Evaluation- Marking

1) Fairly thorough here. I didn't realise the fairground was a flashback!!
2) You chose two characters from different demographics and it would have been nice to have explored the differences in representation a little bit more
3) Not a great post as it doesn't really get to grips with different types of film company or where you could get funding. A little google searching might have gone a long way here. Did Hammer do anything other than horror?
4) Fairly general on audience. No profiles or attempt on primary/secondary. It would have been good to have been more specific on what constitutes a 15 and why this would be the ideal choice.
5) Some good understanding of marketing shown. I was interested in the Deadpool example. I think that there was a lot more to say on social media. No actual examples of marketing in evaluation.
6) Not very much detail in this post- it's really just a list of what you used!
7) A fairly thorough commentary on the process as a whole but without the specifics of a director's commentary.

Level 3 12–15 marks
• Proficient skill in the use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation.
• Proficient understanding of issues around audience, institution, technology, representation, forms and conventions in relation to production.
• Proficient ability to refer to the choices made and outcomes.
• Proficient understanding of their development from preliminary to full task.
• Proficient ability to communicate.

Jamie 12

Evaluation 7

My preliminary task was very basic. It displayed some good editing techniques, having some very good match on action editing, allowing the film to free flow easily. The task that I was set was to show that I could use the 180 degree rule, shot reverse shot, and match on action editing. I believe that my match on action editing was very good; however, with the experience that I have gained whilst doing this, I would be able to improve my preliminary task if I was to do it again by improving my shot reverse shot. From my research I found out that shot reverse shots can be used more effectively than what I had done, as shown by the research that I did about shot reverse shots. In my preliminary task I always followed the 180 degree rule, not filming from the other side of the scene; however looking back I did break the 30 degree rule at one stage, making a cut that didn’t change more than 30 degrees. If I was to re-do this preliminary task I would ensure that I did follow this rule.

I believe that my skills have improved vastly during this process and my understanding on how to film also improving. Examples of this include my ability to techniques such as the rule of thirds in my films. My film opening displayed a good se of the rule of thirds, having characters positioned in the correct place in the frame in the majority of shots, whereas in my preliminary task I didn’t display the rule of thirds at all, normally having character towards the middle of the shot.

Another director’s skill that I believe I have improved in is my ability to use sound effectively. My film opening has much more effective sound than in my preliminary task. I believe that the music that I used in my film opening was a lot more effective than what was used in my preliminary task. I have also realised the importance of having good music in a film opening, as it is one of the most important aspects to setting the genre and the tone for the rest of the film. The music that I used I feel was very effective in setting the tone and the genre of the film to come.

I believe that throughout this process my ability to edit well has also improved. My editing in the preliminary task wasn’t too bad; however I believe that I was improved. In the preliminary task, I was tasked with trying to film match on action editing, cutting in the correct place to make the film flow, whereas as my film opening was a montage style, I didn’t have to do this as much, and instead had to decide when to cut the film by the timing of the music, and giving enough time for the credits to be read.

I believe that I also improved using mise en scene in my films as I went through this work. In my preliminary task I had very little aspects of mise en scene that I took into account, whereas it was something I was more aware of when making my film opening. The props that were used in my film opening where suitable to the type of film I was making, whereas I didn’t use any props in my preliminary task that were thought about previously. I also tried to think about the lighting in my film opening as said previously saying about having to put a filter on my footage. I also gave lighting very little thought in my preliminary task, therefore believe that my understanding and ability to use mise en scene has improved form when I started this work. 

Evaluation 6

Research and Planning:

Technologies that were used in the research and planning stage of this process include using google and YouTube. I had to use google a lot whilst Researching film openings to find out what other people had found the conventions of film openings to be, get pictures to use in my blog, methods of marketing etc. I also used YouTube a lot in my research and planning, having to find clips from YouTube to either analyse or use to back up my points made.

Blogging:

I used various technologies whilst blogging. First I used the site blogger.com, which I used to make and post my blog.  I also used software such as word and power point in my blog so that I could either draft my blog before posting it, or so that I have an alternative format to put my blog in. Power point helped me do this as it allowed me to put some blogs into sections, such as the audience feedback, where I put all feedback received n individual slides.

Construction:

Whilst filming and putting together my film opening, I used various technologies. First whilst filming, I used to camera on my iPad. My whole opening was filmed on an iPad. I was going to buy a camera to film it, however decided against it as the quality of my iPad camera was good enough. I then had to use iMovie on a mac to edit my footage together.  Over this experience I learned how to and not to film using a camera, and how to edit properly, and effectively using iMovie. 

Evaluation 5

Evaluation 4

The target audience that I am targeting my film towards the age group between 17-26 year olds as my market research showed that this type of film is most suited to. However, there are lots of different age groups that I could have targeted my film towards. As I have selected this target audience, they will have certain tastes in different things, and will enjoy doing things that other age groups wouldn’t tend to do.

This age group is at an age where they are constantly using technology and are on their smart phones constantly. This age group has grown up with this technology and are can easily adapt to changes in technology. As all of this age group use their smart phones, and are also constantly on their social media apps, it is fairly easy to show them something and promote a film in a large way, showing lots of people. This makes the marketing of the film easier as you could just advertise on social media, and it would show the advert to a lot of the target audience.

I believe that this target audience would enjoy my film as it is of a genre that they enjoy, and involves the conventions of many other successful thriller films. As my target audience is aimed towards both males and females, my film will, and has, include elements that will attract both genders. I have included violent scenes in my opening and would include more of these scenes and would use more graphic scenes in the rest of my film. This would be tailored towards the male audience and is a convention that males enjoy to see in thriller films. Because I will include fairly graphic scenes in the film the BBFC rating will have to be at least 15. This is a certificate that would be ideal to my film, as it attracts my target audience because there is violence in it, and eliminates people under the age of 15 from watching the film. This however isn’t a problem as there aren’t many people under the age of 15 who watch many thriller films. My film would also be suited to females as it would include psychological questions asked towards the audience, and makes them think about the film after coming out of the cinema, like The Others for example. This is something that females like in thriller films, and prefer watching a film that includes this, rather than a film that contains gory scenes. I would aim to merge both popular conventions in my film so that the film would appeal to both genders, by having both graphic scenes and including some psychological questions that make the audience think about the story narrative.

My target audience would also enjoy films such as The Others, Pyscho, Cape Fear, Sutter island etc., because these films use conventions of thriller films that appeal to my target audience and both genders. 

Evaluation 3

Evaluation 2

I have chosen to do a comparison between John Doe and my villain, who as yet does not have a name. These 2 characters possess both similarities with each other and also various differences. Both these characters take the role of the villain in their films, and decide that it is their jobs to murder people. They both possess a desire to kill people, and are very clever and methodical about how they do it and how not to get caught. In terms of appearance these characters look very different having different ages, skin tones and build. The costumes that these characters wear is also very different as the character from my film is wearing a black hoodie and a balaclava to hide his face, and look more intimidating, whereas John Doe isn’t wearing anything to hide his appearance in any scene, and actually wants to be caught by the end of the film, so that he can finish his work, and have the final kill. 

The representation of these 2 characters is very different as they belong to two different social groups. The character from my film is seen as and represented as a troubled teenager, whereas John Doe is seen as a psychopathic middle aged man. I have a male villain in my film, as I believe that having a female antagonist wouldn’t be as effective, as the thriller audience has become so encompassed to having a male antagonist that having a female wouldn’t be as effective. I believe this is because males are typically more interested in the violence side of films, and that they are the gender that is stereotyped into murder more than females, which is why you see more male villains than females. The audience are also most use to seeing a middle aged villain such as John Doe in thriller films, alongside with little children, rather than teenagers, as they are seen as more dangerous than a teenager. I do regret not using middle aged actors in my film as they come across more scary than a teenager. 

Evaluation 1

These screen shots show the setting and location of my film opening. I believe that these screen shots follow the conventions of some other thriller films, as a number have been shot in a forest location. Typically thriller films are normally set in either an isolated place, such as a forest, or in an urban area such as a city. I have also included a location in a flashback of a fairground, as this adds to the creepy effect that the opening is hopeful portraying.

The costumes and props that were used in the opening and are shown in the screen shots follow the typical conventions of thriller films. I decided that I should include weapons in my opening, as this is something in which nearly all thriller films include. The use of these weapons in my opinion help establish the characters in the film, as the weapons are of those that the villain would typically hold in thriller films. They also should create tension as the villain is in total control of the other characters fate as these weapons could be considered and will give connotations with murder. The choice of costumes was that I should make the villain wear a black hoodie as it believe that this would make them look most like a murderer. I also made him wear a balaclava to hide his face as this would make him look more menacing and intimidating. I made the victim wear casual clothes as it would make him more relatable to the audience, making him wear something that looks like something the audience might wear. The majority of victims in thriller films are wearing casual clothes for the same reason and therefore my opening does follow conventions of general thriller films. The villain’s costume doesn’t exactly goes with conventional thriller villain costumes. Normally the villain would wear a scruffy suit for example, or a smart costume worn in a scruffy way. This makes them look like outcast to society and makes them look very psychopathic. I went against this as I believe that having him wearing a black hoodie with a balaclava would make him look just as menacing in this opening. I also didn’t want to show the villain’s whole face from the very beginning as I believe it would ruin the rest of the film.

The font that I have used generally follows the conventions of most thriller films. I purposely chose a font that looked like it was hand written as it is something that a lot of successful thriller films include. It makes the opening look a lot scarier as it looks as if the credits have just been scribbled in a poor handwriting over the top of the sequence.

The opening sequence’s aim is to suggest the genre of the film. I believe that my film does this as it involves the stereotypes that are commonly found in thriller films, such as a weapon, and an easily established villain. Having these in the opening help to establish the genre and is something that should be done in a film opening.

There are various ways that actual thriller films first show their characters, for example in Se7en they show the villain in the opening credits, however you don’t see his face, whereas in The Shinning you don’t actually see the character at all in the opening credits as they are driving in a car to the location of the film. This therefore means that I am showing my main characters to the audience in an unconventional way, by 2 of the main characters in my opening sequence. 

Film Opening- Marking

Level 3 36–47 marks There is evidence of proficiency in the creative use of many of the following technical skills:
• Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task;
• using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions;
• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
• shooting material appropriate to the task set;, including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene;
• using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects

I like this Jamie!

The material is appropriate for a crime drama/thriller. Shame about the sunny day but that's difficult to plan for!
The titles are conventional but your choice of font has got a bit lost on the mottled background of the grass. I like the way the title comes up as the music kicks in.
The sound is appropriate and there are several occasions where you have timed the stresses in the music nicely with an edit or the credits. 
You have a pretty steady hand but why did you not use a tripod for some of those shots?! I think the choice of shots is good on the whole and it helps communicate the ideas to the audience (low angle/high angle etc). I was a little curious anout the shot of the shoes and the final shot was a strange one to end on. I liked the juxtaposition of the helter-skelter.

Jamie 44

Research and Planning- Marking

I really liked Jamie's introduction, analysis of his preliminary and especially his post on title sequences. He demonstrated an excellent knowledge of the different types of opening and their various impacts on audiences. At the same time, he was able to make insightful comments about the approaches of the specific films that he had chosen to discuss. He showed a detailed knowledge of the thriller genre and it was a shame that he did not explore his mood boards in any detail. I thought his analyses of Se7en and Cape Fear, showed a really good analytical approach and insight into the task. It was a shame that his analysis of Se7en missed out the full opening and focused solely on the title sequence.

Jamie's audience research was in depth and informative although I would have liked to have seen some more evidence rather than just conclusions. The nature of blogs could have afforded some more variety here- video/podcast etc. 

Jamie showed evidence of his thought processes in putting his film together. His brief showed a good understanding of how he wanted his audience to react. I liked his font but it doesn't work on the background of his opening! His work on props, lighting and costume showed an understanding of how directorial choices have an impact on the audience's reading of the film but it was a pity that these were so brief. His work on the BBFC was too short- he could have explored the workings of the relevant ratings (15 and 18) and could have even used examples to illustrate his understanding.

The post on Problems in particular demonstrated how Jamie's idea evolved and adapted but the editing diary was too short and somehow set in the future??!

Jamie's marketing post showed an awareness of marketing strategies but there was very little specifically in terms of ideas. He mentioned 'an act' for guerrilla advertising but did not specify what. He described a film poster when surely it would have been better to have produced it!

Jamie's early posts demonstrate a good understanding of the task and an excellent ability to communicate his ideas. However, it is as if he ran out of time towards the end as his posts became shorter and there was very little in terms of variety of posting style on the blog. He communicated an understanding of appropriate research methods but increasingly, as the blog moved into the planning stages, the work became less thorough.

Jamie  14/20

Audience feedback

Posting the opening

https://youtu.be/oY6DzcxLzng 

Marketing

The marketing of a film is very important as it informs the audience about the film, and getting the correct ways of marketing is essential because different forms of promotion will be more effective to different demographics. As my target audience is people ages 17-26, I believe that the best ways for me to advertise my film would be through things such as social media and YouTube, as this are the forms of promotion that will be most effective to my target audience as they are the main age group to use these social media sites.

The poster and advertising banner that I will use to promote my film will be the original ending to the film that I was going to have, with the hooded character holding the golf club up above his head. This will then create an arrow pointing toward the title of the film (Vengeance). I will then have the main actor’s names at the bottom of the poster and advertising banner. This should be successful as it will engage the audience and hopefully make them want to go to the cinema to watch the whole film.

Another way that I am going to promote my film is through the use of Guerrilla advertising. This is where an act is put on in the middle of a city, and will engage the attention of people passing. These people will then get their mobile phones out and share it to all their friends. This is a very good way to advertise as it costs little to do (which will be beneficial to a small film company) and will be very successful and reach a wide amount of people, if it gets shared through social media sites. 

Changes made

I had to make lots of changes to my original film that I was going to do. Originally I was going to have the masked character hold up the golf club and about to hit it over the head of my other character. I changed this however because I had a very good shot of the seated character’s shadow disappearing. I decided to use this shot over the alternative shot as I believe that it is more effective, showing the disappearance of this character, which could give connotations of him dyeing for example, which would be an area that the whole film would cover, having the character fighting for his life and being put in near death situations., always with the possibility of him dying.

Another change was a change that I was forced to make as I was unable to do. This was using sound effects in my opening. I was originally going to have sound effects of heartbeats and footsteps, as I believe that having these things will make the seated character more relatable to the audience, and the footsteps of the hooded character makes him seem more menacing towards the audience. This is because the footsteps seem like the character is circling them and makes them seem more intimidating towards the audience, along with the low angle shots looking up at him which shows his dominance and power, and automatically makes the audience fearful for the other character.

I also had to cut out some of my shots from my story board as I was either unable to film them, or I had alternative shots that were more preferable than the original ones from my storyboard. 

Editing diary

Friday 14^th April

After filming a couple of days previously, I put together all of my footage, and put music over the top of it. I tried to fit the film to the music that I have chosen and cut the footage when the music builds up, as it would look more professional than otherwise done. I also tried to leave enough space in between cuts to have enough time for the credits to be displayed and read. This was also part of my selection of my music, as I tried to pick a piece of music where I could edit to easily, and display the credits easily upon. I did encounter some difficulty when doing this, trying to match the edit, exactly to the music and believe that it could be improved even more.

Wednesday 19^th April

After doing this editing, I still needed to put in the opening where I would put in the production companies and distribution companies’ names beforehand. I had left time in my film to put this in as I know that the opening should be around 2 minutes long. I also then put in the names over my footage. I have used a strange looking text when doing this, to add to the uneasy effect of the opening, that I hope my opening gives across. 

Problems

I faced various problems in the process of making this film opening, and had to overcome these problems, finding solutions to try and solve this.

One problem which I encountered was that a couple of weeks before I was scheduled to film, one of my actors refused to be in the film. This was a big problem that I faced as I needed to find somebody new, who was willing to act at short notice. Luckily however I did find somebody who said that they were willing to feature in my film. This could have been a serious problem for me, as I may not have been so lucky and found somebody else to act in my film, and could have possibly missed my deadline, or not have given myself enough time to evaluate or ask for audience feedback.

Another problem that I faced was (as stated previously) trying to get copyright free music. As I was unable to use music that is owned by somebody, I wasn’t allowed to use it is a piece of media that I am saying was made by me. Therefore, overcame this problem by downloading copyright free music, that still fitted with the genre and overall feel of my opening title sequence.

A third problem that I faced was trying to film my whole film at sunrise. I planned to do this however nobody that I talked to was willing to get up early enough to film at this time in the morning. This could have resulted in me not having any footage and unable to post anything as my final and finished opening. To overcome this problem decided to only film my flashback at the early hours of the morning. To make my other footage look darker, without filming in the morning, I was forced to use filters to make the scene look a lot darker than it actually was on the day of filming.

A problem that I could have faced would have been not having enough footage. I would notice this when editing and finding that there isn’t enough footage to fill the whole soundtrack, and two-minute target length I was given. I ensured that this wouldn’t happen to me by making sure that I filmed more than I needed, and made sure that I had spare footage that I wouldn’t need, and would become unused.

I also faced unpredictable problems such as the weather. I was originally going to have my film opening in the rain. However due to the weather being unpredictable, and me having no influence in the weather, this is one factor of my film that I had no control of and had to adapt to as I wasn’t able to do exactly what I wanted.

Another problem that I faced was trying to get sound effects for my opening. I did want to have sound effects in my opening, however found it very difficult to download sound effects as I would have had to pay a subscription to the site to access the sound effects. I was originally going to have a sound effect when it cuts to the flashback of the fairground ride. I was also going to have a sound effect of footsteps and heartbeats very quietly throughout the opening. This would have added to the effect of the opening and in my opinion would have improved it.

A final problem that I faced was trying to get the match on action shots. The match on action isn’t necessarily what needs to happen in my opening as it mainly cuts to a completely different type of shot, medium shot to extreme close up for example. I did however need to make sure that nothing changed drastically from scene to scene. I did have a slight problem that I realised whilst editing that there is a shot of the characters rolling up their sleeves, and the sleeves are rolled back down in the next scene which is a mistake of the opening, and should have been done differently. I also found it fairly difficult to piece it together and cut the clips with the piece of music. A couple of the cuts are in fact slightly out of time with the music, and is something that I had to try and do to the best of my ability. 

Risk assessment

Whilst filming there are a lot of risks that could result in problems, which I will need to take precautions to prevent from happening.

One risk when filming would be the safety of people on the filming se, as there are some very dangerous props that will be used, including a knife, a golf club and some rope. A risk of having a sharp knife on the set would be somebody could easily get seriously injured, by falling on it, or cutting themselves for example. The same risk applies with the golf club, as somebody could accidently stand on the bottom and the club ending up hitting them, or somebody hitting someone with the golf club. The rope could also be a risk, as it could be put round somebodies neck. To prevent these from happening, I will ensure that the knife and golf club are put is safe places where nobody could accidently fall on, or stand on. I will also ensure that all the people that are acting in my film are responsible and won’t stupid with the props that are being used, and won’t throw knifes for example.

Another risk would be that somebody might fall over on the uneven ground or fall over into the trees. This could be a risk as it might be something that could happen at any time, and could very easily happen as the ground is very uneven at the location where I am filming. One possible way that this could be prevented is to ensure that everyone is wearing appropriate footwear. This should ensure that nobody will fall over, and that the risk will be eliminated. 

BBFC rating

The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) is an organisation that decides that on the age rating and restriction that should be given to each and every film. The majority of thriller films are having a BBFC rating of a 15, with exceptions of some 18’s. This is because they normally show some graphic scenes that would be unsuitable to show to a younger age audience. I believe that my film should also be rated around a 15 as the whole finished film would include various graphic scenes and should only be suitable for people over the age of 15. Even in my opening two minutes of my film I already have a knife pressed up against the cheek of another character, which might already be to disturbing for some people under the age of 15. Therefore, given the trend of most thriller films and the content that the film would include I think that it is justified that my film should be rated 15.  

Media techniques used

My opening two minutes displayed some technical media techniques. For example i made sure when filming, that I followed the rule of thirds. This means that the character is never positioned directly in the middle of the shot. In my film opening I ensured that the characters were always put towards one side of the screen as shown by the image. The use of the rule of thirds makes the film look at lot more professional. For example if there was a conversation between two people and the camera showed the character in the middle of the screen it wouldn’t look normal as it either look like the character was talking directly into the camera (which is sometimes used for effect in sitcom for example)or talking to nobody.

Another technique is the 30 degree. This stages that the camera must always move at least 30 degrees between shots. I did follow this rule however a lot of the shots that I used where of different things therefore this rule isn’t appropriate as it is only applicable for looking at oe thing such as a conversation.

I did break the 180 degree rule in my opening; however I didn’t feel it should have been followed in my film. I broke it originally so it would create a sense of disorientation, however as I use so many close ups and extreme close ups I don’t feel as if the 180 degree rule should be followed as it would have limited me to certain shots, and I don’t believe that my opening would have been as successful. I also don’t feel like my opening comes across as to disorientated anyway therefor I feel like me breaking this rule was the correct thing to do in this situation. 

Mise en scene

Props:

The props that I used in my film opening, are supposed to look like torture weapons. In my opinion they do look like this, and add to the effect and atmosphere that I am looking to create. The props that I have used are regular things that I have around my house, however are regularly used in thriller films to torture people. I have used the biggest knife that I have to create tension and make the audience feel uncomfortable, especially when it is pressed up against the cheek of one of the characters. The other prop that I used was a golf club. The use of the golf club was also adding to the effect and atmosphere of the film opening.

Lighting:

I originally did want the lighting of my film to be very dark, and around the hours of the morning and raining. However, I have no control over the weather, and none of my actors were willing to get up this early therefore was forced to film in the middle of the day with very warm and dry weather. This therefore meant that I had to put a filter on my opening to try and make the opening look much darker than it actually was on the day. Ideally, all thriller film is normally set in a dark location as it adds to the tension and creates an atmosphere, amongst the audience as they are scared of what could happen next.

Costume:

I am going to have one of my character wearing a black hoodie and a balaclava, to look intimidating. This won’t allow the audience to see this character’s face properly and will make him seem more mysterious. Throughout this film I would have this character’s face not properly seen by the audience and only would reveal his face towards the end. This should make the audience uneasy and defiantly not trust this character. The other character in my opening will be wearing casual clothes. This should make him more relatable to the audience and will be able to make more of a connection towards the audience from the very start of the film.