Gabriel Mohammed- Evaluation

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

The first shot of our film shows Hope as a young girl, sitting in the corner of the room she is imprisoned in. The use of this shot allows our audience to empathise with the main character as at this point she is an innocent young girl whom the audience would not want to see harmed. This is an important connection formed very early on between the main character and the audience as they are on her side. a similar technique is used in the action thriller film "Salt"- the first sequence shows the main character vulnerable and desperate in a similar way to our film.

both of these shots allow the audience to empathise with the main character.

In the flashback scene we slowed down the approach of the van to draw attention to it, this creates enigma for the audience as they are drawn towards it but are not quite sure of the significance of it yet.

Another way we created enigma was to use a point of view shot from the point of view of the kidnapper, the antagonist. From this the audience can tell what role he plays but there is still enigma as they know nothing about his past or his motives to do this.

In our flashback sequence we took inspiration from the flashback sequence of the BBC show "Hunted", a lot of quick jump cuts are used. We used them to show that Hope's memory of her abduction is hazy and that it still plagues her.


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

The main character in our product, Hope Hardy, is a strong female lead. She has taken into her own hands the safety of her life and has matured as a character. This shows her in a positive light as she is shown to be independent of other people and not a “damsel in distress”.

The main antagonist shown is the kidnapper he is shown as a middle aged man. This creates him to be a binary opposite of Hope Hardy which allows the audience to more clearly see the roles of these two characters and allow them to empathise with Hope. 

Social class is left out of the opening for the characters and is not shown or mentioned. This creates a more accepted main character and allows the audience to empathise with her without judgement and no matter what their position.


At the beginning of our opening, the main character is shown as a young girl; she is shown as an innocent victim here. This portrayal of the main character could be construed as a negative stereotype on women- that they are weak and vulnerable. However we believe our film shows her growing to become a strong independent woman which challenges the stereotypes set forth by some.

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

 A classic release of a film  runs in major cinemas for around 4 months at first. After this there would be DVD/Blu-ray releases as well as subscription based streaming/downloading services like Netflix and lovefilm. However that could be tough for an independent film like ours so other options for us could be to show in smaller indie cinemas such as the Duke of York's picture house in Brighton. 

Another way for a lower budget film to be able to distribute affordably would be to follow the example of "Pulp" and to distribute via Xbox live or a similar new media outlet. This way we would be able to reach our target demographic of 15-29 year olds which is a similar demographic for Xbox customers. Although the main audience is usually males which we would want to diversify upon. 

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

We hope for our film to be accessible and enjoyable to both males and females. We don’t want to pin down on a certain gender demographic as we feel the film can be universally liked by all. However as the main character is a strong female who portrays a good image for feminism hopefully our film will appeal to women a lot and not just men.

The age classification of our film is a 15 which will allow us more freedom with violence, strong language etc. to make the film more realistic. The age rating will be the only barrier for the audience for our film so we wish for as large an audience as possible and for the film to reach many people. Our target age demographic is that of teens and young adults, within the age bracket of 15-29. We feel that as our main character is representing this age group this demographic would feel more connected to the film and enjoy it more. However we do not want to limit our film and hope that an older audience also enjoy it as well.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We aimed to attract our audience in a number of different ways. By having our main character as a 16 year old we will attract a younger teen audience as they feel they can relate to the character more as well as there also very little British thrillers focusing on teens. this attracts our audience again as we are not producing our film for an over saturated market. 

we also attract a larger female audience due to our main character being female. She portrays a strong view of an independent woman which people appreciate as we don't show Hope as a "damsel in distress" type character and she is actually the lead.  

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

Most of our filming for our piece was done on a Sony Handycam. We were already familiar with this piece of equipment as we used it extensively for the filming of our preliminary piece. It was very simple to work with and we did not need to learn much to be able to effectively use it. this was good for us as first time film makers.

Sony HandyCam HDR-XR550V

We also used another camera to film with, the Sony hdv tape camera. We decided to use this camera because it had better functionality to create a focus pull effect which was something we wanted to use. however it did not turn out as effectively as we had hoped so we abandoned the idea.

 

Sony HDV

The software we used to edit our film on the Apple Macs were: Final cut pro, and garageband. I had not used either of these programs before and was uncomfortable using them at first, however with some guidance and after being able to practice with it i grew more comfortable with it. We used it to de-saturate the colour and add in text amongst other things.

The other piece of software we used was Garageband, this was a very simple tool that i have had previous experience with so i felt more confident using it we used garage band to edit and create the sound for our film. We recorded and added a voice over as well as adding foleys where needed. 

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

Our final film was very different from our preliminary film, not only in content and topic but also the quality, as we had improved as filmmakers over the course. The film we produced for our preliminary task was a vampire horror whilst our final film was more grounded in reality, it was a grittier more realistic telling of a thriller.

For our prelim we used text to convey the dialogue and story of the piece and while this was effective, due to the fact that we were replicating early silent films, we felt a voiceover was better suited to "Losing Hope Hardy".

This also shows how our editing skills have progressed since creating our prelim. Then, when we were new to final cut pro, this shot was very advanced for us but after we grew to know how to use final cut pro better we were able to use it to de-saturate, add a time stamp and various filters and effects.

Lighting and shadows were very prevalent in both of our films and i feel that we progressed in our use of low key lighting and our ability to create shadows for effect. in "Library of doom" we used the shadow of the antagonist to surround the heroine implying that she was trapped. This was the extent of our ability and although it worked very well and i am still proud of it, i feel our use of lighting and shadow in our final film was far superior. both technically and also in the message it implies.

The editing techniques we used also improved between our films. For our preliminary task we used a match on action, and whilst it worked our later match on actions in "Losing Hope Hardy" were much more fluid and natural.

Another area in which we progressed was sound. As we created the first film to be a silent film there was no dialogue or foleys, and the only sound present was the parallel, offscreen soundtrack. In our final film we changed this a lot and used many foleys to set the scene for the flashback sequence. We also used a voiceover to give the audience an insight into Hope's mind.

Helen Scarlett - Evaluation

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

 

In these shots because of the point of view angle of the camera, although we see what the antagonist sees, we do not actually see any physicality's of the character. This coincides with the genre of the piece as it creates enigmas for the spectator, as to who the antagonist is.







This shot is a close up of the main character. This shot is just before the flash back to the day she was taken. The close up shows the spectator that we are going to see her thoughts and also shows that she thinks of this day a lot.



This is another example of a close up of the character just before a dream or memory. This shot is from the thriller film Shutter Island. Like our film this close up is used to introduce the memory. The close up also shows the emotion of the character so the spectator knows if its a sad or happy memory.

 

In these shots the lighting is low key chiaroscuro. This coincides with the thriller genre as it connotes a sad, mysterious mood. We used low key lighting here as it is with the voice over, so it shows how she is feeling. It shows the light and dark parts of her thoughts.



This is a shot from the thriller film Se7en. It is an example of other ways low key lighting can be used in this genre. In this scene the detective finds photos of John Doe's victims and learns the truth of their horrible torturous deaths. The low key lighting helps to show the horror and fear the detective feels.



This is a shot from Hope's memory. In this shot we used high key lighting to show that she had a happy childhood before she was taken. Also the colours are overly bright and look almost unnatural, which shows something bad is about to happen.

 

This is an example of high key lighting which also connotes something bad is about to happen, but also that this was once a happy time for the main character. This shot is also from the thriller film Shutter Island.

 

 

In our flash back we used high contrast lighting to help convey how much this moment has haunted Hope. This technique is often found in flash backs of thrillers. We decided to do this as the colours contrasted well with the previous shot from our flash back which shows how confused the character is and that she still doesn't actually know how or why it happened.

 

This is a shot from a flash back from the thriller TV series Hunted. This shot also has high contrast lighting as it too shows the main protagonist's haunting memory from her child hood. We thought this was effective as it highlights how much this one traumatic moment in time has shaped the present day character.

 

 

 

 

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our main character Hope is a strong female teenager.

However, in the flash back to when she was captured, Hope is wearing a bright pink jacket and a light blue hat. This connotes the character is young, innocent, girly. The younger Hope is 5 years old. Her clothes look clean and new and suggest that her family are of a high social class. The young Hope is a stereotypical little girl. We decided to represent this character as we did as we wanted the spectator to feel remorse for the sweet little girl who would lose everything. We also use shots of the young Hope on a swing, which is stereotypical for films with children.

 

 

The older Hope is wearing plain clothes in dark colours. This shows the spectator how she has developed in the past 12 years. She is now full of anger and rage emphasised by her costume. The older Hope is 17 years old and now represents the lower social class as she has no money, no family, and nowhere to stay after her escape. We decided to represent this character thus as we wanted her character to come across as a girl who has given up, but still has the potential power to be a true heroin of the film.

 

The antagonist of our film is a man of an older generation and probably working class as he owns a van along with having the resources to keep a girl captive for 12 years. This character is a stereotypical antagonist as he wears black which contrasts with the child’s bright colours and drives a black van. Throughout the opening of our film the antagonist holds all of the power, and seems as though he will always be in charge of the situation. We decided to represent this character thus because we wanted a traditional antagonist to the thriller genre.

 

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
There are many ways we could distribute our film to its audience.

Internet. We could distribute our film through sites such as Bloody Cuts, which is a site for film makers to post their film, or part of a film so people in the film industry can see their work, and maybe offer to work with the film maker.

Cinema. We could distribute our film through the cinema. However, it is often hard for independent film makers to have their product shown in a cinema. An independent cinema would be a good placed to show our film as it would attract audiences who have enjoyed other independent films as well as our target audience.

TV. Another way of distributing our film could be through the TV. A lot of channels take on films to be shown exclusively on their channel. The film could also be cheaply advertised on this channel to target it's audience.

Gaming Consoles. Recently a low budget film, Pulp has come out. This film was the first feature film to come straight out onto Xbox. This would be perfect for our film as it will be a cheap as all the advertising could be done on the Xbox as well. This would reach our target audience as it is similar to the target audience for the console. However, females are our target audience, and stereotypically the Xbox's audience is males.

This is a trailer for the film Pulp.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
Because of the age and sex of our main protagonist our target audience is 15 to 20 year old females as our main character is a strong female protagonist around the age of our target audience.

We have found there is a gap in the market for thriller films aimed at a female audience.



Our film will have a 15 certificate as it will take in our whole target audience.

Here is some feed back from members of our target audience who have seen our film opening:

"It engaged it's audience from the start"

"It made us ask questions about the plot"

"We came away wanting to see the rest of the film, to find out what would happen"

Other films our target audience may be interested in are:

All of these films have strong female protagonists who, like Hope are seeking revenge for what's wronged them in the past.


 

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Our film is attracting it's target audience as the protagonist is similar to the audience. Hope is the same age as our target audience, and because of her dark hair she looks like a 'girl-next-door' type of girl which means the audience will easily be able to emphasise with the character.  The props and costumes addressed our audience as they were modern and therefore something the audience would recognise form their every day lives, emphasising the realist thriller genre.




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

Cameras. We used a Sony Handycam HDR-XR550 camera to film the majority of our film. It was simple to use. We easily set the white balance, recorded and re-watched our footage. This camera was effective as because it was small we were not limited as to from what angle we shot from as we would have been with a bigger, heavier camera which we wouldn't be able to get up high.

For the flash back scene, we wanted to do a focus pull from Hope on the swing to the van pulling up behind her. For this we used a Sony HDV camera. However in the end we decided that it didn't create the effect we wanted so we cut it form the final piece. This camera was slightly more complicated to use.

 

 

 

Voice Recorder. We used a H2 Zoom Recorder to record Hope's voice over. We decided to add the voice over to our final piece as without it we found our target audience were left confused about what had happened. This was easy to use and created a clear sound. We found it picked up the smallest of noises which was useful when it came to recording a background sound track.

Final Cut Pro. For editing our film we used Final Cut Pro on apple macs. Although this was a different software I had used for my GCSEs once I had gotten used to it I found it easy and effective to use. Since our first film I have become more confident with this software and am now able to create a better and sleeker edited film.

This is a tutorial for using Final Cut Pro.

Garageband. When adding sound to our film opening we used Garageband on apple macs. I found this hard to use at the beginning as I had never used anything like it before. However, by the time we had finished the sound, which was the final thing we had to do I felt confident that I could easily use it again.

This is a detailed tutorial for using Garageband.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Our Preliminary film and our final film were very different, but in the time between the two we learnt new techniques and became a lot more comfortable with the technology we were using.

Text. In both films we used text. In our preliminary the text was very Gothic outlined with a Gothic pattern and with a black background. In our final film we used a simpler font so it didn't take anything away from other things happening on screen and it had a film background. i think the latest text was more effective as it shows the character, and the font helps to represent the film as it the words 'losing' and 'hardy' look as though they are crumbling like Hope's hope for escape.
 

Match on Action.

 

In both films we used match on action. I think that the match on action has improved in the second film as thanks to more knowledge on editing it was more fluid from one shot to the next. The newer match on action is also more effective as it so drastically changes from a high angle to and almost worm eye view, which emphasises the power of the character.

Lighting (shadows).

 

In the two films we experimented with how to get the greatest effect across though lighting. In the first film we used a light from behind the antagonist so a shadow was cast upon its victim. this was effective as it shows which character was in power. in our final film we used lighting to create a different effect. This time we wanted to find a way to make the character seem weak and lonely, instead of showing one character's power against the other. Again we put a light behind the character, but this time we shot from a different angle, looking at the character. This created a halo effect on the actor which emphasised the innocence, fear and loneliness of her situation.

Text vs. Voice Over.

In our first film, instead of speech we made our film a silent film and had the words they were supposedly saying come up on screen. We thought this would be the best way to bring across the old Gothic movie genre. However, in our final film instead of using speech between characters we had a voice over to help the audience understand what was happening. Both of these were effective in their own way, but I think the voice over was the most effective as it communicated better with a modern audience, which was our target audience for both films.

TARGET AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

Final Film - Losing Hope Hardy

Maddie Maynard - Evaluation

Maddie's Evaluation

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


In this shot, which uses a slow pan to reveal a young girl sitting in an empty room,  many enigmas are set up to the audience. This is typical of the thriller genre, especially in the openings. The audience wonder who the girl is, and why she is in the empty room. At this point in the film, the narrative is restricted as the audience don't know what has happened previously. The sound used in this shot is slow, minor piano music which adds to the tense and pensive atmosphere of the film.

An example of a thriller opening which uses similar techniques to our is '44 Inch Chest', which uses a slow pan to reveal the main character lying in a trashed apartment- the use of this shot creates enigma and suspense, as the audience aren't shown straight away who the character is and are eager to discover their identity. The unusual setting in this opening also adds to the mystery, which is pieced together throughout the film.

This shot reveals the characters face for the first time, using a close up to emphasise to the audience how the character is feeling. Her facial expression matches the sad mood of the music; an example of parallel sound.

This high angle point of view shot has been used to show binary opposition in our opening. The kidnapper is contrasting to the girl (Hope) because of his dark clothing, and his evil compared to her happiness and innocence. This shows the binary oppostion of good vs. evil.

A similar shot is used in the thriller 'Law Abiding Citizen'. The evil character who has just entered the house and attacked the parents then approaches their daughter, and the use of lighting here is a contributing factor to show his evil contrasted with her vulnerability and innocence; the man is in silhouette against the light which shines on the little girl.

 Lighting has also been used to create effect in our opening sequence, especially in the scene which is meant to connote Hope's mental state. She is sat in darkness, with only her face illuminated by bright artificial lighting. By using this lighting we wanted to connote that Hope was lonely, afraid and isolated from the world by being locked in the room. The audience also feel very voyeuristic in this sequence, as they are watching the girl when in the film, no one can see her. They can also hear her speaking on a voiceover, which gives them an insight into her thoughts, emotions and psychological state.

This shot is another example of how lighting and camera angle has been used to create effect. This still is taken from the flashback sequence, and the effect of silhouette has been created by using a low angle shot, with the subject swinging in front of a natural light source from the sun. This shot emphasises that the character may be in danger, as it is a strange angle, which therefore suggests unfamiliar circumstances for Hope. This shot also draws attention to the time of day; the audience sees that the sun is beginning to set and therefore, we connote that Hope will be in further danger as daylight reduces.

We have used editing in this shot to make it appear significant in the film; firstly, the speed has been slowed down. All the other shots in the flashback sequence are between 1 and 3 seconds long, the rapid pace having a confusing effect on the audience and heightening suspense, however this shot is noticeably the longest at over 5 seconds. This ensures that the audience notices the van in the background; a significant prop in our opening.

It is also noticeable that all of the shots in the flashback sequence are filmed from in front of or beside the subject, and this shows the equilibrium at the beginning of the flashback scene as Hope plays innocently on the swing. However, this shot is the first one from behind, which shocks the audience as the camera turns from objective to subjective, and they see from the point of view of the kidnapper for the first time. The kidnapper is the first character to be given point of view, which gives him a powerful status and make him appear more menacing. This shot also breaks the 180 degree rule which has up to this point been followed. This is purposeful, as it confuses the audience, and suggests that a new character, which will cause disruption in some way, has entered the narrative.

This extreme long shot from behind the subject is the first in a sequence of very quickly paced shots, as the kidnapper approaches Hope. Handheld camera is used in this shot, and the addition of camera shake makes the audiecne feel uneasy as they know the kidnapper is getting closer. The quick succession of the shots in this sequence show the scene reaching its climax and therefore suspense is quickly built, creating great entertainment for the Thriller audience who want to be shocked and surprised. Also, because of the pace, we are not given much time to think, connoting the way Hope is presented here; she is vulrable and helpless and would not be able to escape as the kidnap happens so suddenly

In some ways this shot concludes the very opening of the film, before the title appears. A slow fade up has been used, which shows that the section inside Hope's mind finishing and her real life starting. As well as the fade, a sound bridge of Hope's voice over saying 'Revenge', also connotes that the two situations are linked, and that Hope will still be in an unstable mental state which will affect her actions in the rest of the film. We connote from her voiceover that she will attempt to take revenge on her captor in the film, giving the audience some insight into what will happen next. The shot is 5 seconds long, and throughout it Hope stays still, her body language connoting that she is lonely, introverted and timid.

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

• The main social groups that have been represented in our product are White British young females, teenaged females and middle aged males.
• Firstly, the young female in our film was Hope aged five- at the time of the kidnap. The representation of young Hope is quite stereotypical, as she is seen playing in a park, and non diegetic sound of a young girls laughter has been used, connoting the innocent and carefree nature which is typical of 5 year old children. Her costume also portrays this, as she wears a pink coat and wellington boots; a colour which is typically feminine and therefore suggests she is the 'damsel in distress' character. However, we portrayed Hope stereotypeically in order to show her vulnerability, and make her kidnap even more upsetting to the audience because of her cute and loveable character.

This image shows the examples of how Hope was portrayed in a stereotypical way.

• Secondly, Hope aged 16- in the present day- is not a very stereotypical representation. She doesn't wear colourful or fashionable clothes like most teenage girls, and she doesn't behave in the way they do e.g. socialising, wearing make up, shopping. However, the reason Hope is portrayed so differently is because of the life she has had shut in the room. The unconventional representation of a female teenager suggests to the audience that her mental state will not be the same, and that this will lead her to act differently in the future. However, in terms of character types, Hope appears to be the 'damsel in distress', which is fitting of her age and gender. However, the audience soon discover that she is not a weak or passive character; when on the voice over she says, 'Revenge', the audience connotes that her true character is much more determined and ruthless than it first appears.
• The third character in the film is a white British middle aged male- the Kidnapper. The Kidnapper is represented stereotypically, as he appears to be the character with the most power in the film, which is typical of the Thriller genre where antagonists are more commonly male. Also, he is a stereotypical villain, which is portrayed through the camerawork which keeps his face hidden througout most of the film. This makes him seem more menacing as his identity is a secret, therefore he appears difficult to identify and catch. As a result of his character, he is not a true representation of a majority of middle aged men, however, his position of power in the film reflects the common idea that men are the more dominant gender.

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

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

Due to the age of our main character, Hope Hardy, our film would most likely appeal to an audience of teenagers and young adults, aged 15-20. The film would appeal to both males and females, because the Thriller genre is popular with men because many of them enjoy of its exciting, action packed content. Many women also enjoy this, but will also be interested because the main character is a strong, uinconventional female protagonist. I think this audience would be most interested because there are not many Thriller films which have a teenager as the main protagonist, and this unconventional character would be an exciting change to the Thriller genre. This audience would also be interested to see how their age group has been represented in a film, and whether or not the character has been represented as a stereotypical teenager. For example, they would be curious to discover whether the main character, Hope, has been represented as a stereotypically weak, passive or feminine teenage girl. Due to this, more females than males may watch the film. They may have this view because often in Thriller films, young females are presented as the victim, and not very commonly the protagonist. Although there are some examples of Teenage protagonists in Thrillers, there are few which include a teenage, female lead character. This 'gap in the market' could be a reason why this audience will be interested in our film.

Audience Feedback: I asked a fellow student, Gabi (aged 17) what she thought of the film and she said:

'It was very effective, I would be willing to go and see the whole film in the cinema. It looked like it could be a real film, as it was quite proffessional. I especially liked the flashback scene, I thought the different effects added looked really effective. I also like the section with the voiceover, that worked well and it was really emotive; it made you understand her character more'

Other films which may interest our target audience could be:

Nancy Drew: An example of a female teenage protagonist.

 Elfie Hopkins - A darker thriller featuring a teenage female protagonist.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We aimed to attract our target audience in a variety of ways in our final film. For example, the main character was aged 16, which would appeal to the target audience of people around this age, as they would be more able to relate to and understand a character of the same age group. We hoped our audience would be able to empathise with her, and as is shown from the audience feedback, this was achieved in the voiceover scene. I think this is because of the informal register Hope speaks with, which would be similar to the way our audience would speak with their friends; this allowed them to feel close to Hope and feel sympathy for her and her situation.

The props we used in the film also helped to attract the audience, as we used a modern vehicle and laptop which teenagers are very familiar with. This helped to make the film seem more up-to-date, believable, and therefore more engaging to the audience.


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

• During the process of filming and editing our thriller opening, I have learnt about how to use and get the best out of a variety of different technologies. For example, when filming the opening, we began by using a Sony Handycam HDR-XR550 camera. Although I have used a similar camera before- in GCSE Media and in previous AS assignments- I learnt a lot about how to properly use a video camera like this one, as it was a more advanced model than I have had experience with previously.

• At one point in our film we wanted to create a focus pull. However, after experimenting with the focus features on this camera, we soon found out that we couldn't achieve this technique effectively when using this type of camera; we needed something more advanced.

• So then, after asking the advice of our media technicians, we filmed the rest of the opening on a Sony HDV Camera. Although we didn't manage to achieve the focus pull, changing cameras to suit our needs was a way of teaching us that the only way to attempt the filming you need is to experiment with a range of technolgies.

 

• As well as cameras, this project required me to use software which I had barely used before such as Final Cut Pro. Having used different software to edit at GCSE, I had little experience with this programme, however with some guidance I found it was quite simple and was an effective way of achieving a film that looked proffessional. After referring back to the Flashback research we carried out at the beginning of the project, Final Cut enabled us to manipulate the colour and speed of footage to achieve the effect we desired for the flashback. This also allowed us to add fades and titling.

• We also used Garage Band to add sound to our film. I have used Garage Band before, in GCSE music and on previous AS assignments, however this was the longest and most complex project I have done yet, and this programme made it easier to add sound effects, music and voiceover to our film.

• Another technology we used on this project was a H2 Zoom Recorder. We previously used this recorder to capture foleys for our Sound Task, however on our Thriller film I used it to record Hope's Voiceover, which I thought was a very successful and effective element to the film.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

During the progression from the Preliminary task to the final product, I feel I learned a lot about how to create a successful film, using different techniques and technologies. These frames show compare and contrast to show how my work has progressed.

This example shows a Match on Action that featured in our preliminary task. As we were required to include this method in our film, we worked hard to make the matches look seamless, and I think we succeeded in doing so.

In our final film, we also used Match on Action, but I feel this example of the method shows how my skills have progressed; for example, we use more than one match in a sequence to show more than one action being carried out (here the character looks into the keyhole, then returns to standing, all in one sequence). We also used varying shot angles and distances during the match on action- mid shot, high angle, extreme close up) to make them more interesting for the viewer.

We also experiented with new features which didn't appear in the preliminary task, such as the Graphic Match which can be seen here. By using this method, we could link two locations together (Hope in the room and the kidnapper at the table) which helps the viewer to understand what is happening in the scene. By incorporating new techniques such as this, I feel I have demonstrated a deeper understanding of the editing we have studied.

The way lighting has been used has also progressed since the preliminary task. In both films we used artificial lighting, but to different effect. Firstly, in the preliminary task we used a redhead light to create the shadow of the vampire on the wall; we got inspiration for this from the old vampire film 'Nosferatu', and we were very pleased with the result. However, after learning more about the effects of lighting, in 'Losing Hope Hardy' we used lighting not only to illuminate but to convey the mood of our character. By using the bright white LED light, we achieved a chilling atmosphere which connoted Hope's sadness and isolation. I feel our deepened knowledge of lighting greatly helped us to achieve this effect, which allowed the audience to empathise with the character; an important element of our film.