A2 Blog

Here is the link to my A2 Media Studies blog:

xavsindena2.blogspot.com

Final Production

Dear examiner, here is my final production for my AS level, I hope you enjoy it. I have added labels to my blog to aid your navigation.

                                       

Evaluation Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression to the full product?

For this question I have done a presentation describing what I have learnt from the preliminary task, and how I applied it to the final production.

AS Media Evaluation Q.7

Evaluation Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During the course of making my final production I have used many different technologies. Below is a presentation on the ones I found most useful and the ones I learnt the most about.

AS Media Evaluation Q.6

Evaluation Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

For this question I have split my response into 2 parts. For the first part I will discuss how we would attract the audience if our production were a real film, and the second is an interview with myself discussing how we addressed our audience in the production itself.

How we would attract our audience

To attract our audience we would use two main methods; a poster campaign and social media. As our target audience is teenagers and young adults social media is the most effective way to spread the word about our film. We would create Twitter and Facebook pages for our film so that we can reach a large audience for free. This has been successful with many films, with the 'Avengers' Facebook page having over 13 million likes.

The second way we would promote our film is through posters. We would want to reflect the mood and genre of the film through our poster, so it would probable consist mostly of cold colours to reflect the tension and danger presented in our production. It would be similar to posters for films such as 'Snatch'. A poster for 'Snatch' can be seen below:

How we addressed our audience

For this part I have made a video of a mock interview with myself, one of the producers. 

Evaluation Question 4: Who would be the target audience for your media product?

To answer this question I have made Prezi presentation.

Evaluation Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media and why?

For this question we need to explain why our film would be suitable for the media institution we chose; Film 4. For this we decided to film a mock meeting between two of our group and the 'director' of Film 4. In the following film, we explain to him why our film should be distributed by them . We talked about how our audience, plot and production values make this film ideal for this institution.

Evaluation Question 2: Does your media product represent a particular social group?

For this question I have made a video that consists of audio and still pictures.

Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

For this question I have done a directors commentary. This can be viewed below:

Evaluation Questions

Here is my interpretation of the evaluation questions, and how I intend to answer them.

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

This question is asking me to evaluate what media conventions we used in our opening sequence, for example our use of shots and angles. For this question I can do a directors commentary as this will enable me to talk through the composition of the film as it is on screen.

Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

This question is about which groups of people are represented in our film, for example, which social group the two main characters belong to.

Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

For this question, I think a mock meeting with the media company we decide might distribute our product would answer this wuestion well, as we will have to pitch to them. We need to explain why our media product fits in with this company, relating to aspects such as plot, genre and target audience.

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

This question is asking me to discuss who our audience would be, relating it to aspects such as plot and age certification.

Question 5: How did you attract/adress your audience?

For this question, an interview with myself answering questions about how we included aspects of our target audience's requirements in our film should explain how we adressed and attracted our audience.

Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

This question could be answered with a presentation about what I have learnt about technologies such as the camera, equipment and software as well as websites such as Blogger and Art of the Title.

Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in theprogression from it to the full product?

This question is asking what techniques I have learnt in terms of camera shots, angles and editing, and how I then applied this to my final task.

Final Production: Titles

For our opening sequence we have decided to have the title of the film at the end of the opening sequence.
We have used stock footage of a drop of ink for our film title, which is similar to the effects used in the Skyfall Opening Sequence.

Our version can be seen below:

Final Task: Soundtrack

We have decided that the soundtrack for our opening sequence will be Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata'. As this is a classical piece, it is old enough to be copyright-free, meaning we can use it without breaking any copyright laws. We chose this pice of music because we feel that it goes well with the footage we have, and sits well with the voice over we have recorded. Having a classical piece like this detaches the viewer from the action, and the lack of diegetic sound that will be in our production emphasises that further, making the viewer feel that they can do nothing to help the character about to be killed.

Final Task: Fourth Meeting

We have decided on a soundtrack for the film. The soundtrack is called Hitman, and was composed by Kevin MacLeod. We found the soundtrack at Incompetech.
We have also edited the shots that we have to see how it looks all together. This can be viewed here: First Edit
The blank screen inbetween the scenes is where we will inser more scenes later. The film ends after 1 minute and the blank screen after is where the rest of the project will go.  I have lowered the quality of the video so the file size isn't to big, The actual film will be in 1080p. 

Final Task: Filming Day 1

We have filmed the first few scenes of our opening sequence. We tried to take a range of shots that showed techniques such as focus pull.
The day did not go without issues, however, as when we asked the car park wardens if we could film there they said we would have to come back on Monday to ask the manager. This meant we were unable to film there, so we filmed at other locations instead. We managed to get an establishing shot of the outside of the carpark, but for the interior scenes we will need to film in the Witney car park as the Westgate one is now closed until 2017 for re-development.
We filmed a number of shots at Lamb and Flag Passage in the centre of the city. An example of one of these shots can be seen below, with a first design of the titles included:

We then filmed the shots that are at the house, and we have now edited some of the scenes to get a rough idea where to go next. So far we have scenes showing examples of focus pull, match on action, dolly shots and high angle shots.

Final Task: Second Meeting

We have decided that we will film in Oxford rather than London, as it is much more practical to film closer to home. The idea for the plot is still the same, however we will use a car park instead of a tube station. We will film at the Westgate Centre car park in Oxford.

Above: The Westgtate car park.

We have also had to re-think our plan for putting the titles in our film. We don't have the software available to have them to be animated, so the titles will appear on the screen at the same time as the opening shots.

Final Task: Third Meeting

We have changed the name of the film from 'The Hit' to 'Bird Lime'. Bird Lime is Cockney rhyming slang for 'doing time' (in prison). We thought this would be more original than 'The Hit', as after doing some research we found a number of other films that had the same name.
We have started looking for our sondtrack on a royalty free music website called Incompetech.

Final Task: Production Schedule

We have decided on the following draft production schedule.

Deadlines:

15-Jan-2015 Start filming

18-Jan-2015 Complete first draft edit

15-Feb-2015 Complete last draft edit

28-Feb-2015 Wrap filming

27-March-2015 Finalise editing

Final Task: Props

We have decided that we also want to have a laptop showing hitman related suspicious and intriguing documents on the desk with the hitman in our opening sequence. This will add an extra layer of plot into our production, and will hint to the viewer what is to come later in the film.

Final Task: Actors

For the final task our group is the same as it was for the preliminary task, with the addition of one person. Jordan Bunning will play the hit man as he is the most suited to the role, and I will play the person who gets killed. Because we will only need 2 characters, Joel Pickard (the director) and Ali Rice will be able to concentrate on filming.

Final Task: Props

For our film we don't need many props to tell the story, however we will need a car and a gun.
We wan't the car to be ordinary so that it adds a sense of realism to the film. For this reason we can use the car belonging to the parents of one of our group members, this means it will be available to use whenever we need it.
For the gun we want it to look realistic but for obvious reasons we can't use a real gun. We can use a cap gun as this will look realistic in the shots. One of the members of our group has a metal cap gun similar to the one pictured below: