Evaluation of Media - Captive
- 1. The brief was to create a title sequence for a specific genre which would be no longer than 2 minutes. The film is called, ‘Captive’ it is a thriller film which is about a teenage girl who suffers from the mental illness ‘Schizophrenia’ and has a massive delusion she has been captured. However she has been taken into a mental health unit to be looked after and the person she thinks who captured her is her doctor. As a group we decided to chose ‘Captive’ for the title of our film because it has two meanings linking to the film, firstly the girl believes she is taken captive by someone. Also she is a captive in her own mind because our mental uncertainty and has taken herself captive. In addition it fitted in well with the thriller genre with a sense of suspense and mystery to it. In the title sequence the audience are introduced to shots of a doctor (not showing his face) in a science lab, wearing a lab jacket sitting down playing around with science equipment. Then it leads on to contrasting and comparison shots of a teenage girl and man(the doctor) playing out the delusion of the girl of her being captured. At the end of the title sequence it pans from the girl walking to her turning around and then the man/doctor’s hand covering the screen.
- 2. We did research and looked at a variety of title sequences that fitted into the thriller genre before we even begun to storyboard our piece and ideas. We watched many films that were from the thriller genre to develop our ideas and to create new ones. The title sequences we believed that worked well had music that created tension and suspense. Also ones that had a simple story and that understanding of it would be clear to the audience primarily but conveyed different ideas and hints to what else could happen in the film to the audience. This included in the ‘Se7en’, title sequence where the ideas of someone intense planning and writing where shown but the shots of someone cutting there own skin off mixed in highlighted something dangerous and unsettling will unravel in the film. We adapted part of this idea to our own title sequence but including the doctors scenes at the start of the sequence to create mystery of who he is and what his role will be later, when is showing stalking the girl. Furthermore the use of short clips in a title sequence can be highly effective and this was another feature we picked up in ‘Se7en’ which is our main influence for our title sequences style. The whole sequence of ‘Se7en’, the audience is shown short clips and then they cut to other short clips. The use of these clips is very effective it creates a dark feel and unsettling tone with the add use of not much lighting which is a prime example of the codes and conventions of the thriller genre. We also again wanted to create a similar effect in our piece. We used low lighting but only using a torch light on a IPhone for the indoor scenes and we changed the title sequence to be all in black and white for it to have a dark feel. In addition the use of cross dissolves that we added in our editing process allows the audience to clearly understand the story which is played out in the title sequence and what the film could be about.
- 3. We used tense and fast paced music in our title sequence which is included in the codes and conventions of a stereotypical thriller. For example in the ‘The girl with the Dragon Tattoo’, title sequence the main sound soundtrack also has fast beat which creates a tense feel foreshadowing the mood and themes that could run throughout the film. The use of our main sound track for our title sequence, ‘dangerous knowledge’ also sets the pace and climax for the end our the sequence. The use of typography we noticed was a vital element in a thriller title sequence as the font can add to tense and clues to the film itself. We wanted the text to not be over dramatic. This is because its not a horror film and we wanted something clear for the audience to be able to read but also to gives off a mysterious feel. We challenged the codes and conventions of the genre of a thriller as we wanted to create something different. Firstly we decided to film in the day for our outdoor shots which is unconventional because they are usually meant to be convey darkness and mystery. However we edited it them into black and white on final cut pro to add more of a dark feel but you can still tell it is has been filmed in the daytime. We took influence from this choice from the thriller film, ‘Sin City’ which has a black and white effect add to it. It also helps to add to the shock/jump feel we wanted to create for the audience at the end of the title sequence when the sound changes to a high pitch distort sound because it seems like nothing could go wrong also in the setting we decided to film in. The Mise en scene we decided to use for our two main characters also abided by the conventions of a thriller film, the use of stereotypical girly objects include in her bedroom and the things Maria uses to get ready such as : lipstick and heels conveys this normal happy girl which want the audience to think they know. Also the black cardigan, black top and black heels is supposed to highlight the darkness that is going to be unveiled. As for the doctor/capturer at the start of the title sequence he is wearing surgeons gloves, lab coat and has props of test tubes conveying his mysterious and unusual character that he could be. He is dressed in dark clothing also to highlight his mysteriousness when stalking the girl. This stereotypical dark clothing and objects can be seen in many thriller films such as : Black Swan.
- 4. In our title sequence I represent the stereotypical girly teenager in the 21st Century. As me as the actress, I was the right age and the costumes were simple because they were my own mine clothes of what a present day teenager would dress in. The setting of a bedroom with the props included would appeal to the audience and they also would be able to relate the character ‘Maria’ such as: the mirror, make up and fashionable clothing. It also shows her waking out the door to go out and meet her friends showing that she is sociable and she likes to go out. The doctor/capturer is shown to the audience in our title sequence but his character is very mysterious and not much is giving away about him except from the opening scene. However his doctor represent the medical science group of people by the way he is dressed and the equipment he uses. Also by dressing him in dark colours and making him more formally dressed it gives him more power over the innocent young girl, in addition by him experimenting with the liquids and tubes it gives him extra power that he is intelligent and creative. Moreover by him being a male doctor this abides to the codes and conventions the thriller genre because the powerful characters are usually male.
- 5. At the beginning just after being given the brief for our coursework we researched into institutions and distributors who had previously invested and produced successful thriller films. We wanted a popular studio that many people knew of had a a lot of money to invest in or film because of the Hollywood star cast we wanted to include, Leonardo DiCaprio and Emma Watson. When looking at thriller film such as: The Hunger Games, The Cabin in the woods and Sinister which are have all done well in the Box Office have all been Lionsgate Films. Lionsgate is the most successful independent film and television company in North America and worldwide is the 7th most profitable studio. This is why we decided to chose Lionsgate because it is well known and has the money to invest in our high budget film, ‘Captive. The Cabin in the Woods v Lionsgate produced distributed this film in 2012 and had a budget estimated at $30,000,000. Our budget for ‘Captive’ wouldn’t have to be as big but it shows the investment it can make. v The mysterious and unknown theme also runs throughout this film which is similar to our plot this shows that Lionsgate would feel comfortable distributing our film because it has had previous successes with similar films. The Hunger Games - Catching Fire v Lionsgate also produced and distributed this film in November 2013. The budget for this sequel to The Hunger Games series was an incredible estimated $130,000,000. v The action in the film and the use of use of a Hollywood star cast is also included in this film that would be featured in, Captive. For example some actors/actresses that were included in the film are : Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson and Josh Hutcherson.
- 6. As a group we decided that the target audience would primarily be mixed gender teenagers between the ages of 15-17. We decided on this age because of the results we got from our survey we created on ‘survey monkey’ on the thriller genre and the feedback we got was from mixed gender participants helping us conclude our decision. Our secondary audience is 18-20 year olds as well because they have the most money to go out as well the teenage audience, also the use of the well known and attractive star cast, Leonardo DiCaprio and Emma Watson will appeal highly to these age groups. The two audiences would fall under the demographic group of D/E, this is because of them being students or having part time jobs they have the most money to spend out on leisure activities such as: going to the cinema .Their likes and dislikes would be of a stereotypical view of teenagers and young adults interests. One of the things young people enjoy are social networking meaning they can be become more involved with films through things such as: viral marketing campaigns and competitions. Also both age groups would share the same interests such as: fashion, thriller films and going out with friends. Moreover the psychographics I decided was the explorers/aspirers. I made this decision because this age range is open to new opinions and adventures given to them ,which makes them more interested and wanting to see a psychology thriller film, which our film 'Captive' is.
- 7. I believe we successfully reached and appealed to our target audience because I think we met the original codes and conventions of a thriller film that that audience will want to see and will interest them that appear in successful thriller films such as :Shutter Island, Se7en and Black Swan. We have widely explored these and created a modern twist but it has the codes and conventions of an original thriller. We wanted it to appeal to teenagers and young adults because of the main girl character ‘Maria’ is the same age and the audience can relate to some of her stereotypical ways and feelings. When we created our survey online a month ago on the thriller genre we got great feedback from people on what interests them and what films they enjoy and this helped influenced our choices, this was done to appeal to the audience yet again. Also most of the participants who completed the survey were of a teenage/young adult age of 14-20 which gave us positive feelings and supported our audience choice. The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. We primarily created the survey to interact with a young audience because they use social media and are on the internet a lot of the time. In addition the choice of the cast was a vital role to attract audience members to watch the film, so we decided to include two main characters who very well known and have been in many recent films and past ones. Our male character choice is Leonardo DiCaprio this was decided because he has been in previous thriller films for example, Shutter Island so people would enjoy his performance because e has played a character in a thriller film. Also he is attractive and will appeal to the female audience whatever the age because he has star power which would widen are audience that would watch the film and appeal to both the male and female audience. More over the choice of the female character to be played by, Emma Watson was also a well thought through decision. She yet again has star power and will appeal to a male audience because she is pretty and to a female audience because she is a popular actress who has been in recent films such as: The Harry Potter Series and The Perks of a Wallflower.
- 8. When we had a feedback session on the first draft of our title sequence we had some constructive criticisms from our target audience (our fellow classmates who are 16-17). The things some members of the other groups did not like/understand was the :voiceover, typography and storyline. So knowing our target audience did not believe this aspects worked within the title sequence we went back to editing the title sequence and made all these changes. We decided to do this because we wanted to clearly address the target audiences by meeting their needs so wen it is watched they will fully understand and this will attract their friends who will be of the same age group to come and watch it.
- 9. When we started to film we luckily we had easy access to one of our group member’s Sophie’s camera to use to film our footage for the title sequence ,it was a Nikon camera. We all agreed on using this camera because It is a good quality camera so the picture will be clear and professional, also we can have access to it whenever we want, which all benefits us. When we were shown the flip cameras In a lesson the quality of the image was not as good as Sophie’s camera so that was also what lead us to use Sophie’s camera. We used Mac computes throughout all our title sequence work from uploading the footage to editing the title sequence. These computers I believe are the best and most simple to use when editing and creating the piece, because they have all the applications ad software to easily create it. The school Macs have the applications we need to create the title sequence: Final Cut Pro, LogicPro and Photoshop. By using these applications we were able to create a professional looking title sequence without to many complications. We also used online website such as Da Font and Audio Network. Da Font was a great website to use of are typography because it is clearly laid out so we could find the type of writing that would be fit in with are genre of thriller. We went on to the Fancy – Typewriter sections on the website and we found ‘Old Newspaper Types’. Also Audio Network we decided to use to find copyright free music on, we choose the song ‘dangerous knowledge’ we found it under the title of mood and emotion – tension. In addition we used Photoshop to create our title and cast and crew list by using the Da Font template. We learnt how to download the Da Font text and able to create our own and where we wanted to place on the screen using the grid. To create the title sequence and edit everything together, we used Final Cut Pro from the basics of cutting certain sections down to using filters for the black and white effect. To create the black and white filter the exact colour we wanted it to be we used the filters ‘saturation’ and ‘levels’. The saturation had to be set to -1 so there was no colour and the black and white had to be more brighter so we played around with them and we final decided on one. I found this interesting to learn. Also how to add transitions to the clips so they look more professional and run more smoothly. The transitions we put on was, ‘cross dissolve’ which were all done on Final Cut Pro. Moreover I know how to the simple cutting and editing techniques as well.
- 10. The preliminary task we had to create at the start of the course was to create a short film that had to include three things: a person walking across a room, match on action and to see a two people having a conversation through a shot reverse shot. I believe the genre w wanted to befit which was a rom-com worked well with the humorous dialogue and music. Also the three things we had to include worked well within the scenes, however under the time constraints we had to plan and film within two hours the task is to a good standard. I think that the title sequence that me and my group have produced has worked very well in all aspects from the planning of the sequence which I learnt from the preliminary task was crucial to filming the footage and editing. So to make sure the planning was taken seriously we made sure we had many brainstorms and a full storyboard of our title sequence as rough guide through the course. Also i have developed my own skills in using Final Cut pro and Photoshop, because in the preliminary task I was nervous and unsure what to do without support from someone more experienced. However now I feel I am capable to do most types of editing and all the rest now which I am proud to have got out of the course as well as a great title sequence. In addition I have learnt that working as team and communicating with each other is a major part of making the creation and development of the title sequence work. That is why we created an online social chat that included all group members using , Facebook so we were able to talk and share ideas anytime. Lastly the quality and quantity of the title sequence I believe is what is required and that we could of done nothing else in the editing stage to improve it. However if we had more time we probably would of reshot scenes for the doctor to explain and show his character in more detail but I don’t believe this would of made a huge difference.