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Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

'Follow' follows the life of Grace,  a teenage girl we find out is obsessed with another girl, Ella. Grace's obsession with Ella only amplifies when she realises that Ella is now dating her ex-boyfriend. Upon realising this, Grace takes her mere obsession with Ella to a whole new level of jealousy, with a number of murder attempts that follow. Fortunately for Ella, Grace is unsuccessful every time and this eventually sees her run away from home to another town. 

'Choppy' editing style

The 2 minute opening sequence that we produced for 'Follow', both uses and develops the conventions of British Independent films of a psychological thriller genre. This was achieved through careful attention to form, genre, narrative structure and style, and our knowledge of key theories such as Todorov thoery and the enigma code furthered this.

(Please see the below slides to find out more)

Evaluation Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main social groups that we are representing are age and gender. As our film idea is strongly focused on a few characters, we were limited with the social groups we could represent; the main protagonist, Grace, is a teenage girl and Ella, one of the other 3 characters, is also a teenage girl.

Through Grace and Ella especially, we were able to effectively represent teenage girls through conforming to, and in a few cases challenging common/typical stereotypes that the would audience would already have and expect. Things such as character dress, settings, dialogue and character behaviors also helped in the representation of age and gender.

(please see the table below for examples of this)

Grace's clothing

Ella's clothing

Evaluation Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

British, independent media institutions are most likely to be responsible for the distribution of our media product. Typically, these type of media institutions deal with low budget films, with plots, themes, and aspects that are trying to reach and appeal to British audiences. Our film 'Follow' tries to do this as well and we therefore decided it should be distributed by Film4.

Film 4 institutional logo animation

(Please see the prezi presentation below in full screen for further information)

Evaluation Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience of our film is fans of psychological thrillers.Within this niche, we decided that we would be primarily targeting 15-24 year olds. Furthermore, for a secondary audience we wanted to target fans of British independent films.

The prezi presentation below looks into this in greater detail. (Be sure to access it in full screen for better viewing)

Evaluation Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

Our knowledge of the Uses and Gratifications theory helped us to ensure we successfully attracted and appealed to our target audience of psychological thriller fans. This theory means that consumers of media play an active role in deciding on a media; They do so with the aim of satisfying their specific needs. There are four things that media users aim to fulfill for themselves:

• Personal identity/identification 
• Social interaction/personal relationships
• Education
• Entertainment

The table below entails how we applied the Uses and Gratifications theory in our film opening to attract our audience and gratify their needs:

In addition to our use of the Uses and gratifications theory, we also ensured that we successfully appealed to and attracted our audience by conforming to the conventions of the psychological thriller genre that we are trying to connote. By doing this, we are able to also conform to the expectations of our target audience, further appealing to them. One way in which we did this, was through attention to Mise en Scene, such as the props that we used:

• A moodboard that grace used for the stalking of Ella 
• A knife and leather gloves that grace packed into her bag

The use of these props were effective as they not only created enigma in our film opening, but they promoted a real sense of danger, tension and uncertainty, which in turn helps to sustain the interests of our audience by keeping them intrigued and at a point of great suspense and tension.
Additionally, to further our appeal to our target audience, we used continuity techniques such as match on actions when editing. These techniques help to increase the realism of our film and the use of closely framed shots in the match on action sequences, helps to immerse them in what is going on. The GIF video below is an example of this in our film opening.

Audience reaction and feedback:

Through the production of our film opening, there were stages where we obtained feedback from members of our target audience. The feedback was very beneficial as it helped us to identify areas of/things in our film opening that worked well and not so well, which we would then use to make any changes or adjustments that we felt necessary. We decided to sample a group of 8 people from our target audience, having equal numbers of both genders in the group that varied in age between the ages of 15 and 24.

During the production process, there were two points at which we gathered feedback from this sample group:

• After the test shoot when we had created a rough cut edit
• After the main and back-up shoots when we had created the final edit

The chart below shows the feedback we received from our sample group for the rough cut edit:

Overall, the reaction we received was not positive, however with that said, the comments that lacked positivity were very useful as they contained lots of criticisms and suggestions which we took into account in the next stages. We few points of criticism that were brought to our attention were:

• "A need for better characterisation. Who is this girl and why is doing what she is doing?"

- It was not clear that Grace was stalking Ella. This could be due to the fact that we used the same actor for both roles, however even with that taken into consideration, their roles in the film are not explicit enough. Following this piece of feedback our aim was to ensure that we use the different actors for the two roles, pay attention to hair and make-up and carefully select outfits for the characters.

• "Storyline isn't obvious. What is actually happening?"

- There was no real sense of the plot; It is not clear what is going on. This is likely be down to a poor setting and a weak sense of genre caused by a poor storyline and insufficient props. To rectify this, we decided to look for an alternative shooting location, rethink our whole storyline and ensure all props ready and all brought to the shoot (the moodboard was not prepared).

The same questions were asked to the sample group but this time for the final edit where we were sure to work on areas that the audience (sample group) felt needed work and attention. The chart below shows the feedback from this:

It is clear that there is a difference between the two charts. The feedback for the final edit showed that the changes that were made had a positive effect on the reaction to our film opening. There were no areas of negative feedback and every member of our sample group said that they would go and watch the rest of the film, highlighting the successful appeal that we had created.

Evaluation Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

 The construction of our 2 minute opening sequence taught me a lot about technologies. I feel that the skills I have when working with both hardware and software have improved significantly over the process.

Hardware

For the construction of our opening sequence, we had use a number of different hardware technologies. This included:

• Camera - Cannon Legria HFG30
• Tripod

The table below details my overall experience after working with hardware.

Software

We also had to use various types of software technologies particularly for the editing process:

• Adobe Premier Pro CS5.5
• LiveType
• Audible

This table details my overall experience after working with software

In conclusion, I feel that my ability and confidence when working with technical equipment, both hardware and software, has improved. This was especially the case with software, as my biggest technological challenge came when working on the Adobe Premier Pro software to grade shots. After, consulting with my fellow editing partners and the media technician for help, by the end of the process I was able to confidently grade shots to create desired effect and atmosphere. Additionally, I am now aware of the benefits to using certain technologies instead of others.

Evaluation Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

My preliminary task

Our aim when approaching the Prelim task was to showcase our technical ability through the creation of a sequence that put a lot of emphasis on continuity and camerawork. Having looked back, the prelim task proved to be very important as it allowed for the development of these technical skills. This differed to our approach to the film brief, most likely because the two tasks asked for different things. With our now developed technical skills following the preliminary task, our aim for the film brief was to be as creative as possible through the process as this would allow our product to be more unique and original.

The preliminary task brief - "Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule."


The production task brief - "To produce a 2 minute opening sequence for a fiction film. All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music and audio effects from a copyright-free source. It should be clear from your sequence who he target audience is."

The main differences between these two task are:

• The film brief emphasises a need for originality and creativity in task
• Film brief focuses on audience unlike the prelim task brief
• Final product is to be shorter in the prelim task

Pre-production

The planning processes that we carried out for the prelim task and the film brief were different in a few ways:

• We created more documents for the film brief such as the re-shoot shot list, the call sheet and the props list
• We held a significantly greater number of group meetings for the film brief
• The preliminary task did not put as much pressure on the groups organisational skills so there was little need for the documents that we created for the film brief

As the film brief was more demanding and required good organisation, it became a necessity to have detailed documents to help keep the group organised and on top of things during the planning stages of production. That said, we were sure to sustain this level of organisation for the rest of the task through the use of documents and careful planning during the following production and post-production processes.

Production

The production process that each task required was also different:

• The people that were actors in the prelim task were only from our group, unlike the film task where we used one actor that was not a member of our group
• We had a lot more time for the shooting of the film task
• We were only able to shoot in school for the prelim task
• We completed the shooting of the prelim task in two lessons (1hour 20minutes), unlike the two 9am - 5pm weekend main and back-up shooting sessions for the film task

Following the success of the product for the prelim task, we were sure we could repeat this in the film task, and even better it by using different locations and different actors.

Post-production

The differences in the processes carried out during post-production are as followed:

• The film task allowed for numerous editing sessions over a 3 week period where as the total editing time for the prelim task was 1 week
• The preliminary task did not require us to add extra effects to the finished edit e.g. grading, titles and/or music and a soundtrack

The skills learnt in the post-production of our prelim task were transferable, and we were sure to make use of them in the post-production of our film task. These skills included things such as organisation, teamwork, decision making and communication.

Construction Post 10: Looking back - reflections on our final outcome

I am very happy with the final outcome of our film opening sequence; we successfully constructed film opening through the use of good team work, organisation and effective time management. Although there were a few points in the process where we encountered problems that could have jeopardised the success of our final product, as a group we managed to overcome them and ensure the success of our product. The test shoot was one point in the process that proved difficult; it highlighted how a lack of organisation can cause problems. We managed to overcome this by identifying areas to improve and putting them right for the upcoming main shoot.

Once these issues were sorted out, we were able to advance our product to ensure that it met the terms of our brief; to create a 2 minute film opening sequence for a story and plot of your choice. We showed our final product to our target audience focus group once again and they were not able to pick out any issues in opening sequence, and could confirm that the changes made since their last viewing made for a better final product and viewing pleasure.. This positive feedback epitomised of the success of our final product, and it meant that we had effectively met the brief and done things such as connoting the relevant genre of psychological thriller and conforming to the conventions of films with a similar genre and institutions.

In hindsight, if I were to change anything, I would have ensured that our levels of organisation and team work were sustained throughout the project which would have most definitely avoided the problems faced regarding our storyline, the test shoot and edit sessions. If this change was made, I am sure that our already successful final product would have been more appealing and of a higher quality. This said, I am still very pleased with how our final product turned out and hope that our hard work is reflected in the standard of the product.

Construction Post 9: My technical learning curve

I feel that I learnt a lot from this process. Although I was comfortable both editing and working with the camera, as I had not worked with either for a while before this process, I was not as good as I knew I could be. This process helped me to regather my skills and in some cases enhance them, for example in the editing stage I was required to work with new tools such as with key frames. To help me to understand how to use them I googled tutorials and also asked our technician, Emma, to help me understand how to use this tool. This helped to improve my technical skills when editing and allowed to pick up a few skills and tips that I could transfer into the production of our opening sequence. Additionally, this process required me to work with the camera for our shoot sessions. From past experiences of working with the camera, I vaguely remembered how everything worked. Nevertheless, after some time working with the camera, I again quickly regathered my camera skills and in fact furthered them through the help of Emma.

Adjusting camera settings 

Construction Post 8: My personal contribution to the Edit Sessions

I feel like I was very involved in the editing stage of the construction of our film opening. To begin with, I allocated the majority of the time I had free to working on and progressing the edit. This required me to be organised so that I was sure to attend every allocated editing session, and it also required me to have good communication skills as I was constantly in contact with my editing partner, Gabriel, to talk about when we were to be editing.

Editing the sequence on Adobe Premier Pro

Following on from this, there were a few things that Gabriel and I assigned each other to do as we felt that it best suited our expertise, therefore making the editing process more efficient.

Gabriel  - creating the final/official titles and grading the shots

Josh (Me) - cutting shots in the sequence to match the soundtrack and editing for special shots such as editing  the 3 shot split screen using key frames

Looking back, I am very happy with my contribution to this stage of construction as I feel that I put in as much time and effort as possible, which contributed significantly to the success of our final product.

Construction Post 7: My personal contribution to the Shoot Sessions

I think that I made many useful contributions to the shoot sessions. I was actively involved in many roles during the shoot sessions; this includes both the filming and directing of our film opening, and playing the role of Grace's brother in the film which required me to act for a brief part of our shoot. Playing these roles enabled me to enhance my skills using technical equipment and develop leadership skills.

Construction Post 6: Reflections on Edit Week 2

A second week of editing followed the back up shoot, and these editing sessions required us to complete the construction of our film opening, ready for submission on our deadline. Previously in edit week 1, our group decided to split into pairs. This meant Gabriel and I were working together again. We worked diligently to keep on top of the editing of our version of the opening sequence, and to ensure that it was the best it could be. After show members of our target audience our video following the main shoot they noticed the inconsistency in the lighting and colour of all the shots, and they picked out shots that broke continuity, and it was this feedback that influenced us to re-shoot the relevant shots and add/replace the old shots with them, and then to add grading effects to each shots.

Things done in Edit Week 2:

• Added the newly filmed 're-shoot' list shots to the sequence, and replaced old shots were necessary
• Adjusted the sound track (i.e music, dialogue) to suit the sequence with the newly added re-shoot shots
• Added the official/final titles that we created on the Apple Mac Desktops using a software called LiveType
• Used Grading effects on all the shots to ensure a consistency with lighting and colour in all shots

This is me about to use the Apple Mac Desktop to create titles

Construction Post 5: The Back-Up Shoot

For our back up shoot, we needed a way of staying organised to ensure that we could shoot as efficiently as possible. To do this we created a reshoot shot list which entailed several short descriptions on all the shots that needed to be reshot, as well as a new shot that we decided to add in as after reviewing teacher comments, it would help to present a stronger sense of character and the mood.

Revised shot of Grace after back up shoot

Shot of Grace with shoes on

Construction Post 4: Reflections on Edit Week 1

 It became evident to us as a group that the editing stage would demand good organisation within our group, and as result we agreed to sort out an editing schedule. This was organised in one of our weekly meeting sessions, where as a group we discussed who is free at what times and from this. decided on and wrote down initials of the group member that would be present in that session. Throughout this, our underlying aim was to not only ensure that at least 2 members of the group were present at every session, but to ensure that we had a few sessions where the whole group was present. Looking back, this was probably one of the best decisions we made in the process because it meant that we could work as a group and have as many critical eyes working on the edit as possible.

Things we did in edit week 1:

• Renamed all the shots 
• Identified the best takes for each shot
• Set 'in and out' points for the shots with best takes
• Identified and selected a music track
• Put all chosen and cut down shots onto the sequence timeline
• Recorded any other dialogue that we needed
• Created titles

Although we worked well during the edit week, it became apparent that the conflicting ideas in the group were having an impact on group morality. We were struggling to be as productive as usual when editing, so we decided something had to be done. We decided to split our group of 4 into 2 and work as pairs, editing on 2 different timelines; the pairs were Gabriel and I, and Prudence and Ella. We consulted our teacher of this plan, and once we gained their permission, we were quick to start the editing again. From the group point of view, this was the right thing to do as it meant that group relations were not impacted anymore and although we would be working on separate sequences, we were sure to share ideas and consult eachother with any significant decisions made separately.

Construction Post 3: Reflections on our Main Shoot Session

Our Main shoot turned out to be very successful and especially in comparison to our test shoot. Our test shoot left us with a lot of things to think about going into our main shoot. One big thing was the change in location. This turned out to be a very good decision, as it helped to strengthen the presentation of any ideas or themes to do with storyline, genre and characters.

From the group point of view, the only negative that arose from the main shoot was a few minor continuity errors. While reviewing our shots, we noticed that a few of them broke continuity. We informed our teachers of our concerns and they confirmed that we had broken continuity. An example of an area where continuity was broken were 2 shots in which one of them Grace was wearing shoes and in the other she was not. This was one of a few continuity errors that arose and we were quick to ensure that they were included in our shots to 're-do' list for our back up shoot.

Construction Post 2: Our Post-production Kit

The Post-production kit was based around the editing stages in this process. To perform the editing, we were allocated an edit suite in our school media department by our teacher. On these edit suite, the computers had a software called Adobe Premier Pro, and it was this software that we were to use to edit.

Our sequence shots on Adobe Premiere Pro

Post production included:

• Dual-monitored computer
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• Macbooks/iMacs
• LiveType (for creating titles)
• Audacity (for recording non-diagetic sound)

Construction Post 1: Our Production Kit

The kit and equipment that we used are as follows:

Camera that was used

• Cannon Legria HF G30 Camera
• Tripod stand
• Shotgun Microphone
• Headphones
• Clapper board

R+P Post 20: Reflections so far/looking ahead

Reflections so far:
So far, I think that our group work has been good at times but not so good at others. After reflecting on this stage, I feel like it could have gone a lot better. The final product, the rough cut, was not as we expected it to be; for example the sense of character and genre was not connoted as well as we wanted it to. Despite this, we have shown good team skills and a consistently positive mentality throughout.

Looking ahead:
As a next step it will be important to really pin point any areas of this stage that did not work well. Things such as the location of our test shoot, and the plot of our rough cut are things that will need acting on, and we will be sure to rectify this to the best of our ability. This is likely to include research into other potential locations for our main shoot and the redrafting of our sequence idea and plot.

R+P Post 19: Our rough cut

To produce the rough cut edit of our 2 minute opening sequence, we decided to use a computer software called Adobe Premier Pro. This software allows us to place all the shots that we had taken at our test shoot on a track in the desired order which eventually became our finished rough cut sequence. It also allowed us to insert the music we had selected into the sequence.

Some other additional things that Adobe Premier Pro allowed us to do was:

• Add titles and production and distribution company logos to the sequence
• Add transition effects such as a dissolve fade, dip to black or exponential fade/gain to the video or audio of shots
• Compose the shots in a way that allowed us to cut to the next shot on a beat in the song
• Adjust the scale and position of a shot on the screen
• Edit the volume of certain shots by adding effects such as a constant power/gain to a part of the soundtrack

The rough cut of our 2 minute opening sequence video:

R+P Post 18: Our test shoot

Our test shoot was held on Sunday 7th February between the hours of 9am and 5pm.
From the group point of view and teach comments, we realised that our test shoot was not as successful as we hoped. There were a few of problems that we faced:

1. Filming did not begin at the planned time - we planned to begin shooting at 9:30 which was decided based on a rough estimate on how long it would take for us to dress the set . However due to travel issues faced by the group, we were not able to start filming until about an hour after the scheduled start time. This had big consequences; as the day went on, we gradually ran out of natural daylight and so in order to continue filming we had to use artificial light for some of the later shots, which created a big continuity error.
2. A group member was not able to attend - One member of our group was not able to attend as they were on a German exchange trip. This was an unavoidable situation and as we knew of this absence prior to the shoot, we were able to work around, however it would have been beneficial to have the entire group there to aid the production of the test shoot
3. Location - Once filming we quickly realised that the room did not work as well as we thought it would. There were issues with space, which impacted our filming capabilities as we were not able to effectively perform some of the camera movements we planned.

Additionally, there were a few issues with props. We planned to use certain props such as a moodboard and gloves, however a small spout of a lack in organisation resulted in us not being able to include some props, as they were either forgotten (gloves) or not prepared (the mood board).

Following the test shoot, we decided that we needed to change some things for the upcoming main shoot. We decided to change locations and create a props list in the hope that this would remove any issues with space and keep us organised with props, to prevent a repeat of the flaws in the test shoot.

R+P Post 17: Our planned costumes and hair and make-up

To ensure the characteristics and styles of our characters were well presented, we decided to create a costume list. In this document, information such as guidelines on hair & make-up, costume descriptions and details on the references that we used for our costume were included. Initially, we did not have a costume list but after teacher comments on the lack of costume in the test shoot, we created a costume list to reflect our aims for thorough characterisation.

R+P Post 16: Casting

In the run up to our main shoot, there were a number of documents that we decided to create that we did not for our test shoot. One of these was a cast list. This document included key details of the characters and the actors that played them such as names, a short description of the characters and some information about the actors to play them.

Deciding on an actor to play our main character was more straightforward than we expected. Our first step on finding an actor was to ask within our friendship groups. We initially had doubts about doing this as we were not sure that they would be as serious and professional as we needed them to be, however we followed on and instead were sure to emphasise the importance of what they would be agreeing to. In the end after a few discussions in our group meetings, we decided to choose Celine to play the main character in our opening sequence. We were happy with this selection as we knew that Celine was an AS Drama student who is a capable actor that has been involved in a number of successful school plays/productions.

Ella Thompson and I, decided to include ourselves in the cast list and take up the roles of playing the remaining 2 characters, Ella and Anthony. We decided to this as we were not only confident that we would be able to act these accordingly, but we knew it would avoid the risk of any problems associated with having actors that were not part of the group, such as deciding on our shooting day; with more people, there are more schedules to satisfy, so by not bringing in another 2 people we could avoid this problem.

R+P Post 15: Our planned filming location, set design and props

Ella's Bedroom

For the filming of our opening sequence rough cut we decided to use the bedroom of a member of our group, Ella. We decided to use Ella's room as no any major changes to the set were required, and the room suited our opening sequence idea as it already had a number of things that we needed; we needed a mirror, a bed with some kind of bed side table and a wardrobe.

Please see the picture to the right for the filming location of our rough cut.

Following on from this, as a group we decided that the creation of a set & prop list would be of great benefit to the shooting process. This document was created for our main shoot and it entailed a list of the setups that would be used and a list of all the props we deemed necessity to have, to ensure the genre, personality and motives of the main character, and themes were further connoted. In hindsight, I feel that the use of a props list for our test shoot, would have maybe allowed for a better end product as the props would have aided the audience in understanding what was going on in our opening sequence.

Please see the picture to the right for the set & props list

R+P Post 14: Our Call Sheet

For our test shoot, we created a call sheet. This document will entail the specific details regarding our shoot; this includes the address of the shoot, the contact details of all the people that will be present at the shoot (all members of the cast and production teams), a health and safety list, and the call times for the crew times.

Please click the below for the call sheet used.

R+P Post 13: Our shootboard

We decided to construct a shoot board that would entail all the relevant information to do with the upcoming test shoot. This included the shot number, the location of the shots, a picture of the drawing of the shot and a short description of the shot. By including this detail on the shoot board, the shooting process could be made significantly easier as we would easily be able to refer to the shoot board to see what was required for each shot. One thing that we decided to do in an attempt to make us more efficient when shooting, was to group the shots on the shoot board by location. We decided to do this as we felt it would be of great benefit when shooting. From my perspective this would be the most meaningful decision to do with the organisation for our shoot as it means that we have a pre-organised list of shots for each location, allowing us to shoot without having to significantly adjusting of the position/location of the camera between shots.

R+P Post 12: Our Animatic

To create our Animatic, we captured still photos of the content would be shown in each shot. To do this, we constantly referred back to the sequence of shots that we had previously planned on our storyboard. As each shot was drawn onto a post-it note and stuck down onto the storyboard in the desired ordered already, we were able to use the storyboard and work shot by shot to ensure the still shots that were taken, accurately reflected the desired ideas presented on the post-it note drawings. Looking back, the use of the varying colours was very beneficial to us as it allowed us to quickly differentiate between the shot types and/or framework that each shot required, therefore allowing the production of the Animatic to be quicker.

The Animatic turned out to be a very useful tool in the overall production of our 2 minute opening sequence. It allowed us to:

• Test our shots to see if they worked well with the other shots in the sequence
• Make a final decision on the soundtrack that we would use as we were able to test the 2 potential soundtracks that we had chosen and therefore decide which one anchored the story line of our sequence more effectively
• Easily identify and correct any continuity errors in the sequence, which we later rectified by adding and replacing shots where necessary

Please see the video below for our finished Animatic:

R+P Post 11: Our timeline and storyboard

The next stage in the production of our 2 minute opening sequence required us to produce a timeline and storyboard which would entail the story line and plot of our opening sequence. These were both produced in the group meetings that we held, and in our lesson time.

Timeline:
The timeline was made by sticking 4 A4 pieces of paper together horizontally and drawing 2 straight lines across all of them with a space of 9 cm to create 3 columns. We completed this first as we felt it would be best to have the timeline done as soon as possible so the construction of our storyboard would not be delayed by the lack of a reference when creating the shots.

Storyboard:
For our storyboard, we used a large A2 piece of sugar paper to convey our desired plan for the shots. Each shot was drawn onto a post-it note and stuck down onto the storyboard in the desired order. The post-it's were different colours, either green, pink or orange, and this was used to denote the different shot types and framing to be used.

Our Storyboard

• Pink = Titles
• Green = Close up
• Orange = Mid shot
• Yellow = Long shot

R+P Post 10: Reflections so far/ looking ahead

So far I feel that my group has worked very well together, using our time effectively to stay organised and ensure that we are consistently on top of what we need to do. The weekly meetings that we organised were very helpful in ensuring this as they allowed to come together and reflect upon and discuss any issues or things that needed resolving. For example, we had a few disagreements during the planning stage of our project. Consequently, we allocated half of one of our weekly meetings to resolve it. In the end, we were able to move on and successfully complete the planning stages that were required for the up and coming test shoot.
Looking ahead, I am very excited to start the production of our 2 minute opening sequence and I believe the test shoot will help us to judge whether our idea for the opening sequence will be successful or not.

R+P Post 9: Our script

For our opening sequence, we constructed a script in which the dialogue that would be included in our sequence was contained. Our script is as followed:

We decided to use as little interaction between characters as possible because of the fact that the main focus of our opening sequence is to illustrate the abnormal routine that Grace carries out in her mornings. By having little dialogue, we were able to effectively present this to the audience and thus convey a real sense of Graces unusual lifestyle.

R+P Post 8: Our opening sequence idea, to include sound and titles

Opening sequence:
The opening sequence follows the main character, Grace, and her routine in the morning right from the moment her alarm sounds when she wakes up. Once awake she immediately reaches for her phone and throughout the sequence she is repeatedly seen using her phone. In the later part of the sequence, she is seen doing very weird things such as checking her mood-board of her target, packing her bag with unsual things such a latex gloves and applying cosmetic products to look like the girl she is stalking. Whilst packing, we hear a small exchange of dialogue between Grace and her brother about how grace is taking too long to get ready for school.

Sound:

At the start of the sequence, there will be no music playing. The first sound will be the sound of an alarm ringing for a few seconds until Grace reaches over to turn it off. After this, a heavy breathing sound is heard and this is plays until the music then begins to play as she gets up out of bed.

Titles:
For the creation of our titles, we were sure to do some research into the titles already used in some other films. To do this we referred to the website Art of the Title (www.artofthetitle.com) where we were able to look through a numerous amount of title sequences.

One title sequence that especially stood out to me was that for the film Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. This film is an adventure, fantasy film that has many themes connoting that of a supernatural and slightly horrific nature. With such an abstract genre being portrayed, I was taken at how successful the titles used were in connoting this, and as a result I knew that whatever the genre, it is a necessity for the themes and ideas present to be thoroughly connoted in all aspects of the film including the opening titles.

As well taking the above into account for the creation of our titles, there was still a need to conform to the codes and conventions of film opening titles and this means the inclusion of titles that are there to inform the audience of elements of the film such as the institutions behind the film, the star cast/actors and the film crew to name a few.

Below is a list of the titles used in our film opening:

• Film 4 presents
• A Bugle Films Production
• Starring Celine George
• Ella Thompson
• and Joshua Oranu-Noah
• Directed by Prudence Carter-Phillips
• Produced by Gabriel Meytanis
• Follow

R+P Post 7: Our film's title and plot outline

As a group, we came together and during our meetings we decided on a title for our film and the main plot that the film would follow.

Title: Follow

Plot Outline: The film follows the life of the main character Grace who is a 'mixed-raced' 18 year old British girl whose lust and obsession with anther girls' life sees her push the boundaries of a harmless desire. Grace becomes very envious of this other girl who in Grace's mind has the perfect life, perfect looks and a boyfriend that she wish she could have. In order to try and be like her, Grace goes to extreme lengths such as following the girl's every movement via numerous social media platforms, and the saving/printing of images of the girl that would then be put up on her mood-board. With an ever-growing obsession, Grace attempts to kill the girl to her life over and pretend to be her, however the Graces attempt is unsuccessful and with ever growing gossip about her attempt she runs away from home to another town.

A film that greatly inspired out ideas for the plot outline was Single White Female. This film has a similar plot of two female characters, one of whom becomes obsessed with being exactly like the other. The main protagonist had a huge obsession with the other girl and this saw her resort to violence and an attack on her life.

R+P Post 6: Our chosen genre and how we plan to connote this

The genres we have chosen : Psychological thriller, horror

To effectively connote our genre in our films opening sequence, we ensured we researched into films that also had a genre psychological thriller and/or horror. This allowed us to identify a key convention which is for the film's story line to be centered around the life of one character who is either the stalker or is being stalked. In our case, the main character is the stalker and from our research into films of a similar genre and theme such as One Hour Photo, we were also able to identify the conventional characteristics and behaviors such as weirdness and an obsession to things or people. In One Hour Photo, the main character is a seemingly ordinary old man who turns out to have an obsession with a family and he stalks and follows their movements via a mood-board. We were inspired by this and so our main protagonist follows these conventions. She is named Grace and at first appears to be your 'average teenage girl' however it later becomes evident that she is not. Through her addiction to her phone and social media to stalk, and her use of a mood-board to store images and information about the people she stalked, her unusual nature becomes clear.

R+P Post 5: How we plan to attract/address our target audience

To setup a successful appeal to our target audiences, we will ensure the genre is well connoted throughout the sequence. We will:

• use many shots of a closed frame to really immerse the audience in what is taking place
• use several close-ups and extreme close-ups to bring a real sense of intensity and unease to the audience.
• ensure a gripping story line with a strong sense of genre to keep our audience 'on the edge of their seats'
• include things familiar to the audience; social media is well known and used by young people

R+P Post 4: Representation of social groups in our opening sequence

The social groups that we are representing are British middle class teenage girls. This is represented through the main character who is an 18 year old girl who is British and mixed-race.

To effectively appeal to the teenage audience we are going to include lots of social media elements in our opening sequence. Social media such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook is heavily used by young people. This is likely to be because these platforms are easily accessed from their smartphones. Our main character grace will follow this, and be seen constantly checking her phone throughout the opening sequence.
In addition to this, Grace will have a british accent and scenes will be set in locations that are relatable to the audience such as a teenagers bedroom. This familiarity will allow our audience to be able to relate to our sequence and therefore further immerse them in what is taking place in the sequence.

R+P Post 3: Our production and distribution institutions

Bugle Films production company logo

Production Company:
Our production company is called Bugle Films and it is a British independent film company based in London. Bugle Films is a production company that specialises in films of a thriller and horror genre.

Distribution Company:
Our chosen distribution company is Film 4. We decided to make Film 4 our distribution company because not only are they a company also based in London, but they are notorious as a company for the distribution of British independent films like our own such as The Inbetweeners, Shaun of the Dead  and The Woman In Black. 

R+P Post 2: Our target audience

Core target audience:
The audience that we decided to primarily target was:

• Fans of psychological thriller films 
• Boys and girls aged 15-24 years old

We were inspired by a number of films when deciding our core audience for the film but the film that we referred to the most was Stalked at 17. We used this film as our main reference point because of how similar the themes and ideas around film were in comparison to our own. This included a similar thriller genre that was focused around the concept of stalking, the same target audience of psychological thriller fans/'thrill-seekers' aged between 15-24 and the certification of 15 which we wanted our film have.


Secondary target audience:
The secondary audience that we decided to target was:

• Fans of horror films

We decided to also target fans of horror films as after looking into other thriller films, we found that they included elements of horror. Films such as One Hour Photo were able to widen their appeal and successfully increase their reach by doing this and we were inspired by this hence why we planned to include scenes reflecting a creepy and somewhat anxious nature to connote a horror sub-genre.

R+P Post 1: How we intend to work as a group

At our first group meeting, we agreed on the times for our weekly meetings. We wanted to have at least 2 hours worth of meeting time a week, and so we decided on the following times:

Week 1

• Monday 1:50-2:20pm and 4:00-4:30pm
• Thursday 2:00-3:00pm

Week 2

• Monday 9:00-9:20am and 4:00-4:30pm
• Thursday 11:30-12:30pm

Our meetings were to be held in the Media Department and we agreed to arrive to the planned meetings on time and with the relevant materials needed for that meeting. In addition to this, we also set up a Whatsapp and Facebook group chats which we would use to communicate effectively and share any ideas or information with the whole group.