Evaluation Part 2

Evaluation Part 1

Toys

Finished.. :)

On Tuesday 30th March, we finished everything for our film, including our evaluation. We decided to film our evaluation, and in the lesson we managed to complete filming it and editing it too. Finally, we uploaded it on to the Teachers Archive, and our opening sequence has been uploaded onto the Coombe Media Channel on YouTube!

Thriller Questionnaire

This was the questionnaire we handed out to a variety of people before we started filming, to get some feedback from people as part of our research.

The End Is Here

Today we finished our media just in time for the deadline of today at 3.30pm!!!! We found some really good music on 'Free music archive'. We spent all lesson today uploading the footage we shot last night to complete the narrative and editing it. At lunch we added the music Jeffrey found. Our media has come together well and we are all happy with the end result. All we have to do is upload it to the teachers archive for the first screening on Monday the 22nd of March. We have achieved all that we set out to do. Now all we have to do in the upcoming lessons is our evaluation and continue to blog and upload all the planning and ideas as well as the storyboards. We have decided to evaluate in the form of a DVD commentary.
OVER AND OUT!

Almost finished

Today we continued to edit. We have completed the first part of our opening sequence and we our happy with it. We have also sorted out the 'jumpy' cuts in the middle section as well as the credits in between. At first we decided to have the credits appear by fading in and out however we have re-evaluated that this lesson and decided to keep it more in keeping with the theme we should make the credits appear more 'jumpy'. Therefore we have made the credits appear as if they were being typed on the screen. Despite the changes in the way the credits appear we have chosen to keep the same colour scheme of orange and black.
We also looked through our media today with a critical eye and deleted any footage we found unnecessary to the narrative or we feel did not work. To make our media make sense and work we our going out tomorrow for one last re-shoot. We would have done it today, however Chelsea is ill and as she is our protagonist we need her for the shot, especially as this shot is to make the narrative flow and make complete sense. We have been experimental with our shots and hope the overall effect works on our target audience.
Jeffrey also had a thorough search for music and has discovered a couple of pieces of music he feels would work well with our piece. As they are big files we need to find a way of transferring them over to the computer we have our project saved on as we need to listen to them and make a final whole group decision. We also think if we can not find the right piece of music for the credit part that we attempt to make our own.
We our approaching our deadline now! FRIDAY!!! We still have a few things to do however our media seemed to take shape today. We have a clear list of what we need to do in our lat couple of lessons.

The persuit of editing.....

For the last couple of lessons we have continued to edit. To maintain a high standard or work we are taking time and care whilst editing so we can be sure to achieve perfect results. As we are being so thorough editing is proving to be a lengthy process and is taking time and patience. As our group has such interesting and original ideas it is taking us a long time to capture every ones inspiration and incorporate it in our media.
We have decided the genre of music we would like to include in our opening sequence however we are still looking/creating a piece to fit perfectly with out opening.
As we our creating a thriller we have to create a 'jumpy' opening that grips the audience from the start. So, the opening sequence has a lot of jumpy cuts.
To make sure the cuts are in the correct place and create the desired effect we our spending a lot of time making sure the cuts are in the correct place. Despite just typing that the first part of our sequence uses 4 longer shots. One of a plane of water, a pan of an empty playground (In keeping with 'playtime productions'), Protagonist walking away from the camera and the Protagonist being followed by the antagonist. These shots all sound pretty simple however we have put a twist on them leading them to benefit our genre choice, Thriller, We like our choice is contrasting the shot type. The change in shot and length shows the change in the story and the pace of the story.

Starting to edit

We have recently begun editing. We began by watching all the footage we already had and working out if we had to do any re-shoots. We decided to make the narrative and sequence flow better we had to add and re-film a couple of shoots. After that we needed to create the correct mood throughout our film so we went through and darkened a considerable amount of the shots. We decided to have a slow paced beginning, speeding up to a sequence of jumpy quick shots progressing to a fast sequence until retreating again to a slower end. To create the jumpiness we wish to achieve in the middle section we have decided to use 'cuts' instead of fades or anything alike. Using cuts allows us to create the desired affect and keeps the audience intrigued as well as keeping them on the edge of the seat and not giving them a false sense of comfort.
Despite having footage that we are happy with, we had a lot of footage that was unnecessary and not needed. However we are glad we had the option to use this footage if needed.
We have to have a rough cut in by Friday the 12th of March so in the up and coming lessons we will continue to edit as well as searching for unlicensed music that we feel fitting. If we can not find anything on 'Freeplay' or any equivalent. We always have the option to compose are own on garage band. Using garage band we can be sure that it is complete original and fitting however it takes a lot of time and skill to compose a successful piece of music.
We have also began thinking about the structure of are opening sequence. We placed all are shots in a rough order of how they we finally appear and began working from there. We made copies of every shot so that if we accidently lost a shot or needed to start again we still had a fresh unedited version. The structure is also starting to form by us adding our credits in. Credits will display the information of the production company, name of the film, actors, producers etc: This will add structure to our piece and give it format.
So we continue to edit :)

Uploading...

Today, we uploaded all the footage we've done so far onto the mac. We put the clips into a rough order so it becomes easier for us to edit them later. On Thursday we are going to edit them so we end up with a draft for the real opening.

Second day of filming...

On the second day of filming, we went to our location which was the woods where we came across some sinister looking garages. We decided to film them beacause we may use them as an establishing shot for the place the kidnapped person was being held. After that we moved into the woods and began to shoot the mid-shots of Chelsea walking through a path. Then we shot low angle shots of Justin and Chelsea walking in and out of the frame. Then we took some point of veiw shots of Justin taking a weapon out of his pocket. There was also another point of veiw shot of Justin where he grabs Chelsea's shoulder in a menacing way. After this, the last shot was of Justin attempting to hit Chelsea We also did shots of an empty moving swing in a playground, creating enigmas for the audience at the start of the film.

First day of filming...

On thursday we went to Ellie's house and prepared the area for filming. We cleared space around her garden/garage and then set out the tools on the table. We then filmed shots outside where Chelsea (the victim) is outside tied up next to a petrol can and other dangerous objects to create enigmas. Unfortunately we didnt have the right costume arrangements to film all of the shots as we didnt have the protagonists attire available.So amongst the group we arranged a later date (sunday) that we could film our footage. We also decided to film in the woods near Ellie's house which we werent originally going to do, this would be a scene where the victim is going to be attacked and abducted by the protagonist.

Planning for actual film opening sequence

The plot of our opening sequence is to have the victim in a small space secluded from the outside world,being tortured or harmed in some way. The sequence is to end with the victim being killed in a horrific mannor.
We have confirmed the location where we are going to film and this is Ellies garage.we chose to use her garage as this is a small compact place that we are able to portray as being a warehouse, or just a place unknown to the victim. In the garage we are going to have various iconography of weapons which will create enigmas for the audience based on which weapon the victim is going to be hurt or killed with. This also will increase the sense of danger in the scene.
We are considering having contrasting music to the event, similar to in "Resevoir Dogs" where the protagonanist is harming his victim while dancing to joyful music. We are thinking of doing this as it is an effective technique as the audience are left confused, which may increase the horror in the scene as they see the protagonist as not caring about what he is doing.

'Feed the Fish' Feeeeeeedback... :)

Generally, we recieved good feedback from our preliminary task, but there were a few areas we could improve on to make it better.
The first thing we could improve, was in the first shot of the sequence. The shot of the 'C.I. Tower' was a pan up but did not show the whole of the building. A pan up would suggest that our character would be at the top of the stairs, not at the bottom. We now know, that we should of panned down the building instead.

The sequence which included the tracking shot up the stairs, recieved positive feedback because it was a steady shot that kept the character in the frame all the time. This stood out from other groups.

Another thing we could have improved, was the pan of Justin walking down the corridor. It is a very long and boring scene, and we should have made it shorter. Unfortnately Justin doesn't exit the frame at any point, which meant we couldn't cut it as there wasnt an appropriate point to.

Lastly, we were given encouraging comments about the lighting in the shot/reverse shot sequence of Justin and Jeffrey. Jeffrey was sitting in front of a window, which meant his features were almost in complete darkness. as Justin was opposite him, we could see the his face clearly, which made Jeffrey appear more mysterious.

Even though we could make improvements, overall we are happy with our task.

'Feed the Fish'

What we have discovered from our questionnaires.....

We discovered...

• That our target audience is between 15-24, however there will be wide spread interest from all adults ranging in ages.
• People really enjoy violence and suspense. Especially if they are paying to see a thriller.
• People also enjoyed the feeling of suspense throughout, with a justified or cliff hanger ending.
• The most common answer for the antagonist/villian to be unknown at beginning and become more apparant as the movie continues.
• The villian should appear in human form and the story line should flow real events eg, day to day events.

All these points tend to follow the generic conventions of a thriller movie, though we take this views and opinions into consideration, we want to make our thriller stand out and challenge the normal conventions.

Pre-lim Task...

Today we made some final adjustments to our Preliminary Task and we also managed to upload it to the teachers archive.

Preliminary Task - Evaluation..

Even though we were happy with our Preliminary Task, our teacher helped us evaluate the 0verall project so we could make some improvements. At the beginning of the sequence we panned up the building, then cut to the scene of charcter A walking up stairs. To make this sequence flow better, we should of panned down the building instead. The next improvement we could have made, was the close up of the sign on the door. The close up was quite long so we had to make several cuts throughout the sequence to make it flow better. At some points during the sequence there were lighting issues as well, and it was sometimes too dark to see the caharacters faces but we thought this gave it a slightly more sinister feeling.

Thursday 4th February

Today we completed our Preliminary task. We used a variety of different editing techniques. We are happy with this piece of work. It has given us an indication on how filming our final piece will be as well as how we work as a team. We feel we worked really well as a team and considered every one's point of view and everyone got involved.

We also gave our questionnaires out to varying groups of people. We will collect back the results and analyse what we have found. After this we will plan our opening sequence taking into consideration things we have discovered from our questionnaires. Will when then go on to storyboard and then film our opening sequence.

OVER AND OUT

Questionnaire.......

So we can make a successful thriller and gain valuable knowledge to what audiences desire, we have created a questionnaire. The questionnaire has questions relating to our movie genre. It has both open and closed questions, and allows us to gain a greater understanding and establish our target audience.

Ancilairy Task....

To allow us to practise our shooting and editing techniques we had to complete a short sequence. The Sequence, 'Feed the fish', includes a range of different techniques. Completing this task also gives us an indication as to how shooting, story boarding and editing are final project will be. As well as how the team works together.

'Feed the fish' planning...
Actors: Justin and Jeffrey
Location: Coombe Girls' School
Establishing Shot: Apex tower
Camera: Ellie and Chelsea
Date of shooting: Wednesday 27th of January and Friday 29th January
Editing: 1st Febuary- 5th Febuary
Costume: Day wear
Storyboarding: Ellie

Wednesday 27th January......
Today we began filming. We decided to add a few of are own inspired shots. We felt this would benefit the final cut and help the sequence run smoothly. We also decided to shoot the whole sequence with only the natural light. This was quite a drastic decision but we wanted to create an atmosphere to run throughout the sequence.
Reasons for turning the lights off...

• Creating a sense of 'unknown'
• Suspicous feeling- "No Entry"
• Create Nagative enigmas eg. Where are they? Who is it? What are they doing? Is 'fish' code?
• Dark is commonly associated with danger and fear
• The actors body created a silouette shape again creating a sense of not knowing
• The light shows freedom and a space, darkness is small, lost, discret etc:
• In keeping with the genre of movie opening we would like to make, Darkness is used as an effective tool in creating a successful thriller.

We will continue shooting the last part of "Feed the fish" on Friday 29th of January.

Original ideas

Initial ideas....

We decided to create the opening sequence of a thriller. We chose this because we enjoy watching thriller movies; and feel that this genre can display our creative skills in the best possible way. As it has the potential to involve many different scenarios, hooks,camera shots and angles. Our group first looked at presenting the sequence in a similar way to public enemy, but we thought that the film was to high profile for us to recreate. So we decided to incorporate aspects of the panic room instead based on the way that it draws in the audience without using C.G.I. We planned to have a family at home watching the news about fugitives and then being burgled by those same criminals that night.