Q3 what kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

 

Burton Productions

 

This is our production company logo ‘Burton Productions’ the reason that we chose this logo was because it is a camera which shows that we are a company always looking for new shots or new possibilities that we always have an eye on if there is something out there that is different we will give it a try, we are a company that is hardworking to try and make the best films with what we have. The reason that there is a globe in the lens is because we are always looking for new opportunities whether it is from the local area or across the world. Burton Productions are always looking for new challenges to overcome trying to make new breath taking films in the thriller industry. Overall I think the emblem of the company is good because it shows that we had a wide range of audience groups so this would increase the size of our target audience because we are a company that makes all films appropriate for everyone I think that company would aim at teenagers and above because we are in the Action/Thriller section which is a huge section that lots of people are into. We got inspiration from production companies like Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures and Eon Productions because they all have produced films in the Thriller genre and most of the films that we have compared our film with are all created by these producers.

 

 

A production company is very important to small film owners because an owner can’t produce the film because it cost so much money so they get a production company alongside them to control the budgeting of the money, advertisement, and getting big actors involved. The production company do this for a percentage of the profits. Without a production company’s backing the film will never get made. For our film we would aim for either ‘Universal’ or ‘Eon Productions’ because they are suitable companies who have both produced  films like James Bond collection (Eon Productions), Lone Survivor (Universal Studios) and finally The Expendables (Lions Gate) these were similar genre as our film (Action/Thriller) but I would be happy with any offer off any company because it is difficult for film producers to get an offer because if they don’t think it is good or they think it won’t be successful they won’t invest their money and skills.

These are some of the production  companies that we looked at as a team when we were  planning for our own thriller because we chose a couple of different companies and looked what films they did for example the top three that we look at was ‘Paramount Pictures’, ‘Eon Productions’ and ‘Universal’ the reason that we chose to research these companies was that they all did action/thrillers which we wanted to base on film on that for example Eon Productions did the James Bond films so we knew they were experienced in Action. A film from universal that we look very close at was the ‘Bourne Identity’ because we liked the titles in the film as them came on the screen over the picture. So we decided that we would do something similar to the titles in the ‘Bourne Identity’ because it shows quick shots with lots of different titles over the top in the corner of the shot the reason we wanted to do this was because it looks effective when the shot change.

In these shots from the opening we wanted the start to be effective so we had long shots of the area with a mixture of close ups this worked really effectively because with the pace of the different shots and the titles over the top it was good. We change shots from the area to the protagonist to introduce the first character. The text of the title that we have used is really effective because it is a torn broken down effect which shows you what the film might be about, this give the audience clues about the film. The titles we used was to shows the company name, different roles in the company and the actors that took part in the film we put the Company’s name first to show the audience who we are so they knew the makers of the film. We then put the directions name to show that came up with the overall idea and to shows whose vision it was to make the film the way it was. Then we showed the roles of everyone in the company and who took on what tasks. Finally when a clear shot of the characters came along we displayed the actors name to show the audience who featured in the film.

 

If I had to link our film to other on their similarities I would say that the first film I would compare it to would be James Bond because the series is based on Action and Thriller. So there is lots of guns and people are after the man same with Bond because their after him. Another film that I would link our film to would be ‘The Lone Survivor’ because we have use a similar style on the opening titles and again it is based on the Action/ Thriller genre which contain lots of gun but is like a spying film like bond but ours isn’t that type its more swat and breaching where they are looking for a person.

This is the timeline that we created to help us structure the times of the titles that we would use in the film, so we made a plan to put the titles in order from the most important like the producer and production companies then followed by the actors and crew this was important because we wanted the titles over the top of the shot so it had to be timed correctly because the when the actors  came up on the screen the title with their names showed up.

  
 
 
 
 
 
 

Q2 How does your media product represent Particular social groups?

  For the part of the protagonist we look for someone who had the best acting skills because we need the person to look rough to make them appear dirty and cold like they have no choice but to run away and hide so the person we chose to do this part was Sam H because he had good drama skills which he used to show that he was worried and is hiding away and he is always conscious of anyone finding him the character has done something bad that we don’t know about, it create a psychological effect because you don’t know why this man is in this situation because you think that the person has done nothing wrong. The character of Sam is wearing tracksuit clothing to show that he has been through tough times and hasn’t got a lot of money so he might be hunted down because of money trouble. The camera shot that shows the man is a high angle shot looking down at the protagonist which shows that he is weak because it shows him low down which shows that he is worthless. I would link Sam’s character to this man out of the ’Purge’ this is similar because the character  turns homeless and is on the run living rough in this time because everyone is being hunted down by people that are killing innocent people. It also shows that the man is worried by the look on his face because he knows that if they find him they will kill him this is the same effect for Sam’s character because he is being hunted down and it’s not normal that a swat team turns up with loaded weapons.

 

The age of the man is surprising because the man looks quite young which makes you feel uncomfortable because it shows that anyone can commit crimes or offences so it might mean that he could be part of a gang or group that have killed or stolen and items of big value. In the building where the man is hiding it shows that he’s got everything with him for example he got a sleeping bag, tins of food, a lamp and a gun that he carries around in his rucksack so it shows that he might be moving every night constantly changing his location so nobody finds him. We set out a building like the man had moved into it to hide for a while to hide from everyone. The location that we filmed in was my dad’s DIY and Landscaping business where we used the yard and cabin as the location to give an effect that there was no one about the place was isolated and deserted so it would be a good location for the man to run away to because you wouldn’t think of hiding in a small cabin surrounded by yard materials, it shows the that it is not the best place to stay but the man has no choice because of what he has done. The lighting that we used on this character was bright and showed the man clearly, both appearance and figure to show how rough the man is living, like he is lit up like people know where he is. This is Sam and he was playing the role of the protagonist it shows that his facial expression shows that the man is miserable because of what has happen like his life has turned upside down. He has obviously escaped quickly because all he has is his bag of food and his gun which shows that he might be being hunted using the gun as self-defence.

 

 

We decided that Tom (Me), Glen, Alfie and Joe were going to be taking the roles of the SWAT team so we dressed them appropriate for the role so the soldiers wore dark clothing to shows that they are trying to hide themselves so they don’t get caught when complete the tasks and on a mission to kill the runaway because of what he has done in the past. They all had balaclavas to hide the identity of their face so if they were caught on CCTV they wouldn’t know who they were it also shows that they are professional during a missions because they don’t want to leave anything behind. They also wore vests just in case there was any gun fighting because they know of the man’s history they know that he might be holding a gun on him. Finally the soldiers carrying guns to show their authority and power just in case they have to use them there is a greater amount of them than the runaway so it shows they have the numbers over the man which gives them the better odds. The idea of soldiers pulling up to an abandoned site would create tension when they pull through the gate from a quiet, deserted place to a swat search. The appearance of the soldiers gives a feeling that they are powerful people who use violence and force to get the job done so they could have been hired to take the man out. The camera shots used for the soldiers show them as powerful men because they roll up in a 4x4 vehicle which show that they are professional and important because when they come through the broken gate which shows that the area is rough and rundown a low angle camera shot is used to make them look big and powerful as they enter the site.

I would link our characters to the men out of the ‘Expendables’ because of the way that they are dressed because they are wearing really dark clothing which shows that they are also professional because they are ready to do a mission another reason that are similar to the soldiers in our thriller is because they are all holding guns which show no fear and they are always ready just in case any trouble occurs.

The lighting that we used on the soldiers was quite dark to give an effect that they were stalking the man in the shadows always looking for him from behind, the reason that we used dark light was because we didn’t want to give the identity away of the soldiers because they were supposed to be SAS/Swat team to hide them away from the audience so they didn’t know what they were searching for. We used the tourches to create a spot light effect like they were searching,we wanted a dark lighting effect because noot many thrillers happen in the day so we wanted to capture the moment so with the tourches and flood lights we turn the place into a searching ground.

 

This shot that I have used shows the soldier run to a position behind some cover this is because the soldiers know that the person that they are hunting has a gun this shows that the soldiers know what they are here for. The soldier in this shot is Alfie cleary it shows that the soldiers have more survival skills than the protagonist because they have been trained to kill. The shot that we used was a long shot because we have got the soldiers whole body in the shot as well as his surroundings. The reason that we wanted to to use thisshot was because we wanted to capture the movement of the soldiers as he runs into cover.

 

This next shot of the soldier shows that they have no fear because the soldiers use brute  force to open doors like they don’t care about anything until they find the man. It shows that  they search all over the site even in the scummy old containers, it shows that they are only here for one thing and that is the man dead or a live. I am the soldier in this shot I chose the clothing for the soldiers and I thought I made the right decsion about what the soldiers should wear.

 

This final shot a shows the last soldier Glen who took the role of the leader of the soldiers so we used a close up on his face to show that he was directing the rest and he was in charge.  I thought that having a head soldier shows that he was in control because he was mainly at the front leading the rest of the team because he had no fear he was always at the front. The reason that the leader of the group was the most dominated person of the group because he had the biggest weapon of the group so he would lead the team and check the area before his team walked in.

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Q1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

A thriller is a type of film that can have a wide range of different sub-genres in the film for example the thriller we created would be classed an action/thriller, there are lots of different types depending on what is in the film because some films are classed as psychological thrillers because they contain mystery. Horror/ thrillers because they contain blood and gore. Action thrillers because they could contain weapons etc…

Conventions of a thriller:

Narrative

-          Thrillers are supposed to create suspense and excitement for the audience.

-          The narrative resolves around the investigation of an enigma or the hero is the only person who can solve the enigma.

-          They mostly involve violence.

-          If often reveals the workings of particular institutions such as the police, the army or the Government.

-          The thriller centres on injustice in society but solves these wrongs.

-          There will be a rational rather than supernatural explanation of the puzzle.

Setting

-          A thriller can be set in an urban environment or a rural environment.

-          They can be set in old abandoned buildings or new city buildings.

-          They are usually set over big areas as there are usually chases.

-          They can also be set in abandoned buildings and asylums.

Characters

-          A Protagonist - They are usually a detective or someone on the run.

-          An Antagonist - They are usually a villain or a prisoner.

-          A Damsel

-          Villains - They are usually English, Russian or German.

-          Innocent victims/Bystanders

-          Characters with dark pasts

-          Psychotic people

-          Terrorists

-          Spies

 

 The different Shot types that we used made the film more effective because we had a wide range of different camera angles (High and Low angle shots, Extreme close and long shots, mid shots and pan shots.)The reason that we had lots of different angles was because we wanted to make the shots quick so the more angles we had was  more effective. A couple of examples of the different shots that we used was extreme close ups, high angle and low angle shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

This is a shot of Alfie holding an airsoft MP5 which is a small sub machine gun that is very effective in combat, these shows that the soldiers are fully equipped and ready for the task. The shot of the soldier holding the weapon is very good because the gun looks realistic. The different extreme close ups of the weapons from both the soldiers and the runaway this shows that the man is in trouble because the SWAT team are hunting him down. This links to other Action/Thrillers ‘The Expendables’ because it also shows different close ups of the characters faces and the weapons that they are holding so we want to put a big amount of Action in the film but we also want to put some mystery in as well about the runaway. Why he is there? and what has he done?

 

Psychological/Thriller 

 



           Horror/Thriller

Action/Thriller   

 

 

 

-          An Action/Thriller is a film that contains lots of fast paced action which usually contains lots of weapons and gun based fights the example I have chosen is ‘Sabotage’ because it has weapons and powerful characters like ‘Arnold Schwarzenegger’ who has been in lots of different action films that contain weapons.

-          A Psychological/Thriller film is a film that contains a mysterious feel to it like you have to work out a puzzle to understand the meaning, the example that I have chosen is ‘Shutter Island’ because being on an island itself makes characters go insane.

-          Finally a Horror/Thriller is a film that contains a lot of blood and gore and is created to make you feel uncomfortable for the audience and makes you not want to watch the film because it is a genre that scares you to not watch it.

 

The use of Mise-En-Scene in the film we used was the clothing of the characters for example we made the protagonist look rough to make it look like the person has a hard life and is going through bad times because they have ran away. The clothing of the antagonists was dark because we wanted them to look like soldiers so they wore black, trousers, boots, coats and balaclavas. The reason they wore this was because we wanted them to look professional when completing a task.

Also in the Mes we had the lighting, because it was a thriller and an army/swat based film so we wanted the lighting to be dark so it didn’t give the identity away of the soldiers which gives a mysterious effect because in some scene you don’t see much of the soldiers in some scenes which creates tension because the man doesn’t know that the soldiers are there until they are really close. The lighting used for the protagonist that we used was bright lighting to shows that he is clear and defenceless in the light against the soldiers who are stalking in the shadows so the odds are against the protagonist.

 

 

 The props that we used for the protagonist were  bottled water, canned food, sleeping bag and a gun with bullets to shows that the man is always on the move and has nowhere to go to this shows that he has moved for a reason because he has been forced because of a problems that may have occurred. The props for the soldiers that we used was army clothing, guns and a car the reason that we wanted to use this was to make the soldiers look professional  like they are the real deal because they turn up in an expensive 4x4 with all the equipment for the job.

 

 

Music that we created was add to the youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54g817JCSz4

 

The sound that we used was a non-diegetic piece that was played over the top of everything else. The music that we had over the top we got Joe Main to make the music for us which was a good piece of music that fitted the type of film. It worked well with the thriller because the beat started off slow and built up the speed just like the action in the film.  The reason that we got Joe to create the music was because he had familiar skills with the music application on the Macs. We gave Joe information and details of the genre of our film and the key points that our film was going to contain he took this information that we gave him and he made the music which starts off slow and then builds up creating the tension for example when the car pulls through the gate and when the protagonist realises the soldiers are in the area looking for him.

For the Editing we all knew a little bit of information including the  tools on the Mac so we knew what we was doing, as  team we  knew what effects we were  going to put into the film. I think that the editing was a group effort because we were all giving pointers what effects he should put in for example we saw another group add in slide transitions in between their slides so we wanted to do a similar thing so we I went for a fade to white effect that would flash on to the next slide to cut the shot and to make it look like every time the viewer blinked it would change camera shot. This worked effectively because the speed of the change of shot changed really fast because we wanted the clips to be fast so it kept the audience on interests.

The Narrative of the opening the idea of a deserted place gives a psychological effect because you don’t know why the camera is there. When the camera switches and introduces the first character it shows a man living rough like he has escaped but a mystery why he has ran away. This makes the audience feel sorry for the man but then a swat team pull up and then realise that the man isn’t innocent if the army/police are after him as they search the area to find him. It suggests from the opening that the film might be a psychological thriller because it has a sense of mystery that is created with the fast cuts of the area the protagonist and the SWAT team.

 

 

 

 

 

 The Characters are introduced by one by one so the opening starts with the protagonist not doing a lot in a small building looking rough as the camera looks down at him to show that he is weak ( high angle shot). After the shot it moves onto the soldiers together as a big group to show they are powerful because they are being look up at with their weapons. Then it moves onto different shots of the soldiers as they take turns leading the group. For example a different always at the front directing the rest.

 

 

 The film Titles that we used was an inspiration from the film ‘The Lone survivor ’ where the titles go over the top of the shots as the opening is introduced the reason we wanted to do this is because it was a lot more effective than the titles  on a blank screen. We introduced the production company and the producer at the start because we thought they were the most important. When it came to the actors we did the names over the top when they were first shown in the opening to introduce the character and to give the audience an idea who would play the part. Finally toward the end of the opening we had the job roles of the people.

For example the Editor, Sound creator and the camera operator to make sure that we covered everyone who was involved in the production of the film. I think that the way we did the titles worked because it kept the audience drawn to the detail whilst they were watching the opening they would find out the actors and other information as they watched the film. The use of the final scene when the soldiers look out the window and see the man running in the dark to then go onto the titles ‘On The Run’ in a rough torn text was very good because it shows that we know how to time the titles correctly to make sure everything ran smoothly.