Evaluation Questions 1-4

91535533 Louis Media Evaluation

Questionaire

These are two screen shots of the questionnaire that we sent out to research the sort of films that our target market would be interested in.  We specifically wanted the opinions of thriller films not just all films. The results helped us create a picture of what is popular within thriller films.

Treatment

Our task was to make a thriller opening sequencing consisting of a maximum of 2 minutes. The main plot of our film will be an action thriller and therefore will be concentrating on one main character rather than a group. We decided a few plotlines from criminals to underground rappers but had finally decided on a ninja based opening sequence.

Our opening sequence will introduce a ninja who is on a mission to defeat the boss of a ninja organisation or someone of high authority as the villain had killed his brother. This information will be presented to the viewers by literature at the beginning of the opening to inform the viewers what has happened and to make them aware of what is about to happen. The sequence is going to revolve around the main ninja training in order to defeat the boss as well as a graveyard scene consisting of the ‘brother’s’ grave.  This will represent sorrow and resentfulness, which connects to contrast.

Our group decided on this storyline from watching a retro Chinese film, which contained ninjas and karate classes training. We decided to use this element in our storyline, as it was different and unique from other action thriller movies. We also printed of multiple questionnaires about general knowledge of films and specifically thriller films; this gave use more knowledge about what viewers wanted and what made them intrigued to watch more.

The main locations that we need are a graveyard and a dark setting, preferably a dark room with multiple dim lighting such as the lighting room within our school. We also may need a street to show the ninja walking in the sunshine to create contrast from the dark setting, which is going to be the main concept of the film.

We may need to also create an effect on our footage such as tinting or low saturation to make the footage unique and interesting. The graveyard that we are using will create a sorrowful mood for the viewers as it is representing the loss of the ninja’s brother and shows the love between the characters.

Our film will conform for being classed as an action thriller opening sequence as it has intense, adrenaline music in sync with the ninja’s training. This is creating a sound motif as well as making the viewers more intrigued to see what happens in the next scene. It also has a black and white effect to represent a retro time period and also makes the footage gloomier.

To conclude, our footage will hopefully start off with a literature rising up from the bottom like Star Wars or Blade Runner and consisting of powerful language informing the viewers the main storyline. This will shortly cut to the production companies, which lead to the ninja training in sync with the music. A graveyard scene will also be shown to represent sorrow and loss and will finally lead to the ninja walking in the sunshine to end. This creates sunshine from the dark settings and shows happiness.

Plot Synopsis

Our thriller opening sequence will be revolving around the storyline of a ninja, Zhi Kuan, who had lost his brother as an evil boss, General Xiao, had killed him. This will be explained the viewer by a scrolling literature rising from the top, this will also be white writing on black background to make it stand out to the viewers. Our logo, ‘Specialist Pictures’ will also be presented to the viewers.

Throughout our movie, we are going to continuously use the sound motif technique therefore the different production companies will appear in sync with the heavy drums within the soundtrack. This will happen four times and will suddenly jump cut to footage.

The footage that will be initiated first to the viewers will show the camera panning up the ninja’s legs, which creates suspicion and curiosity to the viewers, as they want to find out whom the ninja actually is. The next scene shows Daniel’s back in his ninja outfit with lighting focused on him from the top and then the camera will view Daniel putting on his mask. This shows the viewers that he is prepared for his mission and his training.

The next scenes show Daniel training and his first exercise is him using nun chucks, push ups and shadow boxing. This variety of different training exercises at different angles shows that the ninja is a professional.

After the scenes of Daniel training in his ninja costume, he is found in a different location, which is the graveyard and wearing his suit, which represents his alter ego. This symbolizes his love and grief of his brother in which he goes to visit him. The camera shows Daniel walking up to the grave with a single red rose; multiple angles are used to intrigue the viewer.

The camera then shows Daniel from his neck to feet throwing the rose in respect on the grave, this scene will also is shows the rose in the colour in contrast to the whole opening sequence being in black and white.

The scene is then faded to a black screen showing the actors and also the final title, ‘The shadow’. These will be animated to express the significance it has on the video.

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment Template and Example

Prop List

PROP LIST

Sound Perspective

The term sound perspective can be used to transform sound into either distant or close. Distant sound will perceive to the viewer as sound coming from a distance with the technique of reverberation. An example of this may be a tap dripping from a distance, which will have an echo effect, the microphone will be placed at a distance to record the sound at the viewer’s perspective.

Sound perspective can also transform sound to make it sound very close to the reader; this would mean that the microphone would have to be placed quite close to the object or person making the sound.

Sound perspective creates realism for the viewers from the effects, which makes them feel like they are actually there.

Sound Motif- Sound motif is the term used for the viewer to associate a piece of music or specific sound to a person, place or object. An example of this is the association of the Jaws theme with a big dangerous shark.

Digetic Sound- Digetic sound is the term used to describe sound emitted from a scene in which all the characters can hear such as dialogue or knocking on a door. The example of the EastEnders scene showing Max scuffing his shoes on the floor is Digetic sound as all the characters can hear it and there is no need for editing.

Non-Digetic Sound- Non-digetic sound is sound or music that has been edited in scenes in which the characters cannot hear such as music soundtracks. The example of the Doctor Who scene uses non-digetic sound such as the music being played or the explosive effects as they have been edited.

Synchronised Sound- Synchronised sound is the term to describe sound or a piece of music matching a characters or objects movements or gestures such as music videos as artists normally dance or move in sync with the music. The example of ‘500 days of summer’ uses synchronised sound as the when the brass instruments are introduced into the piece of music in sync with orchestral musicians enter the scene

Contrapuntal Sound- Contrapuntal sound is the term used to describe sounds or music that is inappropriate and odd to the actual scene it is edited with. This confuses the viewer and changes their mood, an example of this is ‘Dr Strangelove’s final scene in which multiple shots of explosions and mushroom clouds are being shown which represents sorrow and mass destruction. However, the music that is being played is retro, cheerful and can be perceived as victorious. This does not match the visual scenes and makes the viewer feel that the explosions are somewhat of a celebration or victory just because of the contrapuntal music.

Voice-Over- Voice-Over is the term used to describe narration that is heard over a scene that is being played. This can be the character’s thoughts or just a narrator explaining a situation or story to the viewer. Either way, it can be emotional or understanding to the viewers. An example of this is JD’s narration from Scrubs in which the viewer seems to be hearing his thoughts and to bring out this effect more prominent, reverberation is used.

An example of this is Chuck’s narration in Supernatural; he is speaking emotionally of the main characters to the viewers by typing his narration onto a computer even though he is not talking. It is perceived to be his thoughts.

Dialogue- Dialogue is the term used to simply describe conversation between two or more characters.

Soundtrack- Soundtracks are music that is being played over a scene such as a commercial song or even a theme. The main objective of a theme is to associate it with the film, which is known as sound motif.

Ambient Sound- Ambient sounds are sounds that are perceived in the background such as a dripping tap. This creates realism for the viewer and the effect of reverberation increases this. An example of this is background noise such as a ticking clock or drumming fingers on a table.