Friday, 8 April 2011

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.

Thursday, 7 April 2011

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?

Wednesday, 6 April 2011

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.