28/11/13 Lesson Notes/Updates

We started to edit our video in this lesson. We decided to change things around in the beginning and start with a different shot to what was originally planned because otherwise there would have been too much footage of running and this wasn't good as the opening can only be two minuets long. We had to start being more critical and just pick the best footage in order to still be able to fit everything in that is needed to tell the story.
We didn't get very far with our editing as we started half way through the lesson due to finishing of the sound track. Below are two screen shots of our editing.

Sound Track

This is the beginning of our sound track. When we first started looking into the style of music we were going to use or create we were finding it hard to come to any conclusion. We then turned to other films and youtube for inspiration. We decided to distort a nursery rhyme and put our own twist on it. We then started researching different nursery rhymes and their meanings. We decided that 'Mary Mary quite contrary"was the one we wanted to use because of the various meanings behind it.
We then went into the sound booth and started recording. We created two different tracks, one with a 'epic diva' effect that made our voices echo and the other with a 'deeper vocals' effect that gave a dark deep gloomy effect to our voices. These are both going to be very useful and we indent to use them specifically when the killer is shown.

Evidence of Filming

Chloe decided to get some evidence of us filming which was very helpful. Here you can either see me filming/acting in the point of view shots or helping to get the correct angle. 

These were very successful filming days in which we captured all of the footage we thought we needed along with extra takes so we had a wider selection. However after reviewing our footage and storyboard we decided that we needed one new shot at Jess' house of her dad looking out towards the window from his chair. We decided as a group that we wouldn't all need to be there for this as it is only one shot that Jess can simply film her self with her mum and dad. 

*changed/added information

Costumes that were worn on the day of filming

To create a more natural family feeling to our opening the clothes that people put on in the morning were they outfits they stayed in for filming. We didn't want to think too much into the costumes of our characters, one because it was easier to just be natural and two we didn't want to over or under dress them. The only character costume we did think into was the killers.

THE KILLER

The dark clothing of the killer connotes a dark side, hate, coldness, heartlessness, stealth, deception and death. The red devil mask connotes fear, hate, harshness, and the balance of evil and good. 

All of this is likely to make the audience be weary of the character, they will likely be uncertain of what the character will do and will probably assume the character is bad because of the associations made to the costume. 

CHARLIE

HENRY

ANDREW

SUE

RYAN

The normal everyday clothing of these characters make them relatable to the audience as they could quite easily be wearing any of this them selfs. The clothes dont make you think of anything in particular, however they are contrasting to the killer as they connote the opposite to the killers clothing. 

an example of a thriller film where the characters are relatable because of their normal clothing is Cloverfield: 

Here the man is wearing a suit and the girls are wearing everyday kind of clothes. This makes it easier for the audience to put themselves in the characters shoes. 

Changes to Cast/Characters II

Family Name - Ashbeck

Charlie  - Daughter / Main Character

A 16 year old girl who is currently training for the next olympics, she's very althletic and is presented in a way that is like most typical teenage girls.

Ryan - Older Brother

Ryan is around 18 years old and is revealed later on in the storyline to have seen and known about the dark figure.

Sue - Mother

Sue is portrayed to be the typical 'kind and caring' mother figure and is shown to be rather optimistic and unconvinced by everything that is going on.

Andrew - Father

At first Andrew is shown to be a typical father figure but later on in the storyline you find out that he may not be telling the truth as he has shady past unknown to the rest of the family.

Henry- Younger Brother 

Henry has a small role of the younger brother, he doesnt say anything but is used to show emotion in a close up shot


Unknown - "The Bad Guy"

Shown to be wearing a mask to hide their true identity, obviously dangerous and up to no good. It is revealed later on in the storyline that this character is linked to Andrew in some way.

When coming up with the names for our characters I came up with the names for the brother, mother and father and also the last name of the family.



Casting:

Charlie - Grace Spenceley

Ryan - Henry Bradbrook

Sue - Justine Bradbrook

Andrew - Michael Bradbrook

Unknown - Jessica Bradbook

It was easier to cast Jessica's family as the filming location of the house will be at their house. However we had to come up with a contingency plan as when we decided to film on a wednesday afternoon we very quickly ran out of daylight therefore we decided we needed to reshoot that footage. Due to very busy schedules, the only possible day that we could do this was on the same Sunday that we were going to film at Jess' house. Unfortunately Jess could not make it to Lyng on this day. This meant that our main character would not be there obviously this is a problem as she is needed for the shoot. To overcome this we decided that it would be best if I took on the role of the main character and Chloe took on being the "badie". This does create a slight problem when filming at the points where we are both required to be in the scene, but it doesn't matter too much as we can leave the camera on the tripod and leave it filming. However if we do need extra assistance for shots that involve panning then my dad could possibly help out. 

*changed/updated information

Brief Synopsis

Brief synopsis of the plot:
Charlie Ashbeck is your typical athletic 16 year old girl, who's always seem training for the Olympics. However could something that starts out as just a normal run start a chain of events that could put the whole family in danger? Could it just be a spontaneous encounter or could the Ashbeck's shady family history be the cause for this vicious attack? If so, who exactly is to blame?

Changes to Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule:

This change is due to our contingency plan (see changes to casting)

Sunday 24th November 2012 @ Sparham Pools, Lyng and Dereham

Time: 2pm onwards

Changes to Casting and Characters

Family Name - Ashbeck

Charlie  - Daughter / Main Character

A 16 year old girl who is currently training for the next olympics, she's very althletic and is presented in a way that is like most typical teenage girls.

Ryan - Younger Brother

Ryan is made to look around 9 years old, he is shown to be like most boys his age and is revealed later on in the storyline to have seen and known about the dark figure.

Sue - Mother

Sue is portrayed to be the typical 'kind and caring' mother figure and is shown to be rather optimistic and unconvinced by everything that is going on.

Andrew - Father

At first Andrew is shown to be a typical father figure but later on in the storyline you find out that he may not be telling the truth as he has shady past unknown to the rest of the family.

Unknown - "The Bad Guy"

Shown to be wearing a mask to hide their true identity, obviously dangerous and up to no good. It is revealed later on in the storyline that this character is linked to Andrew in some way.

When coming up with the names for our characters I came up with the names for the brother, mother and father and also the last name of the family.



Casting:

Charlie - Grace Spenceley

Ryan - Henry Bradbrook

Sue - Justine Bradbrook

Andrew - Michael Bradbrook

Unknown - Jessica Bradbook

It was easier to cast Jessica's family as the filming location of the house will be at their house. However we had to come up with a contingency plan as when we decided to film on a wednesday afternoon we very quickly ran out of daylight therefore we decided we needed to reshoot that footage. Due to very busy schedules, the only possible day that we could do this was on the same Sunday that we were going to film at Jess' house. Unfortunately Jess could not make it to Lyng on this day. This meant that our main character would not be there obviously this is a problem as she is needed for the shoot. To overcome this we decided that it would be best if I took on the role of the main character and Chloe took on being the "badie". This does create a slight problem when filming at the points where we are both required to be in the scene, but it doesn't matter too much as we can leave the camera on the tripod and leave it filming. However if we do need extra assistance for shots that involve panning then my dad could possibly help out. 

*changed/updated information

Primary Research: How Can I Make My Thriller Appealing To My Audience?

To gain primary research data I put together a survey using surveymonkey.com. I then posted the survey to Facebook and asked people to complete it for me. I had a total of 38 responses. Personally I would have liked to have had more so that I could gain a better understanding of what people like and don't like.

After analysing my survey I think there are quite a few faults with the questions and if I was to do it again i would make sure that my questions had more suitable answers e.g "do you prefer a male or female lead? I allowed for the answer to be either "male" or "female" I think I should have also added a "either" response as some people don't mind who plays the lead. Question 3 "how often do you watch movies?" had answer responses of "extremely often" "often" "from time to time" and "not often as all" I now realise that these are not specific enough as responses because "often" could be a very different time period from person to person. Question 6 and 4 had a lot of possible answers and therefore I knew I may have missed some out, to accommodate for this I allowed a "other" box where people could specify their answer. However despite the faults of the survey I still gained some useful results from the questions asked:

1- What is your gender?

2- What is your age?

3- How often do you watch movies?

4- What is your favourite kind of movie?

5- How often do you go to the cinema?

6- What makes you enjoy watching movies?

7- Do you prefer a male or female lead?

Question one was a "only one answer" question about gender. I found that 80% of the people were female. This is useful information as I could use it to break the data down into male and female responses if i wanted to.

Question two was again a "only one answer" question about age. I put the responses into categories "1 to 11" "12 to17" "12 to 24" etc up to "65 or older". I found that that the majority (67.57%) of people asked were aged "12-17". The next highest group was "18-24" (10.81%) This means that over half of the people who took part were in my selected target audience. This tells me that social media is a good way of getting these younger age groups to take part or view my video. However if I wanted to get more older people to watch it then I would have to think of another way to broadcast it, possibly a group viewing or maybe sending links through email. 

My third question was "how often do you watch movies?" which was also another "only one answer" question. From this I found that people watched films from "often"(42.11%) or "time to time" (39.47%)  The next highest response was "extremely often"(15.79%) This tells me that there is a high chance that people would watch the opening of my film. However like I said earlier "often" is a time period that varies for different people therefore I cant be sure that people would watch my opening scene.

When looking at "what is your favourite kind of movie" I found that "action and adventure" had the highest response (27.03%) followed by joint second "thriller" and "comedy" which both had 18.92% this is helpful data as it tells me that my thriller could be quite appealing. It also tells me that to make my thriller even more appealing it could have a sub genre of action and/or adventure

The next question that I asked was "how often do you go to the cinema?" again this was a "only one answer question" When looking at the results I found that 40% of people went around once every 3 months. The next highest was once a month (21.05%) followed by once every 6 months (18.42%)  The fourth highest at 10.53% was joint between 2-3 times a month and once a year. From this I have concluded that a group viewing, equivalent to a cinema viewing, could attract a few people but it would perhaps be better to have online viewing on a sight such as youtube.

My 6th question was a multiple choice question,"what makes you enjoy watching movies?" A huge 73.68% said that they enjoyed watching movies because of the "story line". This was followed by "genre", "actors" and "sound track" that all had 39.47% The next highest was atmosphere and based on a book which had 23.68%. From this is have concluded that to make the opening enjoyable for the audience it should have a good soundtrack, good actors and convey to the genre. Following this it should also have a good atmosphere but that will coincide with conveying to the genre.

My 7th question was "do you prefer a male of female lead?" 66% of people said they prefer a male lead and 34% said they prefer a female lead. This tells me that my opening scene might be more popular if it had a male lead. However as I had only a small number of responses this may not be the view of the wider public and therefore I think it doesn't matter that much if the lead is male or female.

To conclude I have learnt that the easiest way to target a audience of 12-17 year olds is through social media such as Twitter and Facebook. Following this if I wanted to target a older audience of 45+ then maybe a group screening would be better. 

However as I am trying to specifically target 12-34 year olds social media seem to be the best way forward. I also found out that "thrillers" was in the top 3 of favourite genres of movie to watch, this gives me some hope that people may like to watch our opening scene especially if I take into consideration the responses from question 6 "what makes you enjoy watching a film?"

The top answer was "story line". I think this is useful information as it tells me that i need to try to have a good intriguing storyline/plot. Sound track was next on the list and therefore very important, so when it comes to selecting the correct music I will make sure I take particular care over this to get tracks that enhance the imagery. 

I also found out that the majority of people prefer a male lead, however in our opening we will be having a female lead as we decided that it doesn't particularly matter too much.

Story Boards and Transitions

These are our story boards. They are our first rough draft of what will happen, they include shot and camera motions that we are going to try and incorporate into our filming

Transitions: 

At the beginning we will have a fade from black transition

Between scene two and three we are creating our own man made fade to black transition by having Charlie run into the camera then this will fade back into the action as she walks back into her house.

Between scene 4 and 5 we will have a sudden cut to black as there is a power cut. This will be repeated again between scene 8 and 9. Scene 19 will also use this transition 

From scenes 13-17 we will have jump cut transitions.

Costumes, Props and Objects

This is the mask and cape that we want our "bady" to be seen in. The black cape adds a mysterious feel to the opening and black/dark clothing is often associated with the bad characters in thrillers. The red devils mask will also help create a mysterious feel to the opening as it doesn't look like a human so will leave the viewers wondering.

Characters and Casting

Family Name - Ashbeck

Charlie  - Daughter / Main Character

A 16 year old girl who is currently training for the next olympics, she's very althletic and is presented in a way that is like most typical teenage girls.

Ryan - Younger Brother

Ryan is made to look around 9 years old, he is shown to be like most boys his age and is revealed later on in the storyline to have seen and known about the dark figure.

Sue - Mother

Sue is portrayed to be the typical 'kind and caring' mother figure and is shown to be rather optimistic and unconvinced by everything that is going on.

Andrew - Father

At first Andrew is shown to be a typical father figure but later on in the storyline you find out that he may not be telling the truth as he has shady past unknown to the rest of the family.

Unknown - "The Bad Guy"

Shown to be wearing a mask to hide their true identity, obviously dangerous and up to no good. It is revealed later on in the storyline that this character is linked to Andrew in some way.

When coming up with the sames for our characters I came up with the names for the brother, mother and father and also the last name of the family.



Casting:

Charlie - Jessica Bradbrook

Ryan - Henry Bradbrook

Sue - Justine Bradbrook

Andrew - Michael Bradbrook

Unknown - Grace Spenceley

It was easier to cast Jessica's family as the filming location of the house will be at their house. It's also easier to cast me as it is my mask and I know the best places to sneak out of at our first location as i have been there lots of times before. Also it's easy when it comes to transport as we won't have to wait as long when we want to film, as it's winter it gets dark very early and if we had to wait for loads of people to arrive from different locations we would waste our filming time.

Equipment List and Shooting Schedule

Equipment:
Sony Digital Camera, a tape, tripod, dolly, tree branch

Shooting Schedule:
Wednesday 20th November 2013 @ Sparham Pools, Lyng
Sunday 24th November 2012 @ Dereham

Hopefully all of the filming can be completed over these two days, if we need anymore time extra filming days will be decided upon.

Locations

These are pictures of our first location at Sparham Pools, Lyng Hill. This is an ideal location for our running scene as there are lots of little pathways, trees and bushes which will be good for our "bady" to hide behind and for us to get point of view points from the "bady" if necessary. This is also a good location as it is fairly isolated and at night time it can look quite freaky and scary which will help us alot with setting the scene and feel of the opening scene.

This is our second location in Dereham. The house has lots of places and space for us to get some good raw footage. The windows in the living room and bedroom are particularly helpful as they are a key part of our opening.