Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Sunday, 28 November 2010
Survey Analysis
This is Alana's audience research on the surveys we constructed using our questions and graphs we made.
I posted mine earlier but here it is again.
I posted mine earlier but here it is again.
Case Study: American Psycho
Christian Bale stars as Patrick Bateman, he is the main character in the story and his days are spent working for his fathers company on Wall Street making a great deal of money and a popular man in the office. It's set in the 1980's and the soundtrack includes music such as Phil Collins and Huey Lewsi & The News; both popular musicians from the 80's.
However, as night decends over New York he becomes a blood thirsty murderer, killing people to climb up the social heriachy and eliminating any who he dislikes. The film is quite dark and most of the shots are a night or in badly lit bars and restaurants, this makes it more sinister as it conceals people from the full picture.
The film is set as an 18 age limit which is very appropriate; this movie has scenes of a sexual nature, foul language, murders and gore. In my opinion no one below the age of 15-16 should watch it as it’s quite an adult film, a very good one, but slightly disturbed in places. The film is mostly aimed at males because it has mainly male characters throughout, so is dominated by them, the women in it are either sex objects or just meaningless people filling out the story. Of course some women will like it, such as myself; I find the storyline quite interesting and in places it is just so ridiculous it makes me laugh a little. Also, on the graphs of the ratings it shows that 72,908 men voted the film compared to the 11,270 women, so there is a very significant different there. A majority of the males were 18 or under voted for an average number of 8/10 so this just strengthens the fact that it is a more a film for men than women.
There are hundreds of reviews for the film and most of them positive, such as this one; "This is not a slasher movie, indeed. It's a very deep, strange and delicate moment in satire. While it's serious, it's ironic and ridiculous. Great stuff! Funniest and the most (yes I dare say it) brilliant satire I've ever seen. Christian Bale's performance is unbelievable and if someone disagrees, they have to show me how to perform an emotional breakdown for 2 minutes on a phone. Just unbelievable. I've seen this 5 times now and it never gets boring."
Some people were not so impressed by the movie however, on IMDB one person said "one of the worst films I've seen in a long time. It's never quite hallucinatory enough to be surreal; never quite cartoonish enough to be funny; never plausible enough to be taken seriously; and the acting is the worst I've ever seen from Christian Bale. Sadly, this film also wastes the talents of Sevigny & Witherspoon. I guess this was meant to be a dark satire on the Reagan years, but it failed utterly."
Many people have said the ending is not quite clear however which is a massive flaw in the movie, and also a majority of reviews say you should read the novel to really 'get' the film. I feel the same way, I have not got around to reading it myself yet but with most things the novels are normally a lot better than a film.
As this film was shot 10 years ago and is a 'real-life' kind of film there is not much technology used it in, just very powerful emotive acting. I think this adds a real emphasis that someone really does live like that and that just makes it all the more thrilling.
Thursday, 25 November 2010
Feedback
Today we screened our thriller to an audience and handed out a questionnaire for them to answer. This helped us a lot, now we can see what we need to adjust and change.
The main problems were that several people didn't understand the plot and that the music was not consistent enough. We are currently working on the music and are now using Final Cut for all the editing so it will be more specific and sound a lot better.
We've also uploaded our rough edit onto youtube and added a link to a survey we created on survey monkey. We used the same questions in our hand-out questionnaires. This way we get more reliable results.
However, it will be harder to make the storyline clearer so we are giving that some more thought.
The main problems were that several people didn't understand the plot and that the music was not consistent enough. We are currently working on the music and are now using Final Cut for all the editing so it will be more specific and sound a lot better.
We've also uploaded our rough edit onto youtube and added a link to a survey we created on survey monkey. We used the same questions in our hand-out questionnaires. This way we get more reliable results.
However, it will be harder to make the storyline clearer so we are giving that some more thought.
Monday, 22 November 2010
We had to leave out and change several scenes or else the opening would go on for more than 2 minutes and that is our maximum time.
The scenes we left out are:
The scenes we left out are:
- The girl putting her ipod on.
- Getting ready to leave.
- Changing the dog barking to some twigs snapping.
- Dizziness looking at the dog
- Dog barking at something at isn't there.
- Creature staring at dog.
- Dog runs away
- Looking for dog.
- High shot from the trees.
- POV of creature looking at girl.
- Creature passing through girl.
- Creature running past screen.
Sunday, 21 November 2010
Questionnaire Evaluation
Why did you ask this question?
1. Which gender are you?
We decided to ask this question because this way we could find out if men and woman had different ideas on which thrillers they like best and what they liked to see in them.
2. How old are you?
We felt that this was an important question to ask because different ages prefer different kinds of thrillers and if our thriller contained something each age would like, it would apply to a wider audience and so more people would enjoy it.
3. Which of the following do you find the scariest?
In a thriller it is important to have an aspect of fear in it, so the reason we asked this was to see if what we have done will scare others and thrill them.
4. What is your favourite film genre?
We asked this because it would tell us what people liked the most and so if ‘thrillers’ came up with quite high amount of people liking it then we know that a fair amount of people will like our film opening.
5. What is your favourite sub-genre of thriller?
We asked this because as our thriller is psychological, if people voted for this a lot then we have a good chance of people liking our thriller. If not then we could incorporate other aspects into our thriller.
6. What character dynamics do you like to see?
We felt this would be a good question to ask to see what character is most popular in a thriller so we could work our characters around this.
7. What makes you want to watch thrillers?
The reason why we asked this was to find out what actually made viewers want to watch a thriller so we could find out what we needed in ours that would encourage others to watch it.
8. Do you think Romance is suitable in a thriller?
Why we asked this question is to find out whether romance is suitable to have in a thriller or not, if we were to film the whole thriller this could be an important aspect whether to include it or not.
9. What is your favourite thriller film and why?
This was an open question and we asked this to see what kinds of thrillers other people like to watch, this way we can create one which may have similar aspects to the most popular result.
10. What do you think makes a good thriller?
We asked this to see if what we have put in our thriller fits with what a majority of other will like as well, this will make our opening popular and likeable.
What have you learnt from your data?
1. From our data we have learnt that more females than males answered our questionnaire and this could affect our results and females are not as likely to enjoy thrillers as much as males are.
2. The ages range from 12 to 35+ and the majority of people who took this questionnaire were between 16-19, this is good because as we are between these ages our thriller should appeal to an audience of our age, but it’s also bad because then the audience is quite limited.
3. Out of all the people we asked most of them thought that the scariest and most entertaining thing in a thriller is murderers, since we do not have any murderers in our thriller it may not be so popular.
4. Action and thriller were both very high in this question which is good for our thriller and a large audience will like it.
5. The favourite sub-genre was action and it was a very high percentage who said this, next was horror and psychological. As our thriller is a psychological I was quite pleased it had a lot of people liking it.
6. The character dynamic that came out top was the hero, I thought it would be the highest as most people do root for the heroin a film, the comedian of the group came second and I feel this is good because comedy is an important aspect in a film, however, not so much in a thriller.
7. We also learnt that the main reason why people watch thrillers is mainly down to the main actor in a film, then storyline comes close after and no one bothered about the soundtrack, however I feel the soundtrack is one of the most important thing in a movie sometimes, especially in tense films.
8. A very high percent of people said that romance is suitable in a thriller, but our thriller does not incorporate this in the opening so it does not apply.
9. All the people picked different favourite horrors but lots had the same reason why they picked it, because of a good story line, they liked the actors in it or it was very tense.
10. People more-or-less picked the same answers for the final question and we think it has a good storyline and suspense, perhaps it’s not very jumpy but it is mysterious.
Compare what you have learnt to your thriller, does it match? How can you improve it?
All in all, our thriller does quite match up with what the audience wants, its psychological, has tense moments, suspense and mystery added into it. To improve it though we need to work on the soundtrack so that people notice it more and the affect it gives off to the audience to increase the tension and so people will take notice of it and make them feel slightly more eerie and scared.
1. Which gender are you?
We decided to ask this question because this way we could find out if men and woman had different ideas on which thrillers they like best and what they liked to see in them.
2. How old are you?
We felt that this was an important question to ask because different ages prefer different kinds of thrillers and if our thriller contained something each age would like, it would apply to a wider audience and so more people would enjoy it.
3. Which of the following do you find the scariest?
In a thriller it is important to have an aspect of fear in it, so the reason we asked this was to see if what we have done will scare others and thrill them.
4. What is your favourite film genre?
We asked this because it would tell us what people liked the most and so if ‘thrillers’ came up with quite high amount of people liking it then we know that a fair amount of people will like our film opening.
5. What is your favourite sub-genre of thriller?
We asked this because as our thriller is psychological, if people voted for this a lot then we have a good chance of people liking our thriller. If not then we could incorporate other aspects into our thriller.
6. What character dynamics do you like to see?
We felt this would be a good question to ask to see what character is most popular in a thriller so we could work our characters around this.
7. What makes you want to watch thrillers?
The reason why we asked this was to find out what actually made viewers want to watch a thriller so we could find out what we needed in ours that would encourage others to watch it.
8. Do you think Romance is suitable in a thriller?
Why we asked this question is to find out whether romance is suitable to have in a thriller or not, if we were to film the whole thriller this could be an important aspect whether to include it or not.
9. What is your favourite thriller film and why?
This was an open question and we asked this to see what kinds of thrillers other people like to watch, this way we can create one which may have similar aspects to the most popular result.
10. What do you think makes a good thriller?
We asked this to see if what we have put in our thriller fits with what a majority of other will like as well, this will make our opening popular and likeable.
What have you learnt from your data?
1. From our data we have learnt that more females than males answered our questionnaire and this could affect our results and females are not as likely to enjoy thrillers as much as males are.
2. The ages range from 12 to 35+ and the majority of people who took this questionnaire were between 16-19, this is good because as we are between these ages our thriller should appeal to an audience of our age, but it’s also bad because then the audience is quite limited.
3. Out of all the people we asked most of them thought that the scariest and most entertaining thing in a thriller is murderers, since we do not have any murderers in our thriller it may not be so popular.
4. Action and thriller were both very high in this question which is good for our thriller and a large audience will like it.
5. The favourite sub-genre was action and it was a very high percentage who said this, next was horror and psychological. As our thriller is a psychological I was quite pleased it had a lot of people liking it.
6. The character dynamic that came out top was the hero, I thought it would be the highest as most people do root for the heroin a film, the comedian of the group came second and I feel this is good because comedy is an important aspect in a film, however, not so much in a thriller.
7. We also learnt that the main reason why people watch thrillers is mainly down to the main actor in a film, then storyline comes close after and no one bothered about the soundtrack, however I feel the soundtrack is one of the most important thing in a movie sometimes, especially in tense films.
8. A very high percent of people said that romance is suitable in a thriller, but our thriller does not incorporate this in the opening so it does not apply.
9. All the people picked different favourite horrors but lots had the same reason why they picked it, because of a good story line, they liked the actors in it or it was very tense.
10. People more-or-less picked the same answers for the final question and we think it has a good storyline and suspense, perhaps it’s not very jumpy but it is mysterious.
Compare what you have learnt to your thriller, does it match? How can you improve it?
All in all, our thriller does quite match up with what the audience wants, its psychological, has tense moments, suspense and mystery added into it. To improve it though we need to work on the soundtrack so that people notice it more and the affect it gives off to the audience to increase the tension and so people will take notice of it and make them feel slightly more eerie and scared.
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Monday, 15 November 2010
Filming Part 2
On Sunday the 14th November 2010, Daisy and Alana came over to my house again to continue filming and we finished off all the bits we had hoped to do. Everything went really well and smoothly, unfortunately some parts had to be left out as they were either unpractical, took up too much time - or even both in some cases.
We shall start editing it next week and then hopefully in about 2 weeks it will be fully completed and all we'll have to do is to evaluate it.
We shall start editing it next week and then hopefully in about 2 weeks it will be fully completed and all we'll have to do is to evaluate it.
Case Study: No Country For Old Men - Mise-en-scene
No Country For Old Men opens with a long shot of a desolate desert in America, the country is rural, arid and lonely. It shows nothing but emptiness stretching long into the distance and makes the viewer feel small and vulnerable. Looking right you see a few run down buildings surrounded by several dead trees and the desert is often associated with death. You can only see one car, or any for that matter which gives you the sense that nobody comes or leaves very often and as the buildings are quite run down not many people come along so there is no much point in keeping it looking clean and well kept.
Your eyes are drawn to the TEXACO sign at the bottom of the center of the shot, unlike anything else in the image it has colour. Red could stand for many things such as danger, anger, blood or even romance.
In the next scene it is in a small dark cramped room which adds an element of claustrophobia to the film. the man behind the till is framed in front of a window, everything is around him and the ropes above his head look like nooses as if he is about to be hanged.
This character wears brighter clothing, such as yellow shirt which may indicate he is a good character. All of the shots of them talking are over-the-shoulder so you always see both people at the same time. Behind him is a tractor/digger which does not appear in the first shot that shows you were you are, this can tell you that someone else has arrived and a new character may be introduced soon.
The second man appears quite menacing, he is dressed in all black which is quite sinister and makes you think of him as the bad guy. He puts down the scrunched up wrapper he was holding in his hand slams down the coin, this could perhaps show his strength as he did it quite roughly. He takes his hand away and reveals a shiny silver coin and it leaves you wondering what is it about this coin that is so special?
Your eyes are drawn to the TEXACO sign at the bottom of the center of the shot, unlike anything else in the image it has colour. Red could stand for many things such as danger, anger, blood or even romance.
In the next scene it is in a small dark cramped room which adds an element of claustrophobia to the film. the man behind the till is framed in front of a window, everything is around him and the ropes above his head look like nooses as if he is about to be hanged.
This character wears brighter clothing, such as yellow shirt which may indicate he is a good character. All of the shots of them talking are over-the-shoulder so you always see both people at the same time. Behind him is a tractor/digger which does not appear in the first shot that shows you were you are, this can tell you that someone else has arrived and a new character may be introduced soon.
The second man appears quite menacing, he is dressed in all black which is quite sinister and makes you think of him as the bad guy. He puts down the scrunched up wrapper he was holding in his hand slams down the coin, this could perhaps show his strength as he did it quite roughly. He takes his hand away and reveals a shiny silver coin and it leaves you wondering what is it about this coin that is so special?
NME Audience
NME (New Musical Express) is a music magazine aimed mainly at people from 15 to around 30 years old and at both genders so appeals to a wide amount of people. The colours on the front page are fairly neutral so attracts males and females because the magazine is about the music and not the gender.It features brand new bands and also old classics such as ''The Clash' so this makes it more interesting to the older audiences who remember The Clash from the 70s.
NME has Mark Ronson on the front cover so invites fans of him in to read more about his upcoming album. He may also intice women because they might find him attractive so buy the magazine to find out more about him. The main colours are orange and black on a white background which makes everything stand out more, especially as the main object (Ronson) is wearing dark clothes it makes him more noticeable than if it had a dark background.
I took a feature about the band 'Klaxons' and how they are preparing for Reading and Leeds Festival 2010 and talking about their new album 'Surfing The Void'. It's quite a neutral article written by Alex Hoban, aimed at everyone no matter what gender, its easy to read and quite informative. Throughout the article drops famous names in places 'Crystal Castles, The Horrors, Beth Ditto, Akiko, The Big Pink' and even Medusa gets a mention when talking about the weather 'It's also hotter than Medusa's womb' - I personally think its a little grotesque and doesn't quite fit with anything so I would have chosen something different to say instead.NME is also mentioned several times in the writing, talking about the NME/Radio 1 stage at Reading & Leeds where they are playing.
I think this piece of writing is aimed at perhaps older teenagers who go to festivals and not children of about 12 because the Medusa thing is a bit odd and not quite appropriate.
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Editing
Today in our media lesson we started to make a rough edit of the film we had shot on Saturday. Even with less than half of what we needed to be done we had about 1 and a half minutes of footage which was way too much, so we talked about which parts to leave out, which parts to crop down and whether some parts were vital to the thriller and if we should film them.
We've figured out what we need to do and learnt more about editing and this has helped a lot. We also picked out more music to use for the soundtrack.
We've figured out what we need to do and learnt more about editing and this has helped a lot. We also picked out more music to use for the soundtrack.
Filming
Daisy, Alana and myself began filming on Sunday the 7th November. We did it a woods in my village, its very open, empty and deslotate here and so was perfect to get the shots we wanted. We set off at about 2pm and mananged to complete quite a bit of what we wanted to do, unfortunately we didnt finish it all as it started to get too dark to film so by about 4:30 we headed home.
I was a bit doubtful about how my dog would be in the thriller as animals are meant to be hard to work with, but it all went very smoothly and I am very happy about how it all turned out. We plan to go back again on Sunday the 14th November and complete the rest of the work, but prehaps leave a bit earlier to have more time in the woods to film before it gets dark.
I was a bit doubtful about how my dog would be in the thriller as animals are meant to be hard to work with, but it all went very smoothly and I am very happy about how it all turned out. We plan to go back again on Sunday the 14th November and complete the rest of the work, but prehaps leave a bit earlier to have more time in the woods to film before it gets dark.
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Film Title
We have decided that the film will be called 'Guilt Trip' as we feel it suits the tone and feel of the thriller very well.
Poppy is guilty and that is why she is paranoid and worried about everything, she trips over in the woods and so it became 'Guilt Trip.'
Other names for the film we though about included:
We chose not to use these because they were either already in use from another film or feel it did sound right and give the right feel to the thriller.
Poppy is guilty and that is why she is paranoid and worried about everything, she trips over in the woods and so it became 'Guilt Trip.'
Other names for the film we though about included:
- The Unknown
- Guilty
- Guilty Conscience
We chose not to use these because they were either already in use from another film or feel it did sound right and give the right feel to the thriller.
Research Into Similar Products
We are comparing our thriller opening to Donnie Darko as we think it has many similar qualities. It is about something thats there...but isn't really. Its in depth and really makes you think about the plot of the story as it develops into a film.
Donnie Darko is about a teenage boy who has strange hallucinations of a large rabbit named Frank, which manipulates him to commit crimes and strange doings after escaping near death. It came out in 2004 and stars Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal. It was directed and written Richard Kelly.
They are both psychological as the thing they fear is not actually there, and it is all in their head. Donnie Darko has Frank the rabbit, whereas our thriller, Guilt Trip, has the unknown creature stalking our characters every move, yet she does not know it. As the film progresses you find out that the creature affects a lot more people than just Poppy. Donnie Darko over powers his 'conscience' by killing Frank because it was overpowering him, however Poppy's conscience takes over her and ends up killing her.
The Machinist is another psychological film that twists the mind into confusion. It was released in 2004, directed by Brad Anderdson, written by Scott Kosar and features Christian Bale as Trevor Reznik, a man who hasn't slept in a year and is starting to doubt his whole life and sanity. He sees people no one else can see and feels as if a conspiracy is being plotted against him and in his mission gets two women involved in it.
This is like Guilt Trip because Bales character takes over his mind just like Poppy's conscience does to her. They both become paranoid and anxious about what is happening and no one else can see what they see. The conscience of both of them start to deteriorate as the film progresses and you see them fall apart in front of you.
Monday, 1 November 2010
Music
The music we have chosen is all from copy right free sites. We have chosen slow, hauting instrumentals to build the suspence and tension. We have also played around with garage band to find out the sound effects and may also use some of them to increase the experience of the thriller. The music is chilling and as its set in Autumn/Winter it even makes the whole shot feel cold and empty.
Planning Schedule
Alana, Daisy and myself have organized to meet on Sundays when we are all free to film the thriller opening at my house.
We shall start on the 7th of November and hope to have in completely finished the filming by the 12th November.
We shall start on the 7th of November and hope to have in completely finished the filming by the 12th November.
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