Feedback on our film

This is our feedback of the opening two minutes. We showed our film to the class and they gave feedback on what they liked/ disliked and what we could improve on.




Positive feedback

• Sets the scene with the missing cat poster.
• Combining two different locations of Fabian at home and Lucy on the bridge.
• Close up of eyes and point of view shot, handheld camera added tension.
• CCTV effect was effective.
• The music begins when Lucy is walking out of the house,  changes the feel of both scenes.

Negative Feedback

• Including music over credits
• Silent parts between conversations and music

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

This is a match on action shot which we included in our preliminary task. I think it came out quite well because we hadn't had long using the equipment. We filmed  a shot of Steve opening the door from outside and walking into the room. We then cut the shot to the shot being shown from inside the room, however we   needed to get the match on action right so as Steve walks into the room, the door is shown being open the same amount from inside the room. He also had to open the door with the same hand and in the same position so the shots run smoothly.

 

 This is another match on action shot taken from our final film. The first shot shows the dad handing the posters to his daughter with an over the shoulder shot to show the dad and the second shot shows the daughter with the posters and an over the shoulder shot of the dad. When we filmed these shots we had to make sure that in both shots the posters were in the same position so it runs smoothly from shot to shot.

 

These are two shots that i have taken from our final film. They show the shot reverse shot of the conversation in the living room. They are both over the shoulder shots of Fabians head when Lucy is talking and Lucy's head when Fabian is talking. This allows the audience to identify that they are both having a conversation with each other and not someone else. They are the main focus of the scene.

 

These are two screenshots of our preliminary task. They also show the shot reverse shot of the two characters conversation. When Rob is talking, there is an over the shoulder shot of the back of Steve's head and when Steve is talking there is an over the shoulder shot of the back of Robs head. This again allows the audience to identify that they are both having a conversation with each other.

In all four of the above screenshots, we have also used the 180 degree rule. We made sure that the camera was on one half of the room throughout the scene. So the camera was placed to the right of Steve's head on one side and it was placed on the left hand side of Robs head so it was on one side of the room.

These are two close up shots taken from our preliminary task and our final film. They are both close up shots of a characters eyes. This allows the audience to see how the character is feeling and their emotions by their facial expression. The first shot in the preliminary task shows Steve's eyes as angry. We can see this because he is frowning. The second shot in our final film shows Lucy's eyes as shocked because they are quite wide opened.

This screenshot was taken from our final film. It is the scene on the bridge where we first see the stalker. We used a high angle shot and edited the shot into a black and white effect and also added an 'old film' effect to it. This gives the effect of a CCTV camera on the bridge watching Lucy walk along it. This gives a more suspense feeling that something is going to happen.

 

These are a couple of screenshots i have taken from the preliminary task and the final film. They both show a high angle shot. Both these shots have a CCTV look to them. Using the high angle shots makes the object/ person look small and vulnerable. So the character walking down the bridge looks weak and helpless.

This screenshot shows the panning at the beginning of the opening two minutes. The camera was put on a tripod and we started filming from the house next door to where we were going to film and we turned the camera left so it gradually showed the location in which we were going to shoot part of our film. This made the main focus the house where we shot the scene of the conversation.

This screenshot shows an establishing shot of the character walking towards the bridge. It sets the scene as well because you can clearly see it is set in the dark on a bridge. This automatically gives the film more of an uneasy feel to it.

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

For our final product we have used:

• Blogger- Every change that we made and idea that we had, we uploaded it on to our blog. We explained why we made these changes. We also uploaded our videos and images onto blogger.
• Adobe Premier-  This is the editing website that we used to put together our film. We added the music and effects using Adobe. We added transitions from slides and the effects of the titles.
• YouTube- Once we had finished our animatic storyboard, our preliminary task and our final product, we uploaded our videos onto YouTube so we could then embed it onto our blog.
• We filmed our film using the video camera and to get a still shot, we set up a tripod and attached the camera to it. We could then turn he camera and tilt it without it being shaky.

Adobe was a very good piece of software to use because there are many effects and transitions available to use. We used a wipe transition when there was the phone conversation which gave a good effect and we could fad in and fade out the music so it didn't just stop instantly. This made the film more realistic.

To film the opening two minutes of our film, we used a video camera. As we did more and more filming, we learnt about the different effects and things the camera could do.  We also used the tripod to place the camera on so we could get a smooth, still shot that looked professional. We tilted the tripod at different angles and moved the camera side to side, this is how we got panning shots.

How did you attract your audience?

This is our film with the annotations included. We did this using the Youtube Annotation Tool. We have compared our film to other films and included some of the effects used and other films that use the same effects.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

These are the target audience members for our film. They are goths dressed in black with dark black makeup on and pale skin. The stereotype of these people is that they are quiet and to themselves. They are quite depressed and take an interest in death and the afterlife. They wear black clothes which cover up most of their body.

They would typically shop somewhere like Hot Topic where they sell clothes to suit their stereotype. They would listen to rock music and not hip hop or r'n'b. They would watch programs such as Vampire Diaries.

I think these stereotype of people would watch our film because it has a  lot of suspense to it which makes it scary and the goth stereotype would find this interesting because it is something that they would be in to.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The production company of our film is Ghost House Pictures. This company includes a skull, and so this gave our film more tension because people now have an idea of the genre of our film. The production company is responsible for the physical production of media.

The distributor for our film could be Universal Pictures. They distribute their films successfully and this would benefit our film.

The money could be sponsored by national rail because our film features a train in it when we are filming on the bridge. We could compare this to the film Somers Town because it was sponsored by Eurostar.

We have included some people in the titles such as the stars, the director and producer etc. These are the people who are significant within the film and have a high importance.

The first and most important person to be introduced in the film titles is the director. The director is the key person to the whole film.

When we start to be introduced to the characters, we have the starring roles in the titles of who is playing the characters so the audience can see who is who.

The person who made the music is also very important because the film would have a whole different atmosphere if the music wasnt there.

We included the 'Edited by..' title to ensure that the editor gets credited for the work that they have done because editing plays a big part in the film. Every scene is edited to make sure the film runs smoothly.

The ' Produced by...' credit is shown just before the title of the film because it will be remembered as it is near the end.

We would release the film firstly in the UK to see whether it is popular and affective. If it is, then it would be released worldwide. The film 'Drag Me To Hell' is very similar because it was released in the America first and then worldwide.

This voiceover states all the key aspects to our film regarding production and distribution.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I have compared the main character from our film with the main character from the horror/ thriller film 'When A Stranger Calls'.
The characters are similar in many ways. They are both young Innocent adults, who have a stalker wanting to kill them.
The only difference is that Camilla Belle is located in a suburban house and our character is located in Ashtead Common outside.
Both the stalkers are kept unidentified. In 'When A Stranger Calls', Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle) receives phone calls continuously by the stalker which starts to scare her and make her nervous. This is when the action starts.
However in our film 'Stalked', the action starts when Lucy turns around and sees the stalker unidentified standing on the bridge clutching a knife in her hand.

So both these characters are very alike in many ways however the  location where it is set is different.

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

This is a screen-shot of the title of the film at the end of the opening two minutes. We chose the red text against the black background because it stands out against it. We researched some other horror movies, and found that red text is very popular. The Grudge has a black background with red text also. We chose to have a quite tall and straight font in capital letters because this gives the film a sharper effect. Curly font would be too soft for a horror movie.

 
This is a screen- shot which shows the long shot of the house which sets the scene. This is one of the locations where a conversation will take place. It allows the audience to see that it is set in a house and that it is getting dark because the light is on and the sky is dark.

One of the props that we used in the opening two minutes of the film was a mobile phone. This screen- shot shows the victim holding her phone whilst she is receiving a phone call from her dad. Having the phone call in between and stopping the music gave a more tense effect and added to the scary atmosphere. The ringtone of the phone comes on quite loudly, however this adds to the tension of the film.

I took this screen -shot to show the editing that we used in the opening of the film. This is the wipe between the victims dad and the victim when they are on the phone to each other. This shows how far they are apart and that he would not be able to get to her quick enough if anything bad happened.

This is a screen -shot which shows the font and style. These are the credits at the very beginning of the opening of the film. Throughout the opening we used the same font. We typed the text in capital letters because it emphasizes the tension of the horror film. The font is tall and straight to give a sharp effect.

This shot gives the audience an idea about what the film will be about. It tells the story because it shows the two character sitting on the sofa with the victim holding a LOST CAT poster. The audience now will know why she will leave the house in the dark.

This shows the audience what genre in general the film is. It shows an innocent girl walking in the dark. She looks quite scared. The shadow of the lamp post on the pavement gives a good effect for a horror movie. It shows it is dark outside.

This shot introduces the characters to the audience. It shows the dad sitting reading the newspaper and it is easy to see that the girl is his daughter. This is a typical father, daughter scene.





This is a screen- shot which shows the special effects used in the opening two minutes. This is made to look like a CCTV camera on the bridge. We used black and white effect and an old movie effect which made the shot a bit fuzzy like CCTV. This gives the audience an uneasy feeling because the stalker appears at the end of the bridge.

Final Film -STALKED

Animatic Storyboard

This is our new animatic storyboard which we have created. We changed it slightly because we have included  more shots which will match our film. We have added in more shots and have taken away some which we are not including. We included more over the shoulder shots of the two main characters having a conversation. We also included another short conversation between the victim and her dad. This takes place on the bridge and at home where there is a phone conversation and the camera will cut between the victim on the bridge and the victims dad at home on the sofa.

Final screen shots

These are the screen shots which will be in our film.

 This will be an establishing shot of the house which is where one of the scenes will take place. The conversation will take place in the living room. Showing this shot of the house sets the scene.

This shot is an over the shoulder shot of the victims dad asking his daughter if she is going to look for her missing cat.

This shot is an over the shoulder shot from the other way round with the camera showing the victim and the dads shoulder. This is still part of the conversation between these two characters.

This is the same shot carrying on with the conversation.

This is also the same over the shoulder shot of the characters conversation.

An establishing shot of the victim leaving her house shows that she is now leaving the current location to look for her cat.

A low angle shot of the victim walking from behind.

A zooming shot of the LOST CAT poster being put up on a post.

This shows the victim walking towards the camera which shows her innocent face, it also brings out her character more.

A long shot of the victim from behind walking. The bridge is in the background to show where the next location is.

A low angle shot of the victims feet walking up the steps from the side.

This is a high angle shot looking down the steps of the bridge at the victim walking up and the stalker appears behind her at the bottom of the steps.

A side shot of the victim looking down as her mobile phone is ringing.

A close up shot of the victim holding her mobile phone which is ringing. 

A shot of the victim from the front answering her phone.

The scene will then cut to the victims dad who is on the end of the phone asking about the lost cat.

This will then be the same shot again of the victim having the conversation with her dad.

This is also the same shot when the conversation is coming to an end. The conversation is very short and quick but makes the film more exciting.

This is a side shot of the victim just ending the conversation.

A high angle shot of the victim at the bottom of the stairs with the stalker standing with the knife behind her at the top of the stairs.

A point of view shot of the stairs. This would be from the victims point of view as she is walking.

A close up shot of the stalker clutching the knife in her hand.

An extreme close up of the victims eyes shows the emotion that she is feeling. It shows that she is scared.

A shot of the victim running away from the camera shows that there is someone following her and that she is terrified.

A point of view shot of the victim running. It will be shaky because it is handheld but this adds to the tension. It will show what is in front of the victim.



This is a quick shot of when the character turns around quickly and sees the stalker. The stalker will still be unidentified.