Peer feedback on The Final Piece

1) Describe the type of camera work. Which has been used. Do you think it's effective? Why?
Point of view, long shot, pan, over the shoulder. The pan wasn't clear, jumpy, couldn't see the girl easily. With the over the shoulder shot in the mirror it wasn't as jumpy as it could be.
2) What type of sound has been used? Does it work with the visuals? How?
Minimum use of sound at end made it creepy and sad to show emotion of the girl.
3) How has the mise-en-scene construction had an impact on the thriller genre?
Location- at school, teenagers worked well
Props- car
Costume- dark and for girl, clearly dead, makes her seem pale.
Lighting- low lighting in bathroom when she was in mirror.
4) What editing techniques have been use?
Not a lot. Boy running after ball cut was effective. Cut on to girl in mirror with boy
5) Can you think of any constructive criticism?
Could have cut back on mirror and she was gone. Shot was too quick not jumpy enough.
6) what was the most effective element of the production?
Car crash and mise-en-scene.

Changes to colour in film

When Amar gave his feed back he asked us to make it clearer that the scene after Anna is hit is a different day other than just writing saying "24 hours later". He suggested that we put in a clip of the boys getting in the clip the next day but we didn't have any clips like that as we hadn't thought of it. Instead we experimented with a few things to show a different day through effects;

• Fade out, long black pause, fade in to next scene
• The colour sepia
• Black and white

The first option, in our opinions, didn't really show a new day as before we had faded out then in really quickly, the only difference was the black screen for a few seconds longer.

The colour sepia looked good and showed the audience that something was different. The only problem was that it didn't give the right impression, and as there was 2 different sepia settings, they were all different shades, even when we tried to change them.

We then tried black and white which worked better. Black and white was good at showing the audience that something bad had happened which was that Anna had died. Also, there was no shade differences and it put a feeling of gloom over the second half of the opening.

Amar's Feedback

Amar had a look at our opening sequence and gave us some feedback to help make our opening sequence better.

 His first suggestion was change they way that we introduce the next day because it didn't create the right effect with just the text on the screen. He said that we should add in a clip of the boys getting in the car or add making the rest of the sequence different from the the car crash part.

Another suggestion was to change the toilet scene and make it look like Cameron can feel that someone is there but not actually being able to see them. This then creates a different feel to the opening sequence. The audience watching will know that someone is there but he wont, it then keeps Cameron in the dark and gets him more freaked out.

And finally he suggested that we cut some clips out of the football scene to make it more creepy and affective with the genre type as we had a lot of seeing Anna just staring at the boys which we thought at first created suspense for the audience to make it seem like something bad was going to happen to the boys soon. We then realised that we could create the same effect with less of Anna as it's the boys playing football and kicking it over near Anna that we needed to concentrate on.

Shot list

Shooting scheduel

We will have from the 7th to 18th to shoot our opening thriller sequence which means we have six full media lessons and any spare time to do any extra shooting to make it the best that we can. Our group will only be able to shoot our sequence during college times which is from 9.00 - 4.10 because our location is only at the college.

Mise-en-scene

Costume


Cameron- Casual jeans, top and a hoodie as he needs to look casual as its a normal day at college.

Jake- He would be the name, casual jeans and a top because he is also at college, playing football with Cameron.



 

Anna will need to start of wearing baggy jeans with just  a plain simple top with a dull zippy hoddie. But when she dies her face will come a lot more pale he clothes will be all black which will help tell that shes dyed.


 
Before shes dead.

When shes dead but without the doll and more modern clothes.


Props
Props that we will need:

• A car
• make-up, maskara and eye liner
• football
• bags
• clothes
• Food
• Books
• CD
• Mobile Phone
• Paper towel
• red dye
• mirror
• soap

Location
The location that we will be using is long road sixth form college which is based in Cambridge.
We will be using:

• college toilets
• refectory
• car park 
• playing field
• Hallway

 

Lighting
We are going to be using normal lighting for our thriller to make it feel realistic. And because we are filming during the day.

Thriller conventions Sophie and melissa's extra work

• A crime is at the core of the narrative
• A complex narrative with clues and false paths which would be a non-linear narrative
• There is an enigma (mystery) for the audience. This would ussually be solved at the end of the film.
• Suspence is always used as it is the key to a thriller. Music/score can help add and to create suspence if used properly.
• A narrative pattern of establishing enigma's (secrets and questions) which the audience expect to get resolveded.
• The protagonist who is systematically dis-empowered and drawn into a complex web by the antagonist.
• Extraordinary events happen in ordinary situations
• Themes of identity
• Themes of mirroring
• The protagonist has a flaw which is exploited by the antagonist
• The title can often reflect an expect of the pro/antagonist. of there psychological state.
• Theres often a scene near the end of the film in which the protagonist in peril.
• Mise-en-scene which echo's the dilemma/ trouble
• The lighting in a thriller often reflects the mood of the scene or the character focused on in a particular scene. It also adds to the mystery and suspence.
• Often POV shots, fast action shots and close ups
• Main characters often accustomed to danger e.g. law enforcer, spies, soldiers etc. or normal civilians drawn into danger
• Hero usually beats the villain