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.

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:

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

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 - 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

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. 

Evaluation of Rough Cut

The rough cut was the clips that we had complied so far (we are yet to fully edit it, add sound or credits).  The main issue with our rough cut is that it is much too short. The brief was for an opening to a thriller (at least 2 minutes long) and our's is currently only 1:09. This is because we are yet to add all of the footage we recorded and also the transitions between each shot should lengthen it slightly.

At the moment, our opening looks very unfinished but I think we have a good basis to work up from. The strongest part of it so far is the shot of the extreme close up of Billie's hand tapping against the desk. With the effects that we added on Final Cut Pro, it looks eery and creates the scary atmosphere that we wanted to create. The weakest point of our opening is the sound as, because we have been working on just the visual side, we are yet to remove the sound that was recorded on each clip. This meant that the clips we slowed down or stretched to look visually better, also did the same with audio. However, this did give us an idea for the sound effects we can use in the future; the tapping of Billie's nails against the table could be used effectively as Foley sound.

Another thing we are yet to work on is the titles. After looking at different fonts and learning whilst we created the prelim, we decided that using a typewriter font could look effective. We also like the idea of incorporating typewriter sounds also. We started experimenting with possible positioning's of the text, however we couldn't complete it as we were yet to add all the footage. This, I feel, we could improve on. However, I did like the contrast of the white against the dark imagery that we'd filmed.

We wanted to draw the audience in to our thriller, and so we tried to make it intriguing and suspenseful without jumping into the whole plot. We did this through the use of extreme close ups instead of revealing the whole character, as I think it leaves the audience asking questions. However, I think what we need to improve in order for this to become more interesting is that we need to have an opening shot that will make more of an impact because, although the shot we have at the moment is an introduction to the chessboard, it doesn't do much to draw in the audience.

Overall, despite there being lots for us to work on, we have a good basis of what we want to do next.

Difficulties in filming

All of the shots that we filmed of the chessboard were filmed in a small interview room in our college. This had some advantages and disadvantages.

ADVANTAGES:

- Easily accessible, which was convenient for when we needed to re-shoot certain shots and also carrying the equipment.

- It was quiet which meant that we didn't have to worry about background noise when filming.

- There were no windows so, we were able to have almost a complete black out aside from the lighting that we wanted.

DISADVANTAGES:

- The room that we used was extremely small which limited our creative freedom. Also, four of us in a room with equipment and lights often made things difficult, space wise.

- Because the room was painted plain white, in order to create effective mis en scene, we had to create an eery setting more ourselves.

Rough Cut of Opening

This is the rough cut of our final opening. We still need to fix up our titles and sound. 

FILMING.

PROPS

This is the real book we are going to use in our final opening.

Filming Pictures!

Checkmate Filming

We took some pictures during our first filming session to show some effects we hoped to achieve:

The chess pieces on our board.

We wanted to create a shadow of the pieces for good Mise-En-Scene.

This picture shows us creating the shadow with an artificial light

The end result.

As we wanted to create more mystery, we decided to use an artificial light in the dark to create shadows. We found this worked well and we will be using these shots in our final cut.

We took this picture to show the difference between using the artificial light and having the normal room light. As you can see, our end result was much more effective for the audience.

Props

The chess board that we plan on using:

Similar to the chess board used in X-Men, one of the films in which we drew inspiration from, we thought that choosing a glass chess board rather than a plastic one would add more to the creepy atmosphere that we wish to create.

Filming Location - Interview room

This is the room where most of our filming will take place. All the chess shots will be taken in here as well as the close ups of the killers eyes, mouth, hand and feet and the book.