Evaluation Activity 7: Looking back at your preliminary task9 the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

 Our preliminary task was to film and edit a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. For this task we drew out a storyboard to plan out what we were going to do. I think we as a group could have done a lot more to make the scene a little bit clearer. Our editing skills weren't very good back then because that was one of the very first times we  used IMovie. However I feel like now I developed a lot of skills using IMovie and the camera. For example back then I wasn't very familiar with the angles on the camera but now I find it easier to show more around use different angles . I have also learnt how important the props and costumes in the frame are. When we did the preliminary task, we didn't think about the costumes and the props to make the scene more realistic. We also should of taken a wide range of shots and used a tripod because it was very hard getting the shots we needed without using a tripod, however it definitely made us use a tripod in the future after seeing how shaking the film was. I think some of the shots we did use, were quite good seeing as we didn't a tripod. One shot that I particular liked was the reverse shot because it was quick and clear. However I think the match on action could have be portrayed clearer and the 180 degree rule shot could have been better if we used a tripod. After looking at our preliminary task and our finished opening scene, I think I have improved on the camera work and editing. I think it has been a very good part of learning how to use the camera. I am now confident on how to shoot different shots and editing our film to make it more sleek and professional. I am very happy with our final piece because it shows how much we have grew to use different technique.

Evaluation Activity 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation Activity 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

We had to use a mac to do all the editing. The mac was hard to understand at first but when we got used to it, it become much easier. However it did become a struggle when we tried to put the videos on from the camera, it took longer than we expected it would.

We had to a video camera to film the opening scene, we decide to use Ellie's video camera because it was HD and had more effects to use such Night Vision. It was very easy to use except putting the video on I movie was a struggle. The good thing about using a video camera is that you can see what you filmed after.

We used a tripod to keep the camera steady. This was good because it helped us keep control of the camera.

For editing we used IMOVIE, this was the programme that we were mainly using. From using this, we learnt how to do a lot of things such as special effects, like slow motion and fading in and out. We also learnt how to add sound to the opening scene to overlap the video. Another thing we learnt is how to edit clips by cropping videos moving them around etc.

Other websites we used on the internet were Google, to find images and fonts for the title. YouTube to get ideas for our opening scene,  from music to other opening scene. We also used Blogger to put all the work we did, such as planning and research etc. I also used websites like Prezi and Slideshare to show the presentations in a different way. I think Prezi is a good way of showing your presentations, because you can have different themes and make the presentation more interesting, however if I just wanted a simple presentation, I would use Slideshare to put the presentation on my blog. SlideShare is very straight forward whereas Prezi is a little bit more complicated depending on how you want your presentation to be like.For the Christoper Nolan Task, I used GoAnimate, which I found very easy and clear.

Evaluation Activity 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

0:12-0.22 Using an establishing shot for the first shot is very common. However using nigh vision is not common. Films like Sorority Row use an establishing shot for the first shot.
0:35-0:43 The army outfit represents the main character's past
0:27 the main character is similar to 'George Harvey in 'The Lovely Bones'
The music used is very similar to other horror/thriller movies used in the background
The USP for this opening scene is that there's no dialogue involved
For the Opening scene we kept the story line a mystery just what the people that answered the  questionnaire wanted.
We used some conventions of a thriller by keeping the audience excited and not giving much away so they want to see more.
1:37  Some people could relate to the situation because they may feel neglected by a parent or have an alcoholic parent.

Our Movie: Hidden

Evaluation Activity 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

This is Lizzy Grant, she's 17 and lives in East London. She shops in places like Punk Fish, Primark and Topshop but mostly goes for clothes that are black. The music Lizzy listens to is Dubstep and Indie and watches TV programmes like The Walking Dead, True Blood and Family Guy (all watched on FX). She enjoys spending time with friends and watching scary movies like Paranormal Activity, Scream, Sinister, Silent Hill and Zombieland etc. Her favourite time of the year is Halloween.
I think our film would appeal to people like Lizzy because she's the kind of girl that enjoys things that would scare them so therefore she likes movies that are psychology horrors and have meanings to them.

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

1. The Title of the Film:
We choose 'Hidden' to be 2.Setting/Location:
I decided to choose the back garden as the setting/location shot because I think it shows you the surroundings of where the main character, Isobella, lives. I think it is also a good shot to use because it gives the audience a sense of themselves being there and what Isobella has to live with. I could of easily used the first shot for this but I decided this would be better because Isobella doesnt actually live in house, shes lives into the back garden and by using this shot, the audience would have an idea of the story. For example, seeing Isobella in the cage, outside in the garden its shows the audience that the father does treat her well, which is kind of the situation in the film.
3.Costume & Props
I decided to use this shot because the props used in this frame give the audience an idea of what the father is like. For example the radio shows that he very old fashioned and the beer can shows that the father likes to drink and maybe to drink away his feelings towards his daughter and his past. The army outfit he is wearing shows that he was in the army and likes to wear it around the house to remember those times.
4.Camerawork & Editing
Seeing as we didnt use alot of shots, I decided to use this shot because instead of shooting this in one place,  we used a panning shot where we moves the camera to look like we were following him walking down the stairs.
5.Title Font & Style
This frame shows the type of font we used throughout the opening scene.We decided to use this font and style because I think it fits in with the genre thriller/horror. It's not too scary but it's mystery and looks like the writing they use for the typewriter. The font and style links in with our opening scene because the opening scene is also mystery and doesn't give much away and the main character is old fashioned just like the typewriter font.
6. Story and how the Opening sets it up
I used the first frame of the opening scene because I think it sets the story up because the audience are shown an overlook of the location. This is very common with thrillers/horrors.Here's an example
7. Genre and How the opening Suggests it
This frame shows the genre because of the spooky lighting firstly and how it looks like it at the character's person point of view which makes the charcter look vulnerable because you can't see very well and anyone could pop out at anytime. Just from this frame the audience can instantly tell that it's going to be a horror film.This happens alot in horror films.
8.How Characters are Introduced
In this frame it shows how charcters are introduced. We decided to keep it simple and just introduce the characters with the font we used throughout the opening scene. It means that the audience won't be distracted by the font but focus on what's happening.
9. Special Effects
The only special effect we used was slow motion. We didn't want to use alot because it would take the focus of the genre. We used slow motion because we thought the scene would be more dramatic.

Evaluation Activity 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Sorority Row

Sorority Row is movie about a group of sorority sisters who conduct a prank that goes horribly wrong and ends up killing one of their house-sisters, which eventually leads them into getting stalked by a serial killer.

The opening scene starts with a establishing shot showing us the setting. We also experience some mysterious diegetic sounds. For example we hear some trees rustling in the winds and see them falling off the tree, which is tells us it’s windy, cold and the movie is set in autumn which is very typical in a thriller/horror movie because most incidents happen in the dark and the trees give off a spooky effect. We then heard a dark and gloomy sound which creates tension as the camera zooms into the house. As the camera zooms into the house we are shown the title of the movie in the first minute. . The camera then moves into the house and we are shown a lot of teenagers dancing, drinking and having fun. We can instantly tell they are teenagers from the outfits there are wearing and how they are acting. Zooming into the house also makes the audience feel like they are actually entering the house themselves. As we go into the house, the music dies down and we heard a more upbeat song as the party goes on. We also see that there’s a party going on and we experience some slow-motion to create the party atmosphere. The camera still continues to move around the party focusing on a couple of girls doing a dance routine. I also notice that the camera focuses on the girl leading the dance telling us that Cassidy is one of the main characters. The camera then moves around the room again, showing us another of the main characters, Chugs who throws a beer at one of the party-goer and we experience another slow-motion moment showing us the impact of the beer getting throw at the boy. The camera continues to track the party, and we are shown another main character, Ellie, where the camera follows until she gets to the top of the stairs where are shown another establishing shot of the party and we are introduced to another main character, Claire. We are then shown Cassidy again running up the stairs and the camera immediately switches into a medium shot and tracks her until she gets to a room and we are shown another main character, Jessica. Jessica invites Cassidy into the room where the sorority sisters do a ‘Theta Toast’. This shows the girls in a circle, away from the noisy party. As the girls go around the circle we experience some new shots used, such as two shots, close-ups and over the shoulder shots. The close-ups make it easier for the audience see the girls’ facial expressions as they go around telling each other ‘shout outs’. And two shots to shows the audience who they are talking to. Throughout the opening scene, there are some clues to the genre, such as the loud scream, the rustling trees and the glass breaking.

Macro- Analysis:

Throughout the party in Theta-Pi sorority house, the girls decide to play a prank on one of the theta's boyfriend,Garett, by faking an OD after taking pills and pretending to be dead. Her sisters Jessica,Claire, Ellie, Cassidy and Garett's sister,Chugs, decide to 'pretend ' to dump the 'dead body' at a lake nearby. Garrett starts getting anxious and nervous, so he decides to stick a tire iron through Megan's chest, which kills her for real this time. Cassidy then thinks it's time to call the police, although the other Thetas disagree which stops Cassidy from calling. So they decide to dump the body in a shaft hoping that no one finds out. Cassidy doesn't agree with this, but leader Jessica threatens to blackmail her (basically telling the police Cassidy did it all) which tears the group apart. However eight months later, in their graduation party, the sisters starts getting creepy messages like a picture of the tire that killed Megan. The messages start progressing, sending clues from the night. One by one, the sisters and anyone who knew their secret would get tortured then killed by the mysterious killer. Which only left a few of the sisters alive. Sorority Row is set in modern times, in a Theta House belonging to the sisters, Cassidy, Ellie, Jessica, Claire, Chugs and Megan. The characters in this movie are typical for a thriller/horror movie because the 5 sisters are victims and Andy being the killer. There's normally someone who is the hero, but in this movie the sisters defend each other.

The Roomate!

The Plot:
Sara Matthews is a college freshman studying fashion design. She meets a couple of students, Tracy who is a party-lover,soon to be boyfriend Steven and her roommate Rebecca. To start off Rebecca is sweet and caring but eventually she's starts getting obsessed with Sara and things start going completely wrong.

When I first watched the movie,  I didn't expect it to be a thriller at first because the opening was just about Sara and Rebecca getting to know so I didn't really expect when Rebecca started attacking Sara's friends. The films that are similar to this movie are Obsessed, The Tourist, Homecoming and Red Riding Hood.

Rebecca Evans- She's a sweet, caring girl at first but when she gets attached to someone, she starts getting obsessed with them and will do anything to get closer to Sara.She's someone in a typical thriller movie because there is always someone who is the villain/attacker in a Thriller because they are the ones who create the drama.
Sara Matthews- She's a freshman starting at a new college studying fashion design. She plays the victim in this movie because she gets attacked by Rebecca and she also is the person she is obsessed with.
Tracy Morgan- She's another student at the college, who loves partying. She's another victim but she escapes from Rebecca but is left with scares from the attack.

Minka Kelly plays Sara Matthews, Leighton Meester plays Rebecca Evans and Aly Michalka plays Tracy Morgan. None of the main characters have worked in this genre before. And I think they have been picked for these roles because Leighton has that look that makes her look crazy and twisted whereas Minka has a pretty face which makes her look sweet and innocent.

The themes and values that I would expect in this film is a male lead, who is strong and looks after the victim. I would expect a victim as well and a killer who's goes around and attacks everyone. I would expect a creepy, isolated location, this is typical because most people can easily get attacked in isolated places.

Why we picked Thriller as a genre!

As a group we decided to pick thriller as a genre. We picked this because we think opening scenes of thrillers normally have some action that makes you instantly know you are watching a thriller but there are some movies that keep the action for later, take The Roomate (right) for example, which doesn't give everything away in the opening scene. However there are some movies that have some action in the opening scene. such as Memento which has some some guy shooting at another guy whilst taking a photo of the body. We also chose to do a thriller from inspiring movies such as Batman, Chronicle, Taken, Savages and X-men etc. 

Introducing The People In My Group!

My group is about to make our first opening scene for media. There's Ellie, Emily, Sam and me! (Blogs on the left side)

Evaluating the Preliminary Task

Our task was to film and edit a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. For this task we drew out a storyboard to plan out what we were going to do.

In this task, I was the camera man so I had to film the everything. I demonstrated match on action shot, shot reverse shot and 180 degree rule. We also used close-ups to show the sign on the wall to set the scene. However I didn't use a tripod so it was harder to keep the camera straight.

In conclusion I am very happy with the final result because I think we used all the shots including some other shots such as close up and establishing shot. I think our group could of keep the conversation flowing in the scene and I think I could of looked back on the shots we took, so I could check if the camera was shaking too much so we could redo that shot. I also think I could have zoomed in more so we could see the opposite person more clearly. But I do think the shot reverse shots were appropriate for the dialogue because it was conversation where one character is asking the questions and the other is answering them with simple  answers. I also think the group worked really well as a group because even though we all had set jobs, we still helped each other out. For example we would give suggestions to the director, if we think it will look/be better.

I think I am confident using the camera and imovie because I've got used to the basics on how to work the camera and imovie. I also know how to add different effects e.g. music, title screens etc.

Christopher Nolan Interview

Christopher Nolan Interview by Gracexo on GoAnimate

Animation Software - Powered by GoAnimate.

Film Industry Prezi

The Film Industry on Prezi

Psycho Screenshot Anaylsis

 I think this screenshot of the woman connotes that she is attempting to hold on to life but its draining away just like the water going through the drain. In this scene the shower curtain also breaks which suggests it's her last attempt to hold on to life. She's also in the shower which suggest vulnerabilities and normality.

This screenshot shows us that the woman is also being watched throughout the time she spends in the hotel. This scene is focused on the woman, but we also see the killer's perspective from this screenshot.

My name is Chioma and 16 and this blog is my media blog, where I'm going to post things related to my media work.