Evaluation Task 9

Evaluation Task 9: Director's Commentary

Below is our director's commentary for Return of Kezia.

Evaluation Task 8

Evaluation Task 8: Our Improvements for G324:

Even though I thought that our G321 Film opening was successful and was an effective horror film opening, there are several aspects of our filmmaking that we need to improve for next year.

Mise en Scene:

One way in which we can improve for next year is mise en scene. For this we can make our costumes clearer so our audience will find it easier to identify with our characters by seeing if they are a protagonist or antagonist. I feel that because all of our characters wore similar costumes, the audience could have found

Camera:
A target that we have set ourselves as a group for G324 next year is to include a wider range of camera angles. This can enable us to get higher marks for our trailer next year. I feel that we should film scenes more than once as it will give us more choice and have more likeliness of picking the right scene for the trailer.

Editing:
To improve our editing for next year, we need to add a larger variety of cuts between separate scenes, as well as making sure that all cuts are smooth. This will make sure that our film will be easier to watch for our target audience.

Sound:
We can improve our sound for our trailer next year by making sure that our dialogue is clear. This will make sure that our audience can clearly understand what we are saying when we are filming. I feel that we could also add more non diegetic music to our piece, as it adds and intensifies the emotions in the scene.

Evaluation Task 5

Evaluation Task 5: How did we attract our audience?

    

Above is our annotated evaluation of our final project of Return Of Kezia.

Evaluation Task 7

Evaluation Task 7: What progress have you made since your preliminary task?

After completing our preliminary task earlier in the year, one thing that we have made progress in is our camerawork and editing skills. For example, one error that we made during our preliminary task was following the 180 rule. However, we learnt to overcome this by making sure that we didn't break the 180 rule by switching the cameras position. This was useful and effective as it wouldn't confuse the audience when they were watching our film.

Another way in which we have improved since our preliminary task is by adding sound to our work. When editing our preliminary task, we didn't add any non-diegetic in the background over our scene. So when we edited over our opening scene to our film, we wanted some non-diegetic sound to play over the top of our scene. This made our film better as soundtrack can affect the mood that is set in the scene.

We were also more adventurous with camera shots and angles that we wanted to use in our film scene. For example we used two shots in our final product, to show relationships between characters, which we did not use during our preliminary tasks. On top of this we also used several over the shoulder shots, which gave the effect of looking from a character's point of view.

Here is an example of an over the shoulder shot that we used during our final film. It gives the effect of being in a characters footsteps, and what they are doing

Evaluation Task 6

Evaluation Task 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? 

One piece of technology that we used to film is an Iphone 7. We used the camera on this phone to film the majority of scenes in our film. One of these scenes was the final part to our film, where the scene is filmed in the dark. Because of this, we used the torch feature to create lighting in the scene, so the audience can see what is going on in the scene.





Another piece of technology that we used for our                              film is the Canon EOS M10. This camera was used to film other scenes in our film that we felt the Iphone wouldn't be suitable for. One part of our film that we used the Canon for was when we filmed the scenes where the full cast of the scene are sitting on the sofa. This was because we felt that the camera was clearer when we put it on that scene.






The editing feature that we used for our film is Adobe Premiere Elements 10. This editing software was very effective as it has a range of different features that we could use to make our film better. One feature on this program that we used was the zoom feature. We used this when Me, Baily and Shannon were sitting on the sofa and Anna's character of Kezia is staring through the window. We used the zoom feature to focus on Kezia's face. This was effective as it highlights the emotions on Anna's face. Another feature that we used was cutting. We used this to break up scenes, so the film flowed well, as well as to make it easier to watch for our audience.


We also used the online computer program, YouTube to distribute our film opening. This will mean it is available to a large audience as YouTube is used my millions of people across the world.

Evaluation Task 4

Evaluation Task 4:  Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for our project is teenagers and young adults. This is because the age rating for our film is 15. There tastes of films include action films for boys, Romantic comedies for girls, as well as horror films for both genders. Our film will therefore conform to their film taste, as it is a horror film. As for music, boys tend to listen to rap or rock music, whereas girls mainly listen to pop music. They are into fashionable clothing as well as casual clothing. Hobbies of teenage boys include sports and gaming, whereas hobbies of teenage girls include doing makeup and going shopping with their friends. We felt that we'd attract our target audience by portraying our protagonists as stereotypical teenagers

Because stereotypical teenagers are very sociable and enjoy going out as a group of friends, they may like to watch our film together. This is very common for teenagers to do, as it means that they might enjoy the film more. They may also watch our film as the genre is horror, which is a conventionally popular film genre for teenagers.

Evaluation Task 2

Evaluation Task 2:

For our character analysis I have chosen Anna's character of Kezia. A character that she is similar to is the antagonist from The Woman in Black. This is because they have a similar mise en scene by wearing a dark costume, as well as having something over their head. Another similarity of the two characters is that they are both possessed women who are looking to kill innocent victims. However a difference between these two characters is that Anna's character appears as a human form, whereas The Woman in Black is in the form of a ghost. Another difference between these two characters is that Anna's character plays a larger part in the performance does than the antagonist in The Woman in Black. We tried to base Kezia's character on The Woman in Black, because the character had the traits and personalities that we wanted for Kezia.

Evaluation Task 1

Evaluation 1: In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

 Our first choice of frame from our opening scene is this medium two shot of me and Baily, who are two of the protagonists of the film. This frame also shows that these two characters are close friends as they are walking alongside one another. We have also included titles which address to our audience the names of the cast members. The clothing that we are wearing are casual to show that we are just meeting up as friends.

Our second choice of frame from our opening scene is this over the shoulder two shot of me and Baily knocking on the door. This part of the scene also shows to the audience the location and setting of our film. The use of an over the shoulder shot is effective as it shows what's happening from the boys' point of view.     

                                                                               

Our third choice of frame is a medium shot of the three protagonists of the film: me, Baily and Shannon sitting and talking about Anna while she's not in the house. In the scene, we have now been properly introduced to all three of the film's protagonists, as well as the setting if the scene. The use of having me and Baily sitting next to each other shows that they are close friends as characters and that they want to stick together round Shannon's. As the audience were also introduced to Shannon, they can also she that she's wearing causal clothing.

                                                                                Our next frame that I've chosen to analyse is this close up of Anna.This is a first glimpse of the antagonist for the audience. Anna is represented well as an antagonist by staring through the window and acting in a creepy way. The close up is effective as it shows the detail of the expressions on her face.


                                                                           

The next frame shows an over the shoulder shot of Shannon, who has just opened the door to let Anna into the house, although she can't see her at first. The use of an over the shoulder shot is effective as the audience can see everything from her point of view

This frame is a close up of Anna when she first walks into the scene. This is the first time that the audience are introduced to the character of Kezia, who is played by Anna. The effect of having her with her hood up in dark clothing shows her as a creepy and evil character.

The next frame shows a low angle two shot of Anna and Shannon walking up the stairs to the loft. The effect of having Anna behind Shannon shows to the audience that she doesn't know that she is behind her and the audience will find it weird and creepy what Anna is doing.

This frame shows a high angle two shot of Anna and Shannon talking about a picture, which is an important prop to our film, as its the causation to Anna attacking Shannon. The use of the high angle shot highlights the picture and shows that it has meaning to the film. Following this frame, we see Anna attack Shannon after they argued about the picture.
                                                          

The final key frame of our film's opening two minutes is our opening titles that appear at the end of the clip after Anna attacks Shannon. The use of having white text on a black background is effective as it stands out to the audience

Evaluation Task 3

Evaluation Task 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media project and why?

For our production company, we chose the name of SandStone Films and have designed our logo by having a circle of Sand Stone and the text of "SandStone Films" in a sandy coloured text. The role of a production company is to fund and promote the film. Examples of production companies include Paramount and Warner Bros. The role of a film distributor is to market the film. The difference between a film distributor and a film production company is that if they own the theater or cinema they distribute it to their theater. An example of a film distributor that is highly successful is Netflix. They are an online film distributor and buy films from smaller film productions to distribute them online to a larger audience.

One way that we could have raised money for our film, is by making and selling merchandise that is related to our film. This could include posters and other items that could be bought by audience members.

A film that is released in a similar way to our film is The Woman in Black. This is because it has a similar style of production company.

Return of Kezia G321

Soundtrack Research 2

This piece of music is also a consideration for us to use as it builds tension with its quiet notes, which get louder as the track goes on. This piece of music is called "Anxiety" and is also composed by Kevin MacLeod

Soundtrack Research 1

For our film, we are going to need soundtrack, which is a form of non diegetic sound. Our first piece of soundtrack that we are considering to use is "Evening of Chaos" by Kevin MacLeod. The track is effective as it uses both tempo and volume to create tension for the audience.

Script

Script for Return of Kezia:

Baily and Sean are walking down the road, having a conversation.

Baily: You might want to text Shannon to say that we’re going to be a bit late. Ok let’s go.

Sean: I’m not sure what this Anna girl is going to be like.

Baily: Yeah, I know.

Baily and Sean arrive at Shannon’s house.

Sean: I really hope she’s not weird.

Baily: So do I, she’ll probably be your girlfriend mate.

Sean: Oh shut up!

Baily knocks on the door.

Baily: It’ll probably take Shannon an hour to answer.

Shannon answers the door.

Shannon: Hey guys!

Baily: You alright?

Shannon: Yeah, you?

Baily: Yeah not bad, is Sean’s girlfriend here yet? (Laughs)

Sean: Funny.

Shannon: No, she’s going to be late. She’s a little bit weird though,

Baily: That’s a little bit harsh.

Shannon: Does anyone want a drink? (Walks into the kitchen)

Baily: Nah, I’m alright thanks.

Sean: I’m really worried about how this Anna girl’s going to be.

Baily: You’ve got me and Shannon here, it will be good.

Shannon: (Returns from the kitchen) It’ll be fine, I’ve known her for years.

Baily: There you go, it will be cool.

Sean: Well what sort of personality has she got?

Shannon: Honest?

Sean: Of course.

Shannon: She’s a little bit weird and creepy, I’m not even joking.

Sean: Well that’s promising.

Baily: Well why are you friends with her, what are you doing?

Shannon: I feel so sorry for her. Sean what’s wrong?

Sean: (Pointing towards Anna who is at the window) Who’s that?

Shannon: Oh, that’s Anna.

Baily: What’s she outside for? There’s something wrong with her if she’s looking through the window.

Shannon: (Opening the front door to Anna) Anna? What are you doing?

Anna: Just watching the TV, you know.

Shannon: Well you could have knocked on the door. Come in.

Anna: Ok

Shannon: Guys, this is Anna.

Baily and Sean: Hi, you alright.

Shannon: Anna, this is Baily and this is Sean.

Baily: You alright.

Shannon: You can sit down if you want.

Sean: (Picks up Pillow) I’ll get this.

Shannon: Have you got any ideas for what we should do?

Anna does not answer.

Baily: So Anna what do you feel like doing?

Shannon goes up to the loft to get a game for the characters to play.

Soon after Shannon goes upstairs, Anna gets up and follows her, without saying anything to anyone.

Shannon: (After noticing Anna) You alright Anna?

 Cuts to Baily and Sean downstairs.

Sean: You know Anna, don’t you find her so weird.

Baily: She’s a bit odd and I don’t know where the fuck she’s gone.

Sean:  She wasn’t talking, she didn’t even look at me.

Baily: I don’t think you’re in their to be fair mate. (Laughs)

Sean: I’m not surprised.

The girls are up in the loft.

Shannon: I’m just going to get a board game, you do whatever you want.

Main lights in loft turn off.

Shannon: Did you just turn the lights off?

Anna: No

Anna picks up an old scrunched up photo.

Anna: Why do I recognise this photo?

Shannon: What do you mean “recognise this photo?”

Anna: I recognise it.

Shannon: It’s just a photo of an old family. I’ll just rip it.

Anna: (Angry at what Shannon did) What do you think you’re doing?

Shannon: It’s a photo, calm down.

Anna: Well I recognise it. Like what do you think you’re doing?

Anna goes to attack Shannon. Shannon screams. Anna turns to the camera.

Description Of Our Opening Scene To Our Film.

Opening Scene Description:

Our film starts with me and Baily, two of the films protagonists walking down the road on their way to meeting their friend Shannon, the other protagonist of the film, as well as her friend Anna, who turns out to be the antagonist of the film. The two boys are worried about meeting her as they don't know what she will be like. 

When they arrive at Shannon's house, they find out that Anna isn't there so the boys ask Shannon what Anna is like. Although the two girls have been friends for a long time, Shannon warns the boys that Anna is quite weird and creepy, which worries them. While this is happening, Anna arrives at Shannon's but instead of knocking on the door, she is seen staring through the window and watching the TV, which confuses the rest of the group. When Shannon opens the door to Anna, she says that she was watching the TV.

When Anna walks into the living room, she doesn't speak to anyone and everyone is unsure on what to do. Shannon has a suggestion of going up to the loft to get a game for everyone to play, which everyone agrees to do. Strangely, Anna gets up and follows Shannon upstairs, which she doesn't know about. When the two girls meet in the loft, Shannon looks around for a game that everyone can play. Meanwhile, Anna finds an old scrunched up photo lying around and she says that she recognises it. Shannon thinks she's being silly, so she pretends to rip the photo up. Anna responds angrily to this and she attacks Shannon, who screams when she sees her going for her. The boys downstairs are left confused, and Anna turns to the camera in a creepy and menacing way.

Media Storyboard Animated

Animated Storyboard for Media:

After we created our draft storyboard, we have animated it to show a running sequence of the opening two minutes of our film. We have also explained what is happening by adding titles to each scene, so you can clearly see what it is happening in each scene.

Learning how to use Adobe Premier Elements 10

As we are coming up to editing our film, I want to improve my knowledge of how to use Adobe Premier Elements 10, due to my inexperience of the software program.

After watching the video, I have found the information helpful and effective, and it has helped me understand my knowledge of the software.

Storyboard

Original Storyboard  

This is our original storyboard that we have designed. For our next step, we need to animate it and put it onto youtube. You can see that we have kept the drawings basic and simple and that we have also written on the dialogue and camera shots that we will use.

Preliminary task 2

Preliminary Task Evaluation:
For our task, we filmed ourselves in a small classroom with computers in the room, where Ellis and I are having a conversation about my weekend. After I inform her that I went McDonald's in Epsom, she makes a joke by saying that I like to eat at McDonald's. I get annoyed at what Ellis says, so i retaliate by saying "Are you calling me fat?"

We chose to film in a small classroom in our school, as it is a common place where students can be found. In the build up to the conversation between us, Ellis walks through the school library and goes through 2 sets of doors. This was effective, as we could show our editing skills on Adobe Premiere Elements 10.

To help us edit and piece together our scene we chose to use the software program Adobe Premiere Elements 10. We used time lapse to slow down the part of the scene where i am looking at Ellis. Unfortunately, we broke the 180 rule in our scene, meaning that part of it may not have made sense to our audience. So when it comes to making our final film, that is something that we can improve on and correct.

One piece of equipment that we used was a tripod. This piece of equipment is used to help steady the camera when we are holding it. Although we chose to hold the tripod with the camera on top, it can also stand alone or rest against another object, where it will film with no movement. Another useful feature that the tripod has is height adjustment. The three legs on the tripod have different levels of height that you can film from. This feature of the tripod is effective because you can film at different angles, which can have an effect on the audience. It also stables the camera well, so the filming will run smoothly.

Why are you here software analysis

To help edit our short scene (why are you here?) we used the editing software of Adobe Premiere Elements 10. The program has many useful features, such as time lapse, which can edit the length of the scene, by speeding it up or slowing it down.

Another feature that we used on Adobe Premier Elements 10 was adding a black and white filter over one of our scenes.This complemented with the time lapse of our scene, as it gave an effect of adding horror, as well as making it feel like it was filmed a long time ago.

We also used editing skills to cut short some of footage that we had filmed. We did this to make sure that we got rid of any unnecessary footage that we didn't want in our scene

Institution Research

                                               
                                                  Institution Research:

Paramount is an American Film institution that were founded on May 8 1912 as Famous players film company. However they changed to Paramount Pictures in 1914. Paramount are the 5th oldest film institution in the world.They have produced many high grossing films such as Titanic, The Transformers series and Forrest Gump.

We feel that this would be a good institution for our film, as they are a big and successful company, which could help promote our film to a wide audience, as they are a well known institution.

Location Research 3: Ashtead Common

Our third and final location that we have considered as our film setting in Ashtead common, which is near Ashtead's train station. It would give off a similar effect to one of our other choices of locations, Leatherhead Park, as it is a public location, where we could make a group of friends hang out at, or make them walk through this location.

Likewise, we could also film in the dark with this location, as it would add the effect of horror to the audience.

Location Research 2: Leatherhead Park

Our second choice of location for filming our opening scene is Leatherhead Park, near the river mole, Leatherhead. We feel that this would be a good choice of location as it is a public place, where people would meet up as friends outside, or could walk through this area.

A consideration for how we could use this location is film when darkness hits, which would add an element of horror to our film, as a common setting for many horror films are darker.

Production Titles Final Decision

Production Titles

We have chosen to you this design as our production titles as we feel that the black background will represent horror and fear, which is the genre of of our film. The use of  yellow/green text against the background is effective as it will stand out to the audience.

We also decided to use this style of title as it was a popular choice from the people that we asked. The use of a circle of sand is effective as it links to our production title name. We feel that "Sandstone Films would be the best production title name out of the options that we had after researching a number of production titles online.

Production Titles Ideas

                                Production Titles Ideas:

For our film, we are going to need production titles, that will appear at the beginning of our film. We have found these production titles online and feel that these would be best for our film "Return of Kezia." As a group we will make a final decision together on which of the following production titles to use.


                       PRODUCTION TITLES IDEAS

Looking Glass Studios	Spinning Wheel Studios
Continuum Films	Green Fuzz Productions
Off the Spectrum Productions	Fly on the Wall Films
Pendulum Film Company	Sweet Kiss Studios
Sandstone Films	Offspring Entertainment

Costume Research

Costume Research

Clothing: Grey crop top with black necklace
This shows to the audience that Shannon is a protagonist

Clothing: Casual black jumper with blue jeans
This shows to the audience that I'm also a protagonist of the film

Clothing: Black jumper with black jeans:

                                               This shows that Anna is the antagonist as dark clothing represents horror.

Clothing: Black Jumper with beige chinos
This shows that Baily is also a protagonist of the film

Location Research 1: Shannon's House

Our first choice of location is Shannon's house. The video that is filmed here shows the loft that is in Shannon's house. We feel that the loft in Shannon's house would be a good choice of location for a horror film, as it is a smaller old house with wooden beams as features. This will have a good effect on the audience, as it shows to them that we are in a more scary location.

Another reason why we feel that this will be a good location to film our opening scene to our film is because it would be a good place for a group of friends to meet up at, as its one of the friends houses. The living room, for example, could be the place in the house where the friends could hang out.

Due to the house being older and smaller than other ones, it would be a more likely location where you could expect paranormal activity to occur.

Opening Titles Idea

After looking at horror films which are similar to ours, we feel that this is the best style of opening titles for our horror film.

We feel that as our opening scene ends on a blackout, this title can be used after the scene as the background will be the same colour. The colour black represents horror and fear and would give off that effect to our audience

Interviews of Actors

This video shows us interviewing each other, where we asking questions about our film.

Certificate Research

Certificate Research:

After reviewing the plot of our film as well as other films that are similar to our own, we feel that our film should be given a certificate rating of 15.

Our film contains occasional swearing and mild horror, in which audience members under the age of 15 could be affected by this. We felt that an age rating of a PG or 12 would be too low for our film, mainly due to the swearing. However, an age rating of 18 wouldn't be necessary for our film, as the swearing is occasional and there is no violence. One of the films we have compared ours to is "the conjuring." Because of the similarity in plot/storyline, we have given our film an age certificate of 15,  which is what the conjuring's film rating is.

Research and Planning Targets

In order to improve your research and planning grade you need to provide a lot more detail regarding your choices and intended outcomes - and your level of analysis in your research could be added to in greater detail.  Make sure you are evidencing the creative process in the post-production stages of development.

Location Research

We have several locations that we have considered to use as filming locations. They are all of houses, in which a group of friends could meet up at. 

This house is a location we are considering to use for our opening scene. This is because it is a house where you would expect a group of friends to go to and meet together.

This house is also a location that we are considering to use in our film. Unlike the house above, this house is smaller, which isn't a general stereotype of a horror movie location, however it is an older house, which is a general stereotype that you would associate with a horror film. Like the house above, it is also a location that friends could meet up with each other. 

Spider diagram of our film ideas