evaluation

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?

shot/ reverse shot is a techneak that gives a really proffeshional effect to the audence with little effort to film which we found out while filming our preliminary task and as a group we all liked  the way it added suspense and kept the a otherwise boring part of the film interesting so it was a natural choice for a camera shot for our final project. editing the two pices of footage together was one of the hardest when it came to edditing and so took alot of time in the preliminary task and as we were on a limited time scale we had to waigh up if it was worth the time and so we decided that it would be worth some time getting it right then having a stright forward shot.  shot reverse shot works well in all types of cinematic media when a conversation is taking place because as the characters are shown facing opposite directions the audience assumes they are looking at each other . comparing the two shots it is easy to see how we have improved our filming techneak in many ways examples being; camera is more steady, script flows more, less pours in between the cuts.   

match on action has been used in two different ways in the final and the preliminary task, for the preliminary we used match on action to show our actors moment thought the door to add realism to the project as they was no atmosphere we where aiming to create comparing this to our final task where we use match on action to add emphasis on her knocking on the door shows the audience that this is a critical part in the film. This is different from the stereotypical use of match on action where in is only used for transitioning between locations but as we found the preliminary task match on action relatively simple we decided to challenge ourselves and try something more complex and i feel this worked really well overall to gain the effect needed. when we first attempted match on action in the preliminary task we only took 2 takes of the scene and assumed in would be okay but when we started to edit we realized that there were continuity issues`s in the shot that could not be re-filmed and so when we started on the filming for our final task we took multiple takes of every scene allowing us to have more freedom to pic the best one and not have to work with one that is not quite perfect. 

in our preliminary task there was no use of angles and i feel this could of been experimented a bit more with to gain the experience needed for a successful final project so we decided to use both high and low angels. the low angel shown in the second picture was used to differentiated between a location in the house that we have used twice before in a very short time (female character opening the door and killer moving up the stairs) but also puts the audience where they would feel most emotive towards the victim as the audience would want to shout at her not to go up the stairs. looking at the preliminary task we have used very simple movements and camera angels which i feel makes it look very plane and would not fit for our horror genre where typically the camera changes angle to create different effects at any given moment, we have tried to re-create this effect on a smaller scale as to not give a jumpy effect that could be crated when working within a 2 minute time scale. 

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 3

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

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
 what you learnt about it/from using it. 

annotated camera, sorry it had to be big so you could read the writing

The first picture (top left) is of the camera we used to film the project it is a Panasonic HM-TA1 different from the one our school provided us with, we started off filming with the schools one but because we were mainly using artificial light the end product was yellowish whereas the one shown seemed to handle the light better and looked more realistic when it came to the editing. from this i have learnt that before we shoot our film we should do a test shot to see how it comes out on the computer that way we don't waste time having to re-shoot scene where the lightning isn't good. the camera its self was really easy to use, it is my camera so i have used it before which helps use the camera to our advatege and means we did not lose time trying to work the camera.


The next picture along (clockwise) is the logo of adobe Photo shop. we used photo shop more than we expected to but with the pictures in the opening 25 seconding needing edditing e.g redtint we ended relyling on it to creat the final effect. when i first started useing Photo shop i had never used it before and so i found it hard to work but thankfully two members in my group Lauren and Beth use it in another subject and were able to teach be the basics and at with a couple of pratics runs i managed to get the effect i wanted. i now know how to use photoshop with the help of my group but if i was working on my own i would of found it impossible to do and so i am now going thought diffrent programs to ensure i know how to work them


Youtube- we found youtube a very easy to use as all members of our group use it normaly and so know time was waisted trying to work it. anothere advantage of youtube was that all members of the group could acess the material that we wanted to upload on to our blog, which was easy as blogger has a partership with youtube. what i learnt form youtube is that it is possible to annotate the footage with a prevously has no knowlage of .


Adobe Premeria elemets, PR symbol, was what i found the hardest to use for a number of reasons firstly because none of the group has ever used it before so we were mostly working on a trail are error bases, learning from what went really wrong and made sure we didn't do it again. from this bit of equipment i learnt the importance of saving work every time we make a change to our opening due to it crashing because of the files size we were working with.


The tripod was one the easier thing to pick up, possibly because they was nothing to go drastically wrong with it, picking up how to use the tripod also worked of a trial and error bases but was very easy to work out the best and fastest way of getting the tripod ready for the next shot. the tripod worked of a series of retractable feet allowing you to adjust the height also another way to add height was by a the head of the tripod making it drastically higher, areal shot. 


Blogger, was like most pieces of technology in this course was hard when learning how it works but easy once you get the hang of it. i have found blogger very easy to use and a grate way of showing my creative side, once i manage to get the pictures where i want them to go which was hard at times. i have learnt form this technology that i can be creative with what i do and not simply display the information in one set format. 

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

ideally we would like our film to appeal to everyone, but that has never happened in the film industry and i feel with regret that our film is no exception. there are always going to be people that react negatively to a type of genre but horror I feel has the opportunity to entice a wide range of people who are interested in different things and  genre's.


  

typical male 

This picture is of the typical audience for our horror film aged between the age of 16 to 25. With horror films it is hard to spefisefy where they shop, music they listen to and favourite t.v programs as part of the beauty of a horror film is that it can move thought the dives of social groups. But with our horror movie taking a more thriller than gore approach we can vaguely circle that our male typical audience would be. for example they would be interested in TV shows like Showtimes` "DEXTER" which follows the life of a serial killer our film takes a darker approach to this  but I still feel it can work quite well they would also like the saw films which in some aspects fallow the  life of the jigsaw killer. due to as prevously stated the complications which come with defining an audence by the music they listen to is extreamly hard to do by genre but i feel they would listen to new mucis to fit in with our age demographic as you would sterotypicaly assosciate horror films with a younger gerneration who would listen to more recent music whereas if a horror film would appeal to an older audiece they would sterotyplicaly listen to slightly older music e.g the smiths. 


our typical viewer would shop in high street chains like topshop and river island these two brands of shops are very popular among people aged 16-25 and is considered the place to get reasonable priced high street fashion.  study's have shown that even with the proliferation of DVDs and blueray going to the cinema is still as popular thing to do as the weekends with a group of friends and our film hopefully will bring in group audiences. 

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

1.   this is one of the first of a sequence of pictures edited on Photoshop to give the red effect. This set up the back ground to the film and the villain and letting the viewer know that he has killed before, the connotations of red are danger and blood which in enforced by the loud music changing the tone of the film and convincing the audience that the film is of the horror genre.

2.  This moment in the film introduces the 2 girls, tara and an unknown girl. We have not given her a name as our film will not follow them further than the 2 minutes, giving names to people who will shortly die just gives the audience some information that they will not need, this is commonly used in films to allow the attention to be directed at the maincharacter. Instead our film will follow the story of the killer and his inevitable downfall with different cast members which are directly challenging the conventions of a horror film where the script focuses of the victim. The camera shot we have used on this meeting scene is an over the shoulder shot I feel this works well as it gives the viewer a scene of exclusion, they are not allowed to see the inside of the house but also gives the sense that someone is watching them very common in the horror genre and will be developed further into the clip.

3. This moment in the clip is very common in the horror genre and has been used in classic’s like the ring this works well in our opening two minutes as it takes the audience back to their routes of the horror genre and in doing this we make sure that we don’t alienate our typical viewer.  This clip also shows the costume they are wearing as something very typical of a laid back teenaged girl style making the viewer identify with the two girls more by using this convention it helps develop feelings toward the two girls and makes the effect of them dying in an unknown way more effective.

4. this shot in some ways can be considered to be Could be seen as using the tradition horror convention in the use of the setting, a girl alone venturing outside on her own in search of a strange sound but we have tried to develop this concept with the use of camera work. By having “Tara” move out of the shot the traditional thing to do would be to cut or pan to follow the movements but instead we have hidden the villain which makes his first movement very effective as the audience would not be expecting it. The setting for this scene is a darker version of the establishing shot adding to the atmosphere of the shot as the viewer has something to compare the shot to, was bright and nonthreatening now gray and suddenly more intimidating.

5.  for me personally this is one of the most critical camera shots in the opening of our film the reason for this is that it directly challenges the stereotypical conventions of a horror genre by way of taking a different perspective of a commonly used moment in horror films (catching a glimpse of the villain in the window but is unsure of what you saw) this new technique we have used also emphasises the fact that the victims are not the main focus of the film and will shortly die inset it is the killers proses we are focusing on. The props on the windowsill use another convention of the horror genre to show how the setting is very stereotypical of the 15-23 generation allowing people to relate more to the characters.   

6. this shot is a close- up of our killer moving up the stairs we used match-on-action to very this shot as it could be seen as quite boring and slow paced whereas a typical convention of a horror film is lots of tension build up, our use of the close up and match-on-action allows us to develop this convention as it allows the viewer to really notice the significance of him walking up the stairs to wait for his victim to follow.




7. this is a very stereotypical moment in our film it is commonly use in the horror genre, the victim walks straight into the killer. by using this convention is creates the suspense needed to make our film a true horror film by the way of knowing that she is going to die if she goes up there but something stops her at the last moment, this sadly does not happen as the point of this opening is to introduce you to this unknown killers methods.

8.by using the contrasting colours of light among the dark you can clearly she the hand of the last victim on the window before she fades away, this hand print of the window becomes the signature of our killer that will be repeated  throughout the film. by use of a primitive version of the special effects used in other horror films you can just about make out the imprint of the hand on the window the use of fake blood our film uses the convention off blood and gore associated with the horror genre to allow the audience to be aware that this is going to be a part of the film as we have a not shown any deaths in detail.  

9.  this is the part in our film where the title is shown, normally in a horror film the title is shown near the start in simple font with white writing  the style we have chosen fits more into a convention of an action film where there is a big fight/chase scene before the title sequence. We have opted for a bold strong font to reflect the killers persona the red tint in the white title stands out against the black background, this coupled with the solute of the killer walking away singles the start of our film. the red in our title connotes the blood of our horror film reaffirming the fact that this film is of the horror genre.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

amie, signature

Danielle Panabakerm, Friday the 13th, jenna(charecter)

In looks and costume the two are very similar. They both have similar facial features with brown hair, both not what you would stereo-typically associate with a horror movie girl but i feel this adds to the appeal of the two characters they are both also dressed in a light top with coupled with a dark   jacket/jumper this i feel helps the viewer identify with the character more as most teens dress in some way similar to these two girls.  Amie is the first to be seen to die in signature but from the opening images of newspaper clippings we know he has killed before. Her death is not seen just her capture which she goes down with out much of i fight. the fact that her actual death is not seen by the audience shows how unimportant she is to the film as they cut to the other character this could also suggest coupled with her lack of fight that her death is not worth capturing as she dies so quickly another interpretation of her death not being shown is that it allows the audiences imagination to deiced out how she died something that is not often seen in the horror genre. her character represents the a stereotypical defenseless teen aged girl who does thing with out thinking which is often shown in horror movies and normally among the first to die.  

Comparing Amies death to Danielle`s there are major differences. Denielle`s character Jenna is central to the movie and is the last to die emphasising her importance, her death in itself is quite unexpected as she meets her end while attempting to escape from Jason's underground lair where She gets a machete through the chest in a very graphic way. This is completely different from Amie`s character where her death is not seen as previously stated. Jenna represents the typical leader of a group; strong, friendly, takes things as they come all are natural characteristics of a strong leader and are also not shown in amie`s character.