Blog: Closed.

This is my final blog post for my AS project and I am glad to say that I have had a lot of fun doing this task even with the time contraints and stressful decisions we have had to make. I have learnt a lot from this and I am proud of what I have achieved.

Bye,


Megi x

AS Evaluation

This is my AS Evaluation, I created it as a prezi as it allowed me to develop my skils on the programme and create a more imaginative evaluation.

Copy of AS Media Evaluation on Prezi

Wordle!

wow, wordle is a really cool tool I have just found about which I will include in my final evaluation to ensure it looks as attractive as possible. Also, it is a good introduction into the evaluation as I have used words and areas I will explore in the presentation.



Evaluation Prep: Progression

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

Areas I have progressed in include:

Camera Rules:

match on action



shot/ reverse shot

Colour Adjustment



black and white sequence

Evaluation Prep: Technologies

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

To answer this question, I have decided to make a collage of the different technologies I have used throughout the project and then talk about them individually. Below, is what I will input within the presentation and discuss further:

Technologies Used

Evaluation Prep: Attracting/ Addressing Audience

How did you attract/address your audience?

There are different aspects that I will cover within this question and the main ways in which I attracted/ addressed the audience were through:

• relation to character
• horror conventions
• similarities to existing movies
• youtube/ social networks

Evaluation Prep: Audience

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Refer back to target market research, post no.31 - no. 33

Evaluation Prep: Product Distribution

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

Fox Searchlight

Warner Brothers

Evaluation Prep: Representation

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I have decided to compare our character to "Kim" who is the main character within the thriller film Taken as they hold many similarities. These are the images I will use:

Lucy

Kim

Similarities:

• age (both 18yrs)
• ethnicity (white caucasian)
• appearance (long brown hair, brown eyes)
• both kidnapped
• both in education
• navie, vulnerable

Differences:

• locations of where characters are kidnapped
• background knowledge we are given differs

Evaluation Prep: Conventions of Real Products

Now that I have decided to conduct a prezi for my evaluation, I will need to collect different sources in order to fully answer the questions. I will therefore collect all of the resources I need and putting them on here before building my presentation.

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

In order to answer this question, I have created two nine frame analysis, the first is of the horror film SAW and the second is a nine frame analysis of my own film. This is because I have taken what I have learnt from real products and incorporated them within my own film.

Nine frame analysis: SAW

Nine frame analysis: Own film

Starting Evaluation

Now that we have finished the final product, it is time for me to start the last task of the project which is the evaluation of my work. I have decided that I will use prezi for this as it will allow me to answer all seven questions individually whilst still making links across the questions.

The next few posts, are all of the different information I am gathering to input in my evaluation as I will need to take information from a variety of sources therefore I will need to gather all of the materials I need before putting the presentation together.

Final Film

This is our final film peice, edited and soundtracked. Im very happy with the end product, hope you like it :).

A-Level Group 1 Opening Title Sequence from Sidney Stringer on Vimeo.

Finished Editing

YAYYYYY.


We have finally finished editing the film, after almost a week of working on the project and making small changes as we go along to shape our sequence the way we wanted it to work. Overall, I am very happy with the final product and hope everyone else is to as we have worked hard to achieve it.

Potential Font Types

There are also a number of different font types used within opening sequences, below are a variety of font types within sequence I have researched.

Se7en:
The fonts used within this sequence are quite small and almost scribbles creating the feel that someone has written them quickly and in a panic. These are very suited to the film genre, as it also suggest they are writings on the wall, suggesting something isnt quite right here and supporting the rest of the opening sequence.




Panic Room:
The font used here is a lot bigger than the one I saw previously and they have made it big and bold enough to fit into the setting. There are many credits which have been placed on the side or on top of buildings shown which is quite a good feature as it almost makes them apart of the setting.




Saw (Compilation):
The fonts used here all are similar as the SAW sequels are all interlinked therefore the fonts had to also do this. They are all in white, bold writing to draw focus to them.

Final Piece of Music

We have finally decided on a piece of music that we think is suitable for our opening sequence. This is:



The reasons we have chosen this is mainly because it has a very eerie feel to it which is good as we want to hint to the audience bad events will occur yet we dont want to give too much away. Also, this music builds up tension very slowly which is something the other soundtracks didnt do. This therefore shows it is suited for our film as it allows us to slowly build up part of the plot.


Music = Check!

Potential Music

Now that we have finished placing all of the different clips into place, we need to search for a suitable soundtrack that we can place within our opening sequence. Below are some of the ones that I think may work well, after listening to many I have cut it down to three of my favourites which are all potentials:



Number One:
The music below is not from a specific film as such but more of a compliation of different music which is common in horrors. I do like the music here, however I do think it may be more suitable for the climax of the film instead of the opening as it is music I am used to hearing when the film is at its peak and the main activity is being committed. This is therefore unsuitable for our sequence, as we are only in the opening titles and revelation is not something this sequence will feature as that is not its purpose.



Number Two:
As I have mentioned previously, I am a big fan of the SAW films and I also like the soundtrack all of the sequels have included within them. I like the music shown below, as it is different to the previous one because it is building up towards a climax which is suitable for the opening as we are trying to set the scene for what will happen. I do however think it is a little unsuited as as it builds up very quickly, indicating to the audience something will happen at that particular moment. This is not the case for our film, as we want a slow build up, therefore the music is not very suited for what we want to create.




Number Three:
The music below is also a complied list of tracks which star in horror films, however it includes a lot of screaming. This makes this music unsuitable for our opening as there is no screaming in the sequence as the girl is covered in gaffa tape. This therefore shows that it wouldnt be suited to add in this music as it would defy the point of the gaffa tape and the characters vunerability where she is unable to talk/ scream.

Editing Continued

Today we decided that we would spend another whole day editing as this is a time consuming process and we need to ensure that it is all completed by the deadline date. We achieved quite a lot today, these include:

• Adding the flashbacks into the extract
• Using special effects to create flashbacks- this mainly involved using a black and white wash over them to create the change in time
• Cutting through and making space for where the titles will go 

We have now finished editing all of the footage we filmed and are ready to add in titles and the music to the extract. Therefore the next few days will consist of finding suitable font and music to go with our filmed footage.

Editing Our Film

Today we did some of the editing for our film, which mainly consisted of cutting down the large parts of footage within the basement. Here, we cut long footage into smaller bits using the razor and drag tools. This is because we need to make space for the credits to go in, therefore we have to include these half way through footage.

It was quite challenging as we had to ensure our cuts followed a pattern of continuity which meant making changes and playing it over and over until we got it right. This was quite time consuming, yet so far we are happy with what we got done.

Editing Schedule

Now that we have finished all of the filming and gone through the selection of footage we need, it is time for us to make an editing schedule for the next couple of days so we can start to edit the film as we do not have a long time left to finish the project. Below is the origional email that we sent out to each group member today with all of the details for the editing schedule.

Editing Schedule:

Origional Email

Footage Breakdown

So now that we have finished filming all of the footage we need for the different parts of the film, we decided to go through what we filmed and eliminate footage which wasnt needed and keep the ones we needed ready for editing.

There was quite a lot to get through as we filmed many takes of each sequence to ensure we had enough to work with in the editing process, yet we managed to cut it down to around 20clips in total.

Shoot Day!

Today we filmed all of the different sequences needed within our film, which was quite a lot of pressure as we did not have as much time as we anticipated. This is mainly due to the structre of the school day, as we had to film when everyone was in lessons because we did not want extras or background noise to disrupt our scenes. However once we had set up, we all worked together and filmed some good peices of footage and we all took it in turns to film, set up the mise-en-scene and even to put make-up on me. This had to be done several times as we were using red paint to represent blood therefore we had to keep re-applying it as it kept drying up! Something we didnt expect to be an issue, but we overcame it and tried to make it look as realisitc as possible.

Here are some images of us setting up, filming, applying make-up etc:

Sonya & Sarah Setting up

Me Setting Up

Test Run/ Raw Footage

Test Run

Toilet Scene- Zarah Filming

Toilet Scene- Sarah Filming

Run Through- Me Trying to Act!

Applying Make-Up to my arms

Sir helping to tie me up

In Action

Quick Pose

Finished Character- Ready to film

Setting up the dolly

Arc Shot

Me again in action



Sonya & Sarah filming mid shots



Zarah filming pan down

Quick Pose whilst putting down the set we created

Overall, it was a very productive day and we filmed all that we needed to in the short space of time we had. It was quite challening from my perspective as I hadnt done any acting before therefore I did the best I could from watching films doing similar sequences, however I think I managed ok.

Pre-Shoot Nerves!

Filming Schedule

Now that we have conducted all of the pre-production work we need and finalised the details of the sequence, we decided it is time for us to film. Today, we all sat together at lunchtime and wrote out a Filming Schedule Sheet finalising all details which we sent to all group members. Below is the origional email sent to each group member:

Filming Schedule



Origional Email



Props List

We will also need props for our sequence as these are important in setting the mise-en-scene and as we have seen previously they are an important convention of horror films. Below are the props we will need:


Props Required:



Rope

Wooden Chair



Gaffa Tape



Lamp




Large Wooden basket


We hope we remember to bring all these along on the day of shooting!

Make- Up Planning

I have also conducted research into the way that horror films use make-up to represent their characters even further. The images below are some which have given us inspiration for our own horror film:

Make-up Inspiration:



gothic make up



make up from SAW

smudged eyes

Own Make-up:

Gothic Style

Bruised Face and Blood

In the end we decided that we would use fake blood (red paint) and minimal eye make-up but make up to show bruises around the face. This is because, the gothic look would be unsuitable as the victim is suppsoed to look scared and heavy make-up may distract the audience away from this and represent her to be confident which we dont want as we want to explore her vulnerability. Furthermore, it would look discontinuous as she is a school girl therefore heavy make-up like the ones above are not prohibited.

Costume Planning

Before we can start to film any of the sequence, we also need to consider the asthetics of the character mainly involving their costume choice. Therefore in order for us to ensure we got this right, today we conducted a costume rehearsal. The images below show the different costumes I (Lucy) will be wearing throughout different parts of the film:

Toilet Scene:



Costume: Black trousers, white shirt and putting on tie



Walking to School Scene:



full uniform apart from the skirt I am wearing (forgot to bring in black trousers for costume rehearsal)





Full Uniform: Black Trousers, blazer, shirt, tie, black shoes



Basement Scenes:

Part-Uniform: scruffy shirt, no tie and ripped trousers

Final Target Market

By conducting primary research and further secondary research, I have identified that our final target market are:

• Girls and boys
• Age Range: 16- 24yrs
• Music Type: RNB, Dance
• Films Watched: Saw, The Amytiville Horror
• Like: Scary, Horror themed films

Primary Research
This information was mainly gathered through my primary research as my questionnaire showed that it was a fair split of nearly 50% for each gender. Furthermore, out of the 20 people asked 47% preferred horror films to any other therefore informing my genre aspect.

Secondary Research
My secondary researched further informed the development of my target market as national statistics showed that:

"young people are the most likley to go the cinema to watch movies"

"people of ages 16 - 24yrs preferred horrors and rom coms more than any other genre of film"

This therefore supported what my primary research showed and ensured that I had picked the right target market for our proposed film.

Primary Research Results

the results from the primary research have shown that:

StoryBoarding Film

Target Audience Questionnaire

In order to establish who our target market is, I have decided to conduct some primart research as this is important when deciding on who we will aim the film at. I have therefore produced the questionnaire shown below:

Locations

We are planning on filming the sequence inside and outside of our school as due to timing issues this is the most practical as we have ease of access to equipment for quick filming and also we dont have to plan full days to travel further locations. These are some images of where we want to film each part:

Me trying out the location



Outside School