Main Task

Our completed final task:


In the end, we decided to not include the adapted Ted Hughes poem voice-over as it clashed with the music. The voice-over was fine on its own, as was the music, but combined they were confusing, making us to choose one or the other. We chose the music as it created more suspense, and the voiceover may have created confusion with the viewer.

Re-posted: Prelim Task

Our preliminary task re-posted.

Question 7: 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?

In retrospect, I believe we have improved significantly in terms of planning, handling the equipment, filming and the process of editing. Previously, we were insecure about what we were doing and how to do it, during which we also learned to take the filming process more seriously. Furthermore, we learned the importance of planning, and how, without it, filming falls into chaos. In addition, planning allows the intergration of various less obvious details. We conducted research in the various different types of horror before deciding on Gothic Horror, as it was the more unusual and less noticed genre in terms of recent films.  In combination with film theory, I now have a deeper understanding of the messages conveyed through different angles and shot compositions, allowing me to apply them not only in class but also when watching films in my free time. This combination of learning has made the progression from a rudimental first attempt to a full product easier and has enabled me to produce higher quality films, as well as provide mw with new skills.
 

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

Below are the tutorials we created to demonstrate what we have learned, thus answering the question above. Using YouTube, we added, we  added annotations to explain what we were doing.

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

ORIGINALLY LARGER- WRITING EASIER TO READ

Most film posters depict the faces of the actors or characters who play a prominent role in the film. However, we decided that was to typical and instead used a simple headstone in a graveyard. We thought that this would leave the audience more interested and wouldn't give away too much of the plot itself. It does however indicate, even if only subtly, the genre of the film.

We decided to keep our poster simple so not to detract from the plot of our film. Our poster was inspired by Arthaus in its style, and uses a font that combines  elements of Cassandre's 1937 Peignot  and the Broadway font, creating a Gothic font that almost mirror that originally on the gravestone (R I P), indicating to our audience that the film is of a Gothic nature. The photograph for the background was taken in the graveyard where we filmed our movie, the outcome of the being something of a personal nature to the audience, they see a film of an event occurring after having seen the poster. We decided to make the picture black and white to keep within the conventions of old Gothic Horrors. Overall, the choices we made were in order to attract our audience, inform them of the genre and create an original, non-typical poster.

Below are the questions and interviews we conducted with our audience.

Questions for our audience: If given the chance would you like to see more of the film?
Is there anything you think would improve the film?
Is there anything you find confusing?
Was there anything you didn't like or found distasteful?
Do you relate to the film?
Do you think it fits with the conventions of a gothic horror film?
Did the poster attract you to see the film?
What did you think of the colour scheme and the music?

From these responses, we can see that, generally, people find it interesting and would like to see more of it. However, they believed that we should work on our editing as they found that our opening titles were too fast and that the other titles did not fit as well as the others did. Understandable as this is, it was difficult to film the writing of the calligraphy, due to the hand being in the way, but that is no real excuse. It did have to be sped up, as it takes a while to write, if it is meant to be clean and sharp. Our interviewees also found that the lighting in the final coffin sequence was appropriate, with which we agree. It was a difficult scene to film and we had to simply suffice with a torch in a cupboard. We would have used a more inventive and imaginative approach if we hadn't been under a time limit with no budget. Our interviewees generally agreed, with one objection, that the colour scheme matched the atmosphere of the film. An objection was raised was that it needed to be darker, but I find that if it were darker, some shapes might have become indistinguishable. We had decided to keep the film in black and white and at that level of contrast in order to keep within one of the main conventions of Gothic Horror. The one question where most agreed (negatively) was on whether or not they could relate to the film. I believe they may have partially misunderstood the question (I personally do not know many people who have been buried alive). Its actual line of enquiry was whether or not they felt that they had a connection in general to the film, not if they had had a similar experience. The interviews also showed that our poster was effective in attracting our target audience- it fulfilled its purpose.

Evaluation Question 4: Who would be the audience for your main task?

Above are three screenshots of an example member of our target audience, Cassandra Vikander. As our target audience post explains, we wanted to have a more intellectual audience, rather than just some kids watching a film for "fun". 

Cassandra Vikander is of Danish descent but was born in Pasadena, California, where her father worked as a bio chemist and her mother as a musician. As a family, they had little money until her father made a discovery about a poisonous gas that tweaked the interest of the government. Shortly after, they moved to the UK, specifically London. She showed intelligence from an early age and was admitted to Oxford University where she is taking English Literature, Women's Studies (Feminism) and Art. Her mother (Luna) died in a hospital fire three years ago, leaving her to care for her father (Marcellus)  and her younger brother (Tristan). At the compulsory counseling meetings, she met her boyfriend Alec who had been a car accident resulting in his sisters death. The two recovered from their tragedies and moved on with their lives. Cassandra loves Gothic horror in all forms; film, television, novels etc. Her favourite book series being Hannibal by Thomas Harris. She also enjoys Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allen Poe, Robert Browning, Ian Flemming, Ted Hughes and Kathy Reichs. Her music tastes are wide reaching; she enjoys everything from  Beethoven, Tschaikovsky, Mozart,  David Bowie, The Smiths, The National, Panic! At The Disco, The Killers and The Jesus And Mary Chain. 

Typically, she wears dark colours, usually jeans, t-shirt/blouse and a jacket.  Cassie buys most of her clothes from charity or second hand stores, rarely from primary retailers. Her t-shirts are usually band/music/arty shirts, or clothes she has borrowed from her boyfriend.

Her favorite meal is steak and potatoes.

She lives with her boyfriend in the Florey building of The Queen's College near the centre of Oxford.

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

Above is a short animation explaining the production/distribution company process.

Below are two more detailed PowerPoints, one each made by one pair in our group unintentionally. However, I believe that both are important and have important information. They analyze what a media institution is, how they operate and give examples of a variety of institutions.

We used ipiccy, a free online photo editing website to crop this screenshot.