I chose to do a film in this project as I felt it would be the best way for me to display my knowledge of some of the areas of media, such as the writing and developing of a script, and allowed me to work in a creative manner within a group. In previous years of Media lessons, I have created magazines and articles, so I thought creating a film would show my versatility in the media subject and my adaptability to working with the various conventions of the subject and project.
However, despite this, it was important that I worked within a group who would take it as seriously as me and have the same desire to achieve a high grade for it. I had previously worked with Matthew Bacon before and we formed a good understanding of how each other work and the qualities the other possesses, so when he suggested linking up, I was happy to say yes. As Matt has a big interest in the editing and filming side of things and I have an interest in the writing element of it, we had the basis of a good film. Ideally, we required a third group member who would assist in the acting and editing, so when Alex Hanks, who is knowledgeable on using Mac software, registered an interest in working with us, we knew we had the potential for a very good group.
Ultimately, we all had the same hope of creating a piece of footage that represented modern society, in an intelligent and fresh way – working within the conventions of a thriller film but blending some elements of other genres that haven’t been seen that often; borderline Indie.
The BBFC, is an organisation that is funded by the film industry and takes on the role of classifying films in terms of appropriate audience viewing. They are responsible for films in the UK, and under the Video Recordings Act 2010 it is a statutory requirement to classify DVDs, videos and video games.
The certificates the BBFC currently issue:
U – (Universal) A film suitable for all ages.
PG – (Parental Guidance) All ages admitted but some scenes may be unsuitable for under 8s.
12A – Cinema only certificate. The films is considered unsuitable for young children and, if a child is under 12 years old, they must be accompanied by an adult. Discrimination, soft drugs, common mild swear words and moderate violence/sex references could be used in the film..
12 – Home media only. Nobody under the age of 12 can purchase or rent certificate 12 films.
15 – Only people over the age of 15 are admitted. Films in this category could contain adult themes, hard drugs, strong words and moderate sex references.
18 – Only adults are admitted. There is no limit to the bad language used in this film category, hard drugs are generally allowed and strong real sex may be permitted if it is justified by the context.
R18 – (Restricted 18) These films are very strong natured (sexually and violently) and are only available in licensed cinemas or sold at sex shops.
For our film, STARS OF CCTV, the BBFC would need to take in to account a number of factors before deciding on a certificate. There is some explicit language used in the film opening, as Theo Moone uses the word ‘sh*t’ and references drugs. This would be inappropriate viewing for young children and therefore, I would suggest, that our film would be classed as 12A (minimum).
The Bourne Supremacy, 2004, Director: Paul Greengrass
The film begins with the use of percussive music which instantly thrusts the audience in to a sense of anticipation of what lies ahead. The opening scene itself is unsettling and hints at the uncertain times that lie ahead for the lead characters. The camera at this point is handheld and situated in a car, viewing the violent red shining of traffic lights and the sleeping suburbs on a rainy night. The violent red lights are used for a reason, as they portray anger and suggest death (which occurs later in the film). By the director showing the lifeless city at night, a theme of alienation begins to form, implementing the feeling of being lost and alone in the vast world of man-made creation. This is a heavy, hard-hitting theme that will instantly be identifiable for the audience as they can relate that feeling to real-life situations – this would be linked in to the film’s demographic.
A fast paced series of shots appear and are displayed in a story-like fashion. It becomes apparent that it is indeed a nightmare in the form of a flashback, being experienced by the lead character (Jason Bourne, portrayed by Matt Damon), who is then shown (in a close-up) lead down in bed, looking visibly affected by it. Throughout those shots, a number of sound effects are used (gun shots, screaming, heavy breathing…) which contribute to the increasing sense of mystery and desperation that forms in the opening minutes of the film.
In regards to our film STARS OF CCTV, we have opted to use a similar fast paced technique in the opening shots of the film, as we felt it evoked the sense of uneasiness on the audience – something we believed to be a key emotion of the thriller genre. Our film is very lively from the start and instead of featuring percussive music like The Bourne Supremacy, uses a recognisable RnB track – a sign of the modern approach we adopted for the film. From that perspective, our film opening contrasts greatly from Bourne, however we feel for the story-line and impact we wanted to deliver from the start (hard-hitting, emotionally and physically draining) it required a quicker pace.
One of our group tasks prior to the beginning of our film production, was to understand the 180 degree rule.
In simple terms, the rule means that two characters in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to avoid confusing the audience. The following link, displays the rule visually: http://www.studentfilmmakersguild.com/public/261.cfm
In our own research, Matt filmed Alex and I during a discussion and portrayed how we maintained the same left/right relationship, despite the change in camera shots/angles. This not only displayed our understanding of the technique, but also proved a good aid and rule to follow during the creation of our film.
Since the beginning of the process of creating the film, I have learnt a number of things in terms of how to improve it, how to utilise the equipment to full effect and how to work together in a group.
During the entire process of the film production, we didn’t want to rely solely on our own opinions of it, so we often asked people from our demographic (17-25 year olds) what their views were. Unfortunately, we didn’t gather wide opinion through many questionnaires, so we couldn’t compare what different individuals thought. It was definitely important we stayed in constant dialogue with members of our anticipated audience as it allowed us to develop the film, bearing in mind what they expect from it. We quickly learnt that in order to maintain the quality of film we and our audience expected, we needed regular feedback.
Having shown what we believed would be one of our final edits of the film, we asked a group of peers (17 years old) their opinions on the film and despite being mainly positive, one criticism that popped up in most peoples feedback was they felt the opening was slightly difficult to understand. We could understand what they were saying, so we discussed how we could improve it to ensure that was no longer the case. It was at that point we agreed we needed Theo Moone (lead character) to directly address the audience with a voice-over during certain scenes. He tells the story from his point of view and it concludes with the final scene in the opening where he states “I’m Theo Moone and I’m in the sh*t, and I need to find a way out…”. We, along with our focus group, felt it worked very well added another dimensions to the relationship between character and audience.
In order to ensure we used the equipment available to us to it’s full potential, we researched all the necessary information on their capabilities. This was particularly useful on software like iMovie, where we wanted to know how we could use it to improve our film footage. We studied a number of thriller movies that have proved successful (The Prestige) and unsuccessful, to gain a better understanding of how to go about creating ours.
We also believed it was important that we worked on the elements of the film production that we had most knowledge of; I (Nathan) developed a shooting script, thought up the story of our film and played Theo Moone, Matthew filmed all footage and edited the film on the iMac, whilst Alex assisted in editing and played Bob Coyne. We all knew our roles and how we would contribute to the opening, which made it easier to get on with our work.
It was important we communicated and consulted each other with any problems we faced and any changes we wished to make to the film, so on a daily basis we discussed how things were progressing. It was also vital we trusted and respected each other and the decisions we were making and fortunately for us, we did.
Overall, the film required us as individuals and as a group, to offer our opinion and take in to account how it would be received by our target audience. In order to do this, we needed a very good understanding of the genre, the equipment we were using and the story-line, so doing plenty of research was a necessity. Fortunately, I had two good partners who were easy to work with and contributed a significant, equal amount to the film.
Having researched the conventions of film prior to the constructing of STARS OF CCTV, I have learnt and developed more of an understanding of the technologies used throughout the process and how they contribute individually to it’s creation.
In order to film footage, we used a number of pieces of equipment to ensure we produced something of the quality we expected. We used video cameras (to record) and a microphone (to capture audio) when filming and we used them to good effect. We weren’t originally using a microphone when filming as we thought that the camera would pick up the audio. However, upon viewing the footage, we quickly discovered that this was not the case and that any dialogue and background sound was vague and uneasy to decipher. It was then that we agreed we required the use of a microphone, particularly for scenes where Bob Coyne is talking to Theo Moone on a handsfree in his car.
During the making of our film, we relied heavily on using an iMac to put our footage together, edit scenes, add music/sound effects and add text. For this we used the iMovie software, as we found it was easy to use and it possessed the editing tools we required to create the film to the standard we hoped for. Despite it’s easy accessibility, there were a couple of minor weaknesses with iMovie. My partners and I found that when uploading a significant amount of footage from our video camera, it often took the software a considerable amount of time, something which was unhelpful when we needed to make quick edits. We also noticed, on occasions, that when a certain amount of footage was being edited at once, it took longer to do. Again, when under strict deadlines like we were, this didn’t aid us in our bid to achieve a quality of film that we required in the amount of time we had.
Away from the creating of the film, we used various websites to research other thriller movies that have proved successful over the years and some that have proved unsuccessful. We also used YouTube to watch a variety of film openings (e.g The Bourne Ultimatum) to gauge how it opens the story to the audience, so we have also relied upon the internet in order to increase our knowledge of the thriller genre.
So, in the entire process of our film creation, we have utilised the technology we had available to us in order to create as good a ‘thriller’ as possible. It has enabled us to build up a knowledge of the genre and produce a film that displays the impressive results of modern technology.
