Our first piece of filming was a conversation to allow us to experiment with the features of the video camera and the special effects you can add using premier elements
You can see that in the short scene we filmed a conversation between Matt and Chris to get an idea of how different shots can be used to give a different feeling to what is happening on screen. We experimented using over the shoulder shots so the audience could see the reactions and emotions of the characters. It then goes to a mid shot of the two characters so the audience can establish where the conversation is taking place. We emphasised the sound of Matt's phone and used a POV shot so the audience feel they are the character and get emerged in the story. We used continuity editing to show Matt walking threw the door and then a long shot showing where the character is walking to. This was the first time any of us had done anything like this and i believe the editing is very good.
Detainment
Detainment was our final piece and if you look at it to compare with our first film the conversation you can see that the techniques we used in the first film were re used in the final piece. Continuity editing was very apparent in both of the films when the characters use the doors to enter and exit buildings. The conversation was shot in the same way as well using over the shoulder shots. We have then used a close up of the handle when Matt tries to escape from the room this is also like when Matt answers his phone in the preliminary task. Things such as non diagetic sound were added into the final piece which we didnt have in the preliminary tash which i believe adds alot to the film such as tension.Finally there is a mid shot of Matt just before he attacks the board; this is a good shot because it shows his emotion.
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Audience Feedback
Here is some feedback that we have had from our audience:
grreesbutt- over all i think there is a good use of camera shots and movement e.g. long shots medium shots tacking and canted angle shots. The things that could be improved could be that when the evil guy slits Matt's throat he should have done it with the sharp edge of the knife instead of the blunt side to give a better sense of verisimilitude (authenticity).
Chris olney- I really liked this film, i felt that the music went well with the scene and also the flickering lights was also really good. If there was one thing that you could improve on would be by using more fake blood as there was only a little bit but other than that, AWESOME!!
Tony- really liked the film, i liked the high angle which shows that the character is vulnerable also it seems like he is being watched by someone.
Tom- nice lads i like it.
Jamie- pretty good, i enjoyed the scene when the lights are flickering and the killer is slowly moving towards Shaun. I thought that the killing scene was good but maybe you should of used a fake knife so that you would be to use the right side of the knife, but still looks good.
Max- good film, not to sure about the end where the killer gently drops Shaun on the film also using the wrong side of the knife, but other than that i think you used good camera shots and movements throughout the film. The music also worked well i thought.
The final outcome of the film could of been improved if we had changed the murder scene as we had to use the wrongside of the knife byt we thought using a real knife was important and a fake knife would of not givin the look we wanted the scene to have. We were very pleased with how people viewed the camera shots we decided to use and how we edited all the shots together.
grreesbutt- over all i think there is a good use of camera shots and movement e.g. long shots medium shots tacking and canted angle shots. The things that could be improved could be that when the evil guy slits Matt's throat he should have done it with the sharp edge of the knife instead of the blunt side to give a better sense of verisimilitude (authenticity).
Chris olney- I really liked this film, i felt that the music went well with the scene and also the flickering lights was also really good. If there was one thing that you could improve on would be by using more fake blood as there was only a little bit but other than that, AWESOME!!
Tony- really liked the film, i liked the high angle which shows that the character is vulnerable also it seems like he is being watched by someone.
Tom- nice lads i like it.
Jamie- pretty good, i enjoyed the scene when the lights are flickering and the killer is slowly moving towards Shaun. I thought that the killing scene was good but maybe you should of used a fake knife so that you would be to use the right side of the knife, but still looks good.
Max- good film, not to sure about the end where the killer gently drops Shaun on the film also using the wrong side of the knife, but other than that i think you used good camera shots and movements throughout the film. The music also worked well i thought.
The final outcome of the film could of been improved if we had changed the murder scene as we had to use the wrongside of the knife byt we thought using a real knife was important and a fake knife would of not givin the look we wanted the scene to have. We were very pleased with how people viewed the camera shots we decided to use and how we edited all the shots together.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
To make this film we had to learn to use different filming equipment and media production software.
We have used:
school premises - We have used the school premises to produce our film. We used one of the old science blocks to make it.
School supplied camera and tape - We used the tape and camera to record our opening 2minutes of the film.
kitchen knife - We used a kitchen knife which the school provided for us for our last scene.
Tripod - We relied on the tripod to produce steady shots which improved the quality of the footage.
Adobe - We used Adobe Premiere 8 to edit and construct our opening two minutes.
School and Home computers - To edit and upload the film, also updating new features onto our blogs
We have used:
school premises - We have used the school premises to produce our film. We used one of the old science blocks to make it.
School supplied camera and tape - We used the tape and camera to record our opening 2minutes of the film.
kitchen knife - We used a kitchen knife which the school provided for us for our last scene.
Tripod - We relied on the tripod to produce steady shots which improved the quality of the footage.
Adobe - We used Adobe Premiere 8 to edit and construct our opening two minutes.
School and Home computers - To edit and upload the film, also updating new features onto our blogs
Who would be the audience for your media product?
When completing the audience profiling we made a questionnaire to see what peoples thoughts are on movies and how they believe the best way to view then are. I read threw the results and found out what and who i should aim our movie at. We found that the audience for a horror movie has a vast age range of 15-60 but even though our film is an 18 it would still have a large audience available to it. In the first two minutes we hear taboo language and see a murder this would continue throughout the movie meaning it would have to be an 18. The results also show that the audience will be predominantly male as they enjoy Gorey horror films whereas the results for females showed that they enjoyed romantic comedy films.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
A media institute that i believe would be best suited to distribute the film we made would be 'Rogue Pictures', they have a long history in producing high quality horror films for a low budget and this is perfect for what we would need to create our film. In the past Rogue Pictures have released well known films such as all of the saw films, shaun of the dead, the strangers, the last house on the left and recently the unborn. All of them films would of been made on a low budget and then used 'Rogue Pictures' to advertise the film making it a well known film in the genre of horror, for that reason 'Rogue Pictures' has become a well known and respected company within the world of media. Rogue can also create conditions for making the movie, hiring the right personnel such as cast, directors and others and finally they can distribute the film out to their target audience. Rogue pictures would allow us to develop the film with enough financial backing that we would not need to get other larger companies to fund us and begin to take control of what happens and take more of the money made then we would originally would of given away.How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In the film we made we have two main characters Shaun and the Killer. Shaun is a naughty school child who often finds himself in trouble but as he dies within the first two minutes he doesn't really have a impact on the film and is only used to set the scene for the rest of the movie. The killer doesn't represent a social group but has a much larger influence on the film as he is present throughout the entire feature. We looked at how we could make the killer as scary as possible and changed many of his features throughout the planning but we finally decided to base the killer on the killers from 'The Strangers'. We thought that this would be the best idea as we didn't want to reveal the identity of our killer and 'The Strangers' had the same idea so we added a hood and science lab coat to the killer to hide his facial features. To add to the mystery we make it very dark when he attacks to hide his facial features from his victims and the audience.
Monday, 26 April 2010
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)
The title of the film - After discussing a selection of film names we decided that 'Detainment' best suited the story line as well as let the audience know what sort of film they could expect. The word detainment suggests being locked in a room or very tight place and that feeling is something that every person is afraid of so we played on this fear giving us the advantage of having the audience scared before they began to watch. Our film is about someone locked in a school room and becomes very worried when they realise they cant escape so detainment does well at summing up the story line.
Setting/location - The scene we decided to use was a old school room in the back of a science block. We had to do the filming inside school as this would allow us to use all the equipment rather than trying to take it all home to use at the weekend. This setting gave us the perfect place to complete the shots we wanted and believe would give us the best finished movie. The location was very old room in an old block so had a very scary interior and exterior which increased the scare factor without us having to create the eerie scenery.
Costumes and props - We spent a long time working out costumes as we wanted to create a believable Mise en scene so the audience would find it believable. To do this we decided Shaun (Matt Davison)the main character wears very typical clothing of a teenager, we see him in some scruffy jeans and a t shirt to make him look like a poorer member of the school who could have possibly done things that have made people very angry with him. In contrast to this we have a teacher (me) in a lab coat to show that he is an authoritative figure who has power over Shaun but we also make him look like more of a comical character by making him wear big glasses. The killer also wears a lab coat which could mean he is a teacher at the school or used it so that no one asks him who he is when entering the school but this uncertainty surrounding the character makes him a scary character. He also wears his hood up to conceal his face from the victims and also the audience so we can hide his identity till the end of the film. The main prop we used a knife with a pipet attached filled with fake blood that we used to make the murder scene look much more realistic.
Camerawork and editing - We decided to use basic shots like over the shoulder shot when Shaun is having a conversation with his teacher, also used is a high angle looking down on Shaun which shows that he is inferior. long shots, mid shots and close ups have been used during the killing scene. We tried lots of different shots so that we could see which one would be the most suitable for our film. With editing, we made sure that there is continuity throughout the film. When it is getting closer to the killing scene, we decided to use short quick cuts between different angles to show that the tension is building and also to make the audience feel uneasy and wanting to see what happens.
Title font and style - The font that we used for the writing during the opening two minutes was bold and black to make it stand out against the background, this was different to the font and style we used for the title 'Detainment', we faded the movie into a black screen and then used red to make the two contrast. We also decided to use red as it has the connotations of blood and danger which gives the film the image that we wanted it to have.
Story and how the opening scene sets it up - The story we decided on is a horror that takes place in a normal secondary school. In the opening two minutes we see a boy going into a detention then after the teacher leaving we see the killer enter the shot from behind him and slit his throat. This allows us to develop the story to show what the killer does next and if the body is discovered or we could go back in time and show the events that lead to the what we see in the first two minutes.
Genre and how the opening scene suggests it - As a group we decided that the best option for us would be to do a horror movie, this was because we felt we could get this genre across to the audience within the first two minutes rather than a comedy where it could be very unclear that we decided to do it as making people laugh is very hard. In the opening scene we used non diagetic sound and fast pace editing to make it clear it was a horror film.
How the characters are introduced - We introduce the first character Shaun by only seeing his feet and then by watching him through someone Else's eyes, this creates mystery around the character as we feel uneasy around him and unsure of his safety. We get introduced to the teacher for a few seconds by having him tell off Shaun for not completing work, this character is only present for one scene. The only other character we see is the killer but we never see his face, he is introduced when the lights are flickering giving the audience a fear of the character.
Special effects - The main special effect we use was a knife to cut Shaun's throat we attached a pepit to the back of it filled with blood so when you squeeze it and give the effect that his neck was actually being cut. We amplified the sound of the board shutter going up as we felt the audience maybe unsure of what was happening so making it louder emphasises what is happening.
Setting/location - The scene we decided to use was a old school room in the back of a science block. We had to do the filming inside school as this would allow us to use all the equipment rather than trying to take it all home to use at the weekend. This setting gave us the perfect place to complete the shots we wanted and believe would give us the best finished movie. The location was very old room in an old block so had a very scary interior and exterior which increased the scare factor without us having to create the eerie scenery.
Costumes and props - We spent a long time working out costumes as we wanted to create a believable Mise en scene so the audience would find it believable. To do this we decided Shaun (Matt Davison)the main character wears very typical clothing of a teenager, we see him in some scruffy jeans and a t shirt to make him look like a poorer member of the school who could have possibly done things that have made people very angry with him. In contrast to this we have a teacher (me) in a lab coat to show that he is an authoritative figure who has power over Shaun but we also make him look like more of a comical character by making him wear big glasses. The killer also wears a lab coat which could mean he is a teacher at the school or used it so that no one asks him who he is when entering the school but this uncertainty surrounding the character makes him a scary character. He also wears his hood up to conceal his face from the victims and also the audience so we can hide his identity till the end of the film. The main prop we used a knife with a pipet attached filled with fake blood that we used to make the murder scene look much more realistic.
Camerawork and editing - We decided to use basic shots like over the shoulder shot when Shaun is having a conversation with his teacher, also used is a high angle looking down on Shaun which shows that he is inferior. long shots, mid shots and close ups have been used during the killing scene. We tried lots of different shots so that we could see which one would be the most suitable for our film. With editing, we made sure that there is continuity throughout the film. When it is getting closer to the killing scene, we decided to use short quick cuts between different angles to show that the tension is building and also to make the audience feel uneasy and wanting to see what happens.
Title font and style - The font that we used for the writing during the opening two minutes was bold and black to make it stand out against the background, this was different to the font and style we used for the title 'Detainment', we faded the movie into a black screen and then used red to make the two contrast. We also decided to use red as it has the connotations of blood and danger which gives the film the image that we wanted it to have.
Story and how the opening scene sets it up - The story we decided on is a horror that takes place in a normal secondary school. In the opening two minutes we see a boy going into a detention then after the teacher leaving we see the killer enter the shot from behind him and slit his throat. This allows us to develop the story to show what the killer does next and if the body is discovered or we could go back in time and show the events that lead to the what we see in the first two minutes.
Genre and how the opening scene suggests it - As a group we decided that the best option for us would be to do a horror movie, this was because we felt we could get this genre across to the audience within the first two minutes rather than a comedy where it could be very unclear that we decided to do it as making people laugh is very hard. In the opening scene we used non diagetic sound and fast pace editing to make it clear it was a horror film.
How the characters are introduced - We introduce the first character Shaun by only seeing his feet and then by watching him through someone Else's eyes, this creates mystery around the character as we feel uneasy around him and unsure of his safety. We get introduced to the teacher for a few seconds by having him tell off Shaun for not completing work, this character is only present for one scene. The only other character we see is the killer but we never see his face, he is introduced when the lights are flickering giving the audience a fear of the character.
Special effects - The main special effect we use was a knife to cut Shaun's throat we attached a pepit to the back of it filled with blood so when you squeeze it and give the effect that his neck was actually being cut. We amplified the sound of the board shutter going up as we felt the audience maybe unsure of what was happening so making it louder emphasises what is happening.
Thursday, 22 April 2010
Evaluation
OCR Media Studies Year 12 G322 Evaluation
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)
You should go through the final version of the project and select nine distinct frames which you screengrab and drop into a photoshop. You will be using these to write about how typical or not of opening sequences your particular design is, so choose them carefully.
Once you have the nine frames neatly in Photoshop, screengrab the whole thing and post to your blog, then write an analysis of how you have used such conventions.
The aspects we would like you to consider across your nine frames are:
The title of the film
Setting/location
Costumes and props
Camerawork and editing
Title font and style
Story and how the opening sets it up
Genre and how the opening suggests it
How characters are introduced
Special effects
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Pick a key character from your opening. Take a screengrab of a reasonable sized image of them. Think of one or more characters from other films with some similarity to them (but maybe some differences too!), find an image on the web of that/those characters and grab it as well. Drop the two into photoshop, as a split screen. Export this splitscreen image as a jpeg then drop onto your blog and write about the similarities and differences in terms of appearance, costume, role in film etc.
So for example if you have a lone cop type character, look for other lone cops to compare him with...
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
For this question, you are going to do a 'director's commentary' style voiceover explaining some of the key features of your opening
You will need to script the voiceover which deals with institutional issues to include:
discussion of your production company name and logo and the role of such companies
What does a production company do?
The idea of a distributor and who that might be and why.
Where the money might have come from for a film such as yours
Why the various people are named in the titles- which jobs appear in titles and in what order and how have you reflected this?
What your film is similar to 'institutionally' (name some films which would be released in a similar way)
You need to refer to actual company names and processes so you will need to go back to the early posts on film companies and maybe do a bit more research
When you have scripted, record the voiceover using Final Cut on a new audio timeline, then export to quicktime and embed on blog.
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?
You should have a drawing/photo of your target audience member and an explanation of what kinds of taste they might have- where they would shop, what music they would listen to, what their favourite Tv programme would be, etc.
Make sure you have taken a photo of it, post it on the blog and write a few notes on why they would watch your film.
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 5
How did you attract/address your audience?
You will use YOUTUBE's annotation tools to add NOTES, SPEECHBUBBLES, and LINKS to your video:
http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=92710
These annotations will highlight the ways in which your Film Opening links to other similiar films in order to attract the particular Audience you have previously identified.
Your annotations will refer to genre conventions, use of music, similiarities with other movies and what you have identified as the Unique Selling Point of your imaginary film.
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
In pairs, take a picture of each other holding the kit you have used. This might just be the camera and tripod, and your PC but there may be other things you want in the shot.
Drop the image onto your blog and annotate it, adding all the programs and other technology you have used as screengrabs and what you learnt about it/from using it. Your written text need only be minimal. You could include reference to all the online and computer programs you have used such as youtube, flickr, blogger, adobe premier, etc.
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?
Concentrate on editing and camerawork.
Grab some frames from both tasks and put them on the blog and show what you know about shot types, edit terms and techniques.
Make sure you mention the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot/reverse shot
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)
You should go through the final version of the project and select nine distinct frames which you screengrab and drop into a photoshop. You will be using these to write about how typical or not of opening sequences your particular design is, so choose them carefully.
Once you have the nine frames neatly in Photoshop, screengrab the whole thing and post to your blog, then write an analysis of how you have used such conventions.
The aspects we would like you to consider across your nine frames are:
The title of the film
Setting/location
Costumes and props
Camerawork and editing
Title font and style
Story and how the opening sets it up
Genre and how the opening suggests it
How characters are introduced
Special effects
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Pick a key character from your opening. Take a screengrab of a reasonable sized image of them. Think of one or more characters from other films with some similarity to them (but maybe some differences too!), find an image on the web of that/those characters and grab it as well. Drop the two into photoshop, as a split screen. Export this splitscreen image as a jpeg then drop onto your blog and write about the similarities and differences in terms of appearance, costume, role in film etc.
So for example if you have a lone cop type character, look for other lone cops to compare him with...
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
For this question, you are going to do a 'director's commentary' style voiceover explaining some of the key features of your opening
You will need to script the voiceover which deals with institutional issues to include:
discussion of your production company name and logo and the role of such companies
What does a production company do?
The idea of a distributor and who that might be and why.
Where the money might have come from for a film such as yours
Why the various people are named in the titles- which jobs appear in titles and in what order and how have you reflected this?
What your film is similar to 'institutionally' (name some films which would be released in a similar way)
You need to refer to actual company names and processes so you will need to go back to the early posts on film companies and maybe do a bit more research
When you have scripted, record the voiceover using Final Cut on a new audio timeline, then export to quicktime and embed on blog.
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?
You should have a drawing/photo of your target audience member and an explanation of what kinds of taste they might have- where they would shop, what music they would listen to, what their favourite Tv programme would be, etc.
Make sure you have taken a photo of it, post it on the blog and write a few notes on why they would watch your film.
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 5
How did you attract/address your audience?
You will use YOUTUBE's annotation tools to add NOTES, SPEECHBUBBLES, and LINKS to your video:
http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=92710
These annotations will highlight the ways in which your Film Opening links to other similiar films in order to attract the particular Audience you have previously identified.
Your annotations will refer to genre conventions, use of music, similiarities with other movies and what you have identified as the Unique Selling Point of your imaginary film.
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
In pairs, take a picture of each other holding the kit you have used. This might just be the camera and tripod, and your PC but there may be other things you want in the shot.
Drop the image onto your blog and annotate it, adding all the programs and other technology you have used as screengrabs and what you learnt about it/from using it. Your written text need only be minimal. You could include reference to all the online and computer programs you have used such as youtube, flickr, blogger, adobe premier, etc.
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?
Concentrate on editing and camerawork.
Grab some frames from both tasks and put them on the blog and show what you know about shot types, edit terms and techniques.
Make sure you mention the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot/reverse shot
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