Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
  

Preliminary Task:




At 0:15 of our Preliminary task , a bag is visible in the background. We should have considered our location properly and made sure that it was fully suitable for filming in.

Some of the shots used in our Preliminary task we're quite interesting , although we didn't use all the shots we used some of the ones, which suited our genre and theme best.

This shot was similar to the shot at the start of our final product.

The editing of the product was done quite well, it showed continuity throughout .

The camera angles used were well filmed and varied in different types , the filming techniques used when filming were also carried out well. Our editor Bradley filmed our preliminary task as I was an actor , he used a tripod , this is something we also used for our opening sequence ,although the camera was quite steady , it was easier to use the tripod , especially for shots such as panning and tracking. The sound was clear and conversation was easily heard.

For our preliminary task we used natural light and the lights in the corridor and classroom.

The actors in the scene all wore normal day clothes , no costumes was discussed , however in our opening sequence we wore costumes , which related to our genre and theme.

In terms of organizing our actors , we decided to use people within our group as they were easy to contact and didn't require a lot of planning.

I learnt how to film certain angles which were conventional and essential to our genre of Horror, Also I was able to learn camera techniques such as shaking the camera whilst filming handheld in order to create a sense of unsteadiness and realism .Below is our Opening Sequence, it reflects the findings and evaluations we have made from our Preliminary task

This is our final Product:

Evaluation Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

As the cinematographer I learnt to film using a small cannon HD camera, this included zooming in and out, recording and simply taking still images, the quality of the footage was excellent as the camera had great steadiness even for the shots that I filmed without a tripod.

 I used a tripod whilst filming pan shots,taking still images and tracking movements  . The advantage of using a tripod was that it helped extremely with shots that needed to be carried out smoothly and added a sense of continuity. The disadvantage of using a tripod was that it took a while to fully set it up and was a bit of a hassle to carry around.

Other footage such as the shot of the stairs was done without a tripod (hand held).

(Hand-Held shot:  A shot filmed with the camera not on a tripod but instead held by the camera man, often whilst walking.  This makes the shots seem quite shaky.  This can make the audience feel the scene is more realistic, or can make us feel like we are part of the action.)

The camera we used was a Sony HDR - CX250 HANDYCAM and  the tripod used was similar to this

  

Google was our main search engine , we used this to find a variety of images needed for our blogs, logo and props. I am fairly comfortable in using Google and so didn't have to learn anything  new to use it.

Blogger was where our research and planning  ,main product and  evaluation were posted to, it has many features available to use which make each post different and more interactive with the site. I learnt to use the features which were available and tried my best to vary each post.

 (list of features)

For our main task we used computers to update our blogs , do research and upload our footage whenever we needed to . The advantage of using computers rather than a mac was that I was used to all of the software and programs and didn't really have to learn much to use it.

Our editor Bradley used you tube to keep the group updated on the progress of the editing of  our opening sequence, we was able to use the embedding code to embed the you tube clip into a post  on Blogger. You tube is a familiar website used by most people in the world, It is a easy way to view , comment , upload videos and much more.

For our soundtrack we used a loyalty free website, As our college computers restricted me in downloading files from the internet , I searched for our soundtrack using you tube and was able to embed the video into  a post. 

We used Sony Vegas to edit the opening sequence, we learnt how to edit clips with colour correction, add sound ,cut clips,  add special effects such as the printing of our credits and speed up and slow down certain clips.

We also learnt how to use adobe after effects to create a professional company logo for our opening sequence.
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Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluiation Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Ways that my media product uses real forms and conventions

My media product uses real forms and conventions of horror through our choice of character, costume/props, lighting , location and sound.

Victims in Horror films are typically played by a female character as they are shown to be weak, fragile and vulnerable, by using this convention we have made it easy for the audience to identify the Victim and the villain.Additionally she is of ethnic minority ,  most horror films use an ethnic minority character to be the first victim to die, this is something that the audience would have been used to.

The villains style, and look is very much a stereotype that horror films use. Through the use of props and costumes we made Lauren(the villain) look unhealthy and sick, with pale make up this look was created . As it was based in a mental asylum ,she wore a ragged white dress , similar to a white hospital robe and the picture above from the film 'the ring' ,we found using this typical costume for our genre would help the audience to identify the genre, and also add realism.

We used sunlight coming through the windows and also lights in the corridor , however this would have left an unconventional setting for our opening sequence . Horror films are usually quite dark, cold and gloomy, we considered this and used colour correction to add this effect to our opening sequence.

The location we used was an empty corridor in our college , through the use of props , lighting and editing we made it appear to be a corridor in a mental asylum, this is a typical convention used in horror films ,they mainly set in old abandoned houses, forests or a mental asylum.

For our soundtrack we chose a mysterious , eerie sounding piece, music intrigues people and interests the audience to keep watching,  The instruments and effects work well to help build tension or create a mood to go with the start of the film. Sections in the piece such as where the music is quieter  then suddenly increases are vital in creating  the right sound for the  'jump scare' effect, we chose it as it is a well known convention for our genre.Additionally ,in horror films music of non- diegetic sound is used to start to unease its audience. The pace is built and credits and titles appear in time with the music, this is something we considered and added to our opening sequence.

Ways that my media product challenges real forms and conventions

My media product challenges real forms and conventions through our choice of our plot. Traditionally Horror films include a lot of gore and sickening scenes , some may even start with this , however we chose to start with our production name and logo , then go straight into the first scene. Our plot choice is more modern than the traditional horror films and would be seen more as a horror/thriller psychopath film.

The villain is usually a big built or a psycho looking male character , we decided to use a fragile ill- looking female, this goes against what is expected for our film in consideration with the genre . In addition the age of our Villain is considered unusual as Lauren looks around 20ish and normally a male villain would be quite old, this is as Old people are looked upon to have had more time and experiences in life , which may result in their psychopath ways. 

The opening credits and title lists the most important people in the film, The title is mostly shown at the start to get the audience to start thinking  about possible scenes and reasons for the title.

 Our credits are displayed in an unconventional and unusual way. The font and colour of the text are linked to the genre and theme of the film , ours are printed out of a printer on white paper and using a font we have chosen to also use for the main title.Although we have stuck with the horror/thriller themed font , by choosing to use a different way to display our credits and title , its 

is harder for the audience to figure out the genre and theme.

Final product

This is our final opening sequence , the title has now been added and a few other editing corrections have been made.

Camera shots and angles in our opening sequnece

These are some of the camera shots we decided to use for our opening sequence, Wide shot was used for the filming of the long corridor at the start of the sequence, it gave the illusion of a long corridor ,additionally the editing created the right setting for the shot.  The Medium close up ,close up and extreme close up was used for the shot involving Lauren at the start, this allowed us to show facial expressions. These are just some of the examples of shots used.

                              

We used a high angle shot and birds eye view to create a shot which to the audience appears to be footage from a security camera. The point of view shot was used for the shot of the stairs .The low angle shot was used at the start of the sequence (the corridor).Again these are just examples of some of the angles used.

Final draft of our opening sequence

This is the final draft of our opening sequence, The final shots we filmed last week have been added and edited to fit in well with the rest of the sequence.For the credits we decided to use a more interesting and unusual approach by having them appear on a piece of paper printing out of a printer.After showing some of our peers our final draft the feedback we received indicated that we should add more credits and obviously include the title of our opneing sequence.

I am now Currently working on completing my Evaluation on our product.

Filming

Today whilst filming we decided to use normal white pills for a more realistic look rather than the luminous colour fish oil capsules. We also filmed the medical record being flung a table. The two shots were filmed relatively quickly as they were simply and didn’t require a change in location; we just used an empty classroom with a plain wooden table.

 

Group discussions

We regularly discuss the reaming jobs which still need to be completed and also certain details which are needed for the editing process of the opening sequence .Our time management for our coursework has been well kept to, we do this by ensuring that we stick to our production schedule and consider the times each member of the group is available

Filming and Props

We filmed The final shots of our opening sequence: The printing of the credits, we filmed paper being printed from a printer , this shot later will have our credits appearing on them ,we also finished making our prop needed for one of the shots, which was a medical record of the main character, it was made by ourselves using paint by editing , cropping and adding objects and images, the information on the medical record is vital for our shot and so this is why we thought it would be best to make it ourselves. On our story board we planned to have a bottle of pills spill across a table so a capsule of fish oil tablets was purchased , it is a fluorescent glowing colour which we thought would be unusual and interesting .

First update on Editing

This is the first rough update on our opening sequence which is being edited by Bradley on sony vegas. This gives us an idea of what techniques, shots, Colour editing etc we will be using to create the opening sequence

Evaluation

At my last media lesson, I started the layout to my evaluation. I will be doing some of my evaluation on Prezi as a presentation and other parts using videos, pictures and text.

Filming our opening sequence

On Thursday 8th March we filmed the all the remaining shots of the sequence, which included me as one of the characters for which I wore office clothes(suit , white shirt and skirt, glasses), another character involved was Lauren(girl in a mental institute). Brogan directed the Filming of the shots whilst Bradley filmed the shots which included me .Whilst filming we found some interesting shot which were different from the ones planned on our storyboard. Due to our location choice we found people interrupting us whilst we were shooting a problem, however over all the location choice was perfect for our opening sequence.

 

 

Final production Logo update

Bradley our Editor produced our company logo/name animation for the beginning of our opening sequence in conjunction with a friend of his. They both advised each other on improving our groups original design ideas and helped each other out with operating the design software (adobe after effects), this is what Bradley and my friend produced over the guidance of Brogan.

We used a simple design of text for our production company name (ChairEdge studios) which is in viner hand font and a maroon colour.

The text is an overlay on top of what appears to be a layer of glass that has been misted over, with the vague image of a bloody hand coming through the misted glass, this effect was achieved by creating a light blue colour layer with a light placed appropriately behind it, to which another darker layer was placed behind with the bloody hand print on top.

The text(our production name) is placed on glass, which appears to be smashed by our production logo(the 6 fingered bloody hand) which is both original but yet intriguing as the hand has 6 fingers on it, something which only eagle eyed audience members will spot. This idea is an original one and is a conventional feature of most horror films of this type.

The smashing of the glass and therefore our production name, makes the transition into the next clip/sequence of the opening sequence very easy to create and perfect into a flowing motion because the smashing of glass will slow down, and create a nice ending to this part of the sequence, the transition will be achieved by either a fade out from the smashing to a black credit or an actual filmed clip, depending on which looks better in the edit stage(something to be discussed in one of our group meetings).

Treatment

TREATMENT done by Brogan

Our idea:

·  Opening shot shows a long dark corridor (XLS)

·  Camera zooms forwards towards the end of the corridor twice

·  Extreme close up of actor's face- very quick cut

·  a piece of plain paper comes out of a printer- credits will be edited to look like they are on the paper (close up)

·  Camera pans from right to left- shows a woman operating a photocopier in a small room with a large glass window to her left (through which a staircase can be seen) (medium long shot)

·  a piece of plain paper comes out of a printer- credits will be edited to look like they are on the paper (close up)

·  female character walks down an alleyway, to the right is an opening in which we (the audience) see a glimpse of the horror character (medium shot) [possibly lots of rapid cuts]

·  Close up of a set of records being thrown down onto a table- a sheet of paper slides out to show a "mental health assessment" record of some sort. (possibly in slow motion)

·  POV shot of someone walking up the stairs- appears unsteady on their feet (medium shot)

·  a piece of plain paper comes out of a printer- credits will be edited to look like they are on the paper (close up)

·  extreme close up shot of the medical records showing the patient name and showing that they are in fact mental assessment records

·  high angle shot (CCTV like) showing an empty staircase

·  (Slow motion?) Close up shot of a bottle of pills dropping and spilling out.

·  POV shot of someone walking up the stairs- appears unsteady on their feet (medium shot)

·  a piece of plain paper comes out of a printer- credits will be edited to look like they are on the paper (close up)

·  pan down of the medical records to slowly reveal the writing on it (Extreme close up)

·  repeat of CCTV shot except this time a person is stood on the corner of the staircase

·  a piece of plain paper comes out of a printer- credits will be edited to look like they are on the paper (close up)

·  medium long shot of the photocopier room (focusing on the window)

·  POV shot of someone walking up the stairs- appears unsteady on their feet (more so than in the first shot) (medium shot)

·  a piece of plain paper comes out of a printer- credits will be edited to look like they are on the paper (close up)

·  Medium long shot of Photocopier room window- you can slightly see the head of the horror character peering through the window. (start of a progressive sequence)

·  extreme close up of medical records- panning down to start to reveal a picture of a face (progressive sequence)

·  Medium long shot of Photocopier room window- you can see more of the head of the horror character peering through the window. (progressive sequence)

·  extreme close up of medical records- panning down to continue to reveal a picture of a face (progressive sequence)

·  Medium long shot of Photocopier room window- you can now see all of the head of the horror character peering through the window. (progressive sequence)

·  extreme close up of medical records- panning down to fully reveal a picture of a face ( final shot of progressive sequence) this shot will confirm to the audience that the character outside the photocopier room is the same person who's medical records have been read.

·  extreme close up of horror character's face (quick cut to increase effect)

·  extreme quick cut of pills bottle spilling