Looking back at your priliminary task(the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learn in the progression from it to full product? - Evaluation Task 7

Shots

This is my preliminary task, I learnt many things from doing this task and fortunately i made my opening title sequence and scene very effective, powerful and interesting.

during the preliminary task we had to include three types of shots, these were shot reverse shot, match on action and the 180 degree rule. I knew what shot reverse shot was from studying and finding them previously in other films. As i had not doing media studies in GCSE I was weary of learning terminology, however once the 180 degree rule and match on action was explain it soon became clear and without them films would not make sense, it makes films etc run smoothly. The knowledge of match on action enabled us to use it in our films, as during the preliminary task we wasn't used to using it when it can to our opening title sequence we was able to use it in such a away it gave us a greater effect, the information broadened our eyes.

Other shots we included in our preliminary task was a long shot of Zoe walking to the door, this gave it suspense as to where she was going. however in our opening title we used a wide range of shots such as panning around the class, this enabled us to shows some generic conventions such as a school setting, and different stereotypical social groups, it helps us to show this all in one shot without drawing it out. we also used an Ariel shot, this helped us to show the generic convention of party's and that stereotype that teenagers party all the time and this is shown in every teen angst film.

overall what we learnt in the preliminary task shot wise help us significantly with our opening title sequence and opening scene.

 If I was to film the opening title sequence again i would perhaps film in Jessie(the main characters house) using a hand held camera in order to show her room to give an insight to the audience what type of person she was straight away. something i would have likes to show was make up, he getting ready and a girly room to show how stereotypical girls are pressured to look good.

Framing

During the preliminary task we didn't think about what was and wasn't included in the shots. however while films our opening title we include particular characters to contrast and to show stereotypical social groups, this allowed all different types of groups in real life to want to see our film. we also concentrate on certain props in order to represent the social groups, we felt this was important so the audience could recognise there groups.

Mise en scene

again mise en scene was not a thing we really planned during our preliminary task. we never thought about what lighting there was, we just used normal lighting, however if I done it again i would dim the lights in order to create the atmosphere we needed. in the opening title sequence we used high keep lighting in the classroom as it was suitable for a classroom and low key lighting for the party to create the atmosphere we needed. costume was never thought or considered, we wore what we had with us. in contrast in the opening title different social groups wore different costume were considered. the chavs wore dark coats or hoodies, I, the main chav Bianca had my feet on the table to how my negative body language towards school and my disrespect towards teachers and school. the geeks wore sensible smart clothing to represent them caring about their appearance and looking smart. the lazy one had a beanie hat on to show that they don't care what they look like. the popular boys and girl wore up to date fashionable which is common in teen angst film. it represents that they have money to spend on designer clothes and care servilely about there appearance, especially care about what people from the opposite sex think of them, this is seen in clueless. We thought about props a little bit in our prelim task, we include a toys dog with i used whilst spinning in the chair which is also seen in James Bond. we also thought about what we needed to make the story complete about make sense, for this we included an red bag for our jewels. In comparison in our opening title sequence and opening scene we thought for a long time about what props were needed needed in order to portray our characters correctly. props we included were the nerds work, revision book and pens, the chavs had tobacco on the table because it is stereotypical for 'chavs' to smoke, and a screwed up bit of paper with a note to represent the bullying for Jessie. in the preliminary task we was assigned a room as there was so many of us, this was out of our hands so we could not expand on our space however I believe we made good use of the room with the space we had. in our opening title sequence and opening scene we used three settings, out side, in a class room and in a drama studio, filming outside allowed our film to become realistic as many teenagers are familiar with the routine of walking to school, this aloud the audience to relate the main character. the classroom also is a familiar setting for teenagers and one in which they feel comfortable in and they know the gender layout and situation. the drama studio was somewhere which was dark and where we could apply different coloured lighting for it to become more party like and realistic,i think the lighting and space enable us to create the party atmosphere we wanted. However due to people not being available we wasn't able to apply different coloured light and there was not effects we could use during editing. If we was to film it again I would try to organise more people to create a stronger vibe and atmosphere.

Mode of Address
During the Preliminary task we did not consider how our characters mode of address would effect our film and atmosphere. Characters during the preliminary task spoke as they would normally. In contrast to this we considered mode of address in our title sequence and opening scene.Jessie played by Courtney spoke casually and normally, this showed realism in our film, on top of this Courtney's mode of address portrayed her character by showing that she wasn't one of the popular girls who speak arrogant and like they have a higher importance than everyone else, which is stereotypical and a generic convention of teen angst.  Nevertheless during her voice over speaking about the popular boys the audience see that whilst she was with the popular girls she picked up some of there traits. 'They all think I'm easy and disgusting but once upon a time they all wanted a piece of me, I mean who wouldnt'. At the start of the voice over we see how she was one of the popular girls, she tells us how it is to be one of them, then as it gets to speaking how her best friend we see she is not like them. 'I've always have a perfect life, great friends, plenty of boyfriends and everyone in the school bowed down to me'.

Editing
We used match on action during our preliminary task, however as we have not used this technique before during the preliminary task we did not not used it too its full extend and effectiveness. Yet due to the knowledge we picked up we used it effectively in our title sequence when Courtney opens the door and you see her walk in from the inside. We used Shot reverse shot during are prelim task however it was not included in the title sequence as we wanted the main focus to be on the main character Jessie, We did not want other characters speaking, unless it would portray Jessie the way we wanted 'Jessies's a dirty little whore', this made the audience feel sorry for Jessie and was the only other given time another character spoke as we wanted the audience to have a connection with Jessie from the bloody beginning. In our Preliminary task we did not use cross cutting, our film however we did, we showed the generic convention of a class room setting and then turned back time to a party scene(another generic convention) when Jessie got pregnant. We chose to do this to show the point in which Jessie's life turned around, this was partly so the audience could see  how it turned around physically not just through speech and so that the audience get an insight at the beginning as to how her life turned around, further more we done this to teach the target audience which would be teenagers between 12-19, this importance of safe sex. In the preliminary task we used the classic fade at the end, in contrast to this during our film we used a heart transition to take us from the classroom setting to the party scene, we chose a heart as it reinforces the aspect of love in our film, this is also a generic convention of teen . we also chose this transition as the last shot is extreme close up of Courtney's face and with the transition her face is in the transition, moreover love is meant/is seen as a happy thing however Courtney's face contradicts this is she looks sad. This is foreboding that there will be heart brake and it has something to do with the party scene.The was no use of titles in our primimiary task asd we did not consider them or think of them to be important. However we had researched teen angst and realised the importance of titles and how they can give hits to the story and better them depending on where they are placed. We used titles for the Baby on board title, CRC Productions, Director and Characters names in order of importance. The text size was bigger for the more important people. People who should be recognize had there own title where as some others had five different titles on the screen at the same time. The font we used was Calibri (Body) as we wanted the titles to be clear and come across as normal and orginal as possible in order to make the film come across as realistic.

Conclusion
I think overall the preliminary task helped us to understand the details that are needed to be put into a film. This enabled us to make our title sequence and opening scene as powerful and effect as possible whilst also creating the amostphere we desired.

 

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?-Evaluation Task 6

Mobile Phone
One of the things I used my phone for was taking pictures for evidence of what I have done, I have learnt about lighting and angles I need to take a successful clear photograph. I have learnt that it is also easier to use a phone that a big camera as it is easy to take and upload straight to the Internet through email. furthermore as technology has improved camera phone quality will be just the same or better than ones that our provided. Another thing I did was down load Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and created a Youtube account on my phone as it is easily assessable and I can use them when I'm out to contact the group and look at the results from the survey on facebook, it also allowed me to look at our film on youtube when i was at home so I could see what might need editing out and what I can put in to make it better.

Voice Recorder
Whilst filming we needed to create a voice over and commentary from the producers and director. I learn during this process how to turn it on, how to import files onto a memory stick and what type of file I need to save different kinds of file type. Including diegetic sound through the voice recorder taught us that it sounded clearer and less muffled on the Mac.

Email
During are filming and editing process the group found email very useful and easily assessable on both our phones and a computer.In order to get the producers logo and film title we emailed the pictures to everyone in the group so that we could all see it and use it if we needed it at any point. It was use full to have it over email so that each of us could analyse it and discuss about changing and tweaking the images and storyline and what we could add to make it more successful. It was especially useful when someone was not in or at the weekend. We emailed each other in order to make sure we didn't miss our deadlines. During this process I learnt how to import files on to an email and that email is especially useful during time when we were not together.

Macs
The Macs allowed us to add in things which we wouldn't be able to do on on a basic computer and editing program, we was able to do this due to the program and computer being smart and high tech.As we were working on the Mac for a while we all got a chance to edit and import files on to the Mac. During this process have learn how to edit and take out tiny proportions of a film and i learn what makes a film interesting and good in terms of shots.

The Internet
We used many different websites in order to create, improve and edited our film such as Free Play Music, Facebook, You tube and Blogger. Blogger helped us to understand what we needed to do in order to improve our film, and how to blog what we have done in order to understand the process and think about how we could improve. As it was in black and white in front of us it was easier to analyse it.

One of the main things i learnt from the Internet was how to download a video on to youtube and them import it to blogger. We had to do this on some occasions as the videos would not upload straight to blogger due to technical difficulties so be needed a back up plan. I learnt that you always need a back up plan as if something goes wrong due to technical difficulties you will waste time thinking of another plan. After repeating the process of uploading my videos to youtube i eventually got the hang of it and it has become quite simple.

We used the social media website Facebook to create a survey to know and understand what type of audience would be interested in our film and to also add in some of the things like to our film in order for them to be able to relate to it. I learnt that Facebook would be the best website to post the survey on as is the social media website with the most users.

We used Free Play Music in order to get music for our film which wouldn't be copy right. During the process of getting music to suit two different scenes i learnt about what sort of music suits the teen angst genre and what tempo, tune, volume and lyrics are needed to make a scene works. On top of this our film and another film picked the same song, this showed that we picked the same music as we our the same age so we knew what an audience would like to hear. I also proved we picked the right song for our genre.

Camera
The camera allowed us to perform many different shots including high angle shot, the use of high angle shots showed that they are still young as the camera is looking down on them making them look small, it also showed how many people were there backing up them being popular at party's and it makes it seem more crowed. The camera in combination with with the tripod created really effective still clear shots. The tripod and the dolly allowed us to follow our main character around school in order to back up that fact that people our speaking about her behind her back and are always watching her. We wanted to created the effect that she is being followed by someone. During this process I learn how to work a digital camera and tripod with dolly effectively, I learnt the do and do nots when using a camera and dolly such as don't use it outside as it will wobble, and i learnt different shows you can use in order to make it exciting. This is something that needs to be considered as it is a teen angst film and teenagers need to be kept interested.

How did you attract/address your audience?- Evaluation 5

In order to show how I have attracted/addressed my audience, I used YouTube annotations. 

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

Demographics

Our target audience for our film Baby on Board is white British females aged 15-21 with a working/middle class family in the UK. As our film include scenes on a sexual natural it would not be suitable for anyone under the age of 15. The people who will be watching our film will come under bracket E: Unemployed, students,pensioners, causal workers and band D: Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers. We chose this target audience as they could be in some of the same situations as the characters. We made our film appeal to this target audience through the choice of colour and the theme of love and school.

Pyschographics

Certain pyschographic aspects need to be considered when creatign a target audeince such as personality, interests and lifestyle. 

Our target audience however is varied due to the amount of different social group which our target audience can relate to. However our target audience is mainly based on some one who socialise a lot and have a some money income of there own to enable them to go out to the cinema which doesn't cost much. They like spending time with friends and family in combination with school work as no characters in this film are scene as not paying attention except from the 'chavs'

Survey and Proof
I made a survey and gave it to people around school and at home so i could see the contrast from the older generation and the younger generation.

From the result we gathered people aged 16-17 favorite genre was teen angst/ romantic comedy, we was happy about this as this is the genre of our film. They also said their favorite shops were Topshop and Newlook, this was helpful to us as in our film the popular girls and scene wearing fashionable clothing.  

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

What Does A Production Company Do? 

A production company runs the physical foundation for films, performing arts, television and radio. They handle budgeting, scheduling, scripting, talent resources, they will organise staff  and the production itself including post production, distribution and marketing. Furthermore they are responsible if anything in the project goes wrong. They may run all the funding or they will be in partnership with a parent company, partner or private investor. The big five(the most know and best production company's) are 20th century Fox, RKO Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Distribution
A distributors job is to release the film to the pubic, they decide where the film will be shown and will decided how the film will be promoted. Distributors also decide how many copies of the film will be made, this is decided by how successful it will be. The distributor and potential theatre buyers will decide how long the film will be shown in the theatre.

Where Will The Money Come From
It is harder for low budget film to find producers and distributors to fund for their film. However it is better to have a not so well known distributor for low budget films. We have chosen Film 4 as our distribution company. we have chosen is company as they are a well know company bu tare not one of the top five company's, they deal with both small independent low budget films and large films, they have there own channel meaning the film will appear on there and they appeal to the younger generation as they already show many teen angst films. They will be promoting our film through, posters and trailers and through many more advertising methods. 

Titles

We placed the the names of the people included in our film in the opening scene that played a big part in the making of the film to give them credit and recognition.

0s-4.24s - Premium Films proudly present...

                                              5.17s-8.04s- CRC Productions logo

                                              15.20s-20.4s - Edited by Courtney Holdaway
                                                                      Costume by Rachel Patterson
                                                                      Music by Adam Michael                                   

                                             21.06s-24.20 - Directed by Chloe Faris

28.07s - 32.08s - Starring Courtney Holdaway

                                             32.14 - 35.06 - Baby on Board

                                             35.08 - 39.19 - With... Rachel Patterson  

                                             45.03 - 49.24 - With...Chloe Faris

                                          1.06.11 - 1.10.12 - With...Danny Barnett   

                                          1.13.14 - 1.17.15 - And Ellen Ryan-Gill    

Here is the order which the titles appeared. We decided to put the names of the characters at the end of the title sequence as the audience will pay attention to them the most as they will be more intrigued about who is in the film rather than who edited the film.





 

What Your Film Is Similar To Institutionally

Due to our film being a small low budget film it will be most likely wont be showed in theatres outside the UK. Institutionally we believe and hope are film will be similar to paranormal activity, they had a budget of $15,000 and took in a gross of almost $197 million with a percentage return of 655,00%. The film was originally shown in 13 college towns, it had an online campaign for it to be scene in different areas where you had to vote if you wanted it seen in your town. Over all paranormal activity were nominated for nine awards. We are hoping that like paranormal activity with a low budget we will get the recognition that the film deserves. we are also hoping to win awards due to the success of our film with such a small budget.

(Voiceover to be added)

How does my media production represent particular social groups?- Evaluation 2

The Importance Of Included A Variation Of Social Groups

It was important for us to incorporate different stereotypical social groups within our teen angst film in order for the audience to be able to relate to our film and the characters within. With this in mind we included the nerds, the chavs, the sporty popular boys, the popular girls and the ones who lazy about. These social group are the ones which are easily recognizeable and people can relate to these socail groups meaning we have a broader audience than other teen angst film with one socail group.The popular girls and Jessie were our main focus in the film as they are one of the main generic conventions of teen angst films and emphasises other social groups personalitys.

The Nerds

 

This social group is seen in the majority of teen angst films and are seen to be the ones who are dedicated to their work and are fascinated by academics and are stereotypical socially unaccepted. They stereotypically have no social life inside and outside of school. They are seen as being undesirable,wearing glasses, having braces and wearing out of date or past down clothing. The main geek is seen wearing glasses, this is stereotypical of a 'geeky' personality. The boy geek has facial hair which is uncommon in teenagers at school. The facial hair makes him come across unattractive, this is supported by the distance from him to other characters even when they are in the same social groups. All the stereotypical nerds have there clothes us to there neck, this represents there uncomfortableness with there bodies and being weary of social environment and with what others think of them. In this shot of the nerds they are doing their work which none of the other classmates are doing, this emphasises their dedication and there determination in there school work.

The Chavs

The so called 'Chavs' are not typically seen in every teen angst film, however they are commonly seen in British(usually low budget) teen angst films such as Kidulthood. This social group is more commonly seen in TV teen angst series such as, shameless and skins.We wanted to include this group nevertheless to add a twist and in the 21st century chavs are more recognisable and a big part of society. They are usually seen wearing cheap gold, having undesirable tattoo's, wearing tracksuits/hoodies and taking part in smoking and alcohol and drug consumption. They stereotypically use certain terms and semantics which other social group would not understand, their terminology is also seen as being vulgar and insulting. We considered mise-en-scene particularly with this group so there characteristics come across easily. The character wore dark clothing, including hoodies and leather jackets. Boxes of tobacco were placed on the table to emphasis there class, habbits and the fact they dont care about anything including their health. Further more they placed their feet on the table to show how they do not care about school and education.

 

 The Popular Girls and Sporty Boys

 

This popular girls and boys are one of the most common social groups and are scene is most teen angst films. They are one of the generic conventions of a teen angst film. The girls are seen as being bitchy and troublemakers especially against other girls seen as being a threat, particularly if the girls are getting close with the popular boys. This is seen especially in Mean Girls. They are also seen as being a 'queen bee', this is seen in real life, particularly in America and so the film industry emphasis's this characteristic. They are seen as running the school, being of higher importance than everyone else, being loved by everyone and being beautiful. They wearing fashionable, up to date expensive clothes. They all wear the same type of clothes to show they belong to the same group and are better than everyone else. This is also seen in Mean Girls and Clueless. In our film we choose pretty girls to portray this feature. The popular girls in our film are seen wearing the colour seen of black and green showing they are in the same group.
The sporty boys are easily recognisable and are seen in most teen angst films, they are a big part of teen angst films as they usually connect with the popular girls, they both come as a package and is it frowned upon if anyone tries to join in with them or attempts to join there group.However the popular boys usually feel sorry for ordinary social groups and what to get to know them and to socialise with them, This is frowned upon by the Popular girls and some popular boys. Both groups are seen as being at the top of the school.This is seen in films such as Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.

The Lazy Ones

In our teen angst film we also included a character who is seen with there head on the table. This social group is not seen in every teen angst film but is seen in most, we placed them next to the chavs as they are in the same league as them. This social group is seen in films such as The Inbetweeners and Pitch Perfect.

Jessie 

 Jessie is the main character in the film, she used to be in the popular girl social group but since here getting pregnant she is by her self in her own little group which no one wants anything to do with her, however this changes when she moves school.

In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Evaluation task 1

Title
In the top left of this grid you will see the title of our film Baby on Board  we used iconography, the title is made of baby building blocks and a dummy, we chose to do this so straight away people know what they are going expect but without giving the story away. We chose to place it on a white board with tasks on(e.g. learning objective) and it is next to a smart board. We placed it here as our target audience will recognise it easily. By placing it on the white board instead of the smart board we are showing that our film goes by own fashioned ideas and views. This come across strongly as sex before marriage is a big thing to the older generation.

Setting/Locations
Our two main locations were the classroom and the drama studio to act as an party area. We chose a classroom as our  target audience,teenagers, will be familiar with the surroundings and it sets realism in motion. It also was one of the easiest and suitable places to gather all the characters to show how they contrast each other, it is one of the biggest generic conventions in teen angst films, in combination with partys involving alcohol and sex, we felt in order for the film to become believable we would need a party scene as they are common in teenagers daily lifes.

Costume and Props
We used stereotypical social groups in our films which meant we had to find stereotypical costumes and props to suit there personalitys. Our main character Jessie wears a Parker coat, this shows the audience that Jessie cares about her appearance like most main girl characters in teen angst films and that she has money which is common especially in typical American teen angst film such as Clueless and Mean Girls. The different groups such as the geeks have different clothing and props, they wear big glasses and smart clothing showing they like to look well presentable. The chavs are wearing dark clothing and hoodies and there is tobacco on the table as this is a typical feature of chavs, the working class and people on benefits. The popular girls and boys wear fashionable up to date expensive clothing which is stereotypical of popular characters in teen angst films such as Pitch Perfect and High School Musical. There is a change of costume in our opening scene, as it a party, characters a wearing more revealing  clothing and this is particularly seen in our main character Jessie, it is also foreboding that later in the film something to do with sex will occur as she has less clothing on and is showing her body of a bit more.

Camerawork and Editing
In this still you can see that we used an Ariel shot, we decided to use this shot type are teenagers easily get bored and they need differences in the life and fun in order for them to concentrate and pay attention. In order to keep things interesting in our film we added an Ariel shot so there was not your typical close ups and long shots all the way through. Another reason that drew us to this shot type was due to it being a party scene and there was lot going on by using an Ariel shot we were able to show all this action and every ones positions without showing individual shots of everyone wasting time. The Airel shot saved time and made it interesting. Before this shot they are in the classroom where Christmas decorations are up to emphasis a passing of time between the title sequence and opening scene, it shows we go back to the summer during the party due to Jessie wearing less clothing. In the classroom scene there is a space between Jessie and the next character, this connotes that she is not popular and people think she is repulsive. The writing of the word 'learn' is also in the shot in the background, is shows the audience that people learn from there mistakes and life is a learning curve, this is a big thing that teenagers need to understand and it was our way of putting this across. The classroom shot of Jessie sitting down is also quite busy, this is to connote that teenagers stereotypically have busy lifes filled with mess.

Title Font and Style
The titles for the characters and director etc we used two shade of pink. We chose to do this due to the colours being relateable to our target audience(teenage girls as 14-19). We also chose to use the colour pink as it represent love and this is one of the main focuses in our film, it is also a main focus in many other teen angst films.

Story and How The Opening Sets It Up
In this still in the middle row on the right hand side you can see the main character Jessie's back stabbing best friend shocked during the party scene. This is the last shot in are title sequence/opening scene that the audience will see. It sets up the story by foreboding that later on in the film something shocking is going to happen.

This is another clip which is in the title sequence that forebodes. The main characters Jessie walks past this door, when she is not in the shot the CRC Production logo appears and zooms in. This connotes that in the film there will be missed opportunity, people will not be taking the easy option and that things have and will changed, this is all shown through Jessie not walking through the most convenient accessible door/route.

Genre and How Opening Scene Suggests it

In this still you can see Jessies backstabbing best friend and her new best friend, I think these characters in particular show the genre as in almost every teen angst film there are bossy popular female characters. In the shot particularly there is a freeze on these characters in which Ellen is flicker her hair, this connotes that she is pretty and popular, this shot is seen in many teen angst films, it also adds humour to our film seen in films such as 17 again and High School Musical.Ellen also has blonde long hair which is common in popular girls being represented in teen angst films. This shot is part of a panning of the class. We chose to pan as it gives our film a relaxed feel to it.

How Characters Are Introduced

We as a production team felt that a classroom setting would be the best way to include all the social groups and talk about their different roles within the school and film. It is also a place where our target audience will be familiar with. We introduced them with a combination of panning, voice overs and arrows pointing to main/important characters within the different social groups, we also showed there personality's through passing on a note about our main character Jessie, the panning catches the characters reaction to the note, e.g. the geeks do not show much of a reaction or emotion  to it as they do not want to part take in Jessie's business as much as the other groups do such as the chavs laughing and judging Jessie's actions. Jessie is introduced as she talks about the other groups and what her relationships were and is like with them and how it changed since she got pregnant at the party. Sending notes are seen in most teen angst films as it represents gossiping and a form of bullying which the target audience can relate to as everyone knows about and is familiar with the consepts. Also teenagers are stereotyped of doing both of these things.

Special Effects

Lastly is the special effects which you will see in the bottom right hand corner. We used a transition of a love heart between the title sequence and opening scene to divide them, we used the love heart transition to emphasis that love and relationships are going to occur. Further more we used arrows  sliding up the characters to point out certain characters to give the film a informal feel and so that the audience feels comfortable watching our film.