Account of Shoot Day

We had a very successful shoot day. We started at 9am with hair and makeup for everyone. I was playing the lead character of "Alice in Wonderland", and Kika did my makeup for me as well as everyone. Jamie's "Mad Hatter" makeup was inspired by Jonny Depp's make up in the recent "Alice in Wonderland" movie. Whilst Courtney and Sarah finished setting up in the studio downstairs. We started shooting the tea party scene with me and Jamie entering. We explored many different camera angles and close ups on all the characters. Rose and Oscar did a good job playing their characters and looked great on camera. We also captured many different angles of the candy on the table. We used different lenses with a higher definition in the close ups to capture the detail. We kept trying to throw balloons into the background in the view of the camera but this turned out to be very difficult as the balloons had a life of their own! We also had only one take to get a shot of me falling into the cake. Thankfully it well! Unfortunately many members of our cast had to leave at certain times, so we were pushed for time! We were unable to do the performance scene as Rose and Oscar had to leave. But we managed to get several takes of Jamie lip syncing to the song. We transformed the set for his performance, placing the candy on big white boxes. We also added a big grandfather clock in the background to add interest. We had a team of people (including Sarah and I) on the sidelines throwing balloons around Jamie to create a cool effect on camera.
We each took turns changing our roles on set, unfortunately I was mainly on camera but tried to get behind the camera whenever I could.

We finally finished shooting in the studio around 2:30. Kika did all our others characters (Cinderella, Belle, Sleeping Beauty and Prince Charming) make up before we left for Courtney's house. We transported all our equipment in the van to her house and then unloaded it. The house, especially the staircase was already decorated to perfection. We decided to use a tracking tripod to get a great overall tracking shot of the hallway entrance and all the action going on. We had Cinderella and Belle fighting over the Princes crown at the foot of the stairs. Snow white on the stairs eating a bowl of apples and Sleeping Beauty passed out on the stairs bottle of pills in hand. Whilst Pinnochio was on the side of staircase tied up struggling. We chose to use a slightly red/pink lighting for a dramatic effect. We shot this tracking several times until perfect. We had to be careful to show telephones or alarms on courtneys wall.

After shooting the staircase we started shooting the scenes upstairs including the hallway scene, bathroom and bedroom scene. The bathroom scene was challenging as i had trouble opening the door! But after many many takes i finally got the hang of it! For the bedroom scene we used low lighting with lots of candles to set a romantic mood and I waved a book up and down creating shadows so it appeared the candles were flickering more. Courtney and Max rummaged under the duvet to create movement and then sat up together in a synchronized fashion. This took many practices!

We finally wrapped up our shoot at around 6pm when we dismantled our equipment and we drove back to Hurtwood. Overall it was a very successful day, although there are still some scenes we need to shoot including the pre-roll.

Set Design Drawings

We were asked to present our set design ideas in the form of drawings to show Dan and to help him understand what exactly we wanted. One of the most important scenes we feel is the Tea Party room so the set design had to be very impressive! We used "Alice in Wonderland" as our inspiration but wanted to add our own twist. We are planning to shoot this scene in the studio so we needed to completely transform the space so its unrecognizable as a studio. Our idea is to use a canopy draped from the ceiling to appear like a tent. As well as using Shrubbery and plants around the table to create a mystical atmosphere! We also need a long table and about 6 chairs for the characters to sit at. We will also of coarse decorate the table with a pretty tea set and to help set the scene! And fairy lights glowing on the shrubbery!

The next room is the bedroom where the little girl walks into Little Red Riding Hood in bed together! We wanted this room to look very chaotic and messy with cloths thrown all over the floor, like bra's and undies! There will be a big king size bed with just a sheet on top which the characters will be underneath. The bed will be situated in the middle of the room. After discussing this with Dan he suggested that we use quite low lighting to create shadows and create a seductive atmosphere! Perhaps with candles too!

Another important scene is the main entrance and staircase which is the first we see when the girl enters the house. We took inspiration from the staircase in the movie "The Haunted House" with Eddie Murphy to create a creepy atmosphere. We wanted to use lots of cobwebs and dust to make it look dirty and unkept. As well is Goblins and candelabras sitting on the top! After talking to Dan he feels that we need to shoot this on location at Courtneys house because it would be very difficult to build a secure staircase in the studio and very expensive!

Another scene is the Bathroom where we see Captain Hook in the bath playing with his rubber ducks! We decided to shoot this in the studio but will need to rent a bath and possibly a sink to recreate an actual bathroom set. We will also need other essential bathroom items like toothpaste and a loofa lying around the make the set look authentic.

Shooting Schedule

Now that we know where are locations are going to be we can roughly manage to write out a schedule:

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 16TH 2011


Start - 8:30AM - HURTWOOD STUDIO - The Tea Party Room Sequence    
                                   The Bedroom Scene
                                   The Bath-Tub Scene
                                    
        1:30PM - HURTWOOD CLASSROOM - Awaken Scene (clash and end)
        3:30PM - Travel to Location (Foxbury) - 
                                   Stairs/Exterior /Corridor Scene.
        8:00PM - Finish. 


This is just a rough draft of what our schedual might be. We will do a finalized draft closer to the shoot date. 

Feedback

Most of the planning material is in place, Sabrina.  There is a proficient sense of the development of your idea from the initial concept to the shoot stage, but there are still some elements missing such as the shooting schedule.  Your evaluation of the animatic is also rather brief - your blog as a whole tends to feel as though it has been rushed or that little time has been spent on it outside of class.  You need to make sure that the production and evaluation posts have more thought and detail in them to keep this at a top level.

James

Cast List photographs:

Cast Members:



Madhatter

Tommy Lyster from Cranleigh (Outside student)

Age: 17

Role: Mad Hatter - main singing part - leader of the band "The Teacups".

Costume: Suit, pin-stripped, quite alternative, with a little emo-ish twist.

Example of the "look" below.



The Little Girl

Alabama Jackson (Outside Student)

Age: 12

Role: Main Girl - girl scout

Costume to look like this (below):



Other Band Members

John Oldfield from Cranleigh (Outside student)

Age: 17






Role: The March Hair - Drums/Guitar

Costume? Same gothic-esque costume, with a twist, ears and face makeup probable.




The Door Mouse

Eva Abeling - Hurtwood House Student (A2)

Age: 17



Role: The Door Mouse - Guitarist




Princesses :




First Princess

Ally Blacklock - Hurtwood House Student (A2)

Age: 17



Role: Belle/Beauty

Costume Below:






Second Princess




Jasmine Sichel - Hurtwood House Student (A2)

Age: 17



Role: Princess Cinderella

Costume Below:






Third Princess




Sarah Wichall - Hurtwod House Student (A2)

Age: 18



Role: Snow White

Costume Below:









Fourth Princess




Sabrina Salmon - Hurtwood House Student (A2)

Age: 18



Role: Sleeping Beauty

Costume Below:



Pinocchio




Paul Godeau - Hurtwood House Student (AS)

Age: 16



Role: Pinocchio wrapped up in string

Costume Like This:






Captain Hook




Antonio Magro (Teacher at Hurtwood House)

Age: Older :)

Role: Crazy Captain Hook

Costume Like This:



Prince Charming/Big Bad Wolf




Max Voloshin - Hurtwood House Student (A2)

Age: 17



Role: Arrogant Prince Charming

Costume Like This:



Little Red Riding Hood




Courtney Madincea - Hurtwood House Student (A2)

Age: 17



Role: Red Riding Hood, sleeping with the wolf.

Costume Below:

Animatic Storyboard and Feedback:

Each of us drew pictures of each shot from the music video. We tried to make our drawings as detailed as possible. We then filmed each shot up against a wall for about 10 seconds. We really enjoyed the process of edting this animatic storyboard. We tried to cut to the beat and keep the shots moving quite fast to look interesting. Although we had a few technical problems with the computer and Final cut as it crashed on us and ended up starting over a few times!! So we have learned to save our work regularly!

We then showed our animatic storyboard to the class and teachers and received constructive critisism and feedback...

We were told that our opening scene in the hallway needed to have specific chaos in it! We needed to think very carefully about every person and item in the room so that it appears like messy choas from a wide shot. As out animatic drawing wasn't very clear as to what the chaos consised of.

We were also told to think where every scene should be shot... The studio? Or on location?
Luke found our preformance element unclear in teh animatic drawings.. and tols us that you need to have a specific preformance scene with the band members, preferably in the Tea Party Room. We also need to think carefully about the specific decorations we are going to use in each room to transform it into the scene we want. Luke was also unsure about our ending in the classroom and whether it made sence! So we will need to overlook this again and figure out how to make it work! Does she even need to wake up in the classroom? We will discuss this in detail as a group.

 

The Cast, Props and Costumes list:

Cast Members:

Madhatter – Tommy Lyster from Cranleigh (Outside student)

Little Girl – Alabama Jackson (Outside Student)

Princesses :

Belle – Ally Blacklock (A2)

Cinderella – Jasmine Sichel (A2)

Snow white – Sarah Wichall

Sleeping Beauty – Sabrina Salmon

Pinocchio – Paul Godeau

Captain Hook – Antonio Magro (Teacher)

Prince Charming – Max Voloshin

Little Red Riding Hood – Courtney Madincea

The Big Bad Wolf – Max Voloshin

March Hare – John Oldfield from Cranleigh (Outside student)

Door Mouse – EvaAbeling (A2)

Costumes:

School Costumes – Madhatter, Girl Scout, Pinocchio, Captain Hook, Granny wig,

Fairy Godmother – Cinderella, Belle, Red Riding Hood

Others - Wolf mask, Dwarf mask, Girl scout sash, Black wig

Props:

Candy

Tea Set

Wig x2

Glasses

Basket

Apples

Glass Slipper

Pills

Cards

Toy Boats

Rubber Duck

Cookies

Cupcakes

Cake

Toothpicks

Bunny ears

Mouse ears

Strings

Face paint

Make up

White Gloves

Streamers

Fairy Lights (White)

Baloons (pastel)

Long table

X6 chairs

Candelabras

Vases

Cake stands

Runner

Costumes:

For this video costumes will play a huge part, and we needed to find a really good suplier. We want everything to look authentic so that it doesn't just look like a fancydress party. the costumes need to be instantly recognisable by the audience so they which character is which. We have taken inspiration for the costumes from the "Fallen Princesses" photography. We want the characters to not look too perfect and slightly desheviled so will with smudge makeup and mess up hair to create this look. Unfortunately we arn't allowed to rip and dirty the costumes as we are hiring them. We have found some suitable costumes hires locally which stock the costumes we need. The rest we can probably source from the Hurtwood Costume department.

http://www.fairygodmother.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=85_87


http://www.thedressingupshop.com/index.php?id=3


http://www.thejokeshop.co.uk/entered.php

Location:

Originally we wanted to shoot everything inside "Leith Hill" which is a National Trust own empty house as it would be the perfect backdrop. But we soon ran into problems as we would have to book the venue and there is no furniture and everything would have to be brought in (which would be very complicated). So we decided to shoot everything at Courtney's house as it's a very big house with a spiral staircase which was perfect! Aswell as multiple bedrooms to choose from and approprate furniture for the video. We can also dress up the house and make it appear very theatrical and atmospheric. We have total control over the location which makes it perfect to shoot in.

Asking for Copyright Permission:

To:  VAGRANT RECORDS

We are a group of A Level students working on an A Level project for a qualification in Media Studies. We are writing to request permission to use the following track as part of this project:
EELS - FLYSWATTER

With your permission the track would be used as the accompaniment to a short form video that is made purely for assessment purposes and will have no commercial usage. The video will be viewed only by members of the school community and the assessor of the examination board.


The artist and the copyright holder will of course be fully recognised in the pre-production and evaluation material that accompanies the project. We can also include a full copyright notice if required both in the planning material and on the video itself.


Yours sincerely

 SABRINA SALMON, COURTNEY MADINCEA AND SARAH WICHALL
Hurtwood House School

Album cover:

The album cover for our band really needs to reflect the image of the band and their style, so audiences immediately know what kind of music they are. The image of our band is alternative indie, so i researched the album covers of similar bands for inspiration, such as "Panic at the Disco" and "My Chemical Romance" who both have quirky off beat album covers that attract their target audience. Our cover needs to be captivating and eye catching to engage our audiences and make them pick up the CD!

Institutional Context

Our band (not yet named) draws paralells to Panic! At The Disco so I looked up what record label they were signed to and saw to my satasfaction that they are signed with an independent pop record label.

Fueled By Ramen

Fueled By Ramen was started as a label by Less Than Jake guitarist Vinnie Fiorello and John Janick in 1996. The label is a key player in the development of Punk Pop and released early recordings by Fall Out Boy, Jimmy Eat World and Yellowcard. Among the key artists currently on the label are:

- Panic! At The Disco
- Less Than Jake


Very non-mainstream record label that originates from New York City and is a subsiduary of Warner Music Group.

www.fueledbyramen.com

Feedback

You have made a good attempt to catch up on the work missing from last week, but once again there are gaps remaining in your blog from this week's work - institutional context and the research into album artwork.  The timeline is competent and will form the basis of your work on storyboarding but it is vital that you are putting in some hours outside of class to keep your research and planning portfolio as complete as possible.

James

Timeline of Video

Pre - Roll:

Little girl skipping down a path towards house, humming chorus of "Flyswatter" - with a box of cookies in her hands. Comes to the door -
Girl - "Knock knock" (Mad Hatter opens the door) "Excuse me sir, would you like to buy some cookies?"
M.H - " Why some cookies would be wonderful! I'm having a tea party, won't you come in?"

00.02 - Mad Hatter puts his hand out
00.07 - Girl takes hand and walks into dark house (Door closes behinds her)
00.09 - Lights come on!
00.09 - 00.17 - tracking shot of overall of choas
00.17 - 00.21 - Cards falling from the ceiling, pigs running through ect.
21.00 - 00.25 - Pushed into tv lounge
00.25 - M.H singing
00.30 - sleeping beauty passed out of couch
00.33 - princesses fighting over tiara
00.40 - band preforming in bare room
00.45 - close up of mad hatter singing
00.53 - girl runs up stairs
00.57 - walking through dark creepy hallway
1:00 - Girl walks into bedroom and see little red riding hood and wolf in bed
1:04 - Red riding hood and wolf sit suddenly on the gutair riff
1:05 - Girl covers her eyes and runs away to bathroom and slams door
1:08 - turns around to see Captain hook in the bath playing with toy boats
1:16 - Girl runs out and down stairs
1:20 - Close ups on band preforming
1:32 - Girl wanders into tea party
1:43 - M.H stands on table singing
1:50 - March hare pours the tea and she drinks
2:00 - shots of characters around the room
2:04 - Girl eats a piece of cake with a toothpick that says "Eat me" on it
2:09 - 2:20 - Flashbacks of all the characters around the house
2:24 - Girls faints and lands in the cake
2:32 - Girls is shown under a tree clutching a book of fairytales and covered in cookie crumbs
2:42 - Girl wakes up confused
2:50 - Bunny hops past her
2:55 - Girl skips away...
Track ends - 3:03


This is only a possible ending as there are many other options we could have and we have not decided yet.

Research into Artist

Eels is an American indie rock band, from Los Feliz, California, formed by singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E. Other members rotate frequently, both in the studio and on stage. They've 9 albums since 1996, their latest album Tomorrow Morning was released in 2010. They are signed to DreamWorks, Vagrant  and EWorks.

Target Audience

• Both Male and Female
• Dresses in alternative/indie clothes
• Age - Teenage up to early twenties
• Lives in Europe or US
• Not really into sports
• Goes to festivals and live performers
• Race - White and Black
• Middle Class
• Despises commercial music
• Has a couple of tattoos

Inspiration

We were inspired by a photographer 'Dina Goldstein' from Vancouver, who did photos with a modern interpretation of classic fairytale princesses. This has provided us with lots of inspiration as we want to create a similar theme in our video. We also love the costumes used, and want to recreate them.


Snow White


Little Red Riding Hood - Not so little anymore!


Ariel


Sleeping Beauty


Jasmine

Planning Music Video

As a group we've chosen to use the track Flyswatter by Eels. Our idea is to to a 'Tim Burton' inspired music video. Combining a circus/carnival feel with a haunted mansion involving a little girl like 'Alice in Wonderland'. We really feel that this idea would suit the mood of the song and portray our band with a cool, alternative image.

Possible treatment for Video:

There will deffinetly be a small pre roll at the beginning to set up the narrative. A little girl, possibly 'Girl Scout' goes to an old abandoned house in the middle of no where, to sell cookies. The Mad hatter opens the door and invites her inside, the music thens begins. The house is full of fairytale characters such as Cinderella, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Prince Charming etc. And this house is where they all live when they are not fulfilling their fairy tales. The little girl explores the house in Amazement. We want the house to have a creepy yet humourous vibe to it. For example, two princesses are fighting over a tiara and Captain Hook is in the bath playing with little toy boats. There will also be a mad hatter tea party happening in the dining room which soon turns into a food fight!

A have a few possible endings to the video.... The girl could get scared all of a sudden and just run out of the house screaming. Or she could eat a poisonous apple and die.

Through out the video the band members will be playing around the house and the mad hatter is the lead singer.

Feedback

This is disappointing, Sabrina, as there is very little evidence of any time invested in the planning process or the blog outside of the class this week.  My brief asked for your initial ideas to be posted, along with a detailed account of the idea chosen and detailed research into similar artists.  You have not really addressed this and will need to spend some time strengthening this material before you can move on to the timeline.  In addition, you have not yet posted your demographic and psychographic audience profile.

James

Our Ideas for the Music Video:

We are now discussing possible ideas for own Music Video. The members in my group consist of Me, Courtney and Sarah. I think we will work together as we all have similar visions and goal for the video.
As a group we have found 2 possible tracks we could create a video for.
These are:
Eels - Flyswater
Band Perry - If i die young

They are both quite similar although Band Perry is slightly more counrty sounding. We know we want to create a really creative video which involves a strong narrartive and pre roll.

Evaluation of Preliminary Music Video

Before teh day of shooting the music video I wanted to make sure that our group was well prepared, so we would look professional. We drew up a timeline for our part of the song describing each shot, in the order of shooting. When deciding what shots we should use we did a bit of research of other similar alternative bands and there music videos. For example, Panic at the Disco who used alot of close up shots of their lips. Aswell well as panning and tracking shots. We tried to incorporate these shots in. Our aim was to portray and showcase them in the best way possible.

When It was our turn for shooting our group set up the camera efficiently and had playback ready to go. We worked well, finding inspiration for differnet shots whilst actually in the enviorment of the set. But I'm really glad we had the timeline as a basis to start from. The band were really cooperative and helped us with shot ideas to create something really creative. We all swaped roles as director, camera man, and sound technician. This gave us the opportunity to experience all the roles and each of us got the chance to be a leader. My favourite role was director as I able to easily voice my ideas and opinions. My least favourite job was the sound technician as it was a fairly boring job after you pushed the play button!

Overall I really enjoyed the whole experience of working on the set with a real life band. I now feel pretty prepared for this years work.

Feedback

Some useful material here, Sabrina, though a couple of posts from last term still missing - the most important of these is the evaluation of your prelim music video task, so try to get that done by the deadline this Friday.

Don't forget to post your initial ideas and the research you have done this week as well.

James

Music Video Analysis

I chose this video as it had a lot of interesting aspects to analysis and also a great narrative through out.

POWERPOINT TO COME

Research into Performance and Shooting

 We really wanted to get close ups of the instruments

such as the guitar to emphasis the importance of their 

music and musicianship. It shows that the band members

 can really play their instruments. 

Here is another shot of a musician and his instruments, although not quite so close up, again to emphasis his musicianship and to pull focus from the singer. As too many shots of the singer only can get boring. 

This is a wide shot of the band showing them all together as one, making them look united and like a team. It also allows us to see the set more clearly and show it off. We felt this shot best showed their image as being a quirky, niche band as we can see their alternative clothing and quirky set design.

Initial ideas/treatment for music video

Today i got into a group with Courtney and Sarah. Courtney had already researched possible songs to use and we all agreed on a song called "Flyswatter" by Eels, a very unknown alternative band. The song sort of has a creepy, eerie sound to it so we have ideas of setting the video in a haunted house, and possibly in a abandoned carnival. We also like the idea using a "Alice and wonderland" quality, by having a little girl fall asleep and dream that she gets lost in this scary carnival. We feel that having a narrative to the video will make it more appealing to our targeted audiences. Although we are still unsure of who to cast at this point. We want to portray the bands image as being sort of Indie/alternative and artsy.

Advanced Portfolio

The Advanced Portfolio will involve producing a main artefact, two ancillary artefacts and an accompanying blog containing your research, planning and evaluation materials. We will be working as a small independent production company to produce a music video. This also includes producing a promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, and either a cover fir its release on DVD or a magazine advertisement for the DVD.

Album Cover

For the Album Cover of Jane Doe and the Undesirables we wanted to convey their retro 1950's image. So we chose this photo of them dressed in 1950's costume and then played with photoshop to make the image more interesting. Because the girl in the middle is the lead singer we wanted to make her stand out, so we left her in color whilst her backing singers are in black and white. The black and white also helped to create a retro look. Although we left the backing singer lips red for a cute girlie look.

Preliminary Task Jane Doe and the Undersirables

Acount of Post Production Editing

Week 1
Now that we have finished shooting our thriller we have to edit it using Final Cut. We have now learnt how to successfully check in and out of the Editing computers correctly by opening Final Cut-->Productions-->AS-->Guy's Class-->STAC1E then, click on the cog button which will allow you to check the shots out from the main computer.
We have looked through all of our shots and decided which ones we want to use.
We split the shots of the murder sequence and the advertisement into two seperate bins. In order to cut the different shots, you have to press apple I (represents IN) and to indicate where you wish to stop the shot press apple O (represents OUT). Moreover, to make it easier, we began editing the murder sequence.

We are using the same editing techniques as we sued for the preliminary task, although
editing it is proving to be alot harder as our footage is alot of complex and needs alot of special effects. The stabbing scene especially is very challenging to edit, as we are trying to create the illusion that Jason is being stabbed to death, when in actuality the knife was no where near him.
It is also hard interweaving the advert through out the opening sequence. But with the help and guidance from Matt we are learning many good editing techniques.

Week 2
We have now started looking for sound effects for the stabbing scenes in "Soundtrack Pro" most of the appropraite sound effects are from food. We then imported these sounds to Final Cut. We then continued to edit our shots focusing on the stabbing scene. We decided it should be fast paced to create tension. This would then be juxtaposed with the cheesey advert, the contrast would make the "scary" scenes stand out more and have more impact.

Week 3
We have now almost completed editing all our shots and have now started adding special effects. We have sorted through all the Non Diegtetic music on "Soundtrack Pro" and have settled on some very electronic Sci Fi music as STAC1E is a robot and it helps to create a creepy ominous mood. We have also added a Star shaped slide between shots in the advert to help create a cheesey and corny mood. We also found a cheesey song that accompanied the advert perfectly to help convey the chessiness of it all. This was played through out the advert. We muffled the sound of the music at times, like during the scenes of STAC1E in the kitchen, to make it sound like it was realisticly coming from the TV next door. Once we were happy with all our edits of the cuts we then transfered everything into High Definition.

Week 4
We then had to apply all of the special effects. We had to change the background of the advert as we shot behind a green screen. We found a great moving background from Photoshop, changed the colours to match our advert and then applied it to our advert. We then also had to place the advert inside the TV screens.
This was extremely hard but we eventually acheieved this through layering in Photoshop, and masking the TV. We had to dim the brightness and blur the edges to make it appear realistic. We also had to make the thriller title, which was made on photoshop we chose a very Sci Fi looking text and coloured it green which fitted in with the robotic feel of the thriller. We also added computer sound effects. We were then finished!

Evaluation Task 7

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

1. There are many differences between the Prelim task and the main product one of them being the planning. For the prelim task there wasn't much planning as we just used the costumes and props we had available on the day. But for the main product we had to orgainse everything from the costumes, props and set all ahead of time, co-ordinating everything together. We wrote many lists including everything we needed and then discussed them as a group until we were happy.

2. For the Prelim task we just wrote a basic script which we allowed our actors to elaborate on. But for our main product we had to be creative and visually imagining before we wrote a detailed story board including pictures and then wrote a detailed script. We then changed this several times until we were all completely content with everything.

3. For the prelim task we used very basic camera shots and angles for example close ups, over the shoulder and looking up and down. But for the main product we had to be more creative with the camera to create more interest in our film. This was very obvious in the stabbing scene where we shots shadows and moving with knife as it went up and down.

4. In the prelim we only used Diegetic sound that came from the actors, we wern;t very experimental with our sound. But with our main product our sound was much more advanced and we imported a lot Non-Diegetic music from SoudTrack Pro. We incorporated alot of music that helped to create a scary and ominous mood as well as approprate cheesey music for the advert. We also used alot of sound effects especially for the stabbing scene where the sound effects were mainly from food to create a gruesome effect.

5. The editing for the Prelim task was hadr but only because we were beginners. Through the main product we learn many more techniques in editing and therefore our editing was far more advanced. We editted all of our shots in Final Cut and then once that was finished added all of the special effects in After Effects, which included addinga background

Evaluation Task 6

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

Evaluation Task 5

How did you attract/adress your audience?

Slidesharre Powerpoint

Stac1e

View more presentations from hurtwoodhousemedia5

Evaluation Task 4

What would be the audience of your media product?

I think our target audience for STAC1E would be a wide age range from 15 - 40 years old. Men would enjoy the Sci-Fi thriller aspect, including blood and stabbing ect, and also the good looking robot STAC1E. And the women would be able to relate to the injustice treatment to the robot. And enjoy how STAC1E chanllenges the stereotype that women are weak, feable and generally the victims in Thrillers.
Our opening sequence story line is quite similar to the movie "The Stepford Wives" which was distributed by VIACOM, DREAMWORKS and PARAMOUNT PICTURES. And also similar to "I,robot" which was distributed by 20TH CENTURY FOX.
So our movie would probably be directed to the same demographic audience, except that we don't have big stars in our movie like Nicole Kidman or Will Smith who help to draw in audiences. Our actors are unknown so it limits our ability of marketing with posters ect.

Evaluation Task 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product?

I believe a distribution company similar to VERTIGO would be suitable for our product, as the film is very low budget, with no well known actors and the themes aren't commercial enough for a distribution company like WARNER BROS. VERTIGO would be able to show it to a niche audience, whilst still making it internationally recognized, like the films Street Dance 3D ad Monsters. Other distribution companies like Fox Searchlight and NewLine cinema might also be suitable for our thriller, they have been known to pick up small independent movies like "Juno" and "Slumdog Millionaire", and make a success out of them.
And with the right advertising and marketing this film could be very successful, especially within the UK.

Evaluation Task 2

How does your product represent particular social groups?

I think STAC1E shows a representation of women as being undermined and controlled by men. Through out the centuries we as a society have created this stereotype that women must look after their husbands and obey him, without having a life of their own or being independent. STAC1E is a representation of that stereotype, until she fights back by stabbing her husband to death. This portrays a message to women that they shouldn't put up with being treated like that. Though we are certainly not suggesting that they should stab their husbands! The character of the husband we chose is very lazy and "shabby" looking, which represents a red neck, uneducated, lower class social group of men. The TV presenter we chose represents a cheesy, tacky american advert.

Evaluation Task 1

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

In most modern day Thrillers it's the pretty girl who is the victim, appears weak and vulnerable and usually gets killed. For example "When a Stranger calls", "The Grudge" and "Prom night".But with our thriller STAC1E we challenge this stereotype so that it's the girl who does the killing and the men become the victims. This gives our thriller a sence of women empowerment.


A trailer for the thriller "When a stranger calls"

Account of Shoot Day

Yesterday we filmed our Thriller Video. There was some conflict as another group was using the studio when we had booked it, but we made ourselves flexible and instead shot our scenes in Hurtwood House first instead.
I was asked to play the character of Stac1e, the robotic wife. Emma and I had found all the appropriate costumes for her from Al in the costume department. Including a 50's housewife style dress with pearls and matching shoes. We also found different aprons and acessories for each of her jobs. The costumes were a little different from what we envisioned but we had to make do with what we were given.

I was in charge of hair and makeup and bruoght my hair curlers aswell as the makeup. I made my hair curly and my lips were pink to match the dress.
We chose Jason to play the main "Shlob" on the couch as we all knew he could pull off the part and he also had the right look.
We asked him to bring his most casual clothes, which were track pants and a hoody.
For the props in this scene we needed a knife, a chopping board, carrots, cooking pot and fake blood. We were able to borrow most of the props from the costume department.
First we shot the scene in the living room, which was set up in the Hurtwood House common room with a kitchen attached. Originally we were just going to have stac1e walking towards Jason with a knife, but we decided to mke it a brutle stabbing with blood, to give the video more of a thriller feel.
We took a variety of different shots from all angles, as i walk towards him, and then as i stand over him with the knife. Capturing the shadows, and trying to catch the steel blade in the light. For the stabbing we used different techniques to create the illusion of the knife stabbing into Jason's stomach without actually doing so. We shot the knife stabbing next to Jason without actally touching Jason. Then we shot the knife being pulled out just above his stomach with the camera looking up at me. this will look very effective once we edit this. Dani also splattered my face with blood to make it look like i had just commited a brutle murder.
For the Mise en Scene we used very dark and slightly blue lighting, to give the set an earry and cold feeling.

We also had to shoot the carrots being cut. This took alot of takes as it was very hard to cut the carrots perfectly and then remove the knife without the carrots sticking! But we finally accomplished the perfect carrot chop! The blue lighting also reflected on to the knife to make the blade appear sharper and more dangerous.

We also had to shoot the shots of STAC1E performing domestic tasks for the advert. We Dressed her in an apron for cooking. Which we shot in the kitchen and had me cooking carrots.
We also had me vacumming in the hallway, where we took several different camera shots, from zoomed in to zoomed out, and just zoomed in. We had STAC1E massaging a man wearing a little nurses hat and apron. Jason played the man though his face was not in shot. We decided that i should wink after every task, so that it become STAC1E's trademark.

We also had to capture the advert part of our thriller. We choose James Woodhart and our presenter as he had the right Cheesey American TV presenter look and could also produce a american accent. We allowed him to work creatively with script and add his own twist on the words so would appear more realistic.
We decided that James' costume should be a very cheesey yellow 3 piece suit with flared trousers.We shot James behind a green screen (which will allow be creative in the editing process and we can add cheesey american advert type effects) and on a platform. We also cast James Tunstill to be interviewed in the advert about Stac1e, as he looked like a "Shlub" . The lighting was bright and blond to produce and a Cheesey american TV advert atmosphere.

Pre Production Planning

COSTUMING

STAC1E -
50's housewife dress - red-black?
pearls - necklace, braclett, earring
50's style housewife shoes

Husband -

Sweatpants

Dirty large t - shirt

Wool socks

TV presenter -

70's style suit - flared pants- pink/purple?

Interviewed consumer -

A sloppy, large suit

MAKEUP

STAC1E -

Curled blonde hair

red lips and blusher

lots of hairspray

Husband -

Unshaven

Scruffy

no makeup

TV presenter -

Oily/shiny face

chessey grin

MISE EN SCENE

TV lounge-

Not expensive looking, cheap furniture

coffee table

couch 

TV screen

Blue and black lighting- creating cold atmosphere

Kitchen-

Chopping board

Sharp knife

blue lighting

scattered carrots

clean white kitchen

TV advert-

Green screen!