This is a video explaining the types of institutions who may or would not produce/distribute our film.
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Evaluation: Question two
In our media product we focused on various representations such as gender and age when it came to Zac. In this question, I have compared him to other characters similar to him but also explained how Zac does or does not follow or go against the typical representation.
GENDER:
I have made a character profile of Zac to explain the typical representation of gender:
This profile compares him to another, similar character - Simon James, and also explains
why he goes against the typical representation of his gender.
AGE:
Typical representation of a boy of Zac's age:
Some would be portrayed as going out to parties and being around their friends a lot. They could be seen as immature and to not be serious about much.
Zac goes against this representation of age as he doesn't appear to have many, if any, friends and is shown to live a very isolated lifestyle.
Another representation of age is the 'geeky' type of boy. Not many boys pictured above would also be pictured studying in most media products. This shows a big contrast in two different representations of the same age group.
Zac supports this representation and goes against it at the same time as he looks like he is interested in academics as he is reading a book about psychology in the beginning of our film. He goes against it however as it is not clear that this is actually what he is doing, he is not shown to be at university.
An example of a representation in a real media product:
This is a character, Lucas, from the television series Pretty Little Liars. Although this is not a film, it represents age in a similar way to our media product.
Lucas is portrayed as being geeky and shy, into school and extra-curricular activities such as the Yearbook club. He is shy and not good at confessing how he really feels.
This is similar to Zac as he is extremely shy and timid and will not readily talk to anyone else. This could show how he fits the 'geeky' representation of a young adult.
This is Caleb, another character from Pretty Little Liars. In the series, Lucas sees Caleb as an enemy due to them liking the same girl.
Caleb is manly, handsome and often gets himself into trouble. This is similar to the very first representation of age I described.
This is similar to Zac and Zabel as Zac sees Zabel as a threat to his freedom. This fits the representation of age that the more popular, mischievous boys are superior and more powerful than the geekier, more intelligent and shy characters.
GENDER:
I have made a character profile of Zac to explain the typical representation of gender:
This profile compares him to another, similar character - Simon James, and also explains
why he goes against the typical representation of his gender.
AGE:
Typical representation of a boy of Zac's age:
Some would be portrayed as going out to parties and being around their friends a lot. They could be seen as immature and to not be serious about much.
Zac goes against this representation of age as he doesn't appear to have many, if any, friends and is shown to live a very isolated lifestyle.
Another representation of age is the 'geeky' type of boy. Not many boys pictured above would also be pictured studying in most media products. This shows a big contrast in two different representations of the same age group.
Zac supports this representation and goes against it at the same time as he looks like he is interested in academics as he is reading a book about psychology in the beginning of our film. He goes against it however as it is not clear that this is actually what he is doing, he is not shown to be at university.
An example of a representation in a real media product:
Lucas is portrayed as being geeky and shy, into school and extra-curricular activities such as the Yearbook club. He is shy and not good at confessing how he really feels.
This is similar to Zac as he is extremely shy and timid and will not readily talk to anyone else. This could show how he fits the 'geeky' representation of a young adult.
Caleb is manly, handsome and often gets himself into trouble. This is similar to the very first representation of age I described.
This is similar to Zac and Zabel as Zac sees Zabel as a threat to his freedom. This fits the representation of age that the more popular, mischievous boys are superior and more powerful than the geekier, more intelligent and shy characters.
Evaluation: Question one
This is a Prezi with our nine shots and explanation of how they develop, challenge or conform to our genre.
CONVENTIONS:
NARRATIVE:
This is an explanation of Torodov's Narrative Theory and in-depth explanation of our 'equilibrium'. There is also a picture from 'The Double' which is a film we used for inspiration.
This is a comparison of Torodov's Narrative Theory using The Double and our media product, Parallel. As we couldn't fill in all the sections for the Theory, we included some ideas of the direction the film could take if we made the whole thing.
This is another example of applying Narrative Theories to our media product with Barthes and Levi-Strauss.
CHARACTERS:
Zabel: I would say that Zabel is quite stereotypical character as alter-ego's are rarely portrayed as helpful or even angelic like. This challenges the genre as I said before, the characters are not supposed to be stereotypical.
Possible music choices
I have been researching music choices for films similar to ours and have come up with a few ideas. I think the choices i have chosen would work well with our film and genre as they are all quite high pitched but also quite chilled out which matches part of the film opening.
Arrival of the birds Cinematic Orchestra
Time Inception
To Build a Home Cinematic Orchestra
Requiem for a dream
Fonts and titles
This is a practice of our titles. Olivia researched titles on films that related to ours and found how each title was presented. She then tried the fonts and sizes out and made sure they worked for our film opening sequence. As a group we also thought they matched the genre of our film which would create a successful opening.
However after the class feedback we realised the fonts we had used didn't look very good and we took them for granted as we didn't actually think titles would be that important compared to the importance of the actual film opening. The titles we included were the wrong sizes and they also didn't last as long as they should have done. Everyone else in the class had also taken the titles for granted as no one realised how important they were throughout the film openings. Due to this, Olivia spent time changing them and using different sizes and styles to come out with the best possible outcome. We are now very happy with the fonts chosen and think they improve the opening sequence by a lot.
Institutions Task
Film Four
Film Four is a British film institution company that is owned and operated by Channel 4 Television Corporation and it has screened many films. It has also distributed many successful films such as Casino Royal, Slumdog Millionaire, Shaun of the Dead, The Double and Shallow Grave. These are the two films that have been inspiring us for our film opening. Film 4 has a niche, mature audiences which we intend to aim our film at. The main reason we decided to use Film 4 as our distributor is because we have modeled our film around The Double and Shallow Grave which were both produced/ distributed by Film 4. This means that they have experience in similar films to ours which helps things like marketing.
New Line Cinema
Founded: 1967
New Line produced the Oscar Award-Winning The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Some others of its most popular films include The Mask, The Austin Powers titles, Hairspray, Rush Hour, Elf, Sex and the City and Wedding Crashers. Since 2008 (when it became a unit of Warner Bros) the company has seen the most successful period in its history.
Like Film 4, New Line Cinema aims its films at a more of a sophisticated audience. This is one of the reasons we want New Line Cinema to help produce and distribute our film. It can help us greatly in advertising to the right audience. Also because of its success it will help us advertise on a large scale.
Audience Research
This is our audience research. This shows various ages of people we think may be interested in our film and it also shows a child, who would not be interested in our film. We have given reasons as to why they wouldn't enjoy it.
Individual Film Pitch
This is my individual film pitch. the genre i chose was romance as it was different to everyone else's pitch in my group.
Student opening
ROSES ARE RED
I thought that the different use of materials to show who was involved for the making of the film worked really well and linked in with the genre of the film. However i also thought it was quite boring as it didnt really have a point. The beginning of the opening with the credits all worked well but the second half came across as quite random as it suddenly mentions something about being used whereas in the beginning, nothing was mentioned about boys or being used. The genre seemed a bit confused and not thought through well enough as it was difficult to identify the genre. If they used different music i think it would have been more successful as i found the music quite annoying which made me want to stop watching it whereas it should have the opposite effect.
GEMINI
The sound is very poor quality and it didnt make much sense as the most important part of the opening took place in the first few seconds. This meant it was very difficult to understand as it all happened so quick. However the locations used were very varied and interesting which improved the opening in general. To improve this opening they should have better sound quality. This would make it easier to understand what is going on. They also should think about moving the most important part of the opening to later on so it can be interpreted in the right way rather than confusing people.
MOTHER AND I
When watching this opening I didn't really understand the story line until it had finished. It all happened fast with no explanation through actions. There was also no introduction of the characters so when the little boy and his 'mum' were sitting together, their relation wasn't very clear. However the use of the props they used were good. For example the monopoly board. It was present in both scenes, the scene with the boy as a child and also the scene with the grown man watching TV. I didn't actually understand the part where he was brushing the woman's hair until I had watched the opening about three times. To improve this I think more time should have been spent thinking through the story line and also the sound needed to be clearer to hear the vital line which would help watchers understand it.
Representation
Stereotypes...
Media institutions use stereotypes because the audience will instantly understand them. Stereotypes are basically just a 'visual shortcut'. Because they are repeated so often, we assume that they are normal or 'true'.
Archetypes...
This is the ultimate stereotype. For example, the white stiletto wearing, big busted, brainless blonde bimbo.
Countertype...
This is a representation that challenges traditional associations of groups, people or places.
Representation...
The way in which people, events and ideas are presented to the audience.
To break it down, the media takes something that is already there and represents it to us in the way that they chose.
Representations are created by producers. What they choose to show us is controlled by the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper is any person involved in a media production with the power to make a decision about something the audience are allowed to read, hear or see. E.g a newspaper editor has the final say on what goes into a newspaper.
Moguls...
In the example of the newspaper editors decision, the decision can not be made freely and can be affected by technical issues and also by the kind of person who owns the newspaper. E.g the so-called media moguls, such as Rupert Murdoch
Who, what, why, where...
Who: what is being represented? Who is the preferred audience for this representation?
What: what are they doing? Is their activity presented as typical or atypical? Are they conforming to genre expectations or other conventions?
Why: why are they presented? What purpose do they serve? What are they communicating by their presence? Whats the preferred reading?
Where: where are they? How are they framed? Are they presented as natural or artificial? What surrounds them? What is the foreground and background?
The male gaze...
Cinema apparatus of Hollywood cinema puts the audience in a masculine subject position with the woman on the screen seen as an object of desire. Film and cinematography are structures upon ideas.
Protagonists tended to be men. Mulvey suggests two distinct modes of male gaze: 'voyeuristic (women as whores) and fetishist- woman as unreachable Madonna's' (Narcissistic women watching films see themselves reflected on the screen.)
How we treat people- Richard Dyer
Dyer argues that how we are seen determines how we are treated and how we treat other people is based around how we see them. This comes from our understanding of representation.
He believes that stereotypes come down to power. Those who have power stereotype those who don't.
Myths- Roland Borthes
Media institutions use stereotypes because the audience will instantly understand them. Stereotypes are basically just a 'visual shortcut'. Because they are repeated so often, we assume that they are normal or 'true'.
Archetypes...
This is the ultimate stereotype. For example, the white stiletto wearing, big busted, brainless blonde bimbo.
Countertype...
This is a representation that challenges traditional associations of groups, people or places.
Representation...
The way in which people, events and ideas are presented to the audience.
To break it down, the media takes something that is already there and represents it to us in the way that they chose.
Representations are created by producers. What they choose to show us is controlled by the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper is any person involved in a media production with the power to make a decision about something the audience are allowed to read, hear or see. E.g a newspaper editor has the final say on what goes into a newspaper.
Moguls...
In the example of the newspaper editors decision, the decision can not be made freely and can be affected by technical issues and also by the kind of person who owns the newspaper. E.g the so-called media moguls, such as Rupert Murdoch
Who, what, why, where...
Who: what is being represented? Who is the preferred audience for this representation?
What: what are they doing? Is their activity presented as typical or atypical? Are they conforming to genre expectations or other conventions?
Why: why are they presented? What purpose do they serve? What are they communicating by their presence? Whats the preferred reading?
Where: where are they? How are they framed? Are they presented as natural or artificial? What surrounds them? What is the foreground and background?
The male gaze...
Cinema apparatus of Hollywood cinema puts the audience in a masculine subject position with the woman on the screen seen as an object of desire. Film and cinematography are structures upon ideas.
Protagonists tended to be men. Mulvey suggests two distinct modes of male gaze: 'voyeuristic (women as whores) and fetishist- woman as unreachable Madonna's' (Narcissistic women watching films see themselves reflected on the screen.)
How we treat people- Richard Dyer
Dyer argues that how we are seen determines how we are treated and how we treat other people is based around how we see them. This comes from our understanding of representation.
He believes that stereotypes come down to power. Those who have power stereotype those who don't.
Myths- Roland Borthes
Prezi
Before we made our film we spent a while planning. This is the Prezi I made. This shows all the steps we took to making our film.
Prelim task
Self Evaluation
I worked with Olivia Seymour and Bonnie Fitch. Each group was assigned a genre. We got horror, i was glad we got horror as I thought it would be a challenge but also good ideas could come from horror. We got into our group and decided on a basic storyline and characters etc. Bonnie filmed and Olivia and I were mainly featured. I was the main character and Liv was the secondary character. We took a while to think about the storyline to make sure the genre was obvious to the people watching.
2) How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use? What theories did you try to take in to account?
When we got into our groups we planned the story line then added a script to match. We then created a storyboard with all our planned shots on. For example, where we would shoot it, what lighting we would need, how long we would do each shot for to make it interesting for the person watching. We tried to think about the genre and how to make it evident but also scary and mysterious.
3) What technology did you use to complete the task, and how did you use it?
To complete the task we used one of the schools video cameras which we recorded all shots on. We also used our phones to create the flashing effects in the first and end scene and also used the computers at school with premiere, this is what we used to edit what we had filmed and how we actually put the film together as one long clip.
4) What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?
We had to take into account how to actually go about making a horror film as none of us had done it before. As we had to film during the school day it was quite difficult due to the lighting, horror films usually feature low key lighting and eerie settings. We only had around school/ out the front of school to set the film so we had to think carefully about where would have worked best for our genre. We had to think about all the shots we were going to use and how to incorporate them into our filming. When we actually came to shooting it took a few practices to get used to the video camera as none of us had filmed before. We also had to re-do quite a lot of scenes as I kept laughing and couldn't take the part seriously. When editing we used premiere. As I haven't used it in a while it took me a while to start using all the effects etc on all the different scenes but once I knew what I was doing I finished the editing quite quickly and am pleased with my outcome.
5) How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/do differently? What did others say about your production?
6) What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework, do you think?
From completing this task I have learnt how to prepare to film for a specific task what we need to do. E.g plan the script and timings etc, it is also very useful to have a storyboard to refer back to at each different scene. I also had more practice using Premiere which will help me in the long run when doing more filming and editing. What I have learnt with this task will definitely help me when completing the rest of the foundation coursework as I will know how to use the video camera and also how to edit. Knowing how much time to spend on planning will also be useful and it will mean I wont waste valuable filming/ editing time.
Peer evaluation
Using film language
Using film language
Cape Fear
Camera
•Zoom out
•Tilt down
•Level/ crane
Sound
•Tension building music/ dramatic
•Contrapuntal
•Non diegetic
•On screen
•Build up of tension
Mise En Scene
•Shirt
•Day light
•Books
•Prison/ cells
UP
Camera
•Zoom in and out
Sound
•Positive, upbeat music
•Contrapuntal
•Non diegetic
•On screen
•Starts happy and positive, dulls down and begins to get sad
•Dialogue is happy to sad
Mise En Scene
•Dress down when young, gets smarter as the couple get older
•Daylight/ low level lighting when it begins to get dull and sad
•In their house they drew a picture of when they were younger, dream to go to Paradise Falls
Cape Fear
Camera
•Zoom out
•Tilt down
•Level/ crane
Sound
•Tension building music/ dramatic
•Contrapuntal
•Non diegetic
•On screen
•Build up of tension
Mise En Scene
•Shirt
•Day light
•Books
•Prison/ cells
UP
Camera
•Zoom in and out
Sound
•Positive, upbeat music
•Contrapuntal
•Non diegetic
•On screen
•Starts happy and positive, dulls down and begins to get sad
•Dialogue is happy to sad
Mise En Scene
•Dress down when young, gets smarter as the couple get older
•Daylight/ low level lighting when it begins to get dull and sad
•In their house they drew a picture of when they were younger, dream to go to Paradise Falls
Film language
Film Language
Camera...
Camera...
- Frame
- Angle
- Movement
- Low, level, high/ Birdseye and Wormseye
- Tilt up, Tilt down
- Pan left, Pan right
- Tracking- whole room/ whole camera moves
- Static- camera is still
- Zoom in, Zoom out
- Crane shot
- Costume
- Lighting
- Actors
- Make up
- Props
- Setting
- Music- genre/ what materials used to listen to music
- Contrapuntal- when the music does not match the images. E.g childrens nursery rhymes
- Parallel- when the music does match with the images/ shot
- Diegetic- background noises heard when filming
- Non-Diegetic- sounds put over what's been filmed
- Off-screen- sounds heard but not seen
- On-screen- sounds heard and seen in shot
- Voiceover- talking over scene/ what's been filmed
- Emotion- the way the outcome makes you feel
- Dialogue- the way the characters speak. E.g danger, anger, jealousy etc
- Transition- straight out, dissolve, slide out/ in
- Order of narrative- flashbacks, dream sequences etc
- Pace- how fast each shot is
- SFX- special effects
- Graphic Matches. E.g one door opening going into one door closing/ same thing, different scene
Media key concepts
Media Key Concepts...
Forms and Conventions
Forms and Conventions
- Genre
- Narrative
- Textual Analysis
- Camera
- Edit
- Mise En Scene
- Class
- Age
- Gender
- Ethnicity
- Sexuality
- Warner Bro's
- Disney/ Pixar
- Sony
- 20th Century Fox
- Universal
- Paramount
- MGM
- Lions gate
- C
- A
- G
- E
- R
- S
Institution Task
Institution task
Here is my logo, i like it as it actually relates to filming and recording videos. I couldn't think of an original name hence why i used my last name.
Here is my logo, i like it as it actually relates to filming and recording videos. I couldn't think of an original name hence why i used my last name.
Juno Task
STORY BOARDS
You are editing your own footage, how did the filming go?
I think the filming for our Juno task went well. We only had the hour of the lesson to do the filming so I think what we did in that time was quite successful. However I thought the filming side of it was actually quite difficult as it was hard to know when to stop filming or when to change the angle etc. One scene when Juno walks forwards, toward the camera- the camera then pans up and focus' on telephone wires. The way we filmed this was quite unsuccessful I thought as it didn't really look like the actual Juno scene, however if we had practiced filming more it would have been a lot more successful.
Was your storyboard accurate?
Our storyboard was accurate when it came to what shots to do after the previous one, however what wasn't very clear was the settings ad how long to film each shot for. Luckily we had written down timings for each recording or it would have been a complete guess. Our story board wasn't very detailed as I didn't think we would need it as much as we actually did. We focused more on the writing of the story board rather than the drawings, however we came to realise that the pictures were actually quite important too. The settings were quite important for the filming too but we hadn't really written down much detail into where we would film each part of the film so that was also quite difficult.
What were your strengths and weaknesses in the group?
The strengths in our group was the agreeing of where we would film and how we would make it similar to the original Juno task. The weaknesses started when our storyboards weren't very detailed and we had to improvise with our filming. However I don't think this really affected the overall outcome of our filming.
Did you get all the footage you wanted?
I think we managed our time well in the hour and got all the footage we needed, done. If we had more time I would have liked to re-do a few scenes and make them more similar to the original Juno task. However I do think what we got, matched quite well. We could have used more props and made it more like the actual film but we didn't really have time to plan in that much detail. But I think that we made use of the schools props (guitar, chair) well. I also think we could have made it better if we were allowed out of the school area, however I am relatively happy with what we did film.
What technical skills - camera and premiere - did you learn?
To do this task we used premiere, as I had only used it once before I didn't really know how to edit some of the footage and had to play around with most of the features before I got them how I wanted them. I learnt how to drag the effect wanted onto the audio/ video and it would apply it to that part of the recording.
How does it compare to the original?
I think our clip compares quite well to the original opening. There were some parts that we couldn't make the same whether we tried to or not. For example the group of people that run past 'Juno'. We didn't really have much of a choice where to film so we had to make do with what we had. This obviously affected how the two filming's compared. However I think what we did was quite good and seeing the two openings together would have quite a lot of similarities.
What went well - What I learnt - What I will take with me to the next production
I think the filming went well as the video camera was fairly easy to use. I think Jimmy was good at mimicking the original video which made it successful. I learnt how to use premiere a bit more which made the video effects more alike with the original Juno opening. For the next production I will take with me the skills I learnt to use Premiere and I will also remember how important it is to do a detailed storyboard as it will make the production a lot easier to plan out.
You are editing your own footage, how did the filming go?
I think the filming for our Juno task went well. We only had the hour of the lesson to do the filming so I think what we did in that time was quite successful. However I thought the filming side of it was actually quite difficult as it was hard to know when to stop filming or when to change the angle etc. One scene when Juno walks forwards, toward the camera- the camera then pans up and focus' on telephone wires. The way we filmed this was quite unsuccessful I thought as it didn't really look like the actual Juno scene, however if we had practiced filming more it would have been a lot more successful.
Was your storyboard accurate?
Our storyboard was accurate when it came to what shots to do after the previous one, however what wasn't very clear was the settings ad how long to film each shot for. Luckily we had written down timings for each recording or it would have been a complete guess. Our story board wasn't very detailed as I didn't think we would need it as much as we actually did. We focused more on the writing of the story board rather than the drawings, however we came to realise that the pictures were actually quite important too. The settings were quite important for the filming too but we hadn't really written down much detail into where we would film each part of the film so that was also quite difficult.
What were your strengths and weaknesses in the group?
The strengths in our group was the agreeing of where we would film and how we would make it similar to the original Juno task. The weaknesses started when our storyboards weren't very detailed and we had to improvise with our filming. However I don't think this really affected the overall outcome of our filming.
Did you get all the footage you wanted?
I think we managed our time well in the hour and got all the footage we needed, done. If we had more time I would have liked to re-do a few scenes and make them more similar to the original Juno task. However I do think what we got, matched quite well. We could have used more props and made it more like the actual film but we didn't really have time to plan in that much detail. But I think that we made use of the schools props (guitar, chair) well. I also think we could have made it better if we were allowed out of the school area, however I am relatively happy with what we did film.
What technical skills - camera and premiere - did you learn?
To do this task we used premiere, as I had only used it once before I didn't really know how to edit some of the footage and had to play around with most of the features before I got them how I wanted them. I learnt how to drag the effect wanted onto the audio/ video and it would apply it to that part of the recording.
How does it compare to the original?
I think our clip compares quite well to the original opening. There were some parts that we couldn't make the same whether we tried to or not. For example the group of people that run past 'Juno'. We didn't really have much of a choice where to film so we had to make do with what we had. This obviously affected how the two filming's compared. However I think what we did was quite good and seeing the two openings together would have quite a lot of similarities.
What went well - What I learnt - What I will take with me to the next production
I think the filming went well as the video camera was fairly easy to use. I think Jimmy was good at mimicking the original video which made it successful. I learnt how to use premiere a bit more which made the video effects more alike with the original Juno opening. For the next production I will take with me the skills I learnt to use Premiere and I will also remember how important it is to do a detailed storyboard as it will make the production a lot easier to plan out.
Practise edit
Practise Edit
Practise edit: Music video/ James Bond.
This is my practice edit. The software I used to create this was Adobe Premiere Pro. I enjoyed editing this clips once I got the hang of the software. I had never used it before we did the practice edit so didn't know what to do and found it quite difficult to start with. The first task we got given was to put images and dancing animals behind audio and create a music video. I used the song 'Get Ready' for this task. We had to play around with all the tools to edit the images in the best way possible to match the music. The next thing we had to do was to edit James Bond clips into the theme tunes or even cut out the music and play the talking with the clips. I played around with all the tools which is how I came out with my final outcome of the edit. I learnt to fade out the audio and to flash back to either black or white. I think this would have been more successful if I was to have my own footage as I would know when I wanted to crop/ cut it etc.
This is my practice edit. The software I used to create this was Adobe Premiere Pro. I enjoyed editing this clips once I got the hang of the software. I had never used it before we did the practice edit so didn't know what to do and found it quite difficult to start with. The first task we got given was to put images and dancing animals behind audio and create a music video. I used the song 'Get Ready' for this task. We had to play around with all the tools to edit the images in the best way possible to match the music. The next thing we had to do was to edit James Bond clips into the theme tunes or even cut out the music and play the talking with the clips. I played around with all the tools which is how I came out with my final outcome of the edit. I learnt to fade out the audio and to flash back to either black or white. I think this would have been more successful if I was to have my own footage as I would know when I wanted to crop/ cut it etc.
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