Evaluation Question: 6

Evaluation question 3:

When filming, we learnt a lot about the hardware and how it was used and when used differently, what effects that made. The tripod on which we positioned the camera was familiar after having done our pre limb task, but we learnt that in order to do a smooth pan we had to have it at the right firmness otherwise it wouldn’t                             turn quickly enough, or it would be shaky. The camera itself was relatively straightforward to use. We had to make sure that we didn’t rewind the tape then film over the footage that we had already shot, and we had to make sure that the microphone was on; otherwise no sound would be recorded. This, as easy as it may sound, was surprisingly difficult to remember to do whilst concentrating on 

everything else and it was necessary to go back and retake some shots for lack of sound but we ended up with a good set of shots with clear sound. We learnt a lot also about lighting and the difference it makes to the look and feel of a shot. In our film opening, we have used lighting very effectively to create large shadows and also bring out the bright red colour of the wall. In the fight scenes, we used artificial film lighting only, to create the stark effect, but later on, when she returns home, we also used the lighting in the house to create a warmer feel.

 

As my partner and I are both used to using PC computers, at first it was another challenge to use the Mac computers as efficiently, as everything that we were used to is in a different place, but we found that after a short while we were using them with ease.

The editing programme that we used was called ‘Final Cut Express.’ This was something that we had never used before. It was where we chopped and put together all our film footage, then edited it by cutting and tweaking the endings and beginnings of shots. Once everything was in place, we were able to concentrate on the smaller details of visual, like the fade ins and outs of shots and the exact length of the shots (in order to abide by the two minute rule). We then were able to concentrate on the music, for which we imported a track and laid over the sound on the video by adding a new audio track and importing onto there. We used the natural sound from the microphone as well as the music, but turned up the music in the quieter scenes. We were able to dim the sound up and down for smoothness as well as select which track we wanted to play when.

When selecting a sound track for our film opening, we were not allowed to use music that had been copyrighted, so we had to go online and visit a website called ‘freeplaymusic.com’ for non copyrighted music. The download process involved listening to a small extract then downloading the whole track. We would then import it into final cut express to add as a new layer for the sound. We chose 2 tracks to suit different stages in our film and we imported these to final cut.

For our titles, we downloaded a font from a website called ‘dafont.com’ as it was a font that suited our film well. We downloaded it and then we were able to create the titles via final cut, as the font appeared in the list with all the original fonts.

In order to make our ident, we used Adobe Flash and used a pen effect to draw a logo, and used the same pen when writing ‘value productions.’

JT

Evaluation Question 5: How would you attract / address your audience?

How would you attract / address your audience?

The main way we would address our audience is through the characters in the product. The characters are fairly young. This means that the majority of our target audience will be there age or thereabouts. This will help the audience relate with our characters. Another factor that may help to address our audience is the fact that mostly our characters are normal people that have been put in certain situations. Sarah is a normal young professional who is forced into violence in order to find and save Robert. Robert is a normal young police officer who is kidnapped and held in captivity. The only one who could be said to be abnormal is Jonathan who is a corrupt and considerably criminally dangerous police officer who kidnaps his colleague and friend. However this is not entirely unrealistic as there are dangerous people in the world. Our characters are easy to relate to in contrast with characters such as spies who, to the majority of the population, are unknown and alien making them difficult to relate to.

We would attract our audience through advertising. We would advertise a lot on public transport as a lot of the people within our target audience would see them there. We would also advertise within cinemas before films of similar genre. This would be effective as the people seeing the film would be likely to be keen on the thriller genre and therefore our film would appeal to them. We would also use the internet to market our product as it is a world wide forum that almost everyone uses particularly those within our target audience. We would consider setting up a website with police case files and reports referring the content of our media product. However we would need to be careful not to give too much away as it would take away the tension from the film. However we would give enough to entice the audience to see more and therefore see the film.

To conclude the addressing and attraction of our audience would be very much tailor mad to our target audience as this is the most effective way of getting people to see a film as it is clear that there is no point in advertising a film for young adults to pensioners nor is there much point in putting trailers on for thrillers before romantic comedys

TS

Evaluation Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

For a target audience, there are usually two possible options; family audience and 16 to 24 year olds. The target audience for our film would be people ranging from 15 to 24 years old. The level of violence automatically puts it up to a 15 certificate, meaning that it is unsuitable for families, and so young children won’t be allowed to watch it.


We asked a group of people to fill in a questionaire, to see what they thought of the film and to see whether they thought it was a successful film opening

            The film is a thriller, so people who like the thriller genre will be more inclined to come and see it. The characters in it are of a young age, around the mid 20s, so people of that age will feel they have something in common with the characters. In the rest of the film, there is one particular couple who together avenge the villain, and couples will feel that they will be able to relate to that, working together, which would entice them to see the film. There is a majority of male actors in our film, maybe meaning that a larger proportion of the audience would be male.

            The location is shown to be England by the style of houses and the writing on the shutters of the shops that she passes in the taxi. This means that maybe it would not appeal so much to a foreign audience, but would mean English speaking people will be able to feel at home and be able to relate to the film in that way. The characters speak with English accents, to show the British-ness of the film; another reason people would want to go and see the film. The use of the metropolitan police badge makes people living in London feel like it could be something that’s happening just outside their front door, so thus is another reason they would come. It is also representing the British police force so people who were strong nationalists would hopefully feel patriotic and come and see the film.

            The setting we used was a middle class modern home, with the majority of the action filmed in the kitchen. The kitchen has some extremely nice red colours that really show up well as a sign of danger when the fight scene is happening, and in the same way that people will go and see The American because of the beautiful shots and scenes created by the photographer director, they will come and see ours for wonderful strong colours.

            The violent aspect turns the film into an action thriller, and this is emphasised by the smashing of plates, and I think it is this aspect of the film that means that it will be shown in multiplexes, and so opens up a whole new audience: the action lovers, which one could argue is a mainly male audience.

            It is a film that could be shown in an art house cinema as well as a multiplex, so this opens up the film to both types of cinema goers. This means that the people who like lower budget films that are shown in cinemas such as the ritzy in Brixton would go to see it, as well as Odeon goers, people who are used to mainly watching big blockbusters. 


JT

Evaluation Question 3- What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

JT & TS

Evaluation Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main social group that our media product represents is the middle class. The characters Robert and Sarah are clearly fairly well off as they live in a fairly nice house in a fairly nice area considering there age. Our media product also represents both genders through Sarah who is clearly a young professional and Jonathan and Robert represent males.

The men in our product are shown to be brutish, particularly Jonathan, as he is violently beating Robert. This does not show men in a good light compared to films of the 1990s that show men as clever and resourceful compared to women. In our product it is clear that Sarah is the protagonist and Jonathan is the antagonist. This may be considered to go against social stereotypes. Sarah is shown to be the protagonist as there are scenes of her where she’s not really doing much suggesting she is integral to the story. Men are also shown the be corrupt and in this case treacherous as it is made clear at the end of the sequence that Jonathan and Robert were clearly friends before Jonathan betrayed him.

Our media product does not necessarily create realism as the couple are clearly very young to be living in the house that do. In the real world they would be more likely to be living in an apartment.

Sarah portrays the image of a young professional effectively. She is wearing clothes that one would expect of a young professional and in some ways acts as a young professional would. In the taxi she is clearly stressed and seems relieved to be out of the office and back at home, almost instantly turning the kettle on.

Both Jonathan and Robert portray images of good and evil.  Jonathan wears dark clothes and has dark hair and pale gaunt features. These are often stereotypical features of an antagonist whereas Robert has blond hair and less gaunt features, although he is quite pale. Robert does not have all the qualities that constitute to a stereotypical protagonist but he has the qualities that make him a benevolent character. He also struggles to fight back against Jonathan possibly because he is weaker than him but it could be because he cannot hurt the man he previously considered his friend.

We believe that these social groups will attract our target audience of 15- 25 years olds as they are of similar demographics that may help the audience relate to them.

TS

Evaluation Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main social group that our media product represents is the middle class. The characters Robert and Sarah are clearly fairly well off as they live in a fairly nice house in a fairly nice area considering there age. Our media product also represents both genders through Sarah who is clearly a young professional and Jonathan and Robert represent males.

The men in our product are shown to be brutish, particularly Jonathan, as he is violently beating Robert. This does not show men in a good light compared to films of the 1990s that show men as clever and resourceful compared to women. In our product it is clear that Sarah is the protagonist and Jonathan is the antagonist. This may be considered to go against social stereotypes. Sarah is shown to be the protagonist as there are scenes of her where she’s not really doing much suggesting she is integral to the story. Men are also shown the be corrupt and in this case treacherous as it is made clear at the end of the sequence that Jonathan and Robert were clearly friends before Jonathan betrayed him.

Our media product does not necessarily create realism as the couple are clearly very young to be living in the house that do. In the real world they would be more likely to be living in an apartment.

Sarah portrays the image of a young professional effectively. She is wearing clothes that one would expect of a young professional and in some ways acts as a young professional would. In the taxi she is clearly stressed and seems relieved to be out of the office and back at home, almost instantly turning the kettle on.

Both Jonathan and Robert portray images of good and evil.  Jonathan wears dark clothes and has dark hair and pale gaunt features. These are often stereotypical features of an antagonist whereas Robert has blond hair and less gaunt features, although he is quite pale. Robert does not have all the qualities that constitute to a stereotypical protagonist but he has the qualities that make him a benevolent character. He also struggles to fight back against Jonathan possibly because he is weaker than him but it could be because he cannot hurt the man he previously considered his friend.

We believe that these social groups will attract our target audience of 15- 25 years olds as they are of similar demographics that may help the audience relate to them.

Evaluation Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main social group that our media product represents is the middle class. The characters Robert and Sarah are clearly fairly well off as they live in a fairly nice house in a fairly nice area considering there age. Our media product also represents both genders through Sarah who is clearly a young professional and Jonathan and Robert represent males.

The men in our product are shown to be brutish, particularly Jonathan, as he is violently beating Robert. This does not show men in a good light compared to films of the 1990s that show men as clever and resourceful compared to women. In our product it is clear that Sarah is the protagonist and Jonathan is the antagonist. This may be considered to go against social stereotypes. Sarah is shown to be the protagonist as there are scenes of her where she’s not really doing much suggesting she is integral to the story. Men are also shown the be corrupt and in this case treacherous as it is made clear at the end of the sequence that Jonathan and Robert were clearly friends before Jonathan betrayed him.

Our media product does not necessarily create realism as the couple are clearly very young to be living in the house that do. In the real world they would be more likely to be living in an apartment.

Sarah portrays the image of a young professional effectively. She is wearing clothes that one would expect of a young professional and in some ways acts as a young professional would. In the taxi she is clearly stressed and seems relieved to be out of the office and back at home, almost instantly turning the kettle on.

Both Jonathan and Robert portray images of good and evil.  Jonathan wears dark clothes and has dark hair and pale gaunt features. These are often stereotypical features of an antagonist whereas Robert has blond hair and less gaunt features, although he is quite pale. Robert does not have all the qualities that constitute to a stereotypical protagonist but he has the qualities that make him a benevolent character. He also struggles to fight back against Jonathan possibly because he is weaker than him but it could be because he cannot hurt the man he previously considered his friend.

We believe that these social groups will attract our target audience of 15- 25 years olds as they are of similar demographics that may help the audience relate to them.

Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

We chose the name ‘be back soon’ because it appeared in the content of the first 2 minutes of the film, but it also gives a good inference towards the plot of the film, and sums up the mystery that revolves around the film, and is evident from the first 2 minutes.

 The Title appears at the end of the film opening because then the audience can think back and remember where they saw the words ‘be back soon’ but then we added a question mark to add an air of mystery, too keep the audience in suspense. The text is white and appears at first over the picture of the two main male characters but then the image behind fades away and we’re left with white writing on a black background so it is very clear.

The aim of the opening to a thriller is to thrill, to get the audience to feel as if they want to see the film, to want to know what happens. We need to get to know the main characters, to get a taste for what they’re like so we can gage how they’re going to affect the film. The characters that we have included are very archetypal; we have a hero, a villain and a sweet maiden. This is very well done I feel in our film opening, as in my film opening, we meet Jonathan, the killer, who shows off pretty well that he is the archetypal bad guy. He is dressed in dark yet relatively smart clothing and he violently attacks another man. He is first introduced to us pulling the victim down the corridor in a head lock, which establishes right from the off that he is the bad guy.   We see the (at- first) ignorant then grieving wife, Sarah, and we meet the victim. As Todorov said, it is common for a thriller to open with disequilibrium, and the aim of the characters, and the direction of the plot is leading to restoring equilibrium. But like most good film plots, there is a twist in rest of the film that shows the victim become the hero and the bad guy become the victim.

The music in our film opening has a sad tone to it, the picked guitar played loudly over the scenes in the taxi of Sarah returning home to emphasise her sadness, then dimmed down for the fight scenes, so we can hear the fight noises but the scene does not appear to be too empty. The music is still quite determined so keeps with the genre of action but does not detract from the feeling of the characters.

HERE PLAY VERY OPENING OF FILM, FIRST 2/3 SHOTS

The film is a thriller, with an action look to it, as is seen by the fight scene which is synonymous with the action genre and is emphasised by the smashing of plates and loud punch noises. It also has the confusion factor as we expect the house to be very different when she returns home, but instead it is absolutely fine and so questions are raised in our minds about the situation. The film is fast paced with a sense of drama, which comes about as a result of the high speed editing and the fight scene.

The film opening establishes the mood of being a thriller by the use of a night time scene, set in an urban environment. This automatically provokes thoughts in the minds of the audience concerning safety, and dodgy goings on. The world that our characters live in is one of young people earning lots of money as can be seen by the quality house, and nice kitchen that appears in our film.

The main plot of the film is very much one or retribution, which has a similar theme to the one shown in taken.

Other influential media texts:

James bond- opening of Casino Royale: for the cross- cutting at the beginning, we got our idea from the cross cutting at the beginning of Casino Royale, we liked the way it goes from a calmer scene in the office, to the much more violent scene in the bathroom.

Costume and props- smart clothes/shoes,

Lighting- the bright lights of the office scene are similar to the bright lights of our fight scene which create bold shadows

In this film, 2 characters in the fight scene are introduced when the fight is in full swing, which is what we have done with our film. The shots in this sequence are very close up and show a lot of detail, and our shots are similar in this respect.

This is also a very good film to compare ours to because it has the sub- genre of action, which is what ours has. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNvzNWuzI9Y&feature=related           

 

‘Ne le dit a personne’, or ‘tell no one’ is a French film that is starts off with the air of mystery right from the beginning, as someone goes missing and is presumed dead. The beginning is also set at night, which is similar to ours and this certainly adds more to the air of mystery.

 This is a link to the trailer for ‘The edge of darkness’, a film starring Mel Gibson and is the story of a father who wants to seek to revenge the people that killed his daughter. This story line is very much like ‘taken’ and features retribution. 

The film ‘ransom’ is again the same sort of film, featuring retribution as the key theme, this time with Mel Gibson trying to find a son.  

JT

Storyboard

We found the storyboards extremely helpful because they were an outlet for our ideas in a literal form, on paper. Here we could discuss together, before putting pen to paper, how our film was going to look, how it was going to be made. It made it possible for us to visualize the final product and therefore work hard to realize this.

We have chosen to set our film in suburban london. The girl is taken home in a Mercedes Taxi, to a nice part of the suburbs and when inside, the house shows wealth through it's luxurious kitchen, and this is to keep in tone with the young professional, unmarried couple; he is a young but high up police officer, while she has an office job, both of which pay for this nice home.
         The red of the walls in the home indicates danger, to go with the mood of violence and betrayl.

JT& TS

Location

Location

we have chosen to shoot in this house because the kitchen is very open plan. This will allow us to shoot the fight scene as we have plenty of space to put the camera and allow plenty of movement from the actors. The house itself is nice enough to represent our characters as successful middle class young professionals but does not show them to be unrealistically wealthy. there is a long hallway (1) that leads into the kitchen that would allow us to create the first shot of the fighting sequence where the attacker drags the victim into the kitchen. through the kitchen doorway there is a big gap where the victim can be thrown to the floor (2). there is a large space to put the camera when filming the fight scene behind the kitchen counter (3).

 1- Long Hallway

2- Open plan kitchen                                                                            

               

                                                                                3- Large space for victim to be thrown into

The Outside of the house doesn't give the appearance of  a big expensive house again this helps to add to the realism of the set up. In the dark the front garden almost looks ominous which would help to create tension as our character approaches the door. the door also has a frosted glass windows in the front which will give the effect of a silhouette once our character has walked through the door which would be both visually appealing as well as adding to the tension by drawing out the sequence.

4- Ominous front Garden

The taxi scene will be filmed on and around Balham highroad. we have chosen to film here as it is an urban area that has signs of deprivation. This will show that the couple are living in an area that, although relatively inner city is not a rich as other areas, adding to the realism.

4- Balham Highroad

TS

Shotlists

JT

Preliminary Task

Media Studies Homework- The Film Industry

Q1. Why is convergence both a blessing and a curse for the UK film industry?

Convergence is both a blessing and a curse for the UK film industry because it opens up more and more ways by which people can access media, yet opens up opportunities for crime and other things that could harm the film industry.

Convergence is the coming together of 2 or more technologies e.g. a newspaper with an online version, or a film, with a website, and then an accompanying game. 

This is a good thing because it means that more money can be made from one product, in the case of Quantum of Solace, the accompanying game made a lot of money, and this is a common occurance, with various media associated with the film being fruitful to the makers. Other examples of successful convergence is advertisement, that makes an audience want to go and see a film. Posters on the underground and on buses, billboards, and internet sites that takes aspects from the film and use it to attract customers to go and see the film all show conversion, with different media joining together for one purpose.

Film piracy is a huge threat to the UK film industry, film theft and online copyright infringements represent a major threat to all elements of the UK film industry, which means that a lot of money that should be being made by the film companies is being lost and made elsewhere.

Q2. How has the internet allowed film-makers to find and attract audiences in different ways?

Online advertising is a very strong way of attracting audiences. A small banner at the top/to the side of the screen can attract someone without them necessarily realising. Also, there are many different websites that can promote films such as facebook, youtube etc. by way of different medias. Youtube has the capacity to show adverts and seeded videos from the film, and facebook is possibly an even stronger site for film promotion, simply because people put their opinions of the film on facebook and so therefore influence other people's decisions on film choice, as well as producers making pages with links to the website of the film, videos and games where applicable, all of which help promote the film.

Q3. Summarise how you think sites like YouTube, MySpace and Facebook are good for film audiences. What do they let us do that we couldn't before?

Sites such as youtube can allow the uploading and streaming of adverts for films, which allows audiences to see the advert if they havent caught it on television. 

Social networking sites provide the opportunities for films to set up 'pages' that people can 'like' and on which there is information regarding screenings and dates etc. There are also links back you youtube etc. to increase potential audience size. 

Also, advertising on banners at the side of pages etc. means that there is more and more space for advertisers to advertise and attract an audience.