Filming 2nd location

Thursday 17th december was when we filmed our party scene, at Sams house. We filmed many clips such as pouring drinks, drinking, eating, talking, laughing, dancing, stumbling and other such clips. Sam and Lucy were the only members of the group to attend the party scene, therefore the whole scene was shot from the protagonist characters point of view. Other people who acted at the party scene were Alicia Walker, Ralph Lambert, Becky Tolmie, Chloe Roberts, Alex Williams and Charlotte McMahon. Sam McMahon played the part of the villain or attacker, however his face is not shown to leave the audience wondering who the attacker was.

In this party scene the camera was held free-hand so it looked like it was the protagonist characters POV. Therefore when the character was pushed to the ground, the camera was held by the actor who played the victim.

Filming 1st location

On the 13th December we filmed our shots for our first location. This first location was filmed in a rural area, near a small river and footpath bridge. Saliah Idris was the only actress in this section of our opening sequence, as she plays the character who wakes up in the middle of the field.

We used many different types of shot when filming at this location, such as Extreme High Angle Shots, Long Shots, Medium Shots, Low Angle Shots, Zoom Shots and Close-up shots. We used these various shots to try and establish to the audience the location the character has found herself in, a secluded rural area with no-one to be found for miles around.

Risk Assesment for filming

Feedback

Okay, this blog is quite well developed now, so we really need to get that footage to create a product that matches the research and planning! However, there are a few minor things to work on:

• go back over the early analysis of opening sequences etc and ensure that all have a comment at the end that clarifies what you have learnt/ can copy as a result of looking at what works well...
• cast list - add some cast shots and comment on why the people chosen suit there role
• location shots - these look good, so add some comment to this post about why you have chosen this location - why it suits what you are trying to achieve
• the reflection on the box office stats - I agree with the disadvantage of using a popular genre but what do you try and do to overcome this - can you define what your USP is?
• audience section - not sure I agree with your claim that thrillers are generally enjoyed by all - whilst both genders can enjoy them, often they are more of a male thing? For each of your audience segmentation reflections, can you add comment on what aspects you will use in your film that will appeal to these sectors? You could end this section by commenting on whether it is mainstream or niche and why you want to target just such an audience....

As well as tweaking these details in your own time, make sure you have chosen your music - there is a list of sites in your booklet and Rachel has some CDs of copyright free music....

Please get your footage asap and start editing, so we can see where we are....

Mrs Doggart

Our chosen Times/Dates

We have now decided on the dates we are going to film on. Due to the good weather forecast for the upcoming days, we have decided to film our first location shots this weekend, as hopefully the field will have begun to dry out from the heavy rain we have had over the past few weeks. This will be on Sunday 13th December. The only actress needed for this location is Saliah Idris. Lucy and Sam will be filming and organising this part of the filming.

For our second location, we are filming in Sam McMahon's house in Brockhall Village, this is where the party scene will take place. We are filming this on Thursday 17th December. The actors/actresses included in this location are Saliah Idris, Lucy Gillett, Sam McMahon, Ralph Lambert, Christina Calver, Alicia Walker, Becky Tolmie, Liam Kinney, Alex Williams and Taylor Barnes. Sam, Saliah and Lucy will take turns in filming this section.

Target Audience for our film

With the help of our questionnaire and the film research, as well as the box office figures, we decided to base our target audience on teenagers around the age of 15. We have used the following to decide this:

Gender: We have decided that this type of segmentation in our target audience is not relevant to our thriller film, as we feel that both genders like films of the thriller genre. However some genres such as action, romance and horror have gender segmentations, as more females watch certain genres than males, and vice versa.

Race: This is another type of segmentation which does not matter in the target audience for our film, as we fee that any race will like the genre of thriller. There are some types of films, such as the ones produced by Bollywood, whos target audience is mostly a certain race, Indian.

Age: This type of segmentation is probably the only target audience segmentation that applies to our genre and opening sequence. From our research on thriller films, our questionnaire and research on box office films we have decided to give our film a certificate of 15, as all our research shows that this is the appropriate certificate for a thriller film.

Socio-economic Status: We do not feel that a certain group of people, segmented on their socio-economic status are more likely to watch our film. However due to our storyline evolving around teenagers, the subsidence group might be more likely to be are main target audience as the majority of teenagers above the age of 15 are included in this segment.

Location Photographs

These are the pictures from the first location we have chosen, which is where the protagonist character will be found, attacked and injured. However if we are unable to film at this location due to heavy rain, then we will film at our other location:

These are the location photgraphs for our second location, which is the party scene, set in Sam McMahon's kitchen:

Comments on our Box Office Figures

After researching the Box Office Figures for the top 20 films of all time, we have realised that many of the films are of the thriller genre, which means that this is a very popular genre. This is significant to us as a group as we have chosen this genre for our opening sequence. With this important research we now know that we have successfully chosen the correct genre for our film, which means that if our film was being released by the companies we have chosen (The Recorded Picture Company and Contender Films), it stands a good chance of being a popular film, due to its genre. However on the other hand, as the genre of thriller is so popular most film stories and plots have probably been copied and repeated, this is a disadvantage to us as there has probably been an opening sequence to a film much like ours, however we do not know of any. If we were releasing this film into the film industry then we would have lots of competition, releasing a thriller film. This is due to the fact that many of the popular and award winning films are thrillers such as Harry Potter films, and the Lord of the Rings.

Feedback

I can see how some of this is shaping up but can you make sure you go back over old feedback posts and ensure you have followed up on my advice??? It will make your blog a better place!

To add :

• section on box office - add why this is significant for your film? why is it important to make a film whose genre is important? can you think of any drawbacks to making a genre that has been so popular for so long and can you overcome any problems this brings?
• audience - have you defined the audience using GRASS and considered what you can do to your opening sequence to ensure that it appeals to this group?

Planning is starting to be evidenced - can you look over the lists and see what is outstanding? You must try and get as much on your blog this week as possible and make every effort to get your footage, so you can start editing!

Mrs Doggart

Box Office Figures

We have researched the top 20 films of all time using the the IMBd website.

1.	Titanic (1997)	$1,835,300,000
2.	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)	$1,129,219,252
3.	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)	$1,060,332,628
4.	The Dark Knight (2008)	$1,001,921,825
5.	Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)	$968,657,891
6.	Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)	$958,404,152
7.	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)	$937,000,866
8.	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)	$925,920,409
9.	Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)	$922,379,000
10.	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)	$921,600,000
11.	Jurassic Park (1993)	$919,700,000
12.	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)	$892,194,397
13.	Spider-Man 3 (2007)	$885,430,303
14.	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)	$882,673,705
15.	Shrek 2 (2004)	$880,871,036
16.	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)	$866,300,000
17.	Finding Nemo (2003)	$865,000,000
18.	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)	$860,700,000
19.	Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)	$848,462,555
20.	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)	$832,076,689

From reasearching the top 20 films of all time we have found that many of the films above are of the thriller genre, such as the Harry Potter films, Star Wars film, Batman, Pirates of the Caribbean and Transformers. We have also researched the top 20 thriller films, which are shown below:

1.	9.2	The Godfather (1972)	373,254
2.	9.0	The Godfather: Part II (1974)	219,083
3.	8.9	Pulp Fiction (1994)	374,281
4.	8.8	The Dark Knight (2008)	405,336
5.	8.7	Rear Window (1954)	107,330
6.	8.7	Fight Club (1999)	340,185
7.	8.7	Psycho (1960)	129,519
8.	8.7	The Usual Suspects (1995)	243,784
9.	8.7	The Silence of the Lambs (1991)	221,312
10.	8.6	The Matrix (1999)	344,582
11.	8.6	North by Northwest (1959)	84,788
12.	8.6	Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)	144,131
13.	8.6	Memento (2000)	243,112
14.	8.6	Se7en (1995)	248,208
15.	8.6	El secreto de sus ojos (2009)	1,770
16.	8.6	Léon (1994)	176,733
17.	8.6	Taxi Driver (1976)	139,173
18.	8.6	Vertigo (1958)	82,983
19.	8.6	Double Indemnity (1944)	33,327
20.	8.5	M (1931)	35,815

Alternative first location (field)

If the location for our opening sequence (in the field), is too wet due to heavy rain, we have thought of an alternative location. This will be an old, abandonned barn which is near the location. We have chosen this as an alternative location just incase we are unable to use our original location, as the barn we have found has a roof and walls, which will shelter us from the rain and other weather conditions. However we will hopefully not have to change our other location, which is a party scene filmed in Lucy Gillett's house.

Our chosen actors/actresses for our film

FIELD:
Saliah Idris*

PARTY:
Sam McMahon*
Lucy Gillett*
Saliah Idris*
Ralph Lambert
Christina Calver
Alicia Walker
Alex Williams
Chloe Roberts
Taylor Barnes
Becky Tolmie
Charlotte McMahon

*members of our group

PHOTOS NEED TO BE ADDED

Feedback

This is beginning to shape up - at last!

A few suggestions:

• add either some clips or images from films to illustrate your comments
• for each opening sequence, consider how character is established - do the makers create easily recognised stereotypes? if so, how? how do we know who the hero is/ who we are meant to favour?
• how does each opening sequence signal genre?
• narrative - how does each opening sequence construct its narrative - think Todorov?
• Saw clip -needs analysis
• Casino Royale clip - needs reflection at end - what can you learn from these clips and possibly use in your sequence?
• Audience Research - add your reflection - what can you learn from these to incorporate in your product? Define your audience using GRASS and comment on how you will craft your opening to appeal to these groups?
• Thriller OPenings - add reflection on how your sequence will respond to theses conventions - will it follow them? follow most? add something new? offer some reasoning why.
• Thriller Conventions - remember that one of the key narrative expectations is that they continually offer us surprises and twists we don't expect; think through iconography in more detail. What about expectations of media language? what about ;locations? Don't forget to look over the work we did in the blue booklet on this?
• Institutions - need to add why you have made this choice of institutional decision...
• Titles- possibly add what details are shown in the titles and, if names etc appear, when an image is onscreen what kind of space are they located in???

This may look like a lot but it is mainly small additions here and there and will add depth and weight to your work. Having done this, I think it will be a case of mission accomplished on this front!

Mrs Doggart