Evaluation Question 1

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

Here are 9 frames from my thriller opening which I will use to explain how typical or not of an opening sequence this is. I will use the frames to support my opinion as to what extend my media product uses, develops or challenges forms and conventions.

Genre and how the opening suggests it

The opening suggests the genre of our film instantly as we are introduced with a non-diegetic sound track and jittery titles. The effect of the titles may mislead the audience and portray the idea of the film being a horror. However the constant beat/pulse of the sound track almost diverts the audience away from the idea. The sound track overall has a constant pulse and builds up in areas to reel in the audiences attention which I made on Garage band. I played around with the sound by adding loops in and changing them around using effects. I also added in some diegetic sounds (police car and dogs) in an attempt to build tension and make those sounds stand out as dogs and police cars are a form of security, which she is trying to escape from.

The first frame shows how we tried to indicate the genre is thriller with the sub genres of crime/action/woman on the run in our opening. The first frame shows a male character placing a confidential envelope in a brief case which suggests the criminal side to it. We tried to create suspicion and enigma by not not showing the faces of the characters so much. The main female characters face is only shown towards the end of the opening once she has escaped. Shot 7 also suggests the genre of a woman on the run/action thriller as two men dressed in black walk towards each other into the middle of the path, blocking the woman's way causing her to try and get away. 

How characters are introduced,clothing and props
In our opening, we introduced 4 characters; a male who has confidential information, a woman who is the main character (antagonist) and two men dressed in black from the government agency. This long shot on the right shows when we as the audience are introduced to the two men who go after the woman. We chose not to show a lot of them in the opening so the audience would be left wondering who they were and why they were going after the unknown woman. We used the action code and placed the two men in the middle of the shot to show that their actions are very important to the film and that it will effect later events. The way they walk into the middle and then follow the woman is synchronised to suggest that they are professional. However, I don't think 
their profession as agents was made 100% clear in the opening. The audience can easily mistake them for villains too or even 'thugs'. I feel as though we could have shown them a little earlier or shown features of them to suggest their role as characters.

The first character to be introduced to us in the
opening is a male who's identity is not shown. We only see what he his handling from behind him with over the shoulder shots and with mid shots inspired by the opening of 'The Usual Suspects'. 
We do however see his face when he comes out of a building looking around him which suggests there is something suspicious about him. This is also implied right at the beginning when there are camera shots being taken of him from behind as the camera tracks forwards, suggesting that he is being watched constantly (inspired by 'Enemy of the State'). We know that his actions too, will effect events later as he has a connection with the main female character. I showed this through my editing where the watch that he has dropped in the room fade-dissolves into the females watch, showing a clear link between them. This is where we are first introduced to the main character. We placed her in the middle of the shot to show her importance as a character, however, her whole identity is also not completely shown to suggest that there is something secretive about her. The only time we see her whole face is at the end of the opening when she smirks and walks away with glee about her escape from the men. 
The camera constantly switches between her and the male character to show the link between then and indicate that they are walking towards each other. The sly exchange between the two characters also suggests that they are skilled which proposed the idea of them too being professional.
All the characters are wearing black to show that there is a big link between all of them and possibly portray that they are/were from the same sort of work field. The only props we used for our media were a watch (to show the link between them) and brief case as we did not want to over power the video to show significance to the case. 


The Title of the film/Title font and style

The second frame shows the title of the film, 'Angelus' which means agent in Latin. We really liked the name because it sounded like English but wasn't which makes the audience wonder what it could mean or be about. The title also has the word 'angel' in it which plays with the idea of it being the opposite to the main characters personality and how she is in fact an agent gone rogue..You can also see the differentiation of text layout in frame 4 and 8. The main title is the fourth title into the opening.
We used a simple font for the titles so it was clear to read and looked quite sophisticated. They were made on After Effects and had a jittery movement to them where it almost flickers which was inspired by the titles of Cargo and Se7en.

In both title sequences, there was a mix of the layout of text over the moving image and on black backgrounds which I applied to my own opening.
In both title sequences, there was a mix of the layout of text over the moving image and on black backgrounds which I applied to my own opening.

Camera work ,Editing and Special Effects

We used a variety of shots throughout our opening to keep it interesting with a mix of close ups, mid-shots, long-shots, point of view shots and over the shoulder shots. We tried to keep the camera moving as much as we could from our inspiration of 'Snow White and the Huntsman' by using panning, tilting and tracking. I used white for the titles as it stands out over the video content and the black background. We also chose white for the titles rather than another colour because white shows purity and good which is everything the main character is not, as with the name of the film. A lot of our opening consisted of mid-shots since we were trying to hide the faces of the male and female characters (mainly the main female). I think we could have included more shots with different angles to make it look more dynamic (low angle and high angles). I constantly used everything I had learnt in my preliminary task when editing my footage such as the 180 degrees rule and match on action. I kept my eye on where the camera cuts and at what point the shot it should go from to ensure consistency. I really enjoyed editing because I could change some of the shots the shots and improve them in a way that I wanted. When I was editing my opening, I realised that we had filmed in a way that looks like we were both walking in the same direction rather than walking towards each other as you can see in the image. I dealt with this by using the ‘flop’ effect which flipped it over to make it seem as though I was walking towards him which is what was intended. I used the pen tool quite a lot to fade in and out of the film content as well as the sound track.

I didn’t use any major special effects for my opening because I wanted to give it a natural impression. I did however use colour corrector to make it look slightly more on the blue side to give a wintery yet dull atmosphere as with outdoor scenes in The Bourne Identity. I also used cmd+J to make the characters walk backwards and speed up when it rewinds to show the exchange. In addition to this I used some video transitions to fade dissolve from one image to another (with the watch)

Setting/ Location
We had two locations; a small room and Central London, the first being a

small room. This is where the first character is introduced where he is shown placing confidential information in a brief case. This arises the question of his identity and location amongst the audience until he is shown leaving a building, looking around suspiciously. We showed the main location using an establishing shot of Central London with a tilt of the sky working its way down to show the city road. We also had a pan moving to the right to show the city location which is also where we are introduced to the second character. We chose to follow conventions and shoot in London because the majority of action thrillers are based in main cities. This also gave it an urban/modern feel which would appeal to our target audience of 15+. I think it also makes the audience feel comfortable and welcomed as they know the world of the location. We tried to go on the sunniest day possible to ensure a clear picture which also made it easier to colour correct.

Story and how the opening sets it up

Our story is based around a woman who gets hold of some confidential information stolen from the government and is now on the run from agents and the police. Her main aim is to use the information against the government in attempt to gain a large sum of money. The link that she is going to meet the male to get the confidential information can be made when his watch dissolves into hers which then shows her looking at the time suggesting they are synchronised for them to meet.

We decided to challenge Todorovs theory of narrative and begin with the disruption rather than the equilibrium. We used Barthes’ hermeneutic code which hides the truths from the audience (their identity and why the event occurs).
We tried to make it clear that the female is the antagonist by hiding her face with mid shots and having her being followed by two hooded men. The ending where she smirks suggests her manipulative/cunning side, portraying her side as a villain. However, I don’t think we made the role of the two men being good very clear as they look like thugs following her. We could have improved upon this by showing them earlier on in the opening or a feature about them which suggests their role.I think the fact that she acknowledges their presence and tried to escape suggests they may be the ‘good guys’

Editing

Here is a screen shot of my timeline just before I exported my video.

It shows all my shots in the timeline showing some of the editing I did using the pen tool. I used the pen tool to fade in and out the music while changing the volume as well as fading in and out the footage.

Above, you can see here ^^^^^ I kept the volume
of the sound track fairly low but at the same
level so it is in the background and doesn't 

overpower the film content itself.

I used the pen tool to fade in the music so you can hear it very slightly in the background, getting louder while titles come in and the shot fades in. I faded the music in during the camera shots at the beginning (at roughly 34 seconds) so you can very slightly hear it which is clearer after they end

I also added an effect into the sound track to help it seem more natural before it fades out.

Here is an example of where I used the volume to emphasize specific parts such as the main title. I use the pen tool to gradually bring it up and fade out again.

Sound Track Research

I think the sound track in this clip shows how the volume such simple sound can impact the footage and story.

Sound Track Research

I began looking at the sound tracks in other films or just all around me to help me create the soundtrack for my thriller opening. I wanted to keep the sound track fairly simple and use it as a tool to build up upon certain sections of my opening.

I really liked the sound track used in this trailer as its calm and builds up at certain sections to create atmosphere. I noticed that the volume of the sound impacts sections of the film and if I kept it simple and fairly quiet throughout, I could increase the volume (at important parts) to create more of an intense atmosphere. I would definitely like to include some form of diegetic sound enforcing that it is from the world of our own.

Below is a rough spider diagram I made of some of the features I will consider when creating my sound track.

    

Feedback

Here is my thriller opening without any sound track. I asked a few people about what sort of sound track they would  like to go with the video content.
7/14 people said they would like something mysterious with a pulse to it

4/14 people said they would like something fast yet echoed with a beat

2/14 people said they would like something orchestral in the background

1/14 people said they would like natural sounds (cars/wind) kept in the background    

Editing

Once I had made a rough cut, I began editing my shots by trimming then down and moving them around. 

I Used some of the basic techniques that I had learn from my preliminary task previously. I put the two shots below next to each other on my timeline because it shows a good use of match on action and shows an eyeline match.

We followed our storyboard for the section below where the two watches are shown to show the connection between the two characters.

I repositioned the shots of the watches so they are in the same position and can dissolve into one another like below.

I used the non-additive dissolve so one fades into the other as you can see above. I played around with its setting to make it dissolve at a certain time and in a certain space.

Editing

I imported all my video clips into Final Cut and began editing them. I Began editing the first section that we filmed in school. I wanted the film to open gradually and have camera shots to engage the audience immediately and make them wonder whats happening. This would also portray the idea of the character being watched to suggest the role of the man to the audience.

I used After Effects to create the camera shot effect as you cam see below.
I used the timer to get black rectangles to shut and open as well as making a light flash at the same time. It was really difficult because I had to continuously play around and change it to get it in the right place and the timings right. To make it look more like a camera, I added a cross heir in the middle to show what the focus point is.

Below is the time line to show the beginning section that I started editing. After working into this section a bit, I decided to create a rough cut and place everything else on the timeline so I know where it should go and how long each clip should roughly be.

I wanted to make the beginning few shots look like their in a dark room so I tried to edit one of the scenes in After Effects. It was difficult because the watch and legs of the character became unclear when I made it darker. I tried giving it a dark green colour correction to make it look like night vision and this is my result below. If I use this effect, I would have to apply it to all the shots in the room. However, I want to look at the whole opening before I apply an edit over it.