Evaluation Part 8 Director's Commentary

Directors Commentary

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Directors commentary script (evaluation)

• ident- we incorporated the candles that we use later in the play into our ident. We used after effects to change the tint and give it the burning effect to fade out too. The footage we used we filmed ourselves and then added the effects to.
• establishing shot- The establishing shot is a panning shot, we used a skateboard as an improvised dolly as we didn't have any to use. We did this to make the scene flow nicely, we also used a relatively long take as it introduces the whole film and establishes that the focus is on the desk and his hands.
• Hands- We only used the Actors hands throughout the opening, this is because our narrative is restricted and it also gives the audience enigma codes to decode, as they will be thinking who is the man? and this will engage them more and entice them to watch more.
• Credits- We used after effects to create a wiggle effect on the writing. To do this we had to download a new text that we wanted that looked like a typewriter. We then put this on after effects and all of this proved tricky as we didn't know how to get the effect we wanted. We had to research how to get this done.
• sound- We used the diegetic sound of the typewriter to emphasise the genre of the film, as well as creating an enigma because he is using an old fashioned typewriter instead of a computer in modern times. This will also show the time setting and era.
• overlay- we overlayed two of the shots so they blended more smoothly into one another this makes it more appealing for the audience and adds interest.
• echo- we overlapped two of the same scene of him writing to add effect and make it more interesting to watch. We got the idea of this from the research of se7en
• dice-ide- we decided to use this name because of the play on words. We use a dice as a major prop in the opening and the whole thing sounds a bit like decide which is what our piece is about, deciding who to choose using the dice.
• filter- we put a filter over the top of all of the scenes because we wanted the scenes to have a red tint over the top. All of our scenes came out a different colour when filming so it was hard to colour correct them all to the same shade of red.
• destroying the pictures- when the killer is destroying the pictures it is symbolic and foreshadows what will happen later in the film without the audience knowing too much. It gives of an enigma as the audience want to know who they are and why and how they die.
• dice- we added the effect on to one of the dice shots that made it come out of his hand in slow motion and then reverse back in an come out normal speed. We did this because there is a lot of shots of the dice and it makes it seem less repetitive.
• candles- we used the candles as a prop in our film because we wanted to emphasise what time era we were going to be using, this is why we used the scrabble and the typewriter too, it also gives off a natural light source that helps emphasise the scene.
• saving the victim- we kept one victim undestroyed to symbolise that one of them does survive, again this is an enigma code as the audience want to know why. It also makes the opening flow better into the main story.
• closing shot- we used this as a closing shot because as the candle fades out it would blend well into the main story, and it also finishes quite abruptly which gives the tense atmosphere that we wanted to achieve.

Evaluation Part 7 Reflection

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

The prelim task was a good practice for the main production, it helped us to practice the skill we needed for the main piece. We also learnt new skill, such as match on action and the 180 degree rule. upon reflection and evaluation of the prelim task we evaluated our work, trying to prevent any of the same mistake occurring again.  

The planning stages of the production was good as we all had ideas to contribute. apart from some creative differences we managed to work it out and created a great opening idea. we didn't quite stick to the storyboard but we decided to change it for the better of the production as some shot didn't look realistic during filming. 

Filming the production was good practice using cameras and practising different shots, the only problems we had during filming was the natural lighting. we filmed at different time of the day so we had to place blankets over the window to hide the light so that it wouldn't ruin the continuity of out clip. We tried out some focus pulls that we had never been able to pull off before. We also had a lot of creative ideas and took a lot of tester shots to take back to school to have a proper look at, we spent a long time filming the part with the dice rolling as we never quite got a shot completely right.The shots from the second day of filming came out a lot better and we decided to use these.

During the editing stage we have many problems as none of us were familiar with final cut. we had some guidance on using final cut from our teachers but most of it was learnt from the internet.  We learned how to add effects such as an echo and how to reverse footage and speed it up and slow it down. Because we changed the original story board it was quite hard trying to figure out our sequence, after playing around with it we decided to make the shot have a montage edit where the scene didn't add up. Our group learned to divide up tasks and at the same time we multi tasked to be more efficient.

If I had to do the task again. I would go into much more detail in the planning task, by testing out different shots, so that I could create a detailed storyboard that worked. I would also spend more time figuring out final cut, and how to use unique camera shot and methods. I would also watch more films to see how the professional conduct an open sequence. I really enjoyed creating the production and I am very happy with the outcome, I feel my group worked really well most of the times to create the production. we learned a lot of new skills along the way and our creativity levels have definitely increased. I really felt like I had a sneak peak into the world of a film crew as we spent countless hours each day filming and editing.  

Evaluation Part 6 Technologies

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

 Blogger

I have had experience using blogger, so I knew how it worked and how to

post. I think it is a good way of blogging your progress throughout your

work, and it presents it in a good form. Its is also really good as clip from

other sites can be embedded.

 

 Presentation devises such as Prezi

I had never used prezzi before, so it took a bit of getting use to. However it

is easy to understand and self explanatory. It is a creative way of

presenting your work through a original presentation.  

 Final Cut Pro

This was the first time i had used final cut, so i wasn't quite sure hoe

everything worked, my teachers so me the basic, then i was left to explore.

I have learnt a lot of things about editing while using final cut and different way

film editors edit a clip. we used colour correction, which involved changing the

colour balance to receive the colour you wanted for your clip. we also learnt

how to make a clip go in reverse and used it in our clip to give a good effect.  

After Effects

We used after effects to create our credits which have a wiggle effect on 

them. it was my first time using it it was quite hard to get the hang of, but i

love the finished outcome. we also used it to create our ident. we imported

some of our footage and desaturated the colour from it turning it black and

white and made it fade as the candle burned.  

Evaluation Part 4&5 Audience Identification and Appeal

http://prezi.com/c_fgkv7iogha/evaluation-part-4-and-5-audience-identification-and-appeal/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Evaluation Part 3 Institution

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

Examples of media institutions 






seven was our main inspiration, it was named the seventh highest gross film in 1995. Because of its popularity i would use the the same institution which is News line cinema.

news line cinema have produced many thriller and horror films so our production would fit in well and the audience, would trust it more if they have brand loyalty to news line.






However a synergy of warner brothers and news line would wider the audience range and increase sales.

Evaluation Part 2 Representation

Q.  How does your media product represent particular social groups?

During our clip you do not see any of the characters faces, however the antagonist is a male. he is seen playing with a dice and destroying pictures, this represents males as violent and

unpredictable (just like rolling a dice is unpredictable). In most of the shots he is wearing black, this shows that he is mysterious and this is emphasised as his identity is hidden. Th location is a dark room which could suggest he is old enough to live by himself. 

  

                                                                              The low key lighting is used in the scene to add to the sinister effect of the scene. The man is destroying pictures of teenagers which suggest he has more power and is superior, he destroys the pictures in different ways which suggest he is crafty and manipulative. 

  

Many low angles shots have been used showing his dominance, and high angle shots are used as he destroys the pictures to show their vulnerability. This reinforces that teenagers are vulnerable to the world. Are main target audience is teenagers and young adults so this will appeals to them as it is about people their age who they can relate to more. 

Although the antagonist is a male the main representation is of age, this is why there are teenage boys in the photos he is destroying. 

Evaluation Part 1 Forms and Conventions

http://prezi.com/bocfvcl39iap/forms-and-conventions/#

Final Video

Music- follow on

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGlTNx6hD9E this is the music that we used in the end because the one we tried to compose on garage band didn't work out as well as we should. The music we have chosen fits our piece very well and has all the drops we need, it creates tension and makes the whole piece come together.

We then uploaded this on to final cut and cut the music where we needed it editing. We added in a fade in fade out effect to make it blend into the piece better.

Making the ident

We decided not to use the abstract footage for our ident ,because we wanted our ident to have a comparison with our film. we aslo changed the original name we choose 'web studios' because we wanted it to fit the footage of the candles. 

We decided to use a clip from our second filming day of the candles to make the ident for our production company. We used after effects to create the fading effect. 

we decided to call our production 'candle light productions' because the main focus in our ident is the burning candle. 

We made the ident black and white to give it an intersting effect as it fades from the screen.

We used white text because it stand out from the black background enabling the audience to see the production name.

Research questionnaire and results

Research Questionnaire

How old are you? (please tick)

10-12 [ ]

13-15 [ ]

16-18 [ ]

19-21 [ ]

22-25 [ ]

30+ [ ]

Gender? please tick

male [ ]

female [ ]

which genre of film do you watch the most? (please tick)

romance [ ]

comedy [ ]

action/adventure [ ]

thriller/ horror [ ]

educational [ ]

animated [ ]

Do/ would you watch thriller films?(please tick)

yes [ ]

no [ ]

why do you watch films?(please tick)

escapism [ ]

social interaction [ ]

education [ ]

information [ ]

entertainment [ ]

Results

Age

Gender

what genre do you watch 

would you watch a thriller film

why do you watch film

we did this questionnaire to get an insite into our target audience and to figure out what poeple liked and why they watch films.

Choosing the font

After playing around with our title scene and looking at the type of texts on 'www.dafont.com' we downloaded 5 of our best so we can make the title and the credits on after effects. These are the ones we found most appropriate relating to our film.

This is the font that we actually chose to use because it looks like the typewriter which looks like the typewriter used in our film. Its also quite creepy and tense and adds a thriller effect to our piece. 

 This was the other type of typewriter font that we found that we like the look of even though e chose the other one.

This is a cool horror/thriller movie text effect we thought it looked creepy and eerie and added tot he effect of the piece. However it might be too regular, lots of horror movies have a similar type of text.

 This one fits in well with our piece because we use the cut up newspapers in ours. However it may be a bit difficult to understand as it is quite hard to read it quickly.

This one looks cool, but is also hard to read and too basic. Again lots of horror films have a similar effect to this one, it also doesn't quite fit.

Designing the credits

We used the font that we decided on and then added the wiggle effect that we learned how to do last week. It adds a great mysterious effect and looks like how we were aiming too, like the credits in 'se7en'

Producing Production Company clip

we downloaded abstracted designs from a youtube clip to use for our production company clip. these are some examples of abstract designs and how we incorporated them with our production company clip:  

          This is an example of how we can use these abstract clip for our production company clip.

Before

After

Choosing the Font

 

We spent time trying to choose which font would be best suited for our title. This is one of the examples that we could be using for our opening sequence because this links in with the whole idea of the dice involved within the film as well as the name of the film.

Filming Day Review 27.1.2014

People present when filming: Becky, Christina and Charlie

After changing our idea for our storyboard, we had to re-shoot a lot of our footage. overall the filming went well we managed to film most of our work in the space of 3 hours. We changed some of the props in the frame, and instead of filming flashbacks of murders we have decided to focus on what the killer is doing. 

Exploring with the ending

we have thought about finishing our clip with a candle burning in in the frame and after a couple of seconds being blown out, we have thought about using this after the main title has appeared.

burning candle

blown out candle