Props List

Props List

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Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule

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Question 6

This work was a success I gained so much experience and learnt new things.
The kind of technologies I used was very new to me here are the ones we used as a group: Camera canon XAHI
           Clapperboard
           Tripod Libec SL200
           Portable Battery
           Camera bag
           Lens Cap

These were all involved for the camera mainly the actual camera had various functions on it. The main things I learnt was

that there is various ways to record a clip because there could be cases were one of the buttons didn’t work and that happened when I was recording.

 Therefore I was extremely happy that I knew how to function the other record buttons like the one on the top of the camera which has a record sign on it and also the record button on the left side which is a red coloured button.
 I worked with the camera the whole way through the sequence. Personally I faced a few difficulties but I managed to sort it out with the help of my partners. Also one thing I learnt which sounded very simple was inserting the tape into the camera.
There is a direct direction that I had to put the tape in I managed to accomplish that each time I had to set the camera up.
The use of the clapper board I was involved in a few times. I discovered that the use of the clapperboard was extremely important and it really made everything easier when it came to editing because knowing what scene and shot it was made it quicker to pick which clip we wanted to use in the whole sequence.
From experience it got quite annoyed using this too but after all I noticed that it was extremely useful. The director and me used the clapper board the mostly.
Tripod Libec SL200 was at the start of the work very difficult and irritating for me especially on a balanced level. There were certain steps I had to follow
To set up the tripod correctly and to make sure everything was safe.
It was to release the legs of the tripod and extend them to my upper chest height to make sure when I was filming it was comfortable and secure.
There was a little hook with a string attached to the bottom which I kept forgetting to take off and back on when I had to pack up but after a few weeks of practice
I mastered to get the setting up of the tripod right. The main purpose of the tripod was to keep the camera in a steady position and it worked because when I was holding the camera and recorded a test shot it came out correctly were as when I was holding the camera and recorded the shot it was very shaky which made it look more unprofessional and raw.
Inserting the camera unto the tripod was also sometimes difficult because it was either you had to slide it on from the back or you slide it on from the front.
The Camera Canon XAHI there were also steps I had to follow to have everything secured firstly had to take out the portable battery and insert it into the battery hole in the back of the camera. Then take off the Lens Cap.
 I put the tape in and turn the camera unto Mode [A]. Once all this was accomplished I had to do a sound check and see if the levels on the camera were correct.
It has pick up sound from the boom and not the built in camera.
When it came to sound there was a few equipment that was brought through these were : Boom pole
           Sennheiser microphone
           Windshield system.
In the case of windshield system we didn’t make any use of it but we got to practice how to use it for future use. The purpose is to distract most of the wind noise out of the sound of recording so that when I was to play it back I wouldn’t hear any wind noses with it. The Sennheiser microphone was pretty easy to set up with screwing it unto eachother. The separate microphone was to catch the sound better and clearer because the built in microphone doesn’t have as much power compared to the Sennheiser microphone.

 Then the Boompole is used to attach to the shield which is around the microphone.
It pulls out 3 times its size, We faced problems like setting it up in the orderly way but figured it out after making use of it a couple of times. And also when we as recording we had vacuum noise in the background which was distracting our noise that we wanted to catch so every time the vacuum noised stopped we recorded straight.
The headphones was there to hear sound that is been received into the microphone and for me to see if its nice and clear.
After using all this equipment and having everything recorded untothe tape we came to the part of editing>

Adobe Premiere CS4
After using
Adobe is what we used to get all the processes done. The reason why Abobe Premiere was used is because its easy and it has all the tools required
E.G. cropping tool , sound volume , transitions, colour , speed etc
There are many different transitions e.g. fade blackout, Cross fade, Dissolve, and wide fade
Available and we made various use of the transitions
E.g. fade blackout, Cross fade, Dissolve, wide fade
 in our sequence. If it weren’t for all the functions then the sequence wouldn’t be as good as it right now. The software was easy to access and any mistakes made can be changed easily.
Adding little things like text/titles was actually very difficult it sounded very simple but we had to spend quite a while on getting it done properly but the ending result was beautiful.


• Dragging to timeline
Digitizing
Trimming
Fade in and out
Effects
These were few of the editing techniques I used.

IN SUMMERY WHAT IVE LEARNT
I personally learnt many different techniques not only from the teacher but I done my own researches on techniques on youtube and came across very interesting techniques that the teacher didn’t tell us about. I have the research on my blogg.
 Im also handier with using all the equipments itself especially because I was camera man I had to do everything with the camera and wiring of the connections. All the small issues I had at the beginning I learnt my lesson from them so now I am familiar with them.
From classroom teachings I learnt the techniques like shot-reverse-shot, over shoulder shot, birds eye view shot, worm view shot, 360 angle shot, long shot, mid shot.
Because there is only one person in the sequence so there wasn’t many different techniques we had to use. After all the filming techniques I had to transfer the video down into Adobe and that’s when the use of editing techniques came in.
I also learned that the health and safety requirement was very important because our teacher kept on telling us about it every single lesson.
Ive also learnt more about team work and 100% commitment because that was the whole point of us being in the group so we could help each other out and get the work done.
Overall if we were to do the project again, I feel id be a lot more confident to make these improvements and therefore increase the quality of our final product.
I could have done a few things better
Like having the camera proper focused on the shot we exactly wanted. If we could have done it again I would have done it properly and maybe asked for teachers help before hand.
Could do more experimental shots next time because we had various shots but not too much to select from when it came down to editing.

Question 3

Question 3.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The media term of distribute would be spreading the media products you have e.g. a film would be advertisements, flyers, posters, souvenirs etc. It’s to get the product out in the world for it to sell this happens whenever a film is released even before the film it happens. In our case we didn’t distribute out film because it’s a low budget film that was used for class work.

Our film is an independent film and has a very low budget because it’s not very advanced. It’s also not well known so it’s a low possibility for it to be shown on the big screens. Our cast is also low and unknown people unlike the Hollywood cast/actors so it will not be distributed like a big blockbuster movie. We didn’t spend any kind of money on this media product because it in a pupils house however there was a lot that had to be done.

After research I discovered one company that might distribute our media product http://www.lionsgate.com/ (Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation) There out there distributing independent films like ours and end up bringing success to these kind of independent films. The film distributor plays a massive and important role in the film industry because companies like Lionsgate are there to help films like ours to make some success to make some money out of the film. Distribution is part of the whole production that is very vital if the film wants to gain something from making that film and if they want to grow an audience and also if they want the film to be shown on big screens because the job of a distributing company is to convince the exhibitor by using several marketing techniques, the distributor makes the exhibitor believe they will profit financially by showing the film.

I also found out about http://www.dinamo.co.uk/ ( Dinamo Production) which is based in Wales. Dinamo is an innovative and highly skilled animation production company founded in 2004. They produce high quality 2D and 3D Digital Animation and Visual Effects for TV, film and the web. They also offer design, illustration and storyboard services and can consult on a variety of different production processes. For our kind of films dinamo would be a good use of help to get out film out there. They have distributed films like:

Happy Valley
Grandpa In My Pocket
Fun with Claude

Won the Pulcinella Award. Works with BBC Wales, CBBC and others.

• The ways a company like these two would distribute our film could be done in various ways : posters, newspaper and magazine advertisements, television commercials, trailers, and other types of ads whilst making sure that the film is in fact shown in the particular theatre. Theatres it can be shown at are places like :
•  Mortlake & Barnes Film Club

            Southwark Leisure Services

            Watermans

            Brockley Jack Film Society

            Broadway Theatre

           David Lean Cinema

            Cinetopia London the Crown and Greyhound

          Arts Development in East Cambridge - ADeC Bablyon Gallery

These are all Independent screens based in London and there not known at all to many people simple because its independent and not many seem to know much about independent film centres.

One institution that would be interested in distributing our film would be The British Film Institute (http://www.bfi.org.uk/about/whatwedo.html )   which is a large filming institute that promotes understanding and appreciation of Britain's films they have distributed many films and in our case they would also be able to help our film get distributed.

Even if we didn’t get involved with any of these companies there is a possible way of distributing ourselves that would be by Using YouTube would be a fast, cheap and accessible way to get a film out on a more global scale due to word of mouth, emails and our viewing figures however it would be very hard to have people on youtube to view your independent film because there is over 3 Million videos on youtube and our film would be in a extreme competition. Overall distributing of a film isn’t a 1,2 process there so much to do within it and beside that your film has to be good for people to come and watch it.

Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back my Preliminary task there so much that i have learnt in summary this was the task we had to do: a character walking through a door and from there the story could be anything. We had a little school love scene were by there was 2 characters a female and male actor. Variety of shots must be used e.g. shot/reverse shot, long shot, mid shot, close-up shot, and 180 degrees.
For the Main task we had to make a 2 minute opening sequence no longer than 2 minutes and this had to include titles, various shot use , good story line and also attract the audience we are targeting.

I feel that the movement from the Preliminary task to Main task has taught me many new techniques /skills and have developed and progressed highly.

The preliminary brief and overall task was kept very easy our group knew what to do and how to go on about it. We only had a limited amount of camera training to make a proper successful task but it was well within our range of knowledge. Focusing on the continuity and camera techniques such as shot reverse shot and 180 degree rule was the main goal and was of importance.

The main task brief seemed much more detailed to me as i knew that it was going to be a lot more work and effort which ment dedicating more of my own time on it and also more team work because it was a bigger task compared to the preliminary task. Not only was the media product going to be longer, but there were going to be more camera angles, techniques. New camera techniques were introduced to us and they were more advanced. Also because we started afresh with new group things were just more difficult because i was more attached to the group from the Preliminary task.

A storyboard

Shooting schedule

Dialogue script for our final idea.

But for the main task we also had to create:

Additional redrafted storyboards

Photo storyboards

Props lists
Casts lists
Prepare rehearsal dates
These were all the things we had to use for the production , were it came to planning we drew up a storyboard which helped us know what exactly we was going to do.
In the premilimary task we was on a basic level of learning media studies and using the camera set now that we have advanced. All these equipments we used made the filming of full product better.
Like the storyboard was made so that each member was on the same ground and understood what was going on.
The shooting sheduele made us understand and keep track of the timing of shots this was especially important to me because I was camera man so I had to get all of this right to make this main task product complete and successfull.
Dialogue script made clear of everything that was going to be said in the opening sequence there was much dialogue used because its only the opening sequence so we didnt want to give too much away.

Looking at the production
In the Preliminary task we didnt have much time to do everything because it was a simple exercise for out Main task as for me i was the camera man / operator so i had more in hand but i understood my role as camera operator achieved the shots that's we wanted. Due to time restraints of the preliminary task, i felt that the main task ran much more smoothly as i was more familiar with the equipment,i knew which shots would work and which wouldn't, and we were able to take our time in making the film look as professional as possible. We did have some complications at times but we worked as a team and figured things out and thats what i progressed from the Preliminary task as well. Developing of team working was one major thing i learnt more commitment and harder work put into the product so it came down to time keeping and making sure things were doing properly.Time management was extremely important in the Main Task  for organisation and efficiency within the group and also having a shooting schedule helps you keep on track with your shots.
In the preliminary task we had to keep the film very simple and short. The storyline was basic as the main aim was to make it flow and too keep the continuity. The editing process made this possible through our basic knowledge of digitising,assemble edits,copy and pasting.razoring ,little transations and re-ordering but this all developed once we got to Main task.

When it came down to the Feedback & Evaluation was the final stage of both projects and both were important in helping me realise my progress from the preliminary task to the main. Receiving feedback throughout the whole project is really important to keep improving it and finding out if it attracts the audience particularly in the main task.However, for the preliminary task, we didn't have to consider the target audience or any character profiles as it was constructed for media students’ learning experience to see how we handle our first media production.

Overall i have learnt that team work is the most important thing and working with different people is a good thing moving from Preliminary task to Main task and learnt all different techniques.

Question 4

Our Main target audience is the youth/teenagers

Main Audience Profile: Male/Female aged 15-21 any ethnicity but understands

English street

language a bit it’s necessary so that they will understand the whole film. Enjoy urban life and the urban music. Understand the Urban life of today and what happens daily around us. Can relate to issue like this happening.

We felt that this film was more appropriate to this group because they would be more able to relate with the film in the way that they would be also living in the urban area.

Everywhere we go we find urban style living and it’s mostly found amongst the age group of 15-21. But we looked at the specific gender and thought that it would me most likely that males would watch it because its lead role its played by a female and that would attract males. If the poster was to be produced we would have a bigger male audience of that age.  This could also be like a campaign way of showing bullying consequences and knife crime not used on other people but used to self harm as well.

 

Our USP is that she a girl and no one would expect a girl to be doing things like things. It’s normal for a girl to stress, depressed and sometimes bullied but we made the film more advanced than our audience would expect.

We decided that our Secondary target audience is Adults

We saw from an adult’s (Parents) point of view that it would be eye opening to release what the child could be going through. And also to understand what the inside of the urban life is like for teens because not all parents know that some of their children live a double life. Luxury living at home but outside e.g. school there living a horrible lifestyle.

Secondary Audience profile: Mothers/Father aged 30-55 in this case also any ethnicity they wouldn’t have to really have to understand the urban language used.

Understands the whole storyline and why things like this happen.

Parents with children, divorced couple with children

The kind of movies we would think our main audience would have seen is films as freedom writers, 1 day , adulthood or even the music video called Stole by Kelly Rowland because it follows the whole story line of our film. Outlaw, Bullet boy. All these fall into category with our film and I feel that the audience we mainly targeted in the right one for our film.

Question 5

Question 5.  How did you attract / address you audience

Once we had our groups sorted we started thinking of what to make the opening sequence based on and what genre. After long discussions we came on to do a school drama. We choose this genre because looking back at what other groups did in the past they didn’t have anything like this so we decided we wanted a genre that wasn’t used by many and it worked out successfully. Focusing on this particular genre, we had to have in mind the typical conventions of the genre that we had to include in our film. One convention we focussed on is her just waking up on a casual morning doing the things any teenager does in the morning.

This made the genre realistic because this is what happens a lot in this type of genre e.g. high school musical.

We were influenced by High School Musical and also we included it because it’s our daily life style and that’s what would have attracted our audience which is teens and young adults.

Having a build up and keeping the audience in suspense throughout the film was a priority for us.

There are things our audience would have expected from our genre but we twisted it around about so that it wasn’t so predictable like GLEE, High School Musical, Sister Act 2, Freedom writers.  These are all films that are based around the school drama and have teenagers involved.

The elements we used in the whole sequence made the whole point of our sequence successful but from researching the school drama thriller genre we noticed that not only did the audience appreciate the mystery and twists of the films, but they also expect and want to see some unexpected shots and not them casual long shots, so we delivered that to them.

• In the opening shot we see the house from the street and the camera pans through out the front road to the house and from there it stops and zooms into the house this gives the audience a clue that the first scene is set in the house and it makes the audience feel more excited to know what is going on in that house. When it zooms into the bedroom it gives the audience more ideas of what’s going to happen next.

• When the scene is established and the camera pans around the room it gives the audience a kind of idea of what person lives in that room and.

The sound track playing through it makes the audience more curious until we show the actress wake up and that’s when the audience feels more comfortable because they know what kind of person lives in the bedroom and can build some kind of character she is.

• The props in her bedroom give the audience more ideas of what kind of character Nikki is and when she wakes up to get dressed she doesn’t clean any of her mess in her room. The audience feels more attracted to the film wanting to know why her bedroom is messy when she is a female character. They will then figure out that there is something wrong with her but we do not reveal to much in that scene.

• She wakes up and gets dressed straight away at the moment of her pulling on her hoody it makes the audience have idea of what kind of female she is because a girly girl wouldn’t have worn a hoody in the case of going school so the audience then kind of judge on what she is wearing and that’s what we wanted to establish because that addresses to many teenagers of today.

• The soundtrack is played through out the all whole opening sequence, were she wakes up and gets dressed makes the audience see everything she doing as a casual morning especially with the soundtrack. The audience could really relate to this part of the opening sequence because everyone wakes up in the morning and gets ready for school, college or work.

• When she brushing her teeth in the bathroom we see a over shoulder view of her brushing her teeth and this makes the audience feel like they are the actress themselves because the audience can see exactly what the actress is doing.

• The camera pans down the stairs while’s Nikki walks downstairs and this shot helps the audience to follow her daily routine of waking up. Her paste of walking down the stairs gives the audience a clue that there is something wrong with her because if she was all happy she would have come down skipping or in a fast paste so it sets a mood.

• As she walks into the kitchen we show the props in the background of bottles which belong to her mother and this give the audience a straight idea of what kind of mother she is. Its also addressable to the audience because some have parents who have a drinking disorder and they do things that they don’t mean.

• When she opens the fridge and takes out the milk the shot we see is from behind the actress and it makes the audience view her from behind so the audience then sees every move she takes and feel more involved.

• To the shot were she takes out the knife and a close up shot of her crying  

Makes the audience wonder what’s going on but also it makes the audience feel sympathy for her. It’s a way many teens live they hide and when there alone there is tears.

• The long shot of her putting on her bag and saying bye to her mum gives the audience more clues on what things are like in that house. The long shot gives the audience a position of someone that is standing at the kitchen doorstep and is directly looking at her.

The fonts we used for our titles were very suitable for the teenagers because we looked at other films and figured how we could make it similar to theirs to catch out audience attention. Also we didn’t make it to childish because we noticed the difference between high school musical and a Disney film. Therefore the font we went for really did relate to our audience not to childish and too old fashioned.

With the research I did before hand on soundtracks I found out that school drama has more of a jumpy and happily instrumental to it however we wanted to challenge the genre so changed that idea so that the audience are surprised and want more on what we have in store. We allowed the audience not to feel too depressed at the start of the film so we kept it casual because the rest of the film was going to be very depressing but we didn’t want to give that away in the opening sequence.

The plot of our sequence was a way we related to our audience and that’s when we addressed it to the teenage audience. We made the narrative not to predictable other wise our audience would switch off real quick because teens are more likely too switch off after kids. We collected feedback from a random group of teens in our sixth form and they agreed that our sequence is relatable and it doesn’t make the audience switch off quick.

Different shots we applied to our opening sequence to make our film more interesting and successfully it worked out using shots like close up shots and mid shot that caught everything into the screen. Looking at High school musical it used a lot of mid shots and long shots.  I feel that we attracted and addressed the audience pretty good and looking at the feedback we did a great job on making it successful.