Question 3

Question 1

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

I think that our film did observe the conventions of continuity pretty well because we filmed the full scene in one day, which meant that there were no issues with clothing. The clothing that we used matched the scenes that we filmed because Greg who played the boss was in a suit while the other employees were wearing normal day to day clothes, which made the film more realistic and it didn’t break continuity. We also did not break continuity with the time of day because we filmed the full scene of the same day meaning that if the weather changed the camera would capture to change.  Our group followed the 180% rule throughout our film so that it followed the conventions of continuity and convention. This was helped by us using static cameras as they don’t move as freely as handheld ones meaning that it is harder to break the 180% rule.  

In planning and creating our product we used various examples of the language of film and editing such as diegetic sound, non diegetic sound, jump cut editing, establishing shot and over the shoulder shot.

I believe that our film does reflect the conventions of a thriller/horror film because of some of iconography involved in our film. One use of iconography is the Jacobs Ladder head shake effect which we used in our film. Another use of iconography is possession which is used in several horror films such as The Exorcist, The Amityville Horror and It. We also used iconographic isolation and silences which were both used in The Woman in Black. However it doesn’t fully fulfil the films genre as our film was filmed in daylight. This was because we chose to film in the daylight; we did this because it seems more realistic in terms of normal life which in turn makes the violence in our film more shocking. In this way it is more like the novel The Dice Man and the film No Country For Old Men. There is no parody in our film however we do copy the Jacobs Ladder head shake effect.  

I am quite confident that our film provided pleasure in the form of a thriller/horror film would do. I think this because of the violence and the twists of our film happening in daylight to ordinary people.     

Question 2

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/19W-WVHiqzWpd8IkSr_vja4sQSvsy-xHCYMldm-0-mN8/edit?usp=sharing

Question 4

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

Research and planning

For our research we created a blog on Blogger to store all of our information and posts on it. By doing this we were able to save all of our work in one place so it was easy to access.

We looked for similar films to our on websites such as IMDB and Wikipedia. This gave us several ideas of what genre we were going to go for. A film we looked at in particular was Jacobs Ladder, which is a psychological horror film about a solider. We liked the look of the “head shake” effect which the filmed used and so by using YouTube we watched and learned how to do the effect.

One shot we could not use was the Jaws zoom in dolly out shot. We could not use this shot because we couldn’t get the shot steady enough to do.

Construction

In the construction stage we used new Digital cameras to record our film in HD. This allowed our footage to be in better quality for when it went on to the computer. These cameras enabled us to record our footage and import it on to the editing equipment. We imported it on the computer by using a fire wire. We then edited our project. The editing equipment we used allowed us to use several special effects such as fades and to be able to speed up our scene so we can use the Jacobs Ladder head shake effect.

We also used the same editing equipment to edit our radio trailer after we recorded it on a digital sound recorder. This enabled us to create our radio trailer. We then used sounds from our film and imported them onto our radio trailer by using a memory stick. We then edited it.      

        

Die - final export

Radio Trailer

 

Film Posters

Matthew Topham -

(The poster we are using)

Matthew Beet -

James Swann -

Tom Swift -

Short Film analysis

Dry Spell Analysis

Cinematography

The short film uses mainly close ups to not give too much detail away. This is done by close ups of the hammer and of the man’s face looking concerned, but the camera doesn’t show what has concerned him. This creates a really spooky atmosphere especially when the feet are shown under the door. The wider shots are shown only to set the scene of the bathroom but only after twenty seconds of the clip so you think he is going to be attacked by the man with the hammer.

There is also a good over the shoulder shot which shows the man’s face in the mirror. This shot makes the man look concerned for who is in the bathroom with him. It also puts the viewer in position of someone watching him. This show adds to the tension of the situation.

The clip also shows the camera zoom in on the man’s back as though it was a predator stalking its prey. This effect makes the man look weak and vulnerable in the bathroom especially because his back is facing towards the camera. This is after feet are shown in one of the cubicles. Therefore we are aware that there is someone in the bathroom with him.

Editing

The clip is edited in a normal way until at the end where the editing is shown to be less fluent and more like stop motion animation. This happens when the man realises that he is not alone in the bathroom. The effect of this is that it creates a sense of panic as the man is worried, it is then shown again when he has burned his hands. This clip reminds me a lot of Jan Svankmajer, who did a lot of creepy animation. 

Sound

I think that the sound is really empathised the clip as it makes the clip seem more surreal and strange. There is also some incidental music in the clip to add to the suspense off the whole clip. The sound at the end of the clip is also very lively and upbeat which makes the clip more jolly at the end when the threat has been revealed. The man in the cubical also makes lots of noises but you cannot tell if he is crying or if he is laughing until the very end scene when he is shown to be laughing.   

Mise en scene

The bathroom is shown as a traditional quite posh bathroom because of the suits the men are wearing and the cleanliness of the bathroom. The men are shown to be quite smart well dressed because of the suits they are wearing, which sets the scene in the working day. This is also shown as the repair man is shown in his work overalls.  The bathroom is lit quit dimly which adds to the tension over who is in the cubical.   

 

Radio Trailer Script

Intro - soundtrack
"Die"
AUTHOR talking - " I have always loved stories, writing, reading, even living them."
LOUD BANG
SOUNDTRACK
AUTHOR talking - " The thing about stories is that they can be fiction or non-fiction.
However, this one, is different to them all.
SOUND EFFECT - Die landing on the table.
AUTHOR talking - "Every story needs a driving force."

Audience Feedback

Audience Feedback Results

Audience Feedback

Tem Link to Questionaire

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19IuIAOX9sJz4ge_2OlkStnf7x6DxNZcdVwZBhLWo9Fw/viewform

Prop List

Garden String- This will be used when Ian strangles his boss outside his office.
A White Board - This will be used when Greg is telling Ian about his business performances.
A Dice- This prop is the most important prop in the story because it possess anyone who has control of it.  
An Envelope- This is how the dice is delivered to Ian from the post.
 A Flask- When Ian is sacked he turns to the alcohol in the park. This is what he drinks it from. 

Film Poster Research

The Women In Black film Poster

 I like this film poster because of how the way the main character is shown in the middle of the poster. This makes the audience see that the he is the main character in the film. I also like the way in which he is lighten as one half of his face is light and the other half is dark. This shows that the character has a split personality. The hooded character also draws the audiences attention as it is looking right at the camera in the mist. This hooded figure also makes the audience want to watch the film so that they can find out who or what the hooded figure is. A big part of the hooded figures appearance is the mist surrounding it. The mist adds more of a sense of mystery to the film poster. This poster has lots of things in the background which suggests that these things will all be in the film, these include a creepy old house, a big tree and a grave stone. These objects all play a big part in film therefore they are all shown in the background of the poster    





 

James Swann film poster

Vlog No2

Vlog No1

Editing styles

This was a small project that we did at the beginning of the year to practice our editing skills, this version is a normal editing style.

This editing style in the video below is elliptical editing



This editing style in the video below is a jump cut style of editing

Questionaire

We did a questionnaire at the beginning of the year and had some problems uploading it, but now we can upload it, so here it is!

Photo of filming

This photo was taken by me (Tom Swift) to show us during the filming of our short film "Die"