Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I have made a lot of progress from the preliminary task I did a couple of months ago at the beginning of this project. In my preliminary task, the shots we did and other filming techniques weren't very sophisticated and the way we edited the film didn't make the film look very convincing and professional. Comparing this to the final film that my partner and I produced, I feel as if I have developed my skills much more with the filming techniques and editing software that we used to plan and create a much more convincing media product.
In my preliminary task, the titles that we created were very small and the typography and colour made it very difficult to see over the busy shots that we did. After experimenting with LiveType and Final Cut it allowed my partner and I to learn how to make our titles just right so they were easily readable and more sophisticated with the use of transitions and different effects but also still follow the codes and conventions of supernatural horror film titles. Using different effects on the titles and changing the size and typography of the titles and overlaying them on the shots during our film opening are all skills that I developed when creating the final media product.
I also developed some skills in editing sound and music when producing my final film opening. In my preliminary task I didn't know how to trim, cut and adjust the volume of the sound that we used and so the incidental music throughout the film was very loud, meaning that you couldn't really hear what the characters were saying and the music came in at the wrong times due to me not knowing how to cut and trim the tracks. This made the film sound unprofessional and unplanned. In my final film opening however, I developed the skills to adjust the volume of the sound tracks at different times to fit with the plot throughout the whole opening and I also learnt how to cut and trim the tracks so I could add different sounds and music within the film without making it sound unprofessional. I didn't add any sound effects in my preliminary but I did in my final film which I think improved the whole sound of the film as it emphasised certain important points throughout the opening such as the dripping of the tap and the wind blowing outside the house as these are sounds that we couldn't create just through the filming process.
Some of the continuity of my preliminary task and overall dialogue isn't very good. In the two shots where Megan is opening the door, in one she opens it slowly but in the other it opens really quickly which reduces the professional look of the film as it makes it look really unplanned and rushed. Also, when me and Megan talk in the preliminary task, you can see me laughing when I shouldn't be which therefore again, makes it look really unprofessional and ruined the tense atmosphere that we wanted to create in the task. In the final film opening, I made sure that we re-filmed anything that made the opening look unprofessional which included any continuity issues or other parts of the plot that just reduces the realistic look of the opening which could have affected the ominous atmosphere that we wanted to maintain throughout.
During the preliminary task, I worked with four people which I felt worked well in the filming process however it did have some downfalls when it came to editing and getting everybody in the same place at the same time when it came to working on it out of lessons. I considered this when it came to choosing whether I wanted to work by myself or in a group when it came to my final project. I decided to work as a pair as I wanted some support when it came to the filming process as I thought that maybe it would have proved too difficult for just myself as I had no previous experience other than the preliminary task. I thought that a pair would be the right number of people as it is much easier to get two people in one place to work on the project than four and as the person I picked is one of my friends, it made it easier to work on the project together and to get to filming locations together. I also chose someone who I knew wouldn't let me down in any way throughout the project and I knew wouldn't distract me away from my work and so we could focus on the task in hand.
Finally, in my final film opening I also wanted to include some more advanced and more of a range of different shots. I did this by including a canted shot and using some pans and also zooming in on different objects which showed some more skill and made the opening look generally more interesting to watch. In the preliminary task, we used some close up shots but this is all we really decided to go through with as any others we found too difficult to create within the time frame we had and this was mainly due to the lack of planning. In the final opening film, I made sure we did a lot more planning to make sure we had plenty of time to create the shots we wanted and ensure that all of the shots that we did were of I high calibre of quality. The addition of zooms and pans also made the film look much more professional and also added to the suspense and atmosphere we wanted to create for the audience.
Friday, 11 April 2014
Wednesday, 9 April 2014
Evaluation - Q6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
One of the main pieces of technology that I used throughout the project were the iMacs. The one main advantage about using these were that they had much better software than normal PCs whilst still being fairly easy to use. I found it quite easy to get used to the Macs throughout the project as I had worked with a lot before and I had used some of the software on them in previous media projects. Some problems that often occurred when using the Macs though were that the internet often dropped out, which meant that we had to upload a lot of our videos on PCs. Another problem was that it was hard for us to transfer different files as a lot of the time, the file types would only work on certain computers meaning that we would have to use Macs throughout the whole project which proved difficult when we wanted to work on some of it at home.
The main piece of software we used on the Macs was Final Cut. This was my first time working with Final Cut and so I found it quite difficult at first to get used to it. One of the main things I found difficult when using Final Cut was trying to find the right effects to fit with the right sort of atmosphere that we wanted for our film as a lot of the time, the effects were either too in your face or hardly noticeable at all. What I learnt from this is editing the effects with the more advanced options meaning we could reduce and change certain aspects of each of the filters to fit with the style we were looking for.
Another piece of software that I hadn't used before on the Macs was LiveType. I have LiveType particularly difficult due to the wide variety of options and not knowing what any of them did. One main problem that I had was that I found it difficult to get the right speed and length for all of my titles and then replicate this for all of them throughout so it had good continuity. I also learnt how to download fonts on to the computer through dafont.com as the fonts on LiveType weren't any that we wanted and didn't really fit the conventions of a normal supernatural horror title. Another thing I learnt when using LiveType was how to export the titles on to Final Cut. I found this quite difficult at first as the positioning of the titles once exporting sometimes didn't look right with what was happening in the scene but after a few adjustments and some help, I found it quite easy and were able to get the effective titles that we wanted.
Some online technologies that I used were SlideShare and SoundCloud. These were really helpful when wanting to set out my work in different more interesting ways. Before I started this project, I had no idea what SlideShare was and so this was a site that I have really learnt to use and something that I will now be able to use in the future. I learnt how to upload presentations on SlideShare and the embed these onto Blogger which I also found difficult to begin with because I didn't know how to make the presentations to show up on my blog as the presentation and not a link.
The last and one of the most important pieces of technology I used was the camera. At first, my partner and I used a camera which didn't look very good in low lighting as we had a grainy effect on all of the shots when we looked back at them on the computer. This was really frustrating as it meant filming them all again with a different camera which would work well in low light. This taught me to always check our shots on a computer before we carried on filming with the same camera.
One of the main pieces of technology that I used throughout the project were the iMacs. The one main advantage about using these were that they had much better software than normal PCs whilst still being fairly easy to use. I found it quite easy to get used to the Macs throughout the project as I had worked with a lot before and I had used some of the software on them in previous media projects. Some problems that often occurred when using the Macs though were that the internet often dropped out, which meant that we had to upload a lot of our videos on PCs. Another problem was that it was hard for us to transfer different files as a lot of the time, the file types would only work on certain computers meaning that we would have to use Macs throughout the whole project which proved difficult when we wanted to work on some of it at home.
The main piece of software we used on the Macs was Final Cut. This was my first time working with Final Cut and so I found it quite difficult at first to get used to it. One of the main things I found difficult when using Final Cut was trying to find the right effects to fit with the right sort of atmosphere that we wanted for our film as a lot of the time, the effects were either too in your face or hardly noticeable at all. What I learnt from this is editing the effects with the more advanced options meaning we could reduce and change certain aspects of each of the filters to fit with the style we were looking for.
Another piece of software that I hadn't used before on the Macs was LiveType. I have LiveType particularly difficult due to the wide variety of options and not knowing what any of them did. One main problem that I had was that I found it difficult to get the right speed and length for all of my titles and then replicate this for all of them throughout so it had good continuity. I also learnt how to download fonts on to the computer through dafont.com as the fonts on LiveType weren't any that we wanted and didn't really fit the conventions of a normal supernatural horror title. Another thing I learnt when using LiveType was how to export the titles on to Final Cut. I found this quite difficult at first as the positioning of the titles once exporting sometimes didn't look right with what was happening in the scene but after a few adjustments and some help, I found it quite easy and were able to get the effective titles that we wanted.
Some online technologies that I used were SlideShare and SoundCloud. These were really helpful when wanting to set out my work in different more interesting ways. Before I started this project, I had no idea what SlideShare was and so this was a site that I have really learnt to use and something that I will now be able to use in the future. I learnt how to upload presentations on SlideShare and the embed these onto Blogger which I also found difficult to begin with because I didn't know how to make the presentations to show up on my blog as the presentation and not a link.
The last and one of the most important pieces of technology I used was the camera. At first, my partner and I used a camera which didn't look very good in low lighting as we had a grainy effect on all of the shots when we looked back at them on the computer. This was really frustrating as it meant filming them all again with a different camera which would work well in low light. This taught me to always check our shots on a computer before we carried on filming with the same camera.
Tuesday, 8 April 2014
Evaluation - Q4
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Most supernatural horrors are conventionally aimed at teenagers and young adults and therefore I think this is the best audience to target my film at. This therefore means that the certificate would be a 15 as in the plot of my film, there is no graphic scenes which involve any gruesome blood and gore which could upset some teenagers and so therefore isn't too scary to be a 18, but is still scary enough that it could harm viewers who are younger than 15. As my film follows the same sort of narrative and follows the same conventions as other supernatural horrors such as Paranormal Activity and Insidious which are also aimed at young adults and both have certificates of 15, I felt that this was the best target audience to aim my media product at and best certification to give my film.
The type of hobbies that my target audience may have are socialising and going out to places such as the cinema with their friends which is particularly convenient. They may also have hobbies like watching TV, playing video games and They may like TV shows which are most likely to air on channels such as BBC3, E4 etc. and therefore will watch series such as In the Flesh and Being Human which are both supernatural themed shows that air on those channels and are aimed at young adults, which means they will be likely to be interested in watching my supernatural horror film. The type of shops that they would shop in is modern, current and fashionable shops that target younger people such as Topshop/Topman, River Island, New Look etc.
One of the characters in my film and the main protagonist is a young son in the family. Although he is slightly younger than my target audience, my audience will still be able to relate to character as they are both around the same age range and the character follows the archetypal young teenage boy that most teenagers will be able to relate with. Having a character who is around the same age also makes the film more appealing for the target audience as they can identify with them and it also makes it more scarier for them as it makes them feel like what's going on in the film could also happen to them.
Most supernatural horrors are conventionally aimed at teenagers and young adults and therefore I think this is the best audience to target my film at. This therefore means that the certificate would be a 15 as in the plot of my film, there is no graphic scenes which involve any gruesome blood and gore which could upset some teenagers and so therefore isn't too scary to be a 18, but is still scary enough that it could harm viewers who are younger than 15. As my film follows the same sort of narrative and follows the same conventions as other supernatural horrors such as Paranormal Activity and Insidious which are also aimed at young adults and both have certificates of 15, I felt that this was the best target audience to aim my media product at and best certification to give my film.
The type of hobbies that my target audience may have are socialising and going out to places such as the cinema with their friends which is particularly convenient. They may also have hobbies like watching TV, playing video games and They may like TV shows which are most likely to air on channels such as BBC3, E4 etc. and therefore will watch series such as In the Flesh and Being Human which are both supernatural themed shows that air on those channels and are aimed at young adults, which means they will be likely to be interested in watching my supernatural horror film. The type of shops that they would shop in is modern, current and fashionable shops that target younger people such as Topshop/Topman, River Island, New Look etc.
One of the characters in my film and the main protagonist is a young son in the family. Although he is slightly younger than my target audience, my audience will still be able to relate to character as they are both around the same age range and the character follows the archetypal young teenage boy that most teenagers will be able to relate with. Having a character who is around the same age also makes the film more appealing for the target audience as they can identify with them and it also makes it more scarier for them as it makes them feel like what's going on in the film could also happen to them.
Monday, 7 April 2014
Sunday, 6 April 2014
Evaluation - Q2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
We have main three protagonist characters in our film, the mum, the dad and the son and the only time we see them fully is in the family photo which is shown near the end of the opening.
We have main three protagonist characters in our film, the mum, the dad and the son and the only time we see them fully is in the family photo which is shown near the end of the opening.
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| The family that we cast for our film opening shown in this LS. |
In our research, we look at the opening of Insidious which follows a similar plot line to ours. This gave us a lot of ideas on the characters we should use. Below is a similar shot that was used in their film opening of a family photo featuring the main characters.
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| The family cast in Insidious shown in this LS. |
We decided to base our family on the one featured in Insidious as it not only follows the conventions of most supernatural horrors but it also represents the social group that we wanted to show to our audience. Characters in supernatural horrors are often portrayed as being normal everyday people as this means that the audience can relate and identify with the the characters and make them feel as if what is going on in the film could happen to anybody. This meant making our family look like an everyday middle-class family as this can relate to a large part of the population and the target audience of our film.
We made the family wear normal, casual clothes that represent what a stereotypical parent and child would wear. We can see they are wearing casual clothing due to the baggy shirts and jeans that they are wearing. They are all smiling and we did this to show that they are a happy family and how this is slightly ironic due to the juxtaposition of their happiness in the photo and the horror they are going to go through throughout the family. This makes the audience feel sorry for the characters and gives an insight into what they are like. We can see that this is the same in both of the photos of the families, ours and the one from Insidious.
One difference between the two is that the child in our film has been scratched out in the photo whereas in Insidious their children haven't been scratched out. We decided to scratch out the child in our photo as this is a conventional happening in supernatural horrors and is seen in films such as Paranormal Activity. It also hints to the audience that he will be the main victim throughout the narrative. Children are often stereotyped as being quite naive and too trusting towards people and don't understand the danger that they can get themselves in and both films show this. Children are also represented as being generally vulnerable people anyway as they are not old enough to fend for themselves.
Evaluation - Q1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
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