Woohoo!
Wednesday 25 March 2009
Closing blog
Now we have finally finished our media coursework, I feel that i have gained a lot of experience and knowledge from both the preliminary task and the final thriller project. I was able to gain a lot of of skills and hopefully will have the chance to develop them even more next year in A2 media Studies. I hope next year's project is even more interesting and challenging than this one. My team worked very hard as a group and the final outcomes shows this.
Woohoo!
Woohoo!
Naming our Thriller
As we were about to begin doing the title construction, we realised that we still hadn't chosen a name for our thriller. We all got together and began thinking of possible choices. We wanted something associated with a thrilling atmosphere, yet short and easy to remember. After scraping a lot of names, we decided to go with the titled 'THIRTEEN' or 'THIR13EN' as that number is usually associated with bad luck; the perfect score for a spooking thriller. So, we quickly added this name to the title sequence along with our credited names and roles, and that was that! 
Final Media Evaluation
1.) A ‘convention’ is a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted standards, norms or criteria.
Our media project is presented in a very professional manner, which has been worked on extensively to portray and emulate the sense of a real life film. We have used various tools and software to try to achieve this. My media product challenges the form, of real life thrillers as it highlights the storyline onscreen in a relatively unique way.
For example, instead of having a traditional element of surprise those ‘normal’ thrillers have, our one incorporates the viewpoint of more than one subject. Instead of simply following the protagonist alone, we show the movements, and track the location of the antagonist throughout the entire clip. I also concentrated on the scene transitioning and developed the effect that precise match cutting had on the film. It allowed the video to flow seamlessly, and got rid of the artificial feel that it originally had before we began editing.
As for aspects such as body language within the film, the protagonist is presented in a very professional manner with gives the film an immediate authentic atmosphere. We also had very good lighting in the film, even when there was very little natural light present. In real life Hollywood films, the colour used always seems to be of a high quality glow which often I the distinction between Hollywood films, and standard British ones.
2.) My media product represents its social group using ‘mise-en-scene’ as well as theme. It is set in urban London (Islington), and this made clear by the appearance of streets and buildings in the clip. The actors are also quite young and so it appeals to a younger social group / audience. Derek represents the average 21-year-old that has perhaps just gone into a full-time job. The car that he drives in the clip, a modern Volkswagen Golf model, is an ideal car for individuals around this age. The clothing he wears in the film is of a professional status, however, is worn in a relaxed way which can be considered as a ‘cooler’ way to wear a suit.
3.) An independent cinema studio would likely be the main distributer of our film. I believe this because of the low budget that our film had to start with. As it is not a ‘blockbuster’, we would need to have an affordable distributor in order for our product to be released. However, it is possible that a larger studio could put our film out there, as I am convinced that it would have a large audience turnout. It would also be ideally a very popular one, as we want it to be able to attract people and increase profits or funding.
4.) The target audience for my media product would generally be younger people, perhaps between the ages of 15 and 30. I have chosen these ages because although younger people outside of this age range tend to go to the cinema often, our thriller contains aspects of violence and so would not be suitable for minors. Also, it has an action element to it which is a genre often favoured by younger people as opposed to perhaps 45 year olds. There is no gender preference in my target audience; males and females are equally targeted. However, it is slightly aimed towards urban residents as we feel they will be easier to relate to because of the nature of our film. In addition, English-speaking people would be a more predominant audience. All social economic backgrounds are an audience for this thriller as there is no preference.
5.) In terms of attracting and addressing an audience, this will be done through the promotion process. Media outlets such as television commercials and billboard will be amongst the most valued promotion portals used. Although expensive, TV adverts promoting the film will be run at times of the day when we believe we will have a larger viewing audience, such as later of the day i.e. 8pm. I do not feel that it would make sense to run our adverts at very early times of the day, as most people will still be asleep.
On the other hand, billboards in popular areas such as gyms, libraries and outside clubs would likely attract more people than if they were located at less popular zones such as museums and galleries. We will also use larger banners on the sides of buses to promote and attract our audience, as public transport is the most popular mode of transport within our audience. We could also use other companies to promote our film such as ‘Coca Cola’ for instance. This could be in the form of our film being advertised on the sides of coke bottles, giving people the opportunity to win tickets to the screening of our film.
Finally, the internet can be used as an attraction method. Many younger people use the internet for various reasons; from shopping to instant messaging. We could use popular websites accessed by million of people daily, to get the idea of our film around very quickly.
6.) Concerning the technological aspect of media, I have learnt about just how big a part technology plays in the development as well as planning of film in the 21st century. The tools of production used to create filming utensils, materials and even editing processes have allowed films to consist of higher quality products with less effort than perhaps in the past. It also means that non-professionals can get together and create a realistic product without having experts around as guidance. We as students are obviously not fully skilled nor experienced in the filmmaking industry, but media programs such as ‘Final Cut Pro’ and ‘Soundtrack’ aided us in the production of our coursework. The interfaces of these programs were relatively straightforward, and we were able to construct our product after filming quiet easily. The editing process was based solely around technology as it allowed us to trim, cut and paste different recorded events in the order of our choice. For example, we may have filmed two different shots several weeks apart, but on screen, editing technology allows it to flow as one naturally shot without any time apart.
‘Livetype’ was a program that we also used in the making of our thriller. It was used to create the credits and title in the film. Nevertheless, it was also a program that I did not personally use often; perhaps once or twice. Therefore, I was not able to grasp the full hang of it as someone such as Eni had. This was a part o the editing that I did not really understand in terms of constructing a title and making it look professional.
As for blogging, technology such as the internet and web group forums allows us media users to share our experiences and diary accounts in an online database. We can also attach and compare our films with one another very easily.
Although I naturally prefer Windows systems as opposed to Apple Macs, I found the Apple Mac computers in college much easier to use than the ones I had used in the past. I thought I would have an issue with the sensitivity of the computers, but to my delight, they were fine. There were also some functions on Apple Macs that are impossible to utilise on Windows systems.
7.) In comparison to my preliminary task, the newspaper video, I have learnt a great deal about the importance of planning required to produce a full project of high quality. In the first project, we did not have so much time to plan, so our project was more or less a project that was made up of scenes that were recorded on the first take, apart from a few shots required for the match cutting. Organisation was also a major issue as specific roles were not directly appointed in the preliminary task, and it was more of an improvisation when allocating roles and tasks. However, in our thriller video task, we were generally more organized in terms of our progress schedule, role allocation and timing.
In terms of research, during our first project, we hadn’t watched many professional blockbusters that could aid us with our film in terms of camera techniques and the effects they produce. It was only in between that we actually started to properly analyse the various shots and camera angles in films such as Mission Impossible and Collateral. This allowed us to applied better camera work towards our thriller as we had something physical to compare with.
As for editing, I found editing in the preliminary task easier than in the thriller task, perhaps because the latter was a lot more complex than the initial one. However, this is not a complaint as I saw the thriller as a more challenging feat in which I could try and utilize the skills I had learnt in lessons. There were better angels and shots to manipulate in the final task, which was pleasing as it brought out the vast effects that different camera angles could have on a film. In the first task, there wasn’t much match cutting involved. It was more of the camera panning and scaling on the screen to pick up different actions from various angels.
Filming was also a lot more fun in comparison to the first task. Due to the fact that the first task did not really involve leaving the college premises, it seemed more ‘typical’ making a film in an environment that we are in everyday. However, when we were making our thriller, we were able to take trips to various locations and try different things out, to see what would best suit the intended atmosphere on-screen.
Finally, a key element I learnt was the importance of teamwork. Being able to communicate and agree on decisions with team members was a key reason as to why we were able to finish on time, and two a high quality, regardless of the fact that there was a brief rush in the closing hours of the deadline. Work delegation was slightly an issue as I felt that certain members were more hard-working than others, but as long s we managed to involved everyone in the project at some point, was what I felt was most important above all things.
Our media project is presented in a very professional manner, which has been worked on extensively to portray and emulate the sense of a real life film. We have used various tools and software to try to achieve this. My media product challenges the form, of real life thrillers as it highlights the storyline onscreen in a relatively unique way.
For example, instead of having a traditional element of surprise those ‘normal’ thrillers have, our one incorporates the viewpoint of more than one subject. Instead of simply following the protagonist alone, we show the movements, and track the location of the antagonist throughout the entire clip. I also concentrated on the scene transitioning and developed the effect that precise match cutting had on the film. It allowed the video to flow seamlessly, and got rid of the artificial feel that it originally had before we began editing.
As for aspects such as body language within the film, the protagonist is presented in a very professional manner with gives the film an immediate authentic atmosphere. We also had very good lighting in the film, even when there was very little natural light present. In real life Hollywood films, the colour used always seems to be of a high quality glow which often I the distinction between Hollywood films, and standard British ones.
2.) My media product represents its social group using ‘mise-en-scene’ as well as theme. It is set in urban London (Islington), and this made clear by the appearance of streets and buildings in the clip. The actors are also quite young and so it appeals to a younger social group / audience. Derek represents the average 21-year-old that has perhaps just gone into a full-time job. The car that he drives in the clip, a modern Volkswagen Golf model, is an ideal car for individuals around this age. The clothing he wears in the film is of a professional status, however, is worn in a relaxed way which can be considered as a ‘cooler’ way to wear a suit.
3.) An independent cinema studio would likely be the main distributer of our film. I believe this because of the low budget that our film had to start with. As it is not a ‘blockbuster’, we would need to have an affordable distributor in order for our product to be released. However, it is possible that a larger studio could put our film out there, as I am convinced that it would have a large audience turnout. It would also be ideally a very popular one, as we want it to be able to attract people and increase profits or funding.
4.) The target audience for my media product would generally be younger people, perhaps between the ages of 15 and 30. I have chosen these ages because although younger people outside of this age range tend to go to the cinema often, our thriller contains aspects of violence and so would not be suitable for minors. Also, it has an action element to it which is a genre often favoured by younger people as opposed to perhaps 45 year olds. There is no gender preference in my target audience; males and females are equally targeted. However, it is slightly aimed towards urban residents as we feel they will be easier to relate to because of the nature of our film. In addition, English-speaking people would be a more predominant audience. All social economic backgrounds are an audience for this thriller as there is no preference.
5.) In terms of attracting and addressing an audience, this will be done through the promotion process. Media outlets such as television commercials and billboard will be amongst the most valued promotion portals used. Although expensive, TV adverts promoting the film will be run at times of the day when we believe we will have a larger viewing audience, such as later of the day i.e. 8pm. I do not feel that it would make sense to run our adverts at very early times of the day, as most people will still be asleep.
On the other hand, billboards in popular areas such as gyms, libraries and outside clubs would likely attract more people than if they were located at less popular zones such as museums and galleries. We will also use larger banners on the sides of buses to promote and attract our audience, as public transport is the most popular mode of transport within our audience. We could also use other companies to promote our film such as ‘Coca Cola’ for instance. This could be in the form of our film being advertised on the sides of coke bottles, giving people the opportunity to win tickets to the screening of our film.
Finally, the internet can be used as an attraction method. Many younger people use the internet for various reasons; from shopping to instant messaging. We could use popular websites accessed by million of people daily, to get the idea of our film around very quickly.
6.) Concerning the technological aspect of media, I have learnt about just how big a part technology plays in the development as well as planning of film in the 21st century. The tools of production used to create filming utensils, materials and even editing processes have allowed films to consist of higher quality products with less effort than perhaps in the past. It also means that non-professionals can get together and create a realistic product without having experts around as guidance. We as students are obviously not fully skilled nor experienced in the filmmaking industry, but media programs such as ‘Final Cut Pro’ and ‘Soundtrack’ aided us in the production of our coursework. The interfaces of these programs were relatively straightforward, and we were able to construct our product after filming quiet easily. The editing process was based solely around technology as it allowed us to trim, cut and paste different recorded events in the order of our choice. For example, we may have filmed two different shots several weeks apart, but on screen, editing technology allows it to flow as one naturally shot without any time apart.
‘Livetype’ was a program that we also used in the making of our thriller. It was used to create the credits and title in the film. Nevertheless, it was also a program that I did not personally use often; perhaps once or twice. Therefore, I was not able to grasp the full hang of it as someone such as Eni had. This was a part o the editing that I did not really understand in terms of constructing a title and making it look professional.
As for blogging, technology such as the internet and web group forums allows us media users to share our experiences and diary accounts in an online database. We can also attach and compare our films with one another very easily.
Although I naturally prefer Windows systems as opposed to Apple Macs, I found the Apple Mac computers in college much easier to use than the ones I had used in the past. I thought I would have an issue with the sensitivity of the computers, but to my delight, they were fine. There were also some functions on Apple Macs that are impossible to utilise on Windows systems.
7.) In comparison to my preliminary task, the newspaper video, I have learnt a great deal about the importance of planning required to produce a full project of high quality. In the first project, we did not have so much time to plan, so our project was more or less a project that was made up of scenes that were recorded on the first take, apart from a few shots required for the match cutting. Organisation was also a major issue as specific roles were not directly appointed in the preliminary task, and it was more of an improvisation when allocating roles and tasks. However, in our thriller video task, we were generally more organized in terms of our progress schedule, role allocation and timing.
In terms of research, during our first project, we hadn’t watched many professional blockbusters that could aid us with our film in terms of camera techniques and the effects they produce. It was only in between that we actually started to properly analyse the various shots and camera angles in films such as Mission Impossible and Collateral. This allowed us to applied better camera work towards our thriller as we had something physical to compare with.
As for editing, I found editing in the preliminary task easier than in the thriller task, perhaps because the latter was a lot more complex than the initial one. However, this is not a complaint as I saw the thriller as a more challenging feat in which I could try and utilize the skills I had learnt in lessons. There were better angels and shots to manipulate in the final task, which was pleasing as it brought out the vast effects that different camera angles could have on a film. In the first task, there wasn’t much match cutting involved. It was more of the camera panning and scaling on the screen to pick up different actions from various angels.
Filming was also a lot more fun in comparison to the first task. Due to the fact that the first task did not really involve leaving the college premises, it seemed more ‘typical’ making a film in an environment that we are in everyday. However, when we were making our thriller, we were able to take trips to various locations and try different things out, to see what would best suit the intended atmosphere on-screen.
Finally, a key element I learnt was the importance of teamwork. Being able to communicate and agree on decisions with team members was a key reason as to why we were able to finish on time, and two a high quality, regardless of the fact that there was a brief rush in the closing hours of the deadline. Work delegation was slightly an issue as I felt that certain members were more hard-working than others, but as long s we managed to involved everyone in the project at some point, was what I felt was most important above all things.
Monday 23 March 2009
Thriller Evaluation
My media Thriller project uses and develops the forms of thriller conventions of a real media product, this is mainly because of the way me and my group have prepared the thriller. Such as the opening scene and the props and other little things that makes our thriller opening is the main suspense created in the beginning of the thriller this is what I reckon keeps the audience engaged. This is normally because they get a little sample of what is to come during the film this is the main advantage of the title sequence because it can determine whether the audience wants to hang around and watch the rest of the film or if they want to give up. The opening sequence of a film can determine if the audience wants to still be involved in the watching the rest of the film, because if they see what they like in the first sequence, then they are going to be wanting to see what else the film has got to offer. Which is why we applied this to our sequence by having a murder straight away this keeps the audience guessing, why the person has been murdered, we let you see that there is a killer in the house and he is up to no good, because they are hiding and sneaking around and the unveiling of a knife at the end of the sequence also gives the audience know that what is about to happen is not going to be good. These skills we adopted from Alfred Hitchcock and this is what is going to keep the audience engaged in watching the whole film.
My media product does not represent a social group, because it being quite a neutral film with a standard storyline you don’t have to really relate to it, because you may have already come across something similar before. Also it is not set in a certain country and the actors don’t come from the same ethnic background such as in bollywood films. The age group for my film would be the more young daring audience that are up for being frightened and scared between the ages of about 18 till early 30’s. An identifiable trait for my film would be that it is a thriller so the social groups it would attract to watch it would be for people that enjoy films with a lot of gore and murders etc, and like watching films with murders and everything else like that.
The kind of Media Institution that would distribute my film would be an production company like 20th century fox but towards the more lower end of there chain. I picked them because they produce more realistic films with no over the top stunts, they basically produce films that are more believable, such as the film “Taken (2008)” what makes this film so good and popular with me is that it is believable and everything done by the main character is all humanly possible.
Which is why I think my film deserves to be put alongside 20th century fox production line. My movie would be London Based blockbuster set in England, a bit like a James Bond Film, but without the backing of the famous actors, it will have all of the same characteristics, e.g. a detective, investigator with a bit of twist. It would be distributed all around England, And possibly certain parts of Europe where there is popularity with British James Bond Like films that have a very similar story line, and have the same props but less action scenes, because Bond films have opened up the door globally it could also prove to be successful if it was pushed in small cinemas maybe in the States. My Clips would not fit in any other category because it costs in its Hundred of thousands to make my movie, and the media production company 20th century fox are good at giving films the promotion they need for films to be a good hit in the cinemas, even if it is a small movie, with little recognition which is why I want them to back my film and produce it.
The audience for my project would for people that enjoy thrillers, that contain a lot of gore and murders. It would be for the more teenage generation up to the age of about 30 years old, it would not be for a particular market or for certain people this is because if you enjoy that type of genre you will enjoy my film, it is made for a particular gender but because of what it contains some females may not to be too fond off it. Because of that particular reason I am going to see that it is more of a film for the male gender, but it can be enjoyed by females also that may really like that, my film will be quite a good hit because it has quite neutral storyline, such as murders, investigation, detectives etc.... this is why I think it is a mainstream and not a niche targeted market. The film is for aspirers who are more willing to wait for the concept, and the twists of the film this has been done deliberately so that it is really engaging for the audience not too predictable which may lose interest of some viewers. A typical person that may be drawn in by a film like this would be someone like Dave, aged 20 who works in a hi-fi store, loves gaming and going out paintballing and drinking, and loves watching films.
I would attract my audience by promotions such as having big billboards in west end, by the big cinemas in Leicester square, i would also have posters on the side of the buses of the main character just like how “Jonny English” was promoted, i will also have a minute preview on the TV that gives the audience a taster of what the film is about, and should also have them wanting to see much more of it. I would run competitions where you can win goodies such as tickets, and passes to the premiere meet the star actors of the film. I would also run a promotion with a fast food company like McDonalds and give away free movie related items this way as well as cinema tickets. These promotions will get the film acknowledgement from the younger college going generation. The lead star in the role of my movie will be Ashley Walters, who starred in bullet boy, this will attract also the fans of Ashley that enjoy his acting, and maybe even some more fans from his other films from different genres. This is another way the film will be noticed in different ways even if the people are not interested, it will be noticed just because of the actor playing the lead role. The final place I would advertise
my film would be on the internet with loads of advertisement, but even more specifically over most of the social networking websites such as face book and MySpace. This will be seen all over the world even it is not available for show in your country you will see it advertised because of how powerful and global the internet is, this will be the main source of where the audience will research the facts about the film and where it will be noticed the most out of all the different types of ads.
I have learnt that technologies play a big role in the movie industry, it can change the look of a whole scene, because with the help of technology there is software such as Final Cut Pro. This programme and similar can enable you to film in a normal environment and then put it on the computer and then manipulate the image, to whatever you fancy such as having a bright effect, or a dark dangerous red effect on the screen. After you have finish filming you can also add additional sound to the clip to make it as effective as you want it. Technology when filming is used but the only with the camcorder, as this is the only technological device when filming. Another bit of technology we have used and has assisted us throughout our filming is the internet specifically www.blogger.com , this has helped because we have uploaded our clips and also blogged every lesson, on this website this is what we keep as a diary on each stage of our filming.
Looking back at the sample task we done, compared to the final thriller sequence, because of the practice of the match cut exercise, we was able to apply this to our sequence to make that much more professional and effective. I have learned that the film making process is a very time consuming business, and the films can sometimes take up to a whole year to do the filming alone and get all the right shots etc.
I have also learned that you cannot just wake up and have a camera and make a film of the top of your imagination, you will need a storyboard to go off on, so that you can do some planning and have a sense of direction for your filming, and so that you can also refer to when you’re doing your editing because you will have drawn up how you will want to visualize certain scenes. This is why storyboards are used and they are so very effective, the postproduction is the most important part of the whole making the title sequence process because if this is not done properly or correctly it will make the whole Title Sequence Look amateur and really poorly produced, which is why time is taken with movies and they take such a long time for them to be made.
Marketing i am going to market my clip by having merchandise made for the movie, such as cups, clothing pens etc... I will also market my film, by using it in promotion with other things such as maybe a vehicle promotion for a new range of a certain brand of vehicles. A different source of marketing would also be that the main character or any of the surrounding characters will be wearing a certain brand of clothing to promote it. Throughout my film there will be various marketing promotions used, and this is done to promote the brand and also the film itself to gain acknowledgment from the viewers.
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