Friday, 8 May 2015
Evaluation Question 7
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Thursday, 30 April 2015
[REFLECTION] Assignment 54 - Final Draft Reflection
Final Draft Reflection
Looking back on our Final draft, we feel as a group that we have created a great opening title sequence. We feel that the Mise en scene was used to great effect. This was seen through the blood and gore on the zombies and on the car. The use of Point of View shots help to create an innovative and distinctive theme in our film. We learnt previously that editing is key to help portray certain effects towards the audience. We feel that the fast paced editing used when the protagonist is turning into a zombie was our strongest part of the OTS. In contrast to where the editing could have been sped up when the driver was reversing from the zombie. furthermore, the use of Diegetic rock music is very key. This was chosen because our research showed that horror music is often used within horror films.
To conclude we feel that our opening title was successful. However there are some improvements which could have been made. These include making the start more gripping and correcting the sound continuity error during the driving section.
Assignment 53 - Final Draft Audience Feedback
Final Draft audience Feedback
Positives:
- Well used Mise en scene.
- Good idea of the Point of View shots.
- Great editing effects, when protagonist turns into a zombie.
- The titles were very popular among the audience.
Negatives:
- The start of the OTS was boring for some of the viewing audience.
- Sound continuity error during the driving.
- Not very scary.
- Wider range of shots other than Point of View and GoPro usage.
- The start of the OTS was boring for some of the viewing audience.
- Sound continuity error during the driving.
- Not very scary.
- Wider range of shots other than Point of View and GoPro usage.
Tuesday, 28 April 2015
[PLANNING] Assignment 52 - Draft 3 Planning
- Conventions - No weapons were used.
- Mise en Scene - Everyone got dirty clothes, we also used eye liner and fake blood on the zombies faces to make them look more realistic
- Timelines - In Timeline blog post.
- Storyboards - in Storyboard blog post.
- Aspects such as Location, Actors, Target Audience and Costume were kept the same.
Monday, 13 April 2015
Friday, 10 April 2015
Assignment 49 - Feedback on Draft 2
Feedback on Draft 2
Positives:
- Very good setting
- Range of shots
- Better costumes than Draft 1
- Good framing
Negatives:
- Running too fast for zombies
- Quite comical
- not enough suspense
- Cuts between Ciaran's POV and Harry banging on wall is confusing
- Ciaran walking slowly kills mood
- Title seems like the end due to slow tempo before it
Thursday, 9 April 2015
Friday, 3 April 2015
[PLANNING] ASSIGNMENT 48 - Draft 2 Planning
- Timelines - The timeline for the second draft is on the Timeline blog post.
- Storyboards - The storyboards for second draft are in a separate post.
- Aspects such as Location, Conventions, Target Audience, Location, Actors, Costume and Props and Make up have all been kept the same.
Thursday, 2 April 2015
Wednesday, 1 April 2015
Monday, 23 March 2015
Sunday, 22 March 2015
[PRODUCTION] Assignment 43 - Photos/Videos of production
Assignment 43-Photos of production on PhotoPeach
Saturday, 21 March 2015
Wednesday, 18 March 2015
Tuesday, 17 March 2015
[PLANNING] Assignment 33 - Representation of Social Groups
Representation of Social Groups
In our final opening title sequence there are:
- Teenagers (Boys)
In almost every horror film that involve a male teenager, they are all portrayed very similarly. There actions tend to give the audience an insight into what they are actually like. Generally, the vast majority of teenage boys, want to come across to others as fearless and that they don't back down from anything. This is then transferred into horror films. When they are involved in a confrontation with an antagonist, they tend to do the first thing that comes into their mind.
In our opening title sequence there are three teenager boys all of similar age. As they are in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, they realise they could be the only ones left. During our title sequence, the attitude of the three of them are contrasted with each other. Firstly, when they are in camp, they use there brains to keep another safe. The campfire has gone out and they require some wood but the other campmate refuses to let him go and collect some due to the third camper not returning previously. Then, the third camper appears with a zombie chasing him. It is at this point that their representation is showed but in another way. Without realising one of the campers looses the other two and is then quickly caught but the chasing zombie.
To conclude, our teenagers in our film are represented as clever and then helpless.
In our opening title sequence there are three teenager boys all of similar age. As they are in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, they realise they could be the only ones left. During our title sequence, the attitude of the three of them are contrasted with each other. Firstly, when they are in camp, they use there brains to keep another safe. The campfire has gone out and they require some wood but the other campmate refuses to let him go and collect some due to the third camper not returning previously. Then, the third camper appears with a zombie chasing him. It is at this point that their representation is showed but in another way. Without realising one of the campers looses the other two and is then quickly caught but the chasing zombie.
To conclude, our teenagers in our film are represented as clever and then helpless.
Monday, 16 March 2015
[PLANNING] Assignment 30 - Target Audience
Target audience and how your OTS is appealing to your TA
For our opening title sequence we have a very specific target audience and demographic which we are aiming at. Our target audience for our opening title sequence are people aged between 16-24. More specifically males due to lots of blood and gore. This is represented in our film through the film being based around three young male characters which our audience could relate to.
Through the use of our technical codes the target audience will be attracted to watch on after. The different types of camera will give the audience the chance to feel as if they are involved in the film too with lots of point of view and over the shoulder shots. The use of Close ups of the runners face will help emphasise the fear. This fear could then portray through onto the audience. Furthermore, the use of editing will help connote the fear. The fast paced editing will emphasise that the protagonists are in danger and that they have little time to do something about it. If our target audience was females they may be put off through the various themes that we portray.
Through our Mise en Scene, blood and gore will be hugely represented. We found out as a group, that males are more attracted to blood and gore rather than females. Next, the use of sound will be heavy metal. Previous films which we looked at beforehand such as Zombieland included similar music. We decided that this types of music it is the best way to help portray the target audience and keep them involved as it is loud and fast which creates and exciting/chaotic atmosphere.
Lastly, our OTS will appeal to our target audience through ethnicity and social status. Firstly, ethnicity. Our sequence will consist of only English people speaking in English. As a result of this English people and American people will both be attracted to our opening title sequence. Furthermore, social status. we are aiming to target mostly the working class. This is because they have the time and money to go and watch it, however their lifestyle wont be as serious as an upper class person.
Through the use of our technical codes the target audience will be attracted to watch on after. The different types of camera will give the audience the chance to feel as if they are involved in the film too with lots of point of view and over the shoulder shots. The use of Close ups of the runners face will help emphasise the fear. This fear could then portray through onto the audience. Furthermore, the use of editing will help connote the fear. The fast paced editing will emphasise that the protagonists are in danger and that they have little time to do something about it. If our target audience was females they may be put off through the various themes that we portray.
Through our Mise en Scene, blood and gore will be hugely represented. We found out as a group, that males are more attracted to blood and gore rather than females. Next, the use of sound will be heavy metal. Previous films which we looked at beforehand such as Zombieland included similar music. We decided that this types of music it is the best way to help portray the target audience and keep them involved as it is loud and fast which creates and exciting/chaotic atmosphere.
Lastly, our OTS will appeal to our target audience through ethnicity and social status. Firstly, ethnicity. Our sequence will consist of only English people speaking in English. As a result of this English people and American people will both be attracted to our opening title sequence. Furthermore, social status. we are aiming to target mostly the working class. This is because they have the time and money to go and watch it, however their lifestyle wont be as serious as an upper class person.
Saturday, 14 March 2015
Friday, 13 March 2015
Thursday, 12 March 2015
Wednesday, 11 March 2015
Tuesday, 10 March 2015
[REFLECTION] Assignment 22 - Preliminary Reflection
Preliminary Reflection
1. What did you learn in pre production that you will consider in your actual c/w?
-We found out that it can be quite hard to organise a group of people to all be in one location, we realised this as we were going to film at Harry's house however not everyone could make it therefore we had to film in school.
2. What did you learn in production that you will consider in your actual c/w?
-We decided that we won't be filming in doors as you have to be very cautious about the lighting as we noticed in the last 3 shots, the lighting changed making the background look very yellow and in the next shot, very pale due to the positioning of the camera.
3. What did you learn in post production that you will consider in your actual c/w?
-Because we are using a DSLR to film, we have to import it to final cut in a different way as the DSLR films in a different format and can therefore cause problems if we didn't change it to ProRES 422.
-It can take a while to make the editing seem continuous and could potentially mean we would have to re-film several times.
4. Identify any mistakes you made or what you would do to improve if we're to do the preliminary again
- When filming, we didn't account for the lighting and therefore, it breaks continuity as the colours keep changing. We would change this buy angling the camera so it lets in more light to avoid getting a very yellow shot.
- In the second shot, we had poor framing as it starts off with half of Harry's head and then as he walks closer, we accidentally cut off the top of his head. To improve, we could have moved the camera back a few steps to keep his whole head in the shot.
-On the match-on-action shot of Gaff's timetable, we went from a straight on close up to a extreme close up to the side. Looking back it looks odd as it went from a POV shot to a very similar shot that wasn't a POV. To improve, we would have made the second shot an extreme close up from straight ahead to still emphasise he is looking at media but keep it from his POV
- When filming, we didn't account for the lighting and therefore, it breaks continuity as the colours keep changing. We would change this buy angling the camera so it lets in more light to avoid getting a very yellow shot.
- In the second shot, we had poor framing as it starts off with half of Harry's head and then as he walks closer, we accidentally cut off the top of his head. To improve, we could have moved the camera back a few steps to keep his whole head in the shot.
-On the match-on-action shot of Gaff's timetable, we went from a straight on close up to a extreme close up to the side. Looking back it looks odd as it went from a POV shot to a very similar shot that wasn't a POV. To improve, we would have made the second shot an extreme close up from straight ahead to still emphasise he is looking at media but keep it from his POV
5.Explain why the preliminary was a useful tasks in preparation for your c/w.
-The preliminary task was very useful as it gave us an idea of how long it would take to film and edit a very short clip to keep it looking continuous while allowing us to practise with the equipment and software we will be using for our final film . It also made us aware of some of the problems we could have had when filming and editing our final film.
-The preliminary task was very useful as it gave us an idea of how long it would take to film and edit a very short clip to keep it looking continuous while allowing us to practise with the equipment and software we will be using for our final film . It also made us aware of some of the problems we could have had when filming and editing our final film.
Monday, 9 March 2015
Thursday, 5 March 2015
Tuesday, 3 March 2015
Monday, 2 March 2015
Saturday, 28 February 2015
[PITCH] Assignment 16 - Pitch Feedback
Pitch Audience Feedback
Positives:
Research was clear & done well
Lots of narrative enigmas
Not complicated so will be easy for us to film and our audience to follow
Good idea
Lots of Screenshots of inspired films
Good use of terminology
Picked up lots of good ideas from other films
Knew what we were aiming for
Negitives:
No Character in 1st OTS idea
2nd idea is NOT SCARY ENOUGH
Expand on ideas (maybe)
Improve ending
Friday, 27 February 2015
Monday, 23 February 2015
Wednesday, 18 February 2015
[RESEARCH] Assignment 13 - Make up, foley and technique research
Make up:
Wounds : http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Fake-Wound
Wounds : http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_4495241_make-fake-wounds.html
Wounds : http://www.ehow.com/how_2210995_make-fake-cuts-gashes.html
Wounds : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-jdr1yQ8aI
Wounds : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMtGLO0V9Lo
Wounds : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S-Byl5HLlI
Fake Blood : http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Fake-Blood
Foleys:
Breaking bones and Punches : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwPN4gyQ1wo
Zombie Sounds : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdp5t_SvdNA
Zombie Sounds : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg8u3AQj1Ac
Zombie Guts : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTpbiDXfwWw
Wednesday, 11 February 2015
[PLANNING] Assignment 11 - Initial Ideas
Initial Ideas
What subgenre do we want to do?We intend on doing a Zombie subgenre as we feel that we could use a variety of shots for different situations while effectively using mise-en-scene to show the audience it is a Zombie horror
What type of OTS will it be?
We were thinking of either doing a linear approach or a symbolic OTS. We felt that linear could be used to help tell a story and we could focus on the scripting, costumes and location, whereas we thought that a symbolic could be effective as we could symbolise the spread of a disease through clever editing without giving too much away. We felt that a non-linear OTS would be more effective for a TV Series rather than a film and thought it would give too much away leaving too many narrative enigmas to cover in one film.
What are your plot/storyline ideas?
We were either thinking of a similar idea to "The Last Of Us" where it follows the spread of the disease through symbolism using various shots with dark effects. (Splatting blood, Flowing water). Or we were thinking of basing it around a group of survivors that get in to trouble and need to get out fast.
What will be your character types/social groups (how will you represent them?) (if no characters you must explain your reasoning and what you will shoot instead)
We didn't intend on exploring a characters in our symbolic approach as we felt it would be too hard to give information about the character through symbolism so instead we would just see various people getting over run by zombies in different places to show it has effected everyone
In our Linear OTS we were hoping to have a varied group of survivors, ie. a natural leader (probably sporty or in a career with high authority), a family, an intelligent person, a survivalist, and a few other less important characters. The leader will be represented as smart, level headed and seems very trustworthy, the family will be made seem vulnerable, with the dad looking to help in protecting the camp while the mother and children are left to help cook, clean and look out for zombies. The intelligent person will be portrayed as quite afraid, geeky and not suited for this environment however as the story went on, he would become braver and his intelligence will be valued by the group. The survivalist will be seen as very independent, strong and well suited for this environment, he will be very skilled with weapons and will have a good knowledge of survival skills.
What are 3 similar and inspirational films that you can take inspiration from?
For our symbolic OTS, We were looking to take inspiration from "The Walking Dead", "Dawn of The Dead" and "The Last of Us".
For our linear OTS, We were looking to take inspiration from "I Am Legend", "Zombieland" and again, "The Walking Dead"
Friday, 6 February 2015
[RESEARCH] Effective Student Video
Effective Student Video
49/60 (Grade:Low A)
Why:
We Feel this is a very good piece of course work as it has a controlled use of camera (Camera is very steady), It had very good editing as they had two different shots put together as one to have 2 of the same people on screen. This is quite challenging as you have to keep the camera in the exact same position as even a slight nudge would make the shots not line up properly which again emphasises a controlled use of camera. The sound also matches the editing to create a very realistic, eery feel when there are flashing lights during the shots. We feel it lost marks as although there was variety of shots, there could have been more close ups to emphasise how the character was feeling.
Tuesday, 3 February 2015
Monday, 2 February 2015
Evaluation of Swede
Evaluation of Swede
* We are unable to post our swede video as we had it saved on a shared computer which it was removed from*
We felt that it was a good idea to film indoors as that way we could easily control lighting, background noise and had an easy access to power.
One drawback of filming indoors was it was harder to position the camera for longer shots as it was enclosed and we only had a limited space.
Background noise is picked up very easily as you could hear things like the washing machine downstairs while we were filming upstairs.
As we were filming in Harry's house, we didn't have to worry as much about noise or scaring the public.
However we had to be more careful with mise-en-scene such as fake blood as we didn't want to stain anything.
Filming in Harry's house could also be a problem if his parents are around as this could create background noise breaking the verisimility.
It also gave us our first chance to plan and arrange filming and learnt what obstacles we had to work around (Work, Transport, Time) ect.
We learnt how to change the video format from H-264 to apple 422 ProRes using compressor.
We also got to test out Color (A software used to colour correct video) and test some different settings to create a dark effect.
We felt it was a good activity as it allowed us to practise using the equipment and software before starting our drafts to help save us time later.
Monday, 26 January 2015
[RESEARCH] Assignment 6 - Initial Audience Research
Link to Questionare: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KSP78QV
What we learnt from Audience feedback:
- People like watching them within groups.
- People prefer a good and simple storyline.
- Not to predictable as they want to figure what happens next.
- Lots of Blood and Gore.
- Lots of jump scares.
- Creates suspense as it keeps you intrigued.
- Lots of narrative enigmas.
- The most popular subgenre was Zombie as it refers to real life.
- The least popular subgenre was Fantasy.
- People prefer things that are realistic as they can refer to them.
- People also like comedy as it adds a lighter atmosphere to a dark theme.
- People like the adrenaline feeling. This includes chase scenes and parts of high tension.
Tuesday, 20 January 2015
Thursday, 15 January 2015
Monday, 12 January 2015
Saturday, 10 January 2015
Thursday, 8 January 2015
[RESEARCH] What is the purpose of an OTS?
The Purpose of an OTS
- Establish setting: During an OTS, the setting for the film is often shown to the viewers. This then tells the audience where the main part of the film will be set. As the camera shots portray this, there will often be a soundtrack or a voiceover in the background of the shots. This helps with continuity.
- Introduce characters: Another purpose of an OTS is that the characters of the film are often introduced to the viewers. This could be done alongside credits which also show there film name or the actor/actress who plays them. From this the audience get a chance to judge them and they get a taste of what they could be like for the rest of the film. The characters are normally shown to be doing something on screen.
- Credits: The credits of the film can also be represented at the start. These could include the various job roles that were involved with the film. This includes producers, directors, actors and actresses and the logo of the production company is shown. The effect of this is that if the viewers like actors from other films, they may then be a success in this film. This could be one of the reasons to go and watch it.
- Film title: The film title can either be shown at the end or the start of the OTS. Some films have the title of the screen shown after the job roles or before. When the title appears on screen, a change in the sound could also happen. The tempo or volume of the sound could increase as the title nears. However, sometimes the title is a signal for the sound to start.
- Production company: This is the company that is behind the overall making of the film. Examples of this can include DreamWorks and 20th century fox. They can be responsible for the overall funding of the film. It covers budget, casting and scripting for the film. They are also responsible for finding a director.
Monday, 5 January 2015
Welcome to our Blog
Our group email address is: 1415twbsasmediaroup9@gmail.com
Our group members are:
Ciaran
Harry
Jack
Jake
Our group members are:
Ciaran
Harry
Jack
Jake
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