Creativity

Throughout the production of my film, I was creative with the decisions I made in that that they where all based on how I wanted the production to look, and where all made to fit a purpose, all my ideas where made so that my film would meet the slasher genre.

Here are some ways in which I was creative:

• After filming and editing our first draft I noticed a few problems with our production of which creativity was not playing enough of a part so we completely re-filmed and re-edited.
• Our story line was creative as we thought it up ourselves to fit our genre.
• We change the actors because the final actor we used fitted in better to the rocker stereotype we needed both in his looks and personality.
• The setting we used was a big old building surrounded by forestry, this was chosen to be creative. 
• Each camera angle and shot we used was carefully thought out so that the miss en scene would fit in to the plot, and so that the character would be shown in a way to the audience that we wanted. 
• We created our own music for the production to fit in with the mood that we wanted the audience to feel.

Main Task- Final Cut

Main Task- Evaluation

Denotation of The Second Personality

The opening shot of my production starts by showing my production logo, which I made myself on Photoshop Elements, this is complying with the codes and conventions, as most films will start by showing the production logo. The production logo is on a black background which would signify that my film was low budget (which it was), and with the knife and the red blood, before the film has even started I am already giving away the genre to my audience, this is not complying with the codes and conventions, however it has been done many times before. Warner Brothers tend to change their logo according to the genre of the film, for example Harry Potter, the logo is made to look Magical.

My opening shot shows my main character sleeping in bed, and the camera cuts to a close up shot of the CD Player, as the CD Player turns on, the music starts, had I of had a higher quality camera I would of been able to create this shot much better, and the display on the CD Player would of been able to read much easier. The camera then cuts back to the main character in bed. The mise en scene of the room would signify to the audience that the boy is very messy, and spends a lot of time in his bedroom, and with the stereo system it would seem he is very much into music. If I would of had more access to some Heavy Metal posters then the mise en scene of this scene would of signified that my character is into Heavy Metal music, and had an intertextual reference to the character in Trick or Treat.

As the boy wakes up from his sleep, because the room is so dark, one part of the room is so dark that it creates a black background for the final title sequence which reads the actors name, I think this is a very good use of lighting.

As the boy stares into the mirror, there is an over the shoulder shot which means that we are able to see the clothes the character is wearing wile also being able to see his facial expression as he stares (would not make sense if he had nothing to stare into). There is a light just above the character that is shining down on him, this is giving the audience a clear signifier that this character is the Central Protagonist.

When the scene cuts to a flashback, the image turns to black and white, clearly signifying that the scene is a flashback, and happened in the past, as we signify black and white with the past because much older media was all in black and white (period dramas). The mise en scene of this setting clearly denotes to the setting being in a school. The music in the background has changed for this scene to much calmer and depressing music, clearly signifying that as this is the main character flashback, what happened here caused him great amounts of sadness and stress.

As the image goes back to present time, and the boy walks into the kitchen he is making a sandwich, and as the close up on the camera shows him doing this, we see the knife that he will later use to kill the bully. I chose this idea of showing a knife so that I could have a way of showing why the boy would be taking a knife to school, as shown in the next scene, it would not make sense if the boy had a knife in his bag without reasoning for it being there.

As the boy is packing his school bag, it clearly shows him packing in school books, which is a great use of mise en scene to signify that the character is going to school. As he then goes to get his lunch, he also goes back and collects a knife, this creates a Narrative Enigma, what made the character want to go back and collect the knife, and why does he need it.

As the boy is walking outside, the woodland area gives a clear signifier that he is very much well in an isolated area, and there is no one around, so anything could happen. The point of view shot onto his feet signifies that the boy is upset and has his head down. The camera then cuts to a point of view of someone walking behind the boy, which would denote that the boy is being followed. This goes against codes and conventions as it would normally be the killer who stalks the victim, and would lead the audience to a narrative enigma to whether this boy is innocent or a killer.

This narrative enigma is then emphasized as they both stop and stare!

How does the media product

 use, develop and challenge forms and conventions?

Our media product had a main aim to both comply with as-well as challenging, where suitable, the codes and conventions of a film opening. We managed to comply with the codes and conventions, as we had a Central Protagonist; we also showed the production logo at the very start of the film. However our production logo gave a clear signifier that our genre was a slasher because of the knife, with blood coming off of it. I also believe that we managed to challenge the codes and conventions, as for in one of our shots you see what is believed to be the killer, being stalked by the victim.

How does our media product represent particular social groups?

Our film opening represents more than just one social group, as the main character could be denoted to be both middle class and low class; it depends on how the audience view the film. This was set up on purpose, as it helps to raise questions over the central protagonist, while also giving clear signifiers as to his characteristics. The first social group is represented by the setting, because it is a very modern and nice house, this would signify the middle class, but by looking at the characters clothing it would seem that actually the main character is representing lower class, as his clothes are scruffy and he does not change them during the whole production. The reason we wanted to represent two different social groups was to help widen out potential target audience while at the same time creating narrative enigmas in our production.

What kind of media institution might distribute our media product and why?

I would like to think that Working Title would produce our film, however because they do not distribute. Because they have such good contact in USA and would be able to launch it there as well, if they distributed our film we would be able to have worldwide success from it. An example of a film that has created similar success that I would expect our film to create is 'Shaun of the Dead' this was a low budget British film that had major success in the USA as well. I think that in an ideal world, we would want Launching Films to produce and distribute our film. 

Who would be the audience for our media product?

I would hope that our media production would sell to males and females, but because of the negative stereotypes to females, I think it would main attract a male audience, with the exception to be few females. I do not think that my film would attract in the homosexual audience, as there is no homosexuals in it, however it does not give off any negative stereotypes to homosexuals so they would not be put off. My film should attract a youth audience (15-30), but because of its 15 rating, there would be young teenagers interested in watching the film for 'Negative Role Models'. My audience I would expect to be mainly lower-middle class because of the reference to both classes in my film. Also slasher films normally bring in a lower class audience. I would also hope to attract Heavy Metal Rockers because of the heavy music we use in the production.

How would the audience be attracted/addressed?

I would expect that all of our male audience would be attracted to our film because of the violence, blood and gore. So to address this market we would simply make a trailer that contained a lot of killing, blood and gore. We would be attracting in our young audience because of the entire fast pace editing that we have, with quick fast paced clips. We would address this market by making sure that the trailer also had very fast pace cuts. I also think that our film is attracting Heavy Metal Rockers because of the music that is being played in it. We would address this audience by putting a heavy metal song on the trailer. If we had a higher budget we could also attract this audience through a special guest actor who is well known in the metal music industry. Trick or Treat did this by bringing in Ozzy Osborne.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this project?

During my production I have learnt a lot about how to edit, create and publish a film. This meant learning how to firstly create a blog, upload images text and video to it. I learnt all of this by myself, as it turned out to be very easy. Because I am taking A Level ICT and I got an A* in GCSE, I had a major advantage on any normal media student. However I had never used iMovie HD before, so I searched online for tutorials on how to use it properly, this means that I was able to use all of the functions available to me in the proper way. I learnt how to upload and cut clips. I also learnt how to add still images and sound effects, and how to correct sound levels and position them in the correct position. I then had to learn how to add a title sequence, create video effects and how to compress the production so I could put it onto my blog. I also learnt how to use a camera and tripod properly to create panning shots, zooms and tilts. I also looked into how to change the white balance on the camera so that I could get the best video quality possible.

Looking back at my preliminary task, what do i feel i have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

I think that my camera work has improved a lot since my Preliminary task, and I have learnt how to stop shaky camera work. I also think my knowledge on camera angles and shots has changed as you can see there are a lot more used in my Final Production than my Preliminary Task. My editing on iMovie HD has not improved too much as I learnt most of it while doing my Preliminary Task.

What needs to be changed?

I made a lot of changes before I got to my final cut, but there are some things that still needed to be changed but I simply did not have the time to do it, or I did not have the appropriate equipment. One change that would need to be made is more camera shots would need to be put into my production, especially I should have used a Dutch Angle to signify something was wrong, but on the day of filming I forgot to use and I could not re-film again as I ran out of time. I also think that if I had more time I would have made my own music on Garage Band that would fit in with the narrative much better, I would also add in more sound effects that I would of had to record myself rather than just downloading them off the internet. I also think the use of better actors may have improved my production, but the ones I used did exactly what I wanted them to, and where the only ones available because everyone in school is so busy with revision and coursework.

Main Task- Sound

I incorporated two songs into my production, the first one was a 'Heavy Metal' song, and I used this song because it fits in with my genre, wile also being an inter-textual reference to Trick or Treat. The music could also be used to create tension for the audience because of its up-beat rhythm. 

The second song I used was more depressing and used to signify to the audience that Matt found the flashback very sad, and that it would lead him to do bad things (Kill).

I used sound effects to emphasize diegetic sounds, for example foot steps, and the sound of the heartbeat.

My inter-textual reference was to Trick or Treat, with the music I used and to Halloween with the over dramatic sound effects. 

Main Task- Props

We used these props in our production to create a better Mise en Scene:

• A School Bag

We used a school bag for the main charter to use this to put the knife into it.

• A Sandwich

We used a sandwich so that the main character had a reason to use the knife.

• A Knife

We used a knife to show that our film was of the Slasher genre.

• School Books

We used school books as a signifier that the boy was going to school.

• Mirror

We used a mirror to show the facial expression of the main character as he stared at himself.

• T-Shirt's

We put t-shirts all over the boys floor to signify he was messy.

• CD Player

We used a CD Player as a way to start the music in the film.

Main Task- Production Logo

Main Task- Final Synopsis

My production is called 'The Second Personality' and very much well bases itself on two films, Halloween and Trick or Treat. I watched both of these films and liked them so this is why I decided to try and import ideas from both of these films into my production.

The Narrative

The film will start off in Matt's bedroom where it will show him sleeping, the camera will then cut to the stereo system which will turn on (music starts playing), the camera then cuts back to Matt as he wakes up and makes his way to the en-suite bathroom in his room.

He goes to wash his face and as he stares into the mirror a voice is heard (Matt's Second Personality), he is talking to Matt about how pathetic he is and reminding of memories from school where Tom is bullying him. We then see flash-backs of Matt's life at school.

In these flash-backs it shows Matt getting pushed into the locker and falling to the floor looking both upset and angry. The camera then cuts back to Matt who leaves the bathroom, picks up his bag and makes his way to the kitchen. In the kitchen there is some toast on the surface, and Matt uses a knife to cut the toast, we then see a flash forward of Tom lying dead in a woodland area, he then looks at his watch, puts the knife into his bag and leaves the house.

As Matt walks out of the front door and into the woodland, he starts to hear footsteps behind him, and an over the shoulder shot shows that Tom is walking behind Matt, as he shouts abuse at Matt. Matt then turns around, and at this point his second personality shouts at him, 'Do it Matt'. He puts his hand into his bag, and then the camera shows a close up of Matt's face. A loud scream is heard.

Characters

The main character in my production is called 'Matt' and he is very much well an intertextual reference to Trick or Treats character main character 'Eddie'. Both of the character are into 'Heavy Metal Rock Music' and both have problems with bulling in school. In the film 'Trick or Treat' I like how much it focuses on the main character in the opening two minutes so I will do the same in my production.

The bully in my film is called 'Tom' and he was inspired to me by the characters on Trick and Treat who bully the main character. For this reason I needed the actor of Tom to be tall, as this is how I wanted to establish my character.

The third character in my production is 'Sophia'. She is a typical blonde character who you would expect to see in a horror, and due to her flirting with Tom in the opening scene, to an audience who watch a lot of character they should be able to denote that she will be killed, as for in most horrors the sexually-active blonde always gets killed, almost as a 'punishment'.

Intertextual Reference

My film has a intertextual reference to Trick or Treat for many different reasons. As I have already pointed out, the characters in my film are very much well inspired by the characters in the film Tick or Treat, but this is not the only intertextual reference, the setting of the film, where it starts off in his bedroom was also inspired by Trick or Treat, however we where unable to create some of the mise en scene that Trick or Treat managed to for their film.

My film also has a intertextual reference to one of the scenes in Trick or Treat. In one of the scenes in Trick or Treat, you see the main character smile as the girl hen has a crush on walk towards him, but then a long shot shows her walking past him, and the main character stops smiling. I will re-create this scene in my production.

Fitting our film into it's Genre

As my research has shown me, there are many different ways in which you can make sure that the audience is sure of then genre of your film without you telling them, and I have added in some of these aspects to the opening of my film.

Firstly, because my film is a Slasher, there is a lot of reference to the knife that would be used to kill the victim, infract the opening shot is based around how the main character gets the knife, and where he puts it. Because of the sighting of the knife this tells the audience that my film is a Slasher.

As common conventions of the horror/slasher genre clearly state, if their is a women in the film, who is blonde and sexually active, then it is very likely that this women will be killed by the villain. We use this theory in our film, however the audience do not know yet that she will be killed but there are very strong signifiers telling the audience she will be, because she has annoyed the main character who has a knife, and she is sexually active with his worst enemy.

BBFC Rating for Second Personality

Based on the research I carried out into ratings by BBFC, I think that my whole film would fall under the 15 criteria, because although you do not see it in the first few minutes there will be a lot of violence in my film, and the rating states that only a 15 would get away with showing blood and gore.

As far as sex, nudity and drugs are concerned, there would be no reference to these in my films that would mean that it would have to be looked into.

Main Task- BBFC Rating

According to BBFC rating schemes a film with a PG rating must match this criterion:

• Themes- Where more serious issues are featured (e.g. Racism) nothing in their treatment should condone the behaviour.
• Language- Mild bad language only.
• Nudity- Natural nudity only.
• Sex- Sexual activity may be implied but must be discrete.
• Violence- Moderate violence may be shown if justified by the setting.
• Horror- Freighting sequences must not be prolonged or intense.
• Drugs- Any references to drugs or drug misuse must be innocuous or carry a suitable anti-drug message.

According to BBFC rating schemes a film with a 12 rating must match this criterion:

• Themes- Mature themes are acceptable, but their treatment must be suitable for young teenagers.
• Language- The use of strong language must be infrequent. Racist abuse is also of particular concern.
• Nudity- Nudity is allowed but in sexual context, must be discrete and brief.
• Sex- Sexual activity may be implied. Sex references may reflect what is likely to be familiar to most adolescents but should not go beyond what is suitable for them.
• Violence- Violence must not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated.
• Horror- Sustained moderate threat and menace are permitted. Occasionally gory moments only.
• Drugs- Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorized or instructional.

According to BBFC rating schemes a film with a 15 rating must match this criterion:

• Theme- No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate to 15 year olds.
• Language- There may be frequent use of strong language (e.g. 'fuck'). But the strongest terms (e.g. 'c*nt') will be acceptable only where justified by the context. Continued aggressive use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.
• Nudity- Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
• Sex- Sexual activity may be portrayed but without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour.
• Violence- Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. Scenes of sexual violence must be discreet and brief.
• Horror- Strong threat and menace are permitted. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.
• Drugs- Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.

According to BBFC's rating schemes there is no real criteria '18' has to be matched up to as adults should be allowed to know for themselves what it funny, and what they find entertaining.

Main Task- Editing

My film went through a lot of editing and a lot of changes all that needed great IT kills to get the final product to look as good as possible. Because of our Feedback we found that our editing had to improve a lot and we had to really make use of all of the effects and other options available to us on iMovie HD.

Editing on iMovie

Our production was edited using iMovie and I am now going to talk through the edits we made, why we made them and the skills involved to produce the edits.

First thing I needed to (Alex Jowett, Editor) was to upload all of our clips onto iMovie, this meant connecting the camera to the computer with a firewire cable and opening the iMovie HD application. From this you then simply click upload, and all of the clips that we had shot where then added onto iMovie.

After this had completed I then had to pick out with clips we where going to use, as there where many that had mistakes on them, and many that we had decided on the day of filming not to use. After doing this I then needed to cut the scenes down because on most scenes we had filmed for too long, and there was shots that we did not need. This was also crucial to do as our film added up to 2 Minutes and 32 Seconds, so we defiantly needed to cut 32 seconds.

After doing this I then went through many stages of playing the film and making notes on sound and video FX that I could add into the production so that I was sure of exactly I needed to do.

I then imported the music from a copyright free website that I had found (www.freeplaymusic.com). I had to first download the song, upload it to iTunes and then from iMovie, it picked up the song in iTunes, from which I just had to import this into my production. I had to make sure that it was positioned so that the music would start when the CD Player turns on in the opening scene, to give the effect that the music was diegetic, but then became non-diegetic as he left his room, almost like the song was in his head.

After I had done this I then added more sound effects to help emphasize sounds that I needed the audience to hear. These sounds included footsteps as 'Matt' walks through the woods and heartbeat sounds in the background to help create tension for the audience.

I then added in the second song that was going to be in our production, this song was less up-beat and more depressing and low-beat. I positioned it to the point I wanted it to play, which was wile the character stared into the mirror and had a flashback from school.

I then made the flash back scene black and white. I did this by putting a black and white effect onto of it. The reason for this is so that the audience was aware that it was a flashback and had already happened. That is crucial for them to understand the ending.

Now that my films was fully constructed, all that was left for me to do was the smaller edits that sometimes can make a big difference. I started off by firstly changing all the sound levels so that I could remove unwanted sounds, and put more emphasis on sounds I needed the audience to hear. I also had to adjust the sounds when the music changes so that it was not an instant change but instead a gradual change. I did this by fading out one of the songs wile fading in the other at the same time.

Our establishing shot is our production logo, and this had to be added onto iMovie as an image, and despite looking through many different iMovie tutorial videos I could not find out how you can add an image on top of the moving picture so I assumed that this was not possible on iMovie and decided to add it on as a new clip with only the Production Logo showing.

I made this logo on Photoshop Elements by uploading a picture of a knife off the internet, importing it to Photoshop, then I used a paint tool to create the effect of blood from the knife, then simply added some text that read our production name 'MJ Productions'.

I then finally added on the Title Scenes. I created these in iMovie and set the font to look quite scary and weird, to fit in with the genre, and I also made it red so that it would signify blood. I had to make sure the title scenes where on screen long enough for the audience to read them, so I received Feedback from people who where in the same room as me.

Main Task- Feedback

Our media film went through 2 different filming and editing stages, because after the first stage we had to get an audience feedback, and their feedback indicated that our film was not up to the standards it could have been, and they where able to point out many floors that from a production perspective, we where not able to notice.

We showed the film to our Media Class, and after watching it through they gave us very constructive feedback which we where then able to use to completely re-film and re-edit our production to enable us to have a much better quality product.

Here is what they said about our first production:

1. The setting did not fit the genre, and did not work well with filming.
2. Having black and white effects made no sense, and did not fit in with the genre.
3. The actor looked at the camera in one of our scenes.
4. The ending shot with the knife was very vague way of showing our film was a slasher.
5. The mise-en-scene did not fit in with the genre, e.g. Football Posters.
6. The music fits in well with the film but is of a poor quality and does not improve the production.
7. Not enough use of steady cam, and too much shaky camera work.
8. You can not hear the voice-over.
9. Needs more reference to a film.
10. Poor acting.

With all of this feedback in mind, me and Matt met up to talk about how we could improve our production, and it was agreed that we defiantly needed to re-film and re-edit it all so me and Matt wrote up a new Synopsis and drew up a new Storyboard with all of the points above in mind we where able to improve on them all, and here is how we did it.

Our Improvements:

1. We completely re-filmed our production in a whole new setting, this setting was much improved, and had use of both interior and exterior shots. It also fitted in much better with our genre.
2. In our second version the only black and white shots are when 'Matt' has flashback's.
3. We made sure this time that the actors remained focused and did not look into the cameras.
4. We took out the ending shot with the knife, and instead brought the knife in, in the middle of the production in a much more understandable narrative.
5. Because of our new setting, we where able to create a much better mise-en-scene.
6. Instead of making out own music, we where able to find some copyright free music that fitted in much better with our production.
7. When we re-filmed we made sure that we used a tripod at all times, except for when we needed the camera work to be shaky, for example on POV shots.
8. We did not use voice-overs in our second production.
9. We made more inter-textual reference to both 'Trick or Treat' with our characters representing character from this film, and 'Halloween' because of the attacking in the woods.
10. We brought in new actors for our second production.