6. Evaluation Questions: What Have You Learnt About Technologies From the Process of Constructing this Product?

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

Garage Band( here is the link to the page where the processes of garage band are fully explained) Garage band is a programme that has music already stored onto it, as well as instruments such as pianos, strings, drums and guitars. We used this software and chose instruments and sounds that would sound eary and fit well with our genre- it was used for the start during the animation

Incompetech ( here is a link for the page where incompetech is fully explained) Was also used this programme to create the non-diegetic sound throughout the whole opening- this fitted well with the genre because its high pitched and uncomfortable to listen to.

 

iMovie- This is iMovie that we used for editing our movie and adding the wash over the top of the lense so that the lighting of it seemed more in keeping with the horror genre.

We also added a faded border around the edges to make it seem like somone was actually filming him.

Lastly the dog with green eyes at the end was decided to be kept from the feedback( here is the link for the page where you will find all the feedback) from the showing to the target audience, which we edited using iMovie



Youtube- We used youtube to search for tutorials on how to use garage band and imovie during the editing stages. This helped us step by step to use it and learn for ourselves.
We also put our media product on youtube so that to get viewers and responses

Photoshop ( here is the link for the page where the processes of photoshop are fully explained for this animation)- We used photoshop to create the animation at the beginning of the opening.

 We made our own so that it seemed more personal to the opening and fitted to our genre and opening.






Hardware ( here is the link for the hardware page, we have fully explained what we used and how we used them within our media product)- We used a handheld camera to film our media product with because, this was simple to use and came with a tipod which it fitted onto the top and this kept it stable for shots which we didnt want to be jolty. We decided this after our preliminary task was completed and edited because we thought that the use of the tripod and camera was the most appropriate method of filming.

3 Evaluation Questions: What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why

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

The kind of media institution that would produce our film would be Lionsgate this is after researching companies that produce similar films and this fitted well because, theyve produced films with same aesthetics and conventions  as our opening.

Lionsgate have produced films such as ‘cabin in the woods’ and ‘SAW’ these are from the same genre as our opening therefore would encourage the fact that they are aware of how to produce and know what conventions should be within the film.

We also looked at the film company Momentum who produced the film 'The women in Black' and 'Insidious' they could be a potential producers for ours concidering it has the similar aesthetics and genre. They are a well known British company and this would help have a high demand for the film in Britain because of the loyal fan base, but they arent as big as American film companies who have high budgets and a-list celebrities to be in their films.

Overall we've decided that Lionsgate would be best suited because we researched into their company and they have a low budget division that produces films with budgets as low as $2m and this is low for an American company, because they are very popular they would increase the demand for the film.

 We would show it firstly at a film festival because our actors arent very well known and our budget is low this would be to create a buzz and get people talking about it, the twitter page would then be used to attract viral viewers. 

Through our twitter page, we will have a similar way of marketing our product by advertising for people to post there screams aswell as also being able to demand it in their area so that its shown in places where the demand for it is high. Also having a cookie on the page would then advertise the company and product on adverts around the sites they were on for example facebook.

We have also taken into consideration that students, our target audience, don't have the money to meet the high prices of some cinemas, therefore we would want to offer deals such as student discounts, days where prices are lowered or promotional deals are offered to encourage more viewers for that age group. An example of a similar promotion we would use is 'orange Wednesdays’

Feedback From the Opening

 We presented our film opening in front of the target audience and then created a questionnaire for everyone to fill out, this was so that we could get feedback on various areas and amend these or justify them.

These are the headings of the questions and the tally charts that we created with all the filled out questionnaires and also quoting some of the most useful answers.

Examples of the questionnaire we gave for the audience to answer.

Titles

Titles

Freytags Dramatic Structure
Eposition
Rising action
Climax
Falling action
Catastrophe/resolution

Levi Strauss
Narrative tension is based on opposition or conflict. Simple as two characters fighting more oftena at an ideological level for example Westerns or Starwars

SYD fields three act plot structure
The first- set up (ours contains this, which is setting up for the second act)
The second- confrontation
Act three-Resolution

Todorovs theory
Euilibrium- nice-bad-nice
We have challenged this by starting off with a diseuilibrium

Vladimir propp

The villain (there is a hint of this in house, who is drawing the dog into the house)
Victim being male- against the stereotype
Victim-dog

Comprehending time
Linear

Social Networking

Social Networking Site

We decided to create a Twitter account for our production company so that we could promote our film opening through the internet to appeal to a bigger audience.

We've posted the link to our opening through a tweet so that all our followers can watch it and like it through our youtube account.

Rain Mark

 During our opening we decided to try and get rain droplets to fall onto the lense of the camera, this was because we looked at images with rain on them and thought it made it look obscure and could add to the tension and uneasy feel to it.

The rain droplets create a mask or cover across the screen which blurrs out the background and its hard to make out what is behind it, which is a mysterious element.

These four pictures are areas during our opening that we managed to get a rain droplet onto the lense and as you can see the view behind is hard to make out. And because the droplet occurs from the beginning of the outside scene through to the house it shows a reoccurance of it, this adds to the cliff hanger ending and maybe why the dog is drawn towards the house.

Our Final Media Product

Justification

Negatives/questions:
Why a guy actor?- A dog is a mans best friend therefore when the dog runs off the man is concerned which is why he goes looking for him. A women may not necessarily go into the house (call somone)

Why was there smoke at the end?- The smoke has a tint of green and the dogs eyes at the end are green- effect that its coming from the dog

Did he mean to trip?- He did not mean to trip, its acting and it makes the scene seem more real life.

Why cant you hear the calling of the dog?- We are going to amend this so the calling of the dog can be faintly heard

Could you include more titles?- We will be editing our film again and including more relevant titles that are needed

The camera is a bit jolty- We are going to stabilise the camera shot next editing session

Watermarks on the camera- We did this on purpose because, not knowing whats behind the marks makes the audience seem uneasy and unsure of what is going on behind it

Feedback

We showed our first draft of the film opening to the target audience today on a piece of paper they fed back to us what they liked about our opening and also some questions about areas they werent sure on.

We wrote down all the positives from the feedback, and then wrote down what things we need to work on or justify.

Positives:
Production Title
Music
Dog-Whining
Lighting
Good ending
Graffiti
POV camera shot
Camera shots in general
Location
Raindrop on the camera-good effect
Eyes at the end

Negatives/questions:
Why a guy actor?
Why was there smoke at the end?
Did he mean to trip?
Why cant you hear the calling of the dog?
Could you include more titles?
The camera is a bit jolty
Watermarks on the camera

Filming

Filming

TAKE 1:

3rd February- First day of filming we had two male actors and got a bareing of the kind of shots and costume we wanted for our opening. We decided not to use this footage because the costume didnt fit the scene and the lighting inside the house was too dark and lastly two actors didnt show vulnerability which is what we wanted.



TAKE 2:
10th February- We now knew that having one actor instead iof two was a better idea. It was raining therefore enough footage would have to be filmed outside to allow for editing. Watching it back there was a major improvement from the first set and this was the footage we were happy with using.


TAKE 3:

18th February- Although we had a good base for the opening because of an issue with the rain we wanted to film it again to see if we could amend it. The rain gave a good effect throughout the whole of the opening in comparison to this set; We decided that because the weather was vastly different the decision was made to not use this and stay with the previous set.


Overall filming more than one time helped with getting a good understanding of the way we wanted our opening and also having a range of shots and lighting it also gave us an oportuinity to choose which looked the best.

Blog Responses

We presented the first few posts on the blog to our class and this was some of the feedback they gave:

I think we have successfully amended and added their constructive criticism given to the blog. And now the blog contains what was asked and more.

We chose a black background because black suited with the horror genre.  

Responses to horror films

Responses to horror films

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNgO_oPqgb8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HSfNVY_am8

 

 

We asked two people in our target audience age group questions about horror and also tried to include some aspects that we had in mind for our opening and ask for their views. We thought that asking a boy and a girl for opinions was a good idea because we would get feedback from both genders and this would help widen the target audience and who it would appeal to.

Horror film costumes

Costumes and other aspects of horror films

Costumes are a vital part to a genre especially horror because different types of costumers can insinuate different things.

Typical costumes in a horror film would be plain and quite bland colours with not much detail. The costume can help the audience understand what each of the characters are and there role.

Killers: Dark (evil, mysterious) Cloaks (hiding something) Black (no emotion)

 

 

Victim: White (vulnerable, pure) red (danger)

 

 

Other characters: dull boring clothes, earthy, brown, grey, green

 

 

 

Masks can be used to completely change the identity of a character and make them seem emotionless and not human in some cases this is seen in "Halloween" and "Friday 13th" both characters appear a lot more scary because they could be anyone even a character already introduced

 

 

 

 

 

 

Popular horror films

Popular horror films

1. Psycho

2.The Exorcist

3. Halloween

4.The Blair Witch Project

5.The shining

6.The Ring

7. Paranormal Activity

8. Night of the living dead

9.The texas chainsaw masacre

10. A nightmare on Elm Street

Colours within horror films

Colour

The use of dark colors in horror is directy related to the reason many people are afraid of the dark. Darkness is associated with the unknown, since we cannot see what is in darkness. In cinema, this association can create dramatic tension because the audience will feel more unsure about what is going to happen next, which is an essential aspect of horror.

The colour red is usually associated with two main themes blood or romance, in horror films they sometimes use both and this works well for pulling on heart strings and making the audience sympathise.

Neutral colours are mainly used in horror films for the vulnerable characters because they are made to seem pure and innocent.

Horror film theory

‘Unlike other genres, horror goes deeper, to explore more fundamental questions about the nature of human existence’

‘Horror scares me because it challenges the unknown.’

‘Also characteristic to horror genre is the struggle of good and evil. Originally horror films plotted some unthinkable monster against an individual or group of people who must fight to stay alive. Over the years the monster has mutated into several things including, lunatic fathers, possessed children, ghosts, aliens, the psychotic murderer next door and these are typical plots and characters in the films we see today.’

‘The feminist film theory believes that it is the women that make the men behave in that way but they play no important role’

Women in Black Analysis

 The Women In Black

The Location:
The abandoned house is very dull and intimidating looking with over grown grass all around.This shows there is no human evidence around.
Big black iron gates outside may show that the house is ancient and sinister.






                                                           Camera Work:
The use of this point of view shot is very effective and really