Current Difficulties

Current Difficulties

27/11/13

MWE

Technical problems

On the topic of filming gear, our school has provided us with new gadgets. Media Studies department has bought a few sets of Canon EOS 100D.

However, the cameras are not being issued out for our teacher has prioritized the Year 12's lesson this coming week which involves the use of the gadget. Thus, filming schedule will have to be delayed again. 

Our access to technologies and gadgets to help us film is limited in comparison to the device I had access on last year. For one of our scenes we need a dolly and so to overcome this difficulty, I looked at tutorial online and found useful links:

http://nofilmschool.com/2010/10/absolute-cheapest-dolly-move/

Location Scouting 

Up until now we are still in search for the perfect setting for the Warehouse scene. We have found a local art gallery here in Oxford named "OVADA". The structure of the building and design idealistic for our film. 

 http://www.ovada.org.uk/studios/

We will be trying to gain access to this area. 

Lesson 09: Audience Research

Lesson 09: Audience Research 

20/11/13

MWE

The following post is dedicated to the research we have done regarding our target audience.

1. Who will be the audience for your media product?
   Our film is a like to movies such as: "Jennifers Body", "Prom Night" and "The Roommate" as we pointed out on the previous post on "Presentation, Structure and Sounds". Those films are Rated R and I imagine so will our film be seeing as we touch upon some similar elements: Violence, Alcohol etc. It's not a film we imagine parents would take their children to see as:
   
   1. That would be awkward.
   2. Inappropriate
   3. Not a family movie.
   
   Thus, we picture that it would appeal more to teenagers. However, we do explore psychology behind the characters particularly Jordan's state of mind. Therefor, it may attract young adult whom enjoys the genre of: Suspense and Mystery.
   
   
2. How do you know this?
   
   Research and the information provided by websites such as: IMDB (Internet Movie Database) are helpful and even yahoo answers as these are genuine people commenting about this film on related posts.
   
3. Have you / will you use Survey Monkey or similar as audience determination and research?
   
   We have read our synopsis to a group of people and gave some printed copy of the synopsis out and gave them to people of different age groups. We asked them to comment on it and we used their comments and placed them on Wordle to see what is the most common genre which came up. We've named it "JJI" (Jordan, Jane and Ivy) and kept our identity anonymous.
   
   Here's the link to the Wordle: http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/7302126/Film%3A_JJI
   
4. Research into your chosen medium and genre
   
   The Wordle indicated that the people felt that our text belongs to the genre of "thriller", action and suspense had been mentioned but it seems that the dominating view of our film is that it's a Thriller. We are happy as this is what we were aiming for.
   
5. What is the typical audience?
   
   The age group which was prominent was teenagers, adults were also mentioned which we interpret as to mean that young adults would be interested in our text too. No mention of family or children whatsoever, which is good as this is not what we were aiming for.
   
6. How do they consume their media (which platforms etc)
   
   We find that it's easier to create a text which appeals teenagers as we ourselves belong to this age group. Consequently, we know what attracts and what sells to us. We have an insight to our market. We know that teenagers are heavily active in the web and that it could be argued that we are actually more engage in the internet than television or radio. Thus, if we were to advertise our film, we would use social media platforms such as: Twitter and Facebook.
   
   
7. To what extent are they active or passive? How will you address this in your
   construction?
   
   Seeing as the text centres around the mystery of Jordan's true identity, we want the audience to be active. We want them to speculate regarding who he is and what are his intentions and how is he related to the chaos in the narrative. Clues regarding his true identity will be gradually be revealed and we want our audience to be thinking how they all linked together. 

Costume Design

Costume Design 

MWE
18/11/13

Part of our preparation is to design costumes for our actors to wear for different scenes. Last weekend (17/11/13) we went to look at clothes with my friend Josh who will be playing the part of George Carter and Alex Sumner. The images below are examples of clothes which we plan on using for the film. Beforehand, I have made sketches of the character and we will try to construct a look as accurate as them. 

On the same day they we have been looking for a suit for Josh, a key costume as it will be an iconic object associated to his character; quite like a trade mark (like how Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games has a bow and arrow and how Harry Potter has his scar). Unfortunately we failed to purchase a set on the same day for the lack of stock in Josh's size. However, he had ordered them and should arrive in a couple of days. 

Lesson 08: Storyboard

Lesson 08: Storyboard

MWE

12/11/13

Today we've made storyboards based on our "Script Writing" post. We've all started thinking about our Ancillary texts, the magazine and our poster. 

Term Break Preparations

Term Break Preparations

MWE

25/10- 4/11

Post regarding the progress we have made: Location, Production Logo, Schedule

Canvassing Location

Our filming requires three main locations:

• House
• School-classroom
• Warehouse

House

Clips which needs to be filmed in a house, for instance: "The Party" and "Jordan's bedroom" will be filmed in one of our filming crews home and so this is the least of our worries.

School

Scenes such as "Jane and Jordan's Chemistry" will be filmed in our school - The Cherwell School. We are most likely in need to use the Common Room and one of the English Rooms. We have an easy access to this and so it is not a problem.

Warehouse

One of the biggest dilemma we currently have is finding a location for the warehouse scenes. This is the most important location as the footage's based on this location will be the essence to generating the suspense, thrill, drama and action for our trailer. Over the week we've gone around Oxford to find locations but it did not turn out successfully as we have hoped. 

Visit 1- Shipton on Cherwell, Near Kidlington

The first location we planned on visiting was Shipton on Cherwell. Unfortunately, this plan fell short as we could not gain access to the place. Thus, abandoning pursue for this place. 

Visit 2 - Old Watchtower, RAF Airfield Field 

 The next location we went to see was the Old Watchtower. It used to be open to public but when we arrived all access to the area was closed. It would have been a perfect place for the clips! So it's devastating that this was no longer available.

Visit 3- Stockpile building

The third place we saw was this stock pile building. It belongs to Lucy's Dad's friend and so if we want to film in it, it is possible for us to do so. However, we're not quite satisfied with it as it's not what we envisioned. Although, in worst case scenario, if we still cannot find a place to film in; it will have to do and we'll just have to work with the misc-en-scene to make it work. 

So, we're still on the process on looking for a place to film in as we deal with the other things.   


Production Logo

This trailer is the product of the collaboration between "Crane Shot Productions" and Lucy's previous film company and so two logos will be used and recognized in the film.