Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you think you have learnt in progression from it to the full product?
Looking back, I feel I have learnt a lot. Many skills to do with filming and editing but also I've learnt that it's very important to work together with your group otherwise you are destined to fail, in media that is. Well, I dunno, you probably could just coast through the whole thing and sprout shed loads of crap.
Sunday 5 April 2009
Friday 3 April 2009
Question 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Well, seeing as this was my first ever media task I would like to think I've learnt alot. Before hand I had never even heard of programs like iMovie and Final Cut Pro and now, I'm definitley no expert but I know some of the basics. Like how to cut clips and effects, add music and so on.
Well, seeing as this was my first ever media task I would like to think I've learnt alot. Before hand I had never even heard of programs like iMovie and Final Cut Pro and now, I'm definitley no expert but I know some of the basics. Like how to cut clips and effects, add music and so on.
Question 5
How did you attract/address your audience?
Our film appealed to our target audience by using the conventions of a horror film like the creepy music and unanswered questions like who was the murderer and so on. Also, our film in mostly set inside a school which may spark intrest in a lot of people as they can all relate to it.
Our film appealed to our target audience by using the conventions of a horror film like the creepy music and unanswered questions like who was the murderer and so on. Also, our film in mostly set inside a school which may spark intrest in a lot of people as they can all relate to it.
Question 4
Evaluation Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?
Well, I kinda tied in this question with question 2 by accident. But like I mentioned before our target audience is meant for the younger generation, teenagers young adults people who enjoy going to the cinema to relax and have a good time.
Well, I kinda tied in this question with question 2 by accident. But like I mentioned before our target audience is meant for the younger generation, teenagers young adults people who enjoy going to the cinema to relax and have a good time.
Question 3
Evaluation Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I can imagine our film being quite a mainstream event, largley advertised on the internet, tv and posters . I reckon it would go straight into the big cinemas over the country and be a typical Hollywood production. I think this is possible because our film is of a popular genre and I don't think it would take a lot time to get funded.
I can imagine our film being quite a mainstream event, largley advertised on the internet, tv and posters . I reckon it would go straight into the big cinemas over the country and be a typical Hollywood production. I think this is possible because our film is of a popular genre and I don't think it would take a lot time to get funded.
Question 2
Evaluation Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our main title sequence mainly focuses on the gay community but appeals to a wide vairety of students as it's set in a school. Also, I beleive adults/people who generally enjoy watching films could be interested in watching this film as it's a typical horror film, very accessible for the casual movie goer. I don't believe the elderly or very young children would be suited for watching this film, for obvious reasons, the children would get scared and the elderly would get bored. But like I said it would appeal to many teenagers and the like as it falls into the same catogry as Se7en etc.
Our main title sequence mainly focuses on the gay community but appeals to a wide vairety of students as it's set in a school. Also, I beleive adults/people who generally enjoy watching films could be interested in watching this film as it's a typical horror film, very accessible for the casual movie goer. I don't believe the elderly or very young children would be suited for watching this film, for obvious reasons, the children would get scared and the elderly would get bored. But like I said it would appeal to many teenagers and the like as it falls into the same catogry as Se7en etc.
Thursday 2 April 2009
Evaluation-Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media product?
Upon watching our media product you can immediatley tell what type of film it's going to be. It's a horror, and we make no secret of hiding this fact. The creepy music, the cuts in and out of credits and the diversion of seeing an intimidating figures face, it carries many of the horror genre conventions. However, our sequence also gives the audience many questions, not about what type of film it is, but what is actually going on. We actually show a murder in the title sequence but you are given know real clues as to why etc.
Also, like I mentioned before, you never see the killers face, setting up for the cliche 'whodunnit' which could possibly run throughout the whole film. It's hinted that the victim may have been homosexual but is not made blatantly obvious.
Upon watching our media product you can immediatley tell what type of film it's going to be. It's a horror, and we make no secret of hiding this fact. The creepy music, the cuts in and out of credits and the diversion of seeing an intimidating figures face, it carries many of the horror genre conventions. However, our sequence also gives the audience many questions, not about what type of film it is, but what is actually going on. We actually show a murder in the title sequence but you are given know real clues as to why etc.
Also, like I mentioned before, you never see the killers face, setting up for the cliche 'whodunnit' which could possibly run throughout the whole film. It's hinted that the victim may have been homosexual but is not made blatantly obvious.
Se7en
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEZK7mJoPLY
One movie we cited as an influence for our title sequence was David Fincher's 'Se7en', upon watching the title sequence (linked above), it became clear that we were drawn to the eerie, dark and uncomfortable feel it gave off and wanted to recreate something similar. We liked how you never really get a sense of whats going on so you mind can run around in circles trying to put things together. I also like how it cuts in and out of the credits, sustaining that feeling of the unknown. I'd hope we can grab a sense of this title sequence and incoperate it into our own as I really like this sort of atmosphere.
One movie we cited as an influence for our title sequence was David Fincher's 'Se7en', upon watching the title sequence (linked above), it became clear that we were drawn to the eerie, dark and uncomfortable feel it gave off and wanted to recreate something similar. We liked how you never really get a sense of whats going on so you mind can run around in circles trying to put things together. I also like how it cuts in and out of the credits, sustaining that feeling of the unknown. I'd hope we can grab a sense of this title sequence and incoperate it into our own as I really like this sort of atmosphere.
Thursday 5 March 2009
Continuity Piece!
Below is our continuity piece, finally uploaded for all to see. Basically, it's a job interview and it has to show someone walk into a room, do something (job interview) and walk back out. Ours looks ok I reckon, it ticks the boxes I think so no complaints really, I just wish our title sequence was as easy to make as this.
Monday 9 February 2009
Thursday 29 January 2009
We Filmed.....We Actually Filmed!
Yes I'm not joking, we're actually making some real progress now. We filmed on Friday as planned and..... it went well. I enlisted the help of my good friend Harry to play the role of the victim which he pulled off perfectly and thanks to a shortage of cast I ended up playing the bully/murderer. We done practically all the scenes we planned to do like the storyboard except for the meeting I think but we new some things would probably change. I actually really enjoyed filming it was a fun expierence and look forward to doing it again.
Grrrr.....Problems.
The road we have had to follow throughout this Media task was never a smooth one but lately it has just been covered with potholes. First of, contary to my previous statements, I have not yet produced an ananlysis to title sequences using Youtube as my aid because due to the crap service I have been recieving from Virgin Broadband I have not been able to access the internet at home for days. After countless phone calls to Virgin they have decided to send me another router which they believe will magically fix the problem, I desperatley hope it will.
Also, my group recently (and I do mean recently) suffered a fatal blow. A loss of a member. Luke has decided to leave 6th Form and in turn departed from our group, this saddens me as I feel Luke was a key member in our group, always contributing ideas, keen on filming and helpful in most situations, I hope this loss doesn't affect our group to much but I beleive it will never be the same. I just hope me, Sophie and Chelsea can carry on like we having been despite these predicaments.
Also, my group recently (and I do mean recently) suffered a fatal blow. A loss of a member. Luke has decided to leave 6th Form and in turn departed from our group, this saddens me as I feel Luke was a key member in our group, always contributing ideas, keen on filming and helpful in most situations, I hope this loss doesn't affect our group to much but I beleive it will never be the same. I just hope me, Sophie and Chelsea can carry on like we having been despite these predicaments.
Thursday 22 January 2009
The Importance Of Being Title Sequence
I've come to realise that this title sequence can not be rushed of half-done while filming. Title sequences are a very, very important part of the film and incredibly powerful if done properly. A bad title sequence leaves the audience dissapointed with not only the beginning but the whole film and while we are not making a whole film ourselves we still want our title sequence to be gripping so the audience are left wanting more. I want to give examples of crime drama title sequences but I cannot get onto YouTube from the school so when I get home tonight I am going to give some examples and analysis one or two.
Thinking about it, I dont think a Saul Bass influenced title sequence would fit with our theme, like lots of moving text etc. So I think it might be better if we draw inspirations from somewhere else (going back to the ananlysis I plan to do later). Fear not I shall be back soon.
Thinking about it, I dont think a Saul Bass influenced title sequence would fit with our theme, like lots of moving text etc. So I think it might be better if we draw inspirations from somewhere else (going back to the ananlysis I plan to do later). Fear not I shall be back soon.
Tuesday 20 January 2009
Right, it really is time to get my arse into gear....
I could blame my lack of updates to this blog on not being familiar of this way of working, not fully understanding the point of a blog and complaining "what's wrong with a good old fashioned textbook". But even if I did use these petty excuses it's still my neck on the line and my arse in danger of being dropped from the Media course. So I think you'll agree it's in my best interest to tell you all what the duck I've been doing.
Below is the storyboard of our title sequence which is pretty faithful to the idea we have in our head at the moment. You'll have to forgive me however, as I do play more than one character and it may be hard to folllow exactly what's going on, but don't worry, I'll elaborate on the captions and try to explain.
It opens with the hand of someone graffiting the homophobic words such as "fag" on another pupils book before switching to another person (a pupil) walking down a school corridor, obviously a bully as children stay out of his way and he seems to intimidate everyone. Next, the same person is shown texting someone, telling the recipent(s) not to worry, he's going to sort the boy out, and arranges a meeting for the next day. It the cuts to people graffiting posters about homosexuals and memebers of this now clear homopbic gang making their way to the meeting. The meeting is then shown but no words are heard and the leader of the gang (bully) walks off. The scenes then alternate from a boy in the school showers, presumably the owner of the book and the purpose of the text and the bully making his way through the school. He then sneaks up on the boy in the shower and violently stabs him without hesitation. The final scene is the boy laying dead in a puddle of his own blood.
Hopefully that clears things up, or made it more confusing. But thats how we hope things to go when we film. It's probably worth noting that this storyboard is drastically different from our initial, and quite boring idea. Our first concept was just to have alternating shots from the killer making his way to the boy and the boy himself in the shower, it soon became apparent that this lacked any real story, excitment and point to be honest. There was no story to it, no way could the audience tell this was a hate crime from a homophobic group, no nothing. So we new we had to add some spice to this. How could we let the audience know this was a hate crime? The book and poster stuff. How could we show this murderer was part of a group and not a lone crazy killler? The meeting and so on.
So I believe we have now beefed our story up a bit and it's not so bland. Filming will take place Friday of this week with any luck but I will be updating before then.
Below is the storyboard of our title sequence which is pretty faithful to the idea we have in our head at the moment. You'll have to forgive me however, as I do play more than one character and it may be hard to folllow exactly what's going on, but don't worry, I'll elaborate on the captions and try to explain.
It opens with the hand of someone graffiting the homophobic words such as "fag" on another pupils book before switching to another person (a pupil) walking down a school corridor, obviously a bully as children stay out of his way and he seems to intimidate everyone. Next, the same person is shown texting someone, telling the recipent(s) not to worry, he's going to sort the boy out, and arranges a meeting for the next day. It the cuts to people graffiting posters about homosexuals and memebers of this now clear homopbic gang making their way to the meeting. The meeting is then shown but no words are heard and the leader of the gang (bully) walks off. The scenes then alternate from a boy in the school showers, presumably the owner of the book and the purpose of the text and the bully making his way through the school. He then sneaks up on the boy in the shower and violently stabs him without hesitation. The final scene is the boy laying dead in a puddle of his own blood.
Hopefully that clears things up, or made it more confusing. But thats how we hope things to go when we film. It's probably worth noting that this storyboard is drastically different from our initial, and quite boring idea. Our first concept was just to have alternating shots from the killer making his way to the boy and the boy himself in the shower, it soon became apparent that this lacked any real story, excitment and point to be honest. There was no story to it, no way could the audience tell this was a hate crime from a homophobic group, no nothing. So we new we had to add some spice to this. How could we let the audience know this was a hate crime? The book and poster stuff. How could we show this murderer was part of a group and not a lone crazy killler? The meeting and so on.
So I believe we have now beefed our story up a bit and it's not so bland. Filming will take place Friday of this week with any luck but I will be updating before then.
Monday 19 January 2009
Thursday 8 January 2009
It's Been A While....
This feels like my first post in a long time because it is, but a lot has gone one. We have decided on a genre for our title sequence (crime drama), we have come up with a story board which will be posted shortly and among other things we will hopefully be ready to film in roughly two weeks.
First of all however, I'll go into a little more detail of our chosen film genre. We decided to take a pop at crime drama taking inspiration from shows like CSI and films like Heat. Soon I will post the openings to both and go into more detail about them but at the moment I cannot get onto YouTube from this computer.
First of all however, I'll go into a little more detail of our chosen film genre. We decided to take a pop at crime drama taking inspiration from shows like CSI and films like Heat. Soon I will post the openings to both and go into more detail about them but at the moment I cannot get onto YouTube from this computer.
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