FINISHED BLOGGING!!!!

 FINISHED!!!!

FINALLY FINISHED :)...

EVALUATION Q8: WHAT HAVE I LEARNT?

• Camera: - Focus, how to set up right frame, 2/3 1/3 rule.

 
 

 

•  Editing: - Effects, Fades/Transitions, manipulating shots, match cutting, cross cutting, jump cuts etc.

 

• Titles: - Font suggests type of movie to the audience, sequence has to follow a convention

•  Mise en Scene: - Props, outfits, locations, make-up etc

•  Team work: - How to contribute ideas equally and communication skills.

•  Organisation: - How to do very careful research and planning, realised itss essential to make a good movie.

•  Lighting: - Spot lights, effects lighting can have on the way the audience views a character

•  Sound: - Learned it was tricky to work with voices as they don't sound good, sound fx, diegetic and non diegetic- plus sound track very important to create mood.

•  iMac: - We also learnt how to use the iMacs to help improve the quality of our work.

Evaluation Q8: Progress Report

I feel that I have learnt alot through this process. Here are the main things I have learnt:

1. The camera and the equipment- I learnt the ins and outs of using the camera and all of its equipment (tripod, lights, memory cards, flip camera). We used all of these to film our bag swap, our prelim, and our final thriller opening. Also I learnt about focus, how to set up right frame, and the 2/3 1/3 rule.We also used the flip cameras to record us talking about something related to our film to make our own video blog and also to record the audience feedback sesion.
2.  Blogger- I learnt to blog, and the ins and outs of blogger. This was usefull because it helped us with our video, we posted research and it allowed us to keep in touch with our group members on research and other information relating to our thriller. I learnt how to post and embed videos, photographs, to change the theme of our blog, and to post blogs.
3. iMac and its programs- I learnt to use the iMac, which to my knowledge are completely new computers that were brought in for this year. Using the iMac allowed me access to programs like Final Cut Pro, Sountrack Pro, Live Type, Quicktime, Handbreak. All of these programs were used in order for our thriller to be put together. Final Cut Pro, is were we edited the clips and put them all together. We used fades and dissolves (although they all might not have been used in the final clip), i learnt about rendering, i also learnt when all the clips are put together how to export them for Live Type and Sountrack so that we could do the sound and titles. On Sountrack I learnt how to add sounds together, and i explored all the different sounds that were on the system that were relevant to the thriller genre, and also how to save the sound and import it into Final cut Pro to add to the clips. On Live Type I learnt how to add titles and change the colour and position and explored the different fonts and again, save it so i could import it into Final Cut Pro. Once finish the editing I had to export the video as a quicktime movie, and then use Handbrake to convert it into an .mp4 file for Blogger.com. Through all of this I used QuickTime Recorder to record all of the things we were doing, the editing, the sound and the titles.
4. Teamwork And Organisation- We learnt that we had to be very organised (e.g. timetable to film, planning and research, blogs, deadlines) and we had to work as a team in order to execute our task succesfully.
5. Theory- I learnt all about the more theoretical side of media. The camera angles and the focus (for the camera), diegetic and non-diegetic sounds (sound and video), titles and fonts (titles), editing, costumes and props which are essential to all videos, to have something realistic and credible and to think well of all of the props used and their meaning in the video (mise-en-scene).

Overall I think it was a very good expirience, and even though many may not see the best editing (we were not that big on editing) or the best story line, I think we did well and we kept in mind that the task was a thriller opening and not a trailer to a film. I think we could have extended it more, maybe hear police cirens or someone at the station talking about the murder but all in all i think we kept in mind what we learnt, we actually did an opening as opposed to a trailer (like some other student films may have done), and we kept it clean, clear and simple opening!

Evaluation Q4&5 Media Institution

As part of our evaluation we need to think about how we would advertise and distribute our films. This is a very important part of actually  making a film successful. In order to attract a good target audience we have to be extremely realistic about our student film release and have to   take into account that Candi Studios are a low budget company but we still have up to date equipment and facilities that will make our films look as good as possible. For our thriller movie  (DeadLine) we did decided to use Candi Studios as it is a low budget production company so we have to find ways of advertising it in mnay different ways.

Our film is a student video that will be released over the Internet on Vimeo, embedded onto a blog and may find its way onto YouTube or social net working websites.'The Screen On The Green' on the 5th of April 2011 to an audience of 180. Lets also not forget that the film is then to be released on DVD (the date of the DVD release is currently unknown), and a total of 200 DVDs will be out. 

There is an advantage of us being students and actually having the opportunity to film a Thriller movie. Continuously young people are forever spending hours on ends on social networking sites such as Sites Facebook and Twitter.  Facebook is exceptional useful as young people who my thriller audience is often have hundreds and hundreds of friends on Facebook. Once they upload their video there 'friends' can view it and 'Share' it to their list. This is therefore a continuous cycle that allows the movie to be published and distributed through a social networking site. They can also get comments and 'likes' giving feedback and criticism on their movie.  I have also shared my video on youtube and got some comments and feedback. 

Below are some screen Shots and evidence of our thriller movie posted on Youtube with Comments and likes:- 

Below this shows how many people have viewed this and how many likes and dislikes. 

Below this shows the comment we got back...Mostly Positive comments :). 

An example of some student work on the Internet that has had quite a large number of hits is:

The Internet has been used to launch this movie to a wider audience as it has been published on YouTube one of the worlds most visited music and film sites that have millions of views a day. This Thriller opening called 'Aftermath ' from students that attend hurtwoodhouse performance college made 226 views on YouTube. It has also published through Blogger.com as our media teachers shared the link with us so we could access it accordingly. I think their target audeicne is for about 20 year old as it hold elements that young people may not be remotely interested in. It slightly has elements of crime/psychological thriller sub genres and rally does have some interesting shots. I followed a similar model of launching my film will be shown in a cinematic screening in front of students from the AS media department, i will probably then be able to ask people what they thought about my thriller opening. This also shows how putting in a low budget film on websites like youtube can be quite famous around small sites. 

YouTube is the most popular video sharing site. It reaches a wide audience and with a YouTube page you can receive user feedback and comments on how well the video actually was, you can remain anonymous. However you have to have signed up with YouTube in order to comment or like videos. This makes publicising better and more effective as it keeps being social involved and they can say what they think. 

HERE IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A MUSIC VIDEO WHICH IS LOW BUDGETED AND HAS MANY MANY VIEWS: 

Below shows how many views it has had...Wow a Lot. As you can see it is very famous and millions of people have viewed it. 

Below shows how many comments it has had...Which is a lot as well. !

Overall even though having a low budget film it can be put on sites like face book and youtube and can be viewed many people. 

Evaluation Q4&5: Media Institution

Post-production is part of the filmmaking process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, videos, audio recordings, photography, and digital art. It is term for all stages of production occurring after the actual end of shooting and recording the completed work. 

Post-production is, as a matter of fact, many different processes grouped under one name. These typically include:

• Editing the film
• Writing, (re)recording, and editing the soundtrack.
• Adding visual special effects
• Sound Design, Sound Effects, Music, a process known as sound re-recording or mixing.
• Transfer of film to Video or Data with a telecine and Color grading.

As per usual, post-production takes longer than the actual filming. 

Within post production we have exhibition and distribution. This is the final stage, where the film is released to cinemas or to consumer media (DVD, VCD, VHS, Blu-ray) or direct download from a provider. Most films have a website, movie posters and trailers. The film plays at selected cinemas and the DVD typically is released a few months later. 

In our case we have a blog were we keep up to date with all the goings on and with our research. We have also decided to make a website to go with our movie as we wanted to go through all the post-production stages. 

We have done the editing, added all the sound and the titles. We posted our final opening sequence on Blogger. We then decided to use other forms on Social Media; YouTube, Vimeo, and links to them on; Facebook and Twitter. We also made a website for our movie, as we found in our research most films have a website (Our Website: www.deadlinemovie.tk ). 


From this we can assume that our distributers would be the forms of Social Media mentioned; YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Vimeo. The film is supposed to be distributed to cinema chains, and in our case Dead Line was screened and premiered at 'The Screen On The Green' on the 5th of April 2011 to an audience of 180. Lets also not forget that the film is then to be released on DVD (the date of the DVD release is currently unknown), and a total of 200 DVDs will be out. 


In order to reach a global audience you do not necessarily need money as many short/student films have proved, all you need is the best and most accessible forms of social media. In our case we used all the social medias mentioned above and we also made our own website to spread it to an ever wider audience. 

The Official Dead Line Thriller Film Website
www.deadlinemovie.tk

Evaluation Q8. Looking back at your perliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

Prelim Video:
First time filming with the techniques we were taught.

MISE EN SCENE

Props used in these two images are a Paper, Pen and Phone which was used as a way to  show the character is doing work initial we thought this was a good idea but as we continued research we realised that it didn't look realistic and in a way was comical. Obviously it was suppose to be suspenseful and i didn't think that particular shot suited the genre. 

We learnt for our final film that were had to think about mise en scene carefully and that they are used to create part of the actual storyline. In the first image you can see a closeup of a cup, lipstick and makeup. In a way an innocent girl can be perceived and the makeup is used to indicate her persona and what type of character she is. However the medicine shows a bit of the suspencefull side.  The other shot is of a shot of the calling card being a scarf. This is something where she leaves behind at the end. This mise en scene was much better suited for the story we were trying to get across.

EDITING

The first shot with door and a girl is my first prelim film. You can see we edited this as a match cut of her coming in and shutting the door. This did not turn out very good. The second two images are from our final film. This is a much better match cut of her drinking the water and then places it down back on the table. This was useful as we were stuck for time and only had a 2 mins Maxim title sequence. Looking back at the prelim could analyise that the match cut and editing i have learnt has been very successful. 

LIGHTING

The first shot is from our prelim task, as you can see the Lighting is very bad due to being in a class room. This is very bad to lightening as it is to dark and the lightening portray a successful piece of work. I brought this knowledge and mistake with me along to my final thriller as i remembered that lighting is important and it should be clear who characters are. The JVC cameras helped me with lighting issues (the GAIN button) increased the light tensity and made shots brighter if we didn't have any natural light at that particular shot. As you can see the second shot is much better with the natural light. 

SOUND

Our sound in the Preliminary task was BORING it was just one consistent sound and had no excitement. We did not use any sound at all just the sound from the video. After analysing this I then decided that for the final film we had to make sure that the soundtrack was very tense and suspenseful to create the mood. We ended up creating very unique and catching sound sequence from using the programme sound track pro. From all our audience feedback they all mention that our sound really did fit with our sequence, pace and titles, this allowed me to believe that it was an effective and successful piece. The sound is very important in a thriller movie as it creates feelings and the mood. 

CAMERA

These two shots are from my prelim film, They are actually really bad shots. One of the characters are practically cut out of the shot, this is bad as i later learnt that if this was shown on a big screen for example in the cinema it wouldn't fit in the frame and that part of the shot will be cut off. The second shot has allot of space at the side. Allowing the audience to be distracted and it doesn't look really professional. These two shots show a lot of the background which does not look very good a lot. 

These two shots are taken from our Final film. These shots are much better and do fit the content more. They show that i have learnt skills and my progression has been clearly stated. The first shot is a nice big  extreme closeup of the props, and its nice and clear. The second shot i would describe as an close up. This really captures on how the character looks and also it pays more attention to the face rather than the background which i wanted. This is also quite unusual and wanted a jerky shot so it looks more suspencfull. A variety of shots were used to really show off our skills and knowledge.

Titles and Fonts

In my prelim i did not use any sort of titles. However learning this skill i have used it in my final thriller movie using black screens. We Used fonts that is quite simple white, but quite suspancefull. 

Skills I have Learnt:

During my time i have also learnt that team work is extremely important. My group consisted of 5 people, at times we had some difficulties were we didn't agree on particular ideas and decisions however we always tried to incorporate our ideas together. Meeting up to film in the mornings were hassle and there was always a group member late, but once we all were together we actively started participating and giving feedback on shots that we liked and didn't like so it was a productive filming experience. one thing that i liked about our group is that we always helped one another, constantly reminding each other about blogs that were due or planning that was needed. We usually allocated specific roles to our group members, for example Elias did soundtracks, Mariama and Myself done editing and Sheri focused on the titles and credits.

Being organised is sensual as you have to be very prepared to make sacrifices for example spend time filming out of college hours rather than going out with friends. We had to be on time when we were asked to collect equipment because of the simple reason that time slots were allocated and there are not enough cameras for every single group. This resulted in many people realising our responsibilities and recognising we had to work as a team in order to have a successful film at the end of the course.

I learnt that you had to be very careful with the equipment as they were very expensive and needed allot of care when handling. JVC camera, still cameras, memory cards, Tripod and flip cameras were the basics that i used throughout my filming process.
Overall my experience was great and i would do it all over again, i have some really nice memories and have learnt so much about technology and how to use Apple Mac computers

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There were a lot of differences between the two sequences, and in watching them, we could really see the differences and development in our editing and production techniques over time.My skills with editing have improved massively since the beginning of the course: initially, there were just lots of jump cuts and a various range of shots that didn't particularly flow together. Now i have learnt to use different techniques such as match cuts adding the titles, speeding up the video clip, chanaging the colour and black screens. I think this is a really useful skill to have as it can help me in future references if i want to continue to do this. 

Finally i have learnt that planning before you go our filming is very important as you have to organise who is bringing in particular props for that shooting day. Location for the setting, what time of day you are going to meet because when my group filmed at London Eye (Waterloo) we had decided to go in the morning as it is a tourist attraction so it often gets busy during the afternoon. You also have to do research so you know exactly what elements a thriller holds. As you can see i have come a very long way and has been very successful and determained to do a lot of hard work. 

Evaluation Q7. Technologies

We were introduced to new technologies that we had to use majority of the time. These technologies are some of the things i learnt during editing and doing filming. 

1. Blogger

Blogger. The software that allows us to share our ideas and catch up on work we may have missed.

2. Imac

Macs: This is where we did all of the editing, aswell as using quicktime. 

3. Sound Track Pro

(Livetype, soundtrack pro & final cut pro): Each programme let us do a different thing to construct the film

together.

4. Final Cut Pro

5. Live Type Pro

6. JVC Video Camera 

The JVC cameras: The camera's that let us create the actual film aswell as the prelim. Thecameras helped us achieve a proffesional quality film. The cameras can be complicated to use, we had a lesson prepping us with how to use them.

7. JVC Camera

8. Lights 

The lights we used was to have better quality in a dark room. 

9. Memory Cards 

Memory Cards: They were essential in holding all our film work. They slot into the cameras and directly into the Apple Macs.