Michael's Evaluation

Question 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?



  Our film, Nostalgia, conforms to a variety of conventions that apply to many thriller films. We use the binary opposition convention which helps to present a difference in character between the antagonist and protagonist. Binary opposition is common in thriller films and is used in The Dark Knight between the protagonist Batman and the antagonist Joker. In our film the protagonist is Detective Vince Clarke and Dominic Christopher is the antagonist. This is portrayed with the use of Mise-En-Scene with the outfits which creates a contrast in class such as the Detective's suit to the hooded jumper and trackies of Dominic.

 
A Convention that we also used was credits. With our credits with kept them in the common order to keep fluency and we retained the same font throughout. We used a font that could reflect the film with big bold lettering which have been damaged. Hopefully reflecting Vince Clarke's personality of being big and bold with a few cracks and weaknesses in his life.

In our thriller we use the effect of time and develop it. We developed this convention by using flashbacks and using first person camera shots to put empathy into the audience's minds. We use the flash back with Alice Clarke. This allows the audience to ask questions on  whether Alice Clarke is still alive or if something happened to her playing on their minds. The convention is also used in the opening sequence to the film 'Memento' as it also uses the convention of time.  This developed use of time, like ours, makes the audience question of when the film period is set and what has already happened out of the audience's knowledge. This is another convention that we want to play on the audience's mind.

A convention that we challenged was music. In most thriller films there opening sequence has background music which is normally the theme tune. In our opening sequence we challenged it as we played two different songs during the opening two minutes. We did this as we wanted to confuse our audience by introducing straight away two different moods and the songs reflected these.

Another Convention that we challenged was the chase scene. Our thriller opens with a chase scene which is common in most thrillers but we challenge the convention by making our main character the chaser. In most thrillers the main character is the one being chased and you feel empathy for them and want him to get away. In ours we completely turn it around and make the detective the chaser.



Question 2. how does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups? on Prezi

Question 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

nostalgia2012.wikispaces.com - this is a web page dedicated to our film with information on it.

Question 4. who would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience is a man called Harry. He is highly educated in a university course about the human mind. He is 24 and lives in a very rich area of Cambridge, his background is a wealthy family. Enjoys thriller movies and his favorite type of thriller is psychological. While he watches the film he tries to work out what is happening and what is going to happen. But he enjoys a twist in the story that can make him think! His favorite TV show is CSI and has all the episodes on his computer that he has downloaded off of iTunes. He uses iTunes to download all of his films and movies and rarely buys them in disc form. He is very technical and has set up a home cinema system complete with a 50 inch HD tv and sound system. His favorite film is Silence of the lamb. It follows a detective investigating a case. It is a physiological thriller just like ours.


Question 5. how did you attract/address your audience?

Here is a annotation of our opening sequence talking about class, age and gender and how we portrayed these.


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

To plan, film, edit and release our opening sequence we had to use a lot of software, equipment and websites.

Final Cut Express
To edit all of our shots and sound we used Final Cut Express. Final Cut Express was new software to me and the rest of the gorup so it took a while to get used to but i came to terms with it very quickly. Using this software gave us the ability to edit the opening sequence to the way we wanted. The reason why we used Final Cut Express were that it gave us the chance to upload the videos we shot on the Cannon HD cameras to it; import downloaded soundtracks, ambient sounds and intra-diegetic sounds; edit the shots colour, sound, pitch levels, length, speed etc.

 Blogger

I had never blogged before in my life so blogging was a new experience for me and the rest of the group. Blogging took a few lessons to get used to but at the end was habitual to me. We blogged on every idea or information we had and made it clear to everyone what we were doing and why.

Youtube
I was used to youtube before i even started the course and had some knowledge of the website and its uploading services. We used youtube to upload everything that we made, preliminary task, animation storyboard and our opening sequence. With our own account we had all of our work grouped into one account making it easy to click through our videos. 


Equipment
The equipment we used were a Cannon Ligria HFR106 HD camera, a tripod and wires to film and then upload our clips. We used a HD camera so it allowed us to export our clips in HD format. It also allowed us to store all out clips in one plae making it easier to import to final cut express.

Other websites and software we used were google maps. We used google maps to help find a key location for our sequence. Also used photoshop to create logos

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C4VnB1Fj5I Here is our preliminary task. We developed a lot of techniques that we used in the opening sequence and can tell that we have developed in all departments of filming, sound and editing.

Nostaliga Opening Sequence

Meeting 31/01/2012

Today we discussed final planning for our filming day tomorrow (01/02/2012). We will film straight after school as there will still be an optimum amount of light for us to film in. We also discussed a different filming location in case the one we are hoping to film in is still undergoing construction.

Updated Film Schedule

As we were unable to film last Wednesday due to construction, we moved our filming date to Sunday 29/301/2012.

Filming Update

Today we went to Stansted to film the opening of our thriller. However, construction work (shown below) had started the day before and therefore means that we could not film. We are planning to try film again on the 29th of January in hope that the construction work has been finished by then. If it hasn't, we will have to relocate to another spot.

Script For Thriller Opening

Below is our script for our thriller opening:

(Detective on the phone to chief inspector)
Detective: Pursuing suspect Dominic Christopher, case 167. I know, I wont mess this up. (Credit sequence appear. Voice over) Trust me.

(detective moves teddy from dashboard, triggers flashback. Alice appears in the seat next to him)
Alice: Dad, dad. Come on we'll be late for school. (credit sequence appear. Voice over) Whats wrong?

Detective: I have him in my sights. In pursuit of victim now. (credit sequence appear. Voice over) He's mine. (gets out of car)

Detective: (While pursuing Dominic) Dominic, stop!

(Grace and Ruby Jones walk past detective, holding hands. Ques second flashback)
Detective: Alice, listen. Just be careful. (Kneels down)
Alice: I'll be fine. (Voice over) You worry far too much.

(Detective runs around the corner. Dominic is no where to be seen)
Detective: (On the phone) I've lost him. He's gone. (Voice over. Title appears) I'm sorry I let you down.

Meeting 25th January

Everyone attended today.
Today Jack wrote the script ready for filming in Bentfield End in Stansted later on. Becky researched music for the thriller opening and Mike finished some posts.

Meeting 25/01/2012

Today we called a group meeting to discuss final decisions on our film. First of all, we all decided on the film title 'Nostalgia', each of us think that it fits the mysterious element that we are trying to get across to our audience.  We decided that we will film on Wednesday 26/01/2012, as the weather (shown by the previous weather post) should not be raining during the afternoon when we are going to film.

Final Title

We have agreed to name our thriller Nostalgia.

Nostalgia - The 18 century word originates from the Greek word 'nostos' meaning 'homecoming'. It is defined as a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time. Therefore this can be linked to the detectives state of mind and feelings. He is having a nostalgically effected by these flashbacks of when his daughter was alive, when she was safe and far from harms reach. He is constantly having thoughts/ flashbacks of previous times and he longs to have her back.  

Hopefully the name of the thriller will tell the audience the enough about the story with just the title. The title represents the remembrance of the daughter and how the detective misses the happiness and the memories.

Logo

This is our production logo. Gemini productions. The sign is the sign for gemini which is twins

Props

For our opening sequence we need props to film with. By using props the opening sequence will appear more believable and will help tell the story in the opening two minutes. Props are perfect for opening sequences as one prop can tell a story about a person or who the person is.

 The phone will help exchange dialogue without the use of a new character or the need for a new scene, this will save us time.

 Binoculars will help show the audience that the character is 'stalking' or 'spying' on someone. This will help set the scene for who the character is.

 Documents also will be used to show the audience that the character is spying on someone, helping show the audience that the character is a detective .






A car will have to be used as the detective is on a 'stake-out'.

The teddy bear will help tell the story of the death of his daughter. IT will also help assist the flashbacks and the audience should be come aware of what has happened within the first 2 minutes without knowing the whole story. The teddy bear is a symbol for how innocent and young the daughter was. The teddy bear carries innocence with it and is a constant reminder to the detective.

Opening sequence plan

As our last storyboard was not clear of our storyline we decided to go out and take pictures instead of drawing it out. Below is our improved storyboard animatic of our thriller opening:

Thriller music

Possibly ideas for our thriller opening music (music from the website - freeonlinemusic.com):

For our opening sequence will need music that can build tension and then speed up with the action. Both of these to reflect the scene and these are what we believe will work:

Lair - Starting from 00:00, subtly builds up tension within the scene and progressively becomes more sinister which would help set the dark physiologic tone at the start of our opening and carry it on during clips of the present.

Green Eyed - Starting from  01:06, this piece portrays more of a calming yet melancholic tone and will be effective in our opening during the flashbacks on the detectives daughter and times he spent with her. 


If we cross fade both music pieces throughout the opening it will highlight to the audience the contrast between the present (detective pursuing a possible suspect) and the past (flashbacks of daughter) therefore making the audience go through varying moods in the opening such as sympathy for the detective and the daughter during the flashbacks and tension and suspense during the pursuing in the present.

 

Location update

For Our opening sequence, we need a location that provides an urban surrounding but also leads onto an open area. for this we have chosen Stansted as there is a residential area with a long footpath leading onto a field. This location will help create that more familiar environment which people can relate to, therefore making our opening more believable and real. 







As mentioned before, this is the opening space which we will film the end of the pursuit with the criminal. As the picture was taken on google maps last year, the field is rather over grown and un-cared for and, as a result of this, we feel it is symbolic in a way that it fits to Detective Vince Clarke's mindset, he is now un-cared for and distraught since he lost Alice, his daughter.

Costumes

Forour thriller opening we want costumes that reflect our characters. this will help set the scene in the opening two minutes and help portray the characters fro later in the thriller.

For the detective we want him dressed in smart  business wear and to have a look of intelligence. We would like our character to wear glasses as this will show his intelligence as it is stereotypical. This will help contrast the opening two minutes as he will be dressed in business wear while going to see a grave. This will help tell the audience that going to this grave is a daily occurance. If the character is also a bit scruffy this will show the audience that he is stressed and this death is too much for him.

The girl will be dressed in a dress as this will portray her innocence. This will help tell the audience the shear horror of the death as an innocent girl has been killed.

The costumes we have choosen are to portray horror and terror while portraying characters

Storyboard Animatic

In order to gain a greater idea of how long our thriller opening will last for as well as the length of the various shot types we created a storyboard animatic and uploaded it to YouTube in hope for some feedback. Below is our storyboard animatic:

Location

As we are filming a psychological thriller and murer mystery we want to use the element of suspense. to do this we need to use locations that are likely to be scary to witness. For this we have choosen to use stasted nature reserve and debden church. Both these locations we feel will furfill the needs to add tension and suspense.

Here is a shot of the church. We are playing to shootduring night as this also will help create the atmosphere that we need.

The main shooting we are going to do is in the graveyard itself. We need to select a grave to use as the daughters. We hope that the graveyard's atmosphere will reflect the death of his daughter.




The graveyard will also help tell the audience that there has been a death and the death is very personal to the detective. The nature reserve will be the perfect place to show the decective walking through as it will help contrast the busy life of the decective then the peace and quiet of the reserve.

25 word pitch for our thriller film

'A fractured cop suffering from his recently deceased daughter becomes fixated on a cryptic investigation into the gruesome deaths of young females. Where's the truth?'

Opening to Pulp Fiction

http://youtu.be/lwusCDRiDwE

In this opening sequence you can see straight away the contrasts in characters. The man is sitting with his feet up on the bench smoking a cigarette whereas the woman is sitting straight and with proper posture. The woman speaks politely where in contrast the man swears and appears more aggressive. When the man asks for the coffee he shouts it at the woman and doesn't use his manners. He is like this in the opening sequence to show the audience that he is a ruthless character. a 180 degree camera shot is used during the dialogue. The irony used in the later part of the sequence is when the male and woman tell each other and have little cute names to call themselves. The next moment they both stand up screaming with their guns drawn.

There is suddenly a role reversal as the man who is coming across and ruthless is out shown by the polite woman who is screaming and demanding and swearing. A high angle shot is used to look up at the two robbers to assert their authority and power.

Story Board

Below is a summary of one of our ideas of what we will do for our 2 minute thriller opening.
The plot line is about a cult/covenant that are targeting females, but specifically younger females. The detective involved with the story lost his young daughter recently and is still grieving her. He also has multiple flashbacks of her either running away from him or what her body was like when she was killed. The case he is involved in is investigating the murders of the females but as the story progresses and he starts to unravel what really is going on, he finds out that the cult/covenant are responsible for the death of his daughter and the case becomes increasingly more personal to him.