Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Tuesday, 29 April 2014
Monday, 28 April 2014
Evaluation Question 3- What have you learned from your audience feedback?
We presented our short film, Countdown, to a small audience of six students in our class. We then handed out a questionnaire to each of them to fill out so we could collect some feedback. We wanted to see how the audience felt about the narrative, what they liked about the film and what they didn't like. This allowed us to identify any areas or parts that may need improving.
Due to our audience feedback we decided to re-do our final scene. Some of the shots were rather blurry, the ending also we felt, was not strong enough in relation to the genre. The final scene before we got our audience feedback, was Kate (female character) walks through the park and receives a text off her boyfriend asking where she is. She walks through the park and finds him sitting on a bench. He then drags her off into the woods and she begins to get a little worried as to what he is doing. He then presents her with a nice watch and says 'Happy Anniversary'.
When we got both written and verbal feedback from the audience we got the impression that the ending was not strong enough in building up the tension. Before we started producing our film we were told that point of view shots would strengthen the theme of a stalker. We took this into consideration and used the techniques within our updated version of the last scene.
Kate walks through the entrance of the park whilst on the phone to Peter. She says, 'yeah I'm just walking home now just walking through the park, what are you doing? Oh you're just at home? Okay I'll see you soon.' She carries on walking but quickly turns around and observes her surroundings as she gets the impression she is not alone. We then see a point of view shot from Peters perspective watching Kate from a distance, from behind a tree. A point of view shot from Kate's perspective sees her looking around the trees. The scene then cuts back to Peters point of view. The camera then moves behind the tree when Kate walks in his direction and we did a close up shot of him hiding behind the tree. We did another point of view shot from Peters perspective of him watching her as she walks alone through the wooded area of the park. She again, looks around which is shot with a point of view shot. When she turns back around Peter is standing right in front of her which shocks her. She says, 'what are you doing here you said you were at home?' He then drags her off to the side which strengthens the idea that he is going to harm her in some way, because he has been watching her and is now acting rather forcefully. The pair then walk into a shot near a wooded area and Peter has his hands over Kate's eyes so she cannot see where he is leading her. 'Where are we going you're scaring me?' The shot then returns to a point of view shot from Kate's perspective. Peter removes his hands from over her eyes and reveals a lovely picnic with wine. There is also lighting and tinsel in the surrounding trees. The props used help enhance the romantic element within the final scene. Peter then walks into the shot and says, 'Happy Anniversary'.
We felt that re-shooting the scene and changing the storyline slightly was beneficial to the overall film. For example the use of point of view shots help to add tension as you can see what is going on through the characters perspective. We also felt that having a picnic and lighting rather than just a watch made the moment more significant. It reveals to the audience why Peter has been acting suspiciously throughout the rest of the film and why he was hiding things from her. He was not stalking her but in fact was planning a surprise for the anniversary of his and his girlfriends, and wanted to surprise her. This is the reason that he was acting suspiciously, so that she didn't find out what he was planning for her.
The audience feedback we received was extremely beneficial because it allowed us to make changes to our film before releasing the final product. The changes we made helped strengthen the theme and genre of our film and brought the ending together nicely. Audience feedback is extremely important because after all, it is the audience that the film is aimed at, therefore we value their opinion as we want them to enjoy the film.
Sunday, 27 April 2014
Saturday, 26 April 2014
Evaluation Question 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Film
Conventions of film making:
In order to make our film a success we used a variety of conventions. We focused on cinematography and mise-en-scene to fulfil our film genre. For example to create a romantic-thriller, thriller being the main focus throughout the majority of the film, we focused on scenery, lighting, props and costumes. We filmed in a house, a high street and a park. The final scene was shot in a park which adds tension because it is full of trees where any body could be watching you. A lot of crimes such as rape and attacks, happen in parks where men often prey on women who are vulnerable and alone. We therefore thought this would go well with the storyline and would be a good place to film the final scene.
There was diegetic sound within our film such as dialogue but also sounds like footsteps, slamming doors, sirens ect. In the first scene a siren was playing in the background. We thought this worked well within that particular scene and therefore looped the sound using the software, Garage band and placed it into the scene using Final Cut Pro. We edited all of our clips and sounds using this professional software. This including cutting scenes and piecing them together where needed. We also added opening and closing credits to the film in order to make it appear more professional.
Short film narrative:
When conducting research before producing our short film, we looked at a number of theories and concepts which we could apply to our film. The film we produced fulfils two of Barthes Codes:
The Hermeneutic Code (HER)
-This code refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader.
Our short film uses the hermeneutic code because throughout each scene, the story is not fully explained. We see Peter (male character), acting very suspiciously. For example he is taking money out of a hidden jar, he is seen with a suspicious package in which he hides under the bed. It becomes apparent to the audience that something unusual and suspicious is happening but they cannot yet identify what, although they will begin to create ideas in their heads.
In the first scene we see a text message appear on Peter's phone reading, 'your parcel is ready to be collected'. To add to the suspicion the female actress (Kate/ me) walks into the room and says to Peter, 'you were in late last night'. This makes the audience begin to question what is going on. This is an example of 'snares' where there is an indication, yet the truth is avoided.
The Proairetic Code (ACT)
-This code builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, and which hence gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next.
Our short film builds on tension throughout. We use non-diegetic sound (music) over some scenes following Peter acting suspiciously. The music track, 'beautiful tension' is played to add suspicion to Peters actions.
We used the technical code of camera work in order to tell the story. We used a variety of shots such a point of view, over the shoulder and close up when telling the story from the male character, Peters point of view. The use of these shots allowed the idea to form of a stalker which the audience could decode.
Encoding and decoding messages- Peter gets a text message on his mobile saying, 'Your package is ready to be collected'. He watches his girlfriend out of the window as she leaves the house. He takes money out of a jar hidden on the top shelf. He also hides a mystery item under the bed when his girlfriend returns home. All of these actions can be analysed by the audience who will identify that these common themes could hint towards him stalking her. We encoded messages into our film to be decoded by the audience.
Symbolic codes show what is beneath the surface of what we see. The medium close up shot of Kate in the final scene shows her facial expressions to show she is anxious and on edge. Without dialogue, this idea is presented to the audience.
Narrative:
We used a chronological structure within our film to follow certain events over five days. We filmed Peter (male actor) crossings days off a calendar and eventually circling the day the last day (the big twist at the end). We were influenced by the 2011 John Lewis Christmas advert where a young boy counts down the days and at the end we learn that he is waiting for Christmas Day to arrive so he can give gifts to his parents. We compressed this idea into our film by using the situation of a boyfriend and girlfriend. The boyfriend can be seen acting suspiciously over a number of days and acting obsessively towards his girlfriend which suggests he may harm her in some way. A 'stalker theme' is introduced. However on the last day he meets her in a park on her way home from work. This is suspicious and the perfect place to commit a crime. We get the impression Kate (actress) is being watched because she looks behind and around her. We then see her from a distance which is a point of view shot of Peter. As she continues to walk through a more wooded part of the park, Peter shows up. This is unusual because she had just been told he was at home when he was on the phone to her only minutes before. he drags her off and covers her eyes so she cannot see where he is taking her which adds to the tension. The big reveal comes from a point of view shot from Kate as Peter removes his hands from over her eyes. This is where the romantic element is introduced to the film, as she sees a lovely picnic and lights and tinsel hanging in the trees surrounding it. Peter then says, 'Happy Anniversary'. The twist at the end of the film is comes as a surprise to the audience and is unexpected.
Genre:
I carried out a variety of research tasks in order to find common themes for the hybrid genre 'romantic-thriller' that we hoped to achieve. This challenges the typical ideas of a thriller film because the two genres are complete opposites. I used Google search engine in order to find out what kinds of features were found in both romance and thriller genre films. This helped us decide on narrative, dialogue and sound as well as certain camera angles. For example thriller films often use over the shoulder and point of view shots whereas romantic films tend to use close ups and soft music. Nick Lacey said that genre can be identified via its conventions. A typical plot for a short film he said, was narrative with a twist, closure or resolution. I believe we achieved this structure.
Recognisable conventions can be found within my products that would be found in professional products. I looked at current media products in order to identify how I could develop a recognisable image/ product.
The film poster I produced uses a central image to catch the attention of the audience. It is the first thing they will notice on the poster therefore I wanted it to stand out. I placed it in the centre of the page within a box with a thick black outline to help it stand out. It displays the main character of the film and presents him in a mysterious and suspicious sense which helps the audience to identify the genre of the film. This signifies his dominant role within the film as his body language is very suggestive and therefore is an example of a symbolic code. Another symbolisation of the genre is the use of colour. The image is black and white and the text is either black or red. Black has dark and mysterious connotations whilst the colour red connotes danger. This can be denoted by the audience.
The tagline, 'Tick Tock' can be analysed by the audience as it refers to time. The colour red is used for this text which suggests time and danger have a substantial role in the short film.
Conventions:
- image
- title
- tagline
- actors names
- blurb
- certificate
- ratings
- award won
- house colour scheme used
The double page spread I created uses the enigma code of a clock in the background. The audience should identify due to the film title 'Countdown' the tagline 'Tick Tock' and the image of the clock in the background, that the film has an element of time in relation to it. They will begin to internally question what the significance of time has to do with this film.
I focused on mise en scene when taking the photograph for my double page spread. I wanted to give a 'rough/ urban' sort of loo to the image so that it created a sense of expectation for something bad to happen. I made sure the character was wearing casual clothing much like he does within the film. His body language appears quite cold and unattached as he is not facing the camera. He looks as though he is waiting for someone or is watching them as he looks rather distracted with something in the direction that he is looking in.
Conventions:
- title
- subheading
- image (main image and background image)
- producers comments (with image of producers)
- article
- small font size
- columns
- page numbers
- film release date
- pull quote
- article producers name
- house colour scheme used
Conventions of film making:
In order to make our film a success we used a variety of conventions. We focused on cinematography and mise-en-scene to fulfil our film genre. For example to create a romantic-thriller, thriller being the main focus throughout the majority of the film, we focused on scenery, lighting, props and costumes. We filmed in a house, a high street and a park. The final scene was shot in a park which adds tension because it is full of trees where any body could be watching you. A lot of crimes such as rape and attacks, happen in parks where men often prey on women who are vulnerable and alone. We therefore thought this would go well with the storyline and would be a good place to film the final scene.
There was diegetic sound within our film such as dialogue but also sounds like footsteps, slamming doors, sirens ect. In the first scene a siren was playing in the background. We thought this worked well within that particular scene and therefore looped the sound using the software, Garage band and placed it into the scene using Final Cut Pro. We edited all of our clips and sounds using this professional software. This including cutting scenes and piecing them together where needed. We also added opening and closing credits to the film in order to make it appear more professional.
Short film narrative:
When conducting research before producing our short film, we looked at a number of theories and concepts which we could apply to our film. The film we produced fulfils two of Barthes Codes:
The Hermeneutic Code (HER)
-This code refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader.
Our short film uses the hermeneutic code because throughout each scene, the story is not fully explained. We see Peter (male character), acting very suspiciously. For example he is taking money out of a hidden jar, he is seen with a suspicious package in which he hides under the bed. It becomes apparent to the audience that something unusual and suspicious is happening but they cannot yet identify what, although they will begin to create ideas in their heads.
In the first scene we see a text message appear on Peter's phone reading, 'your parcel is ready to be collected'. To add to the suspicion the female actress (Kate/ me) walks into the room and says to Peter, 'you were in late last night'. This makes the audience begin to question what is going on. This is an example of 'snares' where there is an indication, yet the truth is avoided.
The Proairetic Code (ACT)
-This code builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, and which hence gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next.
Our short film builds on tension throughout. We use non-diegetic sound (music) over some scenes following Peter acting suspiciously. The music track, 'beautiful tension' is played to add suspicion to Peters actions.
We used the technical code of camera work in order to tell the story. We used a variety of shots such a point of view, over the shoulder and close up when telling the story from the male character, Peters point of view. The use of these shots allowed the idea to form of a stalker which the audience could decode.
Encoding and decoding messages- Peter gets a text message on his mobile saying, 'Your package is ready to be collected'. He watches his girlfriend out of the window as she leaves the house. He takes money out of a jar hidden on the top shelf. He also hides a mystery item under the bed when his girlfriend returns home. All of these actions can be analysed by the audience who will identify that these common themes could hint towards him stalking her. We encoded messages into our film to be decoded by the audience.
Symbolic codes show what is beneath the surface of what we see. The medium close up shot of Kate in the final scene shows her facial expressions to show she is anxious and on edge. Without dialogue, this idea is presented to the audience.
Narrative:
We used a chronological structure within our film to follow certain events over five days. We filmed Peter (male actor) crossings days off a calendar and eventually circling the day the last day (the big twist at the end). We were influenced by the 2011 John Lewis Christmas advert where a young boy counts down the days and at the end we learn that he is waiting for Christmas Day to arrive so he can give gifts to his parents. We compressed this idea into our film by using the situation of a boyfriend and girlfriend. The boyfriend can be seen acting suspiciously over a number of days and acting obsessively towards his girlfriend which suggests he may harm her in some way. A 'stalker theme' is introduced. However on the last day he meets her in a park on her way home from work. This is suspicious and the perfect place to commit a crime. We get the impression Kate (actress) is being watched because she looks behind and around her. We then see her from a distance which is a point of view shot of Peter. As she continues to walk through a more wooded part of the park, Peter shows up. This is unusual because she had just been told he was at home when he was on the phone to her only minutes before. he drags her off and covers her eyes so she cannot see where he is taking her which adds to the tension. The big reveal comes from a point of view shot from Kate as Peter removes his hands from over her eyes. This is where the romantic element is introduced to the film, as she sees a lovely picnic and lights and tinsel hanging in the trees surrounding it. Peter then says, 'Happy Anniversary'. The twist at the end of the film is comes as a surprise to the audience and is unexpected.
Genre:
I carried out a variety of research tasks in order to find common themes for the hybrid genre 'romantic-thriller' that we hoped to achieve. This challenges the typical ideas of a thriller film because the two genres are complete opposites. I used Google search engine in order to find out what kinds of features were found in both romance and thriller genre films. This helped us decide on narrative, dialogue and sound as well as certain camera angles. For example thriller films often use over the shoulder and point of view shots whereas romantic films tend to use close ups and soft music. Nick Lacey said that genre can be identified via its conventions. A typical plot for a short film he said, was narrative with a twist, closure or resolution. I believe we achieved this structure.
The film poster I produced uses a central image to catch the attention of the audience. It is the first thing they will notice on the poster therefore I wanted it to stand out. I placed it in the centre of the page within a box with a thick black outline to help it stand out. It displays the main character of the film and presents him in a mysterious and suspicious sense which helps the audience to identify the genre of the film. This signifies his dominant role within the film as his body language is very suggestive and therefore is an example of a symbolic code. Another symbolisation of the genre is the use of colour. The image is black and white and the text is either black or red. Black has dark and mysterious connotations whilst the colour red connotes danger. This can be denoted by the audience.
The tagline, 'Tick Tock' can be analysed by the audience as it refers to time. The colour red is used for this text which suggests time and danger have a substantial role in the short film.
Conventions:
- image
- title
- tagline
- actors names
- blurb
- certificate
- ratings
- award won
- house colour scheme used
The double page spread I created uses the enigma code of a clock in the background. The audience should identify due to the film title 'Countdown' the tagline 'Tick Tock' and the image of the clock in the background, that the film has an element of time in relation to it. They will begin to internally question what the significance of time has to do with this film.
I focused on mise en scene when taking the photograph for my double page spread. I wanted to give a 'rough/ urban' sort of loo to the image so that it created a sense of expectation for something bad to happen. I made sure the character was wearing casual clothing much like he does within the film. His body language appears quite cold and unattached as he is not facing the camera. He looks as though he is waiting for someone or is watching them as he looks rather distracted with something in the direction that he is looking in.
Conventions:
- title
- subheading
- image (main image and background image)
- producers comments (with image of producers)
- article
- small font size
- columns
- page numbers
- film release date
- pull quote
- article producers name
- house colour scheme used
Friday, 25 April 2014
Filming Day 5
Filming Day 4
(Re-shoot of the end scene)
What we did: we filmed our final scene which took place in a park near my house. This was a convenient location and also helped to add to the drama of the film as it can often be rather intimidating for a girl to walk through a wooded park alone.
The scene was of Kate entering the park whilst talking on her mobile phone. A long shot was used for this particular part. We then filmed a shot from a side view of Kate walking forwards. She then quickly looks behind her to observe, as she is suspicious of a noise behind her. Mid shot from the front shows her looking around still.
We then filmed a point of view shot which was an extreme close up from Peters point of view, watching her from behind a tree.
We did a point of view show from Kate's perspective looking around the trees after this.
The scene then returns to Peters perspective and the camera moves abruptly behind a tree as we see Kate in background, begin to walk toward the camera.
Close up of Peter standing behind the tree.
Long shot of Kate (POV shot) watching her walk through the trees.
Point of view shot of Kate looking around her again and then ends up on a close up of Peter standing infront of her.
Mid shot from the side of Kate and Peter. Kate says 'what are you doing here you said you were at home?' Peter then drags Kate off to the side
Medium long shot from a side view of Peter with his hands over Kate's eyes. Kate- 'where are we going you're scaring me?'
Point of view shot from Kate's perspective. Peter removes his hands from over the camera lens (Kate's eyes) and reveals a lovely picnics to her and lighting and tinsel in the surrounding trees. He then walks into the shot and says, 'happy anniversary'.
(Re-shoot of the end scene)
What we did: we filmed our final scene which took place in a park near my house. This was a convenient location and also helped to add to the drama of the film as it can often be rather intimidating for a girl to walk through a wooded park alone.
The scene was of Kate entering the park whilst talking on her mobile phone. A long shot was used for this particular part. We then filmed a shot from a side view of Kate walking forwards. She then quickly looks behind her to observe, as she is suspicious of a noise behind her. Mid shot from the front shows her looking around still.
We then filmed a point of view shot which was an extreme close up from Peters point of view, watching her from behind a tree.
We did a point of view show from Kate's perspective looking around the trees after this.
The scene then returns to Peters perspective and the camera moves abruptly behind a tree as we see Kate in background, begin to walk toward the camera.
Close up of Peter standing behind the tree.
Long shot of Kate (POV shot) watching her walk through the trees.
Point of view shot of Kate looking around her again and then ends up on a close up of Peter standing infront of her.
Mid shot from the side of Kate and Peter. Kate says 'what are you doing here you said you were at home?' Peter then drags Kate off to the side
Medium long shot from a side view of Peter with his hands over Kate's eyes. Kate- 'where are we going you're scaring me?'
Point of view shot from Kate's perspective. Peter removes his hands from over the camera lens (Kate's eyes) and reveals a lovely picnics to her and lighting and tinsel in the surrounding trees. He then walks into the shot and says, 'happy anniversary'.
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
Practice essay question
My AS music magazine has a similar house
style to that of NME magazine for example the use of images and the layout of
texts. For the front page I used a head
and shoulder shot and cut out the background. Around the models head I placed
tag lines, captions and a variety of text. The double page spread included an
image which took over the entire right page and a little bit of the left page.
A title, a subtitle and an article were present on the left page. The contents
page I created was very similar to that of NME. I used a contents column which
stated what could be found on each page and a few images which could also be
found on certain pages. I completed a front cover, a contents page and a double
page spread and used a colour scheme of red, yellow, black and white which is
different to the typical colour used in NME. The colours were bright and stood
out well. I took photographs of music artists and used them on each page. The photos were posed rather than action
shots, which is typically how NME display their images.
For my A2 ancillary tasks I created a film
poster and a double page spread. I used a camera to take photographs which I
then edited on PhotoShop. I then used InDesign to complete my poster and double
page spread. Both publications complimented the ‘thriller’ theme through the
use of dark imagery and body language. I
used the article for the film ‘Benjamin Button’ found in Total Film magazine
and used it as inspiration for the house style of my double page spread. The
short film we created within my group was called ‘Countdown’. We were inspired
by the John Lewis Christmas advert where there is a little boy counting down
days. It is not revealed until the end that he is in fact counting down the
days until Christmas.
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