Evaluation Task 4

Explicitly describe how your skills have develeoped from your initial abilities in the foundation portolfio to the level you have attained in the advanced portfolio?

When I first started my media a level in year 12 I had some previous knowledge of media studies as I had taken it at GSCE level, but compared to the content of the A level it seemed minor knowledge. In year 12 for my AS, I made an opening of a thriller and had to use various new technologies such as tripods, cameras, Pinnacle studio and Photoshop. To gain knowledge in media I had to learn the terminology and media language. We learnt editing techniques, the importance of mise-en-scene, shot types, composition and sound to establish narrative and meaning. Now in year 13 my media knowledge has widely grown and making an A2 production was straight forward as I knew what to expect and what skills and techniques to apply.

For my A2 coursework I worked in a group to produce a film trailer for a thriller/horror hybrid film called ‘The Return’. We followed conventions of the genre such as chiaroscuro lighting, extreme close ups, fast paced music, jump cuts, violent and eerie content and effective sound effects. We spent time looking at previous trailers of films in our genre such as ‘Captivity’ and looked at these key conventions such as their use of fast paced music, effective sound effects and chiaroscuro, and how they all  help establish the genre and explain the narrative.

To plan our production we created a story board so we could visual see the shots and what shot types to use. The story board helped us plan what to film, certain shot types and order the trailer in a way which will help establish the genre. As a group we planned out music, lighting, synopsis, props and costumes. To keep track and plan and record all of our coursework we have used a technology called Blogger which is a blog website, we have posts where we can plan our ideas and edit them as we go along. Blogger allows us to post blogs in a creative and fun way and add pictures and various fonts and colours. It made group work more easy and accessible as we could share posts and send them each other; also making us being able to see our progress more easily as its shows all our individual posts. Blogger enabled us to structure and keep track of our coursework and each labelled post is easy to view but also find.
This year compared to last year was easier to plan as I knew how to create an effective story board, blog, know how the use the digital cameras, which shots look effective and how to order them. As I had previously used this technology in year 12 my skills and techniques have dramatically improved and it was a lot easier to get planning and making the production. To film our trailer we used a digital camera and a tripod, the camera enabled us to capture our idea and look at composition, framing and getting a variety of steady shots. We did this by using the tripod to keep the camera balanced and steady. To edit our footage we uploaded it to Pinnacle studio, we used the automatic light settings on the camera and edited the light afterwards on pinnacle by using chroma key. Pinnacle studio allows us to order the footage, cut down clips and add effects to make out trailer cohere with typical conventions of the genre.

We edited the lighting and gave it a chiaroscuro feel, we did this by increasing the contrast and lowering the brightness, but also by colour correcting the scenes by adding a filter which made the shots darker, to suit the trailers mood and atmosphere. This kind of lighting can be seen in other thrillers such as ‘Se7en’ they used this to highlight the sinister content of the film and create a dark and eerie atmosphere.

A common convention of thriller/horrors is fast paced, tension building music, in the horror film ‘Sinister’ they use eerie music to create tension and fear with the audience we adapted this and added it to ours on Pinnacle. This year I am aware of things that help establish narrative and make it look more realistic, as my skills have progressed and ability to use Pinnacle as increased, I now know how to use pan and zoom effectively and making the speed and the  intensity of the zoom correct. 

As my A2 production is a trailer, I thought motion titles would also be effective in establishing narrative exposition. The titles signify thriller/horror as they are in Serif which is considered to be formal which reflects the content of the film, as the film has a serious subject matter and is dark and gruesome. The titles are also in red which is a very typical colour to use in thriller/horrors as it connotes blood, violence, danger and death.  I was more comfortable using the title effect on Pinnacle this year as I knew how to pick my font, colours and add motion effects such as the ‘city lights’ effect which makes the titles flicker in a line, this is also a key convention of thriller/horrors as it makes them unnerving and signifies ‘disappearing’ linking to the idea of the victims being killed therefore they are disappearing. We found an example of this in the trailer of ‘Captivity’ which also used a similar flickering effect. Our Titles help break up shots, establish narrative exposition and create enigmas that make the audience want to come and see the film for example our titles flickered and ask the rhetorical question of ‘will any survive?’ which grabs the audiences attention and makes them question what will happen.As I was far more comfortable with the technology and post production this time, it enabled me to add new effects and see what I need to make it look realistic.  

 Whilst making our trailer and creating scenes to establish genre, I learnt that genre is a key feature in attracting an audience so we had to convey expected conventions without being simply being boring and repetitive. If the audience are familiar with the genre they will enjoy it. Steve Neale emphasises that ‘pleasure is derived from the repetition and difference’ of a film. The ‘repetition’ is the key conventions used in the same genre in various films which the audience are familiar with. For example, in our production ‘The Return’ my character is dragged down the stairs by the killer which can be seen in other films of the same genre such as ‘The Messengers’ and ‘Paranormal activity’ this is more a horror convention and creates fear and showcases the violence of the killer, though we didn’t see the denouement.

If you want to know what happens you have to go and see it, which is a big enigma to the audience. However the ‘difference’ is the films unique selling point and in our case is the fact that these three female victims all bullied the killer and ruined his life, he ended up getting sectioned and his life broke down but now he’s back to torture and kill each one. We get this across by showing each of the individual victims, alone and isolated and then show the killer has escaped from a high secure mental facility which the audience infer is due to the females bullying him when he was younger, which we show he is seeking revenge. Our plot has depth and many enigmas it had a different angle on the common revenge story and we have created scenes such as a flickering title saying ‘they ruined his life’ then fade to shot of Rizwana tied up and gagged suggesting to the audience he is doing this because of what they did to him.

This year with reference to films, I know the important role the internet and social media sites have with the success of a new film. By having the technology to discuss films and see online reviews it is a key element in enabling the audience to feel involved with the film. Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter can help widen the audience as it can be seen by people all around the world. It also enables friends to tell friends about their experience of the film and talk about it.  A media theorist, Feur states that ‘other pleasures can be derived from sharing our experiences of a genre with others’ supporting the fact that people like to discuss and share their opinions with others. By having this knowledge we decided to put a Facebook and Twitter site after our film title at the end of our trailer showing the audience that they can go online and read about the film and discuss it with others. Also to augment with the popular sites and create interest but also accessibility to our film. We have made our own website that tells the audience more information on the film and enables them to view pictures and the trailer itself. We created this website using Wix. I struggled when I first attempting to use Wix last year briefly for AS production, however this year I now am comfortable with the technology and know how to use effects such as ‘broken TV’ which distorts the picture when click on a tab which creates an eerie effect and shows the audience it’s a thriller/horror website. We used the same fonts and colours as poster and trailer to create a ‘brand image’ and make the film more recognisable to the audience. Using red, black and white all help establish the hybrid genre.

Overall I think my media skills and media knowledge have dramatically improved from last year when it comes to technology, knowledge of semiotics and media language, various software’s and effective edits and skills. I felt more comfortable and relaxed making my A2 production as I knew what to expect and how to dramatically improve from last year. My work standard this year is a lot higher than last year as I was considerably better at using the camera, Blogger, Wix and Pinnacle. I can say that I have greatly improved from last year and feel more confident in the subject.

Evaluation Task 3

The intended outcome of our production was to engage with our target audience, making them want to view our film at the cinema. The purpose of a trailer is to advertise our film and establish part of the narrative and genre. The trailer creates enigmas therefore making the audience want to watch the film to find these answers of the enigmas. We wanted our trailer to be shocking and hook the audience’s attention. By using action sequences, crime and disruptions to the equilibrium  all create a sense threat and violence, making the audience want to watch it. For example, when the unidentified killer attacks one of the female victims and drags her down the stairs in a extremely violent way.
Our poster is a tool to make our film recognizable, it creates a visual identity and reinforces the trailer. The purpose of the poster is to attract the audience and make them want to see the film, if they see the poster they will immediately recognize the film's main genre appeal, therefore marketing the film. To further promote our film we have made a website used as a key medium to give the audience information about the film  but also like the poster, it creates a brand or visual identity establishing genre, character and themes. We have used the same fonts and style so the audience will recognize the film. We had the title of the film 'The Return' in a Gothic style font and in the colour red, immediately connoting the genre. We had fake blood patches in the corners of the website pages, further highlighting the genre and create the horror/thriller effect. On the home page of the website we also had a slogan, which captures the plot of the film in a sentence and sticks in the audiences mind, 'How far would you go to get revenge?' it provokes thought in their head and immediately makes them want to find out more. On the synopsis page, we have star ratings out of 5, showing the audience we have gained 4/5 off well known papers, such as the 'The Guardian' suggesting to them that it is a good film to see. In today's technological society it is vital to have a website coinciding with your film and creates a wider audience. People who might not seen the poster are more likely to see our film's website, enabling them to see the trailer and read about it.

As the Internet and social networking sites are increasingly popular creating a website enables us to promote our film to an even wider audience, possibly around the world, which is knows as viral marketing, as a person may send a link the to the website to their friends on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter; their friends then pass this on creating exponential growth in successful sites. This is also why we have put our Facebook and Twitter pages on the website, meaning that the audience can find out even further information and discuss it socially with their friends.

Our storyboard was a rough guideline to follow whilst we were filming our trailer. However when we started filming we decided to change shots and some of the order to what looked most effective. The story board was a good foundation to start with and helped order our shots, arrange our narrative and gain insight into what our finished trailer sequence might look like. We scanned our storyboard and made it into an animation so we could follow the shots and see how if our trailer had progressed from the storyboard. We found that we did change the order and shot types however we did use some of our planned shots which were highly effective in our trailer which can be seen below.

 

As a group we looked at previous film posters from our genre, we took ideas and typical key features that they used. Rizwana then used these ideas in creating our poster on the software Fireworks; she used stills from the trailer and dark colours to establish the thriller/horror genre of our production. She stuck to key conventions of other posters, such as, production company logos, ratings off critics and striking pictures. She put institutional information under the title which we observed from other posters as a common feature. We used the same fonts and colour scheme across our trailer, poster and website; this creates a brand image/style and makes them visually linked to one another.

Before attempting to make the website, as a group we looked at websites for other thrillers and horrors, such as ‘Sinister’ and ‘Captivity’ we looked at conventions they had used on their websites and decided to take key bits and adapt them to ours.  They used colours, animations and pictures to establish the genre. For example Sinister used a montage of quick flashing images from the film which showed scary and graphic images. They had also used both sharp and blurry fonts which connote violence and death or demise creating elements of fear and horror. We decided to use colours of black, white and red on our website as these are commonly used to connote the thriller/horror genre and suggests threat and dark subject matter. The red connotes blood and danger where the black and white connote the binary oppositions of good and evil in the film.

Sinister Website
The Return Website

 

As our genre is a thriller/horror hybrid the mise-en-scene is important in making it look effective and to be successful. The audience will be expecting common conventions they have seen before; these include weapons, violence, blood, the ‘murderer’, close ups of frightened facial expressions, isolated locations, dark costume for the ‘murderer’, tensions and suspense. We tried to include all of the above in our trailer to establish the horror/thriller hybrid genre. For example in our production we have used typical thriller/horror weapons such as a baseball bat and a knife. We used a variety of shots to create different tensions and atmospheres. We used close ups of facial expressions to show fear and worry of our faces which create tension with the audience and is a common convention of previous of the same genre.

Creating suspense and tension is a key element in  a successful thriller/horror, we have done this in various ways.  Near the beginning of our production we see a baseball bat swinging towards the camera it is filmed as a point of view shot, this immediately establishes the genre and that it will include violence. There is also close ups of the killer cutting out pictures which establishes his persona to audience as being psychotic and help the audience understand he has specific victims in mind. Also in our trailer there is a close up of the victims face being grabbed showing violence and creating fear with the audience, which is common of the genre.

For example In the film ‘Tamara’, which has a similar revenge story  to ours, the eponymous 'hero' uses a knife to cut off one of her victims nose, ears and eyes. We incorporated this into our trailer and used a knife as a weapon for revenge. On the other hand in ‘Tamara’ there is the use of supernatural which is more common of horror films, in our trailer we tried to make it look realistic so used real weapons and made the killer completely human, which we also did for practicality as a student making a trailer.

Stylistically we used chiaroscuro, low key high contrast lighting. This creates dark shadows connoting the dark and threatening content of the film. This lighting is commonly used in thriller and horror films to create tension and a tense atmosphere. We used this in our trailer as it adds drama and suspense as connotations of darkness are negative such as fear, mystery and the unknown. By using this lighting it suggests to the audience that the content is not to going to be cheery and happy and prepares them for the sinister content.

In our production we have also used jump cuts, these create drama and are typically used in trailers to create a fast pace. Jumps cuts create a sense of dislocation and a sense of shock. We used this when the killer is following one of the victims on a car park, we used the jump cuts to show him getting ever closer which creates suspense and fear with the audience.

We incorporated fast paced music, in which we  inserted in places where  tension levels need to rise. The music coincides with the scenes of action and helps highlight the danger and violence. Using effective music helps establish the genre as people associate dramatic fast paced music with horror/thriller films as it signifies tension, fear and danger to the audience. At the beginning of our trailer we decided to use a voice over, which states 'a mental patient has escaped a high secure facility.' This immediately signifies danger and helps establish the narrative straight away so the audience can easy understand what the films about. The voice over is also a common convention of thriller/horror trailers as they create drama and a immediate sense of panic with the audience.