THE FINAL VIDEO !

it has been a long journey but here is our final video, i hope you enjoy it :)

MISE EN SCÉNEMise en Scéne is a French term meaning what is put into the scene or frame. What is put in or left out can make a big difference to the signals we the audience receive about what sort of film it is and how we are supposed to feel at this point.

A simple shot of a tree can be made to look threatening by stripping it of leaves, adding a vulture and some lightening and shooting it in darkness. The same tree can be given a very different look by having children playing beneath its sunlit branches. As an experienced film audience we are able to read these hidden signals of lighting, colour, props and characters and add these to our understanding of what will happen in the film.

In this way, the elements of mise en scéne are an indicator as to the genre (type) of film we are watching. We have certain expectations of the mise en scéne in different genres of films; e.g. Horror; Dark, creepy, evil.
Comedy; Bright, colourful, lively.

The elements to consider in the mise en scéne are:
a) settings & props
b) costume, hair & make-up
c) facial expressions & body language
d) lighting & colour
e) position ing of characters & objects within a frame

Heres a brief look at each of these in turn;

SETTINGS & PROPS

SETTINGS:

The settings used in a film are very rarely just backgrounds to the characters' dialogue and indeed we will often see shots of places without any action taking place. In this way the setting of a film is far more significant than the setting of a theatre and is almost always infinitely more detailed. Filmmakers can choose to build a setting from scratch using the bare walls and floor of a studio set; alternatively, a great deal of time and effort is put in by a location manager in the initial stages of making a fil;m to find a setting which already exists. Invariably this location will then be altered further to reflect exactly what the filmmaker wants to convery.

Settings can be used to manipulate an audience by building certain expectations and then the action takes a different turn, for instance, a tale of horror set against the familiar background of modern everyday urban life is showhow more disturbing than one set a century ago in a house in the wooods. This can be particularaly effective if the setting goes against what we would expect from this genre of film.

PROPS:

Props is the term we give to objects in the setting which play a part in the action, rather than just being part of the background, for example, the glass containing the poisioned wine.


COSTUME, HAIR & MAKEUP

COSTUME:

Costume plays a large part in the mise en scéne because it can be an instant indicator to us of a character's personality, social status and job. It tells us immediately whether the film is set in the present and what society and/or culture it will centre around. It may also provide a clue as to the part of the caracter will play in the action. Certain types of costume are identified closely with indicidual genres, for instance, the black cloak of the vampire with a horror film.

MAKE UP:

In the early days of cinema, make-up was used to highlight facial features as black and white film stock could not register detail very well. Certain genres traditionally use make-up more than others.

Storyboard

Here is our storyboard, it is a brief copy as during filming we lost the original copy.

the benifits of using a storyboard is it gives us a good idea about how we want shots and what we want them to look like while story board i have to think about if the camera angle was possible for us and if the lighting would be correct. we used it during filming briefly but as we were filming we though of new ideas and adapted them to are production and as we went though the filming we realised some shots would look better in different ways .In the origional we put shot duration, sound and lighting and a brief discription of what was happening in the shots.

i had to be efficant with my time as i had to draw alot of shots and at the same time have to make them reconisable for anyone using the storyboard. i obtained the storyboard sheet via mr deVita and used a A3 printed to print it out so i could draw more detail into it also thiswould make things clearer, i used a pencil and pen to draw/write this.

as you can see from the images we have tried to stick to are original idea as closely as we can  here is a comparision of the storyboard vs the video

as you can see we've stuck to the environment shown in the storyboard as before filming we had to go down to the filming location and examine where shots will possibly go. as you can see the charater is wearing the correct clothing as this was decided before the storyboard was created and shadows are drawn in correctly the correct places on connors face

us at the location

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

!PLEASE CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE!

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I have compared our media production main character to Freddie Cruger from “Nightmare on elm street” this is because both characters dress in a similar style and are seeking revenge for wrong doings and both our psycho killers.

!PLEASE CLICK ON THE TABLE TO ZOOM IN!

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

Our production company is called StandHardProduction we chose this name because it is a metaphor of how we planned to stand as a team and try to overcome problems together. Are logo is just a standard logo with SHP in a circle, this was chosen as it is a basic logo so it’s more recognisable for the audience. There were many roles to fill in are small group so some of us had to take on 2-3 roles. my role was creating the tittles and storyboards these where to be completed before the production started to give us an outline and titles complete before editing took place. Other tasks such as filming and editing where done by liam oliver and connor page(senior editor) as i was the junior editor and fran was in charge of misc on scene; everything seen on camera. As a production company we had to create a cast what suited the roles.. these actors where Connor Page as the murder, Heather Steele as the victim, Liam Oliver as yob and William Page as the stunt double this was shown in the opening titles in what we thought was the most important to the audience for example; we started with the cast as they appeared in the opening as the audience could connect to the characters and know what actor is playing which role down to irrelevant things the audience might not be interested in e.g. the stunt double which is the last title credit. An idea i have had for a distributor is Anchor Bay Entertainment this is because it has distributed low budget films such as " I spit on your grave" and "the kings speech" i think this is a good choice as the kings speech was a very successful film and i spit on your grave is a low budget horror like our film so it could be distributed in the same way . We could raise money for it by firstly investing our own money into the film, or contact local investors as this is the best way to raise money but in exchange their brand would have to somehow be included into the film you could also get a sponsorships from a large business such as McDonalds or debut the production at large conventions such as Comic-Con.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Relentless Possibility is a film made for the male audience at the age of 18-30 years old. Not hugely popular but has a small circle of friends which gets up to many different types of activity’s but mainly on the artistic side. They would buy clothes from online shops and wear things what make them stand out and buy albums from shops like hmv and also online. When they go to the cinema they pick the horror genre as it gives them an adrenaline rush and they like seeing blood, gore and psychologically disturbing things. They would watch shows about vampires such as true blood and while watching tv would mainly be on the music channels. This film could also be chosen for young couples looking for a jumpy movie.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We stuck to the conventions of the horror genre by using low key lighting to make the opening feel more sinister, have eary background music which contrasts with the shots to make them creepier, we created a battle of good vs. evil, the good character being the victim like in most horrors leading to death and the evil character being twisted in the mind. T
We used digetic sound to add realism and also a mix of foli art to make it sound more scary.
We Also attracted audiences in many different ways (these are Facebook , YouTube, Rough cut viewings
Facebook , not long after forming our group StandHardProductions
we created a Facebook group to show awareness. This is to show progression
through are production, post videos and information and most importantly
get feedback from the public on how to improve are videos
Facebook , not long after forming our group StandHardProductions
we created a Facebook group to show awareness. This is to show progression
through are production, post videos and information and most importantly
get feedback from the public on how to improve are videos

Here is a link to the page
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/home.php?sk=group_139347546114394&ap=1

We also have created a YouTube page. This is where the videos first hits the internet, we have subscribers who follow us and sometime give us feedback.

Here is a link to the page
http://www.youtube.com/user/StandHardProductions
We shared a rough cut with our media class to give them an idea about are opening and to collect feedback about ways we could improve are opening to make it more appealing.

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

i have learnt during the production a variety of new skills. Including using video editing software (adobe premier pro and adobe affect effects)
Here is a screenshot of me using adobe affect effects to create the titles for the film.
I found this difficult at first as it was the first time of me using this software. I was taught how to use it with help from Connor page and online videos.

Here is a screenshot of me using adobe premier pro. I help make a rough cut of our final video by deciding what clips looked best where and where the titles took place.
I found this difficult also because it is the first time using the software properly as juno was a entire group effort and didn’t have to rely on myself as much.

This is the first time i have started blogging and at first i found it difficult but over time i have learnt how to add images, embed video’s and use colour and text to make my work stand out , Here are some printscreens of my work i have uploaded onto the blogs both me using the writing functions on it and what the final blog looks like

here is a printscreen of our youtube home page,this is my second time using youtube profile as i have a personal account aswell, i have learnt how to embed videos from youtube into my blog so they show up without having to click anything. this was useful as not the examiner can now view things without going onto other pages

7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

during the last year i have learnt alot since the start of our preliminary task to the finish of are main project.we used the school cameras for our perliminary and soon decided to change to a better high quality camera ( Nikon D90 SLR ) firstly increasing are knowlegde of the film industry itself and secondly learnt how to use a camera and all the basic camera shots,angles and movements so are final production can be of top standards . a good example of this is when we produced are perliminary exercise as we had to include 3 key camera angles ( shot/reverse shot, match on action , 180 degree rule) this was to test are knowledge and get to grips with the technology we was using ,here is a print screen of us using the shot/reverse shot as this is the only video we created with digetic audio

Another good example of camera skills we have learnt is during the juno task how to use match on action so the entire piece flows when shots cut and to maintain continuity, this was made possible by editing using "adobe premier pro". This technique could not be used in are final piece as there was no dialogue between characters. we used simple camera movements like panning and more advanced like are POV shots in are final production final using the 180 degree rule, this was used throughout all of our productions so characters and object just didn’t flip around on randomly on screen.

during our time on the course we learnt how different colours were used for different meanings, this is shown in our final production as are main villian is dressed in black for evil and the girl is holding a red handbag to alert danger. music is also important to the opening of a film as it sets the tone for the film. we used "possibility" to create a creepy eary feel to the production. We have used film editing software to create a final piece and used techniques like slow motion to create enigma.
Overall i have enjoyed my time on the course and got to know my group through the time. i have learnt how to meet deadlines as its crucial to teamwork and I’m proud of the final production

Codes and convensions of the horror genre

This type of genre strives to educe fear and apprehension from their viewers by colliding supernatural into reality situations. Everything a normal society values is systematically destroyed throughout the film. It often can be completely paranormal without any reality whatsoever and are based on classic literature of the gothic/horror genre. They can also incorporate elements of other genres such as science fiction (sci-fi), fantasy, black comedies or thriller. Modernized horrors usually contain graphic violence or bloody gore. Horror films differentiate due to the years and so it is much harder to compare or group them largely and so contrasts between them become very clear.


o Preliminary introduction into ordinary lifestyleo Type of bizarre murder/death – killer maybe known or unknowno Credits follow horror theme – creepy font, title movement, image eg pumpkin, weapon, etc
o Main characters introduced – young/ youthful
o Teenage kids – easy target also vulnerable – home alone
o Teenagers usually a couple – football jock boyfriend and cheerleader blonde bimbo girlfriend.
o Mysterious phone calls – dubbed sinister voice “Who’s There…?”
o Family ties broken
o Sisters killed by brothers e.g: Halloweeno Sometimes unsuccessful acts of heroism
o Victim unprotected
o Superhuman killer – doesn’t die successfully = sequels

FACEBOOK

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/home.php?sk=group_139347546114394&ap=1

Facebook , not long after forming our group StandHardProductions
we created a Facebook group to show awareness. This is to show progression
through are production, post videos and information and most importantly
get feedback from the public on how to improve are videos
this was to draw people in and create a fanbase for are production team

ROUGH CUT

The filming has now all been completed, and was very succesfull. Connor and Liam have been making sound effects using fuit and vegtables, These will be added into our opening to create better sound effects.
Me and ryan have been working on the effects for the titles which are going to be quite basic, so it doesnt take attention away from the opening.
We have now began revising for the exams.

Our filming did not take place on the date we had intended to start, this is due to actors not being able to make it, All our filming took place over arround 4 weeks and was filmed at night between the hours of 6-10pm. Becaue of health and safety we had to had a adult avaliable to drive the car, this was Connors dad, who was present at all filming.
I beleive the filming has gone well overall, the lighting is good and the continuity is mostly corect. Final touches are now being added to the film, e.g. slight continuity errors. The sound is good, but we are aware that some slight changes are needed to be done for example, on the ipod scene the sound of the ipod hitting the floor is slighty to loud. I think that our film has some very good points. e.g. some of the close up shots like of the boot, and the girl crying. These are here to create more emotion and to make the audince feel more involved.
Here is the rough cut of our film, shown below:

UPDATE

This post is just to say that throughout the past moths the group and myself have been working on the project, this has resulted in myself not posting in a while. however in this time frame we have done a lot of work that we shall be sharing with you shortly. for example we have:

• had a meeting with the Werrington police
• selected our set
• check the lighting
• organized everyone
• over came many problems
• filmed our movie
• edited our clips together
• and discussed many ideas for our title sequence

I will post more entries over the coming weeks where i will go in to more detail about the above.

StoryBoard Remake

Me and Connor met up on Monday the 6th, this was to turn the ruff draft of our storyboard into a finalized and presentable format. We did this by: first of all reprinting the templates on A3 paper, then we went over the draft shot by shot. Ryan then drew out the shots as they were described and shown; we strongly thought about shading to show the lighting techniques. 
 Once we we happy with how it looked we showed it to our group, after getting the go ahead, we handed it over to liam. he then turned this storyboard into the shooting script, this will then be used whilst filming.

Creating the Titles

Creating the Titles was one of the most difficult challenges i had to overcome in our production
the titles contained two differn't area's
 - Font
 - Movement

Font

The font we used was Chaparral Pro
deciding on the Font was a simple task we went for something what was quite simple
and easy to read









Creating Movement.

Creating movement was a difficult task as I was new to "Adobe After Effects"
the software i used.

I got help from Connor and also VideoCopilot.
http://www.videocopilot.net/

The Texts faded in from Black and slowly moved to a position on screen.
this was a difficult task at the 0.00 i had to set the oppacity to 0% and set a keyframe
then where the text stops set it to 100% this means from 0 seconds to 4 seconds the full action will
be completed.

Making Movement was practically the same but putting a keyframe when i wanted the text to start
then skipping to the end and setting the text where i wanted it to finish.

We did not Input any sound onto our titles as we wanted to make the text fit the tempo of the music nicely
so it flows correctly

Red = This is where the text starts to move
Blue = This is where the movements end
Orange = This is where the opacity starts to fade in
Purple = this is where the opacity finished
and the text is at its brightest

Health and Safety

we have had to consider our health and safety for our project, this because we are using realistic weapons in a public place. we have considered members of the public being scared or worried about the goings on in our horror (e.g. the kill scene). to combat this problem we will have a member of crew,l wearing a high visability jacket with a dedicated phone line on the back (a mobile number, where they can call for a brief description of what we are doing); along with that the in tire crew will be wearing a high visibility jackets that say crew on the back. we will also ask Scott if he will over see our shooting as a responsible adult. we may also consider having a trained first aider on set.

we have also got in contact with the local police dept. and are awaiting for a response to our phone call to set up a recording meeting to explain our project and our intentions. we have also written a letter to inform them of our goings on. this is shown below

9^th December 2010

To Whom It May Concern

I am writing to inform you that we will be shooting a horror film sequence for our AS Media Studies Project.  This will include the use of realistic looking weapons (e.g. knife). This will be shot around dusk/ night near Olympus house. We will inform you of the dates nearer the time of shooting this. We will also inform Olympus House of these events.

This is part of our Media Studies course and it involves filming an opening scene for our chosen genre. We have selected the Horror genre. We have planned out our script and costumes for this over the last few weeks. All members of our group will be wearing high visibility jackets during filming.  Group members include: Connor Page, Francesca Williams, Ryan Newson and Liam Oliver. Also Sophie Stokes will be involved as an actress on this day.

We will have a dedicated help line displayed around the set where any member of the public can call to be informed of the current events in place.  A risk assessment will be carried out prior filming.  We kindly request your Consent to these events; if you have any queries please contact Connor Page on  07807 070458 or contact Roberto DeVita at Ken Stimpson Community School.

Yours sincerely

StandHardProductions                      R De Vita

                                                          Media Studies Teacher (KSCS)

Police Interview

We had a meeting with the police to make sure that we would be allowed to film out in public with a realistic looking weapon. After the sargent inspected the weapon, he told us that he was happy for us use it for the purpose of filming.

This video is a debrief of the meeting;

Problems with titles

our group have came across a problem with creating the tittles
due to lack of resources in school
we are unable to create them on the school system as there are tools
we need are not in the version of after effects  

Research and Props

We have started research into clothing for our Opening Scene. We have also looked into buying hi vis jacket to alert members of the public that we are part of the filming. The below print screen shows that 4 high vis jackets would cost £5.20 and 4 Jackets with print on the back would cose £16.20.

The i-pod we will have to borrow of someone and the Machette we will eaither had to  borrow or buy.

The below screen shot shows the estimated price of buying a Machette:

Becasue of the weather being cold we have done some research into buying a read coat for the actress, below is a print screen of the estimated price for this, the price would be £3.69 including postage;

 We have experimented with various fonts for out titles, these are shown below:

We have decided on the last font. We will do this in red and white so it flashes on the black background like a heart beat. The sketchy text indicates the disturbed mind of the killer, and the red colour indicates danger.

Helpline

Yesterday me and Fran painted a board white and wrote helpline and a number so if anyone has any quiries the day we are filming they can call this helpline. We are planning to film this Sunday as last week some of our group were not able to make it for filming.

Health and Saftey

we have had to consider our heath and safety for our project, this because we are using realistic weapons in a public place. we have considered members of the public being scared or worried about the goings on in our horror (e.g. the kill scene). to combat this problem we will have a member of crew,l wearing a high visibility jacket with a dedicated phone line on the back (a mobile number, where they can call for a brief description of what we are doing); along with that the in tire crew will be wearing a high visibility jackets that say crew on the back. we will also ask Scott if he will over see our shooting as a responsible adult. we may also consider having a trained first aider on set.

we have also got in contact with the local police dept. and are awaiting for a response to our phone call to set up a recorded meeting to explain our project and our intentions. we have also written a letter to inform them of our goings on. this is shown below

9^th December 2010

To Whom It May Concern

I am writing to inform you that we will be shooting a horror film sequence for our AS Media Studies Project.  This will include the use of realistic looking weapons (e.g. knife). This will be shot around dusk/ night near Olympus house. We will inform you of the dates nearer the time of shooting this. We will also inform Olympus House of these events.

This is part of our Media Studies course and it involves filming an opening scene for our chosen genre. We have selected the Horror genre. We have planned out our script and costumes for this over the last few weeks. All members of our group will be wearing high visibility jackets during filming.  Group members include: Connor Page, Francesca Williams, Ryan Newson and Liam Oliver. Also Sophie Stokes will be involved as an actress on this day.

We will have a dedicated help line displayed around the set where any member of the public can call to be informed of the current events in place.  A risk assessment will be carried out prior filming.  We kindly request your Consent to these events; if you have any queries please contact Connor Page on  07807 070458 or contact Roberto DeVita at Ken Stimpson Community School.

Yours sincerely

StandHardProductions                      R De Vita

                                            Media Studies Teacher (KSCS)

Group meeting (13-1-11)

On the above date, we had a big group discussion about our media production.
we went through the whole plot, angles and lighting we where going to use and discussed
if we where going to get anyone else involved with the production like a make up artist
and had to work out how to manage are shooting times as all of the group are busy at different times
we decided we could only film on Sundays as its the only day one of our actors can make it (Sophie stokes)

we will shoot from 4.30 til whenever it takes and we are using reflectors to help with our lighting
which we custom built out of mirrored perspex.

props

during the weekend we was able to find a decent prop to use in our production happening this sunday (30/1/01)
we was able to get a hold off my decorative sword and we have been given permisson to use it