Thursday 17 April 2014

Evaluation - Looking back at your preliminary task, what have you learnt and how do you feel about the project

The task was a long process for everyone in my group. We had looked at many horror title sequences over a period of time to see what we can include in our title sequence. I believe that our title sequence was a good horror title sequences because it had all of the elements that make a good horror and we made some decision that horrors always had and took it away. This made our horror title sequence a original because of the codes and conventions we did not use and the title sequence can be called a classic because of the codes and conventions we did use. The things I have learnt was when we were filming because we had to have a little tutorial on the basics of the camera so that means that I now know how to use the settings of the camera properly. The post production I had learnt some things because when using final cut pro I did not know a lot meaning we got some help on the options on the software, so now I know some stuff on final cut pro. During filming we had been through some changes in our plans, we had taken away some shots and added some more shots, the final product was better than I thought because during the planning we had a lot of ideas that was not going to be possible so seeing a final product that had extra ideas and our hard work it was good to see that our title sequence had a positive reception.

Evaluation - Learning new Technology

Evaluation - Attracting your audience

Evaluation - How does your media product present particular social groups

Wednesday 16 April 2014

Evaluation - In what ways does your title sequence use, develop, challenge forms and conventions of real media product

Evaluation - What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?

Choosing the right media institution is important because choosing an institution that only deals with romance genre limits what they can do with a horror genre. So I believe we have to go for a institution that has done horror films in the past and I believe that Lionsgate is the perfect institution for our horror film. Lionsgate has dealt with similar genre films such as the famous Saw trilogy. Saw started as a small film because of the low budget they had with only $1.2 million and Lionsgate helped to distribute the film even though it was not a big blockbuster, meaning our film can also be distributed by Lionsgate. Saw got turned into a huge franchise and trilogy, with Lionsgate my groups film The Waking Hour can also be turned into a trilogy. The reason Lionsgate will distribute The Waking Hour is because  they sometimes take the horror genre with low budget such as American Psycho($7,000,000) and My Bloody Valentine($15,000,000) and make them gross a lot of money. Lionsgate distribute different types of films which means they have more connections than other institution, which means they can distribute The Waking Hour to different cinemas across America.

Evaluation - Who would be the audience for our product?

The target audience for our film will be teenagers to young adults between 15-21, and the gender will be male and female. The reason we have chosen the specific age range is because most of them will be students in schools, colleges, or universities meaning they will want to do something on Saturdays and the cinema is the first option and because the cinema is affordable it is always the chosen option. With cinemas pricing tickets for £9.20 and many students getting money from parents, the cinema becomes the cheapest option for them. the other reason for the specific age is because with the certificate being a 15 we can then include more gore or more blood into the film making The Waking Hour more of a horror genre. When we had said that our audience will be teenager between 15-21 and male and female the feedback we got was generally they agreed with our age because they also felt that the horror genre is primarily consumed by teenagers.

Occupation: Brand E - Students/Part time employees
Income: Medium

Evaluation-Brief

In my group I had Billy, Liam and myself. We decided to go for the genre horror as we felt that we can make a title sequence as good as the ones we have seen before. We also felt that the genre horror gave us many options to create a title sequence because we could have done a intense title sequence, a jumpy title sequence, or a mysterious title sequence. The group decided that we do a mysterious and jumpy title sequence because when researching horror genres title sequence we found out there was not many jumpy title sequences so we felt that it was perfect to capitalise on the fact that there was not many jumpy title sequences. We also decided that we wanted to use most of the horror conventions, so our antagonist was wearing black, and we wanted to make sure that the antagonist is hardly seen because seeing the antagonist takes away the mystery of the title sequence. We wanted the setting to be at two place because we wanted the antagonist to be in two places, we had the antagonist in a room where it looks like he is planning to murder four boys (the four boys being main characters). The second setting was in a forest because when researching we found that many of the murders in horrors were in forest, or we found out in horror films forests always has a part in the films if its the majority of the film or the minority of film. And because we had the forest scene for the most of the title sequence it connotes to the audiences that something bad will happen to the four boys. To make our title sequence different to the rest of the horror genre is our protagonist will be a male instead of a female which in all horrors is the protagonist, making our title sequence different. I think it worked for the sequence and our ideas worked well to make the title sequence.

Monday 14 April 2014

Feedback on The Waking Hour title sequence







The feedback that we got for out title sequence was positive. this felt good because we had put so much hard work into our work and to see that the comments were positive was a relief.

Original Logo


This was the original logo for our production company, at first we thought it was average and decided to change the logo to something relevant to our genre which was horror.

New Logo


This is our logo for the production company we have created.

Feedback on The Waking Hour Presentation





These were the feedback on The Waking Hour presentation, they are generally bad because we had put minimal effort on the presentation. Because of this we had decided to make a new presentation.

Storyboard





These are the storyboard Bill, Liam and I have created. We have outlined the plans and ideas we have come up with on the storyboards.                                                                                               

Editing day 5

On this day I had got my fonts and all I had to do was to type the credits but the problem that occurred was that the font was fine but it needed to be altered with, so what I did was I went on the setting of the text and changed the colour changed the effects to make it more of a horror font. I had to do that on both of the fonts so that they both look more of a horror font. I then start to type up all the names and jobs for the title sequence.

The typing of the names took me another 2 days o complete.

Editing day 4

On the fourth day I still had to choose a font, but this day was easier than the last day because I already had a few fonts that my team liked so all I had to do was to test the fonts out so I downloaded them and then used them on Photoshop. The reason I tested them was because they might have looked good on the website but when I use them they might look terrible. When  I finished testing the fonts we decided to go with two fonts because in every title credit the names and the job roles have two different fonts. I then started to create the title credits for the title sequence.

Editing day 3

On this day I started testing out new fonts for the title credits. I had to find a font that matches with the genre and the style  of our title sequence and to find the font I had to go on the website Dafont. using this website I went through many fonts, testing each one to see what looked the best. This was a long process because I had to please my other teammates, so if I like one font and my teammates do not then I had to choose another, or if one of my teammates and I liked a font but the other member does not then I had to choose another, the decision had to be unanimous. meaning on the second day we did not pick a font.

Editing day 2

On this day I worked on my own and I started to do the title credits for the sequence. I first had to research what needed to be in a title sequence, for example what job roles, how many credits do I put in the title. I first researched who should be in the title, so I went on to a website that shows title sequences and looked specifically at horrors because we chose a horror genre. and I looked at Se7en because we had loosely based our title sequence to the film. I also looked at other horrors such as The Conjuring and the reason I looked at The Conjuring is because it was a recent horror film that was successful. By just watching the title sequence I found out haw many credits I should put in and what job roles.

Editing day 1

On the first day of editing I had been working with Liam, because editing was a big task. We first had to upload each clip that we wanted on the mac. Choosing which clip we wanted was difficult because we had to go through a lot of the clips and if we saw that there was even the smallest mistake we did not want to use the clip. The process took about about 30 minutes. After that we had to convert the clips so the clips can work on final cut pro, the software we were using. this took another 30 minutes because depending on how the long the clip is means that the converting will be longer.

Monday 17 March 2014

Shooting day 4

Day 4 was our most productive day because we had a lot of shots to do. We first looked at our plan and then started filming. During filming we had added more shots because we thought that the shots that we added completed the title sequence and made the whole thing make sense. the filming took us the whole day because we had many obstacles such as the ground was really muddy so we had to go through a different route and we did get lost but found out where we were.

Friday 14 March 2014

Shooting of day 3

On the third day we wen to the forrest, this was the least productive day because we had to go when the weather was nice. We had told our friends who were in the title sequence to wear party clothes because the film is about a group of boys going to a party. It took us 0 minutes to set up the camera as we had to find the perfect spot where it was not muddy and the ground was level. After we had set the equipment up we went to look at the sheet and started to film. the filming took us a long time because we had many setbacks such as the scenes were too long so we had to keep on retaking the scene, other occasions was there was people waking past the camera so we had to retake again, a couple times we had random people in the car shouting because they were fascinated about us filming. because of these setbacks we had to continue shooting in the next day.

Shooting day 2

Just like day 1, we went to Liam's house to shoot more. we began the day looking at the plan for our shoot, and we chose to continue with the scene with the book because we discussed saying that we will go to the forrest in the third day. Liam went to set up the tripod while billy and I went to get the props, like the book and placed it at the same position as the first day of shooting. When everything was prepared we shot the book because that is where the title of the film appears. then we got pictures of the boys who were going to the park and we then shot our next scene which was Billy was putting the photos in the book and then crossing their eyes and he put the photos on a board.

day two was a productive day because we had to use different effects of the camera to get the perfect shot and the day became more of a learning curve or Liam as he was the cameraman and he learnt some new techniques.

First Day of Shooting

On Monday the 17th the group had met up at Liam's house to start the first day of shooting. We had our plan sheet to see what we were going to film and our first shot was the scene when Billy, our protagonist was opening the book. We did the shot four times because we had either had the focus wrong or that we had objects that should not have been there. after we had shot that scene we looked back at it and we determined that it was good enough to be in the title sequences. The clothing that Billy was wearing was a dark hoodie and the hood was over his head. The reason why we had the hood over his head was because we did not want to see the face of Billy as we wanted the protagonist to be a mystery. 

Monday 10 February 2014

Blog Work

To continue with the Blog, I had to update and work on the blog so it makes sense, and also it is clear. What I did was i put labels on my Blog so when i am on it, the blog is not messy and I know where anything is. I also looked over my other posts to see if they made sense and to see if their was any grammar mistakes and if so i would change them.

Thursday 30 January 2014

Enigma code

The enigma code is when the audience asks question of the film they are watching, for example someone dies in the beginning, the audience asks the question "who done it?" The enigma code works by building suspense, the suspense keeps the audience gripped to the film all the way through until they know who the killer is. Films such as Memento uses enigma code as it build suspension all the way through because the audience wants to know what happens to one of the main characters as Guy Pearce wants to know who killed his wife. Other films that use the enigma code is the Machinist because the main character tries to search for this man and this opens questions such as "who is the man", leaving audiences to watch all the way through to find out their answer.

Tuesday 28 January 2014

The Conjuring analysis

The conjuring is the genre of horror, and I know this because in the first few seconds I can hear the eery music, which suggest that the film will be a horror and in the first few seconds we see a family picture in black and white, this is always used in horror title sequences because it tells the background story of the person or demon haunting the family. The photo shows us who the family was, they have shown us this because it is details that does not need be explained in the film. We see another family in the next photo, this tells us that the family has a connection in the film and we need to know their name as they are vital to the film.
When tit gets to the 20 second mark. We see the films director James Wan. For people who like horror films knows that James Wan directed the Saw films. so the audience will be expecting the film to be gory like his Saw films.
When showing other members of the cast, the background for them is a newspaper that tells the audience more backstory to the film as the film will not delve into the subject for the audience. This will be like my groups title sequence because we are showing information that is important to the films.
After 55 seconds we get to see the main actors name, Patrick Wilson is well known in the horror genre and for people who like horror will know that he has been in other horror films such as Insidious and 2. the characters are behind old photos, the photos could mean that the person on the photo is important to the storyline.
In the 1st minute and the 40th second we get to see the production company which is New Line Cinema, a Safran Company, Evergreen Media Group
Finally on 1 minute and 57 second we get to see the title of the film in front of the house and a hanging site. This is important to the film because that is where the film is based.

LOGO


Monday 27 January 2014

Learning STINCS

On the day 17 the class was put in their groups to do group work and what the class had to do was to point out what our title sequence about and use STINCS to describe how our title sequence was going to feel. Where it will take place. Using STINCS my group wrote that the setting will be a forest and also we will use a room for the title sequence. Then for Theme we put it as dark and mysterious because the room will make the audience ask questions as whats in the room? Or they will ask who is the person in the room? For the Iconography the props that we will be using a book and a few photos for the title sequence. For the Narrative we will be using distorted music and distorted dialogue. Characters that we will be using is the group members and a couple of other students.

The task made me and my group have a long discussion on how we will make the title sequence and this discussion made us have a final  thought and a final plan on how we will make the title sequence.

Thursday 23 January 2014

Codes and Conventions of Horror

  • ·         Shows the film clips in the title sequence
  • ·         The use of dark settings
  • ·         Low angle shots
  • ·         The use of the protagonist in the shots
  • ·         The use of CGI to show more gory stuff.
  • ·         Close up on the protagonist
  • ·         Builds tension
  • ·         Slow pace
  • ·         The use of narrative themes
  • ·         Point of view shot
  • ·         The use of young teenage characters
  • ·         The use of handheld cameras
  • ·        Always a female victim

STINC Sim City


Setting: The setting of the first scene in the film title sequence is the fictional place of Sin City

Theme: The colour red indicates the theme of violence because red con-notates blood and danger. The music gives the idea of lust and betrayal because we see in the first few pictures are women and one is being handled by a man.





Iconography: the props that we see are guns, we see guns because the film is heavily based on killing and shooting. we also see a man with a gun through his eyes, this is telling the audience that death by guns is major in the film. the colour is all black and whit and the reason they did this is because the novels were in black and white and so is the film in black and white.



Narrative: The only we get to see what the film is about is by the pictures we are given and the music but sometimes the music cannot always be trusted so the audience has to guess whether to trust the pictures.


Characters: We get to see the protagonist and the antagonist in the title sequence because they are all important in the film. in many of these cases there are no protagonists.

Style: The style of the film is dark because the pictures are in black and white and the pictures shows the characters as mysterious or angry or violent and this will show the audience what he film will be about.






Bob Kurtz PowerPoint

http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code30344972

Napoleon Dynamite Analysis



The Napoleon Dynamite title sequence starts with the production company, just like many other films, and the use of foods to show the production company tells the audience that the main character must love their food. or is associated with food. 


We then get to see the main characters name "Jon Heder", and the name is on a "U.F.O Abduction Insurance" card which tells the audience that the main character is a big alien fans and people who like aliens are normally associated with being a geek.
The music also starts when the card is getting taken out and the music has a calm "nothing bad will happen" tune. The song also says stuff about school so we no Napoleon is still at school.

After 34 seconds into the title sequence we get to see the film name and what the Napoleon (the main character) looks like. To the audience Napoleon look like a geek because we can see him wearing glasses and having braces. This gives the audience more information about what the film is about. The audience also knows Napoleon goes to school.





We then get to see the other cast members that are important to the film. The other cast are food except the last one which is a weapon made out of tin foil, this might suggest to the audience that "Diedrich Bader" character is a violent character.

Now we get the other crew and in this case we get the "casting by" and "music by". They are on a library card that was inside the library book. This tells the audience that Napoleon loves taking books out and reading them or he wants to check when to return the book because he does not like being late.

We get to see other casts on stuff maybe Napoleon likes.

We again get to see more crew members and they are on drawings of mystical beast/people and this tells the audience that Napoleon likes to wonder in the world of make belief, maybe to get away from harsh reality.


We then get more cast members
And finally the title sequence finishes with the director and finishes with the food.