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?

One of the biggest things i learned from my preliminary task was time management. I slacked a lot during the filming of it, as i went into filming without a specific script or film plan, I just had a general idea of what i wanted to film. After the filming was somewhat of a disaster with changing ideas, limited time to film and insufficient equipment, this helped tremendously with my final piece as i learned from my mistakes. For my final piece i planned far ahead creating multiple drafts of scripts, script plans and character profiles. Despite all this, i had trouble filming my final piece due to some shots being out of focus, but my preliminary helped me prepare for this.

I also had to learn to direct better as well, during the filming for my preliminary task, a lot of my cast were going off task making it very difficult to film properly. This was partly my fault due to not being properly prepared, and I should've been explaining to them better what to do and how to do it, Instead the filming process took longer than it should have and it was very sloppy and all over the place. 

Another technical thing i have learned is the ability to properly use cameras and camera focus. In my preliminary i attempted to use a few pull focuses, but ended up doing them too far, and not cutting them off in post-production. In my final piece I used a quite advanced shot containing a pull focus, which was made a lot easier with my experience from my preliminary task.

Something that i learnt from my preliminary, but didn't use in my final product was audio editing. In my final piece I matched up audio to video using editing, but i didn't have to go into a programme like audacity to directly changed any audio due to there being no voices or background noise involved. In my preliminary I also failed to use the 180 degree rule, which was a huge mistake that lowered the quality of the film. In my final piece, I did use the 180 degree rule so the audience could easily understand everything that was happening in the scene in terms of character positioning and mise-en-scene.

Evaluation question #6

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

Throughout my time on the course I have learnt a lot about quite a few different types of tech. The main ones being:
Photoshop
Final Cut
Camera/filming equipment

I used photoshop to create the freeze frames for each character, and it allowed me to find out quite a few things in terms of editing pictures of people. I used the poster edges tool to change each character into a comic-book style looking person, which allowed my film to acquire a certain theme. I also used the paint brush tool with a low opacity to add a smokey colour effect with each character, this also helped with the theme as it gave them their own connotations associated with each colour. I then went on and used the font for my film to give each character a title, this consistent theme helps gives my film a unique look, and helped me learn different things about positioning text and changing the colour of them.

Another programme I used to create my product was final cut. Before creating this product i had never used final cut before, so in doing this project i learned a lot about it. In order to make my mise-en-scene appropriate, i had to use a blue screen and the chroma keyer tool available to add a background. Without learning this tool, i would have struggled to make my mise-en-scene appropriate, resulting in me losing marks based on my main task. I also had to learn general editing techniques using the programme, I had to learn how to smoothly add clips together based on the narrative and direction. This was made easy after learning how to crop and move clips effectively, as it meant i could make the entirety of my film look smooth.

After completing the editing of my product I rendered it fully and put it into another final cut document. I then changed the aspect ratio to make it look more like a film, and colour corrected it to give it a slightly more professional look.

In order to film my final product, I went over a lot of youtube tutorials and practices to learn how to use a camera and filming equipment properly. I learned that filming each scene multiple times is a very good idea, because the small screen on the camera cannot be trusted in terms of focus. A  lot of the scenes i filmed in my earlier drafts were out of focus and would have lost me marks, so in my future attempts I filmed each thing multiple times and reviewed each clip. I also learned how to use a tripod effectively depending on the scene I was filming. In my earlier attempts i ended up having shaky scenes where they weren't needed, so in my last attempt I used a steady cam and tripod in most scenes.

Evaluation question #5

How did you attract/address your audience?

After researching the industry and pin pointing my target audience, I started figuring out how I was going to address their entertainment needs. I started by creating a questionnaire for the people in my class, they are within my target market. I also got a few outliers to answer my questionnaire like older females, to see if I could converge audiences to get a larger selling point.
I found out what types of characters the audience liked, what themes they though were interesting within a film and their favourite types of comedy (eg. dark humour, satire etc). This helped my directly talk to people within my target market and find out why they like specific things, and how I could make my opening relevant according to my audience.

After finding out things from the target market directly, I went on to research other films in the genre such as Step Brothers, which is a huge Hollywood blockbuster, and Shaun of the Dead, a British comedy film. These both have conventions that are present within the expectations of the people in my class I talked to. Some of these are "ridiculous and stupid characters" "interesting and unique camera shots" and "realistic editing". I took these three things highly into consideration when going into production and post-production, making a few of my initial characters silly and unique as well as not making my film linear in terms of camera shots and editing.

It also struck me that my audience likes new and unseen features in films, so I also took inspiration from the movie opening of Snatch. I took elements from the introductions of characters, in which there were freeze frames of each character with their name. I put my own spin on it by making them look "comic-booky" and giving aspects of the character within the same freeze frame.

I went on to address my audience by looking at specific parts of my audience, for instance, the gender of my target market is male. I realised that most males that took my questionnaire said they liked action-orientated films so I changed the narrative to tend to this. The music I used throughout the opening was also very masculine and fast paced, which isn't a feature stereotypically associated with females.

Evaluation question #4

Who would be the audience for your media product

A lot of thought and consideration has gone into my decision on the audience for my product. Here are a few of the things I went over to decide:
Age
Distribution
Nationality
Gender
Class


The age of my audience would be around 15+ due to the certificate rating given to films in terms of age. My film contains some things that wouldn't be appropriate for younger audiences, so on a legal and technical level, a younger audience couldn't be my target. Around the ages of 15-20 are a good range for my target, as after research on my classmates in sixth form, I found out this genre and narrative is popular.


Due to the distribution methods I have chosen for my film in a separate blog post, people within the UK are the main target with my film. This is another legal/technical reasoning for my audience as opposed to a well though through decision.


After researching conventions within the comedy film industry, I found that my film ideas best fit into the UK film industry, which is actually very different the big Hollywood blockbuster movies.
Some of these conventions can be seen in popular British comedies like Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. These consist of interesting camera shot choices as opposed to linear scenes with simple over the shoulder shots, medium shots and long shots. Things that contrast with this are hard to find in big American films, therefore I feel like people in the UK have a sense of humour that relies on the editing or directing of a film, as opposed to the narrative, acting and characters.


The gender of the audience was a very easy decision as the genre (action comedy) has a very specific market. The gender I have targeted mostly is male, as the narrative and characters are more masculine, and with them being male in the first place, I feel this will go towards the likability from male audiences. There aren't many feminine conventions at all present within my opening, so I would market my film 100% at men.


The class of my audience specifically is A-C1. This is because the narrative can only be appreciated by a somewhat intelligent audience. Any class lower than this isn't typically shown as very smart in studies, and probably wouldn't enjoy the film. Most lower classes also prefer linear, easy to follow editing and camera shots, which aren't a big part of my opening.

Evaluation question #3

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

The film i have made follows conventions of that of a smaller independent company based within the UK, therefore I will try to follow in the footsteps of a successful company that is similar to mine called WarpFilms. 

Their films are quite big due to the amount of effort they put in, because they work on only one or two projects the entire year. They are renowned for being a company that cares about their products in terms of quality as opposed to profit which is the  type of company that I feel would indulge in my film.

Therefore, I would get help with distribution from Studio Canal, they help smaller studios such as mine or WarpFilms get content into independent cinemas around the UK specifically. 

This would be the best option for me, as I feel the product would only be accepted by UK customers mainly. Global release wouldn't be the best, as it would cost a lot more money on advertising so that people in other countries would even bother seeing it, and it might not do the best anyway. 

Another thing to take into consideration is the fact that DVD release might be a higher source of income for the film. This has been seen in other companies like WarpFilms, in which "this is england" didm't make much profit on box office, but has made a lot more over the years as a DVD and video release. 

This popularity over a long range of time has added to the general popularity for the company, so a big cinema release isn't always the best way to go. If it flops then a lot of money is wasted, and for a smaller company like mine, priority on DVD release if the best option.

Studio Canal would be very helpful in a medium national release to independent cinemas, and especially helpful when releasing the product as a DVD. If my film company was bigger and had a bigger profit with a product that appealed to a larger audience, a company like Warner Bros would be the way to go.

Evaluation question #2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

To answer this question I will go over a few of the main social groups using a detailed spider diagram. The specific groups i will attend to are:
Age
Gender
Race
Sexuality
Class

text2mindmap.com/um1aFoZ

Film opening

Evaluation question #1

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

To decide whether or not my film opening was going to follow the conventions of a modern comedy, I first had to research the market. I took inspiration from the openings of both Step Brothers and Snatch. They are two completely different films in terms of themes and filming styles, making my final product quite unique.

Step Brothers is more of a typical American comedy, using very conventional shots and forms of directing. Most shots are very simple and plain such as medium shots, long shots, close ups and over the shoulder shots. These are the main shots I feel make it easy for the viewer to understand the scene in many ways, making it perfect for a wide audience, so I have included them thoroughly throughout my opening scene.

Many directors, particularly in the British film industry use camera angles and editing to create comedy, this can be seen within Edgar Wrights films such as Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. These can be considered as somewhat unconventional, as this style doesn't appear very often in big Hollywood blockbusters, i tried to implement some of these more advanced shots like canted angle shots and deep focus to add more interest to each scene, giving the audience a slightly more intricate and comedic opening. Since my target audience is within the UK i feel like this style of directing will appeal to them a lot more, being perhaps somewhat unconventional for big blockbuster films but slightly more conventional for smaller British comedies. Using both the simple shots to show my characters and the unconventional shots allow for a good balance, so I would say in terms of shot types, my film follows conventions in a sense, but goes against them in other instances.

A lot of films throughout the genre also have openings without much speech, just a visual sequence with music in the background the briefly introduce each of the characters. In this case I have followed conventions as my opening is just a short introduction to each of the characters. In my case though, i have done it slightly differently, as I have given each of the characters a freeze frame in which they have a codename. Not many films do this, and simply open with a few characters doing various things where perhaps their name is shown through dialogue, or other separate details about them.

New film opening

After both of my first attempts at a film opening haven't followed the mark scheme for a high level piece effectively, I'm going to use the same characters I've created in a new opening that makes more sense in terms of genre. With the experience from my previous attempts I should be able to use the camera more effectively to create certain effects that will boost my final grade up.

An example of the final product I want to achieve would be the opening to Snatch, in which it shows certain aspects of the characters in the film followed by a still image with their name.

I will recreate the script, but at this point i don't think there will be any dialogue throughout the opening, if there is any it will be towards the end, when the introductions to each character is over.

I will also create new typography for the title sequence of the film so it fits the theme better, and hopefully I can develop the research and planning and my final piece to be coherent and understandable as well as show a flow of my ideas.

I will be using variations of the same characters but a lot of the content in my research and planning is useless. The same principles apply from my research in terms of audience, like the conventions I have found within the industry, but I will have a slightly different narrative.

Mise-en-scene

I have strived to make my mise-en-scene throughout my main task as relevant and detailed as possible. To do this I will give my main character a SWAT vest to improve the costumes aspect of mise-en-scene. I will also give a "fashionable" character a suit and tie, as well as a dirty character ripped and mucky clothes.
I will attempt to get as professional lighting as possible with the resources available, after setting up suitable lighting i will colour correct the footage to get the best quality of colour and lighting possible. I will also attempt to cast more shadows on antagonist characters if I can. A technique I can use would be to use 3 different lights, one behind the subject, and two on either side with one being a higher intensity.
I will use suitable props like a brief case for the shady deal, a gun for the S.W.A.T man, and a baseball bat for the antagonists.
Another thing I will use is a picture of a muzzle flare and specific lighting to create the illusion of a gun fire, this could possibly go under special effects and lighting as a category of mise-en-scene.
Overall I will attempt to use mise-en-scene to make my film opening as coherent and appropriate as possible using suitable aspects of it.

Film update

After looking at all of my footage and editing it accordingly, I have decided i'm going to re-film again. The narrative is too packed and hard to follow for the first 2 minutes of a film and it might be mistaken for some sort of short film or skit as opposed to a movie opening. I'll be posting my new film plan and script on the blog and make it of a higher quality.

Giving my final piece the "film look"

I have researched online and found out different methods to giving footage a more professional look, using techniques big film companies use. Here I have taken some test footage from my very first draft and altered one, and left the other.

This video doesn't look very professional at all, the colours and contrast make it look like it is recorded on a bad camera, and it doesn't quite have that film look.

I then added colour corrections and contrast as well as changing the aspect ratio.

In some scenes the colour correction is far too strong, and I will be sure to change this when I edit my final piece, this research has been very valuable to me as I can now make my final product more professional and appealing.

New film plan

I'm going to create a film plan so that I can be organised on the day of filming, as i mentioned in the previous post my first attempt at filming didn't go very well and creating a good filming plan will allow me to get it done fast.

I will firstly film Randell, Jimmy and Thomas in an abandoned warehouse - type location. Here i will use a pan on Thomas walking around, medium shots on Jimmy and Randell talking and an aerial shot on the 3 of them. I will film around 30 seconds of footage so I can pick and choose accordingly to work well with the voice over.

After this I will get a close up on each character. I will record for about 5 seconds on each of their faces in different lightings so i can decide which to choose later on.

After that I will go on to record the scene that contains the breach of the building. I will get a two shot with two detectives outside the door prepared to breach. Both will be holding a gun. I will record this from a few different angles for about 7-10 seconds each.

I will then film from an alternate angle using a canted shot on Sgt. Sampson signalling to enter the building.

I will then get an over the shoulder shot of Jax walking towards the door. Sgt. Sampson and the other detective will look at him.

While Jax says "step aside" in the voice over, i will also get him to say step aside in this scene, i will get a POV shot from Sgt. Sampson to achieve this.

I will then go onto a close up of Sgt. Sampsons face during Jax's voiceover where he states "this is gonna be a solo mission"

It will then cut to a long shot of all the characters in one shot. Sgt. Sampson and Jax begin a handshake.

There will then be an insert shot on the handshake.

There will then be a long shot of the two detectives passing Jax their guns.

There will then be an over the shoulder shot of Jax entering the building.

The shot will then switch to the criminals looking suprised and scared in a certain direction. I will do this using medium shots and long shots.

There will then be a low angle shot of Jax walking in for around 3 seconds.

It will then switch to a long shot of Jax dropping one of his guns.

There will then be a close up on his foot kicking it.

It will switch to an insert of the gun flying across the screen,

There will then be a close up of Jimmy getting hit by the gun.

The narrative then switches back to the interview so i will be done filming in this location.

I will then record the scene with Jimmy dropping a banana skin on the floor and laughing. I will use a close up on his hand putting the banana down which will then rotate up to his face laughing.

Im then going to film the interview scene.

That is my day of filming for tomorrow done, and i will continue with the rest of the scenes on Sunday where i can get a better location.

Music for main task

I have been looking for music that can fit into my film on Youtube, I've looked for specifcally royalty free music so I can post it on my page giving the proper credit. Below each song or selection of songs I will assign the setting to the scene.

Jax Power enters the police department and throws glasses on floor in slow motion

Randell Wartscab is searching around a house, looking to steal things

Thomas Pennyworth sees someone with socks and sandals and schemes to kill them

A real thief steals a woman's purse and there is a small chase scene, the thief passes the stolen purse to Jimmy Rustler and he gets taken out.

Filming Planning

I'm going to be filming tomorrow, and with this, I need somewhat of a plan, I'm going to go over everything in this blog post so I can refer back if i ever get stuck. Tomorrow I'll just be filming my main scene that's set within the police department, so I'll make more plans for filming when I'm doing my other scenes, which will probably be around the weekend.

Character clothing:
Jax Power - Shirt + tie with leather jacket and trainers.
Sgt. Sampson - Shirt + tie with formal trousers and shoes
Randell Wartscab - Stained shirt + ripped trousers, scruffy trainers
Thomas Pennyworth - Shirt + tie with scarf and funky jacket
Jimmy Rustler - Geeky top, glasses, hoodie.

Props:
Watch
Sunglasses



Setting:
Police department



Technical equipment:
Camera
Microphone
Tripod



What I need to film:
Jax Power walks through corridor, Sgt. Sampson is looking at watch connoting a long wait. Meanwhile, the criminals are stood up against a wall. Jax Power enters after a slo-mo sequence in which he takes off his sunglasses and breaks them. The two detectives exchange a small amount of dialogue and start talking about the perps. The camera pans to each perp individually and Jax Power describes what each one of them is in for.
Later on I will record each of the crimes committed by each perp and put this clip over the voice over so it happens simultaneously. 
After each criminals crimes have been described the Sgt. says good work to Jax and the scene will end.

Title typography ideas

I have created some typography that I could use on my main title sequence, this will save time in the future so I wont have to create it whilst editing

Setting up for editing

I have not yet filmed my movie yet, and I'm not able to for a little while so I've written out all text that im going to need with the necessary font so i can pull it out and put it in my intro whenever needed, this means i wont be wasting valuable time when editing.