Friday, 17 April 2015
Friday, 10 April 2015
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the main task?
I put together a quick video using animoto showing a few photos that represent a few of the stages of filming the final project.
media
At the beginning of the year, I had never done any editing, filming or been part of a media production before. So when making the preliminary task I feel I took a backseat because I didn't have the confidence in the subject to take the lead or give knowledgeable information to improve our short film. However I did learn how to use the camcorders and the tripods when doing our preliminary task, which set me in good stead for filming the majority of our final project.
Were there any mistakes in our preliminary?
When watching our preliminary task back, I noticed we had a few issues with continuity. We filmed our character moving throughout the same location, however when watching it back you notice that the movement and location does not flow. So when making the final film I was constantly thinking about making sure every aspect was continuous, including clothing, hair, make up and location.
Another issue I noticed was the quality of the footage. We used a standard camcorder to get the clips for our preliminary task. I noticed the footage was not the best quality, it was slightly fuzzy. So I had already decided that when making our final film we should use a DSLR because of the amazing quality it produces.
My understanding of editing techniques really has improved as a result of recognising my previous mistakes. I found it really interesting learning how to use different effects to make my film look more professional. As a first attempt at editing I am really proud of what I've managed to do with our film in terms of bringing it all together and using different effects to make it more interested. I have invested a lot of time into this project in order to make it the best I can and I feel like at this stage I put everything I knew in to the project.
In terms of planning, storyboarding, creative decision making and camera work I have become a lot stronger in the way I will plan projects in the future. I have learnt a lot this year from my preliminary task and my final project. Originally this year we were going to work in a group of four, were all friends and thought it would be fun to work together because we all had so many amazing ideas. However when moving forward with our project is became apparent that us all having something to do was not going to happen. We all took note of each others ideas but actually incorporating them all into the film was a lot harder than I previously expected. We later decided we were going to split the group, in order to involve everyone's creative ideas. It also gave everyone the opportunity to take a roll in the creative side of production, no one was left with nothing to do at this point.
I have also realised story boarding is very important. When I do my next project I will be sure to plan all my shots and ideas out on a story board first, as I struggled to remember all the shots I needed which then caused difficulties in continuity.
I am really proud of our final movie and I'm proud of myself for all the time and the things I've learnt whilst making this short film.
media
At the beginning of the year, I had never done any editing, filming or been part of a media production before. So when making the preliminary task I feel I took a backseat because I didn't have the confidence in the subject to take the lead or give knowledgeable information to improve our short film. However I did learn how to use the camcorders and the tripods when doing our preliminary task, which set me in good stead for filming the majority of our final project.
Were there any mistakes in our preliminary?
When watching our preliminary task back, I noticed we had a few issues with continuity. We filmed our character moving throughout the same location, however when watching it back you notice that the movement and location does not flow. So when making the final film I was constantly thinking about making sure every aspect was continuous, including clothing, hair, make up and location.
Another issue I noticed was the quality of the footage. We used a standard camcorder to get the clips for our preliminary task. I noticed the footage was not the best quality, it was slightly fuzzy. So I had already decided that when making our final film we should use a DSLR because of the amazing quality it produces.
My understanding of editing techniques really has improved as a result of recognising my previous mistakes. I found it really interesting learning how to use different effects to make my film look more professional. As a first attempt at editing I am really proud of what I've managed to do with our film in terms of bringing it all together and using different effects to make it more interested. I have invested a lot of time into this project in order to make it the best I can and I feel like at this stage I put everything I knew in to the project.
In terms of planning, storyboarding, creative decision making and camera work I have become a lot stronger in the way I will plan projects in the future. I have learnt a lot this year from my preliminary task and my final project. Originally this year we were going to work in a group of four, were all friends and thought it would be fun to work together because we all had so many amazing ideas. However when moving forward with our project is became apparent that us all having something to do was not going to happen. We all took note of each others ideas but actually incorporating them all into the film was a lot harder than I previously expected. We later decided we were going to split the group, in order to involve everyone's creative ideas. It also gave everyone the opportunity to take a roll in the creative side of production, no one was left with nothing to do at this point.
I have also realised story boarding is very important. When I do my next project I will be sure to plan all my shots and ideas out on a story board first, as I struggled to remember all the shots I needed which then caused difficulties in continuity.
I am really proud of our final movie and I'm proud of myself for all the time and the things I've learnt whilst making this short film.
Tuesday, 7 April 2015
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of onstructing this product?
Here is a wordle of some of the main technological effects, strategies and equipment I found useful when making our film:
Here I overlapped two clips and altered the opacity on the face:
It then faded out back to the shot of the moon:
Through the time we have spent producing and creating this thriller, I feel my media skills have developed immensely. Before this I had only used a DSLR camera, now I have learnt how to use a boom pole, a voice recorder, a tripod and how to edit footage together to make a film I'm now very proud of.
Generally when producing the film I just tested a lot of the effects we could use, however I took inspiration from a few videos in order to help shape our ideas and make them happen. I was very interested in the editing techniques they used in the production of the bone collector. Here is a link to the trailer of the film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4z4Xsp-bos
I also used a few YouTube tutorials to teach me how to use the basics of premier pro. I also watched a few videos which taught us how to use lighting to change the atmosphere of a scene. They helped develop are ideas about thrillers.
Before this I had never done any editing before. When making the preliminary film I stuck mainly to filming side of the production. However when completing the main task I spent a lot of time sat in our media room constantly making adjustment's to our product and testing different effects.
Firstly, in terms of software, I felt premiere pro was the best and easiest technology for me to use when editing our footage and sequencing our film. It had so many different styled visual effects and audio effects, making it easier for me to decide which suited our style of film better. It was easy to access all the effects and to edit the footage together. As a first time user I was expecting it to take me a lot longer to pick up than it did, which helped speed up the process.
Here is the graphic match I edited for the opening of our film (using premiere pro)
Secondly, in terms of hardware we decided it would be best to use a DSLR camera. We wanted to use the DSLR because of the exceptional resolution it provides. It is easy enough to transport and use, for when we needed to carry the equipment to different locations.
Lastly, our film has been put on YouTube. I think YouTube is the best possible place to put our film, as the website is very popular already. Also it comes up with suggestions down the side when viewers are watching similar videos. This will help market our film as well as being a reliable format and delivers high resolution.
5. How did you address your audience?
In order to find out what kind of things would attract our audience we completed a short survey to understand what people are looking for in a thriller film in 2015.
Firstly I asked where twenty people would rather see a film first? The options were:
-cineworld
-a small independent cinema
-DVD
-Television
I think this is a really important factor to look into before producing a film, as there are a lot of elements that need to be considered fully before deciding on all the themes and content. Due to the fact that some television channels like the BBC, Film4 and channel four are very particular sometimes in what they show on their channel, we would have to take into consideration factors that could cause us to loose the deal.
If a film is too explicit in the following ways:
sexually, drug usage, severe bad language or explicit scenes of violence, a TV channel will not show it before a certain time. 9pm is the watershed which is the time in which it is deemed appropriate to show explicit content that is not suitable for a lot of viewers. So if the content of our film was too be extremely explicit it would only get shown at the late hours of the night on television or maybe if it had very controversial topics in it that could upset or offend the television channels audience it might not get shown at all.
These were the results:
Here are chart shows 40% of people would rather watch the film on television channels. This helps us clarify what kind of audience are target should be. we can guess the majority of people who sit at home and watch the tv will be either young couples, families or retired people. It gives us a wide audience to target which is positive because it will make us a lot more money and will give us a better chance at being distributed by large companies. However it will also mean we need to keep the content slightly milder with no explicit scenes in them in order to reach our target audience.
Secondly I wanted to know what kind of character modern audiences wanted to see on the big screen. Times are changing and peoples preferences and demands are altering. In the 60's and 70's people were content with watching a dramatic scene where the female becomes endangered by something or someone and the big man swoops in and saves the day. With all the uprising that has taken place over this past year about very relevant issues such as feminism I wanted to know whether the generation were moving towards having a female hero/villain. So I asked twenty people, I did not ask an even number of each I just asked the first members of public I came across.
The question: Which gender would you rather see as the lead role in our new thriller possession?
The response:
Firstly I asked where twenty people would rather see a film first? The options were:
-cineworld
-a small independent cinema
-DVD
-Television
I think this is a really important factor to look into before producing a film, as there are a lot of elements that need to be considered fully before deciding on all the themes and content. Due to the fact that some television channels like the BBC, Film4 and channel four are very particular sometimes in what they show on their channel, we would have to take into consideration factors that could cause us to loose the deal.
If a film is too explicit in the following ways:
sexually, drug usage, severe bad language or explicit scenes of violence, a TV channel will not show it before a certain time. 9pm is the watershed which is the time in which it is deemed appropriate to show explicit content that is not suitable for a lot of viewers. So if the content of our film was too be extremely explicit it would only get shown at the late hours of the night on television or maybe if it had very controversial topics in it that could upset or offend the television channels audience it might not get shown at all.
These were the results:
Here are chart shows 40% of people would rather watch the film on television channels. This helps us clarify what kind of audience are target should be. we can guess the majority of people who sit at home and watch the tv will be either young couples, families or retired people. It gives us a wide audience to target which is positive because it will make us a lot more money and will give us a better chance at being distributed by large companies. However it will also mean we need to keep the content slightly milder with no explicit scenes in them in order to reach our target audience.
Secondly I wanted to know what kind of character modern audiences wanted to see on the big screen. Times are changing and peoples preferences and demands are altering. In the 60's and 70's people were content with watching a dramatic scene where the female becomes endangered by something or someone and the big man swoops in and saves the day. With all the uprising that has taken place over this past year about very relevant issues such as feminism I wanted to know whether the generation were moving towards having a female hero/villain. So I asked twenty people, I did not ask an even number of each I just asked the first members of public I came across.
The question: Which gender would you rather see as the lead role in our new thriller possession?
The response:
Male?
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Female?
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Female
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Monday, 6 April 2015
Sunday, 5 April 2015
Friday, 3 April 2015
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups: females perspective
"Hi, My name is Georgina. I subvert the generic stereotypes of young women. I defy the view of women being vulnerable and weak. In some audiences eyes i could be seen as crazy. However in some cases the underlying message of empowerment will become clear. In this case we wanted audiences to become oppositional towards the character. This way the audience will question and engage with our film."
From the very beginning of producing this thriller opening I felt very strongly about raising relevant and up to date issues through our characters. When working as part of a group sometimes everyone's ideas don't fit well together and it can be very difficult to convey your point of view or to raise awareness of a subject matter in a couple of minutes. Obviously with it being a thriller opening as well we had to compromise and try and make our characters fit in to the genre or sub genres, even if this meant using extreme exaggeration of a characters beliefs or characteristics to get the message across to audiences. I feel that feminist perspectives need to be brought to attention via the media. I think audiences everywhere respond better to A) celebrities they look up to, B) Films that make them question their ideals and C) Characters which they can relate to. In my case I wanted the lead roll to be a empowered woman who wasn't going to let the male in her life dictate her decisions, however to keep it fitting with the genre of film we had to create some scary aspects to her character and dramatize all her decisions and upon reflection her character might not present the ideals we have easily and clearly to audiences. This is where the reception theory becomes very relevant to our thriller. We left a lot of mystery for audiences within our first couple of minutes, we did this in order to create extreme responses or questions. I wanted audiences to go away thinking about our film and in turn questioning themselves and their ideals.
At the beginning of the year I read about a feminist perspective theory called "The Male Gaze" by Laura Mulvey. In this article she outlined the various ways in which the male gaze works in media texts. Here are the nine general ideas:
1. The representation of woman as a sexual fantasy and from a heterosexual male point of view.
2. Scopophilia- the pleasure involved in looking at other peoples bodies.
3. Objectification of female characters.
4. Patriarchal society.
5. Active male and passive female.
6. Men - controlling subjects.
7. Women as an image.
8. Men do the looking and women are there to be looked at.
9. Needs of the male ego.
In our film I wanted to use this theory as a way of contrasting and subverting the typical roles of women in the media. This is why we reversed some of the typical roles around. For example we made the male in our film passive and the female active. We don't present our female character as a sexual fantasy or objectify her, instead we give her the power and make the male the victim.
From the very beginning of producing this thriller opening I felt very strongly about raising relevant and up to date issues through our characters. When working as part of a group sometimes everyone's ideas don't fit well together and it can be very difficult to convey your point of view or to raise awareness of a subject matter in a couple of minutes. Obviously with it being a thriller opening as well we had to compromise and try and make our characters fit in to the genre or sub genres, even if this meant using extreme exaggeration of a characters beliefs or characteristics to get the message across to audiences. I feel that feminist perspectives need to be brought to attention via the media. I think audiences everywhere respond better to A) celebrities they look up to, B) Films that make them question their ideals and C) Characters which they can relate to. In my case I wanted the lead roll to be a empowered woman who wasn't going to let the male in her life dictate her decisions, however to keep it fitting with the genre of film we had to create some scary aspects to her character and dramatize all her decisions and upon reflection her character might not present the ideals we have easily and clearly to audiences. This is where the reception theory becomes very relevant to our thriller. We left a lot of mystery for audiences within our first couple of minutes, we did this in order to create extreme responses or questions. I wanted audiences to go away thinking about our film and in turn questioning themselves and their ideals.
At the beginning of the year I read about a feminist perspective theory called "The Male Gaze" by Laura Mulvey. In this article she outlined the various ways in which the male gaze works in media texts. Here are the nine general ideas:
1. The representation of woman as a sexual fantasy and from a heterosexual male point of view.
2. Scopophilia- the pleasure involved in looking at other peoples bodies.
3. Objectification of female characters.
4. Patriarchal society.
5. Active male and passive female.
6. Men - controlling subjects.
7. Women as an image.
8. Men do the looking and women are there to be looked at.
9. Needs of the male ego.
In our film I wanted to use this theory as a way of contrasting and subverting the typical roles of women in the media. This is why we reversed some of the typical roles around. For example we made the male in our film passive and the female active. We don't present our female character as a sexual fantasy or objectify her, instead we give her the power and make the male the victim.
Wednesday, 1 April 2015
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?Males perpective
Our male character was a twenty year old male. We represented Joe as a loving partner but did we subvert or conform stereotypes? In some ways this character conforms stereotypes of males, in the sense that they are quite relaxed about life in comparison to girlfriends who are quite often portrayed as crazy. However we also subvert the stereotypes of young males. The only footage the audience get to see of our male character is him being loving and affectionate towards our female character. In many ways this is challenging the stereotypes of males. As of late a lot of media is promoting the power men have over women, they present men as the dominant sex and with many characteristics and qualities that are deemed "typical" behaviour for men. How will our audience react to our choice of male representation? I think the general public will feel quite sympathetic and concerned for him. He is quite a likeable character, so I don't think it will create a lot of questioning from the audience. They wont have to react much and its more a case of the audience just accepting the representation.
We used different clothing and colours for our characters costumes to present the differences between their characteristics.
We decided to dress Joe in light blue and white, these colours have connotations of purity and light. The relaxed colours, clothing and happy attitude make him seem like a friendly character, making him seem non threatening towards the audience. As a result of that it will show more of a contrast between our two characters.
We decided to dress Gina in a dark green slightly cropped top with black skinny jeans. The shortness of the top makes her still look typically feminine but the dark colours create connotations of uncertainty and creates a certain amount of depth to the character. Tuesday, 31 March 2015
Monday, 26 January 2015
Friday, 16 January 2015
Tuesday, 13 January 2015
Warner Bros!!!
History of the Warner Brothers studio
The fully integrated, broad-based company stands at the forefront of every aspect of the entertainment industry from feature film, television and home entertainment production and worldwide distribution to DVD and Blu-ray, digital distribution, animation, comic books, product and brand licensing and broadcasting.
Today, the vast Warner Bros. library, one of the most prestigious and valuable in the world, consists of more than 61,000 hours of programming, including nearly 6,500 feature films and 3,000 television programs comprised of tens of thousands of individual episodes.
The harry potter tour!
Here are some photographs I took when looking around the Harry potter warner brothers studio tour! It gave me loads of ideas in terms of subtle make up and costume changes that could improve our thriller film.
case study of Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director and producer. Often nicknamed "The Master of Suspense", he pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres.
Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades. Often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker, he came first in a 2007 poll of film critics in Britain's Daily Telegraph, which said: "Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands, Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from us) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else."
Main article: Alfred Hitchcock filmography
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Camera equipment
Here are some photos amber and I took to show what filming equipment we will need in order to complete our film to highest quality.
We will be using a DSLR to get clear shots, a boom mic to capture clear dialogue, an sd card to store the footage and a tripod to keep the filming steady.
Monday, 12 January 2015
Our storyboard
This is our storyboard for our thriller "the black widow". We will use our storyboard to plan our camera shots and mise en scene.
Tuesday, 6 January 2015
Risk assessment form
This is our risk assessment form. Here we have noted down anything that could be a hazard to us, our actors or the general members of the public. We will then add to our hazards when we first start filming in case we come across anymore risks and precautions need to be put in to place
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