(Production) DRAFT 4

Evaluation Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary and first draft, what do you feel you have learnt from the progression from it to the full product?

Evaluation Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

If the page has an error message, please refresh the page until it appears.

Evaluation Question 5: How did you address/attract your audience?

Evaluation Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products.

(Reflection) Assignment: Final Draft Reflection

Draft 4 - Reflection

Looking back at our draft, we feel that our opening sequence was very successful.

• Firstly, we feel that our location was extremely effective, as it reinforced the authenticity of the sequence as a dentist killer. The overall setting was clear and it indicated to the audience that it was a dentist surgery from the outset.

• Secondly, we feel that our use of mise en scene was also very good. The dentist tools and props we used were very realistic and authentic. The clothing of both the victim and dentist was also effective and it further reinforced our representation of social groups. The lighting was also good, the overhead light provided clear lighting throughout, despite one or two shots being a little grainy. 

• Thirdly, we felt that the overall editing was proficient, as we believed there two be very few, if any, errors. We also challenged ourselves by using various match on action, shot reverse shot techniques. Furthermore, we also used gaussian blur on the outside of our frame, which was used to focus the audience on the main character within the shot, which also emphasised the representation our social groups.

• We felt that the positioning of credits was also very unique and effective, as it challenged the conventional approach to credits within horror opening sequences. We also felt that the colour and font of the text in the credits was very effective in reinforcing the genre of horror.

• Lastly, we felt that the choice of sound was very good. It created a lot of suspense for the audience and also created a style of jump scare at the end of the opening sequence. We felt that the music was the best part of our opening sequence as it contributed heavily to the overall feeling of suspense and terror within our film.

In conclusion, we felt that our opening sequence was professional and effective. However, there are some improvements to be made, such as, the lighting on the 'putting mask on' shots, and also the positioning of text on certain credits.

(Planning) Revised Planning for Draft 4

(Reflection) Draft 3 Audience Feedback & Targets

(Production) DRAFT 3

(Planning) Revised Planning for Draft 3

(Planning) Assignment: Revised Production Company Development

After our first draft, our audience all agreed that our production company intro was too 'action based' and needed improvement in order to fully represent our genre of horror.
After trying and testing new ideas for our production company intro, Luca managed to create an effective intro that was not only professional but also fit for the purpose.

This screenshot of our company intro shows how Luca attempted to reference the 'film noir' aspects of older generations of film and also reinforce that the company was related to the film industry.

The opening effects further show the intro to be sophisticated and professional.
These effects were done by using the 'background squares' effect within Final Cut Pro.
By doing this, we were able to create a completely original intro, as we wanted to avoid using templates, and create something unique.
The water droplet effect also makes the intro look more advanced as it clearly highlights more of a dark and dreary tone which further reinforces that of the 'Horror Sub-genre', and the scenes associated with this genre within other films.

(Reflection) Draft 2 Audience Feedback & Targets

(Production) DRAFT 2

(Planning) Assignment 61: New Production Schedule

Our Production Schedule:

This schedule contains our filming for Draft 1, 2 and also 3.
The blue colours represent editing, green represents filming, and purple represents project deadlines.

Our editing will be done within school, and the filming will all be done inside our original location, the surgery.

The filming on the 31st of March and 2nd April will be done without Ben as he is away, we will only be filming the cinematic shots. However, he will be back for the 7th April which is when we will be editing some of the footage shot without him, and then we will be filming the shots with him shortly after this.

(Planning) Assignment 60: Revised Planning

(Reflection) Assignment 59: Draft 1 Audience Feedback & Targets

(Production) DRAFT 1

(Production) Assignment 58: Editing Software Evidence

Editing Software Evidence:

This is a gif of all our editing screenshots that were taken during our editing process for our first draft.



We used a variety of tools on Final Cut Pro X:

• Slow-Mo (50%, 25%)
• Swipe Transition
• Fade Text
• Colour Correction
• Day into Night
• Reverse Clip Feature
• Hold Clip Feature
• Tumble Text
• Arrow Wood Impact Sound

(Planning) Assignment 57: Post Production Schedule

Post Production Schedule:

• This image shows the filming, editing and draft deadline dates for the month of March leading into April.

The events with blue tags highlight our editing dates where we will be meeting at school to edit our film for a few hours at a time.

The events with green tags highlight our filming dates for our film at our location of a dentist's surgery.

The events with purple tags highlight our draft deadlines from drafts 1 to 2 and then with an optional 3rd 'mock' draft deadline on April 1st.

(Production) Assignment 56: Photos of Production

Photos of Production:

Luca, Actor, Director:

This image shows Luca acting as the dentist killer within our film, he is wearing all the costumes and props that were planned previously. This shot is also filmed within our primary setting of the dentist surgery. This image was shot by Sam who is in command of all camera work.

Sam, Camera Coordinator:

This image shows Sam using our secondary camera, this camera was set up with our tripod in order to get steady and clear shots. This was also taken within our primary location of the dentist surgery. This image was taken by Luca.

Ben, Actor, Costume & Props Manager:

This image shows Ben performing as our secondary character, 'the victim'. Ben was wearing all of the clothes and props that were previously planned in our assignments. This image was also taken by Sam and was taken within our primary location of the dentist surgery.

Branding Our Blog

Branding Our Blog:

• For our blog, our number one priority, in terms of appearance, was to have a clean and simple collection of our work and documents.
• We also wanted the text on the blog to appear easy on the eye and not conflict with any of the colours of the blog.

Upon looking for a suitable background theme (as shown below), we found a theme that suited the basis of all our work within the blog.

We found a theme that reinforced our genre of 'Horror' and linked to the strong aspect of blood within our OTS. This theme was a deep red and it also allowed for easy reading of our text which meant that it was fit for purpose.

This image shows the strong colour of red which reinforces our theme of blood within our OTS

This image shows that the text is easily readable and is clear which means that the theme was fit for purpose.

(Planning) Assignment 55: Production Schedule

Production Schedule: 
This sheet will be amended as we finalise our filming dates for the later drafts.
The sheet below focuses on the filming dates and locations for our first draft which is due on March 9th.

(Planning)/(Production) Assignment 54: Foley & Sound Design Planning

(Planning) Assignment 53: Font & Title Planning

Font & Title Planning:

(Planning) Assignment 52: Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment: 

(Planning) Assignment 51: Script

Script:
Page 1&2:

Page 3:

(Planning) Assignment 50: Shotlists

Shotlists:   Written by Luca, Created by Sam.

(Planning) Assignment 49: Storyboards

Our Storyboard:

*Correction - Shot #5 - "Dentist walks patient to the chair, patient sits in the chair"*

(Planning) Assignment 48: Make-up Planning & Organisation

Make-Up:

(Planning) Assignment 47: Costume & Props

Costumes:

(Research) Assignment 46: Costume, Props & Make-up Research

Costume, Props & Make-up Research:

(Planning) Assignment 45: Representations of Social Groups

Representation of Social Groups:

In our film there will be:

• Medical Doctor
• Middle-aged Man

These characters will be portrayed by teenage boys.

In most horror films, the actions of the characters give the audience an insight into how that type of person acts in real life. In our case, the medical doctor is portrayed as being intelligent, meticulous and precise. This character is played by a teenage boy, this is important as the teenager who plays this character is represented as being fearless which reinforces the doctor's killer instinct.

The middle aged man within the film represents the normal, working class man who is selected by the killer for a reason that is unknown within the OTS. This character will also be played by a teenager, which is also important as the teenage boy within our film is represented as being innocent. This encourages the audience to feel sympathy for the victim as he is portrayed as being unknowingly innocent within the OTS.

We will be constructing these representations by; Ben appealing to his younger age and appearing to be very scared and frightened at the prospect of being killed, We will also be using Luca to act professionally and mercilessly in order to scare the audience and make the character look more sinister and creepy.

To conclude, the teenagers within our film are represented as fearless and innocent.

(Planning) Assignment 44: Actors Planning and Organisation

Our Actors:
This video was created using PowToon Video Software and then uploaded to YouTube, it contains the main roles and which member of the group will be playing them and also the availability of the actors in the filming process.



This second presentation highlights why the actors will suit their roles and also contain some images that will show the transformation into their character.

(Planning) Assignment 43: Location Planning and Organisation

Our Location Planning:

• We wish to film in a dentist surgery within Windsor, the dentist surgery is owned by the family of one of the members and therefore permission should not be a problem.

The address:

118 St Leonard's Road

Windsor

Berkshire

SL4 1DG

Important Key Information about our location:

Timing of our filming:
We need to consider the times at which we can use the location, this is important as it is currently a fully functioning dental surgery and therefore our filming is limited by the hours that it is not being used.
We have discovered that as the surgery is only used 6 days a week, we will be able to use the surgery on a Sunday. Time will not be an issue as all of our filming will be inside and therefore will not require natural light.

Lighting Arrangements:
Secondly, we need to consider the lighting arrangements of the surgery. We will be able to use professional lighting as the surgery contains various different sources of light, (as shown below). This artificial light will provide expert lighting for our cameras and will eliminate any lighting problems from our composition or project.

Potential Damage:
The surgery is constantly in use and therefore we will need to test the floor with our fake blood in order to make sure it does not stain. This is very important as the surgery is used almost daily and we cannot afford to leave any problems after our filming.




Access to Location:
The location is within Windsor Town centre and therefore is very accessible for all our group members, who live in the surrounding areas. This is also important as we will need every member to contribute at one stage to the filming.

• Luca and Jamaal are able to walk/cycle to the location with ease. (5-10 mins)
• Sam and Ben are able to cycle/take a car to the location with ease. (10-15 mins)

There is ample space for bikes to be locked up and there is designated parking outside the surgery.

Noise:
We need to consider any surrounding noise that may inflict the sound within our filming. Thankfully, the location is not near any major systems of transport and it is next to a fairly quiet road and so there should be no conflict of sound from any type of transport. There is only 1 generator that distributes the power for the building, and this is tucked outside and so will not provide any conflict of sound for our filming.

Health & Safety
There are very little health risks/hazards for our location, we will make sure to use the equipment with extreme care and we will be supervised by the manager of the practise who will advise us on what we can/can't use and will help us with the actual use of the chair, instruments and door locks.
These will be the only things we will be using within our filming period.

(Planning) Assignment 42 - Location Research and Scouting

Our Possible Location:

From the very outset of our planning, we had a strong idea of the location we wished to use.
We knew that we wished to film a slasher with a medical undercurrent.

Luckily, we have almost unlimited access to a dental surgery, therefore, we will be filming all of our shots within the surgery and surrounding rooms.

This image from Google Maps shows the address of our location and a brief image of the road.

This image shows the inside of the surgery.

This image shows the front of the dental surgery which is acquired from Google Maps StreetView feature

We believe this will be an excellent location for our dentist slasher as the surgery is extremely fit for the purpose of the dentist and will also provide great lighting for the camera. There is also already various types of surgical equipment that we can use which will make the OTS more realistic.

Lastly, this is also a good location as it is within a town centre and each group member can easily access this location which means there will be a greater contribution from all team members.

(Planning) Assignment 41: Production Company Development

Production Companies:
Lionsgate
Dark Castle Entertainment
Dimension Films
Vertigo Films

• We believe that due to our location within the UK we should look for production companies that solely operate within the UK.
• We believe that Vertigo Films would be perfect for our film as they are based in the UK and have experience with horror films. 
• They produced both 'Valhalla Rising' and 'A Haunted House', which were Slasher and Comedy Horror films. 

Our Production Company:

Ace7 Productions - We believe this incorporates our Group 7 name (7), and our quality of work (Ace).

Our Intro:
Our Playing Card is viewed from chocolatedesign.com and can also be seen on Pinterest in the Aces section.

We focused on manipulating the card into a 7 shape, and then having the text fly in.
The sound effects are from an un-copyrighted source and are used to make the intro better and more realistic.




Our Logo:

(Planning) Assignment 40: Distribution Company Choice

Our Distribution Company Choice:

Anchor Bay Entertainment

- We chose this as we believe that our film compares with similar films that were distributed by this company.

• 'Hatchet' (2006) - a slasher film with a budget of 1.5 million dollars, distributed by Anchor Bay Entertainment.

We believe this would suit our film as we will also be using a relatively low budget compared with other slasher films, such as Halloween with a budget of 15 million that was distributed by MGM and Dimension Films.
We also believe this is a good comparison as it was only filmed within one location in California, USA and we will also only be filming in one location.

(Research) Assignment 39: Institution Research

Institution Research:

1. Scream 4
Produced by: Corvus Corax Productions, Outerbanks Entertainment
Distributed by: Dimension Films

2. Hatchet
Produced by: High Seas Entertainment, Ariescope Pictures
Distributed by: Anchor Bay Entertainment

3. Halloween (2007)
Produced by: Dimension Films, The Weinstein Company
Distributed by: Dimension Films, MGM

4. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D
Produced by: Millennium Films
Distributed by: Lionsgate

5. Childs Play - Chucky (1988)
Produced by: United Artists
Distributed by: MGM

Overall, we can see that Slasher films generally attract the large production and distribution companies, this is shown by the use of Dimension Films being very common with both the production and distribution of Slasher Films.
Furthermore, it is clear to see that MGM is also a common distributor of popular Slasher films.

MGM is an American media company that is based in California, USA and was established over 90 years ago. It is mostly involved in the production and distribution of international feature films and television programmes.

Dimension Films is an American film production company that is owned by the Weinstein Company. They are based in New York, USA and they were established over 20 years ago. It was also previously owned by Walt Disney Studios.

(Research) Assignment 38: Foley Research

Foley effect Research:

After looking online for tutorials and guides to making 'expert' sound effects, we found an excellent site called EpicSound.com, it gave detailed and effective guides for lots of different sound effects.
We found a few that were exactly what we needed for our film:

This image highlights various ways to create blood effects for our film. These will be used for our main scene within the dentist's operating room, to create sound for the incisions and cuts from the dentist to the patient.

We then found an elite YouTube tutorial to create a realistic stab noise that we could use for our film. This stab noise requires some sharp tools and either a watermelon or cabbage, which we can acquire with ease. This sound will be used in our scenes where the dentist is killing the patient after he has removed his teeth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVKYTcv3UV4

Lastly, we found a useful website on foley effects in a more general sense within the film industry. This article provided some information on how to make basic but realistic sounds for films. Although we may not use any of these effects, we will have them for future reference if we change our film after the first draft.

(Research) Assignment 37: Music Research

Music Research:

Firstly we used YouTube's own music finder to look for un-copyrighted music,

We then found 'Hero Theme - MK2' on the cinematic song list as shown below.

We found these song to be extremely good for our film as they combine a slow undercurrent of suspense and tension with a general theme of anger.
Here is the link for the songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QIoK29jBD8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_THyS0sRlU

However, upon further listening, we decided that the first song 'Hero Theme' was more of an Action/Thriller song rather than Horror. So we will not be using this song.

We also found an amazing website for all types of background songs for films.
The website was named 'EpicSound':
http://www.epicsound.com/music

We particularly liked 'Lurking in the Dark' as a back-up background song for our OTS.

We also did some further research on some other music sites:

This image shows our search on 'PurplePlanet.com' for Tense and background music, however we found that the music was too plain and boring for our film.

We lastly used BenSound.com to look at other cinematic songs, but we found that they were also too simple and basic for our film.

Here are the links to the cinematic songs that we looked at, the one we will be using predominantly is the youtube link above.

http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/cinematic

http://www.royalty-free-background-music.co.uk/#/tense-music/4575087575

http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/cinematic/2

http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/world-others

(Planning) Assignment 36: Target Audience of our OTS

Our Target Audience:

The demographic:
We compared our 'Slasher' sub-genre to a film with a similar plot, we found that the plot compared to the earlier Saw films as there is both a medical and psychological element to Saw and our OTS,
This is a screenshot from a YouGov demographic profile of Saw:

We believe that our demographic will be similar as our project will contain very gory scenes, complex language and a sinister plot.

Furthermore, we also believe that the camera work within our OTS will compare with that of 'Reservoir Dogs'.
Here is another YouGov demographic profile for 'Reservoir Dogs'.

We believe that our target audience will be male, middle-aged and with a mixed social grade of A-C.
We believe this because the demographics for similar films with altered features show that the audience is older, more experienced and enjoy complicated and violent plots.
Our film will contain themes of medical violence, bloody scenes and complicated characters, and will also share similar camera work to that of the 'ear scene' from 'Reservoir Dogs'.

(Planning) Assignment 35: Timelines

Timeline

Here is the timeline for all of the events within our opening horror sequence:

This first image is an overview of everything that will happen within the sequence.

This second image shows a zoomed in version of our timeline that shows the first 60 seconds in greater detail.

This last image shows another image of our timeline that is zoomed in, this image shows the last 70+ seconds in greater detail.

(Pitch) Assignment 34: Revised Pitch

(Pitch) Assignment 33: Pitch Audience Feedback

Here is an image of the feedback from our audience after delivering our pitch:

(Reflection) Assignment 32: Targets to Improve our Blog

To improve our blog we need to:

• Complete any assignments that we have yet to complete
• Add the correct labels for the person that has done the task and remove their name from the title.
• Add the correct topic tag, use the (Rf,Pr,Pt) tags that have yet to be used.
• Create a more separation of work for each person, so that everyone does an equal amount of work.
• Use a wider variety of websites and programmes to create the work on the blog, for example, we are yet to use photopeach.com or timetoast.com, this would show we had a greater understanding of the technology required.

(Reflection) Assignment 31: Self Assessment of Blog

Our Assessment of this blog:

• Firstly, we believe we covered the vast majority of the assignments that we were set to a high quality.
• Secondly, we believe that our film research assignments were done to a very high quality and with great detail.
• Thirdly, we believe that our video projects, such as our swede and our preliminary, have been edited and planned very well, and also have been edited to a good standard.

• However, we believe that our distribution of work could have been more equal, this will improve as we will be assigned specific roles for our main project and we will know which assignments we must independently complete.
• We also believe that our dates and tags could be more accurate as they are important for obtaining a good chronological order for our work.
• Lastly, we believe that our topic tags, such as (Research) and (Planning), need improvement as we have not used any other tags other than these two.

(Pitch) Assignment 30: Pitch

Here are some images of our pitch worksheet with our main idea:

Assignment 29: Job Roles

(Reflection) Assignment 28: Preliminary Reflection

What we learnt from our Preliminary video:

- Firstly, we learnt that a wide variety of shots can make our project look much more professional and sophisticated. This also allowed us a way to incorporate a shot reverse shot and a match on action within our preliminary video.

- Secondly, we lacked the use of an over-the-shoulder shot, we found the angles and headroom for the dialogue to be difficult to produce. This will come with more practise of filming our drafts.

- Lastly, we struggled to find a good script to help portray out story, in our cousework video we will try and keep the dialogue to a minimum as we believe this will make our overall prject better as we then are less reliant on our acting ability.

(Production) Assignment 27: Preliminary Video

Here is a gif of our editing screenshots:

(Planning) Assignment 26: Preliminary Planning

Our Planning Prezi:

(Production) Assignment 25: Blood Workshop

(Reflection) Assignment 24: What did we learn from Audience Research?

What we learnt from our audience research:

• Firstly, we learnt that the comedy horror sub-genre, e.g Scary Movie,  is less popular as people generally prefer to laugh at a comedy film rather than a horror film where they would prefer to be thoroughly scared.

• Secondly, we learnt that the paranormal series is generally quite exciting as people can relate more to them as they are meant to be realistic, one of the people in the interviews said that these types of films 'really got him going' which reinforces the scary and realistic nature of theses films.

• Furthermore, we learnt that the cast and the actors used has a large impact upon horror films and one of the people in the interviews said that the cast was what attracted them to the film.

• Lastly, the acting within the film is also believed to determine whether a horror film is good or not, in one person's case, they believed that the acting solely distinguished the difference between a good or bad movie.

(Research) Assignment 23: Audience Research Online Surveys

Luca created the survey on SurveyMonkey.com
Here is a link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/create/survey/preview?sm=MgeeoSLHOlGP_2BqvA3nsni_2BB3nMzPAWX8LamI_2FEz7DoI_3D

(Research) Assignment 22: Audience Research Video Interviews

(Reflection) Assignment 21: Evaluation of Swede

Evaluation:

• Firstly, we realised that the sound of the original trailer included lots of dialogue and so in order to cut out the dialogue and use our own, we had to repeat some of the sound effects in order to avoid no sound at all, this proved to be difficult and resulted in quite poor sound management at the end of the swede. However, within our actual coursework OTS this will not be a problem as we will not have to emulate anything.

• Secondly, we learnt to use different colour corrections such as cast in order to achieve a darker, and more dreary setting to help emulate the original within the trailer

• Thirdly, we learnt how it is very difficult to emulate the equivalent colour correction within the original, as we struggled in places to get the right colour saturation within our clips.

• Furthermore, we managed to successfully copy the text for the credits and reviews, we feel that they accurately represent the text within the original.

• Lastly, we struggled to replicate the montage style of editing at the start of the swede, but we felt we also accurately emulated it within our swede.

(Production) Assignment 20: Swede Video

(Production) Assignment 19: Swede Construction

Below is a Gif that shows all of the screenshots we took throughout the editing process of our Swede.

This gif was made with makeagif.com

(Production) Assignment 18: Swede Filming Photos

These images below were taken while we were filming our swede at our forest location. These images portray how we used the equipment to film in different situations. Sam was unable to attend this filming session.

Swede Filming Photos on PhotoPeach

(Production) Practise Opening Sequence

(Research) Assignment 17: Film Titles/Credits Research

Film: The Cabin In The Woods- Credits/Opening Titles

This is one of the last scenes in the OTS where the credit for the director is shown, this is common in many films as the director  pulls all of the other aspects of the film together which  is why it is usually the last credit shown. The text id red with follows the pattern of blood and gore that runs through out the OTS.



 .

The title of the film is shown half way through the OTS. It jumps out to the audience when they least expect it with a scream in the back ground, this shows the audience that the film is going to be quite jumpy. The fact the credit it shown the red again adds to the gore and symbolism of blood that runs through out this OTS.

This image shows the first credit of an actor. This is the scene is shown to indicates that the actor is a selling point for the film and references that he is quite a famous person. The text is also red, and is sans serif. The name of the actor is red and is quite rough, the red is used to symbolize

the blood we saw in the first few scenes, this keeps the theme of blood running through the OTS.

The use of the animated blood adss to the gore, blood and violence of the film. Through out the first few scene we are taken on a journey by the red blood, and as your can see by the image the people in the back drop of the blood are being violent which prepares the audience for future events. 

One of the first credits to appear in the OTS, is the name of main distribution company 'Lionsagate', this is because they funded the movie and so as a consequence own the movie, so they make sure their name is first to show their importance towards making the film. The text is Black on a red back drop this makes the credit stand out but the use of the colour dark red which references the blood and gore of the film.

(Research) Assignment 17: Film Titles/Credits Research

Film: Se7en - Credits/Opening Titles

This is the first credit scene. It is shown in san serif font and is in white text to stand out.  The main distribution company is New Line Cinema, this is reinforced by the font for the company being slightly bolder than the 'Presents' text. The text is also animated and has moves slightly as well as having a sharp blur effect after a few seconds.

This is the second credit shown and it highlights the directors name. This is because they believe the director to be famous and therefore people will recognise his name and will also build excitement from the outset. The text for 'A film by' is similar to the previous credit, with white, sans serif and capital text. However the text for the director is different and has a different form of font. It is still sans serif and white and it also shares the same animation as the previous credit.

This is the third credit. This credit shows the first main actor within the film. This actor is also very famous and helps to intensify the excitement and also build hype before the film really starts. This actor may have been one of the unique selling points for the film which is why it is the third credit. The text is sans serif and white and the font is the same as the director's name in the previous credit. The text also follows the same animation as previous.