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

Our film ‘I.C.U’ is based on the genre of thriller and mystery, throughout our film we used key themes which are typically shown in our genre of film , some of these themes are revenge , betrayal , passion , love and jealously. Throughout our film you can see the theme revenge through the main character alfie’s plotting and scheming against the relationship between Johnny and marie, this is shown from the opening shot of alfie in a classroom pouring petrol all over the room, it then later on shows in a series of flashbacks of alfie watching Johnny and marie whiles continuously planning his revenge. Another one of our themes passion and love is shown in our film through the body language of Johnny and Marie characters, throughout our film the audience is able to see the relationship the characters share through their flirting with one another. Our film follows the conventions of a typical thriller film it does this through, showing small parts of the storyline and later then adding in twist which creates suspense, also through our characters such as having a typical villain who is evil and shares a lot of hatred, also innocent characters who are unaware of their fate later on in the film. example of this can be shown through the emotion and feelings the main character alfie shows towards the other characters Johnny and maries relationship, he feels betrayed , a similarity within the film (obsessed shows where a couple’s relationship is threatened by the jealously of a co –worker this later then leads to murder.)
our sound we chose to use also showed the codes and conventions of a thriller teen movie , we included a slow paced music track during the first scene , although it included int he background a small hint of a drum being played , this built up tension and gripped the audience into the film straight away throughout the scene and added suspense and mystery.
some of the ways our film challenged the typical codes and conventions of our genre of ahve film , was the fact that we included a romantic aspect into a thriller film, not many films have main storylines are based on a love triangle we were able to show this in our film through the different camera shots and body language of johnny and marie which reprsented their relationship with one another , this is also seen int he tv series gossip girl where one of the main charcters blair is secretly falling in love with another man whils still having a boyfriend which leads to jealously and betrayal.Our media product was able to develop conventions of a typical thriller film ,as seen in short films that share simialr genre of film , there is always a psycho who is used in films such as “Scream”, “Waz” and even the character Sam in Kidult/Adulthood. Marie's character is also stereo typically shown as the innocent damsel in distress , her charcter is not soemthign that would be typically shown as the main focus in a thriller film , this can show how our media product challenged typical stereotype of a female character.
the setting we used in our short film helped create the atmospehere for a thriller film , we used dark or abandon school corridors and made use of science classrooms to fit in within our storyline of a accident happening in a school , although we challenged the codes and conventions through shooting some of our scenes during daylight ,this is not typically seen in thriller films , especially the scene's which are dramtaic and build up tension for example seen in movies such as 'prom night and dark knight'

In order to get some ideas for our own title sequences, we looked at the work of Saul Bass. From analysing many of the opening title sequences he has created we were able to take away many possible title ideas for our own film.

title sequence research - casino

In the title sequence of Casino, the first shots are kept very simple to contrast with the car bomb exploding, creating maximum "shock factor" for the audience. Fire takes over the screen with the character falling across the screen and then the shot then trnasforms into the crimson lights of the Las Vegas Strip. Flames shoot up from the bottom of the frame, showing a screen covered with abstract shots of iconic Las Vegas signage and illumination. This vision of hell created by Bass describes the narrative ahead, without ruining any of the surprises the film has in store for the audience. The combination of image and sound allows the viewer to be aware of the genre and themes in the film : Las Vegas as the most tempting hell on Earth.
As fire plays an important concept in our film, the Casino title sequence had a specific relevance. An idea we came up with was to incorporate the fire explosion transition, after the lighter is sparked in our film during scene 1. I thought at this dramatic point of the title sequence it would be the perfect time to display the film's title most likely light up in golden writing to show the typography as being inflamed. However, as we were limited to the editing software we are currently using , we learned that it would be difficult to create this effect especially within our time frame we were given.

title sequencce research -

another idea we came up with for our title sequence , is using a key symbol from our film as main object in titles. We pictured having a black screen with a long shot of someone holding a lighter in their arms the character strikes the lighter 3 times each time the camera zooms in further on the 3rd strike a explosion of fire comes out of the lighter and spells the main title of film , each shot can have image of each cast or crew members name being written in a golden flame border around the typography whiles each title comes out with ball of fire from the lighter. The use of the fire will keep the audience gripped and guessing it allows them to get an idea of what the film may include but doesnt let them know the story. the fast shots used will create intensity and create thriller / suspenseful mood , meetin genre of the film . Keeping the blackground black and writing only being lighted slighty suggests darkness and loneliness. our ideas was taken from a few different film opening sequences such as casino where robert de niro character appraoaches a car whiles it blows up in a explosion of fire , titles then appear on screen with the fire in background , this is used to represent the evil of the character maybe the events that may take place in the film and almost the sense of him continously falling down towards hell.

title sequence research - west side story

These images are taken from the film west side story these are the closing credits , I chose this title sequence because of the similaraties it shares towards our ideas for our final title sequence. The sequence starts of with a brick wall which contains graffiti on it, the graffiti used represents towards the audience the run down setting for the film and also a reflection maybe into the characters lifes. In huge bold letters the title is almost faded on the brick wall in the back whiles each title of cast or crew appears onto the wall in different postions and different sizes. The camera is used to pan and zoom into the wall , creating this confusing effect for the audience, we liked this idea and therefore chose to use the camera slowly zooming towards our credits which created suspense and mystery. I liked this idea of using a brick wall for our title sequence as the background because it represents not only the setting for the film but almost the lifestyle of the character.The use of graffiti on the wall never appealed to me at first , but after analysing the title sequence , i felt that because our film is a thriller , we could maybe include scrambled words all over the brick wall to create confusion for the audience's perceptions but also to represent the scrabbled images or confusion that may be included in the film such as film starting from end and returning to the beginning. We also developed the idea of having main titles or credits of cast and crew appear on the wall written in red bold typography as if the main character is writing these words on the wall in blood, this idea would immediately let audience know the genre of our movie and what the story may be based around without giving away the twists and turns in the movie which meets all the conventions of a thriller which creates suspense for the audience.

the importance of title sequences

A title sequence is the first thing that your audience see and relate to therefore it can allow them to create their perception of the film before the actucal film starts. the first few minutes of your film can create the mood for your audience , whether it excites them or makes them feel scared , your title sequence must grip and draw your audience into knowing and wanting to watch more of your film. when producing a title sequence , creativity and thought must go into what message you want to portray through their first few minutes of your film. as some title sequences are made to match the action and almost give taster or peek at what may be included in film , some tell the story of the film and some contain almost opposite action to what may take place in the rest of your film , this can be used to confuse audience and suprise them without giving story away
A good title sequence must share many qualities such as being original in a way that it is either daring or challenging also they must tell a story no matter whether they are simple or artistically abstract.
It must also be a visually unique and show core theme of story without revealing to much.
depending on the look of your film , typography may play a big role in your title sequence, some may choose to use words and lettering to tell story of film or typography may just be used on the side as less of focus compared to the illustration.
Title sequences are the moments during watching a film , that allows the audience to create what mood they choose to share whiles watching a film , for example if a title sequence for a action/thriller is boring maybe may contain basic classical music and simple typography this will give the audience the impression that the what follows on from the title sequence may also be boring. the importance of using and displaying creative ideas is vital to creating an effective title sequence , ideas which are memorable and different may play around with audience perceptions of film , and grip them into watching more. no matter how simple title sequence may be , creativity can still be shown .

feedback on editing film

during whiles our group was editing we got some of the other students and teachers in our class to give us feedback on what we could improve in our film.
. The music we used at beginning of first scene should be used to fade out quietly when dialogue between characters starts and keep in the background .
. when johnny characters walking towards the classroom door in scene 1,do not use too many extra shots , just keep two man shots of him wlaking directly towards the door.
.during the flashback in scene 3, get rid of the panning shot from feet upwards of alfie character on the staircase, it takes to too long to reveal his face.
.during scene 1 , of alfie puttig key into door cut the shot in half to make shorter.
. extend last few shots scene 5, so there is constant flow like constantly thinking at the end of film.
.add in an erxplosion sound when in scene 1 lighter is used to create fire , this will create more effect and make action more significant.
.the ambulance sirens should continue on for longer period of time until in scene 2 when character sitting on bench starts tapping foot.
.Either take out in scene 1 second flirty scene or create a sound or add in another shot for character to react to .
.do not include scene 4 shots , dialogue was not entirely good in those shots and also scene 3 tells story already.
.extend music in scene 2 for much longer , because helps build up tension in the scene.
. flashback scene is really good , effects used add realism to it and music added as well addes tension.