Final Film

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 2

Created with Padlet

Evaluation Question 3

Question 3 Evaluation

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Question 7

Max's A.S. Media Foundation Portfolio Evaluation

Question 2- part 1

I just made a new Voki. See it here:

Question 2 - part 2

I just made a new Voki. See it here:

Taken Opening Sequence Analysis

The first scene of the film is a flashback scene, in which we see the protagonists daughter at her 5th birthday. From this scene we can gain a lot of knowledge about the film, the emphasis on the number 5 from the camera is used to show the daughters vulnerability, and also we hear some slow paced edgy music playing in the background which hints at some sort of disturbance which could go on to affect the girl later in life, the fact that the soundtrack doesn't fit with the theme of celebration that we are seeing on screen was no doubt done on purpose and it will help to immediately engage the audience and get them questioning it, there are also plenty of jump cuts used which also help to represent the distorted feeling that this flashback scene gives, these are often used within thrillers to disorder the plot.

The clip then cuts to a close up of Liam Neeson, who plays the main protagonist, sat in a dark room with bleak surroundings on his own, looking like he is contemplating. This gives us enough information to realise that he is the girls dad and the fact he is on his own surrounded by darkness not only foreshadows sinister events that await him, but also the fact that he clearly misses spending time with his daughter. We can also tell from his plain clothes and car that he doesn't have much money and is possibly poor.

During the scene in which we see the protagonist arrive at his daughters party the diegetic sound in the background is very harmonious and contrasts what we would expect from typical thriller films. We also see the protagonist has taken more pride in his appearance for his daughters birthday which could show us that he values what she thinks of him a lot.

As the opening continues we then get an insight into the characters alternative life, when he is with his friends, and we learn that their jobs are of a violent and dangerous nature. The contrast between day and night in the opening is also effective as the fact he acts like a normal person in the day and only does his dangerous jobs at night shows to us he is hiding this part of his life from his family, and the fact he is shown to be more relaxed and at home at night also shows that this is the thrill seeking life that he desires. At the end of the opening, we also see the protagonist involved in a fight scene whilst he is working as a bodyguard protecting a music star from getting stabbed by a man dressed in black, this helps to not only suddenly increase the pace of the action which will no doubt keep the audience occupied but also continue to allow the characters backgrounds to develop, as we realise that the main protagonist is excellent in combat situations.

Thriller opening scenes - Max

Understanding sound in film

Sound in the past

Sound is an integral part of films now a days however sound has not always been implemented into movies. The first film to have sound included was the 'Jazz Singer' released in 1927. Silent films soon started to dissipate as the sound infused movies made a hit with audiences. This was because the audience can hear their favourite stars speak and tones of scenes can be created through sound alone; for example a scary scene would often be quiet with only certain concepts creating sound such as footsteps.

However critics at the time took longer to liken to the concept of sound in films as they stated that something was lost through music and sound. They believed that films became less cinematic and visual creativity was hampered, which is true as sound was very hard to record and use. They did not have the technology to record sounds and add it into the film after the shot had been filmed until the late 30's. This meant that all sounds had to be created and used at the same time as the shot was being filmed. Live bands often had to play whilst the shot was occurring. Certain shots could not be filmed as they had to concentrate on implementing sound and music; exciting geographical shots such as mountains and rivers were now harder to film as it was very hard to get a live band playing in such exotic areas. Background noises like wind and water were also a hassle to overcome when recording. 

The directors wouldn't be able to speak to their actors and give them advice as to how he wants them to act as their voices would be picked up in the recording. 

In modern day filming, sound and music can be carefully recorded and introduced to any part of pre-filmed footage. Silence is now very rare in films. Jean Luc Godard believed that in film, "no such thing as silence. Even when characters don't speak, there is always background noise." His 'Band a part' film in 1964 draws attention to this. 

Types of sound:

Diegetic sound - Sound that is involved in the film and is apparent in the characters world. For example a gunshot from a gun a character just fired. 

Non-Diegetic sound - more or less the opposite to Diegetic sound, this is sound that is not apparent to the characters but still involved in the film. For example background music/sound that may add a certain atmosphere or suspense. 

On-screen sound - The source of the sound can be seen in the frame. For example dialogue from a character which is in shot. 

Off-screen sound - The source of the sound cannot be seen in the frame. For example dialogue.

The Purge - Trailer Review

The Purge

I decided to watch a few trailers of thriller films to get some inspiration and ideas of what thriller films look like. From 'The Purge' trailer I learnt that thrillers are mainly dark and gloomy, this sets the mood of the whole film as quite depressing/scary. Although this is just a trailer, I can see that the editing is very fast paced during the most exciting scenes to keep the audience on edge. Music used in thrillers varies from creepy, high pitched music to loud, fast, action music. From thriller trailers you can see that the majority of thrillers start with a few normality scenes to show the audience what life is like before the actual story takes part. This would be a problem for us as we need to create a thriller opening and we can't just have a normality scene for our whole film. Therefore we will need to make it out of chronological order, showing part of the actual story first then the film would go into a normality scene after the first two minutes. This could actually work in our favour if we were to make the full film as it grips the audience at the beginning with the action and also leaves them thinking throughout the rest of the film 'I wonder how that is going to link to the action we saw previously.'

The props used in this film are somewhat horror-like (the masks and knives etc) however, the typical thriller prop, the gun, is seen a LOT throughout the trailer. 

Costuming is very subtle in this film as it is supposed to represent normal people 'letting off steam' so they wouldn't be wearing the typical thriller genre style clothing for a villain (All black).