabar, 2001; The Interpreter, Sydney Pollack, 2005; etc).

Our second setting, which is the kidnapper’s room where she is holding the victim, is our attempt to imitate the conventional dungeon/prison used by kidnappers in other thrillers, but we also used mise-en-scen from some horrors. We wanted to make it obvious this is a serious kidnapping, this means removing natural light, using an empty emotionless room with decaying props. We looked at mise-en-scene from films such as Saw (James Wan, 2004) and Hostel (Eli Roth, 2005). We went for a less industrial look as we felt that it would not be appropriate for our protagonist.

Looking Back at the Shoots...

Practice Shoot
So much went right in this shoot, the makeup, the lighting, all went very well, so much so that we did not match this level of production in shoot one. However the shoot did its job, we had lots of problems, and thats a good thing. We learnt what we had to plan for, how long everything took and why we had to follow certain procedures. Problem solving was made much easier now that we knew what the problems were. In terms of our sequence this shoot made us realise exactly how far off the mark our storyboard was, we had to add an entirely new sequence at the beginning and alter and add other shots. This is because when we captured we realised we did not establish the film enough (or at all) and that we missed some things that made our sequence difficult to understand.

Shoot One
After the practice shoot we knew what we had to do, and with a brand new storyboard we went ahead with filming our sequence. We filmed everything and got everything done within our time constraints, however when we went back to our edit suite and captured our footage we realised it had not gone well. It was not anything to do with the set, props or actors. It was not even a problem of continuity and storyboarding. In fact it had not gone that well because we just hadnt executed the technical side of things well, at all. The biggest issue was thelighting, which was not dramatic enough and left some shots flooded with light and others too dark and grainy. Shots were rushed and not very well filmed. We managed to make our shots look very amateur throughout. we knew we could do better and we knew we had to reshoot almost everything.

Shoot 2
In this shoot everything finally came together, we were able to film everything and nothing went horribly wrong like in previous shoots. Lighting was fine, camera work was much improved and we didnt miss any shots. This was by far the most productive shoot as this is where we filmed most of our footage. When we then captured and edited our footage we were happy with how our sequence was coming together, with the exception of a few shots it was all looking good.

Shoot 3
This was a very minor shoot, so we only designated half a session for it. The aim was to reshoot a handful of shots which we felt were not adequate. This shoot ran smoothly and was as productive as we needed it to be.

Now we're back from holidays and have continued our editing process and finishing touches to our sequence. We have started quickly and already found music and decided on things like titles and some final editing choices. we still need to brainstorm film titles for our sequence.
with only 1 big editing day left I think we can finish fine.

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS!
20th December 08 - 5th January 09