Weekly Update (Week 2) (Georgia Harris)

This week in both our night session and our Friday lesson, we re-filmed our Preliminary task and completed it, and are now in the progress of editing it, so we can upload it onto our blog. We also learnt more about the filming equipment that will be used and the way in which we must use it. Also we went into detail on how to apply the 180 degree rule and match on action when filming.

In our Friday lesson, we finally filled in each member of our groups responsibilities and tasks that have to be completed, in order for the filming to go ahead.

Target Audience Research (Georgia Harris & Mensah-Tandoh)

We have chosen to aim our trailer at a 15+, mainly female dominated audience.
Our reasons for choosing this is because it's setting is based in a college, where the people are aged between 16 and up, so it will allow the audience to relate easily. Also the main character is female, so the females of the audience can also relate to the typical, everyday college student.
Also the socio-economic group which our target audience will fit into will be working class citizens, every-day people living in average housing, and working a Monday to Friday 9-5 job.

We have chosen this particular group, again so the audience will relate to the characters and gain an easier understanding of the situation and the living environments in which they live and socialise within.One being going to a college a person from this background is able to identify themselves as they may live the same life styles,wear the same clothes and have be able to have access to the same facilies they see throughout the film

Name:Iffhra
Age:17 Years old
Interests:Singing,church,friend and family,studying,music,nightsout,watching films and shopping
Dislikes: Long lessons,liars,not getting her own way,disappointment,
The reason i have asked Iffhra these questions, is because i feel Iffhra is a good representaion of the type of people,that we are targeting to watch our opening film sequence.She has strong believes and strong opinions about the things she likes and dislikes.She also comes from the same social-economic background of the people that shown on our film.We as a group also feel that she is like them and can relate to the way they are.

Treatment (Audrey Khanye)

Product:
We are going to be filming the 2-minute opening sequence of our film called the: "The Replacement" as our product, which is based on the genre thriller. After or during our filming period we plan to market our film campaign using various methods such as advertising which will help our trailer reach a wide audience as we will be advertising our products on many platforms e.g. through the radio, TV, newspaper, and the internet. Using social networking sites such as Facebook and Youtube (on the internet) is vital to our campaign as our target audience are ages 16+, this age group is the most likely to be using these sites.
Also globalisation will allow our product to reach audiences world wide

Target audience:
We aim to target a wide audience of teenagers and adults ranging from 16+, also a mainly female dominated audience. Our reasons for this is because the setting is based in a college, where the people are aged between 16 and above, so it will allow the audience to relate easily. Also the main character is female, so the females of the audience can also relate to the typical, everyday college student. Also the socio-economic group which our target audience will fit into will be working class citizens, every-day people living in average housing, and working a Monday to Friday 9-5 job.

In order to find out more in formation about our audience and also to get some feedback about our film I posted a created a face book group, and put together questionnaire for them to fill in. My questionnaire asked questions such as: are the antagonist and the protagonist clear in this film? Is our story line easy to follow?
What did you like most about our movie? Etc.

Institution
Our production’s logo is called Twisted productions. Our product will be distributed via the internet and it's mediums such as Facebook and Youtube


Genre
We plan to stick to the typical thriller genre when filming our 2 minute opening sequence which includes a number of conventions. A typical convention that we will include is antagonist vs protagonist
In order to make our opening sequence recognizable as a psychological thriller we will be following the codes and conventions of the thriller genre. Conventions we have included are: creating a sense of mystery, suspense such as creating the twist in the end when the audience discover that Jo the protagonist is not really disabled.

Software Used ( Elizabeth Mensah-Tandoh)

There will be various types of softwares that will need to use through out blog. One of them being Scribd. Scribd is a software that we have got use to using as it has helped layout or script better.At first we was not sure how to use it. However it was interesting as it made our script look a lot more professional than just writing it down on the blog. Another being Final cut pro.

This is the first time for all of us in the group using this software.It took some time getting use to features as we found them challenging. However Audrey is doing the editing has practiced while editing the preliminary task and is now learning more about the software and the various features it will offer us when editing our final opening sequence.
The third software we will be using is soundtrack pro. Which was on of the most exciting as when learning it will help our portfolio and editing our filming.

Theory (Elizabeth Mensah-Tandoh)

I thought it essential for me to find about the influential French literally theorist Roland Barthes. He developed a theory that there are five major codes within a story that are interwoven in order to create meaning. Barthes had five codes,The first being.

A Hermeneutic Code- is something that is unexplained and which creates an unanswered question, often appearing at the beginning of the story,creating a tension that engages the audience.
Hermeneutic codes are at the root of all mysteries. act is shown and the remainder of the narrative is for answering questions raised by the event. And in order for the audience to remain interested the final truth is not revealed.

The Proairetic Code-The Proairetic Code also builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, and which hence gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next.
The Hermeneutic and Proairetic Codes work as a pair to develop the story's tensions and keep the reader interested. Barthes described them as,dependent on,two sequential codes.The revelation of truth and the coordination of the actions represented: there is the same constraint in the gradual order of melody and in the equally gradual order of the narrative sequence.

The Semantic Code-This code refers to connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word.It is by the use of extended meaning that can be applied to words that authors can paint rich pictures with relatively limited text and the way they do this is a common indication of their writing skills.

The Symbolic Code- which is very similar to the Semantic Code, but acts at a wider level, organizing semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning. This is done by the use of antithesis, where new meaning arises out of opposing and conflict ideas.

The Cultural Code-This code refers to anything that is founded on some kind of canonical works that cannot be challenged and is assumed to be a foundation for truth.This involves either science or religion, although other canons such as magical truths may be used in fantasy stories. The Gnomic Code is a cultural code that particularly refers to sayings, proverbs, clichés and other common meaning-giving word sets.

I learned all this information by looking at a powerpoint that my teacher gave me and also researching on various websites.So that was able to find out the real facts about Roland Barthes. This source of information has been helpful as it has actually really helpful to know when you are considering what to film.

BBFC Research (Audrey Khayne)

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is an independent, non-governmental body funded through the fees it charges to those who submit films and video works for classification. Here, and throughout the Guidelines, video works are taken to include video games, and films and programmes released on DVD or Blu-ray, or distributed by means of download or streaming on the internet. The BBFC classifies films on behalf of the local authorities who license cinemas under the Licensing Act 2003.

Our is actually targeted at 15+ the reason for this is because we as a group feel that the story line will be mentally understood by people of this age group.Although the story line is easy to follow.It will only be suitable for someone of this age.

Designer Research (Audrey Khanye)

A title sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound. It usually follows but should not be confused with the opening credits, which are generally nothing more than a series of superimposed text.
Saul Bass was born in May 8, 1920, in New York City. He studied at the Art Students League in Manhattan until attending classes with Gyorgy Kepes at Brooklyn College.
Saul Bass became widely known in the industry after creating the title sequence for Otto Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm (1955). The subject of the film was a jazz musician's struggle to overcome his heroin addiction, a taboo subject in the mid-'50s. Bass decided to create a contentious title sequence to match the film's controversial subject. He chose the arm as the central image, as the arm is a strong image relating to drug addiction. The titles featured an animated, black paper cut-out arm of a heroin addict. As he expected, it caused quite a stir.
He designed title sequences for 40 years, for films as diverse as Spartacus (1960), The Victors (1963), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and Casino (1995). All of which feature new and ground-breaking methods of production and startling graphic design.

Weekly Updates Week 1-2 (Georgia Harris)

Over the last week, we as a group have been doing individual tasks, as well as group task. For example we have completed our Genre research, 2 minute synopsis of the trailer, 90 minute synopsis and the brainstorm will be completed by next lesson.
During the night class, we have always filmed our Preliminary task and have just got to edit it before posting it onto our YouTube channel and onto our blog.
Through filming our Preliminary task we have learnt the names of the equipment we will be using, where to find them and how to use them correctly. It has also helped in learning how to position characters in order to make the shots clear to the audience.
Over the next week or 2, we will have done our brainstorm of our idea, preliminary posted on our blog, target audience research and our individual textual analysis.

we have alsp begun to think about different story lines we will use for our prouduction work.We have got together as a group and started to think about the various story lines we could use.Aswell as our target audience we will be targetting.

Title Sequence ( Elizabeth Mensah-Tandoh )

A title sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound. It usually follows but should not be confused with the opening credits, which are generally nothing more than a series of superimposed text.

The first important facts i have learnt from my research title sequencing is the way the names of the people involved in the filming comes in various stages.I watched the beginning of different thriller films and two horror films to see if there was a difference on the layout or the stages of the credits.i felt this was important for me to analyze thriller films as they are under the same genre as the opening sequence of our film.

From the research i have done i have found out the different stages of the ways a opening title sequence come in,the order the cast names,the directors,the creators logo,who the film was associated with and whom the film is by.

One of the film i analyzed closely was the film obsessed.The reason for this being is i feel that target the same age category as we are.I found there is a sequence in which the films come in.The first element that was shown was the company 'Screen Gems' there logo was shown.The second was 'Rain forest film production'this was the second logo that was shown..

Then when the title sequence began to show both of the companies names appeared again.Screen gems presents obsessed.I wanted to find out more about the company and did some small research on both of the companies so that i was able to see what each company specialized in.Screen Gems is an American subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation.Here is a small portion of some of the research i was able to find.
Rain forest films production tend to supported a lot of black African,American originated films.Such as Stomp the yard,This Christmas,Three can play that game.All the films i have listed are all well known films that Rain forest has produced.And as obsessed story line is about a successful hard working black man rain forest film production have had some production involved.


The following elements are the logos and the repetitions of the production names is the title of the film..

The second being the actor and actresses names.This is done to rises awareness to the audience who will be starring in the film.Although this is a short list of the title sequence in the beginning of the film.However there is much longer list of the individuals and people who participated in the making of the film.
Starting with the cast members names along side their real names.All of the people that were shown on the camera any time throughout the film are shown.Then followed by participants behind the scenes.Secondly being the co-producer,the the production mangers and department team.Then followed by assistants and supervisors that helped in particular areas.The the writing and script of the film and imagery of the scenery,costume and props for the actors and actresses.Then ending with the effects that are ended after filming,Such as the editors.visual effect mangers.

This is the list of the title sequence for the film Obsessed.Making sure that the title sequence for the both the beginning and end of the films i have included both so that it is easy to distinguish the difference between the two.

Opening Sequence Ideas (Elizabeth Mensah-Tandoh)

90 Minute Synopsis (Audrey Khanye & Georgia Harris)

Beginning: The scene starts of with a man and woman coming out of the hospital with their newly born baby. We see them a few months later playing with their newly born baby all happy and joyful. There are scenes of them taking the baby to the park and their friends coming round to visit the baby.

Middle: They are then coming back from a friend’s house, it is raining and dark and they cannot really see the roads clearly. Then they see an oncoming motorbike to late, causing the man to steer wildly out of control and crash into a tree. The man drags his unconscious wife out of the car, and as soon as she comes to she runs back to the wreckage to pull out the child only to see a limp lifeless body.
The woman cradles the dead child in her arms rocking backwards and forwards screaming and crying. The scene then changes to the couple burying their child crying and then leaving in a car.

18 years later and the couple still have not got over the death of their child and they have still kept their baby’s room the same. The still have birthday parties for the daughter and all they need now is their daughter.
Whilst they were out shopping they spot a girl that resembled their daughter when she was young except she is 18. They then conspire to kidnap the teenager and raise her as their own, so the woman enrols into the girl’s college in a wheelchair. A few days later she sees that the girl has stayed behind late to finish of school work n uses this opportunity to kidnap the girl. She drops her books in front of the girl on purpose whilst in the wheelchair knowing that would get sympathy from the young girl.

End: The girl helps the woman pick up her books and the woman asks her to help her to her husband’s car, and the girl agrees. They are then walking through this deserted car park to the only car in the middle of the car park. The woman then asks the girl to put the books in the back of the boot of the car. Then we see the woman get up out of the wheelchair and push the girl in the boot and close it. The couple then drive into their garage and take her out gag her and tie her up, they then carry her into the baby’s room and place her by the cot. We then see the girl crying and the woman bringing her baby food and starts force feeding her the food, she then places a kiss on her head and leaves and the girl is still crying.

A few years later the girls has been declared dead as no one has found her, whilst the couple are celebrating her 2ND birthday (which is really her 20Th). The couple then go out to go and look for a birthday cake at the supermarket when they are found at the till by the godfather of their dead daughter and they are catching up, smiling and laughing till he realised the birthday cake for a two year old. The man then asks if they had another baby and the woman say yes and the man says no and they look at each other and then they then swap lines and look at each other again, then the woman then says ‘’its for our adopted daughter’’ and the man say ‘’no its for our niece’’ and they look worryingly at each other and tell him they have to go. The godfather thinks something is up as the couple run towards their car and drive off.
They then arrive back home and continue with their festivities, when the godfather parks around the corner walks to the window sneakily and sees a tied up girl and calls the police. He then throws a brick through their car window of the couple and as they run out to see their car he sneaks in to try and rescue the girl and releases her cuffs turns around to see the couple blocking the exit and the woman holding a knife. The couple then explain the plan they hatched and talk about their grief and how their hole has been filled by taking the girl.
The man then lunges at the godfather and they are seen wrestling for a bit then we see the woman stab down.
But she then realises she accidentally stabbed her husband and we hear police sirens and the woman being handcuffed and taken away and the girl being returned to her family and the man receiving an honour award.

Brainstorm (Audrey Khanye)

The Codes and Conventions of the Genre Thriller ( Audrey Khayne))

-The conventions of the thriller genre are to do with sound and editing i.e camera angles and quick cuts.Music that gives tension is also regularly used in the thriller genre.It can also be to do with lighting, especially the use of shadow, mirrors stairs.The music most commonly used in thrillers is nondiegetic.
-The location and settings of thrillers are usually in claustrophobic areas such as elevators, prisons etc.The lighting used in thrillers is usually dark, light against dark or shadows to create a sense of illusion or nightmares.
-Thrillers usually contain twists and suprises and they can often play with the viewers mind.
-Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the wideranging thriller genre. However, this genre often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre in addition to the typical traits of the thriller genre. Also, occasionally this genre will border into the also wide-ranging Horror genre. Generally, thrillers focus on plot over character, and thus emphasize intense, physical action over the character's psyche

More examples of codes and conventions of thriller’s:
-Surprises & Twists
-Plays With Viewers Mind
-Quick Cuts & Change Of Camera Angles
-Music To Add Tension
-Use Of Lighting To Create Shadows
-Mirrors
-Stairs
-From Killers Point Of View
-Flash Backs
-Pass Of Time Sequences
-Make Audience Think

Synopsis for our 2 Minute Trailer (Georgia Harris)

The start of this 2 minute sequence begins with Natalie (protagonist) walking out of a lesson, down the corridor towards the exit. As she is about to go through a set of double doors, she hears a book drop and turns to see a lady in a wheelchair who has dropped her books and she goes to get the book. Then Natalie offers to help her carry her books to the car that is waiting for her. Once they have reached the car park, it becomes clear that there is something strange going on, that being that the disabled girl isn't actually disabled and isn't actually the victim. In fact she has been planning to kidnap Natalie for a while.She has been wanting to kidnap Natalie because she lost her daughter 18 years ago and have never got over it and therefore want someone who resembles the looks that her daughter would have now.

Thriller: Genre Research (Georgia Harris)

The thriller genre includes numerous and over-lapping of sub-genres. They are well known by their fast pacing, frequent action and resourceful heroes who are often realistic and at a standard that the audience can relate too. The heroes often have skills that they are unaware of or cannot use effectively.

-Thriller's also enable the audience to discover the main drive of the plot at the same time as the hero, so we can feel as though we are seeing the action unfold through their eyes. This helping us to engage both intellectually and emotionally.
-They also include many enigma's (question's placed in the audience's minds) which are either then answered or not as the narrative progresses.
-The hero is often isolated due to his/her knowledge or skill which alienates him/her from their loved ones and friends. They also tend to have flaws, they aren't perfect and their flaw/s are often exploited by the villain. These conventions of the hero allow the audience to believe in the characters and sympathise, which again helps them to emotionally engage.
-Also the endings aren't often happy, the combination of danger and the heroes flaw overcome them.
-Thriller's are based around mystery and investigation, as well suspense. With cliffhangers and red herring's
-Thrillers often take place wholly or partly in exotic settings such as foreign cities, deserts, polar regions, or high seas.

This genre research was partly information provided by Wikipedia. The link below provides you with the full article on the thriller research.

Creating Hyperlinks