2. research sf 2017

1. STAGE 2
RESEARCH +
EXPERIMENTS
Jay Birkin

2. • What is your favourite genre of film, why?
My favourite film genre is comedy. This is because they are pleasing to watch and
also can be enjoyed by everyone .
• What is your favorite part of a movie, the beginning or the end, why?
The middle as there is a good character and atmosphere build and there is
usually a dilemma that happens in the middle of a film, and the dilemma is what I
find most interesting.
• Do you like thriller movies, Yes or No, Why?
Yes because when you have a strong connection with the characters then you
care about what it going to happen to them, making the film intense and
interesting to watch.
• Do You think that one character is enough for a movie Yes or No, Why?
Yes, as long as there are dilemmas happing around this one character and you
have a good connection with the characters.
• Do you prefer movies with darker or brighter colours?
It depends on the genre of the film. If it is a comedy theme I prefer more vibrant
colours however if it is a horror, thriller, action etc. then the darker theme of
colours creates a nice atmosphere for the set

3. • What is your favourite genre of film, why?
Action, because I like seeing people getting killed
• What is your favourite part of a movie, the beginning or the end, why?
Beginning because it sets out the story of the whole film
• Do you like thriller movies, Yes or No, Why?
No they scare me
• Do You think that one character is enough for a movie Yes or No, Why?
No because with more people you get an attachment to them
• Do you prefer movies with darker or brighter colours?
Bright colours
My research was very helpful, my interviews allowed me to go into greater
details to help shape my idea together. The questionnaire did not get many
responses but it helped fit a general guideline for my audience and I think
that I could have included some more questions and made them more
relatable to the audience.

4. I didn’t really get many responses for my survey but they are always a great research method to use, so I gave it a go. I
asked mainly questions about the audience member so I could decide what type of audience to go for. I should have
gone with a question such as do you like thriller movies since that was my idea, I was most likely to go with this but I
wanted too see the audience responses, most of which on every question are 50/50.

5. ■ In 2014, 15-24 year olds made up the largest proportion of the
UK cinema audience, at 31%.
■ A wide range of genres appealed to women, whereas men were
drawn to films with a strong action element.
The age bracket for the thriller genre is significantly higher but due
to the fact that thriller fits with the age group which are usually 15-
24 year olds, which are the main majority of the group which go to
the cinema. I decided the audience from my survey which was
mainly 17-24 year olds.
My short film be mainly around 1
minute as that was the vast
majority of the answers which I had
collected through the survey.
This social grade
table will be of use to
me later on in the
project because it is
part of the audience
group that I am going
to decide upon.

6. (Picture in left corner)
(Picture in top right)
Birkin, Kai. (2018) Target Audience
interviews (16th January)
Sedgwick, Fintan. (2018) Target Audience
Interviews (17th January)

7.  Summary-From research I have learnt that the target audience largely depends on
the age of the characters. If the film features characters ranging from all different
ages, then the target audience would be wider. My film only features teenagers
therefore the majority of my audience would be around the ages of 16-24.
Teenagers often seek films in which the plot is either relatable to them. I have also
found that thrillers are one of the best genres for short films because they suit the
shortness and they are suspenseful.
 Audience Profile:
 16-24 year olds- this is because this is the age that watch movies the most.
 Male- this is because it is a thriller, males tend to like action and thrillers whereas
women watch more of every other genre.
 BE Social Grade- I chose this because it is the same age group of the characters
that are in the film and it relates to the subject.

8.  This list includes everything that I am going to consider before and whilst I make
my film.
 Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming), this
should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Whether the depiction of easily
accessible weapons is acceptable will depend on factors such as realism, context
and setting.
 There may be strong threat and horror. A sustained focus on sadistic or sexual
threat is unlikely to be acceptable.
 Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The
strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic violence is
also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual
violence but the depiction of sexual violence must be discreet and justified by
context.

9.  Research potential production techniques you might want to use
or feel would be most appropriate – these can be related to
camera, editing, story, sound, etc
 You should look at a minimum of 3 related products in your
research.
 You should collect clips/still images/how to guides/etc that might
help you. When watching scenes from films, etc you could also
ask potential target audience what they think.
 You will need to add extra slides!
 With each technique you should assess whether you can use it or
how you might employ or why you may want to disregard it
completely

10. a low-angle shot, is a shot from a camera angle positioned
low, anywhere below the eye line, looking up. Sometimes, it
is even directly below the subject's feet. The effect of the
low-angle shot is that it makes the subject look strong and
powerful. I am planning on using a low angle shot to make
the masked character with the gun, seem more powerful
towards the audience. The darkness and danger of these
shots is what I really want to convey across into my movie.
These shots include black or darker colours all of which
represent death, evil, and mystery. Black is a mysterious
colour associated with fear and the unknown. The image of
the mask is scary and I think that my project should have
something like this placed into it to back up that part about
mystery, making the movie more suspenseful for techniques
such as twists. Finally there is the weapon, a weapon
consists of a metal tube, with mechanical attachments, from
which projectiles are shot by the force of an explosive. These
are dangerous and are actually not included in thrillers too
often, they tend to use weapons like knifes but I think that
mine would probably suit a gun better.

11. The concept of this short film is relatable to me
and it is what I want for final product. There is
absolutely no sound just the odd sound effect,
this makes it suspenseful and it is exactly the
technique I want for my film. I like the setting
and mise en scene of this film but I don’t think
that it suits what I am looking for, I will go darker.
This film has other factors in it such as blood
and furniture but it is only 1 minute and includes
everything that a story needs so my basis for my
idea will mainly revolve around this.
Time loops are particularly interesting in films because films heavily rely on audio-visual
stimulus to keep the story moving forward; because time loops involve repetition, movies
with them can run into heavy problems: such as, they can bore the viewer, or they must
break their own "rules" to wrap up the story and give it an ending and add extra layers
and detail which is probably what I am going to do in my finished story to complete it and
really round off the whole project.

12. This is a short film in which there is one
character, I like this idea because it is
simple and I want there to be only one
character in my movie. The character ends
up meeting his future selves and each time
he changes, this is fictional and impossible
but I really like that idea because it means I
can explore with the idea and do as much
as I want with massive possibilities. It is a
bit lengthy for the time frame that I am
working for but the concept is what I am
aiming for so I have taken some ideas from
this. This movie is a little simple though and
I want mine to be more twist like and
confusing(but not to confusing) towards the
audience so I like the idea but I am going to
have to step it up for improvements.
There is no sense in the time travel
movies and the possibities are
endless, which is why I chose this type
of movie to do. I didn’t really research
thriller but with all of these products
when you look at them they are almost
set up like thrillers. So they helped me
decide on my final idea which I was
unsure about until now.

13. EXPERIMENTS
Camera/Editing/Audio Experiments
Be prepared to add extra slides

14. What elements of your experiments
will you include in your final
product?
The only similar part of this I am going to
include in my final product is the camera, I am
not going to include a zoom because it doesn’t
look right and focuses terribly, however I am
definitely going to use some of the similar
shots and angles.
The first experiment that I did was filming, for this we
had to first plan and I did this by drawing a storyboard
which gave a great base for the story but it could have
been tweaked at any later point, the reason for a
storyboard is because it is a simple method to use and
it can give you so much detail about your movie. To
film we did this in a team because there was limited
cameras so we had a choice between everyone's
story because of this we decided to merge everyone's
ideas together, because of the limited time we had we
had to film in college and we chose easy accessible
locations, these choices were excellent ones and they
worked really well but in the end with the making of
my final film it will probably not be filmed in college.
This was not filmed in black and white I changed all of
that in editing the only thing we had too worry about
whilst filming was making sure that the camera was
focused correctly and the lighting was just right for
what we needed. I am not an expert on how to use the
camera but I do the minimum basics of how to work
the camera.

15. To start off the editing process, I opened up premier pro and then every picture that I
had taken from the SD card was put into a folder on the desktop of the Mac which
was imported in. Because I had imported every recording their was no use for all of
them so I had to sieve my way through them and find the correct ones that I needed
which would have been smooth with no errors. Once I had all the correct images I
moved them into a certain order which I thought was the best and then I used the
razor tool to cut down clips, the only other tool that i used during the making of this
video was the move tool which is the most useful in my opinion because then you
can actual get everything just how you want it. Once all the videos were in line and
correct then I went onto putting audio over the top(this is the best order to go in).
The editing this far had given off a sad aura and atmosphere so to represent the
mood of this I used a black and white colour effect which makes all images black
and white which I believe is a useful effect which came in handy for this. The last
step after finishing everything off was to export, I did this by exporting to a HD 720
for posting purposes.
What elements of your
experiments will you
include in your final
product?
I am definitely going to include the
similar process in which I went
through for this experiment and
make the video, then edit it all
together whilst including my own
audio.

16. For audio I had to use a Shaun of the dead clip and make my own sounds,
edit them and then place them over the top of the video. The sounds were
recorded on an audio recorder which college provided us with, considering I
was doing this in a group of four it was much easier and a lot of help to
understand how it worked. To start of we recorded every single sound because
it all had to be original. We did this by going around college and the outskirts
to get all of the suitable sounds, once this was done I then went onto premier
to cut down the audio clips, make them smooth and placed them over the top
of the video. To place the audio on the computer I had to use a cable and then
put them all in a folder and import them into the software. I used the razor tool
and cut down the clips of sound to get it exactly how I wanted it, the only effect
I used was the fade, in which I used it at the beginning at the end of a certain
sound clip. The last step after finishing everything off was to export, I did this
by exporting to a HD 720 for posting purposes.
What elements of your experiments will
you include in your final product?
In my final short film for the audio I am going to use this
exact same process without a doubt, I will start of by
using the audio recorder and gather all of my sounds
then I will import all of the sound files into the software,
premier pro.
Other parts which I will might include in my final film is
effects and I don’t have much experience with all of
them.

17.  Time- I will have to probably book kit out and I will have a limited time to film and
get everything together.
 The camera might not be working in some way or another so I will have to make
sure that it work before I get on with my project.
 I might not be able to finish everything on time due to the lack of all the other
factors such as PowerPoint so I will definitely make sure that I finish on time and
make a half decent short film.
 The people that I will need in filming might not be free on specific times that I want
to record, so I have to arrange well.
 It will cost for props and or I might not be able to attain them.