Evaluation Q6 Samuel Storey Evans

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

We as a group improved our abilities in using the technology necessary to film our main task, we did this by researching the technology we were using e.g. Camera,Mic, final cut pro this in turn improved our ability to use the technology and in turn improved our final piece. 

                                                                                    

Here are some video clip's which go through all the details of what we learnt about the technology and how that helped to improve our final piece:

Tom Verco Question 1

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

In our media product we tried to use as much forms and conventions as possible. We used different camera techniques to create a felling of suspense and mystery for the audience, for example we used a range of different angles, shots and establishing shots. This created suspense as the establishing shot was a shot of an abandoned house. At the very beginning of our product we have a close up of our protagonist sleeping to then be woken by a knock at the door and this foreshadows something later on to happen. For the scene where our protagonist was sleeping we used low key lighting. 

in order to build tension throughout our thriller opening we researched a lot of thriller openings in order to get a good idea on what works well and what wouldn't work as well. We got moat of our ideas from the inception and mad max openings.

In our product we haven't got much dialogue until the end scene when our protagonist gets captured, this is because we wanted to build tension and suspense till the end. 

in the Inception opening the use of camera techniques the the uses of not much dialogue is what we tried to use to build tension throughout the opening, i like how in inception they use a lot of close ups so the audience can see how the character is felling and that is what we tried to incorporate into our opening. This also gets the audience to focus on one key moment and this is what we did with ours when our protagonist is waking up in bed.    

   

Tom Verco Question 7

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

I fell that i have learnt a lot from the preliminary task to now i have learnt how to use a camera properly also how to edit and different ways of incorporating sound into your piece. 

i have leant all the camera techniques from White Balance to the different shots and angles and how to get them right. 

When we started our prelim we didn't really know what the techniques for the camera was until we looked back at the footage and saw things differently to when we were filming. For example the white balance in one shot wasn't right and it made that scene look blue and from that moment on that was something that we made sure we got right.

The sound quality from our prelim task to our final product is so much better i think this is because we had a better understanding on how to use the microphone properly and how to pick up the best sound. on top of this we have also found so much better sound effects and background music to incorporate within our product. The sound made a massive difference as it build more tension and suspense as the non-diegetic sound was much better.

Our editing skills improved so much between the two and this is clearly shown when you watch the two videos. This is mainly down to the fact that for our prelim it was our first time using the editing software so we were not that familiar with it. So when it came to editing the main product we all knew what we were doing and we got the editing done a lot quicker, this made time for us to create a title sequence that with research we found out plays a big part within a thriller opening. This made our final product look that bit more professional.

Overall i think that our editing skills and film skills have improved so much from the start, and we now have a much wider understanding of all the techniques of filming and editing.      

Tom Verco Question 6

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

I fell that i have learnt a lot from the process of constructing this product for example i have learnt that there is more to cameras than i thought. Also that there is a lot more to editing than i thought there was, image editing and sound editing.

We had two people in our group that already knew a lot about cameras so we were half way there with knowing how they work but even they still had a lot to discover:

The main thing i fell that i have learnt about cameras is the framing and white balance if these are not right when you film then your final product will not be as good as it could of been, and if you get these wrong you can't really solve it with editing. The thing i learnt with framing is that for example if it is a 2 shot you have to make sure that both of the characters are in shot (obviously) but also that if one person is more in shot that the other that it can make that scene look a bit rubbish. The White balance on the camera is one of the most important as if the white balance is off then you whole scene will look odd. If your white balance is perfect them the shot should look the same to what it looks like when you are filming and this will make you footage look crisp and sharp and more professional I also learnt about zooming and how that can help you get all the different shots you want for example a close up or extreme close up.



When it came to editing the Product i learnt that there is a lot more to editing than i thought there was, you have sound editing and image editing.

The pace within our product does change is starts of slow then speeds us as tension build then when the dialogue kicks in its slow paced again and this would of been a challenge to do as we had to get it right and not have it to slow but not have it to fast or it would kill the tension and suspense.

Image editing is something that was new to me as continuity editing is something that you have to be aware off when editing. The continuity editing that you have are: 180 degree rule, Shot reverse shot, Eyeline match, Match on action, Cutaway, Cross cutting, Parallel cutting, Graphic match Post production and Overlapping editing. if you don't use any of these techniques then you final product won't look as good as it could have been. For example if you don't get the 180 degree rule right then it will just be confusing for the audience.

Showing the 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot. 

When it came to Sound editing it wasn't all that hard as all we really needed was some sound effect and some background music. When we were searching for some background music we used a few non copyright websites but the one we used the most was Soundcloud and this is a good website of you looking for original music. We also had to try and get the levels right so that when there was any dialogue the music wouldn't cut up any dialogue.  

We didn't really have to edit the dialogue as we connected a microphone to the camera so the picture and the sound were one that made our life a little easier.    

Evaluation Q7 Samuel Storey Evans

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

We have progressed massively since the prelim task in all fields/aspects of media. For example our ability to frame shots has improved considerably, we now know to follow key conventions of framing a shot, such as following the Rule Of Thirds. These conventions are key to making the work look professional and to ensure that the opening flows nicely and comfortably on the audiences eyes. 

Here are screenshots of the prelim task framing vs the final task's framing.

Prelim Framing

Final Task Framing

These screenshots clearly show both the increased ability to frame a shot competently, and the increased ability to find interesting locations to shoot in, so to hold the viewers attention. This is therefore proof of both better camera work in our final task compared to the prelim, and better mise-en-scene in that we spent more time thinking about the atmosphere we wanted to create, and picked locations and props that suited that atmosphere (mise-en-scene) in order to achieve making it were as in our prelim task we didn't do any of that we just shot in the most convenient location with the most convenient props.

Another way in which we have improved our film-making abilities since the prelim task is by improving our ability to capture and find good sound, and  by improving our abilities in the editing suite.

The sound quality within the final task is much better than the quality of the sound in the prelim, this is because we had a much better understanding of how to use the equitment this time around and so the sound quality was much higher and so helped to improve the quality of the video 10 fold. As well as this we managed to find much better sound effects and non-diegetic music to play in the background to fill silences. We improved so much as we were not happy with the sound quality in the prelim task and so researched how to use the sound equitment before hand to help improve the final outcome.

We improved our skills within the editing suite for the final task as we were not happy with the way the prelim flowed due to our poor editing skills, however we refined our editing skills to improve the flow and continuity of the final task, which in turn lead to an improved final video, as well as this the improved skills allowed us to free up time to make a much better and more professional title sequence, which with research we learned is a very important part of an opening to a thriller film, and so helped to boost the
overall Mise-en-scene of the opening as well as looking more professional.

In conclusion we have improved our film making skills massively since the preliminary task, We have improved in all fields of film making in order to boost/improve every aspect of our final task, we did this by researching other thriller films, and analysing what it was that made the top thriller films better than ours, and improving those areas, as well as this we spent a lot of time researching key technical techniques. 

Jordan Spencer's Question 7

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

I feel i have learned how to edit my work a lot better as in the preliminary task i did not know how to edit the film, however i now now how to edit the film and could make one on my own.

i have learnt how to use the camera better thanks to Sam as he has taught me how to use the camera and how important it is to use the white balance feature and to set up the the tripod properly. 

i have also learned that time management is important as during our final film we ended up running out of time and had to have a few more days to finish our work, however this can be fixed in the future.

Jordan Spencer's Question 6

Jordan Spencer's evaluation Question 1

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

My media product, Dream State, our film opening develops conventions of real media products like other horror film by working on the theme of suspense in he opening. for example we used to idea of suspense in our horror piece by having music in the background to help build up tension and suspense, the crescendo music built up throughout the first half of the piece and then when it was getting closer to the part when Toms character gets kidnapped the music gets a lot faster and then comes to a stop and this makes the audience or viewer feel on edge because the beat of the music may pull them in and get them to feel like they're part of it. So, if i was to put our horror film against another like Mad Max: Fury Road, then you could say that we developed the convention of suspense because Mad Max's opening also includes the music build up too.

Another convention that i think we challenged was the use of enigma and mystery this is because there wasn't a lot that followed through the film other then the parcel and the idea that the audience don't know what it is or who it belongs to but other then that we didn't really include it or make the enigma a huge part of our opening and we focused more on the idea of suspense and being in the edge throughout the film, however a lot of thriller film openings do include enigma, like '10 Cloverfield Lane' for example, this has a lot of enigma because it starts off with the world ending and actually plays with the idea of mystery throughout the whole film as you wonder who in Hank and why is he keeping them in this bunker. so i think this is how we challenged the conventions of a thriller as we didn't really use much enigma like most do.

Evaluation Question 1 Samuel Storey Evans

Evaluation Q1

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

Dream State follows the key conventions of a Thriller film/opening, however it goes against the minor less important conventions of a Thriller opening, this is so the audience is familiar with the key parts of the opening but are thrown off by other less prominent parts of the film, helping to create enigmas around the film which is a key part in a thriller.


We researched many thriller openings in order to get a good idea for what works well and what doesn't work well in building tension and an enigma within an opening. We took a lot of inspiration from the Mad Max opening and the Inception opening.


I liked the way Mad Max changed pace very quickly from calm to dangerous and we also like the way that mad max used setting and lighting to create enigmas and tension, we wanted to use these techniques as best we could on our opening. We did this by using a very unique and strange location to film our action scenes, and by having a long and slow paced build up to the action seems like "the calm before the storm".


The majority of my inspiration came from the inception opening, this is because I liked the way that the audience wasn't told very much, creating a big enigma around the plot of the film which is a key convention of thriller films. I also thought that the camera work was very good and used close ups to guide the viewers eye to key important parts within a scene and to show the actors emotions clearly, I tried to use close ups to primarily show the emotions of the actors when waking up as that features a key part to the story, and so we wanted it to stick out in the viewers mind so that they knew it meant more to the story then was first entailed.

We also didn't feature much dialogue like Inception's opening in order to help build/create an enigma around the plot of the film, which in turn helps to build tension throughout the opening as the viewer is left with minimal knowledge. As well as this we wanted the plot to be complicated like Inception's plot so that the viewer would have to be sharp and focused throughout the opening in order to follow what was happening, we did this in order to ensure that the audience were fully engaged throughout the entire opening, and therefore the entire film.

Dream State Full Opening

Video Review - Erol

Name options - Erol

Name options - Charlie

Name options - Tony

Fast & Furious 7 Title sequence

Fast & Furious 7

The Fast & Furious 7 opening sequence starts out with a black screen, followed by the names of production companies, during this time there is non-diegetic eletronic music which crescendos until the first shot of the movie appears. The first shot is an establishing shot of London and it goes from it being a black screen to the establishing shot very abruptly the music also stops abruptly, this creates tension and suspense as the viewer isn't sure about what to expect next. 

The next sequence is an action sequence of the movies antagonist who is shown to be walking out of a destroyed hospital, and during this sequence there are names of actors popping up at the bottom of the screen as to not draw attention away from the intense scene going, this whole sequence is very tense and mysterious as the viewer isn't really sure about whats going on and the that enigma builds tension and suspense amongst the audience. there is then a smooth cut between a shot of the antagonist driving away into a shot of the protagonist driving away, the non-diegetic music then changes and starts to become more up beat to start to ease the tension and calm the viewers down. There are then a couple shots of the car driving and in the dead space of the shot there are names of cast members, this is good timing as it is relating these cast members with the positive character showing that the actors shown most likely pay protagonists of some kind.

There is then a long shot from the side showing the car drive past at high speed behind the car spawns the movie title, the title has a very metallic look to link back to the idea of cars. The film name 'Fast & Furious 7' is good as it tells the audience that the film is about 'fast' cars and shows that it features danger, and anger, this is shown through the use of the word 'Furious'.This is all reinforced by the prominent use of fast cars in the footage we as an audience have seen and through the use of danger shown in the antagonists behavior. 

In conclusion Fast & Furious 7 uses a juxtaposition between two characters create uncertainty amognst the audience and then showcases the film title to hint to the audience that the film will be about these two juxtaposing characters.

Mad Max Fury Road Title sequence

Mad Max 

Mad Max has a very interesting opening title sequence that builds tension and creates mystery. The sequence begins with the names of the companies involved with and or funding the film e.g. 'Warner Brothers'. The names that appear are shown in a rusted metal design against a rusted metal background this builds tension and mystery amongst the viewer as they would be unsure about why they choose a rusted metal design. During the names there are non-diegetic sounds of people breathing which is creepy and builds tension, it does this because the viewer isn't sure about where, who or why these sounds are accompanying the images. It then cuts to a black screen with the sound of the main characters voice speaking, he is setting the scene and informing the audience about what is going on in the world we are about to see, during the pauses of him talking there are sounds of other people who we dont know talking about world issues that relate to the film, this builds tension and fear because the issues surrounding the world are similar to ones surrounding our world currently this means that the audience can relate the films issues directly with our own which builds tension and fear, as well as this there are names of significant actors and the name of the director coming on screen, the gaps between the names coming up are very long and this builds suspense, also the characters names are written in blood which gives connotations of pain and death once again building tension.

The sequence then cuts to footage of the main character overlooking a desolate and strange looking world which then quickly becomes an action scene were by the main character is being chased by the villains, he is then captured and taken to a mysterious room this builds tension as the viewer is left with a lot of unanswered questions, he then attempts to escape again but is quickly captured and brought back inside but during his attempt at freedom the viewers get shown an establishing shot of where he is being held it is a very strange and out of this world looking place which once again creates mystery and tension, as well as the footage creating tension there is very high paced and creepy sounding non diegetic sound which plays throughout the action helping to build tension. As he is being dragged back inside the screen cuts to black and the title Mad Max comes up in a rusted silver colour relating directly to the cars featured throughout the film and then Fury road comes up written in flames foreshadowing the flames, danger, and death to come. 

Gravity Title sequence

Gravity 

Gravity has a very interesting title sequence that helps to build both tension and mystery. It does this by starting off the sequence as a black screen with nothing on it, this then changes and white coloured text appears listing off facts about space and about how uninhabitable it is, setting the scene for the viewers and giving them haunting knowledge on space and the dangers of space. After a few facts have been listed the name of the film appears it is the only thing on screen in front of a black background and the text is small and doesn't fill the frame this is significant as it represents how small people are in comparison to space, and represents the infinite vastness of space once again reinforcing the idea of space being a dangerous and terrifying place. 

Another way that mystery and suspense is built up in the title sequence is by using sound during the beginning of the sequence when the facts and title appear there is non diegetic sound  that crescendo's in the background. It sounds like a rocket taking off and is a very violent sound this coupled with the terrifying facts on screen and the links to the emptiness of space create a very suspenseful and mysterious atmosphere. Because the viewer isn't given any visuals but is given sound it leaves them questioning where and what is creating the violent sound. And the crescendo creates tension and suspense. 

After the main title appears an image of earth from the perspective of someone in space is abruptly shown this is followed by silence which once again creates tension due to how abruptly it appears and how it cuts through everything but is silent and peaceful looking, this juxtaposition creates an enigma as well as putting the viewer on edge. 

'Gravity' is a very good name for this film as the film is set in space and the lack of 'Gravity' throughout the film causes many problems, this therefore means that the title perfectly foreshadows and directly relates to the films and its content. 

In conclusion the title sequence builds: suspense, mystery, and tension by using a combination of non-diegetic sound and strategically placed facts on the screen to represent the vastness of space and how uninhabitable it is.