1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our media product is a film called Captive (we have filmed the opening sequence). It begins with a disruption: one of the main characters, a girl called Dannie, is kidnapped by an unseen person. When her boyfriend (Josh) gets to her house, he sees that there has been a struggle and that Dannie is missing. He enlists the help of Dannie’s best friend Charlotte to help find her. Josh had recently inherited a lot of money from his father, who it turns out, won the money from a corrupt business deal. The rival company are out to reclaim the fortune, using Dannie as a bribe.

Our film is a teen thriller, which incorporates elements of crime and action.

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GENRE

Our film opening incorporates many film conventions. Our opening features many genre-specific themes. The kidnap is especially conventional to the thriller genre, creating tension and mystery alongside the sudden blackout. These events tie in crime and mystery elements. Thriller films that also include kidnapping include: The Silence of the Lambs (Demme 1991) and Taken (Raimi 2004).

However, in order to break conventions and create confusion and tension, we chose to not show the action of the kidnap, by having a black screen of a blackout. Although a typical action film would show the action taking place, a thriller director would try to add suspense where ever possible - as in Taken. In our sequence, the audience only hears the kidnap, which is disorientating and adds suspense.

In this kidnap scene from Taken, we hear the girl panicking and screaming while seeing her father’s face. The sense of the unknown happening is very effective in creating emotion and drawing in the audience.

NARRACTIVE STRUCTURE

The element of mystery present in our opening sequence fulfils Todorov’s narrative theory: the film begins with an equilibrium which is disrupted, then restored towards the end of the film. This is a classical narrative pattern which creates a clear storyline.

Applying Todorov's theory to our plot

Other elements of film theory that we took into account:

-   Barthe's theory of enigma and action codes plays an important part in advancing the narrative in the opening sequence as well as hinting at what is to come.

-   The news report introduce enigma and villainous characters

-   The kidnap is a vital moment of action (the disruption) which causes the story to move on

-    We planned our character list according to Propp’s character theory

THE VILLAINS - The corrupt businessmen

THE HERO - Josh

THE DONOR - The escaped prisoner who leaves clues to Dani's whereabouts

THE HELPER - Charlotte

THE PRINCESS / VICTIM - Dani

HER FATHER - Dani's dad

THE DISPATCHER - Josh's father, who causes the dispute between the businessmen and Josh

THE FALSE HERO -  We do not have a false hero in our story


This narrative pattern is used in all conventional films, from children films like Finding Nemo (2003) to films aimed at an adult audience like The King's Speech (2010).

FORM


As an opening sequence there are elements that are typically included:

-          Introduce main characters

-          Introduce setting (location and time)

-          Include some mystery/tension which draws the reader in

-          Suggest what is coming

Like the opening sequences I have looked at previously in this blog (Harry Potter, Narnia, The Sixth Sense, The Incredibles) our opening sequence includes these points which create a successful opening sequence. Like the opening from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, our opening contains a lot of engima and a kidnap, which is gripping and surprising.


Using feedback from our audience screening, we can tell that our opening sequence is successful in these aspects. Almost all the people who watched our screening managed to identify the main characters (a girl and boy in a relationship), and most people wrote that they found our opening scene successful (average rating 7/10). When asked what the audience members predicted for the rest of the film common themes suggested were revenge, crime and finding the kidnapped girl, which are correct to what we planned in our film synopsis.

 Here is the information we gathered from the screening:

Group 6 Audience Feedback

STYLE

As our production company is a based on a small British institution, we verged towards a more indie, relaxed film style rather than typically Hollywood style. To do this we did used a homely, colourful setting recognisable as a classical English home (accents also served to establish the setting), in contrast to the modern settings used with harsh, bright lighting in many Hollywood productions such as the Cullen’s house in the Twilight Saga, for example. The pace of our film begins slowly, then suddenly becomes fast paced (shown through the quick kidnap and blurred, fast, point of view panning shot). For sound, we used a news report and low bass music to add tension and mystery, which is commonly used in thriller scenes.

We also paid a lot of attention to continuity, in order to make our opening as believable as possible. As this was a problem in our first sequence we wanted to ensure that we did not need to reshoot anything this time. Below is an example of the details we checked before filming.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our film opening focuses on teenagers, featuring our two main protagonists who are 17 years old. Therefore, age representation is an important feature of our film, in the opening as well as when other adult characters appear further on in the storyline.

Stereotypes of teenagers:


• Carefree attitude
• Lazy
• Out with friends

• Partying

• Drinking alcohol

• Drugsa

• Crimes

• Gang culture

• Boyfriends/girlfriends

• Texting

• Technology

• Rebellion

• Moody

We kept with these stereotypes in order to present a realistic view of teenagers, however we didn’t want to represent teens negatively as they are our primary audience and to attract them the characters need to be appealing, relatable and positive.

We present teens as independent in our opening, as they are alone in the scenes. Through dialogue, the teenage girl is suggested to be very strong and self-sufficient, as she holds the power during the conversation with her dad. We used framing here to present her as powerful: she dominates the frame and stands on the stairs. On the other hand, the kidnap shows her to become weaker in the opening scene. Throughout the rest of the film, the teenage characters act to contradict this and present teenagers as strong and responsible. In addition, our use of props satisfies the stereotypes listed: we used WKD bottles and a mobile phone.

There are also gender representation issues that our opening scene addresses:

We have both male and female characters in our opening scene, and they are presented as equal in terms of power and importance.

Our female character, Dannie, is independent and seems in control when talking to her Dad. We can tell this through the dialogue, especially lines such as 'Dad, I'm 17 now, I can look after myself!'. However our opening sequence does not portray females as in power all of the time – Josh is also powerful. Dannie texts him to ask is he is ‘still coming over’, which could be suggesting that men are in a position of control in relationships. When Dannie is kidnapped, she is portrayed as a stereotypical weak female and when her boyfriend needs to save her, she is a typical damsel in distress.

Despite his dark clothing which connotes strength and authority, Josh is not portrayed as brave or strong when he discovers Dannie is missing – his point of view shot is blurred and moving very fast, suggesting confusion on his part. This condraticts the male stereotype.

Films that present teenagers in a similar way: Stormbreaker (Sax 2006) and the Harry Potter films, where the protagonist teens are in power and end up saving the day.

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

Our production company is Darkhouse Production, and we specialise in thriller films. Captive is a teen thriller – we have incorporated our knowledge of thrillers and teen media consumption to create this niche British film. A similar British production company is Coffee Films. They produce feature and short films, many of which are thrillers of horrors. There most recent films include Lucid and Into The Shadow. Coffee Films shoot on film, with a low budget. Like Coffee Films, we are aiming to reach fans of the thriller genre, however rather than targeting adults, we specifically aim at teenagers.

Our film focuses on the lives of British teenagers - their lives have not been glossed over, and the action is gritty and dark. Therefore I do not believe that our film would attract a Hollywood company used to distributing rom-coms or chick-flicks, because their target audiences, or audiences that recognise their brand name, are not the same as ours (for rom-coms, a typical audience would be young women, looking for a relaxing, funny film). Our film is aimed at teenagers and young adults, so an institution which has distributed similar films would be ideal. 

MGM distributed Legally Blonde, The Ex, Material Girls, amongst many other rom-coms. Their target audience is mostly adult women. MGM is experienced in distributing to this audience group, rather than teenagers and thriller fans.

On the other hand, Contender Films (distributing both films in cinemas and on DVD)  is a British distribution company which has released similar films to ours (A Very British Gangster, Shutter). This means that they have experience targeting our audience. Also, as they have recently been acquired by Entertainment One, they have funding available and are linked to other companies which would help them to distribute to a larger audience – possibly world-wide. 


Shutter is a thriller/horror with mystery elements, which are similar themes to the ones in Captive. Crime is also a part fo our film, like A Very British Gangster.



EXHIBITION

Our film could be premiered at film festivals to attract attention; however I think that to appeal to our primary audience of teenagers, it would have to be available for exhibition at multiplexes. Typical teenagers do not often have knowledge of small independent cinemas such as ‘The Screen on the Green’, as they show films that would attract an older audience into more serious films. These are also often in areas that are more upmarket (Hampstead, Belsize Park) and teenagers typically look for the cheapest alternatives.

 I do not think that a blanket release or saturation would be necessary. The people we portray in our film are from powerful, modern and live in London, so I feel that it would do best if shown in cities, where there is a high population of teenagers who are looking for things to do with friends.

In our audience feedback, the majority of our audience categorised our film as an independent film. However many also classed it as a mainstream film. There was also an equal split between people who said it would be shown in an independant cinema or a multiplex.

As the majority of teenagers are very tech-savvy and lead modern lifestyles, online exhibition could be a viable alternative platform for exhibition. Content for iPhones would also help with creating hype around a film, as would viral campaigns which would easily target the millions of teenagers who use social networking every day. According to cnet.com, 20% of teenagers own a smartphone (converged technology) and 55% of 12-17 year olds use social networkign sites.





Examples of converged technology and new exhibition platforms



4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our film fits into a subgenre of thriller: teen thriller. Therefore, our primary audience is teens and young adults (16-24 years old), both male and female. Our secondary audience consists of older or younger males and females, those who are interested in the themes that we address – crime, action, suspense, mystery...

Our film is aimed specifically at teens living modern, city lives (local to where the film is set), as this reflects the lives that the characters in our film live. The characters in our film live in London, a multicultural city in England. As a result I don't feel that are audience is limited by nationality or race, as our film inlcudes people of all backgrounds. Our film could attract an international audience, as Britain is a country of interest to many people. Stereotypically, Americans like films about Britain, however these are normally historical period films about royalty like The Duchess or The Queen, rather than teens of London.

A member of our target audience:

Name: Rachel Davies

Age: 17

-    Lives in London

-    Rachel studies Maths, Business and History at A Level and is planning to study Fashion Business and Marketing at university

-    Has a boyfriend, Harry, who is also 17

-    Enjoys going out with her friends, going to parties, shopping and also enjoys films.

-    She often reads fashion and gossip magazines

-    She dislikes animals and watching sports

-    Rachel has an iPhone and regularly downloads new Apps

-    She has an account on Facebook and likes to keep up with what's going on around her.

-    She spends on average an hour a day on the internet on her own laptop.

-    TV programs that she likes include Gossip Girl, Lost, Flashforward and Skins.

-    Rachel does not have a specific favourite film genre – she enjoys rom coms, however also likes more serious films like thrillers and suspense films.

-    The most recent film she saw at the cinema was I Am Number Four. She liked it for its exciting plot line and the fact that it featured well-known teen actors

      Judging by this information, Rachel would like our film as it is a teen thriller, but also has some elements of romance. She could go and see it with her friends or boyfriend at a multiplex in London. This plot in particular would appeal to her as it is about teenagers her age living in the same city as she does.

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Here is some information we gathered from our target audience during our screening - from this we can see what sort of films this age group prefer:

Group 6 Audience Information

Many members of our focus group wrote thriller/horror as their favoruite film genre.

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From the guidelines posted on the BBFC’s website , I believe that our film should be a certificate 15, for the following reasons:

- Strong threat

- Some dangerous behaviour

- Use of weapons (not glamorised)

- Use of strong language

- Some sexual connotations (no strong details)

- Violence, but no strong images of gore

Most of our audience suggested that our film should be rated a 15 on their questionnaire.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

How we addressed our primary audience (16-25):

• Our film features a predominant teen cast (both male and female), aged 17
• Our young characters are empowered and independent during the film, portraying a positive image of teenagers.

• Teens would want to come and see it as they relate to these characters due to being of a similar age
• We used new technology, current themes and trends in our opening scene to ensure that we attracted 16-24 year olds from the start of our film. Mobile phones, relationships and alcohol are popular amongst our target age group.
• As our main characters are both male and female (who are portrayed as strong), we can attract both as our audience.
• The plot line is exciting, and different to what a normal teenager would experience in their day to day life. This plays on our teen audience’s aspirations and desires.
• The kidnap and death in our film is not something that a teenager would want to experience, however the idea of excitement and risk associated is appealing to our audience. By including these in our film, we present a moment of escapism, adding excitement to everyday life.

• The idyllic relationship between Dannie and Josh (Josh sacrifices his life to save Dannie as he loves her so much) is appealing to a teen audience. Similarly to the Twilight Saga, our film gives teenagers a chance to suspend their disbelief and experience this fantasy of a perfect relationship.

• City life of young people is relevant to our target audience of modern teens.
• Our use of a laid-back indie style in filming our opening scene gives a more realistic point of view, which is appreciated by teenagers who don’t want to be patronised in the representation of their age group.

How we attract our younger secondary audience (11-15):

• The opening sequence attracts girls, as the main character here is a teenage girl
• She is texting her boyfriend, which is something that girls of that age can relate too.
• The stereotypical boy of the age of 13 might not be engaged by this; however the action later on in the scene, such as the kidnap, would be more interesting to them.
• The rest of our film also contains a lot of crime-related action.
• The boys would aspire to be the hero, Josh, who combats crime and fights criminals.
• The male character is in the position of leader throughout the film (like Harry and Ron in the Harry Potter films), saving the girls.

How we attract our older secondary audience (Adult thriller fans):

• By sticking to conventions of a thriller, we can attract fans of other similar films
• We chose to use stereotypical thriller themes: kidnap, revenge, mystery, crime
• Our film complies with Todorov’s narrative theory, creating a solid, straightforward plotline similar to other thriller and horror films.
• Our films features both adult and teen characters
• We paid special attention to continuity to make sure that our audience could suspend their disbelief – an adult audience might find the plot unrealistic as the teen characters are the ones in power, so securing other ways of making the film realistic for an adult audience was important.
• Our film has many enigma codes and sudden plot twists, which keep the audience hooked and watching until the end.



Thrillers with similar themes to ours, popular amongst adult audiences

We held an audience screening for our primary target audience to see if our film opening appealed to them. Here is the recording of our event, alongside a table showing the results of our questionnaire. Both suggest that our sample audience enjoyed our film opening:

Group 6 Audience Feedback

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have learnt a lot about the technologies used to produce film sequences during this project:

RESEARCH

Web 2.0 was a major source of information which I used for the majority of my research. For my initial research on film openings, I used YouTube to find videos. I learnt to embed a video into a blog post, where I collated and presented what I found. Previously I had not had much experience of blogging, but now after using Blogger for a few months I have learnt how to convey information through short diary-like posts.

When using the internet, I learnt that much of the information that you can find contradicts what other web pages say, for example when looking for statistics. As it is a platform which is largely unregulated, it is important to judge carefully before using something as it may not be reliable.

FILMING

To film our footage, we used a camcorder, with both auto and manual settings. When preparing for our first shoot (in the forest, for our old idea) I learnt how to use the manual focus, to create focus pulls. Also, while experimenting with different filming techniques, I practised contra zooms. Learning to use the manual settings was interesting and useful, and gave us much more freedom in creating interesting shots that engaged the viewer.

After our first shoot in the forest, we looked over our footage at the edit suite. We realised that on many shots, the focus was off as we had not changed the settings. I have realised through this that although equipment might seem to be automatic and easy to use, there are many things that must be checked, such as focus settings, which could result in you having to reshoot everything.

While filming we used a tripod, which enabled us to get steady shots. I had never needed to use a tripod before, as with taking photography shots a tripod is not always necessary as you move the camera often. However, I realised that a tripod is very useful when you need the camera to be still or pan smoothly.

Here is an example of our filming practise, experimenting with interesting techniques and gettign to know the camera we were using:

EDITING

To edit the sequence, we used Adobe Premier Pro – an easy to use, straightforward program (installed on a Windows computer). Although I had used it before on our preliminary project, within the few weeks of editing, I learnt a lot more about how to use it. I captured the footage from our first shoot on my own, and by the end I was sure about how to do it. I also edited parts of the sequence which also allowed me to get to know the program better. After a while, I felt that I could edit much faster.

CREATING TITLES

To create customized titles we used a specialist program on the Mac called LiveType. This was also easy to learn to use. By using different technologies and computer programs, I found that it was very useful to have modern, fast technologies that were user-friendly and reliable. The programs that I used in post-production were installed on powerful computers, which meant that the editing process went smoothly and without major problems. As we could edit faster, we had more time and opportunities to try out different edits and effects.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

BRIEFS FOR EACH TASK -

Prelim - Film and edit a sequence that showed a person walking into a room and havign a conversation. Use match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule, paying close attention to continuity

Coursework - Film and edit a film opening which should be no longer than 2 minutes long.

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I have definitely learnt to use the technology available so that I can work faster and produce a better product. In comparison to my preliminary task, my final product has more variety in camera shots (frame types, movement etc.) and is edited well, I feel. Between making both products, I learnt more about the different film theories, for example, so I tried to implement this into my final coursework project, putting more thoughts into semiotics and narrative to create a more convincing product.

RESEARCH

Since my preliminary task I have learnt more about film theory and conventions as well as film institutions and audiences - I now have a better knowledge of how films are created.

I used new research platforms when doing my coursework project such as Imdb Pro, Youtube and social networking sites for audience research.

PLANNING



I planned my opening sequence for this project in much more detail, which gave me a clearer image of what I was aiming to produce. As a group, I think that planning in more detail helped to create a cohesive view of what we were filming, so that we could work as a group better. In my opinion it was very important to establish a concrete idea as a group, because with anything creative, everyone in the group visualises things differently. We had minimal disputes or disagreements in production as we had discussed everything beforehand. 



We used sotryboard and

 shotlists in planning



We storyboarded our sequence in both our prelim task and our main project, however our storyboard for Captive was done in much more detail, on post-it notes which we edited and moved around. There were more shots to plan in this project and I learnt that storyboarding helped to list and visualise each shot which helped with other elements of planning.

FILMING

We have had more practise since the prelim task and used more interesting shots in our most recent sequence as we felt more confident in doing so. I found it very useful to have done a prelim task, because during that process I learnt to use the cameras and how to set up the tripod properly. Since the first task I have also learnt more about shot type. I put into practise in this second project the different shot lengths (master, mid, close) which I feel I can use now to better effect. I now also know more about how to construct a seamless narrative, not jumping from shot to shot, but creating smooth transitions between cuts by going from close to mid to wide etc.

EDITING

The prelim task was the first time that I had used Adobe Premier Pro, so by the time we had finished our film opening sequence I ad much more experience in using the program. I can now edit faster and with more confidence.

EVALUATING AND FEEDBACK

We held an audience screening to receive feedback from our target audience, which is something that we didn’t do with our prelim task. Through this I have learnt about planning and publicising an event - we made posters and used social networking (Facebook) to spread information. When creating a questionnaire and gathering results, I realised that it was important to make questions specific, clear and to include some explanation. Now, in writing my evaluation I feel that I understand my product better, and feel that my planning and research has paid off. I can answer questions in more detail as I have a firmer understanding of how my product is constructed and why it is made in a certain way.


GROUP 6!

 Furthermore, I have learnt a lot about working in a team on this project. I have learnt the importance of good communication and organisation. Within the idea of organisation, I learnt that it is important to deligate jobs and to sacrifice some ideas if it means that the process will run smoother. With anything creative, people will have different ideas of what they think should be included, and it is important to remember that you can't do everything your way!