Wednesday 29 February 2012

Evaluation

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

During the first process of making our title sequence, we had to research into a lot of genres; also I looked into the meaning of codes and convention which helped me out more with our film titles. It was good that we looked into other areas of different films and titles for codes and conventions of the same genre as I got a better understanding overall.
I think we used a good use of codes and conventions in our title sequence as we set up the enigma and made the audience want to watch more because of the effects that we used to create a thriller. We did this by creating dark and gloomy sounds to the titles which was created on Garage Band. Also the use of lighting we chose was done very well creating an aerie feel which ticked the boxes in codes and conventions.
In our thriller we made sure the main caption of it was not to see the character Rosie’s face, this was to get the audience more into the film and wanting to see what she looked like. We did this to set up the enigma and to make the audience want to know why they can’t see her face and to give it that extra excitement.
The main part of making the the codes and convention was the editing of the cast and crews. This was a really good and new experience for me as I never knew how to edit stuff like this on the iMacs.
Overall I think when we edited our shots and title it all come together and looked really well as we had different shots to hint about the story, with elements of codes and convention to give it that better quality filming experience.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The title sequence for Reflection is targeted to the age range of 15+, this is because most people this age would want to go and see a film like this as they would like the suspense and thrill from the actual film. When making the title sequence we knew that it would be hard to have a particular social group to represent, as the only character in the film is a young girl, so this would mean that there wouldn’t be anyone that will fit into this particular social group.

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

During my research of different media institutions, I’ve notice that they stick to the same genre or film that they distributed. So as a group we looked up some institutions and we felt that "Loins gate" was best for the genre that we was doing for example, "Lions gate" has distributed, Saw, The American Physco and many more. Overall I think it was a good choice to use the institution as it fits perfectly with what we are making.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our media product would be for both genders from the age of 15+. We chose this age as a group because we didn’t want to be restricted from doing or making certain scenes or the use of imagery. If this title sequence was rated any lower in age then we would maybe have to be careful in what clips and shots we would edit in. so we made it at the right age for both genders 15+ so they can be, scared excited and feel the suspense but to also have a good film experience.

How did you attract/address your audience?

We knew we had to attract the audience while watching this title sequence and made sure they didn’t get bored half way through, we wanted them to like the sequence so much they would want to watch the film so much.
We done this as we drew the attention on not seeing the characters face Rosie throughout the sequence. We also tried to get attraction from the music that as a group made in garage band, this was to create more of a suspense feeling and give it more of a dark effect as music makes everything different. Throughout the sequence we suggested to have flashing imagery of the character in different areas of the house to make the audience more jumpy and to address that it’s a thriller. This was done by shots from on top of the stairs, a shot standing and the camera brushing past her on the banister. We did this by filming for less than 5 seconds then editing them to make them 1-2seconds to give it more of a shock factor. Also what made it address to the audience is that it was set in a middle class house which most people can relate to and make them think it could happen to anyone.

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

From making this title sequence I have realized that the process of constructing a title sequence has more than one technology use. During our time making this we used, a flip camera, final cut pro on the iMacs and also garage band on the iMacs. With this use of media technology it has made my product better in more than one way. From the way the titles appeared, from making the sequence more aerie from the music and how you can film in many different ways.
Overall I’m glad that we have use these media technologies as I’ve learnt how to use new things and it has made it easier for us in a group with the timing and also the quality of the sequence. From learning new ways of making stuff from technologies i am now used to editing and filming which will help me in the long run.

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

Looking back at my preliminary task I noticed that I never thought about the process and the main things needed to be shown in a film sequence. All I was interested in was to make sure it looked good and interesting for the audience. But what I done wrong was that I never made it target to the audience which may not make them want to watch more of what I have produced.
As I’ve made this title sequence I’ve learnt that there's always time to research into others things to help you and to make sure that the genre or even style is targeted right to the audience.
The main thing I have learnt to do is always story board before shooting , I’ve made this mistake when doing my preliminary task as we started from scratch, this could waste lot of time and it might not come out as good as it could of.

Overall, I think that the group has worked very well to get this done and to bring all our ideas together from our media knowledge. It was a good experience learning new things and also making new things. We are very happy with the end product of our title sequence, Reflection.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Editing/ Final Cut Pro

During the last few weeks of shooting our title sequence me and the group had some lessons on editing it to make it all flow. We done this on Final Cut Pro on the iMacs. This took around 2-3 weeks seen as once we was editing we had to re shoot some shots which delayed the process.

Some of the stuff we have edited through the title sequence was the motion on how the main character "Rosie" moved. We thought that giving her a slow motion effect would create and would set the mood of the genre. It worked well with the soundtrack as the music was slow and dark which goes with her walking to her bedroom.
Also there was a change of pace as we made snapshots of "Rosie" sitting on top of the stairs and near the landing. The editing effects used was the different types of color and some of the shots being static.

It was a long process as we kept on re-shooting the book section. We had to use a hair dryer to make each page flick over for the different cast and crews name. This took long as the pages didn't flick over in time but as we edited we fount out we could cut and add how long we wanted each clip for. While editing this we had to use slow motion and also we had to upload text which was hard because some fonts didn't go with our genre.

Production Logo

This was an idea of a logo which we will be using for our film title sequence Reflection. We was looking at how we could change it to make it more original, so we went into Photoshop and we put our production name in the banner "A.A.M Pictures also with colour to make it more of an up to date style.Yet I was unable to put it up on the blog.

Friday 3 February 2012

Reflection - Lesson

During each lesson for the past 3 weeks me and my group have been re shooting and editing our title sequence. We've changed some shots from the original storyboards which will need to be re drawn and a better description on whats going on. This is a good and bad thing because, it will slow down the process of us completing our project but it will make it easier for us because we have new and finalized shots.
This will be done most probably in the last week so we have more time making sure the editing is up to good standards and to make it the best quality we can.

Also in our Media lessons, me and Charlotte have been making a themed background song for the sequence on Garage Band. This has been hard for us seeing as the iMacs have been running slow, and we are not the best at making songs on the software. But now we have made a 2 minute instrumental which we are pleased with but now we are just making it jell together to create a more aery effect when watching the titles.

Recently we have been looking for different types of fonts which we could use for our sequence. We have been looking at other types of fonts  from different films and we've searched for different fronts on Dafont.
These are some of the fonts from films & some of Dafonts writing styles...

Monday 30 January 2012

Garage band

During todays lesson me and Charlotte couldn't add and edit more of the theme tune which will be running over our title sequence. This is because the iMacs were running slow & Garage band wouldn't let us open the project.

This has slowed us from making the background music, so we will have to bring it home and do it for homework or stay after school so its all ready for our deadline.....





NEEEEEEEEDDDDDDD TTTOOOOOOOOO FFIIIIIIINNNNIIISHHHHHH

Friday 27 January 2012

Reflection - Screenshots






The 7 screenshots above show you how we went through shooting the title sequence. We did this so we get more of a visual idea of whats happening. We've made some changes throughout shooting, this it will help us when we are doing our new storyboards. We wanted to create a mysterious effect on the character Rosie on her way to her bedroom, this was done by not showing her face. This creates tension to the audience seeing as they would want to know what she looks like.

The different shots of the character making her way up the stairs and when she's on top of the stairs are very good, because one you cant see the characters face and also the lighting effect is a really good as the mise en scene could mean a lot of things such as, the light being fire.

The third screenshot is of Rosie sitting on top of the stairs. This shot will be flashing throughout the sequence which will make the titles more aery and scary for the audience. Also her sitting on the top step and the camera looking up at her, is showing she has the power and the focus is on her during the film. 

When uploading these shots we had to change the format to make it work on final cut pro. This slowed the process of editing as we didn't know how to work the programme. But now Jack from Media has shown us we are editing the shots. Using effects such as, slow motion, change of color, music of our own (on Garage Band) & how to get titles up and to disappear with different types of fonts.

Friday 20 January 2012

Group Calender

Below there is a screen shot of a Google calender which is useful for my group seen as it will keep us organized throughout our process of making the title sequence. Dates of when and where we are going to be shooting and collecting information about our film Reflection.

Its a good way of communicating with other members in your group for instance, you cant get hold of a partner about a meeting time, you would be able to put it on the calender and they'll know by checking it.
The only thing that I didn't like about it is, it was hard to add everyone into the calender and to invite people to the Reflection bar which holds dates etc....


Reflection - The little girls book

This is the first page we see as the book opens, this represents the girly innocent side of her. You can see this with the use of girly colors and the pretty flower.
This picture on the right hand side, is a drawing of the character Rosie house. We wanted to get the kid to draw pictures like this to show she has a good an arty side to her, also this shows that she likes where she lives. Makes her seem more kind and sweet.
This is a very good picture in the book seen as it makes people see that she has a evil side to her. This is shown by the use of victims names in a list with names crossed out with arrows. We wanted to do something like this because its like she waiting on a opportunity (planning) also it brings out the mise-en-scene.

As you can see throughout the pages in the book, its getting more into the evil side of Rosies personality as there is a game of hangman. The use of colours was well presented as they are black and red which can be associated with red being death and black being bold as its self.
We used these pictures with pastels to create the kid drawing effect. Also you can see the letters are associated with her family and death. We chose the hangman word to be "Mummy" seen as from the picture above on the hit list, we have circled "Mummy" to show that she is the next victim to get.

The picture of the heading, "My Family" is to show that she has a happy family around her. The image has a ripped out spot in the middle. This shows that she's ripping the family apart one by one. We have a burnt ridged effect around the heart which also tells the audience that the person in her family that she's ripped out was the heart of the family. This brings out the creepy and mysterious side of Rosie.

Friday 13 January 2012

lReflection - Production Company

The picture on the left is our production company of our film Reflection. We chose this production company because i searched that they  have a good budget in high class films which have a wide range of  genres, so i think that our film being a..... would be best for this film.
We will have this playing before our sequence to show who's our production company. We wont have it from the start of the clip, we will start it at midpoint around 12 seconds seeing as it would be too long if we played it all the way through.

Reflection - Making of the title sequence

On Wednesday the group and Megan's little sister all got together and went to Joely's house to make half of the footage we need for our title sequence. It went really well seen as we got most of the shots done in the space of 2/3 hours. We got some good and scary shots throughout the process, this lead on to improvising new shots and ideas while recording our original storyboard shots. These were, quick shots of the character on top of the stairs and a shot of the characters shadow moving (flash motion). The main part of this day/recording was to get most of the shots of 'Rosie' played by Megan's little sister, this was so we have a rough idea on how the lighting would be and how it would look from her moving to different sets throughout the sequence. I think it went really well seen as it was a fun process but scary which was good because, if we was scared recording it then we would know when we edit it with music and effects the audience should be like it too.
Our next recording time will be the same time next wednesday when we will be recording the main prop of the title sequence (the book) which be presenting the cast and crews names and drawings. Stick men of happy and bad images and crayon writing, which creates the mood and also shows that the kids drawing it, which gives the audience an aery feeling.

Tuesday 10 January 2012

Reflection - Music



For the music sound for our title sequence as a group we decided to use garage band to create something which would suit our title sequence & theme.This is because we all have a musical mind and we are all good at using the programme so its a quick and fun way of making music. We went through and created a few sounds and we got some good and eary sounds which would fit in great for our titles.
First we looked for some songs on............................................................................................................... but we suggested that we would want our title sequence to be original and to have our own sound, this is  because most of the songs we listen to didn't fit with our film the way we wanted it to.

Reflection - Questionnaire

On the left are some examples of what we are going to be using for our title sequence. Also its for what we are doing for apart of our audience research, which is eight different types of typography, so this is our questionnaire which we will give out to different people to choose which typography fits best with the genre of our film. Before finalizing our questionnaire we will put a brief description of what our film will be about at the top.

 

Reflection - Experimenting with characters


Here are a couple of images from Megan's little sister, who will be featuring in our title sequence, playing the roll of the main possessed girl. The reason why we have taken photographs like this is, because
as a group we needed to see what it would look like filming with the props. The shots you see on the left & right are the main shots of the girl in our title sequence, running up the stairs holding her book in her arms.During the filming we will change the book cover and clothes of the character to make it more related to the title sequence.




Reflection - Story Boards








Here are our screen shots of our title sequence. The story board is to tell you how and what's going to happen in each shot, with information to let us know what's going on. The only error that we have made from our title sequence is that, we haven't made a timing slot for each shot and haven't written down what sounds are going to appear in our title sequences, but when shooting this week we will be sorting them out. It worked well doing the storyboards seen as we all put our ideas together, from production names, drawings and writing. Overall good lesson!