Question 1

Question 2

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In the production we have constructed, the way we’ve presented our characters are very different. Our protagonist is a normal young adult who wouldn’t standout if you saw him on the street, kind of like our target audience. This was due to his ‘normal’ clothing of a navy jumper and black jeans, something most teens/students would wear daily. In a drastic contrast to the protagonist, the antagonist does stand out from the crowd and behaves like he’s mentally unstable. This is the kind of behaviour we associate with people who struggle to fit into society. He is instantly recognisable from his all black clothing, messy hair and the black around his eyes; which could signify he either self-harms or likes to wear make-up, either way it still isn’t normal behaviour for a man in British society.

I think that the characters are represented in a positive way which I think is a good thing because when you’re watching you’re not sure who will come out on top. With the protagonist being presented as a normal person it helps the audience to associate themselves with him and feel what it’s like to be in his boots. This is done by making the character feel real and not just an actor playing a part, the characters thought process is also important, as if he represents a particular social group then he has to think and behave like them. The antagonist is presented as a psychopath but he appears to have a positive mentality. This is evident when he says ‘You and me are going to have a lot of fun!’ to Jamie. The costume of the antagonist helps to distance the audience from associating themselves with him. One example is him wearing make-up, something considered strange and abnormal for a male to do.

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I think that we used quite a lot of audience pleasures when making this film for both genres. On the action side we used the audience pleasure of a fight scene, even though it was very brief and was predominantly one-sided, and the opening as a whole could be considered a near death experience as if the protagonist didn’t protect himself, he could have been tortured and killed by the antagonist. We also used audience pleasures from the horror genre too, as we made it seem that the antagonist have more control over the protagonist in the first part of the scene, we also made sure we filmed somewhere which created a dark and gloomy atmosphere, as this is typical of a film in the horror genre.

We also made the protagonist look and behave as normal as possible, this is why he behaves initially confused and is scared where he is. His clothing is of a casual standard, wearing a navy jumper, black jeans and trainers. Our casting of someone who looks like our target market of between 15 and 24 was very important as it helped our target audience, who were predominantly male, relate to him.

Our opening resembles the start of Saw II, as it consists of a man in a torture room, initially sat in a chair and a male voice addressing the protagonist. However, the opening ends differently, as the protagonist ends up escaping in ours. This could lead people who have seen Saw II to see similarities when watching ours therefore predicting a similar ending, though that isn’t the case. This is when our opening defies the horror genre, as the protagonist doesn’t die. Another thing we took from Saw II was the idea of using a TV to present a bit of back-story behind who the protagonist is, though we did it in a different format having a news report as an alternative to having the antagonist giving the protagonist a task. The multiple static cuts we use transitioning between the news report and the antagonist walking around help to question who the antagonist is and people who have seen Saw II may recognise the editing style we adopted as this is similarly used in the opening scene again. That style of editing is very typical in horror films, so it helps our film become associated with the genre a bit more.

Question 6

Q6 Evaluation from Wedgeman

Question 7

Production: THE RECURRENCE

Idents Research

Whilst Editing our production we encountered a small problem, we didn't know what order the Idents came in for a typical Action or horror film. I decided to do some research into typical action Idents which included the ordering. The Idents give credit to various companies and individuals (most typically the director, lead actors, producers and cinematographers) who play a key role in the production and distribution of films and it's even more typical in the action genre, as they are often straight to the point early on, so it gets them out of the way.
This website helped me get an idea of what is typical at the start of an action movie.
http://newenglandfilm.com/magazine/2012/08/credits

Technical Research- Spatial

One example demonstrating spatial relationships is the Establishing Shot. An example of an establishing shot is in Christopher Nolan’s vision of Batman, particularly The Dark Knight (2008). The scene opens with an establishing shot of the City’s skyline, then zooming in on a window which is then smashed. The camera shot then changes to an over the shoulder shot with the guy who’s just caused this change of mood. This is a typical convention of an action film as it sets the scene and introduces the audience to what is going on.

Another example demonstrating special relationships is the Shot/Reverse Shot. The Shot/Reverse Shot is a technique in which the camera shot alternates between two or more people having a conversation and it shows both sides of a conversation. There are several ways in which this kind of shot can be achieved, with the following camera shots being used; angled shots, left/right alternating shots, over the shoulder shots and often a combination of the three. In Bad Santa (2003) there is a scene which implements this editing technique, where two of the characters are quite relaxed and lethargic while another is quite stern and agitated and using a close up camera shot it shows the contrast between the different facial expressions of the characters.

Technical Research- Spacial Continuity

Eye-line match is an editing technique which is associated with the continuity editing system. It focuses on the base that the audience will want to see from the perspective of the character. An example of this is type of editing is frequently used in Rear Window (1954) by Alfred Hitchcock, one of my influential figures. One scene in particular the protagonist, played by James Stewart, is in his apartment, continuously looking out of the window. The eye-line match shot shows him looking away from the camera and then will cut to a shot of him looking out of the window from his perspective. This type of shot often demonstrates the 180 Degree System as it the shot of the character is around 180 degrees to the shot of their perspective.

A Cutaway shot is when continuously filmed action is interrupted by something else. It is typical for in films when a cutaway shot is used for it to be cut back to the first shot, though this doesn’t always happen. The cutaway shot isn't used usually to create anything dramatic and instead is used by the editor to lengthen a scene. 

Technical Research- Temporal

Match on Action is a type of editing used in continuity editing. It involves having two alternate views of the same action, which are cutting between each other simultaneously. This allows the action to be been from multiple angles, without jeopardizing the scenes continuity nature. A common example of when Match on Action is used is when someone is opening a door.

 

Parallel Editing , also known as Cross Cutting, is another technique which alternates between two or more scenarios which are taking place simultaneously in different locations. It is a typical for this type of editing to be used in a scene where the two scenarios come together.

Technical Research- Alternative Transitions

Superimposition is the editing process in which frames are overlapped to create a layered transition between two scenes. In Japanese cinema a similar technique called “Kanji” which is a more traditional way of superimposing over films. A good example demonstrating this comes from Sukiyaki Western Django (2007) an old looking Quentin Tarantino says the Japanese proverb “Life is all about goodbyes” with the exact same words superimposed on the screen in Japanese.

Technical Research- Alternatives to the Continuity System

In-Camera Editing:

     Long Takes are basically just one continuous shot that doesn’t cut for a while. Long takes are usually done with a moving camera and are more common in high budget blockbusters where the camera is attached to a helicopter or a large crane. The high price of this kit means lower budget films don’t have this type of shot, unless it’s at the back of a vehicle or a camera being manually panned around originating from an establishing shot. The objective of a long take is to build up suspense or to capture the attention of the audience without cutting.

One famous long take comes from Forrest Gump (1994), Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the camera follows a feather which is blowing in the wind. This feather lands on the foot of protagonist Forrest, he then picks up the leaf and puts it in his suitcase. This connotes two things, that he is a ‘bit off’ for putting a feather in his suitcase and that the feather represents what is going to happen to Forrest in the movie. As a feather just goes where the wind takes it, until it settles on the ground; Forrest seems to blow aimlessly through life with fate deciding where he should be. Until he settles and gets what he’s always wanted.

 Another film which uses a long take is at the beginning is, Action/Adventure, Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). The long take consists of Thor in a chase scene which changes to a brief fight scene and back into a chase scene but this time with Captain America giving chase. He then takes out a couple of enemies and Thor destroys a tank. Hulk catches the tank, throws it and starts beating some other guys; all the heroes then are in the same shot apart from Iron Man who flies past them heading towards the Castle. As this was a high budget film this expensive shot was possible though, it would’ve required a lot of planning and skill to get it looking as good as it did in the final film.

       A Jump Cut is an example of how shots can be edited so that one shot is interrupted but the flow is maintained. This means that the characters in the scene will remain the same and it will show an alternate view of what is going on. This is a very common shot that will be demonstrated in every film you see, no matter what the genre. 

Production: Costumes

JAMIE: For Jamie, we decided to make him look as normal as possible, so we got the character to wear a casual jumper, a pair of black jeans and some trainers. We wanted the normal look as we wanted the character to look like a normal member of the public, to relate to our audience demographic, allowing them to put themselves in the characters shoes. We wanted the villain to be the opposite but capture the members of the audience in their own right.

VILLAIN: For the villain, we wanted him to be visually disturbing. We achieved this by making him wear dark clothes so he looked mysterious and unnerving. We also gave the villain dark eyes to make him look twisted and mentally unstable. The villains hair is also very wild and is comparable to a stereotypical 'mad scientist'. His blonde hair contrasts with his dark attire to make him stand out.

Influential Figures- Updated

Filming Location

This is Tom's Garage. Inside his garage is where we filmed our production.

Preliminary Task- Final Video

Production Filming

We filmed the raw footage on Saturday where we set up in Tom's garage. We managed to create a dark, dramatic feel and atmosphere without compromising on the lighting in the shots. So we have successfully completed what we set out to do. When we start editing in the coming days me and Tom will see if anything needs to be reshot, possibly because it doesn't look good enough, which could be the case for the fight scene.

Risk Assessment/Location

For our production there are a few things that we need to look at to prevent any problems occurring regarding the location of where we're filming. We have decided to select our film location in Tom's Garage. We felt that this would be suitable because of the type of scene we are doing, which is a torture scene. This lead to concerns about how we conduct the production because of the themes we have chosen to explore.  However, there will be no actual violence in the making of the production, the punches will be choreographed as well as he fight scene. We will also look to incorporate fake blood to make it look more dramatic and are exploring the possibility of using make-up techniques to create cuts as this will help to make it look closer to bordering real life.

Preliminary Task-Update

We have located the file and managed to export it without it becoming corrupt, so it'll be uploaded to YouTube soon.

Preliminary Task- Editing

Today we finished editing the preliminary task and we hoped to upload it to YouTube. However due to an error whilst exporting the file, we were unable to upload the file as it had become corrupted in the process from Final Cut Pro to a USB. This means that we will have to locate the original footage and see if that is corrupted and if so then we will have to shoot again.

Target Profile

Our Target Profile revolves around our target age group, which is teenagers. This is Damn Daniel who was more than happy for us to take a picture of him being a typical teen. 
Age:
16
Gender:
Predominantly male 
Sexuality:
We have chosen the sexuality to be straight because the market is larger. However, I'm sure someone who is gay wouldn't hate the production because there's going to be nothing 'anti gay' or anything that they may find offensive. 
Occupation: 
Our target profile would be someone who is currently a full time student or apprentice who has aspirations of being successful and earning a lot of money so they can buy the latest luxuries. Our target audience tend to prefer subjects where they can be creative as this is a way of expressing themselves. Good examples would include Media Studies and/or Drama.
Ethnicity:
The ethnicity of the audience isn't something we have considered because neither of us are religious and we don't see why anyone wouldn't want to watch it unless their bible has something against pretending to be tortured. We would both agree that our production would make more sense being presented to a westernised culture as they will understand the themes.

Media Influences: 
Our teenage target market are up to date with the latest hardware and software which allow them to interact with others on the internet. They are primarily from a middle class/ upper class upbringing. This is because they are socialable and want the latest things which they can afford as they are reasonably 'well off'. Here are some of the most common methods of communication used by our target market:

• Facebook
• YouTube
• Snapchat
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Tumblr
• Tinder
• PlayStation

A lot of these popular types of communication implement photography in one way or another. for example Snapchat allows people to send pictures to each other, showing it for a maximum of 10 seconds and YouTube allows people to create and upload videos for others to see.

How does this affect our Production: 
This means that our ideas will have to consider our target audience. Otherwise it will not appeal to them, which defeats the object of having them as a target audience. This has also selected who we have as a protagonist, resulting in a teenager or young adult being involved as this means that they can relate to the character more as they can see themselves in their shoes. To again help the audience to relate to our demographic we gave the protagonist normal clothes, so that he didn't oppose the normal look for a youth.

Location

The location that we are going to use for the production is my garage, the reason we are using it is that on the outside, the garage can look a little old in the dark, and the inside is big and has a very cluttered, which makes it look like a place where torture could happen. I can also put a cover over things that would look out of place in the garage to cover them. The other reason the garage would be an ideal location for a murder location is that the garage has bare brick walls, and a plain concrete floor, it also has old lights in it and an old light switch. It also has some spotlights so they can be shined where we need them to be.


This was written by Tom Chambers


The reason I think that the garage would be an ideal location is because it is dark and scary and would be ideal to make a creepy setting for some sort of torture room.