Sarah Leader

In the scene involving the brother and sister, we decided to include a flashback from the brother's point of view. To make this obvious, we made the scene black and white.

We kept the 'main dealer's' face hidden to create an element of mystery.

The titles are incorporated with the scenes, for example we put the directors name on the top of a roof.

Some scenes were filmed at night to capture the natural darkness needed to keep the element of mystery.

This photo captures the type of weather which is featured throughout our film opening to create a gloomy mood. This one was also taken as it was getting dark and the mise en scene is exactly how we wanted it.

We tried to use mostly actors of the same age and gender of our target audience – males in their early to mid-twenties.

Men play dominant main characters, but not in a particularly stereotypical way because there is only one female involved in the opening.

The main character is not a stereotypical drug dealer, he used to be an athlete.

People would usually associate the characters involved to be using drugs, and would expect older, middle-class males to be the dealers (like the character Daniel Craig plays in Layer Cake), they would be middle class because of the money they make. We decided not to follow this stereotype to allow the audience to work out where the story is going and who each character is. There is a slight hint in one scene which gives the audience a clue about who the main character is. He gives his sister a birthday present and she asks how he could afford it, but he doesn't give her an answer. This tells the audience that he makes money somehow.

We have a similar shot to this one from Layer Cake in our own film opening, even the setting is similar.

The film would be made on a small budget, therefore we would like a small independent company to produce it.

Because of the small budget and small institution, it may only become an internet release.

Although the film might only be released on the internet, it could still benefit from merchandising and franchising. For example, a computer game could be created from it, or the soundtrack could be used in advertising and on television.

If an institution such as Film4 produced our film, then it could also be a TV movie and be shown on the Film4 channel.

Layer Cake was made on a small budget and since we already took inspiration from this film we thought this might also be successful for us.

'Dealer' is aimed at a young adult audience which is mostly male.

In the brother and sister scene the language used is very relaxed, and shortened words such as 'sis' (short for sister) are used.

The type of clothing worn by the characters might also be worn by the target audience.

We chose this target audience after deciding on a theme and story for our film, and then adapted our ideas so that they appeal to this audience.

The film is exciting and mysterious, and the target audience might want to go to see it to find out how the main character succeeds at leading a double life. They may also want to see it to put themselves in his shoes.

The suspense throughout the whole film will keep the audience on the edge of their seats and at certain points will particularly terrify them. For example whether or not the sister finds out what her brother does for a living, and whether or not she will support him. This might appeal to a female audience member because she could relate to the sister in the film.

The age certificate for our film is 15, so it is targeted at an audience aged 15 to 25.

The camerawork used at these points is vital in capturing the right mood and feeling of the scenes. For example worm's eye view is used to just view someone's feet.

The feeling of being watched is created by using obstruction shots and the main character is followed when he is walking at night. Because of these shots, the audience will feel as though it is them following the character and watching them. They are also being allowed to witness what the main character does that other characters do not know. This will make the audience feel as though they are involved with the action in the film.

This photo shows footsteps in the snow, but the person making them cannot be seen. This features in our film opening.

Strengths and weaknesses of the camera equipmentThere were difficulties with using the tripod because there wasn't always one available, and the one that we did get had the screw missing so we had to hold the camera in place ourselves. Problems with filmingAlthough we had our shooting schedule, the actors were not always available when we were. This meant that filming took longer than we had planned, but we managed to film everything we needed. Also, we were not particularly happy with the scene where Jake spins around in the chair because we had to make it faster. He also had to use his feet to spin because the chair we needed to create the correct mise en scene was broken.TechniquesWe experimented with new filming techniques such as using a worm's eye view shot, obstruction shot and also filming high shots from the top of a roof. These shots helped create the right mood that we wanted for each scene.

Shot of titles which move upwards and sit on the rooftop.

Editing SoftwareMany effects on Imovie were useful when we were putting the finishing touches to our film opening. For example, we were able to make the scene with the main character and the main dealer darker to show that the main dealer is not a good character. Also, we could make the flashback black and white to show that it is a flashback. The scene involving the main dealer spinning around in his chair and standing up was slowed down to make it more effective. I have learnt that editing can't fix everything, and that the shots have to be right in order to edit them to look how you want them to.

SoundtrackWe were not able to remove the vocals from the soundtrack that we decided to use, so we had to work around that issue. Instead we decided to use the vocals to enhance parts of the opening and found that this worked well. However, we did not want the singing to continue for too long throughout the opening, so we repeated the first part of the song before the vocals started.

Part of our preliminary task is actually included in our film opening because we wanted to use this idea and the same shots and adapt them. Although we had fully planned our preliminary film, we had to decide where to include it in our film opening and how it would be involved.

The use of specific shots has improved. For example, the over the shoulder shot used in our film opening is of much better quality than the one in our preliminary task. Also, a tripod was not used in the filming of the preliminary task so there were no steady shots. Although we mostly wanted the shots in our film opening to be hand-held, a tripod was used to capture the steady ones that we needed for shots such as establishing shots.

I feel a lot more confident with using the equipment know and know how to use it properly to get the best result possible.

I feel that our end product is very successful at fulfilling the task. We included typical thriller conventions and titles, and it is two minutes long. It has an element of mystery which allows the audience to figure out what is happening, and they can also feel as though they are involved with the action due to the types of shots used. I have learnt a lot during this process and I am very pleased with the end product.

This screen shot is of the scene where somebody is searching for a type of drug on the internet.

Audience Questionnaire Feedback

ActorsMost people who watched our film opening said that the actors used were suitable for our thriller, apart from one who thought that they should have been older. Because the majority of the audience thought we chose the right actors, we are happy with our decision.

SoundtrackEverybody in the audience who completed our questionnaire agreed that the soundtrack was suitable and fit the film genre very well. Some said that it built up with the action and matched scenes which is what we were hoping for.

ProductionAlmost everybody said that if our film was produced, it would be made for TV and cinema, which we were very pleased with because we were only aiming for an internet release because of the small budget.

Overall the outcome of the audience questionnaires was very good and we got the results we wanted.