Animatics

Media Evaluation Clip

This is our whole group using a different form of media to evaluate our film opening.

Final Piece

This is our final piece for our film opening. After taking all feedback and suggestions into account we think its improved a lot and we have make it the best we can.

Media Evaluation Plans

We all met today to discuss which questions we are going to answer. We have decided to take on two questions each with one of us sharing the spare question so that everyone is doing pretty much the same amount of work. Also today, we have starting filming ourself's speaking to the camera about what role our characters play in the opening and what their signification is. This is a good start to our evaluation however we need to think about answering the 7 questions that have been set. We have all gone away and are going to write answers on cards then we will re meet and film our documentary like answers tomorrow. Meanwhile I am working on my written evaluation and my prezzi.

Feedback from Mr. Wroe and class of our Film Opening 2

Above is our second attempt at our film opening. The general thought from everyone in the class and mainly Mr. Wroe was that this is a much better attempt than last time. The first attempt was a bit rushed and there was a lot of room for improvement consequently we put a lot more effort into this one and its a lot better. Everything has changed in it, we have chnaged locations and found a excellent place to do the "chase" which is a bridge. Finding these new locations have given us better spots to do filming and also allowed us to get better shot that adds more tension which is need for out opening. This has help continuity also because it all fits together and every has noticed this works alot better than the previous place. Also we have used a improved camera which has allowed us to get better quality shots and given more focus to the characters. Overall everything has been improved from the title sequences to the bit where Joshua struggles to get away before Seamus gets his hands on him.
Another aspect we have improved is the mise en scene, dispute using cigarettes for Joshua's role when he is walking down the road we have used typical things a teenager would have in his room such things as beer glasses mobile phones deodorant and drinking bottles. This helps the media relate to the character because we have chosen to use this in the mise en scene. In the first sequence there is no evidence that we have tried to use this to show what kind of character Joshua is.
In this edition, unlike the previous we have good tracks in the background and ones the represent the nature of the opening and ones that counteract each other because we needed two different tracks, one for the morning scene one for the night scene.  This helps the opening not to be boring and also gives the audience a better idea of what time of day it is.
We have also re-filmed the bit where there was a stationary shot for a very long time, we have replaced this by doing very interesting and exciting shots such as putting the camera in the fridge and not having much time shown on Joshua walking around the kitchen making his breakfast. This makes the sequences more exciting because the viewer doesn't want to be watching somebody eating their breakfast in a film opening they want some action that can persuade them to watch on.

Things we need to re-film is the bit in the bedroom, first off all when the camera tracks upwards there is no phone there but when it cuts there is a phone there is was a bad mistake but one that is easily put right. This will help in continuity because if somebody picks up on this small mistake it can be very misleading. Also with the bedroom scene Mr Wroe has suggested to us that we help the viewer out by really making the plot recognisable, we are going to this by adding a small section when Joshua says something to the sister of Seamus about Seamus this will really make it clear to them exactly what is going on because I think that some people didn't entirely get what was happening.

Also on the editing front we are going to fade the second track in because one criticism was that it comes in too quickly and sort of takes the audience by suprise and the whole feeling was that if it was to fade in then it would work a lot better. This is easily done but we will go away and have a third and final go because there adjustements can be made very easily and quickly.

Media Evaluation

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


on Pressi: http://prezi.com/st5nb6fvqbpp/evaluation-advancement-in-media-skill/


How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our film opening represents teenagers more than any other group. This is because of the way we have presented the characters, we have designed the characters so that younger people can relate to them.  We have one character that sleeps with a lot of girls and another one that appears to be a 'thug' and beats someone up in the sequence. Both of these main characters can easily be related to our viewers. We thought that we could easily design a character of that kind because we are that sort of age group and can show the viewer these characters which is the exact kind of character we wanted to portray. Having characters that people can relate to in a film is a huge advantage in trying to make sure the target viewers are happy with watching it and are enjoying the film. If not they are likely to turn it off.  

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


On power point

Who would be the audience for your media product? 

Our audience for our main task is ages between 18-30 but may also tempt the slightly older generation. This is because of the nature of the sequence.  I believe it to be upbeat with a genre of things such a violence and sex making it more suitable for people around this age. People over these ages I don't think would be drawn in because they typically prefer to watch things that have a very education feel or that are going to be classics for example shawshank redemption. Purely because of the nature and the way we have made the characters i don think that over 30s would  be interested in watching it I think it can be for both genders however i think males would be the majority viewers rather than woman because the kind of sequence is the sort of thing males would watch. Males would be more easily drawn in to this because of the way we have created the opening. Classically with a males sleeping with a girl and them running off, this in my opinion would appeal more to males. I don't think that it appeals to woman as much a men because they are associated with watching violent films which is the category that this falls into. Basing it on films such a Football Factory and Kidulthood I don't think that many woman watched it and of those who did I don't think that they would enjoy it as much as males.


Classic viewer: 
Age: 23
Sex: Male
Job: Sports centre 

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

In the first few times we filmed we used a camera that the school gave is which is good but we could get hold of a better camera so we used that. This helps us a lot with the night scene especially because with the original camera we couldn't see people when it got to be very dark, however with this new camera the quality is very very good so we can see everything that is needed to be seen in the night scenes. 
With the editing we learnt lots of new things since the preliminary task. Uploading took ages because we had got lots of shots from different angle so that we could use the best one possible and the one that best portrayed the point/view we wanted to show the viewer. Drag and drop subsequently took a reasonable time because we had to discuss which shot we thought worked and which what we thought lead on to the best. when we got all the correct shots required and we were 100% happy with what we had got we started to cut certain bits because when we were filming we carried on filming past when we needed. Therefore we were taking half seconds out of certain points in the opening just to get the finished article. When we had finished everything and thought we had cut it down enough we put some title sequences in. First title sequence you see is the last minute production this is on a black background with a white box there is "last minute productions" written in white on a strip of red. This fades out and readies the audience by having "presents" on the next cut which moves in towards the screen which is cleaver because it draws the viewer in. After 34 the film name is shown to the viewer saying 12hours and also says twelve below it, in a faded white. later on our names are displayed at the bottom on the screen. There was a huge debate on which track or tracks we were going to use for our final piece but i think we have got the perfect songs that fit in and represent the nature and help the opening get along without the viewer getting bored. We tried a few tracks first of all but we still weren't sure which ones to use. We had decided to use two so that the view can easily distinguish between the day time and the night time. Eventually we got the right ones and I think that they fit in very well. 
New skills that we learnt since the preliminary task is that we can make people disappear within the shot. We use this twice in the opening when Jordan is walking after Walter. This is a very useful technique to know how to do. 
We used two soundtracks in the opening one is a high tempo song which engages  the audience. We used this because we all thought that having a quick song for a opening would be the best way to go about drawing the viewer in. This song fitted well with the opening. The second song fades in after a short break without any music. We thought it would be best to have two different pieces of music so that this could denote the change in night scene and day scene. The second track is completely different to the first one and with the  lyrics "shot yourself in the foot again fit in very well to what had happen in the opening.

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


In our preliminary task, we didn't use a variation of shots, this meant that we couldn't portray everything we wanted to in the best possible way. We have learnt a range of new shots since then because of doing lots of analysis and revision of new shots. Therefore in the main task we used the appropriate shots and knew exactly what effect they were likely to have so that we could get the point across to the viewer as best possible.  I think we have learnt that using different shots makes in the final product better and is more exciting for the viewer. Therefore we used a variation of shots and used lots of different camera movements in the opening to show off our skills and make it more exciting. Also in the editing we have learnt lots of new things, in the preliminary task we simply got the stuff we needed and didn't do anything else with it. But in the main task we have used skills such as fading the music and making people disappear these skills have helped enhance the quality of our opening. Having sharper cuts within the opening allows for better and smoother viewing for the audience, therefore the viewer isn't left waiting for something to happen whilst we are wasting time and not cutting to the next scene. Tension in our main task is important in the night scene and since the preliminary task we have learnt how important it is and how to increase it. Therefore in our main task we used this to our advantage and made the night scene, when there is a follow,  he made the shots last for a little longer and used tracking and changing of shots to show to the viewer exactly what is going on and leave them wanting to know what is happening. The choice of sound in our preliminary was very quick and not fully thought of. We chose it and then based a few other aspect around this choice for example the production name and the name of the actual task. in the main task we have learnt that the sounds we chose to use can have a massive affect on the audience. We put a huge amount of time into thinking what tracks we were going to use. we needed two tracks that were different, one that fits in with the night scene and one that counteracts this that shows the morning scene. I think that the two tracks we have chosen suit the nature of the opening and help the viewer know what its all about and the change in time. Mise en scene was used a lot in our final task to denote the characters. we showed the protagonist smoking quite frequently in the opening this gives the viewer a  sense of the characters inability to care about anything that he does. This is a easy thing to do to show this and also this gives the viewer something else to watch apart from him just walking down the road. In the morning scene we see typical things that a teenager would own such as porn magazines beer glasses and a phone. The camera moves upwards to show all of these things and this means that the viewer immediately knows that this is the bedroom of teenager.

 How did you attract / address your audience? 
On video

Key Terms

Camera shots and their effectivness
Close up-
Extreme close up - shows emotion
Mid shot
Medium close up
Crane shots
Birds eye view shot
Long shot - shows location
Establishing shot - shows audiences the characters
High angle - used to show power
Low angle - used to show power
Two shot - get two people in the shot and shows their relationship
Over the shoulder shot - used from conversations
Dutch angle shot

Mise en scene:
Clothing
Props
Location
Fixtures
Colours
Characters
Time of day
Natural light
Artificial light
Environment

Sound:
Soundtrack
Sound effects
Semi diegectic
Non diegectic
Diegectic
Dialogue
Voice over

Editing:
Fade In/out
Title sequences

12 Hour changes

Feedback from Mr. Wroe and class of our Film Opening

We have made a rough edit and the start is good however after the first night scene the sequence gets very boring. After the main character walks down the stairs there is a still shot which last for about 30seconds while he makes a bowl of cereal. Our teacher thought that the shots were extreme good at the start and the variation was good as well, this is encouraging because we also thought that the shots we great as well. The main problem with our film was the fact of a 30 second still shot whilst he make his food and read a message this left the viewer very bored. We are going to address this and are thinking of re-filming a few things and maybe introducing Seamus in the fold more and giving him a bigger part and having a contrast between the two which would be made by filming a little clip of Joshua and then a similar clip of Seamus but emphasising the character of Seamus more. However we are going to stick to a initial idea of having the night scene first and then a flash back which would take the viewer back to the beginning and everything will be explained from there.
The main feed back from the class was it was average but there was a few thing wrong with it and these can be sorted out very easily. One other big problem was we didn't have our semi diegectic music in the background which would of added tension and helped to explain the storyline. For the next showing we will have all of these things sorted and have background music. There is a few weeks left of term and then half terms aswell these are good opportunities for us to film everything we need to and then have plenty of time to get the finish article in with more feedback from Mr Wroe.

Filming so far

The filming has been very slow but we have got all the day scenes done now and they are all on the camera ready to be uploaded on the mac and ready for editing. The first scene we filmed was our main actor and group member Walter walking down the corridor towards the bathroom. In the film this is about halfway through the sequence (after the night scenes) we placed the camera stationary so that he could walk straight past the camera and looked like he was just walking out of the door. The camera then cuts to him (after having a shower but we don't see this)  walking the same way but this time he walks down the stairs. The camera is in the same position for each of these shots so that the viewer know exactly what is going on and that everything is normal within his life and nothing is changing. This is denoted by the way the camera stays still within the two cuts. Next there is a aerial shot of him walking down the stairs which means that we are including a variety of shots and using this shot puts the viewer above our antagonist because they are looking down at him. This represents the fact the he isn't the character with the most power however he is the main character.  The aerial shot moves and follows him done the stairs this is good continuity and is continued by a quick cut which sees him walking down the stairs again. Joshua enter the kitchen makes his breakfast and finds a note that reads:
"To Josh,

gone to stay with auntie Sue 

if you need anything call me

love mum"

The message in under a lit candle which represents the fact that she is the shinning light within Joshua's life we used this because of this reason so that the view can relate this to why he screwed the paper up in a ball a threw it away. Next we filmed the first bit to our film opening which is a night scene. As explained in previous blogs Joshua leaves the house because his party has ran out of booze and other such materials for the party so he leaves the house to get them not knowing that Seamus is waiting for him. The first shot of the night scene is a shot of Joshua walking towards the camera and then around it. After this it cuts to a tracking shot - which was filmed brilliantly- of Joshua's feet walking along the pavement. We continue using these two tracking aerial shots this time its from above and its the first we see of Seamus in the sequence, he is following Joshua. We thought this would be a good time to introduce both antagonist and protagonist. Next shot is of the two and Seamus getting pretty close to Joshua, this builds the tension very well and makes the view think what is the reason why this man is being followed. Eventually Joshua walks into, two strategically placed friends of Seamus who grip him up against the fence and Seamus punches him and then the camera blackouts out. This is a POV shot of Johua used very well because now the viewer knows who the main character but are still left wondering why he was ambushed and beaten up. "12 Hours" comes up on the screen next because that is the name of the film and "12 hours earlier" takes the audience back in time and the film is now set up to be explained.

Audience for 12 Hours

Our active audience for '12 Hours' is mainly in the bracket of 16-24 yr olds. Our project should appeal to them in a similar way to that of Kidulthood & Skins this is due to it being clearly set around the lives of teens and their actions. Seeing as teens are represented a lot in our film this should be evedent even in the opening 2 minutes. Although it is aimed at 16-24 yr olds we feel the film would be better suited to an 18+ certificate, this is because we would like to achieve and almost gritty feel such as Kidulthood does. Seeing as the certificate would ideally 18+ we think that 16 & 17 yr olds would still watch it as the majority of them wouldn't care about this certificate, this fits in with the theme of rebellion that is evident in our film.

Mid Filming

We started our filming on 5/12/10. Filming has not gone very well, we have a few shots (over the shoulder, close up, medium shots and aerial shots) in and around the house however we havent filmed any of the night time stuff that is going to be done in the next few days. We have all the shots we need that include walter being in the house and in the bed with the girl (Emma) Also we have almost finished the scene where he makes himself some food using crane shots. However we need to so the shots where Joshua gets beaten up which is a night scene.

We filmed Walter (Joshua)  all around the house getting a few still shots of Joshua walking down the coridoor into the shower and then coming back the same way but this time is dressed. Next is the first moving shot of Joshua walking down the stairs . Firstly we see Joshua waking up and there is a clock next to him with the time 11.59, the shots is still for a few seconds and then the alarm goes off for 12:00 and Joshua wakes up walking past the camera into the bathroom. The camera is stationary in this and is at shoulder level. Next the semi diegectic sound of a shower is present and the camera is still in the same place. The mise en scene represents the character Joshua as being normal teenager going through a normal life, the camera is still to represent this.

Storyboards

Characters

Joshua:

Age-17

Ethnicity- White British

Relationship- Sleeping with Ciara.

Costume- Black Harrington on a grey zip up with blue jeans and white Reebok Hightops.

Actor- Walter Righton

Ciara:

Age-16

Ethnicity- White Irish

Relationship- Sleeping with Joshua. Seamus’ younger sister.

Costume-

Actor-

Seamus:

Age-18

Ethnicity- White Irish

Relationship- Best friends with Scott & Adrain. Ciara’s older brother.

Costume-  Red shirt on a Black pullover hoodie and trackies with Reebok Sir Jams

Actor- Jordan Goff

Scott:

Age-18

Ethnicity- White British

Relationship- Best friends with Seamus & Joey

Costume- Black crewneck and blue cotton trackies with a brown beanie and Vans

Actor- Aaron Morey

Adrian:

Age-18

Ethnicity-White British

Relationship- Best friends with Seamus & Scott.

Costume- Grey crew neck and black trackies with a black beanie

Actor- Joey Helsby

12 Hours Storyline

12 Hours Storyline

Introduction – Joshua leaves his house. However, he is being followed by Snake and Smithy he enters an alleyway where he is confronted by Seamus Keane. He try to run but is stopped by snake and smithy, he then proceeds to be knocked out. Cut to Black.
Time now goes back to 12 hours earlier (12pm) were we find Joshua and Sybil Keane in bed. Joshua goes to have a shower walks down stairs makes breakfast. Sees a note from his Mum saying she has gone away.
Joshua goes to the football match with a few of his mates and invites people to his house for later. We are also introduced to Joshua’s love interest called, Sandra.
Joshua’s friends come over and as does Sandra and a few of her mates including Sybil .
Sandra walks in on Sybil and Joshua getting off. Sandra runs off and Sybil follows since they are best friends. Sybil goes home and speaks to her brother, Seamus.
Everyone is getting on well and they get very drunk however they run out of beers and Joshua goes to get some from the local shop and keeps trying to get in touch with Sybil, its roughly 11:55 at this point.
Once he leaves the house Joshua is found by a fuming Seamus who wishes to beat up Joshua. Its 12.... and 12 hours since noon. Were back at the beginning.

Relating films opening to our own idea

Setting: The setting of this opening is at a school, where we see lots going on. This represents to the viewer that the film is going to be about school children and very lively. The setting is in a wide open space which denotes thats the characters are quite open about themselves. I think that the director has chosen to do this to show the viewer the nature and the personality of the character involved. However using this setting we dont get a sense of what kind of character they are. Since the setting is at a school, the viewer quickly sees that they are school kids.

Camera shots: Lots of mid shots used to get a perspective of what friendship groups are apparent, the director has chosen to do this to show the viewer which characters you expect to be friends because that is very important in youth films. We see the first close up of a boy using a drill on a gun (trevor) this is the first close up because he is the main character in the film. In our film opening, we do something similiar however we don't introduce any character before the main character. He is given the first close up though.

Camera movement: The camera moves lots in between mid shots in the opening sequence of kidulthood, the director might of chosen to do this so that it represent the busy lives of youths and how fast they live their lives. The camera is pan between groups extremely quickly and is never stationary. Firstly it moves to look at the two girls in the scene and quickly onto another couple of girls, this contrast between the two. The camera continues to pan between a series groups then cuts to someone doing some work on a gun in a classroom. All of the movement and the cuts denote to the viewer that the people involved are typical teenagers and gets the point of the film over to viewer easily. The camera is always panning between groups and then zooming into the group. This gives a the viewer the a better idea of who the main characters are because since it is set in a school there a lots of people involved therefore its a good way to get across who the main character are. By zooming into them it establishes who is who. In our task the camera doesn't move atall.

Relating films opening to our own idea

Between 1.56 and 2.50

Setting: The narrative is explained by the setting because its in a tunnel where a man is getting beaten up. He has blood all over his face. This setting explains that the story is going to be about fighting and hooligans. Since the man is on the floor this puts none of the focus on the setting, all we can see is that is it dark and all the light is on the person on the floor. We get the feeling this is set in some kind of tunnel because we see some light but not much. I think that the director has chosen to use this type of setting to represent th nature of the man and the nature of what he is involved in. It could also be used to represent that this man has no chance of getting out of what he is gotten into by the light and the tunnel.

Lighting: The light is very dark and dull because it represents how doomed this person is who is getting beaten up . The lighting is all on his face and the blood stands out this establishing that the narrative is going to be very violent. In the next scene we seen the man standing out by the use of lighting, he isnt wearing the most colourful clothes but the blurriness of background presents the foreground very well and denotes that the story is going to be about this man. The lighting is used to make the audience aware of what is going on and takes them into a world of football violence and its denoted by the darkness.

Choice of shot: Extreme close up, this use of shot focuses purely on this man and gets the image of him into the mind of viewer. Next, the camera zooms into the mans face, this establishes that the story line is going to be about this man and puts the viewer into his head. The camera dissolves to the next shot in a complete comparative view to the last he is walking down the street looking very happy and everything else is blurred out so that represents to the viewer that the story is going to be about him. This is a very easy technique to use to get the viewer to know who the main character is. In our production we have just used close ups to mark down who the main character is.

The choice of clothing that the man on the floor wears again represents the type of genre of the film. he is wearing a big coat in both scenes the denotes the character of football hooligans and shows the viewer what kind of a person he is. After the black-out  the contrast between the three people in the scene captures three completely different characters. This suggests to the viewer that hooligans are completely different from everyone else.


This type of film opening is relevant to our because of many reasons, one the storyline is very similar ours starts of as a man getting beaten up and then is explained later. Also in this film its very similar if not the same, the man gets beaten up and then the narrator (himself) sets the scene for why he gets beaten up. This can relate to our film very easily. Another reason why it relates to our opening is because its shares very similar genre's: Violence, action and crime.

Within this sequence we don't see any narrative arch's appearing because we have only met one character. However we know that this man is going to to involved heavily in football violence. The voice over explain this clearly and explains that it is what he wants to do. This leaves the narrative arch's open to be developed within the rest of the film. Compared to our opening, we don't see clearly that there are arch's present however we get the sense of one from when the man is confronted by three other people. The character arch is clearly represented.

Relating films opening to our own idea

Protagonist

"one who plays the first part, chief actor"
Protagonist is the main character, it who the plot revolves around. The terms protagonist, main character and hero are variously defined and, depending on the source, may denote different concepts. In fiction, the story of the protagonist may be told from the perspective of a different character. An example would be a narrator who relates the fate of several protagonists, perhaps as prominent figures recalled in a biographical perspective. Often, the protagonist in a narrative is also the same person as the focal character, though the two terms are distinct. Excitement and intrigue alone is what the audience feels toward a focal character, while a sense of empathy about the character's objectives and emotions is what the audience feels toward the protagonist. Although the protagonist is often referred to as the "good guy", it is entirely possible for a story's protagonist to be the clear villain, or antihero, of the piece. 
Their aim: After all, the eventual aim of the protagonist is to find a means to die, an aim that requires some fairly serious motivation. It is usually an active aim which is fulfilled with time.


Antagonist force: The antagonist is the character of a story who represents the opposition against which the heroes and/or protagonists must contend. In the classic style of story wherein the action consists of a hero fighting a villain, the two can be regarded as protagonist and antagonist, respectively. However, authors have often created more complex situations. In some instances, the story is told from the villain's point of view; in such a story, we must regard the hero as the chief antagonist of the story!