Evaluation Taks Three

From this group discussion our group learnt more about some of the strengths and weaknesses of our film.

Evaluation Task Two

I have chosen to compare the character Billy from our film with Nolan from the well known horror film franchise Friday The 13th. I have used a screenshot from the scene where Nolan and his group of friends are heading into the wilderness in search of Camp Crystal Lake, and the mystery Cannabis plants that grow there, i used the scene from our scene as it was the beginning of our characters adventure, linking to Friday the 13th as in both films, a group of young, adventurous teenagers are travelling out into the unknown, in search of different things.

Even the clothes the characters from our film are wearing are relatively similar to those worn by the teenage actors in Friday The 13th as both sets of actors are dressed in relatively casual costumes, such as Jeans and Hoodies.

G321: Evaluation Activity One Check List

OCR Media Studies: G321: Evaluation Activity One Check List

 

 

·         EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)
·         Nine distinct frames posted	Yes
·         Analysis about how typical or not the opening sequences is and how conventions have been adhered to or subverted.	Frame 1: Spelling - discrete Check terminology: high angle shot, close-up shot Frame 5: Comment on how the boot creates an enimga code for the audience as they are left wondering about who the boot belongs to and why is it there. Frame 6: explain why you used a high-angle shot - does it show the characters' vulnerability?
The aspects considered in the nine frames are: 1) The title of the film 2) Setting/location 3) Costumes and props 4) Camerawork and editing 5) Title font and style 6) Story and how the opening sets it up 7) Genre and how the opening suggests it 8) How characters are introduced 9) Special effects	1) Could you explain the meaning of your title and why you chose this for the film. 2) Yes 4) Yes - could you explain the characters costumes and how they represent ordinary teenagers which is a typical convention of horror films? 5) Yes 6) Yes 7) Yes 8) Yes - could you explain the stereptypes and representation of the characters? 9) Do you use any special effects? Could you maybe add a comment about how the lighting was used as a special effect to create tension and suspense?
Media Terminology is used in the analysis.	Yes

 

Evaluation Task One

Screenshot 1: This screenshot is of our opening scene, showing 4 characters in total. This is a medium angle shot allowing the viewers to see the two closer characters full bodies, it also shows the other two charterers in the distance. This image is significant as it shows the beginning of our characters journey to the shack in the woods. This scene suits the conventions of a Horror as characters always start off in a busy, suburban place, but then later progress into a more hidden and discreet location, where the bad happenings begin.

Screenshot 2: This image shows a close up, from a clip we shot to complete a 'Match on Action' section of our film; where one of our characters helps another out of a pit that they were all standing in. The previous shot shows the two characters reaching in, it then quickly cuts to a close up of the hands joining, where it later cuts to a mid-shot of the character climbs out. Many other horror movies, as well as almost every other genre use match on action in their films as it allows the audience to follow the character completely.

Screenshot 3: In this image you can see our Production Company, 'Highland Productions' in a scary white font. This font relates to the horror genre as it is quite creepy and distorted. The background also links to the horror genre as it shows a dark and gloomy tree, stood lonely on a misty hill, giving it quite a mysterious look, while our titles are showing a creepy piano tune is also playing in the background.

Screenshot 4: Screenshot 4 shows a high angle, of which the camera then tracks after the characters as their journey to the shack begins. The shot shows the entrance to some dark, scary woods, however our characters don't seem phased by this at all. This scene follows the conventions of a Horror Film as it shows a mysterious, creepy location. Scenes like this are shown in popular, successful Horror films such as 'Friday the 13th" and "Wrong Turn", therefore the audience would know that this is a horror film and would expect a dramatic scary event to occur in the woods.

Screenshot 5: Screenshot 5 shows a close up of a leather boot, half buried in the mud, in this scene the camera pans along with the actors, it then falls down and focuses on the lost boot, of which none of our actors notice. This links to the horror theme because of the mystery of it, as no one really knows why or how the boot got there.

Screenshot 6: Screenshot 6 is an overhead, high angle shot looking down on our four characters as the begin their journey up into the woods, the camera tracks after them until they stop to discuss why they're going up into the woods. Many films, from all different genres use tracking with their shots to show the characters movement.

Screenshot 7: This image shows a low angled close up of the main characters feet walking past. The only section of the shot you can really see is the shoes, as our characters had to hold torches pointing down in order for the camera to pick them up. We had to do this as at this point in the shoot, night had almost fallen, this was made even worse by the fact that we were under trees, making it even darker. This location however fits in perfectly with our film genre as almost every horror movie has a scene in a dark wooded area.

Screenshot 8: This image shows the silhouettes of tree's against the night sky. This scene conforms to your Horror conventions as many horror films dedicate a scene to showing off how scary the location is. This scene links to horror films such as 'The Blair Witch Project' which is filmed almost entirely in the deep, dark, scary woods. This image gives the audience a feeling of how spooky the woods actually are, allowing them to share the characters feelings, almost as if they were there themselves.

Screenshot 9: Screenshot nine is the title of our film, in a white scary font. This font was actually also used by a horror film called Psycho. This font fits the genre nicely as its kinda scribbily and strange looking. Again we've used the scary background of the misty tree, on the dark gloomy day. This opening meets the conventions of a horror films opening becayse of the colours used, as no bright, posative colours were used, expressing the negativity of our film.

Final 2 Minutes

This is our opening two minutes,the genre of the film is Horror and hopefully the audience should recognise this through the codes and conventions in the film.

Shot List

Shot #1. Long shot of all characters, of which characters walk by the camera.

Shot #2. High angle/medium shot of all characters walking through woods, this shot also tracks after the actors, following over their heads.

Shot #3. Medium shot of characters talking about rumours in the woods.

Shot #4. Low angle shot/tracking of one character.

Shot #5. Medium shot/tracking of two characters.

Shot #6. Long shot to close up of all characters.

Shot #7. Low angle of multiple characters.

Shot #8. Match on action of character being helped out of ditch.

Film production mark

The mark you recieved at moderation for your production is 32/60. Targets for improvement are: work on your titles - you need names of actors and actresses and your titles need to fit the conventions of your genre. You also need to work on your sound - fade cars, record dialogue over the top (Mr Thornton said he spoke to you about this), continue music from opening titles in background - it stops too suddenly and is actually a great choice for setting the mood, so continue with it in the background. If you do this, your mark could improve significantly.

Animatic Storyboard

 

This is our animatic storyboard of all the scenes from our film. This short video is a basic run through of all the shots we chose to include in our film, ranging from medium long shots, to extreme close-up's.

Own Film Treatment

The opening scene starts with two of the characters waiting for two other boys. They then start to walk into the woods. We have used the low key lighting to our advantage as it is a main code for a horror genre. The characters start to talk about a girl that went missing in the woods so they have decided to stay where this incident happened. When they are walking through the woods they reach a pit, this interests the boys and they start to talk about what the pit is used for. In the camera shot we can see a half buried boot but the characters are unaware of this so they keep on moving. The next shot is match on action of Elliot helping Joe out of the pit. When they reach the shack, we started to use close ups to show the audience how serious the story being told. The last shot is of the antagonists staring at the shack whilst holding deadly weapons.

Chosen institution from 'The Big Six'

We have chosen to use Paramount, from 'The Big Six' to use in our opening two minutes due to the fact that the institution Paramount has been used by horror films before such as Friday the Thirteenth and My Bloody Valentine. It was because of Paramount's previous experiences with filming horror movies that we decided to include it in the opening of our horror movie. Because of the style of the horror movies they have previously made we decided it would be a good idea to choose them, as My Bloody Valentine is quite similar to our film.

Elka Productions Test Intro

This is a test intro i made for the beginning of any bmx edits i made for friends in the future. We were thinking of using this for the opening of our film however the colour scene i used doesn't match up with those traditionally used by film companies that specialise in the Horror genre. Based on previous analysis of institutions specialising in the Horror genre Ive realised that black backgrounds with either a white or red font overlayed. Meaning i'm either going to have to change the colour sceme of this currant clip, sawpping the blue for a redish colour, or i'm going to have to start from scratch,in order to make an opening more suited to our horror movie.

Opening two minutes of American Beauty

A character based opening with narration is the 1999 Best Picture American Beauty. The entire opening is narrated by the character himself after his death. We know this as he says 'by the end of this year I will be dead'. This shows an element of foreshadowing. This leaves the audience solely in the hands of the narrator, realising that he knows what is going to happen at the end, showing him as an omniscient force, and as if he's looking down on us. With this in mind, the narrator is able to lead the audience through his day and the audience believes him. The impact this has is again one of intrigue and mystery. The narrator claims he will die within a year, yet his life seems so absurdly ordinary that his imminent death seems out of place. The audience are presented with where the character is at the beginning, and where he is at the end, but not the middle, and this is the main ploy to drag the audience in: they want to know what the middle is, and they want to know how so much changed so quickly.

In 'American Beauty' the narrator tells the audience their opinion, this 'forces' the audience to see the characters and the goings on in a certain light instead of allowing them to have their own opinion. 'American Beauty' is a fictional drama, this approach is taken in order to invite the audience into the films setting. It establishes the characters and the community very quickly. The voice in American Beauty talks from personal experience making the audience able to relate to his character and sympathise with him.

The film has a very strong opening, which establishes characters and setting through a narrator, it makes good use of mystery and intrigue. The audience hooks onto this mystery and it is what pulls them in, causing the strong opening.

Basic Editing Tutorial

Sony Vegas Pro 12 Beginners guide.

 

This is just a basic tutorial i found on YouTube, teaching me some basic techniques about how to use the software. This tutorial made it so much easier to edit our film, as it taught me things such as importing media, cutting and trimming, adding video fx, saving your project and exporting/rendering the clip.
 

Time Management

On the 14th of December we had panned to film our media but when it came to the day one of our actors dropped out. This caused us to stop the filming and then find a replacement actor. When we had found our replacement we then planned to film on the 28th and the 29th of December. we had arrived at the location for our filming then it started raining, so we had decided to go home and arrange to film another day.We arranged to film on the 2nd of January, this went well and we successfully filmed our media work.

Date	Time
14th December 2013	6pm – 10pm	Actor dropped out
28th December 2013	5pm – 10pm	Rained
29th December 2013	3pm – 7pm	Rained
2nd January 2014	4pm – 10pm	Filmed successfully

Mood Board

A small Mood Board showing a few things from our film idea.

This mood board shows several things that we want to include in our film. The first image is of the Blair Witch Project, we have got inspiration from this film in several ways. At first we thought we could use the idea of filming it like a 'home movie', we would have needed a camera with less good quality in order to show the differences between the cameras. Another aspect of inspiration we got from the Blair Witch Project was the location, it is situated in a dense forest. This location denotes darkness and mystery as you can't see much due to the trees obscuring the light.
The weapons (axe, hammer and hand held scythe) are on this to show that the antagonists are gruesome and far from professional killers. This brings an aspect of reality to the film because no ordinary person will expect to be killed by a professional killer. This brings it closer to home and people will expect that it is a possibility it will happen to them.
There are several masks on the story board because we thought we would dress the antagonists all in black and find masks to hide their faces. This would hide their emotions and expressions making it more scary because you can't predict what they will do if you can't see their face. Both masks are from the horror movie Saw, they are used very effectively in this film so it inspired us to use a similar idea.
We have put the picture of the road on the mood board because the film starts with the group of teenagers driving towards the woods on a road, they then walk away from it for a while, this shows how far away from civilisation they are and even if help comes, it will take a while to get to them.
The final two pictures show a wooden shack and woods in the dark. After watching The Blair Witch Project, we were inspired to film in the woods because it is easy to be selective over what the audience see's. It also allows the audience to see lots of silhouettes of trees and this creates tension because they think any silhouette could be the antagonist. We also chose to film in a wooden shack because it looks isolated and far from any help. It also shows that the protagonists wouldn't be comfortable in this location whereas the antagonist may be.

Research and planning provisional mark

Name of student: Tobi Warrington

	Done?	Comment/target
RESEARCH
Genre Research and mind-maps	YES
Uploaded YouTube videos of openings - analysed	YES	I only counted 5 – you need 5 more (10 in total)
Opening titles analysed in detail – font researched	YES
Uploaded YouTube videos of similar genre openings analysed in detail	YES	Good detail of analysis
Costume and location research – google earth and pictures you’ve taken.	YES	Good detail of comments for location research – could pictures of possible costumes and props to be added to comments?
Actors and props photos and interviews	NO – comments on props
Soundtrack research (non-copyright music)	YES
Audience Research and Profiling (typical audience member and similar films)	Overview of Horror genre given
Institution research (Paramount etc)	YES
Certificate research	YES
PLANNING
Own film idea brainstorm	YEs
Own film treatment	YES
Relevant Online Tutorials and Comment	YES
Documenting of influences on production	YES
Shot lists	For own film?
Consideration  of representation in your film and stereotyping – use theory from G325.	NO
Questionnaire (and feedback) Get some feedback on your initial ideas!	YES
Diary of filming/editing etc with photos and screen grabs	NO
Mood board	YES
Script	NO
Practice titles created and uploaded	YES
Storyboard – animatic.	NO
Filming schedule	NO

 

 

 

Research and planning mark scheme:

 

Level 2

8–11 marks

Planning and research evidence may be partially incomplete;

There is basic research into similar products and a potential target audience;

There is basic organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props;

There is basic work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding;

There is a basic level of care in the presentation of the research and planning;

Time management may not be good.

 

Level 3

12–15 marks

Planning and research evidence will be complete;

There is proficient research into similar products and a potential target audience;

There is proficient organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props;

There is proficient work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding;

There is a good level of care in the presentation of the research and planning;

Time management is good; there is a schedule of filming

There is no animatic storyboard and/or mood board

 

Level 4

16–20 marks

Planning and research evidence will be complete and detailed;

There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience;

There is excellent organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props;

There is excellent work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding;

There is an excellent level of care in the presentation of the research and planning;

Time management is excellent.

 

Research and planning mark       10/20      Level 2

Tobi – your comments are good, but you are missing too much – get the rest completed to the same standard and your mark should go up considerably

Analysis of Film Opening

                                                  Hitch

 

Hitch is a 2005 romantic-comedy starring Will Smith. He plays a 'love therapist', a man who teaches other men how to 'sweep women off of their feet'. The opening scene introduces the audience to Will Smiths character, Alex, and gives them an idea as to what he does and the methods he uses. Throughout this scene, Alex is made to sound extremely experienced in the area of women, as his narration details his knowledge about relationships, showing his expertise. he begins by narrating over a brief montage of different men admiring specific women from a distance which is then usually followed by a dismissive response from the chosen woman. This is a convention of romance films, where one romantic lead doesnt show an interest in the other. In every different situation shown it is always the man admiring the woman rather than vice versa, making women seem more powerful than men.

The location is shown to be in America in a city environment, likely New York. This is shown through the classic yellow taxi cab identified with New York in many classic films. New York is a popular setting for many romance films, as it has a mass market appeal as many people across the world can identify with New York. We then see the lockers in an apartment block. A woman we have followed through parts of the montage leaves the foreground of the shot, as she does this Alex enters the foreground in close-up, also becoming the focus pull of the shot. This shot is the first time we see Alex and during this scene he is the only person in the shot - other than briefly referring back to the men and women we saw before. By doing this, it shows his domincance and ability to entice and attract people towards him. The narration continues, although it is now delivered directly to the audience in a soliloquy from Alex, breaking the fourth wall.

Alex's costume is a suit, showing he is a professional in his line of work. The lack of tie and undone top button on his shirt also suggests a laid back attitude. In other words, the audience is supposed to look at Alex as a cool character. He is also shown as very mysterious in the clip because he only interracts with his 'clients' and speaks directly to the audience, other than this he doesnt speak to anyone making the audience think he doesnt have close friends or family. We know of his importance because he gets the prevalence of the shots as soon as he is introduced, and is mainly shown in close-up. The audience also sees his intelligence and methods in the introduction. Alex uses a dog to lure another dog to him, that belongs to the woman shown in the montage. He then hands the dog to a man outside her apartment block, who then lays in front of a cab with her dog in his hands, so the woman believes he dived in front of it to save her dog.

We see 2 quick shots of Alex shaking hands with the other 2 men shown in the montage, which suggests he is popular and successful in what he does. The next shot is a long shot of the man handing the dog back to the woman, which then pans downwards and puts the foreground in focus to show Alex talking again to the camera. He talks about the "basic principles" and tells the audience how any man can get any woman, which provides the hope and inspiration many of the target market look for in a romance film. The opening scene ends with an establishing shot of the famous New York skyline, confirming the setting of the film.