Filming Session 4 Report

This filming session consisted of the scenes in Ben's house, which was easy to get to from school, however I could not do the original day we were supposed to film, so we had to move the filming back a day and only me and Ben could film because Amelia was unable to get there on that day. This could have been more convenient if more of us could drive as none of us had passed our driving test at the time I had to go to Ben's house, so one of Ben's friends had to drive and if we had filmed somewhere like my house which is slightly easier to get to, but I wasn't to keen on using my house at the time of deciding where to film.
However, they were the only main criticisms as the filming itself went really well and we managed to film in just over an hour. I filmed Ben making a cup of tea and then walking into the living room to watch the news report, which is what we wanted originally and then we decided to film an establishing shot for Ben's house, to set the scene.

Filming Session 3 Report

In this scene, we managed to get one of Ben's friends to act as the part of an army officer. Obviously, we had to go through a few takes first, but this was made less difficult due to the fact that we didn't need any sound as this would be a 5 second clip in the finished result. We were well equipped in terms of costume as our actor goes to army cadets, so this was all easy to film. However, in terms of location, we didn't have a lot of time to plan where we would be filming, so we had to settle for a car park and our actor, instead of marching on an airfield or an army barracks, was in fact marching on a pedestrianised footpath, therefore in the future, we would need to plan our location better, so somewhere like nearby Carver Barracks.

Learning about Prezi's

For the evaluation, in question two, you need to use the programme Prezi, which I have no idea to use, so therefore i decided that i would use the tutorial on the Prezi website to teach me how to use the software. I learnt by the step-by-step option so that i could really understand how to use the programme for when it comes to that specific question in the evaluation. Here is the link for the website that i have used.

http://prezi.com/learn/getting-started/

Research and Planning Feedback Sheet

I recieved another Research and Planning Feedback sheet, during my parents evening last week, which shows me what I need to improve in this aspect of the coursework. All the tasks that have been set are still in the 'Proficient' column, so therefore i will try and improve my marks and make some of the ticks into the 'Excellent column. Here is what my teachers recommends me to do over the half term, to improve my blog:

Research into similar products and a potential target audience - Some conventions work (more target audience)

Organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props - Reports for progress

Work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding - show more

Presentation of research and planning - Your presentation is getting better but early work not enough

Time managment - More focus

Quanity of posts - You could be doing more

The feedback that my teacher left was: More presintation aspects.      15/20

I feel that overall, I could be improving my blog over the holidays to achieve the most marks that I can. I need to improve my presentation mainly and the quanity of posts that are needed.

Progress Report 2

I last did a progress report during the christmas holidays, in which I felt that i hadnt done enough posts. However, i feel that to this present moment that i have kept up to date with posts with what is going on in my group. Our group has filmed the opening to our thriller film successfully and edited it completly. We are now in the middle of the evaluation, which we have already completed some of the questions.

Evaluation

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

Here are some examples of shots from our media product and real media products, in this case thriller films, and how we have challenged the conventions of real media products:

Our main character is shown here pouring the milk into his tea in our thriller film. We have challenged the thriller conventions here because this is not usual for a thriller film as it can be a usual ritual of life at home, however, it gives an insight of what the lifestyle of our main character is like, therefore making it more unusual.

In comparison, this is a picture from the TV series "Dexter", where, similarly, the main character called Dexter is in the process of making coffee, which also challenges the thriller convention.  The problem with this comparison, however, is that our media product is a film and Dexter is a TV series, so the two prospects should be very different, but they are similar in this case.

This scene is where we used food colourings to make it look like blood, which is typical in a thriller film.

As mentioned above, blood is an important feature of thriller films, especially in this iconic image from the famous Alfred Hitchcock thriller "Psycho" which shows the blood of the woman who has just been murdered in the shower going down the plughole

Here are two pairs of frames in which we have developed the forms and conventions of real media products:

This is a scene from a real media product, the military film, "Saving Private Ryan". Films which involve the army have made an impact on the media, mainly after Vietnam and especially in the 1980's and 1990's with films like "Saving Private Ryan" (1998) and "Platoon" (1986).

 Similarly, we have used an army scene and have developed it by using an effect called "Desaturation". This gives the feel to the viewer that this scene is set in the past tense, and this should help establish that our main character's work in the army was in the past, as well as the scenes with him watching the news and making coffee.

In the film "Children of Men" (2006), there is a news report at the beginning like our film, helping establish the current events of when the film is set. This makes the viewer aware of what is going on without too much confusion.

We have developed our news report from this by making it appear on the whole screen, therefore the viewer will see just the news report and not the television that our character is watching the news report on. We considered the latter originally, but as it was difficult to film the news report on the television in the same shot, we decided realistically that it would be better to cut straight to the full screen shot of the news report.

In a lot of cases, many parts of our thriller film can be compared to the American hit TV series "Dexter", however, Dexter is the same genre as our film, thriller.

We have challenged the forms and conventions of real media products.

2. How does your media product represent particlar social groups?

http://prezi.com/rtpgcnujd85x/how-does-your-media-product-represent-particular-social-groups/

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

http://nfgsmedia.wikispaces.com/Hyperion

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

1. An example of the sort of person who would be the audience for our film is a 38 year old male named Simon.


2. He has no children
3. He has a girlfriend he has been with for 3 months


4. He frequently goes to Sci-Fi conventions


5. He enjoys films like "The Matrix", and he has seen the trilogy 68 times. He is also into all the Simon Pegg films like Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Paul.

6. He is middle class and lives in a small town near London, like Bishop's Stortford.


7. He is right wing and votes conservative because they tax richer people less and he is well off.
8. He likes the idea of our film because it was filmed and set nearby to where he lives.
9. In terms of money, he is doing well, because he stayed single most of the time and he likes to save his money.
10. He doesn't keep himself fit but is quite skinny and tall.
11. He moved out of his parents house when he was 25 years old.
12. He listens to 1970's progressive rock because that is the music he grew up with and doesn't understand the music of today.
13. His parents also had quite a bit of money and were middle class, therefore they paid for his university fees.
14. He went to a modest university doing a computer science bachelors degree.
15. He works as a IT technician in an office and has worked there since he graduated from University.
16. His favourite hobby is painting army figurines and his girlfriend doesn't understand why he does it.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

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

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

This is an image of the camera we used to film our material. We have learnt a lot with this camera, as, when we did the preliminary task, we were unsure what the buttons meant and the camerawork was shaky at times, however, now, we know most of the buttons and our film is in focus.

Here is another image of the camera we used to film.

This is the computer our group used in our blog work, and the website in this image is our blog on the Blogger website.

This is a picture of me and the tripod we used to make sure our filming was not wobbly.

This is another image of the tripod we have used. We have progressed with using this tripod because, at first, we found it difficult to use, a good example is the filming in our preliminary task.

This is another picture of the computer we did most of our work on.

This is an image of Ben's computer screen where, on the Music software "Logic", Ben created a thriller sound for the opening of our Thriller film.

7. 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 our preliminary task, we have learnt about how to film in a better way, an example of this is in the preliminary task, we have a low angle shot of Amelia compared to the high angle shot of me. Also, the camerawork was quite shaky and, at point, when cutting from Amelia opening a door to her entering a room as the camera angle changes, the screen goes black for a split second and it is still noticeable.
However, we have improved because now the camerawork is less shaky and, when cutting between shots, the screen doesn't go black for a split second anymore. Also, we have included the use of a reaction shot from Ben during the news report, to show the mood of our character.

A screenshot from our preliminary task

Progress report on filming session 4

Due to the fact that our group was unable to all meet together to film the last filming session for our thriller film, as there was confusion with the original day. I have seen the film clip that was taken during the time, and I think that my group did extremely well with the filming, involving many different angles and camera shots.

Progress report on filming session 3

During our third filming session, we filmed an actor marching that is supposed to mimic a clip of person that was in the army, marching. The filming session was the shortest one that was taken, with the end clip lasting no longer than 8 seconds. I thought that this filming session, also went very well, with our group able to get the clip that we wanted without taking many camera shots. With asked the actor if he could march for us, seen as he attends army cadets and knows how to march and already has the army uniform. The thing that I would say that we could improve is the location, as we filmed it in the school premises but this was due to the short amount of time that we had. A recommended location that we could use that would improve the film is the Carver Barracks or a scene similar.

Progress report on filming session 2.

During our second filming session, we filmed the News Report, which overall I thought was a great success. We took about 8 shots of the same news report so that we could chose with one best suit our thriller film, without any distributions, like background noise or mistakes in the speech. If we were to film this again, I would recommend that we made sure that the actor learnt the lines that were given so that there would be as little mistakes as possible. We could do this, by giving the actor the lines previously, so that he could learn the script instead of reading the script by the side of the camera.

Evaluation

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

Two Pairs of frames where we have used the forms and conventions of real media products:-

In our thriller film, this is where the main character (Charlie) makes a cup of tea. 

In the tv series, Dexter, this is where the main character makes coffee.

We have used these pairs of images as it shows the conventions of a thriller film in both the TV show 'Dexter' and the opening of our thriller film. It shows the conventions as making a cup of tea or coffee is an every day event, therefore as its used in a thriller theme, it shows the conventions. 

During the film, we have used food colouring to make the impression of blood in a sink. 

In Psycho, during the film there is a camera shot of blood going down a bath drain.

During our first filming session, we poured the food coloring into the sink to make the appearance of blood, this shows the conventions of a thriller film 'Phycho' in relation to the opening of our thriller film.  

Two pairs of frames where we have developed the forms and conventions of real media products:-

This is a clip taken from Save Private Ryan. 

 We have developed our clip from the previous media clip by using the 'Desaturation' effect to give it a past tense appearance.

Developing the army theme, we used an effect to change the original filming so that it looks like our clip was taken in the past, therefore we have developed the conventions of a thriller film.

This clip was taken from the film 'Children of Men'. The news report was featured in the opening scene of the film. 

We have developed the news report by making our version fit the whole screen so the viewer will only see the news report, this is because we only wanted the viewer to see news report rather than the television that its also filmed on. 

We have compared our film to 'Dexter', which is a TV series. This is because the Dexter is the genre that we hoped to achieve. Therefore, this is why our opening scene of the thriller is compared to Dexter. 

We have challenged the forms and conventions of real media products

2. How does your media product represent particlar social groups?

Evaluation Question 2 on Prezi

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

http://nfgsmedia.wikispaces.com/Hyperion

 

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

• Our main audience is a 38 year old male named Simon.
•  He has no children and has a girlfriend he has been with for 3 months. 
• He goes to Sci-Fi conventions and loves the film 'The Matrix' and has seen the trilogy 68 times.

•  He is middle class and lives in a small town near London.
•  He is right wing and votes conservative because they tax richer people less and he is well off. 
• He loves our film because it is set nearby to where he lives.
•  He is quite well off because he stayed single most of the time and he likes to save his money. 
• He doesn't keep himself fit but is quite skinny and tall.
•  He moved out of his parents house when he was 25 years old. 
• He listens to 70's progressive rock because that is the music he grew up with and doesn't understand the music of today. 
• His parents were well off and paid for his university fees. He went to a modest university doing a computer science bachelors degree. 
• He works as a IT technician in an office and has worked there since he graduated from University.
•  His favourite hobby is painting army figurines and his girlfriend doesn't understand why he does it.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

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

This is an image of the camera we have used to film. Th camera is a Canon, in which we used to film the whole of our opening thriller. When we first started using the cameras (during filming the preliminary) we didn't know how to use the cameras, so from then till now, we have gathered a lot more understanding.

This is another image of the Canon camera, taken with a close up shot. 

This is an image of the mac we used, and on it, a picture of our blog.

This is an image of the tripod we used to ensure as to the best of our abilities so that the filming was steady. 

This is another image of the tripod we have used. Again, during the filming of our preliminary we were unsure how to use the tripod, but since then we have used the tripods well.

This is another image of the computer we used to do most of our work on.              

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

Progress report on doing the evaluation 1

So far we have done most of number 1 getting the images to compare to our film. We have done most of number 3 and 4. We are have done number 5 and 7.

Evaluation

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

Two Pairs of frames where we have used the forms and conventions of real media products:-

First Pair of frames:-

Here is the title of the existing Thriller film 'Seven'

Here is our title of our film. We have used existing conventions of Thriller films because we have, like existing films used credits so the viewer knows what they are watching.

Second Pair of frames:-

    

This is where, in Psycho there is a plug hole in a bath containing what looks like blood.

This is where we have a scene that has a sink containing what looks like blood. We have strongly used this convention of having a plug hole and having blood flowing into the plug hole as our snapshot is very similar to the snapshot of the film "Psycho".

Two pairs of frames where we have developed the forms and conventions of real media products:-
   

Third Pair of frames:-

This is a real media product (Saving Private Ryan).

This is a snapshot of our groups film intro. We have challenged the forms and conventions of the film "Saving Private Ryan" because we have used the 'Desaturation' effect to give it a past tense effect.

Forth Pair of frames:-
  

This is a news report from the film 'Children of Men'. It has a news report that is featured in the opening scene.

We have developed ours from this by making it fit the whole screen so the viewer will only see the news report, instead of seeing the screen with a background around it. 

We have challenged the forms and conventions of real media products by:-

Fifth Pair of frames:-


This is a snapshot of the film 'Silence of the Lambs'. The location of this part is a gloomy looking prison.

This contrasts greatly to the snapshot of our film where we have our main character in a warm, happy looking house. This is how we have challenged the forms and conventions of existing media products. Because we have used a complete non-thriller location to try and catch the viewers off guard as they do not suspect anything because of the calm, nice looking location.

Sixth Pair of frames:-

Here is an existing media product, the TV thriller series 'Dexter' where 'Dexter' is making a cup of coffee.

  
We have challenged the forms and conventions of existing media products similarly to 'Dexter' by having our main character (who is a killer) do a normal, friendly, calm act of making a cup of tea. We have challenged conventions because our character is not stereotypically a killer.

One of the comparisons we have used have been to 'Dexter' which is a TV series. Despite this, Dexter is of the same genre that we are going for. Therefore our film opening is compared to Dexter.

2. How does your media product represent particlar social groups?

http://prezi.com/z1icuvudgmjp/how-does-you-media-product-represent-particular-social-groups/

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

http://nfgsmedia.wikispaces.com/Hyperion

 

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

• Our main audience is a 38 year old male named Simon. 
• He has no children and has a girlfriend he has been with for 3 months.
• He goes to Sci-Fi conventions and loves the film 'The Matrix' and has seen the trilogy 68 times. 

• He is middle class and lives in a small town near London. 

• He is right wing and votes conservative because they tax richer people less and he is well off. 

• He loves our film because it is set nearby to where he lives. 
• He is quite well off because he stayed single most of the time and he likes to save his money. 
• He doesn't keep himself fit but is quite skinny and tall. 

• He moved out of his parents house when he was 25 years old. 
• He listens to 70's progressive rock because that is the music he grew up with and doesn't understand the music of today. 

• His parents were well off and paid for his university fees. 
• He went to a modest university doing a computer science bachelors degree. 
• He works as a IT technician in an office and has worked there since he graduated from University. 

• His favourite hobby is painting army figurines and his girlfriend doesn't understand why he does it.

• He doesnt buy into Bluray or 3D and feels that they are just a phase  and will be gone soon enough.

• He reads comics instead of books and his favourite comic is 'Army of Two'.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

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

This is an image of the camera we have used to film. I have progressed with using this camera because, at first I did not know how to use the camera very well and had to learn what button did what on the camera.

This is another image of the camera we have used to film.

This is an image of the computer we used, and on it, a picture of our blog.

This is an image of the tripod we used to ensure as to the best of our abilities that the filming is not wobbly.

This is another image of the tripod we have used. I have progressed with using this tripod because, at first, I was not very good at using it. This was shown in the poor filming for the preliminary task.

This is another image of the computer we used to do most of our work on.

This is an image of my computer screen where, on "logic pro" I made the music for our groups Thriller film opening. I have progressed using the logic pro software, because, at first I was not very good at making Thriller music or making any music that would sound convincing for an original Thriller film.

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