Media Exam Evaluation

Digital Technology

1.      How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

YouTube was particularly helpful in researching in the beginning of our research stage as it allowed us to access a wide variety of opening minutes in multiple different genres that could we could analyse and learn from. It was also helpful in the planning stage as we could use it for tutorials on the editing software to learn more about it so we could produce a higher quality piece.

2.      What software was used?

Adobe elements and Sony Vegas were used to edit our trailer Adobe is on the school computers so it was easier to access in lessons when we were all together rather than having to find time outside lessons to edit it but Sony Vegas was helpful in creating a rough draft on my laptop so we could easily replicate it in Adobe when we got to school. Although it is not excessively complicated we watched a few tutorials to learn how to use it as we wanted to make sure we used it to its full capacity. At AS our film was fairly high quality production piece but it was far less complex with less shots and only one piece of music so we improved at A2 as we had over 50 shots this time round and 3 different pieces of music.

3.      What equipment was used

We used a school camera which was not of the highest quality but it got good enough shots and saved us having to spend an excessive amount on a high quality camera. The only fundamental issue with it, alongside its terrible battery life, was that it struggled to shoot in low light, I feel it’s one of the biggest flaws of our entire trailer is the fact it’s so light when it’s supposed to be a horror. Although the trailer exudes a degree of fear in the audience if we’d had a higher quality camera it could have been so much scarier.

4.      What were the technical pros and cons of the software and hardware?

The camera shot in quite high resolution meaning the end product is quite high definition but as the microphone was quite small the sound wasn’t as good as we had hoped it would be. There was also a few shaky shots which although were good near the end of the two minutes and added to the effect of making the audience feel like they were there in the woods, it would have been better to use a tripod at the beginning to get more stable shots. This is something we learnt from and incorporated in out A2 production to ensure we got far more professional looking shots. A pro of Adobe was it was clearly laid out and had extra features (like trimmer, speed) to help make a better looking final piece but a con of it was as we were unfamiliar with it we had to spend time learning how to use it and still then we didn’t know all the things we could do with the software so may not have used it too its full capacity.

5.      In what ways was technology used to create the production?

YouTube was used to research openings, blogger was used to present our findings, and the school camera was used to film our piece whilst Adobe was used to edit it.

6.      In what ways did the technology constrain or enable the production to be developed?

The school camera limited our quality as to look at the resolution is not as high as we would have hoped for, also the audio recorded from the camera wasn’t as clear as it could have been. Adobe enabled us to produce a fairly high quality production even with low dialogue and shaky shots as we could add music in and cut shots effectively to make the opening scarier.

7.      How have you developed these skills at A2?

At A2 we re-recorded dialogue to get a more professional feel to our final product and improve upon our audio skills at A2. 

Finished film trailer

Editing diary

Editing Diary

International

30th Nov - after getting a large bulk of the footage on Friday (27/11) today we started editing multiple sections of our trailer

2nd Dec - after getting multiple aerial shots of London whilst up the shard at the weekend and some shots of Waterloo as well I started to edit them into the trailer but struggled to finish the section with them in as I didn't have the running shots of the protagonist/antagonist in London

4th Dec - evaluated which time lapse to use after we shot some on Tuesday (1/12) but will probably come back to this later as it's hard to choose at this early stage as there's not much else of the trailer to relate it too.

9th Dec - continued to edit the footage of antagonist and protagonist after they bump into each other down a street, having to choose between multiple shots as we want to build suspense as we want to question whether she will catch them or not but at the same time we want to keep things fast paced as its a trailer.

11th Dec - began piecing together the end sequence of the cars on the rooftop

14th Dec - Put in still images of America, Amy's car, Washington and London to signify what shots/ chunks of footage we need to get - helps to piece the trailer together better so we have more of an idea of what it will look like at the end.

4th Jan - Finalized the end montage, put more scenes in

28th Jan - Rough edit of trailer finished, need to find music and record extra dialogue at a later stage

2nd Feb - End montage edited, titles added in at the end, opening sequence edited just need to add music

 12th Feb - Trailer complete, just need to add shots from America which I will get next week when I'm out there.

Magazine cover analysis

Finished Magazine cover

Relevant online tutorials (Planning)

International 

Online tutorials

We watched several tutorials for adobe learning the basics of how to edit using the software and how to add effects, later on I used adobe to learn about audio effects as this was something I had not done the previous year. I learnt how to balance audio and especially useful was learning how to make audio sound like it was coming out of a phone (crucial for one scene as without this effect the audio sounded very strange). 

I also watched adobe tutorials to learn shortcuts to make editing videos quicker as well as watching videos to go over the basics as I hadn't used the software since last year and wanted to make sure I knew exactly how to use the footage so I could produced the highest quality piece possible.

Magazine cover planning

Finished film poster

Film poster planning and creation

Poster Ideas

Diary of filming - 12/01/16

Date: 12/01/16
Location: Leatherhead
Cast: Chloe Hicks

After school today we went to Leatherhead and waiting until it was dark to shoot the exterior shots of the nigh-club which posed for London. As the camera isn't a very high quality we had couldn't shoot anywhere too dark otherwise the characters weren't visable on the screen but as it was supposed to be taking place late at night we couldn't shoot at dusk and therefore we shot under a streetlight which gave us enough light so we could see the characters but still made it look dark.

Progress Target setting

In order to complete our research and planning we need to:
- complete our editing diary
- complete our filming diary
- complete relevant online tutorials

In order to complete our production task we need to:
- film some establishing shots (when we go to America)
- film a few more shots of our antagonists
- film the exterior shots of London (at night)
- finish editing

Diary of filming - 16/12/15

Date: 16/11/15
Location: London
Cast: Chloe Hicks

Whilst up in London for the day we decided to visit St Pauls, this could stand in for the exterior shots we needed of Lincolns memorial in Washington. In America they may have been tighter on filming regulations and we may not have been able to film nor had the time to and so by filming it in London we were able to guarantee that we got these shots. We were unsure what shots to use and after arriving later in London were on a tight schedule so didn't have time to get a variety of shots but i feel we have enough to use in the trailer and is enough to make people believe we were in Washington. 

We still need one more shot but this can only be done when in Washington as it requires the background of the Lincoln memorial - the reflecting pool opposite and so we will shoot this next month when we're in Washington but it is not crucial so if we fail to get it we can still finish the trailer.

The only remaining issue is the fact there amy be snow on the actual Lincoln memorial but this is an issue we will have to wait and see if it becomes an issue or not.

Diary of filming - 01/12/15

Date: 01/11/15
Location: Leatherhead
Cast: N/A

Today we went to shoot a time lapse in Leatherhead to use as part of our trailer, we went at around lunchtime hoping to get the most people walking past as possible. We originally shot sat on a bench with the camera facing down Leatherhead high street, there wasn't as many people as we had hoped and we weren't sure if the angle was right so we decided to get another one as a reserve. For this we felt a high angle would be good and so we figured if we went to the roof of Leatherhead shopping centre we could get the right angle, we managed to get 2 good time lapse's and will hopefully be able to incorporate them into our trailer successfully to add to the value of the trailer and make it look more expensive and professional. 

Diary of filming - 29/11/15

Date: 29/11/15
Location: London Waterloo/ Aerial shots
Cast: N/A

On a trip up to London I was able to get some establishing shots of London from the Shard at night which will be useful in our trailer, it will also make our trailer look more expensive and professional as aerial shots are usually quite hard and expensive to achieve. I was also able to get some shots of Waterloo which we can use during our chase scene between the antagonist and protagonist, although due to busy schedules we wont be able to shoot the entirety of the chase scene in London as we are unable to get up there to film the shot of Waterloo and the aerial shot will help sell the idea that our characters are in London.

Diary of filming - 27/11/15

Date: 27/11/15
Location: Leatherhead/Swan centre car park
Cast: Matt Cottee/Billy Cottee/Chloe Hicks/Rashmi Sen


After school we went to Leatherhead to shoot a large proportion of our shots including the Cottee brothers, we were unsure which parts of Leatherhead we were going to shoot in but were able to find good locations and get the majority of shots we needed. In preparation for our magazine and film poster that we will be making next term we also got some shots of the antagonists and protagonists.

Practice titles (Planning)

International

Practice titles

The programme used was iMovie to create the animated version of the title so it looks realistic compared to the non animatic title that was created in Photoshop. Through google images I got a got a black background then uploaded it to the programme then on Youtube I found a slow motion video of a bullet breaking into the glass (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzNppQk3f8A) to represent the shattering effect which is effective as it looks professional. We got this idea by looking at the Spectre film title that made the text stand out.Then I uploaded and edited the footage by cropping key moment and overlaying the video onto the black background. The video was edited so it matches the colour scheme of background so it’s looks realistic. Then the overlaying of the flare going across the screen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkOt2nrlmGY) highlighted the title which will be added later on.

Research and Planning Feedback

An excellent effort so far and you should be very pleased with the level of analysis and focus you have evidenced.  Continue to map your journey towards completion of your production tasks by including video diaries and reflections on every stage of the process.

Storyboard - animatic (Planning)

International

Story-board

Production titles

International

Production titles (created) 

Practice Titles - creating

International

Production titles

We analysed film title and found that action title background are normally black so the text stands out. The text is written in capital letters and its 3D to make it look bolder. The colour is silver giving it a steel/metallic effect connoting clarity making it easy to see the clearness and crispness of the text. We chose the Cambria font because there’s an emphasis of the ending strokes making it eye-catching.

The background of the production title is black so the text ‘International’ is eye-catching so it’s the first thing the audience will see. We researched film titles where we found that majority of action text in 3D. Then I added another layer then added the shattered glass effect to represent a bullet going through the “O” so it gives the action element to the title so the audience are informed straight away about the genre. The text was overlayed as it’s significant.  

We made the production titles by using Adobe Photoshop to create a design of the title so we can make it animatic afterwards. This plan gave us a brief idea of what the title

Questionnaire + feedback (Planning)

Age: _ 0-10  _ 11-15  _ 16-20  _ 21-30  _ 31+

Gender: _ Male  _Female

How often do you watch Action films?

What aspects of horror do you like?
Chase _
Suspense _
Cars _
Violence _ 
Guns _
Love Interest _
Other _________

What other genres do you like?
-
-
-

Why do you or do you not like Action?
-
-

Action is the best genre
_ Strongly agree
_ Agree
_ Not sure
_ Disagree
_ Strongly disagree

What's the best setting for Action?


Whats your favorite Action film + Why?

Do you prefer a male/female lead

Feedback
0-10 = 9%  16-20 = 72%   30+ = 19%
Male = 28%  Female = 72%

33% of people said they never watch action films which is interesting as that's a third, which is not what I expected as I thought action was a very popular genre that appealed to all ages, I was stunned to see that amount of the people questioned never watched action. 

Interestingly it wasn't just the males who said they watched action the most which subverts from the stereotypes that action has a mainly male audience as a quarter of females also said they watch lots of action films.

The two most popular features people look for in action films were love interest (hot man) and guns/cars, this is what i expected as they are the cliche parts of a film that make it a action film. Violence was only said 15% of the time which surprised me as I thought more people would look for that in action, guns was the most common aspect with 55% of people saying they looked for it in a action film, this is something that we can use to our advantage and include in our film to appeal to a larger audience and make more people want to see our film.

When asked what other genres people liked, so we could include the aspects of other genres people like to create a more appealing film to a larger audience, Comedy was third most popular with 36% of people saying that was another genre they liked - this doesn't really help us as we feel it would be quite hard to incorporate a comedy aspect into our action film, this is something we will have to consider at a later date but I feel it's something we won't end up incorporating in our film. Drama was the most popular with 65% of people saying that was the other genre they liked, interestingly this was most popular with people who didn't like action suggesting as long as you incorporate one of these two your trailer will be liked by audiences. This will help us when making our film as we now know to attract a larger audience we should include a physical side of things, as previously established people do like a chase scene so to optimise our films attraction to people. 

90% said city was the best setting which is interesting as we had anticipate to use city (London, NYC, Washington) as we thought it was most grand and, for production purposes, most accessible and easy to achieve a big budget look. 

Overall this questionaire was helpful in identifying what people look for in action and the aspects/location to include in our film.

Shot lists

International 

Shot list

Establishing shot - Washington
Long shot - Lincoln memorial
Medium shot - Miller walking sitting down
Close up - legs as she sits down, on phone
Match on action - reading article on phone
Medium shot - places phone down
Over shoulder shot of lake
Close up - phone rings, pan round/cut to her (cant see her face though)
Low angle shot  - just her phone and part of face
Long shot - twins leaving building
Medium shot - Miller confused
Medium shot - getting into car
low angle - gun going off
Long shot - Miller put face into hands
POV - flicking through reports, pick up photo
Close up - Miller angry
Medium shot - stands up marches off
Establishing shot - NYC
Long shot - bust streets
Close up - picking up package
Over the shoulder - looking at pictures (shoot in England)
Medium shot - on plane
POV - looking at picture of mother, looking out window
Establishing shot - London
Long shot - boat party
Match on action - phone ringing
Medium shot - step outside to answer
Medium shot - party, chaos
Close up - looks around panicked, phone to ear
Long shot - High angle twins walking
POV - looking around
Low angle - walking down south-bank
Medium shot - Miller running down south-bank
Low angle medium shot - twins heading into Waterloo

Low angle medium shot - twins heading towards Waterloo

Low angle medium shot – Miller walking up into Waterloo

Long shot – Miller and chaos of waterloo station

Medium shot – Miller running onto platform as train departs

Long shot – train leaving

Close up – Miller pissed off

Over the shoulder – researching

Montage – person beaten up

E.S – Mi6 building

SRS – Miller and boss talking

Close up – Miller on street walking, bump into one twin

Flashback - Low angle shooting
Close up – follow him

Long shot - spies on them from behind wall

Close up – drive off, see her in rear view mirror, try to follow them but lose them

Close up – pulls out briefcase, cleans gun

Medium shot – holding Rashmi at gunpoint (medium shot pics of exchanging money)
Medium shot – sneaks into office

Montage: OSS looking at pic mum, visiting grave, taking pills, being shot at, throwing paper, fight with someone, racing off in car

Opening titles analysed

International

Opening titles analysed

Black is a common theme in all these titles, it connotes darkness and mystery and implies there will be many enigmas in the film. The titles are written in white/off white which stands out from the dark background, some of the titles are written in red which is different and could connote blood, romance or simply something to stand out from the usual coloured titles. The titles are placed at the center of the page and they are the only thing on screen making them stand out and making them memorable to the audience. All the titles have a unique twist on them,  Agent 47 has different coloured titles with bright lights behind it, Black mass is simple and plain (something more standard than most titles), Gangster Squad has a 1920s building behind the title (fitting with the historical setting of the film), Spectre has a bullet whole through the 'C'  making the title look more visually exciting, The man from Uncle has 'Uncle' written in red (something different) and Taken has a worn look to the text.

What we will take from these titles is:

- Black background is key

- White titles are conventional

- There should be something to make it visually exciting and unique (we like the bullet whole featured in Spectre's title)

Actors and props photos

International

Actors & props

Cast:

• Billy Cottee (Kingsley Brother #1)
• Matt Cottee (Kingsley Brother #2)
• Chloe Hicks (Agent Miller)
• Amy Knight (Agent Knight)

Props:

Package: When Agent Miller flies to NYC she has to pick up a package, we want a rather small package as we will have to carry it around whilst were out filming so a massive box would simply be impractical. We shouldn't have any trouble finding a package as they can be easily purchased online or get one from home as many things are posted in similar packaging to what we hope to have.

Phone: This is one of the more crucial props that will be used continually throughout the trailer, key scenes are when Agent Miller is sat in front of the Lincoln memorial in Washington, when she is contacted at the party in London. It is a handy prop as not only does it make sure our film isn't stuck in the dark ages but it allows us to easily link multiple locations quickly and cheaply and requires less actors - something which we were initially worried about.

Gun: As this is a spy movie a gun is key, this will be a simple prop that Agent Miller and probably the antagonists will have as it's a convention of the action genre. We will obviously use a toy one but will have to be careful when using it in public as we could get told off by the police.

Newspapers: This is a minimal, simple prop that we may use when Agent Miller is sat in a cafe and reads the news of the brothers release - to make it more modern though we may use a phone or laptop.