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

We chose the name ‘be back soon’ because it appeared in the content of the first 2 minutes of the film, but it also gives a good inference towards the plot of the film, and sums up the mystery that revolves around the film, and is evident from the first 2 minutes.

 The Title appears at the end of the film opening because then the audience can think back and remember where they saw the words ‘be back soon’ but then we added a question mark to add an air of mystery, too keep the audience in suspense. The text is white and appears at first over the picture of the two main male characters but then the image behind fades away and we’re left with white writing on a black background so it is very clear.

The aim of the opening to a thriller is to thrill, to get the audience to feel as if they want to see the film, to want to know what happens. We need to get to know the main characters, to get a taste for what they’re like so we can gage how they’re going to affect the film. The characters that we have included are very archetypal; we have a hero, a villain and a sweet maiden. This is very well done I feel in our film opening, as in my film opening, we meet Jonathan, the killer, who shows off pretty well that he is the archetypal bad guy. He is dressed in dark yet relatively smart clothing and he violently attacks another man. He is first introduced to us pulling the victim down the corridor in a head lock, which establishes right from the off that he is the bad guy.   We see the (at- first) ignorant then grieving wife, Sarah, and we meet the victim. As Todorov said, it is common for a thriller to open with disequilibrium, and the aim of the characters, and the direction of the plot is leading to restoring equilibrium. But like most good film plots, there is a twist in rest of the film that shows the victim become the hero and the bad guy become the victim.

The music in our film opening has a sad tone to it, the picked guitar played loudly over the scenes in the taxi of Sarah returning home to emphasise her sadness, then dimmed down for the fight scenes, so we can hear the fight noises but the scene does not appear to be too empty. The music is still quite determined so keeps with the genre of action but does not detract from the feeling of the characters.

HERE PLAY VERY OPENING OF FILM, FIRST 2/3 SHOTS

The film is a thriller, with an action look to it, as is seen by the fight scene which is synonymous with the action genre and is emphasised by the smashing of plates and loud punch noises. It also has the confusion factor as we expect the house to be very different when she returns home, but instead it is absolutely fine and so questions are raised in our minds about the situation. The film is fast paced with a sense of drama, which comes about as a result of the high speed editing and the fight scene.

The film opening establishes the mood of being a thriller by the use of a night time scene, set in an urban environment. This automatically provokes thoughts in the minds of the audience concerning safety, and dodgy goings on. The world that our characters live in is one of young people earning lots of money as can be seen by the quality house, and nice kitchen that appears in our film.

The main plot of the film is very much one or retribution, which has a similar theme to the one shown in taken.

Other influential media texts:

James bond- opening of Casino Royale: for the cross- cutting at the beginning, we got our idea from the cross cutting at the beginning of Casino Royale, we liked the way it goes from a calmer scene in the office, to the much more violent scene in the bathroom.

Costume and props- smart clothes/shoes,

Lighting- the bright lights of the office scene are similar to the bright lights of our fight scene which create bold shadows

In this film, 2 characters in the fight scene are introduced when the fight is in full swing, which is what we have done with our film. The shots in this sequence are very close up and show a lot of detail, and our shots are similar in this respect.

This is also a very good film to compare ours to because it has the sub- genre of action, which is what ours has. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNvzNWuzI9Y&feature=related           

 

‘Ne le dit a personne’, or ‘tell no one’ is a French film that is starts off with the air of mystery right from the beginning, as someone goes missing and is presumed dead. The beginning is also set at night, which is similar to ours and this certainly adds more to the air of mystery.

 This is a link to the trailer for ‘The edge of darkness’, a film starring Mel Gibson and is the story of a father who wants to seek to revenge the people that killed his daughter. This story line is very much like ‘taken’ and features retribution. 

The film ‘ransom’ is again the same sort of film, featuring retribution as the key theme, this time with Mel Gibson trying to find a son.  

JT

Storyboard

We found the storyboards extremely helpful because they were an outlet for our ideas in a literal form, on paper. Here we could discuss together, before putting pen to paper, how our film was going to look, how it was going to be made. It made it possible for us to visualize the final product and therefore work hard to realize this.

We have chosen to set our film in suburban london. The girl is taken home in a Mercedes Taxi, to a nice part of the suburbs and when inside, the house shows wealth through it's luxurious kitchen, and this is to keep in tone with the young professional, unmarried couple; he is a young but high up police officer, while she has an office job, both of which pay for this nice home.
         The red of the walls in the home indicates danger, to go with the mood of violence and betrayl.

JT& TS

Location

Location

we have chosen to shoot in this house because the kitchen is very open plan. This will allow us to shoot the fight scene as we have plenty of space to put the camera and allow plenty of movement from the actors. The house itself is nice enough to represent our characters as successful middle class young professionals but does not show them to be unrealistically wealthy. there is a long hallway (1) that leads into the kitchen that would allow us to create the first shot of the fighting sequence where the attacker drags the victim into the kitchen. through the kitchen doorway there is a big gap where the victim can be thrown to the floor (2). there is a large space to put the camera when filming the fight scene behind the kitchen counter (3).

 1- Long Hallway

2- Open plan kitchen                                                                            

               

                                                                                3- Large space for victim to be thrown into

The Outside of the house doesn't give the appearance of  a big expensive house again this helps to add to the realism of the set up. In the dark the front garden almost looks ominous which would help to create tension as our character approaches the door. the door also has a frosted glass windows in the front which will give the effect of a silhouette once our character has walked through the door which would be both visually appealing as well as adding to the tension by drawing out the sequence.

4- Ominous front Garden

The taxi scene will be filmed on and around Balham highroad. we have chosen to film here as it is an urban area that has signs of deprivation. This will show that the couple are living in an area that, although relatively inner city is not a rich as other areas, adding to the realism.

4- Balham Highroad

TS

Shotlists

JT

Preliminary Task

Media Studies Homework- The Film Industry

Q1. Why is convergence both a blessing and a curse for the UK film industry?

Convergence is both a blessing and a curse for the UK film industry because it opens up more and more ways by which people can access media, yet opens up opportunities for crime and other things that could harm the film industry.

Convergence is the coming together of 2 or more technologies e.g. a newspaper with an online version, or a film, with a website, and then an accompanying game. 

This is a good thing because it means that more money can be made from one product, in the case of Quantum of Solace, the accompanying game made a lot of money, and this is a common occurance, with various media associated with the film being fruitful to the makers. Other examples of successful convergence is advertisement, that makes an audience want to go and see a film. Posters on the underground and on buses, billboards, and internet sites that takes aspects from the film and use it to attract customers to go and see the film all show conversion, with different media joining together for one purpose.

Film piracy is a huge threat to the UK film industry, film theft and online copyright infringements represent a major threat to all elements of the UK film industry, which means that a lot of money that should be being made by the film companies is being lost and made elsewhere.

Q2. How has the internet allowed film-makers to find and attract audiences in different ways?

Online advertising is a very strong way of attracting audiences. A small banner at the top/to the side of the screen can attract someone without them necessarily realising. Also, there are many different websites that can promote films such as facebook, youtube etc. by way of different medias. Youtube has the capacity to show adverts and seeded videos from the film, and facebook is possibly an even stronger site for film promotion, simply because people put their opinions of the film on facebook and so therefore influence other people's decisions on film choice, as well as producers making pages with links to the website of the film, videos and games where applicable, all of which help promote the film.

Q3. Summarise how you think sites like YouTube, MySpace and Facebook are good for film audiences. What do they let us do that we couldn't before?

Sites such as youtube can allow the uploading and streaming of adverts for films, which allows audiences to see the advert if they havent caught it on television. 

Social networking sites provide the opportunities for films to set up 'pages' that people can 'like' and on which there is information regarding screenings and dates etc. There are also links back you youtube etc. to increase potential audience size. 

Also, advertising on banners at the side of pages etc. means that there is more and more space for advertisers to advertise and attract an audience.

Lighting

In the car: lights above the windows, light from out of the windows (shops street lights etc)

Fight: one light shining on actors, creating interesting shadows and bringing out the vibrant colours of the kitchen.

When she comes home (outside): small filler light shining on character + outside light from house accountable for most of the brightness.

  (Inside): natural light from ceiling lights + main light shining on characters

JT