EVALUATION ACTIVITY 7

What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?: 

Doing this preliminary task has made me more confident with the camera and Mac.  I learnt how to use the cameras and tripods properly, according to the type of shots needed for the production, and how to upload the film to Mac.

This preliminary task helped us to avoid making mistakes while producing our opening sequence. Having a list of what we needed in the shot, a storyboard, and giving each one of us a role in the film made all this process quicker and prevented us from having to repeat it.

When we have to dothemain task I’ll probably use a wider variety of shots and angles, because doing this preliminary task has helped me to understand them and how to use them appropriately. For example, shorter and faster shots fit better in this genre because they help to keep the tension and excitement in the film.

I have also learnt to differentiate between diagetic sounds (e.g. Character’s voices, gunshots, the sound of steps, etc.) and non-diagetic sounds (e.g. added soundtrack). I now know how to apply special effects.We took into account the feedback we received from people who have watched our opening sequence,and we applied the special effects in suitable places. This made our film look and feel more professional .

We put into practice the rules and camerawork techniques we have learnt during this course:

Match on action:

This is the technique we most used because it has proved to be very effective. We used it when the main character had to open the door, when she was running downstairs, and in all the running and chase scenes carrying on the action over two or more shots.

Shot reverse shot:

We used this technique when the two main characters made eye-contact for the first time in the film, before the chase scene. We also used it when the protagonist opens the door and when she shoots Oscura.This technique made our opening sequence look more professional, as it adds interest to it.

The 180º rule:

We applied this rule to all our filming but particularly to the above shots, during the conversation between the main character and her classmate. If we had filmed one of the shots of that scene from the other side of the character, it would have confused the audience because it would look as if the characters had suddenly exchanged positions.

Overall, by doing my preliminary task I have learnt to consider when is best to use some type of shots or other ones, and the frames needed, to decide which props and costumes fit better in the genre, etc. All this has helped the sequence feel realistic and the audience could make sense of it easily. Furthermore it has saved us a lot of time.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

This are the logos of the main programmes and sites our group have used:

From left to right: blogger, imovie, garagebandand itunes. 

I have learnt how to use programmes that I had never used before such as I-movie and Garage band.  We recorded all the music and sound effects for our opening sequence with Garageband and added them to the film by exporting them to Itunes. We also downloaded some sound effects such as the gunshot from the Internet. With I-movie we added all the special effects and edited the sequence.

(me using the equipment)

I also have learnt how to research effectively into action/adventure films and I have discovered some really good films that I hadn’t heard of before. At the end, we uploaded our film to YouTube.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 5

How did you attract/address your audience?



I chose these two stills because they both highlight the conventions of the action/adventure genre.In the first still, the use of silence plus the heartbeat soundis used in all the quiz shows and other TV programmes  to capture the audience’s attention, leaving behind a note of suspense and tension.Because of this, we decided to include this resource in the final scenesof our opening sequence, and also because it suggests that something important is going to happen, so that people will want to continue watching the film.

We had to frequently adjust our film by re filming and editing parts to attract our audience. In the second still, we decided to include fast-paced music becauseour audience research shows that most people want tohear this type of music in a spy film to create the perfect atmosphere for the genre. It generates tension and thrill and at the end it also creates a note of suspense.Our peers easily recognized its genre. We showed them our opening sequence with and without music and they felt that our music was appropriate for our chosen genre and that it made the film look like an action/adventure film.

Our audience research also shows that people want the costumes for the protagonist and antagonist to be black and/or casual. Due to this, we decided that the antagonist should be wearing black clothing and the protagonist casual clothing.

Another aspect our peers liked was that weapons were used in our film, as this helped the film look more authentic. Overall our peers understood clearly what genre our film belonged to after watching our opening sequence.

Our film is similar to ‘Body of Lies’ in some aspects. There are large chase scenes too, although most of the chase scenes in Body of Lies include a mode of transport such as cars, motorcycles, etc.They use a lot of spy items such as the earphones that we also used in our film as Faith and B.O.B.’s mode of communication.

The unique selling point of our film is that it is mainly aimed at teenagers and young adults because all the main characters in it are teenagers.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Alberto is 16 years old and one of his hobbies is watching films with his family and friends.  He buys many of his clothes in Top Man, Superdry and River Island. He likes all kinds of music but he usually listens to rock, rap and hip-hop. His favourite music groups are Sum 41, N-Dubz and Eminem. He watches TV programmes like Misfits, How I met you mother, the Inbetweeners, Lost, football and formula 1.

I think that he would love to watch our films because he loves all the TV programmes that involve high energy, fast-paced music and as much action as possible. He could spend a day just lying on the sofa watching this kind of films.

Our film would be classified as an age 15 rating. Although it probably wouldn’t have strong language dialogs or sexual content, it would have several scenes of violence with use of weapons.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 3

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

In my opinion, the best way to distribute our media product would be showing it in cinemasacross the world, and possibly on DVD's. After that the following media institutions could also distribute it to give it more exposure:

Channel 4:

The Film4 channel is available for free to everyone with digital TV. I would distribute our media production there because they showcase a wide range of titles, including the best of British film-making, US independent films, but especially action/adventure films such as ‘Transformers’, ‘Kontrol’, ‘Jumper’, ‘Hitman’, ‘Mr.& Mrs. Smith’…

8^th London Independent Film Festival:

Our film could be screened at a film festival like the London Independent Film Festival. It is the premier event for micro-budget and no budget films in the UK.It offers a fantastic opportunity for young filmmakers to showcase their achievements.

LIFF presents the best of low-budget filmmaking from around the world, and mixes it up with relevant industry discussions and targeted social networking events. Its audience is London’s sizeable multicultural public.

I feel that this film festival could be beneficial because we could learn from other people’s media productions and we could also receive feedback from the audience.

ODEON Cinemas:

I believe that this would be a great place to show our media production because the action/adventure genre is quite popular in these local cinemas. ODEON Cinemas currently only show nine films at their Guilford venue, and four of them have been labeled as either action or adventure genre:

-         ‘The tourist’

-         ‘Unstoppable’

-         ‘Tron legacy’

-         ‘Harry Potter and the deathly hallows’

This cinema can provide a useful and relevant study aid for further and higher education. It’s a real treat too, making a visit to ODEON Cinemas the perfect reward for good behaviour or for record levels of attendance.

 

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?:

‘OSCURA’ vs. ‘THE BLACK WIDOW’

 In our opening sequence, ‘CHASE’, Oscura is played by Jasmine Allison and ‘The black widow’, also known as “Natasha” Romanova, is played by Scarlette Johansson in ‘Iron man 2’.

I chose these two pictures to compare them because, in both of them, the two charactersare in a very similar position, wearing black clothing as their uniform and pointing with a gun in a desolate location.The black clothing suggests seriousnessand they are wearing it because they are meant to do something, usually dangerous or illegal. All these propsand locations fit into the action/adventure genre and help the audient to form a better idea of the characters’ personality, creating a more believable character.
The main difference between these two pictures is that in our opening sequence we decided that it would have more impact in the audience if Oscura was pointing at the camera with her gun while, in the second one, Natasha is pointing at two different places. The fact that she has two guns instead of one is another obvious difference between them and it suggests that there are going to be more spectacular movements and actions in the scene. However, the two images are similar in that the characters are both looking at the camera seriously, creating tension in the audience.

Both shots have been taken form an eye-to-eye angle but one is a medium-long shot and the other one is a long shot, as this picture was probably taken from the advertising of the film, while our shot is part of the film.

The role that these characters play in each film is very similar. Both characters’ childhoodswere difficult and traumatic as they were both orphaned as a child:Natalia was orphaned when she was trapped in a burning building during an attack by enemy forces. She was found by a soviet soldier that trained and brainwashed her into becoming part of the Black Widow Program, a team of elite female sleeper agents. On the other hand, Oscura was orphaned after the murder of her parents. She was found and separated from her little sister by a mysterious man that also trained and brainwashed her into joining his organization as a professional assassin.

Both characters are evil at the beginning of each film but at the end, they help the respective protagonists, and they become friends with them.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1

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

Frame 1: Title of the film ->We chose 'CHASE' as the title of our opening sequence, because it relates to itsaction/adventure genre. This title is reflected in all the run and chase scenes during the film.After the dream scene, the title appears suddenly in this shot, with a jumpy and shaky effect, as if it was coming out of the gun. The sound of gun fire symbolises action and fear.

Frame 2: Setting/Location ->
In this frame, the main character appears in a normal classroom. We included the teacher, some students, a whiteboard and some other school materialsin the frame, so that the audience would recognise where the action took place.

In the 8^th and 9^th frames you can also see two other main locations, the school’s exterior and the street.

Frame 3: Costumes and props ->
We used a lot of props such as guns, computers, and earphones; all related to the genre. The main character was not supposed to wear a costume, just casual clothes, as her cover is looking like a normal teenager. However, the antagonist was wearing all black clothing as a symbol of evil.B.O.B. wears big glasses and geekylooking clothes.
In this shot, the protagonist is taking out her gun to shoot the antagonist, as a convention of the action/adventure genre.

Frame 4: Camera work and editing ->
We used a variety of anglesand techniques, such as ‘shot-reverse-shot’, 180º rule, and ‘match on action’. We also used different types of shots: over the shoulder shots, extreme close-ups, close-ups, medium shots, long shots, establishing shots... In this frame, you can see a close-up shot of the protagonist’s hand pulling the door. Then we matched it with a medium shot of the protagonist opening the door and with another medium shot from the other side of the door, according to the ‘match on action’ technique.

Frame 5: Title font and style ->
Our main title was over a black background, with ‘CHASE’ written in the middle of the screen, in a large font, generating a suspense feeling in the audience. We chose a specific font for all the other titles, because we thought that it was appropriate for the genre of our opening sequence. They are all written in white, so that they stand out over the shots.

Frame 6: Story and how the opening sets it up ->
Our opening sequence introduces the main characters to the audience and creates an atmosphere of intrigue and drama which I believe sets the mood for the action of the rest of the film very adequately.

Frame 7: Genre and how the opening suggests it ->
We chose an action/adventure genre for our opening sequence. We decided to include some chase scenes in the opening of the film to immerse the audience straight into this fast-paced genre, as they constitute one of the main conventions of action/adventure films.

Frame 8: How characters are introduced ->
After this shot, the antagonist is introduced in a close-up of her face looking at the protagonist with an evil smile, expressing that she is not afraid of her. This expression suggeststo the audience that something interesting is going to happen.

The protagonist is introduced with an extreme close-up of her eyes opening, after she had fallen asleep in class.

B.O.B. is introduced working on a computer, which suggests seriousness, although he is drinking a pineapple juice and is dressed like a geek.

Frame 9: Special effects ->

We just used a few special effects in our opening sequence. In this frame we included a slow motion run with a ghost trail/walk effect to give this action the intensity needed to maintain the emotion of the film.In the first scenes, we applied a blurry effect to suggest to the audience that it was just a dream. We also increased the contrast of all the scenes so that they seemed more professional.

Audience Questionnire Evaluation :

Most people prefer to watch Comedy films; some prefer watching Horror, Action, Thriller and Romantic but Comedy has the most votes. They have mostly watched James Bond, a series of spy films which could help us produce ideas and characters for our film.

We also researched what people prefer for the Protagonist and Antagonist: Most people prefer Male as the hero; a young, jolly and brawny male. For the antagonist, most people prefer a young, serious and lean male.

People also prefer Urban City location but they also want: an Isolated area, a car park and a secret base to be in it.

The kind of music people want to hear in a spy film is a fast-phase music to create tension and thrills.

The costumes of both Protagonist and Antagonist will be Dark Clothing with sometimes being Casual.

"CHASE"... Summary :

Two sisters are separated at a young age by a most wanted criminal who murdered their parents and took the eldest daughter with him. She was raised as an assassin and was forced to help with his crime activities. The youngest daughter which was left behind was taken by secret service police.

15 years later, the eldest daughter is now the most wanted hit man, known as ‘Oscura’, who has completed various mission and has gained a feisty, fearsome reputation. The youngest daughter is now under the police protected name of Faith Alvarez. As she grew up, her passion for being a spy like her father has increased. Thus forcing her now ‘father’ who is the general police to train her. Now, she is a college student and an undercover spy.

3 years before, Faith was assigned with her very first mission, which is to capture the Oscura. Due to the lack of information, the mission has been ongoing for three years now. The newly hired member of the police secret spy organisation, codename B.O.B. is a great help to the organisation as he is able to find Oscura’s whereabouts. This has motivated Faith’s passion on capturing Oscura.

When Oscura was tracked down, and confronted by Faith. The truth of their relation has been revealed: they are each other’s long lost sister. Oscura traded her knowledge for sanctuary; together, both sisters helped each other to track down and capture the man who separated them and killed their parents.

After capturing the most wanted criminal of all time, the sisters gave up their duties as spies and tries to live as normal as they can be.

Study of a film of the same chosen genre: WANTED

Wanted is a 2008 action film loosely based on the comic book miniseries of the same name by Mark Millar.

PLOT:

The storyline follows Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy), a frustrated office worker who discovers that he is the son of a professional assassin and decides to join The Fraternity, a secret society of assassins in which his father worked, led by the enigmatic Sloan (Morgan Freeman).. This all happens because Fox (Angelina Jolie) crashes into his life and introduces him into the Fraternity.                                                                                              Wes's long-lost father was killed while working for the Fraternity and Wes was selected to target the rogue member who murdered him. But before he could complete his assignment, Wes had first to uncover the dark secrets behind the Fraternity in order to determine his own destiny.

CAST:

• James McAvoy
• Morgan Freeman
• Angelina Jolie
• Terence Stamp
• Thomas Kretschmann
• Common

Director: Timur Bekmambetov

Who was it aimed at? It was aimed for adults (+18) due to all the violent sequences (Extensive, graphic and bloody violence, including lots of shootings), sex references, bad language and drinking, smoking and drugs references. I think is a film for both genders because although these kinds of action adventure movies are more likely for men, one of the main and strongest characters is a woman (Angelina Jolie). This shows that women can also be protagonist of action/adventure films.

How did it attract your attention? I have always liked action/adventure movies and when I saw the cover of the film I decided to watch it because it showed the typical connotations of this kind of movies.

What sort of reviews did it receive? Most people think it is a great movie with great action sequences, but also that the violence got kind of insane at parts. People also think that the message it transmits is not the appropriated: changing someone's life for the better, considering murdering people for money a better alternative to normal life. 

Comparison of "An American Werewolf in London" and "28 days later".

The main connotations in ‘An American werewolf in London’ are the wind blowing, the heavy storm, the strange people, the fog and the full moon emerging mysteriously behind the clouds. In ’28 days later’ the symbolic icons are the violent images on the screens, the aggressive monkeys, the dark and secret laboratory and the incurable diseases.

In ‘An American werewolf in London’ the characters appear in a rural location that nobody knows, while in ’28 days later’ they appear in a laboratory and then the main character wakes up in a very familiar location, London. But one of the things they have in common is that in both films they are in desolated places: in ‘An American werewolf in London’ the two boys are alone in a desert and in ’28 days later’ first the animal rights activists are in some kind of secret laboratory and then the main character appears in a deserted London.

In ‘An American Werewolf in London’, to create suspense, the action starts very slowly and the horror or drama doesn’t build up until much later. It keeps the audience waiting for something bad to happen. Whereas in ’28 days later’ the horror appears from the very beginning (the monkeys attacking and infecting the animal rights activists with the mysterious and incurable virus).

Both films show people being bitten by an animal (monkey or werewolf), and both use blood, darkness and screams to create the appropriate horror atmosphere.

The sounds and special effects are very different in these films, probably because they were made at different times. In ’28 days later’ the special effects are of a higher quality because it was made in 2002, while ‘An American werewolf in London’ was made in 1981 and they didn’t have the same resources then.

Evaluating the preliminary task:

1: Explain what you were asked to do and how you prepared for the task:

Our preliminary task was to film a character opening a door, crossing a room, sitting down in a chair oposite another character, with whom he exanges a couple of lines, and then edite it. We had to demostrate shot-reverse-shot, match on action, and the 180 degrees rule.

We first prepared a storyboard drawing each shot, explaining the type of camera angle, shot, dialogue and actions of each sceen. Then we decided where to use the 180 degrees rule, the shot-reverse-shot and match on action and we wrote it in the storyboard too. We also decided wher we were going to film it and we chose the art room because it was empty in that moment.

2: Filming:

In this film, i was the principal character and Calvin was the one that filmed it. But we needed another character so we asked Andrew to appear in our film.

We started fiming the match and action of me opening a door using medium long shots. Then i (character 1) walked through the corridor and stopped at the art room's door. We the used the shot reverse shot technique with a close-up shot of my hand over the door handle and pulling it before a medium shot of me oppening the door. Then we filmed a shot of character 1 (me) opening the door from inside of the room , using again match on action to join this shot with the previous one. Then Calvin filmed me wlaking through the room, sitting on a chair and talking with Andrew. We used over the shoulder shots during the conversation between the characters, according with the 180 degrees rule.
Finally, we filmed a close up shot of character 2 giving the blue paint to character 1 and a long shot of character 1 leaving the room.

We tried to fit all the main objects and subjects in the frame. In almost every shot the actors and relevant objects are placed in the centre of the screen to make it look as effective as possible.

3: Editing:
I am satisfied with the final result because, although we had some problems with the computer while editting, i think we used all the shots effectively and the story is easy to understand.
The sequence could have improved if we had rewinded to see if we needed to change or re-film any shots more frecuently. In my opinion, the camera and the subjects where in the right position in every shot.
As a group, i think we worked perfectly, even though there was only two of us. We divided the work in two tasks. I did the perfoming and Calvin did the fiming.

We had a really good time filming and editing it and now i feel much more confident using the camera than before.

The Dark Knight (Film Industry)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Writers: Jonathan Nolan (screenplay), Christopher Nolan.

Release Date:24 July 2008 (UK)

We have been studing the film industry on this film.
On the homepage all types of media are portayed. For example, there are three trailers of the movie so that you can see what is the film about.
There is a paragraph explaining its synopsis, cast and downloades and there you can also sign up for email updates, browse the actors, etc.
The website has a black background to highlight that the movie's genre is thriller.

http://www.warnerbros.com/?page=movies&pid=f-ce83422e/THE%20DARK%20KNIGHT#/page=movies&pid=f-ce83422e/THE_DARK_KNIGHT&asset=064159/The_Dark_Knight_-_Original_Theatrical_Trailer&type=video/

Warner Bros. Studios is one of the best motion picture and televison production facilities in the world.
It was originally built on a plot of farmland in 1926 by First National Pictures and Warner Bros. acquired it in 1928.
This 110-acre facility has in total 35 sound stages ranging in size from 6,000 to 32,000 square feet, including nine "deluxe" audience stages equipped with built-in star dressing rooms, green rooms, makeup & hair, control booths, bleachers and central air conditioning;  plus a 20-acre backlot that can double as almost anywhere (jungles, metropolitan cities, etc).
Warner Bros. Studios maintains one of the largest collections of costumes for film, television, theater and commercial productions, and they are usually rented and sent to clients world wide. It also can provide productions with the best special effects known.

Two other companies:
http://www.thewb.com/ (Warner Bros.'s television)
http://www.dccomics.com/dccomics/  (comics)

interview with Nolan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj7Vts95b2A

How thriller conventions are used in Insomnia and in Memento.

In both movies, the titles appear over a background with blood. In Insomnia, a withe title appears over a close-up shot of a stain of blood seeping into a piece of fabric that then turns into a blackout, and in Memento over a close-up shot of a hand holding a polaroid photograph of a dead men with blood around him. That scene is going backwards. In both films there are close-up shots of the blood but in Insomnia there are also establishing shots that show an exotic landscape (ice).
In Memento there are lots of close-up shots : man's face, camera, blood, the bullet, glasses, dead man's head. and then there is a medium shot of the man looking at the dead one and everything starts going backwards faster with a tension building music and suddenly he appears on a motel in black and white to create the atmosphere and disorientes the audience.
In Insomnia, the music moves to a crescendo as the editing cuts between shots and during all the opening secuence there are close-up shots of the blood in the fabric, and thestablishing shots of the view of the snowscape they have from the plane, and then the vision blurres and turns again into white screen. Then a man apperars rubbing his jacket to remove the stain of blood so that the audience think that he has murder someone and he is trying to hide it, intrigueting the audience.

what we are doing so far

In this media studies class we first studied some of the tools of film language:
- Lighting (the choice of lighting and the way it is used).
- Sound ((the dialoge, sound effects, musical soundtrack... )
- Mise-en-scene (everything we see on the screen)
- Camera movements (angles and shots)
- Editing (putting all the film footage which has been shot in the required order  and joining all together)


We have also studied the media consumption and the film iconography and we have analized several film extracts.
We have done an introduction to weblogs and he have seen some film's key concepts (genre, representation, narrative...)
Now we are making a video (the phone call) after seeing what a storyboard is and making our own one.