What we have learnt from out Preliminary task

Here is a link to details on what we have learnt since our preliminary task

Who would be the audience for our product?

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In the creation of the opening sequence product we have learnt a wide range of technological skills.  In which we have practiced and developed during the making of this media project.  We used experience from the preliminary project and developed our understanding of how different camera shots, and edits helped to create the feel of a mysterious horror.
For example:Shots
We really got a handle and understanding of what shots worked well in certain places of production.  A slow reverse zoom from an extreme close up of a hair brush gave suspense and a mysterious effect.  A circular pan of the character sitting down works as an establishing shot of the short scene.  In story boarding/filming we made sure we focused on the object shots as this would help represent the process of a female daily routine.

 

Lighting
With our film we wanted to accomplish an effective horror.  So during filming we tried to use less light.  However, when we uploaded the video's on to the Macs, we realised that the lighting was too dark and quite grainy.  In the end we decided to re-record with the main lights of the room on a higher setting.  This managed to work out well.  As the room still looked quite dim, the effect we were going for.

 

Editing

When editing the opening sequence we used the apple macs to upload the recordings we had taken.  On these there are different software's that were very helpful in production.  Such as imovie and garage band.  These were very successful in helping us to produce our short films.    

 

Sound
As we were not permitted to use copyright protected music, our group decided to search myspace for a soundtrack that would fit well with our theme.  It needed to have beats but at the same time have a slow and muffled sound.  we managed to fulfill this by using garage band (a software on Macs).  We added affects until we were happy.

 

Equipment and technologies used in production:

• Video camera - We used the video camera to capture all of our shots for the opening sequence.
• Tripod - The tripod was used when when filming a steady shot, Like an extreme close-up.
• Apple Mac  - These were used the whole way through the production process.
• Camera - A camera was used to keep track of all the work we were doing production.
• i-movie - Used to edit the opening sequence, by putting in different cuts, fades and graphics.
• My Space - This was used to find a sound track which is not protected by copyright.
• Garage Band - This software was used to edit the soundtrack found to make it more original to fit the genre of film.
• YouTube - Our group used YouTube to watch examples of similar opening sequences.  To get an idea of what worked well without using too many cliches.
• Google - This search engine was used to look for examples of company logos.
• Candles - These were used as an eerie looking light source.  Whilst sampling, we found that the candles really worked in collaboration with the video camera and gave off a significantly effective light.
• Facebook - We used facebook to keep in contact with each other, sending links and photos to one another.  We also printed some pictures of typical looking social groups to stick up on the wall in order to be filmed as we had designed.

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

Here is a link to our presentation on the way our media product may be distributed: http://prezi.com/-y3ormmflhaz/media-institutions-distribution-companies/

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

It is clear to see that the main social group of our film is teenagers. In order to interest this age group we decided the main character of our film should be of a similar age, which we believed was a good way to enable viewers to relate with the actions of 'Hope'.

The character 'Hope' fits the natural teenage stereotype of a young female in many ways, for example the use of a dressing table is seen as a natural furniture piece owned by all women as a place to resume their beauty regime. Here on the right is an example of a woman advertising perfume seated at her dressing table.

The use of beauty products is also typically linked to females. The lipstick shot we created gives a strong feminine feel to the film. Red lipstick is often associated with promiscuous women and the close up of the placement of lipstick on Hope's lips presents a sense of mystery similarly to the image of this woman.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Editing

The editing process took us two weeks to complete. During this time we gathered ideas on placement of shots as a group and each gave input in order to personalise the film exactly how we wanted to make it. We decided that our film should consist of abstract shots to create an eerie feel, this would also enable us to hide the identity of our killer.

The credits we decided to use are 'clip video' titles. These titles allowed us to experiment by using a range of techniques to get the titles exactly how we desired. Our aim was to create titles which fitted with our horror genre, yet did not copy other films we has researched upon.

Our group email

Youtube Account Creation And Group Email

We created a group email to enable organisation of any work that we all as a group need to view this enables us to make sure we have a backup of work so our entire group can view the work this means if someone isn't in and they have access to internet they can send work so others can publish it to there blog and also use in practical lessons.

The youtube account creation enables the group to save videos of influences to our favourites which we can then use on our blogs for future reference and also it allows us to post our videos we create.

In what ways does our media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The title of our film
The title of our film is displayed in the final frame of our opening piece, this allows a build up to be made in order to reveal the identity of who one would assume to be the unidentified mysterious character.  We used a large sized font to create the title, which allows the audience to see behind the titles which gives a sense that something is to be unveiled.

Setting/location

The setting we decided to choose to shoot our opening sequence was in a simple bedroom area, this was set at my house. We used a traditional style white dressing table in order to give an angelic feel to the environment, this contrasted with the dimmed candle lit light. Furthermore an example of a movie set in a homely area is the introduction of "American Psycho", the lighting in this film contrasts to the actions that are to take place in the film similarly to ours. The difference is that our movie begun with a chilling atmosphere due to the light we used within a safe and comfortable setting.

Props
Props we decided to use in our film are seen to be conventional female beauty products which are used on a daily basis whilst getting ready. These props would not be found in a typical horror movie. One item we used to create a typical horror atmosphere was a standard large kitchen knife. This knife is similar to those used in horror movies such as the shower scene in 'Psycho'.

Camerawork and editing

The shot in our opening sequence which is influenced strongly by the film 'Se7en' is the one where Hope is filing her nails which is taken up close, similarly to that of the hand in Se7en where a hand is shown to be sewing.

This shot creates the mysterious atmosphere we were aiming to create. It also keeps the identity of Hope hidden from the audience watching.

Title, font and style

The style of credits we used in our film were influenced by the style of those used in the movie 'Se7en'.

Using the same style of writing for each of our credits creates mystery due to the writing being see-through, using this creates suspense as to what is happening behind the text.

The style of font we used is simple yet effective and has not been used in any other movies we researched, which suggests out credits were an original idea. A comparison could be made between our credits and those which are presented in the movie "Se7en".

Story and how the opening sets it up 

The opening sequence we have put together sets up the rest of the film by introducing a character who's identity is hidden from the audience. This enables the set up of the following scenes to slowly reveal the identity of the character Hope. This is similar to the use of hidden character in the film 'Texas chainsaw massacre' which creates suspense and suggests something is to take place.

Genre and how the opening the suggests it
It is made clear from the opening sequence that the genre of our movie is horror. This is shown through the eerie music which creates an unsettling feeling, whilst the abstract camera shots create an unsafe environment. The opening sequence we created gives off the same vibes felt through watching 'Se7en', it creates suspense and unsettles the watcher in to wondering what will take place as little is given away whilst watching the opening and only a build up of tension is made.

How characters are introduced
There is only one character introduced in our opening sequence. The character of Hope which we introduce from the very beginning of the film has her identity hidden from the audience, all the audience can see from the start is the character from behind revealing long feminine blonde hair. We then reveal parts of Hope through various camera shots such as the lips and hands. Revealing the hands of the character before letting the audience see the face allows them to focus on the actions of the character, this is similar to in 'Se7en when we can see the actions of the actor but not the identity.

Filming of pictures.

In lesson time, Stephanie and I put together a range of photos and magazine articles relating to the character of HOPE, whilst Antar and Tom worked on the editing. We gathered up group images of 'Hope' and cut out articles such as 'how to be happy in a social situation' which we found to be of relevance to the film we were creating. After doing this we placed the images on a blank wall and created a collage, this was then filmed close up with a monopod to create a personal effect and draw attention to HOPE'S personality meanwhile hiding her identity.

Filming Shoot two.

The second shooting of Hope took place during half term, it was much more of a success than the previous shooting. It allowed us to work on the faults from the previous time and improve our work. We found that using candles to create light around the dressing table prevented the shot from being too dark, adding to the light for some scenes we used a lamp to create extra light and to create shadows creating an eerie feel. This worked especially well when HOPE reaches in to the drawer for the nail file, as when her finger is running along the knife, the light follows her finger and reflects off of it.

Furthermore, we improved our camerawork by working on the steadiness of the shots by using the monopod when possible. Due to some of the shots being at awkward angles we had to use handheld camerawork, this proved difficult to get perfect non-shaky shots but we repeated the shots until they were correct.

The shots included did not follow the storyboard exactly, as some had to change due to it facing to be too difficult. But as a whole the shots we planned to include in the film were included, but varied in order. Shots we still needed to film were the pictures on the wall, which we were able to do in lesson time and the S.T.A.N. logo.

The Filming.

On the first filming session we experimented with lighting in order to see what worked. After looking over the material we filmed, we found that the darkness prevented the viewer to see exactly what was taking place. This meant that in our next filming session we would look at ways to improve this situation. The ideas we came up with using were: candles, torches and lamps.

We also found that some shots were slightly shaky, so would try to improve this by using the tripod more often, rather than using hand held camera work. To add to this some shots were difficult to film, for example the shot looking over 'HOPE'S' shoulder was an awkward position, especially due to not being able to include her face in the shot.

There was also an issue with the amount of shots we were planning to include, as many of which didn't go as planned. For example the shot of including a title within spilt nail polish was near impossible as the nail varnish dried to quickly, so we decided to cut this from our film. We replaced this with a close up of the red nail varnish bottle and 'HOPE' playing with it, which looked similar to playing with blood.

S.T.A.N. logo- development of idea

Whilst experimenting with creating the S.TA.N. logo to include at the beginning of our film, we tried out using spray paint but decided that using Black acrylic paint on white A3 card would give a more professional look. We also had to think about how we would film the logo, we decided we would film the logo using a monopod to enable the shot to be completely steady. Stephanie held the logo as we filmed from different angles and using different ideas. For example we experimented with keeping Stephanie's hands in the shot, but we decided it would look better just filming the logo with a simple zoom out.

Coming up with the S.T.A.N. logo

We as a group came up with the idea of inserting a production logo at the beginning of our project. The idea begun as a simple sketch, we then developed this by deciding to use real life hands holding the 'S.T.A.N. productions' sign. This would give the feel that there is an image inside another image, and would be effective as an abstract extra to the project, in order to give a personal feel. 

Casting shot for the character of 'Hope'

This is an image of our main character 'Hope'. The person we decided to use to play this part is Stephanie Parker as she fitted the profile description we were aiming to fulfil. We wanted the character of 'Hope' to look like an average teenage girl. 

Here we can see from this image that Stephanie has simple characteristics and light blonde hair which gives the sense of innocence which is the opposite of Hope's behaviour. This contrast will work well in the film as it will surprise the audience.

The title

We are currently in the process of editing our main title. Our plan is to adapt the text in photoshop by adding graphical imagery of a dark angel. This would enhance the effect of the title, making it original and relevant to the film. The angel we have decided to experiment with was found on google images. This angel could be seen as metaphorical to Hope's name as the name can be defined as  'to wish for with the expectation of fulfillment'. 

Preliminary Project- Nikita, Steph, Antar, Tom

The set brief for our Video project is to create the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes. This blog will document the pre-production, production and evaluation stages of this project.


Our overall practical assessment included all features which needed to be included in order to pass, but it is clear to see that we need to improve on the editing in order to create a more effective piece of filming. We chose a simple location which allowed us to keep the focus upon the characters, and no unneeded footage was included. To add to this the sound consistency was not great due to noises from the camera, but the dialogue was good meaning the audience was kept interested. The camera shots were all steady, but next time the continuity in order for the clip to flow needs to be improved as at points the editing caused footage to appear jumpy. Overall we found that we need to become more confident whilst editing our filming, and should spend longer doing so to enable us to create a more successful piece...

Target Audience

Here is a link to our presentation on our Targeted audience for our film.

Research: editing

After viewing the editing used in 'Sin City', as a group we decided that it was effective using black and white/sepia footage with the contrast of the red dress and lipstick. We experimented using I-movie to create red lips on 'Hope' whilst having black and white footage. But were unable to find a setting which would allow us to do so, as we could only create a red beam on our footage which looked out of place when the actor moved.

After failing to create the red lips, we came to the conclusion that editing the footage using the black and white setting or the sepia, would convey the eerie atmosphere we were hoping for.

Equipment checklist

Whilst planning the filming, we decided that it would be helpful to create a checklist of what we needed in order to film. After looking through our storyboard, we gathered a list of the props and planned who would need to bring what.  

OUR CHECKLIST:
-video camera
-camera
-hair brush
-nail varnish
-photos for wall
-mirror
-house
-hair bands
-nail kit
-year book
-tea-light candles


THINGS WE NEED TO BUY BEFORE FILMING:
-tea-light candles
-red nail varnish
- printouts of photos and newspaper cuttings for scenery

We decided researching and making a personal font for the credits in our opening sequence was a good idea in order to create a sense of our genre of horror. This is seen as an important stage when editing our film. We want the genre to be clear from simply looking at the writing and creating a sense of individuality.

Synopsis

Present day, London. HOPE, the name of a young teenage girl; a well know face with in the community;with no known enemies HOPE was a popular girl with friends, family and others. She was achieving above average in her academics and had won many awards for her dancing. Life seems great in Hope's perspective, until one night of a distressing event... we first meet HOPE as she is devising plans in her room; these plans where to isolate one girl, VELNA her best friend before the events which destroyed HOPE'S life. She plans and depicts to cause her pain and grief like her own, by killing VELNA'S friends and loved ones. Gruesome murders take place, all victims from VELNA's life, she becomes more isolated, more panicked from what is happening all round her. no clues, no evidence to who has carried out these attacks the only link is VELNA.

Storyboard

Location

The location we decided to use as a group was a simple room located in a house. The room has blank white walls and has bright lighting, but the shots we were planning to do were at night so the daylight did not effect us.We planned to then empty the room to simply leave a dressing table and have Hope seated at it.

☆ Dubstep ☆ The Widdler - Technobabble

 In order to find music which was not copyrighted we researched examples of dubstep music on MySpace. After looking through many examples of music we found a song in which Antar was able to edit on Garageband to create an effective piece, which would be able to build up tension, whilst keeping with the trends of a teenage girl.

www.myspace.com/widdlemethis
The song we used as a template for our movie is named "Technobabble".

In lesson we edited the song we previously came across and enjoyed, we felt parts of the song needed to be removed in order for it to fit well in our work. To do this we edited the song and removed parts using garage band. In doing so we made it suitable for our film.

Whilst experimenting with ideas to use in our movie we looked upon how we could use everyday items in order to create suspense. For example we thought of using the image of a zoomed in blow drying brush of which looks like a deathly object up close. The irony would be when zoomed out it would be an ordinary object.

Another example is using red nail varnish in order to trick audiences in to assuming its blood dripping/spilt at a first glance. We could then reveal that it is simply nail varnish which would be effective. This is similar to examples used in the "Dexter" morning routine.

Dexter: Morning Routine

We found that the morning routine in Dexter was a clever way to hint to as who the killer was in our film. The subtle hints as to a murderers way of killing is through the everyday life activities of preparing for a day at work. Examples of these are through using flossing material to look as if it could be used in a murderous activity such as strangling, squeezing red fruits to make a smoothie which looks like bloody parts of the body, or cutting in to bacon to look as if cutting in to flesh. We decided as a group that doing something along these lines would be a creative idea, so we decided to experiment with ideas similar to these ourselves. We came up with ideas such as using a close up filing nails to seem as if it is sawing a body part, using red nail varnish to look as if it is blood etc.

American Psycho - Intro to Patrick Bateman

We found that the technique used in the movie "American Psycho" of showing a contrast between the everyday routine of a normal man with the hidden life of him being a psychopath murderer, is an effective way of showing how a killer is not necessarily based upon one appearing as a typical unpresentable killer like in many movies. As we are using a woman in our movie, showing Hope's routine of getting ready would be a good idea as it would allow us to show how indifferent she is to an ordinary teenage girl.

Why We Picked Horror For A Genre

As a group we came to the decision that Horror was the best genre for us after brainstorming ideas and watching various movie clips to check out different styles. We knew our main aim was to create a clear obvious opening sequence which linked to the genre chosen, this led us to believe that the genre had many conventions we found to be of interest to us. It would allow us to experiment with sound, graphics, styles and use abstract ideas in order to create an experimental piece. To add to that the genre also interests me personally, so found that making an opening sequence of this kind would be enjoyable.  

Fonts

We decided researching and making a personal font for the credits in our opening sequence was a good idea in order to create a sense of our genre of horror. This is seen as an important stage when editing our film. We want the genre to be clear from simply looking at the writing and creating a sense of individuality.

Character Creation

Hope (Main Character)
Hope is an ironic name for the girls character within our film. She has been through a lot due to the incident involving her being raped. The name also resembles innocence, which also resembles her style of clothing which is pure. This contrasts with the idea of Hope planning the death of her friends.

Velna
Hope's former best friend. Hope aims to isolate Velna after being rejected by her after being raped. Velna is an intelligent character.

Charlie (Target 3) Sport Orientated. Ends paralyzed.

Aleksander. 

Velna's boyfriend. He is a very strong minded character.

Emma.

The innocence of the group of friends. She is a plain and simple character with no ambitions in life.

Our name choice was vital for the project in order to characterise our actors. We tried to find meaning behind names in order to build upon aspirations and personalities of characters and to convey a message.

In order to avoid cliches I decided that researching what cliches to avoid would be a good idea. So as a group we researched 'horror movie cliches' on the internet and found a very helpful website which told us which things to avoid. This helped us in order to distance our ideas to ones previously made.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning Opening Sequence

Se7en (Opening Credits)

We found that the example of the opening of the movie Se7en was a very good example of the effect we wish to create in our media project. It was successful in creating the mood of a horror movie and the effect of the video led the viewer to feel curious about the outcome of the movie. The music being quite jumpy also leads the viewer to feel uncomfortable, along with the jumpcuts which create a tense environment. The mixture of the graphic effects and different close ups of objects is also an idea my group would like to try out. We thought this may be helpful in order to hide the identity of the killer within our film.

T arget Audience.

The film may appeal to those aged between 15 to 29 years of age, both male and female. The reason for this assumption is that the storyline is based upon a teenage group who deal with issues which relate to teenage life such as popularity within school, relationships and friendship. It could also interest those who study film in further education or as a hobby, as it deals with many issues relating to adolescence. Furthermore those who enjoy the thrill of a slasher movie may be interested in the movie, but due to the teenage appeal of being able to relate with characters it is likely that older audiences may not be impressed by the violence, bad language and sexual references. On the other hand it is possible that the movie may appeal to a slightly older age group, as they may feel a sense of nostalgia due to experiencing the 1980’s slasher movies such as: Halloween, Scream etc. It is also clear that this film is inappropriate for young children and the elderly generation of people due to the themes it presents. 
The film may have difficulties reaching box office standards due to it being an independent movie, meaning the film has been made on a very low budget and no well known actors or settings have been used. Furthermore, British movies are generally less successful than American movies. These reasons lead to the conclusion that the movie will not bring in audiences as well as other movies.


The film Se7en has a similar theme to the film HOPE, so we believe our target audience should follow a similar pattern. This backs up our idea about who the film may appeal to. We can see on average that the movie Se7en appealed mainly to those aged between 15-29  and also on average adults up to the age of 45 also found the movie satisfying.




VotesAverage
Males 213,945 8.7
Females 33,271 8.5
Aged under 18 2,940 9.0
Males under 18 2,423 9.0
Females under 18 492 8.5
Aged 18-29 149,733 8.8
Males Aged 18-29 129,087 8.9
Females Aged 18-29 19,984 8.6
Aged 30-44 81,365 8.6
Males Aged 30-44 70,262 8.6
Females Aged 30-44 10,343 8.3
Aged 45+ 12,933 8.0
Males Aged 45+ 10,658 8.0
Females Aged 45+ 2,117 7.6
IMDb staff 46 8.5
Top 1000 voters 863 8.0
US users 72,139 8.6
Non-US users 148,752 8.7
IMDb users 300,140 8.7

Our ideas