My movie Evaluation
1. How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?
Thriller conventions
I have chosen to use this convention in my production with the central narrative being based upon a suspected murder of a young man. The difference is the prime suspect in the film is set-up, he is innocent but is being manipulated and tricked by a killer.
This plot device is often used in thrillers such - the Fugitive in which Dr Richard Kimble is framed for killing his wife. Throughout the film, Dr Kimble is on the run from the police trying to clear his name and find the real killer. My movie also features something similar as the protagonist is also trying to clear his name and find the real killer. The way the protagonist’s ‘Achilles heel’ gets exploited by the antagonist is that the protagonist is a person who spends most of his time indoors, and the killer is a more experienced man with guns and killing. This is shown by the fact that the protagonist is first introduces wearing headphones and has his phone out, which shows he is more likely a gamer, unaware of his surroundings and doesn’t go out that often.
The title of the movie is called ‘Snap.’ The word ‘snap’ can be used in two ways. One way is taking a photo of someone, which happens in the movie to frame the other. The other way the word is used is when someone starts having a mental breakdown or loses control of themselves.
After the events at the beginning of the film, the movie will take place five weeks later where the protagonist is on the run from both the cops and his friend’s killer. The protagonist also trains himself how to fight and use guns. The antagonist succeeds in framing the protagonist for the murder of his best friend, which gets him chased around by both his stalker (the antagonist) and the police. Wherever the protagonist goes, his stalker is one step ahead of him, identifying when he will make his move, and sends the live footage and images to the police.
There are no magical or supernatural causes throughout the movie. It only involves chasing the other’s target around. I have chosen to not use any non-diegetic sounds throughout the film, as this will build up the suspense. An example of a film where there is no non-diegetic music is ‘No Country for Old Men’ which also revolves around a man hunt. The mise-en-scene that will be used throughout the film is that there will be guns, criminals and cops. This demonstrates that it will be a cop and manhunt movie. An example of a movie about cops and criminals is ‘The Departed’ which also revolves around cops and crime. The actors would be dressed in police uniforms (for the police). The antagonist is dressed in dark clothing and his face can’t be seen, which is to demonstrate his shady and evil nature. It would also leave the audience wondering who he is. The protagonist would be dressed in casual clothing as he wants to get out of the world he has been brought into as soon as possible. It also shows that he wasn’t prepared for all the unfortunate events. The camera shots would most commonly be tracking shots or over the shoulder shots. This is to show that characters may be getting followed by others, or to show where the character is going. This would build up suspense to the movie.
The protagonist believes that his best friend is dead, only to find out that the corpse he saw wasn’t his friend’s, and it was someone else with a latex face mask of his friend’s. It is later revealed that the protagonist’s friend was the killer. The antagonist fakes his own death by using the dead body of a police officer, with a latex face mask of himself. This was done as he was on parole, for previous theft. The fact he switched the bodies around was to make everyone think he was dead, and avoid being arrested and passing the blame to his closest friend, who he believed made everything worse for him. There is no objectification of female characters. The antagonist (stalker) is seen as being a very discreet and stealthy figure, and is successful in recording and photographing every move of the main character without him noticing. During some of the chase scenes, I would use shaky cameras to make it look as if the audience are part of the action to help them experience the feeling.
In the opening sequence of the film, the protagonist is made to believe that his best friend is dead and had been set up by an unknown stalker. After the opening sequence, the movie takes place a few months later where the protagonist is on the run from the cops and taught himself how to use firearms. Whilst on the run, the protagonist investigates the corpse of his friend at a mortuary, he finds out it wasn’t his friend, but a deceased police officer wearing a latex mask. It is later revealed that the protagonist’s friend is the stalker. The protagonist’s friend is doing this as he was bullied in the past and the protagonist was always there for him. This made him look weak to everyone around him, due to the fact that he always needed to be saved.
I would advertise my film on TV Spots, and I would put it on channels that are more suited for adults, and not for kids. Outdoor advertising is another way I would promote my movie. Some bystanders may or may not notice them. Bus Stops are a common place where electronic billboards are placed and where many people would tend to hang around while waiting for transports. Both DVD and Cinema are a good way to promote the movie as advertisements play before movies begin, and they play a movie with the same genre that is the same with the movie about to be viewed. Since it is a thriller, the movie should be promoted in a movie that is also a thriller. Social Media would be another choice to promote the movie, as it is a popular website to be on, and it is cheaper.
2. How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?
During the planning of my movie, I was looking up how thrillers are made. I looked at movies such as ‘The Fugitive’, ‘No Country for Old Men’, and ‘The Bourne Identity’. Those three movies all have a similarity and it is that they all revolve around a manhunt. I decided at that moment to make a movie about a manhunt in similar ways. My movie centres around a young gamer, who’s world has been turned upside down by a mysterious stalker. Throughout the movie, the stalker’s identity will remain a huge puzzle to solve which leaves the audience wondering who this person is and what is his motive. The movie is balanced between action and character driven. This is mainly due to the strong protagonist who started off weak when the movie first began. This would show to the audience that the protagonist is destined to fight back and that he doesn’t want the stalker to expose any more of his weaknesses. There will also be gunfights and chase scenes throughout the film. Which will get the audience hooked into the action of the movie, and the characters.
Audiences find films scary mainly due to low-key lighting. This is a common technique in horror movies as anyone could appear out of the darkness, giving the characters/audience the fright of their lives. Some movies also use quiet/eerie/no non-diegetic music to build up the suspense as no one knows what will happen next. Some movies even have masked killers whose faces remain mysteries. Examples of movies that feature this technique are ‘Saw’, ‘Halloween’, ‘Friday the 13th’, and ‘Scream’. I have chosen to create a killer whose face remains a mystery. The stalker would represent the fear of the movie as he is the most hideous character of the movie, and no one can see who is really underneath his hood.
An ideology used in the movie is the act of revenge, and how bullying brings out your darkness. There will be fight scenes between antagonist and protagonist in hand-to-hand combat and shoot outs. This would appeal to my target audience, which are teenagers and above. This is because of the themes about bullying. The teenage audience would understand what is going on as many of them have faced bullying in their lifetime. They would feel the most sympathetic towards the antagonist as he was the one that had been bullied.
The characters in the films are cops, criminals and ordinary people brought into a world that changes their lives forever. They will also be characters who are super deductive and use their skills against others.
I’d want the audience to feel very sympathetic towards the antagonist due to his past, which is the reason he is doing this. I also want the audience to know how smart the characters are in covering their tracks or detecting. The movie takes place in the modern era in the big cities. I chose to set the movie in a modern city because cities are big places which makes it harder for people to find each other. It is also a crowded place, making it easier to hide physically amongst the people and the buildings.
The movie features no humour at all as it is a dark crime thriller. It is a bit of a psychological movie. This would engage the audience as it builds up suspense about what will happen next. The style of the movie is action based. The movie would be made for older audiences.
3. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?
Beginning End
Justify why you’ve improved - specific
The way how my production skills were able to improve throughout the project was because, throughout the term, I was introduced to After Effects which helped me learn many editing skills to improve my movie. I was also getting very stuck on ideas on what to make for a film, as I didn’t think it would be very hard. But, through all the lessons I attended, I was able to understand what film studies really meant, as it wasn’t all about editing and filming, but to make it sound engaging.
4. How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware and online - in this project?
http://proudfilmopening.blogspot.com/2015/02/evaluation-6.html
Blogger - USED IN ALL STAGES OF PRODUCTION
What was good - what was bad
I was very behind with most of my work as I either hadn’t published my work on Blogger, or simply didn’t start the task yet. Overall, there are still plenty of completed work in Blogger that I did, but I still need catching up to do with the others.
RESEARCH
Before I started making my movie, I was unfamiliar with what makes a thriller movie. I went and did research on many thriller movies. I analysed movies such as 'Nobody', 'Old', 'The Forever Purge', and 'Chernobyl Abyss'. After analysing all those movies, I started to have a better understanding on what makes a thriller.
PRE-PRODUCTION
PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY
The camera that I used to film was the GH5.
POST-PRODUCTION
The softwares that had a major key role in creating and editing my movie were After Effects and Final Cut Pro.
When I used After Effects, I found it slightly tricky creating the different visual effects as After Effects was something that was very new to me. But over time, I got to know After Effects better. I used that website to create chat bubble effects, which too was something to me.
Putting the camera shots in order was something that I found very easy as I knew where the shots would fit, and I perfectly visualised where they’d go.
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