Killing Jennifer - Main Task

Opening Sequence - Peer Assessments

Opening Sequence - Peer Assessments

Opening Sequence - Peer Assessments

Assessment of Evaluation posts Q. 4 & 6 (SJA Feb 10th)

WWW:

• Becka, when I look over your blog, I am really pleased to see you have really invested a lot of time developing your evaluation posts. They are interesting and visual
• I really like your idea for the mini movie for Q. 6 - It's enjoyable to watch and you have shown some lovely creativity to 'SHOW' certain techniques as you talk to us

EBI:

• Unfortunately, it wouldn't let me view the mini movie you made for Q. 4 - content has been blocked. It must be the track you chose to use over it... have a look and change this.
• You idea for Q. 6 is very clever, I would like to see more of the range of technology you use on a daily basis in Media lessons. You should try to add to the good work you have done already for this post by also including a screen cast (try using JING) to talk through other technologies such as how you use i-Movie, Live type, blogger, filming, equipment, etc, etc...

Overall effort for Q. 6 & 4: VG

Killing Jennifer Assessment - First draft

7. Looking back on your Preliminary Task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

My Preliminary Task:

My Final Product:

Since creating my Preliminary Task I believe I have improved in various areas, including a range of technologies and specializing in a specific role.

The continuity of my final product has improved a lot since my Preliminary Task.  In this section of my preliminary task the sound of the clips do not flow.  Comparing this to my final product the sounds within the clips flow together well and are not disturbed between shots.



Even though the editing in our Preliminary Task was fluent throughout the majority of our clip there were some places in which this could have been improved.  For example in one of the shots in our Preliminary Task the editing was not precise enough and this affected the continuity of our piece.  Even though this shot is not essential it is mistake made within the piece.  In our final product we worked on the editing for our piece to insure that nothing was missed and that all the shots flowed well together.



In both my Preliminary Task and my final product we follow the 180 degree rule so the audience does not get confused while watching our piece.

Between my Preliminary Task and my final product my confidence and familiarity with the program iMovie has improved a lot and I am more fluent when using the program.  Due to my improvements in iMovie my editing skills on the program have also improved.  I feel that I specialize in this role as this is the part of creating a film that I enjoy the most and therefore I have put more time into learning this and becoming more familiar with it.

Peer Assessment - Preliminary Task and Final Product

Self Assessment - Preliminary Task and Final Product

6. What have you learned about Technologies from the process of constructing this product?

What have you learned?  Choose 3 technologies and explain why you used them, and what effect you were able to create.



We used the black and white effect on some of our clips to create the effect of a CCTV camera.  This worked as we used a high angled camera to scan the room, similar to a CCTV camera.  Also, using Live Type we will be creating text at the bottom of the shots, to show time passing which is shown on a CCTV camera.  Also we will be adding titles with this.  On our second clip, we extracted the sound so when we used a fade through black to show the titles, the background sounds will still be heard.  This shows that even though the audience is not seeing it, they know the action is still happening.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our audience, by insuring that different elements of the clip were essential, and looked professional.  One of these was through the use of steadiness throughout the clip.  It is important that the camera is held steady as if it was moving constantly, the audience could get distracted and lose the tension created within the opening of our film.

We also looked at the framing of out piece, making sure that all things in the shots are relevant and need to be there.  If we had unnecessary items in our shots this could ruin the atmosphere of the film for the audience.

Within our piece, we insured that we used a variety of shot types and angles.  If only one shot type and angle was used within the entire opening, it would not be very interesting and the audience would get bored quickly.  This is important to vary as we want people to enjoy our opening, and want to know what happens in the rest of the film.

As a group, we believe that the footage we have used is appropriate to our audience, as it conveys what we want to audience to know.  With inappropriate footage within our opening, the audience would become confused, causing them to not understand what is going on and lose interest in the clip.

Assessment 22/01/12 SJA

WWW:

• You have made a start on the 3 posts we wanted to see completed so far
• You have incorporated 'Prezzi' for one post - which shows an interest in using a range of media throughout your blog

EBI:

• All 3 posts need to be 'Super Visual' - You need to include images, gif's, short films etc to enhance your posts. They should not be text only.
• You technologies post could make use of JING (and certainly images) to SHOW your work in creating the CCTV effect your notes refer to. Think about how you can really show an examiner how you are using new technologies to create your film, edit it, and also to present your work. This post needs more work and development.
• Your post on 'Representation of Social Groups' makes a start at using Prezzi - but you need to take it further - show images of similar 'types' of characters. If you are creating a lead character who challenges typical female stereotypes... how will you show the audience this? Will it be through a combination of certain choices in costumes, colours, facial expressions? Make up?  I suggested to Nathan that he look at the female lead in the 2011 film 'Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'. The character's name is  Lisbeth Salander, she is played by actress Rooney Mara. Do some research to see how this actress constructed the character of 'Lisbeth' through costume, hair, make up, expression, and attitude... She is certainly not the typical 'damsel in distress'... 

Overall, at this stage, there is 'Improvement Needed' IN for the 3 posts Becka. You need to keep working on them.

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

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

Within my group, we discussed many different distribution companies that would be suitable for our film, including New Line Cinema, and Momentum Pictures.  As the genre of out media product is a Psychological Thriller we looked into similar films to see what their Distribution Companies were.

As a group, we decided that the best distribution company for our product is The Weinstein Company.  This company mainly distributes low budget films, apart from a few exceptions, eg "The Kings Speech". We believe that this company is suitable for our product as they have distributed other films which are similar to ours, and are of a thriller genre, for example "Awake" an American crime / supernatural / conspiracy thriller 

Teacher Assessment - Research

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

How does your media product represent particular social groups? on Prezi

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

Within our media product we used, developed and challenged many different forms and conventions.

Used Conventions/Forms
Within our opening, one convention we have used is titles. Titles are not essential for an opening sequence, however they knowledge the audience of the people who were involved not only in the film, but also behind the scenes.

Developed Conventions/Forms

We developed the theme of our product, not only discussing the genre of our film but also the sub genre of it.  As a group we decided that our genre will be a thriller, to develop this we thought that we would create a Psychological Thriller.

Challenged Conventions/Forms

Within our product, we Challenged the stereotypical 'damsel in distress' character and also the 'muscly male' character.  In our opening, even though the female character is tied up, she develops her understanding of where she is and why shes there by taking control.  This causes the audience to sympathize for this character and makes them want this character to be okay.  This also means the audience start asking questions like 'who is she?' 'why is she there?' etc.  This is similar to 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' however, their lead female character is more extreme.



We also challenged the use of equilibrium (disequilibrium).  Our product is out of the ordinary, however this is similar to other thrillers so therefore follows the typical features of our genre.

Shooting Scheduele

Peer Assessment - Planning

Casting

Who we chose for casting, and why we chose them:

For our victim, we chose to use a female character.  This is because stereotypically women are presented as being weak and more vulnerable then men are, therefore she has a low status.  Also, our female character is small and has a light hair colour which suggests that she is innocent.  The innocence of this character is effective because it makes the audience sympathize for her, and want her to overcome what she is going through or about to go through.

Our murderer is a male character, with dark hair and tall.  This is because men are stereotypically strong, and more powerful then women so have a higher status over them and control them.  As this character is more powerful and aggressive the audience feel less sympathy towards this character, and concentrate on what they think the character is doing, who they are, and why they are doing it.

Titles

These fonts are fonts that interest us as a group. The name of 'A Childs Nightmare' may be a temporary or permanent name, we're not sure yet. They all link with the handwriting idea, like the kidnapper is writing in a diary about his victims or killings, and he is hunting down his childhood friends to punish them links with 'A Childs Nightmare'.

On Screen Titles:

The Wire (All Due Respect, 26/09/04, US)

For our titles this is what we would prefer ours to look like.  We prefer this rather then having them over black as it allows the audience to ask more questions and want to know more, rather then the 'fake world' they are seeing to be interrupted.  This example is perfect as they used a font which is similar to the font which we want to use, and in a similar position.

Over Black Titles:

The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan, 1999, US)

Even if we did want to do titles over black it would be hard as our opening sequence has to be under two minutes and the titles may take 3-4 seconds each, narrowing down the time allowed for the opening sequence. Although this works for The Sixth Sense, I don't think it would work with our opening sequence.

Credits for this piece of work go to Matt Moore

Killer Costume

-Dark Clothes

-Lack of Colour --> Cold Character?

-Not much of his body is revealed (Mystery)

Victim Costume

- Girl (Intended Age, 20)

- Bright Clothes with Colour (Gives some emotion, suggests a bright personality? The character likes to express themselves)

Props

These are images of all the different props that we will be using in our piece.

Chair - Where the victim is tied down

Rope - To hold victim down

          - To be used by killer to connect images.

Pin Board - For our Killer's 'Hit List'

Pins - For killer to place into board.

Location

The dark room which the killer will hold his victim in the opening of our film. It is a cold room that looks cramped so it is definitely going to be an uncomfortable environment for viewers to see.


Credits for this piece of work go to Nathan Wyatt

Character Description

Credits for this piece of work go to Nicole Benyon



This video was created by the whole group

Animatic of our Opening Sequence

Group Work

Peer Assessment - Research

StoryBoard

We created a storyboard for our opening sequence so we know what shots we are going to use, when they will be used, their timing and what type of shot it will be.  This was a rough idea of what our opening sequence would include and was liable to change due to a change of our ideas and the location used.

Sound

This sound could be used whilst the door of the garage is being opened to reveal the murderer.  It could also be used when point of view shots are being used from the victims view, causing the audience to be panicked as the victim is.  This would show that the victim is scared and starting to panic.



This sound could be used throughout the opening to create tension within the audience as they watch the clip.  This sound would fit will with out opening sequence as it will make the audience worried, similar to how the victim will be feeling at that time.

Theses sounds are all copyright free, and I received them from the Freesound website.

Shot Lists

[We chose to use a close-up of Nicole's eyes; this is to show her panic when she believes that someone might be following her.  We chose a close-up because it shows the majority of her face, and doesn't give away too much of her identity, causing the audience to ask questions.]  [We used an extreme close-up of Nicole's fingers to show her multi-coloured fingernails.  This suggests that she is sweet and innocent, which in our film she is.]  [For the shot of Nicole's tied up feet, we decided to use a close-up.  This is because it shows that she is trapped, and cannot get away from where she is.]  [We also used a close-up to show Nicole's hands, which are tied together.  This is because it shows that she is trapped, and cannot get away from where she is.]

[This POV shot shows the killer looking at his hands, thinking back on what he has done, or what he might be about to do.  This shot shows one side of the killer's personality, while others show the other, evil, not bothered emotion.] [This is a close up of the murderer tapping his/her fingers, watching their victim from a distance.  This creates tenstion within the audiencem, making them ask questions about the murderer.  The tapping is very sinistar, and affects the heartbeat of the audience, causing it to speed up or slow down.] [This shot shows the killer pinning photos onto a wall, these could be either people he has already murdered, or his next victim.  The people he has murdered will have red crosses through them, to show they have been killed, and that they are being murdered one by one.  This creates an eerie atmosphere for the audience and makes us worry about the victim tied up.] [This mid-shot of the killer’s feet, shows him/her tapping their feet waiting for a specific moment in time. This creates tension and mystery, and also hides the characters identity.  The audience are left asking questions, e.g. where is (s)he? Who are they?]

'A Child's Nightmare' - A Synopsis of Our Film

The Film Synopsis on Prezi

Our Film Ideas

Audience Research 2

From our questionnaire, we know that our target audience is going to be aged between 16 and 21, as the majority of the people who responded to the questionnaire are aged within this range, therefore this would be most effective for that age group.

This question in the questionnaire confirms which type of thriller our answers perfered, from this was know that the majority of them prefer Psycological thrillers to Super Natural thrillers, 

so our opening sequence could be based on this.

This question helps us to decide what to include in the opening sequence, and also what/how they want to feel after watching it.