ANISHA AND PEARCE AND RACHAEL DISCUSSION

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

For this evaluation i went through the final version of our project and selected some frames and have annotated and evaluated notes on them.

Doing hair before filming - On Location

Application of make up - On Location

FINAL FILM - Identity - Anisha Bains Productions .wmv

EDITING DIARY

This is 2 of the group in the editing room, when editing the final film.
We spent alot of time editing as it wasnt something any of us had done before. We used a program called Pinaccle to upload edit and create the movie.
At first none of us knew how to use it but after the preliminary task and after trying out a few bits we started to understand it better.
We then began to use fades in our work and knew how to slow down the scene or fasten it up. These teqniques will help us to get a better grade over all because it makes the thriller more interesting.
When editing we took it in turns to be in control although all contributed our ideas.  We found that just lesson time alone wasnt enough to do all that we needed to so we started coming into the editing room in our free periods, and staying after school to complete what we had too.

Overall I think we did some really good editing in our film 'Identity' and am really proud of the outcome.

Initial title idea's

Our film is a thriller and we want the title to highlight the fact that its a thriller film. We also want our title to be unique and noticable as soon as you hear the name.

There are four idea that we could use for our title.
 'Basement' is an iconic name, it has a one word feel about it which makes it more dramatic. This also is a title that makes the audience think questions ' what is in the basement?' this keeps the viewers intrigued to keep watching. This title fits in with our thriller because the basement is the way to escape if we was to continue the film.

'Identity' is another idea which has a one word feel about. This psychological and makes the audience think and use your brain to understand the movie. This links in with out film as th character 'Pearce's' identity is taken from him as he becomes possessed like the main character 'the girl'.

Sprit is a great title as the word suggest spooky,scary stuff and a sprit is the core of your soul. This link in with our thriller because again both 'peacre's' and 'the girl' have a awful sprit.

Getaway is different title to the other suggestions, when you think of getaway audience will immediately understand of an escape is going to happen in the film. The character 'james' needs to escape from the house to secure his life as his friend has also be possessed by 'the girl'. This links nicely to what would happen after the opening two minutes as the film progresses.

Feedback

Feedback is a important requirement when producing a film, it give the cast the analysis the feedback and let the audience make vital contributes which can be beneficial when undergoing the process of making another film, for the task James decided to interview Jack and Ryan ( two collages at school ) and ask them to watch the clip, analysis it and answer a few questions.

1) James : What did you enjoyed/thought was good about the thriller?

Jack : I felt the music helped build up suspense and tension. This was done well as various music stings were used to emphasis key points in the film

Ryan : The character ( The Girl ) has a good costume design and outfit , she was made to look a lot scarier than anticipated, which helps the audience keep engaged in the film.

2) James : What didn't you particularly like in the film?

Ryan & Jack : We both felt as if the costume on the other two remaining character could of been thought through a bit more , at times it come across as tacky and not very organised.

3 ) James : What did you make on the soundtrack?

Ryan & Jack : Overall the sound track was really effective it enabled the film to commence with certain music stings, this created added tension and suspense which we both enjoyed.

4 ) James : Do you think character roles were allocated to the correct people in the clip?

Jack : Yes, I think it is important your film is different and allows the girl to be the villain, it's a change to the norms which keep the audience engaged.

Ryan : I also think it is important especially in a physchological thriller to have the women as a villain, however if you was looking to clash and challenge the stereotypes maybe you could of swapped Pearce and James around.

This was a brief discussion we're we got the chance to ask students a few important questions, below is a photo of an gernal overview of the feedback we received  from other students, on the whole we was extremely satisfied with our result.

Title Name

 The title of your film could be the most crucial part when marketing your thriller and trying to attracts customers to view your film. The name of a film has some significance and could be seen more important than the actually footage in certain aspects. When producing a film marketing is the first step on how to produce a successful movie. As a group we finally decided the given name of our thriller would be identity. 

Identity represents or sum's up various characterises which makes someone recognisable in a group of society. Identity in our thriller symbolises the fact that 'The Girl' has been mislead and is stuck in-between two separate worlds where she is unable to  actively participate or function in the human world. Having the title of our film as 'Identity', the audience sub-consciously recognises their must be certain issue's to do if a person's placement is correct throughout the film. Also it allows the audience to acknowledge what the film may consist of a break it down into a sub-genre and recognise that the film is a physiological thriller. Once again this helps the audience portray an image of what the film may or may not consist of before realise date, added tension is signified by the audience before the actually viewing off the film. As a group these are the reason why we believe the film must have a significant title.   

Evaluation Activity 2 : How does your media product represent particular social groups?

For Evaluation 2 we decided to focus on our protagonist of our film. We come to the conclusion that the nurse acting in the 'Grudge' ( Sarah Michele Gellar ) is very similar to 'The Girl' which in our clip 'Identity'.


 In the grudge the main character is exposed to a mysterious super-natural curse, one that locks her in a powerful rage before clamming her life and spreading to another victim. Although our clip is only two minutes it gives the audience the chance to acknowledge what is happened and come to grips the face that 'The Girl' is possessed and looking out to claim another victim when she finally manages to claim 'Pearce' from the ongoing chase. 

In both clips the protagonist or the films and main threat/villain is of the female gender, this challenges the stereotypically view that women are seen as vulnerable and weak in most horror storyline's. The storyline is similar also with costume choice and mise-en-scene, both character's are pale in the face and have an emotionless attitude. This adds suspense for the audience and helps give the impression they are possessed, death or hovering between certain world.     
Both characters throughout the films are dressed in a white dress, this gives a sense of elegance and purity epically considering they are both females. However once again this challenges the view that white is seen as a sense of hope and dignity. In both clip it sense's danger, pain , and rectifies years of hurt. The group has been inspired from the film grudge and using our own initive, decided to do certain camera shots that symbolise certain parts of the film.

A similar shot used in our thriller clip, we believe simple use of camera like this can keep the audience engaged and keep particular social groups demanding more essential footage/films, this helps the team market films at a more efficient speed.

Location Evaulation

Our new location is a abandoned house in Hutton Mount.  The house has a owner who currently is planning development to the house but needs the council's permission.

Above is a photo of the kitchen. You notice this is a kitchen from the titles, cupboards and fridge, freezer area. This kitchen is torn apart and filled with terror which forms a daunting feel.

The floorboards have been ripped apart. This instantly would make the audience feel frightened and anxious about what to expect in the film.

  

In the hallway we discovered suitcases. These are props that have no effect in the film yet gives the creepy vibe.

This is a picture of a bedroom. Also you can see there is no wall paper, the glass is strattered. This immediately creates a sense of fear for the audience because that is not a ‘normal’ bedroom . The smashed window is an enigma because it causes the viewers to question why and how it got smashed.

We found a room which had old components of a toilet, it had a very creepy feel to it. As you can see again the sink is falling apart which creates the fear within the setting.

When we were viewing the location we noticed the bathroom and straight away the sick is broken and cracked on the floor. We did no damage to the house it was already done. This is good for us to use as the location as it is creepy and dangerous which sets our setting for our film perfect.

Here I have used google maps to show the location of our setting.

Evaluation Activity 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

This is our poster for the thriller film 'Identity', as you can see it is in black and white to give a daunting feel.  The bbfc rating is in the corner to show the audience whether its suitable for a specific age group.

Filming Schedule

Date /Time Of Arrival	Time Of Finishing	Who’s needed	What is being done
26/3/11 8:00	9:45	Anisha, Rachael, Pearce, James	Visiting Highwood Hospital to see if the location is suitable for our thriller.
28/3/11 8:00	9:00	Anisha, Rachael	Going to location to tidy the location ready for filming
2/4/11 9:00	10:00	Anisha, Rachael, Pearce, James	Checking out the new location for our filming and checking if it is safe.
3/4/11 9:00	5:00	Anisha, Rachael, Pearce, James	Starting filming for our thriller getting most shots.

MUSIC

For our thriller we wanted a soundtrack that fitted the genre, also we had to find music that was copyright free so we could not be prosecuted for copyright laws.
This narrowed our choice of music to smaller size than we had hopesd.
So we used the internet and google to help us track down an ideal copyright free backing track, there were many sites that we could use that we found.
 But the sit we ended up getting our music from was... www. freeplaymusic.com

Problems we faced

In finding a location we had a lot of problems as we needed a abounded house, but we needed it to be local so that we could easily get to the location. There were only a few house in Brentwood that we could use, however one we thought was abounded was in matter of fact occupied by a couple. Another location we were thinking of using only recently has been closed and blocked by the federals, so that was two of our locations out of the window and we only had a week to find a great location.

Our next location was at Harwood Hospital which was perfect as it was only a 10 second walk from mine and Rachel’s house. One mourning before school we all went to check out the location it was perfect as it was abounded and was a large building, also we found a basement which would have been perfect for shooting are thriller. But there was a small problem as the site was under construction and the building we were going to use was supposed to be knocked down within the week. So we went to clean up the location and then the site we were able to reach the basement which we wanted to film in.

Lastly the actual location we did use, there was loads of drawings on the wall that would have affected the film so what we had to do is base the camera so that the drawings were not in the shot. Furthermore there was a large amount of glass over the location so we had to spend time cleaning up the area. All in all the location was a good one and didn’t make to much problems      

Poster Influence

Below are two horror movie posters. These posters all link in with our thirller. It is a single representation of the entire film itself.

This poster is from the film 'the ring'. This is a simple but thrilling poster. It is basic and not a clear image is shown but that is what triggers the audience to watch the film. The circle represents a ring which links in with the title. The only colours used are black and white which already give the audience a sense of death and darkness. The white 'ring' gives us the feel of light within the film. The slogan is at the top of the poster and it is very clear and spread out enough.

The Eye. This poster links with the title completely and it is shown throughout the picture of 'the eye'.  The title is clear and 'EYE' is in bold which shows the audience what to expect. This would be good for our film as it is clear and you are able to see what the film is called. Jessica Alba is the main character in this film and that is already shown as above the title is her name again clear, if this was our poster ' Rachael Tonkinson' name would be there as she is our main character.

The posters above represent everything that we wanted to interpret into out own poster.We want the essence of fear and mystery factor found in the poster of 'eye' with the finger coming out but also to have the dramatic and emotional effect of the the ring poster. We hope our Poster has influence from these two films.

Evalution Activity 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Storyline

Storyline

We had a basic storyline for our thriller because we believed that if we executed the simple things well the overall story would be affective and would capture the right shots and perspectives. To make a successful thriller we had a few shots that we had to include to capture the type of story we wanted.

Intro 

We started out with a pan shot that established the location so the viewer knows where we are, also as you look upon the house you are able to see that it is abandoned and there is young girl standing there.

Different shots   

The different shots we went for are varying from; two shots, high angle, low angle, long shot, establishing, but the most affective shot we went for is a two shot. Because we needed to show that the girl is in the house and you can see her, but the victim cannot so it creates an effect of horror.

The house   

One of the main shots we used in the house was when Pearce goes to do his hair in a broken mirror but the girl is in the background. Then we sweep round to where she should be but she’s not there, this we thought was a great shot because this is when you really realise that the girl is in the house.

Also the hand held camera was very affective because it makes the thriller seems a lot more “Real” and could give the affect that it could happen to them. This in the long run will make the viewer seem more scared because in the back of their mind the they still might believe it could happen to them.   

By James Palmer

The Rating of our Product

We have decided that our thriller will be certified as the rating 15. This means that the film can only be viewed by people over the age of 15. We decided to rate our film 15 because of many reason; our film is not graphic, no strong language is used.no drugs are used and no sexual activity is portrayed anough to be an 18.

However our film is graphic and psychologically disturbing as we have a possessed character yet our films does not dwell on the theme which could be copied and is acceptable by the BBFC.

The BBFC website states that 15 rated films may include: "strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualise" as a group we believe that this fits our final product perfectly.

Our target audience is people aged between 15 and 24, however older audiences should be attracted. A simlar audience for our film is paranormal activity as this film includes 'jumpy' scenes.

Evaluation Activity 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Name: Jack Parker

Age: 20

Likes: Going out with friends, Most types of music, Chinese food,

Dislikes: Staying in, old films, quiet people, working late

Bio: Jack loves going to work up in the city and making money for himself, he works for a large bank and is doing well him for himself at such a young age. Even though loves to work, he lives for the weekend and there’s nothing more than he loves than going out clubbing and drinking with his friends on heavy nights out. He meets up with all his collage mates at the weekend and his perfect quite night out is going to the cinema and going for a meal after. His favourite films are: Step brothers, hostel, and fighting as he does love a film that will thrill him, this is why Jack will love our film as it take the watcher on a physocoligal journey and will keep in at the edge of his seat though out the thriller.

Name: Jade smith

Age: 18

Likes: Gig’s, Going out with friends, clubbing, romantic comedies, house music.    

Dislikes: Meals at home, Rude people, the dark, not sleeping

Bio: Jade works in fashion in London and is always changing her looks and looking out for the next big thing, she works hard and normally quite late. But when she’s off he makes sure she has more than enough fun, his loves meeting new people and having girls nights out. She see’s her boyfriend at the weekend and after work, she likes to be treated by him, in her eyes her perfect date is a scary film and a nice nandos after. But she likes the scary films so that she can cuddle up to him, Her favourite films are; sex in the city, 21, American pie, and saw 3d. Jade will love our films because she looking for a thrill and the next big thing, also its a great film to go see with all the girls to get scared at.

Distributors

Distributors

Distribution is all about getting the product out to the market and to all the consumers, there are many different methods of doing this most business use dvd’s or when realised showing of the films in cinema’s. The distributor is manly in charge or promotion of the film, this is normally done by producing adverts,posters,radio. Furthermore the distributor is responsible for the marketing of the dvd production and the covering of the dvd case.

Production Wikipedia definition  

A production company is a company responsible for physical production of new media, performing arts, film, radio or a television program. The company may also be directly responsible for raising of funding for the production or may accomplish this through an emissary. The production company may be either a small company or a larger one, selling its products to a film studio or presenting it at a theatrical venue, or, in the case of film and television, it may be the studio itself. A coproduction is a theatrical presentation or film made by more than one company or a Conglomerate of multiple companies. It is common for actors to form their own production companies so that they can have more control over their own careers.      

If we were to chose a film institute we would chose Paramount Pictures as they do release a large amount of physiological thrillers (54%) This would be a huge advantage as we could use their experience to help us market the product; also they will be able to predict sales and revenue intake on the film. Also as they do specialise in thrillers they will have specialists in the field that could help promote the film and products well.     

James Palmer