Our final opening sequence: Bitter Youth

Evaluation task 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Title: Bitter Youth 

 This title was chosen because it creates ambiguity for the viewer as it has nothing to do with what is shown in the opening sequence. Originally however, we were going to add small flashbacks that the stalker would have of himself as a child with the girl he is stalking. This would uncover the fact that his obsession with 'Sammie' had been going on since he was a child, and it would also uncover how he was mistreated by other children. But we decided to take this out so that the viewer was left with more to decipher.

Setting/location

Our opening sequence is set in a cellar/basement and a church. These are very common conventions of the psychological thriller genre because they both give an eerie and an unsettling feeling. We started with Sammie going into a church because it was a form of emphasising her purity and innocence. The use of religion is a typical thriller convention and has been used in films like 'The Omen' because it suggests that good is going to be challenged and the innocent are going to be victims of evil. We originally wanted to use a cathedral like 'The Omen' but due to technical difficulties, this could not be done. Her location is a great contrast to the stalker's location which is his basement or cellar, instantly suggesting that it is a hidden room and that he tries to cover up his mental disability. The fact that it is secluded from the rest of humanity also links to thriller conventions.

Costume and props 
Sammie is first introduced with a pastel pink coloured top that again suggests her gentle nature and her stereotypical girly personality. Her black pumps and plain black leggings emphasise her simplicity as a person and the fact that her character is very natural.
Contrasting her, the stalker wears a plain baggy, black t-shirt, trainers and jeans. His simplicity and lack of fashion suggests he doesn't care about his looks (he's careless) and his character instantly sticks out from the rest of society. 
Our main prop was the board in which the stalker has accumulated a montage of pictures of Sammie that showed that he had been stalking her for quite a while. We also used a polaroid image that was blank and that he eagerly shakes; this represents his struggle for the love of Sammie. 

Camera work and editing
The whole of the first half of the opening sequence is in the stalker's point of  view and this is clear with the hand held camera. We also chose to simulate his blinks so that the viewer could feel like they were actually in the scene. This idea was taken from the film 'Enter The Void' as we thought it made the point of view shots more realistic. When he is stalking Sammie inside the church, we chose to have different angles of him seeing her as she is sat looking at the alter and praying so that we could see his desperation and the agile skills that he has learnt over the years. There is a part where she looks back and the camera turns as though it was him looking inconspicuous. 

In the editing process we decided to use many blurs as this would suggest his blurring vision that is a result of his ongoing obsession for Sammie; this is commonly used in psycho thrillers to highlight the mind orientated subject. We also used a voice over at the end so that we could again, gain more insight into what he was thinking and also took inspiration from another psycho thriller 'Fight Club'. 

Title, font and style

Our fonts are either black or white, which link back to his black and white mind twitches and also relate to the theme of good vs evil; the white is Sammie's purity and the black is the stalker's dark mind. We used a simple font because of the complexity of the mis-en-scene making it too much if our titles were  more extravagant. Also, the simplicity mirrors the simplicity of the costumes of both of the characters. However, our last 'directed by' titles were done using stop motion while still following the black and white theme to mirror the newspaper article cuttings he has of Sammie in one of the shots.

Story and how the opening sets it up

Bitter Youth tells the story of a troubled boy that falls in love with a girl when they are only children. As they grow up, they begin to grow apart and he begins to develop an obsession for her and takes pictures to put in a basement in his house that is dedicated to her. Sammie, the girl, being pretty and popular, has lots of friends and is a stereotypically perfect person. The stalker (who's name we never really established) gradually begins to kill off all her loved ones and appears in all their funerals as a 'distant friend'. At the end he asks her out for a coffee and she agrees as she is completely oblivious to what he's done and only wants some comforting for all the deaths she has had to go through. The film would have ended like that, with a cliff hanger to follow the ambiguity of psycho thrillers.
It is pretty clear from our opening that a girl is being stalked as he follows her into a church and takes a picture of her. We then see how he has many pictures of her in a abasement that suggests he is not right in the head and could be willing to take his actions further.

Genre and how the opening suggests it 

Our genre is firstly clearly portrayed with our story line which suggests that there are psychological elements involved. The whole idea of a stalker is quite disturbing and instantly comes across as a thriller without being confused with horror. In the basement, the stalker acts unnaturally by stroking images and kissing images suggesting a mental disorder. In one part he smears red pen on her forehead making the audience think that his obsession has gone so out of control that he would rather she die than not be with him. However this action is merely a glitch of his illness where he imagines that he is smearing his blood on her in order to be closer to her. The confusion this creates, links to the conventions of psycho thrillers. We used a very soothing and calm diagetic 'ave maria' playing in the church to link to good vs evil in contrast with the dramatic music that is played in the basement, showing it's genre as it creates a creepy atmosphere.
The setting, as I mentioned before is also very stereotypical of the genre because they are commonly used in psycho thrillers. 

How characters are introduced
The stalker is first introduced with a close up of his eye, suggesting that the viewer is going to have an insight into his thoughts and that he is going to be the main focus of the film as he is the first character that is shown. Yet, he is firstly fully shown (no face involved) when he walks into the basement and his strange physicality is shown. Sammie on the other hand, is introduced as the victim when she is walking into the church and the viewer instantly grasps the fact that she is a good and likeable character.

Special effects

We edited certain sections so that the screen is flipped for a split second in black and white (some shots are just simply in black and white without being flipped), again portraying his insanity and lack of sleep causing him to see things. We also alternated the pace of the sequence by going really fast and then slowing down in certain parts to relate too the themes of disorganisation, manic, and loss of control. This could also represent the fact that his mind is like a roller coaster.

Evaluation task 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main character in our film is mentally disturbed and lonely in the world because of his weird personality and eeriness. He lives with a basement dedicated to a girl that he is obsessed with and his mental disability causes him to have lack of sleep and mind twitches that are visible in the opening sequence.

When searching for similar characters, we found that Robin williams played a very similar character in the 2002 film On hour Photo in which his character Seymour Parrish obsesses over the Yorkin family. Like the stalker in our film Seymour is a lonely man that seeks comfort from his rejection in society by obsessing over people they wished they were with. Likewise, Seymour has a massive collage of photographs that he has collected from the family he wants to be in, and contemplates his work of art in the same way that the stalker in our film does. 

However, the stalker in our film has a much more disorganised collage which he has written on and mirrors his disorganised mind set. While Seymour's craziness is depicted with a perfect collage suggesting he also has an obsessive compulsive disorder, that again builds on to his nature of obsessing.


The costumes in both characters are only a bit similar in the sense that they both have rather baggy clothes even though the age difference also plays a part in what they are wearing. Our stalker is more casual and uses darker colours while Seymour is dressed with brighter colours that contrast his dark mind but suggest that he is hiding his true self. Which is my next point, Seymour acts normal around people and even though he comes across as a bit weird, he looks like a sane person. However, the stalker in our film is quite socially awkward because he doesn't interact with people on a daily basis like Seymour does in his job. This makes our stalker more obviously disturbed.

Evaluation task 3: Where might your media product be distributed and why?

Because our film is an 'Independent movie' it would have to be shown in a film festival to see if there are any contributors willing to buy the rights of our film.For most filmmakers a film festival showing is the closest they will ever come to having an audience for their films. For most serious independent filmmakers it is where they hope to find a buyer for their film. There are film festivals that are set on specific genres, so 'Bitter Youth' could be shown in an international genre film festival that focuses on thrillers e.g. Thriller Chiller Festival.
I don't think our film would make it to a big film festival because of our limited resources and budget that would make our film (if we were to finish it) amateur and not of a professional standard. So realistically, the film would be shown in festivals such as the Raindance Film Festival which is the best independant film festival in the UK or the London Film Festival. These festivals together with many more, show many of the hundred films that are produced by amateur directors and movie makers.

Also, our film could be screened in an independent cinema like The Electric Cinema in London, Portobello Road. It is beloved by London filmgoers because it offers not only mainstream feature films, but also art house films which suits the style of our psychological thriller. 
But even so, it might not even be screened in a cinema. It might be released straight onto DVD and sold for a cheap price because as I mentioned before we only had certain resources and only used certain programs that limited the professionalism of our film. 

Evaluation task 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our film was targeted at people aged 15 to 30, to be exact. Here is the stereotypical person I would be expecting to be watching this film.

This is Lauren. She is 18 and is studying photography at the UCA University in London. She has a very quirky and arty style that is influenced by her arty way of life and her passion for alternative/rock music. 

She loves to go to gigs and music festivals with her group of friends and also loves travelling. She loves sushi and the Japanese culture because of the eccentric fashions and styles. In her spare time she is either drawing or watching Japanese 'anime' and she carries her camera everywhere she goes because it is her life. 

She enjoys watching programs such as misfits and family guy but is more of an internet person as she spends most of her time on her blog posting new pictures that she has taken.

Her favourite genre of film is psychological thrillers because of their intricate story lines and the experimental cinematography. 

Evaluation task 5 :How did you attract/address your audience?

Before we started to make the opening sequence we handed out some questionnaires to people to ask them questions such as: what is your favourite genre? what aspect do you like of that genre? what is the best psycho thriller movie you've seen? From this questionnaire we looked at what the things were that people enjoyed about psycho thrillers, like interesting camera work and interesting story lines. 

We specifically wanted to aim this movie at a younger audience from the ages 15-30, so when we finished it, we had a peer assessment in which the other students in our class watched our sequence and gave us feedback. Most were impressed with the camera work and one response said that the blinking effect did not work.  

To enhance our research on whether our film attracted our target audience, we uploaded the video on youtube in which we got a few comments. The response was all positive and I feel like we accomplished our goal to create a piece that had interesting camera work and very clear genre conventions. The first comment says that the camera angles were 'artistic' and in my audience post, I mentioned that the target audience were most probably arty and appreciate psychedelic ideas.

Evaluation task 6: what have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

For the filming of our opening sequence we used the a Cannon 500D. This gave our film a really good resolution as it was filmed in high definition and therefore made it look more like a professional film. When filming with this camera, I found myself struggling to adjust the focus but I got the hang of it after a while. I also learnt to look at different angles, to see which ones worked and which ones didn't. I'd had this camera for a while but had only ever used it for photography purposes, so at the beginning I found myself looking in the manual so that I could adjust the high definition options.

We used Mac computers which I was quite used to using anyway because I have one myself. But even so, I found it tricky to use the program imovie which was used to edit our final footage. Not only had I not used it much on my personal mac, but I hadn't edited anything complex, which meant I was struggling when we first used it. I did however gain a lot of knowledge on how to use it, specially on the preliminary task when I learnt to add titles and transitions. I also found that it was a very limited program and it meant that we were not able to do many of the things we wanted to do like e.g place the titles in certain parts of the screen. Which meant we had to mould to what we had and what we could do, so a lot of our original ideas on our story board had to be changed.

Other programs we used include garageband for cutting our music and youtube for getting backing sounds. 

Evaluation task 7: Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Our finished preliminary task proved to be quite difficult and looked incredibly amateur. In this task we explored the 3 continuity principles which are the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot/reverse shot. However, we had some continuity errors that wouldn't have been done if we had had more knowledge on filming and editing. For example, when Sophie showed me her phone in one of the shots and in the next shot she didn't have her phone. Which meant we had to edit it so that the clip when she is taking the phone out is replayed but backwards so that it looked like she was putting the phone away, and this then messed up the diagetic sound.

When planning and editing our opening sequence, we made a more thorough story board so that we knew where each shot was. Even though our story board was not followed exactly due to limitations that we had, it still gave us a basic idea and we made sure to take a huge variety of shots of different angles so that no continuity errors were made. For example, in the scene when the stalker walks into basement, we took extreme care as the shot changed from a close up of his shoes to a high angle shot of him still walking in. We had to look carefully at where he had stepped and where he hadn't stepped so that it flowed smoothly and did not look like it had been shot twice. The only scene that could look like a continuity error, is the scene in the church where he is looking at her from one angle and then he is suddenly on the floor on another angle, but this was done purposely to suggest that his mind has twitches that highlight his mental disability and to create ambiguity for the viewer.

It was also a lot easier to add sound on top of the clip when editing instead of using the natural diagetic sound that was there when filming. We did this because of the trouble we had had with the diagetic sound in the preliminary task; in our opening sequence we took the same track that was playing in the church (piano ave maria) and edited it on afterwards so that we were able to fast forward and slow down clips without it being affected.

Match on action was shown in the preliminary task when Sophie walked through the door but we were not shown how she opens or closes the door behind her. The audience instantly assumes she's done that and that is why she is walking through the door. The intention is shown but I think we could have cut out more of her walking past the door so that it was more fast paced.





One of the times we showed match on action in our opening sequence was when Sammie is shown walking into the church and in the next shot she is already sitting down in the church and the stalker is now walking in himself. The viewer does not need to see her walk all the way to the seat because it is not necessary, or the stalker walk all the way to the door. This meant the video had a faster pace and it did not drag.




In our preliminary task we showed the shot reverse shot when the two characters were speaking as well as using the over the shoulder shot. This was very effective because it was clear who was speaking and even though the transitions were not quick enough, the shot worked.




Even though we did not use the shot reverse shot in our opening sequence, we used the over the shoulder shot when the stalker is looking at his board. This is effective because the focus is on the board while he is blurred and this makes the viewer concentrate on the mise- en- scene. In our storyboard we had a shot reverse shot as the camera showed his face at the end looking at the board but we chose to not use this shot because it created suspense and the stalker was left unknown for the viewer.

The 180 degree rule was conserved in our preliminary task when Sophie walked in and sat to have a conversation with me. The other side where she walked in from was never shown, so this was done successfully.






Likewise, in the opening sequence always followed the 180 degree rule, even in the point of view shots. An example is in the basement when you don't see where the stalker has come in from. So this again, was successful in this task as well.







Over all, our opening sequence was a lot better than our preliminary task as our continuity was smoother and the editing was more accurate. We used jump cuts instead of longer transition to fasten up the pace and we also used a larger variety of angles such as the high angle or the low angle shots, as well as the point of view shots and long and close up shots. We also manipulated the pace by making some parts in slow motion or in fast motion and thought more about the mise- en-scene so that we could emphasise what our genre was. The quality was a lot clearer as well with the use of a better camera and with the bad experiences we had with the preliminary task we were able to avoid them in our final sequence.

Black Swan

Nina Sayers is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. Her dream is to play the lead Swan in Swan Lake and when she gets the role she learns that the part calls for her to play the parts of both the White Swan and the darker Black Swan. But the latter proves more difficult and the story follows her mental and emotional struggle, feeling pressured to do well, among other things. Throughout the film, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side- a recklessness that threatens to destroy her as she strives for perfection. 



Main Characters:


Nina Sayers played by Natalie Portman (the protagonist)- is a fragile and mentally unstable girl which is a typical character in the psychological thriller genre. The characters in these films are never mentally stable causing them to do the things they do. 

Lily played by Mila Kunis- Is a very ideological character and has everything it takes to be the Black swan that Nina so desperately wants to master. She is very mysterious and rebellious as well as sensual that links to sin and is therefore very common of a psychological thriller.

Thomas Leroy played by Vincent Cassel- Is the artistic director of the ballet in the film, his character lures Nina into the dark side and acts as a sort of devil together with Lily that lead to her to insanity. He is quite selfish in the sense that he doesn't care about her, he only cares about the show. Evil and selfishness are convention of a psychological thriller. 


Natalie Portman has worked in other Thrillers such as 'V for Vendetta' and 'Leon' so she is quite familiar in the genre. She was chosen for the role because of her incredible acting skills and her ability to mould into troubled characters. 

In this film, you would expect themes such as insanity, loss of control, determination, pain, evil, mystery, confusion and fear because these are all typical themes in a psychological thriller.

You would expect a mellow setting in this film; the typical cold and cloudy atmosphere in a rural area. This is a common setting in this genre of film. The film is actually set in New York city, which is a rural setting and there is a clear cold atmosphere as the cloudy sky adds to the wind. Most of the filming outside actually takes place in the dark or with low lighting, again linking to the genre. It is also typical that she is mostly alone in the film connoting her vulnerability and the fact that she had no ones help while she was combatting her inner self throughout the film. 

Other films that portray an inner struggle with themselves could include 'Fight Club'.

Why have we chosen to do a psychological thriller?

As a group we discussed and thought it would be a good idea to choose the psychological thriller genre for our opening sequence coursework because visually, it can be manipulated to create more complex sequences. It is a very common genre due to the fact that these films are so clever and don't rely on gore to scare the audience like horror movies do as well as captivating the viewer with their mind boggling stories and images. They are also more interesting and more creative as a genre, so we can use this to our advantage to put in our best abilities in creating this sequence.

My group

The group that I am working with to produce my opening sequence coursework consists of two other people:
- Sophie Benson (www.sophieebenson96.blogspot.com). She has a love for drama and could bring her artistic skills into our opening sequence so that we can create a realistic piece.
-Charlotte Boosey (http://charlotteboosey.blogspot.co.uk/). Has already taken this year of Media a-level and has more experience than us, so she could help us with skills that we are not so good with like camera work.

Evaluating the Preliminary task

The task we were given, was to create a short scene in which we used match on action and reverse shot while still maintaining the 180-degree rule. In this task, we were told that Character 1 would walk through a door and have a conversation with Character 2. Before we filmed this scene, we had to prepare our storyline by storyboarding the events.

During the filming, I was an actor and played character 2, my role was to be consistant throughout my scene so that we made no continuity errors. Charlotte, as the camera person, used a panning shot at the beginning when Sophie walked towards the door as this would show the process of her getting to the determined spot. She also used a medium shot as this was appropriate considering what the viewer needed to see.




To show match on action, Charlotte only filmed Sophie walking past the door but did not show the process of her opening the door. The audience is expected to understand the fact that she has walked through the door. We made sure to maintain the 180 degree rule as the frame was shot from the same side. A medium long shot was used here so that we could see the character clearer from a further perspective.

When character 1 spoke to character 2 we used shot reverse shot to follow the conversation between the two from each character's point of view. Again, Charlotte only filmed from one side and conserved the 180 degree rule. We also made sure during the acting, that we made no continuity errors with the phone, for example, in this frame so that it didn't change position suddenly.

A medium long shot as well as over the shoulder shot was used in the shot reverse shot frames so that there was a clear exchange of speech between the two characters. The characters were positioned in the centre of the frame so that they are the main subject of the scene. This also helps to draw the attention to them instead of the action in the background.

I was happy with final results because I think that as a group we created and developed a realistic scene with exchange of dialogue in which we had a smooth use of match on action and shot reverse shot. However, we had a slight continuity error with the phone as we forgot to shoot Sophie putting it back into her pocket, which made the editing process more difficult. I think the camera was the perfect distance from the subject as it was close enough for the audience to see the expressions on the characters' faces, but not too close so that it was overly dramatic. Overall, I think we worked well as a group because we all put ideas forward and we all helped to contribute with the making of this scene. We also took on each other's criticisms and listened to different opinions to create our finished product as such.
I now feel confident with the use of the camera as well as Imovie on the Mac computers. Throughout the filming of this scene and previous works, I have learnt to create different shots and use different angles with the camera, as well as how to set it up on the tripod. Also, I learnt how to use Imovie and edit films by cutting, adding transitions, music, titles etc.

An interview with Christopher Nolan

Interviewing Christopher Nolan by Stephanie Ocampo on GoAnimate

Video Maker - Powered by GoAnimate.

The death scene in the film Psycho

Analysing the semiotics in the film 'Psycho'

In the famous shower death scene of this film, the person holding the knife is shown as a black silhouette, connoting mystery and creating an eerie feel as we don't know who the person is or if it is a woman or man. The use of the colour black has bad connotation as it could represent darkness and evil. Also, the silhouette holds the knife in a ruthless way that suggests that he or she is going to stab the woman in the shower instead of slice and makes the whole situation more brutal . The knife itself represents danger and brutality while also showing the audience a primitive side to this character, linking to animalistic and savage behaviour.

The fact that the woman is naked could represent vulnerability or innocence and also links to the the sin of lust and therefore evil in general. The shower connotes tranquility and is seen as a safe environment, while the water connotes purity and cleanliness. This tranquility and purity is challenged with the brutal stabbing and the dark blood that pours from the body. The image shows that the woman is holding her hand out signifying a cry for help; this is a natural human instinct showing she is reaching out for hope.

The shower head point of view shows the woman's point of view and could connote the fact that she is being watched by someone.  As it is a point of view shot it could suggest that all her attention is on the shower head and is unaware of her surroundings, making her more vulnerable and makes the audience anticipate that there might be something or someone in the room. The water trickling down could mirror the blood that later trickles down her body when she lies dead.