Mini Music Video

Evaluation Question 7

(Q7)What do you think you have learnt in the progression from the preliminary task to the final draft of your opening sequence?

At the beginning of the year we learnt about different skills and ways to make our film look professional and creative, we then showed these by filming a short piece which showed our skills in filming, editing and being creative in our ideas. Within this short piece we used such techniques as match on action, shot reverse shot, follow the 180 degree rule as well as using the rule of thirds.

Editing, the first technique that we used was shot reverse shot, this meant that we needed to shot two angles of the same piece and then cut them both so that they can be placed together which will look like we just switched the camera when filming it. We used this technique when the phone is picked up and answered. I believe that I have progressed in this technique as I have made it look much more professional and it was cut at the right moments.

This clip shows the use of shot reverse shot in my preliminary task
  
This clip shows the use of the match on action in my preliminary task.

Filming, we used the 180 degree rule which meant that the camera would not cross the side of which the first shot was shown as this might have disorientated. We ensured that the opening sequence kept to this rule throughout the piece, I have improved this skill as I have managed to keep to this rule in all the shots which was a challenge. The use of match on action was when the phone was picked up, one character began to pick up the phone but then we switched the camera shot and angle but the phone was still getting picked up at the same point. We also used the rule of third all the way throughout the piece as well as being very creative with the shots.

The clip below shows the 180 degree rule.

Creativity, I used a lot of creativity within the cinematography as well as planning out the different scenes we will be doing. The screenshots below show the creativity of cinematography I used within this piece of work.

Evaluation Question 6

(Q6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

From this project I have learned many new things such as using various programmes to either create the product or upload our coursework as well as the Mac’s to edit our opening sequence.

Programs I used included; Slide rockets, IMovie, and Prezi. I thought that all of these are brilliant as it helped me gain knowledge on the conventions that are used in our chosen genre; using these programs helped the editing as it improved the time and advanced quality of the opening sequence.

Whilst filming different shots to our opening sequence I used a digital camera and a tripod which helped us develop our knowledge on framing, from the amount of practice we had during filming and deciding what made a good mise en scene, from playing it backwards on the camera and Mac, this helped us see if the area in the shot worked well with the type of shot we were planning to use. From doing this we could improve any shots and set up the tripod and camera correctly, and come up with superior shots which would make our piece look sensational. After learning and gaining knowledge about all the aspects of the equipment it meant that I could use it in more creative ways which gave a more dramatic affect on the opening sequence, I ensured that we could have range of different uses of cinematography such as, close ups and establishing shots, as well as this we made sure that we didn’t break the 180 degree rule and ensured that we could add in some match on action when it come to editing.

I also used IMovie to edit our footage, this worked really well as once we uploaded our footage it was very easy to edit and add the music which once put in made our piece look very professional as we had smooth cuts as well as the movement of all the characters fitting in well where we had movements between shots.

For the blog work I used programmes like Prezi, Animate and Bubbl. Prezi was good as it let me lay out my information in a more creative way attaching videos and pictures to it with text alongside to make my point a lot clearer and visual compared to a plain word document which lacks creativity. When using Animate it allowed me to get audio to the viewer which made for faster understanding and gave a more creative way of showing information instead of just simple text.

 

Evaluation Question 5

(Q5) How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my target audience through low costs which will result in them going out and watching the film and buying it when it comes out on DVD/blu-ray in stores. We decided to make a opening sequence aimed at our target audience, we attracted them by the use of everyday props and costumes and added a scary, mysterious theme and way to it; this brought the attention to our targeted audience and made them want to watch the rest of the film. We do this through adding in the everyday setting, which some viewers will actually recongise and make feeling stronger between the viewer and film/characters; this will make them feel more worried about that the sort of things that are happening in the film could happen in real life.

Evaluation Question 4

(Q4) Who would be the audience for your media product?


Due to the type and genre of our film, we all agree that the target audience will be mainly young teenagers from 15 and above; to roughly people in their late 20's this will because people after this age will not find our film has anything to offer them apart from the way young people act and think, as well as the type of acting style which they might find less interesting. Our target for gender will majority males as thrillers tend to be what they are interested, due to the violence in ours a typical female audience may not be too interested in it as much as young males. Their ethnicity will be black and white English, this is because they would most likely understand the content and therefore be able to enjoy it more, as this will also be able to relate to this ethnicity with their daily lives.

The geographical location for our audience will be London as this is also where the film is set and therefore it’s more relatable than having the audience all the way up in north where the life style is different, this is so that the audience can relate to the film and be more engaged. The education of our audience would not be great as it is aimed at people who you would mostly see on the street as this is similar to what our film is about so their IQ would be quite low, we have aimed to towards people that have only been only educated to secondary school standards.
The personal interest of our audience would be hanging out with their friends on the estate, on the streets or in the cinema so that they can relate more to the film and go to watch it when it comes out.

Their lifestyles and behaviours would be quite poor as they would mostly be in trouble quite a lot so our film is meant to reflect this, they will be people in the area that feel a bit disconnected from the community. Our audience is meant to reflect the same roles as the actors in the film so for example we have the murder who is the trouble maker due to her breaking the law and the casual typical teenagers who does nothing wrong but are the victims of vicious attacks through no fault of their own, so we have incorporated this idea into the film.

Evaluation Question 3

(Q3) What kind of media institution might distribute you media product and why?

The media institution that would distribute our film would be ''Entertainment Film Distributors''. This is because they distribute independent films which our film would come under, our film wouldn't be one that is a on a massive sized scale and which won’t have a massive profit or have a huge budget to spend when making the film. We have chosen to go with a much lower and unknown company, which specialise in lower budgeted films but which is one of the UK’s leading distributers, as they have had a lot of very successful films in the past and as they normally produce low budgeted films. This is why instead of going for the typical big name distributor we have gone for something a lot more realistic and less known around the world.

Evaluation Question 2

(Q2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media opening sequence is not represented in a traditional way, instead of having a typical strong male being the attacker, we decided on having string minded and willed woman to be the killer, this goes against stereo typical views and had the victim played by a boy. The women is represented as a mysterious women, to create the mystery around her we do not show her face and frame it so not much detail is revealed around her, she also wears dark coloured clothing as these are considered more negative and mysterious compared to any other colours.
Whilst the boy is shown as a typical teenager who has grown up in an urban area where they would be considered very rude with attitude problems and maybe someone that has no troubles in the world, this is a common view associated with teenagers so we have used this in our film so that it appears more realistic and relatable. These representations will prompt more questions about the girl being the killer as it is not seen that often in films, therefore something new. The males in this film, people will feel sorry for as they have been killed for no reason; which again is very unusual because the victim will normally have done something in their past which has lead to the murder of them.

Final sequence

Question 5 my screencast

Vox Pops

Evaluation Question 1

(Q1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

For this coursework we had to create a two-minute opening sequence to a new film, before doing so we had to do some vital research into the typical conventions of an opening sequence. Most of the time a opening sequence will have a production and distribution company logo at the start; to gain recognition for the film they have just made and make a name for themselves, an establishing shot to show where the film will be set; ours is set in the urban area of Sutton, titles to let the audience find out who is within the film and what their roles are, close ups to introduce the characters without giving too much detail away; this will prompt the audience into asking questions about where and who the characters are.

An establishing shot will be use to identify the area in a certain location where the film will be set, in our opening sequence we showed a car park and an alley way as we felt this urban area would suit the type of film we was making very well, also these shot are enough for the audience to start asking questions; the audience will also watch out for any significant details during this time as many clues will be given. After considering all the elements for our film we decided on our final product. Since our film was a thriller we had to use low key lighting as we felt this would set the best atmosphere and follow conventions for our genre of film and pull the audience in more so that they would become more curious. Close ups are also important because they offer giving information to the audience without giving away too much detail; we used close ups on the dead body played by Andrew and of Aaron so that the audience would be able to identify them and feel more connected.

When completing this task we tried to follow all of these conventions which in the end we managed to do, so that the audience would feel more intrigued to what was going on, so that they would ask lots of different questions about the film so that they continue watching on and see whether the film answers them later on. We used low key lighting to make the scene look partially scary for the audience creating suspense and curiosity, we also thought about the durations of our shots and cuts to ensure that we are adding the right amount of tension and suspense to the scene.

First Draft

Script

Initial Ideas

Casting Decisions

This is our casting decisions sheet for our opening sequence.

Film company logo

This is our film company logo we have decided to use. We have choosen dark blues and black to make it feel scary, it also fits with our choosen genre and looks like the sort of producer that will produce a thriller.

Shooting Schedule

This is our shooting schedule for our filming which will start fairly soon.

Storyboard

These are our Story Boards for our film.

Audience Research

Character Descriptions

This is our character descriptions.

Character Descriptions by

Script

This is our script we will be following. This shows exactly what our lines are and who will be saying these lines.

Title Research

Titles by

Animatic

This is our storyboard which my group developed together, it gives us an idea about what will happen and the duration of every shot during our opening sequence.

Costumes

Costume for Jimmy

Costume for Vincent

Costume for Sarah

As a group we all decided to chose casual urban clothes for Vincent and Jimmy, this was to show that they are just normal people on a normal day, which doesn't get into any sort of situations. These clothes backup our idea of the boy coming across the body accidentally, due to the inocense of the clothes. Sarah, the murderer, will be wearing cold black leather. This is to show the audience the coldness of the character and her dark personality.

Props, Location and Costumes

Props
The first prop we will use is an Iphone, this is to make a phone call from the victims friend to the victim. the next one will be the fake blood, this is to show the atack on the victim from either a crow bar or a baseball bat.



These weapons will be used to show the attack on the victim, these objects will be covered in blood to show to the audience that these weapons were used to assault someone.

Costumes
We will only be using two different types of costumes. The first will be for the suspect, dark black leather outfit. The rest of the characters will be wearing thier own casual clothes due to the setting of the opening sequence.

Location
Our location will be set in the sutton car park, will be filming it on the upper level. we decided on this location due to low key lighting; this will make the setting look creepy and mysterious, it also makes a good setting for the large amount of hiding places.

Shot Lists

Me and my group looked at how we could include the conventional shots of other thrillers, this was done to ensure that our thriller would fit into our chosen genre. We wanted to create an spooky atmosphere which would be created by low key lighting and making lots of shadows, this will gave us more of a feel of the opening sequence and the genre. We also added in a crowbar in a shadow, this foreshadows what will happen to this character later in the film; this gives the audience a question to ask about what they have just seen.