Simeon's Evaluation Q7

Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task, What Do You Feel You Have Learned In The Progression From It To The Full Product?

During our preliminary task we were all very new to new camera work and to editing. The main thing I learnt working with the cameras was how to get the right white balance, as this had been a big problem because we thought we could get away with having it the same through all our shots indoors. As we later found out lighting can differ inside so we had to adapt our white balance very often.

In both projects we had to do continuity editing because did some shots and retakes of scenes on different days. In our preliminary you can see that we didn't check where our errors were, but by the time we progressed to our thriller opening we were checking all over for errors in white balance, clothing and overall lighting.

Furthermore as we spent more time on the thriller project we began to utilise our time effectively and during our first editing session where we gathered all our clips and put them roughly into a timeline, we found areas to improve on and as a team we managed to find ways in which we could tweak these to perfection.

Simeon's Evaluation Q6

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

 

Before we began working on our preliminary task and our thriller opening project, I had not grasped the concept of editing video and audio and I did not know much about cameras and how to cleanly shoot HD film.

 

I have never used Final Cut Pro or any other software of editing before, let alone a Mac. This course has shown me clearly how to use the software and how to snip, clip and merge video clips and audio clips to a standard I would have never dreamed of. I have learnt the importance of naming clips and separating the ones I need from the ones I don't because later on in both the tasks my team and I found rummaging through all our nameless clips and retake clips near impossible.

 

I had never heard of white balance and what it contributed to shots and takes, but I soon found out that it changed the way we saw lighting and how important it was while we were editing and doing continuity editing. I also learnt how to use the tripod and how a stable camera can make all the difference between what kind of impression you are trying to make on the audience.

Simeon's Evaluation Q5

How Did You Attract/Address Your Audience?

We attracted our audience by using references to dress code, which is a part of mise en scene, of the average teenager. Clothing brands such as Primark and new look are being worm by both our characters and this further gives the audience something to relate to. In addition to this the way both Jake and Kyle speak is the same dialect of what the majority of teenagers speak like, this was intentional as we wanted to engage them as much as possible.

Simeon's Evaluation Q4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience who this film would be directed at would be young males, more directly older teenagers. Both Jake and Kyle are in their late teens and so this would give young males something of a connection and something to relate to as they are of the same age and gender.

Simeon's Evaluation Q3

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

The difference between media production companies and media distributers is that: media production companies make the films and examples of these are Disney, DreamWorks, 20th century Fox, and Universal. Media distributors are the companies that distribute the films and try to get everyone to know about them, and they do this buy advertisement on billboards, selling by DVD, showings in cinemas, and now more recently it is more common for this to be done digitally such as through Netflix or gaming consoles or big TV companies for example Sky or Virgin and there separate movie subscription channels. Media production companies and especially big ones who need to make a big revenue will use these distributers to get as many people watching there films. These can be expensive to hire so we will need to possibly down grade and go for the smaller ones.
Now media distributors such as Momentum and LoveFilm, distribute films that are of a low budget such as our own.
On the other hand we could try distributing ourselves through services for example YouTube. By letting google put ads on our films we can possibly earn money that way as google or the advertisement firm would be paying us.

Simeon's Evaluation Q2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

We represented the social group of teenagers through the characters Jake and Kyle, but we did not stick to the stereotypes associated with teenagers around there late teens.

Jake who as a young child seeing his father being murdered has lived with his mother since then. As he finds the clock he is curious to find out what happened, instead of being rebellious and getting into a fluster. This makes the audience have sympathy on him as his fathers killing had been at the back of his mind since he was young.

 


Kyle is shown to be a compassionate close friend of Jake, he chose to help Jake with packing and he also shows his compassion for Jake when he shows that he shouldn't worry.

Simeon's Evaluation Q1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Before we began our thriller project all three of us (Greg, Keegan and myself) looked into professional thriller openings. I myself delved into a few but I noticed that in the openings of The Usual Suspects and Drive, one of the main areas mise en scene was the low key lighting.

Using low key lighting affects the atmosphere of the scene and creates suspense within the audience, and this suspense and willing to want to know more is what makes a thriller. As well as this I found that the dialogue that these characters had in The Usual Suspects and Drive was very limited. This also contributed to the affect these Thrillers were trying to obtain with there openings, it in a sense kept the audience guessing.

In our thriller opening, we took hold of these ideas and used them in the loft scene where Jake finds an old box with his fathers belongings in. We tried to keep the audience guessing by incorporating low key lighting when Jake was looking into the box, and the lack of description his and his friend's (Kyle) to keep the audience in a state of mind where they would not know the full story.

Keegan's Evaluation Q7

Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task, What Do You Feel You Have Learned In The Progression From It To The Full Product?

Throughout the Preliminary Task, we didn't really consider the importance of white balance every time we changed location whereas throughout the thriller opening you can tell a huge different from the quality and how clear the shots are.

As you can see the shot above is a little grey and off colour whereas the shot below is much more clear and better quality. 

Also in the Preliminary Task, we had a few errors of continuity as the footage was filmed on different days, we rectified against this throughout the Thriller project by taking note of which clothing we had worn the previous day of filming.

The two shots above were filmed on different days and had no continuity errors apart from the obvious different length in hair.

Keegan's Evaluation Q6

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

At the start of this project, I had never used or even heard of Final Cut Pro before and that I only knew the basics of using a HD video camera. 

Final Cut Pro, for me, was the most I have learnt throughout this project. I am now able to edit clips together smoothly and add in sound and effects for it to look more professional and clean. I think the most useful thing I have learnt is that you should keep all similar clips together and all different medias, this will allow you to save a lot of time instead of rummaging through all the clips to find the specific one that you are wanting to add/edit.

Keegan's Evaluation Q5

How Did You Attract/Address Your Audience?

We have attracted the audience by referencing the characters on modern trends that the audience can relate to such as the clothes that characters are wearing have been bought from local high street retailers which a large number of the audience also get their clothes from.  

Keegan's Evaluation Q4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

I believe that the target audience for out thriller opening would be teenagers and young adults as it is based on people of their age. This helps them to connect with the opening as some of the audience may refer to the actions taking place and the consequences after. 

Keegan's Evaluation Q2

How does your media product represent particular social groups? 

The main characters we have chosen are two teenaged boys called Jake and Kyle. Most teenagers are lazy and rather rude stereotypically whereas we have decide to show them as the more helpful teenagers that are rarely shown within thriller films.

The first teenager, called Kyle, is a friend of the main character (Jake) that the film is based around. Kyle is shown as a helpful friend that will happily help his friends if they were need. Kyle is also shown as a clever teenager which is shown when he takes control of sorting out the boxes in the loft. 

The second teenager and the main character, Jake, is played as a rather shaken person which may be because of his past of his father being murdered. Jake is also shown as a friendly, grateful person as he appreciates his friends help despite the silly question of 'Where's the loft?'. 

Keegan's Evaluation Q1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Throughout the thriller project, we have been looking at a range of different thriller openings such as Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction and Inception. I noticed that in the wide range of films, that a large number have a sense of darkness or very low lighting.

The Low lighting helps create the sense that a thriller should have, that being the deep suspense thought of anything could suddenly happen at any time and the mystery behind the story of what has happened. The suspense helps keep the audience involved with the rest of film by keeping them asking questions which cannot be answered straight away. 

We added a sense of darkness into our thriller by having low lighting on jake's face when he opens the box to find his father's possessions. The use of low lighting makes the audience wonder on how the character could possibly react and how it will have an effect on all the other characters in the same sequence. We also added a piece of music to this shot which has a dark atmosphere feel to it which helps create a sense of confusion and anger.

Greg's Evaluation: Q7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

In the preliminary task, the main problem we faced was white balance. We kept forgetting to reset the white balance when we relocated and reshoot. We also assumed that white balance only needed changing when going from inside to outside. This led to shots that changed in contrast like below:

To rectify this in the thriller task, we made sure that we set the white balance for each shot we did. In doing this, we ensured that all our shots, both indoors and outdoors, looked pristine.

Another thing which was improved from the preliminary task was our titling. In the preliminary task, we had no titles, because we didn't know how. In the thriller task, we discovered how to add titles, so we added them to the sequence.

We also had some issues with continuity in our preliminary. Play 'spot the difference' with the images below. These two shots were taken on different days.

With our thriller project, we had to film on two separate days. To make sure we kept continuity intact, we made a note on what we were wearing. The only continuity error that is very obvious is hair length. To make hair length isn't a problem, we should shoot on days very close to each other. The shots below were shot on different days.

 

Greg's Evaluation: Q6

Before we did the preliminary task, I had never used the editing software Final Cut Pro before. I had used an HD video camera before, but I barely scratched the surface of what it could do. This is what I learnt. 

The main thing I learnt to do with a video camera was how to set the white balance. I already knew the basics (starting and stopping recording, playback, etc). Before I learnt about white balance, my footage would come out with varying quality. Now I get better quality with my footage, which is useful for if I decide to do filming projects outside of college.

I had never used Final Cut Pro before I started the project. Through the course of the  project, I learnt how to transfer footage onto Final Cut, put it into a timeline, trim the footage, add sound effects and a soundtrack, add titles to the timeline and export the film into a media player (we used QuickTime).

Greg's Evaluation: Q5

Greg's Evaluation: Q4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our target audience for our thriller opening are male teenagers. I say this because both the characters are teenagers aged 17 and 18.

Greg's Evaluation: Q3

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

Media production companies, like Universal and Disney, are the companies that make the films. Media distributors are the companies that distribute the films, be it in a cinema, on DVD, or digitally. A big example of a media distributor is Netflix. Big media production companies do deals with these companies to get their films out to the public. These distributors only deal with big-budget products, so for our media product, we need a distributor that deals with low-budget products.

 After some research, I discovered that LoveFilm, Pathe, Momentum and Icon all distribute low budget British films. If we wanted to get our product out to the public, we would need to use one of these companies.

We could distribute it ourselves, via Youtube. We can make money on Youtube by letting people advertiise on the video.

Greg's Evaluation: Q2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?  

Our main characters, Jake and Kyle, are both in their late teens (17 years old). Stereotypically, teenager are portrayed as rebellious, rude and loud. We decided that instead of showing these stereotypes, we should challenge the stereotypes.

We made Kyle a guy who is kind and comforting. We show this when Kyle comes over and says 'Well, you said you wanted help moving'. This line tells that Jake didn't 'need' help moving, but instead 'wanted' help, meaning Kyle didn't have to help. But Kyle does, because he is a nice guy and cherishes his friendship with Jake.

Jake has been through a traumatic experience (witnessing his fathers murder), which, through our use of props (the clock) and sound (the audio of the murder), makes the audience feels sorry for him.

Greg's Evaluation: Q1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In preparation for the thriller opening project, I had a look at actual thriller openings, like Kill Bill and Se7en. I noticed that these openings did some things similarly. For example, they all used low key lighting and restricted narrative.

The low key lighting creates a feeling of suspense and mystery, which is part of what makes a thriller. The restricted narrative creates enigma and mystery also, which is also part of a thriller. It also keeps the audience guessing what will happen and asking questions, which keeps them watching.

For our thriller piece, we kept used these ideas, especially in the scene when Jake opens the box. We used low-key lighting on Jake's face, and we don't show the scene which he is remembering, only snippets of the audio. These two conventions together create enigma, which is what we were trying to achieve in this. This moment makes the audience ask questions, like 'who killed Jake's father?' and 'why did he/she kill him?'

Best Served Cold

(The Finished Sequence)

Risk Assessment

Filming and Editing Photos

Greg's Editing Decision

Greg's Titling Analysis: The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo

 The titling sequence starts in a dark room with an old man opening a mysterious package. in the package, is a picture of some kind of plant, and he discovers it was sent from Hong Kong. The picture clearly has some meaning to him, though we don't know what. We know this because he starts crying.

 The next shot is a picture of a woman, and we assume the package was related to this woman. We don't know who this woman is or her relation to the old man, but we do know it must be a close relationship, like family

 The title, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, appears over the picture. Because it is the title, we assume she is an important part to the plot, maybe even the main charater

We then cut to this shot as the title fades out. It is of a female with a hood on walking down a street. We think that maybe it is the same girl we saw in the picture. Whoever she is, she certainly doesn't want to be recognised

Greg's Titling analysis: Se7en

The title sequence of Se7en aims to set the dark and disturbing tone of the film. It achieves this in a few ways

 The text in the sequence jumps around the screen and also looks like it was handwritten. Sometimes the text gets inverted. This gives us a sense that the film is based around an unstable mind. It also fits with what is happening in the sequence, which shows him making a scrapbook of the crimes he's committed

 We also get some disturbing imagery. For example, there is a shot of this strange character using a razor so cut off this skin of his fingers. there is also a shot of someones hands, which have been broken and mutilated

 There is also this shot, which adds to the disturbing theme. It shows a man washing a cloth or something similar. Some colour is coming off the cloth, and we assume it is blood.

 The title is the same as the rest of the text, but in all caps. It also jumps around more than the rest of the text.

 The shot then fades into a shot of the character taking a book or something out of a box. This maybe him starting the scrapbook