Evaluation - Question 3 - Amy Homewood

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

In order to get our film out to our target audience, we could do two things in order to distribute our media product. 

We could firstly approach a film distribution company who would get our film onto exhibition screens, The type of companies of companies myself and Imogen would particularly like is:

Focus Features

Icon

Pathe

E one entertainment one

These companies all distribute on a low budget for British films, and could help us get our movie advertised to attract our target audience of teenagers as well as adults. 

However they are small independent companies that don't have the resources of a distributor promoting a blockbuster movie. So in order to promote our film they would have to do small things to stay within a budget such as:

google

merchandise

Film festivals

The distributor would have to secure exhibition of our film, this could be done traditionally in a cinema, with home viewing, this would involve in prints of the film to be produced, and with the cost of production being quite high, it would be up to the distributor how many copies to be made. 

Although this traditional standard film release is being challenged in the age of digital distribution and is becoming very popular for independent film makers

As the marketing for distribution is quickly growing, companies such as Neflix or gaming consoles are becoming increasingly more popular in order to distribute products, if utilised this could be another option for the distribution company to get our film out to an audience.  

The most popular companies being used at this age of time is Netflix and Youtube. Both of them very easy to use and very easy for customers to find exactly what they are looking for as long as your film name is short and snappy. YouTube is the third most popular website in the world and is easily accessible to universal audiences. 

However the film would need initial publicity and promotion in order to get an audience to watch. this could be done through local screenings, DVD press and Social Media (such as Facebook and Twitter), which is the biggest tool in 'spreading the word' in today's evolving society. 

Netflix.com

Youtube.com

Overall we have two options to choose from to distribute our film out to our target audience. I personally think the second opinion is a lot better when looking into the amounts of the world on social media and the numbers of people using Youtube and Netflix nowadays, however you will have to create an audience beforehand which is the hard part of the strategy.

Evaluation- Question 6- Imogen Evans

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


I have learnt a lot about the technologies from the process of constructing this project. From knowing nothing about how to use a digital camera to record, how to fix a tripod up, how to edit on Final Cut Pro or use Garage Band I feel like I have come quite far from knowing nothing about it all. I now feel quite confident using Garage Band which I have come furthest in, especially in our Sound Project, click here to watch it.

          What have you learnt- cameras?

• I have learnt how to use a digital camera and learnt from mistakes which we faced in our Prelim where we did not set the white balance so we had to face the consequences of it being grainy and looking unprofessional. We fixed this when we filmed our final piece by checking if the white balance was set every new shot, this impacted our film positively as it all looked clear. Here is an example of the photo difference between the Prelim and the Final.

           FIRST- Prelim    SECOND- Final

• I have also learnt how to use framing well so that the actor fits into the shot without various aspects getting into the shot. An example of framing work we had to change is when we had to film Tom running out of the shot but with lighting covering him. In the camera footage you could clearly see the lighting which we couldn't get in our film so we had to edit out the lighting tool by cropping it out. This took time and patience but the end product looked good.

• I have also learnt how to zoom in with the digital camera, this has was hard at first because when we zoomed in it made the end product unfocused and blurry which was our main idea for the scene where Tom runs into the darkness but it did not work out so we just chose to run alongside him.

Tom running into the darkness

• I have also learned to light a scene correctly. In our prelim our lighting was shaky so our scene looked unprofessional and didn't look right because we did not use a tripod to light it which we improved on in our prelim where we used a tripod.

Due to not having a lighting tripod the lighting is dodgy and the camera shakes due to the tripod, this is an example of bad lighting and bad use of tripod.

Here is an example of good lighting

      What have you learnt about image editing?

• I have learnt a lot about image editing especially about the duration of shots. In our final piece we had to work out the best screen time for our titling, we chose to go for 3 seconds as it advertised the film title well and worked with the fading in and out sequences.

  

  
  

We planned our duration of shots for this.

• I have learnt how to vary the pace of shots due to the intensity and if the scene is tense. In one scene he is running towards the grave, by using fast paced shots this made the scene more intense and using continuity editing it kept up to the pace of the scene.

Here is fast paced shots

• I have learnt how to portray an illusion in image editing. In our film we had to edit the antagonist out of the scene as the protagonist turned around so it would look like he had never been there. This took a lot of time and proved difficult  because we had to set the white balance on the MAC and get the colouring the same, we had filmed it at different positions so it was hard to make it look smooth but it worked well.



This is the illusion

• I have learnt about different transitions when editing our film, we mainly used fades because it made our film more creepy and gave tension and taking inspiration from other thriller openings they used them such as 'The Lovely Bones' which we mainly took inspiration from. 

         Click here to see the lovely bones opening.

What have you learnt about sound editing?

• I have learnt how to use Garage Band quite well because by doing the Sound Project it helped me learn how to use the tools and sound effects on it. From not knowing how to use a Mac I feel like my knowledge on Garage Band has expanded. Click here to watch the Sound Project.

• I have also learnt how to record a dialogue separately and the advantages of using a voice over. We had to record a short voice over to fit some context into our film and by using a voice recorder it made the dialogue clearer and easier to edit into the film.

Evaluation - Question 2 - Amy Homewood

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

There are two specific social groups shown within our film, age and teengers

The two mains charaters we are introduced to during a longshot and close up. This show us this by the different technical codes of media filming (camera work, sound, mise en scene and editing).

Age

lseajh is portraying a teen or young adult if you'd prefer, by wearing casual clothing throughout that fits the 'effortless' look that teenagers have nowadays. Within the ending of the sequence, we presented the protagonist alongside 2 other male characters within a education enviroment. Here the protagonist is dressed in a navy coat. Whilst the other two boys are dressed in hoodies, again having connotations of a commodious attitude. 

the typical teenage look

We also wanted to portray the type of teenager that our protagonist would be. The main idea that we came up with was him smoking, this would show the effects of his mothers death to him and using smoking as a excapism. As in the UK, you cannot legally smoke till 16, we wanted to portray our protagonists age through this. 

screenshot taken from our final piece

Gender

Iseajh is portraying the antagonist as a male. This is genuinely typical for an thiller, this is because they're usually stereotyped. Males are often seen as the bread winners and the dominant gender within society, this is often portrayed through the conventions used in thriller films. Males are often used as both the antagonist and protagonist in films most of the time as it's thought that males are the strongest gender and therefore fitting to be both villains and heroes whilst females need to be protected and rescued. 

both male characters

Status

We thought the use of the older aged male character being the protagonist would insure that there is a status change between them. Which is ever so slight but no enough to pick up on as we did not show it well enough. You can only see the status between the protagonist and antagonist through a low angle shot, to where the antagonist is standing behind but above the protagonist which shows the relationship between the two characters. 

protagonist on the floor- antagonist standing

Improvements

I personally think that one of the factors we could improve upon within our sequence is the use of representations throughout in each social group. The way our particular thriller is done insures that there isn't much representation needed however we could have thought a lot more about it and how clearly we could get it across to the audience by using different actors and different types of shots. 

If I was to do this again then I would focus a lot more on the status difference than we portrayed throughout, I would place the antagonist as a much older man (affecting age as well as gender) therefore could place them within a higher statued circle.

Evaluation - Question 6 - Amy Homewood

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

I have learnt a lot more about technologies from the process of constructing this product. Although we learnt the very basics on how to use a digital camera and how to edit and cut clips together for the preliminary task, I feel that I was still very clueless on the way I could show my skills through a camera and editor. I hadn't had much experience in operating a camera before, except from GCSE media coursework, of which I had to take a photo and use Photoshop and then film a preliminary similar to the one we did at A Level, therefore after constructing my thriller sequence, I feel as if my confidence in the practical side of Media Studies has massively increased. 

Camera

• I have learnt that when using digital camera to film, in order for it to be successful you need to 'make a sandwich'. Which is where leave excess footage on the beginning and end of your recording in order to edit and trim them at the end. This gives you more footage to experiment with and doesn't leave any risk of not having enough footage or the footage starting at a 'jump'. A sandwich became really helpful in our final task as we had a lot of 'mess ups' between clips and to where the lighting wasn't exactly how we wanted it to be, especially as it was at night. Because of the sandwich technique, I was able to make our title opening as I used access footage that was left over.

 

• I have also learnt to use the white balance, which is something that I personally am most proud of learning. In the preliminary task, we had a lot of trouble within the pre-production stage as a lot of our footage came out yellow (our fault completely) to where we didn't white balance very well. I think learning about white balance has made our footage almost exceptionable as the way we used lighting and white balanced went well together. Here is a photo difference to where we light balanced to where we didn't.

LEFT- FINAL // RIGHT-PRELIM

Due to some shots in our preliminary task resulting in the camera wobbling slightly even though we used a tripod. The way in which we used a tripod through-out the sequence looked a lot more professional, especially when filming a close up or long shot. A tripod enables the camera work to look stable and the quality wouldn't have been as good without it. Here are two gifs showing the difference of a walk- notice that the camera shakes in the prelim:



notice how shaky the camera gets // prelim

VS our final that is smooth and stable

•  Lighting is another huge impact that we had within our media sequence.  Lighting has a big influence on the look and mood that is created within a film. Natural light can vary from bright, clear and sunny. When we took on the task to dodo our prelim, this was the first time in which I was introduced to lighting, despite the fact it seems easy; lighting has a huge impact on creating effect. As we decided to film in the dark, lighting was inevitable and vital otherwise the camera would not pick up any of the characters or surroundings. In relation to the prelim, we used lighting a whole lot better to show facial expressions and movement.

Here is a few well lighted shots from our final that I personally like:

Screen grabs from final

click here to see editing blog post

Editing

•  In regards to editing, we expanded our knowledge and expertise by advancing from basic cut transitions to fades, and match on actions. This has a greater effect on the sequence as a whole and makes it look a lot more realistic when comparing our thriller opening to one realised in cinemas. Although I personally feel like I did have quite a lot of experience on Final Cut Pro already due to taking media for GCSE. I did expand my knowledge in changing key frames and colour correcting images.

• Also, I have learnt about titling from the process of constructing this product. The title 'Unanswered?' dissolves in and out therefore it has a very transparent effect when it first appears, which gradually becomes bolder and more visual. The font is spaced out, and in the same colour as the lighting on the actual frame. The aspect of the titling that I think I have done well on is the line underneath the actual wording. I have taken a screenshot of the shadow and lighting used on the protagonist and placed it underneath the titling by stretching it. I think this has such a good effect on the title and makes it look like we have thought about it a lot more than we had.

the fade in of our title sequence

Sound

• In terms of sound, I learnt a lot about making foleys through the use of garage band, one of our tasks before we started our final was to create a sound scape fitting the scene that we picked out of 10 files. Myself and Imogen chose to pick a James Bond film. To where the film clips that have had Sound removed and we had to create your own sound scape for a minute. No dialogue is allowed also. This definiently taught me to line up different types of SFX with movement that you wouldn't particuarly put together, click here to see our soundscape. 

• Another sound technique that I used and learned to do was parallel sound, this is where the sound we hear should usually go hand in hand with the image on screen. For example; if we were to watch a horror film and we are about to witness a murder, you would accompany some dark, fast tempo music with the action. There is only a few small examples of parallel sound within our sequence, and it is placed at 0.49, where the antagonist magically disappears, a 'bomb' happens at the perfect time.

0.51-0.55 is where parallel sound occurs

Evaluation- Question 1- Amy Homewood

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In my thriller research, I looked at, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Usual Suspects, Lovely Bones and Pulp Fiction, which all follow the usual conventions of the thriller genre, using the technical codes, creating enigma, using unrestricted or restricted narration to attract the audience. 

For our thriller, we wanted to take a few aspects and base the foundation of our thriller on the opening to lovely bones, which creates mystery but is contrasted with normality making the audience almost confused to what is going on. Using familiar locations, you could say these are stereotypical locations to a typical thriller film. It creates danger and apprehension within situations. Typically being filmed at night causing the audience to feel scared and on edge. 

Lovely Bones uses restricted narration throughout the whole film leaving the audience knowing less or the same than the characters, which leaves the audience on edge. Within lovely bones, they use a voice over with the female child character speaking, which automatically makes the audience engage with that specific character like they are telling them a story. 

We used this specific example in our thriller, we used a voice over (a female, sounding like the mother figure that is dead) to give the audience more information about the characters past and the foundations of his childhood and life that he is living. We used a similar type of script also, very restricted and simple to avoid any details being given and ruining the film.

In my titling task, I again chose to analyse lovely bones again. Click here to read that blog post. Below is the short analysis I have done of the whole opening sequence:

Lovely Bones 

The name of the film suggests it is a thriller genre as the name used is very mysterious, therefore automatically engages a character with questions about the film, as well as juxtaposing the theme of death with bones. The name creates a sense of psychotic and creepy atmosphere due to that specific juxtaposition within the title. This suggests that it is used to un-nevre the audience. As well as this, again, typical for an thriller sequence, San Serif is used to be seen bold and easily read within the beginning of this film. Again, the font is placed in white as it slows purity as well as standing out on screen.

The size of the font on the screen is very large, placed within the middle of the scene. This suggests the importance of the title sequence and that the editors want the viewers to know what this film is having connotations of. However, the beginning of the opening does not fit the title so far therefore viewers are going to keep their attention and keep watching the film to see why the film is called Lovely Bones. 

The actor included within the titling and opening scene of the film is a female character - guessing a child of the male figure within the scene also. The identity is shown throughout the opening sequence that the audience will automatically get to know and recognise as the main character. This typical opening does not fit a typical Thriller opening as it starts out with a voice over followed my non-diegetic, major key music about how this girls life is progressing. 

Within the sequence, the relationship between the title and credit information and the background of the frame is linked as the font is put in whatever space is clear when the shot is taking up a long space of time. This particular thriller does not do the same as The girl with the dragon tattoo. It does not automatically introduce the names of characters. However, I do not think it does till much later within the opening sequence. This suggests that what is going on within the opening is far more important than names of actors. 

The sound used throughout the opening is non-digetic, placed within major key and are wrapped around a voice over of what seems to be a first person story of the girls life. The non-diegetic music only occurs in the middle of the titling sequence, only to when the 2 adults are shown within the sequence. Creating enigma to who they are and what is going on.

As for titling, from the analysis above, we took a few titling ideas to place within our final task,  In the screen grabs below you are able to see how similar both are however to avoid copyright, we tried to change ours so that it would include our names, as well as the college. We tried to make ours bold and fit within the middle of the screen so that the audience can easily see it.

Left- Lonely Bones | Right- Ours

As for lighting, our film we went against the typical conventions of the genre, as we didn't de-saturate the colouring in the film, which is commonly used to create a duller effect. We wanted to go against this convention, as we filmed at night, it helped to automatically create a lot of enigma anyway, but the way in which we lighted it was more saturated than unsaturated. Creating a sense of mystery and darkness within the whole opening.

We created enigma in our opening in a typical convention, we did reveal both main characters almost straight away, (commonly used in the thriller genre, e.g. the Usual Suspects) . We had all of our characters presented to the camera, as we wanted to show the audience who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist.