The Evaluation Questions

The Seven Evaluation Questions:

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

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

Who would the audience be for your media product?

How did you attract/address your audience?

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

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

Evaluation Question 3- Distribution

Distribution is explained on Screenonline by David Sin

Distribution is a huge piece of the puzzle- "Our personal understanding and appreciation of film is shaped by our experiences at the cinema. The exhibition of film is a commonplace, shared cultural activity highly visible in every city and town in Britain, constantly feeding the popular memory."

It is often not recognized and appreciated- "By contrast, distribution, the third part of the film supply chain, is often referred to as 'the invisible art', a process known only to those within the industry, barely written about and almost imperceptible to everyone else."

Other factors are involved in a film's popularity- "Yet arguably, distribution is the most important part of the film industry, where completed films are brought to life and connected with an audience."

A deeper insight into industrial cinema- "Distribution is about releasing and sustaining films in the market place. In the practice of Hollywood and other forms of industrial cinema, the phases of production, distribution and exhibition operate most effectively when 'vertically integrated', where the three stages are seen as part of the same larger process, under the control of one company"

A more local approach- "In the UK, distribution is very much focused on marketing and sustaining a global product in local markets."

First Day Shooting+Colour Correction

After shooting the opening scene in two days, i decided to waste no time in importing my clips to Adobe Premiere where there is endless possibilities in adding and editing effects to your clips. I knew, looking back at the original clips, that some appeared too 'ordinary and lacked that cold feeling which would suit my opening very much.

As you can see the original clip shows my character's face in a normal outside light. The problem with this is that lighting can determine emotions and interpretation of a scene is very important. Therefore i decided that editing using Curves and Tint would be ideal. Since being very familiar with the very simple iMovie software I had to quickly learn the basics of colour correction and FXs.

I imported the clip into the timeline of Adobe Premiere and selected it for effects. I clicked on colour correction where a wide range of selections were possible including glow, glamor and brightness and contrast. After selecting colour correction i chose tint. My friend recommended that it is standard to normally set it to 40%-50%. The effect takes away strong colour and makes the overall look much more subtle. After applying this effect, i then used curves to bring up the following window:







All colours are fundamentally made up of red, blue and green and so changing these on the curve line presents very different results. In the top left you'll see the curve line which can be manipulated to vary the visual effect. For example, a steep line leading to the top right corner of the graph will result in darker colours dominating the picture. however by lifting the top half of the line towards the top to give a more steady line will help bring the lighter colours become more visible. The result of the combination results in a stronger, more vibrant picture- the wooden bridge stands out more against the lighter snow.

First Day of Shooting

Putting sellotape on the back of the photos to stop them from soaking up water.

A few weeks ago, i began the process of shooting for my thriller opening, Out of Sight. After completing this after 2 days, i decided it was important for me to write a post about the progress and numerous problems i encountered.

Notice how the face and the hands are too red

 With one of my shots, i needed my protagonist to enter a hallway, turn the light on and simply walk down. Ironically, it is these simple takes that can produce the most complications. Firstly, on the left on the hallway is a spare room and further on is a bathroom. Both doors were open producing too much light for my scene as it is set for early morning. After re-taking the shot, i noticed that the environment, even when the light was turn on, was too dark. The red became even more red and all the light seemed artificial. The camera was set to a lower exposure setting and so it takes in less light, making the picture seem dimmer and shady. I decided that changing all the sots in colour correction would be too hard and it would be better to re-shoot the next day and have much better looking original clips.

The fast moving arms and hands created the unwanted 'blur effect'

Another problem which quickly became apparent was motion blur. For my quick action shots, when i played back my clips on the camera all seemed fine. It was when i uploaded the clips onto the big screen that i could see some blur created by the fast moving protagonist. I can only come to the conclusion that the frame rate wasn't ideal for fast paced movement. I would therefore have to correct the motion blur using tools video effects in Adobe Premiere.

My actor providing guidelines and advice for each shot

On a more optimistic note, i found shooting on he whole to be very successful. My protagonist seemed very keen to convey a more subtle but meaningful story in less than 3 minutes, adopting my storyboard simultaneously. My actor, from a professional point of view, was incredibly helpful as problems such as continuity errors were pointed out before he acted out a particular scene. For example, we filmed a scene with a bedroom door open wide whereas in the previous scene (in storyboard order) the door was closed shut. It is vital that errors like these are discovered and eliminated before any shooting takes place to avoid unnecessary hassle and re-shooting.

As Media Studies Call Sheet

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Dwelling into the genre further

Today a revolutionary website took my attention. Scoop.it! allows users to compose a 'magazine topic' using suitable websites and images based on what your topic is about. Scoopit! enables you to use keywords such as 'thriller' and 'film titles'. However there is a second way in which you can publish websites onto your topic. 

Users can enter URLs and websites can be directly imported onto the topic in seconds. This allowed me to include important websites such as screenonline.org.uk and makingof.com. Both are useful in determining the history and past conventions of the thriller genre and insight into creating the thriller movies themselves. Users are also able to write about each post in their topic and customize the post picture to whatever they desire. 

Scoop.it! very interesting, and modern way of sharing ideas.

Camera Angles

Trying Green Screen

I made the following video in iMovie'11. The song is called Nara by E.S Posthumus.

Thriller Films- The basics

I conducted some research to gain a better understanding of the genre i'll be focusing on. I summarised the key conventions through the applications of keynote and Slideshare.Conventions of the thriller genre

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Using green screen in iMovie

Object is isolated in front of green screen

Today, i investigated the possible filming and production skills which i might use, such as the green screen effect, which as years gone past has been made very simple and easy. In my story, the wife drowns in the river on a day lovely day out with her husband. 

Now since its 2°C at the start of January and making a character submerge into cold water to give the effect of a drowning can be quite difficult. I therefore used the advance of technology to help me. Since i will use iMovie for the basic editing, i decided to perform some research on YouTube and other websites so i could learn the basic techniques required for a green screen effect. I began to see how easily this could be performed with great effect.

Background is chosen to replace green screen

Firstly, an object (in my case, the wife) has to be placed in-front of a relatively large green screen. I record my wife lying down for the effect of drowning and her head beginning to submerge under the water. The wife's hair could be wet to start with so when the water is added as the background, the effect will be more realistic.

Secondly, i would need to place a suitable background to replace the green screen. As a photograph would not work, i would have to record the flow of the river from the bank where, theoretically, the wife would be. I would import the clips from the camera through the camera USB into iMovie.

The two put together...

Thirdly, i would drag my clip of the green screen over the clip of the river. iMovie then gives me the option to choose 'green screen effect' which when clicked it, the flow of the river should replace the green screen. Furthermore, i would need to check the timings of both clips and make sure they work together accordingly. Further video adjustments and editing can be made once the green screen effect is up and running.