Evaluation question 1

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

Our media product develops the conventions of a general Horror movie opening. When thinking about the genre we were targeting we noticed that there were various long/close-ups but not many medium shots. Looking at the screen grabs from 9 different points in our film I would say that it is quite typical of a horror movie opening. Close ups seen in shots 2 and 4 show the characters expression – vital for telling the audience what they are feeling – this is a big part of thriller/horror films.

Long shots take up most of the screen grabs; this sets the scene and shows the location. The background and set is vital for this genre and this is why long shots are so important, spacious sets leave room for the character to move freely and any other characters to enter; since it is so open it also leaves a lot of room for sudden things to happen which builds tension, as you can see our set location is also in a wide area which is again typical of a horror movie.

Although it is set in the conventional place, the lighting challenges what is normally considered of a horror movie during shots 7 and 8 since we film out in the open, normally the lighting is dim; dark to make the mood eerie. This isn’t a problem though, because for the start of the film our character is seen running through a forested area which means the lighting will be naturally low.

The titles for the first and last screen grabs are made up of blacks, whites and reds; complimenting the horror theme because these are colours seen often, the audience will relate these colours to the genre and will give them an idea right from the start of what they should expect.By using the normal conventions of a horror movie this should help the film to sell well, it is within the audiences’ expectations and therefore pleasing. However there are enough ideas about the opening to make it original so that it will not become boring and predictable.

Evaluation question 7

When looking back at the perliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in progression from it to full product?

When looking back at the preliminary task we can see how much we have learnt since the beginning of our project; many of the shots on the preliminary were unsteady as our use of the tripod and camera techniques were a new experience, we did not think through what we were doing with our shots as much as we did when we were filming the final piece. There was no variety of angles or different lengths when shooting the scene, during the preliminary we stuck to middle shots and it was very basic compared to the final piece where there was a whole range of different camera work. When recording the scenes we also filmed each one several times in case something went wrong and so that we also had a selection of clips to choose from, this was not the case in the beginning where we only filmed the shots a couple of times, if not just the one clip on its own.
Lighting also differed in the Preliminary because one angle was a lot more brightly lit than the other, at that stage we wouldn’t have changed it but now we have learnt that continuity is extremely important, without it there would be a huge problem.

Editing on our film opening was done right at the end of the project, because of this we were more experienced and the cuts fitted smoothly together. We had gotten more practice not just with video but with transitions and audio as well. In the beginning editing was rough, clips didn’t run smoothly and it often looked strange when the cuts jumped to different shots. Almost no transitions were used and the sound that accompanied the scenes was patchy. Our use of match on action was basic, it worked and was good since it was our first attempt but the shots did not run as smoothly as desired.
Although it was unsteady, the editing we did do at this stage was good since it gave us practice and let us get to know the programme we would be using, if we had not done this (or other attempts at editing throughout the project) I do not think our film would have turned out very well, Adobe Premiere Pro is at times difficult to use and without previous experience it would not only have taken us a lot longer to complete but would have been frustrating to understand.

Completing the Preliminary task also taught us that we needed to keep in mind the 180 degree rule and shot/reverse shot at all time when filming, this was exceedingly important because otherwise our film would probably have been unclear. We knew when filming to keep the camera one side at all times or else the opening would not have made sense; more than once we reminded ourselves when repositioning the camera to remember what angle the previous shot was set at.

Evaluation question 6

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

  The main tech we used was of course the Camera, a Cannon FS200, we found that the camera was, reliable and managed to successfully film a decent quality of film, but we felt the way it lets you zoom in and out was un ideal as it made the zoom not as smooth as we wanted. But on the other hand the handheld quality to it was very important to our movie so it fitted in nicely altogether.

The tripod was of course another important piece of equipment needed, this was used for static and moving shots and we felt holding on the tripod was able to mean we could move the camera while keeping it stable, and minimal shakes.

And again with a panning shots it meant we could have a very stable base to follow action with.

With Adobe we have had a love hate relationship while using it, mainly because it crashed, froze, was generally hard to use, and difficult to manoeuvre and edit clips into the correct place. In fact as I was writing this, it was crashing causing us to lose time and rush certain parts of the editing.

This was real thorn in our side, and really limited the editing abilities we had, and the ideas that we had wanted to use were soon cast away with the realisation that this programme, isn't very good.

Facebook was a really good use of social networking for us, first of all using it to make our production company page, this helped us vastly in creating polls and asking our consumers questions on what they would like in the movie.

YouTube was another great medium on which to use. First of all for research, no doubt hours of time was spent browsing YouTube looking for inspiration on first, for our movie idea, and then how to execute it and how other people have done this as well. Finally it was also used to put on our rough cut and preliminary exercise, followed by the animated story board. This fantastic media tool really helped is spread the word about our movie.

Evaluation question 5

How did you attract/adress your audience

We mainly attracted our audience from the genre of film itself, because the genre is so popular in itself. This makes our job a lot easier because most people in our specific target audience would take the risk to come see a new horror movie, but we were helped by taking some ideas from previous films similar to ours, the facebook group we created where we could create polls to ask our friends and family and of course the rough cut feedback.

Firstly we set up the facebook page “Dead-Cell Productions” the name of our production company, http://jamesl94.blogspot.com/b/post-preview?token=5cNHCTcBAAA.IiZuXpAWECqobI7mDiyGQw.j3om9UDWRDWu9qKVpj86zQ&postId=2402477464840931738&type=POST on this site we conducted a poll as you can see from the screenshot on this link. The outcome of the poll was horror winning, this shows that we have got our genre spot on, in relation to our audience feedback. This has acted as a great way to contact the audience, as we have asked more questions and put our animated storyboard on there as well. We also used this medium to decide the title colours and design for our movie. So we have already sparked the interest with our audience by getting them involved in the design.

Another way we can relate to our genre and target audience is through the music we have used for our piece. We have specifically used music that our target audience would listen to, we feel that this just gives them an extra incentive to come and see our film, and overall enjoy it more. But of course the music we have chosen in the heavier end of the spectrum, which means it fits in nicely with the whole horror, zombie apocalypse idea.

The similarities with other movies vary. Technically we are similar to the movie clover field which employs the same use of a handheld camera to see from the character point of view.

But if you talk about the storyline we are definitely similar to “I am Legend” or the “28 days later” series of films. In “I am Legend” we see the last man (or so he thought) on Earth trying to find the cure for a disease that lead to a Zombie apocalypse, in our story is similar that in we have our main character that has the cure and it is about his journey to get the cure to safety.

I feel our unique selling point is how we have used the hand held camera. Like I said about the similarities with “Cloverfield” this is quite a uncommon technique used in films, so it really gives us another level of popularity because it is different from anything else being filmed at this current time. We feel it adds to the audience’s enjoyment, as they see the film from our characters point of view, so they can feel like they are part of the action and feel the emotions of the character throughout the film.

Evaluation question 4

Evaluation question 3

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

 

Whilst researching into possible companies which may want to distribute our film I discovered Bounty Films. Bounty films are a good example of a company that would possibly want to distribute our film. Bounty films deal in small and independent films that are made on a low budget.

On the basis that our film is made on a low budget, and uses unknown actors, there would be no interest from huge production/distribution companies to have involvement in our film. It’s the first film and not a sequel, so there is no previous evidence or sales figures to go on, or to attract any investors. Bounty films specialise in small movies (that can sometimes be controversial) such as the human centipede.

Any small distribution company may be interested in our movie, as its fairly low risk involved in distributing it. Bounty films do specialise in the zombie/horror genre of distribution, and if the film sold well, would do the same for any sequels made (as they distributed the human centipede 1 + 2). Our company name of “dead cell productions” tried to fit in with the codes/conventions of the horror theme, both in its naming and its design.

Evaluation question 2

 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main character in our media production is named Alex mason. He is the survivor in a zombie apocalypse and works for a chemical company that created a cure for the disease that is turning people into “zombies”. The character that he represents and is compared to is Robert Neville (played by Will Smith) the leading role in the film I Am Legend.

Robert Neville: The character in I Am Legend is the supposed to be the last survivor on earth after the “infection”. He travels alone and carries with him just his gun and his dog for company. He wears just simply light clothing, a t shirt, open shirt and jeans. This character is very strong and independent, since he has nobody to take orders from; he is his own man and can do what he wants. He is very intelligent and is able to know when the infected come out, what to do and how to survive in the post apocalyptic world. The city that he is in is completely uninhabited and he is the only survivor.

Alex Mason: Our character is similar to Robert in many ways. He is also intelligent and knows how to handle his environment. The key difference in the two stories in that in our film, the zombie apocalypse is fairly premature, whereas in I Am Legend the world has been post apocalyptic for years. Alex doesn’t carry any guns or weapons, he works for a chemical company and his strong point is his mind. As you can see from the screen grabs below, the characters are dressed in a similar way. Both Alex and Robert have the whole storyline of the films based around them, with very little interaction with other characters.

Make up test

Before we went out filming we tested the acrylic paint we had got, to see what effects we could do with it. Lauren tested it out on herself and created a zombie bite mark on her neck. The great thing about acrylic paint is you can build up texture and layers (which is why we got 3 colors) as opposed to just buying the cheap fake blood and letting it run everywhere. So Lauren applied the paint in layers using the different colors and came up with some pretty cool effects.





The wound looks fairly dirty and messy which fits in perfectly with the movie! So with this done, the zombie outfit made everything was all set to shoot the film scene of the movie!

My zombie outfit

When creating my zombie outfit to wear i tried to stick to the conventional zombie look of Torn and tattered blood stained clothes. I didn't have a big budget to do it on however, unlike most movie makers.
So before creating it I looked around the internet and found some images of people in homemade zombie outfits to see if there was anything I could re-create.



Whilst looking I found this image which I took some inspiration from, I thought it best to use scissors and cut up some old clothes and add some blood, and try to make it look as good as possible.

I managed to create this, although not perfect i tore up an old t shirt and added a small amount of blood splats, when we went out filming I did add some dirt and some mud to this to make it look more realistic. 

Props

So with the final scene needing to be filmed shortly we had to a quire some props and make up to make me look like a zombie. Based on our research we found that zombie films often included Blood, and lots of it. so with this in mind we wanted to try and create a fairly realistic looking wound/blood splats on my face and neck area. To do this we decided it would be good to use some acrylic paint, as it was easy to work with, and wouldn't be too runny, meaning we could create some realistic looking effects.

After we had the paint all I had to do was create a zombie outfit to wear, then the final scene could begin.



Here are the tubes of acrylic paint we got, we thought that to get the best possible effect we should get a dark brown and 2 shades of red.

Ideal audience member

We decided to sit down and think about what our ideal target audience member would be and build up a character profile of them.

We related things to horror movies and what other interests a person may have and came up with:



Young adult/teenager. Aged 16-24.
Interested in heavy music, band such as Bring me the horizon, Slipknot and My chemical romance.
Enjoys seeings horror films with friends, likes things such as comics and Tv shows like Supernatural and Buffy the vampire slayer. Enjoys going to see live bands and uses social networking sites (tumblr, twitter, Facebook) often.

Using this information it helped us in thinking of ways to advertise our movie, and also helped us with our choice of music in the film. We had chosen to use a song by bring me the horizon which are a very popular, and recognizable band on the music scene.

Music for the film

We wanted to use a copyrighted song in our media film as the background music, In order to make sure this was okay with the band i emailed them and asked if it would be okay.

The song we used was Blessed with a curse By Bring Me the Horizon.

I wrote in the email that if i didn't hear back from them that I assumed they were too busy to reply and that it was okay to use the track in our movie.

Above is a copy of the email that i sent to the band, although I never got a reply, we used the track in our film.

Second shoot in march

Later in the month we went to film some more, we decided to leave the final scene, as i had yet to design a zombie costume and have it made. We went to do do some more running/action shots. Since until the very end of out film you don't actually see any zombies on the screen, we needed to create the impression they were there. To do this I went and hid in a bush and made some loud noises whilst James was filming himself. The general idea was to get some snapped twigs, and create the impression something was there. To do this i had to be fairly close by, but obviously not on screen. Lauren took a picture of me whilst i was trying to get into position.



After this the only thing left to do was shoot the final scene where the zombie (played by me) appears and attacks. I designed a costume (pictures will be uploaded) and after that it was onto the editing process.

More filming - march

So the snow cleared away and the forest remained fairly similar so we went off and did some more filming, At this stage the project was nearly half way to completion.
In this session we focused mainly on getting some running shots of James as he runs through the forest escaping the zombie. Whilst we were there filming i took some pictures (which i will post below). These were difficult at first to get right because we wanted to try and vary the shots we used, but also make it looked like it flowed together and looked good on screen. With these shots completed it would just be the final end scene and a few more in between shots to do.






These are the photographs of James (Alex mason in the movie) fleeing from the zombie threat.
It was important here the James always wore the same clothes when we went out to film, and that he didnt get any radical hair changes or new piercings.

Possible target audience

We did a bit of background research and thinking and tried to build up a character profile of what people would want to come see our movie. We know (as teenagers ourselves) that horror movies are popular with young people. They enjoy to go see them in groups or as young couples. An accurate age for a target audience would be 16-24 year olds. The older generation don't seem particularly interested in the horror genre.

Other films of the same genre that have been popular with the younger generation have included Saw, The ring, Paranormal activity and 28 Days later.

  

This is just a rough idea of what a potential audience could be, and in another post I will be uploading a more detailed description and a character profile of a typically audience member that would see "State of emergency".

Film delay

So we so our media film half done and then there was a week and a half of snow. we were unable to go out and film anything, and we hoped that it would clear up ASAP so would could continue our work.
In this time we gave the camera to Lauren, so she could go off and film some In between shots ( that we intended to use for flashbacks). these were set to take place indoors and be the memories of our main character. This was done although as the final piece came together for editing, we did decide against using them. We felt that the final piece flowed better without the flashbacks as it could confuse the audience given the time frame we had to work in.

Filming!

These are the recee shots we gathered for our filming location and we decided to begin filming here. We thought the dark and dense woods would make a great atmosphere for our zombie horror flick! Fitting in with the convention of horror films where (from our research) we found a lot of them are set in woods.
The only problem we would face is that if the filming process were too long, the seasons would change and the trees/woods along with it. We tried to film everything within a couple of weeks and only went back if absolutely neccessary. Before we started filming we checked the weather, (for continuity) and focused on getting all the handheld perspective shots, and the narrative done first.

Blog Delay

 The filming process is now finished and the editing process of our film "State of emergency" is underway. Due to the busy filming schedule of our film, I have been gathering evidence o the filming process to be posted at a later date. Over the next few days I will be posting all of Evidence in photos and videos that have been aquired during the filming process.

Shortly following this I will be posting the Evaluation of our finished movie.