Shannon - Evaluation 7

http://prezi.com/x_6sjrbgqexw/untitled-prezi/

Evaluation 7 - Ellie

http://prezi.com/n1mbvl06ppxe/untitled-prezi/?kw=view-n1mbvl06ppxe&rc=ref-37244881

Shannon - Evaluation 6

Evaluation question 1 - Ellie

Our film straight away opens to be quite dark and dingy, a typical stereotype of thriller/horror films. It also sets up the film by letting the audience know what genre the film is going to be in the first 10-20 seconds. The mise on scene in this scene also add to this, with the main character having a bag over her head indicating she's been kidnapped, and various objects in the background such as a saw. If these conventions werent in the background, it would be harder to tell that is was more of a thriller film. The iconography is typical of this genre.

An example of inspiration we took this from would be the opening credits of Se7en:

As you can see they have similar, saturated colours to create the thriller type feel.

 

In our opening credits, for our title we used a straight white on black text which looked simple yet effective. This make the text stand out, without being too in your face. It also makes the titles have more of a sense of importance by being simplified and almost elegant. Again, we took inspiration from the film Se7en when choosing what to do with our titles, as they also did a simple white on black background.

 

In the beggining of our film we used non-diegetic sound that sets a mood for the film, making it more like a thriller. We then lowered the music so that you could only hear the diegetic music that made the film more like a thriller, so that you could hear exactly whats going off. Part of this is the main character talking to the other character, revelaing part of the plot so its important that the audience hears what is being said. Later on in the film we bring back the non-diegetic sound which increases the tension. It builds up the chase scene and makes it seem more intense.

 

In our film we use quite fast paced editing which made the film flow better and seem more like a thriller by jumping between scenes. A films I took inspiration from for this would be Inception in the kick scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmY6A6YW-qQ

 

As for camera angles, the main use of higher and lower angles created a sense of authority and power over Daisy. Because the kidnapper is looking down at her and she is lower, it makes it seem as though she's less in control.

Prelim

http://youtu.be/DT2p7K3pk5c

Evalution question 6 - Ellie

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

Evaluation 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

Our target audience was 15 - 40's as we couldn't attract to a younger age as our film certificate would be a 15. When we sent out the first questionnaires a lot of 15 - 20 year olds said they liked the sound of our film and would watch it.

Once we had finished our film we sent out an audience feedback questionnaire to see if our particular audience enjoyed it and majority of them said 'yes'.

When deciding on what to include in our film we wanted to keep the Yorkshire accent but at a minimal so the audience could range from different areas instead of just the Yorkshire area.

We used a 17 year old female actor to attract both the opposite sexes as the males may find her attractive and the females will feel sorry for her when she is kidnapped and will for her too escape. It also appeals to the older generation as they may feel protective of her as most of them will have daughters or sons of a similar age.
 

The use of a female as a hopeless victim creates a sense of reality as the most realistic of a victim in real life would be a female as they 'normally' have less power and strength. Incorporating reality in our film is noticed by our audience feedback as one says that 'enjoyed the use of the younger girl as I felt this added to the reality of the plot.'
 

We also had some comments commenting on the kidnapper being female instead of a male which they said things like 'interrogater wasn't evil enough' and 'have a man interrogating the girl' which shows our audience want more of a realistic storyline especially with characters but I feel the use of a female could show the audience that the 'bad guy' in real life or film isn't always a big strong male as in real life a female could kidnap just as well as a male. This is agreed as one the feedbacks say 'I like that the women stalker was a women as it isn't expected and it shows not all women are the sweet innocent victim'.
 

Alot of the feedback commented on our editing and our chase seen but many said 'the fall' could be an improvement so if we were to do it again we would try to use a different shot of the fall to make it more believable.

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

Shannon - Evaluation 5

Shannon - Evaluation 2

 

Here the female lead character says ‘bye mum’. This is very stereotypical that a mother would be in the house either cooking or cleaning also as daisy doesn’t say ‘dad it suggests that the farther is at work or a modern 21^st century perception may be that the farther no longer lives with them.

 

Daisy is a very stereotypical teenage girl she is wearing what a typical college student would wear also she is putting earphones in which most people of her age often to do to shut out the world. The characters surroundings suggest that her family are better off adding to the social realism.

 

The props in the scene add to the realism of the movie for example the bag over the victims head adds to the mystery also the rusty tools in background add to the suspense as the audience will perceive that the girl is injured with them in some way, this is iconography. The lighting here adds to the feel of the film as it gives a ‘dingy’ feel.

Here the shot used is slightly high angled to show that the female interrogating the girl is more dominant, daisy’s face in this shot portrays how petrified and confused she is. The editing here is continuous to ensure this also a sound bridge was used to follow continuity throughout different shots. A spotlight effect is used on daisy to exaggerate how vulnerable and angelic she is suggesting she is good and makes the viewer wonder why she’s there even more. The interrogator is a woman which breaks all stereotypes as it’s normally a male who captures a vulnerable person. However the ‘last woman standing’ stereotype is true in our film.

 

Here we use fast pace editing to create the mood and tension also the sound here begins to come to a climax which indicates that the woman will get the girl.

 

Here this shows a convention of a thriller film… a wood

Here is a low angled shot of the interrogator to once again show dominance it also is shown from daisy’s point of view making the viewer feel like it is them who the interrogator is smothering

Evaluation question 2 - Ellie

 How does your media producs represent particular social groups?

In the scene, the character is shown coming out of her house. The house in the films is shown to be quite big, indicating that the character isn't poor or associated with anything like that. Young girls in these type of films are often shown to come from working class backgrounds, and are usually well off. This adds to the social realism of the film making it more believeable.

The character is shown to have long blonde hair, which is often associated with young girls in this day and age, and so represents that social group. Also in this scene, the character is shown putting her earphones in on a mobile phone, a popular item that is often assocsiated with this generation of teenagers. She's dressed like she would be in everyday life, not showing any signs that she isn't able to afford clothes etc.

In these scenes, the girl is shown to be vulnerable, a trait that is often shown in young girl characters in thriller films. It is usually a girl that is the vulnerable character, as opposed to a boy who would be portrayed a stronger character who would fight.

In this scene you can kind of tell that the person chasing the character is a woman. This goes against any gender social sterotypes that are placed on the 'stalker' character. Usually in thriller films, the character that stalks and kidnapps another character is a man, so this gender sterotype is broken. On the other hand, the female character isnt wearing clothing that would suggest she's a girl, which goes against some sterotypes on what women should and shouldnt wear. Because both characters are women, it kind of gives authority to women in the sense that they're the only gender present.

 

The lowered angle that looks down at the girl fits general stereotypes of thriller films that include young girls as the main character. This lowered angle makes the girl seem as though she has less control over whats happening and has less power. This is a common convention related to women, as they are often undermimed by a male character and seen as the 'lesser gender'.

Feedback results

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvisjE6SOdCCdGt2SDVyTmQ4MEhyQmk3MDhLVjFNaFE#gid=form

Feedback questionnaire

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Piabz2F0ler0kThDKecAFtaMBeFoZVO-a588XcSOU2I/viewform

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

http://prezi.com/tcvfg5ot2fik/untitled-prezi/?kw=view-tcvfg5ot2fik&rc=ref-37189369

Evalutaion question 3 - Ellie

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



Because our film is a low budget, a small independent film maker such as Warp would be suitable. This is because they are a small, local company located in Sheffield who deals with small style films. Examples of these films would be ‘Four Lions’, or ‘Donkey Punch’. These films are also low budget, using local surroundings and local actors to play the parts, and in turn making it cheap and affordable to produce. These films are risky to produce as there’s no knowing whether or not the films are going to do well. Four Lions was an exception to this as it actually did quite well in the box office.



Because our target audience is pretty small we’re not looking for a large distributor such as Warner Bros. Films created by these are usually Hollywood blockbusters, or widely known films. Examples of these would be ‘Argo’, and ‘The Artist’. These films hold a much larger audience. Many of these larger films will have been produced knowing that they will do well, as they’ve had earlier successful forms of media, such as books which have then later been turned into films. The same can’t be said for small films produced by Warp.

Still in progress.

Evaulation number 5 - Ellie

By using our feedback we can see what our audience liked/disliked about our film. As you can see, our audience liked quite a wide range of aspects in our film, none being mentioned moe than twice.

Shannon - Evaluation 4

Evaluation 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challange forms and conventions of real media products?

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
For the beginning of our 2 minute film we wanted to make it dark and grungy like many thriller/horror films to show the audience what type of film they were about to watch. The typography we use for the production and film name is white writing on a black background so the words stand out. We also use white writing for other title throughout the film.


We did the title sequence black as the colour fits in with the beginning of the scene as it is a dark grungy scene.




We also interperated our titles into our film, just like in the thriller film Insidious. They say who the film is done by and then the screen begins to turn with the words dissolving into a light in the screen.
 We put visual effects of the title sequence on objects in the background and dissolved the letters as Ellie ran past them.

We use non-digetic sound for the first seconds of the film when the titles appear. The type of music we use is eerie and creates suspense, the music begins to get quieter going silent to hear the dialogue of the actors. This is to create a sense of reality of the two girls talking to eachother. As the chase scene begins the original music plays loud to cut out the noise of traffic. As the chase comes to the climax the music gets faster and louder to make the audience feel like the chase is fast and coming to an end.

The beginning of the title sequence begins with a medium close-up of the girl in a basement which goes against the traditional way of an opening sequence as a wide shot or pan is used to show the audience where the film is set. We decided to go again the normal features of films to keep the information of where she is secret.
We chose to put the title of the film 'Forest of the Wanted' after the first scene and before the second as we felt it made more sense as she is about to enter a forest. The second scene flashes back to how she got into this situation so it is non-linear. We do this to keep the audience guessing why she is there and what happened to her and so that the plot unravels as it goes on.
The editing of thriller film is fast paced particularly on the chase seen as this is usual in thriller films for example a fast paced edit of a thriller film is taken 2. This pace of edit keeps the audience engaged wondering if they will catch her.

This is a good example of a fast paced edit.

We use iconography feautures of  a thriller film of the victim being a girl as a girl is typically seen as being weak. To back up her sense of weakness is when a low shot is used of the kidnapper looking down on her to show her superiority over Daisy.
However we do go against the 'norm' of thriller films as the kidnapper is a small female which is normally seen as a harmless girl as in typical thriller genres the 'bad guy' is a big, strong male. We use mise-en-scene to show she is suspicous as she puts her hood up when following Daisy.

 

Ellie - Evaluation Section 4

http://prezi.com/2ztq5ll1-pwk/evaluation-section-4/?kw=view-2ztq5ll1-pwk&rc=ref-37244881

Shannon Evaluation - 3

Here is my prezzi based upon what kind of media institution should distribute our film


http://prezi.com/2tanzdlcztgw/untitled-prezi/

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

This is my evaluation for question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

http://www.gliffy.com/go/publish/4479460/

 

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

http://prezi.com/1tn9m1rjv1am/evaluation-who-would-be-the-audience-for-your-media-product/?kw=view-1tn9m1rjv1am&rc=ref-37189369

Shannon Evaluation - 1

Our media product is the first two minutes of a thriller film, in our first shot we went against the ‘norm’ of a pan establishing shot which I found throughout my research is the typical opening scene however we wanted our opening scene to be different and used a medium close up, we used this as it plays on our genre as a thriller and immediately grabs your attention and makes you wonder why the girl is there which establishes the plot.

                 
  Here is a great example of an opening scene from my research which inspired us

We chose to set out the plot in a nonlinear format as we feel it creates more suspicion and allows for the plot to prevail throughout the film and keeps you guessing right to the very end. As we have used the most significant point in the film at the very beginning this will take you on a journey as to how she got there.

In the initial 5 seconds or so we have used non diagetic sound which is a sound track that is played throughout, there is then a moment of silence which creates atmosphere and tension, we then hear diagetic sound between the two characters. We have also used sound bridges to create continuity. We also edited the audio and the visual between the chase scene to jump between shots to give that rushed feeling.

In terms of typography we have used a simple clear text as in the negotiator however we have chosen to use the text over the moving images rather than still as it creates a sense of fluidity, we also used key frames when using the titles so that they dissolve when the characters walk past them which makes them look part of the opening sequence and not like they have just been put on top of an image.

We have used a pull focus shot on two occasions which gives a great effect as it shows who the woman is wanting and it gives a clue as to who is following the girl without revealing the full identity leaving a sense of mystery. Within the chase scene we have also used a canted angle shot which immediately implies something is wrong and something is going to happen.

The lighting we have used gives a ‘dingy’ feel which co-indices with our genre and shows the focus is on the girl, the lighting we used wasn’t a bright white light and had a blue feel showing the cold and sadness of the girl. 

Props

Within our two minute opening scene we didnt use too many props, but the props we did use are as follows;
- pillow case acting as 'the bag' over victims head
- cloth acting as a chloroform soacked cloth
- chair (for victim to sit on)
- dust sheets making the place more dingy
- handcuffs (to make it more realistic for the victim)

Music Ideas, Issues and final decision

For our 2 minute opening sequence we wanted daunting music which would gradually build into a fast pace chase music. We initially found it difficult to find the exact piece of music we was wanting as there was so many to choose from. We had a variety of sites to choose from one of those being freemusicarchive.org we eventually chose Tenebrous Brothers Carnival - Intermission from incompetech.com it took us a while to choose this track however we feel it fits with our piece as it gradually builds in to a fast pace piece which fits our chase scene perfectly.

Photo storyboard





Forest of the Wanted

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrQIZ8onFlw

Location Shot

 

 

here is our chosen location for the first scene within our 2 minute opening sequence, after use of dust sheets and re arranging items the shot i feel will work well as it gives that 'dingy' 'dark' feel which we are going for due to it being an interrogation scene. As we are considering using a bright singular spotlight on the victims face we need a dark room which when late in the evening we feel this will be the ideal place

Ellie's Makeup

This is ellies beaten up make up which will be used within the first scene. We used to create this look - dark red lipstick

- dark purple lipstick

- yellow eyeshadow primer

- deep purple eyeshadow

- yellow eyeshadow

- green eyeshadow

 

we used several videos for inspiration one of those are shown below;

 

 

Progress report

We have finished filming for out 2 minute film and we have edited all our shots together now we are beginning to put a title sequence in and putting effects on. We are also currently finding eerie music to use for our title sequence and for the film which will fit with the type of film we are trying to create.

Our blog is nearly finished we just need to add our props, costume, tricky shots, storyboard which have all been done but need to be added to the blog.

We initially planned to shoot the flashback seen for a couple of hours on wednesday 20th February, we planned to start at half 4 so that the lighting wasnt too sunny however we didnt realise it would take as long as it did and we ended up finishing at 7 but the lighting had got drastically darker so we had to start again the wednesday after which we managed to do in a shorter time has we knew exactly what shots we wanted and how to do them.

Original storyboard before filming took place