Story board

This is our storyboard that i did to show how our film will be like.

Photos we used in our piece

Jenni Dack took these photos and many more of Mouseholds woods for our piece.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Since we wanted to target teens and young adults, I believe that also other audiences may be interested such as those who are interested in factual films (films to do with real life events) as ours was about the Steve Wright murders.

Prezi evaluation

Prezi link: http://prezi.com/7ugsqmwqz0ji

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

Looking back at the preliminary task, i felt that this was more hader, even though it was only the opening of a film. I felt this because, in the preliminary task all we needed to do was to have someone enter a room with some dialogue then leave, and with th ain task, we ad to create an idea for a film and create the opening, which there was more thought and planning to do.
Usually as a member of an audience when watching films, you don't seem to notice all the hard work that is put into it. I felt that we could have done better, as now I have better understanding of how the different media forms come togther. To improve I think that we needed more filming, such as more of the victim running and then lying on the ground dead.

What kind of media institution might distribrute your media product and why?

Hammer Film Productions would be ideal to distribrute our product as they are known for their horror/thriller films, such as the 'Hammer House of Horror' series and 'Dracula'. So therefore our product would appeal to them as we are attempting to make a thriller and have a similar target audience. Another company such as Warner Bros. may be ideal as they distributed Sweeney Todd, which was one of the films i looked into to create our piece.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Our target audience was teens and young adults. So in order to attract our target audience, we used elements from Sweeney Todd (which was also targeted at the same audience) and we used the opening song. We also used teens in our piece, and therefore would attract our target audience.

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

When editing our work for the preliminary task, I found it hard as I have never used the software before, so when editing the main task, I found it easier but still I had trouble with the sound etc. I felt as a whole that after more experience with the software, I would then find it more easier. Also technology changes through the years, and so would be useful to have experience.

In what ways does your mendia product use, develop or challenge form and conventions of real media products?

After looking at films that are similar to the genre, we then knew what elements would make a thriller film. We used the opening song from Sweeney Todd. But because of copyright reasons, we would need to have permisson.

How does your media product represent parrticular social groups?

Social groups are used in media and are easy to identify. We used teachers, students and news reporters and represent them as we see them.
The Teachers were laid back and they wore clothing that fitted the subjects that they were teaching. For the history teacher (played by Nik Jones), he wore plain clothing such as plain trousers and a waistcoat. For the P.E. teacher (played by Libby O'Leary) wore tracksuits and a sports top.
The students (played by Jack and Whitney) were just in their normal clothing, as they were just playing characters in their own age group.

Costume and set

For our characters, the costumes was easy as they were simple.

Victim: wearing normal everyday clothing such as jeans in order to make it naturalistic.
Teachers: The teachers wearing clothing that is associated with their subject. For example P.E. teacher is wearing tracksuit and sports top and the history teacther wears plain clothing.
News reporter: after looking at news report, i noticed that they were normal clothing but is smart and casual e.g. plain colour coat, top etc.)
Students: the people who was playing these characters would just wear thier normal clothing, as they were playing characters their own age.

The set was simple. We used Jenni's living room for the news report as the room had plain walls and the sofa was plain.

Opening sequence of Sleepy Hollow

Sleepy Hollow

This film was also directed by Tim Burton. The curse of the headless horseman is the legacy of the town of Sleepy Hollow. After the head of a horseman is stolen, the horseman returns from hell to take the head of the people of Sleepy Hollow until its own is returned.

At the opening of the film, smoke appears from the bottom as tittles apear and fade in and out with all the different people involved with making the film such as: ditrubritor/production/director and cast. then is cut to a scene where we see melted wax hit the envolope which at first could be seen as blood because of the colour. Then cuts to a couple holding hands and have a close up of a letter, and we then see the camera moving as though it is reading it. Bird eye view of somone writing a letter and dipping in a pot for ink.

I believe that this is linked to our idea, as this is also about murder, but not just one type of person.

Link to trailer:

Opening sequence of DeathNote

DeathNote

This film is based on the anime and manga (Japanese animation and comic).
The film was originally made in japanese, but was dubbed into english (kept the actors just dubbed over them with the english anime cast).

This film is about Light, who finds the deathnote which is dropped on Earth by a shinigami (death god) named Ryuk. The Death Note grants its user the ability to kill anyone whose face they have seen, by writing the victim's name in the note book.

The film opens up with a establishing shot of the city during the night as there is a dark sky. Then camera then zooms in as though it is flling fom the sky, and stops at a section of the city then moves again and stops at another area. We see the city at night time, and therefore is dark, which gives the idea of something scary may happen.

This film i believe is similiar to our Steve Wright ideas, as the character in the film belives that he is doing the right thing by killing of the criminals of the world, and so targets a certain type of people. Steve Wright also targets ceratin types of people (Prostitutes). So therefore this was helpful for our piece.

Evaluation of two minute task

For our task, we were aiming to create a thriller/drama about the Ipswich murders (Steve Wright). For the opening credits and scene, we decided to have a mixture of different media forms (film and pictures). Our opening scene would contain clips of the victim running away, and then it cuts to the news report. The first thing that would appear on the opening credits would be a newspaper article about the murder which would then lead to the film. Also there would be location shots appearing; they would represent the crime scene photos. Our main target audience would be teens and young adults, as it wouldn’t be suitable for younger children, because of violence.
At first, we had trouble thinking of an idea, as none of us could think of anything. We then decided that we wanted to have ours as a thriller/ drama like Sweeney Todd (2007 film) and looked up about the modern Jack the Ripper (Steve Wright), and therefore decided that this was what our piece was based on. We had to make sure that we didn’t make it look like a documentary. We had some trouble with illness from all of us, and so could film at some points. We also had to rethink the opening sequence as we felt our original idea wouldn’t work. When we first managed to film and go onto the editing stage, we noticed that there were many errors, and therefore decided to redo the whole filming. We used some friends for the interview and used Jenni’s living room as her room was perfect for the news sofa, as her wall was plain.
When editing, i choose to have the title at written over a blood background, as this would go into the idea of thriller straight away to the audience. At first i found it difficult to edit as it was different to the software that i have at home, but i manage to figure it out. I feel that we could have done better in this task, if we manage to be more organise as people were away and this couldn’t have been helped.
Looking back at the preliminary task, i felt that this was more harder, even though it was only the opening of a film. I felt this because, in the preliminary task all we needed to do was to have someone enter a room with dialouge then leave, and with the main task, we had to create an idea for film and create the opening, which there was more thought and planning to do.

Planning Main Task

We decided to have a mixture if photo and film. The photos would contain eerie places and a newspaper article . The filming would be the Victim running away from the muderer (Steve Wright) and then a news report about the murder, interviewing children and teacher from the school the victim is from.
Cast:
Victim: Jenni Dack
News Reporter: Jessi Rabicano
P.E. Teacher: Libby O’Leary
History Teacher: Nik Jones
Two Teens: Jack and Whitney

Changes we made for the main task

We decided to change the opening layout. We will still be using thriller/drama as the genre. We decided to have snapshots of scary gothic places still, but then goes to a live news report, (which i will playing the role of the news roporter) which then snaps to the victim running, (which will be played by Jenni) it will then go back to the new and flash back to the victim again. We decided to do this instead, as we wasnt sure our other ideas was good for time wise.

Opening sequence of Sweeney Todd: the demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd

Directed by Tim Burton.

This film is based on a true story in London.
The film is about a barber (Bejinman Barker), who was sent away, by this jugde. As the judge, wanted to get rid of him in order to have his wife. He returns many years later and finds out that his wife is dead and the judge has his daughter. Sweeney Todd (aka Bejinman Barker), then decideds to take revenge and goes on a killing ranpage.

On the opening sequence, the colour is all dark (e.g. black and grey etc) and there is a srteam of blood that moves around and the music in the background goes with the movement of the blood flowing, which is fast and is eerie to go into the ideas of a thriller.

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_hgrfVIJA

Planning on Main Task

For our main task we decided to make a thriller/ drama for our opening. We looked up about Steve Wright and decided to show the uprising of him and his victims. This will not be a documentary, it will be as a film representing him.
For the begining, we have snapshots of gloomy and eerie places around Norwich e.g. The Cathedral, Castle etc. We still havent yet decided of which to show these places either as photos or film with slight movement. then we would show the victim running away.

This would be the kind of snapshots that would be revelvant. But would be black and white to create a darker effect, and would contain no people.

Evaluation Of The Preliminary Task!

In our preliminary task, we had to make a short film of someone entering a room say a few lines of dialogue to the other character, who is already in the room, then leave again. We had to think about props, location and genre of the scene. Our Genre was a comedy spoof on a police drama. We showed this when the first 10 to 20 seconds are serious, when the investigator (Jenni Dack) is entering the room and the f irst part of the dialogue. The comedy comes in when the accused (Whitney Mckernan) misunderstanding the question. For example, the investigator says “we all know the truth we all know that you’re the murderer” and the accused replied “what! what was that about a hamburger?”
Firstly, we had to look at the location, costumes and props. For the location, we looked at a room from Sprowston high school, but it was unavaliable, as we could only film at certain time, which we couldn’t do. So we had to find another location, we had troubles finding a location but we found a place which was appropiate for our filming. We filmed at a room at Sewell park college.
We also had problems with costumes as we had a problem. So the we had to change the character costumes. At one point we had the accused as a old woman, who has trouble hearing, but we didnt have the costume for it, so then we changed it to a foriegner, who has trouble undestanding english. The investigator was dressed smartly, wearing dark and dull clothing, as we were using a represntation of an investigator. The accused would contrast the investigator, the accused wore colourful clothing.
Originally we were going to have many props for our filming. For example, we were going to have the investigator smoking and used a unlight cigerette and smoking machine, but since there were problems getting the snoke machine we decided to change it. We were also going to use a walking stick as part of the old woman; we could not get one in time for the filming.
When editing, we realised that we didn’t do the 180 degree rule. We also have got an error on the final piece, we noticed this when we finnished editing. Time was a problem for us, as the person that is in the film was ill, but we managed to get the filming done at the end. From doing this task we (as a group) realise to make sure that we get everything done and to be more organised with props.

Answers to Questions…..Media Premiliary Task

1. We first decided on what we were going to do, and then we sorted out what we needed and where we were going to base it (location). We manage to find most of the costume for then characters and props. We then had trouble find some of the props and clothing for the old woman, so we decided to change the character to a foreigner, which made it easier for props and costume. We first had trouble finding the location for the filming, as it is a police investigation interview, we eventually found a room at the sewell park site and manage to film. We didnt use much props for a task, so therefore wasn’t a big issue. We first thought of what genre we wanted it to be and what about, once we decided on that we developed the script.
2. We were originally going to use a real cigerette, but we decided to either use a fake one or a smoke machine, in case for health and safety reasons. But since we couldn’t access a smoke machine, we did not use it.
3. When making the script we all had ideas and we made them into the script. When we created the storyboard we divided it in four (person enters, beginning of convosation, end of convosation and leaving the room.) We wrote on the storyboard any sound, lighting and what camera shot will be used.
4. We knew who was going to do the acting so first we decided on the costume the characters would where (old woman and the investigator) and then we decided on the actor who will be playing them. But this soon change because of props and costumes we not accessible for filming. We then thought where the appropiate location would be and like. We wanted a room with clear walls, like an interview room. Then we discusted what props we were going to used.