Task1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media product?

The first shot we are seeing Sarah outside in the snow. This shot is effective because it is different comparing to other thrillers. It is unusual for a ghost to be outside in the snow. The shot is effective because if we see her we see an innocent and naïve girl.

Furthermore the white dress reflects pureness.

The second picture we see a contrast between the different worlds, the ghost world with the snow and the real world with the sunlight. This shot is effective because it translates a complete opposite to the audience.

The third picture is showing a closer contrast between the real and the ghost world. The snow is representing the coldness and pureness, while the sunlight creates a more realistic and ordinary world.

The fourth picture shows the ghost while she is walking down the steps. Every time she walks by something technical looses energy. As you can see, we can see through her and therefore you can see the steps. This whole picture shows that she is a ghost. That leads to the feeling that this shot is similar to real products. The audience expects this shot because it is a ghost film.

The fifth picture shows again the sunlight and therefore the contrast to the ghost world. We get the feeling of warmth and the environment. This is a good contrast and shows again the similarity to real media products.

The sixth picture is showing her as ghost and if you see closely you can see that she hasn’t got any feet. This makes the whole shot even more ghost like and even scarier. The whole environment with the trees and the bench is showing a kind of loneliness. The snow and the dress show again her pureness.

The seventh shot is showing her walking again down the steps. This time we see her clearly, she could actually be a normal person if she would not wear that dress. So this shows that the ghost is actually really there and this is a again a similarity to real media products.

The eighth picture shows her again in the snow. This shot is very effective because her hair is in front of her face which makes us probably a bit scared because we do not know how she looks. This is similar to real product films because some thrillers like the ring for example show also a girl with the same kind of hair etc.

The last picture is her in the corridor. As she walks along she comes and disappears. This shot is very effective because it looks very real when she walks along in her white dress while you can’t see her face etc. The environment looks very normal and so it makes it even scarier.

Audience Feedback

Enja Roesch: Nice contrats between summer and winter.


Laura Blyfield: The two different worlds are very clear shown. Likes the journey as she
walks along.

Stephanie Kufferath: Likes the pace of editing and the type of writing.

Task 7 Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Preparation:

It is very clear, that preparing the process of our preliminary was much easier than preparing our thriller production.

When we did the preliminary task, we were already given a storyboard, including everything. This was practical because therefore we didn’t have to plan anything as everything was already given. So it made it easier for us, because the Storyboard is one of the most important parts in shooting. Furthermore we were given in groups randomly in which we had to film than. At first we took a look at the Storyboard and than searched for actors. It was very difficult to find somebody, because it was only a little production, we were not allowed to take people out during lessons so we had to find people who were free at that time. As we found two people a male and a female, we than started to shot. We set up the cameras, the equipment and the furniture we needed and started first of all deciding were we wanted to set up the camera and which lights we want to use. Than we looked at the storyboard and chose which shot we have to shot and how.

We started to prepare our thriller about six or five weeks before our actually shooting day. This process was much more difficult and complicated because it was a harder and precise process. We had to decide ourselves for a special idea and get together in groups. Everybody had to present a thriller or another idea of a story and the other ones had to vote for this one he liked most. After that we formed the groups. As we sat down together as a group, we had to think over the Story again this was effective and important for our group for example that we were certain we have to change our story and took somebody else’s idea from our group because we knew the first idea of story we were chosen was way to difficult to film. After that we had to talk with our teachers about our thriller idea to decide again if the idea is not too difficult to film etc. than we started to produce our first draft for our storyboard. This was very hard and difficult because we had to imagine every single shot we wanted to film. As this was very hard we had to change our storyboard several times because we always thought we could do it better or different. But this was not the only thing we had to care about; we had a list of all the things we had to think about, like cast list, Props list, Sound list etc. this was important for us so that we are well organised. Furthermore we had to think about the actors and had to make sure they don’t have to go to lessons during our shooting day. As well as this we had to find all the props and make sure we have all the locations like the students room and also make sure that nobody is there during we film. We also had to draw all the locations we wanted to have which was very difficult because it was very hard to draw them realistic and nice.

However we managed all this and in the end we had everything together, the actors, the props and the permission from the teachers for our actors.

Improving of film making skills:

When we did our preliminary task everybody was very unsure in what we were doing and even though we have been explained in using the camera we weren’t that confident. Our skill of film making was very poor.

Furthermore we had lots of support from our teacher and we constantly had to think about the 180*rule.

We also had to think about simple things, for example that our shadow is not in the shot, or that nobody is speaking, or that the actors are not doing a mistake during we were filming. Furthermore we had some difficulties with the arrangement who is on the camera and who is looking at the light etc.

When we were shooting our thriller, we had a bit more experience and so we had not that many difficulties as we did in the preliminary task. Furthermore it was much more fun, because we had bigger locations and we used exciting shots like tracking shots etc. It was also more interesting because I was personally more involved as the first time because I had a bigger part and could tell my opinion more.

Camera:

When we did our preliminary task, we did exactly what was shown on the storyboard. We didn’t really looked at how we can do this shot more exciting or different. But of course this was the matter because it was our first time. But it could have been better, because for example also the light was too bright and the shots were probably to far away. But it was very difficult because we just had this one room and so everything was very basic.

If I compare this to our thriller production it is very different. Because everything, the story the locations etc was our idea, we could say more how we wanted to have the shots etc. Also we were more prepared. Even though we used the same camera for example, everything was different, this was perhaps because we were more confident in what we were doing. It was much more interesting and fun to film now because we could use all our knowledge of what we learned after and in the preliminary task. We knew what we wanted to translate trough the camera and how we are going to film it. Furthermore we had much more opportunities and space. We had so much space for example that we could do a tracking shot. We also had to work much more with lighting for example as we created two different worlds, the ghost world and the real world. So we could play around with dark light and bright light.

It was also great to work outside. As it started to snow what we didn’t expect, we had to be very spontaneous with our filming. But this was even more exciting as we could play around with the camera and look at what we liked most at that time.

Sound:

In our preliminary task we didn’t had music. The sound was the speaking and the use of for example furniture like the door. So it was very basic. But it was also very difficult because during we were shooting; we had to be very quiet because you could hear everything we did when we looked at the tape.

In our thriller production, we used lots of sound like recorded sound or separated music sound. We used for example the recording sound where our actor walks in the snow along or we used the noise of the telephone. This we have recorded during the shot day. But what we mostly used was separated music. We could play around with the sound so we could use our recorded ones and put in separate music over it. So we had two different effects that fit together later on because we could connect them together.

Editing:

In our preliminary task we had an introduction how to use final cut pro. But it didn’t really help that much because it is a very difficult program if you don’t just try to play around with it. At the first time I didn’t really understood it, so it was very difficult for me to use it. Furthermore we didn’t really use it that much.

First we had to look at all our shots and afterwards we had to decide which ones we liked and which ones we didn’t. We had to separate all the shots from each other. For example the medium shots in one folder and for example the close ups in one folder.

Than we started to connect the shots together, this was very easy because we didn’t have sound either special effects we had to use.

When it came to our final cut pro in our thriller, everything was much harder. First of all we had much more shots and secondly it got difficult with our ghost world and real world. So we started same as we did in our preliminary task. We collected all the bits we liked in one folder and after that we did a real world and a ghost world folder. First of all we tried to play around with the program because we had a little problem. When we had our shooting day, as I said we didn’t expected it is going to snow, so we had to shot the real world shots on another day. So first we had to do all the ghost world part. After we have done this, we waited that it is going to be nice weather and went outside again to shot more of our real world part. As we were finish, we started to connect those two Worlds together. It was hard work. For example we started with the scene in the corridor. As she walk along. We used the real world shot of the corridor and than we put in her with a special effect, so that it even looks more ghost like. We worked like this the whole time.

After that we had to work with music. This was also very hard because we never done this before. First we looked at sound we were interested in using in our thriller. After we had a view, which were for example birds noises and wind blowing we put them in the right order. The bird noises had to go to the real world shots and the wind blowing for example to the ghost world shots. As we did this, we looked for music.

This was also very difficult because it had to fit in perfectly with the two different worlds.

After we did the sound it was time to use the titles. This was not as complicated as working with the sound or cutting. At first we took a paper and a pen and wrote down how many titles and which titles we have to use. So we started with our production: Fox searchlight production. After that we had to name the actors, the writer etc.

As we finished with the titles, we did some more special effects, for example when we were shooting outside in the snow and Sarah our actress had shoes on we had to cut them away in our thriller so that it is more ghost like. So we did on the end some more special effects and after that we were finish with our process of our first thriller.

Task 6 What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Task 5 How did you attract/adress your audience?

Task 5

View more presentations from hurtwoodhousemedia5.

Task 4 Who would be the audience for your media product?

Well it is very difficult to find a specific sort of person who would watch this film, because I think our film could be shown to anybody who is about young. Because it is filmed in a school I think my ideal person would be somebody who is educated. Furthermore the film is not very likely and it’s a bit special and because the story is about a ghost, who wandering around and goes outside in the snow even though it is even for a ghost probably very cold it makes it not a very ordinary or likely film.

My ideal person should think a bit wider because it is a film which you have to analyze a bit and think of what is she doing, where she is going etc.

I think the perfect person who would go and watch this film, should be a student, well educated and imaginative. Furthermore if you are in this age it is a benefit that this person would probably have facebook or myspace and there for he/she could appeal and show the film to there friends etc.

Task 2 How does your product represent particular social groups?

Here we can see a picture from our boarding school. This picture is important because we were shooting inside there. Our product represents particular social groups like teenagers because the girl is a teenager and so the film plays in a boarding school. Also girls in the same age would be attracted to the ghostly girl because of her beauty and behaviour. Furthermore our actress is wearing a white short dress and looks very innocent this can also attract young teenager’s boys who would go and watch the thriller because of her appearance. As well as the older generation would go and watch my thriller because of the older actor who is working, therefore he represents also the working class.

Task 3 What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

An institution is an organization that provides media content and supply the content to the industries. There are many different film industries through out the world such as; paramount picture, Sony, 21st century. We thought about to put our thriller into a institution in the Hollywood film industry, this way we would have more budgeting for our film and it would have a higher chance of becoming a success. We thought also about that we would choose first century fox because it is extremely well known and is a well established company therefore our film would have a good reputation. First century fox have the financial fund to budget and support our film and they will progress the film into success. The third reason why we would choose first century fox is because they have participated in the making of very well known films with the genre of a horror. However because we are not famous and this is our first film, we may have to look at other film industry such as fox searchlight or lionsgate which are low budget institutions as they have produced many thrillers that have still succeeded even though its on a low budget such as saw 4 Gamer and Breathers.

Account of props and costume:

So the room was available for us and we had to think about what kind of props we wanted to have there. However, we chose that our student should work on a computer. So one of our props we had to find was a laptop. We thought about to leave the students room exactly as it is because than we thought about it would be more realistic. This was actually the only thing we thought we are going to need.



Costume:

If you imagine a ghost, we first think probably about clear, pale skin and a white dress. This was also our first thought, so we thought to buy a white dress. This would be very ghost like. Furthermore, we had an exactly picture of how we wanted that our ghost should look like, very innocence and scary.
Our other actor, well our student actor should be very casual dressed we thought, so that the audience believe that all this sequence is during a normal day.

Account of casting decisions:

In our thriller we wanted to have two teenagers and one adult. So first of all we had to think who would walk outside barefoot and secondly who has the kind of innocence look for playing a ghost. Furthermore this person must be a it good in acting.We also wanted to have somebody who is blond and have kind of long hair. So we had different opportunities but in the end we found our main actor Sarah Kurzrock. She was perfect for us because she had everything what we have looked for.
An other part was somebody who is studying in a student’s room. So we had to find somebody who looks as a normal student and furthermore also knows how to act.

We also chose the location with the receptionist, so it would be very useful if the receptionist would play actually himself. We wanted to create in this scene a normal picture of an adult person who is working in a school.

Account of location:

We chose, that we want to shot outside. This was first of all useful because we could translate the walk to the music rooms (where the ghost is always going to practise) much better. Furthermore our actor mustn’t wear shoes which made it even more likely that she is a ghost.

We also wanted to shot inside Hurtwood House. This was useful because we have some nice corners and because we wanted that our thriller represents a school, we wanted to have a student room and the receptionist. This would hopefully give the audience the idea that our thriller is about teenagers in a normal school during a normal school day.

Account of our target audience:

Our characters should be about 17 or 18, so our target audience should be about the same age. It should attract mostly teenagers who are also very interested in music or have a passion like sport etc. The story should represent how much passion you can have in a hobby because even though she is dead, she still goes and play her pieces, the piano.

Production and development:

We have got a sheet were we had to translate our ideas and visions on it. This is called a storyboard. I don’t know how many times we changed it because we always found a new idea or a better shot etc. We also went to the chosen locations. This was important so we could get the idea of which location would be better and so better fit in our idea. During my holidays I also looked at some Horror and thriller movies, to get a clearer idea of this genre. This was very useful because so I could use my knowledge of what I saw during my holidays and so would be able to use this in our little thriller sequence.

Our first idea was to shot our thriller outside, so our actor the ghost could be barefoot and so it would be more likely that she plays a ghost. We also thought about to use a piano which is possibly more scary because it is very unusual that ghosts are playing piano.

Account of first production group meeting:

First we wanted to take the story of josh Gorman, after that we realized that this would be too difficult to arrange. Furthermore we didn’t know where and how we are going to explore this little sequence. So we sat down and thought about another story and in the end our story called Fuer Alina. The story is about a girl who is a very good pianist and she always goes in the practise rooms to learn her pieces. She is very talented and lots of other pianists are very jealous of her, like a boy who is looking forward to kill her. So he kills her and she dies.
After that she is a ghost and she still goes every day at the same time down to the practise rooms to play the piano.

The little sequence we are doing is showing her going to the practise rooms to play the piano. Because we have also practise rooms in Hurtwood House, it was perfect to shot the way from for example the theatre to how she gets to the practise rooms.

Stills camera

During one lesson, we had to take some pictures with a still camera. A still camera is the type of camera that is used to take still photographs.
When we had this camera it was our job to try out the camera and to get good pictures. Most of the pictures we took, where people. I think this was important because than we could try out different things with the camera, playing with light, photograph people from a low angel or high angel etc. We also zoomed so we could decide which objects we wanted to involve in our pictures we thought were important etc.

Here are two examples of working with still cameras and there effects.

This picture here is a close up. This subject takes up the whole frame. The close up is mostly used to show for example peoples emotion.

This picture is an extreme wide shot. This shot is mostly used as an establishing shot.
This shot is also very useful, so that the audience get a clearer idea of environment.

Camera Operation

This guide explains the function of controls commonly found on digital SLR cameras. It is based on a Canon SLR. Other brand SLR's have analogous controls but may refer to them by different names. A point and shoot camera does not have all of the manual controls mentioned here but may have some of them, or may have simplified or automated versions.
Manual Controls
ApertureControls aperture width with smaller f-stop values representing a wider aperture.
Shutter SpeedManually controls the shutter speed.
Exposure CompensationAlters the exposure setting set by the camera. The exposure can be increased for a lighter image or decreased for a darker image.
Automatic Exposure BracketingWhen this is turned on, the camera captures three images when you take a shot: One with the default exposure automatically determined by the camera, one with increased exposure, and one with decreased exposure, so that you can select the one that looks the best.
Image QualityThis sets the resolution of the image saved by the camera to the memory card. The example camera has three image quality choices: 8.2 mp (megapixel), 4.3 mp, and 2.0 mp. For the best image, shoot with the highest image quality. This is recommended if you have a large enough memory card capacity. The size of the image can be reuced later with image editing software. If your memory card capacity is limited, or the photos will be converted into lower quality images for use on the internet, then the lower quality settings may be used. SLR cameras also allow the image format to be set to jpeg or RAW or both.
ISO speedThis setting increases or decreases the sensitivity of the image sensor. If you are shooting in dim light, you may want to adjust this control to a higher ISO setting for greater sensor sensitivity to light. In bright light, you may adjust it to a lower value to prevent noise.
White BalanceNormally, you should try the camera's Automatic White Balance (AWB) setting first. If this does not result in natural looking colors then the manual white balance setting may be used. To use the white balance setting, you shoot a white object then indicate to the camera that this is "white" and it will adjust the way it records colors accordingly. Read your camera instructions to learn the operation of this control.
Color TemperatureThis setting gives you even greater control over the white balance. You can choose from range of overall colour temperature settings.
White Balance CorrectionThis setting allows you to set each component of the color temperature (red, green, blue) independently so that the ratio of colors in the overall white balance setting is changed. This setting is useful when using color compensating filters.
White Balance BracketingWith this setting on, the camera records three images when you take a shot: One with the default color temperature (automatic white balance), one with a higher color temperature, and one with a lower color temperature, so that you can select the one that looks the best. This is handy with indoor lighting.
Color SpaceThis changes the range of reproducible colors from sRGB to Adobe RGB. Set to sRGB by default. No need to change this unless you have a reason.
Autofocus Point SelectionSLR cameras commonly have seven or more autofocus points that you can choose from if you wish the focus point to be different from the one chosen by automatic autofocus.
Metering ModeYour camera may have the following three light metering modes:
EvaluativeThis is the normal mode, suitable if there is not a large difference between subject and background brightness.
PartialEffective when the background is much brighter than the subject.
Centerweighted AverageThe metering is weighted at the center and then averaged for the entire scene.

Drive ModeThis can be set to single shot mode or continuous (burst) mode which takes multiple shots per second depending on the setting


COMPOSITION:

Photography brings a visual language that is universal in understanding. We must then understand its vocabulary which consists of shapes, textures, patterns, lines, colours, shade of light to dark and sharp to blurry images. Just as we must learn to arrange words in a coherent order in order to make sense when we write or speak, so too must we put visual elements together in an organized manner if our photographs are to convey their meaning clearly and vividly.
Composition means arrangement: the orderly putting together of parts to make a unified whole; composition through a personal, intuitive act. However, there are basic principles that govern the way visual elements behave and interact when you combine them inside the four borders of a photograph. Once we have sharpened our vision and grasped these basic ideas of principles, then we will have the potential for making our photographs.

The rule of thirds:

If we see a picture, we look at it exactly as we are reading. If we have a close up for example on the eyes, we would immediately look first of all at the eyes. One of the most popular 'rules' in photography is the Rule of Thirds. It is also popular amongst artists. It works like this:Imaginary lines are drawn dividing the image into thirds both horizontally and vertically. You place important elements of your composition where these lines intersect.
As well as using the intersections you can arrange areas into bands occupying a third or place things along the imaginary lines. As you can see it is fairly simple to implement. Good places to put things; third of the way up, third of the way in from the left, you get the idea. Duff places to put things; right in the middle, right at the top, right at the bottom, away in the corner. Using the Rule of Thirds helps produce nicely balanced easy on the eye pictures. Also, as you have to position things relative to the edges of the frame it helps get rid of ' tiny subject surrounded by vast empty space' syndrome.

Post Production main Task

After we where shooting, we had to start editing. First of all we had to put our tape in the computer and so we started. We started to have a look at what we as a group have produced during that day. We where very happy because everything what we have filmed on that day was useful for our vision of how our thriller should be in the end.
We where sorting all our shots out and have put the real world shots in one folder and the ghost world in an other folder. This was important because our idea of our thriller was to create two different worlds, like I said a normal world and the ghost world. This was during the process of editing sometimes a little bit difficult because we couldn’t always see which world it was now of the two. So we had to be very concentrated and focused on which world is which.

No we started to build our film up. So we took the entire ghost world shots and tried to build up the beginning of the Story. After we had all the ghost shots connected, we put the real world shots in. Now we had a little time to play around with editing so that we had the chance to understand how we have to edit. After we understood this, we had to connect the two worlds together. At the beginning this was very difficult, because it looked maybe easy but it was hard work to connect the two worlds together so that it gets understandable for our audience. Furthermore we had to put now effects in it, so that it gets a bit more interesting. This was not that difficult because we could choose where we wanted to have our effects.

We did now all the shots and we had our little thriller. But a thriller wouldn’t be a thriller without music, so we started to look at it. We had a big choice of music. So we could chose whatever we wanted to for the music. First of all we looked how we can show the real world and the ghost world in different sounds. So for the real world we took twitter sound and for the ghost world heavy outside sound. This was a very effective contrast, that it even makes it clearer which world is which. After that we searched a piece of music where we were going to use during the thriller. We did our best to underline the difference between the two worlds.

If I compare this process with our first preliminary task the difference is huge. This process was much more difficult than the first one. In our first preliminary task everything was already set. For example like the room with the light in it etc. We didn’t have to care about furniture and other stuff. Also the different jobs weren’t as hard as during this process now. Furthermore, in our first preliminary task, we were all very unconfident and unsure in what we were doing because it was the first time. In our thriller shoot, we were very focused and new exactly what we wanted.

Shooting Day

Her are some Pictures of our shooting day. One picture shows Sarah, Josh and Matt, working on the light, where we tried to create the ghost world with a blue sheet over the bright normal light.

Here is a picture where Josh and I are looking if we have the correct tracking shot for Sarah as she walks along the corridor.



Here is a picture where Josh, Matt and me are working at the scene in the student room with Tatjana Salzmann.



SHOOTING DAY:

Before we started to shoot, our team sat down and we talked our visions and ideas trough. After we discussed everything we went to our first chosen location, the corridor of Hurtwood House. This was important because we wanted to have for the first scene a long corridor where we have enough place to arrange our cameras etc. The first shot we did was a tracking shot because we had enough space and secondly it was a really good idea to use this kind of help material so we could film Sara as she walks the corridor along.

IDEA OF FILM:

Our film is about two different worlds, the normal world which is shown in lighter colours where very person is normal. And the other world, the ghost world which we demonstrated in darker lights like blue and grey and where Sarah is walking along.
In the real world we have been shooting the sun etc and for the ghost world the completely opposite for example snow.

ACTORS:

In our film we have three actors, Sarah Kurzrock as the ghost, Tatjana Salzmann as a student and Ted, as the receptionist.
We chose Sarah as our character because she had that kind of innocence look. Another reason was also, she was ok with walking outside in the snow. This was very hard work for her, because she just was wearing a dress.

After the corridor, we started to shoot in a student’s room. This was important, because we wanted to create a scene in a normal student room. The room was perfect because we didn’t had to change that much cause the room already looked like a student room. Furthermore, we had enough space for our cameras etc. and the lightning.
The last “inside” shot we did at the receptionist. We did there as well a tracking shot. We started with the normal world where we just filmed the normal situation, where Ted is on the phone. In the second situation we filmed the ghost world. So we arranged blue lights and Sarah had to walk down the steps.

After this we went outside, which was the hard part of our shooting day.
First of all we had to care about Sarah that she hasn’t cold. We filmed Sarah in different kind of ways, one shot which was very nice, is when she walked along towards the camera.
We had to be very spontaneous at that day because honestly said we didn’t knew that it is going to snow. But it was a good experience and we had to work well as a team.

We choose a white dress for Sarah, because we wanted that she looks very ghost like etc. For our student we choose a normal day look.
The make up for Sarah was very strong, we tried to do her skin very bright and so we used very light make up. Her eyes, were black and for her hair we used lots of hairspray.

We were just three people, Catrina Kirby, Joshua Gorman and I. It was very difficult to work just with other two people because we had to do more. Furthermore, we couldn’t give each person a fair job, so we just done everything together. This was very useful because we could have a try in each job, for example everybody could be once the director and everybody could have a go to film a scene etc.

The day was very interesting because we learned lots of new things. We had our difficulties with the snow etc, because it was very cold for us. But after the event we looked at our shots and we were very happy and proud of what we have produced during that day.