Written evaluation for "Missing"

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

When we started planning for this project, we had already decided we were going to stick to the conventions of a horror film. We included an antagonist but it challenges the conventions because the antagonist isn’t who he audience think he is. We didn’t incorporate a hero or heroine because we felt like it didn’t fit the plot but if we had to say then the detective in our film would be the hero because he finds out what happened. We used some of the typical horror movie stereotypes with the girl going out to meet someone she hadn’t met before. This didn’t challenge any of the conventions of a horror film.

As well as this, we challenged the conventions of a horror movie because we didn’t use a white Caucasian male for the Detective, instead we used an Asian male as the Detective.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product represents particular social groups in the style of ethnic groups. We included an Asian Detective who is older than all of the other actors/actresses in the product. We also included a teenage antagonist who is (insert ethnicity here).

This is unconventional in horror movies because typically there isn’t an Asian detective in horror movies or any thrillers/crime films. The class of each of the characters is unknown to us but we can assume that they are all of a similar class which again is unconventional in horror movies because the main character, in our case the victim, is usually of a high social class.

Another aspect of typical horror films that we avoided was the location. The teenagers were in school and usually in a horror film they are on a break from school or the characters don’t actually go to any type of school.

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

We believe that a studio like Hammer Films might distribute our product because it distributes many horror movies that have audiences similar to ours. After editing all of the footage, we think that this film would be a big budget venture because the plot is that of a typical horror movie which is what audiences these days stick to. It’s likely that if it wasn’t a typical horror movie plot then it wouldn’t generate as much profit as many people would be rather sceptical about going to see a film with a different plot. Most audiences like to predict what is going to happen in the film which is what we tried to aim for in some ways. However, we did try to venture from that aspect of horror films so that it wasn’t as predictable as most horror movies now-a-days.

4.  Who would be the audience for your media product?

This film doesn’t have any explicit scenes or language in it so it wouldn’t be categorised as an 18. We are certain that is isn’t a U, PG, 12 or 12A because we feel that children of that age wouldn’t watch horror films and wouldn’t like to watch our movie because it is a horror film. Most horror films are based around teenagers so the suitable certificate rating for this would be a 15. We think this because we used teenagers as the main actors/actresses and many teenagers today watch horror films that are like this or films of an 18 certificate rating.

5.  How did you attract/address your audience?

We would attract our audience to our film because of the story line and the characters that we included in it. The title would attract our audience because it holds a mystery that the audience will want to solve. We believe that most teenagers are the same when it comes to horror films because they all like to predict what is going to happen in the end of the film. By leaving a cliff-hanger on the end of our film and having the title as ‘MISSING’ this allows the audience to use their imaginations to find out what will happen next.

The best option for attracting our target audience in terms of marketing is by social media. If we promote our product on social media then we are more likely to get a bigger audience than if we reached out to them using billboards or adverts on the TV. Another way we believe would be a great way to attract our audiences attention is by having a premier of the film in a big city like London. Most teenagers these days are interested in going to premiers especially if their friends are interested in going or their favourite actor/actress will be there or stars in the film.

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

One half of our group learnt how to use the camera for close-ups and long shots. They we aware of how to use the camera before hand but working on this project has taught them more about how to use the Sony HD Cameras. They also figured out how to import footage from the SD card of the camera onto the Mac computers. Each of us has learnt more about how to use Adobe Premiere including all of the transitions and effects and music put into the film. Previously we were somewhat aware of how to use Premiere but this product taught us in detail about how to use the software. Before this product, we didn’t know how to use the BlogSpot for blogging however, after all the research we had to do and planning for this, we learnt lots about how to use the site for what we needed to do.

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

Even with the preliminary task, we struggled to work as a group. This time we struggled even more because one member of our group left us halfway through leaving us to struggle to get the work completed in time. By the time that person left, we hadn’t filmed any footage yet, although we had all of our research completed. After they left, we changed much of the product up; we used the storyboard as a basis for our film and we changed the script still incorporating some of the original script from before. We still struggled a bit with just the two of us in the group because we had times where one of us were off so we couldn’t film or we didn’t know what we were doing. However, by the end we had worked everything out and managed to get the product done and finished on time.

In terms of operating the camera, only one of us needed to learn how to use it for this project. We both still learnt how to operate the camera to incorporate different angles and shots. However, one of us learnt more from the preliminary task to this product. With the filming sequences and the different rules, we didn’t break any of the rules when it came to filming and the filming sequence was fairly good by the end of all the filming we had to do.

We applied all of this knowledge to this final product by filming and re-filming different scenes to make sure we had all of the shots we needed and to make sure we didn’t break the 180-degree rule. As for the camera, we both made sure that we each got a chance to film and direct the cast so that we could apply whatever knowledge we had to the film. We both helped each other in terms of what angles and shots we had to use.

We believe that we have learnt lots from the preliminary task to this major production, be that how to work in a team and how to operate the camera.

Final filmed draft 'missing'

This is the final opening sequence for our coursework. It is a thriller film called Missing. We had to make a few changes after we got more people to watch it for us. They gave us feedback and we edited it before exporting it again.

Location planning for our film

This is an Ariel view of our original location for filming 

Here are some on location photos of our originally selected area for filming.

However due to flexibility issues between film crew and actors we had to change location to accommodate everyone taking part. The move of location can be seen from silver link road to the castle grounds

Here are some photos of the our final and agreed choice of location for filming

Task 2.2: Conventionally ordered opening titles

1. Studio Logo
2. Studio/Producer Presents
3. Starring (Main Actor) and (Main Actor)
4. Title of Film
5. Cameraperson
6. Editor
7. Composer/Music by
8. Screenwriter
9. Producer
10. Director      

Looking at how a film is conventionally opened in its opening sequence will be important to understand to film a professional looking film as this sequence is relatively an industry standard 

First Filmed Draft Movie

This is the first draft of the final product for our coursework. We changed the volume of the title because it was too overpowering. We also changed the order of the title sequence because it wasn't in the right order.

Draft script 'Missing'

Script – screenplay

Starts in the forest on a Friday night and it’s dark and creepy

Girl is screaming and running away from something. She is panting heavily and running as fast as she can. Someone is running after her.

Still outside we see her stop and she is panting heavily and then everything goes quiet. Just as she is about to turn around we see a hand cover her mouth and she screams.  (when editing: add in title sequence with some creepy background music).

The next scene is then at the school. There are a group of teenagers quietly discussing something in the corner of the canteen.

Lily: I haven’t seen her since Friday afternoon when I dropped her off at home. She mentioned something about going on a date with some guy.

 Josh: Has anyone heard from her since then?

Ryan: No, she seemed a bit conflicted when I last saw her; like something was definitely wrong, she just didn’t want to tell me.

Josh: When was this?

Ryan: Friday afternoon.

They all look at each other, confused about what is happening and their thoughts.

(Detective Atkinson and some officers walk through the canteen up towards the teenagers in the corner)

Atkinson: Hello, I’m Detective Atkinson, I’m working on a new case. I need to speak to you all separately so please can you follow me.

(They follow the detective to the room and they each wait outside for their turn to be questioned)

Josh: I haven’t seen her since Friday morning.

Ryan:  She seemed conflicted.

Lily: She was meeting some guy.

Atkinson: hmmm (in deep thought)

Skips back to the beginning scene.

Final script for 'Missing'

( We didn't think the first script was good enough so we decided that it would be best to re-do the script and this is what we cane up with).

New script.

Starts in the forest on a Friday night and it’s dark and creepy

Girl is screaming and running away from something. She is panting heavily and running as fast as she can. Someone is running after her. *Use of shaky chase cam and long shots * whilst she is running she suddenly has Flash back cut to school scene. *Use editing technique to convey it’s a flash back such as cloudy filter to indicate the past

Flash back takes place in one of the school wings talking to her best friend lily about how she is meeting up with this guy tonight for a date but lily comes across as sceptical.

*Camera is angled so you can see lily, Emily and ex in the same scene   

Emily: I can’t wait to meet him tonight

Lily: Emily don’t you think you’re moving on a little fast after your last breakup with Ryan? I mean I guess that doesn’t matter but have you actually met this guy before?  

Emily: No lily, but he seems really nice and I’ve been talking to him for a while now. You can’t stop me, anyways I promised him I’ll meet so I’m going either way.

Lily: At least tell me where you are meeting him, call me if you need to tonight ok?

Emily: Ok, and near the bit of woods where me and you used to hang out.

Behind them is the girl’s obsessive ex. He overhears the conversation and scrunches his face in anger.  (Close up of his eyes and then cut to a close up of his fist clenching. He is wearing a distinct ring)

END OF FLASHBACK

Still outside we see her stop and hide behind a tree, she is panting heavily and then everything goes quiet. Just as she is about to turn around we see a hand cover her mouth and she screams. Her phone drops on the floor and the camera slowly pans down to the phone on the ground as screaming and struggling is heard off cam. Camera zooms in to her phone to see the time and date (when editing: add in title sequence with some creepy background music). Time stamp: Friday 5th Jan 9:36pm

The next scene is then a flash forward to the next school day (MONDAY) at the school. There are a group of teenagers quietly discussing something in the corner of the canteen.

Lily: I haven’t seen her since Friday afternoon when I dropped her off at home I told her not to go out and meet this random guy, god I hope she's fine.

Josh: Has anyone heard from her since then?

Ryan: No. She should learn to turn on her phone. (Creepily) I’m sure she’s fine. She's ran away from home before so it’s probably nothing to worry about.

Josh: I don't know Ryan I got a bad feeling about this... Why else would the principle ask us to wait in the canteen?

They all look at each other, confused and concerned.

(Detective Atkinson walks through the canteen up towards the teenagers in the corner)

Atkinson: Hello, I’m Detective Atkinson, I’m working on a new case. I've been informed by the principle that you all knew Emily quite well. I need to speak to you all in private so please can you follow me.

(They all follow the detective to the room together)

Atkinson: Ok its important you tell me where Emily could have been last located, her mental state and anything else that you may think is important

*Over shoulder shot of detective whilst with other 3 in view

*Extreme close up on Ryan’s eyes as they look down (shot lasting around 2 seconds)

Josh: No clue, last time I saw her was at school.

Ryan: Last time I spoke to her she seemed relatively okay, although this is probably just one of her stupid running away phases again. She has a habit of running away from her problems...

Lily: She was meeting some guy from what she told me, I told her it was a stupid idea considering it was her first time meeting him.

Atkinson: Where was she meeting him? We need to go back there.

Lily: She said she was meeting him near a small patch of woods. We used to hang out there a lot so I know where it is.

Atkinson: It’s imperative we go to her last known location as soon as possible.

I'll have my two best personal detectives go with you as soon as possible. I need to stay here and fill in the paperwork and I'll talk to the principle about allowing you a day off...

Screen goes black.

Task 2.1- Textual analysis: The Conjuring

The scene opens with the digetic sound of lightning and rain. This has connotations to negative emotions and forebodes that the plot of the scene will have sinister outcomes. The scene is also edited to open with a slow fade in, this creates tension within the audience as the objects in the scene are not clear at first and are slowly being unravelled to us. The initial opening of the scene takes place in a little girls room which is further reinforced through mise en scene as we can see dolls and other such things you would expect in a childs room. With the previous negative connotations and use of foreshadowing this makes us worried for the vulnerable girl which creates tension in the viewer.

Furthermore the camera is angled so it is looking down on the girl and with the addition of a slow zoom which gradually moves towards the girl connotes that something more powerful is slowly approaching her. Through dramatic irony we worry and fear for the little girl as the audience knows something is wrong but the character in the scene doesn't. 

Our attention as the viewer is then slowly drawn to this pendant hanging on the girls bedside table. We can see that the pendant slowly starts to move on its on and gradually begins to sway more intensely. As the pendant starts to sway it is accompanied with entrance of non digetic music. The music is a creepy bell sort of noise and simultaneously increases in intensity with the gradual increase of swaying of the pendant. The scene then cuts to view the pendant from a worms eye view, the angle of which this is shot is arguably disorientating and is uneasy for the viewer to view. Which further sets the tone as negative and making the viewer uncomfortable and scared. Additionally the pendant swaying shows a clear indication towards the paranormal, this unsettles the viewer as the paranormal are often associated with freakish and horrifying events.

The girl is then seemingly pulled by her feet as is suddenly woken up. As this happens non digetic sound is used in a technique known as a 'jump scare' which means that a loud noise, usually accompanied with a sudden movement, is used to scare the audience in what was initially a quiet but suspense building scene.  

The camera is then angled to a first person perspective. This creates tension in the audience as it puts us into the little girls point of view, which makes it feel like the audience is experience what she is experiencing at the same time. The camera is also purposely wobbled to further reinforce that this is the little girls perspective as the wobble creates the sense of head bobbing as it slowly pans across the room.

The little girl then walks out of her room. The camera is angled at the bottom of the stairs looking her from a long angle shot. This connotes that something predatory is waiting for her, like a lion waiting in a bush to pounce at its prey.  We can then hear the little girl call out for her mom and dad and is met with no reply. This creates the feeling of isolation, combined with the overall darkness and theme of the unknown this creates intense suspense within the audience. The idea of something waiting to pounce on her is reinforced by the way the camera moves towards the little girl. 

As the little girl enters through the door we can hear her heavily breathing this shows that she is nervous and scared. Which further frightens and unsettles the viewer.

After exploring the room and leaving she then calls upstairs in another attempt of hoping someone is there to save her. But through the use of editing we can see a darkness envelope the stairs and quickly approach the little girl. While this is happening and overpowering deep growl like noise is also heard as the darkness creeps towards the girl. This connotes to some monster or demon like creature. Furthermore the camera is angled in the way that the darkness is above the girl and is descending to her which connotes that the darkness is powerful and has strength above what the girl is capable of.

The little girl then runs and closes the door. Digetic sound of banging on the door can be heard and we know it is digetic as the girl reacts and screams to it. This shows that something very real is out to get her. This creates suspense and makes the audience fear for the girl.

 As the girl turns around she realises she is not alone as an old lady with a doll can been seen in the back of the room rocking backwards and forwards with a doll in her hand. The rocking of backwards and forwards connotes to the idea and suggests to the audience that the woman is psychotically deranged and through mise en scene this is further reinforced by her ragged clothes and dirty rough hair. Her inaudible grumbles also suggest the idea of craziness. But then suddenly the rocking abruptly stops. Non digetic sounds of a screeching violin slowly begin to build up in noise as the doll in the woman's hand begins to turn and face the child. The child then tries to leave but realises the door is locked. The camera leaves focus of the old woman and doll but then pans back to show they are missing. This suggests they are in the room and the fact that we dont know where creates tension and scares the audience. The child is then in the end saved by her parents as the door opens and the child is grabbed just before the child is hit is a paranormally flung chair.

Task 2.1: Sterotypical representations in the "Horror" and "Thriller" genre

Villans/Antagonists:
Classically and also still in our modern media villains are often represented as psychopathic whit males who are often in their middle ages.

Classically this can be seen in examples such as Dracula and in our modern media can be seen in characters such as that in silence of the lambs.

Heroes/Victims: 

The heroes or victims of horror and thriller film are often weak, young, white, and somewhat sexually appealing women. Classically it was very rare to see women as heroines due to problems with sexism at the time which stereotyped women to be weak and incompetent. However as time progressed we can see that women now are often the heroines of the film and are the ones who fight back and in a lot of cases win. A modern example of this can bee seen in the cult classic character Ellen Ripley from the alien films.  

Biases:

Biases that can have an impact on the characters in a horror and thriller film include racial, sexual and gender bias. Leading actors and even as far as directors in Hollywood films are often seen to be white. It is rare to see someone of black complexion with a leading role in a film or being the director of a Hollywood film. We can see that there are a few films with exceptions that challenge the norm such as se7en which has Morgan Freeman (Black male) as its leading role. A gender bias would be that you rarely see females having the role of antagonist in horror and thriller films. This bias is rarely challenged and so is therefore still a prominent bias is our modern media. Sexual biases would include that seeing a gay male is very unconventional for horror and thriller films as it is often seen to be an unnecessary feature to a character and is most likely left untouched and unchallenged due to the difficulty of incorporating a sexually diverse character and using their diversity to somewhat develop the story in a meaningful way.  

Task 2.2: Similarities and Differences in Studio Logos

A lot of the studio logos share the same characteristic of being simple and bold. Therefore for my studio logo I chose a sun setting over the ocean and the name to be crimson tide. It is short simple and is empowering.

Task 3:BFI Data- Genre and classification analysis

Summary and conclusions of Table 4.1

When comparing the two genres thriller and horror, from this table we can see that thrillers have a higher frequency of productions with almost double the amount of films that horror has. However although thrillers are in a higher saturation we can see that horrors make up twice as much of the box office compared to thrillers.

Overall this chart shows that horrors made an average of 1.6million and thrillers made 0.5million in 2013

Summary and conclusions of Table 4.2.

We can see from this table that Thrillers did not see as wide of a release as horrors. Horror films were played across 145 cinemas whereas thrillers were played in just 89. Again although we can see that the thriller genre saw a release of more films than horror it was met with a lower gross profit than horror.

Summary and conclusions of Table 4.3.

This set of data gives us an idea on the average amount of money a genre makes in per cinema. The horror genre, on average, makes £10,708 in each cinema. In contrast to this thrillers only make£5,127. Surprisingly thrillers were actually played on more sites than horror films in 2013. Thrillers were seen to be played on a total of 4,667 sites and horror on a total of 5,367. This could be due to fact the thrillers are higher in saturation that horror films. However this table only further reinforces how horror films were more successful in 2013. 

Summary and conclusions of Table 4.4.

Table 4.4 illustrates the quantity of films releases for each genre. Looking at horror and thriller we can see that horror makes up 5% of the releases across all genres and that thriller makes up 12.2%.

Horror can be seen to have made £10.7 million more than thriller with a total gross earning of £14.8 million. Yet again another set of results that reinforces the popularity of horror 

  

Summary and Conclusions of Figure 4.1 and 4.2

Figure 4.1 shows that UK independent produced thrillers received a greater box office hit than UK independently produced horror films in 2013.However overall horror films did receive a much greater box office hit than thrillers and so I would therefore class this as an anomaly for the year and still believe horror films are much more profitable.

Figure 4.2 reiterates data from the previous tables showing us that thrillers had a higher frequency of releases compared to horror.

Roles within film making

Role allocation:

1. What might the role of a writer be?
The writer creates the foundation of what a film is to be. For without the writer there would be no story and without a story you can make a film. So arguably the writer is one of the most important roles when it comes to creating a film. Furthermore the difference between a good writer and a bad writer can make or break a film. This can be seen in our modern medium with "Jurassic world" being a prime example, with a budget of 150 million us dollars the film had solid and impressing visuals and overall was agreeably a well directed film. However due to a poor story from a slack in writing and or lack in writing skills resulted in a lot of viewers being disappointed as seen in negative reviews. So the role of the writer is really to make sure that when stripped down to a films core that there is a solid foundation and backbone of which the film can build its self from. Multiple screen writers can work on the same film and input from the Producer, Director and other roles also impact and change the writers original drafts to help accommodate their needs.


2. What is the responsibility of the composer?
The role of the composer is to bring together a set of instruments that will benefit and fit the atmosphere and tone a certain film is trying to create. Not only is it their job to select the right instruments but it is also their responsibility to bring them together and play smoothly with each other. The composer also has to meet with the director and movie producer when the film is finished being shot and moved on to the editing phase. This is to discuss what kind of music they want in the film. Sometime however the composer doesn't create original content, if a producer wants a pop song or song from another creator then it is the composers job to try and get the rights to be able to legally use the desired song in the film. Otherwise copyright lawsuits could be faced.


3. What might the role of the camera person be?
The role of the camera person is to capture what the director has envision. Usually the camera crew will read a script or screen directions of the film where details of which type of shots the director wants for each scene is given. Roles of the camera person also include being able to travel to different locations and even abroad due to the fact the films often have shoots on multiple locations. The are also in charge of packing up and deploying the film equipment as the director may wish for a sudden move or change in location. Understanding which angles and which distances they are shooting from is also a key role for a camera person. 


4. What would be the role of the head of casting?
Head casting are assigned with bring together the perfect set of actors to bring what the director wants to reality. Casting is very important, therefore the head casting are responsible for being very familiar with the script of the film, this is because understanding the characters in the story and knowing their characteristics is essential for being able to bring the characters to life. Different actors can play the same role very differently, so it should also be the role of head casting to be familiar with existing actors and their skills, this will make it easier for finding someone to be a perfect fit for a role in the film.   


5. Who is the producer of the film and what is their role?
The producer is the person who is 'pulling the strings' and is the person who ultimately decides whether or not they like or want to change the work that the roles of writer, composer and others have done. They have control across all areas of the production of the film. The general path that the film goes down is highly influenced by the produced. It is their role to assemble the team for production. Producers roles often are to mange and make sure every stage of production goes smoothly and as intended/hoped. Producers role are often knowing in their mind what their film is going to be about but hiring screenwriters to help expand and improve on these ideas. Producers also choose/approve where they want their films scene to take place in, so either on a set built from the ground up or in a specific environment or country and are responsible for the budget of the film and how it is spent.


6. What would be the role of a film director?
The role of the director is to bring the script from the screenwriters and music from the composers together to form the final product. They also influence how the film will be edited and are also in charge of filming technicalities such as stage lights, cameras and other such things. Although it is not exactly a requited role it helps if the director motivates the studio and inspires them to work hard to make a great film. Because if people arent motivated then the film will not have much effort, time and care put into it which will mean it will more than likely mean that the film wont be as good as it could have been. They must also be very aware of schedules and make sure that everything and everyone who is needed on a day of filming is there when needed.  

StoryBoard

This is our original storyboard. We used this as a basis for our final production. however, we didn't refer to it as much because we changed parts of the plot.