Evaluation Question 7

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

I answered this question using another Prezi



Here are the images that i spoke about on the last page of the Prezi:

Here is the preliminary editing. The only reason why all the footage is red is because i was not able to access the computer i edited on so i accessed the file from another computer. We can still see how it was edited and what is included but it will not play. As you can see it is very simple due to there being only a few transitions and one piece of text

Here is the thriller editing. As you can see the thriller looks more complicated than the preliminary task. We have used a lot more transitions, sound, text, audio transitions and we even reversed some footage so it looked like the character was walking backwards instead of forward.

Evaluation Question 6

What have you learned about technologies from the process of construction this product?

To answer this question, I created a Prezi that can be watched below as I embedded it into my blog. Please allow some time for it to load up.

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

I have answered this question with a spicy node. Below you can see a quick over view on how we keep our audience watching and how we keep their attention. To function the spicy node all you have to do is just click on the two branches to the left and right to view what has been said about them. If the texts goes off screen you can either click to go on full screen or just drag the mind map around to adjust the view.



So the elaborate on what has been said, an audience need to be interesting in what is happening otherwise they wont like the thriller and it wont be successful. Once an audience is interested that's when they need to be hooked so thy will carry on watching.

Below you can see what the majority of our audience are under the age of 18. As you can see from my spicy node, we attracted our audience (16-24) with character identification, the use of certain situations and the dialogue. All of this is based around youth theme so this is how we attracted our audience

here are some screenshots of how we put this research into action. You can see that the girls are talking about make up and use some lipstick, we also left the opening on a cliffhanger to keep them interested and so they carry on watching.

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media production?

Our presumed audience would be 16-24 middle/working class. This is because this is roughly our age group and would mostly understand the content of the thriller. However, just to make sure I posted a survey on "Survey Monkey" to get true feedback and here are the results.

The majority of respondents are under the age of 18 and just over (18-24). Our target audience make up for than 3/4 of this survey so later results may reflect what this age group may prefer.

The most popular film genre is comedy followed by horror. The reasoning behind this result is that all age groups enjoy comedy's and that is why its most popular. Horror is the second most popular as younger people enjoy horror films much more, therefore the 3/4 of young people most likely picked horror and comedy (and a few others) whereas those older than 24 opted for comedy and some of the others

The most popular conventions where suspense and crime. This is great as these are the two main conventions in our thriller, proving that those who took the questionnaire will watch our thriller and could enjoy it. Youth themes is most likely least popular as those other 18 may not enjoy these themes and those who are under 18 may not like these themes as they are represented negatively.

As you can see, our true audience is those who are under 18 (they are around 16/17) and we know this as the majority who answered the survey were under 16 and we can clearly see that all the conventions in the last chart are popular. Furthermore Horror was the second favored film and thriller was third; our film is a thriller/horror so these results also confirm who would watch our film. You may be thinking that the older people may have selected horror and thriller along with the conventions, but they did not (with some exception) as I watched as the results came in. When a under 16 or 18-24 submitted a survey, the score for horror thriller and the conventions went up. Therefore I can conclude from this survey that the majority audience will be 16-24. We also know this will be our audience due to feedback from asking people and from those who watch the thriller (from screening).

After this survey I went out to ask people (those who were the majority in the survey) why would they watch our thriller. Here is a collage of works that sums up what they said...

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Evaluation Question 3

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

Here you can see a mind map of all the options we have to distribute our media product along with the advantages and disadvantages. However we are not likely to use all of these methods. For instance, we are an independent and small film so we are more likely to use the microwave system with UK production companies. The reason we wouldn't use USA production companies is highlighted red under the USA branch. So all the options we would not use are those that either have too many disadvantages, those that would cost money and those that would distribute the thriller for free.
I have spoken about YouTube red, for those who do not know what this is, it is an addition to YouTube where they show videos which you have to pay for to watch. This payment is done as a monthly subscription

Now i need to compare our distribution to a real films distribution. I am choosing to compare with "Shifty"

Similarities - Both our film and Shifty both will use the microwave system. This is because this will provide support and low budgets. Shifty also premiered at the London film festival which got multiple UK production companies interested in distributing the film. We also plan to get UK production companies to help so our film can be in cinema. Furthermore, Shifty distributed their film on DVD/Blue-ray's and TV. We also plan to utilise these.

Differences - Shifty has distributed their film on the internet (youtube) and also in other con tries like Australia. This does not interest us as we want our film to be focused in the UK first and we wouldn't distribute online as we want to achieve some money to cover the costs of production and distribution

Evaluation Question 2

How does your product represent particular social groups?

I have answered this question using a PowerPoint presentation which I have embedded onto this pot below

Question 2 representations from louis Russell

Here are some images of the ethnic minorities and both genders. Below we can see black and white characters and male and female. Furthermore you can see from their clothing they are middle/working class and they are young. Furthermore in the last picture we can the picture that the killer crosses off, from there we can see all victims (future ones too) are young females who are wearing casual clothing.

Evaluation Question 1

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

We answered our question in video form.

Audience feedback on thriller

So once the thriller was screened to an audience, we had to get their feedback on what they thought about the story, editing and he general feeling to the opening.

Firstly they said that our opening was very suspenseful. This is great feedback as our main aim was to successfully create a feeling of suspense. This is because one of the main conventions of a thriller is this feeling so therefore the opening is on its way to being a successful thriller. Also if the audience think the opening is suspenseful, then this means that we have correctly used the conventions that we needed to.

Secondly the audience commented that the cliff-hanger at the end was very good and exciting. They wanted to watch more as they have a general idea of what could happen and they thought hat it would be really fun to watch. This therefore tell me that the opening of this thriller was successful because if the opening creates this sense of mystery to come then it will make the audience more inclined and excited to watch.

Thirdly, they said the opening was intriguing. This is because the audience somewhat understood what was going on; therefore they are intrigued to find out more and understand the death of these girls. This also means there is a sense of mystery and suspense. Furthermore they thought it was intriguing as the storyline was not boring and the editing was not sloppy which helped them to concentrate more on what was happening.

However some negative feedback was the acting. This is not something that can't be changed or helped as this is a skill that can only be possessed by some people. But the acting still ruined the opening as the audience thought it was funny. For example when Lucy falls on the floor, the audience laughed when it was supposed to be dramatic. Also there was laughter when Chloe was running as people thought she runs funny.

Other negative feedback was when Chloe runs off (when she realises Lucy is missing, calls her name then runs off), we can hear a slight noise of someone sniffling, this was either me, Sarah or Kelvin and this was because the weather was cold. The audience said that this ruins the scene as its not professional and it "breaks the realism". When filming in the future we all should try to stay as quiet as possible so this mistake won't repeat itself.

Screening

As our thriller is completed, we now need to screen it to an audience and find out what they think. Firstly, our thriller was posted onto YouTube and then shared onto Facebook. This way our thriller is open to the public so if they do give feedback, they wont be bias and also have a fresh ideas on what it is about. As its on Facebook, friends and family may watch it and also give feedback. Furthermore we will be showing it on a monitor and gather some people. This way we have some guaranteed feedback on what they think of the story, editing and the general feeling.

The reason why we need to screen our thriller is because we need feedback to know if we done a good job but also if we need any improvements. This critical feedback is essential and our projects cant become better and higher marks if we don't recognise and explain our mistakes. Therefore making other people watch our work means they will just see the finished product without feeling passionate like we do. This means they will be honest.

Here are some pictures of the screening

Completed Thriller

Here is our finished thriller. This includes the ident, titles sequence and the actual opening.

Editing 2

This post is about towards the end of when we was editing our thriller. We started by putting the titles, ident and the candidate introduction in. From there we started to edit the titles and footage around it so all of the beginning run smoothly. After this i done a few tweaks to make sure that the two halts of editing (first few minutes and the last few) fit together; this is because we edited all the footage in chunks (first half then second half) so we must make sure they go together well. When this was done there only needed to be a few more tweaks like fixing up the last couple seconds so it was as perfect as it could be and then we was finished.

Below is a screenshot of the finished thriller. You may notice that one section towards the beginning is not rendered and the media is offline. The only reason for this is because i took this screenshot on a different computer to which i originally saved that one piece of footage. Therefore the media is offline on the current computer i used. There is no technical issues. 

Editing 1

The first time we started to edit, we successfully created our rough cut and then started to add transitions, effects and other sounds. This was the start of our thriller that was slowly coming together.

So to start of with the rough cut, i collected all of the footage and imported it in. Then scenes that were not good enough (first takes) were deleted so they were not confused with the good footage. Once all footage was imported i individually cut them down so they didn't have any dialect that was not needed and so scenes were correct. All clips were then put together with no effects and transitions so we just had a simple running sequence that was our rough cut. This was exported and put onto our blogs.

After the rough cut was finished i started to add transitions, effects, music and messed around with the order of some clips so it was ready for the titles. This was the starting point of the actual thriller as in this one editing session, the final half of the thriller was complete and just needed a few tweaks later on. The first half of the footage was split up so the titles could be slot in-between later on and so the story could fit together better to make a little more sense. We done this but repeating some clips, reversing some and moving them to other placed.

below is a picture of me editing

Filming 2

After filming in The Chase we moved onto filming at our second location which was at Shelby's house. We was able to film successfully as we was inside so weather was not an issue and lighting could easily be manipulated. However some issues with filming inside is tight spaces, therefore we had to move the tripod to a suitable place were it could fit.

A problem we had to overcome was background noise, as there were other people in the house at the time they occasionally made noise which could be picked up by the sound mic.  At first we told them to keep quiet but they didn't. So we needed to find a solution and we ended up unplugging the sound mic and using the cameras built in mic. As the built in mic is not as good, it was only able to pick up noise in the room we was filming in and not any other noise.

Firstly, we filming Chloe walking into her house so the audience knew what the new location is. Next we filmed her walking in the hallway to her bedroom door. She walks through the door and we see her on the other side were she turns the light on to find her friend dead on the floor. we then filmed the stalker coming from behind her and stabbing her. The very last shot we filmed was of a picture and the girls faces being crossed off with their own blood.

her is a picture of us filming -

and here is a picture of what the scene looked like -

Filming 1

The first time my group was filming, this was when we where doing the scenes at The Chase. All the scenes there make up roughly 2/3 of the opening. The filming on this day went very well as there was not any/much background noise so we could film in peace. Also the weather was clear so the equipment was not at risk and the filming was not disrupted. However some problems with filming outside is the wind could disrupt sound and the land was not level so we had to adjust the tripod accordingly. Other than this there were no over problems and filming was successful.

One issue we overcome was when we couldn't find a suitable place to film as we needed a private but open area. This is because the girls needed to spot the stalker but he needed a good hiding spot. We surpassed this issue by searching around for a good area and we eventually found it

So firstly we filled at the entrance to The Chase where the sign is to show the audience where the setting is and what the name of the thriller means too. From the entrance Shelby and Sarah were filmed as they walked further into The Chase. From the actors walking, the scene changed to them on a bench where the next few shots were filmed. They had a discussion and had a revelation that they was being watched. Once they spotted the stalker they ran and these were the last scenes filmed at this location.

Here is a picture of us filming -

and here is a picture of what that scene looked like -

Analysis of rough cut and audience feedback

A rough cut is the beginning of a film/clip that is simple and has no transitions, effects or non-diegetic sound. The rough cut that we made is successful as it has no transitions and effects but still represents what the thriller will be like very well. I feel the rough cut was successful as without the use of some crucial tools needed to make a thriller, there is still a sense of suspense. However thee was room for improvement as there are some mistake made. This is because we rushed the rough cut as some group members were not in at the time so we had less people to do the work load.

The process we done to edit the rough cut was taking all the footage, cutting it down to the right timing so other dialogue/scenes were cut out and then putting all the footage together. This is a single process as we don't need to put in anything else is its only a rough cut.

Some of the audience feedback that we got was that it seems very exciting and chilling; they said they looked forward to seeing the completed thriller. This is great feedback as the rough cut is mainly used for showing the ideas of a thriller to see if it will be any good or successful. Therefore our rough cut and the feedback means that we feel confident about our actual thriller.

However some feedback was negative. When we was editing the rough cut we did not notice that we cut one clip to long so we heard the director talking. The audience then said that we need to improve our editing skills otherwise the completed thriller may not be as good. This little blooper was a minor fault that we can easily avoid if we make sure we double check our work. Furthermore another clip was cut to short so the scream was too short. This was also another mistake that made that could easily be avoided.

Other negative feedback was one scene was too long. This was the one where the characters are walking down a long path; the only reason why it was too long was because this is were we plan to put our titles. Therefore we made that scene long so we got a rough idea on timing and where to exactly put the titles.

Rough Cut

Here is the rough cut for my thriller, a rough cut is a simple version of editing where there are no transitions; the clips are just simply cut and edited together.

Animatic

In this post i will be talking about animatics: what they are, used for and what i have done. An animatic is the preliminary/draft version of a film. It is created using a storyboard and the images are placed one after another; this essentially makes an animatic a animated storyboard. They are used so filmmakers and producers get a general idea on how the film will transition, be structured, and run. It also helps less creative people easily understand the ideas of the creative.

Below is my animatic. As it is a thriller, gives added some creepy music along with the appropriate sound effects. This helps give a good idea on what we should here in the actual thriller. Then I used the appropriate transitions to help maintain continuity and the sense on suspense.

Storyboard for thriller

Here are some pictures of our storyboard. A storyboard is when an idea for a animated sequence is drawn up into pictures. Then each of these pictures are explained and have added information like duration, editing and camera angle/shot type. a storyboard can be used to make an animatic which i have made a separate blog about. furthermore the storyboard is made as it shows a animated sequence in its simplest form so its an essential part of planning a film/TV show.

The story of our thriller shows two girls gossiping in a park. these girls are being followed by a guy in all black clothes as he/she is out to killed them and all of there friends; at the end of our opening,  both girls end up dead. this can be seen in our scoreboard and we feel like we have done this effectively as there is suspense while keeping all shots and angles accurate.

Moodboard

Here are some pictures of our mood board. A mood board is when you get pictures of your ideas and then stick them all down on a piece of paper. This just generalises what your idea will consist of and could show some of the plot. This helps other people to understand what the overall idea is, but also it means the creators can see there idea in person and may help then to add different conventions in.

Our mood board shows props, costumes and setting of our thriller idea. Some costume ideas are black clothing and some masks. This is because our criminal will be dressed in black and may have a mask and this is because most criminals wear black so we feel this will just fit the stereotype but still be mysterious and creepy. However we decided to scrap the idea of using a mask as the specific one was hard to find but also using a mask would prevent use from seeing the killer; one of the conventions of a thriller is that the antagonist is revealed early and the mask might prevent this.

The props shown are knives and weapons as these are what the criminal will be using to kill our characters. As these are just ideas we have different blades as we may change our mind. We picked these types of weapons as its most commonly used in thrillers and they are easily obtainable. Furthermore we think the weapon should be a blade as it is viewed as more deadly and could create more suspense. If there is more suspense then our thriller may be more successful.

The setting that we have shown is in a park or woodland area; therefore we have shown some pictures of people scared in fields. We picked woodland areas because they are private so this adds to the suspense as the characters will be helpless and alone. We think our mood board is effective as it shows all of our ideas very simply but still maintaining suspense. Furthermore the pictures we used greatly show what will happen in our thriller.

Shooting schedule

Day	Scene	Location	Equipment	Costumes	Props	Cast +Crew
17/1/16 17/1/16	1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, 11. 12,13,14,15,16	The Chase Shelby's (Chloe's) house	Tripod, Camera, The boom pole and the sound system   Tripod, Camera, The boom pole and the sound system	Shelby's costume  Jeans, top and trainers basic outfit  Sarah's costume  tights, skirt , top and boots.  Kelvin  black hood, black gloves, black jeans and black trainers   Shelby's costume  Jeans, top and trainers basic outfit  Sarah's costume  tights, skirt, top and boots.  Kelvin  black hood, black gloves, black jeans and black trainers	A lipstick and a bag A bag a knife, keys a picture and blood.	Shelby Playing Chloe  Sarah  Playing Lucy  Kelvin  Playing Hooded guy  Louis  Directing  Shelby Playing Chloe  Sarah  Playing Lucy  Kelvin  Playing Hooded guy  Louis  Directing

Shot list

Shot List
Scene	Shot Number	Description
One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen	One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten  Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen	A Pan shot of the Chase nature park sign with no dialogue. Straight shot of Sarah and Shelby walking in the chase nature park with no dialogue. Straight shot of Sarah and Shelby walk down the chase to sit on a bench no dialogue. Over the shoulder shot of Shelby and Sarah talking dialogue. Sarah notices guy in the hoodie but Shelby does not believe her. A medium shot of guy in bushes watching Sarah and Shelby. Shelby notices the hooded man and gets paranoid. Shelby and Sarah start running away and hooded guy starts chasing them. Sarah trips and Shelby don't realize and carry's on running however when she realizes she gets scared and just carries on running anyway. Close up a graphic match of Shelby's hand exiting the chase park. Graphic match close up of Shelby's hand unlocking her front door. Cut to Shelby walking into her bedroom and turning light on seeing Sarah dead on the floor and Shelby screams. Then the hooded guy comes out of nowhere with a knife and  He then stabs Shelby and murders her. A medium shot of Shelby and Sarah  both dead in the bedroom with knife wounds in their chests Close up of a picture of a group of girls including Shelby and Sarah and the hooded guy crosses Shelby and Sarah's faces out with blood on the knife he just killed with.

Risk assessment

Group Members: Shelby , Sarah and Louis    Location: The chase and Shelby’s house

Hazard	Person(s) at Risk	Likelihood of Hazard 1 – Extremely Unlikely 5 – Extremely Likely	Severity of Hazard Outcomes 1 – Very Low Risk 5 – Very High Risk	Risk Level (Likelihood + Severity) 2	Measures to Take to Manage Risk	Risk Managed? Y/N
Knife injury	Shelby	3	5	4	Make sure the knife is as blunt as possible and that distance is kept between the two people.	Yes
Drowning	Shelby, Sarah, Louis	1	5	3	Stay clear of the lake and be careful with your footing	Yes
Tripping	Sarah, Shelby and Louis	3	2	2.5	Keep pathway clear and be aware of surroundings	Yes

Contacts

Emergency Service:    999 and 111
Robert Clack School:  02082704222