Evaluation 7:

Looking back at my preliminary task I believe that I have improved in many different areas and learnt many new techniques. I think that one area I have learnt about and improved in is my performance camera recording skills. During the basic preliminary I wasn’t very clear on the different angle and shots which now throughout my production of my new thriller opening I have understood and learnt many different camera angles and shots. I believe that during the production of the thriller opening, I have gained of experience of how to perform on camera, I am more confident with recording now.

My skills with the camera also, in my opinion, hugely progressed between the preliminary task and the final thriller opening. During the preliminary task my camera work was poor and my handheld work with the camera was shaky and unreliable. However, mainly due to quite a high amount of practice during the making of the final product, my camera work improved quite dramatically and I was now able to also hold a camera steady as a handheld for a long amount of time and this was especially important as a number of the closing camera shots involved me using the camera handheld.

I have also improved more confidence with working together as a team as I have learnt a lot about the importance of working well as a group to achieve the best outcome. During a small task like the preliminary a lot of planning and research wasn’t needed, whereas on the final product of the thriller video, a lot of planning and research was needed as a group to get across what we all wanted as a team. It was much more important that we worked well as a group and broke up separate tasks and jobs accordingly between members of my group. As the planning of the film was made by our group, I have learnt that it is vital to split up planning jobs amongst members of the group with jobs such as the shot list, writing the storyboards, planning and research. I have also learnt a great amount about working together during the shoot and sharing different ideas of different camera shots.

I have also learnt that the audience feedbacks were very important in the production of my thriller opening sequence as it shows what the audience like and dislike.  In my opinion, the feedback we have gained was very positive and few improvement feedbacks were given, so as a team we worked out to see what can be done to the final product to make it the best outcome. I believe that the audience were able to identify well with the characters and the film’s storyline and were able to understand the overall intentions of the film.

Finally, I believe that the most important thing I have learnt about film-making during this process is that you do need to have patience and a lot of practise, as the shots doesn’t always look as you want it to. A lot of different shots need to be done for whether to get the perfect shot. Also another important thing I have learnt is to always have extra shots of the locations, as it can be useful in the editing process.

Evaluation 6:

What have you learned about the technologies from the process of constructing this product?

The Camera equipment

For our thriller opening video we have used the Sony camcorder, the tripod and the lighting. Our footage's came very professional as we have spent good time with different camera shots and angles. The camera and the equipments were easy to use, which made it easier for us to film our film opening.

Sony Vegas Pro 11

This is the software I have used throughout the editing of my thriller opening video

FL Studio

I have used this software to make the music for the opening thriller video. This software had many different types of music and instruments, which made it easier for me to make the soundtrack for my thriller opening. The music I have made was to create suspense and tension to the audience.

Adobe after effects

I have used after effects to have a variety of different titles for the thriller opening, this software has

Google

I have used Google for different resources and information for my blog work. I have also used Google images to get ideas for our opening titles.

YouTube

I have used YouTube as an example of different peoples work and existing video products, to get different ideas for my thriller video. For example looking at CCTV footage's of real like CCTV cameras and used that idea for my thriller video.

Throughout the production of my thriller video opening, I have learnt to use different technologies and understand how different software’s work.

Evaluation 5:

Evaluation 5: on Prezi

Evaluation 4:

Who would be the audience for your media product?

For our film to be successful, it is vital that we establish a specific target audience that we believe our film would appeal to in particular and the demographic that we believe would enjoy the film the most through factors such as relating to the characters and identifying themselves with the setting, the plot etc.

For the audience for my thriller opening, I have done many different research and questionnaires around the school to ask, which target audience would watch my movie. I have asked different age groups and different people to get a variety of different answers.

What do you think of this opening?

“This is a very good opening, as it was very suspense like and with the sound track in the background it grabbed my attention” Geerthy

Would you go to the cinema to watch this movie?

“Yes I would enjoy watching the rest of this movie as I would like to find out what happens to protagonist” Snehal

Would you buy this movie on DVD?

“I would like to buy this movie and share it with my friends and family” Andrew

What age group do you think this movie is certified?

“I think this movie would be a 15A” Mathura

What type of genre do you think this movie is?

“I think this movie would be a criminal/thriller genre because of the different quick camera CCTV footages and the suspense sound track” Vibakhar

This is some of the answers I have come across in my school.  As most of the students enjoyed watching this movie, which showed that all different age groups was interested in the movie. As different age groups wanted to watch this movie, I have put the age certificate to a 12A as this means more target audience are presented.

Evaluation 3:

What kind of media institution might distribute your media production and why?

If I had a chance to distribute our media product i would distribute my product to a independent companies to see what they think of it and see whether is it a successful thriller opening. If it was a successful i would show my idea to an international or large media company. Distributing and showing the media product to both small and large companies will quickly broaden the audience and the film title would become more known so this would gain a bigger and wider audience.

By distributing my media product to a smaller company first will us me to get many different feedbacks and let me know how successful our media product will be before we move into a larger company which would just waste time if it was not a success. Also another advantage is that more profit can be gained this way as no money would have been lost through commercialism. Distributing to larger companies would increase the films reputation which will increase the target audience as more people are aware of the movie, which would increase the profit. As our target audience are mainly teenagers and adults we have used the location in a busy shopping centre which makes the incident look realistic and makes the audience involved.

I would suggest showing my thriller movie in a smaller cinema first to gain popularity within the local areas and see whether the movie is successful enough to make it to larger cinema like Vue and Cineworld.

If the movie was only successful on smaller cinema and private cinemas then a DVD would be released after a month of the release of the movie after it has been shown at the cinema for a week or two. However, if the movie was successful at larger cinemas then the DVD would be produced after 2-3 months after the film has been in cinema for a few weeks.

Evaluation 2:

Evaluation 2: on Prezi

Evaluation 1:

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

Frame 1: The story and how the opening sets it up

In our thriller video we used the sub genre ‘innocent on the run’. This genre is mainly to create tension and suspense throughout the video. As a group we came to an idea of using our main opening to be on CCTV footage. Our first scene introduces the protagonist and we make our audience emphasise and feel for our character and create suspense to the opening sequence as in my final cut I have edited quick cuts of the antagonist and location which will grab the audience's attentions to the opening scene, this is very important is it will make the audience want to carry on watching the movie. The first shot taken for our film was an medium shot which the camera is put in one constant place, but the character would be moving around, so when this was edited i cut few bits of the first shot to show the audience that he has spend time looking for what he wanted to buy. By using this particular shot, it would give the audience the opportunity to understand the location and the surroundings that the character was in. As a group we decided to use a high median shot for this first shot so the audience can capture the main character of being vulnerable, powerless and innocent.  To add more suspense and tension for our thriller opening sequence, I have added a suspense music which would make the audience think something is going to happen. I think as a group we were able to create a successful thriller opening sequence as the scenes built up suspense and tension which encourages the audience to believe that something unexpected is going to happen.

Frame 2: Camera Work and Editing

The second frame in the storyboard provides valid information to the audience about the main characters in the film. As the villain is shown on screen it shows the audience that something is going to happen to the protagonist. The different shots from different high angles show the audience that it is CCTV footage with the time code added at the bottom of the screen. As a group we decided to have some shots to be black and white which indicates the CCTV footages and some shots to be in colour which shows what’s happening at that particular time, also making the audience have a feel that they are inside the movie. The quick shot of different angles show that the incident took place very quickly and at first the audience wouldn’t understand what actually happened. However through intelligent editing i have zoomed into the incident and reversed the shots to show the audience what happened in a slower motion

Frame 3: The title of the film

The third frame in the storyboard is the main title of the film 'Dream Chaser' which appears in white with yellow glow as each letter enlarges to the screen on a black background. After the enlargement of the single letters it goes back to one size as the audience can read the title easier, the letters fade away from the frame leading into a different location. The use of capital letters throughout the title of the film is because it adds boldness to capture the audience’s attention, and the glowing effect to make the title stand out even more. The main reasons for using a dark background, was because the audience wouldn’t struggle reading the title and wouldn’t lose concentration on the scene itself, this is why I have faded in the shot of the character walking towards the checkout under the title of the movie towards the ending.  The title our movie will provide the audience with an idea of the genre in the film without revealing the plot .The title in our film opening fits the successful thriller opening as we provided the audience with the names of actors, directors and producers.

Frame 4: How the characters are introduced

As a group we decided that the first shot we should reveal our main character that was immediately introduced to the audience inside a shop. However it wasn’t a close up of the characters face as it was a medium constant shot, but through editing the audience get to see the character as he moves around. We only had a clear shot of the characters face towards the end of the opening as the camera zooms out from the protagonist’s face, which clearly shows his innocence. However on the other hand the antagonist was introduced as a shady character, this was achieved by the character wearing dark clothing and wearing a hat. This way the audience don’t really see this character as he the villain in this movie. A very quick snap of the shady characters face was made very quickly using cross cutting as the lift doors closes. The casual clothing worn by the protagonist shows man is an everyday ordinary man, whereas the shady character was wearing black clothing which indicates tension towards the audience.

Frame 5: Lighting

In this frame of the storyboard lighting is a major feature which is used in this particular camera shots. As a group we have used very good lighting as we can exactly see without any difficulty on what’s happening on screen. We used high key lighting in this frame it aims to reduce the lighting ratio presented in the scene. The lighting throughout our film opening was same, however on the CCTV footages the lighting was reduced due to the effects used in the process of editing to show it was CCTV footage. However when the antagonist was shown the lighting decreased a very little but to show the audience that he was the shady character in the movie, whereas for the main character we used good lighting to show the innocence.  In our lighting as well as having the high key lighting, we also showed there was a shady part in the movie, which makes it easier for the audience to identify the characters immediately.

Frame 6: Setting and Location

In this frame the scene focuses on the elevator as that where the main incident takes place. We chose this location as it has CCTV and the audience wouldn’t expect something like this happen. Using this location made the CCTV look more realistic as it had many different CCTV angles. Another reason why we chose this location is because the audience might assume that something else is going to happen but not to the character and is a ordinary day at the shopping centre which looks like an accident and not suppose to happen. But the audience will figure out the something is going to happen to our protagonist.

Frame 7: Genre and how the opening suggests it

This frame in the storyboard clearly shows that the genre of the film is a thriller and a sub genre of ‘innocent on the run’ as the opening sequence shows. The innocent character is shown buying something special for his wife/girlfriend who shows the innocence of this character.  When the CCTV footages and the incident happen the audience can tell it is going to be a thriller movie. This is a successful film opening as the scenes create tension and suspense and also questions to the audience on what is going to happen next.

Frame 8: Special Effects

This frame illustrates the use of special effects that I have tried to create in our thriller opening sequence.  One particular scene in the film which had good effects added was when the CCTV footage was rewinded and had close ups of the tape falling over, the quick shots of different angles of the tape falling over. The zooming of the CCTV was made by a software I have used throughout my edits was Sony Vegas pro 11. I have had the opportunity to use a variety of different effects that was very helpful for the CCTV footages, for example the time code I have used at the bottom of the video showing the time – which added more thrill to the footage as the audience can figure out its a CCTV and someone is operating the video.  By making the video black and white and then changing to colour showed a great comparison of different angles used and making it clearer to the audience to see in colour what’s happening. When the camera zooms out from our protagonist it shows his innocence and tells the audience that something is going to go wrong.

Frame 9: How the suspense is created

The final frame in the storyboard is when the camera zooms out from the character and the camera zooms backwards inside the closing lift – showing the character in a very close up with his facial expression we can tell that he has no clue on what is happening. As the lift door closes, I have added a flash transition which creates the tension towards the audience in what is going to happen next. This final shot in a film creates tension to the audience, where they are going to question what events could occur throughout the remainder of the film. The music used in my opening video also contributed a lot to create the suspense to the movie. The camera angles changing to the beat of the music shows that it is happening at a very fast pace. The different quick angles of the camera and the music made the build up of suspense and tension towards the audience which draws the audience's attention to the film and encourages them to continue watching it in order to see the outcome.

Location

For the locations me and my group that different locations planned. We first thought of a busy high street in colindale as it would of been easier access for everyone in our group and thought this location would be the best for our movie. However we changed the location due to having difficulties with high angle camera angles in a busy high street. We changed to brent cross shopping centre, as it was easier to record and have many different camera angle, we also had permission from the main office in brent cross shopping centre to record.

As we chose this location recording was very easy as we didnt have to stop recording due to too much people, and stopping due to other peoples privacy. Also by using this location we took our time recording which made our footages look more proffessional as we didnt rush through our videos.

Opening titles

Sound Track

For the background music, i have done a lot of research with different types of music i could put in my thriller opening video. The music needs to be perfect as this is a very important factors that would catch the audiences attension. The music needs to flow with the video, and match what is happening on screen for it to create tension and suspense. Music tells the audience how they should be feeling and what emotions they should be experiencing. It adds scale and dramatises events, for example in my thriller opening the calm music at the start flows with what the protagonist is doing, as he is buying a present for his girlfriend, the music seems gentle.

Costume

In our video the costume was a very important factor as the two main characters were the protagonist and antagonist. As a group we chose what types of clothing we needed for our particular video. I have done some research on different costumes for different characters in our thriller opening.

In my research of different costumes, i came across that most of the protagonist is usually dressed up casually which means he is an ordinary normal person. For example in the movie fugitive the protagonist was wearing a ordinary jumper with a pair of jeans. As this movie was a very close genre to our movie 'innocent on the run' i have chosen for the protagonist to wear a normal ordinary jumper and a pair of jeans which shows that this man is an ordinary everyday man.

However on the other hand for the antagonist, in my research showed that these characters should be wearing dark clothing to show the audience that this character is shady. So for my thriller opening i have decided that our antagonist should wear dark clothing with an black hat, so the shadow of the character wouldnt reveal the face of the antagonist.

Schedule of shoots

As a group we had to give up our weekends, so we could start recording for our thriller opening video. We all decided on a time and date which all our group members were avalaible. Also we had to check the weather as if it was raining our footages wouldnt become very clear and would look dull. So we picked a sunny day which will also help our lighting in the movie as it would give a natural look to the video.

My group made good effort as we all came to the location at the correct timing and date, which made it easier to start our recording and gave us good timing to record which made our footages look proffessional

Effects

Colour Corrector -

I have used colour corrector, to make my final video look professional and not look like a simple camera video. I have put levels and darken the video, to have a professional look. Below is images before colour corrector has been used and after.

The first image is the original camera quality which has not been colour corrected. This makes the video look cheap and unprofessional.

The second image, it can be corrected by colour corrector - I have darkened the video and added levels to give it this look. This makes the video look 

professional. 

 

Flash effect -

I have used a flash effect as it changes to different camera shot, which goes with the music. I have used this to add more suspense and tension towards the audience.  

Time code - 

I have used this to show the audience that this particular shot is being recorded by using a time code at the bottom of the scene.

Opening titles research

Third Wing Visuals

• This is the studio name of our movie that is distributing the film.

A Richard Pitt Film

• This is the director of of our movie and is also written by Richard Pitt

Anujan Raja

• This is our main hero of the film, so i decided to put the name straight after the director

Aymen Solimen

• This is our villian in our movie, which is the second biggest character in this movie

Dream Chaser

• This is the name of our movie, and is showed after the main characters

Starring

• These our the characters which are acting in our film

Music by Arun Nathan

• Composer of music.

Production

• Production designer.

Screenplay

• Dan Bond

Editor - Aruran Arulanantham

• Editor of the movie

Sound that has inspired me

I have been researching for different types of professional sound effects i can use in my opening thriller video. This sound track has grabbed my attension as it sounds like a real CCTV footage being rewinded. Also this sound effect makes the audience understand what is happening on the screen and wouldnt get confused as this sounds explains what is happending.



My opening video is about a CCTV footage, which requires different sound effects. one of the sound effects that has grabbed my attension is a rewinding sound effect. I am using the effect as on my opening video, one part of the video is rewinded and played again with a close up - so for that section i have used this sound effect from youtube.

Inspiration

This is one of the CCTV shot, that has inspired me to use for my opening thriller video. I am going to use this type of high angle for the lift scene in my opening. However in my video i am going to make the video black and white, and add the time and date at the top f the video which shows that its been recorded.

This is another shot that has inspired me a long shot of the elevator doors. I would have different angles of the lift - a right corner high angle, opposite left corner high and a extremely low angle inside the lift. I think the low angle inside the lift would look professional as the lift opens, the camera would be pointing towards the door.