Twentieth Day Evaluation

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The Twentieth Day

The final rendition of our opening, complete with full titles and sounds. Main changes in this update include our names as titles at the very end, as well as an increase in contrast to create a more moody atmosphere!

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The Twentieth Day | Sounds

Sound design was headed by Josh Rossiter, and while we both had our inputs of ideas into the types of sound and recording methods, Josh recorded and edited the sounds to fit within our piece, as well as creating the music. Our main goal with the sounds was to create a realistic sounding atmosphere, which means we needed plenty of diegetic ambient sounds, including wind and footsteps for specific areas and locations. We also recorded a variety of sounds that were not essential but helped create a stronger mood, such as metal taps and chain rattles. None of the sounds we collected were from royalty-free sources, all were recorded on site or in post. 

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The Twentieth Day | Update 2

This was a rather major update in the process of creating this opening to feel like a proper opening to a movie. See below for the update:

In this update, a smaller change created was that the saturation was decreased in all the shots, washing out the colours more and creating a far bleaker, lifeless tone to the whole opening, as in previous shots we felt that the colours were too vibrant and did not represent the connotations of an abandoned, apocalyptic environment adequately. This update also came with the inclusion of titles appearing on screen. They were strategically placed in shots with little importance to the context of the story, but rather in shots that help develop the atmosphere. This way they do not interfere with the audience so much, and do not take away from the realism as they appear in the shots with non-diegetic music playing anyway. In order to maximise the realism and tension, however, we included only a few titles, just to make the opening seem more realistic.

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The Twentieth Day | Update 1

We have recorded all our shots and edited the majority of them to fit the theme of the opening movie. We also recorded the majority of the sounds needed for the production in our final shooting day. Our next step is finalising our ideas in post-production and recording the remaining sounds. As well as the important task of adding titles.

Of course, this update is still lacking in some sounds towards the end, and the titles will still need to be included. This updated added some much needed sound and music to help develop the atmosphere to the shots, and added the shots in the middle to develop the story and create a cohesive piece. This update is a key turning point in the production, as finally we fully understand the main aim of the piece and have obvious goals to shoot for. The next step is just fine-tuning until we are finished with a product we are completely happy with.

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The Twentieth Day | Ending Shots

In our second day of filming, we recorded what would consist of the ending of the opening, and edited it to continue the atmospheric themes created before. Again, the sound was not fully completed by this point, but our sound bank is slowly being filled, with custom music having been recorded. Sounds will be added later on in the editing process.

See below for video:

Our idea was to create a very mysterious opening, with a lack of answers on who the characters are and where the opening actually takes place, the intention of this is to create enigma codes that the audience would eventually decipher as the movie would progress, and keep them entertained as they would want to discover these answers. The mysteriousness also keeps the tension to a high degree, which is important in retaining audience interest. We plan to include diegetic ambient sounds during this scene, as well as the diegetic sounds that would come from ruffling clothes and using a lighter, to enhance the realism.

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The Twentieth Day | Opening Shots

We recorded the initial shots for the opening of our production, and edited them to create the atmosphere and tone we hoped to achieve with the piece. Sadly, a big part of the atmosphere is sound and we were not able to record the correct sounds on set, so sounds will be added later on n the project. 

See below for the video:

We focused on shots of the environment to emphasize the fact that the protagonist is isolated and alone in this location, creating a far tenser and gripping opening. The extreme close up towards the end focusing on a minuscule detail also emphasizes this fact. Our plan is to include ambient diegetic sounds of wind/birds etc, plus include a non-diegetic piece of music, which will be created by Josh. This will make the shots above feel far less mundane than they currently do. One step we may take to improve this is by increasing the length of time some of these shots are present on the screen, as this will enhance the ideas of isolation, as there is far less movement, creating a lifeless tone to the piece.

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Audience Research Questions

Now that I have gathered a vague understanding of the audience for my genre, I will delve into more detail and understanding about what certain demographics would view. I will take three people for a variety of age groups and ask them five questions relating to our movie in order to create a greater understanding of our viewer-base.

Questions:

 1) Does genre influence your choice in film?
 2) What are some of your favorite movies?
 3) What is your opinion on post-apocalyptic movies?
 4) Would you see a film named "The Twentieth Day"?

Age group: 9 - 14

Tom Hewitt - Age 12:

 1) Does genre influence your choice in film?

- "Kind off, for most movies I'll watch them if they look good, but if a film was a horror I wouldn't watch it."

 2) What are some of your favorite movies?

 - "I don't know, I like Transformers a lot, and Avatar."

 3) What is your opinion on post-apocalyptic movies?

 - "I don't know, I haven't seen many apocalyptic movies, but I like the idea, like in games like Fallout."

 4) Would you see a film named "The Twentieth Day"?

 - "I guess, maybe, I don't really get what it would be about, though."

Reuben Thomas - Age 9:

1) Does genre influence your choice in film?

- "No, I don't think. I prefer, like, cartoons and sport, but I think I would watch most."

 2) What are some of your favorite movies?

 - "My favorite movie is Indiana Jones- all of them."

 3) What is your opinion on post-apocalyptic movies?

 - "What's that?" ( I explain) "Nah, I don't really watch that".

 4) Would you see a film named "The Twentieth Day"?

 - "I don't know"

Anna Hewitt - Age 9:

1) Does genre influence your choice in film?

- "I like cartoons, and Disney. I don't like scary movies."

 2) What are some of your favorite movies?

 - "Frozen, Grease, Cinderella."

 3) What is your opinion on post-apocalyptic movies?

 - "I don't know what that is." (I explain) "I don't know, I haven't watched them."

 4) Would you see a film named "The Twentieth Day"?

 - "Yes!"


Clearly, as the previous audience research suggested, this age group is definitely not interested in films similar to our production. While there are glimmers of interest in the older half of this section, there is still very little evidence to support making a movie aimed at this demographic with the themes we are using in ours.

Age Group 15 - 24

Jamie Hewitt - Age 19:

1) Does genre influence your choice in film?

- "Yes, I'm not a big fan of dramas or romance, I enjoy comedies mainly."

 2) What are some of your favorite movies?

 - "The Naked Gun, Airplane!"

 3) What is your opinion on post-apocalyptic movies?

 - "Depends if the movies is good or not, but I'd go and watch movies in that setting."

 4) Would you see a film named "The Twentieth Day"?

 - "I don't know, depends if it looks good or not."

George Burton-Barker - Age 20:

1) Does genre influence your choice in film?

- "Yeah. I'm not really a fan of animated movies"

 2) What are some of your favorite movies?

 - "Drive, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Alan Partridge move."

 3) What is your opinion on post-apocalyptic movies?

 - "It's pretty cool. If the film looks good I'll watch it but I do think it is a little overdone."

 4) Would you see a film named "The Twentieth Day"?

 - "Yeah, I guess."

Jazmine Hewitt - Age 17:

1) Does genre influence your choice in film?

- "Not really, I'll watch anything. I like to watch with friends, though."

 2) What are some of your favorite movies?

 - "Anchorman, Paranormal Activity."

 3) What is your opinion on post-apocalyptic movies?

 - "It's not my favorite genre, but I wouldn't not watch it."

 4) Would you see a film named "The Twentieth Day"?

 - "Maybe, yeah."

Age Group 25 - 50

Vaughan Hewitt - Age 47

1) Does genre influence your choice in film?

- "Not really, but I wouldn't go and see , say, the newest Disney film on my own accord. I would probably go and watch gangster movies in the cinema, though."

 2) What are some of your favorite movies?

 - "The Untouchables, Goodfellas and Scarface."

 3) What is your opinion on post-apocalyptic movies?

 - "I enjoy movies based on their quality, that said, I do enjoy movies in that setting."

 4) Would you see a film named "The Twentieth Day"?

 - "I'd have to have a look at the trailer, see if it looks good."

Morgan Thomas - Age 34

1) Does genre influence your choice in film?

- "No, I don't think so. I'll go see a movie if I think it will be good."

 2) What are some of your favorite movies?

 - "All the Back To The Futures."

 3) What is your opinion on post-apocalyptic movies?

 - "I haven't seen many, but I thought the Book Of Eli was very good, and I kind of like the idea of that setting."

 4) Would you see a film named "The Twentieth Day"?

 - "Yeah, sounds interesting."

Melanie Hewitt - Age 44

1) Does genre influence your choice in film?

- "I think I like any film as long as they are good."

 2) What are some of your favorite movies?

 - "The Goonies!"

 3) What is your opinion on post-apocalyptic movies?

 - "I quite like them, I like the danger of it."

 4) Would you see a film named "The Twentieth Day"?

 - "Maybe, I don't know what to expect."

I think it is clear that the audience research prior to this was rather accurate in its findings. As expected, the very young audiences were not interesting, but surprisingly, the late teens to young adults were not to keen either, who seemed to prefer comedies to the dramatic style of other films. As suggested by the audience research, the middle-aged audience seemed far more receptive to the connotations and ideas of our movie. However, a clear common ground between nearly all asked was the fact that they would see the movie based on their own opinion of its quality, suggesting that, while we should set our target audience to be aimed between the years of 25 - 50, the quality of the movie will be the most important factor in its success.

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The Twentieth Day | Auditions

We tried out a variety of actors to be featured in our movie, each taking part in a recorded audition so we could form a judgement based on their performances. See below for the auditions:

We decided Alex Wiseman to play the main role in our production, for several reasons. Firstly, we felt his size and stature, being tall and physical, would help develop the connotations of an inhospitable environment that we were aiming to demonstrate. Secondly, Alex's acting abilities (despite only walking) suited the role perfectly, as he was able to seem curious, yet focused, which is what we needed. Also, by having another actor play the role, it allowed for Josh and I to really focus our creative input on the camera work and sound design, leading to an overall better project. 

Our second audition was Jamie Hewitt. While Jamie had potential, we felt that his physical shape had less impact in comparison to Alex's, being that he is considerably shorter. From the short audition clip, you will also notice Jay's inability to keep a straight/serious face. This would be detrimental to our project which has a very serious direction. We also felt that in this audition, Jay lacked the curious yet focused trait that Alex Wiseman achieved in his. All these points led us to the decision to not utilize Jamie in our production.

The next audition was myself, however, this failed for numerous reasons. Firstly, my body shape and size does not correlate with the connotations of inhospitably featured in our production. I also suffered a similar problem to Jamie, in which I struggled to remain serious and focused in the audition, which would spoil the mood and increase recording time in the actual project. I also failed to capture the curious and focused tone that Alex achieved, as my walk was far to fast and uninteresting. Furthermore, if I was not acting, I would have far more creative input from the directors point of view, which would lead to a better product. All these choices led us to believe that I was not suitable for the role. 

Audience Research

For my audience research I will be analysing films with similar concepts and themes to the one we will be creating, and studying what kinds of people viewed the production, as well as its profits and success to gauge an understanding of how we should target our opening and maybe use these productions as a referral point for our movie. The films I will be looking at are:

Se7en – Se7en is a bleakly shot film, utilising a lack of colours to create a rather depressing atmosphere, a similar idea to what we plan to do.

The Matrix – Many scenes in the Matrix also contain connotations similar to ours, for example when Neo wakes up out of the Matrix for the first time, or within the Matrix itself, which features a green tint to make it seem more like a ‘computer’ and far more bleak.

I Am Legend – The location for this movie is very similar to ours, an abandoned urban location overgrowing with nature.

Se7en

 - Se7en was rated an average of 8.6 on imdb, only 13% of these votes, however, came from women, who gave it an overall rating of 8.5. So while the female audience gave a similar score, very little of them were interested in voting on the movie.

 - 32% of the votes came from males aged 18 - 29, meaning over a quarter of votes were in this category, who gave the movie the average score of 8.7, two decimal points above the women in this category.

  - 27% of the votes came from males aged 30 - 44, again over a quarter of the votes being from males, who also gave the movie an average score of 8.7.

 - YouGov profiles set the demographic for the movie at males aged 40 - 54, which partly complies with the findings I found on imdb.

 - Overall, the main demographic for this movie is males aged 30 - 50, with females being nearly left out of the audience, helping us narrow down our specific target audience for our opening.

The Matrix



- The Matrix was rated an average of 8.6 by 1152799 users on imdb, however, similarly to Se7en, only 12% of these votes came from women, who rated the film an average of 8.3, a few points below the average, and 0.5 points below the male average, suggesting the demographic is aimed at women.

 - A whopping 37% of the votes came from males aged 18 - 29, who rated the film 8.8, as opposed to the overall average of 8.6, suggesting this demographic should be the one we focus on.

-  29% of the votes came from males aged 30 - 44, who, again rated the movie an average of 8.8.

- YouGov profiles research set the demographic for the movie to be aged 40 - 54, which again compiles significantly with the results from imdb.

 - Similarly, the target audience for this movie, which has similar connotations to our movie, to be around the age 30 - 50, again with females being nearly being completely left out of the demographic.

I Am Legend

 - I Am Legend was rated an average score of 7.2 by 505487 users. Again, a tiny fraction of 12% of these votes came from the female demographic. However, unlike previous analysis, this demographic rated the movie on average the same score as their male counterparts, suggesting that, although less women may have seen this production, they equally shared the enjoyment of the movie.

 - A massive 36% of the votes came from males aged 18 - 29, who rated the film 7.3 overall, slightly above the average rating overall. Only 7% of 18 - 29 year olds that voted were women overall.

 - 28% of votes came from males aged 30 - 44, over a quarter of the voters. This points to this movie strongly being aimed towards males, however, this demographic rated the film a 7.0 overall, slightly lower than the overall average, suggesting that this movie is more aimed at young adult audiences rather than middle-aged people.

 - YouGov profiles sets the demographic for this movie to be aimed at males, which complies with our findings. However, this site shows the target age to be 44 - 54, which suggest that we may need to widen our demographic to just ignore teenagers and young children.

- As before, our target demographic is painted to be aimed at males, usually at the age of a young adult, but there is also considerable interest in the middle-aged area also. But, a considerable lack of woman are featured in our demographic.

Storyboard

The opening frame of the storyboard is not an accurate representation of our entire idea. We plan to have several shots of the environment to emphasise the themes of isolation and stillness, as well as our production company title scratched into the wall at one point to provide an interesting showcase of our logo.

While the first two frames are not completely representative of our ideas, the final frame is an actual shot we will use in our production. The first two are rough, vague shots. By this point we plan to follow the character as he traverses the environment.

These storyboard frames are the most accurate representation of the scenes we plan to use, as we believed the ending would need to be filmed with the most certainty, as it is the most important part of the opening.

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Location Photos

As mentioned in previous posts, our opening is adopting an apocalyptic theme, meaning our location will not only have to seem abandoned and empty, but also represent the connotations of hostility and danger that is commonly associated with these settings. See below for these images:

As you can see, the location is of a fairly large size, with multiple rooms of varying size and decoration. This variety will hopefully be interesting to the viewer if we decide to utilize all of them. One thing each part of the location shares is the correct connotations for our piece. Shattered windows representing weakness as well as hostility and violence. The dirty, stained walls show a lack of human interaction, creating connotations of isolation and danger. Litter scattered on the floor shows neglect and themes of hostility and the overgrowing plants only develop the ideas of neglect and isolation. The location may also create many enigma codes, mainly relating to its whereabouts and why the character will be here. It also has plenty of windows which will allow easy natural lighting if needed.

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Costume Design

After coming to the conclusion of the ideas for our opening taking place in a abandoned building, we needed to further develop the connotations and themes of isolation and inhospitably, so we designed an outfit for a character to wear based on these ideas.

The first item of clothing is a gas mask the main character of the opening will wear. Gas masks block out many facial features, sometimes even the eyes, which creates a very menacing effect as removing facial features also removes emotions from the character, making them far more intimidating, as well as somewhat linking to the idea of isolation, i.e being isolated emotionally, but far more towards the ideas of in hospitality, as, not only do gas masks serve a function as to protect from harmful substances, but the ideas explored above also make them far more sinister. 

The next item will be a jacket/overcoat of sorts. This will be used to make the character seem prepared as well as provide connotations into the harshness of the setting, (the location must be inhospitable as he requires all this equipment). A large jacket will also make the character seem bulkier and more dangerous. It could possibly link to the themes of isolation as well, being that he looks very protected, almost as if he is blocking out the outside.

For the lower body, dark, baggy trousers should suffice. As long as the trousers look work-ready/dirty they should fit with the themes demonstrated above. On the trousers, however, pads could be placed over the knees and such to, again, link to the ideas of inhospitably. Footwear will be a pair of dark work boots. This suggest the character has come prepared and creates the idea that the setting is a harsh one.

The character will also wear gloves. Gloves have connotations with hiding ones intentions, so by wearing them the tone will feel more sinister. Also, the gloves have similar connotations with preparedness and, again, suggest the world is inhospitable.

He can also carry a small bag of sorts, just to further the develop the themes of preparedness and the inhospitably of the world. 

See below some of the gas mask we can potentially use:

Please note that the bottom gas mask is too small to be worn, could be used for prop purposes however.

See below mock ups of the outfit:

 This was only a mock up of the idea, you will notice the incorrect shoes being worn, which will be amended with further development of the outfit. I added a pad on my left arm to further increase the ideas of preparedness and the harshness of the setting we aim the opening to take place in. I already own three gas mask that we can choose from, the jacket has many pockets to choose from and the various other items around the torso including the backpack and bag develop that idea of preparedness. The gloves are also heavily padded which further links to the inhospitably of the setting. 

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BBFC Certificates

Universal - Suitable for audiences aged four years and over

 - Does not raise any significant issues in terms of drugs, discrimination, imitable behavior, language, nudity or sex.

 - Very mild bad language permitted, i.e "Damn" / "Hell" etc,

 - Can have reference to sexual behavior but no focus on it, can be mild references to it.

 - Can contain short scenes of violence or moments where characters are set in danger, however, these are usually overcome quickly and with a reassuring conclusion. Weapons can be used but with no obvious emphasis on them, unless needed by a historical depiction, for example. 

 - Main messages in a Universal rated film relate to friendship, loyalty and honesty, giving a positive message on these themes.

Parental Guidance - Suitable for general viewing but may upsetting scenes for young children

 - Should not unsettle a child of eight years or older.

 - Not all films given a PG rating are aimed at younger audiences, however, these movie should not contain scenes that would upset a younger audience either.

 - Themes presented will not be inappropriate for a child. However, it can explore challenging issues such as bullying, racism or bereavement.

 - Can contain mild bad language, such as "shit" or "son of a bitch", however, the inclusion of these into the movie depends on the context. If used in a violent or aggressive manner, the rating may be raised.

 - References to sex allowed if they are infrequent and undetailed. Comedy can also lessen the effects of sexual references.

 - Violence will be mild if used, with no detail of violence. Blood can be shown, but the injury
which resulted should not be shown in much detail. However, violence is more accepted depending on the context, i.e, in a comedic or historical piece.

 - Potentially dangerous behavior presented in PG movies will not be emphasised, and if they are, the theme will be very negative.

 - Can be reference to drugs and illegal drugs, but no emphasis placed on them.

12A and 12 - Suitable for people over the age of twelve to view, 12A open to any age as long as accompanied by a parent, but may be distressing for viewers younger then twelve.

- Tone of the movie is very important, for example, if the tone is dark and potentially disturbing to the audience, the rating may be raised to a 15. However, if the tone of the movie is positive, the rating may be lowered from a 15 to a 12, even if the movie does not totally correspond with the appropriate guidelines for this category.

 - Strong language may be passed at this rating, as long as the context it is used in, as well as the frequency or any special contextual justification. Aggressive uses of bad language may result in the rating being raised. Discriminatory terms will most likely not be passed at this rating, i.e racist or homophobic remarks.

 - Moderate violence can be shown but it should not dwell on detail, with no emphasis on injuries or blood. Brief gory moments can be shown, but require strong contextual justification, i.e a severe injury can be shown in a a medical drama. Use on weapons must not be emphasised  or glorified. 

 - Moderate physical and psychological threat is permitted, and horror films can be passed at this age as long as the overall tone is not disturbing.

 - Dangerous behavior can be shown in this category but there should be no emphasis on it. Anti-social behavior should not be endorsed and minimal drug use is permitted as long as there is no emphasis on it.

15 - No one under the age of fifteen is permitted to watch a film of this rating in the cinema.

 - No theme is prohibited, providing it is suitable for an audience of 15 year olds.

 - Films rated in this category may contain strong violence, frequent strong language, portrayals of sexual activity, strong verbal references to sex, sexual nudity, brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence, discriminatory language or behavior and drug taking.

 - A great deal of strong language is permitted. Uses of the strongest terms, (c***) can be permitted but only depending on the context and a lack of frequency of these terms.

 - There can be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language, but this must not be endorsed.

 - Sexual activity can be portrayed, but usually without strong detail. Nudity is permitted but, again, without strong detail, as well as strong references to sex, however, extremely strong references may not be justified without a context.

 - Strong violence is permitted, but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. Extremely gory images may not be permitted, as well as strong sadistic violence. 

 - Can be strong threat and horror as long as there is no sustained focus on sadistic or sexualised threat. 

 - Dangerous behavior is permitted but should not be focused on. Depictions of easily accessible weapons depends on the context of the movie, i.e the realism.

 18 - No person under the age of eighteen is permitted to watch a film of this rating at the cinema.

 - No theme is prohibited at 18, as long as the content is not illegal or harmful. 

 - Can contain strong issues such as: very strong violence, frequent strong language, strong portrayals of sexual activity, scenes of sexual violence, strong horror, strong blood and gore, real sex (in some circumstances) and discriminatory language and behavior.

 - No limit on use of strong or strongest language in films rated 18, and they can be accompanied by violence or used in an aggressive tone.

 - There can be racist, homophobic or discriminatory terms at 18, but the work as a whole must not breach any relevant legislation.

 - Can be strong portrays and depictions of sex. Full nudity is also permitted, as well as strong and crude references to sex.

 - Strong violence can be portrayed in great detail, as well as the goriest images.

 - Drug taking can be shown but must not be endorsed.

 - Very dangerous or criminal behavior MAY be cut. 

R18 - Special and legally restricted certificate primarily for explicit works of consenting sex or strong fetish. Can only be shown at licensed cinemas.

 -  Cannot breach criminal law, including material judge to be obscene under the Obscene Interpretations Act of 1959.

 - Material must not encourage or interest sexual assault. 

 - No sexual activity portraying a lack of concept. 

 - Infliction of pain is prohibited, despite if real or fabricated.

 - Penetration by any object associated with violence is not permitted. 

 - Abuse, sexual threat or humiliation which does not form part of a clearly consenting role is    not permitted. 

 - Strong physical or verbal abuse is not permitted.

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