The Enigma - Final Edit

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?  

I feel that I have learnt a lot since my preliminary task. Back when I did the preliminary task I had very basic camera and editing skills but with me having more time to create this final production I feel that I have managed to better these skills. This is because I had to do quite a lot of camera shots myself and I was learning how to better position and utilize the lighting to get the best shots. I also learned to be better at editing by learning as I edited. This way I was able to learn at my own pace and I had better opportunities of using different effects and getting the timing right of the clips. I have also learnt firsthand that it is still better to use a tripod than not use a tripod. This is even particular with when I am walking and holding the camera as in my preliminary task when I was doing POV shots whilst walking the camera was far too shakey. However in The Enigma when I did this by also using the tripod and holding the tripod whilst I was walking the camera was much more steadier.  I have learnt how to use the camera more effectively to get the best shots and I have also learned how too get the best out of the editing software. Also back in my preliminary task I feel that my acting wasn't the best so I tried to improve this for my final production.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I think that I have learnt a lot about the technologies involved in creating a film. Because this was my first time in ever undertaking something like this I had a lot to learn. The first thing that I had to learn was to find the best way to use the camera. We used a Nikon D3100 camera which was the best camera we had available and it was fairly easy to use. The only problem was that it had a short battery life and we had to go charge it up whilst we were in the middle of filming. I believe that we managed to get some good shots in our opening sequence by using the camera effectively. We also used a tripod to keep the camera more steady as well to get higher quality shots. We also tried to use the lighting in filming so we could create the right atmosphere.

I also had to get to grips with the editing software as well. I have had previous experience with the editing software which was Adobe Premier Pro CC, but I only had minimal experience with it during my preliminary task. My previous experience was good enough for me to create and edit a basic production but I believe that learning more about what the editing software can do I believe that I have created a much better opening sequence.

 

How did you attract/address your audience?

How did you attract/address your audience?

I believe that we have mainly tried to attract our audience by taking on their feedback on how we could improve our production. This means that we have basically tailored our production to our audience. This should be the main way of attracting an audience as it is what they want to see. However by doing this we did not make major changes it was just to make subtle little changes that our audience wanted to see.

 

Who would the audience be for your media product?

Who would the audience be for your media product?

I believe that the audience for my media product would still be young adults. This is because when we originally did our questionnaires that was the age group that came up the most. Also the feedback we have received has been from people within this age group and we took this feedback on board and made changes from it. This then means that we have tailored our production to this age group. So therefore I believe that this age group is going to be the main audience for our production. However the 'young adults' we tailored our production to were students between 16 and 17 years old. Guy and David who took gave us a lot of feedback are both middle class white males. We gained said feedback before we mad our first draft and also after each edit we made.





Questionairres - https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2345810471183586416#editor/target=post;postID=3528974296656603480;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=19;src=postname

 

What kind of Media Institution might distribute your media product and why?

What kind of Media Institution might distribute your media product and why?

Realistically I would be looking at a low key British Distribution company that specializes in low budget films. I have looked into this matter and I have found 3 potential distribution companies however some are more suitable than others.

Dogwoof

Dogwoof is a relatively small distribution company based in the UK. This company specialises in the distribution of independent documentaries. Dogwoof also distribute films but their main product is documentaries. In the past few years Dogwoof has branched out into international sales. Dogwoof is also the UK’s leading documentary distributor and their documentaries have one numerous awards. Most recently the documentary The Act of Killing won the BAFTA for best documentary. This is a very prestigious company but it may not be the best choice as Dogwoof deals in documentaries rather than Thrillers.



http://dogwoof.com/

Suitability Rating (1-5, 1 = Awful 5 = Brilliant) - 2

Guerrilla Films

Guerrilla Films are based in West London and they are a small film distribution company. They solely distribute British and Irish feature films and they have been involved in the production and/or distribution of over 100 feature films. One of the most recent productions from Guerilla Films is Act Of Godfrey (Johnny Daukes, 2012). It stars Simon Callow, Harry Enfield and Celia Imrie. There isn't however too much information on their website as the profile page is not available so I cannot research into this company further. However given the fact that Guerrilla Films distribute low budget independent films I cannot rule this out as a good choice in distribution company.







http://www.guerilla-films.com/



Suitability Rating - 3

Verve Pictures

Verve Pictures specialize in the release of independent film productions to cinemas and on DVD. Over 75% of their releases are from first time feature directors. Also Verve Pictures' subsidiary Drakes Avenue distributes acquired titles, mainly documentaries as well as having affiliations with other distribution companies

http://www.vivaverve.com/

Suitability Rating - 3

I think that either Verve Pictures or Guerrilla Films are the most suitable distribution companies.

 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?  

Both Chris and I are involved in the production there is one social group represented. This social group is youth. I think that the mystery we have included in our production shows that youth can be mysterious and dangerous. The piano music in the background helps to create this mysterious feeling. However although only one Social Group is being represented here I beleive we can reach a wider audience. This is because our production would be for teenagers and above. Therefore everybody who would watch our production would have been or still is a teenager and they would be able to relate to this social group.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

 

https://prezi.com/rhvarmjr0n7q/in-what-ways-does-your-media-product-use-develop-or-challen/

Final Edit - Audience Feedback

Audience Feedback

Chris and I once again asked David and Guy to gain feedback from our audience. They both liked the new sound effects that we added in aswell as the changes in the titles. Guy said that the new titles look less boring and plain thatn the ones that we previously had. Guy also noted that the sound effects add a new contrast to the opening sequence as before it was just the music. David also noted the fact that we have changed a lot from our first draft and that we have really improved our piece.

Sound Effects - Paper

 This is the sound effect that we used in our production

Sound effects - Leaves

This is the leaves sound effects that we used in our  production

Background Music

 This is the Music that we have used in the background of our Production.

Final Edit - Titles

Final Edit - Evaluation

Final Edit - Evaluation

 Changes

Chris and I have now completed our final edit. We took on the feedback from our second draft to try to make our opening sequence better. We did try to make the titles more visible but it is hard to do because of the lighting from filming. We also both feel that the lighting suits our production so its not something that we want to change. We have however moved the Gilchrist Films title slightly so it is more visible onto the background. We have also added some leaf sound effects for when I am walking along because we felt that previously the sound was too focused on the music and you can't hear any diegetic/ambient sound. We have also managed to get the leaf sound effects to sync in with my footsteps aswell as having the sound effects fading in and out depending on which direction I am going in accordance to the camera. We have also used some new titles with a different font. These titles now have different names other than just mine and Chris'. We have also added some new roles in the title sequence that we didn't previously have.

Final Edit

Second Draft - Audience Feedback

Chris and I gathered feedback on our second draft so that we can see if and how we could improve our opening sequence. We again asked our peers David and Guy to see if they like what we have improved aswell as gaining ideas on how to make our production better. Both David and Guy liked what we have improved based upon their previous feedback. This was in the form of the film titles at the end of the sequence. This is only a slight tweak to our first draft however it does have an effect as the sequence ends. David and Guy also liked the sound that we have used to accompany the end titles. This aswell helps to create a tense atmosphere as the sequence ends but it also fits perfectly with the end titles. This also is only a minor change but it still creates a big effect on the end of the opening sequence. They also liked how we make the piano music fade away at the end just before the new titles appear. Guy said "The way the music fades away at the end leads you to think that its just going to end there. But then the two titles appear with the loud noise. It kind of sends you into a false sense of security and it keeps the viewer on edge."
We have however also come away with a change that we can make for a third or final draft. This is for us to change the Production Company logos positioning and/or the colours of them. This is because at certain points it can be hard to read what the titles actually say. The screeenshot below is evident to this as the grey part of the films partially blends in with the background and it is hard to read it at first glance.

Second Draft

We have now created our second draft. We have improved this based upon the audience feedback from the first draft. Here are the changes we have made in our new draft.

Changes

We have now added in two more title screens at the end of our draft as this was requested from our audience. We have included this instead of the film just simply fading to black. This is something that we should have perhaps included right from the off but it is good know that we have included this. Over the top of these titles we have also added some lound noises for when they appear to add more effect and emphasis on the title. Also just before the end the music we have included gets quieter to add more of an eerie effect as I am reading out the note.

Film Titles - First Draft Feedback

Given the feedback we got from our first draft Chris has created two new title screens that we can use.

First Draft - Audience Feedback

Chris and I both decided to get audience feedback on our first draft to see how we could improve it for a second draft. We both have ideas ourselves on what we could improve but we also want to see what our audience would want to have improved because ultimately they are who the film is being made for so it should be what they want it to be.

Feedback

Chris and I have both gathered feedback on our first draft. We gained feedback from two of our peers David and Guy. They both found our production to be good and they both liked it. However they still had some things that we could change to make our production better. Guy said that he would like to see a title screen for the film which is something we don't actually have yet but we will look to make that and include it.

Questionaire

Questionaire

Chris and I devised a questionaire to find out about what our audience may want and what they like about thrillers. I have analysed these questionaires down at the bottom of the blog.

Feedback

Analysis

From these questionaires I can see that I had some sarcastic feedback but even on those I still got valuable data from my audience. The majority of the people I asked were 16-24 so I now know my target audience. The questionaire also shows that everyone apart from one person like mystery thrillers which is good as our production is a mystery thriller. Our idea also got very positive feedback as all but one person thought it was either a 3 or a 4 for the rating of our idea. The majority of the improvements that we recieved were to make it longer or to add more storyline. This is something that Chris and I are going to think about when it comes to filming.

Recce Shots

Chris and I took some shots of the location before we started filming. We didnt do the filming at Manor Park as originally planned but we both feel that this location is better.  We both wanted a quiet location to film and although there is a road in the background there was no major disruptions because of it. Also this location very rarely has people using it so nobody interupted our filming.

Titles

We both decided just to have plain titles to make the opening scene seem normal and not to have any fancy or horror titles as we both think we should maintain some normality in the opening sequence. We are both going to make up a production company for the sake of the titles aswell as the credits to both of us aswell. I have to say Chris made these titles but I helped with the design getting the images for him to use.

Post Production

Chris and I managed to get our filming completed within our set schedule on Wednesday 9th December. However there was a slight delay in filming in the fact that the camera ran out of battery so we had to go back into the school to charge up the camera. In total we go the filming done in just under two hours.

We will now begin editing on Monday 14th December and we also have to record my voice for when I read out the note.

We have now finished our editing. It did however have to stretch over to the Tuesday lesson on the 15th December however we feel we have produced a very good first draft.

Editing

Planning

Main Task Idea

Group

Me
Chris

Stoylines

1. A walker discovers a dead body in a field with a crytic note on him. The walker reads the note and then the killer appears behind the walker. This is where it ends.

2. A mysterious man is walking down a dark path. He is holding a bag with something heavy inside.

Chosen Storyline

Chris and I have chosen idea 1. The title of this film would be "Just Another One". There will be three characters in our production. They will be the killer, the walker and the dead man. The cryptic note will be in the form of a mysterious poem. The poem will say:

My fun and games have just begun,
The man before you never saw the sun,
In the end he was just another one,
I wonder who will read your message when you're gone.

Full Story Line

A man is walking in a field when he suddenly gets drawn to a mysterious object. This object turns out to be a murdered man. The walker cautiously approaches the body. When the walker gets close he discovers that the man is dead. The walker notices a note wrapped in the dead man’s hand. The walker then takes the note and begins to read it. When the walker is finished reading it he turns around. This is where the movie ends with a loud and mysterious noise as the screen fades to black.

Mise-en-scene

Costume

Killer - The killer will be wearing dark clothing and most likely something to cover up their face.
Walker -  The walker will be wearing just general normal clothing.
Dead man - The dead man will also be wearing normal clothing.

Props

We are not going to use any props other than the note.

 

Other Peoples Work Analysis

Torn - A Grade (56 Marks)

I chose to evaluate some previous AS Media sudents work. This person's production was called Torn. This thriller got 56 marks which is an A at A Level so I decided that this would be good insight into the quality of Thriller that Chris and I would have to produce. This opening sequence did a good job of creating tension and this wa particularly done through the inserts that flash up really quickly.

The main characters costume was well suited I believe as it gave a sense of normality in the character as at first he seemed to be doing just normal day-to-day things. The use of a prop in the form of a newspaper also displays this normality.

The titles are also really well done as they are about the right size to read and also to not overbear what the character is doing. The font is really good aswell as it is just plain and this links in with the narrative as there is nothing unusally happening yet.

The Ring Of Trees - E Grade (25 marks)

I also chose to evaluate this piece as it got a low grade and this way a can compare a good piece in Torn and also compare a not so good piece. I felt that on this piece the titles are against a black background which doesn't look as good and it also prevents the sequence from starting and continuing. Also around 43 seconds there is a pan shot in which the camera is very shakey. The whole thing looks very amateur albeit they are however they could have still done better.

 

Costumes

Walker -  The walker will be wearing just general normal clothing most likely dark clothing.
Dead man - The dead man will also be wearing normal clothing most likely dark clothing.

Risk Assessment

Chris and I have chosen a location with very few risks. Both locations are outdoors and they have path. Both locations are quiet so there is little chance of us getting in the way of the public and of the public interuptting our filming. The only risk to the camera is water damage if it rains however if we don't film at Manor Park we should be sheltered from the rain. There is also the chance of leaves being slippy and the potential that we may slip over however I doubt that this would happen.

Actors

Actors

I will be playing the role of the walker who discovers the dead body.

And Chris will be playing the role of the dead person.

Filming Plan

Filming Plan

Filming Schedule

Chris and I have decided to carry out the filming of our project on Wednesday 09 December at 12 PM after our school day has finished. This is a good time for us too film as it gives us it gives us about 4 and a half hours of daylight to film.

Locations

We have both decided to film close by to where we live. At the end of the road where I live is a Manor Park. We have this location in mind to shoot our film.

Alternatively however we have another potential filming location closer to our school. We will use this location if it is raining as there is more shelter here so the camera won't get wet.

Storyboard

Storyboard