Evaluation: 7

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

What skills did you learn when you did your preliminary task and what were the weaknesses of your preliminary task?

From the preliminary task I learnt many skills which were extremely useful when it came to filming, editing, directing and planning my opening sequence. 

In our prelim task we made a rough initial storyboard which included images and rough shot descriptions. However, when it came to filming, we didn't use this storyboard as much as we could have. This lead to confusion and uncertainties whether some shots were filmed or not. Also, we ended up adding and changing shot angles planned minimally. We found that when in the location with actors we discovered more shot angles which we liked, such as the eye blinking shot from straight on being the victims eyes instead of the bully's.

We learnt a lot about what shot angles were effective and how the cameras worked. We felt that the zoom in and out feature was restricted and therefore in our prelim task did not include any of these shots. We placed the camera on the floor for some closer shots of their feet walking. We loved the angle in which we did this however felt that it would've been more successful if the camera had followed the footsteps.

Furthermore, we learnt that acting is a huge part in the filming process. It took us much longer than anticipated to achieve the shots we wanted due to inexperienced actors and having to refill shots due to background disruption. 

We learnt the basic skills required to edit footage on Final Cut Express, this involved how to cut clips and change their speed. But, we didn't really look into more detailed things such as transitions, sound and effects. 

In our prelim, we also realised after filming that some shots were not successful, whether this was to do with jolted camerawork, actors forgetting lines or having equipment in the background of the shot. That multiple shots of the same thing should be completed in order to be safe and select the best shot. This was ensure continuity errors were minimal. 

We had not really used the tripods, except from a small practice shots beforehand. Thus, when it came to our prelim task- I felt that our knowledge of this was restricted which may have lead to time being consumed quickly. This was also relevant when it came to camera use, however I felt that we picked up the features quite quickly. 

Furthermore, it took us quite a while to decide on a location to record our prelim task. We felt that it didn't really matter as our piece was set in a school location- thus we didn't give much thought into the location in which we would be filming. I believe that the location we decided on in the end was effective, however again wasted time that could've been spent on filming. Thus, in our final task I believe we should pre-prepare locations and visit them prior to shooting in order to find possible angles that work well. 

How have you used or developed these skills in your full task and how have you ensured that your final piece does to have the weaknesses from your prelim task?

In our final task we wanted to ensure that everything we had learnt from the prelim task would have a contingency plan ready. This meant that we planned a more detailed storyboard that we would stick to, including not only shot descriptions but angles, sound effects and transitions we wanted. Overall, in our final task we invested much more time and research into finding what would work best. This was helpful when it came to editing and filming as we knew each shot that was being filmed and where it would go. 

We filmed multiple shot angles of the investigation board in order to ensure that we had enough footage of a high quality and relevant areas. This was built on the knowledge we learnt in our prelim task by having some continuity errors and unstable shots. 

From our prelim, the actors found it difficult to stick to lines accurately, without distraction. Also, we felt that using dialogue made it more difficult for the actors, without any previous experience to present. We felt that in our final piece, using no dialogue would eliminate this difficultly and give it a more realistic atmosphere.

In our prelim task, props were minimal and thus we wanted to ensure that in our full task that all props used were relevant and linked to the plot. We wanted to focus on certain props in smaller sections, for example the investigation board.

In our final piece, we ensured that we visited locations prior to filming so that we could decide whether it was effective and could plan possible shot angles. Also, we wanted to make sure that all shots were smooth and without shaky parts, thus we had already experimented with the tripod to ensure that the transitions were smooth. Also, we shot multiple times to ensure that there was a higher chance of smoother footage. We pressed the start filming button and left the camera still for a moment to ensure that shots didn't begin mid-motion. Furthermore, when it came to editing, we made sure that any anomalies and jolted shots were cut out. 

Furthermore, after comparing the shots from our prelim task, we decided to change the camera we used for our final piece. We felt that the shots from the prelim task were not as high quality as we would have liked. Also, as the cameras zoom in and out feature was quite jolted we felt that our piece would be more effective with a smoother zoom in and out feature. Thus we chose to use a Canon 1100D for filming our final piece. 

Our team worked quite well together overall. Even at points when not all members were present for filming/editing, we were productive and completed all the work within the required time.

What have you leaned overall about practical work from doing these two tasks? What is essential to make a good practical piece? 

Overall, I have learnt many new things about editing, filming, preparation and research. Beforehand, I never considered research as an essential part of creating an opening sequence. I just presumed that it was all about the use of camera skills and editing to make it successful. However, without the research and development beforehand into target audience, conventions and other examples- it would have been almost impossible to make a final sequence altogether. From the research I learnt a lot about thriller openings and conventions they hold which were used in my final piece. Also, i learnt the importance of teamwork. Even when not all members were present for planning, filming or editing- I felt that we were always productive and continued successfully no matter what. 

The key points that make a good practical piece are: teamwork, research, planning, understanding of camera work/angles, having a contingency plan/back up, good time keeping and creative ideas.

Evaluation: 6

Evaluation 6

Evaluation: 5

We got some pupils of our target audience age group (16-17) of both genders and asked them a few questions. Before showing the video, we gave a brief of both the horror and thriller stories and asked if based on this that would be something they'd be interested to see at the cinema and what their favourite genre was. After showing the opening sequences, we asked if the participants felt that the brief matched the story reflected in the video, if they enjoyed it and what their favourite/ least favourite parts were.

Evaluation: 4

Discuss who your target audiences are in detail:


Gender: Male and Female

•Both genders are targeted, as we didn’t want the film to be gender-specific. Thrillers are a typical genre that can attract interest from both men and women and we therefore didn't want to challenge this. It may be argued that the film targets females more as in the opening sequence; only female children are shown as missing. This was not to exclude men in any way, more to emphasise the purity and innocence of the young girls. By using all three girls, we wanted to create enigma codes to make the audience question this pattern. However, despite this the threatening, mysterious themes would still appeal to male audiences.


Age: 15-30

•We chose to target an age category of 15-25 year olds as we believed that the film was most applicable and appealing to this age group. We made the film a 15+ rating, however- despite this, younger viewers may still be interested in 'Omitted' as a way of showing their authority and dominance over others. But, we believed that making the film a 15 was a sensible age group as they can understand the distressing themes within the film and should be mature enough to know not to react in ways shown in the opening. We felt that up to 30 year olds was our target audience, however- many individuals older than this still may be interested to see the film. We felt that typically, people without children would be more likely to watch the film as they may not feel as strong attachments or relations to the young characters shown. Thus, we felt individuals older than 30 may not wish to see 'Omitted' due to the emotional themes and attachments to younger children.


Class: Working Class and Middle Class

•The target audience would be of a middle/working class background as this would enable them to be able to buy a ticket to the cinema theatres or buy a DVD copy of the film. Traditionally, these two groupings are more likely to watch films as the price bracket means they can afford to do this as a form of entertainment. Whereas upper classes may have other interests.


Socio-Economic Group: C2, D and E

•E= Pensioners, Students, The Unemployed

•D= Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers

•C2= Skilled manual workers

•We believe that our most popular target audience will be students from the ages of 15-21. This is because, thriller/horror films tend to appeal most to this age group as they enjoy feeling scared and gain adrenaline from this. Also, they tend to have a large proportion of money, which is disposable income (from pocket money and part time jobs). This is because they have no major financial commitments at their age. However, not only this socio-economic group would be interested in 'Omitted' as unskilled, semiskilled and skilled manual workers may be interested also. 


Ethnicity: White British and other ethnic groupings

• Of the three main characters shown in the 'Omitted' opening sequence, two are white British and one is of a different ethnic background. We wanted to ensure this to show a multi-cultural society and to attempt not to exclude anyone from being able to relate to the characters present. 


Young and Rubicam Theory: suggests that all audiences fall into one or more categories.

•The Explorer

     •Needs discovery. We expect our target audience to be driven by investigating and exploring new locations, and thus will be intrigued to uncover the antagonist behind this scheming plot. They are driven by a need for challenge and new frontiers, which would be put to the test whilst watching 'Omitted'. 

•The Struggler

     •Needs escape. Our target audience may be seeking a way of escaping from reality whilst watching the film and it may help them to put their lives into perspective. They depend on luck and others to help them as a posed to getting on with life themselves. 

•The Mainstream

     •Needs security. Could watch the film 'Omitted' after hearing positive comments from others- may not necessarily be something they would like to watch themselves. They respond to big established brands/companies and therefore if we were to work with large distributors such as Warner Bros. productions, we would more likely have a higher proportion of mainstreamers watching.


Uses and Gratifications Theory: Bulmer & Katz suggest that audiences enjoy products which offer them opportunities and that a text must gratify and audience's needs.

•Escape: viewers may wish to 'escape' whilst watching this film by giving them an alternative world/plot to focus on.

•Be Entertained: Any film productions focus on entertaining the audience. We have used a variety of techniques such as enigma codes in order to try and engage/entertain the audience watching.

•To form a sense of their own identity: The audience may feel that they can relate to specific characters in the film and thus may help them to consider different aspects and questions faced in the plot. This could enable them to build their own opinions and identity from the story and apply it into their everyday lives.


Discuss some of the research you did to find out more about your target audience:


We conducted a questionnaire, in which both male and female students aged 16-17 answered a few questions on what they thought of our initial idea for our opening sequence. This age group was a main target audience- with them being in full time education and therefore their opinions were greatly influential on our final piece. This gave us an idea on what a main proportion of our targeted audience felt was the most effective. 




Audience Feedback

Evaluation: 3

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

https://prezi.com/k44-krlpbona/what-kind-of-media-institution-might-distribute-your-media-p/

Evaluation: 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation: 1

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

https://prezi.com/w_rlpki77hon/conventions-of-opening-sequences/

'Omitted' Film Poster

Final AS Opening Sequence 'Omitted'

Music By: 
Jason Shaw- audionautix.com

Edited By:
Eleanor Burgess
Louise Chapman

Filmed By:
Eleanor Burgess
Louise Chapman
Justine Panlaqui
Kate Foster

Filming: Day 4- Thursday 18th December 2014

Thursday 18th December 2014

This was our final day of planned filming. We were focused on getting the shots of the missing posters in different locations. This included: a work environment, a street scene, on a tree and amongst leaves.

We wanted to show the missing poster through a long time period- which we completed two similar shots, one with a new poster and one with a much more crumpled, older one.  

The shots we planned to get were:

Establishing shot: First shot of the film opening sequence, of a street scene with the poster on a lamp post. Sets the scene for the film and makes the audience question the locations relevance to the plot. 

Close-ups: We used a few closer up shots of the missing poster in order to use a wider variety of long and short distance shots- the closer up shot allows the audience to read details on the poster that may have been difficult in a wide shot.

Zoom-in/Zoom-out shots: We shot an image of a new poster on a tree and then, keeping the camera and tripod in the same place, replaced the poster with a battered older poster in order to denote that time had passed and this investigation was still occurring. We felt that using the zoom in and out shots made this more interesting as a posed to still shots representing this. 

Medium Close Up: We got a medium close up shot of the poster panning across a fence in order to show the poster in its surroundings- but enough so that the text can be read also. 

Filming was very productive and completed within an hour. We worked well as a team and managed to get all the shots required plus some extra shots as at points we were unsure if our final piece would be long enough. Therefore, we did take more shots than we had initially planned as back up. We got some shots of leaves falling onto a missing poster amongst the mud and grass. Also, we got some police tape and got some extra shots of this amongst a grassy image- this was to reflect that there was an investigation occurring to find Molly. For the horror, they got some similar shots but instead of police tape they used the teddy bear that Molly walked through the wooded area with- but covered it in blood and mud. 

Filming: Day 3- Wednesday 17th December 2014

Wednesday 17th December 2014

Prior to this we had contacted Charlotte (who would be playing Molly) and confirmed that we would meet at 4pm at the front of Nonsuch Park. When she had arrived we went to the toilets to put Charlotte in her costume. We decided that we were going to use both dresses and layer them over each other. This was because one dress was slightly too short. But after pinning bits up, we felt that the costume looked like it was just one item of clothing- as we originally planned. After this, we walked round the corner to a wooded area in which we were going to film. There were no prior rehearsals required as no dialogue is spoken or difficult actions completed. We continued filming on the Canon EOS 1100D camera.

The first shots we took were Tracking Shots. We wanted to get a few shots of Molly (Charlotte) with her back towards the camera wandering through the forest. We got a variety of long and close-up shots of this, in order for us to have a choice when it came to editing. We did not use a tripod for this tracking shot as we did not have the equipment required for the tripod to move along rails or wheels- therefore this is a Hand-Held Shot. The shot is used to make the audience feel like they are in the same position as the character and focuses on their actions and where they are going. 

One of the closer shots we took was an Over The Shoulder Shot which was filmed just over Molly's shoulder. This was used to make the audience feel as though they are part of the scene and show an element of the characters perspective. This shot was used to make the event seem relatively well-known to a wide audience, thus allowing them to relate to the character. 

We also did a Close-Up Shot of Molly's feet/shoes walking through the forest. We wanted this to emphasise the treacherous journey that the girl had encountered in order to get where she is now. This creates huge narrative enigma for the audience and can make them feel uncomfortable due to the close proximity of the shot. Seeing the close up of the feet walking away from the camera and the longer distance shot of Molly walking away from the camera link together and builds tension between them. 

We had to recreate two sets of these shots: ones for the thriller piece and ones for the horror piece. Collectively, we decided that it would be more effective for the horror to have a slightly darker setting and therefore filming for the thriller would go first. Also, the horror piece was going to include using 'fake blood' on the bottom of Molly's (Charlotte) legs and dress. 

-----------------------

After this, Justine and I returned to my house and continued filming of the Horror: Stalker Board. From yesterdays test shots, we decided to alter the lighting from using the main garage lights to smaller battery powered lights. The shots for the horror piece consisted of similar shot angles to the thriller, however tended to include more blurred and shaken images. Initially we had only thought about having a few props on the desk of the stalker (knifes and the teddy bear). Although, In my garage we found a larger spade and gardening equipment which we smeared with fake blood and placed on the side of the desk to add a mysterious feel. We managed to complete all filming for the horror piece.

Filming- Day 2: Tuesday 16th December 2014

Tuesday 16th December 2014

After a reasonably productive first day of filming and having a quick glance over the shots taken for the thriller piece, we decided that we wanted to re-film these shots with a different camera. We had initially used a camera (SonyHDR-CX210) provided by our school. Although, after looking back at the quality of this, we wanted to re-film using a camera which had: a more 'smooth' zoom in and out feature, clearer quality and focus. We used a Canon EOS 1100D for filming and re did most of the shot angles completed on Friday. Also, the fact that we were able to use two different lenses meant that we could successfully concentrate on either close up or medium/long shots at one time. We felt that this was the best for the overall piece and meant that shots prior to today were almost like test/practice shots to check the angles, lighting and mis-en-scene. 

After this, we then prepared the board for the horror piece.  Although, but we did not  complete much filming of the horror board- just preparations. This meant that the next filming day, we would be ready to film immediately. The horror board was going to be much less structured, include more photos of the girls individually and look a lot more ragged and torn apart. This is to create the idea of the board being in a culprit's lair. We then moved the board down to my garage (the location for the horror shots) and began testing some shot ideas so that we would be prepared for tomorrow's filming.

Filming: Day 1- Friday 12th December

Friday 12th December 2014

Preparation:
Prior to filming, we had found a large, blue notice board in a classroom at school and after speaking to the teacher, discovered it was not in use and thus we decided to make it the basis for our media piece. We got to work printing and cutting out photographs, articles and reports which we would use on our thriller, police investigation board. The thriller board was planned to be quite organised with a methodical layout in order to try and replicate the precise thought layout of a possible detective.

Initially we started with a large A2 Map of the world which we discussed that we wanted to place in the centre of the board and have links to a variety of different locations for each of the different girls. However, we decided that it would be more effective if the disappearances had occurred in the same location over the years. This would suggest the possibility that there is a culprit in the local area who had evaded capture for three years. We then rearranged the board to use much smaller maps from a Atlas of the UK to show locations and links to the investigation.

We used each of the missing posters of the girls as a central point, with Molly's poster being the slightly larger size of A3 to emphasise the focus being the most recent disappearance.

We decided to focus the photographs on Molly Taylor (Charlotte Webb), a young girl that disappeared on the 20th October 2014. We wanted to show the links of her disappearance   to 2 other girls that also went missing on this exact date in 2012 and 2013. We chose to have these two girls in the bottom two corners as they were not intended to be the main focus of the filming, but more as a way to build tension and show clear connections. 

In the top left corner we chose to use some police reports, fingerprints and possible links to a offender of the crimes. We wanted to have a outlined shadowed character with a question mark in to create narrative enigma. This added to the thriller, police element which we wanted the opening sequence to capture. 

Filming:
Both locations for initial filming would be at my house. For the thriller piece, we wanted the investigation board to have a very clinical feel with a white background, a desk and bright lighting which worked well on a wall in my house. With the horror, my garage had a old and broken desk which we felt had a eerie atmosphere for the stalker's board. We began with filming the thriller piece today. Initially we had problems with lighting and were unsure whether to use main lights or just smaller lamps- after debate we chose to have both on in order to have a brighter image. We wanted to use a wide variety of different shots and get multiple versions of these. This was to ensure that we had more footage than required, allowing us to decide which of these were most effective and use only these shots. Here are some of the shots used:

Establishing Shot: The shot emphasised the entire board in relation to the 'police office' and allows the audience to understand the relationship between this location and other locations shown in the opening sequence.

Hand-Held Shot: We filmed some of the shots without a tripod. This, whilst making the shots slightly shaky, makes the audience feel like they are part of the investigation and makes it seem more realistic and relatable.

Close-ups: We used a variety of different close up shots such as: extreme close ups and medium close ups. These were used to focus the audiences attention to certain areas of the investigation board and to involve them in what is happening, allowing them to understand the extent of the situation by making them feel quite uncomfortable. 

Low angle shots: We used low angle shots to emphasise the board as being a dominant prop, with it being so large panning up makes the audience feel small and helpless to the investigation. 

Tilt: Using the tripod, we made some tilted shots in order to show other areas of the investigation board and create the illusion that not only the board is on going, but also the search to find the missing girls. 

Costume and Props: Opening Sequence

https://prezi.com/wheqh921dkk_/media-costumes-and-props/# 

Shooting Schedule

Soundtrack

We found a few pieces of intriguing music on a website called audionautix.com. With further research, we discovered that it would be possible for us to use the music in full or in part that we found on this website in our opening sequence. We decided to use the pieces named 'Atlantis' and 'Deep Space' throughout our opening. We wanted to ensure that we could use this music without any copyright issues, therefore we credited the website in our final opening sequence and also in the description box on YouTube. After cutting and editing parts of the music we managed to make it fit into our film opening.

Casting

Our opening sequence is based around a young girl named Molly who has mysteriously disappeared. We felt that casting was a very important part of the process as we wanted to find a young girl with an innocent face. We had discussed that we wanted a relatively young female to have the role as it would add to the suspense level as a child going missing is much more engaging and suspense building than an older character. With this being said, we didn't want a girl too young in that it would have been difficult to film or impossible to find a actress to fit.

We asked the drama teachers at our school if anyone fitted the brief that we had explained and she mentioned a few different names of drama students who we went and spoke to shortly after. After getting rough photographs of each of them, as a group we discussed who we felt would fit the opening sequence the best. We decided on a year ten pupil named Charlotte Webb. From our storyboard, we knew that the actress would not be in a huge proportion of the shots taken- however we would need multiple pictures. We constructed a formal permission letter for Charlotte and her parents to read and allowed them to contact us with any questions they had. We left our email addresses at the bottom for this. 

Consent Letter

Missing Poster: Prop

Here are the missing posters that are going to be a key prop in our opening sequence. We have chosen the names Molly, Francesa and Rosie as they are all very typical and quite common names for young girls of the age group 10-12. We wanted to have reasonably well-known names as this adds a sense of realism to the opening and makes a more direct link with the audience, allowing them to become more engaged in the plot. 

The main focus of the opening sequence will be on Molly Taylor and the investigation as to what lead to her disappearance. The opening shows the police's investigation board with links between Molly and the two other girls disappearances, with them occurring on the same day each year. We chose the 20th October as we planned filming to occur in the autumnal season and thus for it to be representative we wanted to chose a date within this time period. We felt october was relevant as it creates suspense for the thriller with it being just before halloween.

Description Of Target Audience: Omitted

Age: 15-25

Gender: Male and Female

Social Demographic: C2, D and E: Working Class/ Middle Class
C2= Skilled manual workers
D= Semi-skilled and Unskilled manual workers
E= Pensioners, Students, Unemployed

Hobbies & Interests: Have an interest in the thriller/crime genre- like the adrenaline that they feel when scared or under pressure. May have an interest in the police institution- crime investigation may be a possible profession. 

Style: Most members of the audience have a contemporary style, keep up with current trends and fashions, and take a keen interest in the latest films, music and designer clothes. This is not true of all members of the target audience, some are more traditional and reserved in their tastes, and less in touch with contemporary fashions.

Media Grouping: Audiences may have interests in the horror and action-adventure genres also. Favourite films may be based around these genres or crime/ investigation based thrillers such as: The Equalizer (2014), The November Man (2014), Now You See Me (2013), The Departed (2006), The Usual Suspects (1995) and Shutter Island (2010).

Personality: Typical audience members are quite gregarious and sociable, who enjoy spending time with their friends and use social media regularly. They will have an element of the "risk taker" about them, and enjoy the thrill and excitement and of tense situations, as experienced through thriller and horror films.

Young and Rubicam:
Young and Rubicam stated that all audiences come under one of the following categories: The explorer, The struggler, The mainstream, The resigned, The aspirer, The reformer and the Succeeder.

The Explorer needs discovery. We expect our target audience to be driven by investigating and exploring new locations, and thus will be intrigued to uncover the antagonist behind this scheming plot. They are driven by a need for challenge and new frontiers, which would be put to the test whilst watching 'Omitted'. 
The Struggler needs escape. Our target audience may be seeking a way of escaping from reality whilst watching the film and it may help them to put their lives into perspective. They depend on luck and others to help them as a posed to getting on with life themselves. 

The Mainstream needs security. Could watch the film 'Omitted' after hearing positive comments from others- may not necessarily be something they would like to watch themselves. They respond to big established brands/companies and therefore if we were to work with large distributors such as Warner Bros. productions, we would more likely have a higher proportion of mainstreamers watching.

Uses & Gratifications:

Bulmer & Katz suggest that audiences enjoy products which offer them opportunities and that a text must gratify and audience's needs.

Offers Escape: viewers may wish to 'escape' whilst watching this film by giving them an alternative world/plot to focus on.

Be Entertained: any film productions focus on entertaining the audience. We will use a variety of techniques such as enigma codes in order to try and engage/entertain the audience watching. Furthermore, we hope that the audience will have an interest in the genre and topic of the film in order to watch it.

To form a sense of their own identity: The audience may feel that they can relate to specific characters in the film and thus may help them to consider different aspects and questions faced in the plot. This could enable them to build their own opinions and identity from the story and apply it into their everyday lives.

Maslows Hierachy Of Needs:
Looking at the motives behind the target audience for Omitted will enable a better idea of what their priorities are and this can be represented in the opening. I believe that Omitted will specifically target individuals under the 'Safety' and 'Love/Belonging' groupings of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. The sequence should make the audience question their safety- but not in such a way that they are worried, more to emphasise the severity of the situation and for them to understand that security of the body isn't always guaranteed. Also, with the serious disappearances in Omitted, audiences who prioritise friendship and family may relate to the emotional topics covered.

Dyer's Uptopian Solutions Theory:
Richard Dyer suggests that audiences often have various problems in their lives and they will be more attracted to media texts that offer them solutions to these problems. He said that there are three reasons why audiences choose to consume media: social tension, inadequacy and absence. He says with every inadequacy there is a solution, for instance, boredom is solved by entertainment and isolation is solved by community. Omitted will ensure that through using enigma codes and an intriguing storyline- the audience will be entertained- not bored whilst watching the opening.