Evaluation Questions

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?








2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?








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








4.Who would be the audeince for your media product?








5. How did your attract/address your audience?








6. What have your learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?






7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the pregression from it to the final product?

Audience Feedback

To find out some other opinions of our film opening to help with our evaluation and contrast to our biased opinions, we decided to show students in our media class our work. A large majority of the feedback was positive, which pleased us. The main points we picked up on were the students noticed the thriller conventions we tried to reflect in our film, such as the lurking point of veiw shot, which the students said builds tension and makes them want to find out more. The students enjoyed our use of sound, which was interesting as we felt we had taken a risk using a more original sound over the montage, compared to the usual fast paced percussive music which may have been used to build tension. The students picked up on the volume and tone of the sound become louder and deeper as the plot builds tension and they enjoyed this. They agreed that the fast pace of the montage and close-up shots also builds suspence, as well as flowing well as a visual peice. Some students however commented that they would have preferred to have seen the faces of the police detectives during the first scene. This made us think about whether we made the right decision to film the lower parts of their bodies. After a discussion within our group we decided that we are glad we filmed it this way, as we wanted to create Anonymity (obviously) and also not focus on the characters too much in the opening, so not all information is given away in the first two minutes of the film.

Anonymity Final Production Piece

PLEASE WATCH!!



Pleave leave some feedback to help with out evaluation

Finished!

Using Final Cut today was much more tricky than usual. We decided that we didn't want to change the end shots of our opening, and there was no correct to have a black screen with "directed by.." on. So we decided that we should have the text over the last shot for one second. We knew we had to import the shot to final cut and apply the text over that instead of a black screen but we didn't know much after that, so we seeked the help of an iMac genius. It literally took all lesson and we finally worked it out a meer ten minutes before the end of the lesson! Very pleased with the results though!

And More Titles

After taking Nanettes advice for adding more titles, we added in the names of our two actors, using Final Cut again so we could use our chosen font. After watching the opening we today decided that we needed many more. We checked back in our research and realised that we needed titles of
-sound, who made it or where did we get it from
-costumes and make-up
-"written by"
- we also realised that the last title of a film opening is always the director

This annoyed us somewhat, as we were happy with the flow of our film and thought that more titles may clutter the montage. We were also very happy with our ending, with the film name title just before the last shot. We therefore had to re-think the placement of all titles.

Although we previously discussed that we didn't want to split mine, jenna, and lewis' names into select roles in the titles as we had all worked equally in editting, filming and planning, we decided that for the aesthetic of the film this needed to be done. We randomly picked the roles, also adding in other names for other film crew titles.
We did not however manage to add in "directed by Lewis Ridings", the last title, in time. Tomorrow is the deadline, so we will add this in tomorrows lesson. We are happy with the rest of the opening.

Audio Footage

Today we gathered two drama students who are used to talking confidently and seriously and recorded them reading the dialogue for our opening. We used the same dialogue that i thought of during storyboarding as it was appropriate and would be the right kind of length. Also during research we found that less dialogue in a thriller opening is more exciting anyway, so we didn't want to waffle on with irrelevant information. We dragged the dialogue onto the correct shots, the timing worked really well and the shots flow well. As Lewis is currently ill, we will have to wait until he gets back to see what he thinks of the dialogue, but as the deadline is nearing we decided to carry on without him, but we are pleased with the quality of the dialogue and the sound is clear.

Teacher Feedback

Today we showed Anonymity to Nanette, our media teacher as it is nearly finished.

Her points were:

- there needs to be more titles

- some of the transitions between shots are messy

- some lovely shots

Fro this, we have drawn the conclusion that we need the actors names (Joe Revill and Matt Price-Williams) during the montage. We also need to re-watch the opening several times very closely listing the shots that are maybe too long or need cutting differently. We are pleased with the "lovely shots" comment as we think that we have thought through a lot of our shots well, particularly the montage shots, using extreme close-ups and panning.

Last Session Before Easter

During this session we decided to clear up the transition between shots and try to make the opening flow a little better. Firstly we re-arranged the montage clips, changed the length of some of them and added music over this section. I also experimented with effects on the montage clips, changing the contrast, exposure and colours. We didn't want the shots to look too horror movie or sci-fi so we kept the colours true to life, only exaggerated slightly more. We are pleased with the montage now and it definately flows much better now.

We also decided the the opening shots at the door location should be in black and white, rather than an evening effect, as in our research we decided that the whole group would like to experiment with mixing black and white with colour. We also think that as this scene is different from the rest of the opening, and could be seen as a flashback, the black and white is definately appropriate.

After Easter, we would like some teacher feedback. We also need to record audio footage to put over the door scene.

Final Cut

In todays session the group experimented with the programme Final Cut! We wanted to create different title fonts to the apple iMovie selected fonts. This was very successful. After looking at several informative websites and getting a feel for the programme we worked out how to make a black screen, choose one of the Final Cut fonts, and export the clip back to iMovie. We were pleased with the title fonts. We also needed a font for the film title, as we could not film a typewriter typing it due to a broken typewriter! We decided that the font needed to still look like a typewriter, due to this element in the montage, and we found a font that was suitable. The fonts still weren't as good as the fonts we found in research but as we cannot put these fonts onto our opening, we will have to settle with this. We also found a transition for the fonts to come onto the screen one by one. We instantly thought that this could look like a typewriter if we matched a clicking sound with the letters appearing. After searching on freesound.com we found an appropriate sound and dragged the sound under the clip in the correct place. We were very pleased with this when we watched it back!

Title Fonts

After a quick chat with the media teachers, we have found out that the mac that we have been using actually has the programme Final Cut installed. We are very interested in using this programme to enhance our editting and there is also a possibility that we can find better fonts on this programme to import onto our opening. We are very pleased.

Editting Session Three

Today we had a double lesson to cut the latest footage. We selected each clip and decided on the appropriate time for each shot. We want the montage to be fast paced and lots of images flashing up so the shots are very short. We put the montage shots into the order of the storyboard adding the extra shots we filmed on location. We watched the montage and all decided bits of it didn't flow at all, but it was the end of the lesson and we decided to start with this next session.

We also attempted to add titles to our opening today. We want to add four short black screens towards the beginning, before the montage. One for "produced and directed by" and then one for each of our names. We would also like the put the title of the film on a black screen before Shot No.23. We worked out how to do this, but when selecting fonts from the apple mac, we realised that out of the limited selection of fonts available, there was nothing that suited our film. We are really disappointed that we cannot use the fonts we have found during research and that we may have to use a simple font that non of us like. This is a problem that we need to address.

During storyboarding we decided that we would like to have a non diegetic breathing sound during Shot No.23 to add atmosphere. During this session we looked on freesound and found two breathing sounds. We put them both in turn over this shot on made a group decision on one. We still don't think this one is perfect because it doesn't sound particularly masculine but as we cannot find anything else we may have to address this at a later date, to avoid time being wasted.

Filming Session Three

Today we managed to film the last few shots of our opening, slightly behind schedule due to illness and not being able to book a camera out, the short delay hasn't effected anything.

Shots we filmed today:
Shot No.7 - the back of the villains head
Shot No.11 - the frantic rummaging of photographs
Shot No.12 - the villains hands tapping on a table
Shot No.13 - blade cutting a picture
Shot No.19 - slamming a police badge down on the table

For these shots we realised we didnt need the exact location of the basement, and that we could do it in a darkened room at school. We thought we would experiment filming there and if it was unconvincing we could rerecord at the correct location at a later date. Shooting went well. We darkened the classroom and used a cool lamp shining on the table from the side, acting as a table lamp.
Shot No.7 was difficult as we didnt want to include the rest of the room in the shot. We achieved this by shining the light on the desk in front of the villain, creating a black silhouette of the figure, with darkness around. We shot this a few times and will select one during editting.
Shot No. 11 we did this shot a few times from different angles and used different actions. One shot which was a particular favourite in the group was a shot where Lewis, our actor, rummaged through the photos picking out just one and looking at it closely. When we were filming this shot we also filming a few more shots that we thought we could put into the montage, such as the ripping of pictures and the ripped up peices of photograph being dropped and landing on the table. This extra material will make the montage longer and more varied.
Shot No.12 we shot this a few times also, one of the shots was an extreme close up, so close that it is difficult to tell what is tapping on the table. We were inspired by the extreme close-ups in the montage of the film Se7en and we wanted to create the uneasy feeling before working out what the object actually is.
Shot No. 13 was at first difficult because we couldn't remove the blade from a pencil sharpener as it was too tight! We asked several people. Instead I went to design and borrowed a pen knife, which we decided would work just as well. We took this shot from several angles also, including close-ups and zooming in and out.
Shot No. 19 we decided that this shot needed the sound of the metal badge hitting the table, in our other shots the ambient noise would be muted in editting. Therefore we had to ask for silence in the room. We took this shot once and after watching it we were very pleased with it, so didn't shoot again.

We are now confident that all filming is finished and we can begin to add sound and titles to our opening, after editting todays footage.

Our Production Logo

As a group we decided on Impact Productions as we decided the name didn't really matter but it had to be something memorable. We decided upon a black and white image as we didnt want the image to suggest a horror approach as our film doesn't really reflect this. We wanted the image to not suggest anything, other than a classy approach. Lewis designed this using Corel PhotoPaint and we are very pleased with it.

Ideas for production company names

A few ideas for names we have had for our production company:

- Chiller Productions
-Through the magnifying glass Productions
-Anon. Cast Production Company
-Descicate Film Production
-Le Thriller Noir Theatre Company
-Penultimate Choice Productions
-Triversity Films
-The media 3 Entertainment
-Ridonely Productions
-Impact Productions

We will use the Corel Photopaint and Draw programmes to create a professional looking title with an appropriate font. We are interested in using the faded typwriter font I have found previously on urbanfonts.com. Ideas for images among the group are roses, old cinema lights or old cameras.

Production Company Logos

In every film opening, there is always a screen at the beginning with the production company logo across. We would like to production company logo to put at the beginning of our film. Before creating this I will analyse a few existing logos.

Very very simple. Usually the "i" is a light which actually moves around during the shot and ends up inbetween the "p" and "x". In the logo shown there is a wall e where the "r" should be, this isn't usually there. I like the simplicity of the text and the light as a letter. This logo really fits in with the animation theme of the company, however we would like our logo to be more thriller based.

The font on here is very square and bold, it does not really suggest any genre of film, and the font is quite outdated. The little boy sitting on the moon is the logo and this suggests fairytales and a childish theme. We obviously do not want to take this approach in our logo. The background is animated and colourful, unlike normal titles, which are a black screen with logo. I quite like the picture in the background as goes against many other production logos, however our picture would be very different.


This production logo is very typical, with a black screen. It is very simple and then the square white font shows up well on the bacground. The simple circle logo is quite boring but memorable because it is so simple. We would either go down the simple black screen route with one image and the font, or a simple font on a picture background.

Editing Session Two

During a single lesson today, the group imported last nights filming onto the computer.
We decided to shorten the montage shots to the appropriate lengths, deleting the unwanted shots. We could not put them into correct shot order yet as we have not yet finished recording the montage. I was really pleased with the outcome of the varied shots so far. We decided to use the sound of the typewriter during black screens.

Lewis had decided to book out a camera and shoot the canal location shots, no.s 14, 15, 16 and 17. We imported these to the computer and watched them, everyone was very pleased with these shots as they were what the group as a whole wanted. We played around with shots and created cuts mid shot to give the movement a CCTV camera effect, like a delay. This didnt take long and the group were pleased with the outcome. We removed all sound from these shots, apart from the splash shot at the end.

When we put all of these shots in the correct order (obviously some shots are still missing however) we decided the beginning few shots lacked continuity to the dark montage shots as we had filmed in daylight rather than the evening. We contemplated refilming these shots, but due to deadlines we experimented with an evening effect on the mac. We were actually pleasantly surprised with this effect and it does look realistic, so we decided to keep it.

Filming Part Two

Today, Jenna and I filmed some of the montage shots at the basement style location.
The shots which we filmed were:
Shot No.10 - close-up of fingers tapping on a typewriter
Shot No. 18 - water running into sink
Shot No.21 - typewriter medium shot
Shot No. 23 - pictures on the wall

We also decided to film other shots at the location to put into the montage. These were a saw hanging on the wall, dark sky and trees, footsteps in the darkness and a match being lit.
These were purely experimental and may or may not be used, we will decide during editing. In the match shot, we lit the match in a doorway to outside, so little damage could be done to possessions, and made sure the camera was zoomed in rather than close to the match to avoid damage to the camera or cameraperson. The match was lit at arms length.

When we arrived at our location, we realised that the overhead light was no longer working, so we experimented with torches and candlelight to create low lighting. We were especially pleased with the shot of the tap running in candlelight as the flame flickered and created an uneasy light, with shadows. We took shot no.23 multiple times to experiment with zooming into the pictures and the speed of moving the camera across the pictures. Shot no.s 10 and 21 were difficult as the typewriter did not work, so we decided to use these as short montage shots, rather than a means of showing the film title. We will experiment with this in editing.

Editing Session One

A double lesson today gave us time to edit the shots filmed yesterday.

We chose to use two lurking shots, one from the behind the trees which was filmed without a tripod so is jaunty. We wanted this style as it is a point of view shot. We also chose to use a shot from behind a wall, which peeks around a corner at the same door. We decided to film this shot on location as it made a change from the shots through the trees. It also looks as though the person watching the door is more desperate, and may have watched on several occasions.

The tracking shots of the actors were shot quickly, as we had already experimented with these shots during planning. We shot each shot twice.

During editing we realised the shots were quite long, so we had to shorten them slightly, however we wanted these shots to be the longest shots of the opening, to create contrast between this section and the montage. We removed all sound from the clips as there was muffled conversation in the background. We would like to add an ambient style non-diegetic sound over this section, perhaps a wind sound.

Filming Part One

The plan for filming today:

Shot No.2 - lurking behind trees, no tripod with zoom on nearby door.

Shot No.3 - Closer shot of same door, still lurking and no tripod

Shot No.4 - Door opening, low angle shot from right next to door, as experimented previously

Shot No.5 - Tracking shot of footsteps to allow dialogue, which will be recorded during editing.

Our plan was to record in the evening, as the storyline of two detectives leaving work would have required evening light. However, actors pulled out of after school filming at the last minute, so as we had booked the camera out we decided to record in the a free period in the afternoon, deciding we could add possible effects the shots to give an evening light, or re-record at a later date if this filming was not right.

As the actors didn't have correct clothes on, we had to get creative. We asked an actor to take part purely based on his shoes, as we thought he looked mature! And another already agreed actor had a trench style coat which was fine. If the recording would have gone to plan in the evening, the actors would have had correct costumes. In hindsight we perhaps shouldn't have rushed into filming as the costumes, location and light were not perfect, however we are on a strict shooting schedule so took the chance.

All shooting went well and we mostly stuck the storyboard. The filming was finished quickly today.

Film Titles

In order to know what relevant titles to use in our opening i have researched the titles in another thriller "casino royale"
-Production Company logo
-Written by
-starring
-Associate Producer
-Production Executive
-Camera Operator
-Script Supervisor
-Assistant Producer
-Sound
-make-up
-hairdresser
-Wardrobe
-assistant director
-casting
-stunt co-ordinator
-special effects
-title designer
-costume designer
-editor
-director of photography
-production designer
-music
-executive producer
-screenplay
-producer
-director

These are in order. Our opening wont need all of these but it is important we have enough and use the correct titles.