Evaluation Activity 4

We intended for the audience to able to distinguish the genre of the production and become interested in the story-line by noticing techniques used in films of a similar genre. I believe that we portrayed this well as we used props such as black leather jackets and glove appropriate to characters in Gangster/crime/thriller films which was our genre. Audience feedback also reassured us that it was clear on the genre and theme we were trying to portray and make as when we asked for feedback or asked the simple question of what genre they thought it was they replied with answers relating to crime thrillers and films such as ‘Snatch’ were referenced and compared to ours. We believe that people will realise that the film is of this nature and will involve a - to fit this genre, it will then become appealing to the audience and in particular fans of action/crime films. Our production used techniques such as fast paced editing and intense music with crescendos to help create this effect and atmosphere for the viewer, which is how we will make them interested in watching the whole film. If they are interested in the basics seen in the trailer, without even knowing the whole storyline we leave them interested and they are likely to want to watch the whole film once it has been released. By using basic and simple connotations and techniques associated with the genre of crime thriller such as fast paced editing and an almost predictable storyline, we believe we attracracted an audience, which was our intended outcome. We then had other techniques to build on this such as the way we portrayed the storyline to make our film different and appealing in comparison to other crime thriller films.

We wanted to emphasise that our production was British and we wanted it to be as realistic for the audience as possible, so to do this we used a range of stylistic techniques. In terms of character codes, we used very typical gangster clothing such as leather jackets, but this was just to provide reassurance for the audience and make sure that something as simple as character clothing didn’t confuse them and allowed for a clear distinction between characters, but at the same time was a stylistic feature. We also used a very common car seen on British roads as a getaway car, which added to the British ethos of the film. English roads where also seen in the trailer which were a common representation of Britain as you can see British style pavements and traffic lights in the background. We also used fast paced editing in post-production stages to add to the feel and tone, whilst complying to the characteristics of the crime thriller genre. We did this by using clips which where roughly a third of a second long and playing them after one another. It also keeps the storyline ambiguous and teases the audience in the manner that a genuine trailer would. We also used actors who were of a relatively young age which added to the realism of the production, as most of our target audience where in this age range (18+). This also made our production seem interesting as it provided an insight into a teenager's life and something that we can easily visualise happening in real life as we are of a similar age. The characters were also identifiable as being British in the style of clothes they were wearing and their accents from the dialogue.

We can apply the uses and gratification theory to our production as it gives the audience an insight to life of criminals and at the same time the possible insight into an average teenagers life. It educates them without them having to be in that situation and the fact that our characters are representations of everyday people it makes the sense of learning from the viewing more realistic. It also applies to the uses and gratification theory as we know that the audience are not going to watch the film and then carry out similar actions as they are already going to be educated on social situations, this will just broaden their learning of what can happen in everyday life to anyone, in particular teenagers as it is representation of youth culture.. It also goes against the hypodermic syringe model as that would suggest we would watch the trailer and learn from it, i.e, learn how to kidnap a teenager and become a gangster which we know is very unlikely to happen.

We used SoundCloud as a website to host and stream the audio file for our soundtrack. As the track was made public, it allowed for other members of the public to comment on the track telling us which bits where the best and how they suited the trailer, as well as giving us as a group constructive criticism. These are comments we received off friends who have knowledge in producing music.

-"Sparse drum hits give it the tension that you're trying to create and the release-heavy synths work really nicely in conjunction with that.”

-“It'd be better if it was slower, especially for a film, more hip hoppy”

-“I'd say that the kick drum could perhaps do with being tightened up a little. As in, reduce the amount of reverb that's on there and perhaps increase the amount of low end frequencies coming through, maybe if there's any sustain on the wave, it could do with being reduced a little”

As you can see we had mostly positive feedback and we had achieved what we aimed to do which was create the sense of an urban environment with gritty sounds. We can also take the criticism on our side and use it to rework the soundtrack, after all the people who left these comments are people in our target audience, which was also helpful for us as we can tailor it more specifically for our audience.

We also used 'FaceBook' which is one of the biggest social networking websites in use online. We made a fan page for our production in which our video was accessible by people who liked the page, and some people did. This page was a platform for feedback and also provided an area for a potential fan-base to be established. This was beneficial to us as we could get audience opinions and we can see what in particular our audience was interested in through what they liked whether it be a certain picture or screenshot of the production. The group also had a wall where fans could discuss the production and it was a community for people interested on our production. This also allowed us to connect with our audience and we could learn directly from them.

Evaluation Activity 3

Evaluation Activity 2

In our production of ‘Higher’ – we used several different forms of software. Our main form of editing software was ‘Pinnacle Studio 10’, we used this software to edit and add cuts and stylistic editing such as cuts and fades. We used this software for adding transitions as mentioned and also to add sound effects and our soundtrack. We also used it to edit the speed of shots, as this added to the realism of the trailer production. The speed editing made our production follow the conventions of the thriller genre, as it gives a sense of fast-paced action or suspense. Another form of editing we used in the software was the ‘Night’ setting, which darkened one of our shots, which was originally lighter – this was used as it keeps the shot in low key, high contrast lighting, which doesn’t distract the viewer’s attention. Another function of ‘Pinnacle’ was the ability to cut sounds shorter and adjust the speed of these sounds which made it more flexible to alter. We also used ‘Pinnacle’ to record our director’s commentary over our film production. ‘Pinnacle’ was used to edit our production shots, and we had many problems with it. Firstly, it often froze and we commonly lost editing through this. The other problem we had was the speed of the software, as we found ourselves waiting for the software to catch-up – which was especially difficult when we were cutting sounds or clips.

We also used ‘Audacity’ – we used this software to get smoother transitions and also a wider range of sound effects which were in better quality. This software allowed us to see a variety of transitions, and select the ones which would be best suited and also fit the genre most effectively. We used ‘Audacity’ as it’s known for being the simplest of mixing software, and we had no issues or problems with it.
 The final software we used was ‘Adobe Photoshop 7.0’ – this was used for the titles; including the film production logos and our title. The ability to add such things as layers, colour filters and fonts gave us the appearance of a ‘real’ film production, as we could look at examples from films in our genre, and follow the colour and style conventions. The most ideal function of the software was the magnetic lasso tool – which allows the moving of a picture from somewhere to our film title, we used this with our font from ‘dafont.com’ – this creates more flexibility in our titles and creates a sense of realism. ‘Adobe Photoshop 7.0’ did challenge our group, as none of us was experienced in the software, and it was difficult to create the looks we were planning which resulted in an amateur look which is what we were trying to avoid.

The equipment we used was our DCR-HC35 Sony Handycam camera, cassette tape and tripod. These allowed us to capture our footage and also keep the camera still and straight for better quality footage. Unfortunately, the DCR-HC35 camera wasn’t able to capture high quality footage, as it made many shots appear grainy and often the colours weren’t shown clearly. If a better quality camera was used, we would have been able to record with more clarity and efficiency. Also, a con of the tripod was the size of it, this prevented us from doing effective close-ups as it would have to be handheld, and that would likely end with an unsteady shot. By using a cassette, we did encounter problems as it's very easy to over-write footage already recorded by trying to be efficient - this wouldn't be possible with more advanced technology such as SD cards or disks.

Evaluation Activity 1

This is our Directors Commentary which we made by splitting the original video up into freeze frames to explain how we made certain shots. We also used pictures and freeze frames from other films of a similar genre such as Reservoir Dogs which we were inspired by when making our production.

To record the Directors commentary we wrote out a script on Microsoft Word and loaded a voiceover track into Pinnacle Studio. School had microphones which we could use so we plugged them into the computer and recored directly into the microphone.

Ancillary task 2: Website

In addition to the poster, we also produced a website with promotional information, and release information to advertise the film.
www.wix.com/eb12media2011/higher is the domain for our website.
We designed the website using the online website creator "wix.com". It enabled me to use plugins such as Flash to animate sidescrolling screenshots from the film and animate text on the website. This generally improved the website aesthetically, and thus, this would be appealing to prospective fans of the film.

On the homepage, we employed a dark, "gritty" colour scheme to reflect the mood and tone of the film, and to establish the film as a modern "britflick" crime thriller hybrid genre film. On the website, we have included the title of the film, the distribution companies, "Miramax" and "Handmade productions", aswell as a four star rating at the Cannes film festival. We included this as the Cannes film festival is a prestigous and respected reviewer of films, and the filmgoer visiting the website will be able to identify this and will thus be encouraged to watch the film.

On the website we have included additional information of the film, in which we have been deliberatly vague as to the nature fo the film, providing the rhetorical question "what happens when you're forced to go against everything you believe in?", this is designed to appeal to the viewer by providing a vague hint of the premise of the film.

On the website, we also included the poster that we also produced, in order to make the poster accessible to the visitor of the website. The poster includes release information and further ratings and reviews by critics.

In addition, we also included a contact page, in which we implemented a contact form, so people could find out more information of the film. Also, we employed a Facebook "like" button, in which people were able to "like" the website, and thus, they would recieve further infomation of the film through Facebook, which is a useful tool to use as it is a very popular social networking website.

Ancillary Task 1: Making a Promotional Poster

This is the poster our group created for the first ancillary task. The film poster has all the typical connotations of a film poster. It has the main title, an image which represents part of the film, reviews, a star rating and distribution information such as companies and logos of companies involved. It also shows the certificate of the film in the bottom left hand corner which is important as people who look at it will want to know if they are old enough to watch it or not. It also includes star reviews from resputable companies and reviewers such as 'Empire Magazine' amd 'Total Film' which are common features of a film poster. The fact that Callum's name is also in a large font at the top of the screen is a selling point of the film or it would be if Callum was a well known actor. Most films will use the name of the main character to help sell a film as this attracts an audience from thier fanbase and if they are well known and resputable they will already give the film some credit.

The Title font used is sans-serif which makes the poster appear more mature and as the fonts are edgy they add to the gritty connotations. If we used curly letters and serif fonts the film would appear more comedic and wouldnt be taken as seriously. The name of Callum however, is serif but it is very subtle and it is only a few lines of some letters which allows it to fit into the genre and comply with the connotations of gangster films. It also makes his name stand out more amongst the other text. The red glow behind the text "HIGHER" was also a key feature of the poster as the colour red is famously symbolic of blood and danger which are key elements of the production. The red was made by duplicating a layer of the title font and putting it behind the text. This then had a red glow applied to it which made it glow behind the original text. The fact that is also subtle makes it effective, as it is noticeable but it doesn't stand out massively. The picture we chose to use is also powerful as Callum is wearing his everyday casual clothes, in this scene it is a beige harirngton jacket. This makes it seem more relaistic and the audience might be able to feel more empathetic, especially teens who wear similar clothing. It is also a type of jacket everyone can relate to as it is common and the audience are likely to have seen someone wearing one in the past. The colour is also in direct contrast with the black background which also highlights Callum. The fact that it is beige is also important as it allows for the smoke to be seen infront of Callum, if the jacket was white the smoke may be hidden so this was important.

It is suitable and representable of our production and the genre we chose which was gangster/crime/thriller. It portrays these conventions with the dark lighting and Smokey mysterious element which you can get from the image of Callum tied up in the hostage scene. It compares with other posters of similar genre films such as pulp fiction where they have a centred image of a main character. They also use smoke in their poster off a cigarette to express danger and a risky nature to the characters, whereas we use smoke in a different manner, to portray danger and to make the texture of the room Callum is seen in seem dim and this makes Callum look vulnerable. On the pulp fiction cover, it is clear the character on the poster is not in danger, it is clear that Callum on ours is.

To create the poster we used Adobe Photoshop as this is an advanced piece of photo editing software which gave us lots of scope when wanting to add different forms of images such as texts and photos and merge them together in different layers. We could also use effects such as text shadows and blending to make the images fit smoothly and blend together as the shadows from the lettering fades out into the darkness of the background. We also used colour filters on the layers of images to make them seem more dark and dingy which is a connotation of the hostage scene and the gangster genre.

This is one poster for the film Law Abiding Citizen which we took some inspiration from. The film is of a similar genre to ours as it is a crime thriller so we used this along with other more British productions such as Lock Stock and Two Smoking barrels and we combined the kinds of themes which these types of posters used. This poster focuses on Gerard Butler who is the main character of Law Abiding Citizen by using his face as the main image and filling the screen. Similarly to ours, a picture of Callum in the chair fills up most of the screen and the focus is clearly on him as a main character. The lighting seen on this poster is also very low key and dingy which is again, similar to ours with the lighting in our picture coming from the lamp on the floor lighting up callums chin. This poster also includes some form of smoke which seems to be a common feature of any action films and is usually always present in some form, such as pulp fiction where it hasn't come from an explosion or anything of that type, but a cigarette.

A Questionaire With Callum

This is a questionnaire we gave to Callum after he finished filming with us. As he is a student outside of the media room we thought it would be helpful to get his feedback and see what he thought of the production and his involvement. We plan to use his feedback if we do future work as he might tell us better ways to carry out scenes or let us know if we could have done certain things more effectively or differently.

Did you enjoy being a part of our production?

Yes I really enjoyed being part of the production and the whole filming process I think it might even be something I would look into doing outside of college in the future. It helped knowing the people I was working with though as it was easy to express ideas throughout the group.

Did you find it easy to work in the filming environment?


Yes, but again I might have found it more comfortable because I knew most of the people but yes, this was something that I didn’t really have a problem with.

How do you feel the production was directed?

At times it could have been a little bit unorganised but this was never really a problem because I know we came up with a few new ideas with the lack of planning and these turned out to work really well in the end, for example when Aaron puts on the leather glove, that was thought of on the spot but looks quite
effective.

Is there anything you would have changed about your role?

I would have maybe liked to speak a bit more but as it was only a trailer there wasn’t much time for speaking and I still managed to get a few lines in.

Would you consider taking part in a video production again?

Definitely, this is the second media production I have been in and people have complimented my acting skills and I was chosen specifically for this role which makes me feel quite good and it also boosted my enthusiasm for taking part. I would definitely do something like this again and I really hope to it has sparked a new interest for me.

Is there any extra points you would like to add and/or anything you would like to tell us about your involvement?

I would just like to say that I think the group worked very well as a team and it was clear that they all knew what they wanted to get from the final production which I am very excited to see!

Construction of soundtrack

I am making the soundtrack for our Media production as this is something which already interests me and is a hobby of mine which I enjoy doing. This also has a benefit to the group as we can make the soundtrack specific to the trailer by making it fit to certain shots. For example, we can use loud bass heavy booms when we need to build tension and we can use crescendos and other uplifters to build suspense in certain shots.

This is the completed soundtrack which you can listen to and below I have split it up into different production stages to help explain how I made it:

The software which will be used is Apple's Logic Pro 9 which is a highly advanced piece of music production software. It has lots of effects plug-ins and lots of VST instruments which we can use in the piece to create different sounds and it also has lots of audio effects such as reverb and distortion to make the texture of the sound thicker and make it more cinematic. 

Before the piece was started I browsed through some of my sample packs for sounds which I think would have been appropriate to the piece I had in mind. I already knew that I wanted to work at the tempo of 130bpm as this is quite andante and fits the walking pace of the gangsters. I also used influences from genres such as 'grime' and 'dubstep' as I used drum beats at half time which make the piece seem tense, because you know it is building up to something, but it teases you in the way that it appears slower than it is. 

The software which will be used is Apple's Logic Pro 9 which is a highly advanced piece of music production software. It has lots of effects plug-ins and lots of VST instruments which we can use in the piece to create different sounds and it also has lots of audio effects such as reverb and distortion to make the texture of the sound thicker and make it more cinematic. 

Before the piece was started I browsed through some of my sample packs for sounds which I think would have been appropriate to the piece I had in mind. I already knew that I wanted to work at the tempo of 130bpm as this is quite andante and fits the walking pace of the gangsters. I also used influences from genres such as 'grime' and 'dubstep' as I used drum beats at half time which make the piece seem tense, because you know it is building up to something, but it teases you in the way that it appears slower than it is. 

I filtered through the sample packs (to the right) and found my favourite percussion samples and placed these onto seperate tracks within Logic. I then used effects such as reverb and echo to fill up a more sonic space and help hold the track together. Here is an example of how I manipulated 3 sounds. The original will play and then the edited one will follow.

Here is an overview of the soundtrack in Logic once it had been completed.

 

This picture just shows all the layers together and how the sounds have been ordered. It also shows how things layer on top of each other and work together to build the piece up. 

This picture (above) shows a few of the plug-ins and effects I have used to manipulate the sound in the piece. The plug-ins show how you can alter little parts and it shows how there is so many little things that can work together to change the scope of the sound. You can use these effects on their own with one sound or you can use several built up on top of each other, for example you can add echo to a sound you have just distorted or added reverb to so it has more to it.

 

 

 

 

This picture shows the instrument track (in green) which is where I have used a MIDI keyboard to record in some notes. They are simple and just repeats of the note E, but the point was not to have a melody but a bassy note to add tension and a pace to the piece. It is also nicer to hear an actual note than just a sampled sound so it adds a more musical element to the piece. I used the plugin Albino3 (below) to make the sound.

 

 

Automation is also a vital part of the production process as it allows you to bring certain sounds in and out of the piece which allows it to be specific to certain parts and it makes a sound seem as if it is weaving through the piece which is just an interesting thing to listen to. Here (picture below) is what one of my sections looked like in terms of automation, where I adjusted the volume levels to make it fade from quiet to loud. The yellow lines represent the level of volume.

 

 

Another key element of the production is the opening. Once the piece had finished we realised it would need some kind of introduction to bring in and accompany the opening credits, it had to be short but cinematic and fast. To do this, I used an 808 'boom' sample with a kick drum on top to giveit a punch, I then reversed another 808 drum sample so it faded out but came back in and when it finished its reverse I added a snare hit to lead the credits into the production. The snare hit also had reverb so it dragged on to link the two sections together. Here is what our introduction sounded like.

 

Animatic

Construction: Additional Camera Peripherals

This is a Fish Eye/Wide angle lens we used in some shots. We attatched the lens
to the end of the camera and it creates a convex image of the image being captured.
This allows us to capture a larger amount of the setting whilst implementing the intensity of a close up shot.








This is a Flycam/Steadycam. We used this to make a smooth shot whilst walking around a main character, it is used instead of filming a simple hand held shot where the camera would be shaky. It absorbs these shakes and provides a sharper image, especially in tracking shots.

Construction:Make up

This is the make-up kit we used to make Callum look like he had gone through a rough beating by the Gangsters. We created bruises and cuts by using dark colours such as purple, dark blue and brown to blend it all in. We also used a black eyeliner pen and a red lip pencil to create more cut like features. To apply the make up to the face we used a cotton pad which absorbed the colours well and it made it relatively easy to apply the make-up to Callums face.

This is a sequence picture of Callum once the make-up had been applied. As you
can see he looks slightly rougher and more beaten than he would in person
outside of filming so we think the simple colours and application of make-up is
effective for the scene. It also complies with the connotations of a character
being held hostage and it makes him seem more vulnerable as a character.

Construction of Special Visual Effects-Smoke

These are images of the incense cones we used to create the smoke effect. We created the smoke to make the room look darker and more dingy and it also added to the texture of the mise en scene with added mystery. To make the smoke we had to set the cone alight and let it burn before it started to smoulder and create thicker smoke. We placed three across the table to try and make it fill as much of the screen as possible.

Construction of Indoor locations

Pictured below are shots of the locations we have used for the indoor scenes of our trailer.

This is a picture of Aaron's Bedroom, which we used as the bedroom of Callum's character.

Aaron's garage, we used this for the hostage scene.


This is a shot of Aaron's garage, in low key, high contrast 'chiaroscuro' lighting, with smoke effects.