Ben Ressa

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

JEOPARDY: When creating my thriller film I tried to use typical thriller codes and conventions by creating a short, intense psychological experience for the viewer, in which they are rapidly grabbed into the story. The focus is on the jeopardy of the protagonist more than the characters themselves to keep the viewer on edge. It was important my character was unaware of this danger, so therefore I created the shots of the shower/ her getting ready, in a way which seemed mystic and almost nostalgic. In these shots we see her smiling, and therefore unknowing.

My film opening took inspiration from films such as 'The Silence of the Lambs', which I analyse in my January blog entry. For example, the sense of danger created by sound and vision editing, the combination of the setting, claustrophobic cinematography and the vulnerabilty of the character alone and lost in the forest.

SOUND is one of the most important aspects of my film: for Tarantino, sound creates most of the meaning in a film. Thrillers in particular need music to build the tension of the shot. At first I had quite a dream-like soundtrack, that didn't fit the film so I synchronized the sound track directly to the film. From the very start, I built in dips in the suspense, so you feel as if something bad is going to happen, but then the film loses tension, only to pick up again, the next time even more violently. I wanted the music to get louder to the point where the voiceover starts.

I took the idea of having a voice over originally from watching the begining of 'The Godfather.' I was going to have the boy sitting in a dark room, speaking the dialogue but this made the film longer, losing momentum. Towards the end of the voiceover, the vibrato strings start to hum again, this time with more power, and strength, increasingly getting louder in the climatic forest scene to a crescendo that is violently interupted by the girl waking from her dream. A buzzing wind effect then pans from the left/ right speakers for the final shots. This panning effect in the sound adds a fullness and mystic feel to absorb the viewer and attack them with the ominous sound that really immerses the viewer before the end of the title sequence.

ENIGMA CODES The editing as well as aspects of mise-en-scene create the enigma,

prooved to be one of the hardest parts of the production. By looking at other thrillers, It was obviouse I had to create a fast pase, tense sequence to grab the attention of the viewer. This meant that when I was filming, I would have to film a little bit extra to the begining and ends of the shots, this way, when I went to edit, I could cut the shots to create a desired pase. I used a mixture of diferent shot types that would hopefully give a varried and intresting final product for the viewer. . I used a lense flare on the watch to make the screen shine bright. This is followed by a transition that goes from the white screen to a black screen where I could place the 'Wotch' logo. Once I had decided to center the film on time, I realised an appropriate enigma code would be a watch. It is the passing over of the watch that causes the problem, and when she wakes up to find the watch in her pocket, this should make the viewer ask questions, and creates a mystery around the watch. I also decided to call the film 'Watch' Which tells the audiance that this watch is of significance. I later decided to change the name of the film to 'Wotch' this way I could substitute the 'O' for the pocket watch. I did this and then intergrated this logo in to all the art work. By priorotising this image, I was able to create more of a mystery and therefore heighten the impact of the enigma.

MISE-EN-SCENE is crucial inthe thriller film genre to create realism (the situation must be convincing) and to manipulate the audience's emotions, for example, taking them from a place of safety to a place of danger. The girl's bedroom feesl like a warm/ happy area. I filled it with tissue boxes, a lamp, and I placed flowers on the bedside table as codes of a place that was well lived in, warm and homely. Thus, when she leaves her room, and the security of her house, we see a dramatic contrast, so when the girl is in danger, it is emphasised. I also placed a picture frame in the room, which has a picture of myself as a child in, and I felt this added a personal reference to me as a director, despite the fact that it will probably go unnoticed (like Hitchcock). The shots with the girl walking down the road, were taken on an unbuilt-up road lined by a lot of trees, which makes a gradual transition in to the wooded area that she will walk in to later.

I then shot the exchance of the watch and the girl alone, all in the same area of wood. It was lit by natural light, which was fairly gloomy and gave an opresive feel, this is what I had hoped to achieve. The film then returns back to her warm/ cosy bedroom, lit by a strong builders light that illuminated the whole room. I wanted the costumes to reflect any teenager. The boy is just wearing simple jeanes and T-shirt. It was important to get the girl right; she is wearing a lot of black (black top/ coat/ tights) I felt that this helped create the sombre mood that was needed. I wanted her to wear a skirt to have the steriotypical view of a women, and highlight the fact as much as I could that she is this femenine charecter. I didnt want something too fluffy and light hearted, so we chose a denim skirt. I was also considering the research by Laura Mulvey, and the Male Gaze. Because of this, I chose to create the shower scenes, and the girl would sleep in her underwear, in an attempt to make the 'male' camera satisfied.

Generally my thriller sticks to the codes and conventions, however in my research I found that it is usual for thrillers to contain a strong male lead. However in my thriller, my lead is a female. I do not think it is nesasery to make the film too diferent, as making the viewer too uncomfortable may disengage them, but small changes, such as changing the sex of the lead I feel is nesacery for film and social advancements.

2.How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I would like my films to be something new and fresh. I do not have a problem with films that show class barriers, but films such as 'Kidulthood' show a very diferent view of London to films such as 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' and they are roughly in the same time period. I would not like to show my film with any particular class. My actors wore denim jenes/skirt and t.shirts. This was important because it shows them simply as teenagers, but does not hint towards a class.

The film therefore is representing a teenager/ young person in jeopary in a hostile adult world, and this is similar to the young children in 'The Others' where the children are placed in a situation that they have no control over. In my film we see a teenage girl that is sudenly all alone in this threatening world in which she has no control over.

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

MY MAIN DISTRIBUTOR

I decided to approach Momentum to distribute my film. They have recent experience in distributing 'The Kings Speech' A Brittish film that Grossed $137,538,275 at the box office. It was hugely suceseful in America which is unusual for A British film. They have also been suceseful with films such as 'The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo' and Mike Leighs new film 'Another Year'. These are sucesefully produced British films, and therefore I see Momentum as a reliable production company. I believe that they would be keen to distribute my film because it uses many gripping conventions related to the thriller genre, but at the same time, it is new, and is a film acesible for anyone over the age of 15. It has a large target audiance, and with the aid of the 2 step flow model, should gross highly at the box office.

MY CO-PRODUCTION COMPANY

I learned from the Film Distributors’ Association 2009/2010 that distributors try to spread the risk and opportunity across different platforms. Production companies have business partners and sister companies to help with funding. Therefore I decided to create my own sister company to show that my company was sharing with a European company to ensure distribution with the European market. The result of this is going to be ‘Ressa Films in co-production with Compagnia Colosseo'.

I decided to create an Italian production company because I felt my thriller would appeal to an Italian audience, and then hopefully this would give my film a strong link to the European market. I chose to use a picture of the Colosseum Rome because it is a strong iconic Italian image, and from this I came up with the name of the company. I also finished off the picture by colouring it in with the colours of the Italian flag, to ensure that the viewer knows this is an Italian company.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
In my research I looked at films such as 'The Silence of the Lambs' and I am targeting an audiance that is looking for a tense, sycological thriller. Although unlike 'The Silence of the Lambs' I wouldent want my certificate to be higher than a 15, as I would want to have the largest teenage audiance possible. As well as showing a story of teenagers, for teenagers, the film will have philisophical meaning, that gets people to think about there lives, and the time, and how they spend there time. Further, it may interest parents to have an insight in to their teenagers lives, and see what there life is like, but in a way that is acesible for them to watch. Unlike films such as American Pie, which acuratly show a teenagers life, but would not entertain most parents. So therefore the target audiance is for an age group of around 15-45.

The film contains a strong female lead, and would appeal to a female audiance, but at the same time, is a chilling thriller that would appeal to a male audiance. It does not center on any social group, so should appeal to any social group.

I would expect my audiance to watch films suc as 'American Pie' and enjoy teen films, but at the same time to combine there love for thriller films such as 'The Silence of the Lambs' But also to entertaing an audiance that like to think, and probably enjoy films such as 'Inception'.

5.How did you attract/address your audience?

HOW MY FILM HOOKS MY AUDIENCE

My film opens with a girl getting ready to go out for the day, all should seem well and good, she is smiling and happy, however the music is sugesting otherwise with its mysteriouse hum that is growing louder and louder.The music should hook the audience as it goes from very quiet to a creiciendo and clmimax. The strings are also vibrato which makes the audiance feel tense and uncofortable. This is understandable as the genre is 'Thriller' and I want to make the audiance feel tense, as this is the point that introduces the Enigma code, and surrounds mystery to the thriller. The aim of the building suspence is to quickly associate a mystery with the watch as the enigma code, and cause the audiance to need to watch on.

I had to show the girl in the trasition of being in bed, to dressed and ready to go out. In this time I wanted to create something that felt happy and nostalgic. This is why I overlayed the shots of the girl picking up her phone alarm and shots within the shower. The shower shots are very close up on the hands, because I wanted to create something that felt intimate, and would contrast with the later shots of her in the wood. The transition of the house scene, with the girl walking on the street was important. I wanted to show a slight lapse in time, so used a transition that turned the screen black before it changed to the next shot. To make this flow better, I zoomed in to the girls dark hair, which then faded in to the black screen, which in turn focuses in to the next shot, and I felt that this worked well to change the location. I wanted to trick the audiance in to thinking the next shot would be a typical hand grabbing the girl to kill her, but I wanted to use this almost to a comical effect. I hand held the camera which made it shake and seem like things were un easy, this was an over the shoulder shot, which meant that we could see the events that the 'killer' could see. I decided not to make it a POV shot because when the boy goes in for the hug I wanted to swing the camera round to show them both close together and happy. Again the screen fades black before the next shot to show a lapse in time. The shot of the couple walking together is an establishing shot, and low angle. I chose to make it low angle because I felt this gave power to the couple when they are together. The next shot is eye level and shows the boy go to kiss the girl, this follows to a close up of the hands, and we are able to focus on the watch, giving it significance. The camera then follows where the girl is looking and swings similtaneously with her head to see that the boy has vanished. I then moved the camera over her shoulder and circled around her to show her alone in this wooded area. The next sucsesion of shots are short takes, and use the tree to crop the action at times, this builds the enrgy. Most of these shots are high angle to make the girl feel vulnerable. I had a shot where the camera chases towards her, as if this is a POV shot of the antogonist going to attack her, but once the camera arives to her it swings around her. The following shot is similar, and chases towards her, but then falls to the ground; as the screen goes black, the girl wakes up in an establishing shot of the bedroom. We are led to believe this is all a dream. the dream idea is a cleche, but I then wanted to add the twist that the watch was still in her pocket. To show a quick transition of the girl getting dressed, I decided that a close up of the girl finishing getting dressed would explain to the viewer that she had just finished getting dressed. I then have a mid shot of the girl feeling in her pocket. The final shot is over the shoulder and zooms in to a close up of the watch

SOCIAL MEDIA

It has become evident to me that I am in need of finding ways to distribute my film by a means of new media. The first thing that came to mind was Facebook, a social networking site that most young people have. My film Facebook page sent a link to all my friends. This will hopefully start to raise awareness of the film, despite the fact that it is still in pre-production.
I have also linked it to the film in the works on YouTube, where I will receive feedback and also raise awareness. Finally, I have linked this to the Facebook, where people can follow the film, and then spark interest in the Film By doing this I am taking advantage of the internet as a means to distribute my film.
I have created a Twitter page to build awareness.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#%21/pages/Wotch/172098059504820

Youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWzy5cCqBlg

Twitter: http://twitter.com/

P & A (print and advertising)

As part of my distribution, I have decided to make a poster for the film, to spread awareness and grab people's attentions in streets. It will be placed on billboards and in magazines such as Empire and Total Film.

My Film Poster: it features an arresting image from the film opening

This is The website page that has a video with a trailer on. Links to further videos of the film, infomation on the film, infomation on the case, and free downloads. There is also an advertisement about the app for android phones. This is all based on top of a siloeted image from the film opening, with the logo in the corner.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Before this project I had not done anything so thought out before. My filming consisted of using a phone camera to make short little projects with friends, and merely to make us laugh. The first thing I noticed when I was doing practice shots, was that I couldent seem to get the lighting right. I decided to buy a bright builders light, and iluminate my room with that. By using this is created a much clearer image.
I was then able to alter the light on the editing software. I edited my film on 'Adobe elements' and found it easy to use. It was very simple to cut clips, and at times use the 'Time stretch' tool to create slow motion, and enhance the suspence at those particular moments (eg/ In the shower) I realised I could lower the saturation in the film clips, and found this useful to bring in a more sombre mood.

I also had to become familiar with music terminologies, and understand the importants of panning the sound to from left to right, to give a consuming feel to the music. And I learnt that echos and reverb helped make something sound eerie and uncomfortable. This was used a lot in my voice over.

I experimented with using a tripod, and also hand held, and found that tripods were good to use for establishing shots, and any still shots, but as soon as you want to increase the tension, a hand held camera shot is shaky, and works a lot better.

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

When I was working on the preliminary task, I knew little about P&A and distribution. Through creating my project, I was able to understand how distribution companies worked, and how many diferent, smaller companies, pull together to form one big company.

I also learnt the importance of sticking to codes and conventions, because the art is less so in the creating, but more, making the product acesible to other people. By doing this, I was able to create a sequence that hooked my audiance.

The preliminary task had little sound track (A few lines of dialogue) But I never knew the importance of having a strong soundtrack, that fits with the action of the music, and how this could enhance the affect of the film.