Q7: Looking Back at your Preliminary Task, What Do You Feel You Have Learnt in the Progression from it to the Final Product?

Our preliminary task was quite amateur. Shots were unsteady, pull focus didn't work, there was talking in the background in the final production. However, these problems were all taken into account and blogged about (on the Research and Planning blog). The mistakes were then practiced and improvements made to create a final product that the group were very happy with.

Preliminary Task:

This pull focus shot was supposed to focus from the door onto Ali. However, while the door was in focus, the focus onto Ali was not quite pulled off.

This shot was the end part of the attempted pull focus. You can see that Ali was not quite in focus by the end of the shot. This wasn't what we intended, so we practised the pull focus technique.

This is bad frame positioning, with no characters, props or setting in the shot.





Final Task (Improvements):

This was the pull focus shot in our final task. As you can see it was pulled off successfully, with the start in focus (right)...

...and the end in focus. The pull focus was pulled off this time, creating the effect wanted.

This shot is well positioned, with the phone and table in focus (hiding the titles so the audience can focus on the shot), and Kirsty out of focus but still fully in shot in a close up. She is enclosed by the chairs but has nothing above her head so the shot is not claustrophobic.

This shot is also well framed, as I wanted to create the difference between the two characters and make it subliminally obvious by using the bars in the middle to separate the two characters, with the 'street/gangs' character being on the same side as the flats and the main character trying to get out of the 'street/gangs' lifestyle on the side of the school. Jotham is in a medium shot and Ali is in a long shot.

Q6: What Have You Learnt About Technologies from the Process of Constructing This Product?

During the process of creating our media film, I have learnt about using many different technologies, from improving my knowledge of an Apple Mac to using camera accessories to improve the quality of my shots. We used Apple Macs as opposed to PCs as the equipment available on the Macs is more advanced and simpler to use, as well as being compatible with all programs.

• Sites such as Vimeo were enjoyable to use due to the quality of the videos and the aesthetics of the site itself.
• Effects such as the slightly red wash were used on iMovie to enhance the effect wanted on our movie.
• Sites such as Vimeo, YouTube and SoundCloud had an especially useful embed button with which enabled us to insert videos and sound onto our blog without the user having to follow a link to another website. This keeps the flow of the blog going and makes it more accessible and easy to use.
• Blogger was useful as it has unlimited storage, and sites such as GoAnimate and Piktochart were useful in the presentation of data.
• KeepVid screenshots:

KeepVid was easy to use, as you only had to copy and paste a YouTube link to the website and it would convert it to whatever format you wanted.

I wanted to use a specific camera with a manual focus so we could complete the pull focus and unfocused shots we wanted to take. We managed to borrow a camera with a manual focus so I could complete these shots.

I used the tripod on shots such as this one (below) to stabilise the shot where needed.

These are examples of some of the equipment I used during the process:

Q5: How Did You Attract/Address Your Audience?

We attracted our audience in many ways. We had a female and a male main character to attract to both genders, with the 'gang/street' side of the narrative attracting mainly males, and the underlying love and attraction between the two characters attracting mainly to the female audience.

We created a hermeneutic code in the opening to leave the audience wanting more, by leaving unanswered questions to do with the third and fourth character in the narrative, as well as the background between the two main characters- is there an underlying attraction? Creating this foreshadowing both leaves the audience wanting more and actively engages the audience in the movie by making them think for themselves to piece together the puzzle, making the audience-movie relationship stronger and consequently making the audience more actively enjoy the movie.

The hermeneutic code for the third and fourth characters are created first by using a blurred camera shot to blur the third character during the drug exchange. This blurring of the shot creates a confusion as to the character being a big part of the story, and the fact that he doesn't have any dialogue adds to the confusion. The fourth character has two lines of dialogue, which themselves are very vague anyway, leaving the audience wondering if there is more of a connection between these two characters.

We also created a seme (semic code) in the cultural stereotype of the two characters (Ali's/Ceaser's generic clothing and slang; Kirsty's/Flo's generic clothing and setting) so the audience would create assumptions about the characters and build up their own representations, which would then be challenged as the movie progressed. Using these conventions to create a seme means that we could effectively 'show, not tell' the audience about the characters.

Ali's conventional 'youth' clothes

Kirsty's conventional middle class clothes

We used the age of our actors to relate to our target audience- the target audience is young, our actors are young.

Young Actors to relate to young audience

The non-diagetic music enhances the codes we have created by being generic to the culture of the main male character. The music is of the hip hop/rap genre, which is very popular with the youth that we are portraying in our movie.



Music has a big effect on most people, especially youths. Hopefully our choice of music would address and attract more of an audience, especially in the youth class.


Our use of props relating to our characters and their background stories enhances the stories of the characters and also enhances the conventions and codes of the stereotypes we are trying to both conform to and challenge. A list of related props includes:

• Drugs
• Chain (accessories)
• Headphones
• Bag with Nike tick visible
• Phone
• Breakfast Cereal

 The male characters props (chain, bag, drugs) enhance his character stereotype as an unruly youth. The drugs show a bad side to him and immediately associate him with the 'street/gangs' culture. This gives the audience an immediate image of the male character.
The female characters props (headphones, breakfast cereal, phone) represents her as a female with more money- the phone and headphones being expensive commodities and the breakfast cereal showing that she has time and is relaxed. This gives the audience a representation of her being relaxed and at least slightly wealthy. The headphones also enhance the music side of the movie.

The location of our film (for the opening two minutes, mostly a school) is easily connectable to our target audience (15 and over) as most of our audience will be currently going through school or have left relatively recently.

Q4: Who Would Be the Audience for Your Media Product?

Our movie is aimed at anyone over 15. It would attract both gender audiences almost equally (a bit skewed towards the male side) as it is primarily a movie about youth, instead of any gender separation. There is also a story told from both gender sides, with Ceaser's (Ali's) story being told and Flo's (Kirsty's) also being told, attracted both genders, but from different social class spectrums.
It will mainly relate to youths who can relate to the movie themselves- maybe people who have been through the struggle of trying to get out of the youth culture and the 'streets' themselves.
It will attract mainly youths, as they can relate to the story and the characters. Lower/under class and middle class youths will both be attracted as there is a story from both sides of that class spectrum.

There is a truth to the story and the setting and context that will attract an audience from the same context. The sub-genres of gangs, music and love will attract other audiences.
The music and love side, coupled with the story of the middle classed girl will attract more of a female audience, as the majority of females have been known to enjoy the more compassionate side of a story. It may also attract couples.
The gang life and violence side of the story will attract a older (ages 17+) audience who can relate to this side of the story and the main character's story and struggle.

Typical Audience:
Profile:

Name: Jessica Rusey:
Age: 18
Nationality: British (London)
Occupation: Studying Hair and Beauty at London Met, with a job at a hairdressers sweeping floors.
Hobbies: Loves spending time away from work and university with her friends, partying and generally having a good time. Likes TV and shows such as 'Made in Chelsea' but says she doesn't have enough time to watch TV with all her work. Often likes going to the cinema but doesn't make enough money as it so takes advantage of free festivals and cheap movies shown as one off events.
Media Consumption: An avid Facebook and Twitter, using it to "Keep up with friends from before". Receives news of film festivals and one off events through Facebook. Uses mainly her phone (an iPhone) to keep up with Facebook and Twitter so she can spend more time on the move.

• Jessica is the perfect consumer for our movie, as she goes to one offs and free film festivals. As our movie is our first, and only produced and directed by first time producers and directors, it will only be shown at free film festivals or very cheaply as a one off at a small cinema. As Jessica doesn't have much money, she will attend a free film festival or a one off where our movie is playing.
• She is also a young person who loves her social life- this also makes her the perfect candidate for an audience for our movie.

Profile:

Name: Niko Gordon

Age: 19

Nationality: British (London)

Occupation: Working with his dad as a mechanic, part time, at college studying construction 4 days a week.

Hobbies: Likes spending time with his friends, but is starting to get afraid at what they do when he's not there. He isn't with them often as he is working or at college but he hears stories from other people about their exploits.

Media Consumption: Gets his news through Facebook and Twitter, watches regular videos on a YouTube channel.

• Niko, unlike Jessica, earns enough money to see a more advertised and anticipated film at the cinema. However, he is also connected to Twitter and Facebook so gets regular updates through there. The YouTube channel he watches has adverts on it linking him to events where our movie may be played.
• He can also relate to the story of the main character in our movie as he is starting to become uncomfortable with the life that his friends are getting into and that he will eventually be dragged into. He can relate to the story of the youth trying to get out of the 'gang' way of life.

The amalgamation of these profiles and the planned storyline of our movie means that it would be planned for it to have a rating of 15. This is a similar rating for other movies of the same genre, such as Adulthood and Kidulthood.

Q3: What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why?

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

The main UK distribution companies are:

Film Four:

UK Film Council:

BBC Films:

I think that Film Four would distribute our movie. Film Four produces movies (very often of the genre of Youth Culture) by up and coming and independent directors and producers. Our movie is a youth culture movie, created by us- up and coming, independent producers and directors. 

Channel Four looks for movies that expand and present young British Talent to nurture the talent and hopefully create a British film industry to challenge America's. Film Four often looks for movies with a story to tell and quite often a motto. Our movie tells the story of an unusual youth in that he is finding himself a way out of the 'Youth' culture, challenging the stereotype and creating an interesting moral to the story- don't judge this character by his facade (created by his slang and costume). Basically- don't judge a book by its cover.

I think our movie conforms to Film Fours scruples, which is why i think Film Four is the most likely of the three UK Film conglomerates to distribute our movie.

Some of our researched movies from our Research and Planning blog- such as This Is England, Attack the Block, and Trainspotting have been distributed by Film Four. These three films have the same genre as ours (Youth Culture) and even though some have different plots, the basic characters are the same- a young character in the dangerous street culture.

I 

Q2: How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

Evaluation Question 2:

Representation of the Young Male:





In our movie we wanted to present the male character as happen two sides to him.

1. We wanted the stereotypical (for his clothing, slang and actions) side to him, being the 'street/gangs' side. This was represented by:

• His clothing: He wore tracksuit, swinging headphones and a chain to represent his affliction to the gang/street- based side of youth culture. 
• His slang in his dialogue parts also demonstrated his similarities to characters in other youth culture films such as Adulthood.

• However, we wanted to polarise the relationship between the street/gang side and the more loving side of the male character. To do this we first introduced the idea that he was closer to school than to the street side with this shot:

The bars in the middle of the shot separate the two characters, with the main character being closer to the school, showing the side of him that wants to get away from the street/gang side of life, while the other character is facing away, with the flats in his background, showing his connection to the street/gang side of life. 

• We then used the final shot in the opening two minutes to show the caring and loving side of the main character, challenging the stereotypes of these conventional characters. The character says the girls name, "Flo" with a lot of care in his voice, and the smile she gives back shows that there is some connection between the two characters

Q1: In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products?

EVALUATION QUESTION 1:

Our media product (our film opening sequence), was based on the youth culture genre:
Forms and Conventions of Youth Culture Films:

Most youth culture films (such as Adulthood or Bullet Boy) deal with crime as one of their main themes. In Bullet Boy this is represented by the opening shots- of the main character in prison. We tried to challenge this by setting the opening sequence in a school, showing the character is in education and by showing (using music) that the main male character is trying to get out of the street/gang. While this is not completely clear in the opening two minutes, the synopsis shows that this would be developed throughout the film.

Here are some statistics I made on Youth Crime:

Using these statistics we have incorporated into our film a stereotyped male character. If a crime is to be committed in the film, the audience will expect it to be committed by a male character. We have developed with the use of his costume and his 'street' slang.

Statistics on Cultural Differences in Youths on Crime and Youth Crime in the Media:

To challenge the statistic of Asian youths committing less crimes we have made our main character an Asian. This will hopefully challenge the audiences stereotypes of youths when they see the film. 

Using Our Audience Research:

I watched the opening sequences for Adulthood and Kidulthood after our audience research subjects told us that these were their two favourite youth culture films. I noticed a few similarities in them, such as:

• Starting with a black screen with only the institutions names.
• After the institutions names, an artistic shot with an effect.

I incorporated these into my film, with the film starting with a black screen and some non- diagetic music and ambience, and the institutions names (namely MAJEK Films, Niche Productions). 

After the institutions names, the first shot of our movie is an out of focus shot, slowly gaining focus, with a slight white glow effect (to suggest 

Opening Institution Titles:

Adulthood/Kidulthood:                                                                                      SyNC.

 Opening Effects:


Adulthood/Kidulthood                                                                                       SyNC.

 

Codes and Conventions Using:

Mise-en-Scene:

The mise en scene we used to create the codes and conventions of youth culture films included:

• Costume: the clothes the main character was wearing; tracksuit with his hood up, a Nike bag, and headphones helped to build up the typical youth culture stereotype. Here we have conformed to the conventions.
• Sets: Our sets included the school. When searching for locations, we decided that the steps outside this building would be the best place for the dialogue and the introduction of characters. It is in a position where it is facing the sun, so a lot of natural light is available in the shot. It also has bars by the stairs which I used to split the two characters up, insinuating the differences between the characters. The school set is both conventional, conforming to the age group that constitutes youth culture films, and challenges the youth culture genre in the way that most characters in youth culture films are either not educated or not bothering to go to school.

Editing:

• I have used a reverse shot during the dialogue between the two characters to show that the characters have a rapport and are clearly friends or associates. This is conventional to the youth culture genre in the way that in some youth culture films such as 'This Is England', the character feels close to his friends so that they are almost like family (usually due to a bad family life).

Camera Shots and Angles:

• I used wider, medium shots at the beginning to set the scene and show the background/setting, namely the school and the flats. 
• I then used a slightly further away long shot when introducing the character to show his costume, his walk and his composure. This built up the seme of the male character so the audience could work out their own representation of the character from the codes given.
• The close up shot of the drug exchange shows the exchange in more detail. This means that the characters hands enclose the shot, with the drugs in the middle, insinuating that drugs are a major part of the characters lives.

Sound:

• The non-diagetic music is typical to the character class. This is agreed with by our audience in the audience feedback- "It is stereotypical to the main character, it is the sort of music he would be associated with.".
• The ambient sounds I included, such as the car sounds, the shouting people, the bell, and phones ringing, are all typical everyday sounds you would hear on, for example, the way to school/work. I tried to add a sense of normality and reality to the movie to make the scenes more believable. The street sounds also build the sense of everyday life.

The Middle-Classed Girl:

The middle classed girl in herself is a character who challenges the conventions of youth culture just by the fact that she is middle classed. In most youth culture films, the main girl character is often the girlfriend of the main character and is the same class as him. None of the youth culture films I analysed featured a girl as the main character.

Any middle classed characters had very small roles in the films as well- such as the middle classed man and his girlfriend in 'Adulthood' . None of the main characters in any of the youth culture films I analysed were middle or upper classed. 

So the fact that we have a middle classed girl as one of our main characters challenges the codes and conventions of the youth culture genre itself.