Concluding my audience research.

I carried out my questionnaire on fifteen members of my respondent group who were all of 16 and 17 years of age.

In question one, I asked what is your preferred location of a thriller film?
Seven respondents answered a unrecognisable location and eight answered a recognisable location and no-one answered an exotic location.

In question two, I asked what music if any do you prefer to hear in a thriller?
Six respondents answered vocal and instrumental, nine answered instrumental only and no-one answered none, vocal only or a well-known soundtrack.

In question three, I asked what is your favourite sub genre of thriller.
Five respondents answered horror, ten answered psychological, one answered action and no-one answered crime or drama.

In question four, I asked what is your preferred time period for a thriller to be set in.
Eleven respondents answered present, four answered 2000-present, and one said they were not worried about the time period and no-one answered 1900-1950s, 1960 – 1990s or future.

In question five, I asked what aspect of a thriller do you think is most important.
Eleven respondents answered characters, four answered sound and no-one answered costume/props, lighting or location.

In question six, I asked what do you expect to see/find out whilst watching the first two minutes of a thriller film.
Eight respondents answered location, four answered a basic introduction to the rest if the film, three answered introduction to the characters and No-one answered the storyline.

In question seven, I asked what costumes do you prefer for a character in a thriller film to wear.
Two respondents answered Dark, mysterious clothing, ten answered clothing relevant to the characters, setting and storyline, three answered costumes relevant to the period it is set in.

In conclusion to my research I have concluded that; an audience prefer a thriller film to be set in a recognisable location somewhere were they have been a famous landmark or the place where they lived. Audiences also prefer to have an instrumental only soundtrack rather than a vocal, instrumental and vocal or a well known soundtrack. Audiences also prefer to watch psychological sub genres of thriller.Audiences also prefer to watch thriller that are set in the present. The vast majority of people think that the characters are the most important aspect of a thriller film. I also found out in my research that audiences most expect to see/find out in the first two minutes of a thriller film the location. In my research I also found out that they also prefer the character in thriller films to wear a costume that is relevant to the character, setting and storyline.

My audience research will help me with the construction of my thriller because i can use what i found out in my research and apply it to my film. My research has helped me to decide a location for my thriller and i have decided to use a recognisable location which is what the audience prefer. It has also helped me in deciding what sound audiences prefer, i discovered that audiences prefer instrumental only, this will help add suspense. It also helped me with finding out what costumes audiences prefer the characters to wear, this has helped me because the costume holds a large part in representing the character and their personality. Overall the audience research has helped me in constructing my thriller film because it has told me what my target audience prefer and expect to see in a film.

Questionnaire.

This is my questionnaire that i will ask approximatly 15 people who are all of the same age.

1).What is your preferred location for a thriller film?
· Faraway exotic country
· Recognisable location (either you have visited there, live there or its a famous landmark)
· Unrecognisable location

2).What music, if any do you prefer to hear in a thriller?
· None
· Instrumental only
· Vocal
· Vocal and Instrumental
· A well known soundtrack/song

3).What is your favourite sub-genre of thriller?
· Crime
· Psychological
· Action
· Horror
· Drama

4).What is your preferred time period for a thriller to be set in?
· 1900-1950`s
· 1960-1990`s
· 2000- present
· Present
· Future

5).What aspect of a thriller, do you think is the most important?
· Characters
· Costume and props
· Sound
· Lighting
· Location


6).What do you expect to see/find out when watching the first 2 minutes of a thriller?
· Location
· Introduction to the characters
· Storyline
· A very basic introduction to the rest of the film

7).What costumes do you like the characters in a thriller to wear? (please write a short description of a costume)

Audience research.

When creating any type of media production, it is always best to start with carrying out audience research because you can get to know you target audience. It also helps because you know what to include in your film, that will get your target audiences attention.

In order to create a thriller film, which attracts a vast amount of people, I need to create and carry out research that will tell me exactly what audiences expect of a thriller film and what preferences in relation to a thriller film they have. I am going to ask around fifteen people who are all of the same age, a questionnaire, in order to have fair and equal results.


What I want to find out about audiences.
In the task of carrying out my audience research in order to find out what people like and what are peoples preferences in thriller films, I want to achieve the following;

Find out preferred locations
Find out at what pace people like to thriller to be
Find out what soundtrack people like
Find out what is the audiences favourite sub-genres of thriller
Find out what costumes the audience prefer to see characters in thrillers wear.
Find out what aspects do the audience consider to be of most importance.

How I am going to find out the required information

I am going to conduct a questionnaire; Iam going to ask around fifteen people who are all of the same age. I am going to ask them all the same seven questions, in order for the research to be fair and reliable.

What I expect to find out from my research

I expect to find out in my research the following;
That the audience’s preferred location is recognisable to them.
That instrumental music is the audiences favourite.
That psychological- thriller will be the audiences favourite sub-genre.
That the 1960s-1990s will be the audiences preferred time period for a thriller to be set in.
That the characters are the thought of by the audience as the most important aspect of a thriller.
That the audience expect to see a basic introduction of the storyline within the first two minutes of a thriller film.
The audience would like the characters to wear costumes which compliment their personality in the film, for example; wear black if they are the criminal and a pale colour if they are the victim in the film.

References to our thriller film.

In the planning stage of our thriller film, we needed to find films that had a reference to our own, when thinking about this we needed to consider; setting, lighting, shot types, storyline, sound, costume, age/gender of characters, social class/background of characters in order to find a film that we had seen or heard of that held a reference in any of these ways to our own thriller film.

We made two references they are; `psycho` and ` the third man`. Psycho, by Hitchcock, has a reference to our own because of the use of long shots to show the criminal and the way in which Norman Bates is portrayed as being a caring and kind man towards Marion and then towards the end of the film he becomes the criminal when he kills her, this has a reference to our thriller film, because the man who is portrayed to look like a caring young man towards the girl making sure she got home okay, however towards the end of the film just like in psycho he becomes he criminal when he begins by stalking her out of the club and attempts to kidnap her.

the famous shower scene;when norman bates becomes the criminal

The other reference we made was to `The third man`, by Carol reed, has a reference to our thriller film because of the stalking scene, which is the main issue in the storyline in our film. Another reference that we made was the lighting that is used in the third man, that is very dominant in the mise-en-scene, because it has been filmed at night on a wet cobbled street and the only light is a street lamp which creates a very a typically thriller lighting, we are also filming in the evening and the only light will be the light from the surrounding streetlamps and clubs, we are going to try to schedule to film on a evening when it has been raining during the day, so the light will reflect off the pavements like in the third man.

this image from the third man shows the different lights and the reflection from the light on the wet pavements.

This image is from the third man, and shows the dark and light well and the light from the streetlamps and the way that the man looks like a silhouette in the distance.

By Louise McGee

Discuss the ways in which age and gender are constructed in an extract from Blackpool

• Camera shot and movement
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise-en-scene

Costume

• Father - very colourful shirt; bright pink this suggests the 70s era, connotes he might be stuck in his ways or looks to the past, he has a 70s haristyle and sideburns this reinforces the look of the 70s era.
• Mother and Father are wearing the same colour this unites them both.
• The daughter and her boyfriend are also wearing the same colour palette of grey and navy blue this unites them both and shows that they are of a different age to the parents.

Mise-en-scene

• Father is more dominant; does most of the talking, vast amount of close ups of him, dominates the mise-en-scene, we can see he is a traditionalist.
• There is a sense of recognition betweent he father and the boyfriend, as if they somehow know each other.
• Father is jealous of his daughters boyfriend becuase he cannot control her anymore and he may be upset because she is not her `daddys little girl` anymore. This is paternal jealousy.
• Father has an aggresive attitude; he pushes the glass firmly onto the table, he also has a rascist and homephobic attitude as he says "lesbian refugees"
• Binary opposites between the two couples is signified using costume.
• When the two couples stand up and the coffee table to inbetween them, there is a divide between them, which represents the divide between there generations and values in life.

Monarch of the glen - class notes

Monarch of the glen is set in the present day, in the location of Scotland in the setting of; a loch, mountains and a castle. The genre of the programme is predominately a family drama, because of its placement before the 9pm watershed. In the extract that i watched in class, i heard mainly diegatic sound; dialogue, furniture clattering and the movement of people, however there was a non diegetic soundtrack, that i heard during the opening of the extract, it helped to set the theme for the rest of the programme because of its Celtic style, which related to the location of the programme. The colour palette that is used on the characters costumes, differs between age and social class as the younger characters are dresses in pale colours and the older characters are dressed in darker bolder colours, this represents their authority in society. In Monarch of the glen there is an intertexual reference to the soap opera; Hollyoaks.

The shots that are used helped us to create opinions about the characters for example; a low angle shot is used to show the Monarch, this tells us that he is the boss, is superior to others and is upper class, the way that is has been shot makes him look taller than the other characters around him, which shows him as being higher than the others, this relates to the social structure; that he is at the top and has more authority than others. The mise-en-scene of the monarchs house tells us that he is upper class becuase of the props that have been used. The way in which the Monarch dresses, does not tells us much about his social class, as we see him dresses in dark, casual/smart and practical clothes, however this choice of modest dress, indicates old money and his confidence. The positioning of the characters of the screen and how much of the mise-en-scene the character occupies shows us their importance within the drama. When we are shown both the monarch and the teacher, both upper class and of high importance, a shot reverse shot is used and they occupy the whole of the mise-en-scene.

Questions in response to my preliminary film.

1). What planning did you do for your filming task, and how did this planning aid in the filming?

I created a storyboard,shooting map and shot list which helped me in my planning for my film. The storyboard helped us when filming because we knew which shots needed to be filmed and in which order, it also helped the characters, becuase it told them what they needed to do and in what order and location. The shooting map and shot list were referred to alot during the filiming, they both helped us in the filming of our preliminary task because they told us were we needed to position the camera. Our storyboard,shooting map and shot list, all helped aid the filming of our preliminary task and resulted in the filming of our task running smoothly, becuase of this planning we had done beforehand.

2). What camera and editing techniques and codes did you use in your film and how do they influence the audiences understanding of the film? (eg. camera and shot types etc; match on action, shot reverse shot, 180 degree rule)

In the filming of our task we used the zoom on the camera, in order to film close up shots of the characters, when we had finished the filming we imported the film onto the computer and edited the film using adobe elements, a video editing programme. We used the 180 degree rule throughout the film, the use of this rule helped the audience to understand the position of the chracters and when they enter or leave a scene. A shot reverse shot is used when the two characters are talking, this means that each character dominates the mise-en-scene, when they are talking, the use of this shot reverse shot shows their importance. The use of the editing programme creates a more finished and professional look to the auidence.



3). How did you use new technologies in your construction, planning and evaluation (eg. digital camera; non-linear editing software; youtube, blogger) and what skills do you have at using this technology? (strengths and weaknesses eg. steady/shaky camera; variety of shot types; smooth/clumsy; independence when using technologies...)

We used new technologies in each of the three aspects of the film. In the planning stage we used a scanner and blogger, in order to display the shooting map, storyboard and shot list. In the construction stage we used a video camera and tripod, the use of a tripod, made sure that the film was still when filming and the finished film was steady, as opposed to an unsteady and shaky image. When the filming was complete, we uploaded our film onto the computer and used an adobe video editing software which enabled us to cut parts out of the film we did not want, add titles and add effects to the transition of the shots for example fading. When the editing stage was completed, we uploaded it onto youtube and created a link on blogger so that the video could be viewed on blogger to along with the evaluation questions about the film. I think that I could work quite well independently with the technology that we used, however if I was to perform this task again, I would try the filming aspect of task rather than the acting, however I believe that I can work well and independently on all the other aspects of the film.

Preliminary task Video

Monarch of the Glen review

Monarch of the glen is a televison drama which was broadcasted on BBC one, it was created by Michael Chaplin and produced by Nick Pitt, Paddy Higson, Jeremy Gwilt, Stephen Garwood and Rob Bullock. The series started being broadcasted on television in february 2000 and concluded with its seventh series in october 2005, in total over the five years that it was broadcasted 64 episodes were produced. Monarch of the glen, is partly based on comptons mackenzie novels, which were set in the same location, however they were set in the 1930s and 1940s. The first novel in the series is called monarch of the glen. The television drama Monarch of the Glen, is set in the modern day, in scotland we can tell this because of the accent, the backgrounds; loch, mountains and a castle which is where the monarch lives, we can also tell that the setting is scotland, because of the instrumental celtic soundtrack that we hear throughout the series. Monarch of the glen is predominatly a family drama, because it was broadcasted before the 9pm watershed and does not include any bad language, sex or any actions or connotations that would cause offense to any viewers.

The director uses a vast amount of diegetic sounds for example; dialouge, the moving of furniture, people moving around, the use of these diegetic sounds creates a more realistic feel to the drama, however non diegetic sounds are used, just not as frequently, the soundtracks that we hear are mainly instrumental celtic music, which sets the scene because of the scottish location around the loch and the setting of the castle. In the drama we can see a strong difference between the working class and the upper class residents of the village. The colour palette plays a strong part in the differentiation between working and upper class residents, for example the use of dull and drab coloured clothing worn by the young boy and girl and also the use of this colour palette on the tea towels the young boy is hanging up and the colour of the courtyard they are standing in, the use of this dull and drab colour palette gives connotations that they are working class.

In the drama, there is an intertexual reference to the soap opera; Hollyoaks, the use of this reference makes the drama more appealing to the younger generation; who are predominatly the audience of Hollyoaks. The use of the younger charcters, also makes it more appealing to the younger generation.

The use of a variety of shots shows the status and wealth of the charcters, for example a low angle shot is used to introduce the monarch, the shot has connotations of importance, wealth and an upper class status, also the postioning of the shot makes him look taller than the other charcters around him, which has a reference to the his position in society. The use of props inside the monarchs home, also shows us that he is upper class because of the use of the glassware,wooden panelling and the old books. The positioning of the characters shows their importance and status.

In conclusion to my review, i believe that monarch of the glen, is a well constructed family drama, because of the split in status amoungst the charcters and the intertextual refrences.

Shot list.

1).Long shot of the main character and her two friends getting ready.
2). Two person shot/panning shot, fades into black
3).Long shot of the three girls drinking at the same time, laughing, smiling. Cut to shot 4.
4).Close up of the main character drinking, laughs, cuts to next shot.
5).Panning shot/medium shot, focus on one girl dancing.
6).Medium shot/tracking shot of main character dancing and stumbling through the crowd.
7).Close up of main character and the young man, go in for a drunken kiss.
8).Mid shot of the girl and young man, of her arms around his neck, his arms touch her back.
9).Close up of the drunken kiss
10).Mid shot of the man pulling away and she stumbles backwards, she looks confused.
11).Reverse shot/medium shot looking onto the young man, pushes his arm forward.
12).Extreme close up/reverse shot of his hand
13).Reverse shot/mid of her looking at hime and looking down at their hands, then she goes to grab his hand.
14).Extreme close up/medium of his and her hand meeting
15).Close up of the girl, smerks,smiles and looks down.
16).Close up of the young man, laughs behind his teeth , looks up then down
17).Medium shot of him, he pulls her into him "common let me buy you a drink", smiles and nods, he walks backwards out of the camera.
18).Tracking shot, he turns around and both are walking through crowd, laughing and stumbling
19).Sides shot of small bar, walks into the scene, still holds her hand until she manages to sit on the stool.
20).Two person shot behind bar, she slumps on the bar, he looks shifty, orders drinks
21).Close up of his pocket and his hand going into the pocket, pulls white powder from the pocket.
22).Two person shot, pulls his hand onto the bar and takes her drink
23).extreme close up of the drink and powder being poured into it
24).Two person shot, she lifts her head and he looks and smiles, she grabs her drink
25).Tracking/close up of her holding the drink and her drinking it, she stops, presses her lips together
26).Two person shot put her drink down, looks over at the young man and smiles.
27).Two person/close up shot of the faces talking, her touching her hair, him talking she listens.
28).Close up shot of the young girls face, starts to squint eyes, music becomes slurred/quieter.
29). Extreme close up of her hands to her head, like she has a headache, still hear the man talking, music becomes quieter.
30).Medium close up of her looking distressed and unwell, things seem abit blurred.
31).Two person shot she grabs his hand "are you alright" things are blurred looking ill she runs then yells while she has her hand over her mouth.
32).Panning shot of her running out of the club, turns left and throws up in a corner.
33).medium shot of her gasping her breath, spits and wipes her mouth, leaning with her arm on the wall.
34).Long shot of her slumping to the ground, wipes her face and moves her legs like she is cold, she looks up.
35).Close up still looking up, presses her lips and looks down, wipes her eyes and starts to get up.
36).Long shot of her getting up using her hands, wipes her dress down, walks out of the scene.
37).Tracking shot of her walking down the street, sound of cars, people, traffic. She sniffs, wipes her eyes, sorts out her hair.
38).Tracking shot (part 2) camera focuses on the young man before following in the distance he turns his head left and nods, he leaves the scene.
39).Long shot as she trips and falls on her hands and knees, the contents of her bag spilling onto the floor.
40).High angle shot of her picking up her belongings, sound of footsteps gets louder and then stops, she look up.
41).Low angle shot of a tall dark man we are unable to see his face.
42).High angle shot reverse shot, she stops picking up her bag and looks at the man, puts her hair behind her ears.
43).Low angle shot of the dark man, he pulls his hand out of his pocket "need a hand up"?
44).High angle shot, she nods, grabs her bag and grabs his hand.
45)Long shot, she gets up struggles a bit, he grabs the side of her chest. "looks like you`ve had a bit too much to drink"
46).Close up/two person shot, she nods "yeah me too" they look at each other. "did you want me to walk you home"?
47).Close up, she looks at him, but onlyshowing her face not his. "erm, im okay i thikn i`ll be fine"
48).Panning shot, she walks away and he follows behind her.
49).Tracking shot, she walks and he follows behind her, she covers her mouth again and moves to the left.
50).Panning shot/high angles shot, she hunches and throws up again. She gasps for breath and wipes her mouth, she unhunches and spits.
51).Low angle shot, he asks her again if he wants him to walk her home
52).Medium shot "okay,okay"
53).Medium shot reverse shot, "good, give me your hand show me the way"
54).Panning shot/mid shot, she grabs his hand, gets up again and walks off the scene.
55).Tracking shot/long shot, we can see them walking behind hand-in-hand. She pushes/pulls him out of the scene to the left.
56).Panning shot of them two turning into a dark street, camera follows them.
57).Tracking shot/two person shot can see them walking in front of the camera she stumbles and hold onto him, club music fades and you can hear a car/van driving close.
58).Medium shot, they stop walking and turn to each other, they start talking, car/van becomes louder.
59).Cut shot/extreme close up of the moving wheel of the van.
60).Midshot, he hold onto her waist and she pulls away. He keeps trying to touch her, she starts screaming and he puts his head over his mouth.
61).Close up/sideshot, he pushes her into a wall with his hands covering her mouth. She tries and gets out, but is unable. Noise of the van stops and are able to hear doors opening and clsoing. 62).Wide shot, includes girl and young girl, van and two other men dresses in black, he tries to puch her into the van but she struggles.
63).Cuts to a long shot on the van door, the men throwing her in. A loud bang of the body going into the door, closing and cuts into black.

When myself and my production group started the filming process of our film, we decided to cut out some of our shots that we had previosuly decided to inlcude, we cut out the scene of the girl and her friends getting ready to go out and the kidnapping scene in the van, we decided towards cutting out these two scenes because; the time limit to our film is two minutes and it would not be possibe to include all of our shots and scenes within our two minute time limit. We also felt that these scene would not particularly have added anything to the film, that would help create suspense and ambiguity, however we decided to keep wih the main scene, of the girl walking home and the boy offering thw walk her home and making the auidence believe that he is the protector, however he changes into the villian and the girl becomes the victim. After our first shoot, we uploaded our footage onto the computer and watched it, we then realised the lighting was wrong and it was too dark, this stopped us from being able to see the characters faces, therefore creating no relation between the audience and the characters, however we took this on board and decided to shoot the footage again, at an earlier time, when the lighting would be right, because the only lighting we had was the natural light and the line of street lamps that are by the river, which created a soft lighting, therefore making the film more indepentdant because of the limited lighting. In the re-shoot of the film, we created more ambiguity and used more close up shots of the characters. The decision to re-shoot the film, helped us as a production team to create more ambiguity, through a variety of shots and actions.

By Louise McGee

Thriller film treatment

Treatment for my thriller film


In the opening shot, we are first introduced to the main character; a typical 18-year-old girl who is getting ready to go out for the night clubbing in Norwich with her friends. We are introduced to her in the setting of her bedroom; in her home, which she lives in with her parents and younger brother and sister. The use of this setting creates a feeling of normality and innocence, which later on in the film helps the audience to feel sorry for her, because of the incident that occurs, because of the normality and realistic setting that she has been introduced in.

The storyline is that of an ordinary 18-year-old girl who is going out clubbing with her friends on a Saturday night in Norwich on Prince Of Wales Street. The main focus is on the end of the night when the girl leaves the club drunk, this is where we are introduced to another main character; a man in his late twenties, who at we first we believe he is being the girls protector when he asks if he can walk her home, however our opinion changes when she refuses to let him walk her home and he attempts to force her into his white van, which is parked on a nearby street. When he finally succeeds in forcing the young girl into the van, we are introduced to two other men; one of whom is the driver and the other is a friend. In the opening shot we decided to have a diegetic sound, so we can hear the sounds of her moving around her bedroom and the diegetic sounds of the hairdryer and the sounds of her family walking up and down the stairs. We have decided to also use a non-diegetic soundtrack in the opening shot; we have decided to use a song from the genre of dance or R&B, because this is what is mainly played in clubs, so it would set the scene well. When she is in the club there will be a non-diegetic sound of music and in the street there will be the diegetic sound of other people walking and cars passing and the diegetic sounds of music from the other clubs on the street. The lighting will be artificially lit, in the opening shots in the young girls bedroom, in the club the background light will be black and will be artificially lit by bright or neon lighting. When the girl leaves the club the setting is in the street, so the lighting will be dark, with the artificial lighting of the street lamps. The girl and her friends will wear high heels and dresses or mini skirts and tops; this type of costumes will be appropriate because of the setting. The men in the white van will wear black trousers or tracksuit bottoms and dark coloured hoodies, because these type of clothes are always what the stereotypical `thug` would wear, also the use of dark clothes represents evil.
I think my thriller film will attract the type of audience that would watch films like; London to Brighton, because of the realism of the setting and characters, which I am going to use in my thriller film. My film also relates to the film The strangers even thought it is predominantly a horror film, however there are elements of thriller within the film, it relates to my film because of the use of dark clothing worn by the men, and the way they lurk in the shadows, which is what the men in my film do at the end.

By Louise McGee

Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of gender in episode 1 of `North & South`

At the beginning of episode one, a shot reverse shot is used when Margret is looking at the clock then out of the window, the use of this shot shows the passage of time which represents women as people who have to wait a long time for things, on a larger scale this could represent that in the time period that `North & South` is set in women were not seen as very important and had to wait a long time to be given the same privileges that men were given a very long time before women for example the right to vote. The rule of thirds is used to show Margret looking out of the window, where she occupies two thirds of the shot. In the same shot, a close up has also been used to show Margret this shows emotion. Margret’s stance in this shot is Haughty, her gaze is firm which suggests that she is assertive, this shot shows women as powerful and assertive, which is not how they were viewed by society in this period. Margret also stands up straight which connotes confidence; she also shows style and prettiness, we can also see she does not rely on her clothes to make her look pretty. When Margret enters the factory, we see a `look of wonder` appear on her face, because she has entered this `foreign` world, there is a similarity between the `look of wonder` on Margret’s face and the `look of wonder` on the children’s faces in Narnia when they open the wardrobe and enter a different world.

A shot reverse shot is used between Thornton and Margret this connotes that a relationship may start between them. We can also tell that a relationship may start between them because of the non-diagetic romantic music, the way she has been positioned to look up at him and the misty effect that has been used. The use of the misty effect across the factory creates a mystical feel, which also creates a sense of mystery in the sense of that we do not know what will happen next, weather or not a relationship may start.

An orchestral soundtrack is used during episode one of `North & South`. When Margret enters the factory we start to hear the diagetic sound of the factory workers coughing, this suggests they are unhealthy however they are hardworking.

The use of non ambient lighting creates a darker setting and because you can control non ambient lighting, you can create the tone of lighting that is suitable to the production. The different accents that are used define the characters in their status’s. The factory owner, Thornton is portrayed as a harsh and violent man, we see this in a shot of him looking down from a height at the factory workers, a low angle shot is used in this shot, the use of this shot makes Thornton appear very important and bigger than everyone else. The use of violence displayed by Thornton shows masculinity. The way that Thornton has been placed looking down from a height, also represents his status in society as a male and as a factory owner, both of which give him more power of others in society. A close up shot is used of the fight Thornton has with a worker, this shows his violence. Whilst Thornton and the worker are fighting Margret shouts `stop` at them, this was very unheard of in this period for a women to speak up, this shows that Margret is assertive and was also not scared to speak out. Thornton asks Margret who she is and she reply’s giving him her full name, this shows she has a strong sense of identity.

In the scene in the factory, after the fight we start to understand that Thornton does not like people invading his space, we understand this because of the way he speaks to Margret, however he does not talk to her directly. Thornton says “get her out of here”, which is aimed at Margret, he then says “get that women out of here”, which shows that he has no respect for women and suggests that he believes women do not deserve to be spoken to in a polite manner, because women were seen as inferior in this period. After this the camera cuts to some female factory workers some of whom are very young, this tells us the factory is not an entirely male world, although women worked in the factories, they were entirely under the owners control, in this case the women were entirely under Thornton’s control. The use of children, who are as young as seven or eight, shows that children were not valued and no respect was given to them, this also suggests people did not have a sense of danger.

In conclusion to this question i think that in this extract of North and South; Male characters are represented as being violent and believing that they are superior in society, this shown in the way Thornton speaks to Margret. Female characters are represented as being characters who are seen as being inferior in society, however they are assertive.

Perfume advert - Florence

perfume.psd
Originally uploaded by louisemcgee-asmedia

Who is your target audience?
My target audience for my perfume is females in the 16-21 age range. I think my advert will appeal to this audience because of the use of the image at the beach and encorporating the beach hut into the image. I think the use of these images will appeal to my target audience because of the summer lifestyle that they want, the summer lifestyle being a very relaxed way of life, being at the beach,surfing,beach partys. I also think that my advert will appeal to the target audience because of the fashion associated with the beach that appeal to this age range. My advert would probably been printed in magazines such as; Glamour and Look, it would also be shown mainly in summer becuase of its association as an advert with the summer season. The audience that i am aiming to target will be intelligent, have high aspirations for themselves, aspire to have a well respected career, however they will be fun loving, happy and the type of people who enjoy life to the full. My advert appeals to my target audiences values by using the beach setting and the bright contrast to represent happiness,enjoyment and having fun. My audience will view the advert from a female perspective because of the font that has been used which is very feminine because of the butterfly that has been drawn on the side of the `F`, the advert would also be viewed from a female perspective becuase of the perfume bottle, this would be because the bottle has a mirrored effect and the use and possesion of mirrors is usually associated with females.

How did the technologies help in the process of constructing the advert, and how comfortable are you using the technologies?
I used digital photography to take my photograph of the beach landscape. I used the website dafont to create a suitable font for my advert, which used the same theme as my perfume. I also used Flickr and Blogger, which enabled me to annotate my advert and post both my advert and analysis questions. I used photoshop to enhance my image, I increased the brightness and contrast, in order to brighten the image and create a summery look to the advert. I used the burn tool on the sand dunes and part of the sea, in order to enhance this part of the image, to make it look brighter and to create a reflection effect on the sea. I used the sharpen tool to bring out the black in the font more and i also used the colour recognition tool, which helped me find the exact colour of the background so i could use the fill tool to fill in the background of my font in order for the font and image to blend together better.

How does your advert represent particular social groups?
My advert represents women by using an informal, pretty and feminine font, my advert also represents women by the use of the perfume bottle, because of the elegance of the bottle. The advert represents women as; fun loving,happy,succesfull and fashionable. The advert implies to us that a womens place in society is somewhere fashionable,fun,exotic and happy. The advert also shows that women are represented in this advert as being people who want to be succesful,fashionable,happy and enjoy their lives.

Assessment sheet

The opening narrative shots and title length of thrillers.

Taxi Driver


Taxi Driver was directed by Martin Scorsese in 1976.

We watched the first two minutes of Taxi Driver and we are first introduced to the character by the use of an extreme close up of the man,a shot reverse shot is used to show the man then the city then it cuts back to an extreme close up of the man which focuses on his eyes. A low angle shot is used to show the taxi, this shows the audience the importance of the taxi in the film. A diagetic sound is not heard until almost the end of the two minutes; when we hear the ringing of a phone, before this we hear a non-diagetic instrumental soundtrack. Editing would have been used to show the red and oragne lights of the city.
In Taxi driver, it takes 10 seconds for the diagetic sound to appear after the non-diagetic sound disappears.

Identity

Identity was directed by James Mangold in 2003.

In the two minute opening of Identity, that i watched the director; James Mangold uses a vast amount of extreme close up and close up shots. He uses these close up shots to show us various tapes with a the same mans name written on all of the tapes. The use of the close up shots make it very clear to the audience who the film will focus on. Mangold uses the rule of thirds on the title, which holds for 5 seconds, the use of the rule of thirds in the title creates an instant point at which are attention is drawn to. In the title shot, the word `Identity` slowing dissapears, one letter at a time, this technique is used with all of the words that appear on the screen, this technique would have been added in the editing process of making the film. At the beginning of the opening we hear a diagetic sound of thunder, this sets the scene for a thriller film, as it creates a dark feel and creates a sense of the unknown. The use of the tapes which show just one mans name, and the very dark lighting creates a question to the audience of weather this man is mentally unstable.

Heat

Heat was directed by Michael Mann in 1995.

The the first shot of the opening of Heat, Micheal Mann uses a long shot of a train and the diagetic sound of the train is introduced and becomes louder as the train draws closer. The shot then cuts to an over the shoulder shot from behind of someone travelling down the escalator, the use of this shot creates a sense of mystery. In the beginning of the opening Heat is set in a trin station, however towards the end of the two minutes the setting changes and we enter a hospital.
The title shot, is held for 3 seconds and each credit is held for 4 seconds until it cuts to the next.

London to Brighton

London to Brighton was directed by Paul Andrew Williams in 2006.

The two minute opening i watched of London to Brighton, did not give me a great insight into what was going happen or what the film would be like, however the first shot when we are first introduced to the characters, Paul Andrew Williams uses a close up shot of the women and the girl. The setting where the two characters which we are introduced too are; a toliet cubicle in London, gives us an idea of what the characters backgrounds and lives may be like, Williams focus`s on the grime of this setting. The use of the mirror in the toliet creates an illusion that it is bigger than it appears to be. The opening of London to Birghton, although it does not give us a great idea of what will happen, we can start to understand the basic storyline, the language and settings help us to understand this. We can start to understand that the film is about the women and the girl who are the first characters we are introduced and towards the end of the two minutes we start to understand that they need to get away from someone and are going to get the trin to Brighton, however they need the money to pay for the train tickets and this is when the topic of prostitution is introduced.

Red Road

Red road was directed by Andrea Arnold in 2006.

Red road opens with a black screen, where the word `Glasgow` appears in white, this instanstly tells us where we are. The shot then cuts to a blur of colours which then pans out to reveal CCTV screens. Arnold uses a medium close up of the CCTV operators face, by using this shot we can see the emotion that she feels from the CCTV cameras. In this two minute opening it does not tell us as an audience much about what is going to happen during the film.

Storyboard, Shooting map and Shot list for preliminary task.

Storyboard for my preliminary task.

















My shooting map for my preliminary task




















Shot list

• Close up of feet
• Extreme long shot from behind
• Tracking shot
• Panning shot
• Close up of hand on the door handle
• Over the shoulder shot walking into the room
• Extreme close up of the face
• Extreme close up of the eyes
• Tracking shot to table and chairs
• Over the shoulder shot, showing the new character
• Two person shot
• Side shot of the tow characters talking
• Over the shoulder shot, character leaves

Understanding the concept of binary opposites as a source for conflict of the drama.

Objective



To understand the concept of binary opposites as a source for conflict of this drama.


Life on Mars


Gene Hunt(1973) - Politically incorrect - Past
Sam Tyler (2006) - Politically correct - Present


Sound


Diegtic - sound within the mise-en-scene, what the characters can hear in the scene.
Non diegtic - Special effects, soundtracks (often added in editing) , sounds the characters can not hear in the scene.


Lighting

Ambient - Natural lighting
Non Ambient - Artificial light, a spotlight/lamp is used



North & South By Elizabeth Gaskell 2004

North and South is by Elizabeth Gaskell and was made into a four part televsion series for the BBC in 2004. The programme represents the divide between the North and South of England which still exists today, it is a period drama. North and South is based about a wealthy family who live in the South, the father is a vicar however he looses his faith in God and gets chucked out of the church. This meant the family was forced to move, the father decided to move the whole family including their servant which implies they are wealthy to Milton ( Manchester). The time period in which the programme has been set is the same in both the north and the south, both worlds are real, however the difference is that it is set in two different places, to show the difference and diversity of the north and the south.


I have copy and pasted the HTML for North and South - Episode 1 Part 1, the part that we focused on in class is up until 2.56 minutes.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN58WAmuuqI&feature=PlayList&p=EEC2305B0FD88423&index=0&playnext=1

In Episode 1 Part 1, it begins with an aerial panning shot travelling over the top of the trees, this is in the North, we also hear a diegtic sound which is the train, we also hear non diegtic sound. We are first introduced to the main character on the train, a close up shot is used to show her, this shows her importance in the storyline. The train which we see within the first minute represents industrilism. A tracking shot is used looking out from the train window onto the trees. A fade and cross dissolve editing technique is used when the camera cuts from the train in the North to the South. There are certain very distinctive colours that have been used with the North and the South, in the North mainly Greens and browns have been used and in the South warm and glowing colours have been used. When the camera cuts to the party scene in the South, we are introduced to the diegetic sound of the band.

I have copy and pasted the HTMl for North and south Episode 1 part 2, the part we focused on in class is up until 4.17 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp2YHNs_P5E&feature=PlayList&p=EEC2305B0FD88423&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1

Part two of episode one shows the daughter of the family going into a cotton mill. In part two we are introduced to a busy part of Milton, a very industrilised area , we are also shown the grime around this part of Milton, which implies it is dirty and unhealthy. As soon as the camera cuts to the girl entering the industrilised area of Milton, we hear shouting, this is a diagetic sound. We are shown the North in comparison to the South, the south is portrayed as; quiet,peaceful and pretty, however the North is protrayed as; busy and dirty. When the worker was smoking in the mill and the factory owner spotted him, he was beaten because it was highly dangerous to smoke in the cotton mill factory, the girl was very disturbed because of the way he addressed her.

Textual analysis and representation.

Verisimilitude means that the world/characters is made believable/authentic.

Whilst watching Life on mars we made note of all the activities that took place that would be considered inappropriate or illegal in the present day, we categorised each activity in to one of three sections; Political,technological and Cultural.

• Political would be an activity/action that you would class as being `Politically incorrect`
• Technological would be an activity/action that uses gadgets which have been replaced by another piece of technology which is more high tech in the present day.
• Cultural context would be an activity/actions that were acceptable in 1973 (the year Tyler travels back to), but these actions would not be considered acceptable in the present day in 2009.

Technological

• The vast use of files around the police office, this is because in 1973 there would not have been computers to store all the files/documents on. In the present day you would not see many folders if any at all, however you would see many computer as all the files/documents would be on the computer.
• The use of a typewriter in the office, which in the present day be replaced by a computer
• The Izal toilet paper which is shown was used in all workplace and public toilets, Izal toilet paper was very uncomfortable and felt like plastic, technology has changed this and allowed us to make better toilet paper.
• The old phones that are shown in the office, have been replaced by cordless phones in the present day.
• The black and white television that is shown in the female workers house, have been replaced by digital colour televisions in the present day.
• A switch board operator is shown in the office in 1973, a switch board operator would usually be female and it would be a very low paid job, hence it was mainly a job that females had, as females were to be lower in society. They have been replaced with internal telephones and technology.

Cultural

• When Tyler arrives in the police office, because of his startled look one of the other members of staff makes comment about him being drunk , this tells us that it would have been acceptable to drink during work time, however in present day it would be highly unacceptable to drink during work time.
• Some of the men in the office used quotes such as "As white as a gingerbirds arse" , "She will kiss it better", which are being sexist towards women one of the men also referred to the woman working upstairs as if they are nothing and as if they were worthless.
• Sam Tyler gets beaten up by the boss in the police office in 1973, he is later punched in the stomach by the same man, this would now be considered to be highly unacceptable.
• The meeting that a member of staff had with the press about a case was in the pub, which would now be considered an inappropriate place to have a formal meeting.
• One man in the office is eating his sandwhich over the evidence for a case and his sandwich filling is falling onto the evidence, which would be considered very inappropriate in the present because the sandwhich filling would distort the fingerprints, which would be needed to find out who the criminal was.

Political

• The first scene in the police office in 1973 we see the room is filled with smoke from the men that are smoking in the work place, this would be considered disrespectful and is also against the law to smoke in enclosed areas and work places.
• We notice during the first scene that there are no women present in the detectives office, this means that there were all male detectives, this would have been because society in the 1970s was very mlae dominated and women were seen to be lower in society and were not regarded of as very important people in society. In the present there would more than likely be an even spread of male and female in a work place, some work places will be very male dominated, however some work places will be very female dominated.
• A male worker in the office made another sexist quote saying "I wouldn`t give a tarts furry cup".
• The male workers referred to the women who worked upstairs in the lower paid jobs as `birds`, although this term is heard sometimes in the present , it is not as commonly used as it was then.
• When the two detectives from 1973 and Sam Tyler are in the mortuary the two detectives are laughing about the young woman who was a prostitute, who was murdered the two detectives believed that anyone in her position;working as a prostiute deserved to be murdered. In this small section of the programme we see the difference between the men from 1973 and Sam Tyler who is from the present and the difference in their values and sensitivity towards others.
• Throughout the time when Tyler travels back to 1973, the male workers in the office make sexual inuendos towards women,this was another way that women were looked at as a lower class in society.

Focuses for British Television drama

The course focuses on extracts from British TV drama the focus is as follows:

• Camera angle,shot,movement,composition
• Mise-en-scene (all within the frame) including: characters,location,setting,costumes,lighting,props,CGI (computer generated images), objects,sound,dialogue
• Editing (different types)
• Aspects of representation within the sequence
• Areas of focus need to be analysed with their purpose and effect explained
• Forms and conventions - all aspects of mise-en-scene including lighting,sound,editing,narrative structure
• Representation - Social groups, for example: age,gender,social class, disability,cultures,attitudes,values,ideology
• Audiences
• Institutes
• Technology

Medium

• Print (newspapers and magazines)
• Film
• Television
• Radio
• Newspapers
• Music
• Magazines
• Internet
• Video games
• Adevertising
• Marketing
• New technologies (Mobiles phones,MP3s,gadgets)

Fonts.

These are some fonts that Yvonne and I created in class, using the website http://www.dafonts.com/, we also used photoshop to add colour and show tone to the fonts. Whilst creating these fonts we wanted to create the connotations; Celtic and Medieval, we also used the name of the perfume to create the connotation; Mystical. We created these fonts to show how different styles of fonts can make us think about the product in different ways.

Description of a character typical of a thriller film.

My character, Rose who is forty four years old lives in Miami, on the sea front , she lives in a large house with five bedrooms ,a swimming pool, tennis courts, three cars and all the luxuries you could want. She works from home as a shoe designer and owns a shoe shop in the nearby shopping mall. She has a sixteen year old daughter named Lillie who she lives with, until just a few months ago she was happily married to a man called Sam who was forty six years old, who owned a very high class restaurant in the town, he worked a few days a week there, the other days he would spend at home with Rose, they spent a lot of time together and were a very close couple, they had been happily married for twenty years and built up both their business`s together. Sam died just a few months ago of cancer which had been fighting against for just over a year, when he sadly lost his battle, his death hit Rose and Lillie very badly as they were such a close family.

Although everyone; family, friends, all Sam's customers in his restaurant knew he was battling with cancer, one man suspected his death was caused by Rose and has accused Rose of murdering him because she wanted all the money from his restaurant and his previous business ventures to set up a life somewhere else for her and her daughter and significantly expand her shoe designing business. The characteristics that are significant to my character are that she has recently lost her husband this shows connotations of loneliness and vulnerability .

How textual elements of mise-en-scene create representation of the past and present in "Life on Mars"

Representation of place
British Television - Life on mars
Date - 2006
Place filmed - Manchester

Sound

• Drum,drum machine,synth (computer)


• Tense music when we see the shot of the moving police cars

Costumes and colour palette

• Criminal wearing a hoody represents anti-social behaviour.

• The police officer who is chasing the criminal is wearing cold coloured clothing the same as the criminal, this shows that they are all part of the same society and they are all part of one organism/machine.


• The grey colour scheme shows new technology and connotes bleakness and post-modern buildings.


• Grey steel is a reference to technology, unforgiving textures, washed out colours.

• Blue and Navy are typical police colours, which are the colours that are mainly used in the programme.

• The use of white in the police headquarters office: a uniformity of colour. Ths image shows that it has been shot in the present day because of the technology with is shown in the shot; the mobile phone and computers.
  
  
  
  
  The colour palette changes when the time period changes (after Sam is ran over), the colour palette changes to sepia: sepia is a cinematic technique device to connote a different time period. In this time period alot of brown has been used which tells us that we are in the 1970`s as this was a very popular colour in this time period.



















• The buildings and surroundings are all of a blue or grey colour palette.







Shots and camera angles











• Close up shot of the car wheels, emphasise on the wheels creates a rule of thirds in the image. This close up shot of the front of the moving car has been used in the opening squence of episode one which cuts between this shot and the credits, the road is in the present day.
  
  

• Medium close up shot is used to show the terraced houses.


• Low angle shot is used of the Police Headquarters, which tells us it is an important building, grey and metallic.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The rule of diagonals creates a sense of movement and the dimension of perspective, eg. the lighting above the clouds creates a perspective.

Other observations





















• The shot of the terraced houses and the tower block in the background creates feeling of hostile and comforting, it feels hostile becuase of the crime and feels comforting because it is modern and gives a community feel to the image. The tower block shows reality and the `mars` is showing another dimension which is represented by the terraced housing.

• Represents that police are quite frequently critisised for not caring about the criminal just about the victim, life on mars represents this.












• "Look around, what use of feelings"








• The present is represented as a Distopia when there is a close up of a childs swing in the park with Mia`s shirt laying across the seat with blood on it suggesting she has been murdered or kidnapped, a tower block is shown in the background, the modern building is associated with violence.









• Sam is upset because when he visits the crime scene he finds out that his girlfriend has been kidnapped/murdered, we can see he has regrets because his last words to her were very cold, this is shown by the close up shot of him in his car.

Analysis of openings of Thriller films - Leon.

Film - Leon

Year - 1994

Director - Luc Besson

The director opens Leon, by using a wide tracking shot of the city, firstly you see a mass of trees then it zooms closer to the skyscrapers,this shows the diversity between city and country, the director zooms close up to a sign that says `Little Italy` when they get into the city, which implicates that perhaps The director uses an extreme close up of the two gangsters at the table. The director uses a wide variety of shots, which creates diversity.

The director creates suspense very well, by using false alarms leading up to the real things, for instance when they use a dummy model in the lift, so the enemies will shot it thikning it is a real person. Leon is set in America in `Little Italy`. The music that has been used; Drums and kettle drums, create a build up to the event and creates suspense and tension. The music is stopped suddenly when the officer has a knife held to his throat. The officer is portrayed with this tough guy exterior when actually we can see how scared he really is.

The director used one particular shot of all the bullet holes in the blackout blind, which created spots of lights from the holes in the blind, this showed the transistion from dark to light, this could also represent how people can change from bad (dark) to good (light).

The conventions of Thriller films that are shown in Leon are; the accents,dark glasses,guns,knifes,through the key hole shots, prostitue and trap doors.

Another convention of Thriller films is spiral staircases becuase although you can hear who is coming up or down them, you can not see around them, these are most commonly used in chase and murder scenes, it is used in Leon in the chase scene and also when we are introduced to the girl.

Analysis of openings of Thriller films - Dont look now.

Film - Don't look now




Year -1973





Director - Nicholas Roeg

Don't look now has been set in the 1970s, and is about a family who live in a large house in the country, and starts off by showing the brother and sister playing in their garden, in the woods and around the pond, the director makes it seem very idyllic with the weather and the surroundings, this creates a sense that something is bad is going to happen.

In the opening of don't look know it is raining and the camera is focused on the rain splashing on the ground it then starts thundering and the faint sound of someone humming appears this creates a mystical feel and give us the sense that something bad is going to happen later in the film. We are first introduced to the brother and sister who are playing in the woods, the director also focus`s on a shot of the big house they live in, this tells us that their parents are wealthy and have a good upbringing. The other focus point that the director focus`s on is the large pond situated in their garden which is frozen, the director also puts in a false alarm, when the brother is playing with the football and he drops it in the pond, we think that he is going to fall in to the pond however he does not. The setting at the beginning is very domestic and portrays this family to have the perfect parents, children , large house in an idyllic setting which is disturbed by the sad event of the daughter drowning.

The father seems to be on-edge, this shows that perhaps he can sense that something bad is going to happen. The film has been shot in time shift, between the children playing outside and the parents working inside. The music starts outside and is used in the time shift. The music that is used is soft piano music, this is one of the main conventions of a Thriller. When the girl falls into the pond and drowns, her father sees it first and comes running out and pulls her out of pond, the music changes into a harsh violin sound which is very empowering. When the girl drowns a red and blue liquid appears over the screen,red could symbolise the blood from the girl and the blue could symbolise ink from inside that the parents are using in their art work, this could also represent bringing together and uniting the parents and the children. The girls red coat could symbolise blood and danger. After the girl has been rescued the director uses time shift and shows the father in Italy.

Analysis of openings of Thriller films - Flightplan.

Film - Flightplan

Year - 2005

Director - Brian Grazer

Flightplan was directed by Brain Grazer in 2005, it follows a mother played by Jodie Foster and her young daughter of whom have lost their father/husband, who live in Berlin and are going to visit the mothers parents in America. the film is mainly set on the plane going to america and how her daughter has disappeared from the plane however no-one ever recalls seeing her or her being registered on that flight.

In the opening to Flightplan the first thing we see is a black screen with the fliashing light of a tube, which creates a feeling a panic and hectic-ness to us. The first we see of the main character, Kyle is a full length shot of the back of her, which creates a sense of mystery for the audience. The film starts off in Germany,berlin, we can tell this at the train station in the opening; by the language that was being spoken and from the signs around her. The backgrouns music starts off as soft piano music in the background however this then changes to be quite loud and harsh, which ties in with the sound of crowes which apears in the background, the crowes create a sense of horror and evil, which leads us to believe that something sinister is going to happen later on in the film.

The director uses a wide range of shots to create different illusions and feels to the film for example: when the mother and daughter are coming out of the house at night to go to the airport, he uses an extreme long shot of them both, they are both wearing black clothes and the setting is on a very cold wintery dark night, all of these elements that have been used create a dark and sad feel for the audience, the use of black across the whole picture relates to a funeral and the image of death. The dark clothing contrasts with the bright white snow outside, this could show the good and evil side of the characters. The director also uses a close up shot and hold this hot of their luggage, the director also uses a close up shot of the mothers wedding ring, which obviously signifies that she is married and at this stage in the film makes us wonder where her husband is, later for us to find out he had died a few days previosuly.

In the film, when the air hostess is counting the amount of people on board the plane, the daughter Julia is hiding underneath the seat which means she is not counted so when she later goes missing and her mother, Kyle ,reports it because she had not been counted the air hostess`s try to dismiss the disaperance of Julia. The air hostess also tried to make Kyle believe that Julia had never boarded the flight. The director uses flash backs to show what had happened prior to Julias disappearance, however it does not give us any clue to how or why Julia disappeared.

The director creates suspense when Julia has gone mising, by using cloe up shots on peoples faces, he also portrays one air-hostess to be more concerned than the others this leads us to believe that perhaps the lady either has children of her own or has experienced this before. The director creates more suspense by making the other characters on the plane seem very unwilling to help, i think he may have portrayed the characters as unwilling to create a sense of anger towards these people. The Director uses Kyles husbands death to create a sense of sensitivity and reality towards Kyle, this also creates even more suspense becuase she has already lost her husband, so it would mkae it even harded for her then to loose her only child, the death ofher husband would also make her feel very upset and uneasy, this sense of feelinf uneasy was shown in the first scene.

As the audience we are made to guess what has happened to Julia and one guess that i made and the director lead me to believe was that perhaps Julia had felt very upset and disturbed by her fathers recent death, also becuase of the strain that would have caused julia she may be feeling very vunerable, this leads us to believe she may have been kidnapped. we are shown the vunerability of Julia in the first scene when her mother hides her underneath her coat when they are walking to the taxi.