Question 5 - How did you attract/ address your audience?

Our film will attract audiences because it fulfils the Noir genre. Our film uses many conventions of a Noir film such as the use of a glamorous femme fatale and the use of enigma (for example the contents of the bag is unknown, also known as a McGuffin). The fulfilment of the Noir genre therefore creates familiarity for fans of the Noir genre, ultimately attracting a larger audience. To avoid being too boring or predictable however we challenged some conventions. For example, we constructed a very strong female character who is a head of the criminal underworld. The challenged conventions create a more unique film so audiences wont be bored. We used Chekhov's Gun, enigmas and a McGuffin to related to the genre

We used pleasant aesthetics to attract our audience. For example, we edited saturation on our film to create a cold, clean and glossy look to our film. The saturation enhances the costume worn by Serena and the glamorous colour and dress will attract an audience that is interested in aesthetics. The location is also attractive in that the house has two large pillars.

Serena's costume standing out against
the background.

An example of the colour palette we
used

The location.

Our film only had 2 characters however we used the two characters to show representational pleasures. Our female character, Serena, is a strong and intelligent female that does not need a man to help her. Serena's strength is shown through the props used: the lipstick is represents the danger Serena possesses and the knife is a symbol of strength and danger. Serena challenges the female stereotype in film and will therefore attract audiences who are looking for a different representation of women.
As well as this, men are shown as smart due to Mordecai's competency with a lock pick and his ability to locate the bag quickly.

Example of Chekhov's Gun

We also used thematic pleasures to attract an audience. For example, we created a story line including betrayal and manipulation as it is interesting to watch. As well as this we also placed the events in a world of criminality and danger to create a sense of tension and unpredictability. We also created an enigmatic character to draw the audience into the world of "Serena" and cause them to develop an interest in the characters. The enigmas used throughout cause the audience to want the answers to them. We also used Chekhov's Gun to conform to the genre and to intrigue the audience. We had to construct our character within 2 minutes in order to interest the audience quickly. We layered a wind chime sound in a minor key over the top of scenes with Serena to present her as psychologically unstable. This attracts an audience as psychological films (such as "Se7en") have gained popularity recently so by creating a psychologically unstable character the audience will be interested in the narrative. By using Chekhov's Gun we intrigued the audience and left them wanting to know what the gun will be for. At the end of the opening we leave the audience wondering what happened and why, attracting our audience.

Question 6- What have you learnt about technologies in the process of constructing this product?

Pre-production

Before filming we had to plan and research our genre. We did this by watching openings to thrillers on youtube. Youtube is a great new technology as it shows suggested and related videos after you watch one and therefore allows you to watch more related content. The suggested videos allowed us to research more openings that were relevant to thrillers and once we chose our sub genre (film noir) we could find more precise openings and develop a better understanding of our genre. Youtube also allowed us to watch previous openings and preliminary tasks so we could get an idea of how we can film an opening with limited resources and time. 

We also have used Blogger to help develop and construct our thriller. Blogger has allowed for communication between media students and has helped to showcase my coursework with ease as Blogger is not difficult to use. Blogger has allowed me to collaborate on posts with other students. For example, Blogger allows embedding and there prezis can be embedded. Prezis can be made public and allow for more than one person to contribute. 

Blogger is ideal for coursework as it prevents any loose pieces of paper from going missing and it is neat, making coursework look presentable and keeping coursework in one spot. By using Blogger it shows our competency with media products.

An example of an embedded post

Blogger has also allowed for essays and coursework to be more specific in detail as it allows embedding of different media forms. For example, Blogger allows for Prezis, pictures, Scribd, Souncloud and more to be embedded into a post. By embedding different forms of media I can support my points or refer to the embedded piece to create a stronger argument. By embedding a Prezi I can change the prezi and its contents without altering the actual blog post itself. If I wanted to edit a prezi I would edit it on the prezi website and any changes would be shown on the post without having to alter the actual post on Blogger. 

In order to create a successful opening we had to use sound and were therefore introduced to copyright free music. The website which we mainly used is called FreeSound and allowed us to find suitable sound effects and background pieces to use in our opening without using copyrighted music. Some diegetic sounds such as the gun shot we could not record ourselves and therefore needed to find the sound. FreeSound allowed us to do find the sound and edit it into our film. If we could not access these sounds then we would not have the sufficient sounds and the ending of our film would not make sense as the gunshot is important for our plot. We also used FreeSound to find a tension-building background sound to create excitement and without the background sound our film would lack any real excitement. 

Production

Due to the advances in technology we were able to film using a Canon HD camera provided by the school. The small cameras provided HD footage which contributed to the professionalism of our film. The size of the cameras allowed for easy movement and filming during production therefore making filming an easier process especially as we had to re-shoot 3 times. 

The cameras were very easy to use as they use a very simple "point-and-shoot" premise allowing for an easy filming process. The SD card can be put in and taken out quickly allowing for a smooth and easy filming process. In addition to this, the camera allowed us to view our shots as we filmed allowing us to determine whether the shot we just filmed was good enough. 

We also used a SD card with 6GB of space. The SD card was extremely helpful as all our footage was saved to it and it was stored on the memory stick in a format where it was ordered by date. This was instrumental in allowing us to complete the thriller within the time schedule. The SD card is also small and easy to use as all we had to do was put it in the SD card port and then film. There was no additional action required once the SD card was put in. 

Post-production

Moviola

Once all our footage was filmed we had to edit our film. We used an editing software called adobe premier. The software had everything we needed as it allowed us to trim the shots, edit the saturation, add music, overlay and more. The software was difficult to use initially however after the first few days editing we became more used to it and it was easy to use. Adobe premier is a non-linear piece of software and allowed us to edit any scene from our film in any order therefore allowing us to fix any problems easier. The software also allowed us to be more creative in our editing by allowing us to overlay sound from different shots onto other shots.  Over the course of editing we have gone from a beginner to adept. 

Also, digital editing has replaced analogue editing, making it easier to edit. Analogue editing was introduced first and was a linear way of editing a film. The raw footage would be cut and pasted into an order and then went through a machine called a Moviola. The evolution from analogue to digital editing has allowed the film industry to create more creative films.

We also used DaFont.com to find appropriate fonts to conform to our genre. This website allowed us to search through thousands of different and unique fonts to find the most suitable. We found fonts which suited our genre well and without this website our film would lack any professionalism or any signs it is a film noir genre.

The new technology is allowing for more amateur film makers to try and produce independent films. Blogspot for example allows for more individuals interested in media to collaborate easily on productions. New technology is empowering film makers as cameras are not as expensive as they used to be and there is much more editing software available globally for anyone to buy so filming and producing is available to everyone.

Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your thriller?

 Our film is more intellectual and less mainstream than most thrillers as we want to break away from the conventions of a normal thriller. The sophisticated plot (the betrayal of Serena, the manipulation of Mordecai by Serena, Serena's "damsel in distress" façade etc) requires a level of intelligence.

Question 3- What kind of media institution might distribute your film and why?

                                         How could digital technology offer new distribution opportunities?
In the recent years there has been an increase in the use of online streaming services such as Netflix, LoveFilm and Mubi. These services allow for an easy access to films and similar films. For example; our film has roots in film noir and if our film were on Netflix if an individual enjoyed watching film noirs then our film would be suggested. Similarly LoveFilm does this however LoveFilm have an exclusive partnership with Studio Canal so LoveFilm can distribute Studio Canal on their website. The online distribution would allow our film to reach a larger audience.

The distributor which would most likely to distribute our film would be Studio Canal as it focuses on glamorous films which are low budget and will excel best in Europe. Our film has British elements (such as the location and costume) and therefore Studio Canal would be the best distributor for our film.

Chosen Location

We originally chose a large antique-like house in Hellesdon due to the aesthetically pleasing attributes it possesses, such as the grand size. However, after our first shoot went rather awful we decided to choose a second location closer to where we live and therefore we chose one of our houses due to the easy access.


The Mulbarton house is not as big as the Hellesdon house however the easy access allows us to re-shoot and film the best shots in a quick time to fit our time schedule. The house also has a large bedroom to allow us to film in using a tripod comfortably and get shots which are not achieved by using a handheld camera. The bedroom also has a bed which has space underneath it where we can place the bag. The bedroom fit our storyboard well and we did not need to redraft our storyboard.

Before we filmed we took a few pictures of the location to see how it would look when we did film.

Practice shot 2

Practice shot 3

Practice shot 1

Final shot (practice shot 3

Potential Locations

Hellesdon house

The only things that we require for our opening of a thriller is a house and an alley.

We have discussed many location choices, this includes:
Hellesdon house- This would be an ideal location for our thriller opening because it maintains an antique look which creates a sophisticated visual. The reason that this is useful is because we are trying to follow conventions of Film Noir as that is where most of our inspiration came from.
This house also has an alley next to it and so it covers that portion of our requirements as well.

Hellesdon bannister

We also needed a staircase as we wanted to use the bannisters to create connotations of prison and therefore criminality.

Another factor about this house is that it has many rooms and so there is variety and choices when we are filming about how we want the shots to look. We believe the more control we have, the better our film opening will come out.
However a limiting factor is that it's relatively far away from where we live and so the likelihood of everyone getting to the same location all in the same day makes it difficult to film and re-shoot should we need to. 

Mulbarton house- This house is similar to the one above in the sense that it look quite antique however this house isn't as big and so we are limited with variation. Another problem is that the rooms look similar and so we would have to move locations when shooting the shots of "Serena". We would shoot these shots in another house and the p

ositive of this is that it isn't too far from the original house and so it is achievable.
The advantages to this house is that it is close to everyone in the group and it is easy to get there and back to our own houses which makes more time for us to film all f the shot we need. Also, there is a long driveway which can be seen as an alley. The long driveway allows for our opening shots to be much more effective as the extra space allows us to indent our font much easier. 
Despite the house not necessarily fitting the film noir genre, this house may be the best choice due to the accessibility of the location and the availability to re-shoot any footage we have to.
There is also a staircase with bannisters which will contribute to the film noir genre we are trying to achieve due to the bar-like bannisters.
 Also, there is a long driveway which can be seen as an alley. The long driveway allows for our opening shots to be much more effective as the extra space allows us to indent our font much easier.