Story line discussions

Here we noted down the different ideas our team thought of if the movie continued:
Abigail=

pshycotic stalker
kills others to stop them from finding out
main focus Megan
 from same uni
weird fascination with Megan
Megan's ex, develops mental problems, end relationship, goes away comes back with revenge of killing her,

Megan=
going out with her
long term relationship gone sour
break up
he want to get back with her but does not succeeds
wants revenge
does not want her to be with anyone else
kills people close to her as does not want anyone knowing he killed her.

Chantelle=
goes to the same uni
mental problems, that's why their relationship didn't work
he wanted to posses and keep her and didn't want anyone else to have her so when she broke up with him that when he turned really bitter and when over the edge and killed her.
night of the party
not been in contact with her friends all day
they find out that she has been killed
that when they try to find out the suspect and they get closer to who it was and then the killer decides to kill them as a cover up
Cassie gets away and gives her evidence to the police.

Kimberely=
stalker
mental
that sees Megan as a victim so stalks her
as he stalks her he finds out she's friends with the girls
so becomes fascination of the group
he has a fixation on the girls
we do'nt know why he likes them but it could be linked to his childhood
he kills Megan and then when Riley rings Megan he thinks that's his next target
goes through the girls one by one
Cassie gets away - as you go throughout the film the girls pick up fragments of how he works, she tricks him, gets free and goes to the police

Overview of evaluation

How did we attract our target audience

• The Summit production company- People who are fans of the Summit production company will be inclined to find out what the movie is about, the media conventions (thriller), this will also entice a certain audience who take interest in thriller movies. Having the Summit production behind our film would create security and would almost certainly ensure that it would be successful. The reputable producers and actors shown in summit movies would excite the audience and intrigue them to want to know more about our film.
• Female actors- Having female actors will subsequently attract a large female audience as the characters are likely to be relatable to the female audience, the characters in the movie are very different and therefore it offers a range of females various complex characters.
• Age range- We tried to make our characters age from 17 to 20, therefore it would appeal to the 15 year old age bar we would have put on the film.

 Music/style of music you have used

• Rock-pop, would appeal to a mass audience of teenagers, due to its garish and boisterous style it would portray the characteristics of many teenagers, also having their favourite band's song on the opening scene would excite the audience and deepen their interest in the movie.
• its a cover song of a famous band therefore the main fans and people who hear Paramore's mainstream music would have deemed the song as suitable
• It works as it highlights the personality of the character who dies (she is punky and Gothic therefore the song perfectly suits her characteristics)
• It adds mystery and the tone of rock adds to the thrilling events that are foreshadowed to happen

 Costumes

• the dresses could appeal to girls as they're all dressing up and getting ready for a party- a lot of girls enjoy dressing up and feeling girly which gives the female audience something to relate to it creates enjoyment and enables them to connect with the characters. This then creates an emotional connection which increases the audiences interest in the movie.
• could appeal to boys as they are girls who are all dressy 
• Scarlet is wearing a vest which could show she's 'not ready' therefore when the killer gets her she is unaware- unlike the other girls
• costumes are effective as they portray each of the different characters personality and style
• if the lighting was improved the audience could have seen the detailing of the garments more.

  Props 

• Fake blood
• White bed sheets
• Fake knife
• 4 mobiles
• 3 mirrors
• 2 mascaras
• Background prop wine and glass

Our props helped to create the mise-en-scene which in turn helped create the perfect atmosphere throughout the movie. The scenes were specially catered for by showing of the different personalties, this included the props or background items(the wine), bedroom colours(Scarlet's green walls- foreshadowing the representation of the killer's envy towards her) and of course the props (the make- up showing the importance of looking your best- able to create a connection with the audience if they share the same concern). The props were used well however the fake knife could have been replaced by a real knife to create a more convincing killing scene. Also the blood could have been used more to create a pool of blood which would give information as to how long she had been dead and the intensity of her wounds. 

 Identifiable characters

• Our film

•  Mean girls

We felt that this scene from Mean girls was similar to our scene and therefore audience members who like Mean girls might also like our film, although this film genre is different the audience type is the same e.g. young adult, ages 16- 20 interested in girly things. The phone call was also used as device used to show our skill using final cut pro as we were able to cut and edit the video so that the two girls were talking at the same time. This adds dimension and shows our progress over the process of the task.

Media distribution

Here are a list of British production companies and films:  Archer Street Films - Andy Paterson, Anand Tucker. Credits: Girl With a Pearl Earring, Beyond the Sea, Burning Man Bedlam Productions - Gareth Unwin. Credits: The King’s Speech. Between The Eyes - Ben Pugh, Rory Aitken. Credits: Shifty, Welcome to the Punch Big Talk Productions - Nira Park, Matthew Justice, Kenton Allen.Credits: Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Paul, Attack the Block, Sightseers, Rev (TV), Spaced (TV), Him and Her (TV) Blueprint Pictures - Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin. Credits:  Becoming Jane, In Bruges, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Now is Good. DJ Films - Damian Jones. Credits: The Iron Lady, Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll, The History Boys, Kidulthood. Welcome to Sarajevo.

Sorority row film - similar(American produced- however the concept of the story line shows similarities)

"Sorority Row" sees a group of Sorority sisters try to cover up the death of their house-sister after a prank gone wrong, only to be stalked by a serial killer.

- Written by Wikipedia

Unlike Sorority Row (which is a Hollywood produced film) our film previews actors and concepts which are British, this therefore would mean that our film is a British film.

 Summit usually produces films which are american but our film sticks to the thriller conventions that summit usually go for, Summit predominantly choose fantasy, thriller and horror movies. Our genre is thriller, because it stick to the conventions it allows us to admit that our film would be able to be produced by not only British companies but other national companies such as summit as well. Summit also usually includes actors of the age range of 16-25 which caters to our film needs as our characters and actors are ages 16-20.

However if summit were unable to produce our film, the production company Big talk productions would prove to be a choice for our film. They are a British production company and their main genre is thriller/comedy. This may seem to be like the better choice however the films they produce usually have horror and comedy in a perfect balance throughout the movies. Our film is strictly thriller and therefore does not fall into the conventions of a horror/comedy.

Representation of social groups

This is a picture from a TV show called Waterloo road and I have used this to represent the type of audience we were hoping to attract. These young adults are roughly 15- 18 and they are in school, this picture shows different ethnicities, gender and age and that is what we wanted to attract to our film. In our film not everyone is of the same ethnicity which allows us to cater to our audience better. This is because there is something for everyone, the close age gap set in our age bar allows us to create and intimate audience. however just because 15-20 is not a wide age rage, research shows that this age invest the most into going to the cinema, this therefore ensures that we would have a good turn out if the film became officially released.

 The characters and actors are all based around the age range and the picture shown which gives the audience more of an incentive to watch the movie. The interests of teens and young adults have been especially catered for. For example most teenagers and young adults enjoy going on a night out, having girlfriends, having a group of friends that they specifically identify with, alcohol, music and dressing up. these are all things that we included in the film. We also catered for the younger part of our age range (15) where there were teddies set up in the background(not originally planned) to show that every one of the girls were different.

We feel the audience would enjoy our film as it represents them, it would be something the boys would enjoy with their girlfriends perhaps and the thrill and suspense would also reel them in. When an audience can easily identify with a character it helps them to invest emotionally into the film and the age is the best way of doing that, it almost enables the audience to feel themselves taking over the role of the character which creates excitement.

Adaptation of media conventions

The conventions of a thriller include excitement, tension and suspense as its main elements. Thrillers are meant to hook and influence the audience moods, thus giving them high levels of anticipation, expectation, anxiety and/or terror. Thriller genre's encourage the mind to think and create alternative happenings and often give the audience that adrenaline rush they so desire. the peak of their interest is often heightened due to the anticipation of what is going to happen next, this excitement is used throughout films to create fear and make the moment tense. The conventions of a thriller go through ups and downs which create a peculiar pattern of excitement and anti- climax. For example if the audience is watching a film and the music is scary and sinister they are likely to suspect something is going to happen, subsequently if nothing happens they are disappointed  This makes it easier to scare or thrill the audience as they are shocked when something mysteriously happens.

"A thriller is usually a villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the protagonist must overcome."-Wikipedia.

Throughout our film we used the conventions of a regular thriller and it therefore helped us to map out how we wanted our film to be like. at the start of the film we are introduced to our first character and straight away you see the hand in the background. This was not our original plan. In our plan we had decided to show a shadow and that way the killer would look mysterious and seemingly undetectable  Due to technical reasons we couldn't achieve this however we created the same effect by placing the killers hand on the door while Scarlett is getting ready for the party and listening to music.

 A stereo or distraction is used throughout thriller movies to distract the victim from what is about to happen. The hand on the door and loud sound effect effects the audience but not the character. This creates frustration and terror as the audience watches on and wonders if the victim will be able to see what's going on. The rock music also adds to the tension throughout the scene, this is due to its hard/ garish nature which is also found a lot in thriller movies, this creates tension. the hand on the door not only creates tension but is an anti climax which we use to confuse and entice the audience. if she got killed straight away the movie would be bland but the hand is subconsciously left in the audiences mind, therefore when she is killed it is more brutal. this makes the audience feel sympathy for the character and almost a sense of guilt washes over them as they feel they are involved and have just seen what has happened in the film. 

Like in a lot of films not just thriller's the character's are introduced to us, therefore when the other two girls are getting ready for their night out the audience see them and see who the victim might be friends with. To stick to the thriller conventions the title is also horror- esque. The font is bold and bloody against a black background which is like a euphemism of Scarlet's bloody corpse lying on her bed. The dripping of the blood and not an abrupt end was very significant as it showed that the 'bloodshed' was not yet finished. This could then foreshadow that the other  girls are not safe. This is also reiterated in the actual title 'Who's Next?' could be a universal meaning but it also involves the audience by creating suspense and asking them the question. it then creates excitement by giving them a chance to work out for themselves exactly who is next to be murdered.

'Who's next' A-level media 2013

Here is the final product of our film, it was uploaded using the Google + account  and shared onto my groups various blogs and different profiles (Facebook) watching our work after we had uploaded it on-line we realised that the site YouTube had lessons the pixel quality of the film over all and because of this the lighting may seem dimmer than what it actually is. also we found that the sound wasn't as crisp or clear in the final upload as it had been on final cut pro ( which we used to edit with) this came to be a problem as watching it back the scene with Cassie and Eva speaking at the same time one character's voice is drowned out instead of talking in harmony with each other.
 I however, am pleased with the final outcome of the opening movie as it was something that no one in our group had previously done before, we had learnt to control sound, cut and edit videos and text, upload and produce a movie opening that I believe people would genuinely want to watch. My favourite part about the opening scene is the continuation that we included for example when Cassie is in the mirror doing her mascara, it then cuts to Riley doing her mascara. This helped the video flow and gave the film a professional feel.
Things I felt could have been improved were the props, camera steadiness and lighting. In my scene we were trying to re create the feel of a late night however we did not take in to context that the camera would not pick up everything we wanted in the dim light that we had (something which we have now thought about thoroughly and learnt ) so to improve this we would have put the direct light on and kept the curtains shut, this therefore would have still created the feeling that she was in her room at night but the audience would also have got a clearer view of the scene. The props or background object in the scene I felt were not always important, for example in Riley's room there were a lot of teddy bears as she was filming in her own room that conveyed her personality however she was not what we were trying to portray we were trying to put across her character's personality which was quite girl- next door, boisterous but pretty. The teddies do not lend them selves to this idea and therefore I feel like we should have looked out and thought about the shot more. Another prop we felt was not correct upon inspection was the fake knife used in the film.
Throughout the editing process we were so transfixed on creating a flowing motion picture we forgot to really open our eyes and analyse absolutely everything in the shot, for this reason we did not see that the knife did not look authentic enough, this could have also been because of the lesser quality on YouTube but the knife didn't look like it would convincingly kill someone which meant our film was less convincing to the audience. the steadiness of the camera was sometimes questioned, however the clips we put in the film i felt were steady and when we wanted a more raw feel that's when we went for a more unsteady clip, therefore i feel we did a good job at concealing any technological errors. Overall I enjoy the opening movie that my group created and i think that as this is our first time we have executed a professional and fixable movie.

Thank you for listening,

Chantelle Roberts.


Here are some pictures of the main events that transpire in our film, 'Who's Next?'.

Progression part 2

Here our group discuss the progression we have made since doing the preliminary task.

Audience feedback

This is the bulk of our audience feedback, we used this to test  if the film catered to the age range (15-20). We used facebook and youtube to find out of our film had gained the recpetion of our target audience. In posting this on The social networking site we were open to critiscm and praise. 

One of the commenters said they enjoyed the drama, however they felt the build up as quite slow, although this is true we wanted to fully introduce the characters to the audience in a ploy to evoke emotion where they can identify with certain characters.

Another comment was from someone who said they enjoyed the split screen phone call and they enjoyed the suspense of wondering if Scarlet was dead or not.

Emily from Youtube said she enjoyed the hand scene but felt the film's overall look would have been better if the video flowed in a smoother way.

Overall the reception of the film was positive with the audience giving pointers for us to improve our work, including making the scene s more suspensful would have helped us hook our audience more.

Technology

These are the main programs we used to create our opening film.

iMovie

We used iMovie in order to upload the  videos we had recorded on camera, then imported them through the mac desktop onto final cut pro where we started the process of our editing.

Final cut pro


Final cut pro took the most time to master and craft our editing skills, this is because we used this program for basically all of our editing. Throughout the process I learnt how to cut parts of the video, merge moving images together, create text that flows over the motion picture, remove sound and speech, continue shots (like the mirror to mirror shot and the zip to zip shot). We all had to take part in editing to ensure that we knew exactly what we were doing. I feel that I have learnt a lot since starting the short film because before hand I had never used the apple Macs, this shows my progression since the start of the first task.

YouTube(internet explorer) was another section of the technology that we used, during the planning process we used YouTube a lot to research film openings from our film genre. We were toying with horror, crime and thriller movies to ensure that all bases were covered when it came to the conventions of the genre. Also we used this site to find our summit logo which we eventually put on our work. Within this website we also had our Google + accounts which is what we created our blogs on, the YouTube enabled us to link our short film onto Facebook which gave us our audience feedback. The audience feedback was extremely useful as we were able to decipher whether or not people liked the film.

Here is another example of the technology we have used. Garage band was a useful program for our group as we created most of the soundtrack to our film on our own. This is a film that i created after the preliminary task, however we decided not to use it as it didn't fit with the emotions we wanted the audience to feel when they watched the scene. Instead we created another piece of work which enabled us to create a song which would evoke as much emotion for the audience as possible. Garage band was a seemingly easy program to get the hang of but it required creativity and originality and as a group we came up with many different ideas to ensure that this creativity came across.

We also used Apple mac computers, these were new to me and required me to hone in on my skills and learn about the different programs that were available on these desktops. We chose these forms of media as the complexities were not too difficult to master and although we have a lot to learn we were able to grasp the main concept of the function of the technology. The macs proved to be very useful certainly over other forms of media equipment as if we were on different laptops we would not have had programs such as garage band or final cut pro. with out final cut pro it would have been very difficult to edit the film. The garage band app was very useful as we created and thought of the majority of our music on that application, if we had another form of equipment it might have been harder to use. the camera's also proved to work really well and the camera quality enabled us to get a sharp picture- this meant we could portray the motion picture to the audience exactly as we had wanted it to be seen, the school also provided these which made the technological side easier to deal with as we weren't researching for the bets equipment to use and we just got onto it, the camera's were also easy to use and came with tripods made to fit the camera.

Progression from preliminary task

Since the preliminary task, I feel I have learnt to use the processes of:

 Continuation, match on action, 180-degree rule- these were things that we learnt whilst producing the preliminary task. For example, with continuation we created the mirror to mirror scene- this was effective as we were able to make the scenes connect and flow more easily. Lighting- the lighting proved to be very tricky as we were trying to portray the time scale which fits in to the mise-en scene. lighting is important as it will help set the scene to show the time the movie is set. For example in my scene, we see the wine bottle and glass, this represents the characters somewhat classy/girly-girl nature and shows that she is old enough to drink and handle her liquor. This was effective and also sets her apart from the rest of the characters in the movie as the other scenes shows teddy bears and trinkets that they might have aquired over the years. We used this to present a subliminal difference to the audience- she is older and with age she could possibly be seen as more wiser. The choice of drink was also chosen carefully, if I had chosen a spirit or cocktail she would have been portrayed as a younger, more immature girl ready to party.

 Other things that we have learnt since the preliminary task include the camera steadyness, we could not always use the tripod as we wanted to pan, zoom and show difference parts of the room at a specific pace, for this reason we needed to appreciate the patience of a steady hand - although in the film not all the shots are completely steady. We had tried our best to capture the qualities of a proffesional camera man/woman. Our preliminary task showed things in the scene that didn't need to be there, however in our final task we proved thatwe had learn to think about everything in the scene to make sure it was all appopriate and that it fitted into what we were trying to convey. We also learnt to focus on the mise en scene to portray the correct feeling we wanted our scene to have, for example. the dark lighting, the different type of room(to suit the different character's personality), the props and extra items to give additional information.
 In addition, we learnt how to edit on the program final cut pro, the cutting of the sound in certain areas enabled us to add music, or other speech which helped us convey our technological skills, the skipping of certain parts of the video meant we could get rid of many of the unwanted clips we had produced, we were able to create text over the video- which we edited and made the title and the names of our actors and producers, we also learnt how to mesh certin clips together, this proved useful in our video call as it enabled us to show the audience that the charcaters were speaking together. These programming qualities we learnt proved to be very effcetive as it gave us the chance to make our film look proffesional and helped the clips to flow together creating a succint short film. Our team working skills were also put to the test as we began assesing everyone's best skills and putting them in different roles according to their strengths. For example, I did alot of editing (more towards the end of our time in order to look over it and make it flow more) and filming (Kimberley - 'Cassie's' Scene, which I enjoyed as I tried to get a varied amount of shots throughout the filming process, that was my best attribute towards the group.