Wednesday, 4 May 2011

Evaluation Question 7

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

Before I did the preliminary task my knowledge about filming and making a movie and editing wasn't really useful so we both me and my partner started the process from the same level and the preliminary task was the first piece you could call a edited scene we did on our own.
Therefore it was a good task to do before the actual part of the coursework to get used to camera equipment and the software "Final Cut Pro" which we have used for our editing. I would say after I finished the preliminary task I felt more confident and familiar with filming and especially editing a sequence because I have never done something like that before and never used a program like final cut before. In addition  it was very useful to see what extent of your effort is needed for such a short sequence to measure how long and how much effort it's gonna take for a final opening sequence.

Evaluation Question 6

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


During the process of constructing our opening sequence I have learnt a lot about technologies which are useful to create a good movie. One part was during the actual filming to get used to the camera with all the different settings and effects you can already add while your still filming.
                              Sony DCR-HC62E ( The camera we used for our movie)




The second part was the editing. After we collected our footage we did our editing with Macintosh computers and several programs. That was the actual part we started to play with the movie and add music and effects, make cuts and change speed. Before we started editing I have never worked with "Final Cut Pro" but after a introduction session we get used to it and could transfer our ideas into the program and change everything like we expected.







The music for our movie we made by ourselves with "Garage Band". We started to play with loops and put them together and check if they fit, delete pieces which didn't and add new ones. At the end of the day we put a continuing violin melody together with two other loops which sound like a sort of synthesize sounds. We get influenced by the movie "Shutter Island" for our own music because the music is an important part and in this particular movie the music change the whole emotion during a scene.





Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/ address your Audience?

Our audience are young people who want to see a thriller movie with suspense and action and an independent production. Therefore we tried through or shots, camera angles and movement to increase the suspense during the movie. We have chosen a typical characters for that kind of movie. Celina as blond, attractive schoolgirl chased by a character with a creepy clown mask to make it more exiting.




Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

 The target audience for our movie are people who like movies produced or distributed by independent companies instead of a Hollywood-production. Young people who are producing their own independent movies to get new ideas and an overview about the competitive and thriller or horror fans who wants to see a lot of suspense, spine chilly scenes an causing nightmarish movies. We have chosen a clown as the creepy murderer because there is a widespread of horror movies where the clown mutates to the creepy murderer e.g. Stephen Kings "Es" where a clown kidnaps and murders children in a small town and a group of friends tries to kill "Es".

Because we made a creepy and a kind of horror-thriller the average age of our audience should be 15+.


Evaluation Question 3

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

A media institution who might distribute my media product would be an independent movie company, maybe one which is specialized on thriller movies, because our media product is not high quality produced with "Hollywood standard" with special effects or famous actors and without a million dollar budget. We made our sequence on a Macintosh and used programs like "Final Cut" or "Garage Band", these are programs which are available for everybody are not the top of the top but enough to produce a quality movie.
Therefore an independent movie company like "Coffee Films" would distribute our movie. "Coffee Films" distribute newcomers or movies made by young people from the next generation. Small independent companies like "Coffee Films" are looking for talent and mostly for young people who put a lot of effort into their productions and have new ideas and try completely new things nobody have seen before in this branch.   



Tuesday, 3 May 2011

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our opening scene we only have 3 actors. We use two girls, Selina and Celina both are blonde. They are dressed smartly in school uniform, they also look young and innocent just like how you would percieve any normal teenager to look. Blondes are stereotyped for being attractive, dumb or stupid. In the sequence they are represented this way, as two attractive girls who look after themselves like in "Gossip Girls". A good film to show blonde stereotyping is Legally Blonde. In this film, Elle, the main character is trying to win back her ''true love''. Because he wants to be a lawyer, therefore going to Harvard, she thinks if she can prove to him that she is clever, he will take her back.



Social groups like that are more likely to be chosen to play in thriller or horror movies. Alfred Hitchcock used young, attractive,(blonde) female characters in his movies, e.g. Marion Crane (fictional character) from his masterpiece Psycho or Amber Heard in "All the boys love Mandy Lane" the same kind of character we tried to represent in our sequence.