Showing posts with label Poppy Power. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poppy Power. Show all posts

Tuesday, 5 April 2011

EVALUATION

8) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?
Task: Export some short clips from your preliminary task and compare them with come clips from your final production to demonstrate how you and your skills have progressed.



When I re watched our prelim, I straight away saw how developed we are with our computer skills as well as editing and music choice. One of the most important things that I have learnt, throughout making short films and clips, is that timing is EVERYTHING. And the one thing that I saw whilst watching this prelim is that the timing of the film and sound are out of place with each other.
In our film however- the sound/ music in it was very crucial as the sound itself should set the mood of the entire title sequence. Because of the way our film was edited, the films music is very important and so we couldn't risk being lazy when editing the sound effects and music.

EDITING: 
Out of everything that we have learned to do throughout the progress of the film making, we have improved the most in editing. As we look back at the Prelim film, the editing is a bit of a mess! As well as the timing of the shots are not in sync with the captures of the clips.
Where as in our final edit of the 'Violet' title sequence, the timing is as good as we could have gotten it. I think this is most likely because by this time, we had already used the final cut pro a dozen times as well as the soundtrack pro in past projects.

As I have mentioned above, in the Violet sequence, timing is crucial! Especially when it comes to thriller openings that are supernatural. Which is what our title sequence genre is. A supernatural thriller. The sound effects and the music itself is very important in the Violet title sequence due to the music being nearly 'in charge' of creating a haunting effect to the clips.



              

















The mise en scene, the door on the right  Was specifically chosen to be filmed because of the stained glass windows and old 'look' to it. And the door on the left, Has that yellow wire which helps the audience understand that its a crime scene.


MISE EN SCENE:

In the prelim, we did the filming during class and we were not prepared for the 'wardrobe' of the filming and so we had to deal with what we had in school. Luckily, Mary and Rebbecca had fake blood in the school and so we would have the blood for the 'victim' on the floor (below- colored image). Where as when we were filming the final Violet project, we had pre bought the dress (below- black and white image), made the fake blood and chosen the destinations of filming before hand. Which really helped us when filming because unlike filming the Prelim, we were organized as well as prepared for each clip and take that we were going to do- where as because of the absence of a student in our group- we had to improvise part of the film in the end of the prelim which was not helpful during the comparative research for our jelly baby prelim cut. As well as just more work that shouldn't have been necessary if it were not for the students absence.



EDITING IN FINAL CUT PRO:
Whilst editing the prelim clips, we did not do any effects or techniques. I think this is because we weren't comfortable to go 'out there' just yet because of the fear of it ending up looking bad and not what we were aiming for in the final prelim. And so what we thought would be simple enough is to use the camera angle skills to improve the film itself. And so instead of effects- which are used throughout the Violet film, we based our skills on angles and lighting to get us through to a good mark and review other than going over board with loads of effects on our first attempt of film editing. 
And so, when we were editing the Violet sequence, we had researched a lot on other titles sequences that had different effects as well as editing techniques. Such as the title opening SEVEN, this was one of the main inspirations for out title sequence as it was something that us as a group loved to have in in our title sequence. 



EDITING IN SOUNDTRACK PRO:
Throughout the section of editing in soundtrack pro- in the Prelim, it was our first ever attempt to edit the sounds and music and create the timing of it to create a potent film. As you can tell from the link above that links to the prelim clip, the timing wasn't our best. 
In the beginning of the film- there are violins that create a sort of tense effect that possibly suggests something intense is going to happen later on in the clip- which does happen, as soon as the actor walks over to the victims body- the sound changes to a ambiance effect.  Even though I liked this bit of the sound- after the gun shot sounds, there is an irritating 'ticking' sound that carries on for the rest of the film. Not only is it not fitting- but it also drowns out the actors voices.
This was probably done because of the 'rush' when making the soundtrack as we didn't have enough time to edit our film in class- due to us spending all of our time on filming. And so we had to edit our prelim during lunch breaks- which didn't give us enough time till the deadline of the prelim clip. 
This is the reason why our film's soundtrack sounds halfheartedly done.

On the Violet project however, we all individually worked really hard to create the project sound effects- I did my fair share by creating the backgrounf sounds that you hear in the final edit.



In making the sound- we were inspired by music box sounds- which when played and editing correctly can sound very creepy and haunting. And so we editing around our sounds with a young girls voice, singing a long with the music box to create a haunting and ghostly effect.

In the prelim clip's- the actors voices were very hard to hear, which we did not re shoot in the prelim. This made it hard for the audience to hear what the actors were saying. Where as in 'Violet', we pre recorded Erika's voice to then edit it in as a voice over in the film when you hear "You did this" It is said by Erika Early on in the editing progress.


Over all EXPERIENCE,
And the TECHNIQUES I HAVE LEARNED. 

Over all-
Reflecting from our preliminary to our final edit, it is safe to say that time and planning play a huge part in  making a film. My organizational skills have accelerated to a person who likes to be on time as well as knowing that, leaving things to the last minute is not the best idea when in media studies- you should be really creative. And creativity cannot be rushed!!!

Not only have my organizational skills extended, but my awareness of the technology such as camera skills and the positions of the camera that can be done.
Out of everything- I have enjoyed editing the most as it is something that I have done outside of class to help me with my blogs- such as my media bogs that you can watch on youtube.





EVALUATION

7) What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product? (Hint: the best responses will explore how the technologies worked together in the creation product)
Task: Either: Make an animatic movie (using found still images or still screen grabs) with a voice over about your own journey through the maze of technology you have encountered on the course (Eg: from using google and youtube to research movies, the JVC digital tapeless cameras, FCP to edit and create animatics, livetype, soundtrack Pro- and how they can be imported into FCP, blogger) 
Or: Screen grab stills from the various programs or websites you have used and explain how they have worked together in the creation of your sequence.  


During my time researching, planning and filming I have learnt a lot about all sort of technologies from the construction of my final project. 

Blogger- Write posts, embed videos, upload images. This is used to store all our research for thrillers. We were able to change post's accordingly, track changes and keep in touch with our group members. 
Final Cut Pro, Live type, Sound Track Pro, Quick Time, Hand break were all used together in order to complete a really good film. 



We used the JVC cameras to actually record our footage. They were professional cameras with high quality footage that enabled us to make our films look as nice as possible.



My over all experience in this subject has been very informative and has given me more confidence in editing films as well as directing. Its given me the chance to explore and taste the experience of what its like to work in the media industry. 

EVALUATION

6) Audience feedback and comments.
Task: Interview audiences that have viewed your title sequence and film their reaction/ view on it.




The audience that responded on our film was not actually the target audience that we would have had. Due to it being limited to people in my class at the time, who volunteered to be in the interview. Our actual target audience are the ages between 18 and 40. 

EVALUATION

4&5) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? How will you attract/ address your audience?
Task: Find an example of some student work on the internet that has had quite a large number of hits and embed it into your blog. Discuss how the internet has been used to launch this movie to a wider audience, then explain how you have followed a similar model yourself. (Context- this response would be realistic about a student film release. our film, for example, is a low budget student video which will be released over the internet on Vimeo, embedded onto a blog and may find its way onto youtube. It has an independent, low budget production company (id you!) It will get a cinematic screening and shared screenings amongst your peers and maybe your family. It will get a DVD release of 200 copies. The internet could be used to further distribute and market your movie should you wish, and potentially reach  global audience.)


As part of our evaluation, we have to think about how to advertise and distribute our films. It is very important that we make realistic choices aout where and how we would begin to advertise our title sequence film. As this is one of the most cruical parts of making a film- we have to be realistic about our student film release becasue its only a low budget film. Even though we have decent equipmment and editing facilities, the advertisement is half of the budget because of people wanting to get their film noticed by all different types of audiences. As our film company thatr invested in it- we chose to create a film compnay- calling it 'The Old Mill Productions' as well as 'Candi studios'. We chose to use these companies because if it were a well known company such as; 20th century FOX, audiences would expect a high budgeted film with great effects etc.

Our student film will be released onto our blogger (Group 12), Vimeo as well as have 200 DVD copies being released to the students. It may also find its way to Youtube later on from the blogger website. Our group are attemping to possibly upload it to facebook and twitter later on to get more veiwers on our film as well as to help us to understand what sort of audiences would like to watch it more. As it is still a low budget film- I am going to have to interveiw people at the screening of the film at the cinema release on the 5th of April.
From what we have studied so far on the audiences, our aimed audiences vary between the ages of 18 to 40, 70% of them being female. And so since that age group already spends a lot of time on popluar networking sites, it will be easy to advertise our film to the right veiwers.

Twitter and facebook that are famous sites that are used by millions of people every day. This would be a great place to start uploading our videos to and then analyse how many veiws and comments we get a week.
Nathan Millar kindly uploaded the title sequence on facebook and so we will evaluate the feedback as more comments come by. So far- here is the feedback;




This is a trailer from youtube. It has 23,630 hits and was uploaded in 2009. The internet has made this video have a lot of views through the "liked" button which then shows the videos on other peoples "liked" pages which is like a free advertisement on youtube for your own videos. Because the more likes you get, the more pages your video will be shown different pages. 
The comments on videos also encourage other people to watch it, with people seeing how many positive feedbacks are there, it encourages others to share them with their friends etc. 









Thursday, 31 March 2011

EVALUATION

3) Who would be the audience for your media product?
Create a montage of images depicting the contents of the handbag belonging to the typical target audience member of your movie. Write up a little lifestyle summary like this: "Kenny, 27, an aspirer working in an advertising agency, loves going to the cinema, shops in H&M..." etc.
You may realise that your original target audience is not actually suitable for the film you have produced- so you may show how this has been adapted.


Name: Zoe Runner

D.O.B: 13.11.1989

Zoe .R is a outgoing young lady who loves cats and flowers! She very much enjoys to watch comedy, romance, action, thriller and supernatural genres- telling us that she spends most of the time that she should be studying, watching films on her laptop!
 In her spare time, she goes shopping in Selfridges with her best friends; Kate and Daisy.
At the moment, she is reading a Supernatural thriller book; Guardians of the soul Lambent. (Book 1) 
 She works as an assistant to the Director of the television series, 'Doctor who'. She loves her job because she's always surrounded by a new world with a lot of action and thrill in every day of the job, whilst helping her boss with small errands such as fetching him his morning coffee.
She loves going to the cinema and enjoy the experience and has told us that she has calculated that she spends at least £30 a month on just going to the cinema! (Including refreshments and popcorn)

Favorite film?
"I got to say... True romance is in my top ten. Its a romantic, action thriller with a bit of a psychological twist to it. ItsBased around this newly wedded couple getting themselves in a LOT of trouble with drug dealers, gangsters and drug addicted film producers. Its hard to believe but its just so romantic and action packed!"



As we were writing the title opening, we didn't really put too much thought about what sort of audience we would aim for- gender wise. But then in the out come of our film, we realised that the film would most likely get more of a female audience due to the supernatural side to it as well as the female leading role of 'Violet' who haunts a man who killed her, which shows strength to the women in the film- which would possible advertise to the feminists to want to watch a female dominated film.
When we had our title sequence watched by the rest of our class- even though we got positive feedback from both the male and female viewers, they all agreed, when it came to voting, that the female viewers would most likely want to pay to watch the film in the cinema.

EVALUATION

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Choose one or two stills of characters from your own movie opening and compare how they are represented (similarities/differences) to one or two stills from characters in a real movie opening which has inspired you.




This is the main character in our title sequence, the characters name is Violet. |(Actress, Erika. A) When we decided on what sort of story out title sequence was going to be, it was inevitable that the girl should wear a white dress. This is because white can signify innocence. And the blood stained on the dress makes her look victimised, which yet again connects to the innocence of the character. But the hair that covers some of her face as well as the effect that creates dark rings under her eyes, gives the impression that shes not as innocent as she's made out to look. In one of my past blogs, I mentioned the ring and how their title sequence has inspired me. That wasn't the only thing that had inspired us from the ring as I have noticed that the ring has a very similar mise en scene to the wardrobe to Violet.


As you can see from the image above, the girl from the ring has the same dark eyes and long hair that partially covers her face etc. 
Even though these two characters seem to look very much alike, they have defined differences. 
From the way that they equally move in their separate films, presents on how one is the victim and the other is the villain. In Violet, Violet is the victim that seems to get her revenge by haunting her murderer, even though haunting a man to near insanity would be seen as being a villain, in this situation, we wanted the audience to side with Violet. Where as in the 'Ring', the girl is the evil ghost that kills innocent people. The audience does not side with the girl as they want the victims of the people who get haunted by the girl to live and survive the encounter. 

Wednesday, 30 March 2011

EVALUATION

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Compare 9 shots from a title sequence for a thriller opening on www.artofthetitle.com with 9 stills from your own title sequence to show how your opening uses, develops or challenges the forms and conventions of real media products. 

SE7EN's 9 shots of the their title opening. 



Group 12's 9 screen shots of the title opening. 
************

In our title sequence, we looked at the opening title sequence of Se7en for our main inspiration. Such as the transparent clips that play through each other in Se7en that we again used in our title opening as well;

Over lapping an image to create an 'echo' effect. 
We used the same "echo" effect to make the actress look as if she 
was in two different places at the same time. This shot resembles
The screen shot form Se7en.

Making the clips transparent so that the viewer can see the two clips together. 
This shot has a transparent look to it to have the blood mixing the colors to make it have a red shading
with it to contrast with the oxymoron on the innocent shot behind the blood of a young girl with a flower. 



A shot that our group wanted to use when we created this title sequence was to add the famous 'blood down the drain' shot. That was used and famously known in film history. The shot from the film 'PSYCHO':


Se7en's screen shot. 



Another technique that we found very inspiring was the titles that were moving and flashing and looking all rigid as they appeared on the screen. And so our group manipulated the titles on our titles to have a rigid look to it with a small twitch to it.  


Group 12's titles screen shot. 








This is the opening sequence of I robot. 







 These two screen shots are from the film 'I robot' Which is an Action Thriller. 
In its opening title sequence, Will Smiths character is having a flash back dream from 
a bad memory, it then begins to become too intense and he wakes up. 



 In our title opening, we did something that was familiar to it. Using quick clips flashing 
through the titles at the end to create an intense shot we then had a loud noise of the door slamming, 
for the character to wake up from his nightmare in an effective way. 



In our title sequence we thought up of the idea of having a dream scene in the film to draw in the viewer as well as inform them of what the film will be about. Using a wide spread of shots that looked supernatural and ghostly,  making the viewer know what sort of genre this film will be; Supernatural Thriller. As well as giving the viewer enough information for them to be interested but not enough for them to already predict of what is going to happen in the entire film. 







Tuesday, 29 March 2011

Friday, 25 March 2011

Im finished!!!




WOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! :D

Overall Experience

Over all- I really enjoyed being behind the camera as well as editing the film and creating to what only a few moths ago was an idea! I have had a wonderful group to help me out with everything that have been hard working and dedicated, I couldn't have asked for a better group.
I had the best time filming the title sequence as well as being adventurous with the angles of the camera etc. Editing was the most difficult part but the the most rewarding.
I want to say thank you to;
Erika, Charlene, Nathan, Mary and Rebecca. For helping me get to where I am now


:) x

Final edit of title sequence.

Screen Recording Of Sound

Due to the sound not being in sync to the music box we had to  redo the sound to go with what was occurring on screen. Here is another screen recording illustrating this;

Screen Recording Of Edting

Here is our latest footage illustrating what we have just done;

Finalised Sound

We decided to compile both the original music box (for a short period) and the music I made on Soundtrack Pro to combine both effects with a chilling, direct approach. As well as an atmospheric feel, due to the forest sounds we used. We also used the creaky sounds made by Poppy which accentuates the creepiness of our thriller opening. For the final sounds Charlene and Erika suggested using an explosion as the "Dadada" effect occurs to intensify the situation and to use the razor tool to cut it into pieces so there is a back and forth constant "boom" prior to what is going on, on screen.

Editing titles

We were posed with the threat of losing our desired font for the most blandest font on livetype when finally being played in the cinema. This is due to the fact that the Broken Ghost font is an imported font and only the Macs we were working on contained the font. So to resolve this issue we had to save the font onto our hard drive and for the most part re-apply them when we edit on another Mac.

Editing - Titles

Here is a screen recording of our group developing the titles to resemble the Se7en timeline.

Thursday, 24 March 2011

The "dadada" effect

Just a quick blog mentioning the Dadada effect which is the group 12 dubbed word for a montage holstering reminiscent sequences over the period of the timeline. Very effective as it takes the intensity up a notch and adds tempo. Very hard to explain but here is a link to a clip illustrating what I am talking about enjoy ;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNuX9uSQrGk&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fresults%3Fsearch_query%3Dsaw%2Bfinal%2Bscene%26aq%3Df&has_verified=1

Adding Color

Here is a screen grab of us adjusting the colors of an unedited clip. We firstly tried using the color correcter in Final Cut Pro to gain the same effect as the previous, only it didn't. We experimented using a variety of of tools when finally we were told  we could copy the settings and apply it to the clip, saving us a lot of time.



Sound Editing II

Illustrated by the screen recording , we were trying to replicate the same sound as the Music Box which proved to be partially difficult as most of the sounds in Soundtrack Pro sounded very harmonious and upbeat where it is supposed to sound very dark and bleak;