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

In this blog post I will talk about what I have learnt during the process of making a preliminary film clip to actually making and opening sequence to a film. I will post both the preliminary and opening sequence up on my blog so you can see for yourself the final film cut of my project.


I've learnt a lot during the process of this project the first major skill I have learnt which will benefit me in the future in my studies is editing. Before I started this project I had never edited before, I had no idea what work went into editing and how difficult it could be. I managed to avoid editing my preliminary task leaving it to other members of my team but when it came to editing the final cut of my opening sequence I played a big hand in editing, I've learnt a lot of useful skills such as cutting, placing audio, adding effects and creating titles. Not only have do I have a new found respect for editors and the work they do I have also developed a skill that I really enjoy and am eager to progress in.
I've also learnt what it is like to work as camera crew, in any past filming I have done I have always taken the roll of scriptwriter or director. During this entire process I was made to take job roles I had never done before, with the help of my team members and lecturers I have learn't many camera tricks, such as sticking to certain rules such as the 180 degree rule, finding ways to achieve better angels and shots in general and also I have gain a lot of confidence on set and working with this equipment.
Comparing the two pieces of work you can clearly see the mass improvement in quality between the preliminary task and opening sequence. As a team we put a lot more effort not only into filming but also developing the idea of our film and the meanings we intended to create, the preliminary task was a spontaneous bit of filming that we did on the spur of the moment, we didn't plan any script or plot but just filmed the two actors letting them do whatever they want. But with our film sequence we spent time working on what we wanted to achieve, there was a lack of communication at times between team members and not everyone agreed on a lot of things but we managed to pull it together and create something that we are all very proud of.
I also learnt how to write and structure a script properly and professionally so that if it was a real script I had wrote hoping to have it made into an actual feature length film I would be taken seriously in the industry. I've found this an valuable skill for what I plan to do with my future.
Not only have we gained a lot of valuable skills during this coursework, we've gain a great insight into the film industry and I personally have felt the whole process has helped with a transition of maturity and given me a lot of respect for the work people put into creating films. 

Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout the process of creating a film sequence I have had to use a lot of new technologies to construct our project. Here is a list of what was used and how we used them.

The Camera we used to film our project was a Cannon 550D with a Sigma 24-70 Lens. This camera belonged to the Director of our group but I was cameraman on set so I had to operate it. Its a bit more complex then a basic video recorder, this was used to film all scenes and shots in our film sequence.

The editing software we used on a project was Adobe Premiere Pro. This is an example picture of what the software looks like when its opened and in action (this isn't our project being displayed) From here we cut together all of a film, added effects, titles and audio. It brought our entire project together.

This is the symbol for Blogger. Throughout my project I've been using this website to keep a blog on the antics that me and my group have been getting up to. I've used this website as part of my coursework to keep a recorded portfolio of everything involved in making the film sequence.

I have also used a number of websites throughout the process of making a film and keeping this blog. These websites include; Google Images, Youtube and The Art of the Title Sequence.
Google images was obviously used to find images to put in my blog, I used Youtube to take screen shots of my film to put into my blog. The Art of the Title Sequence was used to analyse a  title sequence for a movie that already exists, if you look back to a earlier blog post you will find that I analysed the title sequence for the movie: The Final Destination, I also have posted a website link to the website on that blog post.


The group used PowerPoint at one point during our project during the Pitch stage of the project, we created a power point to pitch the idea of our film to the rest of the class and our lecturer. Our pitch was successful since we received a lot of positive feedback.

Question 5

Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

This is a typical character profile of someone that would be attracted to watching our film.

Name: Nathan Day
Age: 18
Location: Wrexham
Likes/Dislikes/Hobbies: Likes include spending time with friends socializing, sports and gym. Dislikes include politics, current events and mainstream culture. Hobbies include writing for a local magazine, free running, bird watching
What films do they like? Films that he is interested in cover are Crime/Gangster films such as American Gangster, The Godfather series, Notorious, Rock an Rolla. 
What TV Programs they watch? Eastenders, Downton Abbey, The Fades, Silent Witness, CSI and Luther.
What Music they listen to? Faithless, Tenor Fly, Massive Attack, Moby, The Cure, Nick Drake, The Clash, Ghostpoet and Radiohead.


The film would appeal to Nathan Day since he clearly has a deep interest in crime/gangster films, and since American Gangster and The Godfather series was mentioned he also seems to have an interest in crime/gangster films that have a thriller element to it. The is backed up by the interest of TV Programs such as Luther, Silent Witness and CSI, all of these programs are heavily based around crime and law which again is in-cooperated into the film we worked in our group. The genre and meanings of our movie will clearly appeal to this type of person, and its most likely that Nathan Day would have similar like minded friends who would find the film interesting as well.

Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

A production company for films and television provides the money for creating a film and thus sets a budget for the film. They can also have an input on what director directs the films and what actors are hired for the film. They are also involved with distributing the film and also advertising the film so that they make back the money they invest in the film.
A distribution company is the company the distributes the film worldwide, they normally screen the  film to perspective buyers who invest in the movie and then trailers are sent out to theaters to use to start making a buzz about the film before the actual release. 
I wouldn't use a distribution to distribute my film, in recent times Youtube has become a success at projecting small scale projects to major successful hits, many singers have become famous recording artists due to Youtube, small scale films have gone on to become success hits at festivals due to Youtube. If advertised correctly Youtube could possibly raise the awareness of the film and send it sky rocketing, using social networking sites such as Facebook to create a group for the film and then advertising the Youtube link or making a twitter account and again advertising the Youtube link would again raise peoples awareness. I personally think Youtube is the best way to see if you have a real winner on you hands, real people watch the videos and if it gets enough positive reviews and hits then it can project the film to success and best of all it doesn't cost a single penny to use Youtube or any of the social networking sites.
The film we created didn't require a lot of money to get going, since we are all amateurs to the business actors included it would be none profit for all of us, its more of getting our names out in the world rather than gaining money for our own personal wealth. For what money we would need there are a number of methods to gain money for the film, we could add our own personal funds, or something that is more likely to happen is to fund raise through a number of different methods. 

Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social groups that are represented in our film are the police and criminals. But as stated in a previous blog post the characters are made to represent one side of the law while possibly they secretly represent the opposite sides of the law they are meant to be on.

The top shot is from my film Cralex while the other being a promo picture for the film American Gangster. Both films have two lead characters a Detective and Criminal , and again the black and white theme for representing good and bad has been used again. In American Gangster the Detective has a white background while the Criminal has a black background, these characters are created to show that they are one side of the law and it is clearly represented in the picture. While in the film I worked on, I swapped the color palettes to add a twist to the plot.


1) How have you represented your chosen social group?
I have represented my chosen social groups of police and criminal by including two characters that represent both sides of the law. One is a Detective who in interrogating a criminal he has been searching for for years, while the other is a caught out criminal who is shown to be punished for his wrong doings.
2)How have you used mise-en-scene to create this representation?
I think the figure of movements within the mise-en-scene represents these social groups. The figure of authority in the film is the Detective who represents Justice and Law, two important factors in society that we have to adhere to. The fact that he has the most dialogue and is able to move freely depicts that he is the police and he is in control. While Cralex the criminal is handcuffed and at the beginning has a bag on his head to restrict his view. He is created to represent the Unjust and Evil, the fact that he is a restricted character shows that he is a criminal and that he is a wrong doer.
3)What meaning have you created?
The meaning behind this entire film that has been created is that wrong doers get punished an that the law prevails, it bows down to societies firm stand on that the bad gets punished an that the law is correct. The fact that Cralex is restricted from movement and that he can't see at the beginning of the film creates the meaning that if you follow a path of unjust then you are going down a narrow path that restricts your options in life, while by following the law you are given some freedom and are protected from the bad. 
4) How does it compare to existing representations in the media?
Compared to existing representations in the media the messages behind the film we created conform to what is seen in the media, crimes are solved and criminals are punished this is often shown to us through different media outlets and by creating a film that stands to show that Good beats Evil in simple terms is another representation of what the media is saying every day constantly worldwide. It doesn't challenge any existing representations but reinforces them.

Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

This is the title of our film sequence. It's simplistic in design and style with white writing against a bold black backdrop, this is to fit in with the nature of good and bad represented by white and black. Notably the name of the film and main character is Cralex, Cralex is set up as the antagonist in the film with the detective set up as the protagonist. Choosing to put the characters name in white writing which is often associated with good it adds an element of mystery to the film, we are asking the audience in the film weather they think the character of Cralex is indeed an antagonist or a protagonist. This develops the conventions of a movie title, its bold and in capitals which is a convention of film titles but using it in this method and placing a hidden meaning to it develops the conventions of a title.

The titles of our film are in a different style to the title of the film, it has a futuristic style and look to it which represents our production company.

This picture shows the converted boiler room which we made into a dark interrogation warehouse, this challenges the convention of a detective thriller since it isn't set in a police station, it adds a new element to the film which goes back to the good bad nature of the film. We are hoping to create the meaning that perhaps the Detective isn't as good as he seems since he is interrogating the character in a dark unprofessional environment.

This shot shows the props we used, since we are going for an unprofessional vibe about the interrogation of Cralex, the set is made to look makeshift and simplistic, that's why there is just a plain folder on the desk and a gun does appear in the scene at points. For costume since Cralex is a prisoner in a sense his clothing is plain and simple with just a white t-shirt while the detective has a plain black shirt. This again plays on the color theme of good and bad being represented by white and black. The detective is dressed in black clothing while Cralex is in white, this is to create meaning for the audience that perhaps things are not what they seem between the characters. I think with this idea in mind we developed the conventions of costume, yes the detective has a professional look about him there is a deeper meaning to what he is wearing other than just showing what his profession is.

This shot is to show the lighting used, here we focus on the character of the Detective mainly. He is lit with a gloomy dim lighting, and the color palette around him is dark and cold using black, silver and gray to represent him, also there is a lot of negative space around the character of the Detective. This challenges normal lighting effects in a way, yes you would lit your antagonist in a darker light than the protagonist, but the film through set up portrays the Detective as as good character while his surroundings and make up betrays this idea and shows him as a darker more sinister character.

This shot is the perfect representation of characterisation of our characters. Cralex is set up as a villain by the dialogue and plot of the film but he is shown as a weak and defenseless character which isn't a typical convention of an antagonist in a crime genre. The Detective in this shot is represented in an even more sinister light, he casts a shadow over Cralex and is clearly in a position of power and authority. This shot sets up the idea again that perhaps these characters aren't what they appear to be.

This shot shows one of the camera angels we used in the film, its a face to face shot an also a slight over the shoulder shot. These are typical camera shots used within all genres of films.

This shot shows some of the effects we used in the film sequence. The screen is blurred and has a bright flash of light on it because it is a quick flashback used throughout the film sequence to show the past of Cralex's life. This has become a modern convention of crime films these days since a lot of films within the same genre use flashbacks as part of their plots. This was also a typical convention used within Classic Noir back in the 1940s.

Our opening sequence suggests the genre of our film sequence due to the fact that a character is being pulled out of the boot of a car by a mysterious stranger who happens to be holding a gun in his hand. These conventions add to the idea of it being a crime film.

CRALEX - Opening Sequence (Final Cut)

Production Diary

This is an overall diary of what happened over the two weeks it took to film and the week it took to edit.


The first week of filming was a major problem since there was a major lack of teamwork. Some members of the team didn't show up on set while others brought friends who weren't required or needed on set. This caused a lot of problems on set and among the team.
Another problem that we encountered was that some team members where unhappy about the Director's choice of cast and method of going about filming, at one point during the first week alone the team split into two  , with the director doing his own project while the rest of us started to re-film everything we had done so far.
At the end of week one we discussed the problems and decided to change one of the actors with Dafz after we discovered his acting abilities during the re-filming of what we had already done.
Week 2 there wasn't any major problems expect the relocation of set from the television studies to the boiler room, this wasn't a problem for any of us as it suited the film better. Filming was done quickly and successfully with the only problem being audio wasn't recorded properly but we managed to fix this problem by rerecording the actors saying their lines so we could place it over on the edit.
Week 3 was the editing week, it was a bit of a complex week since again some team members refused to show up when they were meant to. We all took it in turns editing and tried a number of different effects out to make the film better, in the end we managed to edit the film so it looked smooth and flowing and it all worked together perfectly. The only other minor problem we faced was sharing the editing computer with other groups so we had to split editing time during classes evenly but this just forced us to work harder so that we finished are work on time.

The Pitch

We all pitched our idea for our opening sequence to our class. We created a powerpoint with pages detailing individual parts of our idea such as;

• Costume
• Location
• Overall Idea
• Props
• Audience Research
• Mood Board/Story Board
• Script

We each took it in turn to speak about selected slides on the powerpoint, each of us preparing something small to speak about. I spoke about the overall idea of the project and the script, revealing to the class what our plans were for the sequence and what we were hoping to create, as well as thanking everyone for listening to our powerpoint. 

Dylan spoke about costume, location and props explaining our reasoning behind our choices such as why we wanted a certain character to wear a certain article of clothing or why we wanted to use that particular location.

Dafz spoke about the Audience Research since it was his job to compile all the information and to make into graphs. He presented the research in the format of pie charts since they are simple enough to follow and have a very professional vibe to them, the amount of information we gathered seemed to genuinely surprise the class.

Jake, the artist of our group, created the mood board and story board and presented both to the class. The mood board was a collection of images and words to represent the Detective/Interrogation sub-genre of crime that we were going for, it also represented the good and bad sides of the law. The Story board tied in with my part discussing the overall idea of the sequence, it detailed what we were planning would take place.

We recieved generally positive feedback for our work, some of the better feedback includes;

"Good original idea, like the sounds of flashbacks"

"Well presented, unique idea"

The class seemed interested in our idea and happy with our presentation and we were pleased with the feedback we had received.

The Script

I wrote the script for our project, I decided to keep it short and sweet and I wanted to avoid giving away huge plot elements since it is only a open sequence to a film.

Here is a picture of the script.

Props

The main prop we had trouble getting hold of was a car and someone to drive it. Pippa the actress who plays Harriet had to double up as her original character and that of the other henchman who drove the car for us, this wasn't a problem for anyone and it fitted perfectly into our filming.

Other props we used was a fake gun for the henchman that escorts the character of Cralex into the interrogation room and also we need a table, two chairs a folder and picture of Pippa. All of these were easy to get hold of, the only problem we had was before we moved the shooting to the boiler room we were filming in the television studio, we had a miniture challenge of getting a low hanging light in the shot to fit a small convention we had noticed. But after moving to the boiler room this issue was soon forgotten.

Costume

We had to think of fitting costumes for three characters, though we focused mainly on the two lead character costumes of the Detective and of Cralex.


For the Detective we wanted to settle for something simple and professional looking, we went for a basic shirt and trousers accompanied by a tie, which we wanted to hang loosely around the characters neck to show that the character isn't as professional as he should be.

An example of the costume for the Detective

For Cralex we tossed about a few ideas such as leather jackets, baseball caps, jumpers, blazers and other clothing. But we wanted to character to appear simple and weak and to have an air of defenselessness about him. With this in mind we settled for a very simple white t-shirt which was made to look a bit dirty and sweaty and some plain black trousers. The actor playing Cralex (Joe) is small and skinny so we thought combined with the plain outfit the audience wouldn't believe him to be a bad guy since he has such a weak appeal.

Locations

Finding locations was also a simple task, the opening sequence only required two different areas for us to shoot in. One area was a car park while the other was a room we needed to make look like a interrogation room.


We used the college car park for the car park scene, it was a simple enough shoot where a car pulled up and someone was removed from the boot of the car.


The interrogation room was also easy to get hold of but due to a mix up of shooting schedules we had to change from the television studio to the boiler room. We found that the boiler room provided a much better atmosphere to the shot so the mix up worked to our favor.

Casting

Casting for the sequence was relatively easy. We had a select group of actors in mind for the project, it was just giving them the correct parts for the film.
We originally settled for;
Joe Roberts as Cralex
Matthew Newman as The Detective 
Pippa Lewis as Harriet 


After some discussion we decided to replace Matthew with Dafz Atkinson as the Detective we found that Dafz was more suited to the role and being a part of the team he was eager to have more involvement in the project.

This is Dafz Atkinson (A.K.A The Dectective)

Moodboard

This is the moodboard for my group, the idea behind it is to represent both the good and bad sides of the law. The right side of the moodboard is the representation of the bad side of the law, it contains images of gangsters and crime while the left side of the of the moodboard represents the good side of the law, it contains detectives interrogating someone which fits perfectly with the theme of our film sequence.

Distribution and Production

We (my group) decided to independently distribute our film ourselves using social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.
Our plans for Facebook are to make a Facebook group for the movie which would have detailed information about the cast, there will be regular updates about how the movie is coming along and release dates.





Twitter would be used to pass communicate on a wider more personal scale with people, the updates would be informative but also we would have more fun through the Twitter website.

Both our Facebook page and Twitter page would advertise links that would connect people to our Youtube channel which would contain a wider variety of information. Here we would have daily updated talky blogs which would have members of the cast/team speaking about how the production is coming along, special behind the scenes videos on how the filming is coming along, exclusive interviews with the cast, teaser trailers and finally the actually movie itself.