Evaluation Presentation

Hannah and Chloe - Funhouse presentation from Chris Earl on Vimeo.

Evaluation interview

Hannah and Chloes's Evaluation from Chris Earl on Vimeo.

Directors Commentry

Evaluation, as a group

This is our evaluation that we had filmed, by Mr.Earl, we answered questions about our final video on how we though we had done, what we are trying to portray, how we grabbed the audiences attention, and also what films we where influenced by.

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

We learnt a lot whilst doing our preliminary task which caused our final product to be better. I feel that if we were to just do our final task straight away with no practice then it wouldn’t have been at the standard that it is now as we wouldn’t have learnt the full importance of different shots and different effects that Adobe Premiere Pro has. In our first task called ‘The Prisoner’ we had many continuity errors as it was the first time we had used a camera before properly; we didn’t understand the importance of the 180 degree rule or action matches. Although we used a range of shots in that task, we found that they didn’t really fit and we now realise that we could have used better types of shot in order to make our short film more effective. Our continuity task was about putting what we had learned about continuity and different shots into practice after editing and watching ‘The Prisoner’. In our continuity task we were allowed to choose our setting and our storyline; we chose a school drama as the genre. The criteria for this task were to use shot reverse shot, action match and to ensure that we followed the 10 degree rule. After editing and watching our continuity task we realised that we had progressed as there weren’t any continuity errors however we feel like it wasn’t very good as we didn’t use any sound effects, in this task we also put some titles on; due to the fact that we weren’t very familiar with the software at this point it meant that the titles were very simple and didn’t have any effects on, in our final task we realised we were able to put fades onto the titles and use certain effects such as blurs; we found this out by trial and error; we put different effects onto our work and played it through to find out which looked better. Also due to the fact that we had to edit both preliminary tasks using Adobe Premiere Pro was good as it allowed us to become familiar with the software and see everything that it had to offer, for example, the sound effects, titles, and different types of edits to put into our film for different effects.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product

We used Adobe premiere pro for our editing out shots, putting them together and putting our sound effects on. We found it interesting using the camera and learning how to use it. We feel that the 2 tasks in preparation for our final project were very useful as they allowed us to get used to using the camera for different effects and how to do different types of shot. Also the continuity task was useful as it allowed us to learn about continuity and how it can look; it helped us to spot continuity errors before they happened as we were always thinking about the 180 degree rule and action matches. The preparation tasks also allowed us to learn how to do shot reverse shot which we used in our final piece, it adds a good effect as we see both characters expressions and reactions to things; it also gives a more professional look to the project. The cameras were interesting to use. We enjoyed using Adobe premiere pro for our editing as we just looked at the effects and decided which ones were best for our films; the preparation tasks allowed us to become familiar with the software and find different effects and how to change the sound around. We have enjoyed using Adobe premiere pro as we found it to be quite easy to use and we found some of the effects were very useful in creating a professional look to our movie. We learnt that a lot of details when filming are important like the frame rate the camera is set to as we filmed in 60 frames per minute whereas Adobe premiere pro is only compatible with movies that are shot in 30 frames per minute, this meant that we had to convert our files into a dv format which was very useful as when they were converted we didn’t need to render them which meant only our sounds and edits had to be rendered this made the editing process quicker which allowed us to get a lot of edits done to make our film more effective at provoking the fears of the audience. The experience of making this film has been useful as it has taught us a lot about the different software that are available when editing and the different things that can be done to achieve a professional film.

How did you attract/address your audience?

We used a range of techniques to attract and address our audience, we made sure that the audience was interested in the film by trying to make it gripping; we did this by using a range of shots to show the location and choosing a song that suits the mood of curiosity we were trying to create. We also included a small conversation with the girls to allow the audience to understand them slightly; this will provoke sympathy for the girls when they are being attacked by the clown as the audience knows them and put themselves in their shoes. This will interest the audience and make them want to watch the film and see what actually happens to the girls. Another thing that we did to address our audience was make the characters average and people that the audience would be able to relate to as we thought this would give a better effect as the audience will not want anything bad to happen to them. The range of shots we used to start with were used to establish the location and show the audience that it is a typical village. The first minute includes these shots which create a very moody and spooky atmosphere along with the music which also adds to the tension; however we didn’t want the audience to be bored when watching the film so we ensured that there was a instant bang after about 1 minute, this was the clown which we showed straight away to tell the audience that this was a typical horror movie even though we found that some horror movies choose not to show their criminal until later on in the movie. We chose not to challenge those codes of conventions of horror as we are not claiming to have made the next ‘different’ horror movie. We feel that if you like nightmare on Elm street , scream and similar films then you will like this as we have followed their codes and conventions.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The general target audience for our film is quite general as a lot of people will be able to relate to it. First of all the setting of our film is in an average small village, this will cause a lot of people to be interested in our film as they will live in a similar place. Also people that enjoy horror films would also enjoy our film as it is quite a typical horror film that follows many of the codes and conventions of horror films. However the sub-genre that our film entertains is teen horror; this means that the main target audience will be teenagers around the age of 15-19. Teenagers would be interested in our film as it is more thrilling and interesting when the people are a similar age to the audience as they can relate to the characters which allows them to feel part of the film, In our research we found that a lot of films do this as it creates a better effect, they do this by using point of view shots and effective sounds. We have done this in our film as we have a point of view shot of Chloe and Kayleigh when they are looking out to the clown and a point of view shot of Becca when she is being held by the Clown.

The typical person that would enjoy our film is a person that is outgoing, looks for mystery in a film and likes to be kept on their feet when watching a film, our film does this as the audience are not sure what is going to happen and it is very surprising when the clown makes his way into the house unexpectedly. In our film we don’t intend to include too much gory detail as we don’t want to turn away our audience and make them feels disgusted as that is not the aim of the film; the aim of our film is to scare the audience and get them to feel part of the story.

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

The institution that would be most likely to distribute our media product would be the Canadian distribution company Lionsgate; in my research into horror films and their distribution I found that this company is very well known for its horror films. Lionsgate have produced many horror films such as all of the SAW films and American psycho. Also Warner Bros have distributed horror films in the past, they distributed the teen horror film ‘House of wax’ which was very successful, it was very successful and was shown in around 3,111 cinemas. In the first 3 days it made around $12million. It was a very famous film and made $42million in VHS and DVD rentals alone. If we were to have our film distributed by one of these institutions then it would be distributed well meaning that a lot of people would watch the film, both in the cinema and at home on DVD.

Whilst some films are distributed by just one institution some films are distributed by a few for example in my research I found out that ‘Prom night’ was distributed by many companies such as Alliance Films, Sony Pictures and screen gems. Due to the fact that Lions Gate is well known for distributing horror films we would like them to distribute our film, this would allow our film to benefit as people would see that the distributer was Lions Gate and go to see the film as they trust Lions Gate as they have distributed good horror films in the past

How does you product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products and represent particular social groups?

Our film is a typical horror film, we took influences from films such as scream and halloween, blair witch project, and more. When we were analysing them before we looked at the codes and conventions of them and similar horror films. We tried to include them in our opening sequence in order to get a similar scary and thrilling effect. We also found that these films are quite successful in cinemas and in general, scream was very successful as it has had 3 sequels and with a 4 due to be release soon. Due to this we thought it would be good to make a film that we knew would attract a range of audiences and be successful. Also in horror films there is usually a scary person or thing that is associated with the bad things that happen within the film; like Ghostface in scream, in our film it is the clown.

In scream we do not see Ghostface straight away, we hear him on the phone, this is also a main convention of horror films as it leaves the audience hooked as they want to keep watching in order to find out who the person who keeps phoning Casey is. However in 'Fun House' we see the clown straight away; we chose to do this as we thought it would allow the audience to see how scary he is and what damage he can do; we thought that is we were to show him straight away it would create more of a relationship with the audience as they would feel scared of what is going to happen to Chloe and Kayleigh who are portrayed to be vulnerable by the slight high angle shot which tells the audience that they dont have a lot of power in this situation.
There is only one social group represented in our opening sequence; it is young women, we have chosen to represent them as vulnerable which is not only stereotypical in society but is one of the main conventions of horror films, they are shown to be vulnerable by the fact that the clown corners them and they have no where to go suggesting that they are trapped in their own home.

Final piece

We have been doing our final edits and changing our sequence around.We have also been checking the sound to ensure that there are no glitches however, the buzzing of the camera in the background is still there as we cannot get rid of it. We are doing our last edits now and are about to export our clip and upload it to our blogs, we will then do our evaluation where we will mention what went well with our film making and what went bad. Here is our final video piece:

editing

We have watched our opening sequence through once more and realised some of the shots of the streets are different lengths to others, we are currently sorting out this problem as we feel that if they are all a similar length then it will add a rhythm to the sequence. We are also changing some of the fades in the shots of the streets to give a better effect. We will have our final cut on our blogs soon.

Sound problems

Whilst watching our opening sequence through we have been noticing errors wiitht he sound, at all times there is a slight buzz in the background of the camera; at the start where there shots of the area are being shown we have been able to turn the sound down as we have the music that we spent a while choosing as we wanted one that suited the storyline of the film and we decided that the one that is on suited the film best, we are pleased with this choice. However when the camera switches to the conversation the buzz of the camera is still there, unfortunately we cannot turn down the sound as if we did this the conversation would be inaudible. We have considered recording the audio again and putting it on top of the film but we thought that if we did this then the mouth movements would be different and would cause our opening sequence to lack verisimilitude.

Rendering

We are currently rendering our film as we have edited out our continuity error with the opening of the curtains and changed the sound around, this has increased the amount of verisimilitude of our opening sequence. When our opening sequence has finished rendering we will watch it through again and look for other glitches with the sound.

Rough Cut

This is the rough cut of our opening scene for Fun House, we have edited our shots and changed the sound. Any comments and suggestions will be welcomed.

rendering problems

we rendered our rough cut yesterday but when i opened it up to upload to my blog it says it hasnt rendered, so i have had to re render the whole ruff cut again!i will then upload the ruff cut onto my blog as soon as possible.

Starting to Edit.

We have now shot our final piece again and have filmed more shots so we have alot to choose from and in our new shots we have used a bigger range of camera techniques which willl help our work to look more proffesional. We will post our old final piece on our blogs which will mean that our classmates can see both versions and how it has improved.

Re-shoot.

After rendering our final piece we have decided that we are going to film our opening sequence again as we realised that we havent used all of the different types of shots, we will shoot our opening sequence again on Friday.

Editing Continued....

At the minute we are currently editing our final piece, we are in the process of rendering our video as a rough cut. We have currently had a bit of trouble with the sound and the sound effects as they seem really crackly, but hopefully our sound is correct, we have chosen sound effects that are appropriate and match to our chosen genre. We are also rendering the the video as it is very difficult to edit as it is very jumpy upon redering we will be able to continue our editing.

Editing our final piece.

we are currently editing our final video piece, we are using the Adobe Premirer Pro Software, to edit. We are currently at the stage of uploading all the correct clips and putting them in the right order, and cutting out any unwanted parts, after that we will be sorting out the darkness of the clips and adding the sound over.

Movie Name

We have been thinking of a name for our production, we have came up with a few but havent decided on a definate one yet, these are the ideas that we have so far;
- Fun House
- The Fun House
- Clown House
- House of Clowns
- Night of the Clowns
- Clown Ressurection
- Revenge of the Clowns
- The Clowns Terror
- Clowns Massacre
- Killer Clowns
- Cannibal Clowns
- Return of The Clowns
- Bloody Clowns
- Curse of the Clowns
- Attack of the Clowns
- Clown Street
-Night of the Fake Smiles
We will try and decide soon, and post the final name of our movie on our blogs

Sounds.

We currently need to find a soundtrack or sound clip that has a eerie feel to it, we are looking and different sound effects websites and also on the media server, to find a correct sound that we can play over the opening title sequence. We are looking for a fast paced beat or a fast classical soundtrack. Once we have found the perfect clip we will upload it to our blogs.

Editing.

We are now starting our editing, we have imported all of our clips that we are using into Adobe Premier Pro. Upon importing this and watching back as a ruff cut preview, we have found that the clips added together are not going to meet the criteria, as it is only about a minute long. To solve this problem we will be shooting and establishing shot tomorrow, we will be filming from the cross roads, walking up the street and then standing outside of the house this setting the scene. The camera will be in the perspective of the killer clown, as he gets to the bottom of the drive he will then walk up the drive and get to the door it then will fade out. We are doing this so the auidence will know where the house is and giving a mor eerie feeling and look about the house as it will be filmed in the dark, adding suspence and fear. This links into our genre as our final piece is teen horror. After filming this, it will hopefully make our final footage add up to the required two minutes.

What clips we are going to use?

Yesterday we sat and watched through the footage we shoot on monday night we can noted down each clips name whats wrong with it or what is right with it, here are our notes;
FILE0040- for this clip it could be used for editing but it was just to test our lighting and sounds.
FILE0041- actors where laughing and got distracted.
FILE0042- testing sound again and going through the script as the talking was not loud enough.
FILE0043- the actors where laughing.
FILE0044- the actors where laughing again.
FILE0045- parts of this clip could be used for editing.
FILE0046- there was talking in the background.
FILE0047- there was problems with the camera as the picture went fussy.
FILE0048- this file was good and we are using it for our final production
FILE0049- you could hear the other people in the house.
FILE0050- the talking in this was really loud.
FILE0051-the actors where laughing.
FILE0052- certain parts of this clip could be used for the editing.
FILE0053-the actors where laughing.
FILE0054-chloe looks like a dinosaur but good we will use.
FILE0055- there is talking in the background.
FILE0056- there was a continuity problem.
FILE0057- the actors where laughing.
FILE0058-  there was talking in the background.
FILE0059- this clip was good and we will be using it in our final production.
FILE0060- there was swearing in and was talking.
FILE0061-not using as there was problems in the clip it just didnt look right.
FILE0062- actor trips over and falls.
FILE0063- could be a possibility to use on our final production.
FILE0064- could be a possibility to use on our final production.
FILE0065-the clown ends up cutting himself at the end of the clip.
FILE0066- we will be using this for a still shot to use in our final production.
FILE0067- continuity problems.
FILE0068- actors were laughing.
FILE0069- the actors were talking.
FILE0070- we are using this clip in our final production.
FILE0071-we are using this clip in our final production.
FILE0072- the clown was talking in the background.
FILE0073- we are using this clip in our final production.
FILE0074- outtakes just incase we needing them for editing.
FILE0075-outtakes just incase we needing them for editing.
FILE0076 the actors were laughing.

So over all the clips that we can use for our final production are;
FILE0045
FILE0048
FILE0052
FILE0054
FILE0059
FILE0063
FILE0064
FILE0066
FILE0070
FILE0071
FILE0073.

Shooting

We have finished shooting our final piece, we did it last night, we feel that it went okay and we are going to begin looking at the clips and seeing which ones can be used. Some actors were unable to come and because of this we were unable to shoot the start of the piece in Durham so we decided to change the plot slightly so it fit around the actors that we had. Chloe and Kayleigh are babysitting whilst waiting for their friend to come but they realise that she is late and decide to ring her, when they ring they hear the ringtone and seem confused, then they look out of the window and see her strapped to a chair the struggle to find the key and turn around to see a huge clown that goes towards them with a knife, at this point our piece will end as it is just an opening scene. We experienced a few techinical difficulties which meant that the shooting took longer than expected; the camera wasnt charged which meant that we had to wait while it charged. We are now going to look at the clips and decide which ones we can use.

Storyboard.

The storyboard for our final film is on Chloe Carr's blog http://chloecarr.blogspot.com/

Location of our final piece.

This is the house that we will be filming our final piece at. It is a perfect setting for a teen horror as it just looks like a every day kind of house this giving the audience something to realate with, making them feel the horror within the film. We will be using this setting alot as this is where most of the opening scene will be filmed, along with the location in the shopping area within Durham City Centre.

Distribution Logo

This is the distribution logo we have created we have decided to use a silhouette of a knife as our genre is teen horror we though that the blade was linked in well with the genre. The knife representing the horror part of the genre connoting fear, horror which is what the girls will be feeling within our final piece.The silhouette of the knife is also relevant as it is not a clear picture which represents how we never see the killers face.

UPDATE!

UNFORTUNATELY, HOLLY HAS DECIDED TO QUIT AS LEVEL MEDIA, THIS LEAVING US WITH JUST TWO MEMBERS OF OUR GROUP, MYSELF AND CHLOE. BUT WE WILL STRUGGLE THROUGH THIS TOUGH TIME AND FILM AND EDIT OUR FINAL PIECE TOGETHER, WITH HOLLY LEAVING THIS HAS HAD A HUGE IMPACT ON THE GROUP DYNAMICS, AS HOLLY WAS THE PERSON WHO CHECKED FOR CONTINUITY ERRORS, ORGANISED MYSELF AND CHLOE, AND JUST GENERALY WAS A HUGE HELP AND HAD A GOOD IMPUT TO OUR GROUP, RIP HOLLY WE WILL MISS YOU!

Location for our final piece

This is a location in Durham which is what we called in the description of our piece as 'the dark alley'. Obviously it's not dark on the picture, as I took it during the day, however we would preferably like to film when it is dark, in order to match the description of the 'dark alley', and also to provoke fear among the audience, and create a sense of fear and horror.

Progress Update

Within tomorrows lesson, me and my group will be talking about what planning is still left to do, and we will also be arranging a date for shooting our piece, as holly will be booking and collection the camera and the tripod on Friday, and therefore we would like to begin shooting shortly after then in order to provide use with enough time to take mulitiple shots, as this will ensure we have exactly what we are hoping for, this will also give us more time to edit, we are hoping to upload the story from a previous task and also the storyboard from this final project however to do that we will need to find a way to scan them onto the blog so today we are getting together as a group and deciding what preliminary tasks need to be completed in order to prepare for physically shooting our opening sequence.