The Black Widow; Final Film

This is the final cut for our AS Media studies thriller opening: The Black Widow.

Evaluation Question 7:

Looking Back On Your Preliminary Task, What Do You Feel You've Learnt In The Progression From It To The Full Product? 

First off, here's the task that Charlotte, Daniel and I made called 'The Broken Friendship' back in October:

We then had to do a short evelaution of how we felt after the task: http://www.lasmediagwhs2014.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/preliminary-task.html

Then the process to make our final film began, we learnt alot of things along the way for our final product. That in my opinion turned out pretty successful. 

Alot of planning and preparation went into the final product (Months Worth) from writing scripts and story boards to improving shot types. With our preliminary task we had scripted it and planned shots in 5 minutes to get on with filming and editing. The planning of our final product really helped out alot, by the end of the planning we had a clear vision of what we wanted and what the product would look like. Alot better compared to the foggy ideas we had about the preliminary task.

Mise-en Scene was a big hurdle for us to get over after our original product before the re-shoot, as we actually used the same location as the prelim. We then thought it would defiantly be better to re-shoot in a much more realistic location.

We also learned a big thing that made up our film and that's lighting and colour correction. In our preliminary we had no lighting and we had no idea what a colour corrector was! Now look at us, masters of the colour correcter (well i'd like to think we are) as every scene we did we wanted it to be dark and eerie so we learnt ourselves the wonders a little colour wheel can do. 

When doing the match on action for our final product, it went alot better than what it did previously too! Our actor Ryan didn't have to keep repeating actions as much and the editing was alot smoother. The sound editing too was alot more advance in our final film, adding levels, music and sound effects which is alot more than the prelim, which we just added some music to the start and end of the film.

                                          

Initially our group of Robbie, Charlotte and I got on really well and all our ideas worked really well together. However as we decided that we didn't like our original film Robbie wanted to keep it, so we lost a member of our group so two of us had to share the work load. I've learnt that everyone has to have equal workload so its fair on everyone, especially with the amount of work it takes to produce the product. I also think we learnt alot about time management and how to keep to schedules, where as in the first task everything could be done in the time given with some left, this on the other hand took alot of time with the blogging going on too.

You also have to learn to be very cooperative with the other members of your group as you may not all have the same ideas. Everyone has to be willing to have their ideas made or shot down, either way you must accept it. It also helps if you all get on well too, if you have no relationships with the other group members then you will find it hard to get your ideas across and understand theirs'. I think we were very lucky in that aspect that we were all friends.   

                                        

Overall I'm very proud of what my group have managed to produce of our final film. Looking back at the preliminary task I can defiantly see clear improvements from when we first began till now in alot of areas from planning to filming and editing.

Hopefully in the future I will look back on this and think my skills have improved further. Well I hope they will anyway.

Evaluation Question 6:

What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process Of Constructing The Product?

For to create our product we had to use both software and hardware technologies to make our film the best it can be.

Software: 

• Final Cut Express
• Soundtrack Pro
• Adobe Aftereffects
• Adobe Photoshop
• Celtx
• Microsoft Word/Powerpoint

Hardware:

• Sony HD HXR Camera
• 3 Point Lighting
• iPhones/iPads/Tablets

To present all our work collected, we used online software and websites to produce and distribute it:

• Blogger
• Scribd
• YouTube
• Facebook

Despite all this, I believe that the method we now use in the modern day is alot more efficient that old methods of editing used. When linear editing was used you had to edit from start to finish, with our method we could edit whatever part freely giving us a more creative output. Back in the day, you had to cut and stick film together really where as we just have to press 3 keys on a keyboard and if we want to just nudge a clip along we just use a 'roll tool' to do so. 

Modern filming and editing, defiantly has its advantages over the old style. Yes there are some limitations and problems (That Rainbow Wheel!) but there's nothing that you can't, not do. I am definitely glad that I have acsess to all this technology and really were all very lucky too!

Evaluation Question 5:

How Did You Attract/Address The Audience?

The Thriller genre over all, takes an approach to make the audience think and fill them with suspense. I believe that our film does these things which in hand attracts the audience. When we first began looking at thriller and the conventions they have we came up with theses:

I feel like our film opening does alot of these, maybe only leaving out the ideas of puzzles and tasks. I think it follows the main ones like 'Suspense and Tension' and 'Cliff Hangers' as our film has an obvious cliff hanger at the end. We also used the actors ages to our advantage both of them teenagers that would appeal to our target audience as they would see similarities between the two in themselves. The way they look too, can also appeal to some viewers with the style of clothing also giving them a personality that intrigues the audience.

We asked a few people in the age range of our target audience to watch our film opening and give their opinions about elements of the film. Here are some of the answers to our survey:

As you can see, we received a majority of good feedback from our questions were positive showing that the film and the content was appealing to the target audience. Some people questioned the ending and why Crimson was doing what she was, however I had to stress that this was just the opening of a film and that it is a cliffhanger.

With the evidence to back up the attraction to our film, I believe that we attracted them well with the typical thriller conventions. Alot stated the 'Cliffhanger' at the end makes them want to keep watching and know what happens after, attracting them to watch the full version of the film (if there was one).

Evaluation Question 4:

Who Would Be Your Audience For Your Media Product

The BBFC film classification for our film would be a 12A due to its use of violence and scary nature. However it will not have enough of it to justify a higher BBFC rating. The nature of the film on a whole however, would be more appealing to those of an older age with a mainly male demographic. This would pattern the 'average veiwers' of a thriller movie. Here are a couple of examples from Pearl and Dean:

If you look at the demographics for these movies you see that it is a largley young adult males who

enjoy these types of movies. Giving us the basis  

for our demographic we aimed at.                      

Target Audience Profile

Simon Davies is an 18 year old male is currently in his last year of sixth form at Hydesville Tower School (Private School) in Walsall. For two years he has studied Media, Drama, Business Studies and English and is set to achieve high grades to allow him to continue his Business Studies at the University of Edinburgh. 

Simon currently lives with his parents but is hoping to move away when he leaves for university and live in an apartment in which his parents will pay for the rent. In his spare time, other than playing cricket and rugby, Simon likes to go to the cinema with his friends to see films of the genre, comedy, horror, thriller, action adventure and Sci-fi. 

The most recent film Simon has been to see was Gravity with his mates from school. However he prefers the old school thrillers such as Psycho (the original) and Vertigo. Even though his parents are rather rich, Simon has to work on Saturdays and Sunday at the local shop, stacking shelves and serving customers. His parents don't always give him everything so he has to earn some money for outings to the cinema and buying DVD's when they're on offer at his local ASDA. Simon also has to get himself places in his Black Mini which his parents got him for his 17th Birthday; he only recently passed his driving test after failing first time round.

When he's not watching films at the cinema or at rugby training, Simon likes listening to his music, especially Indie, Rock and some Pop Bands such as Arctic Monkeys, Fall Out Boy and Linkin Park. Simon's friends don't agree with his music taste and so has to socialise with his mates about films and games consoles. His friends love the film genres he is into and so they all go to the cinema in their free time; mostly Wednesdays.

Evaluation Question 3:

What Kind Of Media Institutes Might Distribute Your Products And Why?

This little video is my opinion of Question 3, we both had different views to how our product would be distributed if it was to go out. Here's mine:

Evaluation Question 2:

How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

The two characters in our film are representative of todays teenagers, how they look and act. Due to the idea we had about the 'Hidden Identity' the representation of our female protagonist changed from one end of the personality spectrum to the other. The relationship between the characters is also very stereotypical of modern media with the pairing of a 'Good girl and Bad Boy' relationship seen in films such as Grease, Warm Bodies etc. This is actually subverted too, at first you do think that Crimson is a good girl and Luke is a bad boy. As the story progresses the relationship is revealed to be the other way round.

The sound and dialogue in our film really helped to emphasis the story and who the characters were and how they were represented. The music through out our film creates a very dark and eerie feel to the product. The music and dialogue used as Luke enters the house is used to make the audience believe that he is the bad guy. The tone of the music, being very drum and bass centered  often gives the audience a sense of uncertainty, added with the dialogue and the way the lines are portrayed by the actor they do believe that he is the bad one of the two of them.

The dialogue also aids us in this portrayal in the phone call scene. Crimson is very fearing of Luke and what he's doing, surely if he wasn't bad then she wouldn't fear her own boyfriend. However she shows her naivety when she still lets him come to her house, another classic portrayal of a good girl.  

But I believe that our representations are stereotypical of the social groups we have represented but they are successful stereotypes of the groups. However I believe we could have showed a more clear change between the two personalities. 

Evaluation Question 1:

In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Challenge or Develop Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products?

For our first question we though doing a video to explain the question would best suit it, this should explain our ideas behind our product and how it fits and challenges conventions of films in the thriller genre. Lets hope we didn't forget anything after we scripted it!

Black Widow Final Cut

After months of hard work planning, filming and editing, The Black Widow is complete! We hope you enjoy the film!

Ident Production

For our film production, we had to use idents to complete our film. So we began to look at templates to reflect (pardon me) our production company name. We then put it into 'Adobe After Effects' to edit it into how we want it to look. We also made one for the associated production company 'Rocket Films'.

New Rough Cut

After re-shooting our footage, we have done a new edit of 'The Black Widow'. The only thing that needs to be done now is the ident and the film title that are currently in production. But here is the new rough cut of our film, by Charlotte and I. 

Actor Release Forms

As part of the process our actors must sign a form so we have creative use of their identitties. Here is what they sign for, and if they're under 18 their parents.

Our actors Ryan Bickley (Aged 18) and Ryma Picken (Aged 16) have signed their forms and Ryma with parents permission to follow the terms and conditions:

Original Final Cut

After our feedback, we worked out some kinks in our film and editing. However, two of our group were still not happy with the film (Charlotte and I) so this is our original final cut that Robbie will use as his final film. However Charlotte and I will be posting a second final cut that we will use for our final mark.

Target Audience Feedback and Review

Our target audience we have a range between 17-24 from the feedback we gathered some points that stuck out were:

• Shot of the stones is too long. We get that it is stones and I can hear you have included a SFX but simply pause then within a second Ryma steps in, would be more effective. 

• Almost a jump shot to when the hockey stick is introduced. Feet seem to be in a different position and the cut alludes and tracts attention towards the error.

• 0.35- shadow on the wall. Although not a vital importance, this could also show lack of 3 point lighting technique. Obviously going to be some shadow from normal lighting but this is too much. 
• Phone call SFX- Volume is too loud doesn't sound like a mobile phone. 

• Cut Alex during phone call is too quick. Change cut. 

• When Ryma picks up the teddy to be-head it, we lose the top of the teddys head in the frame. We partially miss the point of focus on the teddy. (i.e. to pull its head off), because of the framing. 

• 1.10 Jump MOA. Alex walking throughout he door, is not smooth. 

• Voice over doesn't mae sense. it is too much like he is actually talking and his lips are just not moving. You need to add effects to the voice ego try and convince us that it is a voice over. 

• Looks as if alex is speaking when he is in Ryma's room, but unsure whether it is the voiceover or alex actually speaking aloud. His lips don't move then they do a little bit- IT"S CONFUSING!"

• Alex picks up the picture of him and Ryma, don't pan to the picture.

Some of the feedback we received, we cannot re-do like (e.g the re-filming) due to our actor not being available to re-film. However over the past few days we've been working on the sound, re-colouring and re-edit of the film. Hopefully it will all work out and be worth it.

Rough Cut

After three weeks of intensive filming and editing we have a rough cut of our film. Alot of hard work has gone into the filming process to get a rough cut done:

We also got some people of our target audience to assess the film and give feedback:

Hopefully the feedback that we have received, will help us create the perfect final cut for our film. Helping us achieve what we want to achieve in our coursework.

Editing of Footage and Sound

Final Cut Express

To edit the thriller we used Final Cut Express to edit the footage together, change to colouring of the images and adding titles to the film. As you've seen in a previous post we turned day into night with the  software this was also a similar process for the colouring to make the film look darker. Here's a screenshot of us editing the film:

Sound Track Pro

To edit the sound for the film we used Sound Track Pro. Sound would appear in different tracks so they could overlap or be edited individually. We added production music and sound effects to the sound that was already present in the film (That would also be edited itself).

Turning Day into Night

For our film, we need to make some outside shots of our film look more like night time. So we began to look for tutorials and we came across this handy video:

This taught us how to colour the film clips into making it look like a gloomy night time scene. Giving a completely different look to the clips that we filmed.

Shooting On Location Day 2

Reflection studios filmed two scenes with our actor Alex. One in Crimson's bedroom and the phone call outside.

We first set up the equipment in the bedroom area due to the bad weather in hope that it would clear up. We briefed the actor to make sure he knew what he was doing. We gave him some time to read over the script and practice his movement and the we set the camera rolling.

We filmed the 'Discovery' scene and then we moved the camera and a reflector outside, only to discover that it was still raining. We all had a discussion whether to go ahead with the filming or not. We all knew that we had to get the filming done, the weather did actually have a positive affect on the filming giving more of a developed atmosphere to the scene.

So that's what reflection studios filmed, only one more day to go!

Shooting On Location Day 1

Today Reflection Studios filmed the 'Wasteland' shots for the thriller opening. This is when a mysterious character is seen walking through the empty area of land with a hockey stick and leaving, never revealing the identity of the character.














We set up all the equipment, waited for our actress to arrive then began the process of filming.Before even considering to film, we ensured that our actress knew exactly what was going to happen and when by showing her the storyboard and animatic of the scene we were about to film. After watching the animatic and explaining the storyboard images we walked our actress through the route and timing of her movement in the scene. 













After all the preparing, it was then time to start filming. The first shot we filmed was the establishing shot of the wasteland to show the audience where they are and set the scene for our thriller before any character enters. This shot took a few takes until we were happy with the smooth pan of the shot.
















Next up was the close up of the gravel followed by the entrance of the mysterious figure. We again walked the actress through the route and timing then ran the camera for the first time.













This shot was then followed by a close up of the feet and the entrance of the hockey stick. This allows us to add suspicion to the figure however we still won't see anything other than the feet at this point. The feet then exit the shot; this was repeated many times to ensure that the feet and the hockey stick were in the exact same shot as the previous one as this will be match on action.














We took a break due to the bad weather then went back to record the last few shots of footage for this location. The last shot filmed today was the hooded figure walking off into the dark alley way, still not seeing the face of the character. The night was drawing and so the 3 point lighting allowed us to brighten up the darker alley we were filming in. 













Once all the film footage for this location was filmed all that was left to do today was collect the location sound. We needed a gravel sound that could be dubbed over the top of the characters feet when they were walking and so we got the actress to repeat the movement she did in the actual scene, making sure she walks at the same pace as she does in the actual film shot.



So that's day 1 of our filming complete so next up is day 2 with the interior and exterior shots at Crimson's house.

Shooting Schedule

So now everything is done and ready for filming. Just one last thing before we start to film: The Shooting Schedule!

Filming Schedule