Evaluation Activity 7.

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

Doing the preliminary task has helped me to learn and use the camera and Mac. It allowed me to use the camera properly as I've learnt how to use it the tri-pod which helps to make the camera view a better quality. It also has allowed me to feel confident using the cameras and the Mac, and this would help me for the future reference.

The preliminiary task helped us prevent mistakes by planning our film carefully (using storyboards, shotlists, prop lists, scripts, biography and more). These planning set prevented us from making mistakes such as mixture of filming scenes; and irrelevant dialogues.

When we get to the stage of main task which is filming, I will use different kind of cameraworks such as Shot reverse shot, maction action, low angle and more. Because of the preliminary task, I will be able to film our movie into a much more better quality using different cameraworks.

In the editing stage, we set out plans on what type of music we are going to put into our film. We firstly researched this by handing out questionnaires which led us to finding out what other people want and/or expect to see in a spy/thriller films. The results came out as fast-phase music which creates tension and suspense to the audience.

We have also identified which sounds are suitable as a music background or as a scene sounds.  These are called Diegetic and Non-diegetic sound; diegetic sound is a sound which is a part of the film world we are watching. This can be the dialogues, sound effects or music that is coming from an actual source within the film world; within our film, we added diegetic sounds and these are the dialogues and sound effects we did by ourselves. Non-diegetic sound is a sound which we do not recognise as part of the film world, such as voice-over or background music; we also non-diegetic sound in our film and these are the background music which was used to create tension.

We used specifics camera work and these were:

Match On Action - It is a cut from one shot to another view that matches the action and face of the first shot. A visual 'bridge' is created which acts to disguise the cut from one to the other.We used this in our film quite a lot as it gives our film more professionality and emphasizes the fast-phase music background.

Shot Reverse Shot - It is a film technique wherein one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking "back" at the first character. We used this in our film to show that we have the knowledge to present conversations effectively to our audiences.

 180 degree rule - It is a basic guideline in film making that states that 2 character (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. We also used this as it creates professionality and more effective way of showing the relationship of the characters. Without this, the scenes wouldn't be much effective as it would be messy to look at.

Overall, I think that our film went very well; I am very pleased with our stages (research & planning, preliminary, main task and editing task) we have developed countless skills that could help us in the future. Especially with me hoping to get in a university as an animator student.

Evaluation Activity 6.

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

Throughout this project, I have learnt to use different kind of modern technology to make this film. I have use many softwares on a computer which is a Mac made by the Apple company. 

To film my movie, I have used a Camera and a Tri-pod. Before using I learnt how to properly use them and what are the basics of cameraworks.

I have used Imovie HD to edit all my clips that have been taken using the camera. Imovie HD, I think is very beneficial to us as without this, we wouldn't have portrayed many scenes very effectively. We also wouldn't be able to add the desired effects to make it suit the right genre. 

I also have used Garageband to edit all my background music and effects. This has aided me throughout my project because instead of using an actual song from a well-known artist, a sense of originality wouldn't come to us right now. We spent hours just to find the right track and instrument to perfectly suit the scenes of our film. We used Itunes to publish our music in so we can easily put the music into our film. In the end, we are very pleased of the outcomes and some audiences have praised them. 

Blogger has been a very helpful website for us as it helped us keep track and be organized with our project. We blogged about important stuff such as the locations of the scenes; the script we used for our film; and many more.

I also used Youtube, a video service community that allows you to view videos freely without charge. I used Youtube to watch different kind of trailers my film would be relevant to. This has helped me identify and progressed and more improved my film into a better quality.

Evaluation Activity 5.

How did you attract your audience?

When guns are shown in a film, I quickly get the feeling of hard action films like James Bond probably because of the effect of one of its openings. This is really effective as it emphasizes our film genre.

Our film would attract audiences because of our film has most of the connotations of a spy-thriller film, such as the use of weapons like guns and gadgets which perfectly fits the Spy Thriller genre. In this clip/scene, the character is shown pulling out a gun to intimidate the antagonist to make her feel dominative and higher class which therefore the antagonist should give up to.

I also chose this scene as it shows the protagonist's daily lives which is a normal college girl but in this scene a much tenser event has occured which triggered Faith's real identity. In this scene, we can see conotations of normal lives because of the books, classroom, and how people are dressed. A fast-phase music starts here which triggers the audience to the edge of their seats as the protagonist sets off to chase her intention and desire which is to capture the antagonist.

Evaluation Activity 4.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Andrew would be a part of our target audience. He is around the age of 15-24, who enjoys spending time with friends. He likes to shop at Topman, River Island and Primark. He listens to R&B and varieties of Rock. Andrew enjoys watching the James Bond series and other action films out there; he also likes comedy like White Chicks who are about two black guys goes undercover as two white females. His favourite film is Kick-Ass 

because he loves combat action, and he loves protagonists who goes undercover to defeat the antagonist.

Our film, 'Chase' would enter here. Andrew would love our film as combat-action is presented, undercover spies and dramatic storyline are sure to attract Andrew. Suspense and thrilling features are also presented which gives out the real potential to the film and therefore gives Andrew a film that he hasn't seen like any other.

Our film has use the connotation of weapons and bloods during fights between characters would set our film in a category of 15.

Evaluation Activity 3.

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

 Our film is a Spy-Thriller genre which interests a lot of audiences around the world. Spy genre have been presented widely to the globe through the James Bond films. Many films have been produced because of James Bond's inspirational feature, and one of them is Johnny English who adapted the James Bond's qualities and experimented and added the genre of Comedy.

Many people enjoy watching hard action thriller as it gives them the thriller of watching Heroes beating up bad guys. Our local cinema which is Odeon have been widely popular amongst different kind of age varieties, it has been distributing popular films such as Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows, The Tourist and more new films. Odeon would be the best cinema to distribute our film as it is widely known not only in the UK but also in other countries. With that number of people going to cinema everyday, our film would attract lots of audience and therefore will help build it up to make a hit through people. Our film will then on be shown through television such as BBC1, ITV and Sky Movies. 

Evaluation Activity 2.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Carmen Cortez in Spy Kids Series and Anna Alvarez as Faith

The characteristics of Faith is similar to Carmen Cortez from the Spy Kids Series. They both have enough courage to be the Protagonist of the story; they are both brave and strong-willed and family oriented. Carmen Cortez cares for her family, and if one is in trouble, they would be there for that person. Faith, in the other hand, have lost her own family, but was adopted by a General Policeman and considered him as her own father; throughout the story, she shows care and sense of gratitude to his now father. Faith's parents died in front of her when she was around the age of 3, and her older sister was taken from her by an evil man. From then on, she swore to herself that she will find her sister therefore taking the path of being a spy to gain more knowledge and easily track her sister.

In physical view, Carmen Cortez is a normal school girl at first until she finds out about her parent's occupancy. She is also good at combats and with gadgets which makes her a really good spy. On the other hand, Faith is not a school girl but a college girl, and is secretly hiding her identity behind people around her except for the people that knows her real identity. She is really dedicated to capture Oscura to prove that all her efforts were not wasted. The difference between them two is Carmen Cortez having someone to accompany her through her journey since the start which is her own brother whereas Faith started as a lonely girl and pursued her passion on finding her older sibling, but later throughout the story, she finds to realize that she has someone who are there for her like B.O.B. for example.

Overall, this comparison of the two are really effective as the positivies similarites are shown and differences between the two makes our character more original and dramatic.

Evaluation Activity 1.

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

Frame 1 (The title of the film) - Our film title is called 'Chase' and is presented right after the 'dream scene' as the antagonist shoots the gun. The title acted as the bullet therefore it is shakey and jumpy which creates tension as presented to the audience.

Frame 2 (Font style) - The font style used in this opening scene are vital as it also links and represent the genre of the film. The font style we used is called Impact; we used this type of font because it is the most relevant to the genre due to its san-serif font style, and modern look like the font of 'James Bond' films which looks really modern and has a spy-thriller feel to it.

Frame 3 (Genre and how openning suggests it) - As our genre is Spy-Thriller we needed to progress our film into making it obvious as a spy-thriller. We suceeded this by showing a character in a 'secret base' who guides the protagonist using gadget devices. This informs the audience that without this guidance, the protagonist wouldn't be succesful with her quests.

Frame 4 (Setting/Location) - Our setting and location are at college (inside a class), secret base, isolated roof building and local neighbourhood. We decided these places to be our film location because Faith (Anna) is a college student so we wanted to show her daily life; isolated roof area of the building because our genre is a spy/thriller, we wanted to present the secrecy of the antagonist and how great of an assasin she is. Secret Base is one of the vital locations in the film as it is the place where the secret spy organisation resides. We also added a scene in a local neighbourhood because we wanted to show the audience that even if it is a local naighbourhood where there can be people; no one can stop the two.

Frame 5 (Camerawork and Editing) - We used a variety of camerawork such as Close Ups (CU), Medium Shot (MS), Long Shot (LS), Match-on-action, Shot Reverse Shot, 180° rule, and we also did a lot of editing to suit the genre of the film. We added a contrast and brightness to make the scenes more clear to watch, and we made sure each scene starts at the right time so when scenes are put together, it would have a nice balanced flow.

Frame 6 (Special Effects) - We added special effects to maximize the suitability of the film to its genre; we added ghost trails on the running scene to make it look more fast phase and thus would create tension. For music, we used Garageband to make our music for the film; we mixed different fast phase beats to show that the running scenes are fast phase and creates uneasiness to the audience.

Frame 7 (How characters are introduced) - Faith which is Anna; she is introduced as the girl dreaming. She is presented right after the title scene when she slowly wakes up from the dream. Her friend which is Andrew was presented when he made sure that Anna was ok. I was B.O.B. who was the person in the secret base where I guide Anna through her journey; I was presented when I contacted Anna through a special device, she was in the classroom whilst I was in a secret place. and finally, Oscura which is Jasmine was presented on the very first part of the opening but she was anonymous and wasn't properly presented until Faith saw her.

Frame 8 (Story and how the opening sets it up) - As the title is 'Chase' we made our opening a chase scene to show the audience that the title and the film are relevant. Faith looks like a normal college girl at first but as the opening progress, her true identity is revealed which is a secret spy agent working for the police in desire of capturing the antagonist, Oscura.

Frame 9 (Costumes and props) - Every character dress to suit their identities, for example Faith is dressed as a normal college girl but equipped with hidden gadgets such as the "earphone" which she used to communicate with B.O.B. The way she dressed suits her identity very well as she looks like a normal college girl but she is working as a spy for the police. Oscura dressed in full black clothes;black top; black skirt; and black boots. She is presented as an assasin who works for criminals and the way she dressed shows this quite effectively like 'Black Widow'; a character from Iron Man 2 films where she was first presented as an antagonist and then introduced as the leading lady in the film later on. B.O.B. is the cheeky and the joker of the film, he assists Faith with her spy activities and helps her find Oscura. He dresses quite 'nerdy' looking which gives the impression that he is intellectual. His character is like Bob Ho from the film 'The Spy Next Door' which is a comedy-spy genre.

SCRIPT

Jill Smith: Faith, Are you ok?
Faith: Uhh, yea-yeah I’m ok, just fell asleep.
Jill Smith: Oh well, good morning then.
Faith: Hehe...

-Ringing Sound-

B.O.B.: Faith, I have got some info...
-Sip from the juice-
Faith: What’s new?
B.O.B.: I have found where Oscura is... and you won’t believe where she is now.
Faith: Where is she?! Let’s track her down!
B.O.B.: [looks at the computer] According to my computer, She is near your College.
Faith: Ok, I’m going.

-Faith stands up-

Faith: I’ve gotta’ go.
Jill Smith: What?! Why? You can’t just leave...

-Faith is headed by the door-

Mrs. Webb: Miss Alvarez, what do you think you’re doing?! This is a lesson time!
Faith: Sorry Miss, I have to go.

-Faith barges into a guy-

Guy: Hey! Watch where you’re going!
Faith: So sorry, I’m in a hurry.

-Jill looks out the window as Faith runs-

Jill Smith: She...left her bag.

-Faith contacts B.O.B. –

Faith: Where is she?
B.O.B.: A little more to your right!

-Faith and Oscura meets-

Faith: I found you! You’re under arrest!
Oscura smiles intimidately. Faith then takes out gun and shoots but fails.

Locations

From my research from media questionnaire; the results showed that people are expecting and prefers location such as car park, urban areas, and secret base.

These are some of the pictures we are planning to film in:

Chase. Story Summary

Two sisters are separated at a young age by a most wanted criminal who murdered their parents and took the eldest daughter with him. She was raised as an assassin and was forced to help with his crime activities. The youngest daughter which was left behind was taken by secret service police.

15 years later, the eldest daughter is now the most wanted hit man, known as ‘Oscura’, who has completed various mission and has gained a feisty, fearsome reputation. The youngest daughter is now under the police protected name of Faith Alvarez. As she grew up, her passion for being a spy like her father has increased. Thus forcing her now ‘father’ who is the general police to train her. Now, she is a college student and an undercover spy.

3 years before, Faith was assigned with her very first mission, which is to capture the Oscura. Due to the lack of information, the mission has been ongoing for three years now. The newly hired member of the police secret spy organisation, codename B.O.B. is a great help to the organisation as he is able to find Oscura’s whereabouts. This has motivated Faith’s passion on capturing Oscura.

When Oscura was tracked down, and confronted by Faith. The truth of their relation has been revealed: they are each other’s long lost sister. Oscura traded her knowledge for sanctuary; together, both sisters helped each other to track down and capture the man who separated them and killed their parents.

After capturing the most wanted criminal of all time, the sisters gave up their duties as spies and tries to live as normal as they can be.

Props

WHAT KIND OF PROPS WILL I PUT TO MY FILM TO CONNOTATE THE GENRE: SPY/ACTION?

I have researched both from my media questionnaire and through other films that the best props to be used for my chosen genre are:

• Guns
• Gadgets
• Computers

My film includes a normal teenage college life so I added:

• Books
• School Bag
• Juice 

Each one of these represents something that is vital for our Film. The Gun represent the fight and how Faith wants to finish their situation. The Gadgets and Computers represents Knowledge and how they have progressed through the years just to find Oscura's location. The Books represents the normal life which is the college life. The School bag represents the outer identity of Faith which is a normal college girl, and last, the Juice represents confidence when B.O.B. drank the juice while about to explain where Oscura's location is to Faith, this shows how confident he is that he knows even if Oscura escaped, he can still track her down so he is taking it easy.

    

So Close

'So Close' is a Hong Kong action/adventure film  directed by Corey Yuen starring Shu Qi, Karen Mok and Zhao Wei.

It is about a conflict of interest between two high-kicking assassin sisters is complicated as they're pursued by the criminals who hired them and an equally high-kicking female cop.

I really like this film because it relates to my AS film: about two sisters and it is an action/adventure with a spy hybrid.

Props used such as gadgets and guns presents and proves that this film is an action/adventure/spy film. In our film, we will also be using those props to make it obvious to our audience that our film is an action/adventure/spy film.

Comparison of two Horror Films.

An American Werewolf in London

Directed by John Landis, starring David Naughton, Griffin Dunne, and Jenny Agutter. 
It is about two foreigners,  David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne), on holiday in England countryside. Got in a situation where they have been a victim of Werewolf attack; one got eaten, one got scratched and turned into a werewolf.  This could have been prevented if they listened to what the pub-goers' advice:  to walk on a road and keep off moonlight but they disobeyed that and got in a situation where they have been seen by the werewolf.

We see denotations in the films such as the Full Moon conotates the transformation of human into werewolf, darkness conotates the horror genre, the five pointed star on the wall conotates occult club.

28 Days Later

Directed by Danny Boyle, starring  Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns, and Christopher Eccleston.
It is about a man-made virus called "Rage"; if infected, you wouldn't be able to control yourself and just rage about, it is also very contagious. The virus was discovered when Animal Activist invaded a laboratory with the intention of releasing chimpanzees that are undergoing experimentation, infected by a virus. The virus has spread throughout the UK and survivors are then forced to try to find sanctuary.


We see denotations such as the whole dark lab which conotates scientific research and activity, cages conotates imprisonments and more.


The two films shows different sides to the Horror genre; An American Werewolf in London presents a single 'monster' whereas in 28 Days Later, most of the community is infected with the virus. In the An American Werewolf, some aspects of the genre Comedy is also shown: when the two foreigners noticed that there are off the road which lessens the tension a bit. Both films presents the feature of 'Virus' and how it spreads; the werewolf can pass on the werewolf virus by biting or having in contact with someone without that someone dying. In 28 days later, the virus spread more easily by having in contact with another living thing such as animals or humans. This involves the audience by giving them the fear of the virus and the effects of this.

Evaluating the Preliminary Task

Our preliminary task is to film a character opening a door, sitting down and having conversation with character 2. For my interpretation of preliminary task; Character 1, which is Anna Alvarez (my teammate), is going inside the Art Room to ask Character 2, which is Andrew Ralston (my friend), for some blue paint. It is a very simple story but will contain lots of different style of Cinematography.

Filming:

My role is the "cameraman"; I filmed the preliminary task whereas my teammate acted the whole scenes. The types of shots I used are Medium Long shot for the very first shot; Low angle medium long shot zooming in; an extreme close ups (opening the door knob and blue paint); match on action when going inside the room; establishing shot meeting of the two characters; and shot reverse shot (over the shoulder conversation).

Editing:

I am very pleased with the results as the extra added sounds and video effects works well with the film. I think even though most of the time the clips are cut; but it looks fluid and smooth to watch. The shots worked really well too (right positions in the screen) and they are very appropriate for the dialogues we've used/

As a group I think we've worked really well; Anna really co-operated with me suggesting which one's good and which one's bad. We also did the story board together so we'd have our both opinions. 

With practice, I feel more confident using the videocamera and editing the clips using Imovie. The more you interact with them the more you learn. 

[image credits: http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&q=videocamera#/d29qfi]

"'The Dark Knight' is such a good film!"

Batman: Dark Knight 2008 Directed by Christopher Nolan

Feedback from a viewer of Dark Knight:

"   Batman The Dark Knight -

This movie was excellent indeed! I could watch it over and over. (Even though the movie is quite long.)... ...But, all in all, great movie."

WHY IS IT A GOOD FILM? 

Let's take a look at the Warner Bros: Dark Knight Homepage:
 

Dark Knight Homepage



Notice that the homepage is "black" themed. Why is that? Yes, it links to the film itself: "Dark Knight". On the main centre, the page shows the actual trailer for the movie, this could attract audience who have not seen the film yet and could get an insight to the video summary of the film.The homepage also shows the Synopsis, Cast and Additional Downloads that you can use freely.

The Dark Knight was made at Warner Bros studios:

The Studio was originally built on a plot of farmland in 1926 by First National Pictures, which Warner Bros. acquired in 1928. The Warner Bros studios offers over 30 different rental and service departments, they also maintain one of the largest collections of period and contemporary costumes for films. The studio has facilities which provides lots of resources and function such as Set Lighting to Research Centre. 

Warner also own a number of other companies:

• Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
• Warner Bros. Record Inc.

Warner Bros is a subsidiary of Time Warner which is a global leader in media and entertainment with businesses in television networks, filmed entertainment and publishing.

Thriller Genre

Thriller is a genre that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements.
Some of the Thriller conventions:

• Jump Cuts
• Heroes and Villains
• Exotic Locations
• Fight Scenes: Violence; Weapons
• Fast Pace Music
• Extreme sound effects such as Explosion, Shooting

COMPARING TWO CHRISTOPHER NOLAN FILMS:

MEMENTO starring Guy Pearce -

 A man with anterograde amnesia which renders his brain unable to store new memories. He uses his own body tattoos and photograph to recall memories.

Christopher Nolan Interview about Memento:

INSOMNIA starring Al Pacino, Hilary Swank and Robin Williams -

A Detective who suffers insomnia due to the midnight sun and guilt for his misdeeds. He investigates the murder of a 17-year-old girl.

Both films directed by Christopher Nolan both uses thriller conventions. We first notice this by the slow eerie music played by strings. In Memento, we first see a picture of a man with blood, this could already link to the storyline and the genre because of 'blood'. Its the same as in Insomnia where we see a blood appear through cloth. We also see the settings of the both films; in Memento, we see this segregated area where no one would seem to go visit there; and in Insomnia, we can see the plane flying above this wide isolated snowy rocks (Exotic Locations). 

What About Me?

My name's Calvin Serrano, a 16 year old blogging for his A level Media at St. Peters. I chose this A level because I find film industry really fascinating as well as the use of camera. I also chose ICT, Art and English Language for my other A levels; I guess you could tell that I am interested in Computer Art.












WHAT IS OUR AIM?
This year, our aim is to produce an Opening of a film using skills we've learnt this year. Before progressing to the final step, we will need to get a good knowledge of the Film Industry such as Cinematography (Close Up, Medium Shot, Establishing Shot, and more.),  the different types of Genre (Action, Comedy, Horror, Thriller and etc.), Mise-en-Scene (what goes on the stage) and more.
This will help us create an opening scene more professional look and more interesting to watch.