BLOG CLOSED

I now believe all the work that should be done is now complete, all my research and planning, construction and evaluation work is finished to a standard I am happy with. I am happy with the work we have completed as a group and feel that we all worked well together.

Evaluation Question 7

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?

We feel that we have progressed massively since the prelim exercise at the start of the year. We think that we already knew some basic shots, e.g. match on action and close-ups, this helped our Preliminary look good, but the quality and variety of our shots have certainly improved. As you can tell in our final piece, we use a lot more shot types, and experiment a lot more with angles. This makes our piece a lot more interesting and enjoyable to watch, e.g. POV shot when he is getting kidnapped, low shot of John Peters feet to show him walking.

Editing has been a major step in our progression, this is clear from even the introductory titles, they are seen in our final production are more professional and come in at certain times in a certain order that we have learnt from our research. The editing also allowed us to make the film flow better, it allowed us to add music to build up tension and make it more interesting to watch, as it got louder at more intense clips which was something we didn’t know how to do in our Preliminary

 

This is an over the shoulder shot of both me and brad at the same time. This is good because you can see what is happening in the background at the time of the shot. You can clearly see both parties talking and the camera angle is different to any others we have used.

 

 

This shot is also something new we have added as when we did this before we didn’t have a car available to use. This is a good shot because it is different and not everyone has the opportunity to be able to film these shots

 

This is a point of view shot from john peters view, during this shot brad (the drug lord) puts a bag over his head so he cannot see anything. This is a good shot because this is something that would be seen by the victim in an actual kidnapping, we have used this shot to make the overall film opening as good as possible.

 

 

 

 

This is a match on action shot of John Peters picking up the phone to his wife. This is a good shot because it opens the film and it gives the viewer a idea of the setting of the upcoming film. It’s a good place to start the film.

Evaluation Question 6

This is the camera which we were provided with for the filming of our preliminary video and for our film opening. The camera is the Canon Legria FS200 and it was a very good camera. The quality of the picture was a slight disappointment as it was not in HD and so made the overall quality of our production lack in professional quality and was not at the standard we imagined beforehand. Although the camera was very mobile as it is only a small, it was very suitable for the job we needed to do. We got to grips with how the camera worked very quickly and developed our skills with it by using different techniques such as; zooming in and out and panning. Also the good thing about the camera was that after we had filmed a clip we could watch it back. This was because of the small screen imbedded on the side of the pull out camera. Due to the fact we could watch it back it became easier to look at what had gone wrong in the clip so therefore we could shoot it again if we needed to, making better use of our time.

This is the software which we used to help us edit our film opening and our preliminary exercise. It is Adobe Premiere Pro, it was a very good software to use and once we got to grips of how to use it, it then became very simple and effective to use. However to start with it is very hard to work because it is so technical and has many advanced options. Due to the fact that we used this software for our preliminary exercise and our film opening look very good and have the effects needed instead of just clip’s being shown after another clip. We were able in our film opening to fade in and out of clips this gave it a much better effect and made the film opening flow whereas with our preliminary exercise it was just jump cuts because we were new to the software. It also made the shots more interesting and enjoyable to watch.

Some other technical software and sites we have used were Blogger and Youtube we used Youtube to gain advice from other people by sharing our videos and allowing them to post comments, this helped us develop our ideas and progress. Also Blogger was a diary site we used to keep all of the information of construction, pre-production, research and planning and everything else that went into making our production, it is a simple and basic and easy to use site which was easily accessible and reliable, we even had phone apps to make it more convienent to make posts in times we couldn’t access a computer.

 

 

Evaluation Question 5

Our audience which we decided to aim our film at was the younger audience, mainly 16-18 year old boys as they would be the type of audience who would like our action film. The way in which we attracted our audience was through different things, these were; clothing fighting scene  

Clothing would have attracted our audience as all the four characters were wearing clothes which not only a typical teenage school boy would wear, because their look smart and shows sophistication but because of the fact their clothes were trendy and in fashion at the moment. For example it shows how the smart outlook portrays our genre well, for example the crime side of it attracts the boisterous consumer we target.

Another factor that would have attracted our young audience was the fact that the boys were in a modified car which attracts most boys and is the desire for most young boys to own there own car. We had tyre screeching scenes and fast driving which is high octane and good action. The car had blacked out window which sums up the crime and secretive approach to our kidnap. 

We also did a rough cut of our film and showed it to our class. We then were able to gain feedback from our class mates on how we could improve our film opening. The comments were positive and helped give us a sense of direction to what we wanted and needed to do with our film opening. This is how we addressed our audience by doing a survey and also showing a rough cut of our film opening in order to get a response and some feedback to our idea. 

Evaluation Question 4

Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The type of audience that we believe would watch are film is the younger generation, with a keen interest in Action films. Mainly the younger generation of male audience between the ages of 16-24 years old as they have an original look and their appearance and clothing is very fashionable. The young male audience also are a role model to the younger teens as they have an original and stylish look, therefore the younger teens will want to copy them to keep up to date and in with fashion. This younger audience often have a large group of friends and are not the typical rebellious school boy’s; however they are not the smartest people either. They enjoy playing computer games and perhaps sports and usually shop at clothes shops such as Topman, River Island, Super dry and Jack Jones. They will be into music and will like a variety of genres. They also would like to watch TV programmes such as soaps, and sitcoms. In their spare time this audience likes to watch football and hang around with their mates and take life as it comes.

The reason why this type of person and audience would want to watch our film is because it is Action film and therefore this would appeal to them. The reason why it would appeal to them is because it is a fast paced film so it will keep them intrigued and also due to the intense music it makes the movie flow and builds you up to expect something to happen, so it will keep them on the edge of their seats!

Evaluation Question 3

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

Our Production company name is Lunatic Productions, we decided on this because it was a word which helped to imply our crazy and imaginative ideas. Our logo was created as a counterpart to the name as the two go well together. We looked at other logos on the internet to get some ideas for our own logo.

The production company may be directly responsible for fundraising for the production or may accomplish this through a parent company, partner, or private investor. It handles budgeting, scheduling, scripting, the supply with talent and resources, the organization of staff, the production itself, post production, distribution, and marketing. Production companies are often either owned or under contract with a media conglomerate, film studio, entertainment company, or Motion Picture Company, who act as the production companies partner or parent company.

We have decided that the most suitable production company for our film would be a low budget company. Because of this we have chosen Film4 this is because it supports low budget cost productions like ours, and it is not a major production company. Also we have found out that Film4 develops and co-finances films and is known for working with the most innovative talent in the U.K., whether new or established. This also means that they would fund part of our production we will just have to raise the rest of the money from either another independent film production company; it would then become a co-production. 

As the editors Dom Clarke and Roberto Pinto had the decision of what order to put the titles in, we started off with the name of the cinema company that we created to use specifically for this film opening. Next came our production company name, we decided not to put the log in the title because it wouldn't of gone with the theme we were using, following this came the names of the Editors, closely followed by the main starring cast. As we are only doing a film opening we added in extra names that would be in the full film to make the opening look as good as possible. We ended the opening with the directors name, we got this idea from a lot of other film openings which did the same thing.

If we were going to get money from somewhere to create the full film to 'Mistaken Identity' it would be a small screen production company such as Film4, they are a small production company who mainly air films on their channel made by other production companies, they have made films such as '127 Hours', 'late night shopping' and '24 hour party people'. These films are not the most popular or well know films available, and this is why I believe they are a good choice to provide money for our film. One of the reasons why they are not as well known is because Film4 is a smaller less funded company that would not be able to afford the rights to produce a big Hollywood film.


One film that would be released similar to ours would be 'Open Water'. Based around true events, Open Water is a supremely effective horror film about a couple accidentally left behind on a deep water scuba diving trip. Shot entirely on digital with a well chosen minimalist aesthetic, the film details the chilling simplicity with which the error is made, and how, by not engaging with other people, the couple fatally compound the situation. This is a very low budget film (just as ours would be). You can tell the film has had less money spent on it in a variety of ways, firstly the camera quality is not as good as some higher budgeted films, good cameras are very expensive. Secondly you can tell through the quality of the props. these would be better if there was more money available to improve them. Thirdly and finally the actors are not instantly recognisable, this is because the film did not have the funds to hire big name actors and actresses.

Evaluation Question 2

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Bradley’s character (Steven Graham) is portrayed to be the leader of the drug deal. His boss like image is similar to that of the Godfather. Bradley is shown wearing smart clothing showing his importance, wealth and power, something which is also portrayed in the Godfather. In the film the Godfather, the other characters around him seem intimidated by his powerful nature and presence, something which we have made obvious and incorporated in our film production. This being where Dom who plays (Danny Stevens) gets talked down to and undermined by Brad in the car scene. This therefore shows his dominance. This image we have tried to build up is the stereotypical mafia/gangsta leader role. His glasses which we have decided to include are important as we feel they add mystery and uncertainty to his character. Also the glasses hide his face and make it dark, like in the Godfather he is mostly seen in a dark setting. This could therefore put the viewer on edge. Bradley is also shown as important because he is driving the car, this therefore leaves Dom to do the drug deal, consequently this will keep Bradley out of trouble so he will not be blamed. The Godfather also has people working for him, so he is shown to be powerful because he does not do all his work, like Bradley he also makes Dom do the drug deal. As a result we believe that the role of the Godfather is very similar to the role Bradley plays in our film, so thought these two best matched.

Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

This is the nine frame grab we have produced from our final product. These 9 frames are important to our film and the scenes tell the basic story briefly. Our product challenges the conventions of real media products in many ways. First of all we use titles, we have listed these in a certain order based on our research, which can be recognisable from movies and making our production more professional and presentable. important

The name of our film is 'Mistaken Identity', this is a well thought of name because of the fact that they mistake innocent John Peters as a criminal, who is interrupting their drug deal. Also it works well as they swap packages with their names on, the title pops up just as this happens as if they swap indentities at that point.

We introduce the name of the film later on in the film opening and not right at the beginning this is commonly used by films, we have made sure the title appears at the vital part of the story line, where also the intense music is at its climax. We have tried to only include vital scenes so it is not boring to watch, but everything is important. We end the film opening on a dramatic scene, this makes the audience on-edge and wanting to watch more. It is also some what of a cliff hanger, this also makes the audience want to find out what is going to happen next. It introduces the characters well by the way they act and speak, introducing characters is important in a film opening and we have seen thisused in many of the ones we have analysed, so we felt it was important. By the way John speaks in our film we can tell how he is innocent and normal person, something we wanted to portray. Danny seems mysterious and an edgy character when talking on the phone, this portrays the image of uncertainties we wanted to put across. Steven is seen as a big powerful character, this is shown by his clothing and his demands. Goodwin's theory applied to action movies, the link between the music and the visual is complimentary. Less of a narrative and more of implications our video has clear action like visuals, with clear and edgy font for the titles as shown in the first screen in the 9 frame. As the music makes loud bangs the titles changes as the beat building up the titles and action that they may well expect.

Music playing throughout sets the genre for our film with the upbeat loud sounds, building up suspense, establishing the genre early for a film is important and allows the audience to tell the genre before the film begins, we thought the genre was very important to put across and make as clear as possible.

The camera action used is those properley used in a usual fim opening, swapping from many different types of shots, keeping it enjoyable to watcha nd keeping it fast and upbeat with the intense music.

The close-ups and match on actions, make the scenes short and snappy and reveal close deatils we wanted to put across, e.g. the phone in the office. The type of phone shows its setting andallows the viewer to put together what they think is happening. The close-up in the 8th frame is one of our preffered shots, we think this is a scary and an image of the balaclava is a representitive of the criminal image.

All of these come under the codes and conevntions of a film opening, the clothing is symbolic of the characters we want to put across, the suits, represnting office wear. The dark clothing representing the criminality. This is imporatnt as it allows the audience to determine to image of the charcater we want them too.

My Thoughts On The Equipment

As we have only had access to basic school cameras and editing software we are obviously limited with what we can do to make our film opening look as good as possible. however I do feel that the software and equipment has done its done quite well. Everything has been running smoothly and we haven't faced any mayor problems.

9 Frame of Our Film Opening

This is a compilation of 9 frames from our film opening to show the storyline throughout the short opening.

Final Film Opening

This is the final version of our film opening, we have spent a lot of time trying to get this short video perfectly as we want it. The video is about a mix up of parcels at a work place, when the drug lord realizes the parcels have accidentally been switched him and his apprentice set our to kidnap the other employee as they believe that he is working for someone and switched the packages on purpose.

AS Film Opening Editing

This is how our editing looks so far, we have nearly finished it all, there are just a few tweaks left to add. we have decided to use a theme of titles to bulk the opening up, as it is only a opening to a film we have added other peoples names so it looks like there are more than just the three people starring in the entire film. the software we are using is called Adobe Premier Pro. For our AS work it has worked quite well as we have only been using simple shots so that its not too complicated to edit and make look good.

Continuity Errors

This is a prime example of how easily mistakes can be made when making films. There are several clips here when crew members are spotted or props are not where they are supposed to be. All of the following continuity errors are taken from the Harry Potter series. We have made sure when we filmed our film opening that we got everything spot on and there were no massive errors that could be easily noticed.

Film Opening Analysis - Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

This is a short video analysis of the film The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

Action Genre Film Distribution Company

This company could be a possible choice that would fit our genre and would be the best option to distribute our film. 
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.  (CPII) is an American film production and distribution studio. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film studios in the world, a member of the so-called Big Six. It was one of the so-called Little Three among the eight major film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age.
The studio, founded in 1918 as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Joe Brandt, released its first feature film in August 1922. It adopted the Columbia Pictures name in 1924 and went public two years later. The name is derived from "Columbia", a national personification of the United States, which is used as the company's logo.
In its early years a minor player in Hollywood, Columbia began to grow in the late 1920's, spurred by a successful association with director Frank Capra.

Here are a list of films that Columbia production company have distributed over this year alone. they have distributed almost thousands of films over the years starting in 1930.

The Day Of Filming

We have just finished filming all of the shots we need for our AS film opening. Everything has gone smoothly today with no major hiccups, the script came in very useful to memorize before we did the scene. As a group we are all happy with how today has gone and cant wait to edit the footage and get it all finished.

Filming Production Schedule

We plan on filming tomorrow during lesson time and will meet at school.
This is the plan we will follow through out the day, this will save time and keep everything organised. 
We plan on filming everything in one day as most of the scenes are around the same local area and are easy to get to.

Locations:
- Office shot in School classroom; 9am -10:30am
- Car scene near business; 12am - 1:30pm
- Kidnapp scene; 7:30pm  - 8:30pm

Props:

- Office; phones, parcels, drugs
- Car scene; Car, bag, balclava's, gun

- Kidnapp; Balaclavas, car, parcel, bag

Costume:

- Office; work clothes, shirt, tie coat, bag

- Car Scene; suit, sunglasses

- Kidnapp; Balclavas, dark clothes, jackets

Actors/ Actresses:

- Office; Dom as Danny Stevens, Adam as John Peters, Roberto as MailBoy

- Car Scene; Dom as Danny Stevens, Brad as Steve Graham

- Kidnapp; Dom as Danny Stevens, Brad as Steve Graham, Adam as John Peters

Equipment:

Camera, Tripod

Time frame for filming:

1 day

Time frame for editing:

3 days

Email To Olympus House

Here is a print screen of the e-mail which we sent to Olympus house in order to get permission to film on their premises. We are hoping to hear back from them and hope that it will be ok for us to film there. We feel that this location is good for our film opening as it looks very much like a business orientated environment and therefore will make our film opening seem more real. This will provide the correct Mis-en-scene for our video and will portray the jobs which the main characters have. It will also be a good location as it will be where the drug dealers find out that their package is in the wrong hands and as a result they decide to take action, by kidnapping and interrogating John Peter's,(the innocent party) hence our title Mistaken Identity. 

 

 

We also have informed our local police station about the kidnapping and the pretend gun being used; having explained that it is for educational purposes. They swiftly agreed and gave us the heads up to crack on with our filming. They are now alert what is going on and in what locations in case anybody from the public those see and feel threatened in any way.

Post Production

Post production is the term for all stages of production occurring after the actual end of shooting and recording the completed work. Post-production is, in fact, many different processes grouped under one name. These are; video editing, writing, adding visual special effects and sound design/ effects. Post production can take longer than the actual making of the film itself this is because it needs to complete the editing, colour correction and the addition of music and sound. Post production can be seen as second directing because through post production it is possible to change the intention of the film.

Production

The production part in media is the actual making and filming of the film. This is when the film has been given the go ahead and they can get deep into and concentrate purely on filming of the film. However it’s not this simple, there are in fact many different stages of production and different things to consider. It all begins with the producer, he gets everything together and organised, for example the cast, the idea, the development and the crew. Then in order to film the idea and the script must be good! then the package, this is where the screen play needs to be written, need to sort out the budget. Attracting investment this is where the producer meets other producers across the world, this is essential because without the investment the film will not be made. The planning is very important, they should make sure time is kept for the harder and longer scenes when shooting. Also the budget is very important, this is based on the investment and when they have this they need to draw up a financial plan showing how they are going to pay for everything. Above and below the line costs, above the line is the script, screen play, actors, producer, director and below the line is the designers. They also need to consider their audience so they need to consider the location and who will want to see the film. Finally the marketing, this costs more than making the film, they need to find a gap in the market for their film.

What Makes An Action Movie Captivating To You

After asking our class what makes an action movie or any other movie captivating to them, we got these certain words in response. We have made them into a wordle to be presented in a more interesting way. Asking our class benefits us as they are at the particular age of our target audience so we know our research will be solid and reliable.

Convergence

Convergence is the term used to describe how technology has brought together previously separate media channels. For example, a mobile phone and a camera work independently from one another but since early 2000's the two technologies have converged and most mobile phones now include a camera. In the film industry digital recording and distribution methods mean that previously separate forms can be bought together or converged. The digital content produced during film making is compatible with other digital media so can be used on websites or in games. Convergence is just the coming together or merging of two things.

Synergy

Synergy is the process through which media products derived from the same text are promoted in and through each other and throughout the subsidiaries of a media conglomerate. Synergy is closely linked to convergence as the coming together of the separate companies associated with different technologies within a conglomerate allow for synergy to happen. Synergy works on two levels; the main text is promoted using the many subsidiaries of the conglomerate, and the individual products used to advertise the main text are linked to each other.

Horizontal Integration

A horizontal integrated company owns or has shares in lots of different companies and these companies can be used to produce, market and supply products. For example a film can be purchased as a feature at the cinema, rented on DVD, purchased as a download and finally purchased as a DVD.

Taken Film Analysis

This famous action film called Taken was a very successful and well produced film; it is popular because of its constant drama and action. I am going to be analysing its mis-en-scene and the techniques it may use to portray its genre. This will guide us in the right direction as to what we would want to try to incorporate into our film. This is a trailer and not a film opening but still consists of scenes from the movie which include a lot of action and drama. Most of the scenes when action and crimes occur are in a dark and mysterious lighting which makes it more anxious for the viewer as to what will occur. The start is in a brighter light, this is because there is no drama but just innocence from the young girls. The music allows the tension to build up so you know something bad may happen, creating the typical action image. The movie contains a kidnap, this is great for us as we plan on using one in our film opening, the girl witness's a kidnap first and is scared, the men are in dark outfits and we barely see them to add mystery. The girl then gets kidnapped; there is a lot of noise and screaming at this point. We plan on using a kidnap in a similar way; the criminals will be in balaclavas and dark clothes. The music in the background gets intense and adds suspense in certain situations. Also the use of quick snap shots gets used adding pace and drama and keeping the audience on edge. A gun is also used later on in the film this is a key prop piece in most action films, it’s a weapon which shows criminality and action. Fighting occurs throughout; this keeps the film intense and interesting and is stereotypical feature in action films. Overall this film has had massive success, and considering are film opening follows the same lines in certain aspects, it gives us great confidence that we can incorporate good action shots to define our genre and also it will keep our viewers interested and in suspense, this is a great element to action films.

Possible Target Audience

We have done some background research and thinking about what our possible target audience could be. As a result we have tried to build up target audience profile to enable us to know what people would be interested to see our film. We know (as teenagers ourselves) that action films are extremely popular and liked by the younger generation. Action films are very enjoyable and exciting for young people. We believe that an accurate age for our target audience would be between 16 - 24 years of age. The older generation may still be interested in our product and genre, but compared to the younger generation not so much.

Here are some examples of other action films that have been extremely succesful and popular.

Catch Me If You Can film opening analysis

This is the opening title sequence for the film Catch Me If You Can (2002). The film doesn't open with the typical codes and conventions of a normal opening for a Dreamworks film, usually they would of used the half moon with a man fishing off of the end, but instead they have incorporated it into the actual film so that it fits well and doesn't look out of place, the whole clip is done in cartoon form, the big names are listed at the beginning to make sure they are easily noticed. Just from watching the opening sequence you would get the idea that this film is quite relaxed and laid back because of the nature of the opening, calm music, clam and pleasant colors to make the watcher feel comfortable while watching this piece  There is clearly some very good editors behind the work of this clip because all of the cartoon flows well together and  fits perfectly.

The Script

This is part of the scripting for our film opening. It shows who the speaker is and what they are going to say when we film the opening. there is not a massive amount of dialogue in our film opening, there is just enough to let the reader know what is going on. This is now complete and ready to be taken with us when we go out to film.This script will allow us to film easier as we will know what everyone is supposed to say and when to say it.