How have your skills
developed from the preliminary task?
After
doing the preliminary task all of
us as a group have learnt new skills involving our filming ways such as holding
the camera steady and making sure that the frame is straight and correct.
As you can
see the framing makes the room look like its on a tilt and by watching this
back we learn that we had to improve up on our framing of shots so when it came
to our final product we found that our framing was much better and the shots
looked much more straight.
As you can see the framing
looks much more better here and looks straight compared to before in the
preliminary task.
Another thing
we learnt from doing the preliminary task was the mistake we made of sitting
someone in front of the window, which meant that it was very difficult to make
out what was on the screen watching it back as the lighting was extremely dark.
This is a example of how the image came
out due to the lighting and the fact we filmed megan with a window behind her,
as you can see its quite hard to make out all the detail and facial expressions
and this is something we made sure that we watched out for whilst doing our
final product.
This is an example of the
lighting in our final product and as you can see it is much better and much
more enjoyable for the audience to watch.
Overall I think that the
preliminary task has benefited us as a group because we have learnt what we
need to improve whilst using a camera and filming. Also I felt that our preliminary
task looked very messy whereas our final product looked much more professional
and more like how footage should be filmed with better shots and framing.
When making
our film ‘Obsession’ we used many different technologies for the development if
the three stages which were; the research, planning and production. By using these
technologies it enabled us to be able to add special effects, such as voice-overs,
music and even change the colour of the image to our film.
Research: To begin with the
research once we decided as a group that our sub-genre that we were going to
base our film on was going to be slasher horror we used the internet to make
ourselves more comfortable and familiarized with that certain sub genre.
To familiarize ourselves we used the search engine Google. The Internet helped
us to have more of an understanding of our sub-genre and also made us familiar
with the particular codes and conventions; there were many websites and links
to help us do this.
By using the Internet
I also had to create a blog on blogger.com this was to record all my research,
planning and production including our final product (opening scene of film). Blogger.com
has really helped us as a group because it has helped with keeping all our work
organized and also makes it easier to see our progress of our work and the
stages we did it in. Blogger has also made our work look visually much better and
neater and also more professional. By using blogger I have learnt how to easily
upload YouTube videos that I based my research on and also upload scanned
images of my work in the form of jpeg files onto my blog.
evidence of what research, jpeg files and youtube video of slasher film looks like on my blog.
Blogger has taught me how to not only upload images and videos onto my blog but also how to scan my research onto the apple mac computers and turn them to jpeg files ready for my blog.
Planning:
For the
planning of our media product we used a range of technologies such as Celtx, scanners, digital cameras, programs to convert audio files.
We used digital cameras to take images
to help use produce our storyboard through celtx. We took many photographs
representing the stages of each section of our film and took them from
different angles and views, for example we took mid shots, long shots,
establishing shots and so on. Using the digital cameras were useful as they
helped us to see the kinds of shots we wanted to use in our media products and
also the images made our story board look much more clear.
Before uploading
the images onto celtx they had to uploaded onto the apple Mac computer and be
sorted into the ones we wanted to used and needed and the ones that we didn’t, to
do this we used Iphoto.
Celtx- is free media pre-production software designed for creating and organizing media projects like screenplays,
films, videos, stageplays, audio plays, documentaries, , comics, games and
podcasts.
By using celtx this helped us alot, as we could visualize how our film would
look from it. On celtx we created our storyboard for our film and this was a
simple task using the program as we didn’t need to spend a lot of time drawing
images and writing captions and labels. Celtx also made our storyboard look
well presented, organized and professional. By creating our storyboard on celtx
this also meant we just had to turn it into a jpeg file to load it straight
onto our blogs.
example of story board created on celtx.
Another thing we used celtx for was
to create our script for the opening of our film. This didn’t just contain dialogue
for our film but also included directions for camera shots and actions.
Image scanner: is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting,
or an object, and converts it to a digital image.
Throughout nearly all of the planning
stage and research I used the scanner alot this was to scan all of my research
for the subgenre, scripts and storyboards onto the applemacs so that they could
be uploaded straight onto my blog this saved a lot of time and was much better
the typing everything out. We also used the scanner to rescan our script or
storyboards once we had made corrections to them.
storyboard rescanned with corrections and changes made to it.
Converting audio files: is a type of
electronic hardware technology, which converts an analog audio signal to a digital
audio format.
We used zamzar to convert the song of
our choice (Lana Del Ray- Born To
Die (Gemini Remix)) into an audio file so that it could be played at the
beginning of our film.
Production:
For the production we also used a range
of technologies such as digital video camera, and Imovie.
Digital video camera-is a camera used
for electronic motion picture.
We used the digital video camera to film all of our footage for our film. The digital
video camera was useful for use as a group as it allowed us to get all the
accurate shots that we needed and we were also able to look back on the mini
LCD screen instantly to see if we were happy with out footage. To get steady
shots we also use a tripod to rest the camera on.
Imovie- iMovie is a proprietary video editing software application, which allows
Mac, iPod Touch 4th generation, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, and iPad 2 users to edit
their own home movies.
By using imovie were able to make our product and assemble all our footage that we wanted to use in our final product together. Imovie allowed us to edit our footage by slowing it down to speeding it up; it also allowed us to add transitions such as ‘fade to black’. We also were able change our music that was in the film from non-diegetic to diegetic.
we changed the image into greyscale showing it from the killers view and this also made it more tense.
By using iMovie we changed the speed ad the colour of the image from the killers point of view this creates an enigma and also makes it look much more effective then the original.
To find our suitable target audience for our film we produced audience questionnaires and when carrying them out we aimed them at 16-20 year olds.
This is the result we got from our audience questionnaires and as you can see the majority were 16-20 year olds and out of them most of the audience were 17
Once we collected out questionnaires in that gave us more of a idea as a group of exactly what out audience wanted to see in our film, for example they expected the killer to be male
This is the results we got back from asking which character they particularly expected to see within our sub genre.
This showed that our audience expected to see a male killer and female victim as our main victim and also other characters that are also victims for example lucy's boyfriend.
This is the audience profile i wrote up after receiving the questionnaires back, this helped us as a group as we knew exactly what our audience wanted and expected to see in our film and also helped our group so we knew exactly what sorts of things we had to include to make sure our film fit the typical codes and conventions of a slasher.
Other things
our audience expected to see in our film ‘obsession’ was the colours red, black
or white used, these would mainly be used for text or titles and are typical
colours used for our specific sub genre.
This is evidence of more answers that our audience gave us, which related to the colour schemes of our film
When we asked
our audience if they preferred it if the narrative of the plot was revealed at
the beginning of the film through a voice over like ‘The Strangers’ the majority
said no this was because the liked it to remain a surprise and found it
annoying if too much was revealed.
Another aspect our audience believed that built the suspense was the music .
From the questionnaires the audience said that the kind of music they expected was eerie and this is typically the kind of music that is used in slasher films to build up the suspense and tension before something major is about to happen.
Overall our questionnaires
that were filled out by the audience helped us to make our film and also include
the aspects and main things that would appeal to them and also still fit the
typical codes and conventions of a slasher horror film. It also gave us a clear insight to who our audience actually is (mainly 16-20 year olds).
3) What kind of Media institution might distribute
your media product and why?
Our film
opening is suitable for all types of institutions who are looking to distribute
our specific type of sub-genre (slasher horror).
For our
specific film we used universal studios.
Universal Studios:
Universal studios- is a subsidiary
of Comcast and a division of NBC Universal, is one of the
six major movie studios. Founded by Carl Laemmle in 1912, Universal is the
second oldest movie studio in the world that is still in continuous production;
the first being Gaumont Pictures, the next oldest is Paramount
Pictures. Universal studios is ranked one of the
largest movie studios and is recognized world wide so therefore it has plenty of money behind it and would be good getting a film into their cinema line as it would make it more easier for it to become successful.
We used the universal studios logo at the bringing of our film to make it look more professional.
Halloween 2 is one of the slasher films
that has been distributed by Universal Studios.
Vertigo films:
Vertigo films –are an independent British film production and film distribution
company based in London that was founded in 2002. Vertigo Films has been
responsible for the production and distribution StreetDance 3D. Vertigo Films have produced many successful
independent British films, which show the talent of mainly British actors/
actresses. For example ‘StreetDance 3D’ and ‘StreetDance 2’, which star talent
such as George Sampson and Flawless in them have been a huge successes. Vertigo
Films have also released many horror films such as ‘The Children’ and ‘Im the
angle of death’.
How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
In
our film ‘obsession’ one of the particular social groups that is conveyed is
youth. This is represented through mise en scene, so this means
the characters clothing and also the props used. The clothing the characters
are wearing are fashionable, and of the latest trends which shows they are ‘teenagers’,
also the props used by the teenagers such as the iPod used by Lucy and the
cigarette as typically things that we would associate with youth, and that the
media associates with youth as being anti-social behaviors. These representations
fit our sub genre very well, because within slasher films killers often murder
the victims as a punishment for something they have done and therefore as for
youth and there bad representations they deserve to be punished.
screen shot of lucy's boyfriend being a rebel, shows negative representations of youth and within the sub genre of slasher films it is typical behaviours as it shows there is a motive for punishment.
screen shot of lucy walking and as you can see she's representing youth with the clothing she is wearing which is vans, leggings and a rolling stones t-shit
screen shot of lucy taking her headphones out this represents youth because she has her iPod in her hand.
Another
social group that is conveyed in our film is gender. In our film this is shown through
binary opposites male vs female. We instantly know that the killer is a male
character, this is through mise en scene by the killer wearing black leather
gloves and also through the deep heavy breathing, this shows us that our victim
is a weak character and shows that the male is the more dominant and stronger
character.
From the research on slasher films i have done the idea of binary opposites, male vs female is shown in the film scream. When the female character is on the phone to the male stranger who is the killer she begins to feel intimidated and scared showing that the male is the more dominant character and has power over the female.
women starts to feel intimidated by the male character on the phone- 3:29
black leather glove showing that the killer is male
In
what ways does your media product, use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Our media group looked and focused on a
specific
sub genre of slasher horror films.
We had to carefully look and develop the
codes and conventions of this sub genre as
slasher horror films differ from
other sub genres of horror such as psychological.
In
order for our product to fit the typical coded and conventions of a slasher
film we had to carry out research to make ourselves familiar with the typical
codes and conventions, we did this by watching the first two minutes of slasher
films and noted what we saw, for example the typical camera shots, edits that
were used, colour schemes within the opening, who the stock characters were.
For our product the stock characters were important
as we introduce 3 in the opening, one of which we do not see or know their
identity of, this is typical for a slasher as the killer hides their identity and the other two characters that are introduced are the victims. We have our main victim which is the young attractive female character Lucy and then we have her rebellious boyfriend who is also introduced. Our product relates to the opening of
scream as we see the same thing because we do not know who the killer is. Other films which i researched where the killer is present but not seen and the identity is unknown is 'black christmas' - where we can only hear the killer breathing heavily.
The opening of ‘Scream’ particularly relates to our
opening as our main victim is Lucy and when we carried out our audience questionnaires
the majority of people said they expected to see the victim to be a young female, and for there also to be other victims to.
We also asked our audience if they would rather see there characters introduced to them in person like in the film 'Scream' or be introduced through a voiceover as seen in 'The Strangers'. The majority of our audience for this said no because they would have preferred to see our characters like shown in 'Scream'.
Our main female character from 'obsession' being introduced for the first time in the film.
Another typical code and convention that takes place in slasher films is the idea of punishment this is where the characters are murdered after they have either committed a crime or this happens when young victims are either partying, doing drugs or taking part in sexual activity before being murdered because all those things to the killer is seen as disrespectful and irresponsible. Out of the films I researched the idea of punishment is shown in ‘Black Christmas’ and ‘The strangers’.
two characters in 'the strangers' kissing in the car park.
female character in 'black christmas' drinking at a party.
To follow this typical idea of ‘punishment’ in our
product, we have included our characters performing unsuitable behavior in the
middle of the street this includes both out main characters having a kiss and
also Lucy and her boyfriend enjoying a cigarette, this suggests that they are
‘bad’ and ‘irresponsible’ which is typical stereotype of youth in slasher films.
Screen shot from our film 'obsession' of lucy's boyfriend lighting a cigarette. This is the first time he is introduced in the film which conveys him as being a rebel.
Lucy and her boyfriend kissing in the middle if the street, this follows the typical conventions of the idea of punishment. This is similar to the kind of inappropriate behaviour shown in 'The Strangers'
Another typical code and convention of slasher horrors is the colours used within the film, this is for the lighting where it is usually dark and also for the title that is typically either black, white or red. These pacific colours connote danger, death, violence and also makes the audience clear that out film is a horror.
These colours are used for text in most slasher films, out of the films i have researched all five of them use at least one if not all of these colours for the text and titles.
this is the title of 'black christmas' and as you can see the typical colours of black and white are used.
This is the colours our audience expected to see in our slasher horror when they were asked in the audience questionnaire.
screen shot from our film opening and as you can see we have used red for the text as this is a typical colour for a slasher film, the colour red in a slasher horror film represents danger.
title of the film 'obsession' in white against a black background also typical colours, this is similar to the way the title is in 'Black Christmas'.
