Final film

 

 Evaluation Task 1

Binary Opposites

These two shots show contrast in power, this is represented often in thriller films where one is in higher power and the other is not.

During this part in the Narrative the two Binary Opposites are fighting which is shown through a tracking dolly shot. the location is shot in an abandoned café the lighting is equal across the screen showing that they are playing on the same terms. 

there are a lot of aspects from an action thriller like fast unstable shots.

Evaluation Task 2

During the planning of my film there were several different sources of information to try to establish what my target audience would be. From the research, I believe that my target audience would be young and mostly male.


Narrative

My narrative is presented through one main protagonist, one being engaged upon by another. Throughout the opening it is ambiguous as to what the conflict is about, it is also abstract in a way where the audience see’s what is going on in the main protagonist's head. Towards the end there is a macguffin portrayed in a bodily form, but it is not revealed to the audience where this person is from or why he is there. The main character is driven through self defense which is very action driven throughout a fight scene. This would appeal to my audience because it is so ambiguous it would put the audience on edge and they would want to find out what is happening more.


Exploring fears

Remember your research into why we find films scary? Use that theory.


We find films scary because either the main character is in danger or the audience feels themselves in danger.My audience will engage in my film because the fear for either of the characters are relevant to them. Excitation-transfer theory is definitely involved as the more dominant antagonist gets dominated at the end which shows the transfer in power. There is satisfaction in the antagonist being defeated.


Ideology


Justice is shown but not fully brought at the end. Revenge is not justified which leaves the audience on edge wanting for the revenge of the main character. Violence is necessary when self defense is involved, both characters are just trying to defend themselves from death. Binary opposites are shown through height and size between the main characters.



Representation

Who do you have in your film - what sort of characters?


The type of characters shown in my film are a vulnerable teenage boy who is scared but confident at the same time. The other character is a bully who is mean and does anything that he wants. My audience would relate to either of these characters as everyone has experienced first hand or second hand one of these characters, they might even be those characters themselves. My film takes place in this world, this would appeal to my audience as it is realistic.



Tone


The tone of my film is dramatic, I would describe my film as fast, action, quick and speed. This would appeal to my audience as because everything is happening so fast the audience are on edge when it becomes slow which shows contrast.


Style

What other content is your film like?


My film is a lot like the spiderman films with the main protagonist and a main protagonist. It is very action based with a lot of fight sequences.

How would it be distributed as a real media text?

My film would be a mainstream blockbuster due to the fact that it is a superhero like movie with a main protagonist. The movie contains a lot of fight scenes and fast cut edits which would appeal to a lot of the BFI mainstream audience. The release date would be at the start of summer, this would be because most people are on holidays where they have time to watch the movie, this would increase the amount of sales. I will release VOD just a few weeks after. I would do this because due to the recent pandemic, less people are more likely to go to the theaters so I would keep the movie alive by releasing it online.

Since my movie is a very mainstream blockbuster movie I would mean a major distributor to distribute my film, which already has a wide audience.

To market my film I would create a variety of sources including posters, websites and advertisements on all platforms, Especially TV. The trailer I would show would show off the visual effects of the movie as well as the characters. To give the audience an insight as to what the film is about. I would leave suspense in the trailer as well, with the main character asking a question at the end of the trailer like “where to?”

Evaluation Task 3

 

Codes & Conventions - I believe that my knowledge on thriller codes and conventions have improved because I have watched and studied a thriller film during the project, such as: The Silence of the Lambs (Demme, 1991).

 

Planning & Organisation - At the beginning of the project I had really bad organization , I had not planned any of my film times and a set timetable of when I wanted to shoot the film. As time went on I began to realize how close the deadline was for the project to be finished, so I had to get my act together. I organized the team together and made a set time for shooting and editing.

 

Camera Work - My camera work was not good at all at the beginning of the project. This was probably because I had never done film before and this was the first time I have actually shot something of my own with a high quality camera and equipment. As the days went on I learned to familiarize myself with the camera and its tools

 

Visual effects - I had a lot of experience with visual effects, this would be due to the fact that I love film editing and FX, so I had done this before whether it be through youtube videos or internal or external projects that I like to work on.

 

Editing - My editing is one of my strongest aspects, as I have been doing it for very long, I came into the project already knowing a lot about editing, and I came out knowing a lot more. This was through after effects and premiere pro which I had used for the, some of the editing challenges that I may have faced would have been trying to convert a Afte effects project into a premiere pro project. I overcame this buy reporting it as an mp4 then importing it after.

 

Creative confidence - I had a clear Idea of what I wanted my film to be about and what type of effects that were going to be used. This was changed when the peer feedback came in and I had to question if my film was really a thriller film. So I reconsidered the plan and it turned out to be better than before.

Evaluation Task 4

Tool I used:

Hardware: Mac, Camera, microphone, tripod, lights, phones

For filming I used a black magic camera

For editing I used a PC with a 3070 graphics card

I used tripods

I used phones

I used a dolly

Programs I used:

After effects

Premiere pro

DaVinci

Celtx

Research

A lot of my research was done through inspiration of superheroes movies, with a main protagonist and a main villain, special effects which were heavily editing orientated. I use padlet to collect these Ideas, analyses them and then evaluate them

Planning

For my planning, the first thing I did was the script, which I made on the program Celtx, I then sent it to my teacher for feedback, which then I changed some of it. The next thing I did was my storyboard. I did this by drawing out the shots and scenes in my notebook. Both of these can be found in my blog. (script here) (storyboard here) After this I was ready to shoot. So I booked the black magic camera out for the weekend and shot the first half of my film. Which can be found (here). With my first half of my film done I was then ready to share my rough cut with the rest of the class. I showed my rough cut to the rest of the class, and the one underlying feedback I was given was, is this the start of a thriller film? This is when I had to rethink my whole planning process. Then I decided to change my film entirely. A few weeks later I filmed my new Idea and it turned out to be great.

Filming

I used the black magic camera because with the black magic camera they do not have a pre filter, so the film in shot in raw and then with the app da vinci you can add your own color grading, I did this because it gives me a lot more preference and choice when color grading my film. I had two days of filming. The first day we focused on the introduction of the opening. So that would be shots like Establishing shots and setting shots. We were lucky enough to start some of the fight scenes. During this first day of filming I the equipment we used was the black magic camera and a tripod. When it came to our second day of filming, I wanted to have a tracking shot during the fight scene, so I used a dolly for this, as well as the tripod and black magic camera.

One of the challenges that I faced when filming was that the black magic camera that we used did not have any batteries in them as we had borrowed it from the film block. So my friend Vedaant who had booked out the black magic camera had to go home and get his batteries. This was very time wasting as the rest of us had to wait for him to come back with the batteries.

We had to set up things like the tripods and the dolly track. For one of the unique shots we needed a hand held mount, so luckily with the camera we borrowed from the film block we already had a hand mount on the camera.

Post production

In the post production I used After effects for the speed scene in the first rough cut. In the film It was when the character was imagining him cleaning up his room in his head with superspeed. I achieved this by timeramping the clip and putting on a lot of motion blur on the scene. I used Premiere pro and Davinci to cut and edit the film, I used Da Vinci more to color grade the film, and premiere pro for the subtitles.

Target audience

 

Doctor Strange is a superhero movie distributed by Walt Disney Studios where there is a male main character who is in trouble and they need to do whatever they can to get out of that trouble. This movie appeals to a more male audience in their early adulthood, this is because the main characters are of older age

My Film is very superhero based, which means there is a main character/ hero/ protagonist who is against another main villain. And they have superpowers. The target audience would be a bit younger as the characters in my film are 17 years old. It would appeal to a more male demographic, this is due to the fact that both the main characters and the side characters are male.

 FX and Editing

The way I made it look as though my character had superspeed was through post effects in efter effects. what I did was place the camera in a position where it would not be moved, then filmed the shot where I was running. after this, in after effects I would cut it where I would start the speed, speed up the video and add a lot of motion blur. because the camera was in the same position it did not affect the shot so all surrounding had motion blur.

The way I added text behind me was through the rotor brush tool in after effect where it would track my body so then I would be able to add text behind me as another layer.

The way I added text to the walls and made it appear after I had walked past was through masking. first I added the text, then I masked it, then tracker each frame so that It would appear behind my body. 

Rough cut feedback

My class indicated that they liked the effects and the text effects and the masking. Though they did question if my film was a thriller or not. there was no threat indicated, it was just a school boy going to school without having any sort of conflict. Therefore I need to change my plan so that the narrative of the thriller makes more sense.

Rough cut

 

BTS filming

In this shot we are getting ready to film the shot where the character runs up the stairs. We currently have an actor looking up at the stairs, with a low shot from the camera to portray that the character is feeling triumphant and big in this moment of time in the story.

In this shot, Vedaant is angling the camera for the master shot where the character walks up the stairs. shot was a bit tricky as the tripod was not fully on the step so he had to support the camera with his leg. the result was a good shot as it showed the dimensions of the setting.

This shot is right after the shot in the last image Vedaant had to do a tracking shot whilst trying to focus on me at the same time, surprisingly this only took two takes as Vedaant was skilled enough for the challenge.

 Script

Story board

 

 Location scouting

In my original Idea the location that was chosen was my school and my house. But when I reconsidered my film I chose to do it at an abandoned café, which was still in my school. This suited the film and was very convenient as because it was abandoned we did not have people walking in and out of the set. This also suited the theme of the film as two people fighting at an abandoned location just made sense.

 Props

There weren't a lot of props we needed to use as this was a very physical scene where props were not needed. We just used a hand phone for the props.

 Health and Safety

When shooting my film, there were a lot of health and safety precautions we had to take as it was a fight scene. There was a certain stunt where Zach had to push me on the ground. This had to be done safely and we did this by mapping out where exactly Zach was going to hold me and how I was going to land safely. Other than this there were some shots where Zach had to “punch me”. We made this look real by shifting the camera angle behind the person that was getting punched so you could not see the contact.

Pitch Padlet

 

 Music and research choice

As a music student I think that my musical skills can help and benefit my film on a whole. I plan to make my own music for the start of my thriller film.

I will be taking inspiration from the TV show Arcane on Netflix. I have chosen this because it uses various percussion instruments to create suspense as well as orchestral voicings, mixed with the sound effects of the fight this can help me portray the fight scene very well. although it has these percussion sections, there is a section in the fight scene below where "Powder" the girl with the blue hair is watching the fight unfold around her. during the section there is a solo violin playing, which represents her loneliness in being too young to know how to fight or know any sort of self defense.

Further more within the clip it shows a good contrast between the two gangs fighting Ashwell as the different emotions that each character goes through.

Character research

TASK Character Research

While you’re developing your characters for your Film Opening it’s useful to look at existing characters from other media products that will help you construct representation in your opening in terms of mise-en-scene, framing, music, acting etc. This will also help you with Evaluation Question 2. 

They could be from a film similar to your idea, but they could come from any other media product or genre (game, TV, film, comic). It could be just one character or it could be that your character is a mix of several influences.

 


1) Write a short description of the character – film, personality, biography

A lot like Miles Morales from ‘Spiderman Into The Spiderverse’, personality wise. He would be good at some things but not an expert at anything yet, he is just learning the fundamentals. He is a shy, awkward boy who gets into trouble often.

2) Analyze the way the are represented – costume, make-up, props, framing in film, role in film.

Costume would be a sweatshirt and sweatpants with black Nike Air Force Ones, so pretty casual clothing. No make up to keep it real and authentic. Props is just a hand phone and wallet. The framing in film would be shot from a very high angle to show the power imbalance between him and the other character/characters. Role in the film would be the hero/main character.


3 ) What existing character in films is your creation closest to you and why?

Like I said before a lot like Mile Morales from the movie ‘Spiderman Into The Spiderverse’ as he is naive and new to a lot of things, who is clumsy and gets himself into trouble often, or maybe he find himself ending up in trouble often. The more that he gains experience the more he will learn and grow as a character from the experiences, whether they be mistakes or good things.


4) Dreamcasting - which actor would you like to cast in this film and why?

I have chosen myself as the main character/actor because I feel like I can play the character well as I have a lot in common with the character. I have also watched ‘Into the Spider Verse’ more than 4 times. So I think knowing the movie that I am basing my main character off of can really help when it comes to casting the role.

The second actor I have chosen in my film would be Zach. I have chosen Zach because he is a big guy who can really portray the power indifference between the two characters in my film. Another reason why I have chosen zach is because. He has that sort of bully vibe and voice. Which would help with the main plot and story of my introduction to a thriller film.

Pitch feedback

 Overview

Bullied kid imagines having super-powers to fight against his tormentors. Spider-Verse style use of text for credits.

Texts to look at

Scenes to look

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM7Eou4bV-Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUAhNsC2M3o

Strengths

Clear relatable idea

Strong visuals for the credits

School setting – good for cast and location

Things to consider

The amount of effects work needed – which software, which tutorials

Is it Thriller?

Introducing Hitchock

 Introducing Hitchcock

Documentary here

1. Watch this documentary  - every time someone tried to define what pure cinema is, write down who and what is said.

Randy Thom:

Pure cinema is experiencing the world in what we see and what we hear and finding a way to put that in the dimensions of a film camera.

Donald Spoto:

Strictly visual means not dialouge to get across the emotional feel or an impact of a sequence

David Sterrit:

Communicating through pictures, give the audience something that only the cinema can give you.

2. Can you identify key techniques (uses of film language) that define hitchcock's style

• Strictly visuals means to communicate ideas

• Do ‘something’ that is unique to cinema

• ‘Chase scene is pure cinema’

• Using tools available to set a emotional response

• Editing to create experience

Once Upon a time in Hollywood

  

True Blood write up

 True Blood Intro

 

 

 

 

1. Think about the format of the images

The format of the images are slow at the start which then they start building up as the music build up, it shows flashes of sexual imagery it shows flashes of the KKK it shows flashes of coloured people and then white people, the one that really struck me was a small boy eating something and it looked like he had blood all over his mouth.

• How are they constructed

They were constructed in a way where it gives the audience a first glance as to what they are about to watched, what the movie is about, this really is for every movie. It was fast moving images that the audience could not really see but still see flashes of pictures.

• What shot types are used

The shot types consists of close ups, mediums shots, full body shots.

• What filters, effects are used

The color red was seen a lot other than the colors black and white, the filter was very bland.

• Any adjectives you would use to describe the quality of the images.

Old, bad.

• Are there any shapes used?

Circles, triangles.

• Are there any key colors used?

Red, black, white.

2. Now start thinking about the imagery

• Start taking screenshots from images that stand out for you and then try to gather them in sections

The shots that stand out were the one's with children, or the sexually explicit scenes.

• Now start to think about what themes or connotation are associated with these groups of images

The themes that stood out to me were black and white, and the conflict between them, death, love, family.

• And start to think what are the links or differences between the groups

Like I said, the link between the two themes were.

3.  Now start to see if there's other tools from out theory work that might be useful to use:

 

• Can you identify any 'Binary opposites'?

Death and live

• Can you identify any type of montage?

 

• What do you believe is the 'reality that is being represented?

I believe the reality that is being represented is the cultural difference between the vampires and the Humans with a little hint with the black culture and community and the white culture community.

• What do you think the preferred reading of this representation is?

I think the preferred reading of this representation would be that anyone within the community has to find their way around life and that they shouldn't be discriminated against at all. That everyone in life is just trying to survive and that we should all just treat one another as equals so that the world can be a better place.

 

Once you've considered all this can you identify the following and justify your reasoning:

What the genre of the shows is (and tone/mood)?

The type of genre of this show is horror - rural/deep south USA. Vampires are heavily enforced and shown with the thought of then being predators who eat/kill for survival. Also hints of seduction, seduction fear, dominants. Cultic references,

What the themes of the show are?

 Love, death

 rural/deep south

Vampires

Apex predators

What is the representation of the setting is?

It shows deep south USA in multiple flashing blinding shots, with quick cut editing.