Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the in the progression from it to the full product?
Its been a massive learning curve for the whole group, we have been able to learn more from each stage of the production of the final piece. Even when we were not shooting any thing but in editing we were still picking up on things would could improve on.
From the preliminary task we learnt that having no dialogue may be the best thing to do, as sound plays a big part in any production and equipment to make the speech of the characters much more crisp was not readily available. We learnt how hard it is for real film producers to overcome the hurdle of sound, we tried to use dialogue but background noise proved to be a nuisance. Due to this we decided to take a different route and shoot a silent movie, this opened many more ideas to add to our production as it forced us to be a bit more creative as there will be no dialogue nor background sounds, just non-digetic sound of the music for that scene.

When it came to set for the preliminary task we used a classroom and some corridors, we felt this was a bit too simplistic and did not give much of a story. We saw from the preliminary task that scenes where the character is walking it was a lengthy amount of time before something happened, we wanted to keep the audience engaged throughout the production so from the preliminary task we understood that it would be much more engaging if scenes with walking should be cut down. We understood how difficult it is for real film producers to keep the audience engaged while the character is getting from one scene to another. So from the preliminary task we were able to learn how to keep the audience engaged the character is making a transition to another scene.

We also learnt that time is also a detrimental factor that was always looming over our heads, from the preliminary task it was very hard to shoot as when we began to shoot either other students will walk through the corridor or the school bell would ring. We learnt to allocate time slots during the school day when it would be best to film, this step proved to be very effective as we were able to shoot without much disturbance but we also learned to work efficiently within the time slots we had. We now have a better understanding film producers and time, in the world of film time is money and this is how they are able to work so effectively in the time they have, although there was no money involved we had to embody this type of work ethic to work fast and effectively yet producing a quality of film we were satisfied with.

Evaluation Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
We have learnt that technology is constantly advancing, much more advanced equipment is making production of films even more entertaining to audiences. We found out that once you have shot a scene, there are a number of things that can be done to it in order to achieve a certain effect or create a particular mood for that scene, from colour grading to sound dubbing. Editing was done on imovie this software became the core in constructing our media product, snipping selected scenes and adding sound can be done here. It soon became apparent to us that other editing software other than imovie can be used to create an altogether much more engaging production, imovie seemed to be basic for editing and much more advanced software is out there that if used correctly can make an impressive production.

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

We did some research and created questionnaires for students in our school to see what genre they most preferred to watch. When we obtained our results, most teenagers preferred the horror genre so we wanted to base our film on horror with the odd element of mystery to engage this audience so they are still interested in the film. We attracted our audience by also asking a couple of six formers to preview our clip and then tell us their feedback and also to ask their own friends to view it. We got positive feedback as all the students enjoyed the opening of the movie and they wanted to find out what was going to happen further on in the movie. We also attracted our audience by implementing sixth formers into our opening piece such as Femi. This is most likely to attract audiences in our school because sixth formers will know him therefore they will want to watch the film to see his role in this production, this is also the same for the other characters in our film also.    



We then posted it up on one of our members facebook (Vivian) to see if any of our friends of our age would watch it and to determine whether we had successfully reached our target audience effectively

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?


The audience for our media product will most likely to be the 16-24 year olds. The reason for this is because of several factors. Firstly due to the nature that our film is located in a school, it means its based on school life which will definantly targets this audience because they are still in education either in university, secondary school or college. Another reason why this media product targets this audience is because all of the characters within the film are within the range of 16-18 years of age; moreover this reinforces why are media product aims at this audience because they are the audience that are most likely to understand the characters in our media product. The reason we didn't target younger audiences like the 8-12 year olds is because this film is a horror film, because of this younger audiences will not favour this type of film as they are more interested in action films than horror films so they wouldn't be the ideal audience to target. Older audiences such as the 30 + bracket will not be an ideal audience to target either because the films characters are very young and its based on school life. Older audiences wouldn't be able to understand as properly as other audiences as school life has changed from when they where init, which gives our group even more incentive to target the 16-24 year olds.

Evaluation Question 3

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


As our media product isn't a major production like blockbuster movies made by famous producers it is very unlikely to be released into the cinemas. Therefore our media product is firstly likely to distributed by institutions such as Film 4 as they are the most realistic source where our media product will be distrubuted efficiently. Film 4 enable all the small films to be broadcasted not only locally but internationally as Film 4 is an international institution. Due to this, our film is more likely to reach audiences as Film 4 broadcasts films on a regular basis and is good thing for small films such as ours.


Also our group considered because we created and filmed the film within the school. The school will be a good institution to distribute our product. The reason for this is because, most of our target audience are within the school and are most likely to watch or film. Our film could be shown through assemblies or separate screenings within the school. This will be a good way to distribute or media product because as its within the school, the school will be the most likely source to advertise our media product because, its within the school. The school could get publicity from it so the school will be more tempted to distribute our media product.

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our media product represeents particular social groups firstly through one of our VIMK members Miles. As Miles is one of the main characters in this media production he represents a particular social group. Due to the fact Miles is a male he would represent the male social group. However, as Miles' character is a nerd in this production; therefore he doesn't conform the general stereotype of this social group, as he is never the dominant figure throughout this media production. This is reinforced when he is getting bullied in one of the scenes, showing how he wasnt the dominant figure in the situation he walked into.  Even though this could subvert the male social group as they are seen as 'dominant' during media productions and also manly; Miles' character however, targets the males who are classified as nerds.  This is through what he wears and how he acts in the media production which is similiar to the people who are labelled as nerds in reality.
In spite of this however, the bully Femi in this production clearly is an example of a more masculine role. This is due to how he is presented in this media production. Femi is more of a remoursless character who doesn't sympathise for the protagonists feelings (Miles). This is a more tradional masculine role also reinforced when he seeks revenge during the end of the production.
Following on from this, I believe the ghost (Irma) in this media product isn't the general sterotype you would associate with the particular social group of women. Reasons for this are because, the character is a ghost and is more do to with hurting people and causing pain on people who harm the main character. Whereas in other media productions females are usually represented as 'princesses' or have a very 'feminine' role in film. Where this isn't the case with our character Irma as she haunts Miles in his dreams and kills the bully in the opening of the film foreshadowing even more traumatising events later on in the production.

Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our media product uses forms and conventions of real media products such as horror, thriller and mystery films. The use of low lighting and ominous music is evident in all three of these real media products, we used these to create our own horror/ mystery media product. From research done we found a trend, that most horror films are set in one place, our group had limited space for a set so we used this to our advantage and picked key places where we would have everything shot.
Additional conventions of real horror,thriller and mystery media products such as camera movement and camera lenses were used in our media product, a variety of camera movement and an array of lenses may be used in a real production. Taking our limited resources into consideration we tried our best with what we had, the fish eye lens was used effectively in captivating the audience with first person point of view shots just the way a real horror media product would, also camera movement was done without equipment making some scenes seem jerky further adding to the realism of it all, again this would be apparent in a real media product.
Also the story line of there being a person that is being troubled or bullied and is helped by a guardian angel of some sort is a typical plot for a horror/mystery film and we used this form of story line to progress with our own  plot. Again research helped to strengthen our knowledge on how to approach this, we found that it was mainly a female that would be the supernatural being and offer aid or distress to the protagonist be it male or female. We did not want to challenge this form as it has proven to be successful for many real media products, we decided to keep the supernatural being female and have the protagonist male in order to add some depth to the plot.

External Software

 We had installed an external software to use at home: Sony Vegas Pro 9 and After effects. This is because iMovie was to simplistic and could only be used in school as none of the members had a mac at home to use iMove. Sony Vegas Pro 9 helped us polish our film opening, it allowed us to edit sound effects and music with maximum precision, giving our film a cutting edge, cinematic feel. Furthermore, we applied colour filters and levels to our piece through Sony Vegas, to suit the whole horror and supernatural feel we were going for.


After effects gave us a range of possibilities in what we could do with our title sequence, and our move title. We were able to achieve a 'horror' look by adding a wiggle command to the text (gives that uneasy jittery feeling), and we gave our text smooth and stylish editing transitions, with the Optimus Princeps font.
The software used were tedious to get round, but once we grasped hold of the basics, it was just a matter of what we wanted to implement in our media production; and the software gave us no limitations.

Sound Choice 4

Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni OST             

In our second version of our final piece we had put another soundtrack into the scene where our male character is getting bullied (We had made this soundtrack fade inbetween our sound choice 3.) This is because we felt that the sound choice 3 we played for too long and when our bully character began vomiting blood we should insert a more dramatic soundtrack and so we began searching for a more dramatic soundtrack and found this one. 

FINAL PIECE

This is our second version of our final piece where we have inserted the title of the film and imputed another soundtrack.

Title Sequence

During the title sequence of our media production we had to add certain elements to depict the horror genre. Firstly we decided to use a black background and dark lighting to add the element of horror to the opening as during the opening of the film people get killed so using dark colours in our title sequence will foreshadowing upcoming events. We then decided to use 'Bakersville' font to introduce the names of our characters and the title of our film. We used this font in our film as this font is very edgy and because we added effects to the way it shows through a black background it adds the effect of mystery and horror to our title sequence. The colour of the font is red as well representing blood which is a usual element in horror films so the audiences we target will have an idea of what this media product'a genre is. The size of the font is size 4, the reason we used this small text during the title sequence of our film is to add the element of mystery to our media production. This creates an effect of the audience having to find the text almost as its small relaying the element of mystery. 

FINAL PIECE DRAFT

This is our first final piece however it does not yet have a title inputed.

Sound Choice 3

Card castles in the sky 

After the dream happened within our media piece we decided to implement this piece of music to our media production. We chose this soundtrack because it fitted well in terms of the situation in the opening of this film where Miles wakes up. This song is perfect for this situation because it fits the mood Miles is in when he wakes up, a very confused figure. This will also have to same affect upon the audience as they would feel confused just like Miles into why that dream occured and this song is perfect for relaying events such as these. The soundtrack also drags on further into when the protagonist is being bullied. The reason for this is to add the effect to the odd lifestyle Miles seems to posses in this film. This odd music suits the lifestyle Miles has which a fundamental reason for why this piece of music was in our film.

Sound Choice 2

Title sequence Soundtrack

Another

The reason we decided to choose this music for the credits was because it was very creepy and that was what we wanted throughout our opening clip, also it went smoothly with the clip and the shots that it seemed perfect to use. In addition to this, this music was very mysterious, making the audience have an idea of what this film will be like. By using this soundtrack during the title sequence our group are enabled to make the audience feel disturbed before the opening even takes place which our group thought it would be a good affect to have during the opening sequence of our media production.

Sound Choice 1

Prometeus Music
We've decided to go with this music soundtrack for our nightmare scene because it made the scene look more dramatic and scary.This will make the viewers feel on edge due to the dramatic music changing from low to high and back to low again. The loud bangs in the music showed that there was something wrong and that something bad may occur in that scene, but also because it was a dream it stuck well with the low key lighting that was used. The loud bangs within the music building tension within our media production as well, this will thrill audiences who watch the opening of our media production and will build events for the later parts of the opening.

Final Piece DRAFT

This is a draft of our final piece we have joined all clips together to the best of our abilities and have noticed a few small continuity errors so we will be correcting the immediately.

We have yet to put in more effects for the opening credits, at the moment we have just sorted the order of the credit sequence. We were not particular happy about using iMovie for the credit section because the features were very limited and there weren't an affects that we wanted so we could do much. Therefore we will be transferring the credit clip to another programme to edit.

Also, we have not yet put in the sound for the second scene when the character has woken up because the sound we intended to use did not fit very well so it needs to be changed. The lighting of the establishing shots and scene two (when he wakes up to reality) also has to be changed to fit the mood.

Sound Choice

We deliberately did not script dialogue because we felt that it would deteriorate our opening because we are not professionals at acting so our character may not say a line in a certain way to create the mood we want. Plus it would be quite time consuming to write a small script for the characters to say. Also, expressions are an important element to acting so we were worried that our members would not be able to make expressions necessary when they become their character which may affect it critically and make the opening seem less real. So to avoid any complications, we've decided to use soundtracks instead.

Sound

SOUND

Sound plays an important part in film. It creates the atmosphere for what is going on in the scene or what is upcoming later on in the scene. we watched a few movies involving these types of sounds to gain a better understanding of what sounds are expected horror and mystery films.





There are 2 main branches of sound, Digetic and Non-Digetic

Diegetic:

This is sound that is part of the action in the scene or sound from the action in the scene, it varies from the voices of the characters to the music on screen (instruments within the story) or off screen. This is sound that both audience and characters are aware of.

Non-Digetic:

This can be sound that is neither visible on the screen and been put into the action in that scene, it is sond that characters in the scene cannot hear but the audience can hear. This can be narration of the story, sound effects that will create the atmosphere for that scene, for instance ominous music in a horror film.

Sounds for the Production

There was a particular atmosphere we wanted to create, it took quite a lot of thought as to how we were going to create this ominous atmosphere during certain scenes within our media piece. It wasn't as easy as throwing any spooky sounding music into the production, we had to make sure the sound added depth to the scene, the above clip show is music that would be in a horror production but it does not create the desired effect we wanted in our media piece.

This clip isn't ideal either, it creates suspense but the group did not feel it would convey what we were trying to achieve. The sounds are too overpowering and would not suit our piece as events within the film do not occur so obviously, the way the music is suggesting.

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Lighting 2

With further experiments on editing the lighting, taking the previous lighting experiment draft we were not very keen on the way it looked as it was too bright and did not really give that scary dreamlike effect and so with some video adjustments we chose to give it a sci-fi affect with a few alterations to the brightness etc.
Saturation 164%
Contrast 45%
Exposure 159%

We had chosen to give it the sci-fi affect  because it makes the scene look very shadowy and haunting and gives it that eerie atmosphere as it. Our first intention was to give it bleak blue lighting to give that cold effect but it could not be accomplished as iMovie's after affects were quite limited.

Lighting 1

Because the opening consist of a dream/nightmare scene I wanted to change the lighting to a much tinted colour to enhance that dreamlike effect which I have seen in many supernatural or horror movies. In the supernatural movies I've seen the colours are usually a bleak frosty blue colour to give that cold atmosphere of the scene. It was also an idea taken from the film that we had researched earlier called 'Narc'

So on iMovie i browsed around on the options provided to adjust the lighting and i came across this glow affect which made the filming glow hence the name and I just altered the colour to a light blue.

(Draft video = we have not put in the establishing shots with the credits correctly yet) And it looked like this. In my opinion it does not look very scary or dreamlike so i will do further experiments on the lighting until satisfied.)

Programme

iMovie

iMovie is a proprietary video editing software application which allows Mac users to edit their own home movies. You are able to edit the video clips, add titles, and add music. Effects include basic color correction and video enhancement tools, and transitions such as fade-in, fade-out, and slides. With toolbox buttons allowing the importing of images from iPhoto, music from iTunes and the setting of chapter markers ready for exporting to iDVD.

It is really easy and simple to use, it is not to complex so anyone can get the hang of using this software. However the features on editing were very limited so we considered transferring all the clips to Premiere. We already began fusing clips and editing on imovie so we decided to stick to using imovie for the mean time. When completed we will then export it into Premiere to add after affects if possible.

Costume Setback 2

During parts of filming we had a setback. This setback was characters in our film sometimes forgot to bring the correct clothes when it was time to film. This was a huge setback during the creation of our media production as it mean't we couldn't film for that day which wasted our time as it means we had less time to create this media production. Another setback was if we did decided to film and say for instance Miles forgot to bring the right belt to filming it will affect the continuity of our piece meaning we have to cuts bits out of the film as it wouldn't fit with the rest of the film; making the process even longer than it has been creating this media production.

Bully Character Costume

We had purposely chosen this costume for our bully character because the White shirt, Blazer and tie as common school uniform wear. However we have dressed him down with a black Hoodie and skinny jeans accompanied with a pair of black converses to show that he is a rebellious character as he is going against the general school uniform policy. We had specifically chosen the colour black for his Hoodie, Jeans and shoes because the colour black normally suggests evil and darkness (the character is also in a desolate area.) The colour black could also mean stealth or under the radar. Meaning that this character possibly stray from crowds of people, and does his own thing, leading to ideas of rebelliousness and his character being. Also, his hair was wild and scruffy giving the suggestion of an unstable character mindset.

Costume of Ghost

This is generally what one of our VIMK members Irma wears generally to school. Since our school policy is to dress formally it would be easier to fit her in school wear since its a formal outfit to wear. Considering one of the main characters in this production is a ghost we had to think of an appropriat costume attire which would suit this role.

As you can see here we have decided to put Irma into a normal plain school shirt,black tights, a typical school skirt and plain black flat shoes. The reason behind this choice of custume is because the ghost in this film has some redemption with school life, so we thought it would be suitable to suit her in this attire to portray this to the audience that the ghost has something to do with the history of the school. We also decided to place her hair in front of her face during most of this opening. We did this because we didn't want to reveal all the features of the character so early on in the opening of the production so it added an element of mystery to the opening by doing this.











 Our group decided to use dark colours such as black in the attire which Irma is wearing as you can see. The reason for this choice of colour was to portray the dark elements of the ghost and it suited the lighting well, which we manipulated as dark colours foreshadow bad things such as death, which is a central part to our opening.










We realized that putting make up on Irma would be a tough task since we are not making a professional film, and the make up would be hard to make similar every time we film affecting the continuity of the film. What we did to overcome this was to use bandages which went across her face and accross her arm. The bandages show the pain and suffering she went through during her experiences in the school. The bandages add a good effect of horror to the character and adds to the ghost effect we tried to show in the film.

Main Character Costume

This is VIMK's member Miles, this is what he generally wears to school, our school policy is to dress smart for six form. Thus it was easier to change him into a nerd as he would already be wearing a suit so it is cost effective and would drag time as he wouldn't have to change before we shoot.
Our main character of the opening is a 'Nerd' and in order to show that one of IMVK's member was a Nerd we used the stereotypical view of what a typical geek would wear. The most important accessory to a nerd is a pair of glasses as it would make obvious that the individual is a nerd as glasses makes a person look intelligent and smart. We had also made him wear a plain white shirt, plain black trousers and a smart shoes with an addition of a tie and student card as it looks like a common uniform a student would wear (Simple and plain.)

Although in these pictures taken he was wearing a Gucci belt and ring, he did not wear them during the shooting of the opening. This is because these accessories are considerably what a typical 'gangster' would wear according to common Movies/Films  and thus we replaced his belt with a plain squared black belt.

< We've replaced his Gucci belt with a similar belt like this.

Weather Conditions

The Weather Change had caused some continuity issues because when we shot the bully scene  it was sunny (high key lighting.) But we were unable to film all that we needed that sunny day and when we had planned to continue with the it was raining so we were unable to shoot anything because if we were to shoot the scene and put the clips together it would show obvious issues  and so it took us longer than intended to shoot one section of the scene and so we continued with our editing instead. Also when filmed and took pictures of the establishing shots we needed the weather kept changing drastically so we were unable to take shots  due to the weather affecting the lighting.

Agenda

This is a schedule that I (Vivian) have made to help keep a basic knowledge of what to do at certain days and hopefully we are able to stick to it fully as there may be unexpected delays such as costume problems and weather conditions. It was a good idea to arrange a small plan because each of us members have different free periods and extra lessons after school and we also have half term therefore we all intend to come in half term for at least 3-5 maximum to complete any filming if needed to improve our opening.

Main Shots

We have choose three main shots that we will be using also accompanied by other various camera shots/angles:

- Establishing Shot - We will be using this shot because it will establish the time and location.

- Point of View Shot - (Person's perspective) We will be using this shot the most because it enables the audience to see the character's view point of their action so that it would make them feel as if they are in the shoes the character themselves. We intend to you this in the chasing scene.

- Low angle Shots - We believe that it is essential to have a low angle shot in our film because we would see it in any old horror Movie. Reason being is because the low angle shot is a shot positioned low on a vertical axis looking up at an object or figure making it look superior and dominant. This shot will also be used in the chasing scene between the boy and ghost.

Establishing Shot list

Establishing Shots

Here is the establishing shots we plan to take to put in the opening, preferably used for the opening credits. We purposely chose to shot establishing in the older looking areas of the school to keep to suit the genre.

Storyboard

Because we have already planned where we want to have the location set we went down to the the DT area and explored the place in help us create the storyboard. We felt that it was essential to make a storyboard so that we would have a run down of what shots would be needed to film and how having the locations, camera angles and stage directions on paper would make the filming process flow a lot easier and better.

Location

(This image was print screened from our filming and was inserted into this post later on)









We had purposely chosen the the DT basement of our school building as our location to film the nightmare scene because it was narrow and confined. Also, the corridor was very long so it was suitable for our chasing scene because we wanted our character to run in a straight line which made it much easier for us to film 

Target Audience

We decided to aim our opening to people of our own age (16+) This is because we stand in the same age bracket therefore were are more likely to have similar tastes in Movies etc. Also, considering our genre is Mystery/Horror there is a high chance that teenagers will be interested in our Movie opening. Furthermore the character we are using are teenagers as well therefore having our target audience as teenagers are very convenient because they would be more interesting in watching someone of their own age rather than someone much older or younger. Plus we would not have to go find characters of an older or younger age so it is less of a hassle.

To ensure that we have completely reached our target audience, after we have complete the final piece we will possibly asked a few students from our year and below to watch out clip and give opinions on what they likes about it, what they didn't and how they think it could be improved.

Opening inspiration 2

Paranormal Actively: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_UxLEqd074

As our group decided to film parts of the movie from a point-of-view perspective we went and researched openings of films and found this Paranormal Activity trailer a good example of using the camera from a POV view and also using the camera hand-held.  In Paranormal Activity the film is all from a POV view, in this movie it is very effective as they use slow movements in scary moments to build up tension and engage the audience into the horror and mystery of the film which is something we are going to try and incorporate in our film.  Paranormal Activity attracted audiences filming their trailer upon the people that first viewed this film. Thus attracting audiences as they will see their reactions to scary events in the film making them want to watch as they will know its good by peoples reactions in the trailer. This is something that our group needs to carry out during our media production, we could get the reactions of some students in our school and use them as part of our trailer to attract audiences just like Paranormal Activity does.

Opening Inspiration 1

Cloverfield:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12V0xQhKros

This is the opening scene of Cloverfield. This moving we took ideas from because of the way camera is used and the when action has taken place. We will be using certain camera angles when doing our film. We have also taken into consideration the thrills this film opening has; this movie is full of surprises and at times gruesome horror. To make a good horror film we will need to include elements of surprise that will captivate audiences just like this. Cloverfield attracts audiences by the fact that its the first film which is all hand-held which they used to their advantage during their advertising campaign. As its something audiences are new to indulging them to watch this film. This is what we have to do in order to attract audiences to watch our film as we have to focus on something unique in our media production to advertise efficiently to attract our target audience.