Blog Update - Remaining Tasks At the time of posting, I have four remaining tasks left to complete for my 'Research and Planning' section. I am confident that I will complete these tasks before my deadline this approaching Sunday, meaning my blog will hopefully reflect my time management skills. Below is the list of my remaining tasks, presented in the order I will likely complete them in.
Analyse my Questionnaire data
Final Location and Shot plans
Conduct Secondary Research
Final Storyboard (This may not be necessary as Csenge and I have not deviated from our original plan)
If I have enough time, I may also include another research post detailing how I will set up each camera shot within the opening sequence. This would obviously increase my post count, however it is not vital as, if necessary, I could include this post in my 'Construction' section.
When discussing the details of our opening sequence of 'KIN' with our peers, teachers and parents, we began to notice several similarities between our film and Kingsman: The Secret Service. Whilst our film is not an exact mirror of 'Kingsman', it still shares characteristics which Csenge and I thought would be interesting to discuss and analyse. Below is the Wikipedia description of the film:
"Kingsman: The Secret Service is a spy action-comedy film directed by Matthew Vaughn, and based on the comic book The Secret Service, created by Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar. The screenplay was written by Vaughn and Jane Goldman. It follows the recruitment and training of a potential secret agent, Gary "Eggsy" Unwin (Taron Egerton), into a secret spy organisation. Eggsy joins a mission to tackle a global threat from Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), a wealthy megalomaniac. The film also stars Colin Firth, Mark Strong, and Michael Caine." The outstanding similarity between our film KIN and Kingsman is the (lack of) relationship the protagonist, in this case 'Eggsy', has with their father. The idea of emotional distance was discussed between me and Csenge very early in the planning stage of our final task, as we felt it could be used to create an interesting dynamic between our characters, as well as the plot itself. This is reflected in Kingsman, as the death of Eggsy's father is ultimately what triggers the events of the film, and also helps to create immediate relationships with the film's supporting characters. This is a dynamic our film will hopefully replicate, as we feel it will engage the viewer, as it will discuss issues they can likely internalise and identify with. Below are the financial statistics of the film, including it's estimated budget, gross and opening weekend performance.
*As of Rotten Tomatoes This is the opening sequence of 'Kingsman The Secret Service', as well as some positive comments featured in the comments section of the video.
"I heard that song and knew this movie was going be good"
"No movie has ever put to rest any and all doubts I had about watching the movie so quickly."
"The opening with the music and cool vibe is fantastic. But it would have been better suited to launch into an action scene or something because the way it cuts the music and straight to a talking scene means it loses a lot of its promise."
Critics:
Chris Sawin rates the film five stars and says that it's "Obscenely and brutally shaken, not stirred". (A reference to the Bond movies' famous line "shaken not stirred" whenever he is offered a cocktail). He describes loosely what the film is about and goes onto speaking about Richmond Valentine who is repulsed by violence, but ironically condones violence among people. He also compares the film to Kick-Ass. He claims that the "plethora of vulgarity and raunchy humour" makes the film not only humorous but also human and relatable.
Conventions: These are some thriller conventions exhibited in Kingsman, some of which may also be present in our opening sequence for KIN.
'Protagonist'/'Antagonist' divide
Three spies have to save the world from utter domination while Valentine and his sidekick, Gazelle, plan on creating a 'new world', selecting a few people to be part of this special 'elite' group while the rest of the world is taken over by anger enhancing chips in the form of phone sim cards.
Special effects
There are a lot of scenes of violence including blood spill and very serious injuries.
Special effects would also be needed to make much of the 'high-tech' spy gear look realistic.
'Damsel in distress'/ love interest
A princess is locked away while the villains attempt to complete their plan. Later she becomes a temporary love interest, much like the Bond films.
Chase scene
The protagonist runs away from the bullies and performs interesting stunts.
The 'good guys' always win concept
Although towards the middle of the film, agent Harry Hart dies, his death is avenged by agent Eggsy.
Use of weapons
The agents receive many tools and weapons for self-defence e.g. guns, knives, tasers, some of them disguised as harmless objects such as pens.
Ticking clock scenario
It is only a matter of time before people are taken over completely by violence and resort to killing each other, while a system countdown is performed.
Here is some data I gathered from http://thevore.com/top-movies/thriller-movies/which shows the vast increase in thriller films released in 2016 compared to prior years. This as a whole could suggest an increase in popularity for the thriller genre, meaning our film KIN would likely be able to gain a large audience if we were to release it as a feature length production. The table below lists some of the best performing thrillers of this decade, as well as their estimated budgets. Noticeably, some of the films featured on this list also appeared on our 'Audience Research Questionnaire'. Thrillers such as 'Gone Girl' and 'Skyfall' were mentioned by some of our respondents, who each gave each films positive and praising reviews. This will be useful as it will allow Csenge and I to adapt our feature to reflect some of these thrillers, similar to how we have (subconsciously) done with Kingsman The Secret Service. List of highest grossing of the decade & their budgets
Analysing Our Response Data After conducting our questionnaire, I am now able to analyse my responses, allowing me to evaluate what my interviewees have stated. Our questionnaire was designed to include both quantitative and qualitative date, meaning our results are representative of our audience. Csenge created the survey using Google Forms, as it kept the responses ambiguous, meaning people were not biased in their responses. Below are the results (At time of posting, 28 people have responded).
The data shows that most of our interviewees were female, representing 53.6% of the total amount interviewed. Whilst this will not have a direct impact on our film, it informs me and Csenge that we could likely be appealing to a more female audience.
This data shows us that the majority of our audience are aged between 12 and 18, whilst a large proportion are older than 19. This informs me that most of our audience are in the teenage age group. This will allow Csenge and I to aim our narrative towards this response, however I do not believe it will require huge amounts of change.
This data shows me that a large proportion of our audience, 57.1%, do not watch thrillers, suggesting they have no interest in the genre. Csenge and I will attempt to make our narrative as engaging as possible, meaning any audience member can enjoy it, no matter their fondness of the genre.
This data shows me that most of our interviewees have recently viewed a thriller film. The various thrillers listed here will be useful as it shows the types of thriller our audience enjoy or regularly watch, in terms of sub-genre and themes.
The responses to this question show me that most of the audience who view thrillers, widely regarded their last thriller in a positive manner. Whilst this does not directly affect my opening sequence, it shows Csenge and I that the films the audience recently viewed were met with positive feedback, allowing us to identify what the audience prefers in a thriller.
This continues into the next question, as many people have previously enjoyed many thrillers in the past. Some of the films listed were directed by Alfred Hitchcock, one of the best-known thriller filmmakers of the twentieth century. This will be useful for us, as it will allow us to draw inspiration from his films, meaning our sequence may become more intriguing to the audience.
These responses show me that the audience believes that ambiguity and crime are the most important aspects in a thriller film. This suits Csenge and I as our plot heavily revolves around these themes. This data shows me that the 'thriller-horror' hybrid is the most preferred by audiences. This will not have a large influence over our film, as one of our biggest concerns was to ensure our film did not resemble a horror. This means that I will not be changing our plot to meet this feedback, as our film could no longer meet the brief.
This feedback shows me that none of our audience feel that comedy in thrillers is completely out of place. This is good as one scenerevolves around a more comedic tone. This thereby shows me that implementing comedy into our thriller would not be met with immediate negative response.
The qualitative feedback from this question allows Csenge and I to assume that the majority of our potential audience would enjoy viewing the film, meaning our opening sequence will hopefully be met with positive reviews after completion.
The pie chart seen on the left shows the results Csenge and I gathered regarding where we should set our opening sequence. As you can see, 50% of our interviewees stated they would prefer for the sequence to take place in an 'abandoned' area. This suits us as we had already envisioned the sequence to take place in this sort of environment, which is now improved by the fact that our audience would also prefer to see this environment.
The responses to this question show me that 56.7% of our potential audience would prefer the film to feature 'low-key' lighting, most likely as they feel this will add mystery and authenticity to the sequence. However, given that our previous question told us that the majority of our audience would prefer to have the sequence set in an abandoned area, we would need to carefully plan how we would combine the two requests. This would likely involve filming early in the morning, as the sun will not be as visible on camera, or adjusting the lighting of our footage in post production. Here, the feedback tells me that if our film were to take place during rain, it would likely become more engaging for the majority of our audience. Whilst this may be hard to schedule, in terms of weather forecasting and film scheduling, it would serve to create a greater sense of mystery within the sequence, further establishing the piece as a thriller. The responses to this question were very pleasing to us as me and Csenge had planned to depict our protagonist as more of an Anti-Hero, rather than a straightforward hero, as we felt this would make the character more interesting, allowing us to pursue less conventional motives and story lines.
This statistic is also pleasing as Csenge and I had already planned on having our protagonist dressed differently from our antagonists, as we felt this would make the differences between the characters visibly noticeable, rather than just in expression and dialogue.
40% of our interviewees stated they would prefer to have the son dressed in a smart-casual costume. From the start of planning, me and Csenge had planned on the protagonist, 'The Son', wearing a mixture of smart and casual clothing, as we felt this would reflect the character's innocence while still demonstrating his eagerness to join the mob.
Csenge and I had planned to keep the father's face and identity hidden for the opening sequence. Therefore, we are pleased with this result, as it will allow us to keep the father ambiguous within the opening sequence. By observing the pie chart, it is clear that the majority of our potential audience would enjoy or at least not dislike the idea of narration within our sequence. This is a positive outcome, as we have planned to include an element of narration within the scene. This outcome contradicts mine and Csenge's original plans to only use ambient sound and dialogue within the sequence. Whilst we will now have to source some copyright free music, I hope it will serve to make the opening more attractive to our audience.
On this question, the takers of the questionnaire were able to express their thought on the idea of dialogue within the sequence. Other than the 'Continuous' and 'I don't mind' options, the majority of our feedback showed us that our audience desired little to no dialogue at all within the opening sequence.
The feedback from this question tells us that most of our audience would prefer our titles to appear white on top of a black background. However, a considerable amount would prefer the titles to appear on screen, appearing in conjunction with events and movement. Therefore, we may consider using both of these preferences, as using them may help to make the titles themselves more engaging.
This question allowed Csenge and I to observe that 61.3% of our audience would prefer our titles to be written in a 'Sans-serif' style. Given that we had already planned to do so, this served as reassurance as it showed us we already had a basic understanding of what our audience would prefer. This question was equally important as, similarly to the previous question, it allowed us to gain an insight into the audience's preferences over the display and style of our titles. Most of our audience stated that they would prefer the titles to be located in the middle of the screen, a form of positioning Csenge and I would carefully need to plan in order to ensure the titles do not become distracting of the main events shown on screen.
The data gathered from this response shows us that making our titles appear towards the start of the film would be more engaging for a large proportion of our audience. However, given the estimated length of our sequence, placing all of our titles at the start of the film could immediately discourage a viewer from watching the rest of the film. Therefore, I think Csenge and I may actually not adapt to this response, as we feel it will be more beneficial to stick to our own plans in the long term.
The results from this question show us that the titles 'Kin' and 'Like Father Like Son' are the most popular amongst the takers of our questionnaire. Whilst it is 3.5% less popular than the latter, I think we will likely name our film Kin, as we feel this best suits the style we hope our film will feature. As well as this, from a production point of view, naming our film KIN would be much easier to implement on our editing software, meaning we could use the saved time for other areas such as cutting and trimming.
Remaining Research and Planning Tasks At the time of posting, I have exactly eight tasks left to complete before my deadline on the 27th of November. I am hoping that I will complete at least two of these tasks tomorrow, another two or three on Friday and possibly my final task on Saturday. Below is the list of tasks I have yet to complete, presented in the order I will complete them in.
Prop Planning
Actors
Filming Schedule
Finalised Storyboard
Finalised locations and shot plans
Secondary Thriller Research
Analyse my response data
*I am leaving my data analysis until last as I will aim to gather as many responses as possible before discussing what the audience has told me.
Analysis of Another Student's Thriller Blog For this analysis I will be evaluating the blof of former student Isobell Humphriss, as I previously analysed her final thriller, 'Unorthodox'. Persoanlly, I believe that the blog is a prime example of what I think my blog should eventually resemble.
Here, similar to the other blog I analysed, the student has culminated their posts with corresponding labels. This makes each section, and individual post easier to find for the reader. This is something I have already begun when publishing my posts, as it allows me and any readers to easily access my blog.
Personally, I like the aesthetic of the blog, as it reflects the media subject as a whole, and does not become distracting for the reader. Now that I have been given admin rights, I have adopted a similar layout for my blog, making it visually appealing whilst not compromising its readability.
In some sections of the blog, the student has presented posts in alternate mediums, giving each post a sense of idividuality, in turn providing engagement for the reader. This is an attribute which I have included in my own blog, such as in my analysis of Watchmen and my youtube analysis of Se7en.
However, personally I would take more care of the formatting of such external documents, ensuring they do not clash with the order of the surrounding blog.
The student has also given frequent screenshots and pictures of the events discussed in their post. This is helpful to the reader, as it allows them to easily identify with what the student is portraying. The screenshots, such as shown to the left, also show the continual progress of a student's project, making changes to the film noticeable to the reader.
Title Questionnaire As well as my thriller questionnaire, I have also created a survey regarding the titles of our film. The survey asks questions regarding the overall presentation of the titles, as well as what the film should be called. Csenge and I will attempt to collect roughly 10 responses each, resulting in 20 responses in total.
It is difficult to gain a representative sample when conducting a
questionnaire; if we had a budget we could conduct a questionnaire on a
much wider scale which would give a much more representative result.
However, in an attempt to gain as wide a sample as possible, Csenge and I posted our questionnaire to many people in our email address
books, and ensured we asked members of our family, as well as the
standard method of asking students around college.
Thriller Research Questionnaire Below is the questionnaire that Csenge and I will be collecting responses from for our thriller opening sequence. After collecting the data we will be able to change our thriller to suit the audience's preferences, making the opening sequence more enjoyable for our audience. (Credit to Csenge for creating the questionnaire)
Analysis of Another Student's Thriller Project This project is titled 'Unorthodox' and was uploaded by Isobel Humphriss on the 21st of January 2016. In my opnion, I think that the film is a perfect example of what my thriller would ideally resemble. I am informed that the film was awarded an A grade which I believe was well-deserved due to the consistent high quality of the film. I will likely use this film as inspiration for my own thriller, allowing me to observe what attributes my thriller would need to feature in order to be awarded a high grade.
Here the students behind the film have decided to produce their own title card for their own fictional production company. Similar to the previous project I analysed, this also inspires me to create a similar sequence as it makes the film immediately genuine, allowing it to resemble a real thriller.
The setting of the thriller, a suburban household has been used to great effectin the film. Due to the small time and financial allowance of the thriller, the students involved in the film have cleverly worked the ordinary, at first uninteresting location into the film's narritive. This therefore reduces any confusion that the audience may gain while watching the film, as the setting corresponds with the tone and plot of the plot. This is an idea which I would very much like to include into my own thriller, as it gives explanation for any factors the audience may not understand.
The black and white filter used for the thriller has been used to make the film instantly engaging for the viewer, as few modern films adopt this filter.
The close-up used in this scene has been deliberately used to give a sense of unease and discomfort for the viewer. The audience feels almost too close to the mysterious character, making the viewer uncomfortable while still making the film engaging.
The smart costume of the main character at first gives no negative connotations to the viewer. However, as the film progresses the costume plays an increasingly important role in the depiction of the character. For example, as the audience notices the orderly, sterile nature of the character's home, the simple costume begins to reflect the character's over-controlled persona. This is an attribute that I would hopefully adopt into my own thriller as it provides instant intrigue for the audience, simply through consdering how each character should be dressed.
The straight, unchanging size of each
picture
suggests the character may posses some form of OCD
Methods of Research Below is a table detailing the various methods of research that me and Csenge could conduct in order to develop an understanding of our audience's preferences for our opening sequence. Credit to Csenge for the original information.
Analysis of Another Student's Thriller Blog For this blog analysis I will be evaluating the blog of William Dinsdale, the same student who produced the opening sequence which I previously analysed. I believe that the blog is not a perfect example of a blog due to it's minimal use of formatting and occasional poor explanation and word choice.
Here the student has collected his posts which revolve around his final task. The labelling of each post makes the blog easy to navigate for the viewer, something which I have already begun to include in my own blog.
Personally, I do not like the colour scheme of the blog, as I believe it is disorientating and distracting for the viewer. This is something I would try to avoid in my own blog, as I would try to make the blog as clear and understandable as possible.
The student has rarely used any additional formats or mediums to present their posts, meaning the blog lacks variety in its presentation. This is an issue which I would clearly like to avoid, as from my own knowledge I know that students are rewarded additional marks for showing variety in their posts.
Here the student has attempted to show his audience questionnaire to the viewer. The poor formatting of the post makes the post appear incomplete to the viewer, suggesting that more information should be present.
Research and Planning - Final Tasks At the time of posting, I have roughly fifteen tasks left to complete. Whilst this number may seem high, I am not overly concerned as I realise that many of these tasks will become near completed once I gain my finalised questionnaire data.
Below is the complete list of tasks that I must complete before 6pm on Sunday the 27th of November:
Research:
One more analysis of another student's blog
One more analysis of another student's final project
Finalised Questionnaire with approximatley 10-20 interviewees
