Audio Feedback Video

Here is a video of my group and I showing our film to the class, whereby we recieve positive and negative criticism feedback from the audience.





Positive Feedback:


Matt: I thought the music in the background had a really good theme to the genre of the film by how the music managed to build suspense to the film and I thougtht that worked well.

Mr Oswick: I like the use of the music, setting the scene and genre and how the film builds suspense. I've watched the opening two minutes of films over the last few years and they haven't looked like an opening two minutes of a film of any particular genre but you have clearly set the genre out which is a horror. 
It looks like an opening two minutes of a film rather than a trailer, and that all comes down to the editing which is what matters. Lots of horror films start with pre-credits with the first murder and end with the title and then the film will go back to the beginning of the film, which shows you have clearly managed to do this well. 
Also building up with suspense slowly to something going to happen shows you have achieved that certainly. I like how you managed to use a whole range of shots, such as close ups, long shots, low angle, high angle shots etc which shows that you have really made an effort to try and do this. I think my favourite bit about the film was the use of editing, I like how some shots faded into other shots, you didn't having it al fade into black and then into the shot again which meant that the editing was kind of invisible, which is what you want to achieve, and I liked that I thought it managed to work nicely.


Zoe: The use of editing techniques and the contrast in the colours makes it look something like in a dream which makes the film look effective.

 Anna: I really like how you ended the film, that really makes the audience feel tense by the way it ends with a loud fear scream and then cuts straight to the title of the film 'Paranoid'.  

Hannah: I thought it was really good, how the first few minutes is incredibly built up with suspense, by the use of music throughout the film and especially right at the end which i thought worked really well and you achieved the suspense successfully.

Kieran: I liked the close up shots of the face, it added more depth to the film which makes it look effective.

 Negative Criticism Feedback:


Zoe: In most horror films they manage to show the scene whereby they show the victim looking in the mirror and the killer standing behind them, perhaps you could have tried a away of trying to do that to make it look more effective.



Mr Oswick: The only thing that didn't quite work for me and i'm not sure why is possibly the effect. To continue this effect throughout the whole film, it might be quite off putting towards other audiences.

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?

In our preliminary task, our task was to practice basic filming and editing skills, to help us get used to the software (Adobe) and equipment for when we had to film our final production assignment, it was our first try at filming and editing actual footage.
The basic filming included, a character opening a door, crossing the room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom the character then exchanged a couple of lines of dialogue. 
In the task we had to attempt to demonstrate shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule, we also used simply low angle, and medium length shots.
Since the preliminary task I have learnt how to improve shots by the use of camera work, how to use Adobe properly, as in learning how to use all the different effects, adding titles and credits etc and also music. 


In our final product, we used a numerous range of different camera shots, angles and match on action, to do this we had to improve our editing skills to make sure that it completely matched and flowed when each camera shot changed. 
In our final product we still included the basic rules of filming, such as the 180 degree rule. My group and I were a lot more creative with our shots and angles than our first task, we did this by filming close up shots, high angle shots, panning and zooming in and out. We also expanded on our location by filming at Kate's house and also filming outside of her house too, to give the film different effects and meanings. 
My group and I still managed to use basic shots like in our preliminary task for example, medium shots, close up and over the shoulder shots. 


Since the preliminary task we have improved on editing sound, by managing to download music from free legal music sites and then editing it into the final piece. We did not have to include music into our preliminary task so this was a challenge that we had to take on as it took us a while to find out how you edit the music into the film at the right places and fading the music in and out when we needed to.


We experimented with titles and transitions to make our opening sequence look like a realistic horror film. We used a shot reverse shot, whereby we looked at a certain scene, and then looked away at a different scene and then looked back again. Some types of shots have different meanings to show what is happening in the film, for example Emma the main character who plays the vulnerable teenager, is set in the bedroom and whereby she wakes from a nightmare, but is it really a nightmare? and a different shot is where the killer is outside getting closer to the house. 


I have also learnt how angle shots show which characters are the ones with the most power, if the shot is looking at the person from below it shows they have power and if it is from above them it shows they are weaker as it is looking down on them. Close up shots show important objects and long distance and establishing shots show the location of where the film is taking place. 


Since the preliminary task I would say that my group and I have improved in many different areas of filming, such as the camerawork and editing. Looking at my preliminary task to my final assignment, you can see how much of an improvement my group and I have made in just over a few months. By doing the preliminary task, it shows just how little we knew about camera work and editing, but now looking at our final film it shows how much we have improved in our camera and editing techniques.

Screen Shots from the preliminary task:

 

Screen Shots from the final assignment:

Preliminary Task Video;

Final Assignment Video 'Paranoid':



Since the preliminary task I would say that my group and I have improved in many different areas of filming, such as the camerawork and editing. Looking at my preliminary task to my final assignment, you can see how much of an improvement my group and I have made in just over a few months. By doing the preliminary task, it shows just how little we knew about camera work and editing, but now looking at our final film it shows how much we have improved in our camera and editing techniques.

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

 To make our final media assignment, we used different technologies and kit to make our film successful. Here is a list of what we used:

•  Camera and Tape- These two were the most important as we used this to film the footage for our final product.

•  Tripod - This was used to steady each shot and to film low and high angle shots.

•  Camera and Tripod bags - These were to carry all the equipment in, and to make sure it was all kept safe.

• Adobe - This was the software that we uploaded our footage onto and what we used to complete our final film.

•  Audio LGFL (free non - copyright music) - This is where we found our music for our final product.

•  Youtube - This is where we found our Universal Studies and the Working Titlte Logos.

• Blogger -  This is what we have used to write out our research, planning, film diaries and evaluation.

•  Horror DVD's - My group and I watched and evaluated Horror films to show we had researched into our film genre before we made our film, which gave us tips as to what kind of thing we were looking to produce.

•  By using a video camera we learnt how to use it and how using a tripod can make the video look a lot more effective. We learnt this from attempting to film by holding the camera, but obvioulsy the footage looked all jolty so we decided to include the tripod, and from then on the footage looked a lot more effective and realistic.

•  By using Adobe Premier as our editing software, it made the footage look affective as there were many transitions and different affects that were available to use. We used a dissolve transition between each shot to make each of the shots look affective, which made the film run smoothly instead of each shot cutting from one to the other. Adobe Premier has many effects that are available to use, my group and I chose to use the 'old film' effect as this created a sinister and disturbing feel, which is what we were hoping to achieve. Adobe Premier is also very useful as the audio can be edited easily and separetly from the actual audio itself, this was useful throught our film as we wanted to fade in/fade out parts of our audio throughout our film for example, my group and I lowered the audio at some points so you could hear individul aspects such as, the scream at the end and the killers footsteps as they are walking towards the house.

• I have learnt from using Adobe Premier,that the editing is a very long and hard process, the software at first can be very complicated to use as we struggled to add sounds and credit titles. I have now learnt how to film footage and then edit it onto Adobe, and then add transitions and titles to make an opening sequence.

•  For showing our film and the progress of it we have used Youtube and Blogger. We used Youtube because it is a useful software for showing our film as it is an easy website to access and use, and easily uploads files. We had a couple of issues that we had at first for example, we had to convert our film to an MPEG which took quite a long time, before putting it onto Youtube so it would upload succesfully, this was easily solved quickly where we could then upload straight onto Youtube. Another benefit of using Youtube is the fact that we can easily show the film to other people such as family and friends and are able to get their feedback on our film through the use of comments.

•   We also used Blogger for our research and planning whereby it showed our progress of making our opening film, we did this by including animatics, photographs, and explaining any idea changes etc. I have found that Blogger is an effective and very handy website as it is able to show all of the aspects easily. Overall, I have learnt many different techniques to use when constructing, researching and planning a film.

Here I have added some picture's of my group and I with the equipment that we used to construct our film:

Myself with the Camera and Tripod

                    Myself holding the Tripod and Camera bags

How did you attract/address your audience?

I have used Youtube's annotation tools to add speechbubbles, and links to my video. These annotations highlight the ways in which my Film Opening links to the other similar films in order to attract the particular Audience I have previously identified. The annotations that I have made refer to genre conventions, use of music, similarities with other movies and what I have identified as the Unique Selling Point of my imaginary film. 

Who would be the audience for your media product?

• This is our target audience member, stereotypically they would be males as this would reflect someone who likes horror films. This image reflects that our target audience would be aged between 15-24 where they are at a mature young adult stage. From my research that I had done previously, showed that this was the age group that enjoys horror films more than elderly people and young children. Children usually can't watch horror films because of certificates on films and parents not allowing their child to watch it, therefore young children do not have an opinion wether they like or dislike horror films.

•  The target audience for our film are most likely to shop in places like Superdry, Topshop etc, they like to dress smart/casual clothes. The types of music they would listen to would be drum and base, Dubstep, R&B etc. The types of Tv programmes that they would watch would be, Vampire Diaries, Eastenders etc. Our target audience would watch our film as it is a horror/thriller, and this target audience like the horror genre.

• This target audience would go and see our film in the cinema with their friends, whereby they would all be able to share the same experience together, feeling scared and tense. This target audience likes to be kept in suspense and to be on the edge of their seat when watching a film. 

• From what we can see, our target audience is male aged 15-24 however,it is likely that females would want to watch this type of genre too, from my opinion I know that I like watching horror films and I am also between my target audience's age range.

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

For this evaluation activity I have made a 'director's commentary' style voiceover explaining some of the key features of my opening film, I have included features such as:

• Discussion of my production company name and logo and the role of such companies
• What does a production company do
• The idea of a distributor and who that might be and why
• Where the money might have come from for a film such as yours 
• Why the various people are named in the titles - which jobs appear in titles and in what order and how have I reflected this
• What my film is similar to 'insitutionally' (names of some films which would be released in a similar way)
• Refered to actual company names and processes 

This is our script that we had written out before hand for our audio commentary:

Me- Our production company is ESK Productions . We simply used the initials of our first bames and added them together. Even though it was a simple way to choose a production company name we thought it fitted in well with our titles and provided a believable name for our company.

Emma- A production company is a type of company which is in the business of performing arts. This company aims to develop and physically produce performing arts, film, radio or television programmes however, in our case the production company will be producing our two minute opening.
The production companies profits or losses are entirely dependant on the quality of the film. We think our film would provide profits as it fits in with steroetypical, successful horror films.

Sarah- A good distributor for our film would be Summit Entertainments. The reason for picking this distributing company is that it distibuted the film Sorority Row which has a similar target audience with a similar storyline. It would therefore be successfull like that of Sorority Row.

Kate-The various people who are named in the titles are the actressess, directors and producers. We made sure that each characters name appeared whilst the person was on screen to ensure a link was made between the two. The order that the people are named in the title, is the ESK Productions company name, 'Working Title Presents' and the name of the actressess and then the director.We didn't want to make up other names to make the credits go longer, we only used specific information that was needed.

Emma-A film that is simillar to ours institutionally, would be a film like the Blair Witch Project. The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 horror film ( same genre). The narative is presented as a documentary, pierced together from amateur footage. The characters in the film are of a similar age, pulling in the same target audience as we wish to appeal too. The budget for the film was only $500,000 which is a very small budget compared to all the Hollywood, box-office hits. We therefore think the film would be extremley similar to ours institutionally.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

• I have chosen Emma's character from our opening product as Emma is the main character. There are many similarities and differences between Emma and other similar characters in real film products. I have chosen a similar character that I would base Emma's character on, this actress would be Shannon Sossamon who plays the main girl in One Missed Call.

•  The two characters are similar in the way that they are both displayed in similar causual clothing e.g carigan, top, trackies/pjamma bottoms and that they both wear a little amount of make-up to show their vulnerablity. This gives the idea that both characters like to be comfy in what they are wearing when they are lounging around the house which represents the type of character they are. Also, by making both of the characters wear femine clothing, this implies to the audience that they are not masculine and could not stereotypically be seen as 'strong' and 'tough'.

• By both of the characters being presented in similar ways, this gives off an innocent feel to the character, this also makes it clear to the audience that this character is likely to be attacked in the film.

• Both characters play the victims in each of the films, they are both similarly portrayed as being the vulnerable, innoncent, and scared victimn characters who show emotion which is stereotypical to how most main vulnerable girl characters in this type of genre are portrayed. Stereptypically in films women are less likely able to defend themselves, therefore the audience tend to be more fearful and wary for their safety in the film.  

•  The two characters are similar in a way that they both come accross 'paranoid' at points in the film however, Emma is paranoid that somebody is in the house or outside the house, whereas Shannon is paranoid that she is going to be the next one to die.

                                                                                                                                                                    

• A character I have chosen to look at which is similar and different to the killer in my own film is Michael Myers, there are many similarities and differences between the two characters.

•  The appearance of both characters are similar in ways but also different, the clothing that both characters are wearing tries to hide and cover up themselves, for instance Sarah who plays the killer in my own film wears a balaclava and Michael in Halloween wears a mask and they both wear gloves to cover up their finger prints. Both characters carry the same props i.e 'knife. The killer in my own film is dressed in stereotypical black whereas Michael is wearing bright colourful clothing, which suggests that both characters are, scary and frightful but in different ways of how they are presented.

•  Both characters are portrayed similarly, by how they are both out to stalk and kill people in the neighborhood. In both of the films, the audience would get a similar vibe to be scared and aware of each character.

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

These nine screengrabs I have chosen to evaluate and write about how they are similar or not of opening sequences of the same genre (horror). 


1 (Title of film)- The screen grab for our Title of the film is similar to the other Horror films that I have seen and analysed. We used a plain, lower caps font. My group and I wanted a nice clear font that was easy to read and that stood out clearly to catch the audience's eye. By choosing this type of font we indicated to the audience that the film is not going to be a comedy, romance or action film. We chose to use the colour red for the font. Researching into other Horror films it is clear that in their film titles red is a popular colour as it represents blood and danger. So our red writing fits in nicely with the black background as it stands out big and clear. It is a typical horror film title and I would say that we have used graphics to imply the horror of our film. 
The music fades out just before the last scene, whereby the title then comes straight onto the screen after the last scene has finished, we have also made the title stay on the screen for 4 seconds, so the audience are able to focus on the title.

2 (setting/location) - The location of our film was introduced by using an establishing shot. I chose this screenshot as it is clear to the audience where the film is taking place, and usually in Horror films the film will start off with an establishing shot, as the audience need to be clear where all of the action is going to be taking place. The location is set on a street with other houses, and right by woods, which shows the audience that the film will be set outside not just inside. Quite a lot of typical Horror films are set in a location where there are woods right near by, and I think the setting and location we have used is quite typical and realistic for this type of genre.

3 (Costume/Props) -I have used this image as it is one of our only props, the knife is key to the film as it helps develop the story, and it keeps the audience aware of who the killer and who the victim are in this film, by showing the knife to the audience this makes it clear to them that some action could be about to happen. I have also used this image as it shows the killers costume, wearing all 'black' which is a stereotypical colour of what a killer would usually wear, usually the killers clothes are casual, dirty and scruffy and are not very appealing. I would say that we have shown the contrast in different costumes with the two characters well and clear, like in typical Horror films. 

 4 (Camerawork and Editing) - Throughout our whole film we have used editing, we used the 'old film' affect, to give a different vibe to the film and because we were trying to base our editing similar to paranormal activity and by how successful the film is. The 'old film' affect created movement on the shots, and making the film look realistic for this type of genre as many horror films in the old days had the 'old film' affect, due to them ownly having 'black and white' and 'old film' affect, not colour. However some horror films do not use editing in the way, though some do reduce the comount of colour in shots to give a dull feeling to the film.

5 (Title font and style) - For our opening credit titles, we used a different font to the title of the film 'Paranoid'. We chose to have the titles in bold to make the titles stand out which would catch the audiences eye. We kept the font colour the exact same to make the credits look effective and continuous throughout the film and as the colour red stands out bright and clear against the black background and also by the red portraying blood and danger. 

6 (Story and how the opening sets it up) - I have chosen this screen grab for showing the story because it is of the killer holding a knife to the victim, which is what the opening sequence is based on. The prop (knife) that is used in the story is a stereotypical prop that is used in horror films and is usually used for the victim, which gives the audience the feeling of innocence towards the victim, meaning that she is more than likely to get attacked with the knife in this stereotypical horror film. 
The story in the opening sequence is based on a young teenage victim called Emma who is alone in the house whilst she is sleeping, Emma wakes up from a bad nightmare, and still has the nightmare going around in her head, thinking that she can see/hear things. The nightmare consisted of a 'killer' walking towards the house and then gets into the house somehow, whereby the killer finds Emma upstairs in the bathroom, and Emma is then held hostage by the killer.

7 (Genre and how the opening suggests it) - The genre of the film is suggested by the 'killer', by the way they are represented, through the use of costume and props (black costume to cover the face and identity and prop being the knife).

8 (How the characters are introduced) -The two characters are introduced by identifying Emma as the victim in bed, who wakes up from a nightmare and the killer is introduced and indentified outside the house in the woods carrying a knife, which is typical in a horror film. By using this technique it does not give away the identity of this character, therefore adding suspense to the film.

9 (Special effects) - We used a range of different transitions to make our opening sequence look like a realistic horror film.

Audio Feedback

During today's media lesson, everyone in the class had to show their two minute opening of the films that they have produced. My group was the first chosen to show what we had produced, Mr Oswick (teacher) filmed everyone's individually, whereby before showing the film each group had to give an introduction of the film, explaining the film 'title', the 'plot' and any other aspects of what the audience should know before watching the film. After each film had been shown, the audience would then have to give feedback as to what they thought worked well, for example, specific things that represented the genre e.g horror and each group would then have to take in the feedback which will then be produced in our evaluations. The audience were then asked to give feedback about any weaknesses, such as music not fitting right at certain points in the film and lastly each group had to explain what could have been changed, or if we had to do it again what would we do differently.


Tomorrow in my media lesson i shall be making improvements to my final film, which my group and I have taken on board, such as adding music to the credits right at the beginning of the film, possibly changing the affect of the film depending on how it looks on Adobe and lastly any last minute changes that my group and I decide to make. 

'Paranoid' Final Film

Editing

My group and I have started to progress on more with our editing. Today in our media lesson, we added titles to our film such as, 'Working Title Presents', 'ESK Productions', 'Directed By Katie Coombs', 'Starring Sarah Barnes, Emma Pennington'. Also in today's media lesson, I added effects and transitions between each shot, which is to make the film run smoothly and to make it look effective, rather than each scene looking unrealistic and cutting. My group and I had previously chosen to have the name of the film 'Paranoid' appear after the establishing shot right at the beginning of the film, but we have chosen to show it right at the end of the film as it looks a lot more effective. The font for the writing that we have chosen is OCRA Std.


My group and I have had trouble trying to use the media converter, which I am using to convert my 'Working Title Logo', which will allow me to use the logo in Adobe for my opening credits. I am hoping to  resolve this situation in my next media lesson.

Filming Photos

Here are some pictures that I have taken during filming over the past few weeks;

This photo is of the killer (Sarah), Sarah is dressed in black leggings, a black top, black cardigan, Black scarf and a knife.

In this photo it is showing the setting (bathroom) where the film is set for half of the film, to the right it is showing Sarah setting up the filming equipment.

Filming Diary 11th March

On Friday my group and I managed to film the rest of our film, it was successful! We managed to film the killer scenes and the establishing shot of the house. The props we used were kept the same, however we included a knife and black gloves, which made the killer look alot more realistic how a killer should look.


Today in our media lesson, my group and I uploaded the rest of the footage that we had filmed on Friday. We then started to edit the rest of the footage and put each of the scenes in the correct order. In our next media lesson, we shall be adding music and the opening credits to our film.

Opening Credit logos

My group and I have started to look into the opening credit logos and have found that the Working Title Logo will fit in best with our film. It lasts for 23 seconds which will fit in nicely, and will make the film up to two minutes long. I managed to find this easily on youtube, they had many to choose from but found this one worked best with the opening of our film.


Working Title Films, the UK film production company behind box office hits including Four Weddings and a Funeral and Shaun of the Dead.

Starting to Edit

My group and I have started editing the footage we have so far of the opening two minutes. We have not yet finished filming the whole of our film as we still have the last minute to film, but as we are starting to run out of time we need to get on with editing as this is going to take up most of our time.

The software we are using to edit our film is Adobe, so far we have edited about one minute of our opening film. At the moment the film is looking ok, but not as good as we expected, due to the fuzziness and jumping when we are watching it on screen and also because the film is so dark, as we are trying to make the film look like it is night time. It is hard to tell what the actual finishing product will look like, but we are putting all our hard work and effort into the editing so hopefully it will pay off.

Filming Diary 25th February

On Friday, my group and I filmed half of our new story line, and found that it worked a lot better than the previous. The new story line looks more realistic and targets the genre that we are trying to make.
We have also decided that we are no longer going to be needing George as the killer, as Sarah is going to step in and take the role. We found that we were able to achieve and get a lot more filming done on Friday, than we have done in the previous times, due to the previous cast, Ben (Ambrose), Bel and George have now been excluded from the film.


The props that are used are similar to the previous for example, in the bedroom it is a stereotypical teenage bedroom so the props around the room will make the film look more realistic. However, we no longer need the phone. The new props that we have decided to use are a flannel, which Emma uses to wash her face with.


My group and I will next be filming on Tuesday 15th March, whereby we will be filming the last scenes. Since changing the story line it has taken a lot longer to film than we expected, so it has made us a bit behind but we are starting to get back on track now and in the progress of editing bits of the film that we have so far.

Change of story line

My group and I have decided to change our story line, as we felt that our previus sotry line wasn't believable and was starting to look nothing like a horror film. This encouraged us to think about changing the way in which the stories portrayed.


We have decided to exclude Ben (Ambrose) and Bel as too many people in the house didn't convey the horror theme correctly. We have decided to keep the killer (George) as he fits the build of a stereotypical killer, Emma will also still keep the main leeding role of the vulnrable teenage girl. We hope this will improve our footage and provide us with a believable story. The setting will still be the same, in a house, mainly in (Emma's) bedroom, and also the outside of the house.


The new story line consists of; Emma asleep in the bedroom but then she hears noises and becomes weary and frightned. Emma will walk into the bathroom and splash her face with water, she will look up and see there is a death threat on the bathroom mirror (Emma SCREAMS). The camera circles the whole room to show that there is no killer to be seen. The killer will then appear in the bathroom behind Emma. Emma will then run back into the bedroom, the killer then chases after Emma holding a knife to her. Emma will scream and wake up, realising that it was a dream.


There will be little talking (screaming), towards the end of the two minutes, as the killer will show up right at the end.  My group and I haven't planned as far as what will be said but will decide when we are next filming.


We are planning on filming tomorrow (Friday 4th March).

Filming Diary Friday 11th February

During filming on Friday, my group and I realized that whilst looking at the footage from our last filming, we needed to add in a few more shots after scene 2. The first shot we have had to add in, is a long shot of Emma opening the door and a secondly a long shot of showing Emma walking out of the bedroom door and walking down the stairs, we then cut  the shot when Emma is walking half way down the stairs so we could get a third new shot of a low angle shot of Emma walking down the stairs and then following Emma towards the front door whereby she turns the light on. The final new shot is a long shot to show Ben walking downstairs.

Animatic

Here is a video of our finalized animatic, we have made sure that we have based it similar to how our finalized film will end up looking like.

Animatic Storyboard

My group and I, are currently in the process of creating our animatic storyboard. It has taken some time unfortunately, as there has been a problem with the software however, it is all sorted now and we are back on track with making it. I have used the exact same pictures as I used for the previous story board, as it was easier to use these pictures instead of having to draw them out again. So far I have uploaded the story board pictures onto adobe premiere element and have started to edit each individual shot as to long they are going to be. My group and I will proceed with this task on our next media lesson.