Evaluation 7

 Our opening sequence was so much better compared to the preliminary task for example, we used very simple shots in the preliminary task and then we was quite adventurous with our opening sequence. we wanted our shots to stand more in the opening sequence and this is because we want to get top marks for the movie. There was a few shots in the opening sequence which stood out for example we had an low angle shot from under the bed which acted like the audience was underneath the bed, experiencing they was more apart of the movie. This shot is very unusual, its not something you would experience in every film. Whereas, for the preliminary task we used an every day shot you would see more often, this is the slight high angle that showed the character had power over the other character, this showed we could use different types of shots to show the power between both characters. This time round the framing, shots and story board was much better.  

As you can see in the two pictures above, they both have titles in the movies. The preliminary task titles wasn't really thought about and was just added into the movie. Where as, in the opening sequence the titles have been thought about and they was their not to take away too much attention. The titles are rather bland in both video's but in contrast they are much better in the opening sequence. We wanted to link the titles to the feeling of the movie at that time, for example after the death in 'Animus' the title was hand written and was messy to show that something isn't right.  

There was a massive improvement in the editing, from the preliminary task to the opening sequence. In the preliminary task the editing wasn't very well done. For example, when using the shot reverse shot in the preliminary task, the shot wasn't very accurate and the door didn't shut completely, then we had to use a sound effect to act as it did, it was very untidy and there was a lot of error's. In contrast to the opening sequence we made sure we was on top of the editing and everything was very accurate. We had a shot of the foot coming to the ground which took a long time to shoot due to getting it correct with the angle, we used a shot reverse shot on this. This went from him walking to you seeing the bottom of his foot to then him splashing in a puddle. It worked very well and was very clear, compared to the preliminary task. The editing was very easy flowing and made a lot of sense in the opening sequence, we thought of different idea's to help us with the shooting.

In the preliminary task there was a lot of error's made, so in the opening sequence we made sure all of the tiny error's was made up for and everything was more accurate.

Evaluation 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

 

 

Our opening sequence has been annotated on how we have attracted/addressed the audience,  we have mentioned various of things in here such as why we have add this certain font in, why the screaming is heard in this sequence.

The music wasn't mentioned in this sequence, will need uploading onto this video. We used the piano music across when the victim was getting murdered as it brought a sort of different tension to what you would normally expect, you could hear the screaming underneath the piano piece. This is very different to what a horror genre film would use, this is because in a horror movie you would expect, beat, slow/fast music with gradually increased with tension but instead we have a very lovely flowing piece of music which made you feel more guilty when she was being killed. This showed us that she was being murdered but also gave us a sign that no one could hear her or help her and she was just a hopeless victim.

Evaluation 1

'In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?'

In this evaluation I will be talking about the way media use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products. I will be explaining in a nine frame structure, this is to show the understanding of each sub-title stated in this evaluation.

Click on the links to see more information.

The title of the film

 Our title of the film is called Animus, we have used a very simple font. We've used a white large font which grabs the viewer’s attention by also having a black background.  This is to make 'Animus' stand out to the audience, although some people may not understand what animus means but further into the film you will understand what it means. This will bring more attention to the film as they are very interested why it is called animus. Conor came up with the film name, as he searched it up in relation to fire revenge and any other word that fitted in.  We had the title of the film 2.42 minutes into the film which was at the end of the opening sequence. This was our plan to make sure the attention was still there so we left it at a death as you expect it to carry on but it’s actually leaving you there wondering what’s happened.
 

Setting/location

The setting and location was located in two different places, but having the first location set was at the River wey, in Guildford which was very public and was very different compared to some horror genres. Friday the 13th is a very similar film, as part of their location was set by the lake, and ours was set by the river. They also both the same aim in the film and that is to murder people for a purpose. In the link to 'Friday the 13th' you can see that in the opening sequence that people are walking next to the River and walking across it. So to keep it very similar, genre wise this is why we set the opening sequence by the river. However, our location then changes to a house which was still located in Guildford but on the other side. The set at the house showed more of the horror genre itself as she was by herself and you could see him watching her from outside. Which does show that horror genre very well, to keep it very simple the deaths throughout the films are going to be at houses dotted around Guildford.
 

Costumes and props

The costumes and props is a big thing in all types of movies, especially in a horror genre film this is because of the killings you need to make it very realistic and also need to make sure it’s not too boring. So we experimented by using a crow bar which was very dangerous and very different, as you see in this shot the bar is coming down on her leg which results in cutting her leg open. The costumes were obviously a big thing in our film as we didn't want the killer to be seen and wanted it to be a secret to gain more attention from the viewers. Throughout the film we showed different types of props to back our film up, for example we also used a newspaper saying ' I saw him jump' which leaded back down to the start of the opening sequence when the man commits suicide, this just shows the audience that there is a link in the film. 

Camera work and editing

 In all horror films, there is always a view from the murderer's eyes. This is a very stereotypical view in a horror film, this shows how the victim is vulnerable position but it also brings a sense of feeling that the victim is about to be killed and we know it’s going to happen but she doesn't. In a stereotypical horror film they always show the murderer is watching them and it makes you wonder how they got under the bed, or how they even got inside. This is what you want to get from the audience as they will be more attracted to the film and also want to know what else happens during the film. In the opening sequence they show a lot of different shots, this is to show that as a group we can provide different angles, but also in a horror film you can experiment a lot considering tilt shots, this is simply because if you show the audience a distorted angle, this means that something is not right at all. Providing it makes sense you can do anything you want to make it your own film but as a horror this does mean that something is going to happen and something isn't right. 

Title font and style

 

The opening sequence shows 5 different people that contributed into our film, so this will obviously gain them notice from different viewers. Our titles font and style was very simple before the killing so this contrasts to our main title, this is because we wanted everything to seem normal and not give away that there is something odd and that our film was going to be killing. The main title is very different as it is a handwriting based title and the font on this one is very straight forward and bland. Both fonts insist of white writing to show they are the same, we have stuck the 5 names in the film altogether in the first part this is to let the names get in the way off the actual filming.

Story and how the opening sets it up

When planning our opening sequence, we used a storyboard which we came up with different type of shots for the sequence; we tried to apply different shot types. We used certain shots like the worm eyed shot, bird view shot. We added a variety of angles and a mixture of different pacing. For example we used a lot of face paced editing with quick and sharp changes, we wanted this to look like it was a panic and it happened all happened very quickly. We also wanted the sequence to flow easily and also add our own unique taste to it. We came up with having unusual angles, adding white to white and then zooming out this all worked very well as we was trying to link two different scenes together and it worked very well.

Genre and how the opening suggests it

As our genre is horror/thriller for the opening sequence we showed normal conventions during our film you would also aspect the very stereotypical horror/thriller film. In the section when the victim is getting beaten up, we made sure there was slow motion involved in that moment. This is due to showing the audience that there is violence happening and by making sure they see the punches are hitting her and suggests this is a horror movie. The props also suggest the film is horror by having her attack her with a crow bar, and that this is very violent and he is making sure the weapon he is using is different to normal weapons such as knifes, guns and many more normal weapons killers would use. The genre was shown very well in our opening sequence and we made a balance in our film between the horror/thriller and normal scenes.

How characters are introduced

 

The main characters are shown in the opening sequence, without giving away too much information. The killer is shown in the start of the open sequence but you only seen him in the light of the frame which doesn’t give a lot of identity away. This very alike to the character in Friday the 13^th as you don’t know the person who kills each person you just see them in a quick glimpse. Jason was shown with a mask so you couldn’t see his face, and our character was dressed in black and you never saw his face in the sequence. We also show the other main character secretly, for example, there was a shot on the couple. That is later on a main character in the film, we used showed the main characters wife being killed but no one knew she was the wife to the main killer until after the opening sequence.

Special effects

We used special effects in our opening sequence which was applied by using the software Imovie; we used a special effect on the clips at the start by using an effect which left the outline darker than the middle part of the shot. This was very effective as the start was suicide which suggested it was very dark, gloomy and even sad, by having this at the start this stated something wasn’t right and that they had to focus on the main part and not everything around it.

Reason for choice of genre

We have chosen horror/thriller for our opening sequence. This is because we are all very interested in the subject and have all been coming up with exciting ideas of the opening sequence.

My Group :)

This year i shall be working with Conor Taylor and Ryan Murphy. Conor and I have already studied Media last year and we both are retaking and Ryan joined Media this year! It shall be fun and we have already worked well as a group.

http://realimaginativename.blogspot.co.uk/ - Ryan Murphy
http://conortaylor.blogspot.co.uk/ - Conor Taylor

Preliminary Task

Explain what you were meant to do and how you prepared for the task?

Our group was asked to make a short film which included certain rules and shot types such as match on action and the 180 degree rule and then editing it to make a flowing sequence. By creating this short clip flow we needed to create a storyboard which consisted of different shot types such as over the shoulder, medium shot, close up etc. This also makes the camera man aware of what type of shots and who is going to be in the frame for the shot and the location of the shot. To also make the camera man aware of this we made sure we knew the storyline.

Here are some photo's towards our evidence of creating the short clip

Explain how you filmed each part of the task?


Before filming the clip we allocated certain roles to each person in the group, Conor was on the camera  and director, Ryan was an actor and also editor and I played actress and editor too. This was just to make it simpler for us when coming along to the task. We also made sure that all certain shot types were added and that the storyboard was being used right. We needed to make sure that the clip made sense and quickly done a rehearsal run through to make actors and cameraman aware of what was going on. We filmed a match on action shot of Ryan from behind walking to the door, then done a close up of his hand opening the door and also filmed him walking towards the camera, this was to make the clip more interesting and to show we can be creative and can use the simple types of shots. The next shot was of me sitting on the computer, you only saw the behind/side of me then i heard the door knock, then changed the camera shot so it was a long view and walked towards the camera. After walking towards the door we used the shot reverse shot of Ryan's conversation with me this was to show the response and facial expressions off each character. We needed to show that we was a skilled group so we made sure a lot of different techniques of shots were used.  The conversation was quickly over and then I walked off the camera and the camera panned at the same time to show me walking away. After walking away you see Ryan skip down the corridor in happiness, this made him seem like he was happy and couldn't care in the world.


Were you happy with the final result?

I was happy when we edited the scene together as this made it flow very nicely and had more of an story than just shot types so we added music/sound effects and transitions. When filming we had a slight problem because the door didn't shut when he walked through it so we had to do a fast cut so no one actually saw that the door didn't shut but we did add a sound affect of a door closing, this wasn't a big error unless you told people they wouldn't notice. there was also a problem off Ryan's hand wasn't positioned in the same place on the door. This was only my main concern as it would have made the shots not accurate, but we tried covering it up by using effects on the mini-clip. I also didn't have ago on the camera so i didn't then help by using the camera, this was a bit disappointing as i would have liked to off had ago!

Christopher Nolan - The interview

Interview with Christopher Nolan by amylawrence15 on GoAnimate

Animated Presentations - Powered by GoAnimate.

Physco

In this film you hear the screaming of Janet Leigh. You sense the fear of screaming because she is scared. So when she is screaming you then get a feeling of scaredness, it makes you react that shes actually getting killed but also in this still you can see that she is petrified and that you can see by her facial expression something is about to happen. This is also a medium/close up shot.

In this shot, you can see the Janet Leigh is tempting to hold on to life, by stretching her arm out and trying to grab onto life, you can see that she has slid down the shower wall. You can see in her facial expression that her life is about to slip away. this is a medium shot.

In this picture you can see Janet Leigh being attacked with a knife, you can see this is a medium shot and has the criminal is in the picture with her. This point Janet was being stabbed so you can see in her facial expression that she is dying.

Hiiii :)

I'm retaking year 12 as i didnt achieve the grades i wanted. Hopefully this will be a better start

Evaluation Activity 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to full product?

I feel that the preliminary task has made me more confident, I have learnt a lot since our preliminary task. I am able to use the compute software and camera equipment with confidence. While doing the preliminary task i learnt the basics of using the video camera, i feel more confident as i know what the camera features and how to use it when doing a certain shot or shooting. I can now decide on how to shoot shots (for example, the distance and the width). Our main issue to stick with, for the preliminary task was 180 degree rule. We included match on action while filming our preliminary task.

In our opening sequence we was able to stick to the 180 degree rule, because we learnt about it in the preliminary task i was able to take my knowledge to the our opening sequence. The opening sequence had a lot of thinking put into to make it look professional. By knowing the features that came on the camera and software we knew what we was going to do to take it to perfection.

For the preliminary task we had to improve on the sounds as the music was too loud and didnt match to the video. So to improve the sounding in the preliminary task we used Freemusic.com, we found this also helped us with the sounding to our movie. We found music which helped us bring tension to the film. The music and sound effects we added to the preliminary task was appropriate music.