Note to the moderator

Dear moderator,

Thank you for taking your time to look at my blog. I hope it is exceptional! My group blog is linked to this blog, you will find the link in the side bar, along with a link to our teacher's central blog named "BLK"

On my individual blog you will find my Evaluation questions, individual research and inital planning. You will also find my work on the preliminary task. On my group blog, you will find evidenceof my group's planning and project development work, as well as all the research we did together.

My finished film projected is linked to both blogs.

I hope you find it easy to navigate around my blog, i have used lables to make it simpler to identify research and evaluation work, in which each evaluation question is labled 'evaluation question 1' etc. all the posts on the group blog that I was involved in has my name on as a lable as well.

Thank you again,
Eoin Brogan [candidate number 3100]

Final Post

THIS BLOG IS NOW CLOSED

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?

Preliminary Task Brief:
Continuity task involving filming and editing 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. This task should demonstrate match on match action, shot/reverse/shot and the 180-degree rule.



Main Task Brief:
The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes. All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source

Lookig back at the preliminary task I feel that I have learnt that research is key. Our preliminary task was done with very little planning and our location wasn’t properly thought through, we had to move tables to place the camera in the correct place. Whereas our real piece was well thought out and by checking locations in advance we could avoid mistakes like that. I have also learnt about lighting, it helps bring out the full image and by using studio lighting you avoid the continuity errors that occur in natural lighting. I also feel I have learnt that all problems can be overcome. When presented with the issue of how to make a pencil float we tried and tried until we finally had a shot that we were happy with. Finally I have learnt that a master shot is fundamental to an effective edit and helps with continuity and structuring the scene. I also learnt that you cant plan for everything. We had two very good actors who had to cancel on us due to prior commitments.

I feel that although our planning was well done, perhaps some more work on a storyboard would have been effective. If we had spent more time focusing on the way in which the shots should have been framed then we wouldnt of had to scale them up to make them fit the screen come editing. Our prelim task also didnt contain any special effects or music, and i believe more research and practice with these aspects could have helpped us with our final piece.


Editing Session

Evaluation question 6

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

Research:

During the research into this project I found that the use of social networking sites like blogger and facebook, really helped our group stay in touch and understand where we were in the project. I would recommend the full abuse of these sites when doing group work. We also used still cameras when picking locations, which helped us see how many extras we would need to make the hall look full up and also helped us decide on our framing and what we wanted to show in shot.

Production:

During the actual filming of the opening sequence we learnt about pad lights and three point lighting. Three-point lighting is very good in terms of eliminating shadow and recreating a 'natural' look, but only when you have been taught to use them properly. It took some lessons and a few recces for us to work out how best to use them, which was made more complicated by the fact that different lighting was needed for different shots.After getting the footage realised the importance of keep the lighting continuous to avoid continuity errors.

The boom mic proved difficult to use when doing long shots and the cable connecting the camera to the mic kept hitting things and the sound resonated through the camera. It was necessary to use a lot more than just a simple camcorder. We needed a tripod to do steady shots, a boom mic to pick up sound from further away and a boom pole to holster it, a battery to power the camera and a smaller one to use as back up, two tapes and headphones to check the sound. We also used several studio lights in order to illuminate our shots and give them more depth.

Post production:

In post production we learnt how to use both final cut pro and premier pro to edit our footage. The two were really user friendly, with acess to "bins" simple transitions and effects to add to the video and similar effects to add to our audio.

One simple method we used on premier pro was the chroma keying "green screened" effect. Following the simple steps in the above video and adding some special effects to a pre recorded image of Frank we ended up with this:

Evaluation question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

We took inspiration from one of our case studies: James Cameron's 'Avatar,' by incorporating elements of many different genres. We had a comedic moment between Angus and Jessica, slightly darker aspects with regard to music, mise-en-scene etc. This gave us a wide reach and allowed us to attract as many possible target markets and maximise revenue. We tackled issues that teenagers face; for example, being bullied, the person you fancy not noticing you, being left behind at the end of class. These issues are relateable and allow our audience to empathise with our main character. It also makes him seem cute and vulnerable which attracts the secondary market of teenage females. We included conventions from comic books, such as labels in yellow boxes, which attract our other secondary market of the ‘comic book generation.’ Our sequence contains of lot of SFX to astound and entertain our audience, the best example being our pencil lift effect, but the transition from cartoon to real Angus at the end of the credits, as well as the ghost effect at the end are also good examples of what were fedback on positively.

Evaluation question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our initial idea was a market of 20-30 year old males, or the ‘comic book’ generation. This would be one of our markets but as our idea developed we realised that the setting of the school and inspirational character of ‘Angus’ being an underdog in his late teens fit the target market of teenage males who are interested in superheroes. Girls of a similar age would be a secondary market thanks to the love interest in the film and the attractive teen icon as the star.

Core Audience:

• 15-21
• male
• Interest in comic books, computer games and films
• Interested in the more realistic aspects of media products (dark night etc.)

Our film appeals to this person because:

• Stays true to conventions
• Offers escapism
• New and intriguing aspect to superhero movie

Secondary markets of teenage girls, tweeagers, superhero fans and those from the comic book generation would also be interested in our film, and are catered for to a lesser extent

Evaluation question 3

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

Our production company, 'Offbeat Productions' is a british independant company, specialising in traditional genre's challenged in inovative and creative ways. We gain funding from large studios in exchange for selling our distribution rights, in order to reach a larger audience.

A popular superhero movie distributor is Universal Pictures, who have distributed movies such as Scott pilgrim vs. the world, which we looked at when researching the comic book style of editing. They have a strong global reach and this would benefit our media product by reaching as many of our possible target market as possible, due to our movie not being region exclusive. Warner Bros, which distributed films like Superman and the critically acclaimed Dark Knight, is another potential candidate.

Due to the mainstream nature of the superhero genre, I believe that the best venue to show our film at would be a popular cinema, such as Odeon or Cineworld. The Premiere would take place in Leicester Square, as the film would be made and set in the UK. We would attempt to create an atmosphere like the 'Kick-Ass' premiere.

Evaluation question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?


We demonstrate three major areas of representation: Age, Gender and Social Status


Social Status:

In this scene, we used proxemics to promote the idea that Angus is isolated and lonely. The seat next to him is ocupied by his bag and while everyone else is occupied with talking to eachother and listening to the teacher, he is instead engrossed in his work.

Angus' costume also separates him from the group. His black trench coat cuts him off from the rest of the world while the "jock" wears a traditional school sports jersy, indicating his complete aceptance into the school system.


Finally anchoring Angus as the outcast  is his interaction with Jessica. He becomes clumsy and hesitant, best demonstrated through his‘clumsy clamber’, the slight hesitation when handing back her coat and the shot-reverse-shot of their conversation.

Evaluation question 1

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

One major convention of films that we stuck to was continuity. We learnt all about continuity editing during our preliminary excercise



Our genre was superhero movie and we took a lot of inspiration from existing superhero movies:

A classic convention of a superhero movie is the long opening title sequence, fit with moving stills that tell a story like a comic book. We used this style taking allot of inspiration from Spiderman, Spiderman 2 and the hulk.

 We used common stereotypes throughout our piece, for example:

The cartoon-like style of the titles links in with the comic book style of superheroes.

Kick Ass



We used a similar style as we did for our titles throughout our piece, when showing characters in comic strips which is an uncommon form of anchoring characters.

We stuck to the conventional “underdog” style of superhero because it is effective and sells well to a British audience.

Peter Parker

The voiceover at the beggining is a common method, used to anchor the storyline early and get into the action quickly, like in spiderman, this helpped us when we were portraying so much in just two minuets

Aside from conventions, we have also used narrative techniques in order to sequence our opening. For example, we have followed Todorov’s theory of equilibrium:

• The Agents: Angus Archer, Jessica Baker, The unseen mad celebrity
• The Equilibrium: Angus has an undiscovered power, living out the life of a standard teen (bullied, doing okay at school but not really concentrating, in love with a girl who doesnt know his name)
• The Disruption: The crazy celebrity kidnaps Jessica with the intention of luring Angus to him and taking his ability
• The Journey: Angus comes out of his shell and using his ability, gets the girl.
• The New Equilibrium: Angus and Jessica start going out, the presenter is arrested and locked up and Angus gains the confidence to deal with the bullies in his own exceptional way.

We also used binary opposites within our sequence to set up conflict for the film. Some of these can be seen below.

Popular vs Unpopular

Comfortable vs Uncomfortable

Normal vs Abnormal

Public vs Private

Female vs Male

Reflections and Ideas

In our first group meeting we decided on the superhero genre for our film opening sequence. Below is a brainstorm of ideas that I have come up with from this.

Proposal feedback

Our proposal was fedback with these issues and we sorted them out accordingly:

• The Idea is perhaps too convoluted for an A level production
• In two minuiets there is too much to put across (love intrest, home life, autism etc.)
• The storyboard contains too much.
• The crazy transitions we want, although they have been tested, may be too confusing
• love the major plot idea however
• really like the setting and actors