2. Introduction Page
Genre:
Certificate:
Drama
Synopsis: Whilst a group of ‘reckless’ Actors:
Comedy
teenagers are hanging out in an alley way, a Sam McDowall
Crime
lonely girl on her way to a friends house Vincent Onuegbu
take a short cut through the alley. What Reggie Chelsom
Sci-Fi
happened after they would never forget.
Olivia Turner
Above are 4 films that have inspired the making of ours.
3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
™ Filmic Conventions
™ Introducing Narrative context
™ Enigma
™ Continuity editing
™ Genre conventions
™ Comedy
™ Action
™ Sci-Fi
Comedy is used to subvert the conventions of Action and
Sci-fi.
4. Introducing Narrative Context
To introduce the stereotypical hooded characters we have approached
our treatment of the characters in the same way as they have been
treated in the opening scene of, ‘Anuvahood ’.
We have also stereotyped a middle class teenage girl and have
used the same techniques (such as clothing and shots) as in
‘ Attack the Block ‘. Watch short clip bellow to see how.
5. Enigma
We have created enigma in our film by filming at a time
of night where there is not much lighting and brief
spots of London are lit up with street lamps.
We have also tried to create enigma in making the
location an alley way.
Lastly, we have tried to create enigma as the girls
walk is obviously heading into trouble as the hooded
boys are cross cutting with her. We are following the
girl as she is the main character in our film. She is
entering an alley to shorten her journey where she
will then cross paths with a group of boys.
6. Continuity Editing
™ We have created continuity in our film by simply
cutting the scenes together.
™ We have used editing techniques such as ‘fade in’
whilst creating continuity within our titles.
™ Light continuity was a challenge but for every
shot we filmed the time we made sure was the
same as other shots so it would like it was all
shot in one go.
™ It is conventional to have invisible editing,
match on action and a swipe.
7. Genre Conventions
Our film is a hybrid genre. We have tried to parody
films such as ‘Kidulthood’ and ‘Attack the Black’. We
have also attempted to achieve a grimy feel by filming
behind bars at the beginning. This is conventional for
socially realist films about kids in hoodies. To see other
shots using similar techniques click here.
Comedy within the film is not properly displayed at
the beginning as it seems serious due to camera shots,
location and time of day. The crime side of the film is
emphasized due to the bars at the beginning and also
from the alley way shots. Titles however help to create
a high class status for the girl, our main character.
Our title, we feel, helps to
immediately show the film has
aspects of crime, blood and sci-
fi. However the black and white
background emphasizes the
seriousness of the film.
8. Our boys compared to
theirs
We have used the same clothes and conventions as
‘Attack the Block’, for examples, hooded teenagers and
dark settings.
9. Final cut pro and
Soundtrack pro
Continue with show Click on an image!
Final Cut Pro Soundtrack Pro
10. Final cut Pro
™ Final Cut Pro is a
non-linear video editing software developed by Macromedia Inc. and then Apple Inc.
The most recent version, Final Cut Pro X, runs on Mac personal computers powered by
Mac OS X version 10.6.7 or later and using Intel processors. The software allows users
to log and transfer video onto a hard drive (internal or external), where it can be edited,
processed, and output to a wide variety of formats.
™ Since the early 2000s, Final Cut Pro has developed a large and expanding user base,
mainly video hobbyists and independent
filmmakers. It has, in later years especially, made inroads with film and television editors
who have traditionally used Avid Technology's Media Composer. According to a 2007
SCRI study, Final Cut Pro made up 49% of the US professional editing market, with
Avid at 22%.[1] A published survey in 2008 by the American Cinema Editors Guild
placed their users at 21% FCP (and growing from previous surveys of this group), while
all others were still on an Avid system of some kind
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11. Soundtrack Pro
™ Soundtrack Pro was a music composing and audio
editing application made by Apple Inc. featured in
Logic Studio, which includes a collection of just over
5000 royalty free professional instrument loops and
sound effects. It was discontinued with the release of
Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, and Compressor 4.
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12. How does your media product represent particular social
groups?
™ There are two stereo-types in our film.
™ The ‘hoody’ has been stereotyped here to wear all black and tracksuits.
As they are in an alley way they are also stereo-typed by their location.
The way they speak and act also helps to stereo-type them. To see our
inspiration click here.
™ The other obvious stereo-type would be the late teenage girl used in the
film. She has been shown as upper class and confident as she is wearing a
black leather jacket, heels and jeans. This is a simple stereo-type as the
way she is speaking on her phone as if her social life is a priority and
everything has to be more complicated then it is also shows a stereo-type
teenage girl. To see how we originally pictured her looking, click here.
13. Negative Stereotypes
™ ‘Kidulthood’ reinforces a negative view of young
people. They are made to look like they have nothing
to do other than smoke pot and hang around on street
corners mugging people. Whereas attack the Block
made them seem bad at the beginning but then
challanged the stereotype as they turned out to be the
heroes. We have used a negative stereotype at the
beginning of our film, however as it is only the first 2
minutes there is room to challenge the stereotype as
they have in ‘Attack the Block’.
14. What Kind of media Institution might distribute your
product and why?
™ Our film was made on a small budget and we paid
nothing for our actors. We would also not expect
it to be shown in cinemas, therefore we would
expect a company such as WARP films to manage
our film. A small distribution company owned by
a multi-media conglomerate.
™ We may also look specifically at companies with
experience distributing crime/comedy/sci-fi
films.
p.s. the link to WARP is a direct link to their website
15. Distribution
™ Our film was made on a small budget and we have
limit appeal to the audience distributor for our film.
‘momentum’ or ‘revolver’ deal with independently
produced films and would be a distributor we would
use.
16. Who would be the audience for your media
product?
™ As our film is directed towards 16-24 year olds we
would expect them to be our largest audience.
™ It would not be appropriate as a family film as
violence and bad language would be used throughout.
The film has a 15 certificate and would be
inappropriate for children under the age of 15.
™ We would also aim our film at sci-fi audiences as it is
rare when a sci-fi film is released and there are fewer
fans for that genre. To see class ratio click here.
17. Would you watch a sci-fi?
Boy 1 yes
Boy 2 yes
Boy 3 maybe
Boy 4 no
Boy 5 yes
Girl 1 no
Girl 2 no
Girl 3 no
Girl 4 yes
Girl 5 no
Continue to next slide
18. How did you attract/address your audience?
™ The use of a contemporary sound track the average teenager would
enjoy listening to is a technique we have used to draw in the
audience. This works to our advantage as it also helps to create
suspense.
™ Our setting and time of day have made it easy for us to create an
enigma in the first 2 minutes of our film helping us to draw the
audience in and wait for our point of action (usually would occur
after 15 minutes).
™ The fact we have also used a young cast who seem to have interesting
lives within the film is another way we would have attracted our
audience.
™ We have used techniques the audience would expect to see in this
scene in terms of character representation and location.
19. What have you learnt about technologies from the process
of constructing this product?
Technologies have helped at every stage of the production process
and without them our film would not have been possible
™ To research our film and find out how to stereotype aspects of it to fit our genre we
used a computer and the internet, and the website www.imbd.com to find out
more about our film and what the audience would expect.
™ We used Celtx, an open air software anyone can download for free. On this we
wrote our script and highlighted the props and so on. We also used a digital
camera to take photos of the shots we pictured on our storyboard. We created an
anamatic of our storyboard.
™ During the production we used a Sony HdD camera so that our footage would be
in the best possible quality.
™ Post production
20. Post-Production
™ Form the process of constructing the project we have
learnt many things about the process of pre-production
and what happened after shooting the footage.
™ We had to use the system Final Cut Pro to edit our film
and re-order clips we had previously shot. We also had
to use technologies such as Soundtrack Pro to create
the soundtrack.
21. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel
you have learnt in the progression from it to the full
product?
™ Lighting
™ Planning & Organization
™ Different technologies
™ Enigma
™ Shots
™ Editing
™ Soundtrack pro
22. Soundtrack Pro
™ We used Sountrack pro to create the soundtrack after selecting it of
Free Music Archive. We went through about 16 different songs and
found the one we thought best created enigma and would relate to
our film. Once we had chosen our song we edited certain parts of it
on Soundtrack Pro so that it would fit around the film. It made a
difference.
™ The music helped to build the film, the soothing yet dangerous effect
at the beginning whilst London is being shown and the way it
gradually builds up as the viewer believes the girl is heading towards
trouble.
™ We picked a track we thought our audience would be able to relate to
and spark an interest in them to want to carry on watching. To do this
we emphasized certain parts of the track such as the bassline.
Back or End of Evaluation
23. Editing
™ We have learnt a lot about editing since our preliminary tasks. For our
preliminary tasks we used a simple cut to get from shot to shot. There were no
titles and continuity was absent.
™ Now we use a variety of different effects, such as fade in/out, to navigate
around our shots and are able to use a variety of different effects to work
around our film and create continuity.
™ Within editing we have also been able to show a multiple view point
perspective as we have cross cut the boys in the alley way with the girl walking
down the road. We have also used 2 different locations but the audience
cannot tell because they have not seen what is behind the corner in the alley
way. The boys in the alley way we filmed in Hampstead, however the girl
going around the corner into the alley way was filmed in Golders Green. Due
to the editing and cross cutting the viewer is unable to tell if the alleyway is in
a different location.
24. Shots
™ Since our preliminary task we have learnt how a variety of
shots can play to your advantage in everyway.
™ This applied to location for example. We used still
establishing shots of London behind bars at the beginning to
show the grotty and contained yet peaceful side of London.
™ Shot sizes help expose or hide as much as you want them to.
™ We used a wide worms eye view shot of the girl to show her
vulnerability yet we used a dark silhouette shot of the boys
all together to show their strength.
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25. Lighting
™ As our film was mostly shot at sun set the lighting was tricky.
™ First we learnt that in order to shoot at night when you don’t
have custom lights, its important to use reflective surfaces in
your surroundings to help amplify light. E.g. street lights, cars..
™ We also had to create continuity with the lighting. This meant
that we needed to organize and time when we would shoot. As
many of our clips were shot on different days, if not in different
weeks, the light would always change so we would time when
we shot one scene and use the same time to shoot other scenes
or adjust the time due to the time of year.
26. Planning & Organisation
™ When making this film communication was key. We had to organize
the actors and tell them a location, time and what to wear in order to
be in our film. We sent texts to communicate this message.
™ On a few occasions our actors could not make it because we were late
in organisation or we were not clear enough about what we expected.
This meant we had to improvise and use the people around us in the
film.
™ As we did not have our own camera or tri-pod, the most key part in
filming was renting out the camera from the media department for a
weekend or whenever we were filming before anyone else could. The
issue here was that if we left it too late it could be rented out by
someone else. Purchasing our own tape was also an issue as we
needed to figure out where to buy one, cost ect.
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27. Different Technologies
™ I shot my preliminary task on my mobile phone. Since then I have learnt a lot
about the importance of what equiptment you use and how you use it. An
example of this is the tri-pod. A steady shot is necessary in order to cleanly
establish your characters and location. Without a tri-pod this would have been
near impossible. I have learnt how to set it up and best locate it, also how to
make sure it is level.
™ I have also learnt that shooting on an HD camera allows you to see much
more much clearer than you would be able to on a standard camera.
™ The microphone was also important in order to capture what our characters
said on set.
™ Although it did not work for me, I have also learnt how to do a voiceover to
dub in alternate voices.
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28. The Creation of Enigma
™ Since our preliminary task we have learnt how to
create enigma. The key to this is not giving too much
away and we applied this throughout our whole film.
™ This is amplified by the absence of much dialogue and
our use of music to build tension.
™ There is a connection between the girl walking and the
boys in an alley but you never see them in the same
shot together so anything could happen at the end.
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