Thursday, 26 April 2018
Wednesday, 25 April 2018
Tuesday, 24 April 2018
Evaluation Question 1
In what ways does “Sweet Dreams” use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Evaluation Question 1, can be found here.
Evaluation Question 2
How effective is the combination of your main product and the ancillary texts?
Evaluation Question 2, can be found here.Evaluation Question 4
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Evaluation Question 4, can be found here.
Evaluation - Question 1
Question 1 - In what ways does the media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Cinematography:
A key component in creating a smooth and coherent film was the cinematography used in it, especially when keeping a clear continuity of events. This is mainly done by shooting and editing together shots so that link in to each other, without any unnatural cuts or skips. By doing this, the film makers make these edits less obvious to the audience, creating a clean cut of events. We used the 3 main forms of editing to create continuity for our film.
180 Degree Rule:
This rule is used often in films when characters are talking to each other or are walking together, with the camera following them on only one side. The concept of this rule is that an imaginary line is placed from one character to the other, with the camera only being allowed to film from one side of the line, on a 180 degree axis. This is done to stop any confusing cuts between characters, as by crossing the line, it would appear to the audience that the character who has been shown in a shot before to be on the left, is now on the right, as the camera has swapped position. By adhering to this rule, staying on one side, the camera can move across the axis freely, without any continuity breaks of where a character is.
Shot - Reverse - Shot:
Primarily used for keeping continuity between conversations, the shot reverse shot method is the idea of switching between two characters, often over their shoulders, showing both characters in the shot, helping to establish where they are to the audience. By switching back and fourth between shots, showing the speaking character in the centre of the shot, the audience is clear on where each character is standing in relation to another, helping to keep continuity as they talk.
This can be seen in our film in the circus scene, when the lead protagonist, Jamie, first sees the antagonist and his henchman, using a over the shoulder shot to establish all the characters involved. This is then cut to a shot of El Cucuy's face, the main villain, showing his expression and properly introducing the character. After a shot of him eating a heart, the scene cuts back to Jamie's shoulder, showing the shot - reverse - shot aspect of our film, as well as aligning the audience with the main character, as its from his view.
180 Degree Rule:
This rule is used often in films when characters are talking to each other or are walking together, with the camera following them on only one side. The concept of this rule is that an imaginary line is placed from one character to the other, with the camera only being allowed to film from one side of the line, on a 180 degree axis. This is done to stop any confusing cuts between characters, as by crossing the line, it would appear to the audience that the character who has been shown in a shot before to be on the left, is now on the right, as the camera has swapped position. By adhering to this rule, staying on one side, the camera can move across the axis freely, without any continuity breaks of where a character is.
Shot - Reverse - Shot:
Primarily used for keeping continuity between conversations, the shot reverse shot method is the idea of switching between two characters, often over their shoulders, showing both characters in the shot, helping to establish where they are to the audience. By switching back and fourth between shots, showing the speaking character in the centre of the shot, the audience is clear on where each character is standing in relation to another, helping to keep continuity as they talk.
This can be seen in our film in the circus scene, when the lead protagonist, Jamie, first sees the antagonist and his henchman, using a over the shoulder shot to establish all the characters involved. This is then cut to a shot of El Cucuy's face, the main villain, showing his expression and properly introducing the character. After a shot of him eating a heart, the scene cuts back to Jamie's shoulder, showing the shot - reverse - shot aspect of our film, as well as aligning the audience with the main character, as its from his view.
An example from a mainstream Hollywood film can be seen in Spdier-man (Raimi, 2002), as Norman Osborn has a conversation with himself while slowly losing his mind, switching back and fourth between his two personality's, shown on screen through a mirror shot.
Match on Action:
The third cinematography technique we used to keep continuity is the match on action, which has the actions shown on one shot matched seamlessly by the following shot, making the movement look natural to the audience. An example of this would be someone being shown in a medium or long shot opening a door, with the camera then cutting to a close up of the persons hand opening the door, then finally showing the person coming out the other side, making a flowing movement.
An example of this technique in our film again can be seen in the circus scene, where one of the villains henchman hands him the heart of the person on the table. There is a shot of the henchman turning around and passing El Cucuy the heart, which then cuts to a close up of their hands, giving the heart over. This is edited together to match the movements from each scene, creating a steady cuts between the two, with no rough cuts.
Genre Conventions:
Every film genre has a set of generic conventions that are associated with them, which audiences except to see in them. These can be used as costume, location, lighting or different types of props, which together are all synonymous with the genre being shown. As our film is a psychological horror, many of our conventions will revolve around dark and fear provoking imagery, such as scary graveyards, clown costumes and spooky music, which together will be associated with the horror genre.
Setting:
We use a number of locations in our film, all of them linking in to the genre we are using. Our first location was filmed inside a graveyard, having the main character being chased through, dodging between gravestones. This connotes the themes of danger and death that are presented at that time, as graveyards are associated with the dead and horror films. The scene then cuts to the main characters bedroom, with him asleep in bed. This was done to link to the psychological aspects of our film, as bedroom produce feelings of safety and security, as they are your own space. This is then contrasted by the invasion of this space, not only being physically dangerous to Jamie, but also mentally. We also used a collage as a setting, to emphasis the protagonists age, but also the invasion of yet again another supposedly safe space. These scenes where overlaid by special effects to give the impression of a dream, adding to the fear being built upon. The final location used was that of a circus, which has been used in the horror genre for decades. By using this warped perspective of it, with rapid flashing lights and distorting music, it plays in to the genre conventions of horror to provoke the audience to feel scared and uneasy.
Costume:
Costume:
For the majority of the film, the main protagonist is wearing pyjamas, due to much of it taking place within a dream. Similarly to the use of his bedroom, by having him wearing only his pajamas, it produces the feeling of vulnerability he has while being chased by the villain, as these again are associated with comfortably and safety, not running around and being scared. On the other hand to this, the main villain, El Cucuy where's a colourful and detailed costume that adds to the menacing and fearful presence he puts across. His outfit resembles that of a clown, which not only matches the circus scene before, but also the horror convention of villainous clowns that are popular villains for the genre, with inspiration being taken from films such as IT (Muschietti, 2017).
Lighting:
To fit the tone and expected conventions for the horror genre, the lighting we used throughout the film were quite dark and lacking any strong forms of light, to highlight the feelings of fear the characters were feeling. The majority of it was set at night, meaning that the dark, foreboding lighting outside worked well with the dream and horror themes, as you cannot see in the dark, producing feelings of being unsafe and unaware. Additionally, we used lighting inside, such as the collage and circus scenes to highlight the dream state, as the bright blinding light and rapid strobe lights disorient and confuse the audience to an extent, similarly to how people feel in dreams.
Iconography:
A key factor to the horror genre is the use of scary and disturbing imagery to shock the audience, which is a major reason they like those themes. This can be seen primarily through the props and objects used within the film, such a dripping blood, a heart or a knife, all props associated with danger and fear. In the circus scene, the antagonist hands over a dripping red heart to Jamie, with a long panning shot emphasizing the grotesque image of the heart. This is a common trope seen within the horror genre, having a gruesome scene to create a shock response from the audience, which many of them look for when watching a film of that genre. Although it is associated with, the blood and heart imagery is not only seen in the horror genre, but also other mainstream forms of film. An example of this can be seen in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Spielberg,1984), which has a human heart being taken from someone's chest.
Richard Dyer's Theory Of Entertainment and Utopia
This concept of Dyer's theory is that audiences consume media to escape from reality, using the content to focus on and forget the real world. This is done through 5 key elements that together create "Utopian sensibilities", the aspects of the media that connote a better world.
This aspect of the theory often relates to quick action sequences and high intensity fight scenes, which create a high energy atmosphere the audience are interested in. Examples of this can be seen throughout our film, with suspense and action being themes we utilized. The opening sequence has the lead protagonist, Jamie, running through a graveyard, being chased by the disembodied voice of El Cucuy, who speaks down to him from the church. This is the first introduction the audience had to the premise and characters of the film, meaning the fast pace running and fear from Jamie creates energy for the audience, as they are unaware of what has happened before, or what is going to happen. A scene with similar use of energy can be seen in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Genreration (Henkel, 1995), as a lead protagonist is chased by the villain. 
Lighting:
To fit the tone and expected conventions for the horror genre, the lighting we used throughout the film were quite dark and lacking any strong forms of light, to highlight the feelings of fear the characters were feeling. The majority of it was set at night, meaning that the dark, foreboding lighting outside worked well with the dream and horror themes, as you cannot see in the dark, producing feelings of being unsafe and unaware. Additionally, we used lighting inside, such as the collage and circus scenes to highlight the dream state, as the bright blinding light and rapid strobe lights disorient and confuse the audience to an extent, similarly to how people feel in dreams.
Iconography:
A key factor to the horror genre is the use of scary and disturbing imagery to shock the audience, which is a major reason they like those themes. This can be seen primarily through the props and objects used within the film, such a dripping blood, a heart or a knife, all props associated with danger and fear. In the circus scene, the antagonist hands over a dripping red heart to Jamie, with a long panning shot emphasizing the grotesque image of the heart. This is a common trope seen within the horror genre, having a gruesome scene to create a shock response from the audience, which many of them look for when watching a film of that genre. Although it is associated with, the blood and heart imagery is not only seen in the horror genre, but also other mainstream forms of film. An example of this can be seen in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Spielberg,1984), which has a human heart being taken from someone's chest.
Richard Dyer's Theory Of Entertainment and Utopia
This concept of Dyer's theory is that audiences consume media to escape from reality, using the content to focus on and forget the real world. This is done through 5 key elements that together create "Utopian sensibilities", the aspects of the media that connote a better world.
Energy:
Many of the scenes associated with this aspect of the theory revolve around creating an emotional response from the audience. This is done by commonly by presenting the emotions of characters in an exaggerated way, to clearly present the way they feel. This intern creates a understanding for the audience, as they can clearly see what the character is feeling at that moment . An example seen within our film is as El Cucuy is introduced for the second time, being his first physical appearance to both the audience and Jamie. As he appears, the music playing changes to that of circus music and Jamie begins to breath much faster, showing his distress. At this point the audience can sense the fear he is feeling, as the powerful presence of the antagonist projects fear. An example of this type of scene can be seen in The Silence of the Lambs (Demme, 1991) as FBI agent Clarice Starling meets Hannibal Lecter for the first time, with her uncomfortable manner and fear clearly being seen by the audience, which they then share.
Transparency:
This aspect to the theory revolves around audiences understanding and identifying feelings from a character, often feeling it themselves. By doing this, the audience is able to connect and relate to the characters at that point, immersing them in the plot of the film, creating more importance for what happens to the characters. Within our film, this can especially be seen in the circus scene, as El Cucuy passes Jamie a bloody heart, to which he runs away from, showing his disgust. The graphic and intense nature of the this scene helps to connect the feelings of Jamie and the audience, as they are both repulsed by the shot of the heart and El Cucuy eating it. An example of transparency in another film can be seen in A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven, 1984), where Nancy hears the antagonist Freddy's voice from down a hallway, with clear distress all over her face, clearly being seen by the audience, as they share this feeling with her.
Evaluation Question 3
Pre-Production Results:
After sharing each of our storylines and deciding which one we are going to do, we created a questionnaire and gave it to 10 people to give their thoughts of our story. We gave it to people who are closer to are age rating, as the 15 age rating is what we believe our film is aimed at. We also had 5 people of each gender as it helps give our film an equal chance to what both sides think of it, and if the plot leans to one gender or is suitable to both. We found out that 50% of our audience were more into the comedy genre than horror, but another 50% thought it deserves that 15 rating. The reception was mostly positive as they thought it was unique and fits in with the genre, but they did say it was confusing as they had trouble understanding what the plot is about. Because of these results, we had to make sure that our film was easy enough to follow, and the audience know what is happening.
Production Stage:
The main protagonist is dressed in his pyjamas in order to show that film's concept is that he is in his own dreams, while our antagonist is dressed in unusual gothic style clothes, with a lot of make-up on his face, to show that he is not from this world and will give the viewer an eerie feel. It will help to establish the good vs evil concept, making the audience root for the right person to win. To convey the genre, we had a lot of close-up shots on our antagonists face and on the heart in order for the viewer to feel as if they are in the film and are putting themselves in the protagonist place. It helps with the film's psychological aspect as we don't use jump scares to scare the viewer but to instead play on their fears to create an uncomfortable atmosphere. Before we completed the rough version, we also added special effects on some of our scenes, which help to evoke that where he is, is currently in a dream. It makes it obvious which scenes are in his head, or in reality. However, the last scene ends on a ominous note, making them wonder if he is still in his dream, or has he now woken up.
Rough Edit Results:
After putting all our scenes together, we uploaded the rough version on YouTube and gave a new questionnaire to people, to write about what their think of this nearly completed film. From our results, 90% of the participants agreed this is a horror film, and should have a 15 age rating. This was what we intended so we are thankful we managed to get that across to the audience. We also had a unanimous result that our music fit in with the film, so we don't need any more improvements for that. For our storyline, we managed to make it more clear towards the viewer, so they know what is happening and what the characters actions imply. Fortunately, we managed to convey that as they participants wrote down that they liked the main characters, and the special effects made it look like the protagonist was in a dream. However, our biggest critiques was that our editing needs to be improved as it hasn't got that fluidity that makes it easier to watch, and the narrative is still confusing as they still have trouble wondering what the film is about.
Editing Stages:
For the finishing stages, we put in our antagonist's narration over certain scenes, in order to emphasise what his plan is and why he is doing it, in order to get across the outline of our film to the viewer. It will help the audience to make sense what is happening. We also decided that we need to cut down some scenes that we felt were too long and unnecessary. It helps to make our play shorter and will get to the important scenes sooner. We still want to create an isolated feel so we didn't want to crop too much or the atmosphere of the place will be taken away.
Final Results:
After posting the finished film on YouTube, we gave another 10 participants our final questionnaire to get their overall view on it. It was again mostly positive as the narration we put in it helped to get an understanding that he likes torturing people while having a funny wit to him that makes him unique and fun to listen to, but is still a threatening person. We all shorten down some of our scenes in order to make the action more quicker and transition smoother, while keeping focus on more slower scenes in order to create suspense.
After sharing each of our storylines and deciding which one we are going to do, we created a questionnaire and gave it to 10 people to give their thoughts of our story. We gave it to people who are closer to are age rating, as the 15 age rating is what we believe our film is aimed at. We also had 5 people of each gender as it helps give our film an equal chance to what both sides think of it, and if the plot leans to one gender or is suitable to both. We found out that 50% of our audience were more into the comedy genre than horror, but another 50% thought it deserves that 15 rating. The reception was mostly positive as they thought it was unique and fits in with the genre, but they did say it was confusing as they had trouble understanding what the plot is about. Because of these results, we had to make sure that our film was easy enough to follow, and the audience know what is happening.
Production Stage:
The main protagonist is dressed in his pyjamas in order to show that film's concept is that he is in his own dreams, while our antagonist is dressed in unusual gothic style clothes, with a lot of make-up on his face, to show that he is not from this world and will give the viewer an eerie feel. It will help to establish the good vs evil concept, making the audience root for the right person to win. To convey the genre, we had a lot of close-up shots on our antagonists face and on the heart in order for the viewer to feel as if they are in the film and are putting themselves in the protagonist place. It helps with the film's psychological aspect as we don't use jump scares to scare the viewer but to instead play on their fears to create an uncomfortable atmosphere. Before we completed the rough version, we also added special effects on some of our scenes, which help to evoke that where he is, is currently in a dream. It makes it obvious which scenes are in his head, or in reality. However, the last scene ends on a ominous note, making them wonder if he is still in his dream, or has he now woken up.
Rough Edit Results:
After putting all our scenes together, we uploaded the rough version on YouTube and gave a new questionnaire to people, to write about what their think of this nearly completed film. From our results, 90% of the participants agreed this is a horror film, and should have a 15 age rating. This was what we intended so we are thankful we managed to get that across to the audience. We also had a unanimous result that our music fit in with the film, so we don't need any more improvements for that. For our storyline, we managed to make it more clear towards the viewer, so they know what is happening and what the characters actions imply. Fortunately, we managed to convey that as they participants wrote down that they liked the main characters, and the special effects made it look like the protagonist was in a dream. However, our biggest critiques was that our editing needs to be improved as it hasn't got that fluidity that makes it easier to watch, and the narrative is still confusing as they still have trouble wondering what the film is about.
Editing Stages:
For the finishing stages, we put in our antagonist's narration over certain scenes, in order to emphasise what his plan is and why he is doing it, in order to get across the outline of our film to the viewer. It will help the audience to make sense what is happening. We also decided that we need to cut down some scenes that we felt were too long and unnecessary. It helps to make our play shorter and will get to the important scenes sooner. We still want to create an isolated feel so we didn't want to crop too much or the atmosphere of the place will be taken away.
Final Results:
After posting the finished film on YouTube, we gave another 10 participants our final questionnaire to get their overall view on it. It was again mostly positive as the narration we put in it helped to get an understanding that he likes torturing people while having a funny wit to him that makes him unique and fun to listen to, but is still a threatening person. We all shorten down some of our scenes in order to make the action more quicker and transition smoother, while keeping focus on more slower scenes in order to create suspense.
Monday, 23 April 2018
Sunday, 22 April 2018
Saturday, 21 April 2018
Thursday, 19 April 2018
Evaluation - Question 4
Question 4 - How did you use new media technologies in the
construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Research:
Google - This global search engine was used to research the majority of our short films, giving us greater knowledge on what kind of features and themes are seen in them. By using this, we could look at examples of short films and the people that created them, allowing us to get an idea of the plots, ideas and conventions used in many of them. We also used it to look in to the films seen in the horror genre, as well as the plots and themes seen in them.
Short of the week - This website was very useful in researching examples of short films that we learned from for our own project. It releases new short films every day, which are broken down in to different genres and themes, which was very useful to look at both short films as a whole, as well as the horror genre within it. Through using this, we took inspiration from other films seen on the site.
BBFC - When making researching our film ideas, and devising a plot, this website was crucial to deciding the age rating that our film would be. As this is the governing body on the censorship of film in Britain, the information and guidance found on its website was very important in choosing the right age ratting appropriate for our film. With this in mind, we decided to choose a 15 age ratting, as the dark themes and quite disturbing themes found in our horror film could be seen as inappropriate for younger audiences.
Meta-Chart - This website was a key component in compiling the date from our film questionnaires, as it was used to create graphs of our results, better presenting there findings. It allowed use to input all the data from our surveys in to a customizable graph maker, which could be changed to however we wanted, allowing use to make clear and accurate charts to show the differing opinions of our audience.
Google - This global search engine was used to research the majority of our short films, giving us greater knowledge on what kind of features and themes are seen in them. By using this, we could look at examples of short films and the people that created them, allowing us to get an idea of the plots, ideas and conventions used in many of them. We also used it to look in to the films seen in the horror genre, as well as the plots and themes seen in them.
BBFC - When making researching our film ideas, and devising a plot, this website was crucial to deciding the age rating that our film would be. As this is the governing body on the censorship of film in Britain, the information and guidance found on its website was very important in choosing the right age ratting appropriate for our film. With this in mind, we decided to choose a 15 age ratting, as the dark themes and quite disturbing themes found in our horror film could be seen as inappropriate for younger audiences.
Meta-Chart - This website was a key component in compiling the date from our film questionnaires, as it was used to create graphs of our results, better presenting there findings. It allowed use to input all the data from our surveys in to a customizable graph maker, which could be changed to however we wanted, allowing use to make clear and accurate charts to show the differing opinions of our audience.
Planning:
Blogger - As we did in our AS level, we used the website 'Blogger' to create a blog for our film, which is where we posted all our research, planning, ideas and additional work for our project. It was very useful for the group as we were able to collaborate on work together, meaning we can all contribute to the project, as well as allowing us to edit posts when ever we want, improving them when new ideas were formed, as well as adapting to new feedback. However, as useful as it was, we also found issues with the formatting and filing system Blogger uses, as it was quite inefficient, making it hard sometimes to find posts deep in to the blog.
CeltX - This software is what we used to create the script for our film, instead if a normal word document. As this program is designed especially for creating scripts, it was very useful when creating ours, as it allowed us to easily and correctly write out our scripts, with proper directions and descriptions used. It also let us change and adapt scenes as our plot evolved with new ideas, a very useful feature. This specially designed format allowed us to professionally present our idea, so all could easily understand it.
Construction:
Camera - When it came to actually creating our film, we used a Canon Legria HFG25 to record our film. This camera was a improvement on the model we used in our AS level, with better quality of video and sound, as well as a wider range of adjustments available for us to use when filming our movie. With the addition of a tripod, the camera set up was able to produce interesting and almost professional shots, with a sharp contrast from last years film. In addition, we were able to create interesting scene transitions with clever camera techniques, accompanied by video editing, such as a zoom in to a characters back, going through a doorway, which would then transition to a new shot as the camera zooms back out.
Evaluation:
Prezi - We found that Prezi was a very useful website for presenting much of our evaluation work in a easy and productive way. It allowed me to make presentations that included many different media aspects, including text, photos, videos and audio files, which are useful in presenting through a wide range of medias, showing understanding of them all. The software it's self was also another great use of differing media, as the moving circle concept of its presentations allowed us to show our work in a interesting and different way.
Prezi - We found that Prezi was a very useful website for presenting much of our evaluation work in a easy and productive way. It allowed me to make presentations that included many different media aspects, including text, photos, videos and audio files, which are useful in presenting through a wide range of medias, showing understanding of them all. The software it's self was also another great use of differing media, as the moving circle concept of its presentations allowed us to show our work in a interesting and different way.
Google slides - Similarly to Prezi, google slides was useful in presenting our work in a clear and easy way. As it works in a similar way to Microsoft PowerPoint, I already knew how to use it, as it was almost the same design and also very user friendly. By being able to present our work through multiple media form, we are able to create interesting and engaging PowerPoints showing our work, as well as our understanding of the forms of media. In addition, as it was all online, being able to work on our presentations wherever we wanted to was extremely useful, making all our work more efficient.
Tuesday, 10 April 2018
Monday, 9 April 2018
Sweet Dreams - Post-Production Process
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing audible and film to create a piece of media. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, and many other modifications performed before the final piece is released as this allows the editors to solve any issues that have occurred or work around them to create a complete piece work.
Here we'll be explaining what software and techniques we used during Post-Production of our final film and how we got round any issues that came up during the editing process. In this process we used After Effects, Premiere Pro and Audacity to create our final product.
Here we'll be explaining what software and techniques we used during Post-Production of our final film and how we got round any issues that came up during the editing process. In this process we used After Effects, Premiere Pro and Audacity to create our final product.
While filming the scenes in Jamie's bedroom, we needed a bright light that would shine through as his door opened and then would stay there for the rest of the scene. We were unable to do this practically and instead opted to create the effect within Adobe After Effects. I started by lightening the original footage and added a soft glow around to give to create the brighter light effect, I then overlaid the new brighter footage onto our original footage in the composition sequence. Once I'd done that, I created a mask and animated it to look as if a door was opening and the light was casting onto the bedding and onto the bedding. With the mask being animated, it allowed me to control how the light acted within the shot and how fast or how slow the door opened to create the effect.
We then exported these scenes out of After Effects and then added into our Premiere Pro Edit File which would allow us to continue editing the film. With the help of After Effects, this allowed us to create the sequence we originally envisioned but weren't able to achieve on the day due to lighting issues and not being able to create a light source bright enough to create this effects.
We were also able to add this effect to the rest of the sequence which made the scene look more realistic as the light didn't vanish within the next shot. As well as the light source, we also darkened the surrounding room, this emphasised the light which made the sequence look more mysterious and the light source look more supernatural and alien to create a sense of unease in the audience.
The next thing we did was adding a layer to most of the film, expect the sequence in Jamie's bedroom and the ending sequence, this gave the whole film the dream/nightmare feel to it which also helped the audience differentiate between the real life sequences and the dream/nightmare sequences.
This was achieved by using a channel blur by turning the percentage of the blue and red channels up 50 which created the coloured outlines of each character and object within the scene, we also added Gaussian Blur of 120% and a feather of 759.0% and Lens Distortion with a curvature of -10 to the edges which would warp/distort the footage and create the completed dream sequence.
A problem we encountered while adding this layer was during some scenes the effect became too much and would blur the entire shot which mean for some shots we had to go through and adjust the amounts for each effect so that it would remain constant throughout the whole short film.
The final big effect we did was adding a mask around Jamie to make it look as if he's in total darkness and is being trapped in eternal darkness. This was achieved by adding an oval mask around the character, inverting it so the effects were added around Jamie rather then in front and then adjusted the darkness to -100 and the contrast to 100 which created the blacked-out background as well as the look of eternal darkness.
In the overall film, we also enlarged a lot of the clips which removed unnecessary background and large open spaces within the frame which could take away from the scene and distract the audience, this was mainly visible during some close ups and medium shots, especially within the corridor scenes as there were a lot of shots which showed more of the background and objects in the corridors, this took away from the viewing experience and distracted the audience as focus would be on the background as it was more noticeable. With Premiere Pro we also added a letterbox wide-screen movie format which made our film look more cinematic and appealing to the audience.
We also used After Effects to create the credits at the end of the sequence. We used a free After Effect template which made creating the credits a lot easier and made them look more professional as all the writing was pre-set to move at a certain pace in time with each other which made this a lot easier as we didn't have to waste time matching everything up and could instead focus on finishing the film.
And finally we used Audacity to adjust Sam's vocal performance as El Cucuy, people agreed his voice was menacing and fitted the character but could still be improved upon which is why we used Audacity. We looked for inspiration for adjustments we could make to the voice which is where we came across a Doctor Who character called The Candy man which featured in a serial called 'The Happiness Patrol' and was broadcast from 2nd - 16th November 1988, for the voice of this character, the special sounds office at the BBC overlaid two copies of the recorded dialogue but at different pitches, one was the original recording and the other had been adjusted from a G to an E which created this distortion between the two when played back which is what we liked as the distorted voice could represent El Cucuy's distorted personality. So to create this, we used Audacity to lower the pitch of our voice and then exported both the normal sound file and adjusted sound file together which created the distorted and unnerving voice that is featured in our final piece.
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Evaluation Question 1
