Construction: How do I know that "Rewind" is a Horror movie and not a thriller movie? and interim

As you can see, "Rewind" has become a horror movie. In order for me to establish this, I had to do research on horror movies.

As a result, my research enabled me to identify why "Rewind" is a horror movie. Down below is a list of horror conventions that "Rewind" establish.

Camera shots/editing:

Fast editing during shock - At this point the audience feel very confused, the tension is built as the enigma's set in place and the audience at this point are very focused.
Slow and long cut when tension is built - for example when the female character picks up the image, the shot is very slow, however, before that the shots are very fast, this builds tension as the audience are able to see the importance of the image.
Long shots to emphasis vulnerability of protagonist
Close up of threaten face - This makes the audience feel sympathy towards the female character
Panning shot to build tension - In "Rewind" there is a victim who sitting on a chair, she then turns round, at this point the antagonist, (killer) has approaching however, a panning shot takes place so that the audience are in the perspective of the victim. At this point the audience are very engaged as they want to know whether the victim will see the antagonist, and if the victim doesn't see her, the audience know that the antagonist will still kill her. Therefore, at this point tension is built to be very high.

Now I will talk about the mise- en scene for horror movies and how it relates to "Rewind"


Mise-en- scene:

Dark, mysterious costumes for the antagonist or threat - In "Rewind" the character is wearing black, this emphasizes on the fact that she is a killer, and that there is death associated with her where ever she goes.For example, in funerals people wear "black" when somebody dies. Therefore, the same way, the character is wearing black to represent death.
Ominous setting in this case a house

Sound:

Silence is used to build tension - At the beginning of rewind, tension is raised through silence, which can also build an enigma for the audiences; also at this point the audience attention is grabbed because they want to know what happens next.
Music is used to slowly increase anxiety in audience - when the female character puts the image back down a "music box" is playing.
Loud sudden beats to shock the audience - when there is constant flashing shots, loud noises suddenly play, this shocks the audiences and makes them feel even more scared.
Diagetic sound - this takes place when the female character looks at the body. At this point the audience feel scared and are shocked to know what they see, moreover they are positioned in the victims view therefore feel sympathetic towards her.

To conclude, by establishing the conventions of a Horror movie, I felt that "Rewind" more likely fits in under the genre: "Horror". However, just to make sure I decided to watch a few horror movies, these consist of "Saw", "The ring", "the grudge" "butterfly effect" and "The howling". One this each movie had equivalent was the use of flashing shots. Each movie represented shots flashing or a flash back. Moreover, "Rewind" constantly has flash backs and flashing shots which builds tension, as the audience attention at this point is very focused.

Having done some shots with my group I decided to work individually by exploring and experimenting. The reason behind this was because with the shots that we produced, whilst having a look at them in school I was not very fond and happy with them. Therefore, I wanted to shoot better footage however, my group refused and that is why I thought working on my own would be much better. I feel by working individually I was able to achieve many things, for example, I explored how to create effects on my footage by editing them. Moreover, this enabled me to understand how important effects are for example, by using effects it grabs the audience attention. Furthermore, I can now create credits by adding effects on them using a program called "Live type". At the beginning when doing my Juno video I was unaware of this program and was clueless on how it functions however, now I feel very confident to use it, therefore, can create a lot of credits using different effects. Moreover, I learnt that instead of having a range of different effects for the credits, it is better to keep the effect consistent. Also, I strongly believed I used my camera angles and shots wisely for example, when the female character picks up the image, there shot is a close up of the image. This puts the audience in the female position and signifies the significance of it. Therefore, I believe I learnt how camera angles and shots can make the audience feel a particular way about the atmosphere, location, prompts, costumes and characters.


Down below is a list of all my achievement along this process:


1. Expanding my skills on "Final Cut Express"
2. Using a range of camera angles
3. Broadening my skills on editing
4. Understanding the importance of credits
5. Expanding my skills on "Live type" when creating the credits
6. Understanding mise en scene and using it wisely in my video
7. Combing shots together
8. The importance of sound and why thriller opening usually have non-diegetic sound
9. How to identify my target audience
10. The importance of planning
11. Importance of research
12. Conducing research
13. Conducting Planning
14. How evaluating and analyzing other thrillers can help me make my thriller video
15. Understanding of equipment and how to use it
16. understanding and a better knowledge of horror conventions

Construction: peer-assessment

By analyzing Mathuras rough cut it helps me improve mine, by inspiring me with ideas. For example, the way in which sound was used, was very effective in creating tension. It really grasped the audience's attention by making them feel emotions, such as fear and curiosity, which effectively made the audience want to carry on watching. In the opening scene, the music is quite deep and intense, therefore it created suspense. Furthermore, the groups use of lighting was very good. They used the dolly very well, for example, when the character is on the floor, you can see her facial expressions very vividly, as the lighting brings attention to the female characters face. This engages the audience and they are made to feel sympathetic towards the character because she looks as though shes been hurt by someone. One reason for this suggestion is because the light clearly shows the blood on her face. However, if there was no light on that character the audience would not feel connected to her and understand her importance. Furthermore, one thing she could improve on it adding more credits, if they included more credits it would makes the movie more seem more real. Also, one thing I would recommend them to do to improve is, the costume. The character costume does not signify the characters personality and establish the character. Therefore, the audience are not as attached to the character. If the character costume consisted her wearing dark colors it can signify death, which promotes the characters past as in her past there is a lot of death involved. Moreover, Mathura's thriller opening introduces "mood". For example, at the beginning of the thriller movie, the audience are sympathetic towards the protagonist, laying on the floor, however, the mood changes as she is suddenly reminded with a flash back. At this point the tension is building up and the audience are engaged. However, the mood then suddenly changes when the female character identifies a body on the floor. The atmosphere becomes very tensed and at this point the audience are urgent to know why that body is there. Therefore, have a lot of questions that needs to be answered. The opening also introduces the narrative, for example, it illustrates there is a girl, that wakes up in a strange room, who remembers only a bit of her past. The female character then sees loads of pictures on the wall, her hands reaches on image and by mistakes she drops it onto the floor, just then she is shocked by what she sees. The body on the floor is the exact same girl that she saw in the picture she dropped. Through the use of camera, body language, lighting, editing, effects and facial expression of the characters, the narrative is told. The effects of the titles are consistent which is also a positive thing, because it doesn't distract the audience attention from the main focus point. Furthermore, there are loads of way in which enigma is established for example, when the dead body is lying on the floor automatically the audience start to raise questions in there head; "Why is that body there?", and "who killed her?". This makes the audience want to find out the missing pieces of the puzzle. Overall, I think that there video was very good especially due to the sound.

Construction: Feed back

I showed my class my rough cut and they gave me feed back. They told me what areas I should improve on and thing that worked effectively.For example, one of the things I need to include are the credits, they said if i don't have credits the opening is not realistic. Also, another thing I should focus on is, audio. They explained that I should carry on including a bit more audio because during the opening some bit have audio therefore, it will create excitement for the audience, however, it just stops half way and therefore, does not seem to be realistic.
One thing they said I did very good is adding in effects, they said that it was something unusual and unique, moreover I explained how I was inspired by Memento's video therefore, added similar effect. Also, they like the idea that each clip was short however, when the character picked up the picture and it slowed down, it made them see that the person in that picture has some sort of connection towards the character therefore, makes them what to know what it is.

Construction: Rough cut 2

Here is my second rough cut.

Construction: Storyboard changes

This is a picture of what my storyboard was for my thriller movie.

However, along the process whilst shooting these shots, the storyboard starting changing because some shots did not flow as expected. Moreover, the plot was kept the same; the female character wakes up in a room where she's confused. She see's pictures on the wall and picks one up. Then the picture in her hand falls and she sees a body on the floor. She matches the image with the body. Here are some examples, how my story board changed:

As you can see in our storyboard the first shot is meant to be a close up of a book, however, I decided the first shot would be black then suddenly have a medium - close up shot of the character body on the floor. The will creates more suspense for the audience, rather then the first shot being a book. Furthermore, another change that I made is the few last shot consist of people faces being zoomed into. At first I thought this idea was very good simple because it makes the audience curious as to who these people are however, later I realized by having so many faces the audience attention my be neglected therefore, I decided to end the opening with a close up of a persons eye. I also added effects; the eye makes the audience think that someone is watching them and in that way they are connected to the opening as it builds suspense. Furthermore, in our storyboard it does not represents the reverse shots in my thriller opening. I decided to do a couple of reverse shots, to signify the importance of the title, "Rewind". By having reverse shots, it makes the audience think there's something in the characters past, therefore, want to know what it is and the importance of each thing shown in the shot. Furthermore, another change I made was shot 17 shows a jump cut of the body from a long shot to a medium shot, however, I felt that by having a jump shot, distracts the audience attention by making them focus on the body, however. therefore what I did is make sure they see the body but the focus is more on the character. This makes the audience want to know who the mysterious person on the floor is and how the main character has a relationship with her. Never the less, Shot 15 and 16 shows a close shot to a long shot when the female is looking at the pictures on the wall. I felt that by having a medium shot then a close shot makes the audience see the importance of the image as they are more focused towards it and puts them in the characters perspective.

Credits

0:02 A Rar3 production
0:07 Aisha Halling
0:11 Monica Deol
0:22 REWIND
0:27 Holly Amy
0:35 Chetan Raja
0:40 Kajeni Bob
0:55 Nakul Rana
1:00 Ronak Shah
1:05 Music composed by Sarah Ann
1:19 Production designed by Anik Tail
1:28 Edited by Aroon Shah
1:52 Director of photography Meera Ali
2:03 Excutive producer Neam Singh
2:12 Sagar Rizwan
2:19 Story by Dina Rana
2:25 Directed by Nishal Singh

Planning: Changes made along the way

Having done my shots there were a lot of changes that was made. I decided to work individually when filming my shot because when I filmed with my group there were some shots that I was not happy with however, they were not happy to retake them. Therefore, I decided to work individually so each shot can be done to my preference. Moreover, the first change was my story board. Instead of having loads of peoples faces zoomed into that blurred I decided to only use one. The reason behind was because having to many faces can loose the attention of the audience. Therefore, by having one face it builds the excitement and chills towards the audience. Also, my shot list was interpreted. I decided to change some camera angles according to the shots because when filming I felt it was not appropriate therefore, adjusted it. Also, Included some more shots for example, at the end of my rough cut it ends with an eye. This implies that there is someone always watching the character however, because the eye is a close up it makes the audience think there is someone looking at them, therefore builds excitement.

Planning: Costumes research and ideas

I did some research on costumes too see what the significance of costumes are and found the costume identifies what type of class the character belong to, it also makes the audience view the character in a particular way for example, if the character wears a lot of bright colors and casual clothes it can indicate to the audience she has a very strong bright personality and is happy, also it can tell the audience she is working class whereas, if a character was to wear a suit he is more likely to be middle/upper class. Moreover, in "Se7en" the guy mostly wears suites, this tells us he is middle/upper class however, because i was inspired to them i thought i should change my costumes and see what the result would be. To make the character look working class, we decided she would wear a tank top. This would enable the audience to connect to the character because the audience that would watch my film, through my audience research, i conducted is working class. Moreover, the color of the tank top we decided should be black. The reason behind is because, the characters past is not a very nice past, therefore black is a solid color which links to death, and mysterious.


The image below represents a little brainstorm of some of the costumes we could have considered

Expiramenting on titles

Planning: Props and brainstorm

The image below shows some props and objects that we considered to use in our opening. The reason we did a brainstorm is because we could all right our ideas on what props/objects we think would be good for the opening and come to a final conclusion. Also, I did some research on other movies such as "Se7en" and "Memento" to see what props they considered as i was inspired by them for example, one of the props they use in "Memento" is a book. I found this very inspiring, therefore thought our film should consider a book, whereby the character whats down what she does, sort of like a diary. Moreover, props are important because it creates the atmosphere you want the audience to see from the directors point of view. for example, by having newspapers on the floor it shows us that the house is very messy and no one has been in their for ages perhaps.

Planning: Animatic

Here is my groups animatic of the story board of what will happen in our thriller opening

Planning: Story board

The story board is very important because it is builds guidance as to what each shot should look like therefore acts like a plan. Having done some research I found that all film producers construct a story board and the most successful thriller movies are usually the ones with a good detailed story board. Down below are evidence that I created a story board for my thriller opening.

These two images represent the whole story board.

This image shows when the character identifies the body, the camera shot will be a close up of the character so show the audience the characters facial expression. This will make the audience feel towards the character.

The book will be taken from a high angle and will also be a close up. This tells the audience that the book is very significant.

Planning: Shot list

The shot list lets me know what happening in each shot and what types of shot/camera angles will take place. The image below represents the shot list we made, this will help us know exactly what type of camera shots we will use and when, therefore, it also acts like a guidance.

Here is evidence of our shot list.

Planning: Location

There were lots of locations we could have in our movie, for example:

1. shed
2. house
3. garage
4. park
5. outside local area
6. near high road
7. dessert
8. sea side
9. alley way
10. supermarket


We decided that our location for our thriller opening would dominantly take place in a house. The reason for this is because i was very inspired by "When a stranger calls". It was situated in a house which makes the movie more realistic, connecting to the audience. down below are some pictures i took of the house i thought we should shoot the opening in. I decided that it should be in this room because the atmosphere is realistic and can connect to the audience room as it is very "typical".

Planning: Evidence of timings of footage, titles and soundtrack

Planning: Class feedback on pitch

Having done our pitch we decided to represent it to our class. We talked through each slide however, the teacher told us that our story was rather confusing due to the way we talked about it and wrote it, She told us to make is very clear to prevent any confusements. Also, by having feedback it enables me to have guidance as to what I should improve in order to attract my audience attention and make a successful thriller movie.

Planning: Pitch

Here is a presentation of our pitch in order to distribute our thriller movies to other companies by showing our initial ideas of our thriller movie.

you're next ... on Prezi

Planning: How my opening fits with genre and audience with examples:

Genre: My opening movie genre is a thriller because it is a Psychosomatic thriller. It is
about a character who has amnesia, who is currently involved in crime. Therefore,the protagonist is always portrayed as a victim and the victim is suffering. Moreover, Memento is a thriller film whereby the character suffers from amnesia. therefore, this is evidence that my genre is a thriller movie.

Audience: My thriller opening fits with my audience because they are are middle class people who will go to the cinema on a Saturday/Sunday to watch movies. The character in my opening is of working class however, my target audience are also middle class, therefore, they will be more engaged as there is a clear differences how each class lives. 

Planning: Target audience

 Identifying the target audience is one of the key to successful movies. By identifying my target audience I will be able to see what types of images, footage, costumes, and graphic ect my thriller movie can consist off.

In our group we were influenced by "Memento" and "Seven" therefore, our thriller movie is a combination of both movies. One way I identified my audience research is by looking how other movies and magazine identify there target audience, for example http://www.nme.com/mediapack/. This tells me who exactly the target audience is and why. 

To define the Target audience there are range of factors this depends on for example 

• Age
• Location
• Gender
• Income level

Plot - Ending

For our ending I did a bit of market research and got peoples opinions of what ending they preferred what be most suitable for our thriller movie. The options I considered are:

1)The antagonist helps the protagonist move on with her life

2)The  protagonist finds out that the helper is the antagonist and in order to get rid of him she has to go an ancient house and burn the body of the antagonist which is hidden in the basement. By doing this, it is an old tradition that the antagonist will disappear as he is a ghost. Moreover, along the way there are a range of obstacles and clues which lead her the ancient house and in the end she is successful.

3) The protagonist finds out the antagonist is the betrayer but falls in love with him therefore, cannot do anything but commits suicide. 

4)The protagonist finds out that the antagonist is the betrayer, and tries to get revenge but the antagonist kills her. 

Picture of my research in a tally chart; The image below tells me that my target audience would prefer the ending of the plot to be what is stated in number 2. I can use this information to make my movie according to what the audience wants as they will be the ones paying to watch my movie, therefore, it is very important to identify the audiences opinion and taking them into consideration.  

Planning: Mood board of initial ideas including inspirational shots

Inspirational shots

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Planning: Initial planning ideas ( Brainstorm)

Here we decided to brainstorm all the types of ideas we could consider, we did this to help us identify what our main idea would be. Moreover, by having a lot of ideas from each other it helped us identify the best one. We firstly took into consideration the plot. The plot is what the main story is going to be about and what happens (Narrative) therefore, the image below represents the ideas. An example, of an idea we cam up with that the image below represents is that the victim gets caught, and the plot could consider a voyeur. By identifying loads of ideas it broadened our mind.

Planning: Photographs of group planning ( More detailed brainstorm)

The image below represents a much detailed brainstorm of ideas that our thriller movie should consist of. We included the names we might take into consideration for example:

Your next
Rewind
Preach
Watch out

We wrote down all the types of titles we could have and them decided to choose one as a group that would be very interesting. We decided to choose "Rewind". The reason behind was because rewind indicates that the thriller movie has something to do with the past. The title itself contains suspense and makes the audience want to know what is it that happens in the past to the character/s.

We also included the types of themes we'd consider for example:


psychosomatic
murderous passion
Psychological thriller
Innocent on the run

This would enable us to make our plot and understand our thriller opening by choosing one and challenging "deary's methods.
As you can see there are loads of ideas we came up with and we then as a group decided to make out plot ect and choose explain why we chose it amongstt each other. To conclude, I found that brainstorming ideas within our group was very useful cause we gave each other ideas and communicated very good, however, if i were to do this task again one thing I would change is consider the costumes too.

Plot - Psychological thriller/Supernatural

Plot:
Girl wakes up with amnesia in a random room crosses names including her own unknowingly. Realizes she has killer people - trying to work out why - she knows they have hurt her. The person who has hurt her the most is herself. Someone helps her along the way however, climax is formed as the helper is the betrayer. Antagonist finds out. 

The ending is one of the most significant part of the movie, we have a lot of ideas for the ending therefore, will consider a questionnaire and interview depending on our target audience to help construct a appropriate ending that the audience will remember. Moreover, inorder for this to happen one of the factors we will have to consider as a group is who our target audience are. One way I will do this is by watching a range of thriller movies that consider Psychological thriller such as phycho, and supernatural thrillers to view who their target audience are and what is target audience is best suitable for my Thriller movie. 


The reason I chose this plot is because  it engages with the audience as it creates a lot of tension, excitement and builds an enigma for example, why is the antagonist in a room covered with pictures? 

Research: Into representation of gender in thrillers

In thriller movies, female characters roles have changed dramatically, "Alien" 1979, was the first movie to have a women as its protagonist. This was an introduction to change the "rules" of the way gender represented. Moreover, they are no longer confined to stereotypical roles as housewives. Nor are they placed as sexual objects in movies. Before, in the early ages, in movies whereby the women has no sexual scene, people would label the women as lesbian. Sometimes in thriller movies the female has some sort of past, they are represented to be scared, vulnerable however, end up finding inner power to fight, examples, of these types of movies are: "Scream". "Dark water", and "I know what you did last summer". Another way females are represented is, the supporting characters is often killed off which emotionally torments the female character. This technique is also used to change the protagonist's attitude. During the movie the protagonist is usually depicted as being scared but after a certain character is killed off, the protagonist amasses enough courage to face the antagonist. Moreover, the female character is shown to be loving and caring in some thriller movies. Furthermore, females in thrillers are represented to look pretty. In my opinion i believe that the way females are represents has not had a massive change in thriller movies. They are still seen to be less powerful and most thriller movies usually is dominantly situated around a male character however, one thing that has changed is, women are no longer seen as sex objects and they can be the dominant character in some movies.
Males in thriller movies are usually stereo typically are represented to have instrumental roles for example, strong, muscular, brave and the main characters however, now some thrillers portray them as being confused, and caring for example, "Batman" is very in love with his lover. I strongly think that the representation of males have not changed as much, yes they have moved away slightly from them being represented to having the instrumental role however, they still in most thriller movies are portrayed to find some soft of inner power.

Research: Film distribution for "Rewind"

Having done some research I believe that "Rewind" should be distributed by "Wrap film". "Wrap Film", is a small UK film institution however, large companies such as "Summit Entertainment" would not be suitable because "Rewind" consist of unknown characters, and the budget for it would be very low as a result it will be a unknown production company who produces this film.

Research: Existing film production companies

Research on production companies

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I decided to do some research into production companies, this would them help me identify my films production company and distributor.

Research: Hitchcock

In this video he talks about thriller movies by focusing on the audience and how to create tension, for example, he says that at the begging four characters are sitting talking about base ball, the atmosphere is very dull, however, suddenly a babel goes of, this grabs the audience attention as it is unexpected. Then he explains how you can make the audience feel in a specific way for example,Hitchcock uses the same scene ( group talking about base ball) however, the audience know that there's a bomb situated under the table,this makes the audience start working as they think stop talking about base ball and run. Also, it builds tension as the audience feels emotions towards the characters, as they want them to be safe. By looking through other videos of Hitchcock I have a deeper understanding of thriller movies, how tension can be built and the impact it will have on the audience.

Research: identification of target audience

Presentation1

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Sound: analyzing - The lion king

For my home learning we were asked to write about the opening of the film consisting the key words. Having done my home learning I wanted to make sure I understood these words and remember them therefore, I did the same task again which enabled me to explore. I found that different genre have different sound for example, thrillers such as "Phycho",(1960)  and "The thing"(1982)   started with a intense fast sound whereas animations movies such as "Snow white" starts of with high violin music which brings up a happy mood. 


Opening of lion king: 

Sound: Introduction

For this lesson I specifically focused on sound and how it makes me as an audience feel. The teacher decided to play different types of sound and I had to guess what genre it would belong to and how it makes me feel. This activity gave me a more deeper understanding on how significant sound is and how much impact it has on me. For example, one sound that I listened to was a baby laughing, this made me have a rather happy feeling however, later I listened to a clock ticking really fast. This immediately changed my mood and made me feel nervous. I now understand that sound is one of the main key for the film industry, it is a way to connect to the audience as it can make them feel a specific way.

Some new key terms that I learnt are:

Sound track: All the sounds heard in a film, including the score, song, dialogues and sound effect
Diegesis: The world of the story for example harry potter’s broomstick
Diegetic sound: any sound that has a source in the world of the story for example, dialogue and footsteps
Non diegetic sound: Sound that comes from a source outside the world of the story
Synchronous sound: Sound that matches the image on screen
Asynchronous sound: Sound that doesn’t match the image on the screen. For example, a voice over (narrator)
Score: Musk repeated to accompany a film


I even gave examples to some of the key words that I might forget to help me understand them better.

........................................................................................................................................................

Titles: Psychological/supernatural thriller

One of the most significant factors when creating a Thriller movie is the title because it promotes what the movie is about. Some of the names we came up with as a group through the use of other thriller films such as, When a stranger calls, Phycho and Batman are, You'r next, Remember me, Amnesia, Unforgettable, Rewind, Preach, Voyour, Wasn't me and liePost Optionss.

Research: Props and costume

How would I know what prompts and costumes we would need in our thriller video?

By looking at other thriller movies, I would be able to conclude what prompts and costumes are typically used constantly, identify any new prompts and costumes that have never been used in other thriller movies and see the different make up thats used to make the characters stand out. Furthermore, I firstly focused on "Memento". Memento, uses a range of prompts and costumes, for example, 

Having done this I then started thinking of some questions I considered to see what costumes and prompts should be used.

Whether the character would use some type of weapon?

what costumes the protagonist would wear? 

Other then a book what other material could we use to make it?

What colour clothes should the antagonist wear? 

What make up would the characters have on?

Analysis of Silence of the Lamb

How are the character introduced?

The opening sequence starts with a women running through the misty woods, however later on whilst she is running the audience realise she is running an assault course through the use of props such as the climbing frame. Furthermore a man who works for the F.B.I. tells her Mr. Crawford wants to see her. The fact that the camera is constantly on this character symbolises she is the dominant character. Moreover, her characteristic are represented whilst she is running this assault course for example, the audience can tell she is brave, committed, and determined and the audience are aware she is working for the F.B.I.  Moreover, the way she talks to the boss tells the audience that she is respected even though she does not benefit the stereotypical patriarchal society.  

What does the location tell the audience?

The location of the opening scene takes place in the woods, this clearly symbolises isolation and gives a creepy, and fearful vibe to the audience. The fact that this women is running through the assault course alone tells the audience that she is brave and is not a 'stereotypical' female.  

When the women enters indoors a masculine blue theme appears however, as she enters the office the colour theme suddenly changes to brown, the reason for this is to give a serious tone to the shot. Therefore, the audience at this point are extremely engaged as they know something important and interesting is going to happen.

Are there any enigma codes?

At the opening scene when the character is running the first enigma code the audience start to think is 'why is she running?'. However, when the male character comes and tells her Crawford wants to speak to her immediately the audience start to raise questions as to why Crawford wants to speak to this women and who he is. Moreover, when the dominant character is in the office the audience also want to know who Hannibal is. These questions have been answered in the opening scene and if not have been answered throughout the film.

What camera shots were used?

A medium shot is used when the female character is running, the reason for this is so the audience can identify the location and feel the creepy, dull atmosphere whilst representing the dominant character. The fact that the camera is a low angle emphasis her power. Moreover, the image below represents a low angle long shot which is used to emphasise that this female character is living in a man's world. The lack of use with bold colours create a creepy and dull effect for the audience. 

How does sound add effect?

The music and speech is one of the dominant focuses for the opening scene. The music is orchestral which creates a tensed atmosphere through the use of looping base line. Furthermore, the opening scene contain heave diagetic sound such as running through leaves. This positions the audience in the characters view as they can hear the sounds of the atmosphere the character is going through therefore, grabs the audience attention. The music fades out when the F.B.I. character comes to talk to her however, as soon as she enters indoors the music starts, this creates a serious atmosphere for the audience.  

How are the credits represented?

The credits are very simple, for example they are white and they come and go without any flashy editing, the reason for this is to emphasis the seriousness of the atmosphere. 

Props research and list

Todorov came up with his 5 structure of narrative however Vladimir Propp, came up with a theory that there are only a certain number of characters, who crop up in most narratives. It is very easy to spot the hero and villian in most cases, but he makes us understand spheres of actions for each character rather than "character types".

Down below is a list of the 7 main character Props comes up with

The villain (struggles against the hero)
The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)
The (magical) helper (helps the hero in the quest)
The princess (person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative)
Her father (who rewards her)
The dispatcher (character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off)
The false hero or usurper or anti hero

From this theory Propp broke down films into small sentences and suggested that all films have a similar narrative structure that they follow.


1. Preparation (The introduction)
2. Complication (The key or clues to a story)
3. Transference ( The donor event)
4. Struggle (sorting out all the complications)
5. Return (Back home but there are still complications)
6. Recognition (all loose end tied up)

Research: Target audience opinion about plot

I decided to ask my target audience some questions to gain a understanding of what they think about my thriller movie that i will be creating and how i can improve. By conducting this questionnaire I can identify how to grab my audiences attention to watch my thriller movie and things I should consider when creating it.

Questionnaire : thriller opening/plot

1. What do you think about my plot?
2. What could I improve on?
3. What types of shots should I include?
4. Do you think the location is good?
5. Would you go and watch this movie?
6 What scenes should I include?
7. What do you like about this plot? Why?
8. What type of camera angles do you think I should defiantly include?
9. Do you think that the fact the dominant character is female?
10. What prompts and costumes do you think I should take into consideration?

To conclude, my feedback shows me, that my plot is very good, interesting, I should use close up shot which will engage the audience to feel more towards the character, the location is realistic therefor good, my target audience is willing to go to the cinema to watch my movie, my target audience like the fact that there is a lot of suspense and mystery along the plot and they'll keep having questions in their head for example "what happened in the characters past", therefore are very eager to know what happens next, the fact that the main character is female makes the audience feel more sympathy for her when something happens, and I should include prompts such as beds, and mirrors.

Questionnaire

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Moreover, I decided to ask a couple of question to our target audience about our story by telling them our story line. This enabled me too identify whereby my weak points stand, what my advantage is and where I can improve on.



As a result, I found that my story line was very interesting. The audience really liked listening to it, however, one thing I could improve on is prompts. After my interview was over, one of my audience came back to me and stated "you should use prompts such as books" .."and you should make the antagonist character wear dull costumes such as black". This enables me to see how I can get my target audience attention.

Research:Narrative/ 5 point break down of plots

In todays lesson I understood the significance of Narration and narrative and I also therefore, did some more research into this to broaden my knowledge. The will be beneficial when I make my thriller movie as I will be able to know what the narrative of my story will be and explain it confidently.


Narrative refers to what happens or what is depicted in the film however, naration refers to how the narrative is presented to the spectator therefore, narrative refer to actions, characters and events whereas narration is the mechanism that controls how the spectator gains information about these. Moreover, the narrative is also how the story is organised and about how the understanding of the reader is organised by ways in which the story is told.

There are 4 main structure for narrative.

1. Begginning or exposition - gives us a basic situation of the story
2. Complication - where the situation is disrupted
3. Climax / crisis - the turning point
4. Resolution - where after the crisis, a new situation is established

Research: Genre

This video is a brief illustration of my understanding of genre

Genre: The triangle

The triangle represents how each factor; audience, industry and genre text depends on  one another to ensure success of the text, profit for producers and enjoyment for audiences. 

Genre: Analyzing - The dark knight (Thriller) - Attempt 3

Genre: Action, crime and drama  (Society has changed dramatically as movies don't consist of one specific genre) 

Director: Christopher Nolan 

Narrative: A terrorist known to be a mastermind called the "Joker" spreads chaos and mayhem wherever he goes, therefore, Gordon, Batman and Harvey try to put an end to this madness.

Iconography: (This is a significant part of genre as the audience will expect to see certain images on screen) This movie is represented as an action movie, which makes the audience automatically think it's associated with crime. Also, the director emphasis to the audience how good always wins against evil.  


Indexical signs: (Indirectly suggesting a meaning by nudging our existing understanding and knowledge)   1:09 - a gun is shown which indirectly symbolizes action and crime. 
0:29 - the characters costumes considers him wearing a cloak, this signifies superhero 
0:37 - fire symbolizes death 


Symbolic codes: 0:29 - the superhero "batman" is wearing an all black outfit, which suggest "Cool".  


Characters:  Batman is one of the main characters, the director presents him as a super hero whereas the joker is portrayed as an "mastermind" villain.


Camera work:  


Establishing shot- of Gotham city. Enables the audience to recognize where the film has been set
0:42 - birds eye view shot 
0:21 - Low angle of the villain, this emphasizes that he character (joker) is extremely powerful
0:58 - close up low angle - this enables the audience to already build emotion towards this character (joker) of fear/dislike due to a number of reasons for example, the close up shot represents that he is very superior but for the wrong reasons, for example one factor that illustrates the where the scene is set (jail). The fact that the camera is low angle tells the audience the character is not as powerful at that precise moment. 
1:07 - close up low angle of the super hero (batman). This tells the audience that he is very powerful, and serious
1:09 - medium shot 
1:02: - over the shoulder shot, this enables the audience to build emotion in the characters perspective
1:14 - low angle long shot 


Setting: In a city called Gotham 


The fact the trailer shows the audience quick shots, that adds speed to the film, it emphasizes that the movie is going to consist action constantly. 


One thing I learnt by analyzing "the dark knight" is directors use images that belong to an iconography of the genre to excite the audience expectation for example, in this case the gun.

Genre: Analyzing - Blade Runner (Drama, Sci-fi and thriller) Attempt two

Genre: Drama, sci-fi, thriller

Director: Ridley Scott

Narrative:

A blade runner named Deckard is trying to track down  4 replicants. These replicants have

returned back to earth trying to find their maker by hijacking a ship in space. 

Iconography:

Robots - the movie is portrayed to the target group as an science fiction film, this makes the audience believe there movie is associated with space.

Indexical signs:

0:52 - a spaceship is shown, this indirectly tells the auidence the movie consist of action

0:28 - costumne indiretly symbolizes to the audience who the police is

0:32 - scientific computer indirectly idientifies to the audience who the villans are.

Symbolic codes:

1:06 - the women is smoking a cigerate, this tells the audience she is "cool" and "powerful"  This shows how there has been a dramatic change to the way women are now presentedin comparison to the early days for example, women would not be holding a cigeratte therefore, the patriarchal society is challenged.

Characters:

Deckard is presented as the main character where he is trying to save the world, and the replicants are the vilans

Camera work:

Birds eye view, long shot - this is technique that is always represented in sci-fi films, it purpose is to reinforce how the audience the world is coming to an end or in this case the "replicants" are trying to take over. 

1:06 - low angle close up - represents a women face, this tells the audience she is very significant in the movie and powerful. Also it challenges the stereotype of how men are more dominant.

Setting: Los Angeles

Genre: Analyzing - Just go with it (Comedy and Romance) - Attempt one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz5Ubqhru7g


Genre: Comedy and Romance

Director: Dennis Dugan

Narrative:
A surgeon falls in love with his assistant on a trip to Hawaii, he convinces the assistant to be his soon-to-be-divorced wife to cover up a lie he told his much younger girlfriend a long time ago.

Iconography:
Jennifer Aniston can be portrayed as an iconography because her films usually are about her trying to find love in life.

Indexical sign:
0:17 - shampaign is shown this represents to the audience there might be some romance

Characters: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston and Brooklyn Decker

Camera work:
0:11- high angle close up
0:20 - high angle medium shot
1:02 - noddy shot
2:04 - Cutaway shot


Setting: Los Angeles and Hawaii

Genre: Development of understanding

As I had explored the importance of genre and genre theories for this lesson in pairs we had to create a film documentary show casing our research. 

The first step we took in pairs was draw a spider diagram and write any words that connect to the term "genre". We then explained key word for example, "categorizes". All genres are categorized into different group however some genre belong to more then one group, for example comedy and romance.  

The second step we did was produce a structure of a plan. This plan consisted of everything we would include for our film documentary, for example we would start of by typing "what is genre?", from there as you can see we would show different media text, and movies. We also included briefly the main point we would talk about for example "genre is ideological" and  "regulated variety". One of the strengths about making a structure plan is it enabled me to know what i'm going to do and when. This prevents any confuse meant and key points that are missed out can be added. 

This image represents a close up of one feature my structured plan has, it shows that my film documentary will end in a question. I thought this would be a good way to end the film documentary because it would make my audience be engaged. Furthermore, we then decided to write a script, according to the plan in detail. This enabled us to understand how we'd make each point come across for example, "what is genre" (type it - computer) . This meant the audience would see in the video, the computer typing "what is genre" in the search tab by itself. This made it much easier for us to know what exactly we had to do and how to do it when making the video, we also had an advantage as we knew what step to take after each point and how to approach it. Having done this, we then started shooting our different shots, and edited them on a program "Finalcut Express" which enabled us to put them together effectively. 


Image of our script:

This movie explains a brief explanation about my understanding of genre, and how it leads film producers to success. one of the factors we talk about in this movie is the audience, I explain how differant genres are catergorized for the audience to define what type of genre it belongs too. Furthermore, I explain how the audience identifies a certain genre therefore consume some expectations, for example, in an comedy movie such as "Hangover", the audience would expect the main characters to do something stupid, crazy and make mistakes. Moreover, in this video I talk about how genre has evolves, one reason for this is the audience. If genre stays the same the audience are more likely to get bored therefore, within a well known genre producers will challenge some convections to give the movie a twist. This encourages the audience to watch the movie again, as they do not intend to expect this, and gives a good word of mouth to other people which builds a reputation of the movie as well as the produce. This leads to the movie being a success and enabling the producer to gain profit. Also, I illustrate how some audience believe genre is ideological as some genre movies promote western films for example, "once upon a time to the west". Moreover, this video also explains a brief idea about what genre is, and how it has been challenged and developed overtime. 

Having done this activity I was able to expand my skills on "Finalcut Express" for example, I was unsure how to take images from the internet and put them on Finalcut with text. Moreover, I learnt a deeper understanding of genre for example, how genre has evolved, and why (hybrid). One way genre has been challenged is because movies consist of hybrid, that had developed which was a risk to take, to create something unique for the audience, producer and institution..Furthermore, another strength of this activity was having a script/structure plan. The reason for this was because every time I was unsure what to do next I could rely on the structure plan/script, which would guide me. However, if I had an opportunity to do this task again I would firstly include myself in the video. The reason for this is, because it would show me as a human on the video it would be more engaging to the audience as it would make them feel I am communicating with them. Secondly, because I had limited time and resources for example, I didn't have a tripod, I would make sure my shots are more steady and focused. 

As you can see this image represents what we focused on during lesson. Three main factors that enable genre to work efficiently are: 

1. Audience - an way of categorizing genre is by the target audience 
2. Genre 
3. Industry - for example the producers, directors/actors

Adam Buaton is a person who made a video about genre, from that video I concluded that Buaton emphasizes how some elements make genre successful.  One of the factors I learnt through his video is each genre can have a specific shot, for example, scientific movies usually consist of a birdseye view shot. Moreover, he also explains how significant filming is, for example one key point I learnt was the way you film something builds up emotion with the character and audience. 

Genre: Introduction

Today's lesson was very interactive, in pairs we had a range of images of films that represented different genres.To start of each pair had to explain to the class what genre the image represented and why. For example one of the images I had was "Hangover" which belonged to comedy. One feature that represented that the movie is a comedy was the baby wearing huge glasses. Another example is "A walk to remember" which belonged to romance. The reason for this is because it featured a close up of a women and man. There body language tells us that there together as there heads are touching among one another, and both character have a smile on their face for their facial expressions.  

Key words: 


Genre: Is a way of categorizing films, each genre has a set of convection.
Hybrid: When a movie consist of more then one genre.
Convection: Categorize and define the text 

We then discussed the significance of Actors for genres. Some actors define a specific genre, for example Adam Sandler is a famous actor who acts in movie that consist of comedy. Audiences that are a big fan of Adam Sandler are more likely to watch a movie that consist him even if they have no idea what the movie is about because they assume the movie is a comedy. Therefore, actors play a significant part in movies due to them belonging to a specific genre. However, some actors such as Will Smith belong to more then just one genre for example, action (men in black) and comedy (hitch), this challenges the whole idea how genre's have a specific formula to follow. Furthermore, most main stream movies have developed and now include hybrid. An example of hybrid is "Just go with it", this consist of two genres ( comedy and romance) in one movie. 

These are images of actors that belong to genres and names of a range of genres movies belong too.

This picture represents the task we had to do were we wrote down what genre these movies belong too.

In this lesson i learnt the significance of actors, audiences, institution, and genre. Genre's have a formula to follow however, they have now been developed and challenged, I know because a majority of main stream movies now consist of  hybrid for example, "I robot." 

In order to expand my general knowledge at home  I researched and analysed genres and movies, which enabled me to view the formula of genre to a deeper extent.