Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the product?

In our preliminary task the first thing i noticed was that we were still wearing our school uniform. As this is an important part of mise en scene, we decided to use a costume. For example Barbara wore black to represent herself as dangerous. It is important that we did not use our school clothes because then it would take away from the realism of  our thriller piece.

Another thing i noticed about our preliminary task was that it was quite short. If we wanted to include a number of different camera shots and show a story, our final thriller piece would of had to be longer. The final thriller ended up being around 1 min 30 seconds, whilst the preliminary task was only 30 seconds. I think we had enough time in our final thriller to add enough camera shots and show what the story would be of our thriller, if it was completed.

Because we had not had much experience with the camera before, a few of the shots were also occasionally shaky. There were times when the boom mic could be seen in the shots and we may of kicked the tripod a few times by accident when we were carrying it. These problems were not in the final thriller because we had gotten used to holding the camera and using the camera, so the camera shots in the final thriller were a lot more steady and clear.

Editing was another thing that had improved from the preliminary task to the finished thriller. In the preliminary task, we used mainly jump cuts or straight cuts, however in our finished thriller we used a variety of cuts including fades and wipes. This meant that our finished thriller was a lot smoother to watch and flowed well, unlike our preliminary task.

Evaluation Question 6

What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this process?

https://www.powtoon.com/show/eRhxRc9CQWF/evaluation-question-6/#/

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

https://app.emaze.com/@ALOTZFCC/how-did-you-attractaddress-your-audience

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The main age group for a thriller is 17-40, and the most common demographic is males. The reason may men prefer thrillers to women are the fast paced action scenes, car chases and possibly a sex symbol. This links to Laura Mulvey's theory of male gaze, this is the theory that the audience is put into the perspective of a male, and the camera may focus on female body parts considered sexual. I do not think that this theory can be applied to our thriller opening because Barbara is shown to be in a powerful position, compared to some other thrillers where the female is shown to be in the passive position.

From our audience feedback both females and males enjoyed our thriller opening. The males liked it because of the fast paced action scene (the alley way scene), and the females enjoyed it because it had a female lead, which is not typical of most thrillers. The audience ranged from ages 16-18, which is the type of audience our thriller would likely attract.

An important part of attracting an audience is making sure they are interested in the film from the beginning. At the beginning of our thriller we wanted to make sure the audience was interested by using tense music, and leaving the audience confused as to why i was being tortured, which would leave them wanting to watch more to know why. There was also an enigma in our thriller opening, which was, why was Michael killed?

Evaluation Question 3

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

http://popplet.com/app/#/2469687

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups

https://prezi.com/fiprp2dqhdug/how-does-your-media-product-represent-particular-social-groups/

Evaluation Question 1

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

Audience feedback

Audience feedback

One of the praises of our thriller opening was that we had a female as the main character. Our classmates commented that 'this is not typical of most thrillers'. We were also praised on the sound and music at the beginning, the eerie music draws the audience in, and some of the audience commented that 'it was reflective of the dark lighting during the stairs scene'.

However some of the criticisms of our thriller opening was that my acting could of been improved. Some of the audience suggested that i did not act 'scared enough' and that took away from the realism of the scene. Some of the audience also suggested that, although the dark lighting adds to the eerie atmosphere during the stairs scene, it made it difficult to see what was going on.

Overall the audience enjoyed our thriller opening because it was not typical of modern day thrillers, where the main star is typically male. the cliffhanger at the end left our audience wanting to see more, and they suggested that if it were a real film, they would of continued watching it.

Screening

Screening

We screened the final draft of our thriller opening to our classmates. We used our classmates because they are included in the demographic that may watch our thriller. Thier thoughts and opinions are on my 'audience feedback' post.

'Gone' Thriller opening

This is the final draft of our thriller opening.

3rd editing session

3rd editing session

This was our final editing session. On this editing session, we decided to insert our ident into our finished thriller. we also added the final transitions of our thriller opening including the title insert and the credits

3rd Filming session

3rd Filming session

For our 3rd filming session we begun filming the first scene in our thriller. In this scene Barbara is interrogating me to see why i killed Michael. However at the end of this scene Michael enters the room, showing that he is not actually dead. We filmed this scene in a dark room in our school to give the scene a suspenseful atmosphere.

First draft of 'Gone'

First draft of Gone

This is the first draft of our thriller opening 'Gone'. We still need to add in a scene and complete the editing to make sure the opening flows correctly.

2nd editing session

2nd Editing session

For our second editing session we were editing the scene where my character kills Michael's
character. For this scene we decided to include fast editing, this was so that the scene matched the action that was on scene. We then decided to slow this editing down when barbaras character sees that Michael's character is dead. On this editing session we also finished of our ident and decided what music we would put in our film.

Designing/making: Title sequence

Barbara was in charge of creating the titles. She had to learn where to place them and how to place them. Also the title sequence had to follow a certain order in which the titles had to come in. 

After the IDENT use a FADE IN. The titles should then be in the following order:
(1) 'Your Production Company' Presents (NOVA PRODUCTIONS)
(2) A Film by 'One name - usually the director' (Ausrine Blazeviciute)
(3) Starring or With (Barbara)
(4) Male star (Ross)
(5) Female star or other way round (male-Michael)
(6) Title of film - or could be at the end (At end)
(7) Also starring - 2/3/names - each on separate title (-)
(8) Then 3/4/5 of the following - you choose - each on seperate title
Editing (Michael)
Music (Barbara)
Cinematography or Director of Photography (Ausrine)
Casting
Set Designer
Costume Designer
Script (Ross)
(9) Then Producer(s) - can be more than one (Ross)
(10) Always finish with Director - one name, usually the same as A Film By ...(Ausrine)
(11) Could put title here (GONE)
Remember to use LiveType and try to make titles interesting. They can be either over black or superimposed over your film. Space them out over the two minutes of the film.Give the audience plenty of time to read the titles. 
(12) Finish with a fade out & fade music out

To edit the titles in you had to do the following:

1. Select FILE
2. Select NEW
3. Select TITLE

Or you can press F9. 

After this a window should appear like this: 

The window will be over the selected scene. However, the title will appear on the left window with the rest of the scene. The title will be named and you can move it over what ever shot you want it to be over. You can change the text inside, alter the font, size and colour. In addition to this you can also change the length of the title by dragging it right for longer and left for shorter (like you do for video shots). 

Designing/making: Studio ident

We decided that we wanted our ident to be short, we looked on giphy.com to see what we could find and we found the one above. To fit in with the theme of the ident, which is a star exploding or a supernova, we decided to name ourselves 'nova productions'. When we inserted our ident into our thriller we wanted to make sure that our eerie music was playing over it, to have the audience interested in our thriller from the beginning.

2nd filming session

2nd filming session

For our second filming session we decided to film the scene where my character kills Michael's character. We decided to film the scene in a small narrow passage way in our school, this was different from our first idea that it would be filmed in a park. We decided to film the scene in a passage way instead of the park because this gave the audience a claustrophobic feeling. We had no problems filming.

1st editing session

1st editing session

Today we begun our first editing session, we edited the park scene so that the scenes fit in the right order.

1st filming session

1st Filming session

Our first filming session begun today. We filmed the scene over central park and the scene included Michael's character and Barbaras character. there were some complications in meeting up to film the scene, and costumes were forgotten, so in the next filming session we plan to not repeat this mistake and plan it out in advance.

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule                                                                                    

Day	Scene	Location	Equipment	Costumes	Props	Cast +Crew
1  2 3	First Flashback Chase Scene Confrontation	Dagenham Central Park  Eastbrook School (Alley) Eastbrook School (abandoned room)	-Camera -Tripod -Microphone -Camera -Tripod -Camera -Tripod -Flashlight -Phone	-Leather Jacker -Skirt -Hood Jeans -Leather Jacket (2x boy/girl) -Jeans -Hood -Leather Jacket -Hood -Jeans -Heels	----- ----- -----	-Barbara -Michael -Ross -Ausrine -Michael -Ross -Barbara -Ausrine -Ross -Barbara -Michael -Ausrine

This is where the first flashback will be filmed.

This will be the area where will be filming the chase scene. It will have to be in an abandoned place where no one could arrive to save Michael. The alley was a great idea although it didn't really look as abandoned as this was but it still fit.

To fit in with the abandoned look we also had to film in an abandoned room. There was an abandoned looking room at the back of the drama studio which we used.
This wasn't the exact room. However, this kind of looked like it but it was darker. Also, we could've added more light and took some away as there were numerous switches that you could press.

Animatic

Animatic

The shots will be:

• Medium Shot- Barbara shouting at Ross as he is on the chair. Slap or hit. Michael and Barbara at the park. Ross chasing Michael.
• Long Shot- Barbara walking up to Ross. Michael and Barbara at the park. 
• Wide Shot- Barbara and Michael in the park. Barbara and Ross in the abandoned room. Michael and Ross chase. 
• Extreme close up- lamp. Ross' face. Barbara's face. Michael's face. Ross' feet. 
• Close up- Michael and Barbara
• Point of view- Everyone turns their heads to the door.
• Low angle-Ross over Michael
• High angle- Barbara walking towards Michael (on floor)
• Tilt- To the light bulb 
• Crane shot- Barbara walking down the stairs
• Rolling shot
• Over the shoulder- Barbara and Michael

The sound will include:

• Background city noises
• Muffled shouting
• Forest noises
• Band (sound effect)
• Thud (sound effect)

The editing styles will be:

• A straight cut (between chase scenes)
• Dissolves (flashbacks)
• Fades (Michael laying after Ross walks away)
• Jump cut (Barbara walking up to Michael)
• Eye line match- Barbara looking at Ross/ Michael
• Match on action-Ross and Michael running through the gate
• 180 degree rule- MUST NOT BREAK
• Shot reverse shot- confrontation, conversation. Ross-Barbara. Barbara- Michael

The mise en scene will include:

• Props-Metal rod. Phone. 
• Body language-hands behind back (Ross). laying down (Michael)
• Lighting-Flash light (phone) Room lamp
• Costume, hair, make-up- 2x leather jacket, hood, jeans, heels, long dark hair, dark lipstick, pale face
• Position of camera- behind fence, on the stairs
• Setting- park (love flashback. Alley (chase scene). Abandoned room (confrontation)

Risk assessment sheet

Risk Assessment

Group Members: Ausrine, Barbara, Ross, Michael                                                   Location: Eastbrook Comprehensive School

Hazard	Person(s) at Risk	Likelihood of Hazard 1 – Extremely Unlikely 5 – Extremely Likely	Severity of Hazard Outcomes 1 – Very Low Risk 5 – Very High Risk	Risk Level (Likelihood + Severity) 2	Measures to Take to Manage Risk	Risk Managed? Y/N
Tripping up on cables	Everyone	1	2		Cover cables correctly	Y
(slap) cut between the slap so it looks real	Ross	2	2		cut to next scene effectively so it looks real	Y
Michael hitting his head when he falls.	Michael	1	3		use hands when falling, make sure ground is clear	Y
Rope being too tight around Ross and Michael.	Ross Michael	1	1		make sure ropes are not tight or dont use ropes	Y

Contacts

Emergency Service: 999       
Robert Clack School: 020 8270 4200  Other Contacts: (Eastbrook) 020 8270 4567

Shot list sheet

Shot List
Scene	Shot Number	Description
1 2 3 4 5	1 2 3 4 1 2 1 1 1 2	muffled sound, looking at light bulb. Tilt down into next shot. medium shot of ross tied to a chair. over the shoulder shot looking at barbara wide shot of both barbara and ross in the room. cut to ross hitting michael - POV high angle of michael on the floor cuts back to barbara with ross in the room - over the shoulder on ross looking at barbara cuts to barbara and michael in a park shot reverse shot and wide angle. cut back to ross and barbara in the room michael walks in to room - low angle

Costumes and props sheet

      Costumes and Props Sheet 

Character Name: Jacob Smith
Costume: Light blue jeans/ black t-shirt/ black leather jacket zipped up/ grey, dirty blazers (trainers)/ scruffy hair/ make-up for bruises/ fake blood for cuts	Props: Chair/ long, thick rope/ short, thin rope
Character Name: John Mishel
Costume: Blacky grey jeans/ white t-shirt/black converses/ plainly fixed hair (no gel)/ make-up for past bruises in healing stage	Props: None
Character Name: Venera Marchetti
Costume: black trousers/ tight, black t-shirt/ black boots/ black gloves/ black leather jacket/ dark make-up (dark eye-shadow, dark red lip-liner, black eye-liner, thick mascara)/ hair down straightened + volumed	Props: Holster/ sharp knife/ gun/bullets

Location visit sheet

Location Visit Sheet Writer: Barbara Nuhiallari Producer: Ausrine Blazeviciute Director: Ross McDermott Date: 12/1/15

Rough Sketch/Explanation of location and key points to note Location 1: Small room – this room is used by Barbara’s character to interrogate Ross’s character  Location 2: Park/countryside - scene when ross's character "kills" Michael's character Location 3: Park - scene when Michael and barbaras character are seen together

Health and Safety Issues to note: Trip hazards over park Rough floor over park Scene where Michael falls - make sure floor is clear

Potential Filming Problems : Space is too small Not enough lighting in the room