This blog is now closed

This is the final post I will be posting to this blog. I'd like to thank you for examining the different stages of the production of our opening sequence and I hope you enjoy what we have been able to create. Thank you!

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

To influence the production of our opening sequence, we researched real media products to examine how they use conventions. The real films we looked at include:

• Casino Royale
• Quantam of Solace
• The Usual Suspects
• American Beauty
• Se7en
• Taken
• Rounders
• 21
• Lucy

Our film:
In our film opening; Blake, a private detective who used to work in the police force, meets up with one of his old colleagues. He asks Jen, another ex-police officer, for her help in obtaining information on a criminal gang, who he suspects are responsible for the abduction of his fiancé.

During the research and planning phase, there were a number of films that helped influence the production of our opening sequence.


Titles and Music:
For the titling in our opening sequence, the decision to have abstract shots behind the titles was loosely inspired by Se7en. However, we decided to make them less sinister to fit our theme of an action film.

The opening of Se7en displays a series of shots which reveal small pieces of information about the film's plot. For example, the opening sequence shows various pictures of murder victims, who have been killed in very grotesque ways. This is relevant to the film's plot, as the film follows a murderer who kills his victims in equally grotesque ways depending on which of the seven deadly sins the victim has committed. Our title sequence also uses abstract pictures, but we decided to base these shots around the setting of our sequence. This decision was made because we did not want to confuse our audience by referencing plot details that were not present in our opening.

As our opening sequence follows the build-up towards the gunshot scene, we needed a music track that would build up suspense. Therefore one of our group members composed a music track which was influenced by the opening theme in The Usual Suspects. We were also inspired by the opening of The Usual Suspects when we were deciding the order for our titles. We based them on the order of titles shown in the film's opening, which starts with the distributor, followed by production, director, the title of the film and then the actors.

The music used for the opening of The Usual Suspects is mysterious and atmospheric, so we decided to create our own music track to achieve a similar effect. We also believed that it was important for our music track to work alongside our dialogue, as we did not want a large gap in between the two music tracks we used whilst the dialogue was being delivered.

Narrative theories:
Prior to the production of our sequence, we learnt about narrative theories and the role they play in the structure of a story. We thought it necessary to address some of these theories in our opening sequence.

Barthes' Five Codes:

Barthe proposed that the actions occurring in a text can be identified by five 'codes'.

• We used the 'hermaneutic code' with our inclusion of the ring shot, as the audience is left to wonder what the importance of the ring is before it is revealed later on in the sequence. An example of how this is used in a real piece of media would be in American Beauty, as the first scene also reveals events that happen later on in the film.

• 'Engima codes' were implemented with the glances of the thugs, as well as when they reach for their guns. These glares, alongside the tension of the soundtrack, signifies that a conflict is about to occur, whereas the act of reaching for the gun reveals the oncoming climax of events. This can also be seen in Casino Royale, as the villain's stare and a focus pull onto the glass reveals to the audience that Bond has been poisoned.

Propp's Character Theory:

Propp suggested that there are several character types which can be applied to any text and used to make characters easily recognisable.

• Blake plays the role of 'the hero', who must struggle against the villain to complete and objective. Hero characters include James Bond from Casino Royale and Skyfall and Bryan Mills from Taken.
• Although we do not see her in the opening, Rachel; Blake's fiancé, is 'the princess': a character who is sought for during the narrative. An example of a princess character would be Kim Mills from Taken 
• Jen acts as 'the helper', a character who aids the hero on their journey. This resembles characters such as Professor Norman in Lucy and Detective Mills from Se7en.

Todorov's Theory of Equilibrium

Todorov believed that the majority of stories follow the transition from equilibrium to chaos. The role of the hero is to resolve this disruption, which results in the return to a new equilibrium.

• Our film does not follow a conventional narrative route. The opening sequence of our film starts with the disruption rather than the equilibrium. However, our film steps away from the narrative route to show glimpses of different events. We were inspired by The Usual Suspects and American Beauty to show events that occur later in the film at the start. Using this technique allows us to highlight different events and gives the audience the chance to speculate their importance.

Genre Conventions of Action Films

Strong, alpha-male lead character

• When we were deciding how to represent our lead character, we knew that we had to make him powerful and recognisable. Our first thoughts for a strong alpha-male lead turned to James Bond, who did influence Blake's character quite a bit. However, we we also wanted to make sure that are character was not the cold-blooded killer that Bond is. The purpose for Blake's actions is his kidnapped fiancé, meaning that he does what he has to in order to rescue his partner. This character trait closely associates with Bryan Mills from the Taken film series, who was another source of inspiration for the character of Blake. 

The visual style often consists of dark colours like black and brown

• Our setting is very isolated: everything beyond the surface of the table is unlit. We decided on a minimalist setting as it allowed for more focus on our characters. We felt this was necessary in order to drive the story of our sequence. Our decision was influenced by the opening sequence of Casino Royale:

• Blake wears a black suit with a white shirt and black tie, which is a common costume for male lead characters.
• Jen wears a black leather jacket and a dark shirt. We wanted our depiction of Jen to reflect her character and background as well as fitting in with our visual style.
• The two thugs in our sequence wear different clothing: one wears a leather jacket whereas the other has a checked shirt. The leather jacket is a good signifier for a criminal character, whereas a checked shirt could have denotations of poverty. 

A busy, urban setting to reflect the action and pace

This is an example of an urban
setting from Taken.

• This is where our film begins to challenge some conventions of action films. Many action films such as Taken, Lucy, The Usual Suspects and 21 use use urban settings. This is for a number of reasons, but primarily because there is a very fast and busy pace in an urban environment. This is often linked in to the plot of an action film, whether it helps to emphasise the danger of a car chase in films such as Lucy or the thrill of gambling in 21. However, the setting in our opening is left very ambiguous, but the poker game takes place in an isolated environment. Nothing beyond the table is visible, which does not reflect the settings that are common in other action films. However, the setting does work well for building suspense, as the focus of the audience is on the characters. This emphasis on the dialogue makes the scene much more tense, which is more common in action-thriller films. As our setting is arguably more suited for a film about gambling rather than an action film due to the isolated and claustrophobic atmosphere, we would ensure that the action genre is clear by showing a more traditional urban environment in the following scene. This would also make our film's narrative more dynamic as the difference between the settings would utilise binary opposites.

There are clear signs that we have been influenced by common conventions of action films. However, there are also many conventions which we have decided to challenge. Todarov's narrative theory is extremely common in action films, but instead we have chosen to start with the disruption. Whilst there are clear similarities between Blake and Bond through the use of costume, he also takes after Bryan Mills; a character willing to do anything to save the people he holds dear. As the focus of our film is on its story, we wanted to make sure our characters were more three-dimensional than recent action films.

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

Representation was an important factor in constructing our sequence; we needed our characters to be recognisable, but fresh. Therefore we researched different films to help influence the characters in our sequence. 

Our approach to gender representation differs from more typical action films:

The leading character is often an alpha-male character
In action films, it is common for a protagonist to be a smooth, handsome man with a clear objective and a bit of an attitude.

We decided that making our hero a male character was necessary in order to make him recognisable as an action lead character. Classic hit films such as Die Hard, The Terminator and Indiana Jones are films with alpha-male lead characters that have been extremely influential in the development of action films of the last 30 years, with many recent films such as Whitehouse Down and The Equalizer solidifying this role. These characters are often depicted as middle-class adults.


However, we also believed that we needed to separate our main character from this alpha-male representation. Blake's fiancé has been kidnapped, which is the reason for his cold exterior; he does not take the same approach to killing as characters such as staple action characters like James Bond and John McClane.













The female lead is sexualised, or acts as a love-interest for the male lead 
Unfortunately, it is uncommon for women to be represented as strong, fearless and hardened. Although there are characters who are depicted more positively such as Lara Croft, they are still sexualised to appeal to a male audience.

A study by the BFI shows that some of the films with the largest male audience released in 2013 were Man of Steel and Star Trek: Into Darkness. Both of these films had a relationship between the main character and a female love interest. Most of these depictions show women in their 20s or 30s.

With our film opening, we wanted to discard this conventional representation of women when designing our characters. Jen is depicted as tough through her costume and actions, whilst avoiding any unnecessary sexualisation. She does not allow Blake to control their conversation and refuses to show any hesitation when shooting the thugs. Furthermore, we establish that Blake is searching for his fiancé, which removes the possibility of her becoming a love interest.

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

The distributor that we believe to be best suited in the release of our film is Universal Pictures. We decided that Universal would be the best choice for a distributor by comparing their work alongside real production companies with our own film.


Our production company, FRP Studios, is a small, yet ambitious British company that aims to produce films of a high quality that replicate the 'glossy' look of Hollywood productions. These films would have dual-nationality: a British production funded and distributed by the USA.


We discovered that Dark Castle Entertainment, a production company very similar to ours, works as a division of Silver Pictures, we decided that our company would also work in association Silver Pictures to produce our film.


From here, we researched what distributor Silver Pictures had worked with to release these recent films. We discovered that Silver Pictures made a 5-year marketing and distribution deal with Universal Pictures in 2012. Therefore Universal was the obvious choice for the distribution of our film. Furthermore, Non-Stop is a successful film with many similarities to ours which has been released since this deal between Silver Pictures and Universal. Thus, we believe that our film would be just as successful if released by Universal Pictures

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

When deciding what genre of film we wanted to produce, we researched which genres were the most successful.

We found out that action films were very popular and some of the most successful in the UK in 2013, which reflects the feedback we received from the questionnaire we produced in the research and planning phase. Therefore we stand by our decision to target action film fans as our primary audience.

An example of a member of our target audience could be as follows:

Demographic Information

• Male
• 15-25 years old
• Single
• Little free time due to school/work
• Low income
• Goes to the cinema irregularly

Psychographic Information

• Concerned about quality: they will only spend money on something they think is worthwhile as they have little disposable income
• Values time spent with friends
• Aware of action film conventions, so any challenges would intrigue them

A typical member of our primary audience would be a middle-class teenager or young adult who goes to the cinema periodically. They would likely see the film with friends, family or partners.

Our planned secondary audience was both men and women aged 15-40. This is because our research had shown that many people within this age range go to see action films. All of the highlighted films below are classified as action films on IMDb.

However, I came across this study showing the preferred film genre of different groups of people:

We were surprised to see that men and women aged 55+ were some of the larger audiences for action films. However, we also noticed that these groups of people make up the largest audience for thriller films; our secondary genre. As our film has more consideration towards narrative than other action films such as Fast and Furious 6 that have been very successful, we chose to target a wide group for our secondary audience and focus on peopled aged 55+ as our tertiary audience.

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

When deciding how our film should appeal to our audience, we decided to consult the uses and gratifications theory.

The theory of uses and gratifications states that there are four reasons that an audience will consume a piece of media:

• Escapism - An audience will consume a piece of media to immerse themselves in a narrative and escape the stress of life. This is commonly provided through action films, as the audience is able to involve themselves in a fictional story. Escapism will be the primary gratification provided by our film.
• Interaction - An audience will consume a piece of media to involve themselves in the actions of others. Our film will not directly compel interaction between different people. However, teenagers; a group included in our secondary target audience, will often go to the cinema with friends. Therefore there might be some social interaction derived from our film.
• Personal Identity - An audience will consume a piece of media to see a reflection of themselves or to learn more about themselves. It is possible that some members of our audience would relate to Blake, as he is passionate and affectionate towards those close to him. 
• Surveillance - An audience will consume a piece of media to learn more about what is happening in the world, whether it be a documentary or report. This is the gratification which is not provided by our film, as our narrative is fictional. 

Our primary gratification was escapism, which we tried to provide through a compelling narrative and intriguing visual style. In order to see if we had been successful, we created a survey for members of our target audience to fill in.

First, we decided to ask about who was answering the survey. We received 18 responses:

We discovered that the large majority of our feedback was from people aged between 13 and 24. There was a slight skew towards males, but this was expected. Although action films have a very wide appeal, it is common for the male audience to be slightly larger than the female audience.

Furthermore, we were able to see who responded to the survey from outside of the UK. We received 8 responses from the USA as well as a couple elsewhere in Europe. This information would suggest that the film would succeed in reaching a universal audience.

Next we gathered some feedback on whether the audience enjoyed the sequence:

Our feedback was very positive, with an average rating of 4.17/5. Furthermore, 16 out of our 18 responses said that they would watch the rest of the film.

Lastly, we asked for some specific detail on what our audience liked and what they didn't understand about our sequence:

These are the comments we received. Feedback on the story is
highlighted in red, comments on the visual style are in blue
and the way in which suspense was built is in green.

There was only one thing which persisted in our feedback about what was not understood. Multiple people were unsure of the dialogue and what was going on. However, this is something that could be easily resolved by tweaking the script to be more explicit.

Overall, I think we have been successful in reaching and attracting our target audience. The large majority of our feedback with praise directed to different elements of our sequence such as the visual style and story. The majority of our responders said that they understood the sequence, but I can understand that the script was a bit too vague in regards to revealing information about the characters and story.

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

As a media student, I have had the chance to use many different pieces of technology throughout my education. This project gave me the opportunity to solidify my understanding of more traditional and familiar technology whilst providing me a wide range of new technology to use.

Hardware:

1. The Camera - Canon Legria HF G30

As we had used this camera during our GCSE projects, I was already familiar with how to operate this piece of technology. However, this was the first project in which I approached the filming process with an awareness of continuity. This had a huge effect on the filming process, as I had to note every feature of the shot so that there were no breaks in the continuity of our sequence.

2. The Camera Jib

This was a piece of technology which was completely new to me. The purpose of the camera jib is to provide steady, professional shots from angles which are impossible to achieve on a regular tripod. With this, we were able to gather shots which were more interesting than regular long-shots.

Unfortunately we were only able to use this during our test shoot, meaning the shots we gathered ended up unused in our final sequence. Nevertheless I was able to gain valuable experience on how to use this piece of equipment.

3. Studio Lighting

We had never been given the chance to use the lighting set-up in the studio. Therefore shooting our project in the studio gave us the valuable opportunity to use a new piece of technology. Although we only used the studio lighting for our spotlight, we were able to gain a good understanding of how to affected the production of our sequence.
  Software:

1. Adobe Premiere Pro

Similarly to the camera, I was already familiar with Adobe Premiere Pro thanks to previous projects as well as independent use. However, I had not had any experience with grading prior to making our opening sequence. Having completed the project, I can say that I am much more familiar with the grading process, although there is still more I can learn about it.

2. Adobe After Effects

Adobe After Effects was not a program I was familiar with. We needed to use this program in order to create our special effects of the gunshots. Although the process consisted of a lot of trial and error, I eventually picked up the basics of using this program. I created a video to exhibit the process I used in order to create the gunshot effects used in our final sequence.

Overall, I believe I have acquired a lot of knowledge on both familiar and unfamiliar technologies during this project. I have been given the opportunity to consolidate my understanding of different technology whilst learning about new programs. The camera jib and Adobe After Effects are two pieces of technology that were completely new to me before this project, but now I believe I am confident enough with both to use them again in future projects.

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

I believe that there has been a large improvement between our opening sequence and the preliminary task in consideration of both camera and editing.

This was our brief in the preliminary task:
Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanged a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.

With this in mind, we were able to create the following sequence:

We were able to successfully follow this brief by including all of the necessary components; including the match on action and the shot/reverse shot. However, there were still issues with our sequence, such as the jump cut at the end.

The way in which we approached our film opening sequence differed greatly than our preliminary task. However, what was required was quite similar:

There were also other factors that had to be taken into consideration for the film opening sequence, such as representation and our soundscape.

However, our preliminary task did help us establish an understanding of continuity techniques:

Match on action:

An action will be split between two shots in order to create a 'bridge' between them. This is done to create continuity between the shots and make the clip seem less constructed and more real.

We used a match on action in our long shots when the dealer turns over the fourth card in the poker game.

Shot/reverse shot
A technique used to create continuity from a conversation. A shot of one person's dialogue is followed be a shot of the other.
We were able to demonstrate this technique during the conversations in both our preliminary task and our film opening sequence:

Preliminary Task

Film Opening

Graphic match
A shot of an object or shape is followed by another shot of a similar shape.
This was a technique which we did not use in our preliminary task, but believed it would work well in our final sequence. We demonstrated a graphic match with the shots of the ring and the poker chip.

Lastly, the amount of technology available to us during the production of our opening sequence was huge compared to our preliminary task. We started with just a camera and an editing suite, but by the time we were working on our final cut we had also used the camera jib, studio lighting, Adobe After Effects and more. Therefore I would say the progression from the preliminary task to a full media product has been great for my learning.

Construction 10: Looking back - Reflections on our final outcome

When the audience watches our sequence, we hope that:

• They express interest in our story, which unlike some action films, is a major feature of our film
• Our characters are recognisable, yet compelling. The action genre has a number of easily identifiable character types, but at the same time we wanted our characters to be more unique.
• The look of our scene interests them. Although there are minor issues with grading and lighting, we hope that the isolation of our setting creates an interesting effect.

High points:

• When we were able to keep our actors focused, our shoots were very fun.
• It was enjoyable watching the progression of our sequence from a simple idea into a fully fledged sequence

Low points:

• There were times in which I felt that the other members of my group were not taking an active role in the project. As a result I had to take responsibility for a lot of work.
• We had to have several back-up shoots due to a lack of communication between myself and the other members of the group. Although I had made a checklist of necessary shots, the other members of my group insisted on re-shooting everything. As we didn't have time for this, we ended up missing some key shots.

Having had a chance to reflect on our opening sequence, I am very happy with what we have been able to produce. Going in to this project, I wanted to make sure that our production stood out as an interesting and high-quality sequence. As there were many other groups in our year making comedy or drama film openings, I was adamant that our sequence must have an engaging story and a compelling pair of lead characters. Although our choice of action as our genre introduced many difficulties, such as the editing of the gunshots and the setting of a poker game, I believe we have overcome the majority of problems we encountered. Unfortunately, there were a number of minor continuity issues, but these would have been impossible to solve without another week of shooting.

Construction 9: My Technical Learning Curve (Production and Post-Production)

Things I have learnt in:

Production:

• How to effectively set up and light a scene
• How to use a camera jib
• The importance of being aware of the scene - minor continuity mistakes can easily appear
• The necessity of important time management. It took very long to gather footage in our earlier shoots as we had not yet had experience in setting up our scene.

Post-production:

• How to create a gunshot effect in Adobe After Effects
• How to edit a sequence to create continuity
• How to effectively grade a sequence
• How to place a special effect made in Adobe After Effects directly into Adobe Premiere Pro

My strengths:

• I have a good understanding of framing and how each shot should look
• I can create and stick to a checklist in order to get a piece of work done
• I am very experienced in using Adobe Premiere Pro - I was able to produce a high quality cut in a short amount of time

Things I need to improve on:

• Communication - I have a tendency to take responsibility of a task, which can be problematic when others try to approach the same task without knowing this. I should take more time to inform the rest of my group when I take on a piece of work

• Controlling our actors - Whilst this is something that the whole group should be responsible of, there were times when the majority of our actors and even other members of our group were becoming disruptive. Although I did make a great effort in trying to focus everyone on the task, there were other ways in which I could organise everyone else which I will take into consideration in the future

Adobe After Effects is still a very new
program for me, which I hope to be able
to use again in the future

• Adobe After Effects - Although I have learnt a lot about this program that I did not know previously, there is still a lot that I have yet to learn. I hope that I may be able to use this program again in the future.

I believe I have made great progress towards my learning throughout the creation of our opening sequence. Before the project, the only areas in which I was really confident of my abilities was camera and editing. The project has given me the chance to develop my understanding of camera operation and editing beyond what I have achieved in my own time and in previous projects. Furthermore, I have been able to gain valuable experience in setting up and lighting a scene; something which I had not done prior to the project. As well as this, I learnt how to insert basic special effects using Adobe After Effects; a program which was entirely new to me. I made great progress in learning how to use Adobe After Effects thanks to our school's technician and a Youtube tutorial I found.

Construction 8: My personal contributions to the Edit Sessions

During the editing process, I took on the following tasks:

• Organising our footage by shot and take
• Cutting our shots into the sequence
• Adjusting the length of each shot
• Some work on grading



On our timetable, I contributed 19 hours to
editing the project. Ignacio spent 15 hours editing
and Eddie spent 10 hours editing

• Editing the atmospheric sound to make it less jarring.

I started by organising our clips, selecting the best takes and placing them into the sequence. Although this process was time-consuming, it was essential for finding mistakes in our footage or editing. Thankfully, the process was shortened by our storyboard and rough edit, as we had a clear idea of the order in which each shot should be placed.

It was important for us
to organise our footage

I had a large contribution in
the editing of our sequence

Reflections
I am very satisfied with my contribution to the project. I feel as though I have spent a lot of time working on the sequence and as a result I have been able to identify and solve many problems we have encountered. Unfortunately, there were some problems which were impossible for us to overcome due to a lack of time. Nevertheless I am satisfied with the role I have played in producing our opening sequence.

Construction 7: My personal contributions to the Shoot Sessions

During our shoot sessions, I took on the role of the camera operator. I chose this job as I am quite confident in my abilities behind the camera. Furthermore, Eddie was happy to be in charge of lighting and Ignacio wanted to manage the shoot-board and clapper board. However, we made sure that these roles were flexible so that we could all get experience with each part of the process.

As well as operating the camera, I also took it upon myself to keep our actors organised. As many of our shots only needed one or two actors, it meant that the others would remain behind set whilst we were gathering the necessary footage. This sometimes resulted in conversation, which had to be limited whilst the camera was rolling. This was difficult at times however, as sometimes the number of people talking was too much for one person to control; especially when members of our group were involved as well.

In the moments when I wasn't behind the camera, I would critique the framing set up by another member of the group or raise any concerns with lighting or continuity. I thought it necessary to raise anything that might later become an issue.

Reflections
I believe that I made a significant contribution to the shoot sessions as there were very few issues with framing in our opening sequence. Although continuity was an issue, it is difficult to spot problems with continuity before reviewing the footage after the shoot.

Construction 6: Reflections on Edit Week 2

Similarly to our first week of editing, we thought it necessary to create a schedule to organise when each of us would work on the project.

Following our back-up shoot, we needed to replace our old footage with the new shots. Once this was done, the rest of our time was spent polishing our sequence and grading each shot.

Grading is a very long and tedious task, but nevertheless necessary. Our approach to grading was to create the best look for the most difficult shot to grade, which ended up being a long-shot. From here, we graded each of other shots in reference to the long-shot so that we had a similar look throughout our sequence. Some shots were difficult to grade as we had taken them in different shoots, meaning there were slight variations in lighting. But by the end of the grading process, we had managed to achieve the style we were hoping for in each of our shots.

The shot on the left is the original, whereas the
shot on the right has been graded

We also added transitions between the sound tracks so that the atmospheric sound flowed more naturally. 

Unfortunately, there was an issue with one of our shots. We forgot to shoot the death of one of our two thugs, so we were forced to use the shot from our main shoot. This means that there were unavoidable continuity errors with his t-shirt and hair.

Reflections
I am happy with the progress we have made during the second week of editing. All of our shots have been graded, although there are some that look slightly different due to the lighting from our earlier shoots. However, we would not have time for this as these shots would have to be graded using masks, which is both complicated and time-consuming. Another It is also unfortunate that we were unable to reshoot the shot above as our actor was away for the week. Nevertheless, we achieved a lot during this week.