Evaluation/Thoughts

Q.In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
A. The media product we have created has developed on many various forms of technology offered today. Our piece took full advantage of video uploading software, as our final piece was exported in a HD format and uploaded to a popular video sharing site called “Vimeo”, which is different to “Youtube” which has an array of different themes whereas “Vimeo” concentrates on creative mediums. Our media product was also shared on a social networking site “Facebook” so that we were able to take comments and criticisms and work on them before we finally handed in our finished piece. This helpful source of sharing our media and allowing comments to be given is definitely using forms of media/technology to our advantage. Our film has also helped our group learn and understand the various aspects of the process in which a movie is made, the journey from brainstorming, to story boards, to filming and finally editing our piece. We edited our piece on iMovie, after editing certain clips together, our skills were updated as we went along, so we always went back to change previous parts. It’s almost a grow-s you-learn process. We also used image editing software (Photoshop) to create a DVD cover and a movie poster; these were developed from DVD covers and posters we have seen in other movies.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Seeing as our film is a British independent film, running on a moderately low budget. It would be seemingly obvious that our film would be distributed by a british film institution.
Like various british indie productions such as Shaun of the Dead (produced by Film4) and 28 days later (British film council & DNA films)
I feel our film would be suited for these types of institutions, preferably film4 as it has alot of coverage in Britain and is well respected in British film making. I feel the financial aid given by these will help distribute around the UK and create a classic.

Who would be the audience for your media product?
The initial audience for our piece was teenagers, even though we changed our idea since then, we still kept the beleif that our media product should be based around teenagers. Teens hold alot of market in the cinema industry , around the age of 15-21, those still in education, be it secondary school or university. We felt teens would show more regard to our film as it is set in a school environment, and they can get a warmer feel for the film are currently in education, people can almost put themselves in the characters place and imagine how they would feel if they were in the same situation as our main character.
Teens do hold the main interest in this film but it can also broaden to adults as they could go watch it with parents as such, our film doesn't solely have teen relevance, it features tension and thrill that adults can enjoy, they might even relate as they were in a school environment once themselves.

Q. How did you attract/address your audience?
We uploaded our preliminary video to youtube and facebook and gained constructive criticisms which we took into account and went back and adapted our piece to. These criticisms were very much needed as what may seem clear / normal to us , may not in fact be the case with others, so this gave us an insight into others thoughts and in turn we could create a piece everyone would enjoy.

Also uploading, the non-final version made people eager to see the actual version , and people were pleased to see the changes we made.

We designed a poster and a DVD cover developed from other successfully marketed films which would hopefully attract the audience, we left the poster rather ambiguous so that an array of people would be interested in finding out about the movie.


Q. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
A. We believe that we as a group were quite proficient with the use of the camera thanks to the quick crash course before we were given the cameras and due to 3 having done photography based courses making us quite apt with cameras of this sort.

The editing software that we used i.e. iMovie was difficult at first which is shown in the quality of production in our 2 continuity pieces but as the course progressed we learnt how to use the features of the software more efficiently. During the duration we were using the editing software we learnt how to; resize images, slow down video clips, adding effects such as transitions and trimming audio clips to get the sounds that we required and remove all unnecessary audio. Learning how to use iMovie showed us how to create a piece that flows well in all aspects this includes; sounds, image and text.

Blogging is a new process we learnt; posting our ideas and on the web in a for of an online diary . Through the use of blogging we learnt how to structure posts & implement images / videos in html code.

Q. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
A. I think we have learned to understand and implement the process that creators of a media presentations have to go through, from getting the ideas, to their development all the way to putting it all together and hearing and understanding what people have to say about it. During the course of this project I think we have all learnt a lot of new skills whilst film making as well improving on some of our original skills such as our development in keeping a steady hand whilst holding the camera alongside how we use shots and angles effectively to create the desired atmosphere.

For our mise-en-scene we chose to use an empty school as this allowed us to achieve the feeling of ‘horror’ and give the isolated atmosphere and raise suspense. However, because we had the school empty during the holidays and weekends it provided us with plenty camera shots and angle opportunities e.g. the extreme long shot we captured from the inside the school window that go across the road, an impossible shot to do during school hours as we used our phones during to shoot to signal to go which would have been a distraction to a lesson. We found the use of sound to build up the suspense in the atmosphere quite simple. The original sounds that were captured during shooting e.g. cars, children playing in the background and the school bell were all muted out. We added 3 different tracks over the production and kept the dialogue to a bare minimal this is because we believed that it would build more tension. iMovie provided us with the diegetic sounds we were searching for such as the loud bang the occurs in the last quarter in the film that raises tempo a it nears its end.

The editing of the film was longest and most tedious and but by far one of the most fun parts of our media project. We would have to spend our afternoons and lunch times in class editing. Often we would leave the edited piece, return to watch it in an hour or maybe even a day and would then see all the small glitches and minor errors that we overlooked and so we would go back out to shoot the scene again to make sure that the piece flowed correctly whilst maintaining its consistency. I think that we have all learnt how to use iMovie more effectively, learning skills such as how to put in text and to blend in colours to give off an eerie feel that makes the piece feel more like a 'horror'.

With the course at its end we recognise that teamwork is essential in creating media forms and to meet deadlines. working together as a group was at times quite frustrating, however we had a lot of fun working with each other none the less.

Abandoned

This is the final piece, it took us quite a while to get it to the final product it is now but it was worth it. Looking back on it there are still some things I would wish to improve such as use of more distant shots and the 360 shot we wanted to add but couldn't quite get right. The editing took the longest , which was a task i thought would be the quickest in the begging, but as a team we pulled through and created a piece that flows well.
I hope you enjoy watching our piece , and thank you for taking the time out to view it.

Promotional Poster

This is the poster I created for the piece in photoshop.
Again it has a simmilar theme to the DVD, however the information on this was left minimal , to the title and date. This works well with horror/thriller films because it makes the audience inquisitive as to what the film is about before they even go into the film.
For example "The Eye" film which is very minimal but effective.

With the poster I created I think it fits well with the theme of the film, it also fits with the colour scheme of the DVD so they could maybe be sold together as a collectors piece if the film is well supported to have tie-ins.

DVD COVER

This is the DVD cover I made in photoshop. I had previous experience in using photoshop however creating a DVD cover was something i've never done before. I looked at various different dvd covers. They usually have the main character at the front, credits at the top, and a rating by a m colour agazine. I implemented these all into it so it looks professional. The fonts I used were from dafont.com and I used a brush that says "Save me" and put it across the center.

I gave it an erie look by putting a red/blueish overcoat, I also duplicated the first image so it looks like there are two of the main character , and one in a different colour so it looks somewhat ghastly.

Fonts

I started looking on font websites to get a font that would blend in to our opening scene , I was looking for something that was simple (professional) and minimal to draw suspense.

I looked at a font site called "Dafont" and here are the fonts that I thought would fit in the most with our video.

It is also important to have different texts so that it doesn't look repetitive and each change of font can symbolise change in setting/mood on screen.

Editing our final piece.

Today our teacher gave us advice and examples of different title scenes and how we could implement credits into the opening scenes effectively. For example fades (to white & black) , transitions, different font styles etc.

We have started editing our piece and will decide how to put in our titles, if we find any shots that we are missing we will re-film and add into the piece.

Here is an example of a title scene, a shot that is symbolic of the title, with a simple font in a white colour which matches the clouds.

Final piece recording...

We have been filming various parts of our final piece. We came into school over the holiday so that we could get the school at a time where it would be most empty, this way we could capture some eerie shots that will give the viewers an useay feeling. Our group has decided to have our final piece in black and white , but we still recorded in colour in case the black and white effect doesn't give the desired effect as this can be changed later in the editing suit.
We experimented with a vast array of shots that we thought encompassed the "horror" feel.
For some of these shots we needed a clean pan , so we used a skateboard to get a smooth rolling effect. We also added some effects such as silhouettes so it looks like someone was watching the main character. Another skill we used is selective focusing.
Abit more filming needs to be done , then we can edit our piece and cover up certain things such as footsteps and doorcloses with sounds to amplify the effect.

Rough poster mock-ups

These were quick mock-ups of posters we did using Picnik . These will be a small reflection of what we will do in the final product. These were used just to give an overview of the desired affect and incorporated a few features we liked from other covers.

In this edit we used Vienneting which adds a dark circular border to an image. This gives the audience an idea that the person in the picture is being watched or followed by something. Him on the stairs also signifies him trying to escape.


In this one we decided to make this black and white , gives off an errie feeling. Also we used harsh red "blood" writing as seen in the dracula film cover. This contrasts with the rest of the image which makes it eye catching.

Photosession

We needed images of our main character to create our promotional material.
I was the photogropher and I took some shots of our character around the school setting.
These are the shots that I thought stood out the most. These will later on be edited and might later be re-shot if our final piece doesn't come out as we expect.

Movie Posters / DVD cover ideas

I had a look at different movie posters/covers so that our group could find some inspiration for our own.
In this post I will show some different posters and covers from various horror movies that I felt conveyed the "horror" theme.

Oldschool Dracula cover.

Red writing which symbolises blood.

Saw movie poster. As time progressed in film, more gritty posters / covers have been allowed.
Blood is used in this and shows contrast between the rest of the clean image.

The exorcist movie cover. Use of sillhouetting to create uneasiness / darkness / suspense.

Triangle DVD cover. Ratings used to promote movie. Use of bold fonts exadurating words to entice viewer. Scared facial expression & contrast between blood & no blood.

The red font seems to be a re-occurring feature in horror movie titles..

These are but some of the examples we looked at. In our group discussions we viewed various others. We began shooting our main character so we could create a promotional material such as DVD covers & posters. Once we finish the pictures we will create mock-up versions and then advance on them later on.

Continuity 2 video

Continuity 2 from Amin Rarmoul on Vimeo.

Continuity Piece 2

Today we finished editing our second continuity piece. Again we used iMovie to produce this , we included jump cuts in our piece this time and added some effects into it (slow motion). Now our group is fully confident at using this application and piecing together a clip where everything flows. The continuity piece is currently being uploaded now and I will post it up here once it is finished. Our story boards are also waiting to be scanned.

Once this is all done we can hopefully advance onto our final piece.

Continuity Piece 1

Finished first continuity piece

With out footage completed , I took the camera and imported all the data onto the Mac's so I could edit the piece in iMovie. The interface was pretty easy to get to grips with as it's entirety it is user friendly. It comes with many features and can help you create video's to a professional standard.
We took a lot of takes shooting our continuity piece so I had to choose the best take from each scene, and match the close-ups together and time everything correctly. The application allows you to add smooth transitions between each clip which I think helped our piece flow well. I will upload the piece for viewing at a later date.

Continuity piece

Our group has finished creating out continuity pieces.
This gave us an opportunity to get to understand the cameras and it's practical features before actually starting our own production.
We used a range of camera techniques and a range of shots in our continuity piece as a sort of experiment. All we need to do now is edit the clips together and upload them for viewing.
I will scan the story board and upload the final piece once we are through the editing stage.
We will be using iMovie that comes with Mac OSX to edit our clips. This software comes with a full professional set of features that we can use to get the best out of our footage.

Creating our film's plot

As of yet we have not yet found a definitive plot for out film , but we have some key ideas that we can use to advance our ideas.
Our production will be mainly filmed in school, which won't be hard to create an eerie environment.
I like the idea of the film "triangle" where the audience pick up clues along the way as to what is going on and go as far as to question was the whole film the main characters dream.
With this idea I can create a sort of brief outline of a plot.
A boy who goes into school one day to find no-one there (is he dreaming? is this real? or is this a set-up?) and he wanders around the school, cautious as to whats happening, and it is apparent that he is being watched.
This is only a very brief mock-up , but as the group discus we will advance on this.

Triangle

A recent film I saw which I think our group can draw inspiration from is Triangle. It is a Horror under the subclass of a psychological thriller. The story line has many plot twists within it and keeps the viewer on edge and picking up clues throughout. Also a lot of things done in this film are ambiguous and leave things up to the user to piece things together, which I think our group should draw some attention to. This movie also has less gore scenes as most generic horror films do i.e the "Saw" saga and Hostel. It needs more thought from the audience and I feel this is more useful than just having gore on screen non stop. In turn due to this having less violence as such , other aspects become more apparent , such as lots of uneasy camera shots, "gritty" close-ups, use of sound and notably a scene where she meets herself and there is a 360degree pivot around them. Things which our group can emulate in our own piece.
Here is the theatrical trailer, the example of the camera turn when the characters meet can be seen here.

Brainstorm

To find some ideas on what our movie clip will have and the ideas around it's concept, I created a brief brainstorm (using www.bubble.us) highlighting some various features and aspects of a horror film. I will use this to help my group further create an idea of how we should carry out our horror production and I will also elaborate on some if these points in later posts.

Getting the camera

Today in our lesson we were handed the new camera's that we will be using. It's called the JVC Everio GZ-HD40.Each group was asigned one of these. It's very hi-tech for our level so we had time to play around with it to learn how to use the camera and it's features. We then started to record various camera shots and angles as a test which I will upload in a later post. It has a large hard-drive so we can record lots of different cut's/scenes without having to worry about not having enough memory for leanghty recordings. It also records in HD so our production will be the same quality programs are broadcast at.

Here are the specifications of the camera :

Recording Format:
Hard Drive
Optical Zoom:
10x
HDD Size:
120 GB
Weight:
0.54 kg
Audio format:
5.1 Surround Sound
Optical Zoom:
10x
Digital Zoom:
200x
Lens Focal Length:
4.5 - 45 mm
Filter Diameter:
43 mm

What makes a horror film?

I started to research the general conventions of a horror film and what goes into it so that it is actually classed as a "horror"
Wikipedia has it's own definition of the horror genre which is ;
"Horror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness. Many horror movies also include a central villain."

Further reading has revealed that there are 3 types of sub genres horror's which are usually the main underlying plot for these types of film.

There are films which are "the horror-of personality" for example Texas chain saw massacre , where the main villain is mentally instable. The second sub genre is "the horror-of-armageddon"

which are things such as war films. The third and final sub genre is " horror-of-the-demonic" which are films such as the exorcism of emily rose / the exorcist.

Project start.

I am Amin Rarmoul , i'm currently taking a media studies AS course in which we were asked to produce a 2 minute introduction to a film idea we have. I have been asigned a group which consists of 4 other people and is called "Insight London" Our group consists of Rory , Idris and Sue-anne. As a group we decided to make a Horror film because the general conventions and elements that go into a horror film seem interesting, i.e lighting and unusual camera angles.
This blog will detail the production of this peice and talk about different aspects that go into the decision making and marketing plan.