Targets For Next Year

Overall, what went well in your production?

 There are many things that i like about our film, and that i don't think that we should change at all. However, i do feel that there are elements that could be improved, meaning we can work on these elements even more in the forthcoming year. I think that our overall film was successful and was made to the best ability possible. I feel that this has been a learning curve for the group and myself. We have learnt new skills and techniques that have allowed us to add our own individuality to our film, and then combine all of our ideas together. From the beginning of the year to mind mapping our plans and ideas, to finishing the final production now, its amazing to see how we have all grown as people, and through our filming process. As it was our first year of media studies, i feel that we have all worked incredibly hard to achieve out end result.

 I feel that there are two key factors that made our film really effective, and this was due to the camera work and the main story-line. I feel that the camera work was really effective in our filming. When we were out filming footage, we had a sheet of paper with us, to ensure that we included as many different shot types as possible. We feel that this makes our film appear more engaging, as our audience isn't looking at the same frame work all the time. We used shots such as, close up shots, long shots, camera pans, cantered angels,medium shots, shot reverse shot, over the shoulder shots and many others. By using different camera shots and movements, it ensured that our film looked more professional and sophisticated. Another element that i feel we did well was the story line of our film. The basic plot to our film involves 4 girls,thus, it would appeal to a female audience. However, the plot to our story line would also conform to a male audience, as they would like the aggressive and violent nature that is presented in the assault scene.I also feel that the assault scene is very diverse, as its non seen in too many thriller films. I feel that we worked around the idea of suffocating someone well, we cut holes in the bag and filmed at different intervals. This then gave the illusion of the victim being suffocated, without anyone actually being hurt. I feel that this made our film more unique and effective, it graps our audiences attention as its very graphic and intense. I feel that the basic plot to our film is engaging and grabs our audiences attention well. I think that using local and relatable locations such as the coffee shop. From researching the target audience film, girls at the age of 15 tend to like to shop in well known and high market shops, and like to hang out in local coffee shops. So this made our film more relatable our target audience. 


As many as there are positive aspects in our film, there are also a lot of improvements that are needed in our film. Firstly, is the titles in our film. Although we really like the "smear" effect on the titles, the timings that they come in and the font.  I feel that the titles come in too quickly after one and other. I feel that this is a disadvantage to our film, as the audience need to be able to see clearly who is in the film. In huge Hollywood films, the titles are used to indicate to the audience who is starring in the film. This will help bring a wider audience, as will tell the audience who is in the film; if there are well known, popular actors, it will make people want to go and see the film. To improve our titles, i would change the font style to something more formal, as although we want the tittles to appear eerie to conform to the thriller genre, we still want to maintain the sophistication and formality presented in the film. The timing of the titles also needs to be improved. I think we should have less names on the screen, but with more timing between each title. This will mean the audience can see who is in our film clearly, without feeling rushed. Another improvement i would make is on the shot reverse shot between Rosemary and Bella. I feel that the footage is messy and jagged. I feel that it does not look professional as the placement of the camera is moved between each shot. Also,the acting and editing needs to be improved. The conversation appears staged and set up, this is because the actors found it hard to get into character- ( As you can see from our bloopers video!) This made the scene look un-natural. Also, the editing of the scene has not been cropped well. I feel in certain parts in the shot reverse shot, the clips have not been cropped enough, meaning that the conversation does not flow properly. This makes our film also look unprofessional.Another area that i feel we could focus on for next year is the sound. The soundtrack to our film is eerie and mysterious which does conform to the thriller genre. However, the beginning of the film, the soundtrack is chimey and child like, which conforms to the horror genre and not a thriller. It connotes dolls and child-like things, that are presented in modern horror films. I feel that by changing this, it would help to change the entire atmosphere in the film.  

Overall, for next year when we make a trailer, making this film has helped us all with our planning and techniques. We now understand how to film effectively without breaking any rules,such as, the 180 degree rule. Next year, we will focus on smaller areas such as the acting and sound levels in our trailer. This will change the entire atmosphere of the trailer, and hopefully improve it too. 

I have thoughly enjoyed media studies this year, and i am looking forward to learning more next year about new editing techniques, sound levels and camera angles :) 

   

Evaluation Activity 7

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

Compared to our preliminary task, it is evident that we have improved. Through the camera angles, camera movement, mise en scene and other factors, our film has shown how we have grown as individuals, and how our film making skills have improved throughout our AS journey. In our preliminary task we used the  the 180 degree rule, shot reverse shot and match on action, which all helped us in producing our final production as it gave us even more knowledge on which shots and camera rules would be effective for our film.  There are vast differences between our preliminary task and our final production. One reasoning behind this was because of the difference in location. We thought that it was key to use to locations during our filming, as it meant that the audience wouldn't get bored looking at the same location. Furthermore, also including mise en scene, in the preliminary task, the lighting we felt was not very effective. This was because of the yellow paint on the walls between the shot reverse shot of the two characters. It made the lighting appear orange and tacky, which made the preliminary task look very unprofessional. In contrast, our final production uses out door locations, meaning that we could achieve natural lighting which made our film look more professional. I feel that I have learnt a lot more knowledge compared to the beginning of the year. I feel like I have grown as a person, and in my knowledge of media.



MATCH ON ACTION:

In both our preliminary task and our final production we used the editing skill of match on action. We had to use this filming technique within our preliminary task as it allowed us to get to grips with stabilizing the shots, shooting the right shots to make sure they flow into each other when we edit them and also practicing editing skills, to ensure continuity .Regardless of the location, we feel that this is an extremely effective technique used in the film industry today. On the left there is screenshots from our preliminary task. The match on action is presented in shot A followed by shot B and then ending in shot C. Shot A shows a long shot of Mae approaching the stair cases. The use of the long shot was effective, as it ensured that the audience could see her entire body frame. As this was our preliminary task, we didn't have to worry about Mise en scene,as we were primarily focused on the camera work.  I feel that this shot is not very effective. We cannot see Mae's face as it is cropped out when she is walking down the stairs. Also, the lighting on the centre of frame has been reflected through the camera. This makes the shot look messy and tacky, creating an unprofessional look to our wok. Using this type of editing technique, it is vital to keep; the camera stable as it would not disrupt the atmosphere and continuity of the shot, make sure during the editing process that the shots flow in with each other (continuity), also make sure the camera shots used would allow maximum fluency. I felt hat shot A does not complete all of these things, and therefore makes it look unprofessional. Shot B shows Mae finishing the stair case and onto the ground. This shot shows a medium shot, this also enabled the audience to see her body frame, but a lot closer.  Shot C shows a midway shot of Mae walking down the stairs. I feel that this is partially effective, as the close up shot means that the audience can involve themselves more into the scene, however the lighting let us down due to the shadowing. We filmed our preliminary task on a GE1080p hand held camera. This type of camera did no have many megapixels, meaning that some of the footage would come out blurry.  Compared to our final production, we used a NikonD300 DSLR camera, this made our footage a lot more crisp, which help make our production look more effective. For both our preliminary task, and our final production, we used a tri-pod. This enabled us to get a steady shot avoiding any blurriness. In conclusion, the match on action in our preliminary task was relatively poor. The lighting, mise en scene and capturing of the match on action was not successful mainly due the fact that it was rushed. In our final production, we had learnt how to apply these techniques successfully, and we feel it came out 100% better in our final production.
Compared to our final production, regarding mise en scene, the lighting was significantly improved. As we were in an outdoor location, it meant that we could get natural lighting. Also, the Nikon DSLR camera, has more functions on than the GE1080p one. This meant that the lighting could also be controlled through the shutter speed and functions installed in the camera.


SHOT REVERSE SHOT:





 Shot reverse shot is the idea of a character to be shown looking at another character, and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. It is effective, in introducing the two characters to the scene, it also makes the audience feel like they are part of the conversation. Furthermore, it helps establish a relationship between the two characters  Here, we have two screengrabs of the shot reverse shot presented in both our final production and our preliminary task. In the first screengrab, we can see that the body language presented by the characters is not effective, this is partially due to the acting, as one of the actresses is shown to be laughing, breaking the continuity in the film. An over the shoulder shot is used to make the audience involve themselves into that character, It also allows them to see what the other character is wearing, making them feel the emotions presented by that character. On the editing side of things, we had to make sure that we cropped the over the shoulder shots and the shot reverse shot's together efficiently, so that they all combined fluently in the conversation. Also, the actresses in the preliminary task are positioned in different areas but only slightly.  This made the footage appear odd and out of place. It would make the audience question what has happened, and make them realise what is actually going on. When performing our real production, we made the actresses stay in one place, to avoid breaking any continuity in the film. Although shot reverse shot is not always shown in thriller films, we wanted to include it so that our audience could feel involved with the film. It also meant that we could add our own individuality to our filming. This means that we have taken on board advice and criticisms of how and when to use specific shots, as each shot has a different effect, effecting the emotions and feelings that the audience would feel.

CAMERA WORK:


During our preliminary task, we feel that our use of camera skills was very limited. This was partially due to the lack of knowledge and equipment that we had. In our final film, we used a range of camera shots, we feel, were successful. We used: Close up's, long shots, medium shots, cantered angles, shot reverse shots, match on action and many others. This demonstrates that we fully understood how, when and where to use certain types of shots. Using the correct shots in the right places, meant that we could create the correct emotions and  feelings that we want our audience to feel, such as suspense. In our preliminary task, we didn't use a range of different shots. This was because we were limited for time, and simply didn't have a wide range of knowledge to know how to film these types of shots. However, we did use multiple medium shots in  our production. Medium shots are effective for many reasons. Firstly, they allow the audience to see the appearance of that character. This then creates specific emotions attached to that costume. e.g if through a mediums shot, the audience can see someone wearing black, they will automatically think of danger, due to the connotations held with the colour black. In our preliminary task, we didn't specifically focus on the mes en scene, but mainly the shots. We feel that we used the "Rule of thirds" in our film, which Is the idea of a person filing 3 of a 9 square grid on the camera. This made the shots look more effective and professional. We found that the lighting really effected our camera work negatively in our preliminary task. The use of lighting suggests what the atmosphere is like, for example, having light and bright light would imply happiness and summery weather, however in our case, we used natural and unfiltered light, that was already around in the setting we were in. This meant that we couldn't adjust the lighting, which reflected on our camera shots. In the real production, we thought about the lighting a lot. We had certain functions on the camera that we researched how to use, to enable us to bring forward or block out any unwanted light. In our real production, we used a range of low and high angle shots. This created an uneasy atmosphere which would make our audience feel suspense. The use of the non-diegetic soundtrack, reinforced the tension, as It was eerie and sinister.

In conclusion, our preliminary task meant that we could work upon what we already knew. It also enable us to see how we have grown in our media skills, as its slightly amusing to watch our preliminary task and realise all the mistakes that we had made. We feel that it was our starting point, and the finishing point being "The Alley." We feel that our final production was successful and 100% better than the preliminary task, primarily due to the camera work.

Evaluation Activity 6

When in comes to the technical side of things, we had to film all of our footage a certain way, requiring certain types of equipment, to achieve an effective film with high resolution displays on the film. We only used one camera when filming, we used a Nikon D3000. The D3000 is primarily aimed at anyone who wants to take photos or videos without having to worry about what the camera is doing. The Nikon D3000 also features a 10.2 megapixel sensor, expeed processing system, 3-inch LCD screen, 3 fps continuous shooting and 11-point autofocus system. All these features made filming easier and more understandable for all of us to use. We felt that using a camera which was simple, was very important during filming, as It meant that we weren't standing around trying to work our particular camera functions. However, three of us, myself included, take photography as a subject, so we could get the correct camera settings and angles quickly and precisely, without many problems. By turning the camera's lens left to right, we were able to focus a character/object in the camera frame, this meant that our images on our film had a high resolution, making our shots look more professional.  The camera also had a function of allowing a 9x9 grid to appear on the screen. We felt that this was extremely effective, as it meant we could incorporate "The Rule Of Thirds" in our production. This means getting a characters face into 3 of the boxes on the grid. This is used in many current films today, thus making our production look more professional. It also made the shots look more focused and effective. Changing the aperture value or more commonly known as "f number" on the camera, meant that we could control the amount of light coming into and out of the camera's lens. As it was winter when we were filming, the lighting was naturally quite dark, so we needed the correct amount of light needed to make our shots look effective, but also not too overexposed. We felt that using the NikonD3000, was a very easy, simplistic and effective piece of equipment to use. It allowed us to film quickly and easily, with certain settings that helped to our advantage also.

We also used an IPhone 6 in our production. However, we didn't use it for filming actual footage for our film, but rather for video diaries and behind the scenes footage, which we felt was an effective marketing campaign. This is because it allows our audience to get an insight into what we get up to behind the camera, and get to know us on a more personal level. It also allowed our audience to get an insight into our film, without giving too much away-following the basic rule of suspense, thus it keeps the audience engaged and want to see our film. The IPhone is a common piece of technology used by millions globally, this meant that it would be more relatable to our audience. The IPhone 6 also has pixel specs of 1334 x 750 and 1920 x 1080 meaning that it too, like the camera has a high resolution, making our video diaries effective as well. This is effective, as it will make our audience think that because our behind the scenes footage is of a good quality, our production will also.

We used a various amount of software in our production, to make our film more accessible and easy to transfer. One example is YouTube. YouTube is an online site and app, that allows you to watch video clips, share and watch videos. This was extremely helpful in the making of our film, as it allowed us to upload footage from YouTube, to our blogs such as storyboards and video diaries. Another advantage of using YouTube, was that it allowed the general public to use the "comment" system, whereby they can comment on our videos. This meant that we could get constructive feedback on how to improve our production, which we felt was extremely helpful. As touched upon, you can share via YouTube. which would make our film engage a much wide range of people, increasing the popularity of the film; which is a good marketing campaign as it create an echo chamber effect. Another form of software that we used was blogger. Blogger allowed us to post blogs about what we are doing regarding filming. It meant that we could share our journey, from an ambiguous, sketched storyboard, to our final end product.  It meant that we could evaluate what we had done, and be able to share to an audience how our film had all come together. Blogger was a quick and easy way to do this, and it was also accessible on our phones, which made the hole process even more simplistic. Another piece of software used, was identifiably, Adobe Premier Elements. This was the software used to actually put our film together. Adobe Premiere Elements 10 allows you to have a big and clear timeline, this means that you can see your clips/pictures much more clearly so that you can see what's happening in your film without having to play the video each time. We found it easy to use, and operate without needing too much help. We felt that Adobe Premier Elements 10 was much more advanced than Movie Maker, as it had more transitions and effects. It also had a wider screen enabling the individual to switch from the timeline to the scene line, meaning we could see all of our shots clearly. Finally, we used a simple font generator called - "Spooky text generator". This enabled us to make our own font, adjusting the colour scheme, size and style. We felt it was easy to use and still maintained that professional nature that we wanted to sustain in our title.

Evaluation Activity 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation Activity 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Here, we have two photographs of a our typical target audience member's. Our target audience is aged 15+, ranging from the age of 15 to around 25. However, this is a very wide gap, as at each end of the spectrum, each age group is stereo typically likely to do different things.  The female gender, at the age of 15, stereo typically do a lot of shopping. They tend to shop in high revenue stores, such as Hollister, Topshop, Urban Outfitters and office, but also shop in lower revenue stores, such as Primark, New Look, H&M. Girls at this age, also tend to listen to a lot of Pop Music, those of which that are in the charts. Singers such as Taylor Swift, One Direction, The Vamps and Rihanna, are examples of pop artists that are influential to 15 year old girls. Furthermore, T.V programmes such as Friends, Keeping up with the Kardashians and The Only Way Is Essex are also highly influential to this particular type of audience member. All these statistics, suggest that this type of audience group, like films that are Romantic Comedies and Comedy's. On the other hand, audience members of 16 and above, tend to shop in much more mature and sophisticated branches, such as perfume stores, lingerie shops and male orientated shops due to boyfriends.  In comparison also, they tend to watch T.V shows aimed for a older audience, such as Geordie shore, The Valleys and Ex On The Beach. This is because of the high amounts of violence, sexual natures, confrontations and swearing.

Boys at the age of 15 have a wide range interests, such as sports. Boys tend to have a very broad range of sports that they are interested in, such as football, cricket and rugby. Due to participating in these sports, they tend to watch a lot of sport related shows, such as football matches, match of the day, sports center and NBI.  Video consoles ( Xbox and Play stations) are used by around 80% of teenage boys, they use up a lot of their free  time,due to the games created for these types of hardware's, such as Call of Duty, Halo and CSI based games, all of which are violent and aggressive, which can sometimes be reflected in their behaviour.  As the male gender mature and get older, they shop in perfume stores, Topman, American Eagle and Republic. They also like to listen to R&B, pop music and rap based around artists such as Eminem, 50 cent and various other rap related singers.

We decided that our film would be targeted at the age of 15+. We feel that this was a good age to aim a thriller based film at, due to the violence and aggressive nature, especially shown in our assault scene. This obviously, leans towards the male gender, as they are shown to like and watch thriller films with a lot of aggressive scenes such as Taken, Bond films and War related films.  In comparison, females are usually aimed at more emotional films, such as romantic comedies. This is because women want to be able to relate to the relationships that are shown in romantic comedies.  Our film is aimed at 80% male and 20% female. Although females are not usually attracted to a thriller, our film has female characters, which may attract a small percentage of female viewers, as they may want to see what stereotypes our characters have, and how the female gender is suited into a thriller genre.Also, females may like thriller related films, as they can easily engage and relate to them as usually the main character consists of an attractive male or the protagonist is female. This is why we decided to use a female protagonist, as It may attract male viewers to watch our film, but also still maintaining the aggressive and violent nature, that males stereo typically like.

Earlier on in the year, the group and I conducted a questionnaire, asking members of the general public what types of films they liked. "Thriller" came in the top bands, which meant that doing a thriller film, would appeal to a general audience, and our target audience.  However, We wanted our film to appeal to as many people as possible, including both male and females. We feel that our film has relatable aspects to both genders. For example, the aggressive nature of the assault scene (Conforming to boy stereotypes) and the girly nature created by the 4 characters themselves. (Conforming to the girl stereotypes.)

In conclusion, we feel that our target audience of 15+ was ideal. It suited the stereotypes of both genders, and by researching what they enjoy, through questionnaires, we feel that we have suited the needs of our target audience. We feel that our film is relatable, through the mise en scene an content of our film. We feel that using a thriller film fully helps our audience engage with the story line, as they can escape the classic types of routine in reality, and endeavor into a fictional world that we created In our film.

Evaluation Activity 3

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

Evaluation Activity 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

We decided to link our protagonist to the character Kim from Taken. Kim is a 17 year old girl, who is very dependent on her father. Her father Bryan Mills, played by Liam Neeson retired from the CIA, in order to spend more time with his daughter. This intern, makes Kim appear even more vulnerable, as she cannot fend for herself, and is very much dependent on her father to protect her. We chose to use the film "Taken" as it played a huge influence on our production. Taken is one of the worlds most popular thriller films, resulting in Taken 2 and 3 being produced in later years from the first release. We gained a lot of inspiration, whether it was from the mise en scene of what the characters are wearing, or the content that is involved in the film.  We felt that stereotypes in films are hugely important, as they reflect on how the media and society can view certain characters. Kim is portrayed as being very innocent, dependent and vulnerable. We wanted to reflect this through our protagonist in our film, and we feel we have done this successfully.


Appearance wise, our protagonist didn't look identical to Kim from Taken, but we feel her characteristics, and mise en scene do contribute towards Kim's appearance. Audiences watching thriller films, always expect a vulnerable girl as girls are stereo typically seen as the weaker sex. Kim has blonde hair, which is stereo typically seen as attractive and connotes beauty and wealth in society. However, in the first and second Taken films, Kim has brown hair, which is similar to our protagonists hair. We didn't want to completely replicate the whole of Kim's appearance , as we wanted to add our own individuality in our film. Kim is usually wearing simplistic, everyday clothing, such as day tops, jeans and jackets. The jacket of Kim's in Taken 1, was very significant, as it was noticeable to her. When Kim gets kidnapped, her father recoginses her jacket, and results in him finding her. This links to our film due to the prop of the dog. The dog lead gets dropped, meaning that the dog runs away. Later in the film, our antagonist states "The dog got away". We used this as it leaves the audience suspicious of where the dog  has gone. Could the dog have gone to get help? We feel that using the dog to leave our audience on a cliff hanger was really effective. As mentioned, Kim is wearing very simplistic clothing, which makes her seem ordinary and just a normal teenage girl. This adds to the innocence towards Kim's character, as she doesn't seem any different from any other teenage girl in our generation. Having Kim's mise en scene be similar to our protagonists, means that the audience can relate to our character more, meaning that they can fully engage themselves as if they were Tara in that situation, and be able to experience the suspense and dramatic climax that I feel is reflected in our film. Our protagonist is also wearing very simplistic clothing, such as a big, warm coat ( which most people wear during the winter months), black jeans which is also worn by many people in today's society, including the male sex, and boots, which conforms to why Tara is in the woods. Wearing everyday clothing makes Tara seem no different from any other girl, suggesting that an attack on her would be unusual as she doesn't look like she would be involved in anything danger related. Our protagonist is also small, which reinforces the innocence and vulnerability behind the character, as being smaller, people immediately associate them to be weaker and more inferior which makes the audience sympathise with that particular character. (This is also one of the reasons why our protagonist was given a lot of prevalence.)

Walking your dog is a very simple and yet ordinary activity to do, which means that the audience can relate to our protagonist. This is effective, as it means that our target audience can put themselves into the protagonists shoes, so they experience the same emotions that Tara is feeling. The dog adds innocence and a purpose to why Tara is in the woods. Kim in Taken, tends to rely on other people, whether it be her mum, dad or her friends. Our protagonist relies on her friends a lot, as we can see this through our film when Tara is going to meet her friend, suggesting that she is dependent on her friends and other people around her. Based around the setting around Kim in Taken, she is situated in America. America is a huge continent, with many countries inside of it. In Taken 1, Kim goes to Paris with her best friend, and then gets kidnapped from inside her hotel room. This is a key difference between our film and Taken. The setting can help bring up the tension and suspense. For example, our film is set in a woods, which connotes danger and creates sinister emotions, however Taken is filmed in urban areas, such as streets, town centers and alleyways. This then suggests that there is more people around in Taken, compared to our film, there is no one around.