For the foundation portfolio our group had to produce the opening sequence to a movie. The group consisted of Hollie, Robyn and me. During the course of the project there were a variety of different jobs which needed to be completed. There was research, publishing the blog, planning the project, camera, directing the project and editing along with various other jobs. I helped out in all of these areas.The group decided that our project is going to be a thriller as it would an interesting genre to produce. Also, on average thriller movies make at least 165.1 million dollars on each film. However it is not easy to make an effective movie. In order to ensure that the viewer can recognise the movies genre the film has to contain a certain amount of conventions. In our opening sequence we used a variety of conventions such as the scalpel which was used during the newspaper sequence, the traditional low key lighting to create tension and also the colours were dim so that the viewer new that this film was not cheerful. These were used effectively as shown in our audience testing, when participants were asked what the genre of the sequence was they all replied with either thriller or horror. Not only do these conventions show genre but they also indicate what the rest of the film will be like.
However, in order to keep the viewer interested our project had to have some unique elements within it, so we added a twist. It is based on a serial killer; however it is not like your ordinary thriller where it turns out to be a male with a mental problem. Instead it is a female journalist. She has lived her whole life being surrounded by news, everything she has every heard has been bad news. The most recent stories are about teenagers. This is when her hatred begins. She believes that she has to rid the world of these “humans” and create a new generation… a perfect generation. Only 70% of the people we asked thought that the serial killer was a female.
Our project emphasises the gap that exists between adults and teenagers in modern day society. This is shown within the first few seconds of the sequence when the young female is being chased through the park. The way in which we made it clear what age range she was we made sure that the costumes were present day clothes worn by teenagers. Also, the sequence contradicts the usual image of teenagers in modern day life as our character is vulnerable and scared of the fate that is in store for her. We represented them in this way as it gives you a hint of the type of victims. Within the clip there is also the “serial killer”. To give a hint that this was not your ordinary killer we ensured that the actress was wearing everyday clothes instead of the usual “scruffy” type used in the majority of thriller films.
During the past decade the amount of horror movies produce has risen from 16 films in 1998 to 44 in 2008. The demand for horror movie has risen and as a result more companies would be more obliged to invest in our product. The British film council (the company behind 28 days later) might distribute our film as it is based and produced within the United Kingdom. However, ghost house pictures might be interested in our product as it would boost their annual income as they are a fairly new institute.During the pre-production (planning stages) of the products we researched the age ranges that visit the cinema the most. We have used the BFI handbook to find out the figures for the regular cinemagoers. We found out that 41.5 % was between the ages of 15 up to 34.So in order to get more interest in our film we chose this age range. Also, it would be easier to produce as we are within the age range so we know what the viewers want. As well as that, it is produced for both genders and all ethnic groups. 60% of the people who watched our product said that they would watch it or possibly watch it.
Due the duration of the product there were various types of technology that were used to ensure that our project looked professional. At the beginning of the portfolio we had to research in order to make it genuine. In order to do this we used the internet to search for relevant information. The two main sites used were you tube and imdb.com. We used youtube to assess how other film producers did their opening sequence/ credits, by doing this we could get some ideas for our own. Imdb was used to give information on the storylines of movies, reviews and general information (actors, directors, release dates.) Also, we had to post information on a blog and for this we used blogger.com. On there we recorded all information and progression. During production we used video cameras, we learnt how to use them proper and what was the best way to record footage, either handheld or on a tripod. Once it had all been film we were shown how to edit our film. We learnt how to cut footage, add transitions, adjust the lighting and speed on shots and how to add titles. However one limitation was that there was a limit amount of effects in which we could use, so example you couldn’t do the same effects that are shown in films such as sin city and Schlinder's list where they make one colour stand out but the rest is dimmed down or in black and white.
This product is better than out preliminary task as it had more of a storyline to it and also the editing was smoother because we were now used to the editing software. As well as that it had more shots which made it more interesting and there was more going on in the shots.
In conclusion I believe that our product was good in the sense that it was planned out well and all the research was there, however, when it came down to the production it didn’t run as smoothly as it probably could have done. Also because we had to keep re-shooting it meant that the shots that we used at the end of the shooting were rushed. If we would have slowed down our product would have probably looked more professional.
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