Poster for the summoning

I made a simple promotional poster for our movie. This poster would be displayed in cinemas, magazines, social media sites and at bus stops. The candle represents the candles that we used around the Ouija board in our movie. The background is black to make the candle in the foreground stand out.

Evaluation-What targets will you set yourself for G324 next year?

Explain how you are going to make progress next year-
Next year i will be aiming to expand on my knowledge of key terms and concepts as well as using even more complex types of shots in the production of our trailer, we will look to work more effectively in the actual blogger work, make sure our trailer is filmed quickly and efficiently as well as setting deadlines for ourselves about the actual theory work involved.

What would you have done differently and why-
The film we made this year turned out looking a lot better than i had expected it too and showed me that as a group we could work as a cooperative unit and get work done, not always by set deadlines but we do catch up and make sure the work is the best quality possible. If i had to do something differently i would of made it so we took a little more time with the filming, this is because we only had two real days of filming and so we had to rush into stuff without a proper plan of what we are going to film, the lighting in the walking in scene is something i would change as well, this happened because we started filming a different day at a different time and so none of us realized the light wasn't in the previous scene.

What are you aiming for to do in your next production to improve your film-making?
Mise en scene- in our film i liked the simplistic idea of simple is better, the amount of props we used was limited simply to the Ouija board, some candles, face-paint and fake blood. In order to improve it we should maybe have spent a little more time on making the makeup cover the monsters face entirely as well as making sure his clothes don't come into shot.
Camera composition- Next year i am aiming to use even more different types of shots in the production of our trailer, even though we used a variety of different shots this year, i would like to expand on this and add even more shots to get higher marks.
Editing- The editing this year i thought went really well on Adobe premiere elements 10, seeing it was the first real time we had used an editing software the end product came out really well, something i would improve would be the time it actually took to edit as it took many hours to learn the basics of a new software and so next year we can move onto more complex editing techniques which will further enhance the quality of our film.
Sound- The lack of diegetic sound we used was deliberate as in horror movies it is essential for there to be a high amount of tension, we managed to conform to the genre well as we had limited voice inputs as well as only a few amounts of sounds such as the door moving or the match lighting. Next year i would like to try and find a soundtrack which hasn't been used as much and maybe is easier to manipulate to what i want.

Evaluation- annotations

The film with annotations added to it after an analysis of all evaluation tasks, the actual annotations tells us specific parts of the story as well as explaining the four concepts in media (mise en scene, camera composition, editing and sound) which we use, the annotations also include the particular audience we are aiming for, whats a special feature of our film as well as general conventions.

Evaluation- what i have learnt since the preliminary task

This part of the evaluation will show a comparison between similar parts of our film and the original preliminary task, this helps us to look back and see the difference in quality from our first task to the end product.

the first two shot comparison is the match on action shot we used in both tasks, the first shot being in the preliminary task was well done and can be seen clearly as a match on action shot, however in the actual film we couldn't properly edit yet so we ended up cutting the clip too late leaving a delayed hold of the actual door handle, the actual film however had a perfect match on action shot as the turn of the handle opened straightaway into the panning shot of the Ouija board setting, along with the production credits down the bottom giving recognition to  the people in the film, this shows a mass difference as in all films today the production credits are an essential part of a films opening.

The panning shot mentioned before was used in both tasks as well. In our preliminary tasks we filmed Zoe as she walked into the room and sit down showing myself as well as an introduction to my character, with the casual clothes we were wearing at the time and the classroom environment tells the audience that we were in the last few years of school. In the actual film we used a panning  shot as well with the establishment of the Ouija scene more on the agenda instead of introducing the characters who were introduced in the scene before.

The establishment of characters personality's was established in both tasks differently, in the preliminary task we had a shot reverse shot of the two main characters and a bit of speech to help the audience relate truly to the characters, in the actual film we used a variety of closeups to help establish the type of characters they are, this was especially apparent through the characters reactions where they all reacted differently depending on stereotypical roles of specif characters in movies.

The close ups we used is so the audience can greatly relate to the character at hand, the over the shoulder shot used in our preliminary task was so we can see the relationship between two characters as friends as they are talking directly to each other. The second shot in the actual film is a two person shot where both characters have a medium shot of the body, this gives us more emphasis on the outfits they are wearing, this helps the audience to relate to the character as they can see what they are wearing and especially if the audience is young they will be able to relate to the character as they are also young.

Evaluation- Narration and media institution

This is the directors commentary made over the original clip with all of us talking at different sections about specific parts of the film e.g. mise en scene, camera composition, editing and sound etc., we were tasked with narrating about our film using specific examples of media terminology whilst the film is playing in the background, this allows us to get a proper bit of analysis over the actual film from the people which made the actual film.

What does a production company do?- A production company usually has mass funding and is in charge of most aspects of the filming, usually they take care with the hiring of all essential staff such as the director, producer, screenwriter, actors, marketing manager etc. They are in charge of all the making of the film and when and how they will produce it, whether or not they release more than one trailer or use social media as an important platform to release it on, e.g. trailer on Facebook or YouTube.
 In our film we made the production company IFM studios (independent film making studios), the logo we created is simple but effective with the picture being a non-copyright image as well as the studios bit having a line running above it.

The idea of the distributor and who that might be and why- A distributor usually is in charge of setting a release date for the films release which would benefit the film well in the cinemas, for example if Disney are producing a film at Christmas then the distributor must know that it won't be able to out perform Disney and therefore reschedule the films release for another date. If they are a smaller company they may also have to decide which cinema to release the film in, what company they will use to help them or whether or not they will release it in 3D or on Blu ray. Warner bro's studios is a good example as it makes the films whereas Warner bro's pictures produces it saving the company a larger share of the money.
The distribution company we created was called triptic films and the logo we created was a shot taken from our original setup with the candles, the actual candles in the few seconds they are on screen change to a different colour (from black and white to colour) which makes the actual company logo look a lot more professional.

Where the money might have come from for a film such as yours- Seeing our film is a horror film its all about the actual suspense and being able to draw audiences in to watch the actual film, unfortunately however when trailers for horror films are usually produced they normally look really good with lots of scary parts in the trailer but when you see the actual film the trailer has ruined it and there is no more scary bits to show. With our film being the opening two minutes we need to try and lure audiences in through scary factors, in our film we did a preview of the what would have been the end of the film, with the cliffhanger at the end providing the perfect opportunity in the next scene to put it back a few weeks before the incident happened so people can relate more to the characters and get to know them more. Money would have usually come through the release of the trailer and through YouTube views or people sharing it on social media.

Why the various people are named in the titles- which jobs appear in titles and in what order and how have you reflected this?- We ended up naming all of the actors who were involved, the particular order in which we did it was chosen because it best reflects the groups input, for example the first three names that come up are of the people in the actual group (me, Billy and Zoe), this is because we had the greatest influence on the making of the film as it was our idea and all the mise en scene, camera composition, editing and sound was done by us three. The next three names in the opening are of the other three actors in our group who didn't necessarily have an impact on our films making but were crucial in the filming, Matt was mentioned first as he created the original script which we were supposed to use and therefore in the opening credits it said "written by Matt Cottee".We did however change the script around a bit on the day of the filming as we believed for a horror film the less amount of speech the better as it gives more emphasis on the actual music and the little amount of speech we actually have. The other bit of writing shown said "directed by Billy Budgen" this was because on the day of filming Billy took control of where he wanted the camera to be, what order people should walk, what shot should go after another etc. While the rest of the group made sure that he stuck to the 180 degree rule so the audience don't get disorientated whilst inputting loads of ideas ourselves.

What your film is similar to "institutionally" (name some films which would be released in the same way)-A good film which we can relate our film too is the actual film Ouija which just like ours had a group of friends who use a Ouija board and then suffer the consequences of evil spirits. Unfriended is also a film similar to ours as they are both about spirits and a group of friends who get into trouble from forces beyond their control. These are not the only matters which are similar between our films, for example all three are horror and are aimed at an audience of 15 plus, they all have some sort of malevolent spirit which is unknown and shown in a dark atmosphere. The sounds we used are just like those in actual horror movies with quiet music gradually getting louder and then disappearing completely before the big reveal of a jump scare or the main antagonist character moving somewhere, the short sharp sounds used in horror movies help to create an intense atmosphere, for example in our film there was the door slamming at the start and the leader of the group turning the door handle, this sounds like the actual sound has been amplified as everything else is dead quiet around it, this is good as it brings more emphasis onto the sounds and the growing intensity of the music.

Evaluation- What I've learnt about technologies

This is the exact camera used to film almost all of the film, it was a good quality camera worth a few hundred pounds and used by professionals to get good quality images in places all around the world. The picture is of a member of our group holding the actual camera, this was taken on a day when we were searching for a place to film before the final idea of filming at my house.

The tripod shown is the exact same model as the one we actually filmed with, it provided a stable, flexible base to help keep the camera steady at all times to ensure the best quality image. It was very effective for us as you could change the length of each leg to make it as easy as possible to film on rougher terrain such as outside if we needed to or on the stairs like we did in the opening bit of the scene when we all walk through the door. 

Adobe premiere elements 10 was the chosen software which we used to edit the actual film, it was the most simple and effective piece of software which we could of used for the task in question, with easily navigable controls and a simple yet user friendly interface we found it relatively easy to get used to and we kept expanding our knowledge of the software through trial and error and just a simple look around the interface. 

Evaluation- Who would be the audience for your media product?

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Our target audience member is a teenager because we believe age wise the horror genre greatly appeals to them especially when out with dates or mates. They would also be into action and thriller films and with the emergence of Disney as a movie studios who appeal to all age ranges they may also watch animated films.

Usually teenagers would shop in a variety of places depending on what they want to buy, for example top-man or primark may be a popular option as they are cheap and the clothes decent enough quality, they would go to either game or H and M to get their games and music.

Teenagers listen to a variety of different types of music and depending on their character, they end up listening to these different types, for example they could listen to pop, rock, indie, country, classical, techno and dubstep.

Favorite TV programmes could be anything including: The 100, American Horror Story, Top Gear, Doctor Who, Lost, Sherlock, The Walking Dead, Grimm, Teen Wolf, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones,  Spongebob, Match of the day, Hannibal, Jersey shore and the island

Presentation

These two videos are an overview of our evaluation on our movie, the first one shows our overall speech on all the aspects of our film whereas the second clip is the constructive feedback we received on our film where people from our class talked about specific aspects of the film whether that be sound, camera composition, mise en scene or any other aspect, they then told us something good about the certain part or something which could have been done differently, for example a change of lighting or different shot in the scene.

Evaluation- 9 shot evaluation and analysis

Title

The title which appears at the end of the opening scene is very bold and sticks out to the audience, the big, bold, white writing sticks out really well on a plain back background, what the picture fails to show is that the title actually fades down towards the end to add effect with the music in the background.

Setting

The setting or location we chose to film in was my house, the reason we chose my house was because it was practical for all to get there, it looks old as it is a cottage and gets really dark at night as the road i live done has next to no street lights. This creates a spooky atmosphere for our horror film as the building itself is old and is under protection of the local council and so any renovation work has to be approved and done by the council itself.

Costumes

The costumes in the film are stereotypical for teenagers to be wearing, for example we are wearing hoodies, t-shirts and jeans, this helps us to relate to the audience more easily. In the overall scheme of things we represent teenagers in a positive light as we don't negatively represent the teenage group

Camerawork and editing

We used a variety of camera shots in the making of our film to ultimately engross the audience into watching more, we made sure we stuck to the 180 degree rule so we didn't disorientate the audience into thinking they are somewhere they are not as that would take away the tension from the overall film and therefore lose interest in the film. 

Title font and style

The title font we used is meant to not stick out too much, like in a normal film they are visible but don't distract the audience too much from whats being shown on screen, The actual writing shown is in times new roman and is in a white bright so it sticks out to the audiences eye.  

Story and how the opening sets it up

The story is about a group of friends who want to talk to the deceased, they do this through a Ouija board which ends up backfiring on them, the opening sets this up because we are seen to be in an old building, the shot shown above was towards the end and is the main story line about the demon the group releases.

Genre and how the opening suggests it

The genre we have done is horror and the opening suggest this because there is a group of mysterious students who we don't get to know the name of, walking into a setting which comes across as scary, old and scary. The opening suggests this especially well when the door slams shut and the first site of the Ouija ritual can be seen.

How characters are introduced 

Our characters are introduced straightaway through the walking into the house scene, it gives the audience a clear view of the characters who they would presume to be the main characters of our film as they are introduced first.

Special effects

The special effects we used went from very basic to pretty complex stuff, for example our credits we used were hard to implement and made to last for the same amount of time for each set as the shots lasted for different amounts of time. The title at the end is an example as it fades out towards the end just like in professionally done movies.

Evaluation-How does your media project represent particular social groups

How does your media project represent particular social groups

Similarities and differences between my character and Jesse Eisenberg and Joe Thomas 

my character shares a few similarities with other normal characters from films produced in the last few years. Foe example Joe Thomas plays a normal teenage boy in high school and has to act as such in the inbetweeners and Jesse Eisenberg acts as a guy in his late teens who has to try and not take advantage of multiple opportunities when the end of the world comes around in zombie-land. My character is similar to these two because i have to act in character which means i have to react and act like a normal teenager would in the given scenario which is a failed Ouija board attempt. The audience can relate to my character in some ways especially teenage boys as i am one myself both in the film and in real life. This means that a teenage audience would be able to relate more to my character as i am wearing traditional teenage clothing such as a hoodie and jeans and therefore visually the audience can relate to how i am supposed to act and behave.

The attire we are wearing is similar with Jesse Eisenbergs because we are both wearing a shirt with a hoodie over the top, the difference is that i have my hoodie zipped up whereas Jesse Eisenberg does not. Joe Thomas on the other hand is wearing a traditional school uniform and therefore i cannot relate as i am not in school uniform at the time of our filming.

How i act is also quite similar to the actors i am comparing myself with as we are both supposed to be average/normal guys, this means that we have to act as such, i do this with my reactions as i act scared and unsure of the idea of the Ouija board which my character stereotypically would do, this means i conform to stereotypes as i act in an appropriate matter to the specific sections of the movie.

The summoning-How are social groups represented in your production?

How are social groups represented in your production? provide a reading of the clip exploring relevant technical areas.

in my production teenagers are represented in an otherwise stereotypical way as naive and a bit ignorant, this can be shown through the very idea of a Ouija board. This can be a controversial topic as religious beliefs point a lot of misfortune and bad omens to the  people who take part in the ritual.

our editing in the film was made to give the teenagers a view that they were weaker, we can see this because there is lots of high angle shots of the teens sitting down

In the opening of a horror film irt is conventional for someone to be killed or die, and for this reason we don't often find out very much about the characters or their lives.  We only find out that

Actual MOVIE-The Summoning

Production company research-Paramount

  Paramount Pictures Corporation (commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, and formerly known as Famous Players-Lasky Corporation) is a film studio, television production company and motion picture distributor, consistently ranked as one of the "Big Six" film studios of Hollywood. It is a subsidiary of US media conglomerate Viacom. Paramount is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). It has distributed several successful film series, such as Transformers, Mission: Impossible and the Universe series.

  Paramount is the fifth oldest surviving film studio in the world after Gaumont Film Company (1895), Pathé (1896), Nordisk Film, (1906), and Universal Studios. It is the last major film studiostill headquartered in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles.

  Paramount Pictures is noteworthy for having three films that have surpassed the $1-billion-mark in worldwide box office sales:

·         Titanic (1997; $2,186,800,000)

·         Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011; $1,123,794,079)

·         Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014; $1,065,153,989)

  In 2006, Paramount became the parent of DreamWorks SKG. Soros Strategic Partners and Dune Entertainment II soon afterwards acquired controlling interest in the live-action films released through September 16, 2005, the latest film in this package was Just Like Heaven. The remaining live-action films through March 2006 remained under direct Paramount control. However, Paramount does own distribution (and other ancillary) rights to the Soros/Dune films.

Sound research

Music isn't the only copyright free sound we will need for our film; we will also need sound effects. Like the music, we want the sound effects to be subtle and not immediately noticeable.

  The first sound effect we want is a quiet ambient noise that plays during the 'IFM Studios' image.This is simply to add sound to an otherwise needlessly silent part, and also makes it seem more professional.

Breathing sound.

  We also need a sound that would come from a ghost (i.e Luke). This noise will appear when the characters are in the hallway, to draw their attention towards the door. Ideally, the sound is a low pitched, echo-y breath.

Complete list of shots

Here is a complete list of the shots we used in our film, along with the times they appear.

00:00:05:29 – 00:00:13:07 - panning up shot. Establishing shot.

00:00:13:10 – 00:00:19:26 - long shot.

00:00:20:03 – 00:00:25:22 - high angle shot.

00:00:25:26 – 00:00:32:26 - over the shoulder. Makes you feel like you are there and adds to the intensity.

00:00:33:03 – 00:00:36:17 medium shot.

00:00:36:21 – 00:00:39:29 - match on action.

00:00:40:06 – 00:00:46:18 – medium shot.

00:00:46:19 – 00:00:54:18 – panning right shot. One of my favourite shots; it is smooth and professional looking.

00:00:54:19 – 00:01:00:20 – high angle shot.

00:01:00:21 – 00:01:05:01 – two person. High angle. There are a lot of high angle shots during the part of the scene in this room because they make the characters look small and vulnerable.

00:01:05:02 – 00:01:10:08 – match on action.

00:01:10:09 – 00:01:12:04 – high angle.

00:01:12:05 – 00:01:14:23 – two person shot. High angle.

00:01:14:24 – 00:01:20:23 – match on action.

00:01:20:24 – 00:01:22:12 – two person. High angle.

00:01:22:13 – 00:01:24:27 – medium shot.

00:01:24:28 – 00:01:33:12 – match on action.

00:01:33:13 – 00:01:34:27 – match on action. Another of my favourite shots because it feels dynamic due to the angle.

00:01:34:28 – 00:01:55:04 – over the shoulder. Panning. Long shot. This shot starts out as an over the shoulder, but as Matt moves it becomes a long shot. The camera pans as Matt walks because the audience is still essentially following his perspective.

00:01:55:05 – 00:01:59:23 – two person close up. A shot that meets the conventions of the horror genre very well. similar shots can be seen in many other horror films.

Codes and conventions of The Summoning

Codes and conventions of The Summoning

How we changed the film whilst filming

at the start of the film we set out with a very complicated idea and had little idea of how we were going to be able to achieve our goal, we did not realize how long it would actually take to film the film and we didn't take into account the actual setting of the film.
We had lots of problems with the setting of the movie, this was because our preliminary idea of filming in the morgue in Chertsey had to be stopped because the day before we filmed there we found out that the morgue was closed for renovations and that no-one was allowed inside or it would be a criminal offence and a fine.
This meant we had to re-think our whole scene as the morgue was very spacious and therefore it would be hard to replicate the space inside the building. Seeing the morgue was shut down we had to look elsewhere to film, this proved to be difficult as all the creepy looking locations we found were either unreachable or un-achievable.
Therefore we decided to film at my house seeing it is an old cottage and therefore it retains some of the creepy factor. It also has lots of cracks and a relatively big dining room where we could do the Ouija scene and it would look quite ominous and creepy with the idea of the candles and the match bringing creepy lighting to the forefront.
The change of scenery definitely impacted onto to our preliminary idea of what shots we would implement into our film. however we tried to work around it and involve the shots we first wanted just at different intervals or different positions. This was especially important when considering the 180 degree rule seeing we don't want to disorientate the audience on where about the characters are in the scene.
The end of the film stayed the same as what we previously wanted with the candles getting blown out, everyone disappearing  and then the match scene where it gets blown out at the end with the monster coming into shot and blowing out the match. However it didn't all go to plan with shot types, we can see this because our initial ideas had lots of birds eye views of the group, we realized shortly into filming that this would be nearly impossible to film as we do not have the correct equipment to do it outside, on the inside however we could get high angle shots but not a birds eye view as the ceiling was 8 foot high and we wouldn't be able to see the screen whilst filming.

Filming attempt #3

Filming attempt #3

This was during the final day of filming after we had finished and during the actual filming of the film, the blogs were there to describe to is what we had done at these specific points

Sound effects

Sound effects

Music isn't the only copyright free sound we will need for our film; we will also need sound effects. Like the music, we want the sound effects to be subtle and not immediately noticeable.

The first sound effect we want is a quiet ambient noise that plays during the 'IFM Studios' image.This is simply to add sound to an otherwise needlessly silent part, and also makes it seem more professional.

Breathing sound

We also need a sound that would come from a ghost (i.e Luke). This noise will appear when the characters are in the hallway, to draw their attention towards the door. Ideally, the sound is a low pitched, echo-y breath.

Cast for the summoning

Bill-

what we expect him to do- to act appropriately to the theme of the film (horror)

how we expect him to act- he will have to act in an appropriate way as in act scared, terrified, mortified, nervous, tense etc.

How he will incorporate stereotypes into his acting- normal guy means acts nervous of the unknown, a bit tentative to the idea of spirits.

Zoey-

what we expect her to do-We expect her to perform her role to the appropriate standard and she should be able to say her lines in a creepy manner

how we expect her to act- she will have to act in a less scared way because she is the one who brings the Ouija board

How she will incorporate stereotypes into her acting- blond maybe relating to naivety, suggests the idea to the group and is unaware if the consequences.

Billy-

what we expect him to do- act in character, stay in character, good facial expressions.

how we expect him to act- more scared then most other people there, he will have to use a variety of facial expressions to get his feelings across

How he will incorporate stereotypes into his acting- nerdy character is supposed to be scared of pretty much everything, doesn't want to take part in the ritual, afraid of being left out, forced into everything.

Matt-

what we expect him to do- perform well as his character, stay as the jock/leader

how we expect him to act- less scared then anyone else as he is the leader and is maybe naive to the possibilities of spirits

How he will incorporate stereotypes into his acting- as the jock he is supposed to e headstrong and doesn't think before he acts, we can see this in our film as he is quick to jump on board the idea of the Ouija board, he would be less inclined to react as he maybe doesn't understand the scenario seeing they are stereotypically stupid

Conor-

what we expect him to do- he will have to stay as the dark guy, be less scared and more open to the idea of the Ouija board

how we expect him to act- we expect him to act in an appropriate manner where he will stay in character, keep a neutral expression and not be too fazed by anything which happens.

How he will incorporate stereotypes into his acting- as the dark guy he needs to be into the idea of the Ouija board and the dark themes surrounding it, this means that he shouldn't be scared of whats happening, we can see this with his rather subdued reaction

Luke-

what we expect him to do-give his creepiest face as the monster and to stay in character

how we expect him to act-creepy, spooky, turns up out of no where

How he will incorporate stereotypes into his acting- As the monster he needs to have a scary element around him, therefore his facial features have to be a creepy smile as that it usually what scares people the most, his body language needs to be quite dominating, he can achieve this as he is the tallest in the group and therefore can look down on everyone

Credits research-The Italian job

Credits research-The Italian job

In our film we want to strive towards something which is fluent and easily slides over the images and movie scenes we have filmed, the Italian job opening has lots of credits which flows simply and easily over the actual footage shown, this helps us get into the film more as there are no intrusive images with writing forcefully put over the top and so it can be viewed much more easily. W also have to be careful of the colors we use as it can't contradict the image, for example white writing on a white sky. What we should be striving towards is something which sticks out on a screen, a good example of this would be the Italian job opening as it has a bright color like yellow and white on a black background so it brings more emphasis to whats being said using the yellow writing. Even any of the pictures they use are in a different and vibrant color so that they will have maximum attention, we should strive to achieve this however seeing our movie is a horror movie we should look for black and white images to conform to the overall feeling of tenseness, The use of colors can be a really important example of how we should gain attention to whats going on through the use of shadows, shades and lighter on darker footage, this will automatically create an atmosphere which will drag the audience into the story.

Music research

Music Research

  We want to achieve a very specific mood with our music. We need it to feel scary, tense and creepy, but not overly loud or attention-drawing. It's also important that the music is copyright free, and luckily there's a large amount of copyright-free horror music available online. Below are some candidates for the non-diegetic we could use in our film.

The best option we believe as a group is this one

Storyboard for the summoning

Storyboard for The Summoning