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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.