My Final Project: Number Withheld - Charlotte Woodward

Charlotte Woodward - Number Withheld (AS Film opening) from edmundsmedia on Vimeo.

EVALUATION activity 1. - Charlotte Woodward

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)


Here is a 9 frame grid of my project, "Number Withheld":

Frame 1:
This shot is the second shot which appears (excluding production logos) portraying that it is the scene that builds up the atmosphere, as the phone call shows its relevance to the first two minutes. The audience may be wondering what relevance the phone call has, and why it is shot from a mid-shot angle. It also reveals her costume - easy wear lounging around the house clothes, so the audience knows she's not going out anywhere. 


Frame 2:
This shot suggests the location of where the project is set. It shows that it is a detached house, its in the evening on a dull nights, no lights are on other than the porch light, suggesting that she is home alone. 


Frame 3:
This is the shot that reveals the first image of the stalker. As you can see, she is unaware that he is peering through the window behind her. At this point, she assumes it is her friend/boyfriend Josh on the other end of the phone, when it's not. As he comes into the shot, we see that he is on the phone, suggesting that it is him that is calling her.


Frame 4:
This shot is one of my favorites. This is a tracking shot, filmed from the field behind my garden. I filmed this from behind the fence to portray the stalker watching her. She is looking out the door window to see if anyone is there, yet she cannot see him watching her. 


Frame 5:
This shot is when she is locking the back door. This is right after the scene before when she is looking outside. As she gets suspicious she locks the door. This is filmed through a close-up shot. This way, the audience can see that something is going to/or has happened that has made the character lock the door. In this shot we can also see that it is a dark night.


Frame 6:
This is another close-up shot of the girl. This is due to the suspicious noise that she hears. She hears the sound of a door closing, and her facial expression shows this - shocked and scared. Her reaction shows the audience that something big has happened which has made her react like this. Immediately, we know that this is not a easy film to watch.


Frame 7:
This shot shows that she is looking up the stairs to see anything. This is right after she moves into the hall due to the loud door closing sound she hears. Timidly, she walks slowly into the hall and looks up to see something rather disturbing, and ultimately, threatening to her. To show her looking up suggests that she is going to see something, making the audience want to know what is there.


Frame 8:
This shot shows the legs of the stalker, and also half of his chest. The position he is standing at is a way of exposing himself fully to her. Now the audience are aware of what this film is all about. The fact that his face isn't exposed, leaves the audience on edge of what it is like. We see his face briefly in the window at earlier scenes, but we have never seen him fully. Now that there are no other filming scenes, makes the audience wonder what is going to happen next. 


Frame 9:
This final frame shows where my main titles come in. This is the title of the film, "Number Withheld", i used a simple font to enable the viewer to read it clearly, yet I used a title effect to that the words merge together separately, then descend out again once the titles display for around 4 seconds. This is shown alongside of a dial tone that is played to emphasize the title of a number, withheld. 

EVALUATION activity 2 - Charlotte Woodward

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I decided to chose my friend Grainne for this role because, as i based parts of my project on Scream, I thought that she would be best to portray the role of Casey (Drew Barrymore) as they are both young and innocent. They are both stereotypical young adults who are easy targets for stalkers/killers. 
They both share many similarities, such as their age and how they are both seen to be home alone on a dark night. Even these two images are very similar, as they are both filmed close to windows/mirrors, just to show the audience the surroundings, and to increase intensity, always wondering if something or someone will appear out of no where. They share similar facial expressions once they know they're trapped and have to fight for survival. 
However, they have some differences: notice how Drew is seen to be wearing all white and creme colours, and the phone is white, the walls and window/door panels are white? This is to make the blood that will appear more noticeable. The blood will show up more when applied on white colours. This makes blood seem even more scary and dramatic as white emphasizes the colour contrast. Whereas Grainne, my main character has been put in darker colours, has a black phone in her hand, has dark surroundings, and is in a kitchen with dark materials. This is to show that there won't be any gory moments in the first two minutes, as it only illustrates that someone is in the house. What happens next, we don't know...

EVALUATION activity 3. - Charlotte Woodward

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


Originally, my plan was to create a voiceover commentery of my project, but as its the holidays, I don't have the software (video coreal studio) to overlay the audio, and I would have an extremely limited time in which to complete the commentery a we have one day back at school before the deadline. So I will have to write out the script. The task was to explain in detail, scene by scene what is going on. I think this task is a good idea, because now the audience can understand the process of how I have made it, and they may even notice things that they didnt before when watching it. It is very easy for me to say this because me being the producer and editor, I was able to notice these things as I made it, however once the audience read through the script, they can understand how it all came together. I have scripted this with my main character; Grainne McIntyre. This way, the audience can see her point of view as well as mine, as she was acting, and i was producing.

Me: Hi, I'm Charlotte Woodward, the producer and editor of this movie.
Grainne: Hi, I'm Grainne McIntyre who plays the young girl in this movie.

(0:19 seconds)
Me: As you can see, at the start of this movie, I have embeded the New Line Cinema distribution onto the beginning of my film so it looks more professional, and it was a suitable distribution company. Here, I have made my own production logo 'A Woodward Production' as it is infact a family production - my sister Carly helped, being the director of this film. I have added in my own audio of chimes into that clip of the logo, in time with the letters and they come together.

(20:29 seconds)
Me: in these 9 seconds, there were 3 different uses of camera shots. The first is the establishing shot of Grainne's hand reaching towards the ringing phone. This is a close up shot. Then she takes the phone to her ear and it is a mid-shot, focusing on her waist upwards. This way I could include the background surroundings to make it clear that she is in a kitchen, and also to throw emphasis on the large window behind her. Also, this is when we see he first set of credits. After no one is on the phone, she puts it down, again showing a close up shot.

Grainne: personally, I enjoyed this first scene as it was quite exciting. However, we did have to shoot it a couple of times because I didnt really know how to work the phone! Also, we had to get the phone ringing right on time (which was Danielle's job).

(30:50 seconds)
Me: the shot stays the same as the phone rings again, introducing our second credit that appears. This is also when our audio comes in, the slow, menacing drowne which is now obvious to the audiene that it gets spooky! She takes the phone to her ear yet again, filmed at an eye level camera shot. This way, you know something might happen as she is positioned slightly to the right, sllowing a gap of window in view, so we sort of know something may or may not appear in view. Also during this clip, I cut the scene and overlapped the audio on a shot of my house. It fits in well as Grainne says "stop messing around you know i'm on my own" which is when the audience see the look of the house and the surrondings. The scene goes back to her at the window, and thats when Josh comes into scene.

Grainne: I loved this scene! When I was standing with the window behind me, i'm showing how vulnerable I am, on the phone to a stranger, thinking its my friend Josh, when Josh (the stalker) is right behind me looking at me. I love how he appears as if out of nowhere in the dark. I thought the use of lighting was brilliant here, it was like a spotlight was focusing on him. Again, this scene had to be filmed a few times as Josh didn't respond to Danielle's hand signals, therefore missedhis que. Or the look on his face was just too ridiculous to seem convincing!

(51-1:11)
Me: After she hangs up the phone, the shot becomes a close up of her hand on the light switch, as she becomes suspicious so turns on the lights. She walks towards the back door, showing her image at a mid-shot angle. She walks towards the camera at eye-level, and looks out the door window. Personally, this was my favourite/most exciting scene to take as it was from a different perspctive, showing that now the camera is the eyes of the character, watching her. We filmed this from over the fence behind my garden, focusing on Grainne having a look out the window. Then an extreme close-up of her hand locking the back door in fear.
Grainne: Everyone seemed to love being a part of this scene, but it actually scared me! Not only was it cold out, we had to film this a view times because the camera light kept going out. This was due to filming in the dark. I had many instructions to go by aswel from Charlotte, such as which dirrections to look at, avoid contact with the camera etc.

(1:12-1:20)
Me:this part of the film was my least favorite, just because I didnt think thoroughly through how the camera shot goes from her walking out of the utility, hears the noise, then straight to her facial reaction. I thought it was a bit messy and sudden. As we see her facial reaction, its an extreme cloe uip of her face. Again, more match-on-action as she turns the door handle and comes out of the kitchen into the hall.


(1:21-1:40)
Grainne: this scene was very hard trying not to laugh as I was in a different part of the house, and knowing that Josh would be standing at the top of the stairs kept making me smile! Despite this, I enjoyed being a part of the ending scene because it made me want to carry on acting! I wanted to know what was going to happen next. 
Me: this scene was quite difficult in terms of filming because at that moment, the hallway was filled with boxes, possible health and safety risks, and it was quite narrow. My favourite part was the position of the stalker at the top of the stairs, all in black. It emphasises his lack on identity. I love how suddenly and unexpected it is when you hear the scream. This was intended to make it sound as if it came from Grainne, but the scream was actually embedded from a website. And finally how it emerges with the dial tone, with the ending title. 

Here is some aditional information I didn't include in my commentary because I felt that the commentary should focus more on what is happening, and how it was all put together.

What does a production company do?

The production company are the ones who produced the film; e.g. for my project, it was "A Woodward Production" which is advertised at the start of my film. 

What is a distibutor and what is he doing?
A film distributor is a company or individual responsible for releasing films to the public.

Where might the money come for such film as yours?

The money might have come from government grants, and also personal funds.

Why the various people are named in the titles?

I have included the crew members in the title because I feel that its very important. It shouldn't be all about the viewing of the movie, because the movies wouldnt exist if it wasnt for certain people. I have introduced the titles at the beginning because people are more likely to read and notice them, whereas if they were at the end of a film when everybody switches off the screen.

The titles are (from the beginning):

A Woodward Production

A Woodward Production presents

Introducing Grainne McIntyre

Josh Kershaw

Producer and Editor Charlotte Woodward

Director Carly Woodward

Production Designer Danielle Jordan

Number Withheld

What is your film similar to 'institutionally'?

The films that would be released in a similar way would be The Scream Trilogy, The Strangers, Halloween. This is because all of these are in the same genre as my film, and are also similar plots, all including a stalker(s).

EVALUATION activity 4. - Charlotte Woodward

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

 

This is Hannah Jones. She is a 15 year old girl who lives in the heart of London. She dresses just as any other teenage girl does, jeans, top and a cardigan, or when its hot, a baggy t-shirt and shorts. 
She is in year 11 at school. She enjoys hanging out with her friends, going shopping, the cinema, round each others houses, nights in watching movies etc. When her and her friends go out shopping, they shop in places such as Topshop, River Island, Allsaints, Urban Outfitters and H&M. When she's not with her friends, she's with her family or her boyfriend. Her and her boyfriend do the same things she does with her girlfriends. She also enjoys being taken out to dinner by her boyfriend, who is 16 - George. 
She enjoys films such as: Double Jeopardy, Scream, Halloween, The Strangers, and the American Physco - a real thrill seeker kind of girl, just loves typical horrors. Not only will she watch them at the cinema, when they are released, she will then buy them on DVD, or watch them online. 
She would watch programs such as Smallville on e4, Ghosthunters and Most Haunted on Living, and different types of investigation programs. 
She enjoys all types of music, mainly indie and rock, but she has a variety of tracks on her ipod, varying from anything that has come out in the charts, to old classics. Mainly indie-rock. If her ipod is not plugged in on the speakers, she'll listen to XFM, Radio 1, or Kerrang on the radio.


I think my film would appeal to this girl because she is a stereotypical teenager, particularly one who loves horrors, and loves being with her friends on the sofa, all warm and cosy with popcorn and drinks to sit down and draw the curtains, and watch a good scary film. If this film was out in the cinema's, she would definitely consider watching this with her friends/boyfriend as it appeals to her interests. 

EVALUATION activity 5 - Charlotte Woodward

5. How did you address your target audience?

This is a video clip of myself, interviewing my cousin Ellen, who is 15 years of age. She watched my coursework project a couple of times, then I asked her a series of questions including elements of my film such as: the genre, soundtrack, camera shots, 9 frame grid advertisement, and other films that could be compared to mine. Ellen gave me some very positive feedback which made me feel confident about what I had produced. 

Me and Ellen Interview.

EVALUATION activity 6 - Charlotte Woodward

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


This information is actually already been shown on my blog, showing images of myself in the editing process on different programs, along with images of me and Kim learning and setting up how to use a tripod and a camera. However, here are the same images, yet in further detail:

Camera - I used a cam-corder to record all our movie footage.

Tripod - this was the instrument I used in order to get an even, and neat filming angles.

Extendable Legs - I could adjust these legs depending on what scene I was filming.  

Tool bar - the tool bar offered a range of: caption, audio, share, title and effects. 

Editing timeline - this is where I could edit and display my clips, to re-arrange and edit, and import them from the library. 

Image - in the left hand corner, i could watch whilst editing my clips. This was how we would see what we had done so far. We could make the screen full-sized if needed. 

This cannon camera is the exact one that I used to take photo's of the location, and the areas in my house in which I have filmed. It was also used to take the photo's above. As well as this, I used it whilst practicing with camera shots and sound effects (earlier in my blog).

Program's I have used:

The Art of the Title - a website of existing film opening sequences, along with 9 frame grid. I extracted ideas from here.  I watched the openkinhg credits of films such as Juno which helped me with idea for my opening scene.

Blogger -  I used blogger to keep a log of what I had done and what I needed to complete. This is a website which enables us to keep track of all the development we have done towards our coursework. We can post anything we like regarding our project, all our ideas, and insert pictures and import videos.

Corel Video Studio - this was the software I used to edit the footage and upload my film clips onto. Also inserting effects. This gave us a wide range of categories in the tool bar concerning our movie, such as Edit, Share, Title, Library etc in order to make our project. I foudn this softeware extremely useful and clear.

Keep Vid - this was a website where I got my New Line Cinema distribution movie clip from.  You can extract different distribution company logo's from here which is very simple. I embeded the link and imported the 15 second clip of my New Line Cinema into the beginning of my film.

Soundcloud - this is where you can upload film clips, and convert in into audio.  I used this forsome sound effects.

Soundsnap - this is where you can browse, literally anything you can think of, and it'll have the sound you need. I used this program many times, it is where I got all my sound effects from.  

Youtube - this program was used widely as it is where I got all my research for filming from. I could search want I needed for my blog, and embed the URL code given, and paste it onto my blog. 

EVALUATION activity 7 - Charlotte Woodward

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
The following images are to illustrate what I have learnt from my first filming experience with the preliminary task, and my coursework, Number Withheld. 

This screen grab is from my Preliminary Task. The left scene is Dasha talking to Janice, performing the 180 degree rule with the cameras. The right scene is Janice replying to Dasha, but notice how the two cameras we had used are set on different modes. We were not experienced enough to notice before we published the film clip, that both cameras needed to be on the same mode. I have learnt now, that when filming, both cameras you use need to be on the same settings mode otherwise you'll end up with a shot like this. 

Again, this is another scene from my preliminary task. On the left, Dasha is going to meet Janice, so she goes to open the door. On the right, this is filmed from the other camera, Dasha coming into the room. Although this is fine, I have learnt since that we could have produced a better match-on-action take, e.g. Dasha's hand could have been on the door handle - that we could have filmed.

This scene is from my coursework. The left is the establishing shot of the phone. Notice Grainne's hand is on the phone, then the next scene is her with the phone to her ear. Also, the camera angle - they are both close up which is something i've learnt, whereas my preliminary task was basic filming. 

Another match-on-action scene in my coursework. On the left, Grainne's hand is on the light switch, you can see that she is going to turn it on as the shot is in the dark. Then on the right, her hand is coming away from the light switch as she has just turned it on. This is also a reverse shot, as the camera is from behind her. 

This scene is when she is looking outside the window of the back door. On the left, notice the position of her right hand, it is about to touch the door handle. This shot is a mid-shot. On the right, we see her right hand lock the door, the finish to the shot. 

Overall, I have learnt so much from this filming experience. The preliminary tasks being our first time some of us had edited turned out well, but after being taught the different types of camera shots, and researching other films has really shown our progress in our films. Personally, my main help was from simply viewing other films, seeing how they do it. Also, writing accounts of what we had done/learnt that day in class, for us to reflect back on and remind ourselves. 

Final Project - Charlotte Woodward

This is my final version of my film. I have made many adjustments to the film as I have realised, once the soundtrack has been added, it is more difficult to hear my own sound effects, therefore, using Soundsnap.com, I have been able to find similar sound effects and insert them where they are needed. I have used a pre-recorded scream, rather than the scream I recorded, because it simply wasn't 'extreme' enough. Thgis was then followed by a Dial Tone once 'Number Withheld' appears on screen, fading out with the scream sound. I have imported the sound of a door closing, and used a chime-like sound when my 'Woodward Production' logo appears. I have also changed my distribution company to 'New Line Cinema' instead of Icon as I prefered the design.

Production Logo - Charlotte Woodward

This is my production logo. I created this by choosing a frame of one of the titles given in Coreal Video Studio, and played around with the fonts and colours to create this. When this is featured in my movie, the letters are all separated and join together to produce this, then fade out followed by my first scene. I inserted a chime-like sound onto this logo to make it more effective.
I have deliberately made it quite basic and simple because it is the follow on from the New Line Cinema film clip, so i didn't want it to be 'too much' for a thriller genre film. 

Fourth Draft - Charlotte Woodward

+

This is the fourth draft to my project. I am one more draft away from completing my film, with just a couple of sound efftects to add. I have included all my titles, made my own production logo at the start, and moved the title of the movie to the very end. When the girl sees the stalkers legs, she screams. I did this by using a microphone, and screaming into it for ten seconds. I then over-lapped the audio with a dial sound from Soundcloud.com. I think this looks very effective as it is out to shock the viewer.

Third Draft - Charlotte Woodward

This is my 3rd draft in filming. I have made some adjustments: I have added some audio - this is just a sample, I have a few others in which I am experimenting with. I have found my audio through a copy-right CD called 'drones and pulses'. I have gotten rid of the loud 'bang' noise the girl hears as I feel it looks untidy. I need the girl to hear the bang, have another take, then the close up of her face to make it more realistic. Therefore, I'm going to find a sound effect that will work better, and I will add it to a different clip.

Second Draft Filming - Charlotte Woodward

This is my second attempt at editing my film. As you can see, I have started to add titles, and over-lay audio. This rough copy will enable me to decide where to insert other credits e.g. production company name, cast members etc. I aim to begin the movie with a short clip of 'Icon' distribution film clip, then to follow, my own company name, followed by titles that are continuous throughout the film.
I was able to make the decission about what my film would be called; Number Withheld was the most appropriate one in my opinion, thanks to feedback from my friends.

Titles - Charlotte Woodward

After researching the 'Halloween' opening titles, it was then much easier to identify where and when to add in my titles. That task sort of acted as my template for designing my own titles and credits. At the start of my film, I am going to include a short clip of 'Icon' distibution company to introduce my film, then I will design my own production company using photoshop. That will follow on with the title of my movie. During the course of the project, I intend to insert titles inbetween clips to make up for the 2 minutes project. I will do this by inserting a black background, then (using the same font) I will begin with stating the cast members, producers, and directors etc. I will space these out with each credit appearing every 10 seconds. This way, there is enough time for the audience to note who helped produce the project, yet the credits wont be up for too long as I dont want to take the attention away from the actual filming itself.

I intend to use titles such as:

- A Woodward Production (presents)

- introducing Grainne McIntyre

- Josh Kershaw

- Producer and Editor: Charlotte Woodward

- Director: Carly Woodward

- Production Designer: Danielle Jordan

- Music by

Editting - Charlotte Woodward

These 3 pictures are of myself in the editting process of my project. In the first one, you can see that I am blogging by the webpage that is on the computer. I often browse my blog, checking through my checklist to make sure that I have included everything that I think should contribute towards the developing of my project. The second one shows me editting and watching what I have produced so far. Finally, the third one shows me watching my film on the big screen, testing the quality of the film. I have still yet to add audio.

Feedback - Charlotte Woodward

After having filmed my project, I was still unsure on what my title should be named. In class, I asked my peers and my teacher to watch the first draft of my filming, and give me some feedback on what I can improve/what they thought was good/the name of my title. Here are some suggestions I received:

Titles
The Waiting
The Welcoming
The Guest
Uninvited
Trapped!
Waiting
The Stalker
Unsafe
The Caller
Number Withheld
Answering

Weaknesses:
The quality of acting
Unclear start and location
Cover up the 'stalkers' face at the start - mask?
Last scene - handheld shakey
Jumpier as the 'stalker' arrives at the window
More emotional changes on the girls face
Darking lighting as she see's the stalker
Look at blurred passages
Tighten up editing

Strengths:
The idea of the 'stalker' standing at the window
Good use of shots
Good match-on-action
Camera shots show great detail of actions that actor does
Good use of frame, lots of space used
Good facial expressions
Good use of horror film lighting in kitchen

Art of the Title; Halloween credits - Charlotte Woodward

I had looked on Art of the Title, and explored with some opening sequences to some films. As I am doing a horror/thriller, I thought it would be useful to look at Halloween. There are some elements in this film to which are similar to my project so they have that in common. I watched a 2 minute clip of the opening credits to this movie, and recorded the times of when every part of information appeared on the screen; e.g. production/distribution company-cast members names. I changed some names and put my name and some of the people who took part in my project in brackets to demonstrate thats where they will go once I have edited my credits. I found this very useful and will take into account the length of times between credits to incorporate into my film. 

First Draft of Film - Charlotte Woodward

This is the first draft of my project. There are some changes and added clips to be made. I have still to add an establishing shot of the house I have filmed in, and add a couple more odd shots to make the scenes match up. Some clips could be made tighter to increase intensity. There has been some feedback from my friends and family over the idea of the 'stalker' appearing in the window at the start - some think its too soon to reveal who the stalker is as you see his face, some say I should keep it as it scared them.

Screengrabs of editting - Charlotte Woodward

These are screengrabs of my editting process. This is specifically from the 2nd draft of my editting. As you can see, I have included my title, and a few match on action scenes. These images that i've print screened are scenes that are important in my project. So far, my editting is going really well, however sometimes frustrating if I make a mistake. All I have left to do is find a soundtrack, and tidy up some scenes, then I will be ready for my final copy. 

Health and Safety - Charlotte Woodward

When filming the project, you have to be aware of health and safety risks as this could jeapordise your filming if there is an accident. For my filming, I made sure that there were no wires on the kitchen floor, and that the surface was dry incase an accident could occur between the actress, or myself. I made sure that the camera was charged up incase of the inconvinience of charging the battery half way through, delaying the process of filming. However, there was a particular scene in which we were very careful of - when the girl is looking out of the backdoor window to see if anyone is there; my friend Josh was able to film this from the field behind my garden. This was only due to the fact that i was too short to gain enough height to zoom in on her, and keep a steady shot as i was unable to shoot this on a tripod. I went to the field with Josh and made sure that there were no branches off of tree's where he could lose his balance and fall.
Thankfully no one was hurt during the process of filming, nor was any technology that was used.