Question 8

What do you feel you have learned in progression from the preliminary task to the main project?

"The Deal" (Preliminary Task)

"Loanshark" Main Project

Titles

From the two clips you can see that we worked much harder with the titles for "Loanshark" and I think that this because, we done a lot more research on titles that we're specific to the Action Thriller genre and that meant that we decided to seperate the title from the clips, as this doesn't take any attention away from the action of the scenes. The way we have done our titles this time looks more professional overall due to the fonts that we have selected, as they fit in more with the genre of the film while with the preliminary task the fonts was very generic and hindered the film more than helped it.

Transitions

The transitions for Loanshark compared compared to those of The Deal work so much better as they make the video so much more smoother than the deal and it also shows how we have grown as in "The Deal" the transitions are just fades and quick cuts, while in "Loanshark" we are using cross cuts and a lot more technical transitions.
I think that the transitions improved ,because we learned the importance of transitions to the all around feel of the film and we really took that on board.

Locations

You can see how our use of mise-en-scene improved just through our use of locations as with "The Deal" it is so obvious that it is filmed in a school, while for "Loanshark" you can't really tell where it has been filmed. This is emphasized as for the kitchen scene that is really filmed in the Sixth Form Common room and you can't tell that because of our attention to detail for mise en scene with the production of Loanshark". Despite this, if we do a task like thi=s again I would prefer filming outside of school as then we will have so many more options when filming.

Target Audience
I feel that for 'Loanshark' we had a much clearer idea of our target audience, because of the research that e carried out. This helped because we were able to find out that the demographic for an action thriller, which is 14-35 year old males. This really helped us as unlike with "The Deal" we didn't know our target audience was and that meant that we couldn't design the film to what our target audience would be interested.

Question 7

What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

For this question I decided to make a video explaining the different technologies used and how we used them.

All copyright for the music used in the video goes to Hans Zimmer. All rights reserved.

Question 6

Audience Feedback

For the audience feedback we decided to do a 'talking heads' documentary of people within our target audience that we have just shown our film to.

Thank you For Participating

Elliot Wilders

Michael Galloway

Dominic Render

Curtis Wood

For the second half of this question I have created a video on Windows Movie Maker which gives the views of all the people that we asked to comment on our film opening that weren't within our 14-35 year old male target audience.

The music used used in the video is gone by take that. All copyright belongs to Take That and the respected Record Company. All rights reserved

Evaluation - Questions 4 & 5

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Mainstream or an independent cinema???

I feel that 'Loan Shark' has the required potential to go mainstream and this is because, of it's genre. Action Thrillers are some of the most popular films going at the moment, behind fantasies and comic book films. This is because these films give the audience a sense of escapism and it doesn't matter what is happening in their life, the two and a half hours they spend watching the film is a chance to get away from it all. This is different to action thriller's because, I feel that Action Thriller's add a sense of Verisimilitude. What I mean by this is that except for the big guns and explosions, these are events and situations that people all other the world are experiencing. I feel that the verisimilitude factor of the film will allow us to distribute the film on a large scale through mainstream cinemas like vue; cineworld; and odeon. Also I believe that a film of the Action Thriller genre like 'Loanshark' needs to be in a large cinema when it is shown due to the atmosphere that it creates. For example when you're in the cinema watching an Action Thriller its nice to be in there with a lot of people, because you hear all the same noises like "Ooooo" and "wow" and also after the film everyone talks about it and I think that it's just a great atmosphere and experience.

 

Twilight is of the Fantasy Genre and gives it's audience a sense of escapism.

Avengers Assemble is a Comic Book film that also portrays a sense of escapism.

Taken 2 is a dramatised film based on a situation that could happen to anyone which means that it gives a sense of Verisimilitude.

Killer Elite is an Action Thriller film that's story line is dramatised yet based on a situation that could happen to anyone which means that it gives a sense of Verisimilitude.

Performance of each film at the Box Office

 Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 - $829,224,737

Avengers Assemble - $1,511,757,910

Taken 2 - $374,275,836

Killer Elite - $55,701,900

Marketing

Due to the success of other Genres compared to Action Thrillers we would have to be careful of when the film is released into a mainstream cinema, the best time would probably be around the time of the Budget that the Government put out where job unemployment is always a big subject. Also we would have to watch out about what companies want to sponsor the film and advertise to their customers. For example, a company like Wonga.com who are a pay day loan company would be good on one part as it would get the film out to a large audience. But on the other hand it wouldn't necessarily advertise to our target audience, also these types of companies have been accused of being 'loan sharks'  themselves by the government and various consumer watchdogs.

Despite this I would look at companies like this with a good reputation and other companies like dominos and river island that appeal to our target audience as this would meant that our film would achieve a large fan base. I would also demand that the trailers of the film were put on imbd.com and Youtube as well as being on the TV on channels that our target audience would watch like SKY and MTV, and then on the radio I would get Capital FM to advertise the film. I predict that advertising would take up a large part of our budget due to the fact that our film is a small budget film and that the actual filming and editing of the film wouldn't cost much at all (Possibly 2/3 of the budget would go on advertising, but this would be made up due to the films quality and ability to connect with it's audiences). I would aim for a sponsorship deal with someone like Lynx as this is a company that gets a lot of exposure among our target audience.

The type of media that would advertise our film would be; TV; Radio; and magazines. This is down to the fact that these media institutions are what our target audience like to use the most when they are going about their day.

Evaluation - Question 3

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Audience Man Bag

The man bag is designed on that of a 14-35 year old male

Target Audience Character Profile

Name: James Grayson
Age: 18
Interests: Socialising; Football; Films; Drinking; History; Technology; Tennis; Money; Working; Girls; and Music
Qualifications: 10+ GCSE's; 3+ A Levels; and Currently studying at University.
Aspirations: To be a History teacher or Lecturer and having a small family
Favourite Shops: Sports Direct; River Island; Topshop; Marks and Spencer; JD Sports

Evaluation - Question 2

Question

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

To answer this question I am going to get a still of Jason Statham as he is someone that the main character of  my groups opening sequence is based around and then compare it with the main character from our film 'Loan Shark'.

Here's our main character

Owen Grey played by Graham Trotter

When casting for our main character of Owen Grey we wanted someone that would understand what we were trying to create and would be available to us when we were wanting to film, because with this being a sixth form project people would have different lessons; timetables; and jobs which means at certain times they wouldn't be able to film.

We were also looking someone that was reasonably handsome to play our lead character, because even though our main demographic are 15-34 year old males, if we had a handsome main character that would attract a female audience and earn the film more money in the box office. However I felt that the lead character also had to be someone that could relate to the audience in there appearance by not being the typical muscular actor with the fairy tale good looks like Tom Cruise or George Clooney.

Also, due to the appearance of our main character I feel that he challenges the conventions of the typical Action Adventure movie star. This is because a normal convention with the stars of Action Thrillers is for the main character to be thin or muscular and look like he can handle a fight, while with our main character he is overweight and you wouldn't put a safe bet on him to win a fight, however this means that he is able to share more of a connection with the people that are in his position whether that's overweight or low on cash.

The mise en scene is also good for this character as he doesn't wear any watches or necklaces and nor does he have expensive clothes. This was vital for the feel of the film as the main character is someone that 

Taken all of this together we decided as a group that I should be the main star in the opening sequence of Loan Shark, because it was most suitable to us and due to my appearance I fit in with the chosen demographic of 15-34 year old males mostly from Britain as I'm not dashing with my looks but I'm good enough to attract a female audience and I'm slightly overweight and that'll create a connection to the audience even more, because I'm not super skinny and it's more realistic in a way.

Jason Statham

Jason Statham is an actor that has traditionally played the typical hard man in all of his films that can protect everyone and himself. One of the reasons that Jason Statham inspired us when creating our main character Owen Grey was because he still does a lot of low-budget films with British film companies and as we're a British Film Company that is creating the production of Loan Shark we that he was a good person to set our character around.

However, another reason why we chose Jason Statham to base our main character around was, because he appeals to the same audience as he mostly does Action Thriller films which is the genre that we are doing. So this means that basing our character around Jason Statham we should be able to attract the same audience which is 14-35 year olds.

Two males aged 14-35 looking at a film poster with Jason Statham on it.

Similarities

• Jason Statham is someone that a British audience can relate to, because he is British.
• A lot of his films our where he is the good guy that has to save someone.
• The clothing that he wears in Killers Elite (where for a part of the film he is trying to save Robert De Niro) are clothes that most people would wear.
• In both of the films ('Killers Elite' and 'Loan Shark') the main characters are both people who have had someone very important to them kidnapped and are looking to find the person and get their revenge on the guilty parties involved.

Differences

• In the film Killers Elite he is a professional killer while in our film Loan Shark our main character is just an unemployed man.
• He is the typical Hollywood hard guy in the way that he has a muscular body and a grizzly voice, while I have a bit of a stomach and a soft voice.
• I Killers Elite  the film grows and turns to be part of a government conspiracy, while in 'Loan Shark' it is just simply someone in a poor economic state trying to track down his wife and her kidnappers.

Evaluation - Question 1

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

To answer this question I have got nine stills from the 2009 Action Thriller Sherlock Holmes, becuase even though the film is about the Sherlock Holmes books, it is still in the Action Thriller genre and goes back and uses clips from the film with the titles.

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

www.artofthetitle.com 

Sherlock Holmes does things a bit differently, because it does it's titles at the end of the film for the end titles/credits. However, it still uses some of the same conventions as we do in 'Loan shark'.

'Loan Shark'

Just about all of the Action Thriller film openings that I have seen in the past, whether it be leisure or research use an animation to show their titles to their target audience, like in James Bond or Mission Impossible. So because of this I feel that we are challenging the standard conventions of the genre when we have the titles going over the film like in 'The Towering Inferno'. We really liked the idea of challenging the standard conventions, because it would show and require more creative skill while still keeping with the genres conventions. So to do this we decided to split the opening sequence into sections by splitting them up with the titles.

Below are the titles that we have used:

This title is showing our production company logo and it is right at the start of the film with no sound over it or anything, as the only connection from the logo to the film is the fact that our production company "Three Lions Productions" made the film.

We done this because, we didn't want a long animated video like those of James Bond and Mission Impossible, as even though the fantastic opening sequence is one of the reasons the James Bond is known throughout the world it weren't something that we were hoping to recreate. Sherlock Holmes does the same thing as us for our title sequence as it puts the titles within the films video, yet it uses an animation so that it stays within the films story line. 

For the clips we wanted it to be quite light given the films plot and I feel that this once again gives us a closer connection to our target audience, because traditionally in Action Thriller it's always done in a dark warehouse where they fight to the end, however because we want our film to be realistic we choose it to be throughout the day and in a wide open space like a field as in reality the last thing that you want to do is to meet a stranger in a dark and spooky place like an old warehouse or alleyway. 

The music however, did stay within the standard conventions of the genre as for most action thrillers their music is a guitar solo and that's exactly what we have used to build the tension through the opening sequence and to give a commentary of events as at the end of the opening we use a piano to explain the sense of loss and disappointing in the eyes of our main character. 

We decided to put the films title at the end of the opening sequence as that is at one of the points where the tension is at it's highest and also it challenges the standard conventions of most Action Thrillers as they normally put their films title at the end of the film. For the other titles in the opening sequence that tell the audience who's in the film and who made it we decided to put in between the different scenes to split them up and help to build the tension even more as it get the audience wonder what's happening, because this is a technique that is used a lot it Thrillers and Horrors.

Despite this, throughout the whole opening sequence we decided to challenge most of the standard conventions of the Action Thriller genre, while sticking with the more basic ones like the music and the plot of the film.

Opening sequence of 'Loanshark'

Titles

Our titles are going to appear on black screens in a gradient silver and the font Platimumband BT. We have done this because we want to separate the scenes so that it is clear to our audience where the flashbacks and the normal time scenes are. This is a convention that isn't normally used by films in the Action Thriller Genre as they normally have them; in the end credits; in a music video; or over the film in a bottom corner.

We have set out the titles so that they clearly show every ones names but everyone gets the credit for what they did and that it is shared out.

These are our titles;

A Three Lions Ltd Production

Actors

Graham Trotter

Sarah Adams

Ashley Wood

Todd Rae

Director

Armarnie Senior

Executive Producers

Armanie Senior

Sarah Adams

Filmed By

Sarah Adams

Screenplay Producer

Graham Trotter

Costume Designer

Graham Trotter

Sound Producers

Kenny Nettlingham

Jamie Carter

Zak Riley

Ms Streton 

Title Research

For our title we have decided to do some research by looking at other films from the same Action Thriller Genre.

Bourne Ultimatum

With Bourne Ultimatum the titles were in the end credits and this could be so that absolutely none of the audiences attention was taken away from the film and it's action scenes and this is a standard convention in action thrillers for this specific reason. Also because, Bourne Ultimatum is the third one in the series everyone already knows exactly who is in it and who has directed it etc...
James Bond Series in General
(Casino Royale)

With the James Bond series the titles are done within a music video montage and this is done so that no action is ignored by the audience because they are watching the titles. Also because it adds to the story becuase, traditionally in a James Bond film the first five minutes is a scene that isn't really related to the rest of the film but the ones that are the music video is used to connect them. It could also be used as another way of getting money because they normally release the single a month before the film and it just helps to hype the film and make sure everyone knows about it.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Like James Bond they use a video montage but with the classic Mission Impossible music over it and this is done to introduce the actors and show the audience the different aspects/scenes of the film
Sherlock Holmes

Like Bourne Ultimatum the titles were in the end credits and this could be so that absolutely none of the audiences attention was taken away from the film and it's action scenes and this is a standard convention in action thrillers for this specific reason.

Expendables

With the Expendables the different titles appear in the bottom corners of the screen over the film. This convention is used when there are loads of big name stars like; Sylvester Stallone; Jason Statham; and Bruce Willis so that the titles don't take up too much time in the film.

The Matrix: Reloaded
                                     i

The Matrix uses the same techniques as the James Bond and Mission Impossible series.

Colour

Colour is a vital aspect in a film as it sets the scene from the get go as it helps to tell the story. Even though most films are done in colour now their are films like "The Artist" and "Schindler's List" that are in black and white to represent the time in which the film is set in. Despite this during Schindler's List there is a part when the Nazis are raiding the homes of Jews and are lining them up to either shoot them or lock them up in a concentration/death camp (Which I believe is associated with the 'Night of the Long Knives' ) and there is a little girl in a red dress and she is the only thing in the whole film that is in colour and this was so significant to the films success and she has become an iconic figure.

I believe that the girl in the red dress is supposed to symbolize hope and a bright future for the Jews and the other 'sub-humans' as Hitler called them that were being locked away in the Nazi Death Camps. It could also show innocence in the Jewish race at this time in Nazi Germany and the fact that she is in almost every shot is also significant as it helps to tell a story in it's own right.

We intend to use colour in our opening as it will add to the story and the time that the scene is set. We did negotiate the idea of a scene or two being in black and white but eventhough it would so that we are able to play with the standard conventions we decided against as it could give the audience the wrong impression and would look right for a couple of the scenes.

Sound

After we done the music we decided to look at the sound techniques so that we could get the sound perfect in our opening scene. The two types of sound that we looked at were;

Diegetic Sound (Actual Sound)

• Dialogue.
• Sounds made by on-screen objects.
• Music that is represented as coming from instruments.
• Can be either on/off screen depending on the source of the sound.

Non-Diegetic Sound (Commentary Sound)

• Narrator's Commentary
• Sound effects that are added in for dramatic effect
• Mood Music such as in Skyfall or Jaws

Music is used to signal an iconic moment and the return of an iconic prop in the James Bond Series, which is the Aston Martin DB5. The Aston Martin DB5 was the car that Sean Connery drove around in the first ever Bond film Dr.No and has become an iconic figure in the James Bond series. The music is meant to symbolize that and pass on the cars importance to the film series long time fans and younger audience who first Bond film was Skyfall. 

The use of Mood Music is a standard convention in films and a prime example of this is in Jaws as whenever the audience would hear the music they would instantly think that the Shark (Jaws) was about to attack.

Go straight to 1 minute and 40 seconds as the rest is just talking

The music is supposed to strike fear and anxiety into the mind of the audience and build up the scenes suspense as the Shark is about to turn up which also means that someone is about to die.

Music

For our music we have asked people from the A Level Media Studies Class to produce a piece of music that will be used in our film opening as well as go towards their final grade. When we asked them to do this for us we explained to them what we wanted for it in the simplest way that we could and this involved us saying that we wanted a piece of rock music with a piano section in the middle for the flashbacks but we also wanted to two parts of the music to coincide with each other and smoothly join up together. We told to imagine the film as Jason Statham meets Taken and we explained to them the plot and they agreed and said that they'd have it for us within a week.

When they played what they recorded we played it against the rough edit that we were halfway through making and it fitted perfectly with the music being exactly what we asked for .

Skyfall opening

Last night I put Skyfall on and this was for a couple of reasons; firstly I'm a massive James Bond fan; and secondly, because it's an action thriller and would share the standard conventions of other action thrillers and our own. While watching it and trying to not get to involved with the action I noticed three specific standard conventions that any audience would come to expect from an action thriller opening scene and these were;

(These were the only two clips of the opening scene that were good enough for me to post on my blog)

1. The opening scene has the audience asking questions to make them keep watching the film, as the film will answer the questions throughout yet have the audience asking more leading the way for a sequel.

Questions could be like this;

• What has happened?
• Who is this person?
• What are they doing?
• What's he after?
• Where are they?

This is something that we look to impose into our opening as we believe that it is essential for the opening to work the way we want it to.

2. The scene is neither to fast nor too slow as it starts with a blurred figure of James Bond walking towards the camera and this instantly grips the audiences attention with a slow walk, however when Bond gets into the car the scene speeds up and gets the audiences adrenaline going. This shows that the use of speed is a very important convention in action thrillers and has to be just right, because if it isn't it can bore or overwhelm the audience and they will lose interest and in a way this is like an application form or an interview. This is because they employer or interviewer will always remember the start and end of an interview they will never remember the middle. This means that it is so important when making a film to get the start and the end absolutely perfect.

3. The music used really sets the scene in the opening scene and throughout the film and it helps the audience understand what is going on in the scene. The producers of Skyfall did this really well and it is a convention that we duly intend to use in our film opening due to the fact the it helps to connect the audience to the film.

However music can sometimes be used to refer to previous films in a series and set iconic moments such as in Skyfall when the Aston Martin DB5 is revealed. This helps to appease people who have followed a film series for a long time or seen every single one of the films like James Bond or Harry Potter.

Opening Scene research

For the research on opening scenes we decided to look at films within the same genre so we chose Casino Royale and I also looked at Killers Elite due to the fact that the film has the link with genre and the fact that someone gets kidnapped in it. This helped us to look at the standard conventions of the genre for opening scenes in films. We noticed that the film is always at an average pace to keep the audience interested and wanting to see more, also if their are any titles in the opening scene they are in the corners of the scene from left bottom to right top. This is so the titles don't take to much away from the action and so that their isn't any arguments about whose name comes first. A great example of this is in the Towering Inferno where they had two big name actors like Steve McQueen and Paul Newman.

Towering Inferno

Casino Royale

Good Points

• Good speed to the scene so that it doesn't confuse or bore the audience. This is important as for action scenes they need to be fast paced as long as it isn't too fast paced so that the audience get confused.
• The fact that the opening scene is in black and white adds mystery to the scene and keeps the audience asking questions about what is going on, who is he tracking, etc... Also it gives the scene a sense of traditionalism and looks very simple and easy on the eye.
• It is everything that you'd expect from an action thriller, as it uses all of the standard conventions while testing some of them like the use of black and white footage which doesn't really get used anymore. In fact the only film that has really been used in lately is the Artist and that is because that is a Black and White Silent Romantic Comedy and the use of Black and White Footage has been used to add a periodic sense to the film as it is set in 1927-32 Hollywood.
• Everything you'd expect from a James Bond film because it is fast paced and immediately grasps the audiences attention while not given any of the films main plot away.

Killers Elite

• Its the standard fat paced start to an action thriller film that is made like this to entice and grasp the attention of it's intended demographic of 14-35 year old males.

Script

Loan Shark

By Three Lions Productions

Graham Trotter as Owen Gray

Sarah Adams as Sarah Grey

Owen: These figures don't add up

Sarah: What do you mean, they don't add up?

Owen: They say that we are £100 pound short and still owe quite a bit of rent and our bills aren't getting paid.

(Sarah Panicking) 

Sarah: Well, what are we going to do about it.

Owen: We're going to have to take out another loan to pay the rent as the landlord says that he can't wait anymore as he also has bills to pay.

(Sarah Shouts)

No! Not another loan. The bank won't allow it.

(Owen desperately says)

Owen: But there's no work in the country at the moment, so it looks like there's no other choice

(Sarah says angrily)

Sarah: For Christ sake sort it out or I'm leaving

(Sarah storms out leaving Owen sitting there with his head in his hands)

I was handed the responsibility of writing the script as we choose to delegate tasks for out to each other with Marnie and Sarah doing the shooting timetable, while I was making the script. The script is for the conversation between Owen and Sarah over money and is meant to show the audience the financial constraints that the two characters are under, while showing the relationship of the two characters and the way that they care for each other.

Story Board

Shot 1- Wide shot of town

Shot 2 - Wide Shot, pan of House

Shot 3 - Pan, Wide Shot of room

Shot 4 - Close Up of main character getting ready

Shot 5 - Close up tilt of belt

Shot 6 - Close up and tilt of Gun in Belt

Shot 7 - Jacket being put on

Shot 8 - Close up and tracking movement of feet walking

Shot 9 - Medium shot from behind the main character walking out the door

Shot 10 - Master Shot of the Loan sharks loacation with the main character and bodyguard in the scene

Risk Assessment

We have had to make a risk assessment as this means that we are not liable to being sued if anyone does get injured

Film Pitch

When doing research about film pitches we discovered that it has to be done and dusted in twenty five words, otherwise the film producer will get board of listening and won't sanction the film. The pitch also needs to outline your intentions and the films plot.
"A man facing challenges to get his family back from loan sharks based around taken and abduction and it's your typical Jason Statham Film"
Genre: Action Thriller
Audience: 14-34 Year Old Males

Mood Board

Everyone in my group had to make an individual mood board so that we could see what our ideas looked like on paper.

Then we had to compile all if our ideas from our individual mood maps and put them into one big mood board. This allowed us to compare our ideas and accurately imagine what we wanted to do

Film's Title and Plot

The title of our film will be Loan Shark and we chose this, because the plot of the film is someone who gets into severe financial trouble and is forced to take out a loan with a loan shark and when he can't pay it the loan shark kidnaps his family and he has to get them back.

The other possibilities for our films title were; Capture; Payment; Hostage; Kidnapped; Ransom; Shark Hunt; and The Fisherman.

The reason we set out the mood board like this was because it clearly shows the different parts of the mood board that we individually made and it also allows us to see what ideas appeal to us as a group

Possible Scenarios

There were four different possible scenarios that we could have chose when choosing our genre and target audience;

• A mainstream Action Film that'll appeal to a demographic of 15-24 year old males and is based on a comic book.
• Remake of a late 50/60s Hammer Film with a male demographic.
• A supernatural thriller that would attract a female demographic and would appear to be an international co-production like Twilight
• Independent movie featuring a young protagonist, supported by regional funding.

Demographic

There are several different demographics that you need to be aware of when producing a film
Kids 5-11
Teens 11-14; 14-16
17-21
18-34
25-54
55+
Men, Women, Children, Young Adults, and Educated People

Genre

As a group we decided to stick to the genre of our preliminary task and go with an Action Thriller genre for our film opening. This decision had been supported by our audience research which suggests that our audience will be mostly men between 14-34 that'll be interested in our film. This was the audience that we had hoped to appeal to to.

Production Company

As a group me, Sarah, and Amarnie decided that we should do something related to British film and then we thought of Three Lions Productions due to England's National animal being three Lions.

Our production company will only produce British Films with British actors and has the aim of improving the stature of the British Film Industry

Other suggested names included British Academy Films (BAF) and this is one that we could have due to BAFTA as this would have affected Copyright laws