Wednesday 6 April 2011
Monday 4 April 2011
Evaluation, Task 7.
Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to your full product?I feel that at the start of the filming, in the preliminary exercise our group was blank canvas we all had very little experience using the technology which we needed to make our film. We haven’t just learnt one or two things we have learnt many some were important and some just basic but all put together have helped make our film.
An important thing which our preliminary exercise lacked was a variety of shot types. We realised this when we looked back at it and saw it was very basic and only had basic shot types and only used about two angles. Due to this in our film we made sure that we filmed and placed in it:
-Midshots
-tracking shots
-close-ups
-extreme close-ups
-over the shoulder shots
And high and low angle shots.
We also tried to use the rule of three to make our shots look flattering to the audience. When it came to continuity editing in the preliminary exercise we didn’t have a clue! We got one where we saw an actress walk through a door and even this was very rough. Hence why when we made our film we recorded everything at least twice to ensure we got the right shot so we could make everything flow and look continuous.
There is also allot of Tromboning in our continuity exercise and most of that we cut out when editing, so we made sure we tackled this and you will find that there is no evidence of Tromboning in our finished product!
We learnt allot from the editing and many of the lessons were spent getting used to adobe premier pro. As you can see from out film we learnt the basics, capturing and adding clips to a timeline.
Then we learnt how to trim our clips, so they were tight and clean. When we also wanted to speed things up we used the razor balding tool. It's also quite obvious that we learnt how to transform it into black and white using an effect; we also did have some high contrast shots but removed these as we didn’t believe they fitted with the continuity but at least we learnt how to find it and use it if we ever needed it in the future.
The cross fade effect had been used rather frequently and the fade to black has too. We liked to use this effect and none of the above was definitely not used in our preliminary exercise because we didn’t know how to use them and we wouldn’t have known where to place them to make them look as effective as this did in out film.
Looking back if we had of used some of the techniques we have learnt while completing our project our preliminary could have looked allot better for example: there is a huge chunk of footage where we watch a girl walking to meet her lunch date this could have been easily sped up with use of the razor blade tool.
Not only do I think we have learnt allot since the preliminary, initial exercise but I also think that because we have a basic ability to use editing equipment, software and Dv's we have become more confident. At first we didn’t want to press a button we were not familiar with or edit our work with a tool we had never used before in case we did something wrong, but now we know that we can just undo the changes or improve it to make it look better or fit in with our work. We were also able to help others and use techniques which our friends were using wherever we deemed it appropriate in our film. Before we wouldn't have been that adventerous and would of just stuck to the basic techniques which the teacher has shown us.
Evaluation, Task 6.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
We have learnt how to use and operate a Digital Video Camera. By this I mean that we have learnt what each button does and how we could use them in our film. The on which we probably used the most besides the obvious play fast forward and re-wind was the zoom toggle. At first on out preliminary shooting exercise we created a 'Tromboning' effect but soon fixed this by practicing before we shot the real thing. We also learnt how to connect the camera up to the computer, via USB. The Diagrams which we researched and labelled during our research really helped us get to grips with the technology and allowed us to feel more confident with it.
Secondly although it may not seem that 'technical' the Tri-pod helped us make our filming steady and clean in the preliminary task we didn’t use it hence why it was so wobbly and jerky.
Before this process of constructing our own film opening, I had never used www.blog-spot.com or made a blog post for that matter. At first I thought it was hard work, trying to figure out how to set on up, log-on, view other peoples profiles, friend them, and actually post and edit your blog, but after a couple of times doing this I began to get used to it and know that if I am ever doing a project like this I will used a blog to track my progress. It is interesting to look back on previous blogs and see how far we have come.
The Adobe Premier Pro software is also something which I and other group members were unfamiliar with. I still find it quite difficult to used when you are trying to do something new, find a button or try an new effect because there are so many options, but when doing the basics it is relatively simple and exciting to watch back and see what you have created. By Researching about adobe premiere it helped us because some groups just threw themselves in at the deep end and were baffled about how to edit their film whereas we new little about the basics and understood what some of the buttons did.
Some of the technical jargon was confusing at first, but now we understand most of it and would be comfortable talking about the technical techniques we used in our film.
Uploading a video onto face book and YouTube is also something I had never done, obviously I used them both but not for that purpose. It was useful learning just exactly how to upload a video through them so your friends can access and enjoy it for future reference.
Evaluation, Task 5.
5. How did you attract/address you audience?
As we established that our target audience was teenagers, in order to attract/address them we did this list of things, to ensure we captured their attention:
· Kept our main character, and our two other characters dressed trendy and in clothing which is popular with everyday teenagers
· Teenagers generally like to be different and the fact that the film holds a female antagonist may be intriguing
· The settings are believable: a bedroom, and park/forest are sort of everyday environments for teenagers as opposed to if we had used an office and a museum. · We had our main character apply make-up (lipstick) before she left the house, which most teenage girls can relate to and holds a sense of mundane realism in out plot.
· The bedroom was also girly and our character wears lots of jewellery which is something the audience and character may have in common.
· The fact that we used a mobile phone and used pictures on the shrine which were Facebook pictures were used to hook a teenage audience, they live in a generation where technology is everything and we tried to subtly convey this within our work. 
Also in order to atract our target audience, we placed our film on a social networking site, Facebook. From the comments we gained and gathered we knew we would be able to make any imnprovents of their suggestion to make it appeal to them. Also not only did our target audience comment and watch the film but also others did to and offered plently of consttructive critisism so it appeals to them.
Here are some quotes we gained when people viewed our video:
Kathleen Gillen hahahhaah its well goood !
Here are some quotes we gained when people viewed our video:
Daniel Hobbs Looks sweet in black and white 8)
March 31 at 6:47pm Kathleen Gillen hahahhaah its well goood !
March 31 at 6:52pm
Julia Chew wow thats fab ,loved the fact its in black n white and loved the sound track made it really dark well done
March 31 at 6:55pm
Chloe McLaughlin I love it, I think it's really really good :)
March 31 at 7:09pm
Nathan Holland wow thats fab , loved the fact its in black n white and loved the sound track made it really dark well done, in other words mrs chew took the words i was going to say.
March 31 at 7:10pm
Laine Slater excellent!
March 31 at 7:22pm ·
Sophie Thomson It's really good. The music gave me chills =) x
March 31 at 7:27pm ·
Bryony Perks Really good this Aaron (: I get it, as well.. haha xx
March 31 at 7:37pm ·
Robert Shackleton its very good the music is good also i got it :)
March 31 at 7:51pm ·
Lucy Naughton thats brilliant! the zoom when she were putting on the lip gloss was well good, really professional xx
March 31 at 7:54pm ·
Richard Cumpstey good stuff mate! Thought it was well put together, music goes well with the film and I like the black and white theme! In terms of improvements the ending could be made a bit longer and you could fade in and out when changing view from the hills to her walking down the path, but overall good work! Just out of interest what did you have to do for your coursework? Could you choose anything you like?
March 31 at 8:00pm ·
Simon Matthew Turner Thats great dude, music with the black and white was awesome. You could fade out the ending, instead of it cutting out. That's all I can say really.
March 31 at 8:24pm ·
Jodie Murton Well done Aaron that's ace!! Well, well done all of you! :-) It actually made me get goosebumps that music! xxxx
March 31 at 10:12pm ·
The feedback was very usefull and we were glad that people appriciated our work and understood the narrative. Evaluation, Task 4.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
Teenagers are the main audience for our media product, they are the ones who feature in the film and who would probably appreciate its ‘teen slasher’ feel.
Here is a cast study on a group of teenagers; we think are the perfect audience for our film:
They are Lauren and Hannah Smith with their friends John Jones and Mike Davis. They are aged between 15- 16 in their final year at school. They all enjoy listening to popular music which is in the charts and dress according to fashion trends. The girls like to shop in River Island, Top shop, Miss Selfridges, and New look. The boys like to shop in Duffer, River Island, Top Man and Next. All of them enjoy, shopping, going bowling, going to the cinema, attending parties, and in general spending time with friends at the weekend.
They all tend to rent out films together to watch at the weekend; they nearly always go for horrors like ‘scream’ , ‘I know what you did last summer’ ‘The ring’, ‘Cabin fever’ and ‘The Hills have eyes’ sometimes they go for the comedy horrors like ‘scary movie’. They also enjoy going to the cinema to watch films and tend to go for the latest horror which is out, they all booked tickets to go and watch the horror phenomena ‘paranormal activity’ when it first came out then later ‘paranormal activity’ which they enjoyed equally as much.
On television they like to watch the Vampire Diaries (co-incidentally the screen play is done by Kevin Williamson who also created the screen play for ‘scream’ and ‘I know what you did last summer’. They also like to watch supernatural, Heroes, Friends, Smallville and Hollyoaks.
We think this film would appeal to this group of teenagers because our film, is the sort of thing which they enjoy watching and if it had been produced by teenagers and had teenagers in the task it would very much appeal to them all the more as they would feel more connected with it and more obliged to watch it. Horror is also very much their genre and they like the thrill you get from watching them and the eerie atmosphere they can create.
Evaluation, Task 3.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
It would definitely have to be a low budget media institution like “Warp” it does actually fit their usually gritty type of film but does not however show or represent social realism in any way, like most of their films do. Also with its low budget, limited connections and lack of companies to converge with it may not be able to make the film appeal to a worldwide audience or publicize it in the same way a major media conglomerate like “Universal” could attracting worldwide attention and id it was of limited interest to people money loss wouldn’t be a problem to a huge company like this, they can afford to take risks, as opposed to a small company like warp who cannot. Universal may like the idea of a low budget horror film opening, as it could be something which they could expand upon and turn it into a worldwide phenomenon like paranormal activity was. Kevin Williamson, the writer of ‘scream’ and ‘I know what you did last summer’ maybe interested in our non-stereotypical storyline and the fact that it is subverted in terms of his storylines. It is something fresh and original that he may like to act upon, as it is something that is different to what he has already done and he may believe that this is what a 2011/2012 audience are ready for as opposed to his late 90’s early 2000’s string of successful films.
Williamson works for Miramax and therefore this is the sort of institution which may distribute our product as it fits the chain of other teen horrors they have distributed like:· The Halloween chain
· The scary movie chain (although humour related)
· The Scream chain
· I Know What You Did Last Summer
· A Nightmare On Elm Street 3
Evaluation, Task 2.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our film contains teenagers; the three members of cast are aged 17-19. The age of the members of the film obviously represent teenagers. The issues raised in our plot of infidelity, cheating and seeking revenge are usually related to an adult audience who have experienced an unfaithful relationship. However it represents the fact that teenagers tend to grow up too fast. Or that teenagers have to deal with the same things adults do but it is just not seen as important because they are young.
We are introduced with a female character who is firstly applying lipstick in the mirror, then places a weapon in her bag. The popular horrors produced by ‘real’ media institutions like ‘scream’ and ‘I know what you did last summer’ usually represent teenage girls to be damsels in distress, vulnerable and helpless. We wanted to oppose this convention by making our female the lead, antagonist, strong-willed and able to defend herself. If you look at the picture of one of the females in scream, you can see the panic and a distressed look on her face. Whereas compared with our female character she remains composed, emotionless and calm. Scream was released in 1996 and our film obviously 2011, it can represent the rise of feminism in society and that teenage girls are just as capable of holding a antagonist lead in a horror film and play a convincing role which will scare both male and female audiences.
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