Coursework - Evaluation - Question 7

Coursework Evaluation : Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you think you have learnt in the progression from it to your main product?

PRODUCTS:
- Link to our preliminary task:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiD15xWzDJ0

- Link to our main product, (a two minute film opening in sequence, with titles):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3ufTxFcrHY&t=1s

When reflecting back on our preliminary task we completed at the start of the year, I have learnt numerous things since then, that has helped develop our skills to complete our coursework film opening (the main product). For instance, my editing experience, sound knowledge, and camera shots and angles experimentation.

When reflecting back at my preliminary task I realise how much I have developed and progressed as a media student, building skills on planning, filming technique, and editing but also media and film production as a whole. To start with, I had a fundamental understanding of the film industry, only really watching films without much thought as to how they were made. I think this is somewhat evident in my preliminary task as I had hardly any knowledge of things like the mise-en-scene, dialogue and sound which resulted in a poor quality product. When filming, factors such as having to hand hold the camera instead of using the tripod so the camera stability was faulty or not having much knowledge on sound resulting in poor diagetic and non-diagetic sound. Later on, when editing, elements such as not knowing the software and planning our sequence without an idea of what we wanted also caused the film to be of a lesser quality than we wanted. However, with our coursework project, I had much broader understanding of the filming, and sound, and therefore creating a much better film opening. I think that this marks improvement as it is a clear disparity between my first media product, and the final cut of our two minute opening.

The main thing I've learnt in the progression from our preliminary task and our main product is the editing skills I have developed and the experience that has given us, as a team, to perfect our final film opening. Starting our preliminary task, our team had never even seen the software, Adobe Premiere Pro, before. So, considering this, we started from the bottom, learning the basics and slowly built our skills so we could create the best film we could. In the time between our preliminary task to our final cut, we as a group, and myself, individually, had several mini-projects that also included editing practice to help learn the software. For our final cut, it is also noticeable that we used a lot of after affects in post-production to create the atmosphere we wanted, that we had not previously used, especially in our first preliminary. Without the knowledge of how to do these little things, we couldn't have made the end piece we did, showing the progression between our first go and our last.

Another vital element that I have learnt in the continual progress with media studies, is the importance of sound. Before studying media, I had no idea of how the impact of something that I had previously unnoticed, could be such a big impact on the outcome. I quickly learnt, however, that the sound was as just as important as the visuals in a two minute film opening. For our preliminary task, we weren't very confident about including huge amounts of sound or relying on it to be extremely good but it was more that we overlooked it and covered it with music in post-production. With our final cut, however, we decided early on that we weren't going to use dialogue which was a perfect opportunity to use the sound to our advantage. Just before filming, our team went on a search for the perfect soundtrack to accompany the film, which had to suit the genre and tone for it to work, and thankfully, we did. I think that the difference between the sound quality with the preliminary and the final cut of our media product, is quite significant and it represents the progress of our learning.

Finally, the camera shots and angles are arguably the most important factor in film, and therefore one of the most important in our progression. Apart from editing, I think this is a skill I have learnt most about, due to the experimentation between the preliminary task and the final media product. This experimentaion allowed me to learn and expand my knowledge on different shots and angles, that, in turn, helped create our film opening. I also quickly realised that the editing side of media wouldn't necessarily resolve issues made during filming; it would only assist it a little. As a result I knew that for our final film we needed to capture everything to the last detail, even if it required us to film a particular shot multiple times. For example, in our preliminary task when we shot, we didn't take much care in looking back at footage on location and not bothering to re-shoot to get the perfect angle or the right close-up shot. On the other hand, for our final final opening, some of the macro shots we wanted to capture were hard to get right, and so it was only after half a dozen times of shooting and editing them, we got it right. This is another example of how in the time between the preliminary task and the final media product, I have progressed my knowledge of camera shots and angles even further.

LR

Coursework - Evaluation - Question 6

Coursework : Evaluation Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Over the duration of the starting media to finishing coursework, myself and my group have developed new skills and techniques concerning the use of technologies in our practical and theory work. Throughout the coursework, we depended on computers for almost everything, from transferring data like memory cards and video clips to editing tasks and blog posts. When reflecting on my preliminary task at the beginning of the coursework, I can clearly see our progression in our final outcome.

Explanation of final cut

Explanation of final cut

Within our 2-minute film opening, it includes a young teenage girl, around the age of 16 to 20 who has had a rough upbringing. Considering the age of our main character, she goes to sixth form/college who studies fine art, therefore she has unlimited access to art supplies that include needles and heavy objects which could ultimately be used to hurt someone. Bearing in mind the teenage girl has had a rough upbringing she has not been included in friendship groups and spends most of her time alone creating artwork that could be seen as creepy and disturbing. Within her school years she has been bullied by other class mates as she is seen to be ‘eerie’, ‘strange’ and ‘unusual’. These class mates have given her grief every day for all of the years they have attended school which has ultimately made the main character aggravated and annoyed, therefore she targets the bullies and plans to eventually kill them. Within the two minute opening you see the main character target these students and plan on how to kill them. The whole of ‘Merz’ is to show the journey that the main character has been on.

Audience feedback research

Coursework - Construction - final cut

Coursework - Evaluation - question 3

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

The media institute that would issue our media product would depend on how we were to continue the plot of our film. If we continued with the aim of creating a film that would create a mass profit, it would be distributed by companies such as 'DreamWorks' and 'Marvel' because they produce films that sell to a large target audience, have well-known actors in their cast and invest in advertising. They also produce merchandise that extends the interest in the film and allows them to make more money. Due to this, they would probably want a lighter hearted film with a simple to follow plot so younger audiences could follow the plot.

If we were to continue our film making our film as artistic as possible. Companies such as ‘Warp films', 'Handmade films' and the BFI usually produce more artistic, original films. Which don’t create a high profit like larger companies but they do produce more intriguing harder to follow plot films, specified to a certain age range.

However some films do tend to be released straight to Netflix or he internet as people have a wider access to the internet nowadays. One of the best things about marketing to the social media sector is that you can advertise to the exact demographics you are trying to reach.

Due to this, I think our film would probably be more likely to be distributed by industries such as the BFI, ‘Warp films’ and ‘Handmade films’ or online as its not a conventional film.

Coursework - Evaluation - question 5

 Evaluation question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

Coursework - Evaluation - question 2

Coursework : Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Coursework - Evaluation - question 1

Coursework : Evaluation question 1

In what ways does your film opening use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real Horror/suspense media products?

To find the conventions of media products, we did a lot of research into films in this genre.

Costumes and props:

Uusually in horror/suspense films the type of props used have some form of weapon. I think our costume challenges the Conventional Costume of Cult Horror as the usual costume is dark clothing, strange masks and dark makeup to make them look old and mystical. Whether as our costume is we chose black trousers, a white blouse and a green flowy jumper. As shown partially in screenshot 7.

Title: 

The typical title for a horror/suspense film is usually one word, occasionally two words such as 'the ring'. Conventionally films are one word as they are easy to remember and pass word on. However the title for our piece  'Merz'  is rather unconventional as it is french. Most titles are in the same language as spoken in the rest of the film, as the rest of our film is in English it breaks those norms. This is effective as it immediately draws attention and interest to the film as people will want to know what the title means. The short title almost represents the short snappy shots in the opening 2 minutes. 

Camerawork and Editing:

Conventionally the editing of a horror is short harp editing followed by jump scares, however some can be soft and smooth depending on when it is set, for example if it is set in the past then the shot will more likely be soft and flowing with jump scares however if it was set in the future the shots would be fast paced. Therefore I think our piece meets the conventions

Age:

Usually actors and characters in horror suspense movies are much older than a teenager, they're usually in their mid twenties to mid fifties, having a teenager as the main character makes everyone feel uncomfortable as they think could someone that young could have that much of a twisted mind, it raises questions and definitely challenges the conventions and norms of a horror suspense genre film

Setting/Location:

Conventionally a setting will be introduced in the opening 2 minutes of the film however in our opening 2 minutes a setting is not introduced, we are only introduced to a dark room. Normally, locations used in horror films are historical buildings or modern hideouts. Our lack of setting allows the audience to focus on whats happening in the opening 2 minutes.

Title font and style:

Normally, horror films have a dark scrawled titles that have an eerie atmosphere as if you were to have a really scary scene that cut to bubble writing you would ruin the msie-en-scene of the film. 

Our title mostly sticks to these conventions. It is dark, hand written and photographed so it is completely unique to our piece, there is not a font that people can copy.

Character 

Our character challenges the conventions of any horro/suspense media piece dramatically.  Most 

Similarly to how the story is introduced, the characters are usually introduced through narration or dialogue. This usually occurs straight away, and the characters are immediately introduced. 

ML

Coursework Planning - What ways would your target audience ideally be able to consume your films?

Coursework : Planning - What ways would your target audience ideally be able to consume your films?

Based on my ideas so far

What ways would your target audience ideally be able to consume your films? 

Our film is a suspense/horror film. Therefore I recon our film would go straight online because not many people in our target age range, younger people, go to the cinema much anymore, this is because the cinema is a lot more expensive nowadays than it used to be and students can't really afford to spend money on the cinema meaning they are more likely to watch movies online or family purchased Netflix accounts. I don't think our film is block buster material as it's not a big action film with famous actors. Therefore having our film online rather than in cinema or cinema city, where our target audience will not be.
Online such as youtube, on social media, facebook, twitter, instagram.
Some films also go straight to Netflix. 

ML

Coursework Planning - Our ideas so far

My ideas so far

OUR IDEAS SO FAR

For our coursework, we have been given our task to create a two minute film opening. We actually were given this project a few months back to start preparing, researching and thinking about 50% of our AS grade. But now we start it. Our group, (Megan Lansdell, Lily Mitchell, Daisy Gilbert and I) started by researching about all of the mise-en-scene conditions you find in a film. This would help us find out more about the things we would need to consider for our coursework, and also so we could start to gather ideas from the examples we studied. The research includes: Narrative, Sound, Setting, Dialogue, Narration, Breaking the fourth wall, Target audience, Attracting the target audience, Camera shots and angles and Character. All of these you can find in previous blog posts. We split these posts into four, so we each had three to do and everyone didn't have to do as much. I had the Dialogue pt.2, Breaking the fourth wall and Character. Each Blog post will have the initials of the person who completed it at the bottom of the page, so it doesn't go uncredited. 

The next stage is the Planning section, which we have, again, just split into four so that we each have two planning blog posts to do; I have Plot Synopsis and Location Research. But, before we carry on with our coursework, we need to have a couple of ideas. Yesterday, the four of us sat down to start to discuss and mind map some ideas:

We like the idea of going very simplistic with a plot that can develop into the rest of the film, seeing that it is only the opening 2 minutes that would continue into a feature film that would last approximately 1-2 hours. We would also want something challenging but achievable so that, when finished, it would seem respectable, not 'cheesy' but realistic as it might come out as a little childish if the idea was difficult. Doing a mind map really helped identify the kind of film we want to produce, considering the conditions needed and the possible ideas each of us are thinking of. Regarding the genre, we are leaning towards the suspense/drama area where we think we can pull together our strengths and interests best to plan, shoot, edit and evaluate our opening more than any other genre. Other specifics about the coursework such as characters, setting, dialogue and plot are all ideas in the works and haven't been decided yet, but we for now we continue with our blog posts on planning whilst going through the mentioned details in planning lessons coming up. 

LR & ML

Coursework planning - Location

Coursework : Planning - Location

LOCATION RESEARCH

Potential locations/settings of our film opening (+ photos):

We plan to create a film opening of a suspense/drama genre, with the idea to focus on specifically the characters, the props, the setting and the titles. Therefore, the location to get the correct setting, the location is particularly important. There are several options and various locations that we can choose to set our film in, but from the start, we have something specific in mind. Ideally, we want a home studio/office in the home of the character (depending on the character we want to have). For instance, the first idea we had was to film somewhere unrecognisable to the audience, so any landmarks were a big no. Instead, we thought the locations had to be personal to the character, somewhere familiar or at least a place where only the character could access/no public outsiders. Going with this theme, our first ideas below are in order of our importance:

- A Home Art Studio:
This could be any room at any of the group's home to act as the characters own personal art studio. This choice is the most realistic as the art studio at school is always busy so we will probably be interrupted which isn't ideal.
- Our School's Art Studio:
Our school has a wonderful and expansive art studio that we could ask to use after school or on a Saturday if the caretakers have opened the school. If this is not possible then between the four of us, we have more enough art products and objects to build a smaller art studio (below).
- A Dark Cellar/Basement:
Any basement that could also act as the characters basement space to work. This could act as more creepy as the other locations and would go with the genre much better.
- A Converted Shed:
This would require more effort as we would actually have to convert a shed if we couldn't already find one.
Weather conditions, schedule, availability, timing, sequences etc...

The film opening location (we hope) to use is only one location, a dark room in a pretend art studio in one of our group's house, where the charcter is to make strange notebooks and other 'things'. We are sure that only one location will be enough, becuase its only the opening to the film, and therefore we shouldn't be giving everything away. Yet, our location also depends on several other factors such as the weather conditions, schedule, availability, timing, sequences. For example, to decide the location we need to know that that place is indeed free and meets the needs in terms of availability, and ideally free for the entire time of our shooting so that when we return to the location, it hasn't changed, and therefore achieving continuity. As for the schedule, all of the crew and cast need to be available and all can get to the location in time, as well as all of the crew knowing the schedule for filming. I think that the schedule will be determined after the dates for filming have been decided so that we know where and when it is happening. The film will be shot inside, so the weather conditions do not affect us in any way, yet they could play to our advantage if we wanted to create a certain atmosphere e.g. if it was raining and we had a shot of the raindrops on the window. The sequences, again, are all going to be shot inside in the relatively same location so the sequences going through each shot and telling the story aren't dramatically going change in terms of location.
Why are these locations so good for what we are trying to achieve?

As we aim for to create a film of the suspense/horror genre, there are several conditions that make this location good. For one, the flexibility of our location is excellent because we can use it at any time of day, especially at weekends. The location has also several lighting options that we can alter and use for how we want it. The area of the room we want to use, also, is enough space for us to try and experiment with what the character can do.
Are we using interior and or/ exterior locations?

We won't be using any exterior locations, only interior settings. This is because we want the feeling of the character being isolated or loneliness in his house, and perhaps not confident to go outside. Only using interior locations creates a feeling of secrecy of the character, and, for the audience, an atmosphere of being alone. The conservatory we are using for the location will have no curtains on, and we plan, to film at night time. This will create a creepy element of the house because it will be black outside while the character works in his art studio.
Do we have back-ups?

We plan to use Daisy's conservatory for the setting of the art studio, with the props surrounding him. However, if plans change and we need to use another location, then any of the homes of our group can be a location if we need to. All of our group have other options we can use, including other rooms, houses, and our school. It also depends on circumstance, availability, schedules and timing on whether everything goes accordingly or something happens to go wrong.

L.R

Coursework Planning - casting

Coursework : Planning - casting

Coursework Planning - Casting

Images of the people you will be auditioning for your character(s)?

For our piece of coursework we won't be using a character as such in the opening scenes, we won't have the faces of our character featuring, we will only have our characters hands in our opening. This is because our idea is to use the hands of the character in a way that it is capturing what they are doing, pulling apart pictures, cutting things, painting etc. So for this we had a look at peoples hands to see who would fit our character best.

Who are they?

The person that we will be using for this will most likely be from our group as it is easier than finding someone to use purely for that, also it makes everyone in the group feel a lot more comfortable and easier to ask them to perform certain actions as we know them. However we could alternatively use a parent of one of ours where we are filming as this would also be easier.

Why do you believe they would be good for the role?

Any one in the group would be suitable for this role, as it doesn't require any dramatic performance, but instead just being willing to use their hands. They don't need to perform any facial expressions or anything of a dramatic nature, therefore it means that they don't really need any experience of too be particularly good at acting for this.

Why have you given the role(s) to this/these people?

It will be given to someone in our group or a parent of a group member as it is most convenient for the process of filming, it is a simple role and doesn't require any great deal of acting and therefore it is the most logical thing to use one of ourselves for the role.

ML

Coursework : Final Planning - Prop list

Coursework : Final Planning - Prop list

Since the entirety of our openeonh 2 minutes is based on hands doing thins with art supplies we have a very long prop list 

• Scrap book 
• Scalpel 
• 5 images of black and white mans torso each physically manipulated in some way.. 

1. Burnt the image 
2. Stitched into the image 
3. 2 of the same image Collaged together 
4. Wax melted onto image 
5. Mascara smudged on image 

• A book 
• Pen
• Marker
• Crayon
• Printed photos which I took in Norwich St Andrews Asylum 
• Black acrylic paint 
• Paint brush 
• Lined paper
• Drawing 
• Fairy lights 
• Sticky notes 

ML

Coursework Planning - Final Script

Coursework : Final Planning - final script

Final Script

( camera focuses on paper) 

  (Hands using scalpel) 

 Title 1 : sombre productions 

  (Burnt photo of mans torso) 

(Scratching collage) 

  (Overlay image of hands using pens to cross out words in a book)

(Hands grabbing paper)

(darker collage image) 

  (photo of two people in St. Andrews asylum)

(Wet paint on lined paper)

(photo of mans torso with melted wax)

(Back of actresses head with glasses)

(Macro shot of a page in the book)

Title 2 : A film by..  Lily Ray  Megan Lansdell  Daisy Gilbert  Lily Mitchell

 (Image of person in St. Andrews asylum)

(Turn page with wet paint)

(Focus on paper)

(Scalpel)

(Drawing)

(Mascara smudged on photo of mans torso)

Title 3 : Louise Campling

  (Scalpel on collage)

(Fire burning piece of paper)

(Zoomed in on page of book)

(Fairy lights in collage)

(Image of boy at st Andrews Asylum)

Title 4 : Samuel Hewitson

  (Image of girl and St. Andrews asylum) 

(Writing)

(Painting on lined paper)

(Over lay writing)

(Stitches on image of mans torso)

(Writing with marker)

(Crossing words out in book)

(Collage of images of mans torso)

(Paint finger print)

Title 5 : Thomas Bishop 

  (Zoomed writing)

(Scrunching hands leave page)

(Painting a face on lined paper)

(Tearing up paper)

(Ripping scrapbook page)

Final Title : MERZ

ML