Hi, I'm Dillon O'Connor and welcome to my blog which will track the production of LS29's debut production, Red Run.

Monday 23 April 2012

Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to your full product?

From my preliminary task to now, I have learnt a lot of skills and techniques which have helped me to progress through AS Media studies, resulting in my final product, Red Run. Firstly, I have gained a better understanding of shot diversity and shot types such as the long shot, dutch angle or low angle and I have learnt this through trying out different shots which I would never have thought to have tried before and by imitating what I gathered from the clips I was given to work with for my preliminary task. I have also learnt the improtance of not having a shaky camera and background noise when not necessesary as I have realised the dramatically negative effects that these factors can have on your final product and how they can influence the film's overall standard and quality. Another dramatic effect that I have come to terms with is fast pace editing and the overall effect that this can have on your video, showing both a good skill for editing and understanding of how to portray your product to the audience as fast pace editing can represent several different things such as the character being in trouble or action occuring and this wears off on to the audience. With learning these things, on the whole I have become a lot better at using software such as Final Cut and other technlogies (refer to evaluation question 6 to see these) and i'm very pleased with the way I have progressed using Final Cut as my final product involves a lot more tools and features than my preliminary task and although at the time I was happy with my preliminary task and thought that I had used the Final Cut software efficiently and to the best of my standard, now I look back on it and see a major difference from then and now. Now, I am a lot more confident with the software and enjoy using it a lot more as I have a better understanding of it and can do a lot more.

Since my preliminary task, not only have my skills on computers progressed but I also feel as if i've got a better knowledge of Media as a whole, for example semiotics and the media language; I have been able to apply this to my product and blog, demonstrating this through mise en scene and manipulating the mise en scene to give information on the surroudings and the characters, trying to portray their personalities. Also, since my preliminary task I have gained a better understanding on how to organise myself both in lessons and in terms of filming and planning when Sam and I will re-film shots that we're not happy with and when we will discuss what to chance in order to improve our product. Since my preliminary task, around the time Sam and I would have been creating our story boards and discussing the plan for our media product, I was very disorganised and seemed to put things off until the last minute and then not getting our tasks done very well. Now howoever I feel that through the process, I have imrpoved on my organisation dramatically and now, when Sam and I hand in a rough cut and gain feedback, I will take notes on the feedback, advising what it is that we need to do in order to imrpove and then we will both organise when we are both free to re-film and edit and we will stick to that date.

Also, since my preliminary task I have learnt to take a lot more care for detail and not to rush things. Looking back at my preliminary task it is clear to me that I didn't pay a lot of attention to detail but now I have learnt how much even small details can effect your overall product and I have learnt to take more care, focusing on little details and to have more pateince when it comes to having to re-film and edit again because something wasn't quite right and during the process I have also learnt to be able to give and recieve feedback, learning that someone isn't neccessarily criticising something, only suggesting how it can be improved. Another thing that I feel I have learnt is to be able to analyse other people's media products and relate them to existing media products or my own and state what links in with existing products and what stands out, making it unique.

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Evaluation Question 6



What Have You Learnt About The Technologies During The Process Of Constructing This Product?

During the production of Red Run, I as an individual have learnt a lot about technologies and techniques, ranging from using computer software to film, edit and create soundtracks to filming things in a certain way to control how they’re portrayed to the audience. First of all, I have learnt a lot about digital technology such as cameras and how to use camcorders to their full potential. I have done this through both practise and research on the internet and by watching other media products created with the came equipment. I have also learnt little but useful things such as how to use a tri-pod and how to import and manage data from computer to computer and how to intertwine it with different computer programs. That leads me to another technology that I have progressed in; editing software such as iMovie and Final Cut. Before the process of constructing Red Run I had little knowledge, recognition and understanding of these programs but through practise and teaching I have improved dramatically and can now use these programmes to a high standard in order to create a media product such as Red Run which I believe contains various examples of editing techniques used such as fast pace editing. Using this software I was also able to create a title sequence for the film opening which was relevant to the Slasher genre and theme throughout Red Run.
The Camera That I Used.

Using another program called Garage Band, I have also learnt to create a soundtrack for Red Run and I’m very pleased with it after it received positive feedback from an audience that viewed a rough cut of the film opening. During the process of constructing Red Run I have also become familiar with video sharing websites such as Youtube and Vimeo and how to use them. Before the construction of Red Run, I hadn’t used these website a lot at all and I didn’t understand them very well. Now however, I am confident in using them to share to upload and share my videos, accompanying them with details, tags, links and embedding codes in order to post the videos on my blog so that the videos are being viewed by more people, resulting in gaining more feedback as to how to improve the product. Youtube and Vimeo aren’t the only websites that I have familiarised myself with, I have also been using Twitter and Facebook during the process of producing Red Run and I have used these websites to promote the film opening Red Run and I have been able to gain feedback from this also. Another website used to promote Red Run is blogspot.com, used for many reasons such as posting progress, reading other people’s blogs to compare, gaining information from a teacher or another student, to conduct polls in order to gain feedback and information which can be used to help to produce the media product in a way that the audience enjoy and finally to keep a record of research and planning, new ideas, feedback, progress, evaluation and any other relevant aspect that occurred during the process of constructing the media product, Red Run.
Final Cut Logo.

Another technology that I have come to terms with is using Apple Mac computers as before embracing Media Studies, I had barely used theses computers and I really didn’t know what I was doing as I could hardly minimise a program without losing it which was a big shock to me as I am very familiar and productive on a Windows computer as I have one myself and have been using them for many years. Now though, I am confident using a Mac computer and feel as if I have progressed dramatically as I can now browse the internet with many different windows and tabs open, edit my footage using various software and also construct soundtracks used for my film opening.


An Apple Mac Similar To The One I Used.

Overall, during the course of AS Media Studies and the process of constructing the media product Red Run, I have gained a much better understanding of many different varieties of and aspects of technology, broadening my knowledge of what’s available to be used, how to use it and also how to learn and progress using different technologies, either by practising, gaining feedback and working on that, or simply being taught, although another way in which I’ve learnt to use technologies to a high standard is that I can now independently learn as I’ve been teaching myself how to use various software and equipment. I am very pleased with my progress and with what I’ve learnt and although I still have a lot to learn, I certainly improved on using technologies relating to Media Studies.

Sunday 8 April 2012

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Firstly, Sam and I attracted our audience through the main female character as she is attractive and portrayed as being sexual active, this therefore attracts the ‘male gaze’ and makes the film appeal to the male audience. Also, the main character, who is the only person to be killed in the film opening is a 17 year old stereotypical teenage boy who is also represented to the audience as sexually active and this could also appeal to the female audience. With the two main characters being teenagers, this would address a teenage audience.

With the female character being attractive, Red Run follows a very common technique, using an attractive, blonde and busty lead woman as a scream queen; by providing anchorage to the audience that the character is sexually active and also could be involved with drug abuse as her boyfriend in Red Run is associated with drugs due to a Bob Marley poster in his bedroom, Ellie Hargreaves, the actress is a typical scream queen that are often killed first in films of the Slasher genre. Some examples of this are Scream. In Scream, the scream queen is also blonde, busty and sexually active. Her boyfriend is killed first which relates to Red Run and she is killed soon after. Therefore the audience for Red Run could be attracted through following existing techniques that have been used in successful film, Scary Movie being an example of this, where the scream queen character is manipulated and dramatically exaggerated which goes to show that the audience do like the typical scream queen character.

Typical 'Scream Queen' Character.


Also, the male character in the film opening of Red Run is a stereotypical jock, who is very often the scream queen’s girlfriend, this is also supported by Scream and the jock is the first character to be killed. Like the scream queen, the jock is also a very well liked character within the majority of film audiences. For example, Twilight which grossed $382,133,300 worldwide in 2009 included the Jock character. Also, to attract the audience to the fact that the killer is alive is kept a secret until the end of the film opening. By doing this we were using narrative enigma and adding suspense to the film opening. However, we hinted at the doll coming to life by the male character saying “It’s not going to kill me is it?” and also showing the doll being thrown in a corner and then having a bra thrown on it. By having the bra thrown on it, the audience are being given the information that the characters are having sex and therefore according to the majority of slasher films, they deserve to die!

Typical High School 'Jock' Character.
A way in which LS29 Productions addressed the audience for Red Run was to look at existing media products that relate to Red Run such as Child's Play and Scream and to look at how successful they were, going to show whether they had a large audience or not. Child's Play (1988) had a budget of $9 Million, and as of March 1989, made around $33 Million in the USA only! Also, Scream (1996) had a budget of $15 Million and as of July 1997made $103 Million in the USA and £8.2 Million in the UK. This gave Sam and I confidence that Red Run would successfully be able to be addressed to a large audience.
Child's Play Poster
Another way in which the audience were attracted was by creating a false scare towards the beginning of the film opening by not revealing who the mysterious character walking towards the house is. The character isn't shown and therefore creates mystery and confusion. Also, the male character inside the house gets scared from the noise that the female character makes outside when banging the gate. By doing this, Lucy, the character walking towards the house is portrayed to the audience as dangerous and evil and should be feared, resulting in the audience's heart beat increasing with the soundtrack also slowly getting faster as Lucy approaches the house. The false scare then ends when Lucy is revealed to her boyfriend and they start talking in a friendly manor.

I also addressed the audience by using social networks sites such as Twitter and Facebook. By using these sites, thousands of people, mostly friends and family were easily accessed and exposed to our film opening Red Run. Many people were able to watch the film opening and leave comments as to what they thought and by doing this, Sam and I were able to gain feedback as to how to improve the media product and also get a good insight as to what the audience want.
The Social Networking Website That I Used To Promote Red Run.

Saturday 7 April 2012

Evaluation Question 4


Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media product would be teenagers and possible young adults, roughly 16-25. This is because the storyline of the film is childish and not a very believable concept, therefore younger people are more likely to get more involved with the idea rather than older people. Younger people, especially teenagers usually prefer crazy ideas and unbelievable stories in their films whereas older people stereotypically prefer more serious, realistic and possibly truthful stories.

Also, the characters in Red Run are 17, relating to the teenage audience and most likely encouraging teenagers to watch the film opening. With our film being a similar story to Child’s Play, we can relate our audience to theirs and I know that Red Run will gain a big audience as Child’s Play (1988) grossed $6,583,000 in its opening weekend on 1377 screens and $44,196,684 (Worldwide). This shows that people are obviously interested in the killer doll concept, especially seeing as the film became a franchise, later leading to another four films based on the killer doll idea.


Looking at films that relate to Red Run such as Halloween and Child’s Play both had similar target audiences of 16-25 and with both of these films being extremely successful this leads me to believe that LS29 have decided on the right, appropriate target audience. However, with the target audience being as low as 25, I don’t believe that the promotion and distribution of Red Run rules out an older target audience and I don’t feel as if people older than 25 will be put off watching the film, due to the marketing which plays a huge part in the audience that is attracted to watch the film. For example, Green Zone, a $100m film wasn't marketed correctly and the film was portrayed to be too much alike the Bourne film franchise, consisting of the Bourne IdentitySupremacy, Ultimatum and Legacy, which at this time wasn't very porpular and therefore the film was a flop and lost a huge amount of money due to the marketing. For this reason, it's important that LS29 distribute Red Run in order to give a good representation of the film and to appeal to the correct audience.

Green Zone Was Marketed Too Much Alike The Bourne Films.
Green Zone - A Huge Flop For Working Title.
Another reason as to why an audience of 16-25 was chosen is simply because it’s well known that scary, horror/slasher films are more popular within teenagers of around 18-20 and they usually like the scare more than other age groups. However, linking in with the previous paragraph, if the marketing is done well, there could be features included that attract an older audience. This technique has been used before in the film Bridget Jones' Diary; the film was very English and wasn't understood by the American audience until a visual joke is shown, making the American audience laugh and engage in the film. There's a joke in Red Run which involves the main character asking if the doll is going to kill him sarcastically, only resulting in him being killed by the doll soon after.

Evaluation Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

LS29 are basically a no cost film company to the extent that we don’t use famous actors, expensive costs, special effects or an ideal location that would cost money to rent. Therefore, a famous distributor such as 20th Century Fox or Dreamworks aren’t going to be interested in our film simply because it doesn’t fit with into the category of being a huge budget, worldwide film with incredible special effects and famous actors like most of their films do.

For this reason, I believe that LS29’s debut production, Red Run would be suited to a low budget indie production company such as Optimum Releasing or Warp X, a company that produces cheap films such as Dead Mans Shoes (2004) which had a budget of £723,000 and went to box office, avoiding "straight-to-DVD" and got a 7.7 imdb rating. I believe that our film would suit this company as it can be distributed cheaply on social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter, keeping the cost low, meaning that they make more profit from the film. Also, to keep distribution cheap, Red Run could simply be downloaded to hard drives worth £50 rather than spending £1000s on producing film reels.

I don’t believe that by distributing Red Run cheaply, the film will not make a lot of money as a lot of Indie productions can make a giant profit. For example, This is England, directed by Shane Meadows, an auteur on a budget of £1.5 million made £207,676 (UK) on 62 screens on its opening weekend. My Beautiful Laundrette, directed by Stephen Frears with a budget of £650,000 grossed $2,451,545 (USA) which shows that films which are cheap to produce and distribute don’t have to remain that way and can become highly profitable. My Beautiful Laundrette, a controversial film made on a small budget was only intended for television but when it was extremely successful at the Cannes film festival it was brought out as a film and on dvd showing that a lot of Indie productions may be underestimated and can compete with Hollywood productions, for example The Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow on a budget of $11,000,000 which grossed $12,647,089 (USA) (15 November 2009).

Therefore, a company that would be likely to distribute LS29 Production's film, Red Run would be Warp X, a Subsidiary of independent film producer and distributor Warp. Warp X were given £1,000,000 to produce 10 films, denoting that they are a low budget, Indie company. Red Run would fit the low budget film category as neither of the cast are famous and therefore expensive to pay and also the props were very cheap, almost next to nothing. Also, the film was produced using digitization rather than traditional film equipment which is very expensive.

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents social groups such as teenagers for a start through the characters and mise en scene by manipulating features in the main character's bedroom such as the posters. The posters include naked models which is very common in your stereotypical 'jock' like character, they usually care more about girls than schools and they are always taking about them and looking at them. Another typical teenager's poster is one of Bob Marley which relates to drug use as he was famous for smoking marijuana and a lot of stereotypical teenagers use drugs, especially in the slasher film genre as this makes them seem 'evil' and therefore they're usually killed in the film. There is also a poster of Cheryl Cole, a famous singer and model, this once again relates to the teenage theme as Cheryl Cole is very popular within the teenage industry for her music and modelling. Also, referring back to your stereotypical 'jock' who will usually play on the school's American football team, in the main character of Red Run's bedroom there are posters of sport icons, football teams and also sport banners; these were specifically included in the mise en scene to portray the teenage image as Sam and I wanted to sell our film opening to a young, teenage audience. Another way in which my media product, Red Run represents particular social groups is through the two characters featured in the opening; both of which are teenagers of 17 years old. The two chracters both dress in a modern teenage fashion, emphasising the teenage theme throughout the film opening.

I think that the teenage theme in the film opening is neutral and would appeal to the majority of teenagers as the characters are very stereotypical and not very individual, limiting the audience to a certain social group such as goths or geeks which are consistently used in slasher films. Also, the film opening is neutral in terms of gender and I don't think that Red Run is at all gender bias. With Red Run not being gender bias, the film opening is more likely to appeal to a wider range of people and not just either male or female. This will make the media product more likely to succeed in relation to distribution as long as the distribution is accompanied by a good marketing strategy. With Red Run being very open to different social groups, it could be harder to market than a media product which is focused specifically on a particular social group.

My media product, Red Run also represents the middle class social group; this is because the house is located in Addingham, a wealthy part of Yorkshire and the house also looks tidy and respectable. The characters are both well spoken and aren't necessarily conservative but they do could be interpreted in that way. The characters could also represent the middle class social group as the location seems sophisticated, quiet and relaxed as opposed to the house being located on a busy road next to a motorway. Red Run could also represent Northern people as the characters speak with a and Northern accent, it’s not broad or too obvious and I’m sure that a lot of the American audience wouldn’t pick up on the Northern, Yorkshire accents so much although this does go against the typical view, film wise that the American audience seem to have with England as they usually associate English films with being Southern in terms of the location actors.

However, rather than simply representing the north, Red Run could also represent a lot of England that isn’t conservative, Southern England, driving Porsches and living in castles, for example the stereotypical character that is often used to represent English characters in films targeted at the American audience such as Bridget Jones’ Diary. Another English film that represents the other side of England is This Is England, directed by Shane Meadows.

Friday 6 April 2012

Evaluation Question 1

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

LS29 develop conventions of real media products such as the talking, killer doll concept originally from the Child’s Play franchise. In Child’s play, the doll, Chucky, is brought to life the first time through a serial killer who is being chased by the police after being shot, breaking into a Good Guy doll factory and using voodoo to transfer his soul from his dying body to that of a young child’s doll. Also, in the second Child's Play film, the doll is brought to life through electrocuation and this is a technique that we played around with and tested when producing Red Run. It was however thought that it would be better to leave it out through feedback recieved from rough cuts. You can still watch LS29 Production's original idea of using electrocution to bring the doll to life in a previous rough cut.

In Friday 13th, Jason is also brought back to life via electrocution and Sam and I watched this many times to get an idea as to how it was filmed and directed and we chose to use this media convention in our film opening rough cuts, using similar editing skills where we add sparks and electric like diegetic noises to the video.

Sam and I use this convention as to the extent that it’s a killer doll that’s alive but we also developed the look of the doll. In Child’s Play, Chucky the doll is killed and burnt etc, making him look fiercer and deadlier when he’s brought back to life. Sam and I have used this idea to create our doll’s look with the blood and cuts but we have also added our own features such as the bandage around his arm with blood on, a nail above his eye and one of his eyes gorging out from his skull. All of these features represent pain and possibly torture and overall violence, connoting that someone has attacked the doll and it’s soon revealed that the doll would have been attacked for obvious reasons.

Another existing media product that Sam and I have devoloped in our Media product, Red Run is intertextuality through a class mate's media product, Tiny Terror, produced by Barncasarn. The doll in Red Run is a replica of the killer doll in Tiny Terror, which in Red Run in is a successful, famous film that the main character recognises straight away and quotes "Oh, it's the doll from Tiny Terror", the doll is then brought to life which links in with previous paragraphs.

Saturday 31 March 2012

Pitch and Ideas (SD)

Our short film 'Red Run' is a thrilling story about a night that will stay with you for the rest of your life, The resurrection of a past evil will send a young couple fighting for their lives in a emotional whirl wind where only one will survive.

The concept for our film has been taken from the films Childs Play, Friday the 13th & Halloween. The killer in our film is a doll like in Childs Play and the idea from it coming to life is also from Childs Play but the idea of how it is resurrected is from Friday the 13th as the doll is resurrected/brought to life by electrocution. At the start of our film we have come up with the idea of someone walking towards the house in a POV shot, using a GoPro Headcam, this idea is based around the start of the film Halloween, but instead of having the person in POV as the killer, we are planning to place a false scare into this somehow.

The basic idea of the storyline is that, the girlfriend is going to bring the doll into the house of her boyfriends when she goes round there, she could of found it outside on her way there or something like that. She then gives it to the boyfriend as a joke or present if we plan on making the boy a slasher film enthusiast, the two then go upstairs to have sexual intercourse implying there both impure and that they deserve it in the slasher genre world, we are then going to have a time lapse on the window showing it going from night to morning, the girl then wakes up and says she must go home as she didn't intend to stay over and her mum will be angry, she then leaves the house, but as the boy is running and telling her to wait up, just after she leaves the house and closes the door, he trips up at the top of the stairs, falling down them. This is where the doll comes into play, somehow between the time of it coming into the house and this it is going to be electrocuted, this could happen as the boys running after her girlfriend before he falls down the stairs, as he's running out of the bedroom he could knock over a glass of something maybe alcohol which will emphasize their impurities. When the boy falls down the stairs the doll then goes to get a knife, when this is all happening the girlfriend has realised she has forgotten something and has to go back, will she get to the house on time?

Tuesday 20 March 2012

Next Scheduled Filming

Sam and I are re-filming our new idea tomorrow (21/03/11) at the new location, please refer to a previous blog to read about the re-locating. We also aim to edit after filming and we don't have a lot to film. Sam and I also plan on recording our soundtrack tomorrow. I'll keep you updated with posts tomorrow post filming.

Re-locating

Sam and I are thinking about re-locating; the new location will be at Sam's house. We won't have a lot to film, and if we did it would be very unrealistic to think that we would get it all re-filmed in time for the coursework deadline on Friday 23rd of March. We only need to re-film the scene of the teenage boy making a cup of tea, the walking around the side of the house and creating the false scare and introducing the female character. We are re-locating simply because we don't have enough footage with the new character (female) and the actress for this doesn't have a lot of spare time and it will be a lot easier and quicker to film at Sam's house as the actress lives a lot closer to it than she does from mine. After filming, i'll blog to let everyone know how it went.

Filming Our New Idea - Vlog

LS29 Productions talking about our recent filming and using the GoPro head camera!

Mise-en-scene - Main Location

A tour around one of the main locations in our film opening, Red Run

Filming From A Point Of View Shot

This is some of the footage filmed from last night (19/03/11). The shot is a lead up to a false scare and obviously in this shot the character isn't scared when creeped up on but this is because we're filming his surprised reaction from a different shot. Ignoring the acting and the clip being un-edited, Sam and I are happy with this take and think the GoPro head cam which was used to film it worked really well and the take is effective. The GoPro camera used to film it straps onto a headband, worn by Sam as he walks around the side of the house.

The camera that Sam and I used to film the shot.


Sam and I got the idea for this shot from the opening scene of Halloween when someone walks around the house and looks through the window at two characters inside. I think that we have done a good job at recreating the shot with the twist of the false scare, although this can't be scene yet as this clip is only raw footage and we are yet to add the other shots to make the whole false scare shot.

Screenshot from the opening scene of Halloween.
Another screenshot, getting closer.
Stalking the two characters.
Walking around the house in the same way as the character in Red Run.

 Once edited, i'll post the new cut. Please leave comments and feedback to help Sam and I to improve


Monday 19 March 2012

Gender In 'Red Run'

The story line of Sam and I's film opening is mostly male orientated. Stereotypically, men enjoy tension, violence, killing and action in a film where as women may prefer comedy, love, romance and happiness. However, this is being extremely stereotypical and it's possible that females may also enjoy LS29's film opening as they could like the idea of the killer doll.

To relate back to the target audience for our slasher opening, it may be too broad to state that it's unlikely that females wouldn't enjoy the film opening as much because males would like it too, it may depend on the age of the people as to whether they enjoy the film opening or not. The main character in the film it a typical teenage boy, please click here to read a blog post about the characters in the film opening. Anyway, with the main character being the stereotypical 'Jockey' character from the slasher genre, it edges the film opening to be more male orientated. However, LS29 have decided to introduce a new character to make Red Run more interesting and to encourage a more female audience.

We believe that a female character could encourage a more female audience as the females may think that with only a male character, Red Run is only male orientated and that with a female character, it will be more balanced and even, encouraging both genders to watch the film opening. The mise-en-scene in the film opening however, is male orientated and this is because the majority of the setting is in a teenage boy's bedroom. Click here to read a previous blog post about the mise-en-scene in the film opening, Red Run.

A typical teenage room where a big part of Red Run is filmed.


The relationship between the two characters is mutual and it's not as if the male is dominant over the female as this patriarchal view would most likely put females off watching the film opening. Overall, Sam and I have tried to keep the film opening as unisex and mutual as possible. Only one person is killed in the film opening and this is the male but the female still plays a big part in the opening.

Characters (SD)

We are planning on having 2 main characters although this could increase after filming more and structuring our idea's fully. These 2 characters are going to be a boy and a girl both teenage. The boy / Dillon shares some the characteristics of a possible characteristics of an American 'Jocky', the common scream kings in the slasher genre, he is of average height, brown hair and as a character in this film, plays the part of someone whom is relatively sexually active and 'impure'. The other role/character in the film is the girlfriend of this boy, we haven't decided yet whether or not we'll have her as a scream queen or final girl, most likely scream queen as she is portrayed in this film as a sexually active young teenage girl and will most likely will have blonde hair although we still have not decided on who to use as the actor for this role.

Location & Mise-en-scene (SD)

The main or only location in our film at the moment is outside and inside of Dillon (Tell William Production)'s house. This location is perfect for what we're trying to accomplish as it suits most Slasher film characteristics as the house is in an urban location and it isn't detached; it's of an average size and an average household that you wouldn't think twice about, therefore it will hopefully relate to most of our audience. Our audience has been acknowledged on a previous blog post, please click here to read about our target audience for Red Run.
 
The Mise-en-scene we are using is also already as he want it, as the boy's room or Dillon's bedroom already shows all the characteristics of a normal, average, stereotypical teenage boy; such as a messy room, posters of girls, artists like Bob Marley and sport role models. The rest of the house gives signifiers that it's simply a normal, middle class household where you wouldn't expect supernatural occurrences to take place; fitting into the slasher genre and being fairly stereotypical.

Re-Filming

LS29 are filming again tonight (19/03/12) and we aim to get a lot done and to use the feedback we received from our last rough cut to improve our 4th rough cut majorly. We have a new idea which we are going to try out tonight; to see this idea please refer to a previous blog post. The idea shouldn't take a long time to film but we will film it several times to make sure that we get the shot to be as good as it possibly can be. The feedback that Sam and I received from our 3rd rough cut was that there are some good ideas in there and the media product could be good but it needs a lot of work doing to ensure so, one of the aspects being framing.

Sam and I when filming for our 3rd rough cut, didn't take the framing as seriously as we should have done and we didn't think about it as much as we should have done. For example, there's a shot of the main character on his phone and it's a close up of his hand; however, in the background there's a poster with a close up of the hand and this ruins the shot and it looks terrible. It's such a simple mistake but it effects the final product drastically.

This is an example of poor framing in Red Run.


After filming tonight, I'll post some preview clips of the rough cut, asking for opinions and feedback so that Sam and I can work to improve it once again in the short time that we have. Please click here to see the new idea that LS29 have and aim to film and post tonight.

Friday 16 March 2012

Representations In Our Film Opening

We have established the target audience for our film opening to be teenagers or young adults and more specifically, males. This is backed up by our main character being a stereotypical male teenager. The stereotypical male teen is portrayed as a scream queen figure; he will be the male scream queen and the female character that Sam and I are yet to introduce will be the stereotypical female scream queen with blonde hair and references to being sexually active. We have attempted to portray the main character to be a male scream queen in several ways. For example, in the mise en scene we have included posters that make references to drugs and sex.

This shot contains a Bob Marley poster in the background which makes relates to drug use. Also, behind the laptop, there is a poster of naked women which relates to the character being sexually active. The joggers that the character is wearing connote to the character being lazy, like stereotypical teenagers.        




This shot shows the character rolling down his blinds which represents it being night time, when most killings in the slasher genre occur!

LS29 Productions' Ident

This is LS29's first ident. We are happy with this and feel as though it looks professional and will certainly look good when it's used at the beginning of our film opening. However, it's not the final product and to improve it, Sam and I need to add some sound to it which shouldn't be hard, we can just use a simple sound that we will create ourselves in a program called Garage Band. Another thing that we can improve with this ident as we gathered from our feedback on it is that it isn't long enough and should fade in, fade out and show the LS29 Productions text for longer. Please take a look at our ident and help us by providing some feedback

Untitled from Sam Daffern on Vimeo.

Thursday 15 March 2012

Next Scheduled Filming Of Red Run

Sam and I have organised to film this Saturday (17/03/12) and Monday (19/03/12). We will then edit that night and possibly Tuesday if we don't get finished so that we can hand in our 4th rough cut on the Wednesday and gain feedback. With the feedback we receive, we will film again on Wednesday (21/03/12) taking the feedback into consideration and creating a final cut to hand in on Friday (23/03/12) so that it can be marked and given back with more feedback.

Sam and I don't want to be handing in a rough cut which we know isn't as good as we know our potential can achieve and this is why we're going to hand in a 4th rough cut, simply to gain feedback before our final cut so that it can be as good as it possibly could be.

Creating A Soundtrack

With the deadline looming, Sam and I need to create a soundtrack. In our 3rd rough cut we used the song 'Red light indicates doors are secured' By the Arctic Monkeys. We feel like this song fitted in well with the teenage image that we're trying to portray as the main character is supposed to give the impression to the audience that he's a male scream queen as he has two posters included in the mise en scene in the bedroom, one being Bob Marley which symbolises drug use and one of naked women which symbolises him being sexual active.

Anyway, because Sam and I know that we can't use the Arctic Monkeys song because of copyright reasons, we included it in our 3rd rough cut simply to see whether people enjoyed it and think that it worked well. The feedback we received was positive and most of the audience agree that if it wasn't breaching copyright laws, it would have been a great song to use.

With this feedback, Sam and I have decided to record our own version of the song which should hopefully work just as well and won't breach any copyright terms. Sam plays the bass guitar and I play the electric guitar, so between us we think that we'll be able to create a good soundtrack. Our other alternative is to make the soundtrack using Garage Band but we believe that we can learn and record the Arctic Monkeys song in the same amount of time as it would take for us to create a soundtrack in Garage Band. Once we have recorded the soundtrack we will upload it for feedback and comments.


Rough Cut 3 With Feedback

There are a lot of obvious mistakes with this rough cut and Sam and I aren't particularly impressed with it as we know we could have and should have done better. The first mistake is that we have included diegetic sound from the film opening in the idents; this is very wrong as we have now lost the original sound from the idents, however we could include sound from the video but less of it with it fading in and after the sound of the idents has finished so that we create an audio bridge. Another mistake is the shaky camera work on the long shot of the house and there shouldn't be a person in the window on the bottom floor because this makes the setting less Slasher like as the house if creepier if it's empty except for the main characters who will be attacked by the killer doll. Sam and I also experimented with colour efffects to make the video look like it's a flashback and that is explained at the end of the video with the women on the phone telling the story but now we've decided that this is to complex and unnecessary.

With our next rough cut, Sam and I have a new idea which has been explained in a previous blog post and we will also improve it by correcting these mistakes and posting the next rough cut so that we can gain feedback telling us whether we've improved or not and what we can still do to progress.

A New Idea

After gaining feedback on our 3rd rough cut, Sam and I have concluded that to improve our media product we need to do several things; add another character, preferably a scream queen stereotype (blonde hair and sexually active) because this fits in with the slasher genre, take more time to cut into the action of the killer doll as we introduce the main character too quickly as we need to build tension and suspense and also show the killer doll being brought to life through electrocution which we did for our first 2 rough cuts but decided to leave out for the 3rd. Also, it would be a good idea to create a false scare are the beginning of the slasher film opening because this also links in well with the slasher genre. A false scare is a good way of getting the audience's attention and introducing the characters to them.

To create the false scare, LS29 will film the girlfriend character (scream queen) from a point of view shot as she walks up to the house of her boyfriend; this has been used in slasher films before such as Black Christmas and Halloween although they weren't false scares, they were the real killer. Also, we will add some intertextuality with the media products from other students in my media class and providing the audience with anchorage that the doll, which will be a joke present from the girlfriend to the boyfriend as the main character and killer doll from one of our fellow student's slasher film opening. The girl will be walking up to the house whilst the boy is in the kitchen making a cup of tea with his back facing the doors that the girl will be sneaking into and creeping up on him, scaring him and creating a false scare.

By creating this false scare, Sam and I will be hopefully improving our media products in several ways; for example, we will be increasing the length of it to the preferred length of time for the slasher opening as it's too short as it is now. Also, we will be able to introduce the characters more slowly and build tension and suspense and when we do introduce them during the false scare, we will be introducing them in a more effective way and we will hopefully have gained the audiences attention and interest more. Once LS29 have filmed this, we will post it as a blog and ask for feedback. We plan to film this on Saturday (17/03/12)

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Red Run - Rough Cut 2 Feedback (SD)

The audience/class's feedback was that the takes were too long which made the clips look less believable or real compared to the fast paced cuts you see nowadays.
The killing was also too long on both the doll and the body being stabbed, so we plan to make these cuts fast and sharp and also probably change the fake blood as the mixture we used for this was too orange.
Another bit of criticism was lack of sound or a sound track, so were are going to try make on ourselves either on garage band or simply with guitars and bass.

Sunday 11 March 2012

Target Audience

The target audience for LS29's film opening is younger people rather than old, roughly 16-25. We have gone for this target audience because the storyline of the film opening is similar to that of Child's Play; a series of films based on a killer doll, that's brought to life also through electrocution but through other methods too such as voodoo. Some differences with LS29's film opening and the Child's Play series is that the doll is the spirit of a person; a serial killer called Charles Lee Ray where as Sam and I's film opening hasn't got that included, it could be the case but there simply isn't enough time to expose that.

Our film opening, we believe, also fits in with the Child's Play film's target audience (16-25) and this is because the younger the person, stereotypically the more imaginative they are when it comes to films, either imaginative or simply easier to please. This means that the younger the person, the more they are supposedly going to enjoy the idea of a doll being alive and not only alive, but a killer too. Sam and I believe that the older the person, the less likely they are to embrace the killer doll concept and they may see it as being childish, especially with the story line being similar to that of Child's Play. It's not so much that Sam and I think that the older age group won't enjoy our film opening, it's simply that we believe they may not enjoy the storyline; however, we may be wrong and they could possibly enjoy the film opening as long as they find the killer doll's role in the film believable and effective.

The young audience that Sam and I are targeting could be easily accessed through social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. The older age group may be harder to promote our film to because there is a lot less older people on Facebook and Twitter. Our film opening, like the Child's Play series may be seen as inappropriate by some people due to the killer in the slasher genre being a Child's toy, in this case a doll. If this was to happen, it would most likely be older people thinking like this and this is another reason why they're less likely to targeted as an audience. The young people however may feel even more encouraged to watch the film if older people are contesting it like they did with the Child's Play films.

Wednesday 29 February 2012

Killer Doll

The 'killer doll' featured in our film opening

Sam and I bought this doll with it looking completely child friendly and the first thing we did in order to change that is burn it's right arm and the side of it's face. Because of the burn marks, we think it would be a good idea to make our slasher opening look as if  it's a sequel and we are thinking about opening the scene with a shot of the doll being buried and the person burying it looking old fashioned, possibly wearing a suit and top hat, then checking a pocket watch. By doing this, the suit, top hat and pocket watch will connote to the shot being set around 100 years ago and therefore the doll being very old which adds to its scariness. To bring the doll back, Sam and I are going to try and film a dog digging in the ground and then bringing the doll into the house; it will be difficult to make a dog do this but we'll try our best and we think it'll be a very effective way of bringing the killer doll back to life. The dog will then bring the doll into the house and then drop it onto the wire which will then electrocute it and bring it back to life.

Sam and I, after burning the doll, nailed a bolt into its head just to make it look scary, this could connote to someone having tried to kill it in a past life and the blood stains signify that the doll has endured pain or caused pain to someone, the bandage also connotes to the doll having endured pain, possibly from someone trying to harm it. The doll is quite hard to make move, the legs aren't very flexible. However, Sam and I have filmed some practice footage of the doll walking and it will be uploaded on Friday so that we can receive feedback on it. We are filming and editing tomorrow in order to get our 2nd rough cut finished. This doll can perform the same movements than the original action figure can, however it is harder and may look less effective. This doll though does look a lot scarier than our original action figure and we're happy with how it looks.

The only problem with this doll is that it doesn't relate to the colour red at all, apart from the blood and this isn't enough to keep the name Red Run. 'Red Run' however is a working title and can be changed at any time, the only problem is that Sam and I don't have any other names that we have thought of so we are going to concentrate more on trying to get some red clothes for the doll which we can rip up and make to look scary to fit the slasher genre. It was suggested that we dye the blue pants that the doll is wearing red so that we can keep the name and we are considering this.

Monday 27 February 2012

Improving Our Rough Cut

To improve our rough cut, Sam and I need to pay more attention to little details when filming. One of these details is the amount of time that the shots are one for; for example, on our first rough cut, there are point of view shots of the action figure walking towards the teenage boy who has just been tripped and fell down the stairs. For this shot, Sam and I need to make it shorter or break it up into seperate parts so that it's more believable and doesn't lose its effectiveness. Also, we were thinking about adding an effect to make the shot more blurred by using layering and and adding to layers over to make it look as if the character is dizzy after falling down the stairs, we were also thinking about adding a video effect or transition to make it look as if the character is blinking; it's little effects like this that should make the overall product more convincing and mroe enjoyable to watch. Another aspect of our rough cut that needs improving is the mise en scene. Sam and I are going to change what's lying on the floor at the beginning of the rough cut as the electrocution occurs, we will add things that are more scary and more suitable to the slasher genre. We're not sure what yet but we could link it in with another film to add intertextuality to our film opening. Another idea is to add a slaher film such as Halloween or Friday 13th poster to the wall of the room to provide some intertextuality.
Also, taking the feedback that we received from our first rough cut into account, we need to change the lighting of the shots and make it darker to make it scarier and mroe intense as everything is scarier in the dark and once again, this will suit the slasher genre more.

Saturday 25 February 2012

'Red Run' Rough Cut 1

This is LS29's first rough cut for the Red Run film opening. The feedback that Sam and I received made it clear that the red action figure used as the killer wasn't appropriate for the slasher genre that we are attempting to achieve and that instead we should use a doll like in the Child's Play films. I will look for a new doll, preferably a child's toy. However, Sam and I need to focus on keeping the doll part of a red theme to avoid having to change the name of our working title this late. Also, I think that the lighting in the shots is too bright and that it would be more suitable to the slasher genre if the lighting is darker. As well, obviously the rough cut doesn't have a good ending and Sam and I are still deciding which ending to go with; we like the idea of having another doll that looks scary, however kills the other doll and saves the teenage boy. We will have another rough cut up on Thursday with both endings so that we can receive feedback as to which one to go with. Some other feedback that we received is that the electrocution of the action figures at the beginning is good but would be better with sound effects