Evaluation task 6

Evaluation task 7

Throughout the process of our filming ad editing we have gained a vast amount of skills in which we did not poses before we began our filming process

For example the fact we all had to by ourselves edit a produce and opening of a thriller this was a new experience to all of us. As well as this, this is only the second time in which we had used pinnacle studios for editing a video in which we produce (the first time was our preliminary task).

One skill which we had learnt was how to create numerous title pages on pinnacle which was a new editing skill we had learnt for example our production company logo.

                                              

Also we learnt how to add and take out sound effects as we used pinnacle in which to add the gun shot noise that we wanted. The beneficial part of this was the gunshot noise on pinnacle fit the scene perfectly. We also added in a lot of fades and dissolve which we had not done much in the past so it was a good and enjoyable skill in which we had learnt and it also made our final production a lot better.

Lastly we learnt how to add a sound track to our production which was a new experience for us all. We had to save the soundtrack and upload it on the video, but the tricky part was to verify the sound of the music in which we wanted to hear the talking between the Hitman and the detective.

Over all we had learnt a new selection of skills which were important in completing our video. I believe we all had an important part to play in the production and we managed to pick up the new editing skill very easily and our production may not be perfect however it was a pleasing outcome considering the time in which we had learnt all the new skills.  

Evaluation Task 4 part 3

Adressing the Audience

When it came to addressing our target audience, we felt that it would be vital for us to include certain aspects or qualities that would appeal directly to our target audience. For example, we included a murder scene early on to create a sense of mystery as no reasons are given as to why the murder has occurred. We felt that this would appeal to some of the more mature viewers in the sense that the film does not go directly into a bug action film.

Also, one thing that is typical of murder scenes is a high action, fast paced scene which involves shooting and high tempo music. However, for the murder scene that we used, we used low tempo music with film titles occurring in between shots. We felt that this would add a sense of uniqueness to our production and felt that this would be something new or at least different for the viewers.

This slow paced murder scene, when accompanied with the slow tempo music and fade transitions had an eerie feel to it with the music changing and becoming distorted after the gun had been fired. We felt that this could also add a distinctive feature to this production and would have a greater appeal to the audience.

Evaluation Task 4 part 2

When we decided that our target age range would be around eighteen, we then researched into the tastes and fashions of the people within this category.

First of all, we felt that this production would not be gender specific due to the fact that there is a low level of violence, swearing or nudity which could be linked heavily to a male audience. As the theme of our production would be a psychological thriller, we felt that there would be no need to have large fighting or murder scenes

As our age range would be aimed at around eighteen, we researched into other films or genres that may appeal to this audience and found that many people in this age variety would choose to see films with more complex story lines rather than high action films with large fight scenes and not too much depth within the story.

Evaluation Task 4 part 1

When we were first thinking up the idea of our production, one of the main matters that we had to decide on was our target audience. This way, we were able to base our ideas and genre around this certain age group in order for it to appeal to them.

As our production was largely based on murder and revenge, we thought it would be suitable for a more mature age range rather than younger children. For example, this scene below involved the victim being shot which as a group, we did not think that this would be suitable for a younger audience.

Although there is no bad language, nudity or explicit violence, the theme of murder is still present which would help steer the target to an older audience.

In the end, we thought it best to have a target audience of late teens of around fifteen or older. Due to the lack of swearing or violence we felt that there would be no need to aim this specifically at people aged eighteen or over so we felt an age rating of fifteen would be ideal. However, we felt that the age rating would not necessarily be our target audience and felt that the age of our audience wold be eighteen.

Evaluation Activity 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The type of media production in which would produce our video would be Production Company such as Hammer Films which is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies – and in later years, television series. During its most successful years, Hammer dominated the horror film market, enjoying worldwide distribution and considerable financial success. This success was due, in part, to distribution partnerships with major United States studios, such as Warner Bros.

The reason in this being made by a production company such as hammer production/films is the fact that this is a relatively new production who would want to make a good up and coming thriller production. A major Hollywood producer such as warner brothers would not want to produce our film due to the fact that it is created by a mediocre director and has no celebrity icon in the film to already create easy sales.

Evaluation Activity 2

Evaluation activity

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media project does not act together as part of a social group or represents a social group as our characters are very much individuals.

Hitman

The Hitman (Saqib Younis) is a lone contracted killer who has no ties to a social group so this does not represent any social groups.

Detective

The detective (Jacob Buick) is also a lone character in which he is a detective and they tend to work alone or with a partner in this case he does not have a partner. Also his office is very big a spacious therefore indicating he is a lone worker.

Victim

The victim (Tom Ryan) is clearly a lone character as he is found alone and killed as well as this during the scene no one goes on to look for in the toilets therefore indicating he is not part of no social group

Evaluation activity 1

Our media product follows many conventions of thriller films.  For example, use of Strauss’s binary oppositions is common practice in the genre and we make use of this through the cast’s dress codes.  The opposition of light and dark, connoting good and evil, is portrayed with the detective (the protagonist) being dressed in a light shirt and the murderer (antagonist) dressing in darker clothes.  Use of oppositions in the opening of our film means that the viewer can instantly easily identify what kind of a role each character will play in the story.  With respect to the murderer, the dark clothes serve another purpose, which is that of giving a more incognito appearance, and giving the impression of the character being a “silent killer”. 

It can be said that one of the more unusual aspects of our production, which goes against the grain of thrillers, is the soundtrack we chose for the opening of our production.  Instead of a loud, fast-paced or tense piece of music, which is the norm, we decided to make use of a slower, more enigmatic soundtrack.  This allowed us to build on the mysterious mood created by the murder scene, and also portray the film as more of a challenge to the expected conventions of thrillers.

The title of the film was chosen because we felt it had two direct meanings within the film.  Firstly, it describes effectively the situation that the protagonist, the detective is in.  This was defined in our plot as being to identify and track down a killer.  It could be said that his goal is “untraceable”.  Similarly, the second way the single-word title bears relevance to the film is that it is a clear description of the antagonist, and reinforces the idea of the antagonist, the killer, fulfilling a common villain role of the “silent killer” or assassin. 

The opening of untraceable follows a fairly common convention of thrillers, which is to immediately follow Todorov’s idea of equilibriums.  We achieve this by showing a murder in the very first scene, and therefore alerting the viewer to a disruption in the film’s plot, and also to who the disruptor is. 

In terms of introducing characters, we thought the best way to introduce Saqib’s character of the assassin was to have him commit a murder in his very first appearance, or scene.  This was to ensure the audience would be in no doubt as to whether or not the character is a villain, as they only have a single experience with him.  He is repeatedly filmed in non-personal methods in order to stop the audience building any kind of sympathy or relationship with him, and to keep the interaction impersonal.  Such methods include showing only showing Saqib’s character from a medium shot while he is committing the murder, and only showing an extreme close-up of his mouth while he making the phone-call. 

Final production of the thriller opening

untraceable for web from Tom Ryan on Vimeo.

Filming and editing process

The filming and editing process was not quitter guided by the shot list in our case however in was guided by the script more than anything else.

We realised that the shot list in which we created did come handy when started of our thriller opening as it gave us a base in which to start from.

However the script self-guided our video. It did this by helping us decide whether which scenes where to edited first or which scenes where to be edited second as for example the conversation scene between the Hitman and the Detective. This scene was guided by the script as it helped us shoot the scenes in which we needed and not extra or less footage.

During our editing process we entitled a problem with the situation that when the Hitman ( Saqib Younis) entered the bathroom the shot was shown through the reflection and made it look like an editing error which could easily confuse the viewer  so with this we ended up cutting the scene and leaving it with only one shot of the Hitman entering the room therefore less confusion for the viewer.

In conclusion we tried avoiding all possible mistakes and with this we were able to create a fluent video which there was minor issues and where easy to resolve.

Problems that could have occured with shooting

There weren’t many problems with shooting our production as it was very simple in terms a shooting location.

One problem which could of occurs was the problem that one of our scenes which were filmed in the toilets and the problem which could have occurred is that people could interrupt however we sorted this by placing an out of order sign outside the bathroom.

Another problem which could have occurred was the fact that Mr Clarke may not have allowed us to use his however we were allowed so the problem was averted.

In addition to this the weather and lighting could have been a big problem as the lighting in the bathroom could have been too dark to shoot the video therefore causing problems with the shot however beneficial to us the weather was quite sunny and did not affect our filming.

Lastly there could have been numerous problems however our timing was good and we ended up producing the thriller opening very easily

Plan of our thriller production

The opening follows two characters. An unidentified killer and a detective who is tasked with catching him. The killer is highly skilled, and frustrates the detective, revealing a “flaw” in the hero not only by covering his tracks well, but with phone calls which taunt him. The opening of the film centres around one of these calls. The film follows a common convention of the killer and detective playing cat and mouse for the duration, with continued taunting on the killer’s part and the detective hitting more and more dead ends in his investigation, in a detective’s office where no one else seems willing to help with the case, and a rival detective who envies our hero’s abilities and does his best to be unhelpful in the case. Eventually the detective’s brilliance and persistence leads to him to discover that his chief detective, who has been discouraging him from pursuing the investigation has been contracting the murders for financial and political gains and has recruited almost his entire police force into the corruption. He is unaware of the phone calls. The hero is forced after a manhunt to confront the chief and eventually apprehends him and a number of other rogue detectives who he thought to be colleagues, including the rival detective whose house, when searched after being arrested, reveals him being responsible for phone calls attempting to throw the detective off the trail. A closing scene reveals the hero acting the new chief of the detective’s office, with a new workforce. Equilibrium has been restored. Shot list 1. Begins with close up of the dead body 2. This is followed by a slow zoom out of the body, revealing a man stood cleaning his hands with the body now in the background. 3. We then cut to a medium shot of the hit man and the body in the background. 4. A close up of the gun used in his pocket is used. 5. There is then an extreme close up shot of the hit man getting out his phone and dialling a number. 6. There is then a tracking shot of the man lifting the phone to his ear. 7. We then cut to an establishing long shot of the police station. 8. There is then a slow zoom into the window of the police station. 9. We are then shows to the inside of the police station and a long shot is used of the detective sitting at his office desk. 10. Then there is a show reverse shot as another detective comes and gives the phone to him. 11. There is then an extreme close up of the mouth of the hit man as the conversation begins. 12. As the conversation continues, there is a variety of shots used for both the murderer and the detective. Script Saqib-Hello there detective Jacob-Who’s this? S-You’ve forgotten me already? J- ……. S- I’m disappointed, Detective. Two years and you’re still no closer to finding me. J- It’s a matter of time S- Good luck. Time isn’t something you have. I’ve done it again. J- Who are you? Phone cuts off. Props BB gun Briefcase Blood capsules Police badge Detective certificates Character Costumes Detective-Shirt and tie Hit man-black shirt Dead body-shirt tie