Evaluation question 7

Looking back from my preliminary task I feel I have learnt a number of different ways of editing and filming. This has aided me in the production of my film as it has allowed me to experiment and incorporate new ideas and techniques that have been learnt. It has also allowed us to develop my editing skills using the MAC computers and iMovie. As there was more research and planning put into the final product there was going to be a better title sequence and a better use of camera. We also knew more shots that we could use and this would help to create a higher quality and more professional piece. After using the equipment more I feel I am more confident and more used to using the camera and editing software.

Overall I feel that the final product was very successful in creating an opening sequence. I feel it has hit all of the criteria needed top create an opening title sequence.

Evaluation question 6

What have we learnt about technologies.

Through this we learnt different techniques on how to film different types of films using the different shots and angles. The cameras we used were able to focus and zoom in on different aprts of a scene so we were able to create a more dynamic effect in our film. In our film we had a series of very simplistic shots that didnt require any special devices i.e. dolly. This allowed us to experiment with more ways and techniques with filming.
Whilst editing we used iMovie, which is a fairly standard piece of editing software. However there is alot of different ways to edit using different techniques to get a better quality product. Although we have managed to create a fairly good looking piece, there is still alot that we can learn from the software. We could also learn how to use Final Cut Pro, which is another editing programme on the MAC computer.

Our group worked well as a team. We corrected each-others' mistakes and we helped each other with the understanding of how to create films. When we were editing we each explained to each other hhow we thought each cut should go, we listened to each other and built on each others comments to create in our opinion a good quality piece.

The equipment we used was rather simple to use however it did take our group a while to learn to use the editing software on the mac computers. However once we had learned how to use it we soon were able to edit more efficiently. The editing skills we used became more complex and the flow of the film was improved.

Whilst filming there were several problems that we had to overcome, which were the fact that we couldnt lower the tripod to a low enough level so we had to go freehand with the camera and lay on the ground which created a good looking shot, but it did cause the shot to be a little shaky as we couldnt hold the camera still.
 Using blogger to log our work was very helpful as we were able to retrace our steps if we misplaced a storyboard or shotlist. This helped us to keep on track with our film and get it done in as short a time as possible and still be able to create a high quality piece.

 

Evaluation question 5

My film is a crime drama and it appeals to people who enjoy a film where it makes you think about the situation.
Drama films usually follow these conventions:

• Involve aspects of law enforcement – police/ detectives / psychologists / lawyers
• Involve a resolution to a mystery
• There is a question of morality
• Debates about guilt and innocence
• Often include ordinary people in everyday environments
• Teamwork to solve crime
• Struggles with bureaucracy

These aspects will appeal to different sectors of society for different reasons as different audiences will have different appeals.

The certificate of a crime drama is usually 15 or above, so that is where the target audience can range from. The audience is usually a mature audience because of the content and possibly the language.

If the crime drama centres around teenagers this would be more likely to appeal to a younger audience.

Both sexes enjoy crime dramas as there is not usually and sexist stereotypes to which only one sex will be favoured (typically the males are favoured and the females are subservient).

Men stereotypically enjoy the crime/ mystery element as this evokes masculinity. Murder and crime is often seen as involving men. Men are attracted by the action and pace of the drama.  They enjoy the sense of power. Often there are females in the plots which also encourages male interest. This incorporates the male gaze theory where the camera is the male's eyes.

Females also enjoy crime dramas. They enjoy the unravelling of the mystery and enjoy trying to solve the plot. They want knowledge and understanding. Often women are portrayed in a very positive light in crime dramas. They may be a detective or forensic scientist and females may watch the film as they aspire to be like them. this follows the same pattern as the TV show Prison Break 

People may watch a crime drama as a form of escapism from their normal everyday lives. This would apply across the sexes and across age ranges.

People involved in real life roles in law or in the police may watch as they are interested in the topic.

My crime/drama film is going to appeal to males in the age 15-30 where its mature themes can be understood and appreciated.

evaluation question number 4

This is a picture of my target audience. They aren't very young but they aren't too old.
They are old enough to understand the themes present in my piece. Some members of the audience may be active or passive in which there are two types of theories that will apply to them.
Hypodermic needle theory will work on the passive audiences where they will take on subliminal messages without realising. The uses and gratifications will work on the active audiences who will look for meanings and ways to escape their normal every day life and will try to create a link between them and the film actors.

Evaluation question 3

Evaluation question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product doesn't represent many social groups in stereotypical ways which stays true to the drama generic conventions. This adds a sense of realism to our product which makes it a more appealing and more successful product.
Gender-In our opening we do not portray gender in either biased form, however in the rest of the film we intended to use the male hierarchy as our guideline. This would mean that the male actors in our films would be less dominant and the males would have more control. This will create a positive stereotype for males but a negative one for females. This means that our product is going to appeal to more males than females. In our opening we used several low angles on our male actor to create a sense of his power and dominance, if we were to have used a female in our piece then we would have used slight high angles on her to create a sense of insignificancy. We do have some representations of age in our piece but there are no stereotypes of age e.g. older men/women are wiser or more clumsy. Sexuality, ethnicity and disability are not portrayed in our piece as we felt that this would be a stereotypical view on the film institutions where there is a stereotypical  view on all social groups.

Evaluation question 1

Final cut

rough cut 3

rough cut 2

Feedback


•'Nice establishing shot but it is quite slow
•Change the font of the titles – it is not good
•You need institutional logos at the start
•Look at the placement of the film title – it is right on top *The shot where he walks across the screen with the lamppost in it is too long
•Some of your shots are much better
•Consider placement of other titles too – some of them are over the action
•Consider sound track
•The shot after he has thrown the leaflet away and the shot on the bridge is too far shot over to the right – it looks odd as he has just been in the centre of the frame
•As an opening title sequence it runs well
•Narrative is difficult to follow'

rough cut 1

You have a few nice shots but on the whole there is lots to improve on in order to bring your piece up into the higher levels:

You need an institutional logo - at least one at the start

You need at least another 30 seconds of footage

The notebook on the bench is not great

Your titles are not in the correct order - look at your research for this

The voice over is not good - there are gaps in it - will you add in non diegetic music?

The Film Title font and lavishness is bad - does not fit in with the genre

Some of the shots are out of focus and need to be filmed again

The narrative doesn't make sense - does he love him? who is it? I thought it was meant to be a gangster film - it feels like a love story at the moment.

As Ryan is in it (and was warned not to be by Miss Peacock) he cannot get any marks for use of camera at the moment.

For rough cut two you need to focus on the narrative and what you are actually trying to produce because it is all a little confusing at the moment.

filming diary

Day 1:

The first day that we began our filming our film opening we had several issues to solve. The largest issue was that the original actor that we had planned to use did not show up for the shoot. This created a large problem as we were unable to get anyone else to fill in, so we had to use one of our group members in the film. We had originally planned on staying in the location (Admirals Park) for roughly 3 hours, however as we did arrive later than expected at 4:30pm we had to accelerate our filming as we had roughly 2 hours of sunlight left in the day. This did at first cause some concern as to if we needed a second day to film the rest of our opening but we were able to fit in all the shots that we need and we left with about half an hour remaining. Over the next couple of days Ryan and Peter spent a large amount of time editing our first rough cut together. We knew this was a rough cut but we still put a lot of hard work into creating a professional looking piece. After showing our product to an audience and our teachers we have been given a list of improvements that we need to do whilst in editing and while we are filming. The biggest thing is that we needed to make it longer as it was too short to be a film opening. From this feedback we were given we are going to be able to improve on our original piece and create an even more professional looking piece.

Luckily, because we had came up with the main protagonist's characteristics, he had a good idea of how to portray him and the qualities within him. This was challenging though, not just because it was short notice that Ryan would have to play him. Despite the visual weather on camera being sunny, it was also very windy the first day we filmed, which, on top of the impending night time darkness, made us feel all the more compelled to finish shooting as quickly as possible. The wind also didn't help us, in regards to our camera work, especially with the numerous panning shots we have in our sequence, because it resulted in the camera being harder to control steadily on the tripod. While doing our best to control the stability of the camera itself, we also tried our best to make the panning shots appear as smooth and thus professional as possible, however, looking back at our first rough cut, we can now see and understand why this was not achieved.

Day 2:

The second day of shooting we had to re-film our scenes as we had a different actor so we re-filmed to create a sense of continuity throughout the film. As we were filming during the day at 1:30 we were no longer rushing our filming so we were able to take as many takes as we needed before we thought we could move on. We were in the same location as before (Admirals Park) but we had arranged for a different more reliable actor to use in our film. We have also added in a few extra shots and extended the time of some shots. This will hopefully extend the overall time of the film opening to a more acceptable length.

Having more time to shoot meant we were also able to make the opening appear more artistic on screen, with a higher attention to detail, in regards to the cinematography. We also took into consideration the connotations within each shot, making a point of conveying this single character as the stereotypically masculine, yet remorseful male we had planned to from the start. For example, we used multiple low angle shots to present this male as a physically dominant protagonist and amplify the stock character of a humanising, mourning and vengeful businessman, quickly establish this narrative as being very much character driven. The weather also worked in our favour more so on this day of filming than the previous, with the dark clouds helping to highlight the depressing and solitary tone we wanted to get across. When we compared this to our original footage we found that the less vibrant weather conditions worked a lot better in correlation to our narrative than the sunshine that can be seen throughout the first rough cut.