Message To Examiners

Hello and welcome to my Blog. This is just a quick message on where eveything is. All of what I have done on my Coursework is labelled 'Coursework' and will also have thet title of the post (e.g. Coursework - Analysis, Coursework - Final Product, etc).

Also if any images are too small for you, you can click on the image which will then be shown larger and more clearly.

I hope you are pleased with the work I have done and I hope you have no problems getting around my blog. Thankyou.

Preliminary Task

Coursework - Research and Planning #2

Due to not being able to film my first and second script due to not being able to gather my actors at the same time, I have decided to change my script into one that requires less and different people, and less difficult shots. I was given the chance to film my product at my Sisters house. But now that I am planning on filming at my sisters and not with the actors i planned to use. I will have to change my script completely. Below are a list of things in my script I will have to change as I am unable to do most/all of the scenes.

Below are all the things I have had to change when planning my new script. Everything else on the first researching and planning is also going to be used in some way in this new script.

Actresses
As I am going to film my product at my sisters, there will be no actors but infact, actresses. The product will have only to characters. The survivor Who will play as my sister, Amy and
the spooky young girl who will be played by my niece/my sisters daughter, Kacey.

Location
Seeing as the outside has too many cars or people walking about, I will need to film my product in a quiet area, meaning I will have to film my product in my sisters house. There we will be able to move things around to add realism to my product (meaning we will be able to trash the place). As there may be things around my sisters house that will make the area look unrealistic, I will have the whole movie in black and white, which will not only make these things unnoticeable, but will also add more affect in my product. Also we will need to film in the kitchen, as there is a scene that requires the survivor drinking from a tap.

Lighting
I want my movie to be bright, so the viewers are able to see what’s going on and certain objects. As this is a horror movie, and horror movies are known to be filmed at night, I will add the black and white/gray scale affect to the whole of my product. As mentioned before it will also add more affect, but will also make my film look darker aswell.

Weather
Seeing as I can’t control the weather, I am unsure what the weather will be like when I begin filming. I would prefer a bright daylight sky so Viewers are able to see clearly what is going on in the introduction. If I was to film at night, It will be hard to see what is going on, and if I was to film in the rain, I will have to find a way to cover the camera so it doesn’t get wet, which will be very difficult.

Costume/Appearance
In my product, The actresses will need to wear costumes which can make the viewers identify who they are. For the Young spooky girl, She would have to wear a white top, which will then be covered in fake blood. Also, she would have to have fake blood, powder and brown powder (could be cocoa powder) covers all over her to make her look more spooky. Her hair will also be messy and untidy, this will help show that the girl possibly contains the flu virus. The survivor will be made to look like one of the Women who always get killed in horror movies. Her appearance must be untidy, so the viewer is able to see that she’s been surviving in a street filled with infected zombies. She must also have untidy hair.

Added Propps
We have had to get rid of many propps and equipment that was going to be used in the first script of the movie. Firstly, as the main actor, Lewis, in my first script was not going to be in this script, which would mean I am unable to obtain the fake guns and weapons off him. Everything else in the old script will be needed in my new script. But I will also need a picture of the young girl which will be filmed and begin the first scene. Also some sort of weapon will be needed which I may be able to obtain from my sister (for example a golf club).

Evaluation

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)
My 2 minute introduction uses a disequilibrium, meaning there is a problem straight at the beginning. Left 4 dead, the game i wanted this movie to relate too, and Other popular movies such as I am legend and SAW all also are set as a disequilibrium. In I am legend, the viewer is aware of a virus because it is explained in the beginning. In my product, I had a radio type voice explain to the viewers that a zombie virus had spread across the world. Also, I used mise en scene, effects and sound to represent the horror/sci fi genre.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups ?
My media product represents particular social groups with it's genre. As I aimed for my product to be a horror genre, it would be most suitable for the older audience (18 years old +). Children and younger aged teenagers may not show liking into this type of movie as it contains horror and violence. It is also said that the Gothic social groups prefer horror/sci fi movies, So my product may also be suitable for that sort of group


3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
As my media product is a horror/sci fi genre movie, it must contain not only brilliant effects, but also certain professional areas in mise en scene such as lighting, costume and weather. As these things may cost a fortune to do/produce, a media institution with a high budget such as universal will be the most suitable group to distribute my media product. Smaller institutions with small budget will have trouble creating horror/sci fi movies as they will struggle to pay for certain mise en scene areas and editing/effects.


4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
As said in question two, my media product is a horror/sci fi genre, Meaning it is mostly suitable for the adult/older youths audience (or anyone who enjoy horror based films such as I am Legend). This is because my product will contain strong violence, gore and horror which will be unsuitable for children or younger teenagers and those who may be squeamish. My product may also be suitable for groups or couples as it's the sort of movie were viewers can talk about what happens in the film.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted/addressed my audience by using mainly editing, sound effects and certain mise en scene areas in a way to make the audience want to watch more. below shows the four areas I used (Editing, sound, mise en scene and camera work) and what and how I used these areas to attract the audience
Editing/special effects- Because I was able to use the amazing editing software, sony vegas, I was able to add more effects and edit better then someone who would use windows movie maker or possibly Imovie (I think that's what the movie making software on the Mac is called). With sony vegas, i could also add special effects, for example I added the static/television fuzz in certain parts of my introduction to add more effect. I was also able to add a grayscale to my product, (This can be done in most movie making software but sony vegas has more grayscale effects to choose from) meaning I could show the viewers that the introduction of my film was set before the rest of the film.
Sound- I probably spent the most time editing, removing and adding sounds onto my product. When I first began planning my product, I wanted a certain friend to do a voice over as a radio person who is talking about the zombie virus. Sadly i failed to do this in the end, but I then found a voice over exactly like the one I wanted on a popular website called Freesound.org (As you can probably tell by it's name, the website provides sound effects and music which is completely free). Other sound effects i found from this website included the sound of a door creakingt then closing, water from a tap running and the scream from the girl as she attacks the survivor. Also, another game that I used to play (Timesplitters) had a website were you could get access to all soundtracks used in the game which I had permission to use in my product (website called tsmusicbox.com).
Mise en scene- all mise en scene was done when shooting and none was done with sony vegas. The location we filmed in was in my sister and neices house. To make my product more realistic, we made the house look destroyed (not the whole house, just rooms and areas we were filming in :)) by throwing blankets, CD's tables chair cushions etc. on the floor and adding fake cobwebs. Outside in the garden we did things such as put a shelf stand outside, throw some toys on the floor and have a bin lying on the floor (the bin which the girl was lying in) LOCATION AND LAYOUT. For costumes the actors wore old clothes that they were willing to get dirty. For the zombie girl, we wanted her to be wearing a white top so the audience could see the blood on her top. The survivor was made to look like the typical women who will get killed in most horror movies, COSTUMES. As we did not have proffesional camera's and special movie lights, we had to film during the day so we were completely able to see everything, LIGHTING.
Camerawork- The camera work would not have attracted the audience as most viewers will not be concentrating on the camera work.

All I have mentioned above were combined to attract the audience.


6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
As I have previously made films in history, I can not say I have learned anything in the editing area of film making as all of the effects/what I used to edit I have used before. Although I did learn about what effects I would need to add when editing a product of that genre, But everything else i was already aware of.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
As I was unable to complete my preliminary task, I am unable to answer this question. But overall, I have learnt the difficulties in trying gather actors together to film certain shoots.

Completed Intro

Due to the amount of time I had left to finish this introduction and also due to the main character (Lewis) being on holiday, I had to think of another idea. I had the chance to do some filming with my sister and her daughter (My Neice). Unfortunatly we was unable to film the introduction and make it exactly the same as the script. We still stook to the same storyline (Zombie virus spreading across the world) but the script was nothing like the old one as we did not have the props and enough people to do the original script.

We filmed all scenes twice or more in different angles each scene. Also we was unable to contain a tripod, meaning all shots were in hand held camera angle (I did want alot of scenes in hand held anyway). below, are all the small scenes that we filmed and how many times we filmed it.

Scene one- Survivor enters the house cautious, as she walks away she is unaware of a small table sidwards on the floor and trips over it. Two shots were filmed for this in different positions.

Scene Two- As she gets up from falling over an infected young girl comes down the stairs and sees her. The survivor is unaware of the girls appearance. Two shots were filmed in two different locations.

Scene Three- As the survivor gets up she looks around, finds a golf club and then spot the girl. This was filmed around 6 times due to different camera angles and some mistake in certain shots.

Scene Four- Survivor looks again and the girl has disapeared (the viewer knows that the house is possibly haunted, but the survivor thibnks she's seeing things.) Took 3 shots to film all in different positions.

Scene Five- Survivor looks into the kitchen and find a water tap, she desperatly runs toward it and turns it on. Another shot is filming outside the house where you can hear the tap running. The viewer does not spot the same girl who is outside lying on the floor. Goes back to the survivor who is drinking the water with her hands (The viewer then understands that she has been desperate for water). Last shot again showing the outside of the house, The viewer can only just hear the tap turn off. Took 3 seperate shots to film this scene.

Scene six- Survivor looks outside and sees the girl on the floor. She instantly drops the golf clubs and goes to aid the girl. 2 Scenes to film this scene, both in different positions.

Scene Seven- Survivor is feeling the girls pulse and checking to see if the girl is still alive. The girl then awakens and screams at the survivor, who then panics and backs away. 3 attempts to film this scene, two successful, one being an outtake.

Scene Eight- Little girl grabs the survivor by the neck and pushes her onto the floor. Took one shot.

Scene nine- Survivor is trying to escape from the "zombie" girl who is on her. The girl then spits blood onto the survivors face. This Took 2 attempts, one sucessful

Scene ten- The girl bites the survivor in the neck, From that, blood begins streaming out of the survivors neck. Two shots, one of the bite and one of the blood streaming out of her neck

Scene ten- Ends the introduction with the survivor who is now a zombie and the girl walking away. One shot.

Logo (Brua studio's)

(click the logo for a larger and more clear view)

















One of the tasks was to make a logo which would be shown in the intro. I had a rough plan on what my logo would look like. I made my logo by using Adobe Photoshop elements 5.0. Before making the logo, i decided to name my group Brua. Brua was an old nickname of mine when I was young, I feel this is a good name for a movie making group.





I then began planning on what my logo would look like. Looking on google, I typed "Video Camera" and began browsing for images of video cameras.


I then found a Cartoon average home video camera and pasted it onto A blank page on Adobe. Before editing the picture, I made the background colour black.


















Then, by using a gradient tool, I made a diamond gradient

By using the magic wand tool, I then took out all the unwanted colours in the video camera image, after doing so, my image then aneded up looking something on the lines of...

...This. Finally by using the magic tool again i clicked all the outlines and remaining parts of the image and painted then white, All accept the red light. By going into google and searching for video camera lens I then pasted it and edited onto the logo to make it look apart of the first image. Finally, I had to search a likable text and use it as the title of the logo (Brua Studio's). After finding the appropriate text, I had then completed my logo.

Photo's of locations

Below are photo's of locations I have, I will and considered using .

I was planning on using this path as a run scene, the location was very quiet, the fences looked old and some areas had dead tree's, I didn't use this area as I had to erase the running scene due to time restrictions. The location was found in Lutterworth.

This Location was going to be used in the very first scene of the introduction (Newspaper scene.)

But although quiet, it was quite a clean and bright area, which wouldn't be a good location in my genre of film. Loc ation also found in lutterworth.

This was also going to be used as the running scene. the area was well littered which was what we wanted. Also it contained dead Trees and the buildings that surrounded it were old fashioned. Again, this location was not used due to time restrictions.

Another location that was going to be used for the newspaper scene. Again, the area was quiet and had barely any parked vehicles, I did not choose this area as yet again it was too bright and clean.

I was planning on using this location as the scene were it takes the viewers back 4 hours from present time. The Area was filled with dead leaves and trees and the grass was untidy, also the houses looked old and deserted, We did not use this location because we found a better area to film that certain scene.