Looking back on to the Preliminary task my partner Sarah Gorman and I did, and the film opening we have done I feel we progressed greatly. I think the editing has improved a lot, it is a lot smoother now than in the Preliminary task and we have involved more editing skills in the shots, such as the 180 degree rule and the shot/reverse shot used in our film opening. I think there is far more technical ability with the editing, for example the jumping edit we used twice in the film which I think was quite successful. More improvement with the editing is the colour/lighting that we were able to change on iMovie, for example in our film the opening scene has an effect called ‘hard light’. Also we learnt how to add music to our film therefore it brought a whole new level of new editing skills that the Preliminary task did not hold. For our Preliminary task, there were set things that we had to do (involving a seated conversation between two people and a number of different camera shots), so we were quite limited as to what we could do. Whereas the film opening we produced was all our own ideas, I think with this in mind, it made our film far less staged and therefore had a sense of realism to it. I think the camerawork was more successful as we were able to use a wider range of shots that were not involved in the Preliminary task, such as the hand held camera to create the sense of somebody being chased - therefore adding to the tension. Overall I believe that the Preliminary task was a starting point for both me and my partner and we progressed a lot for the film opening we produced as we were more familiar with the technologies we were using.
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Evaluation Activity 6
The technologies that my partner and I used during the process of constructing this product were as follows;
iMovie – This was also used for our Preliminary Task, so I knew the basics to it, however when editing this product I learnt more things along the way, such as how to add music on to the film, and how to add effects to the shot (such as black and white colour or hard light)
Garageband – Garageband was new to me when we made this media product, although we had had a lesson learning how to use it, it takes practise to enable you to work it properly and to make the most out of it. My partner and I managed to do a successful job on the music, we had to time where the certain type of music and where it would fade out to go into another sort of music.
Apple Mac – As I used to have an apple mac at home I knew the basics of how to work them, therefore this was quite a smooth process in the making of our film opening.
Video Camera – This was another thing technology that I am familiar with using. We used a simple HD Video Camera, so to put it onto the Apple Mac we imported it from the camera as there is no tape.
Camera – This was used for taking the casting and location shots, very simple, I did not need to learn anything to use this.
Tripod – Used to keep the camera still, for all of the shots bar the hand held camera shots.
Blog spot – This is what our work is on, it was quite tricky to get the hang of at first but then became easy after I got the hang of it.
Most of the technologies that I used for the process of making this film, I already knew how to use however because I was using them so often my knowledge of how to use them has improved and I feel very confident in using all of the above now. As before this coursework I wasn't very confident in using some of them.
Most of the technologies that I used for the process of making this film, I already knew how to use however because I was using them so often my knowledge of how to use them has improved and I feel very confident in using all of the above now. As before this coursework I wasn't very confident in using some of them.
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Evaluation Activity 5
A typical Thriller film tends to involve things such as;
- Close up shots – e.g greatly used in the film SE7EN – to build suspense and mystery at the beginning
- Long shots - are used to show the audience the mise en scene or where the action is or will be taking place throughout the film
- Follower shot - (hand held camera)
- Tracking and Panning shots -commonly used in the beginning of the thriller film – e.g a group of people that we as an audience should be interested in or take note of
- Jump cuts – are common in thriller films usually used when multiple things are happening at once, the jump cuts allow audiences to make assumptions of what the story will be like. The cutting rate (long or shortness of the cut) builds a miniature climax of the introduction therefore fitting to the genre
- Dark settings/scenes – lighting is a key aspect of films, thriller in particular as it sets the atmosphere and the tone of the scene
- Not to be too graphic (Horror genre is far more graphic)
- Credits - done over a black screen
- Non diegetic music playing in the background – creating a sound bridge to create a certain atmosphere. Silence and sonic exaggeration are two techniques that can be used to build tension, which is a major convention for thriller films
OBSESSION, the film opening that Sarah and I produced fit to some these conventions, here are some screen grabs from my film which give evidence of this...
Because our film opening has the typical conventions of a thriller film, there is an immediate interest for a target audience that enjoy this genre. However to make our film a little different to other thriller films, Sarah and I challenged some of the typical conventions and invented our own. This involves things such as part of the filming done in school and having a younger age for the actors (generally in thriller films the age ranges from 18+) and our actors are clearly still in school. We hoped this would attract an audience because of its dissimilarity.
Evalution Actvity 4
Target Audience
Interests – thriller/crime/horror films (have to be able to concentrate on the plot, throughout the entire film, not just parts), adventure; such as outdoors/camping (for the excitement, adventure), general teenage-young adult hobbies such as sport, socialising (parties).
Music – Quite varied but mainly Dubstep (fast beat, loud music) and Heavy Metal – all suiting the music we used in the film.
TV Programmes – Things like The Bill – fast, crime genre programmes, not so much sitcoms, such as Friends as it is too light hearted and funny. More interested in dramas, crime and thriller programmes – fast action. These genres all fit with the genre of my film, (thriller/crime) therefore they would know the basics of what is happening in the film.
Shop – Male – teenage/young adult shops – such as Topshop, which is fashionable yet edgy and individual. Female – Wider range of shops but near enough the same, daring/edgy fashion, not on to fit in with the crowd, not girly (flowers, pink)
These are pictures of our ideal target audience both for female and male
Monday, 4 April 2011
Evaluation Activity 2
On the left - Sarah Gorman, from our film Obsession
On the right - Kim from the film Taken
Sarah Gorman is the protagonist of our media product, she is pretty, with natural hair and little makeup with a subtle costume. We chose to have her looking quite natural to make it seem as though she is an innocent school girl, making her the ‘innocent victim’. The fact that Sarah is pretty makes the storyline more realistic as stalkers or men in general tend to go for pretty girls. Sarah has a south west country accent which sounds middle class, which could divert from the stereotype of a British actress having a higher class accent. Sarah is similar to the protagonist from the film Taken, Kim. This is due to the fact that they both have dark hair, that looks natural and clean, they also both have little/no makeup on and each have quite simple, girly clothes on, all of these things lead to the conclusion that they are innocent young girls. Kim has a working class accent, as does Sarah, overall they are very similar. The difference the characters have are the age, Sarah is 16 and Kim is 18.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)