We have changed alot of our storyboard and initial ideas throughour our filming process. Our initial idea that i wrote on my blog was;
The main idea was that a couple would be Skypeing each other at their homes. Then a message would come through on the males emails saying "I'm coming to get you!". Then a killer would come up behind the male with the woman on the other Skype would be screaming. The killer would kill the male and send the message on to his next victim which is where our title name would come from. The Film will be called Sent. Other ideas however that we thought of are Nowhere left to hide, Sleep-bag, Skype and Send. The resources that we would need are a Skype account with a web-cam, a killer with a dangerous weapon (a plastic bad, a gun, a knife), and some good actors and actresses to get the emotions and terror across.
However we have changed some of this idea due to technical problems or social problems or because we thought our film would look better this way. Although we have made some changes we have kept the original idea the same, with two teenagers talking to each other then they get killed one after the other and a message gets sent on to another victim.
We have changed two scenes in our film by now making them flash backs. The party scene and the woods scene are now memories by the couple. We decided to do this because we realised while filming that it was only the opening sequence and could last only 2 or 3 minutes long. Therefore we thought that if we put those to scenes into the film fully then it would exceed this time limit and make the film seem rushed and out of sequence. Also we would then have to spend less time on the main scene, the killing event.
Also we did not use the Skype website due to technical problems as we could not download the site. Therefore we used Facebook instead as we could access the site and it is relevant in today’s society as it is a major popular organisation.
There are many similarities and differences between our preliminary task and the film. However even though there are differences and similarities I have learnt many things from this process. During each similarity I will be taking about how we have improved the task to make our film better and to show how much progress we have done over the coursework.
Sent Title
Preliminary Task Title
I have learnt how to use many other software's to make our credit's and title's on. During our preliminary task our titles where stationary, with a boring font and in a yellow colour. In our film we we did them in Live type. This gave us much more variety and choice over what styles, fonts and motions we could in our film. We chose to have it types across the screen as it would relate to the laptop/Facebook theme. Also by having it moving in a chilling way it created an atmosphere for the audience and visually looked much better than stationary text, which was done in our first Sent draft.
Louise looking through a window in Sent
Billy looking through a window in the Preliminary Task
I have also leant how to use different camera angles and movements. In both of these stills they are shot in a mid camera angle at eye level with both of the actors looking straight into the camera at the audience. However the camera movements in the preliminary task are very rough and jolty whereas the film’s camera movements are very smooth and flowing which shows how we progressed the skills and technics of using the digital cameras and how to manipulate them to getting the best shots possible.
Billy and Shelby talking to each other in Sent
Myles and Billy talking to each other in the Preliminary Task
Also in both of these stills above they are in a mid-shot. However the camera angle in the Sent film is shown from a slightly high angle shot looking down which shows how vulnerable and powerful and naive the characters are going to be during the film without giving too much away to the audience. Whereas the preliminary task was shown in a mid camera angle too. This shows how we as a group have developed different skills with the camera which can convey different message to the audience without giving too much away.
I have also learnt how to use sound. In the preliminary task we used no sound effects or music and the only sound we have was on screen diegetic dialogue. Whereas in our Sent film we used three songs which were played over the film as non-diegetic sound and sound effects when Louise’s character hits both Billy and Shelby over the head with a trophy. I also learnt through the process about sound bridges and how to use them and how to build up suspense, which is a key convention of the thriller genre, to increase and decrease the volume of the music playing. In addition how to link two songs together when the scenes changed by using a cross fade which I found particularly hard while editing the film.
Finally I have learnt how to use the editingsoftware and different techniques that I could use. In the preliminary task our editing was very jagged and stopped and started. This is particularly obvious when Billy and Myles are talking to each other as it does not flow from one person to another person when they are talking. In Sent I have learnt how to edit smoothly and make it flow from one scene to another using straight cuts. Also in the Sent film we used many effects like dissolves and cross fades to go from one scene to another which makes the film look more effective.
Cross fade from Billy's eye to Billy's face
Cross fade from the laptop to the Facebook message
Below are just a few technologies that we used which are mentioned in the film above;
BLOGGER – I used blogger as a diary to update on what I was doing, step by step, to make my film. I also wrote about things that I had learnt about while doing this coursework and what I have achieved along the way and put posts along the way on them.
FINAL CUT EXPRESS-I used final cut express to edit my filming clips together. I edited the clips, the music and the special effects together to create the final product. I had to learn the technology from scratch which was quite easy as the technical parts were very easy to gather and learn.
STILL AND DIGITAL CAMERA-I used both of these pieces of equipment to capture my film. I used the digital camera all the way through the filming process to capture the scenes that I would eventually put into my film and when I was filming my audience research interviews. I used the still cameras to capture the storyboard and then putting them on to my blog.
GOOGLE-I used Google quite frequently to gather pictures that I put onto my blog to illustrate my point that I was trying to make and make my blog look more colourful. Also to get information which I needed to put onto my blog and into my film.
MOBY GRATIS-I used this site to get non copyright music. I downloaded three songs from this site which are played throughout the film.
YOUTUBE-I used Youtube to upload various videos that I have made and edit so I could put it on the blog to document my work. I put my preliminary task, my preliminary task’s storyboard, my films storyboard, my panda productions ident, my first draft film, my final film and the evaluation. Plus all of these are on my blog
SURVEY MONKEY-I used survey monkey to gather results for an audience research. This was a very good site as I could produce, send and collect the information all on this site. My results to the survey are on Facebook and my blog.
SLIDE SHARE- I used slideshare to create presentations which I generated throughout my coursework.
WOODLE – I only used Woodle twice. This was to create the audience research answer. This helped to pinpoint what the audience liked about the thriller genre and obviously what they didn’t. This also helped to see what I would have to include in my own thriller film to make it exciting for the audience to watch on. Also once I put it on my blog it made it more interesting to look at than writing.
BLACKBERRY-I used this throughout my coursework to take snap shots of the day to show you what we have been up to. I then put the pictures on my blog by bluetoothing it over.
I attracted my audience by having suspense and tension as a convention of a thriller genre in my thriller opening film. At the beginning you think that it is going to be all happy and nice as it is two regular teenagers are chatting to each other on their laptops thinking about past memories. However the audience will be disturbed as you start to notice that there is a stalker following the characters and they will be starting to wonder what is going to go wrong for the couple as on the whole in a thriller genre most things don't go right for people in love. This is why I think it holds the audiences attention as you want to know what is going to go wrong and keeps them guessing till it does occur. In addition people will want to carry on watching the film after the couple of minutes opening which we made because the audience is already engaging with the characters, especially the killer as they want to find out what outrageous things she is capable of doing next. There is a cliffhanger at the end of the the opening sequence which will make people want to watch on and the desire to unravel the mystery.
However this is when watching the film. To attract my audience to view the film I could use a variety of marketing technics. There are also number of ways our film could be advertised. This could be on television adverts, on billboards and posters, in cinemas as trailers, in magazines and newspapers as adverts, or on the Internet as popups. By using such a wide range of marketing methods, we would be more likely to reach a wider variety of audiences. Below are a number of ways the film The Adjustment Bureau was advertised to the public;
Also they answered the question on the surveymonkey questionnaire as to why they would want to watch my thriller opening and some of the reasons were due to the tension, the suspense, the scariness, the thrills and the feeling of being on the edge of your seat.
There are many media institutions circulating in today's filming industry. These can include British organisations like Film4, Working Title and Metrodome to American institutions like "20th Century Fox, Universal, Columbia and MGM.
The institution that I would use is anyone of these as all of these sponsor thriller movies individually. However I personally would probably chose an American one as it is more recognised from around the world and specialises in action thriller films. Although I do realise that if I was going to get my film to be produced and distributed then I would have to pick a smaller British organisations like Film 4 as it is more likely that they will pick it up. Films that are sponsored by these organisation are ;
Universal
Working title
MGM
20th Century Fox
Also there are many other types of media institutions that distribute products. These can include the Cinema (both celluloid and digital) the Internet, from a personal website or from Youtube, a DVD disk, a VHS tape, a Blu Ray disk and the Television can all show my film to the public. However some are more likely to be viewed than others like the cinema and home viewing. But some movies will be viewed more even if they are shown on the Internet or on television as the production companies do not have the funding to make it to main stream viewing.
In our thriller film we use the social groups of sexuality, gender, class and age. Throughout our opening sequence we use alot of typical stereotype views of civilisation. This is because we use the typical romance were a working class teenage boy who is quite butch meets a working class teenage girl who looks like the classic dumb Blonde being in a normal straight relationship. However this can be shown in a positive way as the pair are shown to be in a loving relationship compared to the high tension relationships shown in most Hollywood films. Nevertheless we did not include any ethnic minorities or any older people or any gay people which does not show a greater diversity in the world we live in today. Furthermore we have chosen the typical Hollywood stereotype that are in many of their films.
Shelby Osborne
Shelby's character is stereotyped as the typical 'dumb blonde girl' in the storyline. She is White British, a female, around the age of 16-19 but this is unknown, she is straight and from a middle class background. She is going out with Billy's character and is sociable as she communicates with Billy's character alot by talking to him and going out with him.
Billy Cove
Billy's character is stereotyped as the typical 'geezer guy' in the storyline. He is White British, a male, also around the age of 16-19 but this is unknown, straight and from a middle class background.Billy's character is going out with Shelby's character and is also very sociable as he also communicates and goes out with Shelby's character.
Louise Levett
Lousie's character is the typical 'loner hooded villain'.She is female, White British and also around the age of the others. However we do not know her sexuality or her class and her personality and characteristics. This creates suspicion and an enigma in the plot.
