Indominus

Indominus - Completed Main Task

This is our completed film opening sequence - it's run time is 1 minute and 39 seconds.

We found that there were some issues with a particular piece of sound that we added to the film - the heartbeat sound effect. To hear and watch the film whilst getting the full experience (to hear the sound properly) it is best to listen to the film with earphones/headphones, or with stereo speakers attached to your computer/laptop. This issue is due to the low frequency of the heartbeat sound effect, many laptops/computers do not have speakers of a high enough technicality to audibly register and  project particular low frequency sounds. We did not know this when we added the sound effect to the film. We downloaded the film onto YouTube again: the second download was visually clearer but the heartbeat sound effect was still inaudible when played normally, out-loud, without speakers - therefore, the film must be listened to and watched with earphones/headphones, and/or speakers.

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

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

To answer this question myself and Yasmin created an informal Film Discussion where we compared the progress we felt we made going from our Preliminary Task to our Main Task.

We are aware that the framing in this piece is occasionally off but this is due to a camera screen fluke.

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

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

To answer this question Yasmin and I created a Film Review.

Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

To answer this question myself and Yasmin created a set of filmed vox-pops.

Yasmin was the main creator for the first poster, whereas I created the second poster. We both designed the teaser-trailer - e.g. I thought about the sound along with the flashes on the screen of the writing 'YOU', 'KILLED', and 'HER', whereas Yasmin helped add in an establishing shot at the beginning of this piece, and also added in the title of the film on a black screen that fades in at the end of the teaser-trailer.

Question 4: Who would be the audience of your media product?

Question 4: Who would be the audience of your media product?

To answer this question myself and Yasmin created a magazine article.

Question 4 - Who would be the audience of your media product? 

Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute our media product and why?

Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute our media product and why?

To answer question three myself and Yasmin created a slideshow presentation.

Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? 

The Conjuring teaser trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HT3ftGoqyc.

Indominus teaser trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv9CxNQMywY.

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

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

To answer question 2 Yasmin and I created a pod-cast.

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use; develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use; develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

To answer question one myself and Yasmin created a News Read and Interview piece.

Main Task Evaluation Planning

Main Task Evaluation Planning

Foundation Portfolio Evaluation Planning

Production Dairy - Entry 7 - Adding titles, treatments and effects to the shots

Production Diary - Entry - Adding titles, treatments and effects to the shots

Titles
We used most of the titles from our draft title sequence in our film opening sequence, however, we cut a few of the actors names due to the length of the piece - it was slightly shorter than we had expected, and we did not want there to be any titles in certain parts of the film, e.g. when the protagonist's head is supposedly spinning with fear and confusion - we want the audience's focus to be entirely on the woman. We also changed the colour of the titles to a whiter, slightly grey colour as it seemed more sinister and appeared clearer on the screen.

Shot MOV002.MOD - the through the trees pan is the first shot in the film, and it includes the first set of titles.

Shot treatments

We added a diffuse glow treatment to all the shots that were in the character's perspective to give it a hazy and slightly unfocused view to emphasise that she has just woken up, that she is confused, and that something is wrong. Moreover, for the shots that weren't in her view we used a half and half grey-scale treatment - this made the shots gloomy which further emphasises the genre of the film; horror. However, of the first shot, the pan through the trees, we did not use a particular treatment, but we did raise the contrast, saturation and shadow intensity to create a brighter image than the rest of the shots to make the first shot look more professional and to lull the audience into a false sense of security which they soon snap our of when they hear the whole of the voiceover and see the unconscious woman. In addition, of the logos we used several treatments to make them seem like unrealistic shots, to emphasise that they are production logos and not technically part of the film. For example, on the first logo we used an 'Old Film' effect and a reddening treatment on a still video shot of the sun shining over the top of a gate; shot . Both logos were appropriate for the type of film genre that we had.

Production Diary - Entry 6 - Sound

Production Diary - Entry 6 - Sound

The Sound in the piece

The sound track of our film includes: blue tit song, this plays at the beginning of the piece - it starts in the shot with the tree and the sun and ends when you see the body on the ground, this is for dramatic effect; there are also violins that play a tense, musical tune over the beginning part of the film - again they stop when the body is seen; the voiceover starts at the beginning of the film too - it is overlapped with the bird song and the violins, it goes on for longer though so that it is only the woman's voice when she says the word 'Indominus' - this is again for dramatic effect; additionally, there is a heartbeat sound effect used when you realise that the woman is alive - this speeds up as she becomes more and more frightened at the situation she is in; there is also some foley sound - such as the rustling of the woman's clothes on the grass, her standing up, and her hair swishing against her clothes when she turns her head; there is also dialogue which goes on inside the character's head - this is when the audience realise that the original narrator is also the main character of the story; moreover, there is more foley sound, it is of the woman character handling the lanyard of the woman she doesn't remember killing, and there is sound for when the lanyard falls; there is also a scream; in addition there is a 'Dummm' sound that occurs when the screen goes black just before the title of the film appears; lastly, when the title of the film appears there is a high pitch frequency noise that breaks of when the title comes into focus. The blue tit song, violins, voiceover, dialogue, heartbeat, and scream are all used as sound bridges. In addition, the first part of the voiceover heard is directly addressed to the audience - the mode of address is as though she is speaking about the past; the character seems to be spewing an inner-monologue.

How the sound was made 

All of the sound effects were record at Big Boy Studios, which is my guitar teacher's small studio at his house. I used my guitar lesson times every Saturday for 3 weeks, (starting on the 23rd of January 2016), to get the sound effects right. We recorded my voice as the voiceover and dialogue, we also recorded me handling and dropping the lanyard, however we either created the rest of the sounds with guitars (e.g. scratchy, stringy noise - this was not used in the end), or we recorded some sound effects that we found on YouTube. For example, the scream, blue tit song, a crow caw (which was cut), heavy breathing (which I recorded but was cut as it didn't overlap with the voiceover very well), the high pitch frequency noise, the heartbeat and the rustling foley sound. The violin music was already saved onto Steve's (Steve is my guitar teacher) equipment because his friend had recorded some of his electric violin music at Steve's studio and so we took an extract from that and tweaked it. We digitally adjusted all of the sounds and cut them to the length that we thought was appropriate. One of the things that we digitally adjusted was the 'Dummm' sound which we made sound low and bellowing, however, originally it was a single tick form an electronic pendulum. The last day of recording these sounds took 2 hours. Afterwards we were given a CD with the all of the sounds as individual tracks so as to make it easier for me and Yasmin to download, and adjust any of the sound that we needed to.

The Voice-over Script

Production Diary- Entry 5 - Filming

Production Diary - Entry 5 - Filming

Filming

Filming dates: January the 16th and January  the 30th 2016

On the first day of filming we were there for approximately 40 minutes - we had good, sunny weather (which especially good for our actress, and for the definition on our camera - however, it meant that we would have to add an effective and gloomy treatment to the piece to allow it to fit to the theme of horror). Filming was extremely fun! It was quite cold but we brought hot chocolate, wellies, hats and gloves on set to keep us warm. We filmed all of the shots we thought we need, as well as some extras shots that we liked, e.g. I shot one that became the 'Lyonstone Pictures' logo. However, after uploading the videos we found that some of them did not work and that our film would be too short without more shots. For example, one of the shots that did not work was the pan where I move the camera along from Saskia's character's feet to her head - so that the audience see the unconscious woman. I slightly moved the camera upwards suddenly a few times, making the pan seem unsubtle. Also, we had not filmed two versions of each of our shots - we had for most of them but we forgot about a few because we began to feel rushed due to the dying camera battery. In addition, some of the shots took more than two takes anyway, either due to pedestrians walking their dogs getting in the frame of the shot by accident, or due to camera movement issues, or because of an acting or directorial mistake.

On the second day of filming we were there for about an hour because we had more battery time to work with, so we became more experimental. (On the first day of filming the battery was on 12% when we arrived - we made sure to check the battery power percentage the second time). we filmed the remaining shots, and took at least two takes of each shot - we also made sure that we had a good buffer before and after each shot as to not cut any piece of action short.

After the second day of filming we uploaded the rest of the shots onto the school computer and began to string them into a final order - as we did so we added in any scene transitions that we found appropriate - e.g. dissolves and straight cuts.

This is a profile close-up of the make-up that Yasmin helped put on Saskia's face to make her look bruised and muddy.

This is Saskia getting ready to film the sitting up shots.

This is a picture of how we are framing one of the shots.

This is Saskia's costume (apart from the snow boots - in the film she wears small black heels but when we were not filming she wore snow boots because it was cold!)!

Production Diary - Entry 4 - Location

Production Diary - Entry 4 - Location

We filmed all of our shots in Stonesfield. Our first shot is a pan shot in the woods, the rest of the shots, including the second production logo, are all done on our main location; the Stonesfield Common. In addition, the first production logo was shot in Stonesfield by one of the fields near the woods, on a public pathway.

Production Diary - Entry 3 - Draft Title Sequence

Production Diary - Entry 3 - Draft Title Sequence

The first piece of practical work that we did in our production process was create a draft title sequence that we will incorporate into our film opening sequence. We did this using MoviePlus.

This is the title sequence: -

We used this font, Viner Hand ITC - (in size 18), because it looks sinister, old and possibly hand written - it's wobbly and scratchy and so emphasises the genre of the film; horror. The colour of the font is an off-white, pale yellow so as to indicate that something isn't right. The credits in-animation in the draft-title sequence is Motion Blur Lines, we used this because it blurs in the credits in a horizontal and distorted way, which helps to creates an uncertain and tense atmosphere. We kept the out-animation the same as the in-animation so as to uphold the sinister continuity. In addition, we used this effect, Motion Blur Vertical, to introduce the title of the film because it concentrates your eyes onto the title while it distorts in to focus. The title of the film is also in a larger font size (size 48) than the credits as they are not the main focus of the film. We named our film 'Indominus' because it is an unusual and interesting sounding word that means evil, savage and unstoppable - therefore the title of the film enhances the piece's genre.

Production Diary - Entry 2 - Live Action Storyboard

Production Diary - Entry 2 - Live Action Storyboard

This is our Live Action Storyboard - we made it in correlation to our pencil-sketch storyboard.

This is our Live Action Storyboard: -

We did not use the real location, or the actress, in this live action storyboard, we merely took pictures and a video of the type of location that we are going to shoot, using the type of camera shots we want to use in the actual film opening sequence. We also focused on the rule of thirds to see how well we frame things in our shots, and to practise this technique.

Production Diary - Entry 1 - Production Schedules

Production Diary - Entry 1 - Production Schedules

Production Schedule

Production Schedule

Production Calendar

(PUT PRODUCTION CALENDAR)

Finalised Story Board

Children's Radio Foundation Course and Work

Children's Radio Foundation Course and Work

February 2015 course - Radio Show

Myself and Yasmin spent three days of my 2015 February half term at a Radio Course in Oxford, run by the Children's Radio Foundation. The Children's Radio Foundation are a charity that train young reporters across Africa, giving hem the skills to make their voices heard - as one of Africa's main sources of communication is radio. Radio can help spread awareness of how to cope with HIV and AIDS as well as being a general tool for 'dialogue and change'.

They had a budget to spend on training English youths the ways of radio - one of my Mum's friends works with the Foundation and so once I heard about it I applied, I attended their February sessions.
Some of the activities that we did during those sessions were: youth community mapping - finding what stresses out teenagers and thinking of way to counteract them, e.g. surplus of work and no outlets, maybe more youth hubs should be created; we were also taught the main radio formats and how to conduct them, e.g. interviews, commentaries, audio profiles, audio debates, public and/or personal service announcement (PSA), and vox-pops; and, we were also taught about being on location, live shows, pre-recorded shows, what a show clock is and how to make one, we talked about jingles and music, and leaving buffers in interviews etc. In addition, we were taught how to use a recorder and a logbook. For example, you have to log every single recording you make - even if it went wrong, and when you do so you must write the date, the time of the recording, the length of the recording, the reporter, the format and the track number (the track number appears on the recorder).

We then made a show on our final day and it included most radio formats. The radio show was about whether or not 'Ubuntu' was thought to be present in Oxford. Ubuntu is Zulu word for "I am because you are" and it is about unconditional kindness, equality and unity.

Here is our show clock:

Here is our show, which is linked on the Children's Radio Foundation website: https://soundcloud.com/crf-uk/speak-out-what-do-various-people-in-oxford-say-about-the-legendary-city

Emerge 2015 - Radio Show

This event was  held at Said Business School, University of Oxford. 'Emerge is the UK's leading gathering for those who are focused on redefining the world in which we live. Now in its seventh year, Emerge engages and connects university students and professionals working in public, corporate and media sectors from around the world with current global change-agents leading entrepreneurial ventures, responsible businesses and sector-defying organisations.' The event is a two-day gathering (I went on the second day) and it usually has over 500 participants, and it approaches to address some of the world's most urgent challenges. Many charities participate in this event, which includes; lectures, meetings, and radio shows occur at this event.

The Emerge 2015 schedule included; Conversation/Interactive lectures, Masterclasses, Workshops, Debates, Meetings, and Social Greetings.

I attended the Masterclass/lecture on 'Gender and technology: the new frontier for women's rights', given by Hera Hussein from the charity CHAYN, and Claire Sibthorpe, from GSMA, Connected Women. Afterwards I performed a few vox pops with the assistance of one of my radio trainers, Henri-Pierre. I then gave a short commentary on the lecture I had just been part of.

Here are the recorded and finished radio formats from that day, which is also linked to the Foudnation's website: https://soundcloud.com/crf-uk/sets/crf-young-reporters-at-emerge-2015-oxford-uk

Sony

Sony

Sony Music Entertainment - major record label - and LAB Records - independent record label

A case-study on Sony Music Entertainment and LAB Records 

Main Task Audience Research

Main Task Audience Research

Horror films are meant to scare and excite people - therefore none of them are suitable for young children. A horror will be at least a PG (Parental Guidance) but will most probably be either a 12A, 12, 15 or 18.

Our horror film will be rated as a 12. We are aware that only creating the opening sequence for a film means that our piece will not necessarily contain all of the elements that make it the rating that it is, however it will introduce the themes that we will have to rate, therefore, we will choose a rating for the whole film and not just the opening.

The bbfc (British Board of Film Classification) states: 'Films classified 12A and video works classified 12 contain material that is not generally suitable for children aged under 12. No one younger than 12 may see a 12A film in a cinema unless accompanied by an adult. Adults planning to take a child under 12 to view a 12A film should consider whether the film is suitable for that child.' We have decided that our film will not be suitable for any children under the age of twelve.

The elements of film that will not be suitable for children under twelve years of age are: the murder scenes - which will contain some graphic images, blood and violence; and emphasised psychological horror elements will also be included.

The types of horror that people above the age of twelve seem to, on the whole, like are films with psychological elements which you make you jump both at the screen and at shadows - they make you afraid of what you can't yet see; it's 'the fear of the unknown'. 

Some stereotypical horror film features are: a victim - stereotypically a female; a non-believer who is usually the first to be killed or believes by the end of the film; a hero/heroine - (stereotypically a male); an evil character/being; a young child who either almost dies, dies or is dead; a creepy house; a forgotten ghost/creature which becomes furious at something a human does and so seeks it's revenge; and a streak of mysterious deaths.We want to do something quite different and unusual with our film that will still leave people frightened, therefore, we will be using these themes in our opening sequence; a female protagonist who is both the victim and the heroine-type character, a mysterious and lonely setting, a series of strange deaths, and a tragic/horrific event that starts the evil occurrences.

BFI (British Film Institute) Trip, and an introduction to film opening sequences

BFI (British Film Institute) Trip, and an introduction to film opening sequences

We had many lectures throughout the day - Tom Woodcock introduced us to BFI Southbank along with Mark Reid, and then Mr Woodcock introduced us to our timetable. Our first session covered the 'Conventions of Film Openings', and our second session covered the 'Anatomy of the Titles and Student Tasks'. This meant looking at and judging some opening sequences of films to see of we could guess their genre and decide whether they decided to introduce their genre, narrative (plot), characters, themes or atmosphere more in the first few minutes of film. We did this for a few films including 'The Wedding Singer'.

After this we reported back from a 'Student Task Exercise' that we performed over lunch. During this task we had to decide on possible ideas for our opening sequence to our film, e.g. genre, plot thoughts, possible cast and crew, and settings etc. Myself and Yasmin came up with: Saskia Lyons (Yasmin's older sister)as our protagonist, and Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Watson to be other star credits; and we would then put both of our names as the producers, directors and executive producers wheres Lily Collins would be our director of photography and some people we made up would be our other crew members, e.g. 'Alicia Cinna' as our Costume Designer. the genre of our film would be horror but we hadn't decided what the story-line would be - however, it would be partly inspired by 'The Conjuring' and 'The Woman in Black'.

This was followed by a session that included a 'Question and Answer' section, with Corin Hardy. Corin's first feature film came out in cinemas on Friday the thirteenth, it's called 'The Hallow' - we saw the first five minutes of it to give us inspiration for our own film opening sequences. My verdict is that it was very good; it was creepy and it grabbed my attention from the start. Corin's film is about a man who moves to Ireland with his wife and baby boy, Fin. he man has to chop down certain trees in the wood - however, there are fairy-folk that have lived there for centuries who are not willing to let their home be destroyed so they come after the man and his family - terrible events then happen that we were told we had to go and see the film for to find out what they were/are! At the end of Corin's session he took some pictures with everyone and put them on twitter to gain publicity...and because it was a funny thing to do!

The final session was then a session on how to make your own films; this session was with Tom Woodcock again - this session was really helpful and interesting. The link to all of his presentations is: http://www.titledesignproject.blogspot.co.uk/.

Research of Film Opening Sequences

Research of Film Opening Sequences 

A feature film of 'The Forbidden Room' was voted the best title sequence on 'Art of the Title' of 2015. The film genre seems to be horror, this links in well with our my film opening sequence as our genre is also horror.

http://www.artofthetitle.com/feature/top-10-title-sequences-of-2015/#

The film includes: a sinister score that resembles a scratchy old music box, record player or radio that is switching between songs and tunes, or is simply broken; camera treatments that age and distort the images on screen; a good use of colour - the colour seem to be bright and then they flash and wobble and change to a dimmer and more dismal shade - as though the images and slides have aged, or are underwater, or are being burnt; and the titles appear almost like slides or and are done like the old title sequences used to be when done at the beginning of a piece. In between all of these slides/images that are rippling and changing there are quick images of almost undetectable things - at one point there were the waves of the sea and the what looked like a submarine, and at another point a pair of eyes that could symbolise the devil's or evil because the face was treated red, and the eyes seemed to be looking right at the camera - breaking the fourth wall. In addition, at one point the red eyes were superimpsoed over the crashing waves of the sea. Moreover, right at the end of the title sequence an old man, in his dressing gown, starts talking to the camera - as though he is filming a tutorial of something - this was very odd, bewildering and a bit creepy. All of these things made the title sequence frightening, confusing, mysterious and threatening.

Another film opening sequence that I researched was; 'Signs'. The genre of this film is also horror - however it is a twelve and so does not include things that are too sinister. This title sequence was plain but effective. The music became louder, faster and more tense by the end of the sequence and so the titles of were zooming out from behind the camera and into focus on each beat - they would then disappear before the next lot came on. The font was large and quite formal but interesting. moreover, the colour scheme was good - the background was continuous - it was light blue and the font was a navy blue. Around the edges of where the lettering would appear there was a circular glow that made anything not in it's glow dim - this was almost like torchlight, it also lit up whenever there were words on screen  but faded when the music did and when there was nothing to read on screen. (Sometimes the screen also went completely black). This made the screen seem alive when there was something to read - this drew attention to the titles.

I understand that it is important to have; a good score, appropriate font, effective camera treatments, excellent timing, and interesting colours and shades to interest the audience, when making a film - therefore, myself and Yasmin will try do these things in our own film opening sequence.