Evaluation Point 3- What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation Point 2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The blonde girl is the actress Erin Gerasimovich from the 2012 film Prisoners.

This film is similar to ours as it is in the same genre and they are both about a child/children that go missing and the search to find them. These films are both thrillers about abductions.

And this is Chloe Chapman, the little girl we used in our opening titles.

 

 

We conformed to the typical little girly girl stereotype by using a cute girl with blonde hair and an innocent face. We had her wearing pink and purple because they are the colours that people always associate with girls. She is small and has a high pitched voice and giggle, making her the kind of kid that the audience will find adorable and will make them emotional when she goes missing. When they are crossing the road, Chloe is holding Tammy's hand making her look dependant on Tammy and showing that Tammy is a caregiver for Chloe. In the real film, the little girl is on her dad's shoulders, making her look tiny in comparison with the adults and also showing the child's dependence on her father. Also in that same image, all the adults are wearing quite dull and dark clothes, making the pink of the little girl's jacket and clothes seem bright and lively. This could symbolise the importance of their daughter in their lives and how she brings colour and happiness. her messy hair makes her look scruffy and like she needs someone to take care of her.

17. Checklist of Expectations

I have researched some expectations of a thriller from our target audience of 15+, some of which we will be including in the opening of our film. They expect to;

• A hero/heroin to save the day but loose something along the way or endure a tragic experience
• suspense and mystery
• A victim and criminal
• Kidnap or Murder
• Drugs and alcohol
• High suspense chases from car or foot
• Darkness
• Tense Music
• Love interest/romance
• Death/loss of loved one
• Suspicion
• Range of editing
• Mise en scene- lighting, shots, colour, make-up, costume etc. 
• Range of shots

These are a few things that we will be including in our opening sequence;

• Love interest
• Traumatic experience
• Quick editing
• Kidnapper and Victims
• Tense, fats moving soundtrack
• Naturalistic lighting, costume and make-up

13. Audience Interviews

We interviewed some girls in our target audience range. We asked them which movies they thought had good opening sequences and what draws them and puts them off movies.

12. Mood Board

 These pictures all include elements or ideas that we would like to involve in our film opening. These pictures have angles and lighting that we would like to acheive, especially the shadows, and they also look quite realistic.

 We chose to include family photos because we would like to show the protagonists family in order to get you closer to her and be able to relate to her.To connect to family to the missing child poster, we would like to use the section of our family photo that has the little girl in and use her image as the missing child poster image. This links them together

 We would like to set our scene in the park but have flashes of the little gril cowering somewhere.

The titles etc. will be on objects commonly found in the park. For example we would like to have a name or something similar on a piece of paper that is in a puddle and the little girl will come along and jump in the puddle.

10. Textual Analysis of 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' Title Sequence

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Title Sequence

The title sequence for the 2011 film adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo directed by David Fincher uses CGI to create a nightmarish sequence of images. The majority of the title sequence is in various shades of inky black and grey but the colour is made to look slick and shiny by having light coming from different places. Apart from the black/blue colour of the oil, the only colour is the bright orange of fire. This helps to make the fire stand out and gives it a more of an effect on the watcher because it is what you immediately notice as it is a stark contrast to the dark colours you are used to seeing. Not only are the objects in the pictures various shades of black but the background is also black and the models are coated in a black, oily liquid which is a computer generated image (CGI). Light shines from different angles and gives the oil a slick look which helps with the liquid effect. The oil effect is described by the creators as ‘that viscid, black ooze that seeps into everything, penetrating crevices, dribbling into lips and eyes, suffocating and sensual and silent. Each ebony form is made osmotic — surging and melding, torn apart and punctured, ensnared, set ablaze — thrashing in the deep. Through flashes of embers and murk, sticky vines creep, hands grapple, foul petals unfurl, and sable fists inflict their fury.’

The movement of the camera follows the direction of the oil and creates a flowing, oozing effect that looks like it consumes everything in its path. Close-ups of objects shows great detail and the textures of the scales in particular make the image interesting, dynamic and dangerous. To make certain images look more intimate, the camera angle is up high and when they are trying to make something look more ominous or dangerous; the camera angle is low and looking up at the subject.

Sound is important in this title sequence because of the tie between it and the editing. The music is ‘Immigrant Song’, originally by Led Zeppelin but in this case it was the cover by Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Karen O. The fast pace of the music was thrilling and the vocals is mostly just desperate howling and wailing. This gives the music a nightmarish quality that darkens the title sequence even more than the colours and images. There is a very strong drum beat which paces the sequence well.

The editing is very well synchronized with the beat of the music and therefore the editing is quite fast, especially at first. At the start of the title sequence, the images fade in and out really quickly with the beat, producing only flashes. After these first few clips of film, the majority of the rest of the editing is cut straight. There is also some cross-cutting for example, where is goes from the start of a clips of the fire spreading to a clip of people moving in the oil and then back to the fire spreading etc. To carry on with the oozing and liquid style of the opening sequence, they have used a dynamic, flowing font that moves too.

 

 

8. Identifying Traits Of Thriller Movies

Thrillers movies tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced. They aim to heavily stimulate the viewer's moods, causing them to feel uncertainty, anticipation and a heightened expectation for fear and terror as well as excitement, suspense and tension. There are ten main subgenres for thrillers;  comedy thrillers (e.g. Mr and Mrs Smith), conspiracy thrillers (e.g. The Da Vinci Code), crime thrillers (e.g. No Country For Old Men), erotic thrillers (e.g. Chloe), legal thrillers (e.g. The Jury), political thrillers (e.g. Notorious), psychological thrillers (e.g. Panic Room), spy/espionage thrillers (e.g. Hanna), supernatural thrillers (e.g. Chronicle) and techno thrillers (e.g. I, Robot).

"The primary elements of the thriller genre:

• The protagonist(s) faces death, either his and/or her or somebody else's.
• The force(s) of the antagonist's must initially be cleverer and/or stronger than the protagonist's.
• The main storyline for the protagonist is either a quest or a character that cannot be put down.
• The main plotline focuses on a mystery that must be solved.
• The film's narrative construction is dominated by the protagonist's point of view.
• All action and characters must be credibly realistic or natural in their representation on screen.
• The two major themes that underpin the thriller genre are the desire for justice and the morality of individuals.
• One small, but significant, aspect of a thriller is the presence of innocence in what is seen as an essentially corrupt world.
• The protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) may battle, themselves and each other, not just on a physical level, but on a mental one as well.
• Either by accident or their own curiousness, each character is dragged into a dangerous conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve. "

(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre)#Suspense)

From this research, I can see that we will need to choose a subgenre that will help us to determine the way we make our opening sequence. It is clear that building tension is very important but it is also important to have a sense of mystery that keeps the watcher hooked and interested.