Evaluation for Media - Captive

Captive title sequence 002

This is my second draft of the title sequence we used the criticisms from the feedback and made changes to the sequence to improve it.I believe that with a few small touches to our title sequence that it will be ready for our deadline, such as we had ended up deleting a crew title in the editing process so we have got to put this back on.

Final Editing Changes to Title Sequence

In Monday's lesson we decided to make final changes and see how we make our title sequence the best it can be before the deadline on Friday. 

When looking through our title sequence with the new scenes we had added of Christian's character 'The Doctor' at the very beginning with the scientific equipment highlighting tot he audience who his character is. We wanted to increases his medical title and we decided to add a filter on to the footage we chose, Bad Film. This was to identify the doctor to the audience clearly as this to be in the past and a flashback of his career to the other footage which has no filter.

As we began to get to the ending of the title sequence we decided to change the editing of when the Doctor is following Maria down the road. Prior to the change of this section of the title sequence the footage of him walking forward was repeated using a dissolve to carry on the repeat. When we had decided we wanted to remove this, are reasons for doing this was that it had a ghostly feel to it which is not really seen in the Thriller genre.Then we made the decision to change it by having fast jump cuts to the footage to show his eagerness and desire of Maria to create a more sinister and creepy atmosphere.

By making these small changes to are title sequence has made me feel more comfortable and confident with the title sequence and totally befits the codes and conventions of a Thriller.

Communicating Online - Facebook

From the very first day of are title sequence coursework we created a Facebook group chat to communicate easily and quickly with new ideas to planning when we can all meet up to film. This has been an on going chat and has really helped us throughout this course. 

Captive Voiceover - Final Edit

Lucy uploaded our final voiceover for the title sequence on to sound cloud so everyone had easy access to it downloading it. I really like the title sequence and believe it was the best it could be,however it is sad that it does not fit perfectly in with the title sequence and doesn't help with the storyline like we thought it would of. The quality of the voice over is to a high standard because it was recorded in the music recording studio and was edited on a Mac (on LogicPro). Also Christian was in charge of editing the voice over and he done a very good job at it,effects were added to the voice over both characters Maria and the Doctor to create a strange and mysterious feel. Sadly we are not including this vpice over in our final title sequence.

Shooting New Scenes

In Friday's lesson we decided to take the the feedback seriously to improve our title sequence. We had time restraints on how long we were able to film/reshoot Christian's doctor characters new scenes. The decision was made to go a science lab class room in the school and use that to film in, luckily the equipment and environment was pleasing considering the lack of time we faced. 

Before we reshot we decided that this footage would be the new opening for the title sequence, this was because we wanted the audience to have thoughts and create their own ideas about this doctor before the story was shown. It is also before the cast and crew credits appear on screen. This increases our title sequence running time which was a benefit because of it only being 1:36 and the limit was 2 minutes so this has out me and my group in a more comfortable position. 

I strongly think that with this new footage we have improved the understanding of the what the film could be about to the audience and them being able to clearly identify the character of the doctor. This is because the use of scientific equipment such as: the syringe, test tubes and plastic rubber gloves.

Feedback on First Draft of Title Sequence

In Wednesday's lesson feedback sheets were hand out to all class mates to fill out on each groups title sequence which was everyone's first draft. Once our title sequence had finished playing the others had time to fill out their sheets then we discussed the feedback together,there were 4 sections to the feedback sheet : The rating of the sequence (out of 3 stars), The elements that work , Things that need developing and Things that don't work.
The overall feedback from the class was positive none believed it needed serious work which was happily appreciated by the group.

The main things that worked that people commented on was :the music, the shots and the black and white filter, I believe these are all things we have worked very hard on doing well and developing the most at and this has been noticed which makes me feel positive about our piece. 
In addition the things that people thought needed developing where: the voice over and the storyline. From receiving this constructive criticism we had a group discussion on these two areas that had been identified and we chose to delete the voice over from the title sequence as we were unsure once editing the sequence if it really helped or actually confused the story. The storyline was not said to be clearly shown in the title sequence but when we explained it to the other members of the different groups they understood. One comment was to add my evidence of the male character being a doctor. Yet again we discussed this idea and we plan to do some shooting of this in school in the science labs in Friday's lesson.
Finally the last section of the feedback sheet was the things that did not work only one main things were pointed out on this subject. Firstly one person thought that the typography which included all our group names for the title sequence designers and casting by was too. We as a group agreed with this and Sophie straight away went away and recreated these two crew names and she made up her own. 

I have chosen three of the six feedback sheets to add to this blog:

First Draft of Title Sequence

 
 The video above is the first draft of our title sequence, 'Captive'.

In Monday's lesson we used this time as group to create our first draft of our title sequence, 'Captive' to present and show to fellow classmates which were in separate groups and to our teacher. We made sure that the editing was working properly,all the text was in the right positions and the music and voice over were playing correctly. After these final checks we must of watched our title sequence a few times to make sure we was happy with it even though we knew generally there were things we wanted to improve.One problem we picked up just before playing the title sequence was the mispelling on the 'photography' for our typography and we told this to the class as we did not have time to change it. I believe when we have this  feedback discussion we would be able to have a more clear pathway on how to carry on making the title sequence better.

Black and White Style & White Typography

After nearly finishing our first draft of our title sequence to show our class and teacher for Wednesday's lesson I brought the up the idea of maybe changing the sequence from colour to black and white. I originally came up with this idea because I believe it will abide more to the thriller genre giving it a darker and more mysterious feel. In addition it gives it a more professional look to the title sequence which is what what and my group because it is a high budget film. After this discussion and with many ideas taken into thought we decided to change the whole title sequence into black and white as a group I believe this has enhanced the appearance and effect of the title sequence.

Once we had decided to change the title sequence into black and white we began to upload the text i had planned and Sophie had created with the groups choice of, 'Old Newspaper Types'. The original plan was to have black text on the colour title sequence but as we changed it to black and white we released that we wouldn't be able to have black. To overcome this we decided to change the text to white so it would stand out against the black and white scenes. Moreover this an authentic use of typography of white text on a black background that will now use.

Captive title text

As a group we want our title sequence to stand out and have individuality, so with this in mind when creating and designing the text for the title of our film. We decided to use the same style of text we used for our cast and crew names,'Old Newspaper Types'. In a lesson Sophie and Lucy began to design it, the design was jail bars with the text 'CAPTIVE' blended within the bars. all of the group members had an opinion on what bars and font to use.

Early Production of Text Design

Then Lucy and Sophie found out the format for designing the text/bar effect was wrong, they were using JPEG and PNG was the one they needed to use. Thankfully this did not take much to re correct and the design of the title was carried on with.

The use of colour of the text on screen we could not agree on and what would work best on top of the film footage, so Sophie decided to make the jail bars to light grey and the text of 'CAPTIVE' would be in white.After it was finally finished we uploaded it on Friday to the title sequence and we decided to place on Maria's eyes which foreshadows her mental illness ( but the audience does not know this). Me, Lucy and Sophie decided on this because we thought it would be hinting to the audience that the girl was a Captive and the jail bars represented her own mental cage but then her being held hostage by someone.I believe the use of the this personal designed title for our title sequence definitely makes us stand out and adds to the story itself. In addition it is good for us as a group to have different techniques included in our title sequence and techniques that we have picked up that has developed our understanding and hopefully future work.

Main Sound and Voice Over - Title Sequence

Before we filmed the title sequence I was quickly looked on different type of websites that had copyright free music on them.However I again looked on one website that i thought had the best range of music, 'Audio Network'. I found a piece of music called 'Dangerous Knowledge' and even the name stood out to me because it is two themes that run through out our film. I played the music I loved the start of it which sounded like maracas shaking to a slow pace given that sense of mystery, also the high pitch squeek noise inbetween increased the intensity I believe.

I showed the group this piece of music and they all agreed this was the perfect sound track for our title sequence.After we had discussed it we uploaded it to our title sequence and it worked perfectly. At the same time we uploaded the final voice over recording to the title sequence to work out the timing and where it should be placed, we did not think the voice over and music should be played at the same time would work and we would play the music after the voice over had finished. On the other hand we decided to play them together just to prove our theory was wrong, however me,Sophie and Lucy were happily surprised that the combination of the two worked great and we decided to keep them playing at the same time.

With all the final touches and additions being made to our title sequence I am really happy with the outcome so far which really pleases me that our group has worked so well together to produce this. Next lesson we are going to do final touch ups of everything,double check it all works and check for little mistakes. 

Sound Effects

In one lesson last week me and Sophie were both off school site on a trip and we had decided for Lucy and Christian to focus on finalising the sound effects for the title sequence.The voice over is now completely finished and them two decided to look at some sound effects for certain parts of the sequence.

Chris found the 'Jump' sound (which you can play above) from a music copyright free website and they both agreed it would have a great effect and fit in well when the doctor covers the screen with his hand. I agree with their decision with this choice of sound for end of the title sequence. Then the sound was added to the end of the sequence and it was perfect for it. I believe it adds a jump to the audience when watching and enhances the shocking ending we wanted to have, by using the professional sound effect i also think it pushes it to a higher standard. 

Editing for Captive - Title Sequence

Once we had got all the footage from filming in the half term finished and uploaded up on to final cut pro we decided as a group to put Lucy mainly in charge of editing the title sequence, for example: deleting scenes, cutting scenes down and putting them into the order the group wanted. From the feedback we had from our teachers and our personal opinions on the title sequence, we decided to re shoot my scenes of 'Maria' that were filmed indoors in my bedroom because the lighting of only a torch app on a iPhone being used didn't give the right feel.It gave it a dark feel and this was not meant to be felt by the audience till later on.

Before we went off to re shoot, we got Lucy to delete all the bedroom scenes that had dark lighting so it would be easier to upload and carry on with the title sequence once we had the new footage. Whilst this was taking place I put forward the idea of having the whole title sequence in black and white, to give it a more darker effect overall and to make it more mysterious which is what is included typically a code and convention of a Thriller film. In addition the use of the black and white filter on the film helps darking the outdoor scenes lighting because to get a clear picture we had to film it in the day and that day was particularly sunny,so by using the black and white filter it has helped us overall.

Me and Sophie was supporting Lucy with our opinions on the filters to create the black and white effect these were 'saturation' and 'levels'. Lucy set the saturation to -1 so there was no colour left and enhance the brightness of black and white in the footage. In addition Lucy also put changed the levels filter to:

• Input:50
• Input Tolerance:100
• Gamma:1.41
• Output:43
• Output Tolerance:68 

Moreover transitions were added by Lucy to a few of the clips so the whole sequence has a nice flow to it. The transition which was used was a 'cross dissolve', I believe this creates a slow peaceful atmosphere when at start when the contrasting shots are shown of Maria and the Doctor, compared to stalking, following second half of the title sequence. 

At first I was apprehensive about the time restrictions we had about re shooting a few of Maria scenes but after uploading them to the rest of the title sequence I was glad we did re shoot because it looks much better and more the effect we wanted to have. Lastly I think the continuity editing at the very start of the coursework project really helped us as a group to know what to do and what techniques worked best for our overall coursework title sequence, Captive.

Full Cast and Crew List

I was put in charge of another role in the title sequences production to a produce a full cast and crew list for Captive. I wanted to create a cast and crew list that would relate to other films within the same genre which is the 'thriller' genre.Also I then decided to look back at films we had looked at and that have helped with some ideas we have developed individually for the title sequence. After looking at films such as: Shutter Island, Saw and Hide and Seek, I came to the conclusion to base the running of the cast and crew on the thriller film, 'Se7en'. 

I then copied down the order in which the full cast and crew appeared in the title sequence of 'Se7en', the order was this:

• Star Cast
• Title of the film
• Casting by
• Music by
• Costumes designed by
• Edited by
• Production designed by
• Title sequence designers
• Director of photography
• Co-producers
• Co executive producer
• Executive producers
• Written by
• Produced by
• Directed by

After i went through the title sequence a few times to make sure I got the right order I decided to yet again look at similar films in our genre, Thriller. I decided to include the full cast and crew from a range of thriller films that were all included in the survey we created, these are: Black Swan,The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,Inception, Shutter Island, Alien,Se7en and lastly Hide and Seek.
However who the film would be directed by we already had decided on who is, John Polson who directs 'Hide and Seek' which has a similar storyline to our film 'Captive'. 

Once i had finished my order for the cast and crew, I then posted it into our online group chat so everyone could see and it and be more than prepared for Sophie to start actually creating the text with the name I had chosen.

Text for Title Sequence

Previously we had decided our own favourite personal fonts we wanted the cast and crews names to be in, however after filming we decided that the 'Old Newspaper types' would be the best choice so we conclude on the decision with these one. 

In Wednesday's lesson I began to create a cast and crew order list for the title sequence based on title sequence for 'Se7en' because this has ben a supporting influence on our ideas and title sequence. As i was doing this the whole Mac system shut down and I lost my list, however we knew how are two star cast are going to be before this: Emma Watson and Leonardo DiCaprio.  
As a group Sophie was chosen to type and produce all the cast and crew names in the 'Old Newspaper types' font for the title sequence. She began to start the Emma Watson/Maria font and because of the whole system crashing this was the only one she was able to finish in different styles on photoshop. 

These are two of the many designs Sophie created:

I am going to reproduce the cast and crew list, so Sophie can do her role in the final stages of our title sequence of doing the font. 

Feedback for Title Sequence Filming

Once we all retuned to school we got teacher feedback on the rough copy of our title sequence we had put together quickly from what we produce from the 114 clips we took from filming in the half term. When putting this rough copy together, we had to edit and view clips on the Mac and decided which ones we had took where the best (we had 3 maximum different shots of each scene). We end up deleting some because of the poor lighting indoors and the appearance of some group members shadows that were not meant to be included.  

• Sinead = She thought that the title sequence overall was good and only had a few critiques to help us improve it. However she commented on reshooting the first half of the sequence with the shots of Maria's bedroom and her getting ready because of the quality of the lighting and the pace compared to the second half. In addition she approved of our music choice 'Dangerous Knowledge' because she said it fits in with the genre of the film and creates the correct atmosphere. 

• Emily = Emily told us to reshoot the first half of the title sequence which ended up being in agreement with Sinead. This was agin because the pace was not correct compared to the second half which was the outdoor shots which she said worked very well. Also she agreed with the music choice saying it compliments the title sequence footage well.

I think me and the group have taken and will take this constructive criticism on board to improve our title sequence and make it the best it can be for the deadline.

Filiming for Captive

The week before we broke for half term we got a chance to to do some of the filming in the school, in a conference room. We used this setting for the Doctors study beacuse all the props we needed we easy access to such as : books, stationary etc, also the shots we took varied and we had a lot of them ,so we had a lot to choose.

Once we broke up for half term we had planned two days which we would all meet up to start and finish the filming, which was a Wednesday and Thursday. 

DAY 1 : We decided to film Maria's bedroom scene (her getting ready and writing in her diary) and her walking out the door (to go out with her friends) all in my house for the title sequence. In addition we filmed the Doctors shots for him leaving the house also. 

DAY 2 : On this day we went to Lucy's house to the outdoor shots for the title sequence of Maria being followed by the Doctor and their different points of view. We decided to film here because there was a quite road near her house were not many people passed and minimal cars passing by. In addition we was lucky with the weather for this day as it was bright and sunny where as the rest of the week had being grey and rainy. This benefited us when filming because we had crystal clear shots and did not have to worry about the lighting. 

Over the shoulder Zoom Out - test shot

After we completed the zoom in over the shoulder shot we decided to move on to the zoom out test shot.  I believe with this one since we had practice on the zoom in we felt more comfortable doing this one and I think this shows in the clip, the camera is even more focused on the paper and is more central on the paper. In addition yet again I believe with our support and guidance within the group all of our shots with many attempts and re shoots will work very well. 

However once researching the Thriller genre films more in depth zoom in and zoom out shots are not really used and not really in the rules of filming. To overcome this I believe using tracking in and out shots would be more effective in our title sequence and would agree more with the code and conventions of a Thriller.

Over the shoulder Zoom in - test shot

After we had doing the pan test shot we decided to move on to the over shoulder shot but with the camera zooming into a piece of paper,however in are title sequence this would be the diary. The zooming in is smooth and has no pauses which we were all pleased with, also the focus onto the paper worked great too and made us all feel positive about how the title sequence would plan out.

This was our first and only practice at the over shoulder zooming in shot and I think it worked well and we now know basically how to create this shot, but obviously when we come to filming we will improve this more.

Pan test shot

Our group had some spare time in school,a week before we planned to start filming the title sequence and we thought to use this time to do some practice shots with a steadicam and the actual camera we would be using for filming. We all chose to do this primarily because we wanted Lucy to get used to filming some of the shots that would be included in the sequence and to see if these shots would be effective and if to use them or not. 


I believe this practice shot for the title sequence was pretty successful considering the lack of other resources such as:lights and actual costume. In addition the space we used was compact and we didn't have much room to move and work with, so when it comes to filming it for real I think it i will work very well.
The only downfall we found in doing this practice shots was the complication we had all using the steadicam, as we all found it hard to get the right angle and tightness to work with because the camera was big and slightly heavy. We discussed maybe using a dolly, this would maybe gives us a clearer pan and be easier to work with the shots we needed for certain scenes.

Voice Recording

In Wednesday's lesson we decided to start are voiceover for are title sequence, we created a script for Maria(female character) that Sophie was going to be doing and the Doctor(male character) which Christian was going to be the voice for. We went to the music department within the school and got access to a recording studio room, this was because the recording of the voices would be clearer and more professional. In addition the application we needed to use, LogicPro was on the Mac in the studio as well. 

By using LogicPro we had more control over the voice recordings, for example: we could distort the voice of the girl to make it sound like she is talking to herself and create an echo to create mystery. In addition for the male character we also distorted the voice but not as much as the girl to give her the more mental thought and power in the title sequence at the beginning. 

I believe the voice recording were very successful and we made sure they were the best all our abilities, however we need to touch up and create a final edit of them so they can be copied over on to our title sequence once we record and upload it.

Final Storyboard for Captive

In Friday's lesson we finalised are storyboard, as a group we finished the sketches and the brief hints of camera angles/movements and how long the shot would last. We have 31 sots to produce for our title sequence but we said that some might get changed and some mmore might be added when we come to filming it. 

First Page

This is the start to the title sequence this is actually going to be 9 separate shots but 8 of them have been put into the same box this is because, they are contrasting shots of the girl Maria and the Doctor doing the same tasks but in their own personal environment. We also estimated how long each shot would be for example the first box says '8 seconds' this would be 4 seconds for each shot because they are to contrasting ones. 

Second Page

The second page of our storyboard follows on from the first and includes pans of the two characters rooms,them getting ready to go out and them both leaving. I believe these section will be simple and quite easy to film because we want to practice some pan shots before we do the final filming. 

Third Page

On the third page of the storyboard we half way through the shots for the title sequence, we have decided to include a lot of close up shots because we want the audience at this point to be slightly confused and not fully sure what is going on or who these characters are.

Fourth Page

This is the climax to the title sequence this 5 shots this really tells the audience about the whole plot of the story but still does not tell them the twist, this is so it gives them false hope and making them believe they know what happens. I think the camera work/movements is crucial to creating a mysterious and tense scene. 

Fifth Page

The fifth page is the towards the ending of the sequence where the girl gets kidnapped and is what the audience believe to be how it actually happened.

Last Page

This is the going to be the last 10 seconds of the title sequence where we are going to take stills when filming of the scenes and then distort them,quickly edit them. It is supposed to foreshadow Maria's state of mind and giving her a clue that something is not right in her mind. 

Mise En Scene - Captive

A created brainstorm was created by us all for what we would need for our title sequence filming, it was not all going to be used and a few extra things would be added. We chose to do this so we all clearly understood what was required so would have no trouble or problems when it came to filming. Also things that are include in the brainstorm are: Props for maria, props for doctor etc, we decided to include camera movements in this brainstorm so we could bring this with us to filming so it was al on one page. 

Plan of filming for Title Sequence

In Friday's lesson we wanted to create a calendar for:planning the filming process,key thing for the sequences and dates to meet up.

In the half term we have all decided to meet up for two days to get the all filming done in all the settings we want to film in. We planned to do some pre test filming for shots and using the camera equipment so when it comes to the final filming time we have enough practice. However we need to film some scenes in school because the easy access to good quality lighting equipment the school can provide because we wont be able to access this when we film in the half term. 

Sophie created this calendar on Outlook and used our online social chat group to send it to us so we could all have the same plan to follow so no mistakes were made. 

Teacher Feedback/Discussion

In monday's lesson we had a group feedback session with one of our teachers on how we are getting on with the title sequence and what else needs to be done for the preparation of the filming the sequence. She really gave us support and new ideas to look at such as looking at a film called:Hide and Seek, which has similar plot to our film and could support us with new ideas. A new idea came around about in the title sequence to do contrasting shots of the male and female character to show there personalities and there environment to give clues and hints to the audience. I believe after this discussion as group we feel more settled in our ideas and we are now sharing the same outlook for our sequence, also this will benefit the final storyboard. 

Typography Options - Captive

In Wednesday's lesson we looked at typography that we could use for our title sequence using, 'Da Font',we wanted to have a similar looking font to the font we had used previously for our company logo, Silent Studios. We decided to experiment with the two hollywood start characters that would be said to play the two main characters in the film which are, Emma Watson and Leonardo DiCaprio. 

For Leonardo DiCaprio we looked at these font types:

For Emma Watson we looked at these font types:

From these 7 texts types we decided as group we really liked two types, Angel and Old Newspaper. Firstly we decided on the Angel font, this was because we believed that these would nicely fit in with the thriller genre and suit the ideas we have for the title sequence. The only downfall using the Angle font is that it is slightly unclear and might be difficult for an audience member to read or identify the cast or crew names, but we can make these final decisions once we have our title sequence material. The Old Newspaper font I think would fit in the best personally out of the two because I was the one who picked out that font primarily, this is because it can be clearly read and gives a mysterious look. 

Roles of the Group - Title Sequence

As the time to filming our title sequence is coming close to starting which wanted all of our group to have a major role in the title sequence, so we decided to look at our personal strengths and what we could best contribute to the title sequence. 
Our final decisions for our roles were:

• Me: As a group we decided I would be playing the female/main character in the film, 'Maria' who would also be seen in the title sequence. This decision was made because I feel confident in acting and being in front of the camera this is because I did GCSE Drama which has given me confidence.

• Lucy: We chose Lucy to be in charge of filming the title sequence and help direct the sequence because she will be behind the camera most of the time. As a group we came to this decision because Lucy had done GCSE Media and she has slightly more knowledge of camera movements and angles.Also she feels comfortable working with the camera and equipment the most. 

• Christian: The other main character to be included in our title sequence was the doctor/stalker male character and Christian seemed like the best choice to play the role. We believed this because he is doing AS drama and previously did GCSE Drama along with myself. In addition he is tall and has the right frame to be a believable older man. 

• Sophie: She would be the voiceover for the title sequence after we had done the filming and begin to start editing for the final piece. We thought that Sophie has the most innocent voice but is also confident to speak and be recorded. Furthermore she would support Lucy in the camerawork process when we are filming me and Christian.

Survey Results

It has been a while since the,Thriller survey was first created and the responses from participants were given on 'survey-monkey'. I am going to analyse the three key question I believe to be include in our survey so far, these question are:

• What is your favourite movie genre?
• What is your favourite plot theme which is usually found in a thriller film?
• Which of these thriller films have you seen?

I am happy with the results from this question because the most favourite move genre ended up to be the one on our doing, thriller. Also that the other one with the same percantage is the genre of 'horror' which you could say occurs in scenes through our film. This makes me believe by choosing to produce a title sequence for a thriller film we have made the right decision  and makes me confident about the processes to come.

The most popular theme in a thriller film, was deceptive mind games, which is partly include in our film because the mind games are played with the audience. I am not fussed that supernatural events was so low because this is not relevant to our film at all. Furthermore i am delighted that the other three themes that run through our film were also rated highly as well: Demolishing another's mental state, Chase/stalking and Film with a twist ending. This is because the mental state of the female character we are thinking are naming,Maria has problems with her's and suffers from schizophrenia, making me feel that this decision of including the mental illness was a correct choice. In addition the chase/stalking theme, is a relevant part to the illusions that girl has and is written in her diary.More over the twist ending theme is the main theme in our film because the audience have been leaded to follow a certain storyline but it is completely flipped.From all these results on this question I feel very positive and happy with the groups decisions.

The last question include in the survey is some popular thriller films and the participant had to tick what ones they had seen. The film, 'Saw' was the most watched film by participants and the age range of them was teenagers 14-17 years old. This is not wanted I wanted to be the outcome for this question because the film is more gory and horror themed than our film, Captive. However the next most popular theme was, Taken which slightly fits in with part of our film which is chase/stalking. Moreover the next top two films were,Se7en and Shutter island which both films had strongly influenced and given our groups ideas for our film. 

Hopefully more people will fill out our survey so we have more quantitative data to analyse and give us more direction both we start filming/producing our title sequence.

Storyboard - Captive

In Friday lesson's we began to storyboard are title sequence, we had our first ideas individual but to mix with these ideas together became difficult. One person we would want to do one thing then another something else this is because we are all strong characters with strong opinions. However after knuckling down with our ideas and blending them together we began to create a good start to our title sequence. 

We chose our strongest member of the group to start to sketch and include some brief text that would be within certain clips. In the title sequence we don't want to give away the twist at the end of the film we want the audience to believe one storyline would play out, but we wanted to give hints towards the end of the sequence to confuse the audience slightly to something is not all the way it seems.
The only other struggle we had was,how complicated the features we wanted to include would be to add in our title sequence and we all found it hard to have a clear view on how to change this. 

FIRST STORYBOARD

However in Monday's lesson we had a group discussion with Sinead(one of our teachers) on  how we was getting on with our blogs and how the storyboard process was coming along,there is voice recording to be posted of what was spoke about. While this was happening I was taking notes on ideas we was coming up with to how to change and simplify our storyboard, on the main features we wanted to be included. We want there to be comparison shots of the female(mental ill patient) and the male character (teacher who is really a doctor). 

NOTES

WRITEN STORYBOARD

This is our new written out storyboard which is all our new ideas for our title sequence, with the comparison of the female and male character doing similar things but implying what there character is about. 

In our next lesson together we are going to redraw out the storyboard in pictures and finalize our title sequence ideas so we can plan when to start filming and the props etc,we need to have.

Audience Profile - Captive

Gender = Female/Male
Age = 14-17
Education = 6th Form/College
Occupation = Sales assistant/Unemployed
Income(a month) = £0 - £200
Relationship status = Single

• Likes = Media,Film,Shopping,Fashion,Cinema,Chocolate,Fizzy Drinks, McDonalds, Nandos, Social networks, Made in Chelsea, Make-up and Art.
• Dislikes = Early mornings, Running, Cold weather, Water, Eating healthy and PE. 

Demographics = D/E 

Psychographics = Explorers/Aspirers 

I decided the age for my audience profile based on the information the primary evidence on the survey based on the thriller genre , which is the genre of the film, 'Captive'. The most people who had done completed the survey were women, however this could be biased because there are 3 females in our group and only one male, so when people are asked the majority are going to be female. However the males who have answered the survey are not far behind. This is why i have not made a decision for the gender who would watch the film this is because I think the film will appeal to both genders.

I also based the age of my audience member on the findings from the survey as well. The majority of the age range that has completed the survey was: 14-17 years olds, this why I made my age of the audience member to between the ages of 14-17.

I have decide to make the likes and dislikes for the audience member a stereotypical view of teenagers interests. One of the things young people enjoy are social networking meaning they can be become more involved with films through things such as: viral marketing campaigns and competitions. Furthermore this could also link to the second highest age of participants in the survey which is, 18-20 year olds, this is because they also enjoy social media. Also they  share the same interests such as: fashion. In addition I chose the demographics i did because most 14-17 year olds,don't have a lot of spare money to do extra things because they are still in full time education or have a low paid part-time job but will use the spare to money to go out on the weekend to the cinema. Also the psychographics i decided was the explorers/aspirers, this is because this age range is open to new opinions and adventures given to them,which makes them more interested and wanting to see a psychology thriller film(which our film 'Captive' is).

Roland Barthes Egnima Codes

 

Roland Barthes was a French literary theorist and semiotician, which is the study of cultural symbols and signals.

His theory suggests a text (television,film, a poster) portrays a mystery to draw an audience in,pose questions and to become intrigued in the piece. For example, a murder mystery will often not reveal the identity of the murderer until the end of the story, which posts the question, 'Who is the murderer?'. 

Narrative/Enigma Codes 

Barthes theory of the five codes is a way of grouping signifiers according to the role they play in the text.

These are caterogised as =

• The Hermeneutic Code - Voice of Truth
• The Proairetic Code - Voice of Empirical
• The Semantic Code - Voice of the Person
• The Symbolic Code - Voice of the Symbol
• The Cultural Code - Voice of Knowledge   

The Hermeneutic Code
This code refers to the mystery within a text, clues are dropped but with no clear answers are given.The enigmas within the narrative make the audience members want to know and find out more, unanswered enigmas tend to frustrate and annoy the audience.

The Proairetic Code
It is the way the tension is built up and the audience is left to guess and presume what will be the next step.

The Semantic Code 
The semantic code points any element within a text that suggests additional meaning,the elements of the semantic code are called, semis. The seme has a connotative function in the text and has an extra meaning to its literal meaning.

The Symbolic Code
Symbolic code is about the symbols in a text.It highlights the opposites to show difference and create greater understanding and meaning, this is done to create tension,character development and drama.

The Cultural Code
This code looks at the audiences wider cultural knowledge,morality and ideology.

An example of Barthes enigma code theory is in the title sequence of ,'Catch Me If You Can' the whole title sequence through animation tells the whole story of the film within the space of under 3 minutes. However the audience would not recognise this until the film had finished and then would understand the meaning of the animation and the story reveals.

Lastly this is a famous quote by Roland Barthes:
 “This book has two determinants: on the one hand, an ideological critique of the language of so-called mass culture; on the other, an initial semiological dismantling of that language: I had just read Saussure and emerged with the conviction that by treating “collective representations” as sign systems one might hope to transcend pious denunciation and instead account in detail for the mystification which transforms petit bourgeois culture into a universal nature.”