I am THUY TRANG LAM: 7085
I worked with:
DILLAN ABRAHAM: 7002
PERVIN OTUN: 8114
Tuesday, 23 February 2016
Wednesday, 17 February 2016
Evaluation: Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? - Mrs. Quinlan
Evaluation: Question 7
What was the preliminary task and what were its main aims?
A preliminary task is an experimental task consists of a thirty second sequence of various shots using a variety of technology such as a camera and tripod. The main aim of this task was to learn how to film, edit and acknowledge each individuals weaknesses and strengths to learn who would do what.While filming my preliminary task, I understood what particular skills and qualities everyone had to earn a specific role in our production. I learnt how to operate a camera from basic things such as turning it on and inserting the SD card in to complex for example, focusing. I also got to familiarise myself with the camera which lead onto practicing how to take specific shots, angles and sizes with success.
Whilst editing, it was my first time using the professional programme, Final Cut Pro X. As I started to familiarise myself with the software, I learnt how to crop and cut my video using the simple tool 'blade'.
As a group, we were able to understand what roles were suitable for each individual. Finally, after being allocated to particular roles, this included Dillan as the director and in charge of soundtrack, me taking the role as the producer, story boarder and editor and Pervin taking responsibility for the Mise En Scene. The preliminary task enabled us to understand what particular role suited what individual best. In conclusion, the preliminary task was extremely important to our production process as t gave us a clear insight of how filming and editing was.
Preliminary Task:
As a result, I feel that I've massively improved in my filming and editing skills and I feel much more comfortable after this preliminary task.
Filming
I'm able to consult the director and instruct him how to capture the right angles, shots and sizes. I'm also able to achieve a more conventional thriller vibe just by the way the shots are taken, in addition, reflecting the characters persona effectively.
For example: These shots that were taken of the antagonist was from a low angle further portraying him as an individual with substantial power and dominant towards everyone. This evokes the audience emotions by making them fear the character.Filming
I'm also very familiar on how to use a tripod correctly and effectively. A tripod benefits the shot by creating a still image to make it look professional. The tripod also allows me to change the height immediately allowing the camera to capture various shots and sizes, for example, this shot was accompanied with the help of a tripod to achieve a more professional, still shot without any movement.Editing
I'm much more confident on using Final Cut Pro, I've learnt how to edit my thriller confidently making it look professional. In this scene with the antagonist walking off into the public originally was very shaky due to the cameraman walking alongside with the character. Using the editing software, I learnt how to stabilise the shaky video and make it still and professional looking.
Editing
I'm much better at selecting different filters appropriately making it look very effective to the audience. It makes this particular scene more frightful causing the audience to respond tensed. Using these filters helped me create low-key lighting despite it was filmed outside in broad day light. This filter also made it look like it was cold and dull using pathetic fallacy to portray the characters personality.
During my preliminary, we decided to shoot a panning shot however it was our first time so it was very shaky and it made it look unprofessional. In our final product, it was much better as we were able to film with confidence and shoot it still.
When we filmed our preliminary, we didn't understand the meaning of certain shots completely which meant we had filmed unnecessary close-up shots which didn't really convey any messages. However in our final product, we had a much clearer understanding of what type of shots were suitable for a particular scene. This close-up shot created more suspense for the audience as they anticipated who the antagonist was. It was also filmed in an appropriate angle facing the antagonist so the audience were able to see it clearer rather than shot from a slanted angle which was unnecessary making it look unprofessional.
In this other shot from our preliminary task, we also used this low-angle shot incorrectly as this particular character which was meant to be portrayed as the vulnerable one. The low-angle shot makes an individual look more dominant which was not what we wanted to convey through this certain character. In our final product, we were able to understand what particular shots were suitable and made our antagonist look powerful from this low-angle shot.Personal Reflection:
Did I make a successful thriller and why?
I believe that I made a successful thriller for my target audience because my group and I were able to improve on our filming and editing skills to make it look much more effective to the audience despite having no other media experience outside this course. From our preliminary task, you can see how much we've improved on, based on the variety of shots, angles and lighting, it looks much mire effective and appropriate for what we're trying to convey.
What did I enjoy most?
I enjoyed filming our final production most as I was able to use my skills on filming and make everything look effective. As the role of producer, I was able to point people in what direction I thought was best and moreover, I believe that it came out really well. I found it very fun to see how my thriller storyboard came out on camera and loved how much editing made it look even better. Although editing was quite challenging at first due to the lack of experience I had with the professional software, I still enjoyed cutting and putting the clips together so that everything was subtle.
What could be improved?
If I could improve something about my thriller, it would be the soundtrack that played throughout the opening. Although I do like the soundtrack and the target audience feedback did mention how fun and exciting the soundtrack was, I still believe that some parts of the soundtrack didn't fit well to certain visuals. Another thing I believe that would've been better was the makeup used on the multiple victims showed on the screen. I think that it would've been much more effective if you could see blood to show that they were in fact dead. This would have also improved the audiences reaction and make them feel more scared and tensed.
What are the main things I have learned over the whole process?
I've learnt throughout my whole experience of filming a production was that filming is a crucial stage and that I need ensure I get the right shots or it would be very challenging afterwards when I'm trying to edit. I need a lot more footage that I originally intended on using as sometimes when it comes to the editing stage, some things might not work how I want it to. I have also learnt that finalising the storyboard is vital as it does help with what we do on set, it also helps people not get confused on what will happen next. Furthermore, it helped me and the director a lot as we knew what to film next straight after.
Tuesday, 9 February 2016
Evaluation: Question 5 - How did you attract/address your target audience? - Miss Begum
Evaluation: Question 5
Importance of secondary research into existing films
Carrying out my secondary research is an important process in which when producing a film production allows me, the researcher, to gain relevant information about existing thrillers from my target audience before making any important decisions that may effect it such as, thriller conventions and characters. Its very important for my group and I to carry out our secondary research before creating our final product because we had to educate ourselves what made a successful thriller film and what didn't. Moreover, we wanted to get the target audiences opinions and ideas about their own experiences and expectations when watching a thriller film, and what type of conventions provoke their psychological and physiological emotions. As a result, this made it easier for us to create a thriller production balancing out everyone's opinion on what makes a successful thriller opening. The target audience of thriller films and our chosen target audience
From my research into thrillers, I believe that the target audience that hey appeal to consist f the following:Age: 15 and over
Gender: UnisexEthnicity: Universal
Occupation: Education or employed
Hobbies and interests: Reading, sports
I believe that from thriller films the target audience enjoy suspense and tensed music. Moreover, surprises such as jump scares are really popular amongst teenagers.
Further to this, the emotions I believe they are likely to experience are both psychological and physiological emotions. Psychologically I believe that these common thriller conventions would make the audience feel scared, constantly thinking about what might happen afterwards. In addition, I also believe physiological, that the thriller conventions like the soundtrack, low-key lighting and setting may make the audience to shiver out of suspense. Moreover, hairs could possibly be standing up because of the chilling scene supported by these conventions.
We identified what age group that was commonly used in the thriller industry. They were generally teenagers from 15 and upwards, both genders from various ethnic backgrounds such as Europe, Asia and Africa (widely diverse). These teenagers are often still in education or in higher education, some worked part time and others worked full time.
In conclusion, this illustrates that people who are younger enjoy the excitement and tense films that thrillers provide in comparison to older generations who are likely to have experienced this before and do not find it that entertaining now. The target audiences hobbies do include going to the cinema often to relieve stress that might have from studying. This was the audience that we needed to attract.
I believe that from thriller films that my target audience enjoys are tensed music that builds up to the moment creating a good psychological and physiological response. Cinematography is extremely important such as including montages and low-key lighting which creates a more exciting and spine-chilling reaction. A thriller audience would massively enjoy seeing conventional characters such as the protagonist, antagonist and victim. These characters are extremely important in thriller films as the relationship between these significant characters evokes emotions from the audience which further creates excitement, fear or sympathy.
Moreover, the audience expect to see frightening conventions like specific iconography such as blood, mirrors and weapons all supported by dark settings. These dark settings could include dark and remote areas, empty rooms and dark alley ways which reflect the thriller genre creating suspense and fear. As a result, my group and I decided to use the iconography of mirrors to illustrate his two spilt personality. In addition, we also decided on a scene with our antagonist walking down a dark alley way to demonstrate his dark personality which would provoke our audience's response.
This was good research as it meant that for my thriller I had to consider:
- My target audience - The research I carried out with my group identified that the audience that often watches thriller films are teenagers in both genders. Males and females around the age of 15 and above from different, various types of ethnic groups seemed to be a social group that enjoyed thriller type films the most.
From my research, the target audience I wanted to attract for my thriller was:
- Addressing my audience - To get the right audience that I wanted for my thriller production. I created a questionnaire so I was able to get opinions and feedback form my specific target audience. The importance of a questionnaire is the follows my specific audience I'm targeting get feedback directly in a short amount of time. A questionnaire is very effective as it helps me improve my thriller production with simple questions that is really simple to feedback. It gives me an insight of what thriller audiences might like and helps me plan ahead deciding on what type of choices I want to make.
Some key questions I asked to ensure I was attracting my target audience:
- How old are you? - This question was one of the most important questions of the questionnaire as it helped me decide on important decisions like what age group I was going to attract. Furthermore, this questionnaire demonstrated the correlation in young people and thrillers, they showed that people in the age group of 15 and upwards enjoyed thrillers most. Those who ticked the 'no' box for the first question were usually 24+ which were quickly discarded.
- How often do you watch thrillers? - Question 5 asking how often this individuals watches thrillers is very important as it allowed me to focus on this specific social group and review what was it that made them watch thrillers. This would be beneficial as it helped me make important decisions using the feedback by this particular audience that are very familiar with thrillers.
- What is your favourite thriller sub-genre? - This was an important question to ask my audience to make sure what type of conventions I could being to my production to make it enjoyable depending on that particular sub-genre.
- What do you find uncomfortable to watch? - This question is also a very important question to ask my target audience who will be viewing my production. I need to ensure that I don't make them feel uncomfortable therefore I asked them what particular option given in the questionnaire made them uncomfortable the most to avoid this.
Two quotes I got from my open ended questions that helped me make key decision to ensure that I was attracting and addressing my target audience:
- Question 15 asking the individual what past thrillers they've watched that they really enjoyed. This helped me massively as I was able to manipulate some of the conventions that was used in this thriller and apply it to my production and make it successful.
- Question 8 asked this particular individual what excites them about thrillers the most followed by some examples and asking them why. This question made sure that I was addressing my target audience correctly ensuring that I was including these themes.
Overall, the primary research was important because it helped me build a successful thriller production using direct feedback that I was able to receive back on the same day.
Audience Feedback
After creating my production, I held a focus group because I needed constructive criticisms to see if there was anything needed to improve my thriller opening. I also got positive feedback but what was most important was the negative feedback I got. This was helpful as I was able to change it and make it more enjoyable for my target audience. The people that were asked to come in were around the ages of 15 and over who are my social group that I was targeting. Below are some criticism I received.
Audio Note Feedback
One bit of feedback I received was an audio note from Christine Broderick aged 18 (positive).
This feedback I got from Christine made me feel pleased as the use of cinematography used in my thriller attracted my audience well. She also stated that the cinematography I managed to capture built my characters representation really well. I'm very glad that although the antagonist was wearing dark and light coloured clothes to portray his split personality, the audience were still able to understand that he was the antagonist with the use of cinematography.
Feedback from Marlyn Ukah aged 18 (negative).
This made me think about the characters costume more in depth. Although I achieved good character representation through the use of cinematography, not all people were able to acknowledge his spilt personality.
Another feedback I got was from Trang Nguyen aged 18 (positive).
This made me happy that others did find the mise en scene good as it did help build up the characters representation.
I also got this feedback from my target audience named Kyra Davis-Emmons aged 18 (negative)
This was a valid point that Kyra made and it made me re-think what I could've done to create low-key lighting to make it spookier.
Tuesday, 2 February 2016
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