Evaluation 7

The preliminary task was a simple opportunity to show I could utilize the 180 degrees rule, match on action, shot/reverse shot and a few other foundation techniques.


During the production of our main film I have had the opportunity to develop these techniques further as well as incorporate some additional skills that I had acquired from photography. Some examples of these techniques and other camera-work skills can be seen below:

Here’s an interceptive pedestal shot. Much like a shot-reverse shot, this clip has been split either side of another clip, except the middle clip is not a camera-subject, it’s the beginning of the opening credits. I did not have access to an actual pedestal so slowly lowered the neck of the tripod, relying on the friction of it to slowly bring the camera down.







Here’s an example of me using Smith’s ‘Rule of Thirds’ to help create tension and show a relationship between the subjects in the shot. As you can also see from this shot, most of the film was very low-key. This dark, gloomy atmosphere adds to the verisimilitude of the scene and creates suspense as the viewer has to concentrate to accurately see what’s happening.

 




I considered the relationship between subjects in every shot, with all mise-en-scene (including actors) having some connection with each other; this concept relies on the use of ‘concrete’ and ‘imaginary’ lines. Below is an example of a concrete line, where real objects are shown at a particular perspective hook the viewer into the scene.
Here I considered how, in our society at least, people naturally look at things from left-to-right. We can see that this left-to-right tendency, as well as the given perspective we have of the keyboard and hands, makes the viewer look around the entire scene, making the most of this shot.




Below is an example of imaginary lines being used for effect. The most common imaginary lines used in films are lines of sight and lines of movement: for example, somebody looking towards a screen and somebody walking across a road; the path their eyes or body takes is the imaginary line. Shots where the imaginary lines are interrupted or are framed poorly disrupt the whole scene. For example, if somebody is walking across a road from left-to-right and you are using a static camera shot, you should have the man on the left and empty space on the right for them to move into. Here there are two main imaginary lines: the light from the screen and the line of movement the stalker makes as he stands up. Like in our ‘crossing a road’ example, I purposely planned to leave space for the stalker to walk into and for the screen light to shine toward.



Here’s an example of me using match on action to create a smooth, visual bridge that helps prevent the viewer from noticing the cuts between shots.



Of course, my video-editing skills also developed. Here are some examples of what I have learnt:

Here is a simple fade-to-black and fade-from-black editing transition I have used. For this particular shot I chose a short elapsed time for the effect to help build suspense.



Here is a ‘constant gain’ sound bridge (AKA sound transition) that allows our spooky, incidental music to be looped smoothly without the audience hearing the classical silent gap between the end and start of looped sounds.




You can see here that I have added another layer with low opacity on top of the Facebook screen recording. This additional layer was recorded and put on top of the other video to give the impression this is a point of view shot where the stalker can see his own reflection.

 

Evaluation 6

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?


Here is a photo of me with my computer (right) and Chris’ computer (left). We decided to use our own computers for the video editing as opposed to the computers supplied in our college as the college computers would have wasted a large portion of our time when rendering effects or manipulating video clips, as these computers are more powerful and toiled to our needs. Using software such as Evernote, Google Docs and Team Viewer meant we could collaborate with each other on our work and control each others’ computers remotely when necessary.










Here is the video camera we used, a Panasonic TM300. We decided to use this video camera as it is small (so easily movable) and fast to use; this helped as we were limited on time for the garage scene and had to quickly shoot the car scenes whilst no other cars were present. The tripod was light and easily movable, making it a very useful and accessible tool. Never having used this camera before I learnt a lot about its ergonomics and operating system. Whilst it is extremely intuitive and easy to use, the camera’s functionality is somewhat limited and certain features that come with DSLRs or broadcast cameras (such as changing ISO, aperture, etc.) are not available.




This print-screen shows me adding a faded sound-bridge in our video. The software used here in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5. This software package is extremely versatile and offers a large array of different effects; this helps me learn new techniques every time I use it and explore new ideas.




Here is Google Docs being used so Chris and I can collaborate on work. Being an online service, it is accessible on our phones, at college or home so I can work on my project wherever I was.










Hardware and Software Used:
-Video Camera
-iPhone Camera (for location photos)
-Ball-joint tripod
-Props (ornaments, furniture, car, clothes, etc.)
-iPhone & software: Evernote and Google Docs for collaborating on work and uploading photos/text to the same place
-Google’s blogger: To upload work and present media film
-Facebook: Creating accounts, editing details to suit victim’s bespoke requirements
-Photo editing: Nikon Capture NX2 and Adobe Paintshop
-Video editing: Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 (preliminary: iMovie)
-Video effects: Adobe After Effects
-Mind-map: Wordl.net
-Team viewer: Software for work collaboration and accessing home computers remotely
-Skype: VOIP (Talking over the internet)
-Open source music websites: http://echoprint.me and http://www.opensourcemusic.com
-Inspiration: Multiple mediums such as DVD films, YouTube clips and online films (using services such as Netflix on computer, 4oD on computer and LoveFilm on Xbox 360)

Evaluation 5

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 5
How did you attract/address your audience?

Our film would attract an audience ranging from 15-30 year olds due to the technological aspect by integrating the social network “Facebook”. The reason for the audience ranges is because of the majority of people that use, and recognise “Facebook”.


Our film is also along the same lines as “Take This Lollipop”, a short film about a stalker that preys upon a victim on a social networking site. Because of the certain choice of music in our film, and the low-key lighting, it creates the verisimilitude of the situation. Meaning the audience is kept in a tense, on-edge emotional state. As we would like to incorporate DNA films in the production, we have chosen an all British cast. The reason for this is, horror/action films that have been British made (28 Days Later) have been proved to be a success in the foreign countries.

Evaluation 4

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?

Here are some people who fit my target audience that I decided to interview.


Name: Ben Beanland

Age:17

Education: Doing AS exams, Sixth Form

Sport: Rugby, skateboarding

Music: Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Five Finger Death Punch

Favourite Films: Halloween, The Collector, Clash of the Titans, Sean of the Dead

Career: Full time education

Favourite Books: The Hustle, Tom Clancy Series

Name: Megan Floyd

Age: 18

Education: Doing A2 exams, Sixth Form

Sport: Horse riding, running

Music: Radio 1 top hits

Favourite Films: Bridget Jones, Borat, Friends with Benefits, The Blair Witch Project

Career: Full time education

Favourite Books: Holes, Pig Heart Boy


Age: 18

Education: Taking A-levels at college

Sport: Bike riding, rowing

Music: Heart FM, 80's/90's classic rock

Favourite Films: Dirty Dancing, Saw 2&3, Titanic, Borat, 21 Jump Street

Career: Part time education, part time job

Favourite Books: Andy McNab, Blue Heaven, Bird's Song, All Quiet on the Western Front

Here is a photo showing a group of people within my target demographic who enjoyed watching my film.

Evaluation 3

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

A film distributor is accountable for the release of film productions to the public, be it theatrically or via home viewing I.E. DVD’s, online rental, etc. If my film was be released and distributed, I am certain production companies would feel inclined to release it, due to the genre it is in (Thriller, action and psychological.). As this is a popular genre I feel that “Dimension Films” would be perfect for our genre of film. The reason for this is because they have distributed the scream franchise as well as the Halloween series. Those genres include Horror, Mystery, Crime, Slasher, Indie, Teen, Cult and many more.

Scream:


Halloween:

Evaluation 2

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Top: FaceStalk (our film opening)
Left: I know what you did last summer: Feature length production
Right: Take This Lollipop: Short internet-based film

The main character in all three films are the ‘stalkers’ that are shown in the pictures above.
The character in ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ (IKWYDLS) had a key accessory, a hook, that added an edgy and scary look. However this hook conforms to conventions of a horror which our film is not. The IKWYDLS character is cloaked and does not expose any part of his body until the very end; this keeps the viewer suspicious and mysterious, and creates a great climax when we see his face towards the end. In contrast, the stalker from ‘Take This Lollipop’ (TTL) had his identity very exposed, but this allows the viewer to his facial expressions clearly - we decided to use a mix of these two inspirational films and have our stalker mostly covered with only his face showing. Our character’s role is somewhat similar to both the IKWYDLS’s stalker and TTL’s stalker in that previous knowledge of others in the film are found out and action is taken - all three of these stalkers confront their victims in some gruesome form.

The victim in our film is named Robyn Jones - a stereotypical teenage girl in England. The only time we see her in the finished film-opening is when the stalker is looking at pictures of her on Facebook. Her presence on Facebook also adds to her conformity to the ‘female youth’ social group.

Evaluation 1

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1

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

1)
  
 

 
2)




3)



4)





5)






6)





7)


The images shown display 9 different frames or shot of my opening film.

Top: This is second shot of the opening film. This shot is used as an establishing shot, to show the viewer the subsequent scene’s setting. An example of this shot being used can be related to the short film “Take This Lollipop”. Showing the low-key lighting allows the viewer to gain a sense of the tension and shady ambience in the film. Setting it in an old garage was perfect for the low-key lighting that we needed. One of the props, a flickering light, is turned on by the character. Besides the light, the television was able to reflect its light onto the character, giving it a ghostly feel.
Second Level – Left: This shot was made in Adobe After Effects using several effects to digitise and obscure the text. The reason this was done, is to keep continuity in the film by adding a spine-tingling title at the end of the film. As the film is based around “Facebook”, it keeps continuity with technology. An example of this being used can be referred to the video game “Battlefield 3”.
Second Level – Right: This shot was once again made in Adobe After Effects, and is placed within the first few seconds of the opening titles. As the video starts of slow, with eerie music, a slow ghost-like text was needed to add to the verisimilitude.
Third Level – Left: Using a close-up wide-angle shot, we show the character typing on their keyboard. To add to the verisimilitude, we gave the character muddy/grubby hands. Therefore this meant the user would have a certain opinion over the character which connects with stereotypes.
Third Level – Right: This wide-angle shot shows the character driving off manically. As this is how the opening film ends, the viewer is left in suspense as to what is happening. The only information that has been given to them is that the character has a map of where the girl is currently at.
Fourth Level: This image displays a tracking shot from a high-angle. In doing this, we were able to portray a CCTV like shot, whereby the character is being tracked. When the character enters the car, we used editing to seamlessly change shot to behind the vehicle, where they have entered and drive off.
Fifth Level: This was shot from a high angle position using a ladder that we had found. This shot shows the character from above, and watches them collect the map and subsequently leave with the car keys and wrench.
Sixth Level: Much like the Third Level – Right shot, in that it is from the same position but the camera is facing in more of an upright position. Showing the character looking at a girl’s photograph on “Facebook”.
Seventh Level: This image shows one of the shots from the “Facebook” scene, where the character is viewing a girl’s images. By use of special effects, we were able to add the character faintly to the screen, as a way of showing their reflection on the screen. This is also used in the short film “Take This Lollipop”.

Final edit

Second draft

I've made a few minor changes to add to the authenticity of the film

Updated Scene Edit

Here's the full video so far. We made many changes and decided not to include the second scene (another two minutes) as it made the entire video far too long.

Second Logo

Here's our film-specific logo

Visual Transitions

In our film I have used fairly simple image transitions such as fade to/from black and cross dissolve. The use of any sophisticated transitions would not suit the thriller genre. Here is a screen shot of me editing the transition's properties.

Sound Editing

The incidental music used in our film is open source and adds to the atmosphere well. Here is a screen shot of where we have used a constant gain sound transition to loop the music without any sound-jumps.

Title Effects

We have made a visual effect for our film name, "Facestalk", that appears at the end of our film. The sound we put with it, as well as the visuals, all suit a thriller-genre and are farily powerful and fast. This time I decided to add a staitonary piece of text saying "Facestalk" at the end of the clip so the audience will easily recognise the name.

Video Effect, Film Name

I have put together a short video-effect clip to place at the end of the film opening.
It's fairly hard to read and requires concentration, putting the audience on the edge of their seats - conforming to typical conventions of thriller films.

Media Editing Plan

Currently our film is too long so I have written some editing adjustments we can make to reduce the elapsed time of our film.

Second Scene

Add similar (but not same) music as first scene

Open first shot with a very quick fade-from-black

First shot could start just before chris drives round corner

Inside-car shot as you brake: Start later (so the car is pretty much stopped already)

^^^Darken first few driving shot to suit the “break in” shot brightness

Open car door sooner

Feet-to-head ascending shot: Speed up UNTIL you can see jamie’s hand in pocket

Enhance sound of breaking-into window

Darken harvey’s legs at bottom-left of break-in shot

^Cut end off slightly of this shot

Start enter-corridor shot later (so Jamie walks into corridor almost straight away)

“Peter” voice slightly too echoey- try adding treble to make it seem as if she’s behind a door)

Cut end of corridor-shot off slightly (just after door-opening noise)

Quick-cut-to-black at end, just before scream

^Enhance scream noise (cut end off like we talked about)

About Studios Logo

Ink writing connotes horror, mystery and tension. For this reason we decided to use a thick, blotchy font to suit this concept. The logo is also all in capitals to emphasise it.

Media Editing Plan

Currently our film opening is too long, so I decided to create a rough editing plan to correct each shot.

Media Studies
Chronological Editing Plan

First Scene

Blur out “in a relationship with” (or cut it so it’s white)

Commence opening shot sooner

“About studios present” speed up!

2^nd scroll down  picture shot starts higher than first shot ends

Exclude map on 2^nd scroll down shot (fade black earlier)

“A chris/Jamie film” change effect, speed up very slightly

For “a chris/Jamie film”, fade in later on the side shot (so J turns on light almost straight away)

Cut side shot at end so we don’t see paper being turned over (saves time)

Password entry, speed up

Hit-return shot is too long – cut the last half (or so) off

Bird’s eye shot could be cut shorter

Facebook screens could be sped up

^Speed loading of page right up so it’s not noticeable

^Speed photo viewing up slightly

Stalker stroking screen shot: Fade to black very slightly earlier

Robyn jones at bed & map display shots can be cut shorter

Start bird’s eye shot slightly later (so stalker’s hand straight away moves from mouse to keyboard)

Speed up Jamie receiving paper from printer (because they won’t think it’s printing they’ll think jamie’s just picking up a piece of paper)

Key’s in draw shot: Start slightly later (so draw opens instantly)

^try sound bridge the draw-opening sound and then cut half way through the inside-draw shot

Wrench shot: cut slightly earlier at end (too much lingering on the tv)

Outside high-angle shot: Cut end off earlier (so we don’t see chris faffing with keys)

Behind-car shot: Speed up once chris is in (so it appears as if he’s started the car very quickly)

^The engine-start noise could be slightly louder, and keep it the same speed (because the images will be quicker than the sound once you’ve sped it up – that’s bad)

FACESTALK noise bit too loud ßHave FACESTALK appear at end of second scene, not first

Can’t use ‘ring’ music

Using Facebook

To use Facebook properly, and without accessing anybody else's account, we created a new e-mail address and Facebook account.

Editing Effects

Adding some effects to enhance our video.
Here you can see me adding an extra video-layer with low opacity to help show my face as a reflection in the screen.

Improved Soundtrack

Here's another soundtrack I found on an open source website, http://www.opensourcemusic.com
This is more suitable as it has less sci-fi elements to it. I intend to loop the first section only as the rest of the sound builds up too much.

 

Soundtrack

The making of thiller music is incredibly difficult and requires instruments and effects that are not easy to get hold of. For that reason, I have turned to open-music websites to find appropriate soundtracks.
Here is a soundtrack I found on an open-source music website, http://echoprint.me.
It sounds as if would work well in a thriller film due to its bizzare, mysterious noises, low tempo and echoing effects.

Logo

Our "About Studios" logo is in the design stage and will be uploaded soon

Stalker's Den

Here is a first edit of the opening title sequence. Much more for this scene to come!

End Scene

Here is the first scene we filmed - the end scene! Below is our first edit

Opening Scene

Here's the original state that the garage we intended to use was in.

Clearing the garage took around 30 minutes with four people.

After clearing the setting we added our own props and found some extra ones to add to the authenticity.

Finally the scene was ready and we could commence filming.

Risk Assesment

Institutional Research

Institutional Research into a film similar to ours: Signs.
I used this research to help tailor my film opening to the conventions of well-renowned thrillers.

Team Management

Driving Actor: Chris Ambrose
Stalker: Jamie Prout
Victim: Robyn Jones
Directing: Jamie Prout
Editing: Jamie Prout and Chris Ambrose
Distribution: Jamie Prout and Chris Ambrose, using Google's Blogger
Music by: Manipulated a looped by Jamie Prout and Chris Ambrose, from YouTube Open-source

First Scene

Our first day filming is complete and editing is almost done for this scene. The edit will be uploaded in the next few days!

Here's a short clip of an additional camera angle was used. We had to re-film this shot though as it was interrupted.

Preliminary

This is my preliminary video for AS Media Studies.

Scene Planning

I created a scene plan that contains key details to creating the film opening.

Thriller Investigating - Brief Analysis of 'The Thing'

In preperation of my thriller film opening I decided to do some short research on other short thriller videos.

Brief Semiotics Analysis of “The Thing” Promotional Video

From the beginning tension is present and only builds as the video goes on; this is an important convention of film trailers that keeps the viewer interested in watching.
During the first few seconds of the clip, a sharp, non-diegetic noise is made that echoes out; this is our first symbol of tension. Despite this the video continues, with several high key establishing shots used in conjunction with a joke made by a character, creating a somewhat cheerful atmosphere; but only for a short moment. Quickly the amount of time between shots is shortened and shots begin to adopt a low-key, ambient, cold lighting style. Actors’ facial expressions visibly change from excited to scared in seconds; to emphasise this several close ups of their faces are put in.

From only 15 seconds in, moving images begin to fade to black every few shots. This technique is done to emphasise the shots either side of the fade; as well as creating suspense it allows time for the viewer to think, thus supplying even more tension. Close ups and extreme close ups are used to show detailed hand gestures and facial expressions. These movements all indicate the fragility of the scene created, putting the viewer on edge. Lighting becomes more selective and contrasted, helping particular details in the scene attract the eye. One example of this is a large ice cube which is first shown using a medium-long bird’s eye shot. This block of ice is soon re-introduced with a sharp, piercing noise, intentionally put in to frighten viewers, sound bridged from black into a high-action shot of something exploding out of the ice. From this point (half way through trailer) onwards the video consists of fast-paced, high-action shots to keep the viewer engaged to the end. Dramatic mise en scene is introduced alongside a variety of dangerous props and alien encounters; this all helps build further suspense for the viewer.

Text is intentionally used at convenient places during this clip to make it more memorable. Excluding the ‘Universal’ logo being presented at the beginning, the first encounter we have with any form of text is instantly after the first climaxing event (exploding ice). The text is placed there as the viewer is likely to be ‘on edge’ after seeing shocking action, and will be alert and paying attention. The dark, sharp, blue font of this text saying “FROM THE PRODUCES OF DAWN OF THE DEAD” suits the semiotic field of fear and coldness presented by the rest of the video. Also note how it is written in capitals; this supports the seriousness of the artificial situation made in the story as well as helping the text stand out. The editor chose this to be the first line of text as he decided he would like the audience to relate a very successful and famous film, ‘Dawn of the Dead’ to this film. This technique of presenting text after tense events is later reused in conjunction with several shots to say: “On October 14…The THING… WILL… BECOME… YOU”, this powerful message is used to provide information on the release date of the film as well as adding to the verisimilitude of the video.


http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi72260633/