There were a variety of shots used in our opening sequence. We used several different shots and were able to distinguish between shots that were necessary and shots that were unnecessary; such as close ups and tracking shots. We used many long shots of the characters to show their costumes and that they were urban youths. We used mid shots of the characters as they were talking in order to focus the audience on their characteristics.
We shot a close up of the sign 'Marylands Road (city of Westminster)' to further establish the location of the events. This was to show the audience that we were in a part of London. This cuts to a long to mid to close-up shot of the 'Paddington Academy' sign outside the school drawing the audience into looking at where our story is set.
We used conventions through looking at some thriller films and portraying the ideas used in our film. The ideas that we took were features such as suspense. This was used to engage the audience into the film and keep them interested. We looked at films such as 'The Usual Suspects' and 'Fight Club' and they gave us an idea on how our film should be. As to how these films carry out suspense and keep the audience engaged into the film.
From these films we learnt that there are many ways in which suspense can be built. For example in 'The Usual Suspects' which was directed by Bryan Singer. There were some amazing shots; i.e When a tracking shot followed Kevin Spacey while he was walking away from the police station limping, but then a sudden reveal that he is not actually disabled and at that exact moment the audience realizes that he was behind the whole mystery. We attempted to create this but it was obviously a lot more difficult and were able to use a tracking shot which was similar and this is what influenced us so much that we decided to include it as best as we can in our ending scene.
'Fight Club' on the other hand built up suspense without realizing it. For example when Brad Pitt is looking directly at the camera and the earthquake effect is used to distort the viewers mind as he speaks and which is then revealed towards the end through Edward Norton to show that they are the same person. This was an excellent idea by David Fincher and we used the earthquake effect in the first person running scene at the end to attempt to do the same thing.
We had a lot of dialogue through our opening sequence. The reason for this would be that it is a build up of the plot that we intend to share with the audience. We used a lot of dialogue to build up tension and create suspense. The dialogue was a very crucial factor in our film. The dialogue helped us express the emotions we were going through and to show the audience their urban background through the use of urban slang. We used phrases of slang, such as; "yo wats up bruv" and "easy bruv, wot u sayin?".
This helped show how youths in the modern day communicate with each other and how society sees them. We intentionally used this technique for showing realistic actions used by teenagers on a day-to-day basis.
Costume
We all wear smart clothes during the day as that is the school dress code. At night the dress code changed for one of the characters.
The clothes that we wore represented our characters.
When we committed the crime we got changed so the costume would reflect the stereotype of an urban youth criminal.
The general theme was a dark and mischievous scheme used by us in order to show the audience that we are not looking to be noticed very easily. we wore clothes such as dark 'hoodies', a black jacket and trench coat plus hats.
Soundtrack
We used four different soundtracks which reflected certain scenes in which we were able to draw the audiences attention to the scene at hand. It was mainly used to create a sense of suspense and drama. The soundtracks would engage the audience into the film and keep them interested to what is going to happen next. The establishing shot reveals the location of our opening sequence, it was vital that we had a good soundtrack to match the video in order to capture the essence of the scene. When watching the film you realize how the music begins upbeat and through each scene decreased in high tempo and reached low intensities. This was intentional so that the film would start off differently and then eventually reach its' climax and sink into its' original genre.
Lighting
The lighting was used to express the setting at hand. There were many scenes that were in the day time but the most important were shot at night. The use of natural light in the day was to represent that nothing dramatic was going to happen and was simply a build up in plot. When the actual prank is taking place the film is being film during the night and artificial light is used.
Props
There were many props used throughout this opening sequence; such as mobile phones, headphones, bags, hats, key cards, document papers. These were crucial to the production of the film. Without these there would be no sense to what was happening in the film. Casual clothing for Mohamad was important in order to allow the audience to understand that he went home in between the plot and the prank.
Titles
The titles were used to show the audience who was involved in the making of the film. This was done through a cetrtain font and format. In order to create the titles we used 'Final Cut Express' which had features such as a compound dissolve and this gave the silver effect you see in the titles. You will see similar titles on T.V series such as 24. This is one of the main reasons we took long to introduce the cast. We feel that it causes the audience to engage themselves with the film as this is also done in 'The Good Wife'.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
During the criminal activities that were taking place, there was a representation of a typical stereotype in which young teenagers are associated with, in this modern world. There are also many single parents and brothers of different ethnicity as this world goes on. We made a collective decision to represent urban youths who came from broken homes to show the impact that background can have on young people.
There were many factors that affected our decision, but because we are teenagers ourselves we were able to relate to the characters used in the extract. We believe that it shows a sign of realism and is more believable; rather than us acting as police officers without the correct props, costumes and it being located in a school.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
We think there are many institutions that may be interested in distributing the film. Some may be the ones that are interested in crime thrilling mysteries. They will sell our film as it has a good storyline with many twists. So distributors such as Warner Bros, DNA films and Fox Searchlight are potential distributors. There are many similarities in features such as our ending shot and the zombie scenes in 28 Days Later.
There were many scenes where zombie's were expressed through a staccato effect which director Danny Boyle used very well.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our primary target audience would be teenagers who like mysterious thrillers. This is the type of audience the opening sequence attracted in our class. Some comments were; 'Great film, very creative'. Our secondary audience would be 15-34 year old people who don't necessarily love thrillers but will watch out of like in films. This would be because this is a film that interests people in that age range. The certificate is a 15 as the entire film may include scenes of violence, criminal activity and flashing images. Anyone who is interested in a mix of action, violence and mystery would be willing to watch the rest of the film.
There is a lot of potential audience as there are a mixture of genres included in the sequence such as crime, thriller and mystery which could attract three groups of audiences alone.
How did you attract your audience?
We attracted them through our unexpected location, in which the climax took place. We would be able to gain their attention through our camera work, composition, angles and storyline. The twist will also attract their attention as it keeps them engaged in the film and causes interaction between the viewers, leading them to want to watch the rest of the film.
We used many tracking shots throughout the vicinity of the film as we thought is very effective. The film attracts attention due to the exciting entertainment with a new form of mystery that is unknown to the film industry right now. There are many factors included in the film that would attract various amounts of audiences aged 15 and over. The reason for this is that the main characters are all teenagers and the storyline is a little complex which will attract the older audiences as it requires them to stretch their minds and involve themselves with the film's story.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
We have learnt how to use high-tech equipment by adapting ideas from others. When editing the Apple Macs were incredibly helpful, and allowed us to explore parameters we didn't know existed. Without this technology we would have never been able to create something so new to media. To conclude, it was simply that today's technology is extremely advanced.
We believe that the program 'Final Cut express' on the Apple Macs was extremely useful as it allowed us to cut, edit and export the sequence. We used the cutting tool a lot in order to edit out unnecessary footage. We used the cropping tool in order to increase ad decrease sound barriers, which was extremely effective when used in the final scene as the soundtrack decreased whilst the running took place and increased as the titles appeared.
GarageBand was extremely helpful to us seeing as 3/4 of our soundtracks were created using this program. It was extremely easy to access and find music that would suit the mood of the scene. There was a large variation in choices through upbeat tempo and low key rhythms. We were able to find suitable soundtracks easily and feel that they matched the scenes.
We thought that the tripod was extremely helpful in accomplishing steady and accurate shots. After watching our film you would see that we included many tracking shots in our sequence and the reason for this would be because of the tracking dolly. This was an excellent use as it allowed some shots to look easy although it was extremely hard.
Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the final film?
We believe that the preliminary task really helped us achieve a higher standard of work and allowed us to feel confident with what was to come. Without doing the preliminary task we would have been unprepared, and created shots that were unsuitable.
There were many shots throughout the preliminary task such as a hand held tracking shot which was terrible, but as you can see in the opening sequence there were many great tracking shots used.
We learnt the importance of the 180 degree rule and if done incorrectly, could cause major amounts of conclusion. We practiced many times until we were confident to film comfortably. We also learnt how to use match on action in the priliminary task. For example when the student is being thrown out of the classroom the match on action was below average. This made us see how significant this is to modern films, which is why we made sure that we didnt make the same mistake in our opening sequence.
In the Priliminary task we learnt a variety of skills that enabled us to create an opening sequence. It also helped us adapt ideas to create a decent storyline. For example in the Priliminary task the story had no dialogue and only emotions. We decided we wanted to involve a lot more dialogue in our final movie and create an exciting plot with a good twist.
