Film Rating

We used the British Board of Film classification (BBFC) to identify the ratings that our film should be. The BBFC’S guideline states that a film that for films that are rated “15” no one younger than 15 may see a “15” film in a cinema and no one younger than “15” can buy or rent a “15” rated video work. Hence our movie is only suitable for 15years and over.

Our movie is rated “15” because on the guideline for “15” rated films in terms of discrimination the work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour and our movie does not support discriminatory language or behaviour.

Also, the guideline states that in terms of drugs, drugs may be taking but it must not be promoted or encourage. Later on in our movie, the character “Sandra” uses drug but she was reported for using it – this shows that the misuse of drug was not promoted.

In addition, in terms of language, our film will later on use strong languages such as “Fuck and Cunt”. In the BBFC’S guideline for film that are rated “15” it is acceptable for the frequent use of such strong language.

Lastly, the main aspect that concerns our film is “violence”. Our film contains strong violence. However, it does not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. There are detailed verbal references to violence but it doesn’t show strong gory images. Looking at the BBFC’S guideline, our film abides by their guideline.  

Character Profile

Character Profile

Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

From the start of doing our preliminary task, we did no have any clue on how to edit or film the preliminary task. The first thing we learnt was the 3 major shots that all films should include; over the shoulder shot, 180 degree rule and match and action, by learning this technique we were able to incorporate this idea into our final piece. 

Match and Action

Over the shoulder and 180 degree rule

The preliminary task helped us get an idea of how we should plan a film and to edit a film. We learnt from the preliminary task that we had to always create a storyboard and a Screen play in order to get an idea of what we are going to do when we were filming. Creating a storyboard helps us visualise what camera angles are going to be used in the film and also during the filming stage, and the screen play lets the actors know what to do and where they should be while the filming is a progress. By doing this we did not waste time figuring out what we should for our preliminary task and because we planned our work we did not need to go and redo our work. 

Using equipment, such as the Mac was very difficult, as we did not know how to even use the keyboard as it was very different from a PC. By doing a Preliminary task, it got us prepared so that we may know how to use a Mac computer.

We used over the shoulder shot in our opening scene. This shows that what we have learnt in our preliminary task has help us incorporate these type of shots in our opening scene.

Other shot used was:

point of view shot

Twin shot

This type shot was included in our opening scene

Close up shot

The priliminary task helped us to use these variety of shots in our opening scene.

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

What have you learnt about technology evaluation question 6

By Victoria Adekunjo

View in full screen click on Menu and then click on view fullscreen. 

How did you attract/address your audience?

We also attracted our audience by previsouly interview them and asking them what "captures" them a thriller movie. Below is one our interview with one of our potential audience.


Evaluation Question

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Q2 Evaluation

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

Independent studio

Major film studio

What Kind of media Institution might distribute your media product and why?

There are two types of media institution, major film studio and independent film studio. Major film studio is usually for films which are of high quality and have a high budget with well known actors in their film.  Example of a major film studios are 20^TH Century Fox, Warner Bros and Paramount Pictures. Films that would have been distributed in these studios are Twilight, Children of Men and Avatar. An independent film studio is usually films which are low budgeted and is not released in the cinema such as the Odeon.

The production company is a company that are responsible for creating different type of media, this can be films and TV programmes. Production Company can both be small or large company and then they will sell what they have made to a film studio.

DreamWorks is one of the most successful   distributer for major films, and have been known for their film ‘Dream Girls’ and have even co-produced with Paramount Pictures. For our opening scene the type of distributor that would be suitable for our film is an independent studio like Glasgow independent studios, viral films and Newmarket Films.

Independent films which have become very popular are ‘The Hurt Locker’ which was first seen in a film festival called ‘Venice film festival’ and ‘The Passion of Christ’ which was distributed by Newmarket Films.

Our opening scene is an independent film because it been produced with a low budget and would not be qualified to be produced in a major film studio and would not be suitable to be view in a cinema as it is not a professional standard.  However at the very beginning our opening scene is quite similar to the Children of Men as it has a voice over informing the audience and the film Seven is also similar because there are lots of close up shots and as the film progress the main character is kept hiding just like our film.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our opening scene we had two characters represented in two different ways.

The First character we have is a girl called Sandra and she is the mysterious person in our film. She seems aloof and quite mentally unstable. The personality she has seems very different. On the phone conversation, she seems like a nice person who just wants to get a house to live in. However the way she looks on screen seems like she is someone that will commit bad things. In a normal social group she could be classified as someone who is some sort of issues and have a split personality. We keep her face hiding in order to create a sense a mystery around her. 

The second character was alexia, which seems to be nice person and have no issues. She dresses in a business suit, and this suggests that she is a hardworking person who is working in some sort of business. she seems very mature and doesn't seem very frightened of the other person. 

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

1.The title of our film – Deception

The title of our film is displayed in the last frame to complement the shots that have previously been watched and to give the audience an idea of the whole plot of the movie. Deception indicates tricky, which reflects the main character “Sandra’s behaviour”. Our opening scene even reflects Sandra’s deceitful behaviour, as we see Sandra shake “Alexia’s hand” and then later on she smiles into the mirror whist Alexia was bending over to fix the drawer.

Similarly, in one of the movies that we analysed, the title of the film reflected in its opening scene. This film “sin city” showed a man and a woman who seem to be secret lovers. When we think of sin, some of us picture “secret relationships” hence the title does reflect the opening scene. We adapted the idea and that is why we made our title reflect in the opening scene.

2.Setting/ Location

We have two different locations for the opening of our film: the forest and the house that has being put for advertisement. We choose a forest to reflect our movies generic convention. When people think of forest they tend to think mysterious event occurs there as the forest is known to be a “scary place”. We also choose forest because sometimes it can be a peaceful place because it links with nature and other times it can be a dangerous place, we can describe the symbolization of the forest as tricky which supports the title of our movie “deception”.

In the opening scene of our movie, the second location was not fully established as it was part of the flash black clips. When looking at the scene from the flash back, the house looks dark to add to the effect of its goriness of our film. Later on in the movie, there will be aspects of the film where the house scene will be light to reflect the character “Alexia’s” calm behaviour.

3. Costumes and props

Costume and props is one of the most important factors that aids portray “generic conventions”. We used “Knife” to help portray our thriller genre. As we wanted to portray Sandra as a psychopath we needed to convey this through her props such as the spade, and the mysterious bag that she was burying. The costume also express her psychopathic behaviour – when we think of “psychic” we tend to think of dark colours such as black, black connoted danger, evil – which was the colour of both characters costume which helped to conform to the generic convention of our movie.

4. Camera work and editing

In our opening scene the camera work in our opening scene was smooth and quite slow in the beginning of the movie and as the film progress the editing between two clips. In the Screenshot above the camera work that was used was a long shot of the character and behind the shoulder. This is because we do not want the audience to see the characters face and to keep guessing as to who the character is and what they are doing. The editing used is a fade shot, which fades from one shot to another, this gives the allusion to the audience that the character is not in the right state of mind and also it makes it seems as if the character has been digging so a long time. The reason we chose this type of editing for this particular part is because a straight cut would not have looked right and this types of effects is much better for this particular part.

5.Title, Font and Style

In our opening scene we did not use that many written, the only written we used was for the production names and title sequences. This is the production name taking from the beginning of the opening scene. The font used in this title sequence was tremor and the reason we chose this type of style was because it gives the effect of a thriller and because it is the colour red is very bold and because it is against a black background, it can give the idea of a generic convention of a thriller, so the audience will know what to expect that this film is likely to be a thriller.

6.Story and how the opening sets it up

Our opening scene starts of with a voice over of a conversation and as this conversation is occurring the film starts in a forest.   I have print screen this page because this is the beginning clip in the opening scene and it sets the location. The voice over is similar to the movie ‘Children of Men’ because in the beginning of the scene there is a voice over before the scene appears, this gives audience information as to what is going on in the film or what is about to happen.  The voice over has an echo to it so it makes it seem more scary and this will make the audience want to listen to the conversation that is occurring. By starting with scene in a forest, it adds to the generic convention of a thriller since most things that occurs in a forest has a foreboding sense that something is going to happen. 

 7.Genre and how the opening suggests it

The genre of our opening scene is Thriller. We used generic convention to suggest it. Such as the props and costumes i.e. knife, black clothing, mysterious black bag. The main characters deceitful behaviour, the location of the scene which was the forest and even the title of our film –deception also suggests thriller because we think of someone’s “tricky behaviour” we could think that the consequences of the behaviour could result to death.

8.How characters are introduced

The main character is presented in a stereotypical way. We presented her as a psychopathic person through her props and behaviour. She had props such as knife and her identity was hidden throughout the scene which makes her mysterious. When we think of “psycho” we tend to think of knife, death, mystery etc. However, we did not fully introduce our second character as we only see a few clips of her.

 

9.Special effects

In our opening scene we do not have any type of special effects. However the effects we used in our opening scene was a flashback effect. The effect is in black and white and this shows the audience the difference between what is going on and what is happening now. The reason we done this is because it keeps the audience interested and they will wonder what is happening. Since the flashbacks are bits and pieces the audience will have an idea as to what is going on, however would like to know what is going to happening. Another type of effects that we put into our opening scene was a blur effect. This was done near the ending of the film to blur out the mysterious character so that the audience will not know who the character is until they watch the whole film.

Special effects are usually done on a Bluescreen or greenscreen so that it can add more depth into the story. Special effects have been used in different films such as Toys story and Avatar.

  

Opening Scene to a Thriller - Deception

Deception- Opening scene
Uploaded by Tracyandvictoria. - Check out other Film & TV videos.

For the production of our movie there are various sites and software’s that we used, such as:

•   ITunes – to import the music we used.

• Google – mainly used for our research and planning for sites such as: http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/15-2, http://www.pearlanddean.com/, http://www.youtube.com/

we also used Google to look for images.

• Blogger – where all our work (Research and planning, Construction and Evaluation). 

Filming Location

For our opening scene to a Thriller, we have decided to film in the forest as it adds to the generic convention of a thriller.
Also due to the place beginng covered in lots of trees and woods it makes the place look more scary, by having our opening scene in the forest the audience will know that something will be occuring inside the forest.

Props planning to use for opening scene to thriller.

These are the props we plan to use for our main task. We were given the props by our college which is christ the king: St mary because both tracy and I are full time college students and therefore not able to purchase equipments and this also means that we do not have a budget for our filming. The equipment provided was enough to give us a independent film look with a low to medium quality camera and equipment.  The following equipments, are equipment we plan to use for our opening scene.

Camera

The camera is the most important equipment for a film to be produced. It enables us to capture moving images and produce videos. With this camera we are able to create an opening scene for a thriller. This a simple handheld camera that will be used for when following the character we are able to follow them. We are not able to afford a professional camera because we are still full time college students who do not work, even though this camera may not give us the best quality, it will give us what will need in order to create an opening film to a thriller. This camera will be provided to us by Christ The king: St Mary which is our college and the camera may be a Samsung camera.


Tripod

This is the tripod we are planning to use for our main task, as it is also one of the most essential  things used for filmmaking.  Tracy and I have decided on using a tripod as part of the filming stage for our opening scene because, we understand that it is difficult to use a handheld camera without keeping it steady. So, therefore the use of a tripod will enable us to keep the camera steady so that the audience can have a clear view with what is going on and not get distracted by the shakiness of the camera, the shakiness of the camera will also make the film look unprofessional. With the tripod we planning on using multiple shots which involves a clear steady shot. The shots we will be using will be; over the shoulder shot, establishing shot, high angle shot and long angle shot. This tripod has been provided by our school, christ the king: St mary. 

Mac Computer

For our opening scene, we will be using a mac computer because it provides us with software which only a mac computer can give. Programs such as Final cut pro, motion and live type can be only found on a mac computer and not on a pc. Since a mac computer has a variety of media programs it will make our opening scene more professional looking by using a mac computer. A mac computer will be the best way to edit and create our opening scene because, most people who create films are using a mac computer in order to create title sequence and movies. This equipment will be provided to us by our school; Christ The King: ST Mary's.

Final cut pro

Final cut pro is is a professional editing software application developed by Macromedia Inc. It has been used to edited major films such as Enchanted, The Social network and Eat, Pray, Love. We will be using Final cut pro to edit our opening scene because it will give us a professional looking film when we have completed editing our film. By using final cut pro we will be able to use different effects, add sound effect and transactions to our film. The reason why we will be using final cut pro to edit our film and no any other editing software such as Sony Vegas or Window movie maker is because Final cut pro is a more professional tool which is commonly used in the media industry to make films and title sequence. Final cut pro is a software which comes with the mac computer.

Shovel 

For our opening scene we plan on using a shovel because our opening scene will be located in a forest and in order to build up the image and realism that something is going on we will need this props so that it can add to the generic convension and so that the audiences gets an idea as to what is going on. This item will provided by a neighbour in my (Victoria's) area.

  

Knife

This is the knife we plan on using in our opening scene. Since our film is going to a thrilller we need to add some generic convension to our film, so having a knife is a good way to get the audience to know what the film is going to be about and what type of genre the film is likely to be about. This knife will be provided by Victoria and only be used as a prop and not for actual use.

Screenplay for Deception

Deception- Media Work

Children of Men Opening Scene Analysis - Media Language

Children of Men Opening Scene Analysis

Comparing the opening of both the films Seven and Panic Room

Comparing Panic and Seven

Analysis to the Opening of Seven

Analysis to the Opening of Seven

Children of Men Analysis: Representation

Children of Men Analysis

Opening Scene to Panic Room

Opening Sequence Analysis

Opening Scene to Sin City

Opening Scene to Sin City

Children of Men Analysis: Representation

Children of Men Analysis

Plot of Opening Scene

For our main task we have decided to produce a thriller. We will be doing an opening scene which will last a maximum of 2 minutes. This is the plot of our opening scene.

Plot - Deception

Alexia and Christina have been living together since their time at college. As time passes Christina unfortunately loses her job because the company she works for is closing down. Alexia and Christina are unable to pay the rent, so instead of selling the house Alexia decides to get a flat mate so that they could have enough money to make the pay. A week later, a girl called Sandra, responds to the advertise and a date is arranged for her to view the house. finds the leaflets and decides to apply as the roommate. Alexia and Christina  are overjoyed when sandra falls in love with her apartment, terms are agreed and sandra movies in. However unbeknown to Alexia and Christina, Sandra has a hidden past which no one knows about and  a mental condition which endangers the life of everyone who comes in contact. 

We have decided to call our film 'Deception' As it summarises what our film is going to be about.

Storyboard for Deception

The Opening Scene to The Butterfly Effect

The Buttfly Effect

Questionnaire

QUESTIONNAIRE

This questionnaire is being drawn out to find out your preferences on the opening scenes of movies. This questionnaire is to be used for a general purpose and does not entail any collection of personal information.

Please circle your answer 

Gender?

Male Female 

Age?

15 – 24 25 – 34 35 – 44 45 +

What is your socio-economic grade? 

A/B C1 C2 D/E

Are you interested in movies? 

Yes No   (if no thank you for your time) 

How often do you watch movies? 

Weekly Fortnightly Monthly Yearly Special occasion

Rarely Other, please state …………………………..

Are you interested in thriller movies? 

Yes No   (if no thank you for your time) 

What do you think the most important factor of a thriller opening scene is?

Cast Special effects Storyline Props  Location Suspense  All the above

Do you like thriller's which conform or subvert to the conventional expectations?

       

Conform  Subvert

On a scale of 1-10, how important do you think the music is to the opening scene?

(1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest) 

1 2 3 4 5 6  7 8 9 10

Thank you for your time and the information given. It is highly appreciated.

This part was done by Tracy Jacks

 
Evidence of Answers From For Questionnaire

The Open Window

The Open Window

Storyboard

Screenplay for The Open Window

The open window

BY

Victoria Adekunjo and Tracy Jacks

1. Ext. Outside the house.

A man comes out of a taxi and stares at a house. The house is quite modern, but at the same time looks intimidating with high gates surrounding it and trees and leaves surrounding the backyard of the house.  He is wearing a casual outfit which consist of jeans and a shirt. He is holding a hat and a jacket in his left hand; however even with this casual attire he is still tense.

2. The man looks like he is in his late 30’s and he seems very nervous and worried and in his hand he is holding a piece of paper with the address of the house.

With caution, he slowly walks up to the high gates and walks with hesitant steps toward the house.

                                                 

Int. Inside the house

3. Unbeknownst to him, a young lady about the age of 23 is watching him threw a wide window. She looks at him with a curious glance. As she sees him coming closer to the house she quickly pulls away from the curtains and as the bell rings she goes and answer the door.

4.                             Man

(Hesitantly)

Emm, hello, I’m here to see Mrs. Sappleton, but I must have got the wrong place-

But before he could continue the lady quickly interrupted him

Young lady

(With confident)

No, you’re not. My aunt will be down soon, Mr? Sorry what is your name?

Man

Mr. Nuttel

Young lady

(With sudden recognition)

Oh, you’re Mister Nuttel, I’m Vera. Anyways, my aunt will be down shortly, in the mean time you’ll have to put up with me.

The man, Mr. Nuttel looks more nervous than before and wondered if it was the right thing to go to a stranger’s house and whether it will help him cure his nerve, which he is supposedly diagnosed with. As he entered the house he saw a lot of masculine things and wondered if Mrs.Sappleton was marred or widowed. He could see a window was been left opened and he wonders why they would leave a window open at this time of month.

Mr.Nuttel was so transfixed in his thought he didn’t notice the young girl, Vera, leading him towards a couch with a look on her face which seems to be conjuring something.

Vera

Would you like anything to drink?

Mr. Nuttel suddenly surprised by the voice which disturbed the silenced raised his hand to his chest in shock. After a brief breathing exercise and a pregnant pause he managed to answer.

Mr. Nuttel

(Spluttering)

Oh, no thank you.

Vera

Oh, well do you know anyone around here?

Mr.Nuttel

Hardly a soul. My sister was staying here, at the rectory, about four years ago, and

(With a tone of distant regret)

 She gave me letters of introduction to some people here.

With sudden interest, she lend towards him.

    

Vera

(Questioning tone)

So, you know nothing about my aunt?

Mr Nuttel

Only her name and address.

Vera

That reminds me, around the time your sister came,

(With sorrow in her voice)

Her great tragedy happened just three years ago.

Mr.Nuttel

(In surprised but also curiosity)

Her tragedy?

5.                             Vera

You may wonder why we keep that window wide open on an October afternoon.

As Vera starts to talk the scene starts to fade out, however her voice can still be heard and changes to scene which looks it was from years ago. In this scene there are 3 people.

Vera

(Distant voice)

Out through that window, three years ago from today, her husband and her two young brothers went off for their day’s shooting. They never came back.

Ext. In the woods, it is raining heavily.

As Vera can be over heard through these scenes, the scene shows three men and they were all holding guns and surrounded which trees and grass and in front of them is a greasy mud pit. As they track threw the mud they start to slow down due to the stickiness and the men slowly start to sink into the mud. Screaming could be heard and they started to wave their hands asking and pleading for someone to help them as they start to be sucked into the earth’s core and with a gurgled last breath of one of the men. Silence starts to settle over the woods, as if nothing has every happened.

Slowly they return to the present and Vera’s voice becomes more pronounced.

Vera

(No sense of self-possessed and becomes like a lost innocent child)

Their bodies where never recovered. That was the dreadful part of it.

Mr Nuttle looked at her with sympathy, however he is getting more nervous as the story prolongs.

Mr Nuttle

Your don’t have to-

 With tears in her eyes Vera took a deep breath as if it was hard for her to relieve the story and continues on.

Vera

(In a sympathy tone)

Poor aunt always thinks that they will come back some day, them and the little brown spaniel that was lost with them, and walks in at that window just as they used to do. That is why the window is kept open every evening till dark. I remember when my aunt said that her husband always had waterproof jackets, and the youngest brother singing, ‘Bertie, why do you bound.’ Sometimes I get this creepy feeling like they’ll just walk through that window-

She broke off with a shudder. She didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

7. Suddenly the aunt appears through the door breaking the atmosphere which has appear through the start of the story.

Mrs.sappleton looks like a women in her mid 40’s with growing grey but a smile on her face none the less.

Mrs.Sappleton

Sorry, I’m late. I hope Vera has been entertaining you.

Mr Nuttel

She has been quite...Interesting.

The breath pause between his sentence suggest that he didn’t know what to say about the way Veras been treating him. In all honestly he believes he should be making he’s exit pretty soon.

Mrs.Sappleton

Sorry, about the opening window. My husband and brother usually come home directly from shooting and come in through the window. They’ve been out in the woods, so they’ll be making a mess over my poor carpets. So like you men, eh?

As Mrs.Sappleton continue to talk about the shooting and birds, Mr Nuttel didn’t know what to say, he was wondering whether or not to talk to how about the topic of her dead husband. He looks like he wants to interrupt her and many occasion. He feels quite bad and feels even more nervous than before for arriving on the anniversary of her husband’s and brothers’ death.

Mr Nuttel

(Quickly interrupted)

The doctors said I should take complete rest and avoid anything physical

When Mr Nuttel interrupts Mrs sappleton stops talking and was about to say something but something was caught and the side of her eyes

Mrs sappleton

Here they are at last! They are going to get my carpet so muddy!

8. Slowly music starts to come at the background and Mr Nuttel turns slowly to look at Vera, with a look of sympathetic comprehension. However he sees that she has a look of horror and is staring directly at the opening window.

Mr Nuttel shivers in fright and slowly turns to look at the window.

9. Slowly the camera pans and zooms to the window. The camera goes to Vera horror expression to Mr Nuttel who looks to be in complete fright. In the background you can see 3 shadows and someone says ‘Bertie, why do you bound’

10. Mr nuttel grabs all his belong and runs out of the door, Ext. Going outside to the street

And immediately collapse unto a bewildered cycler, As he is running. Mrs sappleton and Vera watched him run.Mrs sappleton in bewilderment and Vera with slight smirk on her face.

Mrs sappleton

(In bewilderment)

Oh, what happened? The way his running you will think he has seen a ghost!

Slowly the scene fades out with the three shadows still in the background. Waiting.

          

This part of the work was done by Victoria Adekunjo