Shot list

1 - long shot of girl walking towards the car 
2 - over the shoulder shot of her letting the driver know she has forgotten something
3 - match on action shot of women walking back inside the block of flats
4 - far low angle shot of girl walking up the stairs
5 - over the shoulder shot of girl passing the mysterious man on the stairs - ring
6 - close up of his reaction as she walks past
7 - close up of his hand on the stair rail
8 - worms eye of girl picking up her bag 
9 - over the should shot of girl re applying her RED lipstick 
10 - tracking shot of girl walking to the car
11 - Shot taking from in the car as she gets in 
12 - close up shot of mans hand on the wheel - ring 
13 - over the shoulder of girl looking in the rear mirror 
14 - close up of girls eyes as she realizes that the driver is no longer her friend
15 - fade to black - title screen 

Question 1

Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Question 7

Planning

Thriller Location and Practices of Shots

These shots were taken in the flat that Envy was shot in, I could not take a large amount but I tried to show the main aspects where our thriller was filmed and what shots are most seen in the opening. 

Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The opening to Envy represents a quite obvious social group; students. The audience can easily tell this from the age of the characters and the location. The cast of skins are a good example of what our characters are like, even to more of a higher extent because of the fact that there is a killing involved, fans of skins may be intrigued by Envy because of its use of similar looking characters. The costumes used in Envy are quite similar to that of characters in skins, especially Jen as she is just a normal student, whereas Kat's costume is heightened by a small amount just to establish that she is the dark mysterious character out of the two. The fact that through out Kat has the hood of her coat up again establishes the mystery of her. 

The representation of females in Envy is very high, as the two main characters a women, resulting in them dominating the mise-en-scene, showing the generic conventions of traditional thrillers has changed. In recent thrillers female characters have become more dominant and striking, which is what we portrayed in Envy.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was one of the case studies that inspired the character of Kat, we thought that Kats costume and the significant short hair resembled some aspects of Lisbeth in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. The portray of Gilda, the female character in Gilda, is a traditional thriller convention of females, another example is Eve in Once Upon A Time In America. Gilda has the obvious aspects of a typical femme fatale character; long dark hair, make up and a revealing dress. This is not what we wanted to show in Envy. 

The age of our characters are realistic for the actors playing them, as they are actually of that age, this is effective because our target audience are students aged 16 - 18. The idea of jealousy is stereotypicaly associated with younger women as they fight for male attention, which again makes Envy more realistic and the 16-18 year old audiences can relate to why the characters are jealous, but of course they would not go to the extent of killing someone. The use of age follows the stereotype that young people cause trouble, is seen in Kidulthood, the brutal fighting is what older generations stereotype young people to do, Envy does incorporate this aspect but it does it subtly and is not as full on as it is in Kidulthood. Also Envy differs from Kidulthood because it is the young males who are fighting brutally and the women hide back scared, whereas Envy has the two women fighting. 

Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? 

Due to the fact that Envy is a “pioneering film” our group decided that the best company to distribute our film would be Warp Films, this is because it is an independent film company as is our film. Warp  specialize in films that challenge generic conventions for example, in This is England the character Lol is a strong, over powering female character which resembles that of Kat in our thriller opening.

Kat and Lol are very similar characters; they are independent, menacing and can look after themselves without the help of a male lead. This is just one example of how Warp challenges the generic conventions of women in their films. 

Warp are well known for the fact that they produce low budget films because the company focuses more on CGI than special effects and blockbusters. The companies films contain actors that have potential to be brilliant, but are not well known globally. It is a completely independent film company and is not part of any conglomerate. The company is cutting edge and inotive, all qualities that Envy endevour. The audience for Warp films are art house, young demographic 16 -18 year old British, which is perfect for the target audiences of Envy, as they fans of warp will be attracted to our film. 

Warp is definitely an artist - led company; it not only distributes their own films, but also releases the soundtracks used in the films that they have distributed. For example, they released the soundtrack to submarine before the film was released, this could me helpful for the distribution of Envy because by releasing the soundtrack early, audiences will be able to listen to what music is incorporated in Envy, this may make them more inclined to watch the film. 

As Envy is a low budgeted film it would not be shown at blockbuster cinemas such as Vue and Odeon, it would be exhibited at a cinema that specializes in unusual art house films, for example Cinema City. The audiences for films shown at cinema city aim to see low budgeted which is why Envy would be perfect to be exhibited there, purely because it would intrigue cinema citys' normal audiences. 

For example Compliance is only being shown at Cinema city
even though there are three other cinemas in Norwich it could
be shown at. 

Cinema City also show films that have been set in/filmed in Norwich, this is because Cinema city not only aims to thrill the audience with its films but its aim is to educate too. This is where Envy would fit in perfectly as it is filmed in Riverside, Norwich. 

To advertise Envy we would stick with traditional methods:

• Posters on Buses
• Trailers
• Social Networking Sites 

The use of social networking sites is a perfect way to advertise our film because it is cheap and can be looked at globally, appealing to more audiences. A good example of how social networking sites can be used is the power point below, zooming in on key aspects that have been used to advertise 'Once Upon A Time In America' :  

YouTube is another source that the trailer for Envy could be seen by all; the opening of Envy could be released on YouTube as a way to grab the audiences attention and make them want to watch the rest of the film. 

As a film maker Envy could be entered in to BFI shorts 2013, this is a great way for the thriller opening to be seen by all and potentially winning a competition. This is a chance for our work to be showcased and discovered.

Question 6

Final Cut of 'Envy'

'Envy' Rough Cut

The problems with our rough cut were:

• the non-diagetic sound was taking over and blocking out the diagetic sound
• Our slides explaing who took part in the cinematography e.t.c. were far too long, which resulted in 'Envy' loosing it's suspense

Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our target audience is:

• 16-18 year olds
• Female
• Student
• White British

Our group thought that 16 -18 year olds would be the perfect target audience for ‘Envy’, our thriller opening. This is because, the main characters are part of the same age range, which means that the audience will be able to relate and feel part of the characters story. Another reason our group thought that it would be good to have the age of the target audience as 16-18 years olds, was because the members of our group were part of that age range, so we knew what we expected in a thriller and what draws us in. The use of costumes again are used to target our audience, because they are clothes that our audeince would wear daily.

The idea that both main characters are female challenges traditional thriller films such as, ‘The Third Man’ and ‘Witness’ the main characters (evil/good) are male, the women in these films are femme fatales; pretty but lures danger and are insignificant. The fact that it is women mainly taking control of the screen time in Envy, it will probably result in a larger percentage of women watching the thriller opening, this is because it challenges traditional conventions of men having leading roles. The main character Kat, the suspect for Robbie’s death, was inspired by Lisbeth in ‘The Girl with the dragon tattoo’; just like Lisbeths’ pleasure in exposing and punishing men, Kat seems to have the same desire, so fans of the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo will enjoy Envy. Also Kat's costume is very simular to that of Lisbeths (dark and mysterious clothing), this again is effective, because it lets the audience know that Kat is not a sterotypical objectified female like in noir thrillers such as "Gilda" and Eve in " Once Upon a Time in America". Kill Bill is another good example of the idea of revenge, and also the fact that The Bride, is the main character hunting for revenge, which is what our main character is doing, is relevant and effective.

The location of a claustrophobic dingy flat could relate to the target audience, as they may be students and could be living in a similar place, this could result in Envy being even more realistic and thrilling to the audience, as this could get them thinking ‘could this happen to me?’.

An example of a student flat and where 'Envy' is
based

We looked at films that the target audience would most likely watch,which we then tried to incorporate some aspects of those films in our thriller opening. For example, when Jen is entering the flat, the worms eye, tracking shot of her feet, we thought resembled some scenes in Essex Boys; the wet and damp streets.

The dark, wet streets in Essex Boys 

The damp wet street in Envy 

The fact that all the characters in Envy are white British actors, suggests that the large quantity of viewers would be of this ethnicity, other ethnic groups may not be so keen on watching the film because there is not any other form of ethnic minority in Envy, which for one, will not result in the audience relating to the characters, and it may not appeal to them. However as the film progresses, other ethnicity groups may be introduced, which would result in the target audience widening.

 Envy would not be shown in common cinemas; our niche group would most likely see it in an independent or art house cinema, such as cinema city. This is because Envy would not appeal to mainstream audiences as it is not a blockbuster.

Acting on given feedback :

After posting my first draft of Question 4 I was given the feedback to identify the target audience demographic and make my reference to the girl with the dragon tattoo more detailed. I acted on this information and attempted to improve my post. After re-posting I was told to delete the uneducated phrase “girly girly” and replace it with “objected females”. I took these comments on bored and improved my question 4, hopefully completing it to higher standards. 

Femme Fatale definition

A Femme Fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman who charms her lover, which often leads them into dangerous and compromising situations. Her ability to hypnotize her victim with her beauty and flirtation, means that she is sometimes described as a witch or demon.

IMDB description:

“an irresistibly attractive woman, especially one who leads men into danger or disaster”.

IMDB examples of films containing a Femme Fatale character;

- black widow

- blue velvet

There are two types of Femme Fatales:

1 - a dutiful, reliable loving women

2 - mysterious, double crossing, manipulative women

Sometimes the male has to choose which path he will take, or have the fateful choice made for him.

An example of a Femme Fatale is Rita Hayworth in Gilda -  Put the blame on men:

Another good example would be the character Mia Wallace (played by Uma Thurman) in pulp fiction; 

The blood red nails and dark black hair are great examples of her danger and lust. 

Film Noir Definition

Film Noir is a Cinematic term, it is not a genre but more of a mood, style or point of veiw. IMDB's examples of film noirs are; The Third Man, The Killing, Gilda and Sunset Boulevard. They are a cycle of mainly American films of the 1940s and 50s, usually set in a criminal environment or exploring the consequences of a criminal act.

The moods of a classic noir thrillers are bleak, melancholy, evil, depressing and desperate.

Film noir films are mainly shot in gloomy, dark, black and whites. They emphasis the dark and inhumane side of human nature, and the unhealthy and brutal sides of a human experience. There is a constant atmosphere of anxiety, suspicion and the idea that anything can go wrong.

Film Noir films are marked visually by:

- expressive lighting

- deep focus or depth of field camera work

- jarring editing

- ominour shadows

- Skewed camera angles

- cigarette smoke

- unbalanced/moody compositions

The settings a Film Noir is based in are usually;

- Claustrophobic, gloomy spaces

- low key lighting

- blinded windows

- deep shadows

- wet

- dark alleys

- flashing lights

- abandoned warehouses

Planning Thriller = Costumes

Robbie - [CHARACTER NAME UNKNOWN] 

* Because the driver of the car changes (from Robbie to Jackson), the audience must know that Robbie is no longer driving the car, the best way to do this is through the clothes he is wearing, we suggested that Robbie wore bright colors, as this will make the audience more aware of the fact that the driver has changed. The color could emphasis that he is an innocent man, and he is no danger to the girl. The group thought that the use of a tie dye top may be a good idea, because it is casual, and fits the idea for this character. He must be wearing casual clothing that a young adult would normally wear to a party.

*He must not wear a cap or hat of any sort, because the audience must see his face clearly, so they can immediately tell that the driver has changed.

Zoe - [CHARACTER NAME UNKNOWN]

*As a group we decided that I should play the young women,

* As she is going to a party, she will be dressed up, which is perfect to indicate to the audience that she is a femme fatale; Her face will be heavily made up, with bright red lips, red nails and red shoes, this will then indicate that she is deadly; when people think of the color red, they think of blood, death, fire, lust and danger. 

A good inter textual reference for this would be in the book 'Of Mice and Men', the description of the "Curley's Wife" is this:

'She had full, rouged lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters.She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers.'

This fits perfectly with our Femme Fatale character, at the end of 'Of Mice and Men' Curley's wife is murdered, which is exactly what the audience could assume happens to the girl in our thriller opening. She is a manipulative women and she attracts danger.

Jackson - [MR X]

*To show the enormous difference between Robbie and Jackson's characters, Jackson will be wearing a black/brown suit with a large overcoat, this will emphasis that he is a shady perculier man.
To inter textually link this, a good example of what our aim for Jackson to look like is through the character of Holly Martins in 'The Third Man'. 

We also are going to try and shoot the whole opening with the audience never actually seeing Jackson's face, we thought the best way to do this was for him to wear a hat, that way when shooting we will always make sure that there will be a shadow over his facial features. This will be very effective for the audience as they will be wandering what it is he actually looks like, also it will entice them to watch the rest of the thriller as they may ask the question 'Do you ever see the creepy mans face?'.

A good example of never seeing the villains face at the opening of a thriller is in Pulp Fiction; Marsullus Wallace is a true villain  for the first half of the film you never see his face the only image you have of him, is the back of his head and with it, the signature plaster. When watching the film I constantly asked the question "What does he look like?", as a result doing the same sort of thing in our thriller opening will be very effective.