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

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

How did you attract/address your audience?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

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

Media institutions are companies that produce/distribute media products.  My media product is a very small budgeted film therefore I need to choose a smaller, more lowkey distribution company to produce it.  Smaller companies distribute smaller films because of the lower budget.  Small distribution companies do not give large budget to the film makers they work with and because my film is very low budget, this fits well.  Since 2010, according to blogger 'StephenFollows' who is a
British Independent Film Awards nominee, 'the number of films being made on under £500,000 has fallen by 50%'.  This means that less and less independent low budget films are being made and thus independent companies are harder to come by.  I am in need of an independent company that would distibute a thriller film.

'Independent specialises in the development, financing, production, and distribution of independent feature films. Led by CEO Luc Roeg, who has over twenty years’ experience in the film business, Independent has a team of highly motivated and experienced professionals with expertise in project development, production, structured finance, distribution, sales and marketing.'

Independent would be a good choice of Distribution Company because they are as the name suggests, Independent.  They don't produce huge blockbusters like other distributors which means they're more likely to allow smaller films like mine to be distributed by them.  

'Established in 1997, Axiom Films is a leading independent label that brings together a range of film activities, including the production of feature films and a flourishing distribution division with a rapidly expanding library of high quality film content under direct ownership.'



Axiom Films would also be a good company to distribute my film because they distribute low budget films.  Axiom have been known to take creative risks within the company meaning they may be prepared to distribute a low budget independent film made by myself.  

'Netflix is a global provider of streaming movies and TV series, has over 75 million subscribers as of 2016. Netflix started as an American DVD-by-mail service in 1998, and began streaming in 2007. Netflix expanded with streaming to Canada in 2010 and now serves over 190 countries with streaming. Netflix's first widely advertised original series was House Of Cards, which debuted in 2013, and Netflix now produces hundreds of hours of original programming around the world.  The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California.'

Netflix are a well known online company which display films and TV series on their site.  People pay subscription to Netflix in order to access their content.  I think Netflix would be an ideal distributor for my thriller as the brand has many independent low budget films so are more likely to distribute mine.  Also, as Netflix charge people for their memberships with the site in order to watch the media Netflix offer which means that I could make money from having my film distributed by them.


 Links to where I got the 'About' information from:
http://www.independentfilmcompany.com/about.php 
http://www.axiomfilms.co.uk/about-axiom 

Other links:
http://www.launchingfilms.com/links/ 
https://stephenfollows.com/falling-uk-low-budget-film-production/

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

Here are the notes I was referring to whilst creating this video-

Conventions of a thriller-

•         Suspense
•         Low key lighting
•         Tension music
•         Different angled shots
•         Variation of visual effects to keep the audience guessing

Conventions of an opening scene-

•         Titles
•        Unknown
•         Not giving much away
•         2 minutes’ long

I believe I kept suspense throughout the whole opening scene.  Different elements contributed to the overall suspense such as the flashing images, sound effects and backing music.

The low key lighting in some parts of my media product kept the whole scene looking eerie and suspicious.  Although saying this, some of my opening scene was filmed in higher key lighting.  This challenges typical thrillers because most of them like to keep the whole film quite dark and spooky.  I don’t think this took away from the suspense of the opening scene because other elements contributed to the suspense.

The music throughout the opening scene builds a lot of suspense as it is supposed to.  Typically, thriller films have a lot of quiet background noise with the occasional change or extra add in of audio to keep the audience on the edge of their seat.  I believe we achieved this by having a continuous beat throughout the entirety of the scene as well as other added effects too.

The variation of different shots is typical of a thriller so this is why we mimicked this in our final piece.  Changing the angle of the shots and switching from one to another means that the audience is always guessing what is going to happen next.  Quickly switching from between angles throws the audience off looking at one thing for too long with is what is required.

There is usually a male protagonist in thriller films so Millie and I took this element and used it in ours.  We dressed George, the male character, in an all-black outfit to make him look creepy and mysterious.  On the other hand, we dressed Amy, the female character, in girly clothes to make her look sweet and innocent just as most victims are portrayed in thrillers.  

 Varying angles

   Different titles

Audience Feedback

I collected some audience feedback form people in my target audience after they had watched my final thriller and gathered some information from them.  This feedback will help me tailor my work in the future as I will know what to improve on.

Overall my feedback was positive, the main elements people enjoyed was the use of music and sound in the thriller.  The way the sound effects had been posted over the actions in the thriller eg. the door creaking and the scissor sound was very effective, it was noted.

Other elements the audience feedback gathered to be positive were:

• Actors playing their rolls well
• Costume helped you to identify who was good/bad
• Use of different camera angles kept it fast paced

Negative feedback/constructive criticism I gathered included some of the finer details that could've done with a little bit more attention.

These include:

• Hair extensions being used so clips are visible
• Giggling

If I were to edit my thriller now since gathering audience feedback I would cut off the top of the hair extensions to make them appear to be more realistic.  I would also be more careful when editing and cut out any sections where the actors were either giggling or weren't fully focused in the clips using the razor tool.

FINAL EDIT

Editing 21st Jan

Today we realised we didn't have any audio to go along with George when in the workshop.  As we didn't want to use the actual sounds that were recorded when doing the filming we recorded a friend's footsteps and put this in time with George walking for added effect.  After this we decided to change some of the timings of the clips and added in some spare clips we had.  We then realised they didn't look right and went back to the way it was before.

Image above is of me editing

Millie and I editing

Editing 20th Jan

Today Millie and I got a large amount of work done.  We imported the audio I had earlier recorded and added this to what we have of our final edit so far.  Adding this audio really enhanced the video meaning Millie and I are really impressed with it.  We had to ensure the timing of what I was saying in the audio clip was in time with when George was walking across the field and grabbing Amy.  We then realised some of the footage we had wasn't necessary so we cut this out.  When Millie and I first exported the video the audio vanished, after listening to it over it didn't sound right so we added it back in.  This music is called drummer boy hip low beat, once this had been accidentally removed the sound didn't sound as effective so we added it back in and reexported.  Also today I added the still images and pan clip of 'CUTS' spelled out with hair extensions and added these shots in between ones we already had done. 

Creating Titles using Adobe After Effects

Millie and I chose to design our titles on After Effects as this is the program we were advised to use. It was quite hard to grasp at the beginning as neither Millie nor I had used it before.  We decided on bold colours like red for our titles because firstly it is bright so would stand out against the dark background and wont get lost in the other colours but also we thought about the connotations of red. Red is a colour associated with anger and hurt which is what we wanted to be portrayed in our opening scene.  The font we used was Copperplate Gothic Bold for the main titles as this is a straight forward bold font that looks most effective when the writing is in a larger font size which is what we created.  Using various red tones throughout the title sequence meant that the red didn't at any point become just red, it was always changing.  This means that each title has something different about it. At no point do the colours become uniformed which was the aim of the differing colours because Thriller films never have a structure and are always changing plots to keep the audience guessing.  

Recording Audio

Today Millie and I decided that we wanted to add another layer of sound to our opening scene as what we had created so far sounded a bit basic.  We went into the studio where we usually film and recorded myself speaking. Its very quiet in the studio as the whole room is soundproofed meaning that no background noise could be heard when we were recording.  We recorded the audio on a Canon 700D because it was the easiest way.  We kept the lens cap over the lens so all that was picked up was audio.

Audio Script

A young white male has been spotted carrying out suspicious activity in the Yorkshire region.
After the disappearance of three young girls earlier on last week,
Yorkshire Police are now asking for anyone who has any information or intelligence to come forward.

This short piece of audio has really improved the overall sound of the opening scene.  Layering different sounds makes the overall sound much more impressive and professional.

Editing 19th Jan/FreeSound

Today Millie and I used the website FreeSound to download different audio and sound effects.  This website is very good because it is CopyRight free meaning all the clips and sounds on there are there to download free of charge.  There is a huge range of sound clips on here and I found a beat I liked called 'drummer boy hip low beat' so I downloaded it and edited it into the opening scene.  Millie and I liked the effect that was made when playing drummer boy hip low beat over and over so we repeated this throughout our whole opening scene.

Titles Overview

The first title to appear is the production company.  The name of the company will appear in large block writing in the center of the screen and flicker in a shadow kind of way in the top left corner.

A.M PICTURES PRESENTS

The titles above will then leave the screen and the ones below will appear.

MARVELOUS MOVIES

The next two titles will appear in various places on the screen one after the other.  These are in a smaller font and aren't central.

A FILM BY MILLIE FORD

SCREENPLAY BY ABI GLYNN

The next title will then appear in red and black text.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH  MISFIT PRODUCTIONS

The next few titles are either who is starring in the film as in actors and actresses or producers.

STARRING JOHNNY BAILEY

AMY SLOAN

PRODUCED BY DAVID AVERY

The title of the film will then appear in large block writing and cover the majority of the screen.  This is the biggest title out of all of them for the reason that it is the important title of the film.

CUTS

The director then briefly appears.

DIRECTED BY ANGELINA HUNT

Editing 14th Jan

Today Millie and I edited some of the footage we had filmed today.  To begin with be put all the clips on Adobe Premiere Pro and got them in the correct order that we required before watching it all through in full.  We then began to use the razor tool to cut down some of the clips that had an extra few seconds of not needed footage on either end. I also imported some of the audio we had recorded today to go with the visual clips and spent a while trying to make sure these two types of clips were perfectly synchronised.  This, as well as the filming, took up the whole lesson.

Filming PT2

Today Millie and I finished filming.  We again asked our actors to come into college wearing the outfits they wore on the last time we filmed so that it wouldn't look any different when all the footage filmed over both occasions were edited together.  Today's location was the resistant materials room in college grounds.  We captured many shots of George in this setting, varying from walking around the work benches, cutting up hair and using the machines.  These shots were well lit as the location we used (the workshop) has large windows around the perimeter of the building meaning the lighting inside is good.  We also managed to get a shot of George and I which wasn't planned where he snatched me from outside the door and began dragging me round the corner.  This shot wasn't planned but it just fitted well and therefore Millie and I decided we'd use it in our final piece.

Millie and I taking still shots and pans of the hair.

 Still of the hair.

The tripod wasn't tall enough to achieve a high enough angle to get the shot Millie and I required so we placed it on top of another work bench to get a high enough angle.  

Titles Draft

Final Edit Draft

This draft is not finished and also there are added seconds on the end where the screen goes black. This wont happen in my final edit as we will edit it out as well as adding in more footage.

Update

Filming

Today Millie and I started our filming for our final piece.  Our actors both came into college wearing the costumes we required, so filming stated from there.  The first shots we filmed were of George walking off the bridge and towards the field.  There was light rain so we used a waterproof cover to go over the camera to ensure nothing got damaged.  The rain didn't last long at all.  We then got different shots of George walking onto the field from different angles.  We did this as we believed it would give a better effect in the final edit and thought we could jump from angle to angle.  We then continued to film.  We took shots of George leading Amy onto the field and did quite a few of these from different angels to again enhance the overall look of the shot.  We re did these a few times as sometimes the actors laughed or it just didn't look right.  We then relocated and filmed some shots outside of our sixth form block which were very successful.

Here are images of George and Amy on the first day of filming.  They are both wearing the costumes we required. 

Both characters on the field on which we filmed.

Here you can see Millie and I previewing some of the shots we have just filmed.  

 In order to get the right angle for some of the shots, I assisted Millie by supporting the camera on my foot.  We did this because the tripod wouldn't get low enough for the shot we required and we didn't want the shot to shake.

Evidence of me using the tripod whilst filming George walking onto the field.

Image of me holding the equipment we used this day.  This included the tripod and camera.

Plot

The final idea Millie and I came up with was this.  A male character, in his late teens, grows an obsession with hair.  He is utterly obsessed and addicted to the smell, texture and look of it and does anything to get his hands on as much of it as he possibly can.  In our opening scene we want to capture the character's sheer obsession with hair and display him in different situations obsessing over it.  As we are only creating an opening scene we didn't want to put in too much detail and 'give too much away'.

Risk Assessment

Filming Schedule

Millie and I filmed the majority of our final piece in our free period on a Thursday, period 3.  We discovered this was the best time for us to film as not only Millie and I but also Amy, George and other actresses were available at this time.


10/12/15- First day of filming

On this day Millie and I plan on filming the majority of the outdoors filming.  This will include shots of all the characters involved in the final product.  We chose to film during period 3 not only for the ease but also because the lighting outside at this time of day is exactly what was needed.






14/01/16- Second day of filming

On this day Millie and I plan on filming the shots in the resistant materials workshop.  We have already checked with the head of technology to ensure the room is free, which it is.  The room in which we have planned to film these shots in have huge windows around the perimeter of the workshop meaning the lighting will be acceptable for filming.

Audience Research/Questionnaire

I created my questionnaire using Survey Monkey.  Survey Monkey is an online program where I was able to create my own survey and send it out to an amount of people who then completed my questionnaire and sent it back.  I got 20 replies from people which I sent the questionnaire to to fill out.  My results are represented in graph forms below:

Q1

 Q2

 Q3

 Q4

 Q5

 Q6

 Q7

 Q8

A blank copy of my survey can be seen here. 

Storyboard

This is a brief storyboard created by Millie and I, displaying our first ideas for our opening scene. 

Free Period Work

Today I had free periods all afternoon so I got some of my blog done.  I completed two Prezi presentations.  One was character profiles for the people participating in my video and another was of the narrative of my opening scene.  Prezi presentations are really interesting ways in which I can display basic information.  I also completed a blog post on the props I will be using throughout the construction of my opening scene, I added images to this.

Millie and I also had a discussion about our opening scene and its narrative.  As until this point our ideas had been rather brief, we verbally brainstormed and came up with a more detailed narrative.  This is what I blogged today.

I also completed a post on the costumes the characters will be wearing.  I displayed this by finding similar garments on the online store ASOS and inserted images and descriptions into a blog post.

Actors

Costume

Male Character-  Long black trench coat, jumper and jeans.

All black costume to appear shady and mysterious.

Female Charcters-  Typical girly clothing to appear as innocent.

All the female characters will have their hair down so that it will blow in the wind.  This will draw attention to the girls hair, which is what I want as the film is based on an obsession with hair.

Props

Not  many props will be used in my piece as the narrative is purposefully simplistic and quite empty.

Hair extentions-  These will be used to act as the hair cut off by the main character.  This is due to ethical issues of not being able to actually cut off people's hair just for the purpose of the video.



Tools-  The tools are going to be used in my opening scene to insert harrowing clips which create drama.




Scissors-  These will be used to make the illusion that the hair is actually being cut off.