Final Version of film opening

http://youtu.be/DDGs_9JLmTA

Media coursework evaluation

Media coursework evaluation

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

Our media production uses several conventions of horror and thriller genres. For example in the opening of our film we have used music which is atmospheric. This shows the horror convention straight away and the audience knows that the film they are watching is of a horror genre. Another factor that shows the audience that we are using horror conventions is the fact we haven’t chose to use any dialogue. This then means that the only thing the audience can hear is the tension of the music. This created suspense and the audience will be engaged in the film. If this is the case then the films horror conventions are effective. Another way in which our film opening sequence uses a horror convention is the opening titles are written in a gothic way. They then disappear in a shadow; this represents the darkness in our film which represents the horror atmospheric genre we have used in the opening. The studio titles also appear in a ghostly fashion as the smoke in the background is a donative and represents a ghostly figure furthermore adding to the horror convention. The ghostly figure in the studio title is a foreshadowing event and gives the audience an idea of what is likely to happen in the film.

Our horror film challenged horror conventions in some ways. This can be seen when we adapted some Indy music and incorporated into our film opening. We put this between the atmospheric horror sounds which built up tension. This challenged horror conventions because not many horror films change music genre half way through a scene. This in my opinion made the film a bit different from other horror films and it makes it stand out if you challenge horror conventions too. Another way in which our film opening challenges the horror convention is by the fact our lead character is less physically fit than the stereotypical Hollywood actor in a horror film.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our film opening presents particular social groups in many ways. The first of which is the age and gender of the characters present in our film. We have used a 22 year old white male who is in a middle social class and is probably a B class citizen. He currently lives in the inner city of London, and is studying History as a degree. He has come to watch his parents’ house while they are on holiday.  His parents' house is in a traditional English village in which the majority of its population are white British couples who have retired to the country side. This also goes against the convention of horror as horror films are generally set in the city and as people try to escape to the country, they also try to escape the horror of the city. Our character is a non-religious young male who takes advantage of his parents’ home. This can be seen when he plays on computer game half way through the film opening. This shows the audience that he isn’t the most intellectual character which is often portrayed by reading books and studying in any spare time he has available.

Our film opening also represents two time periods. The first is the 21^st century which is portrayed by the use of technological devices such as laptops and game consoles. The second is in the fourteen hundreds. This was when the house that the major character lives was built.  This era was greatly dominated by the great plague which affected the population growth and the downfall of the economy in that particular era. This ghostly figure lived in the house of our major character and therefore visits the house every night as a way of trying to communicate with the modern way of life. This is how we have mixed the 2 time periods. By doing this we have merged the modern era and added a ghostly twist to the plot.

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

One type of media institute that might distribute our media product could be the company ‘Hammer’. This institute specialises in horror films. ‘Hammer’ was launched in 1934 and their first film was called ‘The public life of Henry the Ninth’. Today, Hammer has an active development slate across diverse genres sourced out of both the United States and Europe. This media institute might distribute our media product because they develop horror films suitable for a range of people. Another reason they might distribute our media product is because our film would link with the theme of ‘Hammer house of horror’. Because the ‘Hammer’ organisation has recently released a couple of films, the first for 30 years, they might be planning on starting to make their media corporation big again. This means that it would help them as well as us.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our film is for people over the age of 15 therefore we have given it the age certificate of 15. This has been done because we feel that our film doesn’t include any severe violence and there are no scenes that include extremely graphic content. By making it a 15 rated film it allows us to focus on a larger target audience than if we gave it an 18 certificate rating. This is because more of the youthful population can watch our film. According to a recent study by Lovefilm.com the horror genre tends to focus on the male gender. We haven’t ruled out the possibility of females watching our production though. The thing that puts the majority of females off a horror film is the gory scenes that are often included. Our film does not include any of these scenes so therefore we have opened up our target audience to a wider range of people. Generally the more people a media conglomerate can get to watch their films, the more money they will generate. Our film opening is suitable for the majority of audiences as we have gone by a questionnaire we did before making the film suggesting there should be a twist in our film. If we made this point heard to the audience, we are more likely to get more people viewing our film as we have gone by what the majority of our audience wants.

How did you attract/address your audience?

We have attracted our audience in several ways. The first way was by adding incidental music which the frequency and loudness of the sound increased throughout the film. This built up tension and suspense and kept the audience watching. The music that is played in a horror is very important because if you get the music wrong and it doesn’t build up the tension that is needed to keep the audience watching then it could mean people don’t want to watch your film. The main thing we aimed to do was make the deep tense music start from the beginning to create an atmosphere that kept the audience watching.

Another way in which we kept the audience watching actually by using a certain storyline. Because we made it so that when someone knocks at the door and no-one was there, this automatically makes people want to know who is at the door. This coupled with the incidental atmospheric music makes people want to know what will happen next. We tried to create an impression that our major character was innocent. This would make the audience feel sorry for the major character and therefore it would make them relate to him. If this is the case it would mean the audience wants to make sure that the major character was going to be ok, so would continue to watch the opening of our film.

We have ended our film with a bit of a cliff hanger. This was mainly due to the fact that we wanted our audience to each have their own views on what was going to happen. This addresses our audience and therefore gives them more of a feel of the film. Another reason we did this was to make the audience want to know what was going to happen. If we were to create the rest of the film it would make them want to watch it. In a real life circumstance this would create more money for the media institution.

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

We have learnt how to operate the camera appropriately and correctly. We have also learnt how to create smooth tracking shots by using a dolly. This helps us create more camera angle shots and therefore it helps us create a more freely flowing film. We used various equipment to help create a mood in each shot. By this I mean that by filming while holding a camera it gives a sense of uneasiness and we can then apply that mood to our film which helps set the scene and the atmosphere. Ultimately this gives the audience a feel of what it is like to be in that specific scene; furthermore this adds tension and suspense in our film opening. We used a tripod in some scenes to make each shot more focused and prevent any possibility of movement of the camera.

One of the most important methods of technology we used was the internet. We used the internet to get music and sound effects onto our film from a website. I learnt that how quick and simple it was to download this music and sound effects and add them to our film. This was important to the construction of our film as we could sometimes work around the sound effects to make each scene look synchronised and therefore making it better to watch for our audience.

Another method in which we have used technology is through the use of editing our film. We have used a very good program which was called ‘Adobe after Effects’. This program was the main program we used the add the titles into our production and edit music, sound effects and edit the film. This program was relatively easy to use and meant we could just keep all of our film in one place. There were a few tutorials which we followed to start of with so that we understood the principles of using this program.

We have used a website called ‘Blogger’. This has allowed us to keep a record of the things we have learnt and it has meant we can keep everything in order. The advantage to using this site is that it can help us while we are in the planning stage of our film. We could record ideas and refer back to the site when we were actually creating our film opening. The blog meant that we could have a clear indication of what was happening at what time and at what place.

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

The preliminary task has taught me many things. The main thing I have learnt from it is the 180 degree rule. Without knowing this we could have made a major mistake in our film and therefore we could have lost vital marks. We have also learnt about the many camera angles that a film must contain and therefore we have included and incorporated them into our film. We have tried to use a wide range of camera angles to make our film look more professional. One thing that we did in the preliminary task was learn how to perfect the match on action shot. This was a shot in which we filmed a movement of someone from two different angles. It makes the film look more professional as it shows the editing skills that we could achieve. We used this knowledge and applied it to our film. We used a series of match on action shots in our film to give it a better viewing experience. If the audience is constantly watching a film from one camera angle it will get boring. If we change the camera angles it means that it keeps the audience entertained and more importantly, it keeps them in suspense of what’s going to happen next in our horror film.

Production Company Logo's

These logo's are designed to be recognised instantly. It captures the audiences minds and makes the logo stick to them. It takes hours and lots of money for company's to create a logo. And as a result it must be effective at making people recognise the production company instantly. We have created a logo at the start of our film which was specificly designed to be simple, but at the same time, aesthetic and pleasing to look at. We have added the name of our company logo on too, which eliminates the chance of people forgetting our production logo. while creating our logo, we aimed to make it stand out. We feel we have done this effectively. This is because we have added sharp colours and bold writing to capture the audiences eye. The juxtaposition of the logo is central because it shows that the audience will oly remember the logo and not get distracted by anything else on the screen. To conclude,I think that our production logo is well presented and promotes our film effectively.

   Below are some examples of logo's that re used at the start of films. These are instantly recognised and the audience has a clear picture of what company has made the film.

Film Locations

We have filmed all of our film at James Marsall's house which is located in Clifton Campville. Some of the footage is outside of the house, which was filmed at various times of the day. This was done because on some of the scenes we needed the night sky as a prop. The majority of our film has being filmed inside the house. These shots where filmed in different locations in the house. We have used a wide range of shots to create different atmospheres within the house. For example, we have turned the lights of in certain rooms to create a snse of darkness which shadows our theme of horror.

Film Rating

There are a few differences between certificates. Here are the definitions for each certificate.

12A - Films under this category are considered to be unsuitable for very young people. Those aged under 12 years are only admitted if accompanied by an adult, aged at least 18 years, at all times during the motion picture. However, it is generally not recommended that children under 12 years should watch the film. Films under this category can contain mature themes, discrimination, soft drugs, moderate swear words, infrequent strong language and moderate violence/sex references.

12 - Nobody younger than 12 can rent or buy a 12-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game. Films in this category may include infrequent drugs, infrequent use of strong language, brief nudity, discreet sexual activity, and moderate violence.

15 - Nobody younger than 15 can rent or buy a 15-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game, or watch a film in the cinema with this rating. Films under this category can contain adult themes, hard drugs, strong language and one use of very strong language, moderate-strong violence/sex references, and undetailed sex activity.

18 - Nobody younger than 18 can rent or buy an 18-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game, or watch a film in the cinema with this rating. Films under this category do not have limitation on the bad language that is used. Hard drugs are generally allowed, and strong violence/sex references along with strong sexual activity is also allowed. Scenes of strong real sex may be permitted if justified by the context.

We have decided that our film rating will be a 15 certificate. This means that our film can contain adult themes. The most important thing under this certificate though is the fact it can contain moderate-strong violence. We have chose this rating because our film opening doesn't contain any dialogue so therefore there can be no evidence of strong language. There isn't any violence that involves pain in our film either so therefore it is suited to a 15 rated certificate.

Titles

We will use a selection of titles to put into our film. Instead of having a certain page dedicated for the titles at the beginning or end of the film we will show the titles as the film is playing. This allows us to show more of the film and we won’t lose time on the titles. The titles will continue into the film for the first minute and a half. We have planned to make the title font colour in a shade of red as it symbolizes blood and danger which reflects on our film genre of horror.
The titles must appear in a certain order as it shows the importance. Below will be the order in which our titles will appear.

1) Infinity Pictures presents
2) A James Marshall film
3) Starring Steve Moore
4) Josh Bell
5) In 'The Uninvited'
6) Written by Josh Bell
7) Camera person Harry Smith
8) Music by James Marshall
9) Produced by James Marshall
10) Directed by Calvin Jones

We will make up a few names for certain roles as it will look unprofessional if we just use me and James Marsall's names throughout the title sequence. Finally it is worth mentioning that the titles will not be the main thing seen in the shot as it will put people off the film and they will miss the opening which is ultimately the most important part of the film.

Music

We will be using music of a website called 'Free Music'. It is free and easy to download and it is also easy to apply to our film. The music we will need will be sound effects for certain aspects in our film (such as a door slam). We will also need to apply some background music. This will have to fit the genre of horror and create tension and suspense. The music we will need must be timed perfectly to fit the action. To do this we will need to crop the music length and the timing of the start and end of the music. We will also need to edit the bass and tempo of the music to fit the action and create certain effects. We will use music for the opening piece where the logo and the titles will be shown.

Logo Design

It is important to create a logo which is easy to remember as it will reflect on the media conglomerate. It needs to be simple but at the same time it needs to be unique. An effective logo should contain limited colours and it should identify the name of the media conglomerate, this way, the audience always knows who produced the film.
Our film logo is going to be simple but be aesthetic. It is a small triangle with the word 'Infinity Pictures' underneath. It uses 2 colours at the most. The logo will be shown at the start of the film in an animated way. It will have a bit of sound too, to fit the genre of horror.

Some of the big media conglomerates have memorable logo's in which we, the audiemce, can remember them easily. Here are some examples of logo's.

Storyboard

Production schedule

When?
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Friday. Filming will begin at 5.15pm when the sun starts to set and the last of the light dissapears. The filming is important as it needs to be precise so it goes accoriding to the plan on the storyboard. We haven't decided on a certain yet as we are leaving our options open for the occurance of rain etc...

Where?
Clifton Campville, inside the house mainly but with a few shots from outside the house. The shots outside of the house will require a tripod so the camera is steady and therefore it will give a better picture of the action that is happening.

Who?
Steve Moore, James Marshall and Josh Bell. Steve Moore and Josh Bell will be doing the acting. Steve (Johnny) is the Main charcater and Josh (hooded charcater) is the major charcater. James Marshall is the director, editor and camera man.

What?
All the shots and scenes should be filmed in 1 or 2 days. This could take more or less than this as it could rain on a certain day which might mean the action will not be as clear as it could be so therefore it might take slightly longer than we expected.

How?
The shots that will be included will be; Long shots, medium shots, over the shoulder shot, pans, forward/reverse tracking, zooms, close ups, establishing shot. We will need to use a range of camera shots so that we cover the main effects of the film and to make it look more professional.

Equipment
Canon 550d DSLR Camera, HD Audio recorder as an external microphone, tripod, footstool for tracking shots, Sony Night vision camera for security camera shots and a laptop, clock, newspaper and glasses as props. We might need to extend the range of props used as it will male the film/scene look more natural. The filming devices we will use cover all of the shots that we film.

Casting

Johnny - Steve Moore (Main character)
Props needed - Laptop, newspaper, clock, night vision camera, glasses

Hooded character - Josh Bell (Major character)
Props needed - Black hooded robe/coat

The hooded character is only shown at the end of the film on the night vision camera. This is the only time he appears on the film. There is no dialogue required in our scene so we haven't written a script. The cast has been assigned certain props so they will meet their character detail that we have planned.

Role Allocation

Director - James Marshall

Writer - James Marhall and Josh Bell

Camera person - Josh Bell and James Marshall

Editor - James Marshall and Josh Bell

Johnny - Steve Moore (Main character)

Hooded character - Josh  Bell (Major character)

We have assigned roles to certain people and have studied the themes that the charcacters will have to portray. We have also informed each charcaters what they have to do and made it aware that they have to act as we have planned in the character detail. We have also assigned certain props to certain characters.

UK Fim council data

According to data released by the UK Film council in 2010, there 31 horror films released in 2010. If you compare this to the thriller genre, which has released 20 films in the UK, there are considerably more horror films that have being released in the UK. If you take into consideration the fact that there were 19 romance films released in 2010, it shows that there are less romance films. There aren't many thriller films released because they dont make much profit on the film. They make on average £19.3 million on gross box office. If you compare this to a romance genre film then it is £58.4 milllion. 3.4% of all releases in the UK are romance films. If you compare this to thriller then it is about the same as thriller stands at about 3.6%. The thriller genre doesn't make much money in terms of the other genres which can be shown by the fact it equaled 1.9% of all income through box office.

The Pitch

Storyline
A male citizen aged around 17 is sitting in his chair on his laptop when he hears a knock on the door. As he gets out of his chair he hears the knock once more. He answers the door rather lazily and is suprised to see knowone there. The male (known as Johnny) has suspicious thoughts about the event that occured 6.00pm. He is reading the newspaper the next day when he hears the clock strike 6.00pm again. Rather strangely, there is a knock at the door. Johnny is bewildered as he causiosly answers the door. Once again there is no-one at the door. Johnny becomes increasingly worried by the events occuring. He sets up a night vision camera outside his house to witness the forecoming events. Little does he know what he is expecting. After another 24 tense hours he waits til 6.00pm. Oncer again there is a knock at the door. He answers it and suprisingly no-one is there. He goes and gets his night vision camera to uncover the visitor he is getting every night. As he looks at his camera he is shocked by what he sees and as the secret is revealed, he is struck by an object from behind...

Charcater detail
Male citizen, aged 17. His name is Johnny.
He is a character with a suspicious mind. He is a technological person who is to an extent quite interlectual. He understands his place in society. Johnny is about 5'7 and has a glasses. His character is portrayed as a innocent member of the public who is targeted by the 'hooded charcter'

Hooded character. Age unknown, name unknown.
This character is only seen once throughout the scene and he is only seen on a night vision camera. He has unknown features and his name and age are also unknown. He wears a black hooded robe and he has some kind of ghostly feature.

This is my mind map about all the ideas that I generated in the planning stage of our production.

Mood boards

A mood board is a type of poster design that may consist of images and text. Designer use mood boards to develop their design concepts and to communicate to other members of the design team.
Below are some examples of mood boards that I created to portray the genre of Action and RomCom.

These Mood Bourds illustrate the genre of Action and a RomCom. By making a mood board it allows the viewer to view shots of a film and it gets the audiences attention as it requires no reading.

Project Questionnaire

We questioned a group of people in our Media class to find out the opinions of three genres which include; Horror, Thriller and romance. We have gathered the results and have summarised what the majority of people like in a film. This ranges from the characters involved in a film to the build up of a film.

Our results are as followed.

For our first question we asked whether the audience prefers a costant storyline, or a storyline with a twist. The majority of the people surveyed said they like a storyline with a twist. This is mainly because it keeps the storyline interesting and keeps therefore keeps the audience interested. By having a twist in the storyline it means that the audience is engaged in the plot which helps in the development of the characters too.

For the next question we asked whether the storline was more important that the action in the film. For a film to be successful they must have a good balance between the story and the action. If the story is more important than the action then this means that while we create our film we must pay close attention to the plot.

According to this question 100% of the audience prefers to have a developing character rather than a constant character that remains the same throughout the film. This keeps the audience hooked as the charcaters are constantly changing which affects the plot. When we create our storyboard for our film, we need to make sure the development of characters changes as it is what the audience looks for in a film.

The question we asked in regards to the age rating appropriate for a horror was received with various responses. We gave the people in our class the option to choose any rating they consider to be appropriate. Three quarters of the people said they thought the age rating should be 18. Only a quarter of the people whow were surveyed said the age rating should be 15.

The start to the story is important as it decides whether the audience is enticed to carrying on watching the film. We asked whether the audience prefers a big build up at the start of the film or the plot slowly builds up. The majority of people would rather watch a film that entices the audiences from the very start of the film. This links witht the fact the action is important as well as the storyline.

In the next question we asked the people in our group, we asked what their favourite villain was. For this questiion we got mixed responses. These were different because people are interested in different types of films. The response to this question shows that when we decide on the type of characters, we need to take into cosideration what ways the the characters could develop so we could take more roles of the audiences desired villains.

When we asked people what their favourite thriller was, it was clear that the majority of people had limited knowledge about thrillers. This was because a lot of the people chose the film we watched in a Media lesson so this shows that it is either a really commonly liked film or it has been seen by everyone.

For this question we gave the people in our class the choice to choose what they found interesting in an antagonist. And suprisingly most people were thinking on the right lines. The majority of the people find antagonists more interesting when they are ruthless. When we create our storyboard we will need to take this on board as it clearly keeps the audience engaged and will therefore find the film more interesting. Finallly the antagonist must have a sense of sophistication as it also links to the fact that the characters development and furthermore improve the ongoing twists in the film.

To conclude, the questionnaire has proven to be a useful source to gather information as it has allowed us to make judgements on how our film should function. It has also helped us understand the needs of the audience and how differently they view films in relation to our own views. To incorporate our findings in to our film we need to plan our film using a storyboard to make the film make more sense and relate to the audience.