Research: Target Audience Feedback

Target audience feedback is an important part of the process in creating a film. It is used to give us, the film producers, a clear idea of what our target audience will prefer to see in our final production. We presented 15 people, who fit in the bracket of our target audience, with two possible film openings that we have created. They read the openings and the commented on which one they liked the best and what they liked about it. Although this is only a brief survey, it gave us an idea of whether these ideas were good or if we needed to re-think our potential openings. When we did the survey, all the people we interviewed were enthusiastic about the openings and were thoroughly engaged. From this we can tell that these potential openings were a success. We created the pie chart and also a short video of what a few people thought about their favourite opening.

 

 

Research: Pen Portrait Of Target Audience

This is the pen portrait for our target audience. The idea of the pen portrait is to narrow down the qualities of our ideal target audience to who we would like to have watch our horror film. This is a much more specific version of what we envisage our audience to be and it almost describes one person. We looked at qualities like age, social media usage, sports, jobs, family and home life, food likes and obviously film interests. The pen portrait that we have come up with is the one below;

Planning: Possible Film Openings

As a group we have come up with two possible film openings. The reason we have done this is so that we can see what type of opening our target audience will enjoy the most. The aim is to present a group of people with these opening and get their opinion on which they prefer. When this has been done we will have a better idea of what will make our film opening a success. The possible openings are as follows;

Film Opening One

 

• Who: The Psychiatrist that will appear in the film as the main character and villain, and one patient that he choses as one of his victims.
• When: At the middle of the day, in a meeting between the two characters. The victim is a patient of the Psychiatrist so visits him often.
• Where: The two characters are sitting in the Psychiatrists office having one of their regular meetings, the patient is sitting on a sofa with his/her back facing the door with the Psychiatrist sat opposite.
• What: The Psychiatrist is asking the patient questions and recording the answers. After a while, the Psychiatrist excuses himself and walks out of the room. When he goes outside, he picks up a blunt object and takes his shows off at the door to avoid being heard. The Psychiatrist then walks back into the room, stands behind the patient and lifts the weapon - as he brings down the weapon and just before it makes contact with patient the scene cuts to titles.

 

 

Film Opening Two

 

• Who: The Psychiatrist will briefly appear in the opening, but just the character writing in a book or notepad, so the face of the character may not be included due to a lack of importance of any story.
• When: There is no time or date for this opening as it is an opening with no story, but based on the opening titles, like in Se7en.
• Where: Again, there is no story line in this opening so there is no location for the opening, however when the psychiatrist is briefly shown, it will imply that he is in his office even if the filming doesn't take place there.
• What: Like in the opening to Se7en, the opening will be wholly based on the opening titles. The structure of the opening will be a selection of clips of the psychiatrist writing, blood splatters across a page, glimpses of the psychiatrists head collection etc.

Research: The Importance Of Sound In Horror Films

In any kind of movie, music and sound are an important factor in creating an atmosphere for the audience which allows them to explore the film in a lot more detail. The sound of some films are iconic and can be tied to a particular film, and in horror films particularly. The most iconic of them all is probably Jaws, where the composer, John Williams mainly uses string and wind instruments. When listening to the sound track, the speed of the piece gradually increases to build more tension, as you'd expect of a horror film. From this, we expect that something bad is going to happen which is the entire aim of the music. The music builds on fear but also on excitement as we wait in anticipation of what will happen next. This iconic piece of horror music is now used by everyone when they want to symbolise fear or threat, they will hum the tune and follow the same pattern of getting louder and faster as the threat becomes greater. 

Another major soundtrack in the horror film industry is that of Psycho. As opposed to the Jaws track, this one is more exciting from the offset. The creator, Bernard Herrmann uses string instruments which are played at a fast pace to fulfil the fear element of the piece and to leave the viewer powerless and defenceless. The difference between this and the Jaws soundtrack is that this doesn't build tension, it just jumps in at the deep end however they both have very similar outcomes, in the fact that the audience is in ore of what will happen.


On the flip side of this, instead of talking about the perks of using sound in a horror film, what about a horror film with out music and sound? I watched a horror trailer the other day as part of this research and muted it to see the effect and the feel of it was completely different. Just watching the trailer itself is not enough to build up the adrenaline inside and bring fear to me. This sold me on how important music is to a horror film and now I am focused on producing a good piece of music for my opening to really bring out the horror element of it.

Research: The Importance Of Opening Titles

The opening titles in any film are used to present information to the audience and can also set the tone of the film like in the opening of 'Se7en' where the opening credits present a very eerie feel with the scratchy text font and the dark and creepy background. Apart from setting the tone, the credits also present the audience with initial information that may be found important by the viewers and other information that the film company find important, even if the viewers will pay full attention. The opening titles of a film are more to the point than closing credits. The opening credits include key information, for example:

• Film's title
• Film production company
• Distribution company
• Actor's names
• Director's name
• Producer's name
• Music by…
• Cinematography by…

Research: Codes And Conventions

What is a code?
Codes are elements that can be decoded by the audience to provide meaning. They can be divided mostly into two seperate groups of codes; technical codes and symbolic codes.
Technical codes include the 'technical' aspects of creating a piece of moving image media. Some examples of technical codes are things such as camera shots, angles and movements, editing, sound, titles and lighting.
Symbolic codes include the main elements of mise-en-scene within a film. Mise-en-scene is a french term which stands for 'put in the scene'. Examples of elements this may include are things such as costume, make up, setting and props. If in a film we were to see a girl in a short dress with red lipstick on  this would lead the audience to make an assumption about her. This is due to the symbolic value that comes with these items.

What is a convention?
A convention is very similar to a norm in the sense that it is what the expected rules are. In film, a convention is what the audience expect in a specific genre. For example, in a horror film we expect to see conventions such as the victim being stuck in a remote location (no help), a mobile phone running out of battery or having no signal when a call is about/needed to be made and quite often a young, vunerable female being the victim. There are many more examples of horror films conventions that could be used.

Planning: Broadmoor Films - Horror Film Pitch

Creating a 60 second pitch for any film is important as it allows you and external parties to look at your plot and see what's good, what's bad, what can be kept and what need's to be changed. When you give your pitch you need to give a clear idea of what will happen in the film without giving any important information away that will spoil the ending. Our film company, Broadmoor Films, came up with this pitch to present our idea for our horror film.

Formal Assessment: Essay

Analyse the codes and conventions of horror films as shown in 'Dead Wood', 'Dead Mary' and 'Wrong Turn'.

 





We are making a 2 minute horror film opening in this current project and for our research we have looked at three existing film openings; they are 'Dead Wood', 'Dead Mary' and 'Wrong Turn'. We took notes on the films, looking in particular to the conventions, symbolic codes and technical codes. Conventions are like a set of unwritten rules that you are expected to follow when making a film of a specific genre, in this case, horror. A symbolic code in also known as Mise-en-scene which basically means, the staging. This is things like costumes, location, props and so on. A technical code is the camera work, sounds and title etc.

 

In the three openings, the  conventions were all very similar and all very obvious. The main convention in all three is the use of a secluded area. The reason horror film makers use this is to show the audience that the characters are on their own and have no help when something bad happens. In Wrong Turn, it is emphasised by the man shouting down to the lady, "Y'know we're 50 miles from anybody, who're you screaming for?" which is a clever technique used by the film company to give a clear message to the audience. In Dead Mary, the couple have run out of petrol on a long, dusty, empty road surrounded by woodland. This location is not only far away from civilisation but is also hard to get to due to the woodland so straight away we can see that if they are in trouble, they will get no help. The final film, Dead Wood is set inside a woodland where a couple are camping. This is very similar to the previous two, where they are in a secluded area which is hard to access and is a large distance from other people who could help. Another obvious convention within all three film openings is the vulnerable young girl that is left alone either during the opening or after it. In Dead Wood and Wrong Turn, the young girl is left by themselves after their male friend has been killed or died. The difference between these two and the girl in Dead Mary is that they are killed off, and in this circumstance she is left alone in the car while her male partner goes to fetch some petrol. Although nothing happens to her, the director has done this to give the impression that something is going to happen to this defenceless girl during the 3 minute opening. Other conventions that we see are the radio not picking up any stations, the mobile phone having no signal, characters failing to reach their destination right at the last minutes and the saviour character being killed.

 

The symbolic codes throughout the three films aren't as close as the conventions. By this, I mean that they are all slightly different. For example, when we look at the clothing of the characters in Dead Wood, the male is wearing a very vibrant, Hawaiian shirt and a pair of chino trousers. This is a way for the director to send a message to the audience that this character is very confident and in some ways quite brave. The girl is wearing a more 'normal' kind of outfit, with a long skirt and hooded jacket. In my own opinion I think that this is to symbolise that the girl is quite shy because of the lack of flesh that she is showing. In Dead Mary it is quit a different story, the girl is wearing a very skimpy top and shorts, showing an awful lot of flesh to the viewers which is another way of showing vulnerability by giving off the image that she is very exposed. The Girl in Wrong Turn is also being shown using that technique. Although she is wearing climbing gear, she has opted for a climbing outfit that shows off a lot of flesh which goes back the idea of exposure. The props in all three of the openings are very minimal and aren't focussed on a lot. In Wrong Turn, they only props that are used are the van which she nearly gets to before she is dragged away and the rock climbing equipment that they use to complete their adventure. In Dead Wood, the only prop that is used is the tent. This tent is obviously there for camping but shows the lack of protection that the girl has now that the boy has died. In Dead Mary there are a few more props that have meaning such as the mobile phone and the radio which support the convention of a secluded location. The flare gun is also focussed on a lot which is probably because it will make a return in the film later on when they need it. The other props that are used are the car, the CD and the petrol cans. The main symbolic code used in all three films, like the main convention that runs through all three films is the the location which are all secluded and surrounded in woodland. To recap, the reason that it's secluded and surrounded my forest is to emphasise the inability to easily escape or to be heard and saved by the outside world. The make-up is most prominent in Dead Wood, where the man, Rich, has blood and mud on his face when he is running through the woods. The reason they have chosen to put this on him even though we haven't seen what happened to him or what he's running from is to give the audience a sense of mystery and unease. In the other films, there is no make up used on the characters to give a scary effect, however there is fake blood used in Wrong Turn when the man's body is being hung over the cliff edge and his 'blood' is dripped on to the woman's face.

 

The technical codes throughout the film openings are all very similar but then differ throughout. By this, I mean that throughout a single opening the technical codes are different depending on the situation at the current moment, but as a collective group of film openings, the technical codes are quite similar. The main difference between Dead Mary and the other two films is the frequency of camera angles and shots. In Dead Mary, there are a lot more close-ups and extreme close-ups on the girl and other objects such as the mobile phone and the radio. Although the majority of shots are close-ups, there are a few shots from further away, for example there is an establishing shot from the car wheel and also a crane shot about half way through. In Dead Wood and Wrong Turn, the shots are more from a distance and with only a few close ups after the action has happened and the male characters have died, and when this happens the camera cuts get more fast paced and the shot get closer to show emotion and to add tension. A big thing that I picked up on in Dead Wood was that when Rich was running through the woods, there was some hand-held camera work to show the point of view of the character and incidentally, this is what the shot is called, a point-of-view shot.

 

The sound that is used in all films is split into two categories;

• Diegetic Sound

• Non-diegetic Sound

The non-diegetic sound is the music that is put into the film after the filming has taken place. This is shown in Dead Wood firstly at the title screen where it is quite calm but also eerie at the same time. As the film intensifies, the music then starts to pick up pace. As he runs through the forest and gets past more obstacles the music picks up in pace and gets more creepy and more dark. In Wrong Turn, the music follows exactly the same idea, it starts off calm yet eerie and with every event that takes place it gets more dark and more sinister. The sound in Dead Mary is slightly different as there is no music throughout the opening but there is a mechanical-like noise that runs through and get increasingly more noticeable as the mood turns more scary and jumpy. The diegetic sound in Dead Mary is similar to the other two openings unlike the non-diegetic sound. In Dead Mary, the diegetic sound is the sound of the environment, so trees and bushes, along with the radio failing to work, the impatient heavy breathing and dialogue. In the other two it is the same apart from there is no radio and the heavy breathing is from struggle and determination and not impatience. The use of no music during the acting can be just as effecting as some scary or spooky music but they both must be used correctly. In these cases I would say that they are used correctly to give a sense of fear and tension.

Over-all, the films all follow some of the conventions and common codes although they don't always use the same ones. I think that the codes and conventions they do use have been chosen carefully and well to give a clear hint or even a blindingly obvious image of fear and horror.

Getting Into Groups

For this task I have made a production company called Broadmoor Films along with:

• Jack Gardner - Click Here
• Liam Wood - Click Here

Research: Horror Films Of The 1980s

Research: Horror Films

Horror is a film genre that is based around attacking the emotion of fear that was talked about in the previous post and is targeting a negative emotional reaction from the viewer. They often use scenes that startle a viewer, the supernatural and also a frequent theme to draw in the audience. The horror films may actually overlap with other genres of film such as fantasy, thriller or even action. Horror films can often deal with a viewers nightmares, hidden fears and terror of the unknown. Films within the genre often involve the introduction of an evil force, event or personage. Elements include:

• Ghosts: The Shining (1980)
• Aliens: The Thing (1982)
• Vampires: Dracula (1931)
• Werewolves or vicious animals: The Wolfman (1941)
• Demons: The Exorcist (1973)
• Monsters or Zombies: Frankenstein (1931)
• Serial Killers and/or cannibalism: Manhunter (1986)

Horror films have attracted people since the beginning of the cinema industry. It has been said that horror serves the same purpose to adults as fairy tales do to children, for instance to warn of evil in familiar places. As stated above, the purpose of a horror film is to draw a negative reaction from the view and that is exactly what they do; surveys show that everyone has been affected in this way at least once by an image or clip from a horror film. The appeal of horror film to people depend on the people themselves and what characteristics they have, the film itself and the viewing circumstances. I will give more detail on these below.

• The Viewer And The Film:        Researchers have found many motives for wanting to watch horror films, including the need for excitement, the desire to feel intense emotions and the distraction from everyday concerns. Although there are other types of films that can fulfill some of these needs, for example Drama, movies that display violence and fear at the same time have effects that a drama cannot like the violation of social norms. Also, people don't often view horror films alone. They particularly appeal to men as it is a common talking point between a group, a means of self-presentation  and a source of shared experience. Not everyone will like the blood and gore but many will continue to watch because of other goals such as showing their ability to tolerate it or the desire to master the threatening images. The three main appeals of horror films to males are the excitement generated by the film aka sensation-seeking, the wish to see destruction that is shown in horror movies and the satisfying resolution usually found at the end of the film.

• The Circumstances:        Horror films are typically viewed in comfortable, familiar surroundings with friends or co-viewers nearby. Violent entertainment is proven to be less appealing when the viewer is under genuine threat or experiences fear/anxiety prior to viewing, alone. When humor accompanies the film with in a social group of mates, the reaction of fear is milder. Viewers can limit the effects also, by turning away or talking to a friend, even making mockery of the film to make the viewing of it less passionate. When violence gets too real to the viewer, the film will lose appeal so if music and film editing are made minimal or removed it can have a bigger impact on fear and a lesser appeal to the film.

As most of my fears are for real-life situations as opposed to a specific thing it is hard to find a film specifically related to one of my fears. That being said, I still get affected by a horror film in the way it intends to do so when I have negative release of emotions and a build up of anxiety. If I was to state my favourite horror film I would have to say Slither (2006). It's not a traditional film like the Frankenstein films or Dracula films but I like the quirkiness of the plot. The General plot of the film is that a meteorite collides in a small town. Grant finds it and is infected by a parasite worm which installs in his brain and causes him to have a creepy transformation into a monster. His wife, Starla, and a policeman, Bill, will try to stop him and the worms from infecting the rest of the town. Although it is a horror film, it is not that powerful in it's attempt to force me into a release of emotions in a negative way. You could say that this film is not great as a piece of horror because of this reason however I like it for the story itself as opposed to it's ability as a piece of horror. Does a horror film have to be incredibly scary to be labelled good? I say no.

Research: Fear

Fear is an emotion that is induced by a threat which causes entities, something that exits by itself, to quickly pull away from it and usually hide too. It's described as a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to stimuli such as pain or the threat of danger. In other words, fear is an ability to recognize danger leading to the urge to confront or flee it, also known as the fight or flight response or in extreme cases of fear there's a horror or terror response, a freeze or paralysis response. Some psychologists have suggested that there are a small set of innate emotions and fear falls into this category. Other emotions in this category are joy, sadness, panic, anxiety, acute stress and anger etc.

Fear should be distinguished from anxiety because fear is related to the specific behaviors of escape and avoidance whereas anxiety is the result of threats which are seen to be unavoidable or uncontrollable. Fear almost always relates to future events such as worsening or continuation of a situation. Fear can also be an instant reaction to something presently happening. All people have an instinctual response to potential danger which is important to survival of every species. Fear can be a manipulating and controlling factor in an individuals life.

 

Common Fears And How They Affect Me

 

According to surveys, some of the most common fears are of demons, evil powers, insects, spiders, snakes, heights, water & drowning, small spaces, bridges, social rejection, failure and public speaking. Here is some information on a few other fear that have been proved to be the most common.

• Death: A lot of psychologists have been interested in the fear of death and how it can impact on the life of a person. One of the most interesting theories that they have studied is how the fear of death can influence religious commitments. Top psychologists have stated that those who are most firm to their faith and attend regular religious practices are the ones who are least afraid of dying. Another survey showed that  church-centered religiousness and spiritual seeking are distinct ways of tackling fear with death and old age. Shelly Kagan says that the conditions needed for fear to occur are that the requires something bad to happen and there must be a non negligible chance of the bad things to happen in the mind of the person with the fear. This means that death is a very common fear because everybody has a non negligible chance of dying; it happens to everybody at one point. I would say this is one of  my biggest fears because I don't know when it will happen to me.

• Heights: A fear of heights is also known as Acrophobia and it belongs in a group called specific phobias. Most people experience a slight degree of natural fear when exposed to a height especially if there is no protection, however some people people can be quite confident in these situations. Sufferers of a fear of heights can experience a panic attack in a high place and become too agitated to get themselves down safely. It can be triggered when looking down from a height or by looking straight up at a height.I personally have a fear of heights and I think at it is of the thought of falling from the height. It is a possibility that the actual fear is of death and the fear of heights it a knock on effect from this phobia. My fear has probably developed through me getting older and having more challenges or opportunities to experience heights and I have not learnt to deal with each step and it has gradually got worse and worse.

• Public Speaking: The fear of public speaking is official called Glossophobia, and can also be called speech anxiety. This is just one branch of a collected group of fears called social anxiety disorder. The symptoms of a fear of public speaking are;
-Intense anxiety prior to or at the thought of having to verbally communicate with any group,
-Avoidance of events which focus the group's attention on an individual,
-Physical distress, nausea or feelings of panic in such circumstances.
I think that my fear of public speaking has come from a want to not be embarrassed. Public speaking is an intimidating thing and if you make a mistake it can have long and hard consequences. It has developed over time from getting older and being expected to make presentations to a class or stand in an assembly. Although I would try to avoid public speaking I can not get out of it sometimes so at times my fear can be improved by practice. 

Below is my class work. We had to write down 2-3 of our fears and explain how they came into existence within our lives and how they have developed in time. Rebecca used the green pen, Jack used the blue pen, Jake used purple and I used the orange pen. I have magnified my work and in case my writing can not be read well, I have written what it says.

"Anything that could kill me. The concept of death isn't the worst part of 
knowing we all die, it's not knowing how you will die. This is what scares 
me. This fear has developed by me getting older, and realizing that there
 are hazards everywhere."

"Heights. The idea of being at a level where if you fall you will probably
 die scares me. This has developed as I've got older and you can go to 
greater heights"

Main Task: Set Brief

The titles and opening of a new teen horror film, to last a maximum of two minutes.

All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copy-free source.

Preliminary Task

This is the piece of film that has been made to practice my skills in pre-production, production and post-production. I had the same editing task as my test edit on a previous posts but as opposed to being given pieces of footage, the group I was in had to plan the film and film all the clips to add into the film. To do this we had the storyboard planning and a location planning to do which are on previous posts too as well as the casting where we had to consider and pick the actors that will star in the film. The product that we made is blow and then underneath that are some questions and answers about the process and experience of making the film.



What did you learn from the experience of filming the footage required for your preliminary task? What went well and what could have been done better?

During the preliminary task, I have learnt many things that I can take forward into other tasks with in my Media Studies course. In the production stage, I learnt how to film a basic piece of footage using the iPad, and also how to get the best out of an iPad camera. I have learnt how to control the light when filming by positioning the camera differently. One part of the production process that went well was the pieces of footage that we got, the acting was good within the piece.This was obviously an important thing to us but then we had some faults like the set up of the camera, we had a mix of landscape and portrait. Other things that I have learnt during my preliminary task is the post-production techniques - for example I have learnt how to add things to my film, not just take parts away from the clips. Adding things like music and transitions are very basic and easy to do but only when you have learnt to do it, and I learnt this by actually doing it with my preliminary task.

What is the difference between pre-production, production and post-production?

Pre-production:
This is the beginning stage of all film making. It is the original plans that have been put in place to start the image of the proposed film. Our planning to this film was the original research into movie editing, camera shots and movements and how to use the iPads. In further films we wont need these but for this project it was essential. In other films, like this one too, we will need to research the genre on which the film will be based. Other planning will then be the storyboard, the location planning and casting.

Production:
This is the filming of the clips needed to produce your piece. It is literally what it says on the tin and is just filming all the film either in order or in a random order using all the camera shots that you think you may use based on your storyboard. This is the shortest part of the three processes and seems the most simple but can have bad consequences if there is a mistake, i.e. having to re-film a section or all of the film depending on your circumstances and resources available. 

Post-production:
This is the end section of making a film. It is the final chance that you have to make your film the best it can be, so you can cut out clips that you don't want or don't necessarily need and you can add extras to improve the over-all finish of the film. This is probably the most important part of the film making production stages as it is the last chance you have, before publishing the piece, to make sure all the requirements have been met like having a high level of continuity and match on action; without a high quality post-production process the film may fail!

How easy did you find editing with iMovie? Explain at least 4 different skills or techniques that you learnt during this process.

Now that I have learnt how to use iMovie in my test edit and the preliminary task I find it very easy to edit things into a film that makes sense. The sort of things I have learnt in this task are minimal but essential for a film that makes sense with match on action. This includes:

• Transitions between frames
• Incorporating music and sound effects
• Reducing or removing sound or volume
• Clipping footage
• Adding text or titles to the film piece

This list is just a selection of the techniques learnt during the preliminary task, they are the main things that I will need to make a successful film as well as good content. They will always be needed to make sure that the audience has an understanding of the mood/tone (music), has a clear understanding of where a character has moved too (transitions) or just to give a brief preview of the genre (opening credits and music combined).

What is continuity edition?

Continuity editing is all about getting a film that moves on swiftly which will involve editing it to have match on match action. This means that when two clips are put together there should be no sharp changes in camera positions when the camera angle is the same. Continuity also involves having one movement of a character, so for example if you wanted to change the camera shot or angle when a character is walking down a corridor, the end point of the first clip and the start of another should match so that the character is at the same point in the switch. Without this sort of continuity, the film will be 'jumpy' and will look incredibly unprofessional.

What do the following terms mean; a) match on action, and b) shot / reverse shot?

a) Match on action is a media term that is used to describe a part of the continuity of a film. The term itself means that a section of footage must fit together like two jigsaw pieces; perfectly or not at all. The idea is that the end of one clip must correspond with the start of the next otherwise it will look like the character had jumped ahead of the film or has jumped behind. Match on match action is probably the biggest part of the post-production process.

b) Shot/reverse shot is an important type of camera angle within the media, especially in our preliminary task. The knock knock joke means that there is frequent changes in dialogue in the film so the camera must move from on character to another instantly. This is called a shot/reverse shot which moves the camera to another character without showing any movement of the camera; it is an instant move to a camera shot from one position to another.

Analyse your preliminary task as a piece of continuity editing. What are the strengths and what are its weaknesses?

I think that in the preliminary task, we did an alright job in the three stages of production, (pre-production, production and post-production) but it was not extra-ordinary or above and beyond. I think that our main strength was the post-production process when we got to editing the footage that we had collected. The reason for this I think is because we had all the material in front of us and we could visually see exactly what we needed to add or change to make the film better. This differs from the earlier process

as we had to plan with no real aid other than what content we needed to have in it, so we had to almost start from scratch and build a frame for the piece. After this we had the production section, where we had the framework of pre-production when we did this we could actually see what faults we had and we had to think there and then of what needed to be done to correct this. In this process was where we had our biggest faults! Unfortunately we had forgotten about rule number one which is to film in landscape and this meant we had a mix of portrait and landscape shots - this gives an unprofessional feel to the film. The content within the film was also a big strength within the film, although this is not due to us as a team directly as we had actors, it shows our capability of casting the correct characters. The only criticism I have off the content is that it's quite plain and when I've compare it to other groups' I would say they have more unusual and possibly more enticing films because of their 'wacky' nature.

This is an example of what the post-production can do, we
have added a title screen to show the audience what the film
is, and on this section we have also added music to add
tone to the beginning of the film.

This was a section where we used the landscape camera on
the iPad, this was what we were meant to do when filming,
but it didn't all work like this; see image below.

This is the shot that we got terribly wrong when we filmed
it is portrait, this then gave the film a lack of continuity
because it has a lack of consistency. 

My First Project

For this task, I was given a selection of different film clips that were filmed by a different group and I was told to edit the clips together using iMovie to make a short piece of film that made sense. What I mean by make sense is that there is match on action, which means that all the clips that I put together must follow on from each other and not jump between actions within the film; this gives me continuity in my work. Below is my test edit:



While doing this test edit, I have learnt the basics of the iMovie software on the iMacs. What I mean by the basics is simply how to cut clips down to get the piece of footage that I need, how to alter the sound on particular clips within the film, adding sound effects and music to the film being produced and using transitions within the piece of film. Unfortunately due to lack of time on this particular test edit, I was unable to add music and sound to it, however during extra time I have learnt how to do it and I plan to add that to my preliminary task piece of film - the same applies with transitions.

The acquisition of these skills will definitely help me in the preliminary task as I will need to incorporate them all into my film.The basic clipping of small pieces of footage will obviously come in handy as I will not be able to film it all in one go, I will want to have a few takes and clip the best parts of the shots. Also, the different camera angles will need to be clipped and slotted together and I need to have a strong ability in match on action to pursue the continuity aspect of the whole task.

Sound adjustment is another big skill that will be involved in producing my preliminary task, Knock Knock. The reason for this is that the piece is set in the school which has a lot of ambient noise which is not good to have. The noise adjustment allows me to chose how much ambien noise I want, if any at all. It also allows me to make some part of the clips louder than others if it needs to be.

Transitions can help a lot in the Knock Knock film, as it can reduce the need of a cut,the previous frame can swiftly move into the next by using a fade out transition, for example. This will give the film a more professional look and will also improve the over-all continuity of the piece. I can also use them to help communicate certain messages like a change of location.

Music and sound effects can also be really helpful in the preliminary task as it can give off many messages to the audience, for example it can help set the mood or tone of the film. A dark piece of music can help signify that the film is of a dark nature - a more depressive or sad film. A brighter and more jolly piece of music can tell the audience that this film is happy. It can also signify genres of film, for example it could use dark music to build tension in a horror film. Sound effects just literally add emphasis to a situation or an action from a character. In my Knock Knock piece, I can use music to signify the feelings of my characters; for example my character could be feeling very happy so I would need to use a fast and up-beat piece of music.

Planning: Casting

In this section of our planning we need to cast two characters to star in our short piece of film. The reason we need to go through a casting process is that we do not want to have actors that will give us poor results regarding the final film; we need to have people with a reasonable acting talent that is not shy to standing in front of a camera. Other requirements that our candidates have to meet is good voice projection, clear speaking and enthusiasm for the film. below are some of the candidates that we considered for the role and why they were or were not suitable for the role.

This is Harrison. We have decided that he is
not suitable as our actor as he is not a very good
actor and isn't very confident in front of the camera.

This is Marshal. He is not suitable as he is not
quick-witted enough for the preliminary task.
He is not a naturally funny person.

This is Jerin. We have decided that she is not
suitable for the acting role as she was very shy;
We are looking for someone who is bold and
willing to put themselves out there.

This is Matt. We have decided to cast Matt
to be in out film. He is very confident and is
very happy to be part of the film. He is a very
naturally funny person so is perfect for the role.

This is Aberto. We could not have used him as his
English is not very clear and he is expected to
be in lessons when we plan to film.

This is Panashe. We have decided to cast him for the
second character in our preliminary task. we decided
he would be a good choice as he is a confident person
and is willing to make himself look a fool for the film.

Location Planning

The reason that I need to plan the location of my film is that not every place in the school is accessible or suitable. By this, I mean that during the times I have to film the 'Knock Knock' footage, I do not have access to the classrooms that are in use for teaching. I therefore need to see what classrooms I have available during my filming time-frame. When this is done, I then need to look into which of these available classrooms are suitable for the film. I need to look at aspects such as the space that is required in my film, the lighting of the classroom and the position of the windows, the background in the room and accessibility from corridors and/or staircases. Following this short paragraph is examples of some suitable locations for the film and some that are not. Although the examples here are not final, it will give us a rough indication of what requirements a room should meet.

This location is not suitable for the film as it

is a small area with limited movement 

available. Also there is too much equipment

in the way so you wouldn't be able to see the

characters very well.

The staircase is not suitable as we do not
require anyone walking up the stairs, we
start the film on the top floor.

This corridor is suitable for the location of
our film, we plan to have a character walk
up the corridor. This corridor is wide enough
and has access to the classrooms we have
available.

This is a suitable location for the knock
knock joke as we need an area that will seat
2 people to tell a joke. Also, there is enough
room for a camera man to film.

This is a picture that shows the whole of the
room we plan to use. The reason we like this
room is because of the amount of space we
have available.

Planning: Storyboard

This storyboard is the first part of our planning. The step-by-step guide will help us to refer to what shots and camera angles that we need to use in order to produce our short piece of film. The storyboard must include relevant shots, camera movements and locations. This will them make the production flow a lot easier when it  comes to the final filming. The storyboard has given us a clear idea of what shots we have and what shots we need to put into the film; the same applies to removing any unnecessary shots. Without the story board there would be no structure to the situation and the whole film would flop.

In this page we had the first six frames of our film. These are all the build
up frames to the exchange in dialogue between the two characters. This
involved character 1 walking down the corridor, opening the door and
sitting down across the table from character 2.

This page in the one where we can see the shot / reverse shot  when the
two characters exchange dialogue. It will involve the telling of the knock
knock joke and a clip of laughter between character 1 and character 2.

Planning : Preliminary Task Introduction

Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom they then exchange a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Groups

I will be working with:

• Lucaas Chaiyaractha - Click Here
• Jack Gardner - Click Here
• Liam Wood - Click Here

Me As a Consumer Of The Media

There are many different mediums of communication, more commonly known as, the media. Inside these categories of media fall smaller sub-categories. 

For example, one section of the media comes from TV, where inside this comes different types

of TV and also different TV channels. Personally I watch TV for Sit-Coms such as 'The Big Bang Theory' and 'How I Met Your Mother' and these shows usual appear on the channel E4. I also watch the News to keep up on current events, but I try to avoid the ITV news. 

My second favourite media is the internet. I use the internet for a lot of my research on sites such as Google. However, the biggest reason I use the internet is for social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. These websites give me the chance to communicate with friends and celebrities and to keep updated with the latest football scores and latest news. Another big use of the internet for me is catch-up TV, sites like BBC iPlayer, ITV Player and 4OD. Other reasons I use the internet is for news articles and to listen on music, the biggest site that everyone uses is probably YouTube. 

Another big section of the media is radio. The radio is no longer as popular as it used to be now with the invention of TV and the Internet. I listen to the radio mostly when I'm in the car, listening to the stations Radio 1, Radio Northampton and Heart. When I'm at home I will listen to the radio to keep updated on the football. The main stations for this is Radio 5 Live and TalkSport. 

Other types of the media are print and film. Print involves magazines and newspapers; I personally don't have a preference on the make of newspaper as I rarely buy one but I do try to avoid The Sun. To watch films, I occasionally go to the Cinema when something new comes out but a lot of the time I will try and find a download link on the internet. A lot of the time, films appear on TV so I can watch older films from there.

All in all, the media is a large part of life and without all these different types of media available, a lot of things would have to be done very differently; it's safe to say that I rely on media for a lot of things.