Director's Commentary

Main Video Project- Wrong Turn

We handed out five questionnaires to get an overall view of what people actually thought about our project. The participants watched our project first and then answered these questions.
The questions were:

1. The genre of “The Wrong Turn” opening is a thriller. Do you think that the genre reflected with the opening?
Yes No

2. Rate what you think of the low key lighting in the home scenes? (1 = lowest and 5 = highest)
1 2 3 4 5

3. Do you think that the music included helped create tension?
Yes No

4. The audience that this opening reflects to is young adults. Do you think that the clip appeals to young adults?
Yes No

5. Would you say that the male character looks convincing enough to look like a protagonist in the clip?
Yes No

6. What would be your overall rating for the opening? (1-lowest and 5-highest)
1 2 3 4 5

7. Are there any other comments?
Yes No
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

These are the results of our questionnaire:

The reason why we used this setting

This setting is one of the group members living room. We used this setting because we did some research of what a psychiatrists room looks like and we found that they are rooms which are quite calm so that the patient feels comfortable. One film which we looked at which had a character who was going to see a psychiatrist is "Reign Over Me" staring Adam Sandler. The room in the film is very similar to the one in our project. The setting makes the patient feel comfortable and at ease with the whole situation. Both the characters are in a position so that they are facing each other so that they can have a proper conversation.

How did you attract/ address your audience?

The movie is meant to be mostly for teenagers and maybe young people under the age of 25. This is why the actors have to be in that age group, our movie shows a black male who is about 17 years old, dressed in black from head to toe, which can symbolises danger and mystery. Using both females of the same age group as well will hopefully grab the attention of the viewers we want. There is also a hint of the older age group in the movie by the use of the older female being the psychiatrist symbolising how older females tend to help the younger females and be a mother figure for them, trying to help them get past their problems. She is older than everyone else in the movie and she is quiet formally dressed and appearing to be trying to help Sarah, she could be seen as the mother figure to the very disturbed teenager, which is what tends to happen to people when they have been through such a traumatic situation, anyone and everyone is always there for them to try am make them feel comfortable and help.

We got our idea about using the same age group that will attract the age group wanted from movies like “Shifty”, “Kidulthood” etc. In these movies, each actor shows how different age group acted in real life and this is what attracted so many viewers to these movies, as each individual character attracted the type of person to watch it and this is what we hope will happen by using different age groups and people from different backgrounds, also with using this story line almost everyone can sympaphise with what’s going on so what we hope is in order to be successful we had to do a movie for a very keen age group and in many cases this is the best one because if we did a movie for the older age group, it will not have any viewers of a younger that will be interested even if some younger actors are in it because they cannot relate to it. In the case of making a low budget movie for the younger age group, your expectations of the movie can never be too low because this age group is watched by mostly every one in the world and this can be related to by the older age groups as they have been through this before. The main thing we thought was; if we set high expectations for this movies, its better than setting a low expectation for the older age group as they are more likely to watch this as well as movies for their age group as they been past these experiences but the younger age group hasn’t experienced it all yet so they will only stick to their type of movies. This will hopefully make’s our movie successful as we have set a low expectation level for it and seeing as we have an older female in it and hopefully bring older viewers to watch, it will really exceed our expectations and even if it doesn’t, it’s kind of a win, win situation as its all expected.

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

Our group has learnt a number of rules and procedures about camera and how to use them which have helps to develop our work. One of the rules we have learnt it to not break the 180degree angle when filming certain scenes. The 180 degree rule is where two characters in a scene have the same right/ left relationship to each other. If the camera goes over the 180 degree rule the work doesn’t look right. Also when using the camera we have learnt that getting the camera level is very important because if it isn’t the whole image becomes uneven and ruins the shot. Another technique we have learnt when using the cameras is that they are very sensitive to wind so when filming we have to make sure that there is either no wind or its not very strong as it ruins all the sound. When we were filming outside there was a strong wind and as a result of this it meant that when the actors were speaking you could barely hear them. Also when using a camera we have learnt how to use a number of different shots. In our film we used over the shoulder shot, medium shot, close-up and a long shot. To get these shots how we wanted them we had to film them a number of times so we could get them just right. As we made a few mistakes with the different shots we had to go back to the location twice so we cold get them perfect. The first time we filmed our project we found quite a few mistakes with the way we shot our scenes and we realised that we didn’t have enough footage to make the opening scene a full 2 minutes. The second time we filmed our project we made sure that the mistakes we made the last time when filming such as continuity errors and not getting the angles of the shots correct, were corrected.

When using the editing software we learnt a number of skills. The first skill we learnt was how to log and capture our project onto the computer so we were able to use the editing software to edit our project. We then learnt how to cut or work so that we got the parts of the filming we needed and the added it to the timeline. Also when editing we learnt how to link the sounds and the shots together. For example in one part of our scene Sarah is talking to the psychiatrist but the visual is of her walking down the street and bumping into the attacker. Wit the sound in our project we lent how to over lap it with other sound and quieten it down so that one is louder then the other to show which one is more important. Also when editing we learnt how change the lighting of the shots so that one doesn’t look as dark as the other. We found some of the techniques of editing quite hard but once we got used to them it got easier. The editing software has helped us a lot with creating the type of work we wanted. Its helped us to put the sound where we wanted and use the sound as a voice over when the scene goes into a flashback.

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

The media institution which would be best suited for distributing our film project is BBC Films. This institution works with low budget films which is what our project is. The films which BBC Films has been involved with that are linked with ours are "Life & Lyrics", "Shifty" and "Bullet Boy". All these filmed are aimed at teenagers and young adults, and so is our media project.

BBC Films co-produces up to 8 films a year and is one of the main British Independent Filmmaking companies. The company works with big international and UK distributors, they aim to make great British films which are seen by people all over the world. They also look for new talent to star in their films, and up and coming writers and directors. This company has co-produced some of the most successful British films of recent years.

Another media institution which would be interested in distributing our film is Stealth Films. This company has distributed both films "Kidulthood" and "Adulthood" which are both similar films to ours. The reason this would be a good match for distributing our project is because, it to, works with low budget films with new and upcoming directors, writers and actors. Also as this company has distributed films related to ours which have been extremely successful it means that our films, with there help will also be successful.

Film4 is also another company which would be an excellent company to help distribute our film. Film4 works with a lot of films which are low budget with some new an upcoming actors and actresses. Film4 Productions is owned by Channel 4. Although this company distributes big budget films such as the recent film “The Lovely Bones” but has also helped produce and distribute low budget films such as “This Is England”. As this company works with low budget movies it should be a good to distribute our movie.