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

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

Who would be the audience for your media product?

To find out who would be the best audience for our media product we gathered our target group and got them to watch the film opening. After they watched the opening we interviewed them and asked who would be an appropriate target audience.

What kind of media institutions might distribute your film, and why?

PODCAST:

"After watching Amnesia, do think the film would be distributed by an independent or global film company?

I feel that the film would be best distributed by an independent film company. This is because the film focuses on one specific subject matter and this way it could be seen by the audience who want to see it and can relate to the film.  This will also mean that the film will be more accessible for everyone and therefore it is the easiest way to get people to see our film without having to go out of their way to go to the one cinema which may exhibit it.


What independent film company do you think would distribute the film? 

I think eOne films would be the best company to distribute your film and it has already distributed very successful thrillers. For example, The Woman in Black, was extremely successful and profited around $26 million. Also eOne films is an international aggregator for iTunes. This means the film may be available to watch on iTunes, so people do not have to go the cinema to watch the film. This might also reduce the amount of illegal streaming of the film because it will be more accessible to people."

How did you attract/ address your audience?

During our research and planned we decided to aim our film at females aged 15-20. We addressed this target audience by using an actress of the similar age. By doing this it meant that members of the audience can relate to how Cassie, the main character is feeling. Not everyone has amnesia but people, especially teenagers would be able to relate to the confusion that she is feeling in the opening. The main character is female this meant that our predominately female audience could also relate to the gender.
We tried to portray Cassie as a typical teenager by dressing her in baggy clothes and having messy hair. Also way the way she lies in the center of the bed signifies her age by showing that she is not in a relationship. 

After talking to our focus group I feel that the film would also be suitable to people older. As most people ave been effect by a mental illness in their life, this makes most people would be able to relate to the film despite being a different age to the character in the film. To help us to find out what aspects appeal to audiences we asked an audience for some feed back. From research they said that to address a wider audience as it could appeal to a wider range of people.

5 of the top 10 thrillers of 2014 were given '15' certificates. However from looking at the bbfc website i think that our film would most likely receive a '12A' certificate. This is due to the themes of Imitable behavior. Also it requires knowledge and maturity to understand the mental health issues that our film addresses. 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product represents two different socials groups, teenage girls and mental health patients. Cassie first comes across as a typical teenage girl. It i not until the end of the opening that the audience discover that there is something unusual about Cassie. This is shown through the post it notes scattered over the wall. 

To portray the misunderstood teenage girl stereotype, we chose our actresses outfit in order for the audience to immediately know information about her, without any dialogue. She wore black leggings and a baggy T-shirt, along with messy hair and little make-up to show she has just got out of bed. We choose this look to help represent the girl as being a 'blank slate', as she would have forgot who is is. The messy post it notes on the wall represents the girls chaotic thoughts and feelings. However most teenagers do not suffer from amnesia, they still may be able to relate to the confusion that she is feeling. Cassie portrays an ambiguous stereotypical teenager and shows the struggles they have to go through. 

The film also represents people with mental health issues. Cassie conforms to the stereotype of being 'misunderstood' by society. We create the sense that Cassie feels isolated and alone by only having her in the opening and then later introducing character further into the film. 

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

Final Piece

Ending chose

Ending 1                            Ending 2

While editing we each had a different way in which we visualized the tittles of the opening appearing. One awayidea was to have the tittle type over a shot of the girl looking out of the window. The other idea was to have the tittle suddenly appear with a black background then slowly flade  We could not decide which ending looked best, so we got a focus together and got them to watch both versions. We then asked them which one they preferred. In the end we those the first ending ending as our focus group thought it was more interesting and creavtive.

Once we had edited all of our footage we started letter-boxing. This was easy however it it took a long time as we had to apply the letter box to each individual shot. We also had to re-frame a lot of our shots in order to make sure that nothing was cut out of frame. 

Colour Grading

Our shots were quite bright and colorful, this did not fit the theme that we were taking to create. So we used a colour corrector in final cut pro to make the shot slightly darker and more black and white. This was a simply process, however it took quite a long time because we had to edit each shot individual and we wanted all the shot to look the same. Once the shots were all edited it made the opening look much more mysterious and dark.

Draft 2

Music change

Once we had hit our mid deadline our teacher gave us feed back on our film opening so far. She said that the music was too upbeat for the genre that we were creating. So we search for some different music. We eventually found music that we liked, from a non copyright music website. Once we inserted the new music we agree that it fitted the opening much as better, as it was slower pace. This helped to prolong the shots.
We also got told that our opening was not long enough. This meant that we would have to go back and films some more shots. Thankfully the shots we needed to re shoot did not require our actress.

Audience Feedback

Once we had uploaded our first draft we asked a few media students in the year above to watch it and tell us what they liked and what we could change to make it better. This was a great help as it allowed us to improve our opening and make sure it was appealing to the right age group.

They wrote some feed back on post it notes, there was some positive feedback and some constructive criticism:
*Add 'white noise' to create an atmosphere
*Add more titles i.e. names and production
*Colour grade some shots to suit the genre better
*Add fades between the establishing shot and panning shot

Starting editing

Today we started our editing process. Once we had inserted our footage to the mac, we had to convert it using MPEG stream clip. This is to ensure the quality of the shots stayed the same. This process took quite a long time as we had a lot of footage to convert.
Once all the footage had converted we simply put all the shots in order as a basic staring point. From there we came up with the idea of adding the definition of amnesia, in a typewriter form. This helped to create enigma and hint to what the narrative of the film was. As these are key elements that film opening needs to include, which we learnt from our research of film openings. We inserted the two different definitions between our opening panning shots.
We then inserted our music, which we had got made and given the right to use by a friend. We thought the music was very fitting and gave to opening a sense of mystery. This helps to establish the genre of the film.

Filming Journal

Before we went to the location we made a schedule that we made sure we kept to. We arrive to the location before the actress (Laura), this meant that we had time to set up the camera and work out which room was best for lighting. We then went outside to film the first establish shot of the house. Lauren arrived at 10:30am and we started filming straight away. Then we filmed the first few shots of 'Cassie' getting out of bed. Once we had filmed the first shots Bella and Lauren went downstairs to print off photos to stick on the wall. While they were doing this I filmed close up shots of objects around the house. Unfortunately the one of the tripods was already booked, this meant we had to use a still tripod. This meant it was difficult to get a smooth tracking shot of the hallway. We had not realized that so much of the day would be taken up by printing photos of our actress with family and friends to create a more realistic feel to our film opening. We also had to produce the post-it notes with phrases and names written on them to remind our amnesiac patient about her life. After we had produced the photographs and post-it notes we placed them as a montage on her bedroom wall. We then filmed the last few shots of the girl looking at the wall full of post it notes and photos.

Overall, I think that the day went well and we took some very good, varied shots. However I feel we should have produced the post it notes and photos in pre production so we would have more time to film.

Filming schedule

Filming schedule

10:00am	Arrive at location
10:10am	Decide which room is best to film
10:20am	To some practice shots and sort out lighting
10:30am	Actress arrives
10:40am	Start filming
11:00am	Print off photos and post it notes
11:30am	Continue filming
1:00pm	Finish filming

Shot List

Shot List

Shot number:	Shot type:	Shot description:
1	Establishing Shot	A long shot of a house is used to establish the location of the film.
2	Panning Shot	A panning shot shows the hallway of inside the house.
3	Reverse Panning Shot	A reverse shot shows personal belonging which help to create the storyline.
4	Text	Black screen as the definition of amnesia appears across the screen.
5	Panning Shot	A reverse shot shows personal belonging which help to create the storyline.
6	Text	Black screen as the second definition of amnesia appears across the screen.
7	Close up Shot	Close up shot of a photo of a mother and daughter.
8	Mid shot	Of a girl asleep in bed.
9	Extreme Close up	Extreme close up of an iPhone alarm flashing 8:00 am.
10	Mid Shot	A mid low angle shot of the girl in bed.
11	Close up	High angle close up of the iPhone alarm.
12	Mid Shot	Mid shot of the girl sitting up and looking at the photo frame.
13	Extreme low angle shot	Low angle shot of the girls feet.
14	Long shot	Of the girl walking across the room, to the wall.
15	Mid shot	This shows the girl starring at the wall.
16	Over the shoulder shot	Shows the girl pick off one of the post it notes on the wall.
17	A series of close up shots	Shows different pictures with the labels, friends, brother, prom etc.
18	Mid shot	From behind the girl, as she turns the scene cuts to another shot.
19	Title	The title types across the screen with a blurred outside background.
20	Mid close up	Of the girl looking at herself in the mirror and touching her face.
21	Mid shot	From behind the girl looking out of the window.
22	Mid high angle shot	Shows the girl sat in a chair with her head in her hands.

How research will inform planning

From my reasearch I found that people aged 15-24 made up the largest proportion of film audience. This is why we have decided to aim our film opening at people of this demographic. Also we had decided on the genre drama or thriller as this accounted for the highest releases in 2014. Another reason for coosing drama/ thriller was beacuse my fcous group revealed that thriller was the most poular genre for people aged 16-17.
From deconstructing film opening of the thriller/ drama genre I found the openings created alot of enigma. Each opening created this in different ways. For example in The Perks of Being a Wallflower enigma is created by not having the characters face in the opening. The audince only hears the voice over and the boys relfection in the window. This makes the audince want to know more and continues watching the film.
I am going to use all of this reseacrch to help create our film opening.

Animontronic storyboard

Storyboard

We created many storyboards to workout which camera angles we wanted for each shot. The storyboard acted as a basis for our opening, however we did add some shots at the end as the film was shorter than excepted.

Typography Research

During research we decided to look at different typography used in similar genre to the film we were creating genres. We found that typography helps represent the focus of the film. 
We wanted to use typewriter font as it thought it would help to create the narrative that the girl in our opening is writing her own story. I discovered that the perks of being a wallflower used typewriter font:

I also found that the film Erin Brockovich uses the same font. The film also tells the  true story of Erin Brockovich, portrayed by Julia Roberts, who fought against the energy corporation Pacific Gas and Electric Company. 

This led us to the conclusion to use this particular font in our own piece, as we felt our film could be based on a dramatised real life situation. Also because the font connotes the girl telling her story of living with amnesia.

Screenplay

noun

noun: screenplay; plural noun: screenplays

1. the script of a film, including acting instructions and scene directions.

INT. SETTING

MORNING

Music plays while credits appear.

Footage of photos and looking out the window, on a typical rainy day.

There is a young girl in bed, whom name is Cassie. She wakes up as the alarm goes off. She gets up out of bed and looks around the room.

She picks up a picture frame, then throws it down on the bed. At which she gets up and walks slowly over to the wall.

At this point Cassie stares at the post it notes which cover the wall. Then she turns around to face the camera. All of a sudden the title AMNESIA appears on the screen.

room.

Treatment

Film Title: Amnesia                                                                                                                          Production Name: IB Productions                                                                                                       Film Duration: 2 minutes                                                                                                     

Roles:Director: Olivia SharkeyAssistant Director: Imogen WhiteProduction Manager: Olivia SharkeyCamera Man: Olivia Sharkey and Imogen White                                       

Characters:Cassie Evans: Lauren Bantock                                                                                                                              

Costumes:Cassie will wear an all black comfortable attire as the given circumstances show that she has just woken up and would normally be wearing pyjamas/comfortable clothing. The full black theme represents her mind and suggests she is somewhat a blank slate. Her hair will be messy to emphasise how she has only just woken up; same goes for make up, she will have a fresh face.                                                                                                        

Synopsis:     
 The opening starts with a shot of a large house. It transitions to various shots of post-it notes spread around the house and panning of the empty rooms. We are then shown a girl asleep in a large bed. The young girl is woken from a deep sleep by a sudden alarm. She looks around in confusion before switching it of. As she leans over to switch it off she notices a photo frame. The girl picks it up and stares at it intently. Then throws it down beside her on the bed. She pulls the covers off and gets out of bed to walk slowly over to the over side of the room. A shot then reveals a wall covered by post-it notes and photos, to which are labels with names of family and friends.                                                                                                                                           

Setting: We have decided to shoot our opening in a simple bedroom location with little personal furnishings. This is to make sure that the focal point will be the character and the images on the wall. We have covered one wall in post-it notes and accompanied it with personal photographs of the actress and her friends and family; to make the narrative feel more realistic. Another way which we made sure the covered wall is seen to be important is the bright, aluminous colours of the post-it notes in contrast to the room, which colour scheme is grey.                                                                                                                                  

Props:                                                                                                                                                       ·      Post-it notes
·      Photo frames
·      Personal photographs
·      Mobile phone (iPhone)
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