Thursday, 29 April 2010
Monday, 19 April 2010
Evaluation of Finished Production
1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our thriller uses forms a conventions of a real media product, Seven. Throughout the opening of seven not once is the full identity of the actor is revealed and we have duplicated that sense of mystery in our thriller. Also in seven, during the opening of seven, weird and grisly activity is taking place and we have also used an element of this in our thriller.
Here is an example of two screen grabs, one from the thriller Seven and one from our finished thriller. As you can see we have duplicated the idea of crossing out someone’s eyes from a picture, which we thought would add the sense of, who would do this? This type of activity would also leave the audience in suspense and make the person who did this appear like a menace to the audience.
2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I think our media product represents particular social groups as our thriller contains a degree of mystery, crime and abnormal behaviour which I’m sure can relate to one if not more social groups. A group which I think it relates to is teenagers as teenagers can pretty much duplicate this, teenagers can be mysterious at times as they often whisper things to one another which relates to the mystery theme. Teenage crimes are constantly rising and from my area, statistically the majority of crime is produced by teenagers which relates to the crime theme. The abnormal/random behaviour again relates to teenagers because teenagers can do very strange thing that can even baffle their parents which ties in with the thriller.
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
If there were any distributors out their willing to distribute our media product, it would most probably come from a London company, likely from a fund raiser because investors are unlikely to invest in something if it is very unlikely to make a profit. As we are an unknown and unsigned group, we have no big named actors, the chances of use reeling in a huge backing is minuscule. The reason why the small London company may back us is because, they may rather back a British film oppose to an American one and also have hope in us that we are the next filming generation.
4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for my media product would consist mainly of teenage males (14-18) because it is usually the case that males are generally more interested in thrillers rather than females but this isn’t to say that females don't watch thrillers, just the majority. We also found out in our survey results that this is the case; we used this website to obtain this information http://www.freeonlinesurvey.com/
5) How do you attract/address your audience?
We grabbed our audience’s attention by leaving them in suspense throughout, we didn’t give away too much however we gave them enough for them to want to watch on to the end of the film. The reason for us doing this is because at the end of the day no one wants to watch a film where they can guess the storyline from the opening as that would just spoil it for each person able to do this. A successful thriller should never give away the entire storyline, but give enough for the audience to figure out either at the time of watching or after a deep thought.
6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
From the process of constructing this product I have learnt that technologies are just as important during process of filming as well as the editing it has to go through for it to achieve its desired finish. For example if I had a top of the range camera to use to film my thriller and suddenly I am left with the most basic programs to edit my filming, it would pretty much put the top of the range camera to waste, however not always.
Digital camera:
I have never owned a video digital camera and therefore have never been an expert at operating one, however due to the use of video camera during the making of my thriller I have gained the basic skills of how to use it and how not to use it. I have also learned that a stand is very useful for taking specific shots such as a steady shot or angles shot.
Imovie Software:
This is the same case as the video camera, I myself do not have one and rarely use one for that matter and after editing my thriller on this piece of technology I have obtained the ability to edit filming, add transitions and text and music, move shots around to the desired order and just general basics there is to know about film editing.
Website: http://www.freeonlinesurvey.com/
I have also learned how to use this website, how to create my own survey and publish it onto my blog in order for me to collect essential data, which I used to me find my target audience. I found this website very useful as it was quick and easy to use, it required no sign up and I collected the data I needed within just minutes of people.
7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the product?
Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel as if I have learned and taken in a significant amount of information and skill required to both analyze and to film a thriller opening and to be able to identify what actually makes a good thriller and what can ruin a thriller no matter how minimal the error as it can make or break a thriller opening. I have also learned why particular shots are used and the purpose of that shot, whether it be to emphasize a facial expression or to represent something, each and every shot has its purpose and is deliberately put their for a reason. I have also had a glimpse of the amount of editing that goes on behind the filming as filming is just a fraction of what goes on. Along with that, also taken in consideration is, settings, costumes, props, lighting, music, special effects, dialogue and many more.
Our thriller uses forms a conventions of a real media product, Seven. Throughout the opening of seven not once is the full identity of the actor is revealed and we have duplicated that sense of mystery in our thriller. Also in seven, during the opening of seven, weird and grisly activity is taking place and we have also used an element of this in our thriller.
Here is an example of two screen grabs, one from the thriller Seven and one from our finished thriller. As you can see we have duplicated the idea of crossing out someone’s eyes from a picture, which we thought would add the sense of, who would do this? This type of activity would also leave the audience in suspense and make the person who did this appear like a menace to the audience.
2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I think our media product represents particular social groups as our thriller contains a degree of mystery, crime and abnormal behaviour which I’m sure can relate to one if not more social groups. A group which I think it relates to is teenagers as teenagers can pretty much duplicate this, teenagers can be mysterious at times as they often whisper things to one another which relates to the mystery theme. Teenage crimes are constantly rising and from my area, statistically the majority of crime is produced by teenagers which relates to the crime theme. The abnormal/random behaviour again relates to teenagers because teenagers can do very strange thing that can even baffle their parents which ties in with the thriller.
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
If there were any distributors out their willing to distribute our media product, it would most probably come from a London company, likely from a fund raiser because investors are unlikely to invest in something if it is very unlikely to make a profit. As we are an unknown and unsigned group, we have no big named actors, the chances of use reeling in a huge backing is minuscule. The reason why the small London company may back us is because, they may rather back a British film oppose to an American one and also have hope in us that we are the next filming generation.
4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for my media product would consist mainly of teenage males (14-18) because it is usually the case that males are generally more interested in thrillers rather than females but this isn’t to say that females don't watch thrillers, just the majority. We also found out in our survey results that this is the case; we used this website to obtain this information http://www.freeonlinesurvey.com/
5) How do you attract/address your audience?
We grabbed our audience’s attention by leaving them in suspense throughout, we didn’t give away too much however we gave them enough for them to want to watch on to the end of the film. The reason for us doing this is because at the end of the day no one wants to watch a film where they can guess the storyline from the opening as that would just spoil it for each person able to do this. A successful thriller should never give away the entire storyline, but give enough for the audience to figure out either at the time of watching or after a deep thought.
6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
From the process of constructing this product I have learnt that technologies are just as important during process of filming as well as the editing it has to go through for it to achieve its desired finish. For example if I had a top of the range camera to use to film my thriller and suddenly I am left with the most basic programs to edit my filming, it would pretty much put the top of the range camera to waste, however not always.
Digital camera:
I have never owned a video digital camera and therefore have never been an expert at operating one, however due to the use of video camera during the making of my thriller I have gained the basic skills of how to use it and how not to use it. I have also learned that a stand is very useful for taking specific shots such as a steady shot or angles shot.
Imovie Software:
This is the same case as the video camera, I myself do not have one and rarely use one for that matter and after editing my thriller on this piece of technology I have obtained the ability to edit filming, add transitions and text and music, move shots around to the desired order and just general basics there is to know about film editing.
Website: http://www.freeonlinesurvey.com/
I have also learned how to use this website, how to create my own survey and publish it onto my blog in order for me to collect essential data, which I used to me find my target audience. I found this website very useful as it was quick and easy to use, it required no sign up and I collected the data I needed within just minutes of people.
7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the product?
Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel as if I have learned and taken in a significant amount of information and skill required to both analyze and to film a thriller opening and to be able to identify what actually makes a good thriller and what can ruin a thriller no matter how minimal the error as it can make or break a thriller opening. I have also learned why particular shots are used and the purpose of that shot, whether it be to emphasize a facial expression or to represent something, each and every shot has its purpose and is deliberately put their for a reason. I have also had a glimpse of the amount of editing that goes on behind the filming as filming is just a fraction of what goes on. Along with that, also taken in consideration is, settings, costumes, props, lighting, music, special effects, dialogue and many more.
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Discussion of Appropriate Technical Competencies
Holding a steady shot sounds easy as it is and although it is a very basic skill, many fail to demonstrate this skill.
Camera Movement:
1) Panning shot - the camera moves slowly across from side to side from a fixed axis.
2) Tilt shot - the camera moves up and down from a fixed axis.
3) Crane shot - the camera mounted on a crane, moves around a distance above ground level.
4) Tracking shot - the camera follows the action, moving along tracks laid for that purpose, often pulling backwards from a scene.
5) Rolling shot - the camera moves diagonally, making the image askew (often used to suggest that a character is ill or drugged)
Cinematography:
1) Long Shot - Allows us to see the whole of the setting.
2) Mid Shot - More of your body language and some of the settings.
3) Close Up - Shows expressions or feelings or emphasise feature.
4) Extreme Close Up - Directing the viewer to a very specific feature in detail.
5) High Angle - Used to represent vulnerability and lack of power, weak.
6) Low Angle - Represents a powerful status.
These are the 6 main variety of shots that we had studied and in our thriller we have tried to use if not all then most of these, however our thriller mainly consists of extreme close ups and mid shots. The reason why is because we wanted to create a sense of mystery and emphasise the activity that was going on to the audience.
Camera Movement:
1) Panning shot - the camera moves slowly across from side to side from a fixed axis.
2) Tilt shot - the camera moves up and down from a fixed axis.
3) Crane shot - the camera mounted on a crane, moves around a distance above ground level.
4) Tracking shot - the camera follows the action, moving along tracks laid for that purpose, often pulling backwards from a scene.
5) Rolling shot - the camera moves diagonally, making the image askew (often used to suggest that a character is ill or drugged)
Cinematography:
1) Long Shot - Allows us to see the whole of the setting.
2) Mid Shot - More of your body language and some of the settings.
3) Close Up - Shows expressions or feelings or emphasise feature.
4) Extreme Close Up - Directing the viewer to a very specific feature in detail.
5) High Angle - Used to represent vulnerability and lack of power, weak.
6) Low Angle - Represents a powerful status.
These are the 6 main variety of shots that we had studied and in our thriller we have tried to use if not all then most of these, however our thriller mainly consists of extreme close ups and mid shots. The reason why is because we wanted to create a sense of mystery and emphasise the activity that was going on to the audience.
Monday, 29 March 2010
Health & Safety
Safety for our own well being and others around us comes first and so we had come up of what we had to take caution to.
Props to be aware of:- Hammer
- Screwdriver
- Stanley blade
- Steel chain
Setting to be aware of:
- Careful not to trip of dustsheets on floor
- Mind walking into existing furniture and objects
- Vigilant whilst moving the tripod legs around in small space
During the actual filming of our thriller we had to be aware and take caution for a small number of safety aspects. One issue was that when the light bulb had been on for a while it had become extremely hot even after 5 minutes of turning it off, so to protect our hands we had used a few layers of newspaper to cover the bulb before changing its direction to light a different part of the room. Though we had not expected the problem with the light bulb we took it in our stride and took appropriate caution to it as we would any other health and safety risk. Another safety aspect we had to be aware of was some of the objects we were using, such as the Stanley blade and screw driver, whilst using these items we had to take extra caution, always having it pointing away from us as it could cause a serious injury or cut if used inappropriately.
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Filming: Day 2
Day two was when we began our filming and as expected was at what time we had achieved all of our filming. However we had established a further problem in relation to the lighting, the shed window was allowing too much light in the room which made the footage on the camera too bright for the scene we wanted to shoot, consequently we used a dust sheet which we used to hang over the existing curtain on the window which filtered the light and dimmed the room enough for us to film (we have taken a picture of this as proof). All the shots we needed from the shed, we had completed, although this filming time did run into our own time because whilst filming the camera battery had died on us which meant we had to take a break to allow time for the camera to charge before recording our last shot. We are now able to go away and edit our thriller next lesson which means any time we have after that will be used on the thriller, to touch it up, add music & transitions between shots.
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Filming: Day 1
On the first day of filming we didn’t in fact do any filming as setting up and preparing Ryan’s shed ready for filming took longer than we had originally expected. We began making the shed ready for filming by covering everything up with dust sheets to conceal all the items in the shed such as, a television, fridge, sofa, which were all irrelevant to our thriller and also to create a degree of mystery as we wanted the audience to speculate what was hiding beneath the dust sheets. We commenced by cutting out text such as, jealousy, killer, murder, from magazines and newspapers which we then laid onto a table beside photographs of random people which was going to be one of the shots we took. The last thing we accomplished on the first day of filming was adjusting the lighting as we had unexpectedly discovered that the lighting in the shed was far too bright for our thriller as the only light source consisted of 4 light bulbs, as a result we came up with the solution to remove 3 bulbs leaving the remaining 1 to light our thriller. However there was another problem, the individual light bulb gave the camera footage an orange glare from the orange walls, which was not the type of lighting we intended to use. Subsequently we pinned a sheet of newspaper on the ceiling in front of the light to act as a filter, significantly reducing the orange glare (we have taken a picture of this as proof). We had ended the day with the settings and props completed, ready for filming next lesson.
Cast, Props & Costumes
Cast:
The cast of our opening will only include one individual from our group of four, having an actor is not essential because our thriller consists of mainly close ups and mid shots where the identity of the actor is not at any point fully revealed. In addition we wanted the audience to ask themselves, ‘who is this person?’ leaving them in suspense throughout.
Setting:
The whole of our opening will take place in Ryan’s shed, we tried our best to make the place look cryptic and by doing so we painted text onto the wall, pinned weird work onto the walls & concealed everything, which only the shapes and outlines of the object could be seen under the dust sheets.
Props:
- Stanley Blade
- Newspaper & magazine cut outs
- Dust Sheets
- Paint
- Flick knife
- Screwdriver
- Photos
- Hammer
The cast of our opening will only include one individual from our group of four, having an actor is not essential because our thriller consists of mainly close ups and mid shots where the identity of the actor is not at any point fully revealed. In addition we wanted the audience to ask themselves, ‘who is this person?’ leaving them in suspense throughout.
Setting:
The whole of our opening will take place in Ryan’s shed, we tried our best to make the place look cryptic and by doing so we painted text onto the wall, pinned weird work onto the walls & concealed everything, which only the shapes and outlines of the object could be seen under the dust sheets.
Props:
- Stanley Blade
- Newspaper & magazine cut outs
- Dust Sheets
- Paint
- Flick knife
- Screwdriver
- Photos
- Hammer
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