Final blog

This is the last blog i'm going to do, i have learnt a lot from the begining right through to the end and I hope you enjoy the final product which you can view on VIMEO: 

PATHOGEN GROUP8!!!!!

Q3 - Evaluation

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

Although we didn't put Warner Bros into the title sequence for Pathogen we think that if we had a chance to go back we would use it. The production and distribution company we have chosen is Warner Bros. This is because we think that our thriller is a Hollywood film and needs a lot of funding since its about a disease that affects people worldwide. We want it to be distributed globally and we feel that the plot has the potential to dominate the biggest cinema chains. 

We need a large budget because we are going to have to use a lot of different locations which have to be blocked from the public which costs money.

Also we need the make up to look realistic because if it doesn't it will look like an amateur film. Furthermore we also need the best actors and actresses to make it look realistic, the more realistic it looks, the more its going to engage the audience.

Q4 - Evaluation

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Through my research i have found that the wider audience for thriller films are either 15-30 or 18-30 depending on the film's content.

Above is an example of someone who would fit our target audience which is 15-30. We chose the    minimum age to be 15 because there are a lot of other thrillers with this age rating. One thriller we chose to focus on is Contagion(which has the same sub genre as pathogen which is mystery) because our film has a lot of intertextual elements from it and the plot is similar.

The girl above is 18 years old and as you can see from the likes she likes a lot of common things teenage girls like but she is also interested in crime, mystery and thrillers.

Q6 - Evaluation

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

             

Q7 - Evaluation

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

           

Q2 - Evaluation

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Representation is the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way. Examples of representations for social groups are: gender, age, social class, sexuality, ethnicity etc.

In our thriller opening we represent gender and social class through Cara (character). 

We represented gender because we chose a female actress and females are usually shown as weak and vulnerable whereas males are shown as strong and dominant. We showed her as weak by making her look ill (with make-up) and also because she was a victim to the disease. If we chose a male actor instead, it would have still looked good but using a female has more impact. This is a negative representation and this is reinforced in real media. For example, in super hero movies such as spider man, the strong superhero is male and the heroine is female. The plot of the stories usually include the female getting into trouble and the male has to go and save her.

We represented social class because Cara(character) is middle class so middle class people from the audience will be able to relate to her. However in the full film we would also have every other social class because the disease affects everyone. This would make the audience more engaged and interested because they can put themselves into the characters' shoes.

Q5 - Evaluation

How did you attract/address your audience?

I think the aspects of our film that would attract our audience is:

the dramatic music

the plot because they can put themselves into the characters shoes

the shot types

the point of view shots

the name i think would draw them in instantly because it's an interesting name

We have reached our audience by facebook blogger cinema and vimeo

This is what attracted individuals from the audience about the film.

Q1 - Evaluation

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

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 - 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.