Overall Improvement on film opening

While making our soundtrack we made a lot of improvements as we felt that our music was too repetitive throughout the film opening so we added some changes. We added a heart beat at the start of the film to build up tension which is a really good way to start a film opening as the audience would want to continue watching to see what is going to happen next.

We also felt that the font of the credits which is shown at the beginning was too dull and didn't link to our genre so we changed the font colour to red. The red symbolises blood in thriller and really emphasises on the genre. This also linked to our main title "RED JACK" which was written in fake blood so the credits and the title linked together.

With our actual film we added more clips with a range of different angles which really showed the narrative of the film and gave a full effect. Different angles makes the film more interesting to watch as it draws the audience in and gets them involved.

Improving the soundtrack was seen to be the most difficult thing to improve as we wanted something that was very effective but also flowed with the rest of the soundtrack.

iMovie & Garage Band.

Here is a preview of me editing the shots in iMovie, At first it was very complicated to use especially as a group because we have all never used the software before but lately on we came to terms with it and was able to used different transitions and add background music in to make it look as successful and professional as possible.

Here is another preview of me trying out garage band, this is personally the most difficult software that I used to make my film opening, I find it quite difficult to select the right beat which will match my film opening. However with a lot of practice I am getting to grips with it.

Our music was quite eerie and tense, it had a fast pace which always gave an impression that something mysterious was going to happen this linked with the genre of our film opening of  an psychological thriller and set the atmosphere as it made the audiences intrigued to what was going to happen next.
This is something they used in the american psycho.

Soundtracking is very important in film openings as it gives the audience a feel of what genre the film is and whether the film is going to be interesting. The soundtrack most importantly sets the atmosphere.

Audience Questionnaire.

I made a questionnaire to get the audience opinion, I found that 18-21 year old girls and boys who always watches film favorite genre are psychological horrors which is why I took this into consideration and made my target audience that age.

Final Production Schedule.

Thursday 14th November 2013

LOCATION: Rochester

WHAT WE DID: At around 2:00pm my group left school with all our props and costumes and took a train down to Rochester as it was the best suited location for our film. When we got there we discussed as a group the best shot to film first and what we should film last which took a bit of time. This was good as because it was winter it got dark quickly which gave an impression of a dark, tense and mysterious atmosphere which also set the scene. Carla (the prostitute) and Nicole  (jack the ripper) were the actors for the day so they dressed in the most appropriate costumes which is an example of mise-en-scene as it set the scene. Me, and Marnie were the ones filming so we made sure we got as much shots as possible. This was easier as we used our phones which made it possible for us to have loads of shots of different angles and movements and main parts. We started off filming alley way signs and Rochester buildings and walls as this would produce good shots for the opening scenes and draw the audience in as it will give them a sense of how that time era was. After we decided to get a lot of different shots in different angles of the main characters. We lastly then decided to film the title at the end with the fake blood.

PROPS:
Camera
Costumes of both characters
Fake Blood
Posters

CHARACTERS: 
Nicole: Jack the Ripper
Carla: The prostitute
Bukky (Me) & Marnie : The ones filming.

THE INDOOR SHOTS: 
Marnie decided to take the role of filming the indoor shots as she believed her house looked the most appropriate for the timing of our film.

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

Looking back at the preliminary task I believe I have learnt and progressed a lot as I have come from no knowledge of media to a lot of knowledge about camera shots, editing techniques and how to use a wide range of media products. I have learnt to value the importance of planning, researching and creating a storyboard to make sure your movie flows. This has helped my film opening o be successful. During the preliminary task learned about 3 different camera shots, shot reverse shot, 180 rule and match on action we then acted them out. We first found it difficult to do as we didn't know what to say and we also didn't know how to use the camera but later on we got the hang of it. During that period of time i only knew those 3 camera shots but i have now progressed to know different types of camera shots, angles, and movements e.g. panning shot, close ups and extreme close ups which are all different types of camera shots. 'Panning' is a camera movement. Those camera shots were the most common camera shots used in my film opening. 

What would have been better was if we used more camera equipment's

 to help us with the filming .e.g. tripods. This would improve the quality of the footage shots. It would also give more movement and show different angles in our filming, which will give our film more of a professional look. This is needed to make our film successful. Different equipment would help our shots to have a range of different angles and this will make our film look more professional.

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

Throughout the whole process of constructing my film I learnt how to use all the media technology. Personally everything started off being very difficult to use as it was my first time using these equipment so I had to watch some tutorials and do some research so I can come to terms of how to use these technology especially on the iMacs. During editing my product iMovie was  the main source used for editing I also found this complicated to use and it took me a while to get used to it and to be able to edit our film opening without making any mistakes, once I got the hang of it editing became simple and easy to do. As a group the macs was complicated to use because none of us has used it before! However the macs was the must important technology during the process of  constructing our films so being able to use it was very important because without the macs our film would not be able to look as professional and successful as it should be. Garage band was a program on the macs which we used to make our music. This was also very difficult and challenge and playing about with it was what helped you understand and learn what to do. As a group we have now leaned how to use the software's on the mac and the mac itself to edit, crop and put together a successful film opening even though it took a lot of time and concentration.


When actually filming our film opening we had two main technology equipment we used which both worked very well to make our product look as professional as possible. The school gave us a portable camera to use, these were quite simple to use. The camera produced our films in high quality and made it turn put very well, However the battery life was not very good so we needed a back up which was our iPhone's this also produced high quality shots and was very easy to use, it also was good to use because we was all was able to take as much different shots as possible so at the end we can review the shots we took and pick which ones were the best shots and put them all together which is what we did.

Here is a short preview of the shots we took on our iPhone's which provides shots in high definitions. These are examples of panning and close up shots that we used often throughout our film.



What could be improved was to have more practice on garage band to improve the music, also to take more time on it as the music was a bit rushed and too repetitive. 

5) How would you attract/address your audience?

We attracted the audience by our music the tempo instantly starts off fast and gets faster during our film opening especially during the main scenes this draws and attracts the audience. The music was seen as very important to us as it  represents setting the atmosphere, the music has a repetitive rhythm to it throughout the film. In the feedback we was told our music was too repetitive, as a group we decided we need to make some improvements on the must and to do so we need to spend more time on it there was also some faults at the end.  We first wanted to use peaky blinders as our music for our film as it linked extremely well with our film and the male character 'Jack the ripper' however we found it difficult to create on garage band so we decided to create our own music with the influence of peaky blinders tune, this song helped us pick what instruments were the most suitable for psychological horror films, french horns was a popular instrument used so we included it in our music which did create tension and an eerie atmosphere. The tempo and loudness of the sound increased as the main scenes operated which makes the audience want to watch the rest the film as the tempo builds suspense and mystery. 

Our titles and credits attracts the audience as it shows past newspapers of our jack the ripper character murders as backgrounds. These pictures link to our film and also draws the audience in. Our main title also draws our target audience in as it was unique and original, we decided to write our title out on the alleyway floor with blood to interest the audience. 

The costumes we used really did set the Victorian time period we tried to present, both the prostitute and Jack the ripper himself dressed in a way which we'd think we are in the Victorian era, these costumes attracts the audience as it makes them intrigued to how we was able to make a film set in a different time period just based on a few props and costumes. I believe we succeeded in that area. The prostitutes outfit attracts attention as it was such a bright colour. Because we didn't want to reveal Jack the rippers identity black was the best colour to use as it camouflaged with all his surroundings. The colour black creates a sense of mystification what applies well with his character as Jack the ripper identity has never been revealed! The top hat used showed how we researched the costumes needed for both characters best suited for the Victorian time period and Jack the ripper himself did use a top hat.


We posted our video on you tube and Facebook to get a range of audience feedback, most of the feedback was from ages 18 above which shows why we rated our film opening an 18. This helped us have knowledge of the positives and negatives opinions viewers had on our film so we can make improvements.Generally we recieved mostly positive feedback but we did receive a criticism which would help us develop our film to make it much better. 

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

Our target audience are anyone above the age of 18,  I decided this because my research enlightened me that the younger ages would enjoy the suspense and disturbance of a psychological horror and also because jack the ripper is a popular film, a copycat one will intrigue my audience. Anyone below the age of 18 is not advised to watch it as the murder scenes are bad influences on these ages. My target audience must be interested in jack the ripper and his mysterious killings of females so they can understand the story line.

The BFFC Classification we were hoping to achieve is 18 because our film does contains blood, violence and portrays women as sex objects and scenes of sexual violence which wouldn't be suitable for ages under 18 to watch as it may be very disturbing for the child to watch. It could also influence a child as the could copy the behavior showed in the film. Many horror films are also seen to be rated at 18 because of the sexual scenes, sexual violence and the wrong portrayals of women which my film presents so I decided from ages 18 and above is the most appropriate age.

A 15 rated film published by the BFFC means that the contents of the film could consist of intense horrors, strong violence, drug taking and sexual nudity etc. An 18 rated film also published by the BFFC means that the contents consists of hard drug use, supernatural horror, explicit sex and sexual violence which my film comes under so I
believe a 18 rated film is the best for my film opening.

No gender is particularly for my opening film it is available for both males and females. However men will be seen to like it more as they are seen as powerful and dominant in my media product.

Silence of the lambs is a psychological horror which is also rated 18 this most likely because of the strong violence.

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

 My film opening is best suited for a British film company like hammer film production although our main film institution is with lionsgate which is an american company, A British film company like hammer is best for my film opening. This will appeal more to the British audience as they're more aware and have more knowledge of the the Victorian times which is the the time my film is set and can relate to the characters.

Hammer is a British film television production company based in London. They've also produced a lot of horror/thriller films, during the 1960s Hammer released a series of psychological thrillers. This links well with our film opening as our genre is psychological horrors/thrillers.

A British distribution company would be interested in our psychological horror as our film addresses a wider audience and draws the audience in as our film has an unique, original

and unusual story line which will be captivating to the target audience.

We first decided to use both lionsgate and hammer as our film institution however because we had a limited time of 2 minutes we realized using both of our institutions exceeded our time span so we had to cut it down to ensure the duration of our film was not too long and at 2 minutes. Lions gate was a more larger production company which is why we decided to use it as our main institution, the company will allow a wider range of people to be able to watch it. Lions gate is known for creating such huge popular films such as American psycho so by us making lionsgate own film institutions gives our film a chance to be popular and successful like the rest of the films.My film should be able to be displayed at the cinema as people enjoy big screens better and the quality of the film will be much better, It should also be able to be displayed on the internet for anyone who don't have the time to travel to the cinema and like the idea of watching films at home this could be downloaded for a small price. My Film should be able to be displayed on the TV after 4 months the film has been published and produced in the cinema, it shouldn't be immediately released on TV so it can maintain its label as a Blockbuster and nit a TV movie.

  

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

 In the Victorian times prostitutes were generally young, normally around the ages of 18-24, they were seen as naive, insecure and filled with hurt and pain. They dressed very seductively so they can get the attention they need from men. In our film the prostitutes first scene was in an alley way this represents isolation as you could see she just wanted to do anything to earn money, this also shows poverty and the separation of class between the main characters.

My media product represents a particular social groups as it stereotypes women. The prostitute in our film was a woman and wore a red dress and red lipstick this is seen as a seductive colour.  In most films women are seen as the weak one who are oppressed by men. They are stereotyped to be sex objects and are always portrayed as sex objects in films. Our group did stereotype women as we automatically decided we needed a woman to play the role as a prostitute.  We researched what prostitutes wore in the Victorians times and tried to make sure we used the same costumes and made them look the same. Most of them looked classy but just wore red to represent lust, hate and evil. As you can see in the 3 picture the ones on the left is the prostitute represented in my film opening and the one on the right is your typical Victorian prostitute. As you can see with the typical Victorian prostitute her facial expressions shows the feeling of hurt and loneliness in our film opening when the prostitute was shown, our close ups shots showed her emotions of loneliness and wanting to feel loved by someone, anyone. Prostitutes in the Victorian times were white British, black people were not used which shows there were no black characters in films in the Victorian times. Our film opening made the audience intrigued to see how women were portrayed in the Victorian times.

The main male character (jack the ripper) was presented young, he dressed smart but his identity was always hidden. He was dressed in all black which represents darkness and evil. The way he was dressed represents he was not poor and most likely in the middle class section. While researching typical characters for psychological horrors we found the male gender were always seen as the enemy and one who controls women and uses them. Males are also normally seen as dominant character in films and the main character they are also seen as the character who has all the power, they are also seen as murderers as in most films it is normally a man who commits a crime of murder and not a female. In my film opening we did stereotype as our main character was a male and he also had all power in our film and was the enemy. Even though his identity was never announced our jack the ripper copycat was always seen as the enemy.

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and convention of real media products (i.e. of film openings.) What’s in our film that’s different from other thriller films? What characters?

Before making our media product we did a lot of research to see what were the typical conventions used to make our film opening successful as we wanted our media product to look as realistic and professional as possible. We watched and analyzed a lot of opening scenes which linked to our genre of psychological horrors e.g. red dragon. We also watched some jack the ripper documentaries to have more knowledge about the character so the role would be played well because our film was based on the historic jack the ripper story.

My media product used conventions of real media products by the location we did our main filming shots which was in a alley way this is a typical place where main scenes in horror films are set as it is in a darkened and closed  which area which builds suspense all through because anything could happen at any time. Our filming location was in Rochester as we made our film presented in the Victorian era and Rochester was the area which presented the Victorian times well so we decided Rochester was the best location to use. Our characters represented the type of people who would live in those times. In this generation psychological horror films are modern so us setting our film in the Victorian era was different and not like normal psychological horrors. It being different meant as well as using the typical conventions in a psychological horror film we were able to add our own ideas which shows originality.

My groups opening film challenges the form of real media products as we didn't just show a normal opening scene which normally leaves with a cliff hanger, we showed all our main scenes in one just not in detail to give a short preview of the main scenes. This is different from other psychological horrors or any film opening which is good as it shows our ability to watch other real media products but not emulate it but make our own idea and make it better than real media products.

The costumes we used were typical costumes that fitted the role of the character. There were only two main characters in our film opening and these two characters had costumes which presented typical people who lived in the Victorian era. Our costumes were very stereotypical ways of presenting males and females of that time.

My media product followed the conventions of other film openings by including some of the main titles and credits in the scenes. This included who edited, produced and directed the film.

Another typical convection we used was the mise en scene around our main characters, there was no daylight throughout our film opening so it gave the psychological horrors film effect because these type of horrors normally have a dark, dull atmosphere to create jump scares and to make the audience intrigued to what’s going to happen next, which gives reasons to why psychological horrors are really popular because people always don’t want to miss something so they carry on watching, we took this into consideration and we made sure we added it to our film opening and tried to make sure we had the same effect.

In our media product we created our own music this was to create the atmosphere of tension and suspense. The tempo of our music fluctuated as it went louder and faster to build the suspense that something extreme was about to happen which is a typical way of building tension and suspense in a psychological horror. We used garage band to create our music and first wanted to copy a track we heard which linked well with our film, however we found this difficult so we decided to improvise and create our music.

When filming we used a selection of both cameras and our iPhone's. We started using cameras as we found the quality of the cameras were could and easier to film with however the battery life wasn't very could so we all had iPhone's to use as a back up just in case the camera died,  we found that the quality was much better than cameras this worked well as we were all able to film loads of different shots with our phones and put them all together.

In my media product we also used a slow motion effect this is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down, normally seen in horror films to give the audience a feel of suspense, which also keeps viewers watching, so in one of our scene we used this to also give a psychological horror effect. Another thing my group used for our media product that other horror/thriller conventions use was similar camera shots, panning shots, close ups and view shots are used in most psychological horrors which were the most common camera shots we used in our film opening, the view shots are really good shots which are used in psychological shots as it really gives the characters point of view we used this in our media product when our copycat jack the ripper was approaching the prostitute this adds suspense and also pulls the audience in, we also used close ups which shows facial expressions and feelings of the characters, it makes you feel like you’re the character it is an effective shot as it shows true emotion.

Our video feedback

We posted our video on facebook to get some feedback on our video we wanted to see what was the strengths and what we could improve with our video. Most of our feedback was positives but we got one person saying how we need to improve the music slightly at the end as it jumps a bit and does not flow so i think it'll be much better if we took more time on the music. Another person said our music is too repetitive and as a group we agreed and we thought it was much better if we changed the music slightly and made it more interesting. We need feedback so that we can make improvements and so we can evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of our video.

Finished Film Opening

SHORT CLIP.

Here is a short preview of some filming we did, this shows some panning shots and some close ups. From this short preview you can see what time we have set our film in. Our shots were very clear and steady which was a thing we tried to make sure during all our shots in our filming.