From the very beginning, we decided that White Collar Complex would aim
to attract 15-24 year old females. By using strong and attractive female lead
roles, we feel that the audience would be able to connect more and empathise
better with the characters, which would give the spectator a better experience
when watching the film. We also thought that having glamorous female characters
would give our audience someone they aspire. As time went on, we decided to
widen the age of the target audience to 15-26 year olds, and not just females.
Another reason we chose attractive females as our lead roles is to attract
males of similar ages to the film. Our storyline about embezzlement may not be
understood very well by younger viewers, and since there is bad language and
violence in various scenes in the film we decided to make the certificate a 15.
We also thought that the scene in our opening sequence where Natalie hears the
gunshot through the film may be unpleasant or unsettling to younger viewers.
Wednesday, 22 April 2015
Folly's Evaluation - Question Four
4. Who would be
the audience for your media product?
White Collar Complex is and action thriller is targeted at 15-24 year-olds who are mainly female as our protagonists and antagonists are going to be ‘glamorous’ females with alluring makeup and costumes. This generally attracts women as they aspire to be like the women in the film, as well as relating to the as fellow females. This also attracts a male audience as they would like the action as well as be attracted to the women. In our film, there are suggestions to weapons such as knives and firearms as well as actually having them shown in the film. Even though some are not shown during the opening, there are still some references to these props. This again attracts the male audience for the action element. Our thriller also fits into the crime genre too as there will be direct references to embezzlement and theft in the workplace.
Folly's Evaluation - Question Six
6. What have you learnt
about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
For
our main task, we used a lot of filming equipment: some were from borrowed from
college, some were our own. We decided to use our own camera for filming as we
felt more comfortable using this because we knew our way around it and felt it
would be beneficial. Along with the camera, we used our own tripod. From the
college, we borrowed a sound recorder, handheld lights (which also came with
their own tripods) and a light reflector.
Folly's Evaluation - Question Seven
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?
Costume
and Location
Looking
back on when we planned our preliminary task, I think it was clear that we
hadn’t put enough thought into the actual planning itself. We all quickly
decided on the costumes that our actors should wear. These costumes did look
appropriate considering we were directing an interview, but we didn’t give the
costumes very much specific thought. For the location, we decided on using a
small office in the college which we thought was a good idea at the time. I
think we could have chosen slightly better location if we gave ourselves the
time to think as the office we used was quite cramped for us all to fit in. We
were sure we wanted to use an office-looking place with a desk, computer and
chairs to make it look more professional, which I agreed it did, but had we
given ourselves more planning time on details, we could have chosen it better.
I believe
we were a lot more organised when it came to planning our thriller opening.
When we chose the different costumes for each character, we definitely put a
lot more thought into it. We took each crew member’s thoughts and opinions and
used that to help us agree on the types of costumes they should wear, which
turned out to be very effective. We carefully thought about which settings we
wanted to use. A while before starting to film, we asked Starbucks (a setting
we chose for our characters to meet) if we could have permission to film in
their shop, to which they said yes. However, Starbucks cancelled on us last
minute; we fixed this problem by quickly, but thoughtfully, turning Ella’s
house into a believable café setting.
Sound
When we
began our preliminary task, we learnt about how to use Foley effects and how to
make them effective and believable to the spectator. Although we didn’t use very
many of these Foley effects in our preliminary, we felt like we had learnt
enough from other sources that we would be confident in using them in our
thriller opening. In our preliminary, we used diegetic ‘office’ sounds to make
the setting more believable as we were actually filming in a room with nobody
else other than our two actresses.
When we
filmed our thriller in all locations, we had a separate sound recorder
recording all the time to catch every detail and record synchronous sound
alongside the video. Although it didn’t seem like the separate recorder made
much difference to the sound, we still used in while we were editing the video.
This meant we had to match up that sound with the film, which turned out to be
time consuming each time we had to match them up exactly. Some of our shots in
the final film are several seconds long, for example in the scene where one of
our actresses was chopping up vegetables in the kitchen. We filmed each scene
more than three times so we could choose the best out of the three (or more).
This meant that sometimes the sound was better in one take but the film was not
the best, so we would have to mix up the different shots and sounds. It took a
while each time to match the sounds with the action on screen (for example,
each individual chop of the knife), but it was clearly effective and shows how
much effort was put into each little detail.
Editing
When we
edited our preliminary task on Final Cut Pro, there was not very much to do. We
only filmed the whole thing twice, three times at the most, which meant there
was very little content to ‘edit’ other than making sure we had followed the
criteria and rules, such as the 180 degree rule, shot reverse shots and a match
on action. The sound we used was recorded at the same time as filming so we had
no other alternatives. We placed some office sounds in the background to add
realism to it and hadn’t put too much thought into it.
I think we
were very organised when we began editing our thriller opening. Once we put all
the footage we had captured onto the computer, we watched each take, labelled
them appropriately and gave each one a mark out of 10. For each take we knew we
were not going to use in the final film due to it just being an outtake or
problems with the equipment, we put into a folder called “Outtakes”. After
deciding which pieces of footage we were going to use and put them all in place
in Final Cut Pro, we watched it through several times to make sure we had not
made any mistakes in the editing. Once we were happy with what we had produced,
we added some other effects in, such as transitions, and other Foley sounds,
such as gunshots. During the scene where Natalie was phoning Hannah is various
places on her walk, we placed a voicemail tone over the top of the film.
In our
preliminary, we used the white balance on the camera and there was a noticeable
difference between no effect and white balance. For our White Collar Complex
opening we used a different camera and we were not sure how to set up the white
balance, so it looked like some things in some shots had a yellow/orange tinge
to it. When we watched these takes on the computer, we successfully used a
colour corrector to remove the yellowy colour.
Lighting
When we filmed our preliminary task, we only used natural lighting which
came from the sun through a window and the light in the office where we filmed;
we did not use any of our own lighting or reflectors which didn’t help the
colouring of the subjects. We learnt from this so when it came to filming our thriller
opening, we used both natural light and our own filming lights that we got to
create a more naturalistic light. It also made sure that each shot’s lighting
was the same in the same scene.
Friday, 17 April 2015
Ella's Evaluation - Question Seven
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?
Costume and Location
For the preliminary task, we were unorganised. Looking back, we did little preparation, we never discussed in detail our costume and although we quickly decided we wanted to use one of the offices at our college as our location. We went about getting permission and time in space the wrong way and didn't do it soon enough. Therefore when we turned up we had to rush filming as we only had a short time in the space. However for our 'White Collar Complex' opening sequence, we researched and discussed every single detail of hair, makeup, costume, location. We explored each of our ideas to make it the best possible film. We realistic costumes and believable locations.
As we were filming outside of college we needed permission to film in each of our locations, which we went about gaining early on and choosing a suitable date and time to film. This meant we were organised and had plenty of time to film and re-film as many shots as we needed in the space. Despite this, unfortunately, our location of 'Starbucks' Hayward's Heath let us down on the day. We overcame this by making a little indie cafe inside my house. Thankfully, it looked quite good and was still believable as many little indie coffee shops in London are popular with richer consumer, which was similar to the characters we were creating
Sound
In our preliminary we learnt about Foley sound effects and using sound to increase, with such things as crescendo, drama and tension creating climatic moments, to fit with our thriller genre.
This then gave us the knowledge and experience to go forward and be confident using it in our main task.
Although we didn't put many obvious Foley sound effects, we still spent a lot of time recording sounds and adding them in post production. For example, the subtle background ambient sound of people talking in the cafe or the diegetic synchronous sound of chopping the vegetables. We had to match the sound perfectly with the action of the chop on screen which took a lot of time and was difficult. However using chopping sounds we recorded at the scene gave us the freedom to use the shots which may look the best from a cinematography point of view despite not have the best sound, as we knew we had quality sound we could add when editing. We also used some more clear non-diegetic sound, to make our sequence more interesting and keep the spectator on the edge of their seat. For example when Natalie is on the phone, there's varied shots jumping and the sound of white noise adding emphasis to Natalie's reaction of shock and giving an atmosphere of panic and fear.
We also used sound to try build enigma for example the off screen sound at the end of our film when Natalie hears the gun shot through a phone, it makes the spectator question what is happening and intrigues them.
Editing
Our preliminary film included barely any editing at all; we used simple basic cuts, there wasn't any colour correction and only a slight slow motion effect was applied. Our sound was also was recorded at the time of the filming and the only editing done was the adding of a parallel comedic soundtrack.
Our 'White Collar Complex' thriller opening was more varied and sophisticated. The process began with us uploading and labelling each individual piece of footage we had captured. This allowed us to easily edit our film without losing clips or having to scroll through everything to find what we wanted. It gave us the leeway to be able to use perhaps even the tiniest snipper of an outtake in order to get the best finished product.
We again, in our 'White Collar Complex' film, used the slow motion video effect on a scene to help add emphasis of time passing. We took our knowledge from the preliminary to be able to easily use this. This we combined with other techniques, which we learnt through experimentation such as the fade in fade out transition. In addition to this, in our preliminary we learnt about white balance and its importance. However as we used different cameras, the setup was different and unfortunately as we began editing we observed that we must have done it incorrectly as some shots had a yellowy tone. Luckily this gave us an opportunity to further our editing skills as we colour corrected these shots successfully using Final Cut Pro.
Lighting
When shooting our preliminary task we only used the natural lighting from a window and the one ceiling light in the small room we used as our location. For our main task, we learnt more about the various lighting options and techniques to use them. Therefore when it came to lighting our 'White Collar Complex' film, we knew how to light our set to create subtle naturalistic lighting as well as enabling us to get a clearly lit scene so the spectator can see everything.
Costume and Location
For the preliminary task, we were unorganised. Looking back, we did little preparation, we never discussed in detail our costume and although we quickly decided we wanted to use one of the offices at our college as our location. We went about getting permission and time in space the wrong way and didn't do it soon enough. Therefore when we turned up we had to rush filming as we only had a short time in the space. However for our 'White Collar Complex' opening sequence, we researched and discussed every single detail of hair, makeup, costume, location. We explored each of our ideas to make it the best possible film. We realistic costumes and believable locations.
As we were filming outside of college we needed permission to film in each of our locations, which we went about gaining early on and choosing a suitable date and time to film. This meant we were organised and had plenty of time to film and re-film as many shots as we needed in the space. Despite this, unfortunately, our location of 'Starbucks' Hayward's Heath let us down on the day. We overcame this by making a little indie cafe inside my house. Thankfully, it looked quite good and was still believable as many little indie coffee shops in London are popular with richer consumer, which was similar to the characters we were creating
Sound
In our preliminary we learnt about Foley sound effects and using sound to increase, with such things as crescendo, drama and tension creating climatic moments, to fit with our thriller genre.
This then gave us the knowledge and experience to go forward and be confident using it in our main task.
Although we didn't put many obvious Foley sound effects, we still spent a lot of time recording sounds and adding them in post production. For example, the subtle background ambient sound of people talking in the cafe or the diegetic synchronous sound of chopping the vegetables. We had to match the sound perfectly with the action of the chop on screen which took a lot of time and was difficult. However using chopping sounds we recorded at the scene gave us the freedom to use the shots which may look the best from a cinematography point of view despite not have the best sound, as we knew we had quality sound we could add when editing. We also used some more clear non-diegetic sound, to make our sequence more interesting and keep the spectator on the edge of their seat. For example when Natalie is on the phone, there's varied shots jumping and the sound of white noise adding emphasis to Natalie's reaction of shock and giving an atmosphere of panic and fear.
We also used sound to try build enigma for example the off screen sound at the end of our film when Natalie hears the gun shot through a phone, it makes the spectator question what is happening and intrigues them.
Our preliminary film included barely any editing at all; we used simple basic cuts, there wasn't any colour correction and only a slight slow motion effect was applied. Our sound was also was recorded at the time of the filming and the only editing done was the adding of a parallel comedic soundtrack.
Our 'White Collar Complex' thriller opening was more varied and sophisticated. The process began with us uploading and labelling each individual piece of footage we had captured. This allowed us to easily edit our film without losing clips or having to scroll through everything to find what we wanted. It gave us the leeway to be able to use perhaps even the tiniest snipper of an outtake in order to get the best finished product.
When shooting our preliminary task we only used the natural lighting from a window and the one ceiling light in the small room we used as our location. For our main task, we learnt more about the various lighting options and techniques to use them. Therefore when it came to lighting our 'White Collar Complex' film, we knew how to light our set to create subtle naturalistic lighting as well as enabling us to get a clearly lit scene so the spectator can see everything.
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