Monday, 2 December 2013
Thursday, 2 May 2013
Evaluation
Working as a team; Daniel, Lizzie and I made a psychological thriller. We would have made it for an audience of teenagers. The BBFC age certificate would have been as low as possible to allow as much of our film's demographic to see the film. We thought that an age certificate of 15 would be suitable for our film. I had thought ahead to the rest of the plot of the film. I thought that the girl could spend her dreams escaping the doctor and carrying out each dream as an instruction, making them a reality. Only then to accidentally kill the doctor and then find out that he was her father, treating her for a psychological break. This plot-twist would be an unhappy ending to the film. Endings of psychological thrillers tend not to end well for the main protagonist. If we had made the film as a whole, we would have built on this convention rather than challenge it.
Another reason for the age rating we would give our film, is that the people whom this film is intended, would be able to see it. Our audience seeing the film, would have to be engaged and we used a three-piece method to keep their attention firmly on the film. The first element would be, that the demographic would be able to sympathise with our protagonist, who looks around sixteen or seventeen, due to being a similar age they would be able to relate to how they would feel in our protagonist's situation. Secondly, we wanted to draw the audience in by first using a chase scene to engage them, it would also intrigue them, as to who is chasing her and why. We would then build on this intrigue with the rest of the opening, showing the protagonist's personality and character, this would then build on the empathy felt by the demographic towards the heroine of the narrative. The third element would be the exciting aspect of our film opening, the audience would be excited at the prospect of what will happen if the girl is caught. The audience's hearts will be racing as they watch our protagonist flee the sinister doctor. Yet another convention of thriller that we used was a plot-twist, after being drawn in by the dream the audience would feel temporarily let down by the girl waking up, only to be intrigued again at whom the doctor is to her and where she is.
Our film opening represents that young people can be fragile and naïve, but also shows a second side, the rebellious and taking control element to them. Our intention was to not only represent the youth but also to see our protagonist as a role model. The fact we have chosen a young adolescent girl is challenging the usual conventions of thriller, we wanted an original aspect to our film and it also provided a potentially stronger link to our demographic. The film's opening conveys a possibly didactic story, to be wary of the older generation, particularly men. In a way, the dream sequence is reminiscent of fairy tales and cautionary tales from childhood, this is the fact that young girls should be wary of older men, no matter who they are. However, if we had carried on the film the way we had intended it would also show that you should not act unless you understand what is going on. However, it would not be made explicit as to whether the doctor was her father, much like the ending of Shutter Island (Dir. Martin Scorsese 2010), the audience would be left wondering. Making the film re-watchable, the audience would be constantly trying to find anything that would point to the answer. One thing that we know is the man is a doctor, but it doesn't always mean you can trust him, this is due to the implied violence in the bedroom scene (knife falling). Implied violence is a convention of psychological thriller that we decided to use in our films opening, we had been inspired by the film Sucker Punch (dir. Zack Snyder 2011) to use this convention but also to have a young female protagonist. Some could argue that our film shows women to be weak, but I would argue that even in the opening you can see the strength and defiance of the girl trying to escape this enigmatic doctor, men are represented as being dangerous as well as misunderstood. If we would have made the entire film we would have developed these concepts of psychological thrillers for men and challenged conventions of women in thrillers.
At the beginning of producing our main task, we initially thought that we would have approached an independent institute to distribute our film such as Warp Films, they distributed Shane Meadows' "This Is England" or Film4 who helped to distribute films such as Slumdog Millionaire (Dir. Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan 2008). However, as we had progressed to the editing and adding the music, we thought that a larger "Hollywood" studio would be better to distribute our film. Such as Universal Pictures, or a good institution to approach would be 20th Century Fox, this is due to them belonging to the News Corporation. As a conglomerate, they would be able to use vertical and horizontal integration to distribute our film, using subsidiaries such as Sky, MySpace and The Sun. We thought our film was more suitable for Hollywood as it doesn't offer as deeper meanings or social criticisms as many independent films and as an opening sequence our film generally develops rather than challenges conventions of thriller films.
I have learnt a lot about the film-making process, before this task I had never filmed or edited a film piece. So it was entirely a new experience, I have learned how to edit together shots using fades and dissolves as well as cuts. I now know how to add a filter effect to isolated sequences of film. While also learning from the preliminary how to edit a whole film into greyscale. I have gained experience with adding a soundtrack to a piece of media. Also, I have learned how to use a digital camcorder and tripod to film a variety of shots, such as zooming, panning and Point of View shots. We also gained a good concept of how long it takes to film and edit a small sequence. Having learnt this, next time we make a film, we would be able to schedule the filming and editing more accurately. Another thing I learnt to do was add opening credits/titles on top of the film (main task) and also ending credits at the end of a short film (preliminary). I already knew about team work before making these films, but I learned just how important communication is, sometimes when discussing ideas for our films, we would be totally in sync and know exactly how we wanted our film to look and what vibe we wanted to give it. I learned a lot more about the subtle differences in how costumes can change the feeling of the film, when buying the night dress, Lizzie took photos of a variety of types and we all decided which would fit our film the most. Furthermore, I also learned about how match-on-action is essential to make a film look realistic, if someone leaves a scene, and then enters a new scene at even a slightly different pace, it can ruin the lifelike quality the film has. Films need to be as real as possible for an audience, so that the film is enjoyable but also so that it serves as a form of escapism for the audience. They forget about any problems that they had prior to watching the film and become entangled in a whole new character, plot and problems.
In our preliminary task we were afraid of using complex shots and we did not venture far from the storyboard. But, through that experience we learned how to film a more fluid conversation, by filming the whole scene from one side and then again from the other side. It made editing easier, having edited the preliminary. Throughout we have become more ambitious with our shots (such as the reverse dolly-zoom) and although they may not have turned out as we had envisioned them, we still learned a lot from the experience. We had developed the convention of using a reverse dolly zoom (Goodfellas dir. Martin Scorsese 1990) but, we had used it as a Point of View shot, making it shaky to convey the protagonist's fear and adrenaline rush. We were ambitious enough to formulate our own camera technique and editing, we used a shot we called "The invisible camera". This involved filming the subject until they covered the lens of the camera and then turn the camera around in the opposite direction and have them starting walking from the camera lens, away. We put a fade to black between these shots, to make it look as though Lizzie had covered the lens completely- the result looks sophisticated and makes the editing flow seamlessly. After making our preliminary, we had become comfortable with filming a lot more, so for our main piece we were not afraid to research and use a variety of locations for filming. When making our preliminary, we suddenly became more aware of how important continuity is, how we need to make sure we keep as many continuity errors out of the films as possible. In our preliminary task, I found myself to be impatient with the people acting, when they struggled to get into character or could not stop laughing, I tended to shout at them. But, after doing more filming work, and acting in the preliminary myself, I know how hard it can be to get into the mind set of the character, so I became more understanding and patient.
Overall, I learned a lot about the film making process, the editing, filming and pre-production. I'm very happy with the finished film that we made as a group, especially because along with the preliminary, it was my first ever time making a film. Even though some of our ideas we scheduled did not go according to plan, I learned as much from what we got right, as what we didn't get right. I think that our films serve their purposes well, the preliminary is a comedic parody (as intended) and our psychological thriller opening is a lot more serious. The opening for "Parallel" not only engages audiences, but it makes sure to keep their avid and undivided attention. As well as looking professional, both pieces of media are original and have their own quirks and unique selling points, such as a young female protagonist. We had tried to use complex camera shots such as the reverse dolly zoom and even came up with our own unique ideas for camera shots and editing ("The invisible camera" shot/sequence). We were extremely thorough when making our films, scrutinizing differences in costumes and even doing a survey on our film title to make sure, that the title would attract our demographic. The preliminary and the main task document our journey and progress in filming and editing techniques.
Another reason for the age rating we would give our film, is that the people whom this film is intended, would be able to see it. Our audience seeing the film, would have to be engaged and we used a three-piece method to keep their attention firmly on the film. The first element would be, that the demographic would be able to sympathise with our protagonist, who looks around sixteen or seventeen, due to being a similar age they would be able to relate to how they would feel in our protagonist's situation. Secondly, we wanted to draw the audience in by first using a chase scene to engage them, it would also intrigue them, as to who is chasing her and why. We would then build on this intrigue with the rest of the opening, showing the protagonist's personality and character, this would then build on the empathy felt by the demographic towards the heroine of the narrative. The third element would be the exciting aspect of our film opening, the audience would be excited at the prospect of what will happen if the girl is caught. The audience's hearts will be racing as they watch our protagonist flee the sinister doctor. Yet another convention of thriller that we used was a plot-twist, after being drawn in by the dream the audience would feel temporarily let down by the girl waking up, only to be intrigued again at whom the doctor is to her and where she is.
Our film opening represents that young people can be fragile and naïve, but also shows a second side, the rebellious and taking control element to them. Our intention was to not only represent the youth but also to see our protagonist as a role model. The fact we have chosen a young adolescent girl is challenging the usual conventions of thriller, we wanted an original aspect to our film and it also provided a potentially stronger link to our demographic. The film's opening conveys a possibly didactic story, to be wary of the older generation, particularly men. In a way, the dream sequence is reminiscent of fairy tales and cautionary tales from childhood, this is the fact that young girls should be wary of older men, no matter who they are. However, if we had carried on the film the way we had intended it would also show that you should not act unless you understand what is going on. However, it would not be made explicit as to whether the doctor was her father, much like the ending of Shutter Island (Dir. Martin Scorsese 2010), the audience would be left wondering. Making the film re-watchable, the audience would be constantly trying to find anything that would point to the answer. One thing that we know is the man is a doctor, but it doesn't always mean you can trust him, this is due to the implied violence in the bedroom scene (knife falling). Implied violence is a convention of psychological thriller that we decided to use in our films opening, we had been inspired by the film Sucker Punch (dir. Zack Snyder 2011) to use this convention but also to have a young female protagonist. Some could argue that our film shows women to be weak, but I would argue that even in the opening you can see the strength and defiance of the girl trying to escape this enigmatic doctor, men are represented as being dangerous as well as misunderstood. If we would have made the entire film we would have developed these concepts of psychological thrillers for men and challenged conventions of women in thrillers.
At the beginning of producing our main task, we initially thought that we would have approached an independent institute to distribute our film such as Warp Films, they distributed Shane Meadows' "This Is England" or Film4 who helped to distribute films such as Slumdog Millionaire (Dir. Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan 2008). However, as we had progressed to the editing and adding the music, we thought that a larger "Hollywood" studio would be better to distribute our film. Such as Universal Pictures, or a good institution to approach would be 20th Century Fox, this is due to them belonging to the News Corporation. As a conglomerate, they would be able to use vertical and horizontal integration to distribute our film, using subsidiaries such as Sky, MySpace and The Sun. We thought our film was more suitable for Hollywood as it doesn't offer as deeper meanings or social criticisms as many independent films and as an opening sequence our film generally develops rather than challenges conventions of thriller films.
I have learnt a lot about the film-making process, before this task I had never filmed or edited a film piece. So it was entirely a new experience, I have learned how to edit together shots using fades and dissolves as well as cuts. I now know how to add a filter effect to isolated sequences of film. While also learning from the preliminary how to edit a whole film into greyscale. I have gained experience with adding a soundtrack to a piece of media. Also, I have learned how to use a digital camcorder and tripod to film a variety of shots, such as zooming, panning and Point of View shots. We also gained a good concept of how long it takes to film and edit a small sequence. Having learnt this, next time we make a film, we would be able to schedule the filming and editing more accurately. Another thing I learnt to do was add opening credits/titles on top of the film (main task) and also ending credits at the end of a short film (preliminary). I already knew about team work before making these films, but I learned just how important communication is, sometimes when discussing ideas for our films, we would be totally in sync and know exactly how we wanted our film to look and what vibe we wanted to give it. I learned a lot more about the subtle differences in how costumes can change the feeling of the film, when buying the night dress, Lizzie took photos of a variety of types and we all decided which would fit our film the most. Furthermore, I also learned about how match-on-action is essential to make a film look realistic, if someone leaves a scene, and then enters a new scene at even a slightly different pace, it can ruin the lifelike quality the film has. Films need to be as real as possible for an audience, so that the film is enjoyable but also so that it serves as a form of escapism for the audience. They forget about any problems that they had prior to watching the film and become entangled in a whole new character, plot and problems.
In our preliminary task we were afraid of using complex shots and we did not venture far from the storyboard. But, through that experience we learned how to film a more fluid conversation, by filming the whole scene from one side and then again from the other side. It made editing easier, having edited the preliminary. Throughout we have become more ambitious with our shots (such as the reverse dolly-zoom) and although they may not have turned out as we had envisioned them, we still learned a lot from the experience. We had developed the convention of using a reverse dolly zoom (Goodfellas dir. Martin Scorsese 1990) but, we had used it as a Point of View shot, making it shaky to convey the protagonist's fear and adrenaline rush. We were ambitious enough to formulate our own camera technique and editing, we used a shot we called "The invisible camera". This involved filming the subject until they covered the lens of the camera and then turn the camera around in the opposite direction and have them starting walking from the camera lens, away. We put a fade to black between these shots, to make it look as though Lizzie had covered the lens completely- the result looks sophisticated and makes the editing flow seamlessly. After making our preliminary, we had become comfortable with filming a lot more, so for our main piece we were not afraid to research and use a variety of locations for filming. When making our preliminary, we suddenly became more aware of how important continuity is, how we need to make sure we keep as many continuity errors out of the films as possible. In our preliminary task, I found myself to be impatient with the people acting, when they struggled to get into character or could not stop laughing, I tended to shout at them. But, after doing more filming work, and acting in the preliminary myself, I know how hard it can be to get into the mind set of the character, so I became more understanding and patient.
Overall, I learned a lot about the film making process, the editing, filming and pre-production. I'm very happy with the finished film that we made as a group, especially because along with the preliminary, it was my first ever time making a film. Even though some of our ideas we scheduled did not go according to plan, I learned as much from what we got right, as what we didn't get right. I think that our films serve their purposes well, the preliminary is a comedic parody (as intended) and our psychological thriller opening is a lot more serious. The opening for "Parallel" not only engages audiences, but it makes sure to keep their avid and undivided attention. As well as looking professional, both pieces of media are original and have their own quirks and unique selling points, such as a young female protagonist. We had tried to use complex camera shots such as the reverse dolly zoom and even came up with our own unique ideas for camera shots and editing ("The invisible camera" shot/sequence). We were extremely thorough when making our films, scrutinizing differences in costumes and even doing a survey on our film title to make sure, that the title would attract our demographic. The preliminary and the main task document our journey and progress in filming and editing techniques.
The people behind Eden Pictures
-from the left: Dan, Liz and myself (Iain)
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