Task 1-Our media production develops, uses and challenges forms and conventions of a real media product by using things such as our sound and cinematography.The music used in our opening sounds dramatic and creates tension which is typical for thrillers. The camera angles and shots used in our thriller are common for thriller movies. We used low angles, high angles and panning. The low angle shots used within the opening give create the feeling that we are watching people of a lower significance and status within the shot. The high angled shots we used create the opposite effect of the low angle shots to create the a visual heirachy in the shot as the characters are being looked down on making them seem inferior and less important. We used panning within the opening to give the feeling the characters are being watched or followed while doing in the ballet class which is very steretypical within thrillers.
Task 2-The social group that is represented in our thriller is ballet dancers and teenage girls. The ballet dancers are the same social group that are represented in the thriller 'Black Swan'.
Task 3- A media institution like the Picture House in Cambridge may distribute and show our film, because its not a very well known style or genre of film. It doesn't really look like a big budget film, but more of a home video which has been hasn't been edited with many special effects. So I think it would be suited to a smaller venue for an audience who especially like this type of thrillers that focus more on enigmas than something which would make you jump.
Task 4 -The Media product audience is teenagers and young adults as our films classification says that the film is appropriate for children from the age of 12 and up. Although younger children may choose to watch this film if they are interested in ballet or thrillers but will need a parent to go with them as it can be considered a scary film. The magazine that would contain our movie would be Empire magazine. This is because it is a well known respected magazine. But it is also sophisticated and appropriate to contain our film as it would do it in a well formed way. The magazine is also well known so it would create attention towards our film.
ReviewThe film Infatuation follows a group of ballerinas as their teachers obsession with them becomes known and then becomes dangerous. It has been noticed that many ballet students who attended classes at this school have been going missing over the past few weeks meaning classes are becoming smaller and smaller, but everyone just thinks the disappearances are coincidences. This doesn’t stop many parents becoming suspicious, and personally removing their children from the classes. But this didn’t stop two keen students attending the class. However this turns out to be a massive mistake for one student who is the teachers’ next victim, and is taken after a class, where only one other pupil attended. The cinematography used in this film is what truly makes it shine above many of the others in the cinema currently. It isn’t like others as it uses the style of home videos and has no major special effects like most other thrillers which use masses of fake blood, which makes it stand out from other thrillers on the market at the moment. The plot line is unique considering it's likeliness with other films, which I feel the director has done especially well, as the plot uses the same social group as Black Swan, but both films are so different. The casting for this film is very effective, and creates the desired effect, as the characters all look like ballerinas. Overall I feel this film is truly great and would give it a rating of 7 out of 10, for the excellent cinematography and casting. Task 5-we attracted the audience for our thriller opening through the title 'Infatuation' and by using the enigmas which we built on as it the opening went on. The images that flashed along with the crackling sound disturbed the audience and the slowed down and edited version of the sugar plum fairy music increased the curiosity of the viewer and increased the tension and it made them want to keep watching the movie to find out more about the unusual and disturbing story line.
Task 6-Through this process I learnt about the different technical elements which go into making media products such as thriller openings. I found quite easy to use the camera equiptment as I had previously used it so know how it work. But using Garage Band during the editing was a bit more tricky as I had never used it before. But this helped me to get new skills and learn how to use them effectively and properly. I used Garage Band more than Final Cut, so my Garage Band knowledge has expanded more than Final Cut knowlegde, I used it to create a complete tune which fits to film genre. I learnt how to expand and shorten clips of sound and how to repeat the same sound to create a continuous tune. My knowledge of these programmes and technology has expanded and improved over this project. After creating our thriller opening I feel more confident about creating some quite complex technologies.
Task 7-since our preliminary task I think that I have progressed. I have learnt lots about media programmes that I didnt know before like how to use the camera equipment effectively and editing programmes. I learnt about different camera shots and how they make the audience feel. I also learnt how to create enigmas through having characters covered and how not showing their faces allows the audience to guess and it builds up the suspense in the thriller opening. I used Garage Band more than Final Cut, and I've learnt how to put together sounds to create a complete tune which relates to the genre of our film. I learnt how to expand and shorten clips of sound and how to repeat the same sound to create a continuous tune. I have got more confidence with using these programmes and create an opening to a thriller movie, and being able to build up enigmas and make the viewer want to keep watching as it has a complex story line of obsession which is an achievement as our opening was minimalistic in terms of props, lighting and setting.
Timeline of creating our preliminary task to creating the final finished thriller opening:
1.06.12 - This is when we did our preliminary task. During this we used different shots including close ups, mid shots, long shots and panning shots creating a 52 second video to see what shots will work well in our thriller. The task was based on a murderer being followed by someone with a gun. From the task we also found out who would be good to act and who would be good at filming the thriller.
15.1.12 - 22.1.12 - This is when we watched and then analysied thriller openings from films such as Inception which we watched in class. We wrote the analysis individually and as a group so we had chance to share our ideas. Analysing other openings showed us see what would work well in our thriller and what wouldn't. It also gave us ideas of what we could do for our thriller opening. We broke the openings up into sound, cinematography, mise en scene and editing, so we could see clearly what worked for each element.
23.01.12: We watched some thriller openings from other media groups then analysied them, with the headings- Holding shot where appropriate, Framing a shot, Using a variety of shot distances, Shotting material appropriate to set task, Selecting appropriate mise en scene, Editing so that the meaning is apparent to the viewer, Using transitions appropriate to task, Using sound and images andf editing in an appropriate way, Using title appropriatly, Using genre conventions in a creative way. This allowed us to see how our own thriller opening would effect people.
30.01.12-31.01.12: This is when we started to come up with some ideas and started to plan our thriller. During this we did blog posts which show our research and the findings. Some of the ideas were- Darkeness, Theft, Wealth, Glamour, Ballet lesson and the Concealing of information. But we chose to go with the idea of the ballet lesson taking place in the dance studio, as we had access to the props, costumes and a dance studio. We then built on this idea and researched it to see how we could create this thriller. We looked at the elements of Mise en Scene, Sound track, Logo, Location, Choreography and Classification. From this research we were able to build up a storyline and see what was going to happen in the opening.
13.02.12 - 21.02.12 : This is when we filmed our opening using the dance studio at Long Road. We had book the studio to make sure we would be able to go in there during our lessons to film as it was all filmed at Long Road.
24.02.12 - 9.03.12 - This is when we analysed our opening and wrote about the ideas we were going to include and how we were going to carry out the different tasks. We also created the film poster and researched colours and fonts that we could use for the title and credits. We also decided how to promote the thriller and the types of media we would use to get it known.
24.02.12 - 26.03.12 - We edited our opening on Final Cut Express and Garage band. We used Final Cut to shorten, lengthen, slow down, speed up, distort and add special effects to the different clips of film. We got feedback from other members of the class after making a rough cut. This then helped us to edit and improve our film more. But I was making the music for the opening on Garage Band which was tricky at times as we didn't know how to use the programme too well and it was also hard as we were trying to make a theme tune to fit what was happening on the screen without the film to watch.
