Wednesday 13 May 2015

New Poster


This is my new poster and i made this as the last two posters i made were not with pictures of my own and were more like very pre movie posters also i feel like this is better than my other two as it is more realistic and has my actual actors in it.

Monday 11 May 2015

Coursework Evaluation

Media evaluation



First of all the title of my short film is Chemical Z, I changed the name of my film from American Zombie because I couldn’t fit it into the plot of the film and I didn’t have the budget to make it realistic enough for it to be a good standard film. The tile Chemical Z is a lot more generic and I could create a lot more things form this tile and implement them into the plot, all I needed was to get some type of chemical in the film. ‘Chemical Z’ relates to an evil experiment or an experiment gone wrong and that’s what I wanted to capture in part of my film. This is a common theme in a lot of horror films that have an outbreak or infection in it. The letter Z In my title tries to create a  bit more tension in it ,this could also of been done if I had called it Chemical X, however I feel as though the X on the end of film titles has been done too much i.e. American History X, Fear X and X in the Unknown.

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


My media project has shot that follow some typical location shots that are associated with a horror in a high school. An example of this would be the fact that most of my film is film in school either in the classrooms or in the hallways of the school then eventually through the film moving into the school car park and then onto the field. For example in ‘Jennifer’s Body is also mainly based around the high school as we see quite a few shots in classrooms or in hall ways and also have some scenes where they are outside which is a similar scene to mine end scene. I used these locations to connect it with the school theme I was going for and to keep it realistic as my actors are all teenagers.
My opening scene is quite an uplift scene and I have done this to try to lead the viewer into a false sense of security and has both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds in it, with the sounds of the school and its surrounding and also other music in the background provide that uplifting sound to create a fun and safe environment or equilibrium. In my opening scene its start with the two main characters walking through the corridor into the room where they find the dangerous liquid or (Chemical Z) all whilst there is the music playing in the background (The Boss by James Brown) the two boys are bored and want to see if the rumours are true about the room they are about to enter .After that I tried to create a different scene filled with a lot more tension. I feel like I did this but it wasn’t as tense as I wanted so when I added the sound effects and music it became a lot clearer what I wanted to do with scene and I looked at a lot of different scenes and music soundtrack to get the right balance to make a good opening scene and I feel I have done that. The opening scene is also a big hint into the storyline and should be as it is only a short film and if I left it too late to reveal it would have been a risk, either it would have been too boring throughout until the ending or it may be good as it might keep the viewer on their seat to find what happens in the end.

The Mis En Scene was a big factor into how the whole film would be perceived so I made sure that we got a real science class and the right equipment (to the actual point of creating an infectious chemical) to make it look realistic, I also used some of my budget to buy some modelling wax to be able to make some special effects to put on the actors to create the effects of the chemical when in contact with a human and also some face paint and fake blood. I also used close-ups of the weapons used in the fight scene which is a typical convention in horror films as they use this to express the type of genre this is to the audience for example just before the fight scene my character grabs a knife out of Callum’s car like they are preparing for something. The two characters in my film try to represent a couple of average teenagers who are curious and interested in off limit thing and places. I told the actors to just come in their regular clothes that they would wear to school as they are playing themselves essentially until they come into contact with the chemical. For example in a lot of horror film they start off with the characters or victims being very normal which I have tried to portray in my short film, i.e. Jennifer’s Body, Scream, Fright Night and Warm Bodies.

The Scene in the corridor in my film is quite similar to a lot of other zombie scenes where a victim gets attacked , in mine the infected (Cai) is waiting in a small hallway and sees a student walking past and grabs him and pulls him over to attack and then Callum walks round the corner to help Josh out. This scene is used to again to convey the genre of the film to the audience.

Poster, I made a few posters for my film, the first has an American flag as the background as my original idea for my film was for it to be called American Zombie and also has a bloody hand onto of the flag to represent that America or a major country may have been taken over by Zombies. I had the idea of the flag and the hand ever since I wanted to make a horror/thriller movie and I think that has also helped me with my creative ideas for my work. A couple of films helped put mine together such as Zombie Chronicles, Day of the Dead and Identity which all have the hand icon incorporated into their main theme for their poster. My second poster has a different theme and has a much more simple design, it has a background of some strange figures in the mist walking towards the screen and has a bold title appearing from the top and is more of a teaser poster as it doesn’t give any hints away to what might happen in the film.

I have recently made another poster and this is because it has come to my attention that my first two poster are more like pre production posters and are also not that realistic and as related to my actual film. Also the pictures that are in the background of my first two poster are not my own and i got them off of Google and was not very original so i wanted to do my own and also something that links to my actual film unlike my first two poster even though i still like them. Because of the late timing of the discovery of the unprofessional touches on my first two posters i had to get the actors who helped me out in my film to once again help me out on short notice and that is why in the poster some other clothes are different on the actors, which gave me something to think about in the sense that if i were to do it again i would definitely get my actors to wear the same clothes as this would keep the continuity in my film and would make the whole of my products a lot more professional and keep the continuity of my coursework.

For my magazine I have made a review page for my short film and chose to keep it as the usual review page with no horror or thriller theme to it, this is because I feel that a review page would not change their whole set up of their magazine just for a short film, however I have given the review page some contrast within it as the top and bottom half are black and white in the background which will give the contrast that I need for to give it a bit of an edge.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

For my A2 media studies coursework I was required to make a short film or trailer and two of the following ancillary tasks: a poster, magazine review page of my film or radio trailer for my film.  Thriller/horror is the genre that my short film is in and so that is the way I have designed my post and magazine review page and tried to keep to the conventions of films in this genre, and I have tried to put the essence of my film into these ancillary products. The poster that I made is there to advertise the film through all the different features on my magazine such as the title, images portrayed, the actors names and design and colour. I have tried to use these factors to make my poster more sellable. Even though my film poster is simple but I believe it is quite effective as my film is only a short film. My first poster attracts the audience with the background and the hand print as they both stand out and grab the viewers attention as they want to know what is involved in the movie and the poster however the handprint is the main attraction as it is in the centre and is the main attraction. My magazine review page of my film was based on a review age by Suspect magazine and gave me a few points on how to layout mine. I like the layout of my film and the contrast of the top and bottom half and also how it links in the main character in the review at the bottom, I chose to use suspect magazine as a example not because of its overall layout more for the writing and that just gave me more ideas on how I wanted the review page to look.
I think my magazine review page displays effectiveness as it combines other products with itself and includes a picture of Cai when he is transforming to give an exclusive look into my film which I believe magazine review pages to be about along with informing people about the film and the quality of it. The picture and the layout really adds emphasis to the genre that I am going for and I believe it give the readers a valid reason to watch my film after reading it. I do however believe that the top half of my review page could maybe be more realistic with the use of different fonts and using colour contrast in a better way, to make the review page that bit more eye catching.
 Overall I feel as though my three different products do combine quite well as they are all related and are all in the same style to fit the genre of my film. The two ancillary products are there to build up the reputation of my film and the tension when watching the film and also will be good quality in their own type of industry.I feel as though my poster and review page have combined well to create a very good overall effect and an effect that I was after especially with my short film and my latest poster as they give the whole project a more related and realistic feel to all of my work. The sharp colours that have enhanced on the poster really made me think of some other posters and films that seem similar, not the way it was set out just the colours in the background against the fonts and writing as they were quite sharp and bright which reminded me of the television show Utopia, this was about the government trying to cleanse the population using a new disease that had been made and in a way is kind of similar to my short film but on a much bigger scale.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

For my audience feedback I made a questionnaire about my short film and then showed it to a groups of 12-14 year olds, which I believe to be my target audience, and after watching it I asked them to fill in the questionnaire, there was 25 of them and the replies that I got were very helpful when improving my movie. Some of the questions I asked them were about the title of my film whether they liked it and if they had any other ideas about what it should be called and from that I got the idea for the title ‘Chemical Z’. I also asked them about how they think I could of improved my movie and the majority of the class said that they wanted more Zombies or infected people in my film, which I agreed with however I couldn’t get that amount of people to help out and also wouldn’t have the resources or budget to make this possible. I also learned from them that if I were to do it again I would put a bit more emotion into the storyline as the students thought that would improve the film if it had more emotion in it. Because of the feedback that I have gotten and because it was from the target audience that I set my film I have discovered a lot about media regulation as I looked into this before I set before I got the students to watch my film and because of this I learned all about the regulations and rules that are required to be in the different age categories for a film and really helped me decide on what my target audience is, and I think that if I was to do this project again I would make my mind up the target audience of my film first so you can pinpoint who will actually want to watch the film and you can market it to that specific age groups need and desires, I think this is a very important aspect for any film to get done, if its A2 media coursework or Martin Scorsese's new film they all have to do this.

"Amazing! I really like the storyline and I think the camera angles really add to the suspense in the film. Also, the make-up on the Zombie is really impressive! Great Film!" - Cai Veysithis comment was for my short film and it was a real boost when hearing it as i had only heard constructive criticism and was nice to hear. 

"Really good but i think you need some more zombies in the story line" - Dane Lingley 

 "I liked the film i just think it needed a bit more emotion in it" - Megan Spencer



How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?



Research, for the research of my film I got a lot of it from the Internet and looked up a lot of different short films involving infected/Zombie themes throughout.


 YouTube I used this site as they have a wide range of variety of short films and they are the same genre of film as mine. I used YouTube a lot to research other film and they have a very wide range of short film whether they be official A2 media short films for the course work, just professional short films or just people short films that they have done at home and all of these have helped me get ideas for my film not just the plot and story line but the camera angles, editing, special effects, music/sound effects and the overall feel of the film. I also used YouTube to post my own short film and is there to be watched and can be commented on and therefor I can get some more constructive criticism about my film.

Google I used this site a lot to get most of my images and to get help and ideas off of other blogs about short films. I also needed to make a Google account to be able to use crucial sites such as YouTube to upload my video and to get onto Blogger which is another site I used for my coursework and without Google getting my coursework to be viewed by the public would have been a lot harder.
I have used Blogger to store all of my planning and research and all of my work connected to my coursework. It is very useful to keep track of the progress that I make with my coursework; I can also upload pictures and videos onto it.
I used Microsoft Word and Photoshop to help me make my poster and review page, from which I learned a lot about editing and how to change the format of the pictures to make them look more realistic. I also used a few programs on my laptop ‘Numbers and Keynote’ to help create the data about the market research that I performed. During the construction of my film I used camera to film it (camera 1100d) and I believe that was the best option that I had for filming and I preferred using that compared to using my phone as it allowed me to get a better quality of picture for the film. Also with the construction of the film I used Apple’s Final cut pro and it was the first time I had used it but after a while I got used to it and learned a lot about the program such as cutting the clips, adding music and adding credits at the end of my film i also used the software to render my film and put it onto You tube, and it was the first time i have done that and put anything like a short film on YouTube and was a very good experience for me and i feel as though I will continue do this as I have enjoyed it a lot, and apart from actual filming which was my favourite part of doing my coursework, I have enjoyed the technology teaching me how to do a lot of things. For my evaluation I have used word to write it up and also blogger to upload it to share it with my teachers and the public to get feedback on, blogger is very easy to use and it has really helped me with all of my coursework.

Monday 4 May 2015

Product Placement in my film

Throughout the whole of my film i have tried to implement these into my film. This is because a lot of other films do this and get a lot of money and i just wanted to see how much i could fit in my movie without it being too noticeable. These are some of the brands that i have included on my film:
Coca - Cola
Converse
Nike
Vauxhall
Apple
Bmw Mini
Bench



Wednesday 29 April 2015

Focus group


I went to a year nine class to let them watch my film and get some feedback from them as their age group is my target audience and I felt that it would be a good idea to get a true opinion form them.

From this I learned a lot about what my target audience thought about my film there were negatives and positives about my film. A few points that have given me something to think about are that a lot of the students wanted more zombies in the film and also more emotion from the actors and the film, however now I have added music to my film I feel that has brought out more emotion in the film.

I have also found out some answers that I wanted to know about my film that I wasn't sure on.

1. Would my piece be better as a short film or a trailer?

There was a mixed set of responses, however the main answer that came up was a short film as they feel that it would give too much away if it was a trailer, so on that basis I am going to keep it as a short film, I will also need to add a few more clips to give it the length of time required to be a short film.

Another question that I wanted to get an answer from was:

2. How do you think the film should end?

This question was answered by almost everyone in the same way that they wanted to see Cai dead and maybe one of the main characters die e.g. Callum.

Tuesday 28 April 2015

Special Effects in my film

These are some of the special effects in my film and the behind the scenes photos of the Georgia helping to put them on Cai.




This picture show Georgia putting some modelling wax on Cai's face to show the rotting of the skin and the transformation that has begun on Cai.































This picture shows another special effect that we did and the acid burn/infection that Cai got on his hand when he spills it on him and this is the reaction we came up with.















This again shows the infection spreading and to do the effect on the temple we used the modelling wax again on this to get an effect of a cut head, we also used face paint and fake blood to help get this effect.































Thursday 23 April 2015

New Plot


New Plot



Two students are wondering through the school corridors when they happen to see a classroom of an old teacher who was once the school and had very bad rumours spread about him, the two enter the room and look around  to find any incriminating evidence, to there surprise there is some mysterious liquids. Cai one of the students starts to mix them and the other try to stop him by dong this they spills some of this new concoction onto one of them they are instantly hurt and try to wash it off it doesn't work and some side affects start to happen straight away increased anger, violence and also his hand and other cuts start to appear he pushes his friend Josh out of the way and runs out. Josh sees the Cai and recognises that he has been infected by the liquid. The infected student is now roaming around the empty corridors in pain when another student wonders into his path who he attacks, Josh finds him attacking the student and helps him out they both run away and plan how to deal with Cai.They plan to lead Cai into the car park and to Josh's car where his has a knife and they plan to create a diversion where Josh will distract Cai and the attacked student will kill Cai. In this process when Josh is trying to distract Cai, Cai grabs Josh to try to attack/bite him and Josh tries to reason with him for a second it works, however the infection has spread to far by now and Cai carries on trying to maul Josh, The student who was attacked (Callum) stabs Cai in the head before he can do too much damage to Josh; and now they are safe. but how contagious was the infection inside room S4!!