Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?


Well our preliminary task at first we found very difficult as we had never used a camera, tripod or the software that was required to make our preliminary such as final cut pro before But we have learnt so much from shot types, to shot angles, duration of shot, editing and that acting all improved. Also the music that we added into our final piece because we created a soundtrack on garage band on our final piece and this was progress from our preliminary. We felt it was better as a group to make our own soundtrack to make it unique and our own product. Also the change of genre to psychological thriller, changing the lighting, and the mise en scene props and setting etc. The use of primary and secondary research of successful movies helped us to look into techniques props and costume in more detail and this made our final piece better because in our preliminary we were all dressed in uniform and it didn't really look professional.In our preliminary task before making the final product. During the planning stage we did a lot of research of different genres of films and looked into those genres. We found out what is included in these genres and what type of storylines is usually produced. We also handed out questionnaires in Windsor Town Centre on a friday and saturday. Doing the questionnaires  gave us have a clear understanding of the audience we were aiming to target and what kind of films they were interested in.  We spent a lot of time and effort on making our film to the best of our ability. I feel that our final product is a success, as we stuck to our planning, worked well as a group, did a lot of research.

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

We had to make casting decisions to relate to the story line and setting that we chose for our opening. We chose a specific genre. Having our main character as an 18 year old boy fitted into our genre perfectly. We attracted our audience by the choice of characters and the narrative that we created. Using younger characters and a ominous situation that may involve younger people attracted this audience. We wanted to use interesting camerawork in our sequence to entertain the audience and keep them interested such as a high angle low angle and pov shots, when the antagonist hears a knock on the door and walks outside. We also used close-ups in scenes of the girl in the forest to show urgency and emotion. We used generic conventions of a pyschological thriller in our sequence such as short shot duration to create suspense and tension. I feel the ending to our opening scene is well filmed the use of the phone light  to see what has happened creates more tension to the final climax of the masked protagonist who approaches the antagonist. 

Evaluation Question 6

Reece -
Final Cut Pro - I have learnt how to transfer clips from the camera to the program. I have learnt how to mark in and mark out and cut clips, add in soundtracks, sounds etc. I have basically learnt the basics for this program.

Calvin -
Blog - I learnt how to write relevant blogposts, that related to our media topics. I learnt how to change the layout of our blog and how to add tags and labels. I also learnt how to add pictures and videos on specific posts.

Peter -
YouTube - We had watched clips off YouTube of other Media A Level opening scenes. They had helped us by showing us what is right or wrong. It's shown us what is right or wrong. It's shown us what music to use and what sounds sound better.

Henry -
Camera & Garageband - I learnt how to work a camera, i learnt how to shoot from different angles which look good. I learnt how to make a soundtrack in time with the videos and how to pick sounds which will fit the horror genre.

Evaluation Question 4

1. Who Would Be The Audience For The Media Product?

Our media film, is aimed specifically at an age range ranging from 15 to 35. This is purely because we have a teenage theme, a teenage main character, teenage location. Our film is also relevant to the film ‘Scream’, this is a teenage film.

Scream ratings:

age: 15-24 (57%)

        25-34 (31%)

Gender: Male (52%)

              Female (48%)

We’ve based our film on ‘Scream’ statistics, so we’ve based our age ratings on the film. We’ve also aimed our film at a dominantly male audience as males tend to watch this genre of film more often than women do. 

We’ve also based our film on a wide variety of class. Our film can be watched by all classes, this is because our location is in a middle class home, and we have a middle class main character which most people can relate to. 

Question 3 Evaluation

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

     Our age range of the film would be for 15+. The main character in our film is the boy coming back from a night out so people who have life’s like that can relate to that in our film. Targeted at a small but defined age range. 

Cinemas and dvd advertising would be the best way to distribute our film as more younger adults visit the cinema than other adults. For example, lots of younger adults visit on wednesdays as it is orange wednesdays. Advertising for younger adults would be adverts on E4, Flim4, Channel and Dave. Younger adults mostly watch these channels. Also billboards and posters on buses. 

Studio Canal would produce our film because its an independent company. There will be no opportunities for synergy and they will have to therefore target their audience in a specific way to get the best result. Small niche art centers would show this film as its a small film and not as big as others. 

Question 1 Evaluation

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

Our opening incorporates specific generic conventions of a thriller used in real media products such as films like Scream & Taken. We used specific camerawork techniques and a range of different camera shots  to create suspense and leaving the audience wanting to watch more. For example, zooming into close ups showing the emotion on the characters face, over the shoulder shots, but most importantly we added a POV shot which made one particular part in the opening seem real as it was shot from the main characters perspective as he went outside. We also used editing such as short shot durations,  this adds tension to the scene. The non diegetic sound of mysterious music also added suspense and tension to our opening and really worked well with the setting and the action within our opening. Finally the mise en scene the use of the knife, and the mask helps to not reveal the protaganists identity and leaves the audience confused. The conventions we used, do indicate that our film is a psychological thriller, the lighting and concept of the whole film indicates that it is a psychological thriller as it plays with the audiences mind. The editing we did, shows that we used many different angles to film one shot, which shows that it is tense as it is fast shot durations. We looked at 'Women In Black' a lot

Question 2. Evaluation

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our opening film the young boy is represented as the social group. He is walking home from a night out with his mates and is confused. The male character walks to his door but it is already open and he doesn't know why. This is represented in a stereotypical way as he is a male teenager that has left his door open as he is not thinking ahead. This is what people think teenagers are likely to do as people think they are irresponsible. The stalker challenges the male character as he knocks on his door to confuse him and to find a way to get in. He's just come back from a night out so must be intoxicated with something. They would usually get in without knocking on the door but as hes intoxicated the stalker is kind of playing a game with the male character. This shows the audience that the teenager is not thinking ahead and what the consequences could be. Our opening sequence links to our target audience as the character is a teenager as this would be a usual situation in todays environment as most people forget to lock doors, leaving the viewers wanting to watch more to see what happens. By asking teenagers around our environment we found out that they do usually forget to do things as some don't have the responsiblity as others do.

Message from The Pink Team

We have now finished the filming and editing process for our opening scene, we hope you all enjoy.

Calvin Morgan
Henry Kidman
Peter Eyre
Reece Smith

Our Final Piece 'Ominousity'

Here is our final piece 'Ominousity' after a very long and tiring few months we have ended up with a final piece which we are all proud of. Although it was hard, it was a very enjoyable experience and we look forward to receiving our results.

Introduction

We are group number 7 currently studying Media Studies at The Windsor Boys School our video project is a thriller opening sequence. We have named ourself 'The Pink Team' because in a Media lesson myself, Peter, Henry & Reece were all put into a group called the 'Pink Team' and we carried on the group name from there really. We are all throughly looking forward to our project we know it will be very challenging but we are willing to face it.

Casting

 Filmed By - Henry Kidman

 Antagonist - Peter Eyre

  Edited By - Reece Smith 

 Protagonist - Calvin Morgan



                                            

We filmed, edited and done blog work throughout the month of march and april. We started filming on march 12th through to the 14th and edited for the next couple of days, we then had to re-shoot our film as it wasn't up to standards. So the next 2 weeks in the easter holidays we had to film over again until the 17th of april. we then edited until the 19th, we then had to re-shoot a couple of shots on the 19th. we then finished off editing on the 20th.
We've all been doing blog work since the start of the project until the deadline on the 20th.

Story Boards

These are the camera shots of our opening scene of our movie. The story boards. We all equally did it together and wrote next to each shot what is happening. The names of each shot are named in the middle column.

How feedback for original idea helped us

How feedback for original cut helped us in the production of our opening sequence: Before we started editing our opening sequence we made a rough cut. This was to help get feedback and to see what we needed to change to make the opening better opening sequence. This was very important as the feedback for our original opening sequence wasnt very good so we had to change the whole idea around. Our Media teacher Miss Oddy said "it simply isn't good enough boys you will not get the grade your are capable of unless you change a few things"  Although it was hard to take as a group we took the constructive criticism on the chin and began to change our whole idea. We didn't have alot of time so we had to work efficiently in order to get things done. At the time it seemed very long and stressful but now we've come through that difficult period I feel our opening sequence has now improved tremendously. This is why feedback is essential as if we didn't receieve it we would not of improved our film as a team.

Snippet of our final piece

This is a snippet of our final piece to show how it is coming along.

First Draft of Final Piece

This was our first draft of our final piece before we decided to change the idea and the way it was filmed. We thought it would be best to upload this onto the blog to show you what changes were made in the opening scene.

The Script

We didn't use any script in our opening scene as we didn't feel conversation was appropriate. Our opening scene was made simply to build tension and suspense. As a group we felt keeping it short and sweet without any prolonging script/conversation scenes would make our opening more efficient and better viewing for the audience.

Costume, props and locations.

These are some of the locations we used around the house to film our final film opening. We used most of the house to film, and got some of the best angles from these places. 

The truck provided a reflection which was perfect for one of the shots so we filmed the window of the truck which captured the movement of the characters in the reflection.

the bottom picture is the props we used for the main character, he wore the white mask to cover up his face to give a sense of secrecy, the knife was used for the murder weapon and the gloves were used to cover up his hands so every part of the killers body was covered. The final picture is of the rizzla, tobacco, the lighter and the extra slim swan filters that was used for Peter's cigarette roll. This was part of the props.

Costume: Dark tracksuit and hoody/jacket with a white mask. This dark clothing was used to make the antagonist look like a more suspicious character. It was also used to highlight the mask a bit more, this gives the character a scarier presence.

Props: In our filming we didn't use many props, the props we used were the knife, and the cigarettes. We felt if we kept it simple this would draw more attention to the knife, which would in turn help build up additional suspense.

Location: There are pictures above that shows the locations that we used in our opening sequence. We did all of our filming in Henry's house and just outside Henry's house.

Camera Shots For Our Opening

CAMERA SHOTS -A camera shot is the amount of space that is seen in one shot or frame; this demonstrates different aspects of a films setting, characters and themes.

We will have to consider different camera shots when filming our opening.

EXTREME LONG SHOT - Is often used at the beginning of a scene or a film to establish general location.
LONG SHOT - Shows the viewers the building where the action will take place.
FULL SHOT - Allows viewers to see what characters are wearing and to help demonstrate the relationship between characters.
MID SHOT- Allows viewers t see the characters' faces more clearly as well as their interaction with other characters.
CLOSE UP - Shows characters expressions and enables viewers to understand the actor's emotions.
EXTREME CLOSE UP - This creates an intense mood and provides interaction between the audience and the viewer.

CAMERA MOVEMENT

We will need to consider different cuts between scenes, going from one shot to another one or to move the camera with an action when filming our film opening this will allow us to add different affects and to make our opening look professional.

Here are the four different camera movements we will potentially use in our opening.

PANS - This is a movement that allows the camera to move horizontally, these movements would be used to film a moving object.
TILTS - This is a movement that moves vertically.
TRACKING SHOTS - This is when a camera is placed on a tripod and moves alongside the action, generally following a moving figure or object.
HAND HELD SHOTS - This movement can make the audience feel as though they are part of a scene, rather than viewing it from a detached, frozen position.

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule

Scene     Time       Location       People    Equipment   Props      Notes

1                 8pm           Outside House          Peter Eyre        Camera            N/A       Peter walks up to the house from outside dark.

2                 8.03pm     Outside front door   Peter Eyre         Camera          N/A   Peter approaches the door but it is mysteriously open.

3                  8.05pm   Inside H House            Peter Eyre       Camera           N/A     Peter pushes open door, looks around and continues walking through hallway.

4               8.08pm       House Hallway          Peter Eyre          Camera       N/A       As he approaches a doorway he hears a knock on the door he turns around.

5               8.12pm        House Hallway         Peter Eyre        Camera          N/A        Then continues walking back towards the front door.

6                8.13pm      House Hallway          Peter Eyre        Camera          N/A       Match on action as Peter opens the front door then into a POV shot as he walks out of the door.

7               8.15pm     Outside front of house Peter Eyre    Camera           N/A   Walks out onto road but and looks around but cannot see anyone.

8              8.17pm     Outside House          Antagonist (Calvin) Camera   N/A    You see a black glove close the front door as Peter is outside to indicate someone has gone into house.

9           8.20pm      Outside House               Peter Eyre             Camera    N/A   Walks back towards the front door with a scared look on his face.

10     8.21pm      Inside House Hallway       Peter Eyre            Camera    N/A    Walks back down the hallway towards stairs where his bedroom is.

11     8.24pm       Living Room               Antagonist (Calvin)   Camera   N/A   As Peter walks past the living room door there is shot of a gloved hand holding a knife in front of the camera this is to indicate that Peter is in danger.

12    8.26pm      Inside the house          Peter Eyre                 Camera   Rizzla, Tobacco, Lighter    Peter walks down the stairs and into the bedroom where he turns on the lights and grabs his cigarettes.

13   8.30pm      Inside the bedroom       Peter Eyre              Camera      Rizzla, Tobacco, Lighter   Peter begins to roll a cigarette; it is shot in stages for affect.

14  8.32pm      Inside by the stairs         Calvin Morgan         Camera & Knife      Antagonist walks down the stairs and switches the lights off.

15 8.35pm      Bedroom                         Peter Eyre                 Cigarette                 Peter is about to light cigarette when he sees the lights turn off and pulls out his phone and uses his phone light.

16 8.38pm    Outside Bedroom         Peter Eyre/Calvin Morgan Phone & Knife As Peter walks out the bedroom to see what is happening to the lights he is holding up his phone, he is then approached by the antagonist Calvin who is wearing a mask and pulls out a knife on him.

END.

Actors, Props, Scene Locations.

In this section of development, I will be looking at the Actors, Props and Scene locations the will be used for our final movie.

ACTORS

- Peter Eyre- Main protagonist

- Calvin Morgan - Main antagonist

PROP's

- Knife - Used by Calvin.
- Mask - Worn by Calvin
- Cigarettes - Used by Peter.

- CLOTHING;

- Calvin - Will be a black hoodie, and black gloves and a mask, his identity will not be revealed.
- Peter -  Black T Shirt, Black Trousers

LOCATIONS

- Henry's House

Inside - Hallway, Henrys stairs and bedroom.
Outside - Porch, driveway, pavement outside his house.

Our Group

Name of production: Pink Team Productions

Team Members: Calvin Morgan
                          Henry Kidman
                          Peter Eyre
                          Reece Smith

Target Audience Analysis (Pearl and Dean)

Target Audience

Our target audience would be for viewers at the ages of 15-35. We have picked this age because our film represents this age group as the main character is coming back from a night out as this is for the 15-35 age range group. One of our group members when to windsor town centre on a friday and a saturday night to ask the public their ages to see what age ranges go out. We made a tally chart and the lowest age was 15 and the oldest was 35 so we decided this age group would relate to our film the most. Also we have picked this age range for the target audience because there are parts of our film that will be too scary for youngers to watch.    

When we were also deciding our target audience, i looked at a relevant film called 'Scream 3', this film had a relevant story line and relates to our film a lot. i looked online on IMDB to look at the ratings and statistics of the film. The Film had a gender rating of 52% male and 48% female, it also had a 15-35 year target audience. So we looked at these statistics and thought they were relevant to our short film opening, so we used basically the same statistics for our film. 

Woman in Black:

Released:	10th February 2012
Genre:	Horror, Drama, Thriller
Price:	B-
Estimated box office:	£5,000,000
Director:	James Watkins
Film cast:	Daniel Radcliffe, Gabriel Liotta, Ciaran Hinds, Janet McTeer
Certificate:	12A
Distributor:	Momentum Pictures
The Story:	A young lawyer travels to a remote village to organize a recently deceased client's papers,  where he discovers the ghost of a scorned woman set on vengeance. Se7en: Released: 13th August 2004 Genre: Action, Thriller Price: B Estimated box office: £10,000,000 Director: Paul Greengrass Film cast: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Julia Stiles, Brian Cox Certificate: 12A Distributor: UIP The Story: In this follow up to 2002's hit thriller "THE BOURNE IDENTITY," Matt Damon returns as the amnesiac super-assassin known as Jason Bourne. When a sabotaged CIA operation in Berlin ends with two men dead and Bourne framed as the killer, the "real" Bourne must emerge from hiding to find the actual culprit. Other returnees from the original film include Franka ("THE PRINCESS AND THE WARRIOR") Potente, Brian ("TROY") Cox, Julia ("MONA LISA SMILE") Stiles, and Gabriel ("BUFFALO SOLDIERS") Mann, with Joan ("THE NOTEBOOK") Allen and Karl ("LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING") Urban joining the cast for this installment. Paul Greengrass, helmer of 2002's critically acclaimed "BLOODY SUNDAY", takes over directing chores from the first film's Doug Liman. Drive: Released: 23rd September 2011 Genre: Action, Drama Price: D Estimated box office: £2,000,000 Director: Nicolas Winding Refn Film cast: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks Certificate: 18 Distributor: Icon Films The Story: A nameless Hollywood stuntman moonlights as a freelance getaway driver during robberies but when a bank heist goes wrong, he ends up on the run with a contract on his head and an ex-con’s girlfriend in his car. Age group: 15+ Gender ratio:  Equal to both Male and Female Hobbies/interests:  Sports, Shopping, Listening to music, Reading, Gaming, Watching films           Area they live: Cities, Towns,         Estates, Flats     Occupation: Shops, Restaurants,          Hotels, Shoe Shop                                                                                                    Social Status: Any type of Social   Status   Economic Status: Any type of    Social Status