Script
Script
Scene 1: Girl walking down dark alleyway with footsteps and eerie music.
Scene 2: Point of View shot from the girl she then looks behind her with footsteps and eerie music.
Scene 3: Girl notices someone following her; she starts to run and falls whilst the stalker takes a picture of her, indicated by the flash. Eerie music, footsteps, heavy breathing and girls scream.
Scene 4: Stalker walking down dark alleyway with the body of his victim in a dustbin bag. Eerie music.
Scene 5: Close up of tap running in dark room with eerie music.
Scene 6: Hooded stalker in dark room developing pictures of his current and previous ‘victims’ whilst making a collage of them on the wall indicating his next victim. Eerie music.
Scene 7: New female victim sitting on park bench reading newspaper with news report of previous victims death.
News Reporter: “News just in. Unknown murderer who attacks innocent teenage girls has struck yet again. The murderer who goes by the nickname “The Clicker” leaves nothing but images of his victims at their death scene. The government has ordered a curfew of 8 o’clock for all teenage girls.”
Eerie music in background.
Scene 8: Girl then walks through the park whilst being watched by her stalker behind a bush. Eerie music.
Scene 1: Girl walking down dark alleyway with footsteps and eerie music.
Scene 2: Point of View shot from the girl she then looks behind her with footsteps and eerie music.
Scene 3: Girl notices someone following her; she starts to run and falls whilst the stalker takes a picture of her, indicated by the flash. Eerie music, footsteps, heavy breathing and girls scream.
Scene 4: Stalker walking down dark alleyway with the body of his victim in a dustbin bag. Eerie music.
Scene 5: Close up of tap running in dark room with eerie music.
Scene 6: Hooded stalker in dark room developing pictures of his current and previous ‘victims’ whilst making a collage of them on the wall indicating his next victim. Eerie music.
Scene 7: New female victim sitting on park bench reading newspaper with news report of previous victims death.
News Reporter: “News just in. Unknown murderer who attacks innocent teenage girls has struck yet again. The murderer who goes by the nickname “The Clicker” leaves nothing but images of his victims at their death scene. The government has ordered a curfew of 8 o’clock for all teenage girls.”
Eerie music in background.
Scene 8: Girl then walks through the park whilst being watched by her stalker behind a bush. Eerie music.
Initial and Final Ideas
Initial and final ideas for our opening sequence
The groups initial ideas was to have a girl commit suicide by hanging herself and leaving a jewelry box that was the sole clue to her death. This would have followed the conventions of a thriller by setting the time of the main characters’ death at night. We would have used quiet and eerie music to start with and then fast, suspended music leading to her death. After a discussion we decided not to go along with this idea as we couldn’t create a sense of realism because it was difficult to make the character seem that she hanged herself. Which then meant that we weren’t able to create enough enigma as the audience would know immediately that she hanged herself making the storyline very limited because there would be no questions raised to make the audience watch.
Our second idea was a flash-back scene witnessing a woman, the main female character, and her boyfriend having an intense argument and then jumping to the present to show her lying dead on her bed, with an investigator attempting to solve the crime. This was loosely based on the TV drama CSI, which we thought would work very well because CSI is interesting and we thought that’s how our one end up being. It would have followed the conventions of a thriller as it had an investigator aiming to solve the crime and a mysterious person who killed the main character. However, this was again very limited in creating mystery as we had to show multiple actors interacting with the main female character in heated situations such as an argument, which could possibly be connected to her death. Consequently, in our minds we thought this would be too long for an opening sequence and would become too complicated, which would result in the sequence being unclear and confusing.
Overall, our final idea was a psycho killer who follows a girl by taking pictures and subsequently kills her. The opening sequence begins with the main victim (Salmaa) walking alone down a dark alleyway, with the only source of ambient light by the lamps. Salmaa would then turn around and notice the stalker following and reacts by running away. This results in Salmaa tripping and screaming, with a flash of a camera going off indicating that the psycho stalker has got her and take a picture of her to add to his collection. The stalker capturing and killing his victim is cemented, when a fade in shows him dragging her body down the same alleyway in a bin liner. We then see the psycho in a different setting which is in the dark room. We see him placing his processed photos of his current and previous victims on the wall. This exhibits that he has committed this crime many times before and now has set his sights on a new victim (Sarah). A fade out introduces Sarah reading a story in the newspaper- the audience are informed of what the story is by a radio news report. We then show a point of view shot, which suggests it is the psycho as he is hiding behind the bushes, stalking Sarah’s every move. It ends with Sarah walking away, which raises questions to the audience such as what will happen to her? Was it the stalker behind the bushes? This then led us to think of a title for the film and we thought of ‘click’. This was because it sums up the film but doesn’t give anything away and click is open to interpretation. It perhaps also makes the audience think of what ‘click’ has to do with a thriller, which creates a sense of anticipation because the audience want to find out how it links with the film and the purpose of the title. This follows the conventions of a thriller as we have set the opening sequence at night which is a vulnerable period; the music we used was slow, eerie music to build anticipation. Furthermore, the dark room was lit in a red color and the opening credits, to create a sinister mood and the connotations of red are death, passion and violence which are all conventions of a thriller. Our film research helped us with our final idea because it showed us how we had to employ different camera angles and shots to create a certain mood or hierarchy of a character. It also taught us that music is important to evoke different feelings from your target audience. The audience research helped us with our final idea as the majority of people we asked liked thrillers to be set at night and that they preferred slow, eerie and ghostly music to create suspense and mood in the opening sequence. Moreover, our opening sequence began as narrative based because the audience research we carried out revealed that most people favored narrative led opening sequence as it doesn’t give too much away in the beginning which lets the storyline develop.
The groups initial ideas was to have a girl commit suicide by hanging herself and leaving a jewelry box that was the sole clue to her death. This would have followed the conventions of a thriller by setting the time of the main characters’ death at night. We would have used quiet and eerie music to start with and then fast, suspended music leading to her death. After a discussion we decided not to go along with this idea as we couldn’t create a sense of realism because it was difficult to make the character seem that she hanged herself. Which then meant that we weren’t able to create enough enigma as the audience would know immediately that she hanged herself making the storyline very limited because there would be no questions raised to make the audience watch.
Our second idea was a flash-back scene witnessing a woman, the main female character, and her boyfriend having an intense argument and then jumping to the present to show her lying dead on her bed, with an investigator attempting to solve the crime. This was loosely based on the TV drama CSI, which we thought would work very well because CSI is interesting and we thought that’s how our one end up being. It would have followed the conventions of a thriller as it had an investigator aiming to solve the crime and a mysterious person who killed the main character. However, this was again very limited in creating mystery as we had to show multiple actors interacting with the main female character in heated situations such as an argument, which could possibly be connected to her death. Consequently, in our minds we thought this would be too long for an opening sequence and would become too complicated, which would result in the sequence being unclear and confusing.
Overall, our final idea was a psycho killer who follows a girl by taking pictures and subsequently kills her. The opening sequence begins with the main victim (Salmaa) walking alone down a dark alleyway, with the only source of ambient light by the lamps. Salmaa would then turn around and notice the stalker following and reacts by running away. This results in Salmaa tripping and screaming, with a flash of a camera going off indicating that the psycho stalker has got her and take a picture of her to add to his collection. The stalker capturing and killing his victim is cemented, when a fade in shows him dragging her body down the same alleyway in a bin liner. We then see the psycho in a different setting which is in the dark room. We see him placing his processed photos of his current and previous victims on the wall. This exhibits that he has committed this crime many times before and now has set his sights on a new victim (Sarah). A fade out introduces Sarah reading a story in the newspaper- the audience are informed of what the story is by a radio news report. We then show a point of view shot, which suggests it is the psycho as he is hiding behind the bushes, stalking Sarah’s every move. It ends with Sarah walking away, which raises questions to the audience such as what will happen to her? Was it the stalker behind the bushes? This then led us to think of a title for the film and we thought of ‘click’. This was because it sums up the film but doesn’t give anything away and click is open to interpretation. It perhaps also makes the audience think of what ‘click’ has to do with a thriller, which creates a sense of anticipation because the audience want to find out how it links with the film and the purpose of the title. This follows the conventions of a thriller as we have set the opening sequence at night which is a vulnerable period; the music we used was slow, eerie music to build anticipation. Furthermore, the dark room was lit in a red color and the opening credits, to create a sinister mood and the connotations of red are death, passion and violence which are all conventions of a thriller. Our film research helped us with our final idea because it showed us how we had to employ different camera angles and shots to create a certain mood or hierarchy of a character. It also taught us that music is important to evoke different feelings from your target audience. The audience research helped us with our final idea as the majority of people we asked liked thrillers to be set at night and that they preferred slow, eerie and ghostly music to create suspense and mood in the opening sequence. Moreover, our opening sequence began as narrative based because the audience research we carried out revealed that most people favored narrative led opening sequence as it doesn’t give too much away in the beginning which lets the storyline develop.
Film Research.
Film Research:
Film title: Memento
Director: Christopher Nolan
Year: 2000
The film is set in California, and is character based. The genre for this film is established by the thrilling music. There is also suspense created as the focus is on the picture. There is also the sudden shout and gunshot of a man. The film then turns black and white with a voice over to make the audience recognise the flashback. The main character is introduced as the focus is on him holding the picture and then it develops onwards as the audience hears his voiceover. Narrative is introduced as the death of the man tells the audience the film leads on to him. The voiceover is also the main character speaking in a monologue about his condition. The clues given from the opening sequence is the picture, does he take pictures of everything? Another clue is the death of the man, why has he killed this man? These clues also raise questions for the audience.
Film Title: Se7en
Director: David Fincher
Year: 1995
This film is also set in California, and is character based, we can see this by the fact the camera focuses on “detective Somerset” right from the beginning as he is getting dressed. The genre of the film- detective thriller- is established by the obvious mise-en-scene as there is a person lying dead in a pool of blood. The characters are also costumed in detective clothing. The narrative is introduced as the newer detective, played by Brad Pitt, enters, and they start walking off together, and Somerset questions him. This shows that the narrative may be based on the relationship between the two detectives, or the reasons for Pitt’s intention to work specifically with Somerset. The questions raised by this opening sequence include: why is Somerset so sombre, lonely? Is Pitt’s character hiding something?
Film Title: Psycho
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Year: 1960
The opening sequence of Psycho introduces the audience to a block of apartments in New York and zooms in on one particular window. Inside the window are a man and woman who look as if they are up to something they shouldn’t be. This sequence follows the conventions of the thriller genre because it is character led and based on dialogue. The scene makes the audience feel voyeuristic because it shows the two characters caught in a sexual act that they shouldn’t be committing.
Film Title: Gothika
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz
Year: 2004
In Gothika the audience’s expectations are fulfilled because from the very opening scene we learn about a character being possessed by the devil and this is a typical convention of a horror film. Also this character is a stock character of a horror film; this is because she is a typical character that you would have in a horror movie. The text conforms to the characteristics of the horror genre because its location is set in a mental prison which gives an eerie and scary atmosphere. Also this first stock character is talking about how she cut her step-fathers throat open. These examples are conventions of typical horror movies.
Film Title: What Lies Beneath?
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Year: 2000
What lies beneath is a horror thriller. The narrative begins with the film title reflected off of water to create a rippling effect. Subsequently, the camera moves slowly and reveals underwater plants oscillating by a stream of low-key lighting which creates the heavy use of contrast between light and dark, immediately constructing the genre of the film to be a horror thriller. The slow, eerie, sinister music creates a sense of tension and suspense which crafts the following scene to be much more terrifying, implementing another convention of a thriller. This is when the main character is introduced with a close up of a lucid ethereal face, a common convention of a horror thriller, appears over Michelle Pfeiffer’s character. She lifts her head out of the water revealing a distressed out of breath women and with lack of clothing suggests vulnerability. This is then followed by a straight cut with the use of a long shot that moves slowly towards Michelle Pfeiffer, suggesting another presence other than the audience is watching her. This then follows her getting electrocuted whilst she tries to fix her seemingly broken hairdryer. The questions that are raised are why are we introduced in an underwater setting? Why Michelle Pfeiffer has almost drowned in her own bath tub? And why is she alone? Overall, these keep the audience watching because it creates ambiguity and questions that the viewers want to be answered. What we can learn from this opening sequence to help us with ours is that if effective music and camera angles and shots are employed it will build the narrative to create suspense and raise questions for our audience.
Film title: jaws
Director: Steven Spielberg
Year: 1975
Jaws is a thriller. The narrative begins with the camera tracking through the sea, showing the swaying of underwater plants, corals and the rippling and reflection of light through the water, contrasting light and dark to instantly assemble a thriller genre. The music that is followed with this is slow, sinister, orchestral music and gradually builds up to become fast paced, which makes the audience on edge. This has the conventions of a thriller because films usually start as narrative based with menacing music to keep the audience gripped. It then cuts to a panning, mid shot of teenagers gathered around a fire, smoking and drinking on the beach. There is harmonica and guitar playing and background chatter, which settle the mood of the music formerly used. The camera then pans to young boy and girl making flirtatious eye contact. A long shot is then used and shows the girl running away in a childlike manner- which demonstrates that they are in a playful mood. The boy then asks the girl “where are we going” and she replies “swimming!” This indicates to the audience that something will happen to one them due to the previous underwater scene, as the audience were given the impression that something dangerous and fatal is lurking in the water. The questions that are raised: what is in the water? What will happen to the girl if she enters the water? Will she be in danger or not? Overall, this keeps the audience watching because it creates ambiguity towards the creature in the water, which makes the audience want to find out what it is and how the creature is central to the film. What we can learn from this opening sequence is to not give anything straight away and perhaps to suggest or give clues that will make the audience want to keep on watching. It also helps us with our opening sequence as if we could create a distinctive theme tune like jaws which is widely recognised, it will set our film apart and create a synergy that will instantly identify our film with it.
In depth research
16 blocks film analysis
Setting
The film is set in a city. We know this because of the obvious urban surroundings, such as traffic, sky scraper buildings and passersby.
We are also shown that the city is New York because the police force is wearing an ‘NYPD’ labelled jacket. This identifies their positions in the film and that they are in the police department of New York.
Narrative based or character based?
The first part of the opening sequence is character based because it is based on dialogue in the beginning of the flashback. We know this as detective ‘Jack Mosley’ is stating that he is a police officer because he gives his shield number and says that it will be his “last will and testament”, which is introducing him at the end of his career. Mosley states how he was “trying to do a good thing”, which gives us clues to his character. The second part of the opening sequence starts as narrative based as it begins with samba music and shots of the apartment. The mood is then interrupted when the NYPD kick the door down along with shouting commands. This is then followed by detective Jack Mosley being asked to “sit in the case”; demonstrating to the audience he isn’t regarded very highly in his jobs due to his visible attitudes.
Genre
The genre is established because we see law enforcement officers, detectives, police, a chase or quest when the NYPD enter the apartment, mystery in the flashback and authoritative role of the police officers. The genre is also shown through the mise-en-scene as we can see guns, police hats, uniform, coats, and police lingo.
Genre is important as it relies on the audience expectation to generate meanings.
Introduction of Main Character
Jack Mosley is introduced in the flashback with a long shot but slightly tilted to a low angle. The long shot is used to allow the viewer to gain the overall picture. The slight use of the low angle is used to make Mosley appear powerful and central to this incident that is being shown on the bus. These two shots together create a sense of distance between the audience and the flashback scene because it isn’t allowing the audience to fully grasp what is going on in and around the bus as it wants to form mystery to the main character.
On the second part of the opening sequence Jack is introduced with the camera being tilted down, whilst he is walking up the stairs. This is to reinforce the idea of him being the main character as quite a lot of camera angles have been used on him. The low angle also exhibits his whole body and the way he comes up the stairs to reveal some of his characteristics i.e. he is staggering because he is somewhat drunk. Moreover, the low angle could show how vulnerable he really is and needs with his conditions.
Narrative
Narrative is introduced through sound as in the black and white flashback, Jack Mosley’s voice is the only form of sound we hear, to make it more interesting and magnified to the audience. Through the middle of his dialogue, a sound of a sniper gun loading is applied, this is to build up tension and generate a sense of an unknown to what will happen to Officer Mosley.
Whereas, in the second part of the opening sequence the diegetic sound of samba music is used to create a relaxed mood but then the break in of the officers give a dramatic overthrow, creating an uneasy mood.
This mise en scene contains guns, walky talkies, police officers, police costumes, crime scene in the apartment, clues etc…
Camera angles are also used especially mid shots and close ups of police officers holding sniper guns to symbolize intensity of the scene and establishing shot of Mosley on the bus.
Clues about FilmThe first part of the sequence gives us a clue that the film will lead back to the flashback that has been shown and explore how he got into that situation.
The second part gives us a rough guide to his lifestyle and personality. An example of this is when another officer says to Mosley not to touch anything in the crime scene of the apartment; however he doesn’t take any notice and takes a bottle of alcohol from the cupboard to drink. This reveals he is an alcoholic and does not take any control over it.
Questions Raised
In the first part we question who is Diane? What way is she related to him? What is the good thing he tried to do? Why did he end up in this situation?
In the second part we question, why is he an alcoholic? Why does he seem depressed? Are the dead people from the apartment part of the dead from the apartment part of the narrative?
Overall, these keep the audience watching because it creates ambiguity and questions that the viewers want to be answered.
Post Production.
Post Production- Audience Research:
“Click” questionnaire
1. What did you think of the opening sequence?
2. What did you think the film was about (interpretations)?
3. What questions are being raised?
4. Did we stick to the conventions of a thriller?
5. Do we need more special effects?
6. What else do we need to add to get maximum marks?
7. Does it create enigma? If yes or no, why?
8. What do think we need to include/improve in our sequence?
9. What was the best part of the sequence?
10. Was the music appropriate for our storyline in the sequence?
11. After watching the opening sequence, would you like to carry on watching the development of the film?
Yes/no...Why?
12. Do we create tension in our opening sequence? Why?
As we read through the answers to this questionnaire, we found that the best part of our opening sequence is the scream section, and mainly the beginning as there was alot of tension created. To improve on our opening sequence, we were told that the newspaper could be improved to make it more realistic and to hold a steadier camera shot at the beginning, because although it was a chase, it was too shaky.
“Click” questionnaire
1. What did you think of the opening sequence?
2. What did you think the film was about (interpretations)?
3. What questions are being raised?
4. Did we stick to the conventions of a thriller?
5. Do we need more special effects?
6. What else do we need to add to get maximum marks?
7. Does it create enigma? If yes or no, why?
8. What do think we need to include/improve in our sequence?
9. What was the best part of the sequence?
10. Was the music appropriate for our storyline in the sequence?
11. After watching the opening sequence, would you like to carry on watching the development of the film?
Yes/no...Why?
12. Do we create tension in our opening sequence? Why?
As we read through the answers to this questionnaire, we found that the best part of our opening sequence is the scream section, and mainly the beginning as there was alot of tension created. To improve on our opening sequence, we were told that the newspaper could be improved to make it more realistic and to hold a steadier camera shot at the beginning, because although it was a chase, it was too shaky.
Evaluations.
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Genre describes a type of media product that fulfils audience expectation. It is defined by particular codes and conventions and can create audience expectations by introducing new codes and conventions. The genre of a film can help producers and audiences.
The thriller is a broad genre of film. It includes, often overlapping sub-genres i.e. Spy Thrillers, Military Thrillers, Conspiracy Thrillers, Legal Thrillers, Psychological Thrillers. It also includes hybrid genres such as sci-fi thrillers and horror thrillers. Thrillers are categorized by fast paced and frequent action. They usually have a hero/heroin as a main character that must prevent the plans of the more powerful and better-equipped villains. They also usually have a “damsel in distress” or victim that is usually played by a woman who gets captured by the villain and has to be saved by the hero/heroin. The themes of thrillers usually involve conspiracies, revenge, enigmas or puzzles to be solved and suspense.
A genuine thriller is a film that relentlessly pursues a single-minded goal – to provide thrills and keep the audience cliff hanging as the plot builds towards a climax. The tension usually arises when the main character is placed in a threatening situation or mystery, or a dangerous mission from which escape seems impossible. Life itself is threatened, usually because the principal character is unsuspecting or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation. Plots of thrillers involve characters which come into conflict with each other or outside forces. They are similar to horror films, except thrillers use exciting action and tension to engage the audience. An example of a thriller is What Lies Beneath. Norman Spencer, a university research scientist, is growing concerned about his wife Claire. She reports hearing voices and witnessing eerie occurrences in and around their lakeside home. An increasingly frightened Claire thinks the phenomena have something to do with the couple living next door, especially since the wife has disappeared without apparent explanation. At her husband's urging, Claire starts to see a therapist; she tells him she thinks the house is being haunted by a ghost. His advice? Try to make contact.
Our opening sequence follows most of these conventions of a thriller by introducing the audience to a “victim” in the beginning who ends up in a deadly situation but ends up dying because there is no hero to save them this early in the film. It also involves a lot of suspense and terror involved in the plot resulting in death. However, our opening sequence challenges the thriller genre as it involves a lot of horror and some could argue that it is a horror-thriller rather than a genuine thriller.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our opening sequence represents the male and female gender. The stalker is represented as being male because stereotypically most males are seen to commit crimes rather than women. This is due to the fact that the media sensationalise these crimes to be commonly committed by men in particular, which automatically stereotypes them. The victim is casted as a female because they are perceived to be vulnerable and helpless, especially in the situation of our opening sequence. The victim walks in a defensive manner- with her hands in her pocket and her head bowed down, the stalker, walks with a sly, confident conduct. A binary opposition is shown. Where the victim (female) is shown as weak and vulnerable, the stalker (male) is presented as strong and intimidating. This is a dominant ideology since most people view males and females in this way.
Race is also presented in our opening sequence. The stalker represents black people as threatening. This is because he is dressed in tracksuits and a hoodie- which most of his face is covered by- creating an uneasy atmosphere towards him and symbolising that he could perhaps be part of a gang. Gang members are seen to be dangerous and hostile towards people that are not in their social circle. The stalker reinforces this stereotype when he murders the victim for an unknown reason- raising questions to the viewers. We tried to represent this reinforced stereotype of thugs and gangs through the way people commonly view them. In some ways, this can represent moral panics as it can be seen to encourage black people to conform to this stereotype of being intimidating, unsociable gangsters, which is an unrealistic version of what they really are.
The mise en scene is in a dark alleyway- which can represent an area where dangerous people hang out such as gangsters. We tried to illustrate this as the area where gangsters are associated to stay in and an environment where the stalker is possibly comfortable in. The period our opening sequence is set in is at night. We chose to do it at this time as it creates an eerie mood, which suit the conventions of our thriller. The night also represents the most common time criminals commit their crimes as it’s the most defenceless time for their victims.
We used a low angle shot from the stalkers point of view to create power and authority, as he was looking down on his victim. This represents the stalker as the dominant role in the opening sequence as he has the more control and ability upon the victim because the stalker is committing the crime. Camera angles we used with the victim, was tracking from the stalkers point of view to show vulnerability, and the use of high angle shots to show an unguarded manner of the female victim. The stalker’s social group is seen in society as dangerous and hostile, whereas, the female victim’s social group is within the society- therefore she is seen as approachable and as one of them. We mostly used quick cuts to create fast action to generate tension and make the audience feel on edge. We also used fade in and fade outs to create enigma.
We tried to construct a real world by setting our scenario in realistic surroundings. This was done by using ambient light from the moon and available light from the street lamp- which was not specialised by film lighting equipment- to make the scene more pragmatic and so the audience could relate to it, as they probably have walked through alleyways at that time of the night. We also made the committing of the crime quite simple, as we didn’t use weapons and so on, because most criminals do not have advanced equipment in the real world. It related to the genre as we filmed in the dark which created tension when watching it. We also filmed in the dark room- therefore the connotations of the red lighting made the opening sequence sinister.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
There are five major distributors that dominate the UK film industry: United International Pictures, Warner Brothers, Buena Vista, Twentieth Century Fox and Sony. There are also independent distributors such as Pathé, Icon, and Optimum Releasing. Generally nine of every ten films seen in the UK are viewed as a result of these major distributors. These distributors are often directly linked to the Hollywood production companies who make the films. Film distribution describes the process by which films get from the production studios on to our screens and how audiences become aware of the film. The situation of the UK film industry was the investment in the making of films dropped, due to the rate if the English pound against the America dollar and the availability of the low cost studios in Eastern Europe. However it bounced back up again, largely to a renaissance of TV companies’ involvement in production and distribution.
The film ‘se7en’ is similar to our opening sequence as there is a serial murderer/ stalker who justifies his crimes on the basis of the seven deadly sins. It was distributed by New Line Cinema, founded in 1967. Though it initially began as an independent film studio, it became a subsidiary of Time Warner and is now a division of Warner Bros. New Line continues to market, produce and distribute its films; however, it does so now as a part of Warner Bros. This subsidiary could distribute our films because it is part of Warner Brothers which can help financially, plus it is a very well known company. New Line has said that it “will not just be doing genre…there’s no mandate to make a particular kind of movie.” This suggests that New Line is open to distributing any type of film and perhaps would distribute our film, as they don’t stick to certain types of generic themes: making New Line versatile.
New Line does not distribute its own films outside America, but contracts other studios such as Entertainment Film Distributors in the UK, to distribute its product overseas. Entertainment Film Distributors is a British distributor of independent films in the UK. It has distributed Se7en, White Noise 2: The Light and most notably for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It’s also responsible for genre films such as dark city, blade trilogy and so on. This could work in our favour, for them to distribute our media product as it’s a genre film and contains all the conventions of a thriller which they might be interested in and would make good use of distributing.
New line is beginning to make more traditional co-productions with other major studios (where one studio has North American rights, the other international rights.) This could possibly be a plus for our product as New Line could have the rights to North America, which could make awareness for our film overseas, and if we contact another distributor such as Entertainment Film Distributors who distribute independent films, to have the other rights: as we can have filmed on a small budget- putting our product under the category of an independent film.
Another film that is similar to our opening sequence is one hour photo. These films relate to our opening sequence as the main character (Sy) takes photos of his victims. The main company that distributed One hour photo was Fox Searchlight pictures. This distributor could be another possibility as it specialises in indie and British films alongside genres such as horror which is similar to the genre of thrillers. It’s very well known for distributing Slumdog Millionaire- which won an academy award.
4. Who would be the target audience for your media product and why?
As film producers, it is important to keep your target audience in mind; this is because it helps focus ideas and direct your product the right way. For an initial brief, as a group, we all decided that our media product would be produced for teenagers and young adults of both genders. As our analysis and research progressed, with this target audience in mind, it helped us choose existing thriller movies that are within this age group. This included “16 blocks” and “one-hour-photo”. These films were especially important to us as they were a certificate 15, which is within our target. As we filmed the opening sequence, we had kept in mind aspects of the films we researched previously; this included the idea of a black and white effect to show a flashback, as so used in “16 blocks”. In the end, we didn’t use this idea but we used photos instead. To make our storyline apparent to our viewers, we had to change various ideas, so that they are clear in helping the audience understand what the film is about. This included changing some personal views into tracking camera angles so it is apparent that there are two characters. Our sense of audience helped us keep in mind a more complex idea to the storyline, as our age group would be able to understand it, rather than a simple one.
5) How did you attract/address your audience?
Click Questionnaire:
1. What did you think of the opening sequence?
2. What did you think the film was about (interpretations)?
3. What questions are being raised?
4. Did we stick to the conventions of a thriller?
5. Do we need more special effects?
6. Does it create enigma? If Yes or No, Why?
7. What do you think we need to improve/ include in our opening sequence?
8. What was the best part of the sequence?
9. Was the music appropriate for our storyline in the sequence?
10. After watching the opening sequence, would you like to carry on watching the development of the film? Yes/No, Why?
11. Do we create tension in our opening sequnce? And why?
As we read through the answers to this questionnaire, we found that the best part of our opening sequence is the scream section, and mainly the beginning as there was alot of tension created. Our dark-room scene was also very popular as it fitetd the theme of photos and the 'click' of cameras. the red setting also connoted blood and sinister moods. To improve on our opening sequence, we were told that the newspaper could be improved to make it more realistic and to hold a steadier camera shot at the beginning, because although it was a chase, it was too shaky. With the audience in mind, we knew we had to include young actors and alot of suspense to satisfy our young aged target audience. our opening sequence matched our intentions for the opening sequence as most of viewers understood the storyline and felt we were able to create suspence and enigma sucessfully.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
In my group, we shared the use of the camera as many of the clips only included the three main characters. After completing practise exercises in using the digital camera and producing a preliminary task, we were familiar with the camera’s practicalities. We had originally planned to film most of our opening sequence in the dark, but realised the lighting was bad and made the shot look amateur. This was the issue for the opening scene of our opening sequence of the character walking down the dark alleyway, it is badly lit making it look unprofessional. We overcame this by filming the scene again where the lamp-post was in the alleyway making it slightly brighter although it was still difficult to make out parts of the scene. The disadvantage of not having professional lighting on the alleyway that we filmed on did in fact obstruct and element of our creative flow as we were forced to change the whole idea of our opening sequence and make sure that we filmed the parts that were outside near lamp-posts.
Though most of the filming equipment on set was far less advanced than that used on professional sets, the new Macs we were editing on did give us a huge scope to create an outstanding final product. The most time consuming part of editing our footage was probably cutting the clips down and putting them together whilst thinking about narrative and the continuity of the whole film. The clip where Salmaa was walking down the alleyway when the stalker follows her was particularly difficult to put together and make the audience jump. Through the use of the footsteps sound effect and Salmaa’s scream, the overall mood of this clip was enhanced greatly. The visual effects were mostly helpful in editing the lighting in each shot; the outside shot was probably the biggest issue as the street we filmed on wasn’t lit very well, though after experimenting with the ‘brightness’ icon, this scene was easier to see. Once we had chosen the music on the Mac, we decided to mute the whole sequence as there were some clips where the background noise was distracting to what was going on in the scene. We then chose to make the music play quietly throughout the whole sequence and play a news report over the top to make it seem more realistic. To reflect the change in locations and keep the continuity of the storyline, we used fade-ins to help the audience understand what was going on. Though we were originally unsure of using this transition in case it looked amateur, we did eventually recognise how much of a difference it made in making the sequence clear. The technological equipment that my group has used has definitely helped in making our final product look polished, slick and professional.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Even though our preliminary task was a simple one, as a group we had to overcome numerous problems, to complete the task. These problems include having to position the tri-pod correctly, which was difficult as it wasn’t fixed. To organise our human resources, people involved in our production, we split each group member into a certain role, one person was in charge of camera, another of script, and the other organising actors and setting. We decided not to use any props, just a simple setting with a table and chairs. As a group, the preliminary task had taught us how to use the basics of iMovie editor. The preliminary task was important for us to learn new shots such as the 180 degree shot and ‘shot-reverse-shot’. It was also a starting project for the group member who was unfamiliar with the subject and practical side of it. It also helped us to understand the steps needed to create a media product. It was very educational.
Genre describes a type of media product that fulfils audience expectation. It is defined by particular codes and conventions and can create audience expectations by introducing new codes and conventions. The genre of a film can help producers and audiences.
The thriller is a broad genre of film. It includes, often overlapping sub-genres i.e. Spy Thrillers, Military Thrillers, Conspiracy Thrillers, Legal Thrillers, Psychological Thrillers. It also includes hybrid genres such as sci-fi thrillers and horror thrillers. Thrillers are categorized by fast paced and frequent action. They usually have a hero/heroin as a main character that must prevent the plans of the more powerful and better-equipped villains. They also usually have a “damsel in distress” or victim that is usually played by a woman who gets captured by the villain and has to be saved by the hero/heroin. The themes of thrillers usually involve conspiracies, revenge, enigmas or puzzles to be solved and suspense.
A genuine thriller is a film that relentlessly pursues a single-minded goal – to provide thrills and keep the audience cliff hanging as the plot builds towards a climax. The tension usually arises when the main character is placed in a threatening situation or mystery, or a dangerous mission from which escape seems impossible. Life itself is threatened, usually because the principal character is unsuspecting or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation. Plots of thrillers involve characters which come into conflict with each other or outside forces. They are similar to horror films, except thrillers use exciting action and tension to engage the audience. An example of a thriller is What Lies Beneath. Norman Spencer, a university research scientist, is growing concerned about his wife Claire. She reports hearing voices and witnessing eerie occurrences in and around their lakeside home. An increasingly frightened Claire thinks the phenomena have something to do with the couple living next door, especially since the wife has disappeared without apparent explanation. At her husband's urging, Claire starts to see a therapist; she tells him she thinks the house is being haunted by a ghost. His advice? Try to make contact.
Our opening sequence follows most of these conventions of a thriller by introducing the audience to a “victim” in the beginning who ends up in a deadly situation but ends up dying because there is no hero to save them this early in the film. It also involves a lot of suspense and terror involved in the plot resulting in death. However, our opening sequence challenges the thriller genre as it involves a lot of horror and some could argue that it is a horror-thriller rather than a genuine thriller.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our opening sequence represents the male and female gender. The stalker is represented as being male because stereotypically most males are seen to commit crimes rather than women. This is due to the fact that the media sensationalise these crimes to be commonly committed by men in particular, which automatically stereotypes them. The victim is casted as a female because they are perceived to be vulnerable and helpless, especially in the situation of our opening sequence. The victim walks in a defensive manner- with her hands in her pocket and her head bowed down, the stalker, walks with a sly, confident conduct. A binary opposition is shown. Where the victim (female) is shown as weak and vulnerable, the stalker (male) is presented as strong and intimidating. This is a dominant ideology since most people view males and females in this way.
Race is also presented in our opening sequence. The stalker represents black people as threatening. This is because he is dressed in tracksuits and a hoodie- which most of his face is covered by- creating an uneasy atmosphere towards him and symbolising that he could perhaps be part of a gang. Gang members are seen to be dangerous and hostile towards people that are not in their social circle. The stalker reinforces this stereotype when he murders the victim for an unknown reason- raising questions to the viewers. We tried to represent this reinforced stereotype of thugs and gangs through the way people commonly view them. In some ways, this can represent moral panics as it can be seen to encourage black people to conform to this stereotype of being intimidating, unsociable gangsters, which is an unrealistic version of what they really are.
The mise en scene is in a dark alleyway- which can represent an area where dangerous people hang out such as gangsters. We tried to illustrate this as the area where gangsters are associated to stay in and an environment where the stalker is possibly comfortable in. The period our opening sequence is set in is at night. We chose to do it at this time as it creates an eerie mood, which suit the conventions of our thriller. The night also represents the most common time criminals commit their crimes as it’s the most defenceless time for their victims.
We used a low angle shot from the stalkers point of view to create power and authority, as he was looking down on his victim. This represents the stalker as the dominant role in the opening sequence as he has the more control and ability upon the victim because the stalker is committing the crime. Camera angles we used with the victim, was tracking from the stalkers point of view to show vulnerability, and the use of high angle shots to show an unguarded manner of the female victim. The stalker’s social group is seen in society as dangerous and hostile, whereas, the female victim’s social group is within the society- therefore she is seen as approachable and as one of them. We mostly used quick cuts to create fast action to generate tension and make the audience feel on edge. We also used fade in and fade outs to create enigma.
We tried to construct a real world by setting our scenario in realistic surroundings. This was done by using ambient light from the moon and available light from the street lamp- which was not specialised by film lighting equipment- to make the scene more pragmatic and so the audience could relate to it, as they probably have walked through alleyways at that time of the night. We also made the committing of the crime quite simple, as we didn’t use weapons and so on, because most criminals do not have advanced equipment in the real world. It related to the genre as we filmed in the dark which created tension when watching it. We also filmed in the dark room- therefore the connotations of the red lighting made the opening sequence sinister.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
There are five major distributors that dominate the UK film industry: United International Pictures, Warner Brothers, Buena Vista, Twentieth Century Fox and Sony. There are also independent distributors such as Pathé, Icon, and Optimum Releasing. Generally nine of every ten films seen in the UK are viewed as a result of these major distributors. These distributors are often directly linked to the Hollywood production companies who make the films. Film distribution describes the process by which films get from the production studios on to our screens and how audiences become aware of the film. The situation of the UK film industry was the investment in the making of films dropped, due to the rate if the English pound against the America dollar and the availability of the low cost studios in Eastern Europe. However it bounced back up again, largely to a renaissance of TV companies’ involvement in production and distribution.
The film ‘se7en’ is similar to our opening sequence as there is a serial murderer/ stalker who justifies his crimes on the basis of the seven deadly sins. It was distributed by New Line Cinema, founded in 1967. Though it initially began as an independent film studio, it became a subsidiary of Time Warner and is now a division of Warner Bros. New Line continues to market, produce and distribute its films; however, it does so now as a part of Warner Bros. This subsidiary could distribute our films because it is part of Warner Brothers which can help financially, plus it is a very well known company. New Line has said that it “will not just be doing genre…there’s no mandate to make a particular kind of movie.” This suggests that New Line is open to distributing any type of film and perhaps would distribute our film, as they don’t stick to certain types of generic themes: making New Line versatile.
New Line does not distribute its own films outside America, but contracts other studios such as Entertainment Film Distributors in the UK, to distribute its product overseas. Entertainment Film Distributors is a British distributor of independent films in the UK. It has distributed Se7en, White Noise 2: The Light and most notably for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It’s also responsible for genre films such as dark city, blade trilogy and so on. This could work in our favour, for them to distribute our media product as it’s a genre film and contains all the conventions of a thriller which they might be interested in and would make good use of distributing.
New line is beginning to make more traditional co-productions with other major studios (where one studio has North American rights, the other international rights.) This could possibly be a plus for our product as New Line could have the rights to North America, which could make awareness for our film overseas, and if we contact another distributor such as Entertainment Film Distributors who distribute independent films, to have the other rights: as we can have filmed on a small budget- putting our product under the category of an independent film.
Another film that is similar to our opening sequence is one hour photo. These films relate to our opening sequence as the main character (Sy) takes photos of his victims. The main company that distributed One hour photo was Fox Searchlight pictures. This distributor could be another possibility as it specialises in indie and British films alongside genres such as horror which is similar to the genre of thrillers. It’s very well known for distributing Slumdog Millionaire- which won an academy award.
4. Who would be the target audience for your media product and why?
As film producers, it is important to keep your target audience in mind; this is because it helps focus ideas and direct your product the right way. For an initial brief, as a group, we all decided that our media product would be produced for teenagers and young adults of both genders. As our analysis and research progressed, with this target audience in mind, it helped us choose existing thriller movies that are within this age group. This included “16 blocks” and “one-hour-photo”. These films were especially important to us as they were a certificate 15, which is within our target. As we filmed the opening sequence, we had kept in mind aspects of the films we researched previously; this included the idea of a black and white effect to show a flashback, as so used in “16 blocks”. In the end, we didn’t use this idea but we used photos instead. To make our storyline apparent to our viewers, we had to change various ideas, so that they are clear in helping the audience understand what the film is about. This included changing some personal views into tracking camera angles so it is apparent that there are two characters. Our sense of audience helped us keep in mind a more complex idea to the storyline, as our age group would be able to understand it, rather than a simple one.
5) How did you attract/address your audience?
Click Questionnaire:
1. What did you think of the opening sequence?
2. What did you think the film was about (interpretations)?
3. What questions are being raised?
4. Did we stick to the conventions of a thriller?
5. Do we need more special effects?
6. Does it create enigma? If Yes or No, Why?
7. What do you think we need to improve/ include in our opening sequence?
8. What was the best part of the sequence?
9. Was the music appropriate for our storyline in the sequence?
10. After watching the opening sequence, would you like to carry on watching the development of the film? Yes/No, Why?
11. Do we create tension in our opening sequnce? And why?
As we read through the answers to this questionnaire, we found that the best part of our opening sequence is the scream section, and mainly the beginning as there was alot of tension created. Our dark-room scene was also very popular as it fitetd the theme of photos and the 'click' of cameras. the red setting also connoted blood and sinister moods. To improve on our opening sequence, we were told that the newspaper could be improved to make it more realistic and to hold a steadier camera shot at the beginning, because although it was a chase, it was too shaky. With the audience in mind, we knew we had to include young actors and alot of suspense to satisfy our young aged target audience. our opening sequence matched our intentions for the opening sequence as most of viewers understood the storyline and felt we were able to create suspence and enigma sucessfully.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
In my group, we shared the use of the camera as many of the clips only included the three main characters. After completing practise exercises in using the digital camera and producing a preliminary task, we were familiar with the camera’s practicalities. We had originally planned to film most of our opening sequence in the dark, but realised the lighting was bad and made the shot look amateur. This was the issue for the opening scene of our opening sequence of the character walking down the dark alleyway, it is badly lit making it look unprofessional. We overcame this by filming the scene again where the lamp-post was in the alleyway making it slightly brighter although it was still difficult to make out parts of the scene. The disadvantage of not having professional lighting on the alleyway that we filmed on did in fact obstruct and element of our creative flow as we were forced to change the whole idea of our opening sequence and make sure that we filmed the parts that were outside near lamp-posts.
Though most of the filming equipment on set was far less advanced than that used on professional sets, the new Macs we were editing on did give us a huge scope to create an outstanding final product. The most time consuming part of editing our footage was probably cutting the clips down and putting them together whilst thinking about narrative and the continuity of the whole film. The clip where Salmaa was walking down the alleyway when the stalker follows her was particularly difficult to put together and make the audience jump. Through the use of the footsteps sound effect and Salmaa’s scream, the overall mood of this clip was enhanced greatly. The visual effects were mostly helpful in editing the lighting in each shot; the outside shot was probably the biggest issue as the street we filmed on wasn’t lit very well, though after experimenting with the ‘brightness’ icon, this scene was easier to see. Once we had chosen the music on the Mac, we decided to mute the whole sequence as there were some clips where the background noise was distracting to what was going on in the scene. We then chose to make the music play quietly throughout the whole sequence and play a news report over the top to make it seem more realistic. To reflect the change in locations and keep the continuity of the storyline, we used fade-ins to help the audience understand what was going on. Though we were originally unsure of using this transition in case it looked amateur, we did eventually recognise how much of a difference it made in making the sequence clear. The technological equipment that my group has used has definitely helped in making our final product look polished, slick and professional.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Even though our preliminary task was a simple one, as a group we had to overcome numerous problems, to complete the task. These problems include having to position the tri-pod correctly, which was difficult as it wasn’t fixed. To organise our human resources, people involved in our production, we split each group member into a certain role, one person was in charge of camera, another of script, and the other organising actors and setting. We decided not to use any props, just a simple setting with a table and chairs. As a group, the preliminary task had taught us how to use the basics of iMovie editor. The preliminary task was important for us to learn new shots such as the 180 degree shot and ‘shot-reverse-shot’. It was also a starting project for the group member who was unfamiliar with the subject and practical side of it. It also helped us to understand the steps needed to create a media product. It was very educational.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
