Evaluation

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

Researching:

When doing my research I found that I had different problems. For example I found it difficult to culminate my research due to the fact that I was working on different computer inside and outside of school therefore I would sit done to culminate my research and find that I didn't have half of it. Internet speed was also an issue but what was far worse was the fact that some sites such as You Tube were blocked when I was at School, this made it difficult to assess, different sites that I had found information on at home and meant my time was wasted as I tried to assess them. Some of the programmes we have these days are just amazing, for example I'd never used excel properly before, but I found it so useful when it came to putting in my research and creating my Graphs.   

Planning:

The planning was probably the easiest aspect to organises and do when it came to technology. It was really simple making our storyboards because we knew how to use PowerPoint Presentations. We took all of the pictures on my family video camera which all though quite expensive wasn't the best piece of equipment, but we kept all the images on one memory card so we could transfer them from computer to computer. All of this made making our story boards a lot easier. Also having my phone allowed me to organise our filming shot a lot better, because we were able to text each other to find out when we were all free it meant we could organise our time more efficiently.   

Evaluation:

Writing the evaluation was very easy however over all using the blog was a bit of a challenge, it was completely new to me and I found that I would have preferred to have used paper copies as I work better when things are actually in front of me, however I have realised that although it was difficult to get used to at first its really important that I can include images, videos and audio clips in my evaluation so it is obvious to the examiner exactly what I mean.

Construction:

• Cameras:

My Camera as I have already mentioned was not very sophisticated, although expensive for a home video camera it was not of a high enough standard to ensure a completely clear image however sometimes that did add to the effect of the camera shots e.g.

Here you can see how it gives the image a CCTV look, that really adds to the idea that she's being watched. If the use of his camera has taught me anything its that imperfections aren't always a bad thing.

• Computer software:

I was completely new to the software we used, the software was called Final Cut Pro, It was extremely useful and allowed use to edit our product to a good quality.

One of the ways we used this product was to edit the colour of some of our shots, this is explained in the planning and processing section of my blog with pictures.

We also manipulated some of the shots used in our transitions, we took the shoots of the candles and zoomed in on them and rotated them, shortening their speed so they flick from one to the other in quick succession. This is again shown and explained in more detail on the process and planning page of my blog. 

 

• The connectivity of all the digital technology

 When we were working on this project it was hard not to notice how technology worked together, for example my phone was the main devise we used for communicating. We had to text each other and our actors, Email each other videos and pictures to each other. I was also able to watch You Tube clips and do research on my mobile all of which made the project run far smother.
My Camera was also a perfect example of technological convergence, although it was primarily a video camera it could also take picture and play them back.


 

 How did you attract/ address your audience?

What Codes and conventions did you use to attract them to your product?

I realised from my previous research that it was important to our target audience that they could empathises with the main character, this meant that they had to be similar in age and sex, therefore we decided that our main character should be a teenage girl. However I also realised that we needed it to be spooky enough to attract them but not too scary that they wanted to turn it of, therefore we edited the spooky shots so they were Black and White, because they looked old fashioned they warned the audience that something scary was going to happen which meant it wasn't a surprise or too scary. The editing of these shots was also artistic and interesting making them attractive to women.

If we were trying to advertise this film we would get girly magazines to review it and do interviews with the cast, this would ensure that teenage girls knew about it. Social media will also be really important when it comes to advertising, I'd like to do video reviews and interviews that could be displayed on Facebook and Twitter.  

We made sure that the storyline included a teenage girl who was uncomfortable with her individuality, this is something all teenage girls have experienced and would understand, therefore they would be attracted to it. Also there is the feminist side of it where the woman is more powerful that the man and is able to get one over on him.

The music we used was classical, therefore it was quite artistic and due to the fact that it was piano music quite feminine, therefore it would of been attractive to women.

The font was also effective as it was hand written flowing and feminine.

 

 

 

   

Who would be the target audience for your media product?

It’s obviously really important that we know who we want our Horror film to appeal to therefore our final conclusion is based on the outcomes of our previous research, how our film has been completed and the themes that it involves e.g. humour, Female independence, bulling. Culminating all these factures I believe that our target audience has to be aimed at teenage girls. Here is an example of the kind of teenager I would expect to be interested in my movie (it is very similar to the Stereotypes I constructed from my Target audience research but there are some changes).   

  Amy:

Amy’s 17

She likes playing Football and computer games with her brothers.

She lives with her mum and likes to go out with friends and family.

She’s a bit of a Goth and feminist at the moment.

She likes to watch Horror movies because quote: ‘their plots are…. gripping’.

She loves listening to music.

She likes to watch them with her friends as well because quote: ‘they get scared’.

She likes the old horror movies more than new ones because they are scarier and only funny when there are meant to be.

 

As you can see Teenage girls have an interest in horror, social exclusion and Female independence. I think these are the main themes and ideas that the plot of our movie challenges, we watch Iris through her Social Isolation, see the strength of her Female independence which she achieves through horror and then finally understand her even though she is so different from the audience, they empathises with her due to the fact that she is experiencing similar issue to them.

Of course I’m not saying that only teenage girls will watch this movie. There are many men who might be interested I it due to its horror comedy. Also you will probably find the Teenage girls will watch it with their families and boyfriend therefore through our target audience we will be able to extend our reach to other entities.    

 

 

How does your media product represent particular social Groups?

Our media product represents Teenage Girls, and Criminal Men, as these are the main Social Groups actually within our product.

Teenage girls are represented by our main character Iris, She’s very different from the average teen so I guess she is more of a representation of the teenage odd ball. Placing Iris was very difficult due to the fact that she is a zombie trying to appear normal, there for she is a teenager but she dresses differently and acts differently from her peers meaning she isn’t a very good representation of Teenager girls but perhaps more the social outsiders who wish to be part of that group. The fact that Iris’s make up and appearance changes shows her change from human to Zombie. Therefore when she is a Zombie she is a representation of the evil Horror monster and when she is human she represents the victim. This is an interesting concept that probably likes to people with anger management issues and mental health problem and how we have to try and understand them not only when they are managing their issues but also when they can’t manage or contain their problem. In contrast to this Iris in her Zombie form could also represent the classic 1940’s Femme Fatale, with is French for Fatal Woman, they are women who use their looks and vulnerability to ensnare male victims and lead them to destruction. This goes hand in hand with the Film Noir genera we are trying to replicate. 

Our Stalker represents Criminal men, he is at first the villain and a very realistic one then he becomes the victim but not one that the audience feels sorry for due to the fact that he was going to assault Iris. 

How did you represent them with Mise-en-scene? :

·         Language

o   We didn’t actually use Language in our film because we wanted the audience to focus on the visual representations of our characters and this is the way all humans immediately judge each other without even knowing it.

·         Colours:

o   Iris:  We dresses Iris in Black in each of our scenes, we did this because we wanted to show that she was dangerous and powerful, like a horror monster but also to show that see wasn’t up to date with current fashion because she was excluded from her social group, we wanted to make Iris really different from her peers so it was obvious to the audience that there was something wrong with her even if they weren’t sure what it was.

o   The Stalker: We dresses the Stalker in black head to toe to show that he was dangerous and secretive. This also inadvertently showed that he represented the darker members of our communities who hid in the shadows and follow people in the dark. 

·         Camera angles:

o   Iris: We used a variety of shots that focused on and victimised Iris in the first scene-



This mid shot shows how she is being followed and watched, she is also alone in this shot so it makes her seem venerable. 

 

This close up closer to her is meant to represent the twisted view point of the stalker getting closer to her, this victimises Iris.

This is a High angle shot showing Iris descending the steps, we used this hot because we though it made Iris look small and helpless, representing the common view that teenage girls are delicate and helpless.

 

This mid Shot shows the dangerous and furious nature of Iris as she attacks the Stalker this is a represents the typical horror Zombie.

 

We used a lot of close ups on Iris when it came to the Bedroom scene we did this because we wanted to focus the audience on the makeup she was putting on and how it was being used to cover up he Zombie imperfection.

 

We also used a Dutch angle shot at the end to convey how messed up she was and to show the lack of control she had over herself and her body representing the issues experienced by the mentally ill.

 

o   The Stalker: We used over the shoulder and close up shots to represent the danger the danger and aggression of the Stalker.

 

This over the shoulder shot shows how he is following Iris and the fact that the audience can only see his feet and not his face represents that he is a stranger and not trustworthy.

This close up on his hand represents he’s violent intensions and how dangerous he is.

 

·         Editing:

o   Iris: We edited the whole of the Stalker scene because we wanted to give it a Film noir atmosphere, which would make Iris a representative of the typical horror damsels in distress.

o   The Stalker: Editing the colour of the clips had the same effect on the stalker it represented the old-fashioned, film noir villain 

·         Costume:

o   Iris: By having Iris in Black we represented her and no wholly innocent but as a bit different and dangerous, by having her in a skirt we were able to show her femininity and how she was vulnerable.

o   The Stalker: He was dressed in Black because we wanted it to be obvious to the audience that he was a bad guy and not trust worthy.  

Were there any social groups represented in absence? :

·         Ethnic groups: Because we live in a small market town we don’t really know anyone Ethnic that we could have involved in this production also because we wanted to set it in a small English town we didn’t think it would be very realistic to include a multitude of ethnic groups. Therefore it is fair to say that in the absence of these groups we represented them as unlikely to live in a small British market town.

·         Disabled people: We also didn’t include any one disabled. By not including them we are representing them as being unable to be involved in a horror event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Kind of Media Institution might distribute your film? 

I think because our film would be our budget, and quiet unique it would appeal more to an independent film company rather than a conglomerate. The Story line is however similar to that of Warm bodies and of course that was distributed by the conglomerate ‘Lionsgate Entertainment’ so there is an argument that there could be a chance that a bigger Conglomerate might want to produce it. However I don’t feel they would see potential in it being a blockbuster due to the small size of the target audience and the simplistic style we have filmed it in.
 

How would you get Funding?

There are many ways I could get funding, I could get a loan, get the movie sponsored but the best way that I can think of getting funding is by going to the BFI who use lottery funding to help promote, distribute and screen Great British films, they could help me advertise my film and get it into international film festivals.

 Where and how would it be distributed?

I would probably distribute it at film festivals, within and outside of Britain or in small, independent cinemas. I would also use YouTube or Vimeo to advertise the trailer and maybe the BFI website where you can rent movies for up to £10 to actually screen it, I also advertise it over Facebook and Twitter, with links to Vimeo and YouTube so the audience can see the trailer. If I could afford it I would also get posters made so the cinemas and film festivals could advertise it better and what would be really great is to get a few hundred DVDs made so I could sell them at film festivals and also on Amazon. 

        

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

·        Ident:

From our research in to Film openings we realised that it was important to have an Ident that represented our Production Company. We realized from looking at Summit Entertainments Ident (used at the beginning of Warm bodies) that it was important to merge the Ident with the genre, as you can see Summit entertainment changed the background and colour of their Ident so it had a more grungy dark effect, hinting to the content of the movie. Although we used a typical horror image of a hand being seen through a pain of glass we used a white background which I feel was less effective in communicating the Horror Genre. However from watching other Indents (not from a Horror Genre) we realized that it was important to have a simplistic logo that moved and a clear white background to focus the attention of the audience.   

·        Sound/ Music:

Like our Product the intro to warm bodies has not included Sound effects of Footsteps or the overall movement of the main character. Like use they have also included music over the top of the video. However their music is more upbeat and therefore along with R’s narration this gives the opening a more comic feel. However we have used music and sound effects to add to the horror element of the opening, the piano music ‘Eyes Closed’ composed by Ludovico Einaudi is very sinister and builds the tension of the beginning.

I think that our overall use of sound and music is really effective in creating a dark and mysterious atmosphere  

·        Camera angles

We have used Extreme Close ups very much like Warm bodies, to achieve enigma coding and to introduce the main Character. Helping the audience know who the movie is about and building the tension. We used mid and long shots taken from behind to show how she was being followed this is different to the way they were used in warm bodies which was to show the world he lived in and what was in front of him. This was also a way of them showing his surroundings instead of using establishing shots. We decided to use establishing shots because we felt that they added to the dark genre and showed that although this was a normal town something darker was going on within it. Unlike warm bodies we avoided using too many Close ups on Iris’s face as we wanted to maintain the enigma coding we had developed, this was a good decision because it stopped us giving away too much information. Unlike warm bodies we didn’t use many long shots because we wanted in some sections to show how Iris was being followed and in others to ensure the audience felt close to and intermit with her as this would add to the empathy and comedy that would come apparent latter on in the movie.  

  

• Titles

Unlike the titles in warm bodies we interspersed our titles with in our opening, using a Black slug as a background and the ‘light noise’ light noise transition effect. We continued to use this template throughout the opening of our film because we felt this showed consistency and fitted the genre perfectly. I think that using the titles also improved the flow of our opening, Warm bodies used a lot of panning shots to transition in to the next scene whereas we didn’t have the equipment to do this effectively so by us using our Titles to transition it made the opening more professional but also easier for the audience to understand as it was broken up.     

·        Fronts

The font we decided to use was called Edwardian Script because we felt it was old fashioned and famine conveying to the audience that the film is about a girl and linking in with the film noir like feel. In comparison Warm bodies’ font is far more masculine and grungy, relating more to the Zombie, decaying aspect of the film.

• Costume

For our two character we wanted dark cloths, so both wore black. Millie who played Iris wore a Black skirt and smart black coat, the skirt made her seem far more vulnerable and famine which helped use make the audience think she was the victim. We gave her Zombie make up. This included Blue eye shadow under the eyes and an enhanced vain on the side of her neck which we achieved by using eyeliner pencil and blue and Black face paint. I believe this was enough to show the audience that she wasn’t normal. With Ru, who played the stalker we wanted him dressed in Black with Black trousers and a Black Jacket. This gave the impression that he was dangerous. In the end we decided that our opening should be darker than the opening of warm bodies as we believed that it was important to introduce the character and her circumstance before adding the comedy, that’s why (unlike Warm bodies) we veered away from normal everyday cloths, although they could of made it easier for the audience to empathise with Iris, we felt it was more important that we showed how different she was and the challenges she faced because of that difference.

·        Enigma coding

We were inspired by the first shot in the Warm Bodies opening, the use of R’s eye was very effective in drawing in the audience and formulating enigma coding. We like this idea so much that we decided to use it throughout our opening on different aspects of Iris’s face flashing between the normal illusion and their true Zombie nature. This makes the Audience wonder what’s wrong with her and who she actually is.

What we learnt from our Preliminary task:

•       The most important thing we learnt was how difficult it is to film some one in a reflection or with a mirror behind them. For example we wanted to show our ‘Apprentice’ leaving the lift facing directly in to the camera however when we began to look through the footage we found that me and Emma were in the shoot looking at the camera. We didn’t keep this in our film because it looked unprofessional but it did help us when it came to doing our actual task as we took special care not to be in the shot.
•       We also learnt how important it was to use the tripod correctly. You want to make sure especially when doing close ups that the camera is still and leave to make sure it looks professional. You also need to be careful with the tripod and ensure that it’s not in any shoots. We borrowed a far better Tripod for our main task because we realized how important it was that all our shoots were clear, still and strait.
•       When we came to putting sound on our film we actually found it quite easy to sink but spent ages making sure it was right. Finding a sound that actually fitted Azeema’s footsteps on the other hand was harder, on the system they only had Footsteps:

o   Gravel

o   Marble

o   Mud

o   Wooden floor boards

         Therefore we had to use the ‘wooden floor boards’ one because it was the closed and we didn't                  have enough time to do our own recording, so we’ve put sound recording in to our plan so we don’t              get in to the same position and to make our film opening more natural.

·         We realised the importance of using the mis en scene to convey the personality and position of the character, in our preliminary task we didn’t really plan how our location was going to look therefore it was not very effective and made the piece look unprofessional over all. We learnt from this and put a lot more thought in to the location of our Main task and how we wished to decorate it.

·         Didn’t properly plan our filming location, actors or equipment when it came to the filming of our preliminary task. This was because we didn’t quiet realize how hard it would be to do it unplanned. We did have scene shots and a story board so it wasn’t too bad but we would have liked it to run smother for the sack of our actors.