Question 1:
In what ways does your Media Product use, develop or challenge forms or real media products?
We tried our best as a group to make our Media Peice as realistic as we possibly could.
I researched the usual conventions of British Film, this includes things such as Sexism, attitudes or behaviour based on traditional stereotypes of sexual roles.
Costumes; how we represented British film from our choice of costume.
I researched the usual conventions of British Film, this includes things such as Sexism, attitudes or behaviour based on traditional stereotypes of sexual roles.
- I belive we conveyed this through the role of 'Naughty Nancy.' Nancy was definetely given the easiest challenge of how to get the money. Where the boys were given tasks more focused on physical ability, Nancy just had to flutter her eyelashes a few times to distract the boys attention. I think this slightly patronises the ability of a girl. It suggests she was not trusted as being the only girl to do something more risky or important, which can be seen as downgrading. Nancy was also followed and 'watched' by her brother, this also links to her being patronised due to her gender because it suggests she is not capable of getting the money on her own. This is unfair, and links to more traditional stereotypes, when girls were seen to be physically and mentally weaker, and given the less important roles. Although, nowadays these beliefs are not as popular, there are still sterotypes and opinions today that relate to this but not so strongly. Today, there are female and male priminsters etc which show these opinions are in the process of changing.
- Another convention we lightly touched upon was alcohol and Drugs (cigarrettes). We tried to make our British Film project as less gritty as we possible could because we wanted to ensure that it was fun and enjoyable to watch. We only mentioned alcohol once through the Mise-en-Scene in the living room when the two characters at the beginning were playing Fifa. In a close up shot of the phone ringing we ensured there was Mise-en-Scene taken into account, we done this through placing an Ash Tray and Beer cans in the shot. This showed background to the characters, as it is not necessarily the right thing for them to be doing in the middle or the morning-day. This shows the tight of people they are, as they are supposed to be slightly rough, and rebellious. We did not want to focus on this aspect too much due to the rules and regulations of the Media Exam Board, and it can be seen as a sensitive subject especially for students of our age. So, for this we ensured that the alcahol and cigarrettes were not being used by any characters, they were just in the shots and scenes, to create good Mise-en-Scene, and scene.
- A popular topic for British Film is also poverty, we reflected this greatly in our project. The storyline of our piece is the group of young children who are commiting crimes in order to make money for their boss. At the end of the opening we realise that things do not always go to plan, and the boss did not give them any share or cut in the money. So this lead the young teenager to commit a crime against his own boss, by stealing his wallet. This is an example of poverty due to the extreme measures they have to go through to make money for their boss. The group of teenagers have to do risky and dangerous things in order to make money. This suggests that these characters are unemployed and do not have any other alternatives to crime to make money. The use of location also links to poverty because we ensured we chose a deprived, run-down and more urbanised area, which is usually of middle/ working class. For the teenagers we tried to chose a less made up and expensive looking house, to link to their background image and that not having much money. Fortuntately for us, one of our group members was moving house during the period of our filming. So even though it was a bit hectic, we tried to take this to our advantage, and film in this house because the rooms were full of boxes, and old furniture etc. which linked to the idea of the teenagers being in poverty. Which also contradicted the houses which they were breaking into, which looked alot more upper class, and valuable. Showing that the characters are wise, and smart, which makes viewers sympathise with them even more.
Costumes; how we represented British film from our choice of costume.
This is an example of the choice of clothing we used for our character. Starting the shoes, I am wearing normal trainers, not very expensive, linking to the wanted background image we were trying to create. This also meant that Nancy fitted in with the rest of her group, and it would look silly if she was to go out in stereotypical shoes for girls such as heels of ballet pumps. The whole reason behind our characters wearing tracksuits was to show the run-down and careless look. This showed that the characters were unthoughtful of the way they look, and it does not make them look very well presented and friendly. Our characters are similar to what people called today 'chavs', we were going for a rougher image for our characters. Which conveys to the criminal activity which the characters are committing. We also dressed Nancy in not very feminine closing to make sure she did not stick out within the group of boys, and fitted in with the surrounding location and area. This outfit suggested our characters were trouble makers as they present themselves badly which could reflect on their personality. Although it may be seen as a stereotype people usually committing crimes would be found in these sort of outfits, rather than suits and ties and designer clothes because then they would have less reason to need to steal. This highly contradicts the clothes Nancy wears later on in the film.
This is the way we chose to present Nancy when she was trying to 'impress' the man at the pub, in order to distract him and slyly grab his wallet. Here she is a lot more presentable, she looks a lot more 'girly' and appearance obsessed, which is a stereotype for girls nowadays. The intentions of this was to show the popular topic of sexism for British film Industry. Also, by the change of clothes it slightly touches the topic of male gaze, as she has been dressed up to try to distract the attention of another one of the characters in the project, so although she was not dressed promiscuously it was for the male gender. This whole outfit of a blazer smart jeans and a blouse, with her hair down and more make up shows a completely different side of Nancy. Even though she has had a harsh upbringing and she is rough, from this we can actually see that she fits in well with those of Upper Class status, which helps us to relate and sympathise with her even more as viewers. She looks very harmless in this manner, but this outfit change also shows the true harshness of society, because she had to change the way she looks and put a lot of effort in to appear attractive to a man, and it patronises women that they cannot be admired through inner beauty etc. Also, if Nancy would have not changed her costume, and turned up in her tracksuit and hoop earrings, she may have looked as if she was up to no good, because this was the kind of views we were trying to put across in the first scene.
Question 2:
How does your Media Product represent particular socail groups?
Throughout our Media Product, I believe we went against, and complied to different stereotypes of social groups, these include things such as age, gender, ethnicity, social class.
One example represented is social class, when the 4 main characters are firstly introduced, they are shown to be more lower/working class. As from the project you can see they live in estate-like areas, and they are wearing less expensive clothing, with no designer brands and logos. This contrasts and juxtaposes with the clothing and housing of the victims of theft. In one of the first scenes where the girl is mugged, she is wearing smart clothes, a blazer a nice top etc, as if she is on her way home from a nice paid job. She is also wearing a large necklace (which I now realize after watching this sequence over and over again and getting feedback should have been made more obvious) which gets stolen by one of the working class main characters. This contrasts stereotypes between social class, those with less money are looked upon to be more likely to commit crimes, we related poorness to estates and tracksuits.Also, in the pub scene later on, social class is represent yet again as the boy/man is wearing a designer jumper, with a large designer watch and nice clothes. This is an example of someone who may be seen as 'upper class', the main characters choose to target the upper class as sometimes they are seen to be naive, and as a more realistic and on a more cheeky side, they are likely to get more money out of someone of a higher social class, so the outfits were chosen carefully and the location to show the difference between classes.
Also, We changed the outfit and appearance of the Nancy when she was going to the pub, this is because of stereotype. If Nancy would have walked in in her every day clothes consisting of a tracksuit jumper a messy bun and hoop earrings this would attract attention of the people around her, in every day life, if she were to enter a pub full of middle class and upper class people. They could assume that she is up to no good or is going to start trouble as we know they wouldn't be completely wrong. This is another way we represent social class and the stereotypes of thoughts and feelings and arrogance between them.
Another social group we represented through 'Touch 'N' Go' was age. Our 4 main characters were supposed to be an example of young hooligans nowadays. Even though we as viewers sympathise with these characters because we know they are in a hard situation, we all know the crimes which they are committing are wrong. These 4 characters are all in their teenage years. This is a representation of age, because nowadays crime and hooligans are related to the age bracket of teenagers. To people out of the age range 13-25, it may seem very threatening and intimidating to walk passed a group of teenagers on the street, especially those with the image of our characters. This helped us to link the age of our characters to the background, and the actions they were doing. If we were to use a group of 80 year old men and women, this would not have the same effect as it does our 4 main characters being teenagers. The younger group during the project are seen as more mischievous and rebellious which is linked to common stereotypes nowadays. If you picture a group of school children in a classroom many people would imagine childish behaviour and not a lot of concentration due to programmes such a Waterloo road which are distributed through media and have a large effect on the views and feelings towards different age groups, as they are shown specifically as certain ways in the media, and sometimes views can be forced upon us. If you were to imagine an office full of middle aged men and woman, most people would imagine a quiet room with the adults silently pacing through their work, this again links to the things portrayed and shown through the media which subconsciously changes the beliefs of the public. This means that our media piece conveys that of normal beliefs and stereotypes of teenagers, that they are always up to trouble. Another representation of age through our media piece was linked to power. The boss 'Big Dave' was always shown as the powerful man in the opening, and he is at the top of the hierarchy. This is linked to stereotypes today such as 'people must respect their elders'. Young people today are belittled as being inexperienced and are controlled by the older generation. We tried to show this during our media piece by showing the person in control as obviously older, and maybe even wiser (because he tries to trick the teenagers). But there could also be an argument that we subverted the stereotype, because the group of young teenagers out smarted the man at the end, by stealing his wallet. This shows that young people may not be appreciated as much as they should be. This raises the question that older people may be naive, and the younger generation may have the potential to compete with the older generation in sense.
Ethnicity is another representation which we touched upon during our project. But, it is hard to decipher whether is conforms of subverts usual stereotypes and representations. Unfortunately, even today black males are sometimes linked to the topics crime, and theft. This links to the nick-name given to 'Hench-Henry' who is the black member of our cast, as it suggests that his physical strength is all he has to offer, and he seems capable to run a door down, which way mean he is more used to committing these sort of crimes compared to 'Top-Dog Terry' who seems less raring to go, and takes a while to decide how to tackle the problem. 'Hench-Henry' also is the character who commits the worst, and worst punished fine, as he is breaking into someone's property rather than pick-pocketing. This again conveys the stereotype. Although we also subvert the usual stereotype because even nowadays, it is less than common to see a couple of two different ethnicities, which was shown in bar scene where the boy chosen as the victim of crime was also black. This again subverts to the stereotype because the young girl was committing the crime, and the black boy was the the victim of the crime. Although these are completely stereotypes and not my viewpoint.
Gender was also represented, agreeing with the stereotypes nowadays. We carefully chose the girl to use flirtation and her gender as an advantage and distraction to commit crimes. Nowadays young girls can be seen as physically weak compared to boys, and more obsessed with appearance and themselves, so links to them being selfish. This relates to the fact that when the boys were all grafting and working on the street, the girl was seen to have the easy way out, walking into a bar and sitting next to a boy who straight away offered her a drink, showing boys are easily influenced by girls. She is seen as self-confident when she walks into the bar and smirks at her brother, which shows the obsession with appearance, which could lead to arrogance as she believe she 'has it in the bag.' So it was shown that the girl was left the easy job, which raises the question that she was not trusted with the harder jobs? Also, she is left to do the least physical job, which shows conveys that girls are seen as physically weak, and 'not up for the job' of manual labour, all they need is a smile and a wink to get what they are after. Another point which relates to the belittling of woman is the fact that she is followed by her brother when she is doing her part of stealing. In the case of 'Slimey Simon' stealing the necklace, he is independent and does is on his own. Whereas Nancy is followed into the pub by her brother, who watches over her as a bodyguard, suggesting the idea that she is not capable on her own, and is more likely to get herself into trouble which she will not be able to get out of. This can be seen as patronising but conveys strongly to stereotypes today. Another linked factor is the colour of her hair, a young blonde teenager nowadays is seen to be ditsy, and unintelligent. This is shown through our media product as the girl only uses her assets and flirtation to get what she wants, rather than out-smarting them, or earning them in a prouder way. Another point which links to the representation of gender is that 3/4 of the young criminals were boys, this agrees with stereotypes today. Certainly from the media nowadays, we are made to believe that the majority of people who commit crimes such as robbery and theft are males, this may be due to the misconception and distribution, but from a memer of the public's point of view, men are more often shown and linked to crime than women. This was carefully thought of when we chose our cast of young teenagers, to relate to and convey with the stereotype of gender linked to crime. And the last point relating to gender representation through our project was the superiority between sex's. 'Big-Dave' was clearly a male during our project, and he was also the 'big-man' and the one that all the characters looked up to and answered to. This related to stereotypes today, and even though it is less often, men still can be seen as the superior and most powerful gender, so using Dave as a male conveyed this in our project. As he is seen as very confident and sure of himself, with everybody else just answering to him.
During our project I believe we were successful in representing different social groups, whether this being conveying or subverting stereotypes; many social groups were mentioned and represented successfully in different ways.
One example represented is social class, when the 4 main characters are firstly introduced, they are shown to be more lower/working class. As from the project you can see they live in estate-like areas, and they are wearing less expensive clothing, with no designer brands and logos. This contrasts and juxtaposes with the clothing and housing of the victims of theft. In one of the first scenes where the girl is mugged, she is wearing smart clothes, a blazer a nice top etc, as if she is on her way home from a nice paid job. She is also wearing a large necklace (which I now realize after watching this sequence over and over again and getting feedback should have been made more obvious) which gets stolen by one of the working class main characters. This contrasts stereotypes between social class, those with less money are looked upon to be more likely to commit crimes, we related poorness to estates and tracksuits.Also, in the pub scene later on, social class is represent yet again as the boy/man is wearing a designer jumper, with a large designer watch and nice clothes. This is an example of someone who may be seen as 'upper class', the main characters choose to target the upper class as sometimes they are seen to be naive, and as a more realistic and on a more cheeky side, they are likely to get more money out of someone of a higher social class, so the outfits were chosen carefully and the location to show the difference between classes.
Also, We changed the outfit and appearance of the Nancy when she was going to the pub, this is because of stereotype. If Nancy would have walked in in her every day clothes consisting of a tracksuit jumper a messy bun and hoop earrings this would attract attention of the people around her, in every day life, if she were to enter a pub full of middle class and upper class people. They could assume that she is up to no good or is going to start trouble as we know they wouldn't be completely wrong. This is another way we represent social class and the stereotypes of thoughts and feelings and arrogance between them.
Another social group we represented through 'Touch 'N' Go' was age. Our 4 main characters were supposed to be an example of young hooligans nowadays. Even though we as viewers sympathise with these characters because we know they are in a hard situation, we all know the crimes which they are committing are wrong. These 4 characters are all in their teenage years. This is a representation of age, because nowadays crime and hooligans are related to the age bracket of teenagers. To people out of the age range 13-25, it may seem very threatening and intimidating to walk passed a group of teenagers on the street, especially those with the image of our characters. This helped us to link the age of our characters to the background, and the actions they were doing. If we were to use a group of 80 year old men and women, this would not have the same effect as it does our 4 main characters being teenagers. The younger group during the project are seen as more mischievous and rebellious which is linked to common stereotypes nowadays. If you picture a group of school children in a classroom many people would imagine childish behaviour and not a lot of concentration due to programmes such a Waterloo road which are distributed through media and have a large effect on the views and feelings towards different age groups, as they are shown specifically as certain ways in the media, and sometimes views can be forced upon us. If you were to imagine an office full of middle aged men and woman, most people would imagine a quiet room with the adults silently pacing through their work, this again links to the things portrayed and shown through the media which subconsciously changes the beliefs of the public. This means that our media piece conveys that of normal beliefs and stereotypes of teenagers, that they are always up to trouble. Another representation of age through our media piece was linked to power. The boss 'Big Dave' was always shown as the powerful man in the opening, and he is at the top of the hierarchy. This is linked to stereotypes today such as 'people must respect their elders'. Young people today are belittled as being inexperienced and are controlled by the older generation. We tried to show this during our media piece by showing the person in control as obviously older, and maybe even wiser (because he tries to trick the teenagers). But there could also be an argument that we subverted the stereotype, because the group of young teenagers out smarted the man at the end, by stealing his wallet. This shows that young people may not be appreciated as much as they should be. This raises the question that older people may be naive, and the younger generation may have the potential to compete with the older generation in sense.
Ethnicity is another representation which we touched upon during our project. But, it is hard to decipher whether is conforms of subverts usual stereotypes and representations. Unfortunately, even today black males are sometimes linked to the topics crime, and theft. This links to the nick-name given to 'Hench-Henry' who is the black member of our cast, as it suggests that his physical strength is all he has to offer, and he seems capable to run a door down, which way mean he is more used to committing these sort of crimes compared to 'Top-Dog Terry' who seems less raring to go, and takes a while to decide how to tackle the problem. 'Hench-Henry' also is the character who commits the worst, and worst punished fine, as he is breaking into someone's property rather than pick-pocketing. This again conveys the stereotype. Although we also subvert the usual stereotype because even nowadays, it is less than common to see a couple of two different ethnicities, which was shown in bar scene where the boy chosen as the victim of crime was also black. This again subverts to the stereotype because the young girl was committing the crime, and the black boy was the the victim of the crime. Although these are completely stereotypes and not my viewpoint.
Gender was also represented, agreeing with the stereotypes nowadays. We carefully chose the girl to use flirtation and her gender as an advantage and distraction to commit crimes. Nowadays young girls can be seen as physically weak compared to boys, and more obsessed with appearance and themselves, so links to them being selfish. This relates to the fact that when the boys were all grafting and working on the street, the girl was seen to have the easy way out, walking into a bar and sitting next to a boy who straight away offered her a drink, showing boys are easily influenced by girls. She is seen as self-confident when she walks into the bar and smirks at her brother, which shows the obsession with appearance, which could lead to arrogance as she believe she 'has it in the bag.' So it was shown that the girl was left the easy job, which raises the question that she was not trusted with the harder jobs? Also, she is left to do the least physical job, which shows conveys that girls are seen as physically weak, and 'not up for the job' of manual labour, all they need is a smile and a wink to get what they are after. Another point which relates to the belittling of woman is the fact that she is followed by her brother when she is doing her part of stealing. In the case of 'Slimey Simon' stealing the necklace, he is independent and does is on his own. Whereas Nancy is followed into the pub by her brother, who watches over her as a bodyguard, suggesting the idea that she is not capable on her own, and is more likely to get herself into trouble which she will not be able to get out of. This can be seen as patronising but conveys strongly to stereotypes today. Another linked factor is the colour of her hair, a young blonde teenager nowadays is seen to be ditsy, and unintelligent. This is shown through our media product as the girl only uses her assets and flirtation to get what she wants, rather than out-smarting them, or earning them in a prouder way. Another point which links to the representation of gender is that 3/4 of the young criminals were boys, this agrees with stereotypes today. Certainly from the media nowadays, we are made to believe that the majority of people who commit crimes such as robbery and theft are males, this may be due to the misconception and distribution, but from a memer of the public's point of view, men are more often shown and linked to crime than women. This was carefully thought of when we chose our cast of young teenagers, to relate to and convey with the stereotype of gender linked to crime. And the last point relating to gender representation through our project was the superiority between sex's. 'Big-Dave' was clearly a male during our project, and he was also the 'big-man' and the one that all the characters looked up to and answered to. This related to stereotypes today, and even though it is less often, men still can be seen as the superior and most powerful gender, so using Dave as a male conveyed this in our project. As he is seen as very confident and sure of himself, with everybody else just answering to him.
During our project I believe we were successful in representing different social groups, whether this being conveying or subverting stereotypes; many social groups were mentioned and represented successfully in different ways.
Question 3:
What kind of institution might distribute your product and why?
I have done overall research on what distribution companies are, what they do, what distribution is, and how it works. I researched Specific distribution companies and if it would be likely for them to distribute a film such as 'Touch N Go.'
Definition: Distribution is the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by the public. This means how the piece is publicised, this could be through releasing DVD's, cinemas and Shops such as Blockbusters.
Distribution companies decide how the piece is distributed, so which counties it is shown and released in, and which cinemas have the option to play them.
For our Media Piece, to discuss distribution, I have made a short video. This shows my research I have done on Distribution Companies, and which Companies would be likely to distribution a Film such as 'Touch N Go', and reasons for this.
Definition: Distribution is the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by the public. This means how the piece is publicised, this could be through releasing DVD's, cinemas and Shops such as Blockbusters.
Distribution companies decide how the piece is distributed, so which counties it is shown and released in, and which cinemas have the option to play them.
For our Media Piece, to discuss distribution, I have made a short video. This shows my research I have done on Distribution Companies, and which Companies would be likely to distribution a Film such as 'Touch N Go', and reasons for this.
Question 4:
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our media product, 'Touch N Go' was created and directed by 4 teenagers boys and girls, aged 16-17. This would help viewers in the same age range to relate to the characters and the story-line.
I spent some time asking friends, family, and strangers if they related to the project, and if they think they are the correct audience for 'Touch N Go' and if not them, why-so, and who would be?.... [Can be found after Question 5, as it can relate to both]
- Because the main characters were based on children of their teenage years, who would be going to school, this meant a lot more people could relate to them. As all potential viewers go to school or would have gone to school at some point. They were also shown to be in a small, tight friendship group, which again relates to more people. As it could remind younger people of them and their friendship groups, and it could remind adults of when they were younger, and things they used to do when they were a kid. This would further help the audience to relate to the project and connect with the story even more. I'm sure many people have been in the situation where they have had to answer to someone who is more powerful to them, and have maybe had to do things they wouldn't normally choose to do. This again helps the viewers to relate to the characters. Also, as a viewer you can empathize with the characters, as you can imagine yourselves in their situation, and how they must have felt.
- Our 4 main protagonists were mischievous and rebellious, this created a very humorous and light hearted approach, because it is fun to watch, and enjoyable. This also suggests our media piece would be aimed at the less-formal audience, people with a sense of humour may relate to this media piece more than than those of a serious nature. This is also because some people may just look at these characters as being criminals, and may not see the other side of opinion, which is feeling sympathy for the characters. The characters are shown to be naive and are happy with their lives and the way they are treated.
- People of both genders should relate to this piece because there are opportunities to relate to both male, and female characters. This means viewers of both sexes are attracted because they can watch the piece from another point of view.
I spent some time asking friends, family, and strangers if they related to the project, and if they think they are the correct audience for 'Touch N Go' and if not them, why-so, and who would be?.... [Can be found after Question 5, as it can relate to both]
Question 5:
How did you attract/address your audience?
I believe we used technique well to attract and address our audience. We gained lots of positive feedback from the people I have questioned after watching our opening, which reliefs me that we have done well in connecting with our audience.
Our project focuses partly on emotions between characters, which is a very good way to connect to the audience. This is because all viewers will feel these kind of emotions towards people, whether it be friends or family. So people are attracted to this piece as they want to see the outcome. For example, as this is only the beginning of the film, in the remaining parts of the film there would be problems between the friendship group which they would have to overcome. There would be ups and downs which the group would have to get over, which could lead to arguments, break ups and make ups. This draws the viewers attention, as they want to see the outcome, because we can all relate to this.
I think the audience were generally attracted due to the mood and atmosphere, as it is fun to watch and cheers you up as you are watching it. This would make any potential audience keen to watch it, and would also attract many people because its very realistic.
Our project focuses partly on emotions between characters, which is a very good way to connect to the audience. This is because all viewers will feel these kind of emotions towards people, whether it be friends or family. So people are attracted to this piece as they want to see the outcome. For example, as this is only the beginning of the film, in the remaining parts of the film there would be problems between the friendship group which they would have to overcome. There would be ups and downs which the group would have to get over, which could lead to arguments, break ups and make ups. This draws the viewers attention, as they want to see the outcome, because we can all relate to this.
I think the audience were generally attracted due to the mood and atmosphere, as it is fun to watch and cheers you up as you are watching it. This would make any potential audience keen to watch it, and would also attract many people because its very realistic.
(for both question 5&6)
Question 6:
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Firstly, during the process of 'Touch 'N' Go' I would say that roles were distributed fairly between the group. I personally experimented with filming, acting, editing, sounds, and music choice.
- The first point I'm going to speak about is filming. Our first day which we spent filming was on a rainy day, it was an inset day in school, a few weeks before the half term, so we were well prepared and over organised, so mistakes made and drawbacks were not necessarily a massive problem. On this day, we learnt that the weather can have a drastic effect on the mood given in the media piece. We were going for a light hearted and almost 'happy' atmosphere, and the rain and moody faces of our actors hugely contradicted this. It was tricky to get a group of friends together on a day to begin filming, but I learnt how helpful and willing people will be. This day we came to a few difficulties, for example our shot where the 4 main protagonists are introduced was shown tricky to shoot. We began with doing a close up of 'Top-Dog Terrys' feet, and as the protagonists walked forwards towards the camera, it zoomed out and tilted up towards their faces, as in a serious manner they walked forwards side by side. Although this proved boring, and very serious, which was not the mood we were going for. This also proved hard because all 4 members of our group 'jscj-en-scene productions', are main characters of our piece, and are introduced in this same shot, this meant that we had to use an external from our group, to take this shot, which took up a lot of time and was very frustrating! After importing these shots and putting them onto iMovie we discovered that they were not the correct mood and idea which we had predicted and desired. So we planned to re-do these shots on another day where the sun was out and we were more able to create the atmosphere we wanted. On the second attempt to film this shot, we decided to start this shot from the faces, and introduce just Terry and Nancy first, because they were left leaving the house together, which shows continuity, where they are lately joined with Henry and Simon. This also made it easier to shoot from the camera man's point of view because they did not have to use a track and dolly, whilst tilting up zooming out and walking back all at the same time. We also discovered that the track and dolly shot proved difficult because of the rough surface that we had to wheel it a lot, it made the picture rigid and it kept shaking, whilst it also made quiet a loud sound on the gravity floor, we overcame this through moving the track and dolly as slowly and steadily as possible, but it took a lot of practise. Other factors I learnt when we we filming are the difference a shot can make and the effects different shots can have on conveying an emotion through action. For example, the first shot we done we also had done other shots prior to it, which we scrapped and didn't used. The first attempt we did was at my house, we focused a lot less on mise-en-scene, leather sofas were on show which contradicted the background image we were trying to portray. The first shot started on the Fifa television screen for around 5 seconds, and slowly zoomed out away and away until completely zoomed out to behind the sofa as a sort of 'over the shoulder' shot of both characters. Again after watching this shot we realised it was very boring and it had a lot more potential. So, in re-doing this shot, we done a similar shot to our previous, but a lot faster, and we were acting a lot more enthusiastically and realistically than before. We then followed this shot with shots from another angle, front on, which introduced the characters 'Top-Dog Terry' in a more humorous manner, which helps the audience grow to the characters. Also, through this change of shot it simply makes the beginning less boring, so we are more attracted to the media piece, as there is not a long boring shot of the back of the characters head. We also took into account that Terry, 'the top dog' should be mentioned and introduced first, to live up to his name. One of these shots were done as a close up of his face whilst he shouts 'yes', here the camera was placed on a tripod to ensure the picture was steady and effective, also making it look professional. the next following shot was when Terry stood up, this also proved difficult because we had to make sure the timing was on point, as the camera man had to make sure he had 100% concentration and reflexes, because when Terry stood up, the camera had to tilt up with him, and try to ensure it was at the same time and none of his head was cut off. This proved slightly difficult but after a few attempts was successful. This one scene was a great example to show the difference a camera shot and techniques and shots can have on the mood and overall feeling of the project. I learnt that for a shot to be successful a lot of time must be put into it, and it must be organised prior to the day, the easiest way to plan a good shot is to try and visualise mentally the scene, location, layout, with the actor and action taking places, and the movement and angle of the camera. A point and example of where two points are linked together is our transitions from one shot to another by using swish pan. We decided to use a swish pan as we believed it looked very effect and professional, as it quickly changes from one seen to another without a sudden change or alter in camera which smoothly moves onto another scene but fast. This consisted of whoever was filiming at this point, would have to quickly swish (spin) the camera round at the end of the action. This had to be done at perfect timing to ensure the right effect was giving, so just as the action had finished in the clip the camera man would have to swish the camera round. The technique of how to swish the camera round also brought about a discussion. We done test shots in school first to show how we were going to do our shots of swish pan. These proved to look good and successful. At the end of one shot we would turn the camera around quickly, and at the beginning of the next we would do the same to make it look like one large rotation. So, in the school characters we took our test shots, which at this point we didn't take into consideration the fact that all of the walls in our school corridors are white, which made the transition look easier and better with less effort. Anyway, this changed when we came to our real shots, as the backgrounds of the shots were of very different colours and tones, this meant that would we have to make sure the swish pan was moved quickly, and the camera turnt as soon as possible to have the 'wow factor.' So, when we were filming these shots, we had to change the settings on the tripod. We extended the tripod legs to the correct height and places it as we would for a usual stand still shot. After this, we then turned the measurements on the tripod which meant that the camera could not be tilted up and down, so it was still in the vertical direction. We then changed the measurements on the other knob to looser, which it easily turned from left to right or right to left, in the horizontal direction. This meant that we could easily tilt the camera round and fast, in one slick movement, because the camera would not tilt up and down, which would make the shot look less slick.
- Another form of technology which I feel I have improved my skills for editing. Within the group we all evenly spent time editing our product to make it look as slick and professional as we possibly could. In our project we tried to do transitions in between the shots to make it look slick and tidy, whilst also using small shots, and just general tight and neat editing to make it look top notch!! A point I am going to discuss is the transition from 'Top-Dog Terry' where he looks at the camera from a P.O.V shot of 'Hench Henry' and then proceeded in leaning out of the shot, where the camera zooms into the sun. The next shot is zooming out from a bathroom light, which then tilts down and 'Naughty Nancy' is looking in the mirror putting make up on for her 'date'. We tried to make this transition as move as possible, but this also proved slightly difficult because of the different lighting in the shot. Where in iMovie we could see the centre of light from the sun, and the bathroom light where not in the exact same position in the shot, we realised it would not be as simple as we had expected. We tried a few ways to crop the picture so it would but we could not get it right. To try and make this shot better we resulted in using the 'fade to white' transition. This allowed us to have the effect that the sun was zoomed right into, and then zoomed right out as the light, so there was no swap between two completely different shots, its simply faded slowly from one into right, and then into the bathroom. In the end, this brought the same effect as we had hoped for in the beginning. I think this shot looked OK in the end, but honestly if I had more time, I would have re-shot these camera shots and done them again to make the shot slicker and more professional looking. This helped me learn that things can be improved with the use of transitions, and they make the change between 2 shots a lot swifter, and makes them look of a better standard. Another point of editing which I believe I learnt how to improve my skills in is titling. In our project I think our titling linked well with our genre, and looked up to standard and professional. Firstly, for our titling of the non-actors, such as 'directed by', and 'produced by' we chose a swift font and text type. We chose to have the words 'filmed/directed etc. by' in different colour to the name of the characters. This meant that it was obvious and quick for the viewer to see who done what. This also looked effected as each part in different colour came from a different side, and slowly slid in during different parts of the opening. We tried to put these titles on parts which were not so busy to make sure the viewers are reading this parts. This titling also looked professional because the font type chosen was quite plain meaning it didn't look tacky or childish. As the titling options we have on iMovie are not very extravagant, there is not much we can do to make the titling fancy. But we tried our best with the opportunities and technology we were given. The writing came in quickly and smoothly, and left within a few seconds. When we were introducing our characters however, we chose to use different titles to make it easier to distinguish between the characters and the other pieces of information. For our introduction of characters, we used a different font type and different titling option. We chose a more 'groovy' titling option for our introduction of characters because it is more important, and creates the fun factor. Also we used nicknames which were supposed to be quite humorous to the viewers because they were seen as quite cheeky. We chose to freeze frame our these shots, which was another point which I learnt through this process, this also was useful for us because as the shot was freeze-framed, this meant the action stopped and viewers focused on the titles that were appearing. We also changed effect and colour of the picture screenshot, this just simply made it look good and a bit funky. This also helped with the light-hearted effect we were going through and we hope it kept the viewers engaged and it was interesting and just fun and nice to look at. I hope this came across well in our piece. We researched some of our ideas from 'snatch' a current British Film on the market, this helped us think of ideas, and pushed us in the direction which we used. Overall, on editing I think our media piece was editing well, we used different aspects of iMovie, and tried our best, and I think we succeeded in making it as accurate, neat and professional looking as we possibly could.
- Another topic of technology is Youtube. Before Media Studies, the only times I have really used You-Tube have been to watch a funny video I have been told about, or listen to a song that I wanted to find out the lyrics about. Apart from this, I have only used very simple searching and browsing methods just to look at and listen to music, so I was not very familiar on ways to import videos and make channels. The first new thing I learnt was how to make a channel, as I have been putting things on my own channel for the evaluation, and we have been putting our preliminary on the Youtube channel 'Bexley Mash.' This was also a way for my friends and family to see the Media Piece if necessary, so meant it had easy access to viewers. This just improved my skills in media because I learnt a new way to distribute pieces of work to the public, so they can be seen by others, which also meant I could get helpful feedback. This increased my confidence further now and I am keen to learn more about the ins and outs of You-Tube and how to use it more thoroughly.
- The last thing I'm going to talk about is music choice. The score we decided to use in the background of our piece was called 'Town called Malice' by The Jam. This song is a very lively, upbeat and traditionally British song. It was the band's 3rd number one single in the UK, proving that it was popular and hopefully that would mean that the viewers would like the song, and maybe even sing along to it. Also, we discovered that this song was very catchy, as after weeks and weeks of playing it in the classroom whilst we were editing, and rewinding and playing then rewinding and playing, we found our whole class was constantly singing it. This was positive feedback for us because this probably meant that their singing would then remind them of our piece, which is good for marketing or even so they could make sure they proceeded in watching the end. Even though by the time we had all finished our pieces they all said they never want to hear that song again as it had practically been on repeat for the last few months or so. So, this gave a good heads up. Before choosing and deciding to keep this piece, we also had in mind using the song 'chelsea dagger' by the fratellis, although we chose against this song in the end because we didn't find it was a popular as 'Town called Malice' and also didn't fit with the story line as well. This meant that I leant how important it is to choose the right score in a media piece. I now know how important a score is in setting the mood and general feeling of a film or piece. So, I learnt how to look for the right song, we made sure the song was British, and current, whilst also being upbeat happy, and a well-known popular song. Although I know the song we chose may not have been the newest and modernist song in the charts today, a song like 'Town called Malice' is ageless, and people of all ages should relate and like such a song.
Question 7:
From the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in progression of this to the full product?
Since doing our preliminary task I have learnt an unimaginable amount relating to iMovie, filming, acting, planning, editing, who I work well with, the media industry itself and many more.
Briefly;
But here is a short video to show in more detail some more things I have learnt during the process....
Briefly;
- I found out how important it is to time and plan things properly. People whether they are internal or external to your group will always make excuses as to why they cannot make certain days because they are busy, and why they cannot do something. So it is absolutely essential when working in a group and creating a Media Piece to plan massively in advance, this will ensure you have the most filming and editing time as possible, and you will have enough time to re-do things if any problems arise. I also learnt that someone needs to take lead of the group, and their should be a boss. I had to be bossy which I know can be aggravating to other members of the team but it is essential to get things done and get them time within good time.
- Another point I learnt was how importance 'Mise-en-Scene' was, due to the extra shots we done with a change of Mise-en-Scene which showed a lot more about the characters. I now know how much thought must go into Mise-en-Scene, including Camera shots, Costumes, Hair and Make-up, Props. These things are completely essential for a media piece to be effective and for it to make the most sense and be as realistic and informative as possible.
- I also now know my group a lot better than I did during the preliminary tasks, as we all learnt each others weakness and difficulties. Where some of us excel in different aspects such as Filming, or acting, and some of us excel in areas such as editing and organising. This greatly improved the efficiency of our group. As we learnt our strong points, we could get many things done at ones, rather than all 4 group members doing the same thing and wasting time when we could get two or three times more time in the same time period. This meant that there was a lot less time wasted overall in the final task, because the preliminary task had given us the opportunity to discover each other strengths, so together we could all bring our separate ideas forward, and as a group decide on who's idea to use, or which aspects of different aspects we should use and put them together. This meant that everyone was included and had a share in making our media piece as good as it was. We all contributed with our different strengths and weaknesses which helped us to excel in they way we did.
- I also learnt techniques of editing, which I have mentioned in the above answers, I am now a lot more confident in using iMovie and I have improved my skills greatly.
But here is a short video to show in more detail some more things I have learnt during the process....