Evaluation 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

When we did our preliminary task at the beginning of the year, all I knew was how to turn the camera on and place it on the tripod; even that wasn't easy! Learning all the different types of shots at the beginning of the year, for example shot reverse shot and 180 degree rule seemed a bit daunting because I didn't know how they worked. After our first film we were straight on the mac's uploading. This was difficult because we didn't know how to operate them and how they worked.

However, what we did learn from doing the preliminary task for example the editing and uploading really helped when it came round to doing it again. This time, we knew the shots and how to put them into practice. We learn't how to use the high angled shot, which is a shot we used in our final piece for the boss, only showing the boss' head, and using shot reverse shot many other clips.

When doing the preliminary task, as it was our first go, we took quite a long time figuring out how to do the shots and practicing them. This concequently led to what in the end was a relativly short clip; and we took a long time making it. However, the time we did spend was spent on learning and this really helped us in the long term creating our final opening sequence.

Trying to edit for the first time also took a long time, but now after practice it is not as hard. Editing our final product didn't take as long as the first time but, we still needed to be thorough to make the film have the best possible outcome.

These three clips are from the preliminary task at the beginning of the year. As you can see the top left shows the 180 degree rule, top right shows an extreme close up and the middle shot shows a shot of just the feet and above.

These are three still frames from our final product. The top picture is the boss at her desk, showing the over the head shot. The picture on the left is the suspect walking into the recreational ground, this shows a medium long range shot. Finally the picture on the right is also the suspect walking into the recreational ground from the front, also a medium range shot which progresses into a long shot.

Evaluation Activity 6

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

 

These are screen grabs of a still frame in our film, my blog, garage band and Emily's blog. We used garage band, set up our blogs and uploaded our film on an i mac. I have never used a mac computer so this was a new experience and i enjoyed it very much. I have now learnt how to upload a film, how to make music to cover the film and how to set up a blog.

This is Emily and I working at the i mac using imovie HD and garage band, and with the camera and tripod. I have learnt how to use the tripod and camera and how to put the camera on the tripod. There are various positions the camera can sit due to the movement of the tripod. This means you can get different shots just by navigating the tripod's head. You can do close up and pan shots on the camera with the zoom in and out button.

Garage band is a very good device but hard to use when it is your first time. There are many different sound tracks you can choose from, some rock, some classical. However, once you have your sound track and put it to the film is well worth the difficulty, especially when using very appropriate music to suit both genre and parts in the film. For example, putting a fast, up beat music track to a chase scene works really effectivley.

Using imovie HD was fun but also tricky in places. This is the programme we used to upload the films and edit it. There are many different editing options, from transitions to cropping time of a frame, making the film flow better. Choosing various transitions to go between to clips was fun and to see how much more effective the film became. Also, we used fade in fade out with things like the title, and used typewriter style writing for the names of the characters involved.

Using the mac's was quite difficult bacause it is so different to a normal computer, but after learning how to use it was fun and i enjoyed discovering all the unusual things it does have compared with a usual computer.

These are the pictures of the different programmes we used in creating our film. Blogger to write up our tasks and questionaire results, this was much easier to create and to use. Garage band to record music, to cover our film, imovie HD is the programme we used to upload and edit our film, and you tube to look at existing films and research.

Evaluation Activity 5

                                            How did you attract/address your audience?

These are some still photo's of our final opening sequence. They are shot both at the recreational ground with an odd surroundings, this shows through the action/adventure side because it is suspicious and you know that something is going to happen. The music we chose on garageband for this particular clip was a tension builder. Due to the results of the questionnaire, our target audience are people between 11-28, therefore we needed the film to be an action/adventure but not including any violence and use of unnecessary weapons.
Our peers felt that our chase scene was too long and therefore, using the experience of our editing on the mac computers, we were able to crop the scene to make it shorter. When the audience were asked what genre they thought the film was, the general respose was action/adventure which we were very pleased about because we obviously put across the genre clearly. They also felt that the music we chose was very appropriate for the different scenes. We also decided to rename the film from "The Backpack" to "The Pack of Lies", we changed it because we felt it was more attractive but still had the vital word "Pack" because that is the main feature of the film.

Our unique selling point is that, usually action/adventure films are played by adults in adult films for example the Bourne films of Die Hard. Because ours is played by teenagers and is effectively aimed at teenagers, it gives action/adventure a different look.

Our film is simalar to The Bourne Supremacy and sequels and the Hitchcock film North by Northwest because they are both fast action chasing films.Both these films are of a genre we wanted to emulate as they have action sequences and periods of suspense. Hitchcock is well known as a film director who created scenes of high drama through the use of clever camera angle shots, lighting effect (especially the use of shadows) and dramating music adding to the suspense; keeping the audience on the edge of their seats.
In the Bourne films, Jason Bourne (the hero) is always involved in high action thrilling drama scenes and is often chasing people or being chased himself. In our film, we wanted to create a simalar concept, though we had to integrate it into our story line.In the opening sequence of the Bourne film, you have a man running away as in the start of our film where you have the chase scene.
Given that our film was targeting an audience of 11-28 year olds, we knew we had to make sure the opening sequence of our film would attract their attention in a way that would appeal to them. Because our character running away was obviously a teenager we think this had the maximum effect in getting the audience's attention immediately the film started.  

Evaluation Activity 4

Who would be the target audience for your media product?

This is Alex, he is 18 years old. He would shop at places like Top Man, River Island, G-Star and Superdry. The kind of music he likes is rap, pop and R&B. His favourite artists would be Eminem, 50 cent, N-Dubz and Tinie-Tempah.
His favourite TV programmes would be Top Gear, Formula 1, Football, Alan Partridge, The Inbetweeners and Celebrity Juice.
He likes these programmes because they are funny but also interesting. They are also  full of action, for example Top gear and Formula 1 is exciting. He would watch our film because it is high energy and very fast paced.

We are aiming our film at aged twelve and above. We think this is a suitable certificate because although it is an action/adventure, it is not violent nor includes any unapropriate weapons for young children. Age twelve means you can come with your friends independantly.  

Evaluation Activity 3

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

I think the best way to distribute our media product would be showing it in cinema's and possibly on dvd's. This is because even though it would be amongst some of the biggest films, it would be a great way to let the public know about the film. The action adventure genre is proving to be very popular, for example "Lord Of the Rings", which has been a major success, I feel more films like ours are coming on the market.  The cinema's I was thinking of were such as the Odeon, Cineworld and Curzon cinema's.

Or, promoting it via the internet, for example a trailer on you tube.

The Odeon is one of the biggest, if not the biggest cinema chain, therefore advertising our film there would draw attention to the public eye and making people aware of another up coming action/adventure film which at the moment are proving a real hit with the public.

  You Tube would be an excellent way of distributing our media product because a little clip of it can be shown either down the side or as an actual search. Because so millions of people go on you tube every day, the film could be distributed very easily.



I think overall, our film would be best distributed in the cinemas because a longer clip would be shown and people at the cinema watch all the adverts however, people on you tube could miss the little clip.                               

Evaluation activity 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Picture 1                               Picture 2

I have chosen to compare picture one from the film...with picture two, our film because the two pictures represent agents chasing suspects.

Similarities:
As you can see the pictures are very simalar, both agents and suspects running towards the camera. The two have stolen something, which obviously needs to be retrieved quickly.   

Differences:
In picture two, the suspect has his/her hood up showing more of a suspicious role. The clothing is slightly different, picture two is all in black, including the agent. Whereas in picture one, the male suspect is in his own clothes but the agents are in suits as if it is their day job but very professional. Even though they are both filmed outside, picture one is filmed with a darker background suggesting a more in depth action and a more mysterious location, whereas picture two is filmed running into a recreational ground in a lighter time of day.

Evaluation Activity 1

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

1. Title of the film:
 We chose the caption shot of a potential suspect because it gives you a rough idea of the plot. It could resemble a chase scene.

2. Setting/location:
We thought this shot was a good location shot because you can see the suspect running up a street and into a van. A van shows the convetions of an action/adventure film as it resembles a quick get way transport.
3. Costumes and props:
We chose this photo because you can clearly see the props that the boss has on the desk. You can see the pictures of the suspect, the computer, a keyboard and a mouse and a mobile phone which indicates communication between the boss and agent. This shows the boss has an important role in the film, and because the boss is all in black, it makes it slightly more suspicious.

4. Camera work and editing:
This shot is perfect for camerawork and editing because it is a mid air shot from the side, but you can also see the alleyway which the suspect will be heading. This makes it fast paced and dangerous.

5 Title font and style:
This is the first shot of the suspect so their name comes up in a video terminal style font which comes up like a typewriter. The titles are bold and come up at a reasonable time so you can see the name of the character clearly. The proper title "The Pack of Lies" comes up white on a black backround to make it stand out.

6. Story and how the opening sets it up:
This shot was chosen because it is the first part of dialogue, the agent on the phone to the boss giving information and the boss giving instructions. The dialogue spoken by the agent includes the information that the suspect has a suspicious bag on his back, not 100% sure what it is, therefore the agent has to be very careful. 

7.Genre and how opening suggests it.
This picture shows the agent chasing the suspect. This is a typical action adventure scene. You can clearly see that the agent has to get what is in that bag, but the suspect is getting away. This type of scene needs to be shown near the begining of the film to intice viewers.

8. How characters are introduced.
The suspect "Isobel Kelly" is introduced when walking into the recreational ground. You cannot see the suspects face at all as a hoodie is covering it up. This makes the suspect seem suspicious.

9.Special effects.
In this shot we used a flash effect, you could see the suspects face for a very short amount of time it was very sudden. This fits the action adventure convention.

Title change

We have decided to rename our film from "The Backpack" to "The pack of lies". We chose to do this because we were not 100% happy with The Backpack. The pack of lies also seems more mysterious but it still gives a hint of what the film is about.

Results

People felt that out of the ten films we chose, five seemed to come under the genre of action adventure. (River Wild, Shoot 'em up, The A-Team, Snakes on a plane and Die hard 3.)
The age range we chose was 11-28 year olds as the main audience. We thought this would be appropriate because the majority of action/adventure films are viewed by this age range. The destinations people thought action adventure would work best are back alleys, deserted werehouses and on mode of transports.
For the costumes people suggested characters to wear dark clothing eg. leather jackets.

Plot

Agents try to obtain priceless items in many circumstances for years, some succeed some don't. An agent is requested by a boss to find a suspect who at first thought to be a male after a member of the public had mentioned somebody looking suspicious with a bag on their back. The agent sees a suspicious "man" entering a local recrational ground. At this point, the suspect realises "he" is being chased. "He" runs through the recreational ground, up an alley way and across a street where "he" throws the bag into a van and hurriedly jumps in after. As the suspect gets into the van, "his" black hood fell down and revealed that the suspect is a female. The van drives away quickly leaving the worn out agent to phone the boss. The boss is furious the agent has unable to catch the suspect and he informs the agent that the content of the bag could result in something fatal. It is now up to the agent to sort things out.

Costume, props and locations

Costumes

Suspect, played by Isobel Kelly- Hooded top in grey/black and black shoes.

 

 

 

 

 

Boss, played by Emily Jeffreys- Leather jacket, black jeans, black shoes, red nail varnish.

 

Agent,played by Emily Kelly - All in black

Props 

Backpack

Accesories

Mobile phone

Van

Locations

Office

Streets

Park

The Backpack

Script:

(opens with agent talking on phone to boss)
Agent: I have eyeballed suspect entering the recreational ground carrying a backpack.

Boss: BACKPACK? WHAT BACKPACK?

Agent: It's...hang on...black with a large grey logo on it with black straps, he's running towards the exit of the grounds.

Boss: Right, we need to get that backpack; it must contain the missing artefact. IT MUST NOT BE DAMAGED. You need to retrieve it with immediate careful action.

CHASE SCENE.

Agent: (calling boss, out of breath) Not able to retrieve the backpack, too fast...unable to catch her.

Boss: Well where is the backpack? Did you say SHE?

Agent: It's in the back of a van. The suspect threw it in the back of the vehicle and then drove off, yes the suspect is female; her hood fell down as she raced towards the van.

Boss: In a van? Oh my God, you've got to sort this out...This could be fatal. (hangs up abruptly)

Agent: (punches button to end call, shakes head and walks away angry and disappointed.

Comparison of the different ways in which the two openings define themselves as horror films.

American Werewolf in London                                                                 

• Derelict area, cold windy,wet.                                        
• Two men on a walk. Men in pub(and a  woman)                                                                                        
• Ignored warning about the moon
• Americans in England-out of surroundings
• Symbol 5 pointed star
• Sound effects music blue moon links with
• the moon they are supposed to avoid
• ordinary men with rucksacks and jackets.
• killing takes place in the open and in darkness.

28 Days Later

•  In a lab with monkeys in cages.
• Men and women working for a company (not sure which)
• Lab assistant tells them not to open cages.
• Ignored the assistant who told them the monkeys are drugged with rage.
• People in a lab.
• Dressed in black
• Killing takes place in lab with lights on
• No gripping music.

They both define themselves as horror films within the first 10 minutes but in different ways.
The opening scene in American Werewolf in London, is in a derelict area with just hills. It all seems fairly innocent until it starts to get dark and the talk on the moon. the moon brings the anticipation of what is going to happen to them. Especially with the weather changing as well. The werewolf implies it might be a horror film.

28 Days later is set in a completely different surrounding with monkeys in cages and men and women walking around in the light. You realise it becomes a horror film when a cage is opened despite the warning from the lab assistant. the monkey rips apart one of the women and that is the point you think it is a horror film.
        

Evaluating the preliminary task

Explain what you were asked to do and how you prepared for the task.
We were asked to film a character opening a door, sitting down and exchanging dialogue. We prepared our film using a storyboard with all the different shots such as math on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule. We drew every step we were going to film on a storyboard writing down the different actions. We also watched clips of existing movies such as Lock Stock and smoking barrels and Reservoir dogs to show us what our film should look like.

Filming.
Explain how you filmed each part of the task (match on action, shot reverse shot while maintaining the 180 degree rule)
We stuck to our storyboard which featured all the types of shots we needed. We filmed ours in the libary, so it was quite tricky stopping and moving the camera in order to film the required shots however, it was quiet and calm. We had to use the tripod right at the very end to shoot the match on action. All the other shots we used our steady hands!



Low shot of character 1's feet.



              








Your role.
My role (character 1) was to film character two. I (character 1) had to go to the library to get my phone (which i had lost) where i was studying. I had to walk through the door into the library, walked round the books and to the table at which i was studying. I then filmed character 2 a student who was also studying and asked her if she had seen my phone. She had collected my phone and gives it to me and then i walked away.

What  kind of shot you used and why?
We used all the shots because it would be more effective. Our match on action shot was character 1 walking towards the library doors. We then had a close up shot of character 1's hand. Our 180-degree shot was at the end when character 1 was talking to character 2.


Hand opening door.



What was your framing like?

We tried to fit all the relevant objects in the frame to make it look as effective as possible. For example we did a high angle shot which showed character 1 pulling a chair away from the table to sit down. We chose to keep character 2 out of frame on the other side of the table so we could use shot reverse shot.

The positioning of the actors on the screen.


Match on Action



By using all the different shots in our film we felt it would bring something different to our clip. It made it look real and it flowed together nicely.

Editing

Were you happy with the final result?

I was very happy with the end result because i feel we used all the shots in our film effectively. I think we can learn from the mistakes we made in some shots for example the hand on the door, this went wrong because my hand was on the handle for too long. I think the film flowed nicely apart from that delayed hand scene.

What could your group have done to improve the sequence? (was the camera work fluid?/Did the match on action match up or should you have had the camera closer/further away from the subject/were they in the right position on the screen?/were the shot types you used for shot reverse shot appropriate for the dialogue?

We could have stopped the camera more frequently and rewind what we had done and see if we could make any changes whilst filming. We didn't use the tripod except for the last scene with both characters in the frame. So we had to keep the camera as still as possible which i thought we did.

I think the camera was in the perfect position in every shot. We had close ups, long shots, head shots etc.

How did you think you worked as a group?

I am working with another girl called Emily Kelly, even though there are only two of us, i feel we both contributed to making the film and we listened to one another to make the film just as we both wanted.
I feel we worked well as a team.

Mise-en-scene- costume

In both films, the gangs are wearing black/dark clothing. This shows they are highly classed people and have power. Usually these are the suspicious characters in a gangster film.

Reservoir dogs- There are a gang of people which suggests that more work will be done and at a higher level. It shows experience as there is a lot of them. Although you can only see their faces, it is clear that they all had the same clothing on suggesting they all work as a team.

Lock stock and two smoking barrels- In this film there are only two men in the gang, but also dressed in black. they looked and sounded dodgy, clearly selling illegal products. However because there are only two of them it seems less experienced.

Conventions of thriller genre

Setting- The setting would change from one scene to another quickly which would sometimes confuse the audience. It can be strange as well.

Character- In a thriller the character is always wierd, and slightly scary. The audience can see when the character is first shown he is not a nice person and immediatley the villan in the film.

Sound- The music can play a vital role throughout the film. The tempo and the mood of the song can either make you feel suspense with the volume or happy with the quieter music.



Cinematogrophy- The lighting and camera positioning is also important in making a thriller seem scary. A dark scene is the most effective and the camera angle on the character needs to be just right.



Nolan talking about "The Dark Knight" :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgxPw9EboOU

Other companies

Find two other companies

http://www.hoovers.com/company/1105_Media_Inc/rfhthji-1.html
Media inc

http://www.123greetings.com/
Greeting cards.

The Dark Knight

Breifly explain the information provided on their homepage.

All types of media are portayed in the homepage. For example, a clip emerges as soon as you enter the site which promotes the film. Underneath there is a paragraph explaining the plot, the cast and downloades.

You are also able to sign up for email updates, browse the actors etc. In the top left hand corner, there is the logo of the Warner Brothers showing you the film is made by them.