Closing Post

Alas, here we are.

It's been a long trip from this blog's humble beginning. I started out not really understanding the process of producing a short piece of film, with a preliminary task that showed the basics of realistic film production to our final title sequence - the culmination of learning new and interesting camera angles, diving into completely new adobe software and mostly stressful but enjoyable on location filming.

I hope you enjoy reading this blog, as much as I did making it. I've labelled each blog, and it should be easily navigated through the label organisation at the top of the page. No more posts will follow this, the end of an exciting journey through film.

(Be kind!)

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

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

4)Who would be the audience for your media product? 5) How did you attract/address your audience?

4) Target audience

Who is my target audience

(Click on bottom right link "View on Slideshare" to see writing in clearer detail)

5) Response and Interview

Response:

Interview:

As you can see by the response and feedback from the interview, my target audience samples both took a preferred reading to the text. It may have challenged real media product conventions, but my target audience understood the text in the way I intended. When addressing my audience I used an informal address, communicating through images and symbols rather then direct speech.

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

Distribution consists of delivery, advertising & marketing. In a market dominated by the major studios, film has become a medium in conflict between independent creativity & artistic approach, against profitable mainstream 'blockbuster' cinema.

Achieving public interest in independent film is increasingly difficult due to the structure of film distribution. Worth $60,000,000,000 annually, the 'majors' of;

• Paramount
• Disney,

• Twentieth Century Fox

etc., reap the rewards of their dominance spanning all aspects of film; production, distribution and exhibition. This is called being vertically integrated, and is the reason behind the major studios large margins, as they are able to both produce and distribute film - controlling then which are exhibited and through what distribution window the films are published. (be that DVD, Terrestrial or Satellite TV).
As a low-budget psychological horror, my title sequence would be better aimed at the independent market where less professional effects and lower production quality are accepted as an inevitable flaw. This would allow our target audience, that of mature adults, to experience our film from an independent cinema, hundreds of which exist across the UK such as the in Birmingham, in comparison to the Major's run studios across the states . However, distribution of my film could be aided by viral marketing, an advertising form that has become increasingly more popular even by mainstream cinema. Richard Gale uses his YouTube account, to advertise and popularise his short films. This is because YouTube is one of the most viewed website on the Internet and open to a large audience, giving a video a higher chance of success then through a smaller distribution window.
I think I could make use of YouTube here, releasing my film onto YouTube is not enough alone however. Correct tags and knowing more popular YouTube users for referencing us would create a greater chance of success, perhaps creating my own website simply teasing images would be a form advertising I could explore, as used before by 'Cloverfield'.
Made with a budget of only $320,000 however, and grossing $47,000,000, John Carpenter's 'Halloween' is a title that managed to establish itself as a dominant force in the industry down to Carpenters willingness to create an independent film, but use the majors' ability to successfully distribute it across the market resulting in great success for both parties. This is the path i would follow when distributing my film, because i feel distributors would be willing to increase the own credibility by releasing an independent film that challenges conventions of films they would usually release, particularly in my film's genre.

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

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

Detailed analysis of particular conventions -

Using conventions :
From the start of our title sequence, we wanted to begin with an establishing shot of a location that would reflect the tone of our film. When researching location establishing shots in real media products, we began to search outside the boundaries of our genre, and found this in 'Manhattan'. The bill-board sets the jazz art - Deco mood of the film in it's title sequence, and we felt a similar sign researched on location in Worcester would create the same effect. Although, unlike 'Manhattan' our film is not titled 'Northwick', from the start of our sequence until five seconds in we feel we have used a common convention from a real media product successfully.

In the first 30 seconds of our film we used a mix of long takes & slow fade In's to establish a dark ominous, scene setting piece of film. We realised this idea of editing from our research for our genre, when studying 'Psycho' by Alfred Hitchcock. (Below) Hitchcock uses a slow fade-in to reveal the first location of the film.

We used this convention , common across the majority of real title sequences, as a means of editing to establish our location.

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Cinematography is always key to producing a successful real media product that is camera - oriented. We realised this when creating 'Hurt', knowing that editing would not be enough to create a successful title sequence. We knew we wanted from the beginning a long take that would establish sound and film together. Inspired by the long take in the 'Fallout 3 Trailer' , we set about using a record player and a steady cam to try and ensure we used the same track back which was used so effectively throughout the entire trailer's sequence. Even though the trailer does not apply from our own category of genre, it remains a real media product that reminded us of traditional media conventions and the importance of well positioned shots.

Developing conventions :

Our use of sound uses common conventions of the psychological horror genre, then developing this to create something that allows us to differentiate our score from those of other real media products. For example, the first 30 seconds of 'Hurt' uses a raw, screeching synth
to disturb and unsettle the viewer. This is because when planning and researching earlier, we discovered many films of the genre, such as 'Seven' which share this convention of using sound to unsettle their audience, connoting danger from the 'get go'.

We then decided to

develop our use of Title sequences' soundtrack by editing a trademark free version of Tschakovsky's 'Swan Lake' and using it for the latter 2/3's of the film. (Download Number 6. http://freeplaymusicclassic.com/search/keyword_search.php)
When researching fonts for titles in other films of our genre, we came across flamboyant styles of text most frequently, such as the font found in 'The Others (Right).

We felt to differentiate our film from others in the Psychological Horror category, we had to use a font that would subvert the usual common font. So no extravagant font was used, merely a simple, capital lettered font underlined with the title of the film. (Left)

Challenging conventions :

Common throughout the majority of title sequences, is the use of many titles - establishing directors, producers, actors etc. However, we felt if we

refused to do this, and simplify a title sequence by showing only the film title, thus reducing it to it's simplest form. It would be unique against a genre (and industry) that uses titles to such an extent that the audience's attention levels would decline. In my research I found only one other film to keep informative titles hidden, as to remain focus on the film not the titles - this being Capello's 'Apocalypse Now'.
Mise-En-Scene was a convention of film that we immediately wished to challenge. Rather then use literal, cold instruments seen in Seven, we aimed to challenge the use of objects on stage by permissing Mannequins, Masks, Suits and

Roses inside our unique filming location. (Below) We used such items to allow the audience to interpret meaning from our title sequence, not just a summary idea of the purpose of our title sequence, but the meaning behind each shot, each item. For example ,the rose falling with a slow motion effect positioned on the clip could connote romance dying, falling - the possibilities with interpretive objects truly are limitless.

Final Production

Props Added

We decided for the final piece to parallel our target audience's opinion given from our mood board. We learned that one of the greatest fears of our demographic was the use of mask's, particularly clowns and childhood figures. We were informed that masks were disturbing because they enabled the subject to hide their identity, and thus their character - making them unreliable and mysterious, something we aimed to achieve with our film.

Coursework Deadline

It's coursework deadline today! We're just polishing our final piece, moving clips left and right to sync smoothly with the music. We're going to have to now upload the video onto youtube, then instantly embed it into our blog.

Cast

Our title sequence requires one actor who doesn’t say a single thing, only move. We had a number of options, however due to constrictions from colleges we had to find an enthusiastic and keen person to work with. Jack Vaughan will be our actor and we are very glad that he is helping us out.

Definite Location in Huntingdon Hall.

After Filming outside Northwick and in Worcester our first shoot was successful, but too complete it will were looking for an old fashioned theatre which is easy to access. After emailing and ringing Worcester Live we have gained access to Huntingdon Hall on Wednesday the 19^th for 2-3 hours with no fee, for this we are very grateful. We have waited so late to film because this was the only week that the stage was clear and we were very determined to film there. Professional lighting is been used giving our piece a professional feel. We are very excited to film in such a great location and watch our idea come to life.

Shoot one at Northwick and Worcester Town.

On Tuesday the 11th of January, we set out filming and targeted to capture our first 30 seconds for our opening in Worcester and Northwick. We found a grim back alleyway that we took a series of dull, dirty and rough objects and images that connote our characters personality. These images will be used subliminary to connote the meaning. Also in Worcester we stumbled upon a antique shop that had a 20th century image of the theatre that we were filming at next, thanks to a kind worker he let us take a shot of it which will add a great effect to the final product.

After filming in Worcester we made our way to North wick theatre, this is a perfect location to give a 1930's classy impression that we were looking for. Here we took a number of shots of the building and some statues. We are unable to use inside as it's no longer a theatre so instead we have permission to use Huntingdon hall in Worcester. This is a perfect old fashioned theatre and we couldn't of asked for much more.

Overall the shoot was a success and we are very please how the shoot when and we are very much looking forward to the capturing the rest of our film on the 19th of January. We had to wait for a dater date for the theatre to become available.

Health & Safety

Shot List

Shotlist:

Shot 1: Establishing shot of Northwick

Shot 2: Subliminal Flash

Shot 3: Shot of grotty alley

Shot 4: Subliminal Flash

Shot 5: Shot of Northwick

Shot 6: Distorted image of Northwick

Shot 7: Banners outside Northwick

Shot 8: Close up of banners

Shot 9: Shot of Northwick stairs

Shot 10: Walking up the stairs towards the door

-fades out-

Shot 11: Establish the theatre.

Shot 12: Record player, tracking back

Shot 13: Dancing with the mannequin (long shot)

Shot 14: Dancing with mannequin, close up to the feet.

Shot 15: Rose falling of the suit (slow mo)

Shot 16: Close up of the characters face

Shot 17: Character beating up mannequin

Shot 18: Titles (Hurt)

Shot 19: Character walking off the stage, turns light off.

Storyboard

Click on Images for close-up.