Overall Opinion

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 ?

I feel that we have learnt a lot ranging from the actual filming to the editing process. We realised that we needed to manage our time better and we tried our best to do that after our preliminary task. Also the acting improved a lot and it was more natural and fitted well with the situation. Our editing has improved and we tried to show variety. We also showed skilll with the camera as we used various different shots.

Evaluation Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product ?

We used many different technologies during the production of our film opening. The technologies we used are: YouTube, Blogger, Final Cut Pro and the camera. After using these technologies I learnt how to do many different things during the process.








We used YouTube for researching many different things. We researched other thrillers to see the main shots, sound effects, song choices etc. which could help us to plan our opening. Also we used it to upload our final thriller opening of our film. I learnt what embedding is and how you embed videos so that you can put them onto your blog.











Blogger is a site which we used to keep all of the research on. This was helpful as all of the work done was in one place and was easily accessible whether you were at home or school. I was a first time blogger and it was a new experience which I learnt a lot from. I also figured out where to put the embed code to produce the video you wanted.

Final Cut Pro is a professional editing software. To put together our thriller opening of our film we used Final Cut Pro. It is very useful as you can:

• Import and export videos
• Insert images
• Insert music
• Insert sounds
• Insert text

I had previously used this software for our preliminary task so I was aware of how to use it. I did learn how to insert text and where to place it. Also I learned how to increase or decrease non-diegetic or diegetic sound. I figured out how to slow down and speed up movements. I already knew how to do the different effects such as fade in and fade out.









The most important piece of technology that we used was the camera; we filmed all of our footage for our opening on it. It was handheld which meant it was good for some shots as we needed the handheld effect and it was easier to use for certain angles and shots. It could also be placed on a tripod for the shots that needed to be still. I already knew how to use a camera as I have one at home.

Evaluation Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience ?

We attracted the audience using our plot and storyline as it keeps them on the edge as they do not know what to expect. The shots show that the female character has some kind of mental issuse which makes them want to watch the rest of the film. Also the female and the male characters are represented in a stereotypical way but what the audience do not know is that we will play on these stereotypes later on in the film. The audience will automaticaly think that the girl is not at fault when in actual fact she is. We also used fast cuts and quick shots to keep the audience interested as they want to find out more about the shots. We ended the opening with emotion and it leaves the audience wanting to find out what happens next.

Evaluation Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product ?

After looking at the classifications for a suitable age range for our film we decided on 15 and over.

We chose this ceritificate for a number of reasons:

• Contains threat and menace
• Imitable behaviour
• Contains Violence  

As we are about the same age we knew what would appeal to this target audience so it was easier for us to be able to know what the audience could relate to. Our film is a psychological thriller which interests this target age as shocks and jumps are found appealing and exciting and our film contains that. Also there is emotion involved as it is about losing our loved ones, which we felt that this target audience would be able to relate to.

Evaluation Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why ?

Evaluation Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups ?

In this shot our character is represented in such a way that she is looking very vulnerable. There are many thrillers which contain shots of females looking vulnerable. This shot fits in with the vulnerable female social group, it is very similar to many other films where this is used to create emotion.

• She is dressed in white showing some form of purity and innocence
• She is running fast and looks behind repeatedly suggesting that something or someone is following her
• She is making sounds which show that she is scared

This shows a stereotypical view of a vulnerable female, we deliberately decided to show the female character this way so that it leaves the audience thinking whether she is the protagonist (good) or the antagonist (bad).

Evaluation Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products ?

The Voice Within

Research and Planning - Song Choices

This is Mozarts Requiem song, we felt that this would be a good non - diegetic sound for our film, as the song starts out soft but slowly the orchestral sounds begin to become more dramatic which went well with our storyline. Overall we thought that this song would have an impact on the audience and would fit well with our dramatic film so we decided to use this sound.

Research and Planning - Song Choices

We thought that this song would go well with the film, as the piano notes would match what is happening in the film. On the other hand the piano notes were too soft for a dramatic story line. Also we didnt feel that it would make a big impact on our target audience. Overall we didn't think that this song was appropriate for our film.

Research and Planning - The Voice Within Storyboard

Research and Planning - The Voice Within Script

Set in a graveyard

Emily, a young woman approaches the grave of a loved one

Once she reaches the grave, she kneels down to pay her respects

As she is paying her respects an unknown manly hand reaches forward and touches her shoulder

Unknown man: it’s all your fault

Emily turns around and runs off

Set in the woods

We then see Emily running in the woods and the unknown man is following her

She stops and looks at something in her hands which holds importance

(Flash of image) - Emily is on a bed in a jail like room and is rocking back and forth pulling her hair

Then Emily sits down beside a tree and sings to herself quietly

The unknown man is walking towards her and he reaches his hand out to touch her shoulder

Research and Planning - Practise Filming

Research and Planning - Location Shots

Research and Planning

We have decided to do a psychological thriller. The story is based upon a young girl who has a mental disability and does things without remembering she did them. She visits the grave of a loved one whom she has killed unknowingly. We will hopefully be having another character with which we will create ambiguity as to who the killer is.

Research and Planning - What i found out from my deconstrustion

As i deconstructed The Ward I realised that the director uses staright cuts a lot, I think that the reason for this is because it emphasises the scene more if we go to it straight away and he also uses jump cuts to scare the audience. Horror movies start out with a dark setting and have quiet non-diegetic music playing but as we go on it gets louder and louder.

Planning and research – The Ward (psychological horror) deconstruction

In the first two minutes, the companies that the film is produced and sponsored by are shown.  The editing that is used for them is fade in and out. The credits are then shown also using fade in and fade out editing with a non-diegetic quiet but high pitched classical piano sound. The scene is introduced with a non-diegetic swoosh sound and the edit is a slow wipe from the bottom of the screen. The mise-en-scène of the establishing shot is very dark and gloomy with only a few street lamps around. The location seems to be a big white building, at this moment it is ambiguous of what it is. It is long shot of the building. Then using a straight cut to a brown sign board the place is identified to be a psychiatric hospital. The next scene seems to look like the maintenance area; there is a diegetic sound of mechanics and is a long shot. We then straight cut to a low shot of tube light with diegetic lighting and electricity sounds. The mise-en-scène of the next scene is dark and has shadows. It uses a straight cut and is a long shot of a corridor. We then cutaway to the same corridor but from a different angle but it is much lighter in this area. We straight cut to the next scene which seems to look like an experiment room, in the mise-en-scène there are quite a few white objects which stand out against the background colour. The sound is diegetic of a monster laughing and the non-diegetic music is foreboding. The next mid shot is of 2 white doors and then we see a close up of hospital apparatus used during operations. We jump cut into the next scene with a diegetic lightening flash sound. The shot is a dolly shot and the mise-en-scène is light and dark and the off screen sound and light of lightening shines in. we can also her off screen footsteps. We start the next scene with a bird’s eye view of a young looking girl sitting on a bed in cell like room. The girl starts to get scared as she can hear approaching footsteps. We then go back to the corridor scene and there is a close up of a chalk board with ‘Tammy’ written. There is a close up a wired window, the shot is of someone looking into the girl and her emotions show that she is terrified. The thundery and suspense building music remains the same. The next scene begins with a close up of the bottom of a door showing a shadow of footsteps. We then straight cut to the girls face which shows that she is scared and terrified, she leaves her bed and the director uses a mid-shot of her standing in the corner of her room near a window which sheds some light.  He uses repeated shots of the door window,, the bottom of the door and her face to create more suspense and to scare his audience. The girl screams as she is grabbed by the neck by an unseen figure, we just see a hand in the dark. The next scene is of her feet kicking back and forth struggling and she eventually stops kicking.

Genre

We haven chosen to work in the horror genre, the reason for this is beacuse as a group we were interested in horror and had many ideas that we could use.