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

Overall what was successful about your preliminary task ?


     

Creativity- The scenario that I had to work to was a character opens a door, crosses a room and sits down in a chair opposite another character, then the character will make a few exchanges of conversation/dialogue. My scenario that me and my partner worked to was an smoking addict and a councillor.The smoking addict had an appointment to see her councillor in a polyclinic. Our idea which we had adapted from the brief was unique and creative as our locations that we recorded in where out of the box as typically everyone shoots their task in school but me and my partner wanted to be different by having one of our locations being at Loxford Polyclinic in Barking, my partners house in Goodmayes and the school Chadwell Heath Academy. At 0:12 you see the Polyclinic. 

Digital Technology- We had used a digital camera to shoot the task, we were able to make sure we had used all the appropriate media camera language in our task such as rules of thirds, 180 degree rule, match on action and shot reverse shot. This was very successful as we had included all of these key media language skills into our task. A strength of our exercise was that we were able to included all the shots we needed at 0:24 we show a match on action 

 rule of thirds at 0:43.

Rules of third in opening sequence 

Planning- 

On the film I was making, I worked with Jaya, our group was successful as we both had good skills including acting to bring to this project, we had individual skills which we could make use of in the film, such operating the camera and directing. We developed the scenario by thinking of a unique idea, instead of a commonly used one. To bring us to this idea we brain stormed ideas onto a piece of paper and decided which one would be more realistic to shoot within a given time period and how we can include the key media language skills into it. In class we had also watched videos on YouTube which showed us the rules of third or a match on action etc 

 For part of our research we had created storyboards which was quite useful as it was a guide to how and what shots we would film. It reminded us how to film the shots and the positioning of the camera if it should be pan or tilt. As we filmed we changed around a couple of shots, for example the long shot we change to an establishing shot and we also added shots in, for example we added a over shoulder shot so that we can see the opposite person's reaction. As well as that we added close ups, so you could see the persons facial expression or a specific part of someone this gives you information of the person maybe feeling. We used a variety of shots including high angle, low angle, establishing shot and so on. The storyboard was basically a draft and we could find areas of our film which we would improve or drop. 

The parts that were unsuccessful of this task was that I wasn't able to increase my knowledge of editing on Imovie I feel as if I didn't get properly demonstrated to edit and I had never edited before so it was all new whilst on the other hand it was familiar to my peers. Our time management during the production was weak as we had forgotten to take the camera home for the weekend so we had only little time to shoot everything to a certain standard before the deadline. I feel that because my editing skills were not sharp that if they were the task would of been more better. The acting I wasn't too proud of but I feel in my open sequence that the acting has improved. 

I have developed my skills through out the main coursework as I have been able to edit more efficiently as I have gained experience from doing this exercise. There is a contrast in editing and acting between our film, acting is important as it enhances the verisimilitude. By doing editing exercises I have developed my editing skills and i don't find it too complicated anymore. 

My targets for the next year would be to be able to manage time more better instead of leaving all my work to the last minute and to be able to edit more precisely if I do anymore editing exercises and develop on my media language skills.  

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

Vox pop- 

Credits created on LiveType from Da Font.

Evaluation- How did you attract/address your audience?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our film we had represented the working class as conforming to typical stereo types that shows how the working class are portrayed the younger generation of the working class. The characters in our film are teenagers we had used dominant ideologies of them such as being rebellious and having an attitude as Jade in our film is represented of having an attitude this was established through a shot reverse shot which consisted of dialogue she says ' you know what I don't need this' she doesn't answer the question and responds as if she is not bothered as most teenagers are. 

Our film only shows two females and one male, the two females Jade and Becca who you see towards the ending of the open sequence is denoted as strong at first and with an attitude but as the film progresses we see that she is not strong but vulnerable and weak as she is abused as it is implicated she is abused violently by her boyfriend Dan. Again here we conformed to dominant stereotypes of women being weak and less dominant in comparison to males. 

Mise en scene- Through the conventional mise en scene of a British Social Realism film were able to represent the social groups of the working class and teenagers. The costumes that the characters wore were cheap, not glamourous and plain as denoted. This connotes to the audience that they may not be able to afford more extravagant clothes as they don't possess the money afford better clothes. The colours of the costumes are black which is a miserable dark colour which could connote to the audience that the characters are hiding something. We had also used conventional locations that would be used for a BSR setting, are opening sequence was set in Forest Gate in an estate which is quiet iconic as in BSR an estate is a home for one of the characters in films such as 'Kidulthood' and 'Fish Tank', where the main characters live. 

Expressionism- The lighting in the opening sequence is low key and artificial as we were inside this lighting worked best with the situation. This lighting reflects the mood and atmosphere of our film and the characters the lighting was low key and the characters are miserable because they live a sad mundane life. The lighting is low key throughout our production, the low light showed shadows and therefore this made the situation more dramatic and created enigma and mystery this gave of a very negative representation. In contrast tob high key bright light which gives of an positive representation of the characters and situation. In addition to this the lighting can also reflect British weather of being cold rainy and miserable as it typically is it reinforces the dominant ideology of rubbish British weather. The colour design we had used was grey and dull to represent British peoples life, no success just failures. 

Sound- The sound in our film represented the working class as the diegetic sound was very important to portray  our themes to the audience they were able to understand what is happening through the noise from behind the door the audience can connote what is happening that Jade is being abused by her boyfriend, Jade was crying out in pain and saying 'No !'. Through the dialogue at 0:51 in our film the audience can establish the relationship between Jade and Dan, through the shot reverse shot we were able to see who is the most dominant character in the relationship. This represented teenagers as being agressive and angry. The soundtrack in our film was originally composed to enhance the emotional tone for the film, as depressing and sad which could connote to the audience something bad may happen, however the soundtrack does not build up to any key moments in the film to give not give anything away. We had also used synchronous sound whilst becca is banging on the door to create verisimilitude. 

Editing-  We had decided to use continuity editing to enhance the verisimilitude as the themes that are established in our film our serious and realistic the continuity editing was vital it would make the situation more accurat and believable. We had used a jump cut in our film at 1:50 to speed up time and to show the character has a confused state of mind. Also we had used a dissolve as a transition to show the next scene and to show that the day is over, a match on action was used at the end and this also showed the contrast between the two areas, which strengthened the verisimilitude which most BSR use. We had also used cross-cutting to build up tension and show suspense. 

Camera- We had used a range of shots, mide shots, close ups which represented each characters mood, for instance we had used a close up on Becca's face, from her expression we could tell that she was upset and scared and confused also it could implicate that she was depressed as most teenagers are at this age she was troubled. We had used a tilt to on Becca to show the characters position and her body language which could connote the audience how she is feeling. We had used a hand held postion for the camera to create a rough jerky look and a sense of disorientation. At the start of the film we see Jade walking up the stairs to the flat this was a high angle shot to present Jade as weak and vulnerable as she actually is in the film. 

Typography- Our film contained a lot of graphics which consists of the cast and crew, we had looking at some BSR credits and tried to apply the right amount or a rough amount of credits that they had. For the film Tyrannosaur they had all the actors names in order of their role in the film, which is what we had done for our production. We had followed the conventions of BSR films and included the production companies first and then the director. 

the protagonist

In Bullet Boy they had done the same idea of the actors who play the most important role at the start. 

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

What impact did the media institution Film4 have on each production stage and why?

Evaluation- Who would be the audience for your product?

Evaluation- Brief

What breif were you working to?
The brief that I was working to was that I had been approached by Film 4 to produce a British Social Realism film aimed at British 16-24 year olds. Me and my partner had to produce the first 2 minutes of the film so the opening sequenece, we had to use music, graphics and editing to the conventions of BSR genres and we had to reflect their ethos. In addition to this we had to meet the Film 4s audeince which are niche and satisfy their expectations. Lastly as BSR films have low budgets we then had to apply this to our films and keep cost low all the matrial used in the filmed must be original with excpetion of stock sound effects.

As soon the opening sequence begins our own composed non-diegetic soundtrack plays subtly in the background so that it doesn't take the auidience away from action in the film, this meets the BSR codes and conventions as the style of the music enhanced an emotional tone for the film. It was used to suit the characters feelings and emotions as it was depressing and low key. The music didn't give anything away about what would happen in the next scene, it wouldn't build up to a climax. We had met the brief as our music gives an emotional tone to the film and uses the music conventions of BSR films such as in Tyrannosaur (2011)in the opening sequence at 0:24. Most BSR films music suits the characters and settings, they characters would be associated with the certain type of music its what they may listen to. For instance the film Kidulthood (2006) the non diegetic soundtrack and the diegetic music would be music that the characters are familiar with. At 1:05:21 the music the non diegetic music that starts paying explains my point about the music suiting the characters and urban locations for kidulthood. In addition to this in the opening sequence of This is England (2008) the song that was played was by a popular band in that era called Toots & The Maytals, at 0:05 in this would be the type of music that the characters listen to, well the good skin heads.

Our film establishes BSR themes such as poverty specifically at 0:13-0:17 into our opening sequence,
where we see one of the chraracters Jade walking up the stairs to her flat.

 Through the conventional mise en scence in this scene the audience can establish the theme of poverty and that our film is based on people of the working class as BSR films tend to represent and refer to the working class. The audience denote the planks of wood that covers the window at the corner which may be acting as curtain to cover the light or to secure the window, and the carpet is aslo very dirty which represents the unvarnished look that BSR keep to, such as in 'Fish Tank' or 'Looking For Eric'. Through the costumes our characters wear also implicate poverty as they are cheap and not glamourous. Dan wears a black jumper with black tracksuit bottoms and Jade wears black tracksuit bottoms with a black top. Our film also establishes the theme of domestic violence at 1:02 in the opening sequence as Dan follows Jade out of the kitchen in an aggressive way and he grabs her which makes the audience instantly aware of the violence and forces her into the bedroom.

The theme was portrayed in an angry way as Dan is angry at Jade, this scene was dramatic so it grabs the audiences attention. BSR establish domestic violence theme in a more voilent uncomfortable way to create enigma and give the active audience an uncomfortable reaction such as in 'Nil by Mouth" (1997). At 2:06 we see Ray throw an object at his wife Val this connotes to the audience that the argument the couple are having may lead to violence as it actually does that. For this scene they had chosen not show the violence so you can hear it which creates enigma and the active audience then can imagine what is happening.

This is in comparison to our film where you actually cannot see the violence you see implications of the abuse but not what is happening such as hearing the Jade cry out in pain see this specifically at 1:21. This relates to BSR niche audiences as they are active so they create their own mental image of our domestic violent scene as you cannot denote anything in reference to the brief we satisfied the niche audiences expectations. Our themes contrast from the way BSR films have established their themes as for instance the way we represented domestic abuse was not as hard hitting and powerful as Nil by Mouth which actually shows Ray actions Val. Where as in our film we don't show any of the characters. However in both films Nil by Mouth and our film Unexpected they both show a girl who witnesses the event but cannot do anything about the situation Becca in our film listens to what is happening and becomes powerless.

The BSR genre that we had reflected in our film from their ethos was to use unknown characters that can relate to the struggles of British life poverty which is common in the working class life. Our film is a kitchen sink drama as it shows the hardship British life through our themes we portray poverty, domestic violence and being powerless as social realism uses this genre they either use urban dramas or kitchen sink dramas such as 'Bullet Boy' (2004) which is about a family involved in crime in east London which is a urban area. Our film is located in Forest Gate which is also an urban area. All the sound effects in the film matches the BSR conventions as they are original material which keep cost at a low level as all BSR have low budgets.

Explain the title and what happens in your opening sequence? 

In our open sequence we see Jade and Dan who are boyfriend and girlfriend living in a run down flat, Jade is coming into the flat from going out somewhere and she goes into the kitchen to talk to Dan who gets angry and physical with her in a violent way. We then see Becca the protagonist come out and try to get into the room but she cannot she endures the sound of her best friend being abused and cannot do anything about it. Our opening sequence sets up the rest of our film as we establish the themes of the film and understand the content which it consist of we can identify the situations of the characters however in our film Becca then becomes influenced by the violence that she witnesses and starts to use it against her boyfriend Callum who we see later in the film. We also had an smash mouth opening to really grab the audiences attention such as in 'London To Brighton' She then becomes the dominant figure in the relationship when typically BSR films always use the man to be the abuser but for our film we have flipped the domestic violence world around. Our title refers to the plot of our film, it is called 'Unexpected' because stereo typically the male figure always abuses the female in the relationship but we have turned it around challenged the dominant ideology to an emergent ideology. The film reveals what you wouldn't expect hence why it is called 'Unexpected'. This then relates to title as the female being an dominant character and the male being vulnerable, which is not common in BSR films. Our treatment shows the narrative of the story.

In BSR films the title of their films connote to the audience the main plot of the film as our film did, in films such as 'Fish Tank' it shows Mia being trapped and struggling to escape hence the title Fish Tank as your are trapped. However some films such as 'Trainspotting' may not have any relevance to the film it may have a deep meaning which will make the active audience question it and interpret their own meanings where as our film titles meaning is quiet obvious.

Production Log 9

For this week me and my partner had started to put all scenes together for our film, we had face an important issue that I our ending could be improved on the last week of production we had gone down to Forest Gate again to do last minute shooting in the estate flat which involved us shooting with our protagonist. We basically shot when Becca was outside the room banging on the door an extended it longer and we also included various angles that we could shoot becca from.
Another last minute issue we had to sort out was putting the diegetic sound over the credits which would make it more effective as the credits lasted long we wanted to make the audience feel they haven't been take away from the film. In addition to this me and my partner were given a voice recorder so we could record sounds of Jade being abused this strengthened the verisimilitude so we were glad we were given this advice from our mentor. Another issue we had to address was the credits, we had to add more credits into the film as our sequence was not long enough we had did this but i still regret not making the film long enough to use credits that appear on the scene with the character instead of appearing separately.

We had taken all audience feedback into account, improving our acting, which we had achieved, creating music that matched the film we had achieved, we had also included all the continuity editing to make the film flow. If you look at the draft and contrast it to the actual film you will see the difference in acting an editing and the sound and mise en scene.

Draft she is laughing not realistic 

Real opening sequence she is serious and not laughing as this is an important theme that we are representing. 

Production Log 8

This week we had received all the feedback from our drafts and began to take into account what our peers had responded. Most of the feedback was that are actors were rubbish and that the story line did not make any sense, also we had no continuity editing such as match on action, eye-line match etc which was vital to make the film more realistic and to increase the verisimilitude as BSR tend do. This was also very important as our themes have to come across serious and harsh and extreme as these were comments made by our target audience from our Vox pop.

Me and partner had carried on with creating the graphics and getting them ready to put onto IMovie once our sequence is completed. We had to change the graphics as we had changed the cast members and add the the jobs that the different crew members undertook. An important feedback we had received from our teacher and mentor was that the mum did not look like a mum so we had to then think of ways to change that issue. We had also continued with composing the soundtrack and creating various pieces of music that would match perfectly with our production.

We had altered the shooting script and treatment and narrative shape our new storyline, of still consisting of the smash mouth opening but later on into the sequence, we were able to recreate new ideas and think through all the shots we would include and we would achieve them. Me and partner had brainstormed ideas that would make the production more better such we tried out a number of shots between one another at different angles to see if there would a possibility of using that shot or angle in our film.

Production Log 7

For this week we started filming our opening sequence but this was only a draft that was due in the following week so we could recievie constructed criticism and strengths of our film from our peers and our teacher. We had gone down to Forest Gate to film for our opening sequence however everything did not go according to plan, because we had never seen the flat before we were restricted to the certain shots we could as the flat was small and compact we could not achieve some of our shots we wanted, such as the smash mouth opening.

This was useful as we got pointed into the right direction to improve on our work. A key issue for our production was that when we had edited our film we decided to change the actors, some of the storyline and the shots we would use in the film. We had anticipated in consisting of a smash mouth opening in our film by having a close up and a low angle so you can just see the feet of the mother and father fighting. However once we had editing our draft into a full 2minute film it was terrible and we changed nearly everything except location and our protagonist Becca. We had to face a decision wether or not to replace our protagonist because she was not taking the acting seriously, the music was also a key issue as it didn't match the film very well as we had anticipated to be so therefore that we would have to compose a whole new soundtrack for the film.

We had did not just have to think about our production but we had to hand in all our pre-production research and planning which consisted of our Vox pop, meet my audience, shooting script, call sheets, treatment, location recies and the narrative, these were very important as they were acting as a guide for us to stick to in order for our production to be successful.

Unexpected- Opening sequence