Final Cut of 'Captivity'

Captivity Film Poster

Here we have created a rough film poster for 'Captivity'. To create this poster, we used Adobe Photoshop. We applied various effects to the image, and used dark dull colours, such as red and black, fitting in with the conventions of the thriller genre. The background has been blacked out, to put the main focus of the poster on the face. The lighting has been exaggerated on the face, making it stand out against the black background. The font has been kept clear and simple in capital letters.

9 Sequence Art of the Title - Captivity

This is a nine frame sequence that has been screen grabbed from our opening sequence which we feel portray typical thriller conventions. 

Feedback Questionnaire Results

Here are the results of the questionnaire:

1. Every one said yes
2. Everyone said the 'torture' shots and the ending
3. Everyone said yes 
4. People said that the lighting fit in very well, as low lighting was used, making the scene look eerie, creating atmosphere.
5. Everyone said that the walking shots, dragged on a bit. 
6. Some people said that the walking shots could have been set in the evening or at night, when it was dark, fit in more with the thriller genre. Others said that there could have 'torture' shots, the walking shots could have been cut down.

Feedback Questionnaire

Below is our questionnaire we created, to get feedback from our target audience.

1. Did you enjoy watching the opening?
2. What was the most successful feature in terms of conveying the genre of the thriller? 
3. Did the soundtrack fit in the with the type of film?
4. How well do you think the lighting fits in with a thriller convention?
5. What part of the film did you not like and why?
6. What could have been improved in the film opening?

This is our screengrab of our rough cut in production on Final Cut.

This is our screengrab of garageband while producing our soundtrack.

Distributors - Research

Our film will be a low budget film as we are unable to afford big distributors such as '20th century' or 'Paramount'. It will be a DVD release. Here we have researched possible home video distributors, that we could use to distribute our film.

Cinema16 is a small British DVD company that release 'classic & award winning short films'. They have released 68 short films using 67 directors. The most recent release was in 2008 called Sikumi (On the Ice). The company works with famous and less well known directors. Examples of films they have produced are About a Girl (2001), Boy and Bicycle (1965), Gassman (1997) and Telling Lies (2001).

Prism Leisure Corporation were a distribution and publishing company. The company expanded in 2002, and became the UK’s leading wholesaler and worldwide distributor of CD's, cassettes, computer games, videos and DVD's. Some of the films they distributed on DVD were, March or Die, The Shawkshank Redemption and The Jigsaw Man.

Each person's role in the group

David & Manan - Are the main actors
                           - Are in charge of creating a soundtrack for the sequence
                           - Are editing the sequence
                           - Costume designers

Devki & Shreyaa - Are the directors and producers
                            - Directors of photography
                            - Are editing the sequence

Order of Titles List

Distributor - 'Perfect Dark Productions'  &   'Cinema16'
Actors - Manan Vekaria, David Hanley
Casting by - Devki Mistry
Directed by - Manan Vekaria
Music by - Manan Vekaria, David Hanley
Director of Photography - Devki Mistry
Title of Film - Captivity
Executive Producer - Shreyaa Pattni

Filming on Monday 17th

On Monday the 17th, we did some shooting in Stanmore, of deserted roads. We filmed various shots such as point of views, long shots, mid shots etc.

The weather wasn't amazing as it rained quite a bit. We went filming fairly late in the afternoon at about 3 o'clock, so it was starting to get a bit dark, which emphasises a thriller convention.

New storyboard

This is our new rough storyboard that we created, as we decided to change our idea, from shooting it in a shopping centre to shooting it on deserted roads and an empty room, as it was more convenient. We aimed to use a variety of shots.

Filming on Friday 14th

On Friday the 14th we were scheduled to go Brent Cross Shopping Centre to film the crowd scenes. However as the weather wasn't great, we decided to go to Harrow shopping centre. We then changed our idea slightly. Instead of filming crowds at a shopping centre, we thought of taking shots of deserted areas, near where we were going to film the 'torture scenes'. This would also be more convenient and easier to do, as the filming would all be done in our local area.

Another inspiration for our soundtrack: The Dark Knight - David & Manan

We've listened to instruments used and will try to replicate this on GarageBand.

Schedule for Friday 14th - Devki & Shreyaa

On Friday we are planning to go to Brent Cross shopping centre to film our crowd shots.

11:30 leave for Brent Cross
12:00 arrive at Brent Cross
12:00 - 2:00 Film
2:00 - leave to go to Stanmore
2:30 - arrive at Stanmore
3:00 take some shots of the area.

We will use this footage at school and edit it.

Inspiration for our soundtrack: The Hills Have Eyes

This soundtrack from 'The Hills Have Eyes' has really inspired us as it builds up tension and creates an eerie atmosphere. We will be looking to replicate this as best as possible, possibly using GarageBand, FruityLoops or Cubase.

Similar AS Product analysis - by Devki & Shreyaa

This is an example of a good AS thriller coursework, which includes quite dark scenes and looks fairly realistic.
Some of the shots were similar to what we want to produce, such as the scene blacks out for titles, and cutting back to different scenes such as from a shot of a knife to paper cuttings on a wall. The lighting in the opening scene has been used quite well, creating a thriller atmosphere. No dialogue has been used, building up suspense.

Similar AS Product analysis - by Devki & Shreyaa

This is an example of an AS media project, which has a similar scene to what we are going to film - a torture scene. 

However after watching it we thought that this particular torture scene did not look realistic. We would like to go for a more straight forward edit as this would be more effective and will entice the audience further. The type of editing that we have seen in this opening has been edited quite quickly, and so making it look rushed. The intended effect was to scare people, but instead creating an opposite effect, making it humorous. 

Our aim for the torture scene is to make it look realistic by editing it better than this scene, which would improve the continuity, making it flow. By watching this opening, we have seen what kind of scene we don't want and what effect make up and clothing can have on the audience.

A short film example from the British Films Catalogue

Second Example of a London Film Festival

This is London film festival for short film, in which it includes our genre of a thriller. It's free to enter; this would be more suitable for us as we are students.

An Example of The UK Film Festival