Evaluation - Q7

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.

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.

Evaluation - Q5

How did you attract/address your audience?

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.

Evaluation - Q3

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

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.

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.

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?

Final Opening Scene: 3:17AM

Editing: Day 7

Today we finished up our editing by adding our production name ident at the start of the opening scene. Below is what we created for the ident:

Editing: Day 6

In todays editing session we decided that we wanted to make the climax at the end when the title appears more effective for the audience. To do this we decided that just as the alarm clock says 3:17am, it will cut to a black screen where the sound effect of the alarm beep will play and then it will cut to the title. We thought that this added time in between the shot of the alarm clock and the title will create more suspense and therefore get more of a scare out of the audience more when the title does appear as this is more conventional of a supernatural film opening and is seen in one of our film openings we researched, Insidious.

I think this also emphasises the alarm clock more with the use of the diegetic beep sound effect and as the plot revolves around a supernatural being only occurring at 3:17am every night, this needs to be hinted at to the audience to give them an idea of the plot for the rest of the film, as film openings conventionally do this, and I think this extra emphasis does this effectively.

We have also decided to make the music leading up to the title appearing even louder to create more of a build up and add even more suspense for the audience.

Rough cut 2: Feedback

There wasn't many improvements that our target audience came up with in this feedback session which means my partner and I aren't going to alter the rough cut that much as we also agree that it is the best that we think it can be. One improvement that the target audience were divided upon was the title at the end and the way it came up on the screen. As my partner and I think that the way it flickers on the screen is effective and fits with the soundtrack in the background, we have decided that we are going to keep the effect on the title.

Rough cut 2

Editing: Day 5

We decided that we wanted to change our credits today so they appear and disappear off the screen more effectively. We added some transition effects so they fade up on the screen and then disperse off the screen. We also changed the way they appear by making two names come up at once as we researched some other film openings and this is what they all did.

An example of our new credits layout.

An example of our new credits layout.

Rough cut 1: Feedback

Some main improvements that our target audience picked up on was the fact that they didn't like that the black and white filter doesn't run consistently throughout. This is something that my partner and I are going to consider and rectify in our next editing session as we agree that it ruins the continuity and professional look of the scene and gives the opening a more dark and eerie atmosphere overall. 

Another improvement that we picked up on was that they didn't like the fact that the music stopped when the scene goes to the back to the bedroom nearing the end as like before, it ruins the continuity of the scene and and doesn't maintain the ominous mood all the way till the end. We will make the music go through on into the bedroom shots as well now in our next editing session.

Rough cut 1

Editing: Day 4

My partner and I added the sound effects and non diegetic incidental music to our opening scene today. This proved to be quite challenging as we found it hard to trim the clip at the right places with the right points in the opening scene. In addition, we found it difficult to change the volume of the track so it gets louder near the end to create suspense and anticipation for the climax at the end of the scene.

Furthermore, we added some dripping sounds for the tap shot. This was quite difficult as it was hard to time the sound effects well with the tap dripping in the shot but once we got it in the right place, we thought it sounded effective and added to the eerie atmosphere that we want to create. Also, we added a really intense short piece of music when the titles appear to jump out at the audience and make up the big climax after the built up suspense throughout the scene. This music was very fast paced, loud and in a high pitch, which is what we wanted to make the audience jump and this is conventional of a supernatural horror.

Editing: Day 3

Today we started working on our credits and our title. We used LiveType to create the credits and titles. At first, my partner and I found it difficult because neither of us have fully used the program and don't know exactly how to get the right effect we wanted.

A credit on top of one of our shots.

We have decided to use a serif font which is in red as serif fonts are conventional of the supernatural genre and gives the opening scene a professional and sophisticated look. The red colour is an icon of the genre and connotes blood and danger and so we decided this would be the best colour to use as it also contrasts well with the black and white filter we have used for the clips.

Today we also had to look back at our film opening analyses to see the order that the credits conventionally go in, in a film opening. This helped us understand what credits should go where and how they should appear.

Editing: Day 2

My partner and I have been struggling to get the right effect for the outside shot to make it look darker and make it look more like it is set at night. We found that a lot of the effects that were available on Final Cut did not make the effect that we would like or didn't make much of an effect on the shots at all.

The outside shot that we wanted to make darker.

The effect that we have chosen to use.

We have decided instead to use black and white throughout the whole of the opening scene as this is the best effect that we could get and based on our feedback from our target audience on our first rough cut, they also thought that we should keep the black and white filter throughout as it created more of an eerie and dark atmosphere.

Editing: Day 1

Today we had some trouble starting with the editing of our rough cut as our re-filmed footage that we filmed on a different camera would not show up on the computer meaning we had to work on our typography analyses instead. This brought back the editing process by two hours and so we will have to stay behind after school to make up for the time that we have lost.

Chosen Sound

My partner and I conducted a survey for our target audience to see which incidental music they would prefer for a supernatural horror opening. These are the results:

Soundtrack 1 - 5 people
Soundtrack 2 - 9 people

As most of our target audience thought that the second incidental music was the best, we will use this for our opening scene. In addition, my partner and I were looking to use this soundtrack more as it fits with our plot of our opening scene well and creates the ominous atmosphere that we want. The track is also long enough to run throughout the whole of our opening scene unlike the first soundtrack.

Sound 2: Analysis

Advantages:
A good thing about this soundtrack is that it slowly gets faster and louder as it goes on meaning we can time this well with when the alarm clock eventually strikes 3:17 am and the titles appear. We wanted the music to get louder at this point to create suspense and create an ominous atmosphere for the audience and so this would be a good track to use.

Disadvantages:
A bad thing about this soundtrack is that the volume and pace doesn't increase in intervals throughout so we couldn't time this well with the supernatural occurrences that happen throughout to create suspense, however my partner and I can work around this and increase the volume in Final Cut when we start to edit our final product.

Sound 2

Sound 1: Analysis

Advantages:
A good thing about this soundtrack is that it is conventional of a supernatural horror film opening. It creates an eerie and ominous atmosphere and the music doesn't climax right at the beginning and so maintains the tense atmosphere that we wanted throughout.

Disadvantages:
A bad thing about this soundtrack is that we wanted some music that slowly got louder and faster nearing the end so it hints to the reader that something is going to happen and create suspense, and unfortunately this track doesn't.

Sound 1

This is the first piece of incidental music that we were thinking of using. The process of finding the music which would be suitable for our plot and the genre was quite difficult and my partner and I found it hard to find the right music that didn't sound too over the top but also find one that created the right amount of suspense with the use of rises in volume and pitch.

Eventually, we found two which we think could be good contenders for our film opening music and we are going to analyse them and ask our target audience what they think of the two tracks and how effective they think they are for a supernatural horror and if they fit the codes and conventions.

Chosen Typography

We surveyed our target audience to see which typography they preferred out of the three options we came up with. These are the results:

Typography 1 - 5 people
Typography 2 - 1 people
Typography 3 - 8 people

As our target audience thought that the third typography choice looked the best and fit the conventions of the film more, we have decided to use this one for our opening scene.

Typography 3

Typography 3 analysis from charliemilne

Typography 2

Typography 2 analysis from charliemilne

Typography 1

Typography 1 analysis from charliemilne

Call Sheet: Revised

This is the revised call sheet including all of the re-filming that we had to do.

Date	Time	Location	Actors	Props	Shots
20/02/14	7:00pm	House	No actors shown in shots	Glass, TV, chair, photo	1, 3-9
22/02/14	6:00pm	House	Charlie Tabitha	Alarm clock, candle	2, 10-15
23/02/14	7:00pm	House	Charlie Tabitha	Candle, photo	15-20 and any shots that need to be re-done
27/02/14	4:00pm	House	Charlie Tabitha	Alarm clock, candle	Re-filming of 1-10
28/02/14	5:00pm	House	Charlie Tabitha	Glass, chair, TV, photo	Re-filming of 11-20

Re-filming: Day 1

Tonight we re-filmed shots 1-10 successfully and we are happy with the changes we have made compared to our previous shots. We filmed in better lighting by filming it slightly earlier than in the previous filming sessions, as well as used a better quality camera which made the picture quality much better and so now there is no graininess like on the previous shots. We also checked on the computer that all of the shots were good quality before we ended our filming to make sure that they we didn't continue with the rest of the shots and find out that the graininess was still there, meaning we would probably have to re-film again.

We are going to do some more filming tonight so we can do shots 11-20.

Re-filming

An example of the grainy quality present in all of our shots.

Unfortunately, after looking back at our shots, we have noticed that the quality of the clips is very grainy and not to the quality that we were expecting, thus making it not look like a convincing media product. This is probably due to the low key lighting that we had in all of our shots as in the outside shots we did, the quality was considerably better.

We have decided to re-film all of our shots within the next couple of days using a different, better quality camera which will be able to film in the low key lighting that we need for all of our shots. This isn't convenient as we did plan to get all of our shots done by the end of this week, but nevertheless, we have planned the various days that we are going to re-film carefully making sure that we don't make the same mistake again by checking the shots on the computer first and not just watching them back on the camera screen.

If this new camera doesn't change the graininess of our shots, we will have to re-think the lighting that we are going to use within our opening scene.

Our aim is to get all of the re-filming done by the 3rd of March.

Filming: Day 3

Fortunately, we were able to get most of the shots that we intended to last night. There are some more that we still need to do and re-do and some involve having to film at my house so this will have to be done within the next few days.

Filming: Day 2

We didn't get as many shots as we wanted last night because we took too much time on some of the shots and so couldn't complete all of them.

My partner and I are going to film on Saturday night so we complete the shots that we didn't get to do yesterday.

Filming: Day 1

We were intending to film tonight but unfortunately my partner is ill today and so it made it impossible to film at her house. We have rescheduled the filming for tomorrow as we are free at the same time again and the weather seems to be quite mild and so won't cause any problems for the outside shot, hoping that my partner is well enough to begin filming tomorrow. Tonight, I am organising the costumes and props that we will need for tomorrow so I won't forget anything and hold up the filming stage up again in anyway.

Casting

For our opening scene, 3 characters will have to be cast. The mother, the father and possibly the younger son.

Tabitha is being cast for the mother.

My partner and I have decided that we will be the parts of the mother and the father in the opening scene as it will be much easier than using anybody else who are older. Although my partner and I are both 16, in the opening scene, you never see much of our face as the shots that we are in are in bed and the duvet covers most of our faces anyway. In addition to this, using anybody older who does look more like a mother or a father would be difficult as they may not be free at the same times my partner and I are because of work etc., which would be an inconvenience. A benefit of my partner and I being cast is that firstly, we are both friends and so we see each other regularly anyway so it is easy for me to go to her house to film. Secondly, we both have the same half-terms and so we can meet up easily to film and we will most likely be free at the same times.

I am being cast for the father.

Furthermore, as it will only be us two in the opening scene, we don't have to rely on any other people who might not be able to do certain days and may show up late etc. whereas with us, we are the ones who are actually doing the project and so we will be more dedicated to the
filming process and make sure we are available to get everything done.

We may have to cast a child in our opening scene to play the part of the son. This could be a disadvantage as children are sometimes a bit disruptive when it comes to things like this and may find the process boring, meaning they could mess about which is something that we don't want as we can't keep doing lots of shots over and over again because we don't have the time. However, the child we would cast would be my younger brother. As it is my brother, I know he won't mess around or cause any hassle when it comes to filming. My brother is 10 years old and so he looks like a convincing child to play the part. Another problem however is that in the original place of filming, my partner's house, they do not have a children's bedroom meaning I would have to film at my house as well. Filming in two different locations is time consuming but it something that we should be able to do. He also has the same half-term as us and so will be available to film when we need to, especially because he is my brother so I can easily get hold of him.

Location 3

The third location we looked at was my nan's house. The benefits of using this house is that, like the previous location, it is situated in the same village as our school and so will be easy to get to for my partner and I after school or during our media lessons. Another benefit is that it does look like a conventional family home from the outside that would typically be seen in a supernatural horror film due to it's size and the fact that it is a detached house.

A disadvantage however, is that although it looks fairly big on the outside, this doesn't echo what it is on the inside as a lot of the rooms are quite small which would cause some trouble when setting up filming equipment and could cause some health and safety implications. Also, typically supernatural horror films which are set in present day, like ours, usually have modern looking furniture and fittings inside the houses, which unfortunately this lacks and so may make the opening less like a convincing media product.

Location 2

The second house that we looked at was my friend, Carla's house. The benefits of using this location is that as Carla is my friend and also my partner's friend, it will be easy to go round her house and film and easy to get permission to use it. Also, Carla lives in the village in which our school is located which would make it convenient for us to film in our media lessons or straight after school.

Looks wise, the house unfortunately doesn't look like a conventional location of a supernatural horror film as it doesn't look like a typical family home and as it is a semi-attached house, it doesn't have the same isolated feel as location 1. In addition to this, inside the house, it isn't very spacious which means it would be difficult to film in and could cause some health and safety risks. Conventionally, supernatural horrors are set in large houses unlike this one and so this would make the opening look less like a convincing media product.

Location 1

The first house we looked at was my partner, Tab's house. The benefits for using this location is that it is large from the outside and conventionally, supernatural horrors usually happen in big family homes. In addition to it being large on the outside, it is also very spacious from the inside meaning there will be a lot of room for us to film and will reduce the health and safety risks more than if we were to film in a confined, small house. Tabitha is also my friend meaning that I will easily be able to go to her house and film and get permission to do so.

The house is also detached which means we can film the opening shots to make the house seem segregated from the rest of civilisation and far from help from the outside world, which is where conventional supernatural horrors are usually set.

Props

The main prop that we will be using and which will have the most significance is an alarm clock. The alarm clock is an important prop in our opening scene as all of the shots build up to the moment where the alarm clock says '03:17'. We decided to use an alarm clock as it is something that is typically seen in bedrooms. Also, the alarm clock that we will be using has red numbers on it which is something we wanted as it represents danger and red is a colour that is conventionally seen in supernatural horror films.

Other fairly significant props that will be featured within our opening scene is a TV and a chandelier. The TV will have the fuzzy screen on it, which is something that is typically seen in the genre. This TV will look like it has been turned on by itself. Also, the chandelier will move slightly in one of the shots and this is also a supernatural activity that we conventionally see in the genre. These all gradually hint to the audience throughout the scene that some supernatural, invisible being is controlling the house and wreaking havoc by doing little eery things around the house. Furthermore, a TV and a chandelier are both items that are usually seen in a family home and so it makes the audience feel that it could happen to anybody.

Costumes

Our opening scene takes place at night when all of the family are asleep in bed meaning that the only costumes that we will need is some pyjamas for the mum and dad, which are the only characters that are shown in the scene. We decided that this would be easier when it came to costumes as if we did decide to show the supernatural antagonist in the scene, it may have been a bit difficult to create a convincing ghost using the clothes that we already have/can afford.

Pyjamas and other sleepwear is quite a vulnerable piece of clothing as it is associated with sleeping which is when people are usually at their most vulnerable. The use of the pyjamas for the family just show that they are normal people, which is conventional of a supernatural horror as it makes the audience feel that it could happen to them.

(Pictures of costumes coming soon)

Call Sheet

Date		Time	Location	Actors	Props	Shots
20/02/14		7:00pm	House	No actors shown in shots	Glass, TV, chair, photo	1, 3-9
22/02/14		6:00pm	House	Charlie Tabitha	Alarm clock, candle	2, 10-15
23/02/14	7:00pm		House	Charlie Tabitha		15-20 and any shots that need to be re-done