First look at media

In the first lesson we took a look at the common use of camera angles that are used in today’s media. Each angle gave a different view on scene showing you a character or a shot of the set. We then went on to look at 4 beginnings of films. We looked at how camera angles showed the audience the perspective of the shot. We wrote down all the different mise-en-scene features like the colours and tints and what types of shots.
I leant from this lesson that every shot in a film or any type of media is done for a reason to show the specific objective of the creator.

My coursework group

My group consist of me and 3 of my other classmates. First there is Albert bere, he specializes in editing. He knows the Macs of by heart and can edit a recording in no time and make it into a quick crisp running film. Then there is Charlie smith. Charlie is new to our school yet he is not scared of speaking up. he specializes in drawing which leads to the style and creation of the storyboards, the starting base for all of our productions we make. Then finally there is Harrison ayling. He specializes in filming. He is a very stern and steady hand with the camera. He knows the shots and tries to get the best angle in either a small production or a big production. Then there is me I specialize in writing and directing. I have help form the rest of my group and we came up with production ideas and the scripts throughout this course.

Why we chose horror/thriller genre

Are group has chosen horror/thriller genre for our opening sequence which is then marked and becomes 50% of our coursework for as level. We have chosen horror/thriller because there is a big fan base for this type of genre. There is also a wide range of popularity involved with this genre. After doing research on other films based around our ideas we found that there is a wide range of ideas we could do for our opening sequence. After doing a survey though a questionnaire we have found that horror/thriller is popular film genre. Down to are low budget making a intro that holds suspense we can still be effective yet not have to use any money. There are a lot of ideas we can play with a trial when filming. Due to the wide range of this genre and the amount of ideas and situations we can do that is why we have chosen to do horror/thriller genre.

Research on chosen film

I have chosen to research and look into the film pitch black. This research will help me to find out and discover things that may help me with my coursework. Pitch black is the same genre as the one I have chosen, horror/thriller. Pitch black is about a miss understood convict called Riddick. He is being deported to a lost planet on a general flight yet the plane crashes on a deserted planet and this planet has a dark season when nothing but darkness happens. Although things go terribly wrong with flesh eating monsters after the deserted passengers and it is up to the convict Riddick to save them all. This film uses the dark to enhance the suspense that the film is trying to get across. The film uses quick camera changes and almost has a shaky feel so you can quiet see the monsters which adds to the suspense and chill of the film.

Analysis of starting to memento

In class we watched the starting to the film memento. The film is mix up of different times and the change in times when certain events happen. The film starts off going backwards. at first it was unclear to see this. Yet the film starts with a photo and in backwards motion the picture slowly fades until there is nothing there. Then everything goes into reverse until the film starts over again. The use of the techniques, the clever rewind motion is one that confuses and brings the audience in straight away into the film. The use of this makes the watcher want to see more and watch on with suspense. The clever use of the camera angle and shots to achieve this action is sticking for me as the audience to watch. For myself to see I just wanted to watch on and see what happened next. Therefore the film makers achieved what they set out to do.

Analysis on the starting of insomnia

In class we also watched the starting to insomnia. The film is about a over obsessed photo maker. He becomes obsessed with this women and her son. This shape quick thriller turns out to be a murder down to the obsessed mans trouble to stop and the suspicion from the husband and things go wrong in this quick paced action packed story. The starting is of a shot flying over some ice plains. This slow and sleepy shot moves the film along slowly and gives u and sense of what might happen as the film then picks up the opening sequence leads the film into its suspense theme.

Evaluation of preliminary task

As a starter to our main coursework sequence we were going to make, we were asked to construct a short clip with around 15 shots in it. The clip could be anything to do with a meeting between two characters interacting asking for some sort of item. The clip had to involve three of the key elements when making a film, match on action, 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot. We prepared for the task by first looking at the story line we wanted and then drew up our first story board.

We then began to film; I took on the role of director and acting in our piece. we used all the key shots in our task, by filming Charlie waking towards a door, seeing him open it from behind then the next shot was Charlie waking though showing his front. We kept to the 180 degree rule by shooting over the shoulder of the two characters therefore showing them in the right spot at the right time. We used a very basic frame style; we zoomed right in and had up close shots to express the meaning that this clip was a meeting between two characters. We had side shots and mainly over the shoulder shots of the two characters in our clip again to just show them and how the story was between them.

After editing i was happy with how we achieved our shots and the clip had a good sense of the key aspects of filming. as we learnt more when filming I think we could have included some more interesting shots and more of a verity in our work through the framing and shot types. we could maybe have also expressed the shot reverse shot angle by enhancing the frame using better ideas for shots to achieve this key aspect in filming. After working with my group in this task I think we worked well together and we began to understand what our strong points were and seemed to agree on ideas and we grasped what each of us were trying to achieve. I now feel happy and confident to move on to my main task, working with my group and using the equipment also. I feel more confident with the camera and I have grasped the best ways in getting the most from it. I am happy and I have learnt a lot from this first task and I am sure that I can improve more still.

Main Evaluation

How did i challenge the forms and conventions

I researched into the same types of film that I would be producing. What conventions and forms they commonly use. What types of music they used, what types of framing, different colours and styles etc. we wanted to stick to what the audience seem to like from a horror thriller. We wanted to keep its fast pace, on the edge viewing. By sticking to the overall conventions of the typical type of horror thriller we would appeal to the common audience. Yet none the less we wanted to make a completely different style to out film. Using a jumpy story line and disconcerting filming. By using common genre types yet changing the things that are flexible we achieved our goals. There was nothing we thought we had to cut, we wanted to keep the frame how it was when filiming. We let the camera pick up the light from what we exactly filmed. By not changing the lighting or sounds we used and kept what the camera picked up when filming. by keeping this it gave the film its sense of realism and not such a false setting. By using the real light of when we filmed it gives the audience the sense that this is possible and has that affect that draws the audiences in. after completing our preliminary task I could then see where possible improvements could be made. When carrying out our preliminary task we made a few mistakes along the way, we did not use a wider range of camera angles and used very basic shots. Therefore when starting our main task we took this into account and made sure we had a wide range of shots that would make the sequence look as professional and slick ad possible. Also in our preliminary task we also saw that our editing could be more precise and slicker. So when editing our main sequence we made sure when we edited the change in scenes it was quick and as less jumpy as possible. By doing a preliminary task we learned from our mistakes and looked at how we could improve, therefore when carrying out our main task we used this knowledge to make the best possible sequence we could.

Finding our font style

We had to look at possible fonts and sizes for our opening titles. We looked through a number of different styles and sampled many different looks to see what style and font gave the opening titles the best look for our sequence. By researching at what other similar films had we drew some ideas from there and got our style and font. We looked at the title style of the omen. We then saw how a basic font and style gave a better effect then using a more complex font. Therefore when seeing this we stuck to a basic font style and we drew up and found our title style.

Looking back at my preliminary task

After carrying out our preliminary task i learnt a lot from doing it. I saw where I made mistakes and where I could improve to make our main task as good quality as possible. by performing this practice task it helped me see where I went wrong and how in my main task i could improve. I learnt how to use the digital video camera to the best ability so we could get the best looking shots. I also learnt a lot about how my group members like to work; if they are quick workers sometimes lose concentration. Again I learnt my group members strengths and weaknesses and they also learnt mine. Therefore when moving onto the main task we could work well together because we knew each other’s strong points and methods. the preliminary task really helped me understand what it would take to make a media sequence and how to use media equipment, yet I also learnt about my group members and how we all interacted together.

Conventions, contract, audience

From beginner to film maker

We decided to make genre of our film to be a horror thriller. We wanted to keep the same typical values involved in this genre yet change people’s views and exceptions of a horror thriller. When going in to see a horror thriller you expect to be scared, on the edge of your seat, and we wanted to keep this. Yet by changing the typical way of doing this either through gore or monsters we wanted the audience to feel the same emotions but in different circumstances. We wanted to make film scary through the audience’s imagination. By making the film complex and confusing we wanted the audience to give assumptions to what might happen next. We wanted to make this film as unique as possible, giving it a whole new twist in the horror thriller genre. We changed typical story lines by deliberately making the audience believe in their imagination and how far there imagination can take them. We still kept the crowd pleasing horror techniques, by adding in jumpy actions and frightening sequences. by playing with the genre of horror thriller we wanted to change the ever going common style of scary and gore ridden films, by going against this more ever more popular norm we wanted to show that there is more to horror and thriller than people think. The main objective was to let the audience enjoy the sequence however they see it. By giving them a thrill and a memorably experience which may lead them to tell their friends and watch the film again and again.

Music for our film

Music is a key feature to any film, in some cases the music makes a scene or even makes the film. Therefore we wanted the music to be a real help in the sequence either by making the film more edgy or fast pace. When doing our questionnaire we devised a question which said what type of music do u expect to have in a horror thriller film. it came back to show that most of the candidates said rock or techno. Therefore with that in mind we set about to find that right piece of music. The problem was is that we were not allowed to use any signed bands due to copyright reasons, this made finding our special piece even harder. So I had an idea, I looked back and realized that the iPod Macs had their application called garage band, a application where it enabled you to make your own music with certain beats and set music parts. I had used this application before, so I took it upon myself to make the music for our film. With help from my group members after many long hours we finally finished our handmade music piece that fitted into our sequence perfectly.

Working in media productions contexts

Where could our film be

Our film could go as far as having a cinema realize, there is a complex and well structured so there is no reason why our film could not go all the way. I would definitely expect our film to go to DVD realize or even to a niche market, therefore shown in local art cinemas. you can make an amazing film but what gets your film out there is the skill of promotion and advertising, if u succeed in this then your film can go as far as you want it to.

Solving problems when filming

There a lot of factors that we had to take into account when we were filming. Firstly we had to manage the equipment, so it did not get damaged, and it was in the right spot to get the best possible shot. We had to adapt the equipment to the surroundings we were in. the conditions were quiet slippy so we had to use the tripod more than first thought. Also we had to manage the group dynamics; therefore we had to make sure everybody was in the right place at the right time, so we had to put all the actors in the right place so the filming could be precisely done. Everyone worked well and we all had designated jobs to deal with, when doing this we all came together to get all of our shots done. There was also the main factor of health and safety. we had to ensure that when filming we were all safe and not in any danger, when we were filming the conditions were perfect for our film yet not so much could be said for us. it was extremely slippy which made it hard to run and cold conditions lead to problems also. Therefore we had to take into account the safety of ourselves before the film. Therefore slight i adjustments were made to ensure our safety. Before we set out to our location we decided on props and costumes before hand so we knew what we had to do when we got there. so we planned all of our props and costumes when storyboarding. Although it is impossible to manage the weather and nature it so we did not know what our location would be like on filming day. Luckily we got the perfect day to film, it was misty, cold and damp and it really added to the films design. Our group were mainly all the actors except for tom white who we drafted in to help. Managing this was fine because after working as a group through planning this we already knew what we had to do to get our film done.

Working with our ideas

Before we could even start to think about filming we had to make our storyboard. this was the first real key element to our whole task. By planning out all of our shots, then drawing them out and labeling them with their shot type it gave us the first look at what our film might look like. When moving onto our filming process it was easy for us to get our shots. This was so because we just kept looking back at our storyboard which was in so much detail that we saw it and made it real. Although there had to be a few alterations because of the conditions we were dealing with at the time. Therefore there were a few some changes from our storyboard yet the film still worked perfectly. From the original plan we made a few slight design idea changes. When going to our original place to shoot the extreme long shot we realized that there was an even better place to shoot from so this slight alterations came out for the best. We managed our time to the pin point timing. we planned when we would film and how long we had and then after that we planned how many lessons spent on editing and split the group to get all the things done and in at the deadline. We succeed at getting everything done and in at the best possible time.

Using Technology

Throughout the course I have learnt how to use a lot of technology. I learnt how to use the digital video camera, saw how we used lighting and frames, and using editing resources. All of these take time to learn but when u construct such a thing like our media product u learn very quickly. it was hard at first to grasp all of these new elements but when u have a group of people with you who are learning the same things at the same time you can then all help each other and if one of my group members is very confident with the camera or the editing then we would all help each other. The main piece of technology used was I movie the application that enabled us to edit and create our final piece. when using these things i learnt how to use them to the best ability I could by learning over time, if I was not confident with something lie for me I was not very confident using the camera, yet there was always someone in my group who was confident and knew what they were doing to get the best possible outcome form all this new technology. The sheer depth that all this equipment holds really helped us design and create our final piece. Especially when editing the amount of options that were available for us really helped us design this piece of work that we had been studying and perfecting from the very beginning. Also one of the main pieces of technology we used the i macs applictaion called Garage Band, after extensive research into what music we wanted we found it hard to find the right piece of music that was unsigned and fitted our sequence. I have used the application garage band before, therefore we thought we could make our music. so after many lessons slaving away at trying to get the right times so the music fiitted into the sequence. we finally then got our music, a made made piece that worked perfect in our film. we also used our own phones to take location shots and then bluetooth them to each other so we could use them in our research for our films location. we used a memory stick to transfer files from our own computers to the macs. we used a wide range of technology to get our final piece. not only did we use all these different applications of devices we learnt about them everytime we used them. therefore that perfect mix of our brains and the technology got us our final product.

Thinking about audience - making meaning

Our target audience

We intended out target audience to be around 15 years to around 30, we wanted the younger adult audience because we thought that would be the biggest catchment area for our film. After carrying out our questionnaire our results came back to show that the majority of people expected horror thrillers to be a certificate of 15 or 18 years. Therefore drawing this information out we decided along with the nature of our film to make the certificate 15. We there before would be looking for the market of young teenage and young adult groups or couples to go and see the film. the best money making certificate is 12a yet because of our films nature with its horrific and striking story we thought it to be best placed as a certificate 15. After finding out what target audience we wanted to aim at and we found out our certificate we could then find out the boundaries we had when creating our sequence. it being a 15 we could make our film reasonably violent or scary. We now knew what we could push our boundaries to so we went from there making our film as scary and striking as possible.

For the audiences consideration

After doing extensive research into our chosen genre we could then see what people wanted from a horror thriller, therefore when story boarding and filming we kept in mind what the audience wanted to see also using our own methods. By finding out what people wanted and as such expected it really helped us grasp what we needed to do and how we went about achieving it. When we were filming we were constantly thinking is this as good as it could be. we also constantly looked back to see if this scene or shot was a scary or shocking as it could be, by referring to the genre thought we wanted to get people’s expectations of horror thriller to be what they expected. when designing our story board and filming we tried to look at it as if w were the audience watching it for the first time, our main objective was to give the audience the best experience when watching the sequence therefore when filming we thought what would get the audience scared or anxious when watching so through our own personal fears, we looked at how we could make the shot as powerful on us which leads to it being as powerful on the audience. in our class we showed our first draft of the sequence that was not perfect editing it was just the shots running in order, we got a great response from this and as we saw people’s emotions we only though it was going to get better as the editing and music were still to come. There are many different ways you can see this film when watching it, it all depends on how u personal fears and emotions react, and someone could be more scared than others or could be more edgy. Whatever the audience get from the film is there personal response but as long as they get a trill and enjoyment from it we know we would have succeeded.

Representing - constructing the real

The final straw

We wanted to make a product represent the typical type of genre with its new twist. there are hundreds of horror genre films out there on the market. yet everyone of them is different. they can have the same themes the same ideas yet they are all individual. the same can be said for our film a new and unique type of film that will be the same in context be but different through our own ideas and designs. the film represents friendship, how cinema and film watching is now become a social event for a group of people. time out with your friends family. this film represents all those people who love to go with the people your enjoy spending time with and enjoying a film like ours together in any way they wish. in our film we have represented real life, how real life has its twists and turns. our film is very realistic everything that you see is truly possible in the real world. this helps people represent to the real life they are living to show that there is more in this world. we included real characters with real feelings, we wanted to do this so the audience can relate to certain circumstances and emotions that are shown through the characters in our film. again we wanted to keep it as true to real life as possible insuring the possibility of everything the audience see. by doing this it gives a more scary sense because what goes on in the film could of happened in the real world. using all of the mise en scenes elements made the sequence what it is. our acting was not perfect but we used that as an excuse to show a more realistic film. our home made music helped carry the film along giving all the scenes its extra something.

Over and Out

Our media project was a long and tiring. there were arguments, fights, disagreements. there was friendship, happiness and confidence. we started off with some paper and a pen and we finished with a sequence that i could not be more proud of, after all this time we made something which when we started i thought it would not be possible. but by learning and performing me and my group finally made it. we made THE HUNTED.........