Finished Product!

Evaluation - What Have I Learnt

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

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

My knowledge of the technologies involved in the process of constructing our film has greatly improved during the period in which we filmed and edited our short film.

Before we filmed this film, I had very little knowledge of how to even use the cameras that we were given to film. Now however, I have a much greater understanding of how to effectively use the camera to produce the ideal shot for the film, how to use equipment for the camera such as tripods and even how to upload the finished footage to a computer for editing.

To edit our footage we used the programmes included in the ‘Adobe CS4’ package. Prior to editing this film I had very little knowledge of how to effectively use any of these programmes. During the creation of this film I have had to use ‘After Effects’, ‘Photoshop’ and ‘Premier Pro’. This experience with these programmes has dramatically improved my knowledge of them and my ability to use them. 

Using these programmes made me realise how different effects, shot types and shot durations could affect the feeling a film produces. When we created my preliminary video, we used a very small range of shot types and they were all very long in duration. This gave it a very boring and dragged out feeling. Also, we didn’t use any effects, we just put the clips into a chronological order and finished. This made the film feel very boring and awkward to watch.

Now that I have had more experience with the creation of my film opening I fully realise how even the smallest aspect of a film can change the way in which it is perceived by the audience. In our finished product, to give it a ‘horrific’ feel to it, we have tinted it to appear much darker, shortened each clip dramatically to add a ‘jumpy’ feel to the film and even the static transition between the clips and the way in which we have filmed it in first person adds a much more realistic effect.

As well as the effects that mise en scene, camera shot choices and editing techniques have on a film, I have also learnt how important sound can be to achieving the desired affect. In my preliminary piece, we didn’t change the sound at all which made the film even less interesting to watch. In our finished piece however, through experimentation with different music and sound effects, we have managed to find the perfect sounds to go in the background of the dialogue to add a more tense feeling to the film whilst still keeping the film realistic sounding.

In conclusion, since my preliminary clip film was created, I have a much greater knowledge of what technologies are available to me and how to use them to achieve the designated effect for my film. I have also learnt what techniques, in terms of shot types, sound, mise en scene and editing methods are best to use in different situations to create different feels and meanings to a film. I now know how to make an audience perceive my film in a way which leaves them more involved and entertained.

Evaluation - Target Audience

Evaluation - Conventions

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

My media product uses many of the typical conventions which films of the same genre, horror, tend to use. For example, many horror films use light to change the mood of a scene and to emphasise the fact that it is a horror film. This use of dim lighting, or in some cases very bright lighting, can change the feel of a scene dramatically and completely change the effect of the scene.

Our film, similarly to other films in the horror genre, has been edited to dim the light on a scene to make it appear darker and gloomier. Without this effect, due to the fact that we have only shot 2 minutes of the film, our clip doesn’t look like a horror; it looks more like a documentary because of the ‘hand held’ style of shooting the film.

This hand held filming style challenges the conventions of real media products in the same genre as mine. Although now many more low-budget horror films are choosing to film in this way, this technique of filming still isn’t used very often. Most of the films that are shot in this hand held style only use shots that are filmed from this hand held perspective. Our media product however has also used shots filmed from a third person perspective. We have decided to use this to challenge and differentiate our film from others in our genre and to give more of an effect that the characters in our media piece are being watched (this fits with the story line of our film).

Our choice of setting for our film is also very similar to other films in this genre. We chose to film in a dark, isolated forest away from people. Almost all horror films which we have studied have also chosen to set their films in an isolated/secluded location. This, in most cases, adds an effect of loneliness and helplessness to the characters in the film; this is why we have chosen this location for our film. It adds a scarier feel to the film and makes it seem that the characters in the film have no one to help them if something were to happen to one or both of them.

The shot types which we have used challenge the conventions of a typical horror film. Horror films use large amounts of close ups and extreme close ups to emphasise emotion (mostly fear or fright) and to show gory wounds more closely to give a scarier effect. We however have used very few close ups or extreme close ups. We haven’t included them because no events which evoke emotions or wounds worth showing a close up of have occurred due to the fact that it is only the opening 2 minutes of the film.

Also, as in most films of any genre, especially horror, the main protagonists in our film have been introduced from the beginning of the film/ very early on in the film. This is another example of us using typical conventions of other films.

Evaluation - Disribution

Evaluation - Representation

TEENAGED HORROR FILM LOVERS READ THIS!

Our film is perfect for everyone who loves a good horror film but if you're a horror loving teenager, this film is perfect for you!


It contains everything that you love to see in a horror film...

• Tension.
• phychological horror.
• suspense.
• scenes that will make you jump out of your seat.

The film intro will be released on the 27th of April 2012 so go take a look at it when you can and prepare yourself for the full film!


For more information on the progress of the developement of The Last Walk keep an eye on this blog, we will update it with all the information you need!

Preliminary Part Two

Preliminary part two

Target Audience - Focus Group

This work was done by Max Williams

Poll Results

Although the poll that I placed on my blog didn’t get very many votes, from the votes that people did place on it I have concluded that although people said they liked all genres available to them, the majority of people preferred action to any other genre.

Our Real Life Actors

These are the actors that we are using in real life. Below their pictures are the names of the characters that they will be playing in our film.

Improved Shot List

This is an improved shot list. It is an edit of what my partner, Max Williams did on his blog.

Company Logo

We have decided to name our production company 'Moonlight Productions'. This is a company logo that i made to go with our production name.

Text Ideas

The name that we, as a group have chosen to use is 'The Last Walk'. These are a few text ideas that Max Williams, a member of our group put together. We have not yet decided which text idea we are going to use.

Sound Tracks

'IMovie' is a program on the computer which is available to us. On this program we have a choice of un-copyrighted music and soundtracks available to us that we will most likely use for our film opening

Film Name

Today we finally decided that our film title will be 'The Last Walk'. We chose this title because we think it best describes the film while remaining relevant to the film and having a creepy/scary sound to it.

Actor Comparisons

Film Ratings

Film Ratings

I think our film will be rated at a 15. This is okay as our target audience is 15 to 27 years olds so we will not lose any views due to age restrictions. I am glad our film would get a rating of 15 as if the film have a rating of 12 I think the older audience would get the wrong impression about it. Thinking that the film was not graphic or scary. This is not the case. There will be mild graphics and violent scene. There will also be mild rude language used. Our film would be ratted by the BBFC.

This work was created by Max Williams, a member of my group.

Script

This is a script that we have planned to use for our film opening.

Further Research Into Props

My research into props that are commonly used in films of the same genre as mine.

Location Research

This is a map of Snuff Mills and its surrounding area. We plan on using snuff mills to do a lot of our filming for our film opening. We have chosen this location because it has is very big, very dense and out of the way of a lot of people so we wont have any/many interruptions while filming.

Evaluation

Our product is a stereotypical psychological horror which sticks to the regular conventions of a psychological horror film. Two youths, who represent youths in a positive way (showing them to care about their futures because they are on an extra credit hike), go into a forest and slowly bad things begin to happen and the viewer gradually becomes aware that they are being stalked by an unknown antagonist.

The target audience of this product would be youths of a similar age (between 15 and 20) because they can best relate to the characters in the film. Because of this ability to relate to the characters better than anyone else, they will be more scared than any other age group who watch.

A distribution who will be likely to distribute this product is 'Lionsgate'. Lionsgate is a distribution company which along with other genres, distributes large amounts of horror films. Our film is a psychological horror film so  Lionsgate will be perfect for distributing this film.

Our characters both represent stereotypical teen-aged boys. They both attend college and are friends. They both are on a hike for school, similar to a Duke of Edinburgh hike. They are both smart children attempting to earn extra credit because they care about there futures and plan to go to university. Because of this they represent youths in a positive way.

Film Opening Ideas

The above is a quick brainstorm of what we can name our film.

Sound Research

In the above slides i have spoken about the findings of my research into sound effects and choices in films of the same genre as mine.

Shot Lists

Company Logos

These are the logos of big horror film production companies. These are the type of companies which we plan to take some ideas and techniques from to make our film opening as good as possible.

Story Board

This is the story board that we have drawn up for the opening two minutes of our film. Between some of these scenes we will have quick snap shots for example close ups of a map or a compass to add realism to the clip. Snap shots such as these should hope to cover about 10 seconds of the final piece, making it around 2 minutes long.

Time Plan

This is a time plan for when we will produce our rough cut, due in on March 30th.

Photos of our chosen film location

These are all pictures taken of the location that we are going to film our opening in.