Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent

 particular social groups?

      Overall, Bex and I tried to make our protagonist similar to certain social groups, yet fairly different at the same time. Because of the voice over, she appears as a shy girl, one who cannot talk directly to people. She also moves quite slowly throughout, as if she is in deep thought or worried. This works well with the thriller genre and a stereotypical female character, something we wanted to keep. 

Mise-en-scene; Costume
                               Make-up
                               Old photograph
                               Handwriting

     

      


      Bex has very elegant, stereotypically neat feminine handwriting which worked really well with the sense of old memories and how people used to write, as well as working with the quiet female stereotype that we tried to remove. 






      The costume we used was plain -  a casual jeans and a jacket - were to portray her as a simple, everyday person, someone you would not expect this to happen to. The events of the sequence play on the audiences mind because of how vulnerable our protagonist looks. She is the only person to feature and therefore all eyes are on her (no pressure!) so we had to make sure she was someone everyone would be able to watch and get along with. The handwriting is very swirly, quite elegant, which is something related to girls in general. Her appearance is tidy and overall quite neat. 

      For as long as possible I wanted to hide her face, which also allowed us to vary our camera angles. This was mainly because of the build with mystery and the audience not being allowed to see her face yet, or be able to connect properly with her. So right up until 1:12, no shot exists of her face on. At the beginning I focused on her walking away from the camera, and with the photo later at her feet. This creates a real mysterious effect, and represented the social group because it shows her to be quite secretive and her not wanting people to see her face, who she is, or what she is doing. Overall, the particular social groups our media product presents is the typical teenaged girl. However we did not present her as 'too girly', but dressed her in every day comfortable clothes, with limited make-up and her hair down. We did this through use of camera angles and shots to display her facial expressions and distant mood, and also through use of mise-en -scene. 

Evaluation Question 1

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

      The reason Bex and I decided on our film being a combination of two genres; Horror and Thriller were because of the great variety of ideas it gave for us to challenge the forms and conventions of real title sequences. Together, Bex and I used different ways to make it fit within the conventions of both genres in order for our target audience to understand what type of film they are about to watch without the need for heavy dialogue. 

      Conventions of our certain genres were done to make it fit where we were able to add our own personalised techniques. For example we aimed to have a wide variety of camera shots, quite typical in a thriller to enhance the fear and mystery that is the unknown. Our main use of mise-en-scene was the photograph that suddenly appear scratched out after the panning shot is shown from our protagonist's perspective. Costume was that of a casual teenaged girl in today's society. Lighting was heavily used in our shots of the diary writing, where I wanted to capture the foreground in perfect clarity as the viewer's eye was led into the darkness. 

      In terms of location, we went against the stereotypical dark alley, late at night, deserted house attempt and replaced it with an old Pier, on a hazy day in a local area. Our main reasoning behind this, is because it is hardly somewhere you would expect a thriller to take place. It messes with the audiences mind, as they start watching the film thinking everything is cool and calm, when suddenly shock strikes that every other scene are flashbacks of a mysterious event. 

      

      When editing, I strongly used colour correction on all scenes. The diary writing shots have a 50's black and white hue over them to enhance the loneliness and mystery behind what she is writing. In comparison, the flashback scenes have been cropped for a more cinematic feel and have been colour corrected to 'spring summer' which has a perfect effect on emphasizing the past, a memory, something distant and faded away. This also helped with giving a feel for the genre for our film. 

      We used influences for shots such as The Woman In Black and Se7en. I was highly inspired to take the flicking through of the book from Se7en and the appearance of a figure through glass by changing the opacity and over laying. This overall worked quite well.

      To conclude, Bex and I kept a lot of the conventions of a thriller/horror such as the the mystery, the pace of shots, close-ups, reaction shots, tension and eerie music to help the audience identify our film's genre. We also used the ghostly convention of a hand that suddenly appears on the window behind our Protagonist and disappears before much can be made of it....mysterious....

CONSTRUCTION FINAL

Preliminary Task

Feedback for Final Cut

"Your opening sequence was very intriguing, the music in the background was very well used and fitted in well with the theme. The words were quite philosophical and interesting and I definitely would like to watch the rest of the movie as it seems to get me thinking about what's going to happen next, who she's writing the letter to and many more questions rise from the opening sequence! Overall good work and well done!"

Farhath Siddiqui
Age 17 years
College Student

"Especially loved the book at the end, I think it's an awesome effect! Great variance in camera angle and the continuity of each scene is maintained despite numerous cut-outs. Excellent credit/title positioning as it doesn't block any action and suitably chosen font."

Jamie Cash
Age 17 years
Sixth Form Student

"I think the story line is great. I especially love the idea of the flashbacks, whoever came up with that is a genius!"

Kristian Coomber
Age 17 years
College Student

"You had a good use of editing to ensure continuity and also your titles were very effective, the ending especially."

Josh Walker
Age 17 years
College Student

"The voice-over needs to be a bit louder, struggling to hear it. I like how you have used the colouring, it looks really realistic and professional. I also like the shot angles e.g. the one of her walking away from the camera at the start."

Liam Penn
Age 18 years
College Student

Final Cut!

Music

     Music and sound is one of the main ways tension is built in any film, a thriller especially. What we hear on screen really does contribute to 50% of a film and so it was really important that Bex and found the right piece of music for our opening title sequence.

      We first began searching for songs that linked withing our genre. Youtube played a very useful part in this. We then grew to liking piano pieces, with the eerie chords and notes etc, it certainly was fitting with the film. Bex knew of a few pieces she liked and was thinking of doing something with 2 of them. One that caught our....ears....in particular was 'Kiddie Land' by Prelude, the link is as follows;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cePrt0bKp18

      Bex used this and a short piece she created on her samdung touch i-pad table thing to create the piece we not have on our title sequence. 

      However , I just listened to this piece (the link) for the first time and found it so perfectly creepy that I sent Bex a message asking if we should change it, and also our teacher if it is too late to do that!

      Oh we just both think it fits so much better, now having the final cut we are so happy with, this music is perfect! I just need to cut it, making it a little shorter, as currently is it 1 minute too long.

Shooting: The Remaining

      Just a short, semi 'behind-the-scenes' of thought, event, problems, weather and giggles of the day we filmed our opening title sequence: 

    
      Deciding on the location to shoot our short film was something that Bex and I immediately agreed on. (Off to a great start eh!?) We strongly wanted it to not be a heavily stereotypical location, despite the genre, because we wanted to build on the idea of mystery. Sadly what we did not consider was checking whether we would be able to take all of our equipment onto Clevedon Pier and use it to film there. We got there on a very windy Wednesday afternoon, paid to go in (having just eaten lunch on the de-tour we took to get there!) and went to walk through when suddenly we were told tripod's were not allowed on the Pier. Oh dear...! However, you were allowed to film, and take pictures etc, but the tripod was a no go. So, leaving it there, we then had to think how on earth we could film without it! As I was in charge of the camera and all the filming, I was desperately looking for tables, ledges, flat surfaces etc that I could use! But it sure allowed us to play with angles and perspectives! Luckily our opening shot was low down, on the floor in fact, so not too bad a start. 

Our opening shot of Amelia walking down the Pier.

      In particular for this shot, I placed the camera on a table that was ironically perfectly placed in the corner of the upper level of the Pier. Despite it being a distant shot of our protagonist and there being a fair bit in the frame, it has hidden her face, linking with her identity and the fact that the audience still does know what she looks like, or in fact what she is looking at. This perfectly build with the mystery factor. 

      This shot is of Amelia having now seen the photo, and not bending down to pick it up and have a look. The audience having already seen the picture on the previous shot of when it blows up against her feet. When she bends down to pic something up, the straight facing shot of Amelia portrays this perfectly where the audience is able to relate to the previous shot.

      Here, we inserted a panning shot from Amelia's perspective just after she has picked up the photo and is a little confused as to where it has come from. Casually she looks up and across the sea. Ideally here I wanted to show a blurred figure in the distance and for that to be our ghost at the end, but sadly it would have been too small in insignificant due to the scaling of the shot.

      This over the shoulder shot was used so that the audience can see at the same time as Amelia the photo she now holds in her hand. This shot is a carry on from the eye line match between the picture and our Protagonist. 

      This image shows a mid-shot of Amelia and the audience being able to see her reaction to the now scratched out photo as she stands back a little, one hand on the railing and her body slowly turning to the side. I guess you could class this as a reaction shot, when she suddenly turns around having sensed/heard something behind her. You can also see her surroundings as she is not placed in the center of the frame. 

Media Evaluation Questions

Our evaluation questions are as listed :) Up to 20 marks can be awarded for these... :)

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
4. Who would be the audience for your media production?
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Production Diary Entry 8

      Today Bex and I worked on the titles and their ordering just before I added them. I have uploaded a video of our work up to date, yet still a few things need doing and touching up. I also need to add in the ident at the beginning of the title sequence :)

• What went well

Organising of titles.

Placing and opacity changing of hand on window.

• What might need improving

Ghostly hand on glass, maybe add other hand, re-do shaping to fit window panes. 

Titles so that all are equal in size.

• Any progression on ideas

Candle flickering in forground, to work alongside with cold, dark feelings at the thought of Amelia writing about her memories, her past.

• Techniques used when editing 

Fades in and out, for effect of flashbacks. 

Overlaying of two videos and opacity changing of one.

Colour presets on flashbacks.

Black and white setting on diary scene to emphasize her reminiscing. 

• How the editing went. 

Overall quite well. Pretty happy with it, the effects used etc and the fonts are good. Just need to add the voice-over! 

Last...few...steps...

     
      Here, I present to you our very nearly finished title sequence. All that needs adding now is the voice-over and a few checks and touch ups with the soundtrack. With the titles I tried hard to fins the correct font so everything tied in. Today we were given our 7 evaluation questions and told to work on the first.

Rough Cut Feedback

Today Bex and I showed our rough cut to the class and here are a few things we noted down;

1. Detach audio from scenes added today!
2. Keep the eye-line match with Bex and the Pier - (don't interrupt with the letter writing.)
3. In the shots of Bex writing a letter, she hasn't written much - continuity?
4. Increase the opacity - ghost is too ghostly. (Someone in our class didn't see it! O.o)
5. Re-consider clothes of the ghost.
6. Hand or shadow rather than whole people/evil/sound music to make it scary.
7. Clever continuity/illusion.

Of course we are a way off completing our final title sequence, but after this we have decided to of course work on the areas that came up.

1. Detaching the audio was just something we forgot to do given the time of having to upload the shots before showing it to the class!
2. The point on eye-line match is a very good point and I totally agree with this, so of course this will be changed.
3. Where Bex hasn't written a lot is a fair point, so we will have a long think about re-filming as such a late date. 
4. Same with the ghost, it will take a while to find the perfect opacity, we just didn't have the time in one lesson today! 
5. Not sure why we would need to, but we will think about it. :)
6. I don't quite fully understand this point yet, the soundtrack we had playing was just a protocol, whilst Bex was working on mixing a few together and creating something perfect!
7. Well, this was our aim! ^_^

Production Diary Entry 7 - ROUGH CUT

      Today we completed our rough cut as much as we could with the time we had. So far we are short of titles, the ident and many other small things such as the soundtrack, voiceover and scratching to put over the photo shot. Bex has been working on the soundtrack and combining pieces she has found and one small piece she created herself on a samsung tablet. I have been completely focused on all the editing and piecing together of all the shots to create the rough cut I present to you here;

Production Diary Entry 6

      Today Bex and I filmed the last of our shots needed to complete our Title Sequence. Over the week I re-watched the title sequence from Se7en and was extremely inspired by the 'book flicking' technique used at the very beginning. So today Bex and I tried this, it looks pretty good and we are hopeful it looks even better! I then mentioned to Bex that we should consider having our titles in it if we were to slow it down ever so slightly. Here's the one I mean;

      I realize our won't quite be so brilliant, but it was worth a go eh!? We weren't going for the '7 deadly sins' feel anyway!

• What went well

General filming and ideas for improvising.

• What might need improving

Sey up of scenes and where we place what. We want the best result for the flashbacks.

• Any progression on ideas

Etchy scenes for flashbacks.

Writing a longer script for the voice-over.

Using the sound of the fountain pen when writing.

• Any changes to schedule

Sadly the buses to no run over the weekend to Clevedon, so we will have to use the scenes we have as we only go to film Bex writing today.

• How the overall shooting has gone

Pretty good I believe, we used a great variety of shots today so we can pick and choose!

New Shooting Schedule

      Due to a few corrections and areas Bex and I need to improve on we have drawn up a new shooting schedule for this weekend that will enable us to stick to our new plans and finish all shooting that we need!

Production Diary Entry 5

Editing for Rough Cut

Rough Cut due date: 19th March 2013


What went well

Selection of scene, cutting and piecing together as well as colour enhancing the scenes to emphasize the effect of a flashback.

What might need improving

Selection of shots.

Continuity.

Soundtrack.

Any progression on ideas

The scenes we have to date are to be used as flashbacks that Amelia has when she is writing in the diary.

More shots are needed (to be filmed on Sunday).

1 minute shoot of Bex writing in a diary that will relate to voiceover.

Any changes to schedule

This Sunday we will re-shoot a few scenes to continue with our idea of the flashbacks. We will also do a 1 minute shoot of Bex sat at a desk writing in her diary as we plan to vary the shots of a mid close up of her face and then possibly one over the shoulder so we can see what she is writing. 

How the overall shooting has gone

Overall things are going ok, we just have a few areas to touch up on, especially our continuity but everything is scheduled.

Techniques used when editing 

Transforming the recording to have more of a cinematic 16:9 feel rather than a standard 4:3 video aspect ratio.

Colour correction on the video so that it has a more professional visualisation, although it may not be a natural colour tone it is one that will enhance the shot to collaborate with the mood of the scene and emphasize the idea of a flashback. 

How the editing went. 

So far so good, mainly been exploring Final Cut Pro and all the many things you can do on it.

Production Diary Entry 4

      Today Bex and I met in town to film the rest of what we need for our title sequence. This involved taking a panning shot of the view from the Pier that will be featured when Amelia takes her eyes off the picture to look out to sea as we include the sound of the photo being scratched and then a reaction shot of Amelia's face when she notices that one face in the picture has been scratched out.