Afshan Naeem-evaluation question 2

We have 3 characters in our film one of which is the main character. The main character is represented as a stalker. The other two characters in our opening are the police officer and the witness we used a witness who would look innocent and not guilty, we did this so that the audience can know who the right and wrong person is in the film. We used a social networking website which would attract our audience as everyone uses social networking sites, this would aware our audience the bad outcomes of doing what they use in everyday life and what it could lead to such as the stalkers stalking them without them knowing. In our product we show a lot of other characters which are the people on the social networking sites this is shown to us at the beginning of our opening and when the stalker is looking at them on the website.

Afshan Naeem-evaluation question 1

Our thriller opening is called ‘Deleted’. It is set in a room which is full of computers and is located in our school this is because we needed a room with a lot of computers as this was supposed to be in our set and we could only find an area to facilitate in the schools building. Every film has costumes and props and so for our opening we needed print screens of a website which we could not access at school and needed it to put up on the screens, also we needed maps and pictures to put on our display which is the opening of our thriller.

This is the display















We decided not to show our characters face as this would create more tension as to who the person would be so we had to use clothing on the character which would make him look intimidating. We decided to use a dark grey and black jumper with the hood on his head covering everything so his face cannot be seen. Further on in the opening we needed the flashback scenes of a police officer who does not actually look like one so we decided to use one of our school teachers and got her to dress as a secret police officer.















We used a wide range of shots such as close ups, long shots, extreme close ups, high shots etc.We kept in mind thriller conventions and for our opening we used a point of view shot here are some examples:

high angle shot



extreme close up



We had to do a lot of editing of shots during the process of putting all our shots together. Some shots were useless because we filmed the same shots 3 times. Going towards the end of the film we realised that some of our shots were too long and they would bore the audience so we decided to edit them and make them 2 or 3 seconds long. The first shot is used to suggest everything. We used the display as it shows the title of the film and also suggests what it could be about because of all the maps, pictures and addresses of boys and girls. Then it moves on to close ups of all the people on a website called ‘mateplace’ and the main character using one of the computers and is on a girl’s page, he writes down information of a girl, then prints out a map, he crosses out a boys picture then throws it in the bin. This all suggests that he is a stalker. Then we have the flashbacks of two people one woman and a girl talking and sitting in an office that is used to show what the character is thinking and so the audience know automatically that it is a witness who he had stalked once before to show that this was a flashback we used a sepia tone which is different from the rest of out shots. We used non diagetic sounds throughout the opening but in some areas such as the printer we used diagetic sound. We also used a special effect in the beginning of the opening where we introduce the character it is a fade in effect from a girls picture into the character.

Sophie Teasdale Evaluation question 7

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

• I am now very aware of the use of space (framing), such as, when filming the shot reverse shot, in the preliminary task we didn't make use of the space within the frame. We placed the camera further away from the subject and this created a blank empty space next to her face. Therefore, the positioning of the camera is vital.
  In the main task we made sure that our framing was tighter.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


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• When re shooting sound we knew sound would be not be a issue because in our opening we choose to use mostly non diegetic sound apart from one scene when the stalker screws up the paper as this adds to the theme of being a stalker (throwing away evidence). In our Preliminary task we used verbal communication and when we had to re shoot the backgrounds sounds were different (this applied for lighting to as the lighting of the room was different when we re shot) this made the continuity worse.

• The cameras we used in the preliminary task showed that in future we should always check to see if the battery was full/semi full and sound was working as this would save us from re shooting in the future.

• Also, getting actors and actresses was difficult as we wanted to use someone with the same time off as our group so that we could use as much time as possible with them this is why we only used three actors. The main problem with actors and actresses was getting them to wear the same clothes when we needed to them to film, as even if we had the same location, the same lighting and sound and was ready with the camera the continuity would not be right if they were wearing different clothes therefore, we told our actor the days he needed to wear the same clothes and we made him wear his hood so that his hair being the same length wouldn't affect re shooting.
  
  
  



• The availability of both the actor or actresses and locations proved that it would be a problem, as we had to re shoot allot of the preliminary work consequently, we had to pick somewhere simple, and that we had to choose an actor who we knew and gain access to most of the time (i.e using Talal who's in our group).

Sophie Teasdale Evaluation question 6

• 6. What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing this product?
  
  
• When we worked with the cameras/equipment we had to not be afraid to place it in different, awkward positions as it would provide us with more of an interesting image.

• Also, the filming and editing process takes a long time with lots of organisation, as we always had to be prepared to re shoot seeing as, editing displays all the faults which often is not seen when filming. Additionally, when organising we had to make sure we had the right props in order to give a more realistic effect to our film opening.

• The most frequent use of equipment was the Sony camera and the tripod, they were both relatively straight forward to use seeing as I used them throughout the preliminary task. What I have learnt about technology is to make sure the camera is turned to its right settings because if its not then this waste film and time.
  

• Furthermore, we used a range of sites including, YouTube, Blogger, Itunes which helped use develop are ideas and expand our learning by providing us with new ideas. We used Imovie to edit our opening, YouTube to upload our video once edited and then uploaded it from YouTube to Blogger so that the group could see our film. Blogger was the central place for all are group to post ideas and write from their point of view which was good, it also allows us to other outlet to make are blog more interactive and interesting such as, pictures, links and videos. However, blogger was sometimes hard to use as it is on the Internet I couldn't save my work or copy and paste my written work from Microsoft Word. It also wouldn't let me layout my work how I wanted to.
  

Sophie Teasdale Evaluation question 5

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

• We attracted our audience by using mid shots of the murderer crossing off young peoples faces which makes the audience relate to the victims. We used close ups, so that its easy for the audience to follow the plot (better continuity), which makes the opening flow better.

• We also, clearly displayed who the victims were (the end zoom shot on the board) and who the murderer was looking at the victims faces on the paper suggesting dominance and power). We used both male and female victims to subvert the gender stereotypes of women playing the victim role and males the aggressive role this would make both males and females want to watch our thriller.

Sophie Teasdale Evaluation question 4

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

Our audience research showed our target audience to be

• Late teenagers/ early 20's as they want to be scared (to push limits).

• Also they have been brought up into a technological environment with computers, televisions, mobile phones and therefore, can relate to the story line of using social Internet sites which will consequently impact on them more making them think about our film and how the narrative might affect them.

Sophie Teasdale Evaluation question 3

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

• Our media institution would be a Independent going on to become a mainstream institution such as, Lionsgate (American Psycho) and Miramax Films as they are know for popular thrillers. Also, to be compared to other films of theirs could be a good thing as it would give more publicity to our film (Deleted) which is a fee method of advertising.

• Furthermore, they are not too well know and so will reach our target audience and not everyone will watch it (such as, families) because its certificate 15. Also, the money for our film will come from their past films gross profit (i.e merchandise money). Our film would be advertised on Miramax's or Lionsgates website computers (as it is based around computer sites) and on television later on at night from about 8pm to 11.30pm to catch our target audience. Having not to much advertisement keeps the mastery and saves money.

• In our titles are actors/actresses names are placed on a map at the start appearing one after another. The names written on a map again reinforces the stalker theme in our film.