Q4) WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?
Wednesday, 16 December 2015
Monday, 7 December 2015
PLANNING: DEVELOPING IDEAS IN GROUPS- MISS BEGUM
What is an initial
idea? Why is it important?
In order to create the thriller opening our class was
divided into groups which mostly consisted of 3 members. This would help later
on during the production so everyone is given a role and will work together to
create the product. In my group there are three members who all came up with an
initial idea for an opening thriller and critically discussed why it would or
wouldn't work thus allowing to analyse which idea we should go with. An initial
idea is the basic construction of your intended product. This is used to
organize your very first plans and intentions so then it is easier to decide
whether your aim is realistic, unique and will be effective. Initial idea can
be used to build up on and develop later during the further stages of
production. It can also be compared with the initial ideas from your other
group members which will be beneficial as it can help to create a better and
original product. Initial idea is important because it can allow a stable base
for your production which you can later develop and change if necessary. Also
initial ideas are easy to amend because they are just simple plans. This was
our first task to complete as a group in order to familiarise with one another
as well as see the different plans we have come up with which could be
then developed upon. This is important
when working in a group because you have to compromise with other members in
order to create something that everyone will be satisfied with.
These are the Initial Ideas from other members of my group
as well as my own:
INITIAL IDEA 1:
NATALIA
Narrative: I want to divide the opening into 2 sections
that will both make sense and work with one another. In the first section the
opening credits will be presented with little narrative in order to establish
the mood, atmosphere and genre of the film. This section is an intertextual
reference to the opening of Seven where we don’t see the characters but can
tell what is happening and what this could resolve in. In section one the main
focus will be the anonymous letter that someone is creating by gluing and
sticking newspaper cuttings together to create a whole. The newspaper cuttings
will also become the typography for the opening credits. Section 2 on the other
hand will have a clearer story line. It will start with a female character
simply jogging in a forest until she finds a mysterious letter which is the one
from the first section. She then feels unwell and takes medicine which causes
her to hallucinate and hear things that are non-existing. She spots a weird ritual
where an unknown figure does something to a child’s dead body. The sequence
ends with an image of a female who wakes up on the floor with blood on her face
leaving the audience with wonder whether the ritual was just a hallucination or
reality.
Sub-genre:
Psychological/ Mystery thriller.
Themes: Mystery,
Supernaturalism, Death, Medicine, Chaos, Darkness.
Characters:
·
Female Protagonist
·
The Supernatural antagonists
·
The Child Victim
Narrative Structure
and Theory:
·
Todorov: in section 2 there will be a clear
start, middle and end. The equilibrium when the female simply runs for leisure.
Disequilibrium when she takes the pills and sees things. New equilibrium when
she wakes up.
·
Aristotle- the theme of child’s death should
draw the audiences’ emotions and make them feel pity and distraught. The theme
of mystery will make the spectators feel engaged with the narrative more and
make them intrigued.
·
Propp- the female character as a hero and the
supernatural figures as the villains and the victim is the child.
Mise En Scene:
·
Iconography- the pills are the key iconography
in this opening. This is because they are one of the causes of the visions and
they give meaning to the narrative and character. The letter which is another
stimulus for the protagonist is also important as the audience can see the effect it has on the narrative and character, thus being intrigued by it.
·
Lighting and Colour- low key and natural lighting
which will help to make the scene much more threatening and scary for the
viewer as naturally we connote darkness with danger and threat.
·
Setting- forest. Forests tend to be isolated and
have connotations of mystery and danger. This will help to establish the
thriller genre as well as draw an audience response as they know that no one is around to safe the protagonist out of oppression.
·
Facial Expression and Body Language- the
antagonist should slouch a little bit to show that they are mysterious and will
not open up to anyone. The female protagonist will have a steady and firm body
language and facial expression so the audience can put their hopes in her. The
child victim will lay on the floor with open hands to show that it was a
welcoming and good child who should be pitied by the viewer as well as exposed to danger.
·
Costume- the antagonist will wear a black cloak
with white or black masks. This will help to hide their identity and show that
they are in fact a supernatural character rather than humans. The hidden
identity will scare the audience. The protagonist on the other hand should wear
something casual to show that she is a typical person who the audience can
relate with. The victim will wear a white to represent its purity and
vulnerability.
Title: ‘Can You
Hear Me?’ – This title will fit this opening because it will reinforce the idea
of suffering from schizophrenia which is what the protagonist tries to fight.
Also this is a direct question that aims at the audience too. The spectators
will question themselves which will be engaging for them.
Advantages for
choosing this idea:
·
It is original
·
Isn’t cliché
·
It will draw the right emotions from the
audience
·
It has accurate thriller themes
·
The characters are untypical
·
The setting can be easily accessible
·
The typography for the opening will be original
and will not be added but it becomes a part of the scene which is also unique.
Potential problems
and how I plan to overcome them:
·
The natural lighting can be an issue as there
needs to be a right balance so the scene isn’t too dark and still seems
believable. However this could be tackled by editing the sequence and making it
darker in Final Cut.
·
The pills can be hard to access. This could be
overcome by simply using sweets that look like medicine.
INITIAL IDEA 2:
GULUSTAN
Narrative: A
young lady is lost and finds herself in Liverpool Street Train station at 11:45
pm. While turning around on the spot, trying to figure out where she is, she
realises a little girl sitting in the middle of the empty train station playing
with a doll. As she approaches the little girl and is about to sit down to see
if she’s alright she hears a voice of a foreign/ Russian old man saying “isn’t
it a little too late for a young girl like you too be out here… especially
here.” As she turns around to ask why, there is no one there and she and the
little girl are the only ones there. Exactly at 12:00 the big grandfathers
clock bongs and she hears chants and a loud drum beat coming from outside. She
is afraid to go take a look but doesn’t want to show her fear to comfort the
girl, but as she looks back, she is gone and her doll is still there. She picks
up the doll and moves the arm, but weirdly when she does her own arm moves,
almost as if the little girl controlled her and brought her precisely at 12:00.
She slowly and steadily takes steps towards a window to see what’s going on and
she sees a crowd of people in ranks marching and chanting words in a different
language. First she thinks it’s some kind of creepy festival but as she becomes
conscious that something is controlling everyone she sees figure in a black
cloak which she can’t make out due to it being dark and the figure being
camouflaged.
Sub-Genre:
Psychological, Mystery
Themes: kidnap,
mystery
Characters:
·
Female protagonist
·
The little girl
·
The Foreign man
·
Cloaked People
Narrative Structure
and theory:
·
Todorov’s theory of start-middle and end.
Start being when she arrives at the train station, middle when she sees a
little girl and hears the old man, end being when she hears the chanting and
tries to work out what is going on.
·
Aristotle’s theory of themes. The theme
of mystery will engage the audience as well as intrigue them because they will
be eager to find out more as well as solve the mystery as if becoming part of
the film.
·
Barthes’s theory of cultural references.
This being evident through the character of the Old Russian man.
Stereotypically, foreign characters such as Russian, are antagonized and
presented as a threat to the society which reinforces Barthes’s theory as
naturally the audience fears foreign people simply for the lack of their
knowledge.
Mise en scene:
·
Costume- black cloaks for the group of
walking characters. Black connotes evil intensions and darkness, thus
suggesting that the audience should loathe them because they are more likely to
bring harm rather than happiness. Also cloaks help to hide the characters
identity thus implying that they have something to hide, conventional of an
antagonist.
·
Iconography- the doll that controls the
damsel. This proposes supernatural powers which are often the case in thrillers
because they’re still a mystery and point of argument in today’s society thus
making it seem threatening for the audience.
·
Setting- Liverpool train station, because
it is a famous place and many viewers will be familiar with the setting thus
having own perception of it which will be ruined by the film. Additionally, it
will have a double effect on the viewer who will now feel threatened when
walking down the station on a normal day (It will leave an psychological effect
in them)
·
Lighting- High key, to make the setting
look harmless and keep the element of surprise as the audience is more likely
not to expect anything bad to happen because we connote light with warmth and
peace, therefore the audience are left with more astonishment.
·
Facial Expression and Body Language: the
little girl will have an emotionless expression on her face as if being
possessed by a dead soul, thus making the audience feel sorry for her but at
the same time afraid, knowing that she can be capable of ruthless acts because
of the possession. Because she will be sat down, her body language will be
slouched as if she is careless about what happens. The female protagonist will
have a confused, lost and scared facial expression throughout the sequence because
she is unaware of her situation and what is happening around her. This will
have an impact on the audience because they want to support her but at the same
time worry for her and feel confused as they are unaware of the surroundings
just like the protagonist. Her open and uptight
body language will make her look exposed to the awaiting danger which yet again
scares the viewer. The Old man will have a firm and proud body language as well
as facial expression to show he is arrogant and sure in his actions or evil
intensions. Lastly the cloaked characters will have the same slouched body language
and slow, monotonous movement which makes them even more mysterious. Their face
will not be shown because of the costume.
Title: It’s
Time
Advantages of
choosing this idea:
·
It has its originality
·
It's characters are conventional
·
The setting is easy to access
Potential problems and
how I plan to overcome them:
·
Hard to find a large number of people to play in
it which could be solved by asking as many friends as possible or reduce the
number of the characters.
·
Train stations are hardly empty which could
cause the most issue, however we could access a less known train station.
INITIAL IDEA 3:
BIBI
Narrative: The
scene begins with a man sleeping alone in his bedroom. It's the middle of the
night and the house is silent. The man hears what seems to be a sound of glass
fall in the distance. He opens his eyes, but ignores it. Several heavy
footsteps thud outside of his room. He sits up on his bed. A light shines in
from beneath his door. He hears more footsteps approaching and heavy objects
falling to the ground. Completely awake now, he turns his bedroom lamp on. The
man is petrified. He hears two men approaching his door, and shuts off his
light. He decides to hide under his bed. From underneath he can see two men in
combat boots pace around. From the untidy sheets on the bed the criminals
assume that they are not alone in the room. They find the protagonist and
kidnap him. They wear clown masks, covering their identity. Moreover, the
antagonist covers the victim's eyes with a band, tapes his mouth and throws him
inside their van. The criminals drive for 1 hour with an unknown destination.
At last they pick up the protagonist and tie him up to a chair in a dark place.
The two antagonists start preparing knifes, thus scaring the main character.
One of the antagonists come closer to the chair. The protagonist tries to
scream and shout loud as he possibly can. The antagonist approaches to shut him
up, takes off his mask and starts laughing. The protagonist is shocked,
screaming with more anger. This is because the two antagonists are his best
friends and decided to prank him. They untied the protagonist and go to a club
near the location to start drinking and dancing. As they are having the last
shot, one of the friends puts LSD in the protagonist drink. He starts hallucinating
and a fade to black is displayed. He wakes up the next morning from a hangover.
He feels dizzy so he goes to the toilet and looks in the mirror. He is confused
as he is covered with blood. He starts panicking and begins to be nervous as he
finds an axe next to where he was lying.
Sub-genre: Crime,
Psychological thriller
Themes: Kidnap,
violence, torture, hang over
Characters:
·
Protagonist
·
2 Antagonists
Narrative Structure
and Theory:
·
Todorov: there will be a clear start,
middle and end. The equilibrium when the protagonist is lying in bed and he
starts to hear noises. Disequilibrium when the antagonists kidnap the
protagonist and tie him up to the chair. New equilibrium when he wakes up and
finds blood and an axe.
·
Aristotle: the theme of kidnap should
draw the audiences’ emotions and make them feel pity and distraught because
they assume that the protagonist is innocent as well as know that the antagonists
violated his privacy. The theme of mystery will make the spectators feel
engaged with the narrative more and make them intrigued thus being impacted by
the story much more.
Mise En Scene:
·
Iconography - Knife, Mask, Van, Drugs and
Axe.
·
Lighting and Colour- low- key lighting throughout
the opening to show the evil intensions from antagonists and propose danger. It
will also create a chilling response for the audience because naturally we are
afraid of the dark.
·
Setting- Apartment which will cause the audience
to feel scared because they’re very familiar with the setting and can start feeling
afraid that something like this could happen to them. A warehouse is an
isolated location, conventional to the thriller genre, thus making the audience
feel worried for the protagonist because no one is there to help him out of oppression.
Another location would be the club which will help to make a false perception for
the viewer as we connote clubs with relaxation and leisure but here we see that
it can be risky.
·
Facial Expression and Body Language -
Firstly the protagonist will be terrified and anxious as he does not know
what’s going on in his apartment. As the narrative develops his body language
will be vulnerable and weak as he cannot counterattack the antagonist.
Moreover, when he arrives at the club he will be relaxed and joyful thus
contrasting his previous situation and making the viewer relaxed too. Lastly as
he wakes up, the protagonist will be confused and terrified discovering the
blood on his hands and face. On the other hand, the two antagonists will be
presented as strong and firm as they need to carry the protagonist in the van.
They will also be muscular and threatening as they will cover their faces with
masks, keeping their identity hidden.
·
Costume – The protagonist will wear a
white shirt and grey sweatpants. The white connotes innocence and
vulnerability. However, the two antagonists will wear clown masks and black
shirts. The mask will make their identity anonymous and the black clothing
shows their evil actions and danger to society.
Title: The Last
Shot
Advantages for
choosing this idea:
·
Original and unique
·
Creates suspense
·
Theories can be applied
Potential problems
and how I plan to overcome them:
·
It will be hard to tape because we do not own a
van. This could be tackled by asking an adult to hire theirs or cut this scene
out.
·
It has too much narrative, often openings do not
reveal as much. This could be tackled by cutting down the narrative.
Conclusion:
Overall, creating and sharing these initial ideas was highly
beneficial for our group because it has allowed us to gain different
recommendations and possible improvements that could be made to create the best
opening. Moreover it was interesting to see the different plans that everyone
came up with which allowed to enhance each idea by adding them to one another
thus creating something truly unique and original. I think that this post is
important because we were able to organize all these ideas and therefore we can
always build upon these in future. Our next step is to pick one idea and amend
it so everyone is satisfied and will know exactly what kind of opening we will
create. From our discussion I think that we are likely to create a whole new
idea for our thriller opening because our initial ideas are so different that
it will be hard to compromise and settle on one thing. We decided on creating
something original as well as taking some aspects of each initial plan in order
to comfort every group member.
Tuesday, 1 December 2015
PLANNING: PRE-PRODUCTION PAPERWORK- MISS BEGUM
What is
pre-production paperwork? Why is it important?
Pre-production paperwork are the agreements and legal
requirements that need to be completed when preparing for your final production
stages. These include:
·
Client release form
·
Location release form
·
Location recce form
·
Production Schedule
·
Risk Assessments
It is very important to create these because without them
you are at risk of getting yourself in trouble especially when filming in a
public area. These can help to plan your filming stages as well as help to
inform everyone else about your actions. The pre-production paperwork is a
requirement that will help to explain your work to the authorities or any
others who are concerned. It will also assure others of your own safety when
filming, hence why the risk assessment. In order to complete this task to the
best standard, as this is a serious and legal requirement, we had to divide the
roles and take on different paperwork.
Client Release
Form:
This form was created to help us when recruiting an actor,
necessary for filming. It discusses the agreements that the person has to give
their consent to when signing up to help us in our production. This form has to
make the client aware of what is expected of them as well as acknowledge them
of the possible risks and the future usage of the tape. This form needs to be
distributed to everyone in the cast and in order to start filming they need to
sign the form after reading and understanding all the terms and conditions of
this contract. This is our example of the Client Release Form:
Location Release
Form:
This is a required document that acknowledges the
authorities of the different locations you plan to film in, as well as asks for
their permissions, discussing the terms and conditions that come with this
production. This document helps to prove that your actions are safe and
approved by your career. This needs to be distributed to the owners of your
filming location and signed by them after they read and understood the
different terms and conditions that come with this production. This is an image
of our Location Release Form:
Location Recce
Form:
This document helps to list all the locations that you
intend to film in. This should be distributed to every member of the film
production, including the actors, in order to acknowledge them of the different
locations that they need to be in. This task helps to organize the production
crew as without this clear ‘timetable’ it would be impossible to get everyone
to the right place at the appropriate time. Location Recce should be easy to
read and include some visuals in order to make it simple for the members to get
to their destination. This is an example of our location recce:
Production
Schedule:
This document also works as a timetable for the filming crew
as well as the actors. This also works as an outline of the production,
including the times and dates of the filming with the needed equipment and
actors. This can save a lot of hustle within the set, as the crew will be able
to work with the designated actors and focus on the specific scene rather than
a whole, which can make everything less stressful and a lot easier. This is an
example of our production schedule:
This form has information that provide the possible risks
that could await the production while filming. It reminds everyone to take
caution as well as explains how the accidents can be resolved or avoided. This
will also assure others that you are ready to face the possible accidents when
creating your footage and will be able to deal with the obstacles. Additionally
the risk assessment allows you to calculate how likely is it for the risk to
happen which yet again allows you to decide if your production is safe and take
extra caution with some risks. This is our risk assessment:
Advantages of
creating the pre- production paperwork:
·
Allowed to make our production look legitimate
·
Helped to evaluate the possible risk that could
occur
·
Allowed to prepare for these risks as well as
how to deal with them
·
Given us legal security
·
Made us experience what it is like creating a
production in the industry
Conclusion.
Overall, completing this task was highly beneficial because
it has allowed to evaluate the possible risks that need to be taken under
consideration as well as legally secure us in terms of a client and location
which is important as now I know I can rely on the actors and know that I do
not have to adjust my idea because everything went as planned.
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