Audience research into age rating

In this powerpoint, I have done research into the various age ratings available for cienmas, films and videos etc... Further research into what would a video contain in order to reach a certain age rating.

http://www.slideshare.net/ohitstamsin/audience-research-29383933

Saw 1- thriller opening analysis

Saw is an American independent horror filmed released in 2004.

In this shot, the audience are introduced to a main character, Billy (a puppet). It creates a sense of unusual horror as he appears to be a sinister puppet.

In this shot, the main character (Jigsaw) is introduced to the audience. More contextual information is given in the subheading of the newspaper. This immediately suggests to the audience that the film involves people being murdered.

In this shot featuring 'it's his game' creates a sense of mystery and thrill to the opening sequence for the audience.

This long shot introduces the audience to an important character in the film. It also allows the audience to see the location of the shot and it acts like an establishing shot, which allows the audience to form an opinion of the set.

Another title used to personalise the opening sequence, which would be used to interact with the audience and make them think how they would react to being in the situation that the two characters are placed into.

In this medium close up, it introduces one of the characters playing the game. However it shows one of the torture devices which can kill. This adds a sense of horror and thriller to the scene and will interest the audience and they will wonder whether she makes it out in time.

In this long shot, it shows the location of the film. The lighting creates the idea that something bad is going to happen because the area is not well lit and there appears to be smoke/fog on the ground with a green tint.

In this medium close up of a man in a pig mask, in a bath tub. This adds a sense of fear and thrill to the opening as they may be portrayed as a kind of monster to the audience. The lighting is high key and unnatural to distort the shot and add to the sense of fear and draw the audiences attention to the pig mask.

This is the final shot of the opening sequence. It is very simplistic and is only introducing the name of the film to the audience. The colour green is featured to add to the tension and make the shot feel unrealistic and creepy.

Black Swan- thriller opening analysis

Black Swan is an American psychological thriller horror film released in 2010.

This screenshot shows what company produced the film to the audience.

In this screenshot it immediately shows the audience what the film involves and what its about. It also shows the main character (Nina), under a spotlight. This reinforces the idea that she is the main character to the audience. The long shot shows the audience a key location of where the film is set (on stage). Any of the audience who may be aware that the black swan is a famous dance involving a main female dancer as the white swan and the black swan.

An establishing shot used to show the audience a key location to where the film is set. The long shot allows for many characters to be shown in the scene.

A medium shot is used to introduce one of the main characters. This suggests to the audience that he has an important role in the film as the shot allows them to take note of his key facial features to remember what he looks like. The shot also is over the shoulder and from a different characters point of view (a dancer). This shows that he is the teacher from the costume used. Furthermore the shot allows various other dancers to be captured in the scene, which shows the location thus reinforcing the idea that he is the teacher. 

The first medium close up used which introduces the audience to the main character (Nina). However it still allows for one dancer to be shown in the shot, showing that she is in the dance studio. Her expression is focused to what she is doing (dancing) which connotes that she is determined as a character.

Another medium close up to introduce another main character. Mila Kunis (Lily) who is shown as the competition/ love interest almost in the film. 

Medium shot is used to allow Nina's facial expressions to be captured. However her reflection is also shown turning to look at her in the mirror. This is where the trailer begins to take a turn, similarly in the film. Nina's facial expressions are showing signs of extreme stress, however the reflection is looking sinister. 

This shot shows that Nina goes insane (reinforced by her facial expressions and gestures). The pace quickens in the trailer and screen time between each shot becomes faster creating a sense of urgency to the audience. 

This extreme close up of Nina creates the theme of horror and thriller due to her facial expressions and her bloodshot eyes suggest insanity. She is focused on the feather which she just pulled out of her skin, which may be distressing for some of the audience. The feather is a significant prop and focus in the shot as in links in with the title (Black Swan) which literally suggests that what she becomes.

Capturing emotions

In these photos I have experimented with capturing different emotions.
1-Sadness
2- Exhausted
3- Happy

In the first photo, I edited the colour of the photo to make it appear more dramatic and remove colours that may connote the idea of happiness, e.g. blue or green.

In the second photo I also edited the photo to black and white. I did this as the removal of colour removes energy from the photo which helps represents exhaustion.

In this photo I aimed for Nicola's smile to be the focus point of the shot as it helps to capture the true emotions and what I was aiming for when I took the photograph.

Light experimentation

In these four photos I have experimented with different levels of light to give different effects.

 

 

In this shot, taken at a Paramore concert, the stage lighting used allows for the members to stand out against the black background. 

 

 

In the second shot myself and Matt used natural lighting to add to the realism of the shot and make it appear mundane.

In this shot, taken at a Paramore concert, a spotlight is used to draw attention to the three band members playing the left side of the stage and allows for anything in the background of the shot to be blackened out, which helps draw focus of the audience.

 

 

 

In this final shot I used a worm's eye view and purposefully only had the light coming from the candles in the pumpkins to give a spooky effect to the shot, and also to draw all attention to the pumpkins carved faces.

The Walking Dead title analysis

For more research, I have analysed the opening sequence for AMC's The Walking Dead.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_wbbn-00c0OTVh2dHNUc0ZfY1E/edit?usp=sharing

Catching Fire title analysis

Here is a link to an analyis I produced of Catching Fire's titles:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_wbbn-00c0OMER5RjFqVDd0TXc/edit?usp=sharing

Preliminary piece- moving titles

In this video, myself and my partner Matt created moving titles for our completed preliminary piece.

Practice titles

In the video I began practicing with creating and using titles over a selection of still images. 

Preliminary piece - Evaluation

Here is my evaluation for my completed preliminary piece.

Preliminary piece evaluation

Preproduction:

My team consisted of myself and Matt Raynor. The brief was ‘a continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanged a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.’

 We prepared by first discussing what we wanted to achieve within this task. We decided we wanted to keep the piece low-key and simple as it was our first time filming. We had written down a predetermined route which my character was going to take. The dialogue wasn’t planned exactly but we had a rough idea of what was going to be exchanged and wanted it to be exchanged as naturally as possible.

We then began drawing up a storyboard and noting down ideas of possible camera shots, angles etc... We then went to each location our story board had and took photos. Assignment of roles came easily as I decided to take the role of the main character. We then asked one of our friends, Patrick to be a part of our work and take the role of the secondary character that I would exchange dialogue with.

Production:

The filming process took place over a few days, due to the weather changes meaning that the filming that was planned outside could not take place, and a change in the secondary character meant we had to re-film a large majority of the piece.

Matt was responsible for recording of all the shots. The shots he used included; establishing shots to set the scene for the audience, long shots, medium long shots, medium shots and close ups of the dialogue exchanged between characters.

 My role was the acting side as the main character and within that role I had to walk into school and exchange dialogue with a second character.

Post-production:

During the editing process the programme used to edit the video was Adobe Premiere Pro.

Evaluation:

The piece was fairly successful because the criteria of the brief were fulfilled.  The most successful areas within the task were the match on action used with me entering a room through each door, reverse shot and we included a variety of shots. However the continuity of my outfit can be criticised because in one day of filming I am wearing one outfit and then the second day of filming when I exchange dialogue with the second character I am wearing a noticeably different outfit. This issue could be resolved by simply planning an outfit in future pieces to increase the continuity within scenes.

 My main area of contribution was the acting involved but took part in some of the editing and taking photos of locations. Our biggest success was the editing of the preliminary piece as the film flows smoothly and there is good continuity between scenes despite the lack of continuity of my outfit. A strength of this is that it makes the piece easier to watch and flows naturally like a journey into school.

The biggest error would be continuity of outfit which can be easily fixed within future pieces. Furthermore there were a few issues with the weather when filming. The weather was unpredictable as the filming that was planned to be conducted outside, we had to wait for the correct weather conditions to film in.  However we made the most of the bad weather and filmed the later scenes that took place inside first.

Overall, the brief had been completed. However there were some small issues that can be easily fixable in future projects to come.

Preliminary piece- finished video

Here is mine and my partner, Matt's finished preliminary piece for a journey into school.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_qNFprqa-o

Preliminary piece storyboard

Here is the storyboard that was planned for the piece and a few notes on what we wanted to achieve within each scene and the criteria required for the brief given. 

Preliminary piece- initial ideas

On the preliminary piece, myself and my partner, Matt began by writing down ideas on what we wanted to achieve within the task. We wrote down a predetermined route that the character was going to take and allocate roles e.g acting or filming. Then chose the locations of each scene and what possible camera angles and shots we wanted to use.

Welcome!

Hello! Welcome to my media blog.

From here I will post my updates on pieces of  AS media studies work over the course of this year.