Jennifer Adams 1100Claremont Fan Court School 64680

OCR Media Studies J526B324 Production Portfolio in Media Studies

Video Brief 7: opening sequence from a new thriller with storyboardI worked in a group of three with Amber Saville

and Charlie AtkinsonI took specific responsibility for filming most

scenes. I did a large amount of editing for each scene. My group split up everything quite equally so that we could do each job at some point in the process; this helped us work efficiently together as a team. I took specific responsibility for directing and researching.

We made a thriller film opening entitled Blood Ivory

The genre of our film is thriller mysteryWe used software such as iMovie an After Effects.

Research into similar films openings We looked at the opening of Don’t Look Now which

was helpful in the perspective of showing a range of camera angles and shots. It creates tension which we planned to accomplish in our own film opening.

In Les Bleus de Ramville it is clearly shown that the film is about some type of hockey team and is linked to sport. By watching this, we saw many cutaway shots which gave use the inspiration to use them in our own sequence.

I looked at the opening on Delicatessen. It is a thriller about a butcher. The audience almost feel as though they are being moved around with the panning of the filming. The panning shot covers different areas of the table in different directions and camera movements. The camera focuses on lots of different objects and does close up on some areas. The editing has produced a sepia tone which suggests that it is set in a older time period. We watched this as we wanted to use a panning shot of ivory newspaper articles and this gave us more inspiration.

My group also looked at Love Actually because it was filmed in an airport similarly to ours. It also used a voice over which we ended up doing as well. We see lots of different people in the airport the voice of famous Hugh Grant is used for the voice over. The effectiveness of the voice over in this, is what helped us decide we definitely wanted to use one.

Our Target Audience

Audience profile: our target audience is likely to be both genders aged 20 and over. We have used a topic which would only appeal to an older audience. The issue of Ivory is unlikely to appeal to a younger audience. We have still ensured that is a thriller however it is more factual and relates the recent news.

They are likely to have seen these films recently: Skyfall (2012), Taken 2012), Looper(2012) and Inception (2010). These films all include action scenes as well as thriller story lines.

They are likely to go to the cinema once or twice a month as well as see films on DVD and downloads on their computers. They would go to see films of the thriller and action genre.

Audience figures show how popular the thriller /horror /action genre is. Box office returns for films similar to mine show the following figures (source Box Office Mojo): Shutter Island ($294,803,014); Taken 2 ($139, 854, 287) and Zero Dark Thirty ($95, 440, 195)

The forms and conventions used in our film Opening TitlesWe did not want to overcrowd our film sequence with writing and so we used three

titles. However we did also use two to explain who the characters are played by. Mise-en-scene (locations)We used a variety of mise-en scene during our film opening. The first scene was set

in a dressing room. There is a panning shot across the dressing table as we see several ivory objects and the woman writing a letter.

The second scene is in Heathrow Airport. We used this location to portray the woman’s job. It creates an authentic and realistic atmosphere.

The third scene is in an alley way in Molsey. This created a suspicious atmosphere.The next mise-en scene is set in a kitchen. It depicts the idea of the woman being at

home in a calm atmosphere. During this scene suspense is created as the radio message is played.

The last scene is set in the dressing room again. The difference is, the woman is not there and the man (Matthew) seen previously is now there.

CostumesWe had to buy several new clothing items to create realistic characters. We

purchased a luminous jacket and security sticker. This helped make the woman look much more like security. She also had to wear a white shirt with black trousers.

The man in the opening sequence had to wear a smart suit and shirt. It was important that he looked like a business man but also looked casual.

Forms and conventions (continued) SoundThe majority of our soundtrack is just music. However we have also included a

voiceover which is supposed to be a news report on the radio talking about the negative impact on buying ivory. Whilst this is being played, you see the shocked look on the security woman’s face as she realizes what she has done.

MusicThe music that we chose uses percussion and string instruments. To begin the use

of violins creates a mournful sound, which lets the audience know that it is a sad film. The music creates a sense of innocence. The music gets stronger and louder as the sequence continues letting the audience know that the woman is not as innocent as she first appeared.

AtmosphereA tense atmosphere is created with the use of music. It works well with the filming

and gets faster and stronger in areas which creates tension. SUSPENSESuspense is shown during the scene in the alley way. The audience may not be

clear on what is happening however they will know it is something suspicious. Suspense is created as it is not clear what is going to happen to the woman, when she is in trouble.

ENIGMAThe enigma is portrayed at the beginning as the audience are unaware of what the

letter is about and who it is for. The audience will link the rest of the sequence back to the letter to try and find out what it’s relevance is.

Audience feedback

How successful our project is as a film openingBlood Ivory is successful as a film opening. The

whole story line is not given away and therefore the audience are left wanting to know how it ends. The titles are displayed clearly in an effective font.

We have used a variety of camera angles and shots which add texture to the filming. Suspense is created by showing scenes from different views.

The acting was clear enough to show the film storyline. With the use of costumes the characters appeared much more realistic.

We used effective editing. We used effects which showed the woman having a flash back and out the past events in black and white. The rest of the film uses warmer colours. There are no really bright colours as it is important to keep the colours more neutral to add to the mournful music.

How successfully the whole project answered the briefI feel that our film opening did answer the brief

successfully. We were able to create a thriller with suspense and mystery using the topic of ivory which is not usual in a thriller film.

Our film portrays the idea of realism. We have covered an important matter which is popular in the news through a thriller story. We used effective filming, lighting, costumes and mise-en scene to create a realistic atmosphere.

We created a suspenseful atmosphere with the use of different camera views. The change of pitch in the music created enigma and added to the suspense.