Friday 28 March 2014
feedback on our final project after the cinema showing.
final project feedback:
I interviewed two students that viewed my film opening at the cinema showing and got there opinion on various aspects of the film opening:
I interviewed two students that viewed my film opening at the cinema showing and got there opinion on various aspects of the film opening:
short interviews on the theme of my film opening and teen movies.
Interviews:
I conducted an interview that showed a student answering the following questions, I believe that through this brief interview I was able to gather a small piece of research on my target audience and reach out to them:
I conducted an interview that showed a student answering the following questions, I believe that through this brief interview I was able to gather a small piece of research on my target audience and reach out to them:
- what do you think of bullying being the main theme of my film opening?
- what do you expect to see in a typical teen movie?
- what do you like to see in teen movies personally?
Thursday 20 March 2014
Evaluation: Audience Feedback
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK
Tuesday 18 March 2014
Evaluation Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Convention:
Convention is a theme that is used frequently in films which allows the target audience to know what to expect within a specific genre of film.
Conventions is used mainly in the title sequence of films mainly to introduce characters, and for the audience to acknowledge the companies and productions behind the film. All films put title sequences in order to show the position of the characters whether they are star actors (Angelina Jolie) or actors that are starting out their career its shows the levels of importance characters, production companies, script writers have in making the movie.
Conventional themes were portrayed well in our film opening as we used different issues based in teen films such as
Our film opening is an independent UK teen drama from this we challenged the conventions of movies by being inspired and basing our teen film on an American movie but also interpreting this and developing our film in order to suit our British audience.
Camera work:
In our film we tried to use as many various shots as possible in order to show the different emotions and feelings of the character the shots that I felt were powerful in our opening that showed the emotion of the character and showed the purpose of our film would be the
Evaluation Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions
When editing our film we made sure that the film was of a well pace as the continuity editing made the film run through. Also in the opening Shannon is shown to have the most screen time as she is the main character as the story is based on her troubled past and new beginning. This interlinks with the convention of teen films as the main character always has the most the screen-time in link with Mean Girls we see the screen-time is shared between Cady and the Plastics.
Mise en scene:
The key props agreed with the conventions of teen films as the props we used such as Make Up,Letter,Mirror School Bag allows us to define the film as being a teen drama as in teen films we see these props used as well as the costume of Shannon and the bullies both wearing uniform set the age of the characters representing them to be teenagers showing binary opposition between Shannon and the bullies compared to teen film where we see that the bullies are always shown to wear uniform but add their own twist to it which defines the character personality.
Sound:
Sound played a massive element in the opening film as our opening was urban so we used urban upbeat music that our target audience could relate to but also we mixed it up with emotional music as we wanted to give off a sad image showing the emotion of the character we also see the scene change between Shannon and the bullies as the music increases as the bullies approach giving off an intimidating feel. From this we use music from sound cloud.
Convention is a theme that is used frequently in films which allows the target audience to know what to expect within a specific genre of film.
Conventions is used mainly in the title sequence of films mainly to introduce characters, and for the audience to acknowledge the companies and productions behind the film. All films put title sequences in order to show the position of the characters whether they are star actors (Angelina Jolie) or actors that are starting out their career its shows the levels of importance characters, production companies, script writers have in making the movie.
Conventional themes were portrayed well in our film opening as we used different issues based in teen films such as
- Bullying
Our film opening is an independent UK teen drama from this we challenged the conventions of movies by being inspired and basing our teen film on an American movie but also interpreting this and developing our film in order to suit our British audience.
Camera work:
In our film we tried to use as many various shots as possible in order to show the different emotions and feelings of the character the shots that I felt were powerful in our opening that showed the emotion of the character and showed the purpose of our film would be the
- Close up of our character which shows the emotion of our protagonist so we feel sympathy for the character
- Extreme Close Up of both bullies where from the shot initially we see the attitude and personality of both characters
- High/Low Angle used when flashbacks were played showing Shannon troubled past of being bullied
- POV shot were we see the story in Shannon eyes as the film opening charts a day in the life of a teen schoolgirl which Shannon is portrayed as
Editing:
When editing our film we made sure that the film was of a well pace as the continuity editing made the film run through. Also in the opening Shannon is shown to have the most screen time as she is the main character as the story is based on her troubled past and new beginning. This interlinks with the convention of teen films as the main character always has the most the screen-time in link with Mean Girls we see the screen-time is shared between Cady and the Plastics.
Mise en scene:
The key props agreed with the conventions of teen films as the props we used such as Make Up,Letter,Mirror School Bag allows us to define the film as being a teen drama as in teen films we see these props used as well as the costume of Shannon and the bullies both wearing uniform set the age of the characters representing them to be teenagers showing binary opposition between Shannon and the bullies compared to teen film where we see that the bullies are always shown to wear uniform but add their own twist to it which defines the character personality.
Sound:
Sound played a massive element in the opening film as our opening was urban so we used urban upbeat music that our target audience could relate to but also we mixed it up with emotional music as we wanted to give off a sad image showing the emotion of the character we also see the scene change between Shannon and the bullies as the music increases as the bullies approach giving off an intimidating feel. From this we use music from sound cloud.
Evaluation Q1) In what ways does your media product use , develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products ?
Conventions:
What is a convention?
A Convention is a type of theme which all teen movies or specific genres movies tend to have . For example , a teen movie , which i have done , has locations such as schools and homes which represents the idea of the specific target audience .
How does convention relate to our opening scene :
When looking at my own opening scene , i realised that such thing as camerawork , editing , mise-en-scene and sound also revealed the conventions of a teen movie as it was specific to our sub-genre of Drama swell .
Camerawork:
When looking at my own scene , as a group before filming our opening scene we discussed the shots we thought would be acceptable to show the emotions and different traits me being the main protagonist , Shannon , we used such shots like POV, Close up , Extreme close Up and high and low angles which is used in teen movie convention as they reveal the emotions and attitudes of characters .
Editing
Using editing such as giving the protagonist more screen time is a convention as it reveals the idea of the one character who runs goes through and experiences most of the themes . in this case of our opening scene the theme of bullying .
Also , the use of continuity editing which made the time span of our opening seem fluid allowed us to represent an day to day action.
Mise-en-scene
The conventions of a teen movie were shown through the use of props such as :
School bag
Book
Lipstick and Mirror
Also the use of the conventional black and white uniform represents the idea of teenagers , these costumes and props also show binary opposition which is conventional in other teen movies , in this the contrasts between the Protagonist who has the school bags and the bullies who use makeup.
Sound
Sound in the sub-genre of Drama is conventional as it matches the tension and action within the film , in this case to keep the idea of a teen and urban landscape using music that the audience were familiar with such an mix between classic and Hiphop instrumental showed the conventions of teenagers who are familiar with the newest trends .
Comparison between our film and real films :
Comparing our film to a real film Fish Tank which was one of our inspiration , we realised that we followed a conventional orders of titles which is similar to Fish Tank by using the distribution company , production company then the title of the movie , however we decided to use the title of our opening scene later on in the opening scene . Also , the use of close ups and more screen time to the protagonist follows conventions if a teen drama as it reveals the emotions of the characters also , it portrays the narrative and themes of what the rest of the film .
Overall , we think that as a group we followed the convention to a certain extent through our use of cinematography and miss en scene . However , as a group we also challenged the conventions by developing them for a british teen audience .
What is a convention?
A Convention is a type of theme which all teen movies or specific genres movies tend to have . For example , a teen movie , which i have done , has locations such as schools and homes which represents the idea of the specific target audience .
How does convention relate to our opening scene :
When looking at my own opening scene , i realised that such thing as camerawork , editing , mise-en-scene and sound also revealed the conventions of a teen movie as it was specific to our sub-genre of Drama swell .
Camerawork:
When looking at my own scene , as a group before filming our opening scene we discussed the shots we thought would be acceptable to show the emotions and different traits me being the main protagonist , Shannon , we used such shots like POV, Close up , Extreme close Up and high and low angles which is used in teen movie convention as they reveal the emotions and attitudes of characters .
Editing
Using editing such as giving the protagonist more screen time is a convention as it reveals the idea of the one character who runs goes through and experiences most of the themes . in this case of our opening scene the theme of bullying .
Also , the use of continuity editing which made the time span of our opening seem fluid allowed us to represent an day to day action.
Mise-en-scene
The conventions of a teen movie were shown through the use of props such as :
School bag
Book
Lipstick and Mirror
Also the use of the conventional black and white uniform represents the idea of teenagers , these costumes and props also show binary opposition which is conventional in other teen movies , in this the contrasts between the Protagonist who has the school bags and the bullies who use makeup.
Sound
Sound in the sub-genre of Drama is conventional as it matches the tension and action within the film , in this case to keep the idea of a teen and urban landscape using music that the audience were familiar with such an mix between classic and Hiphop instrumental showed the conventions of teenagers who are familiar with the newest trends .
Comparison between our film and real films :
Comparing our film to a real film Fish Tank which was one of our inspiration , we realised that we followed a conventional orders of titles which is similar to Fish Tank by using the distribution company , production company then the title of the movie , however we decided to use the title of our opening scene later on in the opening scene . Also , the use of close ups and more screen time to the protagonist follows conventions if a teen drama as it reveals the emotions of the characters also , it portrays the narrative and themes of what the rest of the film .
Overall , we think that as a group we followed the convention to a certain extent through our use of cinematography and miss en scene . However , as a group we also challenged the conventions by developing them for a british teen audience .
Evaluation Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
Who would be the target audience for our film?
Our film opening relates to young adults between the ages the 13-18 years old we used this age range as we felt that the topics discussed would be able to relate to them more as the topics discussed in the film is severe that teenagers and people from society can experience through the years. However from receiving feedback from others they felt that the age limit was restricted as bullying is able to happen in a workforce. I also felt that our movie would associate more with females as our main character Shannon was a girl so the issues brought would relate to girls more but boys can be the target audience also.
Also by choosing this age range it links as we are with in the certain age range so we are able to link and relate to the film so it will be less awkward when acting as we will feel comfortable with roles.
Our unique selling point is our conventional theme of bullying as this is something that will be able to attract all teenagers as it is based on reality rather than fantasy as in many teen films we see that the subjects discussed (Relationships, Partying, Friendships) are all fantasized.
I have looked at audience that would suit my target audience between the ages of 13-18 in doing so I have created a Facebook fan page where I have uploaded a video of some of the shots that were incorporated in our film for people to watch to increase our fan base.
Here I have uploaded a video in which our audience can watch and are able to like and comment whether they enjoyed t or not
Our film opening relates to young adults between the ages the 13-18 years old we used this age range as we felt that the topics discussed would be able to relate to them more as the topics discussed in the film is severe that teenagers and people from society can experience through the years. However from receiving feedback from others they felt that the age limit was restricted as bullying is able to happen in a workforce. I also felt that our movie would associate more with females as our main character Shannon was a girl so the issues brought would relate to girls more but boys can be the target audience also.
Also by choosing this age range it links as we are with in the certain age range so we are able to link and relate to the film so it will be less awkward when acting as we will feel comfortable with roles.
Our unique selling point is our conventional theme of bullying as this is something that will be able to attract all teenagers as it is based on reality rather than fantasy as in many teen films we see that the subjects discussed (Relationships, Partying, Friendships) are all fantasized.
I have looked at audience that would suit my target audience between the ages of 13-18 in doing so I have created a Facebook fan page where I have uploaded a video of some of the shots that were incorporated in our film for people to watch to increase our fan base.
Here I have uploaded a video in which our audience can watch and are able to like and comment whether they enjoyed t or not
Evaluation Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?
How did you attract your target audience?
When looking at other film openings and how they use their genre to attract their target audience we recently interviewed members of the public asking what their thoughts on teen films were and what they would be interesting in watching in a teen film this helps us to think of how we can engage our opening with our audience in order where they can relate and enjoy the film.
Mise en Scene: When filming our opening we thought carefully about what would help the audience to realize the age range of the movie. The use of costume was important in the film as it distinguished that the characters were teenagers as all the characters were shown to be wearing the same uniform which gave an idea that the story line topic was going to be based on school topics which links to our target audience.We also had various props such as school bag, books, letter of acceptance with our character Shannon as on the other hand one of the bullies were shown to have a mirror and lipstick on them which gave off a look that show her personality of looking pretty rather than focusing on school.
Stars/Actors: As our group was a girl group it initially gave of a sense of feminine which would say that our film opening would go towards more of the female side rather than men as by having an all girls group it creates a bond between the characters and the girl target audience watching the film.
Sound: Using an urban sound mixed with emotional music together gave a urban feel to the movie as the music would be familiar with the target audience as most of our target audience would listen to urban modern music.
Film Name/Production Company: Our title being called New Girl told the audience the guideline of what our film is going to be about
Attracting my audience
Facebook
In order to promote our opening I have made a Facebook page where my our film can be promoted in order to watch later once it is published, this will create a fan base for our film where teenagers,and other audiences can go to as Facebook is a international website where it is available for everyone to use so it will be easy for everyone to find.
Vimeo
As for promoting my video we published it onto Vimeo where it can be played for our audience to watch, also being another source of media promoting our film opening.
Videos
Here I have interviewed a friend on her thoughts of the film and what their thoughts and feelings were to watching the film whether they enjoyed it or not and why?
When looking at other film openings and how they use their genre to attract their target audience we recently interviewed members of the public asking what their thoughts on teen films were and what they would be interesting in watching in a teen film this helps us to think of how we can engage our opening with our audience in order where they can relate and enjoy the film.
Mise en Scene: When filming our opening we thought carefully about what would help the audience to realize the age range of the movie. The use of costume was important in the film as it distinguished that the characters were teenagers as all the characters were shown to be wearing the same uniform which gave an idea that the story line topic was going to be based on school topics which links to our target audience.We also had various props such as school bag, books, letter of acceptance with our character Shannon as on the other hand one of the bullies were shown to have a mirror and lipstick on them which gave off a look that show her personality of looking pretty rather than focusing on school.
Stars/Actors: As our group was a girl group it initially gave of a sense of feminine which would say that our film opening would go towards more of the female side rather than men as by having an all girls group it creates a bond between the characters and the girl target audience watching the film.
Sound: Using an urban sound mixed with emotional music together gave a urban feel to the movie as the music would be familiar with the target audience as most of our target audience would listen to urban modern music.
Film Name/Production Company: Our title being called New Girl told the audience the guideline of what our film is going to be about
Attracting my audience
In order to promote our opening I have made a Facebook page where my our film can be promoted in order to watch later once it is published, this will create a fan base for our film where teenagers,and other audiences can go to as Facebook is a international website where it is available for everyone to use so it will be easy for everyone to find.
As for promoting my video we published it onto Vimeo where it can be played for our audience to watch, also being another source of media promoting our film opening.
Videos
Here I have interviewed a friend on her thoughts of the film and what their thoughts and feelings were to watching the film whether they enjoyed it or not and why?
Evaluation Q2) How does your media product represent particular social groups ?
Representation:
To see if my opening scene showed these representations I decided to film some our target audience of 15-18 year old females about our film and what representations we showed .
Representation of Stereotypes
To see if my opening scene showed these representations I decided to film some our target audience of 15-18 year old females about our film and what representations we showed .
Representation of Stereotypes
Evaluation Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task what do I feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
sanaa elhaouzi's Slidely by Slidely Slideshow
Research
When first starting out with our preliminary we learnt about how to use Final Cut Pro in order to help edit our films and how to use the camera in the right way do we didn't end up breaking or damaging them. We did not do any further development of research in this task therefore my skills was halted. Whereas when we came to doing our final opening scene a lot of research was done before filming our shots as it gave us a guideline of what we needed to do once we started filming.
- Camera tutorial was given to us developing our knowledge on 180 degrees rule, Thirds Rule and how to match cut properly and walk out of frame so we can change scenes.
- We also research different teen films watching movies such as Bling Ring, Break Fast Club as well as doing independent research on teen films in general and how we could interpret their conventions into our openings
- We looked at binary oppositions that was used in teen films as well as discussing why they were used
- Interviews members of the public and friends on thoughts and feeling on teen films and what they would like included in teen films this gave us general knowledge of what the public likes so we could adapt it into our film opening
- Titles we made sure that we included titles at the beginning of the film opening also making sure that they were in order following the conventions of teen film
Since doing the prelim to my final opening I had improved massively when researching as we made sure we had lots of research and knowledge of what people enjoy in teen films this gave us a idea of what to include in our teen film openings and how we could better them from our rough cut copy.
Pre Planning
In pre planning we had props such as board, glasses, phone and a ID card to give off a office look as the prelim was based in a hotel, When filming our film opening we got inspiration for other movies and brainstormed them to help us guideline our story we also made sure that props and costume were valued equaling the characters out and representing the binary opposition. From our pitch we gained feedback in how to improve our film before the deadline to make it better this was a good idea as it showed us what else we needed to have. Our pre planning has improved as it was more advanced as we had a storyboard to help give visual aspect of the film so it was less time consuming when filming as we had guidance.
Evaluation Q4) Who would be the audience for your media product ?
Audience
When looking at Teen Movies and what audiences that could potentially watch them , I decided to brainstorm what type of people might watch Teen Movies :
Teens 13-18 year olds
Young Adults 18 +
Students
Both Genders
Teen Movie also all have sub-genre targeted at teenagers and young adults in which the plot is based upon the special interests of teenagers such as coming of age, first love, rebellion, conflict with parents or alienation.
When looking more closely into my opening scene which was the sub-genre of Drama , when considering this I realised that the audience even though targeted at 15-18 years girls who are students , it could also be targeted towards Young adults and elderly adults as our opening scene covers issues such as Bullying and control and authority , also although initially thinking that our opening scene would appeal to girls , as I being the protagonist of Shannon , it could also relate to the males as well due to the emotions and simple mise en scene .
When looking at Our Unique Selling Point for our opening scene , we thought it was our simple idea of using Bullying as a theme for our opening scene , this creating the audience to be able to relate to our narrative also relating to the mise en scene by bring an urban look to our opening scene .
To show what type of person we would expect one of our audiences to be :
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/hanaa.elhaouzi.7?fref=ts
Vimeo : https://vimeo.com/89485184
When looking at Teen Movies and what audiences that could potentially watch them , I decided to brainstorm what type of people might watch Teen Movies :
Teens 13-18 year olds
Young Adults 18 +
Students
Both Genders
Teen Movie also all have sub-genre targeted at teenagers and young adults in which the plot is based upon the special interests of teenagers such as coming of age, first love, rebellion, conflict with parents or alienation.
When looking more closely into my opening scene which was the sub-genre of Drama , when considering this I realised that the audience even though targeted at 15-18 years girls who are students , it could also be targeted towards Young adults and elderly adults as our opening scene covers issues such as Bullying and control and authority , also although initially thinking that our opening scene would appeal to girls , as I being the protagonist of Shannon , it could also relate to the males as well due to the emotions and simple mise en scene .
When looking at Our Unique Selling Point for our opening scene , we thought it was our simple idea of using Bullying as a theme for our opening scene , this creating the audience to be able to relate to our narrative also relating to the mise en scene by bring an urban look to our opening scene .
To show what type of person we would expect one of our audiences to be :
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/hanaa.elhaouzi.7?fref=ts
Vimeo : https://vimeo.com/89485184
Evaluation: Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
what is convention:
sound:
convention refers to something that is widely and commonly used and so therefore it becomes the normality and accepted by people. It also speaks of something that is expected to be included in a certain genre or subject.
Conventions of film openings:
within film opening it is definitely conventional to include a title sequence In order to let the audience know about the actors and various people that helped develop the film. These title sequences follow a certain order because it shows the most Important members and contributors of the production to the least important. this is why the distribution and production companies are always displayed first during opening credits as they are financially the most depended on companies for the film.
Conventions of film openings:
within film opening it is definitely conventional to include a title sequence In order to let the audience know about the actors and various people that helped develop the film. These title sequences follow a certain order because it shows the most Important members and contributors of the production to the least important. this is why the distribution and production companies are always displayed first during opening credits as they are financially the most depended on companies for the film.
How we approached 'convention' in teen dramas as a whole:
As a group we decided to follow convention simply because we felt that it would be the best way to engage our audience, as plenty of people can be un-accepting of change and we wanted our message about bullying to get across as straight forward and easy as possible, and so if we had challenged convention through our film opening there would have been the possibility of the main focus being taken way (bullying). However we did slightly develop convention seeing as we drew inspiration from American movies and suited it to a British teen audience.
sound:
As for sound we used emotional hip hop In order to convey the emotions felt by the main character, it is clear that the music intensifies when the two bullies come into the screen as she is walking to school.
Here is a photomontage I prepared, displaying few examples of the ways I which we followed, developed or challenged convention through different aspects of editing, Mise-en-scene and camera work:
Here is a photomontage I prepared, displaying few examples of the ways I which we followed, developed or challenged convention through different aspects of editing, Mise-en-scene and camera work:
Evaluation Q5) How did you attract/address your audience ?
Attracting our audience :
When thinking about the aspects of my opening scene which appealed to our target audience , to do this I filmed an interview with a member of my target audience asking about the latest's films they have watched.
After interviewing a person from our target audience , it allowed me to see what made teen movies appealing directly to a person , this made me realise some of the things that made our opening scene appealing such as :
Mise En Scene :
Considering the Mise En Scene of my opening scene , the use of costume such as School uniform which all characters had the same , reinforced the idea of a school environment this relating back to our target audience of 15-18 year olds , Also the use of our props such as school bag , books and letter remind the audience of students and school themes , also the idea of it being for girls in shown through showing girls interests such as looking pretty e,g lipstick and mirror .
Actors:
As a group of all girls , this became an advantage to our opening scene as it aloud our target audience to reinforcement of our opening scene been geared towards females , by having females characters this creates a closer attachment with the audience this might be more likely for them to continue to watch the rest of the film.
Storyline :
Our narrative appealed to our target audience as it followed themes such as Bullying which students and those who are aged between 15-18 years may have directly received themselves or is something that they are aware of. Also , we felt the issue of Bullying was a common problem but a simple idea in which people could really feel and see the emotions behind the narrative.
Genre :
The sub-genre of Drama allowed our target audience of young teens to educated themselves about the issues and what bullying can do , also this could lead to them educating others .
Location :
Using a flat and a school also helps the teens to relate as its locations they are familiar with and use regularly , making them more comfortable to the narrative .
Sound:
Using a hip-hop instrumental gave the feel of an urban landscape and coming of age feel , this meaning our target audience were more familiar of what kind of atmosphere we wanted to portray .
Film Name:
Using "New Girl" made it simple for the target audience to get a clear idea of what the themes are going to be about.
Production Company:
Our production company "Urban Motions" gives a modern and young feel to our film , also the literal mention of "urban" shows the young teens that it will represent the present day and urban landscapes.
Rough Cut Feedback
After getting feedback from our rough cut , we realised that more close ups were needed to show the emotions of the characters , also some of our target audience said they would like to see more extreme close up to reveal the emotions and that it would help emphasis the empathy towards .
How are we reaching our audience ?
Facebook
So far as for promoting our film i decided to make a Facebook page promoting our film , as the use of Facebook page can reach a number of people as teens and even young adults are mostly around new technology and use the internet the most, this meaning we can reach our target audience quickly , also the use of media convergence also helps the idea of that Facebook can be used on different sources such as phones tablets and computers.
Vimeo :
On Vimeo is where our opening scene is uploaded on too , this is also a create way to get our target audience to view our opening scene as it can also be viewed on different forms of technology which is a great way of cross media convergence .
I always asks a few of our target audience what they felt about our opening scene :
When thinking about the aspects of my opening scene which appealed to our target audience , to do this I filmed an interview with a member of my target audience asking about the latest's films they have watched.
After interviewing a person from our target audience , it allowed me to see what made teen movies appealing directly to a person , this made me realise some of the things that made our opening scene appealing such as :
Mise En Scene :
Considering the Mise En Scene of my opening scene , the use of costume such as School uniform which all characters had the same , reinforced the idea of a school environment this relating back to our target audience of 15-18 year olds , Also the use of our props such as school bag , books and letter remind the audience of students and school themes , also the idea of it being for girls in shown through showing girls interests such as looking pretty e,g lipstick and mirror .
Actors:
As a group of all girls , this became an advantage to our opening scene as it aloud our target audience to reinforcement of our opening scene been geared towards females , by having females characters this creates a closer attachment with the audience this might be more likely for them to continue to watch the rest of the film.
Storyline :
Our narrative appealed to our target audience as it followed themes such as Bullying which students and those who are aged between 15-18 years may have directly received themselves or is something that they are aware of. Also , we felt the issue of Bullying was a common problem but a simple idea in which people could really feel and see the emotions behind the narrative.
Genre :
The sub-genre of Drama allowed our target audience of young teens to educated themselves about the issues and what bullying can do , also this could lead to them educating others .
Location :
Using a flat and a school also helps the teens to relate as its locations they are familiar with and use regularly , making them more comfortable to the narrative .
Sound:
Using a hip-hop instrumental gave the feel of an urban landscape and coming of age feel , this meaning our target audience were more familiar of what kind of atmosphere we wanted to portray .
Film Name:
Using "New Girl" made it simple for the target audience to get a clear idea of what the themes are going to be about.
Production Company:
Our production company "Urban Motions" gives a modern and young feel to our film , also the literal mention of "urban" shows the young teens that it will represent the present day and urban landscapes.
Rough Cut Feedback
After getting feedback from our rough cut , we realised that more close ups were needed to show the emotions of the characters , also some of our target audience said they would like to see more extreme close up to reveal the emotions and that it would help emphasis the empathy towards .
How are we reaching our audience ?
So far as for promoting our film i decided to make a Facebook page promoting our film , as the use of Facebook page can reach a number of people as teens and even young adults are mostly around new technology and use the internet the most, this meaning we can reach our target audience quickly , also the use of media convergence also helps the idea of that Facebook can be used on different sources such as phones tablets and computers.
Vimeo :
On Vimeo is where our opening scene is uploaded on too , this is also a create way to get our target audience to view our opening scene as it can also be viewed on different forms of technology which is a great way of cross media convergence .
I always asks a few of our target audience what they felt about our opening scene :
Evaluation: Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
HOW WE HAVE REPRESENTED CERTAIN CHARACTERS
what is representation:
Representation is the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way. For example: The way in which a 'cheerleader' is represented is through their pom poms and short skirted uniform.
Ways in which we represented certain characters:
Within the majority of teen movies the portrayal of certain characters are highly stereotypical, for example if the character plays a 'jock' he is dressed in jeans a white t-shirt and a baseball jacket. we tried to achieve the stereotypical look of certain characters in our film opening (the bullies and the victim).
The victim:
In this image we see that the main character
is dressed in a shirt that is a part of her school uniform
this co-relates with the stereotypes amongst this
she i wearing a back pack and carrying school books.
This is very similar to a character playing the victim as
their whole persona is really plain, it could be argued
that they are trying to blend in and not stand out. However in our film opening we challenge the conventional representation of a victims behaviour as they are usually scared to face their bullies, in contrast to this we portray the main character to brave her situation as she still attends the school despite fear of any reassurances and she passes through the two bullies on her way to school.
Here is an image of the victimised character from mean girls, here we see she is wearing an old oversized polo shirt and plain trousers as well as this we notice that her hair is simple. similarly to our main character and as i have mentioned before this is stereotypically this is stereotypically the look taken on by victims of bullying to not draw attention to themselves.
The bullies:
As for this type of character we decided to follow convention and represent them I a negative way through their clothing,for their look as we were able to clearly differentiate the two types of characters we were trying to portray (The bully and the victim). In order to portray this character properly we utilised a beanie and a bomber jacket, this conveys the nonchalant attitude given by characters such as this.
This mans character in the film Kidulthood was a bully, as you can see from his attire he is wearing a hoodie and a lack bomber jacket on top. This look is stereotypically what bullies nowadays dress like as it gives of a 'bad boy' reputation look.
what is representation:
Representation is the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way. For example: The way in which a 'cheerleader' is represented is through their pom poms and short skirted uniform.
Ways in which we represented certain characters:
Within the majority of teen movies the portrayal of certain characters are highly stereotypical, for example if the character plays a 'jock' he is dressed in jeans a white t-shirt and a baseball jacket. we tried to achieve the stereotypical look of certain characters in our film opening (the bullies and the victim).
The victim:
In this image we see that the main character
is dressed in a shirt that is a part of her school uniform
this co-relates with the stereotypes amongst this
she i wearing a back pack and carrying school books.
This is very similar to a character playing the victim as
their whole persona is really plain, it could be argued
that they are trying to blend in and not stand out. However in our film opening we challenge the conventional representation of a victims behaviour as they are usually scared to face their bullies, in contrast to this we portray the main character to brave her situation as she still attends the school despite fear of any reassurances and she passes through the two bullies on her way to school.
Here is an image of the victimised character from mean girls, here we see she is wearing an old oversized polo shirt and plain trousers as well as this we notice that her hair is simple. similarly to our main character and as i have mentioned before this is stereotypically this is stereotypically the look taken on by victims of bullying to not draw attention to themselves.
The bullies:
As for this type of character we decided to follow convention and represent them I a negative way through their clothing,for their look as we were able to clearly differentiate the two types of characters we were trying to portray (The bully and the victim). In order to portray this character properly we utilised a beanie and a bomber jacket, this conveys the nonchalant attitude given by characters such as this. This mans character in the film Kidulthood was a bully, as you can see from his attire he is wearing a hoodie and a lack bomber jacket on top. This look is stereotypically what bullies nowadays dress like as it gives of a 'bad boy' reputation look.
Evaluation: Q3.What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Distribution of my film opening:
The Distribution company we chose to create for our film opening was called
'Urban Motions pictures', we decided to name it this because of the content of
the film which was quite realistic and harsh, so we used the word 'urban' to portray this.
We decided that this distribution company wouldn't be a major company but an independent one, this is because the film opening was created by amateurs (ourselves) and so we wanted the whole thing to be as believable and realistic as possible which is why we didn't choose a company such as 'paramount' to distribute our film. This company is best suited to our film because we are independent film makers and the name itself makes out that it specifically caters to films of a low budget.
Here is a vlog displaying four separate possible distribution companies for our film opening I chose these specifically because they are semi-independent distribution companies that aren't major industry distributors and this seemed realistic and a sensible choice:
The Distribution company we chose to create for our film opening was called
'Urban Motions pictures', we decided to name it this because of the content of
the film which was quite realistic and harsh, so we used the word 'urban' to portray this.
We decided that this distribution company wouldn't be a major company but an independent one, this is because the film opening was created by amateurs (ourselves) and so we wanted the whole thing to be as believable and realistic as possible which is why we didn't choose a company such as 'paramount' to distribute our film. This company is best suited to our film because we are independent film makers and the name itself makes out that it specifically caters to films of a low budget.
Here is a vlog displaying four separate possible distribution companies for our film opening I chose these specifically because they are semi-independent distribution companies that aren't major industry distributors and this seemed realistic and a sensible choice:
Evaluation Q7) What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product
What i have learnt ? by Slidely Slideshow
Overall , i believe that our final production went extremely well as we kept our skills from the beginning of our preliminary and also learnt and developed new skills along the way , the production also ran smoothly due to our group doing a lot of collaborate and teamwork but also the independent work we did individual kept the blog and the editing for our final production in the production schedule .
Evaluation: Q4.Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our target audience:
Our film opening is aimed to relate to young adults (both male and female) ranging from the ages of 13 -18 year olds, however through the feedback we received our target audience could also expand to those in the work force. our film touches on a subject that is highly common and relatable to the general public as bullying is a major issue in society and many people carry that experience into their adult life which is what makes our target audience so flexible.
In general 'teen movies' are watched by young people, however this genre of movies are really versatile with its audiences, this is because it is mainly dependant on the content of the movie, so even adults tend to watch teenage movies as they frequently include adult themes.
As for our unique selling point, we used the theme bullying and this is what we believe will attract teenagers because it faces the harsh reality of life which is something that most teen movies don't focus on as the themes presented in them are mainly: Friendships, Relationships: young love, raving etc.
I created a Facebook page that will allow our target audience to like the page. This way I will be able to decipher whether or not our film is a hit with our target audience. The page also allows people to comment on the idea of our film opening so It will enable my group to receive the thoughts and feelings towards our film opening, here is the link:
https://www.facebook.com/ebony.loblack
In general 'teen movies' are watched by young people, however this genre of movies are really versatile with its audiences, this is because it is mainly dependant on the content of the movie, so even adults tend to watch teenage movies as they frequently include adult themes.
As for our unique selling point, we used the theme bullying and this is what we believe will attract teenagers because it faces the harsh reality of life which is something that most teen movies don't focus on as the themes presented in them are mainly: Friendships, Relationships: young love, raving etc.
I created a Facebook page that will allow our target audience to like the page. This way I will be able to decipher whether or not our film is a hit with our target audience. The page also allows people to comment on the idea of our film opening so It will enable my group to receive the thoughts and feelings towards our film opening, here is the link:
https://www.facebook.com/ebony.loblack
Evaluation: Q5.How did you attract/ address your audience?
Q2) how does your media product represent particular social groups?
Ways in which characters are portrayed/ presented to the audience
In teen films we see that representation is used to introduce the character
Due to our predjustice's people in society feel that CHEERLEADERS are stupid, blonde overconfident 'bitches' who feel that by dressing prerogative can get them everywhere
Geeks - Nerds representation in teen film would be shown as quiet people who wear glasses and known for being pushovers from the bullies, jocks and cheerleaders
Jocks- Baseball jackets with hats and jeans represented to be the most popular people in the whole school and get a lot of attention from ladies
Teen social groups that we represented in our film openings (refer to stereotype)
The It Girls- In urban drama the girls are mostly represented to be rude and mean so we conveyed with this stereotype in our film opening which allows to show a certain genre in conventions in a teen film
Bully- Bullying has been represented in Mean Girls where we see the new girl finds it hard to fit in with the other girls this is the main topic in our film opening as we agree with the stereotypes portrayed in teen films.
Binary oppositions between characters in our film opening/ Mean Girls/ St Trinians
Bullies- Group of girls vs our teen film opening two girls (ethnicity was the same)
Means Girls is based inside a school vs our teen film opening where it based between a estate and a school.
St Trinians is shown to wear a school uniform vs our film teen opening where we see the bullies are shown to be wearing the same uniform but add their own twists which elaborates their different character and personality in the teen film opening.
Have you represented them in a positive or negative aspect (relate to real media)
In our film opening we have represented the two bullies in a negative aspect this was expected of them as bullies are expected to act a of a higher superior towards others as the media represents bullies in films in this manner in doing so we have conveyed the convention themes as we have used inspiration from other movies to grasp the roles of our characters
Evaluation: Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Comparing skills I have acquired between both my prelim and film opening:
Research and pre-production:
During the pre production stage of my prelim the research we did was not up to scratch as it was very minimal and only a few blogs were uploaded on to blogger to show evidence of the search we did. the main piece of research we did was of stereotypes portrayed within teen movies. Whereas, when it came to the pre production stage of our film opening we created a whole pitch that included all of the research we done in preparation for filming our opening, through this pitch my writing skills improved as I had tried to relate the information we got as sophisticatedly as possible. my researching skills were improved immensely by the time it came to our film opening project as I was driven to work more independently. As for the location of our film opening we were more experimentive and used various locations in comparison to the prelim where we just used the college. we even created a detailed storyboard and followed what we wrote down in order to ensure that we got the most out of our project.
Filming:
when it came to actually producing the film, we had to be mindful of various aspects of camera work such as: shot types, angles, 180 degree rule and the thirds rule. All of these things did become the main focus because it allowed us to produce a quality filled production when it came to editing. However, in our prelim we tried to include as much shot types as we could but lacked variety as well as the camera being wonky at certain times when filming. As well as this, a lot of the shots were out of focus which ruined the quality of it all. Through filming I learnt how to be more patient.
Post production:
when editing we decided to utilise more match cuts, as well as making sure our footage linked and was seamless, as this is something we failed to do in our prelim. It was very jumpy and it didn't flow very well which highlighted the fact that we were amateurs. We also ensured that the sound we used linked well with the film opening and worked well for the sound bridges we created throughout our film opening. The skills I acquired through post production was how to be more creative and precise in decision making.
what I have learned overall:
I believe that I have developed tremendously over the course of creating both the prelim and film opening, particularly in the camerawork as i wasn't advanced in certain rules and ideas I could have applied to my prelim, it was very basic and the quality was affected because of this. I became more independent overall in all areas from pre-production to post production.
here are some Gif images I created to show the obvious differences in quality between my prelim and film opening:
Titles
Match cuts
Camera focus
Head space
Research and pre-production:
During the pre production stage of my prelim the research we did was not up to scratch as it was very minimal and only a few blogs were uploaded on to blogger to show evidence of the search we did. the main piece of research we did was of stereotypes portrayed within teen movies. Whereas, when it came to the pre production stage of our film opening we created a whole pitch that included all of the research we done in preparation for filming our opening, through this pitch my writing skills improved as I had tried to relate the information we got as sophisticatedly as possible. my researching skills were improved immensely by the time it came to our film opening project as I was driven to work more independently. As for the location of our film opening we were more experimentive and used various locations in comparison to the prelim where we just used the college. we even created a detailed storyboard and followed what we wrote down in order to ensure that we got the most out of our project.
Filming:
when it came to actually producing the film, we had to be mindful of various aspects of camera work such as: shot types, angles, 180 degree rule and the thirds rule. All of these things did become the main focus because it allowed us to produce a quality filled production when it came to editing. However, in our prelim we tried to include as much shot types as we could but lacked variety as well as the camera being wonky at certain times when filming. As well as this, a lot of the shots were out of focus which ruined the quality of it all. Through filming I learnt how to be more patient.
Post production:
when editing we decided to utilise more match cuts, as well as making sure our footage linked and was seamless, as this is something we failed to do in our prelim. It was very jumpy and it didn't flow very well which highlighted the fact that we were amateurs. We also ensured that the sound we used linked well with the film opening and worked well for the sound bridges we created throughout our film opening. The skills I acquired through post production was how to be more creative and precise in decision making.
what I have learned overall:
I believe that I have developed tremendously over the course of creating both the prelim and film opening, particularly in the camerawork as i wasn't advanced in certain rules and ideas I could have applied to my prelim, it was very basic and the quality was affected because of this. I became more independent overall in all areas from pre-production to post production.
here are some Gif images I created to show the obvious differences in quality between my prelim and film opening:
Distribution company Ident.
Head space
Evaluation: Q7 ) what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from your preliminary to the full product?
In the process:
- I have made mistakes and learned valuable
Wednesday 12 March 2014
Reflective Post
Looking at our opening scenes and the different shots we toke , I made a brainstorm on how I felt our filming and editing was going so far and what could have been improved
What went well :
The narrative and introduction of the character we revealed well in our variety of shots
The Editing was good as our shots were filmed quiet well
What could be improved :
The amount of times we shot a shot , as you never know if something will work in your sequence or not .
Improvement was to add more close ups , which we now have more of.
Try to speed up editing as it give more time for feedback and improvements .
What went well :
The narrative and introduction of the character we revealed well in our variety of shots
The Editing was good as our shots were filmed quiet well
What could be improved :
The amount of times we shot a shot , as you never know if something will work in your sequence or not .
Improvement was to add more close ups , which we now have more of.
Try to speed up editing as it give more time for feedback and improvements .
Tuesday 11 March 2014
Reflective Blog of Filming and Editing
Reflective Post
Looking at our opening scenes and the different shots and angels that we had used in the opening as well as other intake on what we could improve
What went well
What I thought went well was how the character was imaging someone that was being bullied as the flashbacks of physical abuse the character went through as she gets ready for school it made the opening look more engaging, as well as the editing was done to a good extent making our opening look really good
What could be improved
After some criticism from our teacher we realized in order to make our film even better we needed to film some of the flashbacks again in order to make our opening continuous and flow throughout
Some of the feedback we got was
- Pick up on pace on editing so there was more time to add sound and tweak any changes if needed
- Too many long/mid shots needed more variety some shots could be at a closer angle
- Get more cut shots of Sanaa playing the role of Shannon in the opening scene
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