AS G321: Evaluation - Technologies

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

AS G321: Evaluation - Progression from Preliminary Task to Final Product

What have I learnt in the progression from the preliminary task to the final product?

To begin with, I feel that major improvements have been made in our horror film opening from our preliminary task as we encountered many errors and faults in our first attempt .This helped us learn from that and progress further. 

The biggest development between these two tasks was time management and organisation as these are the most important aspects of film production. In our preliminary task, the filming day was unstructured and unorganised as we were only working from a storyboard and script, which was not a professional route. In order to progress we needed a filming journal or itinerary that would keep us on track and moving smoothly. Specific times should be allocated for certain shots so that we are able to start and finish in good time without causing more stress to the cast and film crew. Luckily, we learnt from our faults and we incorporated this within our main task which helped us a lot as the actress felt less pressure and the crew were organised and calm. 

Sophie and I also added an hour at the end of our filming day for our Main Task to allow us to complete any unfinished scenes or shots, or to retake certain parts so that it was of best quality. We did not do this in our Preliminary task which was a huge mistake as we had to use shots and angles that we didn't specifically like or wanted, this made our task less complete and messy. 

In our Preliminary task, we didn't have much knowledge of mise en scene, lighting or colour as we had high key lighting throughout and it clearly didn't make sense. 

When the heartbeat sounds start to increase, the artificial lighting stays high whereas, it should have darkened and become more eerie to reflect what is happening. This was a bad mistake as the audiences emotions stay the same and the suspenseful scene creates no atmosphere. However, we noticed this when planning our Main Task and made sure that, low key lighting and dull colours are used in certain scenes. This was effective and our focus group gave positive feedback for this. 

For post production, there was a significant change from our preliminary task. We continued to use Adobe Premiere for our editing stage as it allowed us to experiment with many different features and options. In our Preliminary task for example, the sound wouldn't change volume in different scenes and this was evident when the heartbeat began. There was no slow increase it just suddenly started. However, in our Main Task, we used the 'Audio' option and altered the soundtrack volume in certain areas so that it could be heard, yet wasn't too overpowering and attention shifting. Also, ambient sounds were less evident in our main task than in our preliminary, this shows that our professionalism developed and when filming, we focused more on the characters actions and dialogue rather than what was heard around her. 

As for transitions, we kept to the dip to black as it looked professional and smooth which was perfect for both of our tasks. We mainly used this transition in our Main Task credits to keep the pace slow and suspenseful. As for our Preliminary Task, we used the transition to break each scene up. This therefore, demonstrates a progression as we looked deeper into the meaning of each transition when editing our horror film opening. 

By making these mistakes in our Preliminary task, it taught me to be more cautious and organised in our final task, so that the process would be of higher quality and that it appealed to our target audience. Overall, knowing the features that were needed to create enigma, allowed us to plan and research in much detail to ensure the audience would be drawn to our final horror film opening. 

AS G321: Evaluation - Audience

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Sophie and I decided to target our film towards the younger generation, specifically, 16-28 year olds. This is purely because the themes would be clearly understood. Looking back at the BFI Statistical yearbook, it is evident that the younger generation take interest in action and adventure ('Fast and Furious', 'Kingsman: The Secret Service' and 'The Hunger Games' ), the majority being 15-24 year olds. 
 

Reference: https://www.slideshare.net/isaac97media/horror-film-target-audience Retrieved: 10th April 2017

Research shows that the usual age for the target audience of a horror film is between the ages of 15-25. The most common reason for this is because the younger generation enjoy a thrill and adrenaline rush while watching a film that keeps them on the edge of their seats. Many younger audiences are not put off by graphic images, but are in fact drawn towards them. For example, 'The Human Centipede' (2009) is viewed and known for its unsightly imagery and theme. However, many older viewers would be put off by this. Therefore, our film offers a thrill and suspenseful atmosphere which will attract more of a niche audience. 

Reference: http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/uk-film-council-portrayal-vs-betrayal-case-study.pdf Retrieved: 10th April 2017

The BFI Statistical site took interest into what draws an audience to the various movie genres, this is what I found. 

As shown in the table above, it is clear that 52% of 16-24 year olds, watch films through online streaming which supports our decision of using Netflix as our main platform. In specific, there were 3% more males than females who prefer this which helps us to draw a conclusion that the audience gender on this platform is not an issue. Lastly, since younger viewers prefer watching films digitally or through Blu-Ray (73% DVD), Sophie and I would consider selling our film on DVD, so that our target audience are satisfied. 

The information above shows what the general public want in a good movie, specifically, by asking what statement they agree with the most. As our film's main character is a middle class worker, it is interesting to see what 16-24 year olds think about this. Overall, 1 in 3 say there should be more middle class tragedy in UK films, in total 52% of the young generation agree with the statement as well as 43% of 25-34 year olds. These statistics support our films choices and show that our target audience would be thrilled to watch our movie. 

In conclusion, the statistics show that 36% of males who answered the survey enjoy watching horror films compared to 44% of females. These figures differ from the Sky Horror channel who reported that 58% of the viewers are male. Therefore, these figures demonstrate that both genders under 35 years of age enjoy watching horror films. Finally, the table also shows that social class C2 which consists of the skilled working class who have below average incomes also take interest in horror, this is particularly important when we market our film. 

Our film would be classified 15, therefore, no one under that specific age is allowed to view this movie. 

What might be included in a 15 classified movie:

• Strong Violence               
• Frequent Strong Language
• Discriminatory Language or Behaviour                              
• Drug Use
• Sexual Activity/ References
• Verbal References to Sex
• Sexual Nudity

From the above information, I completed a survey to see what the young generation can tolerate in a horror movie, this is what we found:

I used Microsoft Word to complete this Survey because it can be easily presented and is not time consuming. 

From this data we can conclude that, younger viewers can tolerate most aspects of a 15 classified movie and therefore, not many changes would need to be made before the film is dispatched. 

AS G321: Evaluation - Attracting the Audience

How did you attract/address your audience?

For this question, Sophie and I asked a group of people what they thought of our main task production and what they disliked in a Questionnaire. We did this so that we had enough feedback to make a valid conclusion that our film attracted our target audience (15+).

	What do you like about our film?	Do you like the sound used?	What do you dislike about our film?	Would you watch the rest of the film?
Person 1 (Age 15):	Ambient Sounds Allows the audience to meet the main character.	I like the ambient sounds as it creates a real atmosphere.	The typeface could be more horrific by special effects.	Yes, I would watch the film because the tension slowly builds up which draws the audience in.
Person 2 (Age 19):	I like the narrative so far in the opening because it is creepy and alarming. The dip to black transitions.	Yes, I like the suspenseful music in the back ground, it work well with the scene.	Some of the shots don’t work smoothly.	Yes, I would because I particularly take interest in stalker related films.
Person 3 (Age 25):	Interesting storyline presented with little dialogue.	Yes, the music is very soft yet creepy and unsettling.	There aren’t many special effects or unique aspects.	Yes, I take interest in horror films.

We asked three different aged people a range of questions to see whether their answers met our expectations. 

Interestingly, Person 3 (aged 25) took much interest into the film and understood that it were in the horror genre. We decided not to tell the group what genre our film was in order to see if we incorporated horror conventions. The sound certainly helps make this assumption as it is very low pitched and disquieting. 

Overall, from this Questionnaire we gathered a more specific age group that would be attracted to our film, and this was ages 16-28. This was because younger ages would understand the themes more thoroughly, since it applies to technology and young women's vulnerability. Tension builds up soon after the opening, and this would attract to most young ages such as 15+ (person 1). Being scared and frightened is part of the horror movie 'experience'. If we had a more fast introduction to the movie, it would reveal too much causing the audience to make an initial decision whether or not they would want to watch the rest of the movie, which could possibly decrease the amount of viewers.

Fortunately, a lot of the audience we talked to, said they would be more than happy to watch the rest of the film in their local cinema and would suit most people's interests.

AS G321: Evaluation - Distribution

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

Our horror film would be distributed by 'Loinsgate films' which was founded in 1962 in Montreal and their headquarters are in California, US and Santa Monica. This institution has distributed various horror films including The Cabin in the Woods, The Last Exorcism and The Abandoned. 

In particular, The Cabin in the Woods had a budget of $30 million and earned a worldwide total of $65.9 million where the highest grossing countries were the United Kingdom ($8.5 million), France ($2.4 million) and Russia ($2.3 million). The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a rating of 92%, based on 253 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. 

From this data, it is clear to say that 'Lionsgate films' would be a great to distribute our film as many positive reviews are given to the movies that attracted a mass audience. However, realistically our film was created on a very low budget and uses no special effects therefore, is most likely to be an independent film such as Ex Machina which grossed $25 million on a low budget. 


Furthermore, we could release the film on different platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. This is because we will have limited distribute costs therefore, these are cheaper platform for the target audience to watch it rather than going to the cinema. 

AS G321: Evaluation - Representation

How does your media production represent particular social groups?

In our final media production both genders are represented, however, the male stalker is not identified at this point in time. We decided to keep the primary character female because most likely in horror films, a male is considered the most important as they will end up being the 'hero' of the 'damsel in distress'. Therefore, to contradict this, we used a woman to represent the film and themes that are involved. 

Women are usually sexualised within this genre which is one of the reasons why horror movies are rated 15/18. However, our media production does not include any sexual references, as our target audience is for young teens and it may be inappropriate to show our main actress this way especially since her lifestyle seems very professional. 

We decided to present female representation and social class through a video where we use a whiteboard and marker to simply show why we chose a character of colour and what statistics were shown for black actors/actresses. 

The female stereotype of being innocent and vulnerable is emphasised within the film as she does not yet have a 'hero' to protect her from danger, which could possibly represent her weakness at this point in time. Whereas the stalker in the film is already portrayed as a dominant and tough character who is a danger to 'Ava'. 

Gender stereotypes goes back to the 1800's, it was only in the 1960's feminists made movements and gained supporters and questioning the female stereotypes. Women are often objects of beauty and domesticity, often appeared as seductive or as mentioned above sexualised. Most films especially of the horror genre don't acknowledge womens strength, power and independence, in fact they are usually portrayed as unrealistic and hyper-attractive. However, it is becoming more common especially in the sci-fi franchise such as the Hunger Games and Divergent to include women of courage and force.

Therefore, within our film we wanted to show the independence of women especially in the middle class who are of colour. This is because, the audience do not have to feel empathy for an unrealistic female, as this wouldn't add realism or horror over a everyday hard working woman. Overall, we are happy with our choice of character because it challenges the female representation in current horror movies. 

AS G321: Evaluation Using, Developing and Challenging Media Conventions

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

In this section I will be discussing whether our final media production is similar to those already dispatched or if it challenges/develops the typical horror conventions.

A horror movie would generally follow this criteria/guideline:

Setting

• Isolated places - Dark woods, abandoned houses, subways, lakes, cabins, fields etc.

Camera

• High and Low angles, POV's, slow tilts/pans, handheld shots and extreme close ups.

Iconography

• Visual style - red and black connote fear, darkness and danger.
• Iconography of monsters connote extreme fear, disgust or terror.
• Lighting - Dark, low-key lighting and shadows. Lighting is usually natural such as bonfires, fireplaces and torches.

Themes

• Good vs Evil - Religion - Depression - Revenge - Insanity - Madness - Death

Once we had finished editing our final film opening, we decided to do a Directors commentary discussing the production and why we decided to film it this way. We talked about the lighting, sound, colour and camera techniques and those of which worked well with the horror theme. 

Film Annotations

I used Microsoft Powerpoint to illustrate my annotations because it is quick and easy to use as well as it being a good way to present my points to other viewers and peers.

This porcelain tea set that we used in our media production similarly is used in The Woman in Black opening which I deconstructed. I discussed how it is very fragile and delicate which is considered creepy, as in most horror movies little girls in particular are 'playing' with them. 

AS G321: Film Journal

Film Journal

Sophie and I researched and planned a lot before our filming day to ensure the process was organised and detailed. However, there were a few malfunctions with the camera as well as train times. 

What went wrong?

(Sunday 15th January 2017)

When we arrived at Furze Platt train station at 8:45am, we went through the plans of the day with our actress and extra to ensure that they understood what they were acquired to do. Around 8:50am when our train was supposed to arrive, we realised that the trains were replaced by buses on this specific day. 

However, we were never informed about this and found it frustrating due to the lack of footage we would have. Unfortunately, through all of the further planning we had to do, we missed the bus that was also due to arrive which in turn, wasted valuable time and ruined most of our early morning plans. 

An image of Furze Platt Station

How did you overcome this problem?

(Sunday 15th January 2017)

In order to overcome this problem, we had to find another way of getting from the station into Bourne-End so that we could continue filming. This saved a lot of time than waiting for the next bus which was scheduled to arrive at 9:45am, an hour later. 

Once we successfully found a table at Costa coffee that had good lighting and was relatively empty, Sophie and I discussed our next steps and altered our film schedule by agreeing to film at Bourne-End station after the coffee shop scene. The weather was fairly grey and dull which was perfect for this genre, therefore, we were pleased with these quick changes in the agenda.
An image of Bourne-end Station

This is a quick video to show the setup of the camera and props before we started filming

What went wrong?

(Sunday 15th January 2017)

At around 11:00am after Sophie and I had finished filming for the first half of the opening, we decided to take a break and spend some time talking to our actresses about what they thought about the day. Unfortunately, during our short break, we didn't realise that the SD card was full and this in turn, didn't allow us to record anymore footage. This was a huge problem since we had not finished our recording, and we were also desperate for a new SD card. We even considered buying another card with a larger storage capacity, but due to lack of funds, this wasn't possible.

How did you overcome this problem?

To overcome this problem, I had to use my laptop to upload all the recorded footage and send it to trash in order to create space. This was successful, so we resumed filming and made sure that all footage was stored safely on the card. 
I used a MAC book pro to upload the footage which was quick and efficient

What went wrong?
                                               (Sunday 15th January 2017)

Lastly, during the filming process the camera displayed that the battery had run out. This was a minor problem because the other battery we had was not charged, therefore, we needed to charge it in order to carry on. However, this was going to take about 10-15 minutes, and this was wasting valuable filming time.

How did you overcome this problem?


In order to overcome this problem, we conferred what we planned to do in the next hour and a half. We had a set time limit to when we were to leave the coffee shop because at 13:30, the public needed more seating. So, we waited for the battery to charge half way so that we could finish the scene, but ended up recording short bursts rather than longer durations. This was successful, as we left the coffee shop 10 minutes before we planned to, with just enough time to film the train station scene. 
An image to show where we positioned the camera to portray voyeurism


At 13:20 we walked to Bourne-End station to familiarise ourselves with the area and platform that we intended to film on. It was raining quite heavily, and it was difficult to hold the camera in a position that avoided the rain from damaging the outer layer. We decided to just film 'Ava' walking up to the platform as if she was going to work. This was because, the rain interfered with the quality of footage and the microphone wasn't picking up the ambient sounds such as, footsteps. 

To conclude

Our filming day was a success as we were able to leave with enough footage to meet the time limit and the problems that occurred, were manageable with a little extra thought and discussion. 

AS G321: Editing Journal

In this blogpost I am going to be discussing what Sophie and I focused on during the post production. For example, we incorporated various editing skills within our opening and we spent short periods of time deciding which effect would look the most professional and creepy, to reflect the horror genre. 

Session 1

In Session 1, we spent our time familiarising ourselves with what Adobe Premiere Pro included and what features we used in our preliminary task that we thought would help us in our main production. This is what we did in that hour:

• We chose what footage was going to be the best for our final edit and moved it to a new folder specific for our Main Task. 
• Opened a new project and inserted the media footage in so that we could have the order ready for next time. 
• We saved the project so far and put it into a file on the desktop that held all our Main Task footage and images. 
• We decided to create various folders for this particular project, because files are easier to find as it is tidy and neat. 

The folders we created and used during post-production

Session 2

In Session 2, we focussed on montage editing meaning cutting up the film and editing it into the screened sequence (2:00). We also made sure there was continuity between each transition to ensure it looks efficient. This is how we carried it out:

• Sophie and I started marking the footage in and out so that we could ensure the clip was sufficient enough to meet the maximum time. 
• After trimming it, the edit was 1 minute, however, we had not altered speed or added any transitions, so we were pleased at the outcome.
• We continued repositioning the footage so that it demonstrated continuity and made sure there was a range of camera shots. 
• The camera angles/shots included, mid-shots, close-ups, POV's, Cut in's etc.
• We then rendered the footage in and out.
• The project was then saved as a copy in the 'edited version' folder.

We used Adobe Premiere Pro CS6

Session 3

In Session 3, we had our first check-in with our teacher who gave us constructive feedback on what we needed to do next in order to improve. 

{PICTURE OF CHECK IN SHEET}

{DISCUSS WHAT WAS SAID}

In the upcoming seasons we continued improving and altering the film opening while going back and forth to our focus group for feedback. Below considers all the editing techniques Sophie and I incorporated within the final production.

Transitions

• The only transitions we used between each scene was a dip to black and a cut. 
• We used a cut transition because helps the scenes flow more effectively, especially when your alternating between camera shots. For example, one scene is shot at mid-shot and then next is a close-up.
• A dip to black transition was the most used within our production purely because, it introduces silence and mostly creates tension. This is effective as it can be used a lot in horror films as they have the aspect of surprise and the unexpected. 
• We did try out other transitions but we came to a conclusion that they wouldn't work with our chosen genre. For example, a 'wipe' looked too smooth against the narrative subverting the typical convention of this genre, so that's why we went for something darker and more mystifying. 

  

The darkness represented within the horror genre

Lighting

After we had spoken to our focus group, Sophie and I came to the conclusion of making the colour more rich and enhancing the shadows to indicate horror. On the filming day we didn't have a key light so we agreed on using the coffee shop lighting as our main source which had a yellow and warm tone. However, this made it harder edit on Adobe as the warm feel wasn't easy to manipulate due to it not being a separate layer. 

• The only light source in the last scene was the laptop brightness. The contrast shades determine the creepiness of the stalker who is supposedly hidden in the darkness, and how he reveals himself through technology. 

Sound/Audio

We muted the original ambient sound that was produced as it was very over powering and took much attention away from the scene.

• We used non-diegetic suspenseful music to emphasise the reality of what was happening.
• We controlled the volume of the audio by making it softer and louder in certain areas. When we felt there was a scene that the audience should pay close attention to we would gradually increase he volume of the soundtrack. 
• The audio is parallel with the pace, especially where the credits begin to fade in (speed/duration).
• The only dialogue we had in our production was when AVA is on the phone to her friend organising a night out. It as a causal conversation with a friendly tone. The actress had a british accent.
• A sound bridge was incorporated where the thunder and rain sound increased in volume, and where the 'stalker' is typing the letter. 
• Naturalistic sounds were used (weather) to create verisimilitude which is perfect for the horror genre to create a realistic atmosphere for the audience. 
• Synchronous sound of the laptop typing. 

Lastly during the editing of this production, Sophie & I decided to keep the first scene focused on Ava and what she was doing. This long duration shot allows the audience to focus their attention on the female character understanding her facial expressions, what she is wearing, how old she is etc. If this scene were more fast paced like other horror openings, these details would be missed and therefore, leaving the audience in confusion.