Our media product called, ‘Out Of Signal’ uses, develops and challenges the forms and conventions of real media products. Similar to other films, our film consisted of a predictable story line, which is prevalent in most horror/thriller genre films, in which characters were developed, so the audience had a greater understanding of them, which hooked them into our film. The film was developed as the story line prevailed from an anti climax opening to a climax at the end in which the characters died chronologically in retrospect of the way that they were introduced at the start of the film. ‘Out of signal’ challenged the forms and conventions of other real media products as I feel we achieved to create an original film. We challenge other areas of this because in the horror genre you associate darkness and mysteriousness, however ‘Out of signal’ challenges this because the strange happenings happen in broad daylight, lulling the viewer into a false sense of security.
We used points of view shots when shooting the film so that the audience could share the same experience in which the ‘killer’ was observing whilst stalking its victim, this created a sense of suspense as the audience could predict the fourth coming scenes that followed. Pan shots were also used, so that the audience could see the mise en scene, in which the film was located, therefore the association of woods had a direct link to the horror genre as it creates an ominous atmosphere. A news report at the beginning of the film, acted as a retrospect scene in which the story line unravelled. Other than the establishing shots, a tripod was not needed as this would take away the sense of realism when shooting, instead we hand held the video camera so that the audience could integrate into the film, and relate to the characters, whilst the story line developed. In addition to creating realism within the film, natural lighting was used to add to the consistency of the ‘realism’ of the film, and as we were limited with the resources we had, we made use of what we were given, therefore we scheduled shooting times, so that we could have the specific lighting to compliment the time and setting of the film, so that it became more believable. We used eerie non diegetic soundtracks to furthermore create an ominous tone to the already melancholy atmosphere created. It was also used to create tension, which would put the audience on edge and follow the codes and conventions of a horror film.
Our film is just over the time limit of 5 minutes. For a short film of this genre I believe this is a good time to help build up a basic plot and a good ending. If I had the chance to make my film again I would take the time to get all the shots perfect rather than rush the last few. The ending I believe is the weakest point of our product and if we had taken a little extra time and care I believe we could have got a free flowing film. After creating a questionnaire for my audience to fill in I gained a valuable insight into what worked well and what didn’t.
My product also can be easily linked to my poster and magazine review. The font I used is easily recognisable and is sort of a logo for our products. The colours I used for poster really connotate well with the themes of my product. Red is linked with murder and the way it is splatter over the characters helps create a sense of mysteriousness of what is going to happen. In film review I compared my film to others in the group this makes the magazine seem more believable and realistic as in the real world magazines often compare films in similar genres.
We used many different media technologies. The main one was our video camera and this coupled with Sony Vegas the editing software we used we were able to create a professional looking film. Naturally using Vegas it took our group a while to find its feet. After we had familiarised ourselves with it, it became easier to make an efficient film. I also used Photoshop in creating my poster. As I had experience using this from my AS course I quickly made mock ups of my poster and added different effects to get the desired final product I wanted. Throughout my course I have been keeping an online blog on Blogger. This has helped me represent my work and made it easy for me to evaluate what I have done well and not so well.
I did a lot of research into my film. I watched a short film called wireless which I found out to be pretty terrible. I looked at the parts of the film that didn’t work well and thought of my own ideas that could have work well. So in my film I looked at the parts that didn’t work well and changed them for better ideas, I also watched a trailer for Paranormal Activity which is similar to our film in the way it builds up tension. Like when the killer is following the boys into the woods is reminiscent of when the entity is inside the house. It the reality that you now something or someone is there but the conclusion of what will happen is unclear. I also did a lot of research into my ancillary tasks. One poster I looked at was one of the ‘Blair with project’ which like Paranormal activity is similar our film. The poster itself reveals very little about the film so I took this idea and made indications about what could happen like with the blood splatters.
We also put our film on YouTube, this also helped with audience feedback although we didn’t involve it in our questionnaire results we received generally positive reviews. We also put our ‘bloopers’ on there and there turned out to be very popular in Canada receiving an award for top 100 in comedy. Our film had also been watched in many places across the world and this gave us confidence in our own product as the reviews were very positive.
Overall on this project my skills have greatly developed using different media technologies however I still feel there is room for improvement. If I could I would change the last scene of our as I believe the car is just going to slow for what happens, also I would take more time in the planning as we did jump in at the deep end and not think all the variable through. This project has been extremely fun and I have had a lot of fun making the film.
Friday, 7 May 2010
Monday, 29 March 2010
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Film Poster
this is the teaser poster for my film. What i have tried to do is use different colours and pictures that fit in with the horror genre to try and show that it is. the blood effect over the characters shows that something may happen to them in this film. the blood red splatters also connotate with horror and fear.
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Magazine Article!
This is my article. Half of it is a interview with one of the actors and the other is a review about the film. In my article i used shots of our film in production to try and show that this magazine article is before our film is released and these are the early shots of us shooting, however by adding the review the fil is finished and they have seen it.
Audeince feedback
After handing out our questionnaires were able to discover what our target audience really thought about our film. They were all generally postive towards our film however many of them said that at the end the car is going to slow. As the majority said this we will assess this issue to see if we can change our ending to make it more fluent and believable. However they said the ending was unexpected and sudden and generally created a few laughs as he is run over.
Everyone who took our questionnaire said they liked the film. the film scored an average of 8.4 on the first question, a result we are very happy with and to get this response from the audience was also excellent. However a weak point in the film you could say was the acting, scoring an average of 6.2 and this is an issua because as our film is a thriller/horror film i think that facial expression and how the character reacts creates alot of suspense. Alot of people liked the chase, in which the killer chases Peter down through the woods. They liked the rapid cutting which helped the scene have fast paced action and along with the sound effects also builds up alot of tension and leaves the viewer thinking about what is going to happen. The strongest point of film was scored in the editing department with every score bar one scoring 10, comments also said that because the editing was so good the film seemed to run fluently and helps brandish out those few mistakes we made during the acting and other various things. We as a group also decided that this was our strongest point and the quick cuts mixed with the dramatic music and sound effects we were able to build up even more suspense and this is very important for our genre of our film otherwise it would be dull and boring to watch. the music and sound effects also scored highly as comments said that it fitted perfectly with our film.
From our audience feedback we gained a good insight into what can be improved on our film such as the ending and acting, however there are many strongpoints which we are pleased with.
Everyone who took our questionnaire said they liked the film. the film scored an average of 8.4 on the first question, a result we are very happy with and to get this response from the audience was also excellent. However a weak point in the film you could say was the acting, scoring an average of 6.2 and this is an issua because as our film is a thriller/horror film i think that facial expression and how the character reacts creates alot of suspense. Alot of people liked the chase, in which the killer chases Peter down through the woods. They liked the rapid cutting which helped the scene have fast paced action and along with the sound effects also builds up alot of tension and leaves the viewer thinking about what is going to happen. The strongest point of film was scored in the editing department with every score bar one scoring 10, comments also said that because the editing was so good the film seemed to run fluently and helps brandish out those few mistakes we made during the acting and other various things. We as a group also decided that this was our strongest point and the quick cuts mixed with the dramatic music and sound effects we were able to build up even more suspense and this is very important for our genre of our film otherwise it would be dull and boring to watch. the music and sound effects also scored highly as comments said that it fitted perfectly with our film.
From our audience feedback we gained a good insight into what can be improved on our film such as the ending and acting, however there are many strongpoints which we are pleased with.
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Film font
I decided to make this the films font because it suits it perfectly. I found it online and it has stuck ever since. I have been using this font in all the parts of the project to link it all together (poster, article, film titles etc.).
There were a couple of others that were posibilities but this one stood out the most:
Shooting script
This is a script of the camera work involved in the making of our film. From scene to scene.
Scene 1: The news report, this is a midshot, yet with the character positioned in the bottom right so that the empty space above can be filled with images for the news story. The only shot used, its stationary to make it realistic to the audience.
Scene 2:Entrance of the woods. This starts with a establishing long shot of the woods, then a slow pan of the woods going further into the distance, to a mid shot of the woods with again a pan of the woods until it meets the characters, then dialogue comes in and its a mid shot with characters central of the camera shot, this isnt stationary its a tracking shot as the camera follows the conversation. To a stationary long shot of the boys walking deeper into the woods.
Scene 3: Into the Woods they go, this is a low angle shot of the boys as they walk across the bridge this stays stationary until a slow panning across the woods to the murderer on the river bank. This then cuts to a point of view, over shoulder shot of the boys walking through the woods through the murderers eyes.
Scene 4: Camp Camp, Low angle stationary shot showing the boys footprints through the woods, to be followed by the murderer. This then cuts to a longshot of the boys finding camp to them moving closer into a mid shot view. Cuts again to the mid shot of the boys laying down the sleeping bags, and also a low central shot of the bags hitting the floor.This then moves onto a overshoulder point of view long shot of the boys by the riverside to be smoothly cut to a mid shot of the conversation continuing.
Scene 5: Firewood. A tracking mid shot of Estabun walking through the woods, this varies from tracking shots of loft from infront and behind. To a creepy point of view shot of the murderer possibly in pursue of Estabun, Close ups of his face walking through the woods. This then turns into rapid extreme close ups of Estabun with a panning affect moving around him to create scared atomosphere and suspence.
Scene 6: Murder On mind... Mid shot of Estabun being attacked by murderr to a quick cut to a low mid shot of Peter reacting to sounds, quick cuts of peter running through the woods, various shots used. stationary mid shot of Peter runing towards the camera, to peter running past the camera, yet at the same time the murder shots are taking place, low angle shots of Estabun being pushed to the ground, cuts and cuts to the a mid shot of the murderer killing Estabun, this involves a quick close up of the rock in the hand.
Scene 7.. Found you.. Body on the floor, with a low angle extreme close up of the blood and rock from Estabun head. To a point of view high angle shot from Peters eyes of Estabun lying their dead. to a cut to a low angle shot of blood on the hands, to a tracking high angle shot of Peter trying to get a signal, to slow moving up of the arm to focus on the phone.
Scene 8.. Run for your life..! Mid shot of Peter runing towards the camera scared whilst he's focusing on the blood on his hands,long shot through to a stationary mid shot of peter coming face to face with the murderer but then cut to a point of view of peter running towards the murderer. Tracking shot of Peter running away from the murderer, from mid shots to close ups of peter running. Extreme long shot of Peter runing away from the woods, to another long shot of Peter running towards the camera, to a moving mid shot. Then cut again to low angle running shot of Peter runing past the camera. To a cut of the long shot of the kill taking place to a low angle shot of Peter dead on the floor.
Scene 1: The news report, this is a midshot, yet with the character positioned in the bottom right so that the empty space above can be filled with images for the news story. The only shot used, its stationary to make it realistic to the audience.
Scene 2:Entrance of the woods. This starts with a establishing long shot of the woods, then a slow pan of the woods going further into the distance, to a mid shot of the woods with again a pan of the woods until it meets the characters, then dialogue comes in and its a mid shot with characters central of the camera shot, this isnt stationary its a tracking shot as the camera follows the conversation. To a stationary long shot of the boys walking deeper into the woods.
Scene 3: Into the Woods they go, this is a low angle shot of the boys as they walk across the bridge this stays stationary until a slow panning across the woods to the murderer on the river bank. This then cuts to a point of view, over shoulder shot of the boys walking through the woods through the murderers eyes.
Scene 4: Camp Camp, Low angle stationary shot showing the boys footprints through the woods, to be followed by the murderer. This then cuts to a longshot of the boys finding camp to them moving closer into a mid shot view. Cuts again to the mid shot of the boys laying down the sleeping bags, and also a low central shot of the bags hitting the floor.This then moves onto a overshoulder point of view long shot of the boys by the riverside to be smoothly cut to a mid shot of the conversation continuing.
Scene 5: Firewood. A tracking mid shot of Estabun walking through the woods, this varies from tracking shots of loft from infront and behind. To a creepy point of view shot of the murderer possibly in pursue of Estabun, Close ups of his face walking through the woods. This then turns into rapid extreme close ups of Estabun with a panning affect moving around him to create scared atomosphere and suspence.
Scene 6: Murder On mind... Mid shot of Estabun being attacked by murderr to a quick cut to a low mid shot of Peter reacting to sounds, quick cuts of peter running through the woods, various shots used. stationary mid shot of Peter runing towards the camera, to peter running past the camera, yet at the same time the murder shots are taking place, low angle shots of Estabun being pushed to the ground, cuts and cuts to the a mid shot of the murderer killing Estabun, this involves a quick close up of the rock in the hand.
Scene 7.. Found you.. Body on the floor, with a low angle extreme close up of the blood and rock from Estabun head. To a point of view high angle shot from Peters eyes of Estabun lying their dead. to a cut to a low angle shot of blood on the hands, to a tracking high angle shot of Peter trying to get a signal, to slow moving up of the arm to focus on the phone.
Scene 8.. Run for your life..! Mid shot of Peter runing towards the camera scared whilst he's focusing on the blood on his hands,long shot through to a stationary mid shot of peter coming face to face with the murderer but then cut to a point of view of peter running towards the murderer. Tracking shot of Peter running away from the murderer, from mid shots to close ups of peter running. Extreme long shot of Peter runing away from the woods, to another long shot of Peter running towards the camera, to a moving mid shot. Then cut again to low angle running shot of Peter runing past the camera. To a cut of the long shot of the kill taking place to a low angle shot of Peter dead on the floor.
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