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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?

This process has taught us many things. Firstly, we have learnt how to edit the clips into a full opening sequence in a program that was not necessarily familiar to us. Furthermore, handling the camera boosted our technical skills by very much being forced to 'learn on the job'. Any problems that arose only made us more confident in solving them next time. By having hands-on, practical use with the camera for a long period of time, we developed our camera angles by learning the positioning of different shots.

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

Once finished filming we used many online/computer technologies such as photoshop, and youtube. While using these sites we had to upload what we'd taken a picture of or filmed and cut it down to the size we needed. While on photoshop we had to crop and then reserve the image so that it would fit correctly onto our blog and then while on youtube we had to convert videos to quicktime, and then upload to youtube, this process took a while but once on youtube it meant copying and sharing our videos for feedback was a lot easier. Two other computer technologies we used were garage band and itunes. On garage band we found background music that we cut down and distorted to fit with our opening scene, and our main song 'teddy bears picnic' we found on youtube and therefore had to convert to mp3 to work with itunes which we then copied onto final cut pro which was the main editing process for our film.

We used the main filming camera to film only our opening scene, as it had the best quality however while using the camera was a useful technology, we did experience some problems during the filming process. On our first day of shooting, after filming the first main sequence, we discovered that is was in fact taking pictures not video clips. This of course did not help our very time-sensitive situation. These shots had to be re-filmed. After this, later that day, the camera ran our of battery which of course stunted the whole plan for that day. As a result of this, we made arrangements to reschedule for a different day. All of these factors held us up but we managed to be flexible and organised in solving these issues. Dispite the faults mentioned, the camera was easy to use, playback, monitor and transfer clips onto the computer afterwards for editing.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

For our film opening and whole media product we have decided that the audience we feel would enjoy our film would be young adults from the ages of 17- 25.
This is because, the film is based on a family going for a picnic in the woods on a nice day which the audience can relate to and put themselves in the characters shoes.
Also we did some research and from what we found out, young adults from the ages of 17- 20 tend to like watching thrillers more than any other film. Therefore we thought that we would aim our film for that age group because they are more likely to go to the cinema and watch it rather than the older generation who wouldn't go to the cinema or the younger generation who are too young to watch it and wouldn't have money to go and watch it.
Therefore we feel that choosing young adults as the audience for our film will promote our film greatly and give us good views on it.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Voice Recorder >>

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

Screen Gems is an American movie production company founded as a film studio in 1999 meaning it's quite modern, and well known. We feel this company would be great for our film to work with as because it's so modern it matches the modern theme of our film making it much more realistic for our audience. This film company would also be great to work with our film as they've previously distributed thriller films which are extremely similar ours. Such as 'When A Stranger Calls'. this company however is extremely well known within America and we have worries that our film would do much better in England than the USA. However we are willing to take the risk and distribute our film with this company. This is because the films that they've recently distributed such as 'Underworld' and 'The Vow' have done extremely well across the world, and not just in one particular country.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

One of the main social groups within our film is 'Family'. We've represented a typical day family as a mother, father and young child. We've chosen this as we feel this is how our target audience see a family now a days, and therefore we wanted it to relate to them as much as we could. One of the main reasons why we've chosen to include main characters within a family is because we noticed that thriller/horror films we've researched don't really include any meaning it would be a new type of storyline compared to any other film. The family within our film seem very tight and together meaning that when the young girl does go missing this makes the scene even more tense and intriguing for the young audience who'll be watching.

the family to the right is the family from 'Insidious' another film much like ours, we've been looking back to this film for inspiration throughout and therefore some things are very similar. This however masks us know that our film would most likely be as successful as theirs. The only problem would be that the audience may not have like the film 'insidious' and therefore not watch another film like it.

In what way does your media product use, develop or change forms and conventions of a real media product?

Comparing our film to another similar helped us to develop understanding of our genre, we decided to use the same colour scheme as we felt this provided the audience with enough clues to show the type of genre they'd be watching. We felt this was needed to match the colour scheme to the style of font. They contrasted very well we thought and that this helped the audience again gain understanding with the type of film they'd be watching. The two shots were also on the screen for a similar amount of time. We decided to do this as the film we're comparing ours to 'When A Stranger Calls' is very popular and gained a lot of views at the box office, showing that the film was obviously filmed well, and the shots were on for an appropriate amount of time letting the audience read the titles etc. We felt making our font style similar overall added more understanding to the film and shown the audience that the film wasn't going to be a comedy/romance it straight away we feel gave them the idea that it was going to be some sort of thriller or horror without giving too much away, leaving suspense. - Sadie

With the title of the film we decided to use the same font as we did with the titles. We kept the back ground black which is also the same as our other titles, we done this because in the opening sequence of "When a stranger calls" they have kept their titles the same and the back grounds, we felt that this would be a good similar technique to use because it makes the film look more professional and keeps the film opening more intriguing, therefore the audience will be more entertained and want to watch on to see what happens. Also we have made our font blurred because we wanted to make it look more effective, also we thought that it would create the connotation that something bad is going to happen. However, the blurred effect could show to the audience that because the title is blurred and twisted then that could be an indication that the film is also Twisted. - Jade.

We chose to have our film set in the woods as we felt this would show the audience how one place can be represented in different ways depending on the weather/editing/characters involved. E.g. when the witch is around in each scene the shot goes slightly blurred and the colour distorts making it seems much more spooky, this happens also in the 'When A Stranger Calls' opening scene as when the male character is shown weird sound effects are used to show that something in the shot is not quite as it seems, the shot is also much darker when he is around making it seem again much more spooky and confusing for the audience. We also used the woods as we felt it matches up to the 'When A Stranger Calls' setting, this is because a fairground is where a family would visit to enjoy time together, much like the setting we've chosen. The woods we felt also represented our genre perfectly, as its wide spaced and a place where someone could easily get lost but be hard to find, this goes perfectly with the storyline of our film, and also goes along with usual conventions of a thriller/horror film (a place where you should feel safe, but never know whats going to happen!). - Sadie

In these screenshots we have noticed that in the film "when a stranger calls" the bad guy is in the dark so that the audience can not make out what he looks like which will keep them in suspense. We also noticed that the good guys are in colour and you can always see who they are. Because of this we thought that we would introduce our good characters in full colour so that the audience can get the idea that the characters are good. In "When a stranger calls" the bad guy is alone and with a dog, which we noticed that in thriller type films the bad guy is usually alone because he is plotting his attack. With our witch we have filmed her feet and kept her alone because we thought that the audience will want to watch on as they will want to know who she is, what she looks like and what she is going to do tho the happy family. We found that introducing the characters in this way was similar to the way the film opening of "When a stranger calls" and therefore would appear much more as a thriller based genre rather than any other film. - Jade.

Like many horror/thriller films we've decided to distort the scenes where the main 'scary' character is around, this makes it clear to the audience that they're the witch/whatever the bad character is. distorting the sound also makes it seem much more like a thriller as it increases intensity fro the audience keeping them on the edge of their seat. Throughout the whole film we've made sure that the continuity of it fits well and makes sense. At some points however we realised that the filming wasn't in the correct order making the film confusing so we had to re edit it to make it make sense, this again made the intensity much stronger as the film flowed quite quickly. We also slowed down some of the scenes to not only make it fit the music appropriately but to also make it drag, making it seem like the environment we were filming in was much bigger than it actually was. - Sadie

JADE NEED TO WRITE THIS PART! :)

Our use of costume and props was thought out carefully. The key prop of the teddy bear conveys innocence of childhood. However in our film, the meaning of childhood is twisted into something sinister and this matches the dark theme of the narrative. In terms of the use of costume, the actress playing the witch is dressed in a full black outfit that hides her identity and combined with the little girls red coat, this draws connotations of danger, death and despair.Another prop we used was of course the picnic itself, this consisted of a tea set and a mat complete with a wicker basket. Just like the teddy bear, we wanted to convey innocence so the audience would sympathise with the character of the young girl and that would make it more frightening when trouble comes along. This contrast is something we observed in other thriller films and took it on a technique of our own. - Kat

Construction-Final

CONTINUITY

13/03/12

We've almost finished editing the film, we're filming a few more shots which will be added in due course.

Editing 06/03/12

Feed Back!

23 year old Female:
I think this is a good storyline and would really like to see it in the cinema as I feel it would be a real scary movie. No goar, no blood but it still keeps your heart pumping fast. I feel a movie like this would recieve a good audience because The Woman In Black has just done so well.

SHOT LIST

1. Ident
2. Titles
3. Medium shot of the itches foot - tracking her.
4. Cut to point of view of the witch, from behind the tree - family walk in from the left.
5. Young girl drops bear, edit goes into slow motion (black and white, blurred shot tracking the family).
6. Medium shot of the family setting up the picnic.
7. Close up of the young girls face when she realises that the bear has gone missing.
8. Girl in focus, in foreground, parents out of focus in the background - girl runs past camera.
9. Cut to girl running - the camera tracks alongside her, with some shots of the setting surrounding her in between.
10. Cut to close up of the witches feet.
11. Tilt shot going up to reveal further identity of the witch.
12. Cut back to the parents running in the same previous surroundings as the girl was running.
13. Sharp cut, of a simultaneous snatch between the witch and young girl - who are both snatching for the bear.
14. Over the shoulder shot of the back of the witches head, and the young girls reaction - camera pans round to reveal the witches face.
15. Parents come to the same position as we previous seen the young girl and witch.
16. Black screen, with the words 'THE NEXT DAY...'.
17. Point of view shot of the witch behind the tree (as per beginning). The detective and parents walk in from the left.
18. Sharp cut to destroyed picnic.
19. Close up of the parents and detectives reactions.
20. A shot back to the picnic, but close up.
21. The girl, bear and witch hand in hand walking away together into the distance. The camera distorts and goes black and white.
22. Title.

PLOT - TEDDY BEARS PICNIC (Made for feedback)

The film TEDDY BEARS PICNIC is about a young family, a mum, dad and their young daughter. The family decide to go into the woods for a fun, exciting teddy bears picnic together but this picnic becomes twisted and all is not what it seems.
The young girl 'Piper' drops her favourite bear and without her parents knowing and runs away to go searching for it, little does she know the woods is owned by a crazy, controlling witch who captures those who walk on her turf. The girl is captured by the witch, and the hunt for her begins. the picnic was left by the parents the day of the capturing in a good state, however when they return the picnic is all smashed and the teddies and ripped apart, and all unstuffed.
the family is torn apart, and the detective must put the pieces of evidence together to find the young helpless girl.

DISTRIBUTORS

SCREEN GEMS: This film company would be great to work with our film as they've previously distributed thriller films like ours. Such as 'When A Stranger Calls'. this company however is extremely well known within America and we have worries that our film would do much better in England than the USA. However we are willing to take the risk and distribute our film with this company. This is because the films that they've recently distributed such as 'Underworld' and 'The Vow' have done extremely well across the world, and not just in one particular country.

28/02/12

During today's lesson we've been doing our pre-filming preparation ready for the weekend. For example, the list of props and costumes has been divided between us so we're all responsible to bring certain things on the day. We're also checking with our actors/actresses involved that they can be at the set for the date and time we've decided. Unfortunately, the person who agreed to do the make-up is now not available for when we are filming. As an alternative, there is only one shot of the main character's face where the make-up would be used, so we can film that one shot at a later date. We have also collected the camera and tripod equipment from the technician base.

The remainder of the time left this lesson has been tying up lose ends such as getting our continuity up together and doing varies things on the blog. Once we've filmed the material, we will want to focus solely on the editing process so we are creating our titles and fonts etc in advance so we can simply add them in during the editing stage. Our attention to detail in preparation for the filming has been carried out to the letter to ensure no last minute concerns or panics. For example we have checked the weather forecast.

Next lesson, we will be continuing with the titles and any last minute arrangements.

TITLES FONT

We feel this font called '28 days later' would be perfect for our film as it seems quite mysterious yet readable, much like out film itself. We may however swap the colour of the actual writing to be white so the background can be darker.

FINAL STORYBOARD

KAT drew the images for the storyboard, and SADIE uploaded and edited the images into one whole image.

Lesson 21/02/12

In this double lesson we have got quite a lot done. We finished our Story board, took pictures of it and uploaded them on to the computer. We also uploaded our indent to the blog and evaluated it. On the other hand we also researched music for our film opening and uploaded some screen shots of them on to the blog and wrote why we have chosen them and where about's we could put them in the film.

Music Ideas!

Here we have an idea of a suspense moment for our film opening. We found that it would fit well when the witch would take the teddy or when the girl walks off and finds the teddy with the witch.

Again, here we have another suspense sound. We thought that this would also fit in well when the witch takes the teddy bear. Also, it could fit well when the witch picks up the teddy bear with the girl as it would give the audience a scared affect as they know something bad will happen to the girl.

Here we have a sound that is called "Flurry". We found that this sound would fit well when the girl is running to try and find her bear. On the other hand, we found that it would also fit well when the parents are running around trying to find the daughter.

This sound effect is called "Alien Impact". We found that this could tie in well when the parents have realised that the daughter is missing and start to panic. However, it could also be used for when we have a close up on the witch's feet and see her facing the daughter indicating that she is going to capture her.

Again here we have another sound effect that could fit well with when the parents have realised they have lost their daughter. On the other hand, we believe that this sound effect could be used when the family are walking up the hill to the setting of their picnic, while the witch is watching them. This could indicate to the audience that something horrible is going to happen to the family.

Here we have looked up on youtube the song "Teddy bears picnic". We are using this song in our film opening because we thought that it fitted in well with our film because it is a family going for a picnic and the daughter has lost her teddy bear. Also, as we researched horror/thriller music we found that most thrillers have songs that are usually known to be innocent but when put into a thriller they then have a new twisted vibe about that which affects the audience mentally and when they hear that song they will remember all the thriller things that happened in the film.

IDENT EVALUATION

Media Blog Work - Idents

IDENT

Courtney will be doing our make up for the opening scene of the film, she does theatrical make up as a college course so we as a group felt it would be best to have someone who knew what they were doing rather than us doing it all our selves.
The above picture is evidence of one of our conversations about the dates she is available to help etc.

The Teddy Bears Picnic!

This is the type of teddy bears picnic we want to create, a very stereotypical one. We do however want to use a few more bears to make it more dramatic when the bears are destroyed. We will also use different types of bears and not the same ones as that would make the set seem a bit boring and tedious throughout shots! We also want to make it seem much more realistic than the image above which clearly isn't real food, or bears.

Location Photos

Our film location is in the woods,

This photo is the shot we feel we'd like to use when the witch is lerking behind trees and following the family, we would however blur this shot a bit and make it black and white to get across the fact it's through the witches eyes.

Here shows the path were we want our family to walk along while they head for there picnic, its bright and spaced out giving the effect nothing bad could happen here.

This is the area in the woods where we feel the family of 3 would set up their 'teddy bears picnic'. This part of the woods seems almost isolated from the rest making it the perfect spot to film as we could use shots to make it feel isolated and cramped when we see the witch, but then also show wider shots when the 'happy' family are around.

This is the spookiest shot we got, it's the type of effect we want to use when the witch is either in shot, or the camera is giving her point of view. we feel this should work well as it's the opposite type of shot from the ones we want to use when the family is around.

This is the area where we want to shot the child running to find her bear, we've chose this area as there are obstacles to overcome and things to get away from, making it seem more exciting for the audience.

Lesson 03-02-12

During this lesson to start with the 3 of us decided on the shot list and how our film would be conveyed making it easier for Kat to start the proper version of the film story board.
Sadie then completed the treatment for the opening scene, while jade continued searching for the different types of clothing the characters will be wearing.
We then came together as a group at the end to decide on more parts of the storyboard, and images.

TREATMENT

Teddy Bears Picnic

Character's costumes.

Detective.

Here is a pair of trousers which the detective would wear in our thriller opening. We have gone for a smart casual look.

Another item of clothing we have decided the detective to wear would be a plain white smart shirt to show his importance. The connotation of white is pure which will give the audience a sense that he knows what is going on.

To your left we have the detective's coat. We decided to go with a modern day kind of coat and not a trench coat like the detective "Sherlock Holmes" wears. We have done this because we did not want to do the stereotypical detective that people usually see on television with a pipe and magnifying glass.

We have chosen the character's shoes to be black because it gives a sinister look and goes with the dark vibe that goes with our film opening.

Mother.

Here we have the Mother's jeans. We have chosen to give her a young and stylish look. We thought to give her a nice slim fit because that is the style nowadays.

To the left we have got the Mother's coat. We decided to go with the style of a warm coat because she is in the woods on a chilly day at the start of spring.

Here we have gotten a pair of wellies that the Mother is going to wear. We decided to go with wellies because they are walking around in the woods at the start of spring which means that the mud will be everywhere and it will be all wet.

Father.

Here we have the Father's coat. We have tried to give him a stylish look with a coat that is in season at the moment. However, it is nice and warm so fits in well with the theme of our film opening.

Here we have the Father's jeans. We have again tried to give him a stylish look with jeans that are in fashion however we tried to die them down because he is in the woods and they will just get ruined.

Here we have the Father's wellies. For the same reason as the Mother, he is wearing wellies because of all of the mud in the woods and it ties in well with our film opening.

Child.

Here we have the child's coat. We decided to give her a "Hello Kitty" coat because it gives the sense that the child is a typical little girl who loves pink. This will give off that the child is sweet and innocent and this will effect the reader.

Here we have the child's trousers. We have given her just some simple jeans that a young child would have.

Here we have the child's wellies. We have given her pink wellies because our little girl character is known as a stereotypical little girl that loves pink.

Lesson 31-01-12

During this lesson Sadie and Jade researched into the different styles of make up which would be appropriate for the witch character in the psychological thriller, they then researched into what the male detective character may wear. The website www.burton.co.uk was used to research the clothing.

Sadie then researched into how the two different types of woods would be conveyed through out the film, choosing lighter woods when the family is around and darker tones when the witch is in shot or the audience is viewing the film through her eyes.

Kat in the mean time was focusing on the plan of the story board, and choosing the correct shots for each take, and the order of which they'd be viewed by the audience eventually.

The view of the woods through characters eyes!

These 2 images of a wood shows how we want to create different atmospheres for different characters. On the left the wood seems light and spread out! This is what we'll see when the family is around, however to the right of the picture the woods are darkened, misty and slightly blured. This is how we want to get across the woods when the with is either in shot, or when we're seeing the enviroment through her eyes as a point of view shot.

Witch Make-Up Research

We like this style of make up however we feel we'll use a more low key style, to make it seem much more realistic rather than a slapstick cartoon style. We don't want our witch to be stereotypical, therefore we're taking away the warty nose, and large chin etc.



The video above is how we feel we want to get across the style of the witch. It looks scary yet old and sort of vintage. The costume of the witch however we feel is much to light, we want our witch character to be in dark gothic clothes to get across her dark life and emotions.

Insidious Screen Shots

Dexter - Title Sequence

Dexter is an American tv show rather than a film, therefore some of the shots are completely different to some thriller films, however I feel it connects perfectly with ours. E.g. Taking usual everyday items and twisting their meaning, creating suspense and intrest for the audience. This is exactly what we want to do with our psychological thriller film.

The first shot we see is of a mosquito being slapped, and squashed onto what seems to be a mans arm. ThThe man hits the mosquito quite hard getting across his anger. After he realises the mosquito is dead he smirks, and I feel this shows the audience that he is proud of killing the creature. (This maybe foreshadows whats to come in the programme).

After this shot the title is shown in a very bold font, in a blood red colour. With each drop of blood that lands on the background the colour of the typography gets darker and darker, again getting across that the programme may get darker throughout the series.

There are then various everyday shots such as shaving, cutting food, blending coffee, and flossing. However these shots play with the mind as they're close up which play with the mind. For example, the raw meat that the male character is cutting looks like human flesh, and the flossing scene gets across that the character could be preparing a murder.
The final close up shot we see of the male character is him putting in his shirt, the way of which he does this however makes the audience feels as if he's hiding his identity, this connects with the close up of the door looking. I feel the shot of the door being locked shows the audience how the character likes his identity to be somewhat locked, and closed away much like his possesions.

The final shot of the whole sequence is of the male character walking away from his house, and looking directly to the camera making an automatic link with the audience. The sound which kind of 'dings' in the background makes it seem as if the character is winking towards the viewers. This makes him seem cheeky and a neighbourly type of person who people get along with.

Jeepers Creepers Frame By Frame

Jeepers Creepers Screen Shots

When A Stranger Calls Opening Scene

The first 25 seconds of the film is just simple dialogue between a 2 callers, one a younger female and the second an older male. You can tell this by the tone of their voices, however the title of the film suggests to the audience that this opening dialogue isn't going to be all what it seems. During the last few words of the call the camera takes a quick zoom into the window. This first shot also establishes that fact that it's night time.

 After the phone conversation has ended the camera pans to the right showing that the house where one of the callers is, is backed onto by a fairground. Connotaions of a fairground would be: Fun, Bright, Exciting. And this is the flip side to what the film is about. Fairgrounds also suggest that children may be involved as it's where they're likely to go to have fun with friends etc.

The camera then quickly changes direction and zooms into the centre of the fairground, and tracks two children running, shouting and having fun.

A shot is then established of a strange dark figure walking a dog in an isolated part of the fairground, this automatically makes the male figure seem mysterious. Two jump shots then occur zooming into the males face again making the figure seem myserious and concealed.

The call is then re-dialed and the camera pans straight back up to the house which we recognise as it was the first shot of the whole scene. This then makes us aware that this house is maybe where some of the film may be shot ans some of the main action could take place.

The mysterious male figure is then caught on shot once again, next to the same post he should have previously walked past. As this show is further on in the scene this may suggest to the audience that the man had been stood near the post perhaps watching something. The older male sat on the bench then waves and the younger male figure then waves back, which all seems completely normal.

The shot then cuts to a house on what seems to be a regular street in America, in the distance however we can see a blacked out figure stood at the door with their hands on their hips. This body language may suggest that the person is waiting for something/someone and is getting increasling impatient.

The camera then tilts upwards towards a brightly light sign, the main focus point on the sign being the word 'JESUS' this shows that the neghbour is obviously religious, and therefore the audience wouldn't expect anything bad to happen here. However in the background of the house where the shadowed figure is standing we can notice the fairground once again, showing that this is the house that has been previously shown in the first shot.

The camera then makes a sharp zoom into the figure, and in the background we can hear this happen also due to sound effects. The camera then zooms in once more and we can tell that the figure at the door is a woman who is frantically calling childrens names. This suggests that the children have been outside, and due to the body language in the previous shot, they're maybe late home or something similar.

The shot then cuts once again to the fairground scene and we start of with seeing children jumping at the fence waiting for the ride. However after a few split seconds we see a figure walk briskly across the scene, and as the figure is similar to the male one in previous shots we can quickly connect them together.

The camera then again cuts to a shot at the back of the house which we previously seen during the first shot. The phone line then starts ringing through again ans a young girl answers saying 'Hello? Hello?' This shows that the person calling is unknown to her, and is a stranger calling. This connects with the title and therefore shows the audience what the film will be about, and based around.