Final post

As our blogs close tomorrow, I guess this is the last post :(. I have really enjoyed working on creating our film opening and managing a blog. Over the past 8 months I have learnt many new things that I can take away with me in the future.

Final Evaluation

Outakes

Research for Section B

I have thought about what films and production companies I am going to use for Section B for my case study. I still may talk about additional films, but the films that are below are the films I am definitely going to mention:

Film evaluation

Finally me and Alyce have completed our film evaluation. We addressed all of the seven questions in depth. We included screen shots of 2 films that inspired us, video clips of our film, and a video clip of our storyboarding. We took it in turns to answer the questions and for the last one we answered it together. Whilst filming the evaluation, I have realised how much I have learnt over the course. I have thoroughly enjoyed filming and editing the evaluation. It will be uploaded by the end of today as blogs close tomorrow.

Representation of regional identity

Regional Identity

Mine and Alyce's evaluation planning

Netflix

My Dad just signed up to Netflix, and I'm over the moon! There is a category for British TV dramas, so over the half term I'm looking to watch a few episodes of different dramas and make notes on how they represent age, gender, ethnicity, disability and so forth. I think this will be great practice seeing as my media exam is nearly a month away.

Film evaluation

1. In what ways does your film opening use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?


2. How does your film opening represent particular social groups?


3. What kind of media institution might distribute your film opening and why?


4. Who would be the audience for your film opening?


5. How did you attract/address your audience?


6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this film opening?


7. Looking back at your prelim task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the final film opening?


Last year's moderator said this:


"Planning and Research was of a proficient to excellent standard throughout and the candidates’ artefacts supported this. It is clear that candidates have been supported and encouraged to research the forms and conventions of genre as well as the industrial conventions associated with the opening of a feature film. Planning shows progression from an initial idea to final construction. The number of blog entries, and the use of ICT, was most impressive. Marking was generally in line with the agreed standard.
The constructions used forms and conventions appropriately, particularly through the use of idents and titles. The best work showed a good understanding for shot composition and used a range of shot types for effect. Most candidates had obviously very carefully considered mise-en-scene and the range of different styles were refreshing to watch.


However the evaluations were overmarked because the format chosen (video interviews embedded on blogs) was not fully exploited. Their brevity, particularly considering some were the work of up to four candidates, hindered them from discussing their responses in detail, and too often comments were superficial and not supported with appropriate examples. Candidates should remember that this component is worth as much as the Planning and Research, and this time should be reflected in their final evaluation.


This Centre has been a pleasure to moderate."

Our final film

Finally, Elisha, Megan, Alyce and I have completed our film opening. After months of blood, sweat and tears, we have come to an end. We have changed our ending completely as we felt our previous endings did not suit the film. We have now added a scene where a packaging of drugs falls out of our characters pocket. We liked this idea as the situation contrasts with the jolly music and the pleasant bike rides. I am extremely pleased with our film opening, and I have enjoyed working as part of a team and completing it. Over the past few months whilst filming, I have learnt many new things such as how to decide whether a shot works or not, how important the mise-en-scene is and how it may reflect the character, that sound is vital as it creates an atmosphere and many more things. In terms of editing. I learnt how to split clips, how to slow down/speed up sound, how to import pictures and so forth. It has been beneficial as it has opened my eyes up into the media world and I have realised I would really like to pursue a career in media.

Disability within the media

Within the clip (7:14-12:00) I picked up on several things that shows signs of bi-polar:

1) Can't come to terms with illness
2) Spending ridiculous amounts of money, money that she doesn't have
3) Stacey says that she is 'normal', and is implying that her mother, who also too has bipolar, isn't 'normal'
4) At the end she repeats she is 'normal', by saying this she is indenial that she has bi-polar, and wants to make herself believe she doesn't
5) Excessive drinking
6) Up and down mood swings

I was reading the comments on the clip, and people with bi-polar said that Eastenders portrayed the disability perfect. As it is a sensitive subject to touch base on, they must have gone into a lot of research to enable them to portay Stacey in a non-offensive way.

Our title

After deep consideration, we have come to the decision that our final film title is going to be Heroin/Heroine. My group was in 2 minds as to whether the title should be a girls name or if it should be a play on words. We decided on this title as the drug in her pocket is heroin, and she could be seen as a heroic figure.

BBFC - certificate 12

As a group, we have come to the decision that our film will be a certificate 12 as it allows moderate swearing.

99.9% last day of filming

After long days of filming in all weather conditions, we are finally happy with our footage. Last week my group went filming and we thought we had finished, unfortunately when we uploaded onto the Mac, we realised the ending of our film opening was rather boring and we had some troubles with the sound. We filmed several endings to our film, Elisha said things such as "Why are you here?" and "Shit". Instead of any dialogue or another person within our film, we decided for Elisha to drop drugs whilst she is riding her bike, and she takes her headphones out. By taking her headphones out it helped us with the sound bridge. We are still working on the second production company 'Rock Pictures', we feel it isn't long enough therefore we may film again or experiment with iMovie. The deadline is in two weeks, so we are on track and we only need to finish that bit off.

Shawshank Redemption

Last night I watched the award winning film Shawshank Redemption directed by Frank Darabont. The films about a young banker who spends nearly 20 years in prison for murdering his wife and his lover, despite his claims of innocence. Throughout the film, we see him befriend 'Red', another prisoner, and we watch their friendship grow. The film shows amazing camera angles and editing skills. I particularly found the sound great, digetic and non digetic. The twists within the storyline were fantastic, as I was sitting in suspense not knowing what was going to happen. Overall, I found this film absoloutely incredible and I would definitely recommend it.

Our production companies

This is our first production company



This is mine and Alyces vlog about our second production company

TV drama study day at Richmix

Final footage

Today my group went filming, for what seems to be the last time as we feel we have a sufficient enough of footage. We filmed our end scene for our opening, it went extremley well (even though we were in the pouring rain). Elisha, the girl on the bike, skidds as she sees an androgynous figure. She pulls her headphones out and says 'Oh sh*t'. We don't see the persons face or body, we just see their black boots. After we finish editing, all we have to do is think of title names.

3rd draft

This is our 3rd draft of our film opening. We have added a scene at the end to steer away from our concerns that it looks too much like a music video. The scene adds suspense, and the audience may question who this character is, and why she is chasing the main character on the bike. We still have bits to add, but apart from that my group is on track and our opening is coming along nicely.

Streaming vs Cinema

I spoke to 10 people who go to the cinema on a regular basis, and they gave me advantages and disadvantages of each -streaming and cinema.

Advantages of the Cinema

- Wider screens for a better picture
- Great surround system
- 3D films
- To socialise with people
- Discounts for students
- Wide range of food/drinks

Disadvantages of the Cinema

- Loud, troublesome youths
- Expensive costs
- Sold out screenings
- Lack of hygeine
- Inadequate parking
- Possible ques
- Busy screens therefore bad positioning within the screen
- Rare technical diffulculties

Advantages of streaming

- In the comfort of your own home
- Can watch at your leisure
- Wide range of films
- More convenient
- Less expensive as food is cheaper from supermarkets rather than from the cinema

Disadvantages of streaming

- Piracy which leads to low quality films
- Inadequate sound system
- Small screen
- Not the same atmosphere
- Requires internet connection
- Have to subscribe to Netflix or similar type of companys, and your tied down to the contract

In conclusion, the majority of the people preferred cinema's to streaming as they felt they benefited more from watching a film at the cinema as there is far many advantages than streaming. They also said if streaming became more popular that they would still go to the cinema as they like the whole "cinema experiance"

Mine and Alyce's deadly question

Real question - The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing.

Translated question - The importance of different forms of media (TV and film) working together to create a piece as a whole in production, distribution and marketing.

Various forms of media often combine with other forms for it to then be displayed to the public for example, the internet can be shown through television and the internet combines with newspapers, film, video etc. Also, this means how companies and institutions come together to produce a piece to display for example the film 'Snatch' was distributed by the companies Columbia Pictures (UK) and Screen Gems (USA) showing that these two companies have collaborated as one to create something at the end.

Half term task - content analysis

Cinema Listings - Liverpool

Mine and Alyce's day at the cinema

On Sunday evening, me and Alyce went to the cinema to watch 'The Vow'. We had been talking about going to see it once it had been released, so we decided to go. It was such an amazing film and I recommend it to all. It had my two favourite actors in it, Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum. It's about a married couple who have a car accident, and the Rachel McAdams, who plays Channing Tatum's wife has brain damaga due to the accident and doesn't remember her husband. During the film, you see Channing try to rekindle their love, and remind her why she fell in love with him in the first place. I won't give too much away, but I really do recommend it and I adivse you to bring a packet of tissues with you!

Weather forecast

Wooooo snow again! Hopefully we can get more footage over the weekend if it'a heavy enough. We have a lot of filming from last week when it snowed, but extra footage won't do any harm. At the moment we're on 1 minute 30 seconds, so we need roughly 30 seconds of footage more. If it rains, we will film to get a few seconds more.

Fonts for our film opening

I have been looking into fonts for our film opening, and I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I'm wondering whether or not we should have a quirky font, or a bold almost scary font. I personally think a quirky, squiggly font will suit our film as it reflects our film as it is indie and quirky.

Our second draft

This is our second draft of our film opening. As you can see it has progressed smoothly since our first draft. We are hoping to still film, and get the footage we need. We need to also film an ending which leaves the viewers wanting more. At the moment it almost looks like a music video, so we are hoping to maybe add another character in towards the end of the 2.00 clip.

Definitions

Hopefully I will add more definitions here, but for now I have 3 key terms for section B in the exam.

Consumption: People paying at the cinema, renting or buying DVDs and downloading and purchasing related products.

Distribution: Promoting films and getting them into cinemas and out on to DVD as well as any spin offs/related media products.

Production: Making films

The Woman In Black

Yet another film I am dying to see in the cinema. This time I think I'll cry with fear! I've heard great things about the theatre production, so I'm hoping the film lives up to my expectations. The Guardian said "It has proven the most successful British horror of all time at the box office". It stars Daniel Radcliffe, who is famously known for his role as Harry Potter. My media class is hoping to watch this in the cinema when it comes out. Absolutely terrified!

The Vow

I do not know how I'm going to cope watching the film as I've already cried at the trailer! This film looks absolutely amazing and I can't wait to watch it as soon as it comes out. I have heard that it is an amazing film that will leave me wanting more.

About time it snowed :D

Finally god has heard our prayers! We've been wishing for snow for months and it's about time we got some! Over the weekend it has been snowing very heavily, and my group decided it is a perfect opportunity to film. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the filming, although I heard great feedback, and the day went incredibly well! We practically have all the footage we need, yet I feel we probably should try and film on a day it rains. As we have been editing our footage after every day we have filmed, our film is almost finished. My group still needs to think of a title and production company, but we still have lots of time. We have also thought about the font we are going to use as our names come up, perhaps a typewriting font?

We Have Finally Found A Solution

The Special K Advert

Recently, whilst watching the television, I noticed this advert which resembled our film opening. I want to just add that my group had the idea first and we didn't copy the advert. They have the similar idea of the different weathers, and the different outifts. I like the fact we have a different idea to past years, as we are altering the continuity, apart from our location.

Todays Filming

Today Elisha, Megan, Alyce and I went filming, we had a successful day with many uses of different camera angles. Despite the fact it was freezing, we managed to capture everything we needed. We used our beloved trolley as a dolly, and did our usual shot moving backwards. As it was a cold yet sunny day, the bike created shadows which gave a great feel to the footage. We have nearly completed our filming, we are now weather dependent for either snow or rain, or even both! Once we have filmed everything, we can start to think about a title and a production company name.

Production Companies

Unfortunately, I wasn't in the last Media lesson, but I was able to catch up. We researched film production companies for our exam in May. I had a look at 3 production companies online, and 2 different films for each. These production companies and films are not set in stone, I may research more nearer the time on the exam.

20th Century Fox

- Titanic
- Avatar

Paramount Pictures

- The Godfather
- Mean Girls

Legendary Picture

- Inception
- The Hangover

All of the above are a few of my favourite films. Each film has a different genre, and I believe that I could use these in my exam as I would have a lot to talk about. In my research nearer the time, I may look into Dreamworks, as I am aware they have animated films.

Inception

During the Christmas break, I finally watched the most talked about film of 2010; Inception. It was a very mind boggling film to watch, but throughout it, I picked up the concept, and started to understand what what happening. I found the idea of dreams withing dreams within dreams captivating. The opening shot is of waves crashing among eacother and Leonardo Di Caprio waking up on a beach. What I find interesting is that we see this scene again later on in the film. To watch this rilm, it requires patience, attention and and wide imagination. I particularly like the ending of the film, as it ends on a cliff hanger. I'd love to see a sequel as I found it so intriguing. Now that I've actually had the chance to watch it, I really want to watch it again.

We Need Snow!

Over the Christmas break, I'd been really hoping we would get lucky and it would snow. Unfortuntely, there has been no sight of snow. It's not too late, as we are still in the winter season, and our film opening doesn't have to be submitted just yet.