Question 5- How did you attract/address your audience?

Question 1- In what ways does your media use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Question 4- Who would be the audience for your media product?

Who would watch my film?
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: British
Lifestyle: He is a manager for a printing company and lives with his wife and 2 kids in a mildly expensive home. He drives a Chrysler and his wardrobe consists only suits jackets, jeans and an array of black and white shirts.
Aspirations: Wants to be an upper class aristocrat but his gritty South London roots and his big flashy gold chain hold him back from being perceived as anything but a mafia boss wannabe, even despite his expensive tweed three-piece suit.
Culture: He is fairly old fashioned and traditional in his values and he enjoys the common stereotypes and representations that go with South London. He, however grew up in a fairly normal part of South London and was never involved with any of the negative groups of people found there, yet he will always tell the stories of how he had to fight to survive in the heart of South London.
Media interests: He enjoys violent and action-filled thrillers- usually those associated with gang land London. The odd chick flick never fails to summon tears but that's the guilty pleasure he hides behind his love for British gangster films that cover the themes of drugs, sex and violence.
Other films they like: Love, Honour and Obey; Snatch; Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; Rock n' Rolla

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels demographics.

In this example demographic chart, we see the audience is heavily dominated by males. Obviously this isn't a completely accurate representation of who watches the film but we can tell that by the amount of people that review it, there is a very large amount of Non-US 18-44 year old males.

We see a staggering 320848 of all the reviewers to be male, therefore suggesting that this caliber of film is heavily consumed by a male audience. With our film sharing many similar characteristics to Lock, Stock, we are able to decipher that our audience may be a very similar group of people.The masculinity of a film like this is deemed relatable to men as many men strive to be masculine and all enjoy watching testosterone filled men kill each other and do drugs. It's a form of purging those manly emotions through film. They aren't able to kill people or do drugs but a film can depict such acts and the audience can release their anger and negative emotions through the films doings.

The age group is fairly broad- we see a large number of 18-29 year old males watching the film and also a large group of men between the ages of 30-44 watching the film. This fairly broad audience may be less broad for our film due to the lack of comedy, however it might still capture a younger audience through the action and the power attraction within the story's plot.

It seems as though a non-US audience make up the majority of the voters, thus suggesting that the consumers of a British gangster thriller are generally non-US. Our consumers for our film, I would assume, would be mainly British. Being it's a British film, highlighting the lower classes of Britain and the gang warfare that goes on behind the scenes, it would usually appeal to a British audience.

Although it's not expanded upon in this review graph, I feel that the classes would be useful when analysing who would watch my film. We recount the underground goings-on of the British shadow markets and the behind the scenes crimes. It is a story of how a very low status man is dragged into this business and this is what causes his negative ending. It allows for people to feel somewhat relatable to this character as he is desperate and for a class of people who have to work hard to survive, this could be a path that many people could have taken but that moral choice held them back- and the fact they were probably in a much better situation than him. It accentuates the negative consequences of immorality. For our film I believe we would appeal to a lower class of audience, especially those who have witnessed the likes of South London or those who would like to associate themselves with South London, gangster ways.

EDITED 31/03/2017: Question 7- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

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

Why did we do the preliminary task?

- So we can make mistakes

- Practise the use of the cameras

- Practise editing

- Teamwork, communication and skills

The initial differences between the preliminary task and the thriller opening task possess many contrasts, but many similarities when broken down. The demands for the two were different; one asked for a thriller opening based on the knowledge you have about thrillers, and the other asking you to film a conversation. The complexity has quite clearly increased as so has our breadth of understanding. The time frame for the thriller was much longer than the preliminary task and we were able to spend more time on it. We were also encourage to use a large, diverse range of location and we were also held responsible for growing our own knowledge of thrillers in lesson and outside of lesson too.

Pre-Production

In the preliminary task we weren’t needed to research much prior to the shoot. We wrote down all of our ideas and plans in our books or on paper and they didn’t provide much of a use in terms of complexity. Doing the thriller opening, however, enforced us to research a much greater amount and also create a much more in depth plan and a much more in depth vision as to how you were going to shoot your film. We had to create a shooting schedule to pinpoint when exactly we were going to film and what we were going to film on that day. We also had to use a storyboard that plotted out exactly what shots we would use and when in the opening they would go. The precision needed for the thriller opening highlights the difference of the two tasks and also the change in complexity. Another thing we had to do was study other thrillers and their openings. This was to understand the different techniques used to open a film and how other directors established different themes in their openings. All of which show a progression from the simplicity of the preliminary task.

Preliminary storyboard

An example of 2 of 5 storyboards from the thriller task

Production

Before the preliminary task, I had no trained skills within media breadth of needed skills. For example, through doing the preliminary task and the build-up of knowledge before and after this, through lessons and research, we gained a wide knowledge of the skills and techniques behind camerawork. We developed an understanding of the 180 degree rule. I was able to transfer the way I used this rule from the preliminary task to how I used it in my thriller opening. I was able to transfer the shot-reverse-shot technique with using the 180 degree rule from where I had used it in my preliminary task to my thriller.

Preliminary task 

Thriller task

We were also able to use skills that we established through creating our preliminary task, in our thriller, such as the different angles to use and which angles portray what. For example the use of close-ups to really highlight a key object. Which we used to show the importance of the ring in our thriller. In production we also looked at the basics, such as work with a tripod and the steadying of the camera; the correct techniques that have to be endured in order to enhance the professionalism of the film. Since the preliminary task, I have developed my skills behind the camera. The simple development of my camera skills has been massively prevalent in the contrast from my preliminary to my thriller. Although I did use some similar skills from my preliminary task- I have always like the idea of symmetry in shots and used this in both tasks.

Preliminary Task- centre shot

Thriller task- better centre shot

However, I feel as though my skills that were shown in my preliminary task, have grown in terms of understanding and efficiency. There was a lot of things I learnt from doing my preliminary, in terms of mistakes and further, from lessons and studying different films- taking shot ideas and the use of camerawork/editing in other films. My preliminary highlighted the issues that can come with not using the camera correctly. My peers I and unintentionally didn’t film what we needed to as we had a problem with correctly using the record button. Thus we were lacking in film. This was used a tool for progress in our thriller as we were much more focused on making sure we had film and making sure we had backups just in case. Another problem we encountered was sound difficulties and the necessity to record sound separately due to background sound in loud places. We took this on board and had a shot to just cover the dialogue of the two characters talking. We were then able to synchronise the sound to the shots we took after. This allowed for the dialogue to be much clearer and much easier to hear.

After we filmed our preliminary task, we started to study different thrillers which helped develop my breadth of understanding over the way that thrillers are filmed and the techniques that are used to portray different feelings and convey certain emotions and tensions.

We based this shot on how they revealed the different objects in The Disappearance of Alice Creed.

When studying media studies you start to watch films with the intentions of taking ideas or studying that director’s use of camera work and editing. After watching different films and different directors, I’ve started to take ideas from them. For example, in the shots of the paintings, I tried to use the symmetry and obscurity of the shot similar to how Wes Anderson uses symmetrical stills in his films. This came after a development of understanding through the build up to the preliminary task and the thriller opening task.

Wes Anderson's film

Charlie O'Brien's film

The symmetry of the shot and its position on the screen creates a non-naturalistic setting and establishes a more eerie atmosphere where the audience can be unsure as to what is about to happen. Since the preliminary task my observance upon films has grown and my understanding has helped to develop that and take ideas.

Editing Through the preliminary task, we had to use Premiere Pro in order to edit our film. We had to edit many shots together in order to make it look real and professional. The task we were asked to complete was to film someone walking through a door and a conversation. In order to complete this we had to use editing skills such as continuity editing which we used in our thriller. When the boss hands over the money, we use two different shots of it, so we have to make sure that the continuity of the shot allows for the action to flow and look believable. Likewise, in our preliminary task we had to film someone opening a door and furthermore walking through it. This skill is a very transferable skill and we were able to bring the piece more to life by including this.

Within our preliminary task, although it wasn’t specified, I included a soundtrack in order to accentuate the mood. This however proved fairly ineffective in this piece because of the ill-professional manner. Therefore I took from this the difficulty of it and how easy it was to get it wrong. When introducing a soundtrack into our thriller, I made sure the music fully suited the atmosphere of the piece and furthermore was edited in with precision and professionalism- for example, the point where the music plateaus and the lights turn on. This synchronicity of the music and the edit was a skill developed since the preliminary task and something that I hoped to develop over that time.

EDITED 30/03/2017: Question 2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product is a British gangster style film, dominated by male actors, all of which represent a different group of people; we have an elder character who represents an older generation, a younger character which does vice versa and a character who is used to symbolise the vulnerable people in society. We don't necessarily highlight a protagonist and therefore we diminish this idea of hope for any of the characters, from the start, a negative ending is foreshadowed.

This shot shows the elder character to be hosting the shot essentially.

We look to reinforce the masculinity in crime and emphasise the stereotypes that ride adjacent to the crime world. Through mise en scene, we chose to not include female actors; this is to further present the crime world as masculine and feed upon the stereotypes that are already structured. All of the shots are dominated by a male character and follow the most masculine character. Through our camera skills, he appears more prominent than the other character. He is literally and metaphorically positioned higher than the other character. We also reinforced masculinity in crime through costume. The difference in costume between these two characters shows a contrast in their masculinity. We again reiterate this through the mise en scene in this shot. One character is sitting and the other is standing, making how they formalise themselves a representation of their masculinity. The whole opening is very gritty and very true to its British gangster origins shown through the quick and slightly messy cuts- this idea of males governing the gangster world is established in many other films. For example, in Alice Creed, the only two people we see in the opening are two men. Out of the three characters in the whole film, the two male characters are the criminals and the female the victim. This reinforces a masculinity in crime. They further develop this conflict for masculine power, by creating shots in which a conflict is apparent.

The boss is talking over the shot of the other character, showing his dominance
of the edit

Linking into this, our film represents an age hierarchy; not just the world of crime but also within society. However we did present this through a gang as a hierarchy as such within is almost always prevalent. Using a similar shot as we I did before, I can show how the older a man is, the more power he has. This use of age to represent power is quite popular within various other gangster thrillers. For example, in the film Love, Honour and Obey, the character played by Ray Winstone is an older character and his power and status has grown over time and he is where he is because of his age. Another example might be the film Snatch. The character "Bricktop" is always dominating the shot and we often follow what he is doing and what he is focusing on, through camera work and editing. The director, Guy Ritchie also has this character speak over shots of other people, to show his dominance over others.

 We are able to present this through masculinity as we did before as it shows how through crime and the gritty illegal world of Britain, people become hard and masculine. There's a social status that one must conform to to ensure their authoritative position in the gangland of Britain. We show this through the way the control that the boss has over the edit. We, for most of the scene focus on him and what he is doing as opposed to what the other character is doing, unless we focus on the reaction of that character. We, however made it clear that we were not trying to belittle the other character but instead highlight the difference in authority. We can refer back to the previous shot I used to represent masculinity as it shows the same levels of dominance. We also were able to capture the boss's dominance of the edit as we follow what he is doing when he hands out the money. By showing the movement of the scene to be following the movement of that character, we re-emphasise his importance and especially his importance over his colleagues. In this same shot we show the boss character to have a significant amount of money- money equals power and the thought that this character is more powerful because of money, nicely complements his power gained through age. The age difference and the power difference because of that is again shown in the shot where they both enter the cellar. The older man is leading, and this simple trick highlights their difference in authority and their difference in age- almost holding a metaphorical barrier between them.

Our films signifies the vulnerable and their susceptibility to crime and a derogatory lifestyle. We open the film with shots of him and shots that establish his surroundings. By doing so we can focus on the sort of lifestyle he lives before he is taken. He is proposed as a character that has nothing. In this shot ,we have positioned the camera floor level to bring the viewer to his level; by doing so we can capture his desperation and really allow the audience to see his vulnerability. We can thus capture the importance in the other character coming to help him out. The cuts are fairly slow and the camera lingers on the homeless character for quite a while. This emphasises his loneliness and his desperation. In a fairly subtle fashion, we were able to develop this desperation of the character by using a track which is actually named "Desperation". The track holds a foreboding tension to it as it gets louder as the pace builds up. By using this we can allow the audience to initially determine the outcome of this character. The irony of his desperation leading to his death is mirrored through the contrast in the soundtrack. The sound builds up until it suddenly plateaus and then it develops into a very quiet, almost eerie sound. I synchronised the edit withe the movement of the music; as it got faster, so did the edit. The cuts before the music plateaus are extremely quick, similarly, so is the music. However when the lights are turned on, the music plateaus; this synchronicity allows for the viewer to be more immersed into the vulnerable character's mind.. We see his desperation as the tension builds and we see his helplessness as atmosphere turns from tense to eerie. The big contrast in soundtrack from fast to slow and the big contrast in the speed of the edit, makes this character seem more vulnerable as he is held helpless in the shot. We also see a vulnerability within the other young character. His vulnerability in the criminal world, especially his vulnerability towards his boss, almost suggesting that youth are a vulnerable group in society. The boss dominates the shot in the shots between those two characters. This shows how despite having some authority, this character is still under a strict regime where he is somewhat just as vulnerable in terms of actual importance as the homeless man. Referring back to my previous shot, we see the power difference; we see the difference in masculinity and age and these all make the other character even more vulnerable. To conclude upon such a representation of vulnerability we decided to use a fairly gritty font. insert picture. This brings the audience to perceive the whole piece in this gritty manner. The demeanour of the whole opening negative and is used to forebode a bad ending for the characters. By creating this through visuals, we then enforce an idea that vulnerable people in society are more desperate for a happy ending but in reality that isn't the case.

Question 6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Question 3- What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?

Final Cut

Rough-cut copy

Edited 30/03/2017: Sounds and Music

My piece, although a gritty British gangster film, works on building tension. With a hostage scene being the main basis of the opening, we want a suspense to build and then plateux. This music has a slow build up. It starts fairly quite and slow, building up to a point where the volume, intensity and speed increase simultaneously. This build up creates the suspense we are looking for and with a narration over the top, hopefully we can capture the thriller aspect of the opening and furthermore keep our audience "on the edge of their seats". 

Most of the opening will be dominated by music and dialogue or narration. We, however want some sounds for specific things. 

For example we want a light flicker to sound in the hostage scene when the lights turn on. This against the silence should give it an eeriness and should forebode a certainly bad ending. It is simple and can be used as a transition from light to dark. The flickering fizzing of the light is unsettling and connotes a sense of malfunction and disposition is society again promoting this idea of turning to crime. This sound is used in a similar way in Stranger Things. Although it is used to convey a supernatural ambience, it also creates an unsettling tension,

Also for the opening, homeless shot, I want the diegetic sound of traffic to overwhelm everything else and thus overwhelm the conversation happening between the two characters. This shows that the traffic and the life of the streets is stronger than their relationship. The life of the streets is the thing that breaks their relationship in the end. They use this effectively in the opening of Shaft. It's used to establish the location and here we are able to do that.

Sound is fairly crucial in films. For example in Alice Creed, they have a fairly menacing, slow paced soundtrack that emphasises their own menacing ways. The soundtrack leaves the audience feeling ill-knowledgeable about where the scene is going. The soundtrack juxtaposes the things they are doing. The silence of diegetic sounds makes it more eerie and develops a larger contrast between the cynicism projected form the action and the contrasting music, thus making the audience feel out of place, just like the music.

Layer Cake also use sound effectively. The mood of Layer Cake is much less anticipated and much more light-hearted in the sense that it's more about a group of men selling cocaine rather than kidnapping a girl. Therefore the music is a lot more pop-like and is more apt for the mood. Also they use a narration, in which Daniel Craig talks over all of the action happening in the opening. They use it to introduce characters and introduce the plot. It's effective as it's a simple yet professional way of easily establishing the complications of the story. Within the opening there's various uses of diegetic sounds to establish the setting. For example when you hear the police sirens, it suggests that you are now in a crime-ridden area. The director also uses synchronised sound to link the story and the narration together. When they go to the jail whilst panning through the different story lines, one of the characters finishes Daniel Craig's non-diegetic narration with a diegeitc sentence.

Fonts

Fonts are key as they introduce a theme into your opening. They introduce your film essentially. If they don't follow the same mood as the film opening then they fail to establish your film. Therefore we are looking to create a British gangster grittiness atmosphere through the use of a criminal looking font. We quite liked the idea of having the titles on a black screen, breaking up the shots- similar to how Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels uses this effect.

Lock Stock opening title

I liked the look of this font as it is the same font as a reg. number on a car. This gives connotations of stealing cars or doing illegal acts of injustice using cars. The fact that cars are on roads and the lives of these people revolve around the work they do on the streets, makes this font establish a surreptitious connection. Visually the letters look robust but quite parodical in the sense that we are using a font typically associated with cars and the legality of owning a car; this plays on the immorality of the characters and also gives it a hint of dark comedy in the opening, alike to many British gangster films.

This font, indifferent to the previous font also shows a dark realism to the cynicism of a modern gangster society. However this font gives off more of a dark, hard feel to it. The letters, aesthetically suggest a violent and aggressive notion which may come from the characters; effectively initiating a dark undertone for the piece to follow. The letters almost look spray painted in their effect- this emphasises the illegal acts that are to follow by linking the opening to the illegal act of defacing property: in essence, defacing our opening.

Our last choice has more of an order and discipline to it, however it connotes, more so than the others, this idea of aggression and intimidation. The font has links to the military. The law and order of the army juxtaposes the immorality and cynicism of the characters but in some sense suggests that this gang of men work like the army and share and promote a superiority through terror and power. In contrast it also shows a corruption through this power; the juxtaposition of the two creates an ominous sense of immorality. I would like the title to be revealed as though it was done on a type writer or in a similar fashion where the letters appear one by one.

Shooting Schedule

Story Board

Homeless 

Cafe meet up

Pub- meeting with the boss

Drug deal

Hostage- Will cut to these shots throughout opening

Potential locations

Location

Treatment

Car sounds. People walking past. George sitting by the road, homeless, asking for money. He is grubby but not completely untidy. Charlie walks past, notices him and goes back to talk to him. We can't hear any dialogue, just the diegetic sound of cars and people walking past. We cut to George masked with a bag, in a dark storage container. The bag is taken off and George is woken up with a slap on the face. The shot is ambiguous and we can't see where he is or who has held him hostage. He starts with a narration. The scene cuts back to George and Charlie walking into a cafe. It's a greasy spoon type cafe. They sit down at a table positioned next to a window. We can see them talking but again can only hear the narration. A sound separates the narration from the dialogue, and the dialogue starts. they talk about Charlie helping George to get a job. Charlie makes the job sound spectacular and George, not being reluctant to getting money, politely obliges. The scene cuts back to George masked in the container and the narration resumes. Throughout the opening the scene often cuts to various establishing shots, for example a shot of the front of the cafe, or a still shot of a cobble street. After this shot of George we then cut to a dialogue between George, Charlie and Shaun. Shaun is a hard-noised gangster and is very aggressive and inquisitive towards George, however he agrees and George is given a trial. We cut back to George being held hostage and the narration finishes, with that the opening ends.

The shot influences of our thriller come from a various amount of films, the cafe scene in 'Coffee and Cigarettes' is one we took a shine to. We will use this style of shooting a conversation from various different angles, and having an object which is significant to the characters. The sound editing of layer cake, and legend is how we will attempt to record a narration, and within the narration essentially quote a character - but this quote will be actually said by the character as if part of the narration. The favourite of these influences is Lock Stock, which uses a variety of cuts and shots to take us through the story-line in a very specific way. Taking us back and forth through the narrative in quite a fashionable manor. Seeing scenes we have no clue about and understanding them later on in the movie. The shot's used always attempt to intimidate the viewer, and the close ups never seem to fail in doing that. From a drama point of view, we'll attempt to set the location and act accordingly to the British gangster genre.

Final ideas: This sheet explains our final ideas for the opening of 
our thriller, with specific locations and scene by scene
walk through of what we have in idea.

 Character's Traits: Again this part of our planning is a rough

first idea of our characters influences, Also who we can possibly

cast in the roles.

What we have decided: This part of our planning shows our

influences for shot types, narration and the theme of our 

opening. Includes a rough idea of the discussions we have had

 as to what traits they should have also.

How does the director of Essex Boys use location and colour to establish menace?

How does the director of Essex Boys use location and colour to establish menace?

The focus on location is crucial in the opening of Essex Boys, there's a scarce amount of establishing dialogue, therefore establishment of menace through location is crucial. By using a gritty location in the heart of Essex, it already connotes a foreshadowing sense of criminality. The colour palette further develops this and thus brings with it a range of different emotions.

This shot symbolises entrapment in a dark desolate way of living. The converging lines of the overpass traps the car in a triangle. To compliment this, the colour palette is very grey and dreary. This suggests that the story brings with it a story about loneliness and isolation in a world of corruption. The converging lines also signify the idea that the path that the characters are leading, takes them nowhere and in the end there is nothing.

This shot connotes the same idea. This character is stumbling into the desolate land they lays in front of him. The path leads into nothing, and what lays around is also a connotation of this desolation. It is also a connotation of the unapparent presence of morality. With the characters' lives not leading anywhere and that suggestion that when they die there's nothing for them, they can live a life that is without morale, as they have nothing to lose.

The focus on the opening utilises this technique in most shots; this shot could however suggest a less derogatory ending for the story. The colour, although still dark, is lit by the tunnel lights. The audience don't know where the tunnel leads and the lights suggest that the ending couldn't be so dark. On the other hand, the light could also symbolise death, as going towards the light is a symbolisation of going to heaven; ironic to the story. The ambiguity of this meaning holds the audience in a suspense as to what the future of the characters beholds. With this shot against the others, it also holds the thought that the characters could take the right path if they do the right thing, and the future doesn't hold just misery. With menace doesn't always come a dark ending

What do directors seek to establish in the opening of thrillers?

What do directors seek to establish in the opening of thrillers?

The opening to a thriller film is crucial- it gives the audience the first impressions of the story and therefore it needs to incorporate ways of establishing characters or tone or location, etc. these elements often contribute to the actual end result of the story. The opening gives a first indication as to where the story itself is heading. The best way to foreshadow or in the case of a thriller, often forebode, is through the opening. By using subtle metaphors, it can create an atmosphere that already gives the audience an indication as to where the plot will take them. Although all of the different aims of the opening to a thriller are important to consider, some of them are left out; an example of this is se7en- they establish location and genre excellently but the director David Fincher decided not to establish the plot as such. This in a sense creates more of a tension and is effective for the story of this film. 

One film that captures the purity of its genre is Layer Cake. They immerse the audience by establishing clear characters. The director does this in a very stylistic fashion. Matthew Vaughn uses techniques that can be associated with a film noir style; alike to his other films such as Kick Ass and Kingsman: The Secret Service, he uses a narrative that allows for the audience to instantly establish a connection with the characters- in the case of Layer Cake, we as an audience are able to associate ourselves with the anti-hero. Daniel Craig's character is established through his dialogue and his actions. However we don't initially see his character; his narrative his voiced over a movement through different scenes. This indicates that Daniel Craig's character is a god-like character, it seems as though he is dictating the speech, especially with the use of synchronised sound. 

In this shot, Daniel Craig voices over the movement and the bald headed character says a line in synchronicity with Daniel Craig.  

From this opening, we also learn that this character is a cool, laid back character- the camera is constantly moving, slowly and smoothly, connoting a fluidity and thus symbolising that this character reflects these ideas too. He lives a fluid cool life and he continues to live this life; this however is used to create a big tension when we learn that his life is soon to turn around towards the end of the opening. The camera is constantly moving, following him in many shots. He leads the movement of the camera and many of the shots are shot in his eye-line in attempt to further establish a mental connection between character and the audience. By using this movement in following the character, the audience are under the impression that Daniel Craig is a leader-like character and he is symbolised to be an image of power and nobility, then making the rest of the film that much more exaggerated. 

When we first see this character interact with any other character, they are packaging drugs to sell. This instantaneously creates a sense of immorality within his lifestyle. It is also an efficient way of introducing another character- with a close up on the other character and a narrative describing who he is and what he does. Vaughn uses this simple technique to introduce various different characters. In the shot where there are various different characters in the shot, Daniel Craig voices over and, with the contribution of close ups, individually introduces every character and who they are. Although this is a very simple technique, it works very effectively in establishing character.

Characters