Research and planning process

Observations/Analysis:

• The opening of the film includes multiple moving images of soldiers and tanks during World War II 
• There are a total of 27 titles/credits throughout the film opening, which shows the director, producers, designers and main actors etc.
• The visuals are all short clips to create the tone of the film and to show the genre
• The audio line plays sombre music to show the dark and sad genre, and therefore reflects the visuals
• The credits are presented in a bold white to contrast the red background in order to stand out

The research and panning processes required us to gather as much information on how thriller openings are created and what they consist of. We used art of the title to explore the ways in which thriller openings begin and this specific example of a blog post shows how 'Fury' begins. These Art of the title posts gave us a great introduction of what is required in the opening to a good thriller film. 

What is a thriller film?A thriller film is a genre that revolves around anticipation and suspense. The aim for thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats. The protagonist in these films is set against a problem – an escape, a mission, or a mystery.Conventions for a thriller film

• Suspense

• Plot twists

• Action

• Low Key Lighting

• Quick Cuts

• Shadows

• Suspense building music

• Changes in shot angles

• Internal human sound effects like breathing or heartbeat sounds

• Dark colour scheme

• Dark twisted Antagonists

We also researched into the plot lines of thrillers, new and old, for example Psycho (1960) and The Girl on the Train. These are successful thriller films and were therefore effective in educating us on what a good thriller will consist of, and they would give us vital inspiration into what conventions are required, such as; suspense, mystery and to leave the audience in questioning. 

Box Office

Budget: $19,000,000 

Gross: $130,727,000
On the basis of these figures, we can understand that Thrillers are very successful films receiving high grossing and making the project financially beneficial. Due to this, we can confidently progress in planning a thriller with successful inspirations such as The Silence of the Lambs. The age rating for this film is 18 which which informs us that adults are the focus for thriller films. From this we can base our project around the fact that adults and older teens will be our target audience. 

Researching into the box office stats proved to us what a successful thriller required and showed us what we should base our thriller opening around; an opening with a daunting and suspense filled story line.    

We used surveys in our planning and research process as it would specifically tell us what type of people (age range, gender etc.) liked thrillers and the sub-genres that they enjoyed, this would steer us in a direction of an effective and anticipated style of thriller. 

To begin brainstorming our own ideas for a thriller opening we produced podcasts to discuss and present our ideas, each member of the group created a podcast so that we had a range of ideas and having these enabled us to collaborate ideas and explore into deciding on the best idea of a thriller to begin the stages of production. 

A2 Track/Video Ideas

Jamie Ennis is a music producer/DJ from Dublin., and he falls into the house music genre. Having researched the Dance genre, which is similar to the house genre, I understand the conventions of the type of music video which would suit the song. A house party setting is the perfect location for a house song, it is easy access for our low budget project. A neon/fluorescent theme in a dark house would create the perfect atmosphere for a house music video. 

Creativity

Conventions from real media texts

Genre in Music

Genre in Music Videos

Rock - These music videos usually include a whole band, typically a minimum of 3-4. In terms of costume, dark/black clothing in very common. Tattoos and piercings are a key element of the rock theme. The music videos will use low key lighting to create a dark atmosphere however high key lighting can be used as a spotlight on the lead singer. 

Dance - Dance music videos will consist of fast cuts which stay in tie with the bet of the music. Verisimilitude is created by all the fast paced shots and cuts and mid shots as this style replicates a club scene. Some parts of the video may be in slow motion which contrasts the tempo of the music but it puts focus on significant shots. 

Pop - The costumes will be fashionable and up to date and the general atmosphere will be positive. Pop music videos tend to stick to the current trends as pop is largely associated with teens who are typically trend followers and are heavily influenced by their pop idols. 

Alternative - The costumes of alternative rockers in music videos will be quite casual; with baggy T-shits and jeans with mid length scruffy hair. The settings of the music videos would be in quite grungy locations; for example run down buildings. 

Hip-hop -  Hip-hop music videos typically have low angle close ups of the rapper to show their influence over their audience and suggests that they are important enough to have the whole frame to themselves as they intent to be the focus. A common theme of thee music videos is the dismissal of women and their desire for these rappers. A lot of the costumes will include sporting attire, for example; basketball jerseys or trainers. There will be constant referral to wealth whether through props or lyrics. 

In hip-hop it is a convention for artists to work with other artists of the genre. Dr. Dre helped launch Eminem's career and therefore they have worked on many songs together and featured in their videos together. Modern hip-hop artists follow this convention, for example; The Weekend features in Lil Uzi Vert's new video 'XO Tour Llif3'. In addition, voyeurism extensively used in hip-hop music videos which keeps audiences engaged. 

Hip-Hop Artists New: Drake, Travis Scott, J. Cole, Kendrick Lemar, Lil Uzi Vert, Migos, Rae Sremmurd, A$AP Rocky.

Hip-Hop Artists Old: Eminem, Dr.Dre, 2Pac, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Kanye West. These artists have influenced all of the recent Hip- Hop artists and still bring out music today. Many of these artists have their own record labels where they sign new artists, for example Travis Scott is signed to the Label that Kanye West founded in 2004 - GOOD Music. 

Hip- Hop Labels - Death Row (Dr.Dre, 2Pac)   Dreamville (J.cole)   GOOD Music (Travis Scott, Kanye West)   Sony Records (Beyonce)

  

Hip Hop Tracks:  Humble - Kendrick Lemar    My Name Is - Eminem   Tuscan Leather - Drake   Stronger - Kanye West  

Audience:

• There is no specific age range for Hip-Hop but the age would lie between 18 and 30 years old, however younger listeners are becoming more common. 
• 70% of Hispanic adults listen to Hip-Hop.
• 40% of listeners are African American 
• 12.5% of Hip-Hop audience use radio to listen to this music rather than other formats such as Spotify, YouTube. 

Green screen

Online Identity - Deyes

Chroma Key

Post-production

Use of digital technoogy

Online Identity - Zoella

Modern Video Analysis

Controversial Video Analysis

Seminal Video Analysis

Magazine Poster Analysis

Digipak templates

Simple Digipak

Advantages: Not complex which customers are use to, provides everything needed for the customer.

Disadvantages: dated, not different or adventurous, cannot offer anything more than just the CD and a booklet.

Digipak

Advantages: Modern, provides more space for the likes of booklets, posters, postcards, photographs, lyric books.

Digipak

This is another example of a more complex digipak but instead has eight panels, allowing even more space for extras to the CD package.

Retailers

High Street Retailers

The most well known high street CD retailer would be HMV which sell lots of CD's in digipak form, across all genres ranging from Hip-Hop to Alternative Rock. The majority of the newest releases/ trending music would be in the digipak form, they are all found on the labelled CD rack 'new releases'. This type of music (new releases) would most probably be in the digipak form, this would include the CD, the front cover showing the album artwork/image with the album title on, the back page would show the song titles, the inside panels vary but would consist of either a booklet, lyric book, art book etc.

The use of digipaks appears across all genres, however digipaks are not used for all products. They are used with big anticipated albums which can happen in any genre despite certain genres being more popular than others.

Online Retailers

Digipaks can be purchased online, the same product that would be found in store. HMV, as well as the high street store, also has a popular online website, Amazon would be another example of a popular online site to purchase digipaks.

Research: Digipaks

Elements of real digipaks

Front Cover: The front cover of the album shows the album title and the bands name, there is also an image covering the whole front.

Spine: The spine also shows the album title and the band name, as well as the record label company.

Back cover: The back cover shows the titles of each song, and again the record label company. There is also a barcode and websites for the band and record label.

Internal Panels: There are 3 internal panels which include the CD, and two other panels of images.

Booklets: Within the first internal panel is a booklet containing a gallery of images and contribution notes, song titles and credits.

Cinema Stats

Case Study: 'Spectre' (Mendes,2015)

Official Website: www.sonymovies.com/spectre

Social Network Sites: Twitter, Facebook

Viral Marketing: Twitter, online banners

Fan Sites: www.007.com 

Actors: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux

Director: Sam Mendes

Merchandise: Collectables, Fragrances, DVDs, Books, Clothing, Jewellery

Production Companies: Eon Productions, Columbia Pictures, Metro Goldwyn Mayer 

Pre-Production: Budget: $245,000,000, Locations: London, Mexico City, Rome, Austrian Alps

Production: Filming took a total of 7 months during 2014-15, production began on 8th December 2014, at Pinewood Studios, Mexico City; 1500 extras for 'The Day Of The Dead' which took six months, Guinness World Record for biggest cinematic explosion filled in one shot filmed in Morocco,  8 Aston Martin Cars made for the film. 'Visceral excitement you can only get from real stunts' - Mendes (Director). 

Post-Production: Composer: Thomas Newman, the film contains over 100 minuets of music, the soundtrack was released on 23rd October 2015 in the UK, in September 2015 it was revealed that Sam Smith would collaborate for 'Writing's on the wall'. 

Distributors: Columbia Picture, MGM Pictures

Exhibitors: IMAX, BFI, Odeon, Vue, Cineworld

Close Textual Analysis - Graduation