Main Task- Rough Cut 2

Main Task- Evaluation

Denotation of The Second Personality

The opening shot of my production starts by showing my production logo, which I made myself on Photoshop Elements, this is complying with the codes and conventions, as most films will start by showing the production logo. The production logo is on a black background which would signify that my film was low budget (which it was), and with the knife and the red blood, before the film has even started I am already giving away the genre to my audience, this is not complying with the codes and conventions, however it has been done many times before. Warner Brothers tend to change their logo according to the genre of the film, for example Harry Potter, the logo is made to look Magical.

My opening shot shows my main character sleeping in bed, and the camera cuts to a close up shot of the CD Player, as the CD Player turns on, the music starts, had I of had a higher quality camera I would of been able to create this shot much better, and the display on the CD Player would of been able to read much easier. The camera then cuts back to the main character in bed. The mise en scene of the room would signify to the audience that the boy is very messy, and spends a lot of time in his bedroom, and with the stereo system it would seem he is very much into music. If I would of had more access to some Heavy Metal posters then the mise en scene of this scene would of signified that my character is into Heavy Metal music, and had an intertextual reference to the character in Trick or Treat.

As the boy wakes up from his sleep, because the room is so dark, one part of the room is so dark that it creates a black background for the final title sequence which reads the actors name, I think this is a very good use of lighting.

As the boy stares into the mirror, there is an over the shoulder shot which means that we are able to see the clothes the character is wearing wile also being able to see his facial expression as he stares (would not make sense if he had nothing to stare into). There is a light just above the character that is shining down on him, this is giving the audience a clear signifier that this character is the Central Protagonist.

When the scene cuts to a flashback, the image turns to black and white, clearly signifying that the scene is a flashback, and happened in the past, as we signify black and white with the past because much older media was all in black and white (period dramas). The mise en scene of this setting clearly denotes to the setting being in a school. The music in the background has changed for this scene to much calmer and depressing music, clearly signifying that as this is the main character flashback, what happened here caused him great amounts of sadness and stress.

As the image goes back to present time, and the boy walks into the kitchen he is making a sandwich, and as the close up on the camera shows him doing this, we see the knife that he will later use to kill the bully. I chose this idea of showing a knife so that I could have a way of showing why the boy would be taking a knife to school, as shown in the next scene, it would not make sense if the boy had a knife in his bag without reasoning for it being there.

As the boy is packing his school bag, it clearly shows him packing in school books, which is a great use of mise en scene to signify that the character is going to school. As he then goes to get his lunch, he also goes back and collects a knife, this creates a Narrative Enigma, what made the character want to go back and collect the knife, and why does he need it.

As the boy is walking outside, the woodland area gives a clear signifier that he is very much well in an isolated area, and there is no one around, so anything could happen. The point of view shot onto his feet signifies that the boy is upset and has his head down. The camera then cuts to a point of view of someone walking behind the boy, which would denote that the boy is being followed. This goes against codes and conventions as it would normally be the killer who stalks the victim, and would lead the audience to a narrative enigma to whether this boy is innocent or a killer.

This narrative enigma is then emphasized as they both stop and stare!

How does the media product

 use, develop and challenge forms and conventions?

Our media product had a main aim to both comply with as-well as challenging, where suitable, the codes and conventions of a film opening. We managed to comply with the codes and conventions, as we had a Central Protagonist; we also showed the production logo at the very start of the film. However our production logo gave a clear signifier that our genre was a slasher because of the knife, with blood coming off of it. I also believe that we managed to challenge the codes and conventions, as for in one of our shots you see what is believed to be the killer, being stalked by the victim.

How does our media product represent particular social groups?

Our film opening represents more than just one social group, as the main character could be denoted to be both middle class and low class; it depends on how the audience view the film. This was set up on purpose, as it helps to raise questions over the central protagonist, while also giving clear signifiers as to his characteristics. The first social group is represented by the setting, because it is a very modern and nice house, this would signify the middle class, but by looking at the characters clothing it would seem that actually the main character is representing lower class, as his clothes are scruffy and he does not change them during the whole production. The reason we wanted to represent two different social groups was to help widen out potential target audience while at the same time creating narrative enigmas in our production.

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

I would like to think that Working Title would produce our film, however because they do not distribute. Because they have such good contact in USA and would be able to launch it there as well, if they distributed our film we would be able to have worldwide success from it. An example of a film that has created similar success that I would expect our film to create is 'Shaun of the Dead' this was a low budget British film that had major success in the USA as well. I think that in an ideal world, we would want Launching Films to produce and distribute our film. 

Who would be the audience for our media product?

I would hope that our media production would sell to males and females, but because of the negative stereotypes to females, I think it would main attract a male audience, with the exception to be few females. I do not think that my film would attract in the homosexual audience, as there is no homosexuals in it, however it does not give off any negative stereotypes to homosexuals so they would not be put off. My film should attract a youth audience (15-30), but because of its 15 rating, there would be young teenagers interested in watching the film for 'Negative Role Models'. My audience I would expect to be mainly lower-middle class because of the reference to both classes in my film. Also slasher films normally bring in a lower class audience. I would also hope to attract Heavy Metal Rockers because of the heavy music we use in the production.

How would the audience be attracted/addressed?

I would expect that all of our male audience would be attracted to our film because of the violence, blood and gore. So to address this market we would simply make a trailer that contained a lot of killing, blood and gore. We would be attracting in our young audience because of the entire fast pace editing that we have, with quick fast paced clips. We would address this market by making sure that the trailer also had very fast pace cuts. I also think that our film is attracting Heavy Metal Rockers because of the music that is being played in it. We would address this audience by putting a heavy metal song on the trailer. If we had a higher budget we could also attract this audience through a special guest actor who is well known in the metal music industry. Trick or Treat did this by bringing in Ozzy Osborne.

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

During my production I have learnt a lot about how to edit, create and publish a film. This meant learning how to firstly create a blog, upload images text and video to it. I learnt all of this by myself, as it turned out to be very easy. Because I am taking A Level ICT and I got an A* in GCSE, I had a major advantage on any normal media student. However I had never used iMovie HD before, so I searched online for tutorials on how to use it properly, this means that I was able to use all of the functions available to me in the proper way. I learnt how to upload and cut clips. I also learnt how to add still images and sound effects, and how to correct sound levels and position them in the correct position. I then had to learn how to add a title sequence, create video effects and how to compress the production so I could put it onto my blog. I also learnt how to use a camera and tripod properly to create panning shots, zooms and tilts. I also looked into how to change the white balance on the camera so that I could get the best video quality possible.

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

I think that my camera work has improved a lot since my Preliminary task, and I have learnt how to stop shaky camera work. I also think my knowledge on camera angles and shots has changed as you can see there are a lot more used in my Final Production than my Preliminary Task. My editing on iMovie HD has not improved too much as I learnt most of it while doing my Preliminary Task.

What needs to be changed?

I made a lot of changes before I got to my final cut, but there are some things that still needed to be changed but I simply did not have the time to do it, or I did not have the appropriate equipment. One change that would need to be made is more camera shots would need to be put into my production, especially I should have used a Dutch Angle to signify something was wrong, but on the day of filming I forgot to use and I could not re-film again as I ran out of time. I also think that if I had more time I would have made my own music on Garage Band that would fit in with the narrative much better, I would also add in more sound effects that I would of had to record myself rather than just downloading them off the internet. I also think the use of better actors may have improved my production, but the ones I used did exactly what I wanted them to, and where the only ones available because everyone in school is so busy with revision and coursework.

Main Task- Sound

I have decided that I want to use the same person who created my A2 soundtrack, to also create my AS soundtrack. He did such a good job of syncing the music with the action on screen, which really added tension to the film, and kept the audience interested. I will be having discussions with Olivier tonight, to see if he is willing, and has enough time to create my soundtrack.

After holding discussions with Olivier Trouille this week, I have managed to arrange him to create a soundtrack for me. As I plan to have finished my final cut by 28th Feburary, he will start work on the soundtrack the week following. Although he has stated his work will not be at the same quality as my A2 soundtrack, because of lack of time, he has also assured me a good piece of music that will fit in with my film.

Main Task- Props

Props will play a key role in my film, as they will help me to create a good mise en scene, and help me to gather a preferred reading from the audience. For my last submission of the AS work, I did not use props effectively enough, which is why I plan to use them to the best ability this time.

The plot of the opening is a set of teenagers on the moor, drinking and having a good time. To be able to make it obvious they are camping and plan to stay over night, I will need to use props such as tents and sleeping bags.

The props that I will be using for my final idea will be as followed:

Tents- I will be using tents to show to the audience that the group of teenagers are planning to spend the night on the moor.
Sleeping Bags- The sleeping bags will be used also to signify to the audience they plan to stay the night.
Spare Clothes- The spare clothes will be used also to signify to the audience they plan to stay the night.
Cigarettes- Cigarettes signify to the audience that the teenagers are rebellious.
Alcohol- Alcohol is used to show that the teenagers are drunk, and not in full control of their bodies.
Campfire- Campfire signifies a cold atmosphere.
Knife- The knife will be used when the murder kills one of the teenagers.
Fake Blood- Fake blood will be used to signify the teenager is dead. 

Main Task- Production Logo

Main Task- Final Synopsis

This is my new final idea, which has been changed due to my re-submission, I have decided to completly change my idea after feedback from my media teacher, who marked my AS work. It was my production that dropped most of my marks, so I will bring in more ideas, and camera shots to this production.

Final Idea- Nowhere to Hide
My idea is to have a set of teenagers camping on a moor. They are celebrating the end of exams, and all have been drinking heavily and some even smoking. Two characters Lucy and John have decided to find somewhere a bit more quiet, and have gone into a tent to take their relationship to the 'next level'.

Wile they are in the tent, the group of teenagers are discussing stories that have been going around the town, saying there is a runaway murder living on the moors. Some of the teenagers believe the story and some don't. The group keep on smoking and drinking more during the discussions, wile shots show a moving figure in the background that the teenagers are unaware of due to being so drunk.

As John and Lucy return from the tent, the discussion moves onto what they had been up to inside of the tent, with the group teasing Lucy about what she had just done. One of the teenagers who was strongly agreeing with the stories of the murders starts to shout at the group telling them they are not taking his story serious, and they are all stupid for coming onto the moor. He then stands up and walks away from the group in anger.

Not to they boys knowledge, as he walks away, he passes the murder, and as Lucy tries to follow the teenager to talk to him, the murderer sees his chance to kill the sexual active blone teenager. Then the titles show, 'Nowhere to Hide'.

Main Task- BBFC Rating

The target audience of a short film must be understood by the production team because when it comes to promoting the film through advertising they must make sure they are advertising to the correct audiences. For example you would not advertise the new Saw movie in the middle of a Coronation Street break because the wrong audiences would be watching the advert.

Also when it comes to working out the target audience of a film, the BBFC rating scheme must be put into thought. The BBFC must rate all films before they are shown to the public, this is to protect young audiences from viewing media they should not be seeing.

The BBFC Rating Scheme:

Suitable for an audience of four and above, set with a positive nature and should counterbalance violent, threatening or horrific issues.

Suitable for pre school children and tend not to address the main nine issues.

PG (Parental Guidance), viewing of this certificate may be unsuitable for unaccompanied children. This rating shouldn't disturb and audience of around eight or older.

Suitable for children 12 and over, needing to be accompanied by an adult. Which replaced thnormal 12 certificate in 2002.

12 certificates , are specific for an audience of 12 and over.

15 certificates are specific for an audience below 15. And no one below 15 is able to viewany of this material.

18 is a rating which is strictly for adults only as it contains some form or explicit of the nine major categories.

R18 is classed for adults only and can only be sold at adult shop or viewed at a licenced cinema.

The BBFC uses these 9 key points when rating a film:

• Theme
  
• Language
  
• Nudity
  
• Sex
  
• Violence
  
• Sexual violence
  
• Criminal or harmful actions
  
• Horror
  
• Drugs

When looking into the Target Audience, these aspects have to be considered:

• Age
• Gender
• Sexuality
• Nationality/Culture
• Ethnicity
• Socio Economic Grouping
• Fans Of 

Main Task- Editing

My film went through a lot of editing and a lot of changes all that needed great IT kills to get the final product to look as good as possible. Because of our Feedback we found that our editing had to improve a lot and we had to really make use of all of the effects and other options available to us on iMovie HD.

Editing on iMovie

Our production was edited using iMovie and I am now going to talk through the edits we made, why we made them and the skills involved to produce the edits.

First thing I needed to (Alex Jowett, Editor) was to upload all of our clips onto iMovie, this meant connecting the camera to the computer with a firewire cable and opening the iMovie HD application. From this you then simply click upload, and all of the clips that we had shot where then added onto iMovie.

After this had completed I then had to pick out with clips we where going to use, as there where many that had mistakes on them, and many that we had decided on the day of filming not to use. After doing this I then needed to cut the scenes down because on most scenes we had filmed for too long, and there was shots that we did not need. This was also crucial to do as our film added up to 2 Minutes and 32 Seconds, so we defiantly needed to cut 32 seconds.

After doing this I then went through many stages of playing the film and making notes on sound and video FX that I could add into the production so that I was sure of exactly I needed to do.

I then imported the music from a copyright free website that I had found (www.freeplaymusic.com). I had to first download the song, upload it to iTunes and then from iMovie, it picked up the song in iTunes, from which I just had to import this into my production. I had to make sure that it was positioned so that the music would start when the CD Player turns on in the opening scene, to give the effect that the music was diegetic, but then became non-diegetic as he left his room, almost like the song was in his head.

After I had done this I then added more sound effects to help emphasize sounds that I needed the audience to hear. These sounds included footsteps as 'Matt' walks through the woods and heartbeat sounds in the background to help create tension for the audience.

I then added in the second song that was going to be in our production, this song was less up-beat and more depressing and low-beat. I positioned it to the point I wanted it to play, which was wile the character stared into the mirror and had a flashback from school.

I then made the flash back scene black and white. I did this by putting a black and white effect onto of it. The reason for this is so that the audience was aware that it was a flashback and had already happened. That is crucial for them to understand the ending.

Now that my films was fully constructed, all that was left for me to do was the smaller edits that sometimes can make a big difference. I started off by firstly changing all the sound levels so that I could remove unwanted sounds, and put more emphasis on sounds I needed the audience to hear. I also had to adjust the sounds when the music changes so that it was not an instant change but instead a gradual change. I did this by fading out one of the songs wile fading in the other at the same time.

Our establishing shot is our production logo, and this had to be added onto iMovie as an image, and despite looking through many different iMovie tutorial videos I could not find out how you can add an image on top of the moving picture so I assumed that this was not possible on iMovie and decided to add it on as a new clip with only the Production Logo showing.

I made this logo on Photoshop Elements by uploading a picture of a knife off the internet, importing it to Photoshop, then I used a paint tool to create the effect of blood from the knife, then simply added some text that read our production name 'MJ Productions'.

I then finally added on the Title Scenes. I created these in iMovie and set the font to look quite scary and weird, to fit in with the genre, and I also made it red so that it would signify blood. I had to make sure the title scenes where on screen long enough for the audience to read them, so I received Feedback from people who where in the same room as me.

Main Task- Audience Feedback

Our media film went through 2 different filming and editing stages, because after the first stage we had to get an audience feedback, and their feedback indicated that our film was not up to the standards it could have been, and they where able to point out many floors that from a production perspective, we where not able to notice.

We showed the film to our Media Class, and after watching it through they gave us very constructive feedback which we where then able to use to completely re-film and re-edit our production to enable us to have a much better quality product.

Here is what they said about our first production:

1. The setting did not fit the genre, and did not work well with filming.
2. Having black and white effects made no sense, and did not fit in with the genre.
3. The actor looked at the camera in one of our scenes.
4. The ending shot with the knife was very vague way of showing our film was a slasher.
5. The mise-en-scene did not fit in with the genre, e.g. Football Posters.
6. The music fits in well with the film but is of a poor quality and does not improve the production.
7. Not enough use of steady cam, and too much shaky camera work.
8. You can not hear the voice-over.
9. Needs more reference to a film.
10. Poor acting.

With all of this feedback in mind, me and Matt met up to talk about how we could improve our production, and it was agreed that we defiantly needed to re-film and re-edit it all so me and Matt wrote up a new Synopsis and drew up a new Storyboard with all of the points above in mind we where able to improve on them all, and here is how we did it.

Our Improvements:

1. We completely re-filmed our production in a whole new setting, this setting was much improved, and had use of both interior and exterior shots. It also fitted in much better with our genre.
2. In our second version the only black and white shots are when 'Matt' has flashback's.
3. We made sure this time that the actors remained focused and did not look into the cameras.
4. We took out the ending shot with the knife, and instead brought the knife in, in the middle of the production in a much more understandable narrative.
5. Because of our new setting, we where able to create a much better mise-en-scene.
6. Instead of making out own music, we where able to find some copyright free music that fitted in much better with our production.
7. When we re-filmed we made sure that we used a tripod at all times, except for when we needed the camera work to be shaky, for example on POV shots.
8. We did not use voice-overs in our second production.
9. We made more inter-textual reference to both 'Trick or Treat' with our characters representing character from this film, and 'Halloween' because of the attacking in the woods.
10. We brought in new actors for our second production.

Teacher Feedback: January 2010
After receiving a B for my project, and deciding to re-submit the coursework, I talked to my teacher to receive his audience feedback on my film. He believed that my work simply was not to the standards that I could achieve and told me it would be best to completely re-think my idea rather than trying to improve the idea I already have.  

Main Task- Rough Cut 1

Main Task- Cast

For my new production I am going to need quite a few more cast members than I used before, which will be a challenge to find a day when everyone is available to help me out. I will probably need about 6-8 extras, plus the two main characters. I will begin to appoint people this week, but so far my A2 partner Conor Potts has agreed to be an extra, as has the main character of my A2 project Olvier Trouille.

Main Task- The Pitch

'On the moors there is... Nowhere to Hide!'

Mian Task Software

I used iMovie HD to upload and edit the clips I had recorded. I found it to be very useful and a good choice of software for what I needed to create. However I was not able to use the up-to-date version which would of allowed me to edit my film much easier and probaly to a better quality.

I found that after looking through the tutorials that are on the Apple website, I was able to use all of the features to a better standard which meant that I was able to make the final cut of my film to be of a much higher standard.

With iMovie you start off by imprting all of the scenes that you have recorded from your camera, and after they are all on you drag down the scenes that you are going to use and from then on you can edit all of the scenes.

Editing the scenes is pretty straigh forward, you are given fuve different options to edit from; Clips, Themes, Media, Editing and Chapters.

I found it hard to add translations properly so this is the area that I had to look up on the tutorial, but after I had leant I was able to use translations.

I used quick time to view my final cut of the film, and I also used it to add it to this blog.

Main Task- Crew

Alex Jowett:

I, Alex Jowett, decided to re-submit my coursework in order to achieve an A in the AS Media Coursework, it was because of the lack of input from Matt Lowe last year which dragged down my grade, so I have now decided, after achieving an A in A2 Media Coursework, that I deserved better than a B in AS. I will act as the Writer, Director and Editor of the film.

Conor Potts:

Conor will be helping me with the screenplay and filming, he has offered to do this for me because I am very limited on time and to do it on my own would be impossible.

Main Task- Target Audiance

Age
I would expect that the age group our film would attract is a youth audiance (aged 15-30), I would suspect this because most horror films as my research shows me do appeal to a youth audinace because of the violence and usualy young cast. My film does have a young cast (age 18) and would have alot of violence in the film. I would expect that a younger audiance would be appealed to this film, but because I think the BBFC rating would be a 15, my target audiance would have to match up to this.

Gender
I would expect my film to appeal to a mainly male cast because although it will have female in it,  all of the main characters are male. Also the film has alot of violence which does usually appeal to a male audiance.  However in my film there would be a 'surving women' who would appeal to a female audiance, but mainly I would expect my target audiance to be male.

Sexuality
Because my film shows no coutnertypes to as far as gender goes, this means that I would not expect my film to appeal to the gay community, otherwise known as 'the pink pound'. However if my film did contain countertypes of gender, this would appeal to a gay audiance.

Nationality
I would expect for this film to appeal to a British audiance becuase the film has a Northen-English speaking cast, which would not be recognisable to the American audiance, the American audiance would represent this accent to be working class, and as my film does not show the character to be working class due to the setting of his house, it may confuse an American audiance.

Social/Economic Group
I would expect that my film would appeal to a C1C2DE audiance (upper-middle class, lower-middle class and working-class) because my cast contains of middle-class which would appeal to both the working class and middle class audiances. The horror genre, as my research shows me, also only appeals to these audainces so I can not expect to appeal to a Upper-Class audiance.

Fans
I would expect that fans of the film Trick or Treat and other slasher films would be very interested in my film. Although I would expect that any fans of horror films would be attracted to my film. However I could not attract fans of well-known actors becuase I have no stars in my production.

Ethnicity
Our film should appeal to an audiance of any ethinicty even though my cast is all corcasiain. If I had used any actors from another ethical group this may of expanded the target audiance further and mate it multi-ethnic audiance.