FINAL FILM OPENING

Q5

Q2.) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Questions 3 and 4

GoAnimate.com: Media Institutions and media audience by sheena.marfo1

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

GoAnimate.com: Question 1) In what ways does your media product u by hanna_shepherd

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EVALUATION: 3) What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?

GoAnimate.com: Q3) What kind of media institution might distribut by hanna_shepherd

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EVALUATION: 2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

EVALUATION: 4) Who would be the audience for your media project?

Q4) Who would be the audience for your media project? on Prezi

EVALUATION: 5) How did you attract/address your audience?

I asked my audience what they thought of the film and this is what they said:

EVALUATION: 6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this project?

EVALUATION QUESTION 6 on Prezi

EVALUATION: 7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Q1. In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Typically, film openings contain: 

•   the title
• the names of the director, cast etc
•  music  (which often sets the mood)
• the institutional identity/logo for the production + distribution company
•  the setting/location
•  an introduction to at least 1 main character
• diegetic + non diegetic sound combination

We have followed the conventions of a title sequence as we have included most features found typically in title sequences. Here I compare the title sequence from The Stepfather to Las Drogas del Amor.

The Distribution Company

Main Actors

The Title

The costume designer, and other people working behind the scenes

The Editor(s)

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Representation means how a particular social group has been portrayed. Examples of some social groups are: age, ethnicity, gender, class etc.  These representations are often stereotypical views, based on the actions of the minority. For example, the youth of today are stereotyped for being very violent, lazy and destructive because of the London Riots and knife crime increase.

In our Thriller, I believe we have both challenged and played into stereotypes.

STEREOTYPE: MEN CAN’T COOK/ WOMEN BELONG IN THE KITCHEN

We have challenged this stereotype by having our male protagonist cooking a romantic meal for his partner, as it contrasts the norm. Usually women are expected to be the ones cooking, which come from old-fashioned views. Through the Mise En Scene, we show that he has put a lot of effort into this meal by scattering flower petals and lighting candles.

STEREOTYPE: WOMEN ARE WEAK & ARE ALWAYS THE VICTIM.

 Typically in Hollywood films, it is noticeable that women are the victims. We have played into this stereotype by having our female protagonist poisoned by the male. Since we wanted to the gender roles balanced at the beginning of the Thriller, we did not use high and low camera angles. However, towards the middle of the opening, we used a slight high angle on the female protagonist (shown here) to pre-empt the events that are to come.

Here is an animation I made discussing Representation in my Thriller further.


Media Film
by: NatalieYasmin

Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Who would be the audience for your media project? on Prezi

Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Q5 How did you attract/address your audience? on Prezi

Q6. What have you learnt about technologies form the process of constructing this product?

During this project, we were introduced to many different types of technology.

While we were doing our research for our thriller opening, I used websites like Youtube and Google to get inspiration. For example, I watched videos on Youtube of chefs preparing food as we would be creating a similar looking sequence in our opening. One video I found to be inspiring is “The Foodie Chef makes Ratatouille” because the video was edited in a way that made it look very dynamic and interesting. I then blogged about this on Blogger. Doing this research was very helpful as I had visual references to base the opening off of. While I was editing, I could look back on the videos and images I found and draw from the inspiration I’d first had when I saw them for the first time. 

When we were filming the actual opening, we used a professional JVC camcorder, which would produce high quality clips. To capture the filming process, I used a Flipcam and a Still Camera. This was so that people could see what went on behind the camera.

Finally, we began editing the opening with Soundtrack Pro and Final Cut Pro; programmes found on Apple Mac computers. I found both these programmes to be very useful as it enabled me to get creative. As there are thousands of different sounds and music tracks on Soundtrack Pro, I had a wide range to choose from.  Therefore, I could create a soundtrack totally different and original from the other groups.

Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what did you feel you have learnt in the progression form it to the full product?

Here is a video blog explaining what I have learned through doing the PRILIM and Thriller task.

The first titles were at the start of the PRELIM which looked weird and out of place. We changed this to the end in our Thriller which followed the norm.

In the first picture, you can see that our setting is in a school, which doesn't suit the storyline. We took this in mind, and found an appropriate setting for the Thriller.

Here, you can see a severe lighting mistake we had made. We made sure we didn't repeat this in our 

Thriller.

This is an example of a shot with good lighting from our Thriller.

Las Drogas Del Amor

This is our finished movie we are so pleased with the outcome.

The spanish music and the name we think works really well. we have said this before but we are so pleased that everything worked to how we planned more or less.

Editing

This is us editing, We found it hard to get started and get the hang of used to Final Cut Pro but we got the hang of it. We was very happy that we had a lot of footage, more that we thought we would have. The editing was fun it was great for us to see all our hard work come together. we finished pretty quickly but the fine editing had to be done.

When we finished the fine editing we decided to change the name from la cene which means the supper to Las Drogas Del Amor which means The drugs of love. We though it went better with the improvised Spanish music. we made some of the actors names hispanic also to try and be consistant with the hispanic theme.

La Cene - ROUGH CUT

We're really happy with how this rough cut has come out. At first, we were worried that we wouldn't have enough shots to make the Thriller look proffesional. But it turns out that we had more than enough.
We got some really good shots, and some bad ones too. We realised that we should have taken shots from different angles to make it look more interesting and dynamic. However, there are a lot of Match cuts so overall, we think it came out good. We're pleased that it came out the way we intended.

Thoughts on filming - Day 2 (Kitchen scene)

One of our major problems was keeping the dog out of our shots. he was very playful so he soon got bored of us because we were focusing on filming.

We didn't do a detailed enough shot by shot, so we struggled to remember with what we needed to do next at timed. None of us took lead and that sometimes was a problem as we couldn't make up our minds about small disagreements.

We did try and stick to the ratatouille example but we didn't look at it enough or because if we did we wouldn't have only used the same angle throughout. We are still happy with how all our shots turned out however and he are extremely happy we ended with more than enough footage.

As time went by we all got tired, so filming started to drag slightly Josh was tired of repeating the sat movements. We had to keep reshooting shots and thinking outside the box of how to make it better. By the end we were very please with what we had filmed and were really eager to start editing.

Videos from the second day

Everything we bought cam to £15 so we all put in a fiver. We were happy we found the flower petals especially because we didn't have a table cloth. We were all really excited to start, this is a video of us setting up. 

Here we were setting up the table. we were pleased with the texture of the table we though it looked really sophisticated, the wine glasses and the flower petals all turned out to go well, it looks very romantic just as we planned it to look. We got all the props from Tesco.  

This was an half an hour before we finished. we were all tired and really wanted to go home. We realised that we should have brought our shot list with us and there wasn't a leader between us so were were al sometimes unsure of to do next. Hanna's dog Archi was keeping our spirits up as we had been filming for about 4-5 hours. We all really enjoyed the experience though we are happy that he pulled though and managed to achieve when we set out tot do.

This was the last shot we were all so happy to finish filming. Josh is drugging Hanna's drink and we was trying to get across to him how he should do it. In the end it went very well ans fits in perfectly with our opening.

Pictures from the second day

These are just some picture of us filming on the day, everything we bought at Tescos. Everything we bout was useful and as the main food was the prop in our opening we are happy with the turn out.

Thoughts on filming - Day 1 (Bedroom Scene)

On our first day of filming, we had a few problems with lighting as the room was quite dark. Therefore, we had to get a lamp so that we could improve the lighting. It turned out to look really good because it suited the atmosphere of the film.

We also had a problem with spacing. We didn't realise how little space we had in the room therefore, we had to squeeze into corners in order to get a good shot. This didn't bother us too much us because it made us feel like real directors.

At first, our spirits weren't too high. But as we got going and filmed the different shots, we started getting more excited to edit the shots we had taken. It took us three hours and our first battery had nearly run out, which was a bit shocking. So we decided to be more conservative with our time the next day.

Overall, the day was pretty tiring, but we felt as if we'd gotten enough shots for our Thriller so we were pretty pleased. We got some of our best and most interesting shots in the bedroom.

Videos from the first day

Photos from 24th of February - first day of filming

These are pictures from the first day, bedroom shot. we thought that this shot went very well and we are very pleased with the results and hope that it all looks google.

Post-production

We are about to begin editing our footage that we filmed on Friday 24th Feb and Saturday 25th Feb. We are worried incase we haven't got enough footage and also we think it is going to be difficult to cut the footage if we have too much in order to shorten to a 2 minute clip. We feel that filming went very well and we are hoping for the best.

PLANNING: Shots

We plan to film the bedroom scene with Hanna on Friday.

1. Extreme close ups of her putting on: lipstick, blusher and mascara.
2. Mid shot of her spraying perfume
3. Over the shoulder shot of her fixing her hair
4. Match cut of her putting on her shoes
5. Long shot of her putting on her coat
6. Mid/Match cut of her opening the door and leaving

These will cross cut with the shots of Josh cooking, which we will film on Saturday.

1. Close up of pan in sink. Turn on tap, fill up. Turn off.
2. Close up of pan on stove - turn on gas.
3. "...."Add oil + mince
4. "...." of water boiling
5. "...." of pasta in boiling wateR
6. Ariel shot of opening tin
7. Close up of hand picking up tomatoes and squeeze
8. "...." Onion on chopping board
9. "...." wipe onions off knife into pot
10. Mid + Close ups of pouring wine
11. "...." adding poison to drink

PLANNING: Props and Mise En Scene

Here is a list of food that we will need to purchase for filming on Friday:

• Pasta (Spaghetti)
• Mince
• Lemons
• Tinned Tomatoes
• Red Wine
• Onions
• Garlic
• Red, Green and Yellow peppers
• Seasoning

These are some other props that we are going to buy:

• Candles
• Table cloth
• Flowers
• Paracetemol (as poison)

Our Storyboard - La Cene

This is the storyboard for our thriller La Cene. We will follow this when we begin filming on Friday evening. We made this very detailed so that we will have all the shots we need.

from Donna

Hi Girls

Where is you storyboard and pitch? Please can you post these. The shots of food are very good. On Thursday could you go through your storyboard and how you are going to film your 'cooking' scene.

Could you also add a 'talk to camera' about your planning experience. Your production schedule need to be re-aligned, as it overlaps your names.

See you then. Donna

Production Schedule

This is the plan we made in todays lesson. We are really going to try to stick to this as it will ensure that no silly mistakes can be made.

PITCH: Dine With Me

PITCH: Dine with me on Prezi
 

We got some good feedback from after presenting the pitch. Firstly, people told us that they didn't find the name to be interesting or stand out. Therefore, we are thinking of more catchy titles to use instead.

PLANNING: Hair ideas

This hairstyle manages to look sexy and wild but not too over the top.


 This look is another possibilty, this time sexy and sleek, still casual and sophistication.

 A scruffy updo can really emphasise the 'first date feeling' and a pair of glasses can really increase sophistication and will give a sexy secretary effect.

PLANNING: Make-up ideas

To match the romantic and sophisticated I imagine myself to wear classy make-up that is all the while sexy and seductive. Some examples are:
Her discreet beauty mark adds a 'Monroe' look and adds class, sophistication and seduction.

This is a more natural and casual look all the while maintaing sex appeal. This look would make me appear to be more innocent rather then the red lipstick which looks slightly daring and loud.

PLANNING: Lighting

The lighting during the first two scens; me getting ready and Josh preparing the food should be well lit and bright although when it comes to the actual date, it will be dark outside (through the windows) and the room will be moderately dark and possibly candle lit.



This is potentially what the room could look like - formal, romantic and sophisticated.

I know that we wont have any wires around at the time but this is the type of assessments we need to assess so we don't get hurt, especially working with food and kitchen utensils.

Spanish acoustic music

As we cannot copyright in our opening im sure i can get one of my classmates in music to play someting for us. Preferably like this, cool, calm and hispanic.

Smart Casual- Woman

This is the type of Mise en scene we would like hanna to wear. she needs to look nice and sophisticated not too  much leg or bust. She probably will be wearing heels and would need to be carful she don't fall over. 

Smart Casual- mens

This is the type of style we would like the antagonist to have in our opening. Its siphisticated, classy and not to much.

PLANNING: Music & Sound

To set the mood of the Romantic Thriller, I think it would be good to include soft, instrumental music into the background. Songs with words might be a little bit too much, and distract the audience from the opening itself. Therefore, I have found a few songs I liked which we may end up using.










I have also thought about the Diegetic noises, we could use. As one character is cooking, we should included noises found in the kitchen. Below is another video with examples of what I mean.

PLANNING: Costume & Props

PROPS

To make the Romantic theme apparent, we need to include props typically found in Romance Films. More specifically, props found in a scene with two lovers having lunch/dinner. This includes: A dining table, table cloth, cutlery, plates of food, wine glasses and candles. For the kitchen, we'll also need: Cooking utensils, pots + pans and a chopping board.
This picture below shows a few of the props we will be using.

  

I have also found this video which shows us how to turn a boring location into a romantic looking restaurant.

We will also need to include props for Hanna's bedroom in the opening. As she will be getting ready, there will need to be a lot of make up and jewellry. To add a little extra to the Mise En Scene, I think there should be picture frames placed around the room and a dresser/vanity table. Below is an example of this.

COSTUME

As this a romantic, but slightly informal date, we have decided that the protagonists should be wearing outfits that are smart/casual.This means that Hanna will be wearing: jeans, a nice top and heels - so she looks dressy, but not too overdone. Here is an example outfit:

Possible Music

This is the perfect type of Spanish Romantic music that would sound nice when the man is cooking the food in our clip. Its got a nice flow to it and sounds romantic.

Mise En Scene

I definately know that these kitchens are very over the top and I'm guessing Hanna's nan's house doesnt loo like this, but this would bo the perfect layout. Its trendy, modern

 and suphistercated.

I think it's really important to show that the psycho looks like 'prine charming' and is perfect in everyway. He has the Swanky house, beautiful kitchen, amazing manners, good looks and COOKS!!

Mise En Scene

This is the type of Mise en scene that we would like to have in our blog. I think we should use the lighting of the first picture and candle because it adds to the romantic feel. We want to use niceer wine glases and it probably wont be as light as the second picture.

Example Food Shots

These Youtube videos have inspired our Thriller because we would like to include shots used in the clips to make the cooking more interesting and slightly seductive.

What we particularly liked in the second video were the Match Cuts and and the different speeds used. This makes it look dynamic and stops the clip from going on for too long. There were also many close ups which helps to make the food look tasty and highlights the different steps.

We would like to include a shot like this in our Thriller, as there is an emphasis on the flame, making it stand out to the viewer in an intriguing way.  

Here are more shots we found to be interesting.

from Donna

Hi Girls

I really like 'preparing a meal' idea. With good mise en scene, it could be spectacular. Well done Natalie for posting 'how to transport files..............lets discuss the meal idea further on Thursday. Hannah can you please go to workshop and catch up. Can all of you add some 'talk to camera' footage'.

thanks

Donna

Student Film that has inspired our own Thriller

20. Melissa-Jayne Crowther, Kelly Drury, Yasmin Phillips, Julie Amaa from 283goswell on Vimeo.

This opening has inspired our own film, as we are going to be doing something very similar. 

Professiaonal pictures of food

These Photos os food really enhance how tasty and attractive the food is. In our blog the food is the key product and I think it's important to make it look attractive especially since its going to be drugged.

I doubt our skills will be as good as these pictures but we could at least try to use a variety of shots.

Food Scenes

I really like the way how the food is shot in this clip. I really think it  makes the food look more appetizing and I would like the food in our Thriller to look good also because it is our key prop, even if its just as simple as cutting a cucumber or soup boiling. There will be alot of close ups and ariel shots to make it look really nice eventhough he puts drugs into it.

Romantic scene ideas

This is an example of how i would like our romantic dinner scene to be shot. There are over the shoulder shots, point of veiw, mid shots and close ups really enphasise on the flirting. In my group's thriller I want the romantic scene to actually be romantic and cute, the acting needs to be really good.

Our Thriller Opening - Dine With Me

This is the idea we have come up for out opening. The key prop is going to be food. It was originally going to be a person texting on their mobile phone but we decided that this was too common in student films. We would like to have Spanish acoustic music playing in the background while they are having their romantic meal. Towards the end, there definitely has to be a dark drone of some sort when the audience sees him poisoning the food.

Our group really liked the idea of having a normal everyday opening, For example, we liked the opening from The Stepfather. This was because he gets up and carries out everyday activities like shaving, brushing his teeth etc. We want our Thriller to consist of something that can happen in everyday life.

• He prepares food (Pouring red wine, cooking diner, setting up table)
• Hanna gets ready (hair, make-up)
• Hanna arriving (hugs, kisses, candles on table)
• Last preparations (adds drugs)
• Brings food in and start eating 
• From table to sofa hanna get abit dizzy (excuse- drank too much)
• Cuddling on sofa after mean (POV shot showing the room sppinning)

Sub-genre- Ronamtic Mystery Thriller
Location- Josh's house or Hanna's house
Costume- Smart casual (heels, jeans. open shirt etc)
Key Prop- The meal
Intertextuallity- The Stepfather

Steps to import files into Final Cut Pro

1. Plug in Videodrive and Memory card.
2. Press "cmd" & "a" at the same time to select all files from the Memory card. 
3. Drag the files to the Videodrive.
4. Open Final Cut Pro.
5. Save the project.
6. Click "File", "Import" then "Files"
7. Select all files by pressing "Shift" then clicking all the files needed.
8. Click "Choose"

Here is a video I've found which gives a tutorial on how to do this.

Basic Lighting Tutorial

After the problems my group had with lighting, I decided to watch a tutorial on how to make sure our lighting is perfect filming. Therefore, we will not ever face the same problems we did when filming the PRELIM Match Cut Exercise again.

I found this video to be extremely helpful, as it addressed every lighting issue we may come across when it comes to filming our own Thrillers. And they put the instructions in simple terms so that beginners, like myself, will be able to understand them fully.

PRELIM Exercise - MINE

Here is the finished product.

We enjoyed doing this match cut exercise, as it has given us a lot of practice in filming & editing, which will be very useful when it comes to filming our Thriller opening. However, we did face some challenges while editing.

LIGHTING PROBLEMS

After watching back all our clips, we realised that the lighting is not consistant throughout. In one shot, it is dark, and in another, it is bright. This makes the opening look off-balance and very unproffesional. We know that next time we film, we will make sure the lighting is the same throughout.

CUTTING PROBLEMS

We also realised that we did not plan our story board properly, and therefore, we did not get the shots we needed. When we edited the clips together, there were many jump cuts which made it seem very confusing. This also made our opening look unproffesional. We now understand how helpful it is to be extremely detailed when drawing our story board. Even though we thought we had been, it turns out that we could have been more precise. This also affected our match cuts, since the clips did not fit together. However, we did include a few very good match cuts in the opening.

CLOSE UPS

There is a lack of close ups in our opening, which would have really helped create atmosphere and tension. They would have also been useful to show the character's exact feelings & emotions. This is another thing we failed to include in our story board. 

After noticing all these problems, we decided that we will need to take them all into account so we will not make the same mistakes with our Thriller.

PRELIM - Editing

PRELIM - Filming process

Before filming, we wanted to find a dark room that would suit the dark scene of our opening. However, we found that this caused problems with our lighting. This is something we will take in mind when filming our actual Thriller.

Another factor that we came across was the mise en scene. There were many things, such as papers stuck on the window, which made our opening look less eerie. Of course, our location will be better when it comes to filming the Thriller, but it also made us realise how important this is.

This is Hanna testing the lighting.

Positioning the camera to get the best possible shot.

 

We filmed Natalie walking into the room two different ways - one down the corridor, and the other up the stairs - to see which one we liked the best. We thought the latter looked the best. Above our the shots we tried out.

Here are the props we used.