RESEARCH- QUESTIONNAIRE

This is the link to my groups questionnaire, made by Oscar. We have all posted the questionnaire on Twitter and Facebook in order to get answers to help us with our research, we've also gone round and asked people individually.

 

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZXTWVWL

GENRE RESEARCH- THRILLER EXAMPLES: ABANDONED

 The second thriller that I analysed was Abandoned, a film made in 2010 directed and produced by Michael Feifer, starring Britany Murphy, Dean Cain.

In the opening sequence to Abandoned it shows the female protagonist running away fromsomeone,in the beginning she is running down hospital corridoors and then we see her running down stairs, into a car park- then to be chased by a car. The film as a whole is about a woman who's boyfriend went missing during surgery and is blamedfor his dissapearance; she is then classed as mental and has to stay in hospital, she tries to prove her innocence throughout the film.


- The title sequence is keep plain using only the colours black and the writing is kept simple. The screen then goes on to show three different screens all showing different things- different parts of the hospital with different people in each shot. This shows how the editing can be used to make the film look more interesting and to keep viewers engaged. This also gives a sense of mystery as we don't yet know who the characters are or what the location in each shot is.

- We see a girl running around the hospital corridoors, who appears to be running away- the lighting is dark and the location is confined which gives an ominous tone as viewers can tell that something bad is about to happen. The girl then runs into a room and looks back which also connotes that she's running away or trying to hide from someone. Editing is used to make it seem like she is being filmed as the quality of the filming decreases and changes colour and says 'recording' at the top of the screen which denotes to the audience that she is being filmed and being watched. This creates a suspicious tone as we donh't yet know who is watching her or why, this also keeps the viewers guessing which is engaging and something that is vital for a successful film opening. In the scene where the girl runs down stairs she is filmed at eye levelwhich helps the viewers engage with the character and have sympathy for her, it also shows us that she is in a position of equality and that she isn't weak nor strong. Camera angles and editing have been used in this scene to create drama as there are lots cuts when she's running and a variety of camera angles helps establish the location and what the girl is doing.

- The music througout the opening is classicail and iconic for a thriller film as it's what we would associate with the thriller genre. It's scary and gives a sense of danger which is important for a thriller to include. The music changes when different things happen throughout the opening, for example- when she is in the car park and the car suddenly comes, the music becomes more dramamtic and upbeat which adds to the dramatic situation that she's in. There is no dialouge in the opening to this film as there is only one character introduced, this reinforces the mysterious tone, adding to the excitment and anticipation.

- The costumes used in this are kept simple just like that the credits, the girl is wearing a simple white t-shirt and jeans which is mysterious as they don't tell us a lot about her personality or who she is.

- The film is edited so that it jumps from the action and then back to the titles, which creates a contrast between the simple, plain title sequence and the dramatic action from the film itself. Throughout the opening it's very dark and gloomy which creates a mysterious and gloomy tone, however lighting sometimes changes and becomes bright in order to show the girlsfacial expressions at certain points.


- When the woman is running through the coridoors it's shot at a high angle which portrays the woman to be weak and vulnerable, this then changes when she is in the car park as it's shot at eye level to convey her emotions, allowing the viewers to connect with her. Most of the time the woman is filmed at a long shot to show her surroundings and to show how far away she is from the car when she's being chased. Some close ups are used to show facial expression, for example when she's frightened a close up is usedso the audience can see and sympathise.


Researching and analyising Abandoned has helped me learn the main conventions of a phycological thriller. This will help me and my group when we start planning for our own film, if we decide to make a phycological thriller then I will know what we need to include in it. watching this opening has given me ideas.

Representation

Representation

Today we learned about representation, representation is the way in which the media presents an idea, and how we see it being presented by society. Each representation is different to the way an idea is originally presented because everyone has different opinions and interperetations of it, the idea is presented how society or the media want it to be seen.

Learning about this has made me realise that everything that's reppresented in the media is presented in that way for a reason, stereotypes and ideas come from the media and this therefore influences society and their opinions.

Camera

I've recently been learning about camera techniques, learning about the different types of camera angles and camera shots.

Camera techniques consist of movement, angles and positioning. 

Examples of distance shots-

Long shot- When you can see all of the person or object which is being filmed, you can also see the surrounding, this shot is usually used to establish the setting. 

This is the same as an establishing long shot, which is used when a new setting is being introduced, so that it can be viewed and established. 

A medium or mid shot is when you can see the majority of the person or object being filmed, usually the upper body, this shot's used to show body language, as well as facial expression.

A close up is when the camera is focused closely on a particular part of something, this is usually a face and it's used to show facial expressions in detail to convey emotion.

Similar to this, an extreme close up is even closer and more focused than a close up and it's when the camera is focusing on one part of something, for example is common thing for an extreme close up to focus on is a persons eyes.

Shot angles- 

Low shot, Eye Level, High Shot, Worms Eye, Birds Eye, Point of View.

A low shot is when the camera is shot at a low angle, so it gives the effect of looking up at someone, this is usually made so that the person being filmed looks authorstitive and powerful.

 Eye level is when the camera is angled so that the character is in eye level with the viewer.

A high shot is when the camera is at a high angle, creating the illusion of looking down at someone, this is usually done to make the character look weak and helpless.

A worms eye is when the camera is at a very low angle, Canted is when the camera is shot at an unusual angle to make the shot look more interesting, and a birds eye is when the camera is st a very high angle looking directly down at something. 

Camera movements-

Panning left and right- when the camera moves sideways,  the camera stays in the same p,ace, it only moves around at different angles.

Crabbing left and right- when the camera doesn't move angle, but it moves sideways.

Track in track out- when the camera moves with the character, following the, around.

Tilting up and down- the camera stays in the same position however it moves angle, moving either up or down. 

Do Generic Conventions Helpor Restrict Film Makers?

Group 6 2012 AS from Media @ CCC on Vimeo.

Doing this research with my group helped me learn more about how the conventions help and restrict film makers and taught me that they can both help and restrict. The information that Oscar and Beth found was useful for me and it wasgood working in the group because we all shared our ideas and knowledge.

RESEARCH- What's allowed in films rated 15 and 18?

For my part of the research I had to find out what content was allowed in films rated 15, and films rated 18. To find this information out I went on to the BBFC Classification Guidelines for films. We needed to know this information so that we could see what we would be allowed in our own film, and so that we could find out the difference between a film rated 15 and a film rated 18. We also needed this information to help us with our survey, so we knew which type of questions needed to be asked. 

Some examples of the regulations for Films rated 15...

Discrimination-  "The film may not endorse discriminatory language or behavior"
                                This means that we will need to make sure that our film doesn't promote    
                               discrimination, or include any language that does.

Drugs-               "Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole may not promote or               
                             encourage 
                             drug use. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous 
                             substances isn't                                                                                                                
                             acceptable."
                              If we are going to include any drugs in the film, then we can't be promoting 
                              them or endorsing them. Many thrillers do include drugs and drug misuse so 
                              this is something we will need to think about when planning.

Horror-             "Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised"
                            Many thrillers include threats and violence, and our film will most likely include 
                            this so as long as ours doesn't include threats that are easily imitable then it 
                            should be fine to include this content.

Imitable behavior- "Dangerous behavior, e.g hanging, suicide and self harming shouldn't
                                   dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons 
                                   shouldn't be glamourised."
                                   As a group we will have to make sure that we don't glamourise behavior
                                   that can be copied, although it's likely the film will include weapons of

                                   some sort.         

Images taken from the BBFC website:
                     






                                   

From finding out this information I was able to see what the differences are between films rated 15 and films rated 18. 

Differences...

• films rated 18 have no limit on the amount of swearing used, whereas films rated 15 have restricted rules on swearing; although it is allowed it has to be justified and used in appropriate context.
• full nudity is allowed in films rated 18; 15's are only allowed partial nudity and it can't be shown for long.
• 15's can't include any discrimination, 18's are allowed to show discrimination as long as it isn't being endorsed.
• films rated 18 are allowed to include more violence and more graphical images of violence.

When it comes down to making the decision of the rating of our film we will be able to refer back to this research and chose the rating based on all of these classifications.

Target Audiences for Thrillers-

For the next part of my research I looked at the target audience for thrillers. We need this information so that we can compare it to the answers we receive from our survey.

I looked on many different websites in order to find out this information and each page I went on suggested a different answer and a different age, this shows me that the target audience varies depending on which type of thriller it is, for example I found out that legal thrillers are aimed at audiences aged 25-50 and usually men, whereas medical thrillers are aimed at anyone aged 16-25.
After researching I've discovered that most websites and forums agree that the majority of thrillers are aimed at audiences aged 16-30.




Overall, I think that all of this research will help both me and my group when we begin the planning and making of our film. Knowing the criteria for films rated 15 and films rated 18 will help us know what we can and can't include in our film, as well as helping us to determine what our film will be rated. As well as this it is helpful that we know the differences between 15's and 18's as it will be easy to see where ours fits in that rating. The information that we now have on target audience is useful as we can compare it to the results we get from the survey, and use it to help make our own film suitable for people in this age group. 

GENRE RESEARCH- Thriller Examples- Frozen

In order to understand the different types of thriller films and what the conventions of thrillers were, my group (Charlee, Beth and Oscar) decided that we would each analyse two different openings of thrillers each, and then share notes about what we've learned and to get ideas for what to include in our own film.

The first film that I analysed was Frozen. I watched the opening 3 minutes of film and took notes on the important parts of the opening.

This film is about three young people, two boys and a girl, who go on a skiing holiday, only to find that they are stuck on a ski lift and have to decide whether to fight for their lives to get down from the lift, or to stay on the lift and freeze to death. I have discussed how lighting, sound and mise en scene is used to create a gripping thriller film. Frozen is a 2010 American Thriller, Horror film which was written and directed by Adam Green, starring Kevin Zegers, Shawn Ashmore and Emma Bell. 

- The first shot I saw of the film was of the engine works for a ski lift, this was ominous because it shows it's very relevant to the film as it was the first part of the film that was shown. This created an ominous and dangerous tone as it was dark and there were loud noises coming from the lift, this created a negative tone. The diagetic sound in this scene creates a sinister tone as the grinding noises from the engines and the thunder create a suspense and keep the audience guessing about what is going to happen. 

- After this there was a long shot of the  mountains in the background which established the location, letting viewers know that they were skiing in the mountains, it also adds to the ominous tone as it links in with the danger of the control room. 

- Straight after this was shown the setting changed to a bright, open spaced setting of one of the ski slopes, which then created a happier more positive tone as the bright colours and seeing loads of happy people in the background stepped away from the darkness and ominous tone. This has been done to grab the audiences attention and keep them interested and guessing about what will happen, the build up of danger and anticipation keeps viewers guessing and then when the scene changes it becomes more mysterious and viewers will be wondering what will happen.

- The characters were then introduced each with a close up; this shows viewers who the lead characters are and shows their facial expressions which are happy, reinforcing the positive, hopeful tone. Straight after the characters have been introduced they have a problem as they can't afford to buy tickets, this juxtaposes with positive tone which has just been created and creates another ominous tone as it suggests they will continue to have problems throughout the film. 

- The beginning focus' on the fact that the characters can't afford to pay for the ski lift, this also adds to the ominous tone as it could be thought of as a warning as the characters end up getting stuck on the lift, and that is what the film is about. It's showing that the lift will always cause problems for them, and for viewers who know the  story line or who have seen the trailer, they will know that the lift is dangerous.

- The mise en scene allows different moods and tones to be created throughout the film. For example, the dark lighting in the opening shot creates a sinister atmosphere, this contrasts with the bright sun light which is shown in the next scene which creates a more neutral tone. The costumes used allow viewers to understand what is happening, it works alongside establishing the setting- it makes the film look more realistic as the costumes are iconic as people associate the big coats, hats, goggles and skis with skiing.



- The title sequence in Frozen  has been kept simple which is very similar to the film itself as there aren't many settings or many characters in the film. The colours are all cool and neutral which is what the audience would expect from a film like this because it's set in a natural, and cold environment. The colours used also suggest that the movie will be depressing as they are mainly black and white which are dull, boring colours. A serif font has been used which makes the sequence look elegant and professional. 










Researching this film has given me ideas about how the editing can keep viewers interested, as the  beginning of the film cuts from the control room to the slope, changing from a negative tone to positive. I've also learned how sound and different settings can create different tones and add to viewers ideas about the film  and their feelings.