Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Effects / lighting
When we first went out to film we made sure that we were under the streetlights so there was a bit of light, although there weren't many as it was a quiet road and the streetlights that were there weren’t extremely bright. We also used the light on the camera, however after filming a couple of shots we realised that there wasn't a sufficient amount of lighting so we brought out a work light. We filmed all of our shots and when it came round to uploading them on the computer ready for editing, we realised that they were still too dark. Therefore, I had to use the special effects on final cut express to lighten our clips; this was successful as I was able to brighten the clips enough. I also realised that some of the clips had tints to them as some were slightly green, some were slightly blue and some were slightly yellow. I was then able to adjust this by changing the colour filter slightly on each clip so that they were all similar- this helped the film flow more smoothly and look less amateur.
Media Evaluation task 6
. What have you learnt about technologies
from the process of constructing this product?
First of all we reached our target audience
and shared our film by sharing the link to it on social network sites such as
my Facebook and Twitter accounts, this immediately gets the film out to more
than five thousand people instantly with around ninety nine percent of those
people being between fifteen and twenty which is the age of our intended
audience. To get feedback we used Google feedback forms meaning we could gather
all information online without having to hand out any sheets and mess about
with paper. It is also more convenient for who is filling it in therefore we are
more likely to get responses. To film we used a DV camera because these are
what we have in college and they are small and simple and we can easily move
the camera around. It is also HD meaning the filming is good quality. After
filming we used Final Cut express to edit. We had never used this software
before meaning it took a while to get used to and we had a few problems along
the way, however we always managed to find a way to fix the problem and we
eventually finished our product. Once finished we uploaded to Youtube because
this is such a massive website used my millions daily, it meant our film can be
seen by anyone, anywhere in the world.
Media Evaluation Task 3
What
kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I believe the ideal distributor for our product would be Warp this is
because it is an independent company and our film is based in a local
environment which is more suited to a smaller company. Another reason I think a
smaller company like Warp is more suitable for our film is because we didn’t
have a budget therefore it is extremely unlikely that a media conglomerate such
as Warner would ever be willing to distribute our film. Another benefitting
factor of an independent company is the genre we have done. Many Horror and
psychological thrillers are done by independent companies and have often been
very successful, such as films like The Grudge and The Ring for example. The
cast is also very small and all one age group meaning the audience may not be
as big, this again shows why an independent company would be better. Media Evaluation task 2
How
does your media product represent particular social groups?
Throughout
our product we almost always conform to stereotypes and I don’t believe there
are any points where the stereotypes are subversed. Robyn is a teenage girl who
has been to a friend’s house and his walking home. Harry (Jordan) is the
kidnapper in the film and the first time the two meet is when Harry is walking
behind Jenna without her notices, he overpowers her and knocks her to the
ground, again conforming to the stereotype. When Robyn then wakes in a strange
dark room she begins to cry for help in a typically girlish manner, the reply
she gets from Harry is a deep manly voice. Whilst filming Harry is never
actually seen on camera which leaves an air of mystery to his character, however
during the second seen, Robyn is always looked down on by the camera, lowering
her status which is what would be expected. The editing is slow paced in order
to intensify suspense and gives Robyn a “damsel in distress” quality. The sound
used is the same original music as before which makes Harry to be a more
powerful, dark character, enhancing his masculinity. We also used a belt to tie
Robyn to the wall making her appear even less powerful than she was already
portrayed. The lighting is dark which just a light glow on her face to ensure
the audience focus’ on her, everything is almost pitch black. Another key
factor is the depth of Harry’s voice, it is very manly making him appear older
and as we see, Robyn is much younger, therefore it doesn’t only conform to
gender stereotypes, but age as well. The iconography is still what is expected,
a dark room and a girl tied up, this is conventionally what is used in a horror
as the audience will clearly know and be able to decipher the genre
immediately.
Media Evaluation Task 1
1.
In
what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of media products?
The first
thing that is seen during our 2 minutes is Jenna walking a long, poorly lit
road all by herself, the shot is made to look blurry in order to visually aid
the audience in understanding the genre of the plot. Immediately it becomes
obvious that the film is most likely going to be a horror/psychological thriller.
This is emphasised by the choice of music. The music is creepy and slow paced
and used to create an air of suspense. Robyn (Jenna) then walks further along
the dark road and her phone rings, she answers the phone and tells her mother
that everything will be okay. We used dialogue like this as it is typical of
horrors as everyone knows that something is most likely going to happen.
Throughout the entire 2 minutes we always follow the 180 degree rule. The
sounds that are used in the film are both diegetic and non-diegetic as we use
music which is non-diegetic and also dialogue which is diegetic. To make sure
the continuity was done well we used a number or either fast or slow paced
shots, all shot from different angles, this allows the product to run smoothly
whilst the different angles and shots such as high angle shot when Robyn is
laid unconscious and tracking shot when Robyn is on the phone (which we learned
whilst doing our preliminary task) helped to create a more realistic viewing
for our intended audience. The iconography is what is expected in a horror.
Despite there being few props which help with conventions the location makes up
for it as the first scene takes on a lonely dark road and the second scene in a
dark room where Robyn is tied to a railing on her own. Finally the typography
is used in a way that would be expected in a horror, the background for the
credits are black to create a sense of darkness and the writing is red, as the
connotations of the colour red are usually danger and blood.
This was my first attempt at creating a logo, although I liked the design I found the colours to be quite dull and boring.media evaluation part 5
how did you attract/address your audiance?
We attracted our target audience by creating
audience feedback questionnaires and sharing a link on the questionnaire for
our audience to watch then fill in our questionnaire. We sent our audience
feedback questionnaires to fifty people twenty females and 31 males. We got
positive results back from our questionnaires. Firstly 71% of our sample said
that they enjoyed the first two minutes that we had created and then 76% of our
sample said that they would go and watch our full film. 42% of our sample
thought our film was horror which is great as this in the genre we intended it
to be. I think it was successful for us as a group with how successful our
results were from our questionnaires. Out of all of our results for me the most
disappointing one was that there wasn’t a clear area where our audience would
expect to see our film they were all pretty balanced. I think improvements
could have been made by improving our sample size to at least double this would
have allowed us to get much more conclusive results. Our actual film could have
been improved in a few ways firstly by using a few different shots most of our shots
were fairly basic and secondly we could have improved our film by filming in
much lighter times rather it been too dark and us having to brighten it up.
Evaluation part 4
what would be the audiece for media product?
The target audience for our film is fifteen years+
so this means that the certificate for our film will be a fifteen. In terms of
specific audiences our film targets people watch a variety of movies and are
social realists, as our film would be independent and opened up to a niche
audience rather than a mainstream so our audience will have indie lifestyles.
In terms of pre-production we did we distributed questionnaires out to people
we thought would be interested into our film we gathered the results and
listened to feedback that we received from our target audience and developed
our ide around what our audience wanted because if our film wasn’t going to
appeal to our intended audience then would their really be any point in
creating it at all. Our audience said they wanted more of a twist as our
initial idea was too predictable so we added this. Our audience also said they
wanted more action to happen in the first couple of minutes that we would be
initially be making so we included more action for our film we included the
scene where Robyn is getting followed and pushed over and took back to the
outhouse because initially it was going to a lot more following and background
about Robyn.
evaluation part 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
in our film (the first two minutes) we represent
the gender of female to be negative and stereotypical. We do this at first by
representing females as weak and vulnerable. At the start of our film we use an
establishing shot to show that she is alone in a wide open space and a
potential target which soon becomes apparent she is the target. The camera
angles also represent the vulnerability of her as they are always low angle
particularly in the second part of our film. When we are representing the
female gender when it comes to costume in our film it is not stereotypical for
a seventeen year old girl to be wearing sporty clothes. We decided to use this
costume because if were to continue to make the full film it would be clear
that Robyn would not be stereotypical and that she would be powerful. In our
first two minutes the editing pace is fairly slow when the camera is focusing
on Robyn or when she’s the only one in shot to show that she is weaker compared
to the male. The lighting throughout the first two minutes is dark but
throughout we try to put as much light as possible on Jenna (Robyn) to try and
represent her as the good one and somebody who is vulnerable we did this by
using a torch for extra lighting which was needed.
Evaluation part one
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media production?
Our media product (film) uses different forms of
media products. Firstly in our film we use a variety of different shots and
camera angles for example we have used the types of shots that are used in most
horror films, such as close ups, high angle shots, tracking shots to build the
suspense towards the audience. We used a specific camera that is essential in
many films, which makes our product at an advantage. In continuity, we have
edited our product to show quite fast pace and slow paced shots to make the
continuity of the shots seem natural and continuous. The sounds that we have
used are both non diegetic and diegetic sounds and music such as dialogue the
non-diegetic sounds are the music which we have playing for the first part of our
film. With our film being a horror film, we have used examples of the genre
such as using silence and hesitation to create more suspense. The location of
our scenes were based for the first part which was outside was in Great
Houghton and the second part (indoors) was based in Darfield. Props that we
used during the creation of our product were a belt, mobile phone, torch, bed
end and costumes. Our title sequence has red font and a black background these
colours are usually associated with horror.
Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Title sequence analysis
Title sequence analysis (Kiss kiss bang bang)
Right at the beginning of the title sequence it says ‘warner
bros present’ a ‘silverline production’. This title sequence is unusual but
also very good because its unique and not many title sequences are made in this
way. Right from the start it is clear that in the film there will be some
action and murder as consistently throughout the title sequence there is the sound
of gun fire every so often. Every so often there will be blood splatters on the
screen.
The title sequence is simple and tells the audience any relevant information
regarding who the movie has staring in it. The title sequence sort of tells a
little story its self with the animation it appears that the man is escaping
from prison and is on a quest to find somebody in particular. It also appears
that the movie is going to be about the divide when it comes to social class.
There
is a traditional track in the background which sounds like it’s about a spy or
somebody who’s secretive and will use a revolver or pistol. The background
changes colour completely right at the end from a neutral cream colour to a red
which could signify blood or death.
Character profile Harry Lewis
Name- Harry Lewis
Age- 44
Marital status- divorced
Occupation- unemployed
About- harry is a character he has been convicted for the
double murder of a man and women and was serving his time in prison and was
coming up to his parole appeal when he got rejected he decided to escape from
prison. Harry broke out of prison about four years ago by force and is still on
the run hiding from the law in an derelict house at the minute he never stays in one
location for more than about a month he is always moving about cautious that
the police will find him. Harry has a daughter with his ex-wife but his wife
never let him meet his daughter which has been an emotional blow to harry for
the whole time he has known.
Character profile Robyn Lewis
Name- Robyn Lewis
Age-17
Marital status- single
Studies- college
About- Robyn is not any old average teenage girl she is different
to most girls she doesn’t like shopping etc… she likes playing sports hanging
out with friends. When Robyn gets an idea in her head she cant just leave it,
she has to keep going about it till she gets right to the bottom of it. Robyn doesn’t
like been wrong and does anything she can to prove shes right. Robyn isn’t scared
of confrontation she will defend herself and not take anything off anybody. Robyn
is a down to earth teenage girl who doesn’t like causing any trouble she quietly
goes about her life and is grateful for everything even if she doesn’t like it!
Treatment for full film
Treatment for full film
Quietus
(93minutes)
In our full film the story line really develops compared to
the first two minutes as in our first two minutes it seems clear about what is
going to happen it seems that Robyn has been captured and is going to be tortured or just
murdered straight away. This is not the case at all as the movie progresses
Robyn finds a way to break free and escape from the shed. However Robyn maybe
free as Robyn is not any normal teenage girl she is curious to why she was
chose and why she was captured so she sneaks back in and discovers some
documents that reveal the man’s real identity. Robyn researches the man and
discovers some truths she probably didn’t want to know. The man who captured
her was in fact her dad who she had never met before and he had been in prison
for murder but escaped and is on the run from the law. Robyn can’t resist
staying out and trying to find out more so she tries to break back in but the second
time doesn’t go as successful and is confronted by the man and she says
something which reveals their relationship! Now he knows shes his daughter will
this change things will he come clean? There would be a confrontation a gun
will be fired and then harry would be laid dead on the floor. Robyn tries to
cover her tracks and make it look like a suicide but leaves some damming
evidence behind her locket which is engraved ‘Robyn Lewis’. What will come of Robyn will she be arrested
for the murder there could be yet another twist installed…
The overall genre for our film will be horror so we will have
to establish this from the early stages by having consistency all the way
through whether this be the lighting been dark for most of the film or whether
the colours of the costumes stay dark. Our subgenre is drama/physiological it’s
a film that meant to test the audiences mind but also keep them on edge not
knowing what’s going to come next.
The setting will have a big part to play in the success of
the movie when horror films are thought about small confined spaces are usually
used to create fear and make the point that there is little room for error in
spaces like this. Also signs will be very important we need to ensure that
there will be plenty of ways for our audience to tell it’s a horror film for example
showing plenty of blood and showing either guns or knifes something to
symbolise danger.
Treatment for first two minutes
Treatment for first two minutes
Quietus
(1:51)
Right at the beginning of our first two minutes our film will
start with an establishing shot with Robyn in shot so that the audience cam see
that she is alone and in a large space and is vulnerable. The camera angle will
then change to the side of Robyn this shot will track Robyn’s movement while
she will walk for a couple of seconds before her phone rings. The phone call
will be off her mother asking where she is and how long till she will be home. When
Robyn answers the phone the camera shot will go in front of her and track her
movement again for the duration of the phone call. The shot will then cut to
behind Robyn so the camera sees her turning then the camera will fade to an
over the shoulder shot to show that Robyn is scared and believes somebody is
there. After Robyn turns back round the camera shot will behind her following
her picking up pace to show that somebody is behind her and picking up pace to
try and catch her. Robyn will then turn a corner and go into an alley way were
the person following her pushes her to the ground and knocks her unconscious. The
camera will show Robyn on the floor and then a point of view shot. When Robyn
wakes up she is in very different surroundings. She soon becomes aware that her
hands are tied and that she is tied up. Robyn looks around to see if there is
anybody else there she realises that there is nobody and she is alone. Robyn then
screams for help to receive a reply from the person who has took her hostage.
The genre of our film will be horror and we will be
establishing this by using negative lighting to show this in our first two
minutes to give off a really negative atmosphere. If we start the film off with
the audience in the right frame of mind they should enjoy the rest of the movie
and not be disappointed.
It is important that we get as many signs in from the start
to show the genre and signifies that its going to be a horror movie the signs
maybe the lighting with it been dark this usually shows that something bad is
going to happen especially if there is little colour in the rest of the opening
two minutes.
Monday, 22 April 2013
Citizen X - Brief research into sound
Citizen X
During the opening credits and the first scene beginning the non diegetic sound is used to create an eerie atmosphere as the soundtrack creates ominousity.
The first image we see is of the woods, this is a still shot that lasts around one 1:40 and the opening credits are seen over this image. Then we hear the diegetic sound of a train as it gets closer and then enters the image, the train passes and continuity editing is displayed as the scene smoothly changes from the shot of the train to a tractor of the same colour and a similar diegetic sound. The non diegetic music is still being played over the top of the diegetic sounds and this helps the shots link smoothly.
title sequence research
Title sequence research
Title sequences are at the start of a film and are placed
there to give the audience an understanding to who was involved in the
production, distribution and exhibition of the film. They usually last two to
three minutes and give the audience their initial impression of what the movie
is going to be like. So thus the reason why title sequences need to be so
impressive. A title sequence can look however the director wants it to but
normally it reflects the movie in some way. For example the title sequence for
a horror movie is likely to have very little colour if any strong hints of red
which is usually associated with danger, death or blood.
Because the title sequence reflecting the film it should put
the audience into the right mood for when the movie begins. If the audience were
watching a horror movie then there would usually be some tense music playing in
the background trying to make the audience feel tense. If a title sequence wasn’t
very good then the audience may not like the actual movie as much.
In conclusion to the research I discovered that our title sequence
should be fairly dark with a bit of red showing through and some tense music
playing constantly throughout.
Location description
Location description
Our first two minutes of our film has two main locations in
it both very different. One of them is in an outhouse and the other outside on
a dark road.
Outside (road)
Firstly the first minute or so will be shot entirely outside
on a dark road in Great Houghton with fields surrounding it. There are bushes
either side in certain parts and lots of gaps in these bushes where somebody or
something could be hiding.
Inside (outhouse)
The remainder of our two minutes will be shot inside an
outhouse. The outhouse has minimal lighting at most times and gives the
impression that it will be cold inside. By having minimal lighting it will
suggest fear and unpleasant things may happen here.
Sunday, 21 April 2013
Development of the storyline
We gave out 10 questionnaires to people around college in order to get feedback on our original first two minutes so that we could make improvements and develop our idea.
To give them an idea of the storyline we included a description of the first two minutes of the film and then asked several questions. The first question was 'Does it sound interesting?' our response from this was good as all ten people said yes. We also received good response from the next question which was 'Would you be interested in watching the rest of the film?' as all but one person said yes.
Most people liked how creative and intriguing the storyline was so we decided to keep this aspect.
20% of the people said that they thought the storyline was a bit predictable and 50% of people said the storyline could do with a bit more detail therefore we decided to develop it and now instead of having a film just about a murderer we have created a phychological thriller with lots of unexpected twists in it.
To give them an idea of the storyline we included a description of the first two minutes of the film and then asked several questions. The first question was 'Does it sound interesting?' our response from this was good as all ten people said yes. We also received good response from the next question which was 'Would you be interested in watching the rest of the film?' as all but one person said yes.
Most people liked how creative and intriguing the storyline was so we decided to keep this aspect.
20% of the people said that they thought the storyline was a bit predictable and 50% of people said the storyline could do with a bit more detail therefore we decided to develop it and now instead of having a film just about a murderer we have created a phychological thriller with lots of unexpected twists in it.
Tuesday, 16 April 2013
Tuesday, 9 April 2013
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