Media studies 2009-2011

The locations pictured above are of a farm, the place where we filmed our media AS production. We used this site as it had the right atmosphere that we were looking for to incorporate into our film.
The derelectness and the spooky outbuildings create the horror feel, and make it look conventional to other film’s in the genre of horror.

For this section of the evaluation i have used a picture of the villian from our final AS media film project, and to compare with i have included a picture of the villian from jeepers creepers 2, the scarecrow, i have used this characater to compare with our actor, because both villians in the still are about to chase a victim and capture them.
Another similarity between the two are they are both wearing dark costumes, and have the same sort of upright stance in each still. Another similarity that i have notice between these two stills are that they are both in fields, the scarecrow on the left is in a field of crops and the other picture, the villian is in a field of reeds, therefore we can see that our film fits the conventions of this type of horror.
More similarities include they are both about to kill victims in the fields, and both shots are in daylight, however the difference between them are that the villian on the left is a more of a creature than a human, compared to the villian on the right who is human and we can clearly see that, but the creature on the left we know hes not human from his rather disturbing appearence, and the abiltites he has, where he is able to leap rather high or even fly, and the strength he has within the film.

There were a few different programmes and different forms of technology that we used for our final media piece, these were a variation of programmes on the school media computers and programmes on the internet. We also used a digital camera to do our recce report and take pictures of our group using the equipment that we used.
The list below were the rescources that we used to film our project.

* Video camera
* Headphones
* Video tape
* Tripod
* Microphones

The list below are the rescources that we used to edit and create the final piece;

*computer
*adobe photoshop
*adobe premeire
*CD’s containing audio

And finally we used web based programmes to view and get information to finish our film, these are;

*youtube
*google
*wordpress

From first doing our preliminary excercise i have learned how to use the editing software, how to use the tools that it offers and how to create a finished media project, i have learnt how to include a wider range of shots, that can add a further depth into the quality of the film, i have also learned the rules of filming, such as the 180* rule, that means you have to film on one side of a person when in conversation, this is because this can look like they have switched places or moved somewhere else, if you keep it on the same side, this shows continueity. I also learned that we can greatly improve our film by using certain techniques and adding in transitions and affects, such as slow mothion that we used to add tention and make the film more scary. Also we used black screens that broke the film down and seperated it, so the film was slowed down, and this also builds tension and the atmosphere that we were trying to create in our media project.
The second technique in filming, is match on action, this is where there are several shots for one action in the film, this is so the action in the film runs smoothly and so it does not appear the action is repeated, for example someone throwing something, it would focus on their hand first of all, and then focus on them about to throw the object, and then following the thrown object.
The third technique is called Shot reverse shot, this is mainly used in conversation between characters, as it goes from one character and then to the other and then back again, however we didnt really use this in our media project, with the exception of when the main character discovers the body in the abandoned outbuilding and it goes from the main character to the body and back to the character.
We were also told things that can make a film look unproffesional and ametuer, these can be things such as if you do not get the white balance right then the film can look to bright, or too dark and will look bad in certain light conditions, i also learned that too much headroom can make a film look ametuer, therefore the the amount of headroom should be kept minimal and a small gap between the top of the characters head and top of the frame should be seen.

I think that our media AS project follows the conventions of a normal film, and does not challenge the concepts of these, it opens up with the corporate logo and then the production company name, so the viewers no who the film is made by.

The title sequence dosen’t differ from the conventional view of the title, we have made it fade into the title where the name sits on a black screen, with the red title “ministry” and then fades out again.

The setting/location does follow the convention of some horrors, as you do see some films set on a farm location to make it scarier, using dark, old places, as these types of scenery and location tend to make the film have a deeper atmosphere and goves it that horror like feeling to the viewer.

we didnt really follow the conventions, this is because we didnt use many props or costumes, mainly because we didnt feel they were neccassary within our project, our characters wore casual clothing to9 make the whole thing seem more realistic to the viewer. We used two props in our film, which were an old scruffy chair and a rusty old chain, the chain was used as offensive weapon to pose as a threat to the other character and to make him seem the more powerful dominant one in the film, the chair was used to sweat the body that the main character finds in the old barn room, this chair was used because it fits in with the theme of our film.

The camerawork in the project does not challenge the concepts of conventional films, this is because we used shots such as, medium, close up, long, and establishing shots, these were used to create our film project, however we did not use any experimental shots in our project, as these could have made the film look less proffessional. with the exception of the tracking shot that we used to show the point of view of the suspected villian in the film, this was following the conventions by tracking but as it was a handheld shot it may be classed as experimental, becuase this is not often seen in modern film.

The story, a young man finds himself walking onto a farm and looking around the land, he wanders into an old deserted outbuilding, where in a chair he see’s what appears to be a dead body, he then gathers himself and runs out the room quickly in a state of shock.
He runs down the farm and finds himself confronted by a strange figure, the other character, the suspect in the killing or torture of the man in the chair that he previously saw, after they glance at each other, the main character is chased by the suspect into a field where he trips and tries to hide in some reeds, but the suspect finds him.

The story is basically a man finds a body, see’s the subject and then a chase sequence begins, as the suspect tries to catch the main character, they then end up in a field of reeds and the main character tries to hide from the suspect, however he is unsuccessful and we see the suspect standing over the victim as the film fades to black and the film opening finishes.

The opening sets up the film by using creepy music, this sets a tense tone in the opening and lets the viewer know the genre of the film from the first scene, the music is quite slow and therefore builds tension from the start of the film, this music carries on and only changes pace when the main character finds the body and the chase sequence begins.

There are only two main characters in the story, these are the victim of the chase and the suspect, the first character, the victim is introduced after the scene opens, after the pan to set the scene, the first character appears when he walks round a corner and into the shot of the camera.

The second character, the suspect, we first see when the victim runs into the open, and the suspect is stood there looking at him holding chains, we first see his hands holding the chain and this is how we know that he is a dangerous person in the story, the chains are used to let us know that this character is aggressive and is the villian within the story.

The only special effects that are visible in our production is slow motion, this is used when the chains in the outbuildings are swinging, this is used because we wanted to make the chains symbolic as we would then see these chains a little later in the movie when the suspect is holding the chains in an attacking manor, weilding the chains like a weapon, this is the only special effect in the film and this was used mainly to create and introduced the tense atmosphere of the film.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our media prject is based on the horror/thriller genre, therefore it will be targeting people who are interested in this type of film. we are trying to target less young people but more of the older population, around the ages of 18+ mainly because its a horror and may be unsuitable for younger people, older people will also understand the story better and may be more enthusiastic into following the films story line.

They would be enthusiastic about this type of genre and would enjoy
Seen as though our film isnt really in a niche market, the preffered audience wouldnt really have a specific taste in where they shop but more general, such as a middle aged viewer that we would expect to watch this film, would shop at tesco etc, As horror/thriller has a very wide audience and anyone could really be a viewer.
 There favourite music would be rock or soft rock music, such as Guns n Roses or kid rock. Its too general to assume the favourite tv ashow of the viewer but there favourite tv show could be CSI and any of the other spin offs such as CSI: New york or CSI: Miami.

In a opening of film the usaul order is that the intro is companied by the titles either with the titles over lapping it or after the intro. Sometimes the film starts off with a colour background with only the credits of the film then it starts. The opening of a film is usually a prediction of how the film will do and the pace of the film. The opening can be a sequence or a montage of the film, usauls a Horror/Thriller/Action use montage because it is fast paced, where as a comedy will try and make the frist scene as funny or entertaining as possible. When the titles come on there are usaully different company identity near it who are associated with the making of the film. The details are writing in small print below the title. Expersition its the order of things, whilst the main plot is going on the side plot is running along side it. The opening titles of a film usaully reflect how the rest of the film will be, they do this to show the pace and genre of the entire film. Sometimes the opening is a prelude which later ties into the plot and story or set the tone for the rest of the film, this is so the veiwer knows what the film will be like in terms of action and speed. Occassionly the film will have a unrelated scene in it which will set the main character onto the main story.

Horror/thriller The genre of horror is to scare the audience, to make them uncomfortable and this is what helps the horror genre to attract such a wide audience, horror is used to put the fear into its veiwers, its intended to come across to the viwer as an emotional, pcychological or physical reactions.

Comedy genre

The comedy genre attempts to make the viewers laugh and have a pleasurable happy experience when watching a comedy. Theres black comedy which tends to cover topics such as war, death and suffering however this type of comedy can sometimes offend the viewer, therefore it aqquires a specific taste for that type of humour.

Then there are romantic comedies, chick flicks. aimed at mainly the fenale population, as this is their type of genre, stereotypically, as they can kind of relate to the film and this creates enjoymentfor the viewer.

Fantasy, interprets the use of magic and other types of supernatural behaviour for the main plot of the fantasy film, or the theme or setting of the film.

Action- With this genre the plot dosent matter as much in this type of genre, people tend to relate this gwnre to high speed action and explosions and other forms of extreme action, this makes it popular because it gives the viewer an adrenaline rush and keeps them on the edge of their seat. Also the characters in action movies tend to be good looking masculine men, to attract a bigger female audience to the film and for the male audience to aspire to and want to be, as they are shown as cool. A good example of a film like this would be James Bond.

This is our company ident that we have created on Photoshop. We chose to do our company ident like this because it fits in with the genre that our film is, mysterious  and horror, thats why we have used the claw with blood dripping down to add to this horror style effect, the font and the colouring of the text we have chosen because we all agreed in the group that it looked quite professional and looked good.

Evaluation

I think our Preliminary exercise could have been better, because throughout the piece of film the camera was on a canted angle. Also another problem that occured that we noticed after we had finished, because we didnt monitor the level of the sound, it came out slightly distorted and was too loud at some pointsd of the piece.

The opening sequence Is a shot of Mr Mannix walking towards the room of the door, a medium shot as it contains down to his knees as he walks towards the door.
Theres then a close up shot of the handle as Mr mannix places his hand on the door to open.
The open shot however conatins too much headroom, it should be closer and be just above his head.
As we see Mr Mannix enter the room, there is a brief close up shot of him getting a chair, this is at a higher angle looking slightly down. The next shot is of Mr Mannix placing his chair down to sit on it, however there is far too much headroom and we can see far too much of the background, After this shot we see them sat at the table together, but when it switches sides it breaks the rule of the 180, and we now thing that the people have changed places or moved, which does not help with the continuity.
 The shots didnt frame the people very well as they were to far away, they should have been closer to make more action within shot and less background.
There is a pan shot to follow Mr Mannix as he enters the room and suits down with Mr Marshall.
The lighting could have been darker to make the whole transaction seem a little more mysterious and intense. They use over the shoulder shots to show the dialogue and interaction between the two characters as they are talking about the transaction of the package.

Adobe prmiere is a video editing software package system that is used to edit clips and videos from external sources.
This software allows us to extract video from something such as a video tape or cd, or other storage device, and allow us to edit the video clip, and add effects and other special features to the videos.
This software can be used by ametuers and proffesionals alike, its simple enough to use and is very effective at making an average video into a proffesional looking piece of film, the clean interface also helps with the ease of navigation.

Premiere is a very useful software that allows us to import audio, video and graphics that we can use to add effects to the film thatwe use.
We are also able to edit, cut and rearange the footage into a visual timeline in the software.
Adding effects and filters to video is another thing that the premiere is very capable of.
And finally the software allows us to export the finished video/file to an external scource, and can also be converted into various formats.

Editing is used in the production method for editing the scene or shots, with this they can edit, cut, adding sections to the video, and editing in music and other effects.

The goals of editing

• One goal is to cut any unwanted footage that you dont want in the sequence., this can really improve a scene and make it much more interesting.
• It is important that the video flows, so that the story can be clear and that the editing makes sense.
• Editing allows us to add music, effects and graphics to our sequences.
• Editing can allow us to edit the mood, style and the pace of the video, this can change the feel of the video and can change its intended purpose, this can change the overall veiwing status and can make the audience react in different ways.
• A video can be made for an exact purpose to show something important that should be heard and should be viewed in that particular way.

There is four types of sound in filming, these are,

Dialogue- This is a spoken soundtrack, this is planned out in script before they start filming.
aysynchronous sound is where the in the scene doesnt follow the persons whos talking, there is no visible source where the sound is coming from on the screen.
Directional microphone- This is a device used to capture the audio directly from the person that is talking.
Omni directional- This device picks up soound from wherever it is facing.

Ambience
Ambience sound is the noise in the background of the scene, this can be things like birds, other people talking, wind noise etc, this can be included in the scene to make it more natural and realistic and make the scene more atmospheric.

Diegetic

This is the sound ofthe film world, meaning that can be added after filming the shoot, meaning that the scource of the sound is visible from on the screen, these can be like sound made byobjects in the film, voices of characters or music coming from instruments in the film.

Non diegetic

This is the opposite of diegetic sound, this is outside of the film world, thast is added in as sound aeffects such as canned laughter, sound effects that make the scene or action more dramatic, or music that is used to set the mood of the film (mood music). This is presented from coming from a scource outside of the story.

1)  The main contribution of the Lumiere brothers to the early cinema
The Lumiere brothers were basically the finders of motion picture and early film in 1895 when they created there first motion picture film. When they presented the first films to the public they played 10 short films,  which alo included thier first film, Sortie des usines lumiere a lyon, which was basically filming workers leaving the lumiere factory. The films were around 40-55 seconds long, this was were cinema was born and after thiere films, cinema was improved, bettered and films were made longer for more entertainment.

The jazz singer
The jazz singer film, created in 1927 by the Warner Bros. was a big problem for cinemas, because this film was the first to include sound into it, this meant that all the cinemas had to upgrade their cinemas so  that they were able to play the sound through speakers, however this film was very successfull, and therefore it became known as the first “talkie film” where people were amazed that they could actually hear the screen talking, and this meant they were more involved and interested in the film, this also meant a decline in the silent films and eventually they were no longer.

Vertical integration
Vertical integration is where a company or the producer of the film will maximise thier profits by owning the production of the film, the distribution of the film, which means getting the film out to the audience, and thirdly the exhibition where they will show the picture film to the people themselves meaning they dont have to pay other companies to do these jobs, and therefore gaining as much money as possible from the film.

Cinema bankruptcy
The cinemas were on the verge of bankcruptcy between theseyears because the television (tv) was born and this was a problem for the cinemas and film makers because people didnt want to go out anymore and spend there money watching a film out in the town, but they wanted to sit at home in front of the t.v, because they could watch t.v shows at home and for free and in there confortable environment, another reason was mainly because the cinemas were located mainly in city centres and this was a problem for people as it was hard to get to the cinemas, however after the cinemas noticed this problem they tarted to build there cinemas in more rural areas where people could get to and therefore the cinema survived.

Package system
The film producers job is mainly all of it to do with the organising of the film, the finance, the cast and the production of the film, this is a very important job in the film industry, an example of one of the most famous film producers in cinema is steven spieleberg, he produced films such as jaws, jurrasic park and e.t.

There are many different shots that can be taken by the camera, the mst common shot used to open a film, or to act as the intro or scene locator, is the establishing shot or the wide shot,which is used to view the location or set of the film or scene, these shots can be sometimes skylines and above shots of cities, this allows the audience to know where the film is taking place and to get a feel for the atmosphere of the film.
It can also be used for large scenes where there needed to show the surrounding, so the audience always knows whats going on.
The mid shot, is used so it can focus on the full person, and to show there actions, or what they are doing in the shot, also there is the very wide shot which is inbetween the wide shot and an establishing shot, which shows the location slightly closer. The close up shot is used to show a persons emotion or reaction by closing on their face, this is good because it shows what the person is trying to express by looking at their body language and their face expressions. The extreme close up is used for more dramatic scenes where we can see more detail in there faces and their reactions and so we can feel the atmosphere, for example it can be used dramatically, for a criminal in a film not wanting to show their full face they may use this shot to only show half his face, to increase the mysteriousness of the character. A cutaway shot, where the action may be interupted or puased to cut away to something else, the cutaway image does not have to be of any relevance to the film but can be used to show other characters or objects.
The cut-in can be used to show a persons body launguage and how they are reacting with their body, such as if their afraid or tension in the scene they may be shaking with their hands or when someone is talking the may be using thier hands to create a picture or an image to express what they are saying.
A two shot is used to show two people in the shot, these shots contain the two people and looks as though we are looking from the eyes of the camera person, for example this can be used for interviews to show both people talking and there reaction to each other, you can sometimes see this shot in romantic films, when they are walking holding hands for example.
An over the soulder shot is mostly used to show one person talking and the changing to shw the other persons reaction, this way you can hear the person talking while looking at the other person over thier shoulder while seeing the reaction on their face and through thier body language.
A point of view shot is used to show the audience a scene through the subjects eyes, so they can see exactly what their seeing and basically puts them in their place and they can see whats gong on for example, if the were to have been knocked on conscious by a punch, you would see their eyelids fluttering and blurrieness before they come around and stand on there feet.   A weather shot can be used to show the sky and what the weather is like, wether its to shoe rain, snow clouds, a storm etc, this creates the scene and the type of atmosphere the director wants for the scene in the film.

The video cameras used in college have alot of different features and functions to get the best video, there are two man differences on the camera, and these are the manual and the automatic function, we have been advised that manual is better when filming, as we can create what we want the shot tolook like and so we know how to use the buttons on the camera, there are features such as the white balance, which you can set by focusing on a white piece of paper or white background, this is importnat as gets the true colour of the picture and dosent therefore have too much artificial light but rather natural light.  The zoom feature which we were also advised to try and not use, or keep to a minmum zoom, because this makes the camera picture unstable and hard to keep still, another feature is the focus, this means that we can focus the camera on a particular object or person so we get a clear picture and so its not distorted or blurry and we recieve the best picture quality.

It is very important to plan out a film sequence, such as the camera angles, scenes and shots to use in the film to make it look good, they need to know if there going to use, mid shots, close ups, establishing shots to show the location of the film.
They should never start filming a sequence without knowing what they are going to do, this can be costly for them as they will have to pay the actors to wait around till they know what they are going to do or other things that can be of cost to the film, also if they dont plan the film then it wont be exactly what they want, if they jump straight into the film they wont have prepared everything and therefore they may have to compromise scenes and this may change the overall way that the film is interpreted to the audience and the way it is viewed, b not planning it can make the work look sloppy and may seem like its strung together rather than carefully planned and thought through. They also need to decide the characters in the sequence and what the dialogue is that they are going to be saying, this can help get a certain message over or show the expressions there trying to show.  Directors will also employ location scouts so they can find the best location to film on that will benefit there overall film atmosphere and help the look theat they are going for.

Storyboards were first used or invented as some say by Walt Disney studious around the early 1930’s,nowadays storyboards are used for almost everyfilm, as it has become the way to start making a film and to get it right, so it dosent fail, but can become a great film that many people will want to watch. Storyboards are very important to directors and film creators. Astory board consists of drawings in boxes telling the story in art form on paper, showing what they want to happen in the film and how there going to achieve it,  By panning the film before hand, they can picture the film and the scenes before they spend money on filming the actual scene, this helps them make the right descision about what looks good and what they want to use in their scenes.
Story boards are important because it helps the director to structure his work, and so he can get his story in the right order and so it makes sense when he comes to produce it.

Wordpess is used in media to write blogs.
on word press you are able to change the style of the writing and the colour of the text.
Wordpress allows other people to see your posts on the blog and they are then able to comment and give you feedback on the work that you have completed.
Wordpress also alows you to upload pictures and edit them. You are also able to catogerize your posts so they are easier to find.