Five Stages of Production

The first stage of production is Research and Development. We start by choosing a track and deciding what image we want our artist to have. It is the stage in which you develop ideas in terms of performance, narrative and other images. Your narrative can be influenced by the lyrics and sound of the song. In the Research and Development we need to identify our target audience and draw them into a key demographic such as 16-35. We need to develop the image and history of the band, so that the singer is not 2D and boring; he is complex and has interests that can influence his lyrics. Also in this stage we need to create The Basic Concept behind the video idea, the ideological values and what we are trying to say during the video.
The second stage is pre-production. This is after the “Greenlight” has been given. During this stage we need to list all major roles (Director, Camera coordinator etc.) Create a timeline that shows the structure of lyrics and shots. And follow this through by next creating a storyboard that shows all technical detail, location, special effects etc. The next decision to make is how the floor plan is being laid out. A vital organisational element is sorting out the shooting schedule, and how long it should take to complete each part of the story board. In pre-production there are three essential lists to be made; the first is equipment list, so that we are totally prepared with all technical equipment. The second is a props list, who is supplying them and how expensive the items are if they need to be bought in. Finally, we need a cast list with digital pictures so that our characters look in the same genre.
Stage three is the Production itself. We simply need a call list for our cast a few days before so they know when to come and so that they are prepared for that.
Stage four is a very important part for the lead editor as the drive the work through this section.
Distribution and Exhibition is the final stage of Production. We need to think about how we would distribute and exhibit through different forms of media, eg. CD’s, DVD’s TV outlets, etc

Audience Feedback

hurtwoodhousemedia - I liked the concept and story, I felt that I wanted to continue watching to find out why she's drawing those symbols. I thought the panning shots over the pieces of paper worked really well and I liked how in the mirror who captured both reflections and faces. Well done!

hurtwoodhousemedia - Lou goes Hollywood!!!!

mutemiss - I like the crazy-ness of Lou. And the behind the window-view.... The roomtone works well as it is very simple and atmospheric :)

stephaniemareen - very good story idea and great choice of actors. I really like the editing style.

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

The preliminary task took a lot less planning and preparation, because to start we were given our script and storyboard rather than having to create one. It was also a lot easier because we didn’t have to create a set or have any props if we didn’t want, we also filmed it in an empty room - no set. The main task was a lot more in-depth and complicated because we had to first come up with the idea, and then develop it. The next step was to draw up the storyboard, choose actors and where we wanted to set it.
There was a considerable difference between my film-making skills during the Preliminary task and the Main task. During the preliminary task our film making skills were limited because we were only given a basic brief of the wide, mid and close up shots. When filming the prelim task we firstly shot the whole sequence in wide, then onto the whole sequence in mid and lastly we shot the sequence in close of both characters speaking and in reaction. Whereas we had developed our ideas for the Main task and we moved on to more complex shots; for example over-the-shoulder and extreme-close-ups. We also worked a lot off of a visual narrative so we would look at the direction of the characters gaze and made sure that the next followed chronologically. The preliminary task also focused a lot on the dialog and intention of the script. However in our Main task we based the sequence on telling the story visually with very little dialog. Watching back our preliminary task the editing techniques were quite poor because it was our first time editing, and I think we were a little worried about having shots that were too long and would bore anyone watching so the speed of the editing was quite fast which didn’t fit our storyline so well.
I think we have made huge differences when using the camera because during the Preliminary task we started in a blind panic and wanting to get it right so much that it ended up being wrong. In the Preliminary task we didn’t know about ‘bubbling’ so, when we watched it back we found that the shots were a little wonky. Also during the prelim tasks some of our framing was a little dodgy because sometimes we gave our actors either too much or too little head room etc. We noticed our problems from the Prelim and we were able correct them. We were able to use close-ups correctly with the right angle of the camera by using the ‘bubble’ and made sure that the framing was correct, looked appropriate from the monitor and matched the eye-line. When working on ‘Five’ we had to be careful that we didn’t cross the 180 degree mark because otherwise it would have confused our audience when one of our characters was on the right-hand side of the screen and then suddenly the are on the left.
In the Prelim task we didn’t know about sorting the sound so all we had was dialog and the ambient sounds. We had a problem with our ambient sound because there was a loud high-pitched tone throughout the filming, but we didn’t realise that we could get rid of that sound during the editing process. This was one of the things we learnt during the editing of the Main task. I had a lot of fun during the Main task taking care of the sound and sound effects because I was constantly learning something new. We had a similar problem to the Prelim task because there was a high-pitched tone in the ambient sound which we had to delete or make quieter. The ambient sounds we reinforced the sound of air-conditioning in the room because we thought it would add to the effect of the atmosphere and make the room look more official. To emphasise the atmosphere of the sequence and the character of the girl we added in an eerie sound effect towards the end so that the piece would have a build up towards the end.
In Final Cut Pro we learnt how to edit an opening sequence and how to manipulate the shot and give after effects. The one aspect of Final Cut Pro that was one of the most useful was learning about how to zoom in on a shot; this really helped us because in our Birds-eye-view shot it overlooked the edge of the set and it was obvious that it was not a real room. To edit an opening sequence you need to know how to add in additional text and credits, this was quite a simple task once we understood how it worked. It allowed us to choose our font and place the text on the shot where we wanted.

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

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

F:\Media Coursework\How Did You Attract

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

Our target audience would be 15 and upwards because the lower age on the certificate the more people are allowed to go and see the film and we want as much audience as we can get. Our target audience would be mostly male ‘emo’ and metal fans because it is the type of music that thrillers feature and because our film is about the idea of the omniscience of the Devil. Another example of a film like this is Rosemary's Baby or The Exorcist.In the case of The Exorcist this was certified an 18 or x certificate at the time however nowadays I feel it would be classified 15 as the violence is implied rather than visual. This is also the case within our narrative.
Our audience would mostly be made up of students or people who have recently got a job because they have money that is disposable; they have no need to save up huge amount for mortgages etc. The target audience for horror films are generally lower-middle to working class, this is traditionally a genre piece however university students might enjoy it as well bu6t due to the fact that the films feature teenagers and are generally driven by plots concerning young people the audience is limited over the age of 25.
There would probably be a secondary audience of the teenage girls who are the girlfriends or friends of the guys. Perhaps another part of the audience could be there because they like the genre of thriller or maybe a specific director of thrillers for example Alfred Hitchcock or David Fincher director of Se7en and Panic Room.

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

A Media Institution is an organisation that provides media contents for entertainment for audiences and to make money. There are exceptions for example the BBC who are a public service broadcaster, and their funding comes form government and tax payers. Some institutions are generalised and cover many different means of entertainment whereas others are very specific to one type. For example a huge company like Warner Bros, which is a subsidiary of Time Warner. Warner Bros also has many subsidiary companies such as New Line Cinema, CNN, Cartoon Network and DC comics. Then on the other hand there are companies like Film4 who only produce films, which is an example of a specific institution.
For our product I think An Independent Low Budget Film Company for example Warp Films would distribute our film. An Independent Low Budget Film is a movie that is funded with less than 50% of money from one of the big studios. An example of a Warp film is ‘This is England’. A company like Warp Films is funded by its own profits and the UK Film Council. It also usually ends up targeting less people than the Hollywood film for example because it doesn’t have the funding to be distributed in foreign countries. The films they produce usually have a more realistic and gritty storyline unlike the fantasies of Hollywood.
This relates to our film because it is a low budget, British film with no stars. This small low budget film is only targeting a niche audience which Warp have a good track record of targeting for example the film Donkey Punch which was another successful horror film. Because of Warps close ties to Film 4 and The British film council, for instance like This Is England, we feel that our film would benefit as its low budget as we would have the chance to make money back through advertising and television rights as Film 4 promote their films through showing them on their television channel.

Task 2 - How does your product represent particlular social groups?

The product we created; Five, is about a young 12 year-old girl who appears to be possessed by the devil, or a kind of demon. Two different social groups are represented in our product; mental health issues and children. Film examples of these two themes are ‘Girl, Interrupted’ and ‘Sixth Sense’.

‘Girl, Interrupted’ is an America drama feature film with Angelina Jolie and Whoopie Goldberg; about a teen’s 18-month stay at a mental institution. It explores the themes of drugs, suicide and teenage life. This relates to five because of the fact that they don’t actually know if she is mentally ill or not, which could be the case of our child character. This could represent our young girl’s mental issues in a positive or negative way. It would be positive because she is helping the agency/government but it could also be negative because it makes other people with mental health issues look as if they are also possessed by the ‘devil’.
‘Sixth Sense’ is an American thriller film, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It tells the story of Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist (Bruce Willis) who tries to help him. This relates to ‘Five’ because of the age of the boy, and the fact that it doesn’t just occur in adults. It is also as if he cannot be in control of what he sees it is as if he is seeing them through someone else’s eyes.









In the media there are various programmes such as ‘Supernanny’ which have a definite representation of children. ‘Supernanny’ is a British reality television programme about helping parents with misbehaving children. The show features professional Nanny Jo Frost, who devotes each episode to helping a family whose children are out of control. Using a variety of methods, she shows parents different ways of disciplining their children and maintaining order in their households. She is noted for her kind but firm no-nonsense approach. This could initially be a negative representation of children because they all ‘misbehave’, and are in need of a professionals help. Towards the end of each episode the representation of children changes to be positive, because with a little discipline children can behave. This programme is similar to ‘Five’ because it has a negative representation of children just like the young girl in our product.

Another example of this in the media is a story I have found in BBC news ‘Mental problems 'hit one in four'’. It says “One in four people around the world will suffer from mental health problems at some point in their lives, according to a report from the World Health Organisation (WHO)”. In general this article can be a positive representation of people with mental health issues, because it doesn’t make them any different to any of the general public, it becomes a more general issue. This has a similar representation to the girl in our product ‘Five’, because it could show the young girl, as not being totally crazy because it’s not only her who has seen these “apparitions” and rather being treated differently these issues are representative of affecting 1 in 4 people. Where this differs is that it is rarely apparitions and more often other forms of mental health issues like depression or schizophrenia.

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

This is a close-up shot of our main actress Lou. We took this shot because it shows her made-up dark eyes. We made her eyes look dark because it is very stereotypical in a horror/thriller for a girl who is on ‘the bad side’ to have dark eyes. An example of this is the girl from The Ring.

This is a Birds-eye-view shot. We took this shot because we wanted it to be our establishing shot. Our film conforms to the convention of Hollywood films because of the credits; which are written in the bottom left-hand corner. This is how most Hollywood films presents their opening credits.

This is a mid-shot to show the gag of the film; the pentagram. This shot also show the audience that they are looking into a two-way mirror of an interrogation room; like the shot from the Dark Knight. This, like the above, conforms to the conventions of Hollywood Thriller/Horror genres.

This is another mid-shot to show who the production company was. Also is an indication of what the room looks like. We made it look as if it was a rustic setting; so that it would add to effect of the genre and themes of the sequence.

We like this shot because it shows the pentagram and the three faces of the police. The lighting of this shot could develop the conventions of the genre, because it is a non-naturalistic blue colour. This could convey an eerie setting which represents the girl as being on ‘the dark side’.

This is a close up shot of Lou writing GPS coordinates on the mirror. It is another shot which I think conforms to the conventions of Hollywood filming, because you can see the reflection of the rustic brick room and the black top she is wearing. The black top adds to her dark mysterious character.

This is a close up shot of both Lou and one of the police. In this shot it shows that she is in the light; which could represent her being ‘spoken to’. Whereas the policeman is an observer from the other side of the glass and from outside the light.

This shot is similar to the Birds-eye-view shot in a way that it conforms to the conventions of Hollywood cinema, by having the credits written in the bottom left-hand corner. It is another representation of how the Hollywood industry presents their credits.

This is our title card at the end of our sequence. We used the pentagram which is an important element of the film. Also what the film is based on the five point on the pentagram lead the police to where the trouble is about to hit. We chose the colours of the pentagram to be black and white because it is simple and the black also represents the colours of the girl; dark eyes and shirt.