Evaluation of Final Production

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

We challenged the genre's conventions by introducing the Killer first, before the victim. We wished the audience to understand that a sinter action was imminent, influencing them to continue watching for their own curiosity. By prolonging the Killers introduction, through lengthy shots, we suspended the audience long enough for them to want to watch more.

We followed the convention of having a masked intruder, dressed in black, to help the audience read and understand the situation and add a sense of mystery to our Killer, intriguing them.

Using suspenseful music helped grasp the audience, creating the suspense intended.

The convention of having a young, naive, blonde female was used to help the audience understand the situation and immediately differentiate between the characters.
 

We met the convention of having a twist in or introduction. We lead the audience to believe that the female had been murdered and intensionally surprised them through the twist. However, when the blonde girl woke up from the dream it became a reality as the Killer appeared again.

Although our production is a Thriller/Horror genre, we did not use gore, like blood, but we did use a mask which I have previously said that goes with the merged genre.

Finally, we used a cliff hanger at the end, meeting again with the conventions of the genre. 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The blonde is normally the victim in our chosen genre, this links in with our female character, Chloe, as she is a young attractive blonde student. Most young london women are confident walking home at night but in this case Chloe is the victim. In the script Chloe uses London/UK slang expressions, 'init'. An American/European audience may not understand this slang but hopefully, because of their knowledge of the  conventions of the genre they should still be able to grasp the concept. Our company however, made a deliberate decision to use LondonUK slang because we thought young British voices weren't being heard and we thought we could use this platform to represent their voice.

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

We decided as a company that the best institution that would work would be Lions Gate Entertainment Corperation, because the main genres that they focus on are the thriller/horror genres, which is the genres we merged for our introduction. I believe that the Corperation will help us to produce the actual film that we would like to do because they have produced several films e.g. SAW. They would also help our company produce and distribute the film into the media world, one of our companies goals. 

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our target audience are unisex, 15-20 year olds and and they belong to the C2-E social grade. This is mainly because we expect them to be either students who have part-time jobs, students in eductation or unemployed teenagers.

The interests of our audience includes:

Shopping at the local stores or at the corner shops, this links in with the income of the audience, watching interesting films/movies related to our genre which is the thriller/ horror, listening to specific music of their taste. Both of these interests will help us to understand our audience and produce the task correctly.

Music [average]: Our audience focuses on any type of the music depending on their tastes. There are a variety of music genres that they like to listen to e.g. Hip-Hop, RnB, Soul, 90's and many more.

Social Background: Our audience come under C2-E social grade. Their social status is working class or unemployment, as they are students, some of them do not work and some of them work earning lowest wedges.

Income: For our audience this comes under students that might study at university and might have a job that its weges do not go over £21,000 a year. However they could also include students that do not go to school but may have a job which gives them little income for their needs.

How did you attract/address your audience? 

We did research into different types of thrillers films and their introduction to see how they begin and to have an idea of what people want to expect in the type of genre we used. Our beginning was really tense for the audience; making them involved in the production straight away and making them want to carry on watching. We kept the tension throughout the whole video but having several close ups of facial reaction, point of view shots, tracking the killer and a lot more. As we see the killer in the mask walking around the room; we also see him with a weapon which is a knife being dropped on the bed and then picked up. This can be seen as a slight twist because first we see him dropping the knife on the bed which gives audience a feeling that he will not use it. However then he picks the knife up and leaves the room which creates more tension for the audience making them aware that we wants to kill the blond girl. The non- diagetic heart beat music creates a tense atmosphere for the audience. Linking this with the scream towards the end, kept the audience guessing if the blond girl has been killed on not. We attracted the audience by making a twist at the end and left the audience on a cliff hanger. Once the audience see that she wakes up from a nightmare, it suggests that nothing bad happened and there is a relief. However the killer appears again and leaves the audience on a cliff hanger at the end of the production asking them selves how did he get there and was the blond girl killed. This makes them want to see the next bit of the video.

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

I have learnt many things from this production. I have learnt how to use a camera, how to change the positions to create the shots needed and the amount of shots needed for a proper production. I used Logic pro to make original sound for the production, and learnt how to compose, merge, edit and create music. These technologies have helped me understand the film-making process and have given me new insights into the media world.


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

Looking back at the preliminary task, it looks like we have made a huge improvement seeing that our first production was only 30 seconds long and the final production was 2 minutes long. We used a lot more variety of shots and we created a longer script as well as the storyboard. I find now that I am more confident with Logic pro than I was in the preliminary and I think i am more confident and aware of shots for the genre. and sound for the genre.
I focused more on different types of shots, sounds and script writing to make the production seem professional and go with the genre.
I am glad that we had more footage, giving us more to edit and have a longer video than the preliminary. I have learnt to be more patient with the production and my fellow company members and I have become more confident with the production.

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Focus Group for our Final Production

We have now competed our Final Production Video. We showed the video to a group of people that we aimed at, to see what they say about our video. How can it be improved and whats good and bad about it. We had people saying that our video was quite interesting and was just the right length. 

Other people said that when the girl was talking outside we couldn't hear her properly which made it difficult for them to know whats going on in this scene. They have also mentioned that our sound went really good with the genre and was really scary at some parts.

Our focus group also mentioned that the camera work was steady and you could watch the video without any issues. Some of the shots used were really interesting including the point of view shot used when the killer watches the victim.

Our audience were really happy with the way we used the twist at the end of the video, making them want to find out what will happen next and was the girl killed or not.

Another comment we had from our focus group was about the editing. All the clips that we cut and put together worked well and there was no problems with any of the clips and in between the clips. The titles at the end were really interesting and made the video look professional because of colours and effects used.

Overall the focus group was really helpful with the feedback. For our next production we will try to think about all the things that they said in order to meet their needs and wants.

Keep following :)

Final production

We have completed the video for our final production. Unfortunately, I was unable to upload the video to Blogger, so I have posted the link bellow:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SQH3z48qSo

The video works on youtube :)

Enjoy and keep following :)

Non-diagetic sounds and music for Final Production

The composition for our companies introduction that I was previously unsure of has been dis-guarded for our final production, however, I still believe it was a vital practise that aided me with the next few compositions.

I firstly listed what I needed for the non-diagetic sounds:

1. A heartbeat - possibly sped up
2. Atmospherically suspenseful sound-scape
3. Thrilling music - identifiable for the Killer

I secondly listened to all of the individual available sounds on the programme, searching for base rhythms that could stimulate emotions I wanted on my list. Once I had found these, I dragged them onto the editing section. Then I searched for both slow and fast paced rhythms, to merge with the base. Once found, to narrow my selection, I combined them to test which sounds went well with others and which sounds were not as useful. This was a long-winded process, although I did enjoy it and became excited nearing the finished possible sounds.


This is a  screen shot of the heartbeat sound used in our final production in logic pro

Bellow is a screen shot of the sound-scape for the Killer's introduction, a suspenseful piece, exemplifying the Killer's abnormal behaviour and indicating his intentions; creating the scene of impending doom for our victim.

This is a screen shot of the intended heartbeat used as the Killer approaches the victim; in-co-operating a pulse underneath the heartbeat made a suspenseful atmospheric effect, I created this to encourage stimulation of the audiences heartbeat.

  

Having completed the sounds through Logic Pro, I double checked with Patrycja, the editor, who agreed and copied them on her pen-drive to edit and merge them with the intended clips.

I can't wait to hear and see the final production!

Keep following :)

Practising with Logic Pro

I began to experiment with Logic Pro at 10.00am, an application that allows you to create your own music. I wanted to have an original sound track that involved conventions of the thriller genre, suspense and tension. My first practise is below: 

 

This exercise was a personal test. It helped me familiarise myself with the programme and explore the variety of sounds available. I tested the music on other members of the group to see if I had correctly merged the sounds to create the particular effect. I enjoyed mixing the sounds because I could create numerous compositions that had numerous effects upon the listener.

The next image is of a possible sound which may be used for our companies introduction to the final 2 minute introduction:

Although having spent an hour listening and editing this, I am still unsure of the composition. It may sound too strong an impact, and the overlapping sounds may be overwhelming for the listener. 

This composition, even if dis-guarded for the final production, has proved to be an additional practise; which is always a plus!

Keep following :)

Filming Entry 3

Today we filmed more inside the house.

We carried on with Chloe going up the stairs and continued with various camera shots of her walking to her room. Once completed, we filmed Chloe in her room. At this point, our company realised that we needed to use the script as more of a guide than specifically follow it. This would aid the editing because we would have more camera shots to choose from; giving us a lengthier introduction.

Here are a list of short, improvised interactions for Chloe and the shots used with them:

• Texting her friend;

close up (CU), point of view (POV), Mid and an Over the shoulder (OTS) shot.

• Reading a magazine;

POV, Mid, CU, long shot (LS)

• Jumping/laying on the bed;

PAN, LS, track, aerial shots.

• Taking off her shoes;

CU, Mid, extreme close up (EXCU) .

• Looking through her wardrobe;

POV, CU, Mid, LS

• Gazing out the window;

POV, CU, Mid, high angle of outside (HA).

We spent more than an hour on this; getting the continuity right and filming the same shot at least 3 times for the editing process, roughly creating 10 minutes of filming.

 

Although it was hard work I enjoyed it because it meant we were thorough for this section

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Filming Entry 2

Our female actress was not available to film today or any other days, we therefore could not use her as the character. Searching for someone available proved difficult; thus making me our last resort, which will make it easier as I know the script off by heart.
We also discovered, through experimentation, that a small button had previously been pressed - creating the zoomed-in camera effect. Thankfully, pressing the button again restored the camera to it's original state; I was so glad to not have the same problem again!


Having, changed location to a friends house and beginning filming again, we promptly started with the inside scene of Chloe entering through the front door. Although the shots were clear and sufficient, I noticed that we needed to film this section at a later time; in the editing process the shots combined would display errors in continuity. The outside light shinned through the door window as Chloe walked in , this would contrast to the previous future edited shots of Chloe walking along a street at night. Thankfully I spotted this before we moved on!


We then did multiple camera shots, such as aerial shots, low/high angle still shots, close ups and different positioned long shots, all of the character Chloe walking up the stairs! It's better to be overly prepared than under prepared!

Whilst discussing which scenes to film next we noticed that it was looking dark outside the window, we wanted to use this opportunity before continuing inside.
Half way through outside filming it began to rain. Considering the editing, the rain would affect the continuity of the clothes; as the inside shots displayed Chloe's jacket and hair dry.

As we were faced with a decision, we weighed each choice thoroughly;

Using the rain:

• Filming the inside again
• Time consuming - darker outside shots
• Camera could get wet
• Crew more tired - lack of focus on filming

  
Postpone filming:

• Crew gets rest - more focus on filming tomorrow
• Another chance outside
• More done inside while waiting for darkness

Considering these options we decided to postpone the filming until the next day.



Keep following :)

Filming Entry 1

We began filming in my house at 6.30pm today. We choose this time because it meant we were able to film inside sections whilst waiting for it to get darker for the outside filming.
It was a challenging process throughout, as we were faced with multiple problems. Firstly, our camera was constantly zoomed in during filming; which made filming a tiresome job, both I and Patrycja changed the camera and tripod positioning frequently, to gain the intended camera angle/shot. This also affected our actors, it is tedious repeating the shot, let's say twice; having to remember lines and make sure that the set is ready...but six times, virtually spent on each shot, unbelievable!


Secondly, the time spent on filming agitated our company members and actors, as everyone was beginning to become hungry and tired; thus provoking a negative response to the task.


Eventually, as a company we decided to finish filming at 9pm; considering the situation and believing it was best to film again tomorrow.


I believe it would be best to change locations to another, more spacious house, as the camera requires further distances in it's current state...


Keep following :)

Auditions

This is our poster for auditions that we displayed in school:

Our production was searching for one female teenager, that would play the role of the victim, Chloe, and one male teenager that would play the role of the Killer.

The auditions took place on the 7th March at 2.15pm.
However, we needed to change our location, seen in the pictures, due to the space being used by other people.

Here are some of the people that wanted to audition:

At the end of the day, we had finally come to an agreement of who we would pick for the roles, as a company. The best male actor, we decided, was the young male in the picture seen above. He has good posture, excellent facial expressions, a good sense of character building and the ability to engage himself in a character for a long period of time. As a company, we needed these qualities to help the pace and flow of filming; we needed adequate actors that would be able to constantly deliver , considering the amount of takes we might need.

Despite the ease undergone with choosing the male actor, we found it hard to choose a female. We wanted a blonde girl so it would merge with our concept, who has the ability to look naive, have a good sense of facial expressions, to be able to put herself and stay in the character for long periods of time.

Unfortunately the female in the image above did not meet our desired criteria, especially as she has black hair, so we declined her application. Another applicant, however, with blonde hair and simular acting attributes to the male, was accepted.


I'm looking forward to working with them.


Keep following :)

Storyboard for final production

Once we had finished writing our script we then completed our storyboard; a step used to aid us visually with what our final outcome may look like.
In addition, when we have competed the audition process we will need to demonstrate to our chosen actors what we expect from them and what our final two minute clip will look like. The storyboard is a very useful tool for this, and saves valuable time that would be spent explaining the plan; giving us more time to film.

Here is a picture of our storyboard:

Keep following :)

Script for Final Production

BEGINNING CREDITS - LOGO
INT. MOON/DARK NIGHT/OUTSIDE/STREET

EST moon,
LS of CHLOE walking,
MS phone conversation:

CHLOE
Yeah…Yeah…Oh I’m almost home…Nahh no-one’s at home yet…

LS house [behind car lurking?],
CU [light on top window],
non-diegetic faint heart beat

MS/CU CHLOE:

CHLOE
Family problems init…

No non-diegetic heart beat fades
PAN CHLOE,
LA STILL [CHLOE walks past camera],
CU on her bag [key]

CHLOE
Anyway I gotta go babe putting my key in the door, lataa

CU on door lock, SIDE view of her

CHLOE 
Ahh, I can’t be bovered wiv this family! No one locks the frickin’ door!

MS door inside open,
non-diegetic music increases,
CU on CHLOE turning on downstairs light switch
CU on CHLOE taking shoes off [aggressively] 

CHLOE 

And they complain to me bout not puttin my shoes at the bottom of the stairs when they can’t be arsed to lock the frickin door! 

Walks upstairs – LAS – bottom of stairs
HAS at top of stairs
OSS looking at room – CHLOE’S reaction

CHLOE 
OH MY GOSH! And they even leave a bloody light on, in MY room!

PAN as CHLOE goes into room PAN goes past room and to a door
hand around door – non-diegetic music – sudden shock type[?mid shot – camera sees Chloe go by but does not follow and a hand holding a knife is at the door she passes?] [?rants about her family?]

Angled LS – CHLOE begins to unpack bag – gets out homework
OSS - dark figure behind her lifts knife – blurred figure – non-diegetic music
CHLOE turns,
music increases
CU ‘killers’ mask
CU CHLOE’S face
CU on knife

MS – CHLOE wakes up in sweat,
EXCL on eyes and face – panting

Non-Diegetic door creek open and music tense
POV on door – figure?
CU on her face
TRACK her slow hand towards bedside lamp
CU on switch of lamp
POV door
LS room – figure next to bed
CHLOE turns, screams knocks light down

Beginning Title ‘Not A1one’ to police siren music

END

I understand that we will need to try and follow this, as it is one of the main ingredients for our final production. Our production team and actors need to be well aware of the script as it can save valuable time.
I enjoyed being the scriptwritter because it helped me appreciate the amount of detail needed for the production team to understand the directions and how to present them.
Camera and editing instructions need to be separate from dialogue, as a means to not to confuse the team. I wrote the dialogue in a bold style with a distinct font, aiding the actors to differentiate between when spoken language and unspoken language; it wouldn't seem like a professional company if the actors were confused and spoke the camera and editing directions!

Keep following :)