Evaluation

Evaluation of an opening sequence
By Fatima Adam
Vengeance

The project was to shoot and edit a two minute opening sequence including the titles, the genre we chose for our group production was thriller, we chose this because we thought it was a very intense and dramatic genre and it would keep the audience hooked. We worked in a group of three, we decided that the best way to produce a great opening sequence is to share the work equally and compromise with one another. My job entailed producing, editing, acting, putting together the storyline, helping with the props lighting and costumes, Zulaikha Khan was the Director, she also did the editing, storyline, shooting the footage of the props and lighting and costume, Ruby Chaudhry also collaborated with the storyline, props, lighting costumes and choose the Music. We created two opening sequences, one of which was a preliminary task which we carried out to understand the concept of filming and editing etc. Our main video took a lot of effort and time to put together we called it ‘Vengeance’ we were able to complete it on time and our final product lasted two minutes which was recommended. The audience feedback we got back for the what media language creates tension? :

• the music and mis en scene
• Slow motion
• Sound music and editing
• The dark lighting and creepy location
• Slow motion

Our sequence is related to a horror/psychological thriller; generally, thrillers focus on plot over character, and thus emphasize intense, physical action over the character's psyche. Psychological thrillers tend to reverse this formula to a certain degree, emphasizing the characters just as much, if not more so, than the plot. We chose this genre because the suspense created by psychological thrillers often comes from two or more characters preying upon one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state therefore we found this very interesting and agreed to choose this as the genre for the sequence .the psychotic individual and the victim are the main characters in this sequence as it is evident in the opening sequence. The audience are able to recognise this with the props that are used at the beginning of the opening sequence and the blood shows that before this victim there was another that was killed, which emphasises on the fact that it is a psychotic killer. And the reason we used the dismal location and dull lighting with the tense music was to stress the importance of the genre.
Thriller and suspense films are types of films that endorse intense excitement, suspense, uncertainty anxiety and a high level of anticipation. The main purpose of a thriller film is to keep the audience hanging. Characters in thrillers include convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassins, down-on-their-luck losers, innocent victims (often on the run), prison inmates, menaced women, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops and escaped convicts, fugitives. The type of people that are represented in our sequence is psychotic individuals and victims, the appearance of both the psychotic individual and victims separate them from each other and make it obvious to the audience as to which is which, furthermore the actions made by each character also helps portray their character better but overall the body language best describes who they really are. Our opening sequence is set in the criminals garage the house is dismal which helps create dull lighting and the blood on the tools also emphasise the genre. This fits with the dominant mode of representing the group which adheres to the stereotypes that we see commonly in the media.
The perfect audience for our opening sequence would be as of a wide range of ages from 15 and above, this would be because the genre of the film is psychological thriller, and however it will not be suitable for children below the ages of 15 as it would contain explicit images such as violence. Furthermore the audience for this film is a potentially large mass audience because it is able to interest a lot of people and keep them hooked. This group of audience is just right for the product financially; because it is a wide group of an audience therefore many of them would go to see the film. This is the perfect audience because teenagers spend most of their time at the movies; men also enjoy watching psychotic thriller films with the blood and murders etc. Therefore this sequence is open to all ages above 15. However I would say that the main target audience for psychological thriller films would be the male population from the age of 16-40yrs. Mainly the reason this genre attracts peoples attention is the suspense and anticipation that everything will go right in the end however in some films it makes people feel they are in the characters position. Overall we received positive feedback from our questionnaires this showed us that our product was a good opening sequence. It was clear to the audience as they were able to recognise the genre. One of the questions that was used in the questionnaire was;

What genres can you see? How has the media language established the genres?
These were the responses we got
Horror / scary music and weapons portray this
Horror / Thriller / slow clips. scary music
Horror/ slow potion, blood / distorted shots
Horror / thriller
horror / the extreme close ups n the blood
horror / blood knifes / maybe drama based on real life event such as hostages
The use of the location was dull and gloomy this was used to remind the audience that the sequence is a psychological thriller and therefore there would be no content moments in this sequence. The shots were in a chronological sequence and were put together in the final production with invisible transitions which was used to create realism also known as verisimilitude this means it allows the audience to enter the world of the story. The music and the lighting both create enigmas of the sequence; they are the main features which help extinguish the mystery. The dull lighting creates shadows and the music makes the audience think, and keep them on the edge of there seats thinking something may or may not jump out at them. In the sequence it is evident that the conflict is between the psychotic killer and the victim. We also used slow motion at some points when it was needed to emphasise the shot to show that something drastic was about to happen. Furthermore at the end when the victim gasps we edited this in order for it to stand out so it could make the audience jump out of their seats. We decided to use two types of music because as the first few shots focus on the props we decided to use a slow yet mysterious type of music, however for the second half we decided to use a more faster yet calm type of music to go with the pace of the ending. We had many dull shots but also used a light to create a silhouette to add tension and suspense, we mainly used close ups to bring them closer to the victim and make them aware of her situation. Furthermore when we edited the sequence we added a slow motion effect to it, we also changed the music as the action in the sequence changed.
I have learnt how to edit a film sequence and transfer the sequence from a video camera to the computer I have also learnt how to add music and other extras to it by using the technologies from the process of constructing this product. I learnt how to work a camera and during the filming I also learnt about the amount of shots that were needed to make the sequence, many shots are needed because of the different angles and shots. We were able to store our information and research on a blog which was used by all media students, moreover we were able to analyse videos from You Tube to understand the concept of psychological thriller film. For the editing we used the DTP software, with this we were able to choose the shots that we needed and put them together in order to get the sequence as we wanted it. Furthermore we were able to put the shots together with transitions such as fade and add effects such as dissolve etc. To record our sequences each group got a camcorder with a tripod and a cassette, we used the tripod for still and focused shots to make it look more professional. We also used a blog to store our research on this was called ‘blogger.com’ we were able to update it each time we did something new to our sequence and with the blog we are able to show or step by step production of our opening sequence ‘Vengeance’. In addition we used Microsoft word to make our questionnaire. Overall technology played a big role in helping us produce our sequence.
When looking back at my preliminary task I feel that our final piece was a great improvement and looked more effective, however from the first task I learnt a lot and was able to put that forward towards the final piece. The final piece was outstanding and to prove this the great feedback we received from our fellow classmates could establish this. In the final product we were able to add more effects, camera shots of the props and the girl, and a better location for the genre we used. The dull colour of the atmosphere would represent the genre and would remind the audience what the main purpose of the sequence is. The shots that we improved were the ones of the (bad guy) we decided that because it was just the opening sequence it would be better to leave it as a suspense so the audience would want to know who it is and what its motive is.
Finally I think we did well with our final product as we were able to complete it on time and edit it the way we wanted. We feel that we reached the standard we needed to get to and were able to see if it was entertaining enough asking other people. From this we got back most positive responses. However I do feel that if i was given another chance to make a sequence of a movie I would like to try out different genres just to compare the different types and see how the other genres would be filmed. Furthermore I definitely enjoyed making the sequence and have learnt a lot from the project and about teamwork. Even so the most important thing in a group is being able to interact with one another, sharing out the jobs equally, and contributing to the project equally, this way you can get things done quicker and more efficiently.