Evaluation Activity 1- What ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms of convention of real media products?

9 Frame Shots from our horor opening sequence...Taken

Evaluation Activity 1:

In what ways does your Media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions or real media products? (I.e. of film openings).

Frame Shot Number 1: The Title of the Film.

The first of my nine frames is a screen shot of the title of the film Taken. This shot is used because it tells the audience exactly what the film is going to be about. With the title of the film, music is included which could possibly build up the atmosphere for the first scene.  For the title of the film, we used a black background and for the font we used white. The reason why we decided to use these particular colours is because with any other film, you have to make sure that the audience can read the title, so that they can get a rough idea for what the entire films is going to be about.

Frame Shot Number 2: Setting and Location of the Film.  

I decided that I was going to use this shot for my setting and location because as you can see part of the film is set in a cemetery, which could show that something is going to happen during this scene to one of the characters that is in the film as the setting is an isolated/quiet place. Also from the frame shot, you can see that the person is looking at the grave and that he is on his own, which could also suggest something may happen to him. The cemetery to horror, which could possibly set the mood for the audience watching.  

Frame Shot Number 3: Costumes and Props.

As you can see from looking at the third frame shot, there is a shot of a needle. The reason why I decided to use the needle for this prop is because many people have phobias of needles or that they dislike them. If the audience sees this in a trailer, they would realise that something was happening because the film is based on horror.

Frame Shot Number 4: Camera and Editing.

This particular frame shot, is a cut from where the victim is being held hostage in the abandoned room to the evil doctor putting rubber gloves on. I decided to use this type of shot (mid shot) because although the audience is supposed to notice the doctor, they should also notice the props that are used on the desk (Tape, Needle etc). After watching this part of the opening sequence, the audience will know something is going to happen.

Frame Shot Number 5: Title Font and Style.

For the font of the writing, we used “Bradley hand ITC” style font. The reason why we decided to use this font because with used the same font for the title of our film “Taken”, which we thought worked really well. We also decided to use this font because it would not be hard for the audience to read.

Frame Shot Number 6: Story and how the opening sets it up.
For this shot, i decided that i was going to use one of the main characters walking out of the cemetery, removing a bottle of alcohol from under his jacket. The reason why i decided that i was going to use this for the specific shot is because it make the audience want to carry on watching the film, to see what the situation is about the character.

Frame Shot Number 7: Genre and how the opening suggests it.

For frame shot seven i decided that i was going to use the medical equipment on the table to show the genre and how the opening suggests it. The reason why i decided to use this shot, because audience would see the medical equipment such as the needles and relate them to fear, which is what we want our audience to feel.

Frame Shot Number 8: How characters are introduced.

Shot number 8 shows you the audience one of the characters that is seen throughout the film. This shot is used within the opening sequence because it introduces one of the characters that could possibly have a main role throughout the film. I used this shot for one of the characters because it will show the audience what kind of character that this particular ones plays throughout the film.

Frame Shot Number 9: Special Effects.

For our horror opening sequence, one of the special effects that we decided to use was from the victim’s point of view (POV). Within this shot we added an effect that made the victims vision blurry and that he is unaware of his surroundings. We used this because before the black out, the victim was attacked with a baseball, which then cut to the victim being held hostage in a room, which is very effective and works very well.

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

Comparison Between Philip Gatward and Dieter Laser

Evaluation Activity 2:

How does your media product represent particular social groups? 

The two characters that i have decided to use, that show similarities as their role throughout the film are Philip Gatward, who played the evil doctor within our film Taken and also Dr Heiter who also plays the role as an evil doctor throughout the film The Human Centipede.

From looking at both of the characters you can see that they both play very similar roles, as they are both doctors. The clothing that both doctors are wearing throughout the film are very similar, as they both appear to be wearing smart clothing, for example the shirts and the trousers that they wear throughout the film. Also, it appears that both of the doctors seem to kidnap and then hold there victims hostage. This would be shown because in the actual film, "The Human Centipede", the doctor kidnaps his victims to then reassemble them into a new pet, as he is working on a new experiment. Both of these doctors would appear as strange and also mysterious characters.

It would appear that both of these doctors are also overpowering and that there victims are defenceless. This would be shown in the film "Taken" as the victim is being held in a corner tied up and no were to go. This would be the same case in the film The Human Centipede, as the evil doctor has lock all three of his "Patients" inside the room, locked to their beds. The doctor's in both of the films also use medical equipment, such as needles to deal with there victims. This prop is used at the end of the opening sequence of "Taken" and is also used in the film "The Human Centipede" during the "You're a sick man scene". It appears that the needle is used to calm the victims down.

A difference between the two doctors from both of the films, Taken and the Human Centipede is that they deal with different numbers of victims at a time. So in the film Taken, you can see that the doctor deals with his victims individually, however within the Human Centipede, he is experimenting on three different patients at the same time.

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

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

For evaluation activity 3, within our group we had to create a directors commentary style voiceover, which explain some of the key features of our horror film opening. Before doing the voiceover, we had to create a script (copy of the script is given below) which gives the institutional issues of the film. The sort of questions that we had to answer throughout the voiceover were the following:

• Which company would distribute your film?
• What has the company you have decided to use done, that is similar to yours?
• What is the USP (Unique Selling Point) of your film?
• What marketing methods would they use?
• How will this target your audience?
• Where would you find this marketing material? and why?
• Which cinemas/festivals would it be shown in? and why?

Issues the company needs to consider are identifying the audience, audience research, how many copies of the film that you would make, whether to get involved in the third party promotions such as radio shows/competitions.

Below is a copy of the script that we used/followed throughout our voiceover:

Script

(David)

• The production company that we decided to use to distribute our film was Momentum pictures. The reason why we used Momentum pictures as our company because they are an independent distribution company that release about 20 films at a low budget every year. so because our film is at a low budget, we thought that this would be the appropriate company.

• For our unique selling point, we decided that we were going to use the plot of our film.

• The marketing methods that our company will use are posters and billboards as they will be notice by the public all the time. We will also be releasing a trailer so the audience will have a good understanding of what the film is about. We will use these methods to advertise our film as the audience 18-24 year olds because they are most likely to notice the film posters.

(Seb)

• Because nearly all of our target audience would spend some of the day on the Internet or watching TV, this is where you would mainly see our marketing materials. We would also use posters at bus stops as there would be a large number waiting for buses or even going past them.

• The time we would release our film on a Friday of the month of October, because it is stereotypically associated with horror. We decide that we were going to release our film on the a Friday because a film is always judged on the opening weekend.

• Within the trailer we would include the release date of our film, the title of the film, small clips of the film, main actors and also the name of the director. These will also be included within our posters. The reason why we would include the release day within the posters and the trailer is because the audience will then know when to go watch the film. Our film will be shown in small independent cinema's and also at the London film festival, as this festival show low budget films.  

Evaluation Activity 4- What would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation Activity 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Constructing Audience

Demographics:

For our film, we decided that we were going to aim it at the audience that are at the age between 18-24 years. The reason why we decided that we were going to aim it at the audience of this age is because they may be unemployed, students at college (three times a week) and also those that have part time jobs (casual worker). So because of the reasons above, we think it would be best suited for this age as they would probably have time to sit with friends (for example) and watch films. The gender that we decided to aim our film at was males as they would probably be more into the types of films that we produce, however females can watch it if they choose to. Another reason why we decided that we were going to aim our film at 18-24 year old because we feel that we would receive more views than other ages.

Psychographics:

People within our target audience mainly like to go out and socialise with the friends, which is why we decided to choose 18-24 as our target audience. Also because our film is a horror release they may like to go to the cinema within their group of friends and watch the film. It may also interest them more also because there is teenagers involved within the film, which will get the audience more involved. The music that we used builds up tension, whilst the music is playing it gets the audience thinking about whats going to happen.

After we had completed our horror opening sequence, we decided to create a questionnaire to see if people could give us feedback to see if there was anything that we needed to change/add to the opening to see if it could be improved. The people that we asked were other people in our media studies group and also the people within the year 13 media group. Below is a copy of a questionnaire that we handed out.

Questionnaire:

1. Does it relate to a horror film?

2. Is there enough characters?

3. Is the music suitable for the opening?

4. Would you continue to watch this film?

5. Does the editing work? (Effects)

6. How would you end the opening sequence?

7. How would you improve it?

8. What works well?

Questionnaire Results Summary:

Question 1: Does the horror relate to an actual horror film?

Some of the feedback that we received from other students is that the music at the beginning of the opening sequence did not very well, seemed more like a comedy type of film; however they said when the music was combined with the rest of sequence, it worked well.

Question 2: Is there enough characters?

Most of the people that we asked thought that there were enough characters used throughout our opening sequence and because there was a good use of characters it helped to create a tense atmosphere as it show that there is nobody around to help the victim.

Question 3: Is the music suitable for the opening?

Despite the people that said the music that we used was not horror related, most others that watched our opening scene said that the music worked well with opening because it was a contrast to the second part of the film.

Question 4: Would you continue to watch the film?

A majority of the viewers said that they would continue to watch the film; however there were several of viewers that said they would not continue watching the film after watching the opening sequence.

Question 5: Does the editing work? (Effects)

All the people that watched our opening sequence said that there was good use of editing, such as the blurry vision effect we used to show that the victim (Dalian) did not know where he was. The viewers aid that the effects that we used helped out to make the film better.

Question 6: How would you end the opening sequence?

People that watched the opening sequence said that we should keep the ending the same, as they said the fading out of the victim screaming works really well.

Question 7: How would you improve it?

Many people that watched the opening said that the beginning of the sequence (baseball bat scene) should be re-filmed, but more important; the soundtrack used should be changed to suit the horror genre.

Question 8: What works well?

The majority of the audience that watched our opening said that the drinking scene at the beginning was effective and when the victim (Dalian) wakes up in the abandoned room.  

Changes the group made, after feedback.

After we got feedback from other members of our class and also other media studies groups within the 6th form, we decided that we were going to make a few adjustments to our horror film. We also added important things that needed to be added to our production. At the beginning of our horror title/opening sequence, we had to add our production company name and also our logo. Towards the end of our production we had to change some of the voices/laughs that the characters were making. The reason why we had to change this is because the laugh the doctor had made  sounded unusual, so we decided that we were going to take out the laugh of the doctor and replace it with the victim shouting in pain. This needed to be changed because the audience would then have a better understanding on what was actually going on. The music within the title sequence also had to be changed, the reason we had to change the music at the begining is because it did not fit in with the horror genre, it sounded more of a comedy. Also in the title sequence we changed the time it took for the attacker to catch up with his victim. The reason why we needed to change this is because the audience would want to see what happens next alot quicker and within a film, the time it took before we edited, the audience would have been waiting a bit longer.

Evaluation Activity 5- How did you attract/address your audience?

Taken Evaluation Activity 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

This is the annotated copy of our horror production Taken, however some of the annotations that have been added are very small and difficult to read. if you would like to see the full screen of the video, please press play and click any where on the video. Thanks!

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

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

 The image given above is a image of myself (David Maddy) holding some of the equipment that we had used during the making of our film. Below you can see closer images of some of the equipment we used and also some of the software that we used.

Camera (Canon MD101)

The photo on the left hand side is a closer look on the camera that we used throughout the whole of our filming, the Camera is called the Canon MD101, which is also the only camera we used during the filming of our production. It was more of a success when using this camera because it is a light camera, so it was easy to carry around, also because it was small, it was easier to film. When filming, it did not take long to setup the camera, however there were some disadvantages of the camera. Some of the problems that we had were that the camera itself was not HD and also the sound quality was not great.

HAMA Tripod

With the camera we used a tripod, which is called the HAMA tripod ( closer image given on the right) which was very useful within the making of our film. We used the tripod for several things during the filming of our horror. We used the tripod for harder camera shots/angles such as the panning and also for some of the long shots which were involved within our horror. The reason why we decided to use the tripod for panning because it helps create a steady shot to make it look more professional. The tripod also made the long shots we used more steady and accurate.  

Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Premiere Pro was the editing software that we used when putting our film together. Premiere pro includes many features such as after effects, photoshop etc. Photoshop is the software that i had used in previous evaluation tasks such as evaluation activity 1, were i had put together the 9 frame shots from our horror movie. Within premiere pro there are effects that can be used within the video's to create to make your film look better. For our horror movie title/sequence we used several types of effects that were available from adobe premiere pro.

The image that is given to the left is of a member of our group who is editing our horror title/opening sequence using adobe premiere pro.

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

Evaluation Activity 7

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

From the beginning of this Media Studies course that started in September 2011, I have learnt a fair amount about what needs to be including when creating a video. At the beginning of the course, we had to create a video, which was known as the preliminary task. Within this task we had to include three types of shots that we learnt about during lesson which included the reverse shot, 180 degree shot and also the match on action and shot. The reverse shot is a film technique used in many films, this type of shot is when a character is looking/talking to the other character that is off screen, then in the next shot the second character is shown looking/talking to the first person who will now be off screen. This type of shot was used in our preliminary task, towards the end were the student is talking to the teacher (in the classroom). Another technique that we learnt about was the match on action shot. This type of shot is used when something happens within a scene, on the next shot (when it has cut) the same action is continuing. The last type of shot that we learnt during this lesson was the 180 degree rule. This shot is when there are two subjects on scene at the same time. Whilst they are on scene, with this shot the subjects have to be next to each other (Left/right relationship). Throughout our preliminary task, we did use some other camera shots, such as close ups of the hand on the door handle. From completing the preliminary task, I had got a better understanding on what types of shots are used throughout films and how to identify them, such as the shots listed above.

To start of with in the preliminary task that we were tasked to do, i was not very familiar with the types of editing that you use to make your piece of work look more effective. After we finished the filming and were ready to edit, we included a range of techniques, including, camera work, editing and special effects. Within our film, we included cuts to make some parts of the title sequence to look better. An example of the cut that we used was when Dalian (the victim) was walking down the alley and is approached by his attacker. As soon as the victim turns round, the bat swings which is then cut to a black screen, which fades into the opening sequence. We decided to use the black screen because it shows that the victim has been knocked down. Within the opening sequence we used special effects when the victim wakes up. The blur that we used for our special effect would show that the victim is dazed (not knowing were he is). We also included Mise En Scene. We used Mise En Scene also in the opening sequence showing the equipment/props that we used which included needles, syringes etc. We decided to use Mise En Scene because this way the audience can see what the film is all about and it could also make them begin to think what is going to happen.

Throughout the course, i have learnt a lot more about different kinds of camera work, editing skills that can make a piece of work look a lot more creative and look even more interesting. Throughout the lessons, we have learnt a range of camera shots and when they should be used and with some of these we have included within our title/opening sequence of our film.