Catch The Rainbow

 

Evaluation Q4. How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware and online - in this project?

Stage 1: Research

Whilst researching, I was heavily reliant on looking at existing media texts as well as the various manga's that I enjoy ever so much. Whenever I thought up an idea that I thought might work, I noted it down in a small notepad that I carried with me in my backpack. These ideas were the ones that would either come around suddenly, or the ones that I was putting together over the course of a couple of days. I then moved onto the internet where I had the world at my fingertips to help me look for ideas. I started by looking into characters as I heavily believe great characters is what makes a story more interesting to an audience, so if there was anything I wanted to try and get right above all, then it was a fascinating character to portray the themes of my film. I started to look into the artwork of Rene Magritte, more specifically his piece called 'The Son of Man', and from there I started to put things together. In order to keep a track on my progress I noted it all down on Blogger bit by bit to remind me of all the ideas I had come up with at that point. 

Stage 2: Planning 

I focused a great deal of attention on creating my character, and through trial and error I was finally able to come up with my final character for my film, Mr Fantasy. Inspired by previous media texts, manga, artwork and even music, I had created the character that I was hoping I could. I then put my focus on creating the pre-visualizations inclusive of the script and storyboard. I worked on them both at the same time, writing one part of the script and then adapting that into the drawn out version of it. That way I would be able to see it come together piece by piece. I started the process by working on paper, however, I was quick to realize that working on my iPad was a much quicker and convenient way of going about making my storyboard. I used the OneNote app as it had an easy to use drawing/pencil tool that I could use with my Apple Pencil. The process was overall made easier as I capable of drawing to a somewhat okay standard. After finishing the script and storyboard, I decided to go hunting for a filming location and an actor. I decided the location rather quickly after taking a look at the convenience it would bring to the shoot as well as keeping in mind that I would be taking the heavy and expensive equipment there. As for the actor, I approached my friend who takes A-Level Drama with me, and I asked if he would be up to it, to which he told me that he was keen. I thought he would be able to capture the mannerisms and personality of Mr Fantasy to the extent that I was looking for. Everything was set in place for stage 3. 

Stage 3: Construction

I discussed with the film technology specialist at school about what equipment I should be using and what equipment I would like to use. I specified that I wanted to use a Gimbal, and sure enough I was taught how to set it up as use it for the final shot of my film. I also needed the basic kit of a camera and a tripod and it was more than easy to get my hands on. I should point out that I specifically requested to not give me any additional lights as I was really pushing for a film consisting on all-natural lighting. The shoot was a total success and everything was finished by the end of the scheduled dates and timings. After filming, I edited using the software, Final Cut Pro, which allowed me to put together all of the clips which I had taken the weekend before. I made steady progress, with a peer analysis in-between starting and finishing, I was able to complete the final edit at a good pace. My next focus were the credits. I wanted to make them interesting, and so I used the software After Effects, in order to make more diverse and challenging credits throughout the opening. I had no prior experience with the software before and so I had to watch some YouTube tutorials on how to work the program so that I could mask the credits into the shots, which was an essential part of the title card shot. After getting familiar with the software, I was able to complete the credits and that marked the finished edit, all that was left for me to do was finalize and add the music. I spoke with a friend over the phone and I sent him some examples of sounds that I liked, to which we then worked together for a few hours until we came up with the final sound. I added in the music and it fit just the way that I wanted it to, I was ultimately very happy and that marked the finishing of my film.

Evaluation Q3. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

Codes and Conventions - understanding of thriller conventions, credit structure and what to expect from a film opening. 

At the start of the year, the genre of thrillers seemed especially complexed to me, I could never figure out what exactly made a thriller. However, between that point back in September and now here in April I have had a strong exposure to the heart of the thriller genre, The Silence of the Lambs and Se7en are pure examples of thriller films. Se7en and True Blood, another thriller media text studied, display a very strong credit structure and sequence which introduces the audiences to the themes and overall genre that the film follows, and for that I now have a deeper and more refined knowledge of the expected codes and conventions revolving around thriller films.

Planning and Organization - ability to organize actors, locations, props for and efficient and effective film shoot. Ability to hit deadlines.

Throughout the process of planning, I had made sure that everything I might need for the shoot was there. I had told all of my actors and the crew that were helping out the times to arrive and the location to be. A good example of my organization skills that I display is by deciding on the location that I would be filming before the mid-term break in December, that way I could plan and ready everything (Equipment, Schedules, etc...) in the new year when I would be ready to film. I also believe that I had made all of the preparations necessary that lead to a smooth and successful shoot. The script and storyboard were used multiple times between myself and the actors and crew

Camera Work - confidence in building composition and using different shot types.

Since the first task of the year, Jurassic Jelly, I have greatly improved the complexity and composition of my shots, as well as confidence in my camera work. I was given more chances throughout the project to enhance my skills and become for comfortable with the camera, this included working and getting to grips with a gimble. I think the greatest evidence of my improvement with a camera, is the fact that I am capable of achieving shots with a complexed composition, just like one of my final shots from my film. The shot required lots of testing and practices before I could consider it good enough for the final film.

Visual effects - realizing ideas using digital software, using credits in an interesting way. 

I touched on framing in a previous blog post, in which I discussed my inspiration(s) for the style of framing I went for throughout my film, which leaves a considerable amount of empty space in the frame to create a sense of unease and isolation. I brought up framing because I intended on using that empty space to fit (some of) my credits into as to draw the attention of the audience into those blank areas of the frame. This can be seen with the title card shot as the character, Mr Fantasy, leaves the room. The empty room leaves nothing but a space filled with the title reading 'Catch The Rainbow', however the rest of the space remains empty and lifeless, creating a sense of distortion. I believe that I have picked up a fairly good base-level of comfort surrounding visual effects, or at least I am comfortable in a sense that I am confident with what I am doing and I am always able to create the effects that I envision. This parallels my skills from the start of the project, where I would be scared to go anywhere near After Effects, and when I did I would have the most basic understanding of what to do.

Editing - making meaning through editing. Making the narrative sense for the audience.

I would describe the editing style of my film to be quite 'basic', and I don't necessarily mean it in a bad way. I feel that the narrative of my film is benefitted from having a  simple style of editing. I think it communicates an oddly comforting feeling throughout the film as to completely contradict the unease of what is happening within the shots themselves. This gives more spice and more interest into the character presented as well as the actual opening that needs to hook the audience.

Creative confidence - thinking of interesting ideas and making them happen.

At the start of the project I wasn't overly confident in any of my creative ideas, and I didn't have the courage to express my ideas to the extent that I have done so far. I don't know exactly what it was that made me take the step to create the film that I did eventually make. On my top trump style card above, I gave myself a boost from 54 at the start of the project and 88 now that we have reached the end, and I think this is because I recalled my initial ideas for my film, which revolved around a character getting ready for a heist in the drivers seat of a car. I look back on that and think about how I would have been bored, and how the film would reflect the way I felt about it. I think the moment that I started to let my ideas truly come through was around the time that I was creating my character, Mr Fantasy. And I think the reason for that is because personally, a great story can only be good with memorable characters, and I had a real passion in making Mr Fantasy a character that I could actually picture in a film at the cinema and that is what I think pushed me to create the bigger ideas that I eventually implemented into my film.

I am almost 100% certain that a large reason as to why I have both been able to step out of my comfort zone and create such bizarre ideas is because of the media that I am regularly exposing myself to. I have taken inspiration and brought it up many times throughout the project, but manga has been a massive part of making my film as I have been able to rely on it when I come to a point where I can't figure out what to do next. Which is why I feel like it is worth mentioning, I think anyone who reads manga can tell you that it is ultimately very inspiring and motivating as most of the time there is a goal to reach which encourages you to reach your own goals. And as far as film coursework goes, I really feel like I have done that, which makes me eager for the next topic as I will be setting new and tougher goals to overcome, and that excites me.

Evaluation Q2. How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

Audience Profiling

Much like I did for the Demographics: Target Audience and Demographics and types of Audience blog posts, I took a look at films similar to my own and discovered more about the audience and the audience members that would come to watch my film. Firstly, I would say that my audience type is most likely to be within the Aficionados category as my they are likely to portray themselves as ‘anti-hollywood’, which is close enough to being something similar to my own film as it is a more specialised - The kind of film Aficionado's seek out.  Looking at Pearl and Dean, I was able to find a film, The Batman, which is very similar to the 1995 thriller Se7en, which is a film I used heavily for inspiration, so I am comfortable to profile my audience based on analytics from The Batman. I would estimate that my film has a demographic directed more focused on the ABC1 social status.

Ethan is a young white man in his mid twenties, born into a middle class family, he lives just outside of London with his girlfriend, Stella of three years. They live in a one bedroom flat that they’ve been renting out for the past year. He works as an actor in west-end and starts as one of the lead roles in a recent hit show. Stella works as a journalist at of the UK’s leading papers, The Sunday Times. He was studying business at a university in London until he was spotted by an agent who got him on board to act on stage. 

Ethan consumes a great deal of news from The Times news paper as he wants to support his girlfriend in any way that he can. He enjoys watching movies, visiting art galleries and music (concerts) performances. He consumes mainstream films regularly with his girlfriend Stella, but on his own he enjoys looking for and watching niche titles that aren’t surrounded by a large mainstream audience, but rather a small tight-nick fandom he can be a part of. He is the kind of film viewer who keeps a list of the films that he has watched so that he has a wide range of films that he can discuss with the various communities that his a part of.  

My film is presented in a rather abstract manner, I can't think of many narratives that reveal the films killer right at the very beginning. There is no direction that presents the film as ambiguous, and I'm hoping that most audience's would agree, there is one main interpretation that I would hope they would understand, which relates to the idea that nobody is really who they seem. This is continued as the character, Mr Fantasy, has no clear drive for anything in particular, and the only goal I ever imagined him having would be to live a quiet life, which is presented in the film as he gets ready for work relaxed in a blissful morning. This would appeal to the people who I have analytically analyzed to watch my film as they would want to be challenged, however, revealing the killer gives them their answer. The shift in direction is that there is likely to be a new and abstract style of seeing how detective type characters solve the puzzle and chase down the killer, just in a different perspective. Playing around with the though that the audience has to wonder whether they support the killer as he is the main character, or the detectives as they represent justice. 

My film would be the type to offer an audience the satisfaction of an excitation transfer. I studied the theory back when I was learning about why we watch scary films. I specifically agreed with the theorist, Dolf Zillman, who theorized that an excitation transfer is the residual excitation from stimulus that will amplify the excitatory response to another theory later in time. I think that this theory is further apparent within my own film as the fears that I explore are relevant to my audience, in fact any audience for that matter. The fear that everyday people aren't who they seem and there could be a killers amongst the people and family we surround ourselves with truly terrifies us as nobody has any desire of being close to someone who takes the lives of others. My film and audience has no relation to catharsis as Mr Fantasy is the kind of character to commit utterly brutal murders, so unsettling that nobody would want any way that they relate to a character like that. This links me back to the excitation transfer theory, as the audience would bare witness to Mr Fantasy's crimes, they would build up excitation from the previous stimuli's (crimes) which would eventually reach a pinnacle of satisfaction when justice is brought upon him.

Due to Mr Fantasy being the main character of my film, it might evoke the subject matter of we as people have evil lying within us, which is a thought that might truly frighten someone. We are sometimes drawn most towards the characters that we spent the longest with throughout a film, watching their development and journey from start to finish. However, as I am presenting the audience with a main character who kills for pleasure, they might have more conflicted emotions, or not. I believe that ideologies are a completely subjective and personal matter which relates to ones own ideals. I am always reminded of the final line in the movie Se7en, "The world is a fine place, and worth fighting for... I agree with the second part.", as Detective Somersets own ideals are a clear demonstration of his character. Which is why I gave my audience such a conflicted decision to make, do you support the killer because you have an attachment to him? Or do you support the detectives because it is the right thing to do? Or maybe there is a third option? You choose to support the detectives because you don't want to acknowledge your attachment to the killer. In addition to all of this, there is a linkable theme of rich harming the poor that revolves around Mr Fantasy. This is apparent with his sophisticated and smart dress-sense and mannerisms, much like a very 'proper' person. Therefore, there is an appeal to the further educated and upper classes as they would both have a recognition and deeper understanding of the character(s) presented as they are more accustomed to that similar lifestyle.

The characters presented in my film are the rich upper class with selfish attitudes, even to the point where ones pleasure is worth more than another persons life. What I might say could be a bit of a stretch, and I am not sharing my own personal opinions, but I believe that my audience might possibly identify with Mr Fantasy in the same ways that some people might have moments of self reflection when watching John Doe talking about the terrible world we live in. This as well as having a possible love/hate relationship with Mr Fantasy, as they have come to know him, but still cannot stand the crimes that he commits. Mr Fantasy is a reflection of the world my film is based on, the real world. My film reflects our societies in real life, we have no idea who people really are, even the people closest to us, and that is something that would be heavily apparent in my film. This would appeal to my audience as they would be able to gain a greater understanding of my film as they have a direct reference to the world that we live in real life. 

The tone of my film feels quite mixed, there are moments where the tone feels dark and gritty, even reaching slightly ominous feelings. To contrast this, there are some moments of ease, with heavy undertones that feel witty and overwhelming. To me, the film is quirky, it doesn’t feel like a conventional thriller opening. Its for this reason that the film would engage the audience, it gives them something different, something new that isn’t seen very often. 

Whilst my film doesn’t present the action from Se7en, there are definitely similarities drawn from it that are clear to see. The film follows a consistently intriguing narrative instead of moments of action to maintain and elevate the audience’s interest and excitement. I think that my film is elevated not by its action content, but more by its characters, Mr Fantasy draws some levels of similarity to Se7en’s John Doe and The Silence of the Lambs’ Hannibal Lecter. Both characters are made out as well-educated individuals, which is an aspect of my character that I implemented into my film as one of its major themes, that being rich vs poor. 

Distribution Strategy

I think it is fair to say that my film is small in scale and it has not been made by any big production companies. Because it is niche, it is likely that it would be incapable of competing with movies shown at the cinema and the mainstream audience that watches them. A reasonable and low cost way to find a distributor for my film would be to present it at a film festival and try to catch someones attention. Or what might be even better, a larger company such as Disney or Netflix would be interest in adding the film to their streaming services. Having my film added to a streaming service would bring in a much wider range of people in a greater number who would be able to watch my film. I would release the film around Halloween as there will be a build-up of people who are getting ready for the horror and thriller feelings of the festival. It also means I could be creative with the marketing strategies used for the promotion of the film.

Marketing

I think that an effective way I could market and promote my film with the use of social media, more specifically I would focus on using Instagram and Twitter, both have large user-bases which I could take advantage of. Since I would be aiming the release around the time of Halloween, I would hope to try and create mini trends that people would try and eventually spread onto other platforms such as TikTok which have trends that blow up in days. This was done with SpiderMan: No Way Home, where a user could replace Spiderman’s face with their own and swing through the city of New York. I would also hope to make posters for people to recognise and spread around the different platform, this is where I believe Twitter would be most useful as the #trending section would be a great way to try and make the poster and awareness of the film more viral.

Evaluation Q1. How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

Working with and Challenging conventions

My film introduces Mr Fantasy, a character who is mysterious and unclear. My film revolves around him singularly, he is a young white male in his early thirties, he carries a composed and confident personality. He has very little self-expression as he remains dull in his grey suit, however, he does fixate a small and calm smile of his face. I created his character as someone who grew up in an old fashioned, white middle class family. He works a stable job as a news reporter, but he would have access to family money, to which there is a vast amount of. I created this representation with the traditional clean business suit as the base of the costume, as well as directing him in a greedy way, this greed relates to the issues I explored as well as the representation for this white male type character. 

(American Psycho, 2000)

The issue that I raised focused of the real life problem of the cruelty often brought upon the poor by the rich. The way that I explored this issue was by simply making him a murderer, carrying symbolism and representation of the cruelty he inflicts. This kind of character can been seen within the personality of American Psycho’s main lead, Patrick Bateman. He is a big head in the corporate world and murders for a sense of personal satisfaction. The direction I am taking this in is that much like Patrick Bateman, Mr Fantasy murders for his own satisfaction, but picks on the poor from the viewpoint that they are worth nothing but his own entertainment to do whatever he wishes with and he manages to get away with it because he was born into a world of wealth. This kind of thing happens in the real world, as the wealthy get away with all sorts because they are able to fix their problems with money, especially in the corporate world as seen with instances among people such as Harvey Weinstein, who is unfortunately only one example of many more. 

Catch The Rainbow: Poster

    Creating a movie Poster

Since starting the task I have had ideas for ways to add to my film, and making a poster was one of those ways. Personally, I am a big fan of posters and before I watch a movie trailer, I try to find the poster. This probably comes down to the fact that I think a poster is my personal favorite way that a film is marketed. So I had a reason to make a poster and I knew that it would be something I would be passionate about. So I began looking into it, I have looked at a lot of posters before, and I see them almost every day, but I wanted to know the most authentic way to create a poster as well as use colors to my complete benefit. 

(Vanity Fair)

From watching this video from Vanity Fair, I learnt that the typical and conventional color for a Thriller film poster is Blue. The majority of the posters displayed the idea of a singular figure (usually placed at a distance).

Whilst Thriller and Phycological Thrillers were being talked about, I realized that I was not the biggest fan of the colors. I think the colors definitely work, but to me the primarily blue background with touches of yellow and green surrounded by blurry environments just wouldn't work for the type of film that I am trying to create. I wanted something less bland and something that is bursting with color. I suppose my aim was to try and challenge the typical conventions of Thriller posters, and I thought that it would be really interesting to try.

It was whilst I was filming I decided to try and take some pictures that I might have been able to use as posters, or at least to get me thinking about ideas. Which is when my friend reminded me of American Psycho, since my film shared similarities with it. I looked for the poster and I found one that stood out to me and I wanted to try and re-create it.

I wanted to go with the red colour used in this poster, but I wanted to be more “in your face” with mine, and I felt like looking at the camera would look cool. I also decided to draw and re-create the text of the album cover from Richie Blackmore's Rainbow, where I got my film title from.

After adding the title and adding cropping the image a little bit, I couldn't help but think that there was something missing, and I was ultimately unsatisfied. So I turned to something I have brought up many times, manga, there are countless exceptional covers that I could have chosen from, but for this project I chose my absolute favorite. Volume 38 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is exactly the kind of poster I want to create, misleading, colorful, creative and exciting. Whilst this is for a Thriller film, the overall tone of the poster will be fitting as I want to create a darker undertone to the poster, weather it is through hidden easter eggs or if there are things hidden in plain sight. 

(JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, volume 38)

(Photo Shoot)

I was able to take lots of great photos that would all be good to make a poster out of, however… I came up to the end of the submission for the coursework and making the poster is the one thing that completely slipped my mind. Its a shame that I couldn’t produce a poster as it was something that I was starting to feel more passionate about it. I dont like to leave things incomplete, however, I was really glad that I started to make the poster as I think I was able to gain a lot of great experience which I can now use for more projects in the future.

Demographics: Target Audience

 Target Audience

(The Batman, 2022)

(Pearl and Dean)

The Batman is a 2022 film that released into cinema's early March. The main premise revolves around Bruce Wayne trying to uncover frequent killings from the hidden killer known as The Riddler. The film is very heavily inspired by Se7en (1995) and fits within the genre of a Thriller. 

(Batman, 2022)

Mostly men watch Batman (69%), and the reason why this is comes down to the way that Batman, or men, within the film seem to be portrayed. This links back to representation as Batman/Bruce Wayne is portrayed as a strong and capable man, who also has the body type that is seen as attractive among societal expectations and standards.

The majority of the age demographic for Batman is made up on people between 25-34 years old. This age group might be more likely to go to see Batman as there are themes and images too dark and mature for younger audiences. This age group are more likely to be entertained by Batman as it is more appealing and "epic" to them than it might be to an older age group. 

There is a more dominant (59%) middle-upper class audience watching Batman. The main reason for this most likely comes down to the characters and relevance of money within the movie. This is primarily seen with Bruce Wayne who is a billionaire, therefore the cinema would be majorly populated with the middle and upper classes. 

Demographics and Types of Audiences

 A big part of marketing is to identify a target audience, only then can marketers develop strategies to target and reach that audience. One way of identifying target audience's is by breaking them down into smaller demographic groups. An established way of identifying these groups was developed by the UK Nation Readership Survey - called NRS Social Grades. 

Social grade is a classification system based on occupation. Income is not part of the social grade classification. However, there is a strong correlation between income and social grade as shown in the chart above. The grades are often grouped into 'ABC1' and 'C2DE'. These are taken to make up the middle class and working class. Only around 2% of the UK population is identified as upper class, and this group is not separated by the classification scheme.

How does this help me understand my target audience for my film?

Pearl and Dean sell advertising space for UK cinema's - The adverts seen before a film. In order to inform their customers (potential advertisers) where to place their advert, they analyze a potential movie going audience based on the audiences of similar movies. They will analyze the audience in terms of gender, social grade and age. This gives Pearl and Dean different GAP's (Guaranteed Audience Packages) for potential buyers. This means they can filter out all other films that are not suitable for their target audience and only pay for the relevant ones. For example, Nivea men's deodorant would pay for the GAP Male package.  

(Pearl and Dean: https://business.pearlanddean.com/films/)

Looking at this I identified the different types of audience for different styles and genre's. For example, action films have are populated with audiences mostly consisting of men between the age of 20 and 40 who are part of the ABC1 social grades. The reasons for this is that action creates meaning with fast pace action and exciting story-lines, usually revolving around the Hero vs Villain formula, as seen in many of the Marvel movies. 

With this understanding, I know that my film would most likely be aimed towards a more male dominant audience (roughly 60%), mostly between the ages of 20 and 40. As for the audience's social grade, I would expect ABC1C2 to attend the type of film that I am making. I would say that the audience is constructed this way because of the themes constructed and the characters shown involve the usual archetypes of the middle-upper class. The age is more directed towards the content of the film, as it involves graphic imagery it would be obvious that this is a film meant for older audiences. 

Types of Audience's

Mainstream Audience

- At their most extreme, they focus on either clearly romantic or action-based mainstream films.

- They are particularly drawn to films that are recognized as 'big films' or blockbusters.

- Very unlikely to seek out 'foreign' films.

- Film acts as an antidote to their everyday lives - escapism is a central driver of their reason to visit a cinema.

- Tend to be rejects of specialized films.

Mainstream Plus

- Because they are principally looking for 'good' films (without breaking them down into categories), and because their cinema attendance can be as infrequent as once a month, they will usually find a mainstream film that satisfies their demand for 'something good'. 

- However, a less mainstream film that has earned itself the status of a 'must-see' can appeal to them over and above mainstream fare, and can become their first choice for a visit.

- They tend to stick to mainstream repertoire. However, they can be lured into seeing specialized films now and again. These films will typically be American/English, offbeat but upbeat, accessible and with a familiar cast. 

Aficionados

- Aficionados are more likely than Mainstream Plus audiences to think of 'specialized films' as a category in their own right, 

- They like to portray themselves as more discerning than other film-goers, to the extent of describing themselves as 'anti-Hollywood' - even though they still predominantly see mainstream American films.

- Compared to Mainstream types, Aficionados are more likely to make an effort to seek out specialized films that have caught their attention. 

- Aficionados will see all the sane specialized films as Mainstream Plus audiences, as well as specialized films that are foreign, more thought-provoking and have unfamiliar casts. They are still likely to reject the more extreme examples of specialized materials.  

Film Avids 

- Film Avids have their identity strongly bound up in film. 

- They express a strong liking for films that do not fit neatly into any genre. 

- Their love of cinema extends to the point where they are not merely interested in the film itself, but like to read and gain knowledge of the subject.

- The language used by Film Avids tends to be more sophisticated, analytical and thoughtful than that used by other types.

- They plan their viewing much further in advance than other filmgoers.

- They enjoy and indeed may even prefer going to the cinema on their own. 

- They use a greater variety of sources to find out what's going on and will make a trip specifically to go to the cinema. 

- They often go more than once to see the same film.

- They will see mainstream films for different reasons than other audiences (e.g. to appreciate the special effects of Transformers).

Color Grading

I had a goal with the coloring of my shots, I knew that some of them were too dark and some of them were too dull, and so I wanted to make them either a little bit brighter or to make them pop. So I used the color grading features within Final Cut Pro to change the colors and exposure. 

More specifically, I chose to add prominent colors throughout the cooking scene which was looking flat and dull considering it was meant to act as the most colorful scene in my film. I think that amplifying the red really helped make the cooking scene more lively and more interesting.

In order to change the coloring, I tried using the color wheels and the gradient, to which I found that the color wheels were the best to use. They gave me more control changing the scene and it was clear what was changing in the shot based on what I was doing with the wheels. 

Filming #2

 After I received the feedback from the first progress check, I chose to re-shoot the final shot of the movie. Although I ran into some difficulties, I managed to get it done and I started to do a little bit of extra footage to see if I wanted to add it to my film at the beginning. It was a very sudden decision as the I had the equipment and the time, so I decided to do it just in case it turned out to be good. 

The main objective of the second shoot was to fix up the final shot at the end, however the main actor for Mr Fantasy was unable to make any of the dates and times that would work due to other commitments. However, my Dad was able to fill in as his face would never be shown anyways, and he has the same sort of stature as the original actor. However, he did not want to appear in any pictures so that is why there aren't any of the re-shoot. But I was successful in getting it done, but I did mention earlier that there were some difficulties with the shoot - My gimble wasn't working. The gimble was a really essential part of the shot as the stillness of the shot created this eerie feeling within the silent room. Since I couldn't use the gimble I had to switch and go hand held, which wasn't too bad, other than the fact that I haven't got the steadiest hands.

After taking two or three shots, I re-watched all of the footage that I took, and I decided that the shakiness of the camera was too distracting and that it would look much better if it was smoother and fluid. As for the other footage that I shot that day, I tried getting some establishing shots of the bushes blowing in the breeze which I could place before the shots of the shower started.

Credit Font Research

I found that choosing the font for my credits was quite difficult. It has to fit with a Thriller, but it also needs to be subtle. The reason why subtlety is  important for the credits is that I dont want anything to powerful and distracting, the film is the focus and I dont want the credits to take that away.

(Se7en, 1995)

(Se7en, 1995)

I had originally considered using a similar font to the one used in Se7en, which looks almost hand-drawn and scruffy. However, I came to realise that it would most likely only work with a (fully) black background, and I never intended to do anything like that, and so I decided that the font wouldn’t work for what it is that I’m looking for.

(The Suicide Squad, 2021)

(The Suicide Squad, 2021)

When I watched The Suicide Squad last year, I thought that it had really nice comic looking credits. I decided to re-visit the credits again and look at the font. Whilst the font was not appropriate for my film, I took note of the placement of the credits. I liked the way that the credits were placed in the centre and the sides - But not all the way into the corners. 

Since I wasn’t having much luck looking at existing media, I chose to look at Dafont, which is a website my teacher recommended I looked at for fonts to download. There, I looked at unique fonts which all sorts of different styles.

Both of the fonts that caught my eye were interesting, especially the second one. However, I still felt like there was something about them that told me it was still too much. I decided that I needed something with thinner outlines, a skinnier font. 

Whilst taking a look at some of my footage, I looked at my friends computer which is next to mine, and I was immediately asking him where he got his font. It looked slightly eroded, skinny and it looked like it would be subtle enough, which was just the sort of thing that I was looking for. In the end I was really happy with the way it turned out and I think it gave a distorted effect to my film, which I really liked.

Music for my film

I started by approaching some friends who I knew could play an instrument and asked for their help in advance. I managed to get the help from a friend who could play the piano at a very high level and I gave him a brief idea of what I was looking for. I said I wanted something edgy, with moments of tension and moments of release. I decided that I was going to wait until my film was fully edited and in its final form before I added the music, this way the music will fit around the film and I can control the tone and overall feel of the film to how I envision it. Before I recorded the music that my friend and I were going to put together, I decided that I would go and find specific inspirations to implement directly into my film. 

All of these songs have the types of sounds that I am looking for. For example, the edgy piano at the start of 'Diavolo' is the kind of sound that I would like to use to portray Mr Fantasy throughout the opening shower scene as well as the final shots of him leaving the house. Another way I would implement these kinds of sounds would be seen with Elvis Presley's, 'The Wonder Of You'. The song maintains moments of triumphant sounds, which is fitting as the song is about a dream girl, which would be another appropriate aspect to include throughout the composition for the film. 

My friend who helped me did not want his picture taken, so there will be no photographs of us in the school music studio. We worked for about two hours between lunch-times and we came up with the final piece of music. I was really pleased with how it turned out and I think that it is overall very fitting for my film, influencing and pushing the moments of tension even further. 

The final piece of music can be found here.

Progress #1 - Rough Cut & Feedback

My first draft was shown to the my class so that I could get some peer feedback in order for me to go away and make my film better. The big suggestion from my class was to make the final shot more clear, to me this was quite hard hitting as it was the shot I was most proud of. But now I see what was wrong with it, I am still happy with it and I don't think it is a bad shot, but the most impactful moment at the end does not deliver and engage with the emotional response that I was aiming for. The hand revealed at the end was not clear, and I didn't realize, maybe it is because I knew what it was, but for the audience it was just an oddly shaped shadow. 

(Review from teacher)

Plan of action:

I am going to adapt to the feedback I received by re-shooting the final shot, however this time I am going to try my original plan of revealing a body instead of just a hand. I think a new shot of a more clear body/deceased will make for a more clear and chilling ending. I am also going to finish working on the music so that I can start getting everything ready so I can start to pull everything together before I begin my final.

Props

I didn't pay give the props too much attention whilst planning my film as I thought that they would just be extra bits on the side. The most consideration that I gave to them was when I chose to replicate the shot from Se7en in which Detective Somerset is getting his things ready to start the day. I knew that Mr Fantasy was a reporter, so the most thought I put into his accessories was a notepad and pen, in addition to the knife and of course any other everyday items including a folder with some images. 

But I wanted to make sure that the final shot was as impactful as it could be. Therefore I wanted too add extra details within the background, and I chose to add a callback to one of my very first inspirations. It can be seen in the picture below, I chose to frame an image of the painting 'The Son of Man' and smash the plastic so that it looked like shattered glass when placed all over the floor. I thought that this kind of detail might be interesting, and it might give the audience extra hints into the kind of film this would develop into.

 The tea-cup spilled over the floor was a decision I suddenly made on the day of filming. I wanted it to look like there was a struggle in the house, but I didn't want it to look like a fight, just a small incident. So I thought that a cup on the floor would be appropriate, there were no inspirations for it, and at least none that I could think of off the top of my head. Whether it worked or not I am glad that I did it instead of not doing it.

Filming #1

 All of the crew arrived on time and my actor arrived extra early to try on costumes, etc... so we were all ready to go. I started filming as soon as everything was ready and in place, starting with the shots that showed Mr Fantasy getting dressed. I got my actor fully dressed and prepared for the filming, the suit was a little bit too large but still fit and I was happy with how it turned out, it looked almost exactly the way I had imagined. 

I then worked on the final scene, this was essential as I planned the final shot to leave a lasting and impactful impression on the audience as the opening sequence finishes. I had chosen that I was going to make the empty environment feel as still as possible, and to do that I wanted to use no extra lighting and only work with what was naturally coming in through the windows. This meant that I had to make sure there were no shadows that might appear from outside, luckily there weren't and it was a really bright and sunny day.

The original ending for the film was that there would be a reveal of a body covered in blood left inside the house, however when trying the shot for the first time it felt cheesy. The one thing I had to try really hard with my film, was to avoid making it cheesy, which it easily could become with a small change. I didn't like the reveal and opted to go for something that felt more 'Thriller' to me, in which I would reveal just a hand behind a door at the end. It felt better when I filmed it and I liked having the unexpected turn of the camera at the end as it takes away any feeling of control that the audience may have had. 

I was using the storyboard heavily throughout the day of filming, both for my own reminding and also to better direct my actor, especially in the shower scene. By this time we had been working for three hours and stopped to eat lunch, my actor was having some trouble understanding what he needed to do in the shower and how he needed to do it. The storyboard was really useful as I was able to explain it whilst referencing the drawing that I had done for it. I feel like the process was made much easier for both me and the cast/crew that were helping me with the storyboard and I am glad that I put the amount of consideration into it that I had. 

Overall, I think that the day of filming was a success, the only hiccup that I had was with the change of the ending and the rest ran smoothly. I failed to take pictures of the shoot for the cooking scene as there were less people to help and I had to work the camera whilst my actor was busy with the food which meant I never really got a chance to take anything to add to the post. However, we got all of the shots done over the course of a day and one extra hour the following morning. We stuck to the planned schedule and it turned out even better than I had hoped. The only thing that I feel I could have done differently was shoot more takes of the final shot with the gimble, I had the time and I thought that the takes I had done were fine, however I think it would have been better with one or two more takes and I may have to re-shoot in the near future. 

Health and Safety

Whilst working on a film during a pandemic has made health and safety precautions even greater, which meant that I had to be extra sure when planning the way that the day plays out to ensure the safety of myself, actors, crew and also the condition of property during shoots.

Schedule

 

Location Scouting

Framing - Out of place framing and the Rule of Thirds

As someone who is accustomed to reading manga, I notice framing a lot as it is one of the key fundamentals in creating a good manga; if you can't frame right, you can't draw right. I feel the same way about films and the way shots are framed, it is a complicated art towards making a more impactful and effective moment. The way that manga is framed is very purposeful, there is never just a random placement of a panel in the middle of a page. This is so that more effect is translated through the page and artwork as the viewers eyes roll across the page in the authors desired way. Sometimes the framing choices are bizarre and definitely different to what is seen in films, for example, very impactful moments take up a greater portion of the page, or even a whole page, or sometimes even a spread across multiple pages. 

(One Piece, Eichiro Oda)

(Berserk, Kentaro Miura)

(Vagabond, Takehiko Inoue)

Since I am so frequently presented with all sorts of framing styles, I have come to adopt some strange habits with my own style of framing. I typically choose to make the focus of a shot in unconventional places, for example we might expect an important shot to have an object or person centered in the shot. In my latest projects I have commonly used to make the audience feel uncomfortable or unsure, which, especially for a thriller film, is likely to be a desired effect.

To summarize this, the technique I tend to use is the Rule of Thirds in which I frame the shots whilst following a grid-guide of nine squares. This creates a large gap of empty and hollow space within the shot that leads to the effect of discomfort. Again, this is further emphasized when a focus object is placed on the lines in which The Joker is positioned on in the shot below.

(Joker, 2019)

This same style of (Rule of Thirds) framing is seen in the popular television series, Mr Robot (2015-2019). The series has a lot of shots in which main characters and tense moments are framed using the rule of thirds, creating the sense of an empty space. 

(Mr Robot)

This shot look to be a moment of key realization and an important moment, traditionally, we would see a shot like this framed with the characters face in the middle and we would most likely be much closer up towards his face. However, in Mr Robot this is not the case, we are presented with a shot in which the character is placed on the left rule-of-thirds line at the bottom. This leaves a lot of empty space behind him where there are distant buildings, however since the focus of the frame is the character, we are looking in a direction that is unconventionally used for a shot like this, creating distortion and unease.

(Mr Robot)

This shot goes a step further and breaks the law of the Rule of Thirds, creating a much greater distortion in the shot as we see a moment of reflection and sorrow as the character in the bottom right corner sits sadly. This choice of framing makes him look far smaller, further enhancing the effect of a cold empty space besides him. Because this type of shot is not conventional, we get the feeling like something is wrong which makes us more anxious, which is a great emotion that a film-maker should try and instill in an audience. In addition to this, I saw a comment on the YouTube video above that says, "I think it makes the viewer feel more like a voyeur, that we are in the empty space secretly watching", and this is something I agree with and would like to try and replicate.