Foundation ProductionAS media

Research and planning

media main task
Media Main Task (video)
2nd February 2009: Complete storyboard
Research into genre with examples
Start Blog
Audience research
9th February 2009:
Conduct questionnaire
Complete storyboard
Record production of blog
analyse Questionnaire results
decide if other research is needed.


16TH FEBUARY 2009:
Research into Genre

23rd February 2009:
Complete filming

2nd March 2009 :
Begin editing

9th March 2009:
Finishing editing
This is the timetable we wrote out at the start of our production. we will try to stick to this time table but alteration will be made, if we fall behind so we still have a good idea of the deadline for things to be completed.

Wednesday, 11 February 2009
media Main task Timeline
We lost some lessons in media so we started work on the 4th February. in this lesson we, Discussed task deadlines
Decided on things that need to be completed first
Assign jobs for group members
Also we started on our storyboard
11th February:
Ami started on questionnaire and typed it up. (more questions need to be added)
we finished drawing up storyboard
Lizzie did some Audience and genre research Wrote up notes for blog.


Media Main Task
Friday 13TH February
•Lizzie continues with audience and genre research
Ami finish questionnaire and uses the data to make graphs to help us with our evaluation.

media Main task Timeline
We lost some lessons in media so we started work on the 4th February.in this lesson we:Discussed task deadlines
Decided on things that need to be completed first
Assign jobs for group members
Also we started on our storyboard
11th February:
Ami started on questionnaire and typed it up. (more questions need to be added)
we finished drawing up storyboard
Lizzie did some Audience and genre research
Wrote up notes for blog.
• Ami start film research
• Decide on outfits for film
• Hand out questionnaires


Main Filming
26th Feb: Started main task filming because we were unable to edit our preliminary.

Media Timeline
4th March
Editing for Preliminary task started and completed.
6TH MARCH Preliminary uploaded to blog. Main task filming continued.
Monday 10th MARCH
• Main task filming continued
• 10TH and 14th MARCH
• Planning starts for our evaluation of our main task
•17th and 20th MARCH
• The Filming of the glass being dropped in Ami’s house
•24th and 25th
• In these days we completed our main task, including lots of different shots.
• 27th march
• we completed editing our main film and added in effects so the clips flow into each other.
•1st , 3rd and through half term (April)
• we added in sound to our main film and continued with the evaluation of our work. Ready to be handed in when we get back to school.


Costume for Main and Preliminary task
Costume for PreliminaryLizzie King: overalls- with number blue/blackgray shoesLizzie Mclean: smart clothes, black/whiteblack heels, black coatCostume for Main Task
Lizzie king: Casual wear, jeans, t-shirt and trainers/ maybe change to black/white clothing.
Ami Venney: Black cloak, black clothesso her face is covered.
Lizzie Mclean: casual clothes, jeans, trainers, t-shirt


Props: dark cloak for ami to cover her self in so the audience couldn’t see her face making it mysterious. We used a plastic glass to hold the water in before it was dropped. This way when the plastic has contact with the floor it will bounce and create a better effect. We used the tri-pod to hold the camera still.

Evaluation

Any one can watch a film. In the book “how to read a film” written by James Monaco in 1977 he states that “even a cat can watch a film. If we are to make sense of the film, however, we must learn to comprehend the images with which we are presented”.
So we decided to start analysing a genre that we had chosen. We started with the research, organising a time and place were we could all sit and analyse the establishing shot of a thriller film. We were looking for:
What setting is most commonly used?
What shots create the best dramatic effect on the audience?
And how we could use these techniques in our film?

After watching a good variety of thriller films we compared the information that we had establish and used this to help answer our questions, and start working on a story board. We decided to create a story board for a thriller because we though it would be more appealing to people our own age, also it gave us a chance to be creative with the shots we were using.
We started mind mapping all of our ideas, from seeing an image in a reflection to filming at night, to create mystery. Because our film piece was only meant to be two minuets long, we ended up with too may ideas and had to pick out the shots that would create the best feeling towards our film. After some time we had completed our story board and worked out the approximate time needed for each shot. Then we knew that our film would be in the time limit, meaning that we wouldn’t have to edit much out later or shorten our film in any way. Some of the shots we decided to include were short, and quick, like snap shots.

Decoding is when an audience can unravel clues and hints in a media text to workout part of the storyline, without it being told to them directly. It was used in quite a few of the thrillers we looked at. We liked this idea because it reveals part of a story, maybe in the past from just a few shots.

Decoding is used frequently in the establishing shot by the audience so they feel more involved within the film. From this the audience then has a bigger reaction towards what is being shown. Rolande Bathes suggests that connotation is the meaning of a sign that comes from cultural experiences a reader brings to it. Certain genres connect with certain audiences, for example a thriller would have a typical story line. The equilibrium would be a young blond helpless female, who has been killed or attacked, then continued with the disequilibrium of them finding the body and revealing clues to how it happened and who is responsible. At this point the audience still have no idea of who is behind these attacks so they continue to follow and ‘decode’ the signs to stay connected within the story. Many audiences enjoy the challenge of trying to workout who committed these murders before it is revealed. Then to conclude there’s the now equilibrium where the film may contain more murders and signs to be therefore decoded and followed by the audience.

In some films the perception of how the audience watches the film changes, for example at the start of the film the audience may watch the attacks through the victims or killers eyes. Then towards the end of the film the audience my feel like part of the detective team, unscrambling and linking clues. By doing this the audience can see the film unwinding from a different points of views. An example of a film that does this is CSI.

Our film isn’t for a family viewing, and will not be enjoyed by people of all ages. Our research showed that thriller film are aimed at people over the age of 15, mostly all of the thrillers we analysed were certificate 15 or over. Most thrillers stereotypes may contain, disturbing or upsetting scenes and strong language, making them unsuitable for a younger audience. The people mostly likely to watch this thriller would be a group of friends of mixed gender, over the age of 15 who enjoy watching scary films together. This film is most likely to be watched over the weekend or late Friday night. This is because people over 15 are still studying and have no time during the week to watch a film, so they are mostly likely to watch it Friday or Saturday night. Students use these nights to relax and meet up with friends before they have to go back and study. There is an assumption that many people that age would watch a thriller film on Sunday because they probably would have been out late on Friday or Saturday and are using Sunday to unwind or complete any outstanding coursework.

People who watch thrillers are expecting to see violence, disturbing images and bad language. From our questionnaire we produced it shows that audiences like watching thrillers because they like the thrill and suspense that it offers. Alfred Hitchcock used the quote “The bomb under the table” said that suspense is built up for the audience by making them party to information not shared by the characters on the screen.

Who we used as actors : we thought it would be less time consuming if we just used ourselves as the actors.
Locations we used : Areas close to all of our homes., we needed a road, that only a few car would come down.
Any problems that occurred (waiting for it to get dark, being on a road their was background noise, filming in dark meant that it was hard to see some of the action, their was two people in our group with the same name, while we were filming we forgot to change the names and when we replayed it or watched it back we realised that it would be very confusing for the audience so we had to go back and re-film it. In editing our preliminary the end result ended up with some of the shots jumping. From this we edited 'the vision' to a higher level of accracy. In our preliominary we didnt thi it wa approprate to add music into the background, so when it came to creating more tensiond for 'the vision' this was easily accumplished by adding atmospheric music.

We had restranths on time weather and daylight. This unabled us to film 'the vision' in one day. Only having a group of three restricted our shots, meaning that we were unable to have all of us in the same shot because someone had to be holding the camera. We tried finding an extra person to help film 'the vision' but due to time constranth and lack of education we were unable to accomplish this.

Shot list

Shot 1:
Still shot. Lizzie King coming from living room to fill up glass with water.
Medium close up on her drinking
Shot 2:
Switch to black and white/sepia shot of Lizzie in corridor running and pushing open door
Shot 3:
Still shot from corner of room. Very long shot. Shot of Lizzie coming into room looking around.
Shot 4:
Cut back to corridor. Still shot. Lizzie pushing open another door.
Shot 5:
Cut to corner of another room. Still shot. Very long shot. Lizzie comes in looks around again desperately
Shot 6:
Cut back to corridor. Running with camera following Lizzie as she runs towards double doors. Tilted frames at some points.
Shot 7:
Cut to extreme close up of Lizzie's eyes as she goes through double doors
Shot 8:
Fade in to medium shot of Lizzie outside by trees. Looks confused as to where she is. Calls out name desperately. Fades into next shot.
Shot 9:
Switch to colour. Extreme close up of Lizzie's hand as she lets go of glass of water. Slow motion.
Shot 10:
Extreme close up of the glass of water hitting the ground and splashing. Fade back into next shot.
Shot 11:
Cut to shot of me stood behind Lizzie Mclean who is kneeling on ground. Very long shot.
Shot 12:
Cut to close up of Lizzie King. Breathing hard looking scared.
Shot 13:
Back to Lizzie Mclean kneeling on ground but I've gone from shot. Long shot. Car goes past and Lizzie collapses
Shot 14:
Back to Lizzie King who runs past camera
Shot 15:
Running with camera towards Lizzie Mclean. Lizzie King breathing hard.Shot 16:
Switch to shot from behind Lizzie Mclean as Lizzie King runs to her to see if she's ok. Fade into next shot
Shot 17:
Colour. Medium close of Lizzie Mclean sat on sofa in living room. Says "Liz?" wondering if she's alright because of the glass dropping. Gets up and walks past camera.
Shot 18:
Close up of Lizzie King. Lizzie Mclean comes into shot behind Lizzie King and asks if she's ok. Lizzie King looks up and says I'm fine in a shaky voice. Fade out to black.

Our Main Task

Monday 10th MARCH
•Main task filming continued

10TH and 14th MARCH
•Planning starts for our evaluation of our main task


17th and 20th MARCH
•The Filming of the glass being dropped in Ami’s house


24th and 25th
•In these days we completed our main task, including lots of different shots.


27th march
• we completed editing our main film and added in effects so the clips flow into each other.


1st , 3rd and through half term (April)
•we added in sound to our main film and continued with the evaluation of our work. Ready to be handed in when we get back to school.

main filming

26th Feb: Started main task filming

Media Timeline

6TH MARCH

Preliminary uploaded to blog.

4TH MARCH

Editing for preliminary task started and compleated.

Media Preliminary