Evaluation Activity 1

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

As research for our film, we looked at a number of different style fonts, in the hope to give us inspiration for our own. After looking through hundreds of different types of typography, we came to the conclusion we wanted to narrow our searches to a more simplistic, classy but not unnoticeable type of font. We decided with our film having elements of the crime, action and thriller genre, it would be best to gage both information and inspiration from titles of these genres. From our research, we learnt that titles do not need to be overly showy or flamboyant to stand out and look effective. Similarly, we wanted our film to be as realistic and believable as possible, so from our research we came to the conclusion that different cases were something to avoid, and stuck with all upper case as lower case would make it childish and easily dismissed.   

This is a shot of our final title. Although it is very plain, we believe it is still effective and stands out against the background well, focusing the audience’s attention. It gives the film a sophisticated and classy look, fitting well with both the genre and the plot, as well as attracting its target audience who we believe would find mature titles appealing. We opted for a simple font as we wanted it to act as juxtaposition between the tensions within the film.  Initially, Taken was the film we were basing our plot around as it was such a successful film and a similar genre to ours, so we wanted to produce similar titles. The titling used in Taken is very iconic to both the film and the action genre, which is something we wanted to avoid as our film is was not solely action so we didn’t want to advertise it misleadingly. Despite this, I believe that we created an ideal title which fitted well with our three genres. Although the monochrome titles are more conventional to the crime and thriller genres, they do not look out of place with the plot. We found it very difficult coming up with a name for our film, and I believe we settled on ‘Intrusion’ more for simplicity rather than because we really liked it. Saying that, we do not dislike it we are just unsure as to whether it fits completely with our genres as we believe its connotations have a slight sense of mystery to it that would make it more ideal for a different genre. Despite this, the word ‘intrusion’ successfully raises an enigma, hopefully causing our audience to ask questions such as “Who is the intruder? Why are they so important?” Obviously including the title of the film is something stereotypical to an opening scene, and so in that sense, I believe we successfully followed the conventions of an opening scene, succeeding in our aim.  

Evaluation Activity 1

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

In our chosen genres, crime action and thriller, special effects is often a key component used to heighten the particular emotions wished to be evoked within the audience. It is difficult to compare the use of special effects within the genres together as there is such a large contrast, so I will discuss them separately before comparing them to our film 'Intrusion' in order to make it more accurate.

Even within the action genre there is such a variety of action it is difficult to accurately sum up the use of special effects as a whole. I suppose it depends on the amount and type of action used in each particular film as one on one fight scenes in an everyday situation would use much less, if any, and a different type of special effect than a full on gun fight battle in a war zone. Special effects are typically used where appropriate in moderation (if wanting to be realistic) in order to enhance or intensify the plot. In the action genre alone, special effects are used often to allow the producer to create any story they like (even the impossible) without endangering the actors. This is also the case within the crime and thriller genre, however typically special effects are used to a higher extent in action films. In the same way, there is also such a variety of special effects it is difficult to compare the use of them in the same way because they are used so differently. For example, special effects can be used to create the unreal, such as dramatic and gruesome battles which cannot physically be acted, as well as just to enhance the realism of certain lighting. Special effects are used in so many different ways it is hard to determine what is typical to what is atypical in my chosen genres.

As a whole, it is almost impossible to compare the use of special effects to the conventions of our chosen genres as there is such a vast choice. The use of special effects depends entirely on the plot (be it linear or non linear), and within each of these genres and sub-genres there are many different opening scenes which still classify as one of these genre types. In our film, partly due to practicality and partly due to the plot, there are little special effects used. The only feature we used which is relatively 'special' was our use of transitions. Although the picture is uninformative and boring, it illustrates our use of fades between different scenes. We used black fades to demonstrate a change in location, change in scene or change in time to the audience. This was helpful in making our opening more understandable, as well as realistic as it showed the passing of time which is something that would have been expected within the audience. When doing our research into our chosen genres, we found that transitions in-between scenes or to show the passing of time was a simple yet conventional way of unravelling the plot at quite a fast pace whilst it still being understandable. The only downfall in using these fades for so many reasons is that they needed to be used throughout in order to demonstrate continuity, however it meant it seemed like there were fades all the time which essentially made it even less realistic than it would have without them. This is something we have learnt and will take into consideration next time.

Even though transitions were the closest thing we used to special effects, we did not feel it was necessary to have included any more. This was because although special effects conform to the genres for the majority, realistically it lies down to the plot, and we did not feel that special effects would have aided our film in any way. I believe that by putting special effects in when it was not necessary would have made 'Intrusion' look childish and unbelievable which is something we were not aiming for. By not following the stereotypes of the genres as a whole, it could be said that our opening two minutes does not conform to the conventions, which is something we wanted, however I believe that to an extent it does adhere to what is expected as with special effects it would not have worked as successfully, and because there is such a large contrast of films within each genre, it would be unfair to judge it on the expectations as a whole. 

Evaluation Activity 1

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

In our film, there was no main prop so to speak of, and similarly there was no stereotypical costume to help the audience identify the genres or themes within our opening two minutes. On these terms, it could be said that our use of props and costumes did not adhere to the conventions as stereotypical expectations may have presumed there would be obvious signs provided (through the use of costumes and props) to help aid the audience with their understanding. The most obvious example I can think of where costumes have played a large role in revealing the genre of the film is the Spiderman series with the world renowned Spiderman superhero costume. Despite this, there are almost many other less obvious costumes which still conform to the stereotypes of certain genres, such as the dark colours in spy/crime films providing a sense of mystery or similarly the lighter more colours items of clothing in light hearted films, such as comedies like We’re The Millers 2013. Costumes and props play a large role in portraying the themes of the play to the audience, and in turn help to unravel the plot. It is stereotypical of an opening scene for the main prop or character with a key costume to be revealed close to the beginning in order to grasp the audience’s attention, or create enigmas, helping to help set up the story of the film. 

In our film, we chose to dress Christie our protagonist in dark subtle clothing. Although it may not be obvious to the audience as it is not something typically thought provoking, we purposely chose dark clothing to suggest that she was just a regular, everyday teenage girl, going on a run. We thought that it would be effective to dress her this way as it would help to set up enigmas, causing the audience to wonder why she was a specific point of interest. We also wanted to help create suspense as we thought that by dressing her in dark, yet still colour coded clothing it would suggest that she was quite experienced at what she was doing, giving the impression that this was something she did quite often. We thought that this would be interesting as it would imply that the crime was premeditated and so would again help to build on those enigmas created at the beginning, also causing the audience to wonder who it was that was interested in her. By using clothing that would help produce enigmas, we found it useful in also helping to set up the story of the film as it easily allowed us to introduce the antagonist as he was a character the audience would have been interesting to see. It could be said that the introduction of our antagonist in the opening scene was unconventional as usually, their identity is kept hidden for longer in order to build on the tension created through the use of camera work implying their movements, however this was something we were unable to do due to the time restraints. For her age, the choice of colour of her outfit could be considered to subvert the conventions of what is expected of teenagers because typically, it would be assumed that they would wear bright and outgoing colours to demonstrate their youth and energy, however this is known as a stereotype for a reason because it is not necessarily correct. Despite this, this stereotype is often used in films, but we decided against following that stereotype because we believed it was more important to suggest that she was serious about the sport in order provide a sense of realism rather than just follow the stereotypes for the sake of it.

Our antagonist’s costume was more stereotypical to the expectations of the genre in that it was dark clothing; however that is as far as the stereotypes extend. We aimed to portray our antagonist – Adam in a creepy, unhinged manor mainly through the use of camera angles however his costume played a part in illustrating his role to the audience as well. We wanted his dark clothing to portray the themes in which the colour black connote, such as mystery, negativity and even death, using the antagonist from Prisoners as inspiration. Similarly, we wanted to follow the stereotypical portrayal of characters such as these, making them seem normal and almost unnoticeable, helping to evoke emotion from the audience through the shock factor. Despite all of this, we wanted to create a balance between the stereotypes and so decided to dress Adam in normal clothing, such as a shirt and jacket in order to make his intentions less obvious. We also thought that his facial hair would be beneficial in that it would add to the themes of our film as it could suggest a slightly un-kept mannerism which would add to his slightly uncomfortable presence.

Evaluation Activity 1

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

In our film we restricted the amount of locations to simply two different types of locations - scenic running scenes and the protagonist's home. We decided that using a variety of locations was not a key aspect that would be needed to enhance our film as due to the time restrictions, it may have made it difficult to follow and less realistic. Despite this, choosing the correct locations was an important factor we needed to take into consideration as there was such little variety, a large amount of time would be focused on these locations. We wanted our film to look as professional, as well as realistic as possible and I believe that our choice of locations supports this, however maybe next time it might be interesting to experiment with different types of locations more, in order to see what effect they would have had.

It is typical of most films to start their opening scene with an establishing shot of the surroundings, introducing the audience to the setting and allowing them to get to know the character's whereabouts. For that reason, we decided to start our opening scene with an establishing shot of where the majority of the film would take place - our protagonist's house. We believed that this would be effective in allowing the audience to engage with the film, and feel like they were getting to know the character as it makes the film seem more personal and therefore more easy to relate to. We decided to portray this location firstly through a high angle shot before cutting to a long shot of the character running away from the camera. We thought this would be an interesting way to display the location as it fulfilled two purposes - it successfully introduced the audience to the area, as well as immediately making our protagonist seem vulnerable through the use of a high angle shot, helping the audience with their understanding of the plot. I think that our opening shot conforms to the conventions in that it introduces the surrounding, however I think that the surrounding in which it introduces is subverts the stereotypes. It is difficult to discuss the stereotypes as our film is based around three different genres - crime action and thriller so there are a lot of stereotypes to consider, however I believe that in these genres, specifically action, the establishing shot would usually be in a more iconic, hectic location which aids the plot as it provides reason behind the realism. Despite this, I believe that our establishing shot fits the stereotypes of our plot as it more low key than big budget action films such as Skyfall, and I believe that with a combination of our skills and budget, our opening location successfully fits with the themes within our film.

The second screen shot is a picture of our other location - the scenic yet secluded rural running area as opposed to a large city landscape. I thought that this camera angle in particular was useful in showing our location as it also provided an insight into how we wanted our protagonist to be portrayed to the audience. Practicality was the main reason for our choice of location, however we also thought this type of area would be interesting as the audience does not expect it, as mentioned before - with a conventional large set-piece in London or in an exotic international location being the expected opening from our audience. We tried to help the audience to locate the setting as a mostly rural environment as best we could through the variety of shot types we used, as well as including as many areas of typical 'countryside' rather than busy roads etc. as we could. We hoped that the green colours which surrounded the character for the majority of the time would signify the natural element to this location that would be noticeably absent from the grey concrete of the city. This type of secluded location was something we actually gained inspiration from the horror genre, in particular the 1996 film Scream in which I analysed as part of my research and planning. We thought that this type of shot would build audience anticipation as it suggested that our young and vulnerable protagonist was being watched/followed and so helped to build suspense as well as provide the audience with a sense of fear due to the loneliness of her situation. When filming this shot, it was quite difficult to gain the correct amount of balance between the amount of obstruction from the trees and the amount of visibility we wanted from the protagonist. I believe that we managed to get this balance correct, however we were a bit further away from Christie than we would have liked. Despite this, I think it adds to the themes of the plot and it could heighten her vulnerability as it implies that she is in a world of her own (through the use of headphones and her obliviousness) and too far out of reach from protection.

Evaluation Activity 1

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

In order to try to conform to the stereotypes of an opening scene from our chosen genres, we tried to use a variety of different camera angles. We did this in order to try and grasp the audience’s attention, making sure the scenes were not just made from long, boring continuous shots and also to try and conform to expectations of our genres. From our research into these genres – crime action and thriller, we found that the opening scenes can be fast paced, but also painfully slow in order to build suspense. We wanted to create a balance between the two as we thought this would be the most appropriate way to incorporate the two extremes, so we decided to create an opening which was in the middle ground. We did this through both the use of different camera angles and editing as it enabled us to change the lengths of the shots, allowing us to create an ideal medium between the two expectations.

This shot is one of my favourites from our opening scene. It is the first time our protagonist’s face is displayed fully to the audience, showing the extent of her youth whilst demonstrating her confusion. Although Christie is no actor, I believe she portrayed the emotions we wanted perfectly, helping to evoke emotion from the audience. I also think we timed this shot well, showing her shock/confusion just before the end, helping to build a cliff hanger and engage the audience, creating enigmas and leaving them wanting to know more. The close up of Christie's face shows her hidden innocence and brings the audience closer to her as a character, making them sympathise with her for the first time, and feel anger towards Adam even though they don't yet know what is to come.

Editing became a very important factor in our film as essentially, it allowed us to create shots which didn’t exist. Due to time restrictions and just our general lack of motivation (this was the last scene we filmed after a long day) we decided to film the whole scene from Christie entering until the very end with her sitting on the bed as one long, continuous shot. This was partly due to practicality and partly because we thought it may conform to the expectations of the thriller genre with painstakingly slow movements and long scenes. However when we came to editing we realised it did not have the desired effect and was just boring. Luckily, we were able to edit this scene and cut it so that we had a close up of Christie’s face once she discovered someone had been in her room. Although this is not what we had initially planned, I believe the outcome is of a much higher standard that it would have been otherwise. The use of the close up shot also works to the audience’s advantage as it makes the film slightly more personal and helps to involve them more in the plot as it enables them to feel like they are getting to know the main character. The use of the close up shot also conforms to the stereotypes of all opening scenes in general as it introduces the main character – something which is expected and usually signifies importance within the plot. For this reason, we made sure to introduce Christie before Adam so that the audience were aware she would be the main focus of the film.

Evaluation Activity 1

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

A key feature of opening scenes is grasping the audience’s attention, and an easy way to do this is by setting up the rest of the story, intriguing them, causing them to want to carry on watching. Our overall and ultimate aim was to produce an opening scene which was clearly identifiable to particular genres whilst still looking professional and had the ability to capture and hold the audience’s attention. This was quite a task we set ourselves, so we needed to focus on the most important aspect which in our eyes was creating a film which would be interesting or at least enjoyable to watch.

From our research, we found that a widely used tactic to involve the audience in the plot was through the establishment of enigmas. Enigmas create mysteries or cliff hangers, causing the audience to ask themselves questions or want to know more. This worked to our advantage as it meant that no matter how low the quality of the content in our film was, the use of enigmas would still lift its prospects as the audience would want to carry on watching, maybe not for enjoyment but just to find out what was going to happen. We also found that audiences hate unanswered questions as it makes them feel uneasy or if something is missing, so using that information, we figured that an audience would sit through a whole film just to get the answer to their question. Despite this reassuring discovery, we were hoping our film would not be so difficult to watch that the only reason they stayed through the whole two minutes was to find the answer to the enigmas we set up!

The main enigma we opted for was leaving the intentions of our antagonist hidden. In the process of filming our opening scenes, we had planned to include a scene with our antagonist preparing for his activities, giving a display of his weapons. This was a scene that we did actually film, however we were unable to include it because the footage was too dark and did not fit with the rest of the film. Despite this, when considering whether to re-film, we decided against it as we felt that for a stereotypical opening scene, it gave too much information away and so would take away from the establishment of our enigmas because it would provide too much detail about what the antagonist’s intentions were. We also decided to keep the relationship, if any, between the two main characters hidden to allow us to display the full extent of our abilities through our camera work. Saying this, our camera work and editing was not as strong as we would have liked it to be, and some of the shots which we had initially imaged were not as easy as we had thought to materialise. Despite this, we still wanted the camera work to do most of the talking, so allowed the different shots and angles to provide implications in which were open to interpretation to the audience. An example of this was the shot of Christie running through the branches. We hoped that this shot would give the impression Christie was being watched or followed, in turn building tension and causing the audience to want to know more about who was watching and what they wanted. We also thought that it would be best to keep the amount of enigmas used to a minimum in order to ensure we weren’t overcomplicating the film or causing the audience to become confused which may have led to boredom. I think we were quite successful in establishing and maintaining enigmas and hopefully they will have the desired effect on the audience.

Fast paced action is typically something that would pull the audience’s attention, however due to a combination of our chosen genres, and our filming abilities we thought it would be best to avoid an action scene as it would have made our film look less professional. I am unsure what our target audience would expect from a film with the title ‘Intrusion’ - I don’t know whether they would have expected a stereotypical fight/action scene and been let down, or have preferred the slow, tension building entrance we aimed to provide. Stereotypical action films also begin with fast paced scenes in order to help introduce the plot as well as hold the viewer’s interest, however thrillers can be much slower, creating enigmas. For our film, we decided to lean more towards the thriller genre’s conventions as it was something much easier for us to execute. I think our final shot helps to set up the story and conform to the genre very well due to the perspective it was shown through.  The camera angle suggests that someone is watching Christie, and due to the previous scene it is implied that this is the antagonist, however due to the timing the audience are left on a cliff hanger wanting to know more. I think this tactic worked successfully and helped us to establish our enigmas to their full extent, hopefully our target audience will agree. We debated whether to have Christie take her socks off, or just cut the scene short leaving her with her socks on as we were running out of time. We decided to show the full length of the clip and at first I was unsure as I thought the scene may have dragged slightly, however I am pleased that we decided to display it all. I think that the removal of her socks makes her seem more innocent and in turn more vulnerable as she appears to be more exposed, helping to add to the suspense which accentuates the enigma. 

Finished Intrusion