Evaluation- Question One: In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop, or Challenge Forms and Conventions

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

Gina played the killer in our opening film sequence. The killer costumes consists of all black clothing such as boots, hat, mac, leather gloves and trousers. Using one tone creates a sinister appearance which influences the audience into believing they are going to cause the changes within the plot. Compared to V, the mysterious anarchist vigilante and freedom fighter from V for Vendetta who also appears wearing all black clothing including boots, long cloak, leather gloves and body wear for protection again all who flee to kill him. It is well know that the character V doesn't remove his mask (apart from once in the comic story at Surridge's request) therefore his identity remains anonymous. His name "V" is also a code name within the film and continues to withhold his identity. At first V is recognised as the villain due to his past however throughout the film it becomes clear his plan would change Britain for the best, when his life ends, so does his stereotype of being a villain. The killer in our piece is also undoubted to known as a villain just from the appearance alone but his role in the film is to kill Lucy (the main girl). Although, unlike V, the killer will always remain a villain because he is a cold hearted killer. V who had copied Guy Fawkes' costume remains in 15th style using knives instead of guns. However, the killer in our opening piece is post modern using a guy which is quick and painful. Similar to V, our killer uses a hat to hide his identity and also remain a shifty look to his appearance.

Our killer is also similarly dressed to Commissioner James Gordon from the Batman series who always appearing in darkly dressed clothing and weapon of choice, a gun. Our killer is a professional who will have knowledge on how not to get caught. Much like James Gordon he works alone and doesn't want other to pull him down. However, Gordon fights crime for a living while our killer creates destruction and appreciates people committing crime. Gordon is open about his appearance as he represents a heroic figure in Gotham City but our killer remain anonymous to remain a threat to all of those who walk in his path.

All the characters featured in this question are strong minded and are determined to fight issues that come in their way by weaponry. They also use their weapons for comfort because they also feel threatened by others that could assassinate them. They have the classical stereotype of testosterone poisoning believing the more masculine they appear, the more negative traits they would have.

Evaluation- Question Three: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product?

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

Evaluation- Question Five: How did you attract your audience?

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

we used a range of equipment/software in order to create our final AS piece.

Blogger.com is used to keep record of each individuals research, techniques and evaluation.

Dafont.com is a uncopyrighted website where you can download different types of typography for free that you can then apply to your film piece. We chose anonymous clipping.

Facebook.com and Myspace.com are both social networking sites in which I used to conduct my audience research as it is quicker than speaking to each individual personally. It was also a fast way of collecting critical comments on our final AS piece. Films are also advertised via the internet because it is cheap advertising and effective due to the large number of people who have access to it.

Google.co.uk is a search engine which can be used in numerous ways. I used this to collect images, watch videos and gain access to other information needed for our piece.

Youtube.com helped us begin my research into film openings so I could analyse them. It also became of great help when finding a cheap way to create characters costumes/make up.

Freesound.org is a uncopyrighted music website where we downloaded various sounds to create a soundtrack using garage band.

Garage Band is the software we used to create three soundtracks for our film piece. They have a selection of clips already available however you can import more via itunes.

Tripods help keep the camera steady whilst filming to keep a professional look. The tripods size can be adjusted. We used tripods in our piece however we were limited on space at some points such as the shot from inside the car therefore we had to use the camera by hand. We used the camera hand held for the coffin scene for extra distortion.

Imovie was the software we used on the macs to edit and produce our piece in post-production. You can change/add sounds and adjust the video effects on each clip individually.

Windows Movie Maker was an easy way to create videos with a lot of information and can contain videos/photos along the narration.

Paint was used to crop photos so I could use them in windows movie maker or on my blog.

Sony Camcorder was used to record our piece and even create videos like health and safety issues. Easy to use equipment that was spacious.

Slr Camera used to capture characters costume and make up etc.

By spending numerous amounts of time using each piece of software/equipment I can now confidently say I know how to use everything in the list above. I mostly enjoyed working on garage band where I can now understand on how to change the tempo of music, crop music and change the pace in which it plays. Using Blogger is an efficient way of keeping track of what you have done to get to the final AS piece. When I was using Imovie I learnt on about the clips and audio and how everything can be cropped, cut, change colour and matched with audio I made from garage band

Evaluation- Question Seven: Looking back at your preliminary task, What do you feel you have learnt in progression from it to full product?

AS FINAL PIECE;

Feedback:

Tori Douglas- "it's actually really good :| i like the start bit where it's someone sat outside & i like it how you linked the scenes together when you closed the curtains. & the bit where you're in the coffin looks really good:| proper" effective"

Sam Marsh- "Wow. That's ridiculously good! It looks professional from start to end I love the music, make up, costumes. The whole fact it looks like a professionally done piece is stunning. Well done you guys!! xx"

Joseff Revill- "WOW! That was pretty awesome guys, top job on creating the atmosphere with the right sound score, dim lighting and the tapping on the car wheel is really eerie and helps draw the audience in, really good, i shall give it 5 revels out of 5 and my own personal HURRAY!"

Callum Cook- "That was brilliant XD The neck crack bit was freaky lols, i really liked it, Id give it my own personal hurray!"

Emily Cross- "The music is chilling and goes very well with the scenes, the shots are very different lengths which shows variety in the video. The make up and imagery is life like and the blood on the face is realistic, also the plain white shirt for the pjs gives the sense of an innocent victim. Very good Video"

Boyce Pratt- "totally spooky"

Abigail Wells- "it was really good, good acting and use of sound and camera shots, really worked well together :) and the scene with the black and white pictures was really dramtic and captured what it was about"

Jenni-Leigh Seaton- "i <3ed>

Jenna Thomas- "media blog is amazing babe :O you;ve done really well"

Editing- Creating the Soundtrack using Garage Band;

Video showing some of the sounds used on our final piece.

www.freesound.org

Editing- iMovie;

Imovie is the software used to edit our video into the final cut. The simple layout allows you to import music, sounds and video to apply to your video. Imovie can even change the presentation of your videos/images by changing the adjustments. The advantages of using Imovie means you can crop and delete audio/video by your demand. I found Imovie easy to use apart from one problem found with audio on on selection of the film. However this was easily resolved by separating the audio from that part. Imovie involves making new projects and then editing the video to your standard.

Editing- Garage Band;

Garage Band allows you to create unique sounds either to be applied to a film piece or simply to record a song. There are a range of music available and is listed into different genre which makes it easier to look for when you have a certain piece in mind. You can also import your own music which can be downloaded from sites such as www.freesound.org. From this piece of software, I then created 3 separate soundtracks for the film opening. Most of the soundtracks was a mixture of heavy beats, eerie tones and built up to the peak parts which matched parallel with actions within the piece.

Images & Effects;

By using Adobe Photoshop you can adjust photo to your needs. There are a number of techniques you can use to change photos and these are some examples:

Vignetting; this technique often referred to as "fish eye lens" creates the illusion of what someone sees through their eyes. At post-production we used this idea with the webcam shot then the audience are seeing the female character from the stalkers point of view.

Posterize; Using this approach makes the image look distorted but artistically. You can change the strengths of Posterizing and if this image was stronger the picture would have a a smudging effect. Researching all different photo editing helped the group decide what would suit the montage coffin scene.

Invent; Changing a photo from positive to negative looks like the one posted above. Inventing gives the photo an eerie look. However, the outcome of the image depends on the depth and brightness surrounding it. This is the reason why Inventing was only used very briefly whilst editing because the use of bright lights during the coffin scene resulted in the female character barely visible.

Black and White; used mostly in Film Noir, Black and White makes the image look older than actually dated. This is a good technique when used to deceive an audience during the time scale of the opening piece.

These techniques can also be used on Imovie therefore practising on photoshop was great practice before the editing sessions began.

Typography- Researching Existing Fonts;

Typography- Existing Film Titles;

During filming we researched different film typography and compared them to their given genre.

This helped our group visualise how we wanted our film titles and credits to look like.

TOY STORY (1995)

This title is bold because of the heroic primary colours used to make it stand out. Similar to superheroes such as superman and wonder women, the colours red, yellow and blue represent fun and a happy ending. Behind the title is the background full of clouds which show the film can take you anywhere and escapism is guaranteed. Even the title "Toy Story" identifies that the films target audience is children because their daily life is based around bringing toys to life as entertainment.

The Bourne Identity (2002)

The Bourne Identity title shows straight away that the film is based around one character. Jason Bourne is shown with serious facial expressions next to screen shots of the film where he appears to be violently fighting another character. Bourne has been circled as a target on the title representing that the film could be based around someone hunting Jason Bourne however the reason isn't revealed. This is already triggering an enigma and gets the audience involved. Ironically even though the colours used (yellow and blue) are supposedly heroic it is unable to determine what side his character represents. The white, bold title stands out from its dark background making the target audience see his role in the film is crucial to the plot.

Star Wars: Episode Three - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

The audience can guess the genre of Sci-fi due to the out of space background with the dark galaxy and endless stars. Using Roman numerals to show which episode this Star Wars film is ranked, it is clear that this film is as big as space luring audiences to think this could be "out of this world". Each title is in a different colour such as "revenge of the sith" is a mix between red and white to represent heaven and hell showing there is a fine line between evil and good. The title enrols the plot without the audience noticing at first. "Star Wars" in gold implies the film is only of good quality, even by the shiny, capital writing. Within "Star Wars" the waves of sand suggest the film may flashback to prequels and sequels to draw the film together as a whole. This is a good tactic to attract the old and new generation fans of the world-wide known franchise.

Pulp Fiction (1994)

The simple idea of a black background and bold titles enforces an audience to make up their own plot. The title alone uses bright and bold colours to attract people but even the name "pulp fiction" forces people to think what the film may be about. Using the plain black background makes the title look authentic and comic.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

The title is almost hidden by using all of the same colour but just changing the brightness and contrast between the background and the title. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix appears in front of clouds to suggest the film is forever changing similar to the weather. Harry Potter also has a scar in the shape of a lightening bolt which is included in the typography when you look directly at the letter P. Each individual letter of "Harry Potter" has sharp edges implying what his character may be like in the film. The dark use of colour represent the darkness and sin within the film.

Final Destination (2000)

Final Destination uses small lettering to reassure the enigma of the film is revealed in small steps up to the big finale. It is believe that once we die we go to heaven and by using the stars as a background it suggest this film already ends in tragedy. The title "Final Destination" is distorted and uses white font to look similar to the stars. The background and title connote each other because they both show the film will be tragic due to the destination being death.

Clash of the Titans (2010)

Clash of the Titans uses strong gold bold typography to connote the films plot which shows the fight between Zeus and Hades. The mixes of browns in the background imply the fight will be dark and sinister involving violence from the clouds. The typography uses straight lines in the font to put across how strong the titans are within the story. Gold titles imply this film is worth seeing because of its quality.

Titles- For Team Members;

Deciding the group roles: We allocated TWO title each, but we all took part in each role.

Our main titles include:
+PRODUCER
+DIRECTOR
+MUSIC EDITOR

In addition, we used these as further information for our audiences:
+POEM WRITTEN BY
+COSTUME + MAKE-UP
+LIGHTNING
+SOUND
+EDITING

we also acknowledge outside advantages such as dafont.com, freesound.org and Pamela Prentiss-Harrisson for her poem.

Producer- Gina Eales
Director- Joseph Ryan
Music- Victoria Parker
Sound- Freesound.org
Lighting - Joseph Ryan
Costume + Make-up- Gina Eales
Editing-Victoria Parker
Poem By Pamela Prentiss-Harrison*

*in the final editing stages we didn't use the poem therefore her title was removed.

In the lastest developments films such as Batman: The Dark Knight (2008) and Clash of the Titans (2010) don't display the title of the film until it has ended. However, because the task is only a film opening we included the title of our film.

Opening Credits;

Final checks on our AS media piece were observed by Nanette (our media teacher). The only feedback she gave was an improvement on the opening credits because they were ordered incorrectly. Opening credits usually start from the less important roles and end with the important information towards the ending of the opening sequences.

Deciding the title order: Whilst browsing wikipedia, I also looked into films that parallel our own conventions. I chose two films- Panic Room (2002) and Taxi Driver (1976)http://artofthetitle2.com/media/film/70s/taxi_driver.mov

After comparing our roles to the list suggested on Wikipedia we rearrange the order of our opening credits.

Panic Room (2002)- http://artofthetitle2.com/media/film/2002/panic_room.mov

Starting with the production company, the actors involved then the title of the film and finally the name of the director. Panic Room builds up the title sequence right through to the end where only one director can be listed which is orders from The Directors Guild of America. However, in rare cases such as death in mid-production there are exceptions.

Taxi Driver (1976)- http://artofthetitle2.com/media/film/70s/taxi_driver.mov

Starting with the production company, then the title of the film, followed by the actors involved and finally the listed director.

Both film openings begin with the production company because the audience can instantly recognise what other films that company may have produced therefore are impressed. However, the listing of actors, writers and title of the film vary depending on what may attract an audience to the film more e.g. A famous actor such as Robert Pattinson from Twilight has a large fan base therefore the film company would use this to their advantage as a advertising tactic. In addition both films use one directors name at the end of the opening credits.

It is important that we use a common order which follows these two films for advertising tactics to attract our target audiences.

Blooper Reel;

On Location & Characters Costumes;

This video shows the characters costumes and our research influence on how we created them. All four character:

• Lucy (the girl),
• Her alter-ego (the coffin girl)
• The stalker
• The killer

were discussed in forms of stereotypes and what effect they have given. We also discussed the purpose of the stalkers blackboard which created an enigma for the beginning of the film.

Behind The Scenes;

Lighting Experiments;