We set up a focus group of two boys and two girls, they are around the same age as us but they each have different interests in films. We sat them down together and explained in detail our idea for out opening sequence, we then gave them time to think about it and what they thought and we then asked them a series of questions while filming them. We asked them questions such as 'what genre of film do you think this is?' and the main answers were mystery, drama and thriller. We also asked questions such as 'what are your first impressions of the film from what we have told you?' and by us asking these questions has given us and idea to whether we think we need to change our idea for the opening sequence and how to improve. This is a key piece of research into whether our idea is good because it tells us if this opening sequence will make people want to watch the rest of the film which is what an opening sequence is meant to do. This is our video from the focus group..
Monday, 7 February 2011
Friday, 4 February 2011
MAIN POST 6: History of your chosen genre
1841- Edgar Allan Poe published the first mystery story. 'The murders in the rue morgue', introducing a brand new genre.
1887- Sherlock Holmes made his debut in 'A study in scarlet' in the strand magazine.
1903- The first narrative movie was made. A silent film called The Great Train Robbery.
1927- Frank and Joe hardy embarked on there crime fighting careers with publication of The Tower Treasure. Nancy Drew followed in 1930.
1930- The first weekly radio detective show, Sherlock Holmes. It was also one of the country's first radio dramas of any sort.
1939- Batman debuts in 'The Case of the Chemical Syndicate' in detective comics. This introduced the mystery genre to a brand new audience of children and adults of all ages.
1945- Mystery Writers of America (MWA). An organisation established to promote the intrest and welfare of mystery writers and increase recognition of the genre was founded in New York City.
1946- MWA introduces the Edgar Allan Poe Awards to recognise excellence in mystery dramas of any sort.
1957- The television show Perry Mason debuts, this ran untill 1966. Many more followed this until 1993 and further.
1972- Murder Ink, the worlds famous mystery bookstore opens in Manhattan's Upper West Side. By 1999 there were over 150 worldwide .
1995- The first online mystery network, MysteryNet was made. By 1999 over 500,000 people had visited the site and orders from it.
1998- According to variety, 14 of the top 50 grossing movies of 1998 were mysteries. They included Rush hour, Leathal weapon, Enemy of the state and many others.
1999- In the past few decades, mystery books came second only to romance in units sold. Over 60million mystery detective books were purchased by consumers in 1997, representing 11.3% of the popular fiction books purchased for the year.
1887- Sherlock Holmes made his debut in 'A study in scarlet' in the strand magazine.
1903- The first narrative movie was made. A silent film called The Great Train Robbery.
1927- Frank and Joe hardy embarked on there crime fighting careers with publication of The Tower Treasure. Nancy Drew followed in 1930.
1930- The first weekly radio detective show, Sherlock Holmes. It was also one of the country's first radio dramas of any sort.
1939- Batman debuts in 'The Case of the Chemical Syndicate' in detective comics. This introduced the mystery genre to a brand new audience of children and adults of all ages.
1945- Mystery Writers of America (MWA). An organisation established to promote the intrest and welfare of mystery writers and increase recognition of the genre was founded in New York City.
1946- MWA introduces the Edgar Allan Poe Awards to recognise excellence in mystery dramas of any sort.
1957- The television show Perry Mason debuts, this ran untill 1966. Many more followed this until 1993 and further.
1972- Murder Ink, the worlds famous mystery bookstore opens in Manhattan's Upper West Side. By 1999 there were over 150 worldwide .
1995- The first online mystery network, MysteryNet was made. By 1999 over 500,000 people had visited the site and orders from it.
1998- According to variety, 14 of the top 50 grossing movies of 1998 were mysteries. They included Rush hour, Leathal weapon, Enemy of the state and many others.
1999- In the past few decades, mystery books came second only to romance in units sold. Over 60million mystery detective books were purchased by consumers in 1997, representing 11.3% of the popular fiction books purchased for the year.
MAIN POST 4: Group Meeting
Below are the minutes from when we had our group meting, this is what was said during the meeting:-
Lauren: From looking at the research we conducted, Rom-Coms, Dramas and mysteries come out on top.
Charley: I think we should do a drama with a twist of mystery, as I think comedies will be too difficult for the timing we have, and are also hard to appeal to a large audience as humours vary.
Ben: I agree, I think it would be a good idea to shot a mystery drama with a variety of clever shot sizes.
George: Yeah these are all good ideas, I think we should consider basing the plot around a kidnapping of some sort in order to match our genre.
Lauren: Yes, that’s a good idea George. We should try and film something that will not only grip viewers through interest, but also to teach people the importance of staying safe while outside of home.
Charley: We could have a kidnapping of school children? I think using a hand held camera would look really affective on a mystery drama like this one.
George: Yes, we could shot school pupils leaving at the end of the day, perhaps Charley and Lauren could act as the girls that are going to be abducted.
Ben: These are great ideas! By using the school as a focus point on location, the filming will be quite easy for us. We should use a interesting effect on the camera to generate the right tone and impression of the overall genre of our opening sequence.
Lauren: Another idea we could discuss is if we are using a hand held camera, we could have the kidnapper as the narrator in the way that what the viewers see is through his eyes, in order for the audience to feel included.
Charley: We could do a ‘double take’ from the crowds of school children, back to Lauren and me, as when the kidnapper realises we are the ones he is after.
Ben: Yes, the variety of shot sizes and fast pace editing between shots will generate the excitement.
George: We should also use creative typography on our titles to link to the genre of the opening sequence. We also need to consider the music we are going to use, it must have a sense of mystery and drama to it.
Lauren: From looking at the research we conducted, Rom-Coms, Dramas and mysteries come out on top.
Charley: I think we should do a drama with a twist of mystery, as I think comedies will be too difficult for the timing we have, and are also hard to appeal to a large audience as humours vary.
Ben: I agree, I think it would be a good idea to shot a mystery drama with a variety of clever shot sizes.
George: Yeah these are all good ideas, I think we should consider basing the plot around a kidnapping of some sort in order to match our genre.
Lauren: Yes, that’s a good idea George. We should try and film something that will not only grip viewers through interest, but also to teach people the importance of staying safe while outside of home.
Charley: We could have a kidnapping of school children? I think using a hand held camera would look really affective on a mystery drama like this one.
George: Yes, we could shot school pupils leaving at the end of the day, perhaps Charley and Lauren could act as the girls that are going to be abducted.
Ben: These are great ideas! By using the school as a focus point on location, the filming will be quite easy for us. We should use a interesting effect on the camera to generate the right tone and impression of the overall genre of our opening sequence.
Lauren: Another idea we could discuss is if we are using a hand held camera, we could have the kidnapper as the narrator in the way that what the viewers see is through his eyes, in order for the audience to feel included.
Charley: We could do a ‘double take’ from the crowds of school children, back to Lauren and me, as when the kidnapper realises we are the ones he is after.
Ben: Yes, the variety of shot sizes and fast pace editing between shots will generate the excitement.
George: We should also use creative typography on our titles to link to the genre of the opening sequence. We also need to consider the music we are going to use, it must have a sense of mystery and drama to it.
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