Media Stuides 2009-2011

Here is a gate which we will use to introdce two characters into the scene, the victim and the two criminals, we would like to pick up on the sounds which the gate creates to add tension into the scene

This shot is looking towards the gate from the previous picture, this path will play a notable part in the scene, as the characters will go along here to reach where all the action will take place.

This picture shows an object which we may use within the film again to create tension, the swing may be made to swng back and forth and make mysterious noises, this will help us alert the audience that something is going to occur. 

Here is the other location which we will use, this is supposed to be our coffee shop where some more action will occur.

This was a brief lay out for how we would have our coffee shop looking, we would like to spend more time laying it out with more props and covering up some of the unecessary background objects

This is the sign outside of our coffee shop we will hope to use this to aware the viewer to where the current location is, an establishing shot may be used for this.

Here is the overall layout of the cafe we would hope to incorperate this into our film however it is a tricky lay out to work with which could present some problems.

 Frame 1 – The film opens with the company logo. the company logo is fairly basic, but i feel it does the job which it needs to do which is put across which company has produced this film and it stands out well and is recognisable.

Frame 2 – This shot is of our main character just sitting down at the table, a gentle paced first shot which allows you to become accustomed to the character, he seems like your typical person, with a newspaper and sitting down to drink a cup of coffee, you would assume he lives an average lifestyle judging by the clothes which he is wearing, at this point some audio editing is introduced with background noise to a cafe is added.

Frame 3 – At this point there is a freeze on the shot and the title appears for the character this is to become a motif for the rest of the film with major characters having there shots freezed then the titles appearing this was done to how the importance of the characters.

Frame 4 – This is an important shot, as it shows the character as he first enters into the flash back, just before this there is the transitional shot which is a dissolve with a heartbeat track added on top, it then also turns into black and white which the whole sequence will be showed in to represent the past, this particular shot is about setting the scene in a new location.

Frame 5 – Another important shot, shows two more main characters enter the film, as stated previously the main characters were going to have a freeze frame when their titles were ready to come on, this shot is supposed to reveal what sort of characters you would expect these two to be, with the type of clothing you would relate to them being the villains of the film.

Frame 6 – This next shot is revealing the importance of the whole sequence as you see the two newly introduced characters approaching the sole character you can anticipate that something of importance is going to happen at this point.

Frame 7 – This shot is showing the stand off between the characters, building up the tension before the big showdown where all the action will take place, this shot is mainly about setting the scene again.

Frame 8 – Here is another influencial scene where it opens up the story for it to continue, he receives a mysterious phone call with nobody on the other end, this ends it well as the story can continue in whatever way the audience want it to.

Frame 9 – Here is the final frame which includes the title of the film ‘recall’ there is a transition in this frame where all the letters of the film come in from different angles, i thought it finished off the film nicely and worked effectively.

|Here is a picture of me using the camera which we used to film there was other equipment used at the same time not just the camera, the filming was a lengthy process with various technology required

With the camera there was the need for headphones as well these were used to make sure that the sound quality was crisp and clear, and hear if you were picking up on any background noise which wasnt wanted. Also within the camera was a vital part, the tape we needed this to store the footage which we captured. A tripod was also used with the camera, the main purpose of this is to keep the camera steady so it looks more professional.

 This picture is showing me using the computer software, this was the most lengthy part of our production as the editing is very time consuming.

The picture below is where most of the time on the computers was spent, this is the Adobe Premiere, it is an editing software, Adobe Premiere is reasonably easy to use after you have spent time learning how to use it, there are many tools on adobe which were useful like cutting frames, stretching frames etc. As special effects was a very important part to our film it was critical that we got this part right, we needed a special effect for the flash back to make it look like a flash back, we used a dissolve then a black and white effect on the video so it represented the past. This picture shows the whole set up of the program, with the timeline in the bottom centre of the workspace and your viewing spot in the top right, effects are found in the bottom left hand corner.

 Other sources of material came from the internet, Google was used to find a couple of pictures, Youtube was another tool on the internet used, this was for our planning stages mainly, we needed to view other professional films to see what a typical opening for a film would be, also our preliminary and our main piece has been uploaded to youtube.

Wordpress – this was used to organise our blogs, a frustrating site however it did help us keep an order to everything and place our blogs in an easy place for people to view.

The contrast from the Preliminary exercise compared to the final project was phenominal, mainly due to the reality setting in about the importance of the coursework, the group members in the preliminary consisted of a group of friends which was not the optimal set up for the work to be completed to a high standard, in the main coursework piece we reduced our group numbers down from 4 to 2 which increased our work ethic and helped us develop our own skills as it allowed more time with the equipment rather than splitting it between for 4 people, also in the preliminary we noticed many continuity errors which we picked up on easily and helped us to eliminate them from the final piece.

From a editing perspective the preliminary was very basic, we had very limited skills on the editing studio but this was a help to us for the main piece which helped develop our skills greatly, allowing us to place music and other audio tracks into the main film, we also had our final piece looking smooth with the editing techniques we had picked up such as the speed/duration tool which we used.

The picture to the left shows one of our shots, this shot was supposed to show the case being opened but not enough to see inside, to act as a mcguffin, however you can see inside to see that there isnt anything of importance inside the case.

We did follow some guidelines whilst filming this exercise, firstly we followed the 180 degree rule, which is an imaginary line which would pass through 2 characters facing each other, your camera would be set up on one side, then if it was to move over past the imaginary 180 degree line, to the other side it would appear that the characters had switched position which is confusing for the audience. Shot reverse shots were also required to be used within the preliminary excercise this is something which we did manage to do to some success below is a screen shot of part of a shot reverse shot

Above is a comparison from our characters to 2 of the characters from pulp fiction, Vince and Marvin, i chose to compare our two villains to these two characters for the fact that they both work together all the time this was the main similarity between the two characters which i picked up on. Another big similarity is that they are both criminals, however in pulp fiction these two characters are not made to look like the villains you are supposed to see them in good light. A major difference between the two sets of characters is that both of our characters are white however they have both a white and a black character in Pulp Fiction. The costume was another big difference, as we obviously had an outstandingly smaller budget this meant that we couldnt afford expensive clothing like the two suits which they are wearing in Pulp Fiction.

Here i have compared our character to DCI Sam Tyler from Life on Mars, although this is not a film i still thought it was a very appropriate comparison to make, as i thought the role of the character was the significant part of the comparison, although Sam Tyler is a police man, which is a different role played to our character, they have great similaritys in the role they play for the film, they both undergo physchological strain which is the main part of both the films/tv programme, Sam Tyler gets teleported back into the past after a car crash and our character has flash backs into the past from a traumatic period of his life when he was attacked, both are examples of physchological problems. There are very few other similarities however this was a major one, some of the differences would include costume styles, one made to look retro and the other is more casual day to day clothing once again relating to the budget. But if you were to look at the overall appearance of the character they could be considered to look slightly like each other, not a huge resembelence but enough to relate the characters together.

The genre of the film would be a Thriller however within this there is different sub sections for which the film may categorise into such as physchological thriller, crime thriller and action thriller, i feel the film would appropriately fit into all three of these categories.

Our film would suit various different age groups regarding the target audience, but the certificate for the film would be 15+ but looking at the age of the target audience overall it would be 15-24, the film contains some violence however it is minimal and there is no blood within the film which makes it appropriate to make it a 15 certificate, with no sex and bad language this also contributes for the certificate to not be rated at an 18.

The genre of the film would not relate to a specific gender as the genre could be enjoyed by all, however it may be more tilted towards the male gender with the violence which is involved, with the all male cast during the film it may make it easier for men to relate to the film, however females may often watch a film due to liking the attractive male characters.

This audience could be described as your typical average person who would shop in places where you would expect to find stylish but affordable products, it  would appeal to people who would like to follow the general fashion rather than stand out from the crowd. I would expect the type of TV programme what i would expect the audience to enjoy would be a programme like CSI as it involves mystery and tension making the viewer guess what is going to happen. The audiences music taste would be the type of music you would see in the UK charts in the top 10, such as pop music and R&B.