Friday 15 April 2011
Friday 1 April 2011
Evaluation Question 9- Bronwyn
Final question- What was your contribution to the process during the planning, production and post production stages? (give specific examples of what you did)
Our group work consistantly well together, as we split the jobs up equally through out when planning, filming and editing of our film. We did the jobs that we were more suited to and also our stronger points in the making of our film.
Our group work consistantly well together, as we split the jobs up equally through out when planning, filming and editing of our film. We did the jobs that we were more suited to and also our stronger points in the making of our film.
Through the planning stages we were all committed to meet up and draft ideas by contributing to different ideas of the story line, actor's and location. I contributed more for the idea of the story line as I felt the genre we chose (being psychological) gave me many possible idea's that were original compared to having a stereotypical psychological film. I found that my strongest area was drawing all the story boards making sure that the shot list matched up to the story board and that the compositions were good when it came to filming. This was a good role for me as I'm doing A-level art. I spent a lot of time on that, so the other did more of the other producing.
When it came to the filming the we worked as a team to take all the equipment to the location and made sure our actor was alright and for him to know what he was doing. We shared the jobs out evenly when filming. I felt that my strongest point was filming and making sure the shots were good with what we planed in our shot list. We all had input when doing the filming and making little changes as we went on. I did a little bit of the lighting as well when we swapped roles round.
The editing part we were able to work on two computers, by one person working on the sound track while the other two were working on the editing. But we swapped around every hour to listen or see what the others had done, which then we'd discussed changes and what worked well and didn't to get everyone's input to make it fair. This allowed us to get more things done by working on different computers. During the editing we need voice over which I had a good piece of technology to record on, this helped to our advantage as it allowed us just to get voice’s instead of filming.
Evaluation Question 9- Helen
Final question- What was your contribution to the process during the planning, production and post production stages? (give specific examples of what you did)
In our group we all tried to split up the work as evenly as possible, so that the workload was evenly spread between the three of us in the group. We did however give people more work within areas they felt more comfortable with. E.g. one member felt more comfortable with filming, whilst another felt more comfortable with lighting.
Planning:
During the planning of our film I helped with a lot of the ideas and contributed a lot to the planning folder. I contributed by filling in lots of the planning sheets
and I also contributed to our Foundation Portfolio Blogger Account, adding new post to keep everyone updated on our progress.
and I also contributed to our Foundation Portfolio Blogger Account, adding new post to keep everyone updated on our progress.
Production:
During the production of our film all the members of my group split the responsibilities pretty evenly. When we arrived at our first location to shoot the interior shots I set up the camera for the first time along with the tripod- which we positioned at the correct height for the shots needed. Later on in the filming day when it got darker I was put in charge of lighting- where I had to make sure that there was not too much or too little light and to make sure that it didn’t look to unnatural.
Also during the course of the filming I worked hard alongside the group to choose the best possible locations and angles to film at.
Also during the course of the filming I worked hard alongside the group to choose the best possible locations and angles to film at.
Post-production:
During the post-production of our film our group split up the jobs evenly. We all took in turns to edit the footage we had recorded, and we all used Garage band before coming together and deciding on the final pieces of music for our soundtrack.
Evaluation Question 9- Jade
When assigning tasks to group members, we tried extremely hard to divide it evenly, or allow each member a chance to perform each task - consequently providing them the experience of doing so. During the planning stage I did a large amount of work, including helping to decide upon the initial narrative of our film. I helped piece together our pitch, I completed our recee sheet (which includes details of the location at which it was filmed) 
I co-wrote the script and completed the shot list. However, I also looked into ideas such as what costume our actors may wear, what kind of title sequence may be suitable for our film considering its genre. I took main responsibility of finding our actor, as a drama student myself I was easily able to find someone interested.When it came to the actual production of the film, the group shared most tasks evenly. All members controlled the video camera/tripod during certain shots, and were able to set up for recording, whilst we all also had control over lighting; placing the torch where necessary, setting up the large red siren light, and assessing whether or not the natural light was enough to use during the shoot. Whilst I did control a minor part of the lighting during the film, the majority of my time was spent controlling the camera (both on the tripod and off) for example one of our hand held shots (running through a forest) was shot by myself, as I ran with the camera another team member followed closely behind with the lighting allowing us to capture the shot effectively.
The post production of the film was the most evenly shared process. Considering our lessons are two hours long and we have three group members, we took it in turns to control the Mac/iMovie week by week. One member would control the keys etc, while we all as a team discussed changes needed and put forward our ideas. This allowed us an even amount of time using the software, whilst also having all our suggestions heard and possibly applied. However, on a Wednesday our college hold a two hour enrichment session where students are able to explore other subjects. Another team member and I spent this time coming into the Mac suite and adding further adjustments to our film, improving minor details that may not have been spotted in previous lessons and continuing to refine elements such as the music or title sequence. I believe this extra work came in very useful as we actually decide to completely re-create the title sequence for more effect, and correct our mise en scene mistakes from the first try.
Evaluation Question 8- Helen
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
As a group we all feel that our final piece (the horror film) is a vast improvement on our preliminary task - which we were to re-create a piece of an existing AS Media students work. We believe that the final piece is better as we now have a better understanding of the filming equipment (cameras, tripods) and of editing equipment ( Mac Suite). Also we feel more comfortable with the equipment. We also believe that the final piece is better as we were able to be more creative, as we were not copying another film - we were able to choose what shots and angles we wanted and what we could and couldn't film was not already determined for us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=&feature=player_embedded - This is the link to our preliminary video.
During our preliminary task we learnt that Mise-en-scene was a very important thing to get right, as if it was slightly wrong the narrative and sequencing of the film would not really make sense. Therefore during the filming of our final piece we were extra careful to ensure that mise-en-scene was correct. Also during the filming of our preliminary task we learnt that the way in which shots were framed and what angles they were shot from was very important- so again during the filming of our final piece we payed close attention to these details.
If we were to do the preliminary production again I believe that we would pay close attention to and scrutinise every single detail until we were completely happy with the final product. Although I believe we wouldn't actually do much differently as we were quite pleased with how it turned out- especially as it was our first production in AS Media and in our group.
As a group we all feel that our final piece (the horror film) is a vast improvement on our preliminary task - which we were to re-create a piece of an existing AS Media students work. We believe that the final piece is better as we now have a better understanding of the filming equipment (cameras, tripods) and of editing equipment ( Mac Suite). Also we feel more comfortable with the equipment. We also believe that the final piece is better as we were able to be more creative, as we were not copying another film - we were able to choose what shots and angles we wanted and what we could and couldn't film was not already determined for us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=&feature=player_embedded - This is the link to our preliminary video.
During our preliminary task we learnt that Mise-en-scene was a very important thing to get right, as if it was slightly wrong the narrative and sequencing of the film would not really make sense. Therefore during the filming of our final piece we were extra careful to ensure that mise-en-scene was correct. Also during the filming of our preliminary task we learnt that the way in which shots were framed and what angles they were shot from was very important- so again during the filming of our final piece we payed close attention to these details.
If we were to do the preliminary production again I believe that we would pay close attention to and scrutinise every single detail until we were completely happy with the final product. Although I believe we wouldn't actually do much differently as we were quite pleased with how it turned out- especially as it was our first production in AS Media and in our group.
Evaluation Question 7- Bronwyn
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
During the process of editing our film on imovie the technology on it helped us through adding effects to some of the clips and audio. On the programme it has an audio affect, which was useful for us as we needed to alter a voice to make it more childlike and for it to echo with the child rhyme to get a creepy girls voice making a well known rhyme and making it scary. The technology worked really well as you would think it’s a child’s voice and the echo makes it more mysterious.
During the process of editing our film on imovie the technology on it helped us through adding effects to some of the clips and audio. On the programme it has an audio affect, which was useful for us as we needed to alter a voice to make it more childlike and for it to echo with the child rhyme to get a creepy girls voice making a well known rhyme and making it scary. The technology worked really well as you would think it’s a child’s voice and the echo makes it more mysterious.
Using imovie to edit our move was a successful piece of technology as it was easy to use, was accurate when you wanted something cutting e.g. scenes and the use of using the effects helped us change some clips to make it suit the genre more. It helped us make some of the lighting the same by adjusting the lighting balance and using a shaky movement in one of the clips to make it more creepy.
The technology of using the Internet helped us to be more creative as we used sources like youtube and google to look at other student’s previous work to see what worked and what didn’t and professional horror film to get an idea of what to include in a horror to make it our own. And research of what some of our props needed to be like, like the voodoo doll and the criminal cards. By using Blogger we could keep track with our previous posts to help us develop ideas.
Garageband was a big help of technology to us as it help us to get our sound track feeling scary and atmospheric with the use of sound effects like the child’s laugh and example of music to create the sound track. It was easy to use which meant more time making the sound track instead of exploring how it worked.
Garageband was a big help of technology to us as it help us to get our sound track feeling scary and atmospheric with the use of sound effects like the child’s laugh and example of music to create the sound track. It was easy to use which meant more time making the sound track instead of exploring how it worked.
Evaluation Question 6- Helen
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
- Warner Bros.
Some examples of production companies that may produce our films are:
-
- Warner Bros.- Hawk Films.
- Image Ten.
We would use them as these companies would help our project by helping to raise funds, advertise and help with the physical production of the film. These companies would use our film as it fits in with the target audiences of other films they have produced. All the films fit in the same age group, genre and social group.
We would use them as these companies would help our project by helping to raise funds, advertise and help with the physical production of the film. These companies would use our film as it fits in with the target audiences of other films they have produced. All the films fit in the same age group, genre and social group.
Our film relates to many British films at the levels of Distribution, Exhibition and Production. We- like many larger productions- have gone and found a specific target audience for our product and have then designed our final piece to fit these criteria. By doing so we were able to pick actors and settings that would better suit their tastes.
The way in which our film was produced can be seen as both different and similar to the way in which larger media institutions produce their pieces. It is similar as we had to choose a location and suitable actors and then we had to go and physically film our piece, after this we then had to edit our footage into our final production. However, the ways in which ours is different to a major production company is that we do not have the budget that they have and therefore we are unable to get the same level of special effects and high technological aspects, so this is a major difference between a production of ours and one of their productions.
Evaluation Question 5- Jade
How did you attract/address your audience?
As we had little choice but to grant our film an 18 certificate rating – as a result of the disturbing and horrific content, our initial target audience began there (18 and older) Aware that we were now targeting adults interested in horror films, we had to consider this when creating our film. I believe that we were effective in the way that we reached our target audience, as we used a narrative as to which such an age group could relate. Using a convict as our protagonist may chill the viewers as everyone is aware that crime is an ongoing and increasing problem, therefore our narrative almost coincided with contemporary times, however the twists it has using visual effects such as our mise en scene and editing add a further scare – our initial intention for the viewers. Our actor although under the age range himself, played the convict, whom is imaginably over 25, but was dressed in an ordinary tracksuit as we wanted to constantly reinforce the idea of realism. We didn’t want to exaggerate costume/make up and as a result detach ourselves from our attempt to create a realistic atmosphere. Most of the horror elements came from our use of props (such as the voodoo doll) lighting, sound and editing. For example, the entirety of the film consists of dark colours - stereotypical of the genre, a part of the film contains a child-like rhyme which was actually inspired from another film (Dark Water - video on this separate post - http://bilborough445566.blogspot.com/2011/04/evaluation-question-2-bronwyn.html) as we believed it increased the horror and felt intensity within the film. Such aspects are believed to interest our intended audience, as films similar to ours in the past have done well (such as the Ring (certificate 15))
As we had little choice but to grant our film an 18 certificate rating – as a result of the disturbing and horrific content, our initial target audience began there (18 and older) Aware that we were now targeting adults interested in horror films, we had to consider this when creating our film. I believe that we were effective in the way that we reached our target audience, as we used a narrative as to which such an age group could relate. Using a convict as our protagonist may chill the viewers as everyone is aware that crime is an ongoing and increasing problem, therefore our narrative almost coincided with contemporary times, however the twists it has using visual effects such as our mise en scene and editing add a further scare – our initial intention for the viewers. Our actor although under the age range himself, played the convict, whom is imaginably over 25, but was dressed in an ordinary tracksuit as we wanted to constantly reinforce the idea of realism. We didn’t want to exaggerate costume/make up and as a result detach ourselves from our attempt to create a realistic atmosphere. Most of the horror elements came from our use of props (such as the voodoo doll) lighting, sound and editing. For example, the entirety of the film consists of dark colours - stereotypical of the genre, a part of the film contains a child-like rhyme which was actually inspired from another film (Dark Water - video on this separate post - http://bilborough445566.blogspot.com/2011/04/evaluation-question-2-bronwyn.html) as we believed it increased the horror and felt intensity within the film. Such aspects are believed to interest our intended audience, as films similar to ours in the past have done well (such as the Ring (certificate 15))(IMAGE FROM THE RING)
Evaluation Question 4 - Jade
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Horror genre tends to generalise women as a stereotypically ‘weak’ gender. In most horror films both old and contemporary, the victims tend to be women, reflecting them as the weaker, less dominant gender. However in our film we decided to challenge this, making the protagonist (eventually also the victim of his own crimes) male. Like in most films of the same genre (such as The Ring), we have portrayed the age of the protagonist as between 18 and 25, which was also our target audience, meaning that they could possibly relate and therefore find the narrative more chilling.
Having had our audience feedback returned, it was stated that we did well in representing the included social groups within our film. It was noticed that we used our mise en scene positively to achieve this, and people commented upon our good use of camerawork such as framing and composition which allowed this clear presentation of social groups - such as high camera angles making the protagonist appear isolated thus reflecting his current social group and position in society as a convict.
As our main character was a convict, we thought it important to support the stereotypical attire of a realistic world. Mise en scene/costume included a plain tracksuit, and shaved hair – much as you would expect a young convict to appear. This again as a hope of boosting the realism of our film. We didn’t want to exaggerate costume/make up and as a result detach ourselves from our attempt to create a believeable atmosphere.
Evaluation Question 3- Helen
Who would be the audience of your media product?
We used IMDb to figure out what the best target audience would be for our film.
We looked at the user ratings of films such as:
- Silence of the Lambs
- The Ring
After looking at ratings such as these, we decided that the most suitable target audience for our film would be 18+ and people of either sex that are interested in psychological horrors.
This group is assocaiated with psychological horrors as they enjoy watching films that make them think and get the involved. Also many people at this age generally enjoy horror films no matter what the sub-genre is.
After deciding what our target audience was going to be, we chose to start watching the opening of films (like the two mentioned above) to see what conventions of psychological horrors we could make use of that would fit in to our target audience. Whilst we were watching these films we payed close attention to Mise-en-scene and lighting so that we had a good idea of what to make use of in our final piece. For Example, after watching these films we chose to make use of the stereotypical convention of dark lighting to create suspense and fear.
We used IMDb to figure out what the best target audience would be for our film.
| Votes | Average | |
| Males | 186,251 |  8.7 |
| Females | 34,241 |  8.7 |
| Aged under 18 | 2,790 |  9.0 |
| Males under 18 | 2,239 | 9.0 |
| Females under 18 | 537 | 9.0 |
| Aged 18-29 | 122,154 | 8.8 |
| Males Aged 18-29 | 102,504 | 8.8 |
| Females Aged 18-29 | 18,987 | 8.7 |
| Aged 30-44 | 77,590 | 8.6 |
| Males Aged 30-44 | 65,540 | 8.6 |
| Females Aged 30-44 | 11,202 | 8.6 |
| Aged 45+ | 17,859 | 8.6 |
| Males Aged 45+ | 14,497 | 8.6 |
| Females Aged 45+ | 3,111 | 8.5 |
| IMDb staff | 67 | 8.7 |
| Top 1000 voters | 875 | 8.6 |
| US users | 71,383 | 8.8 |
| Non-US users | 120,286 | 8.6 |
| IMDb users | 274,031 | 8.7 |
| Votes | Average | |
| Males | 60,408 | 7.2 |
| Females | 12,275 | 7.3 |
| Aged under 18 | 950 | 7.4 |
| Males under 18 | 661 | 7.4 |
| Females under 18 | 282 | 7.4 |
| Aged 18-29 | 43,871 | 7.2 |
| Males Aged 18-29 | 35,555 | 7.2 |
| Females Aged 18-29 | 8,080 | 7.3 |
| Aged 30-44 | 23,714 | 7.2 |
| Males Aged 30-44 | 20,287 | 7.2 |
| Females Aged 30-44 | 3,158 | 7.3 |
| Aged 45+ | 4,044 | 7.0 |
| Males Aged 45+ | 3,377 | 7.0 |
| Females Aged 45+ | 608 | 6.8 |
| IMDb staff | 18 | 7.2 |
| Top 1000 voters | 746 | 6.9 |
| US users | 22,266 | 7.2 |
| Non-US users | 42,789 | 7.2 |
| IMDb users | 91,574 | 7.2 |
We looked at the user ratings of films such as:
- Silence of the Lambs
- The Ring
After looking at ratings such as these, we decided that the most suitable target audience for our film would be 18+ and people of either sex that are interested in psychological horrors.
This group is assocaiated with psychological horrors as they enjoy watching films that make them think and get the involved. Also many people at this age generally enjoy horror films no matter what the sub-genre is.
After deciding what our target audience was going to be, we chose to start watching the opening of films (like the two mentioned above) to see what conventions of psychological horrors we could make use of that would fit in to our target audience. Whilst we were watching these films we payed close attention to Mise-en-scene and lighting so that we had a good idea of what to make use of in our final piece. For Example, after watching these films we chose to make use of the stereotypical convention of dark lighting to create suspense and fear.
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