Location shoot

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Location shoot
We looked at possible suited locations for our movie openings. Our film comes under the gangster genre and when we researched different locations that have been used it is usually rough places and based on the streets and down lanes. We went on a location shoot and found places which would suit this genre. We also done some short filming when we were on our location shoot so that we knew possible places to position our camera when it come to our actual filming.

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

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
When filming our preliminary task I didn't feel i knew much about the filming equipment and technology. When doing our preliminary we learnt the 180 degree rule which I never knew before and incorporated that into our task. But since doing our actual film opening I feel I have developed alot more technological skills which I didn't have before doing our filming. We used a handheld camera and tripod and we filmed our final media product in wide screen but when we were capturing our footage onto the editing machines, our editing machine wasn't set up for widescreen so our footage had been being squashed and stretched onto the screen and didn't look right. So we had a slight problem and had to restart our editing machine from scratch again, when we were almost finished! I  done GCSE media so knew how to use the editing machines, but I've never had to use an editing machine to make a film opening, only ever a music video. So it was alot different especially trying to meet the conventions of our genre through editing etc, but I learnt alot about technology constructing this product. We used freeze frames and so we learnt how to zoom in and make font appear over the top to introduce the character which I didn't know before I started filming our media product. We also leant how to import the film title from a website called 'da font' where we had to edit it in photoshop to change the writing from black to white and then import it into our opening scene. We also learnt new technological skills all around when it came to importing still pictures etc. From seeing the individual clips to when it has all been put together it shows me how much I have learnt during the duration of this project.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

In a questionnaire I done for people to answer, I asked them if they would be likely to watch a Gangster film. I asked the people within my class, and every single girl replied saying no, however the boys, aged 16-17 said they would. This showed me that the genre gangster was more directed at boys and didn’t interest girls as much. I only asked my class but if I wanted to get a more exact result I could have asked more people. However I know that my dad enjoys watching these films and others within my group said the same so we came to the conclusion that our target audience for our media product was aimed at males aged between 18- mid 40’s. I think males enjoy this type of genre because it is more cheeky and humorous and sneaky selling etc. which is why we included all these three conventions within our media product. I think the reason men appeal to this genre of film more than girls is because it’s more manly and rough, whereas a stereotypical comment would be that most girls prefer to watch romantic comedies and girly films. I think men feel manly watching this genre of film and the conventions are more suited to males then females. When asking my class my questionnaire the boys aged 16/17 said they enjoyed watching gangster films, however the typical conventions of a gangster genre is smoking, swearing and sometimes even violence and illegal things. For this reason we have had to make our target audience 18-40 instead of 15-40 because the age certificate would be eighteen. However 15 year olds would still be able to watch our film when out on DVD etc.

How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our audience by making the two minute opening quite comical and by including the action of the products that they’ve been stealing and all the dodgy dealing. We made it quite rough and manly so it would be more appealing to men. We included all the conventions included in the film openings that we researched so as to attract and address the audience that we were targeting. We included similar locations, costumes, characteristics etc. I used social networking sites such as Facebook to find out what people thought of our final media product. I want to find out different people’s opinions, but more importantly what my target audience thought of our final media product that we made to see if it met the conventions used in similar media products. We didn’t include violence or swearing however we attracted our audience by including smoking within our media product which is a typical convention used in gangster genre films.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The scene opens on a close-up of a pair of expensive shoes, stubbing out a cigarette. It then cuts to a close-up of someone buttoning up their leather jacket. The clothes that they are wearing are quite expensive and they are dressed very smart. This is a traditional representation of a convention within a gangster genre film, even though it’s quite ironic that they’re bad people and get up to illegal things. This represents men to be quite expensive because they are able to afford nice clothes etc. so this could be a positive representation for men. However it is a modern/ negative representation for men because of how they have got that money to pay for it.

We included non-diegetic parallel music to play over the top of our two minute opening and the music is very fast and beaty and the music gives the impression that they’re up to something and really sneaky. Being sneaky is a modern representation of men because being sneaky is not a traditional representation of men or something you’d associate with them.

During our clip, the scenes aren’t very long and the cuts occur often between shots. This shows the pace of the action. Cross cuts are frequently used to show how fast the pace is and their journey to their location. The pace of the cuts match the music which is being played throughout. This suggests that men are fast and quite sporty, whereas girly music is normally quite soft and slower. This is a traditional representation of men because the music shows them to be sporty and active.

Two shots are used to show the relationship between characters and how they are a team together. The two characters are best friends and this is quite a traditional representation of men because they are thought to be popular and sociable, going out drinking with their mates etc. However it is quite a modern representation because a stereotype of men is that they’re individuals and the fact that a man relies on another and is best friends with him challenges this stereotype because they are not very independent and confident.

Evaluation

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In what ways does your media product, use, develop or challenge form and conventions of real media products?
We also researched music that is used within our genre. The music used in them is normally quite action related and fast and gives the impression that they're up to something mysterious and like our title is called they are 'Crafty'. We included this type of music in our film which can be the music found playing throughout the film.

Evaluation

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When researching our genre of film we were going to make our two minute opening on we noted what music they played for alot of different genres. We then decided to do a gangster genre opening scene and researched the music they used. It was quite beaty and sneaky, the music reminded us of action and as if they were up to something. When using music in our own film opening we wern't allowed to use well known music or songs if they were copyrighted (which were most of them). This limited us to what music we could use so we went on websites such as freesound.org and audiojungle.net. We came across this one song which opening didn't suit our genre of film and was not very relevent to our movie opening, however further into the song the music was perfect so when we imported the music into our film opening we cut the start of the song and so we only had the bit that we wanted. When I have uploaded my film to my blog, you will be able to hear the music that we used.

On our first day of filming we started filming down a lane because the start scene is going to be the two characters, Vinnie and Tommy, coming out of a lane. This is a still image we took of the two main characters down the lane in their costumes, just before filming. They are wearing leather jackets and shoes which fit the gangster genre so the costume is appropriate for the genre of film we are making.

I investigated different fonts for the production company title and also for the title of the film, Crafty. The ones which are circled are the ones we are going to use.

As a group we have already established our filming locations and where would be ideal for our genre we are doing. Most of the gangster genres we analysed were filmed on streets, such as Lock Stock and two smoking barrels and The football factory. So we went out with a camera and took some still images on the street of likely filming places so that we could get a better idea in our head of scripting ideas as well. While we were there we also tested different shot types and camera movements we could use within our locations to see if they'd be effective. So there shouldn't be any location issues during the production process. The actors used in gangster films are celebrities such as Jason Statham, Guy Ritchie etc. However we obviously can't use these people and have to use actors within our group, so this could impact production.

Vinnie (voiceover); Well here is Vinnie a young man, one hell of a grafter. This man could sell sand to the Arab’s, snow to the Eskimos and tax to the government he is so crafty. Yeah certainly brain of the operations.

(Shot changes to character Tommy)

Not like Tommy he is what we call a bit of a wet towel, completely and utterly useless but he is a smooth talker with the ladies. God knows why with a face like that (Freeze-frame photo of Tommy looking rough). We always reckon he was a mummy’s boy.

(On screen talking)

Vinnie; Tommy what do you see around here?

Tommy; Nothing much Vinnie, buildings, houses, streets

Vinnie; No Tommy, it is an ocean around here, and it is full of sharks Rule number 10 NEVER TRUST NO-ONE

Voiceover; Tommy is Vinnie’s best friend and Tommy looks up to Vinnie like an older brother but he would never cross him. Vinnie is teaching Tommy rules of the way.

Tommy; What was rule number nine again Vinnie

(Voiceover) like I said Vinnie is the brains of the operation.