Main Task - Evaluation

http://prezi.com/lss9opo63tku/rebecca-thompson-as-media-evaluation/ 

Main Task Video

Main Task - Reshoots

   We decided that the piece needed some re shoots, especially when the girls are in the dark room and say their lines. We decided to have the light brighter and to have the match closer to the girl, as well as having the camera closer to the girl and the shot only being of their face. We went to the dark room and filmed all of the girls. This was easy as the girls knew what they were doing and we finished quite quick.
   We had time to record a voice over of Zak breathing to put over when he is running. We then uploaded all the new clips and then added them to the film. The breathing over the part where Zak is running added to the tenseness of the piece.

Main Task - Voice Over

   We decided to let our class wtch our video and asked them what they thought of it. What we got back from it was that our piece was very confusing and that they didnt understand what was happening. To stop the confusion, we decided to add a vioce over which is describing what is happening and why it is happening. This is the voice over:

Leodina: This is Leo Mcgee, he is 17, and an average student, he has an average social life, every now and then he drinks too much. He had a girlfriend.

Hayley: And another

Becky: And another

Becca: And another

Leodina: But there is something wrong with him, he's just not quite right. We control his dreams, we how him whats going to happen in the future.

pause

Leodina: He thought he was safe. He thought it was fun, he doesnt know that we know. But now, we are going to get our revenge. He. Will. Pay.

Main Task - Editing

   This week we started editing. To edit our piece we used Adobe Premiere Element 3.0. Hayley, Leodina and myself went through all the clips and chose which ones we wanted to keep and which ones we did not want. Once we had decided what clips we wanted we put them all together just to see a basic idea f what our finished product would look like. We soon realised that the piece was very jumpy an that it need a lot of work to make it run smoothly. We started with the four girls talking first. Because we used matches we had about 40 second of each girl waiting for the flame to be big enough. We used a technique called 'split clip' which allowed us to spilt the clip in to the part we wanted and the parts we didn't. And then letting us delete the ones we didn't. We then added the four colours for the girls. To do this we adjusted the colour balance and then added the colour we wanted to the balance. We used red, green, white and blue, the colours were used to add and emphasise the emotion of each girl.
   We then had to add the titles of our piece. We decided that we wanted the credits to flow in and out throughout the clip so we added them in, in between each shot. We also had to come up with a production company name. We decided to call ours T20 Productions as the classroom we work in is called T20. We researched some production companies logos and decided to base ours on Film 4's logo which is simple but bold.
  We then had to find music to go over the top of the piece. This was very difficult as every website we found, you either had to pay, or our computer wouldn't allow us to preview the songs. After a lot of searching, Leodina found a track that fitted in perfectly with our piece and help to add tension to it.

Main Task - Construction

   This week we started filming. However, we had to start filming from the end as we were unable to get in touch with one of our characters. So we started filming in the dark room. This created an eerie environment, adding to our piece's feeling. We started filming the four girls saying their lines in front of a black sheet and holding a lighter to light up their face. However, after a couple of takes, we realised that the lighter would not light easily and would then blow out when the girls were talking, it was also not light enough as you could not see the girls faces. To overcome this we used matches, which were easier to light and would not blow out as easily, but we found that this also would not light up their faces. So, we then used an overhead snoop light, shining directly on the girls faces, we then asked the girls to hold the matches up to their faces. After that we decided that the matches and the light looked good together and filmed the girls with this.
   The next lesson we went up to the library and filmed the beginning of our piece. We decided to film our piece in the library as it is quite and adds to the tense atmosphere of our piece. We had our actor, Zak, sit in the corner of the library, while we tried to film a pan shot from the opposite side of the room. To do this we used a tripod. However, the tripod was very rigid and would not move smoothly. To overcome this we decided to hold the camera while doing the pan and then attaching the camera on to the tripod to do the zoom. We each had a turn at filming the pan to see which of us had the steadiest hand, which allowed the pan be smooth and the transition in to the zoom to not be jumpy. After we had filmed this we went to the next shot in the library which is of Zak picking up the book. We thought of lots of positions we could have filmed this in, however we ended up with Hayley lying on the ground behind the table, creating a low angle shot of Zak picking up the book and then putting it back on the shelf.
   After we had filmed the parts in the library, we had time to film the shots of Zak running. We found a pathway between two buildings that looks closed in, again adding to the feel of the piece. At first we had the camera on a tripod at the end of the path in the centre, and asked Zak to run towards us. I thought this was very effective and looked good, so we took a couple more shots to make sure we got it perfect. After this we had to film the part where Zak fell done the stairs which wakes him up from his dream. This was hard as we had to get the position of the camera right to make it look like he was falling down a long distance. To do this, I had to crouch on the floor and had the camera on a tripod which was a small as it could get. I then position the camera so that you could only see the top stair and then I made the camera tilt up in a low angle, creating the effect of a greater height. We filmed this a couple of times and then decided that we had got a decent shot.
   Once we had the dreaming bit completed, we still had time to film the bits of Zak in the dark room. To make the room seem like a hostage situation we had Zak sit on a chair with his hands behind his back to look as though they were tied there. We used the snoop light again, and placed it right infront of Zak's face. This added to the intesity of the scene. It also helped Zak to act as though he was just waking up and getting used to the light. We then filmed a close upof his eye of his eye getting used to the light and then a mid shot of his face and shoulders, still getting used to the light, to show the location.

Main Task Storyboard

Main Task - Planning

   This week we were given the brief for our main task, which is to film a two minute opening of a film. We were then put in to different groups from our preliminary task, my new group is with Hayley, Leodina. We then got together and decided on a genre. We decided on a teen gritty genre and then did some research on some films that are in this genre, we focused on Kidulthood, Adulthood and 4.3.2.1 and how they were advertised and promoted through posters. We then came up with three different ideas that different people wanted. We could not think of a full story so decided to add all three together and mix them up, allowing us to have a complete story. Once we had our basic idea of a story we were able to complete a script, showing a full story:

Main task – Script

Location

• Library
• Dark room

Non-diegetic sound

• Tension

Establishing long shot, a pan shot used to show location, non-diegetic sound of a tension soundtrack, camera angle zooms into the male character to show the protagonist. A close up of a ‘Martin Luther King’ history book, the camera angle zooming in to the word ‘dream’ showing an extreme close up. Extreme close up of the male character’s eye, cutaway shot of the male character running showing 180 degree rule, non-diegetic sound has frozen, only the diegetic sound of his breathing can be heard. The male character yells as he falls with a low angle shot being shown. Cutaway shot is shown of the ‘Martin Luther King’ book falling on the table non-diegetic sound returns, mid shot of the male character is shown him waking up / reacting to the dream, jumps from his chair, mid shot positioned underneath the table establishing a high angle shot of the character picking up the book and placing it back on the shelf. Diegetic sound of a crash causes a complete black out in the location of the library, non diegetic sound ends. Male character wakes up in the dark room using a mid shot, diegetic sound of his breathing is heard again, extreme close up of his eyes reacting to a bright light being shown to his face. Four female characters appear one by one, mid shot of their faces are shown with a lighter representing different colours suggesting green for jealousy, red for danger, white for innocence, blue for disappointment.

Female character with the green lighter appears with a mid shot: “You said you loved me.”

Female character with the red lighter appears with a mid shot: “And me.”

Female character with the white lighter appears with a mid shot: “And me.”

Female character with the blue lighter appears with a mid shot: “And me.”

   Once we had the script, we were able to create a storyboard, this included the camera movements, sound that we wanted to include and the mise-én-scene of the scene. We decided that we would have the three girls shown in a different coloured light. We would have girl girl in green to represent jealousy, a girl in red to represent danger and passion, a girl in white to represents innocent and a girl in blue to represent power. We also had the boy wearing a black hoody. We chose black to connotate that he is the person who is in the wrong and a hoody as it is a stereotypical item of clothing for youths.
   We decided to film in the library, as it is quiet and we would not get any background noise, so we got permission from the librarian. We also filmed in the dark room, which allowed us to make it seem as though we were filming in a big dark room, which exagerates the feeling of overpowering from the girl.

Research - Posters - Adulthood

Cast are in line.

Uses same name as “kidulthood” but is shows that the characters have grown up.

Kidulthood grossed £100,056 (UK) (5 March 2006), whereas adulthood made £3,247,651 (UK) (13 July 2008), showing it was a cult film and got more attention.

Baseball bat is on the floor in this poster, suggesting they have left the violence behind and are more mature.

Dark clothing

Light in the background
City location

Title is bold and bright, standing out.
Hasn’t got any star ratings, unlike kidulthood.

Research - posters - Kidulthood

Dark colours.

Writing is bold and bright – stands out.

Cast – shows position in film and relationships.

Props define characters.
City location
Five stars at the top in the brightest part of the picture, making it stand out.
Quote is a bold statement, relates to teenagers.
Baseball bat shows immaturity and violence which are traits usually associated with teenagers.
Each of the characters are in couples except the one with a baseball bat, showing that he is left out which could be why he is violent

Research - Posters - 4.3.2.1.

Dark colours.

Cast in line, costume show personality of characters.

Title is staggered, draws people in.

Use an American actress to appeal to American audience.

City location, London eye and the statue of liberty in background, to define two cities.

Defines what 4.3.2.1 stands for which it makes the audience want to watch it, 1 chance shows something big is going to happen.

Research of Film Openings - 4.3.2.1

R	The main characters in this film are four girls. The start of the film, show that the white British girl is vulnerable, as she is about to jump off a bridge. The black and American girl are then shown as strong as they are telling her what to do, and are in control, as they are pointing a gun at her. This is different to the dominant ideology in films that the white people are in control and that the black characters are usually sidekicks. The film then goes on to show different activities that the girls do in their free time. This shows the upper class girl having a piano lesson and then getting in to a car that has her own driver. This is the stereotypical view of an upper class person, as she is playing the piano which is usually classical music, which is usually linked to upper class, or well educated people. One character is shown smoking, which the majority of teens do nowadays. The other girls are shown doing various activities that the average 17-18 year old girls does, e.g. driving lessons, swimming.
A	I think that the audience film would be 15 – 24 year olds. I think this because it has mature themes, such as drugs, smoking, and it contains sexual themes, such as the homosexual girl wearing knickers saying “eat me” on. I also think that this would be aimed at girl as the four main characters are female. There is no character for a male to relate to or empathise for, so boys may not find this interesting. I think that this filmed is aimed at the British culture, as it is filmed in Britain. It will contain some aspects of British culture that other countries will not understand. However, they have used an American actress, Emma Roberts, to attract a teenage audience from America as they will feel that they can relate to her. Emma Roberts has been used as an American actress for other films, such as ‘Wild child’ so that these films will be big productions in both Britain and America.
Id	The main ideology of this film is along the lines of feminism. All of the main characters are female, which shows that the characters are strong enough to control a situation and are able to be in charge through out the film. There are no main male characters, this helps to emphasise the importance of the females in this film, again this relates to the audience this film attracts. One of the distributers of this film is ‘Unstoppable Entertainment’. This company was behind the films ‘Kidulthood’ and ‘Adulthood’. Both of these films are controversial and make the audience think, which is what 4.3.2.1.
L	The language of this film is very modern. It is how youths talk to each other at the moment; this again relates to the age of the audience and lets them relate to the characters. The camera shots of this film consist of lots of close ups of faces. This conveys that what they are saying, and the emotion of how they are saying is very important, as close ups are used to show emotion. It makes the beginning feel more intense, drawing the audience in to watch the rest of the film. The location of the film takes place in various places, but all are where teenagers tend to go, such as a café and swimming pool.
In	The main distributer of this film is ‘Universal Studios’, along side a lot of minor companies such as ‘Unstoppable entertainment’ and ‘Retro Juice’. The main company is part of an American conglomerate, because this is American it helps to advertise the film for an American audience, making the film multi-cultural. The minor companies are mostly British; this helps to advertise to a British audience. With both the American company and the British company, the film would benefit as it would get a greater income from both countries.
N	This film does not follow Todorov’s theory. He believes that most films follow the same timeline; there is equilibrium, disequilibrium and a new equilibrium at the end. However this film starts at the middle of the of the film, so therefore it starts at the disequilibrium. The film then goes to the first equilibrium, completely going against this theory.
G	The genre of this film is a British, teen, gritty film. This means that it will contain stuff that is not shown in mainstream Hollywood productions, which tend to make a Romanticised picture of Britain. This film will probably focus on the bits of culture Hollywood leaves out of their films. The distributer ‘Unstoppable Entertainment’ usually makes films like this, ‘Kidulthood’ and ‘Adulthood’ are an example of this. This shows that this production company tend to make the same kind of film, which means that they will always attract the same type of audience.

Research of Openings of Film - Adulthood

 

R	Adulthood, which is six years in the future from the previous film ‘Kidulthood’, opens by representing the male characters, who are still involved in crime by showing them breaking into a car as an older male is still in it. They then shoot this dominant character. It then goes in to representing youths as the stereotypical view, which is all about clubbing, having sex and doing crime. This follows David Morely’s oppositional reading of characters, as the youths are involved in crime.
A	The audience of the film is a 19 year old male. This follows Betrock’s 19 year old male theory. The representation of the stereotypical youth helps to emphasise this theory. The film introduces the idea of the hypodermic syringe theory. This means that the audience will react to the stereotyped youths and then it suggests that the audience will fear this, and believe all youths are like this.
In	UK Film Council, funded by the National Lottery, Pathe and Limelight. By being created by the UK Film Council affects the text by suggesting that the film is responding to the perceived stereotypical views of the youth culture. By having a British production company and the content of the film means that this film will be aimed and made specifically for British audiences.
L	cutaway shots are used at a fast pace to show the individual characters represent  in the previous film as a type of flash back montage for the audience to remember what has previously happened, helping them to understand what is happening. During this flash back no sound is heard whatsoever, until the flashback goes into the fight scene where only diegetic sound of punching is used to show the damage and the impact of what has happened in this fight, this adds emphasise to the violence and makes the audience pay attention so that they will understand. A club is then superimposed to show its location six years in the future. The subtitle ‘six years later’ then appears on the screen, so the audience can understand what is happening and the diegetic sound of the music helps to reinforce this.
Id	Youths are shown in a stereotypical light (fighting, taking drugs etc) this is used to show previous views on youths and their culture, and does this by their clothes and how they speak to each other. The dominant ideology is that older people fear youth culture, and plays on their fear and portrays it in the film. This film exaggerates the fact that the media is suggesting that all youths are violent, and so more and more people are becoming afraid of youths and their violence.
N	This film shows what has happened previously with a fast pace flashback, it then goes six years into the future to where all the characters are now and whether or not their behaviour has changed over time. Todorov and the disequilibrium theory is used in the opening scene because it uses a flashback before the film goes into a equilibrium of six years into the future where the film begins.
G	I think this film is a teen gritty, social realism film. It emphasizes audience previous fear of the youth culture. Leo Baudry says that genres reflect the fears of society, in the case of Adulthood, the fears of the youth culture are emphasised and creates an idea of panic within a culture about gang and youth culture and youth culture.

Research of Film Openings - Se7en

R	The opening scene introduces a male character, who remains anonymous for the entire sequence, the rest of the sequences give the impression that the man is mentally ill and has created an obsession with violence and making books. His Obsession leads to him harming himself with objects such as needles, representing self harm. The obsession of his is also backed up with the amount of books he appears to have made all around him; however the books may also connote intelligence. Using David Morely’s Preferred, Oppositional and Negotiated reading, the audience would think that the preferred reading of this film is that mental people are scary. The oppositional reading would be that the audience would think that the criminal is “cool” and try to be like them, and the negotiated reading would be that the audience might think that the criminal looks cool, but he is also scary so would not want to be like them.
A	This sequence gives the idea that the film will be a violent and gritty film, because of this I feel that the BBFC would give this film an 18 certificate. Because of the age certificate and violence, I also think that the target audience will be 19 – 24 year old males. Using Blumler and Katz uses and gratification theory, it could be said that the audience would watch this film for entertainment and for social interaction.
Id	The Dominant ideology of this opening scene could be represented by the affect of mental illness. The entire sequence is jumpy and blurred, not allowing you to focus on any thing for a long a period of time. This could show that the person that we are focussing on is mentally ill and can also not focus on anything. The sequence makes the audience feel uncomfortable and scared, which reinforces the dominant ideology that all mentally ill people are scary and that you should stay away from them.
L	The sequence consists of extreme close ups of different objects, creating tension and the feeling that something is going to happen. The extreme close ups of objects during the sequence also created confusion for the audience and from the start of the film. An enigma code is created, making the audience question what is happening and what is going to happen. The sequence also has fast and loud non-diegetic sound in it, creating a tense atmosphere. The non-diegetic music also contains random sounds that are throughout the entire sequence, making the audience confused. The editing of the clip is very jumpy and the clips are put together in a way that makes the audience feel uncomfortable. The lighting of the scene is muted and there is a red tinge in most of the clips, showing to the audience that there is danger in that situation.
In	The institution for this film was New Line Cinema. The stars of this film are Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. Brad Pitt’s name appears first in the credits, showing that he is probably the main character of the film. Brad Pitt usually plays the good guy in films, and is not very famous for playing criminals; therefore the audience would believe that he would be the “hero” of the story. Morgan Freeman’s name is the next to appear in the credits, showing he is probably going to be the second most important character in the film. Morgan Freeman, again like Brad Pitt, is not famous for playing the criminals, so he is probably playing the hero’s helper. The difference in age between the two stars could show that in the film Morgan Freeman could be Brad Pitt’s mentor, teaching him the things he need to know to catch the criminal.
N	The narrative of this sequence uses a series of Enigma Codes to make the audience interested in the story and want to carry on watching. As most films do, this film starts with an equilibrium, however this equilibrium is completely wrong and twisted due to the dirtiness, death and confusion of the sequence this could show the audience that if this is the equilibrium then the film is going to get even worse than it already is, probably by killing or hurting someone, to make the new equilibrium.
G	The opening of the scene is quite intense and makes the audience feel uncomfortable, while creating tension and the build up to something bigger that is going to happen. This is very common in the thriller genre. The sequence also has the feel of a villain or criminal doing something wrong; therefore, this could also belong to the crime genre. The opening is very typical for both these genres, as both usually create tension and suspense.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

   We were given a brief to film and edit a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. We found the filming aspect of the piece easy, but the editing was difficult to make it smooth. We decided that our story would be of a homosexual couple breaking up.
   After watching our preliminary task, we realised that there were some aspects of it that need to be improved and some aspects which were quite good.
   One aspect that I think we used well was the mise-én-scene of the scene. Our use of books about teenage problems and relationships in the background helped to emphasize the emotion and confusion of the characters. We also used colour of the clothes to emphasize the feeling of the characters as well. Putting Eve, the girl the boy walks off with in red, connotates the feelings of danger and love. We also put Nathan in a red polo top to link the two characters together and to also show danger within him.
   I also think that we used continuity editing well in our piece. During the scene, we managed to match two videos of a door closing, shooting it from one side and then the other, and made it flow without looking jumpy.
   One thing that i think that needed to change was the part where a picture of a heart is being ripped up. This part of the piece was added because when we watched the video back we realised that at one point it looked like a character had jumped across the screen a little. This is because we did not follow the 30 degree rule, and did not move the camera enough.
   I think that the narrative is a strong part of our piece. We managed to include Todorov's theory of an equilibrium, a disequilibrium and a new equilibrium withing our piece creating a complete story within our task. Our equilibrium was the two boys being a happy couple, our disequilibrium was Nathan breaking up with Joe, and the new equilibrium was Nathan being with Eve.
   I think that we represented homosexuals in a realistic manner and did not focus on the stereotypical view. We made them look like ordinary boys in a school, and we did not mention that the characters were homosexual in our dialogue. We let the audience make their own decision from the characters conversation. Although our piece looks like we are suggesting that homosexual teens should try to act straight, we did not mean for this to happen. We merely meant to create a piece that was controversial and different from anybody else's.
  

Preliminary Task Video

Preliminary Task - Construction - Editing

   This week we started editing our piece and re-filming parts that were bad quality. We used  Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0 to edit our piece. First we uploaded all of the videos and then we decided which ones we thought were good quality, and which we needed to re-film. Two members of our group then had to go and re-film the bad quality ones, while two other members had to finish putting the good videos in the correct order and making them flow.
    We then uploaded the good quality videos on to Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0, and made the video complete. However, when we watched the video back we realised that at one point the girl looked like she had jumped across the screen. We then found out that this was due to us not knowing the 30 degree rule. To overcome this problem, we inserted a visual metaphor, a picture of a heart being ripped up, to show that the second boy's heart was breaking and to show his anger within the situation. We then watched the whole thing through and were happy with the end product.

Preliminary task - Construction - Filming

This week we started filming our preliminary task with a video camera. Last week we had made a shooting schedule, so we knew what we wanted to film in each day and how long it would take us. I found this part quite difficult as it was sometimes hard to get the exact shot we had planned for because we couldn't get the camera in the position needed. It was also difficult because people would walk through the shot and we would then have to start that shot again.
   We started the week by going to the library to ask for permission to film there. We then shot the first four shots on the stairs leading to the library. We found that the first shot (the shot of the phone with a text on it) was difficult to get as the writing was hard to see, as it became blurred. We resolved this by taking a picture of the phone and putting that at the beginning instead of a moving image, as with a still image, it was easier to focus in on the writing.
   To play the other parts, we used a friend who had a study period at the time we were filming and a member of our group. This made filming easier as we could film what we wanted in the lessons without pulling people out of lessons. We used different angles of the camera to show the emotions of the characters. For example, a high angle shot on the second boy to show he is vulnerable as he just got dumped and a low angle shot on Nathan to show who is in control of the situation.
   When filming in the library, we decided to put books about relationships and teenage issues in the background of the shot, in the bookshelves. We thought this would add to the mise-en-scéne of the piece as it adds to the theme of homosexuality and relationships. We also put the girl that Nathan walks away with in a red dress to symbolise love and passion, but also danger to the second boy. 
   When we uploaded the contents on to the computer, we were able to watch all the clips back and decided whether we wanted to keep them or whether we should re-film them because of bad quality sound or picture. We had a couple of videos that we did not need or want due to bad sound or image, and people getting lines or movements wrong. We decided that next week we will have to re-film the clips that are bad, but for the time being we used them as a rough guide to see what our video will look like.

Preliminary Task Storyboard

Preliminary Task - Planning

   This week, we were given the brief of our task and what needed to be included in it. Before our group can move on to the main assignment, we have to complete a preliminary task. The preliminary task has to include, a character opening a door, crossing a room, sitting opposite a character and then sharing some dialogue. I thought that this would be a task that i could cope with, after we done some research and watched some past media students work, i felt confident that i would be able to complete this task at a high level.
   I got in to my group and we talked about the possibilities of stories. After discussing various ideas, we decided on a story: our story is of a homosexual boy breaking up with his boyfriend, to be with a girl. we chose something that was controversial because we thought that this would catch the audience's eye, and would be more interesting than a heterosexual break-up. We then had to write a script, which included stage directions and camera movements, though there are only five lines of dialogue in our piece as we felt that it didn't need a lot of dialogue and we could show the mood by the filming and facial expressions of the characters. After, we had our script we were able to draw a story board, which included camera movements and shots, mise-en-scéne, the timing, the sound and the editing of that shot, we used colour in our story board to help to put across mise-en-scéne and the connotation of the characters, for example red on the girl to connote danger and passion. When the story board was completed we had to come up with a shooting schedule, deciding when and where we would film certain parts, and the costume, make-up and props needed for that section. We decided to film our task in the library as it is a quiet place and we would be able to film without lots of background noise, making it easier to hear the dialogue between characters.