Final Task

Eliot Preliminary task. EA

This is my preliminary task, as this was the first time I have experimented with a camera encountered a few problems which I briefly outline in the "What I have learned so far" post. This was an enjoyable task and hope to get onto more filming!

Evaluation Question 6

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

       From the practise in the preliminary task, we already knew how to roughly use the camera and tripod. However, when trying to produce a slicker film, we encountered some problems with the equipment. For example when attempting to pan or track the camera, we realised we could not get a smooth shot as we always discovered a shaky effect when reviewing the footage. After regrouping, we managed to cut and reshoot some shots in order to give our film a smoother look.

       We also tried to use a variety of lights to intensify out shots. However when using them we realised that they were too unnatural to use and we also struggled with coordinating them with the power packs, therefore most of the time they ran out of battery on set.

       Generally, using the filming technology such as the camera and lights proved fairly challenging, as no one in our group was specifically talented at understanding the different technologies. However once we read every single on the equipment before shooting, we learnt how to effectively use the equipment to the best of our ability.

       As we had all used macs before, and one member of our group was doing a computing AS level, using that technology was not difficult. However none of us had used final cut pro before to edit our film, other than a brief rough cut of our preliminary, in which we barely had to know about the software. When editing the final piece, we learnt how to use various tools and effects in editing, such as using filters, slowing down footage, inserting titles and overlaying music. This proved the most challenging of all the technologies, as whilst editing the final cut pro would regularly shut down, though our work was saved. Finally we managed to use final cut pro and the majority of its tools to produce our final piece, overcoming our issues with the technology.

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 4: Who Would be the Audience for you Film?

Due to the mature themes in our film, such as the drug use and perhaps violence after the opening, we would expect a certification of 15 for our film. A 15 certificate would cover our film, allowing drug use, frequent strong language and strong violence throughout the duration of the film. The BBFC describes the guidelines for the portrayal of dangerous behavior in films as that ’’dangerous behavior such as …suicide … should not dwell on detail that could be copied’’. As we would most likely have scenes such as this in our film, and already in the opening drug use is mentioned, we could not qualify for a 12 or 12A rating as drug use must be’’infrequent’’ and scenes of violence must be ’’moderate’’ and should not put’’emphasis on injuries or blood’’. Therefore, our audience must be from the age 15 and up, as it would be inaccessible and inappropriate for a younger audience.

       This is what we expected, and knew that our target audience would be in the category of 15-24 years. This is the most popular category for attending the cinema, and we felt the subject matter, themes and characters would be easily accessible for those in their teenage years, whilst also ensuring maximum profits for the film.

       Another insight to our target audience was comparing it to other, similar films such as Black Swan and Girl, Interrupted. These films shared similar themes with ours, and therefore we would most likely attract the same type of audience. The two comparable films attracted mainly a female audience, with Girl, Interrupted attracting a younger audience of 18-30 yrs whilst Black Swan more likely attracting a slightly older audience due to director Aronofsky credits bringing in older generations. With this information, and comparing both films to ours, it is reasonable to suggest that the audience for our film would be predominantly female, with a younger age target as it is classified under both films as a 15.

       We also used a survey to assess our target audience. The majority of the surveyed were female, with 4 males attending. From this we learnt that our target audience was exclusively in the 16-24 age category, with their cinema attendance usually from once a month. We also saw that their main attraction to films was through featured actors, followed by either the director or subject matter attracting them to a film. All the surveyed also said they would continue watching our film after viewing the opening two minutes.

       In conclusion it is fair to say that our target audience for our film would be those 15-24 years old, with a mainly female demographic. However seeing as we did not survey anyone above the age of 16 due to complications, we cannot certainly say what our audience would have been if older people had taken part in the survey.

Evaluation Question 2

 2. How does your film opening present particular social groups?

Eponymous character Margot is from a white middle-class background. Her mother is a workaholic single mother who has a high-flying career in the city, affording them a comfortable existence in a pleasant residential area. We established this location by filming her wandering through a fairly wealthy part of London. Margot's father lives abroad, and is distant in his relationship with his daughter which may account for the isolation she feels.

Margot resembles Effie in Skins due to the fact they both grew up in a affluent household, yet have a dysfunctional family and deal with mental health issues. They are both aloof and possess an air of mystery, although Effie indulges in a lot of drug-taking and provocative activities, Margot prefers to be more solitary. She has a few friends, but steadily removes herself from them and the rest of the world throughout the film, a lot of the time because of misunderstanding. We chose to represent our main character in this way because teenage audiences usually react well to anti-heroes, particularly because rebellion against parents and conventional lifestyles is an ever present theme amongst adolescents. Because of the broken relationship with her family she represents the conflict that many others experience, and subsequent formation of an intense friendship with another figure that becomes a family-figure to her and replacement for the support and affection that she feels she missed out on.  Therefore we deliberately chose not to represent her mother in the opening so we could we could show her absence as normal and focus on the character development of Margot, particularly as it appears that her usual routine does not require any interaction with her mother and she is comfortable with that. However this representation of parental figures challenges certain stereotypes about middle class lifestyles as being a nuclear families, and the single-mother-no-father figure is instead habitually used in 'gritty' realism dramas about low-income families. Yet we acknowledged the idea that parents who are obsessively-career orientated often are not able to maintain functional relationships with their families.

With her pale skin, blonde hair and blue eyes, Margot's looks are reminiscent of characters from typical Gothic literature because of their ethereal qualities. The character of Eva is a deliberately an 'exotic' contrast to Eva so as to represent the fact that she personifies all the characteristics that Margot feels could make her complete as a person. Thus Margot becomes obsessed with 'possessing' Eva. This theme is similar to the plot of Robert Altman's Three Women. We liked the idea of using unknown actors in our film because that way the audience is able to fully realise them as the character, and not just as a famous and recognisable actor playing yet another role.

SL

Evaluation Question 1

Locations:

We chose to film the dream sequence in a park, as it seemed a wide, natural space that was empty enough to show the exclusivity of the dream of Margot and her subject, Eva. This contrasted well with the second location of the crowded house, where the atmosphere was still bleak, but slightly more claustrophobic, reflecting how Margot feels trapped in comparison with her dreams of freedom.

Iconography:

The close up of the medications on the table is specifically important as it establishes Margot unstable nature and possible issues with mental health suggested through the iconography. Inspiration for this came from Requiem for a Dream, where Sara inspects her black-market diet pills, and the camera uses a close up of them lined up on the table.

Themes:

Our films took inspiration from other films with a similar dynamic between two female characters, one with a dominant personality and the other infatuated with this. Thrillers such as Girl, Interrupted and Black Swan present this type of relationship as a focal point of their plot. We mainly conformed to this theme of a thriller, as it is less common than other traditional aspects of the thriller-genre, and therefore can be produced in our own way without seeming repetitive.

Title: We decided on the title Margot is it is simple and effective. We took inspiration from other Thrillers that used the protagonists name as the title, such as Leon.

Camera: The opening shot of the intertwining branches of the trees is inspired by the end shot on Malick’s historical drama, The New World. The shots focusing on the tree branches swaying show the isolation and eeriness we wanted to open our film with. 

Editing - As the character Margot awakens, we purposely featured close-ups of her personal belongings, which we intended to give clues to the audience about her as a character and the slightly bizarre nature of the plot. 
 Genre - Our film is rooted in the psychological thriller genre, implied through the inclusion of pill iconography to denote the mental health issues experience in the film. It gives an idea as to the later themes of the plot, similar to the opening of Se7en where the viewer sees the murderer indulging in obsessive record-keeping. 

Plot - Loosely based on Todorov's narrative theory, in which two characters begin in equilibrium, but a disruption leads to a series of event that cause tension, until finally resolved. Our narrative of obsession spiralling out of control echoes that of Black Swan, in which an already unstable female protagonist, living in isolation,  begins to self-destruct as she becomes more infatuated with another character. Eventually all this tension implodes, but in our plot the main character has a revelation that leads to finding solace in her life. However it is implied that she never complete peace. 

What amendments/changes have you made from your original plan that show you can challenge the generic conventions of a thriller? - We left out showing any interaction between Margot and her mother so as not to overtly imply the damaged relationship between, and instead suggest things about her more subtly through the use of iconography. We have shortened the amount of time we see Margot outside and stylish, action visuals, and so focusing more on her home life, establishing more intimacy with her.

How does the use of lighting challenge the forms/conventions of a thriller? - Many thrillers create and suspense by featuring sequences in typical dusk/night-time lighting, but we chose have the sequence progressing through early morning lighting, that gradually gets brighter in parallel with the soundtrack. This reflect comedies such as The Devil Wears Prada, but in this context gives the illusion of normality before Margot's impending breakdown. 

Evaluation Question 7

Q7.) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the final product.

Looking back on my preliminary task I have learned a lot, primarily I would like to highlight how this was my first use of a camera for filming so it was a very new experience. This being the case I have noticed a lot of areas for improvement which I would hope to build on. The preliminary task is good however the main error in it is the sound. There needs to be sound bridges to make the match on action where the door is opening much more smooth. Moreover, the sound gets quite fuzzy and it changes volume between cuts because the camera is moving place. In the future I would like to address this issue by having an audio recorder that is separate to the camera. Another issue is lighting, when Josh enters the room there is a change in lighting without anyone actually changing the light, it looks quite strange and in the future correcting this will not be hard it's just something that you must try to be aware of. The positioning of characters, between cuts their position changes dramatically for example if they have their arms crossed they might suddenly have their elbows on the table and their hands on their chin, it is crucial to correct this because it looks unprofessional and feels wrong. As with the lighting this is something that you can only be more careful about in the future and I will be sure to take care when shooting scenes with any movement. On the same note the movement of props must be carefully monitored because when Josh sits down the chair magically moves closer to the table between a cut, again this is visually not appealing and looks unprofessional, the only way to help correct this in the future is with more caution. 

Evaluation question 5.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxnwloZSCtY

Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute my film and why.

It would be hard to get a large media institution to distribute our film because it is low budget and targeted at a small audience. An institution such as Fox Searchlight Pictures would not be interested because they look for films that will please a large audience and which they can produce and distribute to large cinemas. Our film would not thrive in such a situation because it would not fill a large cinema's seats. A student film is usually disregarded as it is low budget and lacks the experience of major film makers. Two films who we drew inspiration from are the Black Swan and Girl, Interrupted. Girl Interrupted is distributed by Columbia Pictures which is also a large film distributor looking for high grossing films starring Hollywood actors. Obviously we do not have a Hollywood cast and this means that they will not be very interested, again we must look for smaller individual distributors for an audience who are not looking for a mainstream film. An example of a low budget media institution that might be interested in distributing our film might be momentum pictures, they have distributed many films in the past few years such as Let The Right One In, The Girl Who Played With Fire and Dark Skies. These are not high budget films starring a multitude of Hollywood actors and this is why we might be interested in them distributing our film, this is still quite a large distributor for our film and we might aim  for a smaller one because they would be more likely to accept our film.

Ident EA

Segment Productions Ident:

This is the ident I have decided to use to represent our film company. I very much liked the idea of cubes and squares because they are easy shapes to be creative with. Because I was interested in those kind of shapes I tried to think of a decant name, segment was all that came to mind because it represents the shapes we will be using and also it can be interpreted to a slightly deeper level as it shows the how when you cut up film its in segments or the many different stages of production in a film. The addition of the word Productions was just because we could not leave it at just segment, also with productions it makes the audience know its definitely a film production company. Another point is that the animation of the sequence was very difficult to make. The animation we have is not the same as the one I wished to have but I have tuned this one to my liking. The original idea was that the white letters above would just slide into place with the black letters and make a word. I found this much too hard on final cut pro so instead I managed to just make them appear in different ways, almost as if they were being stuck on page in little chunks. This now leads me onto sound, because of the sudden and quite "segmented" appearance of each letter I tested different sounds with the animation, I found a large 40second clip of typing and split it up into just a key for each letter and using the end of the clip to represent the Production part with a satisfying little ping. Colour was a big decision but in my research i found that minimal colour worked best because it stopped the audience having to focus too much and they could concentrate on the ident and movements. This meant that I chose a black and white scheme which works well, my intent was to make this ident as minimalistic as possible because when I see large international film companies trying to overdo their ident hoping that it will make the audience appreciate it more it frustrates me. The ident must be a simple short representation of your company and as we are going to be a small indie company our ident should be very student style. 

Film Industry Questions:

Question 1:

In the UK film market, an increase in the number of screens available to show films has not led to an increase in the number of films being shown. Why?

The increase in number of screens available to show films has not led to an increase in number of films being shown because even though there are more screens available to show films there is a finite number of films people will see per year, the demand will not increase due to the supply of screens rising unless they provide something like an successful advertising campaign.  Another valid point is that there is such a large amount of films produced and the audience are not going to have the desire to see every single one, in fact, films outside the main Hollywood "blockbuster" that does not have the advertising or financial backing from of Hollywood are unlikely to attract the extra viewer, there are therefore a finite number of films that will bring an audience to the cinema. 

Question 2:

 Which top 10 films in the US last year made two-and-a-half times their budget?

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, 2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon, 3.Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2, 4. Hangover II, 5. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, 6. Fast Five, 7. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, 8. Cars 2, 9. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, 10. Thor

Character Proposal EA

Characters

Important link with between audience results of the survey and a creation of character. Target audience enjoyed 'Silence of the Lambs', 'Donnie Darko' and a series like 'Dexter' - the loveable psychopath.

Woman:

Victim, young (early 20s). attractive - in a youthful innocent. eg Natalie Portman

Man:

Killer - casual about killing; a casual mastermind psychopath in the style of Hannibal Lecter, Jack Torrance, the narrator in Fight Club, heath ledger (joker), kitano (battle royale)

Rough suit and  trench coat.... looks suspicious

Colour & Aesthetics SL, EA

Dark tone with shadows - psychological thriller which depicts a two-faced character. Urban landscape - concrete jungle, gritty feel with images of such things as concrete underpasses and high-rise low grade concrete estate.

It is important to build a sense of nervous tension for the audience - through a range of devices such as sound (both atmospheric, diegetic and perhaps moments of silence). Perhaps some contrapuntal sound to jar with the images of dilapidation. -EA

In 'We Need To Talk About Kevin', her flashback imagery is brutally evocative of the gorier parts of the film, and so the colours and the feelings they evoke make the aesthetics particularly powerful.

The difference between dream and reality should be heightened so that tone is established clearly through colour.

The dream sequence should be full of light and a covered with a gauzy veil of warm, almost psychedelic colour. It will seem as if all senses are heightened, and so Margot's dreamy encounter with Eva is still intense.

However the awake aspects of Margot's life are dull in contrast, possibly tinged with monotonous, gloomy blue. 

-SL

Characters: Margot and Eva actors GP, SL

MARGOT - Margot's personality and mannerisms draw reference from neurotic and unstable intellectuals such as Winona Ryder from Girl Interrupted, or Natalie Portman's character's distorted relationship with her mother and subsequent need for attention in Black Swan. Both characters are insular and affected, and as the films progress this is also noticed by other surrounding characters who start to treat them differently.

However aesthitics wise we would want to resemble the gamine, pale and ghostly blond look of actresses such as Mia Farrow and Sissy Spacek.

-SL

We asked Kathy to be out actress for Margot because we thought her pale skin and long blonde hair would be nice contrast to the more darker colouring of out other female character Eva. She also lives close to our filming locations so it would be convenient for everyone in the group.

Profile: Margot is an anti-social, independant teenager who feels removed from what she considers normal life. She is very distant towards her mother, who she lives with, and has no close personal relationships with anyone else. However, she is constantly fascinated with some people and spends most of her time observing everyday life, while herself feeling she has become an outcast from it. These inclinations will lead to her obsession with Eva and their destructive, distorted relationship.


                                                      Character Appearance + Personality:

 We bassed the appearance of Margot on Characters like the sisters from theVirgin Suicides, especially Kirsten Dunst, and other actresses such as Amanda Seyfried and Mia Wasikowska,with pale skin, long blonde hair and blue eyes. We thought this would give her character the impression of being innocent and easy to influence, as these features are commonly assosiated with that type of character.


Her personality was also inspired by
the sisters in the Virgin Suicides, as they are at first innocent but are eventually influenced to commit suicide together. Another character that se could identify with is Nina from Black Swan, as she is also influenced and eventually driven mad due to the presence of another character in the film.




-GP

EVA - She is the enigmatic. engaging and beguiling counter part to Margot's character - The Angelina Jolie of Girl Interrupted or Mila Kunis of Black Swan. We wanted her to have dark and tan colouring so she could be a visual opposite to he character of Margot; another reference to the bipolar aspect of our film.

-SL

Character Costume Margot and Eva by GP

Margot:

Margot is seen as the typical plain and simple character. Her costume will reflect this by being as minimal as possible with detail, but revealing certain aspects of her personality. She can't afford expensive clothing, so the main staple of her outfits will be her khaki parka, as the film is set in winter and she will be wearing this most of the time. Other features will be simple T-shirts and and jeans, always in dark or neutral colours with no patterns or intricate detailing. This will emphasise how naive and transparent she is at the start of the film; perhaps later in the film her costumes will evolve due the the drastic changes Eva causes in her personality. This costume for the opening will also contrast well with Eva's flamboyant style. She will also almost always wearing old,black boots. The factors combined will give her character a precise continuity through her aesthetic on the opening scenes and further in the film.

Eva:

Eva's character is much more flamboyant and in a way, self aware than Margot. She feels the need to assert herself over others because of her own insecurities, and this is projected through her costume. During the dream sequence, emphasis will be on the detailing of the clothing i.e. patterns, intricate detailing and bold colours. There will be no main focus of the character as in Margot, showing the erratic and changeable nature of her character. It may also suggest how she tries to distract people through her looks and sycophantic tendencies, whilst hiding her true dark, manipulative personality.

-GP