Main Evaluation

i created a main evauation summarizing all the work I have done on my video and the research leading up to this, and whether I found this successful or not.

Evaluation Activity 3 - Directors Commentary

I made a directors commentary to go with my video, this is so the audiance can see what I was considering for my video whilst I made it. I got rid of some of my effects for the clip so you can see some simplicity and made sure that I covered all the points of the directors responsibilitys and what a production company has to do. This finished all my evaluation activitys for my opening two minutes of my film.

Paranoia Media clip - Final Two Minutes

My research and planning has led to the editing of this clip, the opening two minutes of the genre of drama. I have made a few changes to my video as I progressed, but the idea is still in place. The few changes I made were the choice of actors, as I thought the use of actors who weren't related were better as it would confuse the audiance on who they were. I also changed the name of the film to Paranoia, this is because it represents how the character looks further into the clip.

I think I have achieved a lot since my my preliminary tasks as I have experimented more with mise-en-scene and used editing on the sound of the wind. I challenged most on the sound as the frequency's of the wind changed via each clip that was made, but on my own I think I achieved the best I possibly could. I am impressed the most with the different camera shots however as this is where I think I have achieved the most. The merge together nicely and give a fundamental structure to it. The costumes that my character wears further insinuates the look of hiding away and not caring about the scenery around her, contrasting with the beauty of the surroundings. The end of the clip shows where she fits in the most, and starts to blend in with the shadowing of the surroundings. This is where I think the best aspects of my clip come in.

I am overall happy with my video as it shows the different personalitys that come into show, and the best part of mine is the editing in the clip. I tried to show the image of the character being a ghost by making her dissapear gradually in the area that she is sitting, this use of editing is effective in determining the genre of my clip, which is why it is made more effective. I also tried to show this in the titles by making them flash for a split second before they gradually went onto the screen again..

I think sound might have been slightly incorrect and I would need to further look into this, however,I think my film shows all these qualities and has been successful in mise-en-scene, editing and camera work.

Evaluation Activity 5 - Attracting/Adressing my audiance.

I used YouTube annotation tools to create a few notes and speechbubbles to show the different ways in which the audiance would be attracted to my film and how it fulfills being the style of film that it is. It includes mise-en-scene, camerawork, sound and editing. It also has a few examples of films which follow the same style as mine does, which is where I got the inspiration from. I think this is how I can show the sucess of my film and how it made it look more believable to the audiances eyes.

Evaluation Activity 1 - Conventions of Real Media Products.

1. Story And How The Opening Sets It Up

The plot of my story is to introduce you to the scene that is occuring around my main character, and from the general direction that my actor is walking you can identify that the purpose is to get to a destination. The lack of exitement shows that it moves you towards the general direction of a drama, as it has no plot for the clip at the moment. Iwas trying to make it seem as the plot would gradually grow as the film progressed, leaving an confusing introduction for the audiance.

2. Title Font And Style

The font for this title is different to the fonts on each clip, further bringing across the fundamental idea of confusion. I have made sure however that each font helps the audiance understand that this is a drama clip, as the font is bold and stands out to the viewer. The placement is so that it encourages the viewer to look in the general direction to where the character is going to sit, as you can see this from my clip. I think that this gives it a more interesting look.

3. Costumes And Props

The use of plain clothing suggests my characters lack of caring on her appearance, but i made sure that she was wearing a hoodie so that she could hide away from what she was seeing. This was effective in making her fade more into the background where the lighting is considerably darker. The props used was the bag which she placed on the table, making it more understanding that she was in school. Again, the bag is plain and understated.

4. Genre and How The Opening Suggests it.

The genre of this clip is drama, and drama's can resolve around the idea that the unknown is recognised, which I have managed to achieve with the editing of this clip. I have made my other character dissolve and fade away from the screen, which is effective in making the audiance realise what is happening in this sequence. I think that this is the best achievement of my oepning two minutes, as this is what makes the audiance interested and want to watch further for what is going to happen.

5. How The Characters Are Introduced

My main character is introduced through the use of dark lighting which hides her face, this makes the audiance question whether she wants to be seen. I tried to make it seem like it was a representation of her shying away from everyone around her, which is why the audiance question to the character that dissapears what her role is going to progress to in this clip.

6. Setting/Location

I made sure that the setting was empty and had different angles, which is why i used a series of establishing shots. The one in particualr that I have chosen is a good example as it has the sunset of the scenery. This was a representation of the day growing progressively lighter, to which my main character then comes out from the hill. I made sure the hill was also used so that it looked like my character had travelled a distance before she made the top.

7. The Title Of My Film

The title of my film comes up at the end of my opening two minutes, and this is typical in films as it allows the audiances to understand the surroundings of the plot a little better first. Puttting this on the black background gives the audiance a glimpse at the genre of the film, which is a drama. The use of drama is portrayed in the font as I have made it literal in the sense that it is dramatic on the screen compared to the dark background. This I think I have successfully put across as it becomes the main focus of the audinace and the name of the film is remembered. I changed the name of the title as I progressed as the clip began to make my main character more agitated and the plot of heroin doesn't happen until much further in the two minutes, so again I changed the title to the literal sense of her being paranoid.

8. Special Effects

I had used a minimal amount of special effects, but the effects that I did use were on the lighting of the beginning establishing shots. Some were too light for the setting that I was trying to gradually grow lighter, so I added some fading in to make it look more darker. I think I achieved this as it looks as if it is getting darker and this way my clip wasn't a waste to use. I also think the use of clouds allows the audiance to see the day, and it adds a contrast to how the character should be feeling.

9. Camerawork Editing

My camera work editing was with the text on different areas of the screen, as some areas worked more effectively than others to achieve the rule of thirds for the text. I think that mine works well to stand out against the blue of the sky, again contrasting with the happy emotions that this colour should be giving the audiance to the font that is used to support this. The bold could symbolise that the audiance knows more than the character does by an urgency that could be related to it, and this grows further to open the film. This is why I think I have succeeded in the conventions of real media products.

Evaluation Activity 7 - Progression from Preliminary task.

Compared to my Preliminary task, I think that my film shows my progression as it has more editing and camera shots involved, but the style of match on action is the same. Match on action is the camera work where you see it from one point of view and with editing it jump cuts to the opposite view from where you had just seen. I did this in these example for the preliminary and opening two minute tasks.

In the preliminary task they are seen having a conversation with each other, and you can see both faces from both sides of the conversation. This is an example of shot/reverse shot as well, and I have included that in my opening two minutes where you see the main character looking over at something the camera can't and it is followed by the camera looking towards my other character. This works well as it allows the audiance to see both facial expressions.
My opening two minutes however was different because it shows the use of match on action in the beginning sequence of the clip as the camera follows my character into the room, and we see her from a behind point of view as if you are walking it yourself to then jump cut to seeing her walking face on into the camera, whch is also a good use of match on action.

 

I have used different editing techniques to create new shots I hadn't used in my preliminary task to show my progression, and one example is when she is just about to walk into the building. The camera plays on her for a few seconds before it pans round to face the building she is about to walk into, and it is more effective by her walking into the shot from the bottom right third of the screen. She then takes possession to the middle of the screen. This shows my progression from the preliminary task as this features a mid shot of her walking into a room, and the rule of thirds wasn't recognised.

When walking into the room, I kept on one side of the main character, this is so I didn't break the 180 degree rule. I had done this for the preliminary task as well, where the conversation is filmed on only one side of the area so the audiance don't get confused about who is sitting on each side. I have progressed for this reason onto my opening two minutes by continuing the same thing.

The preliminary task helped my be able to get a bearing on what I should be including, and I think I was able to include this into my blog, but I have also progressed by using Adobe Premier Elements more for the use of text onto the screen. This shows I have a wider understanding of the task and editing techniques.

Evaluation Activity 6- Equipment I used

To create my opening two minute clip, I used a variety of equipment which helped me aid my way into being able to record it, and to make sure it was the best quality I could manage. The camera was the most important part of my clip as it assured that my footage was filmed. This picture was the camera I used, a flip video camera. This was my own camera, and I found it easier as this way I already understood how to use it. It videod all of my clips and came out in good quality. I only used one more piece of equipment to get my video filmed, and that was the tripod. This tripod was the schools, but the mechanics of it was easy to understand and it worked well for my camera. This tripod was neccesary as it aided me into making sure that my clips were at the best possible standard the could be, because it gave it a steady level and this way the camera couldn't shake. It was best that the camera couldn't shake because then the clips would make the audiance feel that it was more realistic.

They were both good for the problems the were used for to be overcome, and I have produced some good pieces of footage.

 The programs that I have used in order to create the opening two minutes was Adobe Premier Elements, which had some problems with the use of different editing i had to do. Eventually I had finished my opening two minutes with different alterations and used Youtube to upload my video onto my blog. The blog I have used is blogspot.com.

Evaluation Activity 4 - Target Audiance for my film.

My target audience would be of the ages of 15-20, as they have a higher attention span than children. This would be why the lower age group wouldn't be appropriate for my opening two minutes. The audience particularly would be teenage girls, who are interested when it comes to the media on dramas that take place within clips such as mine. It would grab their attention to how her personality is and they will want to find out what is going to happen.
For an age group such as this, one of the examples of T.V programmes which they might watch is Hollyoaks, because it centers around different peoples lives , and this is the sort of dramas that they are interested in, because of the continuous changes in the atmosphere and plot. This is representative of them as they like to believe they are involved in the dramas themselves, and that is why I decided to make my opening two minutes interesting with the character themselves.



The music they might listen to is quite modern day, typical teenage girl boybands are an example of what is cliched for the female audiance. The boybands have to be quite modern to be prefered, so one example could be The Wanted. This type of music makes the audiance get the cliched idea of them being vain about the appearance, which is where hollyoaks comes from. I slightly turned away from this cliche for my audiance to change the outlook a bit more, and also because I had already made my main character similar to that of the character House.



The last cliche of what teenage girls might do to shop is in big areas such as Primark to buy their clothes, this is also noticed in clips such as Hollyoaks where the styles have been inspired and copied so the audiance can wear the same style. This again because of the emotions that are meant to be felt within my character I didnt follow persuit, but my other character who dies however does have this particualr style of clothing, it shows that she was more expressive and more modern with her style.

I think that my character denies to copy the styles that are typical of teenage girls, but because of the drama that is involved they are more interested as she could have been the same as them before she turns to being plain, and the fact that my character is of the same age group would help them relate more to her, that is why I think it fills this as the taret audiance.

Evaluation Activity 2 - Representation of Social Groups.

My main character is inspired by the character of House played by hugh laurie, a big American drama about medical issues that he has to solve. There are similarities and differences between them, the similarities is what makes my character. The similarities involves the way they act and the type of person they are as individuals, as they have very lonely personalities. I used costume as a way to symbolise that my character isn't worried about aesthetics, which suggests that she doesn't care what other people think of her. This could suggest loneliness, which is what I was hoping to symbolise in my choice of mise-en-scene. Like this screen grab I have just taken, she prefers to be hidden away from eyes view, which is what is used in House to show the same symbolism. He is meant to be a person who hides away from any sign of human contact and tends to be seated in empty rooms which are dark and show little use of being open to conversation. With this inspiration in mind I was hoping to create the same thing, only mixed with the differences that they have.

The differences of my characters is the aesthetics and occupation. The aesthetics of my character is a young teenage girl, and this brings across a sign of depression as this is how the audiance portray the view of a girl who hides herself away from other people. House is a grown man with an occupation which is brought across and used to manipulate the way that he works, and they use this as a reason to why he is hidden away from people. This brings across the view that he is thinking about things that could be significant. My character follows this idea as I wanted to make her seem like a hidden question, and the audiance want to know what it is she's hiding. Followed by the fact that she is seeing things that arent there, it further develops the audiances question on what she is hiding that could make her act this way, therefore she is considered as a character to be liked instead.

House does also wear clothing that resolves around old trainers and ripped shirts, as this lets the audiance know his arrogance to the thought of being dressed smart to impress. The use of costume therefore is similar. Because of the gender and age difference the character of House is able to be further developed as the use of facial hair is used to show the lack of hygeine that he maintains. I tried to reinvent this from a stereotypical females point of view so that my character has her hair tied back in a messy ponytail, as this is considered abnormal for a woman not to care about how she looks. The lack of make-up further develops this as she is meant to be seen as not caring about her visual apperance. This is how I have made my character similar to House.

Despite the age, gender and occupation, the characters have a similar role in their individual parts. House is meant to be the character that is relatable because he can't function the same as everyone else, which is the same role as my character. They are both center of attention when it comes to camerawork and they have both individually experienced moments when hallucinations come into play. This makes them more relatable and therfore they have become the same characters but for different age groups.

Both these characters have shown the social groups of how loners become in everyday situations, my character being important to keep away from outside view. They both show in a good way how this type of social group is portrayed in the media and it seems that they are considered someone to be sympathised with instead of be afraid of or to repel. This allows the audiance to see the other side of how a character is shown in the media.

Day 1 of filming

Day 1 of filming resolved around a cold day in January, which meant that the wiind was loud. This resolved around different frequencies of the wind in the background which meant that it doesnt work when created together in the filming. I need to overcome this when creating the film together by recording the sound of the wind and overplaying this on the video so the frequencies remained the same.
i filmed the surrounding areas of the scenery, establishing shots. this way i can fill the time that i have been given for my opening two minutes, and it shows the use of different camera shots. i then filmed my first character in the scenes and it resolved around her walking to the classroom that starts off the scene of the film. My opening two minutes resolves around the scene being plain and makes the audiance question what is going to happen next. I need to do the last minutes as i have the equivalent of 57 seconds.

Theatrical Makeup : How to Make Fake Bruises

the storyline of my opening two minutes follows a blow to the head, in my opening two minutes you dont see how she is hit. this is in the flashback, and the reason why you dont get to see how she got hit is so there is a storyline to my entire film, as I have now decided the main character also gets hit. this is so i can experiment with the camera and getting it to fall on the floor, and when editing it allows me to use different blurrring effects so the audiance can't see how she died, but you see the bruises. the camera is going to be a point of view shot, being from Jasmines perspective. This particular make-up tutorial is best to use as it is more realistic in its aesthetics and is easier to create with materials at my disposal. It will also question the audiance to how it was caused. I am going to do my own make-up tutorial of this particular bruise technique to show i created these myself, and experimented to get it to the best possible standard.

Change of Scene

I have put together the editing for my opening two minutes that involves Jasmine, my main character, walking across the field to the classroom. The editing put together lasts for 59 seconds, which means that my plot at the moment is too long to include any other scenes that are long and complicated. Therefore, I am changing the plot of my story to make it so there is now only two characters, the main character and the dead character. This saves any dialogue which will disturb the plot of the film, and how the dead and the living interact. The dead will have a ghostly appearance but other than that the plot remains the same. A flashback of the death and a clip of the ghost interacting with the environment.

Filming timeline.

Wednesday 11^th January 2012

Start filming the opening clips. These include the establishing shots and the tracking shots to the classroom. It also involves the key scene to the hallucination.

First set of clips: The scenery is dark. Establishing shots are of the surroundings. There is a clip of a silhouette of a person in far away in the shot, at the left third of a shot. The scenery is then shown in a wide shot where I will take clips of the scenery at different times of the day.

Second set of clips: Jasmine comes onto the screen, again at the left third of the shot. I will be filming different shots as she walks along the pathway to the classroom, some will be shots from the characters perspective. A wide shot will establish Abbie in the background, although in this stage of time she isn’t overly dramatic and blends in with other people who will be sitting on the grass. The shots film jasmine as she makes her way to the classroom.

Third set of clips: The flashback: this is because of the characters that are available on this day, Abbie and Jasmine. The flashback involves the field again as this is how she dies. I will be involving the reasoning to why she dies, which will be relevant at a later stage in time when it comes to filming the middle clips of the opening two minutes.

Friday 20^th January 2012

On this day all of my actors are free so this is when some of the main shots will be filmed.

First set of clips: The first set of clips is picking up where the opening clips come off from on the Wednesday. It involves the conversation inside the classroom which leads to the hallucination that the main character has. There will be lots of over the shoulder shots and it will be more interactive for the viewers.

Second set of clips: These will be the clips that have my dead character, Abbie, involved in. This will involve the make-up tutorial where she has the wounds on her head from when she died. It will also be a conversation clip but only the main character is more apprehensive.

Third set of clips: this will be where the scene is exactly the same as the beginning, and Abbie who is on the grass is seen more closely as the dead character, and she disappears in some clips to show only the main character can see her. This involves part of the conversation. Camera shots include her turning around so the audience can see the head wound the last time before the opening title comes up.

Wednesday 25^th January 2012

This will be the day that I use to finish off any clips that I haven’t got to the best that it could be, and therefore the filming will be finished.

Fake Brains Makeup Tutorial

For the use of mise-en-scene, I decided to find a tutorial for the make-up that would be used to create the headwound, and as the story of the plot involves a headwound I decided to find a makeup tutorial that involves the brain. This way it is easy for the audiance to see that she is in fact the character that is dead. This could be a way for me to experiment with how the characters will look like, and will make the audiance more engaged at the sight of the blood which would make it of a higher age group.

Setting Final

My first setting that I had decided to use wasn't suitable for my scene, as my actors couldn't make this area. I have decided instead to use Therfield school, this is so we can easily get the shots and the actors will be able to come in at any time. I chose to base most my two minutes in one of the classrooms, this is because it is more the conversation between actors than the setting. I will also be able to experiment with different things such as make-up and costume.

 This desk is where the hallucination would take place, and this will be effective in an empty space as it suggests the feeling of being alone, which is how I want the main character to be seen in my video.

 The surrounding of the rooms will be empty except for the other two characters that will be in conversation, where the audiance will get to see the seperate personalitys that they will have.

The school grounds will make the mise-en-scene suitable, as the characters in the flashback will be in school uniform. This is when the character dies, so my actors will need to be in school uniform for this costume.

Preliminary Task

Our prliminary task consists of a conversation between two people, using match on action, the 180 degree rule and shot/reverse shot. This is effective in our blogging as it gives us an understanding on how to create a scene that looks realistic to the audiance, which is why we were told to create a scene that showed the use of this in action. We did this because it was a good way to show our understanding of the task and that we used these techniques effectively.

The clip consists of one character walking down a corridor and through a door, this was the task we were given, where the characters had a short conversation between each other. This allowed us to use a wide shot to open, which gave the audiance a basic understanding of the area they were in. The corridor could bring across a sense of being enclosed which could suggest that is how the characters could be feeling. The use of match on action is used to establish that she is opening the door, which was used effectively for the audiance to know that she was entering this particualar room.

Match on action is a shot that is used to establish what is going to happen, which is where it opens with a far away shot of a character to a close up straight away of an aspect which is important, which is why it is effective.

It was effective in the use of shots when the audiance are then taken inside the room, to which the camera follows the camera and then pans over to the left, to where I am sitting. This establishes to the audiance that this is who the character is going to be talking to.

The conversation is where the 180 degree rule is shown at the best it can be, using a mix of the over the shoulder shot for the conversation. We decided to use a simple conversation between two characters about a job interview. This way, the characters both have to talk for the conversation.

The 180 degree rule is where the camera remains on one side of the area, so the audiance are remained on one side of the scene. If the 180 degree rule is broken it then confuses the audiance when the characters are changed from one side of the video to the other. This is used with other shots, because it can easily be linked. I included it with shot/reverse shot, which is the last thing that needed to be included in order to finish the clip. Shot/reverse shot is with the over the shoulder shots that I have used, it is where the shot you used for one clip is then reversed to the same shot but on the other side, this makes it more effective when you see it in the video.

I think that this is helpful in me being able to experiment with my use of shots, and it has also helped me realise that I shouldnt think about using the shots too much as the overuse of it could also ruin the feel of the clip, I just need to focus on the 180 degree rule, which now I fully understand.