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. 

Evaluation Activity 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

Institution:

Here is a photograph of our institutions that are displayed at the beginning of our opening two minutes. We decided to place the institutions at the beginning of our film, as it enabled the audience to view who helped make the film/ who contributed towards it. In addition to this, from researching other films such as "Taken", "The Dark Knight" and "James Bond" films, they mostly had there institution's at the beginning of the film, thus it conforms to the conventions of a thriller film. The reason why we didn't put "Red Canyon Films" at the end or the middle of our film, is because we all felt that It would interrupt the dramatic atmosphere that is being built up in our film, we also felt that It wouldn't fit in well with the music as well in the background. From our research of thriller films, the audience really like to be able to engage with the film, this further supports the idea as to why we didn't put out institutions mid way through the film. One of our main priorities when making our film, was to make our audience feel the tense atmosphere which is created through factors such as: The music, Camera Work and the Content itself. So for us, the placement of the institutions was critical in ensuring we maintain the tense, dramatic climax.  We decided to use this particular font, as we felt it was bold and dramatic. The use of the capital letters, ensures that the audience looks straight at what's in front of them. Also, having a white font, creates a starking contrast to the background used as-well. We used a transition called "Colour Switch" on Adobe. This allowed the colour of our image ( The Grand Canyon) to change from monochromatic to colour. This made our opening look professional and sophisticated. It also conforms to the opening scene of "Taken 2" as they used the same effect. We made sure that the font was the same on both images, as then the audience can associate both the institutions as being the same company. As us, ourselves designed the institutions/ made them up, it then gave us more independence and freedom, to decide how we wanted out audience to view them. For example, the use of fonts, music, transitions, effects, arrangement of fonts and the background image. We decided to use the Grand Canyon as our image, as we all felt that it connoted power, authority and dominance, all of which are elements shown in our film, whether its through the characters, or the certain shots used. Although, to add our own individuality, we changed the adjective "Grand" to the adjective "Red" for two reasons. Firstly, it added our own individuality and ideas to our film, which makes our film seem unique and distinct. Second, was because the colour red connotes danger, which is an aspect shown in our film. To back up this point, we looked at case studies on colour schemes that the general public looked at. They viewed colours, and then wrote down what the colours made them feel. Red, was seen as the most dangerous and alarming, so this fitted in well with the content in our film. For the second production credit, we used a tiger. Tigers connote danger also, but are also a very unique animal due to their stripes. Thus, we feel this reflects the content in our film, as we feel that the idea of "suffocation" is a rare and unique way of killing someone, as it is not used that commonly in thriller films.

Camera work:

In our film we used a range of different camera shots. We used mainly medium shots, as they allowed us to see most of the background and main subject. We also used a lot of close ups, as this created suspense, mainly due to the fact that the audience can see a minimal amount of aspects in the frame.  The close up of the hand for example, creates a tense atmosphere, as the hand is moving which is a crucial part in our film. It creates a rift in our film, as it then changes the untold storyline in our film. To intensify this, we added a non copywrited sound effect of a "Boom" as this exaggerated the importance of the shot, and the importance it added to our film. I feel that close ups can intensify the significance of things too. The shot is also effective, as it tells the audience that its a female on the ground, through the use of nail varnish. We made sure that the nail vanish was chipped and looked tacky, as otherwise it would look unrealistic and wouldn't suit the vibe that is being created in the shot. We used countless numbers of close up's as it conforms to thriller films, as they create tension which the target audience like to see when watching a thriller film. Furthermore, the use of close up shots allows us to shorten the duration of the shot, reinforcing tension, suspense and the dramatic climax. In comparison, we also used long duration shots, such as the "Pan" movement used in picture one here ^. This created tension also, as it made our audience feel uneasy because they are unaware of what could come into shot, such as a person trying to attack someone. The music also helped reinforce this, as it starts witch "Chimey" music that gradually builds up.  We used a tripod for mostly all of our shots, it allowed us to get a steady and well focused shot. The tripod was very handy, in the sense that it was very malleable in movement. We could adjust the height of the tri-pod as well as the angles, this made it easy to film and also made our shots look really professional. We used "Shot reverse shot" when filming the conversation between The antagonist and the antagonists sidekick. We feel that this helps the audience to engage with the two characters, as when the camera is on one character in one single frame, it makes the audience relate to them. This also involves the idea of "Prevalence" which helps the audience empathise with the character in shot.

Setting/Location:

One of the most successful things I feel that is included in our film, is the cross cutting between our two locations. The first location we filmed at was the coffee shop in our local town centre. We asked the local staff in the coffee shop if it was okay to film outside their shop. Fortunately, they agreed, but we had to purchase something from the shop in order to do so. We felt that the coffee shop was a really ideal place to film because it is a local and ordinary place where the general public go. Coffee shops are used for socialising, talking, and chatting. Using a local location where our audience can relate to is firstly, effecting in sustaining the innocence building to the climax, and secondly, maintaining the relevance to thriller films, as characters in thriller films usually meet at local places, such as shopping malls, (James Bond) and  Hotels (Taken). Using the coffee shop was also really handy, as it was only a 15 minute walk from our school, so we could all get there quickly and efficiently. A coffee shop is also a likely place where two friends would meet to catch up and chat. As seen from our film, Tara doesn't turn up leaving Ellie annoyed as to why she hasn't, which also creates an atmosphere. The second location that we filmed at, was the woods, also known as "The splash" as there is a river running through the woods. We feel that the woods was a really effective place to film. Firstly, it conforms to thriller films, such as "The Revenent", "Bridge of spies and "Spectre" which all have certain parts in the film, filmed in a wood like place.  We used mainly long shots and medium shots to film our locations. This enables our audience to get a clear understanding of our film and where the action is taking place.  The opening shot is an establishing/ pan of the woods. This is effective, as it shows the audience a "panorama" typed experience, which adds an atmosphere to the film. This is also enhanced through the diegetic sound playing in the background, as it makes the audience feel the suspense.

Props and special effects
In our film, we used a range of different props to help make our film more intense. We also used a special effect of "Cross Cutting" especially when involving the bag during the suffocation. There are two types of special effect categories; optical effects and mechanical effects. Optical effects are the effects where computer technology is needed after or during the filming, for example, SGI. Mechanical effects is where the use of props and effects which are physically used, for zombie skin make up.  When filming such an intense scene, we had to make sure the safety was completely safe.  To do so, our teacher emailed our exam board, enquiring about using a bag to suffocate the protagonist. They said it was okay, as long as the whole face wasn't shown with a bag over the models face. We took this advice on board, and decided to rip holes in the bag, firstly, the top half ( nose and up) and secondly, one in mouth.  We then took separate shots, one showing the mouth, but with the nose out, so I could still breathe, and one showing the nose covered, but with my mouth still out. Also, we had to use two bags. One during the suffocation, which had holes in it, and another bag ( a duplicate) when Rosemary shows Bella the murder weapon used during their conversation.  The main and primary prop that we used was the dog. The dog was there for two reasons. The first, was to give our antagonist a purpose for being in the woods in the first place. We found that a lot of thriller films have victims walking through desolate places, with no real purpose, so we used the dog, as a reasoning for why Tara is in the woods in the first place. The second reasoning, was because it made our antagonist appear more innocent and vulnerable. Walking your pet, is an everyday activity done by many people, so it also makes our film appear more relatable. Another prop that we used was the phone. We used an IPhone 6  (Which was also one of our characters phones) to help show communication. We found a sound effect on youtube, which showed the "Ringing" of the phone. This made our film have more suspense and create that climax, as no one answers the phone, and the audience can listen to the long, dragged out sound of a phone trying to communicate with another person. We also thought that using a phone shows a modern twist of technology used in our film, which conforms to the thriller genre.

Costumes- Antagonist and Protagonist
The mise en scene was very important during our filming. We made sure that our antagonist and protagonist conformed to their stereotypes in thriller films. We feel that what the characters are wearing, portrays a lot about them as a character, so it was vital that the costumes were effective. The protagonist  (The victim) - Tara is wearing a simple and yet innocent outfit. We show her in mainly long shots and medium shots, as this allows the audience to see her entire body frame, which obviously, includes what she is wearing. We decided to make our protagonist appear innocent and yet ordinary. The use of the large coat, suggests that its cold outside, meaning that people are not usually out and about in woods during the cold, winter months. The boots that Tara Is wearing are walking boots, so it conforms to the idea as to why she is in the woods. They are also brightly coloured, so the audience can clearly see where Tara is heading. The use of the normality of the clothing makes it more realistic and makes the protagonist seem more of a target. Furthermore, the protagonist Is wearing a hoodie, which conforms to teenagers is film. They are seen as lazy, un willing to do things, and un-useful, and we wanted our protagonist to come across as ordinary as possible, so the audience can relate to the character, and feel sympathetic towards her too. The protagonist is also wearing black trouser typed bottoms which we feel was effective. Firstly, the colour black connotes, death, danger, power and authority, which are all aspects shown in our film, especially during the assault. Also, black trousers conforms to the stereotype of protagonist girls, in thriller films, as they appear to be innocent and ordinary. In contrast, our antagonist had to be portrayed as the complete opposite of the protagonist, meaning being portrayed as scary, fearful and just as evil as possible. The costume, which was visible on screen, for the antagonist consisted of a black top, black bottoms, black jacket and a black baklava. As mentioned, the colour black connotes danger, power, and dominance, which our antagonist is shown to be. Using the colour black is also used in other thriller films such as "Taken3" and "The Dark Knight" so the colour conforms to the stereotype in current thriller films. The use of the head piece (The baklava) we also felt was effective. The primary reason for using the baklava, was because it hides away the antagonists identity. Thriller films stereotypically do not reveal who the antagonist is, especially if the character wants to remain unseen. However, we combined this idea, and our own individuality to make our film unique. Our antagonist took off the baklava after having performed the attack. This then surprises the audience, and will make them feel the suspense. It is also unique, as our antagonist Is a girl, which also adds diversity to our film. The antagonist is also wearing the same boots as the antagonist but in the colour black. This creates a sheer contrast between the concepts of good and evil, as the antagonists boots are black. Also, having the antagonist behind the protagonist, makes the antagonist appear more dominant and in control, which will make our audience feel suited to the film (as it conforms to thriller films) and feel the suspense that is created throughout the scene. The main shot of the antagonist is when the antagonist walks away, revealing her identity. This two shot/medium shot is effective, as Tara is lying on the ground, it will make the audience see her as weak and helpless, which 1- conforms to thriller films and 2- make the audience feel sympathy for her. In comparison, Rosemary ( the antagonist) is standing up and walking away, which makes her to appear to be the powerful and dominant person in the situation.

Fonts/font styles (opening credits)

_{^{This picture on the left, is a picture of the titles shown in our film. I feel that this was one of the weaker parts of our production, as I feel the font and transition of the text could have been placed in a better way.}} These opening titles allows the audience to see who is involved in the film, from acting to producing and costume designing, which enables them to see if there is any well known actors in it. Having well known actors usually attracts audiences due to the reputation of the actors acting history and success in previous films. Our opening credits began from the very start of our film, to the very end. This then conforms to any type of film in the industry. We  used effective transitions to make our titles conform to a thriller film. We used the "Smear" transition on our titles, which added a mysterious, dramatic and yet subtle effect to our titles. This then added more of an effect to our titles, and links in nicely with the content in our film. We chose to make our titles white, as this connotes purity and youthfulness, which links in with the protagonist in our film. The main reasoning for using this colour, was because we needed an appropriate colour that didn't look like it would appear unsophisticated and unprofessional. What we mean by this, is that we wouldn't want our titles to be pink, for example, as this wouldn't correspond with the content in our film, and would look silly and unprofessional. We also made sure that our credits faded in, then faded out. We don't want to take our audiences attention away from the action that is going on in the film, so if our titles suddenly jumped on the screen, then it would look messy and would distract our viewers. The font we used was called " Bold Sandscript" which help make our titles appear formal and look professional. It was also imperative, that our titles where in capitals, as this conforms to thriller films, so it shows a direct link from our film, to other thriller movies. We also made our font a reasonable size, so that it was legible for our audience, we had our font in size 100, which sounds big, but in reality was a beneficial size for our film. The titles appeared in different places on the screen, such as the corners, and centre left and centre right, this ensured that our audience would still view the titles, but would mainly be viewing the content that is going on in the film.

Title- The Alley

This is the title that you see at the end of our opening two minutes. There is a long pause, and there is no music, before "The Alley" is  pasted onto the screen. This creates a dramatic build up, and follows the basic rule of suspense to shock our target audience, this also conforms to thriller films.Having it at the end also ensures that this is the final images the audience remembers and imprinted in their minds , which would make them intrigued and wanting to watch more of "The Alley." We decided to keep the title of our film simple, yet effective. We feel that using short, monosyllabic, snappy words keeps our audience on edge, as not much Is revealed and is kept vague and ambiguous. Other thrillers such as "Taken", "Spectre" "The Revenent" are also examples of similar titles to ours. We decided to make our font of the title white, as this creates a sheer contrast to the background (which is black) using black and white together creates the idea of good vs bad, which can be seen through the antagonist and protagonist in our film. Also, as the white text is over the top of the background, it suggests that the "good" is trying to outshine/ overdo the bad, which can be seen in our film, when the best friend of Tara's ( Ellie) receives a mysterious text towards the end of the two minutes. To reinforce the suspense and tension, we cut out the soundtrack which was playing throughout the film, and then just added a "Boom" typed sound effect over the top, as the title bursts onto the screen. We feel this will shock our audience, and make them feel the suspense and tension that we hope they have felt in viewing our film.


Editing:

Editing is an essential part of putting a film together, as it makes the whole process come together. We used "Adobe CS4" to edit our film, and put all of our shots together. We mainly used transitions such as "Fade in " and "Fade out". This made all of our shots fit nicely together, and look subtle, and mysterious at the same time. They also conform to thriller
films, as using a weird transition such as "Page turner" or "star turn" would look silly and unprofessional. We ensured that our editing was accurate and precise so it would make our opening two minutes as professional as we could and to ensure the continuity of the film. An example of our editing skills was the match-on-action of when Tara is walking across the bridge and over to the other side.  We filmed one long shot of behind her, walking up to the bridge, then took a medium shot, and then a cantered angle of her walking across the bridge.  The match on action is effective, as it helps to enhance the mise en scene that Tara is wearing. It also helps to keep the audience engaged as the camera work makes it look like the audience are watching at every angle, where she is heading, which creates suspense through the diegetic music playing as well. The use of the dog, helps to enhance the audiences attraction towards the film, as they can clearly see that the dog and Tara are heading into something dangerous. We also used match on action when filming Ellie at the coffee shop. This was proven to be difficult however, as we kept catching our reflections in the mirrors of the shop. This meant that we had to move ourselves and the camera in order to avoid this. ( you can view this when watching our bloopers video) We did lots of different shots around Ellie, as we really wanted the audiences attention to be around the phone. We played around with the IPhone "call settings" to change the name to Tara. This  made sure that we didn't break any rules in continuity in our film. Having used two different locations in our film, it meant that we could use a more broad range of shots. Using different locations also ensures that our audience do not get bored watching the same scenery, so cross-cutting meant our film was exciting and always had different shots used. In addition to using different locations, it meant that we could use different point of view shots. This was effective as it made the audience feel like they were part of the action, which thriller films also do. Prevalence is also shown within the protagonist in the film. Prevalence shows how much screen time is shown to a particular character, and results in the audience sympathising with them. We used prevalence on Tara, as we feel this does make the audience sympathise with her, and enhances her vulnerability. Another type of editing technique used was the shot reverse shot between Rosemary and Bella. We took different shots of the girls conversation from over the shoulders. We feel that this was extremely effective, as it made the audience engage with the conversation, and also makes them feel part of the conversation. Shot reverse shot is used a lot in thriller films also. The main two transitions that we used was fading to black and cross cutting. The cross cutting helped us portray the two locations by snapping to another shot. The fading to black was effective, as it was a simplistic and sophisticated way of changing to the next scene, without it being to sharp, or overbearing for our target audience. Transitions can do 3 things. 1- Show a change in location ( what our transition we believe successfully shows) 2- imply a passage of time, and 3- emphasise a connection, perhaps between what a character is thinking about.

Storyline and Genre:

The genre of our film is a thriller, we did this as we felt it would be fun to film, and also show diversity as most people choose to film a horror. The basic storyline of our opening two minutes shows a girl walking her dog, on her way to meet her friend, and on the way gets assaulted by a unknown character. Soon to realise, that she has been set up to kill her by another mysterious women. The audience then discover that the protagonist is still alive, through the abrupt movement of the hand. We all really like this storyline. We feel that a innocent girl getting assaulted really conforms to thriller films shown in the media today. Using the bag to suffocate the victim, we felt was very cleverly shot and though about. We feel that is was unique, as not many films involve suffocation, but rather stabbings and gun shots.  From our research, we found that thriller films usually involve a antagonist trying to cause problems in the protagonists life, due to revenge from whether it be a old, historic feud in families, or if they have been set up to do it through a person of a higher social standing. We took this research on board, and decided to go through with the higher social standing aspect. In this case, Bella has set Rosemary up to kill Tara, and this leaves a slight cliff hanger as to why Bella wants Tara dead. Also, we all like watching thriller films, so we thought creating a thriller would be fun, but also we would be able to show our understanding as we watch many thriller films in our spare time. We also feel that the suspense built up from the protagonist being followed is an aspect shown a lot in thriller films. Thriller films always use the basic rule of suspense, and always have some kind of dramatic climax. Our film we feel shows this, through the music, content and acting.

OUR FINAL FILM

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Presentation Overview Of Our Film

After we made our film, we received feedback from other members of the class. We presented our film and our choices, which we worked upon at the beginning of the year. It was interesting to get a range of different feedback comments, from both male's and female's,. This meant that we could get different perspectives and viewpoints from different genders, suggesting that they would both have different factors to think about. e.g the boys may be more interested in the action and the aggressive violence presented in our film,and the girls may be more interested in the costumes and the girls's friendship. We got lots of positive points regarding the sound in our film. We used a soundtrack on our film, which was eerie and sinister. Although, this may conform to a horror, film we added in extra sound effects and files which enabled our audience to feel the suspense and be able to relate it to a thriller film. One girl in the feedback stated " I really like how the sound drops in the film which conforms to a thriller genre." This idea i feel we also did well. we used the sound level monitor on adobe premiere elements, which allowed us to edit how loud we wanted the music to be in our film. This meant that the sound levels fluctuated  meaning that the audience could also feel the suspense. 

Another student mentioned "I like how they manipulated using the bag, so the actress still wasn't harmed." We feel that we did this well, as the idea of suffocation is very extreme and violent. We had to ensure that the character/ person wasn't harmed during the assault and we feel we did this successfully. We cut holes in parts of the bag, and then took footage on the camera at different intervals. This gave the illusion of someone being suffocated, when actually they were breathing the whole time.  People also seemed to take a strong liking to the use of our cross cutting. We cross cutted to show the audience two locations. We feel that this made our film more interesting, as it meant that the audience wouldn't get bored with watching the same location all the time. By using a local area such as the coffee shop, it made the scene more relatable, especially to our target audience of 15 year olds. 

However, we did get some constructive criticism, on our film. One person metioned "They could have used different fonts on their titles" We all also agree with this to an extent. We feel that using different titles would have made the it look more thriller like. However, we also feel that if we changed all of our titles, it could have looked messy and unsophisticated. So this is the reasoning why we didn't change the font. However, we have taken this advice on board, and we will use it to help us in the future of our film making. 

What We Get Up To In Our Lessons

Time Management in Filming

When putting our film together, it was imperative that we reached the deadline. Currently. our film is almost complete, however we still need to tweak a few parts such as: Sound levels, Titles and making sure our scenes all fit together in a smooth flowing way. Below is a timeline of our lessons and how we plan to use our time in them, this will ensure that we meet the deadline for our film, and we are happy with our final result.

DEADLINE:  FRIDAY 12TH FEBRUARY 2016!! - THREE LESSONS LEFT! 

Today ( Tuesday 2nd February 2016)-

We are all working together on our film, mainly focusing on the sound levels and sound effects.
Mae and Katy are working on their blogs, and putting together the extra videos for our blogs.

Tuesday 9th February 2016-

Mainly focusing on the titles and timing, ensuring that they all fit onto the screen-line perfectly without any faults or weird transitions. 
Also look at sound effects- can we make them louder? quieter? Ensure that it fits our film perfectly.

Thursday 11th February 2016- ( LAST DAY! BEFORE DEADLINE) 

Keep watching the film over and over again, get our teacher, and other students to watch our film and listen to their feedback. can we adjust anything to make our film better? 

Watch the film slowly, to see if there are any faults. 

Get our teacher to watch our film again, any final adjustments that we can make?



---------> We have spare time in our frees and after school to spend more time on our film, so we will use these if we feel like we are falling behind.

Sound Effects in Filming

Breathing Sound Effect:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1MPgNGI1Ao&spfreload=10

For our film, we used a soundtrack to cover the whole film, however, we feel that there wasn't enough sound effects to really make our audience feel on edge and be part of all the action. One sound effect we added in was breathing at the end of the film when the title of our film comes onto the screen. We found a non-copyrighted sound clip of a women breathing in a scary manor. This links to our film, as when the protagonist becomes suffocated, we can hear her breathing there, so we wanted to incorporated the breathing at the end, to show a direct link of the assault in our film. It also adds a mysterious effect to the film, as it shows that Tara is still alive, this creates the dramatic climax, as to why she was killed in the first place. I feel that using the breathing sound effect was really effective.

Bang Sound Effect:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-_JmN2rUNM

We felt that the soundtrack didn't have enough shocking and dramatic sound effects to it. So we added in extra sound effects. We want to make our audience feel on edge, and be scared/shocked as this is a common convention used in thriller films. It was also easier adding in the extra effect, as we could adjust the sound levels on Adobe, and even copy and paste the same sound effects to different parts in our film. This made it easier and more understandable. Having shock outbursts of "bang/boom" sound effects will make our audience be shocked and this is one of the factors that we feel is one of the most important in our film.

Voice Mail Sound Effect: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBrNZrzLVHs

We also added in a voice mail sound effect to our film. This enhances the idea of technology being in our film ( the phone.) The voice mail is effective, as it is the sound that your phone makes when no one has picked up or answered. This makes the audience question why Tara hasn't answered the phone, in which the audience later realise, that she has been attacked. Most films use gadgets and phones in thrillers, so using the voice mail effect enhances the idea of technology and also increases the dramatic climax.

Filming Schedule #2

We unfortunately couldn't get all of our filming done in one day, so this was our second film schedule for when we filmed at Costa coffee in Leatherhead.

Tuesday 22nd December 2015:

1:00pm- Arrive at Costa

1:05pm- Brought drinks and chatted for a bit before filming

1:20pm- Set up camera and tripod onto the correct angles and viewpoints needed for filming

1:30pm-  Began filming.

1:40pm- Struggling to get into character, so had a break to talk about where we were going wrong.

1:50pm- Finished the rest of the scene accurately.

2:00pm- Looked at all of our shots to see any faults, meaning that we would have to do the scene again.

2:10pm- re-filmed a few scenes.

2:20pm- Went home and uploaded blogs from our day.