Evaluation - Question 7

From looking at the preliminary task we have used a number of different skills we learnt during the task and applied them to the film opening production. The preliminary task was the first time I ever worked in a group for a production, as before I had worked solo. By being put in a group for the preliminary task it allowed me to rely on others and get a feel for working in a group as I planned to work with someone else for the film opening. When we created the preliminary task we were also told to use Hollywood style editing, this is something we hadn’t done before, this allowed us to create a more professional looking film opening in contrast to our GCSE work. The preliminary task also told us we could have a maximum of 30 seconds, ensuring we didn’t overrun this is something we would have to take on board for the final production as we had a set time of 2 minutes. Our final production over ran 2 minutes, which meant we had to cut some of the shots we believed and our target audience believed didn’t work as well as the others. The variety of shots was also something we had taken into consideration from doing the preliminary task, as we had to include at least 10 different shots during the preliminary task, this made our final product more professional looking and gave it visual excitement.

In my opinion the most important thing Ellie and I have learnt in the period between the Preliminary Exercise and the first cut of our film opening is the concept of filming for a symbolic and representational meaning, so that every shot has a deeper meaning behind it. The Preliminary task was simply an exercise designed to test our ability to use a camera, and edit in a Hollywood style to create a more professional looking product. Yet in order to achieve a more meaningful reflection from our target audience, we had to learn how to apply our practical skills to take and edit more artistic shots that would portray symbolic and representational aspects of Alisha’s character and the story in which Alisha’s character will undergo throughout the film.

Evaluation - Question 6

During the process of making our film opening I have learnt about array of different electronic devices, software and programmes as well as gaining a number of skills which have helped improve my editing abilities, throughout the stages of our production we have used a number of different software’s and electronic devices;

During the planning and research stage of our production, I have used Blogger to keep all my information and keep all notes that I have made. I have also used Blogger to show my work and show the stages of my production. I also used social media such as Twitter and Facebook to communicate with Ellie and Alisha to arrange days to film. We also put images of the location and chosen props that we would use, we used Google maps for this and Google images as we hadn’t yet chosen the final location and final props this saved us time and still showed the location possibilities in our planning stages. During the planning stages we also researched familiar films and genre background so our work was more appropriate to our target audience. To do this we used YouTube and LoveFilm.

During the production process we used a Canon EOS500d camera, this is a different camera to the rest of our class, and we used this as the camera produced a better quality and offered more camera skills such as manually adjusting the focus, aperture and exposure. We also used a microphone during the production stages, we used a microphone to record violent threats and horrible messages towards Alisha to be layered and edited into a sound collage. For the nightmare scene we used a number of different studio lights t give the scene the abstract feel it required. We also captured a number of photographs from filming on an iPhone that was then uploaded to blogger.

Once we had filmed everything we needed we then went into the post production stages where we edited the sound files and the video clips. Firstly we imported all the video files into Premiere, o do this we at first converted the video files through ‘File Converter’, then we were able to edit them on premiere. We used a number of editing functions on premiere to give our work the indie look. Once all the different sound files were recorded I edited them individually on a separate programme called ‘Sound Editor’ once all the files had been altered and given an echo I then placed them into ‘MixPad’ where I layered files together, creating the sound collage. The editing stages of our production could only take place after all our video files had been converted into the correct format (mp4 Video), and to do this we used ‘File Converter’ once all the files had been converted we then imported them to ‘Premiere’. Many of these software I hadn’t used before, and the ones I had I only had limited experience.

In conclusion, I believe the most important piece of technology that we have used during the entire process of creating our media product, is Premiere editing software and Google search engine. I believe Premiere was very important because it helped us edit the video and is the software we used to create the video, without Premiere we wouldn’t have been able to manipulate the video, length of clips, give it the style we wanted and complete our work to the standard that it was. Google search engine was very important as it is what we used to research and find copyright free music, without Google search engine we wouldn’t have been able to create the storyline or find our target audience and other films they liked.

Evaluation - Question 5

In our film opening we attracted our audience with the use of mise en scene, sound and location. We created a specific identity, by using characters and personalities to define a sense of self and social behaviour. This would come under category B (the need to relate to characters, themes and music that appears in the film) in the users and Gratifications system that is used to define how a media product would target its audience.

The use of costume in our film opening, was of a indie style that would be expected to be favoured by our target audience. This gave those with the same sense of style something to relate to making it relatable to the audience. During the early stages of our planning process for the film opening we created an idea what the demographic of our audience would be and the things they would enjoy and like.
The choice of music could also influence the audience of the film, the song at the beginning of the film opening would have preferably been of an alternative/indie rock genre but due to the copyright limitations we found a singer that had no copyright over her material. The type of music that appears in the film opening is music that we believe to be favourited by people with similar interests in indie fashion. However the sound collage that appears later in the film opening is an abstract, haunting sound, this could attract those who aren't entirely within our target audience, as it presents a sense of abstract imagery.
Similar music choices and fashion styles can be found in some of our film influences such as in Submarine, where he too wears a Duffle coat, almost exact to Alisha’s.  The use of colour correction in our film opening can also influence the audience of our film, we chose to use cold colours, such as blue and purple to give the film a depressing and sad tone, similar films that have used colour correction to reflect a sad and depressing tone is This Is England. The choice in music is also very similar to the choice of music from The Perks of Being A Wallflower, they use a range of alternative rock songs (from the time period) just as we have done in the opening.

Evaluation - Question 4

Our media product would be aimed at a niche target audience, possibly teenagers and young adults. The urban location sets a feel for the product and would draw in a certain audience. The ethnicity of our audience would be white/black British citizens. This is due to the location in which it is set, rural London; this wouldn’t attract international audiences meaning our main target audience would be British citizens. Our target audience would most probably be lower class as they are able to relate to film and its themes. The educational background of our audience would be students, (in University or Secondary school) this is because they are the same age as the main character and can relate heavily to the emotional state of Alisha. Our target audience is very similar to our film influences such as Submarine, Adulthood and Perks of Being a Wallflower. The age verification would be 12a or 15, this is due to some of the more serious issue that are dealt with and some of the dialogue that is said throughout the film. This is another reason as to why we have chosen Film4 as a distributer; Film4 is renowned for having niche audiences aged 14-15 which is the age of our target audience. Below is an image of an audience mood board, in the image is a collage of imaes that represent the age, social class, and steryotype of our audience.

Evaluation - Question 3

After the post production stages of any publication, the product would then be distributed, these stages are often just as expensive as the production and post production stages as many companies spend thousands of dollars on interviews, billboards, magazine covers and spreads and viral advertising. To do this the film Production Company would make deals with distributers.

To find a distributer is often a challenge depending on the genre of your film, our film is a social realist (indie) with a niche audience, we would then most likely preview an premiere our production at a film festival like Cannes Film Festival or Toronto Film Festival, there many distribution companies view films and choose whether they are willing to distribute the film. This is how Submarine directed by Richard Ayoade, found distribution for international release. The type of distribution companies that would most likely distribute our films due to the similar genre and themes found in the films would be Optimum Releasing or Film 4 who both distributed This is England, one of the films we have taken inspiration on and follow similar themes and issues. My team member and I concluded to with Film 4 as we believed Film 4 is renowned for distributing niche indie British films such as Attack The Block and Nowhere Boy.

Evaluation - Question 2

Our film focuses on one character. The social status of our main character is of a low class(1). She is an unprivileged teenage girl who suffers from depression(2), whose personality and sense of style, music and idea on life clashes with where she lives and those who surround her. A similarity to this can be found in Fish Tank(3), one of our influences, as the social class of the main character in this film is also from a deprived family who are of a lower class. The social class of our character matches the conventions of this stereotype, as this can be seen with the location, and parts of the mise en scene (7). We chose also the contrast parts of our mise en scene with the stereotype challenging the stereotype for people who live in rough areas. This was because we chose our character to be an outcast to society and believes in a better life, her ambitions are thought to be class related as her main objective in life is to better herself and break through the class divide. Another social group our film follows is the stereotypical teenager. There are many stereotypes for a teenager(4); chav, emo, goff, depressed lonely teenager, popular, geek etc. our character fits into the stereotype of depressed teenager. Another film that follows the awkward teenage stereotype that we are following is Submarine(6). In our film we follow the conventions of this in our film opening as we show looking sad and isolated, many shots out of focus, showing she is a mere character in the background of life, and of no importance to anyone. A film that also follows this stereotype is The Perks of Being a Wallflower(5), as its main character is a lonely isolated teenager boy who is pretty much confused about his life; this is a very similar situation in which our main character finds herself in. our film follows this convention as we have portrayed our character very similarly to how Charlie is presented in Perks of Being A Wallflower.(5). 

Evaluation - Question 1

We used array of camera shots in our film opening, from close up to wide angle shots we have followed the conventions as the shots give an inside sight to the setting and the main character. However we have slightly challenged the convention as we used a focus when filming and made all the shots focus on an object and had our character out of focus, by doing this it symbolizes that the story is about just an ordinary person, no one special, just someone in the background. It also symbolizes her solitude and lack of social skills. An example of the type of camera shots we have used that reflects the types of camerashots in a real film is Kidulthood, (one of the films we have taken inspiration from) in the opening of Kidulthood there is a variety of close up shots where the fcamera focuses on different students.

We have used similar editing techniques that are found in film openings, we have used slow motion, colour correction and brightness/contrast. All of these are used to symbolize the sad life that the character lives. An example of this that is used in a rel film is also Kidulthood, the quick cut shows the energy of the scene from the students. We have also used cutting pace to reflect the mood of the film, our film has a much depressing tone therefore the pace of the cutting is slower.

 The costumes and props are significant in the film opening as it defines the character as an individual, this can be seen as she isn’t wearing clothes that you would expect someone to wear if they live in a block of council flats and came from a poor family, this symbolizes her attitude to better herself and become better than what her family are. Kidulthood is another example where props and costume help define the genre of the film, their props and costume tell the audience they social class of the characters. In our film opening we haven't challenged the conventions of an ordinary film opening, we have opted to use the conventions of the film opening and use similar props and costume to some of the films we have looked at. Our costume choice is similar to the costume choice in Submarine.

 Our titles follow the convention of a film opening, despite there being little amount of rules when it comes to titles there is one, this is that the directors names come last we have done this and then it is followed by the title of the film, this then lets the audience know all the credits are over and the storyline is about to begin. Our title sequence and credits is very similar to the ones found in Submarine, the credits come up with images of the location, as does ours.

We have included some props that will show what the film will be about. There is a family picture behind broken glass this represent the broken family, there are bottles of alcohol representing the alcoholic father, there is a small girls jewellery box saying ‘wish friends’ this shows she has  o friends and wants friends, a letter from her father saying he is at the pub will be back later this shows he has a lack of care for his daughter, there is also audition flyers scattered around showing that the main character has ambition and drive, dreaming for a better life and dreaming to get away from her life here. There are also shots of rubbish lying around this represents the fathers lack of responsibility and love for his daughter as he treats her just like the rubbish, at home not taking care of her.

 

Cutting Back & Removing Clips

Cutting Back & Removing Clips

Cutting back and removing clips: After watching the second cut, we decided a long with our teacher that the film opening was too long by 30 seconds. We therefore decided to remove some of the less interesting and less important shots such as the Film 4 identity logo and some of the shots of Alisha walking, we believed these shots and clips wasted valuable time and so concluded in removing them. The time limit for our production is 2 minutes, ours was over by 30 seconds, once we had finalised it and finished correcting the spelling mistakes etc. it was dead on 2 minuets not including the student name and candidate number.