Final Film - Façade

The final version of our film, enjoy.

Evaluation - What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from your preliminary task to the full product?

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

Evaluation - Who would be the audience for your media product and how did you attract them?

Untitled chart
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Evaluation - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product & why?

According to the BFI, distribution is about 'releasing and sustaining films in the market place'. I feel the best studio to do this for our product is Summit Entertainment.

Summit Entertainment are owned by Lionsgate (who are considered to be a mini-major film studio).  I believe that this distribution company would distribute my product because they have a history of distributing similar independent films to my own. For example, Memento, Insomnia & P2.


Also, a good reception at a film festival (Berlin or BFI Future Film) can increase the likelihood that this studio would distribute our product. The festivals can give us a chance to show why our film stands out above the rest of them, leading Summit Entertainment giving us the opportunity to release the film in cinemas (its likely to be limited release to gain a small view on how the film is received). I think the category I would enter my film into at the Berlin film festival is the Sci-Fi/ Horror one as my film could be classified as horror due to the murders that happen in the main plot.

Social media can play a big part on whether our film turns out to be successful or not. If the film creates a buzz at a film festival then people are likely to talk about it and recommend it to other film/thriller fans. This means that attention will be brought to our film, which might make Summit Entertainment wanting to distribute our film because of the potential of money being made.

I think that the film would only be distributed in the UK, at first. We'd enter the film into a festival or competition like Berlin or the British Independent Film Festival to generate a response. If the film is successful and distributor is found, then it can be limitedly released in cinemas. To, increase the chances of our film being successful nationally, we would have use simultaneous distribution on platforms like a website (using Web 2.0, giving an inside look at the making of part of the film),  VOD & Q&A screening online (with trending hash tags like '#façade' can increase the interest in the film).

For our film, we could apply to the BFI for distribution funding. The award I think would apply most our film is Breakout Reward and the Big Audience Award.

Evaluation - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our opeing represents teenagers as emotionally unstable. This is shown throughout the opening sequence as the Stalker, Daniel, starts to create collages and pictures of his love interests. This reinforces the stereotype that teenagers don't understand what love really is, so they take it to extremes and express their attraction in ways that an undeveloped mind would do (stalk). We see this in Pretty Little Liars (a teen tv drama) where a teenager stalks four of her friends and organises the buliding a destruction of their relationship.  This relates to the idea of a teen being immature in terms of how they conduct themselves in the real world, and how the media or their fantasy of how society should be has shaped the way they act in everyday life.

The mental health issue we represented in our opening was aspergers syndrome. The common symptoms of aspergers are things like difficulty making friends or partners, sufferers can have one or two obsessions and find it difficult to empathize & understand how people feel.
We see these symptoms during our opening sequence in moments such as the man in the picture shot, a dolls hair being brushed, pictures of Rachel, etc. These reinforce the stereotype that people with aspergers are incapable of understanding that what they are doing may not be socially acceptable, a
nd the fact that what they think they're doing is normal adds to creepy tone of the film.

However, you can argue that because we included the idea of the stalker not being mentally well, it can shine a light on the subject of mental health and get people talking about it. Therefore, this represents people with mental health issues positively as it makes you sympathise with the character. An example of where this could be true is where he strokes the picture of Rachel. How this could be interpreted is that the stalker wants affection from her but the way his brain works and from what he's seen people do to their partners, he's unsure of how to express that properly which causes him to act in an odd way.

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

The Editing Process

This is a picture of what the editing process looked like. In all, I thought that this was the most stressful part of the whole course. Being a perfectionist, I wanted all the bits of the film look great and each shot of the montage to create a feeliing in the audience. But, I realised that it was quite improbable that all of the shots would be perfect, so I didn't worry about it as much. For instance, the shot of The Stalker stroking the picture of Rachel wasn't done perfectly. I applied a flash filter that made it zoom in closer to the board. However, it would zoom and move too quickly for my liking. This is where I decided to remove the flashes and make the actual shot size bigger to make the apperance of it getting smaller. Then I key framed the shot so it would move appropriately to the music. We then thought that it'd be for the stroking part to be slow after the fast movement. This turned out to be a really effective shot, in my opinion.
I think that if I were to edit this again I would be a lot more capable of putting shot and effect on videos as now I have familiarised myslef with the software (final cut pro) & understand that editing takes a lot longer to get right, so to give myself more time to edit the final shots.

First Draft of Film

This is our first attempt at editing. For a start, I think this look good. The shots are creepy and mysterious (exactly what I wanted when I talked about the mystery box theory) & it's a solid foundation to build on further. I think after this we will go into the title sequence with music and industrial sounds. However, the colour of the shots are way too bright for the effect we're going for, so this needs to change. In addition,  I think the music is way too loud. What would be more effective here is subtle background noise that's not noticable but audible.

Character Profiles

DANIEL

RACHEL

These are the main characters in our film. As you can see their costume is very similar in both colour and style. We deliberately decided to do this to show that the two characters are linked together. In addition, it implies that Daniel has been following Rachel for some time and has replicated her style as a potential talking point or to feel part of her world. The fact that Rachel is unaware of this adds to the ominous atmosphere of the film an could represent the idea that the stalkees have no idea how much they are being thought about & idolised by people they haven't met yet (stalkers).

Shed Scene - Call Sheet

Here is our call sheet for the shed scene. We wanted to make our shoot a bit more professional looking so we found a template online that real films use in order to achieve this.

Main Storyboard

This is the storyboard we decided with. It incorporates all of the elements of our script into pictures that show what our opening sequence will look like. We decided on using a variety of shots in order create the mysterious atmosphere that will follow the antagonist throughout our film. An example of a shot like this is when we have the camera in Rachel's bag and we see her open it and take out her lipstick. The mystery comes in as the shot of Racheal comes after the stalker placing a picture over the lens as if it were a pinboard. This is one example of how we want to intertwine the two characters without one of them know the other exists

Change of Plan

Flashback Analysis

VideoEssay - "Flashbacks in Films" from Hauke Sterner on Vimeo.


This video, in a nutshell, explains the meaning behind, when and how to use flashbacks. This was helpful to me as it gave me a good idea of how professional films create flashbacks for their films. The biggest lesson I learnt was that flashback have to have meaning behind them, whether it'd be to show the struggles of the person's young life or to show information from a witness about a murder that could lead to a conviction. I think with our opening sequence, our flashback don't have a real meaning behind them. If you were to take out the flashbacks we have then it would have no overall effect on the outcome of the titles.  With that in mind, I think a change idea might be appropriate, even if it means eliminating the idea altogether.

Evaluation of First Shoot

After having completed our first shoot, we realise that the idea we had in our heads doesn't match up with the way it looks actually. This is frustrating as it means we have to think of a new way to create the effect we are looking for.

One of the ways the shoot failed is when we tried to create the first time our two characters meet (bump into each other), it didn't look realistic enough as to how the Stalker would start to become obsessively infatuated with her. It felt as though it lacked common sense from the characters, which is not the way we wanted them to be portrayed. So, now we have to find a way for both of the characters to meet without making it seem like they are immature (since they are both young adults).

Another thing that didn't go to plan is that the battery ran out after 10 minutes of filming. This made us rush the shoot to try and fit as much of the scene as possible, as a result, this reduced the quality of the shots. It's annoying since the battery was checked at the start and it said it was full. So in order to combat anything like this happening again, we will make sure our battery's are fully charged and that we have a spare, just in case the main battery decides to run out quickly again.

Finished Script

https://docs.google.com/document/d/153kbfZXmniS4jevmet_JoyVGdf9Q1lPbF_rWFeAKOKA/edit?usp=sharing - Link to the script online.

This is our finished script. Overall, we are pleased with how the story has turned out because (as mentioned before) we like the idea of creating a mystery with the opening to make the viewer want to continue watching the film. We feel as though specific things like the water dripping at the beginning the red lighting can turn out to be really effective in evoking interest into our opening.

Shed Scene - Vlog

Shed Scene - Risk Assessment

Due to the limited head room, it is quite easy for someone to hit and injure their head. To avoid this, we will take extra care in walking around the shed. Also, removing any hanging or pointy objects from the walls pre-shoot will severely decrease chances of injury.
RISK - MEDIUM

Since we're in a shed, there are bound to be work tools lying around. This mean we must take extra care with where we sit, walk and stand. It would be smart to check the surrounding upon entering to ensure there aren't any harardous objects lying around.
RISK - LOW

After consideration, there isn't anything else that might be a danger to us.

Shed Scene - Filming

A scene we have in our opening sequence is our main antagonist's lair. The location was filmed at my group member's shed (Grace). The shed has very limited space and has stairs leading to a little level that can be used for storage. We liked the fact that it was tight and had restricted space as it could symbolise that the stalker himself is like that, that he is creepily taking pictures of the woman instead of going up and talking to her. We thought he could have a wall of pictures he has been collecting, almost like a shrine, to reinforce the fact that he is obsessed with her.

We wanted to make our setting look authentic, so we spent a good amount of time trying cut, stick and arrange all of the photos. But to be more effiecient, Danni & Grace set up the first level while I filmed Cameron coming in through the door and walking up the stairs. We first of began to shoot him coming in with the camera straight on. Then, I thought it would be more creepy if I did a dutch angle shot, which was true. I think the way I did this was subtle but effective in sub-consciously letting the audience know that something is not quite right with the character.

If we were to film this scene again, we would have taken certain objects out of the background that don't quite fit in with the scene (such as a paddling pool and vacuum cleaner box). However, the filming was successful and we all did a good job of making the setting and video look creepy.

Risk Assessment - Emergency

If one of us is injured in any way, it would be necessary to evaulate how severe the injury. So, I there are a few degrees of emergency that we will be looking for if an injury occurs.

LOW: If a minor injury occurs (bump to the head) then the injured person can simply 'walk it off' or get an ice pack to reduce swelling.

MEDIUM: If  a mild injury occurs (cut that causes bleeding) then we must find a something clean to wrap around the wound and clean when the bleeding has stopped. If an adult is present (parent) then asking them for help would be wise too.

HIGH: If a miajor injury occurs (loss of conciousness) then we must immediately ask for help from any nearby adult or failing that call for an ambulance for their help.

Film Audio Design at Twickenham Studios

At Twickenham Studios, we had a talk from a sound designer about the many aspects of sound in film. He showed us how they layer different background noises together to create the overall sounds on a film. I thought this was very useful as it taught me that simply adding music under the scene and sound effect is not enough to create emotion and realism in film, and that it takes many more components (sometimes hundreds) to make a films sound worthwhile.

The Stepfather - Opening Sequence Analysis

One way the sequence creates interest in for the viewer is through the use of the camera shots. We see this when there is dutch angle shot of the main antagonist and a child lying dead on a table. To me, this is an effective shot as before hand everything seems quite calm and relaxed, as if he was the only one in the house getting ready for work. But, then we realise that he's walking amongst dead bodies, presumably his family (or family by marriage since the family is called 'The Stepfather'), and it changes the whole tone of the opening. We see that the male is actually  very sinister and twisted. The fact that hes nonchalantly walking through the house adds to  the sense of creepiness and presents him as a very powerful and violent man. I like the idea of present the man as a normal guy and later showing his dark side as, for the audience, it doesn't show all of the narrative in the opening but it sets up the rest of the film and gives us a little bit of background as to what devastating things this man is capable of; It creates tension and mystery which is what all good openings should have in my opinion.

The opening introduces the main male antagonist by presenting him as a completely different looking man. We see him shave his face, take out his contact lenses and dye his hair. The appearance change at the start of the film makes us question what he gets up to in his life. We find out later that he does it to avoid getting caught by the police since he'd killed his family. In a sense, the fact that his tool kit for grooming himself is neatly organised tells me that he not only has planned the killing of his family from the moment he met them, but that this isn't the first time he has done it. Also, the colour of the kit is red, which clearly indicates that he is a murderer since red can be associated with blood. This subtle addition to the film is one that is clever and would be a very good thing to include into my opening sequence.

Starting Ideas & Plot Synopsis

At first, our group decided to come up with a film in the crime genre. This is because we wanted to try and demonstrate the seriousness and harshness of gangsters in London. This was inspired by from films such as Kidulthood and Bullet Boy. However, overtime we found that this genre was very limiting in terms of the fact that we wanted the actors to be predominantly teenagers, which we thought would be difficult to cast and manage. Also, we felt as though most films based around teenagers growing up in a tough area are often portrayed in a more light and funny way, whereas we wanted to make our opening the opposite.

As a result of this, we have decided to go with the idea of a psychological thriller film portraying the life of a boy who becomes obsessed with a girl that he sees around his local area on a regular basis. He becomes obsessed with her and begins to stalk her. He takes & collects pictures of her all over his room and has possessions of hers, such as a lock of her hair or lipstick.

Moreover, we are going to start our opening sequence by beginning with a few seconds of darkness, and then the moment between the girl and the stalker that eventually spirals into something more sinister and eerie. This will then be followed by a cork board littered with photos of the girl he's obsessed with.

Throughout the film, the girl will slowly begin to realise what's occurring; She is warned by one of her friends to be careful of him as he has a history of being eerie and too personal.The girl will then have to face the boy and explain to him that he cannot continue acting the way he does. He becomes more and more jealous because of events taking place with other characters such as relationships and friendships that he longs for, which eventually could lead to death.