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Final Video - Dead End

Final Video - Dead End

Evaluation Question 7

Evaluation Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Compared to the preliminary task, I feel it is clear that we as a group have learnt a lot through in particular trial and error. In the preliminary task, we had limited use of a tripod and had many continuity errors.

We made a lot of effort in the creation of our product to avoid these problems however, when we first began filming we did not have access to a tripod and so we seemingly recreated these fluctuations in quality. In the preliminary task, we had only our camera to record audio which we found to be not a good quality so took the decision in our final product to record all of the dialogue separately. This also came as a bonus as when we filmed, we often found that the weather became particularly windy which would have potentially ruined takes.

However, with this came more challenges than the conventional. Lip syncing and mimicking spoken dialogue to match the footage was difficult and has led to many pain-staking sessions of recording audio. Furthermore, in our preliminary task there was little to no background noise due to being filmed in a relatively quiet part of the school. We did not want this in our final product as the effect would seem unnatural and make the illusion of a busy city moot.

To counteract this, we imported sound effects from free sources and also filmed footage of a busy round-about to create more ambient diegetic sound. To create a more professional film, we added music based on BBC's Luther's theme to create a somber and mysterious mood. This met the typical movie convention of a memorable soundtrack that wasn't present in out preliminary task. We spent a lot of time attempting to create a continuity error free product which was one of the faults of our preliminary task. To ensure this, we filmed the key dialogue in a single shooting session to minimize any discrepancies.

This way, we didn't worry about wind changes which would have altered minor yet noticeable details such as trees in the background blowing in a certain direction. Furthermore, all our shots that included Harry playing the character John, wore the exact same clothes solidifying a costume. Also, we made sure that we followed the 180 degree rule to make sure the over-the-shoulder shots remained understandable to the audience. 

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

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Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

To address our audience we stayed within certain expected conventions within the crime genre. These conventions include mystery, urban setting, undercover cops & so on. From our qualitative research, we opted to have two protagonists who are crime fighting partners as that appealed to our target audience. Predominantly, John is the main protagonist whilst Pedro is more of his partner. As their brief dialogue unfolds it's clear that these two have a good friendship both inside & outside of the police force which complies with the convention that the two crime fighting cops are good friends. The antagonist has prominent appearance which foreshadows his intentions to be villainous. His black cap is shown to be draping over his arms which display connotations of death & destruction and further appeals to both the crime & thriller audience. The climatic large explosion creates an tentious atmosphere which reinforces the appeal to the thriller audience. In terms of feedback, our peers and friends believe it to be a descent attempt at creating a film opening especially since we are not professionals. If we were to do this again, then we would invest in a better quality camera and learn more about special effects that could be applied via software. 

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

Crime Thrillers usually are targeted to a more mature target audience. This is usually because of the mature content (e.g. Murders) &/or taboo language that is within the genre. Due to the nature of Crime Thrillers having a BBFC of 15, our age range will start from there. Secondary research has shown that an audience of both males and females (aged around 40) find crime genres to have interesting plot lines. So, our film opening for "Dead End" will be aimed at males and females aged 15-40.

The target audience for this genre is stereotypically of both males & females. Male characters are depicted as the organised, head strong leaders. In some cases they have a crime partner (stereotypically male as well) that will act as a moral compass. On the other hand, female characters are shown as being in less practical roles like secretaries or on the intercoms. In recent media, women are sometimes subverting these roles in the crime genre by being appointed leadership, hands on roles.

Thrillers usually are interested by young adults as they enjoy the suspense and mystery within the plot line. Since Thrillers have content that could be considered frightening & violent, the BBFC certificate is often 15. Most of the time they appeal to people who are 15-21 year old. They also appeal to both genders.

Males usually find Thrillers appealing as stereotypically they enjoy the fast paced action. They usually enjoy plots that cause high adrenaline as there are a lot of action filled scenes.

Females may find Thrillers interesting as stereotypically they are attracted to something that causes mystery and causes them to ask questions. The main protagonist is usually a "ladies man" that generally women find attractive. As a result, females find the sex appeal of the Thriller appealing.

Because of the close similarities in target audience for Crime genres and Thrillers, we believe that our film will appeal to both audiences.

In conclusion, our target audience is both males & females aged 15-35. This is attributable by the fact that the Thriller aspect of the film lowers the targeted age since Thrillers are usually enjoyed by younger people.

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media film?:

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

John v.s Commissioner Gordon

In our film we decided to come up with the idea of creating a character like Commissioner Gordon from Gotham to convey general conventions of the "good cop" persona. We assigned Harry's character the name "John" as (Like the name "Gordon") is a very common name which can be expected to be within the police force. Therefore, making John the archetype of cops throughout the crime genre. Furthermore, reinforcing the idea of creating a character that is microcosm for the "male good cop" character who wants to solve crime and is always working, even on his day off. 

In terms of costume, we decided to opt for the smart-casual style unlike Gordon's full suit attire. This is because we felt like it gave our production a grittier feel and blended nicely with the urban surrounding setting. We decided to opt for a colour scheme of black and white. This is because black has connotations of death with symbolises John's profession as he investigates crimes that can lead to death (much like Commissioner Gordon). It also shows a sense of sophistication and formality which in turn complements the idea of a smart-caual appearance.

Not only that, but the connotations of white entails a sense of great feelings and emotions that are positive. As a result, showing the optimistic outlook that John (much like Commissioner Gordon) has on solving a case. White colour schemes are often associated with life and purity 

By pairing the black and white colour scheme together, we were able to abide by the expectations of the aesthetics of a cop which further reinforces the general conventions of the crime genre.

Pedro v.s Harvey Bullock

For Pedro's character, we were inspired by Commissioner Gordon's crime fighting partner: Harvey Bullock. As part of "Dead End's" narrative, we made Pedro's character dress in a more casual attire as it his day off work. We wanted to go against the standard convention of having a "good cop/bad cop" character with Pedro and make his alignment seem more neutral. Like Harvey Bullock, we made Pedro a side character who is good friends with the protagonist - John. As our interpretation of Harvey Bullock was loosely influenced, we have a lot of physical features like costume that defy the the cop demeanour but rather role in the police force that is remnant of Harvey Bullock.

The dark blue shirt worn by Pedro shows a sense of keeping within the crime genre as it is not a bright and luminescent colour. Therefore, keeping within the dark, gritty feel of the genre. Dark blue has conventional connotations of conveying authority, trust, truthfulness & stability. As a result, the choice of colour for Pedro's costume links with his role as being both a cop (therefore showing authority & stability) & Jon's crime partner (showing trust & truthfulness).

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

There are many films and television shows that replicate our movie.

The movie is strictly a thriller film as it had many conventions that show this through the use of the crime genre.

One of the films that our film was based off would be se7en, we decided to choose clothes such as the protagonists in se7en due to the fact that they wear what traditional detectives wear. Suit, shirt, tie. However, in a way we defied this convention as we decided to take the more casual route to detective dress to represent that we were not expecting to go into work. The protagonist, John, wears a variety of traditional detective wear such as a black coat to suit the genre and a shirt, however John is wearing trainers and is not wearing a tie to display this. From this we based all of our clothes on the conventions of crime thriller films such as Jack Reacher or James Bond. This helps achieve a depressive mood and undertone that is a convention of crime thrillers also. This sets the entire tone of the film and in doing this brings the audience in with a "what's going to happen next" mentality that has been so successful in the past with films such as The Dark Knight or Jack Ryan.

John Doe from Se7en (played by Kevin Spacey) is a methodical religious extremist. . 

He is extremely sadistic and shows many traits of a psychopath, this is also a common convention of the series. The villain is always portrayed as realistic but somewhat otherworldly to the other characters to add a macabre feel to the villains actions. This is similar to our movie as the villain in our film is not revealed which gives an otherworldly feel to him. This makes his actions more menacing and more dangerous as he is not portrayed as mortal but an otherworldly villain. This "otherworldly villain" convention is frequent in many other forms of media but the most notable "otherworldly villain" would be The Joker from the Dark Knight. The Joker seems insane and does not have the same thought process of a normal human which is what makes him such a feared and notorious villain, this type of villain is synonymous with the genre and has become a convention in it's own right.

Luther is one of the most focal inspirations for our project as it highlights the tormented lives of people who solve the most heinous murders. It portrays a deeply troubled individual working on the fringes of acceptable law enforcement. A running sub-plot focuses on this and a task force designed to remove Luther from his job which he does in a controversial unorthodox way. The tormented cop is a convention also due to the fact that it is frequent in almost every single Police related film. It's even made its way in to different genres such as superhero films and action, adventure genres such as Fast and Furious series.

The final convention that is similar to the thriller genre and is considered a convention throughout is motion blurs.Motion blurs are used to establish a shot or thing without actually making the reader focus on it, this is to give credit to another aspect as to what is on screen. This could include props, characters or subtitles, credits

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment

As part of our  filming process we decided to conduct a "risk assessment" to help with our opening film. Attributes to consider were as followed:

Filming location:

Weather:
Attempt to shoot on a day where there is light but it is cloudy. Use of pathetic fallacy to reflect mood of film.

Careful not fall into lake:
When shooting scenes that require us to approach the lake in Cuckoo's Hollow, do not stand too close to the edge of the brush. Also be sure to not drop the camera in the lake in filming over the bridge or rails.

Neighbourhoods:
Do not make too much noise to disturb people living in the neighbourhood. 

Beware of traffic:
Don't get hit by a car.

Beware of passer-bys:
Could accidentally get them in the footage without consent.

Alchemy scene:
Be careful not to cut self on equipment.
Don't drop glass bottles/jars.
Beware of any spillages.

Pictures of Setting for film:

Production Name & Logo

New Logo & Production Company Name

(Mallard Media)

After careful consideration and general feedback from our target audience, we decided to change our production company name which subsequently changed the final outcome of the logo. Our new logo uses the contrasting tones of black & white to create a subtle logo. Black & white also has convention of being classy. Because of this, our new logo has a sense of professionalism to it which further improves its appearance. Also the black & white colour scheme is gender neutral which could appeal to wider audience. "Mallard Media" has an alliteration sound to it so it is more likely to make an impression on new audiences.

Dead End Typography

Typography

Here is a potential look for the Typography of "Dead End":

Inspiration:

The black typography conveys connotations of death which abides by the conventions of crime dramas relating to a murder case or evil intentions. The glass represents crime as many lives are shattered in crime dramas by law breaking scenarios like murder. The simplicity of the title shows a sense of realism to the project. If we were to go with this idea to represent our film, then we would make the glass an animation - shattering and heading towards the screen to reveal the film title.

The simplicity of the font reflects movie titles like Se7en but the shattered technique was loosely inspired by Black Shard.

Target Audience for "Dead End"

Target Audience for "Dead End"

The BBFC sets most thriller films with a rating of 15 which aims thrillers directly at a more mature audience. Most thriller films also have a viewer-ship of 15-40 year old indicating a mature yet conventionally modern audience. Thriller appeals to both females and males with the mystery genre being predominantly viewed by women (e.g. Midsommer Murders/Insomnia) and the action thriller (e.g. James Bond/Jason Bourne). With elements of both conventions, we intend for our film to appeal to both genders while being predominantly aimed at 15-40 year old viewers. Despite this, the largest more select viewer-ship is 15-21 year old views statistically. Therefore, a thriller with a younger cast is likely to attract this core group more rather than the conventional cast age range of 27-70 (with the Da Vinci Code as an example).

Location Scout

Location Scouting

This path will be the ideal location for the opening shots and also a shot to incorporate the urban background. The trees around created a good lighting effect that allowed us to shoot without the light being too bright.

This underpass is covered in graffiti making it good to set up an urban, gritty theme. The lighting had to be natural due to lack of lighting tools so we had to film on a particularly cloudy day so the contrast did not cause confusion.

Davids Lane is a very busy roundabout near an industrial park. This could work well as an establishing or filler shot to reinforce the gloomy feel and tone of the product.

Here at this location in Cuckoo's Hollow nature reserve, will be the concluding part of the opening sequence. It is loosely based on Netflix's The Killing to present influences and further reinforce gloominess.

The house on the left is where our group member Harry lives. He had a garage with good lighting and space for the Alchemy scenes. The garage wasn't regularly visited so there would be no sound contamination. 

BBFC

BBFC (British Board of Film Certification) 

A BBFC is a certificate assigned to a film or tv show that states the recommended age for the viewing of it's content.The age restriction is determined by amounts of certain explicit themes shown in the production (e.g. explicit language, sexual themes, drug use, etc.)

TV shows that inspired us

TV Shows that inspired us 

The Killing (US) is a bleak look at police work and follows a gripping and twisting murder case. The style of it and the simplicity of the scene set ups. It also has very dark themes such as addiction, the abuse of Native Americans, corruption of power and money, and depression. 

The narrative is relatively basic for a murder mystery show but it extends to follow a more realistic narrative where the lines between good and evil becomes more blurry.

The lighting is very poignant as it is all very grey scale adding to the atmosphere of mystery & oddly oppression.

Luther is one of the most focal inspirations for our project as it highlights the tormented lives of people who solve the most heinous murders.

It portrays a deeply troubled individual working on the fringes of acceptable law enforcement. A running sub-plot focuses on this and a task force designed to remove Luther from his job which he does in a controversial unorthodox way.

Villain Tropes

Villain Tropes

The xenomorph in Ridley Scott's original horror/thriller, Alien is first and foremost a hunter. A monstrous killing machine, the xenomorphs sole purpose is to kill making him/her unpredictable and highly dangerous. Arguably the greatest villain of all time due to their ferocity, the xenomorph has spawned a whole franchise lasting even now.

A thriller film is often defined by the villain rather than the main character. Their menace/threat that they pose 

is often the driving force of the film and so they are remembered for that. 

Popular Thriller Genre Films

Popular Thriller Genre Films

The film Now You See Me is less conventional crime thriller following a troupe of illusionists.
They baffle the authorities by carrying out a number of high stakes robberies in front of a live audience seemingly by magic and as the stakes  get higher, the illusions become more and more dangerous. 

It's concept is unusual for the genre due to the lack of general violence and it focusses on the intellect behind illusions and the 'magic' craze that is popular at live venues in cities such as Las Vegas.

The bank robbery committed using illusion cannot be proved but the authorities know it was the troupe which creates a public game of cat and mouse with the troupe being two steps ahead at all times. 

This chase is the only true staple of the crime thriller drama but what is more unusual (yet not entirely unique) is that the film focuses on the criminal element rather than the police.
Silence of the Lambs is the archetypal crime thriller as it is often regarded to be the film that set the tone for the genre and the with it the standard for which others are set to.

It features FBI agent Clarice Starling attempting to decipher the cryptic clues given by imprisoned cannibal serial killer, Hannibal Lecter to catch a serial killer called Buffalo Bill. 

This single film created the Hannibal Lecter film franchise and inspired many other intelligent serial killer material that focuses on the killer him/herself. 

The staple of the chase is present, along with the confrontation with a murderer but it's unique qualities is the relationship between Starling and Lecter that is synonymous with the franchise and book series.

Location Tropes

Location Tropes

First of the locations is probably the most famous of all crime ridden, thriller-esque locations is Gotham City from the Batman franchise which has been in existence since 1939. It is the set archetype for locations as such and has been shown to be the gritty place where no one wants to live. Such has been the stage for a number of film franchises each visibly taking aspects from the age old creation which itself, has appeared in a number of incarnations (from based on Chicago, New York to a fictional built and in Batman vs Superman, Detroit).

Basin City from Frank Miller's Sin City saga is a secluded city trapped in a basin/sink hole. It was nicknamed Sin City for its noire apparel and violent history. What also adds to the 'rough city' is the predominant red light district where a large portion of the stories to do with Sin City take place. 

The most used location for a thriller is undoubtedly New York. With Gotham being the archetype for a gritty city, it's no surprise that the eponymous TV show is filmed here. With boroughs ranging from the super funded to impoverished - it boasts a wide array of urban enviroments that have been adopted by a number of thriller TV shows such as Elementary, CSI, Blue Bloods etc.

Spoken Sound/Narration

Spoken Sound/Narration

In films, spoken words may take the form of dialogues, monologues, or narration.

Overlapping dialogue can create or reinforce a sense of nervousness, stress, and isolation.

Dialogue is invaluable for revealing a characters ideas, goals, and dreams, though often it does so more concisely, obliquely and revealingly than conversation in life does.

Parallel Scripting

Parallel Scripting

We, as a group, were torn between two versions of the script.
One being our original and the other containing alterations to include cross-genre elements including supernatural elements. 

The elements that will be present in our supernatural product:

• Mentions of magical element
• Potentially gloomier tone to make it a more bespoke supernatural tale such as Fables or Once Upon A Time.
• Characters being visibly fantasy themed
• More supernatural conventions such as fantasy terms and setting.

The elements that will be present in our crime thriller product:

• Grey skies
• A monologue narrative
• A hinted villain presented in a mysterious way
• Clear protagonist and side-protagonist
• Explosion

Unable to decide which track we wanted to go down, we have decided to create the alternate script and during filming, we film the alternate script alongside the original. In the editing process post-filming, we will come to the decision of which path to take.