Evaluation - Q7

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 our production for our prelim we did not have many skills so we had to learn on the go.

During our process of planning the preliminary we spent less time organising the mise en scene, camera shots, editing and sound. This explains why our preliminary task was not as successful as our final opening. However, we learnt the importance of the planning stages in producing a film. Without a strong planning structure, the success of the film opening is jeopardised.

Our final opening was planned out accurately with a strong storyboard which we followed. This help us tremendously during our two days of filming. We researched more into titles and sound in our final piece which meant that it was more accurate than our preliminary task.

When it came to camera, mise en scene and lighting. We figured that the lighting from our prelim was not that great so when filming our final opening we used a hand held light so that you could see the board much more clear. We also made sure that we had all our props because in our prelim we had to use a piece of paper as prop where as in the opening we used a book and a chessboard. As for camera, we learnt that the camera had to be steady. In our prelim we tried to do a tracking shock while the camera was on a wheely chair, we failed. So for the final product we learned to use a tripod through out everything.

The last stage was the editing stage. When editng for the prelim we learnt the basics, but when it came to our opening we had to make sure the credits were the right size and that it suited the theme of the film. Also that the music was in sync with the action. As the sound was not in sync in our prelim. We also made sure that we kept to the 180 degree rule as well as rule of three. So overall everything we learnt from the prelim we used to improve our Opening.

Q7: Looking back at your Preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

RECORDING.....

Evaluation Q6

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

Q5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

These were audience members feedback on our opening:

Q5: How did you attract/address your audience?

Notes:

Our target audience was mainly 18+ but by using only CU's the audience would not see my age therefore would be able to get a Psychological feeling from the opening.

Q6: what have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

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

Evaluation Q4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Q4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Thriller usually have a wide genre for audience but our media appeals to more than just one social group, although the audience would be more 18+ as the sub genre of this is Psychological thriller and this doe not really appeal to the teenage group. This is suggested in our opening from the props mostly.

Example of a Psychological thriller poster

I have made a poster to show that the audience for our media product probably would not attract anyone under the age of 17-18. In the making of this poster, I followed the trends of films such as 'The skin I live in' and Black Swan'. I done this to make sure I stuck with the same Genre and therefore only really attract the right audience suited to this film.The specific audience i think this is aimed at is a wide variety of people from different classes, ages and genders based on it's USP. I think the USP in our opening is the suggestion of a twisted mind and a gripping storyline. It's a discrete yet chilling opening which is mostly run by nothing but suggestion.

I think overall, our audience will be varied in age gender and class but will mostly be over 18's considering certain aspects of the opening.

Q3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

EVALUATION Q3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Q3 - Distribution

Media - Question 3 on Prezi

Evaluation Q7 - Overall feelings

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

Planning & Storyboards

During the pre-production of both our prelim and our short film, as none of us really had much experience in filming anything before, we were both over-prepared in some areas and under-prepared in others. For instance, the day before filming, we had not yet settled on a location that would be able to offer what we needed, making it all very last minute. However, what we had learnt from making the prelim was that, as a group, we worked better being more free and flexible. When we tried to plan every inch of our film, shot for shot, it was less successful than when we had creative freedom and were able to just experiment with what looked more effective. Also, we learnt that if we are are to use a storyboard, that when we plan the shots we intend of creating, that we should be realistic and take into consideration our surroundings. This, we learnt from the fact that the small interview room that we shot in limited how much we could move the camera.

Camera

The main thing that I learnt about camera techniques was that the more simple shots often looked better. When we tried to do more complicated shots such as panning by hand or zooming in, it usually just looked immature and we would end up not using the shots. The more effective shots were the simple ones of the extreme close ups. Another thing that I learnt about camera from the prelim that we then incorperated into our opening was the importance of good framing. In our prelim, we wanted to mask Emily's identity by only shooting her from the neck down or her feet. However, because we didn't exaggerate it enough and revealed to much of the rest of her identity, it didn't have the desired effect. When it came to filming the thriller, we knew that in order to keep the audience intrigued by the mystery, we would have to exaggerate it much more. This we did through only revealing certain parts of Billie's identity; her eyes, her hands, her tapping feet etc. 

Mise En Scene

Through filming, one of the most important things I learnt about mis en scene was the difference that having good props made. Much of our opening was based around props - the glass chess board and the old book - and so the believability of the props defined our whole opening. What I also learnt, however, was the impact that costume can have on camera. Although the actual clothes itself wasn’t an important aspect in our opening, because much of the characters was left unseen, I think that if we would have gone a little further to make the contrast between the murderer and the victim clearer to the audience, then it could have been a lot more effective.

Lighting

I learnt a lot about lighting whilst we created our thriller opening, because much of our use of shadowing and darkness was what formed the creepy atmosphere. I learnt the effect that simply changing from low-key lighting to high-key had on the whole mood of the film but I also learnt that if lighting can be done badly then it can be distracting from the rest of the action. In our opening, we used lightening to differentiate between the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ characters; this was a small thing I learnt that helps when telling the story without having to literally spell it out to the viewer.

Editing
Experimenting when editing the prelim definitely helped when it came to editing our final opening, as we had an idea of what did and didn't work. For example, we learnt not to cut between shots too quickly before the audience has a chance to register it visually, but we also learnt not to drag out one shot too long in case it got boring. We played around with the effects on final cut pro which, I learnt, could make a big difference on the final product. When we added effects on to the shot of the nails against the table, it immediately looked much more creepy. Subsequently, I learnt that colour is an important aspect to keep in mind when shooting, because when we looked back at the shots, some of them varied in brightness and colour so we were forced to put it all in black and white so that it would look consistent.

Sound
From creating the prelim, I learnt the effect that music can have on the ambience of the film. Before we added the music, it wasn't necessarily very atmospheric, whereas after we added the eerie sounds over it, it immediately heightened the mise en scene. We considered this when making our film opening but we also liked the idea of really exaggerated foley sounds for the clips of the hand tapping against the table or the moving chess pieces. Because of this, we chose music that wouldn't overwhelm the sounds because they were the stronger aspects of it.

Titles
The titles, we learnt from making the prelim, looked more effective if they were left simple. Making the prelim gave us the chance to experiment with different font styles so by the time we came to creating our actual opening, we already knew which did and didn't work. During the creation of the prelim we found the typewriter font and we decided, for our opening, that it would suit the titles on that too. That, matched with the foley sounds of the typewriter, ended up looking very effective.

EVALUATION Q2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Q2 - Representation

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation - Q3

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

Evaluation - Q2

How does your media product represent particular social groups


Does your Thriller Represent any Social groups?
          Our thriller opening does not represent any social groups, this is because out thriller has a discrete opening, so it is very minimal. This is an opening that is separate to the narrative. So it gives the audience a feel of the film without giving away the plot. The only social group that our opening can represent its a female teenager as at the she is the victim.


Does your social group relate back to any of the categories we used during the TV drama unit?
          As the only social group in our opening was a female teenager, this would relate back to two categories we used during the TV drama unit, which is gender and age. A teenage female is usually seen as vulnerable. On the other hand, we also had a killer. We went against the stereotypical male killer and chose a female killer. This is clearly seen from the close up of the character. Other categories such as Class, Status, Ethnicity, Disability, Regional Identity and Sexuality was not represented in our opening as it was needed. Due to it being a discrete opening.

Representation that the killer is a female, hers shoes and make up.

Is your representation of each social group positive, negative or more complex?

          As we did not represent a proper social group, we had neither a positive or negative effect. Both characters were a female. 

Have any of the following technical aspects affected the way you have represented social groups or characters?

          One of the main technical aspect that helped us represent the only social group we kind of shown is the close up. They show the gender of the character. Other than that, the technical aspect has kept the character hidden and left everything a mystery.

Evaluation - Forms and Conventions

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

Before we began making our film, in order to make our opening as successful as possible, we made sure to include all the conventions of a real opening. These included:

• Titles
• Music
• Name of film
• Production and distribution logos
• Names of cast
• Something that grabs the audience attention
• Establishing shot

The conventions of the title sequences were:

• Production and distribution company labels
• Film titles
• Casting
• Costume
• Music supervisor
• Music by
• Editor
• Production design
• Director of photography
• Writer
• Director

In our opening, we wanted to both follow and challenge the normal conventions.

The main way in which we followed the conventions was through our use of the title sequences. We imitated the basic order of names/companies ect. that we found in other films. We also made sure that the font and the sound effects as the text appeared matched the rest of the film. We also tried to incorporate them into the image in an interesting way by using the typewriter effect.

One of the other conventions that we used was our use of music. We settled on an eery, humming sound in the background because it added to the creepy atmosphere that we wished to create, without distracting from the foley sound.

However, mostly, we tried to go against the usual conventions so that it would be more interesting and hopefully draw in the audience. We didn't have any immediate action, choosing instead to go with a final shot of a extreme closeup of the murderer's changing pupils that was hopefully used to shock the audience. Also, instead, of having some sort of shocking action sequence, we also based our opening around the introduction of the chess board without offering an explanation, which - we learnt from our research - are the conventions of a 'discrete opening'.

 

We also went against conventions in the way that both of the characters were kept, overall, as a mystery to the audience. We specifically chose to reveal only parts of the murderer (for example, her eyes, her hands, her feet) so that there was a sense of intrigue. Also, because we decided on the subgenre to be psychologically, we thought that leaving the audience with questions would build towards a sense of unknown that most psychological thrillers have. We did this, too, with the victim, choosing not to reveal her face to add a sense of vulnerability to her.

From our previous research, we also learnt about the use of intertextuality that thriller's often incorporate. We decided to do the same. From one of the films we gained inspiration from, X-Men, we imitated one of the shots of the chess board. 

Also, the shot of the nails tapping against the table from Drag Me To Hell.

 

We also incorporated the black and white effects from Psycho.

Evaluation Q7: 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 my preliminary task, i see that the progress to my full product is really good and it is clear to see that i have learnt a lot between the creation of my two openings.

When producing my prelim, i hadn't yet done much practical work therefore it was all trial and error and creating shots in the styles that i knew off the top of my head (what i learnt in media, tv drama, earlier in the year). The main thing that helped my group with the production of our prelim was the brief; it set instructions that were easy to follow and still left lee-way for each group to make it their own. Another thing that helped my group was the storyboard, it was a good starting point as it layed out clearly each step that we had to shoot and we later came to see it was a good starting point for all the camera work that we did.

We looked at foley sound before creating our prelim as we later had to incorporate it into our own work.

Whilst sticking to the brief, we decided to a college corridoor and a small interview room as our settings. In the beginning of our prelim it shows how we experimented with various camera shots/angles of the main character walking (using a wheely chair so the camera moved in time with the person walking). We shot the feet/legs from left, right, the back and the front which we later agreed looked really effective and made it more interesting to look at than if it was just one long shot. Another successful part of our prelim was the match cut of the hand touching the door handle before the door is opened, the timing of the shot and the shot itself turned out to be really good. We also stuck to the "character sitting down opposite the other character", this point was where we decided to keep the main characters face out of the shots, this was intentional and was intended to create more mystery. At the same time, we kept in mind the "180 degree rule" which we had just learnt about.

Post production, we added sound and titles using Soundtrack Pro and Final Cut Pro. Our aim was to have a slow background tune aswell as using foley sound to emphasise footsteps and the door closing. The inclusion of this in our prelim made it even more successful and inspired us to use the foley sound in our final product. We added the title in Final Cut Pro, this was also useful for us as it showed us further how to use the program but this time on our own work.

Much of the work on our final product was inspired by our prelim and existing films. We used the same interview room as our main setting, where the killer played her game of chess. Again, we similarly created storyboards to use as a starting point. One of the improvements was the fact that when filming our final product it was less trial and error as we were now used to the software and the hardware that we had to use and had already thought up the shot types, camera angles, lighting, mise en scene and sounds before prior to production.

In our full product, we also focused on the 180 degree rule, which led to a few issues rising with certain shots that didn't fit once we put our work together. It was more challenging to stick to the rule when producing our final cut because we had a lot more atmosphere to create than when making our prelim but the room is very small, especially when filled with 4 people plus equipment,

The lighting in our final product was thought up by the members of my group however it is more than likely that minimal, focused light is already present in some film openings. We kept the mise en scene simple, the chessboard was obviously the main focus and we added a few more shots such as the book and the second character walking, to add some variation.

The main thing we focused on when creating our final cut was having a variety of different shots. As our main prop/focus was the chessboard, it was essential to have different shot types/angles in order to keep the audience as engaged as possible. One shot that we tried really hard to create was a 360 shot of the chessboard. My group and i tried various different ways of making this possible in the hope that if we nailed it, it would look really good. However, with the room being so small, and not the right sort of tripod to create such a shot, it was not possible and we had to replace it with something much simpler.

The last things we focused on again, much like with our prelim, were titles and sound. We put in the titles first, ensuring to hold them for 3 seconds each (which was also a challenge as the software didn't cooperate many times). The main theme to our titles was the type writer effect, we thought it would stand out and look good at the same time as it is simple yet interesting. We also made sure to use white coloured font on darker blackgrounds and vice versa to ensure the titles were as eye catching as possible.

Using Soundtrack Pro, we inputted a background noise of a quiet room with a sort of air conditioning to keep it simple and added foley sound to emphasise movement e.g. tapping nails on the table and slamming down the chess piece on the board, again, similar to our prelim.

Over the course of this project i have picked up many valuable skills. I learnt to use both hardware and software that i wasn't familiar with and had not come across before which i am now confident in using. I also learnt alot about the other side of production such as the widely used 180 degree rule, not to zoom in by hand and other tips on how to make your filming look its best aswell as mastering camera angles, shot types, sound, lighting and mise en scene.

Evaluation Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

This is an iShowU that i made showing what tools i used on Soundtrack Pro. There is no sound as all the explanation is in the powerpoint slide above.

Evaluation Q4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

This voicenote is the response to question four created by myself and two others in my group: Nevin and Denise in which we speak about genre's and target audience.

Evaluation Q3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

For some reason, everytime i upload my beeclip.com answer to question three some of my text gets cut off therefore i've written it below.


Page 1: what kind of media institution might distribute your media product?

Page 2: in my film opening titles the production company i used is candi productions candi studios which aren't a big major company but a small college based independant company.

Page 3: why do you think they would distribute your media product?

Page 4: because it supports british, low budget, student-made films therefore it was the most suitable.

Evaluation Q2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Representation of Social Groups on Prezi

Evaluation Q1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluation - Q1

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

The convention of a film opening will consist of

After analysing many different film openings, we realise that the conventions of film titles consist of

• Production company identity
• Production company titles
• Production and distribution company
• Film title
• Casting
• Costume
• Music Supervisor 
• Music by
• Editor
• Production design
• Director of photography
• Writer
• Director

The order of the titles may vary due to different genre of film, so this is not a set order but more or less on the same line. 

In our opening, we challenged the conventions of film titles. This is because we do not use many titles other than the main ones as well as changing the typical order.

The first title was the production companies which were City and Islington College and CANDIStudios. We chose to use the production company first to give credit to them.

The title that came after was the Director. Most opening would have the directors name last as they are main person that contribute ideas to the film. However we chose to put it second as it the director is just as important as the production and distribution companies. Soon after the director was the editor and the music producer, we decided to go in order of importance.

We then included the actresses. 

Last but not least the title of out film. We went against the idea of importance at the end. As the film title is just ans important as the rest but we also went against the typical convention of titles by putting the title last.

Our film opening also consist of music/sound. The sound in our opening was an eerie room sound. Which created suspense as all you hear is a humming sound. We also added a typewrite to emphasize the titles in the film.

Overall our opening went against the convention of an opening. This is because it is a discrete opening that does not reveal the plot to the audience but gives them a sense of what genre it is. Our opening was based around a chess board which portrayed our main character life as a game. We also did not reveal the character to the audience but only gave close up. 

On the other hand our opening uses intertextuality, this is done by the opening being black and white, the hand tapping on the table and the chessboard. The ideas came from Psycho, Drag me to hell, Harry Potter and X-Men.

The chessboard

The hand

EVALUATION Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products.

The conventions of film includes the name of the film, the cast and directers credits, production and distribution logos, graphics, music and soundtrack and action which hooks the audience. In our research for the film opening, we got to understand how the conventions of film openings, this helped us apply it with the credits and lack of knowledge to the spectator.
For example, i looked at Psycho mainly in my research for film conventions.


Graphics
Our opening follows the conventions of film openings pretty well. We showed all six aspects of film openings. we used graphics to show the production company at  the beginning:

The Hook and  Characters
Hooking an audience in the opening of any film is essential but for a thriller this is even more encouraged. To hook our viewers in the opening, we wanted to make it discrete and mysterious. Not only did we achieve this by being discrete but we managed to keep the hook and the Sub-Genre of Psychological. I think that in not showing our character fully, we added to this discrete opening. We put together an opening of close ups to create a mysterious storyline and more of a Psychological feel for the main character.


Music
We did not use a "soundtrack" through the opening which i believe is the one area where we went against the film opening conventions. This is mostly used in openings so that when it is played throughout the film, the spectator is familiar with the feeling they get at the beginning, almost like intertexuality but within just one film




Intertexuality
Intertexuality Is widely used with Psycho, we did not do the conventional stabbing with a knife and a women in the shower, but we did put this film in black and white which in my opinion shows intertexuality between these two films. Not only this, but the opening credits were both simple, bold, centered and in black and white. This, i think is a great way to show a Psychological thriller through credits. 

Credits
The film title sequence always fits with the film. This gives the viewer the idea of what type of film the spectator is abouts to view. Although on their own, the opening credits do not signify a thriller but put together with the opening itself, i think it shows a thriller well.
For example:
          This text we used fitted well with our Genre and Mise-en Scene. The basic black and white colours we used were mianly influenced from film openings such as Psycho:

Checkmate.  This text type shows a "typewriter" theme in which we used, however our title sequence was put together with sound effects, and camerawork to create this thriller feel for the spectator. 








I think where the title sequence is concerned we definitely made it work well with our opening. Although we did make the font and style work well, the conventions of the title were played around a bit to make our opening more effective. For example, a film opening usually includes the title of the film which we decided to place at the end, we felt that giving the title away to the audience straight away, ruined it so we challenged the conventions to make it work best for us. 

OUR FINAL CUT - CHECKMATE

Final editing Process

Creating Sound

Process of Editing Checkmate

Editing final cut

These pictures are of when we were editing out final cut during lunchtime workshop. At this point we were  putting in our titles and our sound.