Final Film

Evaluation Question 7

Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? 

My film making skills have developed and become a lot more advanced since the preliminary task. The only advanced shot we used in the preliminary task was the match on action shot of the character pulling the door handle and walking out of the door. Other than that the shots and transitions we used were very basic and often looked unrealistic. In the preliminary task we managed to include sound and titles however these were all very basic and at times looked amateur. Compared to the preliminary task, I believe that the sound and titles I used were much more effective and realistic. I believe my sound fit in quite well and gave the correct mood I wanted it to. My titles were planned out and were much more advanced than in the preliminary film we created.

The preliminary task helped to show me the basics of Final Cut and Live Type. It allowed me to play around with music and titles and gave me a chance to experiment. The titles used in my preliminary task only appear on a black background, where as the titles in my final film appear both on a black background and over shots. The skill of placing titles over shots is one I developed during the course of making my film. Also in my preliminary task I had one sound playing at a time, however in my final film I had a main background soundtrack which lasted for almost the whole of my film, and then I placed other sounds over the top of this soundtrack to emphasis the tension in certain places. I didn't know how to have more than one sound playing at the same time in the preliminary task, but I learned how to use this skill for my final film.

The background sound in the preliminary task is too loud and it is very distracting. I think it would have been better if we would've cut lots if not all of the background sound out so the audience weren't getting distracted by the loud noises. For example, the door slams very loudly when the characters are talking and it is hard to focus on the dialogue. In my final film I thought the background sound ruined the effect I wanted to create. The sound of the wind was too overpowering and I felt it would have ruined the build up of suspense that I was aiming for. Therefore I decided to cut out all of the background sound from my final film, I think this worked well and improved the quality. Another thing that varies between the preliminary task and my final film is the use of dialogue. The preliminary film uses dialogue, however the dialogue is slightly out of time with the characters lip movements. I think that the dialogue used in the preliminary film makes it seem a bit too staged and unrealistic. It looks too improvised and it ruins the casual style the film was trying to go for. In my film I didn't use any dialogue. In thriller films it is hard to make the dialogue convincing. It has to be scary/tense enough but not too fake and this is a very hard balance to achieve. I think the use of silence or eerie music in my film creates a far more tense effect than would have been created if I'd have added dialogue between the characters.

The use of the rippled transition at the end of the preliminary film is very cheesy and it makes the film seem amateur. The transition either looks like the film is aimed at younger children because it is very emphasised, or it looks like the ending of a flashback/dream. This is not the effect that we were trying to create for our preliminary film. I think we should have used a more basic transition and ended it in a different way. In my final film I only used a small number of transitions and when I did they were very basic, most of the time I just cut the shots together. I think the use of basic transitions worked well in my final film as it didn't ruin the tense atmosphere created by making it look too unrealistic. In my film I used a range of different shots. I tried to include some advanced shots. For example I included a shot reverse shot of the victim turning and looking over her shoulder and then turning back. I think this shot worked quite well as it looked fairly realistic and the audience could see from the characters point of view. Also I included a zoom, I struggled with the zooms as they were often too fast and unsteady but I think the one I included in the end was just right. I tried to consistently check that I was using the 180 degree rule effectively and I think I managed to in a number of shots.

For my preliminary task I worked in a group of 4, however for my final piece I decided it would be best to work alone. In hindsight I think this was the correct decision. I did find it very hard at the start of the project during the planning section and often fell behind people who were working in groups as they were able to share the workload out however I was left to do it all myself. Although once I'd caught up successfully I found it a lot better to work alone. During the filming stage of the project it was good because I could film exactly what I wanted and didn't have to sacrifice any of my ideas or compromise with anybody. Yet it may have been useful to have a peer to share ideas and possible improvements with. The editing was good because I could work on the film whenever I wanted to and didn't have to coordinate my time around other people. It was good for me to just work quietly on my film as I didn't get distracted and I could focus on achieving the film I wanted. I think working in a group would have been difficult and caused a few disagreements or a clash of ideas. I think I'd still decide to work alone next time, unless I found the right group with a similar idea and attitude about the film as me.

Evaluation Question 6

Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

(This is the equipment I used to film my opening. I used a Sanyo camera and tripod.)

At first I found using the camcorder and tripod difficult as I had to re-position the equipment for almost every shot and had to constantly make sure that the angles and lighting were correct. However once I got the hang of it, I found the camera a lot easier to use. My actress helped my with the positioning of some shots and was good at listening to my directions. Therefore this was useful and helped to make things run more smoothly. Moving the tripod around was mostly fine, apart from in places where the conditions were muddy or unstable as it was difficult to position the tripod in a way where it would stand up safely and not get damaged. When I first attempted to use the camera I found it very confusing and difficult to work, however as soon as I actually got to the filming location and had a go at a few practice shots, everything was completely fine from then on. 

The Mac computers were very useful to me for this project in the fact that they provide a variety of advanced programs that normal PC computers don't. However throughout the project I found the macs difficult to use as I have always used a normal PC therefore it was very difficult for me to adjust to the way the macs work and it took me time to know my way around them. I had some experience of using the macs from my GCSE media course though and this helped me a lot and prevented me from being completely hopeless and new to using macs. The fact that we used macs for our whole project meant that it was often difficult for me to transfer files to my normal computer so I could continue work outside of school. This was due to the file types being too different or my computer not having the ability to use the same programs that the macs use. However I got round this by doing all my Final Cut or Live Type work in school on the macs and doing all my extra blog work at home on my regular PC. 

I got the hang of how to use Final Cut pretty quickly and was able to easily put my shots into a timeline and begin to edit them. I found transitioning the shots quite difficult and putting filters on shots was very hard as some of them looked too similar to the original shot and others too artificial. The problem I found with Final Cut is that having to constantly render my film every time I made a small change was very time consuming and it wasted a lot of my time as I had to sit and wait and was unable to make any further changes on Final Cut until my film was all fully rendered. 

I struggled to use Livetype at first as I often found it difficult to fill the font in the correct colour and if I made a change it was hard to undo it without the font changing too much or looking odd. However I got the hang of it after a while and I used it to successfully make all of my titles. I used the typewriter effect for most of my titles and I struggled to match the speed in which these appeared on the screen as I had to make so many of them and they were all such different lengths. This problem often involved me importing the font to Final Cut and then having to go back to the Livetype file later and edit it as it was either typed on screen too quickly, or too slowly, compared with the rest of my titles. I struggled to import my Livetype fonts onto Final Cut and to make them appear in the position I wanted on the screen, but after playing around for a while I managed to successfully place my first title over the shot I had chosen and from then on I had no trouble with importing fonts to Final Cut. 

Before this project I had never used either Slideshare or Soundcloud. Slideshare I found very simple to use from the first time I used it, it was the embedding it on to my blogger account that I struggled with. For some of the things I uploaded to blogger I had to change the format from "Compose" to "HTML" for the link to appear successfully on my blog page. I didn't know this at the start and some of the files I uploaded to Slideshare/Soundcloud only appeared on my blog as a link and not as the actual file. However once I knew about changing the format of my post to 'HTML' then I could upload things easily. I found Slideshare and Soundcloud useful as they allowed me to upload things on to my blog easily and in a better format than just attempting to upload a powerpoint or sound file straight from my computer documents. Both these websites were very useful with their "embed" links and these allowed me to easily copy and paste my files straight on to my blogger account effectively. I would definitely use both of these programs again in the future. 

YouTube was useful to me throughout this project. I created my own YouTube account to use for this and I used it frequently. The website was very useful when I filmed my feedback on the rough cut of my film. I uploaded the files straight from the camera on to YouTube and it worked very successfully with good quality images and sound. However YouTube caused me huge problems when it came to uploading my final film. YouTube kept on saying that the file type was not supported or when it did upload the film then it was blurry and poor condition. It took me many attempts to upload my final project on to the website and at one point I thought it wasn't going to work at all. Eventually though, I managed to make my film the correct file type and it uploaded successfully and had a good picture quality. 

Evaluation Question 5

Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

I have placed annotations and notes over my original film to identify how I have attracted and addressed the target audience for my film.

Evaluation Question 4

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for my film would be older teenagers to adults. My film has a certificate of 15 years therefore it would be inappropriate for children younger than that. The stereotypical audience that my film will target is people who enjoy watching thriller films and like films with a lot of tension and build up. My film is of a 15 certificate because it has a narrative that many viewers would find upsetting and uncomfortable to watch, therefore it would never be suitable for anyone younger than 15. However it isn't that violent and there isn't too much blood or gore which is why it doesn't have an 18 certificate. My film would reach out to the same audience as films like 'Gone Baby Gone' or 'Taken' because my narrative is similar and these films focus on the use of suspense and tension, as does mine. My target audience would be older teenagers/adults who like films of the thriller genre and who would possibly go to the cinema to watch these films. The target audience would watch TV programs such as 'Spooks' or 'Whitechapel' as both of these have conventions of the thriller film genre and represent the conventions of the genre in a television series as opposed to a film. My film appeals to quite a wide audience as it has just the right amount of tension to be scary for those who enjoy watching films and being scared, however it doesn't have that much actual bloody violence, therefore it would be appropriate for people who don't enjoy slasher horror films also. Having a wide audience makes it hard to pinpoint exactly what their taste is or what their hobbies are. I cannot specify a certain music taste and say that all my target audience would enjoy it, because my audience is so large and varied. Common hobbies that my target audience pursue would be watching films and TV because I know they must enjoy films if they are the audience I am targeting to watch mine. Many of my audience are teenagers so they may play video games/computer games because teenagers are conventionally the social group who play these games. Many of my audience will play sports as teenagers and younger adults are known for being active and sporty, particularly in popular sports such as football and rugby. The character in my film is an older teenage girl, by casting her it allows me to appeal to the target audience of older teenage girls because they can relate to the character and her lifestyle as they are of a similar age and my character represents the stereotypical teenage girl. My target audience of teenage girls/young female adults would be likely to shop in fashionable and current shops such as Topshop and River Island, my male target audience may shop in Topman if they are the type to be bothered about their appearance. However if they have a more casual idea on how to dress and don't bother about their appearance that much then they may shop in sports shops for both equipment and clothing. The older adults my film targets may also shop in these shops but are more likely to shop in places like M&S or Debenhams and then in supermarkets for their food shopping.

Evaluation Question 3

Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? 

Evaluation Question 3 from COGray

Evaluation Question 2

 Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

(On the left: Thriller Film- The Call, Female Victim. On the right: My media Film- Hunted, Female Victim)

These are two characters who both play similar roles in thriller films. These characters both represent the social group of vulnerable teenage girls. The vulnerable teenage girl character is conventionally used in thriller films with the antagonist being an older male who wants to capture them or harm them in some way. This character type appeals to the target audience because many of the audience are teenagers so they can relate to the stereotypical lifestyle these young characters portray in thriller films.

Both the characters shown in the images above are dressed in clothes that represent stereo-typically how a teenage girl would dress. They are both dressed in jeans and jeans have connotations of a casual and laid back lifestyle, teenagers are known for wearing jeans when they dress informally in their everyday lives. Both the characters are carrying reasonably sized side bags indicating that they are going out somewhere or coming back from somewhere. The character in my film is returning home from school/sixth form, the character in the Call looks like she has just been out shopping or something along those lines. The character in my film has big curly hair which is unique. This unique style indicates possibly a slightly rebellious side to her, it shows her going against the normal way of doing things. The character in the Call has a fairly large side fringe which represents a mysterious personality and again not following the stereotypical mature style of dressing. Teenagers are known for going against what society perceives to be normal and breaking the rules from time to time and both characters are shown to do this very subtly by the way they style themselves.

The female character in my film is made to seem small and very vulnerable, she keeps getting the feeling that she is being followed and feels insecure about this. My character is alone in a quite and desolate location away from the public. It was filmed in the middle of the countryside so there wouldn't be many people there anyway. This builds up the tension for the audience because they know that the female character is alone and if something happens nobody will be able to help her. The character is shown to seem self conscious and worries when she is walking through this location. The field is completely deserted and so is the quiet rural road it leads on to. She feels as if she is being followed by someone but can do nothing apart from to keep walking away. The character from The Call is also in the isolated location of a quiet car park. Isolated locations add more tension to the film as it means the character feels alone with the antagonist and that there will be nobody around to save them when something happens. Almost empty car parks are conventional locations for thriller films as they give the antagonist lots of places to hide and lots of opportunity to creep up on the victim.

In both films the female character gets kidnapped by being dragged into the car of the antagonist. This narrative is common as the car allows the antagonist to drive away quickly and often to get away unnoticed because it looks normal. The social group both of these films portray are young females who are represented as not being able to defend themselves. These teenagers are perfect targets for the antagonist because they often travel to different places alone, and they are still quite young therefore they are portrayed as not fully being aware of the dangers they are at risk of. Teenage girls are sometimes displayed as being too naive and trusting of people they don't know properly. Both of the films show teenage girl characters who are naive and do not realise the danger the antagonist is to them until it is too late.

The character in the Call has the prop of a mobile phone, mobile phones are stereo-typically associated with teenagers. Teenagers are using their phones more and more to communicate with each others through social networking etc. Therefore this film is showing this stereotype by the way the character is speaking on her phone and is unaware of what is happening around her. She doesn't notice the antagonist in the car and carries on talking on the phone until it's too late, this shows her to be naive and unaware. The difference between the two characters is that the character in my film senses she is being watched/followed from very early on and tries to walk faster and even run away from whoever is watching her. However the character from the call is completely unaware and doesn't realise until it's too late for her to escape.