As we were working in a group of four our film opening brought about a lot of discussion about what genre we wanted to take on and how we were going to go about making an effective film opening that will entice the viewer to watch further. All of our ideas that we came up with were brought together to create various mind maps and notes to help us finalise all of our ideas. We also completed many film analysis’ to inspire us further, this was done on a range of films in order for us to make the right decision for us as a group. Not only did we analyse films we considered other media products such as popular television programmes including Skins and Lost, both of these series have enticed huge audiences to watch each week and therefore we took inspiration from these series to make our audience want to watch the whole film. After all of this initial research we decided on a thriller/crime genre as we thought that this genre would enable us to use creative and interesting film opening.
Our film analysis enabled us to decide what media conventions we wanted to include in our film opening. We particularly liked the extensive use of both close ups and extreme close ups of the characters faces which expose their emotions. This inspired us to include many close ups of Rose’s face and costume to illustrate her fear and confusion.
However, we wanted to use a range of interesting shots and not just extensive close ups of Rose to keep the opening face paced and exciting. The 2009 thriller ‘State of Play’ was very inspirational to us as we liked many elements of the opening including the use of ‘jolty’ shots in the chase to create suspense and excitement, the dim lighting and clever framing of shots to conceal certain characters identities and the general creation of a mysterious atmosphere, not knowing what’s going to happen next. This film helped us when shooting our scene when Rose is running through the woods as we also included jolty shots of her to confuse the viewer and make them ask questions about what is going to happen next and will she be alright. It also helped when we shot our ‘drugging’ scene as we also concealed the identity of the character to make the opening more mysterious and confusing.
We also considered the angle at which to shoot our shots and come to the conclusion that we should mainly use high angle shots to emphasise Rose’s vulnerability as she is on her own in the woods and doesn’t know why she is there.
However, a film good opening is not just about the shots you use. We also had to think about other aspects such as the casting of our main character Rose, the mis-en-scene and the setting in which to shoot our opening in. We chose to cast Sophie as our main character mainly because of her appearance and ability to act. She is a young, blonde, pretty girl who is the ‘stereotypical’ actress for this genre of film and is the type of actress that will attract our audience to watch the film. Our costuming was also carefully thought about as Rose we needed to portray some of Roses personality through her clothes. We chose to dress her in brightly coloured, glamorous clothing to help the viewer establish that she is an outgoing, party girl who likes to get dressed up and have fun with her friends. Finally, our setting in the woods was chosen as it emphasises the vulnerability and fear of Rose and is the typical thriller/horror movie setting.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
As the main character of our film opening is a young female, our media product represents both females and young people. These social groups are represented in contrasting lights during this film opening. Through the use of high angle shots, dramatic music and our choice of costume for Rose the film portrays these social groups as vulnerable and weak..
This high angle shot is a great example of a vulnerable representation of young females in “Blackout”. As she is stumbling through the woods, it gives the impression that she is scared and is not quite sure where she is. Also, her costuming has been cleverly thought out and her being dressed in ripped tights creates the connotation that she is hurt and confuses the viewer to make them ask questions of what has actually happened to Rose.
However, we should have thought about Sophie’s make-up before we began to shoot "Blackout" as her make-up is too pristine for someone who has had a rough night out and ended up in the woods on her own. If we had thought about this beforehand we could have made her look more 'rough' and therefore it would have added to the vulnerable representation of her.
Contrastingly, the film then reveals another side to these social groups through many changes such as those in the scenery, to the music to a more upbeat song and a change in her acting from stumbling to dancing this then illustrates the extravagant, fun life that Rose leads with her friends.
As this shot shows, these changes establish Rose’s lavish middle-upper class life style through her appearance and behaviour. She is obviously out for a good time and even possibly ‘asking for it’, this is illustrated through her being well dressed in a sparkly top and short skirt and her expensive accessories.
During the rave scene we decided to let the viewers have a short glimpse of Rose’s kidnapper. However, this creates more questions for them to ask as they can see that the kidnapper is female so they will wonder how they would manage to do this by themselves? The use of a female character for the kidnapper goes against the gender stereotype of females being loving and caring and shows females in a new light of being nasty and deceitful. Although the viewer now knows that her kidnapper is female her actual identity is concealed through the use of clever costuming of her being in a ‘hoodie’ with the hood up covering her face. The use of this hoodie also creates a stereotypical view of working-class thugs and makes the viewer ask if there is a class conflict between the two and maybe that is the reason for her drugging Rose.
The media has long been a central part of the sociological phenomenon known as 'Moral Panic' and by her kidnapper wearing a hoodie this also taps into the moral panic of the hoodie that was created by the media. In this case, the hoodie is seen as the 'folk devil' as the media have created this image of the hoodie as being linked to crime and deviance.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Although ‘Blackout’ is a very low budget film created by talented media students it has a strong message to young people to be aware of the dangers they put themselves in. Therefore I believe if this film was to be done on a larger budget serious film institutions would be interested in distributing it due to the message it sends out to young people. They would also look at the cost versus revenue analysis of the film and realise that as it can be made on a fairly low budget due to the use of ‘unknown’ actresses and little need for special effects, they could make a lot of money out of the film even up to 1000% profit and therefore be very interested in distributing it. There are many very successful low budget films out there such as Blair Witch, Saw and Desperado which show how a simple, yet good story line can sell just as much as those ridiculously expensive to make films.
There are many media institutions out there that produce and distribute films of the same genre as ‘Blackout’. I have found Relativity Media produce similar films such as State of Play and Bank Job so may be interested in producing Blackout. I also found Alfa films that have distributed films such as Halloween and The Grudge 2 so they may be interested in distributing our film. These similar films are of the same genre as Blackout and have many of the same media conventions in them such as a mysterious or confusing story line.
However, due to our song choice of the film we are unable to sell our film to make a profit as we do not have the rights to the songs that we have used for educational purposes. Although, if a big media institution were to produce and distribute our film a famous band may be interested in creating a song for our film as it could promote them as well as enhancing our film.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
‘Blackout’ is a film that would tend to interest a range of people due to the nature of the film. However, it is mainly aimed at the younger generation as it is a modern film set in modern times. This generation can therefore relate to what’s going on in the film. They would be either gender with a particular interest in thriller or horror type media products such as TV series ‘Lost’ and other films such as ‘The Hills Have Eyes’. However, women are more likely to be able to relate to Rose as she is also female. This gender was chosen in order for our film to have the greatest affect on the audience members as females are generally more emotional and will relate Roses situation to a similar one of the own. The audience will also enjoy films with an interesting or confusing story line that they almost have to figure out themselves so it can help them understand the film more.
This film would not be suitable for anyone under the age of fifteen as they may find it disturbing and even the older generations (60+) as they would also find this film disturbing and prefer to watch something more light hearted.
How did you attract/address your audience?
After establishing our target audience of ‘Blackout’ and determining what they look for in a film we had to make sure that we included everything they would expect from a thriller. They key to our film is anticipation, we had to make sure that our viewers were constantly asking questions about Rose’s situation and wanting to know what happens next. Firstly our production took on the kidnapper versus victim angle to make sure the viewer was immediately asking questions about what’s going on and what’s going to happen. By using the ‘typical’ settings and conventions of thrillers of being in a wood and establishing shots of Rose slowly waking up and then picking the pace up with quick edits we immediately build up tension in the viewers mind so they want to watch on to see if they can figure out what’s about to happen. We also wanted to be adventurous with our camera shots and angles as our audience would be familiar with the work of directors such as Danny Boyle, Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese. This is why we chose to include an interesting 360 degree shot going around Rose giving the impression she is dizzy and confused and taking high angle shots from trees to emphasise Roses vulnerability. We then edited these shots to enhance them by blurring them or slowing them down.
As we are targeting a younger generation we had to make sure they could relate to what’s going on so they would want to watch it. Therefore our choice of music was very important; we chose two fairly recent songs so that our audience is most likely to be familiar with the songs. Our viewers will also be able to relate to having a ‘heavy’ night out and perhaps something mysterious happening to them then they were under the influence. They can also empathise with Rose and understand her emotions of being in this horrible situation and not being able to remember anything from the night before. Our casting was also heavily thought about beforehand, we decided to cast a young, blonde, pretty female as Rose as a lot of gender media studies have shown audiences enjoy watching young, blonde, pretty, females as victims. These type of films go right back to Psycho, The Birds, Halloween and Scream. For males this may be a sadistic aspect or maybe even sexual as the ‘unattainable’ is punished. For females it is most likely to be ‘Schadenfreude’ which is a German word meaning ‘pleasure in the suffering of others’.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
During the process of constructing this film opening I have had the chance to learn a lot about Imovie and how it works as we used this software to edit our film. I have learnt how to simply cut the footage and create a simple outline of our film and also how to add effects to the clips such as slowing them down and putting a blurring over them. I have also learnt how to insert transitions between the shots as wash in and outs were used between the flashbacks to give the impression of separation so the two times are separate.
I have also learnt a lot about using a camera correctly to create interesting and effective shots. I now know that you need to think about the framing of the shot so it is giving exactly the message you want it to. Tripods are very useful when trying to create a steady shot or a pan of a setting, I have learnt how to set them up correctly and use them to my advantage.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in progression from it to the full product?
Looking back at our preliminary task I have learnt a great deal of new media skills from taking multiple shots at different angles to editing. I think I have developed my editing skills the most through this process as I have learnt how to put a blurring effect over shots and also how to slow them down however I would like to improve on my filming skills further and how to frame shots better.
However, I have not just learnt technical skills I have also improved my organisational, creativity and decision making skills through organising equipment for filming days, creating story boards and deciding on how to get the shot we want.
