Evaluation Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Since our film has virtually no budget and no notable names it will most probably go to an independent film distributor such as Gravitas Ventures or Passion River, these are independent film distributors and the reason why a independent film distributor will accept our film is because the oligopoly companies such as Paramount and Warner Brothers will only distribute films that have had a lot of more qualities such as a higher budget, experienced director, high profile actors and a good screenplay script, our film didn’t have any professions in the production of this film it was a student film, ideas were thought on the spot and improvisation was something we did a lot of compared to the films produced by the big film companies such as Disney, Disney spend months or even years developing ideas, look for spots across the worlds to film there films and have hundreds of millions to do so this is why a independent film distributor will be the type of media distributor of our short film.

Group Evaluation

Final Video

Evaluation number 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

From our preliminary task, we believe that we have learnt a substantial amount of information about the software of editing, the filming itself and the experience of the whole product. 

Compared to the preliminary we spent more time on the media product, which obviously meant that we would gain more experience throughout the creation of our product. By gaining this experience we are then able to use this knowledge for later on in life if we need to edit any footage.

When filming the main project, we all got the chance to film the project so we all gained the knowledge that we could then use for any relevance in our work. By gaining this knowledge we no longer need any training on this type of camera to film any later projects. 

The experience of the whole product is valuable to all of us, as this has given us a choice to what we want to do next year and on further. Some of us didn't enjoy the experience, but others did enjoy the experience  and will therefore try to carry on with this next year and potentially look to go into this field of work later on in life. 

Evaluation number 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

We found that our audience would be mainly male around the late teenager age. To attract this age and gender of the audience we had to add in content that they would either relate to or enjoy.

The content we added that they would relate to includes a relatively fast car, a pub (including drinking). 

The content we added that this target audience would enjoy includes violence, weapons. This content would attract our audience because they do relate to this content because society has changed to enjoy this specific content. 

By adding this content we hope that we would have enticed the right audience for our film to ultimately generate the best possible reviews and generate a good amount of revenue. 

Evaluation question 1

Evaluation - Moontree productions.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products.

Our film fits into the crime thriller genre, and the conventions of this genre are the following:

1. Dark lighting
2. Fast paced, intense music
3. Use of weapons
4. False suspense 
5. Good vs. Evil 

These conventions can be found in different films in this genre. An example of dark lighting   in a film that we used for our textual analysis is ‘Taken’. In the beginning of this film, there is an example of dark lighting when the antagonist is reminiscing of when he was still together with his ex-wife and child. Our film conforms to this convention of Crime thrillers during the scene inside the pub and when the protagonist is walking up his stairs. 

The second convention of this genre is fast paced, intense music. An example of this convention in a film is in “Snatch.” This can be found during the robbery of jewelry shop selling diamonds. Our film conforms to this convention, and this can be found during the robbery itself and the getaway scene. 

The third convention of this genre is the use of weapons. An example of this convention can be found in one of our textual analysis’s, this film is “No country for old men.” Our film conforms to this convention and the example can be found during the robbery when the antagonist uses a handgun to rob the pub

The fourth convention of this genre is false suspense. An example of this convention can be found in Jaws. Although this isn’t a crime thriller, false suspense can be found in this on many occasions when the victims think the shark will attack again. Our film doesn’t conform to this convention of crime thrillers, but this is because we only filmed the opening of the film, we needed to strike the audience with suspense to entice them to continue to watch. We would use this in the further filming of our media product.

The fifth convention of this genre is Good vs Evil. An example of this convention can be found in most films within this genre, but a specific example would be transporter 2. Good vs evil is the foundation of this genre, this is because it is based around crime anyway so there is bound to be some sort of good and some sort of evil. Our media product conforms to this convention, this can be found when the protagonist attempts to stop the antagonist robbing the pub, but he fails and the protagonist is killed. 

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product represent one social group in particular, teenagers, or young adults.As we see in the film, there are several teenagers inside the pub and they are socializing. One is working behind the bar and two are having a drink together. In this day and age, young people enjoy socializing and going out to have a drink together. The teenager behind the bar also represents them realistically as well, because young people tend to work in bars these days and I believe that our media product represents the teenager and young adult social group successfully.

Evaluation: Question #6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In the process of constructing this media product, collectively as a group we have learnt the following:

1. How to find the best shot for each scene (camera movements etc)
2. How to use the editing software properly
3. How to construct the soundtrack

We found out how to find the best shot for each scene when we were put out on filming really. We done this by, before shooting each shot we discussed what was going to be happening in the scene, then chose the best shot, often by trial and error. Often as well we done trial runs with the camera to see the best shot and then filmed it for a real run. 

Again we discovered how to edit our footage properly by actually using it, and trial and error. As we went along with editing our footage and we found ourselves stuck with what to do, we would often stay after official hours of work, and used trial and error to get to grips with the software, we would then put it to the test in the official hours of work.

Most of our group had previous knowledge of garage band, so we knew how to create the soundtrack. There were a few thing which we hadn't come across on the software, however again we stayed after hours of work and used trial and error to discover how to use the package properly and then put it to the test in the hours of work. 

Audience identity

As you can see above, this is our audience profile. This tells us what age our target audience would be, roughly and information about them. The main age of the audience is 16, which would mean the BBFC classification would be a 15, which suits our media product anyway, as there isn't enough violent or offensive content in to be an 18.
All of the people we interviewed were male, which sets our audience profile to be mainly male, which is what we expected anyway, however there may be a few exceptions, we believe our audience gender divide will be roughly 70/30% (majority male)
The interviewees said that their interested included gaming, sports and reading. By seeing these interests, this would give us a rough idea as to what to use as tie-ins or promotional products etc, by promoting these products with our film this would give us a larger audience. Also what the interviewees do in their spare time related to this.
All of our interviewees were still in full time education, by seeing this and knowing our BBFC we will know that most of our audience will be in the student priced area at cinemas, so if we chose to exhibit at independent cinemas we may be able to negotiate a lower price of tickets in the student bracket to gain more audience, and potentially make more profit (price elasticity.) Again, our interviewees said they receive their money through their parents or part time jobs, so they wouldn't have much disposable income, meaning that the negotiating of prices may be a good idea.

Evaluation number 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our film would be mostly males aged between 15 and 25. This is because our film would appeal to people of that age and get the most interest from them. When we were planning our film we thought about what would appeal to us the most and how we could show it in our film.

A high paced, adrenaline fueled robbery and high speed get away would appeal to our audience between the ages of 15 and 19 and then the story line and the feelings shown in the protagonists face at the end show that he isn’t really a killer and he wishes he hadn’t done it, so that part of our film appeals to the older age bracket of our target audience.

Evaluation: Number 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Our media product is the type of product that wouldn’t have a large budget and with a smaller budget, usually comes a smaller target audience/market. For this reason the type of media institution that would distribute our media product would be a small to medium sized British distributor such as revolver entertainment, who distributed such films as Kidulthood and Grizzly man. This distributor has distributed many films in our genre and subgenre (including Kidulthood), which is why we feel this distributor would be best for our media product. 

Shutter Island 9 Shot Analysis

Copyof copyofshutterislandnineshotanalysis.

View more PowerPoint from idris1995

The Beach

                                    The Beach
                                      Essay One

Throughout the scenes during the opening, the scenes fade between opening credits and the opening scene, at one point the scene dissolves to show the title of the film, The Beach, and then fades into the scene which creates a good effect for a thriller opening.
In the opening sequence of the thriller, the location is based in a foreign country, the idea of the film being based in a foreign country sets the tension automatically for the audience as it is not a location, country that most people have common knowledge about or know very well, this creates an uncertain atmosphere due to a combination of continuity editing, which makes the audience feel like they're taking part and are uncertain where they are being lead at the beginning of the thriller. This meets one of the thriller conventions which is that thrillers give you this sense of uncertainty in order to build up that 'thrill' the audience is waiting to happen.
We're introduced to the protagonist by him standing outside a building, wondering where to go, it's night time however there are luminous colours flashing past the screen which are the car lights on the cars going by. The ambient sound of the cars, along with the non diegetic sound of the protagonist narrator, makes the audience question themselves what is happening or what is going to happen as the combination of the sound of the cars rushing past, and the sound of the protagonist's voice and body language being relaxed, makes the audience eager to know what is going to happen further in the story as the protagonist's narrating whilst the camera tracks him, is like a subtle trail the audience has to follow in order to find out what happens, the image of the cars also sets the location as you can see city lights around the town the protagonist walks along which gives a very obvious hint to the location being a city at the beginning of the thriller.
When the camera tracks the protagonist down the street, the non diegetic sound is electric and upbeat, the music isn't in tune with how the character strolls through the street, it gives a sense of loss of control, for both the character and the audience due to the continuity editing drawing the audience's attention making them feel part of the scene. The sound mellows whilst the protagonist talks to another character, yet proceeds in a fast chasing soundtrack, it makes the audience unease, yet subconsiously, they know they're safe.
Within the opening the sequence, the lighting is very dull, the colours are drained, and even the beach wear the characters wear are dull, colours which stand out the most is red, red gives the sense of urgency and blood which relates to death, this can help make the audience anxious to what they will see. It helps set a bad atmosphere, like something isn't right.
The camera shots which have been edited to create a sense of continuity editing used in the film were, shot reverse shot, which is used in conversation with the protagonist and another character, the audience feel like they're part of the scene which helps create the tension. There are reaction shots used at various times which helps the audience read the mood the character is in, how they're feeling.
The smooth cuts throughout the film, help with continuity editing, they help patch up the pieces together for it to make sense over all throughout the different scenes.
The tracking of the protagonist walking down the corridor with a close up of his face, makes the audience on edge, as the non diegetic sound turns mysterious and tense. The fact his body language gives off a sense that he is on edge, helps create that tension for the audience, as his behaviour bounces off onto the audience due to the continuity editing. When the protagonist enters the room the camera pans around where you see blood splattered across the walls and all over the bed. The non diegetic sound increases its intensity whilst the protagonist narrates through the scene which leaves the audience on edge as they don't know what they'll find. When the camera finally pans round to find the dead body laying on the floor, the camera shows a mid shot of the protagonists face, and then back to the body, the non diegetic sound builds this uncertainty, he narrates talking about people's actions whilst you sit nervously thinking the man will wake up and that will be your 'thrill', but you're just not sure. The build makes you uneased, the protagonist even mentions when he is narrating that he himself thought the man was going to jump at him, this makes it become more of a reality for the audience as you feel that connection with the protagonist, like you've followed him along this journey. There is still that tension, you still grab hold of your seat thinking your 'thrill' may come, however the scene changes into the protagonist in an office. In a way the build up was enough to be a 'thrill' for the audience, as if their predictions were right, it might had been too much and could be on edge of a horror.

Reasons for using the locations we chose (including maps)

The location we chose was the member in our group, Ryan Boyce, his family's pub. This became our advantage as because we knew the owner of the pub we could then use the lcoation before the location was opened to the public.

On the right hand side is where the pub is located, just on the corner of the crossroads. This gave us the perfect location for the getaway shots and establishing shots.

We knew from day one of deciding the narrative that we wanted to do a robbery, as that is what came into our mind when we thought of crime thrillers, so to do this we then thought why not use the pub?
This was also in a prime location as we had full use of roads during the day, when the congestion was relatively low, so the risk of the situation really decreased.
We also had plenty of fields around the main filming location, we needed a wooded area to film the 'burrying the evidence' scene, and there was plenty of space to film this, so we had a real advantage when it came to locations.

This photo gives a much more up-close map of the area of location. The left hand side, shows a tree where the antagonist will bury the evidence. On the right, as I explained above shows the main location  (pub). The top of the map, along Ray street is the escape of the antagonist from the burial. 

Who we've based our characters on...

Basing our antagonist on someone who is relatively similar in other films took a lot of thinking about. We decided that the film 'Bronson' based on the life of Charles Bronson, and the main character who plays Michael Peterson (otherwise known as Charles Bronson) is who we think who is similar to our antagonist.

This character is in prison after commiting a petty crime, but he has a violent temperment. This is why we feel this character is fairly similar to ours. Michael Peterson robbed a place, which is the same as our antagonist. However, in our film, the robbery didn't go to plan so he ends up killing the protagonist in the pub. Both of these characters (our protagonist and Michael Peterson) have similarities in their levels of violence, which is why we chose this character.

Our protagonist who gets murdered by the antagonist also took time to deccide a similar character from another film. We decided that Leonardo Di Caprio's character in 'The Departed', called William Costigan Jr would be a good comparison.

Although our character doesn't get killed at the end, both of these characters have similar roles of being the protagonist, and they both get killed for trying to stop the antagonist. They may not have similar roles, but their fate is exactly the same.



Production info

Production name: 

MoonTree productions.

Team members:

Nathan Holliday

Max Lovely

Ryan Boyce

Idris Saqib

Essay 1 - 'Inside man'

In this essay I will analyse the conventions of a thriller film, 'Inside man'. I will be doing this by looking at the four micro areas within the film opening.

In the opening of the film, within the first scene, the audience can see tha antagonist, talking to the camera. In this particular shot, there is low level lighting. Low level lighting is a common convention of crime thrillers as this helps build a level of suspense due to the mystery in the darkness of the shot.
Also in this scene of the antagonist talking to the camera, he describes being in a prison cell which obviously the audience has no idea what he is talking about, so this is an enigma, this too being a convention. An engima adds mystery to the narrative, which is usualyl what urges the audience to carry on watching the film. We hope to use both of these conventions in our film.

During the opening of the film, non-diegetic, contrapuntal music is added. The instruments used include drums and a guitar, these are played upbeat. When contrapuntal music is added to a film, this is usually supposed to highlight the significance of the moment in the narrative, added to the wide shot used in the camera work, really highlights the significance of that particular moment in the film. This soundtrack also adds a little bit of mystery (enigma), so this too is a convention.

The editing of the footage too is cleverly portrayed, in the beginning of the film, the camera work, added with the mise en scene shows the mystery and excitement of the narrative. The bank theives are driving to the bank in a dark van (convention of a getaway vehicle) and the fast paced jump cuts add to the mystery and excitement. The jump cuts are used to add mystery, as they're usually just short clips to make the audience intrigued in the film.
Also at the very beginning, before the creidts have begun, the narrative starts. This is a convention too, although it may not be widely used, it is occasionally. However, we will not be using this convention.

Throughout the 'Inside man' opening, characters that are directly related to the narrative wear darkened costume. This is related to the darkened frame including the lighting and costume. The reason for doing this is to build suspense, and the dark lighting (including darkened mise en scene) is a convention of crime thrillers. We hope to use these in our film opening.
When the antagonist is talking directly to the camera, during this, the antagonist is in the middle of the shot. The reason for this is the director wants the audience to only pay attention to the the character talking. This may not be a convention of a specific genre, but it is used in any genre when necessary. We will be using this convention.

Photos from filming... (On location)

Filming begins...

"Over the shoulder" action...

Over the shoulder shot (behind photo)

Shot of Nathan hard at work...

The getaway shot...

More getaway action...

Adjusting the tripod to fit the location of filming...

Ryan filming....

Nathan holding 'em up...

Nathan & Idris filming...

Idris with blood....

Criminal robbing the place.....

These pictures show us all working on set, and also shows extra shots of location. 

Photos from filming... (makeup)

Pre-production... Max gets his makeup done.

Progress of makeup...

Progress of makeup... Blood is added.

Progress...

We finally finished filming, as of yesterday (19th March) and now we can begin editing. Photos from filming will follow....

Filming risk assessment

We decided that we didn't have that many risks, partly due to the fact that we filmed most of our footage internally, in a closed off location. 

By discussing our risks, and writing them down, we eliminated the potential risk of being injured. 

We took the risk assessment with us on location, and by having it to hand, we knew exactly what to do to eliminate any potential risks. 

The potential risks were the following:

1. Tripping over any objects in the pub.
2. Being hit by a car on the roads.
3. Falling up or falling down the stairs during filming.
4. Potentially crashing while filming the getaway scene.

All of these risks are of medium risk or higher, this is due to the choice of location. Although there may not be many risks above, we took each and every one extremely seriously, because if the risk did occur, this could result in a fairly serious injury, which we wouldn't want on our hands. 

Shooting schedule

This is our shooting schedule that we created. We ordered what we wanted to shoot in chronological order, by doing this we wouldn't get confused by what we had filmed and what we hadn't. We planned to film all of our footage on the one day, which we achieved.

We stuck to our shooting schedule, and because this was relatively accurate, we knew exactly what we needed at the right time, and exactly where to shoot. 

Without this, we may have gotten confused as to what to film, but we filmed successfully. 

Script

Enter suspected robber character, walk down street, towards pub. Suspect drops his wallet, while a passerby picks it up and hands it back. (Note that person is the robber) Opens pub door, sits down.

Bar tender: What can I get you? (Note the bar tender has never seen the man before)

Suspect: (Talks in stressed, angry manner) Double whiskey.

The bar tender walks away to serve the double Whiskey. They return with a double Whiskey.

Bar tender: Thats £5.40 please.

The suspect throws the money on the bar, and almost instantly downs the Whiskey, he then stands up, walks to the toilet, barges into an innocent regular at the pub.
Exit suspect --> Toilet.
Enter masked figure from the toilet with a bag. He walks to the bar and pulls out a small gun.

Robber: (Throws a bag to the bar tender.) (Shouts) Empty the till and put it in the bag!
*Silence drops in the pub*

Bar tender: Ay?! Ok, just calm down. Please don't hurt anyone.
(She begins to fill the bag with the money from the till)

Robber: Throw in some Cashews too!

Enter into the shot, protagonist.
Protagonist creeps up to the criminal.

Robber: (Says angrily) You shouldn't have done that.
Robber shoots and kills the protagonist.

Bar tender: (Begins to wield shotgun, and freezes as robber turns to her)

Robber: Stay there, and don't move!
(Zips up the bag, leaves pub, enters getaway vehicle in passenger seat)
Get out of here, go! Go! Go!

Getaway driver stops the vehicle. Robber leaves the vehicle with a shovel and a plastic bag with the gun in it. The getaway driver then drives off. The robber turns to look at the vehicles as it drives off.
The robber runs towards a wooded area, and buries the evidence, and then runs off into the distance. Goes home, sits down in room. <Flashback begins>

Enter suspect & robber in pub.

Suspect: (Walks towards camera and barges into the them)

Robber: (Stumbles over after being barged)

Suspect: (Storms off into toilet)

Robber: (Follows into toilet. Knocks the suspect unconscious, takes the hidden gun and balaclava.)

Enter Robber --> Pub.
<End of flashback>
Enter robber, masked by balaclava.

Robber: (Removes balaclava.)

The end.

Production logo

This is our production logo, that we created on Photoshop. 

We decided that the basic image would be of a dead tree, with a fairly minimalistic background. But as we progressed making our logo, we decided to add an image of a moon. We found both of these images on the internet, and simply copied and pasted the images onto Photoshop. The way we changed the image size was by clicking free transform and we changed the size until we were happy with what we had. 

We decided that the original the colours of the background weren't what we had in mind, so we changed the image texture, via the Filter Gallery and we experimented with each filter until we came up with the above.

Finally we obviously wanted our production name in the logo, so we used the text tool to create the text. We then edited it, by filtering and liquifying the text, until we were happy with what we have. 

Our production name was created by the images we had on our logo.

Storyboarding

This is storyboard 1, showing the suspected antagonist walking towards and entering the pub.

This is storyboard 2. This shows the suspected antagonist in the pub, ordering a drink, drinking the drink, and walking towards the toilet.

This is storyboard 3, showing the antagonist walking to the bar, pulling out his gun, and demanding the  money from the till.

This is storyboard 4. This is a continued shot of the pub robbery, this also includes a murder.

This is storyboard 5, showing a stand off between the antagonist and the bar tender.

This is storyboard number 6. This shows the antagonist getting away from the scene of the crime.

This is storyboard 7, showing a continued shot of the antagonist escaping the crime scene.

This is storyboard number 8, this shows the antagonist dumping the evidence.

This is storyboard 9. This shows the beginning of the flashback.

This is storyboard number 10, this shows the ending of the flashback and what happened back in the pub.

This is the last storyboard, showing the real character identity of the antagonist.

Shooting Schedule

This is our shooting schedule, which we will try to follow as much as possible, but obviously if we can fit it, we will film as and when we can. I have divided the filming up into 7 scenes, which is what we will be filming section, by section. We hope to film within one day, as the location we have selected, could potentially lose business if we continue to film past the one day estimation.

(Essay 3) Detailed analysis of a similar film opening to yours, looking at conventions.

Selected 9 frames are below (Taken)

The conventions of a thriller genre with the subgenre of crime are shown through the 4 micro areas: Camera, Mise en scene, editing & sound.

In the screenshot numer 1, shown below in an earlier post, this shot is the primary shot. It would be entitled the establishing shot, but it doesn't let the audience establish anything apart from the fact it's someones birthday. This screenshot clearly shows that its a home video, and later reveals its a dream or a memory of the protagonist. The flashback is a convention of a crime thriller and we hope to use this in our film opening sequence.

In screenshot number 2, seen below in the earlier post, this is a part of credits in the opening sequence. Although this shows no relevance to a convention of a particular genre, depending on who the credits are of, the audience may enjoy the film more. For example, if there was an option of 2 films, one directed by Steven Spielberg and the other was by Adam Deacon, the majority will chose Spielberg over Deacon.

In screenshot number 3, seen below in the earlier post, this is the first shot of the main character/protagonist. A convention of crime thrillers is low level lighting.This is used here to give an impression of a fairly miserable life, this could be shown by the fact of this character awakening in the middle of the night because of anxiety of some form. Also in this shot, parallel, non-diegetic music is used to create the effect of an enigma, which is also a convention of crime thriller genres, which we also hope to use.

In screenshot number 4, seen below, this is almost the delayed establishing shot. The audience here can clearly see the film is set in a city, stereotypical of the crime genre. This could also show the protagonist lives in a relatively poorer part of the city, but this isn't a convention of the genre.

In screenshot number 5, seen below, we see the protagonist wrapping up a present he just brought. This is shown via an extra close up. In the screenshot there is low level lighting, a convention of crime thrillers, but also there is an enigma: Who is the present for? Which is also a convention. We hope to use an enigma in our film because this will keep the audience interested.

In screenshot number 6, seen below in the previous post, we see the protagonist leaving his car to go to a relatively large house. A large estate could be seen as a convention of crime thriller, although not widely use, it us usually the owner of the estate who becomes the victim or can sometimes be the antagonist. This is shown by an extra long shot, mixed with a wide shot, this reveals the location.

In screenshot number 7, seen below, we see the protagonist well dressed. This is shown by a wide shot, it reveals character identity, props and potentially locations. Sometimes, in crime or thriller genres the protagonist looks professional, even if they aren't wealthy. This is a convention, however not widely used.

In screenshot number 8, seen below in an earlier post, there is conflict between the protagonist , his ex-wife and his ex-wife's husbands' employee. Conflict is usually convention used in crime thrillers. We will be using this convention as it shows an element of tension. There is also a lower level of lighting here a widely used convention. The screenshot is a mixture of a wide shot and an over the shoulder shot to show character's identities and facial expressions.

In the last screenshot, number 9, seen below, you can see the relationship between the father (protagonist) and his daughter (future victim) and how close they are. This relationship is vital, and will prove importance later on in the film. This shot uses an over the shoulder shot to show the fathers facial expression.

Our BBFC film classification certificate.

Looking at similar films compared to ours and also based on the content of our media film opening, we would suggest that the certificate given to our film is a 15.
The reason for this, is the following:

1. Violence, including brutal pub robbery and a murder.
2. Language.
3. Small amount of racial discrimination. This is to do with stereotyping, which isn't really seen in our opening, but would be encountered later on in the film.

Target audience

We have deduced that the 3 similar films that we will be comparing to our media film opening are the following:

1. Taken (2009)
2. Hostage (2005)
3. The Italian Job (2003)

We looked at the audience demographics for the films above, and the demographics are the following.

Taken:

Taken was directed Pierre Morel and produced by Luc Besson. Liam Neeson is the main character and is also the protagonist. 

The films age rating is a 15, which is where the target age range begins. The film engaged 38% of 15-24 year olds, 37% was 25-34 year olds, 19% of the films audience was 35-44 and 45 year olds and over had 6% of the audience.

The films target gender audience is male, with the majority percentage of 54%. Females had 46% of the Taken audience. The gender split is very small, engaging a wide group of audiences.

Taken's target class of audience was:

AB: 21%

C1: 37%

C2: 21%

DE: 21%

From this, we can infer that Taken's target audience is 15-24 year old, males in the C1 bracket. The C1 bracket means that the target audience are highly skilled workers. 

Hostage:

Hostage was directed by Florent Emilio Siri and produced by numerous people. Bruce Willis is the main character and is also the hero.

The films age rating is a 15, where the target age rating begins. Again, this age boundary of 15-24 is the majority percentage of 40%, the 25-34 age bracket had 32% of the audience, 11% of the audience was 35-44 year olds and 45 year olds and above had 17% of the audience.

The films target gender was male, with a majority percentage of 55%. The female audience had 45%. Again, the gender split is fairly minimal.

Hostage's target class of the audience was:

AB: 40%

C1: 40%

C2: 7%

DE: 13%
From this information, we can see that Hostage's target audience is again 15-24 year old males in the AB & C1 bracket. The AB bracket is the highest anyone can be in, highly skilled workers with degrees, in that area.

The Italian Job:
The Italian Job was directed by F. Gary Gray and produced by Donald De Line. Mark Wahlberg is the main character, and is also the protagonist.
The films age rating is a 12, so obviously that is where the target age group starts. 12-14 year olds only had 7% of the audience, whereas 15-24 year olds had 32% of it, 25-34 year olds had 24%, 35-44 had 16% and 45 or above had 21%. This films target age audience is more dispersed, however still complies with the other two films.
The target gender of the film is relatively narrowly split, with males taking 51% of the film and females having 49%.
The Italian jobs target class of audience was:
AB: 29%
C1: 34%
C2: 19%
DE: 18%
From this information, we can deduce that The Italian job's target audience is 15-24 year old males in the C1 bracket.


As we feel our film opening is relatively close in comparison with these films, we can mix up the demographics to come up with our personal film target audience.
Bearing in mind our BBFC film classification is certificate 15, we hope to engage a target audience of 15-24 year old males, in the C1 bracket. The reason for choosing this, is all of the above films, that are similar to ours, fall into those brackets for the target audience. 

Thriller Opening Analysis: No country for Old men

Thriller opening analysis: No country for Old Men

The opening of this thriller starts with an elderly man talking, while scenes of where the movie is set is shown. Both the camera work and sound so far is unusual for a crime thriller. The man talking mentions themes of the movie and also talks about a memory of a murder. The tone at the start is quite tense and eerie and as the man finishes talking we see a man being arrested which and put in the back of a police car for reasons we do not know of yet, so the opening has put us in the middle of a situation and leaves us wondering what the man did to get arrested, which is quite common for crime thrillers, to put us in the middle of an unknown situation to leave us guessing. The car is driven away down a long stretch of road; a long shot shows a baron wasteland. The shot duration in this opening scene, throughout, is quite slow which is strange for a crime thriller as they focus on action and quick editing. Even during the upcoming murders of two people the shot length is quite slow.

The officer is talking on the phone to his superior, an over the shoulder camera shot shows us the criminal, who is behind the officer, loosening his straps and strangle the officer with his handcuffs. This shot builds tension as we can see the officer is in great danger and the shot builds tension. The criminal and the officer writhe on the floor for about 30 seconds with little music playing. The scene is very dramatic and a slow close up of the face of the man while he is taking the officers life with little music in the background creates a very dramatic and tense atmosphere, although the camera, editing and sound is not very typical of crime thrillers, it still achieves its goal in creating a tense atmosphere. The sound of this film opening differs from most crime thrillers as there is little music and the opening narrative by an elderly man is unusual as well. Although we know nothing about this man or why he was arrested we know a lot more about him now and what he is capable of, however this is the enigma of the movie that most crime thrillers adopt. The fact that we know little about the situation or the characters is typical of the genre this movie is in. After the opening narrative and the setting of the scene that this movie takes place in, this is the first moment with any action in it and it sets the tone and mood for the rest of the film.

After the man kills the officer he takes the police car, drives off and stops a car soon after. The murderer, impersonating a cop and being friendly and polite to the man, asks him to get out of the car and to stand still. He then shoots the man without hesitation or remorse. We know now that he is a cold, calculated psychopathic killer and within the first 5 minutes of the film he has killed two people.

Old country for old men goes against usual thriller contemporaries by using not much music, as shown in this scene and the setting is different from most as well. The main protagonist is not introduced either, but the antagonist is. The actions and events of a crime thriller are all present, with murder and robbery being involved.

No country for old men does things, which suit thriller openings such as the antagonist being a murderer, and the atmosphere and mood also matches most thrillers, however, the lack of music and the setting is quite different and the opening is also quite different from other films in the genre.

Progress...

We've decided the following...

1. Location
2. Roles
3. Characters
4. Most props

We need to decide and arrange the following...

1. Finalise props
2. Costume
3. Time scheduling (filming etc)
4. Storyboarding
5. Scripting.

Essay #3... Analyse similar genre of film. 'Taken.'

1.

As you can see, this is a video camera shot, almost like a memory of the protagonist. Which suggests that the protagonist is reminiscing about happier times, which leads us to believe his current life could be miserable, or without meaning. This shot will show relevance later on in the film. 

2.

This is part of the credits during the opening sequence. Credits are vital to every film, in any genre. Depending upon what production company or any studios are used, this could subliminally make the audience enjoy the film more.

3.

You can't really see much in this screenshot, however that is a convention of the crime thriller genre. Low level lighting is key in any thriller, and here you can see the successfully achieved this. 

4.

This is almost an establishing shot, as we can see the city that the film is set in, although the location does move later on in the film. But location establishment is key in any film, and being in a city is usually stereotypical in crime films. Establishing shot, this reveals where the film is set, or reveals a location.

5.

This is what I meant by the first screenshot proving relevance later on in the film. Although the shot isn't particularly revealing or a convention of crime thrillers (although the low level lighting) it reveals the protagonist being very anal about wrapping a present, which reveals a lot about the character. Close up, revealing what the character is doing.

6.

In the background of this image we see a relatively large estate, which is fairly stereotypical for a crime thriller genre. Usually the owner of the large estate is the victim, which is what is unveiled later. Conforms to the stereotypical crime thriller genre. Extra long shot mixed with wide shot, reveals location.

7.

Here we see the well dressed protagonist. Be at for a special occasion, but usually in crime thriller genres, the protagonist looks usually professional, even if they aren't wealthy. Wide shot, reveals character identity, props and potentially location.

8.

There is always some conflict in the opening sequence of thrillers, and this conforms to this. Here, we see the protagonist being in an argument with his ex-wife and his ex-wife's husbands' employee. 2 shot and over the shoulder shot combined here, reveals facial expressions and character identity.

9.

Here you can see the relationship between the protagonist and his daughter. This relationship will become more apparent later on in the film. Over the shoulder shot, showing the protagonists emotions seeing his daughter.

Location pictures continued...

This is the primary view of the route to the toilet.

This is the view of the route to the toilet where the criminal will come from.

Location pictures.

The following are photos of our intended location to use...

This is going to be our establishing shot.

This the pub where the robbery will take place.

This is the view of the pub when you enter.