Final Post

My blog is now complete and ready for assessment.

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?


The first thing that i learnt from doing the preliminary task was realizing how key planning was. I learnt that in order to get the filming done well we had to know where we were going to shoot, what time of day we were going to shoot, who we were going to have as characters in our film, and what was the actual plot of the film. If we wouldn't of planned this before then we wouldn't of known what we were going to do and how we were going to go and do it.

Evaluation Question 6

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


For our research and planning we decided that we it was best to do a person to person focus group. We chose this ahead of Facebook because we felt that people couldn't express their full opinions over Facebook. We felt that they couldn't give feeling over their answer over the internet. For example when we asked if they enjoy films such as Kidulthood and Green Street this would of just required a one word yes or no answer over Facebook yet asking this question in person you can ask for reasoning behind their answer. To produce our film the only 2 pieces of technological equipment that we used were the camera to film and the computer to edit. I found that using blogging helped me a lot because it helped me keep on track of what I have learnt throughout the process of developing our film. The blogging enabled me to set out my research and planning neatly and allowed me to present it in a clear way helping me see where i am at and where i have to go. The editing software of premier pro helped us a lot as we could edit it to suit our genre. We were only able to shoot in the day time when it was relativley light so to fit into our genre we had to edit it and darken the lighting which with premiere pro we were able to do this. To get our film onto our blogs we simply uploaded it from premier pro to you tube and then from there, you tube to blogger by embedding it.

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?      


We filmed some boys who we think would fit right into our specific target audience. We know the significance of audience feedback and we know that it is very important to know whether we have been successful or not. We feel that overall we have been successful in our project as we can see in the video below that for most of the time that the boys were watching it they had straight faces and were serious. This was what we challenged ourselves to achieve and now that we have done so, is very fulfilling. We set out from the start to create a 'boys' film which they would enjoy and as it seen in the video they have enjoyed it and would like to carry on watching.                         

                                                                                                          

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

As stated in my audience profile in Research & Planning the audience for our film would be a working class teenage male. We think that they would be interested in urban movements such as UK Grime & Hip Hop music, Football, Relative violence and generally doing what teenage boys do. We feel that they would enjoy socialising with friends, and going out into their local clubs. They would enjoy websites such as Facebook & You Tube.

Evaluation Question 3

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


We have decided that to distribute our film we are going to choose a relatively small distribution company. We are going to use Revolver Entertainment. We have chosen this company because they have done a good job with films such as Kidulthood & City rats which are very similar to our niche target audience and would hopefully do the same with us. We would aim to get our film mainly independent cinemas as we feel that the multiplex cinema companies would not be interested in our film because of the niche market that our film fits into however with independent cinemas we could choose which locations to offer our film im. For example we wouldn't want to show our film in an independent cinema in a small town such as Number 8 Community and Arts Centre in Pershore, Worcestershire because this does not correspond to our market. A suitable independent cinema however would be somewhere such as Clapham Picture House in London becuase a lot of the people who we are aiming our film at would live in areas like these. We would definately release our film on DVD. We say this becuase if you look at Kidulthood it had a budged of only £600 000 and only made £453,876 gross revenue this suggests that they didnt make a profit but they sold a lot of copies of the DVD and eventually made a lot of profit. To promote our film we would try low budget advertising. We would advertise on youtube channels such as SBTV & GRIME DAILY as we think that people interested in this music would also be interested in our film. This would be much cheaper than advertising on the television or magazines or newspapers.

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our Film was made to represent teenage, urban, working class boys and we tried to do this by making our film similar to Films like Kidulthood and Shifty. We tried to do this by creating a very urban setting. In our film we have shots of things such as tower blocks, an underpass, traffic, a lot of dirty walls and graffiti. We tried to represent our chosen social class by the costume that we chose. We decided that we would get the actors to wear hoodies, black & grey coloured clothing and flat peak caps. We think that this feeds the stereotype and reinforces this dominant ideology. Another way that we tried to represent this particular social group was by the soundtrack used. We chose a beat from the Grime genre because we feel that it fits in with the setting and the characters. Grime is a music genre at around 140 beats per minute and originated from East London. As we are trying to create an urban feel to the film opening this sort of music fits in perfectly. At the end of the film opening the two boys go and meet another boy who is smoking. This could reinforce the dominant ideology as in the UK over 25% of teenage boys smoke on a regular basis and a high proportion of these are working class. For our titles in our film sequence we chose to have a regular however serious style which could be argued to represent this actuall social group in general. We chose to fade each credit out by distorting them as they go out to create the urban feeling therefore representing the working class teenage male.

Evaluation Question 1

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

It is possible to recognise our film as a real film opening because of certain things like the credits and the soundtrack. If you look at most film openings in our specific genre then they are very similar to ours. For example in Kidulthood the soundtrack has a very urban, underground feel to it, very similar to ours. Another way  in which our film would fit into the British social realism drama would be by the way in which the characters seem to be humiliating, cocky and up front. This is shown in the Green Street opening when the characters are coming out of the train station stairs and confront another firm. Both parties clash with each other therefore supporting the idea of dominant ideology as this is what you would expect from most males. We decided that we couldn't really challenge dominant ideology because we would struggle to fit this in to our plot.

Final Production

Research & Planning : Title Sequence Analysis: Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels

In order to analyse the opening sequence of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels  (1998) I will look at the different  elements of the film  and try and establish how they are used to set up character, narrative and genre.
     The music in the opening credits/sequence  is called 100 mile high city, by Ocean Colour Scene. The music helps to establish the sort of tone that the film is based around as it is a sort of Brit-Pop song. Brit-Pop helps to set a British feeling very relevant to the film. The piece of music is at the start, relatively slow paced and as the opening sequence goes on, the music increases to a faster pace and creates a sort of climax at the end of the opening credits. 
     In the opening sequence, I feel that the mise en scene plays the most important part in creating  the tone of eerie feeling and the drama genre. In the opening, the lighting is very dark, this creates the tone of uneasiness around the set. The gritty, cockney feel that we feel in the film seems to create a male feeling, this creates a sense of power which then could determine the main male theme about the film as it progresses.
     In the opening of the film there is a lot of humour created. This has an effect on the audience where it would make them laugh and invites them into the film straight away. This humour is created by the wheeler dealer attributes that the characters have . This would be exciting for some viewers because it sets the exciting, humourous sort of tone straight away. 
       In the opening scene the camera seems to be hand-held and it seems to compliment the setting because again of the inner city London feel that the opening creates. The cuts are relatively infrequent and this helps to establish the real life feeling. Towards the end of the opening sequence when the two characters are running from the police, there is a time when slow motion has been used, this could have been used to let the audience reflect on the first couple of minutes of the film and let them make their own judgements and predictions of what they think that will happen in the rest of the film.
     The main colours used in the opening sequence are mainly dark colours, everyone seems to be wearing dark coloured clothes which could represent the unity in the London people, the customers seem to understand that what they are buying is probably stolen but they seem to trust Bacon, the seller.
     Overall I think that the opening of Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels  has a great effect of setting the tone for the rest of the film mainly because of the cockney feel that is presented in the sequence by the unity of the people and the humour created by the main characters and their personalities, and the way they come across using the ryming slang to create the London Feeling.

Audience Research : Focus Group

Do you enjoy films such as This Is England, Green Street? - Mainly our Focus group said that they do enjoy these films.
Do you prefer these films to be violent or not? - They do like these films to be violent but not so that it becomes unrealistic.
Have you seen Kidulthood or Adulthood? If so what did you like and dislike about the two? - All of the Focus group have seen these films and they liked the realism of them and how it highlights the social problems in urban areas in the UK. They couldn't think of anything that they disliked about the films.
What is your favourite ever film? - The Focus group were mixed between Green Street & The Godfather.
After reading the synopsis, what do you expect to happen next in the film? - They said that they would expect something similar to Kidulthood. They think that their could be a strong link with drugs or violence in the urban setting.

Synopsis

Our film opening will be set in a very urban setting, there will be tower blocks and an underpass and will involve two characters. The character named Jay will be standing at the bottom of the underpass and will greet the other character, Aaron who will be shown walking down the ramp towards the Jay at the bottom. They will exchange a package by shaking hands and then will talk briefly. After this the Aaron then walks off through the underpass and back up onto ground level. After this the camera follows Aaron and ends the opening sequence.

Planning the Film

We have had a group meeting and decided the following...
     That we are only going to have 2 characters and that we are only going to see one persons face. We are going to show the face of the main character. We have decided that to play our characters we are going to get some of our friends. We have decided this because many of our friends would fit this role perfectly. We will make sure that they are dressed in hoodies and look generally urban.
     We have found a place near our area where we can film. The place looks very urban as there is an underpass going beneath a road and there are tower blocks surrounding this. This fits into our genre perfectly. We would like to create an urban atmosphere and we will do this by having traffic has a sound effect which will fit in well because we are going to film underneath a road. We will film at dusk so that it fits the scene of the plot in which it is set. The only prop that we are going to have is going to be a package which the two characters will exchange and the lighting will support this because of the suspiciousness that the exchange creates.
     In our opening sequence a exchange between two people will happen, the package will be covered up in a plastic bag which will leave questions, a sense of mystery but still leaving the British realism genre in there.
     In our opening sequence the credits will be in a very plain and boring style because we will not need any graffiti or urban style font as this is already presented by the setting. However we will have some distorted cuts in the sequence to create a unusual feeling to the film opening.

Planning : Audience Profile.

A typical audience member for my film opening would probably be 15-20 year old male who would be Upper Working class or Middle class and either have a GCSE or A Level education. If I had to sum these sort of people up in one word it would be, Individualistic. I think that these sort of people would probably go out with friends in their spare time, they would listen to mainstream urban music such as Skepta and Tinchy Stryder. and probably watch a lot of comedy on television such as South Park, Family Guy and The Inbetweeners. The websites which they would mostly use would be Social Networking sites like Facebook and MySpace and sites like YouTube. They would most probably watch films such as Kidulthood and This Is England. I think that this average person would look like this.

Genre Montage

Here I have put together a selection of images which I think represent the genre of British Social Realism.

Introduction To Main Coursework

For our main piece of coursework we have been asked to create the opening 2 minutes of a film. I have chosen to work with Cameron Snowdon and Jack Phillips and we have chosen to base our piece on the British Social Realist Drama Genre.

Research & Planning : Title Sequence Analysis: Se7en

In order to analyse the opening sequence of Se7en (1995) I will look at the different  elements of the film  and try and establish how they are used to set up character, narrative and genre.
     The music in the opening credits/sequence  is called Closer, by Nine Inch Nails. The music sets a tone of a sort of underground, eerie feeling. The piece of music is at the start, relatively slow paced and as the opening sequence goes on, the music increases to a faster pace and creates a sort of climax at the end of the opening credits.  
     In the opening sequence, I feel that the mise en scene plays the most important part in creating  the tone of eerie feeling and the drama genre. In the opening, the lighting is very dark, this creates the tone of uneasiness around the set. The fingers that we can see in the film seem to be male, this creates a sense of power which then could determine the main male theme about the film as it progresses. 
     In the opening credits of the film there is a lot of sharp objects such as blades, needle points and tips of pens. This has an effect on the audience where it puts them on edge and invites them into the film straight away. These sharp objects are backed up by the disturbing images of the weirdly shaped hands and the image of where it looks as though there is a spike going through someone's head. This could be disturbing for some viewers but it sets the drama sort of tone straight away.  
     There are a lot of cuts in the opening and it seems to compliment the music because at the start of this short sequence, the cuts are relatively infrequent but as the opening goes on the music pace increases and the cuts become more frequent. Again this emphasises the point of there maybe being a climax towards the end of the opening. Also, to do with editing, the writing to introduce the actors playing the characters is sometimes blurred, this again gives the impression to the audience that something suspicious is going on and it seems to involve the viewers as it slightly confuses them. 

     The main colours used in the opening sequence are blacks and whites. Occasionally there are a few reds chucked in which surprises the viewers as it is such a contrast from black and white. Surprising the viewer also sets the tone for the rest of the film as there are many more surprises to come. The irony of the distinguishing colour being red is the thought of blood that it brings to the viewers mind and at one point in the opening we see a spurt of blood onto a page which creates the feeling of the frightful crime that the story could have to bring. 
     Overall I think that the opening of Se7en has a great effect of setting the tone for the rest of the film mainly because of the dark lighting and dirty music that is presented in the sequence. 

Research & Planning : Narrative theories

The Hermeneutic code is when the opening of the piece leaves questions with the audience and makes it sort of a mystery. The point in this is that it keeps the audience wondering what is going to happen next and makes them try to figure out the answers to the question as the film progresses. This keeps them involved and therefore enjoy the film more. This is applied in Dexter as there is a lot of extreme close ups which leave us as the audience wondering, who is the man? and why does he seem so aggressive?
     The Proairetic code is very similar to the Hermeneutic code in that it keeps getting the audience to think about the piece and it makes them again ask questions to themselves. In the Proairetic code it puts the audience on edge and makes them wonder if there is anything going to happen soon. In Dexter this could be applied because the camera shots make the man seem violent and therefore makes the audience think that he will produce some sort of violent act. This is supported by the dripping blood.
     The Semantic code is how camera shots and editing is done which makes the opening seem the way it does. In Dexter there is a lot of close ups which means that you cannot fully see the whole setting which creates mystery. In Dexter the lighting is generally dark which again creates the feeling of violence and mystery.
     Levi-Strauss introduced the idea of binary opposition as one way of analysing narratives. He delivered the point that every element in a story had some sort of contrasting element to fight against it or to argue another meaning. A typical example of this would be Cowboys & Indians. This could be shown in Dexter through the Person's serial killer, violent mind, against the everyday life. For example in the opening there is the violence shown through the knives, his razor and the blood, and then the everyday life is shown by the food that he eats and just the general idea of him getting up, eating, getting dressed and going out of the house. Just the average person's morning sequence.

Research & Planning : Genre theory

 ''genres are instances of repetition and difference'' - Neale
This quote is describing genre and the repetition part of the quote means that the film is what you would expect from that genre but the difference part challenges what you would expect.

I have chosen to analyse the drama film 'Kidulthood' written by Noel Clarke and directed by Menhaj Huda.

     Right at the start of the film the first thing that we notice is the very urban music that set the tone and the plot straight away. The music is at a quick pace which also back up the London city set where the film is based. This would agree with the statement in the repetition aspect because this is what we would expect from a inner city environment. Another way in which the repetition idea is supported would be the first piece of actual film that we see is some of the males in the film playing football. Football is seen by many also as an urban sort of sport so this therefore adds to the urban drama which the film is based around. One other example of an instance of repetition is that there are many cuts in the opening, this creates the feeling of the film being fast paced and frantic therefore complementing the inner city setting and the storyline which is about to follow.
     There are however some instances where it would disagree with the repetition idea but would agree with the difference part of the quote. For example in some parts of the film there are some of the characters which are very well spoken. This seems to clash with the environment as most of the people there have Modern London accents and when the characters who have well spoken accents speak it seems out of place in this context. Another way in which the film would agree with the difference idea would be that the film is set it Ladbrooke grove in Kensington, West London. This is a well off place in London and the film completely contridicts the area that it is set in.

Preliminary Production Video

Targets for Coursework

For my next piece of coursework My main target is to make sure that I have everything set out and planned before I start. I will make sure that I plan everything before I do it and hopefully this will make it easier as I will be able to see where I need to get to in order to achieve my targets.

Intro to preliminary task

Intro to preliminary task

The task was to produce a short piece of film with someone walking down a corridor, opening a door, and then having a conversation with someone else. In the film there had to be a cut in and a cut away. The film also had to show continuity editing.

Continuity Editing

Continuity Editing

          Continuity editing is when the piece of film has been edited so that it looks as though the film hasn’t been cut. Continuity editing is often called ‘invisible’ or ‘smooth’ editing and is the predominant style of editing in narrative cinema and television.

Match On Action

          Match on action is when the camera takes more than one shot to make the film look smooth. For example if someone was walking to open a door then you could have a mid shot of them walking towards the door and then the camera could have a close up on the persons hand opening the door.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laUPi7MPOSQ

180° Rule

          
The 180° rule is a guideline so that when two people are talking to each other it doesn’t look as though they have swapped places when the camera changes. For example the people talking must have a left/right relationship through the camera.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBPw9C57TuU

Eyeline Match

          Eyeline match is when we see a person looking at the subject and then we see the subject almost the same as they did. For example we could see a person looking at something and then the camera cuts, turns to the ‘something’ and takes a shot, usually a long shot, of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VPMEKCITvs

Preliminary project - risk assessment

Risk Assessment

•         Lockers and other objects – look where you’re walking
•         Near stairs – be aware
•         Glass windows – be aware and don’t fall into any windows
•         Camera Tripod – be aware and be careful.
•     Top Floor so must be aware where fire exits are.

We found a location on the top floor of the college, we decided to choose this location as it was quiet and there was an empty room there used for filming.

Production

Production

Our filming went relatively well, it took us around 2-3 lessons to record the whole piece as there were a few things that went wrong. The storyboard did help because it guided us into our next shot in the sequence. I learnt that when i do the real practical to make sure that we as the group have everything planned out before hand so we know where to go if something goes wrong.

Post Production

Post Production

In the editing part, in the main it went well, the actual editing went well but the capturing didn’t go as well. The problem that we had was the shots on the camera were a different order than what we wanted them to be which then created trouble trying to reorder them.

Evaluation

Overall i think that the project has gone well. I have learned about the basics of film making and realised why making a film takes so long. I think that our finished product is good and meets the specification set, next time i would make sure that the group that i'm in has everything planned out before we start as this will make objectives clearer so therefore allow us to complete the task quicker.

Life On Mars

Scene in the Alleyway

In the Chase & Fight scene in the ally, there are a number of mid shots created, this could have been used to show his physique therefore showing his masculinity. At the start there is a establishing shot which shows the urban surroundings, the again could of been used to represent the masculinity in a socially deprived area.

In the Alleyway, Dramatic music sets the scene for action. Males stereotypically watch action, whereas females tend to enjoy more relaxing and chilled vibe.  

In editing there are shot and snappy scenes to create fast and high adrenalin pumped action.

Scene in the Car

When Sam is in the car there was an extreme close up which showed his eyes just as he was about to cry, this could of been shown because it makes us feel sympathy for him as he doesn't show masculinity all of the time.

Sam is playing sad and depressing music, portraying stress and anxiety.

Long Cut promotes emotion. Makes the viewer emotionally attached to the scene. 

Criminal Justice Scene 5, The prison.

Criminal Justice Scene 5, the prison.

In this scene the lighting is dark which creates a sort of scary, cold atmosphere and also the colours used are dark greys and blacks.

          Also in the scene there is incidental music which creates an eerie atmosphere which accompanies the way in which the colours have been presented in this scene. This music is non diegetic so only the audience can hear it.    

          As Ben is walking towards the cells the shot has been edited into slow motion. This effect would again accompany the cold atmosphere and also could present the fact that Ben could feel ill because of the situation that he is in. At this point the shot, close up is used and we see Bens face and his facial appearance matches the setting as he looks cold and ill.

          When he walks into the main area where most of the convicts are there is an over the shoulder shot so we see the prison from his perspective. This helps us to sympathise with Ben because we are more involved in the surroundings therefore grabbing the audience. There is a shallow focus shot when the subject (Ben) is close and the setting (the prison) is far away and seems blurred.