Evaluation

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

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Firstly our media product represents the stereotypical male as he is the main character in our film where this shows him as powerful than the victim. Also the way he goes after his victim is slow he does not run showing that he is a confident killer and superior to woman as he does this with all his victims.Specifically in the begging of our opening sequence he sees her as an easy target and weak. Hence he is powerful because he walks confidently knowing he will get and kill her. Also our female character is presented through the male gaze in the second half of our film which this is typical of movies where she is dressed up in a mini dress with high heels. The female character is shown to be venerable, weak and the victim therefore representing the dominant ideology of woman.  

However if I was was to re create this product I would go against the representation of woman and shown her to be powerful rather than weak. The age of both the characters plays a significant role in showing particular social groups of teenagers. This is because both the characters are the same age and if the film was to go on we would have filmed them according to the representations if teenagers such as clubbers, drinkers, irresponsibility, promiscuity and disrespectful. We have not challenged some representations of social which I believe if we recreated this I should challenge the representations. A way in which we have confirmed is through using a white male as the protagonist/antagonist and a white female as the victim.

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

Distribution of films is where directors and producers negotiate with with institutions to promote, sell or spread their media media production. An institution can also fund the project if they wish too. We can distribute our film online through http://www.britfilms.com/. We could enter short film submission scheme where our film must last maximum 45 Min's. We can apply throughout the year where from there our film would be shown on festivals if our application is successful. Also on britfilms you can enter short film competitions which could help us in many ways where we will be funded. If our films successful we will be recognised by professionals, which will gain us access in the future to distribute our films. The British council will decided to enter our film into film festivals if they believe our film is skilled. Other ways we can distribute our film is through BBC, Film 4 and the the UK Film Council. They may help to distribute our film if they believe it will sell. For example Film 4 develops and co-fiances films they are interested in, They have produced many films such as The Lovely Bones. The UK Film council would be a fantastic way of being funded and distributing our product as they help in various ways. The UK film council would be fantastic way of being funded and distributing our product as they help in various ways. They fund film production, short films, film export and distribution and many more. All these companies can distribute our film if they believe that our film will sell and is attractive to them. In my opinion they may find our film attractive because it has a unique plot and contains may forms and conventions of thrillers.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

How did you attract/address your audience?

 

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? /  Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
(both of these questions have been answered in the video below)

Finished opening sequence

After weeks of planning and researching how to create an opening sequence, what forms and conventions to use, brainstorming a story and characters, production planning, creating a storyboard and so on we have finally finished our opening sequence. During filming we had a continuity problem of lightning. This is because after filming in the park it got dark and we were certain that this was going to create continuity problems but we didn't have time to re film. As a result during editing we changed the colour of the bright scenes to low key lightning as you can see the lighting is dark therefore. This made me realise that Adobe premiere pro was really useful because if the software didn't allow us to do, this we would not have had a significant outcome. But because of Adobe our lightning problem was resolved. YouTube was extremely useful in finding music and the sound I liked the most out of all the sound tracks i had searched worked really well with our footage, and as you can see we have used that sound track in the opening sequence. During this experience I believe planning and research has helped us significally when creating our opening sequence. If I was to re do this project I would make sure my Planning and research is consitly up to date. I personally an really glad with my final outcome after weeks of editing, researching and planning.

Planning music

I have searched some music that is available on YouTube. These sounds are ideal to use as sound is a convention when providing the genre of a film. As our film is a thriller we must find a sound tracks that can create tension, suspense, enigma, excitement and thrill all in one sound track. I think these songs follow the sound conventions in films:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opJqsHP22qk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9Lij4JOh2Y&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwNAwkulMF0  I like this the most and think this would be really effective.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0sbZ_YIelw  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3dwSK5ybbk&feature

        Sound is important to make our audience happy. This is because people go to the cinema to watch a thriller in order to feel enigma, suspense, excitement, thrill and tension. Thus music plays a key element in doing this.



Planning - locations,props and costumes

Locations:

We have thought about possible locations to film and looked at the pros and cons about using these locations. The locations we thought about using are:

·         College

·         Clissold park

·         Finsbury park

·         Springfield park

·         Susana’s house

College:

Using college as a location would work because it’s easy to access whenever we need to. Also some locations in college such as the one below would work were our character Adriana could be running away from the male killer. Although college is easy to access whenever we need and there is no travelling problem it also has a disadvantage of our shots not looking realistic.

Also if we were to use the college garden our footage wouldn't follow the codes and conventions of a thriller as there is not enough trees and space to film.

As we realised the college wasn't a good location we decided to use a park instead, and after viewing all three parks we decided we would film in Springfield park. We decided this because it is closer to college giving us lots of time to film since we wouldn't have a travelling problem. Also out of all the parks Springfield looked really great in terms of filming because it fitted the conventions of a thriller. I think this location is going to work really well.

We also needed somewhere to film Adrianna coming home from work on her birthday. In this scene Mike will be giving her birthday present as a surprise. In order to shot this scene we needed a house and we are planning to use Susana's house. We decided to use a house because it would look realistic.

Costumes:

For Adrianna we plan to use a casual costume when she is running away from Mike because she has lost everything in her life including her job and, because of everything that she has been through. As a result she is always dressing casually . In the scene where she is coming from work I'm planning to film her dressed formally to show how normal her life is. Moreover filming her dressed formally and casually makes the film more effective because it becomes a thriller in a city therefore following the forms and conventions of thrillers.

Mikes character will be wearing casual because we need him to not look like the suspect so looking like the whole of society.

Props:

One of the props we plan to use in our opening sequence is a present bag and casual bag. We need a present bag so our audience can understand that its Adrianna's birthday. Also we need the casual bag so that Adrianna can look like she is coming from work fitting into the formal look.

We will need a necklace in order to make a link to the next scene and we plan to show Adrianna on her birthday getting this necklace from mike after the running scene.

We also need keys as a prop so our scene will look realistic when Adrianna walks into her house.

 

Finally we plan to use a box when Adrianna receives her present. We plan to do this so the present can look expensive so the audience can understand the importance of their relationship.

Camera angles, equipment and Adobe premiere pro research

Camera angles:

Long shot are used to show the whole shot, person or object. When we are filming and need to show the entire shot then we can use a long shot to show the viewer everything  going on.

Extreme long shot is where the entire landscape is shown in the shot. This is done because it can focus on the environment or landscape a central character is borne from or finds themselves in. An example of this is showing a character in London from an extreme long shot to show they are lost or isolated from the rest of society as they don't feel like they belong. Using an extreme long shot is great to emphasise on the the background or environment the character is in.

Medium shot the main shot that is used in films. Medium shots are used to show the whole subject of a scene from facial expressions to environment. Medium shots are good to use when shooting a conversation between charters. Additionally medium shots are from waist up.

Close up shot shows the subject of the scene or the action in detail where it dominates the entire scene in order to establish its purpose. Close up shots are good to engage its viewers with the characters emotions. In other words close ups emphasise on the subject rather than the background.

Extreme close up shots are used to show precise detail in a film or scene. An example would be filming the characters eye when crying so the viewers focus becomes the characters emotions. Moreover in a horror film using an extreme close up on the characters eye where they have just seen something would be extremely effective because it makes the scene more dramatic.

In conclusion because I have the knowledge of camera angles when producing our film I will be able to understand where to film from in order to captivate the audience.

Equipment:

The Equipment that is available for us to use is a HD camera. As it i a HD camera its focus on the scene will be good quality meaning we will have good quality videos. Also we are able to carry it with to our proposed locations which means its will be easier for us to film.

We also have a tripod available to use with the camera. The tripod will be really useful because the camera will be still since it will not be hand held. Also if we want a panning shot it will be possible. When we need to move the camera with the action in the scene the tripod will be holding the camera while we film. Meaning the outcome will be good, again as it is not following the action hand held.  

Adobe premiere pro:

We have been told we will be using Adobe premiere pro to edit our footage so far I do not know precisely how to use this software but this will not stop me from producing an excellent opening sequence. I have typed in what is Adobe premiere pro to find out more about the software. The result I got was: Adobe Premiere Pro is a real-time, timeline based proprietary video editing software application. It is part of the Adobe Creative Suite, a suite of graphic design, video editing, and web development applications developed by Adobe Systems. As I have already used the software for my preliminary task I feel more confident in using the software. By playing around with the software I'm sure I will become better with the software creating an excellent outcome.

In conclusion I believe the programme we will be using to edit our film  (Adobe premiere pro) will be incredibly useful. In Adobe premiere pro we can add transactions to our footage as well as cut footage we do not need. We can also add music we please as this software allows us to delete the sound attached to footage and add music we want. Thus because we used this software for our preliminary task I have some knowledge on the software.

Shot List

Date	Time	Location	Footage
March 16th 2011	4.30	Springfield Park	Adrianna running away from Mike. Mike knows that Adrianna is aware he is Spleen so he decides to kill her.
March 25th 2011	3.30	Susana’s house	Adrianna coming home from work on her birthday where he surprises her and gives her a present.

Production Planning

AS MEDIA STUDIES Production Planning Opening Sequence

Title of Film	N/A	Length of trailer (maximum one minute)	Maximum two minutes
Genre	Thriller	Imagery already associated with your chosen film genre	Se7en Gothika
Marketing purpose of  the trailer	Television Cinema	Target Audience	15
Opening sequence will be anchored by?	Voice over / narration Graphics/ text screens	What production details/ marketing information are to be included?	C.A.S.E Productions
Proposed locations	Clissold park Finsbury Park A house College	What time of day is appropriate for shooting?	Daytime or in the afternoon.
Who will appear in the trailer?	Susana Gonzalez Einars Jugans	Where can you contact these people?	By phone, email, facebook and in college.
Do you require particular costumes / dress codes?	Casual and formal for the female character. Casual for the male.	Do you need particular props/  If so, what?	Bag Necklace Keys Box
Which of the following techniques might be relevant? (tick as appropriate)	Establishing shots Tracking shots Panning shots	Freeze shots Fast motion Slow motion Odd camera effects	Edited to a musical beat Editing transitions  Sound effects