Our Film

 A 360 PROCUCTION

Planning: Description of Brief

This year for our AS Media coursework we have been asked to create an opening sequence for an upcoming thriller film. By using the software Blogger we will be posting up blogs documenting the planning, construction and the evaluation of our film. As well as some other presentation techniques which we will use.

Planning: 360 Productions

360 Productions is full of dedicated and enthusiastic workers ready to redefine media. We are a team with excellent morals and relationships,which will lead us to our success. Our work has already placed us highly in our industry and we are determined to continue thriving in our discipline, by maintaining our high standards of crisp cut work.

Our aim is to turn media around.

Conor Penna-FitzGerald

Chloe Rickards

 Jessica Homawoo

Planning:Psychology and Media

Sigmund Freud: Psycho analytical theory

Sigmund Freud is one of the Psychologists, who explains why we watch media. Freud was an Austrian Neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, who created an entirely new approach to the understanding of the human mind and personality. Freud was one of the most famous neurologist and he invented the theory of the psychic apparatus. The psychic apparatus is the human mind can be broken down into three main parts which govern our behaviour and this is and they are:

The Id

The Id is concerned with pleasure and hedonism due to this it cares little about consequences as it operates on instincts and impulse.

The Superego

The superego is concerned with the reality of consequences. It is highly aware of how others perceive it, and is constantly demanding that we act in a way which others will be approving.

The Ego

The Ego negotiates between the two parts of the brain, making decisions on whether or not to follow instinctual impulse(Id) or to act according to expectation of others(Superego)

Freud's theory is used to explain why people watch media, and this is because character's appeal to either our Id, Ego or Superego. For example, we enjoy watching Superman because he appeals to our Superego which, is concerned with making good decisions. Whereas Freud also believed that people who watch Media also watch it because, they might want to see what it is like on the bad side. They know the difference between what is right and wrong however they watch movies such as Batman because, of the Joker because, they want to watch what they want to do happen without any consequences. Whereas the Ego is the normal person who watches the Media.

Jacques Lacan: Ideal I and Mirror Stage

Jacques Lacan is another Psychologist whom answers the question 'why do we watch media?', Lacan explains this through the Mirror Stage and Ideal-I:

The Mirror Stage

The Mirror Stage explains, we begin to rationalise and identify ourselves as an individual at the age of 18 months, and this is where we develop our "I" - our individual view of ourselves.

The Ideal-I

The Ideal-I is the perfect viewing of ourselves - the mental image of ourselves where see ourselves as correct, due to this we watch media. Our Ideal-I associates a characteristic(s)of a character in the media text with ourselves as we know the character is accepted and admired by society it causes us to continue watching. Seeing characters who have similar personalities and features as us gives our Ideal-I a sense of gratification as well as, the character relatable - making the media even more compelling to watch as we imagine ourselves in their situation.

Laura Mulvey: Scopophilia and Voyeurism

Laura Mulvey is also a Psychologist who developed a theory explaining why we watch media in her journal 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975)'. Mulvey Presents that the reason we watch media stems from sexual pleasure and desires; she poses that we enjoy watching the opposite sex which is what keeps us watching. The Gaze (looking to get pleasure) constructs the binary structure(in a particular group one has power over the other - a particular person or group dominates the situation) of gender and many other groups- Region, Race, Ethnicity, Age, class and sexuality. 

Laura Mulvey expresses that as women are sexually objectified in the vast majority of representations due to the gaze and this is use to oppress females- the weaker in the binary structure. As many people are scopophilic - gaining pleasure from watching people often sexual,representing women in an objectified way appeals to the male gender - the gender with the most power in the binary structure and reinforces their power. Women often take foetal positions to and look away from the camera to appear coy and give a sense of innocence and vulnerability to them, where as men often have an open broad chested stance showing their potency and dominance.

Mulvey also uses voyeurism to explain why we watch media, Voyeurism is the pleasure gained from secretly watching a person.This gives the voyeur a sense of power and control over the situation as they are gaining knowledge without the person's knowledge. When we visit the cinema we become voyeurs as we are are watching the actors on screen without their knowledge, however the cinema setting further creates the voyeurism experience by a dark environment. The little lighting causes each viewer to be isolated even though they are surrounded by many and heightens their voyeur experience.

                                         

Laura Mulveys theory relates to Media because, she believes that we watch Media for sexual pleasure. She believes that the reason we watch it is for our own personal excitement. Her other theory is that she believes that women are sexually objectified within the Media industry. When we witness women in her belief is that the viewer turns the females into an object of sort and they gain sexual pleasure for doing just that.            

Prezi: Evaluation- Technology used for Coursework.

This prezi will go through the technology for our coursework.

Planning:Camera shots and Angles

Extreme Long Shot

This shot is used to set the scene of the movie or television show; these shots generally do not have any people in the shot, but if they do they are so small that they are barely visible and the surrounding setting is more imposing.

The Long Shot

This shot unlike the extreme long shot show humans, however they will be life sized. This is used to set the of where most of the events will take place. There are generally objects around the humans to make it look ‘more life sized’ for example, a bus shelter or a building. An example for this would be where two of the characters could be walking around a park. That park would usually have a big impact later on in the film or television show.  

The Full Shot

This is the shot which gets the full figure in the image of whatever it is showing. The full shot is generally used for action scenes.

Point of View Shot (POV)

The  POV shot allows you to see everything through the character's perspective. This shot was developed by Adam Hitchcock and is very successful in horror films because, it adds atmosphere and makes you think that you are the one being hunted or doing the hunting.

Medium Shot

The medium shot is also the known as the Hollywood shot, taken from the knees or waist up. It is one of the most used shots because it is used in conversation scenes and when there is not no action taking place.

Medium Close up

The Medium close up is a chest and upward view of the person/people on set at the time. This shot is generally used for a good view of two people having a conversation..

Close up

This shot allows all that you are focusing on to be framed, for example a face or a foot. This is used to make you focus on the person's emotion and facial expressions.

Extreme Close up

An extreme close up shows you more than the naked eye can see, showing you a lot of detail - groves and heightened texture. Extreme Close ups are can be of many features such as an eye or lips.

High Angle Shots

This shot is commonly used to make the person in front of the camera look weak and fragile. This is where the camera is placed above the eye contact level.

Low angle shots

These shots are where the camera is placed below eye contact and the camera is looking up. This shot makes the person which is in front of the camera look strong, scary, powerful even threatening.

Planning: Vine

Storyboard

In media storyboards are very important as it helps everybody in production to understand how physically the directors want everything to appear through the sketches. It also helps the cameramen in knowing what shots to take in each scene and from which angle as specified in the upper left corner of each section. In addition, the dialogue for each shot and scene is shown and the bottom of each section, which also helps indicate when the shots will change and what actions will be occurring during each scene.

Vine:

The storyboard helps in filming, in shooting the vine it helped to keep track of what we were doing and what order to compile the video. Even though the storyboard wasn't followed exactly we were able to follow the general story and convey the same message. 

                                       

By: Jessica Homawoo

Planning: Thriller Demographics

Demographics

A Demographic is a characteristic within a population (Gender, Race, Age and Nationality); it is often presented as a percentage. This year the two main demographics we will be looking at are age and gender, these will help us in identifying what aspects of the film we will need to adapt to the largest viewing demographic. However, when looking at demographics we must be weary when interpreting the graphs as we have to look at what percentage of each viewer actually take up the general population in relation to how many people watch which determines the true number of people viewing. 

Thriller Age Demographics

Looking at the age demographic the largest percentage of people who view thriller movies are age 50+(26%). 50+(36%) occupy a third of the general population, however under a third of the population of thriller movie viewers actually watch thriller movies.18-24 year olds are the next largest percentage of viewers at 23% and are 12% of the general population,therefore they are the largest viewers. Taking into consideration age, those of the 50+ age generally have more of a disposable income and with many of them having their children leaving home or becoming more independent - requiring less and less of their help,they need something to do,which thriller films offer them. In addition most thriller films have an 18 certificate, making the younger viewers limited, but with the majority of viewers being 18-24, who are beginning to live alone and go on dates.

Even though, people who are 50+ take up a large majority of the thriller movie viewings, this doesn't result in thriller movies having many older actors, or their storyline following the typical life of someone 50+. Rather thriller movies follow the trend of american teen life which appeals to 18-24 year olds as they can identify with characters as the would either be experiencing or finished experiencing similar lifestyle at that specific time of their life. that results in high consideration of what type of music, styles, and cars used. These adaptations can be seen in various media non-exclusive to thrillers.

Thriller Gender Demographics

According to the box office records of the thriller gender demographics, 58% of people who watch thriller movies are female - this makes the majority. As demographics are used to adapt media text to the largest demographic, there are 8% more females than makes, but this doesn't mean everything in thriller movies would be tailored to them. When looking a demographics we must not just look at the majority but by how much they are a majority, as we still have to have to tailor the movie to appeal the other demographics. Hence, thriller movies not only casting female and basing the storyline being based on stereotypical female themes such as shopping and boys. Rather, because females are the larger demographic by a small percentage the casts also include attractive women to attract the male audience.

Planning: Mise-en-Scene

Mise-En-Scene is French for ‘Set the scene’. Mise-En-Scene has five aspects: costumes, props, sets, lighting and space. The one thing that all of those have in common is that they all give you an idea of what a character is going to be like weather or not it is in theatre or film. I will go into detail about all five of those aspects which set the scene.

Costume

This is one of the most important aspects for setting the scene. The costume for people who do not know what it is are the clothes of which the character on screen or on stage is wearing. This is important because, you can gather a lot of information about the character by their fashion sense. This will give away so much detail for an example whether or not someone is a slob or  very proud of themselves and dresses like he has a business meeting every day. You can learn a lot about a character from the way they dress.

Straight away in this picture you know who they are and what type of people they are going to be. You know that they are royals. You can tell that they are high status because, of the clothing which they are wearing. However this image also covers props, the King is wearing a crown. The crown is considered a prop because, it is something that he does not have to be wearing but he can touch.

Props

Props are items which the person on screen can touch. These are very important in setting the scene because, it can let you know what type of character the person is playing. An example is if the person lives in a dark mansion and he has lots of gothic pictures hanging up on the walls. We learn a lot about the scene and the character just by what props are in the scene.

Sets

This is probably the most common part of setting the scene, the set is the location which the scene takes place. You can learn a lot about the type of person which the scene wants you to focus on. The scene can tell you a number of different things about the character, for example if the characters are poor or if they are rich. The surrounding is arguably the most important part of setting the scene. 

The Lighting

This is probably one aspect of setting the scene that a lot of people would have normally over looked. However the lighting can tell you a lot about the characters through two different types of lighting, high key and low key. High key lighting is a type of lighting which tries to climate all of the shade which would normally be visible. High key lighting is used in light hearted and comedic scenes which is created by having for lights on the subject - one behind, one directly in front and two on either side. Low key lighting is the complete opposite, it casts shadows, which hides parts of the face thus, creating mystery and an intimidating personality to the character.

                                  

Space

Space helps identify status of characters in a scene, the higher a person is in a frame reflects higher levels of power a character has. An example of this is if there is somebody on the left hand side and somebody at the right hand side of somebody else and that person is centred and higher in the shot gives a clear sign that the person is the middle is in charge. By doing this you are manipulating space.

This is a good image to show space manipulation. This is from a TV show called Merlin, this is the scene where Arthur becomes King. It shows him front and centre. All of the lords and knights on the right side and all of the members of the castle on the left side. It has its hierarchy which is evident in this image as he appears larger than the other subjects as well as higher, showing dominance.