Evaluation question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? (What have you learnt from the progression towards your final product?) 


Throughout the progression towards my final product, I have learnt many things. Mainly avoiding mistakes that I made. 
The main mistake that I kept making was not wearing the same costume throughout the filming and therefore, having to re-film certain parts all over again.
This mistake was overcome when I decided to carry my different clothes for the costumes inside my bag. 
This meant that whenever I needed to, I could put on the appropriate costume.

The next mistake I kept making was shaking the camera while filming.

This meant that the footage looked very amateurish and un-polished. This mistake was often made because I would often place the tripod on uneven ground and therefore, cause it to shake.

I eventually fixed this by placing the tripod on a flat surface.

One major problem was not always following the storyboard without realising. After repeating this mistake many times, I decided to bring the storyboard with me so that I could keep checking it when I needed to.

Throughout many experiments, I was able to use professional camera techniques like panning, zooming, ground shots etc These techniques that I learnt helped me to take my time and avoid a lot of easy mistakes

From the preliminary task to the final product, I learned how to properly fit footage and cut it down to the right side. This was done on Final Cut Pro.

Also, I learnt how to properly save footage onto Final Cut Pro, without having to always plug in the cameras tape.

One major problem that I had with Final Cut Pro was the sound not working. I was never able to fix this because Final Cut Pro would always freeze and crash.

Thriller opening

This is my thriller opening that I uploaded to Youtube. The one big problem I have is that the background soundtrack didn't work at all.

Links

http://joshzeilerasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/evaluation-question-1.html

http://joshzeilerasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/evaluation-questions-2-and-3.html

http://joshzeilerasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/evaluation-question-3.html

http://joshzeilerasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/evaluation-question-4.html

http://joshzeilerasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/evaluation-question-6.html
Evaluation 7
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1569678076677946439#editor/target=post;postID=208099685281594774

This is a link to my Thriller opening

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heq3OM8qzKk    

Ashes to Ashes exam question

Analyse the clip from Ashes to Ashes explaining how miss en scene, camerawork, editing and sound have constructed the representation of gender.

I can see that this clip is showing how woman were represented/treated in the workplace and how they where not respected at all.
I noticed that most of the male characters seem to be very stubborn. I also noticed that the male characters seem to be slightly competitive when working together (they always try to do a better job than each other).
 The male character always seem to be verbally abusing the female characters. The insulting words that the male's use, clearly express their thoughts towards women in the workplace and outside of the workplace.

A key point in the clip is that the women are shown as mentally strong, which is seen when they deal with
all of the insults and sexism that most of the male characters direct towards them.
The women do seem to overcome this bullying by using their more sophisticated vocabulary to out smart
male characters.
The camera also shows emotions of different characters, for example, each time a female was insulted, the camera would zoom up to their face to show their emotion. 

It is clear that the male characters are more dominant due to visual hierarchy. This dominance tells the viewer
that the male is of more importance.
This is different for the females, because they get less screen time than males. This shows that the male characters are shown as important because they get more screen time.


Finally, the sound is also used to show dominance. This is shown when the male characters speak loud, when the women speak quieter. The mens loud voices maybe imply that they know their dominance and feel like shouting it out.

Evaluation question 6

What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product? 

When recording our Thriller, we used a high quality (1080p) camera.
This was useful because it meant that we could film in any weather or environment and still get amazing quality without much trouble.
To keep the camera steady we used a tripod. This as useful because it enabled us to avoid any shaking when filming.
This also enabled us to carry out certain shots and camera positions without having to hold the camera steady.
My only problem with this was the amount of times the camera wouldn't let us watch our own footage.

The software that we used to edit our clips together is called Final Cut. It enabled us to get the footage from the camera, cut it, position it and tweak with it until it fits in with the rest of the footage.

I personally didn't like using Final Cut because I found that it would often freeze and crash.

This was frustrating because it meant that work was always getting lost.

Unfortunately, this problem was not sorted, but we were able to get our footage onto the computer eventually.

Any finished work was uploaded to our blogs on Blogger. This proved to be useful because it meant that work was not getting lost and/or damaged. Also, using Blogger proved to be a good way to check that each group member is up to date.

Evaluation question 4+5

How did you attract and address your audience? 

We attracted our chosen audience by using features that they informed us about in the questionaire  they filled in. This included the use of enigma. 

We tried not to use each feature too many times, so we could keep it fresh.

We were influenced by many thrillers, including 'The Bourne Legacy' and 'Marnie'. This meant that we were sure to attract the perfect audience because, by studying these films, we were able to imitate features used.

As well as using features from these films, we also attempted to edit similar effects into our opening e.g. Split screen, fade, close up etc.

Evaluation question 3

Evaluation question 2

Evaluation question 1

Recce shots

Production company logo

In order to make the thriller film we need a production company logo so we made one using photoshop combining images collected from the internet and then using text from the program.

Storyboard

Filming schedule

Schedule

Ash - Filming

Josh - Acting

Kieran - Acting

Filming time: Media lessons

Date	What shots need to be filmed
3rd December	Camera facing above parked car bonnet facing the road - A different camera is on the pavement looking at the road - Another camera is looking down the middle of the road - Cuts to a footstep crashing in slow motion down(Camera is ground level) - At the same time of the footstep a heavy electric sound - The screen goes black - The production company - Goes back to another stomp of the footstep with electric bass drop sound - Screen goes black - Title fades in - Goes back to another slow motion stomp of the footstep with electric bass drop sound - Screen fades black - Producers - Goes back to another slow motion stomp of the footstep with electric bass drop sound - Screen fades black - Editors fade in - Goes back to another slow motion stomp of the footstep with electric bass drop sound - Screen fades black - Actors fade in - Alleyway fades in - See person in black walking down it
4th December-	Fades to shot facing the graveyard - Cuts to the victim walking a long a path to the graveyard  - Keep tracking on the letter he's carrying - Stands in the light smoking - Shot goes to one half of the screen, a line comes up and the murderer appears in the other half of the screen, the victims half is shot in colour and the murderers half is in black and white, the lightbulb next to his face sharpening his knife and loading his gun. - Both shots are happening at the same time - Victim is still smoking  - Murderer exits  - Shot enlarges to the victim fullscreen - Close up shot of victim diagonal view - A noise in the background - The camera is behind the victim getting closer - The camera is facing the victim, a sound is heard very close behind him - Dolly shot to the victims shocked face - Turns around
6th December	Editing footage
10th December	Close up view of victims face in the light in the graveyard( jumpy high pitched music)  - Murderer goes to stab victim, victim grabs arm, a lot of struggling and fighting is going on as the knife is dropped, very jumpy high pitched music - Shot turns to side view so that we can see both the victim and murderer from the side - Murderer pushes the victim away, pulls out pistol and shoots the victim twice - The shot cuts to a ground shot looking up at victim( murderer is viewable behind him) and the victim falls to his knees and lays on the floor dead - Someone shouts at the murderer, murderer runs - Shot cuts to front view of the murderer running away, many people can be seen behind him chasing him - Shot changes to a load of hooded people appearing from the church door all in black hoodies - A higher view shot of murderer blending with the crowd walking with them - Shot cuts to front view of hooded people  - They break apart as the searchers are looking for the murderer - They split up going other ways shouting where has he gone - The camera does a dolly shot to a close up of a hooded man  - Close up of his mouth - He smiles and the screen fades out

Equipment:

• Camera
• Tripod
• Track
• Fake Knife
• Fake gun
• Letter

Thriller definition

People often get confused and think that a thriller is a horror movie. A thriller is a broad genre that uses suspense, tension and excitement as its main features. A thriller is technically a sub genre because it includes many genres from other films e.g. action, horror, mystery etc.

main character representation

• Accents
• Proxemics
• Camera work/Visual heirachy
• Mise En Scene
• Sound - Vocabulary/Volume/Acoustics/music

                                                                            Making/describing the character 

Accents: An accent would inform the viewers of the characters origin. This will make the viewers see the character as significant due to the unique accent.

Proximity: The main character would often be with other characters (less significant characters) but closer to the character. This would let the viewers know that there must be something important about the character. They could also be far away from the camera at times but still clearly visible. 

Camera work/visual heirachy: This feature often makes the main character look bigger in comparison to other characters e.g. the main character will often be in the centre of the camera, with the less significant character standing next to him/her.

Mise En Scene: The main character would often be dressed according to the role he/she is in (the costume represents what they are doing). Make up is also very useful when it comes to informing the viewers of what the character is doing/has done. An example of this is fake blood. Fake blood can be used to show that the character has maybe been in a fight, killed someone or simply injured himself.  Lighting also shows what the character is doing in a scene, as well as revealing the surroundings.

Sound: 

main character representation

                                                                       Mise en scene

       Visual

• Visual hierarchy 
• lighting
• costume
• set design 
• stands out on screen 
• colours 

      Sound

• Accents
• Tone of voice 
• Distinctive voice 
• acoustics 
• Volume of voice
• Volume of background noise compared to volume of main characters voice  
• What other characters say about the main character

      Camera

• Angle
• shot size
• Visual hierarchy 
• movement of camera
• How the camera focuses on the character 
• How the camera focuses on the character (compared to other characters and maybe objects)

Delicatessen- Opening scene analysis

The opening is very strange and slightly amusing because we see a man hiding in a bin wearing a disguise made out of rubbish.
This then gives us the impression that this is a comedy fillm not a thriller.

  Visual

Visually, this film looks a little like a thriller, especially when played without the music. The setting is dark and dirty with rubbish scattered everywhere (even a hand). Sharp objects are present around the area which suggests some violent acts have taken place. The Mise en scène  is very dirty and damp with signs of violence.

Sound

The sound completely takes away the thriller effect/atmosphere because it sounds really cheerful. When this music is played with the opening, we can tell that it is a comedy.

North by north west

In the first shot we see lines appearing from the right side and crossing with lines coming down from the top of the screen. This creates a window effect that begins to look like the side of a skyscraper. 
Immediately, the music picks up the pace.
While this is happening, we notice that the music is played by an orchestra.

The green then starts to fade and we then see a load of cars stuck in a traffic jam (mainly taxi cabs).
We then see that these cars are a reflection from the side of a skyscraper. We can then see that this is definitely set in a city (maybe New York).

The text slides across the screen and continues to do so. The scene the dissolves into a crowd of people rushing around the streets of New York. 



We then notice that the crowd of people are walking in a spiral.
We see this when they all rush down into a subway. The spiral movement could suggest that the people in this scene are doing the same thing each day over and over again.
While this is happening, the music keeps going at a fast pace. The music is overpowering and jumpy.


We then see the crowd of people hurrying along the side walk (pavement). As this is happening, the text seems to be following the movement of the crowd as if the text has been personified.

We then see the group of people spiralling down the stairs ( like the subway scene).

This tells us that their rushing around is not over yet. Throughout these scenes, the crowd has created a feeling of claustrophobia. 

We then see the true nature of New York when we see two women fighting over a taxi cab.

Finally we see Alfred Hitchcock, once again featured in his own film (this time he misses the bus). 

Trombone Shot, Dolly zoom, Vertigo shot.

The trombone shot is when you zoom out whilst you move the camera forward on the dolly track. It is mostly used for zooming in on peoples faces and stair cases (see last picture in this post).

Fonts we tested

We found a similar font on Dafont called Sansation.

We found a similar font a DaFont called Optimus Princeps
SS

We found a similar font on Dafont called We are depraved 

We found a similar font called Muro

We found a similar font called Capital Daren