Evaluation Question 4- How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Sound

•         We used You Tube to research sound in teaser trailers and find any conventions or inspirations when carrying out  deconstructions 
•         You Tube  was also used in conjunction with  Sound Cloud   to search for uncopyrighted music and sound effects that we later planned to edit and fit to our trailer. However, we did not find any that were appropriate and therefore went on to develop our own sounds.
•          We used LogicPro to layer and combine individual sounds and recorded an audio file of a Music Box  as this was specific and unique to our teaser trailer and fitted with the opening shots of our antagonist playing with a music box as well as reflecting the child like themes. During postproduction we rewound the sound and edited speed in order to create distortion and add horror aspects too the innocent sound.

•  Using iMovie, we then inserted our sound and cut the sound to fit to the image of the trailer.

   Typography

•          To create the main title Title  we used website “myfonts.com” and downloaded the original font. Using Photo Shop we edited the font with “smudge” and “blur” effects to distort it and achieve a smokey effect, which was very effective and consistent with the birthday party theme, especially for the poster as it works parallel to the image of the birthday cake.

•         When creating typography for the tag lines and titles, we had followed conventions found in our research and chose the colour red. However, we felt that we could challenge these forms and pursue our girly child like themes by making the titles a hot pink colour.  Too add a horror aspect, we used a satin effect which creates effects and adds tone to the typography.

        Internet

•  During research and planning we used many websites such as IMDB, You Tube and Sound Cloud. For Construction our teaser trailer, website and poster we used My fonts, Wix.com and iPiccy. We have used Blogger to document all of this research and production.
• Website iPiccy editing tools such as contrast made our Poster  vibrant, fitting with the party theme.

• Wix.com allowed us to make a user friendly website as well as adding feeds from social networking sites such as Twitter , conforming to modern conventions of having links to social networking sites and helping us to appeal to our young audience by using similar technologies to them.

Equipment

•  We used Studio Lighting lamps when filming at our interior dungeon location, as there was no natural lighting. We carried out Video Tests to determine which type of lighting would be most appropriate for each scene. This allowed us to create shadows and glares adding to the horror aspect of our teaser trailer. 
• We filmed some of the apple bobbing torture scene using an underwater camera Underwater Camera   as we thought that this would be effective for showing the agony of the victim as well as disorientating the audience from an unusual angle. However, when editing we found that shots were too close due to the depth of the container that we used. Despite refilming several times and trying different containers and methods, we were unsuccessful and therefore used small snippets of the underwater shots combined with mid shots of the victims head being forced into the apple bobbing bowl.

 

Website: Adding Image, Typography and Twitter Feed

To make navigating more user friendly I used the "Advanced Styles" menu to highlight a link in a different colour when the mouse scrolls over it. Originally, I chose red to conform to horror conventions  but after discussion we changed this to a hot pink colour to play on the themes of our girly antagonist.

Adding an Image

Using the "add" option I selected "image without frame" and uploaded from our file of photos from the shoot for the poster.

We chose to use a different picture from the poster that was not overly edited but was still effective for making the audience feel uncomfortable.

I then used the dragging tools to make the picture very large and positioned it at the side of our webpage.

Adding Typography

I used the same process for adding our title as I did for adding the image. 

Add> Image> Image without Frame

When positioning the typography I chose the option of "send to back" as the black background of the image slightly overlapped the other text on the homepage.

Twitter Feed

Social convergence are a common convention on all film websites and we had already added links to Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Pintrest, Google Plus and RRS.

However, we felt that because of the increasing power and popularity of social networking, we should have a live twitter feed on our homepage.

Firstly, I created a Twitter account for bitter sweet using the film poster as a picture and writing a short bio.

Using the "Add" feature I selected "Social Networking" and "Twitter Feed"

I connected this to our twitter by inserting the username of the Bitter Sweet twitter page, selected the number of tweets to be shown (5 as to not take up too much room) and positioned the feed on the Homepage.

Website Plan

The criteria for our website:

• User Friendly
• Trailer must play automatically on homepage
• Only fit to one web page

This image shows the planned layout and colours of our homepage on the website.

• Black background- conforms to conventions of horror genre and plain allows other creative features to show up well.
• Image of antagonist- will be large at side of page, divereting the audiences attention and create the feeling of being watched. Will also use a similar image to the poster to create continuity.
• Typography- The same used on the poster makes it consistant and recognisable.
• Other Text- "You are invited to Lucy's" "Birthday Party" "RSVP here..."ned as small white font. We have now decided to make a simple typography for this text that will be the same as our tag line on our poster. This will be consistant in a hot pink colour, playing on the horror conventions of using subliminal red and adapting it to fit with the girly personality of our antagonist.
• Links to social convergance- a common convention all film website, ideal for us to connect with a young audience using social networking.
• Trailer playing automatically- making the website user friendly and a useful way of intreauging the audience and ensuring that they see the trailer.
• Critic quotes- a common convention of all film websites to create hype about the film by reassuring and persuading the audience.

Tag line

We feel that is necessary to have a tag line. In research we have found that most films in all genres have a tag line and for ours, as a horror, it would create further enigmas in conjunction with the name.

Here are some of our initial ideas combining the party and torture themes:

The party to die for

This party's dead

Welcome to the party

The party you can't miss

You're invited

The party you won't miss

It's all fun and games till someone gets hurt

Final Decision:

We like the cliché "It's all fun and games till someone gets hurt". However, we feel that this is too long and not catchy enough for a tag line so will use "It's all fun and games" on our poster and the longer version where appropriate such as titles and website.

Final storyboard

Casting a Family

To use our family concept we will have to cast 5 actors: main protagonist, Mum, Dad, Brother and Sister.

Role: Sister

Name: Polly

Age: 8

Availability: Libby's sister so would be easier to contact and no issues about child care.

Appropriateness: Has acting experience in short films. Cute, round freckled faced innocent looking child.

Role: Brother

Name: Reece

Age: 10

Availability: Daisy's brother

Appropriateness: 

Overall we feel that it is difficult to cast and make over a young actor to look like a parent. This would greatly impact the effectiveness of our teaser trailer and  may be difficult for the audience to understand the role of the characters. Also, there may be issues with children acting (especially if they have no experience) and wearing make up etc.

Film Name

To conform to the slasher/horror genere we would like an original name that is fairly short and snappy which creates enigmas.

Some name examples of existing films in our genre that we have studied:

The Loved OnesThe Trueman ShowOrphanThe RoomateJenifer's BodyAnother EarthSound of my Voice


Here are some initial ideas with short explaations:Sweet 16, Bitter sweet, Special guest, The invitation, Rsvp: Connection to popular birthday themes.  Games of death, Torment: Connections to the theme of torture.Angst: Reflection of antagonists feelings.Princess: The Antagonist's fantasy from her own view point.Precious Blood: Description of how important the victims are to the antagonist.

  Shortlist: 
Bitter Sweet 16
Torment
Angst
Precious Blood

Final Decision:

The name we have decided on is 'Bitter sweet'. We believe that this oxymoron creates enigmas whilst combining both of the torture and party themes of our film.

Shooting Script 4

When: 4/12/12
Where: Libby's House
What: Record music box sound and opening scenes in bedroom

Shooting Scripts 2

When: 23/11/12 3:45
Where: Dungeon
What: Some refilming of previous scenes will be done and the master shot will also be filmed. All costumes, make up and props will be the same throughout to keep continuity.

Shooting Scripts 1

This shooting script is dated due to the change of actors. Tara will be acting in place of Daisy.

Casting Friends

To cast "friends" that are victims at the part we are looking for a mixture of 4 or 5 boys and girls between 17 and 19 that are reliable and comfortable with heavy make up and pretend torture- therefore need some acting experience or ability.

Name: Caroline
Age: 17
Availability: Benefits of being in sixth form, after school/lunch time filming, direct communication.
Appropriateness: Reliable, used in AS film opening, Has acting interesting and experience in short films and stage productions, studied Drama

Name: Lewis
Age: 18
Availability: Benefits of being in sixth form, after school/lunch time filming, direct communication. Has part time Job.
Appropriateness: Has an interest in acting and some experience, studied drama.

Name: Lily

Age: 17

Availability:Benefits of being in sixth form, after school/lunch time filming, direct communication. Has other commitments with school events.
Appropriateness: Has a lot of acting experience in stage shows, school productions, musicals, dance shows.

Name: Harry

Age: 17

Availability: Also a student so has commitments such as school and extra curricular activities.
Appropriateness: Has close connections in the group so is easy and direct to contact and is also very willing to give up spare time to help. Has a very good understanding about the filming process and experience in short films.

Name: Daisy
Age: 18

Availability: Member of the group so will be fully commited to filming days.
Appropriateness: Has a full understanding of characters and their roles and how each scene should be acted. Also has a lot of previous experience in the production of short films and trailers.

Name: Frankie

Age: 17

Availability: Available in the same free lessons as most members of the group.
Appropriateness: Has previous experience of acting in short films.

Name: Tara
Age: 17
Availability: Has some of the same free lessons as members of the group. Easy communication in sixth form and friendship groups.
Appropriateness: Has previous experience of acting in short films.

• The people finally casted to act the role of 'friends' in our teaser trailer are... Lewis, Tara, Harry and Frankie.

• All actors casted have an appropriate look for the roles and we will use costumes, hair and makeup to over exaggerate stereo types where necessary.  
• They all have acting experience or experience in the production of short films and trailers. This will speed up the process and reduce the risk of poor quality due to acting.
• All actors are close connections which will speed up the communication process and hopefully avoid confusions.

Typing Scene

• Because of the newer concept, we feel that social networking would be highly influential and should be included in the teaser trailer. 
• When deconstruction scenes from Orphan in earlier research I found a scene where the mother is researching personality disorder in children. It was not relevant at the time because it did not add to horror aspects. 
• However, I now feel that it would be inspirational as the fast pace shows the desperation and obsession. 
• Because of copy right reasons, I could not take screen shots from the film so I used a camera to try to recreate shots with ideas relevant to our concept.

 

 

 

 

 

• All shots would be extreme close ups of typing, scrolling and screen movement.
• Jump cuts used between each shot at a fast pace to reflect the urgency and obsession. 
• Well recognised social networking sites such as Facebook and twitter would be effective for getting the audience to understand the concept about social media influence because these websites are popular within our target audience.

Change in Concept and Plot

Because of the difficulty that we experienced when casting a family we have changed our concept slightly and now focus on:

•  The media influence of popularity and social acceptance. 
• The plot will be similar but rather than a family dinner, the protagonist will be hosting a birthday party.
• We will now incorporate torture methods through party games.

Casting The Main Protagonist

Name: Amy Freeman
Age: 17
Availability: Good. part of the group so is committed and willing to give up spare time.
Appropriateness:

• Little acting experience but will be beneficial as she understands the concept well because she is a member of the group and knows exactly the looks and shots we will be trying to achieve. 
• Dark hair and pale skin follows conventions of a horror film villain. 

Name: Lily
Age: 17
Availability: In school so easy to contact and film during lunch, free lessons, after school, but has other commitments in school events.
Appropriateness:

• Enjoys acting but would not pursue it as a career. 
• Has experience performing in dace shows, school productions, stage shows, pantos and toured the uk in musicals Annie and South Pacific.
• Dark hair and eyes follow conventions of horror protagonist.

interior location test1

• This video shows the first interior location test we did in our school dungeon. it shows all different light sources, including main lighting. There are three sets of illumination (long stripped) lights which can be very bright, yet obviously the less that are turned on the darker it will be. 
• We also experimented with smaller sources of light, that being a lamp. This made the light focus on one area and could be good for a more intense situation, however the more evenly spread lighting methods prove better for camera work as the light doesn't stand out more in one place, and less in another.

Sound.

• As Amy is talking it is very clear with no echoing, this is due to it being a small room with no windows to make any sound. This will make it easier to film as any diegetic dialogue will be clearly heard and no background noise will be picked up.

Families in Horror Films

We have developed ideas from our initial concept of young women being brainwashed by the media. Our first idea was about the media influence of having the 'perfect' body image. However, we felt that this is a very broad issue and has already been exploited by many media products. Therefore, we have decided to focus on the way that families are portrayed in the media and have our main protagonist obsessed the love and security of having a family. For research I have looked at victimised families in horror films for casting purposes to see if there are any conventions, patterns or categories that we could use when casting actors for our film...






The Orphan:

• The main physical differences that can be seen between Esther and the rest of the family are their blonde hair (children in particular) in contrast to her dark hair. 
• This could be because of the innocent connotations associated with blonde children or it could be to make a clear identification between Ester and the rest of the family to highlight that she is adopted.
• Also, her acquired vintage Russian dress style makes a clear differentiation between her and the family. Again, this could be to obviously highlight her cultural difference and disconnection with the rest or the family. Or, to create enigmas about the character and show she is 'different'. The less the audience know about her, the more creepy she becomes.

The Imposter:

• Because of the documentary style of the film and being based on a factual story, I was not expecting to find many connotations and conventions as some footage is real.
• The victim child who went missing was blonde haired and blue eyed, giving connotations of innocence.
• The protagonist and imposter looks very different, this could of been for the purpose of the film to highlight the physical differences between him and nick that were obvious to everyone, including his family.
• Although the film is based on the fact that the two people looked completely different, it may of been over exadgerated for the film. The imposter has olive skin, brown eyes and dark hair.
• He also has a european accent which again highlights the differences to show he is not the misising teenager and creates enigmas to make the audience more fearful of him because he is a forigen outsider.

• The family of nick that took in the imposter also have the same connotations of innocence and being older makes them seem more vulnerable and at risk to the actions of the imposter.

Paranormal Activity

• These films take a different approach as the protagonists are not the villain but are possessed/ followed/ haunted by a deamond and are therefore portrayed as the victims.
• However, the generally dark features connotations follow those of villains in horror films.
• By using young children and babies the characters seem more vulnerable and at risk as they may have difficulty communicating what they see or be ignored.