Final Main Task- Hallucinations

Preliminary Task

Evaluation 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 full product?

For evaluation question 7 i have added annotation's to my final main task explaining what i have done in each frame of my main task and specifically mentioning if we had not used any techniques we have now in our preliminary task. I also explained why we used the different types of shots, angles, editing and music and how it had a special effect for the audience while they watch our opening.

After comparing our preliminary task to our main task, we have made many improvements ranging from our filming skills to our editing skills. The reason for these improvements were we had much more time to plan our story-line, shots and angle, characters, locations, costume and props.

Preliminary Task Criticisms:

• We did not plan our story-line well enough, this was a downturn because people did not understand our story-line until we explained it to them.
•  We did not have enough dialogue and sound variations, this really disengaged our audience as a result, because they were unknown of what exactly is going on.
• The amount of shaky camera work during the filming process was a real concern. Once we started filming, the shots were continuously shaking. It looked very unprofessional, but this mistake helped me to learn when construction our main task.
• We had to use repetitive transitions because we didn't take enough shots to make the continuity editing look professional.
• The location's were confusing to the audience because we had to film in school, whereas our location was supposed to portray a prison. This was another downturn from our lack of planning and research

After looking back at our preliminary task, and getting feedback from our peers and teacher on the production, it was clear we had made many mistakes, these ranged from filing skills, shots, angles and location. These mistakes however made us learn and understand and proved a valuable learning curve when constructing our main film opening. We have now all  learnt to do planning and research more carefully before producing a piece of work, and to also see if any shots need to be re-filmed. One thing we were all happy with, when viewing our preliminary task was our editing skills, this was because our filming wasn't the best but after editing our piece looked much better than what we had originally filmed. These early learnt editing skills helped massively when editing our main task because we already knew how to do most of the editing with iMovie. 

Analyzing AS Main Task- Improvements: 

• We used a more unique editing style and also used a variation of shots, this was our unique selling point. We have also highly improved on the aspect of codes and convention of each shot and shot angle compared from our preliminary task. This improvement required us re-filming quite a few times, but the effort paid off in the end. 
• We used the tripod at all times, the use of a tripod meant the audience was not distracted by the shaky shots, that appeared during our preliminary task. It made the construction look a lot more professional, and was very easy to set up, and carry.
• Our continuity editing was also improved, and really added to the intensity of the production, this was one of the most challenging aspects I encountered during the editing process. 
• We were able to add more music which helped to portray different kinds of atmospheres within different frames, for e.g when we showed the flash back in our main task we added a soundtrack which had the feel of sadness, we found this from 'incomptech' under the feels of sadness and uplifting. The music really created an mystifying atmosphere, which was the primary goal when choosing the specific soundtrack, it formed really well with that specific frame, and faded out into the next soundtrack during the end of that frame.

After conducting this evaluation  it is clear  to see the huge difference between the two pieces of work. My main task shows a better deal of editing, professionalism, shot composition and camera techniques than my previous preliminary task. Overall AS has highly improved my directing and film production abilities, these skills are highly valuable when i go onto the A2 part of media. With all relevant skills and experience conducted, i am confident to produce and even better piece of work than i already have.

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

For evaluation question 6, i have created a tutorial with annotation's explaining what i have learnt about technologies from the process of constructing my main task. 



Overall i feel that i have learnt so much in AS media this year, especially because we were not taught this we had to learn for ourselves. I have improves my filming skills to my editing skills and also working with the MAC computers is the biggest improvement i have made in the practical AS Media this year.

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

For evaluation question 5 i have compared my poster to other psychological horror films. I have also interviewed a range of teenagers to get feedback and reaction after watching our main task. 

This is our poster for our short film

For our title font we have used a font called ‘Sliced Juice’ we chose this particular font because it had fading lines which links to our title of our main task which was ‘Hallucinations’ ; the idea that the victim is seeing, hearing and feeling something that is not there. Therefore,  this font is giving the audience a fade effect  suggesting that perceptions are false.

I edited the background colour on Photoshop; the effect was called a Dream effect which consisted of mixed shades of brown to give a distorted effect. This effect helps accompanying colours of the protagonist appear richer and brighter. Brown has connotations of steadfastness, simplicity, friendliness, dependability, and health, therefore giving the audience a clear picture of my protagonists inner feelings and personality.

I chose this particular shot composition, which is a mid-long shot because it shows part body language as well as part costume and facial expression. Therefore from this composition the audience can figure out that our protagonist looks distressed and isolated because she is looking down, also the costume of our protagonist is dark consisting mainly of the color black, this colour has connotations of mystery and is also associated with fear and the unknown.

For inspiration of our own poster we looked at "Orphan" which also is just a simple close-up shot of the antagonist at the front showing her expression. We also looked at "Dark Water" poster, which shows the antagonist on a more higher scale from knees to head, after looking at this we also decided to take a mid-long shot of our antagonist 'Leena Wilkes' because we thought it would be better to see part of her body language as well as facial expression  and background. We have chosen for our writing to be black and white, this is because it typically connotates the hallucinations swirl which consists of black and white spirals. Also we edited our background on Photoshop to create the old house colour look, this effect denotes depression and loneliness. 

We also interviewed our chosen target audience to see what their opinions were on our Main Task, we asked them the following questions:

• Do you think the sub-genre fitted in well with the story-line?
• What part of the poster made you come here today?
• Did you understand that this film was a psychological horror, if not why? and if yes how?
• Is there anything you particularly liked about the film?
• What would you change about this film?
• Would you pay to watch the rest of this film, if not why

After interviewing our target audience, we got honest and reliable feedback that helped us to realize our mistakes but also be happy for what we had constructed. When asked what they would change about the film, most of them answered the acting, this was because they thought that the protagonist didn't look very serious. On the other hand when they were asked if they understood the type of sub genre and if they understood the story-line they were all confident in saying that they understood it straight away because of the voice-overs and dialogue. 

Sadaf Anwar

This was a girl we interviewed after the showing of our film. Her name is Sadaf Anwar and she  is 17 and 6 months old, she is a typical teenager who likes her fashion and education and wants to do well in her life. We chose her as an example because she links with our protagonist who is also Asian and can be fitted well with personality and age. She would be able to understand our protagonist very well because she is in the same age category and most probably has same understandings of what goes on in life. When she was interviewed and asked 'what part of the poster made you come here?' she answered ' i quite liked the dark colour scheme' implying that she is interested in evil, death and overall horror.

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

Hey! My name's Alina Ray, i'm 17 and 6 months old, and i live in the city of Southampton. I'm a pretty fashionable girl, i absolutely love my fashion; the jewellery, makeup, jeans, converse, denim and most of all everything branded. I enjoy having sleepovers and having nights out with my friends because the night is the best time of day (for me obviously), i also like shopping, my weekly routine is going out shopping with my mates and buying everything i like. I shop at places like New Look, Jack Wills, River Island and Topshop.

I enjoy watching TV drama's such as: Misfits, Hollyoaks, Skins and Eastenders. As well as TV drama's i love my films too, my favorite genre of films are psychological horror, films i have recently watched are: Painless, Maniac and A Fantastic Fear of Everything.

I love R 'n' B and Pop music my favorite artists are Drake, Lil Wayne, Tyga and Rihanna. I keep up-to date on whats new on the charts by listening to Heart FM. I also like recording my own covers for some of the songs that represent my situation, this helps me to express inner feelings.

Take a look at my Facebook Profile...

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

For evaluation question 3 i have created a PowerPoint on SlideShare, explaining why Dark Castle Entertainment would distribute my media product and why.. 

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

For evaluation question 2 i will be comparing my main characters, to other main characters in psychological horror genre films. 

Orphan

As you can see our protagonist 'Leena Wilkes' can be compared to Isabelle Fuhrman who played 'Esther' in Orphan, this is because they both have the same life background of loosing their mum. They also both have their hair down, but not messy so it covers their face, this hairstyle has connotations of them being normal from the outside but psychologically upset from their brain. Their costume also make them look vulnerable but on the other hand the use of colours are dark connotating they are distressed and upset. You can also see facial expressions really well because of the mid-shot being used in both frames, from these frames you can see that they both look young and quite surprised. Young female protagonists are stereotypically presented as sweet and innocent, we have also used this stereotype because we didn't want to give away our protagonists real identity and characteristics.

Dark Water

The bottom frame represents a flash black that our protagonist had in our main task of her and her mum back in the days when our protagonist 'Leena Wilkes' was about 6 years old. This frame can be compared to a frame from the film called 'Dark Water', their frame is also of Jennifer Connelly 'Dahila' and Ariel Gade 'Ceci' when they were young. Both of these shots represent happiness and vulnerability because the audience can see how it feels like to be with your mum when you are little. The audience are also able to see facial expression, in both frames as you can see they both look happy like a typical mother rand daughter would.  

The Ward

The ward is another film our main characters 'Leena Wilkes and 'Maya Stone' can be compared to their main characters who were Amber Heard who played 'Kristen' and Danielle Panabaker who played 'Sarah'. As you can see in both frames they are the typical best friends  who are caring for each other. My characters have similar costume to the Ward's characters, but opposite, as you can see the victim in the ward is wearing red which has connotations of blood and death, whereas my victim 'Leena Wilkes' is wearing a dark blue jumper which has connotations of loneliness and distress. On the other hand my protagonists friend 'Maya Stone' is wearing red party wear this was worn to denote she is in a happy romantic mood, whereas the protagonists friend in the ward is wearing a dark blue sleeveless top but is shown to be happy within the frame because her hair and makeup looks fresh. The audience are also able to see how typical both frames are shown because the best friend is the one who always comforts the one who is in trouble at the time, in both frames the 'friend' is comforting the protagonist. This a stereotypical code in all psychological horror genre films. 

I am now going to be explaining how i have represented age, gender and ethnicity in my film, and how this compares to the conventions of a horror film.

Age

In my film I have represented the age of my characters through costume, makeup and props, although my characters were the right age, of 16-17 year old, the costume and make up have made them look more categorized  for example, I made my protagonist wear a dark blue jumper, jeans and converse, this sort of costume is typical because you would tend to see in horror genre films were the antagonist is young, they would always typically be in a house on their own , wearing relaxed clothes, for example in 'Scream' the antagonist 'Drew Barrymore' is at home wearing a jumper and jeans. Overall teenagers are portrayed as an easy prey for killers because they have the untouchable arrogance and innocence which always seems to get them in problematic situations, they also lack of life experience and wisdom, this statement is portrayed in our film when our protagonist 'Leena Wilkes' lacks her self confidence and thinks someone turned the TV on, when actually she sat on the remote. Our protagonist has clearly not reflected positively because she is already paranoid and just seems everything that is happening is negative and problematic. Teenagers are also portrayed as rebellious in most horror films for example, when they are with friends at home they are fine and happy, but when they are home alone they have massive fears of someone else being in the house with them, like our film we have also used this stereotype because it gives a clearer picture of what the genre is.

Gender  

In today's media, we generally see gender as being very stereo-typically presented, for example women/girls being presented as 'object's', mainly sexually and emotionally orientated. In our own film we have also used 'girls' and not boys because girls are typically the main victims in horror genre for example in the films 'The Ward' and 'Scream' they have used girls as the victims because girls are typically emotional and less stronger than men. However in the film 'The Ring' this statement is opposed because the victim is a man and the haunter is a woman. But in the majority of horror films the victim is a woman/girl. Traditionally women are represented in horror films as emotional and in distress and are usually being attacked by the killer because they are emotionally weak and have less power and they need to be rescued and take care of as they are incapable of looking after themselves. The women that we see in horror films tend to vary little in age and appearance, they all tend to be young women who are quite ‘pretty’ or attractive. We have also used younger girls because they have connotations of innocence and vulnerability. It has always been conventional to horror films that the women are supposed to be portrayed as a figure of beauty and innocence whilst the attacker is portrayed as a gruesome heartless killer. 

Ethnicity

In most horror films and particularly psychological horror films, there has never been an Asian protagonist, this may be due to the lack of Asian actresses. However in our film every character is Asian, we decided to make a twist instead of using the stereotypical white british protagonist, so the audeince would be more interested in watching something diffrent. In todays society most people think stereotypically of Asians assuming that they are not allowed to certain things in todays society, so are film is also representing that there is no difference between White British and Asian people, they are allowed to do the same things. 

Evaluation Question 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

For evaluation question 1 i am going to create a photo grid using Photoshop and Choose nine frames from my main task, that represent: 

• The title of the film
• Setting/location
• Costumes and props
• Camerawork and editing
• Title font and style
• Story and how the opening sets it up
• Genre and how the opening suggests it
• How characters are introduced
• Special effects

Underneath these nine frames i will be writing  detailed explanations, explaining why i have made these choices, and how they compare to typical horror films.

My first frame which is on the top left hand corner represents the title of my film, as you can see the name of my film is Hallucinations. We decided to place out title at the end of our 2:00 sequence because we thought it fits better showing it at the end rather than giving the whole story-line of the film in the beginning and also because after the dramatic scene of the TV you suddenly end with the title fading in, with the ambient music fading out.

My second frame establishes my setting and location of the film, i have chosen to take a long establishing shot. I have decided to set the basis of my film in a house because for a psychological horror, this is a main convention which I feel will allow the audience to put themselves in the characters positions. This will also create realism, something that every film must include in order to create a film of a professional and sophisticated level.

My third frame shows the costume and props used within the opening sequence very well. Both of my characters within the frame are portrayed as their character personality look. For example, the character playing ' Leena Wilkes', i have clearly given her the depressed and lost look. By wearing a casual outfit consisting of skinny jeans and a dark blue jumper, she is able to reflect her young age and her innocence. On the other hand i have however, i planned to dress the antagonists friend 'Maya Stone' with an outfit consisting of a red party top and black skinny jeans to connotate that she is happy and cheerful and not in the same postion as 'Leena Wilkes'.  

My fourth frame shows the camerawork and editing that is used within this opening sequence. This frame is a panning shot of the antagonist's mum and her in the past. We have used an old and rusty effect to put across to the audience that this frame is not ongoing in the film but is actually in the past. As well as the editing effect we have also put a voice over to explain to the audience of whats going within the frame, this was done so they do not get confused on whats going on.

My fifth frame is our production company and title font and style. I have chosen for our logo to be a human skull with clogs filling the outline. This represents that this movie is going to play with the audeinces' mind. It also links back to the genre of our film which is psycholgical horror, which is playing with your mind. We chose for our font to be diffrent to our credits and title font becuase we wanted our production to look sleek and not to horror.

My sixth frame represents our story and how the opening sets it up. From this frame the audience can see the two charecters body language and surrondings. They can also cleary see that both chahracters are sat at home relaxing while studying this is portryed through costumes and props.

My seventh frame represents the genre and how the opening suggests its a psycholgical horror film. This frame is a shot of the TV with the anatagonists (Leena Wilkes) mum on it, this shot is portraying a Hallucination which is seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling, or smelling something that is not there. Therefore, in this case the antagonist is seeing a halluncination,   but she is not at this point aware that the perceptions are false, whereas others may truly believe that what they are seeing is real. This sets the story of what going to happen later on the film.

My eigth frame represents how my charecters are introduced. In this frame they are talking about whats exactly is going on within the frame.  In sets the story and establishes who is the victim and friend. It also portrays their body language and how 'Leena Wilkes' is depressed because she is clearly not focusing on her work whereas 'Maya Stone' is.

My ninth frame represents a special effect that we have used, so it doesn't get boring. The special effect we have used is, a voiceover of the antagonists friend 'Maya Stone' when she is walking out. This is used to keep the audience engaged as well as to show the inner feeling and expressions of the characters. In the voiceover she is expressing what she thinks about'Leena Wilke's' situation. Straight after this there is a dramatic cut into a scream, from this the audience suddenly thinks everything is going smoothly until the next shot which makes them jump.