Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from the full project?

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this project?

How did you attract/address your audience?

Who would be the audience for your media project?

For our film 'Cold Game' we have decided that we want our audience to be males aged 15 and above.
this is because our film we have based our story plot around the life of a gangster, so it will contain scenes of blood and violence, which would not be suitable for anyone under the age of 15.


We have also aimed at a male audience, as the plot of the film will more likely gain their attention, and would be more appealing to them.
we also wanted to have the audience be people around the same age we are, so making it a '15' allows us to gain a larger audience, as more people our age would be interested in the plot of 'Cold Game'

however as we were inspired by 'Reservoir Dogs' which was an iconic film and attract many people of different ages, we hope that this could also apply to our film 'Cold Game'

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

As 'Cold Game' is an independent British film, we would go to independent film companies such as Artificial Eye, as they focus on independent British films such as 'Fish Tank' rather then big Hollywood films such as 'Django'






As we are a independent British film, we wouldn't go to film studios such as Universal Studios. this is because as we are unknown directors, they wouldn't want to distribute our film, as it is a risk of losing money, if the film doesn't appeal to a large UK audience. Also as we are unknown they wouldn't take an interest in our film idea.

Or another option for us to distribute our film is to go to DNA films, and have a partnership with Twentieth Century Fox to get a larger viewer ship for our film, as it would be distributed to more cinemas and therefore gain a larger viewing audience





We could also take advantage of digital distribution, as it would make it easier to get our film distributed. Our film will also be in better quality and is more likely to be watched by a larger UK audience online, as this way they are able to watch it on multiple media devices.

How Your Media Product Represents A Particular Social Group?

 

How Our Media Product Represents a Particular Social Group 

We wanted our media project to represent young men, similar to how they are represented in 'Reservoir Dogs' as it inspired us for our film idea. we have used the same idea for costume as you can see from the picture from 'Reservoir Dogs' and From scenes from 'Cold Game' showing each actor. The actors are both smartly dressed, wearing suits, shirts and tie. This represent the young men from the 80's who would normally dress in shirts and ties, it also stereotypical to see gangsters wearing suits, so we have used this idea to help us to represent the social group of young men.  

 

as you can see from the pictures, we have made the actors in our film represent young men by using the idea for costume from 'Reservoir Dogs' this makes them look older and mature, as you wouldnt see young people wearing suits, shirt and ties. as they would normallt be wearing casual clothing.

 

also the plot to our film follows the life of a gangster, showing how he joined the gang and up to his death. however in the clip you do not se him, as the his fellow gang member are visting his grave, which it will then flash back to show him life as a ganster. The plot helps to represent young men from the 80s as young people wouldnt be invloved in gangs, and it was normally young men who would join them.

In what ways does your media project use, develop or challenge fors and conventions of real media projects?

Directors Commentary for the opening of 'Cold Game"

The process of making a film

The process of making a film

Development and pre production

• The idea: book, play, original script rights cleared
• Development money obtained from various sources
• script developed with writer
• Producer, Director, Cast and prelimanary budget agreed
• TV & Video rights sold
• Finance, schedule, and budget approved

Production 

• set construction begins
• Costumes made
• Film unit assembles and principal photography begins
• publicity begins with a promotional campaign
• Composer starts work on the music
• Principal photography completed

Post Production and release

• Sound and picture editing computer special effects added
• Fine cut approved
• music composed and recorded
• original negative assembled
• film to censor for certification
• Advertising campaign approved and booked
• test screened
• Film is booked into cinema's
• prints of finished film are duplicated
• Film, stills and information is sent to distributors
•  advertising begins
• Premiere then cinema release of film
• Video distributed, TV screening depending on rights

Sean, Katie, Liam,

Cold Game Opening Scene

This is the opening scene to our new thriller film 'Cold Game'

Location Comparison

Location Comaprison

For our thirller film we wanted to use a similar location to the opening scene credits of "Reservoir Dogs" so we have used a pathway in Steeple Bumptead that has a similar brickwall that is seen in the opening, as you can see from the pictures there is a brick wall present in both settings. We have chosen the location in Steeple Bumpstead as it helps to create a similar setting that is seen in"Resevior Dogs" and we feel that this setting connotes the idea of a criminal lifestyle. It was also an easy location to access as most of the actors and group members could easily travel to this location.

Sean, Katie, Liam

The Cost Of Making A Film

The cost of making a film

Film Title	Cost (millions)
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End	£300
Tangled	£260
Spider-Man 3	£258
John Carter	£250
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	£250
Avatar	£237
The Dark Knight Rises	£230
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian	£225
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest	£225
The Avengers	£220
Men in Black 3	£215
X-men: The Last Stand	£210
Superman Returns	£209
Battleship	£209
King Kong	£207

The modern films are becoming more expensive to make as technology advances and audiences expect more and more from the cinematic experience.



Sean, Katie, Liam

Thriller Timeline

The thriller genre has changed a lot over the years and this is a timeline showing a few Thriller Films that inspired us to make 'Cold Game'. It will also show have thrillers have changed in a few ways.

1960s - Physcho (Alfred Hitchcox)

Physco is a 1960 thriller film created by Alfred Hitchcox. It was the thriller of that paticular decade and had a very dark edge to it. The plot was basically  the story of a young woman who steals $40,000 from her employer's client, and subsequently encounters a young motel proprietor too long under the domination of his mother. This is one of the many films that have supposedly defined the thriller genre and used several simple camera angles. It didnt contain many effects due to the time of when the film was made. however it attracted large audiences and was seen as a hugely successful film.

1970s - Dirty Harry (Don Siegel)

Dirty Harry is a 1971 American crime thriller produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan. This differs greatly to physco ten years earlier as it uses several effects for explosions, gun shots and lots more. A sadistic serial killer calling himself "Scorpio" (Andy Robinson) murders a young woman in a San Francisco swimming pool, using a high-powered rifle from a nearby roof.

1980s - Cruising (William Friedkin)

Cruising is a 1980 psychological thriller film directed by William Friedkin and starring Al Pacino. The film is loosely based on the novel of the same name, by New York Times reporter Gerald Walker, about a serial killer targeting gay men, in particular those associated with the S&M scene. This really does have great differences in the thrillr genre changing it from a scary, tense genre to a more fast paced, exciting genre.

1990s - Die Hard 2 (Renny Harlin)

Die Hard 2  is a 1990 American action film and the second in the Die Hard film series. The film was directed by Renny Harlin, and stars Bruce Willis as John McClane. This franchise really changed the face of thrillers and almost leaned the thriller film to a sort of action genre, and contains several similar conventions from the action genre.

2000s - Sin City (Frank Miller)

Sin City is a noir thiller produced and directed by Frank Miller. This was a very different thriller to those of the years before it as it was a modern take on the film noir classic thrillers in the 50s and 60s. Starring the likes of Bruce Willis and Quentin Tarantino it had some great actors who have worked on thrillers in the past too. It has several thriller conventions throughout and the film and was very popular with critics and audiences alike.

2010s - Safe House (Daniel Espinoza)

This 2012 action thriller starring Denzil Washington and Ryan Reynolds is a great example of the coming together of the action and thriller genre. The conventions of both are easily visible making this excting, fast paced, suspense filled thriller one of the highest grossing of the year in the cinema. This was one of the groups favourite thrillers along with Resevoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction so we used parts of this film as an inspiration also.

Sean, Katie, Liam

Why We Chose Idea 2

When we first had the discussion about what we could do for our film, we came up with two good ideas. However eventually we decided to chose idea 2 as the final idea for our two minute opening scene in 'Cold Game'. We felt that this two minute opening scene idea was much more simple to film but it would look much better and contained better shots which fit the thriller style. Along with this the conventions of the thriller are more obvious in this idea compared to the 1st idea and therefore we felt it would be the better idea to use.

Along with this we had the right actors to create this idea well. Seeing as how we all enjoyed the film resevoir dogs we had used this as our inspiration so you will see several aspects of our opening scence that can relate to resevoir dogs more so than the first idea. Overall the fact that this idea fit the thriller genre and was easier to make was the main reason as to why we chose this idea over the first idea.

Sean, Katie, Liam

How Did Filming Go?

On The 25th of November we gathered in Steeple Bumpstead to film our 2 Minute opening scene from the new thriller 'Cold Game'. The Director Sean Carter, Cinematographers Liam Evans and Katie Meyer all assembled for the filming and were joined by the Actors - Lewis Jones, Ian Foulger, James Price and Sam Johnson for the filming of the Two Minute Scene. We feel that the filming went almost completely to plan and that we have filmed all the scenes we need to create our two minute opener.

We had a few minor problems with the camera running out of battery, and at times had differences of opininon on what type of shot should be used at a certain part, however we overcame this and worked through it to make a great opening scene.

Before the day of filming we had storyboarded the two minute opener shot by shot stating where each part would be filmed, for how long and from what angle etc. It was a very organised day and we knew exactly what we needed to do, therefore i think that this successful day of filming will show in the quality of our opening scene.

We not only successfully filmed the opening scenes but we also filmed several interviews, and behind the scenes footage on the day which we will be blogging very soon. I feel that the ideas of the group together with the hard working actors will mean that 'Cold Game' will make a great thriller.


Sean, Katie, Liam

Story Board

Below is the storyboard for the opening scene of 'Cold Game'. 

Sean, Katie, Liam

Second Location Idea

 We have decided that our Second Idea's location would be in  the streets of Steeple Bumpstead and also the Graveyard/Church of Steeple Bumpstead as we feel these two locations are perfect for the sort of scene we wish to capture, and we are hoping that the setting will really help to give the scene the sort of edge we want to capture. See the photos below for a view of the setting where we are going to film.

Sean, Katie, Liam

Spider Diagram Of Thriller Conventions

We have created this spider diagram ideas to show off the conventions of a thriller in general. We will use this diagram to remind ourselves of the conventions we may wish to put into our own film 'Cold Game'. The thriller genres conventions are all listed below and then along with that we have listed certain films that link to that convention.

Sean, Katie, Liam

Spider Diagram Of Ideas

We have created a spider diagram/ web of ideas for our production 'Cold Game'. This includes ideas for costumes, actors, setting, camera angles and inspirations etc. (see below)

Sean, Katie, Liam

Actors

 Actors

Sam Johnson 

       We picked Sam Johnson to be in our film, as he is reliable for filming and was willing to be in out film, as    he liked the idea of the plot, and has the look we wanted the mysterious man to have. Sam was also free when we needed him to film, this suited us best, as it fitted in with our filming schedule.


Ian Foulger

Ian volunteered to be in the film as he lives in the area we are going to be filming in. He fits the role perfectly as we needed a male character for the idea. He is reliable for filming and was willing to be in our film, he also liked the idea of the plot. Ian was also free when we needed him to film, this suited us best, as it fitted in with our filming schedule.

James Price
We needed another male to be in the film so James fit the role well, he lives in steeple which is the area we are going to be filming in. The fact he wasn't busy on the date of filming and we know we could rely on him to film was also a big bonus.

Lewis Jones
Lewis fit the role of one particular character we wanted in our scene and could easily help us out in the scene due to the fact he lives in the area we are wanting to film in. Along with this he is reliable and easy to contact to act in the scene




Sean, Katie, Liam