Shooting Schedule

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

I can see a big difference between the Preliminary Task and the Final Product in many different aspects.


This is my Preliminary Task.


This is my Final Task.


Continuity: The continuity in my Preliminary Task is good, but in the Final Product it has greatly improved. This is down to cinematography and editing. In my head throughout filming I was always thinking how to piece the shots together, like where the last shot ended, where and how the character was standing etc. The fact that I thought about this made it much easier to edit in iMovie when I got to that stage.


Camera Shots/Angles: In my Preliminary Task we went for the basic shot types and angles but in the Final Product we have been much more adventurous, using a wide variety of camera shots and angles that we use to portray a message to the audience. This makes our final task much more interesting and hooks the audience in.


Audience: We didn't have to think about audience for our Preliminary Task but for Final Product we did have to think about audience. We had to aim at a specific target audience and this means I have developed a greater understanding of what appeals to certain audiences, forcing us to make a choice of what audience to appeal to.


We had to have in mind the 180 degree rule because if you break this rule it can really confuse the audience and the character/setting will be jumping around the shot. In both pieces I feel that the 180 degree rule hasn't been broken and is kept solid throughout. 


Match on action is used correctly in both pieces also. The cut between shots is perfect in both pieces, making the use of the match on action successful in both. Match on action was part of the criteria for the Preliminary Task but we decided to use it in our final piece also.


Shot/Reverse shot is used mainly in the Preliminary Task as it was a criteria for it, however we use a Shot/Reverse shot once in our final piece, and this is when I open the garage door. Shot/Reverse shot is primarily used for conversations between two people and our final piece doesn't have a conversation in it, but we still used it once.

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

There are many institutions that distribute films, but some only distribute films from a certain production company, others only distribute films of a certain genre. The following list will contain some institutions that we could use and others we can't.

Walt Disney Pictures:

Walt Disney Pictures would be an unsuitable distributor as they only distribute Disney films, which are children's films. The only films that are not aimed at young children are the Pirates of the Caribbean series.

Momentum Pictures:

Momentum pictures is very much a suitable distributor. They have distributed films such as: 'Insidious' (2011), 'The Crazies' (2010) and 'The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, The Girl who Played with Fire, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'. All are fairly low budget, especially the first two listed, making it suitable for our group.

20th Century Fox:

20th Century Fox isn't very suitable as they go for high budget films like Avatar (2009), X-Men (2000-2010) and Star Wars (1975-2005). Although they are widely spread through the genres, they don't distribute low budget films, therefore they are unsuitable.

Weinstein Company:

The Weinstein Company are a suitable distributor as they go for low-ish budget films like 1408 (2007), The Kings Speech (2010) and Halloween II (2009). They have a few thriller genre films they have distributed and that is why they could be a suitable distributor.






We have decided to use The Weinstein Company as our distribution company, this what the logo looks like as it appears in films.


We decided to go for the Weinstein Company as they help low budget films companies make it into the commercial world. They pride themselves to help those who can't afford high end advertisement, making it into cinemas and this is one major reason why we have chosen them. They have also distributed thriller films in the past, meaning they have experience in the genre. We didn't want to go with a famous distributor, we wanted to go with a fairly unknown distributor and we think that the Weinstien Company is perfect.

This is our production company logo that we designed. We created this using photoshop, laying the hand on the first layer, then downloading the font from DaFont and laying the text on the second layer. In our opening sequence it fades in, then fades out after the distribution company.

Our funding would come from the BFI Film Fund as our film would pass as 'British'. I took the test on behalf of our film and it scored over 16 points, meaning it passed the test and the BFI would fund our film. As we have a semi-big distributor they may help fund the film as well. Due to all of this, our film may be released into cinemas, but will definitely be released into 'indie cinemas'. This means our film may not go onto DVD sales if it goes into an indie cinema, but if released into chain cinemas then DVD sales will happen. I think our film will be rated a 15, this is because it contains strong violence, some strong language and some scenes that some may find upsetting. It doesn't get into the 18 certificate rating because it doesn't contain sexual scenes and doesn't contain strong bloody/gory violence.

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

Used Conventions:


We have used some conventions that are seen in other media products, such as;

-Titles: We have to use titles in our opening sequence and these are for the actors names, the crews names, the companies (distribution and production), the directors and the designers. Without titles it wouldn't be  an opening sequence. To the right are the titles from 'The Fall' and below are the titles from our opening sequence 'Killing Jennifer'. 

We decided to put the title of our piece at the end of all the titles, whereas 'The Fall' appears near the beginning of the opening sequence. Both pieces have titles over shots and not over black apart from our main title and the production company on 'The Fall'. We haven't really developed on the convention of titles as there isn't really anything for it to develop onto.

-Kidnapped: We have used the typical situation/dilemma that is seen frequently in the thriller genre. The kidnapped victim would wake in up in a place not familiar to them and will try to scream for help.




Developed Conventions: 


We have developed some conventions further than just the bare basic. These 'developed conventions' are;


-Genre: We have developed on the sub-genre of thriller, a psychological thriller. This is sometimes seen in similar media products but not as often as normal thrillers. The film titles on the side of this post are 'Psychological thrillers'. The term means a film of the thriller genre, that delves into the mind within in the topic of the film. For example, 'The Shining' is about a man who takes the job as a caretaker, however this involves staying in the hotel for a few months, so he brings his family. He begins to psychologically break down and tries to kill his family. This is a perfect example of a psychological thriller as it has all of the conventions of a thriller but has more depth.




Challenged Conventions:


We have challenged some of the typical conventions that are seen in other media products. These are;

-Kidnapped character: Our kidnapped character is a female, which is a typical convention, however we challenge it as she is a strong female character. She wants to escape, she fights to escape and during of which she gets hurt and discovers things, not once does she panic and this isn't a convention seen in many media products.




-Disequilibrium: Our opening sequence begins with a situation that is not normal (she wakes up, tied up in a garage) this breaks the equilibrium and makes it 'disequilibrium'.

Assessment 23/1/12 MCU

WWW

- You have written in detail about the specific technologies you have used and given specific and relevent examples.
- You have thought carefully about the representation of the young woman (though more detail is needed)
- Good SPAG
-Some attampt to create supervisual posts.

EBI

- You should refer to specific scenes/shots and use media terminology e.g. specific shot types when you discuss representation. What does a low or a high angle do to the way she is represented?
- You should include more detail when writing about your target audience, consider also the interests of your audience. Create a profile of your 'ideal' audience member. What do they like to do? What do they buy? How often do they go to the cinema and who with?
- Be more specific regarding how you have constructed the representation of the young woman. See Ms Jarrett's 'Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' example in class.

Remember you will need all your posts to be supervisual, think about how you can do this. I would like you to go beyond prezi and images, I would like you to create a voice over commentary or a mini-documentary to reach level 4.

EFFORT - VG

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

Based on our audience research we gathered late last year in November we established our target audience and what they would like to see in an opening sequence. Our target audience are aged 16-30, this is because of the questionnaires taken 55% were aged 16-30. This really helped us define the 'feel' of the opening sequence - if we were aiming at a younger age then the content would be much less graphic. With our target audience in mind, the second question about genre showed that our audience wanted a thriller genre with 50% of the answers. They also wanted a high pitched musical score with 60% of the answers.

Baring these responses in mind we created our piece and catered for our target audience. The only thing we changed was the musical score as a high pitched musical score didn't fit with our piece and instead went for an ominous musical score. Apart from that we have given our target audience what they wanted.

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

This directors commentary sums up about the technologies I used during the filming and editing stages.

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

Our target audience are aged 16-30 and primarily men, we know this because of audience research we fulfilled earlier on in the course though questionnaires.Below is a 'fake' profile of our perfect target audience that would come to see our film.


Name: Ben Owen


Age: 22


Occupation: Student


Interests/Hobbies: Playing video games, watching films and TV, going out with friends (shopping, cinema, parties), swimming, football, going to the gym, listening to music.


Television: Ben would like a variety of genres in television. He would mainly like thrillers and horrors, but does enjoy comedy at times. He would like programmes that have depth, maybe a little controversial (racism, sex scenes, language, violence). He watches both English and American programmes. Some programmes he watches are: True Blood, The Walking Dead, Dexter, The Vampire Diaries, Law and Order, Top Gear, Hollyoaks, Mad Dogs, American Horror Story, Bones, The Closure, NCIS, The Only Way is Essex, Fringe, Sopranos and Spooks.


Films: Ben would like genres of film that relate to his television taste, meaning Horror and Thrillers. He would like high budget and low budget films, depending on whether the actual content is good. Some films he would like are: Se7en, Saw, Hostel, Daybreakers, Avatar, The Lord of the Rings, Twilight, 1408, Inception, Insidious, Shutter Island, Chronicle and Cloverfield.

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

In our media piece we only have one character on screen, however this character can represent some social groups in todays society.



Kidnapped Victim: Our opening sequence contains a woman who wakes up in an unknown place and is tied up. This relates to the film 'The Disappearance of Alice Creed'. The two screenshots are from our opening sequence and part of the trailer for 'The Disappearance
of Alice Creed'. Both characters are female and both have been captured. In both pieces the character wants to escape and will do/try anything to escape, this includes destroying the environment they are in to look for a way out or even hurting themselves to get out. Although the screenshot of Alice Creed shows she isn't tied up, she is in other parts of the film, which is again similar to our opening sequence as our character escapes too.


Through this we represent the social class of a 'strong woman'. This is shown through many factors; firstly, they are not even slightly bothered about their appearance (they have messy make-up, scruffy hair and clothes and don't even think about sorting it out). Secondly, they face their fears and try to escape by any means possible. Finally, they aren't afraid and if they are they hide it to show they aren't affected by where they are. These conventions are stereotypically linked with men not women, meaning this is a new kind of social group.






Modern Female: The character in our opening piece is a young female, aged around 20. Her personality is shown through her clothing. She is fashionable and wears modern clothes, such as, hoodies and cardigans. She also has every finger nail painted a different colour, this shows her vibrancy as a woman and her character - she isn't shy and wants to be seen. This breaks and fuels typical stereotypes of a woman in media. It fuels the stereotype from the part about being fashionable but breaks the stereotype with the fact that she isn't shy and timid. When she awakens in the room she actually explores and tries to find a way out, whereas in past films, the female character will wait for help, expecting to be saved (damsel in distress). This makes our female character strong and tough, willing to work, this could be reflected by the fact that more and more women in society are getting high class jobs (business women, owning their own companies etc).





This is a 'mini-documentary' we created to answer this question in a super visual way.