Evaluation presentation

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

Our preliminary task was our first chance to use the cameras and have a go at editing. We just had to film a simple scene where one person walks up to another and they hold a conversation. Throughout this task we mainly had to focus on the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot/reverse shot. Through this task we learnt the importance of using the 180 degree rule in our film so that the audience does not get confused and to ensure that there are no continuity errors. Since the task I have learnt more about the variety shots and how effective they are and more about the editing process through adding titles and music etc.

In our final product we still used the shots we used in the preliminary task but they were more effective as we had planned them through our storyboarding and thought more about the context they would be in. We used match on action in our final product however it was more effective than it was in our preliminary task as we used it to fit in with the genre of our film opening.

Whilst making our preliminary task it made us more aware of continuity errors we could make, so we were more careful when filming our opening. The editing process is the main stage that we have learnt about since our preliminary task, as we learnt about the importance of getting shots right and having to re shoot if they didn't look right. We also learnt about the planning aspect of making a film and film institutions and production as we did not need any planning for our preliminary task. We also learnt about slide transitions and titles and credits through our editing and how this can influence the genre of your film.

Screen shots from preliminary task

Screen shots from final product

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

In order to make our opening 2 minutes for our film we used a variety of equipment and technologies:

• Video Camera and tripod - through using this equipment I learnt how to make shots look effective through the use of the tripod rather than doing handheld shots. 
• Digital Camera - This was vital as it let us take pictures of our locations and actors, through having the camera I learnt the importance of taking pictures of your location before filming. 
• Blogger - I learnt how to use blogger which was relatively easy, this was important in the planning aspect of our film as it gave us somewhere to put and organize all of our plans. 
• Movie Maker - Although Adobe is commonly used we used windows movie maker as we had both previously used it so it was more familiar to us so we could make our film better.
• You Tube - I have learnt how to upload videos on to you tube and also how to add annotations. You tube was also an easy site to access from blogger.
• Free play music - This website was important in helping us to choose some music which was not copyrighted and helped us to understand how music can be copyrighted and how important that is to make a film. 

Me with the camera and tripod.

Ellie with the camera and tripod.

An email from youtube explaining the copyright we have in our video from Lionsgate. 

How did you attract/address your audience?

I have used youtubes annotation tools to add speech bubbles to our film. The annotations highlight key features of our opening and they effect they have on the audience we are trying to attract.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

For this evaluation activity we have created a video with 9 different people asking them about themselves and what they thought about our film opening. Our target audience is between the ages of 15 to 21. This age would typically listen to music which is popular, played on the radio often and in the charts. They are most likely to shop at high street stores such as topshop/man, hollister, superdry etc. Common T.V programmes are comedies, reality shows and shows which include young people as it makes them relatable to this age group.

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

For this evaluation we have done a video explaining our production company and why it was a suitable choice for our film. We also talked about where the money would come from and the titles of our film.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our main character is similar to 'Casey' from 'Scream. Although she doesn't have a main part in the film we found them alike in personality and their situation in the film.

They are similar in the fact that they are both portrayed as vulnerable as home alone, which causes the audience to feel sympathy for the character. They are also similar in the way that they dress as they both wear casual clothes suited to their age and allowing the audience to relate to them.

They are different as Casey is older in the film and she also talks a lot more than our main character allowing the audience to get to know her better.

 We chose to compare our main character to Vanessa Hudgens from 'High School Musical' as they are similar in the way they dress and are both portrayed as innocent characters. However, they are different in the way that they act in different genres of film.

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

For this evaluation activity I am going to take 9 different shots from my film and evaluate whether they conform to the typical stereotype of an opening sequence of a horror film.

1) Title of film
The title of our film is similar in the fact that it is on a black background, with a simple font. This is a common convention in horror films as many films have this title, one being 'The Strangers.' Most horror films which have a smaller font are more tension building films which fits in with our storyline as we want to create a tense mood. Although the smear around the outside is not a common convention in horror titles it is still sticking to the traditional horror titles of black and red. The actual name 'The Visitors' doesn't give much away and leaves the audience guessing which is another common convention of horror films. We got our inspiration for this title from 'The Strangers' as we thought it was effective and mysterious.

2) Setting/ Location
Our setting is typical of a horror setting as it is just in a house in a normal neighbourhood. Many films have this setting e.g. Paranormal Activity. This is a common setting for horror films because it is a relatable place for the audience which also makes it scarier, this is why we chose it for our film. Our first shot in the film is of the road/house which is how most horror films generally start with an establishing shot as it familiarises the audience with where the action is going to take place.


                                                                                     

3) Costumes and Props

In this clip you can see the the costume of our main character, she is dressed in typical clothes that a teenage girl would wear. This is common in horror films as it makes the characters more relatable to the audience, especially a teenage audience. We have followed the conventions of horror films in the aspect of how the murderer is dressed, as he is in all black clothes and the knife that he holds is highlighted. The way we have dressed our two characters fits to the conventions of the horror genre as it clearly sets the two characters apart highlighting who is the victim and who is the murderer.

4) Camera work and editing

I chose this shot because we used match on action of the door opening which was effective and we also used it later on when the curtain were being closed and the fridge being opened. This is a common film technique in many genres but especially horror has it draws the audiences attention in by highlighting a usually boring action, therefore building tension. Throughout we have also used a variety of shots and lots of long takes, especially when making the tea dragging out the activity, hence building tension.

5) Title font and style
For our opening credit font we had Times New Roman which is an old looking font which is a common style in horror titles. It gives a scary edge to the opening. We had to have them in white as it was the only colour which showed up on all our scenes, however this is not a common colour used for fonts in horror films but it did make them stand out effectively.

6) Story and how the opening sets it up
I chose this screen grab as it is the first indication to the audience that the girl is not alone, as it shows the perspective of somebody from outside looking in. From the opening sequence the story which the audience gets is that a girl is home alone and is just around the house making tea etc. As the shots keep cutting to outside it suggests to the audience that something is going to happen with this person who is looking in, this is confirmed when the audience sees a shot of the murderer behind the girl at the back door, after this the title come up ending the opening leaving the opening as a cliffhanger and the audience in suspense.

7) Genre and how the opening suggests it

The main aspect of our opening which suggests it is horror is the eerie music. However, we have used convention of a horror film to ensure that it is clear that the genre is horror, for example this screen grab shows the girl in a isolated location as nobody else is around, it is also filmed in the dark which is common in horror films as it makes the film scarier as anything can happen in the dark.

8) How characters are introduced
This is the first clear shot the audience gets of the main character, this is effective as the audience have seen her enter the house alone and they can see she is young so vulnerable. We introduce our murderer through his viewpoint and don't actually reveal his identity which builds tension for the audience as they don't know what to expect.

9) Special effects                                        We have not used many special effects but this screen grab shows the transition we used to make the change between the shot of the fridge closing and the title smoother. We also used fade in and out transition on our opening credits.

Final Opening Two Minutes

This is our final opening two minutes.

shot list

Shot	Description
1	Long shot of main character walking towards the camera shows audience character also establishes setting.
2	Long shot of main character walking away from the camera towards the house, audiences first glimpse of the house, the main set.
3	Close up of key being put into the door and door opening, builds tension as is highlighting everyday actions.
4	Shot from outside looking in, from the perspective of the murderer it is shaky to show this.
5	Over the shoulder shot of cup being taken out of the cupboard.
6	Aerial shot of tea bag being dropped into the mug, once again building tension as dragging out everyday activities.
7	Shot from outside again but closer to the window, mid shot of main character inside.
8	Over the shoulder shot and handheld as camera follows main character down the hallway.
9	Long shot of main character walking into the living room then over to the curtains and drawing them.
10	Shot from outside where the curtains are seen being drawn inside.
11	Long/mid shot as main character leaves the living room.
12	Over the shoulder shot and handheld as the camera follows the main character back down the hallway to the kitchen.
13	Close up of kettle.
14	Extreme close up of kettle switch as it flicks up, builds tension as over exaggerating a simple task.
15	Aerial shot as water is poured into the mug.
16	Mid shot of main character walking over to the fridge.
17	Shot from inside the fridge as it is opened, main character in foreground of the shot getting milk, murderer can be seen in the background standing at the back door behind her.

Titles of our film

For our opening we decided to do inter titles over our opening as it would build suspense throughout the opening as they slowly faded in and out. The font I used was Times New Roman because I thought it fitted in with the horror genre and is a popular old style font which is sometimes associated with the horror genre. The font was in white because that was the easiest colour that could be seen over all of the scenes. For our final title I decided to put a wipe transition just as the fridge door closed as it made the opening flow smoother as without it there was a big jump between the scene and the title.

Film Diary Entry Three

We filmed the final parts of our film today. We filmed some shots of the victim turning around after the fridge has been closed then a close up of her face and different shots of the milk being dropped. We hope this will improve our opening and now just have to edit that part in and improve our titles.

Film Diary Entry Two

We have managed to finish our editing and filming, however we have decided to change the ending of our opening. We think that if the victim at the end turns round and we have a close up of her face would make it more dramatic. We also think that a scream over the titles would build tension more effectively and create a chilling atmosphere.

Film Diary Entry One

Today we started filming, we were hoping that it would all run smoothly however some builders flooded the bathroom in Ellie's house therefore restricting where we could film. However we worked around this problem and managed to finish all our filming and most of our editing.

Music

We found a website which has lots of music on it to choose from for our soundtrack. http://freeplaymusic.com/ allows you to use their music for your own personal use without any copyright issues.
We found four songs that we liked and downloaded them and tried each one with our film to see which one we thought was the best.



This is the first song we looked at, its called Behind The Looking Glass, it has a slow tempo and is played on string instruments creating a tense atmosphere which builds suspense. We don't think we are going to use this one because it is very high pitched and doesn't fit particularly well with our film opening because we do not want all the tension that the music brings.



The second song we looked at was called Demented Dreams which is played on the piano, this creates a dark mysterious tone. We quite liked this one because it has not got too much tension and sets a good mysterious tone for the opening of the film.



The third soundtrack which we looked at is called vampire night which is played on a variety of instruments (drums, strings, chimes) this creates a dramatic tone. We did not think this was suitable for our opening because it didn't really match with what was happening in our opening. It also created more of a Gothic feeling to the film which didn't match with our characters or setting.







The final soundtrack we looked at was called Eerie Angel which is played on the strings and the woodwinds, this creates a tense eerie tone. We have decided this is the track we will use for our opening as the tone at the beginning matches the setting of the film and the lighting also. It also had high points in the places we wanted to be specifically tense. We also like the way it builds in suspense throughout which is good as we want the tension to build throughout our opening.

Costume

For our second idea our costume ideas our similar to our original, we are putting the murderer in black clothes as it makes the person seem more intimidating especially as we are filming in the dark.

 



For our main character we have just put her in typical clothes which a teenager would wear as we want her to portray a normal teenage girl. This will also make her relatable to a teenage audience.

Location Pictures

As our location is different for idea two from idea one we have had to take new location pitctures. Our new location for idea two is ellies house: