http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtnTKvrKuww
By James Hewitt
Saturday, 15 May 2010
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Evaluation of Shinigami Film
1) In what way does your media project use, develop or challenge forms and convections of media products?
The ways in which our film incorporates generic conventions, in specific scenes are the shots of the Shinigami whilst tailing Corey, it’s a handheld shot, as is the shot usual to horror films when a person is being followed by another persons or something unknown. Our film challenges and develops these convections by using a blend of standard tripod shots, to capture shots of Corey walking normally, then with a mix of handheld shots to add a feel of the unknown. The use of conventions indicate the sub-genre of our film, they do this by giving the user a mysterious character, whom is following Corey, which builds on the convention of a horror film. The use of conventions also indicate which films have influenced our work, these are films such as Predator, with the Predators heat vision POV shots. We had this a rough guide, as the Predator stalks his prey, you never see it until late on, but throughout the film, he stalks the main party, you see his POV shots from up in the trees, this is effective as it builds a sort of being watched sense to the film, it builds fear in the viewer as to what could be following.
2) How does your media project represent particular social groups?
The social groups represented in our film in terms of gender, age, class and race are The entire cast is male, but if there were an entire film, there would be a minimum of one female as to avoid sexism. I believe it is/ is not stereotypical, the characters in the car are both stereotyped as typical petty criminals, drug usage, small crime, relaxed attitude, even in a criminal act. I believe the character played by Corey is not a stereo type, he is shown, with the appearance of a modern hoodlum, but his character is the complete opposite. This links to our target audience because, its unusual but yet also fitting. As we have two stereotyped characters, and one character that blows conventions.
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
In my opinion our film could not be produced by a major Hollywood Studio because the theme of the film is supposed to be more of a cult film, such as Donnie Darko and Death Note, and other films that fit into this category. There are/ aren’t many similar products to ours, that’s because the idea for out film came from a cult Japanese TV series/film/book. So its quite a Niche in the market. Our film would be released straight onto DVD, or so I presume so, as its such a unique movie, I doubt the cinema revenue would be that high. We believe our film has no opportunity for merchandising, except, if the characters developed into more and outlandish, then cos-play would work I guess.. It wouldn’t relate to the mise-en-scene of our film because the merchandise will be of the characters as that is what the film is focused on. For our film, I would recommend Newmarket films, this is the company the distributed Donnie Darko, so it has past connections with cult based films.
4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
Comparing the age and gender of our target audience, it links well to our style of film because the main character is around the age of our target audience, and we hope the plight of the protagonist can be related to the viewer in some way. Similar style of films to ours appeal to the same target audience, this is because they are witty, they usually have a psychological element to them, like a twist, or something abnormal. We believe that they should class our film as a thriller, as its supposed to be a suspenseful film.
5) How did you attract/address your audience?
Linking back to our audience profile, there are points that would appeal to or terrify certain audiences, the main aim was to create a film, that was psychological, but exciting and unique, we all liked the idea of a greater being, so how about using this as our twist and USP. This is why we think there should be a certificate of 15, this is so the amount of language/violence need not be limited too much to allow really young children to see the film, as we would like the film to bee seen in it entirety of how it was imagined.
The audience are put in the position of the Shinigami they witness the possession of Corey, to prevent his death.
6) What have you learnt about technology from constructing the product?
There are some strengths of using small camera, these are they are easily portable, so they are good to use in heavily wooded areas like the ones where we were filming. On the other hand, the weakness’ are the lack of a sufficient microphone for noise recording. During filming we encountered one or two problems, the first was the weather, we decided to film across two days, seen as we were in a wooded area, the floor was wet and muddy. And the lighting could be different. The second was the speed limit with the car, we were not allowed to go above 30, but we needed a fast car scene And We resolved them, we filmed the majority of the bit in the wood when the weather was dry, on the wet day we did most of the filming that involved the car. And the second problem, we resolved this by driving at the speed limit, but then speeding the video up in the video editing software on the PC. Our editing software was a weakness because it was adequate, but the effects that we wanted were not really available. On the other hand, it made it easy to just drag and drop what we wanted and where abouts on the timeline the clip was to be played.
7) Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
During our planning stage, researching the genre and storyboarding, the detailed planning helped us to produce the film efficiently because we knew what we wanted to do, any changes that had to be made could be identified at the point of storyboarding. Since learning more about different types of shots, we can say that making a film takes a lot of thinking, to get the correct type of camera shots and to make them flow effectively. I feel I am more confident with the equipment because I have learnt how to use the cameras and the iMovie software. I feel that the final product was quite a success, it followed our original storyboard quite well, and flowed well, at times it can be a little confusing, but it is the first two minutes after all, we needn’t reveal everything early on.
By James Hewitt
1) In what way does your media project use, develop or challenge forms and convections of media products?
The ways in which our film incorporates generic conventions, in specific scenes are the shots of the Shinigami whilst tailing Corey, it’s a handheld shot, as is the shot usual to horror films when a person is being followed by another persons or something unknown. Our film challenges and develops these convections by using a blend of standard tripod shots, to capture shots of Corey walking normally, then with a mix of handheld shots to add a feel of the unknown. The use of conventions indicate the sub-genre of our film, they do this by giving the user a mysterious character, whom is following Corey, which builds on the convention of a horror film. The use of conventions also indicate which films have influenced our work, these are films such as Predator, with the Predators heat vision POV shots. We had this a rough guide, as the Predator stalks his prey, you never see it until late on, but throughout the film, he stalks the main party, you see his POV shots from up in the trees, this is effective as it builds a sort of being watched sense to the film, it builds fear in the viewer as to what could be following.
2) How does your media project represent particular social groups?
The social groups represented in our film in terms of gender, age, class and race are The entire cast is male, but if there were an entire film, there would be a minimum of one female as to avoid sexism. I believe it is/ is not stereotypical, the characters in the car are both stereotyped as typical petty criminals, drug usage, small crime, relaxed attitude, even in a criminal act. I believe the character played by Corey is not a stereo type, he is shown, with the appearance of a modern hoodlum, but his character is the complete opposite. This links to our target audience because, its unusual but yet also fitting. As we have two stereotyped characters, and one character that blows conventions.
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
In my opinion our film could not be produced by a major Hollywood Studio because the theme of the film is supposed to be more of a cult film, such as Donnie Darko and Death Note, and other films that fit into this category. There are/ aren’t many similar products to ours, that’s because the idea for out film came from a cult Japanese TV series/film/book. So its quite a Niche in the market. Our film would be released straight onto DVD, or so I presume so, as its such a unique movie, I doubt the cinema revenue would be that high. We believe our film has no opportunity for merchandising, except, if the characters developed into more and outlandish, then cos-play would work I guess.. It wouldn’t relate to the mise-en-scene of our film because the merchandise will be of the characters as that is what the film is focused on. For our film, I would recommend Newmarket films, this is the company the distributed Donnie Darko, so it has past connections with cult based films.
4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
Comparing the age and gender of our target audience, it links well to our style of film because the main character is around the age of our target audience, and we hope the plight of the protagonist can be related to the viewer in some way. Similar style of films to ours appeal to the same target audience, this is because they are witty, they usually have a psychological element to them, like a twist, or something abnormal. We believe that they should class our film as a thriller, as its supposed to be a suspenseful film.
5) How did you attract/address your audience?
Linking back to our audience profile, there are points that would appeal to or terrify certain audiences, the main aim was to create a film, that was psychological, but exciting and unique, we all liked the idea of a greater being, so how about using this as our twist and USP. This is why we think there should be a certificate of 15, this is so the amount of language/violence need not be limited too much to allow really young children to see the film, as we would like the film to bee seen in it entirety of how it was imagined.
The audience are put in the position of the Shinigami they witness the possession of Corey, to prevent his death.
6) What have you learnt about technology from constructing the product?
There are some strengths of using small camera, these are they are easily portable, so they are good to use in heavily wooded areas like the ones where we were filming. On the other hand, the weakness’ are the lack of a sufficient microphone for noise recording. During filming we encountered one or two problems, the first was the weather, we decided to film across two days, seen as we were in a wooded area, the floor was wet and muddy. And the lighting could be different. The second was the speed limit with the car, we were not allowed to go above 30, but we needed a fast car scene And We resolved them, we filmed the majority of the bit in the wood when the weather was dry, on the wet day we did most of the filming that involved the car. And the second problem, we resolved this by driving at the speed limit, but then speeding the video up in the video editing software on the PC. Our editing software was a weakness because it was adequate, but the effects that we wanted were not really available. On the other hand, it made it easy to just drag and drop what we wanted and where abouts on the timeline the clip was to be played.
7) Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
During our planning stage, researching the genre and storyboarding, the detailed planning helped us to produce the film efficiently because we knew what we wanted to do, any changes that had to be made could be identified at the point of storyboarding. Since learning more about different types of shots, we can say that making a film takes a lot of thinking, to get the correct type of camera shots and to make them flow effectively. I feel I am more confident with the equipment because I have learnt how to use the cameras and the iMovie software. I feel that the final product was quite a success, it followed our original storyboard quite well, and flowed well, at times it can be a little confusing, but it is the first two minutes after all, we needn’t reveal everything early on.
By James Hewitt
Written Side of Evaluation (Photos to follow)
Evaluation of Film ‘Shinigami’
1) In what way does your media project use, develop or challenge forms and convections of media products?
The ways in which our film incorporates generic conventions, in specific scenes are using POV shots and handheld cameras along with shaded red effects following people in forests. An example of this tainting is in the film ‘Deathnote’ where a similar character has the same POV look.
Our film challenges and develops these convections in the way we choose to speed up and slow down sections of the film to change its pace.
The use of conventions indicate the sub-genre of our film, they do this by putting a small amount of dark, creepy music we can make it slightly horror. The use of this type of music is comparable in all major horror/thriller films.
The use of conventions also indicate which films have influenced our work, these are the POV shot from the film Deathnote.
Comparing our film to the film ‘Shinigami’, our opening sequence is similar and different because ours has two plot lines at the same time during the first minute or so, that combine, whereas Deathnote only had the same plot all the way through.
2) How does your media project represent particular social groups?
The social groups represented in our film in terms of gender, age, class and race are those of middle/lower class; those that are young and steal; white British males and people who wear ‘hoody’ jumpers.
I believe it can be perceived as stereotypical because those are typical social groups for bank robbers and other semi-organised crime doers. When we were planning our film we thought that going along with the stereotype would help to build a more realistic picture in peoples mind when they view the film.
This links to our target audience because we aim it at younger, more diverse people whom may have friends, know people or have seen in the media ‘hoodies’ and/or heard of Shinigami which means God of Death in Japanese.
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
In my opinion our film could be produced by a major Hollywood Studio because most of the shots are in places that could be a set; for example, in the forest could be a set and the road/ car scenes.
There aren’t many similar products to ours, that’s because it is so diverse and original.
Our film would be released on the internet, in cinemas and on DVD, just like other films. Hopefully taking advantage of the largeness of the internet perhaps early previews like a few recent films could be shown to a select few on pay per view streams.
We believe our film has some opportunity for merchandising, bags, t-shirts, perhaps a soundtrack if we could get a band to work with us and help produce it.
It would relate to the mise-en-scene of our film because it is dark and mysterious.
One example would be 20th Century Fox, London.
4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
Comparing the age and gender of our target audience, it links well to our style of film because that is what we, as the producers and target audience, would like to watch. We know this because we enjoy the sounds and editing and effects. Also the actors are of the same age and gender so the audience can relate.
Similar style of films to ours, appeal to the same target audience, this is because they show also the same age group and gender. They have similar effects and POV shots.
We predicted in our research that younger, male men would prefer our film after our questionnaire results showed us this.
We believe that they should class our film as a certified 12a because its might scare younger viewers so should be accompanied by an adult. There is no swearing or blood/gore so there is no need for a higher rating.
5) How did you attract/address your audience?
Linking back to our audience profile, there are points that would appeal to and terrify certain audiences. This is especially the case during POV shots when it’s hard to see much and maybe young children who are scared of the dark would get terrified.
This is why we think there should be a certificate of 12a.
The audience are put in the position of the Shinigami they witness running through trees and acting primal. They also witness a near death experience.
6) What have you learnt about technology from constructing the product?
There are some strengths of using small camera; these are maneuverability, the ability to walk through the forest with ease.
On the other hand, the weaknesses are that the quality of the takes is compromised, the stability of shots, the same.
During filming we encountered one or two problems, these are that’s it was hard to walk through the forest and center the camera consistently.
We resolved them by having two people to control the camera shots.
Our editing software was a weakness because of the lack of training and being on a mac computer.
On the other hand, it made it easy to add DVD features and edit sound well.
7) Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
During our planning stage, researching the genre and storyboarding, the detailed planning helped us to produce the film efficiently because most of the problems during editing and filming get solved quicker and easier.
Since learning more about different types of shots, we can say that we view watching films in a different more critical way. Shot types effect emotion and opinions.
I feel I am more confident with the equipment because we resolved all problems we encountered and gained valuable experience.
I feel that the final product was a success with the time and budget scales we had.
Ashley Ward
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Final Evaluation - Thomas Oldroyd
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In Refrence to Question 7. we got a selection of people to review our film. Below is a Vox Pop of what there views on the film was
Final Evaluation (no Images)
Evaluation of Shinigami Film
1) In what way does your media project use, develop or challenge forms and convections of media products?
The ways in which our film incorporates the generic conventions of a Mystery/Thriller film in specific scenes are, firstly we used effects and POV shots to symbolize an unknown force following the lead character. The conventions are also backed up by a mysterious eerie underlying tone throughout the introduction, heightening during the POV shots. Our film challenges and the stereotypical views of the Shinigami, God of Death, and turns it on its head by inevitably making what would normally be the villain, now the hero.
The use of conventions indicate the sub-genre of our film could also be fantasy, they do this by using the concept of the Shinigami being almost a fairy god mother figure.
Comparing our film to other thriller films is quite difficult. I believe our film is so different from any other film, as it takes so many different conventional ideas from different genres that comparing it to any intro of a film would be pointless. The only film that could be compared to our film, is the film ‘The Blear Witch Project’. The reason for this is that, like our film, the blear witch project was completely original. The only way our film is similar is to some stereotypical film introductions is that it starts right in the heart of the action and would go on to explain what is going on.
2) How does your media project represent particular social groups?
We took our main idea of the presence following the main character, and also the name of the film, from Japanese cultural beliefs of a Shinigami, which roughly translates as “God of Death.” The film is also based mainly around an 18 year old college student, we would hope this may help the film appeal to that sort of age range too.
Our film was produced entirely by and only stared males aged 17-18. The reason we chose all male actors is that we hoped by doing this we would attract this sort of social group.
I believe our film is not stereotypical, because we use so many different aspects in it, and one of our goals was to make a completely original film. I believe this will appeal to and help link to our target audience because we believe people would rather see a completely original film, rather than a film based around stereotypical conventions.
3) 
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?I believe the best production company to film our film would have been independent American movie studio Artisan Entertainment. The reason I believe that this company would of the best institution to distribute our production is because it specialized in films with original concepts, like ‘the blear witch project’
In my opinion our film could be produced by a major Hollywood Studio because it is an original concept, but it would depend if they were willing to take a risk on a totally original concept.
There aren’t many similar products to ours, that’s because when we were creating our film, we tried to make it as original as possible
Our film would hopefully be released nationwide, to get as many people to see it as possible
We believe our film has little opportunity for merchandising as it is an original concept and may be a risk to merchandisers.
4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
Comparing the age and gender of our target audience, it links well to our style of film because we have used all male, teenage actors, we hoped by doing this that it would attract a late teen, to early 20’s audience.
A similar style of films to ours would be blear which project, the reason this may appeal to the same target audience is because both were completely original concepts.We believe that they should class our film as a 15 or possibly an 18 depending on the outcome of the rest of the film, but from just the clip alone, the classification would be a 15, this is because the introduction to our film didn’t contain anything to make the film an 18, but it has an eerie feel to it which may discomfort younger children.
5) How did you attract/address your audience?
We tried to attract our target audience by using actors in there same age range. This is why we think there should be a certificate of 15 to 18
The audience are put in the position of the Shinigami, as it is in POV. They witness what the Shinigami would be able to see.
insert POV shots
6) 
What have you learnt about technology from constructing the product?
What have you learnt about technology from constructing the product?There are some strengths of using small camera, these are that we were able to do POV shots with minimal hassle, it was also easier to take the camera to and from locations. One of the camreas we used was a JVC video camera
On the other hand, the weaknesses are that the bigger cameras had superior video quality, with better zoom
During filming we encountered one or two problems, but we managed to resolve these problems quite easily with minimal problemsOur editing software was a weakness because of the difficulty to use before we got used to it, also the lack of effects and some features, also not being able to add additional audio layers, I would of preferred to use Final Cut Pro, as it is a more comprehensive and all round better editing software.
On the other hand, iMovie made it easy to crop clips and had a clear, well laid out display with a big preview section.
7) Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
During our planning stage, researching the genre and storyboarding, the detailed planning helped us to produce the film efficiently because it helped us organize what films we could film when, it gave us the ability to start filming the scenes in the woods before the rest, as at that time we did not have all the necessary props.
Since learning more about different types of shots, we can say that our film is a lot more interesting and professional with the use of panning, POV and match on action shots.
I feel I am more confident with the equipment because I know have lots of firsthand experience of how to use the equipment and have experimented with it to find how to get the most out of it.
I feel that the final product was a really big success, and I am extremely pleased with how it turned out.
Storyboard (please click on each of the two pictures or you will not be able to see the full storyboard
here is our storyboard, i forgot to upload it earlyer
By Thomas Oldroyd
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