Evaluation

1. In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our media product stuck to the main task of the conventions of the genre because there were a few parts of our product where it is very similar to the typical genre of a British gangster film. The most obvious way in which we stuck to the conventions of a British gangster genre, was the scene which involved the white van which is the typical of the English surroundings as well as being popular within British gangster films. In the same scene was a voice over of the main character, Vinny. This, as well as a white van is typical within the conventions of the British gangster genre and this is where my group did well at sticking to these conventions.
Our main task was similar to some texts we researched in a few ways. The equipment used is very familiar to the conventions of other British gangster films. The use of the white transit van, hand guns and overused unnecessary language was used in our film which stuck closely to the conventions of our aimed genre. This is quite similar to those used in Lock Stock and 2 smoking barrels.
Our main product does deviate from a little but not a lot really. It deviates a little from the conventions by the use of characters used within the film. The characters are younger than the audience would usually expect from people whom star within a British gangster film. This is a big deviation from the conventions of the genre because it is very risky and could result in a loss of sales at the box office.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media film represents particular social groups in certain ways. It focuses on the middle age group, in their twenties or thirties, as being quite a dominant social group particularly within the male characters. In the film, at the start it was clear that males were very dominant within the film as well as being clever, especially when the two male characters went through the closing doors and the woman fell and missed the open door. However, on the end seen the woman character seemed very important when she directed the gun towards the other men. This shows within in this film that the woman character is quite important whereas in other films they aren’t so important. This is unusual within the British gangster genre and is the unique selling point for this film. This could always be a problem though because people won’t be seeing what they want to be seeing in a British gangster films and could cause mayhem as well as a loss of sales at the box office.

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

Looking at films with the similar genre as our own and looking at what ones were successful, it was clear that This Is England was quite a successful film. The distributing company for This Is England is Film4. After looking at many of the films that Film4 produce or distribute such as This Is England, Slumdog Millionaire and Sexy Beast, it is clear that they invest in big films which are going to make a huge return at the box office. Also, looking at This Is England and Slumdog Millionaire it is clear that both of these films have a very clear message and somewhat creates a number of questions for the audience to think about once leaving the cinema. The question is whether our film will be a huge film which could make the audience asking themselves the same questions and whether it’s clear what our point was. Baring these points in mind would film4 be interested in distributing my product? – it is a hard question to answer, but I’ll give it a go. Film4 are interested in films which are going to be big at the box office and receive a huge turn-over of profit. Will film4 benefit from distributing my product? – After This Is England being a very successful film, film4 might find it risky investing in a similar film because it may not be as successful and flop at the box office. However, if the film has a point to prove, film4 may just well be interested because they usually are with films that have a good message which is going to be put across which is then reflected by the sales at box office and also in DVD sales.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our media film is about a British gangster film. The typical target audience for British gangster films are generally people in the age range between 18 and 30. These averages always have outliers, or people out of the typical range who would watch this film. After a screening of our film to our media class, we got feedback from the audience on what they thought was the suitable age for the potential viewers of our film. We obviously don’t want to attract the wrong audience because our film might not be as successful as it should be because it was directed at the wrong audience. This could lead to the feedback off the film being poor and people either not recommending the film or disliking the film. After looking at all the films we researched into, into finding the correct genre for our film, as well as the conventions of the genre, we found out the typical age for people who watch British gangster films. These ages are generally between 18 and 30.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?

During the research period, when we was finding out about our genre, we researched how exactly to attract our target audience. The most important thing was the conventions of the genre. The conventions are important to the genre because it’s what the audience expect to see when they are watching the film. In our film these conventions included some things such as a white van, guns and foul language. Another way is to make sure that the main characters are believable “hard men” as well as sounding loud, proud and clever. The surroundings have to be realistic, where an actual crime or meeting would actually take place. A crime scene is usually in a popular public place or a meeting is usually outside where there aren’t a lot of people present.
My group had a showing off our film were we had people from our media class watch our film and get their feedback on our film. There ages ranged between 16 and 18. Unfortunately the age wasn’t really the typical age for an audience for that particular genre. However, this sometimes can vary and their ages were close to the normal ages of the typical audience and it was most probably reasonably good feedback from the audience who we showed our film to. After viewing the feedback which we received from our audience, I believe that certain parts of our film are very good. A number people commented on the fact that it followed the conventions well with the good use of the white van and obscene language. This is good because it’s what people would expect from a typical British gangster film and it shows that we have followed the conventions of the genre very well. On the other hand, there was a few comments about the fact that we tried to fit too much into the first two minutes of our film. Which looking back on it was the truth because although we know what’s going on, the audience may get a little lost or confused about what is actually happening.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

The new technologies I learnt when creating the product is using the mac to edit the film. Since I have never used a mac before it was a new technology for me to use. At first, I couldn’t really get my head around how to use it properly but after playing around with it for a while I soon got to grips with it. I think the mac is a great technology to use when editing a film because it is much quicker than using tapes to edit a film. Also, the fact you can save and un-do some footage that you wanted but you deleted whereas the way of using tapes you wouldn’t be able to re-capture the footage you want. This is really good because it saves a lot of hassle plus the pain of maybe having to re-shoot that scene. However, on the mac you were limited to the amount of special effects in which you could use. Maybe the use of more or ‘better’ special effects could have made our product more successful. This would be because many other British gangster films usually have a good use of special effects within them.

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

During our preliminary task, we did certain shots such as the 180 degree rule and match on action. Although at the time we thought these shots were good, when we came to making our main task, these shots became a lot better than the shots that we took in our preliminary task. This was due to us spending a lot more time with the cameras and being able to play about with some shots. Also, in our prelim, we had a blurry shot of Francesca when she was walking out of the room whereas in our main task, we have a shot of mine and Joe’s feet running away from the bank. This shot is not blurry compared to the one in the prelim. My main task is better than the prelim because we were more prepared because we had planned, storyboarded, and scripted what we was going to be doing whereas in the prelim we just started shooting film without even thinking about it. Doing it the other way gives us a lot of time to think about what shots we are going to use, how we are going to shoot them, what order etc. In our main task, there is one big thing in particular that I think needs to be changed. After people watching a filming of my film, similar comments arose on the feedback slips that were handed out. ‘The last bit of the film was a little rushed’ – or ‘the last bit was too fast and crammed in’. So, after receiving these comments from the audience it is clear that the film would definitely need to be improved. This could be the make or break of our film. This is because our film hasn’t completely satisfied the audience. This isn’t good because if our film was published it might make the audience give bad feedback of the film or just go and watch a different one.

Filming..

As we planned to film this afternoon around 4-ish now i'm told our 'actors' of the film cannot make it.
So it's either getting in different actors or changing our filming schedule to another time. - which has happened at least 3 times now.

Filming

After plenty of problems with the lack of communication within the group, we finally got together early yesterday afternoon to film the second of three main scenes in which we needed to do.
The filming turned out to go very well and should look very good once edited. (:

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Scenes together.1st shots bank robbery: SHOTS 15, 16, 17, 18, 32
2nd shots Gangster meeting: SHOTS 10, 11, 12, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31
3rd shots RED and VINNY: SHOTS 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14
4th Shots phone call: SHOTS. 1 Only.


Risk AssessmentIn our two minute film we have a risk of using a car/van in our film. The problems of using a car/van would mean that someone could be hit by the car or the car/van could be damaged when we are using it.To prevent any trouble we will be having someone who has passes their driving test and are able to drive with a licence. Characters in the car will be wearing their seatbelts at all times when they are in the car. This will prevent any accidents as the car will be going very slow anyway. The characters that will be in the scene that the car is in they will be assured to stay away with a distance from the car/van. This will prevent accidents happening.

Our own film

Our group focused on the following for our film;

• Mise en scene
• Costumes List
• Props List

1. Mise en scene

Locations scouted are;

Jo Richardson Community School by the "Egg"

Garages near Francesca's house

2. Costumes List

Tracksuit (hoodys and bottoms) with a cap

Suits - shirts, trousers and shoes. (Black and white)

3. Props List

• phone
• van
• cardboard boxes
• guns
• box for guns
• balaclavas
• cigarette box (cigars)
• bags (duffle)

New film research

After our group changing our genre from horror to british gangster, i had to do some more research on films within this genre.

The first film i watched was Green street.

At the start of green street, he hands over some money to people at the airport to pay for his flight. As background noise is a non-diagetic sound, music, playing. This means the character cannot hear the sound that the audience can. There is a mid shot on him and as this shot is happening, there is a voice over of him, telling us a brief explanation of him. He then gets onto a train and goes onto the underground.

• In most gangster films, i have realised that there is nearly always a voice over. (the non-diagetic music in the background is still being played but quieter)
• Titles are being played over the shots of the man.
• There is a lot of close ups on him as well as long shots.
• There is an establishing shot of him when he arrives in the other airport, walking down a slope.
• There was a close up on a piece of work that he had done. (This suggests that it is an important document which the audience needs to see

I have to do some more research on other britsih gangster films to get a better understanding and more clearer view on the genre.

Second film research

The second film we watched was Creep.
The following is the description of the opening sequence;

• Dark tunnel, (scary because all you can see is torch lights)
• In the sewers i believe (dark and not very pleasant)
• Lots of fast shots on the attacker (so quick you can't see it)
• Train station late at night (nobody is there, just the woman

4 Key Areas

1. Camera

In the opening sequence is an establishing shot. You can clearly see the surroundings as well as the two men in the shot.

There is quick, snappy shots of the attacker. This is used so the audience dont see who it is and makes the attack much better.

2. Sound

A non-diagetic sound on the thing that attacks the two men.

A diagetic sound of the dripping of a pipe. This clearly sets the scene.

3. Editing

When the creature attacks the men. It quick snappy shots. This has clearly been edited to make this effect.

When the woman cannot get out of the station, there is a shot in which has the closed doors in the foreground whereas the shot is focusing on the woman. The shot was clearly filmed at the same time and just edited to be shown again after a few other shots.

4. Mise en scene

Set in a dark tunnel. This creates a scary atmosphere because it is very dark and all you can see is torches from the two men.

Torches. These are used for dark places. These were appropriate props for the atmosphere.