Audience Feedback

We showed our Thriller sequence to an audience of people and asked them the same three questions to answer and give feedback on. here are some of the responses;

Leah Chapman:
Basic plot - sex trafficing
Positive - titles were in good places, sound affects were good, music went well with action
Negative - end title should have faded in with a better affect (more powerful)

Vicky Cooper:
Basic plot - workers find a hostage and kidnap her, they keep her hidden in all these boxes
Positive - the music fits to what's going on in the film and creates suspense
Negative - no negative feedback

Tom Simpson:
Basic Plot - human trafficking
Positive - the set
Negative - using a sound a bit more

Siene Nelson-Jayz:
Basic plot - kidnapping the blonde innocent looking girl
Positive - it was edited well and the acting was good
Negative - more music would have increased tension

Izzy Macleod:
Basic plot - prostitution
Positive - the set was really good and the characters were chosen well
Negative - maybe have music the whole way through the sequence in order to make the ending more dramatic

Henry Hammond:
Basic plot - sex trafficking
Positive - good sound effects
Negative - make the end title more subtle, perhaps a fade in.

Chloe Cannon;

Positive – Lack of speech is effective + suspense created as you noticed the girl

Negative – Henry (workmen #1) was smiling + the girl would’ve struggled more

Charlotte Bitmead;

Positive – coupling discovery of girl with music was effective

Negative – maybe better if it included scene effects or dialogue

Ivan Gouver;

Positive – Interesting mystery + good acting and editing of camera shots

Negative – N/A

Plum O’Keeffe;

Positive – Sound building with tension is effective

Negative – Title could be rougher to go with the story setting

Overall the plot of the sequence and film got through to the audience. The most prominent Negative comment was that there should have been constant non-diegetic music and and the end title should have been more interesting and eerie to keep the atmosphere and tension. I would take this into account although as it was only the opening sequence we wanted to establish that a girl had been taken and was passed on to someone else, if the rest of the film had been watched, im sure the audience would have seen many examples of tension and suspense.

Difference between Preliminary Task and Opening Sequence

This task was far more challenging than the preliminary task because having to write about development is difficult without the right explanation. A key difference was that the preliminary task was shot for us, where as with our thriller, we had to set the scenery and choose the shots to make into our trailer. However, the preliminary task to me, also help in preparation for this development work.

We worked with the set we had in our prelim but in this task we had to create a convincing set all from scratch. Our thriller was only as good as we decided to make it, and the more effort we put in, the more we would get out of it. In our prelim we had teachers to remind us of the lighting, tripod and camera shots. However in this thriller opening sequence, we were completely left to do it ourselves. I was happy about this as we were given a lot of responsibity and although we made certain mistakes, we could learn from our mistakes and had to find ways to work them out together as a team.

It taught me how to deal with things when faced with problems, and really brought our group together as we discovered each others strenght and used each other to our advantages.


The planning in our preliminary task was more rushed and with minimum detail because it was such a short clip. I adapted my basic media skills in development, which was a key advantage for later on with my thriller. In the plan, we had a pre-set storyboard and a set location and chosen actors all prepared so our main focus would be on editing. As key adjustments were required due to dialogue, which was not required in our thriller. We did use a variety of different angles in the prelim to created different effects in status and strength for the characters. This was useful in adaptation of my thriller later on. The use of sound in the prelim was only vocal, we were unaware of dealing with non-diegetic sounds like music, which we did tackle in our thriller, using background noises acquired from a online system which we them input to our thrillers to added more detail in the location, and the correct atmosphere of mystery. Our preliminary task was also useful in developing our understanding of FinalCut Pro, which was vital for larger projects like our thriller sequence. No extra lighting was required here other than the set lights of the location.

In my Thriller our planning sequence was much more details and thought out across a longer period of time, with actually preparation of props and set not occurring until our shoot day. With planning of our thriller, we had to prepare our storyboard so to have a basic structure of filming with we needed to accomplish. We also had to devise a location and acquire extras such as, cardboard and costumes. There was also key development in skills of media, with non-diegetic sounds, adding text into the clip sequence and cross-fading. Our use of camera work was larger than previous use in our prelim, using cross-cutting between the main character and the businessman symbolising the status and setting up an idealistic sense of sympathy from the viewers. Key editing extras included shot reverse shot and match on action to create tense moments due to the lack of vocal sound in my thriller. Because our thriller was set at night, we required overhead lighting, which added to the idea of the setting as an industrial compound with nightlights, as well as light from the car. As shown in the images below, the left clip shows that the main light source is above, from the ceiling, as well as behind the camera, while in the right clip, the setting is at night and because of it we used two large 850 watt redheads to cast a glow across the set so to make key details stand out, like the dark figure waiting beside the vehicle. Key sound development for me was learning to adapt the background noises, using sound effects, as well as blocking out useless extras like my directory points.

With my own personal work on our thriller, my key development was in adaptation and skills using SoundTrack Pro. Key moments throughout our thriller sequence required background non-diegtic sounds to aid in the correct atmosphere we wanted in our thriller. Some vital examples was the ambient generator noise we faded into the background, to hold the illusion of our setting in a industrial compound. Another crucial sound effect was a rising echo and vibrating effect when the girl is revealed in container, creating tension and fear from the audience in the sudden understanding of the plot behind this thriller. As well as sound, the editing development was an improvement to my previous media work. In the prelim we used simple cuts from one shot to the next, in contrast to our thriller where he expanded our choices, using match on action and close-ups on key movements, like the opening of the container.

The use of Camera Work was increasingly more developed on my thriller sequence in comparison to my prelim. One vital camera moment was a set of snap shots between the girl in the container as shown below, and the figure by the car, slowly getting in closer and closer into an extreme close-up. We chose this because it sets up the levels of status, reflecting on the dark figures power over the poor innocent girl in the container.

We also acquire feed-back from fellow media students who had watched our thriller, obtaining, positive and negative comments which helped in showing how well we designed our thriller, and how we could’ve improved it.

My annotated opening sequence

Behind the scenes of our AS Thriller

Here is a behind the scenes video I made to show our whole day when we made our thriller. It clearly shows the process we went through to trademark the boxes ad make them ourselves. We worked all throught the day to try and created the best possible outcome we could and we all thouroughly enjoyed the day

How Did We Attract Our Audience 45

Target Audience for Sofia

My target audience will be “young adults”, or anyone from the ages of 18 to 45. This is because the film will have mild nudity, strong language and abusive scenes, and this causes the film to be unsuitable for people under the age of 18, as they are not legal adults. This film will appeal most to thriller fans and people who are interested in watching “scary” films about real life happenings, they will love Sofia. Sofia is a truthful subject and, personally, I love watching films that are based on true events that shock me. Although they are unnerving, they have the effect of getting the audience thinking, and hopefully they leave the cinema having learnt something, experienced something, or at least being more aware of what goes on around them. It is an amazing thing when a movie can change the way you think of feel, and I want Sofia to project emotion into the audience, whether they cry or leave hopeful, I want it to effect each audience member in someway, and I believe it will. Most 18 to 23 year olds, although mature and officially adults, could be about to take a gap year, or go travelling etc, so this movie could really reach them. It could make them aware of the dangers they may face and change their concept of something. After watching this it may make them have a proper plan for travelling, or go somewhere where they have contacts etc. Sofia will not only be a thrill to watch, but would also be a learning experience for those that want it to be. Normally, the majority gender that attract thrillers are male, but in this case, as the main character is a girl, and it is about a situation that happens mostly to girls, I think the majority gender in the audience will be female, not to say that there will be no male audience though. Sofia will still attract a male fan base as it will be full of action, fighting, sneaking around etc. As our secondary audience are over 30s, they will go see the film as it is a political issue that is in the news a lot and is interesting for a wide range of personalities. 18 to 25 year olds are our first audience as they will have the most free time and spendable money, so be most likely to go to the cinema beacuse of this. They can also go on dates to the film as both male and female audiences will enjoy it.



How does my product represent particular social groups?

We were trying to represent eastern european teenager girls and older, physically stronger, corrupt males who work in the black market. We tried to portray the girl as weak and vulnerable, with blonde hair and blue eyes we stuck to the stereotypical party teen. We took examples for other abductions like Madeline Mccann, blonde, blue eyes, vulnerable and young. Obviously our victim was older because later on in the film we want the girl to be able to fight back with some of her abductors etc. We wanted to show binary opposition to her abductors, who were intimidating, older and physically stronger. The 2 workmen were based on the standered henchman stereotype, men who look mid-early 20s, quite dodgy and not very clever.

We wanted to create a stereotypical viuew on eastern europeans as being corrupt and in some respects morally bankrupt prepared to do anthting for money even sell children. Whereas we wanted to represent the British police who would eventually be involved in the film as the heroes and ultimately as morally upright and not willing to take bribes and accept the corruption of the eastern europeans. We took this idea from Spooks and Eastern Promises that also represents Eastern europeans ina negative light and shows binary opposition between the east and west and the people in it.

we reasearched sex trafficking in Bulgaria and articles on it and found this particular one;

"

Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the early years of the 21st Century  -  2000 to 2010                                  gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Bulgaria.htm Republic of Bulgaria Bulgaria, a former Communist country that entered the EU on 1 January 2007, has experienced strong growth since a major economic downturn in 1996. Successive governments have demonstrated a commitment to economic reforms and responsible fiscal planning, but have failed so far to rein in rising inflation and large current account deficits. Bulgaria has averaged more than 6% growth since 2004, attracting significant amounts of foreign direct investment, but corruption in the public administration, a weak judiciary, and the presence of organized crime remain significant challenges.  [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009] Bulgaria is a source, transit, and, to a lesser extent, a destination country for men, women, and children from Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania trafficked to and through Bulgaria to Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Norway, the Czech Republic, Poland, Greece, Turkey, and Macedonia for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Ethnic Roma women and children remain highly vulnerable to trafficking. Children are trafficked within Bulgaria and to Greece and the United Kingdom for the purposes of forced begging and forced petty theft. Around 15 percent of identified trafficking victims in Bulgaria are children. Bulgarian women and some men are trafficked internally, primarily to resort areas along the Black Sea coast and in border towns with Greece, for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor.   - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009   [full country report]

CAUTION:  The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Bulgaria.  Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false.  No attempt has been made to verify their authenticity or to validate their content. *** FEATURED ARTICLE *** Children from Bulgaria Victims of Human Trafficking Most Often The Sofia Echo, Jun 28 2007 sofiaecho.com/2007/06/28/651263_children-from-bulgaria-victims-of-human-trafficking-most-often [accessed 24 January 2011] Bulgarian children are most often the victims of trafficking and Bulgaria ranks as one of the most active human trafficking places in the Balkans.  Women and children are taken out of the country and most often forced to work or are used as organ donors, research of Animus association said as quoted by Novinar newspaper.

"

This gave us proof that we were making a film about real life issues.

Romanian child traffickers found guilty

A gang of Romanian traffickers based in Wood Green north London have been found guilty by a judge at Croyden Crown Court for trafficking a young child and then abusing the seven year old girl.
Husband and wife [C] Aurel-llie Zlatea, 45 (6.10.66), and [D] Alexandra Oaie, 44 (30.01.68) were responsible for trafficking a seven year old Romanian girl into the country where she was beaten and used as domestic servant.

Together with their son [A] Marian Neamu, (aka Marian Zlatea), 25 (17.08.86) the couple was also responsible for trafficking a 53-year-old man from Romania to their home in Wood Green. There he was repeatedly assaulted, forced to work for nothing and made to live in a dilapidated shed at the end of the garden. He was also denied access to bathroom, fed very little and subjected to a brutal sexual attack at the hands of Neamu and Zlatea's younger son [B] Florin Zlatea, 23 (25.08.88).

These allegations came to light in March 2011 when the 53-year-old victim contacted police to say he had been bought into the country by the Zlatea family. He explained what had happened to him and informed them about a girl also being abused by the family. When police attended the family's address on 1 April 2011 they found a child who appeared to have been neglected and uncared for. The child was taken into police protection and placed in emergency care by social services. When interviewed she told police that she had come to the UK in a car and taken to a "dirty house" where she was beaten by a woman she described as "awful" who made her work.

Zlatea told police he was the child's father and Oaie said the girl was the product of her husband's affair with another woman. He also handed over the girl's birth certificate, which showed him as the father, and a court order giving custody of the child to him. The child's natural mother was named on both and DNA tests proved that neither Zlatea nor Oaie were parents of the child.

http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/86184164?access_key=key-16u0hm6c0f39vrvpyrsl

Editing

The key shots we used were shots of the girl, being our main character and the businessman buying her. We had extra shots of the workers, but we chose to maintain their appearance to mainly in the first seconds, because they are not the key aspect of importance. We also showed a number of close-ups to reflect on emotion; like the girl’s fear and the businessman’s cold stare. This reverts into the interest of my target audience, being between 15-24 years, which follows the convention of mystery and tension in a thriller.

We used continuity editing devices mainly to show important links in the plot since we had no speech in our trailer. The main use in our trailer is the long shot reverse shot and match of action run through as the girl is removed from the container. The snaps between her and the businessman show his dominance over her, even though he doesn’t lift a finger to get her moved, also reflecting on his wealthy edge to pay off the workmen.
The key changes in pace wqas main One example in our thriller was contrasting the emptying of the container to the approach of the car.
We showed perspective and dominance through physicality, mainly showing the girl’s hopeless situation when she’s handled by the workmen with such ease, showing their power over her. We also showed the businessman’s dominance over the workmen since they acted out the transfer without any command. A key opposition we could compare was the dominance of the businessman to the defenceless state of the girl. This shows her vulnerability and creates sympathy from the audience, while holding their interest through this mystery, an ideal aspect of most thrillers.
The main development in sound with our thriller was the background noise, mainly the faint buzz of traffic to show the isolation of the compound in the trailer, but also the hum of machinery to show it is a factory of some kind, perfecting disguise for the illegal people trafficking. This highlighting the facts of her journey and the horror of her situation, linking into the riddles and excitement of this thriller.
It was definitely challenging in a few aspects, but also enlightening to aid with my understanding of the editing process. One of my key moments of difficulty was in the sound editing, adding in non-diegetic sounds to create mystery into the back-story, plus the job of editing out diegetic background noise of the night which was causing issues, like school bells ringing which broke the atmosphere of a factory set in our thriller.
I admit, there were a few foggy areas which we pondered over in our development, like sticking sequences together where a slight movement stuck out, like with the girls’ head jumping from angle to another angle unnaturally. However, overall I would not change any details that have gone into our final product.

We all worked well in the filming and shared the different requirements, like preparation, filming and construction in the set, so all to have a try. In the editing, we all focused on different aspects and then merged them in at the end. The only error was in sound, but we all chipped in to that and solved it by putting in extra free time to look up suitable sounds and research other opening titles to find music in common with other thrillers.

The key facts in filmmaking we took away from this experience, was the requirement of early preparation, working as a team and sharing in the production equally, as well as the importance of small editing details like background noise and cross fading. It was a challenging piece of work, but overall I think we had a successful turnout.

Why Lionsgate should back our thriller

I think that Lionsgate would probably take on my thriller movie, “Sofia” for many different reasons. For one, they specialise in thrillers. Sofia is a unique film that may have a story that has been touched upon before, but shows it in a unique way. Like, Taken, it is about sex trafficking and a girls escape, but Sofia has a twist. Instead Sofia concentrates on showing the dirtier, grimier, darker sides that most other films have tried to leave out. We want to show the girls journey, along with every detail, the way she is thrown around, being forced to inject heroin and take other illegal substances. We plan to show every struggle that Sofia has to go through. The film can be made on a reasonably low budget but the reason Lionsgate should choose this thriller is because we have faith that it would go to the US. The story is a classic favourite of a lot of the US population and our audience would be a wide variety, anyone from the ages of 18 to 50 would enjoy this thriller if they were a thriller fan to start with. Lionsgate also have a history of creating successful films on a low budget, such as the saw films. They also have a history of dvd sales in films that dont make it to cinema. So as a back up, if our film is not mainstream and high pop culture, then through their successful marketing and distribution this film help our film find an audience. Our film is set in england but is about a european issue, therefor it is a storyline that would appeal to a worldwide audience and Lionsgate will provide that ability to distribute and market our film to that audience, unlike, a british company like "Warp" who would need to work in partnership to find european and world wide distribution. Warp would be good if we were making a film for a british niche audience, but we feel that our film could cross over and appeal to a wider audience.

In films at the start of the film, the names of the film company
and sharing companies are shown, here we shown "Lionsgate" to
have a connection with our thriller. Not only that, we have used this
convention at the start of our sequence because Lionsagte are own to
associate with films in the thriller genre



In most films, they establish the location and a plot behind the film in the first scene
here, this shot establishes that our film concerns some kind of shipping company
because of container, and it has links to a industry, shown from the brands on the boxes.
This conforms the common ideology of thrillers having mystery in the plot



In thriller films the setting usually creates mystery and tension,
and with this in mind we set our scene at night, using only artificial light
like from the head lights of this carand from the compound where
the contaienr as he dropped

In this genre of film, traditionally there is a common setting of character,
showing a hero and a villian. At the start of our film we establish the villian,
dress in dark clothing, with the workmen in blue doing his business, setting
up his status and a sense of fear from the audience towards him

Editing Task

Over our whole day of filming we went back to the editing suite and found that we had around 35-40 different clips of recording. We watched all of the clips through all decided not to permanently delete any clips, but to mark the ones we thought looked good and were effective. I discovered that main concepts in thrillers are mystery, and suspense. Keeping this in mind, we were looking at the clips that hid parts of people’s faces, so you can never see anyone’s full face, besides “Sofia” as she is our main character. We preferred the clips that had interesting shadows and we taken from interesting view points, like inside the car.

                We had to think about a lot of continuity editing devices, like which camera shots would look good next to each other. Opening the container we start with a wide angle shot and proceeds to a match on action close up of the workers hands heaving open the handle. This worked very well as it helps to build up the tension of what is inside the container. We follow the close up with a wide shot of the boxes in the container. This adds confusion of why the box is necessary and suspense about what could be behind it. As the audience knows it’s a thriller they will be sitting in suspense wondering why the signs or boxes are important to the movie.

                Pace was a big element in our opening sequence. As our idea leaves room for a dynamic pace that we can alter. Our pace starts slow as the workers are unpacking, this leaves the audience to know that we are at some sort of factory, and ultimately the slow pace is to catch them of guard when they see “Sofia” so the tension is emphasised. When we see Sofia in the containers, and when she is dragged out, the pace quickens with the introduction of tense, non diegetic music. A lot of the clips had to be re-edited and cut so they also fit with the new pace of the introduction, and worked to increase tension.