Tuesday 10 May 2011
Group - Navigation Page
Production Process
Preliminary
Storyboard
Animatic
Final Piece
Evaluation Posts
Christian Rennie
Evaluation questions 1,2,3,6
Samuel Truscott
Evaluation questions 1,2,3,6
Group Posts
Evaluation questions 4/5,7
Preliminary
Storyboard
Animatic
Final Piece
Evaluation Posts
Christian Rennie
Evaluation questions 1,2,3,6
Samuel Truscott
Evaluation questions 1,2,3,6
Group Posts
Evaluation questions 4/5,7
Sunday 8 May 2011
CR-Evaluation 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Whilst planning our film opening we researched the common techniques used in thriller films, these involved low lighting, eerie music and bold typography which shares similarities to those in Shooter (Fuqua 2007). In our audience research we found that the target audience held these conventions highly amongst the thriller genre. In our production we aimed to fulfil the majority of these expectations.
Our film opening is conventional because our titles used a bold typography and a classic transmission in the thriller genre, our plot as well involved a number of people being abducted by an unknown force. Some of our editing included very close, quick cuts quite common in thriller movies. Our location didn't particularly relate to those normally associated with thrillers because they are very public and not very extraordinary. We tried to keep the lighting within the expectations of the target audience, with shoots occurring during mid mornings and late afternoons. Quite often in thriller films there is a large variance in camera angles, and we tried to mimic this in our production. Some examples are featured below.
Whilst planning our film opening we both decided to keep the protagonist in a basic costume as well as all of our actors/ characters to show that the abductees are all regular people being taken to connotate the inability to predict what the abductor's character and plans are adding to the mystery of the film. When shooting we had to keep our actors in the same costume in order for well presented continuative editing. This involved in a lot of communication to be made between ourselves and the actors otherwise we would have had to reshoot or postpone the shoot.
The characters included in our film opening have not been fully developed because this is important in maintaining the level of mystery in the film opening, and to develop all of the characters featured in the opening sequence would have taken us over the two minute limit for very little storyline. The use of props in the film were used to emphasise the random set of occurrences such as the skateboard without a skater and the cuddly toy without its owner, this also contributes to the mystery behind the disappearances.
The soundtrack was fairly easy to produce replicating those associated with other thriller films, we used a selection of music/ tunes that were available on the computer system, we also produced our own novelty radio broadcast that worked really well and contributes to the story of the film. We used a fairly eerie theme throughout our film with interruptions of a horrible screech in sync with the white flash on the visual which associated itself with the disappearance of various people which helps the audience determine what has happened. The soundtrack was a mixture of melody and sound effects which was underlying the diagetic sound, and for the sound effects they were given priority of the sound because it is a major factor in the film opening.
Overall our media product uses and in some places develops conventions found in the film industry.
CR-Evaluation Question 3
Our media production would be aimed towards the independent cinema because of its low budget. Our film belongs to the independent film industry because of its ultra low budget and that we are not owned by any one person i.e (a conglomerate such as Time Warner) However before it reaches this stage our film would have to go through a number of pitches to enlist investors or production/distribution companies. These pitches would include the explanation of our target audiences, our narrative and our financial expectations. If such negotiations were to succeed our film would be green lighted, meaning we could begin production.
However because our film is a sci-fi/thriller genre its target audience is the core audience of 15-24 years, and because of this it is unlikely that it would be exhibited by any independent cinema (Curzon cinema's). This would result in a straight to DVD release (Bloody Wednesday, Gilhuis, 1987-an example of a film that shares our genre that went straight to VHS) distributed by a small distribution company such as Prism Entertainment. However our film has a fairly unique genre through which we could exploit a niche in the market, our costs would also be very low because we wouldn't have to pay exhibitors.
The internet has helped distribute our type of film because the majority of the world's population has access to this phenomenom, if we were to distribute or screen our film by the internet we would be advertising/screening to the majority of the world, this would greatly improve the number of viewings and thus a greater revenue.
However because our film is a sci-fi/thriller genre its target audience is the core audience of 15-24 years, and because of this it is unlikely that it would be exhibited by any independent cinema (Curzon cinema's). This would result in a straight to DVD release (Bloody Wednesday, Gilhuis, 1987-an example of a film that shares our genre that went straight to VHS) distributed by a small distribution company such as Prism Entertainment. However our film has a fairly unique genre through which we could exploit a niche in the market, our costs would also be very low because we wouldn't have to pay exhibitors.
The internet has helped distribute our type of film because the majority of the world's population has access to this phenomenom, if we were to distribute or screen our film by the internet we would be advertising/screening to the majority of the world, this would greatly improve the number of viewings and thus a greater revenue.
CR-Evaluation Question 6
Planning
Whilst planning our film opening we worked collaboratively by posting ideas on our blog sometimes this would include embedding videos from Web 2.0 softwares such as Youtube.com. We would then comment on each others posts ultimately deciding whether to put it in our film opening. To begin with were asked to do some presentations on which we had to broadcast our ideas and audience research results, for this we used Microsoft Powerpoint and Prezi.
Shooting
When filming our media piece we used an HD digital camera with an inbuilt microphone, to make a shots steady we used a tripod which allowed us to shoot from various angles and distances with ease however we had to keep to 180 degree rule so that the audeince didn't get lost when watching our piece. We used natural lighting because we were filming outside, and it gave an authentic feel to our opening. To record our radio broadcast we used an MP3 player which allowed us to link this with our film. Whilst filming a characters we had to keep in mind the rule of thirds which is that the audiences attention is drawn to the outer thirds of the screen. We also had to film it so that each character was easily recognisable without going over the top with close-ups.
Criticisms
Some problems we faced was that the sun would cause a flare ruining the picture, or that in very shady areas the shot would be too dark, we overcame this by shooting from other angles and distances using the tripod. We also tried filming quite late in the afternoon with the skate boarder sequence and we found that we were unable to get a variety of shots because it became dark very quickly.
Post Production
During post production we used a software called Adobe Premiere Elements 8, with this program we were able to cut our piece, add titles and various other actions. With our titles we used zoom, movement and fade resulting in a professional looking title. Throughout the sequence we were able to use visual effects such as flashes of white and metal finish which complemented our narrative very well. With this software we were able to integrate a soundtrack, however because we filmed outside there was a lot of unwanted wind blowing which compromised our conversation between our characters.
We exported our piece onto our PC and an external hard drive from which we uploaded the video to Youtube, from which we embedded the clip onto our blog. This allowed us to present our film opening on our blog whilst allowing members of the general public to view our piece and rate their comments accordingly.
Similarities with the Industrial Industry
Overall I think that our production process mimics that of real film productions, however there are some major differences; such as our lack of time with the planning stage real film producers have several months to plan their films whereas we had a few, as well as this our ultra low budget which then prohibited the extent to which we could use technology to produce our film opening such as the camera with an in built microphone professional would use sound booms to record sound separatly, using this they are able to overcome problems that we faced such as the wind blowing producing interference with our conversations very easily. They would also use a far more advanced computer programme that allowed them to develop a larger variety of special and sound effects making their films ultimately better quality than ours.
Whilst planning our film opening we worked collaboratively by posting ideas on our blog sometimes this would include embedding videos from Web 2.0 softwares such as Youtube.com. We would then comment on each others posts ultimately deciding whether to put it in our film opening. To begin with were asked to do some presentations on which we had to broadcast our ideas and audience research results, for this we used Microsoft Powerpoint and Prezi.
Shooting
When filming our media piece we used an HD digital camera with an inbuilt microphone, to make a shots steady we used a tripod which allowed us to shoot from various angles and distances with ease however we had to keep to 180 degree rule so that the audeince didn't get lost when watching our piece. We used natural lighting because we were filming outside, and it gave an authentic feel to our opening. To record our radio broadcast we used an MP3 player which allowed us to link this with our film. Whilst filming a characters we had to keep in mind the rule of thirds which is that the audiences attention is drawn to the outer thirds of the screen. We also had to film it so that each character was easily recognisable without going over the top with close-ups.
Criticisms
Some problems we faced was that the sun would cause a flare ruining the picture, or that in very shady areas the shot would be too dark, we overcame this by shooting from other angles and distances using the tripod. We also tried filming quite late in the afternoon with the skate boarder sequence and we found that we were unable to get a variety of shots because it became dark very quickly.
Post Production
During post production we used a software called Adobe Premiere Elements 8, with this program we were able to cut our piece, add titles and various other actions. With our titles we used zoom, movement and fade resulting in a professional looking title. Throughout the sequence we were able to use visual effects such as flashes of white and metal finish which complemented our narrative very well. With this software we were able to integrate a soundtrack, however because we filmed outside there was a lot of unwanted wind blowing which compromised our conversation between our characters.
We exported our piece onto our PC and an external hard drive from which we uploaded the video to Youtube, from which we embedded the clip onto our blog. This allowed us to present our film opening on our blog whilst allowing members of the general public to view our piece and rate their comments accordingly.
Similarities with the Industrial Industry
Overall I think that our production process mimics that of real film productions, however there are some major differences; such as our lack of time with the planning stage real film producers have several months to plan their films whereas we had a few, as well as this our ultra low budget which then prohibited the extent to which we could use technology to produce our film opening such as the camera with an in built microphone professional would use sound booms to record sound separatly, using this they are able to overcome problems that we faced such as the wind blowing producing interference with our conversations very easily. They would also use a far more advanced computer programme that allowed them to develop a larger variety of special and sound effects making their films ultimately better quality than ours.
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