Overall I think that our film came out really well. I think that we use a variety of quick shots and angles to entice the audience and keep them watching the film. The quality of the film is quite good, however after we filmed the clip where Jimmy gets beaten up, the quality level drops as it starts to get blurry and grainy due to the area we filmed in being very dark. In future we would consider lighting a bit more to make the overall quality of the film better.
I think that our story line was quite good, we wanted to portray the story of Jimmy; a former gang member who robbed the gang of their money and wanted to escape the country. Before he gets the chance to, he is kidnapped and taken to a their hideout before he is killed. I think that we portrayed this storyline quite well; the overall message of the story gets across to the audience.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
We researched thoroughly into action films and looked at how fast the shots were and how they blended in to the movie. We wanted to make two short scenes and put them together to provide a contrast between the chase scene and the interrogation scene. We done this with music, lighting techniques and the overall mood set between the two scenes. Our choice of music in the first scene was 'Vagabond – Greenskeepers' which was very upbeat and we blended this in with when the car which drives off. For the chase clip, we used the soundtrack 'Leave you far behind – by Lunatic Calm' which is a very high tempo and aggressive soundtrack. However, for the interrogation clip, we used Rorschach’s Theme from the movie 'The Watchmen' which had much more of a slow tempo to it and it builds up tension which we wanted to create for the film. The lighting of the interrogation scene is also very dark; we turned out all the lights apart from one spot light, this is a little bit like the Russian roulette scene from the film ‘The Deer Hunter'.
For our establishing shot, we used something similar to the James bond shot in 'Die Another Day'. We used this because we thought it would be quite useful in terms of setting the location. We developed on this even further by doing a very short montage of different shots. We done this by filming our establishing shot on top of a set of flats. We were high enough to cover a lot of the city center. Next we filmed a lower shot of cars driving by followed by a an sidewards shot of a building as we are zooming in. We then blended these shots in together which went quite well because the shots blend from a long shot to a zoomed in shot in the end.
The part of the film where Manny and Eddie are walking down the street is very similar to the walking scene at the start of the movie Reservoir dogs. We got a lot of inspiration from this film because the type of gangsters in Reservoir dogs are similar to how we wanted ours. I think that our walk clip came out quite well; we used a variety of different shots and slowed down the footage to make it resemble the 'Reservoir Dogs' walk scene more.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our media product represents particular social groups in a number of ways. Firstly the gangsters used in our film can be stereotypically classed as mafia gangsters. This is because they are wearing suits and look quite professional; they look like they know what they're doing. The suits make them look like they are higher class and look like they are fairly wealthy. However, we did add some ruthlessness and un-professionalism about them because they end up chasing the target jimmy on foot. This might not be as common in other mafia films as they are more likely to kidnap him straight away; they might not get a chance to run. We done this because we didn't want our film to be too stereotypical and we wanted to experiment with a chase scene. In addition, the costumes they had suits are also used in various other gangster films such as ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Reservoir Dogs’
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Our film 'Point Blank' would be much more likely to be distributed by a mainstream company as they would take more interest in as opposed to an independent distributors such as 'Caravan Film' or 'Coffee Films' . However, major production companies often distribute films from independent production companies anyway. The reason why our film is more likely to be distributed by a mainstream company is because the conventions that our film follows are very typical. These are highlighted in the main features of the film, such as the car which pulls up and that they are in suits. This is typically found in most gangster movies. Also the rough,urban setting intends to demonstrate to the audience the scale of ’the big city’ compared to the comparatively small matter of the storyline. It’s also demonstrated in the variety of shot types used, where we see the establishing shot of the city, and also various montage shots in the start of the film. There are also other features that include the stereotypical character types and the idea of gender domination where males dominate females in the film.
Our media product is likely to be distributed by major companies such as Universal Pictures or MGM because they tend to distribute a variety of different genres of films. On the other hand, film companies such as Miramax Films would distribute our product because they have released popular gangster titles such as 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Kill Bill'. Also people would be more likely to buy the film if is associated with a film company which specialises in the making of action films. This distributor has also a fairly good reputation.
One method of distribution which is now hugely popular is by using the video sharing websites such as YouTube which, due to its huge popularity amongst internet users and by being the most popular website of its type in the world, films can be spread on YouTube through advertisements on the site as well as posting trailer footage. In addition to this, a huge advantage of advertising on YouTube is that it’s completely free compared to paying traditional film distributors; this of course leaves the film-makers the opportunity to make a higher profit on the film. In addition, social-network sites such as 'Facebook', 'Twitter' and 'Myspace' are also an extremely effective method of film distribution. The main reason for this is their huge popularity amongst almost every age group.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our audience would be aimed at an older age (18-30)as the film has scenes of violence and it is not suitable for those of a younger age. We set this target audience due to many factors such as relating themselves to the characters and also identifying the setting. Firstly, the characters featured in our film are all portrayed to be men. An older audience could relate because there are men in the film, however it provides a more exciting and adventurous lifestyle for the audience watching. Also the film would generally appeal to males more than females due to the male dominance in the film.
In addition, the urban roads and streets give it more of a masculine feel. The location for when Jimmy is getting beaten up is quite dark and erie which adds to the manly feel. Throughout the scene you see big, imposing locations like the buildings and the gangs hideout where they torture Jimmy. This adds to the predominantly masculine feel to the film. There are many conventions which you would presumably find in gangster films. Things such as money, violence and weapons are some of the things you would usually come across in a film like this. Examples of films like this include 'The Godfather', 'Snatch', 'Scarface', 'Carlito's Way' and many more. We believe that films which hugely incorporate drug and weapon use and levels of violence will certainly appeal to this demographic because the audience may view these themes as exciting and extremely appealing.
The soundtrack we have used for our film would also appeal to this demographic. The long and erie soundtrack we used in the interrogation scene comes across as very tense and gives you the feeling that something significant is about to happen. This will appeal to our audience as the tension of the situation in the scene, this will further their levels of excitement and add to that a sense of anticipation for what is going to happen and how these themes and lifestyles, which they find exciting and appealing, will be emphasised and made to seem more exclusive and exciting by the tension of the soundtrack we used.
How did you attract/address your audience?
We used various techniques in attracting our target audience. We didn’t drift too far away from the conventions because we wanted our audience to be familiar with the conventions of an action film; this could benefit in a lot more people watching it. Because it was a film opening we wanted to make it as interesting as possible, so we used a variety of angles and shots to keep the audience entertained. In addition, the location we used was in the city center which is a very realistic for the audience. This would be a setting that all people of working class and above would view as accessible and within their reach and would give them the impression that as these characters are using these locations, and that the audience can have the opportunity to lead an exciting lifestyle and in a place that they can relate to.
In conclusion, we tried to make the film appealing to the audience by making various aspects of the misc en scene, such as the location and the characters themselves, seem like exciting characters but not to unrealistic to the audience so it still makes them believe that they can lead lifestyles as exotic and exciting as the ones seen in the film.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Before we were set with this task, my knowledge of digital media products in particular, was already quite broad and I was quite confident in using camera equipment and various editing software beforehand. In terms of using the camera, I knew most of the functions and settings. I believe that I’m now able to use certain features of the camera well to create good effects and moods in a film. These effects include varying the level of zoom on the characters or setting to create a sense of intimidation with longer shots or a sense of intimacy and possible tension of the close up shots. I have also learnt a large amount about of camera angles and tried to incorporate a wide range of camera angles in our film. I have also learnt about the different moods that can be portrayed in varying camera angles and we were particularly happy with point of view shot of the gang members at the end of the scene.
I have gained vital knowledge and experience from the process of using different technologies when constructing the product. I have used a variety of editing programs as well as using camera equipment and lighting techniques to construct the product. To film our movie I used a Samsung C19 digital camcorder which had its advantages and disadvantages. The camera was very light, durable and was easy to move around to different locations along with the tripod. However, the lens had problems as it kept going blurry unexpectedly when filming. In addition, we used a spotlight which drastically changed the film as we could make the interrogation scene seem more intimidating; we used the white coloured spotlight on Jimmy in the chair to make him stand out more and the red coloured spotlight for the first person montage at the end of the film.
I edited the film on the Apple Mac computers which wasn't too difficult because I had used the Macs to edit the preliminary task. The program I used to edit was called I-Movie 9 which was a fairly simple and basic editing software. It had a variety of settings and features which included effects templates which we used for our film. We used a 'Bleach Bypass' setting which darkened the film and reduced the colour in it. Overall this was a useful effect for our action movie.
In addition, the background music and sound effects was a job that James was mainly in charge of, this was due to his vast knowledge of music. He went through numorous songs trying to pick the right one to try and match the mood we were creating but in the end we came up with some decent soundtracks to include in our movie.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I think the thing I have learnt the most in terms of progression is thoroughly planning out the film. From the locations, to various drafts of the script, to the storyboard, these things made it a lot easier and less time consuming to film. For the preliminary task, our storyboard was quite brief compared to the main task and we didn't completely go by the script; some of the lines were improvised.
Because we filmed the same scene from different angles, I found it a lot harder to edit because the actors were saying slightly different things when we were filming it from different angles. A key thing we learnt was that for the preliminary task, I think that our interrogation scene was quite good and the "bleach effect" added to it. So when it came to doing the main task, we wanted to do something similar but expand on it and make it a lot more challenging to produce. Also things like props and costumes contributed to the realism of the film. The guns, costumes and the car benefited the overall appearance of a ‘gangster film’.
Audience Feedback
I think that our story line was quite good, we wanted to portray the story of Jimmy; a former gang member who robbed the gang of their money and wanted to escape the country. Before he gets the chance to, he is kidnapped and taken to a their hideout before he is killed. I think that we portrayed this storyline quite well; the overall message of the story gets across to the audience.
 |
| Eddie looking into the camera |
I think the best part of the movie is the point of view shot where the light is red instead of white to represent blood. By looking at the characters you can sense the hatred in their eyes as they stare at the camera. We made this part even more efective by blending the seperate clips of them staring at the camera in quick cuts to create a sense of lossing unconciousness. Also the way the characters walk up to the camera makes them look quite horrific as they stand there in the dark before moving towards the camera. Furthermore, when Jimmy puts the gun to the camera and the gun goes off, we immediatly use a flash of white to show this. This method has turned out to be very effective in our movie as the sudden white implies that the shot has been fired.
For the titles, we decided to have them right at the end because it went really well with the gunshot and the title makes a very bold statement when it slowly appears up in the black font.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
We researched thoroughly into action films and looked at how fast the shots were and how they blended in to the movie. We wanted to make two short scenes and put them together to provide a contrast between the chase scene and the interrogation scene. We done this with music, lighting techniques and the overall mood set between the two scenes. Our choice of music in the first scene was 'Vagabond – Greenskeepers' which was very upbeat and we blended this in with when the car which drives off. For the chase clip, we used the soundtrack 'Leave you far behind – by Lunatic Calm' which is a very high tempo and aggressive soundtrack. However, for the interrogation clip, we used Rorschach’s Theme from the movie 'The Watchmen' which had much more of a slow tempo to it and it builds up tension which we wanted to create for the film. The lighting of the interrogation scene is also very dark; we turned out all the lights apart from one spot light, this is a little bit like the Russian roulette scene from the film ‘The Deer Hunter'.
For our establishing shot, we used something similar to the James bond shot in 'Die Another Day'. We used this because we thought it would be quite useful in terms of setting the location. We developed on this even further by doing a very short montage of different shots. We done this by filming our establishing shot on top of a set of flats. We were high enough to cover a lot of the city center. Next we filmed a lower shot of cars driving by followed by a an sidewards shot of a building as we are zooming in. We then blended these shots in together which went quite well because the shots blend from a long shot to a zoomed in shot in the end.
 | ||
| Manny and Eddie walk scene |
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
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| Gang members |
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
 |
| Film Company Miramax Films |
Our media product is likely to be distributed by major companies such as Universal Pictures or MGM because they tend to distribute a variety of different genres of films. On the other hand, film companies such as Miramax Films would distribute our product because they have released popular gangster titles such as 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Kill Bill'. Also people would be more likely to buy the film if is associated with a film company which specialises in the making of action films. This distributor has also a fairly good reputation.
 |
| Social Networking site Facebook |
One method of distribution which is now hugely popular is by using the video sharing websites such as YouTube which, due to its huge popularity amongst internet users and by being the most popular website of its type in the world, films can be spread on YouTube through advertisements on the site as well as posting trailer footage. In addition to this, a huge advantage of advertising on YouTube is that it’s completely free compared to paying traditional film distributors; this of course leaves the film-makers the opportunity to make a higher profit on the film. In addition, social-network sites such as 'Facebook', 'Twitter' and 'Myspace' are also an extremely effective method of film distribution. The main reason for this is their huge popularity amongst almost every age group.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our audience would be aimed at an older age (18-30)as the film has scenes of violence and it is not suitable for those of a younger age. We set this target audience due to many factors such as relating themselves to the characters and also identifying the setting. Firstly, the characters featured in our film are all portrayed to be men. An older audience could relate because there are men in the film, however it provides a more exciting and adventurous lifestyle for the audience watching. Also the film would generally appeal to males more than females due to the male dominance in the film.
In addition, the urban roads and streets give it more of a masculine feel. The location for when Jimmy is getting beaten up is quite dark and erie which adds to the manly feel. Throughout the scene you see big, imposing locations like the buildings and the gangs hideout where they torture Jimmy. This adds to the predominantly masculine feel to the film. There are many conventions which you would presumably find in gangster films. Things such as money, violence and weapons are some of the things you would usually come across in a film like this. Examples of films like this include 'The Godfather', 'Snatch', 'Scarface', 'Carlito's Way' and many more. We believe that films which hugely incorporate drug and weapon use and levels of violence will certainly appeal to this demographic because the audience may view these themes as exciting and extremely appealing.
The soundtrack we have used for our film would also appeal to this demographic. The long and erie soundtrack we used in the interrogation scene comes across as very tense and gives you the feeling that something significant is about to happen. This will appeal to our audience as the tension of the situation in the scene, this will further their levels of excitement and add to that a sense of anticipation for what is going to happen and how these themes and lifestyles, which they find exciting and appealing, will be emphasised and made to seem more exclusive and exciting by the tension of the soundtrack we used.
How did you attract/address your audience?
We used various techniques in attracting our target audience. We didn’t drift too far away from the conventions because we wanted our audience to be familiar with the conventions of an action film; this could benefit in a lot more people watching it. Because it was a film opening we wanted to make it as interesting as possible, so we used a variety of angles and shots to keep the audience entertained. In addition, the location we used was in the city center which is a very realistic for the audience. This would be a setting that all people of working class and above would view as accessible and within their reach and would give them the impression that as these characters are using these locations, and that the audience can have the opportunity to lead an exciting lifestyle and in a place that they can relate to.
In conclusion, we tried to make the film appealing to the audience by making various aspects of the misc en scene, such as the location and the characters themselves, seem like exciting characters but not to unrealistic to the audience so it still makes them believe that they can lead lifestyles as exotic and exciting as the ones seen in the film.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
 |
| C19 Samsung Camcorder |
I have gained vital knowledge and experience from the process of using different technologies when constructing the product. I have used a variety of editing programs as well as using camera equipment and lighting techniques to construct the product. To film our movie I used a Samsung C19 digital camcorder which had its advantages and disadvantages. The camera was very light, durable and was easy to move around to different locations along with the tripod. However, the lens had problems as it kept going blurry unexpectedly when filming. In addition, we used a spotlight which drastically changed the film as we could make the interrogation scene seem more intimidating; we used the white coloured spotlight on Jimmy in the chair to make him stand out more and the red coloured spotlight for the first person montage at the end of the film.
I edited the film on the Apple Mac computers which wasn't too difficult because I had used the Macs to edit the preliminary task. The program I used to edit was called I-Movie 9 which was a fairly simple and basic editing software. It had a variety of settings and features which included effects templates which we used for our film. We used a 'Bleach Bypass' setting which darkened the film and reduced the colour in it. Overall this was a useful effect for our action movie.
In addition, the background music and sound effects was a job that James was mainly in charge of, this was due to his vast knowledge of music. He went through numorous songs trying to pick the right one to try and match the mood we were creating but in the end we came up with some decent soundtracks to include in our movie.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I think the thing I have learnt the most in terms of progression is thoroughly planning out the film. From the locations, to various drafts of the script, to the storyboard, these things made it a lot easier and less time consuming to film. For the preliminary task, our storyboard was quite brief compared to the main task and we didn't completely go by the script; some of the lines were improvised.
Because we filmed the same scene from different angles, I found it a lot harder to edit because the actors were saying slightly different things when we were filming it from different angles. A key thing we learnt was that for the preliminary task, I think that our interrogation scene was quite good and the "bleach effect" added to it. So when it came to doing the main task, we wanted to do something similar but expand on it and make it a lot more challenging to produce. Also things like props and costumes contributed to the realism of the film. The guns, costumes and the car benefited the overall appearance of a ‘gangster film’.
Audience Feedback
For our audience feedback, we asked various students from Thomas Deacon Academy and from that group, we interviewed four students and asked them questions including: 'What are your opinions on our film point blank?' and 'What could be improved on?' we made a short video showing our results:
Our results showed that we got quite a positive reaction from our film; they thought that it looked quite professional and they enjoyed both the case scene and the interrogation scene. When they were asked what could be improved on, they suggested that the interrogation scene should be longer, because it was too short to build up enough tension; it didn't quite reach that level. In general, the feedback for our film was quite good and we are quite pleased with the final outcome of our film. Overall there has been a lot I have learnt in making this film scene opening which will help me in the future.
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