tools and techniques

Ways in which our ideas came together

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research,planning and evaluation stages?

I found that completing this production has improved my skills with new media technologies very successfully. We did our blogs on blogger, this is a free service where the public can join too be a member and post blogs on their individual blogs with a separate URL code. Blogger is funded by online ads and was set up in 1999. I really enjoyed working on blogger as it saves your work automatically every minute which is a strength when computers crash so often.You can decide when and what gets published as it gives you the option too save it as a draft; this is useful when you want too complete your work gradually and overtime, with all the different re-shoots within our production i was always logging on and changing blogs so this aspect was very useful. I find the layout easy too work with and too grasp how too upload pictures and video's takes a couple of seconds; out of the new media technologies i feel i got the best out of blogger. This is a big change from old media as you wouldn't of been able too do blogs over the Internet, the advantages of this are that i could open up my blog in a variety of places rather than having too carry my work round with me at all time. I appreciated the tool for spell checking work as its easy too mis-type and make grammar mistakes, Blogger has some of the basics of Microsoft word.

The Internet has been very helpful whilst completing my coursework. I have used many different search engines which have helped me with genre research aswell as ancillary texts.IMDB.com is an online database of information related too films,actor's and television shows.It was launched in 1990 and was acquired by Amazon in 1998. I would say i used IMDB the most out of the possible search engines as its specifically based around media. I used IMDB too look up information about films such as director,cast,release date and box office figures aswell as the budget of the film.All this information i used whilst doing genre research as it helped me find films that i could relate too my production (for example low budget films). Wikipedia was also a useful site too me as it was good at giving background knowledge behind companies and films, there are many links off Wikipedia that you can get which lead you on too a more specific search in the area that your interested in.Instead of going onto the Wikipedia website i typed in my search into google and Wikipedia most often was in the top 3 links.In my searches the Guardian website came up which i was able too read some articles that have helped me with my research such as articles about funding for films etc. The range of articles online wouldn't of been available with old media technologies.

Scribd is a document-sharing website which allows users to post documents of various formats, and embed them into a web page. It currently has more than 50 million monthly users and more than 50,000 documents are uploaded daily.I used Scribd too upload documents such as production logs,storyboards and the letter of consent.We had too scan them into the computer first then individually choose the documents we wanted too download. Scribd made it easy too upload large formats onto blogger and this is the purpose i used it for. I also used Youtube on a regular basis too watch trailers; Youtube really helped me in my research stages of this production.Youtube also lets people comment on video's uploaded therefore i found it interesting too read some peoples comments on film trailers.

Photoshop was extremely helpful too our group. We both find certain tasks on computers challenging but were able too work together as photoshop's layout is simple too produce all our ancillary tasks. In photoshop we used many specific tools too do our editing, some of the more successful tools were the idea that we could select a 'layer' that we wanted too merge into another 'layer'. This is how we had a pair of eyes in the background on our poster. We often used the Laso tool too cut around pieces that we didn't want.We were able too crop the picture into the size that we needed and zoom in and out and move things around.As much as i enjoyed working on phototshop, i found the idea of all the different 'layers' frustrating as once a layer is locked you can make any changes too it. This meant after audience feedback i was unable too change what had been suggested, therefore i had too get audience feedback as i went along.

Imovie 06 is where i did all the construction of my production. We edited our movie in imovie06 which we were comfortable too work with.It enables you too chose what you import from the tape by letting you see where abouts you are and allowing you too fast forward and rewind.Once you have imported your clips you can sort them out into order and drag them across the bottom of your screen where you can watch them play in order. Editing the clips down is really simple too do and that was one of our first procedures after importing the clips.Once we edited them too the time we wanted we then started too add transitions (there was a variety too choose from) and titles (you could choose the speed it came on your screen, how long it stayed on for, the colour and font type); i feel that imovie lets you have lots of choice in your production. Too import the music we had two packages already on the computer and once we had selected our music we pressed' import' and the music ran underneath the clips. This was helpful as you could visually see where the music stopped and started within each clip.We also altered the volume levels of the music throughout the production as different scenes needed a different level of music; if actors were talking it would be lower than when its just a montage of shots.Altering the volume levels also helped the music too blend in too each other and as we were using totally contrasting pieces of music at some points this was vital. We also used the 'extract sound' option for voice overs. We could of gone onto develop our editing in final cut yet it was a much more complex system too work and we needed too use our time efficiently.

We didn't end up using a boom mic, this was a mistake as i think it would of helped during the scenes of the characters in the bar as the exterior sound is quite loud; i would take this into consideration in future projects.Too do the title voice over we placed the speaker next too the camera and extracted the audio from the camera, an alternative for this too get a clearer sound would of been too record it on a portable voice recorder. We had use of a digital camera this year which we could take pictures of props and locations but mostly helped us with taking photos for the magazine and poster, we then uploaded them onto iphoto where we did very basic changes like rotating the image, getting rid of red eye and altering the contrast and brightness before we saved and opened them in photoshop. I have used many print screens within my evaluation and blogging which have helped too explain certain aspects.

Working on Mac computers is a challenge as im use to PC's. However all our editing was done on Macs as they had the best system's too do it on (such as imovie). Some of my blogging was done on PC's at home yet both Macs and PC;s displayed the same blogger page therefore making it easy. I feel that we have used a lot of new media technologies in all stages of our production that have challenged and developed our understanding of them. If i was too do the production again i would change imovie too final cut as their are alot more advantages and special effects too create a high level production.

Evaluation part 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Our target audience are viewers aged 15-24, middle too lower class,male and female who enjoy horror films and have enjoyed such films as Prom Night and Donkey Punch.While gaining audience feedback we showed our clips too people within our media class and friends, this was done as the majority are 18 year olds and are therefore in our target audience. They gave us some usefull feedback; most of the feedback we have acted on and if we haven't there will be a reason behind it.

We still have some clips from the very first shoot in our production which we shot in a variety of ways and then asked the potential audience which shots should be used. The scenes where Lucy cuts her leg were one of these; at first we just showed Lucy shaving her leg, the next shot there was blood on her leg and we were intending too put a voice over of her saying 'ouch' over both scenes.However through feedback given we found it better to use a wider variety of shots and have a reaction shot included therefore enabling the audience too see who's leg it is and no voice over is needed.As we were going against stereotypes with the main protagonist (brunette) Lucy as she does act 'slaggy' we wanted too make this clear and in the first place shot a conversation between the two girls whilst getting ready about Lucy 'not being able too decide which boy she likes out of the three she named'; the feedback given was that this was a trailer and the shots needed too be most fast faced and shorter, we decided for her looking through clothes too be the best option.One of the strengths that was pointed out from our production was the clip involving the CD player being turned on and then the music starting, in contrast too this it is common too have some sort of music playing in the beginning and without it we felt that the beginning scenes were 'dull'.Too change this we played a quiet 'creepy' music at the beginning and then the techno music started with the CD player; i felt as a group me and Lucy worked well too compromise the audience feedback ideas here.

One of the weakness's of our production when we had finished our first draft was that it was hard for the audience too pick up why exactly the girls were dying. We were told that their needed too be stronger link with the the three females and the boy; we got the idea of cutting the picture off and then showing the boy at the end left in the picture and thought it made sense too add that in with some sound effects that really gave it meaning.Now showing people with it in they think its one of the best bits of our trailer. We found that the trailer was slow moving at first and we needed too speed it up. From asking members of the class how we could do this we came up with the idea of inter-cutting shots from when the girls are getting ready too when their in the bar, this also gave the audience more shot variety.This was also done when Lucy and Theo were in the bar and Lucy spoke the line 'so are we going to go back too mine then?', it then inter-cuts too a shot of clothes being thrown on the floor which is later played again when it fits into the sequence.By doing this we have made the audience aware that Lucy is in-control and goes against stereotypes as its usually the male who makes references too sexual content.

The first original killing was of a blonde being killed by a hairdryer. After screening this too members of the class it was apparent that they could tell who the killer was from the first killing. This was an oppositional reading too our preferred reading. To get around this issue we decided it was best too re-shoot the killing completely as we didn't feel it was strong anyway based on the camera skills used too film it.We chose too go for the present third killing now instead, this portrays that the victim knows their killer as they open the door and greets them which has good intertextual references too Drew Barrymore in Scream by knowing who the killer is. In the third killing we tried our best too use different camera angles as we were aware on the first attempt this was a weakness. A point that was very influential too our production was the need for a voice over for the main titles. In researching having a voice over was a common code and convention of a trailer, we went for a males deep voice,unfortunately a Yorkshire accent is present and therefore if we were wanting to go internationally for example America we would have too do the voice over in an American accent.This was done with the trailer for Bridget Jones.

Audience testing is a vital part of producing a film.Bridget Jones diary nearly failed too get a distribution in the US as when it was tested with an audience it didn't go down very well.However stints such as having Colin Firth in a reindeer jumper made the audience laugh and it was permitted too be released in America. Bridget Jones also started controversy by hiring Rennee Zellwegger (American) too play an English Heroine, yet her acting skills and good English accent caused her too be nominated for several different awards and the film was a huge success.

When we first voiced our initial idea we had concerns of how we were going too keep the identity of the killer un-known and maybe balance two people too be able too fit into the killers role. As filming progressed and we watched footage back we agreed that this was going too be hard too do. We wanted the preferred reading from the audience too be that they were un-sure whether it was the boy or Lucy who was the killer, we are aware that its more obvious it was Lucy as her hands are present in shots; its easy too establish female/male hands.Too overcome this we should of made her wear gloves.Her hair is also a sign in the shower scene yet we wanted an over the shoulder camera shot and i do think the framing of the shot is effective. A

negotiated reading seems too be the response here. In addition too this we did play around with blonde and brunette stereotypes and through audience feedback we feel our preferred reading has been taken up as the audience seem to be aware that Lucy (brunette) is a 'slaggy' character yet doesn't get much attention as her blonde friend.

If i was too do this again i would include the idea of the picture being cut out in more scenes, for example after every killing as it was an effective device.When we first voiced our initial idea we had concerns of how we were going too keep the identity of the killer un-known and maybe balance two people too be able too fit into the killers role. As filming progressed and we watched footage back we agreed that this was going too be harder than we thought and although we tried our best i think next time i would work harder too keep the killers identity unknown. In the shots of the girls getting ready i would keep the faces hidden for longer; choosing clothes and shaving legs etc keeps the audience interested for that little bit longer. In the bar scenes as we filmed in a working bar it was hard too control exterior sound opposed too when were shooting in locations such as our houses.With the scenes where no dialogue needed too be in it we could extract the sound and put our chosen music on top, when we needed too hear the characters speak we couldn't extract the sound.Although it does make it more realistic having background noise if we had had more time i would of got the actors too speak their lines over a voice recorder and added them in separately.

For the Poster our our audience feedback was extremely influential; so much so that we decided to re-do the whole poster. We were told that the way the image had been cut out and placed into a different layer in the first attempt looked armature and un-professional. Although it had good linking from the teaser poster as its the same image, people wanted too see a different aspect of the film on the official poster. Whilst we were in progress with the new design we stopped at every opportunity too ask for audience feedback (this is apparent in http://beck-a2-laura.blogspot.com/2009/12/poster-and-poster-research.html section of the blog where there is a more detailed explanation of how we got too the final product). For example we were told too erase the background too plain black as with the background of the bar it makes it look more like a photograph and less like a poster.

In contrast i have enjoyed working on the production and i feel proud with the end product.I think the framing is a strong point and i also feel we have done many re-shoots too get shot variety into our production. The audience feedback has been very influential too us and has improved our final product dramatically. Ive learnt from doing this coursework that audience feedback is vital too any successful production and if i was too do this task again i would take audience feedback as a number one priority.

Final Piece

evaluation part 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

I feel that after improving our ancillary texts we are able too combine the productions and texts more effectively for a better result.However we could of gone further too do this as i will later discuss.For our teaser poster through research it stood out that the idea of a teaser poster is too slowly start too build the audiences awareness of your film, this then gets further built by the poster, by the teaser and official trailer the audiences knowledge of the product should be high on certain aspects such as release date,producers,who's starring in it, reviews and a 'rough' idea of the storyline.We kept our teaser poster very simple.It links in to our production as the main protagonist is the only cast member featured, this shows her importance within the production. Lucy is holding a cocktail glass with fake blood dripping over the edge;we hoped by doing this that the audience would pick up a sense of the genre of the production as well as Lucy having something too do with the blood in the glass due to her being the one holding it.If we applied the commutation test here, this wouldn't fit for a teaser poster for a rom-com therefore i feel it was successful. By picking the colour red out of the black and white image we hoped too signify that its an important colour, red can be a signifier of love (which would fit in with the title 'A DATE From Hell')in contrast it can also represent blood and danger. All of these moods are conveyed in the production therefore linking them successfully.

Our first attempt at the poster linked well from the teaser poster as we used the same image and worked from that.It involved scenes from the film which don't give too much away.We put a scene of the main boy and Lucy talking in the bar too drag in female audiences yet similarly included a shower scene of a blonde too appeal to men as part of the 'male gaze theory'.'Red Dress productions' logo was also put on the poster; showing that it was a female based production.

After revising the poster we ended up with a much better result.The poster links in with the main productions by having all the cast members present in the trailer on the poster (The Donkey Punch is a real life media example of this). Its very common for more than one cast member too be on the poster however we did slightly develop the idea as this cast are all sat together;usually its from different scenes and clips. We featured a knife as a phallic object, this links in to the shower scene which is featured in the trailer where the knife is used too kill the victim.Including the knife on the poster shows signs of violence,therefore the BBFC rating of 15 is appropriate here and prepares audiences for the production as scenes of violence and sexual content are both included.In contrast we did find many horror /thriller films that had a BBFC rating of 18 such as 'The strangers, Donkey Punch,Scream,Urban Legend',we didn't feel the material was strong enough for an 18 and thought it narrowed our target audience down too much.I feel that one of the strengths of the trailer is the idea of the photograph been taken and then the killer cutting the girls out of the photograph as they get killed.The poster includes the idea of the main feature of the trailer as the killer is taking the photograph on it; this therefore has a strong link too the main product and i feel makes an effective combination of the two.We have included reviews on our poster from a variety of sources; we chose these very carefully as too which reviews would get seen by our target audience the most. The first review is from the tabloid newspaper The Sun,The Sun has a younger audience than most newspapers as its considered a less educational paper and focus's more on celebrities and sport.As our target audience is 15-24 i feel that this paper is appropriate and would be the most popular with this age range,we found this out by conducting our own survey from friends and found the newspaper that the most people read was infact The Sun. The fact that we are a low budget production also highlights why The Sun is a good choice of newspaper, a higher film budget may result in film reviews from broadsheet newspapers.

We included a second review from film critique Johnathan Ross, this may appear too be an unusual choice as Johnathan is a comic.However we decided on him as he has reviewed many films and has become an icon that the public have learnt too trust and go by what he says, he also has a large fanbase with a wide range of ages (including our target audience), this also may work in our favour as it may drag people in from outside our target audience. As


Our first attempt of the magazine cover had a still frame of a clip from the trailer, therefore this links well too our production.However as research and audience feedback told us it lacked alot of features of such magazines as Empire and Fangoria included; we therefore decided too do it again. Our second attempt combines the main product well as it clearly shows the main protagonist within the film as centre fold. However it doesn't give anything about her character away; similarly too the trailer. We've also gone for red and black font which is present within the trailer.

Too improve our ancillary texts and link it more too the main production i feel we could of used more clips from the trailer onto the poster which would of given better anchorage for the audience. I may also add reviews for different soruces next time such as a teenage magazine instead of a newspaper as newspapers are stereotyped to an older generation.For the magazine poster we could of had Lucy dressed as her chracter but therefore felt it would give too much away for viewsers too still be interesting in the production.

We also made a podcast of a breif summary of the main points too this question.

Evaluation part 1

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

Throughout researching the genre of horror i found similar links between productions and i have used some of these intertextual references in my production .Too conclude findings i found that horror uses many stereotypical characters such as a stereotype of a 'blonde bimbo' and an 'intelligent brunette', however we slightly twisted these conventions which i will go on too explain later. I found music too be one of the main contributors too a horror film trailer as it helps set and change the mood for the audience between different scenes. Colour is also specifically chosen, white,red and black are the most common colours too be found on posters along with a serif font. Too research all this i used websites such as IMDB, wikipedia and for more detail i typed in specific google searches, i also used YouTube too watch some of the trailers in the initial trailer research.

Representations

For the main protagonist Lucy we mixed up the codes and conventions of her stereotypical character within horror films. As she has brown hair she is stereotypically meant too be intelligent, subtly dressed along with being sensible and quiet.We got the idea from this based on Tammy in Donkey Punch (there is more on this in the casting section of my blog).However with the narrative enigma we wanted in our preferred reading of the production we didn't want too make it obvious that she was such a strong and powerful character.Although Lucy at first is seen as sexually available with wearing a low top, wearing the colour red (this colour is seen to represent sex)and lots of shots of her putting makeup on etc; this challenges forms and conventions of real media products.For our company logo we focused on a red dress, this links in with what Lucy's wearing within the trailer.We also developed forms and conventions of media products by using scenes of her at the bar which show that shes left out, quiet and doesn't get any attention from the opposite sex. In many ways Lucy is a juxtaposition of her female friend character Sophie (who is costumed to be blonde and busty) as when she enters the bar she is centre of attention as well as getting the males attention too. The contrast in the two characters help relate the audience too what genre the film is as film addicts will be aware of common conventions of horror films, it also allows the audience too decide between two characters a 'goody' and 'baddy'. In our trailer we wanted too give the preferred reading that the brown haired main protagonist was the innocent one in the film therefore wanting the audience too side with her until the narrative un-ravels, we created the binary opposition of the two on purpose as in most scenes in the trailer the audience are made too feel sorry for her. By having Lucy as the main protagonist i feel challenges forms and conventions of real media products as its un-common too have a female killer; however Kill Bill have a blonde female killer which develops this even further and contrasts to the 'blonde bimbo' stereotype that horror/thrillers usually include.

For our male character Theo we once again mixed up and challenged forms and conventions of real media products. We based him on a character out of Friday 13th ,(Marcus Nispel 13 February 2009)Clay Miller in Friday 13th is a tall brown haired attractive character who remains the final boy.Theo throughout the trailer and the film also remains alive. Clay is a wholesome family orientated male and is worried about his missing sister and although Theo is seen to be in between three girls in the bar scenes he later on rejects Lucy as he likes someone else therefore showing his loyalties. The idea that Theo is portrayed as a 'player' in the bar scenes and then goes onto contrasting scenes where he says he likes someone else helps with our narrative enigma; not fully giving away all of the characters individual characteristics will draw the audience in too wanting too see the full production.We did challange the forms and conventions of a teaser trailer as i feel we gave away a little too much detail about the narrative and if i was to re-shoot i would take this into account.

We used intertextual links too the famous killing in the film 'physco' where Janet Leighs character gets killed in the shower, the original features 77 different camera angles.Both Janet Leighs and Fran are blonde haired and i feel that this killing had strong links too the one in psycho.

All of our cast have Yorkshire accents and we are fully aware that this aspect of the production does challenge forms and conventions of media products as it may limit our appeal too a wider audience (such as Southerners). If our film was successful it would also struggle too make it internationally however regional films have been successful such as The Fully Monty. If i was too do my production again i would consider loosing the Yorkshire accents or if our budget was bigger i would have trained actors who can professionally control their accents.

All of our cast are also 18 or under, this challenges codes and conventions of real media products as most productions include some older characters,especially within the genre of horror such as family members.We could of included this as it was a young cast, parents may have easily been able too help us out. However the teenage image that we wanted to show by the two girls drinking,scenes of kissing and discussing 'slaggy' clothes would contrast too a teenage life where parents are heavily involved; we therefore found it better too keep it a young cast.It may also appeal too teenagers more as its giving teenagers a sense of Independence and as our target audience was 15-24, we weren't trying too attract audience members in their 40's.With our cast again we have challenged codes and conventions by having a all Caucasian cast, if this was a high budget film that could go internationally we would be loosing a lot of possible audience members. However as its a indie film, with a regional cast it is already limiting possible audiences, if i was too re-shoot my production i would include characters of an ethnic minority too increase its appeal.

Narrative

Todorov's 5-part narrative formula; was that every narrative can be broken down into three basic stages; Equilibrium,dis-equilibrium and new equilibrium.

1) A state of equilibrium - This was included when the teaser trailer involves shots of the two binary opposed girls getting ready for a night out, deciding what too wear etc.

2) A disruption of the equilibrium by some action - The main protagonist cuts herself whilst shaving

3) A recognition that there has been a disruption - The bar scenes shots focus on Lucy's face looking sad that shes sat on her own and no-ones talking too her
4) An attempt to repair the disruption - When the other girls go too the party Lucy and Theo are now alone therefore Lucy is trying too get some attention that she missed out on earlier
5) A reinstatement of the equilibrium- After the three killings the main protagonist returns back too her normal life and she survives through the production, however this isn't apparent in the trailer.

I feel that our narrative is rather unique; referrin too ideas such as cutting the victims out of the picture as I'm un-aware through researching where this has been done before. However some ideas of the narrative such as the girls getting ready to go out and meeting members of the opposite sex can be compared with Donkey Punch. The idea of a strong female killer can also be taken from Urban Legend (Jamie Blanks 1998) when brunette Brenda Bates stays alive until the end and is a female killer, which is un-common in horror films therefore this is another aspect we have challenged.

Soundtrack

Through research i found that music was vital too a good production. The up-beat techno music we used as an intertextual reference too Donkey Punch relates too our youthful target audience.This techno music is a common code and convention of a film that is targeted at a young audience and can be found in many examples not only in the genre of horror but in social realist films such as Adulthood. The first few scenes in the trailer of Scream don't include music, they include limited dialogue therefore we used this convention, however we developed it by adding music when one of the characters puts a CD in the CD player.The Strangers trailer(Bryan Bertino 2008) starts off with high pitched single toned music similar too ours, i feel that we have kept too the codes and conventions of soundtracks within horror films as this kind of music sets the right tone and gives the audience more anchorage for the genre.

We produced a teaser poster and a poster, we decided too do a teaser poster as this is a common marketing campaign which is used too get the title of the film recognised and only very brief details, the poster is then released with the official details such as release dates and this is built from the foundation of knowledge gained when viewing the teaser poster. Through research it was common that most British films don't go through theatrical release and end up being straight- to DVD. This therefore immediately narrows the audience, low budget films also rarely get a front cover page on a magazine article as our production did on our magazine; unless it was especially focused on low budget/indie movies.

We haven't re-used a tagline that we have researched. However we did find a film called ' A thin line between love and hate'.This wasn't influential too our production at all as the narrative was completely different and although it was classed as a thriller, it also fell into the categories of 'comedy' and 'romance.

If the killer is being kept un-known, as we wanted to portray in our production, then they commonly hide by some sort of mask as in Scream and Black Christmas.If i was too do my production again i would develop this convention so the narrative enigma is alot stronger.For example in the scenes of the picture being cut out i would have Lucy wearing gloves so the audience would be un-able too distinguish if it was male or female hands.However we did slightly challenge this idea of the killer by having it as a female opposed too a physically strong and masculine man.