Reworking the Familiar
We have now completed our two minute introduction to a film from the research to the filming and now just recently completed the editing. Our two minutes worth of film is not only finished but it has taught our group many valuable skills along the way.
The first piece of research we had to do before starting to come up with a storyline was the genre of the film that we wanted to make. We decided the genre to be Thriller as Thomas Rivet, Harry Read and Myself all are passionate about films which hold you in suspense and give you an adrenaline rush. We then decided to research into the Thriller conventions by looking at what was written on the internet and books as well as analysing films such as Silent Hill and Cloverfield. I learnt many thriller conventions and at the same time, got to watch other Thriller films, such as The Happening and Vacancy. This helped me discover the best camera angles or cinematography, sound, lighting and mise en scene to use in our own film. As a group, we then collaborated our ideas about the thriller conventions and decided which ones we wanted to add and what other ideas we had which could enhance our film or maybe even challenge the typical thriller films and conventions that most people would associate with in a thriller.
Firstly, we decided on what conventions we wanted to add to our film and whether to challenge any thriller conventions or go with the conventions that have been proven to work. One convention that we decided to keep was to have the two main characters seeming to be ordinary citizens who do not normally get into trouble. As well as this, I wanted to show as a Director, that the couple were happily together within a calm and relaxed style of life - therefore I chose to add Jamie getting up out of bed with the radio and the stirring of the coffee, drawing the audience into a sense of relaxation and it being a calm, fresh new morning getting ready for work. On top of this, Jamie's costume was casual pyjamas presenting to the audience that nothing is wrong, despite the scene the audience have just witnessed prior to this scene. This aids in helping the audience understand that this scene (in the morning) is before that of the interrogation - strengthening the continuity along with the time of day being shown. We, as a group, decided to keep Jamie in his pyjamas, instead of him getting changed into his business clothes, to effectively challenge the thriller conventions by contrasting the atmosphere that our target audience, teenagers and young adults, have just had in the first and previous scene and would expect to carry on - setting the plot up for a bigger twist and climax which evidently is the main ingredient that makes an interesting film.
Above: Picture of Jamie in his pyjamas coming
down in the morning seeing Ellie
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
forms and conventions of real media products?
The first piece of research we had to do before starting to come up with a storyline was the genre of the film that we wanted to make. We decided the genre to be Thriller as Thomas Rivet, Harry Read and Myself all are passionate about films which hold you in suspense and give you an adrenaline rush. We then decided to research into the Thriller conventions by looking at what was written on the internet and books as well as analysing films such as Silent Hill and Cloverfield. I learnt many thriller conventions and at the same time, got to watch other Thriller films, such as The Happening and Vacancy. This helped me discover the best camera angles or cinematography, sound, lighting and mise en scene to use in our own film. As a group, we then collaborated our ideas about the thriller conventions and decided which ones we wanted to add and what other ideas we had which could enhance our film or maybe even challenge the typical thriller films and conventions that most people would associate with in a thriller.
Firstly, we decided on what conventions we wanted to add to our film and whether to challenge any thriller conventions or go with the conventions that have been proven to work. One convention that we decided to keep was to have the two main characters seeming to be ordinary citizens who do not normally get into trouble. As well as this, I wanted to show as a Director, that the couple were happily together within a calm and relaxed style of life - therefore I chose to add Jamie getting up out of bed with the radio and the stirring of the coffee, drawing the audience into a sense of relaxation and it being a calm, fresh new morning getting ready for work. On top of this, Jamie's costume was casual pyjamas presenting to the audience that nothing is wrong, despite the scene the audience have just witnessed prior to this scene. This aids in helping the audience understand that this scene (in the morning) is before that of the interrogation - strengthening the continuity along with the time of day being shown. We, as a group, decided to keep Jamie in his pyjamas, instead of him getting changed into his business clothes, to effectively challenge the thriller conventions by contrasting the atmosphere that our target audience, teenagers and young adults, have just had in the first and previous scene and would expect to carry on - setting the plot up for a bigger twist and climax which evidently is the main ingredient that makes an interesting film.
down in the morning seeing Ellie
Another convention that we looked at was the location of our thriller. The conventional thriller location is that of remote, desolate places such as a foreign cities, deserts or polar regions. I wanted to keep this, however, having a huge contrast between the first scene and the second in terms of atmosphere. For our first location, we needed a dark room to carry out an interrogation on Jamie. We decided on Thomas Rivet's house (his bedroom) to be our first location as we needed it to look dark but represent it being the house of the hostage takers. This could all be done by the dark curtains blocking out any outside light and there was a desk and shelves to help symbolise it being a house and therefore the hostage takers not being professionals - otherwise they would use the typical warehouse or dockyard
Above: Picture of the
interrogation room
Our second location was in the kitchen of Thomas Rivet's house. This ties in with keeping the convention of having the two ordinary characters who do not get into trouble as the kitchen represents a first-time buyers house and is relatively small allowing the use of the proxemics to help the audience get the sense of the two characters being very close.
Secondly, we then looked at conventions of continuity and the language of film. Like all types of media, they all communicate in one way or another and this is no different for film. The opening scene of a film generally answers questions such as 'Who?', however, we decided to begin the film straight into an interrogation scene to upset this balance and to increase the suspense and tension from the outset. I feel we used language brilliantly as the absence of the answer of 'Who', 'Where?' and 'Why?' created this atmosphere that we wanted. I made sure that there was not an eyeline shot on the hostage takers so to not reveal too much of their characters, effectively wanting the audience to not feel they know the hostage takers well, hense why you only see the hostage takers from low angle shots or from other angles except eyeline shots.
The only danger with film language for a thriller film such as ours, was that we did not want to reveal too much to the audience or have the interrogation scene too long as this would risk losing the ambiance and feel of this particular dramatic scene and the thriller. However, I do not feel that this happened and it has been my responsibility to check that this did not happen through me carrying out the editing. Through the use of our planning, filming and finally editing, I feel we succeeded in this and used the conventions of language to convey the right message across to the audience.
Overall, I am confident that we used conventions well as they were meant to create a shocking, medium-paced interrogation with the contrast of the calm, tranquil and normal second scene. The language of the film is one of the most important aspects and Thomas, Harry and I feel this has been achieved.
The only danger with film language for a thriller film such as ours, was that we did not want to reveal too much to the audience or have the interrogation scene too long as this would risk losing the ambiance and feel of this particular dramatic scene and the thriller. However, I do not feel that this happened and it has been my responsibility to check that this did not happen through me carrying out the editing. Through the use of our planning, filming and finally editing, I feel we succeeded in this and used the conventions of language to convey the right message across to the audience.
Overall, I am confident that we used conventions well as they were meant to create a shocking, medium-paced interrogation with the contrast of the calm, tranquil and normal second scene. The language of the film is one of the most important aspects and Thomas, Harry and I feel this has been achieved.
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Preliminary Task
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
As you have read in one of my previous blogs, we also have done our preliminary task which was called 'The USB'. To briefly remind us and summarise this, we had to use three types of shot to show our initial skills. The three types of shots that we had to include were: Match on Action, Shot Reverse Shot and finally the 180 Degree Rule Shot. Looking back on this task, I feel that I have learnt a lot between making this and our recent two minute opening sequence. I have learnt more about genre conventions and so have been able to apply that to my opening sequence as well as I have learnt in more detail of how best to edit films which is definitly a skill that is worth knowing. In the preliminary task, we made a couple of errors and one being time management as we could have completed the preliminary task far quicker if we had, had a shot list. We have learnt from that mistake and this time we made sure to we got the planning done as quick as possible so we could in turn start filming and editing a long time before the official deadline.
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