Final Film Opening

Here's what everythings been down too... enjoy

Signing Off Message

As our group have now finished creating our film, it has been viewed in the cinema by many and been evaluated on seven different questions. And so now we are done.

This is Nasharla from group 17 signing off. 

Evaluation: Question 7

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


The prelim animatic task was good practise for us before making our thriller opening, as we learnt a lot of important things. TWe first had to brainstorm ideas. We also learnt that it is essential to create a storyboard first before filming, so that we had planned out every shot it was that we needed to film: 

 

I filmed some of the scenes myself so I got good practise using the camera. We included a variety of shots in the prelim animatic: 

A two shot

A over the shoulder shot

Another over the shoulder shot

A medium close up 

The prelim animatic was a task we were assigned. After filming it we had to edit our footage, using Final Cut Pro. It was our first time editing using the programme and we managed to edit effectively.  

When comparing the process of making Prelim Animatic and our thriller there were differences: 

The first thing was that we had to create a title sequence, unlike in Prelim Animatic we did not make one. 

We also used more types of shots: 

 

An establishing shot. 

It was more close to a real filming experience as we had to prepare and get our own costume and props: 

We had to get a bat we used for the killing scene, the black dress, hat and boots. 

We also had to consider the location of our film. When filming the Prelim Animatic we simple used one of the rooms inside our college to film in. however when filming our thriller opening we had to film in a location which obviously makes sense with our storyline and film there, which was Culpepper park. We had to go and film in such a time when it was not to busy: 

The Prelim Animatic was a task which we were assigned, so we did not come up with the idea ourselves. However when making our thriller, we had to brainstorm ideas for our thriller, decide on a type of sub-genre, pick a location, make a production schedule so that we were prepared, so the process and time for making our thriller was longer than for the Prelim Animatic. The editing process was longer and we had to make a title sequence. We also had to bear in mind the 180 degree rule: 

EVALUATION 7 

ABOVE IS ME SPEAKING OVER OUR PRELIM AND FILM OPENING AND GIVING MY OPINIONS ON WHAT I BELIEVE WAS DONE WELL AND WHAT NEEDED TO BE IMPROVED FROM OUR PRELIM. I FOUND THAT I SHOW YOU WAS THE BEST WAY OF GETTING THIS ACROSS TO VIEWERS BECAUSE THEN THEY COULD SEE AND HEAR WHAT I AM SEEING AND UNDERSTAND CLEARLY WHAT THE PROCESS OF FILMING WAS LIKE FOR US AND THE WAY IT CHANGED. 

Evaluation: Question 6

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


I have learnt a lot about technologies through the process of making the thriller opening. The first is that I learned how to film; I used the camera to film, I learnt how to carefully handle the camera and how it works. 


I also learnt how to use Final Cut Pro, which we used to edit our opening: 

 

I also learnt how to use Soundtrack Pro, which we used to create the music for our thriller opening. 

Evaluation: Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience? 

 

For this part of the evaluation, we carried out interviews. In the first part of the interview, myself and another group member answered questions.  After that we interviewed two other people, who are of the age group we targeted with our supernatural thriller. I feel that our use of location, mise en scene and genre all were aspects which were very effective in our thriller opening. Particularly the title of our thriller; The Voice Behind. I feel that it is a very catchy title that should appeal to our target audience of teenagers and young adults who are fifteen and over. The title signifies how our thriller is of the supernatural genre. Overall I feel that we attracted our audience effectively in the correct way. 

Evaluation 5 interview

                                                    EVALUATION 6

ABOVE IS A 'PHOTOBUCKET' SHOWING THE DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGIES WE USED TO CREATE OUR OPENING. I HAVE TAKEN EACH PICTURE AND EXPLAINED HOW BELOW THE PHOTO BUCKET SLIDE. 

. THE FIRST PICTURE   SHOWN IN THE SLIDE IS OF THE SOUND TRACK PRO THIS IS WHERE WE CREATED THE MUSIC FOR OUR FILM. AT FIRST IT WAS DIFFICULT TO WORK WITH BUT THEN WE LEARNT THE TYPES OF SOUNDS WE WANTED AND THE PROCESS BECAME SIMPLE . 

^^^^^^^^^

THIS SHOT IS THE SHOT OF US USING FINAL CUT PRO THIS IS WHERE WE EDITED OUR ENTIRE FIML OPENING, WHERE WE ADDED THE SOUND AND WHERE WE ADDED SPECIAL EFFECTS AND CUT THE FILM TO MAKE IT AS PROFESSIONAL AS POSSIBLE. 

 THESE SHOTS HERE ARE SHOTS OF ANOTHER TECHNOLOGY WE LEARNT TO USE AND ALL THE DIFFERENT WAYS YOU HAD TO HANDLE THIS PIECE OF EQUIPMENT. WE HAD TO BE VERY CAREFUL AND MAKE SURE WE TOOK THE BEST OF CARE WITH OUR MOST DIFFICULT PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY. THE REASON THIS WAS THE MOST DIFFICULT NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR US TO USE WAS WE WERE STRESSED ABOUT THE CAMERA AND THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SHOTS WE NEEDED TO USE. ANOTHER REASON WE WERE SO STRESSED ABOUT THE CAMERA  

 

IN  COMPARISON TO THE OTHER TECHNOLOGIES WAS WE HAD TO BE SO CAREFUL AND ALSO BECAUSE WE WERE FILMING OUTSIDE  WHICH JUST ADDED TO OUR ISSUES AS THE WEATHER AND THE LIGHTING WERE NOT ON SIDE.

EVALUATION 4

GoAnimate.com: who would be the audience for your media product a by kerrrybrown

Above I have used go animate to go into detail about the types of audience and people that would be interested in my genre 'thriller' and sub genre 'supernatural' . I wanted to get across in an easier way to tell you my opinions on the films audience and the different affects I believe it will have on them . 

Evaluation 7

Evaluation 7: Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in progression from it to the final product.

As shown here I have answered this evaluation by using ‘go animate’ to produce a brief animation of the question in which was asked. I have also shown to explore the makings of a preliminary film and how we used the different techniques we learnt.

The preliminary task which we done a few months back aloud us to start the process of making our thriller opening, when doing this we had to go through stages in which were vital for making a good preliminary film. The skills in which we learnt from this preliminary task were then used to create our own title sequence.

Pre production; this is the thought process which happens before the film is made which mostly includes planning and storyboarding. As we know from research this is important to give us the bases of what we now about the things we are going to film.

The planning for our prelim was doe as a group, we made sure that we discussed all the views and ideas we had to create the best, we then jotted down the information and put our ideas together as a group. We came up with the idea of a mother telling her daughter that she is re marrying someone else which doesn’t go down to well. Once we decided the story board for our prelim we then did a storyboard to present it making our ideas clear when we were going to start filming.

Once we had created our prelim we then went on to make the prelim itself.  When filming the prelim we had to keep in mind all the aspects of mise en scene lightening and the camera position skills to make it as effective as possible. To do this we experimented and used different camera angles to create effect as listed

-Match cuts

-Close ups (medium close up)

-Over the shoulder shots

-Two shot 

The use of mise en scene and lightening in our prelim film was set in a kitchen featuring elements you would see in a kitchen. We decided to film the location of the scene in the kitchen to represent a normal day. The lightening featured normal lightening but our prelim film mostly focused on the props and characters, this was more visible to see the time of day in which we had filmed.

Once we had finished filming our prelim it was then time to start editing using the software final cut. The editing process was the most crucial part of the whole production. In the editing we selected the scenes which were useful deleting the scene that were not needed then adding effects to those we had filmed such as cross dissolves, filters, fade in / out.

The 180-degree rule was something we needed to stick with when filming each film; this was also something we needed to remember when making our opening. It was a basic guideline that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposite side, is known as a reverse angle. Passing the 180-degree rule would destroy the appearance of our film and therefore wouldn’t look as effective.

Using the prelim helped us when we created our film opening ‘The Voice Behind’.  We learnt various skills such as how to apply our own title sequence with effect such as over moving images. When doing our opening for our thriller we then did the same process production planning and storyboarding.

Pre production of ‘The Voice Behind’

We first started of with a story line, which was put forward by the group. We decided as a group to do a supernatural thriller, which was based on a disturbed girl who has been troubled by the ghost from the Tudor era Thomas Culpepper who provokes her to murder innocent people.

The name of the disturbed girl was named Ethel and the name of the ghost Thomas Culpepper, the location of our film was based in Culpepper park and we used this as a base of our story basing it in the place the Tudor we presumed had died in.

The production (using camera) in ‘The Voice Behind’

Once we had used and challenged all the camera shots in the preliminary film we then used some of the same shots in our opening, as we liked the effect in which it generated. We also made sure we remembered the 180-degree rule when doing this. Below are some shots shown. When doing this created different effects the high angle shot at some stages when used showed the importance of the two characters and the low angle shot show how dominant the character is compared to the innocent girl who dies.

Mise en scene and lightening used in ‘The Voice Behind’

In our film opening we filmed in the location of Culpepper Park and the window scene. Mise en scene included the characters clothing’s and props in which they had used. Ethel wears a long black dress with a black had covered with a long black top. Culpepper on the other hand wears a cloak, which covers the head that is featured with yellow mysterious eyes. Whilst the girl is wearing casual cloths to symbolise her living a normal UN troubled life. The clothing is shown to clearly set the different in the personality of the characters. The props that are used is a murder weapon which is a baseball bat and a mobile phone which is seen when the murder takes place.

The lightening of the opening was different and varied as we filed it at two different times to show the character going back to the park to find the girl she was told to by the ghost. Most of the footage was shown and filmed during the day with slight rain to give the connotations of a moody and grey touch to the setting.

Editing our film.

The editing stage was hard however interesting to do. Once we finished filming we then started editing the scenes we needed for our opening. The main keys we use was the ‘I’ and ‘O’ button which symbolised the in and out this enabled us to shorten the clips at the right moment cutting out excess bits we didn’t need. The transition from one scene to the next we fade in fade-outs as it was most common in supernatural thrillers. When using final cut we had also learnt how to layer clips onto one another to give the ghost a cold feeling and how dominate the character is as shown.

Adding titles:

When we did the prelim it had no sound or titles this is because we ran out of time. Once we put the scenes in order we then added titles to the clips in the order we wanted it to play in. we went back and viewed the normal sequence and looked at it to see if it matched it in any way. When we did this we were then able to add various amounts of effects.

Adding sound.

When creating the sound we had experimented a lot to see the types of software’s that were easy to use. We used garage band to get different sounds to generate a mood, which we put together to play throughout our opening. The sound was a success and people felt the tension build when the victim was getting killed.

Here is a brief animation i have made using go animate 

Part 1



Part 2 


Part 3

What I have learnt across both productions.

I have learnt a variety of skills from both the preliminary and the creating of our film opening. When doing these tasks I have learnt how to use the JVC camera and how to set up a tripod successfully. I have also learnt about the rules and conventions of how to use the camera from the prelim exercise and applied the knowledge learnt to adding titles and text to the sequence. Throughout these exercises I have also learnt the impotence of mise en scene, editing, lightening and editing in film openings and how effective they can be. I have also learnt how to add special effects when editing as well as adding sound to the sequence once finished. Doing the prelim before creating our film opening was very helpful as it was used as a practice round to test every thing we knew and experiment with the different shots so that when we created our own we would feel more confident and do it better.

Evaluation 4

Evaluation 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

The general target audiences for a thriller is manly based at the age range between 18, which will feature gruesome scenes, violence, murder, disturbing scenes that are usually very disturbing to watch.Our film opening is targeted at people both males and females aged between 15 as it will not display gruesome scenes.

More specifically our target audience will be for the 15+ year olds of both genders who are interested in super-natural beings and ghostly figures who can have an influence on an human life. It will be aimed at the person who wants to experience a bit of a fright but who doesn't want to be terrified in their seat. As our film will have historic references it will also be aimed people interested in the Tudor dynasty and the scandalous happenings and characters that followed from this era.

Below i have presented Evaluation 4, on a prezi showing a wide range of ICT skills.

Overall i think the target audience for our film opening was represented well as it used the conventions you would expect to see in most films aged between 15+

Evaluation 6

Evaluation 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?


Here i have used beeclip to present the technologies that i have used and why i used them and how helpful they were when doing the film opening.


The technologies included:
- Powerpoint ( to make presentations and present the work done)
- Slide Share
- Blogs (posting what we had learnt allowing us to refer back to what we done)
- Screen recordings (blogs)
- Prezi ( presenting work)
- Go animate ( quick animations to show us talking about work)
- Beeclip 


Overall the technologies that i have used are effective as it enabled me to express what i learnt in a variety of ways learning different softwares to do this.

EVALUATION 3

The presentation above is talking about the type of film industry that would invest in our film 'The Voice Behind'. I have given a detailed analysis on the type of film industry that would invest in our film. 

Evaluation 5

Evaluation 5: How did you attract/ address your audience 

Evaluation 5; script

Our film opening is called ‘the voice behind’ we already see that this title in many ways already implies that the film would be the same type of supernatural thriller. We named it the voice behind as it went with the story line well and was effective in various ways.

Our audience is ranged between 15+ years old of both genders that are interested in supernatural beings and ghostly figures that can influence human life.

The location of our film opening was based in the park called Culpeper park garden, which relates to our character the ghost Culpeper. The park was fairly empty to create a cold feeling. We also featured a window scene in the evening to create a dark mood.

The mise en scene clothing and props included a long black dress for the mysterious Ethel and a black cloak for the ghost Culpeper. Ethel holds a baseball bat to kill the innocent passer, which Culpeper is seen with bright yellow eyes to create a mysterious and shocking sense for the viewers.

The characters include Ethel a girl possessed by the ghost of a dead Tudor Thomas Culpeper who appears in the new era to seek revenge on people who trespass in his park, the characters are both dark and evil which the ghost then adds to the effect of the supernatural feeling. The storyline in effect works as it may attract the viewers who are interested in these aspects, which we have included in our opening for our thriller.

The sound is quite slow but passing with base to create the feeling of tension and suspense for the viewers as Ethel attacks. A screen gems that have produced films such as Roommate and other successful thrillers were used to distribute our film.

The rough cut feedback was a vital part of our final editing stage; it helped us appeal more to our target audience as it seemed to be clearly understandable and the filters are added on afterwards helped us to create the ghostly atmosphere that we wanted in our film. The filters were also an effective part used whilst editing as we made sure that the effect ran throughout all the clips making sure no confusion was created towards the viewers.

We have cinema screened our thriller opening to 45 other groups and have used Vimeo to reach our audience who would be familiar with this type of technology.

Evaluation 2

Evaluation 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Representation refers to the way groups are presented in the media and popular culture, often the images that affect our views of gender, age, class, race and ability. Representation is the term also used to describe aspects that have been created by the directors point of view which is usually based around a specific theme or topic focusing on the four main technical areas which include; mise en scene, editing, sound, lightening and camera 

A social group is defined where two or more people are joined together by some shared bond or similarity. There were two main social groups, which were used in the opening of our thriller, the first group which is represented is a disturbed mental girl who believes and hears the ghost and the second is the innocent passer who walks by which is then killed by the disturbed girl who has been tormented by the ghost named Culpepper.

The first social group to be represented in our thriller film is a disturbed mental girl that believes and hears the ghost. In the beginning of the film opening we see this being shown as the main character Ethel is on her own in an isolated park that looks around and seem confused about her whereabouts. The lightening in this small scene is bright showing parts of normality however by adding filters gave great effect to the main character allowing her to stand out and showing some of the characters feelings and emotions as well.  We see many aspects of mise en scene used to show this social group effectively. The mise en scene in this scene is simple but to an extent is seen to be extreme; the clothing of the character at this stage is normal as she is wearing a long black dress, to the extreme level we then see her wearing a hat but is based in a normal suburban area / park. Although the character is shown to be dressed to the extreme level, the location being based in a park adds to the extreme level as we see that people in society do not dress like this. There are quiet a lot of close ups and extreme long shots (establishing shots) to let the audience see how normal and conventional the character really is in some aspects. The colour of the costume Ethel was shown to wear was very dark; using dark colours gave the connotation of a shadowed isolated, troubled girl who is shown to be disturbed.

The character overall has been represented in a positive way and not to negative as we could relate this to media films such as Orphanage and the Woman In Black. Both these media films fetcher and imagined person. Orphanage is based on a woman who brings her family back to her childhood home, where she opens an orphanage for handicapped children. Later on her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend. The woman and black illustrates a young lawyer who travels to a remote village where he discovers a vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorising its locals. Both these films relate to our thriller opening ‘the voice behind’ as we see that aspects such as ghosts are used throughout to create suspense. We see these relate to media films in particular the woman in black and the orphanage. The characters that have been represented in these two films have similar aspects to the way they have been represented in the voice behind. The clothing of the characters in the voice behind is simple but gives the aspects that give away what a thriller is about. 

The second type of social group that is being represented is the ‘innocent passer who walks through the park’. Once being introduced to Ethel the character who is possessed by the dead Tudor Thomas Culpepper, who appears in the new era to seek revenge on those who trespass in his park, we then see the innocent girl walks through the park. Once we see the victim walking through the park the lightening is shown to have aspects of normal lightning to show her living a normal day however is blurred in Ethels eyes this could convey the confusion and mixed emotions Ethel is feeling. Once Ethel has been introduced, we then go on to see the innocent victim walking by in the park where the lightening is normal to see the victim living a normal day until Ethel comes across the character in which Culpepper told her to target.


Overall the representation of the social groups in our thriller opening were presented positively as we linked it with recent media films creating intertexualtiy of both the 'woman in black' and 'orphan' 

Below i have shown to use 'i movie' to represent all the softwares i had used when creating and researching conventions for film openings.

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Question 6:
What have you learnt about technologies from the process?

For this evaluation i have used beeclip/powerpoint to answer, it explores the type of technologies that i have used and what i have learnt from them.

Evaluation 3

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

As shown throughout the presentation of bee clip, I have stated the types of media institutions that you would expect to see in your media product. Overall we see that the distribution of media products are distributed world wide through the use of social network such as twitter, you tube, face book etc. We overall see that Screen Gems was successful and was a big company as it has a good representation of other thrillers that have also been a success such as Roommate, Step Farther and also Half Passed Dead. Below is a presentation that I have used to present evaluation 3 throughout.

Evaluation Question 7

Evaluation 7:
Looking back at the preliminary task , what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?


Here I have answered the question using prezi. It explores the makings of a preliminary film, how we used these techniques to take with our actual film and what skills I have learnt throughout this. 

Copy of Evaluation Question 7 on Prezi

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation question 5

How did you attract/ address your audience.

Here featured is an interview conducted out by members of our group. Interviewed are Maleha and Kerry from our group and two extra interviews from Nataile and Zee from other groups in our media class. 

Evaluation: Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product? 

Copy of Who would be the audience for your media product? on Prezi

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation 4:
What would be the audience for your product?


For this evaluation i have used the website go animate to produce a small animation to resent my answer to the question. 



GoAnimate.com: Evaluation question 3 by aa45576

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation 3:
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?


For this evaluation I have answered it using beeclip. In this I will explore the distributor for our film and explain wether it is a big major company our a small independent one.

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 2:
How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Representation in all media is very important to creating a moving picture that can go out to the right audience. Representation refers to the aspects of reality; this may include place, people, objects, events, cultural identities, regional identity, disability, class, ethnicity, gender and age.

For example an elderly person may be represented as fragile, kind and gentle, compared to a young teen who may be represented as ruthless, care-free and have a ‘whatever’ attitude.

Men may be represented as strong and active and the breadwinner whereas women may be represented as passive and as the weaker sex.

Representation means that these areas are composed, written and captured and branded by the media producers, some of these representations of the different groups may be partially true though some others may not be. As constructed by the producers the representation of a group may vary as it is someone’s view on that groups being, put into a series of signs and symbols to connect this view to its audience.  Although some views on representation may be artificial, with it in our media texts we are able to make and formulate our own perception of these groups for ourselves.

In our film opening The Voice Behind, we have used social groups including, a disturbed young girl (who hears and sees ghosts) and also a young innocent girl. In a real media piece the disturbed young girl would be represented as troubled and distressed and would be represented in a bad light, compared to the innocent young woman who would be represented in a good light as naive, youthful and guiltless.

Our film also featured some children in the beginning on swings playing. We represented then to be innocent carefree, worry free people who were naive to the troubles ahead.

In our piece we have likewise represented our characters in the same way. The disturbed character is seemed to have a dark way of life as shown through the music, actions and lighting reflected upon her and the other characters innocence is shown through the light reflected upon her ( mid natural daylight) and the actions she does. In representing the characters like this i think we have done it in a fairly positive light though looked in deeper it can be discussed what mental issues the troubled character has and if the young girl is really that innocent? It could be that Ethel (the killer) had had a troubled life before she started hearing ghosts and seeing them and that her victim had in fact had a previous lawless life for Ethel to be given further motive to kill. Overall i believe that our groups represented our social groups in a fairly good way and it is a way that other media products would represent them also.

EVALUATION 2

Below I have blown up the powerpoint to make it clearer. 

I think we have shown the different social groups of the innocent normal working class girl, the crazy and possessed girl and the ghost in a very positive light. Obviously the ghost and the crazy character are not very positive people but we have presented them exactly the way that society sees them. Personally I think our use of costume and of were we filmed the most important scenes for example the killing scene, we filmed it in a deserted park and the shot in the night by the window of the ghost coming back to tell ethel that the job is not done yet adds to the social groups and the feel of the characters be easily understood by the viewers . Scenes and the types of shots we used also help portray the different social groups of our characters and help the audience stay on top of the story and get everything that is actually going on in that specific scene. 

NEW STORY BOARD 

Our first story board was hard to make sense of and didn't really work well when recording some of the shots were too long and this confused our group very much so we had to create and new and more realistic storyboard.