Open publication - Free publishing
Monday, 27 April 2009
Evaluation Questions
Here are my 'Evaluation Questions' again but with pictures, I had to create it as an issuu document as there was no other way that i know of that i could include my pictures.
Evaluation Questions
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our film Intruder is based on two American horror films, Scream and When a Stranger Calls. We decided to use these films as we felt the storylines were very effective. We predominantly used When a Stranger Calls as the storyline is much more similar to what we were hoping to create. However we did incorporate aspects of Scream into our film. A good example of this would be voyeurism as it was a big part of our film, and we used voyeurism at a number of different points throughout our film. By using voyeurism, it enabled us to create a sense of unease for the duration of the film. An idea that we incorperated into our film after analysing When a Stranger Calls, was a short pause after the Babysitter (Jess) realises she is in danger, this also increases the tension of the film. Our film is quite similar to When a Stranger Calls as we incorperatted many of the ideas that are used within the film such as having the ‘intruder’ located within and around the house as it seems as if the main character has no escape. We also liked the idea of being able to hear the caller on the phone, however we decided only to hear the caller’s breathing rather than a long conversation that is present not only in When a Stranger Calls but also in Scream. The idea of repeated phone calls was present in both the films we analysed. This was an idea that we were keen to include, although as our film was only a short film it was hard to show this without it looking as thought it is a number of repeated shots.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
During our film the audience see only the babysitter (Jess) who is the main character. We felt she should be dressed as a typical teenager - jeans and t-shirt. This costume seemed appropriate based on our research using the film When a Stranger Calls, the main character of this film is dressed in similar attire -dark trousers and a plain t-shirt. We also felt as though this costume contributed to the mise-en-scene of our film as we do not want to give the impression that she is particularly special thus it does not draw attention to the babysitter. We have used props throughout our film to help add verisimilitude to encourage the viewer to believe that what they are watching is real. We achieved this by including items such as a pile of magazines, a coke can and the television remote (all highlighted). We kept the accent of the babysitter south-east English as this is where our film was based. We made her dialogue quite colloquial as it would not be very believable if she spoke as if she were ‘reading a script’. These small details help to create meaning for our specific target audience as it enables the viewer to relate to the character and easily put themselves into her position.
What kind of institution might distribute your media product?
Working Title Films would be a suitable institution to distribute our film as it deals with a wide variety of films such as Billy Elliot, Notting Hill, Shaun of the Dead and Bridget Jones’ Diary. This production company would suitable to distribute our film as they have had many successful film releases in the past and present such as Four Weddings and a Funeral and also Love Actually. This would therefore increase the chances of our film being a success rather than a failure as more people may be inclined to go and see the film purely based on WorkingTitle’s past successes. By using Working Title it would make it easier for our film to be shown on television on channels such as Film4 which have broadcasted many Working Title films such as About A Boy, this would ensure that more people are aware of our film broadening our audience further. It would also be a good idea to include an American distribution company such Universal Studios as it would then enable us to release our film in America, broadening our audience, consequently enabling a higher gross to be achieved. By releasing our film into the USA, it would make it much easier to distribute our film to cinema therefore making our film more accessible to a larger number of people, and would consequently lead to a DVD release. Therefore by the distribution within cinemas, before the DVD release, a wider audience would be aware of the film subsequently leading to higher purchases of our film.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The target audience of our film would be predominantly teenagers of ages 15 – 20, but as this would be a significantly narrow age band we would also aim our film at adults aged 20 – 30, giving us a target audience of both male and female viewers aged 15 – 30.This would give our film a certificate 15. Although this is a low certificate and it may make it more difficult to attract the older viewers of our target audience, it increases the chances of our film bieng a success as it is predominatly 12 – 18 year olds that visit he cinemas in recent years. I feel this is an appropriate target audience as the genre of our film is predominantly a horror film and this is quite appealing to most young men who enjoy a slight thrill, although there are no scenes of extreme violence and gore there are scenes of a ‘spooky’ nature which will produce the same effect. However, as the leaing character of our film is a 17-year-old girl, it enables us to attract the female viewers of this age band as they can relate to the character and possibly put themselves in her shoes, making the film more appealing to women. Knowing who our target audience was enabled us to make some tactful production decisions during the making our film, as we were able to create a film that is both appealing in the horror aspect of our film, but it is also appealing in a way that enables the veiwer to relate to the character present, be that the babysitter or the ‘intruder’.
How did you attract/address your audience?
We designed our film to make the protagonist of Intruder seem extremely vulnerable, despite the fact she is in somebody’s home; which is a place that is supposed to be considered safe. To ensure we achieved this message we incorporated Voyeurism, (being watched without knowing) and as a result of this we decided to shoot the film from the Intruder's perspective. Our group carefully planned our storyboards, placing the right shots in the right place, to make sure that the audience is reminded regularly of the fact that the baby-sitter is being watched. There are many voyeurism shots used throughout the film, the first is the opening shot where the ‘intruder’
Voyeurism - Intruderis walking up to the house. We then use the camera to show how the ‘intruder’ is just outside the window, behind the baby-sitter. The most important shot of the film is also one we achieved using voyeurism, which was shot from behind the curtains of an upstairs
Voyeurism (curtain shot) - Intruderwindow. Other practical aspects of our film would be dialouge, although there is little dialogue within our short 2 minute film. The conversations that are present within the film is the short ‘formal’ conversation that the baby-sitter is having n the phone to the family of the child she is baby-sitting for, and also those between the baby-sitter and the ‘intruder’. We did try to keep the conversatons as casual and colloquial as posible to increase the verisimilitude of the situation. Other aspects we included to increase the verisimilitude was the television, which is left on throughout the film creating background noise. This also helps to link the target audience to the film as many of the veiwers who do baby-sit in their spare time would also most-likely watch the television whilst baby-sitting.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
During the production of our film we came across many technical difficulties, especially when using the video camera. One of the starting shots of our film involves a pan shot through the hallway and into the living room. Achieving a smooth shot proved to be more difficult than we had first imagined as you could not simply walk with the camera as it would ‘bob-up-and-down’, after a long process of trial and error we came up with a very effective way of panning the camera and this involved placing the camera and tripod on a rug, and then two members of our group lying on the floor, pulling the rug and another steadying the camera. Although this sounds like a lot of time and effort we were able to achieve an effective pan shot. Another difficulty we came across when using the camera was trying to attain the final voyeurism shot (curtain shot). This involved myself and another group member hanging out of a window. This did however enable us to get the most important shot of our short film.
There were other issues with technologies during the process of constructing our film and that was learning to use an AppleMac. Not owning one at home proved to make this a great deal harder and more complicated when using new programmes, such as GarageBand. We used GarageBand to create the music for our film which is playing for the majority of our film. We found GarageBand to be one of the most useful programmes when producing our film, as it is crucial for the music within a horror film to be effective, as it is the music that is used to create the tension. We devised a simple tune that is played on the piano and then other string instruments and also drums are added at certain points to change the mood of the film.
Other programmes that we used were FinalCutExpress for the editing of our film and LiveType which we used briefly for our credits. There were a few small problems when making our credits such as font size and letter alignment but on the whole LiveType was generally a simple and easy programme to use. FinalCutExpress was the main programme we used throughout the production of our film and it was this programme that we used to insert and stick together all the bits and pieces that we had created on GarageBand and LiveType.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression form it to the full product?
I feel I have learnt a great deal throughout the filming process, in many different aspects and areas of media. I have learnt how important camera angles, mise-en-scene, editing and sound are to a film and how every one of these apects needs to perfect for a film to not only be believable but also successful. I am very pleased that I have learnt how to use different programmes and the AppleMacs and I now feel I will be able to use these effectivley and efficiently in the future. Other than my improved technical skills, I have also realised how different it is when filming something than it is actually planning it on paper, as I soon realised things would take much longer than we had first anticipated. Organisation and planning is a key aspect when prducing a film and I have learnt that it is important to keep aware the four main sections (mise en scene, cinematography, sound and editing) and I feel as a group we achieved this.
When filming, we realised that patience and technical ability is always needed for the production of a film or any media product, and after realising this we were able to tackle the problems and challenges that faced us in terms of editing, sound and camera angles as a group.
Our film Intruder is based on two American horror films, Scream and When a Stranger Calls. We decided to use these films as we felt the storylines were very effective. We predominantly used When a Stranger Calls as the storyline is much more similar to what we were hoping to create. However we did incorporate aspects of Scream into our film. A good example of this would be voyeurism as it was a big part of our film, and we used voyeurism at a number of different points throughout our film. By using voyeurism, it enabled us to create a sense of unease for the duration of the film. An idea that we incorperated into our film after analysing When a Stranger Calls, was a short pause after the Babysitter (Jess) realises she is in danger, this also increases the tension of the film. Our film is quite similar to When a Stranger Calls as we incorperatted many of the ideas that are used within the film such as having the ‘intruder’ located within and around the house as it seems as if the main character has no escape. We also liked the idea of being able to hear the caller on the phone, however we decided only to hear the caller’s breathing rather than a long conversation that is present not only in When a Stranger Calls but also in Scream. The idea of repeated phone calls was present in both the films we analysed. This was an idea that we were keen to include, although as our film was only a short film it was hard to show this without it looking as thought it is a number of repeated shots.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
During our film the audience see only the babysitter (Jess) who is the main character. We felt she should be dressed as a typical teenager - jeans and t-shirt. This costume seemed appropriate based on our research using the film When a Stranger Calls, the main character of this film is dressed in similar attire -dark trousers and a plain t-shirt. We also felt as though this costume contributed to the mise-en-scene of our film as we do not want to give the impression that she is particularly special thus it does not draw attention to the babysitter. We have used props throughout our film to help add verisimilitude to encourage the viewer to believe that what they are watching is real. We achieved this by including items such as a pile of magazines, a coke can and the television remote (all highlighted). We kept the accent of the babysitter south-east English as this is where our film was based. We made her dialogue quite colloquial as it would not be very believable if she spoke as if she were ‘reading a script’. These small details help to create meaning for our specific target audience as it enables the viewer to relate to the character and easily put themselves into her position.
What kind of institution might distribute your media product?
Working Title Films would be a suitable institution to distribute our film as it deals with a wide variety of films such as Billy Elliot, Notting Hill, Shaun of the Dead and Bridget Jones’ Diary. This production company would suitable to distribute our film as they have had many successful film releases in the past and present such as Four Weddings and a Funeral and also Love Actually. This would therefore increase the chances of our film being a success rather than a failure as more people may be inclined to go and see the film purely based on WorkingTitle’s past successes. By using Working Title it would make it easier for our film to be shown on television on channels such as Film4 which have broadcasted many Working Title films such as About A Boy, this would ensure that more people are aware of our film broadening our audience further. It would also be a good idea to include an American distribution company such Universal Studios as it would then enable us to release our film in America, broadening our audience, consequently enabling a higher gross to be achieved. By releasing our film into the USA, it would make it much easier to distribute our film to cinema therefore making our film more accessible to a larger number of people, and would consequently lead to a DVD release. Therefore by the distribution within cinemas, before the DVD release, a wider audience would be aware of the film subsequently leading to higher purchases of our film.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The target audience of our film would be predominantly teenagers of ages 15 – 20, but as this would be a significantly narrow age band we would also aim our film at adults aged 20 – 30, giving us a target audience of both male and female viewers aged 15 – 30.This would give our film a certificate 15. Although this is a low certificate and it may make it more difficult to attract the older viewers of our target audience, it increases the chances of our film bieng a success as it is predominatly 12 – 18 year olds that visit he cinemas in recent years. I feel this is an appropriate target audience as the genre of our film is predominantly a horror film and this is quite appealing to most young men who enjoy a slight thrill, although there are no scenes of extreme violence and gore there are scenes of a ‘spooky’ nature which will produce the same effect. However, as the leaing character of our film is a 17-year-old girl, it enables us to attract the female viewers of this age band as they can relate to the character and possibly put themselves in her shoes, making the film more appealing to women. Knowing who our target audience was enabled us to make some tactful production decisions during the making our film, as we were able to create a film that is both appealing in the horror aspect of our film, but it is also appealing in a way that enables the veiwer to relate to the character present, be that the babysitter or the ‘intruder’.
How did you attract/address your audience?
We designed our film to make the protagonist of Intruder seem extremely vulnerable, despite the fact she is in somebody’s home; which is a place that is supposed to be considered safe. To ensure we achieved this message we incorporated Voyeurism, (being watched without knowing) and as a result of this we decided to shoot the film from the Intruder's perspective. Our group carefully planned our storyboards, placing the right shots in the right place, to make sure that the audience is reminded regularly of the fact that the baby-sitter is being watched. There are many voyeurism shots used throughout the film, the first is the opening shot where the ‘intruder’
Voyeurism - Intruderis walking up to the house. We then use the camera to show how the ‘intruder’ is just outside the window, behind the baby-sitter. The most important shot of the film is also one we achieved using voyeurism, which was shot from behind the curtains of an upstairs
Voyeurism (curtain shot) - Intruderwindow. Other practical aspects of our film would be dialouge, although there is little dialogue within our short 2 minute film. The conversations that are present within the film is the short ‘formal’ conversation that the baby-sitter is having n the phone to the family of the child she is baby-sitting for, and also those between the baby-sitter and the ‘intruder’. We did try to keep the conversatons as casual and colloquial as posible to increase the verisimilitude of the situation. Other aspects we included to increase the verisimilitude was the television, which is left on throughout the film creating background noise. This also helps to link the target audience to the film as many of the veiwers who do baby-sit in their spare time would also most-likely watch the television whilst baby-sitting.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
During the production of our film we came across many technical difficulties, especially when using the video camera. One of the starting shots of our film involves a pan shot through the hallway and into the living room. Achieving a smooth shot proved to be more difficult than we had first imagined as you could not simply walk with the camera as it would ‘bob-up-and-down’, after a long process of trial and error we came up with a very effective way of panning the camera and this involved placing the camera and tripod on a rug, and then two members of our group lying on the floor, pulling the rug and another steadying the camera. Although this sounds like a lot of time and effort we were able to achieve an effective pan shot. Another difficulty we came across when using the camera was trying to attain the final voyeurism shot (curtain shot). This involved myself and another group member hanging out of a window. This did however enable us to get the most important shot of our short film.
There were other issues with technologies during the process of constructing our film and that was learning to use an AppleMac. Not owning one at home proved to make this a great deal harder and more complicated when using new programmes, such as GarageBand. We used GarageBand to create the music for our film which is playing for the majority of our film. We found GarageBand to be one of the most useful programmes when producing our film, as it is crucial for the music within a horror film to be effective, as it is the music that is used to create the tension. We devised a simple tune that is played on the piano and then other string instruments and also drums are added at certain points to change the mood of the film.
Other programmes that we used were FinalCutExpress for the editing of our film and LiveType which we used briefly for our credits. There were a few small problems when making our credits such as font size and letter alignment but on the whole LiveType was generally a simple and easy programme to use. FinalCutExpress was the main programme we used throughout the production of our film and it was this programme that we used to insert and stick together all the bits and pieces that we had created on GarageBand and LiveType.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression form it to the full product?
I feel I have learnt a great deal throughout the filming process, in many different aspects and areas of media. I have learnt how important camera angles, mise-en-scene, editing and sound are to a film and how every one of these apects needs to perfect for a film to not only be believable but also successful. I am very pleased that I have learnt how to use different programmes and the AppleMacs and I now feel I will be able to use these effectivley and efficiently in the future. Other than my improved technical skills, I have also realised how different it is when filming something than it is actually planning it on paper, as I soon realised things would take much longer than we had first anticipated. Organisation and planning is a key aspect when prducing a film and I have learnt that it is important to keep aware the four main sections (mise en scene, cinematography, sound and editing) and I feel as a group we achieved this.
When filming, we realised that patience and technical ability is always needed for the production of a film or any media product, and after realising this we were able to tackle the problems and challenges that faced us in terms of editing, sound and camera angles as a group.
Friday, 10 April 2009
Finished!
Finally we finished filming our short film for our media coursework. It took a long time and proved to be more difficult and time consuming than we had first anticipated.
I have found that i got a great experience from making this film and it has also enabled me to become more experienced when using the camera equipment and also the different programmes needed to produce our film, such as FinalCut Express, GarageBand and LiveType.
I am very pleased with the overall outcome of the film; I think the music that we created on GarageBand is very effective and works well with the ambiance of the film, especially where we added drums to increase the suspense and tension of the film.
Here is our film:
We did experience a few problems during the actual filming, such as movind the camera smoothly through the hallway (which involved placing the camera and tripod on a piece of carpet and then pulling it along the floor.) It was also quite difficult to film from inside the curtains as the window ledge was very small and so Susie and I had to hang outside the window to achieve this shot.
A few arguements over credit fonts also cropped-up but these were soon quickly resolved.
Overall, I enjoyed filming our coursework and I am happy to see the finished product.
I have found that i got a great experience from making this film and it has also enabled me to become more experienced when using the camera equipment and also the different programmes needed to produce our film, such as FinalCut Express, GarageBand and LiveType.
I am very pleased with the overall outcome of the film; I think the music that we created on GarageBand is very effective and works well with the ambiance of the film, especially where we added drums to increase the suspense and tension of the film.
Here is our film:
We did experience a few problems during the actual filming, such as movind the camera smoothly through the hallway (which involved placing the camera and tripod on a piece of carpet and then pulling it along the floor.) It was also quite difficult to film from inside the curtains as the window ledge was very small and so Susie and I had to hang outside the window to achieve this shot.
A few arguements over credit fonts also cropped-up but these were soon quickly resolved.
Overall, I enjoyed filming our coursework and I am happy to see the finished product.
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Production Documents
We composed an online book using issuu.com containing the background information of our film 'Intruder'.
Storyboard
Last week we scanned our storyboard onto the computer and it provides a rough idea of what our short film will look like as soon as it is finished.
The story progresses from left to right:
The story progresses from left to right:
We decided not to use 'ending two' as we felt this may leave the veiwer a little confused at the end of the film and it would also make the film too long.
After finishing our filming and including every shot that is present within our storyboard we noticed that we were roughly a minute over the time limit, and consequently, we have had to cut a few shots out of our film in order to fit the time limit.
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Finished filming :)
Finally we have finished all the filming for our coursework and this has enabled us to complete the majority of the editing of our footage. Here are a few photos of us filming the remainder of our film...
Recently we have been working with GarageBand as this is where we found the music for our film. We decided to mix a couple of different tracks inorder to make it as effective as possible, this also allowed us to add different instruments, such as drums, so we could create tension through the music.
There are still a lot of things left to do, such as adding credits and underpinning the phone conversation onto our film footage using Final Cut Express. We will also be starting work on our DVD extras soon.
Monday, 23 February 2009
Coursework filming continued...
Last week we continued to shoot the footage for our coursework, we had to re-shoot a couple of scenes that take place outside. This caused a few difficulties as it started to snow while we were filming. However we got around this problem by using it to our advantage as it added to the mise en scene of the film.
I do not have any photos of this unfortunately as we forgot to charge the camera.
I will also be uploading our storyboard for this film, as soon as it has been scanned onto the computer :).
I do not have any photos of this unfortunately as we forgot to charge the camera.
I will also be uploading our storyboard for this film, as soon as it has been scanned onto the computer :).
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