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.