Thursday 16 April 2015

QUESTION SEVEN: LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?



As mentioned in the 3rd slide, we experimented with different audio and visual transitions, like the exponential fade at the beginning of our non diegetic soundtrack.


We used the video effect called dip to white for our visual transitions, and shortened it. We had to look on the programme and experiment with other effects before using it, when we were editing the preliminary task we did not know how do to anything like this.








CAMERA ANGLES/SHOTS SLIDE:
As I have mentioned in this slide, I have learnt how to compose different shots. I have also found out more about how to compose shots that conform to the genre as well as them looking aesthetically pleasing. In the preliminary task, I only knew how to make them look aesthetically pleasing, I didn't really consider aspects of genre.

Having said this, some of our shots from our preliminary task are similar to those in our final. This is because they were successful in our preliminary, and the way they were framed was aesthetically pleasing so we decided to repeat them.






I have also learnt a lot about working to a specific brief, as once we had the initial concepts there wasn't much we could change about the plot, which I found slightly tricky because I had quite a few different ideas. 
I found it easier to stick to generic conventions because of the extent of my research, and I think I had already grasped features of the sub genres quite well. 
Without the amount of planning and research I have done, I do not think the final product would look anything like it does. 


















QUESTION 6: WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?


Our main piece of technology that we used was the DSLR camera we filmed on.

 
 
 
We used a 18-55 mm lense, which is best for producing wide to mid shots. Overall, I really liked the camera we used. It helped us compose some really aesthetically pleasing shots, and create the mood of our thriller through all the shots of our location.
 
We also used a tripod to ensure that all filming we did was steady. We had some trouble with attaching the camera to the tripod but that was only because we had never used a tripod with this camera before. It was also hard to carry the tripod around, and we had a long journey. It was also hard to navigate a way round our location with the tripod.
 
We used Adobe Premiere Pro to edit our film, which we had used before for our preliminary task. Our group found it hard to work with at first, because we had never really been taught how to use it so was still quite new to us. Here are some aspects of editing:
 
SOUND:
We had both diegetic and non diegetic sound in our piece so we had various different audio channels.
 
 
Dragging and dropping the different mp3 clips into the correct audio channel was not hard.
However, changing the decibels on each individual clip was harder, because we had to listen to the mp3 first then listen to the whole film with audio to see the difference and whether it could be heard properly.
Something else we did was edit the sound clip taken from 'the Night of the Demon' because it was too short, so instead of it being at 100% speed, I changed it so it was 80%.
 
 
TRANSITIONS/VIDEO SPEED:
 
 
For the transition into flashbacks we used a white flash to demonstrate a change in time. This helped us to demonstrate the non linear narrative clearly. This was a fairly straightforward process, having said this we did have to edit the length of these transitions to suit the length of the actual video clip.
 
#
 
We changed the speed of the clips where there were flashbacks, to help the audience differentiate. This was something we tried to find how to do for quite a while, so was crucial we remembered how to do this for all clips after doing it for the first time.
 
 
 
Overall, I have learnt an immense amount about editing, and the editing programme we used. I have used lots of different effects and editing tools which I have never used before, and experimented a lot with them to try and get the best result, reflecting the genre and making it look aesthetically pleasing.
 
 
 
FLIPPING SHOTS:
 
We reshot some of the bus scenes and got on a bus that went the opposite way. This meant that when we imported the clips we realised that they were the wrong way round so ended up rotating the shots to create continuity.
 
PRESENTATIONAL DEVICES:
 
I experimented with different kinds of presentational devices in order to create variety in my blog. It was my first time using Prezi as a form of presenting my ideas, and I found it hard to work out at first but the templates really helped. It also enabled me to add different media onto one document which is something I had never done before.
Something I did not know how to do was put a Powerpoint onto my blog so I screenshot it instead and then uploaded the PNG/JPEG images onto a post.
One presentational device I did not use was audio commentary, this was simply because I wasn't sure how to approach it and think I have managed to include all information I have without it.
 
TECHNOLOGY IN MY RESEARCH AND PLANNING:
The internet helped me in my research. I would say that Youtube was the best resource in my research because there is so much content people upload, and short clips from thrillers we have been inspired by can be viewed (see below).
 
 
There were other sites during my research like  www.lib.berkeley.edu which has several essays on aspects of film noir like femme fetales, I have cited some of these in my own research and essays.
 
The only extremely useful pieces of technology we used during planning were our digital cameras and phone cameras when location scouting, which we looked back on when finalising our location, as well as using a digital camera to capture some footage of the location which we also looked back on.
 
 
 

Sunday 5 April 2015

QUESTION FOUR: WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?



The audience for our film is people around our age and above, so we are targeting a young demographic (16-24).

I have based the audience profile and media text montage on my friends, as well as myself as I think our own interests are reflective of the audience we are targeting.

Audience profile:

Age: 17

Ethnicity: Irrelevant

Sexuality: Also irrelevant

Media texts they might be interested:

Magazines
#1
Wonderland: Describes itself as a publication that offers 'a unique perspective across all popular culture' which includes film, music, fashion and art. A magazine that friends of mine read. They often feature up and coming music artists and models, giving them publicity. For example, in their latest issue they wrote an article entitled 'New Noise', about a music artist, Adia Victoria; the 'best new songwriter of the South'. This is an example of how they find new talent and try and highlight it as much as possible, both online and in their paper publication.
Having said this, they also feature people who are popular with their audience (around 16-24), such as Emma Watson and Tyler the Creator, fitting into their description of commentating and featuring those associated with pop culture.
 As you can see from this cover above, Wonderland offers a well rounded review of everything from new trends to 'film's new faces.' Wonderland often collaborate with new directors and feature/review their work, as seen below. 



Consequently, Wonderland magazine not only engages with our primary demographic but also features content related to our film.
#2
DAZED
Dazed (formerly Dazed & Confused) is a monthly British style magazine founded in 1991. This magazine also covers 
different aspects of teenage culture, from music to new technologies and film visionaries. It has a slightly older target audience, although I know that they do have a large teenage following through social media. 


















As you can see from these covers, they feature individuals that are perhaps more popular with different audiences. Because they started publishing in 1981, they will have more people in the 20+ year old bracket than Wonderland would, hence them featuring individuals like Tilda Swinton and Kirsten Dunst. However, they also feature artists like A$AP Rocky and female rapper Nicki Minaj (above), who is more popular with a younger audience.

Thus, Dazed is another good example of a media text our audience would read.

Both Dazed and Wonderland feature people of different sexualities and ethnicities, showing that they have a mutlicultural audience, and give a balanced example of popular/teen culture. This representation is reflective of our own audience. We are not targeting anyone based on ethnicity or sexuality, but are targeting an specific part of an age group, reflective of which media products we endorse ourselves in.

FILMS/TELEVISION

I am going to consider television programmes that are of a similar genre of our own media products, 
but are also reflective of our audience's viewing.
#1
TWIN PEAKS:



This TV drama has had a recent revival, with a new, younger following. It fits into the supernatural/pyschological sub genre. It is quite unique and strange, and I think it has an indie following, which is reflective of our audience. Twin Peaks is an example, another similar progeramme would be the X Files. Both of these have strange characters and are considered unorthodox for crime dramas, perhaps this is part of why they have had a revival. Another reason for this revival is because of websites like Tumblr, in which blogs are dedicated to these shows and characters(websites like Tumblr have a huge teenage following).

#2 AMERICAN HORROR STORY:



This is more of a popular TV show, and a large proportion of the audience who watch it are younger. Many people around my age I know watch it, and I think it is a good example of a media text they would engage in. 

FILMS

WES ANDERSON'S WORK:
This director is renowned for his cinematography/mise en scene and his unusual plot lines and unconventional characters. 


His films would be popular amongst the majority of our audience because they are quite different, and fit into the arthouse category.

MUSIC

   

These are some examples of the kind of music our audience might listen to. YOUNG TURKS is a record label that often release mixtapes. The album on the right is by artist FKA Twigs, who YOUNG TURKS put out records for. The kind of music featured by this record label has been described as both catchy pop and electronica. 
This kind of music is popular with a young audience (16-24+). 






The artist Grimes also fits into the electronica (witch house to be more specific) genre. 
She also has a large teenage following. 




NEWSPAPERS

This is a harder kind of media to look at, because many people in our chosen demographic do not tend to read newspapers.



However, when taking into account that our real audience watching our piece will probably be part of our target audience - our friends around the same age as us, it becomes apparent that the majority of them are middle class (C2, with some C1). This means that our direct audience's families will most probably read the newspapers above that are targeted at a primarily middle class audience.
In addition to this, both I and The Guardian have arts features and reviews.


WHY THESE PRODUCTS RELATE TO OUR AUDIENCE/WOULD ATTRACT THEM INTO VIEWING OUR OWN FILM:
I think our film fits into the alternative/arthouse category, and as previously mentioned it is definitely not suited to being exhibited or distributed in a mainstream way, like a blockbuster or major film would. 
The majority of media products I have mentioned also fit into this sub category of alternative, like the magazines which concern elements of pop culture perhaps mainstream teen magazines like 'Teen Vogue' wouldn't. They go into more depth and cover a much wider scope when looking at the arts, catering for teenagers with different interests, like our audience's. 
Also, the director I have briefly mentioned and the television show 'Twin Peaks' are more popular with those who identify themselves as 'indie' or alternative. These have links to social media like 'Tumblr' which these groups use, and I think because they are lesser known, our film would fit in well too as it is quite obviously a small scale film. Our audience, who might enjoy these films and programmes, and read these magazines might end up finding our film, if it were to be exhibited, through such social media or through reviews. 






Tuesday 31 March 2015

QUESTION TWO: HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

When we were planning our film, we did not think about the social groups our characters belong in, but in retrospect, there are a few they are part of.

I have decided to include the key examples in each of these areas: gender, age, ethnicity (where applicable) and social class/status.

POWERPOINT:

Sunday 29 March 2015

QUESTION ONE: IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

The title of our thriller is 'Kett's Heights', and it is of the horror/psychological sub genre. We have stuck to the generic conventions of these sub genres on the whole, but have also included elements we thought of ourselves, or developed on from other thrillers (through intertextual references).


Firstly, the mise en scene fits the  generic conventions of the sub genres although the guidelines for this were rather vague and broad so there was a lot we could fit in. For the scenes on the bus at the beginning of our film (see below), there are people in the background of shots as well as lots of buildings, which suggest an urban location. In addition to this, the bright, harsh colours of the interior of the bus, like the red strip near Lucia in the screenshot below, and the purple colour of the seats are vibrant, and lure the audience into a false sense of security. This false sense of security is typical of both sub genres, but particularly the horror thriller sub genre. Having said this, this sense of security (through mise en scene) is usually established before jump scares. We have not used any jump scares because we want the audience to feel scared/uncomfortable slowly, through subtle changes, like the change in mise en scene. We got inspiration from  from the BBC TV series, 'Remember Me' (one of our intertexual references). In one scene, the female protagonist gets on a bus, and the mood of it is very melancholy, partially due to the mise en scene. It is raining and dark and dismal looking outside, with a semi urban location. We used similar shots they did, but the mise en scene is slightly different. Unfortunately we could not recreate it for this scene, although pathetic fallacy is present in both.











When Lucia arrives at Kett's Heights the mise en scene changes, as do the colours. The picture below shows the greens, greys and browns of the location. These colours are associated with nature, showing the transition from an urban to a more rural, isolated location, making Lucia seem much more vulnerable. The colours we chose for her outfit make her blend into the landscape, so she looks even more anonymous-something we managed to achieve through the mise en scene.


The woodland area we filmed in for part of our opening created an eerie ambience, through the handheld shots of the quiet and isolated location. The lack of any other people in the scene reiterated this. It is similar to convention in that in one of our intertextual references, the Blair Witch Project the location is woodland too. This is common with the horror thriller sub genre.

On the other hand, when Lucia places the flowers down (followed by flashback scenes), the audience will be able to see railings, steps and a beacon where Lucia puts the flowers. Also, buildings may be in the frame in the background, and although they are out of focus, it shows a semi urban location. In a way, this breaks the generic conventions of our chosen sub genres, as traditionally when someone gets killed or injured they are alone, and in a completely isolated/rural location. We broke these conventions because Lucia reaches this part of the Heights just before the antagonist grabs her, luring the audience into a false sense of security, something we wanted to do more than once so that the outcome seems more shocking.

Thus, for the majority of the shots we stuck to the conventions of our sub genres for both mise en scene and location. This in turn helped us achieve an eerie ambience that would make many viewers feel uncomfortable.

There was a considerable amount of colour symbolism in the costumes we chose, in particular for Lucia's. Intertextuality also played a part in deciding costumes. The pinks and greys are taken from Amelia's costume in the horror thriller film 'the Babadook.' We also took inspiration from 'Remember Me', as Chloe's costume is also similar. These both symbolise the lack of life in their characters and their melancholy mental state.
There was not as much thought that went into my character's costume, or for the flashback scenes as a whole, we just wore our normal clothes in order to reflect or suggest our age (teenage). We also had to make sure that Lucia was in a different outfit for the flashback scenes to make it seem more realistic. The colours of these outfits did not matter in the end because we edited the clips so that they were in black and white.
When planning the costume for the antagonist (Geoff), we wanted something simple but a bit scruffy, hence the tattered parka he wears. We did not concentrate on Geoff's costume as much, because we knew from the beginning that he would not be much of a physical presence, but more of part of the atmosphere, almost like a mental manifestation for the audience.  The appearances of all those featured in our film link directly to their costumes, as I feel they are reflective of their character. We have stuck to convention in that we have a male antagonist and a two female victims.

When it came to props, we did not break convention but we did not follow it either as we could not find many guidelines, as they vary from film to film. However, we did use our prop as a motif which is something I had looked at in my research. The motif in this piece are the flowers Lucia carries, which are pink carnations. They do not have any significance in relation to our thriller, we just thought we would buy a bouquet that would compliment the outfit and draw attention to her costume. This motif shows mourning, and when Lucia puts down the flowers Geoff, the antagonist approaches so in a way they also protect her. The only other props we used were the candles and the other flowers, although they were not as important and just showed the audience that someone was definitely killed at the location if they were not sure as the flashbacks aren't completely explicit.

The lighting played an important part in showing the transition in atmosphere of our piece. The harsh, diegetic lighting of the bus scene juxtaposes with the natural yet low key lighting seen in the rest of the film. The transition in location can also be seen through the use of lighting. The lights on the bus can be seen in some of the shots, and the harsh light makes it seem artificial and bright. However, the lighting as described before at the Heights is not only natural but also fading. This meant it was difficult when reshooting, as we had to try and go at the same time of day. Also, as the sun set quickly, we had to make sure we had sufficient footage and that it wasn't too underexposed. 
When we went back to reshoot it was very light, as you can see from this photo.


This is a problem with filming with diegetic, natural light, as we could not rely on the weather. We had to locate shadier areas and film there instead so the colour temperature looked just about the same.
We used lighting and pathetic fallacy together to create a suspenseful ambience, the back light and even hair light in some shots of Lucia, and overall during filming.
 
 
(Sunlight on Lucia's face/props)
 
This suggests that the sun is setting (which it was) and because we filmed the plot mostly in chronological order, it got darker as the antagonist got closer. This in turn is suggestive of his character, and of Lucia's fate.

I think sound was one of the most important features in our film. It helped create a sense of dread and suspense for the audience. We had problems with the diegetic sound, as I don't think we saved onto the programme properly at first. In a shot of me running there is a siren going off in the background, which at first we thought we would have to add in, making it non diegetic but coincidentally one went off in the background. This is symbolic of danger, and acts almost as an omen, ,making it an ambient sound.



The soundtrack of our film also helped us convey feelings of suspense and dread. Torrey Desmond Rogers composed a track and let us use it for the film as long as we given him written credit, which we have. There is a droning sound throughout the track, hence the audience feeling of dread we are trying to prompt. It is at a single pitch throughout most of it and presumably an underscore, it is also  quite muffled. This way it won't be very distracting or overshadow the actual piece. We lowered the decibels when editing to ensure this.
Non diegetic sound was the most important feature for sound, as I think it again creates ambience and also gives the audience some vital background information without using narrative, which is an obvious and cliché way to reveal information. Although it is commonly used in the genre, it is used by professional actors. We thought it would be too much of a risk to use dialogue, so instead tried to use non diegetic sound for the same effect. To make sure the transitions between sounds (e.g. the soundtrack and another clip added in) were smooth, we used effects within Premiere Pro  so a soundbridge was created.
The first non diegetic soundclip we used was from a Real Crime documentary. It is of a police official describing a convicted paedophile and murderer, and how he would murder again if he was released from prison. We thought this would be perfect as it shows that the antagonist is capable of killing multiple people, and how he is not remorseful. This non diegetic soundclip also helped us build up the antagonist's character, and revealed a small amount of information about him, leaving the audience both intrigued and on edge.
The second non diegetic soundclip we used was from Look East, a local news bulletin. It is also about a murder, but this time the reporter says that the body of a woman has been found. We used this to foreshadow Lucia's fate, as well as to again reveal information. Without this narrative, the audience would not know what was going on in the scene, making it a vital part of our piece.
The last non diegetic soundclip we used was from the film 'the Night of the Demon.'


I think this one is the most suspenseful and shocking, and grabs the audience's attention. This is mainly because of the speaker's tone of voice, but also because he tells the audience 'it's coming.' This should provoke fear. It is placed quite far in in the clip, so the progression of the sound not only reveals background information, but also helps heighten the suspense.

To begin with, we used lots of close up shots, as seen below.


We used close up shots because we didn't want to establish too much, so that we would intrigue the audience. However, we did reveal vital information - that Lucia was travelling somewhere, by bus, and that she was by herself. We did use a wide shot of the bus with people on it, as well as mid shots to show how busy it was, and the time of day.
It was important to show Lucia getting off the bus and reaching the location otherwise there would be a lack of continuity. We did this by filming a close up of Lucia pressing the button to stop the bus, and a mid shot of the stationary bus. 
Two of the most successful were these wide shots:


This is firstly because of the depth of field, which goes from quite shallow to deep. Secondly, we edited the clips so that when the scene flashes back, Lucia walks up onto the step that she did with me.
We tried our hardest to include a variety of shots, from POV to extreme close ups. A shot that was meant to be POV and handheld was this one below.


However, because we were using a DSLR which was at the time set to autofocus, it was too steady and in focus, and when watching it back looks more like a pan shot. 
A more successful POV (and tracking) shot is this one:



 This was more successful because the camera was handheld and we deliberately tried to make it shaky when walking towards Lucia. 
I think the reason why this one was more successful was because it was a tracking shot so created fear as it showed that the antagonist was following her whereas the previous POV shot looked more like an establishing pan shot.


As said before, we tried to use a variety of angles. This worm's eye/low angle shot was used when we filmed one of the flashbacks. We decided to use a low angle shot as it usually has connotations of power. It is suggesting to the audience that when the female characters are in a group, they cannot be harmed. 


This extreme close up shot is another example of our variety of shot types. Again, this is probably one of our most successful shots. This is because of the quality, the focus and the non diegetic light given off from the candles, which give the flowers a kind of glow. The framing of this shot also makes it one of the more successful ones, as the plastic the flowers were in is blurred, and the shallow depth of focus draws the audience in, despite the flowers not being positioned in the centre of the frame.
One shot type that we did not include was a dutch tilt shot. We decided against including this in our thriller as it doesn't really stick to generic conventions of a horror/psychological thriller. It fits more into German expressionism films and perhaps in found footage thrillers too, like the Blair Witch Project. We couldn't find an appropriate place to include it in so decided not to at all.
 

We used a non linear narrative in our thriller in order to reveal information about the main character's past, through flashbacks. Nothing within our narrative is typical of the genre, as there isn't really a conventional narrative structure for either of the sub genres. This didn't end up being a problem because we found it fairly easy to plan the narrative structure, and flashback scenes were vital in giving away information. Films that do use flashbacks that we looked at briefly or have watched recently are 'the Woman in Black' and 'Shutter Island.' In both of these films, flashbacks are used to reveal something about the character's past, and also often happen to emotionally disturbed characters, in all genres of film. This fits in with the character of Lucia, who is also emotionally unstable. This in turn amplifies one of the sub genres of our film, psychological horror because they typically include several emotionally disturbed individuals.

Inspiration for the font we used came from the film 'Seven', which we studied in our research, combined with Rose's research into handwriting and serial killers. We used the website 'Dafont' and found a font called 'beautiful horror.' It looks quite rough and jagged, and we layered it when editing to make it look like it had been scratched in. This was to show the disturbed mind of our antagonist, who is rather like the killer in 'Seven'. 
We had two main problems with the titles that we had to solve when editing. The first was that we wanted them to flash on the screen several times, but couldn't find an effect that would allow us to do this, so instead we duplicated them like this:
 
 
 
(See 'Title 09').
 
We also had to shorten the duration of them. This was successful because it mirrored the movement of the titles seen in 'Seven.' 
The second problem we had was with the titles  of the film's name.
The font we used was quite thin, and we were not able to make it bold when editing. Thus, at first, the title 'Kett's Heights' blended in with the background and was barely visible. We duplicated it so that it stood out.