evaluation activity 8

for next year i plan to target myself to use different camera shots and shots that are more complex which would hopefully go well with the trailer and make it appeal more to the audience, shots like over the shoulder or high angle shots. another target i would set myself for next year would be too add more tense music in to the footage as in our opening of our film we didn't have any music to keep the audience attracted to the film. next year i would also make sure that the editing will be done better so that the shots would flow better and the special effects used (if any) would be clearer as in our opening of our film when using the special effects to show the audience a flashback it didn't quiet show them that it was actually a flash back as it happened too quick so the audience didn't have time to see that it was a flash back. i would also give myself the target of using props and costumes more effectively because in our opening film we didn't use the police jacket as much as we should have which didn't give the audience the full experience of a real crime scene (didn't make it see authentic)

evaluation activity 7

from making our preliminary task too creating the finishing product we have progressed in our camera work, in the preliminary task the camera work was a bit wobbly and the shots used weren't to the best standard of what we could have done as the 180 degree rule was applied but not correctly as the shots was on the line and not keeping on the left side where as in our final film we were able to keep to the line better which gave the audience a better understanding of where the characters were in the scene, we were also able to keep the camera more steady as we used a tripod to keep the camera shots smooth. the editing on our preliminary task wasn't that well done as the shots didn't flow well with each other where as in our final film we were then able too get each shot flowing with each other which compared to our preliminary task we have improved on our editing. we added effects on to our final film where as in our preliminary task we didn't add any special effects.
we were able to do match on action in both our preliminary task and in our final film however it was better in our final film as we put more shots into the conversation and different types of shots but keeping to the match on action rule and at the same time the 180 degree rule.
from producing the preliminary task i learned that to produce a good scene where two or more characters are having a conversation i should use the match on action rule and the 180 degree rule to create a good scene with the audience being able to believe that the scene is real. another rule which i learned whilst doing the preliminary task was the shot reverse shot this is when the second shot is the reverse of the first so it shows the person one character is talking to

evaluation activity 6

when making the opening of our film we used many different types of technologies to help us make it for example we used a video camera to record the opening of our film and to help us keep the camera steady and keep the recording smooth we used a tripod. to edit our film we used adobe premier which helped to trim down some of the shots and add effects to our opening for example one of the shots fading out indicating a flash back.
we used online computer programs (including adobe premier) like blogger and YouTube.
producing our film i learnt that to get the footage looking smooth you can use a tripod and if the footage is still not smooth then there is software which can smooth it out a bit (adobe premier).

evaluation activity 5

evaluation activity 4

our target audience would enjoy watching crime films and TV shows like shawshank redemption or Sherlock Holmes. our typical audience would be a young adult/ old teenager they are usually aged between 18 and 40 this is because they can escape form their everyday lives more easily where as older adults and younger teens usually find crime films too boring and cant get lost in the film. the typical gender for our film is mixed and is not specific however more boys would go see the film as they would enjoy the mystery and thrill of the film more, however girls would enjoy watching the film as they would be more attracted to the setting of the film and the costumes of the characters. i think that the typical audience of our film would enjoy watching our film as included in our film is alot of mystery which would entice the viewer more and it is what the typical audience of our film would be looking for. we have tried to appeal to our target audience by including alot of mystery in our film we have done this by giving the viewer only a bit of the information and making them believe that they know what is going on in the film however they would still have the curiosity of what is going on as they only know half of the story making them more interested in what is going on in the film allowing the viewer to get themselves lost in the film more easily. the popularity of the crime genre has been revived in the past couple of years as the number of fans have grown along with the popularity of the genre this could be down to a growing trend which many people want to be apart of another possibility of why the crime genre has suddenly become popular could be down to some good films or TV shows that have come out which contain famous or popular actors which would bring more audiences for that TV show or film, an example of a TV crime which has become really popular with audiences could be Luther this is most likely been successful because its main actor Idris Elba is very popular with certain audiences and is well known and because of this the TV show has pulled a audience towards the TV show making it popular. at the moment the crime genre is on the rise and is becoming more and more popular every year with new films being released and new TV shows being created because of this it is the perfect time to be creating a gritty urban crime drama. the crime genre has become a huge new trend creating a huge audience to see the film.

evaluation activity 3

evaluation activity 2

compared to Morgan freeman in the film seven Albert is dressed in similar clothing for example they both wear a kind of fleece which shows that they are not the average detective, it shows that they have something about them that stands out to the audience and it allows the audience to separate the main character from the rest of the characters which are not as important. as well as the fleece they both wear a similar jacket this makes the characters look smart and professional which appeals to the audience. not only are there similarity's but there are also differences for example Morgan freeman is wearing a hat which shows the type of detective he is, it also shows what era the film was based in. the hat adds class to the look of Morgan freeman's character however Albert isn't wearing a hat this is because we didn't want Albert to look like he is from the 80's instead we wanted him to look modern and modern detectives don't wear hats generally. another difference in their appearance is Morgan freeman is wearing a tie and Albert is not this is because we didn't want Albert to look like he keeps to the rules instead we wanted to give a more relaxed vibe towards the audience where as Morgan freeman wants to come across as a serious character who follows the rules to the letter. 
both Morgan freeman and Albert are detectives in the separate films, they are dressed slightly differently because each of there characters characteristics are different for example Albert is meant to be more relaxed but still professional where as Morgan freeman is meant to be mostly professional when they are doing their jobs being detectives. the audience can see that Morgan freeman is meant to be professional at his job because he wears a tie where as Albert isn't wearing a tie this is because we wanted the audience to understand that Albert is not a stick to the rules kind of detective instead he is more relaxed this is shown by him not having a tie and having his top button undone.  

evaluation activity 1

this shot shows the surroundings of the dead body, this gives the viewer an idea of what the location of this scene is like (rural or not). this shot lives up to the conventions of a typical murder scene because it is set in the more run down area where there are few people walking by. this shot is from directly above this allows the audience not only to see the location of the film but also the dead body this tells the viewer that the scene is based around the dead body.

this shot shows the characters walking into the scene, for this shot we used a dolly shot which is just one long consistent shot of the characters walking in. for this shot we had to have the policeman already holding up the tape so the camera could keep moving backwards maintaining the flow of continuity. this shot doesn't live up to the conventions of detectives walking into a crime scene as normally there are many wide and medium shots of the detectives walking in to build up the tension however we just used one consistent shot which gave the audience a more relaxed vibe towards the characters.

generally police officers wear a Wight shirt and a stab vest along with a black tie because of this our film lives up to the conventions of police officers as we have dressed our actor playing the police officer up in the exact same typical clothing that a normal everyday police officer typically wears. the detectives wear black blazers and both wear a shirt this conforms to the conventions of the typical look for a detective as they both look formal however one of the detectives go against the forms of convention as one of the detectives is wearing a jumper this shows the audience the significance of this character in the film suggesting that he is the main character. the props used in this shot show the characters characteristics for example the main character is smoking this shows the audience that the main character is trying to keep his nerves down by smoking.

the opening sets up the story line for the rest of the film as straight away the viewer sees how the dead body became dead and that just builds up the story for the rest of the film. this conforms to the typical crime film as normally there is a build up of what happened to the dead person we did something similar by doing a flash back to show how the dead person fell off the bridge this would appeal to the viewers which like typical crime films.

this shot shows the special effects used in the film as we have used a lens flare to show the surrounding scene which the opening is set. the special effects used doesn't form to the typical crime film as usually a crime scene is dark and dim giving the viewer the feeling of depressed or sad however we have made some of the scenes bright to make the viewer feel like murders happen alot and its something that the detectives are use to.

 in this shot the audience can see what genre the film is as the audience can see that both characters are wearing suits and looking like detectives this suggests to the audience that the film is a crime film, generally crime films with detectives in usually wear suits because of this our characters form up to the typical stereotype of a crime film, this allows the audience straight away to identify what genre the film is.

this shot shows how the characters are introduced into the film as the audience can see who the dead person is and what he looks like this sets up the story for the rest of the film and the audience can also see that the detective doesn't mind getting his hands dirty which gives the audience an idea of the detectives characteristics, this shot also tells the audience who is the main character in the film as the detective is kept in the center of the shot.

the titles used during the film was thin white text which is the typical text used in a crime film this forms to the conventions of a crime film as they usually use thin text to show the audience that it is a crime film, we have used the same method in our film. we used white text because it stands out well with the background however it is typically in a crime film black text because of this our titles challenge the conventions of a crime film but it works because the audience can still tell that it is a crime film.

comparing the text in this shot to the general titles of a crime film they are fairly similar for this reason our titles form to the conventions of a crime film as our crime film titles use thin small text similar to a type writers to give the audience the effect that it is a old fashioned detective film but based in the modern era and the typical crime film also uses small thin text giving a similar effect.

Evaluation Targets

Well done so far - although you need to evidence the group tasks like director's commentary and your annotated final piece. Revisit your recent posts and see if there are any more opportunities to use specialist terminolgy to explore mise-en-scene, ediiting and camera composition and comment on the way you intended to appeal to your target audience even more - a good start to this section of your coursework project. Well done!

Opening 2 mins of our film

our opening 2 mins of a film 

looking back on how we made our film i think that we could have made some small changes to improve it for example we could have used some background music to add the tension to the film along with the suspense also we could have added a title towards the end but we ran out of time as we were not aloud to go over 2 mins so next time i would cut down the amount of footage so that we could fit in a title and i would also have quiet music in the background just to add the tension ans suspense and if not music then i would have diagetic sound to add effect to the film. i think that looking back on it i would have taken more footage on the day so that i would have had more to play with when editing because i found that some of the shots had bad continuity but because of the flooding we were unable to go back down the river and film so we had to make do with what we had.

story board animatic

we combined the story board and the script to produce a series of images playing what we expected our film to turn out/ what we wanted our film to turn out, we did in the end make some small changes for example we took out some unneeded shots which saved time but we also added in some shots to make the scene better. the story board animatic allowed us to see where we could change certain aspects of the film with out having to waste time going out and filming it. 

Actor interviews

actor interviews

what is your favourite drama film?

 Albert: prince avalanche 

Ashley: Shaw shank redemption

Thomas: pursuit of happiness 

Sam: Shaw shank redemption

Luke: Shaw shank redemption 

what is your favourite action film?

Albert: sky fall 

Thomas: sky fall

Luke: the dark knight

Sam: sky fall 

Ashley: the expendables 

what is your favourite sci-fi film?

Luke: star trek into darkness 

Albert: moon gravity 

Thomas: serenity 

Ashley: star wars

Sam: aliens vs predators 

what is your favourite comedy film?

Luke: Shaun of the dead 

Albert: 21 jump street 

Thomas: this is the end 

Sam: hot fuzz

Ashley: 21 jump street 

what is your favourite adventure film?

Luke: Indiana Jones last crusade 

Thomas: inception

Albert: 3:10 to Yuma

Sam: the hobbit 

Ashley: the hobbit 

what is your favourite thriller?

Albert: oceans eleven 

Sam: shutter island 

Luke: taken 

Ashley: saw

Thomas: oceans eleven 

what is your favourite genre?

Luke: action 

Thomas: action

Albert: crime

Sam: crime 

Ashley: horror 

who is your favourite male actor?

Luke: Harrison ford

Albert: heath ledger 

Thomas: idris Elba

Sam: Leonardo DiCaprio 

Ashley: Morgan freeman 

who is your favourite female actor?

Albert: Maggie gyllenhaal

Thomas: Maggie gyllenhaal 

Luke: Angelina Jolie

Sam: Cameron diaz 

Ashley: Maggie smith 

who is your favourite director?

Luke: Steven Spielberg 

Thomas: Christopher Nolan

Albert: Christopher Nolan 

Ashley: George Lucas 

Sam: frank darabont 

Story board

 story board 

we created a story board to see how we were going to film out the opening 2 mins of our film by practising what different types of shots we should use, it was basically used to save time when filming as we would know exactly what shots we wanted. it was also a really easy way to see what shots were good and effective and what shots were bad and we had no need for in the film. we changed some aspects of the film as we went along as we felt that we needed to adjust the story line a bit however the idea stayed mainly the same also on the day we filmed we found ways to do some excellent shots that we wouldn't normally have been able to do but thanks to the location we were able to get in a good variety of shots for example the opening shot we were only able to do because there was a path leading up to the top of a mound which gave the viewer the feeling that they are higher than they actually were it also enabled us to do a range of different shots from a birds eye view to a high angle long shot. even though we made some changes to the shots we wanted in our film we kept most of them the same this was because they were already thought out and planned and it was just easier to use them and they went really well with the flow of the film. 

Film script

film script

makeup tutorial

this tutorial shows you how you could create a scare, bruise or gash on someone using makeup i looked at this idea and i thought i could do something similar to make the actor in our film playing the dead body look dead so i decided to use gelatin instead as all the materials in this tutorial were too expensive and were not easy to come by where as the gelatin i could easily go down to the super market and buy some. this tutorial gave some ideas on how to do the dead body for our film for example it gave me the idea to use face paints to make our dead body look like he had a black eye and i liked the effect they did down the side of the face so i thought we could try and do something similar but with cheaper materials.

How we did the makeup

how we did the makeup for our media film

we used gelatin to create a fake layer of flesh on the face of the actor playing the dead body, we did this by placing the gelatin in a bowl with hot water  allowing the gelatin to absorb the water so that when the gelatin is placed in the microwave (for 10 seconds) to melt it does not burn. once the gelatin has melted we had to wait a little while for it to cool down so that it would not be runny but instead would be like a gloppy slimy substance which is very sticky; if the substance was too runny it wouldn't stick to the dead persons face instead it would just run of onto the floor. it is important to get the consistency of the gelatin correct; if the gelatin has cooled down too much it will form a solid structure again and won't be able to be placed onto the dead persons face (unless re-heated) and if the gelatin is still really runny then it won't stay on the dead persons face. once the gelatin is at the correct consistency it can be placed onto the dead persons face or any other area which wants to be seen as a cut/scare, the gelatin should be applied using a t-spoon the gelatin should then be left to set on the face but whilst it sets you have to use the back of the t-spoon to grab the sticky gelatin and lift it up this adds the texture to the flesh and also looks like skin has been pulled off. after adding the texture to the gelatin the gelatin should be in a solid form on the face of the dead person by now so the actual makeup can now be added. the first layer of makeup we used was the red as that is the lightest color and can be covered easily by a darker color. next we used blue and red together to form purple which we then added to the create the second layer this made the gelatin then look like flesh with blood underneath also it allowed us to make half of the dead persons face look bruised. lastly we added a tiny amount of black which outlined the gelatin making the flesh stand out more also it  made the gelatin look darker (as blood is not bright red it is normally dark red) also the black made the bruise come alive to make it more realistic. 

Filming diary 3

filming diary 

on 14/12/13 we went to film the final part of our film at 10:30 in the morning till 2:00 in the afternoon and it all went well. before we went to go film the victim (Ashley)  Ashley came round my house to put on the make up at 10:00 it didn't take long, what i did was i used gelatin (soaked it in water for 2 mins then heated it up in the microwave for 10 secs till a gloppy liquid) and applied it to the side of his face that had hit the ground. the good thing about gelatin is that it drys quickly so you don't have to wait a long time for it to set. after the gelatin had set i added face paint to the gelatin. first i added red paint to show blood then i added black to make the face look dirty then i added slightly purple paint to show bruises the end look looked great and realistic. a problem we faced whilst filming is that we had to recreate the background (the crime scene) as we filmed over two different days with more than two weeks difference, the main thing we had to re make in the scene was the police tape and Sam forgot the tape to hold the police tape up so we had to improvise and use a branch which had snapped off a tree and the wind kept pushing the branch down so in the end we had to use a bike to keep the police tape up. at 4:00 we went to the town bridge to film the flash back scene and because we had to show the victim hanging off the bridge i had to hold Ashley up so that he wouldn't fall. it got darker quicker than i thought and we had to stop filming but luckily we think we took enough shots and especially got the important shots done.

Filming diary

filming diary 

so far we have filmed the opening shots of our film and one of the last shots this is because we had to borrow a police vest and we had a limited time to use and film the vest so we filmed all the shots that the vest would be in so we can carry on filming with out the vest another day. we practiced each shot at a different angle with a different method of doing a continuous shot, methods like trying to use a bike to follow the characters as they walk in to the crime scene or using a tripod and holding it by hand trying to keep it steady as the camera follows the characters or maybe just holding the camera on its own seeing which one would be the most steady. as it turns out it was more steady using the tripod because with the bike it was too low and still too bumpy and using the camera with just your hands was too wobbly so the tripod added balance to the camera so we went with that. we couldn't find any police tape to tape off the crime scene so we used electric warning tap and cut it in half so it would only say caution on it and it looked really good it even fooled people walking past to think that it was a real crime scene.

Schedule

schedule 

Sunday 24th November - practice filming- we are going to our film locations and practice filming the shots and scenes that we plan to use in our actual filming this is so that if we make a mistake we have time to think about it and make changes if need be so that when our actual filming comes round we know exactly what we want to do so we will be more organised this way we don't waste any time and this means the extras in our film will be happier as we wouldn't have wasted any of their time whilst filming.
Friday 29th November - we are going to film the real thing and because we practiced filming before hand we are able to get it done quicker. we don't need to get the train or car anywhere because we have situated our film in our local area which is within walking distance.
Tuesday 3rd December - we have now got our filming footage and we are now editing the footage and trimming it so that each shot matches until we have a sequence of shots that all make sense with each other (scene)

Film diary 2

film diary 

filming problems 

we ended up not being able to go film part of our film on Friday or Saturday so we ended up filming on Sunday instead we were able to get the first and last shot done it took us a while because we had to try and get it as steady as possible so we were basically doing the same shot over and over again seeing which one was better we found that using a tripod and carrying it backwards because it allowed balance whilst walking backwards so there would be less wobble.

Location for filming

location for filming 

we filmed our film in two locations the first location was the town bridge leading to bridge street this location was used to film the victim falling off the bridge. we thought it would be best to film it when it was dark but we didn't want it to be so dark that you couldn't see the characters so we filmed it at dusk just as the sun was going down however it still was too dark so we are thinking on going back there to re film it at an earlier time. the bridge was perfect because it matched another bridge further down the river however it was smaller so we were able to use certain camera angles to make it seem like the victim is being thrown off the big bridge when actually it is the small bridge. there is part of the bridge that goes over grass and it is low as well so we were able to hold the actor playing the victim up on the edge of the bridge so it seemed like he was hanging on by himself so the small bridge allowed us to give a more realistic effect on the murder of the victim.

the second location which we filmed was underneath the second train bridge by the river mole it is the 3rd bridge down from the town bridge and made a perfect spot for filming where the victim fell as the bricks matched the ones on the town bridge and it is all over grown with graffiti on the walls making it look run down and it just so happened that there was a fence that had fallen down so we decided to use that as an advantage and make it look like the victim landed on it giving the viewer an idea of how high the victim fell from. another reason why under the train bridge was a perfect spot was because it was next to the river this meant that we could include more in our shot when filming the victim holding on to the side of the bridge because the scenery around the two bridges are more or less identical they both have tall trees around them and they both have the river mole under them also the brick work is the same.

Film diary 4

film diary 

on Friday 10/01/14 i am going to be filming/ taking pictures of how i made the make up for the dead body to do this i am using my video camera which can film and take pictures.
at the moment in the lessons we are editing the footage that we have filmed already so that we can see what we need to re-film (if we do need to). in the editing we are cutting the shots down so that they flow smoothly when played (one shot links well with the other) we are also getting rid of bad footage that is either too wobbly or doesn't link well with the other shots around it.