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?

For our preliminary task we had to go out of lesson and experiment with the camera, this was our first task filming with camera and we had to film using shots like shot reverse shot, match on action and 180 degree rule. First of all we didn't know what the shot even were but when we knew we experimented with them and tried to position the camera to find out the best angle for each shot. I think our preliminary task was good because I felt we mainly focused on the continuity and the match on action shot, shot reverse shot and 180 rule which was are target.


In this shot we see that we have achieved a match on action shot, we decided to use the shot when opening the door as we felt like it would be effective for the audience to see me open the door close up. We also did a shot reverse shot in the room and we filmed the conversation twice so we had a shot reverse shot and to see both characters speaking and we made sure it was on the 180 degree line
We edited our preliminary task in Adobe Premier Elements which was useful as we didn't know how to work it so we using it and playing around was useful as we roughly knew how to use it when it came to editing our film. We also edited our production credits which was useful as we played around with the features which made us come up with some creative things for our production credits.

We also learnt how to film the use of shot reverse shot on an degree line which was good as then when it came to the film opening we can use this skill and be effective as use the continuity in our film and using it in our preliminary was effective as we learnt how to do it. Editing the shot was a challenge as we had to film the conversation twice from both angles so we had to edit it so it looks like the camera is viewing who is speaking and it changes when they speak on the 180 degree line. Overall using this rule made us really concentrate on focusing on the 180 degree line and filming on the angle.




For filming our preliminary task we took to the challenge of using many different shots including high shot, low shot, close up shot, establishing shot and an over the shoulder shot we used many different angles which links to the continuity of the shots. To the right you see one of the shots we used in our film opening which is an over the shoulder close up shot we used this to see the character from behind. With the use of these shots we made the opening more creative and learning how to do these shots really made our skills of filming more creative and exciting for the audience who views our film and editing the film was good as previous use of Adobe Premier Elements made it easier to edit and also learn new things by editing the film with Adobe and making it as detailed and effective as possible.
We felt like our preliminary task was planned very briefly as it set at the start of lesson and we had to have filmed it by the end and upload footage onto our computer so planning it was very quick but with our film we were able to plan the dialogue, but as a group we decided to focus on the camera and the technical side of it so we can make our film effective as realistic and relating to the genre, but with our script we decided to keep it brief as we felt that we didn't want to much talking as we wanted focus on the genre and the camera work as it is an opening other films don't have much speaking so we wanted to introduce the setting and try and come across the story line of the film., but we still made a script and made it as detailed as possible so when the reader looks at it they know briefly whats going to happen. Our opening took longer to plan as it was 2 minutes when our preliminary task was 18 seconds because we could write up a detailed script and add more detail to the camera work and editing. 

Evaluation Activity 6

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

For our film we used the camera and tripod from school as we could supply and alternative and effective one. It doesn't capture high quality,but the outcome when we were filming was effective and a good enough quality to film with. One problem we had was film close up of one of our phone it went a bit blurry which we had to try and keep really still. Also having the tripod made the quality much better as we could place the camera on the tripod and it made the camera more stable and we were able to use different kinds of shots and experiment and the shots we took came out well considering the quality of the camera.
The tripod we felt was need as whilst filming we felt like attaching the camera securely to the tripod made it easier to film as it stays still and captures a good shot. Also tripods are useful as you can increase the height of the tripod by extending the legs making a high shot, medium shot and low shot. The battery for this camera was good as we wanted to film for quite a while and we don't know how long we are going to be,but the lighting on the camera once it went dark was poor so we had to make sure there is good lighting.



To edit we used adobe premier elements to edit our film and our production credits, by using different features such as cropping, cutting and putting transition, which allows the opening to be at a good quality.To create our title I used Paint and scary logo titles as we wanted to create the titles by our self which made it more creative. At first it was difficult to use as it was new to us but when the weeks went by it got a lot easier and made our film look effective and have a good quality.


We use YouTube to upload our finished video and we can access videos on YouTube to put them on my blog, we used this to upload our film, preliminary task, voice over and production credits, this improves our skills and knowledge as we know what  YouTube  is about and one thing I learnt is how to do annotation on my film which was useful as i have never done it before which was good to find out new stuff.


We used blogger to publish our, this was very easy to use when we started to blog more as i was more used to working out the format of the blog and using different skills and changing the background to how I like it and put my own stamp on my blog. I thought that my timing and scheduling of blogging was very organised as when i had a task i would make sure that i have published my post by the deadline.

Evaluation Activity 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation Activity 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?
For our target audience will be people who like horror, supernatural and post- apocalyptic and who like the idea of a suspense plot and a antagonist stalking someone. We reckon our target audience will be a young adult audience as we feel like it they are into horror scary things happening and that idea of a detective story line. As our plot for our film is a detective story line as a girl gets killed in our opening so the film would be about detecting and finding who kills the girl. this will get the audience griped as they will want to find out who the antagonist and really connect to the horror conventions.

For our film our target audience research will be a 15+ film this is because we are doing horror and we want to include things that only 15 are suitable to watch. As it is a horror we are included conventions such as knife, blood an antagonist and in the woods, so the audience will have to understand that it will include some things that under fifteens can't watch. For many horrors the target audience is normally an 18 with blood gore, evil antagonist, scary and dramatic non-diegtic sound and scary monsters and not suitable for people under 18. So having our film at 15 is suitable as there will be no explicit language or danger as we felt like we want it to be a horror that is detective and the antagonist coming back and causing more trouble which will leave to have a big cliff hanger which all the audience will want to watch. The film can be watch by anyone over 15, but mainly younger audience as nowadays people are into detective films or TV dramas like 'silent witness' and 'Walking Dead' and they create fan fictions. We can tell who likes these sort of films as they like dark colours and are linked to heavy music they are stereotypical who would watch horror films,but anyone can watch this with different stereotypes.

Evaluation Activity 3

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

The voice over


Discussion of your production company name and logo and the role of such companies
What does a production company do? 
At the start of the film we introduce the production credits which distributes the film, we created 'Lion Productions''Wave Films' these are the credits we created and is associated with our film. The role of the production company creating the film and budgeting, scripting, casting the characters and scheduling the film from start to end . The logo we used is a lion and a wave which links in with the name.

The idea of a distributor and who that might be and why? 
A distributor is responsible for marketing the film and setting the release date and where the viewing of the film will be shown. They can released your film anywhere such as cinemas or even on Netflix or love film which can be shown at home

Where the money might have come from for a film such as yours
The money for the film will be funded by the UK film council and can help the film with the budget which is always useful and effective when it comes to putting the film together.

Why the various people are named in the titles- which jobs appear in titles and in what order and how have you reflected this?
Various people are named in the titles purely because they have distributed into the film and the film wants them to have credit in the film. There is named job roles in the film which shows what everyone distribution was to the film for example who edited it, who directed it, who produced it and gives them credit to what they have done.
What your film is similar to 'institutionally' 
Our film is preferably similar to The Ring which includes a young girl alone in her house, and danger occurs when an antagonist grabs her and attacks her. This is similar because in our film a young girl is by herself in a isolated surrounding and gets attacked. The film is distributed by Universal studios and Dream work Studios which leads to the financial success of the film.

Evaluation Feedback

In your responses to your final production make sure you are clearly referring to choices and outcomes in an evaluative way - make sure you are addressing the areas outlined by me below:

What did you do? Explain a transition or effect you opted for in the editing process.  What effect did you achieve?  Explain how the choice you made was intended to make the target audience think or feel.  How does this show progression in your use of skills? Explain how this is better than your AS production's outcomes by linking to what you did in your portfolio last year.

These choices are really important for you to reflect on to show you fully understand how you have developed your skills - and make sure you evaluate the comments made by the test audience (the class) using specialist terminology.

We do not have long until the deadline for this final stage of your portfolio - so make sure you are pushing yourself and achieving the marks your efforts this year deserve!

Feedback from Others

Feedback: 
Sound
- The inception thuds was effective as it made it more creative and adds the tension to the film, some felt like we should of added more sound to the background so that we could create the tension throughout the opening but we felt like in some parts of the film didn't need sound like the conversation between the mum and friend and the train shot as we felt like putting sound in would put the audience off the conversation and focus more on the sound but we want to keep the focus on the conversation and the events that are going on in the opening, but the parts we did put sound in we felt was effected as it created tension.

Mese en scene 
I agree with the comments made on our film and feel like, yes the lighting should of been a bit better but because it was at a time where it got really dark really quickly we had to be as carefully as possible just in case the lighten was to dark. Also some people felt like they would of liked to have seen what had happened with Hannah and that the whole scene should be outside, but we felt like we should of changed location to make it more effective. I also think the antagonists costume was effective the black clothing added tension to the film. Some liked the different locations and some thought that we should of stayed a bit longer in the woods, but we felt like we wanted to us different locations to show the audience the different location and that it could be effective.

Camera shots
Some people felt like the train shot was effective and that it creates tension when the antagonist disappears we wanted to put this shot in so that we make the audience feel the tension by making the antagonist disappear will make it more effective and people will think whats going to happen next?. Some said that fast pace camera movement was effective as it made it more dramatic especially in the attack. Finally people thought that the close up was good especially of the knife and the slit throat as we wanted to show the detail of the danger and the attack that was occurring which shows the key aspects of the opening
Editing 
There wasn't much feedback on the editing side but one person said that the jump cuts should of been quicker as it felt a bit slow, but we felt that we didn't want them that quick as we felt it will look messy and look awkward so we felt putting a slower jump cut made it more effective. 

Film Presentation

Evaluation Activity 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In our media our we linked our protagonist (Hannah) shows that her social group is very insecure as a girl as it shows what her stereotype as a girl can be which is young and innocent.
I have compared our film 'The Hood' to the film 'The Ring' which also represents a young, innocent girl in her house and a antagonist jumps up on her. We’re able to see that both girls are portrayed to be vulnerable and naive as they’re both alone. The character’s facial expressions may suggests that they’re frightened, troubled.. The film The Ring and The Hood are both a horror genre so the audience would expect the setting to be in an isolated places so the character are more accessible to danger which are all the connotations of a typical horror film. Both characters conform to the stereotype of a younger women as they as they are naive. 
The film The Ring also has a similar concept which creates suspense as the audience try to figure who the antagonist is.
However there are also differences due to the different filming locations. The character in the film Scream is indoors so her costume is different whilst our film setting is located in outdoors which means that the costume would be different. The characters indicate that they’re both young, innocent and they’re abandoned and will die tragically.

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)


Title/Font Style/Institution of the film:

 To the left you see the institutions and title for our film that are shown at the beginning and end of our opening 2 minutes. We decided to place the institution at the beginning as we wanted to show the audience who helped us with our film and who contributed towards it. We took this in consideration form films such as 'Scream' and 'James Bond' films also have the institutions at the beginning of the films as it conforms the conventions of the genre. With the institution we wanted the audience to be able to be engaged 

with the film and this is why we decided to put the institution at the beginning of the film instead of half way through so the audience can be alert from the start. We decided to make the institution up, 'Lion Production and Wave Films as we thought it would be creative and realistic for the audience to see. It made our film our own and unique as it had our twist to it by creating our own institution.
At the end of our film we decided to introduce the title of the film. We showed it at the end as we thought with the a cliff hanger and we thought it would be dramatic as it reveals the title and show the suspense of the film. The color of the title show the evil and the conventions of horror in it. The font links with the conventions of horror as it is bold and the audience can see clearly from it and it makes it more tense for the audience and with the black background it really shows the dark red features clearly.



Setting and Location: 

 For our film we obviously decided to film our opening 2 minutes in the woods as it conveys the conventions of a horror location. We also filmed our film at a train track which makes it more dramatic as the antagonist walks over the crossing and the train goes passed and disappears which creates a tense atmosphere towards the audience. Filming in the woods makes it more intense and it is a public open space and anything can happen so filming there was a lot of fun. We had to be careful though as we didn't want

anyone to see the knife that we used as it would be dodgy, so it was a risk. In the woods we mainly used long shots and medium shots so the audience can she the location more clearly. We used some close up shots as well as we could see the fear in the protagonists face, which converted well with the convention of horror by seeing the fear in the characters face. and making the audience feel one edge.


Costume and Props:

In our film we decided to use a knife and a scarf, with the knife it was a bit risky as it was real and we were out in a public place with it but we wanted to convey the tense suspense and conventions of a horror film by using these props.Also by putting blood on the scarf and the knife shows the audience hooked at the end as it leaves the audience shocked and surprised at the events which link to a horror film and reach the expectations of a horror film. Whilst filming with the knife we had to be careful with when to film as we didn't want the public to think we are up to something dodgy. In our film one the antagonists costume was an important one as we have to try and hid the antagonist identity by putting a mask over there face and wearing black which is a natural color when it comes to antagonists as they need to be disguised as that is the point of a horror film with antagonists as they must hid there identity. So putting Amy in black and covering her face so know one knew who she was and that it will be a mystery and convey the mis en sene of a horror film.

Camera shots and editing:

In our film we show a various amount of different shots such as a high shot which you can see to the left. We decided to do this shot as it outlines the view of the antagonist from a high shot which it is effective as you want to see the location surrounding them. Also using this high shot you can see the characters movement more clearly and to see what there really up to from a high point of view which gives the audience a sense of what the characters doing and making it look realistic.

Another shot that we considered is a close up over the shoulder shot which was effective as we felt like it made it more realistic taking a shot from over the shoulder taking a shot of the character texting which shows the audience from the characters perspective. Mainly in horror films you see many close ups as it conveys the conventions of horror and subverts the tense atmosphere by showing the character close up which makes the film more effective by using these sort of shots

In our film we took this time lapse of the sunset and edited it our film to change the time of day and to show the audience the time of day has changed. In our film we found editing good as we grabbed most of the footage and just cut the footage that needed to be cut and make it clean so that the finishing product was good and realistic. Also with the train shot we had to make sure that Amy had to disappear whilst the train goes past so we had to edit her walking across the train track and cut when the trains goes by which was quite difficult

The Story and how the opening sets it up: 

In the opening we see me walking through the woods, see straight away people we think 'oh an innocent girl walking in the woods by herself' So instantly we see the conventions of horror a lonely innocent girl walking by herself there is bound for something to happen. This is good as at a start of a horror film the audience instant reaction is to look at where the character is and
the location they are set in. as it sets up the story and what it may be about.
In the opening we get introduced to the antagonist so the horror conventions continue as we get introduced to the antagonist which is stalking the girl. This sets out the story and as it fits into the horror conventions as it is set in a public place with little surrounding it, also it sets the story up by having a crime at the beginning and then the real film be about detecting the investigation and finding out about the murder which will get the audience hooked by saying what happens next.

Genre and how the opening sets it:

The genre is horror and the opening shows that it is a horror as you see an antagonist slice the girls neck,this conveys the conventions of horror as you see someone kill someone which is very common in a horror film which it gives a sense of fear and makes it very dramatic. I think that doing a horror is good as it can bring out your creative skills. In the the opening it conveys the genre, by the sound in the background which can be really tense and dramatic

How Characters are introduced; 

 Hannah (me) get introduced right at the beginning of the opening 2 minutes as Hannah is the protagonist and she gets killed so when she is being introduced people automatically will think a young innocent girl walking through the woods,this could all go wrong and she may be in danger in the sense that she is on her own so being introduced shows that the film is about her

 After Hannah incomes the antagonist (Amy) and stalks Hannah which is typical as it conveys a horror convention as theirs always one person that is the antagonist on a horror film who kills someone. So Amy is in the woods know one knows who she is and kills Hannah and it leaves the audience shocked and Amy walks off like nothings happened

 The next character to be introduced is Hannah's Mum (Chloe) as seen at the beginning Hannah texts her mum to say she is coming home but a few hours later shes still not back. so Chloe is worrying and goes to look for her. We decided to introduce a worried parent as it shows the audience that parents do get worried about these sort of situation and shows that it can happen in real life

The final character to be introduced is Hannah's mums friend (Caitlin) who gets a call from her to say that Hannah is missing and goes to help her look for Hannah. We decided to put her in the opening as it was nice to have someone relating to Hannah's mum and help her in this investigation, and i think it helps as the film has more flow with more characters making it an intense film to watch.


Special effects;

In our opening 2 minutes we didn't have that many special effects but if we had to choose something it would be the time lapse of the sky as it shows the change of time of day which can illustrate to the audience what time of day the next scene is changing to as it makes it more realistic and more understanding for the audience which gives it a effect and a more sincere effect which gives the opening a better review and a better effect.