Two minute film opening.

Evaluation.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My media product uses, develops and challenges real media products by using the main psychological thriller elements, like; creating a sense of mystery on the audience’s behalf, as well as incorporating the genre of ‘drama’ and having the key points of the story line and theme being; following the mental state of the protagonist – in this case being Arabella suffering from schizophrenia. I gained a lot of my knowledge on psychological thrillers from existing media products with this genre, such as; Black Swan and Orphan, both of which are prominently based on the seemingly innocent and vulnerable female character who becomes capable of something quite sinister, however the sinister actions aren’t overtly portrayed in the movies, I have adapted this skill myself by showing various props and possessions of Arabella’s rather than showing directly, the death of Cynthia – therefore I think I have emulated and developed the forms and conventions of existing psychological thrillers when producing my own. Challenging forms and conventions of real media products proved to be the most difficult of the three. I stuck to the general psychological thriller theme however I used a young vulnerable, harmless girl to be the evil protagonist – which other psychological thrillers have slightly hesitated to do, (even in Orphan, the young girl is in fact an adult) whereas I have contradicted the sweet child-like characteristics a 10 year old girl would have and replaced them with manipulative and, quite evil traits.

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How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I cannot speak about a social group of people, who suffer from schizophrenia, as I don’t have firsthand experience or knowledge therefore I can’t make a judgement without appearing as quite stereotypical. However, my media product represents the friendships between young girl’s and the social groups young girls associate themselves with quite effectively – although young girls obviously don’t usually commit murder against one another, I know that friendship’s at a young age can be challenging and demanding. Arabella becomes quite possessive over Cynthia which can be similar to friendships that children experience themselves even today, without the drastic consequences. I have also represented the naivety of young girls in their social groups – the innocent harmless pictures that Arabella has hung up in her bedroom showing the friendship the girls have shared, and the notice board displaying a few of her ideas proves the imaginative and youthful characteristics young girls have. The fact that the title is ‘Arabella’s diary’ too represents the young girl and child-like social group as it’s usually young girls who write a diary, rather than girls of an older age group – however if they did – I’m sure all their thoughts wouldn’t be written in there, which may be the mistake Arabella made when confessing her sins into her diary.

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What kind of media institution would distribute your media product and why?

I have researched various media institutions and I think the production company which would be hypothetically most likely to distribute my media product would be; Phoenix pictures. Phoenix pictures originated in 1995 and are a premiere entertainment label holding an established reputation producing so many successful psychological thrillers, a specific one I am familiar with is ‘Shutter Island’, others being Shangai (which is actually a political thriller) Apt pupil, Black Swan and even Zodiac – all following similar mysterious mind haunting genres like my own.

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Who would be the audience for your media product?

When researching my target audience I received the data that females preferred psychological thrillers more than males, which I was quite surprised by as it contradicts with the stereotypical female preferences like; chick flicks and romantic films. When speaking to males about psychological thrillers recently they admitted that psychological thrillers require too much effort for thinking and use your initiative to work out what the purpose of the storyline is, whereas they prefer the entertainment to come to them – like with comedies they can be quite relaxed rather than having that on edge feeling attempting to work out what is going to happen next. However as well as this, males also enjoy horror films due to the guts and gore which are exploited – psychological thrillers don’t feature as much of this which can also be off putting. Due to the majority of psychological thrillers being rated for the age of 18+ I also found that the most popular psychological thriller fans were at least over 18 and even mainly over 25. Although this is increasing daily as I was researching recently and according to a poll taken on Facebook, the fan growth for psychological thrillers increases by over 250 people monthly.

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How did you attract/address your audience?

I used quite a drastic and dramatic storyline which psychological thrillers tend to have; I also think that immediately the title to my film attracts the specific audience as it’s quite vague only being ‘Arabella’s diary’ – which can draw an audience in to be quite intrigued and curious toward what Arabella’s diary could consist of. Schizophrenia also being one of the key elements in my film allowed the audience to recognize that there were some kind of mental state possessed by Arabella resulting in her manipulation and mind games which are quite prominent in my film encouraging them to watch the rest of the film, as it is a stereotypical psychological thriller element.

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What have you learnt about the technologies available from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout the construction process I worked entirely on my own which was definitely beneficial to me as it meant I had to learn the technologies myself and work off my own initiative without any help from others. I read the manuals for the camera I was given, (which was a Sony Handycam video recorder) I did this to ensure I use it to its full potential so that my movie features a variety of camera angles and shots as well as the effectiveness of lighting, e.g. when using the light on the camera and setting up my tripod when no one was around to hold the camera for me. I also learnt numerous skills on Mac computers as I had absolutely no knowledge about them before I began using them, particularly on iMovie, simply putting the recordings I had onto there, choosing and organising what I wanted on there and using so many different editing facilities, such as: trimming clips, changing the colour, creating jump cuts, slide transitions and even inserting a soundtrack to the movie from mp3 websites after downloading them. I’m pleased with what I have been able to produce considering I had no idea what I was doing a couple of months ago yet I have taught myself how to use a Sony HandyCam, a tripod and a Mac and all its facilities. Working individually proved to be quite difficult however I have learnt a lot which I can take on to A2 with me for further development when producing media products in future.

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Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt from the progression from it to the full product?

I worked in a group of four for my preliminary task, meaning I didn’t have quite as many responsibilities as what I had myself individually when creating the full product. The job roles were split between four individuals meaning there was less required of me, which I didn’t like as much. I prefer having control of what I want the film to be based on, the choice of cast, location and editing etc. Also, when working on the preliminary task we had even less knowledge than we do now, I didn’t have as many opportunities to learn the full amount of facilities available on the cameras and Mac’s. Each member of the group was allocated a certain task, for example: one member of the group was in charge of uploading and editing, one being in charge of planning and myself being in charge of the camera angles and shots; which I did enjoyed however I would have preferred it I took part in more than one task so I would have had the chance to learn a little bit about everything rather than specifically only camera angles. We came across a lot of problems during the preliminary task, like the lighting that shone into the camera when filming. We made the mistake of not watching the footage on the camera before uploading it therefore the only way we could resolve the issues with the lighting or angles were through editing; which we unfortunately didn’t have much knowledge on therefore the editing we did produce wasn’t quite as effective as that in the full product, and it also taught me that I must watch the footage on the camera’s before uploading to check if I have to film any further footage. I have also learnt that producing an efficient amount of planning for constructing and editing is highly important as I need to ensure I have a wide knowledge on all of those tasks, I now know that they are a considerably important contribution to my full product, without an efficient amount of planning it’s difficult to begin the construction as I wouldn’t know where to begin, similarly with construction it must be fully proficient for me to take part in the editing process which results me in the final product. There also wasn’t really much research done before producing the preliminary task, I wasn’t sure on a specific target audience for that kind of film therefore it was difficult to know what to do in order to address/attract the audience. During my preliminary task we also faced a number of issues with the days of planning, different members of the group were away on certain days which interfered with the construction on certain days, and this taught me that I have to plan days to meet with cast members to record when it is suitable for everyone.

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Sound design.

Today, I have inserted the final sounds to my movie. Firstly, I downloaded a free MP3 file from a website I found online (which was a clip from Doctor who called 'Tick Tock'). I chose this soundtrack as it features two young children singing a creepy/eerie nursery rhyme which seemed to fit quite well with the main characters of my film: I saved the sound file I wanted onto my memory stick which I inserted into the Mac I am working on at school, when I did this; a box appeared showing the contents of my memory stick where I simply dragged the file to my desktop and dragged it to where I wanted it on iMovie. The duration of the soundtrack only lasts 1 minute 14 seconds, which accompanied with the sound of myself and my friends singing - reached a maximum of 1 minute and 23 seconds, meaning I had 27 seconds of silence. I listened to a variety of 'Music and Sound effects' that are available on iMovie, it took me a while to find sounds that were suitable for the first 20 seconds of the movie - as only the woods are shown here. Eventually, I found some sounds and tried them out - Below are the sound effects used for the first 20 seconds:

For 18 seconds I have used the 'Drone Dark Sound Effect' which creates a deep background noise that accompanies the 20 seconds of 'Heartbeat' which is split between 10 seconds each, when the 'HeartBeat' sound effect stops for 1 second I have inserted a 'sweep motion' which benefits the swish pan effect I used with the camera. Other sounds I have used from the 'Music and Sound effects' on iMovie are:

I have used a discreet background sound with the main 'Tick Tock' song here as although I have faded in the main soundtrack for five seconds, it stills begins quite loudly and sharply therefore the 'Mystery accents' follows it quite well. When 'Tick tock' stops, the end of the film becomes silent, therefore I have added in extra sound effects - particularly for the jump cuts:

The 'Shuttle landing' is simply smooth crackling sound which avoids the silence I had, also the 'tape' rewinding sound effects is a very fast motion sound which accompanies the fast shot very well.

Sound design.

The first sounds I have inserted are between (approximately) shot 11 and shot 18, which consists of myself, and 4 friends singing 'Make friends, make friends, never ever break friends' - which obviously fits very suitably with the story-line being based on two best friends. It took several attempts to get this sound exactly how I wanted it, we had to ensure the room we were in was completely silent, to avoid any other noises distracting or distorting the sounds we needed. I recorded the sound on my camera, and imported it to iMovie as part of the film; however - I only wanted the sound from the clip rather than the sound and the actual visual recording, therefore; I had to highlight the entire clip I needed and click 'Edit' > 'Detach audio' meaning the sound from the clip became detached from what was seen. By doing this, I was left with only the audio for me to insert where I wanted it in the movie, which I chose to be from; Shot 11 (approximately) to shot 18.

Day four editing.

I plan for today to be the last day of editing, so I have enough time to evaluate my video. Following on from the cross dissolve transition after the shot of the photograph's the shot of Cynthia running through the woods is introduced for the first time - which I have slowed down to 50%. Similarly to the first shot in the woods of the floor that has been slowed down, I have done it primarily to show how the duration of the running must have seemed for the victim, as I said before it can empathise with them 'as though they were running continuously in fear of what was to come when they eventually turned round'. The next shot I chose here is blood/food colouring writing on the back of a notice board which I have made a lot faster in contrast to the shots of Cynthia running. Making this clip a lot faster shows the contrast between Arabella's racing state of mind compared to Cynthia's soft naivety which is portrayed in the slow-motion relaxed shot. Shots of Cynthia running and the blood/food colouring writing appear recurrently for the next few shots. Eventually when these finish I have inserted a clip of Cynthia in the woods, I originally allowed this to run smoothly although it was quite quick, however I have cut out several parts of several shots I recorded to create a jump cut. Jump cuts are highly affected as not only do they make the shot appear distorted whilst disrupting classical continuity editing, they also reflect on Arabella's state of mind due to her schizophrenia, with the fast acting and displaced cuts.
Before the jump cuts were inserted, this is how my movie looked:

I thought this was far too slow, and being one of the last shots the viewer sees, I wanted it to make an impact rather than follow on too similarly to the rest of the continuity editing we see throughout the film.
In order to create a jump cut I do the following:
- Put together various clips I planned to use
- Highlighted what part of each clip I wanted taken out from the rest
- Delete/cut out the highlighted part
- Allow the movie to play continuously with the segments taken out
Which causes my movie to look like this:

Finally, I have concluded to a black screen at the end of the film which fades on from the shot prior, included with this is a two second title featuring the 'Cracked' font with 'double strike out' reading the main title to the film 'Arabella's diary' to conclude the movie.

Day three editing.

Today is my third day of editing, which is following on from the editing I did on Saturday 17th. The next shot shown is of a notice board displaying notes and possessions kept by Arabella, including a porcelain doll. A 'fade to black' transition has been inserted here, between the notice board shot and a shot of various child-like hand drawn pictures are shown on the wall. I have changed the colour considerably on this, the exposure has become 99%, as well as -32% brightness, 81% contrast and 32% saturation; I have changed this because it has created a slightly black hint, particularly around the outside of the shot - it may be accentuated here due to the natural lighting that came through on the shot originally, therefore when I changed the colour, certain parts tended to be lighter and brighter than others. Similarly to before I have inserted a 'fade to black' transition between this shot and the upcoming shot; of the girl as she turns around to look at the camera, which I have slowed down to 50% as it was quite a quick shot however I preferred it a lot more when slow, as it looks good with the following 'cross dissolve' transition, taking viewers to the photographs I pan recorded in the dark (see filming). This shot didn't necessarily need any editing because it already featured an interesting lighter tone when the camera panned across different parts of the shot (this is due to the light I used on the camera in contrast with the dark room I filmed in.) Again, a cross dissolve transition has been inserted here to follow to the next shot which I will continue to edit soon.

Day two editing.

I inserted a one second 'cross dissolve' between the last shot and this, again to create a similar smooth transition allowing each shot to lead on from one another without any sudden stopping. This shot consists of writing being shown in a notebook - I have taken several different shot's and put them together, therefore this shot doesn't run as smooth as the others, which is good as it's the effect I wanted to create. The colour has been changed again, with 99% 'exposure', -35% 'brightness', -18% 'contrast' and 0% 'saturation' meaning this shot is featured in black and white, similarly to the first shot shown in the woods. Between this shot I have inserted a transition which lasts 0.9 seconds of simply 'fading to black', following on from this is a slow motion shot from over the shoulder showing a young girl brushing her hair in the mirror. I have made this a very short shot, also slowed down by 50%; which I enabled by 'converting the clip' and altering the speed to my preference. A one second 'cross dissolve' appears again between this and the next shot, which returns to the writing in the notebook, with the 0% saturation and colour changes as shown before.