Evaluation - Looking back at your preliminary task (continuity editing task) what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Since doing the preliminary task, I feel I have made outstanding progress to now. I have learnt so many new techniques. At first in the premilimary task I didn't know how to turn the camcorder on, then towards the end of completing the opening sequence of our film, I was able to use a camcorder, connect it to the computer and edit the shots on Adobe Premiere.
Here are some things I have learnt:

• Tromboning - this was a major problem in the pre-lim task and we manged to master it during our actual film. I also learnt when to use the different types of camera angle (long shots close-ups) and understand the right times to use them.
• Editing was the major thing I learnt as I knew absolutely nothing about it when I first started my coursework. Bur during the process of making the film i learnt about transitions, how to dip to black, cross cutting and editing the opacity (which occurs a lot in our film).
• I managed to learn how to put all the footage on a timeline.
• Continuity - we ensured all people starring in the film wore the same clothes on filming days for the simple fact of continuity.
• I also learnt the importance of mise en scene. We filmed our shots with poor mise en scence at first, but after some constructive criticism from our teacher, we went to a better location and filmed the shots again.

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

Before starting this project I have never experienced using a camcorder or tripod before. I didn't really know much about camera shots and angles either. Also, I had never heard of 'Adobe Premiere', the editing software we used to edit the film.
As we began to start filming I got used to working the camera and tripod and learnt how to film a great range of camera shots and angles. This is me using the camera and tripod whilst filming the performance shots:

Further in the process, after we had filmed all the required shots we went on to using the Adobe Premiere editing software. It seemed extremely complex at first to me, but as I used it more and more it became simpler and I was able to edit quite well. I learnt how to arrange clips on the timeline, fading and dissolving clips, how to use special FX, and how to use the opacity, as this occurs throughout our film.

Here is a screen grab of some of the editing I have done:

 

  (This was done using the opacity technique, with text included)

(This is an example of me arranging the clips onto a timeline)




We also used a range of other technologies to produce our film:


1. Adobe Premiere - this a complete movie editor software solution. You can organize, create, enhance, and share home movies on here and I used it to edit and create my film. It is easy to get the hang of and I picked up how to edits clips quickly.

2. Photoshop - to produce edit the film title 'Stage girls'. Photoshop is an image manipulation tool where we can edit the colour and contrast of a picture, whilst taking things out of the image.

 

3. Facebook - I posted the film on my facebook profile to get feedback because Facebook is used by lots of teenagers and would be a good way of getting feedback of people around my age.

4. Google - we used an image of a mirror off Google for the Film title. Google has a wide range of images which people can take and edit (photoshop). It is used worldwide and this is how I found my image..

5. Editing keyboard - used to edit the film by quickly clicking shortcuts on the keyboard.

6. Blogger - 'Blogger' is googles free tool for creating blogs. Blogs, short for web-logs, are a form of online journal, this is where we kept a diary of our progress/ planning.

< screen grab of me blogging at an
                                                             earlier stage.

Evaluation - How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract a wide audience, we ensured the setting and locations were realistic and believable. We used a typical teenage girl (Alex) as the main character, so young teenage girls would be able to relate to her.

We also had lots of things that would appeal to the audience, such as a complicated story that kept the audience guessing, throughout the sequence we had music playing making the plot seem tense, making the audience anxious and also excited, and want to watch the whole film!

I posted our film on my Facebook profile. We got lots of positive feedback about the film, here are some of the comments:

- "Well done, you can really feel the tension. Definitely A grade standard."

- "I love it! It leaves you thinking 'what's happened?' And so you want to watch more.  Well done!"

- "I had to watch it twice to understand what is happening, but great camerawork and editing skills."

- " I liked it Kayla! Felt a bit scared when that guys stood behind the curtain at the end! Feel like shouting...."watch hes behind you!"

 

Chloe, another member of our group also posted the film onto Youtube. We received lots of positive feedback on that too.

So, overall we are pleased with lots of great feedback from the film. The people giving feedback were also teenagers and I feel it's great that they enjoyed it so much and felt that they could relate to it.

Evaluation - who would be the audience for your media product?

This is Bethany O'Grady. She is 17 years of age and lives in the Ightenhill area of Burnley. She dresses with an 'Indie' style and enjoys hanging out with her friends, shopping, listening to music, dancing and watching films. She enjoys a range of films such as chick flicks, dance movies and also movies that make you think. I.e - psychological thrillers. I regularly watch films of a thriller genre with Bethany and she seems to really enjoy them. She typically watches TV programmes such as 'Marchlands' - a psychological drama, 'Emmerdale' and music shows.
Bethany is a typical 17 year old teenage girl, and I think our film will appeal to her because it is all about girls performing (Beth likes dance) and about keeping a true and strong friendship (Beth likes spending time with friends). She enjoys films of the thriller genre such as Taken, Silence of the Lambs and Psycho.

Evaluation - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Our film would be put out by a small British outlet such as WARP productions, as our film would actually be a low budget British film.
A company creates ideas and motion pictures, TV programmes and adverts etc. They may also find funding for the products they produce. WARP productions have produced films such as 'This is England' and 'Four Lions'.

   

WARP productions tend to look into giving a ordinary picture of British life, and work off quite a low budget. They get funding from outlets like the National Lottery and the UK Film Council, they have funded St. Trinian's and Kidulthood who have influenced us hugely.

('WARP' logo taken from http://www.google.com/)

Our film fits into the types of films that WARP studios produce. It is gritty, set in Britain and centres around everyday people lives.

Evaluation - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our film has a positive representation towards teenage girls today. It shows girls who have true friendship and girls who play  classical music, and so avoids the perception of teenagers drinking, taking drugs which is usually what is seen as the typical negative stereotype.  

It also shows girls to be wary  of some men who may be seedy and dangerous. It stereotypes young men as sneaky, perverted dangerous, and so there is a sinister/negative representation of men.

Our film also shows characters from a different ethnic background, i.e Asian. Our characters are like that of Bend it like Beckham characters, which also represents middle class teenage girls of different ethnic groups. Because shaista, who is of an asian background, is not wearing the stereotypical clothes ie, burka, this has a positive impact too.

So, our film will appeal to a wide range of teenage girls of different ethnic origins.

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

The title of the film.



Our film title is shown at the end of the opening sequence. It was produced by using an image from http://www.google.com/ and editing it on Photo shop. The contrast and brightness was edited to make the title look more effective and how I imagined it to be.

The title 'Stage Girls' resembles the fact that there is a stalker who follows girls who perform on stage. This sort of title may not be common in psychological thrillers in, for example, 'Silence of the Lambs'. However, my film is all about mystery, and because the title doesn't give away that the film is a psychological thriller, the audience would be pleasantly surprised and feel hooked to watch the rest of the film, after watching our opening sequence.

Setting/Location.



My location shot is outside the theatre and then inside the theatre. This links to the title of 'Stage Girls' I shot the theatre as empty, to show that there will be an element of mystery and mind games within the film, and this is reflected in the shot of the empty stage. The film 'Taken' has an element of mystery and comes under the thriller genre, this uses empty location shots. Our shots, obviously are much more simple than the shots in massive movies like 'Taken' but I still feel it gives a great effect and feeling.

Costumes and props.

Every film has costumes and props, and this is a typical media convention. In my film you can see the stage girl dressed in an evening gown, this is the costume. She is playing the piano, the piano is the prop. Like may films in the thriller genre, we closely relied on costumes and props to make the film clear and see the characters journeys. For example, Kim from 'Taken'.

Camerawork and editing.

This frame shows the transition between Alex waking up and Shaista and I about to be kidnapped. We have used the 'layering' effect and made the two shots opaque by reducing the opacity. This gives the effect of one character thinking about the other character they have been layered onto. In this shot, Alex is waking up and thinking about where her friends have gone. We have also used a close-up shot in this where Alex wakes up, this gives a great feeling of emotion towards her, it is very dramatic.

Here is another close up, this time of the stalker sniffing the scarf that Shaista dropped. This is a 'creepy' element and we really want to make the audience feel scared of the stalker, so we used a close up to emphasise this.






Title font and style.

Our production company title 'M.A.S.C Productions' is a combination of our group members initials. When we realised it was pronounced like 'mask' we thought it would be witty to add two theatre masks to our logo. This adds the element of irony to the production title.
The title 'Stage Girls' in the mirror, has a girly element, but because the writing is in a thick black font it also gives the impression of gloom and darkness, which our film reflects.

Story and how the opening sets it up.

The opening gives a sense of mystery, the fact that someone is waking up makes would already make you ask questions such as 'what is she waking up from?'. Because the film's genre is a psychological thriller we do not want to give too much away too soon, a lot of people who have watched the film do not understand what is going on, but after watching it a second time they understand that myself and Shaista are performers who are getting stalked and have gone missing, and Alex, the girl waking up is looking for us and remembering shots from where she's seen us last. We have used a lot of layering, this is to show Alex remembering and having flashbacks of different shots. This sets up the scene for the whole film as it will be based on Alex trying to find us with lots of twist and turns.

Genre and how the Opening suggests it.

Because we have used a piano playing over most of the opening, it gives a eerie effect and gives a sense of mystery. The layering effect also gives the impression of flashbacks and mind games, hence our genre being based on mind games with it being a psychological thriller.

How characters are introduced.

Alex is first shown on screen, and she appears to be waking up lost. She has a worried expression and therefore she would be seen as a serious character.
Then there's myself, playing the piano, I would come across as a creative character as I am a performer on stage. But, as I am shown screaming with Aaron behind us this shows I am young and naive.
Shaista is introduced slightly with me, walking in the park, dropping her scarf and screaming. She also is a performer but later will also be seen as naive and unaware until being kidnapped.
Aaron is the male stalker who follows girls who perform on stage. He is introduced watching the girls, picking up Shaistas scarf and sniffing it. This shows he is psychologically unstable and will make the audience understand our genre more.

Special FX.

Our film contains lots of special effects, varying from slow motion, change in opacity, 'staggering' effect as alex regains conciousness. The opacity technique is used to show alex's memories and what she remembers from where she remembers her friends. the slow motion adds to the dram and tension of the film.

Last touches & editing on the film!

Today we have finished editing finally! We needed to touch up on the lighting, brightness and contrast. Because the film is a 'psychological thriller' we needed to make it more doom and gloom, because before the shot were all fairly bright and the film didn't seem to have a mysterious effect.




1.) Opacity - By reducing the opacity it makes the footage more transparent.

2.) Brightness and Contrast  - Makes the footage  brighter/darker less/more colourful to add effect and atmosphere to the scene.

By adding Brightness and Contrast and changing Opacity you click on the footage that you would like to edit and go onto Opacity which originally will be on 100.0% and then using your mouse click on the number and the mouse arrow will change to a horizontal arrow and then slide the mouse left or right to adjust the darkness of the clip. Same with Brightness and Contrast Slide the numbers to change the Brightness and how colourful you want it.

After looking at our footage and there have been some problems with the Brightness and Contrast edits. We have made some of the footage darker and some of them brighter, to make the some scenes look less busy and not too complicated so that the audience won't get the plot or loose interest. So we took the footage from the Video 1 panel on the time line for the performance pieces of Me and Chloe realised she had placed in the Effects Controls the Brightness and Contrast settings twice so she removed both and edited the Opacity instead. She has edited the Opacity on other pieces of Footage so that it didn't look like it was becoming darker and then lighter when it shouldn't do, looking like it was fading in and out.

We all are really pleased with the overall outcome of the film. we feel that the footage is much better and has progressed well. The film has more of a understanding and now is tied up and finished.

Thursday 31st March

Today I was away on a University Convention Trip, But Alex made some changes to the video to make sure that the audience understood what is going on.

Here she has put the screaming of Me and Shasta at the beginning where she wakes up, as though waking up from the screams...

I think the plot is now so much easier to understand as Alex can be woken up from the screams and remembers she has to start looking for them knowing that they have gone missing.

Here she has put added another layer of the Close up of Alex again to give a better effect of the awakening from the uunconsciousness...

Here she has put the Logo at the end. This makes people want to know what happens and now knowing the title of the film can give a better understanding of the story and how the title can be related to the characters "Stage Girls" knowing that the girls are performers and that they are being stalked (Aaron stalking them from behind the curtain and sniffing the scarf).

Here she has made the scene where she is running over the bridge and the piano overlay darker to give a more mysterious and dark atmosphere a sort of gloom and sadness that she has lost her friends...

 

Process of making the 'Stage Girls' Title of the film

 Today we finalised our film title 'Stage Girls'. It was a simple process, we saved an image off google and uploaded it to photo shop, as we wanted to edit it slightly to make it look more effective, here are the stages....



This is the original picture taken from www.google.com we copied it to photo shop and decided to smooth the edges out. So by using the blur tool the edges become softer which allows us to edit the edges better through the Eraser process.

 We uploaded the picture and cropped it using the lasso tool. The magnetic Lasso tool is easier to use as it finds the areas you want to crop, attaching itself to the areas you are going round with you mouse and therefore makes the cropping process easier and makes the picture look smooth.

 

 

Here we have edited the lights by going to Filter - Render - Lighting Effects. We found this was different to that in Photo Impact 10 but the Cloning and the Eraser tools are similar.



This is the finished product, our film title which appears in the film!

 



Screen grabs from editing

Today I got some screen grabs of our working progress of editing our film. Here are some I have uploaded

Windows effects controls. Here you can change opacity, then see how it looks, and you can also blend video 1 + 2 footage together.

Over lapping the footage of the piano and the hospital shots.

Another example of layering/overlapping.

Text box for text controls, and to add text to footage etc.

Beginning to use the editing software...

Today I have looked at the editing software for Adobe Premier. We have now started on a working progress of our film and are all finally beginning to get used to editing. Here is what I have learnt about the editing software so far:

1 - Panel, footage, text and pictures are imported here.

2 - This is where effects audio a videos are added.

3 - This is the editing screen where you can edit individual pieces of footage.

4 - This is the editing technique for footage you want to use. There is a marker to mark the start of the footage you want to use.

5 - This is the last marker, which shows where you want your required footage to end.

6 - This is a scroll for when a long piece of footage is imported, it makes it easy to find the piece of footage you want.

7 - This is where I can have complete control over rewind, fast forward and speed.

8 - This is where you put your markers, and where you can click it and drag it onto the timeline.

9 - This shows whether the footage has been rendered or not, if the marker is red, it has not been rendered. This ensures all the effects run smoothly.

10 - This is the video overlay, where you can put one piece of footage over the other, or text over footage etc.

11 - This is the main line of footage, and no text.

12 - this is where audio is imported.

13 - Where the soundtrack is imported.

14 - Where you can watch the full preview of the film to see what it looks like.

Friday 18th March - Starting on editing

Now we have all the shots we need, we can start editing the film and we ahve lots of deas for this. We are all relieved to have finished filming and now we can focus on editing it to look fantastic and make sure our blogs are up to date. Today we put all the shots we were using on a the timeline and began editing.
First, we produced the Production Title, and Opening credits of the 'producer' and 'director'. It looks great when played together. Now we can start editing and producing our opening of the film. Its very exciting.

Thursday 17th March - Filming session 3/4 and change of plan

Today we had the idea of Alex waking up in the middle of a street remembering her friends (Me, Chloe and Shaista) as we are missing and Alex is having flashbacks of where we could be and things she remembers. We filmed Alex led on a cobbled road and waking up, although We had a slight problem, she wasn't wearing the same clothes that she was wearing on Tuesday. So we had to make sure we only got her head and shoulders. We had Alex to wake up in shock to show that she was unconscious for a long time. As well has this we filmed me and Shaista doing the performance piece and we wanted Aaron to be in this too behind the curtain watching us. Chloe used a zoom on him with me in the shot playing the paino, oblivious to him. Chloe then filmed a point of View shot from behind the curtain.

Tuesday 15th March - Filming session 2

Today me and Chloe were going to do the performance shots again, but unfortunately I was unwell and didn't feel up to it, so instead we went to the park to film. Because Chloe is the person with the most experience of using a camera, it was decided that it was going to be Shaista and me walking in the park with Aaron taking pictures of us. So, we went to the park with the camera and tripod and Chloe began filming and over-the-shoulder shot of Aaron holding a camera behind a tree, taking pictures of me and Shaista walking through the park. Also, we could re-film the poor shots (on college grounds) of Alex running looking for us in a better location, next to a train line, on a bridge, in the park etc. This would overall set a great mise-en-scene and engage to audience.
The outcome of today filming has been brilliant. We've got some great shots from all different distances and angles. We also came up with the idea of filming empty shots and deserted places to give a sense of emptiness and give the audience something to think about. So, we went back and filmed swings swinging empty, an empty train line and empty woods. Now we are going to the editing suite to put the shots together and edit to make it all look really effective.
Here are a couple of pictures of the filming for today...


Chloe setting up the tripod and camera ready to start filming...



The pieces of footage now being edited...

Thursday 10th March - Change of plan

Today I thought we should have a change of plan considering the story and the plot. My idea was to film Aaron (the stalker) taking pictures of me and Chloe walking in the street and in a dark room pinning picutres of us on a wall. I thought we should still use the camera flash which would be consistent throughout our film as it gives a good effect and relates to what the film would be about.
Alex had an idea of me and Chloe being tied up and her running through college trying to find us, as well as using the performance and the stalker piece. However, this would be very time consuming.
Overall, we decided to stick with using my piano performance, but using Alex running around parks and deserted areas trying to find me Chloe and now Shaista too. This way it wasn't too complex to film, we could all contribute and if all put together correctly, edit and make it look brilliant.

Wednesday 9th March - Feedback

Today we showed our teacher our footage we filmed from the previous day. He gave us some constructive criticism and advised us to film the shots again as we had quite poor shots. He also said the fact we filmed on sixth form site was an issue as it gave the impression of a poor mise-en-scene, so we decided we would film it again in a better area for a decent mise-en-scene. As time was a major issue now, our group now began worrying the film wasn't going to be shot and edited in time. We decided to use the footage shot of me on the piano, but to film the overall performance again and film the shots of Alex running.

Tuesday 8th March - Filming session 1

Today we filmed the performance of Me and Chloe. I decided to be in the film as i didn't know a lot about how to work the camera, so i participated in the film by acting instead. It took around 30 minuites to get the stage prepared along with the piano, but when it was done we changed into our costumes and started filming. We used a range of camera shots and angles to make the film exciting and effective:

-Mid Shot - From the other end of the piano, camera sitting on the piano
-Close Up  - Of my fingers playing the piano
-Low angle Shot/Tilt - Of me playing the piano
-Bird’s Eye View/Tracking shot/Close up - Along the piano Keys of me playing the piano
-Close up Shot - Of me playing the piano, front view, so you can see my face and half my body  and me playing the piano.

With lots of variety shots it makes the film more exciting and interesting for an audience to watch. If we had the same shots throught the film it would be extremely boring.
We had difficulty trying to get the sound to work, but a friend came and prepared sound and it was OK from there.

Later on Alex and Shaista arrived and so it was now easier to film as we had all four of us. This meant me and Chloe could focus on acting and Shaista and Alex could film.

So, overall today went well. We filmed lots of scenes from the performance which is a massive part in our film, it will all look great once edited.

Here are a few pictures we took whilst in the process...


Camera in place with tripod
 

Capturing good angle shots and pictures of the performance


Me helping with the filming of Chloes solo shots


Pictures for the 'stalker' and good angle shots of the performance


Getting help with the sound sytem


Jenny helping with the panning shots


A shot of the whole stage and piano

Thursday 3rd March - Decision on our group Logo

We have looked at two possible logos for our company. With our name "M.A.S.C Productions" (using all of our initials) we found that it looks like an ironic word of "Mask" so we have decided to have masks has out logo. Here are the two we looked at and what we decided.


We took this image from Google Images and we thought the black ribbons didn't go well, so we uploaded the image into Photo shop. Whilst editing the ribbons out, it left some black marks around the masks where the editing didn't quite erase. Only realising this when we had imported it into the timeline in Adobe Premier Chloe decided to work with Shaista to find another picture. So the group decided that they didn't like the masks so Chloe said she could find another picture from a site called Deviant Art (http://www.deviantart.com/) and found the picture below. 

We found this picture here -  http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=Masks&order=9&offset=24#/dxd4v3. We emailed the owner (voorikvergeet ) and asked permission to use the picture. On Deviant Art they are certain rules people need to follow by, as Chloe is  member on the site for over 2 years she  has learned to respect other artists work. One of the rules which is appreciated a lot is to ask the artist if it can be used for there what ever reason, unless told by the artist in their artists comments that it can be used, it is free or it is free but you must give me link to the work you have used it for.

Here is the final outcome of our logo. The black and red darkness gives and insight the the genre of the film, a psychological thriller. We are very pleased with our logo and hope that the irony and wittiness catches the eye of the audience.