Sunday, 17 April 2016
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?
Evaluation question 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Evaluation Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Sunday, 10 April 2016
Film Update
We received critical feedback regarding our main brief today. As a group we did anticipate some flaws or inconstancy with our piece particularly in the house. However we wasn't expecting miss to say that we should remove our entire first half to our main brief which took part in the house.
To fix this issue raised without completely changing our main brief Lily suggested we use clips of Rachel before the incident as another way of showing a change of situation and character.
In the Easter Holidays both Lily and Lucy will be working together to provide videos of Lucy as a child as well as incorporating them into the completed Main brief.
To fix this issue raised without completely changing our main brief Lily suggested we use clips of Rachel before the incident as another way of showing a change of situation and character.
In the Easter Holidays both Lily and Lucy will be working together to provide videos of Lucy as a child as well as incorporating them into the completed Main brief.
Thursday, 7 April 2016
Paranormal Activity Case Study
Paranormal activity was a very successful horror film produced by Oren Peli in 2007. As mentioned in my older post Blumhouse productions helped create the film with its low budget of $15,000. Although it was a very low budget it managed to gross $194,917,000.
Paranormal activity was one of the first films to use a first person filming technique for the majority of the movie where the characters would be filming it from their perspective. This had later been attempted by a horror film called clover field but wasn't as successful as it wasn't as original as the Paranormal Activity franchise. This is one of the reasons why we opted to do different camera angles in our main brief as we didn't want to be seen as repetitive of the paranormal activity success.
The director Oren Peli used a technique called retro scripting; which is where he gives the characters a plot or main idea for the film and allows them to improvise with the situation. By doing this it creates a far more realistic plot and encourages the actors to be original as they would act as they would in that situation rather than what the script is telling them to say or do.
The film itself gained huge attention from the big names in film making; one of which was Steven Spielberg who saw the movie himself and cut a deal with Jason Blum (owner of Blumhouse productions) to split the distribution of the film so he himself could take a share of the profits.
Paranormal activity was one of the first films to use a first person filming technique for the majority of the movie where the characters would be filming it from their perspective. This had later been attempted by a horror film called clover field but wasn't as successful as it wasn't as original as the Paranormal Activity franchise. This is one of the reasons why we opted to do different camera angles in our main brief as we didn't want to be seen as repetitive of the paranormal activity success.
The director Oren Peli used a technique called retro scripting; which is where he gives the characters a plot or main idea for the film and allows them to improvise with the situation. By doing this it creates a far more realistic plot and encourages the actors to be original as they would act as they would in that situation rather than what the script is telling them to say or do.
The film itself gained huge attention from the big names in film making; one of which was Steven Spielberg who saw the movie himself and cut a deal with Jason Blum (owner of Blumhouse productions) to split the distribution of the film so he himself could take a share of the profits.
Above is an image of Jason Blum (right) and Oren Peli (Left) as well as the star actor from paranormal activity Katie Featherstone (middle)
Editing
Following the completion of our filming we used Abode premier pro to edit it into our main brief which allows us to add different sounds and change the lighting on the video. Moreover we can pick out of all the clips we shot to put into the mini brief which gives us the best possible finish.
Below is a print screen image that Lily took that displays the sound and clip inputs into our mini brief.
Here you can see that the audio clips are in green. We chose to overlap some audio to make it realistic and so that the non-digetic sound mixes well with the digetic making the audience believe that the music is part of the scene.
Included in our Main brief are some sounds like dog barking which add to the scary setting. As well as this we later include a scream jump scare from the dead girl which will frighten the audience.
Below is a print screen image that Lily took that displays the sound and clip inputs into our mini brief.
Here you can see that the audio clips are in green. We chose to overlap some audio to make it realistic and so that the non-digetic sound mixes well with the digetic making the audience believe that the music is part of the scene.
Included in our Main brief are some sounds like dog barking which add to the scary setting. As well as this we later include a scream jump scare from the dead girl which will frighten the audience.
During the editing process there were a few issues raised with filming for example; as mentioned before with group criticisms - Liv was sitting then standing as we merged two scenes with editing. To counter this problem we re-filmed the scene later that week to have smoother transitions which makes the whole scene flow smoothly.
We are yet to complete our second stage of filming where we include Lucy as the dead missing girl standing behind Lily and Liv where we can add digetic sound to enhance the scare.
Due to re filming the lightening can be different during certain transitions because of the editing. We tried to hide this by lowering the brightness and changing the filter which fits with the horror genre as it becomes far darker and has connotations of death and sadness.
Due to re filming the lightening can be different during certain transitions because of the editing. We tried to hide this by lowering the brightness and changing the filter which fits with the horror genre as it becomes far darker and has connotations of death and sadness.
Feedback on Main brief
In class today we looked at other main briefs whilst other groups checked ours out and gave us both positive and negative parts about our film. Below is the feedback about our film that the other groups wrote down.
One of the main issues raised was sound - focusing on the dialogue in particular as the audience found it hard to hear certain dialogue. Also the other groups felt there was more digetic sound needed to the film to make it scarier.
Due to the poor camera issues we had the other groups felt that we needed to include a clearer image of what was seen on the phone which was dealt with when we did our second filming.
Hypodermic Needle
The hypodermic needle model (also known as the hypodermic-syringe model, transmission-belt model, or magic bullet theory) is a model of communications suggesting that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver. Google definition
There was a study to prove this theory known as the Bobo Doll experiment where two groups of children were shown a model acting differently to the Bobo Doll; one group had seen the model acting kindly and the other had seen aggression. Depending on what action the children saw - they repeated the same acts against the doll which shows how they had been influenced by what they had seen.
In the past we have seen similar behavior where propaganda in television and posters throughout the second world war helped portray that Jew's were the enemy and Hitler's Nazism was influencing people in Germany which followed the same principle as the Hypodermic needle model - later in the 60's-90's we saw the same behavior repeated in the cold war between Russia and America trying to deter people from both Capitalism and Communism.
Below are two examples of capitalist and communist propaganda posters.
Communist
Capitalist
In recent years we have had a rise in Islamophobia which has been caused by recent influences of the media on how people view terrorism which is because people follow the basic stereo type that people in the Muslim faith are viewed as supporters of terrorism which is the most recent installment of how the Hypodermic model can influence people's mindset.
Pre Production analysis
Our Main brief was fairly easy in terms of planning is myself, Lily and Liv came up with some ideas that would be used as we had filming techniques from Paranormal Activity like first person filming so that the audience would feel they are part of the film and are viewing it first hand. However this proved too difficult due to the issues raised with editing therefore we did it from a 3rd person perspective that would be watching the characters from an angle that they cannot see. This has worked with other AS media films as we can utilize far more camera angles like tracking shots to help move the story along.
For our main brief we did need help from our friends as we needed 5 actors, we asked Charlie and Lucy to help us film our main brief. We didn't at first have an actor for Rachel Matthews therefore we filmed our main brief into two sections - one at the house where they discover she is missing and the second where they go to the park and discover her body.
We did have issues raised at the house filming scene due to the fact that the camera had no battery given to us and no charger therefore we used the Iphone for the time being and later we used the camera properly in the second filming scene. We did however have a tripod for both times we filmed which kept the shots smooth and steady - especially when we filmed tracking shots in the park.
After editing our main brief Lily noticed that the cuts between the conversations and at the house were not smooth which meant we had to re-film later that week. This is because at one given scene that we re-shot Liv was sat down and jumps to standing up which would have made our main brief seem unrealistic.
For our main brief we did need help from our friends as we needed 5 actors, we asked Charlie and Lucy to help us film our main brief. We didn't at first have an actor for Rachel Matthews therefore we filmed our main brief into two sections - one at the house where they discover she is missing and the second where they go to the park and discover her body.
We did have issues raised at the house filming scene due to the fact that the camera had no battery given to us and no charger therefore we used the Iphone for the time being and later we used the camera properly in the second filming scene. We did however have a tripod for both times we filmed which kept the shots smooth and steady - especially when we filmed tracking shots in the park.
After editing our main brief Lily noticed that the cuts between the conversations and at the house were not smooth which meant we had to re-film later that week. This is because at one given scene that we re-shot Liv was sat down and jumps to standing up which would have made our main brief seem unrealistic.
Amityville Horror Analysis
In class we were shown the opening scene to the Amityville Horror to give us ideas we could use in our own main brief. The opening spans 4 minutes and we were tasked to analyse the micro-elements used throughout the scene. By doing this it helped us to steal some ideas that we could apply to our own film. Below is the clip we were shown in class.
In the opening we instantly get digetic sound where there is gusts of wind and whistling which is not only sound but adding to the Mise-en-scene of the sequence. This adds to the spooky theme which is designed to install fear into the audience with the lightning and thunder which is pathetic fallacy for something bad is about to occur. Adding to this gloomy look is the title stating that it is based on a true story which increases the tension as it informs people that this has occurred which adds to the horror as well as scaring people as it means it could happen to them.
In the first scene the Antagonist's face is blurred which not only makes him unrecognizable but we also hear a voice saying kill them which would implies that the voice is coming from within his head. Whats more is when the character opens his eyes we see the TV screen of random symbols which again adds to the mystery and adds tension. Moreover once we see a quick flash to the book on the desk called 'Evil is proof of God' which is religious imagery and implies that the powers at work on unearthly and very powerful which are controlling our antagonist to do something bad. Adding to this idea of Godly control is the cross hanging up above his bed which would support the view that he isn't in control.
Later we see a close up shot of Ronnie's face, specifically the eyes as he looks at a pair of doors opening by themselves which insinuates that he is possessed or not in control of himself which adds tension as he has a loaded gun in his hands and what the audience believes is intent on using it as we have previously just seen him loading it. Another impact of this close up is a sense of mystery is it isn't clear what is happening due to the quick flashes between movements of the character and the shootings throughout the house.
The editing used in this opening shows contrasts between the good and the evil in this piece, and it flashes with the lightning to look at him sat on the bed with a shotgun and pictures of the wall of when he was once younger. Specifically the pictures show him of when he was younger to show innocence and purity which helps us to see a change in the character from when he was once good to now bad. This technique adds to the theory that he is possessed because of the change of personality that his driven him to kill.
In the opening we instantly get digetic sound where there is gusts of wind and whistling which is not only sound but adding to the Mise-en-scene of the sequence. This adds to the spooky theme which is designed to install fear into the audience with the lightning and thunder which is pathetic fallacy for something bad is about to occur. Adding to this gloomy look is the title stating that it is based on a true story which increases the tension as it informs people that this has occurred which adds to the horror as well as scaring people as it means it could happen to them.
In the first scene the Antagonist's face is blurred which not only makes him unrecognizable but we also hear a voice saying kill them which would implies that the voice is coming from within his head. Whats more is when the character opens his eyes we see the TV screen of random symbols which again adds to the mystery and adds tension. Moreover once we see a quick flash to the book on the desk called 'Evil is proof of God' which is religious imagery and implies that the powers at work on unearthly and very powerful which are controlling our antagonist to do something bad. Adding to this idea of Godly control is the cross hanging up above his bed which would support the view that he isn't in control.
Later we see a close up shot of Ronnie's face, specifically the eyes as he looks at a pair of doors opening by themselves which insinuates that he is possessed or not in control of himself which adds tension as he has a loaded gun in his hands and what the audience believes is intent on using it as we have previously just seen him loading it. Another impact of this close up is a sense of mystery is it isn't clear what is happening due to the quick flashes between movements of the character and the shootings throughout the house.
The editing used in this opening shows contrasts between the good and the evil in this piece, and it flashes with the lightning to look at him sat on the bed with a shotgun and pictures of the wall of when he was once younger. Specifically the pictures show him of when he was younger to show innocence and purity which helps us to see a change in the character from when he was once good to now bad. This technique adds to the theory that he is possessed because of the change of personality that his driven him to kill.
Wednesday, 6 April 2016
Mise-en-Scene in Horror films
There are 4 main areas that make up Mise-en-scene which are:
Typically horrors are set in gloomy or eerie locations such as haunted houses where the protagonists will normally feel isolated and this feeling is passed into the audience to scare them. This is one of the crucial methods to scare an audience as it is much easier to scare people in these gloomy areas in comparison to a nice sunny day in the park. The darkness and the filters used play a part in this, as the mist or darkness makes it easy for the antagonist to sneak up or scare the audience and gives a sense of unknown to the audience. Examples of this are seen in the Woman in Black where she hides in dark places and the misty forest surrounding the house, as well as this the protagonist is alone on in the marsh house which makes the audience feel alone too.
Costume
Costume design is another important aspect to highlight or add personality to protagonists or increase the fear that the antagonist gives off. An example of this would be light clothing colors being used to give a connotation that the characters are innocent or pure but red implies danger much like what is used in our Main brief where Liv is using a red Jersey which implies she encounters a dangerous situation later on. The scarier or more horrifying the antagonist costume the more frightened the audience will be, if it can install fear into the character it will also scare the audience. Colors and clothing help to identify the Antagonist as well, the audience will often believe that the dark clothed character.
Make up in horror films is used to make the victims or the antagonist look scary or horrifying, we decided to apply this to our main brief by putting fake blood and bruising to Lucy's face to show that she is dead or has been attacked which makes her scarier as a character. The sight of blood can make some people for uneasy which is why its common for victims and villain's to be coated in lots of blood.
- Setting
- Props
- Costume
- Make-up
Typically horrors are set in gloomy or eerie locations such as haunted houses where the protagonists will normally feel isolated and this feeling is passed into the audience to scare them. This is one of the crucial methods to scare an audience as it is much easier to scare people in these gloomy areas in comparison to a nice sunny day in the park. The darkness and the filters used play a part in this, as the mist or darkness makes it easy for the antagonist to sneak up or scare the audience and gives a sense of unknown to the audience. Examples of this are seen in the Woman in Black where she hides in dark places and the misty forest surrounding the house, as well as this the protagonist is alone on in the marsh house which makes the audience feel alone too.
Props
In horror films props can be used as either a subtle tool or obvious tool, it is rare there is ever an in between. The reason for this is this is because if props are being used in a subtle situation such as Iconography then it has a hidden innuendo, for example in the Scream opening we see our Protagonist playing with a knife which can be seen as her playing with something dangerous much like the conversation she is having with the antagonist on the phone. On the other hand we see a prop being used for a blatant reason, such as stabbing someone to death which we see in the Scream opening.
Costume
Costume design is another important aspect to highlight or add personality to protagonists or increase the fear that the antagonist gives off. An example of this would be light clothing colors being used to give a connotation that the characters are innocent or pure but red implies danger much like what is used in our Main brief where Liv is using a red Jersey which implies she encounters a dangerous situation later on. The scarier or more horrifying the antagonist costume the more frightened the audience will be, if it can install fear into the character it will also scare the audience. Colors and clothing help to identify the Antagonist as well, the audience will often believe that the dark clothed character.
Make-Up
Make up in horror films is used to make the victims or the antagonist look scary or horrifying, we decided to apply this to our main brief by putting fake blood and bruising to Lucy's face to show that she is dead or has been attacked which makes her scarier as a character. The sight of blood can make some people for uneasy which is why its common for victims and villain's to be coated in lots of blood.
Media Institutions
A media conglomerate, media group, or media institution is a company that owns numerous companies in various mass media; i.e. television, radio, publishing, motion picture, and the Internet. Google definition
Universal
Universal is one of the biggest American film studios and is responsible for the Jurassic park, Jaws and Back to the Future franchises. They have made some horrors in the past like drag me to hell or recently with The Visit; but it is clear from their track record that they do not produce as many horrors as some competing Studios.
Hammer
Hammer are a British film studio that mainly steer towards horror films like The Woman in Black or Frankenstein and even Dracula. The studio can be limited in terms of films as it primarily works with British film makers as the competition from America is too much for the company to compete with.
20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox (taken over by 21st Century Fox) is another large American film studio that distributes Horrors. Examples of this range from Alien in 1979 but as you can tell from its record it also aims at producing action films rather than Horrors.
Blumhouse Productions
Blumhouse Productions is an American horror movie production company. Blumhouse produces low-budget horror movies, such as the Paranormal Activity, Insidious, The Purge, and Sinister franchises. This is argubuly the strongest horror film studio and producer as it has such a specific skill set that makes them the largest in the US.
After looking at the various different studios and producers the best fit if we had to choose for our own production would be Blumhouse as they privde support and insight to low budget horrors like our own which would be critical in making our film succesful. Evidence of this is from Paranromal activty which had $15,000 budget but excelled into grossing $194,000,000 worldwide.
Universal is one of the biggest American film studios and is responsible for the Jurassic park, Jaws and Back to the Future franchises. They have made some horrors in the past like drag me to hell or recently with The Visit; but it is clear from their track record that they do not produce as many horrors as some competing Studios.
Hammer are a British film studio that mainly steer towards horror films like The Woman in Black or Frankenstein and even Dracula. The studio can be limited in terms of films as it primarily works with British film makers as the competition from America is too much for the company to compete with.
20th Century Fox (taken over by 21st Century Fox) is another large American film studio that distributes Horrors. Examples of this range from Alien in 1979 but as you can tell from its record it also aims at producing action films rather than Horrors.
Blumhouse Productions is an American horror movie production company. Blumhouse produces low-budget horror movies, such as the Paranormal Activity, Insidious, The Purge, and Sinister franchises. This is argubuly the strongest horror film studio and producer as it has such a specific skill set that makes them the largest in the US.
After looking at the various different studios and producers the best fit if we had to choose for our own production would be Blumhouse as they privde support and insight to low budget horrors like our own which would be critical in making our film succesful. Evidence of this is from Paranromal activty which had $15,000 budget but excelled into grossing $194,000,000 worldwide.
Monday, 4 April 2016
Filming the main brief
Back in February Myself, Lily and Liv filmed our main brief with 2 of our friends Charlie and Lucy to help with the acting side. We began our film at the house with our opening scene where our characters discover the Facebook post that leads them to the park. Straight away there was a problem raised with our filming equipment, our camera did not connect to our tripod which meant we were forced to use an Iphone 6s. This proved to be a suffice replacement as it gave good quality recording.
This is Me, Liv and Charlie
Here is the Iphone 6s attached to the Tripod
Above is our VLOG on the day of our main brief planning
Storyboarding
Our Storyboards were written and drawn by Lily as we decided that it would be best that she did them due to who artistic skills whilst i worked on the Script.
Main Brief Recce
As a group including our new member Jake; we went to Clockhouse gardens to take photos of the setting and one of the filming areas for the main brief. The area displayed ideal spots that provide both good lighting and ideal shadows to add to the gloom of our piece. An example of this is one of our intended shots which was of from the middle of two trees as a POV (Point of view) tracking shot of both Lily and Liv walking along the path.
Entrance to the Clockhouse
The location for her Body
Isolated Pathway in Park
Memorial Pathway
Possible Location for body discovery
Abandoned shed where fake blood is used
POV Tracking shot location (myself between the tree)
Another spot where fake blood is used
Main pathway where Lily and Liv work
Ducks and Pond in tracking shot
Script for main brief
Script
Four friends ZOE, JOE, GEORGE and LUCY are together in a normal house. They are all in the kitchen/dining room talking together.
ZOE is standing up away from the others and holds up her phone.
Zoe: Guys, have you checked Facebook lately?
Joe: No not really, why?
Zoe: Well, do you have Rachel Matthews on Facebook?
George, Lucy: Yeah I think so, why? What’s happened?
ZOE walks to the table to show the group her phone. On the screen there is a post on Facebook from an unknown user to the page of RACHEL MATTHEW saying ‘R.I.P’. A location is set which says ‘Clockhouse Gardens’.
Lucy: Oh my God…
George: Well what does that mean?
Zoe: We need to go to Clockhouse Gardens and investigate.
Joe: What? No way! It’s probably just a trick from one of her friends.
Lucy: No… She only has like one friend. She only has five friends on Facebook and I’m pretty sure that two of them are her family.
Zoe: Exactly! Guys, I think this is serious and I want to find out what has happened.
George: Well I’m not coming with you.
Joe: Neither am I.
Zoe: Come on it will be fun!
Lucy: I’ll go; I want to find out what happened.
The camera cuts to a pan of the entrance to Clockhouse Gardens. ZOE and LUCY walk in.
Lucy: So what do we do now?
Zoe: Just keep an eye out for anything suspicious.
ZO and LUCY walk around and find a blood handprint on a tree/statue.
Lucy: What happened? Oh my God… Where is Rachel?
They walk around more in search for RACHEL. They come across a broken window with blood coming from it. Something catches the attention of Lucy and a hand is seen to be sticking out of a bush in the same direction of the sound.
Lucy: [quietly] Rachel!
ZOE and LUCY run over to RACHEL and they stare at each other in horror. The camera pans upwards from the body to their faces and behind them is an image of RACHEL staring at them.
Props for main brief
Props
Our main brief didn't have many props but we did try to utilize as many props in the house so that it created are far more realistic feel to the setting.
Our main brief didn't have many props but we did try to utilize as many props in the house so that it created are far more realistic feel to the setting.
In the park we used tomato ketchup as it seemed far more graphic and visible in the gloomy conditions.
Also we used the IPhone to make it relate-able when using the Facebook post for the plot.
Characters for Main brief
Zoe White
Mature and well educated.Aware of what is wrong and right.
Doesn't follow instructions unless he knows that it is the right thing to do.
Tries to persuade others to do stuff but is not successful.
Played by Charlie Smith
Costume: blue hoody, Black jeans again to correlate with Joe Triggs and his costume.
Curious about many things and pays attention to detail.
Usually is calm but can panic in tough situations.
Played by Lily King
Costume: Black top and jeans to connote death and danger much alike Zoe White but doesn't use red as she isn't the main protagonist in the main brief.
Stereo Type blonde girl- Irresponsible, gullible and ditsy.
Overly excitable.
Can easily persuade people to do something.
Played by Olivia Watson
Costume: Red top which connotes danger- as well as this the blonde hair is a way of displaying her intelligence or personality through stereo types of how blonde haired girls are portrayed in the horror genre.
Overly excitable.
Can easily persuade people to do something.
Played by Olivia Watson
Costume: Red top which connotes danger- as well as this the blonde hair is a way of displaying her intelligence or personality through stereo types of how blonde haired girls are portrayed in the horror genre.
Joe Triggs
Lack of motivation and lazy when asked to do something.
Quiet and keeps to himself.
Played by Tommy Heath
Costume: Grey hoodie, Black trouser used to reflect the plain and boring personality.
Played by Tommy Heath
Costume: Grey hoodie, Black trouser used to reflect the plain and boring personality.
George Dennis
Mature and well educated.Aware of what is wrong and right.Doesn't follow instructions unless he knows that it is the right thing to do.
Tries to persuade others to do stuff but is not successful.
Played by Charlie Smith
Costume: blue hoody, Black jeans again to correlate with Joe Triggs and his costume.
Lucy Roberts
Curious about many things and pays attention to detail.Usually is calm but can panic in tough situations.
Played by Lily King
Costume: Black top and jeans to connote death and danger much alike Zoe White but doesn't use red as she isn't the main protagonist in the main brief.
Rachel Matthews
Lonely, didn't have many friends which means the audience and characters know little about what she was like.
Played by Lucy Bonfield
Costume: Ripped, bloody clothes with fake blood and make-up on face as she has been attacked and killed
Lonely, didn't have many friends which means the audience and characters know little about what she was like.
Played by Lucy Bonfield
Costume: Ripped, bloody clothes with fake blood and make-up on face as she has been attacked and killed
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