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My work is now complete for this project. I hoped you enjoy my blog and thank you for reading.

Evaluation Post 1: In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our film is called 'Shadow of Your Past' and is in the crime thriller genre. Our opening both challenges and uses the typical conventions of real media products of the thriller genre.

Our Film's Plot
'Shadow of Your Past' is a film that follows a young black woman in her mid-20s whose name is Shania Morcott. She is a high profile lawyer who becomes the victim of a revenge stalking by a rapist who she had previously prosecuted. As the film progresses Shania becomes increasingly paranoid and is eventually kidnapped by the stalker. She is rescued by the police but the stalker escapes. The film ends with Shania moving away and trying to rebuild her life, but the stalkers whereabouts are unknown and he may still be out there.

Form
I think that our film opening follows the typical format. In general film openings tend to include titles and credits, a soundtrack and either dialogue or a narrative voice over. Additionally our film opening introduces the main character and establishes the genre.

Genre
Below is a mind map of the genre conventions of thriller films. There is also a key at the top. The mind map shows the typical narrative, characters, settings, iconography, sub-genres and themes of thriller films. I have also indicated which conventions we included in our film and also real life examples. Please click and drag to navigate the mind map. Press present mode to make it easier to view (the first of the three white buttons in the top right corner). 

Below is a prezi explaining in detail the choices we made for our lead character based on our genre.

Narrative Structure

Style
The aesthetic we wanted to give our film was very naturalistic in terms of lighting and effects. During the editing process we graded our shots to have more of a grey colour scheme to make the shots appear bleaker. This is typical of thriller films, such as 'Gone Girl' from which we took inspiration. 

We have two soundtracks in our opening. One is a classical piece of music (called 'Ever Evolving') consisting of only a piano which creates a relaxed and gentle atmosphere. The other is a more fast-paced soundtrack (called 'Codename') with drums and stringed instruments helping to build tension during the red herring sequence. The two pieces of music help to create the desired mood in each part. Firstly a more soft, calm mood which contrasts with the suspense and tension later on, emphasisng the danger and uneasiness.

The wording and order of our titles were inspired by the film 'Se7en' along with the effects we added to them. The shaking effect adds to the uneasiness in our opening and hopefully adds to representing the genre better.


Our film's credits


An example from 'Se7en'

The font we used for the credits was very simplistic as we didn't want to distract from what was happening on screen. The font for our title was different to the rest of the credits as was the effect. We were inspired by the film poster for 'Shutter Island' for our font choice as it was simple yet bold.

Overall I feel that our film opening follows the genre and form conventions of a thriller film opening. Hopefully this means that our film will be easily identifiable as a thriller to our target audience and will be similar to the existing films in this genre. 

Evaluation Post 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our film the main social groups are gender and ethnicity. Our lead character is a black woman in her late 20s and so we decided to mix the two groups and focus on the representation of black females.

Representation of Women in Films
Women are often underrepresented in the film industry with their roles being limited to the stereotypical, traditional roles. 

Additionally some female characters are objectified in films and their main purpose is to act as something to look at for both the other characters and also the audience. This essentially makes them sex symbols instead of characters of actual substance. An example is Gisele Yashar from the Fast and Furious series - an action thriller series of films. She is portrayed as a strong, independent woman however there are comments and scenes where her body is objectified by some of the male characters. Gisele knows that she can use her body and her sexuality to get what she needs. Whilst she is an empowering character, the fact that her figure and appearance are a key feature of her role shows that a woman's intelligence and courage isn't enough. 

During my research I found a report of a study where the portrayal of female characters were analysed in the top 100 grossing films of 2016. Below are a few pie charts I made using the statistics from the report which are relevant to our film opening and it's main character.

Representation of Black Women

Cookie Lyon from 'Empire'

Black women aren't as commonly represented compared to white women in films and television. There are both positive and negative representations of black women. We didn't want to represent our character in a stereotypical way. For example the character of Cookie Lyon in the TV drama 'Empire' is based on many common stereotypes associated with the black ethnicity such as crime, drugs, prison and music. Despite the fact that she is a successful, strong-minded business woman, she is represented negatively.

Another common representation of black women are in films such as "12 Years a Slave" or "The Help" where their characters are either slaves or treated as inferior to those who are white. This provides a voice for black actors/actresses and even though these roles are based on history and the truth, black actresses shouldn't only be seen in these roles.

Lupita Nyong'o acting in '12 Years a Slave'

Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer acting in 'The Help'

How We Wanted to Represent Black Women
Our main inspiration in terms of our lead character was Annalise Keating from 'How to Get Away with Murder'. This is because Annalise is a strong, independent woman who stands up for herself and doesn't allow anyone to walk over her. Additionally she works in the legal profession which is the same as Shania (our character). Annalise also has flaws, showing that she has a humane, emotional side as well. Similarly the lead character in 'Scandal' is Olivia Pope and she is said to be extremely powerful professionally and strong emotionally, despite having a complicated and flawed personal life. 

There are many strong, independent, powerful black women in TV dramas however there are fewer examples in the film industry. We would hope that our film can have a character that can fill the gap. Recently the film called 'Hidden Figures' was released. It is a film about three black women who worked at NASA during the Space Race. This was an inspiring film as not only are they women working in a dominantly male work field (challenging gender stereotypes) but they are also black women. The film has a positive representation of black women and hopefully will encourage more films with black female leads.

We also wanted our main character to act as a role model to the younger side of our audience (16-19 year olds). This was done through her personality and her costume. The use of a blazer and a black and white dress represents her in a smart, formal manner which highlights her professionalism due to her high profile job. This is further emphasised through her leather briefcase which presents her as organised as well as portraying her job as briefcases are commonly used by lawyers to carry documents to courts. Her organisation and also her sophistication are also conveyed through the set design. The rooms in our chosen location (Sian's house) were dressed to give a structured, neat and minimalistic feel as well as being quite feminine (as seen by the heart made of flowers on the wall in the picture below). 

Overall, I feel that we challenged both gender and ethnicity stereotypes through our lead character Shania Morcott. Shania is a driven, determined, strong minded, independent middle-class woman. She challenges the gender stereotypes of being weak, sensitive and having a domestic lifestyle.We positively represented black women and hopefully created a character that is inspirational to teens and young adults.

Evaluation Post 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The production company we chose to produce our film was BBC Films - the film making sector of the BBC. We chose BBC Films because they are a known for making British independent films and our film has a strong British feel due to its British cast and crew. In addition to this our film's main location is London. BBC films have produced a wide range of films from comedies to thrillers.

Below is a table showing our inspirations from the BBC and how they relate to our film.

Production Budget

As our film is an independent film and we require no major special or visual effects, a small budget would be suitable. Additionally, we would most likely film on location so making sets would not be necessary. Thriller films also focus more on narrative rather than effects and CGI. Using the psychological thriller 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' (an independent film which is produced by BBC Films and is of a similar genre) as a guideline, I think that a budget of £5,500,000 would be appropriate for our film. 



The company that we chose to distribute our film was Summit Entertainment. We chose to have Summit Entertainment as our distributor because they distribute across international territories which gives our film a global reach. Additionally they distributed 'P2' which was one of our biggest influences. Below is a prezi which contains our marketing and release plan. These were based on the marketing and releases of Summit Entertainments other films.

Evaluation Post 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

There are a range of audiences for our media product. The primary audience would be fans of the crime thriller genre. In 2015 the thriller genre had the 8th highest box office takings out of the 16 top genres and Crime had the 14th. Below is a table showing the number of releases, box office takings and the top performing title for each genre. 

From the BFI Statistical Yearbook

Here is a prezi detailing the different audiences for our film.

Evaluation Post 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our audience by using conventions of the crime thriller genre, gripping themes and inspirational, relatable characters.

Genre conventions we included to appeal to crime/thriller fans:

• Enigma/Action Codes
• Low key, naturalistic lighting
• Fast paced, suspenseful soundtrack
• Character roles (e.g. stalker, female victim)

Additionally, themes such as stalking, revenge, obsession and kidnapping are typical of this genre and by including them in our film opening we hope to attract fans of crime thriller films.

Below is a table showing the uses and gratifications theory and how we have applied it in our film opening.

Audience Feedback

Below are two audience feedback videos we recorded. There are three girls and three boys all aged either 16 or 17 years old and most of them are thriller fans (part of our primary audience as well as skewed audience). We asked them to watch our film opening and answer a few questions afterwards. 

Overall we received positive feedback from our two focus groups. 

• They liked the element of suspense from the red herring sequence.
• Nearly all of them said they would watch it. 
• They liked the genre and felt that it was entertaining. 
• Most of them could tell that our main character, Shania, is a lawyer. 
• They liked the morning routine as it added a sense of normality making it easy to relate to.
• Some feedback we received was to make the stalker shots more distinctive, either by adding a filter or possibly superimposing the camera viewfinder onto the shots to make it clear someone is watching her. 
• Majority found that the lack of dialogue worked well and that it helped to create suspense and raised questions about who she is.
• The text message worked well and helped them to understand the narrative better.

I am pleased with this response as it shows that we managed to successfully create suspense and intrigue our audience therefore gratifying the need for entertainment. The positive response to the red herring sequence was nice as it means that it was effective. They also liked the morning routine sequence and the normality that it added and felt that this made it easier for them to relate to the character and her lifestyle. This also helps to gratify the audience's need for escapism. We managed to portray the genre and add an element of creepiness which is what we intended to do as it provokes a reaction from the audience and causes them to think about what is happening and even discuss it with friends, enhancing the social interactions. The main improvement was to make the stalker shots clearer so that the audience knows for sure that there is someone watching her. 

I also spoke to family members in our secondary audience (ages ranging from 26-50) and collated their feedback onto a document below. 

This feedback was very interesting as the age range was higher. Majority of the people said that they would would films in this genre. The positive feedback was similar to the 16/17 year olds response in that the suspense was effective and the red herring sequence was done well. I am very pleased that the suspense worked well and that our audience responded well to it because this shows that they were entertained and engaged. The improvements we received were to do with sound levels. The shot where Shania is talking on her phone is difficult to hear. This may be because the camera and microphone were too far away and so it didn't pick up the sound. In addition to this the sound of the wind is also blocking some of the sound. It seems that the crime element of our film was not picked up by many people which suggests we haven't represented it as well as we hoped. 

Evaluation Post 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

The process of constructing our film opening has allowed me to learn about new technology as well as giving me the opportunity to gain more experience when using the technology I already know. I have definitely become more confident in using different technologies.

Below is a prezi explaining all of the technology I used and what I learnt from it.

Evaluation Post 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I feel that I have learnt a lot and improved the skills I learnt during the preliminary task, in particular my post-production skills.

Our preliminary task was to film a continuity sequence involving "a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple lines of dialogue." We had to include the following:

• Match on action 
• Shot/reverse shot
• 180° rule

Our main task was to "produce a 2 minute opening sequence for a fiction film".

From the preliminary exercise the main thing I learnt was that we should always make the actor/actress do the full movement to make sure that there are no continuity errors as that is where we went wrong the first time.

Pre-production
Below is a table which explains the difference between the pre-production for the preliminary task and the main task.

Preliminary Storyboard on the left, Main Storyboard on the right.

As the film opening is much longer than our prelim, the storyboard took slightly longer. It also contains more shots as seen in the photo above. The preliminary task gave us experience in terms of creating a storyboard, top down plans and scripts. This meant we were well prepared when it came to planning our film opening.

Production
We made sure to use all of the continuity techniques we learnt from the prelim for example over the shoulder shots and match on actions. Our match on action in the preliminary task had a mistake in it so for the main task I made sure to look out for this.

Here is the match on action from our preliminary task. The hand that was used to open the door changes. Below it is the one from our main task. We were constantly checking to make sure that there were no errors.

PRELIMINARY TASK

MAIN TASK

Here is the over the shoulder shot from our preliminary task. Below it is the one from our main task.

PRELIMINARY TASK

MAIN TASK

Below is a table which explains the difference between the production for the preliminary task and the main task.

We had a clearer, more organised shoot board for the main task due to the fact we had a lot more shots to film. Below is the shoot schedule from the preliminary task and a page from the main shoot board. The main shoot board is a lot longer and more detailed as well as being better structured compared to our preliminary shoot schedule.

Shoot Board for Prelim Task

Shoot Board for Main Shoot 

There were more locations in our main shoot compared to the preliminary task. Additionally, we were shooting outside in our main task which was more difficult as we had to factor in the weather and also the public as people would be walking up and down the pavement and cars would be driving on the road as well.

Classroom - Preliminary Task

Kitchen and Dining Room - Main Task

Bedroom - Main Task

On the street - Main Task

Post-production

I feel that post-production was where I learnt the most since the preliminary task. Below are two flow charts showing the editing process from the prelim and the main task. The editing process for our film opening was much longer and more detailed than the preliminary task.

Using the edit suite and Adobe Premiere Pro was much easier for the main task as I had experience from the preliminary task.

Screenshot of the Adobe Premiere Pro Software

Us at the edit suite

We had a lot more footage this time so the editing process was a lot longer for the main task. Additionally we learnt how to grade our footage and add sound effects, a soundtrack and titles which we did not do for our prelim.

Additionally, we used LiveType to create the titles. We had only used it once before in lessons so I didn't have much experience. LiveType was not required for the preliminary task. 

Evaluation Process

The evaluation process for both tasks was also different. As we did not have a target audience or chosen genre for the preliminary task, no audience feedback was required. The prelim evaluation was more focused on the technology used and the filming techniques and theories we applied whereas the film opening's evaluation has been more focused on treating the opening as if it was a real media product and the whole process of making and editing a film as well as marketing and distributing it to an audience.

Ultimately I have learnt a lot from this whole project and I have also developed my film-making skills significantly from the preliminary task. The project has been a massive learning curve for me as well as being a lot of fun to take part in. I am really proud of our final product and the progress my group and I have made throughout.

Construction Post 30: Looking back - reflections on our final outcome

Here is our finished film opening


Below is a prezi summarising my thoughts on the our final outcome and my opinions of the project on the whole.

Construction Post 29: My technical learning curve (production and post-production)

Over this project I have learnt so much technically in both production and post-production. At the start I had very little experience with the camera kit and the editing software. The only times I had used them were in lessons and for the preliminary task. This project gave me more time to become familiar with the equipment and by the last shoot I was feeling confident with all of the kit. The newest piece of equipment was the lighting kit. The first time setting up the kit was a fun experience because it was new to all of us and we gradually became more comfortable moving, setting up and packing away all the lights.

Using the camera and framing a shot

During post-production I learnt how to use new tools on Adobe Premiere Pro that we didn't use during the preliminary task and have added to my existing knowledge. For example I learnt how to adjust key frames on the audio tracks in order to change the sound levels at certain parts in the soundtrack. Another audio tool I learnt to use was the constant gain function. This was placed between two bits of audio to make the sound transition between the two shots smoother and continuous. This prevents jumpy sound levels. I also learnt how to grade shots by changing the video effects and changing the levels and adjusting the three way colour corrector. By the end of the two weeks I have become more confident in using Adobe Premiere Pro.

Me adding a constant gain in two parts of the soundtrack

Adjusting keyframes with a close up of the keyframes 

Creating titles on LiveType was fairly new to me and I would consider myself quite inexperienced. I am also new at using MacBooks. We had used LiveType once before in a lesson. It was fairly simple to use and easy to pick up. Below are some videos of me making a title and adding an effect to it. I feel that I have learnt a lot technically during the post-production stage and have found it really interesting and enjoyable to use both Adobe Premiere Pro and LiveType.

Construction Post 28: My personal contribution to the Edit Sessions

Grading a shot

During the 1st week I was responsible for putting the shots on the timeline in the correct order with the correct timings. I also helped to fix sound levels and make the soundtrack as smooth as possible. The first week was mainly focused on getting a basic timeline sorted. This included all sound effects, idents and basic titles. I helped to position some of the basic titles during this week and made sure they were over the correct shot.

In the second week there was more to do. We had our back-up footage that needed to go on the timeline and we needed to begin grading our shots as well as making our actual titles. I graded some of the dining room shots which can be seen in the picture on the left. Below is a video of the shot before and after it had been graded. 

After all of the grading was finished we began choosing fonts and effects for our titles. This was done on the MacBook on a software called LiveType. I created a few of the titles and I edited the effect on them using the keyframes on the track. 

Creating a title

In the second week we had gotten all of our clips in the right order with the right timings and we could then start sorting out our radio announcement. I was responsible for scripting the radio announcement. It is very similar to the one in our test shoot. However as we made changes to the scenes, the timings were different and so I had to make a few changes for it to fit with the new footage. I have typed up the announcement and a copy can be seen below. 

Construction Post 27: My personal contribution to the Shoot Sessions

Myself and Tyra talking through a scene

Throughout all of the shoot sessions I did a variety of jobs from filming to being on sound. Most of my time was spent directing shots and also working with our main actress Tyra. I made sure that she knew what was going on in each shot, what we wanted from each shot and tried to explain to her how we wanted the character to be feeling for each shot. I also had to cue her and Ray in for some shots. I had to be very organised during the shoot sessions and I made sure everyone knew what shot was coming up next so that we were as efficient and productive as possible. 

Setting up the lights

Another one of my responsibilities was to handle one of our portable lights. This was part of our three point lighting system. I was really interested in this as I had never used a lighting kit before. As we were not allowed to keep the lights on for a long amount of time (as they heat up very quickly and can get extremely hot), I had to sit by one of the lights and switch it on when it was needed and off when we were done.

Me directing a shot 

I enjoyed all aspects of the shooting process, in particular filming shots. I feel that I was more suited to the directing side of things as I liked to make sure that everyone was ready and that we were focused and organised. I also enjoyed communicating our views and ideas to Tyra and bringing each scene together. 

Construction Post 26: Reflections on Edit Week 2

During our second week of editing we focused on grading, titles, video FX and any small finishing touches. Below is a copy of our Edit week 2 schedule.

2nd Editing Week Schedule

Our opening sequence was kept fairly simple and so we didn't need to use any video FX. Instead we focused on the process of grading our shots. Grading is the process which changes the aesthetic of the footage by making sure that all the shots are within the chosen colour scheme of the film. We chose to have a naturalistic look to our shots, with a slightly greyish-blue look. Grading was very important for us as the inside of Sian's house, once all the lights were on, is quite bright with a slight orange tint which is noticeable on the wooden table and cupboards.

Before (left) and after (right) - effects of grading

The effects we placed on the shot to grade it

We also needed to create our titles and credits. For this we used the MacBook and a software called LiveType. We took inspiration from the films 'Se7en' and 'Shutter Island' when we chose our fonts and effects. To represent the thriller genre, in a similar way to 'Se7en', we chose to use an effect which makes the words shake which hopefully creates an unsettling feeling. For our title we chose a different font to the rest of our credits and also a different effect. The font for our title is similar to that of 'Shutter Island'. The effect is also less jarring and instead smoother and slightly mysterious. Below is a video showing our title with its effect.

Construction Post 25: The Back-Up Shoot

Our back-up shoot took place on the 5th March 2017. We began at 9:00am as usual and had finished by around 2:30pm as there was less footage to shoot. Below are screenshots of our back up shootboard.

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Unfortunately it was raining in the morning so we had to adapt our plans slightly and work around the weather. We decided we would film the outdoor sequence with the additional prop of an umbrella so that we could continue to film through the rain. Luckily for us the rain stopped and the weather improved massively and so we could film the shots as planned with out the umbrella.

During the filming of the outdoor sequences we made sure to keep an eye on the distance between the jogger and the lawyer so it was more realistic. Additionally we had more time to practice the hand held jogging shot so that it would be as steady as possible. This time round Sian filmed the hand held jogger shot as she has the steadiest hand.

We also added a small amount of dialogue as the lawyer was to be on the phone as she walked down the street. In her first shot she says "Yeah I'm alright, I just can't believe he's been released though" and in the other shot she says "It's alright, it's just a jogger." This helps to make the fact that she can't hear the jogger behind her more believable.

Below is a clip showing the two shots that contained dialogue.

The other thing we changed was the dining room sequence. As the lawyer sits down, she receives a text from her friend asking if she is ok as the man she put in prison (Jeff Richardson - the stalker) has been released. In the shot after that you see her sign a few more documents to represent the fact that she works in the legal profession.

Below is a video of the dining room rushes from our main shoot and also the ones from our back-up shoot.

Overall I am extremely happy with the footage we took during our back-up session and I think that we were successful in our improvements. I believe that our red herring sequence will be more effective now and that on the whole our narrative is now clearer too.

Construction Post 24: Reflections on Edit Week 1

Our first week of editing consisted on going through all of the raw footage, renaming the takes, and putting the shots onto the timeline in the basic order. No grading or title making took place this week as the main focus was to see whether a back up shoot would be required after looking through our opening sequence with the footage we had. Below is our Edit week 1 schedule.

1st Editing Week Schedule

As a group we had decided to do a back up shoot as there were both small issues for example the lighting kit can be seen in a shot and the fact that the lawyer locked her door but didn't have keys. Also there was a lipstick stain on the character's glass despite the fact that she doesn't drink the water. 

Lighting kit is seen on left hand side

Lipstick mark is sen on the glass

There were also a few narrative issues. By including our shot of both the lawyers heels and the jogger's trainers we gave away the fact that he is a jogger and so we lost our element of suspense and tension. This was also an issue with the over the shoulder shots we took. After trying our different versions of the shot we decided that the best one was the point of view shot as it is similar to the stalker shot which helps to create mystery and tension. However we only had one take of this shot and it was extremely shaky.

Therefore we need to do a backup shoot to get more takes of this shot and also to make a few adjustments to the end sequence to fit the point of view shots better. Additionally when looking through the footage we realised that the distances between the lawyer and the jogger were inaccurate. The jogger is moving faster than the lawyer but the distance between the two characters never decreased. We plan to change this as well in the back up shoot and pay attention to the distances so that the matches between shots are accurate. 

Group editing session

Another change we decided to make was to have the laywer on her phone as she is walking to make it more realistic as to why she couldn't hear the jogger. This is in response to a text she received in the kitchen scenes. The text will read "Heard he has been released. You ok? I will call you soon." This will hopefully make the link between the lawyer, the stalker and the radio announcement clearer. 

For our back up shoot we are planning to redo the kitchen scenes and the outdoor scenes as our bedroom sequence was exactly how we intended it to be. 

Construction Post 23: Our Post-production Kit

Computer with Adobe Premiere Pro 

Our post-production kit is what we used to edit our footage and what we used to create our credits. The hardware consists of:

• A computer with two monitors
• Headphones
• A MacBook

The software consisted of:

• Adobe Premiere Pro
• LiveType

We used the computer and Adobe Premiere Pro for majority of the editing process and only used the MacBook and LiveType to create our titles and credits as the software has a wide range of fonts and effects we could choose from, helping to make our credits looks as professional as possible.