Monday 26 April 2010
Friday 23 April 2010
Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My opening sequence is seen as a very significant part of a thriller, or for any film that is. My opening sequence consists of the following codes and conventions of a thriller; it has a large enigma throughout the whole of the opening sequence. The black plastic back creates a very large mystery, from the moment we see the character walking across the field with the bag until we see him entering the door with it over his shoulder. It makes the audience want to know what is in the bag. There is also the enigma of the fact that we don’t know where the character is walking to and what is behind the door. However, this enigma is resolved quite early on as we have shown, as we see where the character is going and where he ends up in the end.
I introduced an antagonist right at the start of the opening sequence. It shows a male character walking, for quite a while, dressed in dark clothing and a scarf around his mouth, looking as though he is attempting to hide his face from people seeing him. The fact that he is
My opening sequence is seen as a very significant part of a thriller, or for any film that is. My opening sequence consists of the following codes and conventions of a thriller; it has a large enigma throughout the whole of the opening sequence. The black plastic back creates a very large mystery, from the moment we see the character walking across the field with the bag until we see him entering the door with it over his shoulder. It makes the audience want to know what is in the bag. There is also the enigma of the fact that we don’t know where the character is walking to and what is behind the door. However, this enigma is resolved quite early on as we have shown, as we see where the character is going and where he ends up in the end.
I introduced an antagonist right at the start of the opening sequence. It shows a male character walking, for quite a while, dressed in dark clothing and a scarf around his mouth, looking as though he is attempting to hide his face from people seeing him. The fact that he is
dressed in dark clothing and his head is looking downwards shows that he may be suspicious of people seeing him, making the audience feel as though he is the bad character in the thriller. There is also the fact that he is carrying a bag as well, it makes the audience wonder what he is carrying in the bag and if it is something bad, as it is a large bag and is slung over his shoulder, making the audience feel as though anything could be in there.
I established the narrative by filming the main, male character walking for quite some time. I filmed him walking across a large field towards a town; I then filmed him walking up a village street towards a house, and up the drive. I then filmed the character walking into the house through a large oak door, making the scene look as though it was meant to be slightly spooky and dangerous. We then see the dark nature of the inside of the house. This gives the audience a slightly nervy feeling as it is dark and there are a lot of creaking floorboards and doors. I also established the narrative in the way that we find out what is inside the house that we view at the beginning. This helps the audience to establish the scene and to have a slight understanding of where the thriller is being shot and what is in the main house in the opening.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My media opening represents the social group of working class viewers of the mainstream audience. This is because I used a certain selection of characters with the age group that was of a teen age and the setting that I used appeals to the audience. I chose Shaun as I felt the way he dressed was suitable to the character, as the character is supposed to be mysterious and quite daunting, I feel as though he brings this across within the way he dresses as he is wearing dark colours that cover most of his face, resulting in a character that looks quite intimidating. I also feel as though he brings this across with the look of his face, as the little we see if it is where he is looking down and is concentrating, as though he is planning something. The experience he has with drama and acting was suitable for the area he was working in within our thriller task, as he is a confident actor and is patient when working. I feel as though his experience was shown in this he worked well when we had to re-shoot certain parts he was fine with it, and when we had to shoot certain shots over and over again he was okay with it. I also feel as though our thriller attracts to the audience I have mentioned as it is has the typical thriller genre of the film starting slowly and then eventually getting into the proper story. It shows the character at the beginning of the shot looking the same age as the target audience; this would then entice the audience to watch more, as they feel a connection with the characters.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
After researching the types of Distribution Company and looking at the different funding each one has, i ended up exploring into EM media; I then found that a small distribution company within them called optimum would be the best one for me. http://www.optimumreleasing.com/about.php. Within this website, i explored their history and found that the films they have distributed have won an Oscar, such as the film spirited away and nowhere in Africa. I also found that they are a company who, much like EM Media, like to work with undescoverd talents to make them into well known actors, boosting their career. I then found that they are low budget. This helps with the situation that i am in as a low budget is what i am working with, therfore showing that they would understand. I found that they are used to working with new directors and film producers and that they would display the film in a way that would still look professional. I am a new film director and producer, who would need this kind of producer. I would choose Optimum as my distribution company as it is a low budget company and this would help with my budget of the overall film. It is also a company of EM media. This would be relevant to my film as I am from the East Midlands and EM media is a Midlands based company. There is also the fact that this distribution company likes to help with not so well known films and directors and this would give
the film a boost as they deal with smaller films a lot and would have a lot of experience. I feel as though the distribution company I have chosen will help my film to reach an audience over time. I feel as though this is because it is a small distribution company and will release my film in small cinemas, once my film is seen time and time again it may then go on to be released into larger, multiplexes. This will give a lot of attention towards my film and will make the distributer, actors and me, the director, well known.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience that my thriller is aimed at is middle class people. This is because I feel as though I chose the characters to suit this kind of audience. I chose characters that look as though they are of an age above 25, from either the way they are dressed or they way they act. For example, I chose Shaun as he can dress to look older, and as we do not see his face that much, it looks as though he is older than he is. The reason I chose Tasha for the part of the older woman, as she is good at acting slow and frail and has the right body shape for the angle we are looking at her from. They both cooperate well with the situations that I put them in and this saved a lot of time. My film addresses the audience in the way that it is bringing up the opening credits as we see the first character walking, letting the audience see the name of the characters. The mode of address towards the audience is also given in the use of equilibrium. We see a character, who is looking mysterious, we then see a house, a sense of worry is given within the use of a hand held camera, and we then see the character find the room he is looking for and the disequilibrium is restored back to equilibrium, when we see the woman in the room, and the bag is given to her.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my audience in many different ways. As the audience wants to watch a thriller in the first place, I have included a lot of typical thriller conventions. For example, at the beginning of the opening sequence, the audience immediately sees the character walking across the field. He is holding a large black bag. This immediately makes the audience wonder what is inside the bag as they can see that there is something in it; however, they do not know where this man is going or why he is carrying the bag, this makes the audience want to watch on to see what happens. This is one main enigma in my opening that immediately attracts the audience. I was inspired by the thriller, ‘The Blair Witch Project’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfnXbXKi2-s
I found this very unusual and decided to use ideas from it, these mostly included the part in our film where we shoot in a hand held style. In the Blair witch project the style is like this a lot, creating a confused atmosphere and is also a bit unsteady, giving the impression of a unsteady atmosphere and a feeling of uncertainty. I decided to use this motif, as I felt as though it went with the mystery of the character with the black bag and also the mystery of where he is going. I also addressed the audience, by including the credits in the film. This connects with the audience, as they feel a sense of ownership, as though they know the names of the actresses and actors and the directors as well, instead of watching a film not knowing the names of the characters.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Throughout this whole process, I have learnt many new things. Firstly, I have learnt how to capture a piece of film, from the tape onto adobe reader. I found this confusing at first, but I eventually was able to do this on my own. I feel as though this is really useful thing to know as it will help me a lot in the future with my media studies. I have also learnt a lot about the way that cameras work. For example, they are very simple to use, and I have learnt a lot about the way I have to work with them to get the right shots and to create unusual shots. I have also learnt about having to set the white balance on the camera, this made a large difference with the way that the lighting was and the way that it affects the color of people’s skin and the surroundings around it. I have also learnt that you by using other equipment, such as large lighting it can make the scene look completely different. There is also the fact that I can use the tripod to put the camera on and this helps a lot with the filming of shots when characters are walking so that you can film the slowly and smoothly, instead if have a juddering camera, that looks hand held when it’s supposed to be still. I also learnt a lot about the lighting that should be used in media filming. I found that the lighting was helped a lot when you alter the light balance, and also when you use the larger lights that create a better effect that just a usual spot light.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Overall, looking back at the whole process, from the start of practicing with mobile phone cameras to give us the feel of filming, to the finished product and re-editing on adobe reader, I feel as though it has gone really well. At the start if the unit, my group and I worked really well together, we brainstormed a lot of good ideas that helped a lot to speed up the process of bringing together an idea on paper. We then drew out the storyboard, that planned out our main ideas that we all had, which helped to give us more of an idea of what it would look like on film, as we could see pictures if it instead of just writing. This made me learn, that working in a group can sometimes be a good thing, as I like working independently most of the time, however, I went in a group with two other people, And found that I worked I really well, I feel as though the work was split up more and I was able to do a lesser amount of work to a higher standard, as I had more time to do it. I then learnt that whilst doing the filming, that we worked well again, we managed to split up the filming part of it equally and everyone ended up getting an equal part of the filming and acting which made everyone happy and satisfied with the contribution that they had made. I have also learnt a lot about the sound in this task. At first we began talking about a script and other relevant things to do with the verbal side of the filming, however once we had filmed we found that the sound may not be needed and we looked at different pieces of music that created the atmosphere we wanted. We found a piece of music that was quite fast, we then decided to play around with it and slow it down, this gave a really great sound that was slow and quite mysterious, again giving the feeling that we wanted. I also feel as though each person in my group had a significant role. I was more involved in the way the different storyboards looked, for example the drawing and sketching side of it. I also was involved with the choosing of the costumes as this is something I enjoy. Shaun and Charlotte both had their own separate roles, such as Charlotte was involved in the risk assessment and the part that was more written, and me and Shaun were more involved with the analysis of some of the work that Charlotte had done. Overall, I found that we all worked well together in our group and that we chose our ideas well and were not offended when someone said that maybe one person’s idea did not work too well.
I established the narrative by filming the main, male character walking for quite some time. I filmed him walking across a large field towards a town; I then filmed him walking up a village street towards a house, and up the drive. I then filmed the character walking into the house through a large oak door, making the scene look as though it was meant to be slightly spooky and dangerous. We then see the dark nature of the inside of the house. This gives the audience a slightly nervy feeling as it is dark and there are a lot of creaking floorboards and doors. I also established the narrative in the way that we find out what is inside the house that we view at the beginning. This helps the audience to establish the scene and to have a slight understanding of where the thriller is being shot and what is in the main house in the opening.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My media opening represents the social group of working class viewers of the mainstream audience. This is because I used a certain selection of characters with the age group that was of a teen age and the setting that I used appeals to the audience. I chose Shaun as I felt the way he dressed was suitable to the character, as the character is supposed to be mysterious and quite daunting, I feel as though he brings this across within the way he dresses as he is wearing dark colours that cover most of his face, resulting in a character that looks quite intimidating. I also feel as though he brings this across with the look of his face, as the little we see if it is where he is looking down and is concentrating, as though he is planning something. The experience he has with drama and acting was suitable for the area he was working in within our thriller task, as he is a confident actor and is patient when working. I feel as though his experience was shown in this he worked well when we had to re-shoot certain parts he was fine with it, and when we had to shoot certain shots over and over again he was okay with it. I also feel as though our thriller attracts to the audience I have mentioned as it is has the typical thriller genre of the film starting slowly and then eventually getting into the proper story. It shows the character at the beginning of the shot looking the same age as the target audience; this would then entice the audience to watch more, as they feel a connection with the characters.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
After researching the types of Distribution Company and looking at the different funding each one has, i ended up exploring into EM media; I then found that a small distribution company within them called optimum would be the best one for me. http://www.optimumreleasing.com/about.php. Within this website, i explored their history and found that the films they have distributed have won an Oscar, such as the film spirited away and nowhere in Africa. I also found that they are a company who, much like EM Media, like to work with undescoverd talents to make them into well known actors, boosting their career. I then found that they are low budget. This helps with the situation that i am in as a low budget is what i am working with, therfore showing that they would understand. I found that they are used to working with new directors and film producers and that they would display the film in a way that would still look professional. I am a new film director and producer, who would need this kind of producer. I would choose Optimum as my distribution company as it is a low budget company and this would help with my budget of the overall film. It is also a company of EM media. This would be relevant to my film as I am from the East Midlands and EM media is a Midlands based company. There is also the fact that this distribution company likes to help with not so well known films and directors and this would give
the film a boost as they deal with smaller films a lot and would have a lot of experience. I feel as though the distribution company I have chosen will help my film to reach an audience over time. I feel as though this is because it is a small distribution company and will release my film in small cinemas, once my film is seen time and time again it may then go on to be released into larger, multiplexes. This will give a lot of attention towards my film and will make the distributer, actors and me, the director, well known.Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience that my thriller is aimed at is middle class people. This is because I feel as though I chose the characters to suit this kind of audience. I chose characters that look as though they are of an age above 25, from either the way they are dressed or they way they act. For example, I chose Shaun as he can dress to look older, and as we do not see his face that much, it looks as though he is older than he is. The reason I chose Tasha for the part of the older woman, as she is good at acting slow and frail and has the right body shape for the angle we are looking at her from. They both cooperate well with the situations that I put them in and this saved a lot of time. My film addresses the audience in the way that it is bringing up the opening credits as we see the first character walking, letting the audience see the name of the characters. The mode of address towards the audience is also given in the use of equilibrium. We see a character, who is looking mysterious, we then see a house, a sense of worry is given within the use of a hand held camera, and we then see the character find the room he is looking for and the disequilibrium is restored back to equilibrium, when we see the woman in the room, and the bag is given to her.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my audience in many different ways. As the audience wants to watch a thriller in the first place, I have included a lot of typical thriller conventions. For example, at the beginning of the opening sequence, the audience immediately sees the character walking across the field. He is holding a large black bag. This immediately makes the audience wonder what is inside the bag as they can see that there is something in it; however, they do not know where this man is going or why he is carrying the bag, this makes the audience want to watch on to see what happens. This is one main enigma in my opening that immediately attracts the audience. I was inspired by the thriller, ‘The Blair Witch Project’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfnXbXKi2-sI found this very unusual and decided to use ideas from it, these mostly included the part in our film where we shoot in a hand held style. In the Blair witch project the style is like this a lot, creating a confused atmosphere and is also a bit unsteady, giving the impression of a unsteady atmosphere and a feeling of uncertainty. I decided to use this motif, as I felt as though it went with the mystery of the character with the black bag and also the mystery of where he is going. I also addressed the audience, by including the credits in the film. This connects with the audience, as they feel a sense of ownership, as though they know the names of the actresses and actors and the directors as well, instead of watching a film not knowing the names of the characters.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Throughout this whole process, I have learnt many new things. Firstly, I have learnt how to capture a piece of film, from the tape onto adobe reader. I found this confusing at first, but I eventually was able to do this on my own. I feel as though this is really useful thing to know as it will help me a lot in the future with my media studies. I have also learnt a lot about the way that cameras work. For example, they are very simple to use, and I have learnt a lot about the way I have to work with them to get the right shots and to create unusual shots. I have also learnt about having to set the white balance on the camera, this made a large difference with the way that the lighting was and the way that it affects the color of people’s skin and the surroundings around it. I have also learnt that you by using other equipment, such as large lighting it can make the scene look completely different. There is also the fact that I can use the tripod to put the camera on and this helps a lot with the filming of shots when characters are walking so that you can film the slowly and smoothly, instead if have a juddering camera, that looks hand held when it’s supposed to be still. I also learnt a lot about the lighting that should be used in media filming. I found that the lighting was helped a lot when you alter the light balance, and also when you use the larger lights that create a better effect that just a usual spot light.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Overall, looking back at the whole process, from the start of practicing with mobile phone cameras to give us the feel of filming, to the finished product and re-editing on adobe reader, I feel as though it has gone really well. At the start if the unit, my group and I worked really well together, we brainstormed a lot of good ideas that helped a lot to speed up the process of bringing together an idea on paper. We then drew out the storyboard, that planned out our main ideas that we all had, which helped to give us more of an idea of what it would look like on film, as we could see pictures if it instead of just writing. This made me learn, that working in a group can sometimes be a good thing, as I like working independently most of the time, however, I went in a group with two other people, And found that I worked I really well, I feel as though the work was split up more and I was able to do a lesser amount of work to a higher standard, as I had more time to do it. I then learnt that whilst doing the filming, that we worked well again, we managed to split up the filming part of it equally and everyone ended up getting an equal part of the filming and acting which made everyone happy and satisfied with the contribution that they had made. I have also learnt a lot about the sound in this task. At first we began talking about a script and other relevant things to do with the verbal side of the filming, however once we had filmed we found that the sound may not be needed and we looked at different pieces of music that created the atmosphere we wanted. We found a piece of music that was quite fast, we then decided to play around with it and slow it down, this gave a really great sound that was slow and quite mysterious, again giving the feeling that we wanted. I also feel as though each person in my group had a significant role. I was more involved in the way the different storyboards looked, for example the drawing and sketching side of it. I also was involved with the choosing of the costumes as this is something I enjoy. Shaun and Charlotte both had their own separate roles, such as Charlotte was involved in the risk assessment and the part that was more written, and me and Shaun were more involved with the analysis of some of the work that Charlotte had done. Overall, I found that we all worked well together in our group and that we chose our ideas well and were not offended when someone said that maybe one person’s idea did not work too well.
Friday 16 April 2010
Friday 16th April - Re-editing
In today’s lesson, Shaun, Charlotte and I captured the re-filming we had done, onto the computer. We imported the certain parts that we wanted and used the scene selection to cut them. We then looked back at the original opening that we had done and deleted the previous filming that we wanted to replace with the new parts. We did this and found that they fit in perfect and did not have to do much cutting. We then looked back at the effects we had previously inserted and decided that we wanted to use these again as they went well with the effect that we wanted to create. We then extended the music that we had already used so that it lasted all the way throughout the thriller. I feel as though our thriller is the best that we can get it and have worked hard on it to get to where we are.
Wednesday 14 April 2010
Wednesday 14th April - Re-Shooting
Today, Shaun, Charlotte and I, re-shot the ending to our thriller opening. We re-shot the part where Shaun was walking up the drive, this is because we found that the camera work was not steady enough, and also we felt that we had shot him walking for too long, and it did not look right, so we cut down the walking part, to make it shorter. We then inserted a new part into our thriller; we were inspired by the Blair Witch project, as the shad a lot of hand held camera parts in it. This then gave us the idea that would relate to the ending, that we would film hand held, very violently and search around the house. This would then link to the mystery of ending up in a room after looking at all the others in the house. We wanted the feel of mystery and wonder so that the audience did not know where the character was going, but eventually we find the old woman in the room. We all feel very pleased with the outcome of the re-shooting, and feel that it made the thriller a lot better, even though we did like some of the parts before we re-shot them, we feel that from the feedback we got we had to change them to appeal to the audience that we wanted.
Monday 12 April 2010
Monday 12th April - Evaluation
In this lesson, i started to do my evaluation. Shaun, Charlotte and I looked back after the half term break and found that we do need to re-shoot parts of our opening thriller. After some feedback from our teacher and analysing the end part ourselves, we found that it did not quite go with the rest of the opening and have decided to re-shoot on Wednesday. I started to write out my evaluation, analysing key points of the thriller that we are keeping but I shall analyse the finished product after we have re-shot.
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