Evaluation

Part One

Part One Brief (200 words) (Blog Entry)

What brief were you working to?

Our brief was to work towards creating a title sequence for our chosen genre to which had to be kept in the time frame of a minimum of 90 seconds and a maximum of 2 minutes. 

We see an inspector that opens up a new case to which was not solved beforehand. Then see our suspect counting large amounts of money within a warehouse, the we see him taking drugs to and from the office. After this we see that the investigator starts taking images of the suspects handing over drugs. It ends with the investigator looking through the photographs that he has taken of the suspect and the transaction of drugs.

The genre of our film is crime the sub genre is crime thriller, you get the sense of a thriller through the stalking. Throughout the film there would be many fighting scenes to which the life of the investigator could be at risk. But we get the feeling of a thriller when it is obvious that they are being stalked by a investigator. We get the sense that something big is going to happen. Also the opening scene of the landscape and the police boat tells us a little more of how the film is going to pan out and that there will be need for police.

Evaluation

Part Two

Part Two Who would be the audience for your product

Our target audience are for 15 years and upwards; we aimed it mainly at men as they are more likely to enjoy a crime/thriller movie. They are category D-E people who are working class/students etc, to whom prefer action packed movies to fulfill the thrill that they do not get in there everyday lives. They are most likely to be people who prefer to watch crime series and play on any console that is new and exclusive. They would not be the sort of people to watch day time television and look after the kids but to sit down and have a nice hearty meal and a fast pace movie.

We have looked at other title sequences that we thought our audience would like that are similar to our own interests. For example we looked at Die Hard and No Country for Old Men. These were both crime and thriller films and the sequences were outlining the films and were simple without being boring. 

We used this information to base our sequence on how the audience reacted to them and how to entice them to watch the whole film. When we watched The Departed we saw the man was not shown only his body and that was the type of thing that we wanted to do to create some mystery to it, so in our sequence it motivated us to not show his face but to only show the back or side of is head.

Evaluation

Part Three

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

For our film we decided to use Paramount Pictures as Michael Scorsese frequently worked for them and he made big blockbusters such as Shutter Island and one that could be related to ours in The Godfather. The reason for Scorsese is because he made massive hits and most of them were the type of films that were relatable to the genre of our title sequence. We also felt that Paramount Pictures would be a good match as it is based in Hollywood and to get a film in Hollywood would mean instant success. It is ranked as one of the most high ranked movie studios; our film is the type that would make people want to get involved and feel fulfilled.

There are a couple of films that Paramount have distributed that i feel come under the same genre and audience as ours, for example The Godfather as it attracts the same audience that we are trying to pull in. Then there is Shutter Island which i in a sense a crime genre as we see that he is trying to investigate a missing patient, and this film also attracts the same sort of audience as our own, the type that like hard hitting movies with suspense and a little mystery in.

Evaluation

Part Four

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

Our media product is developed by using the same kind of effects as in other big name films such as The Departed, in the beginning when we do not see the mans face as there is a shadow over it and we tried to develop our sequence so that we could incorporate it in our way. For example we only showed the side of the inspectors face or the back of his head, this enables us to have a little mystery to it. We were able to achieve this by using different camera shots such as over the shoulder so that we could show the inspector but no showing his whole face.
We were able to challenge the codes and conventions when it came to the sound that we used as we used a Chinese song that you would either love or hate. We had a first choice of song that was really liked and fit really well but after we couldn't get it right we had to use another and the one that we used was very different and many did say that they were not sure about the music. However i think that it fits really well with the sequence, but it would   be the life or death of our film.
When we decided that it would be a crime genre we did not anticipate that we would come to the conclusion that we would want to make a theme of the triads in it. We developed the narrative by giving it a subtle theme that would make it more interesting on a whole. We did this by the introduction to a new character type which is Si Hin's character to show that there is essence of a Chinese them. We were also able to get actual footage of Hong Kong that one of our group members filmed themselves which made it more real and believable.
There are a couple of forms and conventions that we have used for our media product that would be used in real media conventions such as information about genre. We have done this by making sure that we have shown someone following a criminal when a transaction of drugs. For example in Die Hard's opening sequence we see that he establishes that he is a police officer by showing his gun and an exchange of dialogue explaining why he has a gun. This enables us to understand what sort of genre of film it is, this is transferred to our sequence when we show the drugs, private investigate and the police boat on the river.
There are certain types of patterns and types of editing that will be echoes in the remainder of the film and this is a type of convention which we will use in the rest of our film, the certain shots that we would use would be the over the shoulder shot for the investigator. However for the criminal we would use long shot to show the whole of his body as he may have something on him to which we need to show. By doing this we are following some of the forms and conventions of real media products.

Evaluation 

Part Five

Part Five 

How does your media product represent particular social groups? 

Our media product is able to represent a particular social group by using expression, typography and sound. The social group that we concentrated on was the triads and we were able to do this by firstly using expression which also includes lighting and colour. We made sure that all the while filming that the person playing the triad gang member looked serious and about business, we mainly used stereotype to achieve this. We also used Propps theory that the triad gang member would be the villain as in our film he struggles against the investigator who would be seen as the hero as he solves the crime that has been placed in his hands. As many know that triads are Chinese so we used a Chinese person to play the character, by doing this we were able to show in a more stable and effective way what sort of character he is. We also hear of many people say that triad's do not look happy and that they always look troublesome and so this is what we tried to play on whilst filming, we made sure that he did not look happy but ready for anything that comes his way.
We also used typography to represent the type of social group as we have a Chinese style writing for our credits. When finding our font we decided to type in 'Chinese' to see what came up and in the end we found the one that we used and we found that it fit really well. This can link really well to some Jacky Chan movies as they use Chinese style writing and many of them are crime and very up beat, this can be seen as an ideology. Here we used the stereotype of Chinese writing and classic films with big name actors in to make a good media product.
When using mise-en-scene we did not try to use it to represent the particular social group, instead we used in an overall manner. We used mise-en-scene to make the sequence better overall, we used the natural light to give it a more real and gritty feel, the costume was merely casual as we wanted the triad to seem like he did not need to put up a front. However in the case of the investigator we had to make sure that he was wearing a suit but with a rough look to it so that he seems to be a local and almost run down investigator that doesn't mind getting his hands dirty within the investigation, whereas is big coming movie's you see many investigators and officers wearing nice neat suites to show their authority and composure, we were trying the opposite affect. This was a subversion of stereotypes but in fact trying to show the facts and the real side of it, this then represents many investigators and the real gangs on the street.
Our media product represents triad members or gang members in general by giving them casual clothing and using sound and typography to show the sort of crime that they deal with and the type of criminals they are. In the case of the investigator we represent his social group by showing his casual but smart look and making you feel as if he is an ordinary man who is dealing with something out of his league.

Evaluation

Part Six

Part Six How did you attract/address your audience?

I think that we have defiantly reached out target audience as the final product is just how we wanted it to be and more males have commented on how they like it then females, but also because it is action packed and shows a lot of mischief.

When planning our production we were thinking about how the audience would be drawn in and we new that action and suspicion would draw them in and make them want to watch more. So when planning we knew that we would have to involve drugs and a suspicious character to whom was being watched and investigated. We changed it a couple of times but we have kept the same perspective in mind the whole way throughout.

The first quote that I will be using is one by the user 'MrFlynners99' and this is the comment that he left:

'Very good work, well done, particularly liked the way of introducing the characters in the sane style gut Ritchie does in Snatch, good editing, music and cinematography well done.'

From this feedback we can see that he liked the editing, music and cinematography. We spent a lot of time editing and doing lots of jump cute to make it look faster and more up beat, with the music we tried to get a Chinese based song which we were successful in and the cinematography we tried to be experimental with the camera shots and make it look more interesting.

Here is another quote by 'CallMeDannyyy7':

'I really like the footage you have used of China, happy that it is original and shot by a member of your group.

- The footage you have used of the warehouse is also very good.

-The titles always come in the same place what I might change and have some appear at the bottom of the screen as with them being in the top corner it draws attention away from the screen.

Overall a really good title sequence, good idea and good footage!

Well done!'

By using the original footage from Hong Kong that was filmed by one of our group members it gave it a more triad feel for the location and the reality of it. Also as it isn't a landscape that we see everyday it is new and fresh to the eye. The criticism about the titles is helpful for next time and also it is good to get criticism at times so that we can progress and make it better. Overall I think that most people were attracted to the music and the beginning location.
According to audience feedback we were very successful in our editing and many people said that they really liked the part where the triad and a drug dealer are making a transaction and we make it so it seems there are photos being taken by using stills and the sound of a photo being taken. Overall I think that the audience were most pleased with our editing and the places in which we filmed.

I think that according to the audience feedback the only thing that they pointed out was the title:

'I didn't really get why it was called closure... But I did want to keep watching it.'

We also in the previous comment by 'CallMeDannyyy7' the credits were't positioned very well, so overall it seems that our titles and the name of our product wasn't quite right.

Overall I think our biggest problem were the credits and that if we were to go back into it we would improve them by putting them in different places and try not to keep them at the top.

Evaluation

Part Seven

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

During pre-production we decided that we would use a tripod and dolly for many of the scenes so that it would flow correctly. We made sure we knew what shots that we wanted to do when filming and which ones would benefit the most.We decided that we would all take a part in the filming.

During production we did not use the tripod and the dolly as much as we said we would as we found that we could get a better shot without it for example I used it by hand to do a shot of the desk. In some cases we used the tripod as we needed to make sure that the camera was still and in a certain position. We changed a few of the shots to suite the place we were filming and the space we were filming in. I did the first part of the filming and improvised on some of the shots to suite the place we were filming in. I did the titles as we all agreed that I knew how to work photo shop the best and that I would be able to get it done quicker.

During post production I found a new piece of music to go with it as the old was not going well for us.

These decisions were made because with the first part of filming only two of us were available. When doing photo shop I felt that it was my stronger point .

In the beginning we used a camera to film all of our scenes and then we went onto final cut pro to edit all of our work and put it all in the right order and cut certain bits up and Photo shop for our credits. We also used blogger to update to what stage were at.

Final cut pro was a successful new use for me as I had never used it before and I was able to learn how to do the basics and taught myself a few things by experimenting.

The credits were less successful as we were not able to download the font onto final cut pro so we had to do it the long way by doing it in photo shop then importing it.

I have learnt how to use the basics of final cut pro and what looks good when using it and what doesn't make it look good.

Evaluation

Part Eight

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

We were successful with our preliminary task as we filled our objective and added a comical twist to it. We used basic editing for it as we did well when filming; we felt that it could be related to many comical films where there is a character with an alter ego. We used a tripod for the whole of the task as we needed to make sure that it was in the same position, we also used to 180 degree rule which worked really well for us and many people said how they thought that we did it really well.
The less successful thing was mainly the fact that Si Hin had to do a bit of dialogue and he couldn't get the high pitch girl like voice right but we did it quite a few times and in the end we felt that we had a good bit to use. There wasn't much planning and research we just went straight into it so I think that there could have been more planning involved.
When doing our title sequence we were able to learn from our mistakes for example when it came to dialogue we made sure that we got it right and not just settle for the best one there, I would say that we made Sean repeat the same line about ten to twenty times to get the right one. There wasn't a comical feel to our sequence as it was totally the opposite and we were able to take it more seriously which meant getting it right every time. With research and planning I researched institutions other sequences that related to our own, the genre in which we were basing it on and so forth and when it came to planning we did a story board with about thirty shots in it so this time we were more prepared and didn't go diving into filming until we new what we were doing.