Evaluation, Part 5

For part 5 of the evaluation I am going to be looking back at my preliminary project and exploring what I have learnt between the making of that and my final product. I will be evaluating the different skills which I have enhanced and developments made. 

One of the most significant additions we used during our final product was the use of the screen play. This was like a written format of a storyboard, which helped us create a secure foundation before the development of our film. A positive of this is that the screenplay was a very useful building block on approach to the creation of the 2 minute opening. Although a negative of this is that it became very time consuming as when we changed the order this would also have to be updated too. 

Secondly, we used a blog during the creation of our final product. This was very helpful as it became like a diary in some ways, keeping track on tasks of which we had already completed then enabling us to see which was yet to be done. Along with this the different tasks which were set for the completion of our blog inspired me and my group, this is because we had to research other films which covered the same genre of which we wanted to create, ours being thriller. We was told to use YouTube and examine different opening films, on approach to this we took a liking to the film 'Se7en' we then elaborated on this clip and used some aspects, we decided to use the mysterious element of not seeing the protagonists face, leaving him unidentified as this helped  fit the thriller genre. Along with the weird pictures which was found on the opening 2 minutes, which we thought would also help with the audience understanding the thriller genre. 

Thirdly, the storyboard which was used for the preliminary project was also used again for the final product but this time developed further into an animatic, which my group and I were able to do due to the new skills which we had learnt between the two projects. By creating an animatic made the storyboard become a lot more realistic. A positive of this is that it helped get a better understanding of how the overall film was going to turn out, it gave us a clear indication of the times and clip sizes of which we needed to produce a stable 2 minute opening. A negative of this is that it was very time consuming as we had to take individual pictures of each picture on the storyboard. I feel that if we was to take on this task again and we had to produce another animatic then I would use a scanner as it would be less time consuming and much more efficient. 

Fourthly, we also learnt how to add music and text to the final film which we didn't originally know while taking part in the preliminary project. To add music to our film we used an internet site called 'Incompetech' this was a great site with many different soundtracks on which enabled us to find exactly the sound we requested. The text was done using a program called 'After Effects' on the IMac which took a while to learn, but it became very easy once you understood. By learning how to add these two elements helped our final product achieve a much higher quality than our preliminary project stood at, which conveyed the level of knowledge we had gain between the two projects. 

Evaluation, Part 4

For this part of the evaluation of our project I am going to be looking at all the elements and equipment which we used to help us with the creation of our overall film, I will also be evaluating these by discussing both negatives and positives for each.

Apple Mac- This played a very big part in the making of our film, as nearly everything which was done needed this to achieve certain elements or even to the little extent that it was just needed to upload something to. It still held a great significance from the beginning to the very end while creating our 2 minute opening film. A positive of using the Mac was it enabled us to make parts of our film a lot more professional that it would have been if we used an ordinary computer. A negative of this could be that it was at times a complicated piece of equipment to use if you didn’t know how to use already, leaving it time consuming as before you could do something you would have to learn how to.

Organising clips, Adding text, Effects, Editing- All of which are once again very significant to the creation of our film. The final cut software was used to help structure, edit and complete our film. This enabled us to take on tasks such as, rearranging the clips in correct order, editing all of the clips to make it look more professional and put text on to our film to create the opening titles. Advantages of using these programs were that it brought our film to life in a way, it can be suggested that it enabled it to become a lot more professional. Disadvantages are minor, and are simply that they are complicated programs to use if you don’t already know what you are doing as they are part of the Apple Mac which is a complicated piece of equipment itself.

After Effects- This software program was used to give effect to our text which was produced to use as the opening titles of our film. After effects enabled us to add a light sweep over the text, giving it a mysterious feel. Along with this we also made used this program to make the text look like a window, we used this while creating our ident; so that we were able to make the groups pictures been shown in the window effect that we created on the text. We also used this to make the text look like it was jumping out of the screen, we done this to the title of our film so that it would reflect our film name being ‘Jack in the Box’. An advantage of this was that it created our text to look a lot better than it originally did, by adding effects it also helped to represent the genre of the film as you was able to put effects that echoed that thriller genre.

Camera, Camcorder, Tape- All of this technical equipment was used for the recording of our film. The camera enabled the group to take snap shots to put on the film to capture precise moments. The video camera was a very important aspect while creating our film; it was used for filming clips in high-quality and provided a steady and stable shot. The tape is what stored all of the stuff we had filmed for our film, it was crucial for the filming as if we didn’t have it then we would not have been able to capture the footage of which we filmed for our 2 minute opening to our film. a disadvantage of these is that the camcorder was a very big piece of equipment and had very poor charge life.

Smart Phone- We had the use of a smart phone during the making to our opening film. We firstly used it as a way to get in contact with others in the group and people whom we needed to act in the film. Secondly we used it as a prop in the scene, to show an incoming call coming through on the film clip. An advantage of this is that it is always on people’s possession and therefore it is always there when needed.

Internet, YouTube- We had use of both of these programs to help us create the film as the Internet was there to provide us with valuable information of which we needed to know, an example of this is when my group needed to find out how to create a chemical reaction, we used the internet and it enabled us to find a quick and safe way to create a reaction for our film. YouTube was used at the very beginning of the film process, when we were looking for ideas on which film we was going to create, it helped give us ideas as we were able to look at many other 2 minute opening to films along with giving us ideas for what genre we would like best by watching trailers of several different genre films. An advantage of this is that it is very easy to access and find what you are looking for, for both the Internet and YouTube. A disadvantage of this is that unless you know what you are searching for then you would have trouble finding information of which is relevant to you and the information you are looking for exactly.  

Blogger- Blogger, you could say has acted like a diary to me while I have been producing this film with the group, it is a site which I have updated regularly with what has been going on with the filming and also enabling me to keep track on what stage we are at with the filming. It is a record of what has been done and what elements have had to be undergone to create the overall film. I don’t feel that there are any disadvantages to this as it has been useful to me throughout the whole film process.

Survey Monkey- The survey is something which was done very near to the beginning of the film process, this helped us decide what to include in the film in a way. My group and I was able to find out what the audience would like to see in a thriller film, giving us an advantage was we were able to produce a film of which people would like to see, with elements which people wanted along with our own ideas and aspects. An advantage of this is that it helped us create an opening with a majority of people would enjoy and include elements which we as a group didn’t think of, and in some ways offer us ideas to make our job easier with some parts of the film. A disadvantage of Survey Monkey is that it was hard to get people to fill in this survey.

Incompetech- This was the website we used to collect our music for our film, this website was very useful as it helped us to produce a high quality film due to the additional music feature this enabled us to put on the film. An advantage of this is that there was many different types of soundtracks on the website helping us pick the perfect sound which would fit with my film perfectly and match the thrilling and child like elements which were included. A disadvantage of this is that it was quite time consuming to listen to the many different sounds, also was difficult to pick which one my group and I felt would be best.

Microsoft Word- This Microsoft program has been very useful during the planning of our film; it has enabled us to create a professional screen play, which helped during the time of filming; with order and the inclusion of everything. It has also been used when cropping pictures that were present in our film.

Evaluation, Part 3

For this part of the evaluation I am going to be exploring the ideal target audience for the media project which my group has produced, along with the reasons and ways which we addressed a particular audience.

As a target audience age range for my film I would say that it fits in the 17-21 category, I think this because from a younger age now people want to watch thriller genre movies. I also feel that the older generation tend not to be too interested in going to multiplex cinemas, therefore I do feel that this grouping is a good choice for the film although I would advertise it as being 17+ as I feel that depending on the type of person depends on the type of film you would go and watch.

In targeting an audience my group and I aimed to target the film at both males and females, we tried our best to create a typical thriller which would attract many types of people, not just one gender. I feel that by having a mix of genders present in the film enhanced that the 2 minute opening of the film was targeted to both males and females. We felt that as a group to target one gender would not be sufficient in attracting a mass audience along with the fact that thrillers are targeted to everyone, depending on the persons likes and dislikes.

From our survey results, we found that that all of the people whom took it liked thrillers and that’s the reason we went with the thriller genre as we had positive feedback from the questioners;

· Firstly we found that out of all of the people who took the survey that 10/10 liked thrillers which helped us with the genre choice.

· We also that the general favourite thriller location was in dark and deserted places, 5/10 people who took the survey said that they like this type of location. We as a group listen to this feedback and chose a dark weird room to use to do much of the filming in.

· Along with this the people who took the survey highlighted that they like physiological thrillers and also crime thrillers, as 8/10 people said they preferred the selected two above. This we took into consideration and created a thriller which the audience would both think about and also question also created the idea of death in the opening when you see that the person is replaced with a balloon which creates the idea that they are gone in a mysterious way. 

· We also found from the survey results that the majority of people like a thriller which has a lot of mystery and intensity as 10/10 people liked this. Our film was then made to provide the audience with this feeling, we done this with the different aspects which were included in our film, such as the unidentified protagonist adds to the mysterious feeling which the survey results told us an audience liked.

· Our survey results also told us that the audience liked to see a baddie and a victim during thriller movies; this is something we then went on to elaborate on our film. In the 2 minute opening of the film provided the audience with both a victim, these being the children that are present in the opening. Along with the bad guy being the unidentified protagonist who is captured a lot in the opening.  

Evaluation, part 2

For part 2 I am going to be analyzing the different types of characters which were used in our film, to do this I am going to be looking at the character type and how each are represented throughout the opening 2 minutes of the film. During the opening of or film we used 3 different characters;

First of the characters are the killer, his type is labelled as a psychopath. His characteristics are defined as evil, insane, intelligent and sly. These characteristics are represented by the ways, in which the killer is shown during the clip. The Dutch tilt used in the film is used to represent his level of insanity; it helps to portray the physiological uneasiness which the killer provides to the audience, and also represents the uneasy feelings which he has himself.  Along with this the writing clip in the film shows that he is literary intelligent, although this is conveyed as creepy to the audience. As he is clever, but yet you know that this level of intelligence is not going to be used in a good way due to the thriller genre.

Second character shown in the film is the children who are seen to be conventional. The characteristics of which they own are happy, energetic and innocent. These characteristics were the close up shot of the child’s face, which exaggerated their happiness. Along with this the energetic side to the children was by the medium shot which captured them playing ring-a-roses which one and other, this also to a certain extent conveys the innocence of the children in the film, playing games.

The third characters in the film are the adults; they are shown to be to some extent possessed and scared. Their characteristics are seen as strange and mysterious. These aspects of the adults are represented by the appearance of the balloon in the film, which is part of the editing. By having the balloon in the film creates a strange feeling, as it is used as the representation of a person which has disappeared which then does give an unknown feeling to the film and also to the adults themselves. Along with this the disappearance of one of the adult characters leaves a mysterious feeling from the audience to the adult characters. The mysterious feeling of which you get from the characters reflects the genre to a great extent.

Evaluation, part 1

For part one I am going to be discussing and evaluating the different conventions in the opening 2 minutes of our film, along with the ones of which was not included and reasons for this.

Conventions

I feel that in order of importance the top 3 conventions which we used were;

1. Abstract images
2. Ident
3. Soundtrack

I listed the abstract images top of the list because I feel that they worked the best in our film. This is because I feel that the abstract images fit perfectly with the thriller genre which we was trying to create with our 2 minute opening of the film, these images enhanced the thriller genre as they was not clear and to a certain extent weird. Therefore the abstract images to me were the best element of our opening film because they fitted greatly and also was our idea as a group to add this aspect to our thriller genre.

I felt that the ident was the second most significant to our film, this is because I felt that this was unique to us as a group as I hadn’t seen anything like that before. Along with this I feel that the high quality ident that we produced helped our film be seen as a higher standard. The ident we created set off the beginning of our 2 minute opening to the film, enabling a good quality reaction from the very start of the clip.

Thirdly I feel that the soundtracks used are a great element to our film opening. This is because the empathetic music we chose fitted well with the thriller genre we chose.

I feel that the music which we picked gave our film that extra professional feel as we timed both the music and filmed clips perfectly to create a smooth and in sync flow to the overall film.

On the other hand there are several conventions which were not included in our opening 2 minutes of the film; these were elements such as;

1. Dialogue
2. Character introduction

Dialogue, in my opinion was not included in our film because it would have declined the thriller and mysterious feeling of which our opening to the film was trying to create. To our film I feel that dialogue was irrelevant as it would not have fit with the puzzling feelings which we were trying to create to the audience during the 2 minute opening.

Character introduction was not included in our film as the strange atmosphere we was trying to create would have not been as strong if as an audience you was open to feel a connection or make judgements on a character. The unknown feeling of what is going on or what is going to happen in the film relies highly on the unidentified characters used, which would have been cancelled down by the introduction of characters.

Distribution

I feel that if our film was to be distributed then it would take the method of theatrical distribution; this is because our film would then be shown in multiplex cinemas. This I feel would be the best for our film as it would attract a mass audience, there are many reasons of which I think this distribution route would be the best for our film;

One reason I feel that the film which we have created would be best in multiplex cinemas is because of the genre which it is, although many types of genres are open to show in cinemas in my opinion I feel that films with genres such as thrillers and horrors are more exciting to the public and attract a much bigger audience range.

Another reason of which I feel that it would be better shown in a cinema of this kind is because the audience attraction and recognition would be a lot larger due to the multiplex cinemas of which are available to the public in many places. As I, myself feel that our film would not gain the recognition of which it deserves if it was put into a small scale distribution method, as the small specific audience may not appeal to all.

Screenplay

Screenplay

Costume and Props

Costume

For our 2 minute opening to our film, we created a thriller. As few of our film influences came from the film Se7en we decided that just like their 2 minute opening that we wanted our male protagonist to stay unidentified and unknown to the audience. For this we had to make sure the costume choices revealed things about our protagonists as they were unable to access ideas from him. For this we decided to have him wearing a white lab-coat, as a group we decided on this because it then associated him with science which is known to be very weird and all about experiments which added a mysterious feel from our protagonist. We also had him wearing a black hat, which my group pointed out that it was known to be a mimic of the one Jack the Ripper was known to wear, this costume piece was then very effective as it enabled our audience to feel a thrilling effect from the unknown protagonist.

Along with this costume, we also had the children in the flashback wearing school uniform. We had done this to exaggerate the time change of which has undergone in the film. By having them in school uniform represents the innocence of the conventional children.

Props

The props that we decided to use for the two minute opening thriller film we created was ones of which would represent both the genre and the feelings we wanted to create towards the audience during this opening. To show the thriller genre through the props we had to think carefully as to what would enhance the audiences thrilling feeling when they saw a certain thing. For this we decided to use props such as a knife, drill and clamp along with many others, we thought that these props were quite violent when thought of and used in a certain way which would represent the typical thriller genre. 

We also decided that we would use arbitrary props that would portray the weird and mysterious feeling of which we also wanted to create. To generate this odd feeling towards the audience we added props like, glasses, a clock and balloons. Put together the difference of the two types of props worked extremely well and helped produced a superior thriller film opening.