Evaluation Activity 1:

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



























Title of the film:


Define Survival: a state of surviving; remaining alive.


I chose the name 'Survival' for the title of my film, this was because it highlighted the main outline of the whole thing, which was to Survive the mystery epidemic. I got the idea for this name from when I first wrote the script, one of the lines from Seth was going to be "it doesn't matter, its all about Survival" but I then later changed this to the "Just Go" as I thought it had a bigger impact. I think the use of the title is also slightly ironic as when you first meet the characters they don't look particularly healthy and do not look great, because of their bloodstained clothing and bruising. When the final title does come up at the end, you see the title style, I chose this style because it related back to one of my influences, Shaun of the Dead, it puts the point across and gives off the effect of the horror movie.


Setting:


Where I live, there is a massive country park behind it, with loads of trees and meadows, its a core spot for my landscape photography so I know my way around it really well. When I was planning it through, I knew where I wanted everything to be filmed, somewhere with quite a few trees and obviously a meadow where Elly's final resting place would be, the time of year also helped my setting look scarier, as their was no leaves on the trees, it made the set look quite barren and deserted, which is exactly what I wanted.

For the flashbacks, our setting changed slightly, because I wanted the flashbacks to look like happy memories for Seth, not scary, so we got the actors changed into clean clothes, got the makeup off their faces, and took them to the Children's park where the swings and bench are that are featured in the film.


Costumes and Props:


The costumes are a main part of my film, as it gives the audience a hint that something is not right. It was quite easy to prepare the costumes, as my idea sparked from the photoshoot I did back in October, so they still had their original outfits, which made things a lot easier and saved time, the basis of the costume was, (for the boys) skinny jeans, a ripped white t-shirt covered in fake blood and a grey hoody. For Elly it was a strappy top covered in fake blood with leggings and a cardigan, I tried to also keep it in theme with my photoshoot as it was a success. When I was planning out what they were going to wear, I also thought about how they would look, I couldn't have my actors dressed scarily without looking like they are in the middle of an epidemic. So I started to think about how I could do their make up to make it look like they had been beaten, chased and injured, but survived. I referred back to my pictures once again and thought up some ideas.

 I decided on black eyes and cuts on Seth and Luke's faces, but with Elly, I decided on something emotional, because of her love for Seth in the film, maybe a close encounter where she almost lost him? So I decided on tear stained makeup down her face with bruised jawline and faint blood coming from a 'busted lip', with her eyes I also made them quite dark, to give off an effect that she had also been attacked, and also so that the technique we used to get her eye makeup down her face was successful.

I also messed up Seth and Luke's hair a little bit, by using hairspray, With Elly's, I used a small mass of hair wax and put it in her hair, just to make her her look dirty and give off the effect that their conditions have been like this for a while, then I just put it up into a ponytail. When Seth is going to find Elly, I made his hoody droop down his shoulder, to help give off the effect that he's worried, anxious and angry that he left Elly by herself and this could show he cant be bothered anymore and he is slowly giving up.

I didn't use many props for my film, I would say I only really used one prop which was twigs, to get the impression that something was chasing them or sneaking up on them so to speak, for example, in Elly's scene, when she is alone, Seth and Luke were behind the camera snapping twigs to give off an effect.
If I had kept one scene that I was going to use at the beginning, I would have used more props. I cut this scene out as it made my plot a bit confusing and I was worried my target audience wouldn't understand it.


Camerawork and Editing:


For my opening shot, when my two main characters are running, I decided to use a panning shot, this was so that I could get a decent clip of how they were running away from something, I also wobbled the camera a little bit when I filmed this so that I could capture their fear/emotion.

When we first meet them properly, they are standing in the bush, hiding, and Seth is keeping his girlfriend safe, they are shaking and breathing heavily in fear. For this shot, I used a steady medium close up, I didn't want to get too close as I thought this would spoil the scene, as emotions were running high and they didn't know what to expect next. I kept the Medium close up going up until Seth left her to save Luke.

For all of my hands and feet scenes, I used an close up/extreme close up, because I wanted it to look as scary as possible. I then made those short scenes look even scarier with the effect 'Solarize' on them, as it made it look really freaky and scary.

When it came to filming Elly by herself, I didn't really know which shot to use, I wanted to use one that would capture her true fear and desperation. In the end I went with another Panning Shot, but slightly distorted it so that it looked like the camera was what was after her, as she kept looking away from it and also at the end, highlighted that she was going to give up and Seth wasn't going to come back. When Luke and Seth returned to find Elly missing, I used a slight panning shot, with also a following shot. I followed Seth the most as I wanted to get his anger and sadness that his girlfriend had disappeared. I also added the 'Solarize' effect onto this scene too. I wanted it to be slightly distorted and I wanted the colours to be all weird and crazy so that it shows her fear of what is after her, but also what the mystery epidemic wants, and how badly.

With the next scene, which is when Seth tells Luke to go find somewhere safe to hide, for this conversation I thought it would be best and easiest to use and over the shoulder shot, except the last line, from "Just Go" I went into another slight Panning Shot with a Following Shot also. But this time I panned more as I wanted to show the audience that the two boys were going in separate directions and leave the audience questioning, will they ever see each other again? what's going to happen? who knows.

For the next shot, I used a reaction shot, with a following shot and a slight close up. I did this because I wanted to show that Seth was in pain, and he just wanted to know Elly was safe, I did this scene to give the whole film more tension and to highlight the emotions that were contained in it. When it came to editing, I put on a 'Color Emboss' Effect. I did this because I wanted to captured Seth's confusion and devastation, and this fitted perfectly.

I filmed the next scene as one long scene, but when it came to editing I then put a title in the middle, this is called a Cutaway, I did this to break this scene up a bit, to give it more tension and a bigger sense of rushing and panic. It also helped the scene move along quicker, he is running in this scene but the Cutaway helps dramatically. I didn't have a problem filming this, but I wanted to give the audience more tension, as their was a big ending, so I helped build it in this way. When he was running, on the day I tried using a proper following shot, but it was unsuccessful, so in the end I stood on the bank and filmed him running past, and zoomed quickly in and out to capture the drama.

When he discovers Elly's body (which is out of view to the audience) I used a gradual zoom out shot, I started out with him by the branch, and then as he walked over to her body, I slowly zoomed out and when he fell to his knees, I quickly transferred to a birdseye shot. I also did this for the scene after the flashbacks. When he is first walking over to her, for some reason it had come out really dark, so I tried to fix it with the 'Colour and Contrast tool' this worked at first but when it came to exporting, something must of happened for it go darker again.

With the flashbacks, I crosscutted them in so that it flowed a lot better, and so it looked like Seth really was reflecting on some of the happy memories him and Elly had together. Filming the flashbacks were a lot of fun, and for the bench and swing one, I just used a standard mid shot, I was fixed in one place just watching them, but with the walking hand in hand scene, I used a following shot. After it cuts back, and I used another Birdseye shot, it goes to the hand coming round the tree, for this I used a close up shot because it captured the emotion and fear that my characters might have. I added a black and white effect and a 'Roughened Edges' transition to make it look like Seth was having a flashback of the happy memories. This worked well and my audience knew he was having flashbacks.


Title Font and Style:

When it came to putting in titles, I looked once again on dafont.com but I wasn't sure on which one to choose, as you can see from my planning, I had three ideas, but I was stuck between two of  them [ank*] and mark, I was undecided because they both set the effect really well and they are both what I wanted, I didn't want it to be a typical horror font. I wanted it to be scary but bold. I tried [ank*] out first but I decided it didnt really set the mood, it seemed too simple. In the end I went with 'mark' this was because it was exactly I wanted. It set the mood perfectly and helped me achieve the effect I wanted.

Story and how the Opening sets it up:


The story behind my play is quite simple, but has a horror themed twist behind it, basically, it is Seth and Elly, whom are in love and Seth's best friend Luke. They are running away from something, but you never find out what, they are terrified, but I purposely put them in blood stained clothing to highlight the mystery behind it, if my audience reads my influences, they may think its a Zombie attack, this could be the case but it could also be something else. When Luke shouts for help, Seth makes the decision to leave Elly and go and help Luke, as he as been caught and is moments from death. While Seth is gone, the epidemic takes opportunity of Seth's absence, by tormenting Elly and then eventually snatching her. When Seth and Luke return to find her gone, they searches for her but Seth soon becomes frantic. As his devastation gets the better of him, and then realizes it might be worse than anticipated, he dismisses Luke to find somewhere safe. He then has to quickly run away from his own fate when he discovers the body of his girlfriend, and gets quite upset, this then triggers flashbacks of all the happy times they had together. The ending is simple, but blunt, Seth hears something break, he knows there is something there and it ends with him looking up, which leaves the audience wanting to find out what happens.

This helps the film open up because if I was to make the rest of the film, my idea was to start at the end and go though, so probably go back to how it was before the epidemic and then the build up to it, maybe stretch it across a week or two, with rolling titles telling the audience what day it is. Like in my Opening Scene I could of changed it to "Day 15" or maybe "Day 28" to fit with the irony of my influences. But also to make it seem longer and more dramatic, to do this I could film maybe 20-25 scenes and skip the days to make it seem longer, and chop and change between normal days and the scary days, maybe relate it to stories in the script. For instance I could have Elly say in a Normal scene a week before her death, say something like (towards Seth) "Maybe we should just break up then!" and then make it ironic by her dying a week later. Going from the end back to the beginning would make my film more dramatic and would entice the audience.

Genre and how the Opening suggests it:


The Genre of my film is a thriller/horror, but I think there is also an element of romance in there too as of the obvious relationship between Elly and Seth. My opening suggests horror as they are all dressed in ripped, bloodstained clothing, with bruising on the faces of the boys, and also Elly's tearstained makeup. I put a lot of brainstorming into how they looked, costumes were not a problem as  they were already made from my photo shoot. When my film was shown to my class, most of the comments were that they could guess it was going to be a horror because of the stained clothing. I also tried to make it seem like a horror with the snapping twigs and Elly's scene. I wanted it to be as tense and heart-racing as possible, leaving my audience wondering what happened and what was going to happen next. I also incorporated the lighting and location, to suggest they were in the middle of nowhere and facing the epidemic alone. I think one of the biggest clues is the hands and feet scenes, this gives off the idea that they are being followed wherever they went. I also made my actors have emotions running as the film went on, to give the effect off.

How the Characters are introduced:


When my film opens, it starts off with a title and then goes into Seth and Elly running from something, then goes straight into the dialog scenes, so my characters don't really get introduced, I did this because I wanted to raise the 'Guessing Game' barrier even higher, I wanted them to see that Elly and Seth are in love, this is why I incorporated the kiss and how high Seth's emotions were when Elly is found dead in the meadow, this is why I wanted my actors to act their best, even though it isn't necessary, I wanted them to be good so that the audience could understand who they were and what sort of relationship they all had with each other. I think the only way I could count them as being introduced is when Luke shouts "Seth, Seth" and then Seth replies "Luke?!" this also happens with Elly being introduced, when she goes missing and Luke and Seth are frantically searching for her, other than that it is pretty anonymous to who they are.

Special Effects:


For my final piece, I didn't really use many special effects, I mainly used Effects and a clip from a Sound FX Folder that was on my desktop. For many of the emotional scenes, like Elly by herself and Seth's desperation to find her I used effects like 'Colour Emboss' and 'Solarize.' I also used Solarize on the hands and feet scenes to make it look scarier and more effective, this worked well as it gave the film tension and gave the impression that something bad was going to happen. When I was working on the flashbacks, I had to think of a way in which they would look like flashbacks, I started off with black and white, as I would knew this would work, but I wanted something else just to polish it off, after experimenting with a few, I decided on 'Roughened Edges' which made it look like an old victorian film, but also gave the sense that the audience were in the past, when Seth was happy and Elly was alive. I think the flashback idea worked as it gave a good impact on the whole film.

Evaluation Activity 2:

How does your media product represent particular social groups?



















The figure on the left is Seth, he was the main character in my film, although there was only three, he was the most important as he has most of the camera time and he has a big role in the play. The figure on the right is Jim, he featured in the film '28 Days Later' which was released in 2002. 28 Days Later has a similar resemblance to mine but there film is a a lot more gruesome and plus they don't have the mystery of what is chasing them. I chose this character because he is the same as Seth in my film, they both have no idea what is going on, why it is happening, and they both face heartache at some point, Seth loses Elly to the epidemic, and Jim almost loses Selena to an evil army lieutenant. In a way this is similar, but at the same time it's a difference as in 28 Weeks Later they have received help, but in my film, the actors are in this alone. Another difference between them is that Seth was in the middle of it all when it happened, and isn't clueless unlike Jim, he woke up from a coma in a deserted London. But one big similarity is that they've both been through a really rough time and all they want to do is keep there loved ones safe and out of harm's way, they're both romantic at heart, but they have to be strong for everyone else around them.

The figure on the left is my character Elly, she is the girlfriend of my main character Seth in my film, the figure on the right is Selena also from the film 28 Days Later, I chose to compare these two as in each of their films they are in love. Selena falls in love with Jim during the course of the film, but Elly is already with Seth before hand, this can count as a similarity and a difference as there is a slight change in storylines.  These two characters are very alike, they both have to face death during the course of their films, Selena survives, but my character Elly, doesn't, they also both mean a lot to the men alongside them, they are protected throughout, but sometimes they are left by themselves, which is when the girls have to learn to fend for themselves, this is the same in both films, one difference between them is that Selena is a lot stronger than Elly, and Selena manages to stay alive for the rest of the film. One final big similarity between the two girls is that they both have to face the heartache of either losing or almost losing their loved ones.

Evaluation Activity 3:

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

This is a picture of the script I wrote out and used for my Directors Commentary, it was very helpful as I knew what to say throughout and it made it all a lot easier.

Evaluation Activity 4:

Who would be the audience for your media product?
















(from left) This is Dan Xu, Luke Twyford, Seth Dagger and Chris Westwood. They are all from the Sidcup/Eltham area in Kent, they dress fairly simply, but also to fit their own style, nearly all of them wear just jeans and a t-shirt, but Seth and Luke are quite specific on what to wear, they wear skinny jeans, checkered shirts, hoodies, jumpers and boat shoes/plimsols. They all like shopping in shops like Topman and Primark, but they prefer to buy Band Merchandise and others online as it is easier for them. They all like horror/thriller films, such as Shaun of the Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Saw Films and 28 Days Later, but Seth particularly likes films such as "2012" and "A Day After Tomorrow" they all like watching them at home but also enjoy the rare occasion out to the cinema to watch new releases. None of them are really into watching popular TV soaps, but they like programs such as 'Never mind the Buzzcocks' and 'Mock the Week' they are more into their music then they are TV, Seth and Luke have the same favourite bands, bands such as, Parkway drive, Asking Alexandria, I Killed the Prom Queen and Emmure. One thing they do all like is dubstep, they will listen to all of their music online, like on Youtube or will listen to it on the popular rock radio station XFM, none of them like mainstream music, what is in the charts is not their thing at all.

I think my film would appeal to these as they are stereotypical hardcore kids who enjoy watching gory films, filled with suspense, drama and of course lots of blood, which is what my film has to offer. If this film was shown in their local cinema, I think it would appeal to them because of the interests they all share, and also, it relates to some of the films they like, like Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later.

Evaluation Activity 5:

How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation Activity 6:

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

This is all the equipment I used during the course of filming and editing my media project, the top two pictures are what I used to help film my final product, the camera was very important as it allowed me to film my video and audio shots, despite the size of it, it was very easy to move about and get the distorted shots I wanted for some of my scenes, it was able to do this as it was really light in weight, it was also very benefitting when it came to filming the over the shoulder shots, as I could hold it up for as long as I needed.  If I had, had a bigger camera, this could have made filming quite awkward. Even though I didn't use the tripod, this would have helped me get a steady shot, but as I wanted quite shaky and distorted shots, I went without using this, but if I could go back to filming it, I would have definitely used it on the running in scene.

The first photo on the next line is the Apple Mac computer I used for all my editing, I would say that this is the best computer to use for tasks like this, as it is a very fast and powerful machine, it allowed me to split screen things, so that I could see two things at once, like if I needed to use the internet to refresh myself on what I was looking for, and I could also have my editing program up at the same time. It would have taken me a lot longer if I had to use a normal machine, as Apple Macs are designed to run fast and be able to multitask programs, instead of the Windows Machine that would require me to open and close programs.


The last photo is of the editing program I used to edit it and to finish it all off, this program is called Adobe Premier Pro, I used this program the most during production, I used it all the way from capturing my clips, to putting in my final title, and also putting in all my transitions and effects. Seeing that I had only used the software twice, it was going to take some getting used to, but I learnt a lot during editing, like how to put different transitions in, how to use of own font and how to play with the audio so it sounds how you want it to sound. I also learnt that if a clip's brightness came out wrong, you could fix it with an effect, to make it seem lighter or darker, to fit how you wanted it. One of the main things I learnt was that you could cut your chosen music down, to fit when you wanted it to, and then you could fade it out so it didn't come to an abrupt stop.

 Both of these pictures are screenshots of the audio parts of my film, the top one shows when the ambient music I chose first comes in, up until that moment, the background music is a heartbeat gradually getting faster, this dies out and then my chosen music comes in, my music is a song composed by my friends band, off their latest Extended Play (EP) I asked for permission first as it is their song.
I made it come in at this point as it is when all the drama begins to unfold. The whole song is 2:10, but I wanted to cut it down as I didn't want my actors having to act just so I could fill blanks in, it was a very tricky song to cut down as it has been produced so that it flows easily, and i had to make sure after I cut a section out that the two other parts flowed together when I put them together. This took a lot of time but I finally got in the end.  When my main title comes up at the end, my original idea was to make the last beat fit with it disappearing, but I changed this to it gradually fading out, as it didn't allow enough time for the audience to read it through.

The bottom picture is the volume controls of my audio sound, when I first put the audio in, the volume was quite loud, so I had to edit this, as you wouldn't be able to hear my actors dialog.

Evaluation Activity 7:

Looking back at your Preliminary Task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Since the making of my Preliminary Task, I feel I have improved immensely, especially in camerawork and when it came to editing my final piece, I felt more confident and incontrol.

I learnt alot of things, one of the key things I did learn was the importance of framing, when we filmed our Prelim task, we just kept the camera focused, and paid little attention to what was actually in each scene, for example, in the screenshot of our prelim, you can see the studio lights just sitting in the corner, but when it came to filming my actual coursework, I had to avoid this, especially as we was in a woods, and had nowhere to put the stuff we didn't need, luckily, there was nearly always someone not in a scene and they were able to keep the set clutter free. Luke was the one mostly out of shot, and sometimes we accidentally filmed him in a scene he didnt need to be in, but fortunately I was able to cut him out.

During the course of editing my film, I learnt alot about different techniques and how to make things look amazing, one of these was the Titles. In our Prelim, we just used a basic font for it, stating our names, what it was and what we had titled it, this didnt really work in a sense, as it had no impact, but when it came to my film clip, I needed a font that would give impact, mood and set the theme of the film. I wanted it to be bold and blunt, so that the audience wouldn't miss it, and would want it to create a tension. Titles are very important as it helps entice the audience into your film.



Whilst filming, I also learnt about alot of different camera angles for example, Match on Action, and the 180 degree rule, even though we did use this in our Prelim Task, it did take several shots to get it right, when it came to filming my final piece, I knew how to make the shot perfect when I felt like it wasnt good enough, I would position it how I had ti in my head, and then experiment to see how I could make each shot work to fit in with the emotion of each scene, for example, when Elly is alone, I swerved in and out of her face, to give the impression someone was watching her, I did this for some other scenes aswell, I experimented each time, so each shot had to be redone, but I wanted to get them perfect.

I learnt alot between the gap of the Prelim and filming my final film, going from preparation, all the way down to editing, alongside what I have talked about. When we wrote and planned our Prelim, everything was very basic, like the sloryline and scripts, so when it came to doing all the same thing for my final piece, it could become alot more confusing as it was a bigger storyline and there was alot more to film, as it was a big step. But by making the storyboards very detailed, this helped on the day as I knew what to do and it wasn't so confusing, also, using a match on action shot, helped my conversation have more impact, and helped emotions run higher as Elly had just gone missing.