Main Task - Retribution

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JK/KDS

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

We set out on completing our preliminary task with very little planning - a few pictures of where we were going to be filming, the camera angles we were hoping to take and also what we were going to say. Looking back on it I could see where this lack of planning effected the task itself. This therefore showed me the vital part which quality planning would take in our final task. So I and my partner made sure that when we went out to film our final piece, we were prepared with everything which would aid us in creating the final product that we had wished for. There were three main topics which I aimed to focus on while filming to overall give us a better final product; these were time management, the technology - camera angles, lighting, sound- and also how I managed our actors. The latter was something I could not attempt to plan for until the day of filming came around, however, the other two my partner and I trialled in our reccee.


The reccee, I saw as being a huge learning curve, as we were able to establish the mistakes and plus points which we had achieved while filming. Most of the technology was fairly new to me, so by giving it a trial run in the reccee, I was then able to film the main task without holding our actors up. We were able to work out the approximate time that it would take to film our main task, and therefore, when it came to the day of filming the main task we were able to determine what time we think we would have to start filming. Next, we had to try out our camera angles, lighting and sound which we had planned for in our shot list and storyboard which we brought with us for guidance. Everything seemingly went well, and we were happy with what we had achieved for our reccee, however, when watching our recordings back we realised that our microphone had been too close to a high electrical power source and therefore gave out a loud, high-pitched screech! Fortunately, with it only being a reccee we were able to correct this for our main piece. The lighting and camera angles we had used came out nicely, and again the importance of in-depth planning was proven to be vital.


When we had shot our main task and uploaded our footage onto a Mac, I felt as though I was learning something new to do with the Final Cut Pro video editing software every day that I used it. The inability to use it would have ended up with an uncut final piece, spanning over 20 minutes and therefore, learning to use the software, which I had no experience in before this year, was one of the most important skills learnt since making the preliminary task. To be specific with new skills I have learnt on the software; starting off I had an uncut preliminary task which had to be captured for it to be uploaded onto the software, then roughly cutting the footage so we had a feeling of continuity editing in my piece. However, since then, for our main task, I have acquired many more skills and uncovered countless effects on the software to try and make my final piece as good as possible. These included having to use a "Hum Remover" effect to, not surprisingly, remove a slight hum which we had with our sound recordings, learning how to apply graphic titles over the top of our footage and also layering these same graphics using "Boris titles". Unfotunately our first sound recordings came back with a strong hum which we decided was too much and therefore, did a re-recording of the sound using digital audio recorders, this was also a new technical aspect which I had learnt since my preliminary task. Finally, for our audio tracks at the beginning of our opening and the music box track, we had to download them off "freeplaymusic.com" and then overlay them over the footage; fading them in and out using special sound effects. This was a completely new are for me and something that I had no experience in just after the completion of my preliminary task.
 JK

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

A wide range of different media and software were used in making our final piece:

Blogger.com – this was used to update and post our individual work in the planning and evaluation stages.

Freeplay music – this is an un-copyrighted website where we were able to search for particular genres and styles of music, therefore easily find sound to suit our film. We could then download it and add it on to the footage.

Google.com – a search engine used to obtain images which could be used to support our planning. It also allowed us to search the internet for films similar to ours so we could be inspired and research different production companies.

YouTube.com – this site allows you to search for videos therefore we were able to look at a variety of different film openings which then gave us ideas for our own film opening. We were also able to analyse these openings in order to see what worked well and what was less effective.

IMDb.com – the internet movie database was a really useful website for research into other films, actors, characters and production companies since it provides a huge amount of information for most films.

Tripods – these were vital when filming since they ensure the camera is held steady so the shot does not appear handheld and shaky. This means the film has a more polished and professional look. We used the tripod throughout our piece, and as the legs were adjustable we were able to film at a range of different heights and angles. The tripods also allowed us to pan, as seen in the opening shot.

Final Cut Express – this is the software we used to edit and produce our final piece. The software was extremely detailed so allowed us to cut each scene down to the perfect time. Furthermore, this software enabled us to add effects to our piece, such as a Low Pass which we added to the scene in the hall in order to make the characters’ voices sound more clear and slightly echoic which we felt helped initially to build the tension. We were also able to add titles using‘Boris’ so had a large choice of fonts which we were then able to edit and add effects to.

Apple Macintosh Computer – we used this computer to edit our film usingFinal Cut. The extra large screens meant the editing process was easier since everything could be cut down really precise.

Panasonic HD Camera – we used this to record our final piece and also for the recce footage so we were able to learn how it worked in order to get the best possible shots.

Kaiser Video Lights – we used both filler and main lights in our final piece to give a more glossy effect and help to set the tone where possible, since at the beginning we used high key lighting where as at the end it was low key as the themes in the film became darker.

Rode Stereo Microphone – this was used throughout the opening to pick up ambient and diagetic sound.

Rode Directional Microphone – we used this in conjunction with the microtrack to record the scenes with dialogue since the sound was much better quality this way.

Boom Pole – the directional mike was attached to this so it could be directed nearer to the sound being recorded in order to obtain a better quality.

Microtrack – this was an incredibly useful piece of equipment regarding sound. We firstly used it to record the music box since this sound was not available on freeplay music. We also used to microtrack to record the dialogue in some scenes so the sound was more audible.

Overall I feel I can now confidently use this equipment/software, a lot of which I had never used before. Since we both have PCs at home, it was difficult to first adjust to using mac computers, however once we learnt the basics we soon found it much easier to control and edit our piece in Final Cut.

KDS

5. How would you attract/address your audience?

We looked at a number of techniques in our planning to attract a specific audience to come and view our film opening. With our film being classified as a 15 this meant that our film is primarily going to be seen by the 15-24 age bracket. Therefore, we looked into the type of characters in our film that we believed most of the audience would be able to relate to and moreover be attracted to come and view our film. For example, having a young teenage actress playing the eldest daughter, this enabled us to attract certain people of the same age and of being given the same responsibilities from parents (looking after younger sisters). Next, our father character would have attracted a slightly elder generation of cinema-goers to come and view our opening, as they can relate to his situation of looking after children and the panic which sets in when one is kidnapped. A niche audience that we have considered for our film to attract to is that of cinema-goers who are keen on thrillers, and having looked at our results from a recent questionnaire that viewers of our film opening filled out, we were not wrong:

A key part of attracting and addressing an audience to come see a film is that of a good advertising campaign. A well known advertising technique to draw in an audience early on is teaser trailers released up to a year before the general film release. Taking into consideration the 15-24 age bracket that is our target audience, we would want trailers to be shown after the water-shed, in advert breaks of a big show (like X-factor), where the majority of our target audience will be watching. Other methods of attracting our target audience to go to the cinema and see our film, is through inviting representatives of the niche audiences to go to preview screenings of our film and in turn beginning the “word of mouth” cycle which will address a much wider audience. In my opinion, the internet plays a big part in addressing an audience as it is available worldwide and is easily accessibly. For that reason, I think creating fan pages for our film and an official film website will engage our audience and attract others to come and see the film.

Below is a bar chart showing what influences those people questionnaired to go to the cinema to see films:

Having analysed our questionnaires and looking at these two graphs, we can determine the two areas which we would focus on for addressing our target and niche audiences. Therefore, in conclusion, advertising on the television, a good set of actors to play characters which your audience can relate to, and a good campaign which draws people in to go to the cinema to see your film - varying from technologies like the internet, or old fashioned magazine/newspaper reviews. Advertising our film as a low-budget british film, but also in the same way and same places as a high-budget hollywood film will specifically address our target audience.

 JK

4. Who would be the audience for your product?

We initially planned for our target audience to be aimed at the 15-24 age group, since this is the largest age band of cinema goers therefore can ensure maximum profits. This was also the target market for films similar to ours, such asChangeling and Taken.

Due to the high levels of violence in our film, we would expect it to receive a ‘15’ certificate having examined the BBFC guidelines, which state that “Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury.” This is relevant to our film since the violence is likely to be stronger than that acceptable in a ‘12’ where it “should not dwell on detail.” A ‘15’ certificate may also attract our target audience since the certificate would suggest this film is aimed at an older audience so they are therefore more likely to see it.

In order to confirm our audience we took a survey, inviting friends and teachers of different ages and genders to give their opinions of our film.

From the surveys taken, we discovered our predictions were correct, as we largely asked people aged 15-24, 85% of whom said they would choose to see this film at the cinema. We also asked roughly the same number of people from each gender and found our film appealed to both a male and a female audience, since girls were able to relate to the teenage daughter while boys enjoy the ‘thriller’ genre.

Our research also confirmed our niche audience we thought the film might also attract, since in our questionnaire we asked whether or not they were a parent. The majority of parents questioned said they would also choose to see this film in the cinema. This therefore shows that our initial predictions were correct and therefore our film is likely to be a success since it was enjoyed by people from a variety of different age groups. 

Finally many of the questionnaires showed people could relate most to Eleanor, the teenage daughter, in the opening. This suggests she is a well-cast character as she is at a similar age to those in our target audience, aged 15-24, so she is a key character within the film. In addition, parents in our niche audience said they could relate to the Dad, therefore we provided characters which appeal to a range of audiences.

Sample questionnaires:

KDS

3. What kind of institution may distribute your media product and why?

  

 

KDS

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

The opening to our film is set in a family environment in the centre of London. We wanted our characters to fit the stereotype of a warm, loving family with kids. However, we deviated away from having a mother for the two daughters in our film, and kept it a single parent family. I believe this showed the audience the strong bond which can be formed between a father and a child when a mother is not present, because normally the mother is considered the main caregiver. Especially in this case, the two children are daughters whom would normally relate better towards their mother, but the absence of a mother makes their relationship with their father stronger. This in turn makes the struggle for the father to find his kidnapped daughter more passionate and dramatic. On the other hand, one may view fathers as being naturally worse at caring for children than mothers, and therefore when the daughter is kidnapped, the audience may view this as the father being naïve or ignorant for leaving his two young children vulnerably home alone.

We had to choose the actors to play our characters very carefully, as we wanted to make sure that the right representations were carried across to the audience. For example, for our two young actresses, we had two completely different ideas to make them seem younger and more vulnerable. The eldest daughter we tried to portray as being an angst teenager who would be disobedient towards her father’s demands and subsequently lead to the kidnapping of her younger sister. This look is similar to that portrayed by Taylor Momsen in Gossip Girl. This also encourages people of her age to come and view our film as they can relate to her actions at that age in life.




Next, we decided to choose a very young actress to play our youngest daughter so she could create this cute child image; playing with her dolls, talking to her dolls, listening to beautiful music while dressed up. This image which we wanted to be portrayed in our film is the same as that by Drew Barrymore in E.T and Abigail Breslin in Signs.

Finally, in our planning we had to decide on who would play our dad. We came up with the type of real actors that would suit the role that we wanted to be played out and came to the conclusion that someone like Jason Isaac would suit our role as being a caring father but also have the potential to be brutal, strong and forceful at the same time. This idea of the main man in the film being masculine and macho falls in line with the hard lead for men in thriller films. Nicolas Cage in Kick-Ass is a suitable example of the type of image we would like to be represented   in our film, especially as Cage also plays a father who has a 'dark' side as well. 

For cultural background and social status our family is within the bracket of middle-class and British. They live in a big house in the centre of London and later on in the film as the father’s past is revealed, we uncover a secret, spy lifestyle which pays well for him. The absence of a mother adds to the “good father” image which has been created in the opening to our film and is fast becoming more popular in today’s society. The audience will naturally feel sympathetic towards the father as he lost his wife to illness a few years before the time our film was set. It also exemplifies his heroism at the end of the film and therefore makes the ending more dramatic and interesting. I believe verisimilitude is heightened in the opening of our film because of the mundane nature and family environment of which it is set in. This will suite and interest a lot of different audiences as many find it difficult to relate to things so unrealistic or non-representative of the society we live in today. 

JK

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

Many films have inspired different aspects of the opening to our opening sequence, none more so than those in the thriller genre. We looked at a number of films to give us ideas on how successful films have used different techniques to engage and excite the audience. For example the title of our film being ‘Retribution’ in itself gives the audience a clue as to what the film is about before it’s started. This is evident in ‘Taken’, film directed by Pierre Morel which in the name of the film tells the audience that something or someone is going to be stolen. This is a technique which we wanted our film to uphold.

We also had to take into consideration the graphics that our titles would be portrayed in. After deliberation and looking at graphics of other films similar to ours, we came to the conclusion that we would like to keep the title of our film white on black. The simplicity of the title gave our low-budget film the arty look.

Where we decided to locate our film opening was a big decision as having it in a mansion in a low-budget British film would be fairly unusual. Therefore, we decided to film our opening in a typical London house, which is also a fondly used in other British films such as Shifty. I believe the choice of location helps others to relate to the characters and to the area, as it is likely to be similar to their lifestyle.

The costumes that we had our actors wearing also tried to resemble a stereotypical, cosy family environment; with the Dad wearing jeans and a jacket which is probably considered bog-standard. For the girls, we had to make sure that the audience would be able to sympathise with both the elder daughter and younger daughter. We did this by making the youngest daughter look cute and vulnerable, which then makes it more shocking for the audience when she is kidnapped. Then regarding the eldest daughter, we wanted her to seem angst and moody like other teenagers, and therefore signifying her lack of care for her sister. This idea of setting a character up to look vulnerable, so that the audience makes an immediate attachment to them, can be seen in ‘Man on Fire’ with Dakota Fanning dressed innocently to make the audience sympathise and support her as she escapes kidnappers. Altogether, the simplicity and everyday feel of the beginning of our film, helps add to the tension and drama with the girl being kidnapped.

The beginning shots of our opening are to establish the setting, characters and the situation in which our opening start. The opening is mundane and shows no obvious signs of anything untoward happening. Having only had 2 minutes for our opening, we had to establish a way in which to unnerve the audience and make them feel uncomfortable. The first shot that we used to disturb the audience was a point of view shot from a bush; these point of view shots are used commonly in psychological thrillers to make the audience feel as though someone is watching secretly who shouldn’t be.

The non-diegetic sound that we use in our opening also adds to a slightly uncomfortable situation for the audience. First of all, the music box playing an eerie, mysterious, high pitched children’s lullaby heightens the tension and confuses the audience, as it continues to play when the Dad goes to shop, I believe this foreshadows to the audience a build to an event, inside this opening 2 minutes. This tense, eerie music being overlaid our shots is taken from films such as Paranormal Activity where the sound builds up to a climax, until it jumps and has the audience jump.

 A number of things which we set out to do were changed having seen them back in our reccee. For instance, we had first planned to make our film a hard-hitting thriller which would later unravel and become quite violent, like that in the film Taken. This would also include making our titles bold, strong and large. However, our film has turned out to be rather something quite different, swaying more towards the psychological side, with our titles, sound and shots.

For all parents, the kidnapping of a child is a nightmare which they hope they will never have to face in their real lives. However, for some parents, it has become stark reality when their child is stolen and can ruin their lives. Hopefully, our take on the kidnapping of a child will show our audience, the effect it has on the parents, but also the strength and determinist view of a parent to get their child back. This strong bond between parent and offspring can be seen in Taken and Hostage. 

JK

Shot list

Number	Cut	Type	Visual Content	Sound	Colour	Time	Characters
1	-	-	White on Black title – ‘Retribution’	SoundBridge – Fridge door opening.	Black	4	-
2		Mid-long shot.	Dad opening Fridge realising no milk. Actors’ names come up in contrast to colours on walls – small writing.	Diegetic	High key – inside.	6	Dad
3	Pan to the right	Mid-long shot.	Follows Dad until he talks to daughter playing with dolls.	Dialogue – ‘Sweetie I’m just popping out alright. I’ll be back soon.’	High key	6	Dad and Sophie (Youngest daughter)
4	Pans back to the left	Mid-long shot	Follows Dad as he walks through door.	Diegetic – footsteps, Dialogue – calls to Jess	High key	4	Dad
5	Straight Cut/Continuity Editing	Mid shot.	Shot down the corridor, with Dad central. Stairs going up on the right.	Diegetic - footsteps	High Key – Light coloured walls.	3	Dad
6	Pan upwards	Mid-long shot	Jess appears at bottom of stairs with headphones in. Dad looking up to her.	Diegetic	High Key	2	Dad and Jess (Eldest daughter)
7	Straight Cut	Close up on Jess’ face	Jess’ face – reveals identity and type of character. Teenage angst looks.	Dialogue – ‘Yeah, what’s up?’ Diegetic sounds coming out of Jess’ headphones	High Key	4	Jess
8	Shot/Reverse shot	Close up on Dad’s face	Dad’s face – reveals his identity and type of character. Middle aged. Smart Casual clothing	Dialogue – ‘I’m just quickly going to the shops. Keep an eye on your sister, ok?’	High Key	5	Dad
9	Shot/Reverse shot	Close up on Jess’ face.	Jess’ face	Dialogue – ‘Yes Dad.’	High Key	3	Jess
10	Shot/Reverse shot	Over the shoulder shot	Jess’ shoulder and Dad’s face as he turns away to leave house.	Diegetic – footsteps	High Key	3	Jess and Dad
11	Straight Cut/Continuity Editing	Mid-Long shot down corridor	Dad walks down corridor to front door and opens and leaves.	Diegetic	High Key	4	Dad
12	Straight Cut	ECU	Outside house showing Dad clearly shuts door.	Door slams shut, diegetic sounds outside.	Dusk, eerie.	3	Dad
13	Straight Cut	Mid shot	Sophie playing with dolls, she gets up and walks over to something.	Very quiet	High Key	4	Sophie
14	Straight Cut/Continuity editing	Close Up	Sophie winds up music box	Sound of her winding box	High Key	5	Sophie
15	Continuity editing	Extreme Close up	Music box opens, ballerina spins around	Music box begins to play – ‘Love Story’	High Key	3	-
16	Cross cut	POV shot out of bush. Zooms in as Dad walks away.	Dad walks down street away from camera	Diegetic – sounds of dusk – cars, birds etc ‘Love Story’ continues to play	Dusk, dark lighting.	4	Dad
17	Straight cut	Long shot	‘Cosy Corner’ shop, Dad comes into shot and walks up to door of shop	Diegetic – outside atmosphere. ‘Love Story’	Dusk	5	Dad
18	Cross cut	Mid shot	Sophie playing with dolls, looking cheerful.	‘Love Story’ continues.	High Key	5	Sophie
19	Cross Cut	Mid-long shot inside shop	Dad walks up to fridge picks up milk and goes to the counter.	‘Love Story’ continues	High Key inside shop	5	Dad and cashier
20	Straight Cut	Close up	Cashiers face	Dialogue – ‘ That’s £2.50’	High Key	4	Cashier
21	Shot/Reverse shot	Close up	Dad’s face, looking down at money. Looks up at the end as he leaves.	Dialogue – ‘There you go, thanks’	High Key	5	Dad
22	Cross Cut	Mid shot	Sophie still playing with dolls	‘Love Story’ continues.	High Key	4	Sophie
23	Cross Cut	Mid-long shot	Dad at the door of Cosy Corner leaving, with two shopping bags	Love Story suddenly cuts out and the silence returns.	Low key - Dusk	5	Dad
24	Cross Cut	Mid shot. Zooms in on	Room where Sophie was, the dolls are still there and the music box is open, but the music isn’t playing and Sophie isn’t there.	Silence	High Key	6	-
25	Cross Cut	Mid Shot	Dad walking down street as he walks up to his door with shopping bags	Diegetic	Dusk	5	Dad
26	Straight Cut/continuity editing	Long shot	Front Door is ajar. Dad walks into shot carrying shopping	Diegetic	Dusk	3	Dad
27	Straight Cut	Close up	Dad’s face looking shocked and worried	Diegetic	Dusk	2	Dad
28	Straight Cut	Close up	Dad dropping his shopping bags	Diegetic	Dusk	2	Dad
29	Straight Cut	Mid shot	Dad puts his hand into his jacket, pulls out a gun and walks up to the door	Diegetic	Dusk	3	Dad
30	Straight Cut	Close Up	Dad opens the ajar door with the gun	Diegetic	Dusk	3	Dad

This shotlist came in handy when we went out to shoot our reccee and our final piece. We used it as reference on what shots we planned to take and also how long we aimed for them to last. This enabled us to keep well within our time targets and also meant that we weren't holding our actors up.  Without it, it would have been extremely difficult to complete the final product that we had planned for.

JK