Looking back at our production I think we have kept to the codes and conventions of a 'thriller' to produce a great psychological short film. The locations we chose represented different themes and we studied the connotations linked with each location closely. For example, we decided to film the first scene in a kitchen as opposed to our first idea of a bedroom due to the themes associated with this room in the house. Since our main character Megan is a mental illness sufferer we thought it would be appropriate for this scene to be set in a clinically white kitchen. Not only are kitchens linked to cleanliness and coldness but the overall look of the kitchen helped to suggest that Megan had a mental illness. The pure white kitchen teamed with the image of Megan repetitively scrubbing at the floor would immediately be associated with the disease OCD. The house we filmed at was set
on a council estate in Ipswich. This looks like a place of desolation and struggle showing how hard Megan's life had been.
Our location for the second half of the film is stained with irony due to the connotations linked with the beach town of Felixstowe. Days out at the beach are usually happy, fun days out which would never be associated with murder of criminal activities. However, it was a realistic choice for our character to drive to this location. People often go to masses of water when they need to think and clear their mind as these places are seen as relaxing and soothing. The fact that Megan, Catherine and Charlie have a very sinister scenario on their hands really contrasts the setting.
Our location for the second half of the film is stained with irony due to the connotations linked with the beach town of Felixstowe. Days out at the beach are usually happy, fun days out which would never be associated with murder of criminal activities. However, it was a realistic choice for our character to drive to this location. People often go to masses of water when they need to think and clear their mind as these places are seen as relaxing and soothing. The fact that Megan, Catherine and Charlie have a very sinister scenario on their hands really contrasts the setting.
Our camera shots used throughout highlighted this. We used submissive and dominant shots wisely to create misconstruction for the audience. By constantly using submissive shots to film the main character Megan throughout the first half of our film, it gave the illusion that she was the victim in the story. By allowing the audience to believe this it created an enigma which stuck around until the very end, just like all films of this genre. When it is finally revealed that Megan has locked her boyfriend in the boot of her car it is the first time she is seen from a dominant perspective. This finally portrays her as the criminal she has become and the true story starts to unravel for the audience members. This is also the first time her face is fully visible to the audience as we tried to keep her identity somewhat hidden throughout the first two minutes of the film. We did this through the use of extreme close-ups and a fast edit pace. By keeping this air of mystery about the character it allows the audience to assume what they like about the situation and closely follows the pattern of the 'thriller' genre.
We have also used tight framing throughout our short film to portray the stress and turmoil the main character Megan was suffering from. During every scene Megan is surrounded by other objects and people which makes the space around her look constantly confined. For example, in the kitchen scene Megan is situated with the oven on one side and the washing machine on another, portraying her duties and stresses as a woman. Since we have continued this tight framing throughout the entire film it really highlights Megan's emotional stress and pressure she feels everyday whilst suffering with her mental health condition. We also use this framing in another kitchen scene in which the devil is giving Megan some very sinister advice. Charlie/the devil says the phrase “use bleach; bleach gets out everything” whilst Megan is pouring some fairy liquid into a washing up bowl. The way Megan's hands are positioned frames the devils face perfectly and really help the audience hone in on what she is saying. This framing around the devil shows the audience just how important this quote is to the narrative of the film and also highlights just how powerful an effect the words have on Megan.
Our lighting set the tone for the entire film from start to finish. We stuck with a very sombre mood throughout using very minimal artificial lighting and filming on dull, grey days. During the kitchen scene we tried to shut out the natural daylight shining into the kitchen by closing the blinds. The red-orange blinds created a great lighting effect for our scene as it seems quite distorted and strange.
Our clever music choice allows the audience to fall into the trap of believing the film is of the drama genre. We used the track by Ludovico Einaudi titled 'Fuera Dal Mondo.' This was also the soundtrack to 'This is England' which was our film to research for our media and collective identity course. This beautiful piano instrumental worked perfectly for the first half of out film as it was very emotive and misleading to the audience. We then merged this track with our thriller theme tune for the second half of our film. We timed the transition so that the eerie strings would kick in as soon as Megan opened the boot of her car and was revealed as the villain. This image is very popular in thriller films and this point of view shot from inside the boot has been used countless times. We manipulated the sound in our short film to better suit the thriller genre. For example, when editing the scene shot at the beach we amplified the sound of the wind whistling to make it sound more threatening. This loud and aggressive wind cannot be ignored during this scene and gives the sensation of actually being there at the beach with the three main characters. The rawness of the wind fits in well with this particular raw and emotional scene.
Our costume decisions were thoroughly thought out reflected every aspect of the characters. For example, the main character Megan wore clashing coloured to represent her conflicting thoughts and personalities. She also wore rubber gloves throughout the kitchen scene which showed her domestic responsibilities and worries as a woman. Charlie/the devil wears a red top and black cardigan throughout; red representing anger and lust while black represents death and evil. She is also wearing typical femme fatale make-up, complete with black eye liner and red lips. Katherine/the angel wears a white top and purple cardigan; white to represent being angelic and pure and purple to represent being regal and honourable. These angel and devil characters are archetypes which first started in morality plays in the 15th and 16th centuries. These characters are often seen in thrillers nowadays as metaphors as opposed to real people but the fact that the two girls turn out to be figments of Megan's imagination really ties in with the psychological thriller genre.
The dialogue in this short film clearly anchors it as an adults film. The first time you hear the main character speak her sentence starts with the word 'shit.' This use of taboo language shows the audience who the target should be for this film and that it is clearly not a children's film. This is normal with lots of thrillers as none should be suitable for children and lots feature strong uses of language; most thrillers are certificate 12 and above. We also cut some of the dialogue during the beach scene when the angel and devil are talking to Megan. Instead of hearing all the dialogue we faded it out so that it was just a faint conversation going on in the background. This way the audience would naturally assume what was being said and fill in the blanks. It also made it clear that Megan had enough of hearing the same argument over and over and was deciding to mentally block them out herself. This emphasizes the mental fatigue she was experiencing from the situation as well as her illness.
When editing our film we experimented with the tools available to us to make the film more visually effective. We used slow motion during the beach scene to create a more emotional and moving scene. The slow motion was put into effect while the three female characters looked out to sea. This touching beach scene was inspired by the ending of 'This is England' which really managed to make you fall in love with the main character. We needed to use this method to make the audience feel a connection to Megan so that the final twist would be more significant and shocking when finally revealed. We also used super imposing to make the character Megan seem almost possessed as her mental illness took over. By super imposing the shots it also gave a dizzy effect which implied Megan had a lack of control over her body and mind. The image itself actually looked quite disturbing and tied in well with the thriller theme.
Overall, I think we have tried very hard as a group to make our short film fit the thriller genre. We have tried to follow the generic codes and conventions as well as making it as original as possible. I created my film poster with the purpose of informing the audience that it would be soon coming to the Ipswich Film Festival. My layout was a very simple design with an artistic look to go with the purpose of the poster.
I tried to follow the normal conventions of a film poster by imitating the order of the film's information which is usually situated at the bottom of the poster. I also followed the size order of the information which I had learnt from the research I had done. The most important is always at the top of the list and in the largest font, generally starting with the Film Studio followed by the Director and the Distribution Company. The actors names are then listed in order of popularity or sometimes in alphabetical order. I followed this structure when making my poster but added my own twist. Instead of structuring the information in a diamond format (as is usually seen on posters) I stuck to my theme of angular shapes and shaped the information into a square to fit neatly within the other images on the poster.
The text was plain white which stood out against the black background. I think this formal black and white colour scheme makes the poster look professional and classy, perfect to target the film towards fans of film festivals. The font I used was typical of a thriller poster, a large font with a scratched effect. The scratched effect make it look like a monster of some sort had attacked the poster and gave it a very tense feel. It anchored the poster to the appropriate target audience.
The main image on my poster was a close-up of the main characters face. Each facial feature was then cut into individual sections and rearranged in the poster to give a distorted image. The final image looked as though it was inspired by a Pablo Picasso painting and represented the confusion and split personalities our main character suffers from.
Our tag line of "be careful who you listen to..." anchors the film towards fans of thrillers as it sends out a caution to all who read it. The words 'be careful' suggest something to be frightened of and would hopefully reel in a large audience of adults. The tag line also implies that this film is not intended for children.
I believe I have stuck to the codes and conventions of a poster reasonably well and by using my research into film posters have created a poster that fits in perfectly with the 'thriller' genre.
The colour scheme used for my poster was very dark and dull which reflected the tone of the film. This would give the audience an insight into what to expect when they go to see the film.
My research into film reviews made creating my own a lot easier. I followed the same structure as various others I had looked into and stuck to the usual codes and conventions which make a film review unique.
My film review started off with a brief summary of all the information needed such as it's title, Director and length. I then summarised the plot of the film in one paragraph including the underlying themes that run throughout. I then discussed the main characters and the actors that played them. I then moved on to the location of the filming and the overall structure the film followed (double cycle). I also spoke about the appropriate target audience for this film.
Many reviews include witty comments and share light-hearted banter with the readers. I have attempted to do this in my own review in the form of play on words. Adapted from a quote from the play 'Zara' I have created the more humorous line of, "hell hath no fury like a woman in a small car." I have also kept to an informal register throughout using slang such as 'broke the bank' to relate to my audience.
I have included my own positives, relating back to the artistic way the film was created and also thrown in one negative which is the incredibly low budget the film was made on. I have also made references to other films which discuss the same themes or have other things in common. The films I have made reference to are the following; Fatal Attraction, Misery, and The Sixth Sense for various different reasons.
During the premier of our film we asked our audience to consider the following;
Whether they felt the film was entertaining overall, whether it suited the thriller genre, what their favourite part of the film was and if they had any improvements. We invited five people outside of our media group to watch our movie for the first time. This included three girls and two boys from our sixth form who had not taken part on the media course.
Many people said that the music lifted the film and gave it the eerie feel it needed for the chosen genre. Many members of our audience used the word ‘creepy’ when describing the film which is a response we were all aiming for. Some of the favourite moments of the film included; the moment the boy was revealed to be in the boot, the slow motion ‘iconic’ image on the beach, and the use of super imposing. Our special effects were highly credited amongst our audience especially the use of super imposing. This gave the scene a ‘dizzy’ look and seemed to make the audience uncomfortable which was our preferred response so we were very pleased that it worked.
The girls in the group found the first half of the film very touching and said they didn’t expect it to be so emotional. This shows that we did a good job in fooling the audience into thinking the film would be a drama as opposed to a thriller. This meant the moment when we revealed the film to be a thriller was more shocking and pleasurable to watch.
One negative comment that we received from our audience was that they didn’t understand the institutional context of the film and why the main character reacted that way just because of her illness. This caused them to find the film confusing because they didn’t understand the reasons behind the plot. However, this was only one person’s opinion out of the group of five and he was male. When making our film we were very aware that men would not have the same connection to the film as females and this is why men were not our primary target audience. Even though it was a bit disappointing to receive a piece of negative feedback it was also satisfying to find that the film was not necessarily intended for them anyway. This means all the people that our film was directed at found it entertaining and rated it highly.
Finally, I closed the review off with my overall verdict of the film which was a positive one. I think I have used all the aspects of a film review appropriately and provided a believable film review.
I tried to follow the normal conventions of a film poster by imitating the order of the film's information which is usually situated at the bottom of the poster. I also followed the size order of the information which I had learnt from the research I had done. The most important is always at the top of the list and in the largest font, generally starting with the Film Studio followed by the Director and the Distribution Company. The actors names are then listed in order of popularity or sometimes in alphabetical order. I followed this structure when making my poster but added my own twist. Instead of structuring the information in a diamond format (as is usually seen on posters) I stuck to my theme of angular shapes and shaped the information into a square to fit neatly within the other images on the poster.
The text was plain white which stood out against the black background. I think this formal black and white colour scheme makes the poster look professional and classy, perfect to target the film towards fans of film festivals. The font I used was typical of a thriller poster, a large font with a scratched effect. The scratched effect make it look like a monster of some sort had attacked the poster and gave it a very tense feel. It anchored the poster to the appropriate target audience.
The main image on my poster was a close-up of the main characters face. Each facial feature was then cut into individual sections and rearranged in the poster to give a distorted image. The final image looked as though it was inspired by a Pablo Picasso painting and represented the confusion and split personalities our main character suffers from.
Our tag line of "be careful who you listen to..." anchors the film towards fans of thrillers as it sends out a caution to all who read it. The words 'be careful' suggest something to be frightened of and would hopefully reel in a large audience of adults. The tag line also implies that this film is not intended for children.
I believe I have stuck to the codes and conventions of a poster reasonably well and by using my research into film posters have created a poster that fits in perfectly with the 'thriller' genre.
The colour scheme used for my poster was very dark and dull which reflected the tone of the film. This would give the audience an insight into what to expect when they go to see the film.
My research into film reviews made creating my own a lot easier. I followed the same structure as various others I had looked into and stuck to the usual codes and conventions which make a film review unique.
My film review started off with a brief summary of all the information needed such as it's title, Director and length. I then summarised the plot of the film in one paragraph including the underlying themes that run throughout. I then discussed the main characters and the actors that played them. I then moved on to the location of the filming and the overall structure the film followed (double cycle). I also spoke about the appropriate target audience for this film.
Many reviews include witty comments and share light-hearted banter with the readers. I have attempted to do this in my own review in the form of play on words. Adapted from a quote from the play 'Zara' I have created the more humorous line of, "hell hath no fury like a woman in a small car." I have also kept to an informal register throughout using slang such as 'broke the bank' to relate to my audience.
I have included my own positives, relating back to the artistic way the film was created and also thrown in one negative which is the incredibly low budget the film was made on. I have also made references to other films which discuss the same themes or have other things in common. The films I have made reference to are the following; Fatal Attraction, Misery, and The Sixth Sense for various different reasons.
During the premier of our film we asked our audience to consider the following;
Whether they felt the film was entertaining overall, whether it suited the thriller genre, what their favourite part of the film was and if they had any improvements. We invited five people outside of our media group to watch our movie for the first time. This included three girls and two boys from our sixth form who had not taken part on the media course.
Many people said that the music lifted the film and gave it the eerie feel it needed for the chosen genre. Many members of our audience used the word ‘creepy’ when describing the film which is a response we were all aiming for. Some of the favourite moments of the film included; the moment the boy was revealed to be in the boot, the slow motion ‘iconic’ image on the beach, and the use of super imposing. Our special effects were highly credited amongst our audience especially the use of super imposing. This gave the scene a ‘dizzy’ look and seemed to make the audience uncomfortable which was our preferred response so we were very pleased that it worked.
The girls in the group found the first half of the film very touching and said they didn’t expect it to be so emotional. This shows that we did a good job in fooling the audience into thinking the film would be a drama as opposed to a thriller. This meant the moment when we revealed the film to be a thriller was more shocking and pleasurable to watch.
One negative comment that we received from our audience was that they didn’t understand the institutional context of the film and why the main character reacted that way just because of her illness. This caused them to find the film confusing because they didn’t understand the reasons behind the plot. However, this was only one person’s opinion out of the group of five and he was male. When making our film we were very aware that men would not have the same connection to the film as females and this is why men were not our primary target audience. Even though it was a bit disappointing to receive a piece of negative feedback it was also satisfying to find that the film was not necessarily intended for them anyway. This means all the people that our film was directed at found it entertaining and rated it highly.
Finally, I closed the review off with my overall verdict of the film which was a positive one. I think I have used all the aspects of a film review appropriately and provided a believable film review.
New Media – “A broad term in media studies that emerged in the later part of the twentieth century. Some examples include the Internet, websites, computer multimedia, computer games, CD-ROMS, and DVDs.” - http://www.wikipedia.org/
Having the ability to post our blogs online meant that the public had access to our blogs. This made our audience much larger as any one world wide could view our blogs and have an opinion on it. This did some what change the way I wrote as I was very aware that I wasn’t just writing the blog for myself; millions of other people could be reading it too. However, this use of the internet and blogs is perfect for distribution the film as we could reach a massive audience by uploading the short film onto the website.
With new media came democratisation. New technology has helped to democratise media in the sense that everyone now has equal opportunities to create films/magazines/web pages etc. Beforehand just the rich and successful had the tools and equipment needed to create films, however nowadays with the help of new media and democratisation even the ‘small’ people can make films that are almost as good as quality as million dollar films.
One negative to new media, however, is the noise created from having this freedom to create whatever you want. Since the democratisation of media everyone has the ability to post films online that your individual film would get lost amongst the noise of all the others. Since there are so many millions of different things on the internet it would be difficult to locate just one.
Media has helped me to create my short film by making the process easier and more accessible. New media helped me with my research into short films. I used the website http://www.youtube.com/ to research other short films to familiarise myself with the codes and conventions. This helped me to understand what aspects are needed to create a good film.
During the planning stages of our filming we used mobile phones to text one another to arrange meetings and days to shoot. Although this doesn’t seem much of a luxury nowadays it definitely helped us to complete our film.
I have used a range of new media including the compact digital cameras we used to film on. This made the process of filming much easier as it could be taken anywhere due to its compact size. This camera was also easy to upload onto another piece of software which made transferring the film onto a computer quick and simple. This meant we didn’t waste any time and had more time to edit our film.
The editing software we used was also a new form of media. This technology was not around before the twentieth century and has made film making very simple and accessible to all. The editing software allowed us to experiment with tools such as slow motion, artificial zoom, sound overlapping and super imposing. This allowed us to be more creative with our films as well as our posters because of the range of new tools we had to work with.
A film poster is used to promote the film to a specific audience; mostly this is done through anchoring. A film poster is closely linked to the film and helps to sell it to the audience members. The poster represents everything the film is about for example; the use of colours will reflect the mood of the film, the tag line will anchor the film to the themes and the imagery will give the audience an idea of the plot.
The combination of my media texts is crucially important as my poster will promote my film and posters are major targeting tool for all films, they are the initial meeting point between film and text. I was very aware of this point when creating my poster.
A film review however, does not have a close relationship with the film or the film makers. It is just someone’s opinion of the film and is completely independent. The reviewer can choose to write a positive or negative review and the film makers will have no control. Unlike the film poster the review doesn’t always have to make the film look good or promote it in any way. However, there are a few exceptions. In most cases the relationship between the text or film and the reviewer will be objective however, when considering the target audience and or the public opinion, reviewers can find themselves mediating the text in another way. A specific way they think their audience would want it to be mediated.
However, this relationship between the review and the film could be disrupted by ownership issues. An example of this is Rupert Murdoch who owns the film studio Twentieth Century Fox, The Times Newspaper and Sky Television amongst many others. This means that he will be able to produce the film using Fox, then control the reviews in ‘The Times’ newspaper so they are only positive and then broadcast them on his company ‘Sky’ to reach a large audience. This means that the texts involved within the Murdoch Corporation can all be closely linked to one another but presumably less valid.
