Evaluation activity 5

Q5: How did you attract/address your audience?

Here is a picture of a standard target audeince member. They would be 16 years of age and above because they have tastes in crime films rated 15+. They are likely to have tastes in thrilling films which offer twists and make you think. The crime genre comes under that. They are likely to shop in medium to high price shops which offer a range of products. They visit so cinema regularly to see new films, especially crime films so without a doubt they have a good income to be able to afford this. The music they would listen to could be anything from heavy metal to pop but obviously something mature ie not kids music like the wheels on the bus or Justin Bieber. Their favourite TV programme would be something within the crime series so spooks, Sherlock, ashes to ashes ect.

They would watch our film because it contains characters, story and setting that they would find interesting based on the other detective crime films they have seen in the past. Our film has conventions that are typically found in a detective crime film but we have made the characters strange eg Detective Sullivan so the target audience will be more concerned and interested. based on the research my team member Josh Mugridge did we found that with films rated 15 and 18 weapons, swearing and violence is allowed which are a strong part of crime films so for our film we have aimed for 18 because there are some extremely violent scenes as shown in our synopsis.

Evaluation activity 7

Q7: looking back at your preliminary task , what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

We have learnt to use the match on action technique in our preliminary task to a basic standard with chay opening the door.

In our opening sequence we used the match on action as well with Harold climbing over the fence to hide inside the dumpster.

Here we used the same technique but to a better standard because this match on action looks much more fluid and keeps the flow of the film smooth. We made Pablo jump over the fence once then we filmed it from inside the dumpster area telling him to climb over in the same way. 

Here we used the shot looking up at detective Sullivan giving a first person perspective from Harold's view. To film this Josh got inside the dumpster and knocked to give Sam the heads up to start lifting the dumpster and say his line 'what have we here?'

 

Here we have used a close up of Chay struggling to open the door to emphasise how much strength he is putting into getting it open.

Here we have a close up of detective Sullivan inspecting the knife with his old fashioned magnifying glass. This shot is useful at first because we dont know know who detective Sullivan is because he identity is blocked out of the shot. We do however see that this Detective certainly uses strange methods on inspecting especially in the modern day.

Evaluation activity 6

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

During the filming process we learned to use technologies like video cameras to film our opening sequence as well as tripods to make the shot stable. The video cameras and tripods are issued by the school and given to us to film on and off site.

After we finished filming we used the imacs to edit the film with imovie software. The mac has a reasonable processing speed so i managed to get on with my work at a good pace and its fairly easy to use for new users. Imovie allowed me to select the desired clips I wanted to use so I could put them in the sequence we planed before in the storyboards. Imovie also allowed us to add in special effects and titles to our film which took less than a hour. Other technologies include blogger where i publish my work and youtube where my other group member posted videos related to crime.

For the film I created mysterious detective music in garageband which is a music creating software installed and built into the macs. For the chase music I obtained it from royalty free http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/ which is a website distributing free music for anyone to use for any purpose. There are absolutely no copyright issues involved.

To publish all of the work we completed we used blogger which allows us to use a range of multimedia features such as posting in images, videos and voice recordings.

After we conducting our research in the sixth form centre we found out what people commonly preferred  in a crime film. As a result we found that detective crime was most popular and we found other results as well. So to display our findings we used survey monkey to show our research results. This is illustrated through different diagrams such as pie charts to simplify peoples views on crime films.

Evaluation activity 4

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




Based on the standard age ratings of crime films being 15 to 18 our ideal target audience would be young adults so preferably late teens. They would have tastes in seeing thrilling crime films which is likely to make them interested in horror and adventure films as well. They would shop at middle to upper class shops based on the fact that they can afford to buy crime films on dvd or blu ray and go to the cinema regularly to see them. There is no specific music our ideal target audience would listen as its pretty much open. Obviously they arent going to be into childrens tv music but anything reasonably mature enough.

They are likely to watch tv programmes like CSI or spooks which is all based on crime and detective work. Maybe the short TV series sherlock which was very similar to the synopsis of our film. They would want to watch our film because it contains many of the same conventions of crime tv and film they have seen before so they would feel comfortable watching something they are famaliar with. The film certificate we aimed for our film is 18 because it contains some extremely violent scenes which is normal for interesting crime films.

Evaluation activity 3

Q3: What kind of media institutuion might distribute your media product and why?

The opening sequence we have created is to a amatuer standard with basic video editing software so its likely to be shown at film festival. Because we my group that created the film are students its likely to be shown at film lab festival which is dedicated to distributing films like ours to a small audience. http://www.filmlabfestival.co.uk/home.html

If our film was completely finished then we may have a chance of it being distributed in a independant cinema.     

http://www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/

Popular detective crime films that have been shown in cinemas are most commonly the sherlock holmes films. The second one is due for release this fall and is receiving lots of attention from audiences who enjoyed the first one.

Realistically our complete film wouldnt be made to a professional standard like the sherlock holmes films so its likely to be shown at film festivals then maybe at independant cinemas.

Evaluation activity 2

Q2 : how does your media product represent particular social groups?


Here is the protagonist of corruption. Detective Sullivan who uses strange yet effective methods of dealing with the gang crime that is happening during the film.




I have decided to compare Detective Sullivan with Sherlock Holmes played by Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes (2009) brings to life the wit and intelligence of the character showing audiences he is very skilled in detective work. One of the similarities between the two characters is they dress similarly eg the long black coat, the old fashioned hat and mysterious gestures. But detective Sullivan dresses like this in the modern day where as it was normal of men to wear clothes like Sherlock wears during victorian times. So detective Sullivan is definitely out of his time. Detective Sullivan is much more silent than Holmes and only makes the smart subtle comment when he feels like it where as Sherlock openly analyses people and states the truth about them which sometimes gets him into trouble.

They are both detectives that feel free to take matters into their own hands. This shows they have the nerve to independently inspect certain crime scenes without authorisation from the police force. They feel they need the evidence unspoilt and unseen by anyone other than themselves so the case is easier and more likely to be solved. But in the way they act Sherlock Holmes does prove himself to be heterosexual as he comes across one woman which he finds particularly interesting (Irene Adler). Where as Detective Sullivan takes no interest in the opposite sex to showing he has no weakness to seduction. It also shows he is quite camp in the way he acts and how his voice is but he is definatly not open to being gay as he doesnt take interest to men throughout the entire film.




There are other characters in corruption as well such as the gang members representing the jab (lower class gang) and the royals (upper class gang). Here i will be comparing the hooligans from green street (2005) with the jab in our film.

As you can see they tend to loiter in poor urban areas in groups of at least 3 looking for a fight as well as looking like a threat. They have the same sort of dress code wearing typically cheap sportswear that cover most of their bodies. Both gangs give smug looks like they want to cause some trouble giving the impression they arent the most cheerful bunch.  They tend to go out to the pub for a drink so they get a confidence boost from alcohol to start a fight thinking they are going to win. In terms of differences the jab wear hoodies with hoods up so you cant completely see their facial appearance showing they prefer to hide their identity. Where as the hooligans in green street dont have much to cover up their head so their identity is much more exposed.

Evaluation activity 1

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

In this part i shall analyse 9 stills from our group opening scene to our detective crime film as well as talk about possible conventions associated with those stills.

this is a still of our title to out film corruption. We decided to use that title because its related to the character of detective Sullivan who is corrupt himself. His corruption is shown because he decides to do his own independant detective work on a abondoned school site without authorisation from the police.



This still shows the setting of our opening sequence which is a abondoned school that has become a hotspot for criminal gang activity. As you can see there is a gang chase going on in the still below which is a convention of the crime genre



In the still shown below the costume and props are shown. The costume for the jab who are the gang on the left is budget hoodies which helps conceal their identity. Where as the gang member on the right ,Harold,  is wearing more upper class posh clothes like the knitted jumper and designer white trousers giving the impression there is a clear rivalry between them. The convention of gang rivalry is clearly shown and supported by the knife prop one of the jab members is pulling out of his pocket.



This still shows the variety of camerawork we used. For this shot we required Josh Mugridge to get inside the dumpster and film from Harold's perspective looking up at detective Sullivan. This low angle shot makes Detective sullivan appear far more dominant and intimidating to the audience showing hes not a man to be messed with.



The still shown below is again the title of our film but now i will be focusing more on the title font and style. The font colour is red which has connotations of anger, blood and death. I blended this with the pure black background which also has connotations of death,mystery and generally the unknown. The font style is a scrathed and damaged one making it seem like the idea of corruption is unsafe and dangerous.



The still below shows Harold who is a single gang member representing the royals walking to the meeting place in the abandoned school which has become a hotspot for criminal activity. This gives the audience a idea that this film is going to be based around crime because Harold is acting nervously inside the isolated setting.



The still below shows Harold the upper class gang member hitting the knife out of Gaz's hand. The knife prop and the clear rivalry between the two gang members are conventions of the crime genre supported by the urban setting.



The character the opening sequence is most focused on is detective Sullivan who is the protagonist of the corruption. We have him wearing a long black coat with gloves and a old fashioned hat giving the idea that he is certainly a odd detective with different ways of inspecting the crime as can be shown by his magnifying glass. There is a mysterious blues rhythm type music that plays when we see his face for the first time supporting the idea that he is very unusual.



Here is a still of the transition special effect we used to portray flashfowards and flashbacks. Along with the white flash transition effect i managed to use a special sound effect which gives a sense of a change or shift in time.



A film which can be easily compared to this is Sherlock Holmes (2009) which has very similiar conventions. They both have fast paced action with the criminals as well as silent and subtle scenes during the detectives inspection. The setting is Urban in both films but corruption focuses more on the adondoned school and modern city settings where as Sherlock holmes focuses on victorian London.

Signs and signifiers from psycho

The famous shower scene from psycho to the audience shows the completely innocent women get murdered by a mysterious figure. The icons stills emphasise many things like her innocence and the mysterious evil murderer.

 This image shows the innocent 'pure' looking women in the shower expressing her happiness as she enjoys the warm shower. Her surroundings are bright and white and possibly signifies something dark will intrude considering this is a horror film.

This image shows the women in her private shower being watched by some dark figure representing evil. This dark figure is intruding her space and makes her look vulnerable because she is completely unaware that this person is there.

In my opinion this is the most frightening image from psycho because you can clearly see the dark figure with the knife representing the innocent womans doom. If you look closely you can see the persons eyes as their only facial feature which is mysterious as well as scary. The knife is frightening because its held in a way like its about to be thrusted towards something and obviously in this scenario its being thrusted towards her.

This image shows the womans hand in struggle trying to grab onto the wall as a measure of last resort. It emphasises how weak the woman now is because she has been stabbed and she has nothing to grab onto because her strength has been drained.

This in my opinion is the most iconic image from this scene because it literally shows blood and water going down the drain. But there is a hidden connotation of her life being washed away going into a unfamiliar dark hole. The drain can be seen as entering the afterlife because her life is entering a unknown place.

The intentions of directors of memento and Insomnia

            
Memento                                Insomnia


Christopher Nolan the director of memento had clear intentions to capture the audiences attention in the opening scene of memento. You can see this because there are clear conventions of the thriller genre shown in the opening scene like blood, a handgun and suspenseful music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cifPv4QWTH0&feature=fvst   This is a good opening scene also because its played in reverse giving the audience a idea that the film may not be going in chronological order. Its very different to other opening sequences of thriller films because the opening scene is rarely played backwards.

The audiences attention is straight away captured because many question arise from the opening sequence like why is it being played backwards? Why does the man shoot the other man in the head? When and where is it taking place? and to fufil those questions the audience are likely to continue watching the film and enjoy it.


Christopher Nolan also directed Insomnia which has a different opening sequence but still with similar thriller type conventions.  The audiences attention is again captured but in a different way because in the opening there are two different things being filmed. In one there is a fabric being stained with blood and the other a plane flying through the glacier covered mountains as seen in the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m70eyk6xr3s. The similar conventions found in insomnia that are also found in memento are blood, suspenseful music and bothered characters.

But unlike memento insomnia sets the scene with a spectacular landscape of the exotic arctic setting which makes the film more exciting for the audience. From the opening scene the audience gets the idea that something bad has happened causing someones death hence the blood and the distressed music and characters.

Evaluating the preliminary task

1. As part of a group we were asked to film a short film clip lasting around 1 minute that includes a number of shot types and techniques eg 180 degree rule. We prepared for the task by making sure we had the correct filming equipment eg camera, camera stool ect and making a detailed storyboard to follow by. I made sure the battery life on the camera was above half so we had enough time to shoot the sequences shown on the storyboard .

2. Filming

My role in the filming stage was acting along with Chay whilst Ciaran and Rebecca did the camera work. Firstly we did a shot where chay is walking down the corridor towards the room which establishes out setting.

A close-up shot of chay's hand struggling to open the door. This shot emphasis the strength and effort chay is putting into trying to open the door.

Chay breaking through the door on the outside then use a match on action shot to show chay breaking through on the inside .

We applied the 180 degree rule whilst there was a conversation between Chay and myself because the 180 degree rule is one of the best camera techniques of conversation between characters.

The positioning of me and chay on screen was mostly centred on the screen except for the shot showing me behind the door towards the right of the screen.

3. Editing

I was happy with the final result of the complete edit because we followed the storyboard well and most of the camera techniques used looked fairly professional. But there could of been improvements such as making sure the 180 degree rule was more consistent during the conversation because at one stage it looks like we film going past the 180 degree limit. Also the film goes on for longer than the recommended time set so we could cut the storyboard short and focus more on the camera techniques.

As a group I think we worked well together because me and Chay work well together as actors, Ciaran knows the most about camera work and brings forward ideas on the story board and Rebecca drew detailed drawings on the storyboard giving the group a better idea of what we will be filming.  I feel fine using the camera equipment supplied because I have past experience of working with those types of cameras. I feel fairly confident in using imovie because I know how to do the basics but there is more i need to learn from imovie like capturing screenshots.

Comparison between 28 days later and a american werewolf in London.

Comparison between 28 days later and a american werewolf in London.

 
28 days later                      An american werewolf in london


Location
Both films have similiar setting but at different times in the film. 28 days starts out in a urban environment (london) where as an american werewolf in london starts out in the rural countryside. An american werewolf in london finishes in london as 28 days later finishes in the countryside. They both make the locations look empty and desolate giving the impression that theres no one there to help you.

Character
The characters are very different in the two films. In an american werewolf there are two american men who we get to know fairly well at the start of the film as they have lots of humorous conversation. But in 28 days later the characters are very serious like the animal rights activists and the scientist and their characters dont develop as much. Because the characters in an american werewolf in London are kind and fairly laid back we get the impression that they are the perfect victims of a horror film.

Story
In the story the main threat is similar because its a infection like the rage virus they catch in 28 days later as well as the werewolf virus the one man catches in a american werewolf in London. Both of the viruses seen on both film come from some sort of creature. But the story is also different because 28 days later is primarily a apocalypse horror film where as an american werewolf in London is a thriller horror film. 

the inbetweeners movie

Saturday, 1 October 2011

The inbetweeners movie, institution

The key groups of people involved in the production of the film:

Director
Ben palmer who directed the film is important because he decided how the film looked in front of millions of people in theatres in the UK. He also chose the actors who played the films four main characters in the film and edited the script based on how the script could possibly be improved. He is the driving force of the films creation which ended up being a huge success in the UK with millions of watchers at cinemas.


Producer/executive producers
Christopher young and many other people who produce the film are important because they secure all the necesarry rights, select the screenwriter and story editing team and are in charge of the whole finance.  They controlled the budget of the film which was £3,500,000 which is fairly low considering theres no special effects in the film. This money would of gone towards camera equipment, vehicle usage, marketing ect.

Writers
Damon Beesley and Iain Morris are the brains of the production process as they creathe the whole story of the film. They are mainly involded in pre production so they have time to write the film script before filming begins. The humour and comedy aspect of the inbetweeners movie which made it so succesful is owed to these two writers showing how much of a important stage writing is.

Editing
All of the editing was done by William Webb and Charlie Fawcett who put days of effort into getting all the raw footage filmed in Greece into a final film. These two had to follow the storyboard so the final cut of the film makes sense and works well visually for audiences. The editing process involves making sure the timing of the shots syncs in perfectly with the sound as well as making sure Simon Bird's narration happens during a scene where nothing major to the story is happening.

Studio
The studio that gains the most profit from the success of the inbetweeners movie is film 4 because they posses all the film and sound recording equipment as well as of course the studio. The studio allows the director to film in a made up setting like a hotel room or club as seen in the film which is most likely filmed in the studio. Film 4 at the moment must be pleased with themselves because the amount of profit they are making from the inbetweeners movie with a fairly low budget is amazing.