Final Cut - Captive Film Opening

This is the final cut of our film. The construction work was equally distributed between candidates Kieran Panchal 9652, Josh Manley 9645 and Isaac Randall 9655.

Evaluation Question 7

http://kieranpanchal1.wix.com/evaluationq7

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Q Progress

Question 1 - Complete
 Question 2 - Complete
Question 3 - Complete 
Question 4 - Complete 
Question 5 - Complete
Question 6 - Complete
Question 7 - Complete

Evaluation Question 7 Plan

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt from it to the main task?

- Mistakes made in the preliminary task - how were they corrected?
- how has your understanding of editing techniques improved?
- How have you become better at planning, story boarding, creative decision making, camerawork (shot quality etc - tripods) etc.
- what you have learnt about: casting actors (older more credible), editing, sound mixing, lighting, working from a strict brief

CAPTIVE

Preliminary task: no research and planning prior to the shoot (felt rushed) - no script/plot idea of shot types. This meant that we had little guidance when filming. In contrast, lots of planning during final shoot, good idea of what needed to be done.
Improvements of technical aspects of prelim task - using equipment such as tripods - to keep camera steady.
lack of camera movement - gives the film an overly static feel, whereas we incorporated movement into our film.
Sound mixing - In prelim, audio clips do not flow into each other, whereas
we recorded the audio externally, allowing us to more accurately mix the sound (better flow)
Casting actors - in prelim, we used inexperienced young actors, whereas we casted a semi-proffessional actor for our final product
Editing - practised with editing (used Premiere rather an iMovie) allowed better accuracy with editing. Can be seen with prelim task, smoother flow between shots etc.

Evaluation Question 6 Plan

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

During the creation of my product, as a group, we experimented with a range of different technologies in each stage of the production process. These technologies ranged from components that had a direct result on the visuals of the product, such as the DSLR camera, as well as ones that aided the pre-production process, such as the use of a blog and social networking sites. Throughout the entire process, our technical knowledge improved, allowing us to endeavour with more complex devices, in turn giving us a more desirable finished product. 

Before starting the process we carried out a preliminary task and a variety of tests which helped us gain an insight into the the basics of the types of hardwares and softwares we would use for the creation of the product, before giving us the confidence to practise with more complex devices. The first example of technologies that we used was the camera that to shoot the film. When carrying out our preliminary tasks, we practised with compact Handy-cam style video cameras. From extensive practise and experimentation, we eventually found this technology to be restricting, as it was heavily reliant upon it's 'automatic function', which meant that the settings within the camera could not be altered to suit our preferences and the demands and variables in the shooting environment, such as the light levels. In order to combat this, we began to experiment with DSLR cameras, such as the Canon 70D, which was the main camera that we used for the shoot. This was a much more versatile option, as it allowed us to utilise the 'manual mode', where we could change the white balance, to find an appropriate colour mix, the aperture, which allowed us to experiment with depth of field, the rate of frames per second, which made for a more professional and smooth cinematic feel and finally the ISO, the most useful feature, as it allowed us to adapt to an outdoor film set where the light levels deteriorated at around 5pm. These settings were learnt prior to the final shoot, through video tutorials on sites such as Youtube, as well as through personal experimentation.

Also, the versatility of the DSLR camera allowed us to exchange lenses on our cameras to enhance particular settings, enabling us to obtain the specific shots that we desired. An example of this was the use of a 50mm prime lens, which allowed us to use apertures of around f/1.8, letting more light into the camera whilst also providing us with a deep depth of field. In addition, we utilised a 70-300mm telephoto lens, which allowed us to video from distance or alternatively get very close up detailed shot types, due to its zooming ability. Next, a 24-105mm USM lens, which was particularly useful, as the ultrasonic motor within the lens allowed us to gain a smooth tracking autofocus. Finally, we put more specialist filters to use, such as the hexagon filter, which was used for shots such as at 0:53, and allowed us to create an abstract POV shot, illustrating the character's disorientation. If we were to use the Handy-cam style video camera, as we did in our preliminary task, we would have been unable to access shots such as these, due to it's non-interchangeable lens.

During the shoot, we had access to four cameras: three SLR's (Canon 70D and two Canon 600D's) and one compact sports camera, a GoPro. Through further practise and experimentation after our preliminary tasks, we managed to gain an insight into how to most effectively use the cameras simultaneously. I feel that this was a large contributing factor to the success of our product, as firstly, it gave us an extensive range of shots to choose from to use in our final edit, but also, allowed us to cut between different shots from different cameras in the editing process, which in turn gave our product a less static aesthetic. Again, this would not have been possible, if we were to only employ single camera techniques, as we would have most likely done prior to the production stage. A constraint of using three cameras however, was that we had to replicate the settings across each camera in order to receive consistency. Unfortunately, we did not do this to a suitable degree of accuracy prior to the shoot, which was a hindrance, although we acquired a knowledge after this of the best way for it to be done.

Another factor that we had to consider on the shoot of the film, was the diegetic audio, as our product contained dialogue from the main character. Previous to this project, as a group, we considered the use of the internal microphone within the camera to be the most practical way to record our audio on set. However, we then decided to try using methods that would allow us to get more clarity within our recording, so we began to experiment with an external boom microphone with a dead cat extension, as would be used industrially. We decided to record our audio with this device and then compared it to the audio from the camera, and found that it offered a much more precise, better quality, versatile audio product, that could more easily be enhanced in post-production. We learnt the best ways to do this practically, by investigating how different gains and distances away from the audio source affected the volume and clarity of the audio, until we found an ideal setting that we eventually used on set.

In addition to the hardware, there was also a variety of softwares that we learnt and then made use of, beginning with the pre-production process. In order for us to create the best product possible, it was imperative that we gained feedback from our audience. The technologies that best allowed us to do this, were social media platforms, such as Facebook, and an online blog. Although we each had prior knowledge of how to use these networks, it was not until the pre-production stage when we realised that we had to take a different approach in order to engage with our audience. For example, we had to learn how to set up and manage a Facebook page, whereas we only had prior knowledge of how to run a personal account. We learnt the best way to do this by observing existing marketing pages of exemplar film products, such as Ill Manors, and also by using other websites to gauge a further understanding of how to best approach this. Eventually however, we got to grips with these, and used both the Blog and Facebook as a way of keeping the audience in touch with the progression of our product, whilst also gauging specific feedback from them, through a variety of posts and polls.

We also relied upon a variety of softwares post-production. From the preliminary task stage to the final shoot, we advanced from using free default apple programmes to an industry standard software package, the Adobe Creative Suite. The first of these programmes was Adobe After Effects, which we used to create our animated ident for our production company, Blood Orange. This was a significant step up from programmes such as iMovie, as it is specifically for creating animations, whereas in iMovie this feature is compromised, as the software is multi-purpose and is simplified significantly for ease of use. However, using After Effects was a much more complicated process and required a substantial amount of learning of the software followed by practise. The most significant aspect of the software that i learnt during this stage was how to use 'Keying' to animate my text at specific points in the animation, in order to ensure complete accuracy and the method of importing new fonts into the application that were downloaded from dafont.com, which were more suitable for the horror genre.

The main software that was responsible for the post-production aspect of our product was Premiere Pro, which is also a constituent of the Adobe Creative Suite. Again, this is a huge advancement on Apple's iMovie, as again, it is an industrial product, so is more capable of allowing the user to edit accurately and adopt a range of specific effects to their video sequence. For example, it hosts a colour correction facility. Due to this, it was the main editing programme that we used. Using iMovie for our preliminary tasks allowed us to gauge a fundamental understanding of the editing procedure and taught us a multitude of skills that were transferrable into Premiere Pro, such as how to use the trimming and snipping tools, as well as how to apply basic video transitions. However, once again there were many other aspects of the software that were more difficult to grasp, such as the general layout of the programme's interface and how to adjust and enhance audio using volume controls and effects such as reverbs, however once again, this issue was overcome through extensive practise and by viewing online step-by-step tutorials.

Evaluation Question 5 Plan

How did you attract/address your audience?

- Talk about the audience research that you did before you started your film especially any surveys you completed and how you used this info to construct your product.
- Pick out specific examples and illustrate them visually
- Discuss why attracting a specific target audience was so important
- discuss how the mise-en-scene should be appealing to your target audience
- discuss your audience feedback reveals - did your decisions help to engage the audience as you wanted?
- discuss how various elements of narrative theory could have informed the decisions that you have made in the construction of your sequence
- Are there any contemporary social issues that would attract the audience?
- Does your product reference any other horror films? this would attract an audience
- Explain the importance of engaging an audience through a film opening

CAPTIVE


Importance of opening -  to engage the audience and make them want to continue watching

Attraction to audience - conformed to conventions of horror  (mise-en-scene etc.) - fast paced editing causes excitements
Social aspects of the film would attract the audience - british actor (relatable), kidnapping, trespassing, british culture references


- Audience feedback - before production - regular reference to audience feedback in order to get a product that would be most well received. e.g initial ideas, title ideas (polls) - use of social media, Facebook
- Audience feedback for soundtrack
- Audience feedback after rough cut, to know what to include in the final edit.
                                                                                                                                               

Marketing - keeping the audience informed during the production stage, then producing marketing material such as posters and teasers of the DVD cover to gather excitement on Facebook, still image photography (ensured to take at the shoot - range of media) (talk about use of elliptical language etc - informal on social media.)

Evaluation Question 4 Plan

Who would be the audience for your product?

- Identify the demographic groups you are seeking as your primary audience - age? gender? interests? media usage? region?
- Consider psychographic factors, such as tastes in films and popular cultures. Does your audience feedback suggest that you have produced something that would attract this target audience?
- Identify secondary audiences and discuss the ways in which they could be reached or targeted.

- Look on IMDB to see average ages of other horror films

CAPTIVE

Cinema attendance = ratio of male to female audience (51% male 49%). Main age group: 15-24, followed by 35-44 year olds, 25-34 year olds

Gender: males more driven towards the horror genre, because stereotypically it is assumed that the masculine persona would be more attracted to violence and gore. Also males are considered to be thrill seekers. Being frightened by a film can increase adrenaline levels and therefore enjoyment, whereas females can be put off in it. More recently there have been an increase of female audiences, as a result of a social and cultural change where we are more exposed to taboo issues.

Age: 15-24 most popular aged horror audience. This is because at this age audiences are open to experimentation and feel excitement and receive adrenaline from being scared. Immaturity may mean that they might feel a stronger sense of reality. Aged rating at 15
FIND IMDB AGE RATINGS FOR SIMILAR FILMS

Groups: common for groups to watch horror films - they can share ideas and opinions about the experience together whilst feeling reassurance from eachother. - big market for our film

nationality: British - social issues, more relatable

Questionnaire results

Found that all 15-24 year old males enjoyed the film and would watch it. In addition, most females would still watch it but would prefer to watch it in a group.

Evaluation Question 3 Plan

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

Film distribution is defined as the process of making a movie available for viewing by an audience. The distribution process is a fundamental aspect in the success of a film. Regardless of the quality of the film's production, if it is not distributed effectively, there will be no audience to consume the product, and subsequently there will be no revenue to be taken in order to reinvest in future products or to finance the initial production. This means that there will be less risk associated with a product if it's distribution process is efficient and well coordinated, as the companies associated will be more likely to receive a return on their investment. In the film industry, there are major distribution labels - companies that are commonly associated with distributing films with high production values and large markets - and there are independent distribution labels - companies who distribute productions with smaller budgets and target markets. The film market is oligopolistic in nature, meaning a few large companies dominate it. Generally, the major distribution institutions consist of six conglomerate Hollywood companies - Warner Bros., The Walt Disney Company, Universal, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Colombia, whereas there are a vast number of independent labels, both in the UK and the USA.

An example of a Hollywood distributor that might distribute our product would be New Line Cinema, a subsidiary of major label Warner Bros., who have a history of distributing successful horror productions, such as The Conjuring, Se7en and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. If I were to use a major Hollywood distributor, I would consider New Line Cinema because of it's good track record and history of previous successes, such as with the aforementioned films. For example, The Conjuring received a $300m revenue from a $20m production budget, Se7en received $327,311,859 from a $33m budget and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which was budgeted at only $9m received a gross revenue of $107,071,655, again highlighting the company's ability to distribute horror products. Also because of the previous successes of New Line cinema, a larger audience would naturally be interested in consuming the product, as they may associate this name with successful past film releases within the horror genre that may be similar to our product, and subsequently believe that this product will be of a similar standard.

In addition, there would be many other advantages to using a major distributor or a subsidiary of a major, such as the aforementioned Hollywood conglomerates to distribute our film - Captive. Firstly, using a major distributor such as this would ensure that the film would reach a vast audience, due to the money that would be spent on the marketing process. From prior research, I found that often majors would budget the marketing process almost equally to the production. For example, Skyfall, a film distributed by 20th Century Fox, cost almost the same to market as it did to produce ($200,000,000). This meant that the product could reach a much larger audience, as more large-scale marketing methods could be used, such as trailer distribution, creating additional products such as merchandise or using synergy to collaborate with other companies, in order to raise awareness of Captive's release.

Although using the experience of a major label to distribute our film would be more likely to maximise revenues, there are many reasons as to why I feel that it would not be an appropriate means of distribution, and would instead use an independent company to distribute our film. The first reason for this is because Blood Orange Productions is not a well-established production company, and is not responsible for any successful films. Due to this, it may be difficult to secure a deal with a major conglomerate or subsidiary of a conglomerate, as they too would be looking to partner with companies also with an accomplished track record in order to minimise the risks associated with distributing the product.

In addition, Captive has a very low production value including no well-established actors, increasing this risk even further, as viewers may expect a higher budgeted film including well known stars, if consuming through a major label at the box office. Also, because the film has a low production value, it would be more realistic to distribute using an independent institution, as they would be more experienced in handling small as well as large-scale products, as historically they have distributed films of various production values. Furthermore, securing a deal with major institutions would be very costly and time consuming, due to the scale of the distribution that would be on offer, whereas it would be relatively easy to secure with an independent label.

I believe that it would be in Blood Orange's best interest to distribute through an independent UK distribution company such as Hammer Films. Hammer, a studio that produces as well as distributes film, was founded in 1934 and has since been responsible for many successful horror products, such as Let Me In and The Woman in Black, a 2012 film budgeted at approximately £11.6m and grossing at over £80m, illustrating that UK independent labels are also capable of making huge profits from smaller scale films. Contrasting to most major labels, many independent studios, such as Hammer have a history of distributing films specific to the horror genre, meaning they are very experienced in their chosen field. This experience would be very beneficial to our product, as the company would have prior knowledge in the best means to distribute the type of film.

I would also consider it to be important that Captive is distributed in the UK rather than the USA. The main reason for this is because I feel that it would be received much better by a British audience than an American one. This is because firstly, our product contains is set in British surroundings with British actors. This means that it would most likely be slightly more relatable to viewers who are of a similar geographic demographic. Furthermore, later in the plot of Captive, it was planned that there will be many social and cultural references, and will show undertones of social-realism. From research, we found that UK based companies tended to be much more focussed on this kind of film, whilst it is notable that American productions rarely focus on any aspects of British social-realism, once again meaning that it may be less relatable for a foreign audience, potentially making for a less pleasurable viewing experience.

When distributing my film I think that it would be most advantageous to use digital as well as traditional means of distribution (through the box office). Initially however, I think that Captive should be shown in the cinema for a short period of time, as it would be costly to keep it being screened for a prolonged duration, when the estimated audience would be fairly small. It would be best to do this after creating an initial 'buzz' by marketing the film, using trailers, promotional posters. These would mostly be exhibited through a social media campaign, using a platform such as Facebook. This would be an ideal medium, as it is possible to reach a huge audience, of the demographic that we are targeting, very cheaply. After generating some initial revenue through cinema screenings, I think that the film should be distributed digitally. This means that it could be shown through online streaming platforms for example. This would probably be beneficial to introduce after the initial 'buzz' has deteriorated, and will help boost interest again, as a larger audience will be able to view the product cheaply and at their own convenience.

In conclusion, I feel that Captive would be most suited to being distributed by a UK based independent company such as Hammer Films. This is mostly because the product has a comparatively low production value, negotiations with the company would be simpler and because it would have better access to more niche audiences i.e British teenagers. Furthermore, my product will rely upon many forms of cheap marketing, mostly through social media, and will be distributed through both digitally and physically (box office) in order to maximise revenues.