Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 5

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Evaluation Question 1

Audience Research Evaluation Question

Audience Research on Prezi

Script

This is the script for Joseph's speech, copied from a Celtx document.

INT. DINGY ROOM

A religious fanatic sets up the camera and then delivers an impassioned speech to it.

JOSEPH

Today, God's eyes are upon us. He sees all, and today, he will judge, as ever.

Friends, I do believe, that among us, there are sinners. Nay, I believe you all have sinned. And the weight of the sin lies upon you.

I see, for the Lord Himself has shown me. Your sins.

Our loving God has provided, but you, you all have betrayed Him, gone against His word.

He, friends, is not pleased.

And the holy vengeance and fury will be visited upon you all.

You will all repent for your sins, at the hands of our most righteous Lord.

But I, as He has granted me, I am his weapon.

I am the divine sword, His wrath personified.

God has made me. And in his almighty plan, I take my role.

The sins of man reign supreme.

Heathens and unbelievers and heretics, all deny the word of God.

But His word is supreme.

He has chosen me, to be his light.

To illuminate man's darkness, man's sin.

Sin deserves and requires righteous punishment.

And I am punishment.

I will enact God's will.

I shall cleanse the sin from God's earth.

And today, as the eyes of the Lord shine upon us, I will take the first lost soul, and make him feel the wrath of the almighty God.

Today, He shall feel the terror of damnation.

I will bring Hell to earth.

I will bring punishment to the damned.

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

Since the preliminary task, we greatly increased our focus on sound and mise en scene, both of which were somewhat neglected. We developed and planned the costumes to suit the characters, scouted more accurate locations, made sure everything fit the film's versimilitude, as well as paying attention to small details, such as the tape cross on the wall behind the antagonist, despite it receiving barely a second of screen time. We were also overly careful, it turned out, bring a mattress and arranging the room to look as though a homeless person were squatting there, even though the room was barely seen in shot, and not at all in the case of the mattress. 

  In terms of lighting, we actually used specific lighting, rather than using natural light as we did with the preliminary task. We used a very dramatic chiaroscuro down-lighting effect during the antagonist's speech, which vastly improved the look and affect of the film.

  With the sound, we focused again on the small details, including a specific soundtrack, as well as small, non-diegetic rising sounds to create a more suspenseful atmosphere, as well as creating an original soundtrack, which was more specifically designed to our needs.

  Mostly, we learnt from our progression to final project the value of the small details in the film-making process and how even though during the process of film-making, they may seem insignificant and perhaps not even useful, they all add up and result in a much more professional and better film, with even the mattress possibly making a difference to my acting by creating the atmosphere, although that may be a bit of a stretch.

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

In terms of technology for our group, we decided to make use of each group members particular skill. this is mainly what we learnt about technologies as a group, that they are best used by a particular person who is best at that aspect of filmmaking, and so work using technologies is best delegated between the group. While Ed used Sony Vegas for editing and Jack used Adobe Photoshop and After Effects to create the titles, I mostly stuck to a pre-production role of writing and presenting the idea for the film.

Celtx
This is the software I used for the basic scriptwriting. I had previously used it for other film projects, so I was already able to use the software, and as the script was quite simple, with only the dialogue needed to be written properly, it was relatively easy.

Prezi
I used this software to create the original presentation that presented the idea to the other group members. This was my first time using it, although I had heard of it, I was previously dissuaded by its apparent difficulty in use and how different it was to the Microsoft Powerpoint I was used to. In the process of creating this initial presentation however, I learnt to overcome these difficulties in use and become more accustomed to the alternative software, seeing it more for its advantages in customisability and its ability to interest audiences by more easily including media such as photos and videos, and learning to adjust and preserve through technical difficulties.

iMovie
iMovie was used to create a voiceover for one of the preperatory tasks, a commentary over a key scene in Psycho. I worked together with Jon for this, and we learnt how to more efficiently record short voiceovers by cutting them into shorter recordings and organising them appropriate over the film, rather than a single, long voiceover in which we would stop talking or rush to keep up with the film.

Youtube
Youtube was actually one of the most used technologies, as I used it for research, watching clips from Seven, taking inspiration from the character of John Doe, and also clips of street preachers, which I heavily based the antagonist, Joseph's, speech on. From this, I learnt the value of using technology to research other films in more detail, particularly characterisation, as for previous films, I had done very little research and so had less developed characters because of that.

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

A media institution that would be likely to distribute our film would be some sort of independently focused distribution studio. For example, a studio like Fox Searchlight or The Weinstein Company, which typically distribute independent and foreign films.
While studios rarely focus their distribution on one particular genre, as our film is quite alternative, it would be difficult for a mainstream studio, like Walt Disney Pictures, to choose to distribute it, as it would not suit the mainstream audience they would aim for, and it would not be successive enough to warrant the risk of investment from a mainstream studio.
Fox Searchlight would be a good choice as it focuses on independent films, particularly British films which is definitely an advantage, and as it is a subsidiary of Fox, would have a large budget to oversee an international release, although that would be very hopeful. Also, many previous films distributed have achieved great success, propelling small scale, independent British films, such as 28 Days Later and The Last King of Scotland to critical renown and success.
Miramax Films would be another choice, although less ideal than Fox Searchlight, it still shows a similar focus on small, independent films such as The Magdalene Sisters, which would be good for our film, as it is small-scale, independent and quite alternative, it would suit Miramax Films for distribution.

However, for our film, as due to the advances in technology, an ideal choice for distribution, would be VOD or (Video On Demand) as it allows the production company to retain easier control over the distribution and allow it to reach more audiences through systems such as Viera Connect or OnDemand more cheaply. As it is not fully set up as of yet, hopefully, if it were to expand as many companies are planning for it to, it would be an ideal choice for distribution.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Religious Fanatic

Our film features a very negative depiction of a Christian fanatic. He is presented as the main antagonist in the film and during the opening sequence, beats someone up and then kidnaps them, as well as express radical opinions and intentions in his speech. He shows classic extremist behaviour. Also, he is presented as being possibly homeless, wearing dirty clothes typical of a homeless person and performing his speech in an underground location, suggesting that he is squatting. The dramatic down-lighting, meant to evoke a divine influence, highlighting the religious motivation behind the character.

Influences from other films

From this clip of John Doe from Se7en, we took the latter part of John Doe's speech, his angered intensity and the kind of motivation. In this way, our antagonist is similar to John Doe.

Influences from real life events

Our antagonist is similar to Anders Behring Brevik in terms of extremism. Although not as violent as Brevik, they both maintain similar Christian fanaticism and the motivation to carry it out violently.

We took inspiration from Christian street preachers in terms of the speech our antagonist gives, using similar language. Also, they resemble our antagonist in terms of their outspoken views, and the Youtube recording is meant to be a more modern and fanatical interpretation of street preachers and televangelists.

Homeless

Our film also presents homeless people in a very negative light. Again, this is because the main antagonist is a representation of a homeless vagrant, living underground, and also being violently insane and criminal. He is dressed in a very stereotypical costume of clothes a homeless person would wear, although in terms of mise-en-scene, we were limited by scale and budget, so he is not presented as homeless as we would have liked.


Middle Class

The victim played by Jack, is a stereotypical middle class teenager, who in the film is presented as the weak victim. While it subverts the traditional damsel in distress role by giving it to a male, it still places the social class most likely to be presented as useless, the middle class, as the character in the victim role. His only part in the opening sequence is to be beaten up, kidnapped and then struggle at the very end, so he takes an extremely passive role in the film. The character is dressed in an average smart-casual costume, and although the location is unconventional for that character, it is necessary to the narrative.

Influences from other films

In this clip from The Silence of the Lambs an example of the typical, although upper middle class instead of  simply middle class, victim. This is similar as both are kidnapped and do not resist and kept hostage by the antagonist.

The girl, Kim, is kidnapped in the film Taken, and is similar again in terms of a middle class victim. Although she is still upper middle and female, she is still portrayed as a complete victim. Also, Taken is a more action-orientated and fast-paced action film, so the similarity is slightly tenuous.

Diary - Filming and Editing

Last week, we filmed the second part of the opening sequence, the street scene. For this, I reassumed the role of the religious fanatic character, Joseph. We travelled to a local alley to film the assault and kidnapping of Jack's character. Unfortunately, we were only able to film this scene in the day time, as it was the only time where the whole team could make it and also, an evening scene would need lighting, which would be difficult to acquire lighting. However, apart from a woman worried about us defacing nearby buildings, the filming went well.

This week, Ed has been editing and creating the music with Jack, whilst Jon and I have been researching the music and looking at the evaluation questions and familiarising ourselves with them, as there is little to do while waiting for Ed to finish editing.

Diary - Filming and Set Construction

This week and last, we have been filming the YouTube clip section of our opening sequence. For this, we went into the basement and constructed a set for the religious fanatic character's home, a sort of underground dingy squat. We placed a mattress on the floor and draped a dirty dust sheet over the window,  which served to cover the unsuitable window and make the room darker and allow for the extreme contrast lighting we used. I also chose my costume, which consists of a dark green flannel shirt, a large fur lined coat and dirty, paint covered trousers. This was designed to show the character's scruffy almost vagrant-like nature. I played the role of the religious fanatic, Joseph, which involved a lot of shouting in a dark room.

Diary - Location Scouting

This lesson we went down into the basement to do some location scouting. We thought to use the basement instead of an out of school location as we first planned was that possible out of school locations were hard to find and our initially planned location became unavailable. Also, the ease of access for the basement would make the production easier. During our location scouting, I took some photos to upload to the group blog.

Diary - Writing the Script and Analysing John Doe

Last week, I wrote the script for the only dialogue in our opening sequence, the speech by Joseph, the religious maniac antagonist. Before writing this speech, I performed research by watching youtube clips of various Christian preachers, taking note of the heavily religious language they used, and then going on to emulate their speeches in Joseph's. The script I produced was extremely basic, purely focusing on the dialogue, as everything else was included in the story board, so I thought it was unnecessary to produce a detailed script.

Also, we watched clips from Se7en which involved the character John Doe, mainly the car conversation and the surrender scene. This task was simple, as I watched the clips and took notes on aspects of John Doe's character. Coincidentally, quite a few of John Doe's character aspects were already shared by our antagonist, such as the emotion during his preaching, an aspect of education, and the spite and anger against other people. Although this could have come from the fact that I have seen Se7en previously, and could have included these aspects from memory.

Audience Research

From what I previously know about thriller audiences, they generally seem to aim for a predominately male, 15-35 audience. Our film is generally quite a conventional thriller, seeing as it does not include any aspects from different genres, such as a love interest or a historical setting, therefore, it would be best to stick with the general audience expectation for the thriller genre.


In reading the UK Film Council study, I found the concept of an avid fascinating. While it would be good to aim for all three types of avid, perhaps the most accurate and likely to be part of the target audience would be the summit avids and the scattergun avids. The summit avids would be an ideal part of the audience as our thriller combines several aspects of thriller sub genres, with the technological aspects in the YouTube clip, the religious and crime aspects in the antagonist and perhaps aspects of a psychological thriller. I feel this combination of sub genres and the way in which we plan to do this is fairly unique and so would attract the summit avids. However, this combination of sub genres may also dissuade the specialist avids, as they have a dismissive nature towards films, which sadly may include our film. Also, scattergun avids would be included in our audience, as they have a wide love of film, and so it would be easier to consider them as part of the audience for our thriller film.


From the research of the film journey, I feel that our thriller film fits into most of the parts of the film journey. Although it does not fit the youngest audiences approach, that does not damage the film, as it would never be marketed to an audience of that age. It does fit into the "film as identity" section, although somewhat loosely, as it goes beyond mainstream film choices. Also, the "film as culture" would be appropriate, as again, our film seems to be more alternative than mainstream.


In terms of audience types, our film could be marketed to all of the types, except "Mainstream". Our film could be considered as quite alternative, but for a "Mainstream Plus" audience who would watch a film they would enjoy, our film could be considered. As a slightly more specialist and alternative film, it could be aimed easily at both the "Aficionado" and "Film avid" audience types.


Finding a direct case study to compare was difficult, as our film is mostly a religious thriller, and that in itself is a generally quite obscure film genre, and our film also combines aspects of other films. From this, finding a single film which I could compare the audience results from would be too hard, so instead I chose to view several different films which had a similarity with our idea, and then see if they shared overall similarities in audience.
Chatroom, has a similiar technological aspect, but its audience was mainly female (60%) and the story only drew 12% of the audience, which would suggest a complete opposite to our proposed audience. However, this modern technological aspect seemed to be reflected in the majority (84%) Under 25 audience, which seems a promising similarity with our proposed audience.
NEDS, shares an urban setting and a similar age for the cast.  While it again, has a majority female audience (55%), it has a majority under 35 audience (53%), which while the films itself are very different, the superficial similarities could help our film share this under 35 audience.
Troll Hunter, shares a similarity in being a combination of genres: fantasy and found footage, and as film shares found footage aspects, this could assist our audience predictions greatly. It has both a majority male and under 35 audience (Both 58%) and interestingly, the bait of it seemingly like a cult film drew 16% of the audience, and our film, could also be somewhat said to share this cult aspect. The "docu-style" bait drew 21% of the audience, and while the similarities with our film are somewhat vague, the found footage aspect is a shared aspect, so it could draw audiences.


Overall, I would say that the audience profile for our film would be male, either in his late teens or early 20s, with a love of film, particularly more alternative and obscure films, and a passion for different kind of films, and perhaps an interest in religion or the issues involving it. I feel that someone of this kind of description would be the most interested in wanting to watch our film.

Character Study- John Doe

 From the clips of Se7en we watched, the phone call between John Doe and Mills, the scene in which John Doe surrenders and the conversation in the car.

• Hate/disgust for others.
• Calm.
• Sarcastic, but polite to others, particularly Mills.
• Quiet.
• Educated.
• Cunning.
• Well planned.
• Mysterious.
• Spiteful.
• Viewed by other characters as crazy.
• Hides emotions, until preaching about his cause in the car, as he gradually becomes more emotional then.
• Other characters dismiss his ideals.
• Confident.
• Enjoys toying with other people.

Thriller Opening Sequence Notes

The first opening sequence we viewed was from Die Hard 4.0. For this, I mainly observed the camerawork. I noticed that throughout the sequence, there were remarkably few establishing shots, despite featuring quite a varied amount of locations. The first shot, served as both an establishing shot, and using a long sweeping track, to a mid shot of the character, which served to tell more about the character, as a university student, than the location itself or its place in the narrative. Most of the rest of the opening sequence was composed of close ups of characters on computers and extreme close ups with lots of very fast movements like tracks and zooms of their computer screens. This serves to create an intense and hectic atmosphere to the hacking and the rest of the opening sequence. The nature of the opening sequence changes upon an establishing shot, and a location change, to the FBI headquarters in Washington DC. From here on, there are fewer camera movements, and are much slower, with more medium shots and long shots to show the larger number of characters in one shot. However, when the computers are hacked, a lot of close up reaction shots are used to show the surprise of the FBI characters at this event.

The Interpreter was the second extract we saw. This extract was almost completely different, with the camera still for most of the first half of the extract, composed of mainly very long shots with the main character being the only movement in shot. It also used focus pulls, which adds to the slow feel of this opening. Also, the character walks quite slowly and casually, implying that this is a normal action, removing most of the tension from the opening sequence. She is the only one in this shots, however, which implies a sense of isolation, coupled with the night time setting, creates a slightly suspicious atmosphere as well. When she overhears the conversation, the tension builds as she runs. An enigma is also used as the audience cannot hear this conversation, so what the main character overhears is a mystery that we assume will be revealed, making the audience interested in finding out just what made her so shocked. Also, as she leaves, the camerawork repeats the same shots and angles that were used as she came in, only with more camera movement following her running, increasing the pace and tension in the sequence.

The last extract, from The Usual Suspects, mostly focuses on its use of enigmas. The camerawork in this sequence is, like The Interpreter, very slow, but also uses a lot of close ups, only really showing the location through establishing shots about halfway through the sequence, this helps add to the mystery, but also creating a more personal feel with the dying man, despite knowing little about him. This, along with the fact that we do not see the face of the other man leads us to side with the dying man, and also be confused as who the other man, a use of enigma. Also, the very end of the opening sequence, a police interview, seems to be taking place at a completely different time to the previous scene, leading to more confusion as to what is happening.

Narrative Idea Generation

In this lesson, we were given post it notes, with a short synopsis of the storyline of thriller films, and we were asked to come up with our own thriller ideas, based on a more modern concept, integrating some aspect of modern technology into the storyline.

My idea was based on the storyline from the film KNOW1NG, but instead, the main character receives a phone call, with no one on the other end from a unknown and seemingly incorrect phone number with too many numbers. However, a day after he receives the phone call, a disaster occurs, a bus crash. Soon after, he receives another phone call, from a different number, but still incorrect. Again, a day later, another disaster occurs. Deeming this to be far from coincidence he starts viewing the strange phone numbers again, noticing that the first phone number began with the number of the bus. He then spends an entire night trying to decipher the first numbers, comparing them to the newspaper articles detailing the events. In the morning, after staying up all night obsessing with the numbers, he receives yet another phone call. This time, he realises he can take action and rushes to both decipher the possible answers to the code and to investigate how the coded details relate to real life and the potential disaster in coming.

Response to Criticism

I think that both the criticisms are very positive and fair, although maybe not as harsh as perhaps I would have viewed my own work.
I agree with what both comments said about how our conventions are portrayed in the clip, through mise en scene such as the briefcase, and our attempt to create a contrast between the two characters and suggest things about them through the costuming.
I also agree with James' criticism that the location could have been much more secretive for the genre, and for the final exercise, this is something we will certainly take note of. I agreed with his criticism of the lighting as well, as admittedly, we didn't put very much effort into the lighting, as it is hard to achieve suitable lighting in a lesson due to the set up time and the limited amount of time we had for the preliminary exercise. Nonetheless, we shall take note of the criticism and attempt to use more appropriate lighting in the final exercise.
I am happy with the other comments that compliment our use of techniques and fulfillment of the exercise's requirements, although I do believe that we did break the 180 degree rule slightly too often. The effect of the breaking is relatively minor, but I feel that if we did the same for the final piece of work, it would probably detract from our grade, so in future, we will have to try harder to keep in with both the conditions of the exercise and basic continuity editing.
Overall, I am pleased with our comments and how positive they seem to be, and I look forward to the final project, in which we will try much harder to refine and improve on our work.