Blog closed

My blog is now closed.

Final video upload trouble

Unfortunately we’ve had trouble with uploading our video to our blogs, therefore its will be given to the moderator via disc.

Evaluation question seven: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to its full product?

Evaluation question six: What have we learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I've a lot about technology throughout the process of constructing our media product. The first piece of technology we were introduced to was Adobe PremierePro, unfortunately we haven't had the best experience with this software. Whilst editing our preliminary task we go to grips with how to edit and export videos, however when it came to editing and exporting our final video it became very difficult to use. At our school all of the computers are linked together therefore it made the software very slow resulting in it being very difficult to use. This prolonged our editing time, which meant we had less time in the end to make any final changes. Overall I've learnt how to use a new piece of software and how to edit videos by using effects, transitions and cuts.

We were also shown how to use Blogger. This allowed us to record the process of use research and planning our opening sequence. I learnt how to create a blog, update it and continue adding to it over the course of a few months.

We chose to film our opening sequence using one of our group members camera as it was better quality than the ones provided by the school. The camera we used was an Fujifilm S2995 Digital Bridge Camera, this alongside the tripod made it easy to film the shots we had imagined. We learnt that the quality of the final product does has an effect on how your video is portrayed. The tripod enabled us to film our opening without it being shaky, it made the final product look smooth. We learnt that this is very important.







Our opening sequence features narration, we chose to recorded this in the sound booth our school has as we thought it would make it sound more professional. None of us had even seen the sound booth therefore we didn't have a clue how to work it. Mr. Norman taught us the basics on how to record and use some of the equipment in order for it to sound its best. Whilst being in the sound booth we also had to learn a few things on the computer, whilst Sky was recording her voice into the microphone using the software Audacity, Mollie edited the clips into order on the computer. We have now all learnt how to use the sound booth to record.







Lastly we use Prezzi to present our work on both our blogs and in font our class. By using Prezzi we have learnt a new and different way to create presentations, which i'll use in the future.

Evaluation question five: How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation question four: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our target audience for our film is females between the ages of 13 to 25. It's mostly likely that our main audience will be students meaning they come under Group E. Our expected audience would mostly likely be into films similar to our such as The Lovely Bones, Dorian Gray and The Others. We aimed our film towards females as due the genre most males wouldn't be interested in watching. Their interests will include reading magazines such as vogue; they will also listen to soft calming music like Adele, older music or unknown bands. The programmes they would watch are TV Dramas, Skins and Misfits etc. When they go to the cinema the genre of film their most likely to watch is fantasy or thriller. These girls could shop in vintage and retro sort of shops as that is where they sell old fashioned clothes and they wear that sort of style in our opening.

Evaluation question three: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The production company that we believe would most likely distribute our media product is Film 4, as they are an independent film company. Our film 'Her name is Alice' would be made on a low budget therefore would fit in with the media products Film 4 already produce. The films Film 4 normally invest in are of the same genre and similar story line to ours therefore their consumers would most likely want to watch our film too.

We would show the Film 4 company about our story outline and show them a clip from it so that they can see whether they want distribute it through their company. This is usually a group of people that we would have to introduce our film to, in order for it to be agreed upon in order for it to distributed.

Below is the Film 4 logo:

Evaluation question two: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

I've chosen nine still frames from our opening sequences that I believe develop or challenge forms and conventions of the fantasy genre.

Frame one: Use of costume and props

In this frame you can see two of the main characters in our film, Alice to the right and Rosie to the left. The costumes we chose reflect the era in which our films set in - the 60's. We did a lot of research into our costumes, Rosie's costume consists of a cream blouse and black dress with her hair in a half up and down style. Alice is wearing denim like button up skirt with a vintage looking blouse which really ties in with the era our film is set in.Both of the costumes were chosen as they portrayed the age of the characters, young teenagers from the 1960’s.

For the most part of our opening sequence the only person to be visible is Alice riding her bike through country roads and paths. Alice’s bike is the only prop used in the opening. Luckily we had access to a bike that looked like it was from the 60’s, the era in which our film is set in.

Frame two: Creating the enigma

It’s important to show enigma in our opening as our film’s genre is thriller/fantasy. We created the enigma by fading Rosie in and out of the shots she’s in to make the audience intrigued. This also creates a mystery around her as a character. Our story is quite complicated to portray in the opening as Alice is in fact a ghost rather than alive, but by showing Rosie fading in and out it gives the impression there’s a difference between the two characters.

Frame three: On location

This image shows where the majority of our opening sequence was filmed. Our sequence starts with Alice going on a journey on her bike to meet her friend in their favourite place. This long remote pathway is located in Glinton, which is not too far from our school. We chose this location as its surrounded by greenery and not many people are around which made it fit perfectly into our opening as we couldn’t show anything that wouldn’t have been around in the 60’s. There is a round to the right but as we aren’t using any audio from our clip it doesn’t matter.

Our second location is small field near to one of our group member’s house. It was a clear open field making it perfect for the part of our opening where Rosie and Alice meet up. It also shows Rosie is a secret to Alice as she doesn’t want to be around people with her.

Frame four: Font

We use the same font throughout the opening sequence until our title at the end, but the colours are consistent. Most films keep their fonts consistent therefore we chose to do this too. We chose a black and white theme to portray the era our sequence is set in. The white stands out against the darker colours in the shots which creates a contrast.

Frame five: Portraying the genre

The genre we based our opening around is thriller/fantasy. We portray the genre in many different ways throughout the sequence. Firstly, the entire film is shot in black and white; we chose this because it’s set in the 60’s however it also adds a sense of mystery. Flashbacks are also used in our opening which many other thriller films use. We thought it would be a good way to show the story of Alice’s life and what it’s become. When Rosie fades in and out of shots shows an element of the fantasy genre as it would suggest she’s not your average person. The tone of the voice in the narration paints a dark place in your mind giving the sense of a thriller. The field in which they both sit in is quite secluded which shows they shut themselves off from the world, making them ‘abnormal’.

Frame six: Introducing characters

One of the main characters in our opening sequence is shown right at the beginning biking along a pathway. Her character is introduced through both written and symbolic codes. The characters actresses name appear on screen at the same moment shes passing by on her bike, this gives the audience the impress it's the characters name. Alice is featured in every shot apart from the black bird at the beginning this implies she quite an important character. The second character to be introduced in the opening sequence is Rosie. Rosie fades into shot which creates a mystery around her character and presence. The characters are also introduced through the use of narration, Alice - the voice the narration - explains her past and who Rosie is. This gives the audience an insight into who the characters are.

Frame seven: Editing and camerawork

Our opening sequence includes a variety of shots, angles and editing techniques. The shot shows a blackbird flying across the sky, to do this we used panning. This is quite effective as the song we chose is about a blackbird therefore we wanted a shot that would tie both the music and image together. From then on wards the majority of Alice whilst biking are long, we used this to show our prop - the bike. Once Alice and Rosie meet we alternated between two shots and over-the-shoulders shots to show their friendship and conversation. 

For editing we mostly used the cross fade transition as we thought it went well with the image we were trying to portray. Alongside the cross fade transition we used both dip to white and black as these transitions fit in with our colour scheme throughout.

Frame eight: How the story is set up

The main story line of our film is Alice telling the story of her past and how she came to die. However we didn't want to give away in the beginning that Alice was dead, therefore we chose to tell her story through use of narration. We gave subtle hints about Alice's death for instance in the scene with Alice and Rosie, Rosie fades which creates a mystery around that character. The narration used also hints that Alice isn't Alice by using the past tense to explain her life.

Frame nine: Title of our film 'Her Name is Alice'

Our film title is at the end of our sequence, we did this in order to tie the narration with the titles on the screen. The last line of the narration is 'So let me tell you a story, my name is Alice' therefore we thought our title should be shown whilst the last line is read to create an impact and makes it stand out.

The style of title we chose to use is very simple and sticks to the colour scheme of our film, black and white. We used black and white throughout to portray the era our film is set in - the 60's.The font chosen also links with the other font we used, they were both white with similar styles.Another reason why its good to use a simple background is it doesn't give to much away about the film, meaning the audience would want to continue watching. Also this means the title is the main focus as there is nothing around it to distract you.

The lovely bones is a fantasy film, just like ours. Their film title is rather similar in layout and colour. We took inspiration from this title because as a group we really liked it.



Summary of filming

Filming day one:

Our first day of filming was quite unsuccessful. The weather was quite drowsy which meant it was hard to film. The first time we filmed was in January therefore it was rather cold, and we had to film in costume designed for summer. However we did manage to get enough footage to make our rough cut, but it was short. In the end none of the footage from our first day of filming was used in our final cut. 

 

Filming day two:

 

We had a more successful filming day the second time round. We were able to get most of the shots for the scene where Rosie and Alice meet. Also the weather was a lot better which made our film look like it was summer time rather than winter.

 

Filming day three:

We filmed the journey part all in one go. It was a sunny therefore it made it a lot easier for us to film. We chosen a remote area to ensure we wouldn't get people constantly interfering with our filming. We now had enough footage for our final cut.

Filming day four:

 

After watching our first cut we decided to go and re-film some shots as they didn't look as good as we imagined and didn't portray the image we wanted. On our last day of filming we shot some more scenes that feature both Alice and Rosie.

Rough cut

This is our rough cut. It took longer than we expected to create our rough cut therefore it’s less than 80% finished. We forgot to unlink the audio in our rough cut, in our final video the only dialogue will be narration alongside music.

Our teacher as well as other class member gave us feedback on how to improve however it was hard for them to judge what our final edit would look like as it was under 80% finished. The key points to improve on was audio (add in the narration and music), titles (position them differently and add more actors) and change a scene.

Costumes featured

We did a lot of research into what costumes we should wear in our opening, as they needed to fit in with the decade we were trying to portray. To the left is Rosie, her costume consists of a cream blouse and black dress with her hair in a half up and down style. 

In the image to the right you can see our film’s main character Alice. She’s wearing denim like button up skirt with a vintage looking blouse which really ties in with the era our film is set in.

Both of the costumes were chosen as they portrayed the age of the characters, young teenagers from the 1960’s.

Props featured in our opening

For the most part of our opening sequence the only person to be visible is Alice riding her bike through country roads and paths. Alice’s bike is the only prop used in the opening. Luckily we had access to a bike that looked like it was from the 60’s, the era in which our film is set in.

Here’s an example of the bike used:

Final filming locations

When we initially decided on our film locations we didn't take into account how long it would take to get there with the equipment we needed to be able to film. For our rough cut we filmed at one location which can be seen below:

The problem with filming the whole of our opening in this area was there wasn’t enough pathway/road to film the journey part of our film. When we re-watched our rough cut we decided to go re-film the journey in a different location. We all agreed to keep location for the rest of our opening as we liked the look of the miniature field.

The new location we decided on for the journey is indicated in the image below by a pink line. This path was a lot longer than the previous one we used, also no street lights or cars were visible meaning it fit perfectly with the time period in which our film is set in. This location looks a lot better than what the previous one did in the rough cut.

Source: Google maps

Risk assessment

I produced a risk assessment to ensure our filming went as smoothly as it could.

What are the potential problems?	What measures have been taken to prevent this from happening?	Level of risk (1-5)
The battery for the camera could die.	To take two sets of spare batteries with us when filming.	4
Flat tyre on one of our bikes	Have a spare bike for	4
Weather: Rain	Check weather forecasts before planning to film	3
Cars/modern features being visible	Film in remote areas	2

Shot list

We created a shot list to help when filming. Shot lists enable you to get the shots you need quickly as you've already planned ahead. We did all the shots we planned from our storyboard and shot list however we added more that we thought of on the day.

 

This is our shot list:

Shot number: One
Shot description: A blackbird flying across the sky.
Shot location: A field in Gunthrope
Shooting date: 4th March
Shooting time: Afternoon
Shot requirements: The camera pans across the sky following a blackbird flying.
Actors: N/A
Props: N/A

Shot number: Two
Shot description: Alice biking down a long path. 
Shot location: Path located in Glinton
Shooting date: 18th February
Shooting time: Midday 
Shot requirements: Long shot of Alice biking
Actors: Alice
Props: Bike

Shot number: Three
Shot description: Alice entering the field to meet Rosie
Shot location:  Field in Gunthrope
Shooting date: 11th February
Shooting time: Midday
Shot requirements: Long shot panning across Alice entering the field
Actors: Alice
Props: Bike

Shot number: Four
Shot description: Two shot of Alice and Rosie sitting down
Shot location: Field in Gunthrope
Shooting date: 11th February
Shooting time: Midday
Shot requirements: Two shot of Alice and Rosie laughing and talking together
Actors: Alice and Rosie
Props: Bike in the background


Shot number: Five
Shot description: Over the shoulder shot of Alice and Rosie speaking
Shot location: Field in Gunthrope
Shooting date: 11th February
Shooting time: Midday
Shot requirements: Over the shoulder shot
Actors: Alice and Rosie
Props: Bike in the background


Shot number: Six
Shot description: Extreme close-up
Shot location: Field in Gunthrope
Shooting date: 11th February
Shooting time: Midday
Shot requirements: Extreme close-up of Alice laughing
Actors: Alice 
Props: N/A

Filming delay

Filming has been delayed once again due to the weather, on Monday it rained constantly therefore it wouldn’t have been a good idea to film. We have decided to film on the weekend (3^rd February), this is our last chance as our deadline is the following week.

Letter to Apple Records

This is the letter i've sent to Apple Records asking for permission to use their song:

Miss Clark
508 Fulbridge Road
Werrington
Peterborough
PE4 6SD

1^st February 2013

Apple Records
27 Ovington Square
London, SW3 1LJ
ENGLAND

To Whom this may concern,

                                                    I’m currently studying A-Levels at Ken Stimpson Community School. As part of my Media course I have to create a filming opening.

To my knowledge Apple Records owns the rights to the song Blackbird by The Beatles. If this is the case then please may I use the song as part of my opening. The film opening is for educational purposes only and will be only seen by my teacher and the examiner.

If I don’t hear from you then I assume it’s okay for me to use the song.

Yours sincerely,

 

Laura Clark

Possible filming locations

This is one of the possible filming locations, it’s a river just outside of Peakirk. This could be used as part of Alice’s journey:

We will continue to bike around this area as its quite remote therefore hardly any modern cars will drive past that will affect our sequence.

For example this is what the surrounding area looks like:

 

Source: images from Google maps

Change of schedule

We were planning on filming on Monday 21^st January but due to the snow we’ve had to delay filming for a week.

Script: Narration

The only dialogue used in our opening sequence is narration. Sky wrote a piece of narration to go alongside our opening. She used quotes, songs and books as inspiration.

We decided we wanted the narration to be continuous in the opening therefore we split the script up into sentences that could be said with pauses in-between. 

Sky:

When I think of growing older I get a strange feeling in my belly. It’s like, it’s not meant to be.

And if I never grow older, well that will be a comfort.

That’s me. You don’t know about me.

But I know me

Like a black bird carries the sky on its back, I feel like I carry the weight of the world on mine.

I have so much I wanna say but no one to hear it. I just need to there’s someone out there that listens and understands.

I often spend my time out; my family never really acknowledge me.

And if you don’t know where your heading any road will take you there.

I’ve not always been this way, so negative.

My life used to be so good and happy, but you’re not supposed to look back, you’re supposed to keep going.

I used to think it would be nice if thinks made sense for a change, but now that’s all different.

Now I have Rosie, she listens to me and I like that.

We found peace in each other, when I’m with her I’m not alone and nether is she.

And I wouldn’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then. And life doesn’t stop for anyone.

So let me tell you a story, my name is Alice.