AS Media - Matthew Gentleman

During the production of our AS media filming task we picked up a huge variety of skills as well as running into issues which we had to address. Through the production of our film we used many different devices which delved into filming as well as the use of ICT. Using these products and devices was applied through the entirety of our project, from the initial research all the way to post-production. As a group we decided to focus on creating a film opening for a old school London style film, loosely based off of films such as Snatch or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. We though the best way to pull the audience in would be to start the opening off with a chase scene.

The first thing we felt was best to do was research into existing film openings of our chosen genre (action/thriller) so we could get a feel for the sort of shots, sounds, dialogue ect that we needed to use in order for our film to capture the audience in the same way existing and successful films do. We researched films that has a similar basis and were generally gripping, action packed, fast paces ect. The 3 films we went into detail with research were James Bond, Mission Impossible and Men in Black. From creating a detailed analysis from these films we noticed a pattern through the chase scenes which was they all had an upbeat soundtrack, fast and short camera shots, points of view and having obstacles to build tension. Through doing all of this research we built up 3 separate presentations which stated all of the main points such as, Editing, Soundtrack, Camera work and Mise en scene.

The very first thing we did to begin the development of the film was to create a story which we would build a storyboard and script upon. To do this we used some means of ICT such as word processing for basic story lining, presentation software to create our storyboards after making rough drafts on paper and scripting software (similar to word processing) and through using these we managed to conjure up a rough drafted script and storyboard which was ready to develop. The only means of ICT we used from after planning through to post-production was the video editing software. This was to piece the clips together to see what areas or shots we may have missed and fix it. Once we had all of the clips that we needed we created a new video project and started building up out film. We found various pieces of soundtrack on the web through Youtube or iTunes which we used within our film; this added loads of tension and broke some of the awkward silence. Once we finished the editing we had our first draft done, from here we watched the video 5-6 times and asked our self questions on how what we could change to improve. We also used social networking sites and video sharing sites to receive crucial feedback from our target audience.

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

Within our film we have various aspects which have been taken and adapted from other films of similar genre or story, an example of this is from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, the introduction shows the characters put into a chase scene and from there a narrating voice comes in to label the characters as well as giving the audience an insight into them, this easily creates a relationship between the audience and character. We wanted to do the same in our film but without using that idea directly. We decided to simplify this idea and just used their names by showing them in text on a freeze-frame of that character performing a certain action. We hoped that by using this we could give the audience a better idea of the characters as well as keeping the chare scene going without breaking the music with narration, this would keep the whole chase flowing.

We also varied our research into existing films and delved into older and more mafia style films such as The Godfather and Scarface. These films didn’t really have the modern feel that we were going for but we wanted to take some aspects and see if we could use anything that they used and adapt and challenge the ideas it to fit in with our story. After doing some analysis on both of these much older mafia style films we realized they had a much slower paced feel to them, despite this we thought using that idea might work in the flashbacks we had. This is the reason we made them black and white and gave them a shallow and slow tone, from doing this we found it worked really well.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our film labels the ‘gangster’ and touches on ‘mafia’ social groups. Through doing this we build a representation because of our chase scene and how it shows revenge in that the Tony character is trying to get back at Johnny (this is shown in the flashbacks). This clearly labels the gangster individual as violent and after revenge but as well as that we have the other character, Johnny who is also shown as violent but on an extreme level. The fact that he’s clearly made Vinny unconscious or worse, it shows him as a violent and brutal character which may rub off on the ‘gangster’ social group.

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

The best institution that we feel would work as a good distributor and give us the most publicity would be a company like Universal or Revolver Entertainment. Obviously these two institutions vary massively, Universal is globally labeled as one of the biggest entertainment distributors in the world where as revolver entertainment is a much smaller and possibly considered independent. Despite Revolver Entertainment being a much smaller company they have a specific style of film on which they produce and that genre fits ours perfectly. The company produced films such as Kidulthood, Anuvahood and Shank, all of which share a similar style to our own.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The chosen audience for our product would be male, in an age range of 15-30. This is due to the characters ages as well as the style of the film. The film is generally quite dark and violent which may appeal to the older age range of the audience but the fast paced and entertaining chase scene would appeal to the younger audience also.

How did you attract/address your audience?

The film attracted the audience straight from the first shot as you can hear the two characters talking about some sort of drug deal, this instantly gives the audience a good idea as to what the characters are like as well as what style of film it is. Due to how fast that the story and chase scene comes in to the film the audience is immediately drawn in, the fast paced and up-beat music (which generally also appeals to the targeted audience age range) keeps the viewer attached, this builds tension for the viewer in that they have no idea what’s to come.

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

During the production of the film we used a massive variety of both ICT technologies and filming equipment. A great example of this would be the software we used for the film editing, we decided to use Sony Vegas which is a higher quality piece of software and since one of us already had it we thought it would be a lot easier, as well as producing a higher quality film. Through using this we picked up many different skills and techniques when it comes to editing. Every one of us is now much more confident when it comes to film editing as playing around and experimenting with the software made us find what worked and what didn’t.

As well as the editing software being useful for us, using the camera has proven to be very helpful. We all had our own go at using the camera and therefore once we were more confident in using it we provided our input into what we think the next shot should be as well as not being scared to experiment with different or extreme camera shots or angles. Throughout the entire construction of the film we all became more connected with the film, this helped all of us do our roles as we had a mental image of how this film would turn out. This was helped even further after we had rendered out our first draft of the film.

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

The amount of techniques and skills that we’ve learnt through progressing from our preliminary into the main task was huge. Each one of us has become much more familiar with many different roles of film production, from camera work to editing to acting. The biggest thing that we’ve learnt and improved up on would be holding a story and a conversation together. During the preliminary task we had a conversation between the two characters, Johnny and Tony. This conversation was poorly constructed as well as being edited together rather poorly. We all felt this way and from there we analysed the film to find problems that we could have easily avoided and bought them into the main task.

While our preliminary task wasn’t the worst film that’s ever been seen it still had a massive space to fill. The best example of how we’ve progressed from the preliminary would be the editing. The editing within the main task is much more fluent and liquid rather than being clunky. Due to the main aspect of our film being a chase scene we really needed to achieve the linear and flowing feel that our main task has.