Dear Moderator,
Thank you for looking at my blog, and hope you enjoyed it!
David
Monday 14 March 2011
Sunday 13 March 2011
Evaluation Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
In the process of constructing the product I have learnt many things as it was a new experience for me educationally and personally as I've never been involved in any filming. In production, the camera we used was a Canon Legria HD, this was especially effective for our torture scenes as it provided us with the ability to capture detail when filming close up in difficult lighting. One problem that we did face however, was the use of the dolly when filming the protagonist walking on the pavements, this produced an unsteady video which blurred and shaked when we tested it so we decided not to use it and instead walked alongside the protagonist.
Once we had filmed all our scenes we used Final Cut Express on the Apple iMac to edit all of our footage and put together our product. It was my first time using any editing software, so it was a new experience. I believed I picked it up quickly and can say that I can use a variety of the a editing tools competently. To create our soundtrack we used GarageBand, again this was a new experience, much of which was trial and error and although it was quite time consuming I managed to acquire the skill to use it effectively and spot certain sounds that created suspense and tension which was a much needed factor for our product.
In the process of constructing the product I have learnt many things as it was a new experience for me educationally and personally as I've never been involved in any filming. In production, the camera we used was a Canon Legria HD, this was especially effective for our torture scenes as it provided us with the ability to capture detail when filming close up in difficult lighting. One problem that we did face however, was the use of the dolly when filming the protagonist walking on the pavements, this produced an unsteady video which blurred and shaked when we tested it so we decided not to use it and instead walked alongside the protagonist.
Once we had filmed all our scenes we used Final Cut Express on the Apple iMac to edit all of our footage and put together our product. It was my first time using any editing software, so it was a new experience. I believed I picked it up quickly and can say that I can use a variety of the a editing tools competently. To create our soundtrack we used GarageBand, again this was a new experience, much of which was trial and error and although it was quite time consuming I managed to acquire the skill to use it effectively and spot certain sounds that created suspense and tension which was a much needed factor for our product.
Evaluation Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?
How did you attract/address your audience?
Captivitys main convention is a psychological thriller. This helped us attract our targeted audience as this sub-genre is is very popular amongst our selected age group. Within this favoured sub-genre we felt that it had to raise questions which created suspense and tension, so we used Roland Barthes theory of action and enigma codes. He believed that in order to create suspense and tension there had to be unanswered questions, so with this in mind we have made our protagonist appear to be randomly kidknapped and have left our capturers face hidden, all to be revealed later on in the film.
Many thriller movies use the beginning of the movie to establish the genre and we have done this through the use of dark colours for our production companies. The shots used also help to build a sense of tension and heighten the suspense; not being able to see the character's face creates a sense of ambiguity and the point of view shots allow the audience to position themselves in the character's shoes which helps them to engage more in the narrative. The low lighting is a key feature, intensifying the atmosphere whilst still complying to the conventions of the thriller genre.
The change in music, which becomes increasingly dramatic as the title appears, puts more emphasis upon it.
Captivitys main convention is a psychological thriller. This helped us attract our targeted audience as this sub-genre is is very popular amongst our selected age group. Within this favoured sub-genre we felt that it had to raise questions which created suspense and tension, so we used Roland Barthes theory of action and enigma codes. He believed that in order to create suspense and tension there had to be unanswered questions, so with this in mind we have made our protagonist appear to be randomly kidknapped and have left our capturers face hidden, all to be revealed later on in the film.
Many thriller movies use the beginning of the movie to establish the genre and we have done this through the use of dark colours for our production companies. The shots used also help to build a sense of tension and heighten the suspense; not being able to see the character's face creates a sense of ambiguity and the point of view shots allow the audience to position themselves in the character's shoes which helps them to engage more in the narrative. The low lighting is a key feature, intensifying the atmosphere whilst still complying to the conventions of the thriller genre.
The change in music, which becomes increasingly dramatic as the title appears, puts more emphasis upon it.
Evaluation Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The target audience for our media product would be 18+, this is due to the torture scenes as they breach the 15 certificate "Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury". A possible problem of releasing it as an 18+ is that we are cutting the teenage market audience which could impact us negatively as this genre is favoured highly by teenagers, but on the other hand, films that are similar to ours such as "Law Abiding Citizen" have done very well with an 18+ certificate even though it was distributed on a much larger scale the principle remains the same.
The target audience for our media product would be 18+, this is due to the torture scenes as they breach the 15 certificate "Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury". A possible problem of releasing it as an 18+ is that we are cutting the teenage market audience which could impact us negatively as this genre is favoured highly by teenagers, but on the other hand, films that are similar to ours such as "Law Abiding Citizen" have done very well with an 18+ certificate even though it was distributed on a much larger scale the principle remains the same.
Evaluation Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Captivity represents the middle classed young male. We can see this from the protagonists apparel as he is dressed in smart clothing with a designer shoulder bag. This type of clothing is typical of a young male and indicates that he is a student.
Captivity represents the middle classed young male. We can see this from the protagonists apparel as he is dressed in smart clothing with a designer shoulder bag. This type of clothing is typical of a young male and indicates that he is a student.
Thursday 3 March 2011
DVD Cover
I chose 'The Last House on the Left' as the film is about captivity and torture. The idea of captivity is conveyed on the dvd cover by the hand with the black leather glove grabbing the girl from behind and around her mouth to stop her from screaming, this is reinforced by there being a single house on its own showing isolation and captivity. The white text on the blood red backgound indicates to us that this film will be involving gore and torture. We could use this idea of how the text is set out as our film involves torture scenes.
Todorov's Five stages
Equilibrium- Detective Mills moves to a new city with his wife.
Disruption- Detective Mills and Detective Lt. William Somerset come across the first of seven murders each represented by one of the seven deadly sins.
Recognition of disruption- They realise they are dealing with a serial killer who kills according to the seven deadly sins and justifies it as absolution for the world's ignorance to the seven deadly sins.
Attempt to repair the disruption- The two detectives attempt to capture the serial killer, but Detective Mills ends up completing the serial killers task, by killing him and therefore showing the sin of revenge.
Restoration of equilibrium- The serial killer has been killed, although his task of showing the world the seven deadly sins was completed in the end by the person who was supposed to stop it.
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