Sara-Jayne and Lauren worked together on their media coursework, which included a preliminary task and main task. For the preliminary task, they created a safety hazards comedy video. They then produced a clip following filming techniques for their main task, which was a horror film titled "Come Die With Me." They storyboarded, filmed, and edited their clips. They received positive feedback from classmates through a questionnaire and made minor edits to improve their final project.

1. MEDIA COURSEWORK DIARY By Sara-Jayne Keen

2. Lauren Johnson and I decided to be in a group together for our AS Media coursework. We decided this because we get on well together and have worked well in previous group activities.

3. RISK ASSESSMENT Lauren and I decided to make a safety hazard video. We also decided to make it comical. This is because it will draw more attention yet put our point across. We included a variety of safety hazards. This includes water damage, tripping over, ‘stranger danger’ and careless use of the equipment. www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8xdSaWCGNw

4. THE PRELIMINARY TASK For our preliminary task we have to work in small groups and produce a short clip of a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down on a chair opposite another character. They then exchange a couple of lines of dialogue. The task must contain and understand the use of match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.

5. MICRO ASPECT- FILMING Lauren and I thought it’d be fair if we were to take it in turns for roles in each task. For this task I was the camera person. I tried to focus on smooth movement with the camera using the tripod. We used a HD camera as it was very good quality. It was also quite easy to use as our teacher gave us a demonstration. I also attempted to use a variety of shot types to establish my knowledge within our product.

6. MATCH ON ACTION This is a technique in film making where the editor carefully matches the movement across two shots without interruption.

7. 180 DEGREE RULE The 180 degree rule is seen to be an invisible line within filming. If you cross the line the left/right relationship between the characters is crossed and incorrect.

8. SHOT REVERSE SHOT This technique is where one character is shown looking at another, usually off screen and then the other character is looking back, and then back to the first character.

9. 17/01/2011 Lauren and I produced a detailed story board for our idea to help us when filming. We also added timing on our story board to benefit us even more whilst filming. Our video according to our story board will only be 27 seconds.

10. STORYBOARD 27 SECONDS

11. PROP LIST, SHOOTING SCHEDULE AND TITLE ‘ The Dodgy Deal’ PROP LIST: SHOOTING Hat SCHEDULE: Table 24/01/2011 Two chairs 26/01/2011

12. 19/01/2011 Lauren and I created the dialogue and chose the location for the preliminary task. We also chose the cast and roles for one another. DIALOGUE: A- [opens door slowly and walks in slow] B- “I’ve been waiting for ya” A- “Have ya got it?” B-[slides over hat] A- ”It’s been a long time” B- “This better be worth it” We also decided the roles for each other. Lauren is doing the editing, acting and mise en scene. I am filming and we have a friend (Alex) who is the other character. LOCATION: Aylesbury College – 3-19 Media Room

13. 24/01/2011 Today I filmed three of the six shots from our story board using equipment that was new to us. This included a tripod and a HD camera. We couldn’t film the rest as we didn’t have the props for the other scenes. We learnt how to set up the tripod and camera and how to do different camera skills and angles.

14. 26/01/2011 Today I filmed the other three shots of our story board. Luckily we had the props and the misé en scene required from Lauren which was all correct from our story board. We also tried to follow the story board as much as we could, however in the editing process we changed a few things. This includes certain shot durations and sound effects. Lauren and I focused a lot on continuity editing to make sure she was wearing the same thing she wore in the last lesson.

15. 31/01/2011 Lauren and I uploaded our clips we recorded onto the computer by plugging in our camera USB lead. Lauren then used a specific software ‘iMovie’ to edit our clips and delete the practise ones which were not needed. We added different sound effects and music as well as changing the speed of some of our clips. We noticed small continuity errors in our clip which unfortunately cannot be changed. Afterwards our teacher then uploaded our clip to YouTube.

16. PICTURE OF LAUREN EDITING taken from my phone.

17. OUR PRELIMINARY TASK www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZYuVbgNzQU

18. OVERALL CONCLUSION OF PRELIMIINARY TASK Overall I think the task has been quite successful. At first we had a few difficulties with filming and finding out how to do the different techniques. In the end we succeeded and finished our preliminary task successfully. I learnt that you have to be very careful with the tripod during filming and make sure you use the equipment correctly. The filming became easier after having a practise which I think helped our final filming for the preliminary task. I feel that overall I’ve gained experience and learnt what I’d do differently next time whilst filming. I’ve also learnt a few lessons from this task including to hold on to the tripod for steady movement and to not rush as certain aspects within our task are not as good as I would like them to be.

19. THE MAIN TASK For the main task we have to produce the titles and opening of a new fiction film. This has to last a maximum of two minutes. Lauren and I have decided to work together for this task as well as the preliminary task. This is because we felt as if we worked well together.

20. KEY TERMS I feel as if the key terms to remember for the Main task would firstly be super imposition. This is because Lauren and I are using this for our clip for the titles and opening. Super imposition is writing over a moving image. We should also think about the key term the 180 degree rule. However this won’t really be used for our task as there is only one character in our clip. However I think that we still need to include the 180 degree rule with props/ mise en scene.

21. MICRO ASPECT- EDITING AND MISE EN SCENE As Lauren was in charge of these micro aspects in the first task we decided fairly that I would be in charge of mise en scene and editing in this task. I had to make sure that I had the correct lighting for the filming to create the atmosphere and if I was unsuccessful then I would edit this with iMovie.

22. 09/02/2011 Lauren and I created our idea for the main task today. We conducted the story line, character profile, location and the title of our short clip. I also created a shooting schedule and prop list. We both chose our roles. For this task I am acting and editing, as well as in charge of mise en scene. Lauren is filming. We also decided to have no dialogue apart from screaming and sound effects as our genre is horror so we’re aiming to create a eerie atmosphere within the clip towards the audience by using these aspects of the genre.

23. CHARACTER PROFILE, STORY LINE, LOCATION AND TITLE. ‘ COME DIE WITH ME’ LOCATION: AYLESBURY- ST. MARYS CHURCH – GRAVEYARD AND AROUND THE AREA Our clip is about an orphan girl named Sarah who is possessed by her parents ghosts. This is because she killed them. They were moving away because the daughter who is quite a rebel got into trouble. With all of the rushing around the car crashed and Sarah was to blame. She was the only one to survive so her parents seek revenge. The name of our character Is Sarah, age 15. she is a school girl/ rebel and has now became an orphan. She has became fragile and is bullied and tormented occasionally.

24. SHOOTING SCHEDULE, PROP LIST AND ROLES ROLES Lauren is filming for the task and I am acting. I am also In charge of Mise en scéne/ props. Lauren is editing. PROP LIST: Locket (necklace) White Shirt Dress Tights Scissors Fake Blood SHOOTING SCHEDULE: 28/02/2011 02/03/2011 EDITING/ FINAL TOUCHES: 07/03/2011

25. RESEARCH Lauren and I thought we should get some inspiration for our clip. We found a few old films such as ‘Carry on screaming’. We also found recent films such as ‘Scary Movie’ which is the same sort of genre. Our research found that the horror genre has a sort of sub-genre which is ‘tongue n cheek’ horror. This is a sort of spoof of horror movies. This sub genre we researched means that certain films in the horror genre over the years have become so ridiculous and dramatic that it’s comical. We found that this genre is especially built up with the different sound effects in the film.

26. RESEARCH CARRY ON SCREAMING 1966 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlopRoLe_d4 Director: Gerald Thomas Genre: Horror/Comedy. Summary: The sinister Dr Watt has an evil scheme going. He's kidnapping beautiful young women and turning them into mannequins to sell to local stores. Analysis of clip: we watched the clip of this film and it shows many comical elements of the comedy genre and horror. The clip also shows different features such as eerie music, which compliments this horror genre. This research influenced us to include this type of music in our product.

27. RESEARCH SCARY MOVIE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCJDZwVwJaY Director: Keenan Ivory Waynes An American Dark Comedy Parodies the horror, slasher and mystery genres. Spoofs many mid/late 90’s films such as scream, I Know what you did last summer, The Ring, The haunting and The Exorcism. Analysis of clip: in this clip the actress is very over exaggerated with her actions. This includes her screaming. This gave me and my acting inspiration to over exaggerate it to make our product more comical.

28. RESEARCH Over exaggerated expressions Typical horror signifiers Hilarious yet dramatic/scary (what we’re aiming for) Film titles are not serious for example ‘Wrong Turn’ isn’t a funny film, just horror, whereas these film titles are seen as quite light hearted.

29. 14/02/2011 Today Lauren and I created the story board. We decided to have our story board quite detailed and specific including the shot durations, type of shot and sound effects I would use during the editing process. We both felt as if this would benefit us whilst filming and editing.

30. STORYBOARD 1 minute 23.5 seconds

31. 28/02/2011 For the main task we want to film in a graveyard. So today Lauren and I went to St. Marys Church and spoke to ‘Father Shane’ for permission to film. Fortunately he said yes and Lauren filmed 3 of our shots today. These were the tree, the church and the alley/path shot. We only filmed these three shots and we didn’t have the props for the others today.

32. 02/03/2011 Today Lauren filmed the rest of our story board at the graveyard for the main task. I bought all the correct props today so felt as if we had a successful day as we got the filming completely finished. However the weather was different to when we last filmed so I decided that I was going to change the lighting whilst editing. We also uploaded all of our filming to the computer (iMac) and deleted the clips we didn’t need. We used a specific software called iMovie again. We focused a lot on continuity editing in this task as with the Preliminary task we didn’t do so well with this. We predicted our video to be 1 minute 23 seconds according to the story board; however the clip ended up to be 1 minute 41 seconds. We didn’t completely stick to the story board and we changed the length of certain clips as well as discarding some. Next lesson hopefully I will edit our clip and it should be complete.

33. Pictures from our filming (took by my phone) OUR LOCATION

34. Pictures from our filming (took by my phone) OUR LOCATION

35. PRODUCTION LOGO We decided for our production logo to be the very first text shown at the beginning of our product. This is ‘SJL Productions’. This is because this logo is simple and draws attention more to the background. Also this logo is simple. We decided this as it is the initials of our names put together, which is a simple yet effective idea.

36. 07/03/2011 Today I edited our clip. I added more sound effects and didn’t completely stick to the story board. I made sure that I imported sound effects to our product from the software we edited with because of Copy Right laws. We weren't completely sticking to the story board because at the time of editing Lauren and I had better ideas compared to the ones we thought of whilst doing our story board. I also changed the lighting to a night time effect. For title credits we decided to do a super imposition in which we thought of in our story boarding. I also turnt the sound off from around where we were as you could here people talking. This is because it wasn’t meant to happen and we luckily had appropriate sound effects to overtake the noise, although we did edit out the background sound. We didn’t use a graphic match which we intended within our story board as we completely forgot whilst filming. However we changed this to a close up and made it more effective by adding two types of sound using iMovie. We finished all our editing today. We also learnt how to upload it to YouTube by the software I edited with and then did so.

37. PICTURE OF ME EDITING taken from my phone.

38. 21/03/2011 Today Lauren and I made a questionnaire for our class. We would then use the results to edit our product again and change aspects of it. The main reason we did this part of research is to see what people thought of our product, and what to change to gain a wider audience.

39. OUR QUESTIONNAIRE Our first question was to make sure that the audience understood our film, regarding the storyline. This is because we didn’t want the audience to be confused. Secondly we asked the audience how many horror films they had seen. This is again to make sure the audience understood our film and saw the genre aspects of horror within our product. Our third question was to see any continuity errors were spotted. We felt as if was crucial to put in our questionnaire as we didn’t pay as much attention with this aspect in our Preliminary task. We then asked about our target audience to see peoples opinion on our film and the age group it’s directed at. We didn’t include dialogue within our product to create tension. We decided to put this question in to see if people agreed. Our next question was chosen as we wanted to know if our product attracted our audience. We wanted overall star ratings of our film to see if it was good or bad as a low budget film. We again asked if our product had the correct genre signifiers. Our last question was peoples opinion on our shot types to make sure we included a variety and expressed our knowledge.

40. 23/03/2011 Today Lauren and I had a screening of our main task product in the class to get other students opinions. We then handed out our questionnaire to 6 media students. This was to get feedback of our product including constructive criticism we which will adapt too. We included a variety of quantative and qualitive questions which means open ended and option questions.

41. RESULTS Does our film make sense? How many horror films have you seen? Are there any continuity errors that you noticed?

42. RESULTS What audience do you think our film is aimed at and why? Would you watch the rest of our film? If yes then why? Do you think we should’ve included dialogue? If yes then why? What star rating would you give our product? “ Builds tension” “ Effective” “ Funny” “ Funny” “ To see who Sarah is!” “ Young actor”

43. RESULTS Does it follow the conventions of a horror/comedy, if so what conventions? On a scale of 1-10 (1 being the least) how would you rate our range of shot types/angles? What film would you compare our film to and why? “ Funny” “ Over dramatic” “ Gruesome” “ Funny side of Scary Movie” “ Fifth Sense Scary Side”

44. RESULTS CONCLUSION Lauren and I were very happy with the results from the questionnaire and we feel as if they helped us with our product as we got slight constructive criticism but mostly positive results. This is because we had the chance to look at what people thought of our film and change bits that we agreed with. We decided to set a few targets for our product, which include: edit out continuity error at the end of our clip keep the birds singing as it isn’t a general error its just the birds stopped singing. Make sure there are no gaps or obvious cuts We began to re-edit our clip straight after the questionnaire.

45. OUR CLIP With our super imposition (credits) editing we decided to use a simple text. This was so all of the attention was on the background/filming. We wanted to change our lighting to dark to create an eerie effect. We also thought this would benefit our choice of genre with this typical night time horror in a scary atmosphere. We added lots of sound effects for our clip. This was mainly because we had no dialogue which we wanted to make our product create tension.

46. OUR MAIN TASK http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMyJFdtp0sk

47. OVERALL CONCLUSION OF MAIN TASK I feel as if this task was more successful then the preliminary task by a lot more. This is because we learnt from our mistakes in the preliminary task and focused a lot more (including continuity editing) within the main task. I feel that this task was successful as we also used different angles in the clip. An example is canted angles. We also used a variety of shots including over the shoulder shot and close ups. I felt as if Lauren and I worked well together in this task more then the last as we had quite similar opinions and ideas. To improve our main task I think we should’ve had more time as we sort of rushed, and to be more organised with the props.

48. EVALUATION

49. Use of Digital technology We used a variety of technologies in our product. We both think this shows good examples of convergence and how technology has changed. This includes: My phone (blackberry) for photos and emailing the photos. HD video camera The internet to upload our videos to YouTube. Mac Book and iMovie Software

50. TECHNOLOGIES USED. Tripod used to put the camera on, for steady and smooth movement. HD Camera (High Definition) Used for filming. High Quality and simple to use. Minibook Laptop Used to edit our coursework on iMac Used to edit our filming with and used to upload to YouTube This is the software we used on the iMac to edit with. This is my phone which I used to take pictures with and email them to the minibook. Blackberry 9700

51. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Our media product uses a variety of features from a real media product. This includes the music and sound effects we used. This also challenges the forms as it can be compared to some other films which have this. As we don’t have any dialogue in our product this also challenges other conventions of a real media product as it is something that you don’t see in films very often. In a way we were breaking certain boundaries of typical conventions .

52. How does your media product represent particular social groups? Our main task represents orphans very negatively. Although we don’t make it a hundred percent clear in our clip that the character is an orphan, we also represent negatively mental illness. This is because the character exploits physical harm towards herself, implying she has a mental illnesss. This also shows what being alone/ losing someone close can do to people and the affect/ outcome of their actions. Our product is quite depressive and emotional yet with the humour of over-exaggeration. We show the product has quite an emotional out take of death that it over-exaggerates and to an extent where it leads to self harm. Overall the product/ main task represents this particular social group (orphans) negative.

53. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? I feel as if an American institution would distribute our film. This is because the film is to overdramatic for British horror and comedy. I also think this because of the sound effects and editing we used as they are quite over dramatic and exaggerated. An example of an institute that would distribute our film would be Wayans Bros Entertainment. This company distributed Scary Movie, which is vertically integrated. This is because the film is made up of parts of other films such as ‘Scream’. Also this institution distributed many comical films like Dance Flick. Therefore because our film contains slight comedy genre elements they may consider distributing our film

54. Who would be the audience for your media product? The certificate for our main task would be a 15. This is because there is a lot of violence. Also our media product has certain elements that are seen as light hearted comedy within our horror genre. Our horror film is like the film Scary Movie in which we researched. Therefore we are aiming for the same sort of target audience, which is teenagers. Our short clip for the main task is quite gory. Therefore I feel as if the target audience would be especially male. This because women don’t like gory/ gruesome films as much as males.

55. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? How did you attract/address your audience? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm99S69S2to&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

56. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in progress from it to the full product? If I compare the main task to the preliminary I feel as if I have learnt a significant amount. This is because in the main task we highly improved our continuity editing as we didn’t rush as much as we did in the preliminary task. The reason we rushed in the first task/product was because other students wanted to use the room for their filming too. It was quite enjoying doing the filming and editing, as well as acting for the tasks. I thought it would be difficult filming and especially editing at first using all the new technology and equipment but after a small amount of practice, I understood how to use the HD Camera and software in which we edited with. With the main task , compared to the preliminary, I feel as if I’ve become a lot more confident editing and have became more organised.

57. BIBLIOGRAPHY/REFERENCES. http://everything2.com/title/match+on+action http://www.wikipedia.com http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/100/visual-design-for-e-learning-video-production-an-introduction http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi www.IMDB.com www.youtube.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carry_on_screaming_(film).jpg http://174.122.2.131/~cali925/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/wayans.jpg