Friday, 7 May 2010
Evaluation Questions
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our media production is typically a thriller with it's key features being action and suspense. The film starts with a chase scene which I believe is popular in many action films and thriller's, especially as there is an instant enigma when the very first scene is a chase, the audience ask themselves "why is he running?" "who from?" "what did he do?" and so on.
We gave everyone realistic costumes and came up with who can wear what during one of our meetings where we would decide what we shall do next. Although when compared to a real media production you need to take into account that production companies will have a larger budget which means they will have greater costumes, scenery, actors etc. where we had a budget of £0 so we had to make do with what we already had and were provided by the school.
The editing at first was confusing and slightly challenging to master, but as time went on we mangaged to grasp the programs tools alot better which ment we could perform quick and easy edits to our production. here is a picture of the software we used:
Real Studio's would have far superior technology to edit their productions with, but as far as school projects go I think we did quite well using this software on our work.
The very title of our work is important as "72 hours" virtually explains the synopsis as the runner had 72 hours to give the men what they wanted "or else". The whole point of this was to keep up the enigma, which is a typical aspect of any thriller.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The character who is runng from the men is dressed rather casual, whereas the men or gangsters are dressed in formal clothing which shows high class and status. You could say the audience can perhaps see themselves as the runner or relate to him, as he posseses no particular heroic qualities and appears quite ordinary. This is seen in films such as "Disturbia" where the hero of the movie is a teenage student who has no special skills or powers but manages to solve the plot of a serial killer with the help of his friends. As far as representation goes in our production, I wouldn't say he is a typical british teenager as most teenagers do not steal from gangsters but the character represents students well. The gangsters on the other hand are typical sterotypes, well dressed and armed with a pistol. The gangsters seem to portray more power then the teenager, this is because there are two of them instead of one, they are dressed in formal clothing which symbolises power and they do have a dangerous weapon. All the teenager has is a simple bag and shows no signs of overwhelming physical strength.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I would say a small British institution such as Film Four. This is because they are in no way as big as 20th Century Fox but they have produced some succesful productions such as Slumdog Millionnaire. Although there films do not usually make the cinema, they are still successful for an independant British film company, as most of their money would come from investors from numerous sources placing their faith into the company. Film Four are not renowed for special effects or big hollywood actors but have a pretty solid fan base and reasonably sized audience. Therefore I would say that this institution is better suited to distrubte our production.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
Well according to my reasearch and the questionnaire I distributed, our audience would be young people aged 18-30yrs who are interested in thrillers that are packed with action and drama. Our production seemed to be the type of movie men would want to see due to the violence and typical male sterotypes in the film, I found this out from my research and it seems that women would perhaps prefer a different type of genre. This is probably due to the actual storyline and features of the film as they appear to be very masculine.
Production's generally want to avoid the 18 certificate, but if our film was real we feel this is the certificate it would recieve due it's content.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
We used a stereotype to attract our audience, this stereotype is present in many gangster based film's and it's how we portrayed the gangsters and main characters that you would expect to see in a thriller type of movie. The music we used fitted well with a production and if you are going to attract an audience then decent music is key. Imagine having a fight scene in a big movie and then using the theme tune to my little pony, it would be unfitting and just would not work. So you have to use music that people will like in order to attract the masses, often if a film features a popular band then they will mention it. If your music works nicely with the film then you give the audience a feel for what to expect, the music can often make or brake the scene.
The fact we used a typical gangter framework, is so that people who are into those movies will be attracted to our production.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt many new camera techniques and other aspects of film involving sound, mise-en-scene and lighting, all of which were incorparted into our final production. I have also learnt that backing-up on the computer is important, what I mean by this is if you have a clip finished it's a good idea to back it up onto a disk or USB flash drive so if anything happens to it you have another copy. Although our production was not made with the greatest technology, I have learned how to use basic editing software and this will help me in the future in case I ever need to edit a clip I have captured on Holiday or what have you.
I have learned that technology isn't perfect and we have had some difficulties with the software but eventually we managed to fix our problems without too much stress. My favourite thing I have taken from this experience are the many camera angles I have learned and the many ways sound can effect a piece of film, it has shown me that other aspects are just as important as actually filming such as how the lighting in a room can effect your scene, and how mise-en-scene can manipulate a particular shot.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
I found my preliminary rather embarresing as my peers made me dance on a table, but I have learned that planning ahead is just as if not more important then actually filming. If you don't have a solid plan of action then you won't have anything to fall back on. All the big, successful films have had huge planning which was a key to their success. I learned alot about match on action, and our TV programs and films manage to keep up continuity throughout their work.
The preliminary made us familiar with our equipment, so it gave us the knowledge of our microphone which didn't happen to be top-notch. So we made the decision to only use non-diegetic sound which was the fast paced music in our final production. The preliminary helped us understand a wide range of film techniques, which was useful for our final piece. I would say that the preliminary also helped us master our editing software, as we learnt how the formats work and how to save, view and post our work.
Our media production is typically a thriller with it's key features being action and suspense. The film starts with a chase scene which I believe is popular in many action films and thriller's, especially as there is an instant enigma when the very first scene is a chase, the audience ask themselves "why is he running?" "who from?" "what did he do?" and so on.
We gave everyone realistic costumes and came up with who can wear what during one of our meetings where we would decide what we shall do next. Although when compared to a real media production you need to take into account that production companies will have a larger budget which means they will have greater costumes, scenery, actors etc. where we had a budget of £0 so we had to make do with what we already had and were provided by the school.
The editing at first was confusing and slightly challenging to master, but as time went on we mangaged to grasp the programs tools alot better which ment we could perform quick and easy edits to our production. here is a picture of the software we used:
Real Studio's would have far superior technology to edit their productions with, but as far as school projects go I think we did quite well using this software on our work.
The very title of our work is important as "72 hours" virtually explains the synopsis as the runner had 72 hours to give the men what they wanted "or else". The whole point of this was to keep up the enigma, which is a typical aspect of any thriller.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The character who is runng from the men is dressed rather casual, whereas the men or gangsters are dressed in formal clothing which shows high class and status. You could say the audience can perhaps see themselves as the runner or relate to him, as he posseses no particular heroic qualities and appears quite ordinary. This is seen in films such as "Disturbia" where the hero of the movie is a teenage student who has no special skills or powers but manages to solve the plot of a serial killer with the help of his friends. As far as representation goes in our production, I wouldn't say he is a typical british teenager as most teenagers do not steal from gangsters but the character represents students well. The gangsters on the other hand are typical sterotypes, well dressed and armed with a pistol. The gangsters seem to portray more power then the teenager, this is because there are two of them instead of one, they are dressed in formal clothing which symbolises power and they do have a dangerous weapon. All the teenager has is a simple bag and shows no signs of overwhelming physical strength.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I would say a small British institution such as Film Four. This is because they are in no way as big as 20th Century Fox but they have produced some succesful productions such as Slumdog Millionnaire. Although there films do not usually make the cinema, they are still successful for an independant British film company, as most of their money would come from investors from numerous sources placing their faith into the company. Film Four are not renowed for special effects or big hollywood actors but have a pretty solid fan base and reasonably sized audience. Therefore I would say that this institution is better suited to distrubte our production.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
Well according to my reasearch and the questionnaire I distributed, our audience would be young people aged 18-30yrs who are interested in thrillers that are packed with action and drama. Our production seemed to be the type of movie men would want to see due to the violence and typical male sterotypes in the film, I found this out from my research and it seems that women would perhaps prefer a different type of genre. This is probably due to the actual storyline and features of the film as they appear to be very masculine.
Production's generally want to avoid the 18 certificate, but if our film was real we feel this is the certificate it would recieve due it's content.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
We used a stereotype to attract our audience, this stereotype is present in many gangster based film's and it's how we portrayed the gangsters and main characters that you would expect to see in a thriller type of movie. The music we used fitted well with a production and if you are going to attract an audience then decent music is key. Imagine having a fight scene in a big movie and then using the theme tune to my little pony, it would be unfitting and just would not work. So you have to use music that people will like in order to attract the masses, often if a film features a popular band then they will mention it. If your music works nicely with the film then you give the audience a feel for what to expect, the music can often make or brake the scene.
The fact we used a typical gangter framework, is so that people who are into those movies will be attracted to our production.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt many new camera techniques and other aspects of film involving sound, mise-en-scene and lighting, all of which were incorparted into our final production. I have also learnt that backing-up on the computer is important, what I mean by this is if you have a clip finished it's a good idea to back it up onto a disk or USB flash drive so if anything happens to it you have another copy. Although our production was not made with the greatest technology, I have learned how to use basic editing software and this will help me in the future in case I ever need to edit a clip I have captured on Holiday or what have you.
I have learned that technology isn't perfect and we have had some difficulties with the software but eventually we managed to fix our problems without too much stress. My favourite thing I have taken from this experience are the many camera angles I have learned and the many ways sound can effect a piece of film, it has shown me that other aspects are just as important as actually filming such as how the lighting in a room can effect your scene, and how mise-en-scene can manipulate a particular shot.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
I found my preliminary rather embarresing as my peers made me dance on a table, but I have learned that planning ahead is just as if not more important then actually filming. If you don't have a solid plan of action then you won't have anything to fall back on. All the big, successful films have had huge planning which was a key to their success. I learned alot about match on action, and our TV programs and films manage to keep up continuity throughout their work.
The preliminary made us familiar with our equipment, so it gave us the knowledge of our microphone which didn't happen to be top-notch. So we made the decision to only use non-diegetic sound which was the fast paced music in our final production. The preliminary helped us understand a wide range of film techniques, which was useful for our final piece. I would say that the preliminary also helped us master our editing software, as we learnt how the formats work and how to save, view and post our work.
Thursday, 6 May 2010
THE SKIP!
This skip appeared when we came back to re-shoot some clips, at first it appeared as if we would have some problems but we managed to keep continuity and work round the skip as the shots we used were POV and certian angles which tactically avoided the skip. Our production had no skip in the shot in the first place and we managed to film on the "skip day".
72 Hours Rough Cut
This video has no sound, doing this rough cut helped us greatly and it gave us the ability to review our work and make necessary changes in order to improve our final production. I feel that without this rough cut we wouldn't have been able to complete our film.
Monday, 3 May 2010
Points in our production
-In our film we included an Establishing shot, alot of long shots and medium long shots also towards the end we used a close up to demonstrate fear in the characters emotions.
-We also included a point of view shot to show the feeling of being trapped and a wide angle shot on the reverse side of the character to exaggerate the notion of being cornered.
-Lighting in one scene worked well to show our character hiding in the shadow of a corner, which manipulates the viewers attitude on the setting.
-We include SFX for the gunshots, and we mainly had non-diegetic sound which was the music by Francias White, this music worked as a sound bridge keeping continuity between scenes.
- We used "Studio Sound" and elimnated noises we didn't want such as our laughter and certain ambient sounds.
- Selective sound was used at the end, for the ticking of the watch which went well with the title "72 Hours".
- I managed to film a panning shot successfully in our production, it's at the part when the chase happens over a road then cuts down a path.
-We also included a point of view shot to show the feeling of being trapped and a wide angle shot on the reverse side of the character to exaggerate the notion of being cornered.
-Lighting in one scene worked well to show our character hiding in the shadow of a corner, which manipulates the viewers attitude on the setting.
-We include SFX for the gunshots, and we mainly had non-diegetic sound which was the music by Francias White, this music worked as a sound bridge keeping continuity between scenes.
- We used "Studio Sound" and elimnated noises we didn't want such as our laughter and certain ambient sounds.
- Selective sound was used at the end, for the ticking of the watch which went well with the title "72 Hours".
- I managed to film a panning shot successfully in our production, it's at the part when the chase happens over a road then cuts down a path.
An early storyboard
Here is a very early storyboard I drew up for one of our first production ideas.
Questionnaire-Questions
Here are the questions I asked in my questionnaire in order to gain research in the following areas; Audience, Representation, Stereotypes and Gender as these are strong factors that play apart in film making.
I believe the results will aid us in our own production and count towards pre-production research.
Question 1: What age group are you in?
under 16, 17-25, 26-35, 36-45, 46-50, 50+
Question 2: What type of films do you usually enjoy? name a specific genre.
Question 3: Do you take visits to your local cinema? If so, how often?
Question 4: Do you feel that programs like "Skins" accurately represent the modern teenager?
Question 5: Do you think films such as "300" and "Aliens" are more likely to be viewed by men, and films like "Notting Hill" and "Bridget Jones" are more likely to be viewed by women?
Question 6: When someone mentions Italians, what do you usually think of?
Question 7: How often do you watch films?
Question 8: Would you be tempted to watch a pirated DVD rather then a official copy?
Question 9: What was the very last film you watched?
Question 10: Finally what is your gender?
I believe the results will aid us in our own production and count towards pre-production research.
Question 1: What age group are you in?
under 16, 17-25, 26-35, 36-45, 46-50, 50+
Question 2: What type of films do you usually enjoy? name a specific genre.
Question 3: Do you take visits to your local cinema? If so, how often?
Question 4: Do you feel that programs like "Skins" accurately represent the modern teenager?
Question 5: Do you think films such as "300" and "Aliens" are more likely to be viewed by men, and films like "Notting Hill" and "Bridget Jones" are more likely to be viewed by women?
Question 6: When someone mentions Italians, what do you usually think of?
Question 7: How often do you watch films?
Question 8: Would you be tempted to watch a pirated DVD rather then a official copy?
Question 9: What was the very last film you watched?
Question 10: Finally what is your gender?
Shot List
We kept a list with scene names in order to help us organise our production and guide us what to shoot next.
more pictures
Here's two nice pictures of my group and the area where we filmed some of our shots, the guy with the red bag is a friend of ours who offered to act in the film. I'm not in the pictures because im too beautiful for the camera.
Editing...
Here are a couple of pictures of our group using the editing software on our very first rough cut, which unfortunately could not be upload here due to system errors.
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
newer Synopsis Idea
A mysterious man who seems out of breath and holding a bag is hiding round a corner, as he leans around the corner to see the guys looking for him, they suddenly spot him and begin a chase. The man is chased by two other men and is eventually cornered in a dead end, the man is shot and his bag is searched. The guys throw the bag to the floor and calmly walk off.
older Synopsis Idea
The film starts with a man sitting down with a bag, his phone rings and he begins to get rather nervous. Suddenly he darts out of the park where he was sitting as is being chased by a man, as the chase goes on several men attempt to catch the runner. He ends up being cornered by the lakes and is shot down, his bag is then searched and the men have failed to find what they were looking for.
Pre-production notes
I haven't updated my blog in a while as Iv'e been rather busy, but I have managed to take down notes in my book on pre-production planning over the last few weeks, so i'll now post those notes on my blog. (keep in mind that these notes are from different dates)
- After we searched for the right location to film our production (which happened to be Werrington Centre) we filmed a rough cut and manageed to put the pieces together using the software we were provided.
-Unfortunately the rough cut we made wouldn't upload and the system could no longer find our work, so we could not upload our rough cut onto our blogs.
-Our production does involve certain health and saftey issues which we had to consider, such as the use of fake guns and jumping over trolleys. We had to be cautious, so we spoke to the Tesco security officer and explained it was for our Media Studies project.
-We have run into some continuity issues today as when we filmed last week the weather was sunny but now it's kind of misserable weather, plus most of the people who were in our film last week haven't turned up, and the ones that have are not wearing the same clothes which effects continuity.
-The software is being funny today as it won't let us complete our editing or save our work properly. We will have to see if we can fix the problem and attempt to save our current files.
-Some of our shots need to be re-captured, so we will have to plan and see if certain people are available again.
-Kiel has been responsible for gathering the props, he will also star in the production with Adam who will take part in the chase. Roxy and I have been taking turns filming the shots, while Roxy is Executive producer and I am the Director of Photography.
-We had to consider what type of audience will view our production if it was made into a film, so in order to gain this information we carried out a questionnaire.
-I have taken pictures of the area where our production will take place, I shall upload them onto the blog soon.
-Adam drew up a storyboard today, he has done storyboards in the past but has to update them when we change our plan or ideas.
-Our production seems to be coming along nicely we have included relevant shots, but there's always room for improvement.
-Today we are attempting to edit our piece of work and put our production together, the software we are using isn't the easiest to use or the most reliable program, but considering the circumstances we have to use what the school provides.
- After we searched for the right location to film our production (which happened to be Werrington Centre) we filmed a rough cut and manageed to put the pieces together using the software we were provided.
-Unfortunately the rough cut we made wouldn't upload and the system could no longer find our work, so we could not upload our rough cut onto our blogs.
-Our production does involve certain health and saftey issues which we had to consider, such as the use of fake guns and jumping over trolleys. We had to be cautious, so we spoke to the Tesco security officer and explained it was for our Media Studies project.
-We have run into some continuity issues today as when we filmed last week the weather was sunny but now it's kind of misserable weather, plus most of the people who were in our film last week haven't turned up, and the ones that have are not wearing the same clothes which effects continuity.
-The software is being funny today as it won't let us complete our editing or save our work properly. We will have to see if we can fix the problem and attempt to save our current files.
-Some of our shots need to be re-captured, so we will have to plan and see if certain people are available again.
-Kiel has been responsible for gathering the props, he will also star in the production with Adam who will take part in the chase. Roxy and I have been taking turns filming the shots, while Roxy is Executive producer and I am the Director of Photography.
-We had to consider what type of audience will view our production if it was made into a film, so in order to gain this information we carried out a questionnaire.
-I have taken pictures of the area where our production will take place, I shall upload them onto the blog soon.
-Adam drew up a storyboard today, he has done storyboards in the past but has to update them when we change our plan or ideas.
-Our production seems to be coming along nicely we have included relevant shots, but there's always room for improvement.
-Today we are attempting to edit our piece of work and put our production together, the software we are using isn't the easiest to use or the most reliable program, but considering the circumstances we have to use what the school provides.
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Preliminary Task
We were set the task at the begining of the course to make a short Preliminary exercise showcasing the following factors;
Match on Action,
180 degree rule,
and reverse shot.
Match on Action,
180 degree rule,
and reverse shot.
We completed the preliminary in time, and I would say that I gained knowledge from the excercise such as; How our main project will work and turn out, the factors we had to consider for the preliminary we will have to consider for the main project such as Location difficulties, timing, equipment etc. I learned more about "Match on Action" due to first hand experience and I would say that my knowledge of 180 degree rule and reverse shot have been enhanced due to the preliminary.
Location Research
We thought about filming in Hunstanton which would give a different setting when compared with our usual surroundings.
Media Studies Presentation Movie Analysis Research
Here is part of a presentation I gave in class for one of my favourite movies
which includes relevant information on the opening sequence and factors such as camera shots, lighting, sound and editing.
•The film starts with Phil calling Tracy on the phone, telling her that Doug is missing. This takes place in a “dessert scene” while your giving no information exactly where they are. This scene is also near the end of the movie, and is virtually where the movie starts and ends.
"casino scene”
A couple scenes take place in a Casino, which already has a lot of artificial Lights, and virtually no natural light from outside. Therefore a few lights are needed to “soften” the scene. This includes the use of filler lights would be used to soften the shadows created by the brighter lights in the casino.
which includes relevant information on the opening sequence and factors such as camera shots, lighting, sound and editing.The Hangover.
Synopysis:
Doug is going to get married to his fiancé Tracy and to celebrate it all Doug and his friends, Phil, Stu and future brother-in-law Alan, go to Las Vegas for a Bachelor party. They ride to Las Vegas in Tracy’s father’s Car which happens to be a vintage Mercedes convertible. The four of them stay in a villa at a hotel named Caesars palace, and to start the night off, they go to the roof of the hotel to take a toast. Afterwards the boys wake up in their trashed villa, with their friend Doug missing as the rest of the film is a comedy goose chase to search for the missing groom...
General Description of The Opening Sequence:
•The film starts with Phil calling Tracy on the phone, telling her that Doug is missing. This takes place in a “dessert scene” while your giving no information exactly where they are. This scene is also near the end of the movie, and is virtually where the movie starts and ends.
Lighting:
"casino scene”
A couple scenes take place in a Casino, which already has a lot of artificial Lights, and virtually no natural light from outside. Therefore a few lights are needed to “soften” the scene. This includes the use of filler lights would be used to soften the shadows created by the brighter lights in the casino.
Sound:
The use of non-Diegetic sound is existent in the opening sequence. In one of my favourite scenes where the Chinese gangster escapes from the trunk includes Diegetic sound due to the crowbar he uses to attack Alan, Stu and Phil. Parallel sound is used to match this scene.
Camera Shots:
Camera shots in the opening sequence includes a mid-shot which captures Phil’s Head and shoulders, with a car in the background and match on action. Panning is also noticable during the scene.
Editing:
During the opening sequence I noticed a striaght cut, jump cut and a fade out towards the end of the clip.
Audience Research
I asked six people to find out what films they have watched recently, two were my age, two were younger then me and two were older then me. (plus out of the two I asked for each group, one was male and the other was female)
These are my findings:
Younger:
Monsters VS Aliens, Superman Returns, Pirates of the Carribbean.
My Age:
Pulp Fiction, The Pacifier, Kung Fu Panda, The Hangover.
Older:
The Hangover, Kingdom Of God, Little Nickey, Spiderman 2, Spiderman 3.
These are my findings:
Younger:
Monsters VS Aliens, Superman Returns, Pirates of the Carribbean.
My Age:
Pulp Fiction, The Pacifier, Kung Fu Panda, The Hangover.
Older:
The Hangover, Kingdom Of God, Little Nickey, Spiderman 2, Spiderman 3.
Location Research
Today I went to ask a member of staff about using the squash courts for filming, and see if there was any timetable the P.E. department stick too. Apparently the Squash Courts are random and do not have a set timetable for use, this could cause a minor problem for us incase we get ready to use the courts but suddenly can't due to P.E. teachers needing the room to teach their lesson.
Original Synopsis idea
Synopsis idea for "72 Hours".
'???' is tied to a chair and is abused and humiliated by a loan shark, due to '???' borrowing money to fund his secret project and now he must escape the gangsters, and find a way to pay them back while finishing off his "project".
'???' is tied to a chair and is abused and humiliated by a loan shark, due to '???' borrowing money to fund his secret project and now he must escape the gangsters, and find a way to pay them back while finishing off his "project".
Location Research
Squash Courts.
We have been thinking about filming in the Squash courts at our school, but we would have to consider some of the problems that may occur such as, the horrible echo the courts produce and the fact that they may be akward to use considering P.E. lessons that may take place which could effect our final product and wether or not we could complete our final piece.
We have been thinking about filming in the Squash courts at our school, but we would have to consider some of the problems that may occur such as, the horrible echo the courts produce and the fact that they may be akward to use considering P.E. lessons that may take place which could effect our final product and wether or not we could complete our final piece.
Group Members
My group is "Group 5" and we have taken the production name of "In the bin productions"
Students;
Tony Myers, http://tonymyersmediastudies.blogspot.com/
Adam Pickup, http://adampmediastudies.blogspot.com/
Kiel Ormesher, http://kielmediastudies.blogspot.com/
Roxy Potts. http://roxannepottsmediastudies.blogspot.com/
KSCS blog list: http://kscsmediastudies.blogspot.com/
Students;
Tony Myers, http://tonymyersmediastudies.blogspot.com/
Adam Pickup, http://adampmediastudies.blogspot.com/
Kiel Ormesher, http://kielmediastudies.blogspot.com/
Roxy Potts. http://roxannepottsmediastudies.blogspot.com/
KSCS blog list: http://kscsmediastudies.blogspot.com/
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