5. How did you attract/ address your audience?

To help attract our audience, we added music and background noises to our film. The music used in our opening sequence Prelude 3.0 by Slipknot. We chose this song because we felt the lyrics to the chorus fitted in the situation of our film. As our film continutes, a static clips and sounds then end the song suddenly adding to the suspense effect. As the static clip ends it shows a town centre deserted. This builds a suspence atmosphere, background noise of whistling winds also helps build this.

Because of our low budgets, I think we struggled to attract an audience. For example our character would have been better if he had a weapon, or something along those lines to make him more intimidating. Also a better budget would of meant we could of used better effects and better props and costumes.

In our opening sequence we used the same sounds throughout the film, after the music had stopped and the static cut to the traffic lights. We used the same sounds becuase we felt it created more of a scary, tension atmosphere. Origianlly we had Slipknot running throughtout the sequence, however we werent too keen, as it dampened the atmosphere and the tension as it didnt go with the film.

At the beginning of the sequence we introduce two production companies. "Horizon Productions" and "Pendle Hill Films." For Horizon Production we used an upbeat tune with it as it had a bright, positive feel to it. Pendle Hill on the otherhand, is more negative, becuase it has a negative, black and white filter on it. So we added a thunder as background noise. This brings us to relaise that it is a horror film.

Because of our low budget we are obviously struggling to add other props to our film. We would love to add some CGI, but obviously we cant do that. If we were to have a bigger budget, I would add some better effects, a better costume/overalls for our character and perhaps a weapon for him to. I feel this would make our film so much better in many ways, however, I feel our film is decent considering its low budget.

Obviously the mise en scene had to be rather negative to give a negative feel towards the film. The dark, dingy shots of rubbish outside the building didn't really answer whats happening in the film, but it does suggest that this what happened after the riots. In the scene with Calum, who plays the survivor. We shot it at eye level to help our audience relate to him. However I don't think its a shot for the audience to relate to, to much, because I don't think it give anything away regarding his personality. So therefore, I think the audience wont be able to relate to him.

 

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process ofconstructing this film?

We have been using Adobe Premiere Pro to edit our film as you can see from the photos. We used this programme because this is the software provided by the college. We learnt a lot using this editing programme. I don't think any of us have any previous experience using editing software. Despite this I say that we have learnt quickly as we found it very easy to use once we got use to it.

As You can see In the photo below, It shows the tripod and camera in view. In this shot we filmed the final parts to our opening sequence with Calum walking through a deserted field. We used a Canon Md325 video camera. We used this camera because this the equipment the college could provide, neither of us had better equipment. I have learnt that equipment can make a huge difference. I think a better video camera for example a HD camera would have made a huge difference to our film. It would have made it look more professional and more clear as the audience can see what's going on.

Throughout this task, we have been consistantly been using different forms of media to help construct our film. An example would be youtube, we used youtube to view other film opening to see other students media projects. Since our film was a horror, we looked at other horror films opening sequences such as 28 Days Later. We also posted our opening sequence on YouTube because of the millions of users it has daily. Hopefully we get plenty of views and hopefully some feedback, positive and construtive.

We have also been using other websites too, we have been using Blogger to talk about the progression of our film other the last few months. On my blogger I have talked about certain aspects of our film such as, where we had filmed recently, how we filmed, what we filmed etc. I also posted photos and videos of our group filming to provide evidence and to make my blog look better and more effective. After hearing we had to keep an up to date blog as part of our coursework, I immediately downloaded the app for "Blogger". I find the app better than the actual website, as the website can be very frustrating when adding photos to the blog, we found it difficult to roam the photos around the blog post. Obviously the app also has it down falls, but overall I found it easier to use.

So overall, I feel as a group we have learnt a lot, after a slow start in learning how to use the editing equipment, we picked it up quickly after playing around with it and our tutor helping us out. We knew what were getting in the quality of the camera, the camera wasn't bad, however I don't think its a camera to use to produce a film. The camera was easy and friendly to use and did a good enough job in what we wanted to do. Obviously we had to use a tripod to keep the camera when filming. The tripod we used was also decent, but it was at times a bit "dodgy", this is just down to it being quite difficult to erect, however it did what it had to do.

Immunity Storyboard.

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

I feel I have learnt a lot in this process, however in our preliminary task put a bad picture towards my acting skills as our ex cameraman James starting filming when I wasn't ready. Because of this, I wasnt allowed to be an actor and James was later sacked!

In all honesty I believe that as a group we have learnt a lot. We now have a variety of camera shot ideas when we were filming, and generally know whats best for our film. As at the beginning we just didnt have a clue.

I feel that we learnt quickly when using the editing software in the editing suite. At the beginning of the coursework we were always asking for help regarding the editing software. Mr McGiffen would prompt us and suggest what we could do to make our film look better. But now and towards the end of our film we knew what we could do to make it better.

I think if you compare our two videos (prelim and Immunity) you can see the difference in terms of the quality of how it was edited and in term of the acting. (However there isn't much acting in Immunity). In our prelim video which you can view in one of my previous blog posts you see Calum walking down a corridor and opening a door in a close up shot. The camera isn't very stable, as a tripod isn't being used. After viewing this we noticed that a tripod is a very important piece equipment because it keeps the camera stable and makes the film look less amateurish..

Equipment Used

In our opening sequence, we mainly filmed using panning shots and close ups. We all suggested ideas where we could possibly film. We shot in several areas around Burnley including parks and deserted bits of land.  

For our filming we used a Canon Md325 video camera, I personally believe that the camera isn't the best camera for filming but we didn't much choice since neither us didn't have anything better. The camera itself isn't a bad camera, it lacked battery life, but i suppose you could say that with any standard video camera.
The zoom on the camera was pretty good, although the picture quality does slightly go a bit fuzzy when you do zoom in. Overall the camera is okay, but i think that a better defined picture would have been better.

The tripod we used was a Velbon DV 7000. Although I didn't really have a chance to use it due to my job role. From what saw and heard from Calum and Cameron, it looked difficult to keep still if there was a slight breeze.

Blogging

Obviously as part of this coursework we have to keep an up to date blog to show what we've been doing during the filming of our film.

For our blogs we have mainly been using laptops and computers at home and college. Thankfully i am fortunate enough to own an iPhone. I downloaded the blogger app, so I could blog whilst on the move. I found this the easiest way to keep updating my blog. Using my iPhone I also found it easier to upload photos i had taken to show what goes on while we are filming. I was given the title "chief blogger" because of my iPhone app.

Immunity Draft

Below is our 1st draft to our opening sequence titled "Immunity". We need to adapt one or two things for example, the "Naughty Wizard Products", this was just a temporary production company until we created another one we all agreed on.

Also in this version of our film, there is a new shot of traffic lights on a dual carriageway, we shot this in the early hours of a Saturday morning to reduce the chances of traffic being in the shot. There also a shot of a car in a car park with its doors open, this hopefully sends a message to our audience that the car has been dumped. Calum also volunteered to be an actor in the film after we agreed that it was lacking a character. So we filmed Calum walking across a field with white overalls on and a paper mask. This hopefully suggests that  Calum is the only human left on the planet.