Evaluation Part 5

If I had to say that my media project represented a particular social group, I would say that it represented government vigilantes, I say this because the main character is an activist who breaks into a government facility so he can steal a disk with the confidential information of millions of people on it.

The main character of our film is a government vigilante, to represent his character accurate we made sure that his face is never seen in the entire opening scenes, his body is always covered including his hands this brings and air of mystery to the character; another tool I used to represent him as a vigilante was his choice of vehicle which in this case is a motorcycle which means he is able to make quick getaways from places he shouldn't be such as government compounds.

As our story is based around a secure government facility we tried to represent it as accurate as possible by using certain props, an example of this is when the disk is stolen of a desk which has a black computer sitting on it, this makes the location look like an officials office.

The main theme that has been represented throughout my media project is activism and vigilantes, in my opinion we have done a good job representing this by using shady characters who's face you never see as well as a variety of locations and fast vehicles that are infamous with illegal activist activity.

One of the key goals during our project was to represent realism throughout the film, one of the ways we did this was by making a realistic pursuit scene on a motorcycle that was not jammed packed with unrealistic effects and dangerous driving. Another way we created realism was in the way we portrayed characters, our main character wore motorbike clothing while doing vigilante work and did not use any “specialist” tools. Overall I would say there was nothing unrealistic about our film.

Evaluation Section 4

The audience of my media product would most likely be An audience who enjoyed watching independent films such as other people who were studying media either at an a level or degree level. To attract my chosen audience we made sure that we did not follow the conventions of a standard cinema worthy thriller film, one of the things that we did to get the independent feel was to film it in black white as well as having no real dialogue.

We responded to our initial brief by setting certain limits of things we would and wouldn’t do when it came to filming, we decided not to film at a conventional thriller level instead incorporating different filming styles that are associated with indie film culture.

One of the main ways we researched our film was handing out questionnaires to other members of our class and year, we made sure that questions we choose were inline with the genre that we had chosen. Overall we handed out twenty questionnaires to our audience. Once we collected in the questionnaires we analysed the data on them and made sure we followed the opinions of people collectively to film something that would appeal to the audience that we gave questionnaires to.

When filming and editing our project we made sure that we made it clear to the audience the films meaning. One of the main techniques we used was filming in colour and then changing it to black and white we did this to show that the film had a dark story to tell, we also made sure that the scenes changes and transitions were in linear order so that the audience could follow the action in real time leaving no confusion of what might be happening. We also made sure that the characters costume was in view during the first scene so that the audience were aware that the character stealing the disk was the vigilante motorcyclist who later drives away.

When planning the film we made sure that we kept the dark aspect of the film and it story in the audience’s minds all the time, one of the ways we did this was by using a dark soundtrack to set the scene. When rehearsing the scenes particularly the motorbike scène I made sure that my riding style on the motorbike was exarsparitated and erratic.

We edited the film with our primary audience in mind and made sure that we followed the indie film genre tightly.

When we trialled the film to our classmates we generally had positive feedback and people agreed the film had a certain indie feel to it. We did have some negative comments, these comments were mainly about some of the motorbike films which some members of the class found to long. With feedback in hand we edited the film and improved the length of the motorbike scenes and made sure they were shorter and more concise so they would entertain the audience with the fast paced action and not make the audience loose there attention. In my opinion I do not think that people from different cultures could interpret the opening scence of our film differently to someone of a British upbringing.

Evaluation Section 3

While filming my media project I learnt a lot about the technologies that are involved in producing a film, one the biggest aspects of technology was that I learn about was how to use a video camera, it took me quite awhile to learn all the functions of the digital camera but once it did not take me long to master them all, the camera that we decided to use was a school film camera that used miniDV video tapes; the camera had many functions such as the aspect ratio that you filmed in and the quality of the captured video, one the main functions that I used was the zoom function.

As well as the camera features discussed above there were quite a few creative features that you could use on the camera, such as the ability to set the camera to film in black and white or monochrome rather than colour.

We did not use an external microphone as the camera had an inbuilt one, the sound quality was fairly good but you could hear the sound of the tape being recorded on to, so we made sure we turned down some of the captured media when it came to editing the project itself. If it was possible we would have probably used external microphone equipment to capture the engine sounds of the motorbike as they were not picked up by the inbuilt microphone very well.

As most of our media project was filmed outside we had no real need for artificial lighting as we made sure that we filmed at times of day would be suitable for the feel of are film, If our film had a bigger budget we would have probably decided to use artificial lighting.

Overall none of the equipment that we used was very close to industry standard gear, the camera we used had an inbuilt microphone and the quality of the film that was captured was not great, I think that our film cold have been improved if we used a better quality camera such as a high definition one.

To edit our film we used I movie HD which is the software that you find on Mac computers, when using the software I learn a lot about using different features in the software creatively. One of the main creative features that we used in IMovie HD was the ability to add transitions to join scenes together, we also used another creative feature in the software to turn the film from colour to black and white which gave the film the feel that we were looking for.

Overall the software we used helped our creative sides and gave us the desired result and product, the only barrier that we met when making the film was problems when upload the raw video that we had captured to the computer, fortunately I was able to source the problem and then correct it.

Evaluation Part 2

The kind of media institution that might distribute our film would most likely be an independent film retailer, they would most likely release the film because even though it is in the action thriller it does have some key differences such as being in black and white and having no real dialogue, this would not be the sort of film that would be released in a main stream cinema due to the differences discussed above.

We managed the group dynamics by making sure that everyone in the group had a specific job to do; We made sure that all the equipment and resources were on site during the days which we were filming so that we would always be ready if we needed to re-film or film a new scene.

Overall as a group we tried to take health and safety into consideration as much as possible without jeopardising our filming, one of the main concepts of our film is a “high speed” motorbike scene, when filming this scene we had to make sure that the camera was securely attached to the back of the bike so that no road traffic accident would be caused. Another example of health and safety considerations was the motorbike safety gear that was worn during the filming of the scene, this gear involved a jacket, helmet and gloves, we used this in our film to add mystery to the character as the helmet always obscures his face.

We organised the human resources so that all work was equally done by each member of the team. Before we started the coursework we all choose a specific task that we wanted to do. One of my main tasks was making sure that the costume list and film story was completed for a certain deadline, I also helped supply some of the camera gear that we decided we did not want to use.

As a group we managed the actors, locations, costumes and props we did this to make sure that the project ran smoothly. We deliberately made sure that we had a small number of actors.

One creative decision we made was to use a very small number of props, one of the reasons we did this was so the attention would not be taken away form the actors and the storyline, so instead of using lots of small props we decided to use a big prop to capture the audiences attention. The prop we choose was a motorbike.

When we were filming we made sure that we stuck to what was on our storyboard so that we would get the depth of film we were looking for, it was a good decision to do a detailed storyboard in colour; when we were shooting are scenes we would often look at our storyboard to make sure we had followed it. Our film has no real dialogue so we did not have to worry about following a script, this made it easier film.

As time management in an important aspect of filming we tried to make sure that we stuck to filming scenes in chunks, as we have double media lessons we decided to film a scène before break and a scene after break by using this method we finished the filming on time and used the left over time to edit and produce the movie to the standards that we wanted, overall we found that sticking to the time guide meant our film was finished to high standard with everything we expected.

Evaluation Part 1

At a micro level we edited the film and made sure that we constantly observed what we were doing and were it would get us, We decided to do lots of long driving shot to show an extended driving time this made the film flow from science to scene with and show our audience that some time had passed between the two events this was one of our films main aims. In separate scenes we also had shots that cut quickly. Our film had a linear plot, we choose this because of a thriller film that we had watched and we decided that we like it and would like to use the same filming and editing style.

As our film is fairly dramatic and dark we decided to have very little dialogue and use a song from and unsigned band instead, the song that we choose to use matched the scenes that were in our film; at certain points during the film when the motorbike is going down the road at speed the song matches this in temp and adds to the atmosphere of the film and helps the audience empathise with the main character. The main structure of our film takes our audience on a journey of mystery especially as you do not see main characters face throughout the film, this creates even more jagged atmosphere.

During the production of our some we did make a few mistakes. The worst of these mistakes was on our last day of filming when the main prop which was a motorbike broke down due to the chain coming of the back of it, this kind of helped us as the next time we filmed we made sure that all our props were fully working and in the right condition. One other mistake we made was forgetting some of the scenes that we had to film this was because one of us accidentally left our media folder at home this mistake cost us two hours worth of filming and preparation. Our preliminary task did help us when it came to filming because we knew which shot angles we needed and we also knew how to film them, this made the filming itself a fairly easy task once we knew what we were doing and understood the basics.

At a Macro level we made sure that our film tightly followed the action thriller genre, our films shows the audience the quick moving and fast paced action on a motorbike in a variety of different locations such as a secluded office were a disk is stolen with confidential information on it. Even though there is not much dialogue in the film itself we made sure that our characters acted accordingly to the genre, a key example of this is our main character who’s face you never see throughout the entire film as it is always covered with a helmet or hoody. The film itself lives up to my expectations of what a film in this genre should be like as it draws the audiences attention and keeps it throughout the entire showing, the main character of the film is portrayed as a “bad man” vigilante. One of the main ways we challenged the genre was by shooting the entire film in black and white to give it a “film nior” feel this makes it quite different from the average thriller film that you would see in the cinema. There were no real direct references to other films as I wanted to make it feel a bit indie, but if I had to compare it to something I would compare it to 24 as there are many fast paced scenes that involve vehicles.

Researching Genre

Researching Genre

Task 1

I am working with a group of two other people called Rebecca and Lucy who also researching films that are in the thriller genre. We all bring different things to our group.
Task 2

We have made a group decision to study the thriller genre, this is because it is a versatile genre that involves many different types of movies, but its dictionary definition is “Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, television, and gaming that includes numerous and often overlapping sub-genres”
Task 3

The film that I have chosen to look at it in the thriller genre is a film called Spirited Away, Spirited away is one of the most popular Japanese films of all time which has had also had a big success in the western market. The film itself concentrates on a character known as Chihiro who is a ten year old girl whos parents have decided to move to a new house far away from her old residence, as they are driving to there new house Chihiros farther decides to take a short cut and on doing this they end up outside a mysterious entrance that Chihiros father and mother are eager to explore unlike Chihiro who just wants to stay in the car.

While visiting this new place which Chirios father thinks is an old theme park they come across tables and tables of food which they cant stop eating; While they are eating Chihiro decides to go off and explore the place herself on her return she has found her parents have been turned into pigs. They are captured and throughout the rest of the film it is Chirios job to find them with the help form Haku.

Spirited away is a one of a kind thriller as it is animated and has a very strange story line that is based around Japanese culture.

The three main characters that I shall be writing about are Chihiro, Haku and Yubaba. Chihiro is a ten year old girl who is the heroine of the story who is desperate to rescue her parents. Haku is a teenage male who works for Yubaba, he helps Chihiro find her parents. Yubaba is the evil witch who employs Haku and has captured Chihiros parents.

Because spirited away is an animated film the characters are not acted out by anyone but do have voice overs provided by them. The character Chihiro is played by Daveigh Elizabeth Chase, Haku is played by Jason Marsden and Yubaba is played by Suzanne Pleshette.

The Film Industry: Warner Bros

Warner Bros is one of the biggest film production companies and is a subsidiary of warner time. It is also one of the most recognized brands in the world and has an operating income of 845 million dollars per anum. The headquarters are located in Burbank, Calfornia aswell as New York City. It was founded in 1918 by a number of Jewish migrants who had traveled from Poland with a dream. Clint Eastwood is a face that is often associated with the company.

Warner Bros was one of the first studos to start making talking pictures which are films that have audio such as dialogue.

The Warner Bros website has around sevcen different categories that include, Games, Televison and Movies, when clicking the links you can find more detailed information about the selected subject.

Warner Bros own the rights to the following films:

The Star

Mr. Wonderful

Watership Down

Seasame Street

Days of Disco

Pokemon

Warner Bros also produced some of the biggest hit movies including Harry Potter, Oceans 11 aswell as the matrix trilogies.

The Warner Bros studies are some of the biggest in the world, they take up 20,000 square meteres of space, which is hudge considering the original studio was built on farmland in 1926, the Warner Bros studios themselves have 35 Sound Stages aswell as different studoes for different kinds of productions. The largest building on the set is stage 16.

Memento - Film Introduction Evaluation/Review

Watching the film Memento allowed to look at the non-linear media editing. Watching the film also allows me to understand how directors such as Christopher Nolan captures the audiences attention and takes them on a journey that they will remember.

Memento is filmed in a non linear style, this means that there are two alternating scences in sequences, one set of the scenes is in black and white and other in colour. The two parts of the film come together at the end and suprises the audience with a twist.

The story is based around Lenoard Shelby who has a disesease which means he forgets all his recents memories such as sights, sounds and smells. The opening scene of the film is a man holding photograph in his hand in which the camera has zoomed into, he is quickly shaking the photo to make it develop, as the photo develops a man removes a glock pistol and shoots his victim, the film potrays this victim as some sort of enemy; After the killing is finished the scene rewinds and you then release that the picture was actually overdeveloping rather than developing, this really makes the audience think and lets them know that they are in for a serious thriller that will take thought and vigilance to keep up with.

On the opening scene of the film a narrated scene starts, Leonard is in the hotel room and he finds instructions to shave a part of his body and tatto vital information from the previous day onto it.

From reading various sources online it is clear that the director "Christopher Nolan" made great attempts to inc operate very basic special effects in the film to grip the audience. Lighting, sound effects, clever dialogue and mise on scene make it a fantastic film.