Evaluation- Marking

1) Fairly thorough here. I didn't realise the fairground was a flashback!!
2) You chose two characters from different demographics and it would have been nice to have explored the differences in representation a little bit more
3) Not a great post as it doesn't really get to grips with different types of film company or where you could get funding. A little google searching might have gone a long way here. Did Hammer do anything other than horror?
4) Fairly general on audience. No profiles or attempt on primary/secondary. It would have been good to have been more specific on what constitutes a 15 and why this would be the ideal choice.
5) Some good understanding of marketing shown. I was interested in the Deadpool example. I think that there was a lot more to say on social media. No actual examples of marketing in evaluation.
6) Not very much detail in this post- it's really just a list of what you used!
7) A fairly thorough commentary on the process as a whole but without the specifics of a director's commentary.

Level 3 12–15 marks
• Proficient skill in the use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation.
• Proficient understanding of issues around audience, institution, technology, representation, forms and conventions in relation to production.
• Proficient ability to refer to the choices made and outcomes.
• Proficient understanding of their development from preliminary to full task.
• Proficient ability to communicate.

Jamie 12

Evaluation 7

My preliminary task was very basic. It displayed some good editing techniques, having some very good match on action editing, allowing the film to free flow easily. The task that I was set was to show that I could use the 180 degree rule, shot reverse shot, and match on action editing. I believe that my match on action editing was very good; however, with the experience that I have gained whilst doing this, I would be able to improve my preliminary task if I was to do it again by improving my shot reverse shot. From my research I found out that shot reverse shots can be used more effectively than what I had done, as shown by the research that I did about shot reverse shots. In my preliminary task I always followed the 180 degree rule, not filming from the other side of the scene; however looking back I did break the 30 degree rule at one stage, making a cut that didn’t change more than 30 degrees. If I was to re-do this preliminary task I would ensure that I did follow this rule.

I believe that my skills have improved vastly during this process and my understanding on how to film also improving. Examples of this include my ability to techniques such as the rule of thirds in my films. My film opening displayed a good se of the rule of thirds, having characters positioned in the correct place in the frame in the majority of shots, whereas in my preliminary task I didn’t display the rule of thirds at all, normally having character towards the middle of the shot.

Another director’s skill that I believe I have improved in is my ability to use sound effectively. My film opening has much more effective sound than in my preliminary task. I believe that the music that I used in my film opening was a lot more effective than what was used in my preliminary task. I have also realised the importance of having good music in a film opening, as it is one of the most important aspects to setting the genre and the tone for the rest of the film. The music that I used I feel was very effective in setting the tone and the genre of the film to come.

I believe that throughout this process my ability to edit well has also improved. My editing in the preliminary task wasn’t too bad; however I believe that I was improved. In the preliminary task, I was tasked with trying to film match on action editing, cutting in the correct place to make the film flow, whereas as my film opening was a montage style, I didn’t have to do this as much, and instead had to decide when to cut the film by the timing of the music, and giving enough time for the credits to be read.

I believe that I also improved using mise en scene in my films as I went through this work. In my preliminary task I had very little aspects of mise en scene that I took into account, whereas it was something I was more aware of when making my film opening. The props that were used in my film opening where suitable to the type of film I was making, whereas I didn’t use any props in my preliminary task that were thought about previously. I also tried to think about the lighting in my film opening as said previously saying about having to put a filter on my footage. I also gave lighting very little thought in my preliminary task, therefore believe that my understanding and ability to use mise en scene has improved form when I started this work. 

Evaluation 6

Research and Planning:

Technologies that were used in the research and planning stage of this process include using google and YouTube. I had to use google a lot whilst Researching film openings to find out what other people had found the conventions of film openings to be, get pictures to use in my blog, methods of marketing etc. I also used YouTube a lot in my research and planning, having to find clips from YouTube to either analyse or use to back up my points made.

Blogging:

I used various technologies whilst blogging. First I used the site blogger.com, which I used to make and post my blog.  I also used software such as word and power point in my blog so that I could either draft my blog before posting it, or so that I have an alternative format to put my blog in. Power point helped me do this as it allowed me to put some blogs into sections, such as the audience feedback, where I put all feedback received n individual slides.

Construction:

Whilst filming and putting together my film opening, I used various technologies. First whilst filming, I used to camera on my iPad. My whole opening was filmed on an iPad. I was going to buy a camera to film it, however decided against it as the quality of my iPad camera was good enough. I then had to use iMovie on a mac to edit my footage together.  Over this experience I learned how to and not to film using a camera, and how to edit properly, and effectively using iMovie. 

Evaluation 5

Evaluation 4

The target audience that I am targeting my film towards the age group between 17-26 year olds as my market research showed that this type of film is most suited to. However, there are lots of different age groups that I could have targeted my film towards. As I have selected this target audience, they will have certain tastes in different things, and will enjoy doing things that other age groups wouldn’t tend to do.

This age group is at an age where they are constantly using technology and are on their smart phones constantly. This age group has grown up with this technology and are can easily adapt to changes in technology. As all of this age group use their smart phones, and are also constantly on their social media apps, it is fairly easy to show them something and promote a film in a large way, showing lots of people. This makes the marketing of the film easier as you could just advertise on social media, and it would show the advert to a lot of the target audience.

I believe that this target audience would enjoy my film as it is of a genre that they enjoy, and involves the conventions of many other successful thriller films. As my target audience is aimed towards both males and females, my film will, and has, include elements that will attract both genders. I have included violent scenes in my opening and would include more of these scenes and would use more graphic scenes in the rest of my film. This would be tailored towards the male audience and is a convention that males enjoy to see in thriller films. Because I will include fairly graphic scenes in the film the BBFC rating will have to be at least 15. This is a certificate that would be ideal to my film, as it attracts my target audience because there is violence in it, and eliminates people under the age of 15 from watching the film. This however isn’t a problem as there aren’t many people under the age of 15 who watch many thriller films. My film would also be suited to females as it would include psychological questions asked towards the audience, and makes them think about the film after coming out of the cinema, like The Others for example. This is something that females like in thriller films, and prefer watching a film that includes this, rather than a film that contains gory scenes. I would aim to merge both popular conventions in my film so that the film would appeal to both genders, by having both graphic scenes and including some psychological questions that make the audience think about the story narrative.

My target audience would also enjoy films such as The Others, Pyscho, Cape Fear, Sutter island etc., because these films use conventions of thriller films that appeal to my target audience and both genders. 

Evaluation 3

Evaluation 2

I have chosen to do a comparison between John Doe and my villain, who as yet does not have a name. These 2 characters possess both similarities with each other and also various differences. Both these characters take the role of the villain in their films, and decide that it is their jobs to murder people. They both possess a desire to kill people, and are very clever and methodical about how they do it and how not to get caught. In terms of appearance these characters look very different having different ages, skin tones and build. The costumes that these characters wear is also very different as the character from my film is wearing a black hoodie and a balaclava to hide his face, and look more intimidating, whereas John Doe isn’t wearing anything to hide his appearance in any scene, and actually wants to be caught by the end of the film, so that he can finish his work, and have the final kill. 

The representation of these 2 characters is very different as they belong to two different social groups. The character from my film is seen as and represented as a troubled teenager, whereas John Doe is seen as a psychopathic middle aged man. I have a male villain in my film, as I believe that having a female antagonist wouldn’t be as effective, as the thriller audience has become so encompassed to having a male antagonist that having a female wouldn’t be as effective. I believe this is because males are typically more interested in the violence side of films, and that they are the gender that is stereotyped into murder more than females, which is why you see more male villains than females. The audience are also most use to seeing a middle aged villain such as John Doe in thriller films, alongside with little children, rather than teenagers, as they are seen as more dangerous than a teenager. I do regret not using middle aged actors in my film as they come across more scary than a teenager. 

Evaluation 1

These screen shots show the setting and location of my film opening. I believe that these screen shots follow the conventions of some other thriller films, as a number have been shot in a forest location. Typically thriller films are normally set in either an isolated place, such as a forest, or in an urban area such as a city. I have also included a location in a flashback of a fairground, as this adds to the creepy effect that the opening is hopeful portraying.

The costumes and props that were used in the opening and are shown in the screen shots follow the typical conventions of thriller films. I decided that I should include weapons in my opening, as this is something in which nearly all thriller films include. The use of these weapons in my opinion help establish the characters in the film, as the weapons are of those that the villain would typically hold in thriller films. They also should create tension as the villain is in total control of the other characters fate as these weapons could be considered and will give connotations with murder. The choice of costumes was that I should make the villain wear a black hoodie as it believe that this would make them look most like a murderer. I also made him wear a balaclava to hide his face as this would make him look more menacing and intimidating. I made the victim wear casual clothes as it would make him more relatable to the audience, making him wear something that looks like something the audience might wear. The majority of victims in thriller films are wearing casual clothes for the same reason and therefore my opening does follow conventions of general thriller films. The villain’s costume doesn’t exactly goes with conventional thriller villain costumes. Normally the villain would wear a scruffy suit for example, or a smart costume worn in a scruffy way. This makes them look like outcast to society and makes them look very psychopathic. I went against this as I believe that having him wearing a black hoodie with a balaclava would make him look just as menacing in this opening. I also didn’t want to show the villain’s whole face from the very beginning as I believe it would ruin the rest of the film.

The font that I have used generally follows the conventions of most thriller films. I purposely chose a font that looked like it was hand written as it is something that a lot of successful thriller films include. It makes the opening look a lot scarier as it looks as if the credits have just been scribbled in a poor handwriting over the top of the sequence.

The opening sequence’s aim is to suggest the genre of the film. I believe that my film does this as it involves the stereotypes that are commonly found in thriller films, such as a weapon, and an easily established villain. Having these in the opening help to establish the genre and is something that should be done in a film opening.

There are various ways that actual thriller films first show their characters, for example in Se7en they show the villain in the opening credits, however you don’t see his face, whereas in The Shinning you don’t actually see the character at all in the opening credits as they are driving in a car to the location of the film. This therefore means that I am showing my main characters to the audience in an unconventional way, by 2 of the main characters in my opening sequence. 

Film Opening- Marking

Level 3 36–47 marks There is evidence of proficiency in the creative use of many of the following technical skills:
• Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task;
• using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions;
• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
• shooting material appropriate to the task set;, including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene;
• using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects

I like this Jamie!

The material is appropriate for a crime drama/thriller. Shame about the sunny day but that's difficult to plan for!
The titles are conventional but your choice of font has got a bit lost on the mottled background of the grass. I like the way the title comes up as the music kicks in.
The sound is appropriate and there are several occasions where you have timed the stresses in the music nicely with an edit or the credits. 
You have a pretty steady hand but why did you not use a tripod for some of those shots?! I think the choice of shots is good on the whole and it helps communicate the ideas to the audience (low angle/high angle etc). I was a little curious anout the shot of the shoes and the final shot was a strange one to end on. I liked the juxtaposition of the helter-skelter.

Jamie 44

Research and Planning- Marking

I really liked Jamie's introduction, analysis of his preliminary and especially his post on title sequences. He demonstrated an excellent knowledge of the different types of opening and their various impacts on audiences. At the same time, he was able to make insightful comments about the approaches of the specific films that he had chosen to discuss. He showed a detailed knowledge of the thriller genre and it was a shame that he did not explore his mood boards in any detail. I thought his analyses of Se7en and Cape Fear, showed a really good analytical approach and insight into the task. It was a shame that his analysis of Se7en missed out the full opening and focused solely on the title sequence.

Jamie's audience research was in depth and informative although I would have liked to have seen some more evidence rather than just conclusions. The nature of blogs could have afforded some more variety here- video/podcast etc. 

Jamie showed evidence of his thought processes in putting his film together. His brief showed a good understanding of how he wanted his audience to react. I liked his font but it doesn't work on the background of his opening! His work on props, lighting and costume showed an understanding of how directorial choices have an impact on the audience's reading of the film but it was a pity that these were so brief. His work on the BBFC was too short- he could have explored the workings of the relevant ratings (15 and 18) and could have even used examples to illustrate his understanding.

The post on Problems in particular demonstrated how Jamie's idea evolved and adapted but the editing diary was too short and somehow set in the future??!

Jamie's marketing post showed an awareness of marketing strategies but there was very little specifically in terms of ideas. He mentioned 'an act' for guerrilla advertising but did not specify what. He described a film poster when surely it would have been better to have produced it!

Jamie's early posts demonstrate a good understanding of the task and an excellent ability to communicate his ideas. However, it is as if he ran out of time towards the end as his posts became shorter and there was very little in terms of variety of posting style on the blog. He communicated an understanding of appropriate research methods but increasingly, as the blog moved into the planning stages, the work became less thorough.

Jamie  14/20

Audience feedback

Posting the opening

https://youtu.be/oY6DzcxLzng 

Marketing

The marketing of a film is very important as it informs the audience about the film, and getting the correct ways of marketing is essential because different forms of promotion will be more effective to different demographics. As my target audience is people ages 17-26, I believe that the best ways for me to advertise my film would be through things such as social media and YouTube, as this are the forms of promotion that will be most effective to my target audience as they are the main age group to use these social media sites.

The poster and advertising banner that I will use to promote my film will be the original ending to the film that I was going to have, with the hooded character holding the golf club up above his head. This will then create an arrow pointing toward the title of the film (Vengeance). I will then have the main actor’s names at the bottom of the poster and advertising banner. This should be successful as it will engage the audience and hopefully make them want to go to the cinema to watch the whole film.

Another way that I am going to promote my film is through the use of Guerrilla advertising. This is where an act is put on in the middle of a city, and will engage the attention of people passing. These people will then get their mobile phones out and share it to all their friends. This is a very good way to advertise as it costs little to do (which will be beneficial to a small film company) and will be very successful and reach a wide amount of people, if it gets shared through social media sites. 

Changes made

I had to make lots of changes to my original film that I was going to do. Originally I was going to have the masked character hold up the golf club and about to hit it over the head of my other character. I changed this however because I had a very good shot of the seated character’s shadow disappearing. I decided to use this shot over the alternative shot as I believe that it is more effective, showing the disappearance of this character, which could give connotations of him dyeing for example, which would be an area that the whole film would cover, having the character fighting for his life and being put in near death situations., always with the possibility of him dying.

Another change was a change that I was forced to make as I was unable to do. This was using sound effects in my opening. I was originally going to have sound effects of heartbeats and footsteps, as I believe that having these things will make the seated character more relatable to the audience, and the footsteps of the hooded character makes him seem more menacing towards the audience. This is because the footsteps seem like the character is circling them and makes them seem more intimidating towards the audience, along with the low angle shots looking up at him which shows his dominance and power, and automatically makes the audience fearful for the other character.

I also had to cut out some of my shots from my story board as I was either unable to film them, or I had alternative shots that were more preferable than the original ones from my storyboard. 

Editing diary

Friday 14^th April

After filming a couple of days previously, I put together all of my footage, and put music over the top of it. I tried to fit the film to the music that I have chosen and cut the footage when the music builds up, as it would look more professional than otherwise done. I also tried to leave enough space in between cuts to have enough time for the credits to be displayed and read. This was also part of my selection of my music, as I tried to pick a piece of music where I could edit to easily, and display the credits easily upon. I did encounter some difficulty when doing this, trying to match the edit, exactly to the music and believe that it could be improved even more.

Wednesday 19^th April

After doing this editing, I still needed to put in the opening where I would put in the production companies and distribution companies’ names beforehand. I had left time in my film to put this in as I know that the opening should be around 2 minutes long. I also then put in the names over my footage. I have used a strange looking text when doing this, to add to the uneasy effect of the opening, that I hope my opening gives across. 

Problems

I faced various problems in the process of making this film opening, and had to overcome these problems, finding solutions to try and solve this.

One problem which I encountered was that a couple of weeks before I was scheduled to film, one of my actors refused to be in the film. This was a big problem that I faced as I needed to find somebody new, who was willing to act at short notice. Luckily however I did find somebody who said that they were willing to feature in my film. This could have been a serious problem for me, as I may not have been so lucky and found somebody else to act in my film, and could have possibly missed my deadline, or not have given myself enough time to evaluate or ask for audience feedback.

Another problem that I faced was (as stated previously) trying to get copyright free music. As I was unable to use music that is owned by somebody, I wasn’t allowed to use it is a piece of media that I am saying was made by me. Therefore, overcame this problem by downloading copyright free music, that still fitted with the genre and overall feel of my opening title sequence.

A third problem that I faced was trying to film my whole film at sunrise. I planned to do this however nobody that I talked to was willing to get up early enough to film at this time in the morning. This could have resulted in me not having any footage and unable to post anything as my final and finished opening. To overcome this problem decided to only film my flashback at the early hours of the morning. To make my other footage look darker, without filming in the morning, I was forced to use filters to make the scene look a lot darker than it actually was on the day of filming.

A problem that I could have faced would have been not having enough footage. I would notice this when editing and finding that there isn’t enough footage to fill the whole soundtrack, and two-minute target length I was given. I ensured that this wouldn’t happen to me by making sure that I filmed more than I needed, and made sure that I had spare footage that I wouldn’t need, and would become unused.

I also faced unpredictable problems such as the weather. I was originally going to have my film opening in the rain. However due to the weather being unpredictable, and me having no influence in the weather, this is one factor of my film that I had no control of and had to adapt to as I wasn’t able to do exactly what I wanted.

Another problem that I faced was trying to get sound effects for my opening. I did want to have sound effects in my opening, however found it very difficult to download sound effects as I would have had to pay a subscription to the site to access the sound effects. I was originally going to have a sound effect when it cuts to the flashback of the fairground ride. I was also going to have a sound effect of footsteps and heartbeats very quietly throughout the opening. This would have added to the effect of the opening and in my opinion would have improved it.

A final problem that I faced was trying to get the match on action shots. The match on action isn’t necessarily what needs to happen in my opening as it mainly cuts to a completely different type of shot, medium shot to extreme close up for example. I did however need to make sure that nothing changed drastically from scene to scene. I did have a slight problem that I realised whilst editing that there is a shot of the characters rolling up their sleeves, and the sleeves are rolled back down in the next scene which is a mistake of the opening, and should have been done differently. I also found it fairly difficult to piece it together and cut the clips with the piece of music. A couple of the cuts are in fact slightly out of time with the music, and is something that I had to try and do to the best of my ability. 

Risk assessment

Whilst filming there are a lot of risks that could result in problems, which I will need to take precautions to prevent from happening.

One risk when filming would be the safety of people on the filming se, as there are some very dangerous props that will be used, including a knife, a golf club and some rope. A risk of having a sharp knife on the set would be somebody could easily get seriously injured, by falling on it, or cutting themselves for example. The same risk applies with the golf club, as somebody could accidently stand on the bottom and the club ending up hitting them, or somebody hitting someone with the golf club. The rope could also be a risk, as it could be put round somebodies neck. To prevent these from happening, I will ensure that the knife and golf club are put is safe places where nobody could accidently fall on, or stand on. I will also ensure that all the people that are acting in my film are responsible and won’t stupid with the props that are being used, and won’t throw knifes for example.

Another risk would be that somebody might fall over on the uneven ground or fall over into the trees. This could be a risk as it might be something that could happen at any time, and could very easily happen as the ground is very uneven at the location where I am filming. One possible way that this could be prevented is to ensure that everyone is wearing appropriate footwear. This should ensure that nobody will fall over, and that the risk will be eliminated. 

BBFC rating

The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) is an organisation that decides that on the age rating and restriction that should be given to each and every film. The majority of thriller films are having a BBFC rating of a 15, with exceptions of some 18’s. This is because they normally show some graphic scenes that would be unsuitable to show to a younger age audience. I believe that my film should also be rated around a 15 as the whole finished film would include various graphic scenes and should only be suitable for people over the age of 15. Even in my opening two minutes of my film I already have a knife pressed up against the cheek of another character, which might already be to disturbing for some people under the age of 15. Therefore, given the trend of most thriller films and the content that the film would include I think that it is justified that my film should be rated 15.  

Media techniques used

My opening two minutes displayed some technical media techniques. For example i made sure when filming, that I followed the rule of thirds. This means that the character is never positioned directly in the middle of the shot. In my film opening I ensured that the characters were always put towards one side of the screen as shown by the image. The use of the rule of thirds makes the film look at lot more professional. For example if there was a conversation between two people and the camera showed the character in the middle of the screen it wouldn’t look normal as it either look like the character was talking directly into the camera (which is sometimes used for effect in sitcom for example)or talking to nobody.

Another technique is the 30 degree. This stages that the camera must always move at least 30 degrees between shots. I did follow this rule however a lot of the shots that I used where of different things therefore this rule isn’t appropriate as it is only applicable for looking at oe thing such as a conversation.

I did break the 180 degree rule in my opening; however I didn’t feel it should have been followed in my film. I broke it originally so it would create a sense of disorientation, however as I use so many close ups and extreme close ups I don’t feel as if the 180 degree rule should be followed as it would have limited me to certain shots, and I don’t believe that my opening would have been as successful. I also don’t feel like my opening comes across as to disorientated anyway therefor I feel like me breaking this rule was the correct thing to do in this situation. 

Mise en scene

Props:

The props that I used in my film opening, are supposed to look like torture weapons. In my opinion they do look like this, and add to the effect and atmosphere that I am looking to create. The props that I have used are regular things that I have around my house, however are regularly used in thriller films to torture people. I have used the biggest knife that I have to create tension and make the audience feel uncomfortable, especially when it is pressed up against the cheek of one of the characters. The other prop that I used was a golf club. The use of the golf club was also adding to the effect and atmosphere of the film opening.

Lighting:

I originally did want the lighting of my film to be very dark, and around the hours of the morning and raining. However, I have no control over the weather, and none of my actors were willing to get up this early therefore was forced to film in the middle of the day with very warm and dry weather. This therefore meant that I had to put a filter on my opening to try and make the opening look much darker than it actually was on the day. Ideally, all thriller film is normally set in a dark location as it adds to the tension and creates an atmosphere, amongst the audience as they are scared of what could happen next.

Costume:

I am going to have one of my character wearing a black hoodie and a balaclava, to look intimidating. This won’t allow the audience to see this character’s face properly and will make him seem more mysterious. Throughout this film I would have this character’s face not properly seen by the audience and only would reveal his face towards the end. This should make the audience uneasy and defiantly not trust this character. The other character in my opening will be wearing casual clothes. This should make him more relatable to the audience and will be able to make more of a connection towards the audience from the very start of the film. 

Music

Finding music for my film opening was a problem that I faced, due to copyright laws, which states that I am not allowed to use any music owned by someone else, in my work and claim it as my own. This meant that I had to download copyright free music from online. After looking at numerous websites, trying to find a piece of music that would fit with the genre of opening that I am doing, I eventually found a good site, and downloaded 10 different pieces of music, before narrowing it down to my 1 chosen piece of music that I am going to use in my opening. I was also going to include sound effects in my opening, however I would have had to pay for sound effects on every site that I went to, and after a had completed my opening I felt that sound effects weren’t necessary anyway.  

Location

The location of my film opening is going to be in a forest. I have decided to do this as I believe that this will give over the best effect to the audience. The connotations of it being set in a forest, is that it will usually be dark and very hard to find your way out. This will give over the representation that there is no escape for the captured character, and that there is no way out for them. I was also going to have it in this location at sun rise to make the location seem even more intimidating, however my cast refused to do this, which meant filming at midday and having to use a filter to make the scene look darker. A lot of thriller films also have a forest in the film, which shows how successful the use of them can be, for the reasons already stated.

Opening credit trends

There is a trend for the order of names that appear at the beginning of films. The majority of all films do follow this trend or around about this order of names. The order is:

·         Studio company

·         Production company

·         Directors name

·         Main actors names

·         The name of the film

·         The supporting cast

·         Roles such as Set designer, Music composer, Editor, etc.

·         Producers

This trend is apparent in most films, however are displayed in various ways, using various techniques as sated previously.

In my film I will use this trend pattern and make sure that I follow this trend as it has proven to be very successful over time. 

Sooting schedule

Date	Time	No.
11th April 2017	5:30am-6:30am	Shoot 1
11th April 2017	1:30pm-3:00pm	Shoot 2
13th April 2017	1:30pm-2:30pm	Possible reshoot.

Storyboard

Script

I will have no dialogue in my opening as I feel it won’t be as effective if I do have dialogue. I am however including music, pleonastic sound and both diagetic and non-diagetic sound, which will be shown on the storyboard. 

Production and Distribution companies

Every film will have a number of production and distribution companies before the film starts, showing the audience who made and owns the rights to film they are about to be showed. I decide that it would be best to use an already established film distribution company in Universal studios, however decided that I will create my own production company. Most people and the audience can name several distribution companies, Warner Bros, Universal 20^th Century Fox etc. However, people don’t particularly know the production companies, for example Lucasfilm. I therefore decided that I will make my own production company, whilst using the Universal studios name as well. I further made up a company called JC films and put this at the beginning of my film. 

Font styles

I was limited when selecting my font style as I wanted to select a font that fitted with the opening, genre and music. Whilst editing on the Mac there were only a small list of fonts that I was able to use in the opening. I wanted to do with a font that looked handwritten as a lot of successful thriller films have this convention as it makes them look creepier than a font that looks typed. I would have liked to use an alternative font style such as Mistrel, Matura or Rage Italic however these fonts weren’t available on the desktop that I was using so therefore had go with a different font called Chalkduster, which look like the font in the image. This font wasn’t ideal and is in some places fairly difficult to read however I didn’t have many other choices apart from having a font that looked typed, therefore I preferred to have a font that was slightly harder to read, but did look a lot better.

Name of the film

At first I struggled with a name for my film, as I decided to create the film first and then come up with a name for it. Based on what happens in my opening and watching my opening a phew times, had a phew ideas on names for the film. This is what I came up with:

 I finaly decided to go with the name Vengeance as it sounded the most menacing out of all of the options that I came up with.

Pitching the opening

My film opening is going to be very basic as I believe that the most basic film openings are the most effective. The genre of my film will be a thriller film, and in the opening I hope to make the audience uneasy and make them feel uncomfortable whilst watching. It will involve somebody sitting in a chair I a dark place, probably a forest, whilst a hooded figure circles them. The hooded figure will be holding multiple weapons, including a golf club and a knife. As the majority of thriller films do involve weapons I thought it would be suitable and would add to the verisimilitude if a weapon were included. I will use a variety of shot types, using extreme close ups, high and low angle shots, to show both of the characters. I am going to use creepy music to build suspense, with the music increasingly becoming higher pitched. I aim for my opening to be very basic, however I hope in doing this it comes across as very effective.

My opening will be a montage opening, showing lots of quick shots in my opening and having the credits over the top. I have decided to do this as I believe that it will be the most effective, rather than having an animated opening for example, as this type of opening wouldn’t be as effective for the type of film I am doing. My film opening isn’t going to be in the equilibrium stage of the narrative theory, as it is going to be set at a different part of the story. This will then allow me to do more in my opening. 

The Audience

From the research that I have conducted, I have decided to aim my film towards the 17-26 year-old audience, as they are the age group who watch the most thriller films and go to the cinema most frequently. I believe that this age group prefers thriller films more than any other age group as the story lines are more appealing to this age as they are more interesting to them and fulfill them with suspense which is something that this age group enjoy. I believe that thriller film aren’t as preferred by the other age groups, as people under the age of 17 typically find them too scary and people over the age of 26 find they are getting to old to watch film that aren’t comfortable to watch.

Thriller films are target to both males and females as both genders do enjoy thriller films, and all evidence shows both genders enjoy this genre as much as each other. The males are probably more interested in thriller films as they include a lot of action within them, whereas females probably prefer them as they ask psychological questions. 

Research

I conducted some research before I started my film so that I could identify what age group, and type of people my thriller film would and should be targeted to. This will then allow me to make a film that is tailored to these peoples wants, rather than a thriller film that would appeal to a different demographic audience. Knowing my target audience will also help me marketing my film, as I will be able to decide on the forms of advertising for my film, depending on what my target audience look at/watch the most.

First I conducted a survey and asked people various question about whether or not they watch thriller films, and if so how often they watched them. This is the survey that I handed out. After asking various people the data that I received was that younger people tend to watch more thriller film than older people. To be precise people aged 17-26 watch the most thriller films. However, there wasn’t an overall trend regarding the gender of thriller film watchers, and from my research and conducting some secondary research I found out that there wasn’t a trend about what gender watches more thriller films and it is down to pure preference of favourite genres. This therefore told me that my age group that I should target my film at would be both males and females aged between 17 and 26. Also from the research that I conducted I found out that it is the 17-26 year olds that go to the cinema most frequently which means that the cinema could be an ideal place to promote my film if I was actually going to launch it. It would also be a good idea to promote it using social media or YouTube as this age group are one of the highest users of technology and social media, meaning that an advert could be shown to a wider span of people.

The 2nd piece of research that I carried out was a focus group. This consisted of getting a number of people (from my target audience) and ask them questions regarding thriller films. The first question that I asked was regarding the age certificate of thriller films and which age category they prefer. The feedback that I received was mainly of the age of 15 and possibly the 18 rating as they felt a thriller film should keep you in suspense and should also show the audience some quite graphic scenes as well. This gives me some indication of what type of film the audience would like to see, and helps me decide on what BBFC age certificate my film should attempt to be. Another question that I asked my focus group was regarding the main characters. Generally, the main characters in thriller films, and the majority of films in general include both male protagonist and antagonist, and I asked whether or not that would be something that they expect to see in thriller films. The response that I received was that I should use both protagonist and antagonist as males as it helps the audience identify them, despite them wanting more female characters in films. The use of male character helps the audience decide who they are supporting, whereas if there is a female antagonist for example, the audience are more likely to find the story more confusing as they are so familiar with the dominance of the male characters. I also asked my target audience whether or not they like films that have a plot twist at the end of the film, and completely twists the way to watch the film. The response that I received was that they do enjoy films that have a plot twist, as it makes them think about the film after they have left the cinema, rather than just leaving and thinking nothing more about the film. This type of film then engages the audience and becomes more memorable due to the ending. In my film I am going to try and do something similar to this. As my opening is set at the end of the film, I am going to have a plot twist that makes the audience look at the opening in a different way. 

Marking previous work

I marked the following work out of ten based on their Material appropriate to the target audience, whether or not the title were conventional/appropriate, sound/images and technical editing, camera work/framing/mise en scene, editing and overall feel of the title sequence to give me an overall score out of 60.

Captive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93fH1fUQ-Lw

I felt that captive was a very good title sequence, I felt that the display of the titles were very appropriate as the titles flickered when coming onto to screen, which creates a sense of unease, which is usually what is created in the opening to (what I am assuming to be a) thriller film. This is effective as it might symbolise the flickering of a light for example in a rundown place, which is where a lot of thriller films are set. I also felt that the use of the camera was very effective. This opening displayed a wide range of different shot types, showing different angles shots, and a variety of ranges, ranging from extreme close ups to extreme long shots. The framing was also very good in this opening as the rule of 3rds was consistently being used and was always showing the character from different places, giving the connotations that he is being watched and is definitely in danger. I also felt the editing in this opening was very good having shots jump constantly between each other, and create a sense of disorientation. The sound I felt could have been improved, as I felt the music became too dramatic at the end for what little was going on, therefore marked it down for that. I also marked it down for the fact that I didn’t feel like there was enough going on in the scene. Overall I scored this piece of work 55/60 and felt that this was a very good piece of work, and very good opening title sequence. 

Cape Fear opening analysis

The opening to the film Cape Fear is very interesting as it shows the opening credits in a very unusual and unique way. It has the credits in the middle of the screen, over the top of a shot of some water which we find out and recognise at the end of the opening when a voice tells the audience that Cape Fear is actually a river. 

The opening also shows images of various things that look to be in the reflection of the water. The first thing that the audience see is a bird (possibly a hawk or eagle). This bird looks like a bird of prey and could resemble the character Max Cady who is a character who could be compared to a bird of prey, attacking other people, which is something that this bird looks like it is doing in the scene. It then also shows a reflection of an eye looking around which could also resemble something that this character would tend to do, giving the impression they are being watched. These images are then followed by images of a man’s unidentifiable face in the reflection of the water. All of this together gives the impression that this location isn’t safe and that they are being watched and are vulnerable. His then has importance later on in the film when the characters actually go to this place, and they aren’t safe and do get attacked. 

The water in this scene is also rippling which shows that there has been something that has disturbed it and that they are not alone. It gives the connotations that something is near and that it isn’t Max Cady is near, however there are clues. He is a man who will act natural despite actually wanting to do something worse than what at first is seen at first glance. 

The opening also shows blood dropping into the river. Blood in films will always resemble blood and death. The blood is dropping into the river which could resemble that there will be blood spilt in the river and there will be either somebody dyeing or seriously hurt in the lake. This opening helps set the genre and the tone for the rest of the film, and tells the audience what to expect from the rest of the film. With the showing of blood in the opening sequence and the age rating of an 18, it will tell the audience that this film is defiantly not suitable for young children, and tells the adult audience what type of film they are about to watch. 

The music to the opening to this film very sinister and makes the audience feel on edge with the high pitch music from the very beginning, which makes the audience fearful and uncomfortable from the start if the film. This alongside with the blood drop, eagle, and the face of an unrecognisable character, all makes the audience uncomfortable as soon as the film starts, and sets the tone for the rest of the film. 

Se7en opening analysis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEq-4fua3lM 

The opening to the film Se7en is a very good and successful opening to a thriller film. It shows the antagonist preparing for one of his murders; however the audience do not know this on the first time of watching. On the first time of watching the audience don’t know what they are watching, it is only once they have watched the whole film and find out what John Doe does to prepare for his murders (slicing the ends of his fingers etc.) that the audience realise that they have already been shown him doing this at the very beginning of the film, in the opening credits this is very successful as the audience only know what it is about until they watch it for the second time. 

The first scene in the opening sequence shows John Doe flicking through a book whilst flickering text is being shown. The fact that John is reading a book illustrates that he is very intelligent and may be more intelligent than the people trying to catch him. The book may also display that he is very methodical and isn’t a normal psychopath who kills people randomly without any reason.  This scene is not alone showing John being methodical in his work as there are various other shots of him also doing things that you wouldn’t expect a killer to do, including him writing, picking up and reading more books and binding paper together . All of this together conveys that he is possibly investigating the detectors and knows more about them than they know about him, which is the case of the film. 

The lighting in this title sequence is very dark and looks as if the light source is a single desk lamp. This adds to the atmosphere and as it makes the whole scene a lot more serious as the dark lighting gives connotations of danger and somebody in a dark setting should be scary and untrustworthy.

Other props are also used in this opening sequence are also used however the other props aren’t used to display intelligence or method but to keep the audience on edge by the use of having props such as razor, slicing fingertips, and the character handling with nail etc. The use of these make the audience feel uncomfortable watching, as they are ordinary household objects that the audience will own, however using them in a way that is dangerous and showing he is using them in the wrong and dangerous way. 

The credits shown are in a handwriting font which again looks like John Doe has written out the credits. The credits are also flickering which also makes them look more creepy than they would otherwise look. This could convey insecurity. 

The use of the camera shots is also significant in the opening to this film. The whole opening sequence consists of lots of extreme close ups. This doesn’t allow the audience to take a good look at anything, location, character or anything the character is doing properly. 

Mood boards

Film openings examples

Thriller film openings

In terms of the credits for thriller films there aren't many conventions that are needed to be followed, as directors are always introducing new ways to show the credits, and make them unique from any other. This varies from not showing any credits at the start of the film (like The Dark Knight), having text over the opening scene in Silence of the lambs or the use of font on blank screen (in The Sixth Sense).

However in terms of things such as mise en scene, there are some conventions that appear in the majority of thriller films. The lighting for example is normally fairly dark. There is always some sort of light whether it be natural, and obstructed by trees for example, or artificial light form a lamp or something. As mentioned previously, there is normally some form of weapon in thriller films, and is sometimes shown in the opening scene, to make the audience feel uneasy. The setting of thriller films, are almost always set in a run down isolated place. This may be in an apartment for example. This adds the suspense of the film and makes the audience feel out of place, they aren't comfortable watching it.

Thriller openings also have a convention of including extreme close ups in the title sequence, as shown in Se7en and Momento. This is very effective as means it doesn't show the actual identity of somebody, which creates a sense of mystery. It also shows close ups of objects within the room. This is more visible to the audience, however they still don't know the use of them, for example the razor in Se7en or the glasses in Momento.

The title sequence will sometimes introduce you to a character, this could be the main character, the bad guy, or the victim, different films introduce different characters at different points in the film. This again could be used effectively through the use of a non-chronological film, where the character is introduced at the start of the film, however it is showing them at the end of the story. They will then go back and show how it got to this stage. The introduction to character, is the first 2 minutes is a very good way to introduce the character, as it makes the audience aware of their presence from the very beginning.

A lot of the time openings to thriller films, will straight away make the audience uncomfortable. This may be just a very subtle way or something more obvious. A very discrete way of doing this would be the slow zoom at the very beginning of The Dark Knight. This may make the american audience uneasy as it may give connotations towards the 9/11 terrorist attack. This isn't an obvious case, however, psychologically it does have an impact on the audience. This can be done more obviously, and have a setting such as in the middle of a forest, and isolated from anything else. Both of these have a psychological effect on the audience and will start the film off with a sense of unease. Another way that the opening can make the audience uncomfortable is having a murder at the very beginning of the film. An example of this would be a film like JAWS, where the first thing you see is someone being eaten to the shark. This catches the audience by surprise, and isn't what the audience expect, in the first scene.

However as said previously, in terms of the credits there are various effective ways of showing the opening credits.

Thriller codes and conventions

Thriller films have various codes and conventions, that make them recognisable as a Thriller film. An example of this would be through the use of deep background music. This music will normally build up and create tension amongst the audience. The tension, or suspense, is something that the audience will expect when going to watch a thriller film, as it has become such a recognisable convention of thriller films. The audience will expect to be put in situation where they are watching a main character in danger, for example.

Another convention of thriller films are that they are normally set in an urban area. The fact that they are set in an urban area, shows that more people are in danger and that whoever they are looking for could easily be lost in a crowd. It also gives the sense of terrorism as if there something happens and gets put of control, buildings could easily collapse. This gives the sense of unease as the audience watch, even if the film is unrelated to terrorism.

Weapons are used in almost every thriller film, and are the first thing the audience expect to see when watching the film. As thriller films are made up of a variation of crime, there will always have to be a weapon. The bad guy (who normally has psychological issues) will normally carry something like a knife, and will find a way to torture somebody, whereas, the good guy (normally some sort of police officer) will carry a gun. This will then show that the bad guy is insane and enjoys killing people, whereas the police officer will want to kill instantly with a gun shot, and doesn't enjoy dealing with death, instead won't kill the bad guy immediately, with the aim to interrogate, and then imprison them.

As mentioned previously, there is normally a psychopathic person, with a desire to kill. This is apparent  in the majority of all thriller films. In terms of Todorovs narrative theory, when the psychopath is introduced is where there is the disruption to the equilibrium. The psychopath, will normally kill and disrupt the equilibrium (where everything should be). This is then followed by the recognition and the repair stages, all leading to the restoration, where peace, is normally recovered (or temporarily recovered) back to the equilibrium.

These are just a few conventions of thriller films, along with many more unmentioned. However some thriller films don't just follow the codes and conventions of thriller films, but also show other conventions, of other film types which act as cross genres, and have conventions from other genres included within them, called hybrids or sub-genres. These could be crime-thrillers, comedy-thrillers, action-thriller etc. These can be effective as proven by successful examples including The Sixth Sense which is a supernatural-thriller for example. This will be something I will be looking to do and will hope to include something like this when making my film opening.