Clothing

From the beginning we decided to have all clothing blacked out, or something very close to black, we thought this would help with the genre. After shooting the first few scenes and editing them, slowing them and adding lenses. we saw that this idea would be best, all blacked out clothing.
However as we continued to meet on set, we realised that having all black was good but there wasn't much we could do with it, so that's when we decided to change one of the characters clothing, Hassan, and by something as simple as changing what he is wearing, we where able to add 3 more scenes which we thought of on set.
The type of clothing he wore was not very significant however it was the colour that made the difference, as the colour of his clothing, showed that everything was not all scary to begin with, and to contrast this analysis of the clothing we plan to film a social scene involving this form of clothing.

This is the lighter set of clothing chosen for Hassan to wear, this
helped lighten the trailer and helped us add more to it. 

Media Lesson Plan

This lesson we are largely working on the poster, last year we created a poster which was very professional and caught many eyes as a very detailed and high quality piece of work, this year we intend to do the same.

This was the poster we created last year, as you can see with the writing and logo placed central to the image, the writing at the bottom which through research and daily life, you see on the bottom of every film poster, the few light colours which we have chosen to stand out on the overly dark colour choices throughout the poster. 

With the poster we are now making, we are giving it the opposite colour scheme, the poster is going to be very light, so light that images will be submerged in it, by doing this it gives the film some mystery as well as coming across clearly as a horror. 

This is going along with the trend of the trailer, the trailer we are creating this year is full of action, but has moments in it that suggest eeriness, intrigue. 

Trailer being like this along with the poster gives a good match and direct correlation with the film, this gives a very professional image, place this together with the details of the trailer such as the unique transitions  and we should have something of a high quality in the end. 

These are some of the pictures we took on location, we researched long and hard for inspiration because many movie (horror) posters which you come across are very similar. We hope to create something very different, instead of having someones face, someone you can then say is in the production, we have decided to have no recognition, have anyone's face, the only things we plan to have on the poster are a hand coming through the ground, with an eye overlooking, however all these images as i said are going to be contrasted with the background colour so you can see them, but they are faint. 

We took a range of images, these that are above and also close ups of eyes which as mentioned are going to be in the poster. 

Now they are uploaded we can alter everything, from the colours to the sizes. This is what we are currently doing. 

Media Lesson Plan

This lesson we are going to plan and create our after effects, we have put the bits of film we have together and now need to think of tag-lines and add our unique transitions where they are needed.

We are in mixed minds currently weather to have a blank screen with tag-lines or have the lines over scenes which are playing. 

We are currently using the after effects programme on the Mac computers however, we feel that with the experience we have we are going to make our own, we have seen and used the ones provided by the programme and feel that they are good, however we can come up with something better, similar to our transitions, more unique.

Last year we researched many other media pieces and saw that people had used all the things available by the programmes, this year although we could do this, we intend to do something a bit different, our genre is horror but we are looking to create an after effect that is not only works well with our production, but also gives a strange different effect, unique. 

Although we have a pro version of the programme available to us, this is going to be a challenge as between us, nine of us have done it before, we have to allocate time for things to go wrong and not our way so we do not cut into other time allocated for other things. 

Character Roles & Production Plans

Name: Razwan Butt
Age: 18
Sex: Male

Razwan's main role in our team is cameraman as i have mentioned in previous posts, he is a keen camera man and knows how to work the high quality equipment we have to its full potential.
We have currently got sections of our piece filmed, there are 3 roles Razwan plays throughout the scenes we have so far.
We plan to have a scene where Razwan is sat alongside me, (Kaisir) as friends waiting for a third person to come and join us, this is set in a living room and Razwan receives a phone call which is his Que. to exit.
Another planned scene including Razwan is a conversation between me and him, this takes place in the kitchen at a conversational tone however the tension increases as the topic of the conversation changes.
The third scene involving Razwan is more to the genre we have chosen, it is him tied up in a dark dingy room as me and the third character run in to save him.

Name: Hassan Mohammed
Age: 17
Sex: Male

Hassan we have planed to have as a joint main character along side me (Kaisir), the reason for this as previously mentioned is throughout the trailer it gives the audience more to focus on and gives more story perhaps.
As this is what we have planned all the scenes i am in Hassan shall be in also apart from one, this is when i am waiting on someone to come to the house, sat with Razwan.
A scene which we thought of whilst planning on set, was to have some sort of introductory scene into all the rest of the horror madness, 2 of the ideas we came up with are, me entering the house with Hassan answering the door, or me being in the house and entering a room to meet Hassan? this has not yet been confirmed.

Name: Kaisir Yousef
Age: 17
Sex: Male

My main role within our main task is acting, however this is not the only aspect i am involved in. The transition effect and some of the key ideas we are planning to use where ideas i came up with, however i was not fully confident at putting the transitions together to be part of our piece, so Hassan and Razwan helped with the camera equipment and Mac computers to achieve the best possible effect of the ideas in mind, this is one reason we work well as a team, because we all excel in different areas and by working together can help eachother out and achieve.

Unique Transitions

Instead of having blank transitions from scene to scene, for instance a blacked out screen, we came up with the idea of using a lighter and the spark of the lighter being the transition into the next scene.
After watching many trailers we saw that transitions have a big effect on what the trailers about, and the transitions are something unique to that film.
The type of transitions used can effect the flow and the intensity of the trailer. If the trailer is very fast paced and full of action then a transition can be used to slow it down, an example of this is in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre trailer, the sound has been muted when they are being chased by the chainsaw murderer and a beat has been added to create a sense of rush, however when it shows the different scenes of the different people being chased a camera transition is used, it creates a freeze frame image which is kept on the scene and faded out.
This transition for instance slows the trailer down for a moment before it all speeds up again, this is very clever considering what the film and trailer is about and showing.

On the other hand a transition can be used to show a sped up scene to give the trailer pace, this is the opposite of the previous mentioned however is also a very effective way of using a transition.
Trailers are not very long and therefore the transitions are very short however the correct use of them can help create a trailer that someone sees and wants to watch the film of

Transitions are unique to films, they may not have a direct correlation to the film however as you watch more trailers, focusing on the specifics such as the transitions, you will begin to see that they suit the film perfectly.
When we where in location strolling through thinking about new possible ideas, the idea sparked into mind to use a lighter sparking as a transition, this thought, filmed and edited on the Mac provided something unique and very professional.

Media Self Evaluation

Media Studies

Self Evaluation/Observation

Media studies is a subject which i enjoy, this year i feel though i have excelled much more than i did last year both in theory and practical. 

The  main are i believe i am doing well in in practical, due to knuckling down and getting a proper routine of production into place we have been prepared and ready and in the right frame of mind to work.

Ont he practical and the theory side of the course i feel one of my main strong points is analysing, image, film, text. I am able to look at something and in a short time really get my teeth into about every aspect.

Compared to last year i feel i am doing significantly better in the theory side of the course, last year i felt slightly behind and didn't achieve a grade which i was happy with, with is why this year in class also i am making an extra effort to keep on top and make sure i understand everything and not let it go by.

One flaw last year was i slightly underestimated revision for the exam at the end of the year so this year, i have started already revising for the exam to make sure i am up to scratch by the summer. 

The main things i want to improve on are:

Revision

Time Delegation between both sides of the course

Going through work i have done on both sides of the course to make sure it is done to the highest quality possible

Overall however i think i began this year on a positive and intend to keep this on the ball frame of mind going, I appreciate the regular feedback from both teachers this allows me to keep track of my progress and highlights any areas that need work. 

Media Lesson Plan

As we are working through our planning section currently, our usual plan on a Tuesday afternoon is to film various sections of our media piece, however we have decided to use tomorrows section to do a photo shoot of all the characters involved, the locations, the garments, the props and equipment and anything else we have used.
Through this you will be able to see each and every step we took towards making our final piece.
Although we may not need to have images and descriptions of absolutely everything, we feel that by doing this anyway we are giving ourselves more to come back to and look at as we continue with our production.  Last year for instance we did lots of filming, when we went to the locations we would get ideas of other things we could do, better, more realistic etc. although we filmed allot extra i don't regret it, when it came down to it we had much more film to work with and we could say why we didn't use scenes, it gave us more of an idea about genre and what looked good to the audience.