Evaluation Task 7

from the progression of the preliminary task to our full product being the film we have progressed significantly. Our prelim task was based on the idea of a criminal being questioned by a detective where as our final film was based on the genre of British Gangster. Our preliminary task was very basic with there being only dialogue, filmed in one location, and being filmed over an afternoon period as opposed by our final production that takes place over a longer time period, different locations, and much more dialogue. within the Preliminary task we used the 180 degree rule, Match on action, and shot/reverse shot. In our final product we also included these aspects however, we did it on a greater scale due to the fact that it was more complex than the Prelim task as there were more characters, locations, and actions being performed, what differs between both productions is that the final product has background music, which is non diegetic, and so the characters in the film cannot hear the music and its purpose is to add tension to the film for the benefit to the audience.

Sketch of Prelim Task

As seen on the picture above which represents the location and camera positions we used during our preliminary task, we used multiple camera positions and a number of different shots in these positions, in doing so we enabled the story to continue and progress. as seen on the picture we used match on action when our character opens the door, with there being a close up of his hand on the door handle, to entering the room. the 180 degree rule enables our conversation between our two characters to run smoothly as the cameras are only allowed to be positioned on one side of the invisible line, ensuring that the audience watching will not get confused or possibly disorientated due to random camera positions and shots, therefore the rule creates some order. on top of using the 180 degree rule we used shot reverse shot, which switches between the speaker and the listener as one character speaks, by using this emphasis is given to emotion and how characters have positioned themselves


Other aspects that differ between our two productions would be the shot lists, as the preliminary task used less shots than we used in the final production, the the shots we used during the prelim task included close up, medium shot, a long shot and a pan shot, our final production used these shots however on a greater scale.

Evaluation Activity 6

Technologies we used

while constructing our Media film we encountered a number of different technologies which had a number of different programs and equipment we had never necessarily used before.

Picture of Ellis with the camera

Some of us in the group had never used a camera before, or more accurately, used a camera to record and make a film.

the camera was fairly simple to use and used a tape to record and store our images and film footage, as opposed to a digital camera where the footage would be saved digitally on a memory stick.

picture of the iMac we used

The iMac was possibly a vital piece of equipment where we gathered the footage we filmed and put it together using programs to eventually produce our media film. on the iMac we used programs such as iMovie HD, Photoshop, iTunes, and the internet.

Picture of Ellis working on the blog

We used the internet a lot during the construction of our film, especially on our blog where our work is posted.

To upload the fooage from our camera, which was stored on a casset tape, we had to plug the camera into the iMac, open iMovie HD, then import the footage

Picture of a tripod

We used the tripod every time we filmed in order to ensure that the camera did not shake as well as ensuring that our film looked some what professional. the tripod made it possible to easily pan a shot if needed as well as making it easier to position the camera at different angles and heights without the camera shaking.







Use of iTunes and iMovie HD



Evaluation activity 5

annotated version of our media film.

Media Evaluation 4

Who would be the audience for your media project?

The opening to our film includes strong language and violence, as the film progresses the violence, strong language are likely to continue as well as more blood, death and action scenes, because of this we are recommending the age certificate for a 15.

Teenagers vary and are hard to generalise as they are all into different music, dress differently, and have their own taste in films. we can say that our film will appeal to teenagers (15 or older) who like action thrillers or like the gangster genres.

this is a picture of an average teenage boy. our average teenage boy, by the way he dresses, may shop at retailers such as Topman and has the 'Indie' style look which is very popular of the teenage culture today. music would be personal opinion and may be hard to determine however the general impression given buy how he dresses will suggest that he likes main stream music as well as rock genres such as indie. A teenage boy may watch many Tv programs such as sport , All teenagers like to watch programs that have violence, action, strong language, as well as comedy, therefore popular Tv programs such as Skins or Misfits may appeal to our average teenager.

our film may be aimed more at the male gender and esecially at teenagers as the film is a British Gangster  and includes action, violence, strong violence and comical aspects, these qualities will appeal to the average teenager.

Media Evaluation 3

Evaluation Activity 2

I have chosen to use the character that Victoria plays in the opening scene to our film. After doing an analysis of opening scenes and imparticular- Pulp Fiction, Victoria had the idea of making a similar character to the one of 'Mia Wallace' who is played by Uma Thurman in the oscar nominated film.
We started with the costume. Victoria wears a corset-type top which isn't that visible underneath her black blazer. We feel this was a good idea as as the film unfolds perhaps a promiscuous and sexual character could unfold underneath her hard exterior- Just like that of Mia Wallace. Both costumes in the above picture are particularly similar anyway in the external use of black which is a signiture colour for a female gangster. Stockings- as they are quite femanine, and black patent heels which you again can't really see with Victoria's costume.
Within the opening sequence of pulp fiction we learn that the character of Mia Williams is a lot like that of which Victoria plays as we learn they are both independant in that it appears Victoria's character is her own person in having a motorbike. A similarity is evident in the end of both sequences as they both end with both character's getting a gun out and about to shoot someone.

Evaluation Activity 1

In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products?

The Title of The Film

Film Title

We titled our film 'The Transition' the reason for this may involve the plot of our full film as transition can be defined as the act of change, whether it being state or location, and so could underline the emphasis on the progression of time as if the film was going to be continued then the next part of the film may be a prologue, to explain the opening scene as it jumps straight into the plot, dialogue, and action, where a prologue may go back in time to explain what the audience just saw.

The Title sequence is developed from the conventions of existing opening sequenses from other films, using a brief introduction before the main title. before the introduction was shown we introduced the names of the actors 

Title Font and Style

Title Sequence

The title of our film production is in white block capitals on a back background and the contrast of colours will enable the title to stand out. the title sequence starts in a similar way, with the actors names fading in floating slowly accross the screen in white writing againt a black background, also on the start of the film we have used the film 4 opening so it shows what producing company we would use. The font shows contrast and the font is similar to the Godfather so our audience can recognise immediately what our film will be.




Story and how the opening sets it up

The opening of our film is typical, as it immediately shows the genre and shows that it is in urban Britain. Our opening also causes questions to be asked which will make the audience question what will happen which will make them watch on. For example, Luke is killed and the Boss is killed. The boss also recognises his killer so it makes the audience want to see how he knew her and the past they share.

Costumes and props



The Boss' Costume

The costumes of Luke and the Boss build tension as they are wearing suits so the audience immediately want to know what kind of business they are in, be it good or evil. From our genre our audience can relate as they may be able to tell that the business they do is evil and possibly illegal as the Boss says that they are in a war so it may raise the suspicion that their are two rivals vying for control over something.

Luke's Costume

As for the female assassin, her clothes look practical and streamlined. Also all of it is dark so it gives connotation of danger and evil. She also drives a motorcycle which is seen as a 'cool' way to get about and the motorcycle may show they live on the edge or dangerous. Also the fact she is wearing a helmet shows she is masked and wants to hide her identity. It also shows she is independent as  its just her on the motorbike.

Finally as the female assassin gets off the bike the audience can see she is wielding a gun which also has connotations that she will do something illegal or dangerous such as murder.

Character Costume

How Characters are Introduced

In the opening, the boss is first introduced with the voiceover and the audience come in the conversation in the middle of the phone call. From this you can see that there is a employer, employee relationship as the boss orders the employee what to do. Also whilst this is going on you are introduced to a shady character on the motorbike which makes the audience think who is this person. She then takes off her helmet and she walks into an office building and shoots the boss which shows the audience she is an assassin.

Setting/Location

we used a number of different locations in the process of creating our media film, the office scene was filmed in school, and more specifically in our headmasters office, which we were very great-full he let us use it we used this location because it was ideal for the purpose of our film, as to create an office feel as well as to represent the office as being dark and also showing the audience this is the base for the boss and the business he gets up to. Also the boss sitting in their shows the audience that he is powerful as he has his own room.

Special effects

In our production we do not use any special effects, this is because there was no need for us to use special effects as that will not be found very often in our specific genre. But, we do use non-diegetic sounds such as the  phone ringing when it is on the floor. Also we added in sound for when the female assassin shoots the boss and there are gunshots when the title screen comes up which suggests to the audience that the boss has been killed.

Genre and how the opening suggests it

The opening shows the genre we are trying to achieve as the costumes show the affluence of the characters. Moreover, in British gangster films, the characters are shown in suits for example, in Snatch, Turkish wears a suit throughout the whole narrative. Furthermore, it is shown as the boss swears and orders Luke what to do, once again in Snatch the boss uses swear words and is threatening and imperative and commanding to show his position of power.

Camerawork and editing

camerawork would detail the methods in which we used our camera as well as how we utalised the features of the camera. during thed process of creating our media film we used camerawork, whether it was the use of the tripod to ensure that the camera remained still while we filmed to ensure a better quality, the tripod also enabled us to set different angles for the camera as well as to pan shots while keeping the camera steady which again enabled better quality.


Editing the footage enabled us to piece together the footage and to finally complete our task and produce a film. Editing provided us with the basis of manipulating the text, whether it was to cut pieces of the footage seperatig what we needed and what we did not need, Editing also enabled us to manipulate the sound as well as add sound of our own, we could change the volume of the footage which would better enable the audience to hear dialogue or to change the volume so that the dialogue does not fluctuate in volume. The Editing programe we used was iMovie HD.



Final film-'The Transition'

Final day of editing

The whole editing process was easy as I found coping with the imovie programme basic as I had experience with using it from last year. while Ellis found music e.g. sound effects and a backing track I put the sequence together assembling in a way so the continuity flowed which I think was effective. I am happy with my camera work as I feel it works well in explaining the story and helping the audience understand the characters. After I pieced together the sequence we had to produce voiceovers from luke and ben for when the panning motorbike which helped carry on the sequence in which i filmed.

SFX and Soundtrack

We managed to to find a suitable website of which we were able to download sound effects and music which was not copyrighted. This website was freesfx.co.uk, it allowed us to browse and download many sound clips to use as a non digetic soundtrack and background effects such as gunshots. We decided to use an orchestral soundtrack behind the clip because we found it was most efective at building suspense which is what we was aiming for.

Script for voiceover

Credits voicever- Ben: your fucking life depends on this, this will end badly!

Luke: I've never let you down before, why will I start now?

Voiceover Ben: In this buisness you learn the hard way, fuck u and you've seen what happens... *sigh* it's a lesson in life.

luke: Let me handle this
ben: Remember, we're in a war right now, if you lose the briefcase, you're dead.

Voiceover- Luke: don't threaten me boss, remember where I came from, I could snap you like a twig'

Ben- All i'm saying is, you better get hat fucking briefcase to the depo sharpish,

Voiceover- Luke: I can do this,

Third Day Filming

On the 15/12/10 we filmed the motorbike scene once again however this time we filmed it at night as we saw another group successfully film a car at night and so we thought that if we were to film our scene again but at night then it would add more effect and atmosphere to the film. the reason we had to film the motorbike scene again to begin with was because continuity had been disturbed due to the fact that in one clip the motorbike did not have a L plate (learner sticker) attacked to it and in the next shot it did. the reason the sticker had to be put back on was due to a change of location as it was illegal not to have the sticker on the motorbike when on a main road and so when moving the bike to another location we did not realise that we had not taken the L plate off.

We faced a few problems as first it was dark and therefore we had to find a reasonable amount of background light in order to film. another problem was that it was raining and therefore it became difficult to film, however, we had prepared for the eventuality that it would rain and so we had an umbrella on hand which ensured that the the camera or equipment did not get wet. the final problem occurred at 8pm as the camera rewound itself and in fear that we would lose any footage that we had filmed we decided to stop filming and upload the footage as soon as we could.

First day of editing

on our first day of editing we couldn't actually begin to put the film together as we haven't finished filming as we are doing such a complicated task. We deleted loads of footage that we didn't need anymore and watched intentively the footage we needed to use. we discovered some continuity errors such as the motorbike having the 'learner' sticker on one shot, then it being off in another shot. We also discovered that it doesn't look effective in the light and the motorbike needs to go slightly faster to create a powerful atmosphere. we are going to re-do the motorbike shots in the dark and the walking into the building scene which we plan on doing this Sunday.

Problem Encountered While Editing

When uploading and editing film clips we realised that some of the footage had become corrupt. By this i mean the footage had somehow combined itself with other footage and overlapped each other. the two shots that combined was the office scene and the motorbike scene. as the sounds also overlap you hear static when you play the media file.

second day of filming

On our first day of filming we planned to do the motorbike shots. We found a perfect location in Buckhurst hill 'Nighton Lane' in which was an isolated long American-style road, surrounding by foresty trees and some un-seen houses. I, Luke, Ben, and our stunt double for Vicki came. On the filming of the motorbike driving, the stunt double had to pose as Vicki therefore had to wear her costume (shoes, tights, skirt, top, blazer and coat.) Luke and Ben helped in judging camera shots and what would be appropriate while Vicki put in her input and filmed. We got a few good shots. when it came to pulling up to the building; Luke took over with the filming as i had to do my acting part in getting off the motorbike in which is when my character is first revealed. Our location for this was also in buckhurst hill 'Holly house' which had a great exterior which I believe looked good and like a gangster-buisness mans headquarters.

Motorbike shot

 I discovered this video while watching tv and thought that the cinematography of 'taio' landing and getting off the motorbike was cool. As we have already filmed our motorbike scene we have planned to re-film it as our original idea was to do it in the dark to create a better atmosphere in relation to our genre, however we was told wrong so we are going to re-do the shots regardless. I plan to imitate the above video with the camera shots and body language. 00:22-00:33 seconds.

Editing

We have now filmed most of our footage, but due to the adverse weather conditions and also the seasonal restrictions so we could not get our motorcycle or walking scene due to continuity issues. Also we have to choose the correct time to film as if it gets to late it gets to dark and the footage will not be visible.

But, even these restrictions haven't stopped us from filming the motorcycle scene and the office scene and we have begun the editing process. We have found it difficult because of the amount of footage we have it is hard to find the appropriate clips quickly and efficiently.

Problem Faced 09/12/10

A problem arose when trying to figure out what to blog next. when consulting my teacher we discovered, to our horror, that somehow, we had created more than one blog than the one that we were currently using, not only this, but our active blog that we used had the wrong Url and we could not change the Url because of the existing blog profiles that we had just discovered existing without us knowing.

The technician, My Teacher, and I, were trying to solve this problem, however we were unable to quickly as we did not know the account details (the Email or Password) in order to transfer our posts over from our account which had the incorrect Url or to delete the unused blogs and change the Url. We were unable to do either of these due to the fact that we had no recollection of ever creating these blogs and that we did not know the login details.

the problem was resolved as we simply changed the Url from what it was to www.trinity-media-309.blogspot.com and we will contact Blogger and inform them of the unused blogs for them to be deleted.

Problems Faced During Filming

During the Filming process the group and myself encountered a number of problems. these problems had to be dealt with in order for us to proceed, however, some were unavoidable.

Firstly organisation was needed in order to proceed as we had to prepare probs and costumes for our film and individual characters as well as prepare a storyoard, dialogue, and locations.

Next we faced the issue of time as we had very little time to film seeing as each group member had to put themselves out and make the effort to find a time that suited everyone. The main problem with this was the fact that we had different lessons at different times during the week as well as keeping on top of homework set by different subjects made the task quite strainious. in a real life situation a movie would take a much longer time to produce, time we did not have the luxury of. on some occasions we had hoped to film multiple scenes in one day however we ran out of time, this was mainly due to weather.

the most inconvenient problem was the weather, and luckily for us it was winter, and British weather being unpredictable caused the group a few problems, for starters, we were told we could not film if it was raining as it would interfere with the picture, luckily it did not rain, which came across as a supprise however it snowed, which was much worse seeing as this caused transport problems, as well as the school at one point to close. The snow prevented us from shooting one scene that required us to use a Motorbike, it would be unreasonable to force our friend to drive in such dangerous conditions. we lost filming time due to the weather, it was deemed impossible to film in the snow as it was difficult for group members to meet up, as well as trying to keep the continuity where there could not be snow in one shot and none in the other, and vice versa. we lost daylight quite quickly due to the weather as well as the winter season as it gets darker earlier and around three to five o'clock.

Age Certificates

When a film is released it has to be examined and classified, by this it will have to be moderated as to what the film contains and what age group the film would be suitable for. Government bodys may assess the film however in the UK the film may also be assessed by the BBFC, British Board of Film Classification. Government bodies or the BBFC pass or reject films, in the process of doing this a suitable age certificate must be placed on the film to ensure that the audience are of an appropriate age and the images viewed are not to cause discomfort or trauma or to show sexual content to a child. Films are moderated to ensure that the audience are entretained.

Our group have chosen to produce an opening sequence in the genre of a british gangster film. With there being some agressive behavious and some swearing as well as the general theme of the opening sequence our film should be classified as a 15