Blog Close

This is my very final blog post. I have very much enjoyed writing my blog and i believe it has helped alot with my organisation within the coursework. 
In my blog you can find:


My preliminary task
Main research and planning
Working
Final video
Evaluation


I hope you enjoy reading my blog. Thanks

Amy :)

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

Technologies

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

Please press the small arrowed squared in the bottom right corner of the slideshow as this makes it bigger and allows the font to be read.


Amy horror

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How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

My production company 'old school cinema' is a low budget company that aims to create horror movies for students aged 15+.  The low budget will also add nicely to the british feel. 

If we created a high budgeted film we would expect it to be shown in chain cinemas such as 'vue', 'odeon' and 'empire'. This is because the money wouldn't be an issue when distributed our film. This way it would be available to all audiences rather than just our target audience of students and creating a bigger profit in the long term. 

However because our title sequence is a low budget, cinemas such as 'vue' and 'empire' would be out of the question in order to distribute our film. Many independent films would have their films shown in local small cinemas as well as exhibitions and most commonly  Film festivals.

Despite many small cinemas showing the independent films the most commonly way of the 21st century is showing movies through the world wide web. This technique has only most recently become popular as piracy becomes more of a problem. In addition to this i believe my film would be shown through the web because its very cheap and can connect to all audiences specializing in the student audience, which is perfect for my film. 

I believe that if we didn't have a low budget then our film could be shown in cinemas like 'vue' and 'odeon' as it fits the popular intrest of horrors being 'creepy and psychological'. However this would be unlikely due to money. Another way that our low budgeted film could reach the main cinemas is to have help from a 'major' company. With help from a 'major' company they would distribute it for us at a cost of the profits. But doing this would hopefully allow us to connect to a wider audience gaining a larger profit anyway. When shown at the cinema we would want to create a deal for the price as many students currently complain of the cost when they could access it for cheaper online. We would want to connect to those who enjoy going to the cinema as well as those who prefer to watch online. 

20th Century Fox (a well known distributor and production company); this company is our first choice of a major distributor as they have done thousands of horror films that fit our theme. We want a well-known distributor as they offer their own brand name to our potential film and can already offer us a high amount of screenings just by the film history. They have done films such as black swan (2011), Jennifer’s body (2009) and Alien (1979) of all have become big hits in the horror industry targeting the student age group (the same as ours).

To conclude i believe that 20th Century Fox would distribute our film as its fits in with many of their other productions and being a british film it can offer them something different to their usual list. 

Who would be the audience for your media product and how did you attract them?

I think i was able to appeal to my traget audience (aged 15-19) very well. Most had a preferred reading which allowed me to believe that my title sequence fitted the genre very well as well as the needs for the audience. When i uploaded my video to Facebook i was able to speak to a large group of people at that age and was very surprised with the large amount of positive feedback. Some gave criticism however it was very useful. 
I aimed my sequence at the achievers and radicals from the psychographic profile as i believe these people can related most to the genre of horror. However due to my low budget the students market was a good move as i can relate to all the students out there rather than just the horror friendly people.
Most liked the music as it created an uneasy feeling as well as the footage not giving away to much information. 
Below is a collection of screenshots of my audiences comments and thoughts of my title sequence. I created a group on Facebook and added my questions with the video. This allowed me to have all the comments in the same place and easy access to them all. 

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

Final Video

This is my final title sequence video. I am very pleased with the outcome and the shots i created. 

Editing

At the right is three screen shots of me using Premier Pro. This is the editing software we used to allow us to make our title sequence. Last time we also used a software called OnLocation which allowed us to separate each clip from one another, however due to better camera we now use SD cards rather than tapes which do this automatically.
The first screen shot shows my video rendering. Due to the footage being in HD the rendering takes a very long time.
The next picture is a screen shot of the timeline of my sequence.
And the final picture shows me exporting my video. 

Sound/music

I found some copyright free music online which i though worked really well in my title sequence. It was very mysterious  dark and also created tension which is a big part of the sequence. Using the copyright free music means i don't have to ask to publish my video using their music which is a big hassle when you can just find some with copyright free. 

Deadline

My deadline is today and i still have to make my video shorter. Yesterday (30th June) there was a strike for teachers therefore not many people where in college. I took this opportunity and came in and make a huge start to my editing. I manged to get all the titles done as well as the footage. The only thing i have left to do is speeding up the footage as currently my footage is too long and adding effects to the titles. Once this is done i can export my video and upload to YouTube ready for my blog. Even though this sounds a lot hopefully i will get it done and meet my deadline.

Pickups

I will be filming on Tuesday night (28th June) to do any pick ups as this is the earliest day my actor can film. Its cutting time a little short but i believe if i follow my pick up shot list i will be fine and my editing will come together nicely.
Below is a small shot list showing the shots that i am including & and redoes. 

Shot 1	Close up. Camera in bin showing actor drop picture into bin.
Shot 2	Close up. Man putting on gloves.
Shot 3	Extreme close up. Man’s face. Typical way of creating a scary picture.
Shot 4	Redo- Close up. Camera in draw as actor picks up scarf and duct tape.
Shot 5	Redo- Close up of man putting things in suitcase and picking up case (one shot rather than 2)

Editing

I started to edit today and it took a very long time due to the footage being in HD. This made it difficult because i had to render the individual clips to allow it to play at normal time allowing me to crop it in the right places. It took a very long time but i managed it. Today i only got round to cropping down all the footage i had which is a starting point. I also noticed that there are a few shots i need to re film as they went wrong with the lighting and the angle but there are also some pickups to be done as the sequence isn't quite long enough. 

Title

When looking over my shots from the previous days filming i saw a shot that i did of the novel which was zoomed in on 'those hands'. I chose this zoom because i thought those hands could be taken in many different ways. I then chose this as my title because i thought it was a original name and related to my title sequence very well. 

Filming

The filming went really well on Saturday and i was very pleased with many of my shots. My actor was great and remained professional. We managed to film all the shots in 3 hours which wasn't to long and i even followed my shot list.

Actor

Jonathon Fox is my chosen actor because i think he will fit the role perfectly and allow me to create the image that i want in my head. Below is a couple of pictures of my actor.

FIiming

I will start filming on Saturday ( 25th June) during the day time. I have chosen to do it during the day time because due to summer approaching the days are longer. Despite this I will hopefully manage to create a dark atmosphere by blocking out my windows and using a light to create an appropriate scene. 

Health&Safety

Because i had to change my location last minute i have redone a Health and Safety report because there will be different hazards.
I have included a small power point from Slide Share to show the issues.

Health & safety

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Shotlist

Below is a shot list of my title sequence.

Shot number	Information about shot
Shot 1	Mid close up. Showing the man peering through the blind-mysterious
Shot 2	Cover the shoulder Close up. Man writing in red pen. Shadows appear from lighting.
Shot 3	Close up. Writing again but different angle. Shows the pen nib and shadows created.
Shot 4	Extreme Close up. Of book as he flicks through the pages.
Shot 5	Extreme Close up with gradual zoom. Zooms in on what the man is pointing at in the book.
Shot 6	Close up. Man picks up books and walks across camera.
Shot 7	Extreme Close up. Camera in draw along with scarf and duct tape.
Shot 8	Aerial. Books and paper in suitcase. Aerial showing him putting the in.
Shot 9	Gradual zoom in. Of the knife on the book.
Shot 10	Over the shoulder close up. As he grabs the scarf and duct tape and puts them in the suitcase along with the book.
Shot 11	Low angle. Camera on floor with man walking across it with suitcase.
Shot 12	Extreme Close up. Camera being turned on.
Shot 13	Close up. As he looks at picture and deletes the image.
Shot 14	Mid close up. Showing man going up to blind (like first) but using the duct tape across the camera to finish.

Once again i have no dialogue in my title sequence. This adds to the effect of the horror as all other title sequences i have watched also don't include much dialogue. 

location

This is my location i have chosen to film my title sequence in. I have chosen to do the filming in my bedroom as it gives the title sequence a more casual feeling and allows it to have a 'normal' effect on the audience since everyone has one in there house. My room is very small which adds to the effect. Despite all the personal belongings inside it i hopefully will be able to create a new place that is suitable for my genre. Due to it being inside i will also have the access to plugs which will make it easier for me to create shadows and effects.
There is a lot of stuff in there i will only use sections of the room and along with my lighting will hopefully make it look completely different and match the vision inside my mind.
Below are my pictures (taken on iphone 3G)

Names

Possible names for my film:


Main name: Those hands, in the shadows, shadow, watcher, peeper, In the light.


Production name: old school, New school, One word, The copy

Table of Planning

	Potential cost	Source	Person in charge	Extra notes
Location (Idea 1)	Amy’s Bedroom	-	Amy	Make sure is tidy and suitable to film
Actors (Idea 1)	Jonathon Fox	-	-
(Idea 2)	Sophie Harrison	-	-
Costumes (Idea 1)	Black T-shirt. (only top half would be shown)	-	Jon
(Idea 2)	Hoody, Casual fits into stereotype of kids this age	Borrowed	Charity shop or borrowed	Amy
Hair (Idea 1)	Normal	-	-	-
(Idea 2)	Spiked up	-	-	-
Makeup (Idea 1)	None	-	-	-
(Idea 2)	Natural	Makeup borrowed	Borrowed from Amy Rance (me)	Actor
Props (Idea 1)	Novel – those hands	Borrowed	Alison
(Idea 2)	Knife		Kitchen
(Idea 3)	Camera	-	Amy
(Idea 4)	Suitcase	-	Borrowed from the college (camera box)
(Idea 5)	Picture on camera	Will take on filming night	Jon
(Idea 6)	Duct Tape	-	Peter
(Idea 7)	Scarf	-	Already in room
(Idea 8)	Paper & Pen	Room	Already provided
Lighting (Idea 1)	One single light that will allow me to create a small slit of light	Borrowed	Peter