Waking Up - Completed Film

This is the completed version of our 'Waking Up' movie. After the main editing was completed, we only had to add a few more parts such as the credits.

SpicyNodes: Evaluation - Question 7

SpicyNodes: Evaluation

This is the overall of the comparison between my most recent film and my preliminary task. It also includes the good and bad points which I think have improved since I have made the more recent film. In the link above I have used a website called SpicyNodes. In the link I have explained that I have learned a lot more about angles etc from experience and I have used them in the clip that I have recently created. In my preliminary task I lacked experience about how to use the software, s there were some parts of the preliminary task which had a low quality. Parts such as sound and lighting weren't being thought about when we were editing all of the software.

Question 6 - Evaluation

The link above shows that I have used timetoast to show the process in which it has taken me to get to the point that I am up to now. I have learned how to use hardware such as the camera, tripod and mic by recording our films through experience in using them. As well as the hardware I have become more experienced using software such as FinalCut and LiveType when we were making our most recent film. We used FinalCut to edit the film that we were making to the standard that it is currently at, while we used LiveType to make out studio ident so that we could add it at the beginning of our film. When we were recording there were several factors that had to be taken into consideration. One of them was the fact of where we had to place the camera in order for us to get the shot and angle right while we were filming. The running scenes were a lot easier to shoot while there were other scenes such as inside where we had to place the camera in a specific place so that we could get all of the bits that we needed such as the lighting and sound. The software that we used to edit the footage that we had filmed was FinalCut. In order for us to be able to be able to edit all of the footage, we needed to have had a basic understanding  of the software so that we could edit the footage successfully.

Question 5 - Evaluation

As you can see from the print screens below, I have used to website Survey Monkey to get results about what should in of our film. This then would help us to figure out what makes the most successful thriller films. So to hold the audiences attention from the very beginning of the film, we had to include an action packed beginning. After looking at the results from the survey that we asked the public to fill in, we saw that if the beginning of the film was interesting for them to look at then they will be likely to stay and watch the rest of the film. Although there were some people who said that they wouldn't mind if the beginning wasn't action packed because they think that the rest of the film will become a lot more interesting.
We think that people should continue watching our film because it has got a lot of mystery in it which I think is a good technique because it makes the audience want to know what is going on. In our film we have flashbacks that end in cliffhangers as if to say "What will happen next?" or "Will he survive?" This technique was used brilliantly by Alfred Hitchcock which he called the MacGuffin. Where the audience was never really interested in the item that the hero's were looking for but that fact if the hero was going to survive the mission. This is why they should watch our film because it is full of action from beginning to end and makes the audience want to figure out what has been going on with Jonathan Sinclair. In the audience feedback that we got from surveymonkey a lot of people said that they preferred action thrillers than any other while there were a select few that said they like psychological, mystery and crime thriller which goes to show that they majority like thrillers that are generally filled with a lot of action while there are the select few that like the other kinds of thrillers.

Question 4 -Evaluation

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The age that I think would be the most attracted to my film would be from teenagers to around middle ages people. I don't think that this will be that attracted to older audiences because they will probably like films that are more soft, calm; films like Rom coms. Now I think this would be a good film for audiences such as teenagers and adults because they are the ages that are most likely to be into films that have a more psychological and action sense to it as you can see from the print screen.
I believe that our film will attract both male and female viewers because there is no clear indication in the film that it is for one gender. Although it might be that males prefer  more action packed film but there is no clear evidence to support that.
I think that it is more lower class that will probably want to view this film because it is mainly aimed at people who are more lower class. For example, the movie In Time with Justin Timberlake, the lower class would probably relate because the movie is about the poor/lower class who are trying to make their way to the higher class but they cannot because they are constantly being taxed and are forced to stay in the 'Ghetto'. This is the similar to our film because we have the average guy Jonathan who is being chased down and he obviously is rich/higher class.

Question 3 - Evaluation

This is the link to the presentation that I have made showing where I believe that our film will be distributed. I believe that it will be a lot more likely that our film will be picked up by an independent film studio rather than a major because it doesn't have any major actors in it like Angelina Jolie or Sandra Bullock so it is very unlikely. Though it has much more luck being seen on the internet or on TV because there are plenty of people who are on the internet or watch TV everyday. Also since we believe that we will most probably be picked up by an Indie company, I think that we wont be able to get that much news spread about the film unless we use guerrilla tactics like in the distribution of 'Shifty', who used social media such as pirate radio stations, business cards and spamming email. Whenever movies are made by Indie companies, although they wont get as much budget as the six major studios; any profit is seen as a success.

Kizoa slideshow: Question 3 - Evaluation - Slideshow

Question 2 - Evaluation

This is the link to the popplet brainstorm that I have made for my evaluation question 2. I have explained in a brainstorm that I have seen particular social groups in my film. I have had to explain all of the concepts that are in my film such as the stereotypes that can be seen in the film etc. In my film however, I do not believe that there are any stereotypes to gender, ethnicity etc. The characters that are in the film are all portrayed in different ways. Jonathan is seen as weak because of all of the running scenes that he is in as well as the fact that he is entirely innocent in this particular situation. The policemen however can be seen as hard headed because instead of reasoning with Jonathan and listening to his plight, they begin chasing him down to try and bring him back to the asylum that he has escaped from. Lastly, we have the girlfriend in the clip who is seen as angered at Jonathan because she sees him as Nathaniel (his split personality) although again, Jonathan is confused as to who she is and how she knows him.

Question 1 - Evaluation

There are many typical thriller conventions that are included in our film. The first and I believe to be the most obvious convention is fast paced action. Thriller films would definitely not be called Thrillers if hey didn't have any action in them. This can include car chases, fight scenes and even normal chase scenes. In our film, we have definitely shown fast paced action from the very first scene. The film opens with Jonathan Sinclair (main character)running from three policemen. While this scene is going on, we obviously want to show the audience that this is a fast scene so we have edited the shots to be quick and fast as if it were a real movie. For example, in Bourne Legacy, while he is being chased by the enemies, the cuts between the shots are generally quick and normally do not last for longer than 5 seconds.
Another element and convention that is apparent in our film is a chase scene. Throughout at least the first 30 of our film, we experience Jonathan running from the police. Now since chase scenes are often linked with fast paced action, we had to edit the first few seconds really fast to ensure to the audience that they understood a chase scene was taking place. For example, in the film League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, there is a rapid chase scene in a car when they are trying to defuse a bomb and during this scene, there were a lot of POV (Point of View), shot reverse shot and match on action shots so that the audience could see exactly what the heroes were looking at.
Though very briefly included in our film, we have added another typical convention; a love interest. in our clip, while Jonathan is running he begins have flashbacks of his last few days. This is when he begins thinking about the time he was first confronted from Nathaniel's (Split personality) girlfriend . While the girlfriend is shouting at him for being with another girl, Jonathan is wildly confused thinking that he has no idea who this person is. This segment of the film doesn't long but I believe that this should be involved in the evaluation since it is still a typical thriller convention.

Finished Studio Ident - Tesseract Studios

 

Me and my partner Connor have finally decided on how our studio idnet will look and how it will be animated. I have put a small video on top of this text which is what our ident will look like at the beginning of the film when we eventually finish all of the filming and produce the film. The text that we have used was used in the original game of Metal gear Solid because we think that this fits in well with the look of the Tesseract. Our original idea was to have the text appear side on underneath the picture of the Tesseract but we were unable to find the right animation in the application LiveType that we were using. So we had to settle for the next animation that caught our eye and it just happened to be this one.                                                                        

Movie Preview - Waking Up

Now we have done our day one and two of filming but since some of the day one shots aren't really that good, we have decided to only make a short preview of the kind of film that we are going to make. Now the preview is on my partner Connor's Youtube channel which I will put a link under as well in case you wish to preview any of the other movies we have made. Now we had to eliminate all of the shots that we considered to be bad and on the first day, I would say about half of them were good and some were bad. Although I don't think that we will be releasing the day one footage until the entire film is finished.(It just adds to the suspense) Now the video below shows our main actor, Tomas waking up from a slumber in Nathaniel's clothes (his split personality) and with blood on his hands. So confused and bewildered he immediately decides to rush to the bathroom and clean his hands but as he looks up in the mirror something strange happens.

Filming Day One and Two

Today was out first day of filming and we have actually achieved quite a lot. We have been able to film all of the outside scenes but along some of the shots that you will see then we show the video on Youtube, the sun goes behind the clouds sometimes and then the video goes really dark. So we will probably will have to edit the look of the video when we edit it in FinalCut. When the video is uploaded I will add the Youtube video in my next post so that you can have a quick preview of what we will be filming in the next couple weeks. The first film day was at Eastbrookend Country Park where we said that we would be filming first. Although the Sun was out, it made the day warm and comfortable for filming but we didn't realise that it was raining the day before which meant that the ground would be slippery and muddy and then we eventually had a little accident but I'll tell you about that in a little bit.

As the picture that you can see above this is the first day of out filming where we were out at the park filming. As well as it being muddy, it was also terribly windy which massively effected our filming because the voices of the actors doesn't travel with the sound which means it doesn't get to the camera. Now the day was going pretty good and we managed to get a lot done even though we were kind of playing about sometimes. Now we did know that it was slippery and muddy when we got there, but we kind of forgot about it so as you can see in the picture belo; our main actor Tomas slipped while in the mud. Since we needed his perfectly white clean shirt for the filming day (of course continuity) we had to stop filming and continue this another day. SO we are now planning on filming the next Wednesday coming and hopefully we will be able to finish all of the filming so that all we have to do is edit and create our bloopers clip of all the fun moments that we had while filming. Also we might have to add another bit to the Risk Assessment because we didn't expect it to rain and that the surface would be slippery.

Company Name and Ident - Tesseract

Me and my partner Connor have decided on the name for our company. We have decided to call it Tesseract Studios! Those of you who are familiar with movies will know that this is indeed the artifact that was included in the film Avengers Assemble. Although our company name really has nothing to do with the film and just happens to be a massive co-incidence, we believe that this is a very suitable name for our company. Now all that we have to do now is produce an ident for our company. We both have ideas about what the indent should be but we will have to figure it out either over the phone, Facebook or even in the next lesson that we are in.

Now I've been thinking about what our ident should be, and I mean really thinking! But basically my idea is to have just a shiny crystal box on a pedestal and then there is a bright white flash and after that the Tesseract begins to form then the studio name is shown to be etched into the pedestal. I think this would be a good ident because then it shows the importance of the shape and how powerful it is especially because it is 4th dimensional, I think it will add an extra effect. And I copyright this!!

Waking Up Animatic

This is a animatic of the frames that me and Connor have made for our film that we are going to make in the coming week. In this Youtube video that is shown above, we have taken pictures of all of the frames that Connor has drawn for our film. This is the first and basic ideas that we have come up with for our film.

Thriller Planning Documents

This is the Risk Assessment Sheet which outlines all of the major incidents that may occur whenever we are filming. Some of these include having numbers of the other film crew or the local authorities. As well as pointing out all of the issues that  may happen, we need to say what we will plan to do in case one of the incidents does happen such as make sure that a least one of our filming crew has a phone that is fully charged so that we can call someone to come and assist us. Also at the bottom of the sheet we have put a list of the local authorities that we can call in case of an emergency. Finally we have to put the location of which we are filming so that if we have any problems then the authorities know where we are.

The Risk Assessment and Contingency Plan are quite similar to each other because they both ask what we will do in case something goes wrong while we are filming. We have listed several different things such as that the camera might break or the battery may die so we should bring extra batteries or bring another. Another example is if a crew member has been injured we will need to have charged phones so that we can either call the injured film members family or the local authorities.

This is the shooting schedule that we are planning to follow and show where we will be and what frames we will be shooting at the location. We have also labelled all of the different locations that we are filming such as someone's bathroom for the scene where Jon is looking at the mirror. We also had to include the equipment, costumes, props, cast/crew.

Treatment is outlining all of the jobs that the people in the filming group are taking part in. As you can see from the print screen, there is only two people in this film group; me and Connor. We are both equally as important in the group and all of the roles in the film are shared although sometimes one person in the group may do more work in an area that they are especially good at. Next we added the title of the film and the tag line/motto that would be underneath the film. For example, on buses they have the film motto underneath to try and drag people in to try and watch the film. Also we have added a synopsis which is a summary of the film in a small paragraph that is easy to read but doesn't give away the entire plot of the film. Finally underneath all of that we have things that are going to be in our film like a graphic match and flashback.

Finally there is the Costume and Props that all of the people who are in the film will be wearing. This includes the main cast such as Nathaniel/Jonathan, the policeman etc.

Studio Idents

Idents are the identity of a company, it is usually shown at the beginning of a film so that the audience are aware of who made the film and is normally the first thing that the audience will see on the screen. It is usually backed up by powerful images which show the audience that they are are a well known and plan on becoming the best production company. There are 6 major production companies: MGM, Paramount, Universal, Walt Disney, Columbia, Warner Brothers. Each of these companies have their own individual ident which make them unique and they use strong images such as a lion, a mountain, the world etc. These are all strong images that tie in with the title of the company.

A company that is known for a lot of films in today's modern film industry is Warner Brothers. They are seen as the biggest contributor to the film industry after reaching their billion dollar income mark. The shield indicates that they are a strong company that can keep up with all of the other contenders and rivals in the movie industry. All of the pictures that are associated with studio idents in the backgrounds all seem to have a sky like theme. I think that this is because they want to show that they are above all of the other competitors in the business. All of movie idents have to be updated eventually so that it does not become outdated and forgotten by the clientele.

                                                                                

Universal is one of the most known idents that is in the film industry because of the catchy tune that is added while it is playing which in turn makes it a lot more memorable to the audience watching the movie. But also the symbol and name of Universal fir perfectly. This is because the name 'Universal' means planets stars and galaxies which then ties in with the image of the planet Earth which is their ident so it makes perfect sense. It wouldn't however make sense to make a company name such as 'Cheetahs' and to put a picture of a Rhino. It wouldn't fit. Which is why idents need to make sense to the audience.

Results from Connor's Survey

MONDAY, 10 DECEMBER 2012

Survey Response

These print screens are the results from the survey that my partner, Connor has collected which will help us to understand what the people want in Thriller films. From the results that we have collected, we have realised that people do not like elements in movies such as predictability and silly female characters. Another question that we have asked is peoples favourite kind of Thriller and the main two that stood out was Crime and Psychological Thrillers. At least this bit of info will give us an advantage because the general public has filled in the survey and have shown what they think make the best Thrillers. There are also other questions in the survey which just iron the few details in the characters that we are going to be playing since one of the questions are 'Who was your favourite ever villain in a Thriller film?' This gives a vague idea of the type of villain that will be in our film.

Glogster - Waking Up

This is the Glogster post that me and Connor have created to try and promote our film and put out all of the ideas that we have had for this movie. We have briefly explained on the top right corner the plot of the film and the two main characters who are basically the same person. We have also linked some pictures of characters from other films who have alternate personalities or sometimes eve just act differently after something has happened to to them. For example, in Scott Pilgrim he completely changes his attitude after he dies and he realises what he has to do.
Now in the top right corner where you can see the guy with the hairstyle shows that when you see Jonathan and Nathaniel you will realise that they both have their own kind of clothing that they like to wear. For example, Nathaniel likes to have his hair spiked while on the other hand Jonathan likes to have his hair flat so you will be able to tell who is in control when you see that specific personality.
In the bottom corner we have shown the kind of area that we will be filming in. In the movie there will mostly be running shots outside where the policemen are chasing Jonathan. Which means that most of the film will be of Jonathan running and ten there will be a few cuts where we go to the flashbacks and see how Jonathan has come to the situation that he is in now. Finally we added the slogan of the film in the middle of mood board so that it will try and draw all of you lovely people in.

Storyboard - Waking Up

 These are the photos of the storyboard that me and my partner have taken so that we can show all of the steps that we have taken coming up to the production of our film. Now the picture to the right is the first page of the storyboard where we will see Jonathan running from the policemen trying to explain to the that he didn't kill Dean Fischer. The first couple of frames are basically just running scenes that we have already filmed and tried to edit but we will have record them again since we had a few errors. If you would like to see how the day went you can see my Day One and Two post.

 This is the second sheet of the storyboard and this is where most of the story is starting to be seen where we experience the first two flashbacks. The  first flashback is where Jonathan is at work and then one of his colleagues tells him that he saw him at a nightclub but Jonathan is confused saying he was at home. The second flashback includes on of the other actors who plays Nathaniel's girlfriend. But since it is Jonathan who is currently in control, he has no idea what she is talking about. Now some parts of this part of the storyboard has already been filmed but some parts will be filmed this comingWednesday.

 Next this is the third part of the storyboard which we have filmed the majority of it and now we have put a mini preview of most of the elements that are on here. This flashback is where Jonathan wakes up in Nathaniel's clothing from the night that he just had out and he finds that he has blood on his hands so he rushes to the bathroom to clean all of the blood off of his hands but when he looks into the mirror he has a nasty surprise awaiting for him.

Youtube Preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq660NiYRw8

FInally we have reached the final storyboard sheet and this is a more calm like end to the film. Now some of the frames on this sheet continue from the last one from the bathroom scene because Jonathan is now sliding back and going unconscious on the bathroom floor. Next he comes back to present and for one last time he asks himself 'Who am I?' before he falls off a cliff. Now we have until the 15th to complete this film so we will definitely either be releasing it on that day or sometime during that week.

Thriller Survey Results

Results of my Thriller Survey

Below is all of the results of my Thriller survey. I have asked the general public, my family and some friends to fill in the survey to get an idea of the kind of Thriller movies that people prefer. Firstly i have realised that most of the people that answered the survey are male and are generally aged between 16-20. Most of the public don't really watch movies that often and there is probably a reasonable explanation for it. There is also a tie between what makes a good thriller and these options were chase scenes, cliffhangers and twists. There have also been many different kinds of films suggested that people thought is one of the best thrillers that they have seen. For example, Hancock or the Dark Knight Rises. As well as there being peoples favourite films, they also have added all of the films that they disliked and found badly made. These include Final Destination, The Birds. The last few questions of the surgery basically asked the general public if they preferred realistic or Sci Fi thrillers, if they would watch the movie at home or go to the cinema and if they were watching a movie, would they become uninterested if the beginning of the movie was boring. Overall, i think that most people prefer movies that put you right in the middle of the action as soon as the movie starts.

Typical Thriller Conventions

There are several things that are expected when you are filming and watching Thriller films. In this post i will list all of the typical features and even some uncommon features the some people don't realise. First of them all is a chase scene.
To be honest, thrillers wouldn't be called thrillers if there wasn't an exciting chase/fight scene. Imagine watching James Bond and instead of him fighting through about 20 goons, he just walked straight to the boss and killed them; it wouldn't be an exciting movie. This is exactly why directors have to think about the chase scenes to try and entice the audience and make them want to watch and see what happens afterwards. Next is the Male Hero. Well in today's society, normally the main hero is a male and it has been the same since the beginning of films but recently females have now been given a more important roles in films than in previous years. Take for example, Janet Leigh she didn't get a big role in Psycho but now actors such as Angelina Jolie get massive roles in films where they can even be the main character, which is good for women because then they can show off their acting talents. Could this be the beginning of a new era of film??

Cliffhangers and Red Herrings are generally used in Thriller films because they can fool the audience into thinking that something will happen but instead nothing does. It is a very clever technique that if used correctly will make a film exceptionally good. Cliffhangers are normally used if the movie will be continued in another period of time such as The Lord Of The Rings or Star Wars etc. But there are some films that actually use Cliffhangers to make the film seem as though it will never end and the threat is still at large. This is used in The Birds because at the end of the film, all we see is the car driving away and a large screen of all of the birds then the movie just ends. Alfred Hitchcock says that he used this as the end of the film so that "The threat is still looming out there".

One typical thing that is guaranteed to be in Thrillers are Love Interests. There always has to be one person that falls in love with the main character in the film or they are either already married to someone and something goes wrong but in the end they always either stay together or marry blah blah blah. But there is always that odd occasion in a film where the main character actually loses a loved one and that is actually the drive of the film. Revenge. This is especially present in the film Bourne Identity where he loses his loved one and then looks for answers which is exceptionally done throughout the entire film. But also the women in the films are typically blonde and very attractive although now in today's film era  that has been changed since as long as they're beautiful no one really cares about what hair colour they have. Though that would have been very different in the days of Alfred Hitchcock who definitely like having blonde's in his films.

There is always a Threat or Deadline that the heroes have to accomplish before time runs out. For example, in nearly every Bond film there is a "Save the Planet" mission where he has 24 hours to save us and does accomplish the mission. But there are always deadlines in thrillers, no matter which movie you watch. think about it. Is there always a head of department that says you have so and s time to save the world? Thought so. And now were used to it but to be honest, we don't really care about the time we just care about how the hero is going to finish the mission.

There will always be Obstacles in life and especially in movies because without them they would be completely boring. As i said above the hero would basically just go up the the main villain and just kill them and that wouldn't be any fun. SO they throw in a couple traps, goons and maybe occasionally a sort of mini action sequence. For example, The Transporter, his job is simply to just deliver packages and stuff to their destinations with no questions asked. But something always goes wrong and he starts getting in trouble with the baddies and this is what really brings us into the movie. Will he get the package back? How will he get out of this one? These elements make thrillers worth watching and add suspense throughout the entire movie.

The Villain is always well prepared and assumes to have thought about everything to make sure that their plan is going to work but that in most movies is not the case and obviously their pal is thwarted by the Main Hero. An example of this is in North By Northwest where you have the innocent Cary Grant and you have the villain which is well equipped and knows exactly where he is going to go and has all his goons and cronies following him to get back the Microfilm (MacGuffin). The villains in the film always seem to ave an infinite amount of wealth and will do almost anything to make sure that their plan goes ahead perfectly.

There is always going to be Deaths in thrillers because of all of the action and fight scenes and there seems to be no consequences of the actions of the hero. He could take down a whole army of evil goons and then not have any remorse for them and this makes me think. Would that really happen in real life? I mean you wouldn't feel that much remorse because you're trying to save the world at the expense of a few people but they must feel something.  Whereas if a assistant or side character was to be killed in the film, All of the good guys would try even harder to take down the villain for their fallen comrade but this isn't the same for the evil side, it is as if everyone is for themselves yet we still work together.

In most films there will be Background Music or Diegetic and Non-Diegetic sound because it adds impact to the film and can even sometimes build up some of the best suspense. Birds is a great example because there is no diegetic sound in the film at all which means that there will always be suspense because you will never know when the birds will attack. Which is what makes a good film, i believe. Another important feature is the background lighting and shadows. Villains are always seen to be on the 'Dark' side so they will often be in the shadows which can add to the effect of the character and make it even more effective.

We all know that some women cause trouble. You can just feel it inside whenever you watch them in the movies. Do you know what they're called? Yes? Well ill tell you anyway, they're called Femme Fatale. Theses are the women in the background that usually smoke cigarettes and just look at the surroundings. Take North By Northwest for example (sorry its a good example) he was about to get caught and then a women just offers to hide you away from the goons. Who does that?! Think rationally. I would have gotten a bit suspicious and had questioned her. But the film did have to go on. Now generally the women are the sidekicks that help the Main Hero complete their mission and help solve the problem or throughout the whole film are the actual problem but then the Hero only realises this at the end of the film most of the time when it is too late.

In some thrillers the Main Hero may drink or may even be an Alcoholic and you continually see this throughout the film. For example in James Bond we have the infamous line of "Shaken not stirred".  Even though it shows he likes a drink like any other person it also shows a certain level of professionalism by the fact that he wants his drink a certain way. But then there is the opposite in films such as Hancock where you can see that he has lost his way and all he does all day is sit on a bench and drink alcohol. I think that this is typically used in the film because then it shows that nothing really comes out from being drunk and that the occasional drink is fine. There is normally some kind of Puzzle or Enigma in thriller films that the Hero has to think logically to figure out how to progress. This is seen in Indiana Jones where he is in old ruins and he has to figure out the old puzzles to continue on his quest. This is also used in recent films where they have programmers and background characters that help the Main Hero continue on their mission and in the end finish the task that they have been given.

Finally to the last point of this post, Sub Genres. Although we still call some movies thrillers some f them have sub genres that they also fall into. Say for instance, Final Destination could be seen as a Horror/Psychological Thriller because there is always the suspense that something is going to happen. The psychological part of the film could be seen as the fact that the movie kind of plays with the mind and makes the audience think "Did that really happen?" or "What is really going on?". It really makes the audience question themselves about what just happened or what is happening in the film. (Miami Vice was a really confusing movie for me to watch).

And this is all of the techniques that i have found that are found in Thrillers. Keep watching my blog for more recent posts about Thrillers and Movies.