Construction- Final Draft

E7: What do I feel I have learned from my preliminary task to the full product?

September 2016


April 2017

The above is a nine frame rundown of my preliminary task and below it is nine frames from my opening sequence. Most obviously, there is more variety and colour in the opening sequence as I used a better quality camera and natural lighting instead of the school lighting. In editing, I added filters to add atmosphere, which I didn't do in my prelim as there wasn't a need for a thriller atmosphere because it was an everyday encounter. In terms of camerawork, I was pretty much a novice at using cameras and tripods at the beginning of the year so the shots are very limited: I used static or tracking shots the whole time, with no change of angles- in the opening sequence I had had more practice with cameras and as a result I could include different angles like the low angle taken from the ground (see bottom left) or the high angle establishing shot I used a drone for (middle). I also used handheld cameras more in my opening sequence for a tension-building and immersing effect, for example in the bottom right shot where I ran behind Abbi for an over-the-shoulder shot. In my prelim, I also used a lot of match-on-action and shot-reverse shot, but as there is only ever one person in the shot at a time in the opening sequence I struggled to include shot-reverse shot and the 180-degree rule- which I did break once or twice in the prelim because of inexperience. My prelim has very limited narrative as it only consists of two classmates talking and entering/leaving a room; compared to my opening sequence which holds a lot of narrative hints as it is elusive as to why she is running away, who she was kidnapped by and the reasons behind it- also the cliffhanger of the kidnapper noticing she has escaped and whether he will get her back or not. This development was because I had more time in research and planning for my opening sequence, and my prelim was very rushed and improvised. I feel I've learned a lot and seeing the differences between the two makes it clear how much I've progressed since September, in terms of narrative and complexity as well as professionalism and editing.

E6: What have I learned about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

In this video I (attempted) to evaluate question 6 about the digital technologies I've learned about from constructing the final product. I struggled to say everything I wanted to in 3 minutes, so here is a more detailed rundown of what I actually learnt about the technologies I mention in the video:

Blogger: I uploaded a lot of photos to my blog to start off with, and I learned that I needed high quality photos in order for them to look more aesthetically pleasing on my blog, as they had to be set at the largest size setting. I also used a few Prezis to make my blog more interactive and fun, so I had to find out how to embed these into my blog and also learn how to actually use Prezi to my advantage in the first place, i.e what information I could display through these and what went better as another format.

Camera and equipment: I was not great at camerawork when I started the course, and tripods scared me with how complicated they looked. It turns out tripods are pretty easy to set up but I had to learn how to do that and also how to use the lever to make a tracking shot. The Lumix camera I used cut off the shot as soon as I pressed the shutter, so I learnt to leave a few seconds before and after the action so I had more footage to work with when editing. 

Drone: The drone was an extra asset in filming, I got really professional footage from it and also had a lot of fun, but it took a lot of learning and trial shots to get the material I wanted. I also had to look up how and when I could use the drone because of local laws and safety laws.

iPhone: I have an iPhone and use it every day, but filming and editing on it was quite new to me so I had to follow a few tutorials and help pages about iMovie to learn how to use it efficiently for the actual opening sequence. I also learned that the sound recording quality on iPhones is better than the camera I used, so I recorded Foley sound of the character breathing and her footsteps as another option to use in post-production.

YouTube: I've never uploaded a video to YouTube before starting the course, so I had to make a channel and read up on how to upload a video correctly before I did. Over my planning and research and mainly construction, I made a few vlogs and extra videos, so by the time I'd made the final production I knew exactly what I was doing. Copyright is something YouTube takes very seriously which I learned with my first vlog, where I tried to add a song in the background but had to change to copyright-free music before it would allow me to upload.

E5: How did I attract/address the audience?

A typical member of our audience would be aged 15-25, female, interested in missing person/thriller films and in particular, films with an intriguing plot.

I addressed my audience in the BBFC age rating for my film (15). Following the guidelines of real films, I decided this was the best age rating based on the content and themes of my film, and this shapes the audience as only teenagers 15 and up would come to watch it. I also cast actors of this age range, so that the audience can identify and relate to the characters on a better level than if they were much older. I addressed my target audience by making it clear who I was aiming at through use of casting and subject matter.

I attracted the audience of people interested in the particular genre of film by conforming to specific conventions and codes. For example, I built suspense in the opening sequence as well as creating a dark atmosphere, whilst also leaving plot clues. These are common conventions of thriller opening sequences, such as Girl, Interrupted. I created tension by using dramatic music in the background, and used the fast paced beat of the character's footsteps to build it up. The dark atmosphere was created by a combination of the sunset natural lighting I used, and a filter I added in post-production. Using commonly seen codes is appealing to my audience because viewers recognise and enjoy the style of film because they are familiar with it, therefore they are attracted and will want to watch the film.

I asked a small focus group what they liked most about the film, and here were some of their responses:

"I liked the use of makeup as it was effective in making me think about what could have happened to the character."

"The fast pace of the sequence made me want to continue watching."

"The music captured and maintained my attention."

"The flashes of the corkboard gave clues to the plot which helped it make sense."

From the responses, I think I effectively captured my audience through the mise-en-scene of makeup and sound but also through narrative clues throughtout the sequence. If I could do this more effectively, I think I'd make the cuts to the police board more frequent and consistent, but also make it look more like an actual police board by using a white board and red string instead of the props I had, which make it look quite amateur. However, I think the mise-en-scene was otherwise very effective in attracting my audience and creating an intriguing sequence which draws the viewers in.

E4: Who would be the audience for my opening sequence?

E3: What kind of media institution may distribute my media product and why?

Evaluation Question Three from Britney Butterfield

For more information on my chosen institutions, see this blog post from my research.

E2: How does my opening sequence represent particular social groups?

E1: In what ways does my opening sequence use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real opening sequences?

I used a common convention of psychological thriller opening sequences with the drone establishing shot, which is similar to Psycho (1960) as well as countless others. This establishes setting as well as tone for the film, and this is my opening shot as I thought it would be most effective at drawing the audience in but also giving them an idea of where the film is set. In Psycho, the setting is clearly a busy city whereas ours is a quiet estate; however psychological thrillers don't tend to have a conventional setting so I did not challenge this necessarily.

 

Another common convention I included was the use of small credits. In the example of Gone Girl (2014) the credits are shown in a fade to black separate from the scene, but although they are the only thing on the screen they are still in a small font size, so that audiences can focus on the action rather than the text. In mine, I decided to develop this by keeping a small font size but making the font lower case instead of all capitals.



The form of most psychological thrillers is dark and atmospheric, so I used this in post-production as I couldn't control the natural lighting outside. I added a dark vignette filter to my opening sequence, which is similar to the minimal lighting used in Girl, Interrupted (1999) which would have been created by a combination of controlling the lighting on set and also adding filters in editing. This is possibly the most important use of conventions I did, as it makes it more clear that my film is a thriller and that the themes are dark.

Other conventions I used were sound and transitions. For sound, I had no dialogue so I just used a tense music track and kept the diegetic sound of footsteps and birds for more realism. Building tension and suspense is part of the form of all thrillers, so this was essential in my construction. I also made use of fade transitions, which challenge the conventional straight edits or jump cuts in the majority of thrillers. I think these transitions make the change of scene more dramatic and obvious, especially between the running and the police board shots, and also makes my production unique.

Construction- First Draft

This is the first draft of my construction. There are many areas I think I can improve on, namely the editing- I like the use of a filter in post production as I think it establishes atmosphere, but I don't like how small and insignificant the credits look on each frame. I want to make them a different colour and larger, so they make more of an impact and fit with conventions of the thriller genre. I also think there could be more narrative clues placed throughout the sequence, because I think it gets quite boring towards the end. From feedback from my target audience and my teacher, I will build on this initial draft and develop it into something more professional looking.

Evaluation Planning

The final part of my coursework is evaluating the whole process in a creative way- there are seven questions to answer so I decided to plan ideas about how I'm going to deliver them all creatively on my blog. For the first question about comparing the text to real media products, I decided to maybe use a nine frame comparison inspired by the ones on artofthetitle. Question Two is about representing social groups, which I plan on answering in a video, and the third question is about media institutions which I have answered on a powerpoint presentation. Similarly, I have made a Prezi to answer question four on audiences. Five is about attracting my audience, which I could do a focus group video on, and question six is about technologies which I plan to pair my own drawings with a voiceover in a video. The final question is about comparing our preliminary task to my final piece, where I can do another voiceover but with a video of both tasks playing side by side. Here are my plans for each question in rough:

Evidence of Filming

Yesterday I did the main body of my filming on location, and refilmed parts of the police board with Abbi's photos instead of our planned actress who dropped out. I filmed at sunset and it was reasonably dry (but very cold!) so the quality of the shots was really good, and I were happy with the selection of shots I got. I also got to play around with a drone, and got some really good quality shots from that too, including an establishing shot of the whole estate which would look great at the very beginning of the sequence. We ended up having a lot of fun but also being really productive; I only have a final few shots to add and I can start editing and evaluating!

Construction/Planning Update 3.0

Hi! I am now well into the construction stage of my opening sequence, and I have just about finished preparing for filming the main part. Setbacks I experienced recently were part-time jobs getting in the way of meeting up to finalise things, and my main candidate for an actress being super busy and dropping out last minute. Abbi and I met in lesson today and used the time to finalise a few dates where we are both free so hopefully we can use at least one of those slots to get the main body of my filming out of the way. I also noticed I needed to look for music, which I browsed for in today's lesson and decided I would film first and then see which tracks fit with the footage. I also finalised prop and costume plans. Planning how I will deliver the evaluation creatively was also something I planned today, which I will start after I've produced our final product.

Shot list

I put together a shot list from the storyboard and animatic I made a few weeks ago, and it has all of the shots I've depicted plus a few more. I'll use this list during construction on filming days, but I am not limiting myself to these shots as I may have an idea for an extra shot or two while I'm filming. Having a detailed shot list will be essential for framing the filming, so it will be very helpful to have a copy so I know exactly what we're filming.

Props and costumes list

Props:

Police investigation board
- Pictures taken from newspapers
- Newspaper clippings
- String
- Pins
- Pin board
- Photographs of actress (taken from old Facebook for authenticity)
- Post it notes
- Map of area
- Typed up witness statement

Missing persons poster - use same pictures as investigation board

Costume:

Only one character (LUCY): Ideally something floaty and dirty to show neglect and look cool when running- if can't find anything practical, plain black clothes will be good so they don't distract from the shots.

Opening Titles (credits) planning

After my visit to the BFI conference and following my research into existing film openings, I established the order in which the credits should go. At the beginning of the construction stage, I've decided which role(s) I will take: I will be Director, though I will actually be doing all of the editing, producing and writing myself! I want to make it as realistic as possible so for all other roles I will put randomly generated names in the credits. Here is a rough draft of the order of the credits and who will be credited:


Producer:                                                                 Bandoola Productions Presents
                                                                                In association with Patchwork Productions
                                                                                A film by Britney Butterfield
Lead actor:                                                              Athena Martyn
FILM TITLE:                                                          Two Million Minutes
Supporting actors:                                                   Skye Morley
                                                                                Gabriel Williams
                                                                                 Isaac Reed
                                                                                 Elizabeth Gilbert Howell
Casting director:                                                      Brett Goldstein
Music producer:                                                       Benjamin Tissot
Editor:                                                                      Jon Gregory
Photography director:                                              Chloe Alyssa
Executive producer:                                                Christopher Lee
Director:                                                                Britney Butterfield

Planning Update 2.0

From frequent planning in lessons and outside of them, I have made progress in the planning section of my coursework and I'm approaching the construction! The last few things I need to complete include the props and costumes lists, and organising equipment for filming, and I should soon be able to shoot a first draft to show to a focus group in a few weeks time. Here are the notes from my latest lesson:

Production Companies

Above is a brainstorm of a few small, independent film production companies I could use for credits in the opening sequence. After research, I've decided to use Patchwork Productions as it is a British company which would look more realistic in my low-budget, local film. I also decided to go with a company called Bandoola Productions in addition to Patchwork, as it fills the credits out and adds to the realism: a low-budget film like this would need the support of two small production companies to succeed. Bandoola fund films with Patchwork, so these two companies are what will be on the credits for this film.

Location Recce 4- House 2

This location is closer to our school than the previous house, and is a quieter street so will be much more efficient for filming in. The atmosphere worked for what I imagined the setting to feel like, and I think this will be ideal as a filming base. I think this location, along with the woods in the surrounding area, will be perfect for the film as everyone involved will easily be able to get here when I begin production.

Location Recce 3- House 1

This house is an option for filming the shots where the girl escapes the place in which she has been held captive, and also shots for when she runs away down the street. However, I found that the area was pretty busy which wouldn't work for my opening sequence as I need a very sleepy street for the desired effect. It remains a Plan B, but I would prefer a quieter area for the sequence to have the mood I want it to have.

Location Recce 2- Suburbs

Around my neighbourhood there are build up areas with a bit of woodland too, which offers a bit of a mix between the street and woodland settings I thought of when brainstorming for the opening sequence. The lighting was less good in these areas than in the previous woods I looked at, but I think I could get a good range of interesting shots in this location. 

Location Recce 1- Woods

The first location I've looked at is a woodland area near to Abbi's house, which is close to school. The lighting is good enough to film with good quality footage, and the area is pretty quiet so it would be ideal for filming uninterrupted. Overall, the location seemed a good contender for the final filming setting.

Storyboard and Animatic

Here is a storyboard animatic I made, to encompass all of my ideas into a more literal format.

Long shot to establish setting, of closed door in suburban neighbourhood.

Cut to closer view of same door, mid long shot as door opens slightly.

Same shot distance, girl coming out of the house.

Close up of girl's face, looking up and around at her surroundings.

Tracking shot, girl runs away; possibly handheld camera for atmosphere.

Also handheld, following the girl as she runs away down the street. 

Shot of missing poster on a lamppost, static establishing shot.

Girl enters the scene, rips down her own missing poster.

Point of view shot from girl's perspective, explicitly shows a photograph of herself on the poster. Forcefully stamps on image.

Repeated cutaways to police board, panning around the board revealing other side characters and details about the case.