A2 Media Blog

http://amysimpsona2media.blogspot.co.uk/

Final Opening Sequence

Hello, this is our final opening sequence called "And So It Happened..." I hope you like it, we put so much effort into this and we are proud of what we have done. As you can see, there are a range of labels down the side to help you navigate your way around my blod. Have a good day.

Thank you!

Here is the opening sequence:

Evaluation Question 1

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

Through this question, I have done the voice over by analysing the section from 0.44 to 1.40.

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Question 3

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

This is the final page of the video above if it is hard to read.

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Question 6 by amysimpson98

Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at the preliminary task (the continuity task) what have you learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Evaluation Questions

Throughout this post I will be explaining in detail each of the seven evaluation questions about my media final opening sequence, I will analyse and clarify each of the questions in my own words to understand what I have to do for each question and what creative methods I could use to answer each question.

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

• First, this question requires me to think about and know what the words "use, develop or challenge forms and conventions" mean and how my media product reflects real media products of horror genres. This would allow me to show what aspects we have used from these products. I have found that these include the range of different camera shots, movements, angles, compostition and sounds that we have used and how it represents real media products.

• It also requires me to write about what different shots and angles we have moved to meet the different skills and coventions of a real media product.

• Our group have decided to do a group voice over of this question, to allow us all to describe how and why we have used certain shots.

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

• This question is asking how our media product represents certain groups in society and how our main character fits in with certain social groups. 

• I will explain how the main character represents social groups by describing ethnicity, gender, social class, subcultures and differences between male and female representation. This will help me explain why we have chosen the character to be represented in that way and how certain people may or may not reflect the character.

• For this quesion, I could present it in a range of ways including a powerpoint, video or animation. 

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

• This question is asking me to think about different companies that product films to see which ones will be suitable for my media product and which ones won't. I should find out what an insititution is to get a clear picture of what I need to write about.

• The insitition would need to be specific and appropriate for my product which is why I will describe good and bad institutions. For example, Netflix, Warner Brothers, Universal and Disney.

• For this question I will present it in an animation form.

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

• First, I have to think about what type of audiences are suitable for my media product, through research I have done earlier in my blog I have found that a 12 or 15 rating may be appropriate. Although, I will explain this in detail through audience responses, social media for ratings, gender and age.

• This is specifically asking me who would want/be appropriate to watch my opening sequence.

• I will present this question as a powerpoint/prezi style with a questionnaire to show my results of the audience research.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

• This question is asking me how I have attracted and addressed the audience to meet their needs of the horror genre film by thinking about what we have included in our opening sequence to appeal to an audience.

• Through this I will ask a range of my peers and social media what they think the most important aspects of a horror films are to then evaluate whether we have included these in our opening sequence.

• For this question, I will present it in a Vlog/ Powerpoint way of peoples responses and my own interpretation.

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

• First of all, for this question I need to understand what the word technologies means and what it involves to make sure that I have an accurate and greater understanding of what I need to do. 

• It is asking me how I have used specific technologies to help develop and construct my media product to see how effective and useful they were.

• For this question I will use a powerpoint to explain the technologies with a single technology on each slide is as much detail as possible.

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

• This question is important to understand what I have learnt from the preliminary task to my main task by thinking about what aspects have helped me and how my media knowledge has developed since doing this. It is asking me if I have used any conventions, shots or angles from the preliminary task to the full task.

• Also, this question requires me to think about what improvements I could have made or what I have used in the final task that I did not use in the preliminary task.

• I will answer this question in a group discussion to allow us all to have our own opinions of how we have used, developed and challeneged forms and conventions throughout our opening sequence and what we each have learnt.

Next, I will start to make the evaluation questions in as much detail as possible on how effective our media product is.

Sound Editing

As you can see, our editing was very complex and we took a long time to edit our opening sequence to make sure that it was as accurate and detailed as possible.

Rough Sound Edit

In this lesson, we looked at our rough edit to decised what we needed to make flow better and where the sounds need to go and which sounds would look better.

Here is an rough sound edit that we have place certain sounds where we think they should be roughly put:

From this and the comments from our teacher, we know need to make sure that the sounds aren't too loud or too quiet such as the footsteps are too loud compared with other sounds that are happening in the scene, also when the door slams it is a piercing nose and needs to be quieter. We also need to add some eery wind within the scene to make it seem like the news reporter is isolated and in an unknown place. As well as this we are going to put a soundtrack on top on the book and titles scene to help  build tension, otherwise it is too quiet.

Scripting of Voice Over

After planning what props, costumes and camera shots/angles that we are going to use. We drafted a script of what the voice over at the beginning of our opening sequence is going to sound like. 

Through the sound that we have already thought about/included already, we decided to add a voice over. We thought that this is important to allow the audience to get a clear insight on what the main character is feeling and what is going through her mind whilst she is looking back on the events she has experienced throughout our opening sequence.

We found that this would help to establish our story line and give the audience a more accurate representation of what has happened to the main character. As we plan to put this at the beginning before she enters the barn, this can give the audience an idea of what is going to happen through the voice over and their own imagination.

Here is the script of the voice over:

Sounds

Throughout the editing stage of the opening sequence, we created a range of foley sounds to help emphasise the sounds of the different shots we created such as:

• Footsteps
• Door slamming
• Book pages turning
• Jewellery box music
• Jewellery box being shut
• Air and background noise
• Birds and wind outside
• Clock ticking
• Heart beating
• Chair being pushed in
• Voice Over

Also, sounds we found in various websites such as sound bible:

• Child laughing
• Soundtrack
• Whispering

These are the main sound affects that we have included but may be adjusted through editing or if we find something that may fit better.

Rough Edit

In our third production meeting we started to put all of our footage together and edit the opening sequence to make it flow more easily.

This is a rough edit of our opening sequence:

Throughout the next weeks we need to add a range of sound effects and make sure that all of the footage fits together accurately. This rough edit is important as it shows us where we need to start editing and what kind of sounds we need which, it shows a quick example of what the final opening sequence may look like and how it need to be fitted together to make it the best that it can be. With help from this edit we did find a few shots that didnt work aswell as we had thought such as:

• the close up of the jewellery box.
• looking through the cabnets.
• the dolls face - jumps to quickly and doesn't fit in with the mood of the film.

To help overcome this, we will need to find a replacement for it by filming the different shots again or taking them out completely and editing it accurately so it fits together correctly.

Production: Meeting 2

In the second day of filming we finished filming our opening sequence. We filmed a range of different camera shots, movements and compositions which we tried to fit in with our horror genre of the opening sequence.

Throughout our filming we created a time lapse of the day, which gives a sense of what we did during our second day.

I think that this time lapse is very useful as it shows the different condition that we filmed in using light from the outside (door opening and closing), torches and candles to help create the right atmosphere.We experimented all of the different angles and close ups that we could use to try and make sure that our opening sequence is best that it can be.

Although, next we need to start editing our final piece to make all of the different shots, movements and compositions to flow together but also to allow match on action to happen to show that each shot is linked with eachother and are all happening at the same time. The first editing meeting will be a rough edit which will show an outline of what we want the final product to look like. This will help us to see whether we have enough footage or if we need to go back and film some more to make it flow more easily.

Production: Meeting 1

Due to some difficulties in filming, we had one less person to film with us on our first day of filming so it mean't that we didn't have some of the props that we needed to make the opening sequence work.

We started to film some short shots and close-ups of the different props that we are going to include.

Therefore, we will film in the next couple of days to film the whole thing as we will have all of the props and cast that we need.

Althoguh, we did start to look locations, props and costumes which we have thought about and know how we are going to film our opening sequence.

PROPS

COSTUMES

LOCATION

Time Management

After completing our range of pre-production meetings, we ensured that we made a time management chart to make sure that we stuck to this to make sure that we have enough time left over to see if any adjustments would need to be made. This helped us to meet individual deadlines to help meet the final deadline for our opening sequence in time. This time management gave us a accurate picture of what we need to do and approximately how long it would take us to complete.

This time management was important for our group to stay organised and know how the pre-production, production and post production of our opening sequence is going to work to finish in time of our final deadline.

• Next, we allowed ourselves to have a rarely long amount of time to plan at 5 weeks, to allow us to have a very acccurate idea of how filming is going to work, what props, location and actors we need. We have to do this fairly quickly to allow enough time to edit our opening sequence after filming and planning. This is important to make sure our group has a clear understanding of what is needed for our opening sequence to work effectively.

• As you can see, we have left most of the time to edit our final piece for around 12 weeks, we feel that this would take the longest amount of time due to the accuracy and detail of the editing that we need to do to make it as professional as it can be that we are pleased with. Also, it will allow us to ensure that all of the clips flow effectively together, to make sure that the opening sequence makes sense and ensure the sounds are located in the correct places to allow the film to work.

Storyboard

This is the story board that we have created to go with our opening sequence of how we want it to look with an overview of what we are going to include. This was effective to create a greater understanding of our opening sequence by having a more visual idea of what it is going to look like. Overall, it gave us an idea of what camera shots and angles we are going to use to create the best emotion/atmosphere that we could.

 As you can see from these shots this is an outline of how we expect our final piece to look like and what we are going to include. As this is an outline we may change or adapt some shots so that they work well and contribute to making the final opening sequence tell the correct story and show clearly that it is a horror genre.

From this storyboard we have included:

• Pan/360 degree.
• Close Ups
• Extreme Close Ups
• Point of View
• High Angle
• Over the shoulder shots

We felt that these shots would help emphasis the mystery and horror sense of our opening sequence to create a sense of isolation and worry through the reporters eyes.

Pre-Production: Meeting 5

When we chose to order the book on eBay it didn't work well as the book turned out to be too small and we couldn't use it within our opening sequence.

As we felt like we didn't have enough time to order a new book we started to make our own book with materials that we already had. This included:

• A3 paper which we would fold in half.
• Leather fabric as we liked the look of this from the different books we looked at above.
• String/cotton to hold the book together.
• Coffee (to stain the pages to make the book feel older).

We stuck down the different news paper articles to the pages of our book which we teared to make them look old and used but also that the person who owned the book had done it quickly to create a sense of mystery.

After this had been done we then used the coffee to stain the pages to give a sense of oldness so that they had been created a long time ago but also that the opening sequence was based around 20 years earlier.

This was the finished product of the book:

Through most of the pages, we have included some newspaper articles of missing people and text to exaggerate the fact that someone has been in the room that the main character is reporting on. Throughout these pages, we have incorporated titles into the text as we though that this would be a creative and effective way to show our titles, we blended them into the text to make them look old and used to help create the same effect of the mysterious book.

These are examples of what the pages look like:

Next, we will start the production stage and film our opening sequence, using the book that we have made.

Pre-Production: Meeting 4

In this meeting we started to create props and look at what probs we have and how we could use them

We looked at a range of different books that we could use by looking at different websites such as Amazon, eBay and in different charity shops that we could find to get inspiration of what we could use for our "scrap book."

Amazon: £14

eBay: £4

Due to our low budget, we decided to buy the eBay book as it was the lowest price compared to the rest. Which we would put our newspaper articles in the pages with the coffee stain to make them look old, with the titles inbetween the text.

When the book is ordered then we will start to do this which then we will start our production and film the opening sequence.

Pre-Production: Meeting 3

Now that we have planned what objects and sounds we need to include in our opening sequence in the third meeting we looked at how many scenes we are going to have and what they are going to include.

Our idea has one scene through the opening sequence which includes a range of ideas:

1) walking into a barn, up the stairs into the office.

2) a reporter looking through the file cabinet and finds a scrap book with the jewellery box music playing in the background.

3) she looks through the book with the rocking horse in the background (continuous music happening) which she then looks up through the windows at the barn door and sees it closing. With sound effects including: stairs creaking (sound intensifies).

4) the scene cuts to black at the end which fades into the ballerina Jewellery box. 

We will add the titles in within the scene for example our names could be written in with the text in the scrap book that she finds and the film title will be shown at the end when the scene turns to black. These are just rough ideas that we are going to follow when the filming starts but ideas may be changed or manipulated depending on how well the filming goes.

Pre-Production: Meeting 2

In our second meetings abouut our opening sequence, we looked at a the range different ideas that we included on our spider diagram but focused in more detail on the most important features on what props we need, location we could film it at and the sound effect we should add to make it sound more realistic.

Location

• Workshop
• Forest/woods
• Street

Props

• Book
• Rocking horse
• Candles
• Jewellery box
• Puppet/Clown
• Dolly/Teddy
• Clock
• Old Photos

Sound Effects

• Footsteps
• Creaky Floorboard
• Ticking Clock
• Jewellery box music
• Door slamming shut
• Childs laughter
• Breathing
• Cabnet slamming shut

From these different ideas we have a better idea on how we are going to film our opening sequence and what we need to include. At out next pre-production meeting we will look at the idea in more detail and see how many scenes we are going to include and what each scene is going to feature in it to help get a bigger picture of our final idea.

Pre-Production: Meeting 1

In this first meeting we have discussed what we are going to feature in our opening sequence. As this was our first meeting we have created a spider diagram to write down all of our ideas about what we could include.

This is the spider diagram:

Next pre-production meeting we will sort out our ideas in more detail and arrange them so we know what we are going to include by getting rid of some of the ideas if they work.

Pre-Production

We have looked at what we have to include for our opening sequence which we need to start thinking about our pre-production and what we need to include.

We need to look at a range of ideas including:

• Script - start drafting one for our main outline of our opening sequence
• Budget - how much money we have to spend on other features
• Location - think about the different locations that we can film at that are convenient to us that fit out budget and storyline.
• Script breakdown
• Casting
• Storyboard
• Shot list
• Titles
• Shooting schedule
• Gear/Props/Costumes

I looked at a YouTube video called "film riot" which gave me a clear idea of the kind of ideas we need to include and how we are going to include them. 

As this was our first planning of our pre-production we will next look at what we specifically need to include when taking into account the different features above in our pre-production meeting 1.

Target Audience

From doing a range of target audience research I found that researching age and gender were most important in getting a greater knowledge of what audience our film will need to include. These were found at http://www.slideshare.net/mattmosey1/my-target-audiance 

From this research, I think that our opening sequence would be aimed at teenagers and young adults due to it not being gory or violent that may suit an 18 rating. This is helpful to allow us to adapt our opening sequence to meet the age rating for a specific audience.

From this gender research, I have concluded that we wouldn't specifically aim our opening sequence at each female or male as horror genres can give the same effect to both genders. Although, stereotypically it is seen that boys are more likely to watch horror films, our group are trying not to make any stereotypes and allow both to watch to give a non biased effect.





Furthermore, I researched a range of horror films to find certain ratings, this website included a description of what certain film ratings include and why they are that specific rating. This website was important in knowing and understanding in greater detail and accuracy what we need to include to make it appropriate for a younger audience. Here is the link below:
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/education-resources/student-guide/issues-introduction/horror

• The use of this quote from the website "films are targeted at a younger audience, age rating decisions will take into account such factors as the frequency, length and detail of scary scenes aswell as horror effects, including music and sound, and whether there is a swift and reassuring outcome." This allowed us to think about how and why we are going to include certain aspects in our opening sequence and how we will use them effectively to meet our audiences needs.

Individual Research

To get audience research, I have individually found out what people expect to have in a horror genre and what age ranges, aspects are appropriate. I have done this through social media and online research.

Through my online research I found this website https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201410/the-top-ten-things-make-horror-movies-scary that allowed me to see what elements of horror films scare you and why.

• This can therefore allow us to interpret some of these factors into our opening sequence, to create a sense of threat from a unknown presence or to make the scene flow and get the important sense of a horror genre.

Another piece of research that I did was to ask my class individually whether they like horror films or not. From this I got 95% response saying that they do like them and 5% do not. This was important to know whether people around 16-17 like horror genres and therefore can make it a certain standard to our film and decide whether this will be our rating or to have it lower such as a 12.

Opening Sequences- Horror

After we had done our pitch we started to look at a range of opening sequences from horror movies so we can get an idea of how the sense of horror is show and how it is done. We looked at a range of movies such as The Conjuring, Sinister and Cabin in the Woods. 

Horror Sequences

We looked at these opening sequences to get an idea of what a horror genre looks like.

The Conjuring: Opening Sequence

This was found at http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/the-conjuring/

• The conjuring opening sequence created a very sinister and gloomy atmosphere to create what the effect the movie is going to have. It had family photos with the titles over the top. Also, the use of families and children make you think that it could be quite innocent but shows a different approach that represents them in a different light but also if you havent seen the movie before it doesnt give much of the storyline away and only introduces what could happen and gives the chance for you to imagine what is going to happen for yourself. 

• The fact that the whole sequence was very slow paced with an eery and quite soundtrack it highlighted that it is a horror genre. Consequently, the different articles were the used in the sequence made you think that it is a real story and could make the audience believe what was happening. 

Sinister: Opening Sequence

• The sinister opening sequence had a more older feel as it was shown to have an effect on the scene but it represented the horror genre in a different way than in The Conjuring. The fact that the first image you see if of peoplpe being hanged in a tree shows that it could be quite gory, highlighting a sense of what the movie could be about.

Cabin in the Woods: Opening Sequence

This was found at http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/the-cabin-in-the-woods/

• I found that this opening sequence was mixed between real life and horror as you see people having a normal day at their job but throughout the sequence there are images of distrubing images of sacrafic in the woods. This gives it a feel that something eery is going to happen to those people in their jobs but by doing this it adds a more historical feel. 

• This opening sequence again represented the horror genre in a different way that The Conjuring and Sinister did as it did it in less obvious way and not making the whole opening sequence about horror but had little snippets of them throughout.

I have found that it is important now to highlight what the movie is about as much but to make sure that the genre type comes across clearly to the audience with a sense of mystery happening.

Pitch

Pitch

From the information that we have described in our pitch, it has given an insight of what we are going to include. This is a guide line of what is going to happen, although we may make a few changes to the final product whilst working on our pre-production.

From presenting this in front of the class, we got some feedback and were asked the following questions:

• How are we going to make our idea different and more original? As we were told that our idea which we thought about having a young girl running through a forest by being watched by a ghostly presense has been done before or people have had similar ideas. Although, now we thought about having a news reporter exploring an abandoned warehouse but still being watched by a ghostly presense, therefore we have changed our idea to make it more original. 

• How will be incorpret titles into our sequence? we have decided that we will put the titles in with the scene and on our probs that we have made rather than to edit them in afterwards.

Opening Sequences

Opening Sequences

To try and understand an opening sequence I have looked at a range of different ones with different genres and styles to allow us to understand how different themes are done.

1. Dinner for Schmucks

2. Coraline 

3. Catch me if you can

Main Task

The Brief

"Film the opening sequence of a new fiction film, including titles, and a soundtrack that lasts approximately 2 minutes long."

There is 5 different things that I have to think about when doing the main task which are highlighted above as opening sequence, new fiction film, titles, soundtrack and 2 minutes long. To understand the brief completely I will find out what each of the main parts of the brief mean. This is explained below.

Opening sequence

• Introduces a style and theme of a film
• Includes a soundtrack
• Includes titles that are usually incorporated in the theme which include the actors names
• Establishes the scene of the film
• Has a colour scheme

New fiction film

• Has to be a new fiction film, with this theme to make it believable. A Fictional film is a film that tells a fictional or fictionalized story, event or narrative. In this style of film, believable narratives and characters help convince the audience that the unfoldingfiction is real.

Titles

• Name of the film
• Character and actor/actress names
• Order of importance, directors name usually last
• Font and size need to be thought about due to the different characters

Soundtrack

• Dialogue
• Background music
• Special Effects
• Forms of digetic and non-digetic sounds
• Foley sounds

2 minutes

• Needs to be at most 2 minutes long which is an appropriate length for a opening sequence,

Next, I will look at a range of opening sequence to get a greater understand of what it looks like and how I could attempt to do one by seeing how many scenes have been done, titles and how they fit into the scene but also how different sequences show the theme and style.

Preliminary Task- Final Piece

From the brief of putting in match on action, shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule I think we did achieve this as the match on action happened when opening the door, 180 degree rule when the characters were talking to show they were opposite eachother and the shot reverse shot to show the shot from each others point of view and to show who they were talking to. As we have done this it meets the brief of a character opening a door, walking across a room and exchanging dialogue with another character.

This was our first attempt of doing the brief because this was done on a phone rather than a camera it was harder to edit as the footage doesn't fill up the whole screen. Here is the video:

This was my second preliminary task piece that we took a range of different shots from the storyboard that we created on the last post to edit together. This was done on a camera which I think still meets the brief of the task well. Here is the video:

We tried to edit this piece aswell as we can to make it flow well but some of the editing didn't work aswell for example at 0.13 but I think it is because of the way that we filmed it and the position of the camera.

Preliminary Task

The brief for our preliminary task was:

"continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room, sitting down in a chair opposite another character, which who she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule."

This was the storyboard that we had planned for our preliminary task to look like:

This task was done to help us to use different shots which include the ones above, to help our understanding of how to edit our own clip. There is a range of important factors that I need to include in the task which are match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule which I will research to know exactly what I need to include.

Match on action: this editing technique helps to show a continuity in a scene to show a sense of the same action making the scene look more natural and flow together. For example, the image below shows a range of shots linking to the same object which show the audience that the person wants to go into the door which is shown by a view of the room, followed by a close up of the handly, then opening it from the outside suggesting it is from the same scene.

Shot/Reverse Shot: a shot that views  the action from the opposite side of the previous shot, as during a conversation between two actors, giving the effect of looking from one actor to the other. The image below shows it from two characters perspectives by showing the audience what they are looking at.

180 degree rule: this show refers to characters in a scene to have a left/right relationship with each other whilst the camera is only filming in a 180 degree rule. This helps to show the location and and position of the characters as it mainly shows people in front of each other rather than side by side. Here is a diagram  below:

Next we need to start to film our preliminary task by using each of these techniques that I have explained above, this research will help to know what I have to do and how to use them correct to achieve the brief of the task.

Editing: Ronin - First Car Chase

When we learnt about editing, we then watched a video clip which we saw how the editing was used in the scene and what it was used for. The clip we looked at was Ronin: First Car Chase Scene.

As we have started looking at editing, we watched an example and analysed how editing was used in a video clip and therefore what the effects were:

• A slow pace highlights the importance of the case and also what is inside, it also creates a sense of secrecy and subtly as no one knows exactly what is happening, as the camera constantly switches backto the man it shows that there is a plan and the enemies will be defeated, which also helps to calm down the intensity and will give the audience a sense of relief.

• A slow cutting rate was used during the car chase which helped to build up tension and also anticipation about what might happen and how the chase will turn out.
• A reaction shot helps to show the audience the characters different perspectives but also to show different view points and feelings within the scene, e.g. shows excitement during the car chases, it is fast pace highlighting the adrenaline being created

• A matched cut was also used, it showed the relationship between specific characters, highlighting to the audience which characters were enemies with each other, but also which characters were in alliance with each other.

• Buffer's were used links characters together and with the use of a jump cut it further develops the audiences understanding as to which characters are communicating with each other.

• A motivated cut shows the man tracking the enemy cars and also shows that the characters are being closely watched, the motivated cut helps the audience to see what the characters have seen and adds to the drama of the scene. Another motivated cut is used when the character realises that the brief cases have been switched, helping to imply to the audience that it is too late and that the characters have been caught.

• A close up is also used on the food before the cars crash into the tables, it shows threat and danger as you know that something is about to happen and the fact that there is people walking past and around the food, worsens the danger and builds up tension as to whether or not innocent people will get hurt.

• Pauses are used in the scene which help to calm down the intensity of the scene and gives the audience time to relax and recover before the action starts again.

here is the video that we analysed: