When we showed our presentation and spoke about our 3 main ideas, we were keen to get feedback from other members of our class. We asked which idea they thought was the best and why they liked it. We got positive responses and discovered after peer review that idea 1 (the airfield) would be very challenging. Not only would we need to get hold of expensive outdated outfits to fit in with the idea, we thought that the modern tractors and machinery in the background would ruin the mise en scene of the film and leave the opening looking unprofessional and rushed. Without managing to make idea 1 successful, we decided that this was a definate no go and considered it a creative idea but unpractical for our time scale and resources.
Idea 2 and 3 both came back with very positive feedback. People found the ideas to be different, outgoing, and something they'd be interested in watching themselves. This seemed very promising to us as our film is intended for the age group 15+, and so our class fitted perfectly into this. However i did hav a slight worry that a hostage thriller opening (idea 2) was very cliche and had been done many times before and not worked out to peoples advantage. However if we were able to pull this idea off, it could work out very well and be an effective opening.
Idea 3 would have involved a girl being drowned due to her fathers religious views. We intended to make this water scene as dramatic as the shower scene in psycho. However the feedback from our teacher was that not only would this be extremely challenging to make it look good without high level equipment but people who have used a bathroom in their house before when filming their media, their class mates commented more about their modern bathroom than the event taking place in the film. We wanted to avoid taking the seriousness away from the storyline and keep it as realistic and engripping as possible to watch. We ran this idea by our class and everyone seemed to agree that this would be better for the film as they'd want to make an emotional connection and not be distracted.
After considering the points raised by other members of our class, we sat down and discussed the possibility of merging idea 2 and 3 together and seeing whether we could make a new story including elements of both ideas.
We went through everything and came up with a story line we found to be fitting, challenging but yet doable! We started on making a story board which included all of the qualities we want our opening to have, it needed tlo be very detailed and include everything from camera shots to lighting and costume in order to work to the best of our groups ability on the day, we had to stay organised!
Hannah - this is progressing well - still some areas to develop / cover to ensure that you maximise your marks. Over Xmas post:
ReplyDelete Post research and summaries of the thriller genre
Post summary of conventions for opening of a film – re: camera, editing, narrative, mise-en-scene, sound, etc
Post still images and comment on the suitability of mise-en-scene elements for a thriller – e.g. settings, costumes, props, etc
analyse audience research results – post copies of questionnaires and results on blog
Explain how your audience research will affect your production
Record your target audience’s reactions to your pitches
Explain the rationale behind the idea you have chosen to develop into the finished product; concentrate on justifying your choices in terms of your audience research and knowledge of the conventions of the thriller genre.
Write a 250 word treatment, outlining your proposals for your opening.
Post copies of storyboards
Post and explain images to justify mise-en-scene details
You should refer to your audience research in order to justify your planning and ideas.
Record details of how the shoot / editing went – things that went well / problems + how you overcame them etc.