Just some feedback from the class, the people who watched it first after it had finished :)
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Evaluation Question 4 & 5
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? How will you attract/address your audience?
As our film is only at student level I doubt we would get the recognition our hearts desired for the distribution of our media product. However we live in the age of a technological boom so the power of the internet will contribute highly to advertisement. The favoured website of streaming videos is the ever popular www.youtube.com where users can create an account and upload videos of their own and gain feedback using the 'like' and 'dislike' buttons located next to the video as well as the comment section where haters tend to hate but to be fair, negative feedback is always good as they express their opinions on what they want to be improved.
Here is another media students work that has been uploaded to youtube. Their one is interesting as it has a high amount of views (103,464 views) consisting of a ton of feed back from the like/dislike bar and the comments section;
Another popular website I will look to advertise on is www.facebook.com. Another popular website amongst people, the highest populated social networking website to date. Very simply you can create an account and express your feelings as a status, post pictures and videos, take polls etc. Like youtube this consists of the whole 'Like' to the 'Comment box' allowing the user to display their opinions. Facebook has major benefits as you can click the 'share' button and it will post it on your wall for your own friends to see increasing the chances of it going viral and then catching the eyes of the "top dogs" in the media industry who can take action and offer you a career in that field like the controversial pop singers Justin Beiber and Rebecca Black.
Here is a screen shot illustrating what I have mentioned in the paragraph above. Here you see that I have uploded Violet onto Facebook and have already began receiving feedback in the form of likes and comments. Luckily it's all positive feedback!
www.vimeo.com is very similar to Youtube only far more professional as there are very strict copyright laws opposed on the website. Also it is classified as a semi-professional website. The users who posted the movie would have been the actual creator or have a relation to them in this case our college has uploaded ours for other Vimeo members to view our work. Please note Mr/Ms examiner the password is 'student'
As our film is only at student level I doubt we would get the recognition our hearts desired for the distribution of our media product. However we live in the age of a technological boom so the power of the internet will contribute highly to advertisement. The favoured website of streaming videos is the ever popular www.youtube.com where users can create an account and upload videos of their own and gain feedback using the 'like' and 'dislike' buttons located next to the video as well as the comment section where haters tend to hate but to be fair, negative feedback is always good as they express their opinions on what they want to be improved.
Here is another media students work that has been uploaded to youtube. Their one is interesting as it has a high amount of views (103,464 views) consisting of a ton of feed back from the like/dislike bar and the comments section;
'Nice work. It was really suspenseful. I hope you expand on this because it is very cool.'
www.vimeo.com is very similar to Youtube only far more professional as there are very strict copyright laws opposed on the website. Also it is classified as a semi-professional website. The users who posted the movie would have been the actual creator or have a relation to them in this case our college has uploaded ours for other Vimeo members to view our work. Please note Mr/Ms examiner the password is 'student'
Another website that'll participate in assisting with the market campaign of Violet is www.firstlightonline.co.uk. This organisation is lottery funded and aims for young people to reach their optimum level through contributing with the project so they will be more lenient rather than the high profiled production companies;
The obvious website that'll be assisting in the marketing campaign is the website I am using now to type this... Blogger :). As illustrated by all of my previous content users can comment on your blog posts and you can hyperlink your blog to other websites to get views. The downside to Blogger is that it is not the most visited site in the world and I do not think it is the popular with my target audience of young adults upwards, this also goes for Myspace.com and Bebo (which are old news in the social networking sites) none the less I will still make accounts on all social networking websites to increase chances of having my film being viewed.
We can not forget the good ol' ways of advertising such as verbal communication which gets the job done - tell a friend to tell a friend. Also I would hope for the local newspapers to assist with the advertising as the borough will benefit from it also from gaining recognition and gaining more tourists from doing so.
Unfortunately as we have produced a thriller opening at student level we would not be able to display our film to the public at a popular cinema such as Vue or Cineworld, however local and more discrete cinemas will more then likely be glad to show it as it would bring in a revenue. In our case we viewed all of our As thriller openings at the cinema Screen On The Green, located near to our college.
As we are not backed by a huge media production company like Avatar was, we are being assisted by our college City and Islington who have a low budget in comparison to the huge media production companies. In this being said, our thrillers will be distributed onto 200 DVDs to be shared amongst the students. IF things were to go my way, I'd hope for the thriller openings to be distributed onto a Blu Ray disc as they are becoming ever popular and technology is fluctuating so in time DVDs will be a thing of the past like VCR's.
We can not forget the good ol' ways of advertising such as verbal communication which gets the job done - tell a friend to tell a friend. Also I would hope for the local newspapers to assist with the advertising as the borough will benefit from it also from gaining recognition and gaining more tourists from doing so.
Evaluation Question 3
3) Who would be the audience for your media product?
Seeing as our media product is a Psychological thriller the expected audience wishing to view it should be female young adults upwards. With this being said, here is a fictitious character profile illustrating the ideal target audience;
Name: Susan Gerald
D.O.B: 22/08/1988
Nationality: British
Susan Gerald is a self motivated young adult who has recently joined the visual effects company Double Negative as her childhood hobbies included drawing and manipulating images on her computer using the basic software MS Paint she has recently graduated from a graphic related course in Hertfordshire and has moved to the big city London . She has recently came out of her debt issues so she has recently been able to afford a small car. She has a huge interest in thrillers, in particular Psychological thrillers as she enjoys films that strain the mind with paranormal accounts however she does not enjoy predictable cliche thrillers as they are to "typical". Instead she prefers ones that completely challenge stereotypes and are totally unpredictable.
Susan Gerald has always been really up to date with the latest attire and music so she enjoys shopping even when not necessary. Her favourite shops include the typical "high street retailers" such as H&M, Topshop and Bershka however having high taste she appreciates luxury goods from Gucci and Versace. She enjoys listening to all types of music and is a dedicated buyer off ITunes.
GoAnimate.com: Group 12 animatic by NMillzzz
Name: Susan Gerald
D.O.B: 22/08/1988
Nationality: British
Susan Gerald is a self motivated young adult who has recently joined the visual effects company Double Negative as her childhood hobbies included drawing and manipulating images on her computer using the basic software MS Paint she has recently graduated from a graphic related course in Hertfordshire and has moved to the big city London . She has recently came out of her debt issues so she has recently been able to afford a small car. She has a huge interest in thrillers, in particular Psychological thrillers as she enjoys films that strain the mind with paranormal accounts however she does not enjoy predictable cliche thrillers as they are to "typical". Instead she prefers ones that completely challenge stereotypes and are totally unpredictable.
Susan Gerald has always been really up to date with the latest attire and music so she enjoys shopping even when not necessary. Her favourite shops include the typical "high street retailers" such as H&M, Topshop and Bershka however having high taste she appreciates luxury goods from Gucci and Versace. She enjoys listening to all types of music and is a dedicated buyer off ITunes.
Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Evaluation Question 2
2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Social groups play a huge part in many films. It is the difference between creating a stereotypical predictable character and unpredictable that challenges the stereotypes. In Violet the main villainous character is represented as a stereotypical obsessed man who cannot stand the fact that the woman he loves does not love him which leads to the woman meeting her demise to a psychologically disturbed man. As shown in the image of the disturbed man in The Grudge 2 . We wished to gain the same reminiscent disturbing feel as it so we tried to replicate some of the mise en scene to The Grudge. As illustrated, in most psychological thrillers the villain is a grown man in his late thirties upwards, in our thriller we have decided to directly challenge it with a young teen playing the psychologically disturbed character. Although we did harness some of the stereotypical traits of the villainous male such as the attire - rather than being a stereotypical teenager that wears hoodies and caps we chose to attire our character in a neat shirt that pushes the expected age group a few years higher as a sense of maturity is usually connoted with this simple item. Also we chose to refrain from the main male character from cutting his hair in doing the shots of the "day it happened" to show he is a bit off key and stressed like the father in The Grudge. We also chose to make the reminiscent scenes black and white to accentuate the bleak emotions he is feeling. As the images show the scenes take place very similarly with the Dad in the Grudge catching glimpse of the diary containing a love affair his wife is undergoing and the shot from Violet showing the man looking through the images of Violet.
With our second character Violet we decided to go with the stereotypical female victim that is very innocent and caring. Stereotypically the character is played by a Blonde white girl that connotes promiscuity and daftness however we chose to challenge it with a brunette girl that represents knowledge and far more awareness as reflected in the horror movie Scream where the Blonde girl is the first to perish and the Brunette is the only one to survive. This has been flipped in our film violet with our brunette being dead from the beginning of our film similarly like the brunette girl in Ghost Ship. We chose to highlight the innocence and purity of our character through a traditional white dress .
With our second character Violet we decided to go with the stereotypical female victim that is very innocent and caring. Stereotypically the character is played by a Blonde white girl that connotes promiscuity and daftness however we chose to challenge it with a brunette girl that represents knowledge and far more awareness as reflected in the horror movie Scream where the Blonde girl is the first to perish and the Brunette is the only one to survive. This has been flipped in our film violet with our brunette being dead from the beginning of our film similarly like the brunette girl in Ghost Ship. We chose to highlight the innocence and purity of our character through a traditional white dress .
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Evaluation Question 1
1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
A) Seeing as our primary stimulus title sequence was from the psychological Thriller Se7en the viewer will note a huge amount of intertextuality from its discrete title sequence which consists of a vast amount of close up "in your face" shots that will really startle the viewer and hopefully gain a visceral reaction such as when Violet is being dragged into the bath room with a birds eye view shot revealing the blood on her white dress. Notably, we also used a blank screen title sequence as used in Se7en allowing the viewer to pay their full attention to the cast and crew of the film. The mood and tone has been replicated to mirror Se7en's mood - very uncomfortable and bizarre. As illustrated by the screen grabs below;
B) Another Se7en inspired trait was to use transparency in our clips for the viewer to view two shots at once. Connoting a significant relation and adding to the obscenity of the clips. It also allowed clips to flow into each other more effectively and less rigid as well as to make the character seem like they are at two places at once with a jittery effect;
C) As mentioned on my blog, The Exorcist played a part in constructing the possessed, desolated look. We looked at it for inspiration to use white clothing to connote the purity and innocence of a character but to also show that she is not a normal girl. Highly accentuated by the editing which made the locale seem far darker than it actually was and making the dress really "glow" making Violet stand out;
D) Psycho's highly cliche drain scene has been replicated in our movie title sequence. Possibly the most intertextual scene in history startles the viewer as they feel they are most vulnerable. We hoped to gain this same effect with our Violet drain scene;
E) The blood dripping down hand shot was inspired by the gory opening title sequence of the film Ghost ship. Where we see a wire slice through people leaving blood dripping down the victims. Similarly illustrated in Violet;
A) Seeing as our primary stimulus title sequence was from the psychological Thriller Se7en the viewer will note a huge amount of intertextuality from its discrete title sequence which consists of a vast amount of close up "in your face" shots that will really startle the viewer and hopefully gain a visceral reaction such as when Violet is being dragged into the bath room with a birds eye view shot revealing the blood on her white dress. Notably, we also used a blank screen title sequence as used in Se7en allowing the viewer to pay their full attention to the cast and crew of the film. The mood and tone has been replicated to mirror Se7en's mood - very uncomfortable and bizarre. As illustrated by the screen grabs below;
B) Another Se7en inspired trait was to use transparency in our clips for the viewer to view two shots at once. Connoting a significant relation and adding to the obscenity of the clips. It also allowed clips to flow into each other more effectively and less rigid as well as to make the character seem like they are at two places at once with a jittery effect;
C) As mentioned on my blog, The Exorcist played a part in constructing the possessed, desolated look. We looked at it for inspiration to use white clothing to connote the purity and innocence of a character but to also show that she is not a normal girl. Highly accentuated by the editing which made the locale seem far darker than it actually was and making the dress really "glow" making Violet stand out;
Evaluation 6 - Audience Feedback
This was a writted review by a girl in another AS media class as she didn't want to be recored! Enjoy!
"Your film was actually one of my favourites out of the entire thrillers!!
The location you used was perfect for the story. The storyline was very, very interesting and clear. The costume of the dead girl was so believable.
I especially enjoyed the close ups and the eerie movement up the stairs. The shots used were varied and they fitted in with the whole atmosphere.
The soundtrack was high pitched but it had an eerie and creepy vibe.
Personally, I dislike the whole concept of ghosts etc. However, this opening had me gripped from start to end!!
Overall I thought the film was unbelievably amazing!"
The location you used was perfect for the story. The storyline was very, very interesting and clear. The costume of the dead girl was so believable.
I especially enjoyed the close ups and the eerie movement up the stairs. The shots used were varied and they fitted in with the whole atmosphere.
The soundtrack was high pitched but it had an eerie and creepy vibe.
Personally, I dislike the whole concept of ghosts etc. However, this opening had me gripped from start to end!!
Overall I thought the film was unbelievably amazing!"
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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