What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from your preliminary to the full product?

The the progression from the Preliminary to the full product I have learn that more camera angles can be used to show the audience more details about what's happening in the scene. For example using Match-on-action when people are playing pool the shot is of the hitting it then the balls being hit by the wit ball.

We could have added more shot for our full product as there wasn't many. For example when the proup of teens are walking down the path there could have been a match-on-action shot of them walking past the camera further down the path. 

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

I've used power point to create mind-maps and save them to jpg so they can be imported to by blog. I learn that every slide that can be made can also be saved a jpg file, this made it really easy to make mind maps and put them on my blog. If I didn't use power point i would have has to make the mind maps my hand which would have caused them to look messy and unprofessional 

I didn't use soundcloud very much within my blog. Whereas I could have added voice notes of some of the things i typed.  I used soundcloud to embed the backing music to my final opening sequence as I wanted to give an example of it to answer one of the question posts. 

YouTube was used a lot during the making of my blog and the posting of my final opening sequence. I had embed example video of people who make opening sequences and some of the rough cuts went we were editing our film. Using this app I learn that you can embed the videos anywhere for example on my blog. Before I know this could be done, I would make web links to the different videos. 

I had used Windows Movie Maker as it was easy to make the videos for the different blog posts. Also you can upload the videos straight to YouTube. Using this movie maker i learnt that you can visual edit the footage to make it better, also you can speed the video clips up or down, which we used when editing the dart scene. 

I used windows to create the write out my different blog post to make sure that everything was spelt correctly, also it was easy to create scripts and tables. I learn how to comment on the things which were written in the script. 

Blogger was mainly used to present my work. but i learn that things can be embed onto the blog's, using the HTML codes. As this was how the prezi's were put on the blog.

Wikipedia was mainly used to help me collect information, for example the history of genre post was researched using this website. 

Google was used when collecting images and researching information. I learnt that you can search for the website behind the picture if you use the picture to search, using the little camera icon on the side of the search bar. 

Prezi was used a lot in my blog as its easy to present work, in an interesting way. I learnt how to make prezi when doing this blog as I hadn't come across them before. 

Ways we attract our audience

We had chosen a soundtrack that would appeal to teens, because of its up beat feel and its hip hop/rap feel.

Also the audience can identify with the storyline of the film as they would have done something that their parents wouldn't have wanted them to do at some point in their lives, for example the party on the consumption of alcohol.

Most of the teen who will be watching this film would be able to identify with the games played in the film for example darts and pool. This would interest them more that the girl watching the film. As boys are more likely to play these games to socialise rather than girls who talk and dance, which is also shown the film.

Also the audience would be attracted to the film as the actors are the same age as them, this means that it looks real and it does look like over 18's are trying to imitate teenagers. Which has been know to put teenagers off a film.

From the beginning we said our target audience would be 15-20+ year old's. Therefore it would be appropriate for our rating by the BBFC to be for 15 year old's being the minimal age. 

Who would be the audience for your media product?

We sent our questionnaires out to 16 and 17 year old male and females in our class to begin with. Due to the overall favour of film genre being Action Comedy it would be common that both female and males enjoy films of this genre. Our target audience would range from 15-20 year old's. We feel our film would appeal to them as in ways it would reflect parts of their lifestyle. For example, people similar age to them having fun with their friends. Our film may allow them to have audience pleasure, they may identify with some of the characters which may make them become engaged in the film and want to keep watching it and look forward to the next film. 

Typical Members of our Target Audience: 

Would be a similar audience to those who watch programs such as 'Friends', or enjoy films such as 'The Hangover', '21 Jump Street', 'Hot Fuzz'.

details about target market...

Favourite films- 21 jump street, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, American Pie 

Interests- hanging out with friends, just generally having fun. 

"After watching the opening sequence for 'The Morning After' I was interested in it and watched to watch the film"

Favourite films- Clueless, Risky Business, Easy A, Bring it on, and Footloose.

Interests- hanging out with friends, dancing and watching film is spear time. 

"After watching the opening sequence, i thought it was unique as not many teens die in the party based movie. So that interested me a lot"

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

If we were to distribute our media product, it would be a better idea to converge with one of the large 6 company, which would be Sony, FOX, Disney, Paramount, Universal or Warner Brothers. But we could also use one of many English companies, for example ‘Working Title’ but they are owned by Universal studios. Converging with these companies would make our distribute size much bigger as they are such a well know company, also they would want the film to have a higher viewing as it would increase their profits.

Also to market the film we would use marketing mixes to appeal to our target markets. We would use social networking as teens are known to be using these for a majority of their free time. Using websites like ‘Twitter’ as you can tweet and use a promotion tag so everyone can see it. Also as people can share with their friends it means that they can get more involved with the film, creating more of a buzz.

As well as using positive word of mouth, this would benefit us in the long run as people then would want to buy the DVD. Providing a website based around the film would be a must as it means more people can get involved with the film, which means that all fragmented audiences could get involved if interested.

Other films have joined up with different company’s which promote media products on the advertising labels of their products and include the film in there TV adverts. For example, the James Bond film ‘Skyfall’ teamed up with Heineken beer and did competitions to raise more money for their distribution companies.

We would feel confident with Working Title distributing our media product as they’ve distributed films like…

Thunderbirds

Love actually 

                 

Billy Elliot

Jonny English

           

Bridget Jones's diary 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

Evaluation Introduction

For the evaluation part of our task we decided to write people responses and put them in a prezi as we found only a small amount of people who were willing to be filmed.

Final Opening Sequence

Production

Above I have shown the unedited clip and edited chip. The unedited film was straight off the camera, but the new clip would also have music which goes over it as they walk in. Also I've trimmed the clip as it was too long and started to get boring, the trimming was done to the start of the clip as the lead up was not interesting and the long lead up made the film look very jumpy and caused the flow of action to jolt.

When it came to filming our group found that there wasn't many people who were willing to act, this meant that we had to create the 'party atmosphere' by sing tighter shots and using smaller spaces. In most of the shots there is a medium sized group of people which, but we would change a few of the people each time so it made it seem there were different actors involved.

As a group we feel the rest of the filming went relatively well, we managed to get all the necessary shots we needed to create the build up to the death whilst still telling the story that would lead up to the full film itself.

Pre-production documentation

 Location Reece.

This Location will be used at the beginning of the sequence.  An actor will open this door and let her friends in. 

This is part of the location that will be in the panning shot at the end of the sequence.

Another shot of the room which the main parts of the sequence will happen.  

A shot from the outside of the main filming room. this will also be  one of the camera angles at the beginning of the film. 

storyboard

Underneath we have created a sort guild line in the form of a story board as this is a good way to get the ideas onto paper before they are changed or forgotten. 

Risk Assessment:

Alcohol - The consumption of alcohol by the actors in the film means that the entire process of filming carries dangers because of health risks and troubles with coordinated movements such as walking. Also there is a danger that the liquids will be spilt on the camera equipment which meaning it will break and the footage that would have been captured would be lost. 

Setting - parts of the film include using the stairs for filming, this puts both the cameraman and the actors used at danger because a fall could cause serious injury. to avoid this, people should wear gripping shoes or socks to prevent them falling. 

Activities - For one clip in the film, a game of darts is shown to be played, though we plan to take maximum precautions when handling the darts, there is a possibility of harm if someone were to be hit by a dart. The danger will be increased as the people throwing them are going to be drinking, to avoid any danger to people involved this segment of the filming will be completed the next day to ensure that no harm will come to people involved. 

Lighting - To improve the quality of our filming we plan to use artificial lighting, though there is little chance of these catching fire it is a possibility in which case they carry a risk. To avoid fires starting the lights will only be on for the duration of the filming, before and after that they will be off to prevent them overheating. 

Crew list -
Jordan Mann: Camera, editing and acting
Georgia Lythaby: Camera, editing and acting
Lily Hawkins: Acting 
Ryan Peach: Acting

Shot list

Underneath is a shot list that will also be used during filming as it will help the cameraman/woman to remember what shot they will need. Also this will help in the editing part of the film as it shows what order the shots will need to be in when piecing the film together.

Focus Group

We asked a group of people who fit the age of our targeted audience. We chose a mix of male and female teens to participate, We read them the synopsis  for our opening sequence which was the following:

"Our film forms in a similar style to project X. Based on an unpopular female planning a party in order to gain popularity. What seems like the party of the year, with people having fun and doing wreck less things it's not until the next morning that the unexpected happens. The morning results in an unexpected death..."

They responded with...

"I think the film sounds like it would really appeal to me. I am a fan of the film Project X I think the way that film is made is fun and action packed. 'The Morning After' seems as though it would be similar and even the death at the end makes it seem mysterious like something crazy happened"

"I think the same, I like the sound of the film being a party and similar to the Hangover in the way they have to try and trace their footsteps in how the death happened"

"It would be cool if there was a lot of different shots as well to create the action and speed up the pace of the party atmosphere"

Group Meeting

From our research we know that we were doing an action film. Within the four of us we decided that our action film that we shouldn't do a typical car chase or fight scene style film. We brainstormed about types of films what we could relate to and also with the comedy genre coming second in our questionnaire we would want a story line which could incorporate both genres.We came to this conclusion after expressing many other ideas to each other. We came up with the idea of a chick-flick action adventure film, but decided against it when the boys in the group disagreed with the idea.

From this we decided that our film would be based mostly around teenage girls who decide to throw a massive party in attempt to gain popularity, however as the night progresses on the party gets out of control, leading to destruction, death and missing people. The main story line is based around a group of friends from the party attempting to discover what happened to their missing friends. 

History of action films

Title Timeline

Narrative / Character Research

We're decided to make our film based mainly around teenagers and teenagers having fun. while teenagers aren't all, crazy party animals we are working off of stereo types which express the over exaggerated  need to be wild and crazy.

teenagers would spend most of there days at either school or collage. This means six hours a day five days a week would be spend in the company of others, which suggests that it feels normal to teenagers when they're around each other and would have a lot of friends . As most of the teen characters in our final opening sequence have spend the whole school lives mixing with both boys and girls it seems normal that boys and girls would feel comfortable around each other.

The actors we are using all have their own personal style which i think that most teenagers have as they differ in what they like and dislike and this can be seen in how they dress and how they act around each other. For example Danny is a 'lad', 'class clown type. which means that he would act goofy and cool around everyone. But some of the extras in the film stick together, like a couple of the girl in shot are always together, which could come across as them being a little shy towards others.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Plot Development

The title for our film is 'The Morning After'

It would come under the genre of action thriller, as someone dies. 

Our target audience is teens over the age of 15.

Synopsis of entire film: the film is based around an unpopular teenage girl who holds a large scale party in an attempt to gain popularity, however as the night unfolds a close friend of hers dies and several other go missing. The film shows the seemingly amazing party unfold before the morning after reveals the catastrophes that must be uncovered and fixed before the girl’s parents return.

Synopsis of opening sequence: the opening sequence begins in a trashed garden with one person waking up the morning after the party and questioning what happened the night before. The film then cuts to the hour before the party is due to begin and the following several people as they prepare to get ready for the party. As a small group at the house and the door opens, the title appear with the people.

Analysis of an Opening Sequence

I have looked at the opening sequence for the film 'The Hangover'. I chose to look into this film as it's in the same genre of the film that my group will be making. 'The Hangover' has the normal conventions of an opening sequence as it include, credits of all the cast and crew which appear over a range of different shots including a soundtrack in the background.

Further look at opening sequences

opening sequence to casino royale

The iconic start to a James Bond film. The viewer will identify with this as the have seen it in all of the other film made by the franchise. 

Using mixed media with the opening sequence to make it more interesting to the view. Also this will create great opportunities  to put the crew and casts names in the film, to give the credit for the hard work. This is also an iconic factor to the films.

 

Using objects which are relevant to the film, for example the film is based in a casino and clubs are a symbol on playing card which are normally played at a casino. This keeps the opening sequence linked to the actual film.

In the sequence it gives away little parts of what happens throughout the film. For example at the end of Casino Royale, Bond kicks one the main characters though the floor and he dramatically goes though the ceiling and lands on the ground of the floor below. 

Research into Opening Sequence Designs

using these clips I have researched into designing opening sequences 

From watching these video clip I learn how important the typography is over the title sequence. As Cooper spoke about the typography shouldn't be an afterthought as it’s of high importance. When adding the typography it should be linked to the video behind and should be the same feel as the title sequence.  

Also we learn that experimenting with different materials rather than just digital effects can make for a more interesting sequence. Using different materials could help the target audience relate to the clip and find it more interesting.

Also we can tell from the video that the content of the title sequence should be massively linked to the storyline of the film. For our title sequence we may film the really interesting parts of the film to create more of an interesting sequence. 

These interviews have helped me to understand the importance of all aspects of the opening sequence. This will help my group to link all the relevant part to make a strong and unique sequence. 

Choosing your genre

To collect our information we needed to construct a questionnaire that asked about our views preference about films.

From the pie chart above we can tell that the group of people we ask all preferred ‘action’ films.From this information we have been influenced to produce an opening sequence for a 'Action' style film.

Allowing us to gather more Qualitative date we asked:
"What do you want and expect to see in an opening sequence?"
We found that audience expect the following:

Looking at the data collected we can see that the people we questions don’t go to the cinema very often, normally about once a month. Also we can see that people normally go with family or friends.

Conventions of an Opening Sequence

With the aim of making my own opening sequence I will need to gain a greater perspective of what is involved in making then and what the conventions are. To active this I will analyse two opening sequences from films that are already out. This hopefully will help me to make a more successful opening sequence.

A title sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their key credit productions sound and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound. The opening credits of motion pictures are shown at the beginning and list the most important members of the blank screen or static pictures, or sometimes on top of action in the show. There may or may not be accompanying music. 

The Third Man

The opening of this sequence is a black shot which fades into this still scene. For a large section of the time this screen is still as the church bells chime in the background. Everything written within the sequence is white which contrasts with the background which will stand out compared to the grey background. but this may have something to do with the film being in black and white. The background shows the location of the production, as well as being written on the first frame.

Placing the crew and cast on their own frame gives a sense of importance. also will  give the view a small amount of information about the person. Not using images will increase the attention on the writing which will make the people involved seem more important. 

As in the shot before there was less people to a shot it makes these people seen less  substantial to the film.  Also when the images change to crew and cast listing, so does the music which now contains more of an upbeat and happier tone. 

Blue Valentine

highlights throughout the opening sequence tell a back story of the characters lives, which increases the audience interest in what will happen next. also showing these two characters first hint that they're part of the main cast. 

Using contrasting tones for the writing and back group will make the writing distinctive. Also putting the writing in the middle of a plain screen gives a sense of importance. Adding the names and job description on a frame will add information about the cast and crew who worked on the project giving all workers recognition. 

this screen shot was taken for the end of the opening sequence  Which means the music has climaxed, to match this speed the firework overlay became stronger and lasted for longer. adding the title to the film with the still from the film means that the audience will relate the impression of love which comes from the title, to the couple in the photo background.

targets

My main target for the preliminary task was to create a short film that covered all aspects of the brief. After it had covered all the bases of the brief I could start to become creative with the shots and story line. Adding different shots, for example shot-reverse-shot, this would make the film more realistic.

My second target for this task was to make sure the script included everything that was going on in the shot. Also it would have to be in line with the story board. This goal included making sure that was room in the scripted to demonstrate techniques.

Another target of mine was to create a short film that flowed and didn't have messy cuts. This would mean taking the script and story board to all shoots so that they could be followed without mistakes being made.

Also another target was to finish the project on time. As filming and editing was moving at a fast pace during the task it would be difficult to not fall behind. As we all had other work to be done we had to delegate different parts of the project to different people. 

Evaluation of skills developed

                              

Post-Production

post editing 

above is a scene shot taken from when editing. this shows a shot being brightened as the lighting was a little too dark. 

this is a scene shot aslso taken from editing where a filter was experimented with.

this is another screen shot taken while editing, which shows the adding of credits.

this screen shot have been taken while editing of an effect being added for when the credits  come up.

this is a screen shot of trimming being done to a shot which means part of the shot is taken out and the stuff from the shot we liked we kept in.

preliminary film

Production Report

How did the shoot go?

We had many shoot times mainly because the room we used was in use. But when we did get down to filming, it took a while but we got the shoot we needed from the angles needed.

What problems do you encountered?

Most of our problems came from the location most of the time when we had meetings in the room and it wasn't free. This left us with a limited time to use the room. Also it was hard to find a time when the whole group could do the filming in a free periods.

How did you overcome the problems?

We overcame the problems by keeping calm and making sure we know when the room was free so that we could use it whenever possible. Also planning ahead really worked for our group because if we planned when we needed to film people could manage their time more sufficiently.

How well did you work as a team?

I feel we worked as a team most of the time. But we disagreed a lot about the work. I think the work was distributed on what people’s strengths were. I think all the people in our group were happy with what they were doing and because everyone was happy we all got along.

What do you think of the footage you shot?

I think the footage was mostly good. But there was a lot of takes when people would mess up there lines or start laughing. Also most of the footage wasn't shot in the right order, which means there will be a lot of editing. But over all I can say I'm happy with footage that we shot.

Are there any areas for improvement in the technical execution?

I think we could have added more camera angles, for example we could have had really close up shots of their faces to express more emotion during the short film. Also there wasn't a good continuity editing situation in this film, but because we were working to deadlines we didn't have time to worry about the clothes the actors were wearing. I think this is an issue with the planning.

Is there anything you will need to do now as a consequence of the footage you shot?

Watching the footage we have, there will be a lot of editing and cutting. We might have to re-film some of the scene because there was some background noise and needing those shot from different angles.

Have you abided by the rules of continuity?

I feel we have kept the continuity problems to a minim as people would remind others that they would need to be in the same clothes and say in the same position to keep the film looking continuous.