TO DO

- Add photo's to Recce
- Add Films (prelim, 1 and 2)
- Add logo to film and sort youtube error

Feedback for improvement

Order the web-log so that the film is the last entry, then the evaluation questions in order and then research and planning.

Research/planning

You have location recce with photos.  Role allocation synopsis, mind map cast, schedule,  the script needs to show conventions of scriptwriting  in layout and screen direction. 

When discussing target audience use audience theory such as uses and gratification and demographics. Use the You-gov web-site to really explore a target audience

You discuss why you changed your idea and need to make this a focus of the evaluation

You need a new storyboard and thorough planning

Go through the answers for the evaluation and add to them for the new one.  Explain that you have made two separate ones.

In terms of the film there is good continuity at the start of the opening sequence with a range of shots interior and exterior including an establishing shot..  Show this camera direction in your script.  Appropriate titles and use of sound to evoke atmosphere.   A range of shot types and distances are edited with good pace with clear continuity.  There are some nice touches with sound and editing which create eerie noises and enhance certain shots.

Weaknesses include the fact is all shot in one house whereas your previous film used exterior shots which showed skill filming movement. Could you merge the two films at all? Shots going upstairs are quite dark and could be cut although I understand this is building tension they could be quicker and tighter. The title of the film pops up during this and may be more effective at the start.  Research should have provided a template for an opening sequence, confidence with the form is still shaky in some respects rather than feeling intuitive. The titles all need to happen at the start of the piece and then get into the narrative. Need to consider lighting in some shots. The narrative seems to  peter out at the end. You need to make it clear that there is a boy at the top of the stairs.

Put a Warner Brothers and the Skeleton Productions logo at the start

Put titles at the start

Talk about showing an audience and seeing if the idea of a second child works.

I think the end needs an effect to point out the boy on the stairs

Feedback January

Research and Planning - 12

Planning and research is partially incomplete, but there is much evidence of hard work throughout the process. There is proficient work into similar products, with detailed analysis, however this is let down by no research into potential target audiences. There is reasonable work into organisation of actors and locations, but little thought of costumes or props. There is proficient work on scripts, storyboards etc, however some of these obviously changed and this isn’t reflected on the blog. Overall the presentation is excellent and time management was reasonable.

Main Task – 40

The titles follow conventions and show a proficient use of appropriate fonts and technology. The material is appropriate for the task and is clearly a film opening; however I would have liked to see much more dialogue and development of the character throughout. Overall there are some proficient elements of sound build up, but there are one or two problems, notably with the hissing around the dialogue that isn’t faded in and out, this should have been re-recorded with a better microphone which was available to use. There isn’t a great variety of shot types, but there are a reasonable amount and some good camera movements. There is some attention to mise-en-scene and editing is proficient, conveying meaning to the viewer. The dark shots are too dark and to mean the audience may struggle to see what is happening and the door should slam at the end. However overall this is a proficient film opening.

Evaluation - Q7: 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 your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

We have developed really well as a team. At the start of filming (preliminary task), it was hard to describe how you wanted the actress to appear on screen and how to show this on a camera. However, as the knowledge progressed between us both, we knew how it would look on camera from both sides of the screen. We found it easier when we both knew the techniques and how to shoot with the camera from an audience perspective. 
We also developed quickness in shooting scenes, as we never finished the preliminary task due to deciding what movements to use and what shots were best. It is instinct now to know what to use as we know what these movements and angles can portray. 

We also know how to use the technology to our advantage now. If there were errors during the filming process, we felt like we had to re-film which we did on several occasions on our first film. This made the flow of the movie harder to track. As we knew how to edit out mistakes and make them less visible, we made them less obvious to spot just with editing and not wasting time retaking shots again and again. 

After studying how the audiences would react to certain angles and movements, we had a better understanding of what the audience could actually see. This applies mainly to match on actions and the 180 degree rule. We know now how to not confuse the audience and chose nice transitions from shot to shot.  

Evaluation - Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

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

Camera
From the first time ever using a camera for this type of product, I have progressed a lot from the first time use of preliminary task, to the first movie, to the final movie. We used a decent camera which could of been at higher quality since we needed a better pick up on light sources since we wanted to film in the dark. Also, the camera wouldn't focus on quick movements or changing from dark to light resulting in this; 

We used this to our advantage however it adds to the horror effect of being blurred and disorientated. We got more nicer flowing shots in the final production as we became more skilled with the camera and how it would look to audiences. The match on movements would be a smoother transition than the first match on action in the preliminary task. We also had a much better understanding of knowing exactly what we wanted to let the audience see and found the balance of mystery by keeping things away from the audience. As we became more skilled, it became quicker to take shots as I knew which angles I wanted and needed to portray a certain aspect of the movie and so it was much easier to direct the actors/actresses around on set.

Adobe Premier Pro

With never using Adobe editing software ever before making movies for media, we started from scratch. At first we didn't know how to add effects onto certain shots to make it look more like a horror movie and didn't know how to block out and unwanted reflections. By experimentation we learnt the Adobe Premier pro software quickly, being able to perform advanced editing skills such as blocking out the reflections in the kitchen windows and adding sound wherever we needed it, such as the footsteps heard when the Mother is on the phone. 

Adobe After Effects

Again, like Premier Pro, we had no previous experience with using this software. We managed to animate a still image from google by suiting the genre of the movie. We chose a skeleton to link with the conventions of horror. We faded in font of the production company 'Skeleton Productions' which made the film look more professional and made the viewers aware it belonged to a certain company which they may wish to look into if they enjoyed the movie as there might be similar movies which this company has released for instance. All movies started with the opening logo to sell the company of the movie. This made the sequence look more like an opening scene. 

Blogger

Like many of the software and equipment, I also have never used blogger before. I was unaware of the functions blogger was capable of such as embedding clips from YouTube and over embedding feature such as power points. This makes displaying information on the blog easier and gives more creative answers. By keeping all blog posts on one website, it made it easier to track progress of the film and see my own progress. 

Lighting

One thing I would like to focus more on next time I create movies would be lighting. Lighting is the main area of improvements I feel for the opening sequence. With better lighting or specific lighting, this would make the movie look more realistic and at a much better quality. Quality can put many audiences off the movie just because of lighting issues and visual issues. I would like to learn about lighting techniques further on in my media education and experiment more with horror movies and lighting.

Sound Effects

The sound quality on the camera wasn't as good as we liked it to be. The microphone picked up background noise more than actual dialogue. We decided to move the next movie indoors so the background noise was no issue. Also, we decided to add diegetic sound by making it non-diegetic. We recorded sounds such as some dialogue which would need to be edited per shot such as "I thought you were downstairs" and the footsteps. We added these on at editing stag as it was much more clear sound. We also added our own sound affects such as when you see the young ghost in the wardrobe we added a jump scare noise so audiences would know there was something "off" in this scene. We added music also to create tension throughout the opening scene at specific points to also show emotion in the characters such as shot 28, linking to confusion yet fear.

Evaluation - Q5: How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation - Q4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

An audience is decided by age, gender and class.

Audio below.


(SCRIPT)

 For gender, I used a profile to estimate the gender for my horror movie. I compared males the females on existing horror movies such as The Conjuring, Annabelle and Sinister to create this. More females than males preferred these horror movies than males, around a ratio of 1:3 male to female. This might be due to being more family and house based in plot and setting, collecting more females than males as more females can relate. Males prefer more violent horror movies. To prove this I also researched Saw, Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes. This was a ratio of 1:3 female to male due to the content.

For age, I already researched into this before making my horror opening sequence. I decided on the certificate of 15 due to the mature themes, violence and just being too scary for younger viewers. I would expect the majority of my audience to be aged between 15-23 due to the themes. Many young viewers enjoy horror movies as it is a type of movie to enjoy with friends. The adrenaline horror movies produce makes us want to watch this movie with friends as there is the battle of 'being unaffraid'. I decided the film might be too immature for those over 24 as they usually prefer watching movies such as comedies or action movies. I also decided anyone over the age of 40 wouldn't be interested in the adrenaline feature so much as they prefer watching mysteries and documentarys. This also links with the media industry and horror films as horror movies weren't the mainstream idea until having high quality technology like now. Horror movies became bigger in the 80's/90's so those of a young age grew up enjoying horror movies more so than older viewers.

For class, I decided to use stereotypes. Those of the higher AB classes would be more likely to enjoy more expensive leisures such as golfing, improving skills and so on. This is due to not having to escape realism which many people watch movies for. Higher classes tend to be more educated and will watch more mystery and documentary type films. The work long hours so wouldn't sit down so much to enjoy a family movie and would be more based around work life and developing their own skills. Those in the lower classes enjoy regular trips to cinemas and buy DVD's for family moments. Those of lower class enjoy escapism from the real world. This is why many turn to cinematics for a few hours of being away from real world issues which makes horror movies successful in lower classes. Also, many cinemas and DVD's are a low budget form of entertainment which will suit lower classes better, financial wise.