This Blog Is Now Closed!

For the last few months i have recorded all of my project on this blog and i am really going to miss it.

I have LOVED do this topic, its been sooooo fun so im really sad it's over .

I am so happy with the finished product, as i think all of our hard work has paid off and i would like to thank Danni and Tom for being AMAZING group members

love you all
see you soon for more blogging
Hannah xx

Evaluation Q7

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

I have definitely learnt a lot in the progression from the prelim task to the full product. For each there were different stages to go through in order to end up with the finished product and the prelim and the final product had many differences, but also many similarities.

Briefs and Pre production

Preliminary Task
Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and exchanging a couple of lines of dialogue with another character. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Main Task
The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes. All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidates, with the exception of a copyright free source.

Firstly the brief was different therefore our initial responses were different. Additionally the prelim was done at school therefore there was not as much choice for location, so we found everyone wanted the same location – this taught us that we need to book in advance and get permission to film where we wanted, and that we needed to do a location recce and walk through to check the spacing. Furthermore for our final piece we spent a lot more time deciding on, and thinking about our target audience, as there wasn’t really one for the prelim. There were also a lot of things to consider for the pre production stage. For prelim we didn’t do any research, as there just wasn’t time. The prelim task taught us that it is essential to plan. You really do need to do a storyboard, script and shooting script in order for you to work efficiently on the shoot. Possibly the most useful thing we learnt from the prelim was that we didn’t need to shoot in order, which greatly helped us to improve the continuity of our final piece.

Production and Post production

During the production stage for the prelim task, we didn’t have a test shoot or a re shoot, so if things went wrong there was not time to change them. This made us aware of how important it was ensure our actors would be available for more than one shoot, and as things are likely to go wrong. I also learnt the importance of shooting more footage than needed, and more angles of each line than you could need and definitely definitely shooting a master shot! This meant when we came to editing we had more choice, and a better opportunity to be creative. On the prelim task we all just stuck to our roles because of the time limit, but when shooting for real we all swapped and so we all did an equal amount of shooting, production work and sound work, making it fairer and more interesting for us. When it came to the final piece we also knew from the prelim task that actors can make or break you film, so we knew we had to get good ones. Doing the prelim made a big difference when it came to post production. We didn’t have to worry about titles, effects or branding, but we didn’t have certain techniques we needed to have used in order to complete the brief. This included the 180˚ rules, shot-reverse-shot and eye line matches. Here we learnt the significance on continuity, and we kept it in mind when filming later on.

Evaluation

We did not get much feedback after the preliminary task. The only response we got was from the rest of our class, and as they were media students it was all from a technical point of view. We did not get any audience feedback about how appealing or engaging our sequence was. However for our final piece we got loads of feedback. We did a media student screening just before finishing so that they could point out any little continuity errors that we could change. After finishing we did an audience screening of it, where around 20 members of our target audience filled in a detailed questionnaire on their thought and opinions of our title sequence. In both tasks we had to work as a team, but doing the prelim made us work more effectively and efficiently together, meaning the end product is the best it could be.

Evaluation Q6

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

I learnt a lot about technology in the process of constructing our opening sequence. The software we used was CS3 Adobe in which we used Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere Pro to help use get the look we wanted. We even tested out some of the software on the Imac such as Soundtrackpro and Livetype – but eventually decided we liked what we had just sticking with the PC’s programmes. The camera we used was Canon HD mini DV, which helped us to get the clear image we were looking for. To get the best sound quality we used an external microphone attached to headphones so the person monitoring sound levels could be sure we’d pick up no background before we began filming. I soon found out that it was essential for the camera to be completely still when filming, and any unwanted movement becomes a lot more obvious when you get to the edit suite. Therefore we ensure our camera was on the tripod for all of the steady shots. We used many different techniques in editing most of which I was not familiar with so had to learn as I went along. Capturing our footage is particularly useful because, although it is quite time consuming it broke all of our footage down from one long section, into the different shots. This made editing far more organised and manageable. Another editing technique we found useful was the use of speed duration. We had not filmed our shot of the purse on the table with the photo in it for long enough, and so when people watched it they were missing this significant shot. We found that as there was no movement in the shot, we were able to slow it down, without it looking any different.

In the industry they have better technology than we do at school, therefore we are at a disadvantage, as we were creatively limited. The main aspect is that they can do a lot better special affects because of better technology, making their production more interesting and unique. Although our group is all very happy with the finished product there were some problems along the way. On one of our shoots we forgot the headphones therefore could not tell is we were picking up any background noise. Fortunately one of our actresses had some high quality headphones so we used them. In addition to this although we had used the basic technology before, it had been a long time so some member of the group had forgotten how to use it. Nevertheless it was not long before we go back into it. Also because we has a camera and tripod as props in our piece we had twice as much equipment as other groups which made portability a bit of an issue.

To Summarise Key Learning:
· I learnt how to use in detail key technologies: Cannon HD mini DV camera and CS3 Adobi.
· If we were to do it again I would want to experiment more with effects to make it look more professional – such as more interesting titles.
· My advice would be try to get the best quality and continuity you can whilst filming to create less work for yourself during editing. Leaving more time to experiment with effects

Evaluation Q5

5.) How did you attract/address your audience?

It was essential to directly address our target audience in order to attract them, and we had to make sure we did this effectively without patronising our audience. We used two main actresses in the middle of our target age range making it easier for people to relate and aspire to them. Additionally using two females in the main roles instantly grabs the attention of a female audience. I also feel that our opening provides different kinds of pleasures for the audience. Firstly we see emotional pleasure, as the audience are expected to have an emotional reaction to Samantha’s hostage video, feeling sorry for her. But as soon as it is revealed, that she is in fact the villain, and that her and Karen were friends our intention was for the audience to have ‘Intellectual pleasures’ as they try to work out why she has done this.

We also feel ours has a strong appeal to the modern audience as it is set in the present day. The key themes and issues in our opening are friendship, revenge and money, and although not everyone experiences revenge on a daily basis, friendship and money are huge issues in our target audiences lives – strengthening the connection between characters and audience. Modern technology also holds a central role in our film as the camera ‘Samantha’ uses to film the hostage video is very modern and it is a key piece of iconography in our film. I think our film also plays on the audiences fears. Nowadays young women are definitely afraid of being kidnapped, and held hostage, we’ve used this to draw them in as a factor they can relate to. Furthermore a funky, modern editing style using effects and seamless editing I think will appeal greatly to our audience. As will the big twist and the built up enigma.

Evaluation Q4

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

We feel that our film could have quite a wide appeal although there is definitely a clear primary audience. This core audience is teenage girls and young women aged 16-25, and they are immediately targeted due to the two female actresses in the main roles. Our audience feedback confirmed this, with more boys than girls saying they would not want to see the rest of the film, and girls on average giving it a higher score. The actresses are both in their late teens, right in the middle of the target ages. The older end of this group are similar ages to the central character so will be able to relate to them, and we hope the younger audience will look up to these actresses a few years older than them and aspire to be like them.

Moreover I do believe that our film has a definite secondary audience. Firstly, of course, women of a wider age range. I believe many woman of any age from 13-45 could enjoy this film and relate or aspire to the main characters, as it is just so rare to find a film where woman take both the strong leading roles. Furthermore I think young men would also enjoy this film, as just being a similar age can mean you relate to the character. And I think the modern iconography and editing style of our film would definitely appeal to them. Also I think many boys would like the idea of a strong, pretty female protagonist, as they like Lara Croft.

Audience Profile
Name: Sarah Demitriou
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Lifestyle: Sarah is outgoing and has a lot of hobbies including bike riding, dancing and cooking.
Genre Preference: Sarah watches a wide range of genres such as rom-coms, horrors and musicals, but particularly likes thrillers (mainly action thrillers, crime thrillers and horror thrillers)
Film Consumption Habits: Sarah watches films regularly, she goes to the cinema on average once a month to her local VUE, and has an extensive DVD collection at home.

Evaluation Q3

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

Ripple productions make low budget films that are highly modern, edgy, sharply cut and recognisable in their striking unique style. We would be best off looking at a small UK based company to distribute our film such as ‘Dogwoof’ which is known for backing small independent films, perfect! Through them we could arrange a screening of our opening sequence in a small independent cinema; the nearest one to our area is the Phoenix in East Finchley. We feel this would be good as our film breaks many conventions and therefore we feel it is less mainstream (so wouldn’t be shown at the major chains such as Odeon, Vue and Cineworld) but would be more likely to acquire a cult status. As students are our main audience we would ensure student discounts to encourage more to come and see our film.

However even lower budget, independent film can have major worldwide success. Just look at ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Danny Boyle 2009). It was initially just screened at a small film festival called Telluride, but has since found nationwide success being nominated for and winning countless awards!

Evaluation Q2

2.) How does you media product represent particular social groups?

Representing social groups was always a key point for our group that we wanted to consider carefully. This is because we wanted to target the right audience, but did not want to leave anyone left feeling excluded, overlooked or mis-represented. We closely considered:

1) Age
2) Gender
3) Class
4) Ethnicity
5) State of Mind

1) Firstly we thought about age, and soon decided that as our film was to be targeted at teenagers and young adults, that should be the age of the actors. We felt that this type of storyline would not only work better with younger actors, but it just would not appeal to middle aged adults. Consequently they do not feature as central roles in the film because we agreed that this would be likely to put off a younger audience.

2) Gender was also a big factor, especially with two girls in our group. We looked at many films and found a trend of a male villain, male protagonist and female victim such as ‘Goldfinger’ 1964. This was definitely a stereotype we needed to break. We definitely wanted a female villain, as this has barely been done before and connotes that girls can be tough as well. Our actress connotes strength and confidence. But then we also decided to have a female victim so as not to just show women in a bad light, and it also helped us move away from the typical battle of the sexes theme. Our actress connotes vulnerability and innocence.

3) We thought about class a lot as this determined where we shot our footage. In the first section the road is in a middle class area with pretty big houses. While this was shot at a group member’s house, we realise that this is not the norm for everyone. But we realised this does fit in with our story, as if the mother was living in a very small council flat it would not make sense for her to be sent a ransom, as the villain would know she doesn’t own that kind of money.

4) Additionally we had to think quite carefully about ethnicity. We felt we definitely needed more than one race in our opening. This is because it is set in London, a very multi cultural city, so it makes the sequence more realistic and believable to have a multi racial cast. To stick to conventions we chose Siân a white, blonde female to play the victim. We used a mixed race female as the main character and the villain, not just because she is a great actress but because had a great look that could be adapted to look innocent and vulnerable at the beginning, but also tough and merciless when her true colours are revealed. We used the actresses this way round because we felt that if we had used the white girl as the villain and the ethnic girl as the victim, the audience would immediately presume it a racist attack, which is not the theme of our film.

5) Furthermore we had to represent state of mind effectively in our opening. Samantha obviously has mental problems to want to do this to her family and friends. However we didn’t want to represent her mental disorder with ‘craziness’. We tried to make it more subtle and did this by showing her extreme cunningness, and the complexity of the plan she is trying to get away with.