1)
In what ways does your
media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media
production?
By using a variety of different types of
style during our filming it made our small media clip feel like that we were
producing a real media production. this is because we had to take into thought
of costume, sound, light, editing
and technology effects.
This is what is mainly used when creating true media productions but they are
taken into more detail than what we had done.
When looking into what costumes we had to
choose we had to be aware of making sure that are viewer was going to know what
type of genre it was going to be, we used two different types here which
allowed the viewer to recognized the difference in each part of filming to make
sure that they knew the genre of film. In one of the scenes a very formal
costume were being worn showing the importance of the scene and in another were
casual to show it was more relaxed and not based in the same style as before.
This helped us develop are media production into more of the genre we were
aiming for instead of just standard clothes being used through out the whole of
the scenes.
During our editing we found that using
non-diegetic sound was best to fit our scenes, this was because we were then
able to move around the music to which part we thought was more suitable and
also because of the different types of scenery we used when filming. A small
amount of dialog was used when consulting with the Don, which helped showed
respect and when doing this music was stopped which then allowed the viewer to
see the relevance to a real media production.
When using the lighting we had to use
editing to change colors of certain scenes to make the viewer think of it being
more of an older style mafia type of film. The way in which we did this was by
changing the color of the first scene to black and white which made the scene
feel like it was old. When moving on to the other scene we changed the effect
of the film to make it slighting more fuzzy which then built to the effect of
what style and genre of film we were going for.
Technology effects were mainly used when
creating our production company’s name. We tried to make it fit in with a lot
of other major media production companies by using this type of editing to fit
in. We also were able to use types of effects to change the style of the film
which then allowed the viewer to feel the film was more suited to the genre we
had aimed for.
2)
How does your media
product represent particular social groups?
When we were
filming we tried to make sure that the viewers were going to know from the
beginning on the film that it was going to be based around a mafia/ gangster
style of film. When we were constructing our characters we knew that they were
going to need to be very stereotype as a lot of the viewers were going to be
able to then tell that what type of genre the film was going to be in.
When we were
looking at costume we were going to choose two different types, which were
going to fit in the opposite social groups. Our first type was a very formal
style of clothing, which would then show that the solider was meeting the Don
showing respect as of him being a higher ranking then the soldier. The other
style we went for was more a casual style for the part where we were dealing
contraband. This showed more a casual style showing a social group of lower
class and more of a social. By having two different types of costume it makes
them both a lot more vivid and shows the different between both of them a lot
more clearly.
As the same as
costume we used two different types of setting to make both of the social
groups stand out more from each other and so that they are able to be more
recognized then before. We used a small ally way which help set a lower class
social group showing they are in the mafia dealing drugs to maintain a living.
The other social group is yet again a very formal type of social group as it is
filmed with in an office showing power for the Don and control of the mafia
showing viewers his wealth and control over the gang/ mafia.
The use of
speech in our film is quite formal and when talking to the Don a sense of
respect is shown showing what type of social group he is in and the higher
ranking of what the Don is. When speaking to the done a sense of respect is
shown showing who is in the better social group of the clip allowing the viewer
to see who is in control of what in the mafia.
Technical
elements used in our film were shown in black and white in the beginning and
then the rest we used a light effect, which made the film seem older to fit in
the genre, and social group we were aiming for. By using both these types of
effects it create a basic stereotype on what people expect from social groups
in mafia type films.
3)
What kind of media
institutions might distribute your media product and why?
The media institutions
that would distribute my media product would be both Paramount and Revolver
Entertainment. This is because both of these films companies have either made a
film around a mafia or gangster style of film. For Paramount they have produced
‘The Godfather’ and for Revolver Entertainment they have produced ‘Kidulthood and
Adulthood’ both of which the films were successful in the UK and USA.
As both these film
companies are large it means that they will have a large budget for
advertisement of the film. This is very useful as it then allows the film to be
seen by more people making the age group we have chosen to see the film and go
and watch it, it may also attract other people to watch it as of the film
companies involved and being successful for producing high quality films.
As both of these films
companies have had experience in the genre we have chosen they will know what
is the best effects to be used and know what style of story line and
mise-en-scene is going to be used. This would be very helpful for us as they
will be able to supply us with a higher budget on equipment which would then
allow us to adapt on where we film, what equipment is used, lighting and camera
use as well. All of these are key in what we are trying to film and we need to
make sure that it is done well to attract as many viewers as possible.
They may also find that
the film is a genre which has had good feed back from and has been successful
in other films of the genre making it a good choice for them as it allows them
to have a better reputation and also open up to another style of genre which
they can expand on over time. This could be helpful to both of the film
companies as they might be trying to expand their styles of genre and by having
a mafia/ gangster style of film it will allow them to be open to a new
audience.
4.) Who would be the
audience for your media product
When we were making our clip we had to
think of what age group we were going to aim our media project at. As we had
chosen a mafia/ gangster style of film it was quite clear that it was going to
be more of an older age group as for ages 10-16 weren’t going to be interested
in seeing a film of this type of genre. The audience we have aimed for would be
from around 28 upwards and would be more for a male audience but might also be
attractive for female viewers as well. When looking at rating for the film I
decided that a rating of 15 or 18 would be the appropriate rating for this
film, this is because of its style of genre the viewer is going to expect a
range of language, scenes of violence and drugs involved. This is why I believe
that this age group is probably correct for our film.
The target demographic in which we aimed
this at was at a older age of people and also people who were into the whole
gang wars and mafia type situation, when making our film clip we needed to make
sure that it was going to attract this type of demographic audience. The way in
which we have tried to of aimed for this demographic audience was by using a
certain type of music and filming style with also Mise-en-scene, which would then
make the viewer know what type of film they were watching.
The gender in which we aimed this film at
was for more of a male audience, as this isn’t really aimed for a female type
of genre. The film will be containing quite a range of violence, action, drugs
which aren’t what a female may look for in a film. We tried to make sure that
our gender would stay interested in the film from the beginning to the end and
we did this by starting from the beginning showing drugs being dealt and
assignations being planned from the beginning.
The location in which we would show the
film would probably be in more of an urban area instead of a small town, this
is because doing this it opens it up to a wider audience who might then want to
watch it. If we were to make the location of the film in the country it would
probably not be watched by as many people as they may not find the genre
attractive.
Q5) how did you attract/ address your audience?
What is going
to bring the audience in
How they are
going to respond
What would
attract them ( story line, characters etc..)
When creating
our clip we had to think of what was going to attract our audience, the way in
which we did this was by using mise-en-scene to try and make our viewer this
that they film was going to be interesting to them and they would then tell
friends and family about it to attract more people into seeing it.
With the story
line we chosen we thought that the age group and audience we had selected we
needed to make sure that they were going to find the film attractive and not
just a knock off film. When making the story line we made sure that it would
have a low amount of action in and have the story of the film shown from the
beginning this then allowed us to attract the viewer into wanting to watch the
film the whole way through to find out what was going to happen as the film
went on.
We needed to
make the characters look quite stereotypical as the viewer is going to expect
this from the film as they may have little knowledge on this type of genre so
when seeing the film they are going to expect this to be shown in our clip.
The use of music
needed to be old but fit into the genre in what we were aiming for, we took a
lot of research into the music we were going to use to insure when it was
played that the viewer would understand why it was being played and how it had
relevance to the film itself. The effects we used in our final piece had to fit
the genre as well, we used a mix of black and white and a faded colour which
made the film seem to be filmed in the past which was what we were aiming for
in our genre.
Q6) What have
you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Software-,
blogger, slideshow, IMOB,
Hardware- Cameras,
computer, lighting, tripod
We used Sony
Vegas to help build effect to our media project by using different types of
editing to create the effect we wanted. We also added music and created a title
sequence using this software to make our project seem more realistic. These
were very helpful for us as it allowed our film to look more realistic and suit
the genre in which we were aiming for. We also used other software such as
IMOB, YouTube and blogger as well to help us get information and ideas in which
we then posted on our blogs to show the resemblance to what we had done. This
proved to be very useful as it allowed us to improve our production and take
tips from clips from YouTube and edit them into our film to try and improve our
mark. By using IMOB it allowed us to see films which had the same genre and see
how they made their films to fit into the genre, this came into a lot of help
for us as we could then see what people thought of the films and take parts in
which they thought were good. Using blogger we were able to update letting
people know what stage we were up to and what was going on whilst we were
filming.
Other
technologies, which help us construct our film, were the cameras, tripod,
lighting and computer. These were the main hardware pieces, which we used to
allow us to develop out product. By only having one camera it meant we had to
stop it often to use different angles but the use of tripod made it easier as
we were able to use more than just one type of camera shot through out the
film. With new lighting equipment we were able to make areas lighter to add
effect to our film this came helpful when we filming the don in his office. By
using a computer we were able to put everything we had filmed on then choose
what we wanted this made it helpful for us to create the best film in which we
could.
Q7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
From the feedback from our preliminary task
we knew that we were going to be able to produce a decent film clip as we were
able to work on our weaknesses from the task before and make sure that we were
going to have the same problem. From then we have learnt a lot more different
types of camera angles which have allowed us to apply this to our final task to
try and get the highest mark as possible.
From the preliminary task we have learnt a
lot about editing and how to add effects to our film, which then allows us to
have more knowledge for when we were going to have to edit our final clips. We
have seen that we are able to use effects to make a clip fit into the genre
which we wanted.
From our preliminary task we came away with
a lot of confidence because of getting good rating back from it. This made us
think on what we could have then used in our final piece and to take ideas from
our first one as it then allowed us to use ideas from the first task and take
them into our final product. We were also showed the faults in which we had
done. This allowed us to see what we had done wrong and fix it so when we
filmed the main task we avoided from having this.
We had learnt new camera skills since we
had filmed it which enabled us to use more angles and different types of shots,
this was helpful to us as it allowed us to think of new ways in which we could
get the audience we were aiming for interested. The preliminary task came in
very helpful to us as a group as we were able to see what people thought of who
did what, this then gave us an idea of who would be doing what and then who
could plan it out, film, act etc during our main task. As it turned out we all
came up with ideas and then edited them as we filmed if one of us thought
something would look better than the original plan.
