Tuesday 30 March 2010

Audience Feeback

Audience feedback is important for the film, it is also a part of seeing if it is successful or not among people. The results at box office sometimes could not tell whether a film is good or not, it also could not be capable of telling if it is successful of attracting its target audience. From the comments on Youtube, we can see that these young adults are interested in our psycho film.
hurtwoodhousemedia (6小时之前)
sexsells :D
LegasyOleg (7小时之前)
0
Psycho-style Yeah! I like it, moreover now a girl is a killer.
By the way very nice choice of actress role.
fatboy22222222222222 (8小时之前)
0
nice subversion of the stereotype of the male killer killing the woman in the shower e.g. psycho


Therefore we seem to have a great success in terms of attracting our target audience of teenagers and young adults. They also state that this is a psycho style which this film is our inspiration at the beginning. Also it breaks a stereotypical view that a girl is a killer. Furthermore, the choice of cast is successful as the audience states that it is a very nice choice of the actress role.

I also got some feedbacks from my friends after watching our main task.
Kevin Fei: the preparation of the actress before killing is awesome!!
Adam:the stabbing shot was really good and intense.
Emily Lau: I like the part that Chloe walks in and seductively takes her clothes off and drop it on the ground.

Friday 26 March 2010

Task 7 What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product










Planning and preparation





When we did our preliminary task, there was no real planning but only simple storyboarding to draw an idea of the shots. As we were given a simple set with numbers of simple shots such as middle shot, close up, we did not really need to organize everything that we have done for the main task.





For the main task, we spent 3 hours on drawing the storyboards, including highlighting. We were much more recognized of the importance of the storyboards as it enhances our film ideas. Therefore it concludes that the planning of the main task such as storyboarding was much more complex and detailed.





Also, we did not need to worry about the location of the film when we did our preliminary task, it was chosen already and set up in the studio, as we went along to shoot during the lesson, we even did not realize what should be considered for the location, whereas in the main task, we were struggling about the location whether in Cornhill House or the main building.





Furthermore, we needed to sort out our props and costumes, we went to the theatre to ask for a bottle of blood, but in the prelim basic task, we did hardly anything for props and costumes, the only aspect that we were looking for was the actor and the actress.









Film-making skills




This is a over shoulder shot of the actress which we did not have in the prelim basic task.. In order to get this shot, the camera had to follow her footsteps horizontally and moving steadily to make this look realistic. It was really difficult not to move at all, so we took a long time on this. Also, this is our opening scene which her identity has not revealed yet.

This is the wide shot of the entire location. From the picture, you can only see 3 brick walls, one door, one window and one light. This set is our only location requirement. This was a typical wide shot of the whole scene which simply illustrates the relationships between these three people. Also, this is telling a story with dialogue, but in the main task, we preferred to use visual thing to tell the story.







Use of camera





In terms of use of camera, we had many improvements in the prelim basic task; we had more angles of shot such as crane shot. In order to do that, we used the ladder in front of the set; put the camera on the top and to achieve this. However, in the main task, we needed much more shots in terms of cutting and editing, so we basically used every useful source in the location to highlight the location. It is highly focused on the location but not the characters in the main task instead of having every single shot with people talking or acting.









For example, we tried to highlight the location that was happened in bathroom; the jock jacket on the hanger reveals his identity which we did for telling the audience who he is. Overall, the characters are important as well but not as very important as in the prelim basic task because we did not have lots of idea on the simple set in the studio.









Sound development





We only had dialogue in the prelim basic task, because they were telling the story in that way, yet the main task was telling the story without any word or phrase. We had some sound effects such as boom to highlight the stabbing shot and some crescendo sound to make the atmosphere tense and horrified. In the prelim main task, we only recorded the ambient sound, there were no other sound that we could record and make in terms of improving the film. When we finished editing the shots, we started fitting in some sound effects into the proper shots for development. We had hundreds of example in the Macbook and we spent some time on choosing a suitable sound, especially the sound of boom which could really impress the audience.









After effects





In Final Cut, we used to cut the bottom bit of the shower scene, as we can see the boy’s underwear which will lead to a fake and unrealistic film. We used the Final Cut Pro and cut the bottom line. In the prelim basic task, we did not do things like this because we were not having any situation that a man has to be in shower but pretend to be naked. The sreengrab below shows the male character is in shower without seeing anything at the bottom that is because we cut the edge of the bottom in order to hide his underwear









Task 6 What have you learnt about technologies from process of constructing this product

Task 5 How did your attract/address your audience

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Task 4 Who would be the audience for your media product?


As our film is made to be violent and involving lots of scene of blood, it cannot be shown to under the age of 12. However, I believe that our film is targeted on teenagers for the following reasons.

1) 2 main characters in film are teenagers and they both are very gorgeous and attractive.

2) This story happens in school and therefore might attract people who are still in school to watch.

3) This film involves number of shots that are extremely violent and it is aimed to bring more young audience into the cinema because the majority of teenagers are interested in violence.

4) Also, this looks like a love story between 2 gorgeous characters in school and the storyline is not complex, but when they watch the shot that the actress goes into bathroom, this is where the violence and the atmosphere change from a sexy and mysterious genre to a ruthless murder film.

In conclusion, I suggest that our target audience is from the age of 15 to 24, because people who are at this age are active and in favour of violence and love story.

Task 3 what kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?




An instituion is responsible for producing media texts.

As I have researched about numbers of media institution which might distribute our media product, I found that Lionsgate is the best entertainment company for distributing our media product.
1) It is the leading independent filmed entertainment studio, it had produced and distributed hundreds of films, especially some horror films.
2) In 2000, it distributed a famous horror film called American Psycho and the next in 2002. Both films had a successful result at box office and therefore it seemed that Lionsgate might be good at distributing horror films.
3) Also, Saw is a 2004 horror film distributed by this company, it grossed $103 million in 9 weeks, and it is another film that is financial success at the box office.
4) However, I think this type of company would interest in our film because our film is a horror film and involved two good characters which might bring so many audiences. It is similar to American Psycho which was successful at box office, therefore they might consider that our film will be produced and distributed well in order to attract more audience

Task 2 How does your product represent particular social groups?






This is our school’s main building and we shoot our film in here instead of Cornhill House which none of us have ever been to visit. Our film represents young adults in the college and high school, they are active and creative. During their years in high school and college, everyone would be in a relationship with someone, even more complex relationship. However, our two main characters that are from our school strongly represent what teenagers look like in school and college. Also, the story is mainly about the relationship broken in school with violence of the same age, such as our actors are between the age of 16-17.



This shot is a mid shot Chloe, who is our killer. What she is wearing and her emotion on the face are very attractive. She wears a white vest and from this distance, we can kind of see that she is very hot and the majority of teenagers will think that they will have sex in a short time as Chloe takes off her clothes and hair band that seem to get ready for shower. Also, she is tall, skinny, blonde and extremely sexy appeal to the audience, this is a typical teenager character which will bring so much attention on her.


Our victim Josh Jackson is having shower throughout the film, as this happens in bathroom, he has to get half naked to show his top of body. From this distance of shot, we can see his muscle and he is washing his hair in a very sexy style. The jacket that is hanged next to the shower shows his identity that Josh is a typical jock. He looks young, perhaps a man with muscle which represents high class of teenagers.

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


































Tuesday 23 March 2010

Title sequence

We had several ideas of title sequence after the first production group meeting.
1) The title should be shown on the shot of jock jacket, which helps to reveal the main character’s identity.
2) The title should be shown on the wall as almost all the background is wall.
3) The title should be shown after the murder close the door.
4) The title should be shown on the mirror at the end when it is wiped off because there is a camera shot of extremely close up on the murder’s eye.

Thursday 18 February 2010

High concept film

Pirates of the Carribean

Pirates of the Caribbean is a multi-million franchise films and a series of adventure directed by Gore Verbinski. It is based on Walt Disney theme park ride of the same name, as it was very popular in the early 1950s as a walk-through wax museum at Disneyland. Therefore it could even attract people in the early 1950s who liked the wax museum and the range of audience is very wide. It had grossed over $2.79 billion worldwide and it was amazing for the audience since the first day. In 2003, the first release of pirates of the Caribbean: the curse of black pearl had an unexpected success. People had expected to watch it as the advertising campaign had been putting huge amount of money to attract the audience. Some fans of pirates of the Caribbean helped to bring people’s notice on the film and they printed the posters on T-shirts to show their passion, even some people dressed like the main character in the film, the Captain Jack Sparrow. In 2007, the second release of Dead man’s chest again gained a high review although some of the audience said that it becomes boring. However, the majority of people, especially the age between 15 to 25 could be so much into the stars and the Disney storyline.
This high concept film is identified as pirates of the Caribbean had an extremely successful saturation campaign advertising which designs to make people see the film and make money for the institution. Johnny Depp, who is the main character in the film, is absolutely a bankable movie star as many people would go to see Johnny Depp in the film instead of watching the film. Some audience perhaps are not interested in the storyline or advertising campaign and they are more focused on watching what their film stars looks like in the film. It is also a classical 3 part storyline with a beginning, middle and end.
In conclusion, pirates of the Caribbean is one of a very high concept film which I like the most. In 2011, the fourth release is going to come out and it would attract so many people to come to support.

Friday 12 February 2010

The editing process and difficulties encountered

We started editing by picking numbers of shot up that are needed for the film, there were lots of irrelevant shots but we had to go through every single second because we need to choose the best shot for the film. Finally, we had hundreds of shot that may be put into the final film.

Firstly, we chose some shower shots for the beginning to show the actor in close up, mid shot and close up with the handle. There are actually numbers of repetition of shots which are the victim in the shower, but sometimes it needs to be repeated before or after the killer walks along the corridor in terms of linking their relationship. However, we picked lots of useful shots and we always discussed what to put next before we do it to avoid any disagreement. We spent a long time on deciding the time when the killer is going to kill the guy in shower, we all had different opinions on which should be the first, what kind of sound do we need here, fortunately we figured it out in the end that when Chloe goes into bathroom, there is a close up on her face and then the mid shot to show her top, then the knife comes out to show her true purpose.
Also, the stabbing shots are one of the difficulties that we had to try lots of way to see which one is the best. Although this costs a huge amount of time, we believe that we should get the best shots for the film.
After editing, we began choosing any sound or music. We then agreed to put some really strong sound effect while she is looking at the knife and stabbing to the victim.

Friday 5 February 2010

Change of our film idea

Cast :
The actor: from Tom Leader to Joshua Jackson
Initially we wanted Tom Leader to be our actor in the film but afterwards we recognised that Joshua is more suitable for time on shooting day.

Location
From Cornhill House to Hurtwood House (the main building)
As Cornhill House has the best facilities among all these houses, and we all wanted the background to be nice and bright, we changed our idea due to the fact that none of us in our group have been to Cornhill House and check whether the location of bathroom and hallway is available or not. We figured out that Hurtwood House could be a better location as everyone has been there and it is closer to hang around than Cornhill House, which if we want better shot, we have to get back to Cornhill House that is so far away from the school than Hurtwood House. In brief, Hurtwood House is much better and more convenient to film.

The painting that we considered to put on the wall is given up because Hurtwood House’s corridor does not really allow to hang a painting on the wall, and we thought that it would be a waste of time if we keep thinking how to make the background look nice instead of thinking the shots and production.

Friday 29 January 2010

Account of target audience

I believe that our film will be extremely popular among teenagers.
1)We have 2 very attractive characters, the victim is naked in shower and we have some shots of him in close up in order to show his muscle and face. Also, our killer walks into bathroom in a very sexy style which she takes off her clothes and hairband, it seemed that she is coming in to have sex with him.
2)The storyline is very interesting,too. As I have mentioned, when Chloe comes in, the majority of audience will think that she is going to have sex with him in shower as she walks closer and closer with taking her clothes off. Her actions give the audience an atomsphere of sexy play time, but when the knife reveals from her hand, the atmosphere suddenly changes into a tense, mysterious feeling for the audience. They are very expected to see what happen next whether to kill him or have a game with the boy.
3)The violence is a popular topic as well as sex among teenagers. They love to watch things with blood, violence and killing. This again will attract most teenagers betweeen 16 to 25 to come and watch it. They will definitely want to see a killing with sexy appeal throughout the film.

Thursday 28 January 2010

Accout of shooting day

On Monday 18th January we shot our thriller film at Hurtwood House. We spent nearly half an hour to set up the camera, check out the location until 9.30am. Now we are filming the boy is in the shower and singing a tune. We stood on the bench and tried to find a right angle to shoot. The bathroom in the main building is quite simple, although it is different from our imagined storyboarding, which is more modern. and we decided not to set up any lighting as we want our film to be very natural. Since we do not have that much time to waste, we decided to shoot at Hurtwood House which gives us huge amount of time to shoot. We do not really have any diagetic sound as we think there is no need for music when the boy is in the shower, and we may add some when editing. Therefore we are more focused on shooting.
When the girl came into the shower, she takes off her cardigan to the floor and hairband, which we did for a P.O.V. shot, it seems like she is getting ready for the shower in order to join the boy, then it reveals their relationship.



Now she has the knife in her hand which may surpise the audience that the violence will be coming up, the boy is going to die. We had some difficulties in this shot and we actually retake this shot about 9 times, but we sort it out in the end.




Now we spent a long time in dropping the blood that the camera can shoot very clearly. We tried in numbers of ways. The blood we borrowed from the theatre is very sticky, and we used the brush to splash on the shower wall, fortunately we made it.


The stabbing shot is one of the difficulties that we took nearly 40 minutes to get it done because none of us ever had an experience of shooting this type of shot. The actress had a lot of practice of stabbing into the shower before we actually start shooting. By this time, the actress could do it much easier and better
However, my role was a cinematographer and obviously we need more participation on shooting day therefore everybody took part in the camera. I hold the microphone of the camera to record any sound. We messup up with the shot at the beginning because we did not bring the shot list, but we did nearly the same shot from the shot list and happy with the overall shooting day. We did it very effectively that we finished everything at 3 o' clock. We did not spend the whole day as we all exactly concentrated and participated.

Lighting

In general, we use all natural light as our location has a perfect lighting. The boy's changing room and the school basement corridor have a dark light . We do not have any lighting set up as we are more focused on the shot throughout our shooting day.

Casting choices

We chose Chloe to be our actress as she is also one of our group, it is much easier as we do not need to find another person to fit in our shooting time. She is slim and she has a beautiful hand which we always want to highlight the girl killer's hand while she is stabbing in bathroom. She is really patient for our film, even she repeats a shot 10 times until we say OK.
Josh Jackson is our actor who is been in shower for the whole day for our filming. He is really patient for staying naked in shower.
They both did a really good job and they are very effective in making our film look realistic.

Wednesday 27 January 2010

Locations

We decide to use the boy's changing room in Hurtwood House, as we change the location of Cornhill House to the main building because we want to have more time and use as much as we can instead of going to another house, where we have ever been to. Also, it would seem more like a school as our story is happened in school. We change the idea of location from a house to a school. For the corridors, we pick the school basement corridor where the changing room is there. Those pipes on the wall creates a scary feeling, and because the lighting of that corridor is not very bright and it again creates a scary feeling and she walks through to and go up the stairs. At this time, we shot her in a P.O.V which only shows her back and foot steps.

Monday 25 January 2010

Camera Operation

Manual Controls
ApertureControls aperture width with smaller f-stop values representing a wider aperture.
Shutter SpeedManually controls the shutter speed.
Exposure CompensationAlters the exposure setting set by the camera. The exposure can be increased for a lighter image or decreased for a darker image.
Automatic Exposure BracketingWhen this is turned on, the camera captures three images when you take a shot: One with the default exposure automatically determined by the camera, one with increased exposure, and one with decreased exposure, so that you can select the one that looks the best.
Image QualityThis sets the resolution of the image saved by the camera to the memory card. The example camera has three image quality choices: 8.2 mp (megapixel), 4.3 mp, and 2.0 mp. For the best image, shoot with the highest image quality. This is recommended if you have a large enough memory card capacity. The size of the image can be reuced later with image editing software. If your memory card capacity is limited, or the photos will be converted into lower quality images for use on the internet, then the lower quality settings may be used. SLR cameras also allow the image format to be set to jpeg or RAW or both.
ISO speedThis setting increases or decreases the sensitivity of the image sensor. If you are shooting in dim light, you may want to adjust this control to a higher ISO setting for greater sensor sensitivity to light. In bright light, you may adjust it to a lower value to prevent noise.
White BalanceNormally, you should try the camera's Automatic White Balance (AWB) setting first. If this does not result in natural looking colors then the manual white balance setting may be used. To use the white balance setting, you shoot a white object then indicate to the camera that this is "white" and it will adjust the way it records colors accordingly. Read your camera instructions to learn the operation of this control.
Color TemperatureThis setting gives you even greater control over the white balance. You can choose from range of overall colour temperature settings.
White Balance CorrectionThis setting allows you to set each component of the color temperature (red, green, blue) independently so that the ratio of colors in the overall white balance setting is changed. This setting is useful when using color compensating filters.
White Balance BracketingWith this setting on, the camera records three images when you take a shot: One with the default color temperature (automatic white balance), one with a higher color temperature, and one with a lower color temperature, so that you can select the one that looks the best. This is handy with indoor lighting.
Color SpaceThis changes the range of reproducible colors from sRGB to Adobe RGB. Set to sRGB by default. No need to change this unless you have a reason.
Autofocus Point SelectionSLR cameras commonly have seven or more autofocus points that you can choose from if you wish the focus point to be different from the one chosen by automatic autofocus.
Metering ModeYour camera may have the following three light metering modes:
EvaluativeThis is the normal mode, suitable if there is not a large difference between subject and background brightness.
PartialEffective when the background is much brighter than the subject.
Centerweighted AverageThe metering is weighted at the center and then averaged for the entire scene.

Drive ModeThis can be set to single shot mode or continuous (burst) mode which takes multiple shots per second depending on the setting.

Semi-Automatic Modes
In a semi-automatic mode you have manual control over some camera settings, but others are set automatically. Depending on your camera, you may have some or all of these semi-automatic shooting modes:
Programmed AutoexposureThis mode automatically sets the shutter speed and the aperture values to result in the correct exposure but permits limited manual control over camera functions.
Shutter Priority AutoexposureAutomatically sets the aperture value while you control the shutter speed. Good for night and time-lapse shots.
Aperture Priority AutoexposureAutomatically sets the shutter speed while you control the aperture value.Good for lighting compensation and varying of depth of field.
Automatic Depth of FieldUsed to automatically obtain a wide depth of field.
Automatic Modes
SLR cameras, and all but the cheapest point and shoot cameras, have several automatic modes. There is a mode that does everything automatically for you, and there are other modes specific to certain categories of shots including, night, landscape, portrait, sports, and close up. This mode automatically tweak certain settings to customize them for the type of shot.
As a beginner, you will probably make most of your shots using these automatic settings, but they are not only for beginners. Even experts will sometimes use them because often the window of opportunity to take a shot is quite small. This can be because the subject is moving (as in sports photography) or you are moving, or for some other reason, and there is simply not enough time to adjust camera settings.

Props and costumes

This white vest is the girl's costume after she takes off her red jumper on the floor in bathroom. She is going to kill the guy in shower with this white vest.













































This is our actress( Chloe Robert) who is in our group as well. At the beginning, we decided not to show her face because of the sequence having to be full of P.O.V shots of her, and it also creates a mystery, but we thought it could be better to show her entire body and face in order to illustrate the relationship between them and attract more target audience as the sexy appeal attracts teenagers.



























Thursday 21 January 2010

Storyboarding of our thriller film

Storyboards are graphic organisers such as a series of illustrations or image displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. While they are shooting, the storyboards help to organise and save much more time because it is already plotted in order. We draw a basic in pensil about what will happen in the film and some important shots. After we make sure all the shots are accurate and in the right place that connect to the next shot, we use black pen and draw some shadows.

We deleted the shot of painting because we changed our location at Hurtwood House instead of Cornhill House, which is not allowed to hang a painting on the wall. Also, the sixth shot which is the girl killer opens the door with a knife, we changed it into she opens the door without the knife and shows that later on, this helps to hide the purpose of the girl goes to the bathroom and creates mystery to attract more audiences.




The third page of the storyboards builds up the greatest tension in our film, where she prepares to kill the boy and reveals her real purpose of coming into bathroom. As the condition of bathroom is not suitable, we decided to take the shower without any covers. Therefore the shadow of the curtain is gone and we simplify the actual shooting.








Shooting Script

INT. Bathroom, Dark light
Frame focuses on a jock jacket from high angle draped over a towel-rack. There is the sound of a shower running and a boy humming and whistling a pop song.
CUT TO:
A boys locker room. A figure of a boy in the shower washing vigorously while singing.
CUT TO:
INT. Dark hallway
Frame focuses on a long and dark hallway where the camera is hand-held to show a P.O.V. shot of the girl, while walking towards the locker room.
CUT TO:
Focus on the bathroom door which she is getting closer to.
CUT TO:
Her hand pushes open the door slowly while a knife in the other hand shows up in the frame.
CUT TO:
She goes for the shower handle
CUT TO:
She stabs him several times violently. Massive amounts of blood cause the white walls to stain.
CUT TO:
P.O.V. Shot of her moving slowly to the sink, camera moves down to her bloody hands rinsing in the running water.
CUT TO:
Her hand swipes across the mirror giving a reflection of her red eyes.

Friday 15 January 2010

Our Film Idea

SUCCUBUS
Sharp-Edge Productions
Roles:
· Producer: Ruby Kammerina
· Director: Timothy Magdich (everyone takes part in camera work)
· Cinematographer: Chloë Roberts and Estelle Mei
· Sound: Timothy Magdich

Cast:
· Boy in shower: Tom Leader
· Girl Killer: Chloë Roberts

Locations: Cornhill House
· Bathroom
· Narrow, long hallway

Starts with a shot of the traditional jock jacket on a towel-rack, with the sound of the shower and a boy singing. We get a close-up of the jacket with the producers name (Ruby Kammer) sewn into the jacket. This immediately links to where we are and who is in the shower. This is clarified when there is a tracking-shot to establish the whole bathroom and steam coming from the shower where we see the figure of the boy through the shower-screen. Cut-to a P.O.V. shot, showing someone walking through a long hallway where at the end there is the bathroom door, making this obvious by steam coming through the door and sound of the boy singing. It continues with a tracking-shot still from the P.O.V., passing by a famous painting “The Scream” by Edvard Munch, making the artists signature the cinematographers names (Chloe Roberts and Estelle Mei). Cut to her hand opening the door with a knife in her hand, this shows who is the killer, making the movement of her hand become a title on the door (Sound: Timothy Magdich). Tracking-shot still as P.O.V. where we see his figure in the shower. She reaches around the shower curtain and you see a hand and knife making stabbing movements while he screams and blood splattering onto the white tiles. At the last stab, blood splatters onto the white tiles making the title of the film (Succubus) . Cut to P.O.V. whole she moves slowly to the sink and cut to her hands in the sink and the water becoming red from the blood on her hands and then she washes the knife. Cut to a shot of the mirror from her P.O.V. with the name of the director (Timothy Magdich). She wipes some steam off the mirror giving a scary effect by only seeing her red eyes. BLACKOUT.

Shot list

1. Close-up on Jock jacket
2. Medium-wide shot of bathroom
3. Wide-long shot of the hallway
4. Close-up shot on ‘Scream’ painting
5. Medium-long shot of door in the hallway
6. Close up of hand on handle mate
7. Medium shot of the door opening
8. Medium-wide shot of shower
9. Close up of hands opening shower door
10. Close up of hand on shower door
11. Medium wide shot of bath/shower
12. Wide shot of bathroom
13. Close-up of sink
14. Extreme close up of drain with blood in the water
15. Close up on hands swiping mirror
16. EXTREME close up of reflection of eyes in the mirror
17. Close up of victim dead