EVALUATION 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

PRELIMINARY VIDEO

FINAL VIDEO


https://youtu.be/nigrYL8m3T0

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

http://www.gomoodboard.com/boards/pxHGf_OS/share   <== FULL MOOD BOARD HERE

EDIT: While using Blogger, I have learnt how to embed presentations from SlideShare and Prezi onto Blogger posts.

EVALUATION 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

IF THE EMBEDDED PREZI DOESNT WORK PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK INSTEAD https://prezi.com/uvduxo8zr2se/evaluation-5-how-did-you-attractaddress-your-audience/

EVALUATION 4 - Who would be the target audience for your media product?

Evaluation 4 from DeanaKent

EVALUATION 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

https://www.slideshare.net/secret/cFVoMa0waKnaus

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

GROUP: MALE SERIAL KILLERS

In crime thrillers, the serial killer is typically a man (such as Se7en and John Doe [Kevin Spacey), John Wick and Iosef Tarasov [Alfie Allen], and Psycho and Norman Bates [Anthony Perkins]), and generally looks physically normal, with their sadistic temperaments hidden under an everyday persona (unlike antagonists in cult horrors, such as Freddie Kruger or The Creeper). Because of this I decided to have my killer wear normal, everyday clothes so that, to most people, he looks normal, but so that the audience is aware of the sinister undertones that conveys. In addition, serial killers in real life, such as Ted Bundy, were often charming and not viewed with suspicion.

SIMILARITIES

• Regular clothing.
• White male.
• Kind of creepy - but not openly disturbed.
• They are all murderers in their own right.
• Aggressive (like Iosef) but calculating (like Norman).
• Sadistic.

DIFFERENCES

• Jack Smith is a serial killer who goes out looking for victims; Norman Bates kills hotel visitors; Iosef Tarasov is a mid level gang member who does all sorts of crimes, not specifically just murder.
• Norman Bates had a psychological disorder; Jack Smith just enjoys killing and has an abnormally high IQ. Iosef is a gangster with no regard for life or the law.
• While Iosefs clothing is normal, it connotes a more violent message than Jacks clothing - his hood and upturn collar partially obscure his face, while Jack is in a blue shirt and jeans, suggesting openness. Considering the context, this openness could be interpreted as arrogance, as he makes no attempt to hide his identity.

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

1) FILM TITLE

My film title 'Recoil' is relatively conventional of the crime thriller genre, as it has connotations of guns and threat (like the recoil of a gun after it is shot), as well as connotations to a persons reaction to 'recoil' to a shocking/emotional event or piece of information ("to draw back in fear, horror, or disgust"), which reflects both the emotional and threatening atmosphere and plot of the film. In addition, 'Recoil' could also be interpreted as someone 'recoiling' out of the way of a bullet or a punch, suggesting that someone/something in the film is avoiding or swerving out of the way of danger or death. It also has implications of threat from the link to a snakes 'recoil' after striking at a victim, which could suggest something about a character being snakelike or devious.

2) SETTING/LOCATION

I wanted the setting of my film to convey loss, danger, and mourning, which is why I chose a churchyard, as it holds connotations of death and sorrow, especially when combined with the flowers and the ring, emphasising the loss my character is feeling. As the churchyard was empty while filming, it created a sense of loneliness and isolation, reflecting both the inner emotions of the character and the nature of the film. This uses typical crime thriller conventions of death and loss, although it is unconventional in the sense that it doesn't immediately explicitly show death or a crime. However, the second sequence doesn't show the location where the planning is happening, which helps create enigma about the characters and the film, as nothing has been made explicitly clear (although the articles reveal more about the crime thriller genre).

3) COSTUMES AND PROPS

The protagonists costume (Eliza) is a simple black suit, with a dark red top, a wedding ring, and pink carnations. I used this as I wanted to show how Eliza is in mourning for her wife (as black is a common mourning colour in Western society), but also to foreshadow her anger and her desire for revenge (as her dark, blood red top conveys rage, danger, and willpower, all of which will fuel her hunt for revenge). These colours are commonly used in crime thrillers - for example, in John Wick, Wick is shown to be wearing the same black suit he wore to a funeral throughout the film, and the protagonists in Se7en are introduced in darker, duller clothes. The wedding ring and the flowers both act to clarify Eliza's relationship with the victim, playing into the conventions of crime thrillers for the protagonists loved one to be put in danger/killed, while the flowers show the depth of Eliza's affection.

The antagonist (Jack Smith) is dressed in normal, everyday clothes (blue shirt, jeans, and a black leather hoodie). While this challenges the convention of an antagonist being easily identifiable as evil in some crime thrillers (such as the Joker, Bane, Two Face), it does match the convention in other crime thrillers in which the antagonist looks relatively normal while hiding their sadism (such as Mr White, Iosef, John Doe) - the audience can tell that something is 'off' about the character, but that feeling is not clarified until a pivotal moment. As dark blue can be representative for depth and expertise, it could suggest that there is more to Smith than meets the eye, and that he is skilled at what he does.

4) CAMERA WORK AND EDITING

While filming the church segment, I tried to make the editing and the camera work discrete, so that the audience focuses on Eliza's movements instead of the fact they are watching the film, but with slight jump cuts to represent how maybe Eliza is becoming more consumed with her grief and rage, showing her change in mentality. I also tried to include a point of view shot of Eliza looking across the church yard, bringing the audience into her situation and forcing them to see what she is seeing.

During the investigation board segment, I changed the filming/editing style to try and highlight the change of mentality and atmosphere after the churchyard, and to make the scene more intrusive and claustrophobic for the audience, making them uncomfortable and keeping them disorientated, in order to keep the enigma. As the music built up, I tried to increase the speed of the cuts to increase the tension and the sense of danger in the scene, to reflect how Eliza is almost spiralling/getting out of control while trying to track down Smith. In addition, the close ups in the second sequence show the audience articles from newspapers about serial murders and maps of Oregon, showing them both where the film is set and what is happening in this universe, as well as showing them quick flashes of the antagonists face.

5) TITLE FONT AND STYLE

The font used in the film opening is Bank Gothic size 22 in white. I used this because it is simple to read (as the white stood out against the background better than other colours), as well as looking similar to other fonts used in crime thrillers (such as John Wick). This font also looks relatively official, and could have visual links to fonts used in coding, which both could act to reflect the nature of the film. The later credits were put over a black screen in order to make them stand up, as well as to break up the fast paced close ups.

6) STORY AND HOW THE OPENING SETS IT UP

The story follows a woman who loses their partner and falls down the path of revenge with a growing obsession. I wanted to show this by having Eliza walk into a churchyard (a place with connotations of death and loss) and leaving behind flowers and her wedding ring, showing her relationship with the victim and the pain at her death. In addition, I wanted to show the switch between mourning and obsession, by switching from slow pans and wide shots to rapid editing and close ups. I wanted to show the situation of this universe (a serial killer on the loose in Oregon) by showing maps and articles, and the antagonist through quick flashes of him and his face. These photos were taken from behind fences and through windows, showing how Eliza's obsession has led to her stalking her suspect. The heightened emotions and enigmas raised by the opening would hopefully result in the audience wanting to stay and watch to find out what happens with both the story and the characters. Enigmas and a tense atmospheres are relatively conventional of crime thrillers - however, most crime thrillers (such as Se7en, Dark Knight, and Reservoir Dogs) use dialogue in their openings, while mine (like John Wick) subverts this convention.

7) GENRE AND HOW THE OPENING SETS IT UP

My chosen genre is a crime thriller, which often has conventions of enigma, obscurity, and death/danger, which I tried to show through omitting dialogue, having rapid cuts and extreme close ups in the second segment to create confusion, and showing Eliza's loss at the church yard with the flowers and the ring. Although the actual killing is not shown, the implicit information lets the audience decode that Eliza has lost her partner, and to create a link between her death and Eliza's hunt for the Oregon serial killer. In addition, the film title and the flashes of violent, unpleasant pieces of text ('helpless', 'violent, disturbed', 'gone through hell') reflect the danger the genre usually contains and conveys to the audience what themes they should expect from the film.

8) HOW CHARACTERS ARE INTRODUCED

The protagonist is the first character introduced, in order to present her as the main character and to show her importance to the story. She is shown as a normal, everyday woman who has lost her partner, and is in mourning. However, her gradual descent into obsession is reflected during the second sequence, and her underlying rage could be foreshadowed by her top, In addition, her lack of tears and the leaving behind of her wedding ring could suggest that she is done with mourning, and is leaving everything behind to catch the killer.

Although the antagonist isn't directly shown to the audience, there are pictures of him on her board, which show him as an apparently normal person, with some photos showing him to be acting suspiciously - for example, the photo of him looking out the window shows him as angry and unsettling. Aside from this, the audience is left in the dark about the antagonist, knowing only his name and his face.

Updated Storyboard Pt 1

CHANGE OF PRODUCTION STUDIO - Revolution to New Line Cinemas

While doing some more research into Revolution Studios, I realised they may not be the best production company for my film, as they mainly produce sequels to films, as well as specialising in other genres (such as fantasy or comedy). Instead I have decided to switch my production company from Revolution Studios to New Line Cinema, as they produced and distributed many similar sorts of films, such as Se7en.

Location UPDATED: St Laurence and All Saints Church

During our re shoot, we decided to go into an actual church yard this time instead of trying to recreate fake one. This way it looked way more realistic and made the mise en scene more convincing than before. Although there were not many people around, we did have aeroplanes flying over us and sirens in the background which could be heard on the audio - which wasn't as big of a problem as it could have been, as we are muting the clips and playing a soundtrack over the top. In addition to this, the sun went in as we were filming, changing the light of all the different shots. However, the change from light - grey could work well with the funeral context. This time we had Eliza wear a dark red top, to foreshadow danger and underlying anger in her search for revenge. My actress had the idea of leaving the ring with the flowers for a sense of finality and to cement the relationship between the two to the audience.

Refilming - set up

To get better lighting than the first time filming, I propped the board up so it was both under my ceiling light and facing the window to get as much light as possible on the board without any dramatic shadows. I also used the tripod to get smoother movement/panning action (although I had to put it on the chair to get some of the shots).

Changes of plan (again) - re filming, location changes

EDITING ISSUES

While editing, I have found issues with matching up the music with the jump cuts in an effective way without it looking sloppy - if I edit the video after adding the sound, the rest of the sequence becomes out of sync. However, my teacher showed me how to use GarageBand to edit the music to the pace of the video, making the future editing process less time-consuming.

FILMING - Day 2: Planning the Investigation Wall

The investigation wall was my main issue while planning/storyboarding, due to the parts that had to link to each other, be laid out correctly, and have a link with the credits that would be on top of them. At first I just got all of the parts that would be on the mood board and laid them in a rough plan of what the board would look like. Then I used PowerPoint to put numbers on the board to plan which picture would lead on to the next, so I had a basic idea of where the strings would be placed while filming. After sorting out what names the credits would have, I wrote the roles on post it notes and placed them on the board (with the matching numbers) so, when editing, I knew which names belonged where. I also tried to make the roles match up with the parts on the board where they could (e.g. casting directors over the names, director of photography over the stalker photos etc), which meant I had to break the credit order - putting the costume designer after the director of photography instead of after the composers. Having this visual aid helped me plan my storyboard and will (hopefully) make the filming/editing process easier.

Costumes and Mise en scene

Filming schedule

Marketing - Types of posters

Typically there are 3 types of posters used while promoting a film - teaser, theatrical, and billboard.
TEASERS

 These posters typically reveal very little about the film - they include the title, the release date, something symbolic of the film, and (sometimes) an actors name, but omit the billing blocks or any other details. The lack of concrete details help to ignite the anticipation for future teasers/the film itself.

THEATRICAL

These posters are released later in the promotional line, and reveal more about the film and the people involved - they include the billing block, the release date, the film title, the director, previous films the director has worked on, quotes describing the film, and pictures

of the actors in character. The layout of the Watchmen poster influenced how I structured my theatrical poster, as the layout pulls attention towards the film name and the characters. This is achieved in most posters by using the diamond effect - John Wicks gun pointing to the date, the lines behind the watchmen pointing to the quote, and Simon Peggs pint pointing towards the title.

BILLBOARD

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These posters are commonly used among higher budget films due to how much they can cost to put up on a billboard, especially in a place where lots of people will see it (such as in Times Square). Similar to teaser posters, they don't have a lot of information, but instead are designed to catch the eyes of passers-by - the bright yellow font for Watchmen, the big font and fight scene for Captain America, and an iconic character and actor for Dark Knight.

FILMING - Day 1: Change of plan (Mise en scene)

Marketing

TWITTER ACCOUNT: https://twitter.com/RECOIL270417
INSTAGRAM PAGE: https://www.instagram.com/revolutionproductions7/
FULL PREZI: http://prezi.com/_ww5jbqk1byn/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Possible Music Tracks

I used EpidemicSound.com to find possible music for my film opening. Although the site only allows you to download 2 items per account before you have to input your credit details, it allows you to browse many different pieces of music, and lists the music under different genres, BPMs, and energies, making it easier to find music with the right 'tone' for your opening.

I downloaded 4 possible tracks - 2 for the opening funeral scene, and 2 for the main sequence.
I have decided to use 'Rain Season' - Gunnar Johnsen for the funeral scene as it feels more resigned and 'lost' than some other pieces I listened to, and 'Action Trailer 13 T60' - Jon Bjork for the main montage as it feels more angry and vengeful.
The other pieces I downloaded but decided against using were 'Sad Acceptance' - Gunnar Johnsen and 'Action Suspense Trailer 2 T60' - Magnus Ringblom, as neither of them felt as suited to what I had in mind.
The intended effect of the music I chose was to make it clearer to the audience how my main character was feeling, and what the atmosphere of the film setting was at that time - sad at the funeral, angry and vengeful in the after math.

Location

For the funeral section we filmed in Benvenue Park on the 'X'. From this position we could cut out the playground from the background and keep the field and the houses in the background. The field was used as it seems peaceful, and houses are usually around funeral grounds (such as the crematorium towards Southend). The only problem we encountered was people playing with their dogs and having them run into shot, although this was easily dealt with by reshooting the part, as we had no dialogue and no fast movements.

Storyboard 1

For my initial storyboard I tried to show the protagonist [Liza] standing at a recently dug grave of her wife, showing her ring as she placed down the flowers to show the relationship between the two. By having the name of the killer on the paper screwed up in her pocket, I wanted to show the catalyst for her revenge quest and to show her obsession to get revenge by having her carry the tattered piece of paper with her at all times, to reflect how it acts as a constant reminder to her.

 Shots 10-19 are supposed to reinforce how relentlessly she is hunting down the killer, to the point where she has found past murders he has committed in other cities on Oregon with the same M.O. but avoiding being caught, as well as showing photos of the man she thinks is the killer getting into his car and through his house window. This shows how she is disregarding the law in an attempt to get revenge.