Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
In our preliminary task, I was new to using Adobe Premier Pro, so our editing was not up to a great standard, we broke the 30 degree rule and because of this, had some trouble editing. The first picture below shows the two shots which broke the rule, and we used a fading transition between shots.
In our main task, we practiced our editing, the cuts between shots are much clearer, and even the jump cuts, which was a last minute, was done with much more care and the finish looks much more professional and clear.
During the preliminary task, we weren't overly careful with the camera placement, in the shot below, Sabene is cut off the side of the shot and thus ruins the shot. We also had a few problems with other shots where part of a character is cut off.
In the main task, we were much more careful with the camera placement, we had Sabene do a lot more retakes in comparison to the preliminary task. Below is a shot where the actor placement, I think, is the best.
I think that we learnt how to set up shots much better, although we were aware of the continuity error in the main task, in the preliminary we spent a long time making sure we wouldn't break the continuity. However, in the main task, we made a mistake in not double checking the outfits after a long break in filming, so I am missing a cardigan in over half the shots.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Below is a of a Powerpoint presentation with my moodboard of the equipment we used for the filming of this opening sequence. It also contains annotations of what exactly I learnt from these.
Our unique selling point to me is the plot, the abandoned school and the polar opposite characters, it's common in comedy films, however there aren't that many films with two opposite characters, usually it's the heroine character against multiple people of the opposite behaviour/personality. I think that the editing also was a selling point, the match up of some actions in the film and different shots made it funnier and thus more appealing/attractive.
For our feedback, we collected an audience that consisted both media students and non-media students, they were all in the age range of 15-18. One member of our group posted the opening sequence on Facebook and asked for feedback, whilst there weren't many comments, we gained feedback from those who had seen it, they did our final film feedback questionnaire.
After looking at the BFFC website, and the classifications for film ratings, I decided that a 12a would be suitable for our film, whilst the film does not have violence, it may have some swearing. Because our audience is teenagers, a PG rating would discourage them from going to a cinema and watching it, due to the fact there would be young children.
From my pre-production research, our target audience was that of teenagers and young adults. The responses we got from people in the age range of 16-18 gained positive responses, therefore our film would be targeted at them/possibly at younger children due to the nature of the film. (no violence, swearing etc)
A recent film that was targeted at the teenage/young adult audience was 'Warm Bodies', from the Box Office data, it is evident that as a teen film, it has a clearly greater Positive:Negative ratio (around 10:1). Another film is 'Scary Movie V', the spoof genre of the movie attracts a teenage/young adult audience and there is evidence of success (due to the fact that the film was released mid-April and has already nearly made $47million).
Target Audience Details
For a detailed description of a target audience member, I talked to one of my friends and asked her to tell be about: Her hobbies, films she likes, who (if they have) has influenced her choice of film and general information. Below is her side of the conversation.
Name: Gina
Age: 18 Hobbies: Drawing, writing, cosplaying, making videos, going on the internet and just being a nerd Films: Most superhero films, especially Iron Man, Star Wars, BBC's Pride movie (it was a film about lions) and lots of Disney
My dad mainly influenced my movie taste, especially the superhero movies as he read all the comics as a kid the same as watching Star Wars and making me watch it as well. My mum and sisters are the complete opposite, they're into romantic comedies and such.
For general life I was born in 1994 and I remember being completely obsessed with Pokemon as a child. I really hated school for most of my life, up until the last year of sixth form really because I was always so shy and had such a difficult time talking to people and making friends and I was also bullied a lot as well. I started cosplaying properly a couple of years ago and that really helped me grow as a person and allowed me to be able to talk to other people much more easily. I love video games and have pretty much played them my whole life and I used to draw a whole lot and I really enjoyed it so I went to De Montfort University to study Game Art Design but hated it and dropped out after my second term. I'd really love to do something in the media industry instead as that's something I have always enjoyed and been good at and I'm currently looking for an apprenticeship within this field. My life dream is to be a YouTube celebrity.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? The production company of a film generally only take the film up to the distribution stage, where synergy and convergence with other companies can occur, because of this, those who produce the film can sometime not have full control of the distribution nor marketing of a film. Unless a big Hollywood studio, the production company will leave the expensive distributing and marketing to another company, with general input.
A lot of independent films require stakeholders, or donations from fans/business deals, to budget the distribution of the film. British films often have many stakeholders, whom believe the film will make the money and want a part of it. Along with this, if a film has been shared and hyped up, stakeholders may provide money for financing, just to get a profit. Because our film would be a British Independent we would require a distributor whom focuses on independent films and would not require a lot of money. Personally, I would want 'Picturehouse' (A US distributor of British Independent films) or 'Working Title' (a British film distributor) as our films distributor. Both of these companies have brought great success to independent films, such as 'Picturehouse' with the film 'Starter for 10'.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Below is a link to my directors commentary of the film. For this I tried to mention aspects of the below factors, however, I did not comment on each when aspects of the opening appeared, as I did not have a set script:
Structure of sequence
Style of presentation
Style/colour of font
Genre
Narrative enigma
Introduction of characters
Camera
Sound
Editing & Special Effects
Mise-en-scene
(In the above video, there is a sudden jump between the alien shot and the science stairs, this is because, when exporting, a cut clip of audio replaced itself and there is a part with my swearing and going off topic, so I have had to use the YouTuber editor to cut that part.)
Above is a video of our target audience, due to time constriaints, I was unable to write about the key feedback we had, so below is bullet points of the key points from our feeback audience.
Lighting in the first shot was bad, it would have been better if we had turned lights on or added more natural light.
The running around with no known end added tension, although our feedback suggests that the genre is thought to be more thriller or one that involves more tension.
They liked the different types of shots and liked the end 360 degree shot too.
The end shot make them laugh, therefore the comedic aspect of the end was a success.
Final Film Audience Feedback
For this, I created a questionnaire and gave it to 4 people, so analyse what they thought of the film opening sequence. (Questionnaire)
Below is a table showing the responses we got from the 4 people.
Below are the log rushes for our film, due to time constraints we only logged the footage we were using, all the rest of the footage we captured was either unusable due to errors in the acting or shot, testing shots, or errors in the mise-en-scene.
After producting a rough cut, we showed three people from our target audience, two girls and one boy. One of the girls was a media student and therefore was able to give us better input. We finished the film, with all the titles and music edited in. ___________________________________________________________________________
Here are some images of our editing on Adobe Premier Pro, on this we:
Captured the footage
Cut down the shots
Put the shots into order
Added transitions between shots if needed
Added the music
Layered titles over the footage
We also ended up changing parts of our film after we'd finished, we added the jump cuts as the girls run down the corridor.
During the production of our opening sequence, there were a few things which went wrong, or we struggled with. The main one was organisation of filming times and dates.
This includes the costumes for the filming
The actors who needed to come in
Location timings (as there was a meeting in one of the rooms we needed for our filming and we had to postpone that part of filming.)
However, I think that the majority of filming went well, we did also make a mistake with my costume, due to a large break in between filming, I had mixed up what I was wearing and forgot to check, therefore there is a giant continuity error in relation to the cardigan I wear in the opening sequence. Sometimes it's there, but most of the time, I'm not wearing it.
Also, there was an issue with the microphone we used, and because of this, we didn't get all the sound we wanted, therefore in editing, we had to decided carefully where music would be placed to cover up out lack of sound.
Below are some images of my group setting up for a shot, for this, we needed a toy alien, and the image on the right shows us testing how were going to get the shot to work with the prop.
When filming the staircase shot in the English/Maths block, we had to be careful, so that Sabene (the camerawoman) did not get injured on the stairs, to the right, I have shown an image of how she was placed so that both her and the camera were safe.
Due to the inconsistency of our filming times, we ended up not writing down the logging rushes for out editing, as we wanted to get the editing finished and done to the best of our abilities within our time limit. Therefore we only have a few logging rushes, these are shown below.
Charlotte and Erika, Two polar opposite high school students awaken after an event to find themselves alone in their school.
-When looking at this part of the post, I had to do some research on other comedic films, such as 'Starter for 10', used on a previous post, to figure out how long the synopsis should be. From this, I found that a single lined synopsis worked best for comedic movies. Synopsis of opening sequence: The sequence opens with a shot of the two students unconsious on the floor, waking up from whatever happened before. The stand and run, trying to get away from one another and finding that everyone is missing. Going all around the school.The sequence consists of them searching the school in order to find people. When they don't, they pause, rub at their heads and necks, panting, and say 'Well, I guess we're alone then?'
Treatment
Erika and Charlotte, two 17 year old students attending the respectable Terra Institute, lead an average school life. Erika, an ideal good student, being exceptionally hard-working and dedicated to her studies, just as Charlotte works just as hard maintaining a busy social life and french manicure. The two are natural enemies, so when they are sent alone to return a particular heavy collection of text books, a struggle ensues subsequently leading to the duo being knocked unconcious by the stack of reading material. Erika and Charlotte awake, covered in books littered around the classroom, and proceed to get up, shoving one another out the way as they walk back to their class. They forcefully slam the door open, one trying to get in before the other, and freeze. An empty classroom meets them; chairs left in random places as though a struggle occurred. Erika walks back out into the corridor and peers cautiously into another room nearby, trying to find her missing class but this one is empty too. After getting over her intial confusion, Charlotte confronts Erika on the situation, asking where their class went, to which Erika has no reply since she is still searching down the corridor, increasing in pace as she begins to worry. Travelling down the hall, Charlotte angrily catches up to her. She overtakes Erika, looking into classrooms as well and becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of people. They journey through the desolate building, breaking into a faster pace as they cross the eerily silent technology block and find traces of green slime on the door. Erika comments, panic written across her face, that this might be the work of aliens. With nothing more than an eye-roll, Charlotte wipes the slime on her and strides out the building. Now outside, the sense of isolation is heavy on the two, making them run past the buildings almost desperate for a sight of someone else. After searching through the rest of the school, the girls finally come to rest outside, not wanting to be together yet too afraid to be apart. In a last ditch effort to be rid of Erika, Charlotte tells her she's going to the toilet alone, with the intention to grab her things and leave, but upon arriving at the school gates she sees that they are shut. As she enters the desolate canteen, Erika, knowing of her plans all along, smugly tosses her a drink and they spend the day raiding the food storage. As the day draws on, they find that they are becoming more amiable towards one another. They wander the school together, drawing on the boards of teachers they dislike and rummaging through the drama costumes all whilst learning more about each other. The light is beginning to fade as the day draws to an end and just before the girls believe they will have to prepare to stay overnight, a group of teachers and staff are heard shouting near the school entrance. They hurry to met with them, relieved for the rescue and are bombarded with questions as to their wherabouts, as they realise they had been forgotten, and an explanation that an earthquake alarm had sent everyone to seek shelter. Erika and Charlotte are rushed out of their school at last, laughing at the misfortune that brought them together.
Location Recce
The sequence will require us to use multiple places in the school, as the characters will be shown trying to look for people in multiple places. In our group, we have looked around parts of the school where outside filming would need to take place, from this, we have decided that there will be long outside shots from next to the staff-room, in order to have a low angle shot of the 'Three-Story Block'. Along with this shot, there will also be shots of the 'quad' and the outside part of the canteen/'PE Block'.
When deciding all the locations, we figured that we needed to chose places in which we would be able to place bags, and make a 'mess' of, which we would clean up after the shooting. Therefore, the outer part of the canteen was perfect, as the PE area has shoes and bags outside, and the wall of the canteen always had bags around after school when we would be filming.
Due to the timing of the filming (after school) the lighting of the shoot will suffer, although, the lighting in the afternoon now lasts longer, therefore the locations were picked with this in mind, such as the outer canteen, as it is under roofing, could be darker than we would like.
Inside the school, we are using nearly all of the buildings, with the exception of the 3 Story Block and the Hall/Music block. Below are some images of the locations we are using, these are as the opening shot location; the canteen; the sixth form common room; the English block (both floors); science and the technology block.
Below is our shot list, this contains basic information on each shot, regarding camera placement and size. It also provides out actresses awareness of what they are to be doing in each shot.
Script
For our script, we decided that we would come up with a few short snippets of conversation that the two characters would have, however, when these are said we have decided will be done during the filming, as they have no specific context to the action.
Line we have discussed: 'You idiot!' 'Where is everyone?' 'Get out the way!' 'What the hell happened?!' 'Oh bugger.' 'Let's go this way?' 'What is this!?' (Goo) 'No-one's here!' 'Wheeeeoh!' 'You're so stupid!' 'What's wrong with you?'
For the final shot, we discussed that after the two characters run into the middle of the quad, I will say 'Well, it looks like we're alone! I wonder where everyone is.' Promptly smacked on the back of the head by Hannah who says 'Idiot!'
Storyboard
Above is the entirety of our storyboard, this consisted of 7 pages worth of work. In this, we've attempted to show the decided camera angle and size within each drawing, however, we know that this has the possibility to change during the actual filming. Along with the drawings, we also have the scene number, shot number, and a detailed description for the actors. We will use this and take this around with us when we film.
Cast and Crew List
Cast: Laura O'Brien and Hannah Findlay-Bada Crew: Sabene Wilkin and Laura O'Brien
Mise-en-scene plans
Through out the opening sequence, there will need to be bags and rubbish littered around the shooting area, as the plot involves the basic fact that everyone has up and left, leaving behind all their things. Some people would be outside, some inside. So during the long shots, bags and things will be placed randomly where people stand, creating the image that everyone had just disappeared from where they were standing. The costumes of the characters will be generic sixth form clothing, as both characters are sixth formers. The mis-en-scene of the opening shot will consist of a weighted item laid out between the two characters, indicating it had previously hit them on the head. There will also be items from where the item was on the floor and on top of the two characters.
Risk Assessment
As we are shooting all around the school, we have had to assess the risks involved with running around school, in our film we will be placing bags and possessions around the school as if people have disappeared, therefore we had to assess the chance of the actors falling over and hurting themselves. From this we decided that we would have to practice the running sections of the opening. In one shot, the two actors have to run down some stairs while the camera follows them, this brings about the risk of the camera woman falling down the stairs, this would hurt the camera person
Shooting Schedule
For our shooting schedule, we decided to do all outside shots first, as this was easier for us; we would then go to certain parts of the school and film the parts which were in this area.
For our focus group, we decided to give out a questionnaire to our target audience and from that decide whether our film was good/whether it fit the requirements we had for our main task. After giving a brief overview of the full synopsis and outline of the opening sequence, we gave a select amount of people in the target audience a set of questions. Here is a link to our questionable: Google Document of Questionnaire
Our questionnaire was given to 10 people aged 15-20. Their responses were to each question:
1.The majority agreed that the opening had an interesting plot, most thought that it was somewhat relatable to teenagers/those who would see the film and that the alien aspect seems positive. But others thought that the plot was lacking comedic aspects and therefore thought that it was not as interesting as they hoped.
2.Most believed the film fit into the genre of comedy, however some thought that the alien aspect of the opening sequence made it more sci-fi.
3.Most thought that they would like to see the film because they thought it was interesting and thought it would be amusing and they like comedy films.
4.Only a few thought that it needed improving in the comedy aspect, this included possibly having slapstick comedy features such as people falling or being hurt.
5.It was a half and half response, most thought that the alien made it interesting. Some thought on the other hand that it was not humorous enough and needed to be more comedic but nearly all thought it was engaging.
The responses meant that we were going to add more comedic aspects to the film, including the knocking over of the bag and changing the ending by having the student hitting the other in a comedic nature .This meant that the film would attain the comedic genre we originally had it as.
Below is an image of some of our target audience completing the questionnaire.
In my group, we decided that our film was going to be that of a social comedy, focusing on the comedic aspects of two opposite characters. As research, I looked into the history of the comedic genre of film.
In my research I found a historic timeline of comedy films, TIMELINE, from this timeline I have chosen pivotal points in history about the genre and how it has changed.
As shown above, the differences in years between each aspect of history, and especially the difference between how films used to be, is the clear reason for the change. As worldwide, life-changing events happened, such as WWII, comedy films began to change. There are 4 main time eras associated with comedy, these eras are labelled for the aspect of comedy which was most prolific. The table below, from the same website as the timeline, shows these eras.
Within all comedy films at least 1 of the 5 main elements for comedy are used. These are: Farce, Situational Comedy, Slapstick, Comedian and Timing. In silent movies, timing and slapstick were the main feature, seeing as there was no sound, the actors and director had to use physical features to make the audience laugh. In modern times, situational comedy is the main one used, however farce is common too. Comedians have been used through-out, Laurel and Hardy were one of the most well known comedy duos and still are, even though they were actors in silent films, now, comedians are placed in films possibly for audiences to know what they're 'going to get' from the film. A well known comedian in a film, means fans of that comedian are going to see it.
While films may have changed from silent to full on blockbusters, there are still elements which have condtinued though time, the comedic element of timing is a feature which is prodominante in all comedy movies, being on of the elements which makes a comedy...well, a comedy.
As a genre, pure comedy films are not known for having a high grossing result in comparison to some genres, especially in the 2000s. The table below shows the top 10 highest grossing pure comedy films (with no cross-genres) with only 1, no.10, being made in the 2000s.
While these are the top GROSSING comedy films in history, opinions on the 'greatest' comedy films is much different. Through research, I saw that the top 5 'greatest comedy films', voted by the hundreds of 'comedy writers, comedy directors, comic actors and stand-up comedians' List here are: 5. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Narrative - The narrative appears to be that of a bystander talking about the main character of the film and his life, AFTER the film itself. The song that plays in the opening mentions the name of Brian multiple times, from the view of a third person. The special effects of the opening, the comic style animation, alludes the audience to the narrative of Brian's life, the human body that is shown throughout begins as a baby and grows into a young boy, then a young adult and so on, until his death; then proceeding to show his after death experience, until his is shot while rising to heaven (a comedic action in relation to the film).
Representation - The representation of the time period of the movie setting is shown in the movie, images of Roman brickwork and buildings, the animation is given the design of old and ruined. Another representation of religion is an aspect of the opening that can be seen, during the ending and the angelic images.
Genre - Through both the comedic timing and actions that occur during this opening, the genre is evidently comedy. The music fits to the actions in the opening.
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Sound -The song of the opening introduces the audience to the main character, whom the film is named after, and sings about his life.
Mise-en-scene - The mise-en-scene of the opening animation orientates to audience to the time period and setting of the film, the old appearance of the buildings, the Roman design of the environment etc.
Editing - The jump cuts between scenes work in time with the music, for example, as the lyrics 'and he started to grow' are sung, there is a jump cut between the animation of Brian falling as a young boy to him falling as a teenager. The editing continues to consist of 'jump cuts' through-out, moving between scenes. The editing of adding the Cast and Crew's names is within the animation, thus meaning there would be no editing required.
Special Effects - The entire opening is animation, thus is 'special effects'. The opening uses this animation to set out the plot of the film and orientate the audience into the setting and time period of the film. The animation also includes the names of the actors and crew of the film, these names appear as part of the animation, rather than just appearing over the opening itself.
Narrative - The narrative of the opening is questionable, while there is no character which the narrative consists of, the narrative could be seen as the car itself or the siren itself, showing the viewpoint of the car during a possible police chase. However, the fact that there is no evidently specific narrative, I personally just see it as the narrative of the car.
Representation - The opening sequence repesents the main characters in the movie, the film is of copy genre, along with comedy, so the opening represents the features of the movie which are these. The police siren is the cops and the actions of the car and the mise-en-scene is comedic.
Genre - The comedic nature of the opening, the driving up on the pavement, the car going into a house and driving around it, the driving into a girls locker room, and the car going onto a roller-coaster, all emphasis that the film is a comedy, along with this, the music chosen is comedic as well, somewhat 'silly' in comparison to what audiences would expect from a police film.
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Camera - The entire opening consists of one camera placement. On top of a police car with a siren in front of the camera. This is one of the comedic elements of the opening.
Sound - The theme song of the film opens with the music sounding similar to that of a police siren and the fast pace of the tune throughout the opening matches that of the action that is occurring As the opening draws to a close, the music slows
Mise-en-scene - As the opening sequence starts, the siren on top of the car is the main focus. As it continues, the locations and scenery are shown to be evidently different areas, the house, the gas station etc. The mise-en-scene of these locations seperates them and provides objects which are manipulated by the camera/police car, such as running into people/objects.
Editing - The editing in relation to the camera consists of jump cuts between the difference locations that the cars enters, this sudden change keeps the pace of the opening fast and creates the humourous element.
As we decided to do a comedy based on social differences between two characters, creating a social comedy, the film we decided to look at as a timeline was the film 'Starter for 10' (a social comedy-drama)
'A period comedy set 1985, the story chronicles the adventures of Brian Jackson, a student in his first year at Bristol University. A somewhat gekky gifted accumulator of knowledge, Brian has been a fan since childhood of University Challenge. That TV show's famous catchphrase - 'Your starter for 10' - give the film it's title. Soon after arriving at university, he seizes upon the opportunity to join Bristol's University Challenge team. He promptly falls for his glamorous teammate Alice, though he may be more compatible with his Jewish counter-culturalist friend, Rebecca. Additionally, Brian finds himself caught between his new life, amongst the academic university set, and his old, with his working-class family and friends in the seaside town of Southend-on-Sea, Essex.'
From our group discussion, we noticed that when making the timeline, we each looked at different aspects, I focused on the set up of credits, while another person focused on the camera shots and action along with the credits. However, from our discussion, we all saw that this comedy film started slow and used jump cuts between locations, as Brian leaves home and goes to his new house. I noticed that in the entire opening, Brian always has his suitcase, in all the shots, his suitcase is visible from this we discussed the possibility of having 1 consistent aspect in all shots, whether that be a part of the outfit, or in the background.
0:00 - 'Paramount Pictures presents' 0:03 - Opening shot of police car and siren (on) driving down a road with music playing. 0:05 - 'a Zucker Abrahams Zucker production' 0:10 - 'Leslie Nielsen' 0:16 - 'The Naked Gun' 0:17 - 'From the files of Police Squad!' 0:22 - Cuts to car driving up pavement with people jumping out the way. 0:24 - 'Priscilla Presley' 0:30 - 'George Kennedy' 0:32 - Cuts to car going through a car wash. 0:35 - 'Richardo Montalban' 0:41 - 'O.J Simpson Rayne Birk' 0:44 - Cuts to car going into a house and moving between rooms. 0:50 - 'casting by Fern Champion, C.S.A and Pamela Basker, C.S.A' 0:56 - 'associate producers John D. Schofield Kevin M. Marcy' 1:03 - 'music by Ira Newborn' 1:09 - 'costume designer Mary E. Vogt' 1:13 - Cuts to siren in a girls locker room 1:15 - 'editor Michael Jablow' 1:21 - Cuts to siren on a rollercoaster 1:23 - 'production designer John J. Lloyd' 1:27 - 'director of photography Robert Stevens' 1:31 - 'witten by Jerry Zucker Jim Abrahams David Zucker Pat Proft' 1:35 - 'produced by Robert K. Weiss' Cuts to final shot 1:38 - 'directed by David Zucker'
Timeline of our film
Above is the timeline for our film, from this we can see the shots that are needed, along with any props and mis-en-scene details that are required. We also know that our opening will be 1 minute and 40 seconds long.
Synopsis of our film
Title of film: School's Out
Genre: Social Comedy
Target Audience: 12+
Logline: 'Two opposite students are tasked with finding the missing people from their school.'
Full Synopsis: Two (hating each other) students awake in an empty school, with no recolation of the day. School staff and students has disappeared appart from these two. After an earthquake alarm went, these two students were fighting and promptly knocked each other out. After waking up, they attempt to find the others, not aware of the earthquake alarm, and therefore that everyone has evacuated. Their mission apears to be finding clues to everyone's whereabouts with hilarious misunderstandings of an alien abduction and kidnapping that eventually brings the students closer.
Opening Sequence Outline: The two students will be shown waking up in a dark classroom, they stumble up and leave the classroom to go back to a room they had been in earlier.
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