"The Ghost of Church Lane"

Question 7- Evaluation

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

I feel I have learnt a lot since we first created our preliminary project, and the progression up to our final film opening "The Ghost of Church Lane". I have learnt about many different shots that I did not know about, until now. This includes knowing about the 180 degree rule and match on action.

This is an "Over the shoulder" shot from our preliminary exercise.This isn't a very good shot, however as the background is of a bad quality as you cannot clearly see what it is.

In this scene we did not use a tripod, which may be the reason why the background is of a bad quality. We made sure that when we were filming our opening, we used a tripod.

This is an "Over the shoulder" shot from our final film opening. As you can see from the photo, you can tell the shot is of a much more higher quality as the shot is a lot more in focus and you can see what the character is looking at in detail. This may be because we used a camera of a higher quality when filming. We made sure to use a tripod when filming, as it would keep the camera still, which would produce a shot with a clear image.

The 180 degree rule states that two characters(or a character and object) in the same scene must have the same left/right relationship to each other.

The two shots below from my final film opening show the 180 degree rule in place because even though the camera shot is different, the person and object are in the same place. By using the 180 degree rule, it ensures the audience does not get disorientated and understand fully the positions of characters.

Before i had completed my preliminary, i was ensure about the 180 degree rule and how it was put in place. I know understand fully the concept of it.

Here is a mid shot of 3 girls talking, you can clearly work out that they are talking together but as you cannot see any of their faces closely, you cannot pick out emotions, which is what I wanted to do when filming our preliminary.

 From creating our preliminary to our final film editing, I learnt that the most effective shot to use to show either expressions, drama and emotions would be a close up shot.

Here is a close up shot from our film opening. By using this close up, you can clearly see that the characters face and tell that she is upset. This shot is a lot more effective as it portrays emotion. This ensures that the character is fully understood by the audience.

From creating our preliminary, we learnt for a shot to be effective, it needs to have good focus. Below is a low angle shot taken from our preliminary exercise. This is not a good shot however as it does not have much focus and you cannot fully see the person stood at the top. This may have been due to the fact that a tripod was not used. The most important thing we learnt, was to use a tripod!

Match on action is an editing technique, for continuity editing in which one shot cuts to another shot portraying the action of the subject in the first shot.

These two shots below show match on action as even though the shot is a completely different one, the editing has stayed the same, which gives the film good continuity and a sense of realism.

 

Question 6- Evaluation

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
We used an Apple Mac computer when creating our film. This was a useful computer to use as it enabled us to be able to do any research that was needed and also edit our film in order to complete it. It was also a useful computer to use as it was a easy computer to use, which was good for Molly and I as we havent used apple macs many times, especially for doing something as complex as creating a film opening. Molly and I both took equal turns using the macs when editing and made sure to show the other person anything we had learnt to do on them.
It was a useful idea to use this computer as our school has a number of Macs, all which can be accessed at any time of the day, so if their was any point that Molly and I had a free lesson or a spare amount of allocated time, we could go and find a Mac computer, and carry on editing our film.
By using an apple mac computer, i learnt how to access all programmes on their, such as Garageband and iMovie- all which were programmes that would play a big part in the making of our film opening.

                                                                    Here our photos of Molly and I creating a piece of musci on Garageband to be used in our film.

                                                                

   

  Molly and I used 2 programmes on the Apple Mac computer, iMovie and GarageBand. iMovie is an application that allows people to edit their own movies. Both Molly and I were familiar with iMovie as we had used it for previous projects, and it is also a relatively easy programme to use, so we felt confindent using it when it came to editing our film. We could acces a range of features required to complete our film opening, including editing transitions and sound effects. We both experimented with iMovie at the beginning by creating smaller projects, so when it came to making the actual project, we were a lot more confident and knew how to access everything. If i were to create another film, I feel I would have a lot more confidence when it came to using iMovie.

All the effects accesible on iMovie were of a good standard and i feel that the effects Molly and I chose created our movie opening perfectly and highlighted our genre of film "thriller" greatly, therefore made it a lot more understandable. One thing I learnt to do on iMovie, was to get rid of any background noise that was picked up whilst filming. By getting rid of this background noise, it gave our film a

The other programme we use on the Apple Mac was GarageBand. GarageBand is an application that allows users to create pieces of music, which can then be uploaded onto iMovie. We created a song on iMovie, and then placed it in our film opening, whilst we were creating it on iMovie. Garageband was a simple programme to use, so Molly and I didn't struggle when it came to making our music. A range of different instruments are shown on the screen and you can pick and choose which songs you would like to use. Once an instrument has been picked, the tune which has been created can then easily be dragged on to iMovie. By using the application GarageBand, it taught me the one key task that this programme was set out to do, which was create a piece of music.

To create our film opening "The Ghost of Church Lane" we used Molly's camera, which was a GE X5 SLR. We decided to use this camera, as it gave us high quality shots and also, since it was Molly's camera, it was easily accessible to both of us at any point, so if their was anything that we wanted to film to add in, or either film a scene again, it could be done at any point in time, such as at the weekend or after school as we did not have to hire the camera from school.

Here is a photo of Molly and I, using the application iMovie to finsih editing our film.

                Here I am putting the final touches to our film opening "The Ghost of Church Lane"

Question 5- Evaluation

How did you attract/address your audience

I feel that our film "The Ghost of Church Lane" would attract audiences, primarily females who are between the ages of 16-20. To attract our audience, we used actors/actresses who were the same age as our target audience, as they would be able to relate more to the same age group. We also wanted our film to be popular particularly among the british public, so we used all british actors.  Using British actors/actresses, would be one of our films unique selling points.
Music was another major thing we used to attract our audiences, we used 2 differerent types of music, 1 song was played at the beginning of the film which was played when our main character was looking at the picture of her and her father. The music we chose to use was a sad emotional piece. We decided to play this as we wanted our audience to really understand the pain and hurt our character was going through, so by placing this on top of the scene where she is upset, and mixing it with close up shots, it really created this effect.
The second piece of music we used had a lot of a quicker pace to it, which added a lot of suspense to the scene, we played this music when our main character Sophie had been spotted by the mysterious boy(Damian) in the churchyard. We wanted suspense to be added into this part as we wanted our audience to know something bad was going to happen, and be kept on the edge of their seats as they did not know when it was exactly going to happen.
By ending the opening where we did, this will grab the audiences attention and make them want to find out what the mysterious boy in the churchyard will do, making them watch the rest of the film.
Our film opening is similar to the film "Twilight" as the beginning of that film shows a new girl(Bella) moving into a new town to live with her father. She has had to leave her mother behind, just like Sophie had to leave her father behind, to move to a new house in our film. It is also similar to the film opening "mean girls" as that film also shows a girl moving to America from Africa, and having to leave her family behind.

Question 4- Evaluation

Who would be the audience for your media product?

All the way through the filming process, Molly and I knew that our taget audience for "The Ghost of Church Lane" would be primarily females aged between 16-20 based on events that occur and also they would be able to relate to the characters in some way as they are the same age.

This is Victoria Palmer, she is 17 years old and currently attending New College in Swindon and studying Childcare. Victoria enjoys going out with friends and spending time with family. She loves to do ballet and goes swimming regularly. Like majority of girls, she loves to go shopping and her favourite shops are Jack Wills, River Island, TopShop and Miss Selfridge.

She likes a variety of TV programmes, including reality with TV programmes such as Take Me Out. She also loves programmes that have a element of thriller or horror to them, including American Horror story and Being Human. "I love anything that can make me jump!"

Her favourite films to watch are thrillers, some of which have romance in "I love watching a romance blossom... but also being kept on the edge of my seat!" Her favourite film which includes all these elements is Twilight. "I love the relationship between Bella and Edward"

"Im also a big fan of the classic thriller films, my favourite one of all time would have to be psycho."

Victoria loves watching films that have actors/actresses in of the same age, as she can relate to them and their storyline a lot more easily.

I feel that Victoria would be the perfect target audience to watch "The Ghost of Church Lane" as she is of the appropriate age as the classified age given was 15, and she is 17. She would also enjoy the aspects of being made to "jump", and wouldnt feel uncomfortable any time that happened.

Question 3- Evaluation

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

A production company is responsible for the development and filming of a specific production or media broadcast. They are the people that fund and produce films for the filmmakers. The first logo that we created " A ME production" was for our production company. We created our logo using a programme called paint on the computer. We decided on the name ME for our production company as the first letters of Molly and My name were M and E and after playing around with those letters, we decided that a "ME" Production sounded better than a "EM" production.

A film distributor is a company or an individual who is responsible for releasing films to the public either theatrically or for home viewing( DVD). A distributor can either do this directly, or through theatrical exhibitors and other sub-distributors. Distribution can be done either through the cinema, DVDs, the internet.

Since our film is a independent film with a low budget and a minor production company, it is unlikely that a major distribution compnay, such as 20th century fox would not be interested in distributing our film. A film distributor who may be interested in distributing our film could be Entertainment Film distributors. They are a British Film distributor of independent films in the UK and Ireland. Entertainment Film distributors may also be interested in distributing our film as a vast majority of films they have distributed have been thrillers/horrors such as Teen Wolf, Horror and Final Destination 3 and our film the "Ghost of Church Lane"  is classed as a thriller.

Our film would most likely have to be funded by the UK film council as since our film is a small, independent project, it is unlikely that we will have sufficient funds. The UK film council was set up in 2000 to develop and promote the film industry in the UK.

The credits for our film were shown at the beginning of the film, before the title. We decided to show actors names in order of how bigger role they played in our film. Since Molly was our protagonist, we showed her name first. We also made sure that when we showed names, they came up under the characters shot, so the audience could understand fully who was who.

Question 2- Evaluation

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I knew choosing Molly to play Sophie would be an appropriate choice as she and Sophie both have some similar qualities, therfore was able to act out the character we wanted to be portrayed in our film opening.

This is our main character Sophie, played by Molly Monro. Sophie is a stereotypical teenager who had a strong circle of friends and spent a lot of time with her dad and friends until she moved into her new house with her mum and little brother which was inherited of her great aunt. Sophie now has to start a new life and make new friends. She is a very casual, laid back charcter with a natural appearence. At the point of time where we first meet Sophie, she seems to be a character who likes to spend time on her own and is reluctant to make new friends, until she meets a mysterious boy...

This is Bella Swan, played by Kristen Stewart in the series of films the Twilight Saga. I am comparing our character Sophie, to Bella Swan as their stories are both similar.
Bella Swan has just moved into a new town to live with her father, so her mum and  new boyfriend can go travelling.
Bella has a natural appearence(just like Sophie) and has a very basic approach to what she wears. Some days she will just throw on any clothes she can find. At the start of the film, Bella doesnt seem to make an effort to make any new friends, she almost seems reluctant, just like Sophie does
Both Sophie and Bella meet a mysterious, lonesome boy who they are intrigued to find more about.


There is one difference between these 2 characters though, we know that Bella Swan does embark on a relationship with the mysterious boy she meets( Edward Cullen) whereas we do not know what will happen bwtween Sophie and the mysterious boy she meets( Damian), we do not know if they will become friends or not.

Another difference is the regions and surroundings. Bella is an american character, the mysterious boy(Edward Cullen) she meets is also american, so both characters are going to have an american accent. 
Sophie is an english character who has just moved into a small, quiet english village. Damian is also an english boy, so both characters in our film are going to have English accents.

Question 1- Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products(i.e. of film openings)

My film "The Ghost of Church Lane does not challenge real media products as Molly and I have included all the typical aspects you would expect to see in a teen thriller film...

Our film opening was called "The Ghost of Church Lane". We decided to call it this as Church Lane is the name of the street where majority of our film was filmed. When researching into thriller films, I found that most titles of thriller films give away the theme of the film, such as Psycho and Halloween. By knowing these titles, we can guess what the theme of the film will be. I feel that the film title "The Ghost of Church Lane" gives viewers an insight of what the theme of the film is.

We chose to use the colour black for the background of our film title as it has conflicting connotations. The main connotation is that the colour black has a spooky element towards it, which is what we wanted our audience to think about the film opening we had created. Another connotation the colour holds is that black has a mysterious feel to it. When thinking about our film opening, we realised that we do want it to have a mysterious element to it as we want our audience to see the opening, have an idea of what it is about, but not a clear enough idea, so it seems almost mysterious to them what the film will contain and they have to watch it to find out. When researching into fonts used for opening titles, I found that many film titles for thrillers use black bagrounds, with either red or white writing.

                                                                    

The genre of "The Ghost of Church Lane" is a thriller. The opening suggests typical aspects of a thriller film by the use of low key lighting(Typically used in thrillers or horrors), the increasing tension created by the use of camera shots(typically close up shots, as these create suspense) and the song played, but getting louder as it gets nearer to the title sequence.

We used two different settings in our film, which were a house and a churchyard, both in the same area. For majority of the time, we used the churchyard for our film which is a typical setting for a thriller film. The most common settings used for thriller films are old houses and churchyards, both which were used at points during the film opening. I feel this shot really creates the atmosphere we wanted for our film as a churchyard holds a spooky, atmosphere towards it. We wanted the genre of our film to obvious from the start, which is why we introduced the churchyard near the beginning.

A variety of camera shots were used during the filming for the opening title sequence, but the ones we decided to use majority of the time where either a high angle shot or a close up shot. We chose to use a high angle shot because  it gives off the impression that our character is vulnerable, and also alone, both physically and mentally.It also shows that the character looking down at her, is the person that holds all the power at the time. We also used close up shots for a number of reasons, one reason was because they can create suspense, as you can clearly see the characters reaction and also they can make the viewers of the film feel conncected to the character and almost feel exactly how they are feeling.

We also used a long shot as these can set the scene and also show audiences where action will be taking place.

We mostly used the dissolve transition in the opening of "The Ghost of Church Lane". A dissolve is a gradual transition from one image to another, during the editing process. We thought this transition would be the most effective one to use as it gave the story good continuity and made it flow smoothly as the scenes would automatically switch and not have a big pause, which can take away the realistic element.

During the churchyard scene, we changed the original background and gave it a misty, dark look to make the scene appear frightening and "chilling", which is what we wanted the outcome to be as most thriller films showing churchyards tend to have the weather dark and dull, to give it the spooky element.

  Our characters are intorduced in the stereotypical way you would expect. Sophie is first seen as being a moody teenager, who audiences can guess is not happy at moving house and having to start her life over. Damian is first introduced when he is seen watching Sophie in the churchyard. Most main spooky characters are introduced watching characters that they are going to be getting involved in, such as Edward Cullen in Twilight. He is seen watching Bella Swan in a lesson, before he first gets involved with her.

All props used were props you would expect a stereotypical teenage girl to have. The first scene of "The Ghost of Church Lane" is Sophie unpacking her belongings into her new bedroom. The props included in this scene are things a typical girl would have in her bedroom, such as a mirror, clothes, toiletries, books and a television. The most important prop included in our opening is the photo of Sophie and her father. We wanted viewers to know how important this prop is and what meaning it has to Sophie and what it causes her to do(walk out of the house in sadness to the churchyard, where Damian first sees her , which is why we used a close up shot to show the photo.

Logo decision

After much discussion, Molly and I have finally decided on our logo. We created our logo on a programme called paint. In our logo we have included both of our initials and called a company "A ME PRODUCTION. We decided on the name ME for our production company as the first letters of Molly and My name were M and E and after playing around with those letters, we decided that a "ME" Production sounded better than a "EM" production.

We decide on using a picture of the world as we wanted our company to be one recognised by majority of people round the world, even though we are only a british company
We chose to use the colour white for our writing as it is considered to be the colour of perfection, which is what we want our company to be seen as- the perfect company.