Finished introduction

Question 2

Question 1

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

For our coursework task we had to create a two minute opening sequence for our new film, however before doing this we had to research and look into the typical conventions of an opening sequence. An opening sequence gives people an insight into what the film will later be about. There are many different conventions that an opening sequence follows, for example it'll need to have; titles; it needs to set the mood for the audience; needs to have the soundtrack overlaying; display the distribution and production companies; have an equilibrium; get the viewer asking questions and to have an establishing shot to set the scene. Conventions are used to help set the scene and give the viewer an understanding of what will be happening later in the film. The conventions set out guidelines of how to display and start the film. The most important convention that an opening sequence will have to follow is to introduce characters. The characters will allow a set up for the equilibrium where you see their lives before a certain event happens later in the movie changing who they are.

Titles from my opening sequence

After considering all the conventions of an opening sequence we needed to decide what was best for our genre of thriller. Our film will need to have low key lighting and needs to set a dark and spooky mood during the start, this will need to carry on throughout the entire film. We would need place sound effects such as a kick drums to build up tension for the audience. A variety of shot types were important to us when filming our opening sequence, our starting shots let the audience know where they are and what's happening, it will also introduce them too our main character.

My Opening shots 

In our film we have used nearly all the conventions so the audience will feel more engaged when watching our opening sequence. However I feel as though our film lacks the use of an equilibrium as only one character is introduced and it's after the event rather than before.

Directors Commentry

Question 7

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

I filmed the preliminary task at the start of the year and have since learnt lots of new skills that have aided me in developing and improving my finished opening sequence. When looking back at my preliminary task I can see that I used very basic shots, with very little knowledge on media rules such as the rule of thirds, but after looking back over my opening sequence I can tell that I've used them correctly. However all the mistakes and corrections I've made whilst making my preliminary, I've been able to fix and improve upon whilst filming and editing my opening sequence.

 

Above is an extract from my preliminary task. Whilst filming we decided to film the opening of a door. We filmed both sides of the door and edited it so that as Joe passed through the door it would flow through. However whilst filming Joe opened the door to fast and we didn't notice until we went to edit. What we had to do was speed up the clip so it looked as though the doors are opening at the same speed. This is very obvious in the clip, but we haven't got any flaws like this in our opening sequence.

 

The clip above is the very first piece of camerawork in our opening sequence. This is already a massive difference from our preliminary, using the use of non-diagetic and long shots which was used little in my preliminary task. This shows how much I have learnt through editing as well as filming.

FOCUS GROUP

Audience Feedback on finished opening

Feedback for Questionaires

Question 5

Question 6

Question 4

Question 3

Q3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The decided genre for our Media piece was thriller, aimed at adults and young adults between the ages of 18 - 25. The title of our film 'Exodus 20:13', letting the viewers know that it'll follow a religious theme. 

The distributor we used was 'Lionsgate'. This distributor is know for publishing very contriversial films such as the Saw series and American Psycho, this would fit in to our film as we have picked a very serious matter of religion and placed a dark spin on it. Lionsgate also targets the same target audience as us with it's previous releases. This distributors past films are very similar in the fact that they have very little funding towards them and our classed as low budget films. This relates to our opening sequence as there isn't anything pricy or dramatic in it. Overall this production company will fit what we have created as it's a controversial studios and will be a low budget film.  

The production company we create is called - 'Religious Studios'. We picked this name as it related to the theme we had picked for the film. It also lets the viewer know what kind of film we had created. 

Question 2

How does you Media product represent particular social groups?
Our opening sequence mainly follows two different social groups. The first is a religious one where a man is a very heavy religious supporter and believes strongly in it. However he goes against his social group stereotype and starts to murder those who don't believe in the same morals and ethics that he does himself. This character is presented as a dark one due to our major shots of him at the start where he is standing with his hood up and you can't see who he is fully. We also have a shot of his religious bracelet just to emphasize the fact that he is religious.

Our second social group is more of an outgoing adventurous young adult (18 - 22 years). This character goes out to clubs most weekends and will break most of the morals and ethics that our religious character stands for. Our character is represented through the use of props during out titles. The backing will feature bottles of wine and we will have pictures of previous parties and events.

Shooting schedule

We have created a shooting schedule to organize our group as to when we will be filming and what equipment we will need.

Key shots

I will be including this long shot of the villain in my opening scene. The villain will be standing in the right back corner of the train station, the train would have gone past and the audience will see the villain standing there doing nothing. This will make the audience feel on edge as it will be the first time they see this character.

This extreme close up of high heals will be shown in my opening scene. These will be shown to introduce the younger character and give hints about her to the audience. Titles will also be placed over them to give the audience important detail.

An extreme clos up of a family picture will be shown in my opening sequence. This will be shown to introduce the character and make the audience begin to live the character and take into account important details. It will also give a chance for the titles to appear.

An extreme clos up of a vodka bottle will be shown to give the audience a clear understanding of the character. It will show that it is a fresh modern film and will also indicate a lot about the character.

Sound

The sounds we picked are ones that may be used in our clip. The sounds may be diagetic but this means that the quality of sound may be too low for the clip. 

Titles

Shortly after making this video our group brainstromed different ideas as to what our film title could be. The title that the group picked it was -

We have chosen this font as it matches our theme of thriller. People watching will by put into a 'mood' when they see this font.

We have chosen this due to it meaning ''Thou shall not kill'' in the Bible. We also chose this font as we thought it was best suited for the name of the film and the feel given.

Character descriptions and casting decisions

We have discussed within our group who should play each role and why. This helped us to understand each character in more depth.

Animatic

This is our Animatic which we have created to give ourselves a better understanding as to how it will look.

Props and Costume

Props -
Bottle: The bottle we will use will show that the person is an outgoing and party person.
Heels: The heels will show that the person is an outgoing and party person.
Clock: The clock will be used to show the the time during the clip.
Phone: The phone in our clip will have a phone call from a friend of the character this will show that she is a popular character.
Door: The door used in our clip will open, this will build suspense for the audience.
Glasses: The glasses will show that despite she is a party going person she is stereotypicaly smart.
Kettle: The kettle in our clip will be on and will show that there is someone home.

Costume -
Suit: The suit will be worn in our clip by Michael. The suit is an ominous costume as it shows that even a normal person could become a villain.

Update -
We will also use a TV and a taps.
TV: The TV will be static and will be used to place the titles.
Taps: Emily in our clip will turn the taps on and start running a bath.

Update +1-

The costume going to be warn by the only character seen is an all in black suite. Religious jewelry will be warn to symbolize the characters  nature.

The setting that we have chosen is my house. We chose to film here due to the modern decor that fits with the lifestyle of the main character. My house is open and some could say that it inst a relaxed and homely feel due to the floor boards. Therefore, I believe that my house would be perfect to create an airy and thriller feel.

These are the props going to be used in our opening sequence. The props will give away small hints and information about the main character in the story line.

The TV will be static and the title's will appear over the TV to create an airy effect, The shoes and dress imply to the viewer what type of person the character is.

The picture shows and imply the character is innocent and has a family/a girl. The Neurofen imply s that the character may have a medical problem/has a head ache.

The kettle will be boiling and text will appear underneath it. The picture shows the viewer that the girl has a family and is loved.  It can also show age.

                                   The tap will be shown turning on/running conveying the
                               girl is getting into the bath. The phone will be ringing
                                     but wont be answered to give and airy and confused feel.