Posted by
Marina
at
4/07/2010 11:01:00 pm
After our very own debut screening of 'Hunting Innocence' in our media class, we received some feedback from our fellow classmates as they watched our film.
We received a lot of positive comments which we are very happy with, and also some constructive criticism which we also appreciate and agreed with. Overall, with this reception we are very much satisfied with our finished product.
Posted by
Marina
at
4/07/2010 08:42:00 pm
And here it is, the final opening sequence of 'Hunting Innocence'. From the rough cut, it is a couple of added new shots, plus more credits and the final sound score. Hope you enjoy our hard work.
Posted by
Marina
at
3/30/2010 08:04:00 pm
When I look back at my preliminary task, I see that from it is how I came to learn most of the techniques me and Charlotte used in the creation of 'Hunting Innocence'. Because for the preliminary task we had requirements which had to be included in the short film, it was by making them and seeing what went right and wrong is how we came to understand such techniques. We then used what we learned and perfected it to us much as we possibly could as it accuracy is highly important to this coursework.
In this task we were required to produce a short film which would demonstrate our understating of the required elements; elements such as: the 180 degree rule, shot/reverse shot and our abilities with all other media/film aspects of the production of a film. When making 'Hunting Innocence' we used and perfected some of the required elements, which proves what I learnt from the preliminary task. Without the task I would have probably taken longer time to understand and accomplish these elements, which would have been very time consuming. Having learnt them before really helped us, as we could visualise our ideas better making the execution all the more easier.
Here is the match on action element we used both in the preliminary and 'Hunting Innocence':
Posted by
Marina
at
3/29/2010 08:04:00 pm
The Apple Mac and iMovie HD
The tripod we used
The camera we used
The camera again
For the filming of Hunting Innocence, Charlotte and I were able to create our production with the aid of a couple of things.
Firstly there was the filming; this process was done with the use of a camcorder, a tripod and a clapper board. This equipment was what was carried to every filming session along with our props, they all proved out to be very easy to use and helpful throughout the filming process, apart from the clapper board. When with the pressure of time as we needed day-time shots, the clapper board proved to be extremely time consuming so for the last filming session we did not use it fully. We did not have enough time to keep writing takes and shot numbers, so we just gave up. The tripod had its days too when it decided to play up, but we managed to make it work and it was ok in the end.
Then came the editing stage; this process was aided by the wonderful iMovie HD from the Apple company. It allows users to fully manipulate and edit films with many, many options of edits, effects, etc.
Other programmes we used includes iTunes and We also needed the use of the internet which was very much used all of the time for websites such as:
- Blogger - to document our film and editing processes
- Google - for research of images and general research
- YouTube - for trailers and openings research
- Free Sound - for Hunting Innocence's soundtrack
- IMDb - for research of thriller films
- Wikipedia - for research of thriller films
Posted by
Marina
at
3/29/2010 08:03:00 pm
After identifying conventional drama thriller attributes, to address our target audience we tried to incorporate what we thought would attract them to see our film to our production. For example, by having the storyline about a teenage protagonist already gives our target audience of 18-25 year olds something in common with them; we understood that this target age was not teenage whatsoever, but it is the common representative age of youth and the years after adolescence so it is linked and fresh in their minds what was like when they were 17 to 18, like our protagonist Abby.
We wanted to keep the storyline as realistic as possible also as a way of attracting the target audience; having a family involved with drug trafficking does not seem like your usual family, but the thought and sometimes reality of losing a parent and feeling alone may not be uncommon to some teenagers, which we hoped would be where the target audience would be able to empathise with a fellow adolescent such as Abby.
Plus, horror and thriller films are becoming more and more popular with younger audiences nowadays, and are attending the cinema more often because of such films so by conforming to some conventions of thriller films is what we also thought would attract more of this target audience to come and watch it. As our film would probably involve drug use of some sort its rating would definitely be 15 or higher, which would make appealing to our target audience all the more important as younger audience would not be able to go see it in the cinemas which also means that families with children would not see either.
Posted by
Marina
at
3/26/2010 02:50:00 pm
Beth Kingsley
This is Beth Kingsley. She is 18 years and 2 months old and is in Yr 13 of college completing her A2 Levels. She is preparing for university and hopes it to be far from where she lives, which is in North East London.
She studies a lot hoping she will get in a good university, meaning she does not have much of a social life. She works part-time as a waitress and is saving her money for uni. When she is not studying she watches TV and films. Her favorite TV programmes are Lost, Survivors, CSI: New York, NCIS, Law & Order, Flash Foward, Ghost Whisperer and House. The main channels she watches are Five, More4 and Sky1. Her favorite film is the recent The Lovely Bones (2010). Her music style tends to vary from rock to pop rock. She doesn't mind all of the other genres of music, but does not have many of them in her iPod.
I believe that she represents our main demographic, I think she would watch and like our film as she has similar style of films and TV programmes. They tend to be more serious and in the drama genre which is close to our genre, drama thriller. Although 'Hunting Innocence' does not include big action sequences or special effects, the effective and gripping storyline would suit Beth's taste in films.
Here are some of the films Beth would watch:
Posted by
Marina
at
3/26/2010 02:19:00 pm
Protagonists Abby & Brendan (from Brick)
Our protagonist is Abby, a normal 17-year-old girl who lives a socially-deprived life. She only has one friend and yet they're not even that close. She represents the teenage, high-school-going social group. Abby is an alone protagonist, as the storyline is based around her and can only be fixed, resolved or reach an ending by her efforts only; but it is not conventional of (drama) thriller films to have their protagonist as teenagers so it was hard to find influences, but there are a few such as: Donnie Darko (2001), Brick (2005), Swinfan (2002), and The Butterfly Effect (2004).
Abby represents the teenage social group by carrying a backpack which is filled with books and carrying an art A3 folder in which are her art things; these are all typical of teenagers who attend school, but specially studious students such as her, who does not have much of a social life and only studies. These attributes are stereotypical of studious and smart teenagers like geeks, but we made this character to be this way as she is alone and doesn't have any friends, so we needed an activity that makes stay at home all the time.
She is similar to a protagonist like Brendan from Brick, as she only really has one friend and goes about solving the dilemmas of her life by herself; Brendan does this also as he discovers the mystery about his girlfriend's death by himself, with a little help from one friend, similarly to Abby. However, Abby wears bright clothes as she is different and sticks out from everyone else, unlike Brendan who wears darker, dull tones so he goes unnoticed in his high school.
Posted by
Marina
at
3/26/2010 11:48:00 am
SETTING AND LOCATION
In deciding location, we looked at thrillers and their main themes in relation to their characters; thrillers that have solitary protagonists tend to include the theme of isolation through locations and setting as well as other aspects of the production. When it came to deciding what train stations we would use, we liked the idea of a deserted, badly taken care of and open-platformed station that would translate the alienated feeling in it. We knew already of some train station in the areas we live in and chose between some which were more appropriate for the location. If you look back at the decision post about it (click here), you'll see what were the deciding factors for each stations and how we thought they would set the theme. We developed this idea of a spaced, isolated location from the opening of Brick (2005), where the protagonist is seen crouching alone in a deserted tunnel gazing at nowhere. We thought this would look visually more descriptive and would also establish the genre better, which is similar to thriller films but also challenge the conventional ideas as it establishes character more than what the rest of the production will entail.
TITLE AND FONT
For 'Hunting Innocence's title we are going to use the font '28 Days Later' found by me in the website http://www.dailyfreefonts.com/. I found this font when looking for font-types that suit film credits and film titles, and found this style which is inspired by the style of font used in the thriller film 28 Days Later (2002). Me and my partner think that this really matches the atmosphere of the happenings in the film. The 'drags' between the letters reminds us of the fast movements trains, like the ones we see in the very beginning of the opening sequence. The stark white and against the black, paired with the font, helps to set the tone of the film; edgy and shocking, aspects that should be present in a good thriller. In some ways it does take the same principles from fonts used in modern thrillers, but I thought in order to make the genre clearer to the audience it would be more appropriate to do it the same ways as most thriller films. I suppose to answer this question, this is a conventional style of thriller films so we didn't really develop from the idea as we needed it to be similar so the audience could distinguish the genre easier.
COSTUMES AND PROPS
Costumes and props are present in all films and are therefore typical film conventions; but since our opening was only going to feature one protagonist, all costumes and props were for her. In order to show Abby, our protagonist, as someone who doesn't belong and that is a bit of a loner, she is wearing a bright red coat which makes her stand-out from all the ordinary passer-bys.
CHARACTERS
The conventional introduction of characters in most media products is by the establishment of the protagonist at the beginning of a film. When the audience establishes who is the protagonist then they know that the other characters in the storyline are in relation to the storyline because of the protagonist. To establish about the protagonist however, it is done through various aspects of the film; for example in our opening since we don't have any lines we presented her loneliness through the location she was seen in. Showing protagonists in the opening of films straight away is typical of films, this can be seen in many films and it is present in one of our many influences: Brick (2005).
SPECIAL EFFECTS
For our chose genre, big special effects are rarely seen. Specially because more thrillers in general tend to have a more realistic tone to them as they are supposed to "thrill" the audience in a more realistic level. There are sub-categories to thrillers which do not need to be realistic but are still regarded as thrillers such as psychological thrillers or supernatural thrillers, for example The Forgotten (2004) . These sub-categories are the ones with more special effects because they tend to be about non-real things and storylines; but crime thrillers, such as Eastern Promises (2007) and drama thrillers (ours) have to appeal to the audience in a more realistic atmosphere in which they can relate to and recognise so they do tend to need the help of special effects.
CAMERA WORK AND EDITING
Depending on the type of thriller genre, shots and their lengths differ. It is conventional of action, supernatural, psychological and generally past-paced thrillers to have shorter and faster shots to create effective suspense for the audience's perspective. However, we challenged this convention and in order to create a more silence suspense for the audience we decided to elongate takes to leave the audience wondering what is going to come next.
THE TITLE, STORYLINE AND OPENING
Conventional drama thriller's titles really vary. There are titles which relate to something specific of the storyline such as Brick (2005) - relating to the Brick that was in fact the whole reason behind the murder of the protagonist's girlfriend, or others that relate to the storyline more as a hint rather than something that is existent which is like The Forgotten (2004) and Eastern Promises (2007). "Hunting Innocence" relates to the Abby's life as she is being hunted by her family's affair which she had no idea existed, suggesting that the innocence she helped was all that was keeping her safe and now that she knew, everything was in danger. This is much like Easter Promises' title as represents an important ideal of the storyline, rather than something we definitely know what it means such as The Forgotten - which is representative of the children no one remembers, making them the forgotten.
GENRE
We challenged what we knew of the thriller genre to create as much of its essence in our opening as we could; saddening and monotone music, duller and darker colour scale and the use of the voice-over are all aspects which are present in modern drama thrillers, and therefore the combination seemed appropriate. They are all conventional of the genres, but we challenged these attributes by increasing them up a notch since we only had about 2 minutes of film to prove the genre, so we added the elongated takes and the heart-beat in order to help the genre be even clearer.
