Main task - Similar products - Blog task 12

Poster analysis.


I picked 5 different types of posters to analysis to show the different ways different types of film try to create an audience for their films. The posters i picked were:

The Eagle.

Insidious.

Red Dragon.

Charlie St. Cloud.

Back to the future.

Main task - Similar products - Blog task 11

Character building


My main character is a captain in the army. Jonathan Hage has his own unit of men and has just come back from the war. He is someone that is seen as trustworthy and a team player. He is respected by all of his men that surround him. Jonathan is intelligent and understands the job that has to be done. He has a wife and children that love him and depend on him to keep them going. But then we find out his secrets within and he becomes a completely different character not only to the audience but also to himself.

Other characters that i would say are similar
I would say that my main character of Jonathan is very similar to the character of 'Teddy Daniels' played by Leonardo DiCaprio.

 Both of the characters are looking to solve a mystery behind an odd going on. They are both men that have power and are trustworthy members of society.

Alongside this they both share the characteristic's of seeing things to do with themselves and to do with the case that they are trying to solve. This is a strong similarity between the two.

Also another strong similarity between the two would be that they are also the bad and the good guy within the film, although they both believe that they are only the good guy. This is a particular important characteristic to both Teddy and also my character of Jonathan as it is one of the main thriller elements within the films and therefore creates the suspense and mystery and also highlights how a character can be both a protagonist and antagonist.

Theories that i can use within my character and plot
Looking at Vladimir Prop's theory of Character types (the seven spheres) i can see that my character fits in within the "hero" type to begin with. As i have already explained, he is a trustworthy and friendly person with his men and also civilians. He fights for what he thinks is right and counts himself as being rather intelligent. However, when the end of the film comes we find out that he also plays the role of the villian also. This then allows for the story to have a protagonist as well as an antagonist.

The overall plot of my film lends itself to the theory of Barthes enigma code. The film continues to allow the audience to ask questions about what is going on and also to ask questions about who the leader of the torture group is.

Main task - Diary entry three

When thinking about my idea for my thriller film i don't think that it sounds that necessarily as though it would fit into the genre of thrillers. So therefore, i am going have tweaked my idea. So this is going to be my second idea and see which one my teacher prefers.

I am continuing on with the idea of a soldier based story who have just got back from war.

A group of men have just got back from war and they are now going about their daily regime. This includes seeing them doing a training exercise and also sitting together chatting. It is plain to see within this day that there is a particular divide amongst the men.

 A letter comes through to the sargent of the men, explaining that they have found out about torture that has taken place with a group of his men while they were out at war. It is explained that there are 5 members to the group that took part in the crime and that he needs to go undercover and work out who they were.

He begins to look for the men, talking to them all. He soon finds four men that fit the bill and when questioned they tell him everything that he has done. He is sickened by what they tell him, he questions them about a leader and say that it is none of them. He sends their names away to the head quarters and they get taken away.

He then begins to dream about what they have told him, he see's the leader and gets instantly angry. He tries to see his face but cannot. Every night he dreams of the same. Forever getting closer to the leader, the dreams are becoming less blurred every time. During the day he gets consumed with trying to find out who this man is. He knows it is someone in his group, he investigates into his men that are left.

In his final dream the whole of the dream is no longer blurry and he finally finds out who the person is. He wakes up before the audience can see who it is. He wonders around, worried. Scared. He packs a bag, delicately putting a pistol into the bag and leaves his house. Leaving his family and everything behind. He walks up the streets in the dead of night. He walks up to another house, takes his mobile out and rings the person on the inside, his second in command comes to the door. They get in the car, go to the middle of nowhere and tells him everything. He then explains the dream, we can see the events through his eyes, and as the he tells him all about the person who it is the leader of the group leading the torture turns around and we find out that it is the sargent. It returns to the present and the sargent has a gun to his head, he explains that he doesn't know what is going on with his head, he wants to end it. The second tries to get him not to kill himself, they are wrestling with the gun, we hear a gun shot and everything goes black.

Main task - Diary entry two.

My idea for my film has been commishened. So for my next step i need to start tdoing some research into soliders with shell shock and how it effects the soldier and the people that surround him. I will also plan my storyboard and start drafting my script.

Main task - Diary entry one.

I have come up with my idea of what i would like my main task will be.

The story opens with a news report relaying the information that someone locally has died on fireworks night and that currently police are looking into it. The story then revolves around my main character Johnathon Hage, an army sargent who has just got back from war. He has a team of men that trust him and respect him. They continue to train together so that they are ready if they get posted oversea's again. During the trainning exercise that takes place Sargent Hage starts to get a little confused on where he is and begins to have blurred images of the past. When one of his men knocks him as the sargent has stopped abrubtly the sargent turns on him, firing blanks that bruise his man. He plays the situation down, telling his men that he is alright, he was just caught off guard. He tells his men that the trainning is done for today and that they should go back to their rooms.
Later in the evening the sargent and his men collectively go to a fireworks night, they all have a few beers before they go. They are locally known amongest civillians and are spoken to and have kind regards and pleasentry's passed on. While the fireworks are lit and the display begins the men appear fine, all happy and enjoying a normal night out back home, a white, loud firework goes off and a odd expression comes across the sargents face. This time his memory is not blurred. His mind has been taken back to the war. He's fighting the enemy. He is chasing through civillians to catch the man that they have been after for a while. Suddenly he feels someone grab his shoulder, he turns to see his second in command looking at him. All of his men are telling him just to shoot the guy. That he is better off dead. The sargent is blinking rapidly, with every blink he is switching between reality and the war. He becomes further confused and finally we hear a shot ring out.
We then see the situation from a different pair of eyes, the man that he was chasing has turned around just to see the sargent turn the gun on himself and take his life.

This has not been commishened just yet, however i am going to share my plans with my teacher soon and will be able to find out if i can film this, or if i may need to change it ever so slightly.

Preliminary task - Evaluation.

How effective is the combination of your main product and your film poster?
- I think both my poster and main product link as they are both showing the location of which the movie takes place. They both connote isolation and to an extent fear also. This is what i want the main product to make the audience feel. So therefore with the poster making the audience feel this before the movie i would say that both my movie poster and main product are effective.


What have you learned from the audience feedback?
- From showing both my movie poster and main product to my target audience i found that they were thrilled and suprised by the ending of the film but enyoyed it. They agreed that it fitted the genre of the thriller because they we're thrilled and all had a reaction towards the story. However, they have said that it was a little short. So therefore i have learnt from my preliminary task that i need to make the story a little longer, take my time telling the story so that it creates a little more suspence. This is something that i can take onto my main task.

What have you learned during the course of this project and what targets for improvement do you need to set for the main task?
- Through out the preliminary task i have learned that when it comes to my story, it doesn't matter how many times i re-draft it that the final one that i film first i have to be happy with. This is so that when i come to edit my film i don't need to re-film everything all over again so that i can get it closer to the image in my head portrayed onto the screen. I also need to plan my time more wisely so i get everything done in time and i am less stressed out. 

Preliminary task - Film.

Preliminary task - Poster.

This is the movie poster that i have made for my individuality film. I used the outside of the location that i used with the door open so therefore creates suspense for the viewer and makes them want to view the film because they are intrigued through the image.

They are also intirgues through the use of the tag line 'Who knows what's going on in someone's head...' this line intrigues them for wanting to know what is going on in the leads head for them to be within a place such as this and to be alone. The word 'head' is in itallics so therefore allows the viewer even more of an inclin to what could happen in the film and therfore makes them more intrigued.

The credits at the bottom of the page i made myself, you can see this by looking at the names of the people that helped with my project and by my name within it too. However, i have also used the company of Universal pictures to make the film and poster look more professional.

Overall my poster conveys my film as being not fully explainned and intriguing. It doesn not give the storyline away, we know it is about an individual and how they are feeling through the title and the tag line. The poster is simple so that it doesn't take anything away from the story and therefore also builds up emotion of wanting to know what it's about.