To The Moderator

Thanks for looking over my blog. I know parts of it are really wordy and boring but i really appreciate the fact that you have given up your time to have a look through it, and i hope that you like the vast majority of it. As you know this isnt the only blog i have been working hard on throughout this project. I have also been contributing to my groups blog, which you will find the link to on the right hand side in my 'Links' list. If you have time it would be great if you could take a look at that too :).

As well as having the link to my group blog in my links list, i also have the link to my teachers central blog, called 'Miss Blackborow Year 12 Foundation Blog'. Her blog may not be as interesting as mine :) but it did help me a lot throughout the project as it was very informative and has all the links we needed to the other students blogs, other groups blogs and various websites. 

If you take a look around my individual blog you will come across all my individual research, initial ideas and individual planning from the early stages of the project before i was introduced to my group. After that i chose to do most of my research and planning on the group blog as it was more of a group effort. You will also be lucky enough to see my preliminary task, along with the video, which we did a few weeks before being assigned the project. Also i kept most of my reflections on how our project was progressing on my individual blog as many of the thoughts and feelings were specific to me. Lastly you will find my final evaluation on here. It will tell you everything you need to know about how and why we did what we did. 

My individual blog is quite a lot different to my groups blog, although the content is fairly similar. On my group blog you will find evidence of planning and research that was undertaken by the group, once the project had been told to us. All of these elements helped to inspire us and progress through the project. 

As you have probably already noticed, my opening sequence is linked to both blogs for you to see. I hope it doesnt scare you too much :)

As i like to be fairly organised, these blogs were ideal for doing that. On my individual blog I have used labels on all of my posts to identify whether they were 'Research', 'Planning' or 'Evaluation' and then within these categories there are more specific sub categories. The posts are organised in date order down the right hand side of the blog so you can easily see when i did what. On the group blog the labels are pretty much the same except we have also placed a label on all of the posts with our names to show which posts we were responsible for doing. W hoped this would make it easier for you when it came to marking our blogs. :)

Anyway i shall leave you to get on with looking around my blog.

Enjoy:)

Thanks again.

Loren Dodi

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GOODBYE BLOG

Okay so this is the last post on my blog as our project is officially coming to a close.

i am actually quite upset that this is the final time i will be typing on here, because this really has made up a huge part of my life over the past few months..LOSER i know but it was nice to just blog whenever you had a free moment.

I would just like to say thank you to my two amazing group members, Charlotte and Nisha, who without them, this project would of been nowhere near as fun. I would love to work with them again VERY soon. :)

I have had a truely lovely experience making this film and i have learnt a huge amount from it. Its at times like this when you realise that all the struggles and stress pays off in the end and you can sit back, relax and admire your personal creativeness.

Anyway goodbye blog, and goodbye film project. I will be looking forward to the next one...

THIS BLOG IS NOW CLOSED!

Evaluation - Question 7

Overall I feel that our opening sequence went well and part of the reason for this was because we had extra preparation in the form of our preliminary task. Our preliminary task and final task did differ in many ways.

 When making our preliminary task because we knew we had far less time to make it we decided that the best thing to do would be to keep it simple and include all the elements that we had to without making things too complicated. This meant that our preliminary task was very unimaginative and therefore boring to watch. When it came to our main task, however, as we had far more time to create it and there was more freedom we let our imaginations run wild and it allowed us to be a lot more creative.

As we were appealing to an audience in the main task we focussed more on what the audience would like and want to watch, rather than just the technical elements, which is what the preliminary task was mainly focussed on. 

As we had far less time to construct our preliminary task we were much more accepting of mistakes in it and used them as improvements for a main project. However with our main project as we did not have another chance to improve so we wanted to make it as perfect as possible therefore we were far more critical and noticed a lot more things when it came down to analysing it.

 After we had constructed our preliminary task we approached the main task very differently and changed many things.

Changes From Preliminary to Main Task

• Planned our time better
• Lots more takes when shooting
• Closer attention to detail with storyboard and shooting script
• More critical
• Booked location in advance
• More aware of sound
• More aware of continuity

 I felt that our approach to the main task was far more professional than the preliminary exercise. It was a lot more replicable of what the real film industry would do whereas with our preliminary task it was far more amateur. We were aware of a lot more things and were more understanding of just how time consuming it is to make a sequence look good, therefore we planned our time better.

For the preliminary exercise, as we were pushed for time we begun our project immediately, ruling out the process of doing detailed planning. However when it came to shooting, it meant that we were far more unorganised and this therefore took up more time because we did not have everything ready. When it came to doing our main task, it made us realise just how important planning was and therefore we concentrated on it a lot more. We felt that it would be better to spend time planning and avoid all the chaos on shoot. If we would have not done the preliminary task we would have not known to do this, and therefore the real task may have been a lot more disorganised.

When shooting our preliminary task we thought that no matter where we wanted to shoot it would be available when we wanted it. When it came down to shooting, most of the rooms in the media block were being used which meant that our original plan for our sequence could not go ahead. This meant we had to improvise and were very limited on what we could and could not do. This taught us that when we were shooting our main task, in order to achieve the desired outcome, always check in advance that your location is available when you want it because then it will save time when it comes to shooting.

When making our real task we found that we were far more aware of the continuity in the background, whereas in our preliminary we were only really focussing on the actor’s continuity. When we watched back our preliminary footage we noticed that despite the actors being in the correct position for each cut, if the backgrounds did not match up then the scene is still not plausible to the audience. When it came to shooting our main sequence we were far more aware of the background and cleared out objects that would affect the continuity of the sequence. We always watched back shots to make sure that there was nothing in the background that should not have been there or to make sure there was nothing missing. Our preliminary task taught us that the scenery is just as important to continuity as the actor’s actions and gestures.

When we watched back our edited footage of the preliminary task, it seemed fairly uninteresting to watch. Due to this it inspired us to approach our main task with a lot more thought and care about what we were actually going to do with our opening sequence. Before we had constructed our preliminary task I did not think that it would have made that much of a difference but now comparing it to our main task you can clearly see the difference in care and thought as one creates a certain atmosphere and grips the audience from beginning to end, whereas one is fairly usual and does not make you want to watch on.

When looking at our final finished sequence, although we were aiming to make it perfect, there are still a few mistakes with the continuity that we picked up on that hopefully the audience will not notice. One of these mistakes was when there is a shot of the girl outside being watched through a window you can see a cars headlights in the background heading towards the house, however in the next shot you never see the car pass the house. Logically it could work because the car could have pulled into a driveway but really the continuity is wrong. Another mistake of ours was at the very end when there is a shot of her hand opening the door, when it cuts to the next shot she has the wrong hand on the door. It is not hugely noticeable as in this shot you do not really concentrate on her hand but if you watch it closely enough it looks strange. The last mistake that we noticed was that in the shot where she enters the bedroom the door is left slightly open, however when it cuts to the next shot the door is completely closed. A few people who watched it noticed this but we were unable to find two shots that matched up perfectly so we just had to settle with the least noticeable one. This taught us that we should have taken more takes and played them back after recording them just to check that there were not any mistakes that would alter the overall look of our project.

If we used this main task as another preliminary exercise there were a lot of things that we could of still improved upon. For example our lighting in some of the shots, mainly the ones upstairs, was not strong enough so you were unable to see clearly what was happening. If we were able to do it again we would try and figure out a way of brightening the lighting, without creating a shadow or making it look too artificially bright. Another improvement we would have made was using different angles. A lot of our shots were straight on and therefore could sometimes get quite monotonous and boring. Although it fitted with the storyline and did the job of telling the story, if we had experimented a bit more with angles we might have got a deeper insight into the story and maybe made viewing more interesting for the audience.

Overall I think our project went extremely smoothly and well and I do not think that without the experience we gained from the preliminary exercise this would have occurred. 

Evaluation - Question 6

Whilst making this project we used a lot of technology and as we have progressed through the stages of our project, I feel my technical knowledge improved. We used different equipment for different parts of our project, for example we only used a camera, microphone, tripod and headphones whilst shooting whereas we only used Premier Pro and the Apple MAC whilst editing. This meant that there was a lot of learning that had to be done throughout the project in order for us to be able to use the technology effectively.

 As we had used the camera and tripod before we found it fairly easy to use and therefore it gave us the confidence to experiment a lot more. The camera enabled us to shoot in digital and therefore once we had finished our project we were able to import it onto a DVD. Although the camera had automatic settings on to enable us to shoot more quickly and easily, we sometimes found this more of a problem. When going quickly from a dark room to a light room we found that the auto-focus did not work fast enough which ruined some of our shots as they went blurry. If we were to re-do this project, I would have liked to have gained the knowledge on using the manual settings as this may have benefited us a few times and it would be challenging to learn something new.

The microphone and headphones were a brand new thing for us so every shoot that we used them was a learning curve for us. It allowed us to have crystal clear sound but also allowed us to hear exactly what sound could be heard in the shot and what could not. Whilst using these things we found the microphone picked up a lot of background noise that we thought would go unnoticed so therefore as we worked through our shoots we found the best way to be as efficient as possible was to keep as quiet as possible.

Adobe Premiere Pro is software that is specifically installed onto the computers for the purpose of editing footage together to form sequences. As we had already had the opportunity to use this programme before we found it straightforward to use and gained lots more confidence when using it. We used this to edit our footage together and to add in a sound track and titles. We edited our footage together using parallel editing. We have used this process in past projects therefore it was fairly easy. We learned that if you do this its far easier to find shots and re-order them later on in the project making it less confusing.

When shooting we shot all our footage onto one continuous tape so when it came to editing we had to somehow split the clips up. We did this using the ‘Capture’ tool that captures each individual shot and saves them separately. This made making the process of editing our sequence together easier and more efficient as we had all the shots ready, we just needed to put them in the correct order. It also made deciding what shots to use a lot easier as we did not have to keep watching through the whole tape, we could just pick certain clips.

When cutting down clips we could do this in one of two ways. We found the easiest way to do it was to use the ‘Razoring’ tool. We learnt that if you did it this way you could get a lot more of an accurate cutting point on the clip and if anything did go wrong you could easily undo it, making the process of experimenting simpler. 

The soundtrack, called ‘In The Mist’ we found off the Internet on a website specialising in free music downloads. We downloaded the music and added it to our sequence via a USB pen and Adobe Premiere Pro. We have never edited to a soundtrack before so we found that the easiest way to create an atmosphere was to edit our sequence to the music, as you can change the sequence but you cannot change the music.

 In order for us to achieve the titles we wanted we first of all found a font on the internet then created our titles on the Apple MAC on a programme called Live Type. It was quite tricky to master at first as we had never used something as advanced before but the more we used it the better and more comfortable we got with it.

 In the professional film industry, when making films they use far more lighting equipment in order to get the ideal lighting. They have more than one camera so that shooting scenes for continuity would not be as time consuming and they have far more microphones so that the sound can be crystal clear. Their editing equipment is also far more advanced than ours, letting them add in extreme special effects and really playing around with their footage. This is understandable though because they have far more money to spend on their project and the equipment is therefore more readily available.

 When using these different technologies there are lots of problems that we can encounter and therefore have to overcome. When we were making our project we found that the technology was the thing that set us back most in making our footage, as it could sometimes be so unreliable. One of the problems we encountered was when trying the capture our footage on Premier Pro it would only let us capture a small section and then refuse to capture the rest. This therefore made it extremely difficult when it came to choosing our shots as it meant that the choice was very limited. Another problem we had to overcome was the fact that when we were out shooting we did not have any batteries for the camera that meant that we had to shoot an entire section of our footage with the camera plugged into the mains. This was very annoying as it meant that we could not go outside or have as much freedom to move around the house. Despite this though we still managed to get all the footage we needed. A problem that we found very difficult to overcome was the camera whir when we were playing back our footage on Premier Pro.  Whenever the shot changed, despite the visual continuity of the shot being perfect, the sound continuity was not due to the whir. We overcame this, however, by lowering the treble on Adobe Premiere Pro, which was fairly easy to do and made a huge difference to our final piece. 

Evaluation - Question 5

Deciding on our target audience was one thing, making them watch and like our film was another. We tried to do this in many ways:

• Using a teenage girl as our actress
• Use of darkness
• Scary music to create an atmosphere
• Flashing, shaky titles
• Close up shots
• Long shots
• Continuity editing
• Making sound louder and softer where appropriate
• Editing it in an understandable and exciting way

We used a teenage girl as the character in our opening sequence because from what people said, they preferred to watch films that were based around their age group to make it more interesting for them to watch. Therefore we thought that if the character in our opening sequence were a teenager it would immediately draw in the correct audience and make them curious to watch it. Films such as ‘Mean Girls’ (Waters - 2004), which grossed $129,042,871 worldwide, and ‘Cruel Intentions’(Kumble - 1999) were said to be very popular with our targeted age group because it portrayed the lives of teens, which attracted them to it as they could relate.

One theme that was used to draw in the horror movie lovers was our use of darkness. We used darkness a lot throughout our sequence and because it was very contrasting to our use of light it is very noticeable to the audience. In the shot where our character walks out of the living room into the kitchen, she walks from a lit up room into the pitch black, emphasising the fact that she is going from the safety into the unknown, making it scary. This would then draw in the horror movie lovers, as they would immediately think that it looks scary and eerie.

When shooting our sequence we used a lot of CU shots to show reactions and emotions. This would draw in our audience a lot more and make them truly understand what our character is feeling, therefore enticing them to watch on. When she hears the TV come on when she is drinking by the fridge, we have a CU of her reacting so that the audience can clearly see the terror across her face. It also brings them into the scene and makes them feel closer and part of it. A lot of our audience feedback said that our use of camera distances made the scene more tense which reflects our aims. 

We used some long shots as establishing shots to show the audience the setting. It would show them how scary the location is and also make them take in the surrounding scenery more, noticing that it is very stereotypical horror and therefore making them want to watch it. Having a LS showing she is in a dark house all on her own sets the story up to be scary and frightening before its really begun. Also the setting is very dominant in our storyline therefore we wanted the audience to become aware of the surroundings in order for them to keep up with the story.

We added in the non-diegetic sound of our soundtrack 'Into the Mist' into our sequence in order for it to build up suspense and therefore entice the horror movie lovers to watch on. If our sequence had just contained the diegetic sound it would have been fairly boring for the audience to watch and the ambiance we would have wanted to create for them would not have come across.

During the process of editing our footage together there were a lot of things that we noticed and had to change in order for our audience to understand it. For example, we had to add in reaction shots to show just how she reacts and a lot more things to react too in order for it to make sense to the audience and for it to be plausible. If we would have not done this the audience would have got bored as it would of come across as very amateur and made up and therefore it would make it funny rather than scary, enticing in the wrong audience.  Also the process of continuity editing throughout our film was done for the audiences benefit. Without it they would not be able to understand what was going on, whereas we would because we know the storyline. We used continuity editing to make the opening run as a seamless sequence that the audience would not get confused with when watching.

As we decided to base our opening on the conventional horror movie we do not really have a unique selling point. It is more or less how you would imagine a horror opening to be, with people referencing it to the likes of ‘Scream’(Craven - 1996) and ‘Friday 13^th’(Cunningham - 1980). We decided to do it in this way because we felt that this would entice in our audience more as it would be recognisable rather than making it fairly original and more appealing to a niche market. They would be able to watch the opening and immediately know it is from a horror genre and therefore within those first few minutes they would be able to decide whether the film was for them or not.

Evaluation - Question 4

When we first begun this project we had to decide before doing any planning who our target audience was going to be. We felt that we wanted to make a horror opening sequence for conventional teenage horror genre lovers, therefore this was our core audience.

 TARGET AUDIENCE

• Carefree
• Like the adreniline rush of getting scared
• Like conventional horror movies such as 'Scream' and 'Halloween'
• Partying
• Sleepovers
• Act older than they are
• Male and female
• Teenagers
• Student
• Interested in horror films
• Staying out late
• Naive but likes to think they are not
• Like going to friends houses to watch horror movies

We did not want a target audience who’s whole lives revolved around horror movies as they would expect too much and want too much uniqueness. Instead we wanted to appeal to those who liked watching horrors on odd occasions but when they did watch them they got the full impact and pleasure of them. We felt that our character used in our sequence reflects our desired core audience quite well. She is a teenager who is fairly carefree and obviously likes to have a good time. It is the type of audience we are aiming to attract and hopefully if they can see their own lives reflected in the lives of the character, it will make the story a lot more scary for them.

 

Secondary Audience
As our core audience was fairly broad we decided that our secondary audience would be hard to pinpoint exactly. We decided that instead of it just appealing to the teenage age of horror movie lovers, we could also make it appeal to various age groups who love the horror genre. We felt that this would be more difficult though, as younger people would not be able to understand a complex storyline, whereas older people tend to prefer it. Therefore we felt it would be harder to target a particular age range outside of teenagers so we just made it appeal to general horror movie watchers who like sitting down on a Friday night and watching a horror movie on Television before they go to bed. Horror films such as ‘Hostel’ (Roth - 2005)reflect these audience’s tastes and it grossed a huge $19.5 million dollars on its opening week.

 When conducting research about our core audience we noticed that films that involved people of a similar age group are more popular than ones that use older or younger actors. Also we found out that there was a fairly mixed approach on the type of lifestyle they liked to watch in movies. Some preferred movies with people who had a completely different lifestyle to them so they could aspire to be like them, however some preferred lifestyles that they could see and relate to. As there was mixed reviews we felt that it depended entirely on the type of film they were watching and we felt with a horror, it would be more scarier, the more alike it was to their lives.

Also when looking back at the research, we found that when going to watch a horror film, the audience expect to be scared, tense and see lots of gruesome murders. This is created by the use of the narrative image with taglines such as ‘How much blood would you shed to stay alive?’ – ‘Saw’(Wan - 2004) and posters that are dark and eerie. We would also create a narrative image that has this effect to entice in the right audience, and we created our opening sequence so that it would not let this narrative image down. 

Evaluation - Question 3

In our opening sequence we made it fairly clear that our distributor was ‘CLN’ as their logo appeared at the beginning of the sequence and our production company was ‘Unchained Productions’. These two companies specialise in producing and distributing low budget films to local cinemas to be shown alongside high budget Hollywood films. Therefore they aim to have the mainstream Hollywood look and style about them. As our film has stuck to the conventions of a horror film fairly rigidly we believe our film would be distributed in local cinemas across the UK. Due to its similarity to other films of its kind, such as ‘Scream’(Craven - 1996) and ‘Final Destination’(Wong - 2000) then I feel that it too could be just as successful as they were so therefore it would be fairly main stream and would not stand out in a high street cinema. When watching our sequence it looks very mainstream Hollywood and it seems like a typical teen horror film. However as it is a British made film by students, I do not believe it can be shown in various places around the world such as the USA as some of the elements, such as the street and house, are a typical British style so it may not appeal that strongly to a different culture. People in other countries prefer their films to be very stereotypical of that country as they can relate to them more. Also as our project was only a student project at school we did not use as much equipment as the real film industry would, therefore our film does not look as professional as real blockbuster movies such as ‘Saw’(Wan - 2004) so if shown in cinemas around the globe, people would not like to watch it. People’s tastes change as you venture into different regions of the world and I think that our film would only suit the British publics tastes and desires as that is the audience we aimed to create it for. In order to appeal to our target audience we would need to market our film as a brand and create a narrative image. We would put our film on websites such as http://www.neoflix.com/ that specialise in showing films from up and coming directors. It would allow a wide range of people to view our film and get our company recognised in the media industry. We would also set up its own film website for people to watch sneak previews and have trailers of our film being shown in cinemas around the UK to entice people to watch it. We want to make them want to see our film as much as Hollywood blockbusters, and not make them see it as a budget student film.