Evaluation

Although I have posted this, we both have input to the evaluation. We chose to write it down as we feel we could make our point more successfully and as we have already made our own comments on video.

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

Our film uses lots of conventions of the thriller genre. For example, our protagonist is an ordinary working man who keeps himself to himself although he has a violent side to him. (Such characters as James Bond are created in this format. Also the film has a mysterious element about it and it follows the conventions of thriller films confusing the audience and making them think and work things out. Such as, who the charcter is and what he is about, and the visions. They also have to work things out with the protagonist. We also wanted our thriller to thrill and be slightly scary like most disaster thrillers. It did come out this way as we have found out through the comments we've had on our film. Thrillers are usually quite tense and we have tried to create the same effect through a few long lasting shots and the music.

We have challenged the convention of hero vs villain by having hero vs his own mind. This crosses the border to psychological thrillers and added another dimension to our film. This is good because we can attract a wider range of audience and have a more popular film. The idea of hero vs his own mind was an original idea of ours and gets the audience to think about what is happening and lets them create different things about him and the film in their own mind, so it works into another boundary. Barry, his mind, and now the audiences mind. This has been enhanced by the use of music which has challenged the use of conventional thriller music which could relate to rock music. It links to the first point because I tried to create the noises that were in Barry's mind.

Some of our camera shots varied from conventional thriller shots by developing basic shots. Such as the hand held shot low angle shot has been adapted from a basic low angle tracking mid shot. It allows us to create our own meaning through the shot and to build upon the meaning of the original basic shot. This basic shot is conventional to thrillers as many of the thrillers I have seen, and a few of the films we analysed included it. A completely new shot that challenges conventional thriller shots is one that is hand held and circles around Barry. This is not a usual shot, but the meaning of it is conventional of a thriller. It creates tension and shows Barry's emotions and unsureness to the audience.

We have also used the convention of having a fairly dark plot to our film. Pretty much all disaster thrillers are dark, therefore we used this to be conventional.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our film only has two characters, so not many social groups are represented. The two characters are very different in social class and we used lots of techniques to show this. One technique was costumes. This was a big part of our preliminary task and really helped us to show the classes of the two characters. Thus, we decided to use this technique again. Barry represents the middle class, socio economic group C/B I would say. He is a white collar worker. (So obviously he wears a white shirt.) He wears a black tie and smart shoes and trousers. He also has an expensive looking coat. He also owns a rather large house for a man of his young age. Most men at this age would be living in a flat or with his parents. He has a big TV and good quality furniture. This represents the middle class/socio econimic group C/B as hard working and take pride in themselves and what they own. They are willing to work hard to get to where they want to get. To emphasise this is a shot of his shoes in the film.

On the other hand, you have Gregg. At the start of the film, Barry is on his way home from work, although Gregg is already at home and in casual clothes. This shows that he does not work hard for what he has, and somewhat 'mooches' off of Barry. He wears an 'official beer tester' t-shirt. (this is all you see.) And he holds a pot noodle during the film. Gregg is of the lower class. Perhaps socio economic group C/D. He is the sort of man who would drive a white van and read the sun. Gregg represents this group as lazy couch potatoes. As he is holding a pot noodle, it also represents this social group as having a bad diet, leading to obesity, a big problem in the UK at the moment. It shows that this group will take from other people, but not give back.

You could also mention the cars outside Barry's house. The majority of them are nice, expensive cars. This represents the middle class as somewhat show offs, and that maybe they have not a lot else on their mind other than looking good infront of others.

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

The institutions that would distribute our product would be: The cinema such as Cineworld, Sky Box Office, Youtube, TV and DVD companies such as Warner Bros.

The cinema would distribute our product as a teaser to the feature length film that would follow. They would put it on during the adverts before the featured film starts to generate a buzz for the whole film that would come out later on. It would make people wonder what the film was and make them want to find out what happens, making them watch the full film.

Sky Box Office would do the same as the cinema, create a buzz for the film, then play the whole film. It's the exact same process.

Our film could start out on Youtube to get it noticed and watched by other people out of this area. As its only an opening, people would want to know what happens next, therefore would want to see the whole film.

DVD companies would distribute our product in its entirety so that people could watch it after it was out at the cinema so people could watch it if they missed it, or watch it again if they liked it.

It could also be distributed through mobile phones. It could be sent to people on certain networks such as Orange or Vodafone for free. This would get people to watch it even if they weren't planning to. This would make people want to watch the film, generating money to the cinemas after the whole process is complete.

Who would be the target audience for your product?

As we have found out from research, our preliminary task, and comments from people who have watched our film, a wide range of people would be the audience for our film.

From the preliminary, we found that if you put a small element into the film for a lot of different target audiences such as good music, or a complex plot, a wide variety of people would watch it because of that element. We found that the use of costumes attracted a lower class audience, the music also attracted a lower class audience, however, the story line attracted more intelligent people as it made you think. We tried to advance on this in our new film to attract a wider audience. (This would generate more profits if more people wanted to see the film.)

Mainly however, our audience would be boys and girls aged 15+ of working/middle class, socio economic groups D,C and B. The lower of the classes would be attracted due to the action of the film. They would want to see whether Barry saves the world or not, also because they can relate to Gregg and have him as a favoured character. The middle of the selected classes would enjoy it because they would enjoy some of the action involved and would enjoy thinking about the plot of the film plus they can relate to both characters. And the higher of the selected classes would enjoy it because they can relate to Barry and would enjoy the thinking required to work out the film.

For example, a 17 year old boy who left school to go to college and whom is of lower class would enjoy the film because it is about a simple thing, the end of the world. The film only goes as deep as you want it to. You can either get right into the depths of Barry's mind and really think about the film, or you can just go along with it and see what happens. This means that many different types of audiences would enjoy this film, but mainly the ones described.

How did you attract/address your target audience?

In relation to this question, we used a young cast. This would allow the young people we were targeting to be able to relate to the characters as they are of a similar age. They may also have a similar lifestyle to one of the characters so they can imagine being in their shoes.

We got this idea from our preliminary task as we used the same two actors and were searching for a young audience in that.

We also tried to attract a lower class audience by having lots going on in our film and a lot of sound involved. This would keep them interested in the film and would not lose it like the would in a film that they found boring. We also did this by having a lower class character; Gregg is your typical lower class person, therefore the lower class audience can relate to him and follow his story.

We tried to attract a higher class audience by making the audience use their mind and think about the film. We also created Barry in a way that allows them to relate to him by making him a higher class than Gregg. This allows them to think like Barry and make it easier to know what he is thinking.

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

We have learnt how to create a blog as this was the first time we'd ever done it. I have learnt how to create a Youtube account and upload a video to it. I have also learnt about using another type of imovie. This was because we used a different type of camera during some of the filming of our film. This camera only allowed us to upload the footage to the new imovie so we had to work out how to use it and then transfer the footage from it to the old imovie that we were originally using. We have learnt how to use Livetype which we used for some of the titles in our film. Hopefully we can advance on all of this in our next project.

We did this from our preliminary task. We learnt a few new things about editing the film such as effects and changing colours of shots when making the preliminary and advanced on that during the new film. We put an effect in the final shot which worked really well.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression of it to the new product?

After making the preliminary task, we brushed up on certain aspects of our filming skills

in particular. When making the preliminary, we did not use a tripod very much at all and just held the camera in our hands, the caused an unprofessional looking wobbly shot. We did however take some experimental aspects from it into the new film. For example, we had a shot of the characters legs through a cat flap. This aspect has been adapted in the new film by going even further by having shots such as the hand held close up that circles around Barry, it is an uncontventional shot but works well in this use of it.

We also learnt from our first film that having good mise en scene, such as a bottle of Jack Daniels, gives the film a realistic look getting the audience more into it. We went on to do this in the second film with the setting, costumes and props by trying to make everything look as authentic as possible.

We also found from the preliminary that costumes can attract different audiences of certain classes. In this film, the character was dressed in a hoody, a cap and baggy trackies. This attracted the sort of person who wears these clothes and the lower/working class to the film. This is because they can relate to the character well and enjoy finding out about his story. We adapted this is the new film by going a step further and having to characters from different classes. This was used to attract a wider range of audience.

We have also learnt to use music creatively in our films. This is because we did so in the preliminary, but not a lot. So we tried to advance on it and make it more complex in the new film.

Textual Analysis Of Thrillers.

First Thriller I am going to watch the opening to is : Se7en (David Fincher - 1995)
Seven:
The opening to this movie is very strange and is an unconventional opening to a movie. It starts with a man laying in bed while you can hear the asynchronous sound of the people out on the street outside. He throws a book he is reading down on the floor and then the camera switches to a close up of him putting his glasses on his bedside table. It stays in this shot as the man moves his hand up and starts a metronome. His room is a fairly normal bedroom with some lamps a bookcase and a set of drawers. After this it goes back to a mid shot of the man laying in bed. The camera slowly zooms in on the man and then goes back to the metronome before cutting back to the man in bed. He then looks over to the metronome and the camera cuts back to it even closer now as it carries on ticking. The sound starts to echo and the asynchronous sound of the street outside becomes harder to hear. Suddenly the sound of thunder is heard and the screen goes black for a second before switching to a shot of a book with all its pages being turned. Now we have non-diegetic sound which is actually the background music for the opening credits. After the book the screen goes black and we have our first name of the credits come up. After that there is a sequence of shots all entertwined by straightcuts they are hard to recognise what the thing is that is being shown. Another title on a black screen comes up after that and then we go back to another sequence of shots, following the pattern of the last part. This time it is of someone holding something. Morgan Freemans credit comes up once again infront of the same black screen in the same white font and then after that we get a quick sequence of shots someone putting something somewhere, the phrase D-35 on a black screen and then another unrecognisable thing happening. The title of the movie comes up in the same font as the titles however the pattern is broken as this title comes up over the footage rather then a black screen, the footage is of someone picking up a book. Next shot is of a book being opened while the next credit , Gwyneth Paltrow, starts on that footage before that fades out and it is infront of the black screen all the other actors have had. Next we get a sequence of different shots with the credits continuing over them, it starts with another extreme close up, this time of somebody writing on paper, then switches to a birds eye view of some paper with writing on it before the whole screen flashes red then black and another credit is introduced. After that it follows the same pattern the majority of the credits has, we get another quick sequence of extreme close ups that make it very difficult for the viewer to recognise what is being shown in such a quick space of time. It looks to be something like a roll of film , then a somebody holding a photo over some documents. The following sequence sticking to the pattern once again is even more difficult to make out then the earlier ones. It is about 3 different shots or so changing very quick with straight cuts, all I can say is they are still following the on going theme of this hand moving over paper and holding some individual bits of paper too. Two more credits come up infront of a black screen in time with the music, everytime a credit pops up the music makes a small change. The music is hard to explain it isn't really a specific genre of music but sounds a little techno and is modern is about all I can say however it does create an effect on the viewer as it builds tension very well. After this we follow the pattern and its another hand holding something however its such an extreme close up that only one fingertip is viewable , the picture on the table is some kind of photograph that when paused actually looks like a seel. Shot reverse shot is then used, for a tiny amount of time we see a page full of writing then back to the exact same shot of this photo before we go back to the page full of writing being turned over then as it falls back to a black screen with credits. These credits are a bit different to the usual ones for a split second the screen flashes to a white screen which when I paused actuallly didnt have anything on apart from straight lines of different shades varying from black to white. Credits pop up after as they grow increasingly strange and random various numbers and letters flash over the last few credits at this point for hardly even a second. After the last set of credits at this point we go back to another extreme close up of this time the finger tip highlighting words on a page with black ink. Then a pen highlighting words, then back to a previously seen shot of a books pages being turned rapidly. Then a whole sentence pops up on screen but its unreadable. The music at this point has progressed alot since I last mentioned it. It is building an atmosphere very well and this opening really does leave an impression on the viewer. For the next few shots and credits it's of the pen highlighting before we come to our next credit which has the credit in the bottom left then in the top right the footage carries on as we see the highlighter go across a picture of a boys eyes. The picture is drawn with a pencil. This is one of the few shots that are not extreme close up's in the introduction and you can finally make something out as the viewer all be it its quite a strange and odd thing to make out as this is surrounded by black and is almost under a spotlight effect. Then after that part the music changes suddenly and the face goes from having one line through the eyes to having the whole face covered in straight lines made by the pen. At this point the music has increased rapidly in pace and is a massive contrast to the fairly calm opening which followed a pattern and had a basic beat. For the next 5 or so seconds all the shots are of writing, books and pens etc the common theme throught this opening. There is then a strange image of somebody with some hair missing and something in their head I think and as soon as that shot is finished the music once again makes a step up in speed. Some of the shots in this phase have already been seen, others have not including some shots of the finger tips now holding a needle. As usual everything is in an extreme close up shot and the only way most these things can be made out is by pausing the video, this has a big effect on the viewer as watching in real time makes it very hard to figure out what you have just seen and therefore you are still thinking about it as the next thing comes up. The final sequence of shots all are made up by the books pages again and the finger tips I think sewing.. at the end of the credits the music actually has a lyric which is very unconventional in a thriller opening music, and with the title sequence finish the movie opens with a different man to the one in the beginning waking up in bed with a woman. This opening is a very effective opening, it is strange and makes the viewer quite nervous about what is to come as some of the images are rather distraughting , the part with the person with hair missing and when the picture of a person gets highlighted. It achieves its target of creating suspense well and also is very effective in making the viewer confused and wonder whats going on because of how quickly the images on screen change.

The second film is ; Panic Room. (David Fincher - 2002)
Panic Room:
Panic Room starts with the columbia icon with a loud thunder sound at the start similiar to Fincher's choice in Se7en when the opening sequence of a man in bed ends with thunder. Then the film opens with an establishing shot of a built up city as columbia pictures presents comes up over the footage, the music in the background is vastly different to Se7en but still creates a suspense giving feel to it. The establishing shot is actually a still shot which surprises the viewer because they would expect it to pan down or slowly zoom in but instead it straight cuts to another still shot. This time it is not as much as a high angle shot it is about a mid height shot of some buildings and some roads. Another straight cut to a still shot of the city also the music starts to increase in volume at this point. The music is of a very serious note and sounds quite dark, sad and gloomy. The next straight cut takes us to a shot of the buildings as the camera moves to the right at quite a quick pace Jodie Foster's name is infront of these buildings, so like Se7en Fincher is following a pattern in the opening of his film. The next four shots all follow the same pattern a straight cut to a different picture of the city with a credit on , however on the fourth the camera pans to the right and introduces the name of the film. All the credits are in the same font and colour a silver coloured block capital font that looks quite modern. On the last credit of that sequence of four the music increases to a new high in volume before switching to the next font and now bringing in a ticking sound and increasing greatly in pace. The rest of the opening just follows the pattern, the credits appear and disapear faster but really it's all pretty much the same. The ticking makes the opening feel fast and hectic which may of been an effect Fitcher was aiming for but all the credits follow the same pattern infront of a picture of the city straight cut to the next one. On our last credit we are introduced to a voice that comes over the music. It is a womans voice saying about a place that she has found and how she wrote it down. It pans down to the pavement and we see two women walking towards the camera. The opening ends. This opening doesnt create much fear or nervousness like Se7en but that is because this is a completely different type of thriller. Taking that into account you can't say that it is a poor opening because it isn't made to make the viewer scared or nervous it establishes where the movie is and thats about it.

The final film is Terminator 2 (James Cameron - 1991) I have tried to look at a varying amount of movies that have more then one genre, Se7en being a more fear inducing thriller , Panic Room being a phycological thriller and now Terminator 2 a sci-fi action thriller.
Terminator 2:
The establishing shot opens with lots of traffic moving down a busy road. It is a nice bright day. The titles come straight over the footage in a plain white colour. The opening two shots show how busy the city is with lots of pedestrians and cars. We then see a childrens play area with a girl on a swing we hear diegetic sound come over the non diegetic opening music which is a heavy hard hitting sound which doesnt have much more to add. The sound we hear that is diegetic is of children playing and laughing as James Cameron's credit pops up the footage slows down into and the sound starts to have an echo as the non diegetic opening music gets louder despite not changing from what it was to begin with. As the girl on the swing gets slower and slower she starts to come forward on the swing, the music stops and becomes a sound that builds in volume as she gets forward, the screen starts to change colour to a murky blue and as she gets to the top of the other side the screen flashes from the blue that has built up and what we see changes to a close up of a skull at what looks to be night time. The non-diegetic music has stopped and now we hear sounds of wind blowing and part of a car moving in the wind. As the camera pans up from this one car we see a whole line of destroyed cars infront of a destroyed building and the date comes accross screen still in the same font. A crossfade is the first change from shots that isn't a straight cut we now see more demolition in this murky blue coloured place. It turns out to be the play area that was just seen but now destroyed and covered in skulls. A voice over then comes in, it is a female person speaking and she informs the audience of how many people died in august 1997. She informs the audience of the plot as the camera pans to the right showing all the demolition it starts to slow focusing on one skull. As the voiceover talks about the war against the machines a sudden robotic foot smashes down on the skull taking the audience by surprise. The sound is diegetic but still has an effect on the audience in the same way that non-diegetic sound can be used to scare the viewer. The camera pans up and we have a high angle shot of a robot standing there with a gun as lazers fly overhead, the camera points up at the robot to demonstrate its power. Non diegetic music starts to fade in again as this next sequence occurs of men raging war against the machines. The mis-en-scen is mainly made up of destroyed things and human remains which tank wheels roll over. As the war rages on the music slowly increases in speed and other sounds start to join in the soundtrack. All cuts are straight cuts and the mis-en-scene follows what it has been during this whole scene. The music dies down but carries on as the voiceover comes back in to explain more plot. We see humans walking through a tunnel and soldiers saluting, they are dressed as regular soldiers as opposed to the robots which are not stereotypical robots they are skinny and human like and also have glowing red eyes to connote their evilness. As the plot unfolds there is a close up of a man looking out at the battlefield as a fade out slowly occurs and a fade in equally as slow occurs of flames. The voice over finishes and the title of the movie pops up, the terminator sound motif occurs and the famous soundtrack starts to play. As the titles pop up the camera constantly moves to the right showing the devastation to the peaceful and happy play area we saw at the beginning of the movie. When all the devastation is finished there is a slow zoom in on a robot standing in the flames, the music increases in volume and the soundtrack comes to an end with an extreme close up of the robots red eyes. After this there is a sound bridge as the movie begins with a vehicle moving.
This opening's purpose is different to the last two. Se7en was to create tension and fear, Panic Room was to establish where the film was set and Terminator 2 was to explain plot and give backstory. None of these openings are very conventional to the thriller genre but maybe that is because I picked three movies that all have sub genres and because of that they are going to try to appeal to the viewers of these genres as well as thrillers, my example being in Terminator 2 the use of flames and explosions a lot is a commonly used convention in action movies.

Analysis of Previous Year 12 Work

Insomnia- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3cQeRG_xL4

In general, my first thoughts were that the film was rather poor, the camera is not still, the titles aren't conventional of a thriller, the sound quality of speech is not good, the music is not conventional to a thriller... I will now break down the film into sections.

Camera

The first shot is rather confusing, you can tell he is running, but that is all, it has no meaning to the rest of the film. The rest of the running in the film is a flashback, this seems to be in the present however. Also you can hear and see the person holding the camera over the lense at one point. The next shot is wobbly and boring because it does not change for the rest of the film, it moves about a bit, (which is very wobbly) but other than that, it creates no real meaning or story. At the start of shots, it jolts which makes it unclear to see what is going on. However in the flashback sequence, some of the shots work very well to create meanings of the character feeling alone. One other problem before the final shot is that there seems to be an unwanted shot in between the transition. 4/10 for camera work.

From this I will take into account to make sure a steady shot is used when needed and to make sure that most shots create a meaning and are conventional of thrillers.

Sound

The sound in this film is poor. In the first shot, you can hear birds singing which creates completely the wrong effect. Also the soundbridge leading to the next shot is more comical than anything. It sounds like it's out of the 1970s Batman series, not a thriller film. The dialogue is very unclear and has a lot of natural reverb on it. It does not sound good at all. In the next sequence, you can hear the camera man moving, and the electronic noise of the camera. After this there seems to be some kind of choir singing. This does not create the correct feeling. However during the flashback, the sounds used create a very good effect and really got me into that part of the film. After this though, there is a loud indeciferable noise that i can only guess is a gun being shot. Then a man screaming. (The same scream is used twice, this sounds poor.) The diegetic sound in the slowmo sequence sounds really good though and creates an angry effect. There are a few more really good sounds that follow, but seem to have no aparant meaning behind them. For example, there is the sound of lightning, but there is clearly no lightning involved in the film. The final sound also sounds like its from Batman. 3/10 for sound.

As a musical person myself, I find it hard to find anything good from this film linked to the sound. I will remember to get rid of the noise of the camera, and keep sound relevant to our film when making our own soundtrack.

Editing

In this film are mostly straight cuts and white flashes as transitions. Most of the straight cuts are poor and do not flow well. There are a few white flashes used in good areas, but in some places different transitions are needed to create meanings. The titles are poor and not at all conventional of thrillers. They look more like something from a powerpoint presentation. However, there is an excellent black and white slowmo sequence which works extremely well with the plot of the film. 6/10 for editing.

From this film I will remember to keep straight cuts fluent and to use different transitions when needed.

Mise en Scene

In this film, there is not a lot when it comes to mise en scene. The clothes are not relevant to thrillers and nothing special about them. There are no props used and is not an awful lot to write on this section. The setting also has no relevance to the film.

I will make sure that in my film, mise en scene is used effectively and relevant to the genre and plot. I will make sure that a few props are used to make it interesting, and try to use colours well. I will remember to have a location that suits the film well and make any changes to it that are needed to keep conventional for a thriller.

Panic- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13TFF1Ivc4c&feature=related

Camera

In the opening sequence, there are lots of shots, perhaps too many. they do create a good rushed feeling. It is I feel rather too confusing. The next few shots work really well and set the scene well. They are slightly wobbly however. The shots clearly show that it is a crime thriller, particularly with the helicopter shot. Its also shows that by having lots of quick movement showing newspaper cuttings etc The shots with the policeman create tension because you can not see what he is looking at. Then as the figure walks past suspense is built. The camera is still slightly wobbly, but I do not know if this is meant or not. My favourite part is the point of view shot. It works extremely well and creates huge suspense as the camera double takes on a figure, then goes to a close up of the policeman. The shots move from point of view to close up again and again which creates a lot of suspense and gets you ready to be made to jump. It works very well. Darkness is combined with the point of view shot well to make the audience unclear of what is happening creating huge tension and suspense. At one point the camera zooms in on the policeman's face to show his fear, this works well as the next shot is a close up of the antagonist. 8.5/10 for camera

From this I have learnt that shots can be used to create tension, and have shown different meanings for different shots that I can adapt.

Sound

At the start of the opening, there is a low key beat acting as a heart beat of the film, there are also lots of strange noises that set the tone of the film and relate to the genre and plot. When the policeman arrives at the farm, there are eerie noises that suit the location very well. They are creepy and stir things up. As the policeman searches and tension rises there are more strange noises to add mysteriousness to the tension. Then comes in some fast tempo music that adds to the tension and gets your heart rate up. A few diegetic sounds are louder than usual to make you jump and emphasise them. (This happens with most of the a synchronous sound. A few synchronous ones are too however.) As the antagonist starts to follow the policeman, the music gets faster and faster, until it stops suddenly and you think everything's ok, then he turns round and is killed. 9/10 for sound

From this I have learnt that sound can be used to create alot of suspense, then make the audience think that everything is fine, it can play tricks on your mind.

Editing

The editing in this film is excellent, there are lots of effects used to create a buzzing motion on the screen. The antagonist has some kind of effect souly on him, i do not know how this was done but will try to find out. The titles are conventional of the genre and plot and have the same buzzing effect on them. Different transitions are used in correct places to create desired effect and straight cuts flow well. 8.5/10 for editing

Mise en Scene

Mise en scene in this film is perfect. I cant say much more. Every costume, every prop, the locations are all perfect. I can reall say no more. 10/10 mise en scene.

From this I have learnt to go into extreme depths and cover every detail when it comes to the mise en scene.

Comments On Final Film

"Gregg's arm scared the hell out of me, jumped right off my bed"

"Music creates tension well"

"A real quality story line, i want to watch more"

"Red lights work well as barrier between vision and normal"

"So good"

"Excellent combination of shots"

"The music works very well will the genre and plot of the film"

"When can I see the rest of the film?'

The Storyboard

This is the story board that was created after our draft of the film on paper. It covers all shots in the film and movement of camera, when titles come up, when dialogue comes in and when and where the lights come in. The red arrows indicate where the red and orange light will come from. This is the key to our filming days, our bible for planning if you like.

Update-

We kept to this pretty much perfectly, just added a few extra shots in here and there that we came up with on the spot. Also not shown is the peephole sequence which was put in during editing.

My Inspirations (Harry)

For me a lot of my inspirations were more involved with the story or plot as opposed to a variation of shots or effects. I think looking at our film with a bit of depth or analysing it more then just watching it for fun you can spot some of the things which influenced me in the character development area of the film.

For example the character of Barry has some strong influences from characters in other films. A film trilogy both me and Chris are heavily influenced by is the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy (Peter Jackson) and there are a few elements that both Barry and Frodo share for example they are both under a heavy burden with Frodo's being The Ring and Barry's being the fact that he can see the end of the world whilst others around him can not and would think he is insane if he tells anyone. Also another influence would be Peter Parker from the Spiderman movies (Sam Raimi.) The resemblances between these two are that they are both like normal or average people with a secret that makes them extremely different to everyone else but only they know of this thing that makes them different. Also between these two they are both constantly tired from work and are struggling with some of the difficulties in life such as getting enough money for rent to have anything left to live off. A third influence to the Barry character is Ned Schneebly off the movie School Of Rock (Richard Linklater - 2003) This is movie influenced both of our characters moreover then just Barry. It's a film both me a Chris like so it was something we both agreed on. Barry and Gregg resemble Ned and Dewey because they are two friends who have a lot of history but also are now completely different. Barry is a hardworking, self-sufficient, independent whilst Gregg is the complete opposite being a lazy, unemployed loser. However the catch is that these two completely opposite people make a brilliant team and also are the best of friends.

Out of character development films that influenced me would be films that include something unordinary and paranormal in a modern day realistic setting. So for example The Terminator series of films played a big part in when I was thinking of an idea for a film with Chris right at the beginning of this project.

However I did not want to rip these films off completely and had a lot of fun with Chris developing the characters and making certain traits that they had. I enjoyed designing the Gregg character especially and I also liked the contrast between the two. You could say there are resemblances between them two with me and Chris, me obviously being more Barry then Gregg though.

Setting up the "Stage"

Obviously being in an average sized lounge we needed to use the space available to us effectively and also not having a tripod at the time we got the majority of our filming done wasn't too helpful. Careful planning was taken before hand at school seeing as we had our minds set on a location way before we started filming.
After we had shot all the footage we needed of Barry entering the lounge and taking his coat off we set up the lounge for the rest of our footage which required various lighting from different angles and also camera shots from various angles. For example when the vision first starts we have Barry sat on the sofa, to film this, we had a chair out in the middle of the lounge and put the camera on it. Next to the chair we had our two lights which we pointed up at him. Then we needed two people sat by the lights to obviously turn them on at the time Barry's vision starts so we had to put a lot of thought into the planning stage of our film to make sure that we had enough space to maneuvre whilst we still got a decent shot.
One shot which was difficult to make was the shots of when Barry stands up in a trance over what he can see on the television screen. To achieve this shot we had to make our own tripod pretty much. On top of the window sill we had a vase with a box of tissues on top of it then with the camera ontop of that. It worked very efficiently and was surprising considering it was ontop of our home made tripod not many people would be able to tell the difference and thinking about it, it would of been difficult to achieve that same shot using a tripod as balancing a triangular tripod on a narrow rectangular window sill may of proved difficult. Luckily for us at this point we did not need to worry about turning our lights on because he was already entranced in a vision at this point so we could just place our lights underneath him and on the window sill whilst they were already lit. Obviously for this shot we had to move everything that we used from the previous shot away otherwise it would of been in the shot. So therefore we had to do alot of pushing chairs out the way and pulling them back that day and eventually we ended up with everything hid round the wall in my living room out of shot.
We overcame most the problems we were faced with when it came to our set up and I think that shows with the outcome of our film when we were getting people to watch our film when we were evaluating it no one found any errors or things we didnt mean to have in shots. The bass in the shot at the beginning in the lounge was placed there delibrately as well.

Update

Update on schedule-

The schedule was fully kept to in all aspects as the film was complete on 1st March

Scripting

Originally we scripted a monologue for the start of our film which would be over the music in the background whilst Barry is walking home from work. However when we recorded this it was hard to balance the two together and also it took away some of the effects which the non diegetic sound gave because the audience would focus on either one and if they did not focus on the monologue it would make the whole plot of the film unexplained. We found this out from feedback from other students when we had the monologue in place.
We needed to think of a way to explain the plot whilst keeping the music in to add effect and keep the viewer gripped during an otherwise boring scene of our hero walking down the path just building tension.
We decided that we would have the monologue come up on screen as text like the titles instead of having it a spoken monologue. This would work in our advantage as it explains the plot, doesn't interfere with the non-diegetic sound and also we could use a font to our advantage. However it wasn't all good because at this point our monologue was a good paragraph at least long so we had to once again figure something out to counter this. The decision wasn't that difficult though, we had a working explanation to our plot all we had to do was shorten it into two lines. Therefore all the unneeded information needed for our opening was cut, mainly details of Barry's life, how he obtained the curse and what his life was like (e.g how he lived , who he lived with and where he worked.) This was all information we deemed we could explain later on in the film if it was made and also unnecessary for people watching it now as it is, just an opening to a film.
However the monologue was not the only thing we scripted, we also scripted the small amount of dialogue in our film despite there being only one or two lines through the opening we wanted to make sure the conversation would reveal as much as it could about the two heroes personalities. So with that in mind we deliberately have Gregg's small part say "You want a Pot Noodle, mate?" This shows two parts of his character. The fact that the first thing he does in the film involves a Pot Noodle really gets across that he is a lazy slob that doesn't really enjoy cooking for a long time and much prefers something quick that does not require much effort at all in making. It also shows that he does not regard his own health that highly and really is living it how he wants to (Accompanied with his "Official Beer Tester" shirt.) However the other part of his personality it gets out is that he addresses him as "mate" we scripted it like this deliberately to show that he is a caring person and that his friends mean a lot to him. This contrast shows that he may not look after himself with much respect but he cares for his friends a lot and this is something that would be a theme throughout our whole film. It's a shame our opening couldn't be longer because it is a very fun character to develop. However back to the real stuff, we also did this because it also shows that he may be lazy but he is generous and rates his friends highly that he still gives and sacrifices stuff for them, that he wants equally as much himself.
The final part that we scripted was eventually cut from the film very late in the editing process. Originally in our first draft and through out the planning phase we had it down that Barry would look at the TV and then look back at Gregg as his vision starts again. So when filming this was an actual part of the film so the end of our film for the majority of editing had Gregg shouting "The end is coming...." obviously the choice of words here is pretty self explanatory in that we wanted to provide one last message to the audience about what our film is about in case the message was too complicated to get across. Also we did this because we thought it would be a good way to end our opening, as the tension builds through out the whole film it comes to a dramatic climax of Barry realising what his visions are showing. It all sounds quite good there but when we got to the editing phase we grew increasingly unsatisfied with the ending and that part in particular. Originally the plan was to add some kind of sound effect to the original film soundtrack at that point however we could not find a way of doing this well and the effects were not what we were looking for. After debating wether we should record one of us saying his dialogue then use a different programme other then GarageBand or IMovie to edit it we decided that it would be better if that part of dialogue wasnt in our film as the line was fairly cliche and cheesey. To counter this then we needed to think of something else so what we did was use sound to create a better effect which then led into the ending of our film with the movie sound motif to end. The sound works well as it is quite awkward to watch as Gregg leans back speaking but the viewer cannot hear what he is saying. It also works well with the visual effect we have at that point. As the screen becomes darker and more complicated as to what is happening the sound increases before the whole screen goes black as the short sound ends.

Actors

Playing the part of Barry Crane was Jake Towey. He acted in our preliminary task and was available for use in this film so we snapped him up and got him in the Barry Crane outfit and gave him a script/went through the story board with him. Then he was ready to go. Harry and I directed him through the shooting with facial expressions and movements etc. We feel he did an excellent job and would like to thank him for his services.

Playing the part of Gregg was Luke Amps who was also in the preliminary as second character. He completely fit the bill for this part so we gave him the job. He also did an excellent job in the part he was in and very much enjoyed having chili sauce on his face.

Audience Feedback On First Draft

These are some comments from our audience after they watched the first draft of our film. They are separated into good points, and bad points which will be improved. We have tried to cover as much of a wide range of variety in audience as possible.

1.) Girl, aged 15

Initial comments:
Very good and very effective. It has a really good plot especially when he couldn’t change the channel.

Good points:
• Sounds give a really good effect
• Made me jump when someone grabs his shoulder
• The colour change to red distinguished well between reality and the vision
• It was really good where the camera spun around his head and when the coat blacked out the camera

Bad points:
• The writing was hard to read and this made it difficult to know what was happening

2.) Boy, aged 16

Good points:
• Funny when the man grabs his shoulder – but nervous laughter, giving the impression that things are only ok for now...
• The music was really good and really added to the effect

Bad points:
• The writing was hard to read

3.) Woman, aged 32

Good points:
• The music really succeeded in building suspense and tension and made my heart beat faster, making me want to know what was going to happen next
• The shadow on the wall was really effective
• The use of camera angles was brilliant

Bad points:
• The writing was difficult to read which made it difficult to understand the background

4.) Woman, aged 20

Good points:
• Thought it was really successful in creating suspense
• Got my heart beating faster
• The loud ticking of the clock set heart pace
• The music was really good and really created tension
• The colour change clearly showed the difference between vision and reality
• Made me jump
• Like how the guy seems so normal
• The images on the tv are so good

Bad points:
• The writing was a bit difficult to read

5.) Man, aged 36

Good points:
• thought it was SO good
• the music fit really well
• music built suspense successfully
• good plot
• made me want to see the rest of the film

Bad points:
• writing difficult for an old man to read (lol)
• maybe not so many camera angles when he first walks into the house?

We will analyse these comments and change what is needed... (the writing)

Update-

The writing has been changed to a clearer font

Lighting

When we are filming the outside scene, we will use no lights, just the normal sunlight. This is to create a real effect and to show that it is a wintery day, fairly dark and grey.

Inside the house we will use the living room light with the sunlight coming through the window and door. This is used because a good effect of back lighting is created by the light through the door showing the mysteriousness of Barry as he enters his vision. It also creates a yellowy/straw effect to show that he is out of the cold and into the warm, as I mentioned in another section. The technical term for this is low key lighting.

As the vision kicks in, we used an orange and red bulb together from different angles to create a fire look. We turned the living room light off and put covers over the windows as you can see in the picture. This picture is from the canted angle shot of the wall. As you can see, the chair is there to create the shadow and the vase is also there to create a wobbly effect. At this point the lights were moved up and down to create a moving shadow for a creepy feel.

Another part of lighting that is worth a mention is as Barry walks up to the tv. His body blocks the light as it is pointing towards him from the TV. This was used to create a really good effect in my opinion. As he walks towards the TV his shadow on the wall gets bigger, and as he blocks more light, the room gets darker. This is used to shot that Barry is getting deeper and deeper into the vision, and that darkness is coming over him.

All of the red lighting used is under lighting. This is because it was supposed to look like a fire, and generally, fire comes from below you, not above you. Also it is a typical type of lighting for scary scenes. It shows the characters face as shadowy and you cannot see his full facial expression.

Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdFvTBK3nOU

We have created a Youtube account and have uploaded the film on to it. This is so anyone can watch it easily and quickly rather than going through the whole blog process. It is also a way that we have put into reality something from our evaluation on institutions. Its also a good way to get audience feedback from people other than friends.

Target Audiences

The target audience for our film would be older teens and onwards. 16 years being the youngest and about 17-22 year olds being our main focus. However any age onwards is also targetted. 17-22 year olds would be our main focus because we believe it is the biggest market for movie goers aged 16 and up. Also our film's protagonist is a similar age to these people coming to see our film so therefore they can relate to the characters much easier then say someone who is 10 years older as they would not have been young in this modern day.
Also another reason we targetted people of this age is because of the time period our film is set, we wanted our film to have a realistic feel to it in a modern day so it has a modern day disaster feel to it and therefore playing on the audiences fear because it includes paranormal activity in a modern day normal world which is something everyone fears as it is not the "norm."
However we have also added things to our thriller to attract people outside our target audience such as the complex theme throughout and the puzzle solving element of our film which is also a convention of the thriller genre. By doing this we have entertained older viewers who may find working things out entertaining.
Thinking about our audience we also thought about what social class of people we would try and appeal to with our film. We both thought that films shouldnt really appeal to a specific class of people so we tried to appeal to all of them. For example the character of Fat Gregg was designed by us to appeal to people of lower class. He is an all around lazy slob who is really the unsung hero of the story with a heart of gold. He is also funny and would be an all around likeable character. To appeal to the middle classes of England and the majority of the audience we have Barry who is the main character in the film. We chose him to suffer from the visions because he is the character representing the audience , he is an ordinary person so this makes the audience relate to him because most of the viewers will themselves be ordinary people. Also this is a convention of the thriller genre because our protagonist is a quiet ordinary working man who is also tough and strong-willed. He represents the middle class because he has a decent home, a normal average white collar job and also lives his life ordinarily with a small group of friends and taking part in normal everyday activities such as shopping. To appeal to the upper class of people in the UK we tried to have a complex plot involving red herrings and confusing puzzles, this appeals to cleverer and more succesful people as they will want to solve the mystery along with our protagonist and therefore if they cannot relate to the character as he is too different to them they can atleast side with him as they want to figure out what is happening.
With our film first being released in cinemas as a 16+ certificate we have tried to reward our audiences by not only focussing on making a good, gripping, story driven film but we have also tried to make the experience worthwhile and memorable, for example using sound heavily to increase the effect of what is happening on screen at the time. The use of our digetic sounds that Barry hears whilst enduring one of his visions is an example. We focussed on having a good soundtrack almost as much as the film in some aspects , taking as much time as some elements of the film and also the same care and consideration as the editing and recording phase of our film.
After cinema release our film would go onto DVD for rental and purchase and may attract more people who did not see it in cinemas but heard of the reviews after or would attract the audience that already saw it in cinemas but wanted the DVD extras. The DVD would be made to appeal the same audience that the cinema release was for.
Our film would also be on TV most likely Sky Box Office at a late night start of 10PM plus this is because of its dark themes and also to set the mood for the film.

Organisation of Actors

Once we secured our actors, we decided that we would create a timetable at the start of each week and hand one each to the actors after sitting down and organising whether a point is suitable to film at.

For example:

Monday: Film in study- 2:00pm-3:30pm

Tuesday: -

Wednesday: Film at lunch- 1:00pm-2:00pm

Thursday: -

Friday: Film in study- 9:30am-11:00am

Some weeks could be interupted by other work and other issues, but with this we should keep to the deadline.

Costumes/Props/Make Up- Gregg

Gregg is a simple man, therefore he shall wear simple clothes.

He will wear a basic t-shirt, possibly with a humorous slogan on to portray his laid back personality. Either white or black in colour because any other would send out the wrong message to the audience. He will wear jeans, joggers or trackies, whichever seems best at the time. Most likely jeans. And simple trainers or no shoes at all. This outfit should portray him as a lazy couch potato kind of guy.

His props or prop will be a pot noodle with a fork in. This emphases his lifestyle and gives it a fairly light hearted touch to match his personality.

When Gregg is seen in Barry's vision, he shall wear some form of make up/fake blood to make him look as if he's in the end of the world. If we are stuck for face blood, we will use the chili sauce from the pot noodle. (its looks strangely like blood...)

Update-

In the end, we did use the Pot Noodle sauce, and this was how we did it: With some form of cooking utensil from Harry's cutlery drawer.

Costumes/Props- Barry Crane

Barry- This is the original drawing I did of Barry. He has short hair. (Preferably dark) He wears a white shirt and preferably a black tie because he's on his way home from work. The white shows his good will, the black shows the darkness behind his life. He wears a black coat to show the weather conditions and the time of year. Black smart trousers and shiny black shoes to show that he is a smart, well presented man who takes pride in himself.

The props that involve him are: the house key, the tv remote, a black work bag, a smart watch and a sainsbury's bag. He has a Sainsbury's bag to show that he is a normal individual, also that he goes to work and does the food shopping whilst Gregg does pretty much nothing.

All props and costumes will be kept either at Harry's or my media bag

Locations

In our preliminary film, we shot it in and around Harry's house. This worked well so we agreed to use it again. It is a very versatile place to film as it could be seen as a quiet village, or the outskirts of a town. We also have very good access as it is literally one minute away from school so we can film at lunch times and in study periods etc. His parents both work 9-5 jobs so there is no problem rearranging a few things or setting up lights and other bits. Also there would be no interruption.

We agreed in words that the film would start outside, then end inside. As we looked further into it we noted down what cars were where at what time outside his house to plan continuity and framing for shots. Our character walks down the path and into the house- it was agreed.

The character would enter through the front door for easy access to the living room. The living room was a really good place to set our film because it has lots of antique clocks which could link to our film with the whole concept of time running out.

These were the two locations we planned to use.

Others were debated, such as the alley way used in the preliminary, but the two we had chosen were the best to suit our film.

Character Proflies

Main Character/Protagonist- Barry Crane

Barry Crane is a young adult who is your average bloke/white collar worker. He lives on the outskirts of London (in one of the quieter parts because he doesn't like the noise of the traffic on the main roads) in a small house which he has only recently moved into. He works in paper manufacturing and is highly bored by his job so he often nips out during work hours to get a tuna and lettuce sandwich. He can not afford the rent for his house own, so he allows his old friend Gregg to live there. However, Barry is often short tempered with Gregg because he feels as though he has held him back for his whole life. (They met at school at the age of 8.) Lately the two have been having more and more arguments but will have to start working together as they face the end of the world. Barry has no family left. He was the youngest of two siblings, a brother and a sister. His brother perished in a plane crash at the age of 22 and his sister was murdered by a man who was never again seen on the face of the earth. His parents both owned a butchers after not keeping to the family tradition of traveling entertainers. For generations before his parents (on his mother's side) his family warred against another family of traveling entertainers. This family practiced the art of black magic and Barry's family did not approve of the torment they put humans through night after night. Barry's mother was kicked out of the family union after refusing to keep to the legacy of becoming an entertainer after meeting Barry's future father. They opened a butchers and had two children. (Barry's brother and sister.) On a dark thundery night, Barry was born upstairs at the butchers, at which point a group of the old family enemy broke into the house and performed a ritual on Barry after killing his parents. Barry was left with a tattoo on his chest saying "what you want to see isn't always what you want to see." Barry always thought this related to his parents murder, but as he grows up he starts to have visions that he doesnt understand. It is only as he gets older that he sees what is going on. (It actually turns out in the end that Barry's family was the evil family, and the so called enemy actually have given Barry the gift of visions so he can stop the end of the world.) In relation to thriller conventions, Barry, as a result of being brought up by his brother on a rough neighborhood works well in danger although a quiet sophisticated individual. A typical type of character used in such films as the James Bond collection and The Transporter (Corey Yuen 2002.)

Shots will start high angle showing his general confidence and power, but as he starts to have a vision, they will become more low angle to show that he cannot deal with his visions. This is where Gregg helps him out.

The music in the opening will be based on what I believe to be in Barry's mind at that moment in time. Getting the audience even closer to his feelings and emotions.

Barry will be played by an average, maybe slightly smaller actor. This is because we want his build and body shape to hide his inner power so it is a shock when it comes out.

Second Character- Gregg

Gregg is less important in the opening of the film, but if the film had been completed, he would be the unsung hero of the film. He was generally a slacker at school and still is. He has always been in the shadow of Barry, although they are both respectful to each other. He is allowed to live in Barry's house providing he pays his rent. There is not a lot to say on this character that is actually needed, because he is only in the opening for ten seconds or so. His role in the story is basically to help Barry through his visions, however as it goes on and on he becomes more important.

Gregg will be played by a fairly big guy, based on the fact that he is lazy.

Perhaps none of this seems needed. But, to fully write a story for even just the opening of a film, there has to be a huge story behind the characters. If you go into extreme depths i believe that you can use this to your advantage and be more creative when it comes to constructing the shots and music. It was part of our planning, so it is on here.

List of Shots- first thoughts

First draft in note form of shots that could be used:

An establishing/ master shot to set scene

Hand held low angle mid close up (used in Memento, 2000, Christopher Nolan)

A close up of feet to show some but not all of character

Mid/Long shot of character from behind walking. (however this could create the wrong effect and may not be used)

Long rotating shot from inside house on character to create a being watched feeling. could be used for tension, for when gregg is introduced to the film. so you know someone is watching but arent sure who, then someone taps the character on the shoulder, but its just his flatmate

Some form of shot filmed from on a chair, just for something different

Zooms when fear occurs

Canted angle shot of wall as darkness comes to show that all is not well

Close ups when characters' expressions are needed to be shown

Over the shoulder shot when character watches tv to show from his perspective

Shot reverse shot in dialogue with flatmate

Fade in and out at start and end.

This is open to changes, just a first thoughts list of shots that we could use.

Our Comments

A few of our comments on the film that we felt were needed

The Film

Creating The Sound Track

Creating our soundtrack took about three days work. It was both fun and challenging. Over the course of filming our film, Harry and I came up with a few ideas for the sound of the finished piece. We only vaguely thought about it as we went along, we did not go into much detail. For example, we would be filming a shot and one of us would come up with an idea and say "this would work well," or "we should do this here." We didn't make any notes as such, rather mental notes. This did help however, because once it came to uploading the footage and editing, we had a basic idea of what we wanted.

Once the final parts of the footage were uploaded and edited, I brought my synthesizer into school to do some work on the soundtrack. This is a type of keyboard that produces abnormal sounds... Perfect for our film. We agreed that there would be lots of incidental music to fit the genre. Lots of small parts to fit the character's emotions at that point. We also wanted to leave in quite alot of the sound picked up by the camera, aka diegetic sound, to add realism. However we would have to be careful that the sound picked up was not of a poor quality. This was key with the first sequence in picking up the sound of the wind/basic outside noises. Mainly we wanted the sound to be fairly surreal yet realistic as if it was in the character's own mind. I will go on to explain this later.

The first thing we added to the film was our sound motif, the tune of the film. This was something I came up with earlier on, but felt it fitted in well with the film so we decided to use it.

Next up was a haunting sound on my synthesizer. One that filled the space lightly but still gave a good mysterious, chilling effect. This was to set the tone of the film as a spine tingling thriller, and to create a cold opposite outside, to the hot red lights of inside the house. Diegetic sound at this point is his footsteps and the wind, which works really well with the synth to create a cold chilling effect. During this part, Barry looks up to the sky and hears the noise that triggers his visions. It's also done on the synth and is based on a fog horn. After 4 bars of the solo synthesizer, some strings come in that play an incidental piece that is adapted later in the opening. A flute comes in at this part giving a warm, homely effect as Barry reaches his home. However, as the door is slammed shut, so is the music. This works well, it is sort of in your face, and acts as a good barrier between the two settings.

As he gets into the house there is a deafly silence. This 10 extract was inspired by The Godfather (1972, Francis Ford Coppola.) The silence is so strong that it gets the audience to listen so hard meaning that they stop moving etc to listen harder. This technique creates lots of suspense and works well in our film. After the silence, during the rotating shot around Barry, comes a complex process. On my synthesizer is a touch pad. If you touch this pad and move your hand around it whilst playing a note, the frequency and resonance of the note is changed, creating a 'wah' effect. This part relates back to the sentence in the introduction I said I would explain. Basically, most of the music is based on what I imagine the character to be thinking/hearing in his mind. My inspiration for this idea, was the sound you (or maybe just I) get when you have a dream and you die and you (or I) get the sudden sound in your mind of sheer horror that you are dying. I wanted to recreate a similar concept with this, but slightly less extreme. I think it helps you relate to the character and get inside his mind, and get to grips with the way he is feeling.

As he sits down, it returns to a vague silence. One of the diegetic sound features the camera picked up was the sound of the big clock in the room. This provided a challenge to get each tick in time with each cut, i think it came out fairly well in the end. We put a touch of emphasis on it to give the film a bit of rhythm and to act as some form of a count down.

As Barry sits down and turns the TV on, you can hear the diegetic sound of the news. This also shows conventions of a thriller, however I won't go onto that in this section. As he watches, i use the pad on my synth again. I play a bass synth and start with low frequency getting to high frequency quickly. This is the exact same sound as I explained earlier in the dreams. It also represents the build up, and calm before a storm. The frequency builds up and then once at its peak, it cuts for a second or two. (Inspired by Lord Of The Rings, 2003, Peter Jackson.)

After this the red lights come on and with regards to the sound, there is loads going on. I think there are about 4 different synth parts at this point, all combined to show the power of the vision. During the next shot of the shadow on the wall, I went back to the incidental music from earlier, but moved it up a few octaves to create a scary feel, inspired by Drag Me To Hell (2009, Sam Raimi.) However I was not keen on this part, as I thought it rather cringy and stereotypical, but the audience feedback we received encouraged us to keep it. This overlaps all four synths (which were turned down slightly for clarity.)

The next shot is introduced with a bell ringing twice. This bell indicates the start of the vision, but was not powerful enough just as a normal bell. So to counter this, I added distortion and amp simulation to the bell. This gave it a really powerful timbre which worked extremely well as it is so sudden.

After this comes the sound of the end of the world. This is what we had envisioned it to sound like. And it came out really well. Over the top of this is also the same foghorn effect to show that the sound is linked to the visions. As he walks up to the TV the same confusing synth comes in to show is feelings and that he is in some form of a trance.

The original slap on the shoulder was taken out of the film due to the light switch being heard. We rerecorded it and put it in place, but it turned out to sound like a light switch anyway, but there you go.

The first and only piece of dialogue in the film was fully picked up by the camera. We just had to turn it up full blast to make it coherent. As Barry turns to the TV, he can hear it, therefore its diegetic, then one of my favourite parts of sound is the screaming noise as the peephole effect is used. This is used to show power of the vision and also to make the audience jump when they think all the trouble is over. As he turns back to Gregg, another synth is used to create a creepy noise and feeling, as if to say... "What the?"

Finally, the original sound motif is used on the last title. It is adapted by putting in a few strings and creating a more grand, vast feel, as the end of the world is quite a vast deal.

(All sounds were made using my synthesizer on GarageBand, and some, from straight through the camera.)

I used a synthesizer to give it a modern, futuristic feel and strings to give it a grand more meaningful feel. I think this combination works well with the genre of 'Visionary' because it is a timeless film. It could be remade into a medieval film, but could also be remade into a film set in the year 3000, so it gives it that anonymous feel.

I could not be more pleased with the way the soundtrack came out and could well look into it as a career.