I am media AS student and this is a part of my final portfolio. I have uploaded this to help others and let them gain knowledge about my final portfolio.

1. By: Mishal Zarrar

2. HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT USE OR
CHALLENGE CONVENTIONS AND HOW DO
THEY REPRESENT SOCIAL GROUPS?
The genre of my film opening is psycho horror and I tried
to challenge the conventions to some extent. One widely
used and famous convention of horror movies is low key
light which I challenged in my video as I shot my scenes
in daylight. All the scenes of my movie were shot at the
day time which goes against the convention of lowkey,
scary lighting and scenes that are shot at the night time.
However I used creepy non-digetic background music such
as the howling of wind and the crackle of a kid in my
movie which is a way I used the traditional convention of
horror movies.

3. I also used the convention of terrifying makeup and actions
in my movie as the main characterter in my movie wears
dark messy eyeshade and red lipstick which too is also dirty
and is all over her face. However I did not choose any
dramatic dress as I wanted it to look real.
I was inspired by the movie ‘The ring’ however my story is
much different from that of the movie but the thing that
inspired me was the frightenening and creepy character of
the girl Samara in the movie.

4. Contrary to Samara in The Ring my main character was not
haunted and neither was she dead but she is pshycologically
disturbed and tries to take revenge from people she does not
like. The makeup of the main charcter in my movie was
inspired by Harley Quinn from the ‘Suicide Squad’ although
it did not mean to look exactly the same as the characters are
quite different. The character was meant to look crazy that is
why Harley Quinn was an inspiartion.

5. As seen in the pictures below my main lead and Harley
Quinn look very cheeky; giving a very psochotic smile.
The inspiration of the messy lipstick was specially
taken from Harkey Quinn to give an insane look.

6. My movie opening also discusses an important social in
existing in various groups in our society that is different
psychological disorders such as common disorders ,
dissociative disorders, childhood disorders, mental
retardation, personality disorders etc. It shows that
children who are given less attention at home or are
neglected or mistreated might develop certain
psychological conditions which might lead to very
unfortunate events such as harming indivisuals and in
extreme cases killing them.
One in four people in the world will be affected by mental or
neurological disorders at some point in their lives. Around 450 million
people currently suffer from such conditions, placing mental
disorders among the leading causes of ill-health and
disability worldwide. (The following statistics are taken from World
Health organisation)

7. HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT ENGAGE
WITH AUDIENCES AND HOW WOULD IT
BE DISTRIBUTED AS A REAL MEDIA
TEXT?
In peoples’s everyday life they always need something
thrilling, unusual and exciting. My film is thrilling and has
suspense that’s why it is more likely to attract younger
aundience like teenagers and young adults. According to a
study top teen movie genres include horror, action, science fiction and
suspense types of film. These genres often include graphic depictions of
violent acts, with sci-fi films averaging 55 deaths and 37 killings per
the typical horror flick.
‘ Split’ was the 8th most earning movie of 2017 till date which was
distributed by Universal Studios and earned $221,656,783 worldwide.

8. The movie was also based on a guy with dissociative identity disorder
named Dennis, one of the 23 personalities present in the mind of Kevin
Wendell Crumb, a victim of childhood abuse diagnosed with the disease.
My movie opening also deals with the same issue and I hope it attracts
the audience the way it is supposed to.
Moreover there are many people around us who deal with such
psychological issues and differenet disorders, around 450 million people
currently suffer from such conditions, placing mental disorders among the leading
causes of ill-health and disability worldwide. The movies opening can also be a source of
warning to the people living with such people, to be careful and alert.
The background music and makeup is also a major element that will attract the
audience specially youngsters.
I think I would upload my movie on Youtube, make teasers of it and I will hope that
people will watch it and promote it.However I will really want one of the Big Six to
distribute my movie but as an amateur I think it will be quite difficult to reach to one of
the six major production houses. If not the Big Six then I would prefer the ‘Blumhouse
Productions’ to distribute my movie in case I ever get a chance to promote it on the big
screen as it is the current heavyweight champion of the genre, its past projects include
Paranormal Activity, Insidious, Sinister, The Purge, Dark Skies.

9. HOW DID YOUR PRODUCTION SKILLS
DEVELOP THROUGHOUT THIS PROJECT?
I joined media studies because of my passion for
documenatries and short films and how I always wanted to be
behind the camera and travel differnet places and photograph
people and make documentaries on various subjects. However
I did not know a lot about filmmaking rather I only knew a
little about photography. Never did I know that there were so
many things one has to keep in mind while making a film
such as different camera angles, sounds, lights, editing cuts
etc

10. One of tbe basic things I learnt during the first media classes was
different camera angles;
Extreme Wide Shot:
This can be taken from as much as a quarter of a mile away, and is
generally used as a scene-setting, establishing shot. It normally shows
an EXTERIOR, eg the outside of a building, or a landscape, and is often
used to show scenes of thrilling action eg in a war film or disaster movie.
There will be very little detail visible in the shot, it's meant to give a
general impression rather than specific information.

11. Medium Shot:
The mid shot shows some part of the subject in more detail, whilst
still showing enough for the audience to feel as if they were looking
at the whole subject. In fact, this is an approximation of how you
would see a person "in the flesh" if you were having a casual
conversation. You wouldn't be paying any attention to their lower
body, so that part of the picture is unnecessary.The MS is
appropriate when the subject is speaking without too much emotion
or intense concentration.

12. Close up:
This shows very little background, and concentrates
on either a face, or a specific detail of mise en scène.
Everything else is just a blur in the background. This
shot magnifies the object (think of how big it looks on
a cinema screen) and shows the importance of things,
be it words written on paper, or the expression on
someone's face.

13. Point of view shot: or simply p.o.v., camera angles record
the scene from a particular player's viewpoint. The camera is
positioned at the side of a subjective player—whose viewpoint is being
depicted—so that the audience is given the impression they are
standing cheek-to-cheek with the off-screen player. The viewer sees
the event from the player's viewpoint, as if standing alongside him.
Thus, the camera angle remains objective, since it is an unseen
observer not involved in the action

14. Over the Shoulder Shot:
In film or video, an over the shoulder shot (also OTS) is
a shot of someone or something taken from the perspective
or camera angle from the shoulder of another person. The
back of the shoulder and head of this person is used to frame
the image of whatever (or whomever) the camera is pointing
toward. This type of shot is very common when two
characters are having a discussion.

15. I tried to keep in mind most of the camera angles I learnt
during my shoot. We also learnt some other important
things that one should keep in mind while shooting a movie
or taking pictures that is ‘ Headroom’ and ‘Rule of thirds’.
Headroom:
In photography, headroom is a concept of aesthetic
composition that addresses the relative vertical
position of the subject within the frame of the image.
Headroom refers specifically to the distance between
the top of the subject's head and the top of the frame.

17. Rule of Thirds:
The rule of thirds is applied by aligning a subject with
the guide lines and their intersection points, placing
the horizon on the top or bottom line, or allowing linear
features in the image to flow from section to section.

18. LIGHTING
I also learnt about the two differenft type of lights used;
Low Key lighting and High Key lighting. Although most of
the horror movies have low key lighting but in my movie I
tried to challenge this conviction and shot the film in high
key light ( day light) .

19. SOUND:
There are two major sound affects; non- digetic and
digectic.
In my movie the sound that I mostly used was non-digetic
as it was basically the background music I added to create a
horror effect and it was only meant for the audience to
listen. However at time when one of my characters had a
dialogue, at that time the sound was digetic because it was
meant for both the audience and the characters in the
movie.

20. HOW DID YOU INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGIES IN
THIS PROJECT?
While working on my project I came across a number of editing softwares, online
websites for sounds and different affects. The first thing that we were told to do was
to make a blog where we can upload our project as well as the evidence. I have
never made a blog before this and always thought it was hard to make one but to
my surprise when I created my blog on Tumblr it seemed not only easy but also
really interesting. There were many other places where one can make a blog such
as Wordpress, Weebly and more however I chose Tumblr as its really famous
amongst teengaers.
We were also informed that our project would not directly be uploaded on the blog
but first on any website like YouTube or Vimeo and later the URL will be copied on
the blog. I chose to upload my video on YouTube because I already have an account
on it amd it is a great platform for someone like me who is new to making movies, to
showcase their work.

21. ONLINE HELP
Majorly for sound effects I use alot of different online websites such as
Spookysoundtrack.com
Soundbible.com
I also used a famous soundtrack from an old Indian horror
series called ‘ Ssh Koi Hai’ in the end of my project.

22. SOFTWARE
 The main software I used to edit my video was Videopad however I also used
Windows Movie Maker for some transitions and other effects. Below are some
images of Videopad and Movie Maker:

24. HARDWARE
 Tripod: It is a portable three-legged frame, used as a platform for supporting
the weight and maintaining the stability of some other object. It is important to keep
the camera stable specially while shooting a video. A tripod is also helpful in achieving
precise framing of the image, or when more than one image is being made of the
same scene, for example when bracketing the exposure. Use of a tripod may also
allow for a more thoughtful approach to photography. For all of these reasons, a tripod
of some sort is often necessary for professional photography as well as certain video
uses. I was using the tripod for the very first time however it was not very difficult to
set the camera on the tripod and it was also a nice experience using it.

25. CAMERA
The camera I used for making the opening sequence of my movie was Nikon DSLR
D3300. Although this was my first personal DSLR but I have previously used
different cameras (DSLRs) so operating the camera was not a very tough job
however I still watched a couple of tutorials on YouTube and read the guide to learn
more about the camera. Before I used the camera mainly for capturing pictures but
then I also learnt to record videos which was again not as difficult as I thought it to
be.