Media Evaluation - Jack Burton

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

My media product ‘Kidnapped’ uses and develops the different forms and conventions of real media products by showing a flow of continuity throughout the scene including the dialogue that we used. In our two minute opening sequence we felt that we would stick with the classic conventions of a thriller film by using a mixture of close ups, angle variations (see fig 1), music to create tension and suspense and a clear protagonist and antagonist. I felt that our scene developed a number of conventions whilst being in the bathroom with a number of angle changes being the camera man I played a big part in this we also decided that with the use of close ups and fast paced shots we would build tension for part of the sequence where the antagonist gets murdered. I believe that the conventions used in the film give a clear indication that the film is a thriller as there is stereotypical a battle against time for the protagonist to find his daughter, use of weapons, violence and a clear antagonist and protagonist. The basic conventions and plot that we based our sequence on were from the film ‘Taken’ starring Liam Nieson and directed by Pierre Morel, we took the basic plot from this no1 US hit of a combat skilled retiree man searching for his kidnapped daughter, another production we plucked ideas from was the us series ‘Dollhouse’, we used ideas from this to pick out scene location.



(Figure 1)


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

My media product kidnapped mainly represented the media social classes gender and class. The male gender is represented has being powerful, dominant and violent in our media product, we used strong forceful dialogue to portray Michaels (played by Michael Brewe) dominance and power within the scene, the gun that we used in the scene also aided in showing that men are violent (see fig 2). We also used a variety of shots with the camera to show that Michael (Michael Brewe) was dominant and in control during the scene .We decided to represent Daniel (played by Daniel Lawrence) as an upper class character; we used smart and expensive clothing and a flashy mobile phone to represent this as well as making the character act as a cocky and arrogant person within the scene. We represented the two characters in the scene as every day people so that our target audience could easily relate to them while watching.

(Figure 2)


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

The kind of media institution that would distribute and produce our product could be a major Hollywood production studio such as 20th century fox as for example they produced the US no1 hit ‘Taken’ which was a production that we heavily based our piece upon, our product could potentially with a larger budget becomes as successful as a media production such as ‘Taken’ as it promises thrills and action and has a Hollywood production look with props such as guns and cars involved in it. ‘Kidnapped’ would be potentially released in cinemas as it has an intriguing and exciting storyline which would attract its very large target audience which could become worldwide. Our product does offer franchise and merchandising opportunities as it applies to a large audience, it would be able to sell a number of products such as posters, character models(heavily reliant on the main character), replica props and even video games for the younger generation of our audience.

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

The audience for our media product would be for a wide range of people over the age of 15 due to our media product showing scenes of violence and possibly strong language throughout, classification rules from BBFC(British board of film classification) show that 15 plus would be the suitable classification for our product. The target audience would be very large for our product it would include middle aged viewers as well as a number of younger viewers, our production would be naturally more suited to male viewers as it would be categorised as a action thriller cross genre and a crime film sub genre which would be more attractive to a male than a romance film for example.

5. How did you attract / address your audience?

The fact that our media product being a cross genre, action thriller attracts our target audience itself as well as the use of guns and cars and the plot of our product and the main character being a young male as I think this is what our target audience is interested in. I think that the part were Michael is interrogating Daniel where there is a lot of close ups such as the extreme close up on Michaels eye (see fig 3) and quick changes of camera angles will be attractive to our audience as well as the dialogue, music and shots we used to create a lot of tension throughout the scene for the audience which is what our target audience would expect when they go to see an action thriller, we felt that by building a lot of tension in the sequence it would lock the audience into the storyline. With the audience being able to see Michael getting revenge they can be immediately engaged into the film and will leave them asking questions such as, why he is looking for his daughter? , what the character Daniel (Daniel Lawrence) has to do with this? Why does Michael (Michael Brewe) murder Daniel (Daniel Lawrence), I think that the scene creates a lot of suspense and tension for the rest of the film which will make our target audience immediately engaged at the start and for the remainder of the film.

(Figure 3)


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

In the process of constructing this production I have learnt a number of things about film production. As the camera man for the production I was able to use the PD170 camera which I also used during filming the preliminary task, I found that camera was is easier to manoeuvre whilst on the tripod and is able to get into a number of angles such as high and low angles(see figure 4) but becomes difficult to work in confined spaces when using the tripod, when filming I was also required to hold the shotgun so that any ambient sound, diegetic sounds and dialogue in the scene was heard clearly. As the camera man there was a number of things that I had to take into consideration when shooting such as the lighting and the white balance in our location, as we filmed in quite a bright and well lit area there were not many shots that were to bright or dark and the ones that came out a little bright were colour corrected by the editor after the shoot to give the production a film look effect (see fig 4). Another thing I came across in the shoot was to correctly frame the shot with characters being in the right position so they were in frame for the shot for example when Michael (Michael Brewe) appears behind Daniel (Daniel Lawrence) holding the gun to his head and also shooting the extreme close up making sure to only get the eye in the shot. Being the camera man I also learnt that it is important to work well with your director and to keep communicating during the shoot so that you can give ideas and correct each others mistakes whilst shooting the production

(Figure 4)


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

Looking back at my preliminary task I think I have learnt that it is always important to plan before shooting, I have also learnt how to handle the camera better and found how to use the tripod and shotgun to my advantage; I have also learnt how the 180 degree rule works and how not to break it. I have also learnt how to film with continuity to make the scene become fluent and realistic. I also learnt that it is important to take lighting, white balance and ambient sound in to consideration when choosing a location and that it is important to frame the image correctly so you get everything in the shot that you want. Before we shot our production we decided to put some careful planning into our production, we started by brainstorming our original ideas coming out with the idea for ‘kidnapped’, we then watched a few thriller movies each making notes on them taking in some of the main codes and conventions of a thriller movie we also made a questionnaire and got people inside of our target audience to answer the questions so we had a clearer understanding of what they liked in a thriller Movie. Once we had done this we made a script and synopsis for our production so that everyone was clear on the storyline and the opening sequel itself along with a storyboard location, cast and score notes and an extremely important shot list we were able to shoot our 2 minute opening sequence smoothly without any major setbacks.

Unfortuntely the upload tool from blogspot did not allow the full quality of these pictures to upload onto the blog.

JACK BURTON

Media Evaluation - Sean Auchombit

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
1)My media product “kidnapped” does use and develop forms of conventions, it also does challenge forms of conventions too. Before the making of our two minute introduction, we had to film a continuity sequence, our preliminary task. By staying within the conventions it enables viewers to establish the sub-genre but in our film we also went against some of the conventions for example our target audience is both female and male, but stereotypically it’s known that female tend to watch thrillers. This did not intervene with establishing the sub-genre in our thriller which is an action thriller. By using the conventions it does allow viewers to be able to recognise other thrillers which have similar contents and throughout our thriller it indicates films that have influenced us. From the film “Taken” and the American TV drama “Dollhouse” they both revolve around the use of the same props for example the “Gun” but also both have a similar storyline which is finding people. We also was able to be influenced on the location setting, in the US Drama Dollhouse a particular scene is filmed in the men’s toilet, we took that idea from there and we used it in our film as the toilets is a very isolated and also mysterious setting. It’s mysterious as there’s no sound, its comparison to a deserted house. This helps us in aid of following the conventions of a thriller as it built tension, suspense and mystery. We also used the conventions of close up and extreme close up to be able to see the characters emotion and also the audience maybe able top relate to the characters in the film. The audience maybe thinking, “That what I would feel like if I was in his shoes”

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
2) To be able to establish whether our media product represents a particular social group, research had to be done to gain more knowledge about the genre our media product fits into. As our film was a thriller, several key elements occurred when researching about thriller genres, it clearly indicates that it is essential to have an antagonist as well as a protagonist but this is just a stereotype. Furthermore each thriller victim is stereotypically a female victim who is normally defenceless, but in our thriller, our group decided to stick to the codes and conventions of a thriller as we had a protagonist, antagonist as well as the victim who is a young female daughter of a man who on the hunt for his missing daughter. Our characters in our thriller are stereotypically gender represented stereotypically the men being more dominant over the female as in our storyline, a man has kidnapped another man daughter, but this also goes against it stereotype and representation as it shows in our thriller, one man can be more dominant over another male character. As a result this is where it represented as my media product challenging the conventions. For example in our thriller there is a scene in which a male character (Michael) is holding a gun to another male character (Daniel) head and ask for his daughter. At first Daniel is completely oblivious but then slowly become submissive and tells Michael where his daughter is. As a result from all the research, our group established that there was a particular social group represented for age and gender but not for another other type of social group.


What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?
3) Our media product definitely has the ability to be distributed by several different types of media institutions as new technology is a powerful element when promoting a film. Our media product would definitely be produced by a major Hollywood Studio, as our film has taken ideas from a film called “Taken” which has been success and been shown in cinemas worldwide. Even though our ideas are similar to the film “Taken” our production process is completely different as we have captured so many different types of shots and angles as well as the way we edited and constructed the film. Our film should be released as it has the ability to be successful as it’s a more contemporary/ up to date look to it. The ways in which our film would be distributed is through the internet i.e. Blogs, Youtube, Myspace & Forums which is a low budget method in distributing and promoting our film as this enables us to upload our film for viewers to watch and leave feedback. Another alternative method is through a newspaper ad which does have a little expense but is very beneficial if able to place an ad in a popular newspaper. Our final distributing method would be on billboards and posters, which could be place at bus stops and train stations as there are up to hundreds of thousands people that travel on public transport. Furthermore, posters can be placed at schools, colleges and even universities as it is a strategic way of attracting our target audience as they will be able to see it as its big and eye catching. There is potential for merchandising certain product from our film, for example maybe a fake gun which can be place in a frame that looks identical to the one in our thriller, other products can be models of the characters, t-shirts of the character name or even just the thriller name. There are so many ways in which our product can produce merchandise for our viewers/followers to gain more recognition, popularity but most of all revenue.

Who would be the audience for your media product?
4) Our target audience consists of young teenagers, young adults and adults aged from 12-21 and as I clearly stated that posters will be distributed at schools, colleges and universities and as our certificate rating for our film is 12A. I would personally have a higher certificate rating, I would certificate our media product 15+ but from BFFC which is the [British board of film classification] it clearly shows that our media product can be suitable for a minimum age of 12A as long as the 12 year old viewer are accompanied by an adult. From our research it shows that females tend to be more indulged in thriller whereas male like a more aggressive speedy action film. Our thriller goes against its stereotype as it attracts both male and female due to the storyline being about a man who daughter kidnapped, this will act as sympathy which will draw the female viewers but whereas as the dad is hunting for his daughter that can also draw male character who have a daughters in real life. Both male and female viewers can relate to the thriller emotionally as it’s a real life situation which has happened to many parents. Other films which are similar to ours are “Dollhouse” & “Taken” to which both audiences are females and males.

How did you attract/address your audience?
5) The way in which the audience was attracted was through the Blogs which we were able to post every step by step process in the making of the film. Scripts and synopsis where posted on our Blog for people to be able to read and give us feedback. We also handed out questionnaires for people to fill, the questions consisted of conventions of a thriller for example a question that was asked was “What do you expect to see in a thriller??? Suspense, Dark Colours Etc Etc” There is particular parts in our film which could have an effect on the younger audience, our certificate rating for our film is 12A, as long as children aged 12 is accompanied by an adult they should be fine. Any ages below will find the scene where the gun is at the back of the character head to the point where he gets shot very terrifying, this applies to both male and female. This scene could have a major impact for viewers under the age of certificate rating as it could effect the way they portray the sequence, for example as these children get older they may believe that it is perfectly innocent to put a gun to someone head so it can have a negative influence. As we kept a majority of our film within the convections of a thriller this fully justified that viewers know what they will get when they watch this but as we played with the conventions and went against parts of the conventions of a thriller, this will enable us to fulfil and surprise viewers expectations. The use of tension and suspension engaged viewers and made them want to find out what happens and watch the film till the end, unfortunately as we left it at a cliff hanger this plays with the viewers made as they try to figure out what’s going to happen. By using a cliff hanger this keep viewers engaged into the storyline. Even throughout the fast pace cuts between shots attracts viewers as our sub genre is action thriller the use of fast pace cuts helps in aid of our sub genre of action but also to built this tension and suspense for the audience.



What have you learnt about new technology from the process of constructing the product?
6) From using technology I learnt several new things just from the process of constructing our product. As I was the edited, I had to learn to use the Apple Mac computers to enable me to gain access to the editing suite software Final Cut Pro. I learnt that editing is the last component of constructing a film, I learnt how to add shots together by using different angles captured but also keeping a match on action effect. Sound effects were a crucial element to our film which I was able to download from Soundtrack Pro & Video Co Pilot. By adding sound effect it emphasised sound that could not be heard distinctly and by adding a soundtrack that played in the background of the film, it created suspense and tension for the viewers. One of the biggest challenges that I came across was, originally we captured footage from our original film but when trying to edit, established that we didn’t correctly captured the right shots on camera so we changed our story and captured good footage which I was able to edit. Even through editing the good footage, I came across problems with the dialogue, some of the dialogue was to low and as I had background music playing it would be more dominant over the speech. I had to make the dialogue higher and lower the background music so it would clash. The final problem that I came across as the editor was that sometimes the dialogue of the characters would come out of sync, so I had to move the dialogue about to match the visual action of the characters speaking. That problem occurred several times throughout the process of editing but was easily corrected instantly.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
7) From looking back at the preliminary task, I have learnt so much up to the progression of the full product. I have learnt that so much preparation is needed to produce an accurate but successful end product. In the production process I learnt how to produce a storyboard and annotate it step by step shots to be able to captured good footage. By having the storyboard it also help me edit my shot in the sequence of the storyboard, so I didn’t miss out any shot. When having a storyboard, you need a shot list for the cameraman to follow, I learnt how to be fully organised to make the whole production a smoother process. I also learnt about the 180 degree rule, even though I wasn’t the cameraman or director, it was good to learn about the rules in filming just as a basic knowledge background. From the 180 degree rule I was able to understand that when filming you cannot cross between a 180 degree lines which is on a vertical axis. I also learnt about the effectiveness of continuity, without continuity it allows the audience to see where the editing has been done, so by using the same type of editing effect for example cut, it makes the film run smoothly and realistically. By doing a preliminary task it helped me understand what I was doing wrong, these helped our group gain knowledge and develop our skills on the editing suite, using the camera and directing. As a result I’m very please with our end product and believe it went 100% successful as we were able to eliminate our errors from the start of the production by doing the preliminary task. If the preliminary task was not done, more errors would have been made and more time would have been needed to complete the film. I also learnt that a lot of preparation is needed to be able to have guidelines which needs to be planned and drafted out to make a success production.

SEAN AUCHOMBIT

Media Evaluation - Dan Lawrence

1. in what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our media product ‘Kidnapped’ uses and develops different codes and conventions of other real media products by using continuity right the way through the scene, this includes the dialogue that we used. We took inspiration for our film from Pierre Morels hit film “Taken” and American TV drama “Dollhouse”. It is clear for the audience to see that we have drawn inspiration from the American TV Drama “Dollhouse” as we tried to recreate a particular scene in a bathroom from the first episode, using elements of a narrative similar to “Taken”. If you compare these three media products you can see that they all share a similar conventions, predominately suspense. I believe the main convention from the thriller genre that is obvious to all in “Kidnapped” is suspense through the use of a vast amount of close ups (see fig 1) and the non-diegetic score music that plays right through the scene from the beginning to end with a low volume that subliminally increases the suspense of the scene.
Figure 1


2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
When studying the thriller genre, we found that a common theme of most films protagonists is the way they stereotypically cast people into gender roles such as the protagonist usually being a young to middle-aged male, as are most of the antagonists, with the victim usually being an innocent female. We chose males to be in our film as they are widely seen, not just within the thriller genre, but in general society as the stronger, more dominant gender (see fig 2). This is seen in our film “Kidnapped” where the main protagonist (Michael) is willing to go to any lengths in order to get his daughter back from her kidnappers. Another way in which we have typecast the males is because they are seen as more protective of their family and in this case Michael is willing to kill to see his family reunited. This clearly shows that the characters have been created in a stereotypical way so the audience can identify with them a lot easier whereas the females’ classic stereotype is of a weak, fragile disposition so the mostly male audience will accept this notion as perfectly normal and therefore be further drawn into our film. Our target audience mostly consists of teenagers aged 15 and onwards and are mostly males, we made it this because we knew that it will be mostly men who will want to see thrillers and this theory was backed up by the results of our questionnaire. When asked “Was the story plausible” and “Was the storyline easy to understand”, 100% of the people who answered the both questions said yes.
Figure 2


3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I feel our media product definitely has the potential to be produced by a major Hollywood studio such as Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) or Universal as it exhibits all the classic elements of a great thriller and would (according to my feedback) definitely make money at the box office. The only draw back is that something very similar has been made before, the film we drew a majority of our ideas from, “Taken”. Although our exact idea has never been made before, it definitely contains a lot of the elements seen in “Taken” which has been successfully produced and screened in cinemas across the world. Our film, should it be made, would hopefully be shown in every local cinema nationwide, it would also be shown inside our college during a ‘special screening’ event to mark the fact that great filmmakers once went to the college. Our film, as it attracts a large, possibly global, audience offers great opportunities for franchising and merchandising as it would be able to sell a hefty amount of products including character models, replica props, posters and video games for the younger side of our audience.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
As I have previously mentioned the target audience for our media product consists of mostly males aged 15 and over, this is because the British Board Of Film Classification (BBFC) have rules stipulating that “There may be frequent use of strong language” but “Continued aggressive use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable” and “Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury”. However, despite the fact we cannot target a younger audience I personally believe that our efforts would be better used if we were to focus more on a group such as 15-20 year olds. Our research, such as our questionnaires, helped us in finding that the most suitable age and gender group to target as when we asked questions like “What age bracket do you fit in” 60% were in the 15-17 age category. Our audience are also likely to be enticed into watching the rest of our film due to the fact that they might feel sympathy for Michael and although they might disagree with his means they are very likely to agree with his motives which would make the audience engage more with the narrative and keep them hooked on the film.

5. How did you attract / address your audience?
During the filming of both our preliminary task and “Kidnapped” the audience were the first people we thought about before we done anything in terms of producing the film. A good example of this we tried not break the 180 degree rule as it would disorientate the audience when they view it and would quickly turn them off watching it. Another factor that made us think about the audience was how to kill Dan as we were afraid it might scare some viewers. In the end we decided to show a white flash when the bullet exits the barrel of Michael’s gun and only show Dan falling onto the sink as opposed to showing the bullet itself pass through Dan as that may have been distressing to some viewers, particularly those of a younger age. We attracted our audience to our thriller by using stereotypical props such as guns (see fig 3) and cars that you would find in almost all thriller movies. This iconography will allow us to attract the usual thriller genre watchers as they know what to expect even before they’ve read a review when they see props like that. This theory is also backed by our research as when we asked people “What are the typical props you expect to see in a thriller movie” both guns and cars rated highly although this question did not make it into the final cut of our blog questionnaire.
Figure 3


6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
From the process of constructing our media project I have learnt a number of different things such as how to obey the 180 degree rule, techniques such as shot-reverse-shot and how to direct a crew whilst doing a short film. The 180 degree rule in particular was hard to obey not so much in the preliminary but more so in the making of “Kidnapped” as it was such a small space to film in it was hard to get all the shots we needed without breaking the rule although we did somehow managed to escape it and not break the rule. Some of the shots that we had to capture in “Kidnapped” were quite tricky to do so without breaking the aforementioned 180 degree rule. As director for the production I decided with the cameraman where would be the best place to shoot from and most of the shots where filmed without a hitch but some shots such as when Michael presses the gun to the back of Dan’s head and we just see it touching him was difficult because of working the camera around the room and not catching other peoples shadows in the shot, this was avoided however because of the skill from the cameraman. Once we had finished filming and had all our footage we simply needed to edit the footage. We used the editing software (Final Cut Pro 6) to improve our work but giving it a more gritty film look (see fig 4) and using Soundtrack Pro we was able to extract the necessary sound effects and lay them onto our piece mostly without problems. Creating the film look did take along time however and it was a tedious process but the editor done it well. The technology as a whole I believe helped us create a better product more than hindered us in our efforts, because of the sheer amount of options it opened up to us and as the director I made myself as deeply involved in all the processes of the film making from choosing actors positioning to having the final say on what made the final cut of the film.
Figure 4


7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
The making of our preliminary task has allowed me to learn that you must always do extensive planning before shooting a movie. I have also learnt how position actors and get the best out of them in my time as director as well learning how not to break the 180 degree and why it shouldn’t be broken. Leading up to the production our group did some deep planning by doing tasks such as brainstorms which allowed to choose our main prop, occupation of the protagonist, the setting and the plot itself. After watching a few thrillers ourselves and making notes on the techniques used and the codes and conventions of a thriller, we handed out questionnaires to both students and teachers alike with some involved in media studies and some not and we even handed them out to people in our target audience and some not, this was done so we could have a deeper insight into how people viewed the thriller genre which would in turn help us sculpt our film. After doing the obvious necessities of writing the script and synopsis for our production we had to draw the storyboard, as none of our group were particularly good artists we chose to take picture of the location and convert on Photoshop which took a little longer than we expected but gave us a better result. Then once we had done the cast and score notes without forgetting the shot list we were able to create our masterful two minute introduction to a thriller movie.


Unfortuntely the upload tool from blogspot did not allow the full quality of these pictures to upload onto the blog.

Dan Lawrence

Audience Questionnaire Analysis - Dan Lawrence

From these graphs you can clearly see that after we handed out our questionnaires to people aged 15-17 and 18 and above (as seen in graph 2) our movie was seen predominately as a thriller, this is good however as perfectionists we were aiming for 100% but we acknowledge that it is hard for some people to completely pigeon-hole a film into one particular genre. I am pleased that 15 out of the 20 people said that our sequence met their expectations, however I always strive to improve my work so if I were to do this task again I would hope that an overwhelming majority would say I exceeded their expectations. I am very pleased that 100% of our participants to the questionnaires said that the antagonist and protagonist were clear otherwise it would have been a lot harder to enjoy and be enticed by the film.

Audience Questionnaire Analysis - Jack Burton

We handed out our questionnaires to 50% of people who are ages 15-17 and the other 50% to people ages 18 and above, we also gave it to slightly more males as we thought that males would take more pleasure from a thriller movie such as ours. I am glad that the majority of the people that filled out the questionnaire realised that it was a thriller and some saw it as an action film, this is good as it means we have achieved in showing the generic conventions of a thriller movie in our 2 minute opening sequence, it also means we have targeted our audience well and accurately. I am moderately pleased that 75% of the people that answered the questionnaire found that it met there expectations this also reiterates that we have exploited the codes and conventions of a thriller movie well and also shows that our 2 minute opening sequence is exciting and reaches or maybe even rises above the majority of viewers expectations. I am extremely pleased that the antagonist and protagonist where clear to the viewer within our 2 minute opening sequence, I am pleased with this as it is vital to any thriller for the audience to understand who the hero is and who the villain is early on in a thriller film such as ours.

Audience Questionnaire Analysis - Sean Auchombit

After handing out our questionnaires to people who are ages 15-17 and 18 and above (split 50/50), we took the conscious decision to give slightly more questionnaires to males as opposed to females and typically it is the males who enjoy thrillers more. I am happy that the majority of people that filled out the questionnaire said that they thoughts genre was a thriller and although some saw it as an action film, it is still good as it means we can appeal to both audiences simultaneously whilst still using the conventions of a thriller in our 2 minute opening sequence, it also means that we have targeted our audience correctly and accurately. I am happy that 75% of the people that answered the questionnaire thought that it met there expectations of what could create as it shows us that we have performed and used the conventions very well. This also shows that our 2 minute opening sequence is thrilling and could possibly rise above the viewers expectations. I am very happy that the antagonist and protagonist were clear to the viewer within our 2 minute opening sequence, I am happy with this because it is necessary for any thriller to have the audience understand who the heros and villains are so as it doesn't confuse them and they know to cheer for.

Questionnaire

What gender are you? Male/Female (Please circle appropriate)


What age category do you fit in? 15-17 18+


What ethnicity are you?


What genre does your sequence fit into? Thriller Horror Comedy Action Sci-Fi


Did the sequence meet your expectations? Yes/No


Were the antagonist and protagonist clear? Yes/No


What classification would you put the movie into? 12A 15 18


What audience does the sequence apply to? Younger Alternative Mature Middle-Aged


Was there any clear representations? If so what?





What was the weakest part and why?





Were there any representations of it stereotypical social groups and if so, which ones?

Kidnapped

This is our main two minute introduction to a thriller called Kidnapped. Enjoy

Shot List For Kidnapped

This is the shot list for own main two minute introduction to a thriller.

Thriller Notes - Batman, The Dark Knight

CHARACTERS
Batman (Christian Bale) raises the stakes in his bourgeois war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker (Heath Ledger). Batman and the joker battle it out throughout the film with batman’s weakness being the entire city of Gotham being vulnerable with the joker having no real weakness as he is not afraid of death or imprisonment

NARRATIVE
The film is a single strand narrative which keeps the audience asking questions throughout as they are shown a number of lot of intense action packed scene , where the audience are wondering what is going to happen next. The audiences are left asking a number of questions whilst watching a lot of the time they are wondering what the psychotic joker is going to do next or where he is which helps to engage the audience they are also left asking the same questions with batman for the majority of the film this helps to create suspense and tension for the viewer which is vital for the any thriller movie. As the narrative continues towards the climax of the film as Harvey Dent get horrific burns to one side which in turn makes him become a new villain two face which leaves the audience wanting to know how this escalates, it is unclear whether or not Harvey is dead at the end of the film. The film ends with a lot of un answered questions for the audience to keep guessing and waiting for the next film.

CINEMATICS
The film uses some great cinematography to draw the attention of the audience with great special effects, camera angles and shots adding the overall look to the film with its amazing high tempo music, which won an achievement in sound editing, The film uses a number of close ups and mid shots in order to build tension for the audience, establishing shots are also important to the film as it shows off the dark city skylines and building structures where the audience are wondering where batman is going to turn up or fly through and save the day. The use of props, costumes and lighting is also vital to this movie giving great visuals in some shot along with the frightening make up of the joker continually builds the drama throughout the film. The non diegetic music builds suspense and tension for the viewer where there always asking what’s going to happen next? The use of diegetic dialogue is also helpful in the build of to the climatic points in scenes especially with the joker’s quick-witted dialogue creating both humour and suspense for the audience.

THEMES
The main themes that the film focuses itself on are crime and corrupt authority where hero is seen as being quite corrupted a lot of the time. There is also a theme of the villain exploiting a flaw that the villain has for the majority of the film in this case it’s the fact that batman is unable to kill the joker, batman is also always left having to solve a mystery that the joker lays in his path this creates an enigma for the audience.
Jack Burton

Thriller Notes - Shooter

CHARACTERS
Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg), one of the world's great marksmen and the son of a Congressional Medal of Honoree, is a loner living in the Rockies. He's left the military, having been hung out to dry in a secret Ethiopian mission a few years before, when he's recruited by a lisping colonel to help find a way that the President of the US might be assassinated in one of three cities in the next two weeks. He does his work, but the shot is fired notwithstanding and Bob Lee is quickly the fall guy: wounded and hunted by thousands, he goes to ground and, aided by two unlikely allies, searches for the truth and for those who double-crossed him. All roads lead back to Ethiopia.

NARRATIVE
The film is a linear narrative which mainly keeps the audience asking why Bob lee swagger (Mark Wahlberg) has been framed throughout this is ultimately answered in the later parts of the film, although the audience is left asking a number of questions when they see suspended F.B.I agent Nick Memphis (Michael Pena) looking for evidence suggesting that Swagger is innocent. The film is packed is extremely packed with action and builds a lot of tension throughout with swagger & Memphis equipped with a powerful arsenal of heavy firearms and explosives. As the film escalates the main reason for swagger being framed is revealed to him, there are a number of scenes when suspense and tension is created such as the scene where Michael Memphis is captured and dramatically rescued by Swagger with a couple of deadly shots to his foes. The information that Swagger is looking for is also lifted to him as well as the audience when he interrogates crippled assassin Michael Sandor (Rade Sherbedgia) where he reveals the reason behind Swaggers set up. More questions are answered later in the film once Swagger is captured by the F.B.I, as he is present in the department of justice office proving his innocence. In front of him is his sniper rifle, and Swaggers hands are freed. He asks if the rifle has been tampered with by the FBI or any other authority, but it hasn’t. He turns to Memphis, asking whether he believes in Swaggers innocence whether he trusts him with his life. Memphis answers yes and Swagger loads a bullet into the rifle, aims at Memphis a great deal of suspense is created during this time, Swagger pulls the trigger to a resounding "click", as nothing happens. The truth of the situation is clear: since before he left to scout locations he had removed the firing pins from all his weapons (including the rifle in front of him that was supposedly used in the shooting): It was impossible, then, that he had killed the Ethiopian Arch Bishop. Swaggers innocence is clearly shown to the viewers. As the film draws to an end the last question on the audiences mind is whether or not Johnson (Danny Glover) and Senator Meachum (Ned Betty) are going to get away Scot free, this is answered when Swagger takes his revenge and brutally murders them both during the climax of the film.

CINEMATICS
The film uses a great deal of quick cut shots such as close ups and mid- close ups to create tension for the audience for example in the scene where the Ethiopian president Is shot a lot of fast paced shots are used such as close ups and long shots combined with non diegetic music getting faster and faster in order to create tension and to create the enigma, leaving the audience thinking is the president going to be shot. Non diegetic as well as diegetic music plays an important part in building tension in the film as there are many action packed scenes filled with suspense which are aided by the diegetic and non diegetic sounds on screen. The cinematography used in the film continually creates drama as the pace of the shots and quick angle change create a lot of drama and leaves the audience wondering what is going to happen next.

THEMES
The main themes related to this cross genre action thriller would be that it is heavily themed on corrupt authority and mystery where the hero (Bob Lee Swagger) ultimate goal is to uncover a number of mysteries to prove he did not shoot the Ethiopian president, clear his name and unveil the truth behind everything.

JACK BURTON

Thriller Notes - The Departed

Characters:

There are three ma in characters in “The Departed”; Frank Costello (Jack Nickleson), Sergeant Dignam (Mark Walhberg) and Billy Costigan (Leonardo Di Caprio). Straight away from the start of the film we are introduced to Jack Nickleson’s character Frank Costello through the racist narration and by seeing him take protection money from a café whilst just after we see him showing fatherly affection towards a young boy he meets. This connotes to the audience that he is a very strongly willed person whilst also having a compassionate side to him; this gets the audience thinking about the character and helps them become involved into the story. We later see that Nickleson’s everyman qualities are his only redeeming ones, these consist of bring up Mark Walhberg’s character Dignam and in a twisted way caring for his community but only as long as they obey him. Matt Damon’s character in “The Departed” is introduced to the story by a montage of him training at the police academy and being seen as the guy everybody wants to be; smart, funny and good looking. However, later in the film we see him take a darker turn as we see his links to Costello’s mob syndicate. The audience, I believe, are unable to relate to him as person as his sole purpose is not to serve and protect like it should be but simply be a mole within the police force to allow the criminals to flourish. Leonardo Di Caprio’s character Billy Costigan is introduced as a quiet but witty officer who, unlike Dignam is loyal to the police force. The audience is able to sympathise with Di Caprio as he is always getting punished for doing the right things such as breaking from a life of crime, becoming a police officer and when standing up to a guy who is attempting to get protection money he used excessive force to subdue him and the shopkeeper simply started shouting abuse at him.

Narrative:

“The Departed” has a multi strand narrative which mainly follows the 2 police officers in Walhberg and Di Caprio whilst following the mob boss Nickleson simultaneously. This technique is well used within the film as it allows people to see things unfolding clearer as opposed to being fed by the information by the other characters. There is a huge amount of enigmas within “Departed” such as why does Damon continue to help the mob boss even those he is in a job that contradicts his very lifestyle and what is the main crime that Nickleson’s character is committing. All these enigmas are eventually answered by the end of the film in a stunning climax that only a director like Scorsese can deliver. The story also follows a non-linear format as there are flashbacks which give the audience an insight into Di Caprio’s former life before he was a police officer.

Cinematic:

As with all other films within the thriller genre “The Departed” has vast amount of close-ups in order to build tension and suspense between the characters and with the storyline respectably whilst also allowing the audience to see who the main characters are and effectively enter their lives. The different types of shots used by Scorsese are done to connote a particular feeling from the action towards the audience. The non – diegetic sound is mostly of a quiet Sicilian/Italian nature that adds atmosphere. The director uses stop-start sound in order to give more emphasis to the situation and give it more power

Themes:

The main theme of “Departed” is that of a corrupt authority in the form of the police placing Di Caprio in danger at the hands of the mob and the hero (Di Caprio) finding out the truth about the crime whilst the mob find the truth about him which both place him in danger. There is more corrupt authority in the form of Mark Walhberg’s character Sgt. Dignam as he is actually undercover for the Costello’s crime syndicate to feed them information.

Character Notes

Daniel Lawrence (seen below) – Plays the role of the antagonist in the thriller “Kidnapped”. We decided to choose Daniel Lawrence to play the role of the villain as he has all key elements of a villain. In the case the villain is seen as a very cocky, confident but also devious person which Daniel has the ability to act out in a very natural way.



Michael Brewe (seen below) – Plays the role of the protagonist in the thriller “Kidnapped”. We decided to choose Michael Brew as the protagonist as he was able to play the villain very accurate. He was able to adapt and act as the character very quickly.

Score Notes

Throughout the editing, we used several different sound effects that we downloaded from Soundtrack Pro. We used a “Gun Cocking” “Gun Shot” “Waterfall Sound” – This sound effect was used for (Daniel Urinating” “Phone Ringing” We also added a background music (Soundtrack) that we downloaded from video co pilot this was used to build tension throughout the sequence but also to create the type of background club music effect. Our sound effects and music aided in achieving our thriller theme as it built all the tension and suspense. I encountered several problems when adding the background music, I noticed that the dialogue was not strong enough which means that the music was to powerful which prevented the dialogue from the characters very hard to hear. What I did to overcome this problem was I toned down the music when there is dialogue and also I made the dialogue higher so it enable viewers to hear the dialogue more clearly. Another problem which I encountered was the sound effects. When placing the sound effects in it correct position in the sequence I noticed that sound effects sounded very strong and was noticeable to viewers that it was a sound effect. To resolve this problem I toned down the sound of the effects to make it blend it more with the sequence to give it that more realistic and film effect. They were the only problems that I came across when adding the sound effects and music.

Prop Notes

For our thriller sequence, the props that we used were essential to create a more intense storyline, which also is a convention. The props that our group used were mobile phones near the beginning of the 2-minute opening sequence in which Michael Brewe is on the phone to Daniel Lawrence in the toilet. By using the mobile phones it creates mystery as Daniel’s phone rings but there is no answer but then Michael appears from a toilet cubical behind Daniel holding his mobile phone. Another essential prop that we used was the gun, which Michael held to Daniel head, we used the gun as it creates a more immediate, and threatening effect. (Shown below)

Directors Cut

This is the directors cut of the script for Kidnapped

Genre Research

Thriller is a genre that is used in literature, film, television and video gaming. Thrillers often consist of overlapping sub genres which is another genre within the main genre. For our thriller our sub genre would be action thriller as we have used props such as a gun which is stereotypically know as aggressive. Other sub genres are:
Crime Thriller
Disaster Thriller
Drama Thriller
Eco-Thriller
Conspiracy Thriller
Erotic Thriller
Horror Thriller
Legal Thriller
Medical Thriller
Spy Thriller
Political Thriller
Supernatural Thriller
Techno Thriller
Psychological Thriller
Thrillers are known to have fast pacing, consistent action but main thing of all a character with is the protagonist and a character who is an antagonist - a hero and villain. Stereotypically the female character in a thriller is always the character which is in trouble, defenceless and unable to fight off the villain. Thrillers always have a background music which aids in building up suspense and tension for viewers. In our 2 minute opening sequence to our thriller we have gone by the conventions of a thriller by adding background music which is slow, very upbeat but helps aid in building the tension and suspense in our sequence. It is said that thrillers are often set in deserts, abandon houses, foreign cities but also high seas. The overlapping of mysteries storied are used a lot in a thriller

Codes and Convention of the Thriller Genre

Thrillers are often set in wholly or partly exotic settings such as foreign cities, deserts or high seas. The heroes in most thrillers are frequently "hard men" who are used to dealing with danger, for example, policemen, spies or soldiers. However, they may also be ordinary citizens drawn into danger by accident as was very common in Alfred Hitchcock thrillers. While such heroes have traditionally been men, women lead characters have become increasingly common; an early example of this is Sigourney Weaver's character Ripley, in the movie “Alien”, 1979.
Thrillers are often seen overlapping with mystery stories, but are more well known by the structure of their plots. In a thriller, commonly the hero must foil the plans of an enemy, rather than uncover a crime that has already happened; and while a murder mystery would be spoiled by a premature disclosure of the murderer's identity, in a thriller the identity of a murderer or other villain in typically known all along and the emphasis is put more on will they catch them. Thrillers also occur on a much grander scale: the crimes that must be prevented are serial or mass murder, terrorism, assassination, or the overthrow of governments, for an example of this you could pick nearly any James Bond movie such as “Die Another Day” or “From Russia With Love”. Jeopardy and violent confrontations are seen in nearly every single thriller movie. While a mystery climaxes when the mystery is solved, a thriller climaxes when the hero finally defeats the villain, saving his own life and more often then not the lives of others. In thrillers influenced by film noir and tragedy, the compromised hero is often killed in the process such as failed spies for example at the start of Hitchcock’s “The Thirty-Nine Steps”.
A further convention of a thriller is the element of suspense that is added in order to increase the excitement for the audience and to keep them interested. Alfred Hitchcock was so good adding suspense to his thrillers that it earned him the nickname “The Master of Suspense”, with his finest example of this possibly being “Vertigo”.

Script - "Kidnapped"

Kidnapped

 

Fade In:

 

Int. Bathroom. Daytime

 

DAN walks into bathroom, briefly looks at the cubicles and one is engaged.

 

He then walks to the urinal and begins to urinate. We then hear DANS phone starts to ring, he answers.

 

MICHAEL: So where’s my daughter

 

DAN: You’ll find out when I get what you owe me             

 

DAN hangs up the phone and we see a side view of DAN as a gun is pushed into the back of his head and DAN raises his hands

 

DAN: You’re about to make a big mistake

 

We then see the camera follow up MICHAELS arm to see him looking straight at DAN.

 

MICHAEL: You’ll be the one making the mistake if you don’t tell me where my daughter is!

 

DAN is then shown side on looking straight forwards.

 

DAN: What?

 

MICHAEL is then shown from a front view looking straight at DAN

 

MICHAEL: Where’s my daughter?

 

Side on view of DAN still at the urinal is shown.

 

DAN: You’re crazy!

 

MICHAEL: Where is she?

 

DAN: You must be…

 

Before DAN can finish his sentence MICHAEL cocks his gun.

 

We then see DAN standing in front of the urinal with MICHAEL being seen over his shoulder

 

DAN: OK, OK… I know, I know. 16 Lytton Road, Romford, but she’s being moved soon.

 

MICHAEL then turns around and begins to walk out of the door

 

DAN: So are we even?

 

MICHAEL then turns around and fires two shots although we don’t see them go in, only the muzzle flash of the gun.

 

MICHAEL: Now we are

 

Synopsis - Kidnapped

Synopsis – Kidnapped

 

 

The seventeen year-old Danielle is the pride and joy of her father, the retired marine Michael Brewe that left the Royal Marines to stay near Danielle in London. He has had his beloved daughter stolen from him by a syndicate of human traffickers, Danielle manages to call Michael while she is being kidnapped, he speaks to his daughter and one of the kidnappers on the phone and promises to find and kill them once he has found her.

 

Michael uses his contacts from MI5 and manages to track down his first lead; the arrogant, wealthy businessman Daniel Lawrence who turns out to be the man that organises these kidnappings and Michael has tracked him down. When Michael finds him he interrogates him at gunpoint to get the information on his daughters whereabouts, he gets an address and then shoots him dead, leaving his dead body to be found as a message to the other gang members.

 

Michael continues to track his daughter’s kidnappers frantically as he knows there is not much time before she is shipped off to another country as he arrives at the address Michael quickly identifies the building as a brothel, he walks in as if he were a customer, pays the money required and is lead to a room. He opens the door in hope that his daughter is on the other side but is only met by a drugged woman. Michael then begins to look throughout all the rooms in the building looking for Danielle, he creates a scene whilst interrupting a number of customers and is forced to dispatch of a few guards in the process. Michael is unsuccessful in finding his daughter and is confronted by what seems to be the man running the brothel; Michael shoots him in the leg and interrogates him. He manages to get information about a plane taking the girls to Russia saying it is likely his daughter is there, He then shoots him dead and rushes to the plane.

 

When Michael arrives at the landing strip he sees a hangar with a small plane inside. As he try’s to enter he encounters a number of guards and dispatches them quickly and silently. He manages to get inside and board the plane unseen. As he searches the plane he is spotted and all hell breaks loose. With Michael killing everyone including the man he spoke to on the phone earlier, he continues to search the plane and finds his daughter unconscious, he calls for an ambulance and desperately tries to save her life.

 

Danielle is seen in a hospital bed healthy and sleeping with Michael sitting next to her he is confronted by a number of his friends from the Marines and MI5, he is told he has done his country a great service and is offered a job with MI5. After a few seconds of thought and gazing at his daughter he decides to reject the offer so as he can spend the rest of his life with his family.

Preliminary Task

This is preliminary exercise for our AS Media Studies. We hope you enjoy.

From this exercise we have learnt how to obey the 180 degree rule correctly, shot-reverse-shot, how to correctly use continuity, how to use the editing

equipment (Final Cut Pro) and within that, tools and effects of the software such as fades, colour correction, adding music soundtracks and alternating the pitch of the track.

Shot List For The Preliminary Task

This is the shot list for our preliminary task so that it would be easier and quicker for us to film and so as we wouldn't make too many mistakes.

Brainstorm

This is the brainstorm that allowed us to come up with all the neccessary elements for our 2 minute sequence.

Welcome To Our Blog

Welcome to Jack, Sean and Daniel's (JSD's) blog.

This blog will be regularly updated with our AS media coursework and by the end, contain every single piece as well as our final 2 minute opening sequence of a thriller movie.

Please enjoy and feel free to leave as much feedback as possible.