7. 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 our Preliminary work, i feel that as a group we have learnt more about a range aspects to do with media and secured a greater knowledge during the progression to our final edited opening sequence.
When comparing both our preliminary task and opening sequence together, we could see that there is definately a visual difference as well as technical differenciation between the two.

The different camera work between the two is most obvious whilst looking between them. In our preliminary task, we did not use a tripod stand whilst filming. This resulted in a slight shaking in the shots whilst filming and created a slight blur. This was one of the main reasons why we decided it was neccessary to use a tripod during filming our opening sequence, as it did ensure a steadier and more stable picture whilst filming.
We used a wider variety of camera angles and shots in our opening sequence compared to our preliminary task, and this was due to the fact that when filming our opening sequence we wanted to create a better visual style and properly apply the genre conventions to do with a Psychological Thriller. Although our preliminary task did include a range of camera angles, we didnt really experiment much whilst filming as we were all new to using a camera and exactly how to capture shots properly and effectively. Our preliminary camera work definately gave us a great help onto our first stages of camera knowledge and definately opened up many more opportunities and experimentations when it came to filming our opening sequence.

In our preliminary task we didnt use any non-diagetic sounds and just used the natural diagetic noises left in the shots we had taken. We improved on this when it came to producing the sounds for our opening sequence, as not only did we used non-diagetic background music and sounds, we also played around with the natural diagetic noises that had become present whilst filming. We extracted certain diagetic noises from shots such as laughing and panting and added them again to other shots in the sequence to not only carry the noise over during the sequence, but to also add to the genre and mise-en-scene. Although our preliminary task had dialogue involved in it, when it came to producing our opening sequence we felt that to produce the most effective tone was to use no dialogue and just listen to the wildlife noises, laughing and breathing pattern from our actress. At the stage in our opening sequence when paranoia hits our character, we added more diagetic panting noises and also overlapped it with a non-diagetic sound of a heartbeat getting louder and faser as the sequence continued. Doing this created a very effective way for us to address the audience and let them know that a change in atmosphere and emotion had occured.

When it came to comparing the editing skills between our opening sequence and our preliminary task there was again a clear difference. When looking back at our preliminary task, we could see that we hadnt used as many of the editing tools as we had through our opening sequence. Our preliminary work had editing to some shots to portray the look of a security camera overlooking students. We had pixelated slightly the picture of the overlooking shots and also added text saying "AMVC CAM1" to add the authenticity of the shot. Although this editing was not very advanced compared to our opening sequence it did give us part knowledge on how to use the editing programme and what some of the tools effects were. It led us to a greater experimentation on our opening sequence and helped us greatly on knowing which tools were mostly suited to our chosen genre. Our opening sequence included many different editing tools and techniques behind it and as a result was the longer part of the progression proccess of making our media product. We included colour and darkness filters to some shots to add to the deluded and disorientated visual style we were trying to produce and also create awareness of the time change between morning and night. We also played around with the pace of some of the shots, making some triple time and also some half time (slow motion) to again add to our wierd and creative visual style of showing how our characters state of mind was very unstable and lost.

When it came to characterisation between our preliminary and our opening sequence there was again a difference between the two. We took more time and detail into portraying our character in our opening sequence, making sure she was dressed like a stereotypical Young Adult and her make-up portrayed her state or mind. Whereas in our preliminary task we applied no characterisation and left our actors in exactly what they were wearing that day. This was due to the fact that our media knowledge was not as vast as it was when making our opening sequence, so we didnt take any action let alone think about costume or make-up when it came to making our preliminary task.

Overall, i feel that since producing our preliminary task, we have learnt an exceedingly large amount of media knowledge and gained a great experience leading up to our final media product. I feel that the major key point to all our success and hard work is due to the progress we have made as a team. After this progression we have all undergone together we have all learnt how to properly cooperate and all share the same amount of experience and knowledge. This has resulted in us being able to produce a truely harmonious piece of work.

6. What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process of Constructing This Product?

Throughout our research, filming, editing and evaluation, Technologies has played a very bug role and been very important towards the construction and production of our media product.

RESEARCH-
Before planning or even constructing our media product we made great use of the internet for our research about our chosen genre and film research. We researched the meaning and genre conventions included in a Psychological Thriller film to make sure we used exactly what was needed to portray this chosen genre in our final media product.
We also used websites YouTube and 4OD to watch film openings, trailers and TV series episodes from the programme Skins.When doing this we looked at the camera movement, sounds, lighting and editing that was used through the clips and took notes on what we found most effective and could possibly include in our opening sequence. We also watched movie DVDs and also looked at the typical genre conventions that we included in the production of the films.


FILMING-
For filming we used a Samsung Video Camcorder SC-D365, and whilst filming saved our work onto a memory card instead of on to a tape. This is a more modern way of saving filming work and come with many advantages. Using a memory card to save our work ensured that all of our film work was already saved as a media file, so we did not have to extract our filming from a tape and waste time. Also, the use of a memorycard ensured that no visual problems would occur like overlapping of filming or a mismatch of tracking. A memorycard ensured a more clearer picture of our filming and a better way of filming our media product.

We also found whilst filming that a tripod was a very important piece of equipment to use. A tripod is something that you can attatch a video camera to, ensuring a clear stable picture and smooth movement when moving the camera at a range of different heights. We found this very useful as at points we did need stable camera shots very low to the ground and also at mid height.

Lighting was also important, as during our first stages of filming we tried using LED lights and torches in darkness but discovered this wasnt enough light source. This led to our decision of filming at a different time in the day; Twilight.

EDITING-
We also learnt about technology whilst editing our media product. We used Vegas Movie Maker Pro, an editing programme to finalise our media product and add the certain effects, colour filters, overlays, etc that we felt would emphasise our chosen genre and the typical conventions included. We also experimented with speed whilst editing, using half speed (slow motion) and triple speed to add again the the mise-en-scene of our opening sequence and again emphasise the Psychological Thriller genre. Again whilst using Vegas Movie Maker Pro we learnt how to change certain camera shots to reverse and to also use the feature "Cookie Cutter" which helped us create the scene where our actress appears in 3 places on screen. Doing this was at first a challenge and took a while to learn exactly how to do, but when we had produced this shot, we again had a widen knowledge on how to use this piece of technology.

Without technology, none of our media product would be possible as everything we used during making our media product has some basis of technology behind it. We used the internet also to find certain non-diagetic sounds that we wished to use in our opening sequence; i.e Heartbeat.


EVALUATION-
During the whole process of constructing and producing our media product we used the internet site Blogger to record all of the stages we undergoed whilst constructing and producing our opening sequence and also to answer our Evaluation questions. We also used the internet site Facebook to gain Audience Feedback and help understand who was our target audience.

Overall, i feel that without technologies none of our media product would of been able to be produced and feel that i have learnt a range of different techniques and knowledge on everything that we have used during the process of creating our opening sequence.

5. How Did You Attract/ Address Your Audience?

To firstly address our audience and create feedback, we posted our opening sequence onto Social Networking website Facebook. We wanted to see how successful our media product would be and see exactly how much appeal it would create.
From looking at our audience feedback from Facebook, we can see that the comments on our media product were all very positively opinionated and helpful towards our understanding of how much attraction we had created. Comments such as "The use of music emphasised the the confused nature of the character" really made us feel positive about our final product, as this one one of the key goals we were trying to reach. Others commented on the "state of mind" also, which was another thing that we were trying to address and convey in great detail. Our feedback was everything we had hoped for, and on facebook everyone who had given us feedback gave great comments and we really acknowledged everything they had said. Through looking at who exactly commented our our media product, we had worked out that the audiences age range was between 15-18 years old, which is exactly the type of audience we had hope to appeal to. We can see from audience feedback, and people using the "like" button towards our media product but not commented also found our opening sequence appealing. This reinforced our thoughts on the fact that we had used our genre conventions correctly and not created any confusion during the running of the film.

Before we had posted our final media product onto facebook, the group collected a couple of year 12 students, aged between 16-17, to watch out opening sequence and comment on exactly what they thought. We chose this age to ask to watch our media product, as again it fitted into our chosen certification of our opening sequence and the audience age range we were hoping to attract. One of the comments we got after being watched was "Why is she doing this?". This was due to the fact of our media product not being initially finished at this stage and we had not yet added the additional filming which establishes that our character has taken drugs. This comment reinforced the fact that we needed to use the additional filming to ensure that there was a clear outlook on our storyline and no further confusion for the audience. As you can see again in our feedback, after we had acknowledged this audience feedback and added the additional filming, it made it clear to a wider audience and everyone who watched our media product understood our opening sequence greatly.

As our media product is left on a slight cliffhanger at the end, show our character passing out looking up at the sky and then back to waking up the morning after, we had feedback from the audience saying that ending our opening sequence like this created great suspense and left them wanting to watch more and know what would happen next. "I really want to know what happens next!".
We also attracted our audience by using a variety of camera movements, shots and editing techniques to engage our audience and make the audience more intreged and excitied whilst watching our opening sequence.

To attract our audience, we used a modern highstreet fashion costume and a stereotypical storyline including a Young Adult female actress.
We found this would mostly attract our audience in the same way that hit TV series Skins had done for their target audience. As we had based our certification and audience range on the same type that Skins attracted, we felt it was neccessary to use similar aspects and techniques this TV series used during its production. We felt that doing this had worked excellently as we had numberous comments on the costume choice and stereotypical storyline; "This looks like something out of Skins".

4. Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product?

From our research on age and audience, we have managed to produce a pie chart showing which age mostly watch Psychological Thrillers. As you can see, the pie chart shows that the most common audience that this type of genre appeals to is to the ages between 15-20 years old. This was initially what we thought our target audience would be and know it is backed up by research as well. Research also showed us that Psychological Thrillers are most popular with Teenage/ Young Adult males, but also is still appealing to females of this age also. With this in mind i feel that our media product does appeal to both male and female audiences, as we used a basic Psychological Thriller storyline, yet included modern day highstreet fashion and a stereotypical Young Adult female actress. Putting our actress in modern highstreet fashion clothing as representing her as a stereotypical youth would not also appeal to our audience better, but it also creates a subcultural group audience as it reflects a realistic aspect to modern day lifestyles.

As our media product is based around the effects of drug abuse, the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) states that our media product must be certified to the rating 15. The BBFC permits the following within the bounds of the 15 certificate:
"Theme: No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate to 15 year olds.
Language: There may be frequent use of strong language; the strongest terms are only rarely acceptable. Continued aggressive use of strong language and sexual abuse is unacceptable.
Nudity: There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
Sex: Sexual activity and nudity may be portrayed but without strong detail. The depiction of casual sex should be handled responsibly. There may be occasional strong verbal references to sexual behaviour.
Violence: Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain, and of injuries. Scenes of sexual violence must be discreet and brief.
Imitable techniques: Dangerous combat techniques such as ear claps, head-butts and blows to the neck are unlikely to be acceptable. There may be no emphasis on the use of easily accessible lethal weapons (in particular, knives).
Horror: Sustained or detailed infliction of pain or injury is unacceptable.
Drugs: Drug taking may be shown but clear instructive detail is unacceptable. The film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug use."
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/

As you can see, the certification of our media prorduct also reflects the age range and type of audience we are likely and also wanting to appeal towards.

3. What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media product and Why?

As our film was low budget and included stereotypical features like Channel 4's E4 TV series Skins, i feel that the kind of Media Institution that might distribute our media product would be something like British Media Institution Film4. Film4 is a low budget Media Institution linked with Channel 4, which is a very large scaled TV channel. Film4 distributed the hit motion picture film Slumdog Millionaire, which won an Oscar for its excellence. As Channel 4 also has another linking channel, E4, which distributes as said before TV series Skins I feel that this channel might also distribute our media product as our opening sequence shares many of the same qualities and features Skins includes. I also feel that we would share the same audience as Skins, Young Adults/ Adults, as we do include many stereotypical products and similar filming and editing techniques as Skins does also which attracts their audience.

As our film is very diverse, modern and independant, i feel it would also be similar to the release of the film Bullet Boy which was distributed by Verve Pictures. Bullet Boy is a film based on a story about two brothers fresh out of youth custody trying to stay on the straight and narrow when they get back home. They undergo many consequencese escalating from confrontations and influences and its only a matter of time before the younger brother becomes a victim of the same travesties. Bullet Boy a modern day film, showing stereotypical lives of Young Adults and shedding a realistic outlook on modern day life at the certificate rating 15. The film was a great hit which made a huge profit. This resulted in Verve Pictures also making a huge profit and becoming a known name in the Media Institution business. Verve Pictures i feel would also be a great distributor for our media product, as again our product shares many of the same aspects of the film Bullet Boy that they distributed and also appeals and would be certified to the same audience; Young Adults/ Adults (certification 15/18).

2. How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

During our opening sequence, we only include one character;- a young adult who is played by close friend Jessica Hutchinson. Through costume and characterisation our opening sequence represents a modern day typical female young adult representing the typical popular social group similar to characters out of our researched programme Skins, for example the character Effy. We knew this stlye would be popular with our target audience of Young Adults/ Adults, as the programme Skins is a very popular TV series and also appeals to the same target audiences. We characterised and represented our character as a stereotypical modern day Young Adult who was getting into trouble, a party animal and drink and drug abusing. We represented our character as a mirror image of our target audience.
For costume and make-up we used a handmade dress similar to the style clothing made by famous Highstreet store Topshop. We also put lots of jewellery on our character, as this is the trend at the moment withing Young Adult ages in reality. By using this as costume we managed to create and represent a modern day stereotypical Young Adult who likes to get dressed up and have fun.
For make up, we used eyeliner and red lipstick and smudged it around the characters face. We did this to give a clear visual outline of the state of mind the girl was in after taking drugs and to show that she was not in total control of her body and actions. We also decided to create this look, as it gave a representation of a stereotypical drunken Young Adult after a night out. This will appeal to the target audience as it makes the character seem more realistic and much of the audience can probably relate to similar circumstances. Cultural signifiers like her clothing, make-up and jewellery show that our character has been on a night out which leaves the confusion of how she ended up in the woods the morning after.

EVALUATION- 1. In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Media Products?

Before starting our opening sequence, our group looked at typical conventions that a Psychological Thriller genre included to give us the understanding and background knowledge to create and include in our opening sequence. We considered all the possible attributes to the genre and tried to create an effective opening sequence around them.

COLOURS USED- In our opening sequence, we edited and used colours often to help emphasise different stages and emotions throughout our piece. During the start of our opening sequence, we used no added colourations, whereas during the flashback sequence of the protagonists previous night we used added darkness and a yellow colour filter. We did this intentionally, to help create a visual understanding of the difference in the protagonists state of mind and well being from the night before to the morning after. We decided on the colour filter yellow, as we felt this colour was most effective in emphasising the characters disorientation from her mind and body and was a great colour to used to show the effect of drug use. We added darkness to the parts of our sequence where the mood is changed and our protagonist starts "tripping out" and becomes scared and paranoid. Again we did this to emphasise the girls state of mind and help give a visual understanding between her mood change from happiness to fraughtness and the change in atmosphere from disorientation to danger.

LIGHTING USED- As we wanted to give off the effect that our opening sequence was filmed at dusk and wanted to create shadows and tone in our filming, we filmed at Twilight time during the day- just before the day turned into night. This natural lighting gave us clear, yet darkened filming and also gave a great tone to our chosen setting. The lighting on the trees gave a dim, shaddowed effect and was exactly what we wanting to use during filming. As our sequence includes a mood change to danger when our character becomes scared in the dark, we had to find a suitable way to portray this lighting effectively through our shots. Due to not gaining any clear shots in total darkness, we decided to take a chance when editing our piece together and add a darkness filter to the chosen parts where the mood changes. We were not sure if the added filter would create exactly what we were wanting or even suit the clip, but after experimenting we found that it worked greatly and did help set the tone of danger and disarray to our mood change shots. When filming the shot where our character physically takes drugs, we used bright lighting and blur to help again show the difference in staTe of mind and also the difference in setting.

CAMERA MOVEMENT USED- We used a range of different camera angles and movements throughout our opening sequence to help add to the intensity of our plot. At the start of our sequence we used wide establishing shots, showing our main protagonist as the centre of the screen from different angles. We felt doing this was effective, as it gave the sense of our character being a victim and produced an automatic eery atmosphere to our sequence. During the flashback part of our sequence from the girls previous night, we used many different types of camera angles and movement. When portraying in the flashback sequence the girls disorientation and happiness, we used many stable camera shots, but within the shot edited the timing to half speed or triple speed. This added to the visual understanding of our characters unstablility and also added to the wierd distortion of our sequence. In contrast to this, when it came to the mood change to danger in our sequence we used again different camera movement and angles. We used handicam, when the girl was running, to show a more realistic understanding of the girls rush and emotions whilst running through the woods and also used many close ups on her face to again emphasise the emotions present. We used canted angles when showing the mood change and also swayed the camera alot when filming point of view shots of her running to show how disorientated the character was from her body. We felt this contrast in camera movement created a clear segregation in the mood change the girl had undergoed whilst under the influence of drugs and also emphasised greatly our storyline.

GROWING SENSE OF DANGER USED- Throughout our clip we gradually built up the suspense and atmosphere intensity to help the audience understand and feel a growing sense of danger was present. We started off using the camera stable and with very little movement when establishing our setting then changed to canted camera angles and edited in darkness to help the audience understand that danger was becoming present. We then started adding in fast paced shots of the character running, building up more and more the speed of the shots to emphasise the suspense and disarray. We used sharp cuts between shots instead of fading to again help understand that danger and rush was occuring and also added a non-diagetic sound of a heartbeat becoming louder and louder to again add the the mise-en-scene and genre of our sequence. Heavy breathing and fast editing again added to the sense of danger we were trying to produce throughout the sequence.

-Comparision image between drug based Phsycological Thriller Shrooms and our media product.