Question 7- Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back on our preliminary task, I feel like I have come a long way since then and have learnt so much about producing a short film. I have learnt a lot more about iMovie, and this allowed me to make my opening sequence look much more professional than the preliminary task. For example, I was able to add effects to the shots and I didn't know how to do this before. Also a big thing I have learnt is how to do correct shots. In the preliminary task, I attempted to do a match on action shot, but later got told we didn't do it correct. However in our opening sequence, we have match on action shots that are correct and work within the scene, this proves that in the space between the preliminary task and the opening sequence task, I have improved my camera work. I have also become familiar with other programmes such as GarageBand and LiveType, and this all helped to make our opening sequence look as professional as possible because on the preliminary task we just created out title's on iMovie. 

Question 6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process

LiveType.

Whilst creating our title for our opening sequence we attempted to use LiveType. I fount this programme a bit too hard to use, but a member of my group Sean was able to help me figure how to use the basic's on it. This programme was useful to our opening credits in my opinion because it allowed us to create a professional looking title. 

GarageBand.

Through researching my group knew that slow classical music was conventional in the horror genre, but we wanted to alter the music so it made our opening sequence unique. As I am not a music student I found this programme a bit confusing, but I did have a try of it. GarageBand was useful to our opening sequence as it allowed us to edit the music so it made our film stand out. 

 iMovie.

iMovie was very important to our opening sequence. It allowed us to edit our footage and cut out bits that wasn't needed. We used iMovie almost every lesson during the editing process and as I used it more I become more knowledgable about the programme. In my opinion iMovie isn't very confusing to try and figure out, and I feel like I have learnt a lot on iMovie since I first started media. 

Hand held camera.

We used a hand held camera consistently throughout the filming process. I found the camera very easy to use and this is because it is not the first time I have used a video camera. This equipment in particular was a huge part of our opening sequence because without it we would not have been able to film any of our footage. Also the camera was very mobile so we was able to take it home with us and film over the weekend. 

Night vision.

As a group we decided to take a video camera with night vision on it as we knew this would build tension and make the atmosphere more eerie. Whilst trying out the night vision during filming we all agreed that it was very tricky because it made our film look less professional. Also we realised it got very dark in the space of about 10 minutes, and when it was too dark, the night vision didn't work. Because of all these factors, we decided against using the footage we filmed in night vision. 

Blogger.

I have used the blogger nearly every lesson, and it has been a huge part of this project. It has helped me keep organised throughout the filming and editing and also I have been able to look back on early research which I would have forgot if I hadn't recorded it in the blog. Also the blogger allows me to get feedback from the teachers and this means I can improve my work in order to get a better grade. I found the blog very easy to use, and I feel it has helped me a lot. 

My mobile phone.

My mobile phone became a bit part during the filming process. It allowed me to communicate with the other members in my group and I could always stay in contact with them. If I could not turn up for some reason, my phone would allow me to let my group know so they wouldn't be wondering where I was. 

Youtube.

We used Youtube to upload our final cut of our opening sequence, so it was important to our film. Also it allowed us to analyse our footage to put onto a blog. 

Question 5- How did you attract/address your audience?

The above is a video of my groups opening credits with annotations.

Question 4- Who would be the audience for your media product?

Above is a drawing of a typical member you are likely to see in our target audience. His name is Harry and he is 18 years old. His hobbies are acting and singing but he likes to go to parties regularly and socialise with his friends. He is interested in the horror genre and his favourite film is 'Orphan' and he likes 'The Ring' He also likes the TV programme friends. His favourite artists are Eminem and Professor Green, but he also likes Matt Cardle. He likes to shop in Topman and River Island, and sometimes he shops in choice. 

Question 3- Directors Commentary

Question 2-How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Above is an image of our main character who plays the victim. We decided to use a female who was a teenager as this is very stereotypical in many horror films. A female is normally used as the victim as they are seen as the more vulnerable and 'weaker' gender, and the audience are able to sympathise with them more because male's are expected to be able to protect themselves. 


I have decided to compare the victim of our film to the victim in the film 'The Ring' as they are both female teenagers. Also the victim in the ring seems very vulnerable and is clearly unable to protect herself or save herself from the villain, this is very similar to ours as we wanted our victim to look helpless so the audience immediately felt sorry for her. 

In what ways does your media product develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products (part 1)

Above is my chosen 9 still images taken from a selection of different horror movies.

1. The first still image taken is from the movie 'Paranormal Activity'. This title is very explanatory of what the film is based on without having to go into too much detail. The audience are immediately aware that the film is going to be based around a paranormal activity happening in somebody's life. Our film title is 'The Discovered'. Both title's are simple and short, and from reading our title the audience are aware the film is going to be about somebody being discovered after an event that may have happened.  

2. The second still image is taken from the movie 'Blaire Witch Project'. It is set at night time in a forest, this is very similar to our film which is set in a park with dark lighting. This is very conventional for a horror movie as it immediately creates an eerie uncomfortable atmosphere.


3. The third still image is taken from the movie 'Saw'. We chose this shot because they apply the convention of using weapons to kill their victim, in this case a saw is used. We also stuck to the convention and used a plastic bag as our weapon to kill the victim in our sequence. Other props involved in our film was a car and a mobile phone. 


4. The fourth still image is taken from the movie 'The Devil's Backbone'. Throughout this movie there are a lot of fast cuts, which is similar to our movie. Also they have used the convention of fade to black transitions. In horror movie's it is conventional to use simple fade to black transitions rather than fancy transitions. We stuck to this conventions whilst editing our footage and all our main transitions are either cuts or fade to black. 


5. This fifth still image is taken from the horror movie 'Orphan'. We chose this still image because the title's are very simple. The font is white on a black background, this makes the title stand out. For our opening sequence we chose to stick to the conventions and have a simple black background with white font.  


6. The sixth still image is taken from the movie 'Sorority Row' in which the main character is killed right at the end, this is very conventional in the genre horror as throughout the film tension is being built up to make the audience question whether there is going to be a death. Whilst planning our storyboard we decided as a group that we were going to challenge the convention and have a death in the first 2 minute's of the film as we thought this would draw the audience in and also give a clear idea of what the rest of the movie was going to be like.


7. The seventh still image is taken from the movie 'Devil's Backbone'. The audience are well aware the genre of this movie is horror within the first 2 minutes of viewing because whilst the characters and the setting is being revealed, slow classical music is playing in the background. This is very conventional in horror movie's as the music makes the audience feel un easy and creates an eerie atmosphere. In our film,  the first thing the audience see is an establishing shot of the moon over a park, classical music is playing in the background. From this the audience have a clear understanding that the main setting is going to be at night in a park, therefore the genre is horror. 


8. The eighth still image is taken from the movie 'The Ring'. The main character's are introduced right at the start of the movie. Two friends are shown together, this is very similar to our film, as our character's are introduced straight away as two friends walking home together. Also the gender of the main characters are both female, this is conventional in horror movie's as the victims are normally female. We chose to stick to this convention and have the victim be a teenage girl. 


9. The ninth still image is taken from the movie 'Blaire Witch Project' as dark lighting has been used throughout the film and also very simple special effects has been used. This is very similar to our opening sequence as we used to the effect 'day to night' to create a more eerie atmosphere and to make the scene's darker. Also we used basic special effects.