Evaluation

 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social group that is represented in our opening sequence is teenagers, particularly British. We filmed three different teenage boys (Jack, Paul and Conor) completing everyday life activities: Paul was filmed completing work at a computer representing teenagers as intelligent and hardworking; Jack was filmed walking home from football training which represents teenagers as being very sociable but also highly active and sporty. Lastly Conor, filmed watching TV, represents the fact that teens need time to relax and escape from stresses of education or life situations. As a group we believe that this footage is a genuine representation of teenage life as it captures many common factors included in teenage lifestyle.

 

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our media product would be teenagers aged 15+. Many film companies try to make their film more engaging and relatable to the audience and seeing as though the three main characters in our film are teenagers we feel as though this aged audience will be able to relate to what the boys are going through during the film.

Additionally we chose to aim our media product at this particular audience due to the complexity of it. Our opening sequence is complex therefore would need to be watched carefully with full attention to understand the storyline fully therefore we believe people much younger than this age would find it difficult to understand the story and therefore not enjoy it.

 

How did you attract/address your audience?

Primarily we decided to use teens as our main characters as they would be more likely to relate with the audience. Although all of the characters in the film are male, following the traditional action film convention, females would still be able to relate and interact with the characters as they represent a teenager’s lifestyle.

Furthermore, action genre films are highly popular within teenage target audiences, especially male teens as the thrill and excitement would attract them to watch action genre films over romantic genre films.

Furthermore, we could produce advertisements which we could put on social networking sites, such as Twitter, so teens of that age would be able to view the progress of the filming making, which would make them aware of the media product. We could also release small trailers and gifts to keep the audience interested.

 

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

Unfortunately I hadn’t studied media until a few months ago but the progress in my knowledge on technology involved in media has expanded greatly. When editing our opening sequence we used a programme called Final Cut Pro, when using this I learnt to experiment with sound effects and image effects. This has benefitted me as I now feel more comfortable and has allowed me to gain knowledge on editing processes.

When filming our opening sequence we were very lucky that Sophie had a decent camera which also videoed. On our first shoot we used another camera and the difference between the images from that shoot to our final shoot was unbelievable.

 

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

Our preliminary task had to include a match on action, shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule. Unfortunately I and my group had to re-shoot out preliminary task for many reasons, one being that you could not see the other person in the shot reverse shot. By practising these shot types and many more it helped us to make sure we filmed the shot types we wanted in our opening sequence correctly.

After we filmed our final piece for our preliminary task we had to edit the footage together. This enabled us to gain a lot of knowledge on continuity editing which obviously came in handy when editing our opening sequence. For example we had to edit together two shots of Paul leaving the room, one shot being a mid shot and the other shot being a close up of his feet. When editing these shots we had to make sure he was stood on the same foot in the second shot as what he was in the first shot.

When it came to editing our first shoot we noticed that it was very repetitive as we used zoom in and zoom out too often. After much analysis and group discussion we decided to only use a very small number of zooms and focus more on the variety of shots, for example a close up and an establishing shot.

 

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

As a group we decided to focus our opening sequence on the action genre. Throughout the process of producing our opening sequence we researched the conventions of action films and made sure we included as many conventions as we possibly could in our footage to make it clear to the audience it is an action film.

We followed the Vladimir Propp theory:

·         The hero: the 3 boys (Paul, Jack and Conor). They are the hero’s because they are on a mission to save their group leader, Jake

·         The princess: Jake. Although in many action films the princess is female, in our case the princess is a male as he is the reward for the boys’ efforts throughout the mission

·         The dispatcher: Rick. This is because he sends a text message to the three boy’s telling them to meet at the car park to find out what they have to do to get Jake back to safety

·         The villain: Rick and his gang. This is because him and his gang cruelly kidnap Jake and hold him hostage until help arrives

When I researched what the conventions of an action film were, I managed to find out there were many. However, I have narrowed the list down to: weapons (knives, guns, swords), a question/ mission waiting to be completed, includes both a hero and villain and explosions and crashes.

Unfortunately, due to the complexity we were unable to use explosions and crashes in our opening sequence as we believed it would not look realistic and make the film look poor. Additionally, we didn’t use weapons. You will see in some of my blog posts I have been taking pictures of my dad tied up in a small room under my stairs, in one of the pictures there are some golf clubs. I included these in the picture as I thought they added tension and drama therefore I hoped to use them in the final product but unfortunately our ideas changed and Jake was filmed in a car boot instead of a small room so the golf clubs were not used as they didn’t fit.

However, we included the other two conventions these being a mission/ quest waiting to be completed, in our case the mission was to save Jake from the danger of Rick and his gang, and also we included both a hero and villain, in our case the hero being Paul, Jack and Conor and the princess being Jake.

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

I believe that Universal Pictures UK would be a suitable distributor for our media product. In 2012 they distributed ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ which sees a young woman fight to save her region from being ruled by her evil stepmother, played by Charlize Theron. Personally, I think this film relates to our media product well as when comparing them it is noticeable that in both we see young people fighting for what they believe in and the struggles of everyday teenage life. For example, in our opening sequence we see three boys fighting to save their leader, Jake, whilst trying to deal with their own social and personal problems. Likewise, in ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ we see a young woman dealing with the tragic loss of her father whilst fighting to save other family members and friends.

The Final Piece - DETAINED

Journal (21)
On Tuesday and Wednesday my group went back after school to continue editing our opening title sequence. Unfortunately I was unable to make both days due to medical appointments. However, after watching the final piece all the way through I am more than pleased with the progress my group have made without me.
Jake had managed to add in some transitions to show time passing and also another music piece called ‘Shaded Speech’ to the first scene. Furthermore Jess and Sophie added in the credits and did little adjustments which was needed.
The next step for I and my group is to upload our final piece onto our blogs.

Journal (20)
After school today (Monday 7^th April) me, Sophie and Jess went back to our media classroom and edited the footage that we filmed on Sunday but due to other commitments we were unable to stay for longer than 35 minutes. We found that editing this was easy and quick therefore the 35 minutes were more than enough.
We used the same icons such as ‘blade’ to edit the footage and make it look as continuous as we possibly could. The next step for us is to catch up with Jake and tell him what exactly we did.
We are all happy to say that we have finally finished editing our footage together and all that is left to do is finish sound and also add suitable credits. 

Journal (19)

Shoot day
As a group we arranged to film the last bit of our opening sequence (the first scene) on Sunday 6^th April. Due to the Manchester marathon many roads were closed therefore we agreed to meet at Sophie’s at 3:00pm however none of us could get in touch with Jake until 4:00pm therefore we could not begin filming until around 4:15pm.
Unfortunately I had a netball match at 6:30pm so we had to work as efficiently as we could to get it all filmed before I had to rush off. Me, Sophie and Jess worked well together when taking control of the camera work as we gave each other a lot of advice on different camera shots/ angles we could use.

We are all happy to say that our filming is complete after a total number of 3 re-shoot.

What’s next?
The next step is to edit together the footage we got on Sunday and try to finish the sound by Tuesday 8^th April so we have 2-3 days to edit in the credits. 

Shooting schedule

Sunday 6^th April

Time	Day/ night Exterior/ interior	Shot description/ summary	Location	Characters
3:50 – 4:15	We met at Sophie’s house at 3:50 and waited for Jake to arrive at 4:10
4:15 – 4:30	Evening Exterior	In this 15 minutes we took an establishing shot of the house, another establishing shot of the house but this time seeing my dad (Rick) walking out of the house, a close up of the back of the car and lastly a close up of the front of the car	Sophie’s house/ garage	Rick
4:35 – 5:05		We filmed Rick sending the text (mid-shot), a close up of Jakes bound hands and feet, a close up of a bag on his head, an over shoulder shot of the text message being sent and a mid-shot of Rick closing the boot of the car

Journal (18)

In today’s lesson (Thursday 3^rd April) we edited together we footage we got on Tuesday. Jake wasn’t in today’s lesson therefore he wasn’t involved in the process of editing today.

We are now used to the icons and the editing process so we thought that today is was easy to edit. There was one point in the footage that it looked as though it jumped so we had to cut both clips down slightly to try and make it look as continuous as possible also there were two clips that we noticed didn’t go together fully. One of the clips was the midshots of Paul getting up and beginning to walk out and the other clip was a mid-shot of him walking past the camera but when we edited them together the last bit of the first clip Paul was in front of the desk whereas the other clip Paul was behind the desk so we had to use the ‘blade’ icon to down both of them down so Paul was placed at the same positioning, we also had to think about his footwork and link up the footages as he was continuously walking.

After we had finished editing the footage we began experimented with music. We decided to take out ‘Werewolf’ and use ‘All but forgotten’ instead as we thought this suited a lot because ‘Werewolf’ was too upbeat for the footage used in the opening sequence. However, we have still used ‘Werewolf’ for when we see the car arriving and for the rest of the footage afterwards, including the title.

What’s next?

The next steps for I and my group is to fully complete filming on Sunday. This includes the first scene so we will get together as a group and check over the plan we have made. 

Journal (17)

Shooting day

By the end of this shooting session we hoped to have completed the footage of Paul, meaning we would then have completed all footage of the boys receiving the text. Unfortunately Jess was unable to make the agreed time therefore it was left to me, Jake and Sophie to film one of our actors Paul.

I believe this was by far the easiest and quickest shoot we have done. Paul was very co-operative and didn’t mess around making us all think he was more than suitable to have in our opening sequence.

We originally planned to film Paul in a pub however we thought it would be a lot easier to film in our school and make it out as though Paul was a teacher. We managed to get permission to film in one of our teacher’s classrooms.

We used a variety of shots including:

·         Match on action of him opening the door

·         A close up of his hands typing on the computer

·         A close up of his legs as he walked out the room

·         A long shot showing the surroundings 

·         A mid shot of him writing/ typing 

Shooting schedule (6)

Tuesday 1^st April

Time	Day/ night Exterior/ interior	Shot description/ summary	Location	Characters
3:15	We all finished school at 3:05pm and met up outside private study
3:20 – 4:05	Day Interior	We set up the office as though it was a working environment, we used a midshots of Paul on the computer pretending to work, we then zoomed out and used a long shot of Paul urgently walking out of the office after receiving the text, we also attempted to use a close up shot showing his emotion when he received the text	Private study office (Wellington High School)	Brandon

Changes we have made (2)

Settings

Originally we were going to use the following settings as to where the boys would be filmed:

·         A pub

·         A house

·         A shop

·         Out on a walk – a field

However we have now decided to use:

·         A house

·         Someone walking home from football training – a field

·         At a school office

We have decided to change the pub setting to a school office setting because we were unable to get permission to film in a pub therefore we thought that because Paul goes to our school and would be in a suit it would be more convenient to film in our school but make it look like he was just finishing work.

CGI scene

Originally Jake came up with the idea of using a clip of a map in which you could see red dots moving which symbolises the boys being tracked towards the car park. We found that this would be very confusing ad hard to do and hard to make it look effective therefore we decided to remove this scene.

How the boys travelled to the car park

We originally said that the four boys would either walk, ride a bike, run or drive to the car park however we knew that it would be a lot easier if we didn’t include how the boys got to the car park therefore we have just filmed the boys leaving their location and not including how they actually get to the car park.

Actors – final decision

As I have previously stated we were going to try and get 4 boys to be in out opening sequence however we thought that this would be a waste of our time and that 3 boys would be good enough. We have used Paul Taylor, Conor Cooke and Jack Marshall and have now not used Joe Brown. 

Journal (16)

Today was my first day back after my 4 day break in London therefore my main focus was to catch up with Sophie and Jake and listen to what progress they have made on our opening sequence. They had managed to edit some more music, still using ‘Werewolf’, to fit into the sequence. They completed the music for Conor’s footage and also Jack’s footage, they also added in a transition called ‘simple’ which is an effective way to bring out Jakes video and is a nice way to add continuity.

Today, as a group, we managed to finalise the music which will be played as ‘DETAINED’ appears on the screen. Although when we edited music last time it took a while, this time it didn’t seem to need much editing. I suggested that the music should be very harsh and powerful when the title is on the screen and stop suddenly therefore we experimented with different parts of ‘Werewolf’ until we found the exact part we were looking for. 

Journal (15)

Plans for the next week

I and my group agreed that filming of scene 1 would happen today. However, scene 1 is all exterior and due to awful weather we were unable to continue filming today. When we all agreed that filming could not take place today we decided to ask Paul (one of the boys) whether he was available so we could film his part however due to family commitments he wasn’t.

For the next week I and Jess are on a school trip to London so unfortunately we will not be there to contribute to next week’s work on the opening sequence. However, I have spoken to Sophie and Jake and said that if they want to they can film Paul’s part during this week but if they need me and Jess to be there then they can just carry on with experimenting with music. 

Journal (14)

As I have previously stated this week’s focus had been mainly based on music. In my last post I said that as a group we liked ‘Army Angels’ the best however when we listened over the track again we found that it was a bit too upbeat for our opening sequence so we have now decided to use ‘Werewolf’.

As I was listening to the track there was one bit that really stood out to me and I thought right away that it would be perfect for when the car is arriving, therefore I put my idea across to Jess and the rest of the group and luckily they all agreed with my idea.

The part in which I liked was a lot slower than the rest of the track and also has minute parts in it that don’t seem to have any music playing, I thought this would be good for this part of scene 3 as it would add suspense to the scene.

When we cut this part of the track out and placed it where we thought it should go it didn’t fit exactly, therefore we had to do a lot of editing to make it fit. For example, we had to use the ‘blade’ button to cut the part down exactly as we wanted the music to switch to upbeat again when the bag hits the floor. We also had to many different editing buttons to make it as continuous as we could as when we chopped the part up it was a little bumpy and didn’t sound very continuous, but with a lot of patience and co-operation by all group members we finally got it perfect and we all really like this music part!

Journal (13)

Over the past few days I and my group have begun to experiment with different types of music, which will play in the background of our opening sequence. We tried a variety of songs such as ‘Great Expanse’ but as a group we all liked ‘Army Angels’ the best. However, there are parts in the song which go very fast and upbeat which doesn’t suit the footage as the footage is slow, for example when Jack is walking across the field before he receives the text. This means that for this week we will continue to research different music types and try experimenting with overlapping different tunes to make is sound more interesting and suitable.

As for shooting, there have been a few problems with when we can shoot the last two bits we need to film – Paul receiving the text in the pub (part of scene 2) and Rick sending the text (scene 1). These problems have varied from group members not being able to make the shooting day to mine or Sophie’s dad working, which unfortunately we cannot help. Therefore we have agreed that shooting will continue on Sunday 23^rd March. 

Journal (12)

On Friday I and my group edited the footage we got from the night before. When we were looking over the footage we were very pleased with what we got and thought that the new footage joins nicely with the footage we had previously edited. However, we did notice one problem this being that the clip showing what is in the bag is far too short compared to the other clips therefore at this point is looks very rushed and jumpy. We experimented with different transitions to see if we can make it look better but we were unable to do this so we carried on experimented. We finally found out that you could slow the footage down so we decided to slow it down by ‘x2’ which makes it look a lot less rushed and more natural.  

Shooting schedule (5)

Thursday 13^th March

Time	Day/ night Exterior/ interior	Shot description/ summary	Location	Characters
4:30 – 5:30	Evening Exterior	We used a close up shot of the registration plate of the car, the car then drives away allowing the audience to see the back of the car (same car as seen in first scene), a close up of the car wheel turning, a close up of the drivers eyes in the rear view mirror. An establishing shot showing the 3 boys waiting and the car arriving, we see a bag being thrown out the window.	Timperley astro	Driver of the car Rob Chris Brandon (now played by Paul Taylor)
5:35 – 6:15	Evening Exterior	We used a close up showing what is inside the bag, a mid shot of Conor getting the letter out of the bag and also Jack getting the phone out of the bag.	Timperley astro	Rob Chris Brandon

Journal (11)

Shooting day

On Thursday evening I and my group travelled to Timperley astro to re-shoot scene 3 therefore the characters needed were the driver of the car, Paul, Jack and Conor – see shooting schedule for details.

Even though this scene is Sophie’s scene, we all did our bit to help her out. For example, I did my best to help Sophie out when she wasn’t sure on an angle or shot type. For example, I came up with the ideas to get footage of the driver’s eyes in the rear view mirror, a side view of the wheels and a close up of the registration plate (back) which led to an establishing shot as the car drove away from us. I knew my input on shot types were good as my group seemed really enthusiastic in response to my suggestions.

Furthermore, we managed to shoot the other half of scene 4. This scene includes one of the boys getting the phone of the bag, pressing play, watching the video and finally getting the envelope out of the bag. On another shooting we filmed the video which is going to be seen on the phone, meaning on Thursday all we had to do is film the other bits, which was not a lot at all.

To be honest we didn’t really face any big obstacles that we had to overcome which was very lucky. However, one problem we faced was the actors couldn’t stop laughing when we were shooting the end of scene 3/ the start of scene 4 but in the end they managed to calm down and get the job done. Another small obstacle was that because we were filming in a public area there were many people walking their dogs or out on a run meaning we had to stop filming until the surroundings were clear.

Throughout the evening I believe we all worked extremely well as a group for many reasons. For example, we all listened to each other’s contributions.

The next step for me and my group is to look over the footage we got on this day and begin to edit all the clips together and make it look as continuous as we can. Also we have to film the third boy, Paul, receive the text in a pub or shop and the first scene at Sophie’s house. Finally, depending on time management we have decided that we may film the video of Jake again as the first shoot of it looks very stylised and unrealistic. We plan to split these tasks up over a 2 day period sometime this week.

Journal (10)

On Thursday 13^th March I and my group began to edit our footage that we got on Tuesday.

We managed to get half of the third scene complete. This means we joined all the footage of Jack together and also all the footage of Conor together. There is one point in Conor’s part where the lighting is very dark and unclear so we experimented with different lighting to see if we could lighten the footage a bit but unfortunately we were unable to do this for a few reasons, for example we used an effect called ‘highlights’ but it looked as though someone was playing with a torch therefore we have decided to leave the lighting as it.

As a group I believe we are happy with the progress we have made. 

Shooting schedule (4)

Tuesday 11^th March

Time	Day/ night Exterior/ interior	Shot description/ summary	Location	Characters
4:45 – 4:50	I and my group set up the camera and waited for Jack to arrive
4:55 – 5:30	Evening Exterior	We used a long shot to film Jack walking, then a behind long side, a side of view (long shot). We then did a shot showing his shadow for an effect. A mid shot was used when he got the text, then a close up on his hands holding the phone, a zoom out then a pan of him running off. Finally we used a point of view shot as though Jack is looking down at his feet.	Timperley golf course	Chris
5:40 – 6:20	Evening Interior	We used a mid shot of him sitting down watching TV; we zoomed in on the phone as he received the text, over shoulder shot of him getting up, a font mid shot of him leaving the room and finally a low angle shot of him putting his shoes on.	My house	Rob

On this shoot we decided to call Jack and Conor at different times as we know that it isn’t fair to have them both there at the same time as one would be stood around doing nothing when they didn’t really need to be there.