Questions On The Sequences - A Post By Mori

Here are a few questions that i have answered to tell you a bit more about certain parts of the piece. 

1.     At a micro, technical level, how well did you observe the conventions of continuity, the language of film and the grammar of the edit?

 

I think that we observed and kept to the conventions of continuity very well, I think we have made it very clear what is happening in our piece and at no point is it difficult for a member of the audience to understand the film. We did this by ensuring that we filmed scenes on the same day, ensuring that the light and the weather is the same, also when we had to film on a different day we made sure that the actors where wearing the same clothes. For example we filmed the boy being kidnapped on a different day to the to when we filmed the torturing scenes, so we made sure the boy’s actor wore the exact same clothes as he was wearing during the kidnapping he would not be given different clothes by his kidnappers. We helped to make the kidnappers scarier by using specific camera shots and editing techniques. We wanted the kidnappers to have a dark, scary image so we made sure that the faces of the kidnappers were not revealed until the shot just before they grab the boy from his bed. This increases the tension and your mind can always create a scarier image than we can.

 

2.     How many mistakes did you make, and did you improve in the main task having made errors in the preliminary exercise?

 

I would like to say that we made no mistakes, but I am afraid this is not quite true as everybody makes mistakes, But we managed to keep them at a minimal!

The main problem with my preliminary task I felt was that I did not shoot enough film, this therefore meant that the final piece would never be as good as there is far less to edit meaning you have to settle for a shot which may not be completely as you wanted it. This therefore prepared me well for the main piece of coursework, which I made sure that we shoot more than enough film, this minimalised the chances considerably of having a bad shot. Some mistakes made where positioning problems when we had to pause the recording to let something happen and then continue rolling straight after, I found that things were just slightly in different positions, e.g. when we did the shot of the car pulling up outside the house, we actually had the car reversing (which we changed later on the computers) but then we had to have the men getting out of the car from the same position and we found out later after reviewing the footage that the car was in a different place only by the slightest of margins but it is very obvious when the shot changes quickly. We managed to overcome this problem fairly easily when editing the footage on the computer.

In shooting lots of footage another mistake came about, not a terrible one, one which can be conceived as positive but nevertheless a mistake, the piece was too long, this meant that we had to take out some shots and considerably shorten others, slightly changing modes we were trying to create.

 

3.     At a more symbolic, macro level, how does your fiction film reflect or challenge the conventions of the genre or type you are working in? Will it fulfil the ‘contractual’ nature of film genre or will it subvert expectations deliberately?

 

I think that our piece will not challenge the thriller genre or it’s conventions, because we are using non-linear programs its makes it harder to pull off such things. I thought it worked very well sticking to the conventions as this ensures that audiences will fully understand the piece rather than watching it all and not understanding what it trying to be created, or not feel what it we are trying to make audiences feel for example tension.

 

4.     Are there any elements of deliberate pastiche or parody, where you ‘play’ with the genre’s codes and history? Are there any inter-textual moments where you hint at a reference to another film?

 

We have tried to keep the piece as simple as possible so it will be effective without having to have brilliant actors or the perfect equipment. At one point I was thinking that it may be effective to hint at the torturing scene in Casino Royale in which James Bond is sitting on chair frame and being hit by a rope in the genitals, this is because this scene from the prestigious James Bond film would be recognised by our target audience (as James Bond is a very similar genre to that of our piece) who would associate the brilliance from Casino Royale with our film. In the end it was not hinted at because people could have compared them and although it would not be a fair comparison, it could still show up our piece considerably.

5.      What kinds of audience pleasure are you trying to provide, and how confident are you that you have delivered on this promise?

We are trying to create a thrill for the audience, one which will provide tension, action and mystery. I think that we have reached this target successfully for a number of reasons, we have the tension which builds up as we see the kidnappers getting closer and closer to where the boy is, the audience will know what is going to happen but it is the build up which will provide this tension and suspense. We also have the action, the boy who is being kidnapped is tortured in a small dark room, this is not necessarily so pleasant for the audience but it helps to create a realistic and action packed image which is pleasurable. The final pleasure is the mystery and what is to come, this fast and action packed start to the film will ensure the audience wants to continue watching the film to experience more of what they have seen, but they will also be thinking about why the boy has been taken from his school and tortured, they will therefore get pleasure from wanting to know the reasons for all of this, and that will make the audience feel excited as well.