Monday 16 April 2012

Evaluation Question 4

4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? 

Evaluation Question 3

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback? How did you use market research to develop your ideas? What did your target audience say about your finished products?


The audience feedback I received really helped me to enhance the products I had been working on. When our trailer was nearly finished, me and my group asked fellow A2 Media students for their thoughts and opinions. We received positive feedback with a few pointers on how we could make certain parts of the trailer a little better. Asking people face to face was a quick way of reaching out to our target audience and it allowed us to get a more in depth analysis. We were open to ideas from people too, for instance our equilibrium was too long, so we cut that down and used slow pace editing. This really helped the audience make the transition from the equilibrium to the disequilbrium. This was evidently important to us, as we wanted to use Todorov's narrative theory.

Me and my group also used various social network sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Our target audience are teenagers/ young adults, so this was a good way of gaining feedback from them. We created a Twitter account (@ObsessionA2Media) and uploaded our products there and on Facebook to allow people to comment on them. Me and my group helped each other and we also commented on other groups work such as (@TheLastLaugh). I received really positive feedback for my poster and a few tips on how to improve it. For example, at first my poster looked really bare at the top as all the writing was lower down. I then added a rating, which was simple yet effective and looked like a real media product.









Evaluation Question 2


How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Friday 17 February 2012

Allocating Job Roles

Before constructing our trailer, me and my group had to allocate job roles. This made the filming and editing so much easier and everyone had a part to play. This also made it fair as we did not want one person to have to take responsibility for the group and the tasks that had to be completed. Although we allocated job roles, we all had an input in the construction.

Ivana: I played a big role as I organised each and every time the group and actresses were meeting to carry out the filming. The group liked me to take the responsibility for this as I am very organised and live right nearby where we were filming. I also came up with the storyline and planned out most of the shot by shot scenes.

Georgia: She was good at ensuring we had all the correct equipment each time we filmed. Georgia also knew how to edit our trailer as she had watched tutorials shown by a member of staff.

Ramarna: We assigned her the job role of actually being one of the main characters (The killer). As she was away on holiday for some of the filming, she played a big part in the editing and contributing her ideas to that.

However, we all contributed our thoughts and how we could improve our trailer as it was a shared piece if work. I thought my idea of filming in Royal Arsenal was a really good idea as the streets were plain, old looking yet empty. So it was easy for us to film without distractions or having to wait for people as they walked past. Ramarna had the idea of showing a shadow as that is one of the paradigms associated with the horror genre. The killers feet and knife were depicted as a shadow as he followed the girls.

Thursday 16 February 2012

Shooting Schedule


Date and scene and shot type
Location
Mise en scene/ props
Actors needed
Narrative
Monday 5th March, Scene 1
Medium, long, close up shots
Royal Arsenal- dark alleyway
Dark alleyway, leopard heels, mobile phone, knife, large black jacket/clothing
Anna, Dannii (Main girls)
Ramarna (killer)
Girls followed whilst walking
Monday 5th March, Scene 2
Establishing, point of view shots
Royal Arsenal- isolated green by Thames
Killer behind the tree
Anna and Dannii
Watching the girls from behind a tree
Monday 5th March, Scene 3
Close up, medium
Royal Arsenal- dark alleyway
Anna’s leopard heels, black jacket, knife
Anna and Ramarna
Killer catches Anna (protagonist)
Monday 5th March, Scene 4
Long shot
Dannii in tunnel
N/A
Dannii
Hiding in tunnel from killer
Monday 5th March, Scene 5
Long shot
Royal Arsenal streets
Bag, knife, black clothing, fake blood
Dannii and Killer
Dannii is being chased by the killer
Monday 12th March, Scene 6
Medium, close ups
Anna’s room
Mirror, leopard shoes, cupboard, make up, rollers in hair, iphone
Anna
Anna is getting ready (period of equilibrium)
Monday 12th March, Scene 7
Medium, over the shoulder shot
Anna’s house
Photos of girls, red marker, black clothing
Killer (Ramarna)
Killer is standing and staring at his collection of photos (of the girls)
Monday 16th March, Scene 8
Medium, close up, long shots
Ivana’s house
Knife, bath, sink-water running, stairs, torch
Ramarna (As Anna)
In the killer’s house. Running up the stairs away from him. Still shots of her eyes, under the bed.



Risk Assessment

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Research Into Similar Magazines- Empire







































I decided to use some ideas from this particular Empire cover as it looks really professional yet simple, which is the approach I wanted to take. Megan Fox is on the cover as she plays an important role in Transformers, so I decided to have Anna on the cover of my magazine instead of the killer or rest of the actors. The background is white so the font and font colours really stand out and the readers are automatically drawn in to the photo then the text.

Research Into Similar Posters- Prom Night

I decided to make my poster similar to this one as I really liked the ambiguous questions it presented to me and I wanted my poster to do the same. It is fairly simple yet effective and easy to understand what the film is about. To me, the dark colours suggest the film will tell a dark narrative. 

My Horror Trailer Script


Using Todorov's theory of narrative. 

Scene 1: Equilibrium
Candice and Sarah in bedroom- painting nails. Couple of words said and laughter. To ease/comfort audience. Medium shot.

Scene 2: Moment of disequilibrium
Long shot to establish the scene. 'Stalker/Killer' possibly behind a tree watching the girls walk.
Then the girls are walking through the quiet part of town.
‘Did you hear about George?’     (jump cuts throughout)

‘Did you just hear that?’ Sarah (Dannii) turns around with camera- Point of View shot. As she turns around someone quickly walks past at the end of the street.
The girls speed up. (music speeds up, intensifies)

Killer’s room filled with photos of girls- Candice and Sarah circled in red marker
Camera shows all photos, zooms in particular photo of the 2 girls.

Sarah’s phone rings (music stops as phone rings)
Candice is grabbed (killer’s point of view- canted angle when he grabs her)
Then the shot of the killer’s hand around Candice’s mouth (muffles- music stops, canted angle shows unstableness/terror)

Scene 3:
Scene 4: Sarah is chased; hides behind bush and car (heavy panting/breathing)
Loud scream at the end (blackness) 

Period of disequilibrium: release date & coming soon. 

Thursday 19 January 2012

Treatment/ Film Ideas

Idea 1: Camping film idea
Texas Chainsaw Massacre and House of Wax meet the classic slasher Friday 13th
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Road trip, serial killer,
House of Wax; Camping trip, isolation, no contact with outside world.
Friday 13th: slasher, teenagers, mental
Scenario:
‘A group of teenagers adventure on a camping trip in the isolated woods where they are brutally murdered by their stalker....one by one’
‘Group of teenagers’ and ‘stalker’-character paradigm
‘Isolated woods’- Setting paradigm
‘Brutally murdered’- props: weapons such as knives, poles
Infatuation (mental issues- photographs of girls)
Treatment:
Opening shot is the teens setting off on their road trip, discussing who is sharing tents with whom. One of the teens gets his/her personal camera out and starts filming how excited they are for their trip and fooling around. (Close up, low angle, canted angles as he/she is filming other people in the car) The unsteady camera shots portray a structuralist view. Long shot to set the scene showing them getting out the car and setting up their tents. They are starting to become aware that they are not alone and start hearing noises and seeing movements. (Tone card- Someone’s obsession, turns into another person’s nightmare) A jump cut to the stalker in a room looking at photos of the girls, (Photos of them having fun, laughing).


Idea 2: Obsession/stalker storyline
Scream meets I know What You Did Last Summer
Scream: tormenting the teens, knife
Scenario
A stalker seeks revenge many years later...he couldn’t forgive and forget
Stalker- Character paradigm
Infatuation- mental issues (photographs of girls)
Treatment
The trailer begins at the moment of equilibrium when the two best friends are talking and painting each other’s nails (sleepover setting). Then there is a long shot of the girls walking home through a quiet part of town. (Disequilibrium)They begin to feel a little paranoid (unsteady camera movement) thinking someone is behind them, (jump cuts of them speeding up) but when they turn around they catch a glimpse of someone walking past. (Close up of their facial expressions; shock, confusion). Tone card: They have no idea... George (Idea of ‘Martin’ from Human Centipede 2) is wanting revenge...after all these years. Then there is a shot of many photographs of the girls on a wall, zooming in on their faces at one point. (Close up shot)


Idea 3: Supernatural (Ghost activity)
The Exorcism of Emily Rose meets The Amityville Horror
The Exorcism of Emily Rose: Possessed Child / The Amityville Horror: Paranormal activity
Scenario:
Possessed child – Character Paradigm
Family House – Setting Paradigm
Paranormal activity, objects moving
Treatment
The opening shot is of a young child sitting at the end of her bed staring at the wall when objects around her start to move. Her parents start then start to believe that there is something wrong with her. (Medium Shot). Her parents start to worry about her and decide it is best to keep her locked inside on her own. When her parents return home they find that the house has been trashed (High shot, canted angle). The young girl wants to get her own back for what her parents have done and starts tormenting them, by messing with their minds and rearranging objects around the house. She is left with only one option now for revenge, and that is to slowly murder them in their sleep.