Final film

preliminary task - the house

Originally I was working in another group for the preliminary task but I changed group at the last minute due to people not being well or absent.

production diary

Week 1 and 2
In the first couple of weeks of media lessons I established how the blogs worked and come to terms with how to write out my first blog entry. We also looked at the typical conventions for a film opening and how some film openings looked. We looked at production logos, titles, storyboards, different genres, locations, key characters and more.

Week 2 and 3
In weeks 2 and 3 we learned about how genres are used in the first 2 minutes of a film and how it shows to the audience what the genre in the film is. In class we looked at the 'Chicken and the egg' dilemma and this showed us how a specific genre can be identified and shown what that genre is.

Week 3 and 4
In the 3rd and 4th week of our film opening campaign we looked at uses of still image and how you would analyse still images. We looked at the term 'CLAMPS' which is more commonly known as mise en scene. Clamps includes: Costume, lighting, actors, make-up, props and setting. We learned a lot more about camera work than I already knew from year 11 gcse, this included things such as the transitions, and a wider range of shots.

Week 4 and 5
In week 4 and 5 we were shown what a preliminary task is and what it achieves. To complete the preliminary task we had to make a short film opening that met a certain genere and a certain criteria. We were also told about some more camera shots such as: shot/reverse shot, the 180 degree rule. In our film the characters used a lot of facial expressions to show fear and anger so shot/reverse shot was very important in our film.

Week 5 and 6
Weeks 5 and 6 consisted of making another practice task but this time we had to follow a strict storyboard and script. We had to watch the opening clip of the film Juno and then make a precise storyboard following the opening. We then made our Juno film opening and it turned out to be quite accurate. From Juno we learned that following a strict storyboard and script can be very effective and pre planning what to do can be extremely helpful when filming.

Week 6 and 7
In the 7th and 8th week we started shooting our film, my role was being the main actor for our film but also I had to act out another important role in Reagan, Bobby and Denzils group. In both films I was playing a similar role and both were crucial that I stayed in good role the whole time. Before filming we used the research on camera shots and angles to great effect, using a wide range of camera shots and angles made the filming much more interesting and could have made the difference between the audience feeling the tension in the films or not. We looked as severall different venues before we started filming, for my group we decided to film at Tommy's house as the road he lives down is very dark at night and this made it more scarier than if we filmed down a road with street lights. Another reason we decided to film at a house was because filming in a woods would be too much of a typical horror and that we would be playing it safe, we wanted to experiment and have a plan to fall back on. When acting for the other group we had a massive struggle trying to get to the place we wanted to film at. Originally we were going to film at a huge abandoned mental asylum that was based in Warley in Brentwood but the property had been turned into flats. When we got there and found out it was flats we had a look around to see if there was anywhere else worth shooting at, we walked through a woods to find another huge mental asylum but this seemed to have been evacuated or something and untouched. Ripped curtains and smelly hallways made the whole scene look scarier than anywhere else that group could of filmed at and it really enticed the horror film.

Week 8
In week 8 editing commenced. I learned a lot on editing in week 8. This included how to make a film using adobe premier pro, this programme was excellent to use. It has a lot of different things you can use on it to make films more effective. My personal favourite was the razor tool, this enabled me to crop any footage out of the film that didn't look very professional and made our film a lot better than it would of been without that tool.

Audience feedback

we asked an audience watching our film a series of questions and here were the results: What do you think of the title sequence? The title sequence in the film is very basic but how it has a range of cast and crew in the titles is very effective. You also used the right amount of titles in your opening sequence. What do you think about the end of the trailer? The end of the trailer is good, we like how the Jock is killed at the end of the scene and we feel that the death scene is very good. We also like how it says the after bit at the end.

Characters

This is the main character in our film, we chose me to be our main character because I look like the average young man that goes to college. As I look more younger than a man it represents me to be a bit more immature which was what the character required. Also I take part in sport which made the character even more fitting as we wanted the character in our film to come across as a sort of jock.

The role in the film that I had to play was very hard as I had to look quite anxious but also where i am meant to be a high school cool kid i have to act very laid back also. In the film we chose to have my hair in a side parting that was a bit scruffy, this was useful because it showed to the audience that I didn't really care about anyone around me and I can look and do what i want. My character is meant to be quite a selfish one and is quite ignorant. There isn't much to show this but the background reason why the killer is after me is because he was a victim of bullying at school when he was younger and he takes revenge on people that look cool as he doesn't like them.

Juno Preliminary Task

question 6

question 3

Question 3

When looked at different types of production companies that would distribute our film during the planning stage. we looked at, Columbia Pictures, Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures, and Universal Pictures. These distributors all have a large distribution of action/horror/thriller films therefore these production company would suit our film correctly. One way for us to distribute our film would be though film festivals such as London Film Festival; this would allow other people interested in film to see our work and potential.
We belive that our producer we use would be Warner Bros. Warner Bros is an American producer of film, tv and music entertainment which is based in  New York and California. The company was founded in 1923 by Albert, Harry, Sam and Jack Warner. In 2012 they grossed about $4.3 billion at the worldwide box office, and their operating income is $1.2 billion. They have distributed many different types of films. For example The Wizard of OZ, Superman, Gangster Squad and Argo. We think that this distributor would be perfect for us.  Firstly because it has created so many entertaining action/thriller films such as, The Departed, Inception, Man of Steel, Jack the Giant Slayer, The Dark Knight Rises, Green Lantern and Wrath of the Titans. This means that we have a chance with them and that they will consider our movie, because they will be used to the type of characters and set. Also from all the films that we have studied to get inspiration for our opening most of them was from this distribution company, which means that they have dealt with similar films to ours. This has given us the impression that they will be able to distribute of film to a high standard.

question 5

Question 5

How Did You Attract/Address Your Audience?

For our research we asked questions too people of the age group of 15-20 about what they would like to see in the film and also what genre of film they like watching the most. We found out that 87% of people like to watch horror films. We also found out that most teenage boys watch television, this is why in the film we thought that we would have the main character sitting down watching his favourite program.

 This is an image from the film of when the main character is sitting at home watching television. This shows the viewer that he is a normal teenager. This will engage the viewer because most teenagers will be able to relate to this. This also shows that the character is comfortable in his surroundings and that he feels relaxed.

We thought that we could attract the audience through the main character in the opening of the film. We done this by the way that Ben is dressed (Bens character will represent the other main characters throughout the film). We made sure that we thoroughly discussed what is in our film to attract our target audience as it is important to us that they are able to relate to narrative.

This is an image of the main characters costume. He is in his sportswear. This relates to most teenage boys who like sports because after they have finished training or a match they will sit at home in their kit and relax. This engages the reader and helps them understand more about the character.

We tried to engage the viewer by trying a variety of shots and different points of views. We done a number of point of view shots, this can make the viewer feel like they are in the characters position and think about what they would do if it was them. We also did some low and some high shots.

This is one of the best shots that we done. This shows that the victim is very weak and vulnerable in this situation. This instant showed us who was in charge of this situation.

This is also another very good shot that we got. This gives an impression to the viewer that something is going to happen he is just waiting for the right time. This engages the viewer because they have an idea what is going to happen but the main character is oblivious to the situation.       

Question 7

Question 7

Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task - What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In The Progression From It To Full Product.

In comparison to our opening to our film, we have made a large amount of progression from our preliminary task. This is because we were a lot more advanced in using Adobe Premier Pro CS6. The reason for this being that we knew what we needed to do to cut clips down and even make them slower or change colour etc. We also knew the best ways to get the perfect shots that we need and when we need them, this helped us a lot when editing because we could choose between various shots, whereas in our preliminary task we only got one shot that we needed as opposed to numerous amounts which made it difficult for us. We also found out a way of adding in titles in the film when we need them which adds to the effect very well. We was also much more prepared for our film opening than we was our preliminary task, this is because we knew what props we had to use, the story line and where was the perfect place to film, which made it a lot easier for us when we got started.      

Evaluation question 1

Evaluation Question 2

2: How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

Our media product represents different social groups, the main target audience for us was teen's as they seem to feel like they could be the victim in the film and they relate their selves to how the victim feels. In our filming we looked at particular different social groups, things involving goths, Emo, Chav's, Jocks, Creeps and many different other groups. We chose to go with our instincts and research into what role a high school Jock would be like in our film. This ranged from how the Jock acted, to how the Jock dressed. 

Costume: As you can see from the photo we looked into clothing, we found that a tracksuit would be suitable for the character as he has just come home from doing sport at high school and making it the typical horror film would involve a young person of some sort. We thought the killer could be getting revenge at the jock for people he has bullied at school. Our costume in the film opening represents our character to be middle class and not to be poor but not to be rich. We thought a tracksuit would represent this because he has enough money to be sporty. We compared this to the film 'Final Destination'. The reason we did this was because in that film a lot of the main characters are boys that the more lower class would refer to as 'The cool kids' because they dress in more higher class clothing, such as baseball jackets and team tracksuits and we thought following this would be good for our film. In Final Destination sometimes the cool kids sometimes talk down the the not so cool kids and we thought this would be good to represent this in our film as the killer is getting revenge on the jock for bullying people.

Appearance: The appearance of the character in our film is very laid back, he doesn't care about what is going on around him or at least its suppose to seem that way. He is very lathargic and all he wants to do when he gets in is sit around and we feel this represents a middle class sort of person as they can afford to be sitting around when they get home. He has thick black hair that is swept over in a side parting as we felt that this could make him lock more like a high school cool kid. The fact he has a full tracksuit on makes him look very sporty and intimidating, it means he could have come back from doing sport at high school.

 As you can see from the image taken from Final Destination above the boy is on a ride with a girl and he is also wearing a baseball team bomber jacket. This is good for us to relate to as in our film the character had to be presented as 'Cool' and having the thick black hair helped to show he wasn't like a 'basket case' either like having thin messy hair for example.

Setting: The setting in our film is a upper class house, as you would expect for a jock walking home from school/college, the house is very clean and tidy, we used the front room as the area we spend most in doing our filming. The house is rather big and this represents the jocks strengths even further as it shows he is a wealthy living young man as where a lower class not so cool kid may live in a more bashed up looking house. 

Our media product represents Jock's in a very laid back sort of manor. This was key to our film because we needed to make out like the victim didn't care about anything and he was very in love with his own presence but at the same time we needed to present him as just a scared boy. In most films not much really happens to jocks but in our film we challenged this and made it so the Jock was the lower person, he had less authority and less power too. 

Our film represents Jock's differently and it represents them to be not so strong as they look in most films and with this approach we found it quite successful because it aided the horror genre really well making the victim look weak. 

work for reagan

sound effects

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgeDSKFXuII

Film name

We changed the name of the film because the felt like 'The third from last' didn't sound scary enough, once the film was all done we decided to call the film 'The Despised'. The reason why we changed our film name to this was because the name needed to have a reasoning behind it as where the old one didn't, the meaning of the word 'despised' describes hatred in a way so severe for someone or something that you simply cannot stand it. In our films case the killer despises the world and absolutely hates everyone therefore he feels the need to kill people.

Production company for film

the reason we  chose to do the skull in our film titles is because it sort of sets the stage that the film will be a horror. The dark sky background also represents that the film is going to be a horror and behind the picture will be a sound of a loud crashing lightning bolt. The reason SkullHawk productions is called that is because the skull is positioned on a birds wings and we thought SkullHawk sounded good because it sounds like it comes from the horror genre. From making this I found that adjusting and tweaking colors was crucial, the dark grey adds to the effect of it being a horrible film with the lightning night sky behind adding to the scariness.