matts final evaluation task.

media-matt's Evaluation task

1) Our thriller uses, i think original conventions such as setting the scene, light room build up to a start, making it look as if its the start of general day , dark and the music gathers up louder. This was all done to build the suspense and tension for the watching audience.2)I personally wouldn't say it represents one individual group however,You could say the dress is fairly casual, teenagers and general public in the modern world would also generally dress in this way.I do think the murderer-(postman) could have maybe worn dark clothes and maybe worn a balaclava before he did the murder.3)I think organisation’s or institution’s that would specialise in action or thriller type movies, and organisations who bring on new and young producers, would distribute our media because ‘thriller’ is quite a popular subject and I'm sure everyone would give it a try.4)i think it would be aimed at 15-19yr olds, it contains quite violent scenes and so for that reason i think it would probably be rated at’15’certificate or ‘12a’- both genders would be interested because its not just about men fighting and shouting it also shows the vulnerability of people –(women).5)we left them in suspense and left them in the lurch about what's going to happen next. The music builds up to the end and i think its the music that provides most of the tension and excitement.We then use the clips to provide the information and the story.6)i have finally become comfortable with garage-band and rough-cutAnd never thought id conquer the tools and edit settings etc. but have finally managed it and the task has really helped me do that- I’d used cameras in filming and photography in the past however, doing this project has really taught me a lot in how precise i need to be in timing, accuracy etc.- it had also taught my how to edit and use the variety of shots, we had to mirror one certain shot so we didn’t break the 180 degree rule and we also used reverse shots and continuous clips, when this was all put together it suited well and the hard work paid off. everything seemed to flow, the music went well with the shots and the transitions were smooth and effective.7)I found our ability to use the rough cut-final cut and garage-bandHad really come along and improved in quality and overall. We had put a lot of detail into our work and from our feedback we’d decided to change a few things, but because we were accustomed to the system we managed it easily and learnt a lot on what we had done and also we now are more advance in this area and so will be able to produce a higher level of quality in our work.Although maybe the acting and the filming wasn't up to scratch we still managed to cover all the shots and angles-we now know that for future tasks we’d have to consider destinations and places where to which we can film .This was just because of our organisation skills and the fact that we are still learning as a group.

T1-26 THRILLER FINAL

thriller opening sequence feedback

strengths
Titles are good on the black background.The music goes well with the action. Pace of music is good.Set scene very effectively. Clear understanding of the piece portrayed. Mystery of killer is good. Good use of shots and an understandable storyline leaving questions unanswered which is good. Also good use of shots.

improvements
Titles unreadable. Broke copyright rule. Music could use serious editing does not fit the flow of shots and titles appear rushed. needs a more scary location. the music changed to often. Need to change the colour of the titles. Simple and not mysterious. Too much use of same object. Not a very active piece. Could of used some video filters on certain clips to make it more thriller like.

overall
overall our criticism was constructive. there were fair comments amongst the strengths and improvements. however some comments were unclear and was not very constructive eg. accused of breaking copyright rules?

media-matt's Evaluation task draft

1) Our thriller uses, i think original conventions such as setting the scene,
light room build up to a start, making it look as if its the start of general day , dark and the music gathers up louder.This was all done to build the suspense and tension for the watching audience.
2)I personally wouldn't say it represents one individual group however,
You could say the dress is fairly casual, teenagers and general public in the modern world would also generally dress in this way.
I do think the murderer(postman) could have maybe worn dark clothes and maybe worn a balaclava before he did the murder.
3)I think any organisation or institution would distribute our media because ‘thriller’ is quite a popular subject and I'm sure everyone would give it a try.
4)i think it would be aimed at 15-19yr old's, it contains quite violent scenes and so for that reason i think it would probably be rated at’15’certificate or ‘12a’- both genders would be interested because its not just about men fighting and shouting it also shows the vulnerability of people(women).
5)we left them in suspense and left them in the lurch about whats going to happen next. The music builds up to the end and i think its the music that provides most of the tension and excitement.
We then use the clips to provide the information and the story.
6)i have finally become comfortable with garage-band and rough-cut
And never thought id conquer the tools and edit settings.etc. but have finally managed it and the task has really helped me do that- I’d used cameras in filming and photography in the past however, doing this project has really taught me a lot in how precise i need to be in timing, accuracy etc.
7)I found our ability to use the rough cut-final cut and garage-band
Had really come along and improved in quality and overall. We had put a lot of detail into our work and from our feedback we’d decided to change a few things, but because we were accustomed to the system we managed it easily and learnt a lot on what we had done and also we now are more advance in this area and so will be able to produce a higher level of quality in our work.
Although maybe the acting and the filming wasn't up to scratch we still managed to cover all the shots and angles-we now know that for future tasks we’d have to consider destinations and places where to which we can film .
This was just because of our organisation skills and the fact that we are still learning as a group.

project evaluation

Our piece uses the same camera shots as used in expensive budget films only our equipment was obviously not as expert as they would use. We tried to make the plot as realistic to a thriller as possible and didn’t want to go extreme. We kept it low key and did not have brutal murder throughout and James Bond style heroicness. One thing I realized was that we gave too much of the story away in just the openening sequence because we showed the killer already. Our piece makes women look vulnerable and weak and it makes men look violent and dominant simply because the male has set out to kill the female. The female in our piece wakes up like any other morning and goes about her normal morning routine. She gets up, gets changed, picks up the keys, and then picks up the mail. Meanwhile the male character is getting himself disguised and prepares his weapon. The clips cut in and out to show each morning together. The female is oblivious to what is happening outside her house until....... (Well that would be giving it away you’ll have to watch it to find out). Our piece would most probably appear to someone such as the Arts Picture House, only a small distributor at first. It would not realistically make the big time and be a big hit. The reason being because the cinema offers a broader range of films to the public where as the picture house offers to people with specific tastes. Our film would most probably appear to males mostly around the 18's because I just don’t see many females being interested in this type of murder film. To attract them there is murder the classic thriller. This is most likely to attract males of that age. I have learnt what many camera angles and shots do such as tracking, panning and reverse. Tracking is when you follow movement with the camera this can be done using a trolley on a track or by hand. Shot reverse shot is when for example you have a shot over a persons shoulder when they are looking at someone and then you switch to the other person and they are looking back. However the 180 degree rule must not be broken or else it looks like the camera has switched sides and can confuse the viewer. Panning is when the camera closes in on movement this can be fast or slow. I am now very confident with garage band and final cut. In the introduction task I did not get to have a go with garage band but because I am doing film studies I have had a go with it and I was in charge of creating a sound track so it was fun. In particular I learnt how to mix different beats and fade them in and out. I now have an idea of which music suits a thriller and which beats work best together. I also had a go on Final cut to piece up some of the clips but then that job was taken over, so I went on to create credits with someone else. I learnt how to use effects and transitions and how to add them in properly. I learnt how to cut clips down to size and move them around to cut out pieces in the clip for instants cutting out the killers face because we revealed his identity when we shouldn’t have. Overall the whole group had a really good go at the task and we had fun at the same time. It was great fun because it was my first go at producing a piece of work like this; I had never done it before. I think final cut and garage band are great programs to work on because they allow you to do so much in way of creativeness and editing. Final cut is a lot better than windows movie maker which is what I originally used at home if I was making a sequence. Never used anything like garage band so it was all new to me but I now know how to use it properly.

Things I would have done better are:

I would have thought more clearly about a storyline. Our piece was commented as being like a TV sketch which is a fair comment. It needed to be more shocking more thriller like. I would have made sure that the tripod was still because we had a lot of shaky shots. Our sequence lacked in creativity. It wasn’t much of an opening sequence like I would have wanted to have seen if I went to see a film. Overall filming quality wasn’t great it was very blurry. Unfortunately due to errors in timing and remembrance throughout the group we did not get any out of college shots done because we forgot to pick up the camera at the end of the day. This is a shame because it didn’t look very realistic because of the setting. Our music was a bit jumpy and changed rapidly. Also I think it would have looked more professional if we were able to create a company logo for the beginning as we did on photo shop like in the introduction lessons, instead of having the name in the credits. Unfortunately because of our lack of timekeeping we wouldn’t have had enough time anyway. We were working right up until the last minute.

Things I personally liked:

I really liked the company name “CALM” it was a mixture of our initials Chris, Alan, Louisa and Matt. Also I did like the credits and the way they were displayed. I liked filming bits myself that was good fun but shame the quality wasn’t brilliant. We worked well as a team and came together well. Our camera usage was good, the way we used shots (explained already). I was pleased throughout the planning stages how we scraped in ideas as a group.

TEACHER FEEDBACK

Some suggestions for you:
Try and revisit the music so that the different types go from one to the next more smoothly. At the moment it is quite jarring the way the styles change so abruptly.
Some of the shots go on for too long , such as the scissors shot. Try and edit for a greater variety of shot types, being sure to keep an eye on continuity throughout.
Also, I would trim down the title card shots as they are taking up quite a lot of your running time at the moment.

T1-26 THRILLER ROUGHCUT

shot list- shot locations

school hall-

shot 9-postman changing.
shot 6-cutting letters.
shot2/4/7/10-changing of the clock times.

Classroom-

shot 18-the killing.
shot 3-cleaning weapon.
shot 14-keys.
shot 16-opening letter.

house-

shot 1- bed
shot5-cooking breakfast
shot8-eating breakfast.
shot 11-choosing clothes.
shot 15-letters dropping.

outside-
shot 12-postman goes outside
shot13-postman walks to house

Feed Back for animatic

The clock was really good... added the passing of time effect
Cutting out of letters before seeing the full letter was cool.
Nice
Good continuity.
Sound tract fitted well
Very Cleary drawn frames and the misc-on-scene comes across very well. Continuity is spot on and the music is very appropriate to the thriller. Some frames could use a bit more background mise-en-scene, and some indications of camera movements.
The drawings were good and the music went well with it and the plot was easy to understand.

Very happy overall on feedback, very constructive. Agree with negitive feedback, and we will consider how our camera will move.

THRILLER ANIMATIC

Prop List

Digital alarm clock- For the close ups of the time.
Gun- For shot of man cleaning gun.
Postal worker outfit - Costume for evil man guy.
Frying pan - For cooking shot.
Magazines - For the letter making shot.
Letters - For letter making shot and letter delivery.
Keys- Get picked up as she starts to go out the front door, until the letters come.
Bottle - to put on the breakfast.
Plate - to put the breakfast on.

Credits List

A CALM Production presents
A CALM Film
Keith Norton
Lucy Ward
Nigel Lee
Costume design by Jennifer Furlong
Art Direction by Aaron Brooks
Production Design by Stacy Ryan
Casting by William Torry
Film Editing by Bob Murray
Cinematography by Terry Alexander
Original Music by Diane Norton
Produced by Sam Gordon
Directed by Richard Hopkins Jr.
Film Title

Analysis of student Thriller Opening

The shots throughout the sequence were well held and were kept quite steady-at the right moment e.g.'when the female actor smokes the cigarette'.
A variety of shot angles and distance were applied- all shots and angles were covered and appropriate to the task in hand such as. . . ' the dragging of the body-bag (it didnt look like a body at all).
The lighting was neutral-a range was used. Dark-in the forest with the body being dragged.normal daylight-when she leaves the house smoking the cigarette.
During the short clip, we kept flicking backwards and forwards between the two shots-this was a nice effect as more effects and shots were applied.
Plenty of transitions and other effects were used and the sounds and images were well put together and the whole thing was pulled off- and looked fairly professional overall.

Analysis of Conventions used in the opening sequence for Memento

In this opening sequence, there is a variety of shots. These include; reversed sequence, slow paced and there is a variety of shots eg. close up and mid shot. The reversed sequence can cause confusion for the audience, making them ask questions and want to know more. The sounds in this sequence correspond well with the visual images. The background music is eerie and builds tension for the audience. The lack of long shots and the confusion caused by lack of information gives the person annominty which causes more questions for the audience. From the opening sequence, we are told that the main scenario of this film is homicide (a.k.a murder). The main theme of this film is death. This is pretty obvious as in the opening sequence, there is a photogragh of a body, which had obviously been murdered.

T1-26 CONTINUITY EXERCISE 2008

Welcome