Black Hole-Media Language

Sound-

In the opening scene we are presented with a diegetic sound of a printer, this is the only sound we as an audience can hear until we hear a diegetic sigh from the man in the frame. The printer is heard throughout the short film so there is no silence within the film.

Throughout the short film there isn’t a non-diegetic soundtrack which with it not being present creates a realistic sense to the film which makes the office scene relatable to the audience, this also enhances the fact that the location is plain and simple which is what the sound used is also trying to convey.

By the lack of dialogue in the film it makes the audience concentrate more on the characters facial expressions and body language.

The Foleys used created the sci-fi diegetic sound of the ‘Black hole’ this helped establish it was something out of the ordinary.

Camera –
The camera work is simple in the film which again would represent a simple plain office feel, the shot sizes change throughout which allows the audience to see what the character is doing during the scenes which is good as if the shot size was one size it would make the audience lose interest.

There is a POV shot which works really well as from the POV of the ‘Black hole’ looking up at the character the audience can still see a circular frame which allows us to know the POV is from the ‘Black hole’.

 

Mise en scene-

The lighting within the film is dark with a grey, blue tint to it, a single light has been used to create shadows on the characters face.

Due to the lack of dialogue in the film the audience are able to focus their attention on the characters facial expressions and body language. In the beginning of the film the characters whole body looked bored, drained and he looked tired. All of his actions were floppy and wasteful. Once he realised what the ‘Black hole’ was his facial expressions perked up abit and he showed a sense of excitement. Once he had used the ‘Black hole’ for the first time his body and facial aspects became even perkier.

The props within the setting helped establish where the location was for the audience to relate to along with the man’s costume.

Editing-

Cuts throughout have been used in the short film which are the most common form of transitions in films. They are simple and easy which would have helped represent the simple location along with other technical codes to create the realism of the office setting.

Post production editing has been used to create the titling in the film and we get a wipe transition to reveal the film footage.

Silent Things-Representation

Mix Tape-Audience

I believe the target audience for ‘Mix Tape’ is between the ages of 20-50, mainly men, the viewing platform for this film is online only which would mean that the audience would have to be able to use the internet easily which is why I chose 50 as my main targeted age, although a 20 year old wouldn't have been born listening to this particular music and using mix tapes I feel as though they may enjoy it and the having a crush aspect of the film.

 

I would also say the target audience is aimed at British people as the culture of the film was very much British so may not be understood fully or liked by those from a different country or culture. The British may also understand more by the fact that the song is played by The Kinks which is a British band , meaning not many international audiences would be able to relate to that.

Lovefield-Narrative

Narrative Structure

The narrative structure of ‘Lovefield’ is a linear structure as it has a beginning a middle and an end, this allows the audience to follow the story simply although there is a misguiding storyline to begin with.

Restricted and Unrestricted narration,

The opening of the short film is very much a restricted narration, as an audience we expect the worst has happened and get the idea a women has been murdered from the semantic and syntactic codes used. It is not until the end that the narration becomes unrestricted as we realise what has actually happened which then allows us to instantly change our opinion on the only character we see.

Todorov and his 5 stages,

There are five stages the narrative can progress through:

1. A state of equilibrium-  This first stage is the opening shot of the field. i.e the pan showing the field as at this point there has been nothing to cause a disruption that the audience know of.

2. A disruption of that order by an event.- This stage arrises when a disruption has occurred which is when the audience hear the diegetic flat tone of the phone, the blood on a piece of clothing, the constant sound of the crow and finally the knife being stabbed into the ground covered in blood. At this point the audience are then at the edge of their seat wondering what is going on due to the restricted narration.

3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred.- The man we believe to be the antagonist is rushing to his car in a panic trying to solve something and appears to be enhanced by the crow as a bad guy about to do wrong.

4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption.- after looking in the car boot the man finds a towel and runs back around his car to use it for what is assumed to be hiding the dead body so we believe that is how he intended to ‘repair the damage’

5. A return or restoration of a NEW equilibrium- it is then revealed in the final stage that he man we believed to be the antagonist actually was the protagonist and the blood and knife was him delivering a baby which he used the towel to wrap it in. At this time the non-diegetic soundtrack becomes softer a sense of reassurance is developed from the music which is reinforced when we see an ambulance pull up against the side of the road.

Levi Strauss and binary oppositions,

There are two binary oppositions in the short film ‘Lovefield’ the first one is between good(protagonist) and evil (antagonist), this is shown as the audience is made to believe that the man is an antagonist from the restricted narration and the close camera shots although it is then revealed to the viewer that he actually is a protagonist. The second binary oppersition is between life and death similar to the reason above the audience were made to feel as if a murder had taken place through again the restricted narration whereas in reality a new life had occurred.

This is Me- Genre

Altman and “Semantic and Syntactic codes

In the film ‘This is Me’ the genre mostly being portrayed through codes is comedy. Although small codes of drama are introduced throughout the film making it a hybrid film.

Rick Altman suggests that-Film Genres have typical visual codes that communicate meaning for the spectator.Thinking of them like building blocks for any genre. These are called semantic codes

Sematic codes –

The women- The ladies body language becomes a sematic code as it allows the audience to see the film as a comedy genre , she represents comedy by the way the man narrates that she sets a timer for her visit which is represented as comedic by her lack of concern for her husband.

The titling-The titling of ‘This Is Me’ is rounded which connotes the typical comedy code which is used often in the expected genre of the short film.

The Man- The man in the back of his garden again creates a comedy aspect to the film as he is being a stereotypical older man sunbathing on a chair right in the middle of his garden.

Film genres also have conventions of narrative structure and theme, which Altman says work together with semantic codes to define a genre. Altman calls these narrative and theme conventions syntactic codes

Syntactic Codes for any genre include things like:

· Typical themes

· Typical character relations

· Typical binary oppositions

· Typical narrative endings

· Typical narrative disruptions

Syntactic codes-

Sarcasm in the short film also represents comedy in the film as this is a stereotypical feature of a comedy.

Drama is introduced with codes such as heavy breathing in the hospital ward which in itself is another code used to convey drama.

Neale’s and “Repetition and Variation

Steve Neale suggests that, each genre film repeats conventions of the genre formula,whilst also making new variations.

The short film included typical codes which are easily related to comedy but the director of the film seems to have wanted to create a different side to comedy by introducing a darker side and drama feel to the short film. This makes the audience feel more at edge while watching the film as they aren’t sure where it will lead too.  The film included the stereotypical conventions of a comedy but then also had the variation of a more serious story line included in the film. This short film also includes a cartoon which isnt common but works really well. 

Lovefield- Ratthe Gemma Thomas

Lovefield – (Ratthe)

1) Thriller-

Syntactic Codes	Semantic Codes
Rapid Editing to build tension          Typical theme of death/murder although      that changes due to the untypical ending of a thriller	Crow          Tattoo          Knife         Mysterious Soundtrack          Blood          Dark Lighting

 

Drama-

Syntactic Codes	Semantic Codes
Slow editing          Typical themes used          Typical ending of a happy ending	Light Natural Lighting          Happy, Smiley Facial Expressions          Joyful Soundtrack

2) Lovefield repeats conventions of its genre to help the audience recognise the genre that is being conveyed. These conventions are used in most typical genres such as in a horror dark settings are used, this instantly represents a typical genre. Although Lovefield used typical conventions in the short film via the thriller codes such as a crow and a bloody knife it also varied the conventions by having untypical ending to the film, this made the audience question the genre of the short film as it has an opposite ending to what was expected.

The short film format is a variation on feature length films as it condenses the conventions, syntactic and semantic codes into a 5minute short film rather than a 2hour film. This shows that codes and conventions if used in the right way can convey a genre quickly and effectively simply by using typical understandable effects.

3) This short film is a good example of a classical hybrid, it starts off by making the audience feel uneasy and thinking the film is a thriller due to the conventions and codes used through the majority of the film, including the tattoo on the man’s arm and the fast editing used, throughout the film we as an audience feel as though the short film is a thriller about murder it’s not until the last 45 seconds that our opinions change about the man’s character and realise he has helped a women give birth, it is then we realise the film is not a thriller after all.

About A Girl- Brian Percival- 2001

Class Costume - The girls costume conveys her class quickly to the audience as she is wearing large hooped earrings which are stereotypically a piece jewellery that is worn by those of a lower social class, matched with a practical coat which is simply worn for the warmth of it not to be stylish and up to date with the fashion. This would suggest a lower class as she can’t afford fashionable clothing.  Setting- The setting of the film is based with the girl walking past the canal throughout, the canal is a mess where people have thrown their rubbish into which would suggest a lack of pride in the environment that they are living in. The graffiti also suggests a lack of respect within the community as people are vandalising property. The houses behind the canal at one point in the film are derelict houses which are boarded up. A lot of the houses are also estate housing or terrace houses, this suggests that there is a lack of income into the community as there is no garden spaces for houses and are simply small houses which provides a shelter for the owners. Dialogue- The mum is believed to have said “do I look like fucking bank” this suggests that she is living off a small about of income and cannot afford to give out money as everything is going back out as soon as it comes in. the daughter also says – “dads looking for work” this again suggests a low social class as her dad is unemployed. The girl has a very strong Manc accent Props- The plastic bag being carried throughout the scenes shows a low social class as that what she is carrying her personal stuff in whereas to many people having a handbag is an important item to have. Lighting- The dark lighting throughout represents a low social class as this emphasises the poor environment it is set in. Editing- The eye line match between the girl and the retail perfume lady shows she is looked down on which could represent her class and judged to be doing something wrong.

Age Dialogue- The girls age was portrayed by her saying “I’m only allowed a coke” when she was at the pub. She also is shown singing Brittany Spears with her friends on the bus which also represents her young age. At the end of the film she goes from a serious adult matter to saying “im gunna get a 99” referring to a 99p ice cream that she was speaking about earlier in the film. The girl also jumps from topic to topic in her speech about fairly random subjects which could represent a teens jumbled thoughts. Prop- The girl listening to Brittany Spears via her headphones also represents her age as Brittany Spears typical audience is young girls which emphasises the girls age. Editing- The use of jump cuts in the film highlights the fast pace being used, this could also represent the fast pace of a young girls life and her thoughts, fast pace, always going and quite chaotic. The girls aspirations are very high and unrealistic which is something a young teen would have such as she wants to be really rich and famous.

Criticism Work - Gemma

Looking back at my opening for my thriller I have noticed that in one scene, the main character (me) had her nails painted when she was unlocking and opening her front door to her house whereas in the rest of the opening her nails are not painted, this is evident mainly in the scene where she is applying her makeup trying to hide her bruises.  If I were film the opening again I would pay more attention to smaller details to improve the continuity of the opening.



 

Below is two screenshots to show the issue with mise en scene and continuity which was not noticed by the group when filming. 

Final Thriller Opening :D

1st Draft of Thriller Opening- No Music

This is a draft of our film with no music.

Hannah's Evaluation

1. In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

   Protagonist and Antagonist 

• There are many conventions of thriller films, the main conventions that are obvious in thrillers are to create a tense atmosphere and show Good Vs Evil in many plots. Many films identify the main characters either being protagonist or antagonist. 

Protagonist - Main Character who is said to be good and is followed throughout the film.

Antagonist- Bad/Evil- Going against the Protagonist  

• In our film, the contrast between good vs evil is obvious, the protagonist character, Gemma, is shown as the innocent/venerable character as she has flashbacks of being hit and pushed around by her boyfriend (antagonist) while walking through the woods. It is also obvious that Gemma had been hurt as we made bruising by make-up, this made the audience question why she was hurt and questioning who the antagonist would be. Using a middle close up/ panning of Gemma was very effective in our movie as it showed Gemma looking like a normal girl walking in the woods then the panning to a close up of Gemma's face showed her bruising which created enigma in the shot. Why does she have bruises? Who hurt her?
•  Within our film, Mise en scene was important to show the characters personalties and how they will be portrayed in the opening, in our film we had the main character Gemma dressed in casual clothing which fitted her age (18), we also wanted her to have up to date clothing as our audience is ages 16-20 girls and this outfit would be typical of that age group. However, we did not want Gemma's costume to be too over the top, as the character is shy and blends in with the crowd, so we wanted to show that through costume. Gemma's hair was very casual and fitted with the style of her clothing, her hair was down so that we could show that she is covering her bruises and is embarrassed of them. The casual clothing and hair portrays Gemma as just an average girl and not particularity different to any other girl her age, this is a typical convention of a thriller to show the protagonist of the film. The antagonist (Tom) was not typical of the thriller convention of antagonist, Tom was dressed in very casual clothes (big causal shirt and black jeans), in many domestic violent thrillers, the antagonist tends to have certain mise en scene to show that the character is a threat to the protagonist.
• In our film the beginning shots our set in the woods, the set up in the woods is used very regular in thriller films, the wood as a location adds enigma and suspense, this adds tension to the audience as they don't know what is around the corner, here is an example of a thriller film that starts of in a wood.. The Silence of Lambs-  

Here is a screenshot of our movie for comparison..

Our film is very similar to The silence of Lambs, both opening scenes show the protagonists as vulnerable and alone in the woods. 

Flashbacks

In our film we included a flashback, this can be a typical convention of a thriller, in films flashbacks are an alternation of story order in which the plot moves back to show events that have happened earlier than the one already shown.

Open Grave

Here are some screenshots of flashback in the Open Grave Clip:

In this screenshot it shows a different effect added to the flashback, to show different time but same place.. this is similar to our film. We changed the shot effect to show different time and place. Here is a screenshot..

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our film we don't have a specific social group, however we targeted it at middle class teenagers, we wanted it to be understanding for both genders female and male. 

Female

- AGE (16-20)- we showed the age group by using current clothing for Gemma, which the audience could relate to as they would wear similar or the same. 
We wanted to have the female as the protagonist as this is very common in thriller films, an example of a main female protagonist in a film is.. 

The Girl With Dragon Tattoo- 

This film is very similar to ours as it shows a clear difference between the female protagonist and male antagonist. 

-Female characters in many films are presented as the victim and have low power to the other male characters in the film, however films such as Precious show a female beating up her child, this contradicts the stereotype. In Imprisoned the female is presented as the protagonist even though we only snapshot of the events that happened at the beating and after, the rest is unknown, this leads the audience thinking that the female is the victim.

I think that the audience would be able to relate to the protagonist as she is a teenager in a serious relationship that has turned bad, this is very common with serious relationships that have become too toxic, this leads to the audience sympathising with Gemma, seeing the violence from another angle.

Male

AGE- (16-20) - Antagonist 

• Our main male character in our film was Tom, Tom was the teenager boyfriend who was perpetrator of domestic violence. In Imprisoned we wanted the male character to be realistic, in many thriller films, the male offender tends to carry certain stereotypes that show the audience that he is the Antagonist, these made include Tall, dark clothing, dark personality (evil, mysterious and cruel). However in Imprisoned Tom is dressed very up to fashion wearing a bright blue and white short, this colour of the shirt contradicts the stereotype of a dark character, this also makes the situation more easy to understand to the target audience. We also added a fashion hat, we added this because this is very common of a teenager and this could show the audience how immature the characters are. The casualness of the male creates enigma to the audience and create questions like.. Why did he start beating her up? was there reason? did she start it and is she just of antagonist as him?
• We also added a beer to the scene and some shots of Tom drinking the beer, this allows audience believe that Tom may be an alcoholic and Gemma may be in more danger than usual, the finished beer symbolises the fact the characters patience has gone and he's not waiting any more.

Here is an image of our Antagonist in Imprisoned.

Here is a stereotypical view of Antagonist in a thriller film.









3. What Kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?  

When researching many film institutions and distribution I found many independent UK companies, one independent company that stood out for me was Artificial Eye.

Artificial Eye is a British film distributor, specialising in foreign-language and art house films for cinema and home entertainment. This would be appropriate for our film as they deal with small budget UK films that are created to show awareness or show there love and passion for video media. It is important that the distributor is for home entertainment as nowadays home entertainment is biggest way of watching films, this may include the internet, TV, DVD and even video game consoles. These home entertainment distributions are perfectly aimed at are target audience (16-20), as it easy to access, such as Itunes, LoveFilm and Netflix. 

A Bigger Film distributor that I also found that would be a very good company to distribute Imprisoned is Pathe, the film company has produced many big films in the UK but still distribute many independent films and create opportunity for low-budget films. This would be ideal to inspire for a larger audience and show awareness of our topic domestic violence.  

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?


i decided to rate our film a 15, i chose rating of 15 because 
i felt like our opening included quite distressing scenes, these included Tom punching Gemma and shows Gemma in the bath. We want the rating to be higher so that we could have an more mature audience, that would understand the film and maybe relate. 

-Gender: Female Audience- 

We wanted the target audience to be women because as the lead character is a women, i think the audience will be able to relate more and be attracted to the film, the sad thriller storyline will attract audience that maybe have the same as Gemma, know some who has experience the same or are trying to tell someone that they are in that situation and tell someone. 

-Age:16-20-

I chose ages 16-20, i chose this age especially because it is very common age to be pressured and feel vulnerable, so the audience would be able to understand and relate to the movie, even maybe if they are being abused currently, stand up and tell someone. Both characters (Tom and Gemma) are young, this shows that people there age are getting beaten (domestic violence) and that people should be aware. 

Similar Target Audience is Precious

Precious is based on a teenage girl going through childhood suffering from abuse from her father and mother.
Genre- Drama
Certificate- 15 

The female lead is a similar age to Gemma, and is suffering similar difficulties as the main character in Precious, however Precious is a different genre to our film, precious is a drama but still has concepts of thriller. 

5. How did you attract/address your audience?
We attracted the audience in many different ways..

Characters-  We chose average teenager so that the character can not be obviously from a certain social group (middle class/working class) so the movie could not miss out any certain audience and everyone who has experienced the same situations can not feel like there the only ones. However, the film still has different types if emotions involved so could be linked to both genders.

Setting- we chose a nearby setting so that it could be relatable and it was accessible, the wood is a very well know scenery so it is nothing out the blue, however adds enigma to the piece. why is she walking through the woods?.

Snapshots of messaging




6. What have you leant about technologies from the process of constructing the product?


Here is a prezi.. 

Throughout the process of filming and editing i have learnt a lot about different technologies and many more basic skills that i need to know while filming/editing, these include final cut pro (cut/video transitions) and camera (turning it on/ converting). 

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?  


Preliminary Task- 

Thriller Opening-

Lighting - 

•  From the  Preliminary task you can see a great difference of Lighting, During our process of filming Preliminary task, we used many lights (umbrella, LED light and standing lighting), however we forgot to do white balance, this meant that the lighting was fuzzy and didn't have a clear High definition focus, my group and i learnt from this mistake and made sure that we used WB before filming the thriller opening. The small and simple step (wb)  that we missed out, made a big difference when filming and editing the thriller, we found it easier to see character in the shot and correcting the white balance before shooting allowed the camera to identify the pure white, this gave the shots more of a cinematic look. In our preliminary task our lighting was purely focused on using alternative lighting to natural lighting to create the atmosphere, on the other hand  in our thriller opening we used  a lot of natural light and artificial light, this was very effective to show the contrast of Gemma (protagonist) feeling peaceful alone and her being beaten by Tom (Antagonist). Overall I learnt through the process of preliminary to thriller that natural light is just effective as artificial light but both together creates a very cinematic and professional look. 

Camera Work- 

• In our thriller opening we used many different types of camera work e.g.. handheld and still, we used handheld camera work when filming the side middle shot pan of Gemma's face, we chose handheld because we had greater freedom of the movement during the shot, the handheld allowed us to have a flowing shot that followed Gemma while she was walking. The most effective reason for handheld in this specific shot was to show the side of Gemma that had no bruises then suddenly the camera shows her whole face and the audience see her bruises. We also used a canted handheld of Gemma's POV on the floor after Tom had hit her, this showed the power that Tom has over Gemma, this is affective when showing antagonist to protagonist. Our use of Camera-work has developed from Preliminary to thriller, our preliminary included lots of similar over the shoulder still, that didn't add enigma, it was all very simple and had no real effect to the audience. I have learnt that camera work is very important to allow a film to flow and enable the audience to feel emotion, this was learnt by making mistakes in preliminary and correcting them in the thriller. 

Editing- 

• Editing is very important went putting a film together, the pace of edits can make the mood an atmosphere of the piece. In out preliminary  task are editing was very technical, we used very simple shots to shots. In our thriller opening we wanted to create  technical professional editing, however the editing that we wanted to create did become tricky, we wanted to show clear precise match on action between protagonist and antagonist in the house. However, in the preliminary the match on action worked very well, this made it clear to us that we should keep it simple and not add lots of effects which would take away from the relationship between the two characters trying to be shown through 'match on action'. 

Here some snapshots of our match on action: Thriller Opening- Main Task

Here are some snapshots of our match on action: Preliminary Task 

Here you can see both match on actions, in preliminary task the match on action is more precise and add tension, this is what we have developed into out final task- thriller opening. 

Storyboard- 

During the beginning stages of planning, storyboards are key, however we found it hard to structure the storyboard while planning are preliminary task, while filming we also found difficulty as we couldn't efficiently order our shots, this was visible in our film, as certain shots were extra and didn't continue the continuity within the film. This mistake allowed to evaluate what to do better in our next film and how we should improve our organisation. Storyboards were very much approved in our thriller, this meant that we could easily follow step by step shots and when we came to editing we could clearly see the shots in order.

Overall...

I think that are thriller opening has developed massively  from the preliminary task, the mistakes that we made in preliminary we made sure that we didn't make in the thriller, on the other hand all the good points that we got from the preliminary we included into our thriller. Our experience with editing on final pro has definitely progressed which allowed us to try things out and work out which is best.