Link to Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6BJ_3TlrIs&feature=channel_video_title

Evaluation Question 7.

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

Looking back at the preliminary task for the first time, i realised that there was very minimum effects, transitions and camera shots. There wasn't much effort been put into it at all. So i decided that for my real media product it would most certainly be the best to add more things to it, to give it the hope and thrill i was expecting for my product. The idea of the preliminary shot was to get used of using the differant effects, especially shot reverse shot. I did not feel as i had done my best in this exersize, so i decided that i want to use most camera techniques such as; Shot reverse Shot, close up, mid shot, long shot, over head shot, over shoulder shot and panning, this giving my movie more realistic shots and feel to it, and prevent it from being boring.

The preliminary shots that were taken, were okay, however there were a few that needed retaking, a few times the camera was being hand held and not on a tripod, therefore the footage became alittle shake, meaning i knew when it came to the real filming, that i need to take every shot atleast three times, this giving me atleast three options to choose from.

In the second half of the lesson i also had a play around on Adobe Premier Pro. Just by watching the Priliminary video, you can see that it was the simple basic editing techniques that i had looked at, therefore i gave myself extra lessons using the programme so i could improve on my final product.

Editing.

I used a few editing tools such as;

.Cutting

.Cross fade

.Dip to Black.

As you can see i only used a few tools in the lesson provided, however i now knew where to find the tools when i needed them, i figured out how to add them onto my timeline (along side of the videos that i put on the timeline). At the time tho i still did not know how to change the colour or use any of the sounds and lighting effects that are provided with the programme, however the extra lessons that I had aloud me to learn how to use them. 

I believe that if it wasn't for the Peliminary exercise i would not have been as confident starting the editing for my movie opening. I have learnt a lot more since the first exercise and a lot more of the editing techniques as you can see by watching my movie.

Evaluation Question 6

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

I already had experience with working with a Digital Video Camera, therefore there was not much for me to learn, however, i have learnt a lot of of new techniques that i can use whilst filming. There are buttons on my DV Camcorder which were not on the camcorder that i got provided with, for this reason the DV camcorder which i used was more 'basic', making it easy to use. To make sure i was as confident as i feel when recording, we did the preliminary shooting to play around with the many effects.


I have never used a Tripod before, so when provided with the tripod, i found it fun and interesting to use. I had to be shown how to safley place and remove the camcorder from the tripod, but once shown it was simple.


I learnt how to connect the DVC to the computer and import my footage onto the programme, 'Adobe Premier Pro'. 


I have never used Adobe Premier Pro software before, so learning to use it for me was a challenge.  Learning how to add effects and transitions to begin with was quite difficult, but with plenty of use, it soon became very simple.

Upload video onto Youtube...

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address you audience?

To publicise my video i
posted it online. I used 'Youtube'
 and 'Facebook'. As i believed that my target audience was
 the younger generation,ie;
Teenagers, i thought it
 would be best to
upload my video to facebook
which includes all my high school and sixth form class 
friends, aged between 15 - 19 years. I also 
have adults, this will also tell me whether my movie attracts the older gerneration too.   

 By putting my media product on these social networking sites, it allows me to get realistic and pure feedback for my video. This giving me the opotunity to realise the things that need redoing and the mistakes i have made in my video therefore overal giving me tips of improvement.

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

I would suggest teenagers to be my main target audience for my media product. This due to many reasons. To start, the characters in my movie are aged 18 - 19years, and my actors who i casted are aged 16-18years. This for one draws my media product to the younger generation.

This is Rhiannon. Rhiannon loves going out and enjoying lots of time with her friends, she loves settling down with chocolate and ice scream to watch a good movie. She enjoys days out shopping in shops such as; Miss selfridge, River Island, Top Shop and Next. She enjoys spending quality time with her sister and having fun nights at ice skating and the cinema. She studies A Levels in Performing Arts, French and Law. This just proves that no matter how hard she loves to get down and study, she also loves a bit of fun.  She loves settling down to a good movie on movie night with her friends. Rhiannon enjoys movies such as comedy, Rom coms and entertainment, however she is also known to sit down to scary movies such a, Orphan, IT and The Shining. She loves to also watch soap Operas and other programmes that are brocasted on television. Programmes such as Emmerdale, Eastenders, Glee, Scoobie Doo, Hollyoaks, Friends, My Wife and Kids and Fresh Prince Of Bel air. So as you can see she is no stranger to a mixed variety of genres.

This is Ben, he loves Performing arts and spending time to the people closest to him. He loves to sit and watch movies, play Bowling and perform on stage, Ben loves accents, mainly french, and loves competing with his friends. He again is no stranger to sitting down and watching horror Movies and Entertainment on the television.

I believe my movie will appeal to someone like Rhiannon and Ben as it has a mixed amount of nature to it, and always gives you mixed emotions. Rhiannon loves to sit down to Rom Coms, this is a good thing as my movie does at times concentrate on the love for his long lost love. She also is no stranger to horrors, the horrors listed are deffinatly hgih at the top, therefore i hope for the best for my movie and i believe that she would love to watch a movie such as mine as it seems as it will appeal to her. My movie will give her the thrill and excitment she will love.

Evaluation Question.3

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

Looking at my movie and the effects that have been used, and the camera work, i would most defianatly say it will not be hollywood. It will be a company who takes on low budgit movies such as mine. Altho a media institution such as 20th century Fox have lots of Horror big budgit films, i still dont believe mine will fit into that catagory, as the effects and acting used in my movie it not to that of a high standard, also my movie may not be taken by a world wide company such as Universal, therefore having to say that my movie will have to be taken on by a low budgit institution. Miramax is the sort of institution which distributes products such as teen horrors, therefore mine will fit into this catagory.


      

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My movie has actors between the ages of 16years - 18 years, which is good as i casted them as 18years - 19years. When thinking back, i believe that the plot of murder is most common in the adult community and audience, so if i was to change this it would be the age of the actors i cast. However it may also work, this due to the fact of the numbness of teenages, how they dont think things through, how they try to take things into thier own hands. This goes well with the plot.

I changed my movie alittle bit, it starts by showing the surrounding and the set where the murder taken place, the first character i show, is the male, who is stuck between his murdered girlfriend and a unruley revenged ex partner. Normally we see the vulnerable woman who is the focus of the movie. I used the opposite convertion to this for alittle twist to the movie, and showing that men should not be too steriotyped, along side of woman.  

Evaluation Question 1.

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

To make my media movie believeable and 'at the top' with the rest of the huge movies out there, i did lots of research that helped me make my movie fit its genre. I reseached the conventions of the genre i had choosen, which was Horror, i found out the conventions by watching popular, successful horror movies and including the conventions in my movie. I researched James Whale, who is a famous Horror movie Director. However his movies were released in the 1930's,  (Frankenstein, The Invisible Man) 


this is way to dated for todays challenging Directors. Then researched 'Wes Craven' who directed movies such as 'A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Last House On The Left'. I watched the first 2 minutes of the movies to see how he conveyed the genre of thier movie. This giving me idea's on how to start my opening sequence. The things i looked for to link to my movie were things such as, location and the set. I looked at the charactors costumes and the props that were used. I specially watched the camerawork, how the director motioned across the scenes.

My Setting and Location

My Three Locations were:

·         Towneley Forrest

·         Front Room 

·         Kitchen

I found that most of the stereotypical horror movies are set in a forrest, however they create such a tense atmosphere i really wanted to use the same type of idea. Altho they are set in the dark, i did not have good enough equipment that aloud me to film in the dark, and all the charactors to be visible, also, it is not save to be walking around at night in the forrest, so for this reason i had to film in the Day time, this however did not effect my movie, as the scene that included the forest was a nice romantic scene that included a couple on a lovley walk. This is conpletley opposite to a conventional horror and did not go the same, however the creepyness of the death did. To make this more realistic, and more 'real' to the convention of a horror, i added a 'darker contrast' to the movie scene. This allowing the scene to look more dull. On the First day of filming i filmed in 'Hurstwood', this was an excellent day, however there was a lot of sun. I was un able to use this footage anyways as my tape chewed up. So I had to refilm, in Towneley woods, this day was over cast and was much better weather for filming.  

      

 The Second location was in the Living Room (Front room) of a house. This was for the scene where Zac (Ben Garner), dremt about his murderd girlfriend. In this scene he also walks to the window and answers his phone. During this scene the murderer also approaches the house. Well in most horrors, at the beggining of the movie, the home is the ''comfort zone''. So i used this to make my movie more real. I used the house as the confort zone, therefore had my charactor in normal everyday clothing, normal lighting and nothing unusual on the set. To make it more real, i also set the room, to look comfortable and welcoming.

The usual safeness and comfort of a home/bedroom is usually turned on its head in horror films. Like in scream the infamous scene when the murderer terrorises a teenager in her own home whilst alone by phone call. We also used a home to feature in our opening but not from the prospective of the victim but from the murderer. We open with our murder plotting against her future victims in her bedroom. This is very unconventional as the murder is usually hidden by mask or costume like in the two films by Williamson however ours is revealed and unveiled to the audience. Whether this is as affective is for the audience to decide but we liked the idea of challenging the usual conventions.

Props

All of the probs which were in the Front Room and kitchen scene were natual and realistic, there was nothing unusual. There were no extra props that were added in the kitchen scene, only the knife which we used as a dramatic, scary murder wepon, in the forest and kitchen. But, like i say all the mis-en-scene was natural.

Camerawork and editing

Most horrors that are on top of the leaders board and high in popularity and ratings are not blind to having fast past scenes that make you get tied up in the story lines, just shots, and close-ups on the charactors. Watching this, i wanted to use them in my movie.  I tried to express this in my movie opening by doing close-ups to the murders face, and doing fast pacing scenes when it comes to the 'flash backs' of dramatic events that happened in zacs life. To add to the drama i added a fast beat of music too. I kept all my camera work concentrated on my victom zac, this making the audience feel edgy for him too. To start i used long shots to show my audience the setting of my movie, well, the main setting, this shows the majority of the setting and therefore giving them a clear understanding, and making it conventional.

Title font and style

My title is an eerie font which is coloured red. Usually the red font is unusual and not very stereotyped. Therefore making it unconventional. I did not really convey this very much from a real media product.  

Story and how the opening sequence sets up

      My plot was a very stereotypical revenge plot. A young woman is being cheated on by her partner with another, young and attractive woman. She is now planning revenge on her, by this, i mean kill her. I set this so she would be killed in the forest. I showed it through a dream of what has happened in the past and Zac, remembering it.

      I made it real by beggining with the muder and then unfolding the murderer and how she came back and got Zac. Or did she get him? I ended my opening sequence with the murderer standing at the window, removing the feeling of comfort from the house and leaving the rest of the stort a mistery.

Special Effects

      I did not use many special effects in my movie, just the basic editing on the computer using 'Adobe Premiere Pro' and some diagetic sound. I added a few lighting changes and video transitions. Alot of special effects that can be used in a movie, they were not very good for a horror and ruin the genre i was trying to display to my audience. Many movies use stunt doubles that can be classed as special effects however, nothing like this was used in my opening sequence.

Evaluation

For my evaluation there is 7 questions or tasks to complete, they are:


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


2. How does your Media Product represent particular social groups?


3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?


5. How did you attract/address your audience?


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


7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Filming Session 3 - Forest

So, during this session I planned on filming in the forest on the hope that we will be having a grey day. However unfortunatly for me the sun was brightly shining and it was really warm. After thinking, i thought it would be best just to carry on and do my filming and edit my movie to change the weather, and just to avoid the sun.


During  the process of filming Ben - 'Zac Corly' and Jamine - 'Allysia Preston' the camcorder started to make a strange sound that made me alittle worried. However time was getting late so i just carried on with getting the filming finnished, so i just carried on following my storyboard.


Camera Angles


Zac and Allysia walking through the forrest...


Long Angle Shot - I filmed them from a long shot, this getting a lot of the surrounding in and the both of them messing around and having fun. (trying to avoid filming infront of the sun peering through the trees).


Mid Angle Shot - I filmed them from behind to give it a more creepy 'not alone' feeling. I added these shots to give it a more 'stalkerish' feel.


Eye Angle Shot - I did this shot without using the tripod. I held the camera behind the tree and half peered it out to follow the two characters. This giving the view from another characters eyes.


Zac and Allysia sitting on a log...


Close Over the Shoulder Shot - I used this shot to show the view of Jamine from Bens direction. I wanted to use this for the dream Zac has about the dat Allysia gets murderd.


Long Shot - I did a long shot of the two characters sitting on the log, this was to show Jasmine getting up and going for a wee. It also showed that there was no one closley surrounding them at the time.


Pan Angle Shot - I used this shot to follow Jamines character away from Bens charater Zac.


Close Up Angle Shot - This close up angle shot was used on Ben. This was to show the confusion of why Allysia was taking to long to return back to him. It was focused of him body language and facial expressions. Also as he became more worried.


Pan from Bottom to Top - This was used when Ben stood up off the long and began to search for Allysia.


Follow Shot - I used this shot when Zac was searching for Alyssia and running past the camera. It also showed alot of the surrounding.

Importing Footage num 2.

Incase I loose footage again, I thought it would be best to save everything I have done on to the computer with my other footage so everything is safe and i have a back up plan.

Recording Session 2 Of Filming - AGAIN!

As the original location for filming in the forest was to far away, and we could all could not get transport there, we had to film closer to home, therefore changing the location. Lucky for me, there way no footage from last time, so there is no worry of changing locations and worrying about mis-en-scene.


I used all the same camera shot as the first session and managed to include all the same scenes as last time. Only this time i filmed extra of Zac actually becoming face to face with Carla.


Camera Angles...


Zac on the search for Allysia and confronting Carla...


Zoom In Angle Shot- As Zac turned around and saw Carla, i wanted to make the scene really dramatic and interesting, so as he had finnished looking over the lake, as he turned, i zoomed into his face to show how terrified he was.


Long Angle Shot - I then used a long shot of him, and then Carla walked infront of the camera and stood to the right of it, with ben on her left, and a knife on her left aswell (same as the first footage filmed).


Follow Angle Shot - Zac then ran to the right, running away from Carla.

The WORST thing that could ever happen

After the long day of filming i got home and went to watch all the footage that i had filmed. Unfortunatly the strange noise that the camcorder was making was my tape being screwed up, therefore all the filming that i did for that session had been long and ruined.


This meaning that I had to call everybody out again re-do ALL the same shots from my storyboard.

Filming Session 2

After looking at the footage I filmed in and outside the home. I brainstormed more ideas that i could possibly add to my Storyboards to make it better. I was really interested in my idea of making the scary scenes more dramatic and action packed. For example, I was watching back on the tape of the kitchen scenes that i filmed, I am intending of using this in a flashback, so I thought it would be great to get more footage of the two characters in the home.


As the characters both went back to Zacs home, I thought that it would be a good idea for the fight to start at the top of the stairs and make its way into the kitchen. So we went back to the home location wearing the same clothing and shot more footage of the fight. I filmed Ben falling down the stairs all the way to the bottom, then Rhiannon standing at the top holding a knife. This making out as if she pushed him.

Mid Angle Shot - I used a mid angle shot on Rhiannon so you could see the rest of the surrounding too. On the footage of Ben falling down the stairs you can see the 'white' background. So by doing a Mid angle shot, you can see that it is the top of the stairs where she is standing, therefore symbolising that she pushed him.

Close Follow Angle Shot - This was used when Bens character Zac was falling down the stairs, I filmed him falling down the stairs from this angle as it makes it feel more realistic and makes the audience feel more involved within the action that is being shown on the screen. It also gives the scene more natralism.

Importing Footage

As I got a scare from the lost footage, i thought it would be best to save all the footage i filmed previous to the dialema and save it to the computer.

Filming Session 1 - mis-en-scene

As the first scene i filmed was the kitchen scene, i wanted it to be in a natralistic environment, as i was in a home, i wanted it to be seen as 'ordenary' to my audience, so I used the natural house lighting that was available.


For clothing, i asked the actors to wear normal clothing, nothing to dark, but nothing to bright either. This for the reason being, Carla was at the home to have a night with Zac, therefore she would be wearing nice clothing with nothing to exadurated or looked at as 'not normal'. The same rules apply for Bens character Zac, just to wear something that symbolises the charater, eg: Soft, mellow, young but yet has an edge to him, therefore he worn the shirt.

For Rhiannons Character, i choosen her to look smart/casual, so she worn:
. Black tights
. Black Skirt
. White Top with pattern
. Long Scarf for casual.


As on this day we also filmed Carla stading outside Zacs home after she found him, she changed her clothing to a more 'dark theme'. This gave the scene a more realistic theme. I also waited until it was dark outside to show that this is suposed to be a scary scene. She worn a dark hoodie with the hood up and applied darker make-up.