Unit 2 task 8 evolution
- 1. Unit 2 Task 8 By Tasnuva Niha
- 2. Aims of the product: The product is a short film of the horror genre to warn teenagers of the dangers of talking or meeting strangers on social media. The product is for teenagers nowadays who are so engulfed in social media that they do not worry or know about the demerits and the far stretching problems that can come with it. The short film my group made was about two teenagers who meet a new boy and easily become friends with him with out properly knowing him. The story supports the fact that how easily we trust people. The film was a metaphor of social media where we meet a lot of strangers and trust them too easily give them our personal information.
- 3. Planning: Organisation: Pre - Production: We were split into teams, our group consisted of myself Tasnuva, Reisha, Caitlin, Josh and Kai. We researched about the horror genre and discussed about how we can bring it in our movie to meet the requirements of the brief. So we chose the school as the set for our film as the audience ( teenagers) can then relate to it. We decided on our plot which will be how two teenage girls meet a new boy and very easily put their trust in him without properly knowing him. So the girls and their schools work as a metaphor for social media where we meet new people everyday. So we decided to show the dangers of trusting a stranger using the horror genre. For this reason, we tried to make it more suspenseful and thrilling. To reflect the narrative conventions of the horror genre we decided to include a murder which will metaphorize the danger of believing strangers more clearly. Our group was split into different roles. I had the role of acting one of the girls. It was decided that all of us will also help with the camerawork.
- 4. Planning Production: All the members in our group had different roles to play to successfully make a great film. My Role was to act as one of the girls. I have never acted in my life. Yet I tried to give my best performance as Alice. To be honest, It wasn’t that hard to play the of a character who is a normal school girl just like me. I also helped with the camerawork. I did a point of view shot. The shot was used to show the situation from the actors’ point of view. I moved the camera at a 180’ , so that it looks like we were searching for the thing that made the noise. At some point, I shaked my hand and with thaat josh made a noise to show how the girls got starlet suddenly . The sound and the my hand shakes the camera at the same time, which contrasted with each other and created a suspenseful situation. I also helped decide my teammates on shot we were using the shooting of the film. Overall I tried my best to be as helpful as possible and tried to contribute in making a good film.
- 5. Planning Production: During the shooting of the film, the members of my group constantly switched roles between camera person, acting and directing. We also discussed about the shots we have to use for each scene. After the movie was finished, we started with the editing. All the members of our team helped with the editing work. All the members of the group also gave feedback to each other . It made our editing even more better. Also it shows each scene had some kind of contribution from every member in editing. The editing part was specially fun as all of us had fun doing it. It also gave our film the final touch it needed. All of us participated even when They were not doing the editing. We were looking at the edited movie to see if there are any scopes of improvement. It helped greatly as we noticed stuff that the editor did not notice. So we were able to help each other during their editing.
- 6. Even better if: In my opinion, our film would have been even better if we could a bigger variety of camera shots. But because of the movie being a horror movie we used shots that goes with the genre for example point of view shot which was used in the film to show the situation from the girl’s point of view. It was used to create the suspense. However it could’ve been better if we could use some establishing shots to set the plot for example shots of the school from outside. It could've been better all the members could cooperate with each other rather than giving their opinion the most priority. It was a major hole in our teamwork. Also there were problems with deciding what camera shot to use or what should we do to fit all the things we wanted to show in a short film. It shows our lack of preparation, also shows the issues with our teamwork. We showed the murder of the girls in a passive way. We did not show any kind of blood or ghoury scenes related to the murder. It would have better if we could show it in a rather direct yet non-violent way. Also we rushed a lot of things because of our first plot being cancelled. So it would have better if we could have made the film with some more time in our hands.
- 7. What we did well: I think the things we did well was: 1. We followed the plot of our film. The scenes follow a chronological order. ( The scenes follow the plot, follows a linear plotline meaning the film doesn’t have any flashbacks or it doesn’t go back and forth in time. This makes it easier for the audience to understand. ) 2. We used lots of different types of camera shots. ( We used the camera shots according to the needs of scenes. So we decided on shots that would be perfect for the scene and make it better Also we used alarge variety of shots.) 3. All the members of our group tried to play their role properly. ( Every one of us tried to do our jobs to our full potential. Even if it was Reisha and mine’s first acting atampt, we tried to keep it as natural and realistic as possible. Caitlin and josh also tried to keep the movie on plot and tried to finish it as soon as possible as the director and the assistant director. Kai helped a lot with the camerawork who joined our team halfway through. ) 4. The film relates to the theme from the brief. ( The film gives a clear massage to the audience about strangers being dangers. So our film meets the demands of the brief.) 5. I think we were properly able to present the idea of strangers being dangerous. 6. I think our film goes with the horror genre.( The presentation of the murder scene and the suspense created by the cameraworks and sound effects covered a lot of conventions of horror movie)
- 8. What we did well: 7. We presented the murders in a non-violent way. We did not show any kind of ghoury scenes. It will be helpful as the target audience are teenagers. Too much violence might have a negative effect on them. 8. Even though we did not have sufficient time due to our plot change, we tried our best to show all the necessary things in the movie. We tried our best to give the film the convention of a horror movie. We also tried our best to meet the demands of the brief.
- 9. Evolution of a scene from the film: The Scene i chose to evaluate is the scene where the girls are walking through the corridor of the main hall.The scene is an important aspect of the film. In my opinion, the scene had the most variety of shots and created a base for the building suspense which was really important. From this scene the film takes a turn to the horror genre. The camerawork we did for the scene was versatile and thoroughly planned.For the scene we used a wide shot at the beginning to show that the three of them were walking through the corridor of the main hall. Then it slowly zooms in to girls’ back.Then the camera focuses on the girls’ faces. In the meantime Josh ( Mason) disappears which is shown through a sudden zoom out showing the whole corridor.Then we used a point of view shot which moves at an angle of 180 degrees to show that the girls’ are looking for Josh. Than the cameraperson shakes her hand slightly with a Thud sound created by us , it gives a perfect effect of surprised and scared. The camera work would have even better if we could add some more types of shot to crezate the suspence. For example a parallel shot to show the girls’ scared expressions at the same time. Our dialogues were not prepared beforehand.so it would have been if we could write some dialogues that would suit the situations.
- 10. Evolution of a scene from the film: One thing i have learnt from the process of film making with my team is that we should always be prepared as we might have to change plans at last moment. Also from the evoluated scene, i have learnt that i should give more importance shots that focuses on the actors facial expressions as it determines the audiences reactions towards the scene. Even we used a wide range of shots for the scene, we did not focus much on the expresions of the girls after hearing the noise, which might leave the audience confused as it does not show if the girls are scared or susrprised by the sound. The thing we could have changed was to add a shot that takes a closer look at the girls’ reaction for a longer time. We could have added a close up shot. Anither demerit of the scene was that we tried to use a lot of shots in just one scene. Due to our cameraperson not being a professional, it might look packed and there is a chance that people might not be able to keep up.