Over the course of the past few weeks i have learnt a great number of things about media studies in general and about more specific items within media studies.

The first thing i learnt about is story boarding. Essentially a story board is a sequence of pictures that are used to describe narrative flow in the film. It is also used to show where the camera is pointing and to show the movement of a camera in a scene. For example if in the picture a panning shot is used then an arrow along the bottom will depict the direction of the camera's movement. After learning about the basics of storyboarding we decided to put it into practice. We were given a task to create a two minute short film and we drew up a storyboard for that. At the side of each picture, which describe how the story flows, a short amount of dialogue is written so that other elements to the scene that aren't visible in the picture, are shown; For example a piece of music or sound effect.

After learning how to create a story board we were taught how to use a camera and tripod and how to create different "shots". We learnt how to create long shots, mid shots, close ups and also different techniques such as shot reverse shots, the 180 degree rule and others.
After we had finished filming our two minute short film and began editing the film in Final Cut Pro. We  looked up some tutorials and learnt how to cut clips together, crop clips, create fades, sounds effects, add in music and many more.
Finally after all this work we produced our finished product;

Certification

For my film i am hoping to create a trailer for a action thriller. In this category violence is a going to be a key aspect of the film to create suspense and keep the audience engaged and interested in the film.

Violence

"Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable.

There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification."

This quote is from the BBFC, i feel that it applies to what i'm trying to create as i have taken influences from trailers of films like Memento which is a 15. I have also taken influence from some game trailers as although they are not specifically film, they use numerous angles and interesting effects to create emotive trailers. 

One of these games is dante's inferno, which is rated 18, and i'm aiming to use a similar style of violence but make it much less graphic and obvious so that it can be classified as a 15.

In my trailer i plan to have minimal dialogue aside from a narrative so swearing and colourful language will not be an issue.
For these reasons i have decided to rate my film as a 15.

Survey results and comments

From this we can see that most of the people who answered this survey on thrillers are very young in the 17 or younger category. This will give me insight as to what my certification may be; it seems that from this information that my certification could be a fifteen as those who answered were in that age category.

Most of the people who answered the survey also appear to be male. Assuming that those who answered my survey have very similar tastes, then i think that they may want to view a thriller that is also leaning towards the action side of the spectrum. However it is fairly close with the amount of people who answered so the amount of action, violence and gore will be limited to appeal to a wider audience.

From this question it is clear that those who answered the survey prefer psychological thrillers to thrillers with more blood and gore. This may bring the certification down depending if other aspects are limited along with the amount of violence on screen; E.G. colourful language, drug abuse etc.

In the survey i also asked what thriller films they had seen and enjoyed recently. The results were good with titles ranging from Heathers to Moon. Most of the titles had the certification of either 15 or 18. 8 of the films were of 15 certification and 5 were 18's.

What i've learnt so far

Over the course of the past few weeks i have learnt a great number of things about media studies in general and about more specific items within media studies.

The first thing i learnt about is story boarding. Essentially a story board is a sequence of pictures that are used to describe narrative flow in the film. It is also used to show where the camera is pointing and to show the movement of a camera in a scene. For example if in the picture a panning shot is used then an arrow along the bottom will depict the direction of the camera's movement. After learning about the basics of storyboarding we decided to put it into practice. We were given a task to create a two minute short film and we drew up a storyboard for that. At the side of each picture, which describe how the story flows, a short amount of dialogue is written so that other elements to the scene that aren't visible in the picture, are shown; For example a piece of music or sound effect.

After learning how to create a story board we were taught how to use a camera and tripod and how to create different "shots". We learnt how to create long shots, mid shots, close ups and also different techniques such as shot reverse shots, the 180 degree rule and others.
After we had finished filming our two minute short film and began editing the film in Final Cut Pro. We  looked up some tutorials and learnt how to cut clips together, crop clips, create fades, sounds effects, add in music and many more.
Finally after all this work we produced our finished product;

Audience Theory Notes

Two Step Flow(1920's)

• Known as the Hypodermic theory
• This theory suggests that the audience is passive. They are not actively thinking about the content, the information is just being injected into them like a hypodermic needle.
• Many kids of young age may want to replicate activities seen on screen as they may look appealing. However if this is a fight scene then they may try to replicate a fight. Thus we must certificate films so that this risk is cut down greatly.

By the 1970's a theory known as the Uses and Gratifications effects model. 

• This theorized that the audience was active and engaging with the material. 
• They described their audience as either a cognitive audience, affective audience, tension release/ diversion, personal intergrative or social intergrative.
• Cognitive: The audience is thinking about the content they see on screen E.G. trying to solve a mystery in their heads from information given in the film.
• Affective: The audience in this are watching the film mainly for escapism. They enjoy something vicariously.
• Tension release: Mainly appeals to the teen audience. Many teens like to feel a physical drama throughout the film that causes a release of tension from their lives. Known as visceral excitement
• Personal integrative: This audience likes to relate to the protagonists situation.
• Social integrative: This audience likes to integrate socially with the situation. I.E. James Bonds' world of fast cars, action and women.
•  

Thriller Definition

Thriller Definition
Thriller's . This is which focus on fear and action movies which focus on exhilaration. Thrillers are often hybrids; Horror-Thrillers, Crime-Thrillers, Private eye Tales, Courtroom and Legal Thrillers, Action-Thrillers and more.

Alfred Hitchcock is a master at utilising this technique. One prime example of this is in the film North by Northwest; He creates a huge amount of tension and suspense with minimal pugilistic action. He relies on mystery to allow the audience to make their own assumptions of what is going on in the film.
In Thrillers the instead of someone elite. This means to the main character
heightening the suspense.

Ordinary heroes are frequently put against villains who want to destroy your country. Often just one person or a small group of characters. A genuine Thriller is a film that relentlessly pursues a single minded goal- to provide thrills and keep the audience cliff-hanging at the edge of their seats as the plot builds towards a climax. , crime or the detective in the crime related plot, focusing more on the suspense and danger that is generated

Notes on camera angles, lighting and sound In Films

Taxi Driver

Camera Angles and general notes:

• First thing we notice is that everything is from the main characters perspective.
• Before we have even seen what the character actually looks like, we get an extreme close up of his eyes developing an odd intimacy with the character even though we have no idea who he is.
• As the camera switches to a view from the characters point of view, we see all the lights are blurred creating the impression that time is passing slowly or even mild delirium. Later we learn that he cant sleep nights so the merging colours may be a result of this.
• As he goes in for a night driver license we learn he is 26, will work "anytime, anywhere.". From this we guage that he isn't religious as he says he'll work any holidays.
• He doesn't have any family, wife or girlfriend etc.
• We also learn that he used to be in the marines up until May 1973.

Lighting and Colour:

• The lettering that first appears is red on black creating a sense of unease or danger. Possibly foreshadowing events in the film?
• We see a well lit smoky intro which is very atmospheric, creates the idea of obscurity and furthering the idea of unease.
• As we get the Extreme close-up of the eyes, the ambience is a deep red with occasional flashes of bright white light.
• As we see the front window shot, the audience notices that all the colours have blurred and merged into one. Like a pallet of paint from an artist.
• Low natural lighting during the interview creates a dark mood and sense of uncertainty throughout the scene.

Collateral

Sound

• Sound bridge of an airplane engine cuts the silence and sets the scene.
•  As the black screen switches to  a view of a busy airport terminal the sound changes as well to the hustle and bustle of an airport terminal.
• We see the main characters and hear their footsteps, showing their significance within the film
• As they collide we hear a "whoosh" as their bags drop to the floor showing that they are also an integral part of the film.
• The bags are exchanged between the two main characters and some tense, non-diegetic music kicks in. The fast paced beat creates tension.
• The setting changes to a garage however we only can tell its a garage by the sound of machinery, engines and general conversations; we get no establishing shots, only close-ups of parts of cars.
• As the the music, beat and chatter grows in volume, it is suddenly cut off by the closing of a door and we are introduced to a new character. This symbolises how his surroundings seem to be closing in on and oppressing him. 

Drive

Coulour and Lighting and Camera Angles

• we see the main character lit from behind, this makes him appear shady and shrouded in shadow
• The colour scheme is mainly dark with hints of blues and oranges.
• As the use of backlighting continues it becomes clear  that the main character has no company. He is alone, isolated only with shadows for comfort 
• The opening shot is a dark city scape instantly sets the location of the film
• The use of minimal and low-lighting creates a tense feeling about the opening scene
• Background colours are contrasted by the electric pink lettering of the actors names.
• The opening shot is from below the main character creating an air of dominance about him
• We notice that he is working nights and we see where he works through the many panoramic shots of the city street much of this is from his perspective
• Unfortunately due to copyright embedding of the clip is disabled. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIpXQS5gaAw

Fishtank

Camera angles and Colour in-brief

• Opening shot is a mid shot of the story's main character, however we don't know what she looks like as she's bent over panting.
• 
  
• As she straightens up the camera angle switches to a mid shot from behind her. As she looks out the window a dark silhouette is created.
• As the main character picks up a phone and starts to call someone, she is out of focus and the camera is focused on the estate. This is a very clever way of using an establishing shot as it is from her point of view.
• The use of deep focus keeps the naturalism as well as shifting the focus of conversations.
• The lack of a tripod and lots of hand-held camera work makes the movie seem like a documentary following.
• The colour scheme of the film is very bright contrasting the swearing and vile conversation.

Children of Men

• Sound bridge of a news report informs the audience about the death of a man named Diego Ricardo as the screen is black.
• The camera then cuts to a view from the Television screen's perspective and we see many people gathered in what seems to be a London Café.
• We are introduced to the main character as he shuffles his way through the crowd that has gathered to watch this news report.
• The camera switches to a view of the TV from the main characters perspective and the news report continues to inform about the death of the worlds youngest man.
• After ordering a coffee the camera now follows the main character out of the coffee shop and the camera gives a panoramic view of the busy London street, establishing the location of the film.
• As we see the main character start to unscrew a bottle of alcohol and begin to put in his coffee, the camera swerves to give a view of the shops on the pavement. 
• Suddenly, as the the screech of car brakes, engines and horns subside, a huge explosion cuts through the silence.
• The camera is then manoeuvred towards the explosion in a hand-held manor creating a sense of tension as the audience feels as if they are running to see what has happened.
• throughout all of this the colour scheme is extremely drab and grey creating an air of depression and sadness about the film opening.