'Looking back at your Preliminary Task, what do you feel you have learnt in progression from it to the Full Product?'
When i came to the course i had minor experience in amatuer filming and editing but i had to learn the different camera, editing software, shot types and framing. I'd also never used a tripod for long periods of time so the training throughout the Preliminary and Main tasks was needed and i was beneficial
Before our Preliminary task we were shown different shots such as the Match-On-Action, Shot-Reverse-Shot, how to frame shots properly and the 180° rule. Even after we had handed in that task we were informed that we hadn't framed many of our shots properly and after a look through the video we realized we were poor in that area. However after the Main task we looked back over our footage and each shot had catered for our down-fallings in the prelim' -admittadly throughout filming i didn't think of it but after seeing the end project i realize it had just sunk in without me realizing - unconscious competence.
Adobe Premier Plus Pro 2.0 was the editing software as i have mentioned in Q6 and we were giving two lessons on that program, we were given the basic tools such as the 'razor' - how and where to save it and how to load it up. During the Preliminary Lainey and I did most of the editing due to absences from the rest of our team but in hindsight that benefited us as we had a head start when it came to the Main task.
Our decision to go straight into the Main Task off the back of the Preliminary was based on our eagerness to keep our determination going, we were all aware that it would get tedious so decided to plough on. In the end we rushed right down to the last day and i (ironically) still lost determination
We filmed over 4 sessions for our Main task after the idea was formulated and used clips from each one in the logging and capturing time we had and came out the other side with decent footage which all got used in the final project. This confidence i talk about wasn't displayed in the Prelim' as we had to re-film 3 times and doubts of our ability were creeping into all our minds, so we definitely did improve.
Overall the whole 'media experience' does give you a lot of skills that aren't media related:
Firstly i have learned to work efficiently skimming through internet pages instead of reading each section and then applying it effectively and relatively to the situation.
I have also learned how to manage my time ( to a certain degree) giving time for both my social life and work.Giving time for me to research, edit and film was possibly my biggest downfall in this project, i struggled majorly to juggle work and play.
We were warned when we started the coursework that there would be arguments and we all laughed it off possibly in fear that it would actually happened. On countless times myself and Lainey would argue or become a bit 'irate' with each other over our ideas - possibly my biggest gain through this work was being able to now listen to what people are saying and taking it on board without become defensive.
Friday 30 April 2010
Evaluation - Question 6
'What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?'
Obviously if your filming you need to learn how to use a camera, so the pause, rewind and record buttons were laid out to patronize us then we were shown other functions of the camera such as the 'view' setting where you can see what footage you have just recorded. There were also little tricks with the camera that were giving to us by our teachers. We were told that so we didn't record over any footage we required we should leave a 2 to 3 second gap in between recordings.
We also got shown what last years class had done incorrectly. We learn where the fire wire was meant to go into the camera, and despite the intellect of our group being quite high the initiative lacks sometimes so we were hesitant to explore different ports if the firewire didn't work so i guess we also learnt to use our initiative by the end of the coursework.
We also learnt how to research properly, not through any structured guidance but through the amount we had to do, skimming the internet and finding relevant information is a skill which will be needed throughout life.
Finally the editing software which was Adobe Preimer Plus 2.0. Before this project i did have some experience but only through old youtube videos where the editing software was basic, Premier Plus was more complex and showed showed us how much can actually be edited.
Obviously if your filming you need to learn how to use a camera, so the pause, rewind and record buttons were laid out to patronize us then we were shown other functions of the camera such as the 'view' setting where you can see what footage you have just recorded. There were also little tricks with the camera that were giving to us by our teachers. We were told that so we didn't record over any footage we required we should leave a 2 to 3 second gap in between recordings.
We also got shown what last years class had done incorrectly. We learn where the fire wire was meant to go into the camera, and despite the intellect of our group being quite high the initiative lacks sometimes so we were hesitant to explore different ports if the firewire didn't work so i guess we also learnt to use our initiative by the end of the coursework.
We also learnt how to research properly, not through any structured guidance but through the amount we had to do, skimming the internet and finding relevant information is a skill which will be needed throughout life.
Finally the editing software which was Adobe Preimer Plus 2.0. Before this project i did have some experience but only through old youtube videos where the editing software was basic, Premier Plus was more complex and showed showed us how much can actually be edited.
Evaluation - Question 5
'How did you attract/address your audience?'
In our trailer we used Dulcie, who is an 'attractive blonde' as the character with the most camera time, obviously this will always lift a male's eyelid through the advert breaks in between the football, so combined with a good plot, the trailer shows the start to a universally masculine liked combination.
Related to this is the footage we used, as we used quick editing cuts the whole way through the peice you get that essence of mystery when it ends as it feels as though there are major holes in the story, it leaves the viewer wanting to know more, perhaps bringing them to search online about the film title, and a potential sold ticket to your film.
Again we tried to make the settings universal. by using a train, bridge, river, woods the audience can relate more to it. If our film was based on a beach on an island we would only have empathy so stay engaged with the film, but with normal surroundings the audience can relate. Overall it attracts the minority that get dragged along to a film as it doesn't take that much thinking to stay engaged as the film.
The music also played a part, the music used was a gothic piece that had a monophonic piano rhythm in it and can be easily recognized as a horror song. As it is so easily identifiable a horror fan would naturally pay attention, again serving the purpose of an advert.
In our trailer we used Dulcie, who is an 'attractive blonde' as the character with the most camera time, obviously this will always lift a male's eyelid through the advert breaks in between the football, so combined with a good plot, the trailer shows the start to a universally masculine liked combination.
Related to this is the footage we used, as we used quick editing cuts the whole way through the peice you get that essence of mystery when it ends as it feels as though there are major holes in the story, it leaves the viewer wanting to know more, perhaps bringing them to search online about the film title, and a potential sold ticket to your film.
Again we tried to make the settings universal. by using a train, bridge, river, woods the audience can relate more to it. If our film was based on a beach on an island we would only have empathy so stay engaged with the film, but with normal surroundings the audience can relate. Overall it attracts the minority that get dragged along to a film as it doesn't take that much thinking to stay engaged as the film.
The music also played a part, the music used was a gothic piece that had a monophonic piano rhythm in it and can be easily recognized as a horror song. As it is so easily identifiable a horror fan would naturally pay attention, again serving the purpose of an advert.
Evaluation - Question 4
'Who would be the audience for your media product?'
When we first started looking at ideas for our final piece we compared our ideas to films like 'The Blaire Witch Project' and 'Shrooms' where both sets of characters are in their teens, and obviously as we had teenagers in our group we decided to target our film at teenagers and young adults between the ages of 16 and 25 so our Certificate rating would be 15 or possibly 18.We also understood that most of the audience would be male as scenes of blood and gore may discourage female attendance.
With a certificate 18 advertising would be tricky, billboards could still be used but the image shown would have to be universally appropriate, the same principle stands for TV advertising where the trailer would not be aloud to be to horrific and would have to be shown after the watershed at 9pm.
When we first started looking at ideas for our final piece we compared our ideas to films like 'The Blaire Witch Project' and 'Shrooms' where both sets of characters are in their teens, and obviously as we had teenagers in our group we decided to target our film at teenagers and young adults between the ages of 16 and 25 so our Certificate rating would be 15 or possibly 18.We also understood that most of the audience would be male as scenes of blood and gore may discourage female attendance.
With a certificate 18 advertising would be tricky, billboards could still be used but the image shown would have to be universally appropriate, the same principle stands for TV advertising where the trailer would not be aloud to be to horrific and would have to be shown after the watershed at 9pm.
Thursday 29 April 2010
Evaluation - Question 3
'What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?'
As our film is a horror film there are some restrictions which obviously we have to address, as some scenes may be inappropriate for young children so if we were to use a TV advert it would have to be later in the evening, past 9 o clock.
Alternativly we could use the website www.horrorfilmmag.com as it had a nice layout - in the center you have a video player that automatically plays up and coming film trailers and to the left of that player you have a blog entry link, where you can see whats been said in reviews and on the forum.
We could also use billboards for advertising as time and time again you drive along and see a 20 ft tall sky movies advert, but it does invite you to take a gander into it, showing that it must pay off!
In the modern age a film can also be distributed through social networking sights, if a user of facebook,bebo, twitter or myspace went a whole day without seeing an ad for a film it would be a miracle. So obviously this will attract a young audience.
We had discussed in class and had agreed that if the product was to be released it would be around Halloween time and would be released in cinema then DVD and then hopefully sold to sky movies or another channel.
Always aim high so we decided that companies like 20th Century Fox or Paramount would be the best to aim for as they have released horror films before and they are global trademark's for good films and will instantly draw interest.
As our film is a horror film there are some restrictions which obviously we have to address, as some scenes may be inappropriate for young children so if we were to use a TV advert it would have to be later in the evening, past 9 o clock.
Alternativly we could use the website www.horrorfilmmag.com as it had a nice layout - in the center you have a video player that automatically plays up and coming film trailers and to the left of that player you have a blog entry link, where you can see whats been said in reviews and on the forum.
We could also use billboards for advertising as time and time again you drive along and see a 20 ft tall sky movies advert, but it does invite you to take a gander into it, showing that it must pay off!
In the modern age a film can also be distributed through social networking sights, if a user of facebook,bebo, twitter or myspace went a whole day without seeing an ad for a film it would be a miracle. So obviously this will attract a young audience.
We had discussed in class and had agreed that if the product was to be released it would be around Halloween time and would be released in cinema then DVD and then hopefully sold to sky movies or another channel.
Always aim high so we decided that companies like 20th Century Fox or Paramount would be the best to aim for as they have released horror films before and they are global trademark's for good films and will instantly draw interest.
Evaluation - Question 2
'How does your media product represent particular social groups?'
The 'Particular social group' in our film would have to be teenagers and as every generation should be able to accept is that the majority of sterotypes for teenagers are negative. For example this extract is from an article titled 'God Damned Young People Are Poisoning Their Minds With To Much Information': It’s one of the reasons that young people are all stupid as Hell. They’re overloading their tiny noggins with an unhealthy mix of conflicting opinions, warped ideologies, asinine lolcats and uncensored citizen news. It’s amazing their damned heads aren’t exploding left and right. I admit i don't understand several of two of those terms but i know myself when I'm being insulted or patronized. Obviously someone had to publish this and had to select what to print which curves the ideologies of readers.
Aside from this extreme example other common stereotypes include Dumb Blondes, Over make-up'ed girls and loud masculine behavior from all male teens.
We did conform to several stereotypes in our film.
Dulcie was picked as our 'running girl' and played the role well portraying fear and panic well which conforms to the ideology of girls being weaker than men and having to be rescued by the male 'hero'.
Sexuality was again use for the decision of the Killer, if we had used a female actor we could challenge the dominant ideology as it is rare that you get a strong female lead in a film, a film which focuses just around females. However we decided to go with the Conformative male role as the killer which was played by myself for my physique - wide and tall which is stereotypically an intimidating build. For example Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator films.
For example Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator films.
This segment is from a Bbc news report about hoodies, 'Hooded tops have come to be viewed by some as a symbol of social disorder. ' which shows the fact hoodies have become a symbol, not just an item of clothing. We challenge this wrong doing by having Dulcie, the role in trouble and being supposedly chased by the killer, in a hoodie. I feel strongly in the matter of teenage prejudice so i was happy we could include a hoodie for at this rate robin hood will be censored in five years.
The 'Particular social group' in our film would have to be teenagers and as every generation should be able to accept is that the majority of sterotypes for teenagers are negative. For example this extract is from an article titled 'God Damned Young People Are Poisoning Their Minds With To Much Information': It’s one of the reasons that young people are all stupid as Hell. They’re overloading their tiny noggins with an unhealthy mix of conflicting opinions, warped ideologies, asinine lolcats and uncensored citizen news. It’s amazing their damned heads aren’t exploding left and right. I admit i don't understand several of two of those terms but i know myself when I'm being insulted or patronized. Obviously someone had to publish this and had to select what to print which curves the ideologies of readers.
Aside from this extreme example other common stereotypes include Dumb Blondes, Over make-up'ed girls and loud masculine behavior from all male teens.
We did conform to several stereotypes in our film.
Dulcie was picked as our 'running girl' and played the role well portraying fear and panic well which conforms to the ideology of girls being weaker than men and having to be rescued by the male 'hero'.
Sexuality was again use for the decision of the Killer, if we had used a female actor we could challenge the dominant ideology as it is rare that you get a strong female lead in a film, a film which focuses just around females. However we decided to go with the Conformative male role as the killer which was played by myself for my physique - wide and tall which is stereotypically an intimidating build. For example Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator films.
For example Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator films.This segment is from a Bbc news report about hoodies, 'Hooded tops have come to be viewed by some as a symbol of social disorder. ' which shows the fact hoodies have become a symbol, not just an item of clothing. We challenge this wrong doing by having Dulcie, the role in trouble and being supposedly chased by the killer, in a hoodie. I feel strongly in the matter of teenage prejudice so i was happy we could include a hoodie for at this rate robin hood will be censored in five years.
Wednesday 31 March 2010
Evaluation - Question 1
"In what way does your media product use,develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?"
The definition of a horror film from Wikipedia is 'Movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers'. It goes on to mention 'Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness. Many horror movies also include a central villain' which is obviously needed because nobody pays to watch a horror film if they don't want to be scared or at least a little bit anxious.
I don't tend to watch horror films but paranormal activity and the decent are
at different ends of the horror film scale, if there was one. Paranormal Activity is a film realesed in 2009 relies on sutle hints and no violence giving off a sense of mystery which admitadly put me on the edge of my seat until they overplayed it and i got bored. The Decent is another horror film showing fear after a prolonged build up using the darkness of the cave throughout the film to create an un-nerving atmosphere.
Obviously the two mentioned horror films were big sellers so we decided as a group to develop the idea of a lot of tension being built up, we did this with shots of running characters which changes the atmosphere of the footage, shots of short un-informative sentances from The Decent - we did intend to use a dark room but in the end couldn't find the shots for it to work, but this would have given the film a higher sense of mystery. And finally at the end of the trailer a loud scream is let off which is effectivly the tension relief that is given off at the end of each scene in paranormal activity.
Although using darker surroundings is stereotypically a scarier choice, our group made the decision of a dimly lit woodland area with a small river running next to it which was possibly the best we could have made because after slight editing to the outdoor shots the film looked more disorientated than say a Romantic-comedy. Having looked back at the original pictures, early scenes of The Decent show a similar tree scene.
The definition of a horror film from Wikipedia is 'Movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers'. It goes on to mention 'Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness. Many horror movies also include a central villain' which is obviously needed because nobody pays to watch a horror film if they don't want to be scared or at least a little bit anxious.
I don't tend to watch horror films but paranormal activity and the decent are
at different ends of the horror film scale, if there was one. Paranormal Activity is a film realesed in 2009 relies on sutle hints and no violence giving off a sense of mystery which admitadly put me on the edge of my seat until they overplayed it and i got bored. The Decent is another horror film showing fear after a prolonged build up using the darkness of the cave throughout the film to create an un-nerving atmosphere.Obviously the two mentioned horror films were big sellers so we decided as a group to develop the idea of a lot of tension being built up, we did this with shots of running characters which changes the atmosphere of the footage, shots of short un-informative sentances from The Decent - we did intend to use a dark room but in the end couldn't find the shots for it to work, but this would have given the film a higher sense of mystery. And finally at the end of the trailer a loud scream is let off which is effectivly the tension relief that is given off at the end of each scene in paranormal activity.
Although using darker surroundings is stereotypically a scarier choice, our group made the decision of a dimly lit woodland area with a small river running next to it which was possibly the best we could have made because after slight editing to the outdoor shots the film looked more disorientated than say a Romantic-comedy. Having looked back at the original pictures, early scenes of The Decent show a similar tree scene.
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