Family Omens: The Final Cut

7 Evaluation: Progression from Looking back on my Preliminary Task.

STORY BOARDING

Originally I worked with a storyboard on my Preliminary film that was brief and inaccurate. The shots included were rough ideas of what the finished video would contain and we worked with only an estimated number of shots required once we worked with the shot reverse shots. The story boarding for what would create my final media product was much more detailed and professional, even with the amount of half second shots used for the high action running scene that we used for the very opening of our film. Although there may have still been some inaccuracies, details such as timing, sound and titles included in each shot as well as type of shots were much more professional.

[A snap-shot from the Story board for the final media product created, in much more detail than the sketches for my preliminary film]

EQUIPMENT AND CAMERA

The Preliminary film I created was filmed on a flip camera whereas my final film was recorded on the much better camera of the Nikon D3200, consequently the films were completed to very different levels, my final product being to a much higher quality. Consequently camera skills were also increased as a result, the preliminary film can be seen to have much more unsteady shots compared to my final media product which I managed professionally as each shot required in order to reach the best quality as well as levels of representation.

[Left: the flip camera used to record that of my preliminary film. Right: the Nikon D3200 as was used for the final media product of my film opening.]

EDITING

As the preliminary film was intended to be a tool used to understand the basics of editing, it achieved exactly what it was supposed to. Even with these basic factors my skills have improved through the process of creating my final two-minute film opening and the shots to my final film have been cropped tighter to increase the flow and (in my case) urgency of the narrative, whilst the preliminary film had a much slower pace. I also developed my editing skills and understanding by working with more advanced editing techniques in AfterEffects for the fallen angel before the films titles are shown and the high speed running effects used on the characters. that were transferred to PremierePro.

IDENTS AND TITLES.

The titles used for my preliminary film were basic and ill thought through. When it came to creating titles for my two-minute film opening, however, the fonts were audience tested and chosen according to relevance to genre. Furthermore, the animation was equally specified for the effect we wanted to have on the audience and related to the codes and conventions of our genre as well as taking into account our understanding of the audience pleasures of our target audience. My final film also acheives a more professional level with inclusion of idents at the beginning, the creation of which allowed me to expand Photoshop techniques as well as LiveType.

6 Evaluation: Technology During the Process of Constructing our Product

Different forms of technology were used through out the construction of our media product, some I had used before such as PremierePro, YouTube and LiveType but none to the capacity and depth that they were utilized for our final film opening and I have therefore learnt and developed an understanding for all of the following examples of technology due to this work.

WE USED:

YouTube: Distributing film rough cuts, final cuts and audience testing.

PremierePro: Editing together of all shots used for the final product as well as testing and using different filters for the footage.

Apple Mac: All work aside from the filming was constructed on this device using a variety of different programs.

Facebook: Communication between Jake and I as well as details being shared with our cast took place on Facebook.

LiveType: The test fonts and animation were constructed using LiveType and transported onto PremierePro to add to our final film.

Blogger: All research, updates and the progress of this project was recorded onto this blog.

AfterEffects: The high-speed running effect was accomplished using AfterEffects and the footage in question transported to PremierePro to be finalised with the rest of our film opening.

Photoshop: The "Missed High-Five Studios" Ident was designed using this software.

Nikon D3200: All filming was accomplished using this camera.

5 Evaluation: Attracting and Addressing the Audience.

Films are enjoyed for a variety of different reasons but it's mainly due to how it makes the audience feel, be it scared, intrigued or happy, there are different audiences for each type of reaction a film might try  and create and work to create for audience pleasures in correspondence with these different audiences.

The audience pleasures films can try to appeal to include: Emotional pleasures: creating emotional responses the audiences enjoy. E.g. Romantic films to feel "in love" or "sad" or "uplifted: Visceral pleasures: physical effects like that of horror films which are made to make the audience "jump" or "scream" due to feeling "fear. Intellectual Puzzles: "working out" the mystery of the narrative. Thrillers/Horrors/Action narratives often have elements to "work out". Counter Culture Attraction: Being immersed in environments or scenarios  that break society's morals and legal restriction. For example, crime drama or murder in horror films.

For my own media product the completed opening two-minutes were shown to samples of the target audience and they recorded the aspect of the opening they enjoyed most to be the high-pace action routine as well as other areas of special effects. Therefore this film would be enjoyed in the area of Visceral pleasure. however, taking into account the rest of the films narrative, that further supports a variety of thriller and to some extent horror conventions, Intellectual pleasures will also be part of how the audience would enjoy the film as well as, although not as prominently as other horror films for instance, a degree of Counter Culture Attraction.

4 Evaluation: Who would be the Audience?

As established with analyzing the most fitting distributors the budget of a product to some extent defines your audience. Considering my film has a low budget, a domestic audience should consequently be the target market for my media product.

Primarily the audience will be domestic supernatural-thriller fans. To create a more specific marketing idea, the rating of the film should be considered. Referring back to my initial research into classification under the consideration of the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) "Family Omens" fit into the 15 category. 15 films include;

•  Strong violence.
• Frequent strong language.
• Portrayals of Sexual activity 
• Strong verbal references to sex
• Sexual nudity
• Discriminatory language or behavior
• Drug taking.

The 15 rating still stands for this media product despite the completed opening two minutes not fitting to this rating on its own. Other potential classifications for this media product include:

12 and 12A

• Moderate violence is allowed but not in detail.
• Action sequences and weapons may be represented.
• Sex and sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated.

18 

• Very strong violence
• Frequent strong language
• Strong portrayals of sexual activity
• Scenes of sexual violence
• Strong horror, blood and gore
• Discriminatory language and behavior.

Neither of the ratings above or bellow the 15 rating are fitting for the media product in question and so the 15 classification would be brought into consideration of appealing to the domestic audience. For instance when it comes to casting local actors resonating with a particular age group as well as how the film is marketed.

3 Evaluation: Potential Media Institutions to Distribute our final Product.

Film Distribution is the process of launching a film in the market place and sustaining public interest in the film. Distributors may; invest in the film's production, buy rights to the film once it is made,market the film to the target audience. If the distributor is part of a larger organisation that had made the film, then it will automatically distribute films by the parent company. Different distributors will distribute film into different markets. Bigger US "Big 6" distributors will distribute to a tent-pole audience through international distribution whereas local distribution is usual granted through a company that focuses on distributing independent films. Given my films budget, the latter is the sort of distributor I would be looking for. Some of these options include:

Film 4: Film 4 is particularly supportive of the UK film industry and is driven to support independent film-makers.

• Prior to 1998 the company was identified as Channel Four Films (FilmFour International), later re-branded as FilmFour. 
• Staff and budget was cut considerably in 2002 due to losses but has recent successes from "This is England" to "The Inbetweeners" franchise.
• FIlm4 productions receives an annual budget of 10m.

Microwave (Film London): Supports and funds UK independent films.Currently developing 36 films over 3 years.

• Film London subsumed the roles of two previously existing organisations: the London Film Commision (LFC) and the London Film Video and Development Agency (LFDVDA). Film London was formed on 17 March 2003 under the aegis of the UK Film Council and the London Development Agency. Microwave is it's feature film arm.
• Offers budgets of £150,000.
• Has distributed films such as "Lilting", "iLL Manors" and BAFTA nominated "Shifty"

Fox Searchlights:  Established in 1994, is an American film distributions company within the Fox Entertainment Group as a sister company of the larger Fox studio (20th Century Fox) specializing in US distribution of independent British films. 

• Recent releases include "Belle","Birdman" and "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" franchise. As well as "Slumdog Millionaire"
• Around $15mill in budgets.

BBC Films: Feature Film making arm of the BBC to distribute British films, succeeding with some of the most successful British Films over the years.

• Recent titles include: "Philomena", "Saving Mr. Banks" "What We Did on Our Holiday" and "Pride" all of which have been nominated for a number of prestigious awards.
• Annual budget of £11m.

2 Evaluation: How our Media Product Represents Social Groups.

The main task to deal with in terms of representation within our film was angels against demons. Although we did not want the typical stereotypes of fluffy wings and redskin and pitchforks due to believing this could not be created without looking tacky we did believe that clear connotations of stereotypically good and bad representations of our characters. Through bright and pale colors for the angel and dark leather costumes and make-up for the demons. Editing the high-speed run over the angel and a demon also helped the representation of a powerful supernatural entity.

The same approach was taken with that of the location, obviously without a substantial budget the stereotypical heaven could not be presented and initial target market/audience/ genre research showed more ordinary every day locations within supernatural-thrillers as it is so in the end we worked with a garden of Eden like location to support the conventions of our sub-genre in order to represent our narrative added too with a high key filter through the audience tested Cinematic 1 to add to this purpose.

Specifically to our narrative, in which the demons are the more powerful in the opening scene, we also included a number of shots to represent this situation including the hand held running shots from both directions to represent the peril of the angel as well as low angel shots on the demons as shown bellow to set up the representation of the demons with more power.

1 Evaluation: Using and Developing Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products.

The finished media product of my film opening mainly followed the expected forms and conventions of real media products in the systematic layout of the titles and credits. The typical order was attained after the initial idents  before the footage of the film began, all the actors names had already been presented; the rest of the titles consequently being shown over the film opening as is common within this media product. The animation of the titles was a development on the conventional use of titles in a film opening as it was more specified to our genre– the static flicker that has connotations of demonic energy as was gathered through my earlier research. This was the same approach for our main title opening with “Family Omens”

The setting was chosen with the conventions of our sub-genre in mind. With supernatural conventions being commonly less urban than other settings such as action might be, our mese en scene was consequently considered with this in mind. The forest setting for our entire two minute film opening goes further to be connotated with the details of our genre as an Angels vs. Demons film in representing the Garden of Eden.

Editing was a big part of the process of our film and was used to set up the film as is required from a film opening using everything from the sped up running of the angel and the demon to establish them as beings of power to the footage being pieced together the way it has to establish the impending demonic pursuers with the narrative. We also edited filters (Cinematic 1) over the footage to establish a lighter tone to the clips for heavenly connotations thus supporting our sub genres conventions as well as helping to establish the narrative of the film to achieve this media products purpose.

Editing: Sound Problems Update.

We have adjusted the sound of our film to the initial levels that were too quiet but despite efforts to keep a smooth sound on the video once it is uploaded whilst having a sufficient volume we have decided to settle for the audible but quiet sound we have now in order to maintain a higher quality.

Editing: Second Rough Cut: Sound Problems

In order to fix the uneven sound within our first rough cut we changed the gain of the level on those clips. After uploading the video these scenes have come out tinny and muffled, a solution is being worked on. 

The Editing Process: Rough Cut.

The Editing Process

The Editing Process: Soundtrack

In order to attain adequate copyright free material we have been searching through mainly the websites of Incomptech and freesound. These websites have been used for both our sound effects for the high-speed running, punching etc. and incidental music over the titles and running scenes etc. The soundtracks we thought were most suitable were tested against our rough cut and the soundtracks and effects we thought were most professional were cut to fit the scenes and shots in the most effective way. This will be audience tested as part of the points put forward to a focus group.

Editing: Audience Testing.

	Font 1	Font 2	Font 3	Font 4
Tally for focus group font preference.	||||			|

 Once our focus group was consulted on our four potential fonts we carried font 1 forward to start creating the required opening titles for our opening film using LiveType.

Ident.

To ensure a realistic set of opening titles for a film I set to work on one of our production companies ident's of "Missed High-Five Studios." through photoshop.

Filming: Update

As the film is edited together in the basics we can see that an extra scene may be required to fill the last time in the two minute specification to fade out as a new scene in order to ensure the footage does not work into a finished clip that appears to be more of a film trailer rather than an opening.

Filming: Update

This week our group reviewed the footage shot on the previous Sunday and we have come to the decision that reshoots will not be required. If any further problems rise during the editing process the actors have been briefed on the potential necessity for extra filming but for now and further filming days are cancelled.

Filming: Update

After filming on Sunday 18th January through the hours of 10 until 2 the group achieved more than had initially been expected and time tabled for this date; achieving not just the chase scene shots but the dialogue as well. Jake and I shall review the footage this week and discuss as to whether any additional reshoots shall be needed, considering multiple shots were not achieved for every shot required due to time constraints. However, filming did progress smoothly and additional days for filming may not be needed.

Filming: Update

By December 15th 2014 all of our actors had been cast and confirmed and following a group discussion on December 29th on the failure of our second and most prominently time tabled location we have had to change the initial idea of our film slightly to fit the one location of Newbottle woods. Meeting on 6th January 2015 Jake and I then confirmed the days we would be needed for filming as the following Sunday and the same day for the following weeks. These dates were then confirmed with our actors.