Audience Research

 I decided to do some research that would help us with our target audience.

 

 I found that there a multiple theories that link in with audiences. One of these is the 'mass and niche' theory. This theory implies that some films are made 'for the mass' this means that the film would cover a wide age range, ethnicities etc and multiple types of audiences would enjoy it.

 

The 'niche' idea is the thought that a film is made for a specific audience and only the target audience would find the film enjoyable. These are two key ideas that we need to take note for when producing our film: are we going down the mass or niche route?

There is also the Hypodermic Needle Theory. This theory implies that mass media has a direct,

Paramount Pictures

Paramount pictures founded in 1912 are one of  'the big six' film producers and film studios.

Paramount is known for producing several highly successful film series such as: Titanic, Transformers, Mission Impossible, Indiana Jones, Star Trek and many more.

Particularly the films I'm interested in are Paranormal Activity, Friday The 13th and  Jack Reacher. This is because they are all successful thriller films produced by Paramount and that is the genre of film we are going to be making.
Compared to Warner bros, Paramount are just behind with the number of Thriller films produced however in my opinion, I think Paramount are ahead in their terms of quality.






Credits:
http://nickredfern.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/genre-and-hollywood-studios-1991-to-2010/

Warner Bros.

I have decided to do some research into a production company to try and give me some insight and inspiration into how they work and try and give me some ideas along the way.

So, I decided to start at the top with perhaps the largest, most well known and best company: Warner Bros.
 Warner Bros was first established in 1923 by the four Warner brothers: Sam, Harry, Albert, and Jack. It all began when they acquired a movie projector and showed films to the people of a mining town in Pennsylvania.

Over the years Warner Bros have produced some of the biggest films, cartoons, and television programmes in history such as: Harry Potter, Looney Tunes, and Friends.

Warner Bros usually applies a vertical integration as rather than speak with lots of minor companies for different stages of production they usually have a department for each already within the company.

Marketing:

Warner Bros market their films through more expensive methods such as on the sides of busses, TV adverts, magazine interviews with the stars, and appearing on chat shows to promote an upcoming film.

The main way Warner Bro films earn their money is through the cinema, this may be because they once owned a large chain: Vue cinemas themselves. This gave them control over how well they advertise, long they play, and amount of times they show their own films compared to another companies.

Over the century, Warner Bros has produced some of the largest and most successful films in history.

Such as: Harry Potter, Batman, and The Matrix.

As of 2013 Warner Bros' revenue is estimated at $12.3 billion.

In recent times, Labour Leader: Ed Milliband has stated that media companies are slowly losing power as developments through the internet are causing rapid change in the way we consume news. Due to the fact that people are allowed to post as they wish online, media companies such as Warner are slowly losing their grip over what the public consume and news can be spread far quicker through means of online methods than it ever could by means of mail and newspaper.

Preliminary Final Video

This is our final preliminary video.

Se7en Contexual Analysis

This is an analysis of the film se7en by David Fincher. This analysis will allow me to gain insight into  how a thriller is made and what makes and effective film.

Comments:

Mise en scene:
Sound:
Editing:
Camera angles:


Mise en scene:

In the mise en scene we see that both protagonists are smartly dressed which indicates they are professionals and treat their job seriously. We also see that there is a metronome on the table, metronomes are used by musicians to keep in tempo and prevent irregularity. The presence and use of the metronome could be symbolic gesture that Morgan Freeman has/ had a hectic and abnormal life and this is an attempt to keep his life 'in tempo'. The weather is also raining which helps to build the dull and morbid sense of the clip, indicating to the audience that something bad has happened or is about to.

Sound:

 In the opening to seven there is a constant use of sirens in the background which could be classed as quite natural in cities and implies there is always danger lurking round the corner somewhere. We also see one of the main characters: Morgan Freeman who is soon to be retiring in bed and starts a metronome. The metronome is creepy and discordant because it seems to hold the audience in a trance. This could also be seen as a metaphor for time ticking away because we learn from the opening that he is retiring soon. When the scene swaps to the opening credits a discordant and creepy beat/ song begins to play. The beat seems distorted, mixed, and warped, possibly reflecting the films narrative. There is also a beat every now and again that resembles a heartbeat. When Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt leave the crime scene it begins raining and it could be argued that the rain sounds louder than normal.

Editing:

Low key lighting is used throughout the clip which reflects the morbid atmosphere surrounding the main character and also helps set the mood for the audience as well. The opening credits is sketchy and seems to be broken which kind of helps set the idea to the audience that the film is going to be 'broken' and not your up-beat happy kind of film. 

Suits - S2E12 Great use of 180 degree rule

  Here we see in this clip from suits an excellent use of the 180 degree rule. It would be difficult to recreate the scene as it is so greatly done however we can use this as a target to aspire too.

Conventions Of a Thriller

Conventions of a thriller:


A thriller is a film that consists of an exciting and tense plot designed to 'thrill' the audience. It creates this effect by building suspense, excitement, and tension for its main elements. A thriller is designed to keep the audience on the edge of their seats as the plot build towards its climax. There also tends to be a continuous occurrence of red herrings, plot twists, and cliff hangers.

Sub genres of thrillers:

Psychological thrillers: Emphasises the psychology of its character and their unstable emotional states and is designed to toy with the audiences thoughts.

Crime thrillers: Crime thrillers are thrillers that focus on the lives of criminals and are often based on real life crime figures or the far fetched evil plans of a villainous antagonist.

Erotic thrillers: Regularly consists of sexual acts and loving scenes.

Mystery thrillers

Spy thrillers: Usually a government agent who has to thwart an opposing rival government or terrorist group.

Political thrillers: Recreation of a recent political problem.

Military thrillers: Based on military action such as wars etc.

Conspiracy thrillers: The hero goes against an organisation that only they see its true villainous intentions.

Forensic thrillers: The hero who's a forensic expert and recent involvement of an unsolved crime puts their lives at risk.

Horror thrillers

Plot Research

We were struggling to decide on a plot for our story so I have decided to do research into what phobias people share, this will allow the thriller to scare a wider audience of people.

I found that one of the most shared fears is 'ghost girls'. So I looked into popular videos on the internet and how people created scary 'ghost girl' effects.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP9Dkr6UmCg

One of the most popular effects is the over the should shot from the front where the camera reveals what is behind the person. This effect could emphasise the 'psychological' side of the thriller, as it would create a sense of a paranoia for the audience by making it feel that someone is standing behind them.  

Preliminary post

 

Barthes

Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes 1


Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes code theory:

The culture code: Looks at the audiences wider cultural knowledge, morality and ideology.

The action code: The action code consists of the narrative that the 

The semantic code: Points to any element in a text that suggests a particular, often additional, meaning by way of connotation which the story suggests.

The enigma code: The way the tension is built up and the audience is left guessing what happens next.

The code of oppositions: How oppositions are used.


Preliminary task:

we used the codes throughout our preliminary task,

We used the culture code by conducting the meeting in a neat room with no graffiti and the people are well dressed showing they aren't lower class.

The semic code was used by making the room darkened, we achieved this looks by simply shutting the blinds.

The code of oppositions was used by the male-female divide. Olli was the interviewer and Emma was the interviewee.

We played on the enigma code right at the beginning by using titling. The titling left the location as "unknown" leaving the audience to guess where the interviewer is, building tension and also showing that the meeting is in secret.

The action code was used by Emma's brief pace. She walked in a relatively brisk manner, this signifies that she is in a rush and doesn't want to be stopped highlighting the fact that wherever she is going is of importance. This also shows that she is a person of power.