EVALUATION ACTIVITY 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

I feel that I have learnt a lot since our preliminary task. I am more confident when using the computer software and the camera equipment. During our preliminary task I learnt the basics of using the video camera, but now I feel a lot more confident as I know what the features of the camera are. I also feel more confident when it comes to deciding what the best shots are and how far or close we should be from the subject we are filming. When filming our preliminary task, our main priority was to stick to he 180 degree rule and include both match on action and shot reverse shot shots. When filming our opening sequence we managed to stick to the 180 degree rule and included both shot reverse and match on action shots. This, in our opening sequence was a lot more professional than it had been in our preliminary task as we knew what our aim was and how we went about getting the perfect shot.

I also now am a lot more confident when it comes to editing and using the computer software. At first, I found it hard to remember how to add effects and other functions but now I know where everything is and if not, I know I can rely on one of my team members to show me. When we first used Garageband we didn't know how to change the tempo of the instruments, however, after a thorougher search, we found how to edit the instruments. This was the only problem we came across when using Garageband so we now feel extremely confident when using the application.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

YouTube was a very helpul website because we were able to watch film trailers and clips of films without having to buy the dvd. I also found it very useful that we were able to share videos from YouTube on our blogs.
I used Google and IMDb to help with my research into different genres and films. IMDb was very useful for finding out about what genres films belonged to and finding the synopsis and plot of some films.

After being introduced to this website, I have found it quite easy to navigate. Once I learnt how to publish, edit, delete and add pictures to my posts I grasped the concept of blogging quickly.

The music we composed for the last section of our film sequence was made in Garageband and we then had to import it to iTunes. The track was quite easy to make and we grasped the use of the technology quickly.

Whilst in the process of editing our film we used several different applications from the Apple Mac computers. Most of our film was cut and edited using iMovie HD. The software for this took a while to get used to, but once we knew where everything was and how to do things, we managed to edit our film with ease. The only problem we came across in the editing process was when we tried to add an effect to a clip, which we ended up not being able to do because the size of the clip was too big. But I feel as though my confidence has grown a lot since our preliminary task when it comes to using this application.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

The setting of our opening sequence is in a young girl, Katlyn's, bedroom. This shows the audience how normal the girl is and makes them think that this could happen to any of them. The photos on the girls wall show how ordinary her life is and how her life is revolved around her friends. This targets our audience of 16-25 year olds. Our target audience came from the feedback from our questionnaires which told us that people aged 16-25 are the most interested in horror films. Genre conventions shown in this still image are the white gown which shows Katlyn's innocence and purity and the way her hair is sprawled across her face shows that she is restless and possessed.

The feedback from our classmates was that our opening sequence was confusing, however, this was intended as most horror films start off by confusing their audience and then later on in the film, everything is explained. Other films that do this are 'The Shining', 'The Exorcist' and 'Night of the Living Dead'.

As the credits roll, Katlyn is shown walking to school in ordinary clothes. The upbeat tempo of the music we composed signifies that she has gone back to normal life and is no longer possessed. This music genre is popular with our audience and adds a happy feeling to our film after the tragic few opening scenes.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Horror films are very popular in the cinema and TV. There is even a whole channel dedicated to horror films, Sky Movies Horror, which shows films such as 'My Bloody Valentine', 'Jennifer's Body' and 'Paranormal Activity'. Main TV channels such as BBC One, ITV and Channel 4 occasionally show films, but they are normally shown late at night because horror films are not suitable for the young audience the channels have.

Independent cinemas such as Curzon in London show a wide range of different films, from 'The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest', 'Monsters' and 'Of Gods And Men'. We would aim to show our film in independent cinemas, however, mainstream cinemas would be our main priority because they produce more income and are more popular.

Vue and Odeon are the main cinemas we would aim to have our film shown in. Vue cinemas are not as well known as Odeon but they are still well respected and show the same films as Odeon. Odeon cinemas are the largest cinema chain in Europe and so we would aspire and dream to have '666' shown in their cinemas.

Our local Odeon cinema, in Guildford, is currently showing all the new films such as, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, The Tourist and Monsters. The genre of horror is very common in cinemas as it is an extremely popular genre because people like being scared and on the edge of their seat.

Horror film festivals are held all around the world, from New York to Aberystwyth. The New York City Horror Festival shows horror films that have been made by aspiring film directors. Awards are then presented such as best feature film, best special effects and best screenplay. Film4 Frightfest is an annual film festival held in London in August. Fans gather for five days of premieres, previews, personal appearances, signings and surprises.

Realistically, we would like our film to be shown in most Odeon and Vue cinemas, but to get there we would have to submit it to film festivals such as the New York Horror Festival and Film4's Frightfest in order for our film to be noticed. After '666' is released, we would look to have our film shown on Sky Movies Horror and occasionally on a mainstream TV channel such as BBC One or ITV.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Omar is a member of our target audience. Omar is 24 and is an enthusiastic cinema go-er. He shops at Topman, Jack Wills and Primark. He listens to hip hop and r'n' b music and enjoys going to concerts. Omar enjoys watching The Inbetweeners as he loves how funny and modern it is. Omar's favourite film is Paranormal Activity because he loves the way that the audience have to think about how things could be happening. This is what attracts him to our film, '666'. Our film would keep Omar on the edge of his seat as he loves suspense. He would also be interested in the music used in '666' because he is very enthusiastic when it comes to movie soundtracks.

In the opening 2 minutes of our film there is the use of blood which leads to connotations of murder and violence. For this reason, and the fact that our film has a terrifying element to it, I would give our film the certificate of 15.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The character of Katlyn is presented as an innocent young girl who is dramatically possessed by the devil at night. She wears a long white robe to portray her vulnerability and purity, this is a stark contrast to the black worn by the devil. A girl wearing a white robe also features in the film 'The Ring'. Also similar to our film, the girl has her long dark hair covering her face, this adds to the effect that she is possessed. The character of Samara in the film 'The Ring' is quite similar to our character Katlyn. They both look the same and have similar issues. However, Samara, unlike Katlyn is not possessed, she is already dead. Samara's role in the film is to haunt and torture people, which in a way is similar to our film because Katlyn tortures people, but not as a choice, she is forced to do it by the devil.

Another character from a film which is like our main character Katlyn, is the character of Leah in 'The Children'. This character is a young girl who turns on her parents and starts to torture them, along with her brother and cousins. The girl, although is not visibly similar to Katlyn, is similar in a way that they are both possessed by an evil spirit and this leads them to do evil things, such a harming other people and in some cases killing them. Leah looks like an ordinary young girl, however, throughout the film we discover she is in fact the one controlling the actions of the other children, so she in a way could be compared to our characters of Katlyn and the devil.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Frame 1: The title of the film- We chose the name '666' for our film because the number 6 is closely associated with the devil. This is a connotation of the film genre of horror. The film 'The Omen' has a similar title to our film because it is short and simple and also the word 'omen' represents something sinister that will happen in the future, it also signifies the devil. We would have prefered the size of our font to be bigger, in order to shock the viewer, but due to the technology we had to settle on a smaller size. We would have also prefered the font to have a dripping effect to depict the blood falling down. Another connotation of the horror genre is the colour red and we chose this colour to reflect blood. The black background helps the redness of the font to stand out.

Frame 2: Setting/location- Our film is set in the modern day. We used a mixture of interior and exterior shots. Most of our film is set outside to show how everyday and public our storyline could be. In order to show that the character of Katlyn was sleeping, we filmed her in a bedroom. The bedroom we used showed how ordinary the girl is, showing pictures of outings with her friends on the wall. This makes the audience think that this could happen to anyone. The exterior shots we used, such as the woods and the open field, show that the character of the devil is following Katlyn.

Frame 3: Costumes and props- We decided to dress the girl in a long white night gown as it is a good contrast to the black of the devil. The colour white also shows her innocence and purity. This is similar to the clothes worn by the girl in 'The Ring', she wears a simple white gown and has her hair over her face. This effect looks quite terrifying. We did not use many props in our opening sequence. The only prop we did use was fake blood. We used this in order to show what the girl does when she is possesed. Blood is a denotation btu the connotations are that she may have just killed someone or has just harmed herself.

Frame 4: Camerawork and editing- In our opening sequence we used a wide range of shots such as over the shoulder, high angle and extreme close ups. We also managed to stick to the 180 degree rule. The editing of our film is quite fast paced which is a common feature of horror films.

Frame 5: Title font and style- The way in which the credits of our film were presented were influenced by the film 'The House of the Devil'. A rock style song plays and as the names of those in the film appear, the frame stops. This emphasises the names and shows their importance. We used the colour white in order to show that the film has gone back to normality.

Frame 6: Story and how the opening sets it up- '666' is a film about how a young innocent girl begins to suffer from horrific and terrifying nightmares which are controlled by the devil. These dreams, which often see her murdering people, then actually come true. The devil is secretly controlling her every move. The opening sequence shows Katlyn washing blood off her hands and viewers find out that the blood she washes off is in fact the blood of someone she has killed. However, as our opening shows, these shocking events only happen at night and the end of our opening shows how in the day, Katlyn lives a normal life.

Frame 7: Genre and how the opening suggests it- The genre of our film is mainly horror, however it could also be linked to the thriller genre so it is in fact a hybrid. The horror conventions shown in our opening include the fast pace editing, the fake blood and the connotations of murder. The thriller aspect is portrayed by the character of the devil and the theme of possession.

Frame 8: How characters are introduced- The character of Katlyn is the first to be introduced. We first show her having a restless nights sleep and it then quickly changes to a shot of the girl possessed in the bathroom. This immediately shows the two different side of Katlyn, the ordinary normal girl and the possessed evil girl. The character of the devil is introduced in the fast pace exterior scenes, this evokes the idea that he is chasing Katlyn.


Frame 9: Special effects- In order to show that the girl was having a dream we used an effect called bloom. This highlights the point that she is having a dream because there are different effects between the dream and real life shots. We also used an effect in the chasing sequence to confuse the reader into thinking whether this is real or still part of the dream.

Filming

Here are some still shots of my group filming.

Case Study: 'Rear Window'

'Rear Window' (1954) was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and is about a wheelchair bound photographer who spies on his neighbours from his apartment window and is convinced one of them has commited murder.

Who is it aimed at?: The age range for this film is mainly people of the older generation as it is quite an old film so may not appeal to the younger members of society. This film may also be mainly aimed at males rather than females as it is full of suspense, however women may also like this kind of film and there are famous female cast members who may attract women to watch this film.

How did it attract your attention?: This film attracted my attention as the storyline is very gripping and could occur in everyday life. Although I am not normally attracted to older films, I found this one very cleverly filmed and directed.

What sort of reviews did it receive?:

'Hitchcock combines technical and artistic skills in a manner that makes this an unusually good piece of murder mystery entertainment'

'Rear Window lovingly invests in suspense all through the film, banking it in our memory, so that when the final payoff arrives, the whole film has been the thriller equivalent of foreplay'

Horror Films

Conventions of horror films:

• Dark, spooky houses - isolated settings
• Scary, tense music
• Weapons
• Death, murder
• Masks
• Female passive victims
• Monsters, zombies (which could be interpreted as metaphors for serious diseases, death or destiny)

Here is a link to a website that names the top 100 horror films of all time:

www.darkwebonline.com/top100horror1.asp

Case Study: 'An American Werewolf in London' by John Landis

The opening titles show the moores in which it is presumed that the werewolf lives. The wind and the accent of the man driving the van gives the viewer the idea that it is set in England, this is again highlighted when the two characters reach an English pub named 'The Slaughtered Lamb'. The picture on the sign also gives a clue that it is a horror film because the image is very scary. There is a close up of the moon, giving the hint that werewolves are about to attack as it is a full moon and traditionally werewolves come out on a full moon. After the attack of the werewolf, there is no sound and the silence adds to the suspense, which eventually is ended with a fade to black. This is very effective as the viewer immediately wants to know what happens next.

Case study: '28 Days Later'

The opening sequence shows violent images on tv screens. People break into an animal testing lab in Cambridge in order to save the monkeys, but when a monkey is let out he attacks a woman and kills her. It then cuts to a traumatized monkey and tense music is playing. The characters use of swear words makes the film seem more violent and with the use of guns, violence is cleverly expressed. The use of blood as the monkey attacks evokes death, and this makes us believe that the animal rights activists believed that they were helping the monkeys, however they have actually unleashed evil. A female is the first victim, which is a common horror film convention.

Comparison:

Blood is a common theme in the opening credits of both of these films, giving the feeling that they are horror films. Both films are set in England, but in different parts and at different times, '28 Days Later' is more modern due to the mise-en-scene.

One of the main differences in these two films is that, although they both have a victim within the first 5 minutes, in 'An American Werewolf in London', the first victim is a man, whereas, in '28 Days Later' it is a woman.

My Group

Agnes: Agnes starred in our preliminary task and is a fabulous actress. She is very good at knowing how to position characters and her directing skills will be very useful in future tasks. Along with Media she is studying Drama, French and English Literature.

Fact File:
Born: St Germain en Laye, Paris
Birthday: 9th August 1994
Idol: Scarlett Johansson
Favourite film: Titanic
Favourite musical: Chicago
Favourite book: The Kite Runner
Favourite TV show: One Tree Hill


http://www.rivetingmedia.blogspot.com/


Izzy: Along with Media, Izzy is taking English Language and Sociology.

Fact file:
Born: Surrey
Birthday: 26th November 1993
Future Boyfriend: Stefan Salvatore
Favourite film: Clueless
Favourite musical: Billy Elliot
Favourite book: The Host
Favourite TV show: Vampire Diaries


http://izzyboosey.blogspot.com/


Moe: Moe is studying Sociology, Psychology, Biology and Media.

Fact File:

Born: Malawi, Africa
Birthday: 20th December 1993
Favourite Film: Dont Be A Menace To South Central Park While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood

Evaluating my Preliminary Task

Task: Film and edit a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue.

Preparing for the task: We, as a group, drew a storyboard including information on all the different shot types, angles and dialogue. We found this extremely helpful when filming.

Filming:

With the help of our storyboard we knew exactly what we wanted in the shots, what type of shot we wanted and what angle the shot should be at. We managed to maintain the 180 degree rule as we did not want to confuse the viewers of the positioning of the characters.

We used a selection of camera shots, from a close up, to a long shot. These different shots were cleverly used, for example we had a close up of the door handle and character 2's mouth to depict a dramatic ending. The long shots were used when character 1 was coming up the stairs as we felt it was right to incorporate her whole body.

Our shot reverse shot was used towards the end of the film, when the dialogue is used. This shows the audience who is talking to who clearly and easily.

Our actors were positioned on the screen very well as you can see most of their bodies, and we used an over the shoulder shot when they were exchanging dialogue to make it clear that they were talking to each other.

My role during the filming was to film the different shots and direct the positions of the characters.

I enjoyed the filming a lot as it was a very fun and enjoyable learning experience and I have developed my camera working skills further.

Editing:

I am very happy with the final result of our preliminary task except for a few minor details, for example several of our shots could do with being longer as the first few scenes are quite quick. To improve our sequence we could have used a more open plan space as the balcony we used had a very limiting area for movement. In the majority of the scenes the characters were positioned well, however, in one scene we could have done with the camera being slightly lower as all we can see are the top of the characters heads.

I feel that we worked very well as a group as we each listened to our different ideas and all shared the work equally.

I feel very confident when it comes to using the camera as i now know where all the buttons are and know how to assemble a tripod. Using iMovie has proved to be a difficult task, however, the more I use it, the more confident I become and I am sure that in time, I will know how to use it properly.

Here are some stills from our preliminary task

The Warner Bros Studios

5 facts about the Warner Bros studios:

1. The historic 110-acre facility is home to 30 sound stages plus a 20-acre backlot that can double as almost anywhere, from a bustling city, to a jungle in the rainforest.
2. The studio was originally built on a plot of farmland in 1926.
3. With the new facility, the Warner Bros were soon turning out movies at a feverish pace. They had 86 features in 1929 alone.
4. By the late 1930's business was booming and Warner Bros had constructed 9 new soundstages, all of which are still in use today.
5. Today, Warner Bros continues to embody the traditions and lore of the classic films and television shows of the past while setting the standard for excellence in production facilities.

The Dark Knight

In class we have been studying Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight'.

The homepage of this film supplies the viewer with a trailer that it plays instantly, immediatley attracting the viewers attention. The colour theme of the website is very dark and gloomy, evoking a depressing feel, similar to the film.

The website also provides a synopsis of the film, a list of the cast members and images available for download.

There was lots of hype surrounding this specific film as it was the last film starring Heath Ledger before he died of an overdose. On the website there are many pictures of his character, who is the baddie. This could be seen as a tribute to him.

Here is a link to the homepage for 'The Dark Knight' :

http://www.warnerbros.com/?page=movies&pid=f-ce83422e/THE%20DARK%20KNIGHT#/page=movies&pid=f-ce83422e/THE_DARK_KNIGHT&asset=071963/Dark_Knight_The_Blu-Ray&type=video/

Comparing Thriller conventions in 'Memento' and 'Insomnia'

Thriller conventions:
- Fast jump cutsand cross cuts
- Fast pace music and sound effects
- Weapons
- Fight scenes and violence
- Exotic locations and cities
- Heroes and villains


The opening sequence of 'Memento' includes blue titles on a black background and has fast pace names until MEMENTO slows it down. There is a man shaking a polaroid photograph, however, instead of the image getting clearer, it is getting weaker suggesting that the sequence is actually in rewind.

In the opening sequence many of the typical thriller conventions are used, such as violence, weapons and fast pace sounds.



The title sequence of 'Insomnia' reveals themes and mood through the use of music and typography. The blurred lettering suggests obscured vision. The sound used is mainly a string orchestra fading in and out, as sound does when you are tired and at the point of exhaustion. The music also moves to a crescendo as the editing cuts between shots. Within the title sequence, every other shot is of red blood seeping into fabric. This blood could be a clue to the genre of the film.

Along with 'Memento' fast paced music is used, however, unlike "Memento', blood is used in order to portray the genre of the film instead of violence.




Here is the first part of an interview with the director of both films, Christopher Nolan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIFxNq_oMGY

Hello

This is the beginning of my blog that I have created for my Media Studies AS Level. Along with Media I am also studying English Language, Philosophy and Ethics and History at St Peters School in Guildford.

In this blog I will hopefully upload videos of recent films that I have studied and also videos that I have filmed and directed.

Enjoy!