During the research and planning of our title sequence I looked at codes and conventions both as a wider part of research but I also looked at the typical codes and conventions, which could be found in our typical genre for the title sequence. The sub-genre of our title sequence was crime/thriller.
"...Many of the feelings that typically attend being horrified are intrinsically unpleasant; for they include gagging, nausea, choking, stomach churning, tenseness, a creepy or crawling sensation, felt in the flesh, and so on." -Noel Carroll. I thought this was the best to describe some of the elements we needed in our sequence to show what the film was about. We were able to create the suspense and tension a key feature in many thriller and crime films. I think we captured this feature through our varied use of camera shots and the sharpness of each of the frames. One major effect we used throughout our title sequence was overlapping two different pieces of film; both pieces would be playing at the same time but the direction of the shots would be going in different ways creating a twisted feel to the sequence. This may have suggested to the audience that there was more to the narrative than what they were realsing within the first opening titles.
Being able to incorporate these codes and conventions into our piece of work made it much better and more professional than it would have original been if no research had been carried out into the genre we were aiming to recreate and represent in our title sequence. The title of a film does give some kind of insight into what the film is about without revealing too much. We wanted our title to still relate back to the genre and our narrative without being too obvious. It was important to look at different ways of interpreting the word ‘kidnap’ because our narrative itself was about a girl being kidnapped so we found words such as abduction, capture etc. By looking at different ways of adapting the same word we found ‘seized’ to be the best fitting title for our story; it still kept the element of surprise and anxiety that it would have not been able to do if we used one of the original words we had found as possible titles to use in our title sequence.
Who would be the audience for your media product? How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our original idea of our film was to represent the over 15+ age range, we thought this would be the best audience area to aim for because we would not be restricted on different areas and we could expand on the different issues we were addressing in the narrative itself (if we focused on an age range below this we may have not been able to use some of the topics we based our film on). The characters in the narrative itself were based around the same age of the audience and therefore the viewer would be able to get more from the characters, as they would not have been able to do if they could not relate to the film. The title sequence covers the different social groups included in the age range we focused on- it has an element of surprise for those wanting adrenaline, features of deception and lies for those searching for a film with deeper meaning and overall an exciting project which purpose is to excite and entertain.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I put a lot of effort into searching through different media institutions finding one which would be able to suit the genre itself, one which had previously dealt with films similar to the one we had developed ourselves and also one which had a good reputation and would publicise our film to our chosen type of audience. The final choice we agreed on was ‘Lionsgate’ they distributed films for movies such as American Psycho, Saw and Crash. By them having experience working with the thriller genre we thought this was the best option rather than going for an institution which were known for Romantic Comedies or Action films.
How did you attract/address your audience?
How did you attract/address your audience?
A way that allows a film creator to attract their audience is by looking at their likes and dislikes. The key to any good film is by constructing something that has not been seen before. So to focus on this, we spent a lot of time working out which camera shots, soundtracks and transitions would come across best to our audience. The characters in the narrative itself were based around the same age of the audience and therefore the viewer would be able to get more from the characters, as they would not have been able to do if they could not relate to the film.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
From work we had done in preparation to making our title sequence, we had only used iMovie. Our teacher had suggested to us to take a look at using Final Cut Pro. At first the programme was very confusing there were many different elements that we had not seen before; we were ensured that by using this particular technology our title sequence would look much more professional. After a few hours of getting used to the programme we also agreed that it was the best choice for use to construct our title sequence in this way.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
From looking back at our preliminary task I think we have found the importance of being organised. As this allowed us plenty of time to get the editing of our sequence up to the standard we had wanted it to be at.
I think its important to carry out research around whatever film project you are working on because it means having a greater knowledge and understanding of what your doing. This showed through our ability to address the typical codes and conventions of our genre.
Overall I would definitely say our title sequence has exceeded any previous expectations we had, and I am very pleased with the finished product.
