Final Cut

Evaluation

Evaluation

Our Media project is called 'Pure Skin' the movie is a psychological thriller movie about a young man finding about his past and will reveal a whole lot of mysteries along the way. We recorded the whole opening scene in one building; we thought it would be easier to do and also we wanted to keep it simple but good.

For the evaluation I used a website called 'WixSite' this website allowed me to create a blog- like type for my evaluation, it was easy and simple to use and had all the features to allow me to create my evaluation. I did have some difficulties in the beginning when i was typing, sometimes the words wouldn't show and this caused my work to be delayed as i was trying to solve the issue. After the issue was solved everything went back to normal and i went on and did the evaluation.

The link to the website where the Evaluation is: https://kadirdanny10.wixsite.com/website

BBFC Ratings

The British board of film classification (BBFC) is an independent, non-government body, which classifies movies, videos and computer games. The classifications range between 'U' meaning it is suitable for audiences of all ages and over and '18' meaning suitable only for adults. The British Board of Film Classification is an independent, non-governmental body, which has classified cinema films since it was set up in 1912, and videos since the passing of the Video Recordings Act in 1984.  The BBFC regulate which movies and videos are open to the public and which of those are available to be viewed by different ages. There are 7 different types of age classifications and these are for certain ages, here are the age classifications; U- suitable for everyone, PG- Should not disturb a child aged around eight or older. However, parents are advised to consider whether the content may upset younger or more sensitive children, 12 or older- May contain scenes that could upset or disturb viewers younger than 12, 12A- Relates only to cinema films suggesting anyone under the age of 12 may be allowed access if accompanied by an adult, 15 and over- Suitable only for those aged 15 and over, 18- suitable only for adults and R18- to be shown only in specially licensed cinemas, or supplied only in licensed sex shops, and to adults of not less than 18 years.

The areas that are considered when classifying films and videos are Discrimination, Drugs, Horror, Imitable behavior, Language, Nudity, Sex, Theme  and violence, these are the things that consider the age restrictions for the movies.

Analysis of Responses

Analysis Of Responses

The first question we asked the public was the sub- genre they prefer. Their options were spy, Drama, Psychological and action. As you can see by the image below out of the 7 votes, psychological got 5 while spy and action got 1 each leaving drama with no votes. This information helps us to give us an idea on which sub-genre to use. Now we know that people prefer psychological over the other sub-genres. We can also see that drama is the least liked sub-genre, so we wont be using that.

We then asked if the audience would prefer a detailed story line with a realistic plot or detailed fight scenes focused on action. Detailed story line with a realistic plot got 100% of the votes.

Detailed fight scenes focused more on action got 0 votes, this clearly shows us that no one from the target audience is interested in this.

Question 3 is a basic and general question. we asked the audience what their favorite film is. For this question we did not give people a choice, we allowed them to write what they wanted, this is so we can see what type of movies people participating in the movie watch and so we can get an idea on the themes and genre.

Question 4 is also similar to question 3, we asked the audience another general question but this time its their favorite film actor/actress. This is so we can get an idea on who should be participating in our opening scene and is to also see who people like the most as actor/actress.

Question 5 was a list of questions about which director people find he/she creates the good thriller movies. We thought that people might not know a lot of directors that produce good thriller movies, so we gave them 4 directors and an other option. As you can see below Roman Polanski got the most votes(5) followed by Alfred Hitchcock(1) and other (1) the rest got 0 votes.

So we can get an idea on what our opening scene should include and look like we asked the audience on what they expect to see in the opening scene of a thriller. We had our own ideas on what the opening scene should look like and because we don't have much resources as our budget don't reach, so we gave them 4 options which were; Murder/death, family gathering/Main characters time with family, Establishing shots, Flashback/Forward. Murder/Death got the most votes (5) followed by joint second, family gathering/ Main characters time with family and Flashback/Forward, they each got 1 vote. Establishing shots got 0 vote meaning no one wants to see an establishing shot in the opening scene, as a result we wont be doing that.

we had to make sure that people preferred the genre thriller because we was not planning on making a opening scene of a genre that people did not prefer.Our second to last question was if people preferred the genre thriller. It seems like most people agree with the genre thriller as 71% of the votes voted yes for thriller while 29% seemed to disagree.as you can see 5 out of 7 voted yes, while the rest voted no.

 

 

For our final question we asked a general question, which was "how old are you?" we did this to see what type of age group has been participating in our survey and so we can see what age group will prefer this movie so we can make it more relatable to them. The majority was aged 13-19 (71.43%) under 12 and 20-25 are both tied at 14.29% while the rest got no votes.

5 brief analysis

1.Jaws(1975)

Jaws is mystery/ drama movie about a great white shark that arrives on the beaches of New England and starts causing mayhem.It is linear and chronological in nature, meaning the events seem to happen in logical order for the audience. Furthermore the opening of Jaws appears to set the direction and tone that the film is going to take. Indeed, the aim of any filmmaker is to draw an audience into their work and Spielberg achieves such a feat by providing a ‘hook’ during the film’s opening scene. Specifically, this is achieved in two ways – through the sense of menace present in the opening titles as well as through the initial shark attack by the means of an unfortunate young student swimming at night. 

The opening titles begin with an underwater camera lurking underneath the water, indeed trying to take on the persona of a shark itself. This is complemented by John Williams eerie and now well-known Jaws theme, suggesting to the audience the deceptiveness and danger of what is beneath the surface. The titles end just before the music approaches it peak, creating suspense and anticipation for the audience as to what will appear later in the film. 

Saving Private Ryan(1998)

The story begins with an elderly man called James Francis Ryan recalling a time during World War II when a squad of United States Army Rangers, led by Captain John Miller and Sergeant Horvath , is ordered to locate him to ultimately send him home because he was now the only remaining son of four. all three of his brothers were killed in battle. His memory starts with the Rangers landing on Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion of World War II, and follows them as they seek to locate him, the soldier, Private James Francis Ryan.

From the first scene of the film that presents the story, the audience is thrust into the horrors of war. The scene presents the United States’ invasion force making its way via landing craft to the guarded shore of the Normandy coast during World War II. The scene begins with an introduction to the time and place that the event occurs, and then depicts the journey the soldiers must endure to step foot on solid ground while plans to repel them are in full swing by the Germans.

Psycho(1960)

The film begins starring a blonde woman, who has been in many horror/thriller films, she is famous for the fact that she is always most likely to become the first victim. The murders take place at night, when it's dark and it's raining just like any other horror movie. The string music in the beginning is very fast paced and jerky this helps to set the scene and create the feeling of unease within the audience. The action all takes place in a lonely out of the way location in the middle of nowhere. It's far from the city in a quiet area where nobody would hear anything suspicious because you don't have many neighbours and the ones there live far off.

 The beginning is one long panning of the establishing shot with no cuts then a very sudden cut, jerking. It lulls the reader into a false sense of security expecting further panning then ripping them away to a new sight, interrupting the fluidity and reflecting the state of Norman bates mind. There is a close up high angle shot of the open window, zooming in, which gives it an intense and mysterious feeling.

                                      The Godfather (1972)

The movie begins with a black screen with music playing, the title of the movie is then slowly revealed on top of the black screen. The only colours used up to this point are black and white, which fits with the slow paced calm opening. For the next three minutes of the film there is one shot from the same angle zooming out from a close up of a man’s face to an over the shoulder shot of another man, not yet revealed as the godfather. This reveal while the first man is telling a story of her daughter being mistreated makes it obvious that he is trying to get help from the godfather – who is already suggested to be an important and powerful figure through this man begging him for help.

There is no music throughout this whole scene after the title and as a result the scene is very quiet. This is suggesting that they do not want anyone to hear, adding to the secrecy of the scene. The godfather is in shadow at this point, demonstrating the mysterious nature of his character. The lighting being low key at this point, creating many shadows fitting with the theme of crime throughout this film – this man clearly has a lot to hide.

The Matrix

The genre for The Matrix is an action sci-fi. This idea is formed through the fact that in the opening sequence they use a varity of genre codes to help the viewer understand what they are watching. In the opening sequence we see multiple main characters such as Trinity and the main agent Mr Smith. Even though we only see these characters for a brief period of time they both build up a strong representation in the viewers head. Trinity is known to be very strong, but is also afraid of the agents. Where as Mr Smith is shown to be unafraid of anything and knows what to do and how to do it. these two characters completely juxtapose each other because one is fighting to survive while the other is there hunting them down.
The narrative to this opening sequence is, that the hero Trinity has been searching or someone bu then in turn get found by the villains who are known as the agents and the hero has to escape. this starts to build on the idea that it is a very one sided fight because the hero is unable to kill any of the agents but the agents can kill her.

Indepth Product research analysis

Black Swan

BLACK SWAN follows the story of a ballerina, named Nina. in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her retired ballerina mother who supports her daughter. When artistic director Thomas Leroy decides to replace the prima ballerina for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. 

But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily, who impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side with a recklessness that threatens to destroy her.

Camera:

Throughout the film Black Swan, movie director Darren Arnonfsky employs a large array camera movement and visual techniques to convey his ideas and themes. Throughout the film of Black Swan hand-held camera shots are frequently used. This is evident in the opening scene of the film, conveying the theme of good versus evil. Extreme close-up shots are used throughout the film and there are many examples of close-up shots and extreme close-up shots, Overhead shots are commonly used by Aronofsky. Aronofsky uses an array of different types of camera movement and shots to convey themes in the film. in specific, the overhead shot is key in developing the viewers understanding of the theme of seeking perfection.

Sound:

Black swan used Diegetic sound meaning, sounds in the film that were not recorded live at the time are played over instead of the live sound. Non-Diegetic sound also participated in the making of black swan, this is were sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action. The effect of music has been used effectively in the night club scene. the beat tempo and song choice, emphasise how wild Nina's actions and way of life have become. The scene displays to the audience how out of control Nina is, which is why she consumes alcohol and drugs.

Mise-En-Scene:

The shift from the White Swan to the Black Swan was a success because of the exquisite costumes which truly represented angelic and demonic birds. The colour and design of the two dresses Nina wears during the final dance, have a huge impact on the power of the scene. The white dress which is covered with beautiful white feathers and small crystals demonstrate the innocence of the character while the black dress covered with long pointy black feathers and volume creates mystery and darkness. 

The make-up also identifies which swan Nina is trying to interpret. The light and glowing make-up during the White Swan performance shows how angelic and fragile she is while the strong and dramatic dark make-up during the Black Swan depicts power and evilness. Without make-up and costumes, the shift between the two swans would not be as powerful and the setting during the show would have no more meaning. 

Black swan has Three point lighting, highkey lighting, lowkey lighting.  For example, for the three point lighting, when Nina is in front of a mirror there is a reflection this emphasises the duality of Nina transforming between two different roles in the same ballet production, hence showing the audience that Nina has a split personality which gradually alters from white to black; of her accomplished role as the black swan. In one of the scenes the technique is exposed by Nina looking away or blocking out the white light, which show her change of attention towards the dark side. this contrasts with her transition between good and evil throughout the film.

Editing:

Continuity editing is used in the scene in order to give it a sense of reality and progression. The film follows a linear narrative in order to give this same effect.Additionally, juxtaposition is used by placing the antagonist and Nina together, contrasting their costumes and creating an effect of a clash between light and dark. Very few cuts are made in the scene, meaning for the most part that the camera moves continuously with the characters, creating a sense that the audience is moving with them as well.This also helps to keep the flow of the dancing without interrupting abruptly (the scene only cuts when the dancing is finished or is slowing down

Focus Group

                                        Focus Group

A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging.

The group we asked questions were mostly teenagers.We assumed that our main audience would be people from the age range of 13-19 year old, also because that is what was the most popular answer in our questionnaire.Thriller has become a popular genre for teenagers; they find it exciting and suspenseful. We have all decided that the regional identity for our movie will be urban city. Our movie is about mental illness which is not limited by regional identities.As a result this will not exclude people from other regions. Our focus group will consist of people from different age groups. This will allow us to have a wider perspective on the genre of thriller.

Draft Survey

Draft Survey

For our draft survey we came up with eight questions to ask the public. We came up with these specific questions to get an idea of what our opening scene should include and what people would enjoy seeing more. Here are our eight questions:

1)What sub-genre do you prefer with the thriller genre?

2)Would you rather have an detailed story line with a realistic plot or detailed fight scenes focused on action?

3)What is your favourite film?

4)Who is your favourite actor/actress?

5)Which director in your opinion creates good thriller movies?

6)What do you expect in the opening scene of a thriller?

7)Is thriller your preferred genre?

8)How old are you?

These questions will help us figure out what the audience want to see and will also improve our ideas on the movie we will be producing in the future. Certain questions, like "how old are you?" is to see what the average age is of our audience, as a result it can allow us to either produce something that might be PG or other age restrictions.

All of these questions contribute to the final project that we are going to be doing as a group.