Evaluation Activity 8

From looking at the work that i have produced at the beginning of my media AS level, i am very proud of the progress that i have made and the skills that i have learnt that have enabled me to create an end result (my opening 2 minutes of my film) that i am very happy about. However, i still believe that there are many more areas within the editing stages and the filming stages that i would like to learn next year and there are also things that i have learnt that i would like to make a lot stronger.

Next year i am going to make sure that i do a lot more detail within my planning so i know step by step what my end result is going to be like and show a more clearer journey from the beginning of my initial ideas to the final product. I am also going to watch several Youtube videos that may be focusing on an area which i would like to learn and also videos that may inspire me to use a certain editing technique within my film to make it a lot stronger.

One thing that i believe i did well within this year and the build up to making my film was the ability that i had to work on my own, this gave me a lot of independence and i believe will help me within the future because i have sourced all of my own ideas and thoughts and put them together and i hope that my film reflects this. Working on my own has also made me self reliant and hopefully this will help me next year within media when i am asked to discuss the editing techniques i used and so on.

One thing i do believe that i am weak at is my editing, i believe that is still a lot to learn when it comes to editing and i am very proud of my progress since the start of the year when i had very little knowledge about how to create my own film and add in certain areas that i believed to be relevant. But as i have previously said, i will be using a lot more knowledge from professionals on Youtube to strengthen my ability.

Overall i believe that my work this year has benefited me hugely as it has allowed me to gain both the basic and also higher range of skills that i can use next year when i am creating a television trailer.

Evaluation Activity 7

When comparing my Preliminary task to my final opening 2 minutes of my film i can see a huge improvement between the two. 

I have been able to look at the difference that is made by using a higher quality camera such as a 1080p. Where as the camera that i used within my preliminary task was a camera that i borrowed from school which had a poor quality camera and also a poor quality microphone. 

Also, i have learnt how to insert titles into my videos which make it look more professional and also give my audience some indication as to what they are watching if they were not aware. I will now always make sure that i include titles within all of my videos and films that i make as i can clearly see the difference that it has made to my content.

My editing has also improved from my original preliminary task editing. instead of cutting like i did within my preliminary task, my opening 2 minutes has a nice flow between shots so its is more realistic and the audience feel like they are being taken with the character instead of just being behind the camera. This allows the audience to feel like they are involved in the video and allows them to relate to the content more.

Also, from looking back at my preliminary task it has shown my the importance of using the right shot and angle when filming to give off a certain effect. For example i am not going to use a close up of something such as a flower if it has nothing to do with the content of my video. I will instead use a close up to show facial expressions, a medium shot to show body language and a low angle shot to show power.

Overall i believe that these two videos are just some of the evidence of the progress that i have made this year and has shown me that at the beginning of next year i should also create several videos within my work to show a journey.

Evaluation Activity 6

Here i am going to discuss how i edited, filmed and set up my film to make sure that everything went as i had planned.

To film my film, i wanted to use a camera that would allow me to shoot in 1080p which would give me high quality and a sharp picture so i used the Nikon D3200 which had an 18-55mm lens which was one of my own personal cameras. I used this camera because it is very simple to use as it already has a camera setting which will automatically adjust the lighting within the film so that the film can appear as realistic as possible.

I did not need to rely on the microphone or an additional microphone within my opening 2 minutes as my film did not have any conversations within it. However, if i was to include a conversation within future films i would use a microphone that can be attached to my camera as this will make the diegetic sound clearer to hear. However, if i did not have an additional microphone attachment, then i would use the microphone on my phone to record seperately what my characters were saying so that i could layer it over the top later on when editing so that i could hear what they were saying.

I placed my camera onto a tripod whilst i was filming which meant that my camera remained perfectly still and continued to remain professional. This prevented any movement that may have occurred if i had filmed the film whilst holding the camera with my hands. I borrowed the tripod that i used within my film from my school. However, i will look into buying one for personal use and also to help me with my photography A level as having a tripod will better my images.

I edited my film by using Adobe Premier Elements. I used this because it was on my school user account which is free. I chose to use Adobe over Windows Movie Maker which i have both at home and on my school user because Adobe allowed me to cut my shots more precisely which made my film more intense. It also meant that there was more of a variety of effects and editing tools to use which made my film a lot more proffesional.

Evaluation Activity 5

I have adapted my opening 2 minutes and added why i chose curtain areas within my film and what effect this has on the audience.

Evaluation Activity 4

Prior to making my film i did my research and planning and within this section i needed to look at what age group i should aim my film at to make sure that 1. people would watch it and i would get the most amount of people going to see it as possible and 2. most importantly, i had to make sure that my audience would enjoy watching it. The audience may not have enjoyed my film, had it of been aimed at the wrong age group. From using the feedback i got from a questionnaire that i created to ask the general public of varied ages and my own research into what my film would have to involve to have to be a certain age, i decided that my film should be a 15 because it suited both peoples expectations and fitted what i wanted to put in my film with the age rating it should be. Although the age rating is 15, i believe that my film is aimed at 15 - 25 year olds which is quite a large age range considering my film is a horror film. However, had my film be a different genre, i would have to look at other factors to include within my film to make sure that it appealed to a larger audience because from what i have found within my research and planning is that people above the age of 30 are no longer interested in horror films. However, other genres can attract people of all different ages.

From what i have found from my research into the age ratings that i should give films depending on their content, this will help me when creating films in the future so that if i know i want to aim my film at a certain age group, then i will be able to reflect on my knowledge that i gained from my previous research and planning and apply it to the content of my film..

Evaluation Activity 3

Evaluation Targets

Hannah, make sure you look at (obviously without taking...) some examples of exemplar work at the evaluation stage.  You should be aiming for a 16/20 and will achieve this is you are thorough and are analytical!

In your responses to your final production make sure you are clearly referring to choices and outcomes in an evaluative way - make sure you are addressing the areas outlined by me below:

What did you do? Explain a transition or effect you opted for in the editing process.  What effect did you achieve?  Explain how the choice you made was intended to make the target audience think or feel.  How does this show progression in your use of skills? Explain how this is better than your AS production's outcomes by linking to what you did in your portfolio last year.

These choices are really important for you to reflect on to show you fully understand how you have developed your skills - and make sure you evaluate the comments made by the test audience (the class) using specialist terminology.

We do not have long until the deadline for this final stage of your portfolio - so make sure you are pushing yourself and achieving the marks your efforts this year deserve!

Evaluation Activity 2

In this post i am going to look at who i could compare my characters within my film to those of characters in other films.

I have chosen to compare my protagonist within my film to the children who are within "The Woman In Black 2" Both the characters within the woman in black and the protagonist within my film are similar as they are both shown as young, vulnerable and targeted by the antagonist. This therefore makes the audience have more pitty on the characters as they are young and cannot protect themselves. This therefore makes the audience more scared of the antagonist as people generally are very protective over their own children and so by seeing them get hurt by this strange character will make them feel anxious and un - easy. 

Within the woman in black she constantly targets the children, this is the same idea that i was trying to show through my film and is the reason that i chose to show my protagonist wearing his school uniform so we are made aware of his age. Where as if i had shown this character wearing his own clothes other stereotypes such as antisocial or dangerous could have been placed on my character which is not what i wanted to achieve because i wanted to show him to be as weak as possible so by wearing school uniform no other stereotypes can be placed upon him.

I have chosen to compare my antagonist to both the woman in black and also Mama. 
Although both of these characters are female and are not similar to my male antagonist because of the way he is dressed. I have chosen to compare my antagonist to them as they both focus around children who are young and vulnerable. Although within the woman in black and Mama, they are both shown with their hair over their eyes / their faces are not shown, and their clothing is very dark. However, i chose to show my antagonist wearing a white t - shirt with blood on it to show that he wants to cause pain. However, the woman in black and mama are not show with any blood which makes the way that they cause pain become more of a powerful / out of this world way to harm someone instead of the way that i wanted to portray my character like they will brutally hurt someone.

Evaluation Activity 1

In this area of my blog I am going to be evaluating certain aspects of my film and why I chose them to give the effect that I wanted to pursue.

The title of my film:

The name of my film is "Waiting", I was inspired to use this name for my film after I saw that my audience thought this was the strongest title for a horror film and also reflected what was going to occur within the film and so they believed that this title suited the film the best. I also received feed back from my audience feed back and they believed that my title suited my opening 2 minutes of my film well.

I used the Chiller font to create these titles which can be found on word. The font style is effective because it creates the illusion of blood that has been used to draw on the wall. 

I also used the smear effect on top of the font when it was fading out which created the illusion of the blood falling down the screen and creating the appearance of a more realistic and fresh looking blood.

The title of my film follows the stereotype of a horror film as the noun "waiting" shows the audience that someone is doing something and the idea that they are staying there for someone to arrive follows the stereotype of that of a horror film.

Having the titles at the end of my opening two minutes of my film allows my audience to recognise what the film is called and will cause them to remember what they film is called because it is the last shot that they see.

Camera work

My first shot is an establishing over the shoulder, long shot. This follows the expectation of a horror film because it introduces to the audience while at the same time, also intorducing to the audience where the film is set. The camera is not using a tracking shot and following behind the character due to the fact that i thought it would be more affective to keep the camera stable while the character walks towards the house. However, if I was to film this shot again, i would have used a tracking shot because this would of given the audience the illusion that something / someone is following the character, which would therefore play on the idea that it is a horror film. The setting meets the expectation of a horror film because it allows the audience to relate to the setting which will then make the film appear more scary because it plays on the audiences ideas of what scary experiences they have had within their own home and also can play on the idea that they will be scared when they go home after watching this film.

In this shot however, I used a medium panning shot. This allowed my audience to see what the character is wearing and also see his face. This builds up suspension as with every shot as the character gets closer to the house, the audience get to know a lot more about the character which therefore allows them to relate to him due to his clothing and his age. The use of panning means that the audience is following the character to his destination so they feel like they are part of the film, which therefore creates the idea of the audience being able to relate to the film.

Here for this shot, I used and over the shoulder, low angle shot. I used this shot to introduce to the audience the protagonist and antagonist and shows who has power. By having a low angle shot, this shows the audience that the antagonist has the power within this shot as they are shown to have a higher status. Having an over the shoulder shot also allows the audience to be aware that the protagonist knows that the antagonist is there. However, the use of cross cutting is used to show a medium shot of the protagonist which will show the audience the characters facial expression to the antagonist being within the house. If i was to film the next shot of the protagonist again, i would have used a close up to show the characters facial expression as i have used a medium shot which is normally used to show body language so it is not as strong and powerful to use a medium shot to show facial expressions so it does not give off the same effect.

Here I used dark lighting as it followed the stereotype of the house being haunted and by using dark lighting, which meant that this character was a silhouette, it only allows the outline of the characters body to be seen, therefore only showing shadows which are linked to the idea of the house being haunted.

Costumes and props

Within my opening 2 minutes of my film, I used a BB gun within my film to mimic the idea of it being a real gun. I am allowed to use this because i filmed this within my own house. I filmed this within my house because i know i am not allowed to have a prop that looks like a real weapon in a public place. I used the gun to show that the protagonist tried to defend himself. However, as we see, at the end of the opening two minutes, he does not defeat the antagonist. This therefore shows the audience that the antagonist is powerful and not a real person and instead is a spirit or ghost of some sort.

Also, by using a gun the audience consider this to be quite a serious and scary film and they are warned that there is going to be blood involved.

The protagonist is shown wearing a school uniform, I chose to put him in this costume to show his age and also to show his vulnerability. This therefore makes the audience feel pitty for the character and also plays on the idea that he is helpless within this situation. It also allows for the audience who are still in school to relate to this character because they also will go to school if they are 15 or over.

Here i used blood on the antagonists white t-shirt. This emphasises on the idea that he is a dangerous person and the medium shot used allows the audience to see his wide body positioning over the window and also see the detail of the blood on his top and under his eyes. This shows the audience that he is not a normal person and shows that he is a spirit or a ghost. If i am going to include a character who is meant to be a ghost within my future films, i am going to research how to edit their body in a way that allows them to look like they are see through which will look more realistic.

My Film Evaluation Comments

I showed my opening two minutes to my film to my target audience which allowed me to get feedback from my film. This helped me because they have picked on key areas that are strong within my opening two minutes,

My Film Evaluation Powerpoint

"Waiting" Opening 2 Minutes

Filming Diary

I began by getting my actors to get into their chosen costumes that I had selected for their roles and applying make - up to Greg as this was part of his costume.

I then began to film outside instead of following my plan to film inside first as I was worried that it would get too dark and effect the lighting within the film and how clearly we would be able to see our actors. All of my outdoor filming went well. However, there were some birds in the background whilst I was filming that I was unable to get rid of so when I place all of my footage together to create my film, I will have to make sure that I either re - record the sound of Scott's foot steps, or reduce the level of sound that we hear within that section of the clip.

I found it difficult achieving one shot that I was hoping would be affective. I wanted Scott to be looking up at the window and then Greg suddenly appear and then disappear. However, this did not work due to the fact that humans naturally cant stand completely still so when I place my clips together it will not flow as his body will have moved and will appear as a jump and will not look like how I wanted it so I have re - filmed this section in a different way which still looks very effective as the other shot would have.

I then filmed inside the house. The lighting was slightly yellow / orange, but it did not make it appear unrealistic. I was happy with the way that a section where Greg suddenly appears and then disappears, went because I think it will look really affective once it has all been placed together and it flows.

I had to stop filming and put make - up (fake blood) on Scott's arm before I finished filming the ending of my film. The blood is runny and so if I had placed it on at the beginning of filming, it would have stained his clothes and also smudged the blood, making it appear unrealistic, which is not the effect I was going for.

Filming Plan

Today I am going to be filming my opening 2 minutes of my film. I will arrive at my location just before 5pm. This will allow me to set up all my equipment such as my tripod, camera and prep my actors with their costumes and make them aware of what it is that they will be doing.

I will need to begin by asking my characters to put on their appropriate clothing which I have selected for them to wear within these opening 2 minutes. I will also apply any make - up that needs to be applied to my characters to make them fit better into their roles.

I am going to begin my filming from inside the house first, this will allow as much natural light into the home as possible without having to turn on lights which might come up orange on the camera and make it appear unrealistic. I will be asking my actors to take the same shot several different times however, I will be the one who moves around with the camera to allow me to take shots from different angels and perspectives. This will give me a larger selection of clips to use when placing my film together on the editing software and will also give me more variety if one angle is not strong. I am going to have to film Scott wandering the house, searching in several rooms for Greg. Greg will also need to be involved and follow some of Scott's movements.

I will then take my camera and actors outside. I am choosing to film after filming inside due to the fact that it will be slightly darker, giving the more spooky looking effect on the setting. Like the shots I will take inside, I will ask my actor to repeat the same actions several times so that I can the same clip from several different angles and places. This will involve asking Scott to walk on the pavement towards the house and then once he has reached it, enter. I will need to also film Greg, who will be standing at the window, to make it appear as if we are seeing him from Scott's eyes.

I will also make sure with all my filming that I take extra footage (even if I don't feel I need it or even if its not in the storyboard) to allow my self extras to fit into my film if one shot does not seem to fit in with another.