Evaluation Questions

7) Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt about the progression from it to the finished product?

Looking back at my preliminary task now, after completing my final product only shows me how much I have learnt over the course.
We filmed our preliminary task back in October 2008 and I came to the task with very limited knowledge of the camera and how to create successful shots. However for our first attempt at filming the Preliminary product/task I think we actually did quite well as we used unusual, creative shots including Extreme Close-ups on feet and we had quite a successful focus pull. I think we fulfilled the brief well however, if I was to go back now I would change the use of camera in constructing the mise-en-scene and the lighting we used. Rather than the shots being static, it would have been great to use spider tracks which would have given momentum and drive to the shots, shown in our final product. Also as we only used natural lighting the set looked quite flat, from my understanding of three point lighting I would now only use the back light to create darkness and shadows on the set which would emphasize the thriller theme of our initial sequence.
Furthermore, if I was to repeat the editing of preliminary task I would like to emphasize the ambient sounds (such as the footsteps) by use of Soundtrack Pro. Also as shown in our final product the use of soundtrack is vital in creating suspense and gripping the audience therefore I would like create one for our preliminary task.

The whole process from preliminary task to final product has taught me so much about media technologies, the camera and the variety of skills and jobs within the media industry (from continuity to camera-operator). I hope that I was a successful director in my final sequence; I felt that my team worked really well together and we were organized and prepared for quite a challenging task. I felt I contributed a lot to the group (creating a script, preparing for the shooting day and making sure we were prepared to meet every deadline) and led them in a positive direction.

However, I initially felt a great pressure as not only was my script chosen to be used for our final product but I was also directing too, and I didn’t want to let my team down. Looking back however, I am very pleased with our final product of the opening title sequence of ‘Doll Face’ and have greatly enjoyed the whole process.

Evaluation Questions

6) What have you learnt about Media Technologies from the process of constructing your product?
HARD WARE: Shoot Day
I found the shooting day really enjoyable, professional and it taught me how to successfully operate a camera (Sony DV2000). (Refer to blogs posting Monday, February 9, 2009-Shooting Day).
Whilst shooting I also learnt about 3-point lighting and the use of Redheads and Blue Gel to remove the orange tungsten bulbs in order to make the shot look realistic and how lighting subtly changes mood and reflection.
The technical skills I felt I learnt from the shooting day were; how spider tracking contributed to shot construction, how lighting affected both interior and exterior shots and how definition contributed to the mise-en-scene production.
SOFT WARE: Editing
I felt I learnt a lot about the digitalization of film and learned how to construction meanings through the process of editing. (Refer to blogs posting Monday, March 2, 2009-Editing Production)
The process of editing has taught me how to create time lines by cutting and logging shots, create effects including dissolves, insert credits and create an audio file. Therefore I now feel confident in an editing suite and am now fully aware of the functions of final cut.

Evaluation Questions

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

If we were to distribute our product of ‘Doll Face’ and market it properly, we would need to attract our audience through standard and viral marketing techniques including; posters (billboards), social networking sites (the character of the doll-maker might have a facebook page) to the promote soundtrack and the plot, trailers, websites (similar to http://www.rorysdeathkiss.com/ which was used to promote Christopher’s Nolan’s 2008 Batman: The Dark Knight), blogs, you-tube postings, merchandise (T-shirts and toy dolls) and organised events to promote the film

If we had time I would use this wide shot of the candle being waved in-front of the doll’s face for one of our posters because not only is the image dark, it portrays a key theme of our film (the representation of women through dolls) and the dominance of the candle over the dolls face reflects the vulnerability of the victim.
A possible tagline we could use with this image is ‘What Doll shall you play with today?’ as not only is it gripping but it suggests the idea of possession and people hiding behind disguise.

This image could also be used for a poster as the image is an unusual low angle shot and the doll being raised up high, suggests that dolls have a key role to play in the film, which in Doll Face the doll plays the key weapon for our protagonist

Evaluation Questions

4. Who would be the Audience for your Media Product?

The typical target audience for our media product ‘Doll Face’ would be teenagers from fifteen plus because the horror genre appeals too many teenagers enjoyment of being scared and our cast is young therefore the audience can recognise and empathise with the central figure of the girl, as they may be dealing with similar issues. Also we chose a doll to be a weapon of the protagonist which is an everyday childhood object therefore the films represents the sinister aspects of childhood, and allows us to subvert the audience response as dolls are often seen as cute playthings whereas, in our film dolls are represented to be evil and possessive objects, which should be avoided.

Evaluation Questions

3. What Kind of Media Institution might distribute your Media Product and why?

Our production company: Limited 2009 produced the independent low-budget film Doll Face in 2009. The categorising of Doll Face being an independent low-budget is because; the cast we used were unknowns, we used pre-existing locations (such as the interior of a mansion house, the exterior of a garden and the interior of a workshop) and our company was responsible for the whole product (shooting, editing, creative design and directing) therefore we didn’t rely on any external agencies to assist in our final product.
Our film was an un-commissioned piece therefore our finance situation was limited, we constructed the budget on available resources and allowed £15,000 for the one hour film including location, cast, costumes and editing production (alone our opening/title sequence cost £1, 000). However if we were able to distribute our product I think the company Arrow Films offers the most appropriate distribution network because they distribute in British low budget horror releases, that have a limited release date within London and the South East and within two months release onto DVD.

Evaluation Questions

2. How does your Media Product Represent Social Groups?
In our media product the social groups we presented were; young women, predatory middle-aged men and the representation of women in the form of dolls. We classified these groups through dress, tone of voice, behaviour, movement and appearance.

For the young-women we chose an actress (Sophie Wilson) who is quite, small and petite with a fresh young pretty looking face and portrayed innocence. This is a very stereotypical representation of women in horror films, as typically women are seen as weak characters in vulnerable situations against a predatory male, for example in the opening of Wes Craven’s 1996 Scream a young innocent looking girl is attacked whilst being alone in her house. In our opening sequence we dressed the actress (Sophie Wilson) in a pink fluffy dressing grown to emphasize to the audience her innocence and vulnerability which would juxtapose with the costume of the Scary Doll-Maker who we dressed in a big black jacket and dark trousers.
For the scary Doll-Maker, we chose a middle-aged actor (Simon Wallis) who was broad and tall, to represent a typical predatory male which is common in most horror films (including James Wan’s 2004 Saw). In our opening sequence, we wanted a tracking shot of both the young girl and the Doll-maker walking to show the contrasts of Victim and Predator. We asked both the actors to have completely different behavior and movement; for the Doll-maker we asked our actor to have a rather dominating stance (shoulders back, clenched fists), we also wanted his movement to look unusual and slightly robotic to suggest that in some way he was disturbed. This contrasted with the body language of the young girl which we thought should use soft gentle movements and wide eyes to emphasize to the audience her naivety.

Also whist filming we wanted to portray these representations through the shots we choose. For example in the workshop, we used close-ups of the doll-makers hands to show how he dominated over these very small dolls which in-turn creates phallic references (stroking the dolls face and body and dressing the doll) suggesting that he could have dominance and control over young women as well.
Furthermore, in our opening sequence we showed the representation of women in the form of dolls. In the workshop we chose a variety of different looking dolls all however, were small, pretty and had a slight glazed look over eyes. We wanted this glazed look to suggest to the audience the idea about how things can become possessed.

Evaluation Questions

1) In what ways does your media production use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media productions?

Our product is a two minute opening/title sequence from the short independent film ‘Doll Face’ released in 2009 directed by Clare Dodkins. The plot is about a women becoming possessed by a china doll (given to her by a stranger) after tragically miscarrying a child. Once becoming possessed she loses all her family and friends and in attempts to escape her problems becomes a violent murderer and in the final sequence the doll is laying next to her when she kills herself.
The target audience for the product would be fifteen plus, although we utilized dominant conventions of Horror Films in our film including; a female victim in vulnerable situations (similar to the opening sequence of Wes Craven’s 1996 Scream, in which a young girl was chased and murdered), violence, fear, possession, death and the use of inanimate objects with strange powers (dolls).The plot at times is quite challenging therefore the target audience needs to be older to understand its complexities, therefore I would suggest a 15 certificate.
The music we chose for our opening sequence also conforms to many horror films as we used orchestral music and discordant notes similar to the opening soundtrack of William Friedkin’s The Exorcist released in 1973 which uses elements of the 1971 Cello Concerto by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, as well as some original music by Jack Nitzsche. Also in our opening sequence we tried to use creative and unusual shots including an interior pan to reveal strange disfigured dolls and a blurred focus pull to create confusion and build suspense.

However not all aspects of our product conformed to stereotypical horror films. The doll we chose was female, pretty and looked innocent with blonde hair, pink rosy cheeks, big eyes and red lips, when in fact it plays the main evil protagonist of the plot. The lighting we chose in our opening sequence was very naturalist (for example for the workshop we only used one point lighting in the direction of the sunlight) compared to other horror films which usually use dark lighting (for example William Friedkin’s The Exorcist released in 1973). We wanted minimalist lighting to increase the reality of our horror film.

Tom Holland’s 1988 American horror film Child’s Play heavily influenced our plot as similar to ‘Doll Face’ the film used a strange inanimate object (doll) to be it’s main protagonist however in Child’s Play, Chucky (the doll) was actually a murderer whereas, in Doll Face the doll is merely a visual reflection of the women’s psychotic state of mind after tragically losing her child. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDV-DVWUvrA)
Overall our media production uses both the stereotypical forms from the horror genre (atmospheric music, victims and death) but also challenges these forms (as our main protagonist was a female doll).

DOLL FACE: THE FINAL CUT

ANALYSIS OF OUR FINAL CUT

DENOTATION OF THE FILM:
Shot One: Black screen and white printed font ‘Limited Productions’
FADE INTO:
Shot Two: Mid-tracking shot of girl walking up the stairs
CUT TO:
Shot Three: Wide exterior tracking shot of man walking through a forest
CUT TO:
Shot Four: Mid-shot of girl opening a door
FADE IN:
Shot Five: Black screen and white printed font ‘A Clare Dodkins Film’

PARTIAL DISSOVLE OF LETTERING INTO:
Shot Six: Exterior establishing shot of man walking through the forest
CUT TO:
Shot Seven: Black screen and white printed font ‘Sophie Wilson’
PARTIAL DISSOVLE OF LETTERING INTO:
Shot Eight: Interior low angle long shot of girl holding onto a sink
CUT TO:
Shot Nine: Interior wide-shot of a dark workshop
FADE IN:
Shot Ten: Black screen and white printed font ‘Simon Wallis’

PARTIAL DISSOLVE OF LETTERING INTO:
Shot Eleven: Over the shoulder mid-shot of girl looking into the mirror
CUT TO:
Shot Twelve: Extreme Close-up of doll’s face being painted
JUMP CUT TO:
Shot Thirteen: Over the shoulder mid-shot of girl applying makeup
JUMP CUT TO:
Shot Fourteen: ECU of a hand stroking the dolls face
JUMP CUT TO
Shot Fifteen: ECU of women applying lipstick

FADE IN:
Shot Sixteen: Black screen and white printed font ‘Original score by James Tunstil’
PARTIAL DISSOLVE OF LETTERING INTO:
Shot Seventeen: Close-up of doll being painted
CUT TO:
Shot Eighteen: Eye line shot extreme close-up of women applying mascara
CUT TO:
Shot Nineteen: Extreme Close-up of man sewing
FADE IN:
Shot Twenty: Black screen and white printed font ‘Production Designer Tom Leader’

PARTIAL DISSOLVE OF LETTERING INTO:
Shot Twenty-one: ECU of nail polish bottle being opened
CUT TO:
Shot Twenty-two: Mid/high angle mid-shot of man piercing doll’s body
CUT TO:
Shot Twenty-three: Close-up focus pull on doll and women’s face
FADE IN:
Shot Twenty-Four: Black screen and white printed font ‘Executive Producer Sinead Melloy’
PARTIAL DISSOLVE OF LETTERING INTO:
Shot Twenty-Five: Handheld close-up of the dolls from a raised angle

FADE IN:
Shot Twenty-Six: Black screen and white printed font ‘Producer Mortiz Riewoldt’
PARTIAL DISSOLVE OF LETTERING INTO:
Shot Twenty-seven: Eyeline close-up of dolls face
FADE IN:
Shot Twenty-Eight: Black screen and white printed font ‘Director Clare Dodkins’
PARTIAL DISSOLVE OF LETTERING INTO:
Shot Twenty-Nine: 120 degree pan to the right of dolls

JUMP CUT TO:
Shot Thirty: Eye-line ECU eyes lift up to the camera
JUMP CUT TO:
Black screen and white printed bold font ‘DOLL FACE’

CONNOTATIONS SUGGESTED FROM THE FILM:
· The actress used (Sophie Wilson) was small and petite with a fresh young pretty looking face, suggesting her innocence and vulnerability of a victim. Also she is dressed in a white fluffy dressing grown which greatly juxtaposes with the costume of the Scary Doll-Maker who was dressed in a big black jacket and dark trousers to suggest the predatory male.
· The use of red in the sequence (nail polish and lipstick) suggests the idea of death and blood
· The use ECU’S and close-ups of hands create phallic symbols (stroking the dolls face) and suggests how the man dominates over dolls and in-turn will dominate over women
· The use of quick jump cuts creates pace and tension within the sequence

Editing Production

We began editing our rough footage on Wednesday 21st January. Before editing we needed to understand the software in which we were using, Final Cut Pro. Final Cut Pro is only available on Mac OS X, the software means you can log and capture video onto a hard drive, which can then be edited and processed.


Final Cut Pro has a variety of applications which are vital in creating a realistic and effective film. The software has a variety of standard editing functions (ripple, roll, slip, slide, scrub, razor blade and time remapping), it also has 99 audio tracks, a range of dissolves, basic 3D transitions, colour correction filters, mulit-cam editing and video and audio filters(keying tools, mattes and vocal de-poppers and de-essers).


After understanding the software, we initially began to look through our rough footage. After playing the footage a few times we began to digitalize (log) and select the shots that we wanted to use. This process was quite challenging because as a group we needed to agree unanimously on which shots we thought were more successful. Some shots were clearer than other to discard, for example one of exterior tracking shots wobbled, two of the focus pull shots were out of focus and due to the lighting continuity in the workshop many of our shots were either too bright or too dark. However not all the shots were as easy to discard, as at times our mistakes seemed to create an interesting shot, for example the focus pool we chose was not actually perfect and slightly blurred but in the context of our sequence, the shot looked effective as it created a confusing and un-nerving atmosphere.

Having chosen the shots and putting them into categories (exterior walking, interior workshop and interior bathroom) we began to put our chosen shots onto a timeline. We needed to make sure that between shot A to B there were Graphic (configurations, patterns of light and dark, line shape, volumes and depths, movement and stasis), Rhythmic (adjusting their screen duration and creating a steady rhythm) and Spatial (relating two points in space through similarity, difference, or development) relations between each shot.

Once creating a timeline of shots, we began to put in our credits. We chose an unusual, bold font on a black screen which would capture the audience’s attention and fit in the stereotypical genre of horror films. We then used fade in and dissolve to make the cuts look clean.After completing our credits we wanted to make sure that the footage and credits were polished, effective and created a successful narrative flow. After completing our footage we needed to find music that would heighten the atmosphere and create tension within the sequence which would compliment the genre. Luckily we showed James Tunstill (a music teacher at school) our film and he agreed to compose some music for us, which we then loaded onto Final Cut Pro and put on top of our footage..