ORIGIN FINAL MOVIE

EVALUATION QUESTION 7

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

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   This is the prep that we did for our preliminary;
   

   
   

   

   

   
   

   

   
   

   This is our preliminary task; 

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   And this is the prep I did for filming for Origin ; 

   
   

   

   

   
   

   

   
   

   

   
   

   I think the amount of organisation that went into filming is very apparent when looking at my blog. This is something that helped us a lot on the day of filming as everything was so well planned out. 

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

EVALUATION QUESTION 6

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






Here is an emaze I made also answering this question;

*PLEASE IGNORE LAST SLIDE*
During the production phase of our film, I firstly had to come to grips with using all the new technology and equipment. The first thing i had to familiarise myself with was the iMacs, as while i had been using one all year i only really knew how to use the basic apps such as Safari etc. however during this production phase i and to explore all the different apps and settings in order to get the best possible result out of my film. The second thing i had to learn how to adapt to was the camera. I had used cameras before however not necessarily camera's of this style. I also wanted to take into consideration all the research we had been doing towards the start of the year on different camera angles and shot types, and learning how to use the camera in the best possible way was the first step to achieving the perfect shots. 

In order to ensure our shots were steady and professional, it was essential that we used a tripod. The tripods were fairly basic but coming to terms with how to use it properly really helped the overall look of the shots. 

Another thing we had to come to terms with was sound. Sound was so crucial in our film as there was no dialog, so the music had to do all the talking. Adding basic tracks in the background of our movie was fairly simple, however layering tracks and sound effects took a bit more consideration. In our film timing was essential, and it was often hard to line the tracks up perfectly with the shots. This took time to do as it made a big difference to the overall movie when the background tracks were perfect. The importance of sound is something i did not really realise until the editing of our movie. 

This was also the first time that i had used Final Cut Pro, and as one of the editors i had to become accustomed to this fairly quickly. In the beginning, i found it tricky navigating my way around the app as some of the settings are quite complex, and for a first time user such as myself, it was at times daunting. I enjoyed editing and experimenting with different styles in order to find the best style and format for our finished outcome. I wanted to ensure continuity and whilst jump cuts often add suspense to films of a similar nature to ours, it was hard to find the right balance between jump cuts and the cuts looking unintentionally choppy. Saying this, the more I used Final Cut, the more comfortable I became and I began to find it easy to navigate my way around the app and use different techniques in order to make the final outcome the best it could be. We faced issues regarding titles and ensuring the shots went together well, and has an overall professional look. We came over these issues by adding in dissolves where necessary and also adding in different shots such as scenery shots and point of view shots to ensure a smooth edit. We also faced problems when we were trying to make the scene of Meabh emerging from the water as dramatic as possible, as this was the most crucial shot in our whole movie. We ended up using Final Cut to slow down the first part of the shot, and used sound to intensify the dramatic scene. I found that the combination of slowing it down and changing the back track in time with the shot made a huge difference to the film as a whole.     

EVALUATION QUESTION 5

5.How did you attract/address your audience?

Attracting the audience is a job usually done by the distributor but is also very important in keeping the audience's attention. One of the first ways we did this was through our character Meabh. Meabh's character is very mysterious and her entire aura is very gripping. Meabh appears first appears in the water and finds her way back to her childhood home, all whilst not talking which grips the audience further and grabs their attention as they want to find out who Meabh is, what has happened to her and how she ended up in the water.

The second thing we used to attract our audience was through costume, seeing as our target audience would be largely young females and this is typically something that a female would find interesting. Meabh's costume tells a story of torture, while we wanted to keep it minimalistic we also wanted it to be evidentially very old and hold some aspects of 17th century clothing.

We also used sound to attract our audience. On certain clips we kept the original audio as this helped the audience relate and feel as though they were actually there. We faded in each track so there was no harsh start and end points and this helped the whole film flow much better. However when the pace of the film quickened, we changed the music and created suspense with sound effects when meabh realises her house is now in ruins, and starts piecing together what has happened to her, something the audience will soon learn as the film goes on.

EVALUATION QUESTION 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The first thing to consider when thinking about our target audience would be gender. Since our   main character is female, I would say our audience would be largely, but not limited to, females as a female audience may be able to relate to the main character. However, when conducting a survey to our class we learnt that 9 out of 9 would watch our film, and this audience included 4 females    and 5 males, this suggests that our film can be enjoyed by both genders.

Another big factor to consider is age. Our main character Meabh is aged 17 and perhaps this would be most appealing for those of the same age group as Meabh. Horror films are most popular in the age group of 15 to 40, which is quite a large age bracket, and shows this is a film which could be enjoyed from teenage years up through adulthood.

Another thing that would attract people to our film is the beautiful setting of rural Bloody Bridge. Bloody Bridge is a great tourist destination, a place where many people would travel to in the warmer months. The typical Irish landscapes and setting would attract people to our film. Since so many people are familiar with this location, it would entice more people to watch and be more appealing to viewers. Whilst Bloody Bridge has a lot of haunting history, it is a popular destination for families today. People go bouldering, swimming and camping in these areas, which is a massive contrast to the way this location is being perceived in our movie.

EVALUATION QUESTION 3

EVALUATION QUESTION 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media film presents Meabh as a possible witch, in that we leave the audience guessing whether or not Meabh is a witch and what has happened to her. Meabh is clearly a young female that has been discriminated against in society. Females of the same age group may be able to relate to the way Meabh is feeling, as she was clearly an outsider in society and has been branded as 'different' and this has resulted in her being drowned. Isolation is something that thousands of young adults struggle with, and therefore can relate to Meabh's emotions. The audience may also feel sympathy for Meabh, especially when they realise how confused meabh is, being thrown into this time zone with no recollection of what has happened. Meabh is clearly full of fear, and this becomes apparent when she sees the lorry driving across the bridge, as well as the use of camera shots and sound when meabh discovers the home she had grown up in several centuries ago is now in ruins. Meabh is evidently extremely traumatised and this forces a reaction from the audience, as they would pity meabh, a young girl being thrown into the unknown, a feeling which many may relate to.

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1. COSTUME 

Meabh wore a plain white dress, one that we hoped looked like a night dress, as though she had been taken suddenly in the night. The thin material and plain design give the impression that Meabh does not come from a wealthy background, as someone who is wealthy would be wearing a dress with a much more intricate design and detailing. In the 1700s, clothing is something that set the wealthy apart from the poor. The wealthy would wear thick fabrics, rich colours and intricate designs, whereas the less wealthy would wear very basic pieces, such as the dress Meabh can be seen wearing in our movie. Since costume is such a large part of our film, our movie may appeal to those who have an interest in the costumes and culture of the 1700s.  

                                                     

   

EVALUATION QUESTION 1

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

BELOW IS A LINK TO THE PREZZI I MADE ANSWERING THIS QUESTON -



https://prezi.com/view/6aVzjjSM2LIvcQPFTQc5/

TITLES AND FONTS

POSSIBLE FONT IDEAS 

For our titles, we had several options but narrowed it down to the following -

We then decided that we wanted to use a font that reflected the time that Meabh lived in. Set in Ireland, we were looking for a Celtic style of font. 

We went with this "Irish Uncial" Font.

We took inspiration from other films we have previously analysed such as; 

The Blair Witch Project...

The Witch...

The Ring...

All these titles are in a more sinister font, against a dark background with the writing contrasting against it. Both The Witch and The Blair Witch Project titles are against a forest background, which is similar to the way we plan on presenting our title in our film.  

COSTUME AND MAKEUP - EVALUATION

Make-up

Make-up and costume is something that was very important in our movie and essential that we got right. I was in charge of make up and costume and wanted to create the appearance of bruising, dirt and very gaunt features.

I used browns, purples, blues, greys and blacks to create meabhs  makeup. I focused the dark blacks in the contours of meabhs face, the purples, blues and greys around her eyes and the greys, blacks and browns round the perimeter of her face and roughly all over to create a more dirty complexion. 

Dark contours to create shadows for the appearance of sunken  features. 

Me doing Meabh's makeup.

Created bruising on meabhs hands and wrists using purple and black shadows.

COSTUME

I began with an old white dress that Anna had lying around the house. I began by  ripping the neckline and sleeves, to give a more rugged and worn look. I also added ladders in some places and frayed the hems. I then took the dress outside and covered it in mud by dropping it into a muddy puddle and stamping on it with muddy shoes where i wanted the mud to be more intense. I was constantly changing the position of the dress in the puddle to create a more uneven effect as this would make it look a lot more realistic. 

MUSIC

Originally, we wanted to have Anna compose the music for our film herself, however we decided this would be unrealistic as we didn't really have enough time and made the decision to focus on getting the rest of the movie perfect, and finding a royalty-free track just as good online.

For the beginning of our movie we wanted something serene, a track that would work alongside the slow water scenes and would contrast to the action that is yet to unfold. We trailed and tested several different tracks before settling with "Waterways". There was something off with every track we tried, however we weren't entirely happy with how it sounded paired with the shots. Here are a few songs that we tested;







And this is the track we decided to go with;

KALOPSIA

KALOPSIA PRODUCTIONS 

DEFINITION -a condition, state or delusion in which things appear more beautiful than they really are. As a combination of the Greek roots kallos, meaning beauty, and opsis, meaning sight (or opos, meaning eyes), in English kalopsia can also mean beautiful sight or with beautiful eyes.

These are three designs that we were considering using in our production company logo. We decided to use a black and white eye to symbolise how things can appear more beautiful than they are. However, we decided to go for something slightly different as we preferred the overall look of this logo better and felt it looked slightly more professional. Our logo can be seen here;

FILMING IN NEWCASTLE

LOCATION ONE - THE FOREST

We chose to use this derelict cottage as our first location, this would be
the house that our actress Meabh had grown up in.

The day we filmed was freezing cold and at times raining.

I did Meabhs makeup, adding dark shadows to the  eyes and cheekbones to make her face appear gaunt, browns and blacks to look like dirt, and purple, blue and grey shades to create a bruised effect. 

We had to walk up a long path to find the cottage.

LOCATION TWO - BLOODY BRIDGE

Meabh in the water getting one of our opening shots. 

Getting the underwater shots.

Filming some scenery shots.