Evaluation of Final media recoding

Who would be the audience for your media product?
I feel that my media coursework is targeted towards teenagers and generally the 'cool' group. I feel this way because in my media project there’s a bunch of girls going past an alleyway, two of them are dressed very femininely and the other one is wearing branded sports wear clothes (Nike). This shows that fashion and looking good matters a lot to them. One of the girls (Aneesah) is wearing a handbag and her hair is pushed back with a bold head band. She is conveying the general trend through her clothes and also stands out as she is wearing vivid bright colours. Her hair is also curled; this shows the importance and pride she takes in looking as good as she possibly can. I feel my opening scene is aimed for outgoing and adventurous teenagers, as the location is very scary and only adventurous people would take the risk in going down scary places.

In what way does you media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product use's conventions from many different opening scene all merged together. The one that had inspired us the most was Black Swan, however, it was challenging conveying the similar shots and effects of Black Swan through the equipment we were given. We had also analysed the shots of Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg, which was also very effective and motivating for us. On the other hand our plot was very different to jaws, however, our aim was not to use the plot but the effective camera angles and shots. There's an over the shoulder shot of the villain in my media product which is inspired by Paranormal Activity. In Paranormal Activity the psycho female character just stares at her husband towards the end of the film, this shot was very famous as it created suspense and tension. Therefore inspired by this shot in Paranormal activity we in interpreted it into ours.
However it was very hard challenging such renowned films, we tried to use their effective techniques and import them in our media project.

What kind of media products would distribute your media product and why?
I feel that working title two films would distribute our media product. I feel in this way as working title two films distribute the low budget films which are aimed at a particular audience. I feel that my media product is very different from other films and is aimed at 'cool' teenagers. As we are aware working title two films generally produce films that appeal a particular audience and could also attract other audience too, however, generally they appeal only a specific audience, for example; Billy Elliot, Love Guru and Ali G In Da house etc.

How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted and addressed our audience by making the characters clothing’s attractive and suitable. We had used bright colours and branded names for the characters clothes. This was appealing to our target audience (teenager) as the youth tend to like wearing branded and fashionable clothes. Through research of famous franchise, we had found that long coats made from a fabric material are in fashion; therefore we had decided to get one of our main characters to wear a colour coat. The colour of the coat was pink and this represents danger. We purposely the protagonist character blue clothing yet again bright but not as bright as the other character. As the music starts at the beginning the audience will be aware that it’s a suspense thriller. By making the second main character that is not being attacked wear the bright colours diverges the audience attention to her, whereas it is the main character wearing blue (Aneesah) who is the victim. The music is another key element in attracting the audience, especially the thunder claps. I feel that the camera angles and shots itself can have a huge impact on the audience and by having point of view shots from the villain (madihah) is very effective and this allows the audience to see from both point of views. This is also attracts the audience by making them feel prioritised as they are aware that something is going to happen however, the characters are not, therefore, they are in anticipation to see the characters reaction.

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

I have learnt a huge amount about technologies from the process of constructing my product. I have learnt how to use an iMac. This was one of my biggest challenges as I am not very food with technology and find it very difficult to use other programmes. I was quite amazed at how fast I operated the iMacs towards the end of my project. I had also learnt how to insert videos on YouTube and most of all I was astonished at how we were able to insert music from garage band on to iMovies. After a bit of a struggle I had successfully inserted the correct music at the correct points and was happy with my final product.
One of the main technologies which I had never com across was blog spotter. I was never aware of this website and I had learnt how to use it which was essential for showing the analysis and research I had done to reach my final product.

Were there any problems in creating your media product?
There were many problems whilst creating our media product as on the day we had done majority of our shooting it was a windy day and there were grey clouds in the sky. Unfortunately after that day the weather was sunny and despite there being clouds the sun was bright and vivid. This was a major issue as we wanted to record some other bits on the following next day, however, we were unable to due to mismatch of the weather therefore we had to postpone our shooting schedule.
Another problem occurred was during the editing of our final product we were unable to take our media product home as everyone in my group did not have a apple computer. Therefore, we were only able to edit in school and during school time. The same problem occurred whilst making our sound for our media product. In this case the music was saved on a programme named Garage Band and we were unable to access that software at home as well.
One of the major issues which had occurred whilst processing my media product was publishing it on YouTube. I had accidently gone to the setting of my YouTube videos and changed the sound to a completely different sound and was unable to change it back as once the video has been audio swapped it’s unable to go back to the original sound. This created a hassle as I had to go back and re-upload it.

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

I feel that I have progressed a lot from my preliminary task. My preliminary task did not show various shots. On the other hand my main product showed various shots and camera techniques such as; over the shoulder, pan, reverse shot, point of view shot, medium shot, close up and extreme close up shots. The techniques we had used whilst editing were also very advance. The preliminary task was yet not as bad as it portrayed the 180 degree rule and showed a match on action on the phone.
At the time of my preliminary task I was only able to portray basic shots keeping in mind basic rules. I was also finding it hard to have stable hands on the camera and felt that at times it was wobbly. To insure this did not occur in my final product I practised walking with the camera and taking numerous shots.
I have also learnt how to search for relevant sound for my final product and increase the time length or shorten it so that it fits the timeslot and specific part of my shot.
During preliminary task I had also struggled in which shots were best for the specific shot. However for my final product I researched camera and angles and shots of films that inspired my final product.

FINAL MEDIA WORK

Further Development ( During editing stage )

Whilst doing our editing we encountered many errors for example, we couldn't use the 'speed up' effect which we intended to do at the beginning of our clip on the part where the girls are entering the alley. This effect could not be used as it created too many pixels which made our video quality look low so we decided to eliminate this effect.

Analysis of Sound

In our opening scene we analysed sound from other thriller and horror films like black swan and blair witch. Considering the sound from Black swan we realised they had used piano's and violins. This is very effective for thriller/horror films as it builds up suspense and keep the audience anticipated of when the sound is going to finish and something will happen. The music is starts of calm and suddenly the violins come in and the pitch begins to get higher. The fluctuation of sound shows there are ups and downs and it's very unpredictable. The Black Swan original sound track is very effective and melodious to listen to. 


We had also decided to use the piano to build up suspense. Whilst exploring on garage band we had found wind sounds, screeches and heart beat sounds. The heart beat sound I felt was one of the most effective as the audience can empathise with the heart beat. 

Location shots

This are the location shots of our original plot , we now have changed the location. This is apart of our development stage as we have initial and final shots.

Preliminary task

Preliminary  Task

We had done a preliminary task as a class. Through our preliminary task we had shown the 180 degree rule and match on action.

We insured that the 180 degree rule was conducted well as we moved the camera over the female characters head (Miss Bennet) and the 180 degree rule was on the other side now.

The match on action was on the male character, it was carried out by when Danny rings his mum to share his joy of getting such good grades and at that point theres a match on action on the phone.

The preliminary task would have been even better if the camera was not wobbling and there was no sound in the background. 

Part 2) Shooting Schedule -- FINAL

Now that we've changed our locations a new shooting schedule had to be made.

Date/Time	Scene	Int/Ext Day/Night	Shot descriptions/ Summary	Location	Characters
SHOOT DAY 1
12:00- 12:50	First insight to kidnapper Location shots	Ext/Evening N/A	Match on action on kidnappers feet and his route N/A	Alleyway/field N/A	1 individual N/A
SHOOT DAY 2 12:00- 12.50	Girls walking into alley	Ext/evening	Girls walking into alley. Camera switches to point of view shot of kidnapper. Girls argue . One gets kidnapped. Other girls acknowledged that they've lost their friend. Tension built up through fast pace shooting and suspense filled music.	Alley/Field	3 girls 1 boy

Part 1) Shooting Schedule -- FINAL

Date/Time	Scene	Int/Ext Day/Night	Shot descriptions/ Summary	Location	Characters
SHOOT DAY 1        28/03/11
12:00- 12:50	The route of our shooting.	Ext/Day	A walk covering the location which we'll be filming in. The route of our project. We decided to do this to help us with any planning and evaluationg.	Heath Park	N/A
SHOOT DAY 2 12:00- 12.50	Location shots of routes	EXT/day	Exploring the route once more.	Heath park	N/A

Case study and feedback on rough cuts

Graph to show feedback given to my group of rough cuts and recordings

1)    Has the recording been done properly?

2)    Is the camera moving a lot?

3)    Has the 180-degree rule been used properly?

4)    Is there a variety of shots?

5)    Would it be more effective if there was sound?

My first question which I had carried out was pleasing, as the recording had been done properly and the majority people I had asked felt it had been done properly. My second question was about holding the camera properly and to see whether it was moving a lot. More than half the people said yes, my camera was moving a lot which was quiet disappointing; however, it helped my group realize the importance of keeping the camera in position and not moving it around a lot. My third question was based on one of the most important rules which must be conducted properly to insure your recording is done properly, the 180 degree rule. As we are all aware the 180 degree is to insure the camera is kept on one side and doesn’t cross over the angle of 180, unless the camera moves along with the camera person to make the 180 degree rule go on the opposite side. Approximately 20% people had said the 180-degree was not done properly. My fourth question was based on the variety of shot we had used; only 10% of the people felt that we had used a variety of shots. As this was a rough cut from our initial ideas it was a way of making us familiar with the camera and how it works. It would have been great to score top marks on each question. But as we did not we are now aware on what we need to improve through analyzing this graph. My last question was about sound (non digietic and digietic) and every single person who had taken this questionnaire felt that our opening scene would be much better if there was input of sound. In conclusion, as a group we are aware of what we need to improve, input and output in our opening scene to make it as effective as possible.

Case study: Working Title Films (Bridget Jones Dairy)

Working title films

Working Title Films was co-founded by producers Tim Bevan and Sarah Radcliffe in 1983. In 1992, PolyGram became the company's corporate backer. Working title films had their major break through on the release of four weddings and a funeral. Working title films and the British film council had realized that not many films had been produced for the ethic groups and for specific target audiences. Therefore, working title two was abolished and had many breakthroughs such as; Billy Elliot, Love Guru, Ali G In Da house etc.

Distribution and Marketing

The use of synergy in the film Billy Elliot was beneficial for the song and film, they both benefited each other. Whereas Bridget Jones dairy was marketed well and by having an American actress Reene Zellweger it brought across huge controversies on whether an American actress will be able to carry out a British role. However it was conducted out very well and Reene is yet still renowned for it. Working title films distributed Bridget Jones through Universal pictures. Also the male characters in this film are also very renowned actors and the use of well known actors is another way of distributing and marketing the film. As many of the other WTF Hugh Grant, was also casting in this film. However, this time he was not the innocent guy, he was seen to be the ‘play boy.’ The reason for this could be due to the controversies with having affairs with other women; this would help the audience relate to him better. Another way through which WTF distributes their films is through posters, newspapers, magazines, trailers etc. They even have a website now therefore people are able to access their website to see the latest WTF films.

As the first part of Bridget Jones dairy was such a success it made it easire for part two. In comparison to part one the second part of bridget Jones was not advertised as much as the first one, however, it was just as successfull.

Intial Plan - Shooting schedule

 When filming starts:

Monday - 12:00 - 12:50 - film

Tuesday - 12:00 - 12:50 - film

Friday - 9:00 - 12:00 edit/blogs

Saturday- 1-2 hours filming.

When the filming is complete:

Monday - 12:00 - 12:50 - Blogs

Tuesday - 12:00 - 12:50 - Blogs

Friday - 9:00 - 12:00 - Edit

 

Media club- every thursdays. 12:00 - 5:00 .

Any extra work can be done at home or on weekends.

Storyboard

Analysis of Questionnaire

FINAL Script

 After considering numerous factors we decided to change our plot for reasons explained on the 'developments' post. Due to this the script obviously had to be altered too, and now this is the script we'll be using for our final project

 

1- Ext/ Afternoon. Nightvision mode. Match on action on feet , entering bushes.

2-Ext/ Afternoon. Normal mode. Girls walking.

3-Ext/Afternoon. Switch to point of view shot. Night vision. Track shot. Non digetic music.

 4-Ext/Afternoon. Normal mode. Pan shot around main character. Medium shot on other characters. Dialogue.

5-Ext/Afternoon. Nightvision. Track shot, music.

6-Ext/Afternoon. Normal mode. Zoom in. Match on action on ringing phone.

7-Ext/Afternoon. Pan shot on scenery (field) zoom into sky (sunlight)

Risk Assessment Table -

Risk	Prevention Method	Worst Case Scenario	What is at risk?	Plan B
Background when filming.	Keep it the same for the part of the film, also do it when it is unlikely to change.	Confusion for the viewer	The film would not look professional enough.	Do the scene as quickly as possible but with precision.
Permission to use location	Research	Change location	Delay	Change location
Weather	Check weather before hand	Rain etc. Means set back on work	Camera equipment can get harmed and the filming will b	Backup camera and location

My group decided to do a risk assessment table to brainstorm ideas and to see if we'd encounter any issues, if so how we'd deal with them. This turned out to be quite useful as reffering back to it kept us on track and we used it like a checklist to make sure nothing would go wrong. So filming was easily done without any interuptions or silly encounters.

Analysis of Paranormal Activirty- Research on Genre & Effectiveness

Critical analysis of two directors 

Paranormal activity, directed by Oren Peli 

Within the first three minutes of the film narrative and genre can be established through the use of Sound, Mise en scene, camera movement and editing. The Opening of the film starts off with a black background and information given in a documentary style font which is often always used to show cases/Police Files in investigations. The information given at the start of the film says, ‘The producers would like to thank the families of Micah S. & Katie F. and the Rancho Penasquitos Police Department for providing this footage.’

As soon as the black screen cuts out, straight away we appear to be looking straight at a TV and given the shaky camera movement it seems like we are watching a home-made movie. There is diegetic sound of the TV showing that we are in a normal set environment within the house. The male actor, Micah, then starts to move with the camera to give the effect of a documentary style film, very similar to that of the ‘Blair Witch Project’.

Whilst Micah begins to walk around we are given a small tour of the first floor of his house. There is use of mise en scene signifies him being normal and natural.

Therefore I had also decided for my opening scene my group will make sure the characters are acting normal. Also whilst the protagonist character is walking around the house with the camera, the audience is able to hear the sound of his footsteps. This again highlights the normality of this scene which we will imply to our opening scene.

Eventually Micah goes towards mirror and reveals himself this removes the sense of mystery and takes the suspense away this was carried out through a medium close up shot. I felt that the clothes he was wearing were very casual and normal which again showed importance to him being a casual normal guy. After revealing himself the camera moves on to his kitchen and stairs, this creates a natural environment. This is very effective as the everyday casual people can relate to him.

With all the commotion and moving around you can hear the diegetic sound of the of the camera when he is moving it around which also reminds us that it is a home- made movie and will not have special effects. Overall I feel that the opening of paranormal activity is very effective and portray danger and suspense. This is the same kind of effect we want to show in our opening scene. However, we will make sure that it’s natural and looks normal as I feel throughout the opening scene there has been emphasis to the normality of this scene. I feel the more natural and normal our opening scene the more effective

it’ll be, just like paranormal activity.

Mindmap of characters

Questionnaire

Development of ideas

Initial ideas:

Thriller

Our original idea consisted of elements from the Black Swan. As a group we thought about using props such as a jewellery box for the musical element as well as the possible use of the spinning ballerina at the top of the jewellery box. We also chose to focus on one particular character that would have the psychological difficulty of split personality.

Whilst focusing on material we wanted within the opening scene we also wanted to add the aspect of dark thriller through the use of dull lighting – recorded during evening in surroundings that seem supernatural (eg, underground tunnels)

After thinking through the idea based on Black Swan we then thought it seemed too similar, so we decided to highlight effects of thriller through the use of characters in mime which adds a aspect intensity through hidden identity and the use of black and white colour.

Overall, we chose to follow the path of thriller as we found that after researching other people’s thoughts on film through the use of our questionnaire, the greater population engaged more with that genre. We then realized after viewing Black Swan that a psychological prospective would also be effective, however will be harder to portray. Statistical research found that 64% of people asked preferred some sort of intensifying thriller which would get them hanging off the edges of their seats.

Further development

In the end we decided to scrap the idea of ‘mime’ as it didn’t follow the psychological route we aspired to follow. We therefore stuck with the idea of the main character suffering from an illness or the idea of her being stalked by herself (split personality)

We researched different music and the type of tracks we would use if we went along with the ‘ballerina’ concept. We came across a variety of intense soundtracks found on Apples, Garage Band. After finding the sounds we chose to edit them to make them more original for our own work.

The ballerina concept was also then scrapped, due to the fact that we wanted more originality instead of relying on the storyline of Black Swan.

Because of this we’ve decided to carry on our research into the thriller genre by doing surveys and watching other movies for inspiration. Such as Jaws, Bewitched, Dracula, etc.

Final Development

Finally we removed the idea of psychological thriller and developed an idea focusing mainly on the aspect of crime and suspense; of a bunch of teenagers on a night out who come across a crime scene.

Firstly, a group of friends meet up and head towards the park. They start drinking and joking around, however two of them get into an argument and one walks off – wanting nothing to do with the rest of them either. Everyone else continues to enjoy themselves. As the sun begins to set everyone hits base and becomes familiar with their surroundings. As they do so, some of them hear a scream in the distance, however they avoid it and think they’re just hearing things. A few minutes later some more of them hear it again and begin to act upon it and start running in different directions as they start panicking and realising it could have been they’re friend they abandoned at the start of their adventure -  begin to get in touch with her and other friends…

SCREEN GOES BLANK

Zoom into the distance…

Quick flash of a body lying on the grounds

SCREEN BLANK AGAIN

- Show a final switch between body and everyone else’s reaction to increase the intensity.

…Title arises:            

New Type-up:

Starts of with everyone gathering at the park entrance – becoming familiar with who is there. Then everyone begins to walk a park trail into the distance – everyone laughing and having fun. Then two of the girls start having an argument and one of them walks of without making contact with any of the others and no one interferes – therefore no one stops her and makes her stay – at this point the sun is beginning to set and its becoming dark. Everyone else continues to enjoy themselves; drinking and playing games (eg, spin the bottle/true or dare…etc) they then begin to set base and get comfortable with their surroundings as they do so some of them hear a scream in the distance but don’t take any notice as they think they are just hearing things. But then a few minutes later some more of them hear it again and react to it – thinking it may have been they’re friend. The focus is now taken back by the flashback and the main focus is now on the girl. The flashback ends with various possibilities of what could have happened to her. Finally the camera is taken back to everyone panicking and running in different directions as they start to wonder where they’re friend could be; some are captured on film with their phones trying to get in contact with either the girl or a friend in general. The camera now starts to blur and lose focus on the main event; this emphasizes the way in which the actual characters may feel. As it does so, the camera begins to zoom into the distant darkness – Screen goes BLANK! …Then the camera begins to flickers between the darkness and a body lying on the ground; the body of their friend they had left at the start of their adventure. …Screen continuously flickers between the two, then goes BLANK again and finishes on the body and ends with a shot taken from the deceased ones view - up onto the faces surround her body and looking down on her.

FINAL IDEA: Our final idea was based on critical analysis on paranormal activity. It started of with three girls coming in to the alleyway and park. Afterwards one girls foot starts to hurt and she stops on the lamp post. After she has stopped her other two friends have started walking ahead and suddenly they turn back and she's missing. We will use various shots such as pan, medium shot, match on action and reverse shot. Another girl will come from behind and she will grab the girl who's foot was hurting.

Questionnaire on opening sequence

My group decided to conduct a questionnaire based on the effectiveness of using certain techniques. The reason of this questionnaire was to help our group gain perspectives from the audiences' view so we understand what is needed in order to have a successful scene, in portraying our plot and genre. From our earlier research we found locations and music to be an important factor in portraying genre and as we wanted to find out more about how the viewer's see it we wanted to get their opinions and use it to our advantage.

• A recorded questionnaire was also conducted in which the audience were able to expand on their opinions further , this video is attatched to the next post.

1. Which location will fit our thriller opening scene best?

School park alleyway/subway park/alleyway

2. What time of the day is it best to record our opening scene?

Night sunset evening morning

3. Which gender is more likely to be effective in our opening scene?

Male female does not matter

4. What should the villain/ bad character wear?

Dark clothes hooded colourful clothes

5. Is there need of a lot of dialogue?

Yes no a bit

6. What kind of facial expressions should be on the characters faces?

Normal sad happy

7. Is it important to have music at the beginning of the scene?

Yes no does not matter

8. Is it necessary to add various shots and camera angles? 

Yes  No