Evaluation Questions

Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
During the making of our video, we have had to establish the fact that it is an opening sequence and must perform all the necessary elements usually used to create the feeling of an opening sequence. We included opening credits which introduce the film to the audience watching it and also had to think about camera shots, genre, visual style, ideology and narrative. All of these things are essential when trying to create a media product similar to ones you may see at the cinema.

We had to make sure that the audience were aware of the fact that it was a psychological thriller by creating believable characters that fit with the ideology that killing is bad and that we should feel sympathy for the young girl who is murdered rather than liking Kourtney's character who is a murderer. If the ideology was to like Kourtney's character, then I feel we would be setting the wrong example to anyone watching it by saying it is okay to target children and kill them. There would have to be a very good reason to have the ideology this way round.

I don't think there are many films that are similar to ours which is why I think our media product challenges the forms and conventions of real media products. Looking at the film 'The Hole', we notice that there is a similar level of sex appeal as our film. The intimacy and closeness of Kourtney and Jacob's relationship is similar to the relationships of the 4 teenagers who find themselves trapped in a war bunker. Their time down there is traumatic as only one of the girls makes it out alive, leaving the other 3 character dead. We later find out that this girl has been hiding a big secret; that she was hiding the key to let them out which could have prevented the trauma. This idea of a character having a secret and then the audience only finding it out later is a similar thing that we included in our video where Kourtney is the one keeping the secret.

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our media product represents the social group of young adults. We made this clear by using young adult actors and dressing them in modern and appropriate clothing. I think that we have chosen reasonably attractive characters so that more young people will want to watch the film; they tend not to watch films where the main characters aren't at least a little bit attractive. Their social group was made to seem very mysterious and to have a dark side to them. Kourtney's character was hiding a terrible secret from her boyfriend showing that this social group can be devious and sneaky. We dressed her in modern clothing to appeal to the teenage audience as they would be be able to relate to her character. The audience are made more surprised by the fact that her character is a killer because she doesn't LOOK like one.

We also represented young teenagers to be vulnerable and small, shown by my character who got kidnapped and murdered without really putting up much of a fight. The fact that she is wearing school uniform shows her youth and vulnerability. This then creates sympathy towards her character from the audience as she is a young innocent character.

Jacob's character is supposed to be the innocent boyfriend who thinks he is in a perfectly normal relationship with a lovely young woman and he is totally unaware that she has a darker and more sinister side to her. We have dressed him in a way that makes him look innocent and unsuspecting. I think that lots of young adults could relate to the types of social groups we have represented because we've tried to make them as realistic as possible.

Q3. What type of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
There may be several media institutions that could distribute our media product; one being Film4 which is part of the Channel 4 chain. This is because it is a low budget British film which is usually the type of film that this institution may show; British films usually focus on the storyline rather than the CGI and special effects that they can spend lots of time and money on. We have found that most young people tend to watch channels like C4, Film4, E4 as they are modern and trendy and also show programmes like Skins which is similar to our video in the fact that it is about teenagers and also goes into their mental states. In the credits on our finished product, we have included 'In association with Film4' which shows anyone that watches the film that it was backed by this company. Film4 have successfully developed and co-financed a selection of feature fims that have gone on to become Academy Award winners such as Slumdog Millionaire, Happy Go Lucky and This Is England. Another institution could be the BBC who also supports low-budget British films like ours.

Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
We have aimed this at young adults and teenagers aged 15-25. I think that many young people would be interested in this type of film because, obviously, murdering is a crime, and many young people are interested in rebellious characters and crime based storylines. It is most likely to be young women who would want to watch this as the main character is also a young woman so they are the type of person who could relate to elements of the character's personality. For example, I think many young women could relate to the letter that Kourtney's character writes to her boyfriend as it is about love and their relationship which is something that the majority of young people have experienced before.

Most psychological thrillers are rated either 15 or 18 due to the fact

that there may be violence, strong language, drug-taking or scenes of a distressing nature. Many younger audiences would not be able to understand the storyline or some of the issues that will appear in this genre of film. The characterisation is much more important in psychological thrillers than traditional thrillers as the personalities of the characters need to be developed as much as possible for the audience to fully understand the mindset of everyone in the film so that they can enjoy the film knowing the full extent of the story.

Q5.How did you attract/address your audience?
We tried to make our media product appeal to everyone. It has mainly been our friends that have seen it so far that have given us feedback as we cannot connect with people on a larger scale in such a short amount of time. I am sure that, given more time and knowledge of how more people could become aware of our media video, we would have a much wider variety and a larger number of comments. This would give us a clearer idea of how we could improve it if we were to continue editing, and also things we could work on if we made another video using similar techniques. We mainly showed friends and teachers our video at school whenever we were on a computer and there were other people around too. This enabled us to see their immediate reactions to the video and to ask them questions about what they like and don't like.

From assessing audience feedback, we realised that it was not easy to understand the storyline so we then came to the conclusion that we needed to add another scene. This scene was of my character in the bath being tortured by Kourtney. We decided to add this scene so that anyone watching it would realise that there had actually been a murder taking place. Before this, the reaction we got was that the audience felt that our final video was more of a romance rather than a thriller. This was because there was no second personality to Kourtney's character so she looked more innocent. We also originally had several sped up sections in the video which we had to take out. From watching the video, the audience said they could tell that we only included the sped up scenes because we wanted to put in the WHOLE scene rather than just a little bit. By taking out the sped up bits, we had to focus more on the way we would get the storyline across to the audience without including as much footage.

Q6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
During the process of planning and filming, the members of my group and I have learnt lots of new skills that we would need to film, edit and document our video.

We have needed to know how to work the camera to enable us to easily and efficiently film everything that we need. We used rachael's camera which she was already familiar with using so she told us everything we need to know. The camera itself is an UltraHD Flip and was incredibly easy to use as there is one button to record and stop, another button to access and play previously filmed videos and scroll buttons to look through the video library which are also used to zoom in and out.

Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9.0 was the editing software that we used to put our opening sequence together. None of us had had any experience using this programme before so we were all starting from scratch. The first time we were able to experiment with Movie Studio was when editing out preliminary task. It took us a while at first as we were experimenting with effects and generally trying to grasp exactly how to create the desired effect. As we progressed onto filming our main product, we got the hang of how to use the programme to make the video look exactly how we wanted. As we got more confident with using this, we added a more complicated piece of editing into the final video which meant using a cookie cutter making us able to see two shots in the same screen. To do this we researched on youtube.com exactly how to do this and found a step by step guide on how to create the desired effect.

Another technology that I have had to learn to use in the process of constructing this product is how to successfully use Blogger.com. I have had no experience with any other blogging website before so didn't even know where to start. However during the process of making our film, I have found it much easier to understand how to post, edit text and insert pictures so they actually fit in with the text surrounding them!

Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Making our preliminary task really shows me how much my group members and I have progressed when I look at the work we have created now. The main thing we have learnt is how to use the editing software which is more of a practical progression. I have also learnt that continuity is very important when putting together a video to make it much more understandable and interesting. In our preliminary, we filmed one shot and the light was off in the room behind the door but in the next shot, using match-on-action, the light was on which is bad continuity. In our main piece, we made sure that each shot made a perfect transition into the next so that the audience was first of all not confused about what was going on and also impressed that we successfully made a shot that looked good without them noticing. The shot that we are proud of in our main video is the part where Kourtney and Jacob fall against a the wall as we feel it has good continuity and a good use of match-on-action.

In our preliminary task, we filmed totally indoors which is very much to opposite of what we decided to do for our main video. First of all, we filmed in the daytime for the whole of our preliminary task so made use of the natural light that was coming in through the windows. One of the corridors was very dark as all the doors were closed so we had to put the main lights on for us to be able to see anything. Whereas, in our main video, most of the shots were filmed outside so we could make good use of the natural light in the daytime shots but in the nighttime shots, we had to make sure we filmed in an area with streetlights so it wasn't totally pitch black.

Most of all, I think I have learnt that perfect time keeping and planning is crucial if you want to create a good piece of work. Also learning to work so closely with people has definitely been something I feel had progressed over time. Kourtney, Rachael and I have all been able to come up with some amazing ideas and pick out the best ones that work together to enable us to end up with a pretty good final piece. Since making the preliminary task we have been more understanding of eachother and the different ideas that we have. This has definitely helped us in making an opening sequence to be proud of.

The Filming Process

A Brief Synopsis of the Plot

The scene begins with a woman writing a letter to her boyfriend telling of how much she loves him and that she hopes he will never leave. We are then shown a montage of shots of the times when they are a happy couple on a night out, and spending time together having a picnic but in the background we see that there is a missing poster of a girl. These upbeat shots are then mixed with shots of the missing girl in the woman's bathroom, tied

up in the bath and drenched in blood. The audience are then led to understand that the woman in the story is hiding a big secret from her boyfriend and that is that she is a secret murderer.

After not being able to arrange a final day to film with our male actor, we filmed the bathroom scene without him. This consisted of the missing girl in the bath and the female character tormenting her. After watching this footage back, we realised that it looks like he is not involved in the murder at all where he was supposed to be in our original plan. I prefer the new/accidental storyline as it means that there is now the risk that the boyfriend will find out about her secret and we anticipate the end of the film.

Actors and Costumes

The characters we have decided on are Kourtney, playing the woman and one of her fellow actor friend Jacob Church playing the part of the man. They will be a very close couple but Kourtney's character will have a secret. We have made her character look quite edgy and like she is hiding something important; the fact that she murders people. We took pictures of them on our first filming night in town to remember the outfits in case we need to go back and re-film anything.

We wanted the characters to have a very close relationship and for it to be as if they had no-one else in their lives; that they rely on eachother. We filmed most scenes particularly with no other people in it to keep their isolation and disconnection from everyone else. From what we first see of the couple, the audience is tricked into thinking that the whole film will be based on their relationship and how it progresses but we are made very aware by the end of the opening sequence that this is not the case and there is another layer to be revealed; that the female character is the murderer.

Originally, I was only supposed to appear in the film as the schoolgirl on the missing posters but after showing some of our friends the whole video and hearing their initial reactions, we felt that it would probably be better to include another scene. Most people we asked said that they didn't understand the storyline and why certain things were happening, we explained and they then suggested how we could make it clearer that the couple are the murderers and the girl is the victim. We took these points into consideration as we wanted to make the story as understandable as we could which then led us to adding the bathroom scene. After adding this scene, we felt it became much clearer to understand the plot.

Because our opening sequence is set in the present times, we thought that it would be easier and more appropriate to use outfits that you may see on young people nowadays. For Jacob and Kourtney's characters, we chose clothes that are typical 'going out' clothes with Kourtney wearing a white dress, sequinned blazer and monster heels; and Jacob wearing a smart shirt, jeans and leather

jacket. For the picnic scene, we chose more casual clothes like a summery dress and a light shirt for Jacob.

In the missing poster, the missing girl is wearing her school uniform, so, to make it clear that it is the same person in the bath, my character wore school uniform as it was the best way to make it obvious. We put red paint in the bath water to look like blood and Rachael and Kourtney helped smear more red paint on my face and clothes, rip my tights, and wet my hair.

Time Management and Locations
Our first filming session was filmed at night in various areas of Peterborough. We chose areas that were quite secluded so we knew people would not be interrupting out filming session. We includes shots of the underpass, outside Town hall and behind the shops along Bridge Street. We had completed our filming session at night time within 2 hours of arriving at our location and I think we managed our time very efficiently as we got all the shots we needed and even ones that we didnt use.

We filmed another day at the green outside the cathedral in town. This is the area with the graveyard which we thought might give a sinister feel to the scene and make the audience wonder why they chose that particular area for a picnic. Only when you look closely can you see that it is filmed in a graveyard, but otherwise, it looks like a normal park where a couple in love might have a romantic picnic. We managed to get all the scenes we needed for the sequence in this area which meant that we did not have to go back and re-film.

Our last day of filming took place in my bathroom. We closed the curtains to block out the sun as we wanted a more sinister dullness to the room instead of the sun shining through creating a happy feel to the room. In all of our filming sessions, we filmed a lot of footage to ensure that we definitely had enough to put into the final cut.

The very beginning and the very end of the opening sequence will be a letter written from Kourtney to Jacob saying that she loves him and hope he will never leave. We purposely did not show the entire letter at the beginning so that the audience is intentionally made to wonder what the rest of the letter will say. The rest of the letter is revealed at the end of the opening sequence where the audience is allowed to see the end of the letter which reads 'Til Death Do Us Part' which is the name we have decided on for the film.

Props and stuff

We didn't necessarily use many props when filming so that we could focus more on the storyline and the actors. But obviously props are very important when filming so that the audience can understand fully what is going on. The main prop that we used was the picnic basket which I think is really cute but it also shows the 'good' side to the couple, whereas the rest of the sequence has already portrayed them to be bad.

We also used the missing poster of me to stick on the lamp post to make the disappearance of the girl more genuine. This was easily make on Microsoft Word using my school picture from year 11.

The scissors used in the bathroom scene are an everyday household item, making it again more real; if we had used a sword of some kind, 1) it would not fit in with the storyline and 2) it would be even more unrealistic and would therefore not make the audience as scared as they would then feel that it could never happen to them.

While filming, we had to take into account the safety aspects that we may encounter. Most of the scenes did not raise any circumstances that were too dangerous. However, when we were walking around Peterborough at night to film out night time scenes, we did make sure that we all stayed together and that we were safe. Also, we made sure that I could get out of the tied up situation in the bath in case of an emergency.

After searching through our music libraries, we finally settled on the perfect soundtrack to go over our opening sequence. We settled with Electric Bloom - Foals as, when we played it with the final video, it fit perfectly and really set the mood. We were unsure whether or not to include a voice over of Kourtney reading more from the letter but we decided against it as we felt that it didn't really need it. We figured sometimes its best not to overcomplicate things too much as the video is slightly confusing to begin with.

Editing

We found the editing reasonably unchallenging while putting together our opening sequence as we had already begun to come to terms with it after creating our preliminary piece. Most of it was fairly straightforward but it did take a very long time to 1) choose the shots we were going to use, 2) cut them down so they fit in with eachother, and 3) make it so the final video was around 2 minutes long.

We used Vegas Movie Studio 9.0 to edit out media video as it is available for us to use at school. It is very easy for us to be there at the same time to all work on it together. We all decided when and where we would put in the credits and for how long they would show up.; this was and essential item that we had to include in our final video.

This is a shot that we are very proud of as it took some initiative and research to enable us to do it. We wanted both shots in the same screen but didnt know how to get t so we could see both at the same time. Using the editing software, we did not know our limitations but we found a tutorial on youtube.com of how to create this kind of shot using this programme. after watching the tutorial, we gained a greater understanding of the programme and how to get the desired effects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNWZP7Ch6MU

Storyboard

In our opening sequence, we wanted to include a variety of shots and angles to make the whole thing more interesting. We had a lot of shots to cover in our storyboard so covered them all equally between us with 6 each to draw.

-The letter Kourtney writes to Jacob. Filmed from above and panning down from the tablecloth slowly down the letter.

-Shot of the plughole in the sink with blood dripping down the plug.

Kourtney and Jacob walk down the hill underneath the underpass. This is the first time we see the characters.

This is a shot of Kortney and Jacob in the underpass being very close with eachother and laughing together.

A quick shot of Kourtney washing her blood stained hands to make the reader wonder what has happened already in the storyline.

Kourtney and Jacob sitting down on a step in a streetlamp lit area. This is another shot that shows the closeness of their relationship.

This shot will be a flash in the middle of another scene which will only be seen while paying attention. It makes the audience question that has been going on.

Kourtney and Jacob walk up the hill on the other side of the underpass into a more well lit area.

A shot of the couple laying on the floor looking at the stars. This is filmed from above.

Kourtney and Jacob continue their journey through town and go through a small alleyway.

A close up shot of them shows their intimacy.

This split screen shot shows the distanced thoughts of both Kourtney and Jacob. This contrasts with the happy and more upbeat scenes in the rest of the sequence.

The first time we see the poster of the missing girl. There is a road in the background which the pair walk down and Kourtney rips down the poster.

Another scene showing the happy times that they spend together. With the graveyard in the background, this creates a contrast between their happy behaviour and the opposite environment.

A close up shot of the screwed up poster on the floor after Kourtney has dropped it.

Me tied up in the bath, looking up at the wall and in school uniform showing the vulnerability of the character.

Kourtney and Jacob standing together in the green outside the cathedral, shows they like to have fun.

The final shot of Kourtney holding a pair of scissors which is the weapon she uses in the murder of Lily Lawrence.

New York

On Wednesday the 3rd of February, 50 lucky media students, including myself, took the trip of a lifetime to New York. We only went for 4 days but got a LOT packed in to those 4 days! Among the shopping, sight-seeing and NBA basketball games, we did manage to get several educational visits included. One being a 4 hour film masterclass at the New York Film Academy (NYFA) which everybody seemed to enjoy.

First we were given a talk on the how to use lighting in a film and the differences between orange and blue light. Also the advantages of backlighting and when to use it, even all the different things you need to think about when filming in a studio.

Then we got the chance to see what it was like to make our own mini-movie! We split into groups of about 15 and given a script. Hannah Herbert, Jon Orell and Callum Ramsey were the amazing actors in our movie. I was assigned the role of AD (Assistant Director) so had to be quite bossy and cue the cameras and actors. I also got to help director Bill Mcnish to interpret the script and tell the actors how to play their roles. I liked being so involved in this and it made me feel like I had contibuted well. Other members in my team had the task of lighting, prompter and director of photography. All of these were essential and we ended up making a pretty good film considering none of us had had any experience doing this before.


We also had a tour of movie locations around New York which was really interesting because I recognised so many places! We even got to see the F.R.I.E.N.D.S building! The whole experience was amazing and I wish I could go back!

Opening sequence - Ideas and Planning

When thinking of ideas for our opening sequence we had a massive brainstorm and took everyone's ideas into account. After choosing the genre of drama thriller, we planned and planned until we narrowed it down to the final idea.

Our first idea was to have a teenage boy totally obsessed with a girl whom he has pictures of and various other obvious signs that he has been stalking her, we felt that this would give us good opportunities to include various camera shots and effects that will create the right feel. We then decided this idea was too complicated and that we couldn't carry it out practically so, we came up with idea 2.

Idea 2 was to have a teenage girl coming out of a club in the early hours of the morning with us following her home, she would be spaced out and in her own world then return home from her crazy unknown lifestyle to her parents shouting and her sister in bed. We came to the decision that this idea would be too boring and would not give us the opportunity to include the variety of shots that we wanted.

Moving on to idea 3, this idea was to base the story on a murderous couple who have committed several kidnaps and murders, and their relationship together. We had decided to use this idea.

We want to include ideas from Bonnie & Clyde in the main storyline. Also, Myra Hindley & Ian Brady. We will base our characters on the couples and have them as a murder obsessed couple of the modern day. The storyline of the film will involve the abduction and murder of a young girl much like the way in which B&C and H&B carried out their murders. A film had been made based on the Moors Murders by Hindley and Brady called "See No Evil" (2006).

Original photo

Remake in See No Evil

Locations
We decided on the location based on the fact that is extremely easy to access for our group which is the city of Peterborough. We have decided to film some of it at night and some in the day to give a range of scenes. The main part of the video will be a sort of montage of the life together of the couple so we will film some at night to make it look like they are on their way home from a night out in town, also having a picnic in the park to show their loving side.
We took several pictures of locations around the back streets in Peterborough at night so we could evaluate them and choose the best ones to include in the video.

We like the location of this as it is quite dark, showing that it is errie and seemingly dangerous. The town hall is visible in the background too so people can see that it is in the town centre.

As soon as we saw this door, we kew we had to use it in the night sequence of our film. There is a step just infront of the door which would be perfect for Kourtney and Jacob to sit on. The street lights create a yellow glow which adds to the eerie feel.

I like this location because it is brightly lit meaning we wouldnt have to add artificial light. You can also see right down the road to asda showing that it is a public area and that the two characters are keeping a low profile.


This shot is taken down an alleyway which are usually an indication of danger. Kourtney and Jacob could walk down here at night which I think would look quite good.

We want to include a shot of the underpass between the Key Theatre and the main shopping area in town. This is quite a private location and would enable us to begin to shot the intimacy between the two characters.