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http://www.vizlingo.com/showzing?z=f5a8480cd6d4881eaf217ac776c3c319.mp4

Feedback

We posted our video onto Facebook which was a great way to distribute our film as 1 in every 13 people on earth use it. Videos can be shared, liked and commented on by others making it the perfect platform to share our opening sequence on. We had such positive feedback from people, here are some of the comments.

We found our opening sequence to be a great success which is so good to hear after all the hard work and effort put in.

We then did a viewing to our class, these were the responses...

So after hearing this constructive criticism we have taken it upon ourself to go back and change the voice over so it isn't as comical by using a different sound effect on the inner voice. We also turned the music down a bit so you can hear the voice over more clearly. 

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

Evaluation 6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

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

Evaluation 4- Who would be the audience for your media products?

I made a digital person who is a typical member of the target audience I thought this would be a creative way to do it because it is very different to a normal lay out.





I think this way of showing my target audience member is an effective way as it gets the gist of who she is and her film interests.

I also made an ARG  (alternate reality game) which is a technique of viral marketing campaigns. I was inspired by The Dark Knight Rises Viral marketing campaign where they used 100 000 pixels to reveal the villain Bane, with this 100 000 people had to use the hashtag fire rises for all the pixels to be removed. I put it as an advert on major social media platforms like youtube, Facebook and twitter which led the person to a website called http://billietate.wix.com/the-devouring.

This is an advert which encourages the hashtag to reveal the picture promoting my film to my target audience on youtube where a low budget film like mine can be accessed. This will also build awareness for the upcoming film.

This is the Facebook ad which links to the website as my target audience use Facebook so this would be a good place to market my low budget film.

Evaluation 3- What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

We also took it upon ourself to email Vertigo as they deal with low budget films. We thought it would be a good idea following on from our evaluation task to actually email vertigo as if we were going to distribute our film.

Evaluation 2- How does your product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Final Thriller Opening Sequence- The Devouring

This is my final opening sequence for this project. *turn off annotations*

Music

We found it extremely challenging to find non copyright music. We tried finding free non copyright music online, we even emailed a record label to see if we could get copyright for a song. We weren't too sure what to ask but we emailed anyway.

In the end, we asked one of Jess's friends who attends music college to ask her friends if we can use one of their songs. They are a really talented band and their song 'As I Grow Younger' fitted our criteria perfectly. We got permission from a member in the band (Black Waters UK) to use their song. Here is the text message we received stating we can.

Thriller so far and feedback

From screening our opening sequence to the class, we have gathered a selection of improvements for our thriller, including the length, the opening sequence needs to be at least 1 min 45 seconds. Our group were also informed that our sequence looks more like a trailer than an opening scene of a thriller, so the advice we were given was to look at the film "seven" and use similar music as well as decreasing the speed of the beginning to make the cuts slower. The sound in the beginning is too loud/happy and needs to be more ominous.

We got told to also add in more credits at the beginning. To get inspiration of what a low budget film company would have at the beginning of a film we look at 'This Is England'. We took screen grabs of the types of credits featured...

The difference between a low budget and high budget film is that high budget films have credits from bigger companies e.g Universal. This screen grab is from American Gangster.

What am i going to change?
Make it longer
Made the beginning slower
Change the music at the beginning so it's slower and not as happy.
Add more credits

We got told to make it look more like the Seven trailer in the way that we should use more slow shots. The extreme close up shots slotted between other types of shots create suspense and builds up tension. It also doesn't give away too much of the film. The slow pace creates the perfect thriller atmosphere.

Video Effects

How we chose them?
We thought it would be effective to show that there is some CCTV in the area that he has chosen to take the girl as firstly it links with the mise- en- scene of the CCTV sign on the gates she walks past, secondly it is effective as it shows that he hasn't thought through completely his plan but after this there will be no trace of her as he is going to eat her.

We also put effects on bits of her in the house whilst she is being kept hostage. We used a flashing or a zoom and flash effect to create a more interesting scene.

Why we chose them?
We chose the ones we did because they highlight what he is looking at and what he wants to eat. They work well with the voice over as well.

How it changed our work?
Without them, our work would be bland, it adds a thrill and excitement to our opening sequence and makes it 100 times better.

Sound Effects

On the 16th and 17th Feb we started to edit our opening sequence. We added in sound effects to create suspense, tension and emphasis on thrilling our audience.

How we chose them?
As we muted all our clips we put traffic and bird noises in to make it seem like it was normal and realistic.
We also put in the car door opening and closing to show the man getting out without actually seeing it.

Why we chose them?
We chose the ones we did because they sounded the most realistic and were the ones sounds we wanted.

How it changed our work?
Without the sound effects our work wouldn't be scary, it would have no sound and probably wouldn't make sense. They enhanced our work and made it much better.

This is a screen video of us choosing our sound effects and putting them on the timeline.
 

Making Sound Effects

Becca and I set up the recorder and made noises by chopping food, cutting food using a knife and fork and grinding salt to make some sound effects to show what he will be doing to the girl. We think they made the idea link with the sound effects to create an interesting composition.

Account of Shoot Day

2:00pm-set up cameras and all equipment including costume too. 2:15pm- moved locations to filming set and started filming the first scenes of the thriller "Caldecote road" and "Elstree Road" were the two locations. 4:30pm-prepared special effects and applied makeup in preparation for the gory scenes 5:00pm-moved locations to "Dani's House" (wooden/shed/child looking house) and filmed the gory and gruesome shots there.

Change of Actor

Our actor that we were using got ill on the day on the second shoot so we had to quickly find a replacement which explains why Dylan isn't dressed exactly how we wanted him to be but we embraced it and were thankful he could do it. We used black gloves and a balaclava as props for him to cover up his identity and therefore hides the fact that he was young and unlikely to be a killer. We thought he looked the role and acted very well.

The Devouring Poster

This is a poster made using photo shop. We used he photo from the shoot of Rachel with her wounds and layered it with the title to create this interesting composition.

Practice Editing

I was trying out Final Cut Pro, potential sound effects and seeing if we had the right clips that we needed to make it look consistent. I found this activity very fun and enjoyable and can't wait to start editing my real opening sequence with my group.

Final Shot List

Wide shot from front girl walking showing 

Wide shot from behind of girl - shows her being in a quiet area and her isolation

Zoom into her feet walking - showing the audience her calm pace

Close up of phone in her hands, she is sending a text to her mother saying 'I will be home in 10, just walking back' - this foreshadows that she may not be returning home at all. 

Wide shot of car pulling up next to her and beginning of conversation

Close up shot of her mouth explaining whilst her voice is heard

Voice fades to mute and panning shot of her body

Close up and zoom of certain parts of her body

Wide shot of girl waving goodbye

Full body shot of girl walking from behind and her turning wen she hears the car door slam

Over the shoulder shot of man out of the car - to show he is now behind her

Cross close up of his feet walking and hers 

Point of view shot from man of girl - shows her picking up her pace

Point of view shot of her feet, - shaky and fast to connote her panic

Wide shot of man covering her mouth from behind

Close up of girl with hand over face attempting to scream

Fade out to black... 

Props and Costume

Risk Assesment

We filmed on a cold day so we made sure that we could be in the warmth when we could, for example in the car. Furthermore we also all swapped roles between continuity, taking photos, filming and directing because we had cold hands when filming. We didn't want this to affect the outcome of our shots but we overcame it.

When the man chased the girl down the road, it was slippery so we had to be careful as it rained the day before. We didn't want any accidents so we had to be cautious.

When filming the girl in the house we made sure that Rachel was warm as she was outside in a T- shirt. We gave her a jumper for when we weren't filming to ensure she didn't catch a cold. My group all had coats on to make sure we weren't cold to get the best performance.

Location

We decided to use a rural area road off of a main road. This will be a great choice as it will be easy for use to direct the car and use the camera without too many cars being in the way.

We used a tree house i have in my garden called 'Dani's House'. We thought this would fit perfectly for the scenery in which the man keeps the girl hostage so he can eat her in the near future.

This house has very girly inside as it is my sister's but it will work for our thriller as it is like a cover up as no one expect such horror to be kept in there. As well as this it is creepy.

Things I considered...

Are you legally allowed to film where you want to film?

Yes as it is a public road.
Yes as it belongs to me.

Are there any other access restrictions? (Dates, times, permissions etc.)

No, we can film whenever as it is a public road.

No as it is in my garden.

Is it safe to film here?

It is safe if mature, it can be dangerous when crossing the road as cars come round the bend either side and you can't see.

It is safe to film here as this is in my garden.

Is it physically possible to achieve what you want to achieve at this location?

It is possible to achieve what we want here, it is the perfect layout of a road leading to another for our idea and to get the most thrilling shots. The house is a perfect size and design for a creepy, unlivable place that an kidnapper can keep the child hostage in.

Does it suit the genre of the film?

It suits the genre of film as it is very dull and all the same, there is nothing special about the chose area.

The pink girly extras don't suit the genre but we will make it by using red lighting and putting our actress with blood and cuts on her inside making it a horror house.

Is it interesting enough?

Yes, as there is lots of trees and bushes which make it more creepy.

Yes, the decorations inside make a man seem creepy for having such girly designs.

Will lighting be an issue?

No, we will be using natural lighting on the road and red light in the house. 

Is it a public thoroughfare?

The road is a side road with houses but not really used as a thoroughfare. There is a stables on the road so many people go there.

The house we used is not a public place.

Is there a lot of road traffic nearby?

As we are filming from 3- 6 there may be rush hour traffic as it is a main road and many schools are based nearby.

Will noise be an issue?

Noise won't be an issue as the diegetic sound of cars going past can set the atmosphere and be perceived as creating tension. We will decide when editing if we should mute the clips and add sound effects or keep the sound and add sound effects. 

Equipment

We used equipment from my dad's media company as he had more appropriate cameras we could use to get the best outcome for out opening sequence.

This is the light we used that gave us the dangerous, alerting effect.

We used this Go Pro Chest Strap to get her point of view when walking.

We used this Go Pro Helmet to get her point of view so the audience can be in her shoes.

We used this Canon EOS 70D as it is high quality.

This is the tripod we used to mount the camera on so our shots were stable.

This is the camera mounted up on the tripod.

This is Claudia making sure the camera is on the tripod right and the camera is on.

Script

Man: Excuse me, where can i find the nearest highstreet?

Girl: Oh you just go straight down the road…..turn left at the junction at the end carry down the road for about 3 minutes and make the 5th exit on the left, carry on down that road and make a right, its the first right. the hightstreet is just down that road but its a good five minutes down, you know you are there when you see the big tesco store (voice fades out to mute)

(Panning shot from mans point of view of her body with Voice over)

Man: mmmm (shot of upper arm)

Man: ooooo (shot of stomach)

Man: slurp* (shot of upper leg)

Man: Thanks for the directions, see you soon.

Girl (walks away) 

         (Car door slams)

         (Man follows girl)

Girl: SCREAMS

Pre Makeup Practice

Using Liquid Latex (from a costume shop), fake blood (amazon) and liquid eyeliner we created a wound that will make it look like the girl in our opening sequence will have been beaten to be eaten later. This is shown through a time lapse to show how we are going to make it and make sure it looks realistic.

We thought we needed a bright red blood as well and has been ordered from amazon which we will used as well as this in the real shoot.

Logo

Here is a video of the logo 'Pink Productions' that will be put in our opening sequence before the film starts...


This will then fade into our first scene.

Film Company- Pink Productions

A film company is normally inserted into the beginning of the movie in the credits. There are many mainstream companies which are used for larger budget and high concept films. For example, Universal, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Dreamworks, Disney and many more.

Vertigo is a British film industry which is suitable for low budget films like mine, here is an example... 

I made my own using Powerpoint and Paint to create a 'Pink Production' Logo.

I think this logo sums up our group as we are 4 teenage girls who made the film. Additionally a lot of creative thoughts went into the film so the rainbow film reels suited the brain perfectly.

This trailer at the beginning shows the twirling patterns which acted as an inspiration for our logo.

Films Like My Opening Sequence

1. The Call- in this film a young blonde girl is abducted. This is similar to our film as a man takes her from a normal place and keeps her hostage in his car boot to eventually keep her in a whole in a field where no one can find him easily. After clues left by him, they find that this was the plot of an old house of his that burnt down. There he removes blonde hair from young girls to make a model of his sister who he had incestuous feelings towards and fell ill. The police officer finds them and traps him in the underground cellar to kill him.

2. Gone- in this film again a blonde girl was abducted and escaped and now her sister has gone missing. The police do not believe her. She does the dirty work herself whilst the police chase her as she has a gun on her. She eventually finds pictures of various girls and her sister in a tent in the tent in a field in the middle of nowhere. As we find her back in the position with the man she started in, shown through flashbacks to when she was abducted we see her overcome her abducter and burn him alive. The man's identity is unknown throughout the whole film which makes it scarier.

What have we taken from this?
Blonde girls are usually a target.
Girls are usually young, pretty and victimised.
The man's identity is usually unknown.

Storyboard

We made a storyboard online using go animate. We thought this was a good way to present this because it puts our story into a real life scenario which makes it easier for us to see what we need to film and also what it will look like when really made.

Change of Plan...

Due to certain reasons, we are not able to use our chosen set and actors. Due to this we have had to change our idea slightly and change sets and characters. Despite this, we think it will be better than our original idea even though it is very similar. It is more thrilling and eye catching and is still suitable for our target audience.

Title Sequence

For the title sequence, we decided to do a straight into the film title sequence. This is because it gives a hint of what is going to happen and shows the characters but does not give away too much. I created this on after effects. This is our title...

Audition's

I have shown the audition tape through an iMovie. I think this is a good way of showing it as they are simple to create and effective as it is split into sections of name/age and a scared look.


We chose Rachel Newman whilst considering these factors... 

Looks- Blonde, attractive (what film makers usually look for in a victim)

Age- 17 years old (looks young)

Gender- Girl

Availability- She is available when we tell her we need her.

Reliability- Very Reliable as she is a close friend.

Ability- She got an A at drama GCSE and is very dramatic on a day to day basis. 

Finalised Idea

Names for the Characters

We chose the names Victor for the boyfriend, Emily for the young girl and Tracy for the mum.