Animatic

Keeps on deleting the video and text any time I edit it.

Director's Commentary

 Amy and Ciara explain what techniques we used and a ideas/ choices we used and how this attracts our target audience, for example why we wanted a male to be the vulnerable one as it is a counter stereotype which might be more effective with a younger more 'open' audience.

Audience Feedback

In this video they talk about our audience feedback (which can be seen below) and our response. We explain why our scene might seem like more of a thriller rather than a horror, and how we could have changed our sequence for the better.

Construction - Feedback

The Final Sequence

Construction - Setting

On March the 1st we went out to film major parts of our opening, we filmed chronologically and so we needed to film the middle section and the end of our opening. In addition to a few shots that needed to be re-done to a higher quality of filming or framing etc. We soon approached a problem being that through out our filming the weather started to turn and before we knew it, it was raining and therefore our story line would not flow as our first filming shots were in a fairly light mid day, additionally it meant we had to be quick with using the equipment and our sound quality wouldn't have been up to scratch... if we hadn't had used a sound recorder for better quality.

We chose to film our sequence in a graveyard to foreshadow up and coming events but also to give a creepy atmosphere however, during our time slots for filming the graveyard still saw many visitors and so we didn't want to disturb them as it is quite a sad location and so this mad it fairly difficult as we were constantly moving and being respectful, additionally with cars moving we had to move our tripod multiple times to give way which mad it harder to link shots together as we often had in the moment spurs of ideas.

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

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

Since first filming our Preliminary task to having finished our full opening I have learnt a lot when it comes to media and production. The comparison between the prelim which had little to no meaning and little thought process going into it apart from including a few shots with poorly recorded sound, to our final  sequence which has backing music to add to the tension related to our horror genre along with the mise-en-scene and the wide array of camera angles used, well they don't even come close when it comes to quality.

The sketchy use of Premiere Pro on the prelim shows elongated, jumpy and slow pace editing which doesn't flow to film or recognisable standard, however, our final opening is cut fine to the beats of our music and flows chronologically and follow-able where there is a gritty feel to it done purposely to get across meaning. Having said this, we were given a much shorter time frame to complete the preliminary task but still successfully included what was needed (continuity editing, 180 degree rule, action match, shot reverse shot and include dialogue with someone walking through a door. One thing that we adapted a lot from was the continuity editing meaning that audiences could easily follow along with the story line. Additionally, I feel like I am now more capable of making unique and interesting decisions to keep the audience intrigued and use a range of techniques and skills appropriately.

A further look on editing and you can see that in our prelim there is a fade in from black and an appearing title which was simply done by simple transitions and add ins, where as in the end using a combination of both premiere and after effects helped make our piece look aesthetically pleasing. Our final piece saw to the colour correction wheel function in premier to give our piece a subtle but effective chill. Further more, our titles were detailed in the fact that they were specifically place throughout and the font wasn't the first blood one we saw but one that we had discussed. 

At the start of our preliminary, we attempted a zoom out with a change of focus which was not steady and very rough which lowered the quality straight off the bat, however, in our final sequence one of my focus pulls was done to a high standard from the back of a headstone, to focus on one of our main protagonists.

We used a wide range of different camera angles in our final sequence to make our opening interesting where as our prelim was very basic and this when you look back would have also affected our target audience as if you look at inception and memento, they use camera angles and editing to almost distract the audience however they are not aimed at children as it would be too confusing and so if our editing and camera angles were very basic it could have came across quite childish.

The mise-en-scene has also drastically changed, one obvious change is our costume which we thought about so that it implemented an image or replicate a stereotype into the audiences mind, we used one of our protagonists (Aaron) to wear brighter colours so that it showed he was slightly separate from the group, this back up with him walking behind and being last to enter frames helped paint a picture of his weaker character. Additionally, we didn't just decided to film wherever, we decided our location and planned out what shots and what we would film and when before hand so it was a lot more organised. Furthermore, we changed the colour of the overall wash to be cooler to portray a eerie atmosphere. In the prelim we didn't really think about our setting apart from moving some tables around however there was often mess in and around our shots making them very unprofessional in comparison to our final piece. For example in the image below there is nothing in the background that is out of place and would break continuity.

We tried to stick to the 180 degree rule and we kept it for the most part as our transitions were depicted through a whip pan and that allowed us to switch sides, however, our piece was meant to be the opening to a horror film and so a little bit of confusion such as when the story line changed or something specific happened it would keep the audience guessing and wondering, much like a physiological thriller/ horror such as the Blair Witch Project where you don't actually end up seeing anything, but throughout you are constantly looking in the background and seeing things but will never know what they actually were...

Evaluation 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During the construction of our project, we came across various amounts of technology in order to to piece together our final sequence, examples of these are;

• DSLR Camera
• Apple MAC
• Fig-Rig
• Tripods
• Sound Recorder
• SD Cards
• Scanner
• Premiere Pro
• After Effects
• Blogger
• Emaze
• Prezzi
• YouTube 
• Various free music websites

Having done media previously and being interested in the line of entertainment I was familiar to a few of the tech however I was inexperienced with a few such as the Fig-Rig, Sound Recorder, Blogger and After Effects. 

Now however, I have developed my skills using all of the above technologies as a result of working and learning to get my opening sequence finished. One thing I feel like I have really progressed in is using After Effects to a confident ability in comparison to when I started as i didn't have a clue but one thing that is evident in our piece is our production company logo 'HOWL' in which we used After Effects to add in smoke particles with the swipe transition which made it look more of a professional piece. Additionally, I have become more fluent around filming using tripods and the Camera as I was practicing focus pulls and thinking of unique ways to practice advancing my skills.

Thanks to the access of After Effects, like I said earlier, it has allowed for a more refined and professional finish to our piece. It has allowed for us to create more than just a transition with music. Furthermore, it allowed for us to be original and create our own company through ideas that we had on paper. We wouldn't have been able to do the smoke/ mist effect with such fluency and relative ease without it as we needed to generate a random particle generator and then blur them heavily to give it a smoke effect and then inserting key frames so that the company name shows in synchronisation.

With thanks to Adobe Premiere Pro we could edit footage together along with music all in one place which meant that we could play around with how it looked, for example, the timing of our shots were key and so we used a lot of jump cuts to the beat of our music so that it was interesting and kept the audience at bay. Additionally, some of our credits we used a different back drop and it wasn't part of our actual footage but still we could use transitions and add it in to our sequence. Additionally, the software allowed for us to be able to color correct all of our shots to give a gloomy, eerie feel to our whole opening thus relating more towards our genre. Finally, it also meant that afterwards we could simply upload our exported video, of a high quality to YouTube so that it was accessible to all with ease.

Using the Sound Recorder allowed us to get a crisper sound quality even though we didn't use much, we didn't want our background noise to be annoying and distracting to the audience and using the sound recorder also allowed us to capture a very clean bottle breaking sound once again just upgrading our quality. The use of a high quality camera also meant that we were able to use techniques such as focus pulls and also make our film more interesting by the use of various angles from low, high to steady cam shots.

Whilst filming we had to always be cautious of the camera as it if fragile and a main essential for filming. We would be aware of all of our surroundings to prevent any damage and when it was raining we tried to ensure it was covered so that it didn't get any water damage.

There were times in which we had to re shoot shots due to them not being steady or the framing of the shot meant that there was something in the background or it didn't focus on the correct part in which we hoped, however we simply re shot those or left them our of our final piece.

Without the use of half of the new equipment we would have found it very difficult to put together a gradable opening sequence, the newer tech meant that we could try an be complex giving off better results (usually) however, it can be made simple such as just cutting up footage and piecing it together to give off a good opening so really useful. If we had to manually do it or not have resources such as YouTube to find tutorials it would have proven to be an even bigger task!

Evaluation 5 - How did you attract/address the audience?

Director's Commentary

 Amy and Ciara explain what techniques we used and a ideas/ choices we used and how this attracts our target audience, for example why we wanted a male to be the vulnerable one as it is a counter stereotype which might be more effective with a younger more 'open' audience.

Audience Feedback

In this video they talk about our audience feedback (which can be seen below) and our response. We explain why our scene might seem like more of a thriller rather than a horror, and how we could have changed our sequence for the better.

Evaluation 4 - Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product?

Evaluation 3 - What kind of institution might distribute your media product and why?

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

Our production company name is 'howl' and the logo can be seen on the right. The name howl was thought of as we wanted to be a fairly big horror film distributor to make our film and so we sprouted off of ideas based around typical horror themes. One of those horror themes was a typical fairly cloudy night, full moon is out and what noises do you hear, a wolf of course and so making that our name it instantly puts across a tense implementation rather than a Disney animation. When our production company logo would appear on screen it has the howl of a wolf which is quite threatening and sets the scene, we also added in an overlay of smoke particles on after effects to make it spooky and chilling. It also adds depth and makes it dynamic thus more professional.  
A film distributor is an organisation holds the theatrical release of a film in a particular country as well as the marketing/ distribution of films for entertainment purposes. We chose Blumhouse studios as our distribution company as they have a particularly good reputation for horror/ thriller genres and therefore recognisable by audiences once again setting an immediate tone of fear and an eerie atmosphere, rather than seeing 'Bulldog film distributors' who specialise in the comedy film genre and so you might be more relaxed thinking about a cheesy indie film. For our film I would have said that the money would have been best come from BFI film fund, as it allows for a bigger array of available viewers as it would come from the National Lottery which would allow it to go global.
When editing our sequence we had to make room for titles to be added in and these titles had to go in a specific order.  Some of the titles included major jobs such as; music, actors, editor and director to name a few. We did some research and planning as to where and which order to have the titles as in order for it to look professional it is often minor key details. Our film would fit in with other creations as it would be distributed in a Big Multiplex Cinema, hopefully have a red Carpet event! But more realistically on the scale of Memento, The Thing and martyrs.
Our film would be in Cinemas so that a range of people could watch it and making it more likely for people to watch as it is convenient and accessible. This would attract more than just our target audience as word of mouth from friends often has a major influence on someones film choice. Then would come the hard back DVD copies and Blu-Ray which are still very popular to this day even with digital distribution they are also fairly cheap to make and generate lots of money. 
The certificate I would give our opening through the BBFC would probably be a 12A as even though the intentions and build up is there, in the opening there is no real violence or crude occurrences in our opening apart from recognisable objects that merely link to danger such as lighters, drugs and alcohol along with blood however there is no on screen fighting making it more child friendly.  

Evaluation 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Filming - Construction

On February 9th, which was a Tuesday, was our first filming session where we filmed the beginning and parts of the middle. We found it fun to film but the only problem with filming in a public graveyard was the fact that people were curious as to what we were doing so a few started at us and one man asked us what project we was creating. 

The weather on this day was very cloudy and cold but it didn't end up raining so we got all the shots we needed.

One other problem was that we had to share the sound recorder with another group which caused complications and made us rush some parts of filming. We had two hours with the sound recorder and the other group had one, which meant we had to meet halfway during filming to give it to then, which caused us to reduce the amount of time we had for filming.

However, we got a lot filmed within these three hours we had, we just need an extra hour or two to complete the ending and then finish of editing.
We have decided that our next filming dates will hopefully be after school on Thursday the 25th February, where we will finish filming the middle and possibly the ending. 

Prop and Costume

The alcohol bottles imply that we are teenagers up to no good and that when there is alcohol involved things are likely to get stupid, messy and confusing.

The tictacs will be used to replicate drugs which is often related to teenagers and danger.

The lighter implies that we were smoking and teenage lifestyle and mysterious as this could just be the start of what they are doing.

Evaluation 1 - How does your media product support, develop or challenge the conventions of other media texts?

Typical Conventions of a Horror Film

The horror genre has a very unique style partially due to its conventions. One first convention of the horror slasher genre is the low key lighting, the low key lighting is often made by one spot light which is usually dimmed and has no filler light as it creates more shadows. this allows for the audiences imagination to create visions which might not actually be there but also it just creates a cold and dark tone. This is prominent in the vast majority of horrors as it means the 'killer' can lurk and hide among the shadows. Finally, it also creates a unwanted mood that could make the audience un-comfortable as it looks cold, dark and a little hazy which gives off a bad atmosphere. 

This is from the new Martyrs remake.

Saw IV opening.

Extremely low key lighting used in paranormal activity.

The next convention that is frequently used in Horror is there is a lot of blood and gore often just to hint at danger or death but then sometimes lots of blood as it is off putting for a lot of people. it is also used to enhance the brutality of the killer and situation.

There is a lot of blood used in piranha to scare the audience.

Scream 4

You're Next

A lot of horrors are based in or around an eerie setting. This is because it automatically links to a creepy atmosphere which his off putting for the viewer. additionally, horror films often have relatable setting such as a house but it will be made creepy due to the openness of the house leaving lots of hiding spots or corners to turn. Additionally it allows for the audience to connect to the setting and relate situations back to them such as a clown at a theme park. Directors also like to have the setting isolated as it gives the sense of loneliness and helplessness.

The cabin in the woods is a classic example of an isolated setting.

Chernobyl Diaries shows a fully derelict and lifeless urban area.

A similar setting to cabin in the woods is where Before i wake is set in, a big house with 2 people living there in the middle of no where!

The characters that we follow through the whole film are also a convention of a horror film as there is often the first victim, the leader who stays alive until the end, the girlfriend who is either taken or is left the only one standing and these are used so that the audience has a clear understanding of the situation and can relate.

The Purge shows a vulnerable woman which is typical however even though she has a gun we are scared for her showing how weak she is.

Goodnight mommy shows vulnerable children.

Typical teenagers as the main protagonists. 

How we used conventions in our opening sequence:

We have used conventions of an opening sequence to make it seem more realistic. At the beginning of the opening sequence establishing shots have been used to introduce the setting. The very first shot is the characters walking through the gates of the graveyard, this creates an eerie atmosphere because graveyards are associated with death and being creepy. When the audience first see the gates of the graveyard and the characters walking through them they are left to question why are the characters there? and what are they going to do?We have also used establishing shots throughout the opening sequence to create more of a tense atmosphere such as a pan of the graveyard in the middle, this creates a tense atmosphere because the audience have yet to find put why the characters are in the graveyard. The establishing shots of the gates and ones of the graves are used to introduce the steering to the audience. 

Another convention we have used is the use of logos and titles, throughout the opening sequence titles appear on screen interrupting the opening sequence. The titles have been put in the correct order as you would usually see them in an opening sequence. This is to make it seem more professional and to make it more of a typical opening sequence.  Even though we have used this convention we have also challenged it because the titles are bold and striking instead of being simple and small, we have done this because it fits well with our target audience which is young adults as it makes it more interesting. This is to make our opening sequence stand out and to show it isn't a mainstream horror. 

We have also included the distribution and production company at the beginning which are a  typical convention of an opening sequence. The distribution company is an independent company which shows the opening sequence won't be mainstream and a typical horror, this also links in with our titles because they are unique which goes with the company. The production company is a horror based company which shows how the opening sequence will be a horror and will be different to the others. This draws in the audience because they can tell it will be unique. 

Another convention we have challenged is the use of slow paced editing instead we have used fast paced editing. We have used a lot of jump cuts to cut between different shots, we have done this because it fits with our target audience as it draws their attention in. The use of jump cuts also creates suspense because we are jumping from different charters not yet knowing which one will be killed. We have also done this because it creates more suspense for the audience as they don't know when something is about to happen. 

Furthermore, another convention we have used is the use of close ups, we have included these because it shows the audience how the characters are feeling. Towards the end of the opening sequence close ups have been used on the three characters who have lost their friend to show how scared they are and anxious about finding their friend. Close ups have also been used to introduce the characters and for the audience to get to know them. For example when there is a close up of the girls we can tell that they are slightly more on edge and when we see a close up of the boys we can tell that they are more laid back and carefree. Close ups are typical to an opening sequence because they introduce the characters and tell the audience more about them. 

Another convention we have used is introducing the mood. This is shown through the camera shots, when the three characters are walking into the shed a hand held shot is used to show the characters through the killers eyes which creates a creepy atmosphere because the audience can tell something is about to happen. Right at the beginning of the opening sequence a sombre mood is created because we are introduced to the graveyard which is associated with death and sadness. Another shot that helps set the mood is the shots behind the graves because we are focused on them instead of the characters because they give of an scary atmosphere. This moods helps set the overall mood of the opening sequence which is dangerous and scary because we know that a death may occur and the characters will be scared. 

Examples of conventions that we used linked with our genre (horror):

The first convention we used to do with our genre is blood. We use blood near the end of our opening sequence, to create tension and allow the audience to want to carry on watching. Blood is typically used in horror films to create a sense of fear and to add more of an insight to the storyline. It also allows the audience to feel more involved by allowing them to create the rest of the story in their head, making them feel more connected to the characters and the storyline in general.

We also use eerie music such as, crow and a ringtone sound effect to create tension and to make the audience feel on the edge of their seat. The sound effects allow the audience to feel more involved as they can actually feel like their at the setting of the graveyard. Sound effects are typically used in horror movies to create a creepy feel to the storyline and add more suspense, because if the opening sequence was just quiet without any music, it would be boring and wouldn't have the same creepy effect as it does with sound effects added. The soundtrack we used throughout the whole opening sequence is quite simple but also consists of 'jumps' throughout the whole soundtrack, allowing our sequence to have more effect on the audience. Our opening sequence breaks continuity when the 'jumps' happen in the soundtrack, this allows our sequence and the soundtrack to fit well together, allowing everything to flow.

Low-key lighting is also used in our opening sequence to add shadows and create more of a dark, scary atmosphere. If our opening sequence was bright and happy, it wouldn't have the creepy effect of being a horror opening sequence, so adding shadows and dark lighting makes it more sinister and eerie. Most horror films use low-key lighting and shadows, to create a sense of death and an extreme morbid atmosphere. 

Our titles challenge the conventions of a horror, because normally the titles are very subtle and quick. Whereas, in our opening sequence our titles are very bold and they stand out. We decided to challenge this convention of a horror because we wanted our titles to look a lot more noticeable and have more of an edgy effect to them, as we feel like this linked to our whole opening sequence a lot better. We also feel like, using bolder, darker titles will connect with our youth, as our opening sequence is targeted at teenagers, and stereotypically teenagers who hang out in graveyards have quite a dark personality, so we feel like the titles and characters, within our opening sequence link better this way.

One convention to do with horror films that we did develop was the use of typical characters. Stereotypically in horror films, they use a group of friends, normally mixed (boys and girls), and then the girls normally go off, without the boys, get chased by a serial killer and killed. We develop this, as we use two boys and two girls in our sequences, instead of using all girls/all boys, because it would have less of a scary effect if we used all the characters as the same gender. However, we challenge this convention because normally in a slasher horror, the girl goes off on her own and gets murdered, but in our sequence Aaron goes off and none of us know what happens to him. We ended on a cliffhanger like this to create tension and to make the audience to want to carry on watching. We decided to challenge this by sending Aaron away, instead of one of the girls to make our opening sequence more interesting and different, so its not like all of the other horror opening sequences that have been created.

Lastly, we developed the use of an eerie setting by filming in a graveyard. Normally horror films are set in a dark place to create suspense and with our genre being horror, we wanted to also communicate this when creating our opening sequence. Using a creepy setting such as a graveyard portrays the theme of death, which also links in with our storyline. Our setting also links in with our titles, music and characters allowing our whole opening sequence to flow together nicely.

Representation of Teenagers

Representation of teens in our project from 10metzm

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