Evaluation questions 8 and 9

8
I feel we have made significant progress since our preliminary task. In our final movie we made much better use of editing on iMovie, along with adding in sound from garageband, which we didn't tend to do so much in our preliminary task. We also paid more attention to the mise en scene, for example with the zombie make up, and adding things to our location to make it look more conventional for a horror movie.
In our preliminary excersise, we learnt a variety of skills which contributed to the making of our final horror film. For example, we realised that camera angles are especially important in giving the audience a feel of unease by using things such as a canted angles or close ups. We used this in our film by using quite a few close ups, to show the scared expression on characters' faces. In our preliminary excersise we didn't focus very much on the music and felt that this was missing and would have improved the film. This caused us to concentrate more on the music in our final film than we had done previously.
If we were to do the production again, I think the main thing we would change would be the organisation of filming and making sure that we were all available, including actors. Secondly, we would have preffered to reshoot a part of the film if we had time, as there is a continuity error when the zombie fell through the door which we struggled to fix in the editing proccess.

9
During the planning I mainly contributed towards the writing of the script, assisted when deciding on possible locations, the storyboard, the narrative research and plot outline. Throughout the production process of creating our film, I helped out with making the mise-en-scene conventional to our horror film genre by decorating our location. I also filmed some shots and helped to make decisions on camera angles. During the post production process I helped to cut and decide which clips we should use in our film. I also contributed to making the decision of which transitions should be used and the font of our credits and where they should go. Along with this I decided on some of the sounds to be used. Whilst doing this, I was regularly updating the blog.

HOLLIE xx

Evaluation questions 7 and 9

7.) Throughout the process of constructing our introduction to a zombie horror film we considered a variety of technologies such as the internet, Blogger, iMovie and Garageband, each helping a great amount in the construction of our film. We gained the majority of our ideas through the internet; by accessing websites such as Youtube we were able to watch opening scenes of specific horror films to help broaden our thoughts.  By regularly posting on our Blogger we could keep well on track of what had and needed to be done. iMovie was the main programme that helped bring our whole film together. After importing our video footage into the programme iMovie then allowed us to edit video clips, add titles, add music and add effects like transitions, basic colour correction etc. The creation of our audio was done using Garageband. We could import and edit pre-recorded dialogue and create and edit our backing track with the use of its virtual software instruments.

These different technologies helped us be more creative throughout the process of constructing our film. For example, the internet gave us a wide range of options when deciding on the genre of our horror film. iMovie helped us with our creativity as it listed a variety of effects that we wouldn’t ordinarily think of using, giving us the option to play around with different ones to find out which we preferred. Garageband gave us the ability to create our own soundtrack/music to match with the action taking place in the film and by giving us a broad amount of choice this helped us be more creative.

Each technology helped us exhibit our film. Particularly with Garageband as we were able to choose where and when we wanted the audience to mainly concentrate on, for example, the music would build up whenever there was intense action. iMovie gave us the ability to control our film at such ease; because you can see single shots you can then cut of seconds without causing any problems and it makes it fit well. On Blogger we were able to analyse and read over our ideas and with using the internet this meant we could improve our previous ideas by researching specific topics without removing our previous thoughts of Blogger.

9.) Specific things throughout the planning of our film I mainly contributed in were the planning of our pitch; I visited possible locations for our film and completed recee sheets, planning of the script, I got one of the two actors from our film, the test shots, make-up design sheet and narrative research. During the production process of our film I took part in filming and contributing my ideas and thoughts on shot types, angels etc. In the post production stage I helped in editing by importing our video footage and soundtrack into iMovie and from there adding transitions, effects and the titles. I also regularly updated the blog with our old and improved ideas and when we did particular activities or tasks.

TINA xx

Evaluation Questions 6 and 9

Question 6

The kind of media institutions that might distribute our media product would be companies like ‘UK Film Council’ and ‘Film4 Productions’. This is because the ‘UK Film Council’ was the institution who produced ’28 Days Later’ and ‘28 Weeks Later’. These 2 films are very popular in the zombie genre of films. Furthermore, ‘Film4 Productions’ was the institution who produced ‘Shawn of the Dead’ which is another popular film in the zombie genre. Below are pictures from each film including some of our images from our film.

'28 Days Later'

'28 Weeks Later'

'Shawn of the Dead'

Our Film - 'The Last Pulse'

These companies would have the knowledge to ensure that our film in terms of exhibition and production who relate to the zombie genre. For example, ‘Film4 Productions’ is part of the ‘Channel 4 Television Corporation ‘so therefore, they could distribute our film by showing it on Channel 4. And in terms of production, both companies have great experience within the zombie genre which could help out with the distribution of our media product and could aid us in terms of mise-en-scene.

Question 9

In the 3 stages of the process of making our film, planning, production and post production, I contributed in a variety of ways.

During the planning, I did the certificate reasearch, the storyboards, the shot list and got one of the two actors used in our film. I also helped contribute with the lighting sheet. During production, I took a director-like role as I was judging where most of the shots were going to go and I filmed the majority of the film. In the post production, I mainly did the soundtrack to our film however I did contribute when I could with the final part of editing. Also, throughout the process, I contributed on the blog by uploading all of our planning work and updating it throughout the process of making the soundtrack.

JABS - Laura