Final film - Trace Decay

Assessment of Evaluation posts for Q. 4and 6 (SJA Feb 14th)

WWW:

• Looking over your blog, I am pleased that you have made a really good start on all Evaluation questions Jamie - your responses are looking very good so far
• There are some good attempts to make posts visual in some way, and your written comments show a generally good grasp of what each question requires of you

EBI:

• To improve, and move that standard of your work towards a B-A grade, you should come back to your posts and continue to develop them Jamie.
• I checked Q. 4 and 6 carefully, as these were the 2 that we agreed on in last Monday's lesson. There are some developments that I'd like you to do to improve each...
• Q. 4 is currently Very Good, and I think Prezi is a good, creative way to explore your target audience, but this could be moved to 'Excellent' through the inclusion of screen grabs from your own film sequence with added explanation about why your film is suited to the types of males you describe as your target audience - also - go back and proof read to check spelling carefully
• Q. 6 - I think you need to come back to this and develop it using screen cast software (like JING) to talk through how you use technologies everyday (talk through yourself opneing up iMovie to edit, blogger to develop coursework, Live Type to work on titles, etc, etc... Use 'technology' to explain how you are developing your skills in technology.

Overall effort for Q. 4 and 6 GD - with IN (improvement needed) to secure higher end of Lev 4

Teacher assessment (06-02-2012)

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Teacher assessment of our opening sequence.

Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

During peer assessment me and my group gained constructive criticism on what problems were evident from our preliminary task earlier in the curriculum, we also received insight into how our latest production is coming along in terms of conventions, and typical elements of films in the thriller genre. Finally I received peer insight into how me and my group have progressed overall in our media skills since the preliminary task.

Preliminary Task
There are a number of problems that are evident when watching my groups preliminary task and my peer was able to pick these out. Looking back at the preliminary task we see a constant use of handheld shots, leading to a constant shudder in every shot, and one of the curriculum marks is based around being able to hold a shot steady, and this could easily be improved by using a tripod, and a fig rig for moving shots e.g tracking. The evaluation also suggests that the shot types in the preliminary task are simple and not very creative, and this is down to the fact that little planning and meaning went into using certain shot types. However this lack of planning was not our choice, but it was down to the fact that we learned of the task the same lesson that we filmed. This evaluation also suggests that during this task our actors had little confidence, as there seemed to be a constant giggling throughout, and the plot seemed too spontaneous and wasn't very serious. However i feel that our new product will show how our group has gained greater confidence in our ability of using media technologies and in acting.

Main Task
The peer evaluation has shown great improvement in all aspects of planning and creation. One of the biggest improvements evident since the preliminary task, was our ability to keep all of our shots steady, and when we did notice a slight shudder in part of our shot, we cut and deleted it in the editing stage. The sheet also shows that the masses of planning for the plot and shot types has a positive effect on the outcome. Since the preliminary task we have learned about how each shot and angle has meaning and creates an interpretation for the audience, and we constantly had this in mind when we went through all aspects of creation. One thing that is in great need of improvement is the soundtrack, it is very one dimensional. We found a single droning sound and repeated it, this has left the soundtrack feeling one dimensional and not very textured. We are planning to improve this, creating music specifically to play with the pace of the music, changing on specific shots.

Overall this constructive criticism has shown what we have done well, but what aspects are in great need of improvement, and we can now focus on these areas when creating our piece in the future

Here is our final draft of our production submitted Monday 30th Febuary




Throughout both of these productions I took the lead role in filming, meaning I also had to contribute largely to the creative side of things, designing and framing interesting shots for the viewer. The preliminary task entailed a series of simple and safe shots, to provide a naturalistic situation, for example a close up. In the new finished product we attempted to avoid this completely by displaying a wide variety of different shots at different angles, with a wide selection of shot distances. Here are some examples...

We also improved our film in terms of mise-en-scene. Our preliminary task was very spontanious in terms of decisions made about mise-en-scene, leaving us with a piece with little atmosphere. Contrasting to this is the mise-en-scene of our new product which creates an eerie atmosphere, and makes the audience feel unsettled and anxious.

Another great improvement since our preliminary task is the believability of the piece. Throughout the preliminary task Grace didn't take her role very seriously, as she was perhaps lacking in confidence. This can be seen through the nervous giggling and exaggerated movement i.e passing the paper to the teacher...

However throughout the duration of our film making Grace seemed to become allot more comfortable in front of the camera, and performed her role greatly making a very believable character. I believe that this was due to constantly filming throughout the preliminary task, and introductory tasks. She eventually became completely comfortable and displayed her skills as an AS drama student...

Q1. In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products

As thrillers go there are a number of typical conventions that make them instantly recognisable, as being a film of that genre, these conventions can be seen through the use of all four film mediums: Mise-en-scene, Editing, Cinematography and Soundtrack.

Mise-en-scene-
In the genre of thriller the lighting can be seen as being low key, this creates tension within the peice, and makes the audience feel uneasy, as they feel someone could be lurking in the dark. This is typically used in horror thrillers, and other subgenres for this reason, as it helps create the adrenaline fueled experience belonging to any successful thriller production.
The use of location and setting in darker thrillers is also essential in creating this edgie, unpredictable atmosphere. Our production is no acception as we have filmed in a dark isolated car-part, leaving our protagonist alone in the centre of the chaotic situation surrounding her.

Cinematography-
During opening sequences for thriller films, the cinematography is used to create mystery, making the audience ask questions about the situation. The use of extreme closeups in these opening sequences give the audience subtle clues that will become more sugnificant later in the production. We have again incorperated this into our opening sequence, through the use of extreme closeups on our main character, giving the audience clues about what previously happened, they are also used to give the audience insight into the characters feelings. The use of an establishing shot in thriller films is also essential as it establishes the situation around the main character. In our opening sequence we used an extreme longshot in order to show the main character looking isolated and insugnificant in this setting.

Editing-
Editing pace and use of certain effects are essential in creating that thriller persona that we all know. The use of fast paced editing shows a situation is somewhat chaotic, as the camera needs to constantly cut to record different things happening in the same location. However during opening sequences the cuts are usually allot slower, as a number of establishing shots are shown creating context for the audience. We have chosen to use slower shots in our opening sequence, as the pace eludes to the actual events, Grace awakens looking disorientated and confused, and we feel we couldn't create this feeling with a faced paced series of shots. We have also chosen to incorperate a subtle but proffessional looking effect, this is present in our point of view shot. We used an effect called gaeshan blur to show Grace awakening and being confused and disorientated.

Soundtrack-
The soundtrack in thriller films is essential in creating the right atmosphere for the audience, it is the main factor creating tension within a peice. In darker thrillers it is typical of the soundtrack to be slow and constantly increasing in intensity, linking to the pace of the editing. During our opening sequence we have incorperated a slow soundtrack, constantly building in intensity as our protagonist becomes aware of the gravity of the situation surrounding her. We have also incorperated a heartbeat layered over the actual music, making it more textured and intense. It is typical of some darker thrillers to not have any backround sound in their opening sequences, and we have chosen to replicate this, as we feel the music alone creates enough tension, and the lack of background noise gives the peice a ghost like feeling.

Here are some of the films that inspired us to create our piece, among some of our own shots for comparison

Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why

Lionsgate
The purpose of a distribution company is to take a film production and market it to the producers desired market. Each distribution company has their own identity in terms of the films they have distributed as well as their own style and patterns that can be seen in each production. Lionsgate seem to distribute more controversial and risky pictures, as they are made for artistic desire other than profit, e.g/ Saw and American Psycho. This has interested us as we feel our movie would be somewhat controversial and different, and Lionsgate's sinister darker productions bare great similarities to our opening sequence and the feel that we are going for.

Paramount Vantage
Paramount Vantage is a branch from the incredibly popular and wide distribution of Paramount Pictures. This side company seems to focus on smaller pictures, created for artistic merit appealing to more of a niche market rather than a mass market. We are considering using this production company as they tend to collect films of with individual ratings and appeal such as No country for old men, and we find this quite appealing, as our film is more of acquired taste, appealing to a niche market.



Our production company was created by my group. We thought of a name suitable for a production company owning darker, twisted forms of thrillers and horror pictures. We eventually came up with a name suiting this persona: "Seedy Motel Productions." It was my responsibility to create the production logo slide in LiveType. We found a suitable font using Dafont and imported that into livetype. I then added a flashing effect on each individual letter at different times, to create the flickering light effect. I then used a shut down effect allowing for a black screen fade into our production. Looking at the finished piece i think the production logo looks completely suited to our film and similar pictures that inspired us.

A final thing we had to consider as a group was of course the age rating and restrictions of our piece. As a group we decided that 18 was in-fact too high as our film doesn't incorporate any form of gore or horrific language. We eventually decided our film would be a 15 as the themes are dark, and some swearing is present, but it is not harsh enough to warrant a rating of 18.

Q5. How We Appealed To Our Audience

The overall feel of our Thriller attracts a certain market. Our opening sequence shows this film to be a darker and more sinister form of a typical thriller, similar to products such as Se7en and Zodiac, as it bares a deep, unpredictable story-line in which the viewer is engaged. This would surely appeal to our niche market of young males ageing from 16-24 as they are typically looking for an adrenaline fueled experience when they go to see a movie, and this story line allows for this to be created. The fact that our character is a teenager, also means that the audience can relate to her personality, as they maybe bare similarities or know people that do, making the story more tangible and realistic.

How to make gif

Our target market is primarily made up of citizens of the working class. This is represented through the use of location and setting, as the area looks industrial and rough, quite the opposite of an area we would expect to be an area inhabited by middle class citizens. I also feel as if the dead male is a typical perception people have of middle class people, as he is shown in a suit suggesting he works in quite a high payed important job, and he looks out of place in this gritty environment.

We also managed to gather vast amounts of feedback from our audience via the internet. We posted the final version of our media product onto youtube, and returned to the page days later to find great deal of positive feedback; suggesting that our media product was successful in creating the persona we desired in the planning stages. There are also a number of pointers giving us constructive criticism on how we could tweak and improve minute details to create a fully polished piece. We will definitely take these into consideration, considering that the feedback is from our target market, and the film was constructed for their pleasure.

         

One main problem that we eventually need to address gtgsfj's suggestion: "When grace is coughing there is background noise". We will re-record this sound and import it into our imovie project as a little segment of audio.
Here is the problem mentioned...

Assessment 22/01/12 SJA

WWW:

• You have attempted the 3 posts we have required you to complete so far
• There is evidence of you trying to use a range of media to present your ideas. The use of Prezi is effective for your post on 'Audience - but wiull need more development

EBI:

• Please create a New Label for your 'Evaluation' posts Jamie
• Jamie, all posts still need more work and development to improve to Level 3 or 4. Your post on 'Technologies' needs to become much more than the bullet point list that is currently there. You need to SHOW how you use technology. Creating a JING presentation where you talk through how you use Blogger, iMovie, Prezi, Bubbl, etc. in the planning, editing and general daily expectations of media lessons would be a good way of making this post more visual and interesting. Film you and your group members using and setting up cameras / editing / importing....  Have visual evidence of you using technologies.
• Your post on 'Representation of Social Groups' also needs more development. Bubbl is 'OK' - but limited Jamie. It really is 'just another spider diagram'... Think about how you can incoporate images to SHOW your examiner how you intend to represent particular social groups.
• To date, the strongest evaluation post is your one on 'Audience' - good to see you using rezi here to present ideas. Again, it could do with more development and use of images / filmed material... I will assume it is still a work in progress.

Effort: 'OK'... but still IN Improvement Needed on all 3 posts.

Q6. What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product

Technologies used so far

• YouTube                        
• Gif soup
• Gif maker
• Freesound
• Dafont
• iTunes
• Jing
• Mac Computers                                   
• Video Cmaera
• iMovie HD
• Fig-rig
• Tri-pod
• Blogger
• Live Type
• Prezi
• Bubbl
• Photoshare

Effects Used In Our Production

1. Gaeshan Blur
2. Transitions
3. Fade
4. Slow Fast Reverse
5. Colour Adjustment
6. Contrast & Brightness

• Blur effect - we used this effect to show our protagonist looking disorientated and confused during a point-of-view shot in which she awakens and looks at her surroundings.
• We darkened the Contrast and the Brightness of the shots at the house inorder to give the impression that it was night-time, when we filmed those perticular shots during the day. This was essential for our continuity as our car park shots were filmed at night.
• We used the Slow/Fast/Reverse effect in order to slow down a perticular shot for dramatic effect. The shot we wanted to alter was a close-up of blood dripping onto the floor, we wanted to add a subtle effect, to ensure the audience could see the drip of blood fall from the characters hand to the floor. It also made the shot more appropriate to the genre, and more interesting for the audience.

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups

This is Mike

Mike is a 17 year old boy, he goes to a local college and is considered as being from a working class family. His father works as full time electrician, and his mother works as a carer.

Mike works hard at school, and is quite popular.

He plays for the school football team, and studies construction and PE.

Mike is looking into following his fathers footsteps by taking up an apprenteship under his father.

Mikes hobbies include going out with friends, partying, playing football and swimming.

Mike has an orange membership and goes to the cinema once a week with his 2 sisters.

Mike typically enjoys films he can relate to, with a realistic setting, with a plot that is easy to grasp.

He enjoys some mystery, but he is just looking for entertainment.

His favourite films include: Salt, Se7en, Zodiac, Taken and Law abiding citizen.

He seems like the typical person that would come to see Trace Decay

 

Q4. Who would be the audience for your product

Our Audience on Prezi

Our Shooting Schedule

This schedule will help us get us organised, in terms of meeting in the right places, at the right time, knowing exactly what shots need to be filmed on that particular day.

Teacher Assessment of Research Draft

Peer Assessment of Planning

character description

Alice:

She's a young girl in her early 20's, she has a good social life and goes out with friends often. Unfortunately she doesn't have a very good family life as when she moved out to find her own place she never made an effort to see them, eventually they got further and further apart until finally she stopped seeing them completely. She tends to make the wrong decisions and gets herself into trouble a lot of the time.

'Dead man':

A young business man in his late 20's who's proud of what he's achieved in life. He has a good career and is very focussed on his goals. He has a great family life but not such a good social life. This is because he lacked confidence in speaking to people throughout his childhood, making it extremely hard for him to make any friends.

props, costumes and locations

Props:


Here are a few ideas of some of the props we could use in our opening sequence. They include an old beaten up mobile phone, an old Bible and fake blood. These props would be suitable to use for a thriller as they could all relate to our story and emphasise an atmosphere of mystery to the audience.


Costume:
The dead man on the floor is wearing a black suit with blood on his shirt. This will help convey mystery to the sequence as the audience will question why the man's wearing a suit.

The girl will be wearing ripped blue jeans with blood smeared on them. She will also be wearing a white shirt with small tears in them. The audience will now think why the girls clothes are ripped and have blood on them.

Locations:
We are going to film in the St Nicholas car park in Sutton. We think this will be a good location to film in as it would be effective at creating a mysterious atmosphere for the audience. The audience will then question the significance of this setting.

These are the locations we will be using in our opening sequence. The first scene is the ST Nicholas car park in Sutton. We have chosen this location as not only does it fit in with the theme of our sequence but also because of the lighting and atmosphere it give the audience. The next location is my house. The front door will be shown in one of the shots with Alice trying to open it. The next shots re of my bathroom. Once Alice goes into the house she then goes into the bathroom to try and wash the blood off her hands.

Possible Title Fonts

Using Dafont, i began searching for title fonts that would look suitable for our opening sequence.
The majority of fonts i collected look quite distorted, which relates to the idea of the main characters
memory failing. I decided while looking through that i would collect a numeber of fonts from the typewriter
section in Dafont, i did this because i wanted the fonts to have a professional look, and some of the fonts
under other sections look somewhat unprofessional, with the titles matching each genre in the typical fashion, which i thought was too much of a cliche, e.g. a blood dripping font used for a horror film.





As a group we have decided that we will show our titles over actual footage rather than
showing them over a black background, as the sequence is only two minutes long, meaning
the sequence would be incredibly dull using this method. Although this method is interesting
as it creates the atmosphere for a film, through the use of the soundtrack, and the colour anf font
of the titles. However we will extract certain crew member responsibilities and mention them in
our sequence.




We feel as if this method is more appropriate, as it is alot more interesting for the audience
and gives the audience an idea and a feel for the film. This will allow us to create a sense of mystery
while introducing certain characters from our film. Some of the titles previously selected could be used here
while the titles showing the cast and crew and appearing in different shots. The positioning if the titles are also something to be considered. Personally i think we should have the cast and crew members appearing in the
corner of the screen in a simple typewriter font.

Animatic - Storyboard

list of props, costumes and locations

Props:


Here are a few ideas of some of the props we could use in our opening sequence. They include an old beaten up mobile phone, an old Bible and fake blood. These props would be suitable to use for a thriller as they could all relate to our story and emphasise an atmosphere of mystery to the audience.


Costume:
The dead man on the floor is wearing a black suit with blood on his shirt. This will help convey mystery to the sequence as the audience will question why the man's wearing a suit.

The girl will be wearing ripped blue jeans with blood smeared on them. She will also be wearing a white shirt with small tears in them. The audience will now think why the girls clothes are ripped and have blood on them.

Locations:
We are going to film in the St Nicholas car park in Sutton. We think this will be a good location to film in as it would be effective at creating a mysterious atmosphere for the audience. The audience will then question the significance of this setting.

The lighting in this shot makes this an effective location for our opening sequence as it's dark and would be a typical setting for a thriller.

The Cast!

How to make an avatar

I am the group director of camera shots, as-well as being the sound guy. I will be that main person behind the camera making sure everything is framed well and looks right for our genre. I am also working on the sounds and music to our film, researching and creating the music which will ultimately set the mood for our film.



How to make an avatar

Chris Pattwell is one of our actors and also behind the choices for our costumes and any props we may use. Costumes are very important as they need to link in with our genre and work well with what is happening in the opening sequence.



How do you make gifs

Grace Potton will be an actor in our film and also the overall editor. The editor is important for creating the final film and by making all the shots link and work together, she will have to make all the transitions work well in between our film so that they all flow continuously.

As a group we have all decided on the set of our film because we all have to be completely comfortable with where we are filming and the overall look to our opening sequence. Also we have all decided on the titles of our opening sequence and we still have to decided on the name of our film which will be a group decision.

Initial Planning

These videos show me drawing the illustrations in the story-board, matching the setting and the shot types shown in the shot list being created by chris.



This is a slideshow showing all the shots from our storyboard. This will help us know exactly what shots are needed for each scene, and how we should frame them.

Peer Asessment

shot list

These are the shots we will use. they include mid shots, close ups and over the shoulder shots. We have also included tracking and other camera movements.

Initital ideas for shots. Have now been altered

Sounds/Sound Effects

We are planning to use this sound effect when an extreme closeup is shown of the killers hand, as he underlines a passage in the bible, in his dark laire. I will eventually import this to Cubase and take a short segment of the audio, changing the tempo to sync with the footage we have collected.



This sound is perfect for the religious thriller genre we are using. These chants sound quite ominous and dark, while also sounding ancient, which is relevant to our bibliographical element. I will later import this into Cubase overlaying it over the other sounds, at points where it seems relevant.



I discovered this music while looking for a heavy panting sound and although it wasn't what I looking for I instantly made a note of the link, as i feel this sound is perfect for creating an eerie, unsettled atmosphere, and it fits the setting of a dark car park really well. This will later be incorporated over the other sounds to create a ominous soundtrack.



This is another example of a long, droning sound that could be used to create a tense, sinister atmosphere. This could be used during a scene, where the killer is looking at his victim, praying over her body. This sound will fit with the chanting really well, and will create a great scene.



I have decided to use this sound as i can manipulate it in Cubase, and take certain clashing notes of the piano, and increase their attack and volume making them catch the audience off guard at tense moments throughout the opening sequence

I am also planning to incorporate my own guitar tracks in which i will play sinister guitar chords and melodies to add some sounds in the higher register to my track, making the soundtrack nicely layered with different textures.

Audience Research 2