Final Export Of Film

Final film poster

Radio Trailer

This is our exported radio trailer for our film, "Gr££d."

Evaluation Question 4- Maddison Brown

Evaluation Question 3- Maddison Brown

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=7E3F6B5DF9D1224F%21715

Evaluation Question 2- Maddison Brown

http://prezi.com/wyyfqd09dtcd/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Evaluation Question 1- Maddison Brown

Our film displays continuity through match on action; shot reverse shot; and 180-degree rule. The editing of the shot reverse shot is used in conversations. The edit is shown through Maddy and Destiny’s conversation and Destiny and the Loan sharks conversation. We used sound bridges to trick the audience to smooth out the cuts between shots. This makes the conversation flow more and appear more realistic. (show an edit photo of sound bridge and shot –r-shot). The match on action is used in the same way. We used a sound bridge over the office opening by using the knocking sound and the Loan Shark speech to make it seem like an ordinary office. (show an edit of sound bridge over match on action). We also applied the 180-degree rule to all conversations. These traditionally happen in all films to show continuity. 

Photo from Usual Suspects

Photo from GR££D

The film does have a montage with quick editing and music that beats to the cuts. This is good because it makes the film more energetic and breaks the middle of film up. This also breaks continuity as there is no continuous shots. Also with the use of mise en scene we also kept continuity to make the film realistic and believable to the audience. This was specially done through costume and make up; props; scenery. One problem we did have occurred when editing to film is that the shots from the park scene have different lighting as they were filmed on different days. To overcome this error we filtered the film with colour correction to darken the shots of Destiny to match Maddy’s shots. We also had problems with the continuity on the Loan Shark scene where the Loan Shark gets Destiny to sign the contract we used two different sheets of paper so we had to wire frame the mid shot to crop out the sheet of paper.  The advantage we had when filming was when the park scene was out of focus on Maddy we only had to re-film Maddy’s part, this is good because Destiny’s hair changed colour so it would have made it hard to connect her with the same character in other scenes. Another advantage we had was planning beforehand; we used production day packs to keep a track of clothing; props; scenery; shot listing and scripts. This helped us keep our continuity consistent.

The film reflects a few conventions of psychological thrillers. One of these is using a male to play the villain or false hero. This convention is shown in Angel Heart, The Box and Cape Fear. The use of the male lead of a villain creates a more dominant and powerful character. This is a natural stereotype from audiences. In other genres this is also a convention such as horror where you have Freddie; Jason; Jigsaw; Scream. They are all following a male stereotype. It is not very often in psychological thrillers a woman is the villain. One film that has challenged this stereotype is Fatal Attraction however a male lead that does wrong is still involved.

 We used a male Loan Shark to hopefully follow the success of the stereotype of haunting; powerful; dominant. This helped create the innocence and scared personality of Destiny as she is bounded to this contract to kill herself. This creates more tension and excitement for the audience. If the Loan Shark was a girl I don’t think it would have had the same effect as lead villain females are normally jealous, wanting beauty, controlling. These conventions do not suit or storyline as the Loan shark is not envious of Destiny.

Photo from Fatal Attraction showing gender stereotypes

Another convention in thriller film is the use of dark or twisted music. However, in our film we used rap/gangster music for the montage. We used this because we wanted to break up the film and create energy to the audience as the first part of the film is a slow pace and long beginning.

One of the conventions we used from other films is the use of suspense. When Destiny gets told she needs to kill someone there is a build up of suspense of who she has to kill. This is then built upon the climax at the end when Destiny gets the letter. This use of suspense is used in films such as The Amazing Spiderman when Peter uses his webs to catch the Doctor but he is waiting ages then a web moves. It is also used in Cape Fear when the husband is in his house and he is waiting for Max to attack.

Photo from Amazing Spiderman 

Photo from Cape Fear

In  our film we follow the drama convention of using no or little fantasy and keeping the storyline realistic by using money worries and loan companies to suggest realism. We also use the factor of job loss to show the modern style of the film. in summary, our film does include many conventions included in the genre of a drama such as realistic characters and storyline. Our characters are dramatic and show emotions like in dramas. However, some aspects of the film challenge traditional conventions, which could be because we wanted our film to stand out to break convention. 

In previous questions I have displayed some of Richard Dyer’s theory. This theory relates to why we watch films. The sections of this theory are:

• Energy
• Abundance
• Intensity
• Transparency
• Community

Our film supports this theory because our film shows energy with the break of continuity and music in the middle of the film. This shows that the audience want to watch this film because they feel they need to be energised and motivated. Our film does not do this is a common way, normally films use action, fight scenes and fast pace cutting. We used fast pace editing and cutting to speed up the film and grab the audiences’ attention.

Our film again supports this theory because of abundance. In our film Destiny comes enriched with money. When she has this money she spends it on a car; house; paying Maddy back and getting her life back. However, since Destiny is full of greed she uses the money on materialistic objects and nothing for her own real benefit. This utopia to the audience makes them feel in a world of fantasy of what they would do with £2 million. This is parallel to when someone wonders what they would do if they won the lottery. This shows the audience become captured in a dream land. The montage also happens in Rocky films and creates energy to the audience. 

Photo from Rocky Montage showing energy

 Gr££d shows intensity when Destiny opens the letter and when she makes the choice of killing someone. These parts of the film are intense because they create suspense for the audience. This is done through the letter as it is a mysterious letter. We used close up shots to show Destiny’s confusion when she first sees the letter and we used slow acting to display Destiny’s emotion. When she opens the letter the audience see who she has to kill. However there is no name just a photo. To display Destiny’s emotion we used a key frame to zoom is on her face and a freeze frame. The freeze frame also shows a mug shot still photo with the look of emptiness and sadness. This happens in the box when they are faced with the box and we can the actors emotion. 

Photo from The Box showing emotion and intensity 

The film shows transparency as Destiny isn’t hiding anything she isn’t hiding that she has no money or that she does have money. Maddy is transparent because she shows an honest and confronting personality to the audience. However, the Loan Shark does challenge this as he does say that Destiny has to kill someone he keeps the secret of who that person is.

Photo from The Box showing transparency 

The film displays community as Maddy and Destiny are good friends and Maddy helps her out. However, we also see Destiny is alone a lot, she seems to have no family, no job and no other communication through social networking as she can’t afford internet. This shows the audience the Destiny needs sympathy that she is so alone and her only way out is through a Loan Shark. This is also shown in Gangster Squad when John needs to get a squad together and gets one of his friends to help him, Jerry. Jerry then falls for Grace who then asks Jack for a favour as a friend to hide Grace from Mickey. 

 photo of Jerry and Grace displaying community by becoming acquaint.

 Mickey and Grace displaying affect which shows a different type of social community

Photo of the gangster squad showing community in their friendship. 

c) Are there any elements of deliberate pastiche or parody, where you ‘play’ with the genre’s codes and history? Are there any intertextual moments where you hint at a reference to another film?

In our film we have used ideas from Angel Heart to help us set the scene and film it effectively. We used this scene because the shots are not complex and the scene in Angel Heart is similar to what we wanted to achieve. In the short film Room 8 that I researched we wanted to use similar camera shots to when Destiny first meets the Loan Shark. Another part of the film was the montage. For this part we looked at Teen wolf, Rocky, Scarface and Dirty Dancing we used all these different genres of films because we wanted to see how they used the music in collaboration to the cuts.  

To find research for our film we looked at Angel Heart and The Box. These films follow the theme of selling yourself or making a life changing decision.  From these films we used: the plot twist of agreeing to a sin and getting revenge. These films have also impact some short films we used to base our film around. One of these short films is Room 8, a film about a man who is imprisoned with an inmate who has an “escape plan” however this is a trick for people who are not paying for their sins. From this this film we used the same setting and shot frame of when the Loan Shark is introduced. (Show images). Another film we looked at was Black Button, this film follows a man trying to make the decision of killing someone and having a lot of money to walking away to freedom and heaven, after he chooses the money he is sent to hell for greed. From this film we used the conversation and characteristic of the judge in our Loan Shark. This type of conversation was also in Angel Heart when Louis cypher is speaking to Jonny Favourite in the church. (Show image). From these films we also looked at their film posters. The convention of The Box and Angel Heart show there is 2 or 3 main characters focus on; a mass use of black; simplistic features; mysterious tone. These poster helped us aim our film at a similar audience. 



Radio Trailer Script

This script helped plan out our radio trailer. We followed it step my step when recording the voiceover on the zoom recorder which helped save time. We used this script to help us edit our trailer together also, as it suggests where music needs to be placed and when certain bits of the voice over fit best.

Link to our online questionnaire about final film

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1OwMpJCNhW356VgWEebGwDVwE4WgSd39KFHGNrs97wk4/viewform

rough draft film poster

For my film poster I wanted to use the idea that money can create two types of people. Money has become something that can make or break a person. This is one of the meanings behind the film title "Greed". This is because Destiny becomes greedy with her money and becomes obsessed with material objects. I used the colour red on Destiny's photo as she is in danger and I used the colour blue on the Loan Shark because he is a cold person. I blurred the photos to give an affect of mystery to the audience but then I faded the edges to focus on the main images. I also wanted to make the title stand out.
The images have tag lines of critics reviews. This is important because it markets the film to the audience. This creates a buzz and word of mouth for the film. If the tag lines are effective then the audience will believe this is a great film.
The film has a specific tagline. This was the most difficult part because the film has so many aspects. The tag line "Money creates two types of people" creates a sense of mystery to the audience and can be an ambiguous meaning. I used a different font to the main title because I wanted it to stand out.
The title is set on an off white background. This is so it stands out more the audience and creates a contrast with any white lettering. I used the graffiti style font because it gives the impression of a bad and crime theme to the film. Also it is all uneven and unbalanced which creates the type of life Destiny leads.

Narrative theory

 Bordwell and Thomposn

This theory of narrative relates to the relationship of plot and story. Our film “Greed” relates to this because as our film develops the events do, and they are fully explained to the audience. However, this is indirectly done. This is because the audience don’t know that Destiny has to kill herself. Has the film is set in the present this also relates to the theory. The events are all follow on from each other telling a simple narrative.

Vladimir Propp: Spheres of action

This theory relates to the 31 function in each storyline and fairy tales. This shows there is common structure throughout the storyline. The theory believed that there are common characters: the doner, the helper, princes, father, false hero, villain, and dispatcher. These link to:

False hero- this is the Loan Shark, he “saves” Destiny and tries to save her from not having any money. However, this links to the twist that he uses her greed as a price of debt. This is commonly used in a lot of films especially fairy tales such as Tangled: where the princess’s mother acts like she is trying to stop her from getting hurt but she is actually using her to keep herself young. This is also common in Frozen where Prince Hanns acts like he loves Anna and he wants to save her but he just wants to take the throne. The false hero is using vulnerability to get something they want.

The Helper- This is Maddy as a friend she lends Destiny money and a home. This shows the generic feature of many fairy tales such as the fairy God mother from Cinderella as she makes it possible for the Princess to meet the Prince. This shows our film relates to this theory from the general conventions of past films.

The villain- The loan shark again as he plays the false hero he uses Destiny’s desperation to his own gain. The convention of this is that villains often use someone’s desperation for their own good. Another example of this is from the fairy tale Little Mermaid as the princess is used for her desperation of love to the villain’s advantage.

The father- As destiny needs money and the film is fixed on this idea of materialism and greed.

This theory is used by a lot of films because the character always follows an often role and convention. This is because it is convenient to the audience and makes the film follow either a simple or complex plot. This shows there is ways to easily build layers of storyline to make the plot as complex as the production team want. But then the film can be easily cut down into small and solid blocks of theory of narrative.

Syd Fields: Three act plot structure

This theory relates to the idea that all films split into three sections. For example act one is used to make the audience build an understanding of the film. In our film at the start we see Destiny losing her job and house and struggling to pay her friends back. In the middle of the film is normally the bulk, this relates to ours as it shows Destiny going to the Loan Shark and spending the money. The final section of the film is the end, in our film Destiny opens the letter. Most films follow  this dissect of three sections. However, some films that leave an open narrative ending such as Stay or films that have a following sequel such as Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Claud Levi- Binary Oppositions

This theory suggests that in most narritives, there are opposite character. This can be: heor and villain; good and bad; happy and sad; rich and poor. Even though in our film Destiny is poor and Maddy is well-off there is no real explanation of this. Also the Loan Shark and Destiny come to an equal agreement where they are doing something in exchange for each other so this does not make them too fair opposites.

Draft Film 2

 

After looking at our film again, we decided to edit another draft film making it easier to follow and a better outline to follow when editing our final edit. This edit is much better and doesn't have as many simple mistakes such as the music, sound and image not matching up. We have also added more effects to the ending and montage, which speeds the ending up and makes it more exciting to watch.

Draft Film

After editing this film roughly, we have realised there are a few mistakes throughout the 5 minute film. Some of the music doesn't match up to the context such as when Destiny is walking through the reception when going to the office to meet the Loan Shark. Furthermore, when converting the film the ending footage of Destiny reading the letter has been cut or disconnected from the sound. All these problems need resolving when fully editing the film. These mistakes could be avoided by watching the film through over and over, making sure all aspects are perfect (Music, sound etc.)

Some of the match on actions are out of sync and  need realigning throughout the film. To make sure none of these mistakes go unnoticed, we are going to swap who edits the rest of the film so we constantly have fresh eyes looking at our work. 

Filming Evaluation

During our filming we split it into days of filming:

Day 1- Loan shark scene. This day went very well however, we decided to change the Loan Shark, the scenery and we also violated the 180 degree rule the first time.

Day 2- Park Scene. The first park scene went badly. We didn't have many close ups or use the 180 degree rule again.

Day 3- we did the car scene and bedroom scene. This was good practise because we didn't know how to really do the montage scene.

Day 4- Park scene again. However, due to losing some footage we re-filmed again.

Day 5- We re did the loan shark scene with a different actor and in an office environment. This was a lot better and the editing is going really well

Day 6- we re filmed the bedroom scene and the montage. This went very well the second time around. We have some good shots of the car.

Day 7- We re filmed the park scene for the final time.

Photo Storyboard

Photo storyboard

Scene 1: Maddy and Destiny running through the park side by side, talking to each other. 

Long shot

Scene 2: Maddy asks Destiny if she wants to sit down for a minute. Destiny then tells Maddy that she is not going to be able to pay her the money back.

Shot reverse shot - Over the shoulder - Medium shot

Scene 3: Maddy tells Destiny about the Loan Shark advert and that she is welcome to stay at her house as she is going away for the week.

Shot reverse shot - Over the shoulder - Medium shot

Scene 4: Destiny and Maddy run away after agreeing that Destiny should stay at her house.

Long shot

Within Montage: Destiny stops Maddy and tells her that she has the money to pay her back.

Medium shot of them both

This shot may follow on from when Destiny gives Maddy her money back as this would  show her facial expressions

Medium close up

Loan shark Scene: Maddy knocks on the Loan Sharks door, he tells her to come in and she walks in

Medium shot

The Loan Shark turns his chair to look at her

Medium Shot

The Loan Shark tells her to sign the form and Maddy bends over and signs in. (Followed by a close up of the form)

Medium close up followed by a close up

Destiny and the Loan Shark have a conversation about the loan

Shot reverse shot - Medium 

Destiny rushes out of the room 

Medium shot