Evaluation- How have we progressed?

  Looking back at our preliminary task, you can see how much we have improved our camera work.

  This shot is from our preliminary task, it was an attempt at a match-on-action. In the video, it feels awkward because of the pause between the medium shot of Zoe putting her hand on the handle, and the close-up of her opening it.

  In the final film, we also used a match-on-action of someone opening a door. This one looks much more natural as there is no pause, and the next shot is of the door opening from the other side. I also tried to use the rule of thirds in this shot; the white door frame takes up one third and the hand lands on a line of thirds, meaning the eye focuses on it. This makes the shot more visually appealing.

  The preliminary task featured a panning shot of Zoe walking into the room and sitting down. It is boring because it simply follows the character in a medium shot. The panning wasn't really necessary because the action could have all been displayed in a single frame.

  The final film also features a panning shot of characters walking into a room. It is more effective here because it makes us feel more close to the characters. We are discovering what is in the room along with them. The shot also provides a contrast between the bright hallway and dark room. The shot was also too big to fit in a single frame.

  The dialogue in the preliminary task was accompanied by something in between a medium and long shot. It looked bad because it didn't clearly focus on Zoe due to the strange size of shot.

  In the final film, most of the dialogue was in shots similar to this. This is a better shot because the high angle makes the characters look vulnerable, and it is a two-person shot which is more interesting to the viewer. The use of lighting is also much improved because it contributes to the atmosphere.

  Here, we used an over-the-shoulder shot to show that Zoe is the main character. The shot it’s self isn’t that bad, but in the context of the video it is unclear because the previous shot is an over-the-shoulder of Bill. This suggests he is the main character and confuses the audience.

  The final film also features an over-the-shoulder shot. This one is more effective because Matt’s character has already been portrayed as the main character, for example he was the first one to walk into the house and opened the door to the candle room. The shot also helps us sympathise with the character because we are also scared and are discovering the room along with him. The length of this shot also helps us feel attached to the character.

Evaluation- Director's Commentary

Evaluation- A Typical Audience Member

  This is Bob. Bob would be a typical audience member for our film.

Evaluation- Screenshots

Title: This is the title that appears at the end of our two-minutes. It is conventional to the genre by being white and bold, appearing on a black background. This, combined with it's appearing suddenly and fading away slowly, makes it look like a real horror movie title.

Setting: The setting for our film was a creepy, abandoned house. In reality the house we used was Bill's; it fit the requirements of being oldish and creepy looking. The setting is conventional to the genre because it fits the creepy, old, decrepit tone of the film, as well as being a stereotypical setting for horrors.

 

Costumes:The costumes used in the film were intended to stereotypically represent teenage personalities such as nerd, jock etc. The costumes were meant to make the stereotypical characters recognisable, and also to make the audience (i.e. teenagers) relate and sympathise with the characters.

Props: The props used in our film included tea lights, matches and a Ouija board. The tea lights and matches provided ambient lighting that set a dark and creepy tone. The Ouija board, being the main prop in the film, was very important. It helped reinforce the genre by being a conventional prop often used in the genre. I made the board myself from a piece of wood and wanted it to look as authentic as possible.

How characters were introduced: The characters are introduced quickly in our film. They walk past the camera in a medium shot without any dialogue. From their body language and the order they walk we can tell their personalities. We can tell that Matt's character, in the front, is the confident leader because of this posture and because he is leading the others. We can tell my character is less confident from the way he is looking around and looks uncomfortable.

Camerawork and editing: We tried to use a range of camera shots in our production. Some of the shots we used most were medium shots for reactions and speech and high angle shots to make the characters look small and vulnerable. Some of my favorite shots were the final two-person close up shot of Matt and Luke blowing out the candle. I also liked the long, dark-over-the-shoulder shot of Matt where he lights the match, I feel this shot builds a lot of tension.

Title font and style: The titles for our film are fairly plain and white. We didn't want the titles to draw too much away from the tension but also wanted them to stand out off the dark background. We chose the relatively tame font because we didn't want it to be cheesy but wanted it to be subtly sophisticated.

Story and how the opening sets it up: The story for our entire film would center around the ghost character hunting down a group of people who enter the abandoned house. The opening two minutes of the film sets this up by showing a different group (i.e. the one in the opening) being killed by the monster, in a sort of prequel type scene. This allows the audience to understand the supernatural elements and danger before beginning the main story.

Genre and how the opening suggests it: As mentioned in other parts of this post, there are many hints as to the genre of this film. These include the music, the titles, the dark scenes and the props.

Special effects: We used very minimal special effects in our film.The lighting with the candles and matches could be considered a special effect as it enhances the mood. Luke's makeup could also be considered a special effect, though both that and the candles would qualify more as practical effects. By keeping special effects low, we show we can create fear without resulting to the use of CGI. More Alfred Hitchcock than Michael Bay.

Evaluation- Presentation and feedback about our film

Presentation:


Feedback:

Evaluation- What have I learned about technologies from the process of creating our film?

  For the creation of our film, I learned to use a number of technologies I had not used before. These included the camera, the tripod and the software Adobe Premiere elements 10.

  The first thing I had to use was the camera. Though the camera belongs to Zoe, and she therefore knew how to use it, I still took the time to learn to use it. This is so I could operate it in shots where Zoe couldn't, and if for any reason Zoe wasn't around. I only needed to learn to record and stop recording, which in reality consisted of pressing a single button.

  Another piece of equipment I learnt to use was the tripod. As the director, I was responsible for getting interesting camera angles and the tripod helped me do this. It allowed for steady and smooth shots, both still and moving.

  The final piece of technology I learnt to use was Adobe Premiere Elements 10 for editing the film. This was what I spent by far the most time on, and therefore what I spent the most time learning. Before making the movie I had never used the software before, so I had to learn from the ground up. While there is still a lot more I could know about it, I feel the editing in the final product looks professional. I look forward to doing more editing on Premiere elements in the future.

Evaluation- How does our film represent a particular social group?

  My character in the film was meant to represent a stereotypical 'nerd'. Through acting, costume and dialogue we tried to make the character recognisable.
  For costume, we found that nerdy type characters generally wear hoodies or other comfortable clothing that is not considered 'stylish'. This can be seen in characters such as Evan from 'Superbad' and Mark from 'The Social Network'. Another element of 'nerdy' clothing we incorporated into the costume was the superhero tee-shirt. While 'The Big Bang Theory' may not be the high quality  production we were aiming for, characters such as Sheldon are certainly stereotypical nerds.
  As far as acting and dialogue, I tried to channel the awkwardness of characters such as Simon from 'The Inbetweeners' and many of Michael Cera's characters, such as in 'Superbad' and 'Scott Pilgrim vs the World'. Keywords to think about when playing the character were anxious, awkward, smart and scared. Nerdy characters are generally seen as cowardly and often comical characters (Sheldon, Will from The Inbetweeners), but my character was played more seriously. He provided the group of characters with a voice of reason and rationality, which could be interpreted as cowardice.
  Audience members may relate to this character. Our target audience consists of male teenagers, the same as the character. This means that the audience would feel more positivley, and more invested in the character.