Monday, 4 April 2011
Friday, 1 April 2011
Thursday, 31 March 2011
Audience Feedback...
Evaluation of questionnaires.
These questions have been used from the audience questionnaires with our most effective and useful answers given...
1. How old are you? Average age 20
2. Are you male or female? 20 Male, 16 Female
3. Which age group do you think the film is best suited for? 16-35
4. Why? Because it includes scenes of a sexually suggestive nature and mature themes.
5. Do you think the shots used were effective in creating tension and suspense and conforming to typical psychological thriller? Yes, we used point of view shots and over the shoulder shots so that it could be seen from the psychos point of view. We used extreme close-ups and establishing shots to understand the mind of the killer so the audience were brought into the world of the this eerie couple.
6. Why? Most Thrillers show society in a dark and dangerous way and normally contain violence and murder, this film fits this criteria to a certain degree because of the use of shots in the film and how it represents our characters. For example, they used high angle shots of Elise to show her as the victim and they used mid-length shots at the start of the film focused on Ike to show him as a neutral character before the audience get suspicious. However thrillers often feature a happy ending in which the antagonist is killed but in this film the antagonist is simply found out and it is suggested that the victim will be murdered with no consequence for the killer. The end scene is a close up shot of Elise being held tightly by Ike and although we can see only her face in the shot, it is mostly taken up with Ikes back so this shows that he is dominant within this shot and therefore dominant of the situation at hand.
7. Was the music used appropriately for the film? Yes, they used two different pieces of music for the film for the different tones running through it. One was slightly eerie, but quite light and the other
8. Did it help to create suspense? Yes, the two pieces of music had a different pace so as one melody built tension it would suddenly drop, and the second piece would come in slower and confuse the audience causing tension and creating suspense.
9. Give three things about the film you liked? • The acting was very believable at portraying the characters, the directors were very wise to use two A-level drama students who they knew would be skilled. • The filming, range of shots used. For example, the different angles used built tension. • The locations were used very effectively to get across the different themes of the film. (Romance/Thriller)
10. Why did you like them? Created tension, made you want the film to be feature length so that you could watch on but also it made you want to see more from these very talented directors and their artistic filming skills.
11. Give three things about the film that could be improved? • More dialogue throughout the film • Better quality of sound with props used • More location shots through out the film
12. How do you think we could improve these things? You could add more dialogue or even a voice over through out the film. The props used should have been very close to the mircophone so that the sound would definately be clear.
13. Does our film look professional? Yes, it is slick, course and explicit like a conventional thriller should be.
14. Would you pay to watch this film? Yes, i believe this film is definately worthy of payment, it's as good as any other amateur short film thriller.
These questions have been used from the audience questionnaires with our most effective and useful answers given...
1. How old are you? Average age 20
2. Are you male or female? 20 Male, 16 Female
3. Which age group do you think the film is best suited for? 16-35
4. Why? Because it includes scenes of a sexually suggestive nature and mature themes.
5. Do you think the shots used were effective in creating tension and suspense and conforming to typical psychological thriller? Yes, we used point of view shots and over the shoulder shots so that it could be seen from the psychos point of view. We used extreme close-ups and establishing shots to understand the mind of the killer so the audience were brought into the world of the this eerie couple.
6. Why? Most Thrillers show society in a dark and dangerous way and normally contain violence and murder, this film fits this criteria to a certain degree because of the use of shots in the film and how it represents our characters. For example, they used high angle shots of Elise to show her as the victim and they used mid-length shots at the start of the film focused on Ike to show him as a neutral character before the audience get suspicious. However thrillers often feature a happy ending in which the antagonist is killed but in this film the antagonist is simply found out and it is suggested that the victim will be murdered with no consequence for the killer. The end scene is a close up shot of Elise being held tightly by Ike and although we can see only her face in the shot, it is mostly taken up with Ikes back so this shows that he is dominant within this shot and therefore dominant of the situation at hand.
7. Was the music used appropriately for the film? Yes, they used two different pieces of music for the film for the different tones running through it. One was slightly eerie, but quite light and the other
8. Did it help to create suspense? Yes, the two pieces of music had a different pace so as one melody built tension it would suddenly drop, and the second piece would come in slower and confuse the audience causing tension and creating suspense.
9. Give three things about the film you liked? • The acting was very believable at portraying the characters, the directors were very wise to use two A-level drama students who they knew would be skilled. • The filming, range of shots used. For example, the different angles used built tension. • The locations were used very effectively to get across the different themes of the film. (Romance/Thriller)
10. Why did you like them? Created tension, made you want the film to be feature length so that you could watch on but also it made you want to see more from these very talented directors and their artistic filming skills.
11. Give three things about the film that could be improved? • More dialogue throughout the film • Better quality of sound with props used • More location shots through out the film
12. How do you think we could improve these things? You could add more dialogue or even a voice over through out the film. The props used should have been very close to the mircophone so that the sound would definately be clear.
13. Does our film look professional? Yes, it is slick, course and explicit like a conventional thriller should be.
14. Would you pay to watch this film? Yes, i believe this film is definately worthy of payment, it's as good as any other amateur short film thriller.
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
Our finished film, before re-editing..
This film got great feedback but we do not have any titles running through it and so we must put them in before this film is totally finished.
Monday, 14 March 2011
Film Review
This is my film review for our second mini project within the overall project.I looked at different codes and conventions of film reviews and the most common ones were: -The text is of the same font through out the article except for the title. -Most reviews contains one large image. -Aswell as highlighting a quote from the text by changing its colour and font size. -The image shown in our piece is a still motion picture from the actual film as i felt this was more appropriate as people reading the review who then go on to watch the film will automatically relate to the frozen image to the actual clip of the film These are Film reviews i found...
Positive Review
Life As We Know It
Plot
When her best friends die in a car accident, Holly (Heigl) is left to raise their young child. The only problem? Her co-surrogate is feckless ladies' man Eric (Duhamel)...
Review
Knocked Up’s Katherine Heigl returns to the baby-boom comedy — but this time, it’s someone else’s sprogs. Holly’s best friends die in a car crash, leaving their child Sophie to her and their friend Eric (Josh Duhamel). Naturally, he is a self-serving ladies’ man whom she loathes, and so they must bicker and eventually bond over dirty nappies and nosy neighbours. So, the outline’s no great shakes, and the tone’s changeable: it goes from poignant drama to perky comedy without much respect for the fictional dead. Still, there are laughs: The Broken Hearts Club director Greg Berlanti brings a dash of irreverence to the table and the humour can go dark. It isn’t as insipid as the plot suggests, it’s just a shame the story goes nowhere — slowly.
Verdict
Funnier and darker than you might expect, although the tone fluctuates wildly enough to seriously disorientate.
Reviewer: Anna Smith
Negative Review
Babe: Pig In The City
Plot
When the bank threatens to forclose Babe's farm, he and the farmer's wife agree to open a state fair for a large fee, but loose their way in the big city.
Verdict
How did this happen? Where Babe brought deep-rooted joy, the sequel brings fidgety depression. And save us from films in which chimpanzees dress in human clothes. Didn't we ban that or something?
Reviewer: Andrew Collins
Editing shots...
As with most typical editing we have had to refine our film a lot but now we are happy that our editing skills are up to a professional standard and we are able to pick out key scenes and edit out any clips that simply drag the feature out...
Editing Cont'd.
We have looked over our film and decided that some parts of the film just didn't work very well so we decided to re-film everything as we were able to work more co-operatively and effectively because we really knew what we were doing this time.
Filming went really well but we then realised half way through the boom hadn't been turned on! We re-filmed what we could but we were running out of time so we then had to edit what we had and do voice overs which ended up working out really well because the sound was much clearer.
I have now found two pieces of suitable music for our piece which i will have to edit because they are too long for our five minute film. It will take some time to perfect the timing of the two songs with the pace of the film but we should be able to do this within the time limit of the gantt chart.
They are called:
'Personal Demons' and 'Final Sacrifice'.
Once the editing has been successfully put together with the music i will be satisfied with our finished feature!
Filming went really well but we then realised half way through the boom hadn't been turned on! We re-filmed what we could but we were running out of time so we then had to edit what we had and do voice overs which ended up working out really well because the sound was much clearer.
I have now found two pieces of suitable music for our piece which i will have to edit because they are too long for our five minute film. It will take some time to perfect the timing of the two songs with the pace of the film but we should be able to do this within the time limit of the gantt chart.
They are called:
'Personal Demons' and 'Final Sacrifice'.
Once the editing has been successfully put together with the music i will be satisfied with our finished feature!
Film Poster
After alot of significant research into different conventions of film posters, analysing every detail they include, Beeca realised alot was missing from ours. The typcial conventions of a film poster include; -a billing block, containing all director, editor, producer details etc. (using different font types in this, making names big etc-this dds to appearance) -quotes from newspapers/writers -ratings -logos -age certificate -title -picture -tag line Becca developed these conventions to make a realistic and professional film poster for Forget Me Knot.
This is my detailed research into posters... 
Location Shots
Location shots
View more presentations from rebeccablythe
We decided to use these specific location shots because our target audience age was 16-35. We used simple location shots so that it would appeal to all ages but we also used abstract angles of the locations so that we could attract the right kind of target audience, Thriller/romance film fans. We think that these location shots are very appropriate for the film and they set the genre immediately and our mis-en-scene works really well with the forms and conventions of a typical thriller/romance film.
Monday, 10 January 2011
Gantt Chart for production schedules
This is our Gantt chart which we will follow religiously as to get our film finished on time and edited successfully. Update: We were able to stick roughly to the gantt chart dates but unfortunately i became ill during the making of the film and Becca had to take on the work load for a few weeks but luckily we managed to get things back on track as soon as i was better and we only missed a few minor deadlines. We have made sure that the work we have done has been sufficiently up to standard since i was ill to make sure we didn't loose any more time by going back and re-doing things that we had done in a rush! We have worked really well together to get a thorough and detailed film, blog and evaluation.
BBFC rating, specific to our film
BBFC ratings
If the BBFC were to rate our film, we think they would put it as a 12. We decdied this as even though the film is a thriller genre it dosnt have the images that might disturb.
This is the BBFC 12 rating:
These categories are awarded where the material is suitable, in general, only for those aged 12 and over. Works classified at these categories may upset children under 12 or contain material which many parents will find unsuitable for them.
If the BBFC were to rate our film, we think they would put it as a 12. We decdied this as even though the film is a thriller genre it dosnt have the images that might disturb.
This is the BBFC 12 rating:
These categories are awarded where the material is suitable, in general, only for those aged 12 and over. Works classified at these categories may upset children under 12 or contain material which many parents will find unsuitable for them.
Thursday, 9 December 2010
One Pager
Forget me knot
For better or for worse
The opening shot will be of photos on a mantle piece of key moments in Ike and Elise’s life, for example their marriage, events, etc. They will have been together for 6 months. It will then cut to a shot of Elise in bed sleeping and Ike leaning over her in an unusual, creepy, abnormal manner, sniffing her hair. Elise will then wake up and see him; she will just push him off playfully. It will then cut to a small scene in the kitchen of Elise cooking dinner saying “it smelt really good” and Ike turning around, hugging her from behind saying “yeah It does smell so good”, sniffing her hair. The next beat in the film will be Ike in his shed outside looking through a box of old photos and objects. He takes out and looks closely at 2 pictures of him and previous girlfriends. The camera will zoom into the photo looking at the woman first and then Ike, so it creates suspense. He will then take out 2 strands of different coloured hair from his previous girlfriends, he will smell them. Elise will then walk in, he will turn around slowly, not scared of the fact she will see the hair and photos in his hand. She will look at him and ask what is in his hand and he will explain that he has this belief in life that when he has a girlfriend he must kill them. He treats her as if she does not need to be scared, and that she should enjoy it. He will go up to her and show her the photos; she will stand there shocked, speechless.He will hug her tightly and pull a pair of scissors out from his pocket and he will snip a strand of her hair off. This will be the last shot.
Characters:
Ike: computer programmer
-In his early twenties.
- His personality in photos looks so normal, but in person comes across as different, strange.
- Quirky
Elise: Artist.
-In her early twenties.
-Comes across as a strong woman, who loves her Ike very much.
-naïve
Our target audience will be from 16-35. We believe that people will find this intriguing and something different, as it will make the audience think.
For better or for worse
The opening shot will be of photos on a mantle piece of key moments in Ike and Elise’s life, for example their marriage, events, etc. They will have been together for 6 months. It will then cut to a shot of Elise in bed sleeping and Ike leaning over her in an unusual, creepy, abnormal manner, sniffing her hair. Elise will then wake up and see him; she will just push him off playfully. It will then cut to a small scene in the kitchen of Elise cooking dinner saying “it smelt really good” and Ike turning around, hugging her from behind saying “yeah It does smell so good”, sniffing her hair. The next beat in the film will be Ike in his shed outside looking through a box of old photos and objects. He takes out and looks closely at 2 pictures of him and previous girlfriends. The camera will zoom into the photo looking at the woman first and then Ike, so it creates suspense. He will then take out 2 strands of different coloured hair from his previous girlfriends, he will smell them. Elise will then walk in, he will turn around slowly, not scared of the fact she will see the hair and photos in his hand. She will look at him and ask what is in his hand and he will explain that he has this belief in life that when he has a girlfriend he must kill them. He treats her as if she does not need to be scared, and that she should enjoy it. He will go up to her and show her the photos; she will stand there shocked, speechless.He will hug her tightly and pull a pair of scissors out from his pocket and he will snip a strand of her hair off. This will be the last shot.
Characters:
Ike: computer programmer
-In his early twenties.
- His personality in photos looks so normal, but in person comes across as different, strange.
- Quirky
Elise: Artist.
-In her early twenties.
-Comes across as a strong woman, who loves her Ike very much.
-naïve
Our target audience will be from 16-35. We believe that people will find this intriguing and something different, as it will make the audience think.
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Secondary Research
Film Websites linked to posters...
IMDB For Psycho
IMDB For Seven
Inception
Only Inception had a website for the specific film, i think this is because both Psycho and Seven are much older films, this means that marketing and distribution are not necessary as the films have gained fame through word of mouth and popularity. Many older films do not have websites anymore, if at all, this new way of marketing and distribution has spread like wild-fire in the last 5 years. These statistics show that using a website for a film would be undeniably useful to the popularity of the film...
In 2010, 30.1 million adults in the UK (60 per cent) accessed the Internet every day or almost every day. This is nearly double the estimate in 2006 of 16.5 million.
IMDB For Psycho
IMDB For Seven
Inception
Only Inception had a website for the specific film, i think this is because both Psycho and Seven are much older films, this means that marketing and distribution are not necessary as the films have gained fame through word of mouth and popularity. Many older films do not have websites anymore, if at all, this new way of marketing and distribution has spread like wild-fire in the last 5 years. These statistics show that using a website for a film would be undeniably useful to the popularity of the film...
In 2010, 30.1 million adults in the UK (60 per cent) accessed the Internet every day or almost every day. This is nearly double the estimate in 2006 of 16.5 million.
Ancillary Research
We have taken 3 posters from what we think are the three most successful psychological thrillers. Inception, Seven and Psycho. 
Inceptions poster looks automatically like a hollywood block buster, the graphics and detail within the poster show that there has been a lot of time spent on it to make it as good as it can be to make the distribution process successful. The poster shows extremely large buildings, sleek, modern and black either side with water running through the middle, Leonardo De Caprio is stood with his back facing the audience with his head turned slightly so we are able to recognise him. He has a gun in his hand which makes him look powerful but his other hand is in his pocket which reflects that his body language is very calm and relaxed even though being in the midst of the collasel sized buildings and the fact he is up to his knees in water. The main colour theme of this poster is black,grey and red, this is a recurring colour theme within the movie and on the website. This reflects the dangerous and dark genre of the film very well.
This film poster is not as highly polished as inception as it was made in 1960 so the access to technical editing was very limited. The main character, the women, takes up most of the poster, she in a bra and underskirt making her look seductive but her expression is pretified, selling sex with scare. The main male character is completely red, this speaks volumes as it later turns out he is evil. The title Psycho is also written in yellow but it is torn up into pieces like a jigsaw puzzle put back together showing this film is a murder msytery.
This films poster has very dark and gritty colours, dark mud browns, yellows and blacks, as well as subtle bits of red. Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman have their faces put on the poster very close up. They are back to back, looking inquisitively and seriously into the camera. Between them is the seven deadly sins written in a list vertically. Each word has a red slash through it, almost like ticking them off a checklist which gives away that this film has the seven deadly sins as the theme and it is most definately a murder mystery!
These film posters worked well to fit the forms and convention of our film genre. The pattern through out these posters shows bold, bright colours and text. The colours are definately suited to the films and you can tell straight away they are thrillers, yet each are so very different from one another. So we decided to make our film poster focus on scissors and the hair rather than putting the characters in the poster, this doesn't fit to the forms and conventions of most thriller film posters but we thought it very abstract and unique and would make the audience form ideas in their head about the film rather than giving them a very obvious clue about what happens. If we were to realistically distribute and market this film i think the film poster we make would work successfully to attract our specific target audience as it looks mature enough for 30 year olds yet simple enough for 16 year olds.
Inceptions poster looks automatically like a hollywood block buster, the graphics and detail within the poster show that there has been a lot of time spent on it to make it as good as it can be to make the distribution process successful. The poster shows extremely large buildings, sleek, modern and black either side with water running through the middle, Leonardo De Caprio is stood with his back facing the audience with his head turned slightly so we are able to recognise him. He has a gun in his hand which makes him look powerful but his other hand is in his pocket which reflects that his body language is very calm and relaxed even though being in the midst of the collasel sized buildings and the fact he is up to his knees in water. The main colour theme of this poster is black,grey and red, this is a recurring colour theme within the movie and on the website. This reflects the dangerous and dark genre of the film very well. 
This film poster is not as highly polished as inception as it was made in 1960 so the access to technical editing was very limited. The main character, the women, takes up most of the poster, she in a bra and underskirt making her look seductive but her expression is pretified, selling sex with scare. The main male character is completely red, this speaks volumes as it later turns out he is evil. The title Psycho is also written in yellow but it is torn up into pieces like a jigsaw puzzle put back together showing this film is a murder msytery. 
These film posters worked well to fit the forms and convention of our film genre. The pattern through out these posters shows bold, bright colours and text. The colours are definately suited to the films and you can tell straight away they are thrillers, yet each are so very different from one another. So we decided to make our film poster focus on scissors and the hair rather than putting the characters in the poster, this doesn't fit to the forms and conventions of most thriller film posters but we thought it very abstract and unique and would make the audience form ideas in their head about the film rather than giving them a very obvious clue about what happens. If we were to realistically distribute and market this film i think the film poster we make would work successfully to attract our specific target audience as it looks mature enough for 30 year olds yet simple enough for 16 year olds.
Monday, 11 October 2010
Evidence of Presentation of Film Pitch
After our film pitch we answered questions and recieved constructive criticisms which would improve the films reality.
Instead of our slogan saying 'Forget me not' it is now 'Forget me knot' a play on words as the main character Ike, has a fetish with hair, he kills his partners and cuts locks of their hair tying them into knots and hiding them in a black box with past pictures of the deceased girlfriends.
We changed the ages of the characters so they are 20 but Ike's past girlfriends were past wives and we realised this couldn't work now that Ike wasn't a vampire because he hadn't been 20 for many years so we changed this idea to fit accordingly to the genre and new idea!
Film Pitch
Pitch for media][1]
View more presentations from rebeccablythe.
This was our pitch for our short film, we presented it to the class and had some good feedback which we are taking on board.
There are a few changes we are going to make...
Firstly: Instead of them being married, they are just going to be partners, and instead of Ike having previous wives they will be previous partners. We have done this becuase they are playing the age of 20, and it would not be as realistic if he had been married twice already at that age
Secondly, instead of calling it "forget me not", we are calling it "forget me knot", this will work better as its giving the audience some clues and will create automatic tension.
Idea 1- scrapped! Idea 2 - Psychological Thriller
Within doing our research we found that a vampire 'esque' type movie would be too hard to produce as it would have to look undeniably believable to pull it off. We realised with lack of sufficient funds and time we would not be able to pull it off in a convincing manner.
We have decided to do a psychological thriller instead of romantic comedy as we already have thorough knowledge of thriller films as we did this genre last year at AS.
We want a 'Psycho-esque' feel to our film, creating vast amounts of tension and thrill within our piece whilst also keeping it realistic and clever.
We have decided to do a psychological thriller instead of romantic comedy as we already have thorough knowledge of thriller films as we did this genre last year at AS.
We want a 'Psycho-esque' feel to our film, creating vast amounts of tension and thrill within our piece whilst also keeping it realistic and clever.
Sunday, 26 September 2010
Research into Vampire themes..
Twilight is massive, the books were loved widely and the films became instantly popular due to the success of the books and the 'dashing' characters within the film..
This is a trailer from the first film
This is a trailer from the first film
Ideas for the film..
We are thinking of a 'vampire-esque' type film, with a twist of historical romance. Vampire themes are massive right now so it would definately link with a modern audience and catch their attention immediately.
We though of a story line where a woman falls in love with a vampire (disguised as a normal human being) but then has her life threatened as the man wants to kill her, so she must fight for her life. We thought the monologue from Shakespeare's 'A Winters Tale' where Hermione must make a speech to save her life in front of a court and this is relative to the women in our story because she must also fight for her life.
This is the touching speech:
HERMIONE:Since what I am to say must be but that
Which contradicts my accusation, and
The testimony on my part no other
But what comes from myself, it shall scarce boot me
To say, "Not guilty." Mine integrity,
Being counted falsehood, shall, as I express it,
Be so received. But thus: if powers divine
Behold our human actions, as they do,
I doubt not then but innocence shall make
False accusation blush and tyranny
Tremble at patience. You, my lord, best know,
Who least will seem to do so, my past life
Hath been as continent, as chaste, as true,
As I am now unhappy; which is more
Than history can pattern, though devised
And played to take spectators. For behold me--
A fellow of the royal bed, which owe
A moiety of the throne, a great king's daughter,
The mother to a hopeful prince -- here standing
To prate and talk for life and honor 'fore
Who please to come and hear. For life, I prize it
As I weigh grief, which I would spare. For honor,
'Tis a derivative from me to mine,
And only that I stand for. I appeal
To your own conscience, sir, before Polixenes
Came to your court, how I was in your grace,
How merited to be so; since he came,
With what encounter so uncurrent I
Have strained t' appear thus; if one jot beyond
The bound of honor, or in act or will
That way inclining, hardened be the hearts
Of all that hear me, and my near'st of kin
Cry fie upon my grave!
We though of a story line where a woman falls in love with a vampire (disguised as a normal human being) but then has her life threatened as the man wants to kill her, so she must fight for her life. We thought the monologue from Shakespeare's 'A Winters Tale' where Hermione must make a speech to save her life in front of a court and this is relative to the women in our story because she must also fight for her life.
This is the touching speech:
HERMIONE:Since what I am to say must be but that
Which contradicts my accusation, and
The testimony on my part no other
But what comes from myself, it shall scarce boot me
To say, "Not guilty." Mine integrity,
Being counted falsehood, shall, as I express it,
Be so received. But thus: if powers divine
Behold our human actions, as they do,
I doubt not then but innocence shall make
False accusation blush and tyranny
Tremble at patience. You, my lord, best know,
Who least will seem to do so, my past life
Hath been as continent, as chaste, as true,
As I am now unhappy; which is more
Than history can pattern, though devised
And played to take spectators. For behold me--
A fellow of the royal bed, which owe
A moiety of the throne, a great king's daughter,
The mother to a hopeful prince -- here standing
To prate and talk for life and honor 'fore
Who please to come and hear. For life, I prize it
As I weigh grief, which I would spare. For honor,
'Tis a derivative from me to mine,
And only that I stand for. I appeal
To your own conscience, sir, before Polixenes
Came to your court, how I was in your grace,
How merited to be so; since he came,
With what encounter so uncurrent I
Have strained t' appear thus; if one jot beyond
The bound of honor, or in act or will
That way inclining, hardened be the hearts
Of all that hear me, and my near'st of kin
Cry fie upon my grave!
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