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

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

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

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

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

Behind the Scenes Footage

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

Our Piece Exposure

Gender

To begin with I will take a look at out predicted gender appeal. I would expect our film to have a gender balance of approximately 70:30 in proportion of males to females. These percentages cannot be specific but we would definitely expect a unequal tip toward male viewers. I say this due to the extensive research showing that it mostly males that watch action thrillers. Crime thrillers are fairly balanced in terms of gender viewing. As our piece is an action-crime-thriller I would still expect a higher proportion of males to view it due to its action content and lack of romance and comedy. Stereo-typically this may be what a female prefers as they can get "het up" whith films that contain lots of action, or as some responded to me, "loose sight of the progression of the story due to the fast pace". While these comments may be more focused on action films we can still apply this to our piece and therefore conclude that our piece would best suit a predominantly male audience. Additionally it is clear to see that females also statistically have a lower interest in action films and so as this is an action-thriller it is hence likely to attract a mostly male audience.

Age

In terms of age it would be possible to state that out film would have a minimum viewing age of 15 due to it containing violence and inaccurate portrayals of police which may defect younger audiences perception of the law. Our production would appeal more toward middle aged and younger people due to its action content and compelling story. 

This table represents an investigation undertaken in 1998 it shows age groups and their particular age appeal toward different genres of films. As it is visible, the interest in action films reduces as age increases, interest in drama however increases but is still popular in younger/middle aged audiences, it therefore possible to conclude that our piece will be viewed by a dominantly younger/middle aged audience with some older groups also taking an interest in the film.

Case Study: Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

This film is very relate-able to ours as it contains the use of journalism to locate incriminating evidence against a group of people aside of the law. This film is crime drama and so lacks the action content that ours uses. In comparison, we seek a similar audience as this film did however we are able to have a lower minimum age than 18 (as this film has) as ours doesn't contain explicit scenes or
explicit language as this film does.

Case Study: Safe

Safe with Jason Statham is also approaching a similar audience to us, it is an action, crime thriller which is very similar to they type of film we are looking to produce. It displays violence, police corruption and also has an age rating of 15. It appeals to its audience by the use of violence and Jason Statham but also represents the extreme corruption within the ranks of the police and their work with gang members outside of the force. This is very relate-able to our piece as it follows a similar theme and I would therefore find Safe as a good example to take ideas from in terms of story and volumes of action in order to get the balance between action and story correct to appeal to the audience. Obviously we don't have Jason Statham but I feel the action in our film would still be comparable.

Our Audience

In terms of our audience I feel that they would be similar to Tim here:

Tim is 24 and enjoys an ice cold mountain dew or cola alongside a good pepperoni dominoes pizza. Tim and his beloved companion... his TV, have a had a long a prosperous life together, sharing the most thrilling, heart pumping moments in the fight scenes of casino royal and skyfall wondering 'Is bond REALLY dead?' the shock and awe that they experience together is endless. His most recent addition to his collection of films was Fast and Furious 7, hes a bit of Statham-aniac adoring any film starring him regardless of its type. He also indulgences in the heart throbbing moments the 'Mission Impossible' series of films, he loves his action and adores a great story even more.

Conclusion

In the end is appropriate to conclude that the target audience for our piece will be predominantly male and age between 16-45 for maximum appeal, other age groups higher than this may also take an interest but our primary goal is to appeal to the stated age bracket. Using good examples such as Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Safe as an aid in this estimate in addition to the research that i have located as shown above it seems that this age bracket is both appropriate and feasible. In terms of advertising toward this target audience I would suggest Bus advertisements both on buses and on the bus billboards in order to catch the attention of this age bracket as they tend to the most active in terms of getting out and about  than other age brackets. I would also suggest advertising in cinemas as they may be watching other films during the time in addition to television advertisements as well as YouTube adverts. This would be the platforms most accessed by the stated audience and therefore would catch the most attention from them.

Websites used for research:
http://web.calstatela.edu/faculty/sfischo/media3.html
http://www.imdb.com/

Screenplay

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

Pre-Film Planning

Exposure

Location           

The locations that we have selected for filming our piece are the drama suit within the School Grounds, Torquay Town Hall and one of my houses which is currently in development. We have chosen these locations as they all have appealing features that would work well in our piece. Torquay Town Hall provides a large opening shot with plenty of life and great scenery to develop the opening. The drama suit also allows for us to film within it without giving away our location thanks to its new renovations of clearing the room and the black curtains which provides us with the ability to have complete control over the Mise-en-scene. Lastly, I suggested that we could use my currently in development house which would have a great environment for our interrogation scene but it does pose some issues with collisions with workers being there which limits out filming times.

Props, Costumes and Actors

Actors

We will be using a variety of props for our production, the most demanding scene being the press conference as we are going to need chairs, a podium, microphones, lights, cameras and a lot of people to be in the scene. We feel that we are going to be able to get the number of people required but it is troubling in terms of when they will all be available as the filming must fit around the entire cast. We also need the scene to look realistic and so maintaining control of the people is essential, hence I feel it is imperative that the scene is filmed as quickly as possible and ensure that everything is ready prior to filming so that all we need to do is get everyone settled, in position and filmed.

Roles: George (me) - post-filming editor, Antagonist (Police Commissioner)

           Will - Director

           Dom - Mise-en-scene, Protagonist (Journalist)

           Ollie - Cameraman

Costumes + Props

Costumes will be kept appropriate for characters, I will be playing the role of the police commissioner and so I will wear my Black suit jacket with appropriate police gear on such as shoulder pads, a hat and tie kindly provided by Will's father. He has also very generously provided an additional jacket for a second cast member to be stood by my side in the conference scene to make it even more realistic. Dom who is playing the role of the protagonist will be wearing a white long sleeved shirt and black trousers which we felt would be appropriate for a journalist. Other cast members within the conference scene will be wearing appropriate clothing. Props such as chairs, microphones, a podium, a plaque and cameras for other members of the audience to hold will be required.

Organisation Of Filming

In order to film our piece it will require us to go off site and record, this will be easiest at the weekends and Myself and Dom spent Sunday 1st March filming our opening scene in front of Torquay Town Hall. This is an example of how we intend to film our scenes, they will be done in our time off site, apart for the conference in the drama suit. Due to the large cast we will need to do this during, most likely, a school lunchtime in order for most of the cast to be available. The other scene in my other house will also need to be filmed outside of school. We are currently planning to do this scene during our free time on a Wednesday as we all have no lessons in the afternoon allowing us enough time to get there film it and get back the only issue being if we can film it due to it being a busy place at the moment, but with enough planning in advance I will book out a Wednesday for us to film.

Test Shots- Focus Pull

                During this session we had a few practice shots for ur focus pulls. During this we practiced different focus pulls to see whether we could implement them into our final piece. The first one we see is of a pen being held close to the camera with my face in the background. The pen is to resemble a bun barrel as if it were being pointed straight into someones face. We used a shallow focus pull bringing the focus from my face onto the pen.

Pitch

Preliminary Evaluation

Preliminary

Preliminary Behind the Scenes

Preliminary Planning and Storyboards

Planning Ideas

Initial Storyboard Ideas

Preliminary Final Storyboard

Cape Fear Case Study

Practice Film

Practice Film
        In this practice film we had to use different camera techniques such as tracking, match on action and we were invited to create a sequence with a creative plot line. The name of our piece was "Criss-Cross" and our plot line was based on a group of villainous assassins communing to kill each other. In our film we demonstrate a variety of different camera techniques such as match on action (x3), a shot reverse shot and an eye -line match.

Here is an example of an eyeliner match.

Here is an example of a match on action.

My contributions were acting, filming and editing, we made sure that everyone had a chance to all in our group so that we could all experience all of the techniques. During filming I enjoyed the use of the camera on the tripod and managed to film a couple of clips such as the section that we have in slow motion where Ollie is hit by the stick from Will, I also managed to film the section where Will throws the stick at Ollie. In the editing I was responsible for putting the shots in chronological order and cropping them as necessary. I also implemented the title at the start and installed the freeze frames (although the idea of the last freeze frames were Will's idea).

Preliminary Analysis

Continuity Editing

180 Degree Rule
This keeps the camera on one side of the action and is usually used to view 2 characters during conversation as it keeps the focus on the characters and allows the expansion of the frame into the unseen space off-screen. It is commonly described as a rule because the camera is not allowed to cross the axis of action otherwise it may give the impression that the actors positions have been reversed.

Match On Action
Here we see a piece of action and then we see where that action came from. It's a cut from one shot to another where the second shot matches the first's action. This is used to keep the flow of scene going as it links the shots together and gives the impression of continuous time.

Shot Reverse Shot
This is used most commonly during conversations as it shows a shot of one character looking towards another character but then cuts to a shot of the other character looking back at the first. This can be used to show the audience what a character is looking at or (as I said) to show a conversation. 
In the images below it also shows the 180 degree rule which isn't broken until Guy Pearce (Aldrich Killian, the red lava-man) is hit by a pole.

The Birds Commentry

                    As Melanie form the window we see the teacher talk calmly to the children and then a cut to a medium shot of the birds gathering on the climbing apparatus builds the tension and makes the audience get a sense of eeriness and unsettles them and wait in anticipation to see the outcome of the encounter. As we see that there are many birds there, we wonder if the school children will be able escape. The camera remains on the birds for some time until heavy footsteps are heard, causing the birds to fly away quickly towards the school children.

                    It cuts to the children and then cuts to their legs showing us how quickly they are running and how afraid they are. These close ups also show the birds and their ferocity. It shifts between close ups on some of the children's faces showing fear, terror and pain as they are relentlessly attacked by the birds. It cuts to the Melanie as well showing her panic and then it switches to some point of view shots (1:09-1:14) which makes the audience feel included in the shot as if they were running with the children, this allows them to empathise with the children and Melanie as they flee in panic away from the birds which are attacking them. Then one of the children falls to the found and screams for her friend, she is then helped up by her friend as well as Melanie.

                  Finally they get into the near by car to take refuge, during this scene there are multiple close and medium shots. it starts with a medium shot as they all get into the car, this allows us to see all of the people getting in and what state they are in, you see cuts and blood trickleing down their faces which expresses the severity of the situation and allows us to empathise with the characters. It then changes to a close up of the handle as Melanie quickly winds it up, this allows the audience to see the fear of the character and the panic that they express through the desire to quickly shut the window and hide from the birds. Then the next shot is a close up of the ignition key hole with no keys and then it changes to a close up of Melanie's face filled with fear. She then smacks the horn a few times, a few seconds later the birds fly away and the it cuts to a  close up on the woman's face showing hoe relieved she is that they've gone as she rests her head on the steering wheel. There is no music at any pint in the clip, we only hear the screaming of the children as they run away and the noises the birds make. plus when the shot of climbing apparatus with the birds is shown, there is only silence which also builds up the tension to when the footsteps are heard. (diegetic sound)

                Links to Thriller Genre:
                  - Long Tension build up, especially when they are escaping from the birds just as other thrillers do such as Spellbound and Psycho.
                  - Non-diegetic soundtrack keeps the realism it, just as some thrillers do such as Spellbound
                  - Chase scene, they are chased by birds this is typical to thriller films such as Vertigo.

Max Payne Title Sequence Timeline

Couldn't get video but here is the link

Here are some images of the special effects used to give aa idea of what the video is like if it's inaccessible.

        From this video I can tell that the first name that is shown is the Director, in this case John Moore and it then follows with Screenplay, Producers, Director Of Photography, Costume Designer ect. The name of the film "Max Payne" doesn't appear until quite late into the title sequence which is surprising to me as i would have thought it would be at the start, or right at the end, not somewhere between. It then goes on to give names of more important cast members until it gets to the company that made the film "Twentieth Century Fox" which is quite close to the end of the sequence which again surprised me. Finally we reach the cast that are the inferior roles and they are placed at the end and don't have any special effects following them on-screen. Plus the special effects and the design for the credits link in very well with the brutality of the film and keep the theme running even to the end.

Thriller Genre Conventions

Godzilla Opening Sequence

Chosen Film: Godzilla (2014)



Titles
The titles are all set to look quite old and they erase sections to show only the names. this gives the affect of something like an old newspaper in how someone might erase the irrelevant information, this links in perfectly with the background clips being shown during the clip.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack is very deep and contains some heavy bass with a general beat of blasts of deep beats which are then emphasised with the overlaying
g trumpets. Plus the violins add a fast pace to the music in with all of the other instruments to make it sound quite daunting and evil.

Mis-En-Scene
The clips being shown as the titles pop up are all very old-fashion based even though this is a new film. They keep the same effect that the old film had by using clips of the same quality as if to make the opening scene feel more realistic, as if it had been a real event that took place decades ago.

Camera
The camera doesn't appear to play a significant role in this sequence as you pay more attention to the clips being shown. However, the camera does do a lot of zooming in and out on objects and panning when it displays the newspapers. Plus the clip has clearly been edited to shown all of the different short clips in one scene, it has also been used to change the look of the sequence to make it appear old-fashioned. Additionally the nuclear explosion was edited into the scene to have a greater effect.

                                                      Genre

Godzilla is a sci-fi/action film (although I haven't seen the new film) but the fact that it contains an alien type of monster I think would place it in the sci-fi or maybe fantasy category with the obvious addition of action as the humans attack the poor creature.

Introduction

What Is Media Studies For?

              In my opinion, media studies almost explains itself in what it's for; the studying of different types of media around us, how they work and how they can be used (for a variety of things). Media studies, as a topic, is growing more and more relevant to us due to the increase in forms of media through technological advancements. I believe that from this, it is growing ever more important to know just exactly what is going on around you. Media is everywhere and media studies is here to help us understand purpose of it, how to interpret it and how to use it.

My Favourite Film

           I have seen far too many films to be able to specifically pick my "favourite" film. However the one film that I think i've enjoyed the most and also returned to fairly frequently, is the one and only, "You Don't Mess With The Zohan" additionally, this contains my 4th favourite actor, Adam Sandler, my first being Robert Downey Jr, second is Brad Pitt and third is Chris Pratt. But Adam Sandler is still brilliant in this film. However, my favourite genre of film would be mainly sci-fi/fantasy but comedies are still very enjoyable. The reason I enjoy sci-fi/fantasy films is because I simply like fantasy type stuff. Plus science has always been a huge interest of mine which is exactly what sci-fi orients around which is also probably a contributing factor as to why I enjoy them so much.