Evaluation - Q7

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

Over the filming process, we learned how to: use a camera and miscellaneous equipment; use Final Cut Pro to edit our footage; create non-dietetic music using Soundtrack Pro and create idents using Motion.As a massive fan of conspiracy thrillers – my favourite films being Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Trilogy – when looking back to the planning process, it was easy to think of an action-thriller scenario. However, I wanted to step out of the generic norms held by the majority of modern action-thriller films and add a mystery element to our opening. Having seen Contagion recently, I thought the conventions of a medical emergency film made this newly profound concept of mine bold and interesting – the outbreak of a deadly virus from the city’s water system. Also linking to our research - we  used a convenient location e.g. Cara's house as oppose to using a shady location commonly used in horrors. It was easily accessible, relatively close to the college and big enough to film. 
Though pre-production for this film was simple, there were many flaws to it. Switching on a camera may be easy but achieving continuity was definitely a challenge. We had to ensure we made a five-second-gap before/after capturing dialogue or movement. There was also the tedious process of filming the same scene two or three times over – something we failed to do for our pre-lim. Looking back at our pre-lim, our picture was delayed and we missed out the top-third of Deborah's face, on occasions. There was also missing sound and the short spray of light-exposure at the beginning of each shot which made life difficult. However, considering the fact we had one lesson to film this, it was adequate enough to present to our peers. Furthermore, we learned from our mistakes and amended a great deal of our filming techniques. However, though some would argue that one of our shots was out of focus, this was deliberately done to reinforce her ill-state. 
Composing the storyboard, unlike the challenges of the pre-production, was a more successful task – Cara’s house was the ideal location. We had thought of a vast range of angles and shot types, for example, wide shot, match-cut and extreme close-up Our uniques shot, however, was a first-person POV. We added the video-effect 'Earthquake' to make the shot look surreal. On the other hand, when it came to shooting the rough-cut, the lighting was extremely poor due to the adverse weather conditions outside: the top light only made it look cosmetic. We were able to amend this by re-filming large chunks of the opening. Even though this gave us less time to edit, we still had something presentable to import onto Final Cut Pro. I also think the constructive criticism for our rough-cut was far too nice: critiques thought the concept was good, the shots were acceptable, meaning that the film was fine enough to present without sound and titles although when it came round to editing our final-cut, we incorporated titles from a 3D template on Final Cut Pro. Deborah also made respiratory sounds created using Soundtrack Pro. This was good as it gave the audience an insight into how bad Cara's situation was. For our post-production, we have uploaded our film opening to Vimeo and are awaiting reviews from our target audience. 
Overall, I'm please with the way our film has gone, considering the lack of commitment from one person in our group whose name shall not be mentioned, I think we've definitely 'raised the bar' from our prelim in terms of technology as well as maturity. Just by adding idents, and our own soundtrack, there is no excuse for lack of innovation. Not being billed as your conventional thriller, I think it's an interaction viewers will enjoy to be a part of. 

The video embedded below is a montage of still shots taken from both our prelim and our final cut. There's a real difference in quality.

Evaluation - Q6

Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

For this question, I created a power-point presentation and uploaded it onto slide-share which will allow me to embed my video. I got in-depth at technology used and whether or not our production has been a successful process.

Q6 from aa57304

If there's the possibility that that the slide isn't working, here's the written transcript for the powerpoint. 

Q6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product

Production - For our film opening, we used the following programs: Final Cut Pro to piece together all of our filmed footage, Soundtrack Pro to create non-diegetic music used, throughout our opening, and Motion to create an ident for our fictional distribution company, 'DAK Pictures'. Personally  I took the role of editing our footage. It was a though job considering the standard we were trying to achieve. However, none of this would have been possible without the technology used. They all seem to function well together making life somewhat, easier. This power-point goes in-depth to the type of technology used and how well they worked together.

The type of technology used -
- JVC Camera - Of course, without this camera, we would've been unable to film. Though, the focus wheel was tough to pay attention to at time, it was really simple to use.
- SD Cards - Used to store our footage filmed, the SD cards provided safe-assurance and a second card slot on the camera incise the first ran out of space.
- iMac - With the RAM and capability of this powerful desktop, our film wouldn't have been achievable  Containing programs such as Final Cut Pro, Soundtrack Pro and Motion, we were able to piece together our sequence with ease.
- Video Drive - Using this big bulk of silver, we were able to store all our final-cut footage as well as pre-lim bloopers, sound-loops/samples, camera archives and so fourth.
All the progress from our research, planning, filming, editing and evaluation was stored on Blogger. The friendly website allowed us to record all our progress as well as incorporate an assortment of multi-media make it look hi-tech and what not.

Example of technologies used:
- Final Cut Pro: We were able to import all the footage filmed from the JVC, piece it together in a linear sequence, trim clips, add transitions and video effects as well as insert a title sequence there was mix of template to use from. All progress could be saved onto the Hard-drive-disk and the final-cut could be exported as an MPEG4 and uploaded on Blogger.
- Soundtrack Pro: This allowed our to compose our own soundtrack using an assortment of samples and mixes. After a beat/sound was created. We added it into our footage on Final Cut Pro where we able to trim the sound according to the type of picture, on-screen.
- Motion: Being an 'fictional' distribution company, we were able to create an ident using Motion. Using this, we composed the title where we experimented with transitions and movements. We were able to add this to the beginning of our opening on Final Cut Pro and make it look that bit more professional!

Conclusion - Overall, it was a fun, fully-beneficial experience. Not only did I learn how to use an assortment of equipment, and programmes. I enjoyed every part of the production process. Personally, my favourite part of the production was using Final Cut Pro, because it felt rewarding combing all my experience and newly found abilities (Soundtrack Pro, Motion, Camera footage) into a linear sequence. Furthermore, I can see myself using all this technology in the future, perhaps as part of a full-time profession. However, I think I’d give blogging a miss! Though, it was vitally important to record all steps of my production, it felt difficult to maintain at times.

Evaluation - Q5

Question 5 - How did you attract/address your target audience?

I think mise-en-scene is the best aspect of our opening. For example, the use of action/mystery in our opening appeals to our audience because it immediately engages them with the plot and encourages them to follow the film.
Thinking back to our rough-cut feedback, we were initially without titles or a soundtrack, so incorporating that into our final-cut was a major improvement and ultimately, the reason behind the success of our film. We also used various editing-transitions to make the jump between shots appear 'seamless', a match cut if you'd prefer.
Though a good film should contain good camera-work, quality sounds, sharp editing and clear mise-en-scene, I think this is not the key element that attracts an audience (excusing the trailer). I believe it is the syndication behind it. We've created a Facebook page, Twitter and YouTube accounts so we could post trailers and interviews with the actors, starring in the film. Now, In a parallel universe, I'm sure Cara's an B-list celebrity but for the purpose of this evaluation, she is one. This'll make viewers want to watch their favourite actors, no matter what genre of film it is.
We've posted the 3-minute opening for our film on Vimeo and are currently awaiting collective criticism before proceeding to showing this film in cinemas.  

I also decided to do a 'Q&A Sunday' with an actor from the film - Brian Fissler - in which the public get to ask him questions in regards to my hectic promotional schedule and all the PR he's been doing.

For anyone un-able to understand/hear him. Here's a printed scrip of the video:

Hi guys, and for any of you forced by their kin to watch this and you don't quite know who I am, I am Brian Fissler, minor actor and brother to the very talented director Anthony Fissler, I told him I do this Q&A session for anyone interest in this film.  So let's get started!
[Q: What have you been doing to advertise this film]
- So far, I've been doing interviews with independent film sites such as Radience.org and IndieWire.com. We talk about the film's synopsis and working behind the stuff. There's some stuff said about Cara, the lead actor on there that may be inappropriate for me to say, right now. I suggest you check it out!
[Q: Has it been a hectic experience, so far?]
- Definitely, but that's the film industry for you. Any advice for those interest in film-making. The amount of dedication you put into advertisement and so, is really is how commercially successful you'll be.
[Q: I've seen the film-opening. It was really good. Was this really the right thing to do?]
- Firstly, thank you for your kind words, the team behind Pathogen appreciate any kind of feedback we can get. Secondly, seeing as the people at DAK Pictures are new to the film industry, it was only right that they see what viewers like yourself thought of the opening. After all, our film isn't your generic action-thriller-film. But, personally, I think that makes for a better film.
[Q: What are the plans for the future?]
- Well, after this Q&A, I'm off to the Cineworld at The O2 where an exclusive screening of Pathogen'll take place. After that, there's scheduled to be another Q&A session with me and the writers. For anyone London-based, with nothing to do this bleak-looking Sunday. Please, get yourself to North Greenwich and watch our full-feature.
Unfortunately, that's all I have time for but you'll be able to follow me on Twitter @FisslerLAD where I'll be tweeting the progress from the film. As ever, I enjoy hearing your feedback and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you for watching!

Evaluation - Q4

Question 4 - Who would be the audience for you media product?

Well, I don't think all thrillers in general has a specific audience - It really depends on the type of thriller film. Like all genres, there are sub-genres and we'd have to specify what sub-genre our film is. Seeing  as our film is billed as a mix between a mystery/conspiracy. We thought the action elements would be best suited to the young adults whereas the mystery interaction would be preferred by a maturer audience. Our group decided that the audience demographic for our film is 18-39, which is young- middle-aged adults.

Though it may be strange combining two age categories together, looking further into Thriller films. In my opinion, Silence of the Lambs and No Country for Old Men are the two best action-thrillers I have ever seen. Considering their BBFC certificate, their target audience was probably for the young male adults. Meanwhile, there are those thrillers that are borderline horror films, such as: The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Village. Since they're close to horror (and horror films target teenage girls), the demographic would be slightly different... probably younger and more female based (17-19). And then there are legal thrillers (Fracture, Runaway Jury) and crime thrillers (Memento, Se7en) are targeted at more mature audience (40-64).

We created a fictional Facebook account for someone who we thought would be interested in our film - Jessica Thomas. Looking at the screen-shots featured on this post - If we focus on her likes and interests, she enjoys watching conspiracy thrillers, dramas and the occasional rom-com. This is the kind of viewer we'd like to attract prominently because we'd want those with a mild interest in thrillers to watch our film with a couple of their on a night out. We believe it'd make for some interesting conversation, post-feature. 

I also did research on the FDA yearbook of 2011. Seeing as Thriller wasn't marked down on the chart for revenue generated from cinema-goers in the UK. Our film touches upon, horror and suspense, the average amount of money cumulated was £40million. Though it only makes up for a small-percentage of the year's box office, we think more of giving our viewers an enjoyable night out rather than making as much money as action would make (£256million). 

Overall, I think our film would attract twice as many viewers being a mix between two sub-genres. Not being you generic thriller-film, this 'blue-print' adds to the originality and innovation of our writers and if we aren't recognised for that, we've got an assortment of filming techniques and editing that'll make our film stand out from others.

Evaluation - Q3

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

For this question, I created a Prezi that looks in-depth at each type of institution: Hollywood, British Cinema and localised release, before going on to talk about which institution my film's suited to and why. Enjoy!

Evaluation - Q2

Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Firstly, we need to establish what is representation in Media Studies? Well, It's the concern with the way that people, ideas and events are presented to us. We should identify what it is in a person that is actually being represented (age, gender, class, religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation).
Our film opening displays, Cara, your typical teenager, nursing a cold, one morning. This conveys that she's a young independent woman. However, that statement has it's flaws. The film industry usually depicts these women as vulnerable and helpless, which end in a severe consequence. In Cara's case - death. Though we've represented Cara in a negative light, we, as a group, still acknowledge women are as strong as they're portrayed in real media as well as today's film, particularly dramas. For example, looking back at work on TV dramas - we studied gender representation from BBC drama Life on Mars. It took an interesting view at gender representation, specifically the police force during the 1970s, whether a female officer be working a radio, or walking the streets, Life on Mars’ creator, Matthew Graham  doesn't fail to depict the difference gender representation, and the impact they create when combined, initially creating a superior institution. Making both sexes as strong as each other.

I have embedded this moodboard created on Photobucket. There I was able to add a vast range of features including filters, light enhances and incorporate text. I attempted to represent the young independent social group that consists of women such as Cara, in this moodboard. Though it was though to compose, it was certainly easier than having to create a 3-minute piece of film!

Evaluation - Q1

Question 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

For this question, I wanted to take another unique twist on the vlog and so I did a live-commentary 'Director's Cut' whilst watching over my film opening using Camtasia. In this video, I discuss the forms and conventions used and whether they have benefited the film, positively or worse, negatively.

For those who are having trouble to hear or understand my voice, there is script printed below:
Hi guys, this is Anthony Fissler from Group 8, here. It's been a long and stressful process filming our thriller, but finally, we're finished. And what better way to take a break then to do my first ever 'director's cut'. In this video, I'll be talking about the norms and values used by our team and whether or not we followed or challenged the conventions of your typical thriller film, I hope you enjoy.
Firstly, In all film openings, it is vitally important to include: a good title sequence, clear picture, mise-en-scene and sound best suited to the film's genre. Typically, thriller films would depict the inevitability of something bad happening - death for that matter. However, we thought we'd take a unique twist on the conventional opening and jump straight to the death of who was to be believe as our lead protagonist, Cara. This was achieved with a mix of non-diegetic conversation and spine-chilling sounds created on Soundtrack Pro. Personally, I think that the title sequence is the key feature for a successful bit of film. Though, the design/graphics for titles are equally important, I think a film's first impression IS based on the order of appearance during a title sequence e.g. is the film's theme relatively sane or distorted perhaps. Looking back at the research conducted before filming, the actual structure of a film would go: Production company, distribution, lead actor and etc. The film Enemy of State, starring the Fresh Prince of Bell Air, himself, Will Smith, doesn't actually comply with the norm of modern-day action-thriller films and lists: The actors, casting, music, costume design and so forth, first. Though this enforced the fast-pace nature of the film. I think it was subtitle for our group to play it safe and stick to the generic title sequence held by the majority of films, today.
We included intertexuality in our film. Taking influence  from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. We incorporated the idea of the female character's death, during the shower sequence. To show a clear reference to this film we placed Cara dead on the floor and used a close up to enforce this idea of intertexuality.
In conclusion, considering how different our film opening was to others, I think this film has highlighted the innovation and willingness our group had to offer - In fact, I think our target audience will love this feature because we're it highlights the fact we're daring enough to challenge key features that impact the overall impression of a film. And for with that said, I'd like to thank you for watching and to look out for other videos!
[Stop video]

Editing - The process

Editing - Final Stages of Editing

We've come to end of our editing. And as we finish which was probably the hardest part of the filming process, it really does feel like a great weight has been lifted of our shoulders. Moving on, it has felt like a great relief, saving our project. With that said, we hope you enjoy our final product!

Editing - Order of Title Sequence

This is our title sequence of the cast in this order:

- Production Company (CANDI Studios)

- Distribution Company (DAK Pictures)

- Lead Actor (Cara Mullen)

- Film Title (Pathogen)

- Actor #2 (Kellie Ward)

- Actor #3 (William Diep)

- Actor #4 (Rogazad Zephaniah) 

- Casting By (Robert Fisher)

- Costume By (Hussam Thomas)

- Music Supervisor (Keiran Williams)

- Music By (Carl Johnston)

- Edited By (Rodah Daniel)

- Production Designer (Sarah Andrews)

- Executive Producer (Deborah Daniel)

- Directed By (Anthony Fissler)

We thought it would make our film more authentic if we kept the order sequence original and followed in the footsteps of generic thriller features.

Editing - Adding Effects

Though, we created many camera effects using Final Cut Pro. Our most interesting effect was the ident transition created for our (Fictional) independent distributor, DAK Pictures. We created this one using Motion. Though, it was hard to create, at first. We soon got the hang of it and created a simple slide of film. However, for those who might criticise how simple our ident is, other groups have taken distributor idents off the web. We've decided to stay true to teacher's rules and not use any footage from the internet.

The pictures below shows our process in creating an ident: 

Motion - the programme we used to create our ident. 

We started off by typing our distribution company on a black screen.

From there, we started to experiment with transitions. 

This was the playback of our ident with the added transitions. We assure you, it's more complicated than it looks!

Editing - Rough Cut (Pathogen) Feedback

This is feedback for our rough cut opening from fellow student, Andreia. She was honest in saying it wasn't very thrilling and that we had to add more sound. Aside from those two factors, it was a decent bit of film.

Editing - Constructing A Timeline

                                                   

After we finished filming we used Final Cut Pro to create a timeline and this was tricky because we had a time limit of about 2 minutes for the whole opening. Also because we had to make sure that the clips ran smoothly into each other and that they were at a good pace.

Filming - Pathogen (Rough Cut)

On our first day of editing, to initiate we simply put all of our significant clips of footage in the correct order so that we could then continue and go back to add things such as Foley sounds, soundtrack, audio/video transitions and filters, and most importantly the conventional order of TITLES. As it is a thriller opening.

Our main priority post filming was to synchronise the clips and you can see from this rough cut of Pathogen that it was far from finished and lacking emphasising conventions such as effects.

Filming - vBlog Filming Evaluation

For my filming evaluation, I take a unique twist on the generic v-blog and talk about the production of our opening whilst playing a match of Team Death-match on popular FPS title - Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZHqGmaqV-s

Although I would definitely do a video similar to this for my real evaluation, it was rather hard multi-taking. Please excuse my frequent use of the word, "like", stutters, hedges and lack of a solid conclusion! :-)

Filming - Shoot 2

This filming session took place on Monday, 18th February, at Cara's house. Being half-term, we thought it was an appropiate time to re-film the whole of Cara's scene. The problem with our orginal footage being that it was far too dark. Though, the footage appeared alright on the camera's small screen, Final Cut Pro suggets differnty of the lattter.

Not sure what Anthony's doing with the microphone, testing to see if the sound was clear.

Another picture of Anthony, this time. tweaking slight adjustments to the top light.

Kellie and Deborah are about to film Cara in bed; no pun inteded.

A distorted-looking Cara's ready to film after doing her make-up.

Overall, this filming session was slow as all of us we're rather restless working past the half-term. However, we filmed a great bit of footage and some extra scences with Cara's mother. All we need to do now is concentrate on the editing.

Filming - Shoot 1

We arrived at Cara's house which was our main location, setting out the environment and mise en scene such as an alarm clock prop was our first main priority; it was placed in a specific place and had to be left there through the entire endurance of filming for continuity purposes. (You can also see the camera tripod on the bed if you look closely, the tripod plays a huge part in filming!)

 Here Cara was preparing her deadly makeup, it is one of our most important parts of mise en scene as it visually shows the audience what is happening and that she is ill.

We thought that stairs would be a great way to show the main character's instability. We shot things such as medium close ups, tracking shots of her moving feet, low angle shots, and filming from perspective looking through Cara's eyes as she unstabely travels.

 Here is our main character Cara with her theatrical type makeup which was borrowed from a family member and came as a huge benefit to us because we have a budget of almost nothing. She is ready to lie in bed and begin the thriller.

This was a quick snapshot took whilst filming and acting was in process.

 Anthony with his camera and toplight! 

This was our first shoot on the 11th February, we filmed the beginning of our opening scene which involved Cara (the main character) waking up to discover her illness, we followed her to all different locations around her house to show perspective, this took time to get different shots. As you can see, we all took a turn at using the camera to split responsibility and get as much of a variety of footage as possible (tracking shots down the stairs, the typical medium close ups of Cara in bed).

Planning - Production Schedule

Considering the fact that we have a limited amount of filming time, we have to decided to compose a strict timetable to stick to. Below's the dates we intend to film:

• Monday, 11th February - 9:00 - 12:15 - Cara's house - Bedroom and stairs scene

• Thursday, 14th February - 1:15 - 2:55 - Small room next to 323 - Publib Health Official Mr Fissler's office phone call to Kellie Ward, regarding the virus. We intend to film both spectrums of the conversation.

• Monday, 26th  February - 9:00 - 12:15  Owen's Field Park - Various death scenes involing the film's extras.

• Monday, 18th February - 9:30 - 4:00 - Cara's house - We intend to use this Monday during the half term to re-film any footage or so.

Because we don't intend to film over any of the allocated weekends awarded, we've decided that delegating the task of equipment management won't be necessary; we'll just pick up the equipment from the college on days of filming. 

Planning - Pitch Feedback

As well as receiving feedback from the media department, we also asked our fellow students what they thought of our ideas, whether they believed we were ready to produce it, and got their opinions on the title for our film as they will be the regular civilians we expect to consume/watch it.

Planning - Pitch

This is our pitch which we presented to members of the media department, we incorporated all of our thoughts and planning aspects into this to give not just ourselves, but others, a clear image of what we wanted our thriller to be.