What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? (question 6)

The Apple Mac

We used the Mac through out the whole project for researching information about the project e.g. conventions of genres, we also used it for editing and storing our final created piece.

The Camera and Tripod

We used these two items for recording our footage we needed to create our final piece. The tripod is used to keep the camera steady and to reduce the jolt when moving e.g. for a follow shot.

Motorola Defy (My Phone)

I used this through out the project to keep in contact with my other group members, this was crucial as it allowed information about the project, e.g. filming times and locations, to be passed on quickly.

Live Type

I used this to experiment with making credits for the opening sequence. Eventually I did not include any of my creations in my opening sequence as they were not conventional.

YouTube

I used YouTube to find and analyse other opening sequences from gangster films. This was an important to do as it helped me recognise the conventions of a gangster film and how to follow or challenge them.

Blogger

i used blogger through out the whole process of the project to archive all the research and work i have created. I also used it for posting the analysis of real media products to gain information of what the audience will look for in our genre of film.

iTunes

This is where the music was stored when we began to edit our sequence, unfortunately I was using a different computer so you cannot see this in my shot.

PhotoBooth

This was used to record group conversations about feedback, and further plans about our project. This also had the ability to take photos, this allowed me to upload my hand drawn story board onto my blog.

GarageBand

I used this programme on the Mac to see if i could create a piece f music that would fit the music conventions of gangster films, unfortunately i could not do this so i found a piece of music off the internet and tried to edit it, but what i tried to change was unsuccessful. 

iMovie

I used iMovie to edit the footage shot using the camera, this was also used to export projects created on to youtube so we could post them to our blog.

Gimp

I used gimp to combine and edit images, i did not use this through the creation process, but i used it for the evaluation process to help answer 2.

Remote Desktop

i used remote desktop on the mac  to access the school network so could create documents such as power points and word documents to carry out my research.

Facebook

I used this through out the project to keep in contact with my other group members, keeping contact is crucial as it allows information to be p[assed around the group quickly and easily

Google/Google mail

 

google was my primary search engine for carrying out my research, also i used my google mail account to sign up for blogger to archive my work and also youtube so i could post my footage online so i could then post it on my blog.

through out the research and creation processes of this product i have learnt that there is a wide range of technological products (hardware or software) to help make the work look more professional and each of these can be adapted in different ways to create different out comes.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? (question 3)

How did you attract/address your audience? (question5)

who would be the audience for your media product? (question 4)

Our  target audience would be a MALE in his late teen/ young adult years of life.

He would get clothes from shops such as Matalan, Top man, and River Island.

He is able to drive and drives a blue Nissan Micra. 

He would watch TV programmes such life on mars or the sopranos, or programmes with actors which have a similar age to his self.

He would listen to wide range of music but mainly indie/rock/pop.

Their favourite food would be pizza and McDonald's.

He normally enjoys watching films regularly and the narrative of the film is what attracts him to see a film.

Looking at this portfolio created from our research i feel that he would enjoy watching our media product as we have an intricate story line that has many twist and turns, also our actors/actresses are young are nearly the same age as him. Also by looking at types of TV programmes he watches it would appeal to him as it is a gangster film and he enjoys police/gangster TV programmes.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product? (Question 7)

From the preliminary task I feel that my knowledge of different genres of film and conventions of them has been broadened and improved so now I am able to apply this knowledge when making films to create different effects on the audience, I feel that my editing skills on the mac has improved as well, as I can now overlay sound, duck it out if needed, and I can organise fades using precision editor for transitions between shots. I also feel my general knowledge of the programmes on the mac has improved as I can now create/alter sound on garage band and create title sequences on Live Type. I also feel that my analysis skills have been improved and now by picking up on certain aspects of the film I can see who the main characters are, what the genre is etc. Furthermore I think my recognition of audience for different genres and films. Lastly I feel that my camera work skills have improved as I now realise how different shots and angles can alter the effect produced on the audience. from the skills i learnt creating the preliminary task; the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot reverse shot, we carried on using the 180 degree rule and match on action. I felt that the shot reverse shot was inapplicable as we did not have any dialect in our piece.

How does your media product represent particular social gorups? (Question 2)

I chose to compare Sallyann's character to to Jack Nicholson's "Frank Costello" in "the departed" as each character is power hungry and willing to do anything to get/keep power, even putting them and other people in danger. 

I also feel that thee two characters care abut there looks, as they have a similar dress sense, which is smart, and this is used by them both to convey the power/money they own. Also the colours they are wearing are dark so this connotes that they have been bad/evil as darkness connotes death and evil.

Final Opening sequence

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (Question1)

Real Media Products

(shot 1: Title) This is a screen grab of the titles from 'The Godfather', this title is centred and placed in the middle of the page this therefore creates the feeling that it is important as it is the only thing the audience will see on the blank screen, also by having the font in white on a black background it therefore further emphasise its importance to the film they are watching.

(shot 2: Location) This is a shot from 'casino' this has an long/mid shot and shows the main character leaving one of his casinos in Las Vegas panning with him therefore giving the audience a glimpse of his surroundings, by having this shot of it subconsciously gives the audience the effect of the surroundings and where all the action will be.

(shot 3: Camera work and editing) This is a shot from 'Donnie Brasco' and shows an extreme close up of the characters eyes, this gives an effect that the eyes have seen a lot and therefore can connote the feelings of the character easily. This also is in black and white (editing technique) this therefore creates the effect that either it is through surveillance or it is set in the past.

(shot 4: Costumes and Props) This is a shot from 'the godfather' and you can connote a man dressed smartly in black suit, this is a convention of the genre as people stereotypically think gangsters wear black. Also by having the man wearing black it connotes death, of which is commonly associated with the gangster genre.

(shot 5: Story/Narrative) The typical narrative of a gangster film is the story of a character rising up to take power of the criminal underworld, and have to battle through problems such as love, betrayal, death. This is a screen grab from 'Casino', which storyline is someone battling to keep power by doing whatever he can.

(shot 6: introduction of characters) this is a shot from 'Goodfellas' the characters in this are introduced in a dramatic event. they pull over in their vehicle and kill a victim they have been transporting in the boot of their car. this gives the audience the immediate feeling that these are the bad guys within the film.

(shot 7: Title Font and style) This is a shot from 'the Godfather' this font style is bold and has the tails of the letters reaching to each other, this creates the effect that the story will have a bold character or storylilne that will entice the audience, also by having the letters reaching for each other it connotes that every action has a reaction leading to other occurances through out the film.

(shot 8: Special effects) this is a screen shot from 'casino' a car exploding can be denoted. This therefore connotes to the audience that the film will have action/drama through out and therefore attracts the audience as this is what they look for in films, also by having good special effects It can connote that the film is big budget and therefore implies that it should be good.

(shot 9: Genre and how the opening suggests it) this is a shot from 'Donnie Brasco' and it has a flickering effect showing what seem to be various surveillance shots that would be taken by police. this gives the effect that this is a gangster film as stereotypically gangsters are always under surveillance and trying toi be busted by the cops.

Our Media Product



(shot 1: Title) This is a screen grab of the titles from our media piece 'Sex, Money, Murder.', this title is centred and placed in the middle of the page this therefore creates the feeling that it is important as it is the only thing the audience will see on the black background of the screen, also by having the font in white on a black background it therefore further emphasise its importance to the film they are watching. This is using the convention of gangster films for titles (black background, white text) that is used in many films within the genre.

(shot 2: Location) This is a shot from 'Sex, Money, Murder.' this has a mid shot and shows one of the supporting characters within the film arriveing to the main characters house, this is also following him therefore giving the audience a glimpse of his surroundings, by having this shot of the character it subconsciously gives the audience the effect of the surroundings and where all the action will be. This technique has been used in other gangster films before such as casino, to show settings/location in the opening sequence, we used this cinvention.

(shot 3: Camera work and editing) This is a shot from our media piece 'Sex, Money, Murder' and shows an extreme close up of the main characters lips, this gives an effect that the lips will be used during the film to create an important event, this also is in black and white (editing technique) this therefore creates the effect that it is set in the past, we followed this convention.

(shot 4: Costumes and Props) This is a shot from our piece and you can connote a woman dressed smartly in a black dress, this is a convention of the genre as people stereotypically think gangsters wear black. Also by having the woman wearing black it connotes death, of which is commonly associated with the gangster genre. Black clothing is a common convention in gangster films, and we decided to use this convention.

(shot 5: Story/Narrative) The typical narrative of a gangster film is the story of a character rising up to take power of the criminal underworld, and have to battle through problems such as love, betrayal, death. This is a screen grab from 'Casino', which storyline is someone battling to keep power by doing whatever she can, this is following the genre convention, apart from the main character is a woman in stead of a man, so we followed and challenged ths convention.

(shot 6: introduction of characters) this is a shot from our product the characters in this are introduced in a dramatic event. the main character starts off by killing a supporting cahracter, this gives the audience the immediate feeling that this character will be at the centre point of all the action  within the film. We followed this xcinventiion as it would hook the audience and make them want to carry on watching.

(shot 7: Title Font and style) This is a shot from our media product 'Sex, Money, Murder.' this font style is bold and has the letters are seperated, this creates the effect that the story will have a bold character or storylilne that will keep the audience watching, also by having the letters seperated it connotes that within the film there will be many events that will cause various effects on the storyline.

(shot 8: Special effects) This is a screen shot from 'Sex, Money, Murder.' we could not follow this convention as using special effects was an unavailable option.

(shot 9: Genre and how the opening suggests it) this is a shot from our product 'Sex, Money, Murder.' it has black clothing, death and is in black and white, so by just seeing these conventions the audience can quickly realise the genre and what it will include.

blog update: 15th February 2011

Today in lesson we were focusing on improving our sequence in correspondence to the feedback that we received after holding a group discussion.
We edited the silence we held to gain tension by adding a chiming noise, we felt this was good to improve it as it still held the intense tension. we Also had to edit the timing of transitions as some of them were out of time with the beat of the music and finally we edited a scene where our actress missed the door handle so theat we cannot see this error any more.

audience feedback analysis

After showing our group our first edit of our opening sequence we got feed back by holding a group discussion where we asked them questions.
We received feedback that when we were holding a silence that we held it for too long so to overcome this problem we are adding a sound effect to it to have the effect of time passing but to still keep tension within the audience. We also got feedback that we had a shot where one of our actors messed up and missed the door, so to improve our piece we will cut this when she misses the handle. Finally the music needs to be tweaked as it dropped out sometimes.

As well as negative feedback we also got positive, we found that we have portrayed the genre (gangster) very well as they recognised what we were aiming to produce, and also through out the piece the tension was building which made them want to watch more of the film, also some of the shots we took were good and that placing a shot between the opening and closing of the door it helped show that time was passing.

group assessment feedback

self assessment sheet

Self-Assessment Worksheet Feb 2011

lesson chat

group lesson discussion.

screen grabs from lesson (31 Jan 2011)

1st Feb 2011: Editing: Opening credits

In this lesson i have researched fonts for the opening credits on the website (www.urbanfonts.com) we chose this website as it has a wide variety of fonts to choose from and you can alter colours in the previews etc. 

On the website we found a typewriter style font, we thought that this would be a good choice to use as some of the gangster films we researched used similar shaped fonts, so this will go with the conventions of gangster movies. To challenge the convention of white text on a black background we will both include it and change the font into red, we believe this would create good effect as the audience are used to seeing the white text but then by changing the colour it will give the sequence a twist and therefore connote that our film will stand out compared to other gangster movies.

Blog update 31st January2011: Editing, Transitions

Today in the lesson we added transitions to our footage, we added some transitions to our piece as this goes against the conventions of the gangster genre and therefore follows the idea of challenging the conventions of the genre as the research on opening sequences we completed, we found that the majority of them only had cut to's and no transitions.

Starting of sound
We also started to overlay sound to our piece, it starts off with choir type orchestral music and then fades into a R'n'B style bass tune, still with the violins on top. We chose this piece as it follows the conventions of orchestral music but then as we are trying to challenge the conventions it also does this by having a modern beat underneath the violins. we are editing the piece so as the music fades the transitions will fit in and fade to black at the same time.

trim footage: 25 January 2011

This lesson I have trimmed the footage down to just over the required limit (4 seconds over) and tinted all of the shots into black and white. So now next lesson when my group are in we are ready to decide what bits to trim even more to make it under the limit so we are ready to add in transitions and title/credits.

screen shots from lesson (25 Jan 2011)

blog update (24th January 2011)

what has been your role this lesson?
in this lesson i have been uploading footage, ordering the footage, cutting and trimming the footage, and editing the tint and sound (so they are black and white with no sound). For example i ordered the pieces of footage into order ready to cut and trim it, and i had to cut the footage down to stick within the time limit.

what skills have you developed?
In this lesson i have developed the skills needed to quickly analyse a piece of footage to see if it a good piece or not, how to organise shots into a rough order ready for editing, and how to edit the clips in iMovie (tints and audio).

what have you changed about your opening sequence?
I have changed it by taking out a shot as Solomon (one of our actors) looked at the camera when he shouldn't have done so. Also we added a shot at the end to create a full circle effect before the film starts

what do you still need to do in the editing process?

• Add sound (music track)
• add/create credits and title
• trim and cut more footage out
• finish touching up colour tints

screen grabs of editing

Credit analysis

The Analysis of 3 Gangster Film Credits

replies for asking permission, email to owner of music

Asking permission for music

Blog Update

Recently we were due to start filming our coursework (on 11th of January) but unfortunately due to one of our team members having an exam we had to postpone and reschedule this for a week later (Tuesday 18th January). During this period of which we could not film I had spent the time testing out aspects of the mac which could help make our production more professional, to do this I tried out 'GarageBand' and 'LiveType'. I used 'GarageBand' to try and compose some music for our opening sequence so we did not have to ask for permission of use from creators of other music samples as this may take a long time. I used 'LiveType' to create opening credits and see what effects would suit the gangster genre of film which we were filming.

Now we are planning to film most of our scenes on Tuesday 18th Jan, if possible all, but if not we shall use  more time on Wednesday 19th Jan to complete filming by Friday 21st to start editing.

Final Production schedule

Locations:

Sallyann's house (living room, hallway and bedroom)

Props: 

Mirror
Make up
Blood

Costume:

Black evening dress

Shirt, trousers shoes (work clothes)

Casual wear

Actors/ Actresses:

Sallyann Sindrey

Solomon Agyemang

Ryan Simson

Equipment:

 Camera

Tripod

Apple Mac for editing

Time frame for filming:

2 weeks (maximum)

Time frame for editing:

2 weeks (maximum)

Filming production schedule: Tuesday the 4th January

Meet at Martin's corner at 09:00

Props:
radio

Sallyann's black dress
Fake Blood

Must clear:

Living Room

Hallway/landing

filming first 7 shots

Colour is negligible as we are altering it into black and white

Shot 1 and 2, 20 minutes max, Note: use tripod

Shot 3, 10 minutes max, Note: use tripod, and hand COMES INTO shot

Shot 4 20 minutes max, Note: Pan Shot use tripod

Shot 7 20 minutes max, Note: Use tripod and shoot various angled shots to see what gives best effect.

Pack up by10:45 and leave by 11:00 to return to school

images of my storyboard