Editing our Pop Video

The editing of our video was done using the Final Cut suite of programs. Due to the nature of our video, with the small shots inside the big ones, the editing process was to be the longest part of production for our group. First, we digitized all our rushes, which filled 5 tapes worth of material from our 4 camera set up. Then we imported it all into Final Cut Server, the program which would serve as a “base” for the editing operation. We then “checked out” all our footage and sound, and began to sync up our different takes.

On the shoot day, we had used a clacker board so we could ensure all the footage from the multiple cameras could be put together in one seamless piece of synced footage. After syncing all footage together, we exported all our footage into Adobe After Effects, where we began to put the still crime scene images onto the footage we had shot on the blue screen. After completing this process we exported all our footage back into Final Cut Pro, ready to put into the timeline of our main idea.

We assembled the finished blue screen footage along with the performance element with the small superimposed images. As it was a pop video, no soundtrack was required aside the piece of music we used. After adding this to the timeline, the video was finished and ready to be exported from Final Cut Pro for distribution.

Magazine Advert Planning

The audience that our band would be aimed at would be males, predominantly in the 14-25 year old range of age. The name of the band and the name of their album both sit on hot spots. As a new act, these are the two most important things for the audience to learn about the band, and so the hotspots help us draw attention to them. The colour scheme of the advert would be slightly dark and urban, including brickwork as the final background, to emphasise the gritty image of the band and their music. The metal fence is also used as a frame, to present the band members clearly and draw attention to them. All the band members are male, and displaying examples of extra-diagetic gazes – staring straight at the audience through the picture. How ever, the bassist on the right of the advert is an exception, as he is looking out of the frame, showing an extra diagetic gaze. Placing the bassist slightly apart from the rest of the band and on the right gives connotations of mystery and perhaps menace, which is enhanced by his gaze.

Below is the rough draft of what my magazine advert will look like:

CD Cover Planning

Another important part of the task of creating the band was to design the CD cover of their first album, featuring the song you had made the music video for. The concept of our music video was crime scenes, using photos by the famous 1930s crime scene photographer Arthur Fellig, also known by his alias “Weegee”. So for our CD cover, we thought we would stick with this idea and took stills on the day using this concept.


Arthur Fellig

Copyright Permission Letter

After deciding on the song that we wanted to use for our pop video - "Let's Get Outta Here" by Madina Lake, we needed to get the copyright holders permission to use the song in our production. To do this, we found the copyright holders offices address, and wrote them a letter to ask for permission to use their song.

Below follows the letter that we sent:



Alex Kohnert
Hurtwood House
Holmbury St Mary
Dorking
Surrey
RH5 6NU


Warner Music Group
75 Rockefeller Plaza,
New York, NY
10019 October 6th 2010


Dear Sir or Madam

I am part of a a group of A Level students working on an A Level project for a qualification in Media Studies. I am writing to request permission to use the following track as part of this project:

‘Let’s Get Outta Here’ by Madina Lake

With your permission the track would be used as the accompaniment to a short form video that is made purely for assessment purposes and will have no commercial usage. The video will be viewed only by members of the school community and the assessor of the examination board.

The artist and the copyright holder will of course be fully recognised in the pre-production and evaluation material that accompanies the project. We can also include a full copyright notice if required both in the planning material and on the video itself.

Yours sincerely


Alexander Kohnert
Hurtwood House School

Multi Media Campaign

A multimedia campaign is an advertising campaign which uses various media to raise awareness of a brand or product. In our case, our brand was that of our band. The variety of media that can be used is huge, but the main ones are; internet, television, radio, newspaper and magazine. Using shots we took on the day of our shoot, we created several images that could be used in various media. It is important to think about your bands star image and what type of media you are going to be displaying your advert in before you take pictures. For example, a picture for the front cover of a music magazine would be very different from one for an interview in a respected broadsheet newspaper. Richard Dyer says that star image is based on several things and that bands attract fans by being rebellious, anti-establishment or a variety of other concepts which can add to the myth of music stardom. To appeal to certain audiences, each publicity photo would have to contain or reference to different aspects of Dyers concepts of star image.

Below are examples of some of the publicity shots we took:

Shoot Day

Thanks to all our prior planning, our shoot day got off to a good start, with all our cast assembled in the correct costume with the instruments they needed. We then proceeded to set up our camera rig, which consisted of 4 cameras. The camera filming the wide shot was a JVC 1500E and the three others taking close-ups of the various band members were Sony PD170’s. All the cameras were mounted on Vinten tripods which we moved when we needed to take new shots. On the day our team comprised as myself as a camera operator of the wide shot and another PD170, and two members of the Media faculty on the other cameras. Lauren Holley was the director and oversaw the whole shoot, and also did the clacker board for each take. Laura Nixon was in charge of the playback of the music track, which the band played along to. After lunch, we were done with the entire band except the



singer and so they left while we turned the studio into a blue screen room. The afternoon was spent shooting the singer miming his lyrics and acting on the blue screen on the JVC. All in all, the shoot day was a success as we managed to shoot many good band performances in both wide and close up shots and also managed to get some novel footage, like the close up of the bass drum pedal playing. However, some things did go wrong, which if not quickly dealt with could have put our whole shoot day off. Early on in the shoot, the



guitarist attempted a movement whereby he swung his guitar around his neck, and in the process dropped the guitar on to the concrete floor. This shattered one of the holding pins for the guitar strap and slightly broke the joint where the neck joined the body. To rectify this, a screw was put into where the old guitar strap button was, which acted admirably as a strap button for the rest of the day.

Pre-Production Continued

After developing our idea and starting the pre-production, we finally got on with preparing for our shoot day. We created a call sheet – a document saying how the shoot day will be run. Our call sheet included the names, functions and telephone numbers of everyone in our team, equipment, locations, our original storyboard and the lyrics to our chosen song. Using this call sheet we had an idea of what shots we were going to shoot on the day, and the amount of time it would take to do this. The day before our shoot, we went to the studio where we were going to shoot the video and began to ready it for the next day. First we erected all the lights that we needed to use, including redheads in a 3 point lighting configuration.




Then we began to assemble our set, with help from other members of our crew. Our set comprised of some flats with painted fake brickwork, and some old construction site fencing. We also collected rubbish and spread it about the floor, to give a more urban and grimy feeling to the whole set. To complete our set, we added police tape, a chalk outline of a body on the floor and a blue light set to flash at quick intervals to represent a police light. This helped enhance the theme of our video, which was crime scenes and law enforcement. The only props that we used in our video were the bands instruments and a gun, which we set the day before to make sure we didn’t have to waste time looking for them in the morning. The cast also brought their own clothes, which we had checked before to make sure they were suitable for the image of the band we were trying to portray.

Deconstruction of a pop video

A contemporary pop video that shows the use of the conventions of film making is blink-182’s video for “Adams Song” which can be found here

Throughout, Mark Hoppus (the bassist) is featured in the top left, or first hot spot to draw attention to him. The shot below clearly illustrates clever use of the rule of thirds.

In the next shot, attention is drawn to Travis the drummer, through the use of a dynamic visual triangle. This focuses our attention on him, despite him not being on one of the important hotspots.





This shot beneath shows the use of match cutting, and leading the eye. In picture below, your focus is directed on Mark Hoppus, as he is in the top left hotspot. The video then cuts to a wide shot of the band, with Mark once again in the top left. You gaze has been directed through the use of hotspot to focus all your attention on Mark, without consciously thinking about it.

Picture Composition Rules

Often, low angle shots of musicians are used in pop videos. This is to make the performer seem taller and therefore more powerful than they are, and to provide what may look like an audience’s eye view of the band. There are several unwritten rules which aid picture composition in any kind of film media and will convey meaning to an audience. The first is the size of shot, whether it be an extreme close-up which can be used to show emotion, or an extreme long shot which can show a single person to appear isolated in the world. The position of the camera can also reveal a meaning – shooting a person from a low angle will make them seem more powerful, or just taller. Shooting from a high angle will achieve the opposite, making a person appear weak or feeble. Shooting a person from the front will make them appear boring, as they lack 3D definition in our eyes, but the more of an angle a person is at to the camera, the more interesting they will look. The rule of thirds, is a term that refers to how our eyes view a picture, and how we can use this to draw attention to something in the frame. The first place we look when we see a picture is top left, then we move across to the top right, down to bottom left and then across again. The graphic below shows how we can use the rule of thirds, and the “hot spots”, highlighted by green circles, to lead the vision of a person. This “leading the eye” is another composition rule that is used in pop videos. By leading a person’s eye, we can direct their attention to certain things in the video, like members of the band or important iconography.

Low angle shots of musicians are used frequently in pop videos. This is to make the performer seem taller and therefore more powerful than they are, and to provide what may look like an audience’s eye view of the band.

This picture clearly shows how the rule of thirds works. The picture is divided into 9, with the overlaps, also know as the "hotspots" shown by red dots. The subject of the picture is placed on the top left hotspot, as that is the first place that your eye will travel to when you see the image.

Completion of R&D and Pre-Production

After settling on our concept, we finally got down to the nitty-gritty of pre-production. Pre production is the logistical time in the creation of a pop video, where everything is worked out in order that the shoot day can run smoothly. This foundation of all this is making sure you know exactly what you want to shoot on the day. To achieve this, we constructed a timeline of what each shot would be, including the angle, duration and what would be in the frame. After this was completed, we transferred the timeline to a storyboard so we could see what the pop video looked like visually. During this process, we went about the process of selecting our cast, which is probably the most important element of a pop video featuring a band. After selection, we performed a camera test to see whether or not our cast would be suitable when on film. We did this by filming each member just standing still with a neutral look on their face, and then with the cast member playing their instrument, so we could see how they would look in both the performance and narrative elements of the video. We also had to do some research on shooting locations, as our original idea was to shoot in a train station in London or Trafalgar Square. However, after doing out research we found that shooting in a station would cost us vast amounts and that it would be very hard to get good footage from Trafalgar Square as the camera would constantly be being jostled by passers by.

Pop Video 09/10 - First Post

The Brief

As a group we are to develop a concept, image and brand for a new singer, group or band and develop and produce their first pop video, their first DVD cover and their first magazine advertisement. This is in order to establish the group and especially their image and brand for a particular target audience.

The 5 Stages of Production for a Pop Video

Stage One: Research and Development

This is when the initial idea for the video is conceived, after a song is picked from the artist’s catalogue of music. It is then possible to look at videos from other bands that produce similar music, to ensure that you come up with an original idea, or take interesting characteristics from other videos and put your own spin on them. In our case, we looked at videos to help us come up with ideas, as we are not seasoned professionals at pop video creation.

Stage Two: Pre-Production


When a projected is finally given the “Greenlight” (the go ahead to start working), the pre-production begins. This is when the planning for the shoot day takes place, and the final construction of the idea is put together. Cast, locations, props and shooting schedule are all arranged so that the shoot day runs smoothly. A storyboard and timeline are then worked out to show what needs to be shot and how it fits into the song. It is also possible that you may have to test the equipment that you want, if you haven’t used a camera/lights in a while.

Stage Three: Production-The Shoot

A call sheet needs to put up a few days before the shoot so that all the cast and performers know where they need to be on the shoot day. You also need to make sure that the performers know how to play the song on their respective instruments, and that the singer knows the lyrics. When shooting, it is important to get some stills with a digital camera or just using the camera, for use in the advert or DVD cover later.

Stage Four: Post Production

Post Production is where the editing and after effects are put in so that the video works. A lead editor drives the process and makes sure that people take turns doing work, and that one person is not overloaded with all the editing. After effects, like animation are added during this process, and anything that needed a blue screen on the shoot day. During this process, various cuts of the video are shown to test audiences to gauge reaction and see what does and doesn’t work.

Stage Five: Distribution and Exhibition

This is when the video would be distributed to the general public to raise their awareness of the artist. Many outlets could be used in today’s age: The record label could release it on their official YouTube channel, it could be shown on a music channel on television, or it could be released on social networking sites like Myspace, which many artists use to promote themselves. Online recommendation sites, like Digg, may also help increase artist awareness if the video was seen and liked by enough people.

Research and Development


“Just because it happened to you, doesn’t mean it was interesting”

- Dennis Hopper

Our First Steps

When I was selecting my song, I didn’t want to pick a band that most people in the UK would have heard of. I went through music I had on my iPod until I found a song that I thought would make a good music video, and then brainstormed some ideas. I repeated this process until I found Listen To Your Friends by New Found Glory, and from this song came my idea. I wanted to put over the main message in the song, which is about rejection, and how you should always listen to other people before plunging headfirst into some kind of romantic relationships. Punk rock music is all about energy and movement, and this would be reflected through the video. The performance element would be shot on a stage with an audience, to show what the band is like in concert. It would all be shot off tripod, using handcam, to emphasise the energy of the show. The narrative would follow the story of what the lyrics are saying, in the various locations mentioned. These locations would not be 100% realistic however, as keeping them a bit surreal would fit in with the slightly non-conformist image of the band.

Skateboarding and Vans Shoes are two things closely associated with punk rock music and the subculture that goes with it.

The Band, Their Backstory and Contexts

Atom Tan are an up and coming punk rock group from Lowestoft in East Anglia, who have been performed for the last 5 years. Originally an indie rock band, they discovered a mutual love for punk rock after watching New Found Glory at Reading Festival. They hope that after 4 years of playing the club circuit in the east, including gigs at larger venues in Norwich and Ipswich. Their influences include New Found Glory, Blink-182, Social Distortion and All Time Low. As a punk band, a certain part of their star image relies on being rebellious, and so all members have matching tattoos of the band logo. The commercial implications of the genre and today’s choice of mainstream music mean that thy probably won’t make much money until people’s music tastes change, or the band make more mainstream music. Atom Tan are currently signed to Haversack Records, an independent record company specialising in niche genres in the UK music industry. Acts on their books range from Ska to Hip-Hop, with a variety of genres represented. The label allows the band almost complete control over there creative output, which enables the band to make music they think is relevant and important. However, the label does not pay very well as it is small and does not have a massive distribution system in place to release records. On the JICTAR scale of social analysis, Atom Tan would probably appeal to people in the C, D and E categories, as the music does not confront complex modern issues and is simple in its composition. Punk rock is a genre mainly listened to by males aged 14-25, but not exclusively as some of the issues dealt with are identified with by younger teenage girls. The band has constructed an image of carefree youth, with an undertone of rebelliousness. To support this, most of the bands photo shoots have been with them taking part in childish things, many associated with the punk rock subculture, like skateboarding. The band have not released any music videos to date, so this will be their first music video. The idea is to introduce them to a wider audience to increase the appeal of their music, and try and spark a revival of punk music in the UK, much like the British metal revival. They would put the video on their Myspace so that their fans could see it. It would also be put on Haversack Records YouTube channel, to attract wider internet attention to the band. If the video became a big success, it might even get a spot on a music channel like MTV, or a talk show like Friday Night With Jonathan Ross.

Atom Tan during one of their live shows.

Advanced Production Portfolio Preliminary Task

The preliminary task we were set was to create a star imagine for a new artist and market them using a variety of publicity materials, including an album cover and publicity shots.

We collected the information and presented it to the class in a PowerPoint presentation, shown above.

Audience Feedback

How does the audience feedback on your product confirm or disrupt your original intentions for the film audience?

Our product has been posted on Youtube, a site commonly used by members of our target audience: younger males and teenagers. We got feedback from the site, in the form of several text comments which gave us negative and positive aspects of our product.

The feedback we got was conflicting, and different audience members found different things appealing. One thing that all the audience members seemed to agree on was that the shooting of the film was good, with interesting and unique shots being used throughout. This was our intention as we did not want to create a boring product, and instead wanted something dynamic and interesting. From our audience we found that our product was viewed as a stereotypical zombie movie product, which some people found good and others bad. It was our intention to have a product with some stereotypes in, as all genres of film have certain common elements which attract an audience which is comfortable with the genre.

Many audience members said that they found the cutting from the fast-paced parts to the slow motion parts of the sequence incorrect. To an extent I agree with this, as it didn’t feel natural to cut from very fast to very slow. However we wanted to create an interesting product which broke some conventions, and tried our level best to create cutting that fit together well, while being an interesting and fresh idea, which one audience member agreed with in their comment. Another criticism was that the titles were too quick to read. The comment did not specify which credits were too fast, but I believe they were talking about the credits while the fence was being hit by the hand. I agree with the comment, as the credits appeared quickly and then faded fast. This was done as a stylistic choice to increase tension, but obviously did not work when presented to our audience.

Here is the link to our product on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phUbEI5DyhY

Foundation Project: The Final Cut

Here it is! After months of hard graft, it's finally finished. I've also posted some dominant stills from within the Product, which could have been used within the marketing of the product:

Evaluation - Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt about the progression from it to the finished Product?

Our preliminary task was to film two characters having a conversation in a room, using the same camera and software that we would use in our Foundation Project, and to edit the footage into a short linear sequence. We filmed the sequence in an interior set, and used two found actors. One actor entered through a door and established themselves, while the other character got up from a chair, after looking through a bag. A few lines of dialogue were then exchanged between the two characters, before the character that first entered the room then left again. We shot our preliminary task as a thriller, and did this by centring the lines of dialogue around the person in the room searching for something in the bag, as if they were conducting a robbery.
When we did this preliminary task, I had little or no idea about how to use a camera, or how a media shoot actually worked. Before the shooting day, I was taught how to adjust the relevant settings on the camera, e.g. shutter-speed, exposure and aperture settings. I was also taught how to film, attach the camera to a tripod and how to pan the camera while on the tripod. On the day of the preliminary shoot, I was very nervous about using the camera and had the settings done for me by the technician we had on hand to help us. However by the day of our real shoot, I was perfectly confident with all the settings on the camera. I set up all the settings on the camera and checked them myself. I also did a lot of the camerawork on the shooting day, which was all done by handcam, as I felt more confident with my ability to use the camera and take decent shots.
We were helped extensively on our preliminary shoot, especially with organisation. The staff allocated us a specific time, and when we arrived all our equipment was setup and left at the location we were to be shooting at. However when we were put into groups and decided on our idea, we had to take matters into our hands. We wrote up a detailed shooting schedule for the day of the shoot, after obtaining permission to shoot in the location we wanted to use. On the day of the shoot, we all turned up early to the equipment store and took all the equipment we needed. We then brought it to the shooting location and set it all up, making sure it worked before any of the performers had even arrived.
I also learnt the useful skill of how to write a script and a treatment. Our preliminary task was scripted for us, and we were given precise shooting specifications. When it got to our Foundation Project, we were allowed full control of what we wanted to shoot and how. To do this, our teacher taught how to write a treatment in 3 acts, and then to take the opening of the first act and turn it into our idea for our Foundation Project. We then took this idea and write a script for it, under our teacher’s guidance.
Teamwork was also a large part of the entire learning process. At the beginning of the preliminary task, communication was almost non-existent and we all completed the task while still being inside our own individual little bubbles. When we got into our group for the Foundation Project, we spent several sessions arguing over what idea to chose, and relations were very frosty within the group. However when we had finally settled on the idea, I feel that the initial arguing brought us all closer together, as we knew exactly what each other liked and didn’t like. This played to our advantage, as ideas were quickly thrown around the group and using our newly acquired skills in researching and brainstorming, we were able to quickly get the idea into shape. When it came to the day of the shoot, we kept in constant contact when any of us left the set by calling each other on our mobile phones, to run decisions by each other. We also communicated during the editing process, agreeing times to meet up and edit together.
The shoot day was probably the biggest learning experience for everyone. Our shoot day for the preliminary project was not set up by us, and aside from almost going over the allotted shooting time the whole day went well. We did a lot of planning for our Foundation Project shooting day, but unfortunately not all of it helped on the day. We had the majority of our actors cancel on the beginning of the shooting day, as they hadn’t had permission to leave their lessons. This played into our hands however, as we had an extended amount of time to set up the equipment and choreograph the sequence, so that everything would run smoother later in the day. When we got all our actors together, it was quiet late in the day so we had to carefully select what footage we wanted to shoot, as the light was fading. We also showed out adaptability out on our shooting day, as we changed the ending of our original idea due to the time constraints we faced and also the fact that our lead actress took ill halfway through the shoot. The days were completely difference, in terms of both timing and structure. The preliminary shoot was only one hour long, as we didn’t have to shoot much footage and got most things done in one take. As a result of this, we didn’t have any breaks during the shoot itself. However during our Foundation shoot, many things were different. For a start, we needed much more footage, so the shooting day was 8 hours long. Consequently, we had to allow our actors to have breaks, especially as the acting work was strenuous as it involved running around a lot. We also implemented a call system on the day of our Foundation shoot, whereby only actors that were needed would be called to the shooting location. This worked well, as it meant we didn’t have people hanging around on set and interrupting the shooting when we weren’t shooting the group scenes.
Editing was a real eye-opener for us. Our preliminary project editing was fairly basic, we were shown how to take all our footage and cut it into little useful chunks using Final Cut Pro, a professional video editing software. We were then shown how to cut these chunks into small clips, and thread these clips together into a sequence. This worked well for our preliminary sequence, which wasn’t complex at all. However, when we did our Foundation Project we wanted to make a more polished and interesting product. So we did the basic editing, and then took it to the next level. We used an industry-standard effect program Abobe After Effects to change the saturation levels and colour some of the footage. We also used it to create black vinyetting around the edges of the footage to focus the audience’s attention on what we wanted them to see. We also used Soundtrack Pro to create the sounds for our Product, which heightened the tension and mood of the whole sequence.
I f I could go back I wouldn’t change much about the whole experience. In the majority, it was good, but also had down points which helped us to learn from our mistakes. I probably would have spent less time arguing about the original idea. I also definitely would have made the actors agree in a more concrete sense to come to the shoot day on time, and made sure they were confirmed and able to attend. I feel like what we did gave us an experience of what it would be like to work within the Media Industry as we experience deadlines and the pressures of working in a time constrained environment. We also had to plan and devise everything we did, and adapt it on the spot as happens in real film production. We also used industry-standard software and equipment and had the experience of working like real post-production specialists.

Over the process of 4 months I feel that I have developed many relevant technical skills and broadened my interpersonal communication abilities. I have realised that film making is a challenging, sometimes frustrating and yet rewarding experience. In the end, I am very proud of the product that we managed to create, and the whole experience life changing.

Evaluation - Question 6

What have you learnt about Media Technologies from the process of constructing your Product?

During the process of constructing our Product, I learnt many things about Media Technologies, the majority of which I had never heard of before, and am now proficient in every one of them. To create our product to a high standard, it was important that we knew how to use every bit of hardware and software we were going to utilise, and how to do it properly.

The first thing we had to learn how to use was the camera. This was imperative. We used Sony PD 170 DVCAM Camcorder to capture our original footage. We were taught how to adjust all the settings on the camera, which was important as our type of product required very specific settings. We needed a high shutter speed, so we could get clear and unblurred footage of the zombie running at high speed. We also needed specific aperture settings, as we were shooting outside in natural light. These settings needed to be changed throughout the shoot, as we gradually started to lose light.

We used a rifle microphone for sound, as we needed to have the sound coming specifically from the zombies. Having a rifle microphone also allowed us more freedom of movement, so we could follow the zombies with the camera and the microphone, and capture audio and video at the same time.

After capturing our footage, we needed to edit it. The main program we used for putting all our footage together was Apple’s Final Cut Pro. All our raw footage was imported onto the computer and called our “Rushes”. We then watched carefully through our rushes and found the clips we needed to use. We cut these clips into smaller clips called “Logs” and placed them into a separate folder called the “Log Bin”. From here, we imported our Logs onto the timeline in Final Cut Pro, and proceeded to arrange them in our preferred order. Clips were cut into smaller pieces where required, so other clips could be placed between segments of another clip. When our sequence was finished being pieced together, we deleted all the sounds tracks as those were to be added later, and then moved onto adding effects.

We used Adobe After Effects to add visual effects to our sequence, which was important in creating the right feel for our product. To do this, we first had to export the clip we wanted to use from Final Cut Pro as a QuickTime movie file, and then we imported it into After Effects. We wanted to have credits appear on the screen, so we used motion tracking to fix an item of text to two points on the footage. The by changing the size and rotation of the text during the time of the clip, we created the illusion that the text was travelling towards the screen. We added a Gaussian blur effect to blur the text in and out of focus, to allow time for more than one credit to appear on each clip. We also added vinyetting (a border of black around the edges of the screen) to focus the audience’s attention in on our main characters and to ignore any other distractions on screen.

When After Effects was done, we exported the clips as After Effects files, and then imported them back into Final Cut Pro. As we had kept the time codes the same in After Effects as in Final Cut, we were able to just drop the clips back into place of their predecessors. We then checked everything through, the editing was done and the project was finished.

We have learnt a lot during the process of shooting and editing. I went from not understanding how to even work a digital video camera to being able to adjust complex settings on the camera to enable a specific visual style to be shot effectively.

Evaluation - Question 5

How did you attract/address your Audience?

To promote our film, a variety of marketing techniques would be used. We thought about misé en scene and the power of the visual image. This is because stills of zombies, especially shots with violence in the misé en scene show exactly what the film is about, and would look really good on posters and other marketing mediums.

The ideal way to run the marketing campaign would be to use a combination of viral and standard marketing, with a preference toward the former. This has been used to great success in the marketing of independent films, such as Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez’s Blair Witch Project (1999).

We would start the marketing campaign by releasing a small video clip on the internet, in the form of a news report with no writing or logos that suggest it was a film. This would be posted on a third-party, such as on a well-known social networking site. This would be followed up with a specialist website, devoted to reporting the zombie “outbreak”. This information would spread through the internet like a virus, gathering more and more interest and coverage from more established websites and social news websites, like Digg. This pretence that the outbreak was real would be the centre of the marketing campaign, and would allow for more avenues of marketing to be used. Handing out fake newspaper reports to passersby on the streets after film screenings would raise interest. This whole process of allowing a product to market itself by word of mouth is known as “Viral Marketing”. This is because the adverts for the product and associated ideas spread like a virus around the internet and other mediums, transferred from one person to another through conversation, or from website to website by emails or “posts”.
After the awareness raised by the viral marketing, the standard marketing would finally begin to roll into action. Dominant stills form the film, such as zombies arms reaching for one of the girls would be released as teaser posters, featuring a tagline. Simultaneously with this, teaser trailers would be released. Then theatrical trailers and posters would be put up around the towns and cities where the film was going to be screened. The viral marketing could be continued here, by making one of theatrical posters a poster with just the word “Quarantine” stamped on it in block capitals, with instructions for “survivors” of the infection. An idea to target our specific audience of 15-25 year old males would be to advertise in pubs. Ideas such as posters above urinals, and urinal cakes which show a picture when urinated on have been used by British films in the past, for example Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009). This is a good marketing technique, as it guarantees the right type of people will view the marketing. Also, after view the marketing, the people will go and talk to their friends about it, as people discuss things in a pub, this makes more people aware of the product, as is the goal of viral marketing.

Evaluation - Question 4

Who would be the Audience for your Product?

Our primary audience would probably be 15-25 year old males, the demographic group that goes to the cinema most. The psychographic category that most of these men will come under is “Explorer”. Explorers want to discover new things and value adventure and difference. They also pick things that will satisfy them quickly and to a good extend. This will attract them to our product, as it is action-packed from the first second of footage on the screen. Our product appeals to this audience, as it is full of action and violence, which are two large factors which draw in that audience demographic, other examples being sex, foul language and nudity. Most of the people watching our product would come under the demographic group of C2 and below, as this target group tend to not pick subtler and more plot-driven films, as compared to ours which is carried along by the action.

The product would be released during down time in terms of mainstream motion picture releases. This would be a time when no major blockbusters were coming out, so audiences would not have a varied choice, or an obvious choice to pick when going to the cinema. However, as an independent film it would have a limited release only within the United Kingdom and probably in only one chain of cinemas. This would probably a one week or maybe fortnight run, and then the film would be distributed on DVD by Arrow Films 3 months after the initial release.

When submitted to the BBFC in a finished form, our product would have a rating of 18 ages or older. This would be because the film would contain frequent strong scenes of bloody violence, including death, which attracts an age rating of 18.

Evaluation - Question 3

What kind of Media Institution might distribute your Media Product and why?

Our type of film would probably be made as a low budget independent film.
There are many reasons for this, the prominent one would be the limitatory financial constraints. As a result, we used “found actors”, who were unpaid an uncontracted. We also used pre-existing sets and sets which were free for us to use. Money was saved on costume as our actors came to the shoot in their own clothes and the makeup and prosthetics were supplied for free by a friend. We had only one day of shooting, due to time constraints, and the amount of money each hour of shooting cost.

Our product would be released by a United Kingdom distribution company, as our film is low budget and not designed for worldwide distribution. An example of this would be Arrow Films, a specialist low budget horror film distributor. Arrow Films are a film distribution company based in Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. They release 3 to 4 new titles every month and have the rights to over 160 titles, especially in classic, modern and cult horror films.

To enable our product to be classed in a different category, we would need a bigger budget. This would be spent on higher profile cast members, marketing and possibly trained professionals to help us with the process. This would help the film secure a well-known studios backing, and enable a large release to be achieved.

Evaluation - Question 2

How does your Media product represent social groups?

Within our product, there are two groups of people: The girls and the zombies.
They are both dressed in relatively little clothes for the cold weather around them. This was sexual stereotyping on our part, as wearing little clothes makes women look like victims and they have little to protect their body from nakedness and so they appear more helpless in the face of the mass of zombies. The behaviour of the girls was typical of women in zombie films. They ran aimlessly with no plan, until one was cornered and the other killed. This is teasing for the audience, as it is a kind of “cat and mouse” chase, which builds suspense and increases the enjoyment of the film.

These girls were stereotypes of the helpless woman in zombie films. They are blonde, which suggests innocence that the zombies many violate if the girls are caught. We used the stereotype of the girls because it heightens the scariness of the zombies, and the amount of damage they could do if they caught the girls. The point of view shots from the zombies, which were shaky added more to the effect of the women being clumsy and scared. We also shot the girls from high angles, to make them appear smaller, weaker and less powerful than the zombies.

We could have challenged the representation of women in our product by making one or both of the characters powerful and able to stand up to the zombies. This has been used in a few zombie films, most notably Alice from the Resident Evil film series However, this would not be good for our product, as it is important that the girls are powerless compared to the zombies so the suspense is great during the chase sequence.

The zombies are portrayed as a mass, which helps to make the audience more sympathetic towards the girls. This is because having an individual against a mass is always uneven odds, and scary when they are being pursued. The zombies are in the same age group as the girls, this is because the transformation in zombies took place at house party, where the two girls were the only survivors, all this is found out later in the film. This adds a new dimension, as the girls are actually being pursued and attacked by their old friends, showing a total loss of humanity and descent into animalism.

Evaluation - Question 1

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

Our product, Dead Reckoning (2009), directed by Alex Kohnert is an example of a contemporary zombie film, a genre which has seen a resurgence in popularity during the last decade as a result of several high profile remakes and adaptations of popular zombie stories. Our product utilises many genre conventions such as camerawork and makeup artistry, but attempted to enrich the form. My biggest influences while coming up with the concept of the product were from two recent zombie films: Zak Snyder’s 2003 Dawn of the Dead remake and Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later (2002).

In zombie movies, there are many underlying and overtly obvious themes, the ones that we utilised in our product were: the use of female victims in vulnerable situations, isolated locations and individuals against the mass. In zombie films females are usually portrayed as weak and helpless compared to men, as in our product. In zombie movies, zombies usually travel in hordes, and very rarely are alone for extended periods of time. Many zombie movies are also set in isolated locations, as it amplifies the sense of helplessness that the victims feel.

The look and appearance of the zombies in our product actually heralded more from zombie films of old. We used pale white makeup as the main feature of the zombies, as we didn’t have the means to create complex prosthetic facemasks and injuries. We also just left our zombies wearing normal, unsoiled clothes to suggest that the transformation into zombies was quick and unexpected.

We utilised zombie choreography much like examples from contemporary zombie films. In recent times, zombies have been portrayed as creatures that can run and have basic intelligence, unlike in old zombie films like George A. Romero’s 1968 genre-creating Night of the Living Dead. We also expanded on this, by giving the zombies more humanistic qualities, like being able to plan and execute more complex strategies and manoeuvres.

The camerawork also borrowed many tried and tested techniques from modern zombie filmmaking. None of our shots used a tripod throughout the whole day of filming, so all our footage was shot using handcam techniques. Handcam footage makes a sequence feel fast-paced and action-packed, as a result of the shaky on-screen image. This technique was used extensively in the remake of Dawn of the Dead, significantly when the humans were being chased by the zombies, as in our product.

Many zombie films start out slowly, with very little action and sometimes show what life was like before whatever caused the zombie infestation. We however, decided not to do this as we wanted to grab the audience’s attention from the start. Another convention we challenged was the use of slow motion. This is not used often in zombie films, as it usually makes the zombies look silly, however it is used in León Klimovsky’s Vengeance of the Zombies (1973). But, as our zombies were stationary when slow motion was used, the technique is effective in heightening the atmosphere of the sequence.

Evaluation - Question 1

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

Our product, Dead Reckoning (2009), directed by Alex Kohnert is an example of a contemporary zombie film, a genre which has seen a resurgence in popularity during the last decade as a result of several high profile remakes and adaptations of popular zombie stories. Our product utilises many genre conventions such as camerawork and makeup artistry, but attempted to enrich the form. My biggest influences while coming up with the concept of the product were from two recent zombie films: Zak Snyder’s 2003 Dawn of the Dead remake and Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later (2002).
In zombie movies, there are many underlying and overtly obvious themes, the ones that we utilised in our product were: the use of female victims in vulnerable situations, isolated locations and individuals against the mass. In zombie films females are usually portrayed as weak and helpless compared to men, as in our product. In zombie movies, zombies usually travel in hordes, and very rarely are alone for extended periods of time. Many zombie movies are also set in isolated locations, as it amplifies the sense of helplessness that the victims feel.
The look and appearance of the zombies in our product actually heralded more from zombie films of old. We used pale white makeup as the main feature of the zombies, as we didn’t have the means to create complex prosthetic facemasks and injuries. We also just left our zombies wearing normal, unsoiled clothes to suggest that the transformation into zombies was quick and unexpected.
We utilised zombie choreography much like examples from contemporary zombie films. In recent times, zombies have been portrayed as creatures that can run and have basic intelligence, unlike in old zombie films like George A. Romero’s 1968 genre-creating Night of the Living Dead. We also expanded on this, by giving the zombies more humanistic qualities, like being able to plan and execute more complex strategies and manoeuvres.
The camerawork also borrowed many tried and tested techniques from modern zombie filmmaking. None of our shots used a tripod throughout the whole day of filming, so all our footage was shot using handcam techniques. Handcam footage makes a sequence feel fast-paced and action-packed, as a result of the shaky on-screen image. This technique was used extensively in the remake of Dawn of the Dead, significantly when the humans were being chased by the zombies, as in our product.
Many zombie films start out slowly, with very little action and sometimes show what life was like before whatever caused the zombie infestation. We however, decided not to do this as we wanted to grab the audience’s attention from the start. Another convention we challenged was the use of slow motion. This is not used often in zombie films, as it usually makes the zombies look silly, however it is used in León Klimovsky’s Vengeance of the Zombies (1973). But, as our zombies were stationary when slow motion was used, the technique is effective in heightening the atmosphere of the sequence.

The long, hard road home - Editing

The piecing together of our footage was done using Final Cut Pro and the effects and coloration was done using Adobe After Effects. The main features we used within Final Cut Pro were the ability to rearrange footage into a sequence, and the ability to split footage so different parts could be used at different parts of the sequence. While choosing the shots to pick, we rejected the long shots and establishing shots we had filmed, as we didn't think they were representative of the feel of the sequence. When we got all our footage together, we sorted it into different "bins" after looking through the long tape of unchanged footage, the "rush". After picking what footage we wanted from the rush, we put it on the timeline in Final Cut Pro, and edited it into the sequence we wanted it to become.

The majority of our work however, was done in After Effects. We used motion tracking for the credits, to allow the on screen movement of the text. After we had done this, we did a lot of coloration. We changed the brightness, contrast and saturation, we also changed the color of certain areas of the footage. We also used masks to create vinyetting around the edges, to focus the viewer’s attention on where we wanted them to look. This created a blurry world around the girl, which was full of energy yet unseen, which was juxtaposed against the girls uncolored and clear area.

After finishing all the editing, and getting all the footage we back needed back into the sequence in Final Cut Pro, we got into creating a soundtrack. For this we used Soundtrack Pro, and also Final Cut Pro. The first layer of sound was ambient sounds, which we just dropped straight into the Final Cut Pro timeline. Afterwards, extra sounds, like the sound of the hand banging on the fence were created in Soundtrack Pro. I did this by taking a normal sound of metal crunching, and distorting it. Then by putting the reverb up, and adding in some more effects, I got the sound I wanted and then exported back into Final Cut Pro.

During this process I learnt a lot about editing techniques, much of which I didn't know from before. However, I did know some of the basics of Final Cut Pro from our Preliminary Task. A lot of the things we did in After Effects, like motion tracking are very advanced techniques, and will prove very useful for our A2 project. The editing process also gave us an insight into the real media industry, as it took almost twice as long as pre-production. This made it the most frustrating part of the Foundation Project, as it took up a lot of free time for not much progress for a long time, due to exams.

D-Day - Monday the 19th of January - Shooting

Crew and Planning:

My Role:

This was the day all our pre-production work finally came together and was put to the test in the actual shooting of our film. I was the director on location and had a lot of tasks I was responsible for. At 9 o clock, I organized all the available cast and crew into one room to apply make-up and allow the producer to give a safety briefing. This took about 45 minutes, and after running through some basic choreography of the sequence we moved everyone down to the filming location. On location, I was responsible for choreographing the actors, and the starting and stopping of the filming. To ensure high quality, I checked the camera shots to make sure we were getting the footage we wanted. I motivated the others around me, and encouraged them to do their best, which to an extent, worked.

The Roles of My Crew:

The other two core members of our team were the producer and creative designer. The producer made sure all the equipment got to the shoot on time, and that everyone had everything they needed when they needed it. This was achieved brilliantly, with all the camera and sound equipment being on location before we even arrived. The creative designer had to make sure all the prosthetics and make-up didn’t get damaged or worn, so continuity remained, and also had to apply the make-up in the first place. A few minor problems were encountered with some of the prosthetics, but all were solved.

Problems:

Unfortunately, our day was marred by problems of varying severity. At the beginning of the day, only 3 of our actors showed up, including the lead. After putting on the make-up and doing the safety briefing, we waited in anticipation for other members of the cast, but none showed up. We then decided to adjourn shooting until later in the day, which on a positive not allowed us more time to choreograph the sequences, and prepare all the equipment we needed. When we finally got down to shooting, we had underestimated how strenuous it would be to have all our actors running up and down the location. This meant we had to take lots of breaks, and it ultimately culminated in our lead actress being sick, and having to leave the set. We then had to find a replacement lead actress which was done fairly quickly and continued filming. Unfortunately, due to our late starting time, we began to lose light very quickly, and had to end the shoot with not as much film as we would have liked. Ultimately, had we had a contingency plan, the majority of the problems could have been quickly overcome. We didn’t plan our day properly and relied too much on people to deliver what they promised without being reminded and hounded by us. Next time we do a shoot, a proper schedule for the shooting and the day will be imperative, as will back up plans, to ensure a smooth and productive shoot.

Evaluation of My Individual Performance:

Overall, I think I did a good job under pressure. Despite all the problems we were facing, I tried to stay positive and motivated around me, which not only helped me keep sane, but prevented the rest of the crew lapsing into despair and misery. However as a director, I did not shoulder enough responsibility regarding getting people together, and should have been more proactively involved in making sure that cast members agreed to show up to the shoot.

What I learnt About Practical Film Production:

During the course of the shoot, I learnt many things about shooting a film. I learnt that the most important thing is to have your cast and crew ready, and to have them happy and productive, or nothing gets done. Most of the work should also been done before the day of the shoot, with planning and scheduling allowing a day to function, without these or proper backup plans, a day can grind to a halt without warning, as we found.

Camera Work and Lighting:

During our filming, we used a Sony PD 170 DVCAM Camcorder, pictured to the left. However, we did not use the attached microphone, but instead used a rifle mic to pick up a greater degree of ambient sound, which was important in creating the atmosphere for our sequence. As our sequence is a zombie film, we wanted lots of movement in the camera shots, to highlight the movement within each shot. To do this, we did not use a tripod for the
camera, and all the shots were handheld. However, we took a good amount of close-ups, mid shots and long shots to vary the footage used in the final sequence. We only used on general location, but used several different areas

within our location. We did not used any fixed lighting, and only utilized the available ambient light. This was because we wanted a really natural feel to the footage, as opposed to a clean, clinical style. This turned into a problem however, as towards the end of the day we began to run out of natural light and had to speed up the filming process. Despite this, the lighting looked good when we saw the footage played through and any lighting that didn't work was able to be corrected in After Effects.

Mise - En Scene

Overall, the effect of our product was good an professional. Due to the problems on the day of filming, and location and weather problems beforehand, we had to chnage our script several times. The naturual lighitng provided a natrualistic atompshere, which highlighted the chase sequence and its rawness.


Stills from the Shoot Day

Below are some stills that were taken during the day, showing some of the various processes and other things which were happening:

This picture shows our replacement lead actress. This was taken while we were waiting for news of whether or not our preferred actress could continue with the shoot.







Our zombies turned out to cause some logistical problems, as they took a long time to reset after each take, as is shown in this picture.


Our zombies also got distracted fairly easily. In between takes, while we were discussing choreography or changing the camera settings, they chatted. This made it slower to start shooting again when we were ready, as they weren't.




This is a picture of me doing the sound.
In this picture I was testing the rifle mic
weren't. on one of our zombies, so we could get
the sound levels correct to aid our post-production work.

Pre-Production - The HUGE Post