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

Our media film is quite similar to a lot opening sequences whether they be independent film to blockbusters to even music videos.

For the opening establishment shots we sourced from the video for Jay Z ft Alicia keys song New York. We fell in love with the shot immediately and we flipped it an used it showcase our vision for the gritty London scenes our film was attempting to portray.
we directly mimicked the spilt screen shots to the best of our ability and we replaced them with London counterparts as you can see above. This use of intertextuality was necessary in helping our audience understand that this is a thriller.

The shot below is a shot from the car chase scene in the James Bond film Die Another Day.
We liked the fact that the shot was angled so it could capture the front of the car while it was being chased. so we managed to pull of our shot by shooting from behind the bus since we never had the logistics help available to us that this blockbuster film did. We used the shot of the white BMW in kings cross and placed it as part of the establishments of the gritty London our film was portraying. The use of intertexuality here helped the audience understand and relate this thriller to the other thriller referenced here.
 

 This shot as you can see is the ever familiar panning shot used in the film Stepfathers. We mimicked it directly to the best of our ability since the safety risk concerned if we were to used much more sharper objects. So we used a couple of tools and placed them in a white tile to show the contrast. this clear intertexual reference helped the audience understand that this is a thriller as well.

This shot of jem being hit by asilhan above while the camera colour turns to grey and freezes was semi sourced from the shot below. this shot below was used in the film snatch which is a guy Ritchie film about the gritty streets of London and we felt it appropriate to use a shot as unique as that since we shared many elements with the film it was originally sourced from. this is the most clearest intertexual reference we used in our film to tell our audience that our film was a thriller like snatch 

This shot of jem while sitting on edge of the bed but with Rebbecca in the scene sitting at other end of the bed behind him is directly sourced from this famous shot of diddy marketing his new fragrance. I came across this shot by mere luck. i was researching famous bedroom shots in google when this result came up. the caption was totally different to what it was originally meant to be and had 'wake up in the morning feeling like p diddy' these referencing lyrics to the famous kesha song tik tok.

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

Above is our thriller film opening that we have submitted for our AS grade - in this altered edit, I have used  Final Cut Pro to insert the intertextuality and inspiration we used for our opening sequence. In this alternate edit of our opening, I have placed the various films and/or videos that inspired our film opening.

This alternate edit demonstrates how we channeled the codes and conventions of thriller film openings. In the first intertextual reference in the top-right corner of the screen. I have uploaded a scene where split screen editing used within a thriller film opening. The inserted reference shows a tram passing through at two different times in the day, we used this idea of split screening during an opening for our thriller opening. We cropped our establishment shots and placed them beside each other to create the split screen effect.

Establishment shots are a key element of thriller film openings. Establishment shots provide an indication to the location of the opening of your film, and can be key determining factors of the plot. We used this code and convection of establishment shots and combined it with split-screen editing.

The second codes and conventions reference I have placed in this alternate edit of our thriller film opening, is the identification shots of the lead character of the thriller. For this we used a tracking shot of the lead character driving a car - in our case the BMW. Displaying and showing your lead character within the beginning moments of your thriller opening is a key form, code and convention of thriller openings, which we have used in our thriller opening.

The following codes and conventions reference within this alternate edit of our thriller opening, is a scene from "A Christmas Story" a french thriller. The opening scene I have inserted from the film shows a silhouette of the villain. We have used this idea of keeping a key character of the films identity hidden within the opening in our thriller opening, by applying a blurred effect to our camera and using brightness/contrasts settings in editing we have hidden our kidnappers identity until later on in the opening.

The closing code and conventions reference applied within this alternate edit of our thriller opening, is the opening sequence of Thriller film staple Guy Ritchie and his film "Snatch". In "Snatch"'s opening, key characters of the film morph into a freeze frame snapshot to highlight their significance to the film openings plot. We have developed this key thriller code and convention and used freeze frame snapshots to highlight key points within our thriller opening, as opposed to highlighting and introducing key characters.

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

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

Here are a few shots from our opening scene, comparing them with other movie openings.

Here is a birds-eye view shot of equipment from the movie Stepfather, underneath is our birds-eye view shot of our own equipment.

Our birds-eye view shot.

Here is a split screen effect from a youtube movie, we also have used the same effect showing that there is not only one thing you should be paying attention to.

Here is our split-screen shot.





This is a shot from the movie snatch. This is the opening scene, when characters are shown there is a still image with their name on the screen. This is to show the audience that these are important moments in the movie.

This is our shot, we freeze the screen when there is an important shot, this is to show that these actions are very important.

Evaluation Question 3 - Audience for my product

Who would be my audience?

            

A day in the life of my average target audience will consist of may activities:

6.30-7.30 get up, jog for a mile, go home shower, get ready for work

8.00-12.00 work as trainer for youth football academy till lunch

12.00-1.00 get a sandwich from local deli and meet up wtih collegeues

1.00-3.00 go to primary schools and help coach kids during their p.e lessons

3.00- 6.00 go to gym after work for daily workout

6.00-6.30 go home, shower get ready to go pub 

7.00-9.00 get to pub and stay for only 2 hours if its a weekday then get home

The above video was constructed by Jerome Holder, a member of my group.

EVALUATION - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

This is a shot from the movie Stepfather

This is a shot from our movie

Here you can see that we have a similar shot from Stepfather, both shots are tracking shots showing equipment. These show that the character is obsessive compulsive.  Also shows that the character is pleased with his work. As you can see we do not have the same tools as they do in Stepfather this is due to our plot. In Stepfather the man's equipment is for his appearance while our shot is fixing tools.

Evaluation Question 2 - Representations

i have chosen to display two stills of images that help me answer how my product represents social groups.

i have a still shot of one of our protagonists sourced from our media product. i also have a still shot of jason statham in his movie the mechanic. we have constructed our character to be similar to the characters played by jason statham. we did this so our audience could easily recognise him and attribute the characteristics that should be associated with this type of character.

Both shots are from the side of the characters. the appearance of the characters themselves are rugged. they both seem to be wearing dark clothing and have their collars pulled up suggesting to the audience that they have something to hide and reinforces their mysterious personalities. This is why i feel we have been successful in making our product accurately represent a social group and that is instantly recognisable to our target audience

Evaluation Question 6 - audience feedback

FINAL MOVIE

Soundtrack editing movie

My experience

After finally finishing our project i looked back thinking about the experience i have had. I am very pleased with our final result but during the filming and editing process we did have our problems. We all had our opinions, some we agreed with and some we didn't.

During filming i had fun enjoying acting but also giving my opinion on what shots to take and how to make the shot more effective, we had a few arguments during this process but this is because all of us had different visions on how to film. In the editing process we had many arguments about choosing what shot to use and when.  We also had talks about what effects we should use during editing. I didn't have much contribution in the soundtrack as i had many arguments with my fellow colleague Abdul. I also added my thoughts on the titles on how we can make it look more effective.


I believe that the whole experience was fantastic even though we had a few arguments, but i believe without arguments a group cannot get through to produce a master piece like we did.

soundtrack research and production

i chose to create my soundtrack in a differnt software at home due to the limitiations on the primary soundtrack program available in college for me..
i have provivded some screenshots of the workstation(fl studio 9) i used and the individual patterns i created using it. i also provided a screenshot of the files which i later split and converted to WAV format for easy saving and to make them more easier to convert to Mov. files for when i use and export them into finalcut

Lying With The Enemy - Exclusive Final Edit - Corrected

Kick Ass punch scene

The other day i watched Kick Ass, and there is a scene in kick ass where the main guy is tied to the chair like i was in ours, and he gets punched in a very similar way, i thought i could make a good comparison between the two, and the kick ass one does not look that much better than outs which made me happy that ours was of a good quality standard.

LiveType Skills

 

During editing workshops we were shown how to operate LiveType a programme that allows editors to create titles for your finished video clip. These are used for credits, or titles needed to establish things within video i.e. the "executive producer" or "actor names".

Above is a video tutorial I have created using QuickTime Player. I used QuickTime Player to record me constructing a title saying "AS Media Final Assessment" adjacent to my constructed tutorial is the end product which is a result of me exporting the LiveType file as a .mov file.

My tutorial above shows how to change font of titles, change colours and other attributes and how to add effects to already constructed titles, and how to export your finished product to your desktop.

Font analysis

We put a lot of thought when creating our titles. We wanted our titles to look serious but also casual.

we created our titles using the programme LiveType.

 This is the font we used, we all decided it will suit our opening as it looks serious but still casual jus like we wanted it to look like.

Here is how the title appears on our opening. 

We decided to put the titles over the opening instead of on a blank screen, this is because we believe this looks more effective and also more professional. It also means we can make the screen busy making the audience that the movie has also action in it even tho it is a thriller.

Thriller Audiences - Research

 

2010 saw box office success for many thrillers. 27 films last year cracked the top 10 of worldwide box office outlets, proving that the demand for thriller films is still prominent, and that audiences are still packing in to cinemas to see the latest thrilling films.

Above are trailers for two of the years biggest success's - the thrillers "Shutter Island" and "The A-Team" which represent both the Psychological thriller denomination and the Action thriller denomination. "Shutter Island" released through Paramount pictures, was directed by prestigious director Martin Scorcese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Filmed with an $80 million budget, the film went on to gross over $800 million worldwide.

"Black Swan" starring Natalie Portman was another thriller released last year which saw an emphatic reception from audiences worldwide - the film went on to gather numerous Oscar nominations, with the films leading actress picking up her fest Best Actress Oscar. Further evidence that thrillers are in high demand and are able to garner both critical success and pack in audiences.

After researching into the genre, I have concluded that Thrillers are marketed to a more adult consumer, with the highest grossing thrillers, displayed above all carrying a British Film Council certificate of "15". Thrillers tend to have dramatic storyline's that examine the psychological aspects of human beings, and also examine the thrilling aspects of life also.

In 2009, UK Box Office intakes hit their highest since 2002. Surpassing the £1 Billion threshold, thrillers had one of the largest contributions to the record-breaking year.

Introduction to Editing - Skills

At the beginning of the year, we were given key classes to help us with our editing. Our teacher set up workshop sessions to make sure we had the best knowledge to begin our editing and create a substantial piece of work. Here are some key features and things we learnt back at the beginning of the term when we were introduced to editing using the editing software Final Cut Pro:

Above is a screen shot of the "Browser" in Final Cut Pro. This area of the programme is used to import all files into your edit, it also contains time codes that establish how long each clip of media lasts for. Using a simple "drag and drop" manouver from the "Browser" to the timeline.

This screen shot depicts the "Slug" and the "Canvas" these two regions of the programme are used in editing to help construct your timeline, or to show what is in your timeline. When video is inserted in these two regions a green tick will appear to identify good quality footage and couloured lines are used to identify the intensity of light in footage.

This screen shot shows the timeline where media clips are inserted - the timeline is designated into audio and video sections, by doing this it makes it much easier to establish for example how long you want a clip. When using Final Cut Pro, you are able to modify data to disassociate the audio recorded with the video, making the programme much more maleable and easier to control.

This screen shot shows the tool located next to the timeline, this tool allows you to manipulate various parts of your media with different tools, here is a breakdown:

Selection Tool: This is the main tool used to select and move media clips, the tool allows you to do the most and acts as the "arrow" during editing.

Edit Selection Tool: This tool makes editing much easier, it provides easier access to the "Slug" and "Canvas" functions in the programme, and makes changing transitions much easier.

Roll Tool: Is used when configuring transitions and effects when editing in Final Cut Pro.

Slip Tool: The Slip tool is used when trying to establish correlation between video and audio within its original source.

Razor Tool: Is an editing function used to trim down the length of your media clips in the timeline.

Zoom Tool: The zoom tool is used to increase the focus of your timeline.

Crop Tool: Is used to manipulate the size of video files in your timeline.

Pen Tool: This tool is used for manipulating sound levels during editing.

Audio Mixer: The Audio mixer measures the dB level of the audio in your timeline, when the mixer level peaks in the red, the sound is over the level it should be and becomes distorted.

Editing process

Here are the screen shots we took while editing.

We decided to start off with a split screen because it will match with the narration which we will put in about London having a good side but also a bad side, this also interacts with our two different characters and how the husband changes his persona from good to bad when he finds his wife dead.

This is our final product of our opening split screen, we will also add in the narration and the text. 

We have some key shots that are paused and are in black and white, this is to show the audience that these are important shots.  In the first key shot you can see that the husband character is in control attacking his wife's killer while he is tied up.

In the second key shot we see that the roles have changed. This time its the husband who is being hit by his wife's killer. These two shots also show that there is a element of surprise and that anything could happen. 

Changes made from Rough Cut

We were very pleased with our rough cut, however we knew that it was not perfect and it needed some things added such as a sound track and titles, we also decided to add narration to make the audience understand the opening more and we just thought it added to the quality of the film. We did not change much from the rough cut besides adding a certificate at the beginning.                          

Inspiration - "Scary Shots"

During the earlier stages of planning our teacher Mary showed us various examples of thrillers, here are some examples of some typically thriller shots that inspired our work, these shots were used as stimuli for our final film.

























Above is a screen shot from the film "jackie Brown" it stars Samuel L. Jackson and Robert De'Niro  - specifically it was directed by Quentin Tarantino, a film director that definitely has inspired me as a film maker. Next to the screenshot of the "Jackie Brown" film is a screenshot from our AS Media submission "Lying With The Enemy" here you can see that we have interpreted the "below" camera angle from the film and put it in ours.

Here is a screen shot from 2005 motion picture release "Bomb The System" directed by Adam Bhala Lough. Here a split screen is used to show two things that are happening at the same time and are in correlation with each other, for our production, in the editing process I decided to interpret it and use this idea for the London-based establishment shots. This fits in with the "London has two sides" theme of our narration.

Above is a screen shot from Guy Ritchie's 2000 film "Snatch" in this film the editor uses a screen shot to introduce a character, which is an important addition to the film. For our edit we used a screen shot to highlight a key moment in the film and focus on a specific part of our narration.