Media Evaluation - In The Frame

Audience Survey and Results

IN THE FRAME - FINAL VERSION

Editing of Title Sequence and Feedback

This week, we showed our teacher Mr Ford our title sequence so he could see what it looks like and if we need to improve certain bits of it. There is a particular shot where Matt (our antagonist) throws down a set of keys on a table, Mr Ford gave us feedback on this certain shot because it looked a bit distorted due to the image of the keys being zoomed in quickly as a separate shot. This made the title sequence look messy as it looked like the two shots did not flow into each other well, therefore Mr Ford suggested that we just get rid of the shot of the keys zoomed in and to just leave it of the keys being thrown down on the table. Another piece of feedback that Mr Ford gave us is that during the pin board scene right at the beginning of our sequence, there are pictures of both Lily and Katy, there is a close up shot of Katy during the title sequence and Mr Ford said that from an audiences perspective, it looks as if Katy is the target instead of Lily and that is not what we are aiming for. Those are the two main pieces of feedback that we need to challenge. We need to work together to plan when and how we are going to fix these problems and what changes we are going to make. Tomorrow, we are meeting together to challenge the pin board scene again and we are going to focus on printing and pinning up more pictures of Lily so that from an audiences perspective, it looks like that she is the target and not anyone else. 

Changes and Further Shooting - Pin Board

Today, we all met up to discuss what we are going to do to improve our title sequence, starting with the pin board footage. Lily and I focused on gathering more images of herself to pin onto the pin board so she will hopefully be perceived as the target this time. We had to re-arrange the layout of the pin board and get rid of some pictures that we already had on it. For example, we have gotten rid of the picture of just Katy by herself and we replaced it with a current picture of Lily. The close up shot that we had of Katy will now be replaced by Lily as this is was one of the main problems that we had to fix and it was part of our feedback that we received. We also thought of replacing our red arrows with white ones however Matt said it would not work as well due to it the scene being shot in a dark room with lighting placed directly at it, he said that the white would reflect and could possibly be washed out so we stuck with using red arrows on the pin board.
Here are some images of our storyboard and how we have developed it:

Common Re Shoots

As we are getting closer to our deadline date, we sat down together as a group to see if there were any gaps whilst Matt and Matt B were editing and piecing it all together. We realised that about half way through our opening sequence that two shots did not flow into each other and it looks evident that they are two separate shots and we don't want it to look like that from an audiences perspective. We discussed whether we should re shoot one of the shots as Lily ended up repeating what she said in one shot and in another so we had two shots that look and sound exactly the same. We couldn't decide on a final decision together so we decided to ask Mr Ford what he thinks we should do and how we could resolve this as quickly and efficiently as we could. He suggested that we remove one of the shots as it would still flow together even with getting rid of that shot. We took on this feedback and Matt took the shot out. We watched our sequence from the beginning to see whether it would work and it did - this has saved us a lot of time as we would have probably ended up re-shooting when it was not necessary. 

Title Sequence

For our title sequence, we have a decorated pin board of pictures of Lily, Katy and I to present to the audience that Lily is a target. On the pin board, there are pictures of Lily from when she was younger to what she looks like now. Our narrative is about stalking and this presents to an audience that Lily is being stalked and someone is constantly watching her. We got Matt H to take pictures of Lily, Katy and I walking and talking at distorted angles and some from a distance. This is to show that the 'stalker' follows Lily's every move and is constantly watching her. We printed out arrows to pin onto the pin board, linking pictures together. At first, the footage shows a close up of the pin board then panning out. This shot can be viewed as ambiguous to an audience as it could be seen that this is more of a police investigation and they are gathering information about Lily - this is what we originally planned to do when we drew out our storyboard. Matt H and Matt B filmed the title sequence together as Lily and I were both in lessons at this point. They slightly adapted our original storyboard further on as in our storyboard, we do not actually see the antagonist at all, only certain parts like hands and arms but what both the boys filmed actually turned out to look incredibly good and definitely works better than our original thoughts. Before the antagonist is seen, the camera is fading in and out to different pictures of Lily and friends on the pin board - after the last fade in, the zooms out to a shot of the pin board where Matt (the antagonist) suddenly appears for a split second. A problem that could arise when it comes down to editing the  title sequence is that the footage may not flow into each other. 

Progress With Filming

Today, we filmed with Matt as well as myself and Lily as we have reached this section of our storyboard. Filming today went really well, it flowed nicely and we did not have too much of an issue with the weather either which was a positive. One aspect that we realized after we had filmed the few shots with Matt is that Lily was not wearing the bag that she had on in the previous footage. This became a disadvantage to us as now the all the footage won't match, however we did only film a couple of shots of Lily from the back, with the bag on so we decided that we are just going to re shoot the couple of scenes of Lily without the bag this time. In a way, this will become an advantage for us as the bag didn't exactly match what we had in mind as we brainstormed a more floral patterned bag to connote vulnerability of our protagonist. 

We are adapting our storyboard a little as previously before, we see the antagonist at more of a hidden angle instead of directly behind Lily, but very far away at a distance from her. Whilst filming this, it was difficult to get the exact angle so we are able to see Matt (the antagonist) but to also see Lily's reaction and face in the shot. At one point we had to ask Matt to move further away so he was able to fit in the shot. Together, we all looked back at the footage we took and we were really happy with the outcome of it. At this point, we really felt like we had achieved what we set out to as the opening sequence is meant to be based on the Thriller genre and this particular scene really sets the mood of the genre. 

Tomorrow, we are going to re shoot the two scenes of Lily without the backpack this time so Matt and Matt have time to edit the sequence together to show our teacher what we have got to far. Together, we are going to discuss our title sequence and how we are going to do it so that can be filmed at the beginning of next week. 

Filming

Now we have gotten into the habit and structure of filming, it has made it easier for us as a group to plan and structure how we are going to shoot the rest of our clips. We have filmed three clips outside and we used a bag as a prop that Lily wears slumped on her shoulders in the clips. The prop does not match our idea and brainstorming of props that we wanted as it is not as colourful. An issue that we came across is that us having to shoot extra scenes outside and possibly re shooting puts us in a position where we have to get us much as we can done in one day due to weather changes. In our clips that we filmed today, it was dry and quite sunny. In our future shots that we will be filming, we must try and match our previous footage as much as we can because it needs to look accurate and all of the footage must flow into each other or it is going to look unprofessional and messy. Another key area that we must be accurate on is making sure that we wear the same clothes to much the previous footage - this is a key element that we need to make sure we get right as a group as when we filmed our continuity task, we dragged out the filming and entire process so much that we did end up wearing different clothes. This is also due to the lack of planning and structure we had during the process of filming the continuity task and as a group we have worked hard together to make sure that we do not make the same mistakes. 

Today when we were filming, a positive was that the weather was still and there was no wind. I was worried that if it was windy when we started filming, the camera would pick up the noise of the wind and also visually the footage would look messy if it was really windy.  

Locations

For our final piece we had to think of a few locations which would suit the ideas behind the storyboard. This is so it fitted the ideas of where a teenage girl would most likely be at certain times and also where the pin board investigation scene could be shot.

For the pin board scene we can film this in school in an enclosed area like an office in the media department as we would have space to prop up the pin board in an area in which people are not going to distract the filming. This area also suits this part of the project as we can switch off the lights for a fully dark scene, so we can use a torch with the camera for the effect of a spot light on the pin board which further gives the effect of the discovery of this mapped out plan on the board of the kidnapping.

For the location of the scenes after our credit section, Chalfont St Peter common we found worked best. This is because it is an open area to people of all ages, which can be seen for the open field for adults to use and also for children as there is a park so the idea of a teenage being at this area would be considered as normal. We want this as it would be very cliche if the teenage was in an ally or an enclosed area as it would be simple for someone to kidnap somebody there and wouldn't add the dramatic effect wanted as it would be too obvious for the audience. The common also works well as there are woods in the background which further connotes the idea of the unknown.

(Credit to Matthew Hersey) 

Updated Continuity Task

This is our updated continuity task as our first cut of it did not work out well. As a group I do not think that we understood the 180 degree rule as much as we should have done which is why the filming did not go too well therefore the product looked messy and it did not hit the criteria. After getting critical feedback from Mr Ford about our first edit of our continuity task, we had to re-evaluate how we are going to fix it and what we need to do in order for it to be complete to hit the criteria. 

Challenging the Practice Shot

In our second session of filming, after shooting practice footage of one of our hardest shots we have on our storyboard, we decided to film the shot again, applying the improvements I stated in an earlier blogpost. We set up the tripod so we can use it to keep the camera movement steady and consistent. The shot was difficult to shoot in our practice shot because Lily was not stationary in the shot, she was walking at a pace which made the camera footage look shaky and disorientated. We did not want the shot to be perfectly still because that would look unrealistic but having shaky footage also makes it look unprofessional and unrealistic. The tripod was simple to set up and it helped Matt keep the camera steady and accurate. We also asked Lily if she could walk at a slower pace to simplify filming the shot. Luckily, challenging the practice shot was successful today, we just hope that it will flow nicely with our other footage that we filmed the other day. If it does not flow well with the other footage, we will have to re-evaluate methods that we could use to improve and fix this shot.    

How We Handled Filming

Today, we started to film shots from our storyboard that were outside as we do not want to leave these until last due to weather changes and longing out the process. Matt H and Matt B focused mainly on camera work, Lily and I are actually in our final product. I feel that it would be helpful if Lily and I were more clued up about being able to use the camera properly and knowing what to do with it because it would help when only part of our group can attend a filming session as at least one of us would know how to use the camera and to film. Also, knowing how to use a camera would broaden my knowledge of this subject and I would be able to apply this skill in the future during my A-Level in Media. 

Time goes by very fast when we film and I think all of us struggle with time keeping. Because we started filming outside first, time was also strickened as weather changes and other people around our location which makes filming look messy and unprofessional. Also, the camera picks up noises from around our location outside which also makes our footage look messy - the sound does not match what is going on in the footage. We have to pick certain times of the day when it would be relatively quiet: before school finishes as children come walking in our chosen outside location and there is normally an increased amount of cars on the road which increase irrelevant noise levels in the background of our footage.  

We had to keep revising our storyboard to make sure that we are filming everything that we have drawn out, that we use the correct shots and we are using the technical areas in the correct way. So far, I think that my group handled filming well today but there is still lots to be revised and lots to do. Unfortunately we have left filming a little late, but if we put the hours in we can finish it by the deadline.

Typography

I decided to play around with different styles of typography to get a sense of what colours and styles we would use for our credits. I am not so good at editing as much, but having a go at creating different styles of typography has made me progress a little bit further in this area. Our selected genre is Crime Thriller and I tried to use colours that match to the theme of a Thriller; dark reds, black and maybe purple's depending on if it suits with our storyline. I have created some that turned out a little too grunge for my liking, some of the edits look like they would be more suited to a Horror film rather than a Thriller. 

In The Frame Animatic

Analysis of a Practice Shot

We went out filming again this week, shooting more practice shots to see how they look on camera and if they work or not. On our storyboard, there are some shots that are slightly difficult. For example, there is a very tight over the shoulder shot of Lily typing on a phone on our storyboard and today when we attempted to film the shot, it proved to be very difficult as it was quite sunny/bright on this day which washed out what Lily was typing on the phone. Another aspect that was hard was making sure that the camera was not shaky as it is hard to balance the camera and make it still. 

How are we going to overcome these challenges?

With this particular shot, Matt H said that he can adjust the lighting a little bit more when it comes to editing our footage. We discussed as a group that it is not a priority for the audience seeing exactly what Lily types on a text, but the shot definitely needs to be clearer. When Matt H attempted the shot of Lily, he hand held it which made the camera shaky due to it being in an awkward position. To improve and overcome this challenge, we are going to use a tripod to balance the camera and make sure that it does not move and shake as much. This way, the shot will be a lot clearer and more professional looking. 

Props

Final Product: Props: Flower Backpack

The colour connotations present within the backpack will be used to portray our female teen protagonist; the floral print represents youth, beauty and innocence- three things in which a male stalker (antagonist) is stereotypically quite likely to prey on. The individual compartments of the backpack is typically associated to the life of a student or someone who attends full-time education; this will benefit the mise-en-scene as it will create a sense of vulnerability towards our protagonist (role to be played by Stephanie Jones). This will be reinforced as a school folder will be visible from inside the bag; this will portray the protagonist as defenceless and therefore cause the audience to feel fearful for the teen as the music alongside the setting will create a tense atmosphere in which her safety may or may not be put in jeopardy. 

Final Product: Props: Black iPhone

A black iPhone will be another prop in the possession of the teen female protagonist. The newly updated technology will represent the modern day  teenager and the stereotypical ideal that young people are consumed by media. The phone will also connote her lack of attention/focus therefore acting as a distraction causing her to be unaware of her surroundings; this puts her at risk which will be shown within the opening clip.

We will also be using a smashed phone in which will be presented through the use of a canted angle (Dutch angle). This will portray elements of distortion creating a sense of unease which will hopefully be interpreted by our target audience. The initial smashing of the phone will be unknown of cause therefore following the traditional convention of a thriller in which antagonist identities are not revealed early and the audience will be left asking questions therefore keeping them engaged within our opening 2 minute clip. We chose to show a functioning phone in use and a broken phone on the ground without cause in the same 20 seconds to symbolise the deterioration of routine and the break down of safety; this will also connote conflict which is prominent in most crime thrillers in which we found out through the research process.

Final Product: Props: Headphones

Much like the iPhone, the headphones will also represent a community of young people consumed by modern day technology. The headphones reinforce the protagonists lack of alertness when in relation with the phone due to two of her senses (visual and audio) being preoccupied. The idea of music seperates the protagonist from reality and therefore from any threats which may or may not be of relevance to her.

Final Product: Props: Pinboard

Our initial opening shot consists of photographs being added to a pinboard. Pinboards are often used as memoirs; a collection of photographs or tokens to remind an individual of past events in their life; for example a selection of keepsakes. This association will be used to our advantage as the audience will be unaware of the identity of the person who owns the pinboard; is it the antagonist (stalker) or is the pinboard part of a police investigation in which the antagonist (stalker) is the target/aim? The pinboard will also give my group the opportunity to produce an efficient graphic match as the pinboard will contain pictures of the protagonist (Stephanie Jones) who will be introduced later on in the opening clip. The pinboard also gives my group the opportunity to experiment with lighting e.g. high or low key (we have discussed the use of a torch attached to the camera so the lighting and camera match and are in sync with one another) and movement e.g. pan shots. 

(Lily and I had a discussion together about props - written credit to Lily Sutherland)

Changes With Our Characters

Last week, we were discussing as a group that Lily should be our main protagonist due to it being a lot more convenient for our group to be all together at once as we have lessons together and more non contact periods that we can use to film. We are still sticking to our narrative and we have not changed that since. We will all be in our opening sequence at one point, we are not going to use any of our friends to be in our opening sequence due to having to rely on others and as a group we decided that it just would not work and we would not get it done on time or leave enough time for editing. 

Deadlines and Roles

2015 Deadlines:

• Storyboard and Animatic January 17th
• Start filming: February 1st
• Final deadline: Friday March 28th
• Finished individual evaluations: To be completed during the Easter Holidays

Aims:

• Share the roles and responsibilities effectively - do not let project stop moving
• BLOG after EVERY filming session
• Plan ahead and be in control of the process of completing this project

Having deadlines listed on my blog helps myself and my group to plan effectively and to make sure that we stay up to date with this project. Having deadlines is incredibly important because we do not want to fall behind in this coursework as we will have to cram filming and jeopardise be able to complete this project by its deadline date. Splitting up roles would be an effective way of making sure that we all have tasks to complete so that the project is never stationary.  

How is gender represented through camera, editing, sound and mise en scene in the clip Primeval?

When we are introduced to the first female in the extract, and it is clear that she challenges that the typical female stereotype as females are typically expected to be dressed in formal dresses, blouses and skirts whereas Abi is dressed wearing black combat trousers, black boots and a black leather jacket. Moreover, females are associated with wearing more pastel colours whereas Abi is wearing an all-black outfit which enhances the fact that she goes against the typical female stereotype. All of Abi’s items of clothing are signified to hard working males who tend to have jobs including manual labour. In addition to this, Abi has a short styled haircut which is shown against the stereotype of females because short hair is typically associated with the male gender and longer hair is considered to be a more feminine look. This presents that Abi does not want to be seen as more feminine, she would rather be seen in more masculine way and she portrays this through her image and her clothing. In the first scene we see Abi; she is on a bright yellow digger, mostly associated as a more masculine object. However, Abi seems to be skilfully manoeuvring the machinery like she has had a lot of experience with the machine. This also challenged the female stereotype because it is unlikely that most women would know how to work and manoeuvre such a heavy piece of machinery so confidently. In the latter part of the scene, Abi takes a lead to fighting the tiger and decides to take control of the situation whereas when Nick hears the sound of the tiger, it goes against the stereotype of males being supposedly strong and heroic, Nick jumps into a trench to avoid danger. However, whilst Abi is manoeuvring the machinery back and forth to distract the tiger, Nick steps up and tries to exhibit a more masculine approach and distracts the tiger his way to help Abi get away from danger. This presents that men always end up saving and helping the woman when in a dangerous situation. Abi is seen running with a shot gun and shooting extremely accurately at the tiger from a distance. This opposes how woman are stereotypically known to be fragile. This action is similarly shown earlier on in the scene where Abi seems to have a lot of experience with more masculine objects which reinforces how masculine Abi portrays herself. Role reversal of who is more dominant is constantly switching back and forth between the two characters in this scene which suggests that both characters are in competition with each other.

The males in this clip are presented as more feminine characters through their clothing. Particularly Connor as he is presented wearing more pastel colours and distinctly a pink top. This is not a stereotypical way for a male to be presented because pastel colours are more associated as a female colour. Connor’s femininity is enhanced at the end of the clip when he is the only one not holding a gun when the rest of the characters are. Connor is positioned left and is set back from the rest of the characters and he also picks up a shovel instead of holding a gun. This shows that Connor is not a masculine character and that he does not match up to the typical stereotype of how a male is presented. Lastly, we are presented with another female character in the final scene. Instantly, she contrasts with the other female characters shown through her clothing. She is wearing a black velvet dress and black tights which contrast with her surroundings of being on a farm. She presents herself as a very sophisticated character, heavily shown through her makeup and clothing. Her red lipstick connotes passion and is also seen as a very provocative character. Her dress is also low cut and the velvet texture also emphasizes her sexual manner. This implies that she fits how females are stereotypically presented; weak and vulnerable and her sexuality enhanced. However this is not shown at the beginning of the scene where she tries to exhibit a more dominant role trying to blackmail and accuse another male. This quickly changed when yet another male took control of the situation and pointed a gun at her face. This reflects how the clip has been flowing; a woman would try to take control of a situation but would always be pushed back down and taken over by a male figure. We see a close up of her face, showing her shocked and scared expression.

In the extract, a lot of low and high angle shots have been used to show reversing power and control between the two genders. A wide angle shot is used to when Abi is in the digger, manoeuvring the machinery. This establishes the location where Abi seems to look incredibly comfortable with. When Nick jumps down into the trench to protect himself from the tiger, low angle shots were used to make Nick look vulnerable and weak. This goes against the stereotype of males as they are not normally viewed in such vulnerable positions. High angle shots were used to make the tiger seem intimidating and controlling of the situation. When Abi is distracting the tiger with the machinery, fast pace panning is used to enhance the excitement and also tension in the scene. The pan shots are also very fast which can give the audience a sense of confusion as they can’t clearly see what is going on which makes the seen incredibly tense. There are a few canted angles of the tiger which reinforces its power it has over the two characters. A tilt shot is used when Nick is on the zip wire; this gives an audience a view of distortion as it makes Nick look in an abnormal position. It also presents to the audience that there is danger beneath Nick which makes the audience feel tense. There are quick cutting shots of Abi running with the gun flipping between when Nick is face on with the tiger which build up the tension and makes the audience think the worst. Abi comes to the rescue in this seen which contrasts with the stereotype for a woman because normally it is the man who always saves a woman in dangerous situations. Abi constantly challenges the male stereotype throughout the clip. In the last scene, when the woman is thrown onto the ground a high angle shot is used to presents her vulnerability and weakness to the audience. The high angle represents her emotion in this scene; a slow emotion close up show is used to emphasize her fear towards the situation. Her attempted dominance in this scene did not last long as a male always ends up taking control of the situation, they command taking charge. Although Connor is presented in a feminine way through mise en scene, he is always shot at eye level and never shot with high angles which would be more suited to his character. This connotes that he is of the same importance of the rest of the male and females in this clip. Majority of the males in this clip are given angles that reinforce their position of power such as canted angles. This establishes a hierarchy of power and dominance at the end of this clip.

Diegetic and non-diegetic sound used in this extract makes an audience build up emotion towards certain characters. At the beginning of the clip, the non-diegetic sound of the violins is ominous and creates a tense atmosphere. It also gives the audience an impression that something danger is coming. The violin music gets quieter as we approach the seen with Abi in the digger. The diegetic sound of the digger almost makes an audience feel more calm compared to the non-diegetic sound of the violins at the beginning. The diegetic sound makes an audience feel more involved in this scene and with what Abi is doing. A non-diegetic sound of beating drums is used in the background when Nick discovers an arm soiled into the mud, this portrays to an audience that this is of importance and that Nick has come to a realisation. There is a brief moment of non-diegetic of the tiger as we cannot see the animal as the moment in time, this suddenly makes the scene very tense and makes the audience think that danger is ahead. The snapping and crunching of twigs emphasizes the danger lurking around and it shows that the animal is near and approaching. At one point, the diegetic sound of the machine arises when the tiger appears. The roaring and growling of the tiger along with the machine and non-diegetic music create an increasingly amount of tension. The tension increases when Nick starts to run away to distract the tiger as the music becomes louder and louder throughout this scene. The music is almost building to a crescendo as it is such an exciting and fast paced piece of music. The sound bridge between the previous scenes of all the characters together to when we meet Jenny in the barn with a male character the music becomes softer and less tense. This suggests that Jenny does not realise the danger that she is in due to her feeling confident and dominant, she feels that she has control of the situation. The softer music also highlights that Jenny is unaware of oncoming danger which represents the idea that women are a little too reckless and do not think before they approach situations. The diegetic sound of the farmer shooting his gun in the air multiple times presents that he wants to enforce power and masculinity in throughout this scene.

When Nick climbs the ladder to the zip wire, a jump cut to him taking his belt off and tying the belt to the zip wire. This makes the scene feel tenser and it also gives the audience a sense of urgency. When Abi shoots the tiger, a slow motion edit is used. This is an effective edit as it is just after the fast pace cutting of Nick on the zip wire as it shows that all the excitement and action has come to a stop.

Costume Ideas and Research

As we have decided to focus our opening sequence around a Crime Thriller, there are key aspects that need to be thought through thoroughly before the production process. Costumes and clothing for our Protagonist is highly important as we still need to stick to the Thriller genre, but not make it too cliche. We want to make our opening sequence a little more unique and I think that it would be a good idea to present this through clothing and costumes. Our Protagonist is Stephanie Jones. Furthermore, Steph meets the criteria that we are looking for because we need someone petite and almost innocent looking. As a group we debated about what Steph should be wearing in the opening sequence, she is playing a young, vulnerable teenage student and there are lots of costume ideas that spring to mind. I didn't want Steph to be obviously portrayed as a vulnerable student through her clothing too much as that is edging towards being too cliche. I suggested that Steph should wear more darker colours almost to juxtapose with her vulnerable role in our sequence. Moreover, because Steph has dark brown hair, we can test out using low key lighting to put emphasis on the darkness around Steph's face.  

Stephanie Jones (Main Protagonist) 

What will our protagonist be wearing?

(to be continued) 

Evaluation on Continuity Task

What have I learnt from the Continuity Task?

Overall, the continuity task had developed my understanding of the production of film making. It broadened my knowledge of how much preparation needs to be done before actually starting the filming process. The importance of storyboarding was highlighted to me most during the process because without having a storyboard that obtains in depth detail about what it is we were going to be filming, we would have no idea about where to even start. It definitely pointed out to me how important vital it is to have a good and well planned out storyboard. As a group we thought thoroughly about our shot last and we worked hard on our timing for each clip. This was one of the most successful parts of the continuity task because it means that we can take we have learnt about creating a shot list and apply our knowledge and understanding to when we create a shot list for our final product. 

 I personally should have familiarised myself more with the 180 Degree Rule because when it came to filming it, I wasn't actually too sure what it is we were filming until we were almost near the end of our filming process. As a group we then realised that we forgot to include a shot reverse shot which is a vital part of our understanding of the 180 Degree Rule. I think as a group we should have familiarised ourselves with the continuity task a little bit more as having to film a shot reverse shot after we thought we had already finished filming meant that our coursework process came to a pause which was a disadvantage for us all.  

The filming process went well in our group on the first day we started filming as we discussed in depth about our location(s). A downfall to our filming was that we did not manage to get all the filming done in one day which meant that we had to film the rest of our shots another day which delayed the entire process. However, each time we did film it ran smoothly and we filmed extra shots using different angles so we could watch them together and decide what looked best. A challenge that we faced was that our locations were not always clear of other people which made the filming process a little longer than need be. In the future, I need to evaluate the locations in more depth and also think about the sounds around the location as we did not want unnecessary sounds in the background. Matt Bainbridge edited the clips whilst Lily and I were moving our coursework project forward. As  group we spoke to Matt about the editing and he said that it all ran smoothly. In the future, I would like to spend more time practising how to edit clips as this would benefit me during the rest of this course. I will be frequently using software to edit the final product and I would like to familiarise myself before having to edit the final product before hand. 

Planning: Storyboard

As a group, we have come up with a storyboard for the opening sequence of our Crime Thriller film. Based on our brainstorm and initial ideas, we have decided to stick to some of the typical Thriller conventions however we decided not to stick to the cliche ones, for example, ghosts, a murder, masks etc. We decided to stick with some of the typical Thriller conventions because we had to think of our audience and what they would be expecting to see. If we did not follow some of the typical conventions, it would not be appealing to an audience.

Protagonist: female, young, vulnerable, teenage student
Antagonist: unknown to the audience in the opening sequence, as a group we have decided the antagonist to be another female student
We have decided that the gender should be kept a secret from the audience because we want to leave a sense of ambiguity.
As we had to draw up a storyboard for our continuity task, it was a lot easier drawing up one for our final coursework piece as it enabled us to have a lot more knowledge about storyboarding and it allowed is to draw it with ease. Drawing up a storyboard helped myself and my group to give us insight of what our opening sequence may look like. An advantage of drawing up a storyboard before we start filming is that we are able to change and rearrange some shots if necessary. Having the ability to be able to change shots around means that as a group we are less likely to make mistakes when we have to start preparing filming our final product. Creating a storyboard also highlighted what we needed to include or what we had too much of. In conclusion I think that storyboarding has had a positive outcome in my group as we can now start to move forward and think about other contributing factors that will help us to plan what we are going to film for our final product.



(Storyboard to be uploaded)

Planning: Shot List

1. Close up
2. Extreme close up/pan shot
3. BLANK
4. Credits (to be confirmed)
5. Tracking shot from behind of Protagonist
6. Over the shoulder
7. Extreme close up
8. High angle
9. Canted angle

1. 7 seconds
2. 15 seconds
3. 1 second
4. 20-25 seconds
5. 7 seconds
6. 6 seconds
7. 3/4 seconds
8. 3/4 seconds
9. 10 seconds

This is an estimation of how long each shot is going to be however this is not final as it could be changed at any time, its a mini template for us to work around.

Continuity Task In Relation To The Evaluation Questions

These are the questions which should be addressed and referred to throughout the process
 of creating our practice and final two minute introduction to a film. Our practice intro has to use the '180 
degree' rule and use professional filming and editing techniques so that the members of our group has 
some experience before creating our final product and the final film has to be from a film of the 'Thriller'
 genre and also has to use the same quality techniques. These editing and filming techniques are graded
 on the mark scheme and can also be looked at while planning and filming, however the listed questions 
below are insightful and analytical which would be good to look at even before are products are created so 
that we can include as many good media techniques first time round and improve theses on our final
 product. For now I will be looking at the questions and talking about how we can use these in our '180
 degree rule' intro.

- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions 

of real media products?

The 180 degree rule product we will be producing should use some typical conventions of pre existing 

openings from television and film as a base and starting point to our piece of work, however should include

 our own styles and twists to make the work fully ours. By this I mean we should use some similar camera

 angles which are pre-existing in the media in similar genre film/television programs as we know these 

angles can be effective in making the audience see an event in a certain way, however we should include

 other creative editing and filming techniques which would benefit our storyline and narrative as other 

techniques could work better than others in portraying our story in the way we want it be. This would then

 challenge other existing opening as ours would be very different and in our own style.

-How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our practice opening includes a family entering a school for parents evening who then walk through the 

school to the teachers room who they then speak too. The family is made up of a mother (played by Megan)

 and teenage daughter (played by Lily). The social groups that will be portrayed in our opening would be a

 mother of a

 middle class background and a child with influences of teenage trends and some stereotypical teenage 

attitudes. We have chosen these social groups due to our introduction being mainly based on our technical 

abilities rather than a combination of technical aspects and storyline. This is because our practice has to 

be including the 180 degree rule and we need to practice getting our filming and editing on point before a 

storyline is introduced. That is why our social groups will be basic and slightly stereotypical, however this

 will not be very noticeable as our product will be focused on technical aspects which will be clearly evident

 when watching.

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

A film or television institution would most likely distribute our work once completed. This would be due to 

it being made for a film introduction so it would be created using specific editing, camera and sound

 techniques most suited to this style of institution. If it was for another institution such as a music 

institution or the internet then other ways of producing it would have been taken, e.g. music- sound

 recorded in a studio and perfected or internet- funky intro to draw in viewers and made personal for

 people to connect with the maker of the video.

- Who would be the audience for your media product?

- How did you attract/address your audience?

The media product we will be producing will be aimed at adults as the content doesn't have conventions of 

many genres. This is because it is being made to show and practise our skills so storyline isn't the main

 concern. It is then aimed at adults as the two minutes we will be making could further progress into a 

reality style program because of it being about normal life or in our case about parents evening which

 happens in normal family life. The audience will be addressed due to the activity happening in the intro 

being relatable and using over the shoulder and close up camera angles to make the footage personal.

- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Due to this piece of work being about are skills with technology there are certain things we have to aim to 

get right to make our '180 degree rule' product successful. There should be a range of well filmed camera

 angles which should be used appropriately throughout the clip and also the 180 degree rule should be 

evident throughout. Aswell as this the editing should be sharp and precise to make the filmed clips flow 

well and make the overall piece look professional. To add to the professional look the camera shouldn't 

shake so that the clips are easy to watch. If these are followed then we will know how to correctly construct

 a media product and we can use our learnt skills in our final piece or learn from mistake we may make in

 this practise.

- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression 

from it to the full product? 

As we are creating our preliminary task now, we hope to learn about the difficulties and easy parts in

 producing a piece of media in a professional way. If there are parts we don't get right first time round,

 we can evaluate what has gone wrong and can learnt from the mistakes so that we do not make them

 again in the final piece to make it as professional looking as possible. We also hope parts obviously go 

correct first time round as we want some reassurance in the production of the final piece that we have

 certain skills and familiarity in which we could use to our advantage.

(Matt Hersey)

Overall, during the production of our preliminary task, our group could highlight what we did well and what we didn't

 as a group. Working together on filming for the first time was tough at first because getting used to working with

 people you wouldn't normally work with was hard however we soon found out that we all had strengths that would

 contribute well to complete this task. Matt showed Lily and I how to use the camera for future tasks, this will benefit

 me in my coursework because I can then attempt to use the camera and get used to how it works. This would broaden 

my skills and help me to progress further in this course. Throughout this task, we have identified as a group what 

camera techniques work well and the ones that we particularly like as this will help us all when starting to film for

 our coursework - we will have a general idea of what looks good and works well to make sure our coursework gets

 maximum marks.