Evaluation: Question 7

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

Looking back at the preliminary task, I've definitely noticed a progression in my capabilities throughout all technical areas, especially my work with camera, as I am now more confident with shot types and framing them more artistically to convey a more legitimate approach to film making. I can now also operate the iMovie software fluently, incorporating a wider range of editing techniques than I could with the preliminary task. I also found the research stage of this unit to be a lot more in-depth this time, with our analysis of a wide range of film openings being very time consuming but at the same time providing helpful guidelines and conventions that we could transfer onto our opening. As a group, we have similarly improved our skills when it comes to working with each other, using the equipment with precision and taking a care in our attention to detail.

In terms of the success criteria of our opening sequence, I believe we have accomplished our goal in making the opening 2 minutes of a film, by quickly establishing the genre, mood and tone. We also wanted to make our opening more distinctive and provide contextual information in a more stylised way by including a non-diegetic voice over.

Below is the final cuts of 'Remorse' and 'The Conspiracy' for comparison:

Evaluation: Question 6

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

Using a high quality Sony camera and tri pod for our film opening made the production process appear a lot more legitimate to us as film makers. One thing we experimented with in the first cut was the depth of field we were able to achieve with this particular camera. The picture below is evidence of this, with the main focus of the shot being the bench leg and making the main protagonist blurry in comparison. This suggests a lack of importance and personal identity, which matches the thoughts and feelings of the character, showing that we fully utilised the technology we were given to provide a sense of variety in shot types to make it seem less repetitive. 

A problem we ran into with the tri pod was that it was quite stiff, which made the panning shots quite jagged and inconsistent. Because we didn't have access to a different one we made do by doing multiple takes for every shot, which was also an insurance policy in case a shot was accidently deleted during post production. After filming we used iMac computers and a software called iMovie, which turned out to be quite simplistic and easy to use, because it saved all of our progress automatically so that there was no chance of us loosing any good footage.

Through all three stages of production, I found that our group worked well together, constantly collaborating on the best compromise with all of us taking turns at directing and pitching our ideas to each other.

Another important piece of technology that we used was Blogger to place all of our coursework for this topic, which I found to be very helpful because I could access it from anywhere with an internet connection, which provided me with more time and opportunities to get the coursework completed.

Evaluation: Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Our audience profile is males ageing from 15-30 whom have an interest in the drama genre. When we showed people of this age group what they thought of our sequence many answered that it was good but that the story was quite hard to follow, which is why we added the non-diegetic voice over.

Below is an exemplar of  one of the questionnaires we handed out to the people who watched it:

In regards to camera work, a majority are establishing shots, which distances the audience from the character, but helps them to establish his place in society, depending on his geographical location. In our case, the main protagonist's dress code is contrasting from the naturalistic park setting, which already generates questions that the audience want answered for the sake of closure, such as why is a businessman like himself in a common park alone? Is he waiting for someone, if so who? We made a point of making our audience feel slightly confused to create intrigue in relation to this intentionally enigmatic sequence.

Evaluation: Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

In correlation with the narrative and the way that we tell it through our work with camera, we as a group have concluded that our target audience is male teenagers and young adults. This is due to the similar age in our main protagonist (Jake Scofield, played by Liam Hemsworth) and also because of the dark and savage tone we've set out to establish which, stereotypically speaking, won't appeal to females, especially those of a younger age. We also have constant swearing in our narrative, while we also present the elements of deception and corruption in a very negative light, which some younger audiences may find discomforting. Similarly, we also convey the main female protagonist (Emily Thorne, played by Amy Adams) in a very sexual light that could be interpreted as offensive in the eyes of female audience members.

To summarise, we have based our target audience on the nature of our film's content and how each theme is addressed, whether it's visual or merely implied, while also taking into consideration who the narrative would appeal to, especially seeing as this is a typical example of the crime/drama subgenre.

Evaluation: Question 3

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

As a mainstream company, it's likely to have one of 'The Big Six' Hollywood companies distribute our film. This is because they're so well known throughout the media industry, and have a wide variety of recourses at their disposal to make sure that the film at the very least breaks even at the box office. A company such as 'N.B.C. Universal' is a good example of whom we'd expect to distribute our film, with 'Universal' having recently celebrated their 100th birthday they have a large amount of experience in the film industry and therefore knows what particular elements it takes to make films a critical and financial success. This can range from above and below advertising to celebrity endorsement, all of which aiding in making the film memorable. Another advantage to using such a big company to distribute our film is that their name in itself will carry a good reputation of producing and/or distributing iconic films that the studio is then remembered for, such as 'Paramount Pictures' and 'The Godfather.'

With both the celebrity endorsement and our mainstream studio producing it, it's clear that our film is targeted at a mainstream audience rather than niche, with our narrative incorporating multiple themes so that a majority of people can take something away from it, whether it be the writing, cinematography, moral message etc. With 'Remorse' being a realistic and gritty drama, it means there are less opportunities for merchandising and the expansion of a franchise, with the end of the narrative being very conclusive in relation to the characters and their story arcs.

After the film has been released in multiple regions across the world in cinemas, the next stage would be to wait approximately six months (as a lot of Hollywood films have been seen to do) in order to make the public anxious and keen to buy our film. Similarly to 'Gravity,' we will also release DVD copies before the Blu-ray release, in the hope that they'll feel compelled to by both copies, as the Blu-ray has more special features. We will make these copies available in all the countries in which it played in cinemas, both in stores and online to maximise our profit margin. Finally, a year after the original release, we will sell the rights of the film to streaming facilities, such as Netflix and Lovefilm to permit the curiosity and intrigue of those who haven't previously seen it or merely as a convenience over having a DVD or Blur ray copy.

Evaluation: Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our opening sequence, we've represented young adult males as uncertain and regretful. The slow and heavy body language of the main protagonist highlights this sense of burden and regret, walking with a lack of purpose and looking at the naturalistic surroundings carelessly and in a mourning way does, however, convey them as quite sophisticated and mature in that respect. This is a stereotypical representation of young adult males being ambitious and with a smarter appearance than teenagers and children, but also lack the life experience of middle aged adults. We also used a low angle shot during the opening to display the physical dominance of the main protagonist, which links back to the stereotypical male being very strong, in comparison to the vulnerability of females.

Our narrative is told from the perspective of this main protagonist from both the non-diegetic voice over and the fact that the events in the film follow the repercussions of that character. This links to our target audience also being teenagers and young adults, to reflect the main protagonist, because they are most likely to empathise for the character and therefore have an emotional connection to our film. By incorporating verisimilitude, with the common and naturalistic setting that's also reflected in the dark colours of the character's suit, the audience will also find the narrative and how it's presented more relatable because of it's realism and similarities to real life.

Evaluation: Question 1

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

After extensive research into the drama genre, we were able to incorporate multiple conventions and signifiers, that help to identify the genre, into our film opening. An example of this can be found in the lack of vibrancy throughout, within both the park setting and the character's costume to embed an element of verisimilitude and also establish quite a depressing tone for the audience. With the character wearing black and white colours, it is in itself quite dramatic because it has connotations of good vs. evil (binary opposites) and therefore implies that he's conflicted with contrasting aspects within his character, already making him more enigmatic and thus interesting; this is another common convention of the drama genre, with all the films we researched into having in-depth character development.

 We wanted our opening to appear as professional and legitimate as possible which is why, in regards to the title sequences, we stuck to the expected and traditional forms and conventions. With dramas such as 'Gone Baby Gone,' we noticed that the titles consist of a majority of the cast and crew. This is contrasting from the generic conventions of an action film, with examples such as 'Die Hard' only showing the film title and then going straight into developing the narrative. Having an in-depth cast and crew list therefore helped to establish our film as part of the drama genre, while it also gave us a good opportunity to consider framing and where the titles would go in correlation with the shot type.

To make our film more distinctive, we incorporated a non-diegetic voice over in our final cut, as it also provided context to help entice the audience in our narrative. Because our main protagonist is first seen sitting down and then concludes standing on a bridge, it displays a sense of emotional progression within his character, suggesting that this aspect of development is seen in the rest of the film's narrative.

Depending on which specific signifiers are used, it can suggest a different sub genre within the main element of the drama. For example, the main protagonist wears a suit and when that's put into the context of this film being a drama, some audience members may interprete this as linking in to organised crime syndicates, which was intended, as we wanted to touch on that as a main theme within our narrative.

Some of the themes that we include in our opening, as well as the narrative style, could be compared to the film 'The Town,' as they both elaborate on the elements of the lose and contemplation of the main character.

'Remorese' - The Final Cut

This is the final cut of our film opening sequence. This differs from the previous cut by incorporating a non-diegetic voice over. We found that timing the lines in correlation to the music helped to emphasise the element of sadness, giving the voice over, and the narrative as a whole, more substance and meaning. Comparing this to our first cut, we can conclusively say that this is a much more appealing and professional looking product. Doing multiple cuts also made us feel more confident to add in new aspects with every cut, so that when we reached our final cut all of these technical areas worked together to solidify the idea that this is a good example of a film that sticks to the conventions of the crime/drama genre and fulfils the need of an opening, which is to grip and entice audience members and make them feel compelled to continue watching for the sake of closure.

- Ryan Chapman -

Rough Cut 3

This is the third cut of 'Remorse,' with more fine tuning to shots, in regards to the framing and transitions used. The most notable change is that we have now added some non-diegetic music to help establish a contemplating tone to mirror the character. We found the gentle piano ballad worked well with the opening, especially because we found that, in our research, similar music styles can be seen to give the product more depth.

- Ryan Chapman -

Rough Cut 2

Feedback

• 'Nice establishing shot but it is quite slow

• Change the font of the titles – it Is not good

• You need institutional logos at the start

• Look at the placement of the film title – it is right on top and the shot where he walks across the screen with the lamppost in it is too long

• Some of your shots are much better

• Consider placement of other titles too – some of them are over the action

• Consider sound track

• The shot after he has thrown the leaflet away and the shot on the bridge is too far shot over to the right – it looks odd as he has just been in the centre of the frame

• As an opening title sequence it runs well

• Narrative is difficult to follow'

 - Miss Peacock and Mr Bluck -

 

Comparing this to our first rough cut, there is a clear distinction in quality, in regards to our uses of camera and narrative style. It's clear we took more care with conveying our opening in a more gradually enigmatic and artist way, with more varied shot types that reflect the main protagonist's current state of mind. That being said, as seen in our teacher's comments, there are still certain elements we need to capitalise on for our next cut if we want to get as many marks as possible. Luckily, because none of us in the group were in the opening sequence we won't have to go back and film again, which means the filming aspect of this task is now complete. This means we will be focusing our time on post-production elements within the film making process. For example, adding non-diegetic music will help to better establish a mood and tone, while a different font type will also aid in defining our genre. We will fully utilise this feedback we've been given and do our best to incorporate all of these elements into our next cut.

Rough Cut 1

This is the first edited version of our 'Remorse' film opening. After having given this cut to our teachers we soon received a list of improvements and they are as follows:

'You have a few nice shots but on the whole there is lots to improve on in order to bring your piece up into the higher levels:

 

• You need an institutional logo - at least one at the start
• You need at least another 30 seconds of footage
• The notebook on the bench is not great
• Your titles are not in the correct order - look at your research for this
• The voice over is not good - there are gaps in it - will you add in non diegetic music?
• The Film Title font and lavishness is bad - does not fit in with the genre
• Some of the shots are out of focus and need to be filmed again
• The narrative doesn't make sense - does he love him? who is it? I thought it was meant to be a gangster film - it feels like a love story at the moment.
• As Ryan is in it, he cannot get any marks for use of camera at the moment.
• For rough cut two you need to focus on the narrative and what you are actually trying to produce because it is all a little confusing at the moment.'

 

We have taken this criticism on board and will improve on these particular areas for our next cut.