Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?
Friday, 8 April 2011
EVALUATION; Question 7: What have we learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
This was our group member talking about the basic hardware and software that we used in the production of our video. We also used website such as google.co.uk, youtube.com, internet movie database.com, video copilot.net. They all helped us with our research whether it was researching movies and opening sequences or tutorials on how to best film and edit our movie. All of this websites contributed to the final outcome because without the research we wouldn't know about the 180 rule or what exactly is a match cut. I found it easier to learn Final Cut Pro and Adobe After Effect because of those websites, showing me how and why would I use a certain tool in the software.
Final Cut Pro(FCP), Adobe After Effects(AAF) and Soundtrack Pro(SP) worked very well together. After importing everything to FCP and editing it all together we could export the footage to SP. This means that we could edit the sound and look where the sound would be in the movie without closing SP. This really helps while making a movie because it saves you time later on by eliminating the process of matching the sound in FCP. Soundtrack Pro is a great software that lets us use and edit and create new sounds. The Production Company logo (Candi Studios animation) would not be that successful if not the sound from SP. One of our group members is still fascinated and amazed by how well the sound and animation goes together.
We also used archive.org, soundcloudcom and photobucket.com to show content on our blog such as sound and images. Blogger.com was a major part of our project. We wrote about our ideas for the movie, sound and any other part of the movie as well as our research and more. We used archive.com and soundcloud.com to import sound on the website, youtube for videos and photobucket for slideshows (our pitch).
We used (two) Memory Cards because they are much cheaper as well as much simpler to import to Final Cut Pro. Also memory cards can be easily re used without the loss of video quality.
Thursday, 7 April 2011
EVALUATION:Q7 What have we learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
All the different technologies work together to create our product, for example, we would film the movie, using the camera and tripod, we saved the footage on the Memory Cards, then import the footage to Final Cut, where we can edit the movie, (adding the titles created on Adobe After Effects) then using Soundtrack Pro, we added a soundtrack! Then to finalise our film and change the format, we used Quicktime Player, then Handbrake.
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
EVALUATION:Q7
What have we learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this project?
Throughout this project we used all sorts of technologies. We used plenty of websites for research like google.com, imdb.com, youtube.com, artofthetitle.com and many more. These all helped us get a feel for opening sequences and the variety that were already out there. As for programmes on the Mac, we used all of them. We edited our movie on final cut pro, created the sound on soundtrack pro, adobe after effects for the first title and after editing our movie completely we used quicktime pro and handbrake to convert it. When doing the actual filming we used cameras (obviously) still cameras and memory cards to store all our footage on. The most obvious technology is blogger, which we used throughout the entire process.
Sunday, 3 April 2011
Evaluation: Q6
Audience feedback and comment.
We shhowed our opening to our class on Monday, and they were able to give us some brilliant feedback. Everyone watched everyones openings and I was kind of excited to see what the rest of our class had been upto. This word cloud made on http://www.wordle.net/ shows the words that people used when giving us feedback. The bigger the word, the more times it was used. It was pretty cool hearing what they had to say, and it was all quite positive apart from the few little things that we already tried to do something about. Like the titles. They really liked the way the soundtrack and editing fit together. And all in all, everything was pretty good. As it says on the wordle below.
We shhowed our opening to our class on Monday, and they were able to give us some brilliant feedback. Everyone watched everyones openings and I was kind of excited to see what the rest of our class had been upto. This word cloud made on http://www.wordle.net/ shows the words that people used when giving us feedback. The bigger the word, the more times it was used. It was pretty cool hearing what they had to say, and it was all quite positive apart from the few little things that we already tried to do something about. Like the titles. They really liked the way the soundtrack and editing fit together. And all in all, everything was pretty good. As it says on the wordle below.
So as well as showing everyone in our class our opening, the rest of the AS media students are also going to see it! On Wednesday, we will be going to the Screen On The Green on Upper Street in Islington where everyones opening will be shown on the big screen. By showing it here, we will be able to get tons more feedback from people who don't know us and are seeing our movie for the first time. We will be able to see peoples reactions to our opening and then get their first impressions of it.
Evaluation: Q4&5
Our movie isn't one of those big blockbuster hollywood type movies (clearly) so when talking about distributing our media product there are actually alot of places we could do it without having tons of money. So when you tell everyone to watch your movie, there obviously going to ask 'Where can we watch it?'. And here are the many ways they could see them. We are going to have 200 copies of our movie which will be given out to the rest of the AS media students, which is some kind of exposure. By doing this, everyone has the ability to show anyone their own movie as well as other peoples. We're also going to watch all our movies in the cinema (the Screen On The Green) so it would kind of make us feel like our movie got somewhere, and all the other AS media studies students will be watcing it.
We also have the ability to upload our movies on several websites. The internet has grown so much and there are so many free websites for us to use. Let me give you some examples. YouTube. The largest video uploading site out there. There are so many videos on there that adding one more won't hurt. We could go viral (like the most recent: Rebecca Black - Friday) but there is also a possibility that our video could get lost among the other thousands. But uploading it won't do us any harm, because it's free to make an account and to upload it and you might get some exposure, and some is better than none.
Speaking of places to upload, don't rule out social networking sites. They are probably some of the most visited websites on the internet and almost everyone has one nowadays, which obviously = BIG TIME EXPOSURE. Sharing it on places like Facebook and Twitter (the most popular social networking sites out there right now) gives you the option to share it with anyone on there. These websites are also free which is always a good thing and you can create your own groups or fanpages to put them onto which lets anyone see them and comment on them. The only problem with this would be that there is alot of competition out there, as there is with almost anything so you would be competing with alot of people all over the world. But there are also other sites, like Myspace, although they aren't as popular. But like I said, some exposure is better than none.
To also gain some exposure you can go on websites like http://www.firstlightonline.co.uk/ and http://www.indiefilmspro.com/test/ which are places that allow you to upload your video if your an up and coming director that wants some sort of exposure. They won't be places where you can go viral, and aren't known by the whole world but if watched by these people you can get some good credit. They also focus more on the quality of your video. On Indie Films other people can watch your movie for free (something everyone loves, let's face it) and on the other hand at First Light, there are many competitions like the recent Sunday Times one, and they also have an awards ceremony which happened last month in Leicester Square. So massive exposure opportunities right on your doorstep.
Evaluation: Q3
Who would be the audience for your media product?
When we first began planning for our movie, we figured our audience would be around our age up till about 25. Now, the audience would actually begin at the age of 25 and upwards. Maybe some younger people would watch, but, very few. So here are a couple of people you might find in the audience of our movie.
Evaluation: Q2
How does your media product represent particular soical groups?
Our movie only contains one actual main character in the opening (but a second one if you close attention) that the audience is introduced to. Our character, played the great Konrad is a businessman and you can tell that he is one by several things.
- One: He's wearing a suit. All businessmen wear suits right? Obviously. A nice tailored suit from some fancy shop somewhere. Suits exude confident, smart and quite serious people. They can also hide alot of things about the person (in our case, the fact that Konrad has a deep, dark secret that no-one will ever know).
- Two: He's waking out of a hotel. A fancy schmancy one at that. This shows that he has money of some sort and the fact that is looks quite posh and expensive looking also shows that. It could also say that he is staying there temporarily for some reason.
Matt Damon in The Adjustment Bureau is a good representation of our character. The fact that this movie is also a thriller helps because this picture looks nothing like a thriller. Although our main character doesn't talk to anyone during the opening, there is another character in our opening and we also don't see her face.
This is Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man. Although he wasn't really a businessman, I think he represents our character in the sense that he was hiding a secret from everyone (that he was a superhero).
This is Morgan Freeman in The Dark Knight where he is the chief executive officer of Wayne Enterprises and keeps the secret of who Batman is. Even though it's not really his own deep, dark secret he is keeping it for someone else. In our movie we have a character who knows what our main actor has done and is threatening to spill the secret.
This is Dev Patel in the award winning movie Slumdog Millionaire where he plays a contestant of Who wants to be a millionaire? and wins. Although he is not your typical rich businessman, he does become economically powerful through the gameshow.
Evaluation: Q1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Despite the fact that our movie was on the lowest of lowest budgets, I think our movie came out pretty good for a couple of students. If your a movie nerd or you just watch more movies than is considered healthy, you'd probably notice that some of the shots in our movie are similar to others. We didn't really have one specific film that inspired us, rather a ton of them.
Despite the fact that our movie was on the lowest of lowest budgets, I think our movie came out pretty good for a couple of students. If your a movie nerd or you just watch more movies than is considered healthy, you'd probably notice that some of the shots in our movie are similar to others. We didn't really have one specific film that inspired us, rather a ton of them.
This shot is from Black Swan and although the angles are different they are pretty similar. I like this shot because it's kind of establishing the scene in front of the character and it's not called an establishing shot. It's kind of following the character (maybe you can call it a back shot? maybe not.) and isn't really used as much as you think. It looks as though we are following the character and I think it creates a mysterious atmosphere if this is the first shot used. In both cases it wasn't, we saw the characters face first before this shot but its still effective. Director Darren Aronofsky is someone who uses this alot. He directed Black Swan among other movies like The Wrestler. Although our movie isn't as amazing as any of his (although I think we have potential. :P) I was quite surprised that this was one of the movies that we had similarities from. I like the angle that Black Swan is shot from, from down tilting up. It makes the actress (Natalie Portman) seem as though she is about to step into something huge because she looks small compared to the buildings at the top of the stairs.
The next shot is taken from Juno, a long shot of one of the main characters crossing the road just like our main character. Snap! This is actaully one of my favourite shots from our opening. The opening to our movie is really similar to the one of Juno because they both are of someone walking form one place to another, although they both end up in different places. The other difference is quite obvious, the fact that Juno is cartoon like here and ours isn't. If we had used cartoons, I don't think it would have worked well with our movie because we ended up in a graveyard and it might have killed our thiller idea.
Saturday, 2 April 2011
EVALUATION; Question 2: How does our media product represent particular social groups?
Our main character (me) is a smart looking, successful, young businessman. We can clearly see that by looking at the suit that he wears and the hotel from which he leaves. Both the suit and the hotel look posh and expensive which clearly shows that he's a man of business.
Because it would be almost impossible to find a main character which is simply a businessman we know from the beginning that that person has some secrets or something noteworthy about him.
Many thrillers and action movies have businessmen in them and it's starting to be a rule to make the main character look like a businessman at some point in the movie. Our character is a young, slim, attractive, smart looking male which seems to become a stereotype about businessmen.
EVALUATION; Question 4 and5 : What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? How will we attract/address our audience?
"Spotlight" |
I will concentrate on YouTube because it's the biggest of video streaming websites and if something becomes famous on YouTube, it becomes famous everywhere. For a video to go viral it has to impress the viewers so that people "like" the video (clicking a "Like" button causes friends of that person to see the video). This means that another group of friends see it and their friends see it causing an increase in number of views. The more views you get the more probable it is that you will be displayed on the homepage causing another avalanche of views.
"Most Popular" |
YouTube helps new film produces to become successful by creating contests, showing videos with little views on homepage and showing videos on "Spotlight"(right).
Contests don't only allow new individual and low budget films to be seen by an audience but also if a movie wins it can get a funding for new equipment etc.
Click for details |
Showing videos on the homepage and "Spotlight" instantly cause an increase in views in videos that are noteworthy but not necessarily popular because they are viewed by every person who uses youtube.
I personally think that YouTube is one of the best ways to distribute a movie because it's both, beneficial for the filmmakers as well as YouTube. It allows the public to find new talents and earns money for YouTube so it's a win-win situation :)
Here are few other ways of distributing media:
Here are few other ways of distributing media:
It's quite easy to target specific audience on the internet because we can see the activity of specific genders or age groups on different websites. Also the content that is viewed suggest what is the audience of that particular article, video etc. For example a video of a young(teenage), attractive, female singer would mainly attract female audience between the ages of 11 and 15 (depending on the artists age) and so the adverts often reflect that by advertising online stores with toys or video games. This means that the adverts can be quite precisely shown only to the target audience.
Friday, 1 April 2011
EVALUATION:Q4/5 What kind of media institution might distribute our media product and why? How will we attract/address our audience?
Being a particularly low budget film doesn't make the act of distribution particularly easy, however, being in the 21st century has many advantages when it comes to the media. For example, the internet has created the ability to access the whole world by a touch of a button, surely we can use this incredible tool to help market our small scale opening.
For example, just by putting this short film (below) on Youtube and submitting it to various competitions and festivals such as the ' No Limits Film Festival 2010' and the 'Yobi.tv Film Making contest 2010'
The short film has won awards such as the 'Best Young Filmmaker Award at Fastnet Short Film Festival' and 'Best Fiction Award at The Altered Images Student Post Production Festival in London 2010'
As seen in the description of the film above, there is a gigantic number of websites, competitions and festivals that are created and designed to help people showcase their talents and projects. For example the website http://yobi.tv/ is specially made as an online talent competition website. Makers of any film, including myself can upload their projects and enter them into various competitions, mmeanwhile having the opportunity to reach a hugely diverse audience.
Many student films have been showcased and funded by companies such as 'First Light' (http://www.firstlightonline.co.uk/) which encourage students to make films and can even provide equipment and tools to help develop their skills. For example
Hey Jumper by Elishama Udorok at First Light has won an award thanks to 'First light' and this has helped increase the number of people that are interested in the film. If our film is good enough, I believe that we can upload our opening too, and if it is recognised as an outstanding piece, we would also have the opportunity of our film being shown to various groups of people constantly.
If we are extremely lucky, we could just upload or film opening to youtube and suddenly be a worldwide sensation just like this young lady...
For example, just by putting this short film (below) on Youtube and submitting it to various competitions and festivals such as the ' No Limits Film Festival 2010' and the 'Yobi.tv Film Making contest 2010'
The short film has won awards such as the 'Best Young Filmmaker Award at Fastnet Short Film Festival' and 'Best Fiction Award at The Altered Images Student Post Production Festival in London 2010'
Many student films have been showcased and funded by companies such as 'First Light' (http://www.firstlightonline.co.uk/) which encourage students to make films and can even provide equipment and tools to help develop their skills. For example
Hey Jumper by Elishama Udorok at First Light has won an award thanks to 'First light' and this has helped increase the number of people that are interested in the film. If our film is good enough, I believe that we can upload our opening too, and if it is recognised as an outstanding piece, we would also have the opportunity of our film being shown to various groups of people constantly.
If we are extremely lucky, we could just upload or film opening to youtube and suddenly be a worldwide sensation just like this young lady...
In the 6 weeks that this video has been in the media, it has raked a record breaking 70 million views. Although many people say they dislike the film, word about it has spread like wildfire and people all over the globe have been talking about it. But publicity is what many film makers strive for and dream about, and this young girl has proven that it really is possible to be known by millions in a matter of days.
We've uploaded our film to Youtube too! Lets see if we have had the same impact to the global community...
We've uploaded our film to Youtube too! Lets see if we have had the same impact to the global community...
Our media product will be made into a DVD along with all the openings from our year at our college, this DVD will be made into 200 copies and be given out to all the AS media students, this is a great opportunity as it would mean that at least 200 people would have our film at their fingertips. Our movie will also be shown at the 'screen on the green' in Islington, which will be a great opportunity to showcase our opening to a large group of people who can then give us great feedback, as well as being able to spread their thoughts and opinions of the film by word of mouth. We would also be able to upload our video to sites like http://vimeo.com/ and http://www.metacafe.com/ as well as social networking sites such as http://www.facebook.com/.
This would allow us to show thousands of online users our films, and this would hopefully encourage them to share the film themselves, creating some kind of ripple effect. As a result, maybe our film will become as successful as that music video above...
Screenshot of our opening on Facebook |
This would allow us to show thousands of online users our films, and this would hopefully encourage them to share the film themselves, creating some kind of ripple effect. As a result, maybe our film will become as successful as that music video above...
Thursday, 31 March 2011
Evaluation:Q6 Audience feedback and comment
The first time we had showed our film opening was to our media class, this was quite nerve-wrecking to say the least, I was desperate to hear the opinions of my classmates and had my fingers (and toes) crossed that they wouldn't find it boring. So, after watching a few other groups' work, it was out turn, suddenly I felt like we were in the middle of the Sahara Desert (yes, I felt hot) as I heard the music that meant that our opening was on screen.
All in all, we had quite a positive response, from our classmates, a few people said it contained slightly too much walking but we had managed to keep their attention from our interesting edits and great music. Yay!
A general picture of our classmates' response |
As you can see, the word cloud has a huge emphasis on 'Good,' 'Soundtrack,' 'editing,' and 'titles.' The 'good,' suggests that we have an overall positive response from our audience, although it isn't the greatest compliment in the world, the word 'good' simply suggests that we had our audience's approval.
The word 'soundtrack' is also one of the most eye-catching words on the Wordle. Thankfully, the soundtrack was one of the strongest points of our opening, and is also the subject to most our complements. Our original soundtrack, has a slow yet catchy melody which adds a sense of professionalism to our film.
Our 'editing' was also a positive topic, many people highlighted the fact that our editing worked really well with the music, and many people really liked the jump-cuts of Konrad walking in the cemetery.
Sadly, our 'titles' weren't such a positive topic, even though we had tried our best to make them visible (without it ruining the atmosphere of the film) we clearly had not found an effective enough solution as many of our classmates said that they were not visible enough. However, it isn't such a huge problem as many successful films such as 'The Stepfather,' contain titles that aren't clearly visible.
A video d of our classmates talking about our film....
Although we had great feedback from our classmates, they weren't our target audience, which is probably a good thing as only around 4 out of the 20 students said that they would happily pay to watch the movie at the cinema. However our feedback gave us great complements and useful advice that we can apply when making our next film, such as realising how important the soundtrack is and knowing that titles should be OBVIOUS.
When we had our cinematic debut i'm proud to say that I feel like our film went down quite successfully, many people cheered both and after it was shown and i even heard someone say "ahh, its like a music video." Which is great as that is exactly the type of opening we wanted! Sadly, the only people that were our target audience were the teachers that had kept pretty quiet during the screening but, we had asked for their opinion many times previously. They had said things like, "it's nice, slow and mysterious with a great use of scenery, I would actually watch this movie."
This is a great piece of feedback as it is telling us that our film actually appeals to the people that we want it to!!
Our cinematic debut...
EVALUATION:Q2 How does our media product represent particular social groups?
In our movie opening we are only clearly introduced to one particular character and it seems that this character is represented as a smart and groomed businessman. This image is emphasised by the dark coloured simple shirt he wears and by the fact that the film starts by showing him leaving a clean (and quite posh/expensive looking) hotel.
This is obviously not a new type of character; tall, slim attractive men in suits are extremely common among the film industry. As a result, the world is used to lead characters looking good, having a secret then saving the day! Due to this character being so common, it suggests that this is where the success lies, the character is obviously economically powerful as it oozes class and success. This attracts viewers as they would like to escape from reality and do the same! So to some up, success sells.
One of the most famous and recognised smart, groomed men in media is the one and only James Bond, who is rarely seen without his fully ironed suit (well, apart from the scenes in the bedroom). I believe that (as our film is a thriller) that the first impressions of the character played by Konrad could be influenced by the stereotypical image of the smart businessman that has a dark, and possible violent side.
This is obviously not a new type of character; tall, slim attractive men in suits are extremely common among the film industry. As a result, the world is used to lead characters looking good, having a secret then saving the day! Due to this character being so common, it suggests that this is where the success lies, the character is obviously economically powerful as it oozes class and success. This attracts viewers as they would like to escape from reality and do the same! So to some up, success sells.
Bond...James Bond |
Another way our main character can be perceived from our opening sequence is actually quite similar, a 007 without the code name. In other words, a simple, hard working businessman. This could be quite similar to the characters shown in the film 'Wall Street: Money never sleeps.' Although I haven't seen the film, the characters involved seem to be quite intelligent and professional, and of course like nearly all characters can have something to hide...
Shia Labeouf in 'Wall Street' |
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
EVALUATION; Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challange forms and conventions of real media products?
We didn't have a specific inspiration involving different shot types and angles but we were inspired to use a simple opening. We went to the website: artofthetitle.com where we found film openings that looked very much like our film. Dirty Harry, Duval Disco and Juno had many shots that we have used.
The "Juno" opening sequence is made to look like a cartoon with the main character (Juno) walking to the drug store. The whole sequence shows her walking and drinking SunnyD. The whole idea of
the sequence is similar to our movie, it simply shows a person walking. It also introduces the character showing that she is a bit different, unique.
Even though those movies have a completely different genre I think that the opening work for both of the films.
There are two more shots from the movie "Dirty Harry". The next one is a close up of an envelope (in the movie its an extreme close up). Both of them show an envelope with some writing on it and a hand. This time lighting is also completely different. The use of dark colours and little lighting creates suspense where as in our movie its less suspenseful because the lighting is different.
The next shot is from the movie opening of "Juno", it shows the main character, Juno, walking. Thats pretty much the only similarity. Our shot is a low angle, close up of the feet and the movie has a mid shot of Junos legs however there is something very familiar between those two shots even though they create different moods. Juno is funny and young and Paradox is mysterious and suspenseful.
This is another following shot from "Duval Disco". Its also a following shot but this time its closer to the person. The character in the movie really resembles our character. The shots however have different purpose, "Duval Disco' is more of establishing the location and simply introducing the audience to the characters but our title sequence is meant to, not only introduce the audience to the main character, but also create a feeling of suspense and mystery.
The last shot is again from "Dirty Harry", it shows the main character walking and the Production Company title appears. Its a mid shot from side/behind of the character. Our shot also shows the main character walking and the Production Companys name is shown. Its a long/mid shot from the front/side of the main character. Not only the shots are similar but also the message that it puts across. It shows smart looking businessmen (or successful men) walking in a fancy, posh and glamours locations.
I really like the fact that those shots are very similar. In both the main character is crossing the road, facing the camera, holding something the their hands and the
actors name is displayed.The "Juno" opening sequence is made to look like a cartoon with the main character (Juno) walking to the drug store. The whole sequence shows her walking and drinking SunnyD. The whole idea of
My attempt at recreating the shot from "Juno" |
Even though those movies have a completely different genre I think that the opening work for both of the films.
Another movie that has many similar shots in the opening sequence is "Dirty Harry". As you can see the shot are very similar. They are both close ups of the face as the main character is walking. However the character is coming from a different direction and the setting and lighting is different. The shot from the movie is dark and sinister and our shot is light but doesn't look happy, it looks quite sad and serious mainly because of the facial expression of the character.
The next shot is from the movie opening of "Juno", it shows the main character, Juno, walking. Thats pretty much the only similarity. Our shot is a low angle, close up of the feet and the movie has a mid shot of Junos legs however there is something very familiar between those two shots even though they create different moods. Juno is funny and young and Paradox is mysterious and suspenseful.
Movies use less "following" shots than I thought. "Duval Disco" is the only opening sequence that actually used quite a lot of following characters. Darren Aronofsky is known for using this types of shots. You may recognise his work in "Black Swan" or "The Wrestler" which he directed.
This is another following shot from "Duval Disco". Its also a following shot but this time its closer to the person. The character in the movie really resembles our character. The shots however have different purpose, "Duval Disco' is more of establishing the location and simply introducing the audience to the characters but our title sequence is meant to, not only introduce the audience to the main character, but also create a feeling of suspense and mystery.
The last shot is again from "Dirty Harry", it shows the main character walking and the Production Company title appears. Its a mid shot from side/behind of the character. Our shot also shows the main character walking and the Production Companys name is shown. Its a long/mid shot from the front/side of the main character. Not only the shots are similar but also the message that it puts across. It shows smart looking businessmen (or successful men) walking in a fancy, posh and glamours locations.
EVALUATION:Q1 In what way does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Although I'd like to think that our group had thought of our opening without any direct links to any other films, it was inevitable to think that we wouldn't find other films and openings that had similar shots and story lines. Here are a few examples of shots that our film contain that are similar to movies previously released into the general media:
A shot following the character is actually not used as often as one may think. However it is said so be a shot that is very frequently used by director Darren Aronofsky, who has directed films such 'The black Swan' and 'The Wrestler.' Unlike 'Durval Disco,' who uses this shot for most of the opening, we don't use it for very long, due to the lack of interesting surroundings.
The opening of 'Durval Discos' seems so be a kind of point of view shot of someone walking through a 'Latino' style area, although our opening is completely different, there is another shot that is extremely similar to one that we have also used in our films opening. The shot of the last from behind is slightly over the shoulder, as is ours. However, our one is from a closer proximity which changes the atmosphere as a whole.
Our movies comparison to a shot from the opening of 'Durval Discos' |
Another similarity between 'Paradox' and 'Durval Discos' |
A comparison to the film 'Dirty Harry' |
Another similar shot is found in the opening of the film 'Dirty Harry' just after, the lady in the pool is shot, the policeman (Clint Eastwood) is the focus of the shot as he walks towards the scene of the crime. Much like our film, a series of panning shots are used to show him strolling calmly during the opening of the 1971 film.
The film also consists of a close up shot of the lead character as he walks round a corner, we hav an extremely similar shot as our lead character walks round the corner to the cemetery. In the actual film, the lighting is quite dark, which makes it quite difficult to see the man's facial expression and the scenery behind him, in comparison, our shot is very well lit, showing the details of both Konrad's face and the setting behind him.
A close up of the 'Main man' |
'Juno's entire opening is actually quite similar to ours, it consists of a main character walking towards a particular destination and uses several different shot types, angles and editing techniques to make it more entertaining. Although, due to their light-hearted/childlike introduction, they had added a cartoon effect to the walking, this is something that wouldn't really have fitted the thriller genre easily and needed very skilled and talented people. In my opinion these are two very good excuses why we just couldn't have the drawings instead.
Another corresponding shot is one of 'Juno's legs, although the shot used in our openng sequence is taken from a slightly different angle, the concept is the same. The shot is aiming to show the way and and what speed Juno walks, and we attempted to do a similar thing. Both shots show some of the floor and a bit of the scenery behind the main character, but due to the diverse backgrounds create completely different pictures
So, overall, I believe we have conventionally established a character (a stereotypical businessman), a typical yet interesting location (cemetery in the city centre), as well as polishing it off with a commonly used narrative opening title sequence. Moreover, like many mystery/crime thrillers we have constructed a slow yet interesting and intriguing start to what is sure to be a thrilling and hugely entertaining movie!
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
EVALUATION; Question 3: Who would be the audience for our media product?
Here is an example of a person who would watch our movie:
Female:
Paulina, 23, restaurant supervisor. Paulina is single. She has a Dell laptop which is just enough for her computer needs. Paulina loves travel and music. She works full time in a restaurant but is studying and wants to work in "Event Management". She likes house and dance music and often attends concerts of her favourite bands and DJs.
Armin van Buuren ft Sharon den Adel - In and Out of Love (sample of Paulina's music)
Her favourite hobby is shopping and partying. She likes to shop in Bershka and Jane Norman but constant working doesn't allow her to go out much. She is a workaholic which enjoys watching rented movies on her laptop or occasional movies on the big screen (IMAX). She doesn't have a car or even a driving licence. She is addicted to lip balm.
Male:
Chris, 20, student. Chris is a hard working student at a University, studying medicine as well as working part-time in HMV. Chris is in a long time relationship. He has a MacBook Pro which is used daily for education and occasional gaming which he enjoys. Chris tries to watch movies weekly in a cinema but he's overwhelmed by work and can only watch movies occasionally on his laptop. He likes music but mainly pop.
The Black Eyed Peas - Just Can't Get Enough (sample of Chris' music)
He doesn't like shopping for clothes but he loves discovering new technologies on the market.
Female:
Paulina, 23, restaurant supervisor. Paulina is single. She has a Dell laptop which is just enough for her computer needs. Paulina loves travel and music. She works full time in a restaurant but is studying and wants to work in "Event Management". She likes house and dance music and often attends concerts of her favourite bands and DJs.
Armin van Buuren ft Sharon den Adel - In and Out of Love (sample of Paulina's music)
Her favourite hobby is shopping and partying. She likes to shop in Bershka and Jane Norman but constant working doesn't allow her to go out much. She is a workaholic which enjoys watching rented movies on her laptop or occasional movies on the big screen (IMAX). She doesn't have a car or even a driving licence. She is addicted to lip balm.
Male:
Chris, 20, student. Chris is a hard working student at a University, studying medicine as well as working part-time in HMV. Chris is in a long time relationship. He has a MacBook Pro which is used daily for education and occasional gaming which he enjoys. Chris tries to watch movies weekly in a cinema but he's overwhelmed by work and can only watch movies occasionally on his laptop. He likes music but mainly pop.
The Black Eyed Peas - Just Can't Get Enough (sample of Chris' music)
He doesn't like shopping for clothes but he loves discovering new technologies on the market.
EVALUATION:Q3 Who would be the audience for our media product?
Originally, we thought that our film would be suitable for the older teen or young adult section of the general public. However, (as well as almost everything in this project) things turned out differently. I now believe that in general, that our movie would appeal to both males and females that are over the age of 25 and under the age of around 45. Yes, I know its broad but I did say it was general! They would typically be quite middle class and attend the cinema regularly and enjoy discussing the film with friends during drinks afterwards. The typical movie that would appeal to them is an action thriller or adventure film with a thrilling twist, always made by the leading producers/directors and starring the most successful actors.
Now, lets get a little more specific, what do these people wear? What's their favourite food? Any hobbies? addictions? nasty habits? The details we could look for are endless!
Here is one example of a perfect member of our audience...
Along with her favourite song:
'Encoder' by Pendulum
Now, lets get a little more specific, what do these people wear? What's their favourite food? Any hobbies? addictions? nasty habits? The details we could look for are endless!
Here is one example of a perfect member of our audience...
Along with her favourite song:
'Encoder' by Pendulum
And the contents of her handbag (yes, the one in the picture) :
andd me talking about the male.....
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