Our film is an eco horror Sci- Fi thriller named Nibiru. The film begins with a young female victim of a half Mediterranean background, in a vulnerable ambiguous situation, due to the audience’s lack of previous knowledge of events. This instantly entices the audience, as well as feeling a connection with this vulnerable character due to her genre as well as age, as she is of a young female nature. The digetic sound of the girl panting and heavy breath as she is running adds to the atmosphere of fear and due to the mise en scene of the burns and cuts on her face the audience instantly feels anxious as they knows that something terrible has happened. Moreover, the establishing shot shows an isolated area of darkness with only one girl in view shot, this causes distress and solitude for the viewers, as they begin to feel edgy and distressed due to the scarce population and environment, aiding them entering into the mind set of the thriller. Additionally, during this sequence there are cut shots to the ‘Newtons Balls’ and a metronome symbolising the passage of time represented by the discordant notes of the balls clicking and ticking of the metronome. When this goes off beat this shows there is a distortion to the natural beat of the balls and therefore is foreshadowing a terrible event and problem to the nature of the earth’s movement. There is a sense of delay here through the delayed period of time; this intrigues the viewers as they want to know what happens next resulting in a significant rising tension felt.
This at the time is ambiguous for the audience and therefore creates confusion. The half burned face of Harvey Dents transformation into Two Face during the “Dark Knight” by Christopher Nolan, inspired us to use the same types of prosthetics and burns in our thriller to portray the vulnerability and fatality of the young victim. Furthermore, the opening sequence and themes of tiny organisms and diseases spreading during “War of the Worlds”, I felt exhibited some of the main premises found in our thriller, such as the dispersal of blood cells and diseases. “Contact” and “Andromeda Strain” also stimulated the camera movement and zooming action through the setting of planets and universe whilst stirring the ideas of digetic sounds of radio waves and crackling sounds. We desired to add DNA and chromosomes into the zoom adding to the effect of the spreading passage of the virus moving from the cells into planets; however this became incomprehensible due to the complications of the creation of DNA, therefore resulting in the spread of disease not being represented clearly enough. Moreover, atoms exploding would also be appropriate in our thriller, symbolising the change and distortion within the usual routine and rhythm of the planets and earths course of nature, again adding to the theme of a changed environment aiding in the audiences awareness of the themes of our eco thriller.
The mode of address here is a warning or premonition of some sort, foreshadowing the future events of ‘The end of the world.’ This therefore allows the audience to feel like a large body of knowledge is being introduced to them through this film and perhaps as a result inspire them. Voyeurism could also be an aspect in this film as the viewers, will perhaps feel the titillation and thrill of the film through looking at people on screen, and forming some sort of pleasure from watching a human in distress and taunted on screen, such as the endangered girl running in fear.
2. How does your Media Product represent Social Groups?
In Nibiru, the social group represented is an adolescent young woman, who in this case looks to be the victim of a fatal event as she is running away from something in fear, symbolised through the prosthetics of the burns and cuts on the victims face. By looking at the demographic chart it is clear to see that she is of class E due to her appearance of a young unemployed student nature. Nibiru, overall is aimed at the psychographic groups of Explorers as they seek to discover their longing for adventure, this thriller allows them to gain this due to the content of Sci- Fi events and atmosphere of the universe allowing them to feel free and as if in another world.
Moreover, the thriller could also be aimed at the group Reformers due to their high education and therefore awareness of the complex unravelling nature involving the spreading of diseases and Mayans. The movement and behaviour of the girl indicates fear and danger as a result of her panting and look of horror upon her face. Her appearance and clothing is of a simple nature such as, a plain black top and trousers, portraying there is no class or status representation here. This was also the case so that there was no focus pull away from the mis en scene of the burns or the expressions the victim holds. During the opening sequence there is a chance of a stereotype being represented, such as the damsel in distress. For example as per usual, it is a girl running from a horrific incident, she is young, attractive and appears to hold burns whilst running away. This symbolises her endangerment and thus the need to be rescued. The tracking shot of the camera helped to create this representation, as the camera is also running a long side the girl and therefore forms an establishing shot of an isolated dark setting and therefore seems as if she is looking to be rescued. Furthermore during this tracking shot the victims face is always on zoom and in close proximics with the camera, this means the girls expressions are able to be seen at all times throughout this opening shot and so the audience are instantly enticed and feel sympathy towards the victim luring them into the rest of the thriller. If this was to be re created, I would change the age of the girl and make her younger such as a 10 year old. This would hold an even bigger impact of sympathy and therefore lure in even more viewers due to her age. I would also add a long shot of the entire body and have the victim clutching the leg with a long gash upon it portraying even more injuries and therefore even more of a damsel nature creating an even bigger stereotype.
3. What kind of Media institution might distribute your Media Product and why?
Nibiru, is a low budgeted independent British eco horror thriller. If this was to be released into the market in the near future, I would suspect it to make between half a million to a million pounds revenue, looking for a global return, of about a million pounds at this moment in time. The reason behind this figure is due to the unique selling point of the setting and atmosphere of the universe, that perhaps viewers may have not seen before and therefore entice them to watch something different. Yet when producing this film, the costs came to between 750,000 and a million to create; this was due to there only being one cast member, a teenage girl. As well as due to the limitations of casting within our class, in the opening sequence, this was done specifically as a result of expenditure costs and budgets, thereby saving money as she was not famous and had a non verbal part, therefore she did not need to be paid a fortune but a small cost for doing the job. Additionally, a schools grounds were used and therefore the location was free of charge, this allowed us to increase our expenditure budgets in other areas of the production of Nibiru such as props and the below the line costs of technology, for example camera equipment and after effects. After effects, was the main theme throughout the opening credits and was by far the most important aspect of the production of this film. Furthermore, during the production of it, it was essential for deadlines to be maintained, this was a challenge for me and my group due to other projects needing to be completed parallel to Nibiru.
However, this is different to real life media events, as if this was a real case our only focus would be on the one project and therefore focus on this one project, creation of Nibiru would be maintained and deadlines met. Due to this aspect, marketing was unable to occur due to lack of substantial funds and budgeting.
More over, through out the process and creation expertise was offered, to guide us through the process and understanding of after effects in order to create our project, once we were taught the guidelines we were then able to excel and produce our project.
Nonetheless, if I were too change Nibiru and put it into a different social group such as changing from Explorer to Mainstream, in order to address a larger and wealthier audience, I would address the IFFS and ask for festival support which will also aid and allow my film to perhaps be marketed in a different country which will allow a global outlook on my film to occur overall increasing and attracting new audiences dramatically. Furthermore, if prints and advertising funds occur, this will also attract a wider audience and allow a bigger promotion and distribution depending on a good product being shown to them begin with.
Film council, as well as Film 4 may both possibly be interested in supporting and providing finance for my project, due to Film 4 traditionally being known for supporting low budgeted independent British films such as Shane Meadows “This is England.” Additionally, perhaps Amber Films, established in 1968 will also be interested due to it specialising in documentaries and non fiction occurrances such as Nibiru’s theme and representation of ‘The end of the world.’
Bfi collections, is also an option to be taken into consideration as it features short films as well as animations which is perfect for this project due to the animations and after effects used within, as well as the production company also specialising in short documentaries as well. Perhaps, perfect for this project, the distributing company of Arrow Films in which low budget horror thrillers are released and financially supported., they may therefore be interested in Nibiru and the unique selling aspect of the settings and thrill of the theme.
4. Who would be the Audience for your Media Product?
If Nibiru was to be released, I would give it the certificate of a 15, this would mean that the project will only be suitable for viewers 15 years of age and over with it’s target audience, mainly males between 15-64 years of age, as perhaps over this age the viewers may be disinterested as they would have a less understanding to the purpose of the thriller and therefore the meaning and moral behind Nibiru would be lost. The reasoning behind the certificate of a 15, is due to the violence present during the opening credits such as the cuts and burns of the young girl’s neck. This certificate therefore must be given as the board of film certification states, “violence may be strong but not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury.” This could not be of a younger certification as it may be unsuitable and scare a younger audience. Additionally, the Sci-Fi themes and representations of the ‘end of the world’ might also be complicated for a younger audience and therefore a lack of interest is shown, such as the complications of the diseases and virus spreading through the blood cells, planets merging and the demonstration of the end of the world.
Due to lack of funds, this project will firstly be aimed at a local audience where the population will be scarce; we would also only keep the audience at present to local because psychographics show that Nibiru is aimed at Explorers, such as younger demographic students with therefore little money. This will mean not a lot of profit can be made for this project to raise funds.
Having said this if the target audience changed to mainstream by the Festival Support of IFFS. This target audience is more commonly known, and traditionally are wealthier therefore an increase in profit to the project as well as a wider spectrum of viewers being enticed.
This will in effect open to a wider audience and market, thereby being drawn away from only targeting a local audience to now national, such as opening in The London’s Odeon, where there is a huge population and therefore a wider spectrum of viewers. Nonetheless, overall the percentage of viewers attending the cinemas to watch films now is declining due to the increase in expensive at the cinema as well as teenagers having less discretionary time than most of their predecessors.
I feel that in terms of the demographic audience Nibiru, can target from A all the way to E class, due to the higher management of people viewing it due to its complexity and originality, benefiting the project as funds will be therefore be obtained. Nonetheless, I feel it can also still be aimed at an E class such as students, due to their interest in the subject and knowledge such as Sci-Fi addicts. A class, however will in turn provide more income due to the class generally being able to provide a larger amount of income to theproject through viewings.
If I could change something about Nibiru, in order to perhaps change or captivate a different audience I would add a shock factor at the end of it, such as having an over the shoulder shot of the meteorite hitting the earth and therefore ending the opening titles with a cliff hanger. This may add some appeal to my target audience of an Explorer as this gives energy, experience and provides them with the illusion that perhaps they are on this journey of discovery and adventure through the blood cells and passage through space. This may also add some dynamic to the piece and therefore attract a wider audience such as Mainstreamers through the anticipation of what happens next. And finally if enough funds were produced by the distributors this could mean that a different type of equipment of camera work could be used to film meanings that could then lead to showings in the Imax, this would again aid in increasing viewers as this would provide a different experience of a 3D motion, however this is a very expensive process to create as different camera work and shots need to be created.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
As said, due to Nibiru, being a small, low budgeted independent horror. I feel viral marketing is the best approach as well as the most cost effective way to market this project at present. A good example of this is “The Gothem Times Online” from Batman. This was a free website set up to advertise and promote ‘The Dark Knight.’ This cost nothing to create, however attracts a wider spectrum of viewers in effect via the internet. I feel the same could be done with Nibiru by creating perhaps a fact page about all the planets and stars. A similar method of Viral Marketing that can occur is uploading my film onto YouTube, this is again free to create and will allow viewers to watch and rate the piece on how well they think it has been made and produced. This is local advertising and marketing, however through word of mouth as well as ratings and distribution, it can over time become national and therefore allow a wider spectrum of audience to view it. Standard marketing is another option of attracting and addressing the audience, such as setting up posters at bus stations and on buses and bulletins. Perhaps even a traditional tag line from Nibiru that would be known and then related to the film when heard could be used to attract the audience such as “The end is near.”
Advertising trailers on TV, is a very fast way of addressing the wider audience, and is very effective however is expensive, so therefore depends on the funds provided by the distributors. Social network groups, is another way of advertising and addressing your audience at cost effective pricing, such as creating facebook characters and thereafter set up a fan basis for them in which people can join groups and enter quizzes etc. Additionally to this, my space is another website that could be used such as creating soundtrack marketing for the project. By doing these, it means there is a “virtual” gathering that cinema and places once had but no long do and therefore viewers look for them on the internet, which addresses a worldwide audience therefore increasing viewer’s eyes to the project. Online videos, such as 'you tube' may also be effective as this site is commonly viewed by all ages.
Additionally, focus groups could form supporting the film, this will appeal to the films social target audience of Explorers, who overtime will spread the knowledge of the film through word of mouth to other members of a similar social group and therefore over time expand the knowing of the film and its presence into the market. The method of ‘word of mouth’ is totally free and therefore will not eat into profits, however it may be time consuming and take time to be taken into action to accumulate profits and an audience. Another suggestion that could address and attract a wider audience is by creating products -such as T- Shirts or mugs and presenting them as giveaways. Not only does this bring in capital to the project but also promotes it at the same time. However, there are risks to this as some merchandise may be created and bought but remain unsold, therefore a loss in profit occurs. However, generally the most effective and quickest way to reach a larger audience is through the DVD release usually accessible six months after the theatrical release of the film. An example of some features the DVD may consist of is an extended edition, director’s comments, deleted scenes or an alternate ending etc; this will entice the consumer to buy the product and may encourage through promotion others who have not yet seen the film to buy it.
6. What have you learnt about Media Technologies from the process of constructing your Product?
During the construction of this film, I have learnt a vast majority about the media technologies. Some examples of these are, the hardware aspects such as the recording of the moving images and filming of our work to be edited at a later date. For example I used a PD170 MINI DV camera in which I learnt about the shutter speed and how this affected the lighting. An example being that the quicker the shutter speed the less the lighting the camera absorbs therefore resulting in a darker effect portraying perhaps a later part of the day or adding of coldness to the atmosphere.
This also meant that focus of the camera was also taught to us, in order to produce a high quality picture film. As have a teenage girl running in our opening sequence this meant a fluid head tripod was needed to create a tracking shot. However we found that the tripod moved too slowly for what we wanted of the girl as well as the conditions of the ground being too uneven for this piece of equipment, therefore it was necessary for our camera man to run with it camera as a substitute, this enabled us to learn about the position and weight of the camera. We also made sure to maintain the 180 degree rule for continuity, meaning that the camera could not pass the invisible line as this would mean that the shots would not be accurate as perhaps what should have been on the left, is now on the right of crossing the line and therefore as said continuity is not maintained.
Whilst working with the camera, lighting was a key aspect to consider such as exposure if there was not enough natural light and so ‘fake light’ was needed in order to captivate the movement on screen. As well as aperture, meaning the hole at which light intensity is exposed at certain moments for more naturalistic lighting.
Although there was no dialogue in this opening sequence, a Sennheiser (shot gun) directional microphone was used in order to captivate the heavy panting of the girl as well as the footsteps as she ran up the path, this contributed to the environment as well as a fearful atmosphere that the girl portrayed.
Once the process of constructing and filming the shot had been completed, now came the task of editing using the soft ware as Nibiru mainly consists of after effects. In using this programme I learnt a vast majority of techniques from the experts, such as firstly how to log our projects in order for them to be saved as well as creating scratch disks when editing in final cut pro.
Before anything was completed, I downloaded the appropriate pictures needed off Google, such as the red blood cells. We then imported them all into Photoshop where the backgrounds were then deleted, they were then inserted into after effects where we began to experiment with their shapes sizes and the time at which they moved.
In order to add dynamics and levels of tension and suspense, we added camera zooms and angles to parts on the programs timeline, such as the blood cells, where a zoom occurs through these. This portrays the journey of the virus spreading, as well as having a sense of delay as it builds the tension and suspense in this part. Opacity, as well as different effects such as dissolves and fade was also experimented with especially during the Mayan sequence in which the stars and planets continuously kept fading and reappearing.
Once we had a rough idea of what we wanted to create after experimenting, we were taught how to RAM our work in order to view it at full speed to get the full effect of what might be created. The same effect of opacity was used for adding titles to our work, such as dissolving and fading the text, however, this was completed in final cut pro, a soft ware we had previously learnt about during the preliminary task. The titles were added as one of the last added details after we were happy with our project. This was a slightly challenging task as we had to merge all our work in after effects together first to then transport on file to final cut pro. However due to funding we had high tech equipment that allowed us to complete this.
Additionally, when editing our final piece of after effects in final cut pro, once transported, we were able to use blade to cut certain segments of the film at specific points and drag and drop them in other places in order to experiment with the order of which the opening credits would appear. This meant that the order of our project changed continuously until we were finally satisfied with the order of which our project appears. Such as, at first having the Mayan part first of the girl running, in comparison to how the film finally turned out.
And then finally the final aspect to consider, once all else had been completed was the soundtrack, created in audio file. Here we experimented with fade, reverb, and volume in order to create continuous rising tension at specific points.
7. What do you feel you have learnt about the progression from your preliminary task to the finished product?
The preliminary task was a continuity based excersise, involving filming and editing two characters in a conversation within a interior set. One character opens a door, crosses a room establishes themselves opposite another character and a few lines of dialogue are exchanged. This enabled us when first learning the basis of media, how it all came together. It was a very simple task; however it enabled us to understand all that we needed to know to then move forward to something bigger, such as our thriller production. Additionally, I also feel we were first asked to complete this task for the purpose of learning the 180 degree rule for continuity as well as learning which angles work best at specific points of the shot.
Organisation was also a key factor in this, as me and my group planned everything before we began. So that we were aware of the events that would occur during filming, to therefore have some form of a plan in order to make the shooting day more effective. This was very beneficial, as when completing this task I realised how important planning was to effectiveness of the completion of the project. This was also the case in terms of storyboards, as these were also created during the preliminary tasks, the purpose of this was to see what specific camera angles and positions were needed at the specific parts of the dialogue being spoken. The use of the story boards meant, I knew what each next shot needed to be completed was and therefore was efficient in setting up when it came to the Nibiru project. Having said this, before any of the shooting could take place on the day a treatment of the story line needed to be created in order to know what events were going to occur throughout, such as in the preliminary task, the story of biscuits.
Editing was a key aspect to this task, such as learning to using the blade to pick and drop certain parts of the edited shooting to see through experimentation where they fitted best. As well as this, the preliminary task taught us to take multiple shots, so that the best one can then be selected as if one of the shots does not work or fit there is always a back up plan.
Overall, I feel this task allowed me establish and allowed team work to occur, such as respecting each persons position whether it being editor, producer or director. It also gave me a snap shot into what the industry is about and allowed me to see if in fact, this is the carrier I wanted to enter into.
If I could redo or change certain aspects, I would firstly add a more dynamic ending to the story such as meteorite hitting the earth with a huge explosion that would then finish in black out. This would leave the audience on a cliff hanger and therefore entice them into watching the rest of the film. I would also have used a different soundtrack to back the opening titles up, as I feel the music does not quite build the tension for the piece that I aimed to maintain for the audience.
However conclusively, I am hugely pleased and proud of the project and how it all came together eventually, as we have the unique selling point of the use of after effects and the rare theme of an echo horror thriller. On the whole, I feel the time and effort spent on constructing this thriller was well worth it.
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