Unit 3 - Digital Media Production
L01 Key features of a moving image production
Title: Produce a report to the client that emphasises your knowledge of key features of three types of moving image productions.
Non-Fiction: 6 Days
Production Type: Film - 1 Hour 34 Minutes
Platform: Streamed on Netflix, digital download.
Devices: Television, Games Console, Computer, Tablet & Smart Phone.
Target Audience: Middle Class, Male, aged 12+. 6 Days is a film made by Netflix which is a subscription, online movie, streaming company where the viewers have to pay monthly to stream the movies. This means that the movie is aimed to people who can afford to pay to watch this movie. It is aimed at middle aged men because they are more likely to be interested in this type of action genre as well as it being aimed at middle aged men for the action and historical side. Also due to it’s more serious side rather than just action over and over in the film, even though it is rated a 15 it shows that it needs to be for a mature audience.
Genre Codes & Conventions:The codes in six days are shown at the very start of the movie which shows the terrorists going into the Iranian Embassy holding guns. (indicating it being a action movie) in London and taking hostages as well as later on in the film when SAS A squadron awaited to be given orders to enter the embassy which 3 times was called off building tension into the film making it also a drama. This keeps the audience engaged in the film as well as keeping the standard codes and conventions of a action film.
Use of Stars: ‘Stars’ in 6 days include Mark Strong (Max Vernon), Jamie Bell (Rusty Firmin) and Tim Pigott - Smith (William Whitelaw) are all big names in acting this attracts fans of the actors as well as large critics. Netflix also show lots of advertising of the film on social media platforms like twitter and facebook. Also when netflix is opened most of the screen is taken up by a new trailer of the newest added film to attract viewers.
Representation: In 6 days men are the primary actors with most of the main characters being men. This is partly due to it being based on a true story with the one female main character, news reporter Kate Adie played by Abbie Cornish. However all people besides the terrorists are depicted as heros. There is no hidden meanings in it that I personally found but I think it shows how attacks can happen at anytime. The terrorists in 6 days are stereotypes of what terrorists are portrayed as. However one terrorist called Salim played by Ben Turner is a weak terrorist who doesn't really want to be there. I think this shows the power of the terrorists in the film by making their own men scared.
Style: The Film is based on the Siege of the Iranian Embassy in London on Princess gate in 1980. The siege was the most successful British raid ever done on British soil with only two hostages killed. One before the raid which caused the SAS to attack and one during the raid. In total all but one terrorist was killed. The films initall mood was gloomy and faded. This is to add a sad but intense theme throughout the film giving the audience a focused feel for the movie. This indicates how people felt when this all happened. The camera work is largely tracked and during the action scenes it switches to hand held to give a realistic feel to the film.
Themes and Subtext: The main Theme in this film is to have honor to be part of such a renowned nation and to be triumphant of where you come from. I think the subtext could be to expect bad things to come your way if you do bad.
Non-Fiction: 6 Days
Production Type: Film - 1 Hour 34 Minutes
Platform: Streamed on Netflix, digital download.
Devices: Television, Games Console, Computer, Tablet & Smart Phone.
Target Audience: Middle Class, Male, aged 12+. 6 Days is a film made by Netflix which is a subscription, online movie, streaming company where the viewers have to pay monthly to stream the movies. This means that the movie is aimed to people who can afford to pay to watch this movie. It is aimed at middle aged men because they are more likely to be interested in this type of action genre as well as it being aimed at middle aged men for the action and historical side. Also due to it’s more serious side rather than just action over and over in the film, even though it is rated a 15 it shows that it needs to be for a mature audience.
Genre Codes & Conventions:The codes in six days are shown at the very start of the movie which shows the terrorists going into the Iranian Embassy holding guns. (indicating it being a action movie) in London and taking hostages as well as later on in the film when SAS A squadron awaited to be given orders to enter the embassy which 3 times was called off building tension into the film making it also a drama. This keeps the audience engaged in the film as well as keeping the standard codes and conventions of a action film.
Use of Stars: ‘Stars’ in 6 days include Mark Strong (Max Vernon), Jamie Bell (Rusty Firmin) and Tim Pigott - Smith (William Whitelaw) are all big names in acting this attracts fans of the actors as well as large critics. Netflix also show lots of advertising of the film on social media platforms like twitter and facebook. Also when netflix is opened most of the screen is taken up by a new trailer of the newest added film to attract viewers.
Representation: In 6 days men are the primary actors with most of the main characters being men. This is partly due to it being based on a true story with the one female main character, news reporter Kate Adie played by Abbie Cornish. However all people besides the terrorists are depicted as heros. There is no hidden meanings in it that I personally found but I think it shows how attacks can happen at anytime. The terrorists in 6 days are stereotypes of what terrorists are portrayed as. However one terrorist called Salim played by Ben Turner is a weak terrorist who doesn't really want to be there. I think this shows the power of the terrorists in the film by making their own men scared.
Style: The Film is based on the Siege of the Iranian Embassy in London on Princess gate in 1980. The siege was the most successful British raid ever done on British soil with only two hostages killed. One before the raid which caused the SAS to attack and one during the raid. In total all but one terrorist was killed. The films initall mood was gloomy and faded. This is to add a sad but intense theme throughout the film giving the audience a focused feel for the movie. This indicates how people felt when this all happened. The camera work is largely tracked and during the action scenes it switches to hand held to give a realistic feel to the film.
Themes and Subtext: The main Theme in this film is to have honor to be part of such a renowned nation and to be triumphant of where you come from. I think the subtext could be to expect bad things to come your way if you do bad.
LO1 - KT FEATURES OF A DOCUMENTARY
Documentary: Wayne Rooney the man behind the goals.
Type of Documentary:Sport, Biography
Duration: 50 minutes
Platforms: Netflix, BBC iplayer
Devices: Smart TV, Smart phone, Ipad, iMac, Laptop, Tablets.
What is the certification?: Exempt
I think that the age range is all ages from 6+ because of it being a sporting and biographic documentary.
Primary & secondary audience: The primary audience is both Male and Female football fans of all ages due to the growing supporters of female football fans. Also the second person focused on in the documentary is Rooney’s wife Coleen. This also attracts other audiences because of her being a fashion celebrity so people will want to see what she wears or what her house looks like so they can gather some inspiration these being the secondary audience.
What type of documentary do you think it is?: The Rooney documentary is a biography about Rooney and his football career on and off the pitch as well as his path to success and goal scoring record.
What is the purpose of the documentary?: The purpose of the documentary is to boost the nation's feelings for Wayne because of him being shy people just saw him as a lad who scores goals and left his childhood team for someone with lots of money. It is for Rooney to get his point out and for people to see his side of the story and to show the public what he has achieved to go to such a big club. It is shown when we see his childhood and his actual accomplishments.
How was Rooney Observed in the documentary?: Rooney takes us around his roots in Croxteth and shows us where he grew up but the camera is positioned in the passenger seat of his car static. Rooney speaks to the camera as if he is speaking to the audience. It shows that he is actually a nice guy he’s not that shy. It is used to make the audience feel closer to Rooney. We also see what Rooney does on a normal day in his house with his kids. It is trying to make the viewer see the true side of Rooney when he is not playing or training. The camera is ‘off the cuff’ and not scripted which is all hand held camera work giving us the feeling we are there.
Reconstruction: There is no reconstruction in this documentary as it is not needed. Rooney had grown up in the age of cameras where there is footage of him from 7 years of age scoring goals until now. It is archive footage. It shows all of the good moments besides one moment where he is sent off against Portugal in the world cup quarter finals of 2006 for stomping on Ricardo Carvalho.
Interviews: The type of interviews in this documentary are mainly talking heads shots that show stars that have played with him and against him and all say good things about him, again to boost how people feel about him. There was also some handheld shots in the interviews to give the impression we are with him and to show that this is real life in the Rooney house.
Local or National issues: The documentary focuses on national and local issues from Rooney playing for Everton and him being from Liverpool brings in the local issues because of Liverpool fans wanting to know about him because they hate him and Rooney hates them. The time he played for England focuses on the national issues. I think this causes audiences from around the country to watch the documentary. Also at the time Rooney played for Manchester United causes fans from around the world to tune in with him being there number 1 player.
Mode of Address: Gary Lineker narrates the whole documentary as well as some scenes when he presents the documentary. He sometimes speaks directly to the camera to give the viewer the feel he is talking to them in turn keeping the viewer engaged into the documentary and pay full attention to pick things up from what he says and allow us to notice things in and around his life.
Realism: The documentary is edited to give of a sense of realism with a large use of hand held camera work as well as very little scripting to make us believe that this is truly an insight into their life. This presents Rooney in a way in which we think this is how they are on a regular day.
Objective or Subjective: The Wayne Rooney documentary is very subjective. Every interview in the documentary was all based on good stuff. All the Interviews were with his friends and former colleagues who all said good things about him, besides one red card incident and even that was portrayed in a positive manor. The aim was to portray Rooney as a nice well behaved player who loves his family and the sport.
Structure: The documentary starts off as an introduction showing Rooney as he is now and then begins with Rooney as a 4yr old playing for his Sunday league. It then moves on in chronological order to give the viewer some anticipation and to build up to him beating the England record as well as from time to time cutting away from interviews to show some of his achievements.
Type of Documentary:Sport, Biography
Duration: 50 minutes
Platforms: Netflix, BBC iplayer
Devices: Smart TV, Smart phone, Ipad, iMac, Laptop, Tablets.
What is the certification?: Exempt
I think that the age range is all ages from 6+ because of it being a sporting and biographic documentary.
Primary & secondary audience: The primary audience is both Male and Female football fans of all ages due to the growing supporters of female football fans. Also the second person focused on in the documentary is Rooney’s wife Coleen. This also attracts other audiences because of her being a fashion celebrity so people will want to see what she wears or what her house looks like so they can gather some inspiration these being the secondary audience.
What type of documentary do you think it is?: The Rooney documentary is a biography about Rooney and his football career on and off the pitch as well as his path to success and goal scoring record.
What is the purpose of the documentary?: The purpose of the documentary is to boost the nation's feelings for Wayne because of him being shy people just saw him as a lad who scores goals and left his childhood team for someone with lots of money. It is for Rooney to get his point out and for people to see his side of the story and to show the public what he has achieved to go to such a big club. It is shown when we see his childhood and his actual accomplishments.
How was Rooney Observed in the documentary?: Rooney takes us around his roots in Croxteth and shows us where he grew up but the camera is positioned in the passenger seat of his car static. Rooney speaks to the camera as if he is speaking to the audience. It shows that he is actually a nice guy he’s not that shy. It is used to make the audience feel closer to Rooney. We also see what Rooney does on a normal day in his house with his kids. It is trying to make the viewer see the true side of Rooney when he is not playing or training. The camera is ‘off the cuff’ and not scripted which is all hand held camera work giving us the feeling we are there.
Reconstruction: There is no reconstruction in this documentary as it is not needed. Rooney had grown up in the age of cameras where there is footage of him from 7 years of age scoring goals until now. It is archive footage. It shows all of the good moments besides one moment where he is sent off against Portugal in the world cup quarter finals of 2006 for stomping on Ricardo Carvalho.
Interviews: The type of interviews in this documentary are mainly talking heads shots that show stars that have played with him and against him and all say good things about him, again to boost how people feel about him. There was also some handheld shots in the interviews to give the impression we are with him and to show that this is real life in the Rooney house.
Local or National issues: The documentary focuses on national and local issues from Rooney playing for Everton and him being from Liverpool brings in the local issues because of Liverpool fans wanting to know about him because they hate him and Rooney hates them. The time he played for England focuses on the national issues. I think this causes audiences from around the country to watch the documentary. Also at the time Rooney played for Manchester United causes fans from around the world to tune in with him being there number 1 player.
Mode of Address: Gary Lineker narrates the whole documentary as well as some scenes when he presents the documentary. He sometimes speaks directly to the camera to give the viewer the feel he is talking to them in turn keeping the viewer engaged into the documentary and pay full attention to pick things up from what he says and allow us to notice things in and around his life.
Realism: The documentary is edited to give of a sense of realism with a large use of hand held camera work as well as very little scripting to make us believe that this is truly an insight into their life. This presents Rooney in a way in which we think this is how they are on a regular day.
Objective or Subjective: The Wayne Rooney documentary is very subjective. Every interview in the documentary was all based on good stuff. All the Interviews were with his friends and former colleagues who all said good things about him, besides one red card incident and even that was portrayed in a positive manor. The aim was to portray Rooney as a nice well behaved player who loves his family and the sport.
Structure: The documentary starts off as an introduction showing Rooney as he is now and then begins with Rooney as a 4yr old playing for his Sunday league. It then moves on in chronological order to give the viewer some anticipation and to build up to him beating the England record as well as from time to time cutting away from interviews to show some of his achievements.
LO2- Key Features of a Promotional Product
Promotion: The Martian Trailer
Production type: The martian is a film and is sold to the audience by connecting to all types of audiences by showing them a future world were the mission to mars has been complete. A mission that has been in human sights for many years. I think this is aimed primarily at audiences from 10 and above. The primary audience will also be targeted at males and, secondary to be females watching it with their partner.
Duration: 2 hours 31 minutes.
Where can it be viewed: This film was viewable in cinemas and was on netflix UK for a brief amount of time. It is also available on Amazon Prime. The trailer is designed by showing short action shots to make the audience want to see the full film.
Psychographic appeal: This film makes the audience feel sympathetic for the main character by isolating him from his family friends and human contact. This will want people to see the full movie to know if he got off Mars and gets home. They also further amplify this by adding the tag line "Help is only 140 million miles away".
Persuasive techniques: The Martian trailer uses action and repetition.
In the first 30 seconds it repeats multiple shots of high stormy winds showing action and repetition immediately. This makes the audience straight away want to know. What is going to happen, what is going on? The music in the trailer is a catchy song edited in shots of his progression.
Modes of Address: In the Martian trailer there is shots of the main astronaut played by Mat Damon speaking directly into the camera similar to a vlog or a captains log engaging the audience making people feel like they are being spoken to directly also making it personal hopefully making the audience buy tickets to go and see the film.
Messages and values: The main message of this trailer is to never give up and is portrayed through the character played by Matt Damon and the crew who ultimately left him on Mars. He always tries to make contact and the crew when they find out he is alive; go through all possible ways to get him home in the end. They also use humor to get people into science "I'm gonna science the sh**" out of this". The values are his family and uses this as motivation to get home he is resourceful and humorous making jokes to NASA making him a likeable character to the audience.
Creating a Buzz: In the trailer they add on and off action. They give time for the viewer to work out what is going on and then hit them with action then back to a normal like moment and back to action etc. Buzz is also created when people see a film with Matt Damon in it and directed by a big name like Ridley Scott. Further more adding the trailer to social media to go viral. Stats say in a day the trailer had 5 million views on youtube. This then spreads to Twitter, facebook etc spreading the audience to a wider range.
Information: The information they show is facts to add context to the shot as well as important dates of release, actors etc. This is important to attract fans of the actors involved people of science and movie watches; so people know when to buy tickets.
LO2 Understand The Technical Construction Of A Digital Moving Image production
A Bugs Life
Film: A Bug’s Life
Clip: The Offering Scene
I am going to analyse how film language is used in this clip to give meaning to the audience.
Mis-En-Scene: The outside is bright and green and looks like a nice place to be this is the first establishment shot. The environment in the majority of the clip is underground dark and large on the inside. It makes us the viewers feel small and helpless when we see this place . It also shows how helpless the ants are.
The main ants are a nice neutral colour making them seem nice and kind. They also have big eyes and are to look cute however the grasshoppers are a sickly green, battle-scared and angry in appearance.
Princess Atta repeating the phrase “They come, They Eat, They Leave” Over and over tells us that she is apprehensive and worried if the grasshoppers are not satisfied. It also shows how much the ants are bullied by the grasshoppers.
The ants have cowering body language and look scared from the wide eyes and small pupils. The grasshoppers are confident, upright and taller than all the ants making them seem over dominent top the ants. They also laugh when the ants are scared of them.
Flik’s character tells us he is clumsy and looked down upon in the ant colony. This can be seen when princess Atta immediately assumes that Flik was the person who lost the food and he is easily paranoid from the tone of his voice and how he rushes his words.
When we hear Hoppers voice it cuts to a black concrete sealing and this tells us that Hopper is not someone to be messed with and the concrete ceiling shows him being stone cold. His voice alone is deep and threatening. This brings up tension to the audience as if they were the ants. This gives off a fear of the unknown.
Clip: The Offering Scene
I am going to analyse how film language is used in this clip to give meaning to the audience.
Mis-En-Scene: The outside is bright and green and looks like a nice place to be this is the first establishment shot. The environment in the majority of the clip is underground dark and large on the inside. It makes us the viewers feel small and helpless when we see this place . It also shows how helpless the ants are.
The main ants are a nice neutral colour making them seem nice and kind. They also have big eyes and are to look cute however the grasshoppers are a sickly green, battle-scared and angry in appearance.
Princess Atta repeating the phrase “They come, They Eat, They Leave” Over and over tells us that she is apprehensive and worried if the grasshoppers are not satisfied. It also shows how much the ants are bullied by the grasshoppers.
The ants have cowering body language and look scared from the wide eyes and small pupils. The grasshoppers are confident, upright and taller than all the ants making them seem over dominent top the ants. They also laugh when the ants are scared of them.
Flik’s character tells us he is clumsy and looked down upon in the ant colony. This can be seen when princess Atta immediately assumes that Flik was the person who lost the food and he is easily paranoid from the tone of his voice and how he rushes his words.
When we hear Hoppers voice it cuts to a black concrete sealing and this tells us that Hopper is not someone to be messed with and the concrete ceiling shows him being stone cold. His voice alone is deep and threatening. This brings up tension to the audience as if they were the ants. This gives off a fear of the unknown.
They also suddenly stWe don’t know what will happen next. The darkness in the anthill gives off a powerless fell about the ants. As if they are hiding from the grasshoppers. This deals a large amount of tension to the scene
When the first foot comes through the top of the anthill it shocks the audience and is a use of jumpscare techniques. It becomes very obvious that the ants are about to be invaded and a sudden reaction of panic comes from the ants.
The effect on the viewer when they see the scale of the grasshoppers to the ants shows the oppression of the ants and shows that the ants have no power and are weak.
It is clear that Hopper is evil and in charge because of his size to the other grasshoppers, the ants, and the large battle scars on his face. He is also blind in one eye which shows maturity and aggression.
Sound
Diegetic sound is sound that is NOT added during the editing stages of the film. An example would be dialogue
Non-diegetic sound is any sound not on screen. This is shown when the grasshoppers are arriving at the ant hill when we here the wings flapping which sounds like a WW2 bomber.
When the grasshoppers are approaching we know they are the bad people simply from the wings. The sound of the wings are deep and threatening. When the sound of the wings suddenly stop shows the power of Hopper. Everything stops for him.
The pace of the attack is lead on until the stop. When a grasshopper says "Where's the food?'
The attack pauses for a second and then they invade the ant hill. This makes the audience expect something will happen and then when they think it is a calm it all happens.
When the clip cuts underground the sound lowers reestablishing that it is underground. The sound also echos indicating the mood is not good like a horror film and emphasise the size of the ant hill. The silence of the ants gives us a sense of discomfort too.
The soundtrack is dramatic and panicky with short notes and long taunting horns making the scene more sudden and shows the panic from the ants.
The silence of the ants gives us a sense of discomfort too. when the grasshoppers land it gives off a large amount of anticipation as well as we no longer know where the grasshoppers are.
Fliks Voice compared to Hoppers has large differences. Hoppers voice is deep and disgruntled giving off an effect of evilness. Fliks on the other hand is high and shows weakness.
Cinematography: The first shot is a establishment shot simply to show where it is set. It shows a nice landscape with lots of greenery. It then cuts underground with an extreme wide shot with a sudden transition from hight to low. The camera slowly pans across the inside of the anthill to show the size of the anthill compared to the ants and the number of ants that live there.
The camera slowly zooms into princess Atta’s face when she repeats "they come they eat they leave" the camera slowly zooms in on her to emphasise what she is saying (to make the viewer curious), her facial emotions and the fear which is evident by how her eyes are big and fixed on the ceiling, as if she is expecting a sudden invasion.
The camera slowly pans across the interior of the anthill to show how many ants there are and how silent it is. This is to create the effect of concern and suspicion as to why they are so fearful. The extreme wide shot captures all of the ants with huge eyes, all gazed on the ceiling, this creates the fear amongst the atmosphere. Also almost every shot of hopper is from low angle to make hopper seem even bigger than he actually is compared to the ants. This is also used when we see a POV shot from the ants as well as a slow tilt upward to hoppers face.
The anthill looks very blue before the grasshoppers attack showing how the ants are a peaceful colony. But when the grasshoppers invade the lighting switches from blue to fire and dark and sinister to show the impression of how the grasshoppers have the power to completely change an environment. Hopper is also shrouded in light and is far bigger in size in comparison to the rest of the grasshoppers, we can infer from this that Hopper is the leader of the grasshoppers. This is to create the same effect as to him looking down, to present him as this large character who is evil and strong.
Editing:
The first main impact of editing in the offering clip is shown when we see the anthill for the first time. The clip is edited slow pace to make the anthill seem much larger. Next segment the editing is used when the clips are more frequently placed together. This is used to create panic within the anthill. All of those shots also show the grasshoppers having fun making it seem the grasshoppers are taking pride in attacking the ants. The slow pace again used when we are introduced to hopper. It is used to show his size off as well.
The next section of the clip is where the grasshoppers first initially are approaching the ant hill. At this time the shadows on the ground begin to gradually get bigger and clips last longer. Not to mention how the sound increases in volume as they get closer. At this time it cuts to the ants looking at the ceiling of the anthill and focuses on the facial features of the ants more in depth to emphasise the emotions and create dramatic effect within the audience. The use of Mid Shots also uses a greater sense of worry as it shows a larger number of ants in worry.
The next clip show features Hopper and the rest of the grasshoppers entering the anthill via jumping down from the ceiling. The pace suddenly quickens dramatically when they attack, the cuts become more frequent and there is a lot of chaos and loud noises involved. inside the anthill and this clip features the conversation between Princess Atta and Hopper. The conversation fraction of the clip is very slow paced and the cuts are at minimal. The shots then start to focus on the grasshoppers face / size to show their features in contrast to the ants who are significantly smaller and innocent.
After this, the clip begins to become fast-paced to present the chaotic atmosphere as the grasshoppers attack. We can also evidently see the grasshoppers enjoying scaring the ants through their facial expressions in comparison to the ants being the complete opposite. The final shot is a low-height shot of Hopper to show the sheer size of him, Hopper is substantially larger than the other Grasshoppers. This can be used to signify that he is the leader.
The first main impact of editing in the offering clip is shown when we see the anthill for the first time. The clip is edited slow pace to make the anthill seem much larger. Next segment the editing is used when the clips are more frequently placed together. This is used to create panic within the anthill. All of those shots also show the grasshoppers having fun making it seem the grasshoppers are taking pride in attacking the ants. The slow pace again used when we are introduced to hopper. It is used to show his size off as well.
The next section of the clip is where the grasshoppers first initially are approaching the ant hill. At this time the shadows on the ground begin to gradually get bigger and clips last longer. Not to mention how the sound increases in volume as they get closer. At this time it cuts to the ants looking at the ceiling of the anthill and focuses on the facial features of the ants more in depth to emphasise the emotions and create dramatic effect within the audience. The use of Mid Shots also uses a greater sense of worry as it shows a larger number of ants in worry.
The next clip show features Hopper and the rest of the grasshoppers entering the anthill via jumping down from the ceiling. The pace suddenly quickens dramatically when they attack, the cuts become more frequent and there is a lot of chaos and loud noises involved. inside the anthill and this clip features the conversation between Princess Atta and Hopper. The conversation fraction of the clip is very slow paced and the cuts are at minimal. The shots then start to focus on the grasshoppers face / size to show their features in contrast to the ants who are significantly smaller and innocent.
After this, the clip begins to become fast-paced to present the chaotic atmosphere as the grasshoppers attack. We can also evidently see the grasshoppers enjoying scaring the ants through their facial expressions in comparison to the ants being the complete opposite. The final shot is a low-height shot of Hopper to show the sheer size of him, Hopper is substantially larger than the other Grasshoppers. This can be used to signify that he is the leader.
LO3 Produce and review a digital moving image production
Task 1 - pre-production portfolio
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Task 2 - EVIDENCING THE PRODUCTION PROCESS
Process of editing and managing clips
1. I firstly collected all my clips together and imported them onto my iMac. in a folder
2. I then imported the clips onto iMovie and began the editing process.
3. i began the editing process by first cutting clips not needed in the final film like certain phrases like calling cut and action etc.
4. Next I added sound effects of horror like audio tracks like growls, whispers, heavy breathing and screams; this is too complete the feel of a horror movie and to build up tension and fear towards the audience.
5. I added certain filters to add a spooky vibe to the clip. Ideal filters for a horror film is a filter that is dark, tinted and low contrast to show dark and sinister views.
This was the final edit. This is now ready for export and to be uploaded to youtube.
Task 3 - EVALUATING THE SUCCESS OF OUR FILM.
In conclusion, I feel like the film has been a success for me and both, Thomas and Rio, personally as it has allowed us to expand and define our knowledge, skills and techniques in cinematography and editing. There are both positive and negative aspects to the film. I my opinion mostly negative. plenty of room for improvement. Some issues I can recall are the lack of establishing shots and also how difficult it is to track and understand the story behind the film. I feel as if this may be because of the fact that the film is presented more as a sequence and not a short film due to the time restriction of 60 seconds. Also in a a 60 second video you struggle with regards to time, to base a story so by using a sequence it allows us to focus on just having scares and different camera angles and shots. Basically we want to stop making our film like a sequence of clips and turn it into an entertaining trailer or possibly a clip that looks like it is taken from a bigger film.
The genre of our movie was horror. In our movie we tried to make it based upon horror in various ways focusing on the codes and conventions of a horror movie. Firstly, we tried to make our movie scary by making the majority of the lighting dark with enhanced shadows and reduced highlights, we a achieved this through either selecting the ideal location in the school and editing, in order to create dramatic effect. After this, we also added horror-themed sound effects (visible in the editing process). We used the sound effects when the story is approaching a scare so that the audience can infer something is coming. In my opinion, I feel that by adding these sound effects it makes the scenes and general atmosphere scarier than it actually is excluding the sound effect. However, I also feel that we failed making our movie scary, mainly due to the acting. Our group lack acting skills and frankly we had no idea how to create the scare in the film through the acting. Therefore, our acting was the biggest downfall in making our movie scary. Another minor reason why our movie failed to be scary is that in the last sequence, the final scare, the lighting is brighter than the previous clips due to the skylights in the room we were using. We could have darkened the clip, in editing, so it's harder to see the demon and you only vaguely see him approaching. (codes and conventions of the film shown below)
(Dark and Grim filters for codes and conventions)
We attempted to make our movie appeal to young adults by one of the main aspects of the story, which was two boy's 'vlogging' their experience in the abandoned school. We singled out this option out of a few as many young adult lives have interaction with YouTube and 'vloggers' , so by making our movie have two boys who are 'vloggers' may attract our target audience, young adults, and make it more appealing and realistic. We also made the movie appeal to young adults via the use of our characters, who are young, and therefore can relate to the audience. Another aspect is many young adults do not like movies that are un-realistic, so we attempted to make the movie as realistic as we possibly could. This was difficult to execute due to the obvious factor of our movie containing a supernatural phenomenon in it , overall making it hard to keep the short movie realistic and appealing to young adults.
Audience responses
Clearly these reviews speak for itself. It is utterly a poor movie and we really need to improve next time. Not only is it impossible to follow but if it was a full length movie it would probably be an empty theatre with in the first five minutes of the film. So on the whole I would not like to see this made into a full feature and neither would out audience as 66.7% said they would not.
Myself, the rest of my group all share the same popular opinion much like the rest of the world and that is that we feel that it's extremely difficult to create an original horror movie anymore. There are thousands of horror movies that all will take some form of inspiration of an original horror movies such as 'Psycho' and 'Halloween'. It's extremely difficult to create a horror movie in this day in age that is not original. For example, we hand-held the camera for some of the scenes, some people can say we are not being original and copying films such as 'The Blair Witch Project'. Also, by having a figure dressed completely in black chasing an innocent person sounds relatively similar to original films like the horror movie 'Scream'. The vast majority of things you can do in a horror movie to make it a horror movie is limiting without it being brandished as copying, for example - knives, murder and dark figures. It's extensively hard to as creative in a horror movie in comparison to a comedy movie, our movie could have been more creative.
Working as a team in the group was an enjoyable and interactive for me experience however during the pre-production process we struggled as we had many various ideas but simply could not agree on an idea to settle over. Eventually we came to the ending on "School". After this we came to filming and all of us started to come up with new ideas to add into the film creating some amendments to the film as well as whole new scenes we thought we would never do. However I believe our group lacked confidence to act in front of other people. I personally enjoyed the post-production editing stage if the film as it allowed the group to share techniques to improve the mis-en-scene and show us different codes and conventions to help out our film.
I played the role of a vlogger who looked at the old rooms of the school. I was also the main vlogger who held the FPS shot during filming. My role was not a role I could really get into which is why a lot of the acting it improvised. This is mainly due again to lack of confidence in each other and not using the script. So for me I did not like the filming process as it was not my strong point for me. One thing I have definitely learned though is that these sort of productions are not easy and take plenty of time and effort to make. In future I would like to practice my acting skills as well as advanced editing such as special effects.
To summarise, I was really unhappy with the way the groups film came out and there is definitely room for improvement in terms of structure, planning, following the script and mis-en-scene. However this was not a complete failure as our group has now had a chance to develop our skills, knowledge and teamwork in media and film production. We also feel that this fits the brief because this film follows codes and conventions, It's is 60 seconds and appeals to young adults. It appeals to young adults by us using vloggers as characters and using horror sound effects as well as typical conventions with dark filters too.
Working as a team in the group was an enjoyable and interactive for me experience however during the pre-production process we struggled as we had many various ideas but simply could not agree on an idea to settle over. Eventually we came to the ending on "School". After this we came to filming and all of us started to come up with new ideas to add into the film creating some amendments to the film as well as whole new scenes we thought we would never do. However I believe our group lacked confidence to act in front of other people. I personally enjoyed the post-production editing stage if the film as it allowed the group to share techniques to improve the mis-en-scene and show us different codes and conventions to help out our film.
I played the role of a vlogger who looked at the old rooms of the school. I was also the main vlogger who held the FPS shot during filming. My role was not a role I could really get into which is why a lot of the acting it improvised. This is mainly due again to lack of confidence in each other and not using the script. So for me I did not like the filming process as it was not my strong point for me. One thing I have definitely learned though is that these sort of productions are not easy and take plenty of time and effort to make. In future I would like to practice my acting skills as well as advanced editing such as special effects.
To summarise, I was really unhappy with the way the groups film came out and there is definitely room for improvement in terms of structure, planning, following the script and mis-en-scene. However this was not a complete failure as our group has now had a chance to develop our skills, knowledge and teamwork in media and film production. We also feel that this fits the brief because this film follows codes and conventions, It's is 60 seconds and appeals to young adults. It appeals to young adults by us using vloggers as characters and using horror sound effects as well as typical conventions with dark filters too.