Final Evaluation

Our sequence was quite straightforward as we followed standard forms and conventions of real media products. The very first thing you see when you begin to watch is our production company logo for Twilight Productions. For this we used a simple picture of the moon shining through the branches of trees. We edited the picture using Photoshop to crop it and to change the contrast and saturation. We made the light and the branches sharper and changed it from sepia to black and white as we felt it gave it a more eerie feel and connected it more to the genre of horror. We cropped it to make a smaller logo and to simplify it as it cut out a lot of the detail of the picture, but left in enough to create the effect we wanted. We also added a simple yet effective font, in white, with the words ‘Twilight Productions’.

Our titles come next, over the top of the beginning of the film. We used an interesting font for the credits which was not too obtrusive so it wouldn’t draw attention from the picture, but would still stand out. Our main title for the film is on a black background part way through the opening, so that it is clear that this is the title and so it stands out more and is easily memorable. To make the titles we had to use Live Type, and then add them to our video where we wanted and render them. We used quite a scratchy font and wrote in red so that it fitted with the genre of our piece.

We introduced character and narrative straight away, and followed a classic narrative pattern. We felt that because as we were only shooting 2 minutes any chopping and changing of time frames would only have confused the audience. This also helped us to illustrate what Todorov said about narratives: that they all follow a simple structure. To begin with there was equilibrium as the main character was introduced and the scene was set in her new house. Then a disruption occurred in the form of a door slamming shut upstairs in a seemingly empty house. This immediately helps to set the audience on edge, because the idea of a house implies that it is your own space, and therefore should be your own point of safety and refuge; until something in the house imposes a threat and it no longer seems safe. This also links into the genre of horror because we have created a very stereotypical image here, of a young girl alone in a house where not everything is as it seems. The mise en scene in particular helps to create this image. Her clothes clearly indicate her age, style and gender. The books she drops when the telephone rings help to exemplify her helplessness, that something so normal can make her jump because she is on edge.

The idea that we could use a telephone ringing links back to our research in which we looked at the film Gothika starring Halle Berry and Penelope Cruz. In this Halle Berry is driving over a bridge in a thunder storm talking to her husband on the phone when her signal cuts out. Straight after this the disruption happens in the form of a girl standing in the middle of the road causing her to swerve. Consequently her car breaks down, and the audience can sense that something key is just about to happen. We differed slightly from this, using the phone and the following conversation to add a bit more insight into the character of the girl. Because it was her mother on the phone it allowed the audience to connect to her more on an emotional level, as she is now more similar to them in that she has a family, and people who care about her; rather than her being just a face in a film.
We used the editing to aid us in our telling of the story, used fades to move time along and direct cuts from shot to shot to show that the story was continuing at the same point in time for the moment. The sound we used helped to enhance the idea of a horror film, as it gave the whole thing an eerie, creepy feel, with the hint that something was just about to happen.

Our product represents teenagers and young adults, because the main character is a young adult. As it is set in the modern day it makes it easier for our audience to connect to the character, rather than if it was set in a different century for example. Our main character is a very stereotypical one of a lot of horror films even down to the gender; a young girl, seemingly helpless, alone when something bad happens. This is the basic storyline of a lot of horror films, which then add their own twists and various forms of a disruption.

For the marketing and distribution of our product we would be aiming to follow in the footsteps of Gothika which has become a very successful film. The marketing techniques used for Gothika were mainly TV and billboard adverts, so this would be how we choose to market our product also. There were three main production companies involved in the making of Gothika: Columbia Pictures Corporation, Warner Bros. Pictures and Dark Castle Entertainment, and so these would be the three companies which we would be most interested in approaching, as we have seen that they have experience in producing successful films within the horror genre. Columbia Pictures and Warner Bros. had the most to do with the Theatrical and DVD distribution. Ideally we would like our product to reflect the press coverage and achievements which Gothika was exposed to.

In line with wanting the same success as Gothika and having a similar storyline, we are aiming our film at the same age range Gothika was intended for; that is 15 to 24 year olds. According to the BBFC website there are three main considerations which need to be taken into account in the classifying of a film. These are:
1. Is the material in conflict with the law?
2. Is the material, at the age group concerned, likely to be harmful?
3. Is the material, at the age group concerned, clearly unacceptable to broad public opinion?
Judging from these three guidelines, from films we have seen which are similar to ours, and from Gothika which is a 15, we predict that Psychosis would probably enter at a 15, although as we have only shot the first 2 minutes, happenings later on could alter this.

In order to attract an audience we came up with quite a mainstream, typically Hollywood idea. It is a basic storyline into which we can add lots of twists to decrease predictability and increase tension. With a bigger film the attraction for lots of the audience can be down to the actors used as well as the members of the cast who are not seen such as directors and editors. If we wanted to make Psychosis a big-time film we would need to use some familiar faces to get people interested. Also the different effects which can be used in the adverts, such as the ‘Not Alone’ slogan being cut into Halle Berry’s arm in the billboard adverts, can help to draw attention from a possible audience. The music adds to the appeal to a mass audience in that a good horror film needs sufficiently eerie music, and the music we have used does not dominate the piece or draw the attention away from anything else, but sits in the background nonetheless making its presence known through the atmosphere it creates. For this we used Soundtrack, from which we found a wide variety of sounds to match our piece.

We have used the same software throughout our Prelim and our main tasks, apart from Live Type because we only added credits for our main task. We learnt to use the cameras and tripods smoothly and effectively to achieve the shots we wanted. We then had to upload it onto Final Cut Express to edit it. The shots in our Prelim and main tasks were quite quick to chop and change because quick cutting keeps the young audience motivated and their minds simulated. We learnt to tell a story through the editing, using fades and dissolves to show time had passed, and straight cuts to show just a change of perspective in the same time frame. We used blogs throughout the planning and making of our main task to help us keep track and see what we had left to do and what we had achieved the lesson before. We also created a pitch at the beginning of our main task which helped us to envisage how we would turn this into a real film if we were going to, and helped us by enabling us to pinpoint exactly what we needed to research. There was a lot more to the film making industry than we initially thought.

There has been a lot of progression from the standard of our Prelim task to the level of our main task on many different levels. Continuity was a huge issue in our Prelim task, so much so that we had to cut half of it so that it abided by the rules. However, in our main task we didn’t have to edit the continuity at all. Also the shots we used in the Prelim were very basic, with no movement, whereas in our main task we used a range of different shots and there were some pans and zooms as well. We were able to use special effects in our main task such as a fade to move time on, whereas our Prelim was all set at the same time so there was no need. Our main task also gave us a chance to use Live Type as this was not introduced or needed when we did the Prelim. In our main task however there was more editing to do on getting the shots to run together smoothly, particularly at the beginning, whereas this was not so much of a problem for the Prelim, perhaps because we had less shots and they were simpler.

Viewer feedback

What people thought was good:

Good titles,
built up tension in the clip from the sound used,
mise en scene was very effective,
Genre is easy to see what it is.

What people thought needed to be improved:

Some of the editing could be smoother.
Could have put the main title at the end of the clip.
The titles could have had different colours or effects.
Could have been filmed at night.

Overall was: good/ some excellent/ a few were okay.

Live type

Live type:

After we had finished the editing of the footage we started to look at live type in order to see have a look at the fonts we could use and then try out the fonts and see how they would look. 

After we had looked at a load of fonts we found one that we liked and we tried out what it would look like. We didn't add it into our clip as we weren't sure if it was exactly what we wanted. 

Filming of the footage

The filming: 

In order to film the clip went to Chloe's house and we did the filming there. We filmed each part of the clip separately and then we had to do a few retakes of some of the difficult scenes. We filmed some of the footage outside of the house and some of the footage inside. As the house had 2 stair cases we were able to film shots looking over a bannister at somebody walking up the stairs from above. 

We had a problem trying to film the footage of walking up the stairs as we had to get the timing of the phone ringing and the dropping of the books in sequence. We had to take about 3 retake of this shot to get it correct. 

The easiest shot to do was the car driving in to the drive as we where able to just do a pan shot using the tripod. 

Overall the filming took about 2 hours to do including all of the retakes. 

Editing of the footage

Editing of the footage: 

We uploaded the footage that we shot on to the program called Final Cut. We used this program to cut out all of the extra footage that we didn't need and we placed all of the correct footage together and we edited with fade and cuts in the correct places to make the footage fit together. Our film clip needed to be 2 minuets we had to ensure it was under that amount so we had time to add in credits and logos. Towards the end of the footage we had to add in a fade effect as it linked the 2 scenes together and it showed the passing of time as the girl falls asleep. 

Evaluation

We started to answer the evaluation questions to create part of the main evaluation.

These are the critical evaluation questions:

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
During the filming we thought about the continuity and did not need to edit it to abide by the rules. There is a minimal amount of dialogue in our sequence, which means we had to work harder to build suspense through the shots, mise en scene and acting. The language of the film therefore reflected this and was also minimalistic, using only enough to start to introduce the character. For example, the dialogue is the main character speaking to her mother on the phone. This allows the audience members to put her into perspective and form a closer bond with her because they can relate to her in some way – i.e. that she has a family, and people that care about her, as do they. Therefore the thought that something bad will eventually happen to her is more foreboding.
It fulfils the contractual nature of the horror genre as it is ‘jumpy’ and there is a lot of suspense. It is left on a cliff-hanger which makes the audience want to watch on and find out what happens later on. From the beginning the suspense is built on.
The narrative conventions we have set out are in chronological order as we thought in a 2 minute sequence this would be easier for an audience to follow, whereas any jumping around this early on would be too confusing.
We used props to add to the feel of the sequence and enhance the idea of it being a horror film. We used a phone half way through which made the character jump, and gave her some books to drop which made a loud sound when they hit the floor and added to the idea that she was on edge, and added to the feeling of the piece.

Who would be the audience for your media product?
The target audience we are aiming our product at are teenage thrill seekers, probably ages 12 and up.
We were trying to provide a thrilling viewing experience for the audience, and we felt that mostly we delivered on this promise. There is a lot of suspense throughout our sequence, which continues to mount, finally coming to a head at the end where the cupboard door is slammed shut as if someone is pushing it, even though the house is supposedly empty.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
In the preliminary exercises our main mistake was continuity, which meant we had to cut out a considerable amount of footage in order to correct this. In the main task therefore we kept a closer eye on the continuity of the shots so that we would not loose any footage when it came to the editing. In the shot involving the main character walking up the stairs we only discovered when it came to the editing that there was a crew members’ hand in the shot which we had not noticed or planned for before. However on reflection we decided that this could be used to show that there was someone else in the house of whom the main character was apparently unaware, and so instead of loosing valuable footage in trying to correct this, we decided to leave it in and let it add to the audience’s tension.

Are there any ‘intertextual’ moments where you hint at a reference to another film?
Our original film idea was based on Gothika, merely because of the reference to someone being possessed to bring someone to justice (although there is no possession shown in the sequence we shot). However there is no reference in the sequence which is particularly noticeable.

Creating the soundtrack

Soundtrack development: 

We used a program called Soundtrack in order to choose various tracks to put together in certain parts of the film, to create a soundtrack. We choose sounds that are suitable to the action in the film but also that fitted the films genre. We used spooky music that will create a tense atmosphere as it will create the desired effect, of letting the audience know that something in the house isn't right, and something is going to happen. 

We added this to our film clip on final cut express an we made it suit the action of the film.