Killing Jennifer - Main Task

Peer Assessment - "Killing Jennifer" First Draft

Assessment of Evaluation posts for Q. 3 and 5 (SJA Feb 14th)

WWW:

• Looking over your blog, I am pleased that you have made a really good start on all Evaluation questions Nathan
• There are some good attempts to make posts visual in some way, and your written comments show a generally good grasp of what each question requires of you

EBI:

• To improve, and move that standard of your work towards a B-A grade, you should come back to your posts and continue to develop them Nathan.
• I checked Q. 3 and 5 carefully, as these were the 2 that we agreed on in last Monday's lesson. There are some developments that I'd like you to do to improve each...
• Q. 3 is currently Very Good, but should be moved to 'Excellent' through the inclusion of screen grabs from your own film sequence compared to similar films released by the same distribution company - your written comments should explain what they share in common, and why your film is best suited to the company you selected
• Q. 5 - I am not a huge fan of Bubble for A Level work Nathan... at least, not on its own for a post. It really is 'just' a spider diagram. Q. 5 is ideal for images of your target audience - surely?? You mention that you seek to appeal to 'middle class' males - SHOW the type of person you have in mind. Create a detailed profile of the 'typical' person you would hope would go and see your film (age, gender, income, interests, other films they enjoy... etc...) Make this post more interesting and creative by including some key shots from your film that you designed to appeal to your audience. You also mention the 'damsel in distress' and refer to Nicole being tied up, etc... - SHOW images from your film - make your post interesting Nathan.

Overall effort for Q. 3 and 5: GD - with IN (improvement needed)

Assessment - 'Killing Jennifer' First Draft

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

This is my Preliminary Task:

This is my Final Media Product:

I have looked back at my Preliminary Task from the start of the year and I have compared it to our final product to notice the differences between the two and to assess how I have maybe improved along the way.

Note The Spoon in the Cup

The first noticeable aspect was the Continuity which has improved in our Final Product compared to here. An example is at the start of this video, how there is a spoon in the cup when water is poured in but when the cup is picked up the spoon has disappeared. At this stage we did not fully consider factors such as having a great level of continuity throughout our piece. When putting together our Final Product we made sure that we keep everything in each shot the same and we made sure that things were the same each time we took a new recording. The reason for this is because further along the course we have now identified the importance of continuity, without it the viewer will become confused and distracted when they notice elements in the frame begin to disappear and reappear!

The Camera Shots and Editing in the preliminary task did not quite let it flow as well as we let the shots in our final product and this may be because we were not used to filming for a piece such as this where continuity and fluidity was essential. It is evident that we worked on this for our final product where we have created shots which flow together and we have achieved the ability to create cuts which flow well enough they are not so obvious in the change.

Final Product: Quick Cut

Preliminary Task: Quick Cut

Another aspect you can notice from the two examples above is that in the making of our final product we experimented with Visual Effects which were given to us thanks to programs like 'iMovie' and 'LiveType'. We created the effect of the black and white grainy image to represent a CCTV recording as it watches the character by adjusting things like the Brightness/Contrast and the Colours. The program LiveType allows us to create our titles and apply the visual effects to them such as the Fade In of each of the words.

When creating the Preliminary Task we had not put into consideration the type of Audience that would be watching our piece. Yet we had taken the time to investigate the audience that would watch our final piece before going along to create it, that extensive research was what would allow us create a Final Product that would appeal to an audience whereas in the Preliminary task nothing had been investigated as to who it would appeal to.

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

Media Technologies on Prezi

A Video demonstrating how we used YouTube and explaining how it is useful:

Question 5: How Did You Attract/Address Your Target Audience?

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your Media Product?

Based on the information acquired from our surveys sent out during the Research section of our coursework I believe that our Media Product's Target Audience is ages 16 to age 30s. This opening may appeal to both genders as well rather than to only males.

 Because of the genre of the film (a thriller) male become interested as Thriller can involve some action and suspense that a lot of males will enjoy, more so than some females. Yet there are females that would take an interest in this film due to the middle class, young female who portrays the main character, a woman who - though kidnapped - needs no help to fend for herself, a female challenging the 'damsel-in-distress' stereotype.

Who would the Audience be for your Media Product? on Prezi

Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Production Company

For our Final Product our group needed to create our own production company name and logo to use on our film. For this we created "SMITE PRODUCTIONS". The company 'Smite Productions was given a logo of an open hand that looks as if it has smacked the screen casing this white spray mark around it and looks to have stamped on the words 'Smite Productions'. Our group chose this name for our Production company as the 'Smite' company helps with the production of a select group of films. They choose films which they believe may not be so high budget but is hard hitting; films which have a depth to them.

In our group we had discussed what Distribution company we could use for our Media Project. It was important for us to carefully choose what Distribution company to use because different companies support different films based on the genre of a Film and whether it was intended for a Mainstream audience or a Niche audience. Our group initially decided that the best company to use for our opening was "New Line Cinema".

We considered this company because despite being very well known New Line Cinema Company has distributed for many independent films, some of which fit into the genre of a Thriller, just like our film which is a Psychological Thriller. Below are examples of some Thriller films distributed by New Line:

The Butterfly Effect (2004) A History Of Violence (2005) The Number 23 (2007) 

The appeal of New Line Cinema is that it distributes Thriller films and those films are more targeted towards a Niche audience based on the contents and storyline. Also the budgeting of films is an important factor to consider, mainstream films can receive extremely large budgets whereas niche films work with lower budgets.

However we had made the decision to instead go for a different distribution company, The Weinstein Company:

The Weinstein Company was another choice of ours that we chose over New Line because Weinstein distributes for more low-budget films, films that are not as expensive or very well known but are more to do with the content and the story as oppose to the Budget and the film being mainstream.

The Weinstein Company has provided distribution to some Thriller films appropriate to our project as well as branching out to different companies which would target the genre of film we look into. The Weinstein Company has distributed the film below:

Derailed (2005)

Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Social Groups

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

Our Final Draft of our Film Project

Used Conventions?


Some of the conventions we used are the typical elements in a film opening, these are the essential things needed in an opening sequence.
Cuts- We used cuts and transitions in our opening sequence to swap between the different shots and have made them run smoothly. As shown in the example below the use of cuts is smooth and allows for a person to watch it and they will not take note of the change of shot as much as the change was not made obvious.

Low Key- We have used the typical Low Key sort of Lighting in our opening sequence as the environment our character is in is not that greatly lit. Low Key lighting is a perfect convention for Thriller and is used in many other thiller openings such as "The Sixth Sense". We achieved this convention as the filming location we were in had a single dim light bulb which was perfect to get this low key lighting on 'Jennifer'.

Developed Conventions?


We have developed our theme further in our work. Rather than just a simple "Thriller" film we had discussed what kind of Thriller films is it and what direction we wanted it to go, there for we had selected to do a Pyschological Thriller.

Challenged Conventions?


In our Media Opening we had challaenged the stereotypical idea of a "damsel-in-distress" which is featured in many films today. The way we challenged that stereotype is by having our character "Jennifer" release herself from the ropes and to be able to get herself up rather than have some strong masculine figure burst in to rescue her. We wanted to portay this young woman as being independant instead of very reliant on having someone save her.


Also in our opening we have created a sense of DISEQUILIBRIUM which is very different to some other films as the begin with Equilibrium.
Equilibrium in a film is where the Movie will begin and the film begins with a sense of normality about it in what is happening at the start, we have challenged that and begun with the Disequilibrium to throw off audiences that may expect this film to start off as normal.

Teacher Assessment - Planning

Assessment 22/01/12 SJA

www:

• The two evaluation posts you have completed so far show awareness of the need to present ideas in a way that is not purely typed text in a blog post
• There is evidence of you and your group thinking about ideas such as 'representation' - and a desire to challenge typical gender stereotypes / representations with your main character

ebi:

• Only two posts completed? There should be 3 by today.
• For your post on 'Representation' - you have said that you want to challenge typical sterotypes of the 'damsel in distress' - but you have not explained HOW you are going to do this? How will you contruct her? I would suggest that you choose to look closely at other strong female characters from thriller films. Have a look at the female character played by actress Rooney Mara in the 2011 'Girl With a Dragon Tattoo'. She certainly breaks typical representations of the 'female lead' in thriller films. You could also look at the way in which the female 'victim' has been represented in 'The Kidnapping of Alice Creed'. I think you need to show more evidience of careful reserach and investigation for this post.
• For your second post on capturing your audience, again, you have not provided anything that is 'Super Visual' Nathan - It is not indicative of Level 3 - or Level 4 work. You have used Bubbl (which is really limited in terms of allowing you to show ICT skill or creativity) to create your spider diagram. It really needs images / visuals though You make a comment that you are representing a 'young woman' - this is so vague and very broad.
•  What TYPE of 'young woman' Nathan? How does she dress? What does she feel passionate about? Who does she admire / look up to? What does she value? What is her back story? How will audience respond to her? If she is to be the heroine, how will you make the audience warm to her and care about the outcome for her?
• You say she is 'middle class' - and you write that you will show this through her 'costume'... What will this be exactly? SHOW some visuals to explain your thoughts and intentions.
• HOW will you show that she challenges popular gender steotypes of the typical 'damsel in distress'??Again, I'd suggest you look at Rooney Mara's character in 'Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'... and think about the decisions that were made to construct a certain version of a 'young woman'...

Overall - clearly more development needed of the two posts you currently have... and (at the time of marking on Sunday afternoon) you are currently behind. Please do not forget the conversation I had with you and your mother on Parent Evening Nathan. IN - Improvement needed.

Teacher Assessed Research

Planning Assessment

Casting

Who we chose for casting, and why we chose them:

For our victim, we chose to use a female character.  This is because stereotypically women are presented as being weaker and more vulnerable then men, therefore she has a low status.  Also, our female character is small and has a light hair colour which suggests that she is innocent.  The innocence of this character is effective because it makes the audience sympathize for her, and want her to overcome what she is going through or about to go through.

Our murderer is a male character, with dark hair and tall.  This is because men are stereotypically stronger, and more powerful then women so have a higher status over them and control them.  As this character is more powerful and aggressive the audience feel less sympathy towards this character, and concentrate on what they think the character is doing, who they are, and why they are doing it.

Credit To: Becka Thompson

These are all quite stereotypical representations of males and females however this will be quite affective as audiences are comfortable with these stereotypes, our piece has conformed with many other Thriller films.

Titles

The name of 'A Childs Nightmare' may be a temporary or permanent name, were not sure yet. Yet in the theme of a child we used the handwriting style font and each font looks like the kidnapper is writing in a diary about his victims or killings, and he is hunting down his childhood friends to punish them links with 'A Childs Nightmare'.


On Screen Titles:

The Wire (All Due Respect, 26/09/04, US)

This is how we want our titles to look. We think that having the text over the shots looks better than having it over black. It allows the audience to ask more questions and want to know more, rather then the 'fake world' they are seeing to be interrupted. This example from The Wire is perfect as the font they use is very similar to the font we want to use and the positioning of the titles too.

Over Black Titles:

The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan, 1999, US)

Although this works for The Sixth Sense, I don't think it would work with our opening sequence.

The use of Titles over black would be very effective for the building of tension in an opening however there will not be enough time in our 2 minute opening to have a title over black unless they are extremely quick frames.

Credit To: Matthew Moore

Props, Costume, Location

Here are two models to wear the costume ideas for the characters in the opening sequence. The final idea  of our costume will be presented.

Mysterious Killer Costume

- Dark Clothes
- Lack of Colour --> Cold Character?
- Not much of his body is revealed (Mystery)
- We have not given this character much detail in their costume, he would wear dark clothing as many of these kinds of characters you see in Thriller films do not wear bright clothes but instead dark clothing.

Victim Costume

- Bright Clothes with Colour (Gives some emotion, suggests a bright personality? The character likes to express themselves
- This model is showing the possible clothing that the character 'Jennifer' would wear (will be portrayed by Nicole Benyon) and it gives us the idea that Jennifer is an expressive character and this way she will now appear out of place in this dark, cramped location

The Props

These are images of all the different props that we will be using in our piece.


Chair - Where the victim is tied down
Rope - To hold victim down
          - To be used by killer to connect images.
Pin Board - For our Killer's 'Hit List'
Pins - For killer to place into board.

Location

The dark room which the killer will hold his victim in the opening of our film. It is a cold room that looks cramped so it is definitely going to be an uncomfortable environment for viewers to see.


Credit To: Nathan Wyatt

Character Description

Animatic of our Opening Sequence

Storyboards

The above image shows all the shots in our storyboard as we planned them. In the .gif above I have set each frame to have an equal duration to how we want it to be in our Opening Sequence.

The majority of shots appear to be at least two seconds long so there is not such a long screen time for each of our shots. This means that in filming our Opening sequence we will probably stick to using the faster shots accompanied by some quite fast tempo yet still eerie backing tracks and accompanying sound effects.

As you can tell from the shots we have drawn out many of them are Extra Close Up to Close Up so it is clear we want to do that which many Thriller films we have analysed does, provide an audience with clues and make them ask QUESTIONS!


In our notes next to a shot we have notewd the sounds and the editing that will be used too. A musical score will be running throughout the Opening and in some points diegetic sound is heard. As for editing we will use cuts as well as Pans along different shots and Crabs.

This is a short video showing myself and my group as we discuss and work on storyboarding the opening of our film. It is good that we work together and discuss ideas with each other so we know what we will do and so that everyone gets an input in.

Sound Ideas

For our opening sequence we need to think about possible sounds to use, what emotions we want to create with them and if they fit in with our piece. To find some background music we used the website http://www.freesounds.org/ in order to find some good and Copyright Free tracks that we may incorporate into our opening.

The kind of music I find first was a suitable and eerie backing track and I found this:

This music set a kind of eerie feeling that I was thinking in my mind, it is not however going to work on its own. I believe that some non-diegetic tones can play with it in certain places with some diegetic ones.

A diegetic sound that can go with the sound above is this:

The heavy breathing can go with shots of the killer in our opening as they sound like a male breathing as it is a deep sound. The breaths become faster which also works well because it builds the tension and suspense as the opening goes along. Based on his breaths an audience feels a build up to something happening.

Another good sound to use is that of a swing:

The swing makes a squeaky and creepy sound and it goes with the shots that may be added to our piece of kids playing and images of different characters created for our media piece in a sort of flashback.

Shot Ideas

Peer Assessment for Research

Synopsis for our Film: "A Child's Nightmare"

The Film Synopsis on Prezi

Ideas for Our Film