Friday 23 April 2010
Thursday 22 April 2010
Evaluation Question 6
What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing the product?
Since the begining of our product, i feel that i have learnt various things about the technology that will be of great benefit to me. Previous to filming our footage, i had very little experience with the camera's and camera equipment. Therefore i feel i have learnt a lot about the cameras and how to use them to achieve my desired intention, i have particuarly found the use of a dolly very beneficial for the tracking of the male character of our film in the second scene. However, it did take several attempts with the dolly to obtain footage that wasnt shaky. Learning how to use the cameras and equipment was very time consuming at the start but it has enabled me to use them to achieve the maximum effect that i set out to achieve. I have learnt to record and manage my work on Blogger which has helped me to understand the hard work and time that goes into the production of a film.
During the production of our film, we encounted many problems with the editing software Adobe Premiere Elements and found it very difficult and time consuming to finish our film. However, we have found the program to be very useful and i have enjoyed watching our film progress from each stage. Using Adobe Premiere Elements has enabled me to be precise in working from our shot list and also how to frame each shot to achieve optimum mise-en-scene. I have also learnt to video merge still images with videos to create a distorted effect that we aimed to achieve in the first scene of our film. I have also learned how to record sound effects and insert them into our film, this has helped us to adapt the sound effects to fit with our film and the heartbeat along with the callaboration of the still images has enabled us to achieve a fast paced distorted effect to create suspense and fear in our audience.
We also encountered a problem during filming when the white contact lense for Rachel's character teared and cause discomfort for our actor. To overcome this problem we decided against using the contact lense, and therefore would have to make it explicit in the rest of our film that the attacks on Rachel had left her blinded in one eye. If we had more time on our product, we could of edited each frame in photoshop and coloured rachels iris white to make it look like she had the contact lense inserted. However the contact lense was not primarily important to us and due to the problems we encountered with the editing software crashing constantly, we had to use our time wisely and prioritise what we needed in order to achieve the desired effect we wanted for our film.
If we had more time for our film, we would like to have changed the speed of some of the shots in scene 2 and also to change the audio to backwards speed because we feel this would have maximised our chances of achieving the distorted look to portray how Rachel is disorientated after being tortured. We wanted to use the backwards audio particuarly to accompany the jump cuts used when she is struggling in the chair, we discovered the effect when playing the film backwards when experimenting with the program and found that the distorted sound really complimented the jump cuts in the scene.
On the whole, i have enjoyed the experience i have gained when producing our film. Despite the problems we encountered, i have learnt a lot about the technologies and equipment used in the film industry and this has been very beneficial to me because it has enabled me to experiment in my filming and editing. Everything i have learnt will be practical for when i get the opportunity to film another product and it has prepared me for all the prepartion work i have had to do on Blogger in order to create my film successfully. I particuarly have enjoyed working with the cast who i found to be very talented actors and working with my media partner has been an entertaining experience, i am particuarly grateful to the close relationship i had with each member of the cast and crew and i think this has added to the success of our production.
Since the begining of our product, i feel that i have learnt various things about the technology that will be of great benefit to me. Previous to filming our footage, i had very little experience with the camera's and camera equipment. Therefore i feel i have learnt a lot about the cameras and how to use them to achieve my desired intention, i have particuarly found the use of a dolly very beneficial for the tracking of the male character of our film in the second scene. However, it did take several attempts with the dolly to obtain footage that wasnt shaky. Learning how to use the cameras and equipment was very time consuming at the start but it has enabled me to use them to achieve the maximum effect that i set out to achieve. I have learnt to record and manage my work on Blogger which has helped me to understand the hard work and time that goes into the production of a film.
During the production of our film, we encounted many problems with the editing software Adobe Premiere Elements and found it very difficult and time consuming to finish our film. However, we have found the program to be very useful and i have enjoyed watching our film progress from each stage. Using Adobe Premiere Elements has enabled me to be precise in working from our shot list and also how to frame each shot to achieve optimum mise-en-scene. I have also learnt to video merge still images with videos to create a distorted effect that we aimed to achieve in the first scene of our film. I have also learned how to record sound effects and insert them into our film, this has helped us to adapt the sound effects to fit with our film and the heartbeat along with the callaboration of the still images has enabled us to achieve a fast paced distorted effect to create suspense and fear in our audience.
We also encountered a problem during filming when the white contact lense for Rachel's character teared and cause discomfort for our actor. To overcome this problem we decided against using the contact lense, and therefore would have to make it explicit in the rest of our film that the attacks on Rachel had left her blinded in one eye. If we had more time on our product, we could of edited each frame in photoshop and coloured rachels iris white to make it look like she had the contact lense inserted. However the contact lense was not primarily important to us and due to the problems we encountered with the editing software crashing constantly, we had to use our time wisely and prioritise what we needed in order to achieve the desired effect we wanted for our film.
If we had more time for our film, we would like to have changed the speed of some of the shots in scene 2 and also to change the audio to backwards speed because we feel this would have maximised our chances of achieving the distorted look to portray how Rachel is disorientated after being tortured. We wanted to use the backwards audio particuarly to accompany the jump cuts used when she is struggling in the chair, we discovered the effect when playing the film backwards when experimenting with the program and found that the distorted sound really complimented the jump cuts in the scene.
On the whole, i have enjoyed the experience i have gained when producing our film. Despite the problems we encountered, i have learnt a lot about the technologies and equipment used in the film industry and this has been very beneficial to me because it has enabled me to experiment in my filming and editing. Everything i have learnt will be practical for when i get the opportunity to film another product and it has prepared me for all the prepartion work i have had to do on Blogger in order to create my film successfully. I particuarly have enjoyed working with the cast who i found to be very talented actors and working with my media partner has been an entertaining experience, i am particuarly grateful to the close relationship i had with each member of the cast and crew and i think this has added to the success of our production.
Thursday 1 April 2010
Evaluation Question 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?
We decided that the target audience for our film would be 16-25 years olds as we have found in our survey that this age group is the most likely to watch a horror film. We fall into that age group and as young adults feel that our film has been developed into what plays on our fears and worries and that this will also relate to other people our age. Our film is very similar to the film, saw(2004), and after conducting a survey we found that the majority of participants that had seen saw(2004) were aged between 16-25.
To get a better insight into our target audience, we conducted a survey on a variety of particpants of all ages. In this survey we asked questions about what people expect from a horror film and what sorts of horrow films they had seen and rated as their favourites. This helped us to develop a horror film that goes beyond the audiences expectations.
We decided that the target audience for our film would be 16-25 years olds as we have found in our survey that this age group is the most likely to watch a horror film. We fall into that age group and as young adults feel that our film has been developed into what plays on our fears and worries and that this will also relate to other people our age. Our film is very similar to the film, saw(2004), and after conducting a survey we found that the majority of participants that had seen saw(2004) were aged between 16-25.
To get a better insight into our target audience, we conducted a survey on a variety of particpants of all ages. In this survey we asked questions about what people expect from a horror film and what sorts of horrow films they had seen and rated as their favourites. This helped us to develop a horror film that goes beyond the audiences expectations.
Evaluation Question 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our two actors were white british 17 year olds. These actor played characters that related to our target audience and also to our british audience. The character Rachel is a university student and our target audience is 16-25 year olds. Rachel is a typical damsel in distress and she could be represented in a stereotypical manner because of this, however the rest of our film will be about how Rachel seeks revenge on her torturer and this defies the generic conventions of how a woman should be the distressed victim. Our male character is tall and wearing a hoodie, this could be represented of a criminal youth and his dominant and agressive nature is a typical convention of a horror film where the antagonist is male.
In the first 2 minutes of the film the story is told from Rachels persective and the rest of our film will be told in Rachel's perspective. In order to make it clear that we are teling the story from Rachel's persepctive, we made sure to add lots of close ups on the character and have Rachel in the center of all the attention. For example, the very first image at the start of the film is the stalkerboard of Rachel and this denotes to the audience that she is the protagonist and connotes to the audience that she has been stalked.
Our two actors were white british 17 year olds. These actor played characters that related to our target audience and also to our british audience. The character Rachel is a university student and our target audience is 16-25 year olds. Rachel is a typical damsel in distress and she could be represented in a stereotypical manner because of this, however the rest of our film will be about how Rachel seeks revenge on her torturer and this defies the generic conventions of how a woman should be the distressed victim. Our male character is tall and wearing a hoodie, this could be represented of a criminal youth and his dominant and agressive nature is a typical convention of a horror film where the antagonist is male.
In the first 2 minutes of the film the story is told from Rachels persective and the rest of our film will be told in Rachel's perspective. In order to make it clear that we are teling the story from Rachel's persepctive, we made sure to add lots of close ups on the character and have Rachel in the center of all the attention. For example, the very first image at the start of the film is the stalkerboard of Rachel and this denotes to the audience that she is the protagonist and connotes to the audience that she has been stalked.
Evaluation Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Previous to creating the film, i researched into the history of horror and looked specifically at how horror has progressed over the decades and the generic signifiers and conventions in each film. This helped me to ensure our film used conventions and signifiers of a typical horror film but also to develop our film into breaking these typical conventions and going beyond the audiences expectations of a horror film. The first 2 minutes of our film used many generic conventions and signifiers, for example: The use of Rachel being strapped to a chair was typical of a horror film because she is a young woman trapped and helpless that the audience will feel sorry for. She is also wearing a white dress which denotes to the audience her innocence. Also, our antagonist was dressed in all black and this explicitly warns the audience that the protagonist is in danger.
Our film starts with a heartbeat that gets rapidly faster and by us using lots of flashing images of newspaper headlines, pictures of Rachel and the male character, we created a sense of fear in our audience which is the intention of all horror film directors in the industry. However, instead of our film slowly establishing the storyline of the film, from the very beginining we had suspense building to create terror and dove straight into a torture scene. We got this idea from the film Saw (2004) and unlike most horror films, this film breaks the convention and scares the audience from the very start. This tests the audiences expectations of horror films because most audience members would expect a horror fim to start by semi-establishing a storyline or a character, for example we looked at the film "The strangers" (2008) And this film starts by establishing a storyline between the male and female protagonists. This is typical of most horror films and therefore audiences have grown to expect these conventions, our film defies these conventions by delving straight into suspense and horror and therefore setting the audience up for fear.
Previous to creating the film, i researched into the history of horror and looked specifically at how horror has progressed over the decades and the generic signifiers and conventions in each film. This helped me to ensure our film used conventions and signifiers of a typical horror film but also to develop our film into breaking these typical conventions and going beyond the audiences expectations of a horror film. The first 2 minutes of our film used many generic conventions and signifiers, for example: The use of Rachel being strapped to a chair was typical of a horror film because she is a young woman trapped and helpless that the audience will feel sorry for. She is also wearing a white dress which denotes to the audience her innocence. Also, our antagonist was dressed in all black and this explicitly warns the audience that the protagonist is in danger.
Our film starts with a heartbeat that gets rapidly faster and by us using lots of flashing images of newspaper headlines, pictures of Rachel and the male character, we created a sense of fear in our audience which is the intention of all horror film directors in the industry. However, instead of our film slowly establishing the storyline of the film, from the very beginining we had suspense building to create terror and dove straight into a torture scene. We got this idea from the film Saw (2004) and unlike most horror films, this film breaks the convention and scares the audience from the very start. This tests the audiences expectations of horror films because most audience members would expect a horror fim to start by semi-establishing a storyline or a character, for example we looked at the film "The strangers" (2008) And this film starts by establishing a storyline between the male and female protagonists. This is typical of most horror films and therefore audiences have grown to expect these conventions, our film defies these conventions by delving straight into suspense and horror and therefore setting the audience up for fear.
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