Wednesday, 6 March 2013
Thursday, 21 February 2013
Evaluation Question 7
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back at the beginning of this media course our
preliminary task went better than I thought it would have done, we sorted
everything out in terms of filming relatively quickly and took about one day
although we had to re-film some parts on another day due some errors we made by
breaking the 180 degree rule, we fixed this quickly and effectively, there was
also a problem with our match on action shot which didn’t go as well as we
hoped so we also had to re-film this at a different stage but got sorted in the
end. Overall the preliminary task I think went relatively well and this was due
mostly to our group because we had already pre planned everything we needed to
and were very organised as well. Our previous errors in our preliminary task
ensured we didn’t make the same mistake for our final media project which went
even smoother, we were more experience because of all the lessons with the
cameras, we already knew how to use the important part of Final Cut Express and
our group was very organised. We all did the work and filming on time so we didn’t
miss dead lines which would cause problems and this led to a smooth project
without any difficulties.
Evaluation Question 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
One of the major things I have learnt during this project is
the use of Final cut express (FCE), on this programme I learnt about all the
tools and gadgets used to edit a series of clips to make a constant sequence. I
learnt how to use the effects and add them on my clips, this helped with making
the opening sequence look and feel like a horror and not just a series of clips
put together randomly. I also learnt about other things on the programme such
as what the letter meant:
I- mark in, O- mark out, this was used for cutting sections
out.
B- This was also used for cutting but I found this a lot
simpler because you click on the parts you want to cut and just click delete
afterwards.
Another new thing I learnt about during this project was how
to use blogger, this was where we placed all of our work and anything we felt
was relevant when we were planning, researching and all the other things, we
learnt how to integrate things like YouTube videos, files off scribd, prezi and
a lot more programmes and software’s.
Another new programme I learnt to use was prezi, this was a
mind mapping programme which enabled you to create all sorts of mind maps which
looked a lot better than the simple pencil and paper ones, I learnt how to add
videos, images and files onto the presentations which helped me present my work
in a much more effective way.
We also learnt how to get files of word and PowerPoint onto
our blogs by using scribd which had an embed code of our work so we could
publish it onto our blog as evidence of us doing work and doing research for
our main media project.
Evaluation Question 5
How did you attract/ address you audience?
I interviewed my cousin to see what kind of response they
will have when the view the opening sequence for the first time. He is 15,
lives in west London
and loves watching movies so this will be a good opportunity to see what people
who haven’t seen or heard of it yet think. I have told my cousin to give his
honest opinion even if he doesn’t end up liking it. The questions I will be
asking will consist of the genre, editing, camera shots, soundtrack and the
overall perspective of the film opening.
Me: Viewing this opening sequence for the first time what
genre would you say it was?
Cousin: I thought that the film was probably something like
a drama, action or thriller because of the body on the floor and when you hear
the voiceover. It’s scary but it doesn’t
look like a horror so I think it’s like a thriller or mystery.
Me: How did the editing look in terms of cuts and effects?
Cousin: I thought that the editing was very good. My favourite
part was at the beginning when it’s like your looking out of their eyes and it’s
all blurry and also when you see the blink it makes it look all so real and it
just makes the opening better as a whole. Also I liked the production logo at
the beginning because it looked like a real one and how all the editing came
together, it fitted really well together and this was one of the reasons I thought
it was more of a thriller or drama than anything else.
Me: Did you like the camera shots and angles?
Cousin: There was a variety of different shots but again my
favourite has to be the point of view one where you see what the person is
seeing but overall I think that all the shots worked well together and made it
look professional.
Me: Do you think that the soundtrack went well with the
opening sequence?
Cousin: I think that the soundtrack which kept running
throughout the sequence fitted really well with it and made it look and feel a
lot better when watching it because the music is like a thriller or mystery
genre as well so it fitted very well with the video.
Me: What was you overall opinion of the opening sequence?
Cousin: I think that the opening sequence is very good because
it was made by only a couple of students and things like the production logo
and the editing made it seem like a professional short movie and I liked the
soundtrack a lot because it went really well with the opening sequence.
Me: What do you think I could have done to make it better
than it already is?
Cousin: I think that the story isn’t very obvious and that
there is some confusion in the middle of it where the people are talking to each
other which I don’t understand and also the credits I think could have been a
bit better so they look a bit more professional.
What I have gathered from the interview is that my opening
sequence has worked very well in terms of editing, soundtrack and the genre but
it seems as if I could have made it a bit simpler so everybody understands it
and also the credits I think as well could be improved.
Evaluation Question 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
For our opening sequence we decided to have Kenya as the
villain, one of the main reasons for this is that she has studied drama for
GCSE which meant that it wasn’t difficult for her to enter a different role all
together seeing as this was one of the toughest roles because the character had
to look different from the rest of the crowd. Seeing as she is one of the main
characters her hair which is very different to the common female portrayal in
most films made her stick out and made the audience follow what she was doing
at all times so they could fit the puzzle together. One other important thing
we did to fit the conventions of a thriller is the use of the colour of the
clothes, we decided she should wear dark clothing which helped by the opening
sequence helped connote fear, evil, suspicious behaviour and also tension. With
all this put together the audience automatically there is a dark secret behind
her and is not entirely what she looks.
‘Claire’ who is played by Kenya is the villain within our
movie, she seems intimidating and has a very short temper, she also likes things
to go her way without anybody stopping her and will do whatever she pleases,
this character is very similar to the ones form the film ‘The Roommate’ which
we based our film on and got inspiration from. The two characters are
represented in the same way, they seem lonely and friendly at first from the
villains point of view but as time goes by the truth gets revealed slowly but
not in a pleasant way. This kind of attitude and behaviour is revealed in the
opening sequence with Claire’s voice being heard talking about how she loves
being in control.
There are some things in common between the two characters
and that is that they are both lonely and don’t seem to have any real friends
that they can be with or trust.
The differences between the villains in our film and ‘The
Roommate’ is that we use body language and voice to reveal what kind of
character Claire really is whereas ‘The Roommate’ uses facial expressions and
mostly actions to show the audience the secrets.
For our film we decided that Claire wouldn’t be the ordinary
villain, where in most films the villains are tough men, here we have a female,
but this doesn’t affect Claire because we decided that she would be clever and
will find different ways of dealing with people when they don’t obey her and
this is revealed a bit in the opening sequence with the spiking of the drink.
Evaluation Question 1
In what way does you media product
use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Within our opening sequence we
didn’t wish to challenge the conventions of a thriller genre in a way that our
target audience may not gather what genre our movie is.
In a way we did ever so slightly
challenge the conventions because our thriller wasn’t the typical kind of one
you would usually see, instead of the typical one where somebody gets kidnapped
or attacked we decided to look at other successful thrillers which are not
directly associated with that, so in this case we decided to make ours about
obsession with a slight twist which we hope will surprise and catch the
audience out when watching it to keep them satisfied at all time throughout.
I will use these four screenshots
of our actually opening sequence I will use to best describe the conventions we
used in our thriller.
Screenshot 1:
The first screen shot consists of our victim laying on the
floor dead, this is an example of our opening sequence not challenging the
typical conventions of a thriller because the majority of thriller always seem
to have a murder and we decided to add this because it was one of the obvious
conventions which enabled the audience to understand that this is a thriller,
we decided to put this shot very near to the beginning of our sequence to
create mystery and suspense which is used more often than not within a thriller
and even some films outside the thriller genre.
Screenshot 2:
The second screenshot is of our victim being held by the arm
by our villain, within this frame our group also decided to follow the codes
and conventions of a thriller, the villain is a female which is one of the most
important codes usually seen in all thriller movies, this is due to the fact
that women are usually seen as objects who cant fend for themselves in
dangerous and risky situations.
Screenshot 3:
Within this frame we decided to do an over shoulder shot
where only the victim is seen but the person with their back to us which is the
villain is not revealed at that moment in time, these makes the audience
suspicious and desperate to find out who that is, what is going on and why this
is happening, so a lot of question are being asked which get revealed in the
film.
Screenshot 4:
This is one of the ways our opening sequence only slightly
challenges the conventions of a thriller, we use a chalkboard font which in the
scenario we have in the opening sequence creates a depressing scenario which
plays with the emotions of the audience. It also in a sense creates a bit of
mystery as to why this black and white font is used for this kind of opening
sequence, we did it to mix things up and not create the typical opening
sequences the audience has seen many time before, this will keep the audience
engaged and wary as to what is happening at all times.
Evaluation Brief
Within our opening sequence for our film we had one of the
characters (Claire) look under the influence of some sort of drug which has
ended with her strolling around on a side road walking unstably, here we also
added a point of view with a blurry image of what she would be seeing at this
moment in time. We then had a clip where Janet’s voice is heard with a blank
screen, following this we see Claire and Janet meet each other for the first
time where they bump into one another, Janet finds a piece of paper which she
uses to find out Claire’s number and calls her. Janet goes to visit Claire where
an awkward and tense conversation is seen but not heard, after this you see one
of the drinks getting spiked and Claire losing it, you witness her dancing but
the effect of this is changed with a few modifications on final cut express
where we made it slow motion which made it chilling and depressing, what
follows is Janet whispering in Claire’s ear in a frightening way and the ending
of our opening sequence with the title “Just Friends?” popping up straight
after.
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
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