Media Evaluation

After finishing our opening two minutes of a thriller film, it is clear to see how we have tried to use the codes and conventions of famous thriller films. By having the opening starting very slowly with the title sequence(see opening 34seconds) and building to a climax we were able to create a thriller opening that is similar to many other thriller openings. This is something we gained from our research. After watching The Sixth Sense by M.Night Shyamalan which uses a title sequence to great effect.
Opening with an establishing shot of the house where the action takes place is very common amongst thrillers to let the audience know where the scene is set. Furthermore we used music throughout to set the pace of the film and to also build suspense. However when we received feedback from our teacher and our class many of them commented on how we used too much music. Our aim was to engage the audience with a psychological thriller. By using point of view shots and close-ups we aimed to get the audience in touch with the characters feelings and emotions. At the beginning of the opening we used our sub titles with the little girl singing over them. By doing this we aimed to create suspense and build up slowly to get the audience thinking about what is going to happen next.
After doing a questionnaire we realised what our target audience wanted to see in a psychological thriller film. Two major things that our target audience wanted to see twists in the plot and a thrilling end. Having only two minutes meant we couldn’t provide a twist however I feel we gave the audience a thrilling end with many fast tempo shot being used. In addition to this we then used a slow paced shot with the camera moving towards the girl to make a climax. (see shot between 1.53 and 1.58).
During our opening we have two main characters. The dad is an alcoholic and is abusive towards his daughter. We used mese-en-sene to show a very stereotypical alcoholic man. For example he was holding a bottle of beer and was dressed in jeans and a vest which our both associated with alcoholic men. On the other hand the little girl in our film was slightly harder to categorize. We were trying to show her as an older girl who because of the treatment she got from her father acts a lot younger than she is. For example when she sang twinkle twinkle we were portraying to the audience that she was acting young. However because she was wearing red lipstick and also wearing boots we felt we were showing the audience that she was slightly older. I now realize thanks to our feedback that we needed to have shown this better as the audience were slightly confused. With the father being more dominant for obvious reasons we still needed to show the audience how dominant he was in order to show how scared the little girl was. This relates to our target audience as we were aiming for fifteen year olds and above and we felt that they would understand and perhaps even seen situations like the way the girl is treated before.
I believe that our film would be distributed by spyglass entertainment as they produced the sixth sense and I think they would like to adapt on our beginning to make it a great film. Furthermore it could be used for schools for educational purposes as some children go through the same situations as the little girl in our film is. I feel that our opening could be a little more affective and this could be shown to people on the internet and schools to show them and give them advice on this type of issue. Many schools with children would use this type of film to educate their children on how to act in these situations. Merchandise could be sold through things such as books and internet sites where people could get advice on situations like our film where the girl is abused by her father. Although we did not aim to make our opening like this I feel that shots and situations of our film could be used to educate people. For example our scene in the woods could used to represent the girl running away and how she is now lost so perhaps running away is not the best idea. Teachers could adapt to this and teach the children what should be done in this situation instead.
In our film we were aiming for an audience of fifteen and above. By aiming for this type of age for our target audience we felt that we needed specific ideas to appeal to them. For example the idea of the dad drinking and how his drinking is abused is something that many people in this country have to deal with. Throughout the papers we are constantly reading about alcohol and how it plays a bad roll in many people in Britain’s lives.
Films that could be associated with ours our films such as the Sixth Sense. We drew inspiration from the Sixth Sense and like our thriller it uses a title sequence to begin. This builds suspense and by using white writing on a blackout lets the audience know that the film is going to be dark and spooky. Also, like our opening the camera shots look down on the child to show the fathers dominance however the child still plays a vital role in the film. Another film like ours is Days of Wine and Roses which is about a man who get married and has a child and then he and his wife become alcoholics. Again like our film the dad needs to be a better role model and like ours it deals with the downfalls of being an alcoholic.
As all film institutions and directors do we were looking to provide a film to match a certain type of people’s criteria. We were looking to show the audience a film about the abuse of alcohol and the affect it can have on children. Although we were showing the audience this type of abuse we did not think that it warranted an eighteen certificate. Researching on the BBFC we found that we needed a lot more in our two minutes to have it as an eighteen. As much as we could we look to show the audience close ups and some point of view shots to let them see the reactions of the little girls abuse. This creates a lot of suspense as when the facial expression is seen the audience can begin to work out how the character is feeling. Furthermore we only allowed the audience to see the child’s bedroom and the child’s things, for example the teddy. We did this to show the girl’s young personality and let the audience know where the scene was taking place. I feel that our film could affect young film watchers as this type of abuse is very hard to understand and I believe this is why it warrants a fifteen certificate.
Throughout the filming I used many different types of technology. From digital cameras and Mac books to tripods and adobe premiere pro. Some of these proved to be better than others. Most of our filming equipment seemed to be good however I came to realise that the digital cameras we used to film ran out very quickly. However what was good about the camera was the fact that we could take shots such as zooms to a very high quality. This is shown in our woods filming when we shot a high angled shot zooming in on the girl and also at the beginning of the piece when we zoomed in on the house to establish the location. Editing was something that I personally found very difficult. However I feel that I learnt how to construct a film quite successfully and also learnt to use things such as whitewashes where you can change a scene and location by slightly fading it out. Unfortunately our anamatic was deleted by another group of students so I cannot show you how much I have improved. However I know that I can use a camera to show a characters emotions so much better than during the anamatic by using close ups and also my editing skills have improved dramatically. Compared to our anamatic which had no flow and didn’t keep to the one hundred and eighty degree rule I have improved by a vast amount.
Without filming the anamatic at the start of year twelve I think it would have been very difficult to have filmed footage to the quality that we have. During our anamatic we learnt basic things like how to not break the hundred and eighty degree rule. Furthermore I got my first use of camera and as I was the camera man for our film the experience of filming before we started our film was very important. Our types of shots improved dramatically. During our anamatic we used basic mid shots and close ups and we uses one slightly high angled shot. However by the end of our finished product I used long shots, zooms, close ups, and pov shots to make a more professional film. Having used the equipment more I feel a lot more confident than I did when I first started filming. To add to this my editing skills have also developed a lot. At the end of our anamatic I could not edit like I can now. Our shots were not cut at the right times and I couldn’t use any special affects what so ever. I feel that our end product was fairly successful and I am proud of how both my group and I worked. However I do feel given this opportunity again that I and the group would have changed some of our ideas.