As Opening Sequence

Prelim Task

Q.7 Evaluation

Q.7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Preliminary Brief: Film and edit a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character. A couple of lines of dialogue must then exchanged between characters & match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule should be demonstrated.

Main Task: The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes (all video and audio material must be original, produced by candidates, with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source)

The preliminary task was basically a warm up to our main task, just so we learnt some vital skills which would have a positive effect on our main task. Also in the first task the objectives were so limited, whereas the in the main task we had to complete more objectives add copy right free music which made the task more of a project, which subsequently made our groups more eager to succeed.

Pre Production:

In the preliminary task our pre production was done quite quickly and without much thought, to be fair it was quite rushed. Our treatment was pretty basic we wanted to a clip which was quite dramatic and exciting, and we decided to go with a story line of an affair which was cliché but a good idea. In our main task our treatment was much more detailed we had more of an background story, it  also had a lot more elements within init in the sense that we talked about sound, and the visual image of things a lot more and also the Mise En Scene. In the preliminary task we didn’t have much chemistry as a group, so when it came to rehearsing we didn’t bother much to organise it properly, which meant we couldn’t function well together when it came to filming we wasted vital time discussing past issues. Also when we did rarely meet up to rehearse it was short and far in-between which meant not much productivity had taken place and by the next meeting we forget what we was doing, so on the day of filming we made a lot of things up from scratch like our positioning, and some dialogue. In the main task the group worked together much better from the beginning perhaps this was due to natural chemistry, or because we knew how important this main task was, either way we worked much better as a team. We rehearsed regularly and for longer periods of time during free lessons, after school, and lunch times. This time around it was as if everyone had commitment, and when one person was down someone was always there to raise spirits which is important in a group.

In our preliminary task we barely had a shooting schedule as a team we didn’t really feel it was important and we paid know interest, we made one rushed version but we lost it, we didn’t take care of it or do to a high standard because we hadn’t grabbed the purpose of it, but when it came to filming we came to realise how important it was. In our story we had multiple shots in the same location but at different times in the story, but because we didn’t have a shooting schedule we didn’t shoot all the shots at the same time, which wasted valuable time and messed up our continuity, so because time was of a minimum we had to rush some shots which subsequently lead to a poorer quality of film. Although in the main task we did make a shooting schedule and stuck to it, so in doing this we saved time and kept continuity under control which was part of the reason our main task was more successful than the preliminary task.

Production:

Location was a big problem for our group in the preliminary task because we choose a very busy venue for a fair proportion of our film which in a waiting room. We didn’t check the place out before filming we just assumed it would be free and available to use. When it came to filming we had so many distractions that the actor and actress’s couldn’t perform to the best of there abilities, which wasted a large portion of time to say the least. Due to the heavy distractions and our bad judgement we had to move location and start filming again, which was a big hassle and caused arguments and conflicts within the group, but this problem was our fault so we had to face the consequences of putting in extra time. Our location for the main task was much more sensible you could argue this change of location was only due to our storyline, but I learnt a lot from our earlier mistakes of our previous location, also when we was choosing our location we visited it at 3 different times of the day so we gather if it is practical, our new location was underground and we had know real disturbances which meant we could get on with our filming.

 In our preliminary task we had very basic of shots and a small variety at that, so when it came to editing we couldn’t change any shoots and add small changes to the look of the clip. Which is not good because often whilst editing you come up with loads of good ideas to make the clip better but due to the lack of shots you become very limited in choice, and also you could feel you have a good shot when filming but during post production realise it wasn’t as good as first thought, then you have a big problem which could lead to a very bad grade. Whilst we was doing our main task our mistakes from the prelim made us able to combat similar potential problems, during filming we took the same shots numerous times, and we also took the same shot from various angles, which meant when it came to editing we had a variety of optunities and avenues to take make while making our film. During our prelim task we didn’t have a lot of cut away shots which made our clip less interesting and fun to watch, we didn’t know the importance of a cut away shots and what it adds to a film, which is anticipation, and excitement. On the other hand while we was filming our main task we had took many cut away shots which is very crucial in making a good film.

Continuity wasn’t really a problem for my groups in both my prelim and main task, mainly because the importance of keeping it was stressed and we also thought it logic to it. Although in the prelim task well lost concentration and drive to keep it going near the end, which could have been fatal for us but wasn’t perhaps due to luck. But in the main task continuity became second nature and we kept on top it very capably.

Post Production:

During the prelim task I didn’t do as much as I could in post production I feel this is because I did so much with the acting side of things, and the re production, I  also wasn’t to comfortable with the equipment. From this a lot of controversy arose, which meant the group was at arms and it seemed everyone was against me. I feel this problem could’ve of been avoided quite easily if the group had better chemistry and if we discussed things more. In the main I felt as if it was my duty to do a lot of post production because of my limited work in this department in the previous task, so I put a lot work in staying after school, free periods, and lunch times. I made the production names, I found the music, and sound effects, and I also put most of the effects into the film, but it was a group effort. During the post production of both projects I learnt many things such as how to add sound, increase or decrease it; I also learnt how to add transitions, and visual effects and much more. I did learn more in the main task because it was a much bigger and important projects and I also spent much more time on it. During the prelim post production I rushed to try and complete editing, but in the main task we took much more time and went through things properly in the aim to get as close and we could to perfection. You can even see by the quality of both clips that we put more effort and time into the main task.

Feedback was a help in our main task, and I feel our opening sequences wouldn’t have been of the same quality if we didn’t take the feedback on board, at the time when people gave feedback it hurt and it was as if someone was tearing our film apart, because you begin to look at your film as a baby, but when you let your pride down you can see the improvement that most pieces of feedback make. For example when I was choosing the backing track for our film my teacher said I should change the music to something more airy; when I did I honestly saw the difference and how much better the film sounded. In our prelim task we didn’t get much feedback but when we did we didn’t take them on board due to our immaturity and naivety, which made our film lack. Also in the main task we added credits which just made our film look more real, so it didn’t just look like a classroom amateur product like our prelim task.

All in all from the prelim task I have learnt to do and not to do a lot of things, these lessons learnt enabled our main task to be more of a success.

Q.3 Evaluation

Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

A film distributor is a person or company which is held responsible for releasing a film. It can be released for the cinema, on DVD’s, T.V or any main media output. The first process of distributing a film is agreeing a contract with the film makers, then the distribution company shows the movie to prospect buyers, they negotiate to find a good deal. Then the theatre shows the movie for a certain amount of time, and then we the viewers then buy a ticket to watch our favourite films. At the end of the engagement, the theatre sends a message of all the viewers and makes payment on the lease agreement.

When a film is distributed it has to be advertised globally, without advertisment the film will be unkown and then nobody would view your film. There are many ways of advertisment likew through word of mouth, newspapers, the intermet, posters, trailers etc. Also placing a film in a popular cinema is a good form of advertisment wich is a part of distribution. The Bethnal Green entertainment centre Rich Mix http://www.richmix.org.uk/shows a variety of arts such as poetrty, dance, thatre and most importanly film. This would be a good place to distribute my film because they are a very cultural based company, and our film is very cultural geographically and socially wich makes our film ‘Forsaken’ suitable.

My film ‘FORSAKEN’ is a low budget independent student film, it is not well known so it will not be shown in cinemas or big T.V stations such as Odeon or Sky Drama. My cast is of a low budget and it is not holding any household names like Will Smith, or Johnny Depp which would get more viewers intrested. Subsequently when distributing our film it will have to be low budget and finically realistic. Although  this is the case, independent production companies and major studiocompanies compete for a chance to show there products in the cinemas, which still gives a chance to less financially able but more artistic directors to get there film placed in the cinemas.

Dogwoof pictures http://www.dogwoof.com/which could be a suitbale choice of distribution for our film the film distributour company based in the U.K, it is an independent company formed in 2004. The films Dogwoof distributed were films such as ‘Mouth to Mouth(2005) and ‘Kings Game’(2004) which are very low budget independent films similar to our ‘Forsaken’. They are a very sucessful independent film company winning awards at the BIFAs for there films ‘Enemies of the  People’ and Mugabe and the White African, for best documentary this year and last. The good work of the company has also been acknowledged by the Daily Telegraph saying ‘’London-based film-distribution company Dogwoof has carved out an impressive reputation for itself as a purveyor of timely and incisive social-issues documentaries’’ which is a big compliment and more reason for this company to distribute our film.

Youtube is an video http://www.youtube.com/sharing site which is financiallysuitable for our film and is very popular around the world, it is also profitable if you obtain a certain amount of video views. It is said that there are 200 million videos on youtube, and countless views which means that are film has a good chance of beeing viewed.

Another institutution which may be intreseted in distributing our film is The British Film Institution(BFI) this is an charitable organisation established by Royal chater to encourage the art of  film making, televison and moving pictures in the United Kingdom. The company own both the IMAX and the BFI southbank surround ing the river thames. The BFI Southbank shows films from all over the world particularly critically-acclaimed historical & specialised films that may not otherwise get a cinema showing. They also distribute archival and cultural cinema to other cinemas, to around 800 venues a year arouss the United Kingdom. They distributed the 1968 classic ‘Stolen Kisses’ which had a low relatively low budget like our film ‘Forsaken’.

Channel 4’s Film 4 http://www.film4.com/productions is a type of film distributour in that you can watch films on there website and on the television channel, they also encourage short films like our film ‘Forsaken’ which is great because they will be experts at  distributing our type of film.The short films Film 4 have distributed are ‘Kingsland’ and ‘Hallo Panda’. They also show full films which have low budgets like Peter Mullans ‘Neds’ which is similar to our film. Film 4 is also well known and big in the U.K wich is our predominate market, also on the 20^th july 2010 the channle was placed on Virgin Media which is a massive to T.V  providers, which subsequently means more exsposure.

All in all getting you film distributed is a very long and hard task, distributours don’t want to distribute your film unless there sure of large profits. And making an agreement with both parties and there are a lot precedures which have to be taken up such as licensing, marketing, copyright and logistics. The company I would perfer to distribute my film is Film 4 because they have helped many short films and also British low budget films, and also they are very popular in te U.K.

Prelim Task

Q.6 Evaluation

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

In constructing our product I used a lot of technologies. The first piece of technology I used was a Cannon camera xAHI this piece of equipment is the most important in making a film, without it you couldn’t record any pictures.  The quality of the camera is of a high standard I really enjoyed using it because it is compact, portable and reasonably easy to operate. The downfall to this piece of equipment is that the battery life is not great, in that it dies easily. Also the camera movement is not smoothest and it can be difficult to keep up with human movement so we began to line up the shots so the actor can walk into the space of the camera, which made it easier to catch the actor’s movement. We learnt to use this piece of technology in lessons and through our Preliminary task where we made a short scene. We also used a clapper board which is not very hi-Tec but it is very helpful in making a film. The main role of a clapper board is to act like a bookmark, so when it comes to editing you don’t have go through hours of film just look at the start of a scene and see if it was a good take or not. It is pretty easy to use these pieces of equipment you just have to write what shot, scene and take it is on the board and hold it up in view of the camera, and clap it after every shot. The only real negative I found was that it is tiring, and a boring job. For sound we used a windshield system which is a container used for the microphone when filming, it is also used as form protection from wind for the microphone. Attached to this a boompole which is used to hold the microphone it is nice, long, and handy to collect the slightest forms of sound with out being in the picture. It is very easy to use but it is tiring to have to hold it up and keep it still for long periods of time. In the windshield system is a Seinsheise microphone which is used to magnify sound while recording. There are many benefits of using a microphone such as it gives you clearer sound, and it picks up even little pieces of sound. The only real negative is that it picks up sounds you don’t want but are beyond your control. For the positing of the camera we used a          lipec sl200 tripod which is like a triangular based pole. It is good and crucial in making a film because you have to set your spirit level which means your camera is level when filming. A tripod gives you steady pictures, which your hands couldn’t give you. It is easy to position and it left me more time to think about the technical side of boxing, than worry if I’m holding the camera still. It is a great piece of technology but it becomes annoying when you have to keep packing it down, then putting it back up and also then checking the spirit level.

When it came to the post production the editing software I used was Adobe premier c54, and Adobe aftereffects. Adobe premier was the piece of editing software I used. I had been taught through previous lessons and our Preliminary task how to use the software so I was accustomed to it. I needed to use this software because I needed to edit, editing is very important  it gives you a chance to add special effects, titles, and music and without out film is just a bunch of rushes that are not necessary in order or make sense. The benefits of this software are that there are a lot of effects and it is relatively easy to operate. The only real negative is that the editing on this software is time consuming, but I feel that’s with all film editing software. I have learnt that editing is very frustrating and that it is always good to have a break every 45minutes to refresh your brain and take your mind off it.  The only other editing software I used was an Adobe aftereffect which was used in making my production name which is ‘FaithFilms’. 

The filming techniques I have learnt during this production are endless; I learnt things like shot reverse shots to show reactions which are useful while filming conversations, panning shots to establish things or to show something to a deeper depth for longer. I also learnt about the over the shoulder shot, reaction shots, and the purpose of cut away’ s in a film which is to stop the viewers from getting board of watching one thing, tilts for more interesting angles and positions, low angle to create power in a actor/actress or thing and the necessity of having total shot of every scene.

The editing techniques I have learnt are to a cut and clips and put them into order, I have learnt how to use and apply different to a film and the benefits they give. I also know how to raise and lower different the elements of sound via sound mixer. I also know how to use the black and white effect which is one the effects we used in our film, I used this to make our film look scarier, depressing, and boring. I learnt how to add in and take out shots and graphics in my film, which I did a lot in my production especially when I inserted my production name which was done on another piece of software (Adobe After effects). I also learnt how to digitize clips and put them unto the computer software, throughout this task I have learnt and acquired bundles of skills and techniques.

The key lessons I have learnt while using the technology and equipment are that at times as good as technology is it can its problems and at times it can be temperamental, for example the camera could just not turn, and the spirit level can just feel impossible to set, or the tripod could be jammed and when filming this could possibly hinder your performance. Also I have learnt that you should always try your equipment out perform you go off site to perform because if you are missing something, or something is not working properly, you probably waste time in going back to get the equipment or change equipment which again may waste valuable time.

Q.5 Evaluation

Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

My film ‘FORSAKEN’ is a very sad and dramatic and is for a younger target audience 15-25 years of age. If we had advertising posters the posters would be on the side of buses in popular areas where there are a lot of secondary schools to grab the attention of my primary target audience. Since my film is very urban and street related I would also put my advertising posters where a lot of young people go like outside big shopping malls such as Lakeside and Westfield. Also I would put out outside stores like Footlocker and JD because a lot of young people go there to shop, from the same target audience as my own so this will be a suitable place for my poster.  Due to the fact that Blackberry’s are so popular among youth today I would send posters to every contact through the Blackberry services to catch there attention, I would also do this on Facebook for the same reasons.

My film ‘FORSAKEN’ has many elements which attract my target audience and they go as followed:

• In the first of my opening sequence we see a pan shot, in this motion my production name ‘Faith Films’ appears. It fades into the shot which adds a mystery effect to this shot which leaves audience thinking what’s going to happen next.
• In the next shot we see a female walking down the stairs; the camera actually follows her so for audience it feels like they are walking behind the actress. This effect makes the audience feel as if they are a part of the film, so the audience will find it easier to connect with the film.
• In the next shot will maintain the element of disguise by not showing the actress’s face, this makes the audience want to watch on so they can discover who the actress is. I feel the shadow on the floor caused by lighting also adds a mystery affect because you can only see a figure on the floor. This shot is very dramatic in that it leaves the audience guessing, and questioning.
• The mise en scene of the surroundings of the character, it is very dirty and unhygienic which makes the opening sequence more exciting and different, if the place was neat and tidy it would be in the ordinary. Also the surroundings make us question why she is in this dingy looking building, and her motives for being there.
• I feel the title shot creates pictures in the viewers head of the word forsaken, it attracts the audience because nearly everyone has been forsaken, so everyone can conjure up there memory of when they were forsaken. It was written in talcum powder which I feel is very original and is done in a cheap everyday product, which links with our film because our film is far from flashy and so is our title.
• The black and white effect added in post production puts a dark feel to the film, and gives a vision of how dark and depressing the world of the character is in. I feel many of the target audience can relate to the similar feelings and emotions in the film, which makes it suitable for them.
• The shots of the drug taking are very dramatic and sad to most viewers which makes my film very attractive because people like it when there emotions are tampered with, the close-ups bring the viewers closer to the action which makes them feel as id they are apart of the film. Also the prop of the baby picture really the sequence more depressing and upsetting because of the purity and naivety of a child who has died. The highlighted pictures of the child show that it is significant in the storyline. The sounds of the baby represent the cry of Lauren’s late daughter, which is significant because it subsequently push the Lauren to suicide; this will attract mothers because they share the same motherly love.
•  The slow pan up the mothers are builds tension because the audience are questioning themselves on is she dead or not, but as shot goes up the arm reality is setting in that the character Lauren is dead, this bit tension makes the film more compelling and makes the film more complex then just sad but exciting as well.
• The flat line at the end signifies the end of Lauren’s life, it is probably not what the audience wanted but it does give a good example of the harshness of life and I feel that is what the primary audience and secondary audience will like most about the sequence, especially the secondary because they probably don’t see these types of issues first hand perhaps only through media outlets.
• The costume of the main character Lauren Ealing in the opening sequence is very urban, and it is the types of clothes that many young adults 13 – 19 were today. So this sort of clothing will invite young adults to watch it because they feel comfortable with what the character is wearing, and also the audience will be more able to connect with the main character.

I feel the prior knowledge my primary target audience will have on a genre is drama, because drama is based around realism and I feel they will like reality more than anything else because of there lifestyles. In saying this I also feel they will enjoy comedy just like must people but in drama a small percentage of comedy lies. I feel they will know the basic codes and conventions of a drama such as depression, heartache, relationships, happiness, and love. From this I have put these codes and conventions in my film such as love between the mother Lauren and her daughter Cheryl, there is depression throughout the opening sequence from Lauren due to the death of her daughter. There is an obvious relationship between Lauren and Cheryl mother and daughters, so in my opening sequence I feel I gave my primary target audience what they expect from a drama.

The main themes in my film ‘FORSAKEN’ are love, depression, drug abuse, heartache, and suicide. These themes attract my audience because it is interesting in that we viewers like to see bad things happen to others for a thrill, and also because it is things which are going on in reality today. My primary audience mostly come from the same social class as the main characters in my film so they can relate to some of there predicaments and troubles the characters are encountering. Some of the successful films which incur the same themes are films like ‘TRAINSPOTTING’, ‘THE WIRE’, and ‘HUSTLE AND FLOW’, these are a few successful films which incur the same themes as my film ‘FORSAKEN.