stephaniemareen (1 day ago) Reply
Really like the contrast between summer and winter. Choice of actress was good for a ghost. Nice style of titles.
hurtwoodhousemedia (1 day ago)
the two different seasons are so cool!! like the music. titles seem not very well timed sometimes...
EllieMcGregor (1 day ago)
Think its really clever and I really like the two worlds and how they interchange with the clever cuts. Think a bit more could've been done with the titles though !
MillieSherring123 (1 day ago)
Titles are slightly dodgy. But apart from that I think its very good. Good effort !
Generally the comments we have recieved have been favourable. I believe this sequence has reached our target audience and our target audience have pointed out any imperfections they saw in our sequence. Most of the comments have stated that they thought our sequence's titles were slightly out of sync and a bit "sluggish" with the action.
Wednesday 31 March 2010
Task 7
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product
Filming our main task was a completely different experience filming our main task was a completely different experience from filming our prelim. task. The planning of the prelim task was a very easy process as we were given a set storyboard and script, which we had to adhere to. We were also given help with technical aspects of setting up the tripod and camera, such as bubbling the tripod and the colour bars on the camera. Whereas in the main task all of the planning was done by us. We had to make up the storyline and also create a storyboard, prop list, location list, actor list, shot list, shot sketches and other lists of what we would need. We also had to sketch out each shot and where we would locate the red heads in order to create he desired lighting. Another difference with the preliminary and main task was the filming time; in the preliminary task we only filmed for an hour, whereas on the main task we filmed for a whole day with a lunch break.
My knowledge of shots has widened broadly since filming the preliminary task. In the preliminary task we used a range of 3 shots, a wide shot, a close up, and an extreme close up. When we were filming this we just ran through the action in all 3 shots so we could choose what stance we wanted to put on the action. Whereas in the main task we had planned exactly which shot we would include in each specific location and how long the shot would last for. We used a range of tracking shots, long shots, close ups and extreme close up. When filming these shots we had to think about how we would edit them in Final Cut Pro and also edit things out in AfterEffects. In our main task we used a lot of additive dissolves in order to re-enforce our narrative, and to maintain suspense and realism.
Sound was also a very dramatically change aspect. In our preliminary task we only used diegetic sound that was recorded with the camera microphone. The sound recorded was most dialogue or ambient sound and there was no sound effects or music in it. Whereas in our main task the sound used was far more sophisticated, we used a mixture of non-diegetic sounds and diegetic a range of effects in order to re-enforce our narrative. We used sound effects such as drone during the ghost world and tweeting birds in order to create a sense of realism. The tweeting birds are a diegetic sound which varied sounds in the sequence. We got these sounds from Soundtrack pro and overlaid them to the different worlds in order to make the change “hyper-realistic”.
The editing is another aspect of film making I have improved in. With the preliminary task we just did straight cuts in between shots with no overlaid music and very limited understanding of what we were actually doing. It was a bit “hit-and-miss” as this was our first real experience with this editing software. Whereas with our main task we had to have a very sophisticated understanding of what we were doing, we also had to use special effects between our cuts as opposed to our straight cuts in our prelim task. This knowledge of Final Cut Server and Final Cut Pro has made the editing process much easier and has progressed my editing skills immensely
As you can see in the two photos below the vast difference in shots between the preliminary task and the main task.
Filming our main task was a completely different experience filming our main task was a completely different experience from filming our prelim. task. The planning of the prelim task was a very easy process as we were given a set storyboard and script, which we had to adhere to. We were also given help with technical aspects of setting up the tripod and camera, such as bubbling the tripod and the colour bars on the camera. Whereas in the main task all of the planning was done by us. We had to make up the storyline and also create a storyboard, prop list, location list, actor list, shot list, shot sketches and other lists of what we would need. We also had to sketch out each shot and where we would locate the red heads in order to create he desired lighting. Another difference with the preliminary and main task was the filming time; in the preliminary task we only filmed for an hour, whereas on the main task we filmed for a whole day with a lunch break.
My knowledge of shots has widened broadly since filming the preliminary task. In the preliminary task we used a range of 3 shots, a wide shot, a close up, and an extreme close up. When we were filming this we just ran through the action in all 3 shots so we could choose what stance we wanted to put on the action. Whereas in the main task we had planned exactly which shot we would include in each specific location and how long the shot would last for. We used a range of tracking shots, long shots, close ups and extreme close up. When filming these shots we had to think about how we would edit them in Final Cut Pro and also edit things out in AfterEffects. In our main task we used a lot of additive dissolves in order to re-enforce our narrative, and to maintain suspense and realism.
Sound was also a very dramatically change aspect. In our preliminary task we only used diegetic sound that was recorded with the camera microphone. The sound recorded was most dialogue or ambient sound and there was no sound effects or music in it. Whereas in our main task the sound used was far more sophisticated, we used a mixture of non-diegetic sounds and diegetic a range of effects in order to re-enforce our narrative. We used sound effects such as drone during the ghost world and tweeting birds in order to create a sense of realism. The tweeting birds are a diegetic sound which varied sounds in the sequence. We got these sounds from Soundtrack pro and overlaid them to the different worlds in order to make the change “hyper-realistic”.
The editing is another aspect of film making I have improved in. With the preliminary task we just did straight cuts in between shots with no overlaid music and very limited understanding of what we were actually doing. It was a bit “hit-and-miss” as this was our first real experience with this editing software. Whereas with our main task we had to have a very sophisticated understanding of what we were doing, we also had to use special effects between our cuts as opposed to our straight cuts in our prelim task. This knowledge of Final Cut Server and Final Cut Pro has made the editing process much easier and has progressed my editing skills immensely
As you can see in the two photos below the vast difference in shots between the preliminary task and the main task.
Tuesday 30 March 2010
Monday 29 March 2010
Task 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?
In order to demonstrate my target audience I creates a MySpace profile:
Name: Matt Smith
Age: 16
Birthday: 24th November 1993
Hobbies: Seeing freinds, partying, shopping.
Music: The XX,MGMT,Chase & Status, The Prodigy, Pendulum, Oasis, Eric Clapton, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Gorillaz, Jimi Hendrix. Bit of everything really.
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Hi, My name's Matt Smith. I live in Bristol, which is pretty boring. I spend a lot of my time in Brighton at my Dad's house, much prefer there to Bristol. I really like meeting up with friends and going to any parties we find. My interests are Sailing, Smoking, Shopping. I hate X-Factor and anything like that.
Sunday 28 March 2010
Task 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
An institution is the most essential part of my film. As well as a source of money it can also be seen as an advertising feature, as creditable institutions will give the film a boost in reputation.
An institution is the most essential part of my film. As well as a source of money it can also be seen as an advertising feature, as creditable institutions will give the film a boost in reputation.
There are many institutions which specialize in the thriller/horror genre who may be very interested in my film.
Platinum Dunes is an institution who are notorious for producing horror/thriller films, have been present in many thriller films, such as: The Amityville Horror, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Friday the 13th and will be producing A Nightmare On Elm
Street in 2010. This institution would add a very creditable name to my film as they have produced such well known thriller films and to have my film added to their list would be very good if we wanted to make a sequel.
Another institution which may be interested are Fox Searchlight, a division of 20th Century Fox, established 1994. I believe they may be interested because they have produced some very well known films in many different genres, including: The Hills Have Eyes, Bend It Like Beckham and Little Miss Sunshine. Given that they produced Bend It Like Beckham I think they may be interested in my film as it is made in the UK and may be interested in adding thriller to their list of other genres.
I also think Twisted Pictures may be interested in my film as they produced all of the Saw films and my film is of the same genre, so they may be interested in adding my film to their list of films.
To conclude I think Fox Searchlight Pictures would be the best production company for my film as they have a very high budget as they can get money from 20th Century Fox.
Task 2
How does your product represent particular social groups?
In our thriller sequence there are not many social groups represented as we wanted to keep actors down to a minimum so the audience could concentrate on the main action of the ghostly girl. Although, there are 3 actors in our sequence who all represent different groups.
In our thriller sequence there are not many social groups represented as we wanted to keep actors down to a minimum so the audience could concentrate on the main action of the ghostly girl. Although, there are 3 actors in our sequence who all represent different groups.
The middle aged men group are represented in the form of Ted Jackson. This actor may bring more people to the cinema as they will see themselves being represented through this character. He is also quite stereotypical for a man of his age, when he picks the phone and it is not working he slams it down, showing he has a short temper and attention span, similar to many people of this age. Ted Jackson could also be a figure for middle aged women to look at.
The second group represented is the teenagers. Tatjana is the girl who is typing on the computer which breaks, she is represented positively as she is working hard, unlike many stereotypical views of
teenagers.
This is a very stereotypical view of teenagers, and is universally accepted. We wanted to subvert this stereotype and have our teenager working studiously. The teenage working is quite obviously intended to be of a middle-class background and quite wealthy as she goes to a boarding school. The third and final social group represented is the ghost, Sarah. She is a very key social group as she is essentially our "star", this is because she is attractive, and wearing a very short skirt. This will mean boys will want to watch her. She also has a lot of natural beauty. You cannot really tell her social class and status, I think this is a good thing as it makes her more ambiguous.
Friday 26 March 2010
Task 1
In what ways does your media prodcut use, develop of challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our media product does stick to conventions, but at the same time it does also challenge them. As in thriller media product our sequence does alert the audience as to what genre the film will be. It makes this very clear by use of sound and light. It also challenges conventions due to its change of "worlds". This change in worlds is not often featured in films and adds to the eeriness of the sequence.
Our media product does in some ways subvert conventions and play around with what the audience are expecting. The titles are one of these subversions of conventions, many people would be expecting the titles to be in a "written-in-blood" font or a typeface which is scary. Also, the titles are just overlaid onto the sequence, they are not incorporated into the sequence's action. This was a purposeful decision as we wanted the audience to concentrate more on the story line and the action rather than having to look for the titles in the action. But to go against the convention we decided on this plain white sans-serif font. In some ways our media product does conform to conventions, an example of this is the sound, the audience would expect to hear some sort of low drone noise overlaid onto the sequence.
Our media product does stick to conventions, but at the same time it does also challenge them. As in thriller media product our sequence does alert the audience as to what genre the film will be. It makes this very clear by use of sound and light. It also challenges conventions due to its change of "worlds". This change in worlds is not often featured in films and adds to the eeriness of the sequence.
When looking at our titles we had to consider whether we wanted our media product to use, develop or challenge fo
rms and conventions of real media as all these factors would be considered by the audience.As you can see in the picture above we used 2 different worlds to help gain suspense and pressure. We did this through dissolves between each world, these were a "real world" and a "ghost world" the different light in each world helps to emphasise the change. This breaks conventions of real media product as 2 worlds are not often featured in films.
As you can see in the
photo to the left this is the ghost world and we have used red head lights with a blue gel filter in order to crea
te this cold, blue glow. The change in light colours helps emphasise the dramatic change in worlds. I really like this shot as I think it brings a new dimension to our sequence as the audience has to concentrate on two things at once.
In the photo to the right there is a shot of the real world. To shoot this we just used ambient light from outside on a day when we had good weather. This does go against real media conventions as not often in thriller opening sequences do you have shots of outdoors and good weather. Often shots outdoors are in bad weather or are edited in post-production in order to make them more eerie.
In the photo below there is one of the title cards shown. This is a shot of the real world which demonstrates one of the real-world shots. I think in this part of the sequence, the sunny and nice weather helps to create suspense as the audience will wonder what is happening in the ghost world. This conforms to real media product as often in thriller films they will use suspense to keep the audiences attention and to keep them interested in the story line.
Thursday 25 March 2010
Main Task Post Production...
Once we had filmed our main task we had to edit it in order to make it into a finished media product. This involved a very vigorous editing process. My prelim task was a very basic affair which featured a range of 3 shots and was filmed all in 1 location so we didn’t need to change camera settings to adapt to different light.
On the day of shooting our preliminary task we only had an hour in order to get all our actors we needed and all our shots. Initially we did have some difficulty with our actors as the first one we had hoped to use had to go to an appointment. So we found another actor, although as there were no drama students about we had to just use anyone we could find, this proved quite problematic as they were not particularly experienced in front of the camera. He was also not used to having to learn lines in a short space of time. This meant we had to do a couple of takes of each shot as he kept either forgetting the lines, or stumbling on them. Whereas in the main task we had to think a lot about all the equipment, props and actors we would use and it was all very well planned out. On the shooting day of our main task we had the whole day with only one break so we could get all of the shots we needed. There was also no dialogue in our thriller which meant the actors we used didn’t need to learn lines or any particularly challenging actions or movements.
We also had a very basic knowledge of sound whilst filming our preliminary task. So we just used the camera microphone which provides a very basic level of sound. This microphone was fine for what we wanted to use it for, although it did pick up a lot of ambient sound of people walking around downstairs and slamming doors. It also made some of the speech sound quite “tinny”. In our preliminary task we used all diegetic sound and it was all taken from the time of shooting. There was also no music added, whereas in our main task we had no speech but we also had a lot sound overlaid. In the “real world” shots we overlaid some tweeting birds. During the ghost world shots there were “drone” sounds in order to re-enforce the change in environment and mood. Our main task also featured no speech so we did not have to record any speech on set, although there was one sound effect we used from the set and this is when Ted slams the
Phone down.
Whilst shooting our preliminary task we just ran through the action in three different shots, long shot, close up and extreme close up. This made it a much easier process when it came to the editing process. Whereas in our main task we had planned very accurately what each shot would include, what type of shot it was and the reason for that shot being demonstrated. The editing of our preliminary was very basic and featured fast cuts demonstrating all the different shots. Whereas the editing of our main task was a very long winded process. We used Final Cut Pro and we used a lot of the special effects that this programme contained, such as the “additive dissolve” effect. We also used the “text” feature in order to overlay our titles over our sequence.
Whilst editing our main task we had to consider strongly whether the things we were doing would appeal to our target audience. We did this by asking some of our friends if they liked what was happening in the sequence and if they liked the effects, sounds and action.
On the day of shooting our preliminary task we only had an hour in order to get all our actors we needed and all our shots. Initially we did have some difficulty with our actors as the first one we had hoped to use had to go to an appointment. So we found another actor, although as there were no drama students about we had to just use anyone we could find, this proved quite problematic as they were not particularly experienced in front of the camera. He was also not used to having to learn lines in a short space of time. This meant we had to do a couple of takes of each shot as he kept either forgetting the lines, or stumbling on them. Whereas in the main task we had to think a lot about all the equipment, props and actors we would use and it was all very well planned out. On the shooting day of our main task we had the whole day with only one break so we could get all of the shots we needed. There was also no dialogue in our thriller which meant the actors we used didn’t need to learn lines or any particularly challenging actions or movements.
We also had a very basic knowledge of sound whilst filming our preliminary task. So we just used the camera microphone which provides a very basic level of sound. This microphone was fine for what we wanted to use it for, although it did pick up a lot of ambient sound of people walking around downstairs and slamming doors. It also made some of the speech sound quite “tinny”. In our preliminary task we used all diegetic sound and it was all taken from the time of shooting. There was also no music added, whereas in our main task we had no speech but we also had a lot sound overlaid. In the “real world” shots we overlaid some tweeting birds. During the ghost world shots there were “drone” sounds in order to re-enforce the change in environment and mood. Our main task also featured no speech so we did not have to record any speech on set, although there was one sound effect we used from the set and this is when Ted slams the
Phone down.
Whilst shooting our preliminary task we just ran through the action in three different shots, long shot, close up and extreme close up. This made it a much easier process when it came to the editing process. Whereas in our main task we had planned very accurately what each shot would include, what type of shot it was and the reason for that shot being demonstrated. The editing of our preliminary was very basic and featured fast cuts demonstrating all the different shots. Whereas the editing of our main task was a very long winded process. We used Final Cut Pro and we used a lot of the special effects that this programme contained, such as the “additive dissolve” effect. We also used the “text” feature in order to overlay our titles over our sequence.
Whilst editing our main task we had to consider strongly whether the things we were doing would appeal to our target audience. We did this by asking some of our friends if they liked what was happening in the sequence and if they liked the effects, sounds and action.
Production of Shooting Schedule...
The shooting schedule was an essential part of our documents which we needed for our final shoot day. We had made a very specific shooting schedule, although the schedule was somewhat corrupted by the arrival of snow on our shooting day.
When a big budget movie is being filmed a shooting schedule is the most fundamental part of their documents. It will help to ensure all the cast and other members of the team are all in the correct place at the correct time.
On our shoot day we planned to meet at 9:00 am and shoot up until 12:30, at which point we had a half an hour break for lunch. We then planned to continue shooting from 1:00 until 6:00. Although this was a lot of time we were able to finish shooting early if we had got all of the shots we needed. We had planned to shoot all of our indoor shots in the morning and then film our outdoor shots in the afternoon. Although the snow did throw out shooting schedule out of sync as it meant we had to try and shoot and the outdoor shots while it was snowing to ensure a "ghost world" atmosphere.
When a big budget movie is being filmed a shooting schedule is the most fundamental part of their documents. It will help to ensure all the cast and other members of the team are all in the correct place at the correct time.
On our shoot day we planned to meet at 9:00 am and shoot up until 12:30, at which point we had a half an hour break for lunch. We then planned to continue shooting from 1:00 until 6:00. Although this was a lot of time we were able to finish shooting early if we had got all of the shots we needed. We had planned to shoot all of our indoor shots in the morning and then film our outdoor shots in the afternoon. Although the snow did throw out shooting schedule out of sync as it meant we had to try and shoot and the outdoor shots while it was snowing to ensure a "ghost world" atmosphere.
What Kind Of Institution Would Produce My Film?
To distribute our film I think we need an institution that picks up on "under the radar" films, that would maybe be more interested in a horror film than for example a comedy.
So for this reason I believe either Fox Searchlight Films or Platinum Dunes may be interested in our film as the both specialise in picking up undiscovered films.
Fox Searchlight is a division of 20th Century Fox, established 1994. It specialises in independent, British, dramedy and horror. Fox Searchlight has produced some very well known films, such as; Slumdog Millionaire, The Full Monty, Juno and Little Miss Sunshine. Slumdog Millionaire won the Academy Award for Best Picture aswell as a further 7 acedemy awards. Juno, Little Miss Sunshine, Sideways and The Full Monty have also recieved nominations for the Best Picture.
Platinum Dunes Pictures, formed 2001 are a less well known institution although have produced several well known horror films. This is the genre they specialise in and have produced some of the genres most notrious films. It has produced, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, The Amityville Horror,The Hitcher, The Unborn, Friday the 13th, Horsemen and in 2010 it will be producing A Nightmare On Elm Street.
But for our thriller I believe Fox Searchlight would be most likely to produce our film as it is quite well known and having a notable name behind our film is a very good advertising resource.
So for this reason I believe either Fox Searchlight Films or Platinum Dunes may be interested in our film as the both specialise in picking up undiscovered films.
Fox Searchlight is a division of 20th Century Fox, established 1994. It specialises in independent, British, dramedy and horror. Fox Searchlight has produced some very well known films, such as; Slumdog Millionaire, The Full Monty, Juno and Little Miss Sunshine. Slumdog Millionaire won the Academy Award for Best Picture aswell as a further 7 acedemy awards. Juno, Little Miss Sunshine, Sideways and The Full Monty have also recieved nominations for the Best Picture.
Platinum Dunes Pictures, formed 2001 are a less well known institution although have produced several well known horror films. This is the genre they specialise in and have produced some of the genres most notrious films. It has produced, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, The Amityville Horror,The Hitcher, The Unborn, Friday the 13th, Horsemen and in 2010 it will be producing A Nightmare On Elm Street.
But for our thriller I believe Fox Searchlight would be most likely to produce our film as it is quite well known and having a notable name behind our film is a very good advertising resource.
Who Is My Target Audience?
Horror films are generally targeted at the younger generation as this younger generation get an adrenaline rush from watching the thrill and suspense a horror film contains.
I think our film would be targeted at a younger generation of male viewers. I think this because our main character, the ghost (Sarah) is quite an attractive female who is wearing quite a high skirt and this would be very appealing. I also think that our male characted, Ted Jackson would attract middle age men as Ted is around their age and they would see themselves being represented in this film. I also think he could be viewed as a lust symbol for middle age women who also want something to look at in this film.
Although I do also think that a female generation would also want to see this film as they can apperciate natural beauty and I think the storyline will be a more focal point for them rather than the attractive characters.
I think all of our audience would be Middle-class or Working-class as these are the classes that watch TV and film the most. Whereas a Higher-class audience would be a lot harder to target as they do not watch as much TV as the other classes.
I think our film would be targeted at a younger generation of male viewers. I think this because our main character, the ghost (Sarah) is quite an attractive female who is wearing quite a high skirt and this would be very appealing. I also think that our male characted, Ted Jackson would attract middle age men as Ted is around their age and they would see themselves being represented in this film. I also think he could be viewed as a lust symbol for middle age women who also want something to look at in this film.
Although I do also think that a female generation would also want to see this film as they can apperciate natural beauty and I think the storyline will be a more focal point for them rather than the attractive characters.
I think all of our audience would be Middle-class or Working-class as these are the classes that watch TV and film the most. Whereas a Higher-class audience would be a lot harder to target as they do not watch as much TV as the other classes.
Wednesday 24 March 2010
Our Location Requirements...
Locations are a key part of creating realism in media. When thinking about Mise-en-scene we had to ensure that the locations we chose were relevant and brought something to our sequence. The first location we needed was a corridor with a room ajoining to it. We were able to find one very easily in Hurtwood House so we used this one, the only slight difficulty we found was getting the lighting right. To overcome this adversity we had to use lights with a blue gel over to make the corridor seem blue and haunted. The corridor we used is quite a central corridor so we had to shoot inbetween lessons and try and ask people to wait while we finished shots.
The second location we used was also at Hurtwood. We used the steps down towards the theatre and the green outside the theatre. We saw these places perfect for what we wanted them for so saw no need in travelling outside of school grounds in order to get different
The second location we used was also at Hurtwood. We used the steps down towards the theatre and the green outside the theatre. We saw these places perfect for what we wanted them for so saw no need in travelling outside of school grounds in order to get different
The Props Used On The Filiming Of Our Main Task...
The main props used on the shoot day were the costumes as these would add the most realism to our sequence. Our main character Sarah (the ghost) was dressed in a long, white floaty dress. This helped to re-enforce the ghostly feel of the character, she also had very back brushed hair in order to portray her ungroomed ghostliness, as well as very grey and black smoky eye make up. We also applied a lot of white blusher to her in order to make her seem even more ghostly through the pale skin and dark smoky eyes. The other costumes that we needed were Tatjana's clothes, although this was fairly easy as we just asked her to dress up for a normal day at school in order to obtain the most natural and realistic costuming as we could. The third and final actor in our sequence (Ted Jackson) was very easy to costume as he was dressed for work anyway. He wore a pair of grey/black trousers and a blue shirt with a pink tie
The Beginning Of The Producing Of Our Film...
After we had decided the final storyline to use we had to then draft out and plan what and how was going to be seen on camera. We did this via storyboarding and planning. On the storyboard templates we were given there were also several lines and titles such as "Location","Action","Shot/Movement","Sound","Lighting","Editing Transition" and "Timing". These titles helped us to plan out exactly what would happen throughout the sequence so there wasn't any confusion on the day of filming.
First Production Group Meeting...
In our first group production meeting all members of our group had different ideas as to what they wanted to do and there was a alot to consider. To find out which one was really the best we decided the most efficient way to choose was to get each of our group memebers to write down the storyline of our individual sequence. So we all went away to decide which would be the best sequence to choose. Whilst considering which would be the best to do we also had to consider accessibility, storyline and actors we might use to play each specific part and whether we could find them within the school or whether we would need an external actor to come in and play the role.
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