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

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

Preliminary task photos

In our preliminary task we struggled with the editing and there are some messy cuts. In the first 2 shots it shows both of the characters but I think it was better when we filmed our horror film because we had had practice and knew what to do better. In our horror film we used more shot types such as a high angle and tracking shots. We used neither of these in our preliminary task which meant that it wasn't as interesting as if there had been other shots.

We didn't use any type of editing in our preliminary task except cutting but in our horror film we used several different editing techniques. For example we used Colour offset which is like ghosting but with colour and it also comes out better on your film when you have exported it. We tested the colour offset to make sure that it wouldn't be too much when we exported it and we did this by just exporting a clip before we exported the whole film. We also used our own made up techniques. There are parts in our film where the screen is red. We managed to do this by holding a piece of red asitate in front of the camera lense. This helped our film have more personality than our preliminary task did. We put much more thought into our horror film because we had longer to film it in which meant that we had more chance to think about how we can change our film to make it better and think about what camera shots would be best to use.
We did use subtle shots using the 180 degree rule in our horror film. They aren't obvious to the audience but we wanted to keep a sense of mystery. I think that it has worked quite well within our horror film.

Horror Film Frames

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

 What have you learnt about technologies from the proccess of constructing this product?

Whilst making this film there are a few things that I have learnt about technology. One example of something that I have learnt is how to use adobe premiere. At the start of the project I hadn't used adobe before but I had to learn how to use it because we were going to use it a lot. We used adobe premiere to edit our films to how we wanted them to be. As this was the first time I had used this programme I struggled to understand how to do some things and it took some time for me to discover how to do it. I had to ask for help sometimes but once I knew what I was doing then I didn't need any help.
To edit our film we used tools such as the cutting tool to get rid of the parts that we didn't want. We also had to learn how to unlink the audio and moving picture so that we could overlap the moving picture with music where we wanted. This also enabled us to slow down either the sound or moving picture depending on what we wanted. The effects in our film are the red filter and colour offset effect. We had to find all the different effects and then we had to choose which ones we wanted. We were going to choose ghosting but after exporting a section of the film with ghosting to see how it would export we found that the ghosting became too much and you couldn't see the film very well. Colour offset was a lot better when exported so we settled on that effect because it was similar to ghosting but much better after being exported.

We also had to use adobe photoshop to edit any photos that we wanted to use in our film. We were advised to use photoshop instead of a programme like paint because there are a lot more things that you can do than you can on paint. We also made and edited our logos on photoshop. To make the ideas for my logos I copied a picture into photoshop and just added some effects and text to make it how I wanted it.

We were required to learn about all the different effect tools that were on adobe photoshop such as the cutting tool and filler. These tools helped to make our logo look better. I didn't know how to use adobe Photoshop when we started this course but using the programme has helped me to learn about all the different tools, some of which have been mentioned.

After we had finished editing our film we had to use Windows Movie maker to compress our films so it would be easier to get it onto our blog. We had to import it as media and then drag it to one of the boxes at the bottom and save it as a movie file to our area so we would be able to reach it from our blogs.  

We also used programmes such as Google to research everything that we would need to help us make and edit our film. Google enabled us to access websites about logo's, storylines of films and props from films.

Photo 1

This photo was taken on the first day of filming while we were waiting for the light to fade. Rowen is sitting on the floor by the camera whilst I am standing by the camera. Just before the photo was taken I was examining the camera and what I could see through it.

Photo 2

Lauren took this photo of Helen. You can just see all the things that come up on the screen which is good so it gives you an idea. You can also see how the camera makes the screen lighter because the background is very dark compared to the screen.

Photo 3

Our last photo is again of Helen. This photo shows her looking into the camera. When it was taken she was adjusting the camera getting ready to start filming. 



Who would be the target audience for your media product?

Who would be the target audience for your media product?

Steriotypical Target Audience:Female >

To determine the target audience for my film I distributed a small survey to a group of 10 people of different ages, background and gender. The questions basically asked them what genre of films they watch and why they watch that specific genre. We based our film on the results that we got so more people would enjoy watching my film. Half of the people who took my survey were male and the other half were female so it would be an even survey. All of the people who took my survey were between the age of 15 and 19 because we wanted to aim our film at teenagers.

I found that the answers that I got back from the females were a lot more helpful overall than the answers received from the males because some of them gave inappropriate answers. Based on the answers that we used to help us with our film, I would say our film is aimed more at females than males because it is more of a psychological horror and males tend to prefer full on horror, as our answers show.

All of the people who took my survey said that a good opening sequence requires tension and anticpation because then an audience would be persuaded to stay and watch the rest of the film because their first impressions of the film is good.

< Target audience profile : Male

The age of my target audience would be around the age of 15 because although it is just a psychological horror if we had made more of the film it may have been inappropriate for 12 year olds and it may affect 12 year olds more than expected because they have the chance to interpret the mystery.

We aimed our film at both genders because we wanted to give both genders to have a chance to watch our film and not just aim it at one. 

Our film isn't aimed at any particular race or anyone from a certain country. We just want our viewers to enjoy what they are watching and feel the tension and emotion like the characters do. 

We know that most people at our age want to be scared but some don't want to as much so that is why we made sure our film would be appealing to everyones interests. We made sure that it wasn't to 'bloody' but there was a sense of fear and something that our target audience could relate to; - a group of friends just hanging about and having a good when things start to get strange because that could happen to anyone...

How did you attract/address your audience?

This is the link to my annotated Horror Opening. I have called it Incognito Horror Opening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exwH4iFEtso

Some of the annotations may be too fast so it is hard to read because there is too much information in them but I tried not to include too much information that wasn't needed.

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

Voice Over

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Similarities

Helen and Jill Johnson from When A Stranger Calls are both wearing casual clothes which shows thatthey haven't got anything important going on. They both have similar features such as medium length, brown hair as well as expressions. Helen has a look of confusion on her face and Jill has a look of worry on her face. They are both lead characters and something bad or scary happens to them. Finally both the films have scenes in a house where you see the outside and inside.

Differences

In this split screen Helen is opening the door whereas Jill is on the phone. In When A Stranger Calls she is on the phone quite a lot where Helen only opens the door once in our film. Although Jill and Helen both have brown hair Jill is a lot more tanned than Helen which suggests that she lives somewhere hot and with lots of sun. For the second scene Helen is in her own house and Jill is in a different house. Helen is at a party which means it must be her house and Jill is baby sitting. A big difference between the two films is that the main part of When A Stranger Calls happens in the house whereas in our film it happens outside. Although the point is that things start to happen in the house the main part happens outside. One last difference I noticed was that Helen has a friend with her most of the film however Jill doesn't and has to stay in the house on her own which makes it scarier.

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

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

1.The title of the film

2. Setting and location

3. Costumes and props

4.Camerawork and editing

5. Title font and style

6. Story and how the opening sets it up

7. Genre and how the opening suggests it

8. How characters are introduced

9. Special effects 

These are 9 frames from our title sequence:

1. Our title is Incognito. This is different from the typical title as many have a title that is more than one word but we have decided to use just one word. We decided to do this because it makes the audience think more about the film and what Incognito means which will lead them to watch the rest of the film to find out the answer.

2. We decided to use a typical location for our title sequence, a forest. We knew that we wanted to film somewhere dark and enclosed to build up the atmosphere. We had the characters run over a bridge into the forest hoping that it would cause panic in the audience, making them wonder what was so scary as to make them run into the woods so late at night.

3. A lot of horror films have their characters wearing torn clothes with blood all over them. We wanted to follow that idea so we threw ketchup and bbq sauce over the characters and let it dry to make it seem like dried blood. It worked quite well when it came up on camera. We also rubbed mud and leaves all over them so that it looked like they had been running somewhere else before they got to the forest.

4. We tried to use all the different camera shots that a typical horror film would use. They use shots as the bird's eye view, tracking and eye level, the typical shots. We wanted to go a bit further so we used a high angle shot as well. We wanted to make the audience feel like they were preying on the victim and more involved instead of just watching it.

5. Most horror films title uses a font that would convey fear in the watcher. To go against this convention and use a basic title font. We did this because we wanted the focus to be on the actual characters and the story line. We did use an effect on the last title screen and made sure the music went with it to bring attention to it. This does go with the convention of a horror film.

6. This frame sets the story up because when you see it you know that they are running from something but you dont know what. This makes the audience think about what could be have happened and what is going to happen. A few horror films have similar things to this but prehaps slightly differently, such as a car chase or someone running through their house. We tried to develop this convention and have them running somewhere that creates fear.

7. To help people understand that this is the title sequence of a horror film we have included pictures that we have edited that would convey the genre of horror. We liked the idea of having a photo flash up that says 'Danger' as we want people to think that there is dangr coming but they just dont know it yet. We also included a photo of arrows pointing different ways hoping to creat confusion. I dont know a horror film that does this so we wanted to challenge these horror films and make ours seem better and more inventful.

8. The first time you see the characters they are running towards the camera and seem fearful. In horror films you usually see the characters going about their daily lives and then they get attacked. We wanted to be different so we also challenged this convention. We wanted the fear to sink in right away and then give the audience to calm down before the fear styarts to build up again later in the film. That is why we have the scenes in the order that they are in. If we had the characters in their normal lives at the start it wouldn't have been as effective.

9. To link the different parts of the film we used the same effect which is Colour Offset. We used this effect on the slow-motion bit at the end, the title and the photos. The typical horror film doesn't do this but we wanted to be different and again challenge the conventions of real media products.

Evaluation Graph

This is our Evaluation graph. We took all of the answers that were yes or no and put them into a graph form. The graph shows that the girls were positive about our film because the only question 2 of them said no to was question 2. The boys said no more than the girls however not all 3 of them said no to a question at once. Not all of the questions on our questionnaire were yes or no so it was harder to convert them into the graph so I just left them out. 

Similarities to other films

The hand in our film is very similiar to the one that you see in When A Stranger Calls and the Human Centipede. Although you can see the hand you cannot see who the hand belongs to. This creates tension as you know that somebody is out there but you do not who it is. This also gives the audience a chance to think about who it could be themselves before it is revealed to them. This keeps them interested in the film and would theoretically convince them to keep watching the film.

Final Draft

This is the final draft of my horror film. We took on board everything that everyone said we could do to change it however we did leave some things as they were because we liked them and felt that it contributed to the genre of horror.

Changes that have been made

After we got our feedback we went and edited our films. We moved the titles up so you could see them properly. We also added music in at the start of the film, different music to what we had used before so people didn't get bored of hearing the same music. We also took out the picture of the footprint and made the other two pictures longer. As some people didn't understand the link between the start of the film and the slow motion part at the end we tried to link it by using the same effect. However as some effects go wrong when you export them we exported that little clip to check if it would be ok and it was.

We also changed the name and added the same effect to the last title screen as we did to the slow motion part and the pictures. The effect that we used was Colour Offset.

Analysis of first draft

We got people from year 13 to watch our films and make comments on what we could do to make them better.
Everyone thought that the music that we have put into our film helps increase the tension. However they suggested that we add music right at the start as you have to wait ages for the music to kick in and your attention doesn't get grabbed as fast. 4 out of 6 people didn't understand the story line and the order that the scenes were placed in. They said that we should put a title in before the party scene as to make it clearer, which we did it was just too low down. One comment was "Don't understand the link between title sequence and opening scene? I thought one of the girls was killed but then she's at a party? Not at all the clear". The reason why it wasn't clear was because the title '24 hours earlier' was covered at the bottom which made it difficult to understand.

Most people agreed with the contrast between light and dark, but made suggestions of making the scenes lighter to make it stand out even more. Everyone agreed that you can tell that it is going to be a horror film when you watch it, which is what we were aiming for so that is good news. Our film was rated, on average 3-4 out of 5, 5 being excellent. As well as 5 out of 6 people saying that they would watch the end of our film, everyone thought that our characters were appropriate to the horror genre and that our title suited that as well. One comment we received was " The title sequence was scary, really worked well with good camera shots that fit the horror genre well". It is good to get good feedback like this as it makes me feel like we have done a good job.

Of course there are some comments that aren't as praising but they are there to help us make our horror film better so any comments are welcome. Some of the comments that were received were "Good acting, but was the slow-mo bit at the end?", "Red pictures and screens - get rid of, don't make much sense". I know that these comments are supposed to help us but we're not going to change everything about our film. I like our red scenes as it is different but some people might not like it as much.

First draft of Horror Opening

This is the first draft of my Horror Opening. We had a few problems along the way of making this but we managed to get through it. We are going to get people to watch it and give us feedback so we know what we can do to improve it. 

Post It Notes - What I think could be made better

I made post it notes and stuck them up on my wall of what I think could be made better in our horror film. These are just my opinions and other people might be different.

I want to try and make these changes when we go to edit again, and of course make the changes that other people think we should make as well.

Last minute ideas

While editing before the first draft me and Helen thought that our film might look good if we add some pictures in  and change them with effects. We tried it out and we think that they look quite good.

Picture 1

Picture 2

We have only added in 2 photos as to not take the attention away from the actual film.

New film name ideas

After we finished our first draft of the horror film I decided that our film name was too boring and original. So we thought about some other names but nothing seemed to work. Eventually we typed in unknown into a thesaurus in Google and it came up with words like :

Desolate
Dark
Unexplained
Anonymous
Distant
Hidden

But we found a name that we thought was different and better than our old name. We chose - Incognito, which means In Disguise. I think it suits our horror film much better than the Unknown.

Music Ideas

Music is one of the key things in making your film what you want it to be. I got my choice of music from a website called Mp3Unsigned. It had a list of different types of music.

To find the music I wanted, I had to type in horror in the search bar and then select the Halloween Comp music. They had a great range of music on there and these are some of the songs that I liked:

http://www.mp3unsigned.com/HalloweenComp2010#Phantom+of+the+Font+%28Pete+Vines%29

http://www.mp3unsigned.com/HalloweenComp2010#Sorta-Phantasm-ish+-+D.+Michaelson

http://www.mp3unsigned.com/HalloweenComp2010#Halloween+Theme+Beats+w/+Thomas+Moonan+-+Redshirt+Theory

http://www.mp3unsigned.com/Nano_Rebelion

There were some more on the site but I thought it would be better to only display a few songs.

2 more photos that will be used

Me and Helen will most likely use these photos in our horror film. The arrows represent confusion on which way to go which would relate to the seperation of the two girls and the danger sign would obviously highlight the fact that they are in danger. We would zoom in on the word danger as that is the focus point of that photo.

Horror Opening Questionnaire

We were required to get feedback from people on how we could improve our film. Although my group edited seperately we came up with a questionnaire together. We came up with these questions :

1. Does the music increase the tension?
2. Is the story easy to follow?
3. Is the contrast noticeable between light and dark atmosphere?
4. Does the start of the film make it clear it is going to be a horror film?
5. What do you think about the way the credits have been placed?
6. What would you rate our film out of 5?
7. Were the characters appropriate to horror?
8. Is our title appropriate to our film?
9. Would you want to watch the end of our film?
10. What changes can we make?

We also asked if they are male or female and what year they are in at school to see if age or gender affects the opinion of someone.

Original film name ideas

We wanted something creepy and mysterious for our film name so we came up with a few different ones such as:
The Unknown
Mysterious
Running


After some debating we chose the name The Unknown as it was the most mysterious and made people think about what was unknown and helped build up the anticipation. 

Different Fonts

There are a few different fonts to choose from for our film and there are some of the ones i liked:

These are the main fonts that I would have liked to use for my film. However I was working with someone and they didn't like these fonts and wanted to use a custom one to Adobe Premiere.

Photos that could possibly be used 2

Photos that could possible be used.

Words that relate to our films

I was told of this website where you type some words into a box and then submit it. It then arranges them in a random way and you can edit the colours, the layout and the font. What i've done here is thought of some relevant words for my film and displayed them on here.

Last Minute Decisions

Originally my group had planned to film a 'party scene' but scrapped that idea and went for a scene in the school corridors. However while editing the school scene we decided to go with our original plan. It turned out quite well and I believe that it is better than the scene we originally filmed.

We asked several people to come and be in our film to try and make it seem more realistic. We had music playing in the background and tried to make the atmosphere seem light and airy.

Horror Film Deadline

The deadline for our fully edited horror film is 20th January. By this date we will have had to cut, edit and add sound effects to make it as good as possible.

Different Stages

As went along we print screened it to show somw of the different stages that we went through. This shows you the process that you have to go through to make everything in your film just right.

Speed/Duration

Watching it through.

Looking at the title screen.

Editing a title screen.

Audio Gain.

Audio Control.