Feedback Questionare Analysis

Ideas:
Average: 2 Good:7 Excellent:2

Cinemathography:
Good:10 Excellent:2

Soundtrack:
Good:6 Excellent:7

Locations:
Poor:1 Average:7 Good:4 Excellent:1

Performance:
Average:3 Good:9 Excellent:1

Story:
Poor:2 Average:4 Good:6 Excellent:1

Acting:
Average:6 Good:5 Excellent:1

Props (mis-en -scene):
Average:2 Good:10 Excellent:1

Analysis

In general the viewers over 19 years were the most critical of which there were 4 which rated two elements poor 9(of which there was a total of three) and rating only one excellent, with the average rating at average. All in all people seemed to have enjoyed the film with the overall average mark of good. Ideas but especially cinemathography and soundtrack were rated high, while on locations and story the people were quite divided.

Evaluation

My film is quite typical of a mainstream thriller film the story and ideas were widely liked according to the feedback survey, the film is not abstract nor artsy the story unfolds quite clearly though it retains a sense of mystery which any mainstream thriller should do, it builds suspense yet leaves the audience anticipating, which is essential to the opening of a film. Still my film does challenge mainstream films in the sense that it is a low budget(no budget) movie, I was limited in my choice of locations and actors, a point that is also reflected in my survey, acting and locations are generally rated lower than cinemathography, story, ideas and mis-en-scene I was expecting this outcome because in the former I can not compete with the real media product.

The focus of my film is not on social groups, yet in a way it does portray certain aspects of society, I meant for the victim to seem like a well adapted young man, successful and confident, he is shown leaving work late, after it is dark, he is well dressed and shows confidence in his walk , making his position as the victim seem even even less likely. He is meant to be your average middle class man as opposed to the killer, a recluse of society, faceless (his face is never revealed) yet with murderous passion, apparent in the extreme close-up of the eye.

I believe any major studio (Universal, Warner Brothers etc.) would distribute my film. As I explained above my film follows the conventions of mainstream films, the ideas are fit for a major project and with adequate finance the film as a whole would would have a good chance of success. Stories about murder, psycopathic killers and the like have been done again and again by all studios and they keep making money. As long as this stays as it is my film has a good chance of being distributed because, after all, the main focus of major studios is to make money in this aspect my film is quite promising, it is not an extremely revolutionary project.

The audience for my film judging by the survey's (before and after filming) and the nature of the film would be from 18 and older but especially 18 to 30s since the film would most probably have a rating for 18s I must exclude the younger audiences. Thrillers seem to be very popular among 18-30 year olds, in my preliminary survey I asked for characteristics of a good thriller the answer included many features of my film: suspense, a surprise ending and a good story. In the survey following my film people seemed to like the ideas and story of the film especially the targetted age group very much enjoyed the film. From this I may judge that I successfully attracted the targetted age group a suspenseful and interesting film is always liked by an audience between the ages 18 and 30 an audience whose main focus is to be entertained. My film has the ability to grip you though it might not be incredibly deep in theme.

In the course of making this film I learned a great amount about technology. I had gained some experience with cameras after the project though I feel much more confident in using the camera I have explored the functions of it and have an understanding of how to work it the way I want it. I have learned to use the tripod something I had never done before and found it to be a helpful if not essential tool. The most however I learned about the editing program imovie hd I had never used it before yet I can say now that I have more than a basic knowledge of the program. Not only did I learn to edit but I learned to insert credits and use music. Even this blog I count to my learning, I was quite unfamiliar with blogs to start with, as I am not apt with computers.

Looking back at my preliminary task, of course it helped me in making my film coherent and fluent. Before filming a scene I would make sure I was following the rule something I also did for my storyboard. Making the 180 degree rule I learned also the basics of using camera and imovie which helped me greatly in my project. The importance of cinematography  and music especially I had to discover later on. Matching music and picture I found a hard task yet it makes a great difference to have the right timing for music.  

For my textual research I made a questionairre with the following Questions:

1. What is your favorite Genre?

2. Do you enjoy Thrillers?

3. What should a good Thriller incorporate?

4. What is your favorite Film?

5. How often do you go to the Cinema?

6. How often do you purchase Films?

I interviewed 20 people between 15 and 60 of which: 6 were 15 to 18 to 25 years of age, 9 were 18 to 20 and  were older than 40.

1.For the first question 6 people preferred comedy all of which were 15 to 25 years old, 1 preferred animation (15-18), 3 preferred love films of which one was above 50, 5 answered Thriller of which one was above 50, 3 of them were 18 to 25 and one under 18, 3 answered action/ war films of which all were aged 15-25, lastly 2 of the above 50s preferred Drama.

2.For number 2 all except one(aged 15-18) enjoyed watching Thrillers.

3.For number three there were a variety of answers most mentioned a good story(suspenseful) some said good acting and  action and some said it needed a good ending a "twist" especially those that named thriller as their favorite film emphasized the importance of a good ending.

4. For favorite films 5 mentioned thrillers

5. For 5 I came to the conclusion that the 18 to 25 age group goes to the cinema the most with all but 2 of them saying they go at least once a month and one person saying they go nearly every week. The 18-25s are followed by the 15-18s of which also half go every month. Though one above 50 wrote they go every month the rest said they only went once or few times a year.

6. Again the 18-25s seem to be the ones that purchase the most films many saying they purchase multiple films a month and no one saying they never buy any. They are again followed by the 15 to 18s of which only one never buys films most buy on a regular basis and 2 buy every month.

Conclusion: Though thrillers arent the most popular according to the survey, they are widely liked by all age groups especially the younger, who also seem to be the best market for the film industry so one must conclude that a thriller has a good chance of being a success, especially if it incorporates a twist and a good story two characteristics my film does show. 

I was very much influenced by shots from "The Shining" this being one, using these long corridors the character is confined unable to escape moving straight and directly to his downfall, making it feel inevitable, this being the epitomy of my story. Nearly all of my film features narrow confined spaces to reflect the inevitability of the ultimate desaster.

Currently I have been studying locations and have found perfect locations for most of my shots the first outside shots will feature the narrow walkway between the union society and the arts block building perfect for the dark confined feel of the location, next I will use part of the jesus green bridge to chesterton road as a contrast, though it is also dark the space is very open and the river gives a good sound as it flows quite rapidly in this place. the scenes inside will be shot at masters house perfect for its long, monotonous corridors. i still need to find a good bedroom with a window that lets in just enough light. I have also chosen my cast i will soon include photos. I have the feeling i might have to many shots still i will film them all and in cutting I will decide which to use. I have also experimented with the camera and i think the zoom function might be a little to fast for some of my shots i am not sure how to handle this problem but i might have to compromise.

       My cast I chose partly by looks partly by casting. Ranjit (below) i chose for his walk which is not that of a victim his walk projects confidence not necessarily characteristic of the victim, and so adds to the mystery of the story. Amin (above) i chose merely because of his looks his dark eyes and eyebrows, since this is all you get to see of him.

Since my main idea for a film, the disaster film relies on the setting which can only be found in my home town and since i will not be returning there for a while i have developed a new concept for a film. it will parrallel edit between an anonymous figure waiting in a room and a man walking home the shots of the anonymous person will be short and dark to cause a feeling of confusion and mystery in the beginning the shots will be fairly long with quiet music yet the parrallel cutting will cause an uneasiness, as the victim approaches home the music will gradually get louder and the cutting faster to increase anticipation. the end leaves you with the same shot as in the beginning of a partly opened door and slow zoom.

I got many of my ideas from kurbricks film the shining he also uses many shots of doors and corridors. The use of doors as symbols for something mysterious and forbidding is used in many films, in mine it will tie the two strands of the story together. the use of the heartbeat and ticking clocks is frequent in many movies to create suspense i will use it to increase anticipation in the last part of the film.

Script:

My film will open with a zoom shot of the door and foreboding music. Next shot will be a long shot of a figure leaving his office or school. In the next shot also a long shot the character will walk down a narrow alley with quiet music as he dissapears into the dark then the credits when the music gets darker it cuts to a close up of a hand with a knife then more credits followed by another close up of the knife. The next shot will be a pan from a shot of the river to the figure crossing the bridge. Then another pan shot as the figure opens the door to his building followed by a midshot and a fast exreme close up of the killers eye then a long shot of the figure coming down the corridor followed by a fast close up of a hand turning the doorknob and another fast close up of the number 60 on the door then the title of the film and lastly a shot of the door partly open.

The mystery of the story provides suspense we dont know the killer or the motive, we dont even know if a crime has taken place yet the beginning creates anxiety the question:"whats behind that door?" we connect the door with the character we see next as this is his home, walking down the alley he descends into the dark with nowhere to escape, the use of straight narrow spaces (the alley, the bridge, the corridor) is very important to the story the character has nowhere to escape to, literally and figuratively, he heads straight for his own demise. His disappearing into the dark is foreboding and the true danger is manifested when we see the knife this is also where the music (Bruno Nicolai) changes suggesting a change in mood. At the sound of the door to the victims house closing we immediately get a shot of the killer standing in the door half concealed a progression from only seeing his hand and the knife this heightens the anxiety of the audience as well as the next shot, the extreme close-up of the eye. Next we see as the victim walks towards us we get a close up of the doorknob beeing turned and a close up of the room number which confirms our suspicions. The last shot again creates mystery, we know something has happened since the door is in a different position than it is in the first shot yet we cannot say for certain what has happened. Here I was inspired by Ange Heart and Rosemarys baby which also leave you anticipating the outcome of the story.