- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
We attempted using forms and conventions from horror/thriller films by the use of camera angles that we used that are often used in this genre of film. For instance close ups and over the shoulder shots so the audience could get the prospective from the stalkers point of view. A way in which we challenged the conventions was by having the main character who's story we are following (Karly) and the character of Sam being murdered whereas it is common to have the main character or the protagonist defeat the antagonist character or at least be the sole survivor of the action. We tried to use a realistic setting and location as possible to show that this is a possible situation which many films of today use as well. Another way in which we challenged the conventions was by filming it in daylight whereas most horror films are filmed in the dark to create more shadows.
- How does your media product represent particular social groups?
With our two minute opening we were aiming to represent common teenagers that the youth of today could relate to. The 3 friends we created, Karly, Dannii and Sam, could easily represent any group of friends from any social stereotype. The particular stereotype we were aiming for though was indie/mod. This is because the way they dress, act and the social activities they participate in is that of a common teenager or what most teenagers of today would consider 'cool'. This helped to show the popularity of the characters. We tried to base our characters around the actors themselves as they were the typical teenager.
- What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think that we would be able to get an institution such as film4 to distribute our product as it has a strong storyline and characters that film4's audience could relate to. Our target audience is the same sort of audience that film4 itself aims at when making there own films. Film4 films are of general low budget such as ours but as we tryed to make our film of the highest quality possible I believe that it could be accepted by this institution.
- Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience we were aiming for was 15-40 year olds and a certificate of 15 as we wanted to add as much violence and gore as we could to bring about the right amount of fear we thought our storyline would create. We felt that choosing an adolecent audience we would use our own knowledge of what type of things make a horror/thriller terrifying and add them to the piece. We avoided making a piece under the certificate of 15 as we felt personally from watching films bellow that certificate they were not terrifying enough. Also some of the scenarios and themes we look at in our piece would not be suitable for a young audience to watch as there is an excessive amount of violence and weapons shown that people of a young age would not be able to look at in a mature level.
- How did you attract/ address your audience?
We tried to attract our audience as best as possible by making our film seem a realistic situation as possible. We portrayed the characters as typical teenagers to try to relate to our target audience. We felt this would create more tension and fear with our piece as having the characters at the same age range as the audience would hopefully make it seem more real and the fear would be created because it is a situation they themselves could unfortunately find themselves in. Another way in which we attempted to attract the audience to our piece was if this was a full fetaure length film we showed the end at the beginning. By doing so the audience would hopefully continue to watch the piece to see how the story progressed from the beginning and see what could of possibly caused something like this to happen.
- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
From filming this piece i have learnt how to use a handheld video camera recorder. I have also learnt how to correctly edit a film and add a soundtrack and edit the sound levels of a piece of film. I learnt how to cut pieces of the film and move them to the correct place. I have also learnt how to use certain camera angles in the correct way to create a certain atmosphere.
- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
From making our preliminary task I felt we have realized that a great deal of planning is involved with making a film, even a two minute piece. Every aspect has to be overlooked such as props, costumes, locations, and dialogue. I've realized that it is also highly important to create story boards so the actor and crew know exactly what they are doing for each shot. Continuity is of high importance to keep the atmosphere and emotions you are trying to create for the audience stable and on going. If there is a slight change in costume or setting this will distract the audience from what you are trying to portray. Another thing I personally realised about making a film is you have to have the right amount of enthusiasm and belief in your ideas because if you don't this will come across to the audience.
Saturday 8 May 2010
Poster for "OBSESSION"
I decided to create this simple poster using paint.net to advertise our main task.
Prezi Evaluation
http://prezi.com/0czbzctynhe8/
This my evaluation of the two minute piece that i created on prezi.com.
to use either press across to follow the path or use the scroll to zoom in and out. You can also choose a certain area to look at by holding your mouse over an area until it is highlighted and click it to move to that area.
This my evaluation of the two minute piece that i created on prezi.com.
to use either press across to follow the path or use the scroll to zoom in and out. You can also choose a certain area to look at by holding your mouse over an area until it is highlighted and click it to move to that area.
Friday 7 May 2010
Evaluation: Soundtrack for the main task
In the end we decided to go for Spitfire by the prodigy.
This is copywrited music but we wrote a letter to the record company asking permission as our teacher new the person who had discovered the band. When looking over the footage we decided that this music fitted best with the scenario and speed of the action.
This type of music is not a usual convention for a horror/thriller film as usually they are slow paced and eerie but we wanted to bring our piece more up to date and the music genre we chose tied in with the drug factor as it is stereotyped as music recreational drug users listen to.
This track has also been used in horror film though such as 'house of wax'.
When it came to the piece we slightly editted the song so certain beats were at certain points in the film.
This is copywrited music but we wrote a letter to the record company asking permission as our teacher new the person who had discovered the band. When looking over the footage we decided that this music fitted best with the scenario and speed of the action.
This type of music is not a usual convention for a horror/thriller film as usually they are slow paced and eerie but we wanted to bring our piece more up to date and the music genre we chose tied in with the drug factor as it is stereotyped as music recreational drug users listen to.
This track has also been used in horror film though such as 'house of wax'.
When it came to the piece we slightly editted the song so certain beats were at certain points in the film.
Wednesday 5 May 2010
Evaluating the Main Task (2 Minute Film Opening)
For the main task we had to come up with the idea for 2 minute opening titles to a film genre of our choice. The genre my group chose was horror/thriller. At first we were not sure whether to go through with this idea as after to speaking to the rest of our class we realized they had also gone for the same genre and looking at the same location choice as us. We thought through other ideas and then decided to go with my original idea. When planning and story boarding the idea, the 2 other people in my group thought up ways to change the story to make it an idea that we all helped think off, and were all enthusiastic to film.
We decided to pick are target audience as teenagers and young adults. We were aiming for certificate 15 as we wanted to make it as violent and gore as we possibly could with the resources we had and the abilities that the actors had. We started to look at the main ideas and themes we found in our chosen genre and 3 other films that were close to what we were looking at for our own film.
When we first filmed we forgot to add in the original party scene’s to explain why karly is drugged and why she’s suddenly in the wood’s which was probably why we had a lack of footage. I felt this was because when filming the first time we all had a lack of focus and enthusiasm. When we came to deciding to re-film it we decided to set it in a beer garden of a pub and luckily we managed to get permission to film at ‘The Brickmakers’ and they were also kind enough to supply us with some props we were lacking. I felt this was a great location as it was close to the general public to show that the victim is in no kind of danger to begin with from when she is alone in the wood’s. We did experience problems with the sound on this location though as it was next to a main road and we had to try and talk above the noise of traffic.
We also filmed in a wooded and hilly area which I feel gave us fantastic shots and gave a real sense of tension to the piece and made the audience feel like the characters were lost. We also filmed the characters holding the camera themselves and running which gave a sense of terror and can help make the audience feel involved as it looks like it is really happening. This helped to provide a feel that the main girl character really has been drugged by the stalker character as many of the scenes are jolty and also had the actors spinning around with the camera so the audience can see things from the drugged victims point of view.
We decided to film the fight scenes from many angles over and over so we could cut between each scene very quickly adding to the tension we were aiming for and building a sense of fear and terror. It also keeps the audiences interested as it is not filmed from one angle. it also gave us time to cut the scenes and add blood to the people in the fight when it was needed.
I think we created a good effect when editing as all scenes at the pub before the main character, Karly, is drugged is filmed in colour and all scenes after that are in the woods are in black and white which created more shadows. We also cut straight from my character Karly downing the spiked drink to her running in the woods which makes the audience wonder how they got there. Seeing as this was an opening to a film we decided to put the end of the film at the beginning and then add the line “let me show you how an obsession grows” so if it was to be a whole film it would then go on to show you how they got there. Unfortunately due to lack of time and not having the right equipment we couldn’t add this. We also stopped just as the stalker is about to stab the friend, Dannii, which leaves the audience guessing what happens to her.
Due to the genre we chose, we had a lot of health and safety issues as there was someone running with a knife and also holding to another’s throat. We overcame these as we ran through those scenes over and over and blocked them so we got them perfect so no one would get hurt. We also did the same with the fight scenes and ran over the running scenes to make sure everyone knew exactly where they had to go. We also checked the area to make sure there was nothing that could harm us whilst doing falling scenes. With these scene’s i also researched and went through a step by step guide with the group of how to film certain shot’s that would be potentionally harmful to the actors without actually putting them in any danger. For instance, with the angle of the shot and the distance from the actor’s, when the stalker is slitting Karly’s throat you don’t actually realise that the stalker is quite far away from the actor (myself) playing Karly.
We only had a few continuity errors with our two minute piece. For starters
we had to film over the span of four days and on one of the days I forgot to
bring the scarf i was wearing so we had to improvise and found a scarf that looked similar to the one we originally filmed with. We then added in a scene where the stalker pull's of the scarf and sniffs it so within the close-up shots the audience wouldn't be able to tell it was a different scarf. This helped though as when we filmed the scenes with the knife to Karly's throat the scarf wasn't in the way. Another one we encountered was Dannii's hair as when we began to film she had her hair down and curly and on another day it was up and straight so we had to put the hood up for this character. During editting we also realised that in one of the fight scenes we missed out a bit where you can hear the person filming shout go. We didn't realise this till we uploaded the video to the blog and had no time to change it.We were all involved in filming and editting at some point.
With filming we had a rota so anyone who wasn't in the scene would then be filming. With editting I did alot of the actual editting myself whilst the two members of the group decided what they wanted where as i was the only one who could fluently use the technology and add titles.
I feel that overall we were all very proud of the piece we created and
there was not much that we could improve on as we all worked well
as a team and listened to each others ideas, we had done a sufficient
amount of planning so we all knew what we were doing. We were given
individual areas to plan (for instance mine was characters, costumes and
props) but we all made the final decisions together as then we would all
be happy with the end result. I think we worked well as a team as we are
all close friends and all encouraged one another to do the best we could,
although this was also a problem as sometimes we distracted one another,
Music was also an issue for our piece because only after editing we were told that we were unable to use copyrighted music without getting the artist’s permission. We managed to get hold of the person who discovered ‘The Prodigy’ ,the band who’s music we were using, but he then told us as they had changed record labels it was no longer up to the group or himself to give permission to use the track. We then were told to try get hold of the record label who owned them but we were unable to get hold of anybody who would be able to take the matter further and actually give us permission to use the track. We understand and realise that in a professional situation we would not be able to use the track without the owner’s permission, but due to lack of time and deadline’s we felt we had to go with the edit we had.
We decided to pick are target audience as teenagers and young adults. We were aiming for certificate 15 as we wanted to make it as violent and gore as we possibly could with the resources we had and the abilities that the actors had. We started to look at the main ideas and themes we found in our chosen genre and 3 other films that were close to what we were looking at for our own film.
I feel I put a lot of effort in when it came down to the filming date as I organised all props, decided the costumes and brought in people I knew to play the extra actors we needed at short notice.The costumes and props were important for the piece as we wanted to use the costumes to try and tell the audience as much about the characters as we possibly could and also relate to the modern day teenager. I think the first time we filmed it, it went well as all the actors worked hard on improvising scenes and we got some well structured and interesting shots. When it came to uploading and editing our piece we experienced many problems. First of all our footage would not upload to the system, secondly when watching it back we realised we had not got enough footage to edit and cut down into a 2 minute piece, and thirdly when watching the piece back we realised we had major continuity eras and people who had come down to watch from another group were seen in the background waving at the camera which ruined those shots.
We tried our hardest to do the best we could with the footage we had and to find a way to upload it. When realising there was no possible way we decided to re-film the entire project. Even then we came across problems again. We couldn’t film for a long time because members of the group experienced a variety of personal problems and since we are all taking the same subjects we were trying to get the exam work in for other subjects on their deadlines. Also the actors we had used before were no longer available so we had to use all 3 members of the group and managed to get hold of someone hours before we were due to film. We then had a problem with the cameras battery and ended up having to film the piece over a span of 4 days only leaving us 3 days to upload and edit, also on a few of these days we were filming between and after lessons so we were loosing light fast.
We tried our hardest to do the best we could with the footage we had and to find a way to upload it. When realising there was no possible way we decided to re-film the entire project. Even then we came across problems again. We couldn’t film for a long time because members of the group experienced a variety of personal problems and since we are all taking the same subjects we were trying to get the exam work in for other subjects on their deadlines. Also the actors we had used before were no longer available so we had to use all 3 members of the group and managed to get hold of someone hours before we were due to film. We then had a problem with the cameras battery and ended up having to film the piece over a span of 4 days only leaving us 3 days to upload and edit, also on a few of these days we were filming between and after lessons so we were loosing light fast.
When we first filmed we forgot to add in the original party scene’s to explain why karly is drugged and why she’s suddenly in the wood’s which was probably why we had a lack of footage. I felt this was because when filming the first time we all had a lack of focus and enthusiasm. When we came to deciding to re-film it we decided to set it in a beer garden of a pub and luckily we managed to get permission to film at ‘The Brickmakers’ and they were also kind enough to supply us with some props we were lacking. I felt this was a great location as it was close to the general public to show that the victim is in no kind of danger to begin with from when she is alone in the wood’s. We did experience problems with the sound on this location though as it was next to a main road and we had to try and talk above the noise of traffic.
We also filmed in a wooded and hilly area which I feel gave us fantastic shots and gave a real sense of tension to the piece and made the audience feel like the characters were lost. We also filmed the characters holding the camera themselves and running which gave a sense of terror and can help make the audience feel involved as it looks like it is really happening. This helped to provide a feel that the main girl character really has been drugged by the stalker character as many of the scenes are jolty and also had the actors spinning around with the camera so the audience can see things from the drugged victims point of view.
We decided to film the fight scenes from many angles over and over so we could cut between each scene very quickly adding to the tension we were aiming for and building a sense of fear and terror. It also keeps the audiences interested as it is not filmed from one angle. it also gave us time to cut the scenes and add blood to the people in the fight when it was needed.
I think we created a good effect when editing as all scenes at the pub before the main character, Karly, is drugged is filmed in colour and all scenes after that are in the woods are in black and white which created more shadows. We also cut straight from my character Karly downing the spiked drink to her running in the woods which makes the audience wonder how they got there. Seeing as this was an opening to a film we decided to put the end of the film at the beginning and then add the line “let me show you how an obsession grows” so if it was to be a whole film it would then go on to show you how they got there. Unfortunately due to lack of time and not having the right equipment we couldn’t add this. We also stopped just as the stalker is about to stab the friend, Dannii, which leaves the audience guessing what happens to her.
Due to the genre we chose, we had a lot of health and safety issues as there was someone running with a knife and also holding to another’s throat. We overcame these as we ran through those scenes over and over and blocked them so we got them perfect so no one would get hurt. We also did the same with the fight scenes and ran over the running scenes to make sure everyone knew exactly where they had to go. We also checked the area to make sure there was nothing that could harm us whilst doing falling scenes. With these scene’s i also researched and went through a step by step guide with the group of how to film certain shot’s that would be potentionally harmful to the actors without actually putting them in any danger. For instance, with the angle of the shot and the distance from the actor’s, when the stalker is slitting Karly’s throat you don’t actually realise that the stalker is quite far away from the actor (myself) playing Karly.
We only had a few continuity errors with our two minute piece. For starters
we had to film over the span of four days and on one of the days I forgot to
bring the scarf i was wearing so we had to improvise and found a scarf that looked similar to the one we originally filmed with. We then added in a scene where the stalker pull's of the scarf and sniffs it so within the close-up shots the audience wouldn't be able to tell it was a different scarf. This helped though as when we filmed the scenes with the knife to Karly's throat the scarf wasn't in the way. Another one we encountered was Dannii's hair as when we began to film she had her hair down and curly and on another day it was up and straight so we had to put the hood up for this character. During editting we also realised that in one of the fight scenes we missed out a bit where you can hear the person filming shout go. We didn't realise this till we uploaded the video to the blog and had no time to change it.We were all involved in filming and editting at some point.
With filming we had a rota so anyone who wasn't in the scene would then be filming. With editting I did alot of the actual editting myself whilst the two members of the group decided what they wanted where as i was the only one who could fluently use the technology and add titles.
I feel that overall we were all very proud of the piece we created and
there was not much that we could improve on as we all worked well
as a team and listened to each others ideas, we had done a sufficient
amount of planning so we all knew what we were doing. We were given
individual areas to plan (for instance mine was characters, costumes and
props) but we all made the final decisions together as then we would all
be happy with the end result. I think we worked well as a team as we are
all close friends and all encouraged one another to do the best we could,
although this was also a problem as sometimes we distracted one another,
Music was also an issue for our piece because only after editing we were told that we were unable to use copyrighted music without getting the artist’s permission. We managed to get hold of the person who discovered ‘The Prodigy’ ,the band who’s music we were using, but he then told us as they had changed record labels it was no longer up to the group or himself to give permission to use the track. We then were told to try get hold of the record label who owned them but we were unable to get hold of anybody who would be able to take the matter further and actually give us permission to use the track. We understand and realise that in a professional situation we would not be able to use the track without the owner’s permission, but due to lack of time and deadline’s we felt we had to go with the edit we had.
Overall, looking over footage and our final edit I think we all worked really hard and I am very pleased and proud with the end result.
Evaluation of Character and Costumes used in the Main Task
These are the costumes that we ended up using for each character in the edit of the film.
Karly played by Whitney McKernan
Karly's full costume
We decided to use dark black skinny jeans and the top half of the costume lighter colours as it then keeps the audiences focus on the body language of the upper half of the character.
Karly's hair and make-up
We decided to leave the hair down as it would look more effective when the character was running as it would show the speed and pace of the piece when it was free and windswept.
We also decided to use a bright purple eyeshadow to show that her character was a bright and loud person. It also helps to show that this is the main character as the other girl character has very naturalistic and plain make-up.
Karly - top half of costume.
We used a blazer and a pashmina scarf to keep in with todays fashion and to show the time zone of the piece and also to show that this charcter is up to date with things such as fashion and the sort of style and personality she has.
We also used a statement teeshirt to show her personality. Idealy i would of been running without a jacket and just a teeshirt like before but it was too cold and raining to continue filming without it.
Karly's costume - attention to detail.
We used these badges to show Karly’s personalty and outlook on life even though it is a tiny detail.
Karly’s character is very outspoken and individual. She makes her own views on life and has her own style.
Karly - Footware
Again footware is also a minor attention to detail but as we shot many shots from ground level just showing the feet we felt it was important to make each charcters footware different so it would help the audience to know which character was which without seeing the upper half of their bodies.
Karly’s footware is plain plimsoles but with bright neon colours to show that she considers every part of her to show who she is to the outside world.
Dannii played by Lauren Kirby
Dannii - Full Costume
We kept the clothing and make-up of this charcter quite plain to help show the status of the charchters and to show the audience to which charcter their focus should be on.
Dannii - Hair and Mke-up
We left the charcters hair down at the beginning of the film and towards the end put her with a hood up. This was to help show that the weather had changed and become colder.
We kept the makeup of this charchter quite plain to show that she was more of a follower in the friendship between her and karly rather than the leader.
Danni - Top half of costume
Due to the weather on the day of filming the actor playing this charcter had to keep her hoody on to keep warm whilst filming. We decided though that this actually helped add effect to the piece as she was wearing dark jeans and a bright purple hoody which helped keep focus on the upper half of her body.
Dannii - Footware
Dannii’s footware is quite distinctive to show that she follows todays fashion rather than alternative fashion.
Sam played by Nik Jones
Sam - Full Costume
For sam we decided that he would also be more into alternative fashion like his girlfriend karly.
Sam - Hair
We decided to keep Sam’s hair natural and wavy like the actors natural hair. This would show contrast to the killer as he has short and straight styled hair.
Sam - Top Half of Costume
Sam’s top half of the costume is quite dark as with this charchter we focused more on filming the bottom half of him so his trousers were of a brighter colour to show the focus. We kept the top half patterened though to still show the type of fahion he followed.
Sam - Footware
Although this footware doesn't entirely fit with type of style we were going for for this chrachter, we felt it important that the actor wore comfortable footware as he would be featured in most of the running shots. also with the bright colours it helps to focus the audience in.
Simon played by Kevin Smibert
Simon - Full Costume
We decided to keep this character in completely dark clothing to make him seem more scary and to build tension.
Simon - Hair
We decided to have simon’s hair styled and gelled but we also kept his hood up till the end to hide his identity. Also by having it styled and by having him wear a chain it showed that he was from a different stereo type from the other charcters.
Simon - Top Half of Costume
We had him wearing a sports jacket which was black to show what sterotype he was from and that he was different from the other characters.
Simon - Attention to Detail
We had him wearing gloves to show that he had thought through this plan and he wouldnt leave any DNA. it also makes the character seem more terrifying as most of skin apart from the bottom half of his face is covered.
Simon - Footwear
We kept the footware within the stereotype and sporty look. We also had it fit in with occurring theme of black/dark clothing.
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