OUR FINISHED PRODUCT

Evaluation - Use of Technology

How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

Here is a flow chart of how technology was used throughout the project:

Skills development

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

Thought this project I have learnt so multiple things as well as improved my existing skills. Here is a  i did to summarize and compare my skills now and before the project.

Codes and Conventions

Studying the codes and conventions of thriller films really helped me come up with all of the ideas in order to create an effective opening. The research I have done about other thriller films also allowed me to pick up similar patterns of the genre thriller (e.g: dark lighting, eerie music) and merge ideas together into making my own product. By being aware of the elements in thrillers, it made the planning and filming process easier as we already had ideas of what the audience would expect.

Cinematography

Initially, I was clueless and did not know how to use the camera properly. My friends taught me the how to play around with the basic settings and controls for example adjusting the lighting and exposure by changing the levels of ISO. Over the course, I have learnt to become more fond in using my camera  because I became more curious and interested about the way that camera angles can affect the shot to create different meanings. 

Editing

Before this project I had very little experience and knowledge with softwares related to editing such as After Effects and Adobe Premier pro. I only knew how to order my clips using iMovie which has fewer options comparing with the other softwares that I use now. This project has made me challenge myself to start using more complex softwares like Adobe After Effects with a wider range of of each tools and options which requires more understanding to compose a cinematic video. Other than asking my peers and teacher, Youtube tutorials had also been really useful in allowing me to increase my knowledge on editing my videos with precision. It took me quite a while to get used to all the options however at the end of the course I can proudly say that I am now confident in using these softwares.

Visual Effects

I personally think that this is my weakest attribute is using editing softwares to create visual effects since I have never used any of these softwares before. I had zero knowledge of creating effects however I had always been fascinated by seeing them in movies (for example avatar, Beauty and the beast) therefore I challenged myself to have a go at editing the transition of the production logo by watching online youtube tutorials. I was really pleased with the result and my group also approved it, so we agreed to use my edit for the actual opening.

Creative Confidence

I, Prima and Claire enjoy thinking out of the box and coming up with new solutions therefore the beginning process of brainstorming ideas was fairly easy for us as a group. I was strongly involved in every discussion and suggested ideas that my group helped develop even further in order to produce a strong opening that will follow the codes and conventions of psychological thriller and is unique at the same time. After our filming process we faced some difficulties such as having to add full names of the entire crew (we only put in their real names and initials which was not the correct structure) when we already filmed the entire credit scenes. We managed to overcome this by adding their full names through adding digital texts which surprisingly turned out even better than our initial idea.

Planning and Organization

This project has allowed me to become more organized and more subtle with my plans. This refers to how we had to be specific about all the little details for example the dates and time that we are planning to film. Throughout the project, I was starting to get into the habit of planning before actually starting my tasks which has been really helpful as my plans allowed me to constantly be aware of what I had to do and not drift off to do unnecessary tasks. Working in a group with Prima and Claire has helped me improve this skill even further as well as we all were motivated to make the final product turn out as planned therefore we tried to arrange everything as clear as possible so that we were all on the same page while working. We made each of our responsibilities clear by delegating tasks and continuously communicating with each other so that we all knew what we had to do and follow in order to produce a product that we all had envisioned from the start.

Overall, this project was beneficial to me in so many ways: Working in a group has allowed me to learn how to split the workload and take part in group discussions in order to come up with the best ideas. It made me more confident not only by sharing ideas but also giving my opinion and commenting on other people's ideas as well. I really enjoyed this project and would love to take part in being involved in creating films again soon.

Evaluation - Distribution

How would it be distributed as a real media text?

Since our film is targeted at a niche audience, it may be difficult to reach out to them through marketing and distribution. The age of our target audience range between 30-45 and like to go to the movies so this could imply that they are less engaged in social media and the online world (e.g: Facebook, Youtube).

I believe that the first method of distribution that our film should consider is by entering various of film festivals for instance Horror Film Festives to gain recognition by spread of words. Reviews from critics will draw attention to our target audiences better. Also by any chance if we win an award, this would boost the demand for our film and may even possibly open us to new target audiences. This creates good publicity and simplifies the marketing process so that when the film is officially released in small theatres, people are already aware of our product.

Methods of distribution for our film are very limited due to the fact that our film is not made to satisfy the mass market. Our film is not a blockbuster film as it may not be appropriate due to strong and violent content revolving around controversial issues about body images manifested by the media. It will not be distributed to streaming websites like Netflix, or Hulu as it is a family friendly website with where young adults may easily access to it without consent. This is highly inappropriate for them and may highly affect the reputation of our film production company from allowing teenagers to be unprotected and exposed to adult content.

'Skin' will be widely available in private theatres chosen specifically to make the product seem limited and more special. This will bring more attention towards our film if we successfully encourage more people to be curious about the film.

Lastly, our film will be released around October/December ; The time where people are most into horror films because it is around Halloween plus the atmosphere will be dark, setting the mood for the population as well. Making our film public during summer or Christmas would not be a smart idea as people are less likely to be watching scary films in the time of year where it is most joyful and least gloomy. It will be competitive BUT since our film is aimed at a smaller group of audience, it may attract more ticket sales as people nowadays are excited by the sound of experiencing new,random things that they have not yet come across before.

Evaluation - Target Audience

IDENTIFYING OUR TARGET AUDIENCE

Considering the themes of our film, I believe that my film is most suitable for people who are fascinated by the subject psychology as well as art and design since our film is niche but at the same time aesthetically pleasing in a peculiar manner. The film "Skin" focuses on delivering deeper messages relating to the obsession of beauty through the use of gothic ambience and artistic images. People who are deeply curious and intrigued by the minds of psychopaths will surely love this film since it includes a haunting narrative that will leave their minds flooded with questions at the end of the film.

In order to help us identify our main target audience even better, we gathered information about the identity and characteristics of people who are keen on psychological thriller films, using the website YouGov Profiles:




This research was really useful because it allowed us to grasp similar patterns of people who may be interested in our film and track our audiences in order to easily consider different ways to distribute and market our film effectively.

How does your product engage with audiences?

Evaluation - Codes and Conventions

 1) How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

The sequence starts off with long shot where there is a silhouette of a lady sitting on a chair in the centre of the frame facing the camera. By having the woman sit in the middle will help the audience be aware that she is important and that the film is going to be based on this character. There is very dark lighting and is set in a small room, similar to other thriller films that we have researched about. Since the aim of our opening is to slowly build tension by revealing information of the main character bit by bit, we know that by having the face of the woman hidden in darkness at the start, a sense of mysteriousness will be created. This allows the audience to briefly capture that this is a thriller film straight away from the codes and conventions.

This shot shows a drawing of a lady with abnormally large eyes; It presents society's perception of beauty (especially in Asia) which generally displays beautiful women as having overly huge eyes. A sharp line cuts through the middle of the drawing's pupil as if it is splitting it apart, which indicates violence. Following the theory of shapes that we have previously studied, circles represents goodness therefore by placing a line there it suggests an idea that darkness is approaching.

In order to emphasize that this is a thriller film, we color corrected the film to make it dark to give a creepy effect. We thought that this panning shot would suit best to put our title as it shows the entire collage on the wall, therefore would be more effective and powerful.

The audience is hinted that the character is obsessed with trying to look like women in magazines from numerous of collage that she assembled together on the wall. Most of her work shows peculiar faces she put together by adding features of different people together. The creation also shows a pattern of pictures of only skinny ladies with flawless skin. This implies that the main character is driven to achieve that "perfection" (that is realistically impossible to achieve) and is hung up on the belief constructed by the media.

Low angle allows the figure of the woman to be slightly distorted and also hides her face (like how she is hiding her secrets), reinforcing the idea of the character being secretive. From a quick glance, the distortion almost presents a ghostly figure. This angle is from under the desk where darkness takes up most of the frame, giving a sense of danger approaching. The seemingly calm and slow movement of her arm as she is drawing gives a false sense of security.

The pace of her movement suddenly shifts in this particular frame in contrast to the previous shots in order to symbolize the character emotional instability. The loud diegetic sound of pencil onto paper and fast straight strokes connotes a sense of frustration. In this case, the character is exasperated because of the difficulty of not being able to look young and beautiful again.

 This ending shot reveals most about the character's intentions. The aim of this shot is to leave the audience shocked and wanting to know more. This dramatic effect is supported by the use of music, ending with a peak of a note and absolute darkness, symbolizing that more would be revealed throughout the rest of the film. 

Editing #1

Today we all edited different small sections using After Effects. I did some detailed editing of a extreme close up shot where the lady is sketching and scribbling a creepy portrait. I tried to edit it so that it fits in with the rough cut and that its in chronological order. I also edited the lighting to highlight the areas where there is light and emphasized the darker areas to create a more cinematic look, and make it more creepy by following this tutorial on youtube:

It took me quite a while to finish this part. It turned out quite well and suits the conventions of thriller (dark, eerie) however it didn't make that much of a difference compared to the original footage.

CHANGES

CHANGES BEFORE FILMING:

After we went location scouting, we discussed about what we can actually achieve and what will be too difficult for us to arrange. We thought that bringing a vinyl player wouldn't be a good idea since it's too heavy and would not be quite suitable if we brought an actual turntable to a hotel so we scrapped away the idea and thought that we could just put over creepy soundtrack so that tension can be created that way instead.

CHANGES WE MADE DURING THE FILMING PROCESS:

We were also uncertain if we were able to create the hallway shot where it zooms in into the spy hole as people were occasionally walking along the hallway and into their rooms ( so the timing wasn't appropriate). We tried to do it quickly anyway however it was shaky and didn't look as good as how we had expected it to be.

I tried to do a rough cut of the footage so that we can see the duration of this short sequence of zoom into the spy hole.

The clip was too long to be included in our film opening so we decided to leave it out. We also thought that it would be a bit too difficult to achieve.

Title Change

After we've gathered all the feedback from our peers, we found out that quite a number of people weren't able to grasp the concept of the plot. Our aim was to give an insight of the main character's intentions and our peers didn't mention their understanding in the feedback. As a result, we decided to change our title to "Skin" instead as it would make the idea more obvious to the audience and it also reinforces the idea of the character's intentions, as well as her obsession of youth and beauty. The word skin has connotations of flesh and also sounds creepy. This way, we are also making it easier for our audience to understand more of what is going on and will briefly know what the rest of the film will be based upon. 

Another reason for our decision is that most people don't know what the word "Limerence" means compared to "Skin" which everyone knows its definition. Here is a short video of us asking people if they know what the word "Limerence" means:




During the lesson we explored the fonts that we could use with the new title that we came up with:

In the end we agreed that the font Splendid 66 by Johan Holmdahi would suit best with our title "SKIN" as it is quite faded, rough, and imperfect which again links to the character and how she views herself:

In conclusion, we settled with "Skin" and this font as it is simple, easy to read, and looks best with the rest of the title sequence.

CREDITS #2

One of the common feedbacks we received were that the credits had to include the surname (and what role they had) because we only had the initials which does not the format of film openings. This was very challenging for us as we were unsure of what to do as it would be difficult for us to arrange a new plan and do another day of filming. Another reason why it would be hard for us is that we would have to position the items on the desk again to match the other shots for the film to remain smooth, so together we came up with two possible solutions:

1) CUT OUT AND STICK THE LETTERS AGAIN, BUT THIS TIME INCLUDING THE CREW'S FULL NAME AND THEIR ROLES THEN REFILM THE ZOOM IN PANNING SHOT OF COLLAGE ONLY

2) ADD IN THE CREW'S FULL NAME AND THEIR TASK DIGITALLY

As the poster and camera was kept at my house, I thought that it would be best if I did the cutting and sticking as well as the filming of the second credit sequence of the board. This was the outcome:

Class Feedback

We showed our rough cut for the rest of the class to see in order for them to be able to give feedback (by filling in a sheet of what we can improve and what impressed them) so that we can use to improve our final film.  I recorded their reaction using my phone:

What we will keep the same (or do slight tweaking) : 

• Collage - panning into names/credits
• Music

How we could improve:

• Color grading 
• Retake the credits part (collage part)
• OR Add names digitally
• Shorten and add details
• Make video smoother (stabilize some shots)
• Find a way to make it more easy to understand

Rough Cut

We composed a rough cut for our title sequence to briefly present the order of our shots so that it is easier when we are editing the actual opening.

COLLAGE BOARD CREATION

 We did a collage of cut-out faces of ladies from magazines and stuck it onto one A1 piece of blank paper. This is the where we're going to show the credits and names of producers as well. We tried to make it as creepy as possible by sticking in eyes that didn't match and making new faces with weird proportions. It took us quite some time however we were really pleased with how it turned out. Here is a time lapse of us doing the collage:

Film Company

During today's lesson I created an edit for the Film company transition using Adobe After effects:

We decided to go with the font Trajan Pro 3 as it is clear and easy to read. It looks similar to the font Times new roman and also has a modern mix to it. 

2) After this, we talked about the sound that we wanted to use. We searched through youtube and found some sound effects:

We didn't go for this one as we wanted the sound to be quiet and faint to slowly build suspense and make it creepy at the same time. 

We agreed that this also works for the film company. The sound of the clock links to the idea of time, which relates to the character and her old age (time is running out for her). We tried to put it together with the transition to see what it would turn out like: 

In the end, we went with this one as it has a creepy sound and fits in with the genre thriller. 

Finally, we ended up choosing this one as it fits the title transition best. It also has a continuous in the end which goes in with the part where the title is gradually fading out.

FILMING PROCESS

We immediately started setting up props and doing the make up because we had limited time as we only booked the hotel for a day (due to budgets). Here is a fast forward footage of me doing make up for Claire:

THE MAKE UP:

It was decided that we did a make up similar to this. We thought that it would suit best with our character as:

- Contouring of the face will make facial structure more defined, making her appear more slim and fragile

- Wounds, scar - create sense of danger, make her look creepier

- Grey hair (we sprayed Claire's hair with white hairspray to create this effect) to emphasise old age








Right after we finished preparing the set, we quickly started filming. We agreed that it would take longer to complete the shots needed for including credits (where the desk and collage board was required) so we did the shots that included the desk before moving on to the toilet scene:

Location Scouting Report

Location Scouting - DAY 7

Today, we went location scouting around Ari. One of our options was to film at my old house so we went to check it out however it didn't look creepy enough so we walked around the area to find some old hotels in order to film the following day. Here is a vlog I made from the clips we filmed during the day using Prima's GoPro:

Locations:

1) Condotel Hotel

2) Pradipat hotel

We ended up reserving Condotel Hotel (although it was quite expensive!!) for the next day since it has a bathtub with a shower curtain which we needed for the toilet scene.

CASTING

Finding the most suitable person that will fit our role of an emotionally unstable lady was super hard as we had to consider so many different attributes and elements such as:

- Female (preferably caucasian/european)

- Appearance (Slender and skinny, with long hair)

- Acting skills (can manage still face and do creepy expressions)

- Available at the filming day

During class, we discussed about the potential actress for our main role. We had two people in mind so we went to ask them if there would be alright and comfortable with all of this. Both of them agreed to doing it however were both not free during the filming day that we planned therefore we were struggling with coming up with a solution for a while. In the end, we decided to have Claire act as the lady since she fitted in best with our ideal actor. We thought that there is also an advantage for having Claire as our actor; Since she is a member of our group, She knows what we a looking for and can easily rein act that to create a believable character.

Risk assessment

SCHEDULE

In order to make things clearer of what and when we have to complete our work-

These are our aims and set due dates:

• To finish our creative process by Friday 20th January
• Location scouting and gather all of our props on Saturday 21st January
• Shooting day on Sunday 22nd January

This is how we intend our day to go:

Exploring After Effects!

After my failed attempt of trying to create a simple title transition for my opening sequence, I realized that I had absolutely no idea how to edit properly so during my free time I taught myself ( in baby steps ) how to split and reverse clips using Adobe After Effects. The clips in the video are the ones I took using my GoPro when I went to Maldives last year (2016):

Here is the final outcome:

Music - DAY 6

Today we did research for inspiration and reference that we might be able to add into our opening. I looked for some music and sound effects that might be appropriate for this:

The sound of the vinyl crackle would be played along with the music as the music would be played on a turn table to suggest that the vinyl player is very old. 

I, Claire and Prima agreed that this would fit best as the sound of the woman in high notes almost makes it uncomfortable to listen to. The song is not english language therefore the audience is even more curious of what is happening and is more engaged to the opening. We decided on this as we were inspired by the film "Insidious" specifically in the scene where the song "Tiptoe through the tulips" was played - when added along with the other micro-elements, was really effective.

Another diegetic sound that we thought of adding is the paper sound effect as we are panning through her desk. Again, the sound is slow and uncomfortable, building suspense and suggesting disruption as well as danger.

PROPS - DAY 5

During today’s lesson we discussed about the props that we were going to bring along and use with us during the filming process.

COSTUME IDEAS

-Silk bathrobe to give a false sense of youth and seduction as it is usually what young women wear 

-Skin can easily be shown through so audience can see the wrinkled, aged skin of character

-Sense of comfort and home to symbolize how at ease she is doing her “work” at home to look beautiful

-Bare feet (again, more aged skin can be shown through) and gives a creepy effect

-Hair is tied back so easy to see white hair

- Loose so audience can see her spine as she is working (also symbolizes her old age and how her skin is no longer firm and tight)

PROPS RESEARCH

Vinyl player - vintage, old, emphasize her age

Rusted old scissor - dirty as she uses to cut and sew skin

Fake blood

Sewing tools - needles, thread, etc

Magazines - faces, she cuts to create perfect face

Old comb - with hair stuck on it

Hair extensions - grey

Tape/Glue

Storyboard (2nd sequence)

For the film opening, we want to create suspense and build tension by revealing information about the character little by little (of how unstable she is). Before drawing a storyboard, we searched for the following pictures in order for us to have a brief idea of our composition for each frame that we are going to shoot.

We decided to do some tweaking to our initial idea and storyboard that we planned. Here is our second idea for our sequence:

1) Solid black background with faint diegetic sound of someone walking along the hallway

2) Sharp cut to hallway -  

During the lesson, we discussed about the lightings that we were going to use. We searched images of creepy hallways and as a result we agreed to go with the greenish/blue lighting/colour as this makes it mysterious and creates a sense of unease.

3) Camera slowly zooms in from an empty eerie hallway with a door at the end of the hall and continues to zoom through the peephole of the door where we see a woman sitting at her desk

4) Camera pans the room to her desk where we see her wall full off cut out faces and magazine pages and there is a point of view shot of the woman working. The audience sees her wrinkly old hands cutting pieces out from magazines. Things on her desk include : tape, scissors, magazines, sewing tools 

5) She gets up to leave (camera still in point of view) to the bathroom and stops in front of the mirror, her face and identity is revealed to the audience for the first time as an old lady.

6) Shot cuts to the back of her head while looking at the mirror, showing a few grey hair and skin of her back

7) Extreme close up shot as she slowly pulls a strand of grey hair. This connotes violence and frustration (and her insecurity) the character has towards herself (self destruction).

8) Strand of hair lands in the sink and we see that there are many strands (emphasizes her old age)

9) Woman walks out of the toilet and camera zooms out to wide shot of her room gradually

where body/leg can be seen hanging out of the bathtub with blood dripping 

This is the storyboard for this idea and a video to explain the camera movement in each frame:

Ideas and Inspirations - DAY 4

AESTHETICS:

ORPHAN
As we watch the movie, there is a gradual change of lightings from the beginning to the end. Initially, ambient lighting used which makes the atmosphere appear bright and normal. However later on in the movie where Esther is in the toilet kicking and screaming, the lighting and colours become darker. This suggests that there has been a change in mood and emotion, and that everything is no longer normal. The dull and minimal colours in the scenes gives a sinister mood, foreshadowing danger for other characters as we approach the ending of the movie.

We will apply this to our film opening by decreasing the saturation of our film (also using colour correction and adjust the lighting) and have it mostly dark/black to create the same mood and feel.

DON'T BREATHE

During the scenes in the basement (which is during the climax of the film), the lighting and temperature of the movie changes to a cooler tone of blue and grey. However, when the characters are not in the basement, the colours are warm, consisting of orange and brownish tones. The colour these scenes succeed to create a very eerie and mysterious feel to the film (building up tension) by using strong shadows along with these colour selections. We thought of applying this to our own film opening by emphasising warmer tones throughout.