In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real life media products?
When making our British film opening we took on many common conventions associated with British films. It was important for us to make our film opening seem as realistic as possible, by not subverting too far away from common conventions, as Brit films carry some of the strongest and stereotypical conventions. British films usually evoke quite strong emotions which comes from a sense of compassion planted in the viewer, from the likeability of the protagonist characters. They also face quite harsh topics, and steer towards the viewpoint of the working class who often have to face harsh realities and 'grind' in order so that they can get by.
Characterisation
Keeping the characterisation of our protagonists traditional to British films was important, so that it could be understand that our protagonists were coming from a low class background, and have found themselves caught up in criminal activity to make money, however we had to make sure that despite the criminality of the characters, they were still liked by the viewer. Normally the protagonists within British films are liked, and they are usually coming from low working class backgrounds. The characters of protagonists in British films usually comes with a twist. To the left of this text, there is a screenshot showing a mid-shot of the main protagonist 'Terry', with his face clearly shouting with joy as he's just scored a goal on a football game. By doing this we highlight the childish innocence of his character, which allows the viewer to acknowledge that he has become a product of his environment, and therefore the criminality seen afterwards almost seems quite normal, therefore not affecting the likeability of his character. The introduction of characters and the comical effect such as where we see one of the protagonists 'Hench Henry' run into a door, adds to the like-ability factor of our protagonists and again takes away the seriousness of the crimes, giving more relevance to how each character has their own unique and entertaining way of stealing, rather than to the actual crime of stealing itself. Our main protagonist, has a very stereotypical working-class accent, conforming to the background, that protagonists tend to come from and represent in British films.
Keeping the characterisation of our protagonists traditional to British films was important, so that it could be understand that our protagonists were coming from a low class background, and have found themselves caught up in criminal activity to make money, however we had to make sure that despite the criminality of the characters, they were still liked by the viewer. Normally the protagonists within British films are liked, and they are usually coming from low working class backgrounds. The characters of protagonists in British films usually comes with a twist. To the left of this text, there is a screenshot showing a mid-shot of the main protagonist 'Terry', with his face clearly shouting with joy as he's just scored a goal on a football game. By doing this we highlight the childish innocence of his character, which allows the viewer to acknowledge that he has become a product of his environment, and therefore the criminality seen afterwards almost seems quite normal, therefore not affecting the likeability of his character. The introduction of characters and the comical effect such as where we see one of the protagonists 'Hench Henry' run into a door, adds to the like-ability factor of our protagonists and again takes away the seriousness of the crimes, giving more relevance to how each character has their own unique and entertaining way of stealing, rather than to the actual crime of stealing itself. Our main protagonist, has a very stereotypical working-class accent, conforming to the background, that protagonists tend to come from and represent in British films.
Sound
British films normally tend to use quite a lot of diegetic sound in films in order to make the protagonists closer to the viewer.This is often done through the use of voice-overs in order for the protagonist to provide a back story to their lives and their situations, usually hitting the audience with quite harsh realities. This helps the audience to feel a sense of compassion towards the situation of the protagonists. In our film opening, we debated for a while whether the use of a voice over was necessary for the titling sequence. We had originally planned to place a voice over, over the score, where the characters are introduced, however we felt that a voice over may may bring down the mood and tone of the sequence as the score we used was very upbeat, therefore complicating how well the voice over and score may go together. Also during the introduction of the characters, what was going on in the scene was pretty self explanatory, therefore the use of the voice over we decided may have no great significance. The convention of using 'voice overs' as diegetic sound to draw the viewer in, was a convention that we decided to subvert from, however thought it was necessary in order to keep the upbeat and quite lively mood of our opening sequence. Where we did use diegetic sound however such as through the sound of the football game playing on the TV and the dialogue of the main protagonist 'Terry' before the phone call at the start of the opening, where he is playing the football game, the viewer can identify the adolescent innocence of his character, through the excitement he shows over a computer game, however where he is seen talking to antagonist boss 'Dave', it presents how he is trying to live a quite adult life. The idiolect of his character also presents his low social class conforming to conventions.
The most prominent non-diegetic sound used was the score 'Town Called Malice' by 'The Jam', this is a very stereotypically British song and is quite upbeat which though would work well as conveying the mood of our opening and the adolescence of our protagonists.
British films normally tend to use quite a lot of diegetic sound in films in order to make the protagonists closer to the viewer.This is often done through the use of voice-overs in order for the protagonist to provide a back story to their lives and their situations, usually hitting the audience with quite harsh realities. This helps the audience to feel a sense of compassion towards the situation of the protagonists. In our film opening, we debated for a while whether the use of a voice over was necessary for the titling sequence. We had originally planned to place a voice over, over the score, where the characters are introduced, however we felt that a voice over may may bring down the mood and tone of the sequence as the score we used was very upbeat, therefore complicating how well the voice over and score may go together. Also during the introduction of the characters, what was going on in the scene was pretty self explanatory, therefore the use of the voice over we decided may have no great significance. The convention of using 'voice overs' as diegetic sound to draw the viewer in, was a convention that we decided to subvert from, however thought it was necessary in order to keep the upbeat and quite lively mood of our opening sequence. Where we did use diegetic sound however such as through the sound of the football game playing on the TV and the dialogue of the main protagonist 'Terry' before the phone call at the start of the opening, where he is playing the football game, the viewer can identify the adolescent innocence of his character, through the excitement he shows over a computer game, however where he is seen talking to antagonist boss 'Dave', it presents how he is trying to live a quite adult life. The idiolect of his character also presents his low social class conforming to conventions.
The most prominent non-diegetic sound used was the score 'Town Called Malice' by 'The Jam', this is a very stereotypically British song and is quite upbeat which though would work well as conveying the mood of our opening and the adolescence of our protagonists.
TitlingThe titling we used for our British film opening was quite conventional to the common titling used in British films. British films tend to use quite simple titling, giving more relevance to the background action being presented in the opening, rather than the creativity of the titling. Another form of titling British films use, is freeze frames with titles in order to introduce characters. British film directors do this to give relevance to the characters, and to state that those characters will carry some significance throughout the film, therefore the characterisation of them is important. In our opening we implemented the freeze frame effect to introduce characters as we thought it would be a good way of giving relevance to our characters, and making the persona's like-able due to the nicknames they are introduced with and the frame that they are introduced on, ensuring that the convention of protagonists being liked in British films was well implemented into our titling. To the slide on the right, you can see the similarity between the freeze frames introducing characters used comparing our film opening to the opening of 'Trainspotting'.
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Mise En Scène
There are many elements within Mise En Scène, that most notably convey the generic stereotypes and conventions presented in British films.
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Setting
Our film opening was set in a number of various locations. It was first set in a home environment, which made the film seem quite close to home, with a few generic stereotypes presented through the props used in the home. Where all the protagonists are first introduced together we see them in a council estate environment, which tends to be the generic setting of British films, in order to represent the working class perspective that British films are often taken from. To the left you can see a switch between two pictures where the protagonists from our British film are seen to be in a similar setting to the protagonists in the Brit film 'Kidulthood'. We also set one of our scenes in bar to present how our young protagonists, are in very adult situations. The bar also carries significance where British films tends to explore harsh topics, where alcoholism is one. |
Costume/Make up
The costume design of British films tends to be very informal clothing such as tracksuits in order to represent the common media look on working class 'Chavs'. The make-up design of British films is usually very naturalistic, to ensure characters are kept looking realistic. To the right of this text you can see the similar costume design used in our film for the protagonists compared to those in 'Kidulthood'. The protagonists from either film, wear clothing such as 'hoodies' and tracksuits which is clothing often associated with antisocial youth, where anti-socialism a topic often explored in British films. |
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Props
The props used in British films often present the harsh topics explored in Brit films either actively or passively. Among these props are usually, alcohol, drugs, weapons etc. Some of these props are more recursive and aids the definition of the whole plot of the film, where others are simply presented as the gritty norm. In our British film opening we used a 'Carlsberg' can (however advertised by mistake), and an ash tray with cigarette buts in it, in order to present the bad habits of the youth from a young age. To the left you can a see a slide of this comparing it to the similar props used in the opening of 'iLL Manors' where you see a 'Stella Artois' can (purposely advertised) and the rolling up of drugs. |
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In the final opening of our media product, there, are number of social groups represented and explored. Among these are representations of age, gender, ethnicity, social class and regional identity.
Firstly, I'm going to discuss our representation of age. Age was a big factor in the opening of our media product and you see the protagonists of our film conforming to many stereotypical representations. The protagonists were purposely all aged around the mid-teens as we thought it would be a good way to show how many young people tend to become a product of their environment. Teens come with many negative stereotypes such as anti-socialism, ignorance and rebellion, however we had to make sure that these negative stereotypes didn't make the viewer feel negatively towards our protagonists, which would have diverted away from making our protagonists liked, which was a key convention of British films that we wanted to ensure that we kept the same. In order to ensure that the negative representations of teens, such as rebellion did not override the like-ability of the characters,we added comical effects such as where we used a zoom out to the brother and sister at the start of the opening playing a football game, on a games-console and we see the two exchanging 'banter', and over-the-top celebrations. By doing this the innocence of the young characters are presented, making their wrong-doings seem quite comical rather than serious, which is especially represented where you see the character 'Henry', in the background of a low shot barging into the door and hurting himself whilst 'Terry' in the foreground of the low shot finds the key easily with no harm done; Here we see the comedy overriding the crime. The titling we used to introduce the protagonists also made the characters seem more likeable as they were introduced with quite 'jokey' nicknames, again highlighting the innocence of them despite the negative stereotypes being represented. The antagonist however is aged as a full grown adult, and we see him conform to representations of men of his age such as paternalism and independence, and also quite work concentrated, however he uses his age and the fact that he is looked up on to take advantage of the young protagonists. We edited the part of the split screen where the antagonist speaks to be on top of the main protagonist, to show levels and how the antagonist looks down on the young protagonists which again helps to present the innocence of the young characters, and allows the viewer to feel compassion towards them especially where the antagonist 'Dave' shows dismissal towards 'Terry' both through dialogue and slamming the door in his face.
Another representation we explore is gender. In the opening of our British film we have 3 male protagonists and 1 female, as well as an older male protagonists. Our female protagonist in a way subverts from stereotypical representations of gender, by getting herself involved in crime, which is more seen to be male related. We also have her playing a football game at first, which is not typically related to girls. However we see the female protagonist using quite stereotypical representations such as appearance, and sexual attraction in order to mentally overpower men, as seen where we use quick close-up cuts of her applying make-up before the bar scene of our opening. In the bar scene we also see the male that she steals from conforming to representations such as lust, where we see a mid-shot of the male looking at the females protagonists bum when she walks off, which allows her to be on a mental state above the man. The main protagonist in our opening is a male, which again conforms to representations where males are seen to be in charge, and females tend to be a part of a team rather than a leader. We see the character 'Henry' conforming to physical representations such as strength, and is also seen by him counting on breaking in the house using his strength. His nickname 'Hench Henry' (Hench meaning strong or built in London slang), also promotes his physical strength. The male antagonist is seen to be a 'role-model' which is again a stereotypical representation of men, however he plays on this representation by using it to take advantage of the protagonist, which makes him a villain. Men are also often portrayed as villains and we see the antagonist conforming to this.
We briefly explore the representation of ethnicity in opening of our film, through the character of 'Hench Henry', who is a black male. Black males are most often linked with negative representations such as crime and aggression. Occasionally there are positive representations of black males such as the ability of doing well in sport, having a comical persona, and physical strength (which can also be negative if tied in with aggression). The character of 'Hench Henry' conforms to both negative and positive representations, such as criminal activity, funniness and physical strength, where we see the low-shot of him barging into the door to break in, and the high angled close-up of him rolling in pain on the floor. The positive and negative representations together provide an overall positive look on the character 'Hench Henry' subverting the common negativity surrounding black males. You can also suggest that in our opening it may conform to the idea that ethnic minorities are unimportant, where the main protagonist is a white male and the black protagonist is just seen as part of the team.
Finally one of the largest areas of representation we explored in our British film opening is regional identity and social class, which I will be discussing together, as the the regional identity of our characters, very much helped to define their social class. Our characters originate from suburban London, which is related to the poorer working class areas of London, such as the South, East and North of London. These areas of London are stereotypically represented to be quite poor, with common lower class people, and areas thriving with crime. Our film is evidently set in London by the use of typically London working-class idiolect presented through the characters with dialogue in the opening. The regional identity of the characters connects them to their social class of working class. Our protagonists are most evidently coming from working class backgrounds where we use a zoom out from a close-up of the characters 'Terry' and 'Nancy' to a wide-shot of all four protagonists, which highlights their working class background due to their informal sports wear attire often associated with 'Chavs' that they are wearing, and the council estate setting that they are in. By making our protagonists come from working class backgrounds, it helped us to effectively convey the idea that they're a product of their environment. Working class people are often linked with stereotypical ideas such as welfare issues, drug addiction and criminality, and in our opening we introduce the idea that our protagonists use criminal activity in order to get by, where crime is also a representation linked with the regional identity of suburban London, which highlights the fact the protagonists act as what is expected of their surroundings, making them seem less of criminals to the viewer, and instead more vulnerable and innocent allowing the viewer to understand their situation and feel compassion towards the protagonists, again making their characters liked.
Firstly, I'm going to discuss our representation of age. Age was a big factor in the opening of our media product and you see the protagonists of our film conforming to many stereotypical representations. The protagonists were purposely all aged around the mid-teens as we thought it would be a good way to show how many young people tend to become a product of their environment. Teens come with many negative stereotypes such as anti-socialism, ignorance and rebellion, however we had to make sure that these negative stereotypes didn't make the viewer feel negatively towards our protagonists, which would have diverted away from making our protagonists liked, which was a key convention of British films that we wanted to ensure that we kept the same. In order to ensure that the negative representations of teens, such as rebellion did not override the like-ability of the characters,we added comical effects such as where we used a zoom out to the brother and sister at the start of the opening playing a football game, on a games-console and we see the two exchanging 'banter', and over-the-top celebrations. By doing this the innocence of the young characters are presented, making their wrong-doings seem quite comical rather than serious, which is especially represented where you see the character 'Henry', in the background of a low shot barging into the door and hurting himself whilst 'Terry' in the foreground of the low shot finds the key easily with no harm done; Here we see the comedy overriding the crime. The titling we used to introduce the protagonists also made the characters seem more likeable as they were introduced with quite 'jokey' nicknames, again highlighting the innocence of them despite the negative stereotypes being represented. The antagonist however is aged as a full grown adult, and we see him conform to representations of men of his age such as paternalism and independence, and also quite work concentrated, however he uses his age and the fact that he is looked up on to take advantage of the young protagonists. We edited the part of the split screen where the antagonist speaks to be on top of the main protagonist, to show levels and how the antagonist looks down on the young protagonists which again helps to present the innocence of the young characters, and allows the viewer to feel compassion towards them especially where the antagonist 'Dave' shows dismissal towards 'Terry' both through dialogue and slamming the door in his face.
Another representation we explore is gender. In the opening of our British film we have 3 male protagonists and 1 female, as well as an older male protagonists. Our female protagonist in a way subverts from stereotypical representations of gender, by getting herself involved in crime, which is more seen to be male related. We also have her playing a football game at first, which is not typically related to girls. However we see the female protagonist using quite stereotypical representations such as appearance, and sexual attraction in order to mentally overpower men, as seen where we use quick close-up cuts of her applying make-up before the bar scene of our opening. In the bar scene we also see the male that she steals from conforming to representations such as lust, where we see a mid-shot of the male looking at the females protagonists bum when she walks off, which allows her to be on a mental state above the man. The main protagonist in our opening is a male, which again conforms to representations where males are seen to be in charge, and females tend to be a part of a team rather than a leader. We see the character 'Henry' conforming to physical representations such as strength, and is also seen by him counting on breaking in the house using his strength. His nickname 'Hench Henry' (Hench meaning strong or built in London slang), also promotes his physical strength. The male antagonist is seen to be a 'role-model' which is again a stereotypical representation of men, however he plays on this representation by using it to take advantage of the protagonist, which makes him a villain. Men are also often portrayed as villains and we see the antagonist conforming to this.
We briefly explore the representation of ethnicity in opening of our film, through the character of 'Hench Henry', who is a black male. Black males are most often linked with negative representations such as crime and aggression. Occasionally there are positive representations of black males such as the ability of doing well in sport, having a comical persona, and physical strength (which can also be negative if tied in with aggression). The character of 'Hench Henry' conforms to both negative and positive representations, such as criminal activity, funniness and physical strength, where we see the low-shot of him barging into the door to break in, and the high angled close-up of him rolling in pain on the floor. The positive and negative representations together provide an overall positive look on the character 'Hench Henry' subverting the common negativity surrounding black males. You can also suggest that in our opening it may conform to the idea that ethnic minorities are unimportant, where the main protagonist is a white male and the black protagonist is just seen as part of the team.
Finally one of the largest areas of representation we explored in our British film opening is regional identity and social class, which I will be discussing together, as the the regional identity of our characters, very much helped to define their social class. Our characters originate from suburban London, which is related to the poorer working class areas of London, such as the South, East and North of London. These areas of London are stereotypically represented to be quite poor, with common lower class people, and areas thriving with crime. Our film is evidently set in London by the use of typically London working-class idiolect presented through the characters with dialogue in the opening. The regional identity of the characters connects them to their social class of working class. Our protagonists are most evidently coming from working class backgrounds where we use a zoom out from a close-up of the characters 'Terry' and 'Nancy' to a wide-shot of all four protagonists, which highlights their working class background due to their informal sports wear attire often associated with 'Chavs' that they are wearing, and the council estate setting that they are in. By making our protagonists come from working class backgrounds, it helped us to effectively convey the idea that they're a product of their environment. Working class people are often linked with stereotypical ideas such as welfare issues, drug addiction and criminality, and in our opening we introduce the idea that our protagonists use criminal activity in order to get by, where crime is also a representation linked with the regional identity of suburban London, which highlights the fact the protagonists act as what is expected of their surroundings, making them seem less of criminals to the viewer, and instead more vulnerable and innocent allowing the viewer to understand their situation and feel compassion towards the protagonists, again making their characters liked.
What kind of Media Institution might distribute your product and why?
A media institute is a company that deals with the creation and the distribution of a media product. There are both large and independent film institutions, where the larger institutions usually have subsidiary labels, for different genres of films, so that the production and marketing of that film could be ensured to appeal to set demographic according to the genre. Large institutions usually deals with films, that have quite high production costs where Independent labels however usually deal with films of lower budget, and sometimes may not have specialised areas for certain genre types, however many independent labels focus on specific or similar genres. There are not many large companies that are associated with British films, as they tend to be quite low budget in order to make them seem quite close to home, rather than quite distant due elaborate productivity.
Independent Institutions are institutions that are free from outside control. They usually carry their own personal stamp on films. Among the independent labels responsible for quite successful British films include. 'Revolver Entertainment' and 'Vertigo films. Revolver Entertainment is a company that focuses on the production of many low scale production British and Irish films, and works on marketing and distributing these films to suit particular demographics as well as trying to get their films known internationally by locating an office in Los Angeles, in order to work on how their films could appeal to an international market. Among the successful British films released by Revolver Entertainment are 'Kidulthood' and 'iLL Manors', which are films both focused on the horrors of urban London. They both appeal to quite similar markets, where the general idiolect of the films tend to be modern day London slang and therefore most likely to be understood and aimed at urban Londoners due to the relativity of the background. Revolver Entertainment could be a good distribution company for us, as the background of our characters is very similar to the characters in quite successful British films such as 'Kidulthood' and 'iLL Manors' and Revolver Entertainment have good experience in making low budget urban British films appeal to a wide audience and making them successful.
Vertigo films is an independent British film institute, (co-founded by Nick Love, the director of the football hooligan film 'The Football Factory) that focuses on a range of quite non-typical British films, however still deals with quite low budget films. Among its successors are films such as 'Bronson' and the 'Streetdance' sequel. As our film is more conventionally British, Vertigo films may not be the best distribution company for us, as they do not have many typical British films among their successors, therefore working with Vertigo films may not allow our film to reach its full potential as a stereotypically British film, despite being co-founded by Nick Love, who has had a more typically British influence on the company through the release of films such as 'The Sweeney' with Vertigo films, however still didn't prove well enough to be a box office hit.
Large Institutions are institutions that are well established in the film industry, that are usually associated with many smaller subsidiary labels in order to make up the big company. Two large institutions that have had success with British films are 'Studio Canal' who took over from the British film distributor 'Optimum Releasing' and Columbia Pictures. Studio Canal is a French based film company, that has close links with Universal Studios and owns the third largest film library in the world. Prior the take over from Studio Canal, Optimum Releasing was responsible for the success of the British film 'This is England' which is a very well-known and successful British film. Since Optimum Releasing was taken over by Studio Canal as a subsidiary label 'Studio Canal UK', it means that they have had to take on the role that Optimum Releasing played on the British film Industry. Despite Studio Canal UK having this role, I don't think they would be a good distributor for us as they are large company who are trying to mimic the impact of British films with the affordability large productions, however much of the impact of British films comes from the small and low scale production that promotes the realism of the films.
Columbia Pictures is a film company owned by Sony Pictures. Columbia Pictures is responsible for the production and distribution of the James Bond
movies. Despite being British films, the James Bond movies usually have large productions and tends to subvert from conventions of British film especially where it comes to the gritty realism of Brit films. A large film distributor such as Colombia Pictures is necessary for the James Bond movies as the scale of production is very large and works well in creating the action of the movie. A film distributor such as Colombia Pictures is not necessary for our film however as we want to keep our production small in order to promote the realism of our film
Overall I think it would be wise to distribute our media product with an independent film institution such as Revolver Entertainment, who have had experience in many low budget and successful British films such as Kidulthood and iLL Manors. Distributing with Revolver would also enable us to reach a more common target market, as well as them working with us on how to make our film appeal to international audiences.
Independent Institutions are institutions that are free from outside control. They usually carry their own personal stamp on films. Among the independent labels responsible for quite successful British films include. 'Revolver Entertainment' and 'Vertigo films. Revolver Entertainment is a company that focuses on the production of many low scale production British and Irish films, and works on marketing and distributing these films to suit particular demographics as well as trying to get their films known internationally by locating an office in Los Angeles, in order to work on how their films could appeal to an international market. Among the successful British films released by Revolver Entertainment are 'Kidulthood' and 'iLL Manors', which are films both focused on the horrors of urban London. They both appeal to quite similar markets, where the general idiolect of the films tend to be modern day London slang and therefore most likely to be understood and aimed at urban Londoners due to the relativity of the background. Revolver Entertainment could be a good distribution company for us, as the background of our characters is very similar to the characters in quite successful British films such as 'Kidulthood' and 'iLL Manors' and Revolver Entertainment have good experience in making low budget urban British films appeal to a wide audience and making them successful.
Vertigo films is an independent British film institute, (co-founded by Nick Love, the director of the football hooligan film 'The Football Factory) that focuses on a range of quite non-typical British films, however still deals with quite low budget films. Among its successors are films such as 'Bronson' and the 'Streetdance' sequel. As our film is more conventionally British, Vertigo films may not be the best distribution company for us, as they do not have many typical British films among their successors, therefore working with Vertigo films may not allow our film to reach its full potential as a stereotypically British film, despite being co-founded by Nick Love, who has had a more typically British influence on the company through the release of films such as 'The Sweeney' with Vertigo films, however still didn't prove well enough to be a box office hit.
Large Institutions are institutions that are well established in the film industry, that are usually associated with many smaller subsidiary labels in order to make up the big company. Two large institutions that have had success with British films are 'Studio Canal' who took over from the British film distributor 'Optimum Releasing' and Columbia Pictures. Studio Canal is a French based film company, that has close links with Universal Studios and owns the third largest film library in the world. Prior the take over from Studio Canal, Optimum Releasing was responsible for the success of the British film 'This is England' which is a very well-known and successful British film. Since Optimum Releasing was taken over by Studio Canal as a subsidiary label 'Studio Canal UK', it means that they have had to take on the role that Optimum Releasing played on the British film Industry. Despite Studio Canal UK having this role, I don't think they would be a good distributor for us as they are large company who are trying to mimic the impact of British films with the affordability large productions, however much of the impact of British films comes from the small and low scale production that promotes the realism of the films.
Columbia Pictures is a film company owned by Sony Pictures. Columbia Pictures is responsible for the production and distribution of the James Bond
movies. Despite being British films, the James Bond movies usually have large productions and tends to subvert from conventions of British film especially where it comes to the gritty realism of Brit films. A large film distributor such as Colombia Pictures is necessary for the James Bond movies as the scale of production is very large and works well in creating the action of the movie. A film distributor such as Colombia Pictures is not necessary for our film however as we want to keep our production small in order to promote the realism of our film
Overall I think it would be wise to distribute our media product with an independent film institution such as Revolver Entertainment, who have had experience in many low budget and successful British films such as Kidulthood and iLL Manors. Distributing with Revolver would also enable us to reach a more common target market, as well as them working with us on how to make our film appeal to international audiences.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The main audience for our media product is teens/young adults aged between 15 and 25. This is because we have placed our protagonists in this age bracket and feel that our characters would be more relate-able to this age bracket. It is important that the viewer gains a connection with the protagonist so that the viewer could empathize with them at emotion provoking moments with in the film. British films often build strong character and viewer relations, in order to keep the viewer interested throughout the film. By making this our target audience, we are also subliminally educating the audience and deterring them from negative influences due to the outcome of our film. This target audience is most likely to be influenced by others of the same age, so the viewers can influence each other positively as well as recommending the film.
Besides the target audience of young people, British films such as 'This is England' and 'Attack The Block', attracts international audiences especially in the USA. Many British films gain a second distributor, from larger international film companies that take an interest in the gritty side of British life, which is not often presented overseas where British people are often seen to be rich and snobby. Distributing conventional British films present British people against the stereotypical views of Brits across the world, therefore could potential interest international viewers. I think attracting an international audience would also be a good target market as I feel it will interest people who are not very aware of working class Britain, where the working class is a vast majority of the nation, rather than the rich and snobby. It also provides young people coming from working class backgrounds worldwide with relate-able characteristics with working class youth from Britain, which they may have not previously been aware of.
Besides the target audience of young people, British films such as 'This is England' and 'Attack The Block', attracts international audiences especially in the USA. Many British films gain a second distributor, from larger international film companies that take an interest in the gritty side of British life, which is not often presented overseas where British people are often seen to be rich and snobby. Distributing conventional British films present British people against the stereotypical views of Brits across the world, therefore could potential interest international viewers. I think attracting an international audience would also be a good target market as I feel it will interest people who are not very aware of working class Britain, where the working class is a vast majority of the nation, rather than the rich and snobby. It also provides young people coming from working class backgrounds worldwide with relate-able characteristics with working class youth from Britain, which they may have not previously been aware of.
How did you attract/address your audience?
It was important for us to appeal to a wide as possible target audience, not just so that we could gain a good profit on our media product, but also so we could educate worldwide viewers about life as an urban London teen. In the opening of our British film we tried to make it as interesting and as upbeat as possible as well as setting a background to the characters, making it relate-able to those coming from similar backgrounds. In order to make our opening interesting we used a montage of clips that defined the character profiles of our protagonists allowing the viewer to feel intrigued about what each protagonist has to bring to the film. We also made the plot of our film inferable through the interactions of our main protagonist and the antagonist in the opening, however we didn't give away so much that it took away the ambiguity of the film yet provided enough information to lure the viewer in.
In order to attract the target audience of frequent British film watchers, we adhered to many stereotypical conventions of British film. British film viewers tend to enjoy the journeys and emotions provoked in British films, as they often create a sense of perspective for their viewers. It was therefore important for us to make sure that the characterisation of our protagonists, was defined so that the viewer could feel attached to the like-ability of their characters in order to provoke emotion where the protagonists have to face hardships in the film.
In order to appeal to a young target market of teens and young adults between the ages of 15 and 25, we had to ensure that our characters were relative to the people surrounding the young target audience in everyday life as well as to themselves. This was done by using a common football game at the start of our opening, as this is what a lot of mainly teen boys are used too and can relate too. By also having the protagonists as a young friendship group, the characterisation allows the viewer to feel as a part of that group again provoking emotion and attachment to the characters, making the viewer want to see more. The freeze frames we used to introduce characters is a common convention of British films that introduces the characters directly to viewer, giving relevance to the characters, which is not a technique commonly used in other film genres. By using colloquial nicknames in order to introduce the protagonists, it again made their characters more relate-able and personal especially to the younger audience with a name such as 'Hench Henry', where 'Hench' is a common slang term coming from Urban London slang however has spread amongst young British people outside of London.
In order to attract the target audience of frequent British film watchers, we adhered to many stereotypical conventions of British film. British film viewers tend to enjoy the journeys and emotions provoked in British films, as they often create a sense of perspective for their viewers. It was therefore important for us to make sure that the characterisation of our protagonists, was defined so that the viewer could feel attached to the like-ability of their characters in order to provoke emotion where the protagonists have to face hardships in the film.
In order to appeal to a young target market of teens and young adults between the ages of 15 and 25, we had to ensure that our characters were relative to the people surrounding the young target audience in everyday life as well as to themselves. This was done by using a common football game at the start of our opening, as this is what a lot of mainly teen boys are used too and can relate too. By also having the protagonists as a young friendship group, the characterisation allows the viewer to feel as a part of that group again provoking emotion and attachment to the characters, making the viewer want to see more. The freeze frames we used to introduce characters is a common convention of British films that introduces the characters directly to viewer, giving relevance to the characters, which is not a technique commonly used in other film genres. By using colloquial nicknames in order to introduce the protagonists, it again made their characters more relate-able and personal especially to the younger audience with a name such as 'Hench Henry', where 'Hench' is a common slang term coming from Urban London slang however has spread amongst young British people outside of London.
What have you learnt about technologies from constructing this product?
Throughout the process of making the main product, all of our editing was done using iMovie (09). As a group iMovie was pretty much new to us however as a group we have all developed a lot skills of how to use the programme. I feel that I have greatly improved on my ability to use iMovie and have become more aware of how to solve dilemmas, where the simplicity of iMovie complicated the ability to edit our film opening in certain ways. One of the biggest dilemmas for us when editing was how we were going to split screen, when iMovie has no direct effects that allows you to split screen. In order to solve this problem we added one half of the split screen on a black background using picture in picture, which comes up as an adjustable rectangular box, and therefore adjusted the height of the box to about half way on the black screen. As you can't add more than one picture in picture on the same clip in iMovie, we then had to export the first half so it was a separate clip, which allowed us to put the second half of the split screen on the newly exported clip. The split screen ended up being two rectangular boxes on opposite and adjacent sides of the black background, which may have not split screened the two clips entirely, stilled worked quite effectively and allowed us to put titling in the remaining black areas. Other problems we faced using iMovie included the ability to 'swish pan' which was not an editing effect listed on iMovie, however we used camera work and editing effects available to us, such as cross dissolve which enabled us to mimic the effect of a swish pan using camera work and editing in iMovie. Testing these shots and effects on iMovie before the real ones was important to us, as we could identify if our solution had and faults.Throughout the process of making the main product, all of our editing was done using iMovie (09). As a group iMovie was pretty much new to us however as a group we have all developed a lot skills of how to use the programme. I feel that I have greatly improved on my ability to use iMovie and have become more aware of how to solve dilemmas, where the simplicity of iMovie complicated the ability to edit our film opening in certain ways. One of the biggest dilemmas for us when editing was how we were going to split screen, when iMovie has no direct effects that allows you to split screen. In order to solve this problem we added one half of the split screen on a black background using picture in picture, which comes up as an adjustable rectangular box, and therefore adjusted the height of the box to about half way on the black screen. As you can't add more than one picture in picture on the same clip in iMovie, we then had to export the first half so it was a separate clip, which allowed us to put the second half of the split screen on the newly exported clip. The split screen ended up being two rectangular boxes on opposite and adjacent sides of the black background, which may have not split screened the two clips entirely, stilled worked quite effectively and allowed us to put titling in the remaining black areas. Other problems we faced using iMovie included the ability to 'swish pan' which was not an editing effect listed on iMovie, however we used camera work and editing effects available to us, such as cross dissolve which enabled us to mimic the effect of a swish pan using camera work and editing in iMovie. Testing these shots and effects on iMovie before the real ones was important to us, as we could identify if our solution had and faults.
YouTube was a very useful technology for us, both in our research and in the product of our final product. During the research stages YouTube allowed us to view many different film openings, not just from British film but from other genres also. It allowed us to get inspiration from many different titling sequences, such as in our final product, the inspiration of freeze framing and introducing characters came from the opening of the British film 'Trainspotting'. YouTube also allowed us to visualise the common conventions and look on British film openings and how our film opening could relate. When uploading our final product to YouTube we learnt of the copyright issues associated with using certain music. As we used a well-known and published song that we didn't own the rights to, for the score of our opening, YouTube recognised the music used and therefore restricted the video from being watch-able on mobile devices, however there was no restrictions to watch it on a PC.
Between our preliminary task and our final task we changed the camera we used. In our preliminary task we used a a 'JVC Everio HD' handheld camera, which was very simple to use however the quality of the clips it produced weren't so good. For our final task we used a 'Sony Handycam' which was a step up from the JVC camera. The quality of the clips (pixels wise) that were filmed on the Sony Handycam were better than that of those filmed on the JVC. As a group our camera skills have greatly improved. We have all become familiar with how the camera operates and how to use it well. We have learnt to take great care in our shots and the importance of using a tripod for as much of the filming as possible, in order to gain a stable clip.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in progression from this to the full product?
In comparison to the full product and the preliminary task, I feel there is a lot that I have learnt as an Individual about myself and how I work with a media product as well as utilizing all the individual skills with in our group to gain the best possible outcome in our video. There are many areas that I feel we have largely developed in from the preliminary task to the main task, among those being: Planning; Camera Work;The importance of re-shooting and time management, and also the importance of group work.
I feel one of the most important things I learnt in the making of the main task, is making great use of everyone's individual skills, as there are many areas within our media product that other people in the group were better at, for example some were more creative and forward with ideas such Charlie and Jess, where others were perhaps better at camera work and editing such as Joe and I. I have learnt that working as part of a group, is essential when trying to create a successful media product, in order to reach the best possible outcomes. By utilising everyone's different ideas and viewpoints we gain a collection of ideas, which is always better than one. Also by utilising everyone's individual skills within the group we could focus on different aspects of creating our British film opening at the same time individually and then present each aspect to each other, rather than everyone doing the same thing at once which would have taken longer to do, therefore our work was made more efficient by taking on different roles within the group. This arrangement of roles according to skills was not present in the preliminary task as we were new to each other as a group, so understanding each others specialities weren't so easy. However the preliminary task allowed us to recognise as a group, what we could all individually offer well to our main product.
One of the biggest differences between the preliminary task and the final task is the importance of planning. In our preliminary task, our planning was very brief and we limited ourselves to the easiest location to film in which was our school. For our final task however we had to plan in depth in order to make sure that the location we used helped us to effectively convey the mood and atmosphere in the opening of our film, which was not a factor massively taken into consideration when planning our preliminary task. Besides location we had to plan more in depth about the costumes we were going to wear, so that the characterisation of our characters, as well as their background and social class could be inferred by their appearances. In our preliminary task our costumes and therefore the appearance and characterisation of our characters were worked around the clothes we wear for sixth form, which is formal attire. No in depth planning for costumes were done here as we were working around the school environment, however we realised the necessity of well planning our costume design, to help build our character profiles. We also looked more into adding titling into our opening, and learnt the importance of how titling such as the freeze frames introducing characters nicknames helped us to build background information on our characters, as well as building likeable and relate-able character profiles.
When it came down to the actual filming of our main product a lot differed from the preliminary task. A lot of the shots we took in our preliminary task were rushed and not very thorough, leaving the end product looking quite unprofessional. A part of this was due to the environment we were filming in, as it was filmed in our school, we were filming during lesson times meaning we had 45 minutes filming time per lesson, meaning a lot of shots were rushed. Also the fact that the school environment is very available to us at all times, the necessity to get repeat shots during filming times, was not taken into consideration as we wouldn't have had to go out or way, to retake shots if they didn't look so good when uploaded. During our main task, we took great care in filming our shots and making sure the acting helped to convey the mood of our film opening successfully. We also learnt of the significance of taking repeat shots, as we were working on a tight schedule in a not so easily accessible environment. Therefore if there was mistakes in our some of our shots, they could be rectified by the repeats, as well as the repeats providing us with a wide scope of shots to choose from, to see which looks best. Repeat shots and managing our time well was also important for us, as much of our filming was done in the outdoor environment during the glum and rainy winter season. This was a problem as we needed to film in sunny and bright weather in order to help us effectively portray the mood of the opening, therefore we had many limited days to film due to the poor weather, so repeat shots on the rare bright days were ever so more important, as it would have been hard to find a day to re-shoot any mistakes.
When putting the shots together on iMovie, we also learnt that it was a good idea to take test shots prior to the main shots, of the shots that we thought we may have some difficulties with, when filming the main product. This proved to be a very useful idea, as it prevented us from having to face disappointment and dilemma due to our planned shots not working well if we filmed it straight away, as it gave us time to fix those possible dilemmas as well as deciding whether the shots would work or not, especially where iMovie may have restricted us from effectively editing and transitioning the more complicated shots, such as where we used the split screens and the swish pan. Editing techniques such as match on action from our preliminary task, greatly helped us in our main task where we tried to build a background to the characters we were introducing without using dialogue, such as the bar scene where 'Naughty Nancy' is introduced, and we show to the viewer how she makes her money simply by matching the action without the need of dialogue.
When importing our shots and looking through them we also learnt of accidental advertisement, where a 'Carlsberg' can was seen in the fore front of one of our shots. As a result we learnt of the permissions we would have had to acquire, if our British film was to be officially distributed and publicised.
Overall, I feel there is a lot we have greatly improved at in the development of our main product from the preliminary task, both individually and as a group. Most notably our camera skills, and editing skills have greatly improved in the production of our British film opening, which is evident in the large difference in quality between the preliminary task and the final product. I also feel that we have bonded well and grew stronger as a group between the two tasks, allowing us to produce a much better and creative outcome than we did in our preliminary task.
I feel one of the most important things I learnt in the making of the main task, is making great use of everyone's individual skills, as there are many areas within our media product that other people in the group were better at, for example some were more creative and forward with ideas such Charlie and Jess, where others were perhaps better at camera work and editing such as Joe and I. I have learnt that working as part of a group, is essential when trying to create a successful media product, in order to reach the best possible outcomes. By utilising everyone's different ideas and viewpoints we gain a collection of ideas, which is always better than one. Also by utilising everyone's individual skills within the group we could focus on different aspects of creating our British film opening at the same time individually and then present each aspect to each other, rather than everyone doing the same thing at once which would have taken longer to do, therefore our work was made more efficient by taking on different roles within the group. This arrangement of roles according to skills was not present in the preliminary task as we were new to each other as a group, so understanding each others specialities weren't so easy. However the preliminary task allowed us to recognise as a group, what we could all individually offer well to our main product.
One of the biggest differences between the preliminary task and the final task is the importance of planning. In our preliminary task, our planning was very brief and we limited ourselves to the easiest location to film in which was our school. For our final task however we had to plan in depth in order to make sure that the location we used helped us to effectively convey the mood and atmosphere in the opening of our film, which was not a factor massively taken into consideration when planning our preliminary task. Besides location we had to plan more in depth about the costumes we were going to wear, so that the characterisation of our characters, as well as their background and social class could be inferred by their appearances. In our preliminary task our costumes and therefore the appearance and characterisation of our characters were worked around the clothes we wear for sixth form, which is formal attire. No in depth planning for costumes were done here as we were working around the school environment, however we realised the necessity of well planning our costume design, to help build our character profiles. We also looked more into adding titling into our opening, and learnt the importance of how titling such as the freeze frames introducing characters nicknames helped us to build background information on our characters, as well as building likeable and relate-able character profiles.
When it came down to the actual filming of our main product a lot differed from the preliminary task. A lot of the shots we took in our preliminary task were rushed and not very thorough, leaving the end product looking quite unprofessional. A part of this was due to the environment we were filming in, as it was filmed in our school, we were filming during lesson times meaning we had 45 minutes filming time per lesson, meaning a lot of shots were rushed. Also the fact that the school environment is very available to us at all times, the necessity to get repeat shots during filming times, was not taken into consideration as we wouldn't have had to go out or way, to retake shots if they didn't look so good when uploaded. During our main task, we took great care in filming our shots and making sure the acting helped to convey the mood of our film opening successfully. We also learnt of the significance of taking repeat shots, as we were working on a tight schedule in a not so easily accessible environment. Therefore if there was mistakes in our some of our shots, they could be rectified by the repeats, as well as the repeats providing us with a wide scope of shots to choose from, to see which looks best. Repeat shots and managing our time well was also important for us, as much of our filming was done in the outdoor environment during the glum and rainy winter season. This was a problem as we needed to film in sunny and bright weather in order to help us effectively portray the mood of the opening, therefore we had many limited days to film due to the poor weather, so repeat shots on the rare bright days were ever so more important, as it would have been hard to find a day to re-shoot any mistakes.
When putting the shots together on iMovie, we also learnt that it was a good idea to take test shots prior to the main shots, of the shots that we thought we may have some difficulties with, when filming the main product. This proved to be a very useful idea, as it prevented us from having to face disappointment and dilemma due to our planned shots not working well if we filmed it straight away, as it gave us time to fix those possible dilemmas as well as deciding whether the shots would work or not, especially where iMovie may have restricted us from effectively editing and transitioning the more complicated shots, such as where we used the split screens and the swish pan. Editing techniques such as match on action from our preliminary task, greatly helped us in our main task where we tried to build a background to the characters we were introducing without using dialogue, such as the bar scene where 'Naughty Nancy' is introduced, and we show to the viewer how she makes her money simply by matching the action without the need of dialogue.
When importing our shots and looking through them we also learnt of accidental advertisement, where a 'Carlsberg' can was seen in the fore front of one of our shots. As a result we learnt of the permissions we would have had to acquire, if our British film was to be officially distributed and publicised.
Overall, I feel there is a lot we have greatly improved at in the development of our main product from the preliminary task, both individually and as a group. Most notably our camera skills, and editing skills have greatly improved in the production of our British film opening, which is evident in the large difference in quality between the preliminary task and the final product. I also feel that we have bonded well and grew stronger as a group between the two tasks, allowing us to produce a much better and creative outcome than we did in our preliminary task.