Friday 18 February 2011

Evaluation Activity 7

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

Looking back at our preliminary task, I feel that I have a more in depth knowledge on how to make a successful media product, developing both my camera skills and software editing skills in the progression from our preliminary task to our main task.

The preliminary task enabled us to make mistakes which we could learn from, giving me an insight into the use of camera angles, software editing, sound and 'Mise en Scene. All which are factors and techniques that cause a media product to become more successful that I needed practise on. Therefore the preliminary help me and my group to produce a more successful opening scene.


Camera Use
In our preliminary task our brief stated that we had to use three different camera angles, these were:
-Match on action
-180 degree rule
-And shot reverse shot

this gave me experience and a small depth of knowledge on different camera angles and why they were used in media products.


Software
In our preliminary task we uploaded our footage onto the software, only using basic skills to put our preliminary task together and add titles.

Evaluation Activity 6

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

During the process of creating our media product I feel that I have learnt many things about different technologies. The different types of media our group used to create our media product are:
- Two different camcorders
- Camera
- Computer/Internet
- Premier Elements Software

By using Premier Elements software my understanding of knowledge of how this worked grew and grew each time. The things which improved whilst using this software was:
- Developing editing skills
- Time stretch
- Transitions
- Duplicating
- How to upload video footage onto the software

I also furthered my depth of knowledge and understanding about camera angles and techniques. I have learnt to know what different camera angles are used for in films. This helped to improve our media product making it more successful.
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Evaluation Activity 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

The group was able to address our audience by exporting our opening scene into a movie file on our software, this enabled us to upload our video onto a website called Youtube. Once our opening scene was on Youtube we could then share our product with others by using a URL.

On my facebook page I then posted this URL to the age range of my target audience (16 - 25 years of age). Once our target audience had watched our opening scene we were hoping that if they liked it they would show it to their friends, who would also be categorized into our target audience. This is an example of 'The Two Step Flow'.

We were able to attract our target audience because our opening scene relates to an existing media product with the same genre. For example Paranormal Activity. This is because this film is also a home made media product, like ours.

Evaluation Activity 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The age of our target audience is around 16-25 years. This is due to 80% of the questionnaire samples being given out were students. For our film, this can be related to by the audience as our main characters are teenagers which provides a pathway for connection from the audience. The majority of our target audience will be made up of students due to the age range. Also because of how around 80% of my thriller consumption research proved to be thriller fans. The interests of our target audience are demonstrated mostly by other thriller films which they like such as, Jaws, Die Hard, Se7en and Silence of the Lambs.

Evaluation Activity 3

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

A production company is reponsible for the development and physical production of a new media product. Therefore, me and my group members (Ellie, Amelia and Honor) were responsible for the development and physical production of a new media product, (being an opening scene) we could say that we have acted like a production company throughout the whole process of producing the thriller opening scene.

A production company may also be directly responsible for the raising or funding for the production of this media product. The budget which the media group had was £5, which is extremely low, but most of the props and costumes used were already owned by a member of the group. However, if we were to create a professional media product which could be defined as 'Category A' (meaning the film was made with entirely British sources and that most of the funding for our media product would be supplied by the British film council).

In the film instution, our thriller film would compete with other films such as:
- The Strangers
- Se7en
- Paranormal Activity
This is because, Paranormal Activity is a significantly low budget film which was produced on a hand held camera, which is similar to our film. Also, the other films listed above also have the same type of thriller effects which are portrayed and conveyed in our media production opening scene.

Thursday 17 February 2011

Evaluation Activity 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product does not particularly represent any specific social group(s). This is because our opening scene comes under the 'thriller' category. A thriller is designed to put the audience on the edge of their seat and make them believe that there is more to the story than what is told. A thriller does not fit any specific stereotypes.

Common ideologies of the characters
In our product we decided to follow the common ideologies of the characters that are represented in our opening scene. For example, the scary figure is percieved as dark, mysterious and unknown. The group chose Amelia to be the unknown person in our film. Another ideology is that is commonly seen in people is that young girls are seen as petite, shy and thin. This has gave an advantage as to why the scary person will choose to stalk the two young girls, this is because they are so vunerable. The two girl characters that were used were me and Honor.

Evaluation Activity 1

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

The Title of the Film
The title of our film is 'Sranger'. This is so that the audience automatic know that there is going to be an unknown person in the film, yet they do not know how this person is going to be percieved. The word 'stranger is not significantly long, yet gets straight to the point. This is to represent the main character, whom is a obviously a stranger.

A simple, bubble font is used for the titles. This makes it clear to read. As the outline of the writing is in white and the inside is in black, which clashes with the background this shows dull colours. The group have done this to try and make our opening scene look like a thriller by just looking at the title. Also, the white outline has slits in it, which incates there could be some scaryness within the film. It also indicates the mood change, due to one minute being happy and then next being extremely scared.

Setting/Location
All of the frames which our group used to create the opening our opening scene storyboard in the picture above are taking place in the 5 different locations which we had planned to film our opening scene in. These are:
- Bathroom
- Bedroom
- Stairs/Stairway
- Games Room
- Swimming Pool Area
The stairs, games room and the swimming pool area are all dark and eerie locations. This is because the thriller effect of the opening scene then starts to kick in. The group thought that this would create a tension which would relate to the genre of our opening scene; 'thriller'.

Props and Costumes
In our opening scene there were few props used, but these were:
- Toothbrush
- Blusher Brush
- Make Up (for stranger)
- Water
- Torch
These props were used to emphasise the 'thriller effect' in all situations. I feel that these props may have made our opening scene more successful because they related to the genre our group was trying to portray. Also, these props helped us to create tensions and the perfect atmosphere.

In our opening scene you can see a couple of different costumes. The costumes used are the Katie (me) and Honor. We wear casual clothes as we are planning to go out therefore, we do not want to portray any other effect than just two girls going for a casual night out. One costume which we used was for the stranger. We decided to give Amelia (disguised stranger) black leggings, a hoodie which she wore the hood up most of the time to hide her identity. To make this look even more visually effective, we decided to put black eye shadow on which looked rough and also backcomb her hair lots, so it had volume and made her look like she wasn't a wealthy human being. This improved the professionalism of our opening scene as our costumes were believeable which also created tension and atmosphere and made our opening scene merely successful.

Camerawork and Editing
The camerawork is steady however, I feel the group could of benefitted with a tripod to make the camerawork more balanced. The group tried to put in place three different camera angles as best as they could within the opening scene. These were:
- 180 Degree Rule
- Match on Action
- Shot/Reverse Shot
These shots and techniques helped us to create a more successfull, effective opening scene.

We used the software; 'Premiere Elements Pro 7.0' to our advantage by creating distorted, repetitive footage the conveyed the idea of a nightmarish dream/premonition, we furthered this idea by using transitions that represented this theme in order to create a successful, polished opening scene.

Storyline
The plot of our film is about two harmless girls who are getting ready for a night out. Disaster strikes when the electricity goes off and they notice something strange around the house. Katie them decides to go and put the electricity back on and check everything is ok down the back of the garden, but she sees something and quickly scarpers. The stranger then goes after her and Honor and this is the end of the opening scene. The opening scene sets the rest of the film up as the stranger is yet to go after the girls and play physcological games with their heads.

Genre
The genre of the film is thriller and it is set up in the opening scene by using a lot of conventions from any other thriller film. These are things such a physcological effects, scaryness, putting the audience on the edge of their seat etc.

Characters
The two characters Honor and Katie are introduced by just going straight into it by getting ready and chatting. However, Amelia (the stranger) is introduced or seen properly at the very end the opening scene, when she is about to go after the innocent girls. She is seen once before in the mirror of the bathroom, however this was a one second shot.

Special Effects
The group didn't really use any special effects apart from an effect called 'ghosting' which we used on the title credit to make it more of a duller picture, and also made the writing broken. This effect causes the footage to become blurred and distorted, creating a feeling of panic producing tension and atmosphere and making our opening scene more successful.

Tuesday 15 February 2011

Audience Feedback Questionairre

Our group decided to do an audience feedback questionnaire. This was to meet expectations of the media main task and to also see what the watcher thought of our opening scene. The group decided to distribute ten of these to the people who had previous watched our film peice.

Question 1
After watching our film did you feel it met the conventions of a typical thriller film? Briefly explain why... 

Question 2
After watching our opening scene do you think we have maintained a steady, professional use of the digital camera?

I personally feel that the results of this question was promising. A majority of the respondents selected 'yes', a few selected 'mainly' and then one person said 'no'. As Ellie (the filmer of the opening scene) has never filmed before with a camera then this is an extremely good result. However, before filming another peice Ellie could practise with a camera beforehand so she has some good experience of the shots, angles and balance.

Question 3
If possible could you briefly explain what you think will happen within the rest of the film...


Question 4
Do you feel the use of a soundtrack and sound effects has contributed to creating atmosphere and tension for our opening scene.

This graph shows that the majority of the audeince thought that the soundtrack helped to create the atmosphere however, for some people they felt that the soundtrack didn't help atall. This could be something the group could work on to improve.

Question 5
On a scale of 1 to 10 how successful do you think our opening scene is? (1 being poor and 10 being excellent)...

This graph shows what the audience rated ourmedia products. This was mainly between 5 and 6 marks. This shows that there is room for improvement, and this is something that the group could look to work on.

Question 6
Could you give the group some feedback saying what you like and what you don't like etc...

Question 7
How do you think we could improve our media main task opening scene?

For the other questions we looked at all the answers and took them all into account. Obviously all the other answers were to do with people's personal opinions but many things were repeated, this gives us help as if we film another product we can use the answers to improve on certain elements.

Tuesday 8 February 2011

Final Scripting

Our final scripting was the once which the group has decided would be the best for our thriller film. This is what the final script looks like:






































As you can see our main task scripting has quite alot of dialogue within it. This is because the group thought that it would be effective if the words of the characters could maybe scare the audience, and also put them on the edge of their seats. However, sound effects will be used to emphasise the scaryness of what is going on in the opening scene. When watching the footage back, we can see that by doing this we have easily made the tension build up and also only used sound effects and credits when necessary.

When watching the footage back it was clear that some scened needed re-doing to make the dialougue abit clearer and the lighting better. Therefore, we began to express characters more through actions, transitions and sound effects.

Once the footage had been edited and watched all the way through, we all felt shivers down our spines due to the physcological effect of our thriller film. By using dialogues, sound effects, transitions etc this has proven to pay of a success and work well with our groups chosen genre as well as including all of the camera shots and angles.

Film Editing

Before we uploaded our filmed footage onto the software 'Premier Elements 7.0', we had to conisder other factors that that would be included in the editing process of our opening scene.



Uploading Footage
To create and edit our film the group is using Adobe Premier Elements 7.0. This software isn't very complex therefore it is easy to use and allows the group to edit footage easily. However, the group have no other choice but to use this software because this is what the school has paid for us to use and also others are much more costly and complicated to use. The group feel that we know how to use Adobe Premier Elements considerately well and also can edit footage to the best of our potential.

The group are now ready to edit the footage which we have filmed. This was a simple process however I seemed to encounter a few problems whilst trying to upload the videos onto the software. As there were so many videos, the software took a long while to upload them and sometimes froze. This meant that one clip was uploaded at a time which would take up a significant amount time available which we have with this software, as none of the group have it installed at home.


Editing the footage was done by all of the group so that we all had a contribution in the matter. This means that we can individually express our ideas, make decisions together and produce a somewhat successful opening scene which the whole of the group are pleased with.

To start the editing process firstly Me, Honor, Amelia and Ellie deleted all of the film clips which were not needed. We did this by right clicking on the film clip and selecting delete.

Once all of the group had decided which of the videos were no longer needed, we could now start putting the videos together in order. This meant that the group could create distorted, repetitve shots. We are doing this so that the thriller effect of the film comes together and therefore makes the watcher into the opening scene. The distortion will produce a tense atmosphere which relates to the chosen genre of our group. This could make our opening scene more successful.

After we had put the film in order we could now start cutting bits out. We did by using the scissor tool. To cut something out of the media peice you had to drag to scissor tool along the timeline below the film.







Friday 4 February 2011

Storyboard

Below is the group's storyboard which we all put a contributed effort towards. I will deconstruct the storyboard so that it is clear to understand to the reader.

This is the title of our storyboard. We decided to add this to give an introduction to people who is going to do this, therefore they know who it is done by and can relate to other peices of my media coursework to make the storyboard more useful. We decided to to keep it simple using a plain white background with back writing therefore this can relate to the thriller film as it is dull and not bright.





 This is the first scene of our groups thriller film. It shows honor getting ready in one room, whilst me in another. The reason the me and Honor have been put in seperate rooms is because it adds to the mysteriousness of being alone, and therefore not knowing what is going on.






This second scene is where the lights switch off. There is only a caption and no picture because nothing will be seen due to pure darnkess. However, I feel this storyboard could of been produced better by having a black background and the caption in white to add to the thriller effect.







;The thirs scene is where the scaryness starts. As I drop my toothbrush the lights in the bathroom switch off. The watcher then sees a figure in the mirror whereas the actor (me) doesn't see this. The watcher will then be on the edge of the seat because they know something that shouldn't be in the house is in there. Therefore, the watcher gets the feeling that something bad is going to happen.





This next scene is where me and Honor are having a chat in the games room. There is tension due to none of us wanting to go outside and check the generator, therefore me and Honor seem at each others throats and scared. This is an effect of a thriller film.








In the fifth scene I was too angry with Honor about not coming to check the generator with me that I went by myself. At this point it was dark and scary and I ran down to the swimming pool at the bottom of the garden.









As I was approaching the generator in one of the rooms at the generator I heard noises. I then ran back as I was scared. As I was alone I decided to risk running back to Honor. This is so that the audience knew that I knew someone was after me, which adds to the physologicsal effects of a thriller film. 







In the last scene a hooded figure then appears at the door. This is when we know that Katie and Honor are in trouble. This film then ends here. Our group have decided to do it this way because it is a cliffhanger and it wants people to watch more...

Wednesday 2 February 2011

Filming on Monday 31st January 2011

The 31st of January was the last filming session that our group would have to finish our Media Main Task peice. The reason we left it so late to do our media footage is because members of the group unexpectedly had work and therefore the filming had to be withheld until a day where we could all make it. The group managed to film the rest of the footage within this time and worked this limit to our advantage due to getting more done.

The people who would appear in our media peice are three members of the group. They are Amelia, Honor and Myself. We decided to do this because we wanted to see what it would be like to film a thriller peice, and I feel that it would also add reality as we would be creative with our scenes due to putting into practice exactly what we wanted to do. Myself and Honor both played the two girls roles, whereas Amelia played the scary unknown person therefore she was disguised. Ellie was the person who did the sound effects and also filmed the whole peice.

At the start of the night we the group was making the last prepartions to the script, and also practising the camera angles; this was before we started filming our footage. The group also had to wait for the darkness to come as alot of the scenes which were shot were outside. This was to add a more mysteriousness to the thriller effect.

Equipment used:
The equipment our media group used to film the Main Task was a Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG20 Camcorder. The Sanyo Duel Camera CG20 records High Definition video and up to 14 mega-pixel digital photos with 5x optical zoom. All of these features are contained in a convenient, upright design. Recording videos, shooting photos and accessing settings in the menu can easily be controlled with the user of the camera who will be filming our peice (Ellie)'s thumb. The CG20 easily fits in your coat pocket and makes sharing videos and photos via social networking web sites, portable video devices like IPod's, TV's and computers, easy.