Group Feedback

.As part of our evaluation we were paired up with other groups and we would question each group about their final film product. The questions ranged from 'How did you feel your filming went' to 'what could you have improved'. This particular evaluation activity helped because it enabled us to realise what we were actually happy with and what we weren't happy with. This then also made us think about what we needed to improve on for next year.

evaluation 4- annotations of film

activity 5

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 5



How did you attract/address your audience?
You will use YOUTUBE's annotation tools to add NOTES, SPEECHBUBBLES, and LINKS to your video:

http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=92710

These annotations will highlight the ways in which your Film Opening links to other similiar films in order to attract the particular Audience you have previously identified.

Your annotations will refer to genre conventions, use of music, similiarities with other movies and what you have identified as the Unique Selling Point of your imaginary film.

activity 3

SCRIPT
We chose Warner Brothers as our production company because they have distributed many successful horror films such as Sweeney Todd, Orphan Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street. The fact that they have produced many different horror films and they have all been successful has shown that Warner Brothers has experience in dealing with small budget films and has made them a success. For example,Nightmare on Elm Street had a very small budget of just $1.8 million and received over $26 million at the box office. This has showed that films doesn't need a huge budget to be successful. 
A production company helps create the film. It assists in the budgeting, scripting casting and much more. They are also responsible for finding a director and talented actors. However they are also responsible for anything that goes wrong and also if anyone is injured during the filming process. 
Warner Brothers is a production company and also a distributer so for our film we did not need to find a distributer.

 I believe that our film will not reach a global audience and so will only need a small budget. This means that our film can be produced using lottery funding. Because this is only a small budget it would mean that it would only be released in the United Kingdom. This is due to the fact there is no big named stars and special effects.

In our film we included the names of the directors, producers, editors and actors in the titles of our film. Unfortunately we did not put the titles in a certain order. If we did put the titles in a certain order we would have put the actors names in first because the audience can recognise famous characters names which will entice them even more to watch the film. However, what we did do was coordinate the titles to flash up in time with the characters. So when the name of one of the characters flashed up, there was a scene with the character in it. This would then allow the audience to establish which person played the character. 
Our film is institutionally similar to Nightmare on Elm Street. This was produced by Warner Brothers on a very small budget of just $1.8 million. This is similar to our film because our film will only have a small budget also.

evaluation activity 7

In our preliminary task we used a long shot of a pathway with a fence covering half the path. We did this in an attempt to make it seem like the camera was a person's eyes, perhaps the villain. However, we failed to do this as it simply just looked as though it was a plain camera shot with nothing more to it. We feel we have improved on this particular type of shot. In our final film we tried to create the same effect, and we believed it worked. The camera did look as though it was our villain because we stationed the camera in the middle of trees and it did look realistic. This has shown that we have learned something about camera positioning.

We also feel as though we edited much better in our final film compared to our preliminary task, despite our lack of time. In our preliminary task we did not do much to edit at all, we more or less left it as it was because we felt it didn't need editing, despite the fact it did. In our final film we edited in many different ways in an attempt to make our film much better. We added in non-diegetic music to make the genre stand out even more, we used the time-stretch technique which we used to shorted and lengthen the music, we also used various transitions and effects as well. This then made our film look slightly more professional because it showed our audience that we were able to add in extra features to better our film. So, due to this, we believe that we have learnt that editing is an important factor in film production because it will enable your film to have a more professional aspect about it.

However, despite these improvements we feel that we haven't improved on everything. Firstly, we did not use many high or low angle shots in our final film. However in our preliminary task we did use high and low angle shots. This has shown that we have not improved on some of our camerawork skills because we did not think carefully enough about what shot types to use which would suit our genre. As our film is a horror it means we should have used high and low angle shots to establish which character is the victim and which is the villain. As we didn't do this it meant that we did not take forward our camerawork skills from our preliminary task. Also, in our Preliminary task we used match on action however in our final film we didn't. This, again, shows that we have not thought careful about our camerawork which is quite a big downfall for us because it meant that our final film lacked in clear shot types.

Evaluation 8

I have set myself many different targets for G324 next year. The first target I have decided to set myself is to do with timing.

When we filmed our two minute opening we gave ourselves a very limited amount of time. This is due to other commitments we had made and have outside of school. Due to these commitments it meant that we didn't have much available time to film, as these commitments happened after school. However, we realised that this was a problem because it got dark at around 4.30pm every evening and we got home from school at around 4pm. This meant we could not film after 4.30 because it would have been too dark and we wanted the lighting to be fairly light in our film so that we could see the characters, but when we tried to film this late we couldn't even see anything and it started to get really cold, and this then only gave us a half an hour slot to do filming which was not nearly enough time. Due to such a limited amount of filming time it meant we gradually fell behind on filming which meant that, as our deadline day drew closer, we ended up rushing our film in order to get it finished. This meant that our film was not the best that it could be. This has led us to set targets involving the timing of our filming for next year. We have decided to start filming as soon as possible into the year which means that we will have plenty of time to film. It also means that we will not have to rush our filming which will hopefully result in a much better, well prepared final product as we will have more time to plan and prepare.


We will also make sure we start editing sooner. This year, as we filmed so late, we only left ourselves a very short amount of time to edit our film. This meant that it was very rushed so we ended up making a few mistakes. In order to make sure this doesn't happen we will make sure we do not fall behind on the filming which could result in our editing becoming rushed. The problems we faced with editing is that we were not able to sit down and thoroughly work through our film editing every aspect we could. We only had time to edit the aspects that were absolutely necessary. This clearly was a huge problem because it meant that our final product was not nearly as good as we had hoped. This has therefore been an eye opener for us and has led us to the conclusion that we must not fall behind on our filming because it will also effect our editing as well.


We have also decided to use a tripod and perhaps a better quality camera. This year when we filmed we didn't use a tripod. This resulted in the shots being quite shaky which suggests that our film is of bad quality. Also, as we didn't use a tripod it may have been hard for the audience to establish shot type. This is because the camera moved quite a bit as it was only hand held. This therefore has led us to decide that we will use a tripod next year to improve the quality of the shots and also to ensure a clear shot type. Using a better quality camera will ensure that the audience will have a clear picture of the film. This may make them more keen to watch the film because they will not have to focus too much on the characters. They will be able to easily watch our film with no trouble.


This year, after we had filmed, we realised we hadn't used enough shot types that were related to the genre of our film. The genre we decided upon was horror so the most common shots would be high angle and low angle shots to establish the villain and the victim. However, we used hardly any low angle or high angle shots so it may have been hard for the audience to completely establish which character was the villain and which character was the victim. So, next year we have decided to plan more carefully which shot types we will use and also decide on shot types which are possible to use. This year when we planned our shot types we chose bird's eye view shots. However when it came to filming we were not able to do this as there was no way we could get high enough to film the shot. This therefore resulted in us wasting our filming time as we had to decide on a new shot to do. So next year when we plan our shot types we will carefully decide on shots that are possible and also make sure we use shots that are relevant to the genre of our film.ar.

Evaluation Activity 4 - target audience

I believe that our target audience would look like this, and would be interested in horror films.
They look like they would also be interested in sci/fi films too, so that's why i believe that they would like our film as its more crime than it is horror as we don't involve any blood or gore in our film, so they might like the fact you have to try and work out what has happened to both girls. As their tastes would appear to be in crime, they might watch TV dramas like 'The Killing' which involve murders on a day to day basis, however the TV series bases the programme on the investigation and finding about the crime itself. It has the element of horror involved in it, but not to the extent where its scary as such its mainly used to build up tension and creates the sense of suspicion, which is what we tried to relate in our film so that's why i believe this audience would enjoy our film as ours isn't scary or gory.

This type of audience would shop in places such as HMV, Game and skate shops. The reason for this is because they seem like they would be into their music, which would be either heavy metal or rock just from the way they dress and look. Also in game i think they would play Xbox quite a lot on games such as Grand Theft Auto and Call Of Duty which both show elements of violence in them and shooting and theft which all relate to crime scenes as you can kill people, the heavy metal and rock music could also link to this as its very loud and can be seen as aggressive. This would make them want to watch our film as it ends on a Cliff hanger so it makes you want to carry on watching it to see what happened and as they like the crime and investigations they would want to try and work our what happened. The only problem that may occur is that they play games involving shooting and killing however our two minutes opening doesn't show any of that, so that might be the only thing putting them off, however there is nothing to say that, that wouldn't happen later on in the film once they find the missing girl so that might entice them to watch.

Evaluation Activity 2

 I have chosen to use one of our main characters, Georgia, to be compared to the girl out of the horror film ' scream' . There are many similarities that both these characters share, such as their hair colour being typically blond a convention of a horror film as blonde's are normally stereotyped with being easy victims as there are 'stupid' and 'dumb' both of them are also pretty which is another convention as a pretty female is normally used as a victim to attract different audiences and to show they are weak and more vulnerable. The facial expressions both express some kind of shock, which makes them link in well with horror films and something bad has clearly happened. This is shown in different ways though as the girl from scream is on the phone to her attacker and therefore they might have said something to her that has scared her as she is reaching for the door handle, where she could possibly be locking the door or going out to see/do what the attacker has told her to do. Georgia, however, looked shocked and scared in a different way as she seems to be focused on one thing and has more of a panic expression than scared. Another way to link these together is the fact their mouths are open suggesting they could be about to scream and the fact the girls eyes in scream are closed could indicate that she has just seen something out the window too.

Both of the girls are wearing similar clothing, which is casual as you can see earlier on in the film. This means that they obviously both didn't realise anything would happen as they are just in normal everyday clothes either on their way home from somewhere or just having a night in, so they link together as it shows in both situations they were not expecting this. Both these girls also play the same role in the films as they are both the victims which relates them, and that something 'unexpected' happens to them.

Evaluation- Story and how the opening sets it up (frame 8)

Our oppening of our two actors set up our story line as it shows them happily talking and just casually walking as if nothing bad is expected to happen. This shot sets it up nicely as the sun is out and the setting looks bright and quite pretty, compared to the woods were it is dark and gloomy. Our story line starts off with just two innocent girls supposedly walking back home on their way back from school, as this shot clearly shows this happening. From this oppening shot the audience wouldnt suspect any thing horrible or unexpected to happen.

However the music at the start is quite slow and quite and sounds creepy which gives it away but leaves the auidence guessing as to what could happen. As the film goes on you can start guessing the plot to our film and the setting turns cold and sinister compared to this shot. This shot also seems reasonably open compared to the woods where its compact with trees, which makes it seem creppier as you dont know what is behind or within them. They are also walking over a bridge, and you cant see what is at the otherside, so it sets up our story well as the auidence wont know they are about to go into the woods, as it looks like they are just walking on a normal path.

Evaluation -Special Effects (frame 7)

We used special effects with sound on this frame, when the figure walks past the music suddenly sharpens and get creppier and louder. This was effective as it would grab the audiences attention and by the way the music sounded they knew that the figure shouldnt be there and that something would happen. This special effect wasnt visual unlike the ending, but compared to the background music it was diffent and was used as a special effect.

At the end we used a blurred and faded effect on Georgias face to show the emotion on her face and emphise the fact she is scared and panicking about the situation. When we edited this shot we made the flashback effect in time with her breathing so it made it more effective. This didnt go as well as we had hoped as some of it isnt in time. The effect of thisalso makes it look a bit creepy and the fact she is so scared now could mean something has just happened to her or is about to. The length of the shot is 5 seconds which is one of our longest shots, this creates tension and leaves the audience in suspense as they dont know what has happened.

Evaluation 1- camera work and editing (frame 6)

we used this close up shot to emphasise why our actor stopped and to show that she is more vulnerable as she is now at a low angle. The reason as to why we took some close ups was because they are the conventions of a horror film to show emotion and to build up tension. We rushed our film and therefore didn't use as many close up shots as we would of liked and we didn't exactly use them in the correct way as we can see any emotion through this shot. we mainly used this shot to show the focus on the shoe and that their attention is on tieing her lace and not on what might be going on around them. We knew when we put our film together that we should of used more close ups, although our close up at the end of Georgia before the scream shows the emotion on her face as if she has seen something,so we thought that close up shot worked well.

We tried to use a variety of shot types, so this is why we used an over the shoulder shot so we could see both characters and also get the main prop/object of our film in too. We thought it would look better if we had half of my head and shoulder in the shot as it made it more effective,because when we tried it without it didn't look as good as we couldn't see who Georgia was looking at, so that's why we showed half of my head and shoulder in the shot.

When we edited our film we used white writing and a basic font,to show who was in our film, produced, filmed and directed it. The reason we chose white was so it showed up on ever shot, clearly. We faded them in and out so that they flowed with the film and we made them last longer on the screen then we originally did so that it gives the audience chance to read it and so they show over a couple of shot. We chose to make the writing come up in the bottom right hand corner so that it wasn't in the way of any of the filming and so it looked neater. When we did our research we also found that quite a lot of films did that too.

The Unexpected Improved

Evaluation 1 -The title of the film/ style (frame 5) and (frame9)

The reason why we chose this as our title was due to the fact it stands out well at the end of our film. We end our film with a scream to leave the audience guessing as to what has just happened and then play the title at the end as it leaves it on a cliff hanger, and it was also a good opportunity. The white writing shows up well on the black background and as our film in set in the woods, the black background is used to represent the darkness in the woods and the white writing is used as silhouettes of the trees. We chose not to use any red font like we planned at the beginning, because after we did our research we realised that the red font is only really used in film involving some kind of murder or gore to represent the blood, but as our film is not gory at all we chose not to use it. The font we used was called 'juice ict' which we thought went well with the genre of our film as it has an unusall
shape to the letters, which are quite sharp and pointy which could suggest danger which noramlly occurs in horror films. We chose not to have any 'fancy' or 'swirly' writing as that is usually seen as safe and assoicated with romance films, and would therefore not relate to our film and could possibly confuse the audience.

Evaluation - Genre and how the opening suggests that (frame 4)

The Genre of 'Horror' is presented in the opening by one of the first scenes, showing the conventions of a typical horror film with the setting placed in the woods which is shown in this frame. The opening also indicates this as its dark, gloomy and muddy,this makes the audience see straight away that it is a horror, as people tend to associate the fact something bad is going to happen when the weather is bad, which is what normally happens in a horror film. The two girls are also walking alone in the woods, and you can see its really quiet as there is no one else around which makes you think something will happen as any thing could now happen as no one is there to witness it, which creates a sense of suspicion towards the audience. The girls also have their backs turned making them more venerable, as they wont be able to react to anything if it comes from behind as they wont see it, their costumes also make them seem venerable as they are just teenagers so they are easily scared. The timing of the shot is also quite long and slowed paced, with are also typically used in horror films to build up the suspense. Our victims are also female and victims in horror films are normally always a female as they are seen as weak and fragile. The music we use is also quite creepy and quite showing abnormality to the scene when the two girls are walking through the woods, disrupting the normality at the beginning . The choice of lighting is also quite shadowy creating silhouettes and figures which are within horrors as the shadows could be seen as someone or something else, its also quite misty/ foggy so the picture quality isn't as clear creating suspicion.

Evaluation - Costumes and Props (Frame 3)

In this frame we show the costumes of the two characters. They are seen to be wearing everyday clothing, suggesting they could be on their way home from somewhere, which makes the audience unaware of where they have been and question why they are walking in the woods this late in the evening creating enigma codes towards the audience. By our two main actors wearing these types of clothes shows how they are just typical teenagers, which indicates their vulnerability walking in the woods by themselves. We also use a peice of their clothing, the scarf, as a prop. The reason we used it as a prop was the fact it easily comes off and therefore the reason it ends up in the tree, as it must of fallen off and someone happened to place it the tree, however that tree was infront of them which made them confused and also the auidence as they dont know how that would of got there as know onw else was around. The peice of clothing is also significant to the actor as it is made obvious to the audience as it is around her neck as we use different shots to show that, and also by the types of shots we make the scarf stand out emphising the prop.


The other prop we have in our film is a phone, this is used as a distraction, so the actor can not see the figure that walks past her, to create a tense atmoshere for the auidence as they can see it and therefore want to try and tell her to look. The phone is also a typicall object for a teenager to have and also stereotypically likely to be seen with teenagers, so therefore the prop fits in well with that scene. The fact that the actor is on the phone makes the auidence wonder what she is doing and wether or not she is texting someone telling them theyre on their way home or the fact she could just be looking at something. This makes you question the fact that if anything was to happen then people could know where they are and how far away from home they are which would give the auidence a greater sense of relief, so thats why we chose not to see what she doing so that it makes the auidence question it.
                                                                                                                                                                                         


                                                                                 

Film Diaries

We took a video of us on our way to go and film, and as you can hear it was really windy so that's why it was hard to hear us clearly. we found that due to the winds it was also hard to hear the dialogue in our as the wind effected the sound, and left a crackling noise.

In this video you can also see how windy it is, and this made us concerned about how our film will turn out, however we knew it had to be in soon so we had to get it done as soon as possible and the weather could also be bad every day so we didnt want to risk it by doing it another day where the weather could just get worse.

We knew from this diary that our film hadnt gone as well as we hoped as the weather was horrible and i was so cold out, it got rushed quite a bit as after every clip we took we didnt check it so we didnt know if anything was wrong with it, which made it hard for us when we edited the film as we did find things wrong and then we were unable to then re film it as we were not free any other day and the weather was different to what it was this day.

This was filmed after we had attempted to edit our film, when we found out we could use different transitions to create different effects on out film as we had to film in the light due to the fact it got really dark quickly so we had to film in the afternoon so that it wouldnt get too dark to film in as you couldnt really see anything that we filmed last time we did it that late.

 

Fim Production Mark

The mark you received at moderation for your production is Level 3 - 36/60.

Targets: Remove Lionsgate and create your own film production name or use a different film company. Improve titles - titles flash up too quickly let them fade in and out.

Anamatic Story Board

Evaluation - Setting and Location (Frame 2)

Our second frame was also pretty succesfull as we show the setting through a long shot of the woods, showing the conventions of a horror film such as it being dark, gloomy, cold,wet and muddy. The shot also went well becasue if you look closly you can see a black figure standing in the far distance which wansnt intentionally meant to be there but we decided to leave it as it fitted in well with our film as later on you see a black figure walking past so it could be them, and the actors just havent noticed it. The good thing about this shot is that it shows rows of trees and bushes which creates a sence of tension for the auidence as they dont know what could be in those woods and what could be amongst the trees or bushes so that worked well to build up the tension early on. The path is also shown to go on for quite a while so it indicates that it will start getting darker before they get home so it could well get very dark whilst they are still in the woods. The sky is also grey and misty relating the conventions of a horror as it makes it seem suspicous as creepy like you would feel late at night in the woods.

Evaluation of film- Introducing Characters ( Frame 1)

We introduce our film with a low angle long shot of our two main actors and also victims. I think this shot went well as there is low key lighting showing the audience it is still pretty light out so there isn't anything suspicious going to happen just yet, it also sets the scene a little as you can see there isnt anyone else around and it looks pretty quite, which condradicts the thought of nothing happening as it is a pretty sterotypical setting for a horror film so therefore as it isnt busy something could occur. As the angle is a low shot it makes the two actors seem like they are in control of the sittution and are not vunerable of anything just yet. Through mise en scene we also made our actors wear everyday casual clothing as if they were just coming back from being at school and on their way home, so that it makes it seem less lieky for anything unusual as they would most likely always walk that way home. The face they are wearing coats and jeans suggests that it is cold out and therefore winter so it means it would be getting dark soon which is a convention of a horror film.