final post

I found this project a great deal more difficult than i exspected because i found the technical side of it difficult to grasp, and there are things that i would like to change, i definatley would have had a more complex story bercause we struggled to get alot of shots i would have also used a diffrent form of editing software this is because it was very difficult to learn how to use and there were also issues with transfering the video to the software.

I am pleased with my work because i feel that we acuratley portrayed the sub genre we chose and we also challged the conventions of this genre that we wanted to.

Thankyou for reading this blog i hope that it has fulfilled all the criteria that is exspected and i hope you enjoyed our film.

what did you learn in progression from preliminary task to the main one

during the progression between my preliminary task and main task i have learnt alot. The main things were how to use editing techniques to achieve what i want in the preliminary task i did not rely understand how to accuratly use the technolgy to create my preliminary task but by the time it came to the main one i had more understanding in how to use the media software.

I have also learnt how to manage my and my groups time more efficently. In the preliminary task we were rushed to get it finished and this led to work being done wrong and we had people doing the wrong task or the same. We corrected this during the main task and it was this change to organisation that allowed us to complete the task with enough time to do good editing and to polish it off so it looked good.

I have also learnt the importance that good audience feedback is, i discovered that for the preliminary task we did not rely understand what people wanted and this meant we did not have a good direction in what to do. we amended this in our main task because it gave us an idea of what people would like and what they wanted and this was the real bases for our chosing of genre and what to include in our film.

I have also learnt how a good variety and range of camera shots and angels can greatly improve your work. i the first task i did not rely pay attention to details of what everything meant and portrayed to the audience. In the main piece i paid alot more attention to what effect the shots,music and editing has on the audience and it was this attention that allowed me to make sure i conform to the forms and conventions of an action thriller but also what i can do to challenge them aswell.

how did you use technologies in the construction of your work

through out the consruction throughout out media piece and subseqent blog i have used a range of diffrent technologies to construct my work.

The first one was the media studies department camera this was a vital piece of equipment because it allowed us to capture the film sequence and then transfer it to sony vegas movie maker which was another key part technology, it allowed us to edit our film so that we could accuratly portray the knid of scenes and feelings in the way that we wanted, it also let us sync the movie with the music and sound this was vital because without this abilty we would not have been able to create a high standard of work. We also used the internet to do our research into the diffrent styles of films and also to download diffrent melodies that we could use to structure a music rhythem for our movie clip. We also used microsoft office excel,word and paint to create the graphs that we used to process and represent the data we recovered from questionaires.
I also used the computer to get screen shots from my piece oof work this was important because it allowed me to give examples and evidence for what i was saying. I also used You tube to get the video trailers for the movies that i researched this was vital because it lets people see what im saing and this also toaught me how to use embeding codedes to create and add videos to a blog.

Throughout this piece of work i have learnt a lot of new skills in creating and constructing a media piece. the first one was how to use diffrent camera angles and shots to portray and emphasize diffrent things to the audience. i learnt the importance of and how to effectivly use.

• point of view shot
• tilting
• tracking
• high angeled shots
• mid shots
• close ups
• zooming

I have also learnt how to use the camera to deal with difficult enviromental situations for example sun spot and how to reduce and remove the effect the wind can have on the microphone.

I have definatly learnt alot about editing techniques and the importance it has on a film. I have learnt how to legthen and slow scene downs, how to repeat them, how to add special effects and also the importance and effect different speeds of editing has on the pace of a movie. This was very vital because it allowed me to use the forms and convention of a typicasl thriller film but it also let me change and challeged theese forms and conventions.

The making of the dvd title also taught me new techniques because it showed me how to use a current template butchange it to suite me it also gave me the chance te learn how use technology to make something look more professional.

How did you target the audience

We targeted the audience in several diffrent ways.

If we were really producing this movie we would first attract our audience by using a range of advertising sources, we would relise a trailer to attract fans of action thriller movies, we would put up posters with big writing a lots of colour so people can see and realise that our film is out, we would also attempt to get articles iin magazines that focus in particular action/thriller movies. we would also use a good dvd cover so people could recognise the movie on a shop shelf.

we have targeted people and in particular fans of action thrillers, to our movie because in our opening sequence we have created tension by the use of editing, connected the character with the audience by using close up shots of him, made the audience intrigued and interested in the film because they will want to know what will happen and what the film is about. We have attracted them by the use of audience feedback because the reason why did an action/thriller style movie was because our feedback sheets told us that it was the moxt popular type of thriller sub-genre and this shows that people will be attracted to our film because of the catergory of genre it falls under.







We have also used the sub genre to attract our audience because we know due to research and questionaires that the majority of both male and females would want to watch a thriller style movie

• 1= thriller


• 2= action


• 3=comedy


• 4=romance



• 5=horror
  
• This graph shows us that men are most likely to watch a thriller and because the 2nd highest was action this shows how an action thriller would be a very popular film and would attract the audience

• 1=thriller


• 2=action


• 3=comedy


• 4=romance


• 5=horror

This graph shows us that women also prefer thriller films over other genres however they also like romantic and this suggest that an action thriller would be more popular to men rather than women.

Theese graphs show that we have targeted the audience because we have chosen the most popular main genre for both sexes.

I can further prove that we have targeted the audience is the resukts that we gotback about what people thought of our film

This graph shows us that the majority of people who watched our film enjoyed it and this shows how we have targeted the correct audience because if we targeted the wrong audience they would not have enjoyed it.

This graph shows us what the audience liked about our film the fact that they liked the camera angels shows that we used them in the correct way that would appeal to our target audience. It also shows us that people enjoyed the plot of the movie this further gives evidence of how our film is targeted at the correct audience.

This graph shows us that we have targeted the correct audience because the majority of people enjoyed the film and because it was targeted at people who enjoy action thrillers it shows how we have targeted a particular audience.

who is the audience

The main audience we would be aiming at would be people of the ages of 15 this is for several reasons the first is that because of the use of explicite language the bbfc would not allow us to distributed to any one under the age of 15. There are also scenes suchas the torture scene that could lead to people reacting it and this would create moral unrest for example the game man hunt was banned because a child copies the way in which you kill people on the game this was due to the fact that he did not understand the diffrence between reality and fantasy and he became desensevied from the violence and this another key reason why we would aim our film at 15+ aged people.

We also feel that a younger person would not be able to notice the ways in which we have challeged the forms and conventions of our sub genre this is because they would not be able to recognise and distiguish the simularities and diffrences compared to other action thriller films, we also feel that a younger person would not be able to understand the story line and would thus get bored because it is not just full action you actually have to be able to understand the story line and you also have to be able to attisepate a twist in the plot.

We will also attempt to aim it at bothe sexes this is because we do not want to limit ourselfes in terms of what they may want to see in a fiklm and we have done this by including this that a male and female would enjoy for example we have put action into it because this is more likely to appeal to a man but we have also included a good storyline with twist in and this may appeal more to women. We have also not made the film sex dominated we have used both male and female characters this is because we wanted everyone to be able to connect with the characters.

who would distribute your film and why

The main media institute that would distribute my film would be smaller film businesses this is because it is a low budget first film so a big company suchas mgm would not want to risk damaging there reputaion by releasing a bad movie. We would look at getting a company that had a lot of advertising power to distribute our film this is because we want to let the public know that there is a new film about and it would be important to let the public know who the director is because he will be an unfamiliuar name if we did this then it could also lead to new bigger movies that because the director was well known would generate more interest. We would also be looking for some one suchas shooting stars ltd to distribute our film this is because they have a hard core fan base that like action thriller movies and this would also generate alot of word and mouth advertising because they are more likely to enjoy our movie and hus give it better ratings. We would also try and get a range of diffrent companies so we could get a large variety of diffrent audience feedback from a range of sources and this would allow us to no what to change and improve on in the future.

how did we represent particular social groups?

In our film we have represented several diffrent social groups by using sterotypical charcters that you would exspect to see in an action thriller movie. The first one is the spy who we have portrayed as very professional, well trained and determined to do his job this represents the typical give all attitude that you would exspect to see from a spy or criminal in an action thriller movie. The way he is dressed further represents this social group because unlike james bond he is not wearing a tuxedo or nice clothes he representing the new image of spies which have come about due to shows suchas spooks because they where practicul clothes.

The second social group we are represening is the section controller she is representing the new bread of It wiz kids as it were. The way in which she is handling the task in the terms of organsing her priorities suggest that she has had a university education and has probaly achieved a high standard degree in IT. We have tried to represent this social group because in shows suchas spooks there are always theese very smart young people who do fabulouse things with technology. The clothes she is wearing also portrays this because compared to the spy her clothes are fashionable in terms of a fashionable style of jacket and this further shows this social group because they are often wearing fashionable clothes.

We have also represented the stero typical social group of the spy in the interogation scene. we have done this by making him act cocky and calmly handles the situation, we got this idea from casino royale because in this movie james bond acts cocky to deal with the situation.

We have also showed in terms of the interogator the stero typical image of a mafia boos or high level criminal we have done this by making him wear smart clothes which gives biman appearences of upper classness but his actions are very violent, we got thi idea from the godfather because they are all dressed in suites and nice clothes but act violent and this is how we have represented a sterotypical social group.

1. how did you use conventions of exsiting opening sequences

We used the conventions of an opening sequences of a action/thriller film because we started off with an establishing shot of the area and the house and then we showed the area the spy was in the backgarden and then we showed him entering the house and then we showed the audience what he was their for. We also used the conventions of exsiting opening sequences because we connected the audience with the character and we gave them an incite itnto his life by the form of traumatic event which was his torture. We have challeged the forms and conventions of a action/thriller because we have created quite a slow paced scene whereas very often it will be a fast adreniling pumping exsperience we did this on purpose because we wanted to make it more realistic compared to othe thriller action films that are some time a bit ridiculouse. we havent showed any violence in the first clip because we wanted to create tension for the rest of the movie and this is simular to other action thriller films suchas dirty harry. It also challeges the forms and conventions of action thriller films because very often the begining is packed with violence for example pulp fiction. we further challeged the forms and conventions of the spy world because they are very often seen as wearing suits and being in casinos suchas james bond where as outr spie is sneaking around in normal clothes. e did this so it would seem more realistic and would thus connect better with our audience.

Editing

The deiting process was rather difficult due to the fact that we ad issues when trying to convert of video so it works on sony vegas movie maker. However we managed to over come this issue by changing the format of the footage to one that was compatable with the media software.

The post production was reletivly easy because we had have previouse exspirence from our previouse course so we know how to use diffrent techniques in terms of effects and different speed of editing. We also had planned out earlier what we wanted our film to look like so we had a rough idea of what sort of cuts to use to achieve the tension and suspense we wanted.

The first key thing that we did was to sync the music with the film with did this by using variouse techniques, the first was to trim the film down so that we could manipulate the footage to fit in with the music. We also had to make sure that we used the correct pace of music so it portrayed the correct feeling and created the scene this was very imporant because it was a key part of creating tension that an action thriller relies on.

We then worked on the special effects that we would require for the interogation scene. we decided to use a grainy grey film over the scene so it gave the impression it was from a security camera this was vital in portrayng to the audience that it is a very seriouse video tape and one which should not have been scene.

we the decided to make a dvd menu we did this for several reasons the first was to show realism as if we were actualy distributing it to the audience and the second reason was to make it look professional so that we would be able to attract better film distribution companies.

filming

After we had sorted out the script and the props we got down to the actual filming

The actual filming of the film sequence took around three days however due to the actor being injured we had to stop for about a week for him to rest and heal. the filming was easy because of our planning we knew exactly what to do. The first part of the film we did was the main part this was because we knew that it would be the hardest dection of the movie and wanted to make sure that we got it done to a high standard. The filming took place within a friends house and backgarden we did this so that we were positive we could spend long periods of time filming and it also fitted in with our story because of the lay out of the house and guarden. The next bit that we filmed was the beginning this was because the weather conditions were good and we didnt want to chance waiting much longer. this was reletavily easy because the garden was big enough for us to use a variety of shots from diffrent angles. We then filmed the interogation scene, the main issue with this was actually hitting the person because on the one hand it had to look good but also be safe and this took a few tries to get right. We then filmed the section scenes theese were easy only only took around 30 minutes this was because they were all one shot. The final piece was the car driving away we left this till last because we needed to make sure that it fitted in with the rest of the footage and didnt look out of place.

The first shot we did was an establishing shot of the house we did this so we could set the scene and let the audience know what is happening and what sort of surrondings. this relates to our chosen sub genre because most action thrillers begin with a shot to set the scene

It then quickly jumped of a mid range shot as you see the spy entering the scene we did this so you could see the surrondings and it tells you that the spy is not meant to be there because hes coming through the trees. This relates to our chosen sub genre because very often the actors are doing things there not suppose to do. We have also made him wear clothes which suit his character because he does not look out of the ordinary for example if he was wearing a black suite he would look suspciouse we noticed this from our research because they were all wearing pratical clothes and it also means the audience can connect easily with him

The next shot is a low angeled shot where you cannot see his head just his body we did this for several reasons the 1st was because it shows how he is powerful because he is dominationg the shot and the fact you cant see his face makes him seem not human. we made the edit between this scene and the next slow so that it seemed menacing. This is a very typical shot that you will see in alot of action/thriller films this is because it is very good at giving an impression of some one who is in powere and this is vital because there is always a central character in an action thriller

the next shot is a close up looking through the window of the door at the spies face we did this because it shows how the spy is connected with the house and it shows how hes trying to get in and you can also see the concentration on his face to show he is determined. this shot also relates to our chosen sub genre because it shows the actors emotion and lets the audience connect with him and this is vital because its this emotion the audience connects with and will determine if he is a good or evil person

This leads nicely into the next shot because we have it fading in and this gives the impression that it is taking a long time and we keep the same shot because we see the spy begin to worry because its taking a long time. this further proves how we are relating to a action thriller because alot depends on the actors emotion and this shots portrays his.

we then have a quick edit to a close up shot of the spy in the house e have done this to show the audience that he is in and it is a quick edit because it shock you because you dont exspect to see it. This is vital and connects with our sub genre because it relies heavily on shock and aw

We then have a shot of the door handle opening we have done this to create tension because the audience do not know whats in the room or why he is going in there it also shows how he is forcing his way into the scene and we have done this to show he has power. This is also a typical shot you would see in an action thriller because it is great at creating suspense and this is vital in creating a good action/thriller

we then have a mid range shot of the spy entering the room we have used a mid range shot because it shows the audience part of the room but still keeps the tension there because they cant see all of it you can also see the spy touch his com set which makes the audience wonder who he is talkin to. this shot also relates to our chosen sub genre because it further enhances the subs and tension which a good action thriller thrives on.

we then have a close up of the computer and we have done this to show the significance of it and it shows the audience what the spy is after we also see the spies hand touching it we did this to show how he is almost claiming it we have kept the editing slow to keep up that tension which is sonominos with action thriller films.

we then have a cut so we can see the person he is talking to we have done this so the audience gets to see who he was communicatibg with but we further create tension because they want to know who she is and in action/thriller films it is very typical for this to happen. This also relates to the conventions of an action thriller because spies are normally supported by outside help we know this because of our research. We have also made the women wear clothes that are normal most action thrillers do this and so further turns our movie into an action thriller

we then have a shot of computer files this suggest to the audience what they are looking for and will keep the audience incaptivated because they will want to know what the files are about and whos they are we have also kept the editing speed slow so that there is tension because the longer he is there the more risk of being caught. This also relates to the conventions of an action thriller because in most modern ones it envolves alot of technolgy hence the use of computers.

we then have a very fast cut to the file on the computer which shows the spy being tortured we have used a mid range shot here so the audieence can see the surrondings it is also in black and white so it looks like a security camera this suggets to the audience that it is in a secure location. The interviewer is also being immediatly violent towards the spy by hitting this shocks the audience and along with the quick editing changes the pace and intesity of the film. This also fits in with the conventions of action thriller because they will very often be tortured and the clothes in which we have made the torture wear are smart and this is very often the cause in action thriller torture scenes.

we then have a close up of the spy we have done this to show how he is connected to the computer file and this shows the audience how he is envolved and explains why he is after it so much

we then have a low angled shot of the spy leaving we have used this kind of shot to show now that he has the movie file he is in control and this i why we have put him in a position of power.

we then have a close up of the spy we have used a quick paced edit to show how he is leaving quickly this creates tension in the audience and makes them feel the same as the actor.

we then have a close up of his feet walking over the camera we have done this to show how he is powerful because he is overpowering in the shot whereas at the start when he entered he was very much surronded by the surronding area.

We the have a mid range shot of the spy running towards a car we have him running away to show to the audience that he is leaving the scene we have used a reletivly quicked pace editing to intesive the fact that he is running this further shows you how our film is an action thriller because their is very often a car chase envolved or some form of cars.

Preliminary task

We created a prelimanary task for several reasons the first that it would give us a chance to use the camera and editing software, it would give us a good impresion of what we could do in terms of camera shots, angls and llighting and it would also show us who was suited to act in our movie.

Planning 6

The next key thing that we did was to create a script for the film we wanted to make sure that the audience could understand what was bein said and it also had to be said to keep up the appearence of being secretive
Script for Queen and Country

Starting with an establishing shot of the house,Then see the main character coming out of the trees in a sneaking spy like fashion,The a mid-shot of the character making his way across the garden at an low angle,Then a close up of the main character picking the lock of the door there is a fade into the next scene, where he has picked the lock and entering the house,Then there is a fast cut to him walking through the house this is a close up tracking shot.,Then that reaction shot to the handle of a door being pushed down as he enters the room this is a close upFast cut to the mid shot of him looking at the camera as he sees the computer,He reaches to his earpiece and says “got it” then stars to walk towards the computer, as he is doing this he says “what file am I looking for”,Cut to a shot of the computer loading up he is saying “what file am I looking for mate” ,then when the screen comes on “oh shit its password protected”,There is a fade cut to the sector the spy’s base where a technians says “this is sector, blackbird come in the password is mongoose94”,Then the is a fast cut to a point of view shot of blackbird searching the file of the computer where he find a video file where he said “what the”Then there is a fast cut to the screen where a slow zoom out so the torture of a fellow agent. He is hit with a wooden stick by an interrogator where he states “you know you only causing yourself more pain”The agent replies “well you know pissing you off aren’t I”The interrogator head locks the agent with the wooden stick demanding “tell me where is it me” where the agent replies“Fuck you” then the interrogator throws the agent to the fall.Then they is a fast cut to blackbird again saying “Yeah sector it’s me they got agent six on here getting interrogated, I thought he was in Serbia I well, yeah he is isn’t he, well the Serbians must of gotten him.Then there is a point of view shot of the computer screen as the information is being downloaded he says “come on come on”There is a low angle shot of him walking away from the computer towards the doorThen there is a shot of him walking out the door of the study where he contacts sector saying “just on my way out sector”Then there is a cut to sector where she replies “transportation being dispatched eta five minutes”Then there is a low angled long shot of Blackbird feet where he is sneaking away quite quickly going back through the treesThen there is a fast cut to Blackbird running to a car jumping in it then it speeding off camera.That the end of the opening sequence.

Planning 5

The next key part of the planning was to decide what props we could use in our film. We got the ideas from research of the movies that we had watched, they are what you would exspect to see in an action thriller. However we did not use fantastic gadgets suchas in the bond films we chose for ordinary objects we did this because we felt it would better connect the audience with our film. It also meant that the movie would not be glamorised like a hoolywood movie and this was because we did not ant it to get to fantasticaly ridiculouse.

fujitsu siemens laptop for the spies support

packard bell computer for the terrorists pc

Lock picks to enter the house

ear phones for the spies communication

vauxhall astra sport for the get away car

Planning 4

The next thing we decided to do was to play around with the camera and to get a feel for what sort of shots we were looking for and what would work in relevence to the scene we wished to set. This was very useful because it made us realise what the limitation were on our ability to get a variety of diffrent shots and angles it also showed us what worked well and what didnt in terms of keeping with in our sub genre. We made a list of what shots worked well
Camera angles/movements
mid shots
close ups all varieties
low and high angled shots
tracking shots
point of view shots
This was also very useful because it gave us a idea of what sequence we were going to perform and also what kind of shots were going to film what.

Planning 3

After doing this research we felt confident enough to proceed with ideas that we had. The main ones we had were

a drug meeting
a spy breaking into a house
a meeting over a botched bulgary from a high security facility
a soldier being hunted by a psychotic sniper.

We decided to attempt at briefly filoming each one so we could get a good idea of how it would work and also which one would be best place to offer us the oporunities to use a large number of camera shots and editing but while staying within our chosen genre. After doing brief filming attenpts and basic story boards for each one of our ideas we noticed that some of them would be very difficult to do. The first idea that we decided to cut was the soilder being hunted by a sniper we felt that although the story line fits in with the sub genere and it would give us the oppurtunity to us a number of diffrent media devices we felt that we could not accuratley portray the film sequence for the simple fact of time. Another problem with this idea was that one of our actors injured himself during filming and this persuaded us that it may be to dangerouse to get good shots. it also led to us creationg a risk assessment so we would not injure ourselves further.

The next idea that got cut was the meeting over a botched burgulary job, this was because we felt that we could not get a disent location to film and also we could not rely portray to the audience what the meeting was about and this may lead them to lose interest in the film sequence.

After cutting theese 2 ideas it left us with 2 strong possibilities

the first was a drug meeting and the second was a spy breaking into a house. To help us decide we created better more detailed story boards for each idea. We did this so we could get a ruff idea of what we could include in the clip im terms of sound, camra shots and basic story. We then compared the two together and decided that the spy breaking into the house would be the strongest in terms of keeping in the conventions of the sub genere, use of media devices the abilty to adapt the editing to show diffrent pace and the oppurtunity to use a good a variety of camarea shots. We did not choice the drug meeting because we were very limited in what we could achieve in terms off diffrent camera shots and we felt that this lack of variety would hamper our mark and make filming and editing difficult. we also planned and acted each one to see which one worked better and to get a feel of what we could and had to include the filming. After we went through the drug meeting we saw that there was some negatives about the plot in the fact that it was too short.

The next thing that we did after chocing to do the spy idea was to search for suitable locations. We knew that there had to be a house for him to break into , the house also had to have alot of corners and diffrent level objects so we could optimise the surrondings and it waould allow us to use a variety of low and high angel shots. We also thought that the outside of the house should have some treese and places for him to hide and sneak around it was also hoped that the trees would allow us to play with lighting to portray the secrecy and stealth of the spy.

This is the first house we looked at it had some strong and good points about it. The first thing was it had some cover in terms of trees but not rely enough to match our specifications it was also sigted on a busy road and there was alot of passeres by and this would affect our filming

This is the second house we looked at using like the first one it had positives and negatives about it. the main positive was the fact that it was out of the way and thus we would not be interupted by things going by however it is two open at the front so would not rely allow us to use enough camera shots of the spy sneaking up two the house and we decided not to use it

This is the final house we looked at. we felt that it provided

enough cover to allow us to film good shots of the spy. Its appearence was also good because it allowed us to set the kind of sinister mood

and it was this reason that we used it.