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R&P = 16
Production = 34
Evaluation = 15

Total = 65 C

Targets:
Evaluation activity 7 - include screenshots to show explicit progression from preliminary to final opening 2 minutes.
Evaluation activity 6 - can you discuss how the film industry relies on technologies to create productions, and link this with audience expectations of seeing a high quality finished piece?
Make sure you include a script as part of research and planning.

Evaluation 7 - Progression from Preliminary task, to our final product

 

 Here is a picture from our preliminary task where Emma was sat outside waiting for an interview, and James opened the door from a two shot and a side angle.

     This image is from when James had dissappeared as we forgot to show the clip of him closing the door and was an obvious error when looking at the task. This is a problem that we noticed and made sure we didn't do for our final 2 minutes of film.

This is a new shot that we used in our 2 minutes as it is quite an advanced shot and shows variation of shots.

  This is an example of the over shoulder shot and is usually included when wanting to look from their point of view. That is so you can get more involved in the film and there could be text or something that the person is looking at that you wouldn't be able to see from another angle. The shot shows the back of the person's head so you know who it is and what you're able to see.



 This is an example of a long shot and we used it mainly to show the surroundings of the area the victim (Emma) was. Because we set this scene in a graveyard it is meant to link with the horror genre and setting to create a more of a scary atmopshere for the audience.

 In our preliminary task we used an extreme close up, this is mainly to show emotion on the persons face. So on Emma's face we were trying to show that she was nervous for the interview she was about to have an audience would understand this by reading her zoomed in facial expressions.



 This is an example of a low shot and it is normally used to make the person look more powerful or important. It can be used to also show expression and captures all the key expressions on someones face. Both extreme close up and low shot show the victim (Emma) look worried and scared.

 In our preliminary task we used a high angle shot this was to get an angle of the whole room and can fit everything in so the audience is familiar with the setting and surroundings along with the location of the characters in the room.

We used different shots in both Preliminary task and in our Opening 2 minutes.
Preliminary Task:
- Over shoulder shot.
- Two shot
- High shot
- Close up
- Shot reverse shot
- Medium shot

Opening 2 minutes:
- Medium and Long shots
- Over shoulder shot
- Low shot
- Close ups
 This is a shot reverse shot and we used this in our preliminary task and it was very effective. It's because it's as if the audience is seeing it from this persons point of view and communicating and capturing all the emotions and expressions from the other person.
 Jump cuts were used in our final 2 minutes to add effect and we were praised for using it as it was a difficult camera technique to perfect. We used it as a way of the villain (me) catching up with the victim (Emma) and this gave off the impression I was following her.


This was our location of the second part of the film and where we did majority of our filming. This is improved from our preliminary task because we were given a choice whereas we only had the school grounds for our preliminary task and couldn't find a good spot whereas we did find a much better one for our Opening 2 minutes.


This is an example of us using the 180 degree rule and how we used it in our 2 minutes. This was used to not confuse the viewers and how they understand the positioning and camera shots of the film more. This is also more advanced camera shots and shows that we understand the shots.

Overall, we have all used a lot more camera shots, editing, and advanced work compared to our preliminary task.


We learnt that it is a good idea to film each shot at least 3 time to make sure you have a good one, as in the preliminary take we ended up having to film everything all over again. In our 2 minutes we did have to go back and film so things again, because we still made mistakes but we made a lot less mistakes then we would have done. Furthermore on the third day of filming, when we filmed our new ideas we filmed everything once and it all fit together well. This shows we were progressing even during our 2 minutes task. This also we have a better understanding of shots types now. As we didn’t need to film each clip from lots of different angles to make sure we had one that worked.

We progressed by learning from our mistakes. In the preliminary task, somehow we managed to look over one of our characters disappearing into thin air. So in our 2 minutes we were very careful to make sure no one suddenly disappeared, unless it was for effect. We learned that you can't just focus on little details when editing and forget the main bits of the scene. In our preliminary task the shot changes were a lot bumpier and the camera clicks could be heard. So in our 2 minutes we made sure we edited out the camera clicks.

Our shots are a lot steadier in our 2 minutes as we used a tripod, unlike in our preliminary task where we had to just try and keep a steady hand.
During the preliminary task we learnt about different shot types and how they work best (for example the 180degree rule, match on action, shot reverse shot). This was good because it meant that we were able to put shots like these into our story board in the best places because we knew were they would work most effectively. In our 2 minutes we tried to use as many different shot types as we could without affecting the continuity of our clip. This was especially important as we were making a horror.
From the preliminary task to the editing of our 2 minutes we learnt a lot more about different types of software and how to use them. This was good because it meant that when were able to edit more effectively for our main product. The main focus of editing our main product was to make the shots as effective in building up tension as possible. Hence the jump cuts and slow-motion shots.

In our 2 minutes our camerawork and editing was a lot more advanced and so therefore effective. We also used special effects, which we didn’t in our first 2 minutes. I think it is clear when you see the different products next to each other that we have progressed a lot.
However there are some ways in which we haven’t progressed from the preliminary to our final product. In both our story boards weren’t very accurate and we had to tinker with them while filming. For the 2 minutes our storyboard estimated all the shots to be a lot longer than they actually are. So we had to add in a whole extra scene what wasn’t storyboarded. In our preliminary task we had a similar problem as we found some of our ideas weren’t very good and we had to change some of them on the spot. Hopefully next year, (third time lucky) we will learn from this mistake.
Another thing was, again more timing issues, we always ended up having to rush bits of our pieces and we assume we have longer than we do. This is really bad because it means that we could lose marks because we didn’t have enough time consider different options. However this was more of a problem during the preliminary task, then our 2 minutes, as I feel we could have been more organised for the 2 minutes task, but I don’t think it would have meant us picking up more marks.

If we were to do this again, I would make sure that our story board was as accurate and detailed as it could possibly be. This way there would have been less room for error and we wouldn’t have wasted as much filming time as we did. This would have also make us a lot more organised as the prospect of filming would have been a lot less daunting if we had it planned out to the last second. Furthermore we would not had have to create a whole new scene as we would have made sure I idea would have been 2 minutes long.

Evaluation 6 - Constructing our product

What we used to make our media piece:

 

Camera: We set an effect on this Camera to give it a blurry effect and set the scene to make it appear more scary so the audience don't get revealed too much information. This links to the genre of the film to give off the feeling that the victim can't see very well, to engage the audience in the film. This was obviously our most used object throughout the film making and preperation.




Tripod: We used the tripod in the scenes which we needed a steady hand and this reduced a lot of error in our film making. We didn't use the tripod in some scenes e.g. the one where i'm walking from behind the tree, this gave off the effect that it was from my point of view. We will be definitely using this item next year as it helped us greatly to keep the camera shot still and very good shots from various heights and angles.



Iphone voice recorder app: This was an app on Emma's phone, and it seemed to be very good and extremely useful when we had to put Emma's speech in and also a few other scenes like the one at the end of the 2 minutes when Emma screams. This was used purely for Dialogue and it had a very clear tone too.

 

Piano: We used the piano in some scenes of tension and purely where the killer was in the camera view, this was to give the impression off to the audience that when they hear that specific noise then the killer was around.



Laptop: We used this mainly to pull all the pieces together, this included putting all the sound, editing, scenes, camera shots and other information into one. It took rougly 5 hours to edit our piece and we edited it from home until we were eventually happy with it.



Windows Movie Maker: This was to edit our piece because it is specifically designed to make films, so it really came in handy when putting all our scenes together and manufacturing the whole 2 minutes of the film. All we had to do was upload the scenes onto the computer and movie maker pretty much did everything else, all we needed to do was vary the duration of the scene, and where it went.



Photoshop: We used this to mainly edit and create our title image. We didn't know too much about this but we toggled with it for a while over our title as we weren't exactly sure on what we wanted the title style to be.

From using all of these types of equipment and software, I have learnt many things. Which ones are useful and which ones are a bit of a waste of time. And definitely which ones i'm going to be using next year as this would be great to use for the trailer in my A2. The main software i'm planning on using are movie maker to put it all together, tripod, possibly a different camera as the picture quality wasn't too great and also photoshop to add more spectacular effects to our final piece.


We used YouTube in our filming to upload recent updates on our film and this is where we put all of our film together. This was uploaded onto Bryony's account and we put all of our progress and ideas on there.


A good film needs to use technology in order to make it successful, technology needs to be used frequently to add advanced aspects to the film. There are certain areas you'll need to cover and things  you'll need to consider when making a film to the best of you're ability. Technology plays a big role in marketing the product, viral distribution and production of the film and is key to making the film get publicity and becoming successful.

Evaluation 5 - How the audience was addressed

This is a pre-title analysis so the production title is featured on our first 2 minutes do not appear.

Evaluation 4 - Who would be the audience of your media product?

The audience profiling we've done before enhances who we're trying to target as they are all horrors and share the same ages varying from the ages of 18-25. This audience would most probably relate to majoirty of the other horror films audience profiling as they all similarize with each other. I think the most popular age would be around the late teenage age as these groups of people usually watch horrors for the thrill. Although most of the viewers would probably be from the ages 18-25, there was also be a decent amount from the 25-35 category too as older people mind find it interesting because there is more of a storyline behind the film.
Audience profiling of other films was a great help to discover what our target audience would be and what age group would be most interested in watching our films. It also gives us a chance to compare our films to others and this could publisize the film a lot more, say if they were to watch 'The Ring' and enjoyed it, they would probably like our film too as there are distinctive similarities between the two.
I'd say our film is also very psychological and a horror, so this adds to who would want to watch this film as this might intrigue them more and make them want to watch it. An example of psychological horrors would be the Saw films.

This is a typical image of what our target audience would be, they are within the target audience age range and they look to be out at a party or a club. The teens appear to be slightly appearance motivated which shows they are likely to want to watch films such as ours to boast to their friends about the achievement of enduring it. The people in the picture also look like the type who would watch films like ours in groups, as social events, which is another area that our film excels as it aims to get reactions out of groups of people. Some of the feedback we received said that they thought the music was very successful in building up tension. When we compare the feedback we received from the first 2 minutes we created to what we received when we showed people our final 2 minutes, showed clearly that we made a good judgement to film more and take out the credits. Feedback from the draft 2 minutes suggested that some of the suspense was lost as little of the plot was established in this clip. They also said that it would be better if we added some sound to increase the sense of foreboding. Feedback from the our finalised product was a lot better as the audience understood the plot more and were intrigued about what happened to the girl and why. People thought the music was very creepy and so had the desired effect.

Evaluation 3 - Media Instuition

This is a pre-title analysis so the production title is featured on our first 2 minutes do not appear.

Evaluation 2 - How social groups are represented

Most target audiences for most horrors are 18-25, this means the audience will be related more to people their age and engage more with the usage of these aged characters. So, if the victim is about 20 years old, then the audience will be more likely to relate their lives to this situation as it automatically places them in their situation.

 

Often teenage characters are displayed as annoying and self centred so audiences are often driven to want them to die. This means audience engage with the characters but still feel themselves to be separate even superior to them.
However other times in these films teens are displayed as vulnerable and weak, causing the audiences to pity them and fear for their lives. Therefore when the characters die the audiences are shocked and so the scene appears scarier.

Our character (Emma) is similar to one of the characters in scream 4 in the way that she is lead astray by friends which causes her to get caught up in what she tries to stay out of. Which incidently causes her death, they are both characters whos deaths shock the audience.