Evaluation- Question 2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Learning comment
From doing this task I have learnt about the way in which we chose to represent teenagers in our sequence. I also learnt about how our choice of props, fashion and location also help reinforce this representation we portrayed in our opening sequence.
Sunday, 18 December 2016
Evaluation- Question 1
Learning comment
From doing this task I have learnt about how my final product conforms to conventions if a typical media project. I have also learnt about how my product challenges these conventions of media projects.
These are the main sounds which we will need to add in while editing the sequence. There is a door slamming noise, a heavy breathing sound and a footsteps sound. We also have a slow heat beat and rap music for the background noise when one of the characters is at home.
Learning comment
From doing this task, I have learnt about what sounds we may need to add in when editing the final sequence. We also get an idea as to what extras we may need to add in to make up for noise which may be quieter than we would like. For example if the footsteps are not loud enough we all add in a sound effect to make them louder.
Task 18- Typography
Learning Comment
From doing this task I have learnt about the different fonts we can potentially use for our credits and institutional information. I have also learnt about what fonts our audience prefer an the ones they would most like to see for our sequence. I will need to take this into consideration when deleting the final font we will use.
Wednesday, 16 November 2016
Task 15- Final storyboard and shot list
This is a list of all of the shots which we will include in our sequence. We get a understanding of the shots we need to use and we also think in advance of the best way to film the shots.
This is our final storyboard. It has all of the opening sequence mapped out so we know what we need to do and what we need to shoot as well as the props and the camera angles we will need to use. We may need to add o this storyboard as our shot has more shots than the storyboard itself.
Learning comment
From doing this task I have learnt about all of the shots I will need to do. We also learn in advance the shots we will use, so we get time to think about the best way to shoot the shot. we also see how long the sequence is and how many shots we will need to include. This will also give us a rough indication as to how long the sequence as a whole will be. From doing the storyboard I have learnt what each shot will include as well as the props we will need and where we will shoot it and what will be happening in the shot.
Monday, 14 November 2016
Task 17- Props, location and fashion planning
Fashion
This is our planning fashion, we see what clothes the actors will be wearing during the opening sequence.
Props
This is a list of all of the props we all need for our sequence, the document shows them all as well as pictures of each item apart from the flour wrapped in clingfilm, I couldn't find a good picture of this.
Risk assessment
This is some of risks we will have to deal with while filming the sequence, we will do our best to avoid them as they are all annoying and an inconvenience.
Location
This is the subway in which we will film our opening sequence, however, there is work going on behind it. This may mn that we have to film somewhere else as the work in the background will get in the way of our shots and make the sequence look a lot less professional.
Saturday, 12 November 2016
storyboard of idea (First draft)
This was our first storyboard. However, we decided to restart it because it didn't match with our script and we thought that we couldn't change the storyboard to match the script so we restarted it.
It didn't take us long to realise that we had messed quite badly, we are still working on a better version which matches our script more. We didn't finish but we decided to blog about and show our first attempt.
Task 16- Character profiles
This task required me to draw up a profile of the main characters in my opening sequence. We only have two characters in the sequence, so the audience profile only has two characters on it.
This sheet shows the important information about the two characters in the sequence. It tells you their name, the actor playing them, what role they are, their date of birth, their nationality, their eye colour, their hair colour, skin colour, health and habits.
Monday, 7 November 2016
Task 13- Audience profile
This is our audience profile it shows who we will try and make our film appeal to. This table shows who the main gender is which the film will appeal to, it also shows the age of the people and the social class of the audience.
Learning comment
This is important because we also learn who we want our film to appeal to. We also know who we need to make our film engage the different ages and social classes we want our film to appeal to.
Task 14- Potential script
This is my first draft of a script for the opening sequence, we will make a lot of changes to the script before we finalize one.
This is another first script, we have two scripts we did one initial script each. We will put the scripts together when we go to create our final script.
Learning comment
From doing this task I have gained a basic idea about what sot of things will be said in the opening sequence and a rough idea of how much dialogue will be in the sequence. There are some stage directions which I know I will need to include in the sequence as well as some locations which we will be filming in.
Wednesday, 2 November 2016
Task 11- Preliminary task
This is our preliminary task. Our brief was to create a continuity sequence involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character and then has some dialogue with the character . The task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.
This is the edited preliminary task which we filmed. We edited the footage in iMovie, this took quite a while because we had a lot of footage to edit.
Learning comment
From doing this task, I have learnt that I need to plan my opening sequence so that I get a basic idea of what shots I will include before I begin my filming. I have also learnt that the filming must be to a high standard and must not be shaky as this will look rubbish. I will also need to take care when editing my sequence a this will take a while and must look good.
Tuesday, 1 November 2016
Task 12- Initial ideas and planning
This is my mind map which I planed out my initial ideas on. I had four ideas, but I didn't chose to use any of them, this is because I felt the one I decided to do was more engaging for the target audience and they would enjoy more than any of my initial ideas.
This is the mind map which we planned our final idea on, we looked at the plot in depth and we looked at sub genres which we could try to implement into our film.
Learning comment
From doing this I have looked at ideas for my opening sequence and I have developed one. I have also looked at other sub-genres to include in the sequence to make it appealing to my teenage target audience. I have also ruled out some of my ideas, for example my idea of someone getting angry while playing a video game or someone is playing sport and gets tackled and has to be carried off the pitch.
I used spider scribe because I couldn't get poppet to work.
Wednesday, 12 October 2016
Creative task 5- Create a continuity sequence off at least 20 different shots
This is my sequence which shows continuity through about 30 shots.
Our task was to film something like someone walking into a coffee shop and buying a coffee and then leaving the shop. We needed to use at least 20 different shots for the scene. We then had to edit the shots to make it flow and look like one continuous sequence.
When we edited the sequence we had to make sure that the sequence flowed and was like one continuous shot. We also couldn't make all of the shots the same length, it make s the film seem slower and we wanted to keep it fast to make sure that the audience are drawn in.
Learning comment
From completing this task I have learnt that continuous editing can be quite hard to do well and effectively. This is because it must look natural and like it flows. Continuity editing is also quite hard because the shots which you put together must look thy come after one another. If you film the shots and they don't you must re-do it to ensure that it looks good. Planning this task also made it easier to do as it made it more simple when we got round to actually filming the sequence we all knew what we were doing. Planning out before we did it also made it easier because we gad a basic idea as to what we were doing before we even story boarded it out. I think that our sequence does work and looks quite good, it flows and all of the shots look like they are in place and look like they all belong in the sequence. To improve we could make sure that the protagonist isn't smiling when they shouldn't be as this doesn't look good.
Creative task 4- Re-creating the title sequence of a film
This is my attempt at re-creating the title sequence of The Breakfast Club. My attempt is about thirty seconds shorter than the actual sequence. This is because I didn't do the Universal logo I also didn't do the end when the quote gets smashed and breaks into a lot of different pieces.
Learning comment
From doing this task I have learnt that it is quite hard to get the exact font and text size used in the original sequence. I will also have to choose my font and font size carefully to draw my audience in and make them want to watch my film. The titles are very important to an opening sequence because they inform you as to who the main people who helped create and produce the film you are watching. When choosing the fonts you need to think about the size the font because the bigger it is the more eye-catching it is and the more people are likely to see it and read the text. If I was to do this task again I would try and get the font more accurate. I would also work on the timings of the sequence because mine is about 30 seconds shorter than the original.
Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Creative task 3- Remake the opening sequence of a coming of age film
This was our second attempt at an opening sequence. Our first one was Ghostbusters but we lost the footage. This meant that we had to do another film opening sequence. We chose to do the Submarine opening sequence as it was relatively simple to do.
We didn't get the sequence exactly right because of our location , we were in the school which meant we couldn't get the bedroom shot. We also couldn't get the shots of the houses in detail. We also couldn't get any of the other shots of the hills or the water or the sunset over the water. These shots would've ben hard to get as we were in school and getting the shots would mean doing something outside if school in the evening.
Learning comment
From doing this task I have learnt that it can be quite hard to get the opening sequence right. I have also learnt that I must put text in the sequence which gives away important information like the director and the key actors.
Monday, 3 October 2016
Task 8- Narrative structure
Learning comment
There are narrative elements revealed in all three sequences. These include Levi-Strauss' binary opposites, prop's character types and some of Barthes action and enigma codes. The equilibrium is also revealed in some of the sequences. In my opening sequence I will try to give away some of the character types and maybe some action codes and some binary opposites. If I can I will also try and incorporate the equilibrium.
Task 7- Title research
For my title research I have done two films, one of these films was Juno. I have analysed some of the text which appears on the screen during the title research.
Another film I have done is Ferris Buellers day off, i have analysed some of the text which appears on the screen during the opening scene.
Learning comment
From doing this task I have learnt that I need to include certain things in my opening sequence. I must include
Director's name
Main actors/actresses
Production company
Any other roles (costume designer, producers, editors, etc)
Saturday, 1 October 2016
Task 6- Audience Research
Audiences for coming of age films.
Generally the target audience for coming of age films are teenagers between the ages of 12-18 years. This is because this audience can relate to what was going on in the film as they are in a similar or the same stage of life. The protagonists are often the same age as the target audience. This makes it more appealing to the target audience if the protagonist is the same or a similar age.
Even though it is mainly aimed at teenagers the sub-audience is female teenagers, as these films often have sub-genres in them like romance which appeals mostly to female teenagers.
The directors use iconography really well as it helps to establish the genre, by including things that we associate with teenagers, like make up. The audience immediately know that it is about a teenager and their life.
This is the link to a prezi which shows the main audiences for five coming of age films.
This is a screenshot from the prezi which I made.
Learning comment
From doing this task I have learnt that there are certain aspects of film I could use. A lot of coming of age films use comedy so I will try and implement some comedy in to my sequence. I will need to make sure that my sequence engages my target audience, so I will need to be careful as to how I do this.
Interviews with peers
We interviewed peers about what they wanted to see from an opening sequence and what engaged them and made them want to watch the opening sequence. We also asked them questions about what elements of genre and narrative being portrayed and the videos show how they responded.
Learning comment
From doing this task I have learnt about what people want to see in an opening sequence and what makes them engaged and makes them want to see the rest of the film. From gaining this knowledge I will try and incorporate some of this into my sequence as well as hints at the narrative and the genre of the film as people said that they look for this sort of thing.
Sunday, 25 September 2016
Task 5- Director case study
I have chosen to study John Hughes because he directed a couple of classic coming of age films, these are the Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
John Hughes was born on February 18th 1950 in Lansing, Michigan, United States and died on August 6th 2009 in Manhattan, New York, United States. He was 59 years old. He was married to Nancy Ludwig and they got married in 1970 and didn't divorce. She became a widow when John suddenly died and she hasn't re-married. They had two children, James Hughes and John Hughes.
He wrote a few books these are, Maid in Manhattan, National Lampoon, Puppy Love, Coal Chain Logistics, Beethoven and Beethoven 2nd: The Movie Storybook.
His most famous films are The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, Pretty In Pink and Weird Science.
This is my entire Voki script:
In this interview John Hughes talks about the casting in The Breakfast Club.
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2010/08/molly-ringwalds-revealing-interview-on-john-hughes-not-being-lindsay-lohan-and-more/61085/ This the link to an interview by Molly Ringwald's about John Hughes. In which she talks about him as a director and how he made her a star by putting her in three of his films, which shows that he uses some actors multiple times.
Hughes sets a lot of his films in high schools. A common theme of the films were teenagers, all of the protagonists are teenagers. The style of films he made were coming of age films where the protagonist was a teenager. Hughes also tries to include elements of comedy in all of his films.
Learning Comment
From doing this task I have learnt that it is okay to use the same actors multiple times as thew audience learn to expect before the film even starts. They can tell what genre it is. Some actors are famous for doing certain genres for example Will Smith is very famous for his sci-fi films. A lot of John Hughes' films are set in school or have links to a school. I could use the school facilities to imitate his work.
This is a screenshot from my timeline. It shows eight coming of age films which are all famous and a brief description of them.
Learning comment
From doing this timeline I have gained a brief insight into the plot of some of the most famous coming of age films.and I have learnt about some key conventions of opening sequences like showing the names of the main actors/ actresses and to show the protagonist and male the audience try and empathize with them in the opening sequence to make them more likable.
Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Creative task 2- Match on action film
This is our match on action film.
The film was good overall but se improvements could be made, for example some of the shots are too long. This can disengage the audience. In a couple of the shots, you can see the person filming it through reflections.
Learning comment:
From doing this I have learnt about different techniques i could use, when filming my opening sequence. I also learnt that you must carefully position the person filming, as you don't want them in the reflection. I will also make sure i limit the amount of time each shot lasts for, as this can bore the audience.
From doing this task I have learnt some key opening sequence conventions, for example actors and actresses should be named in the opening credits. As well as institutional information and other credits like costume designer, etc. I have also learnt that I must draw in my audience when making the sequence and I must be careful to make sure that I engage my target audience.
