Clear Bets

This is the final film opeening which we have completed, it has sound and titles .

Evaluation Questions

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

Our final media challenges both the forms and conventions of real media products. The Genre that we had chosen for our main product was Ganster/Mafia, and this type of genre is normally very common to pop up in the ideas of other media products but rarely is it that successfull. This meant that we had to develop our idea away from the main stream of which most Ganster ideas go down. This was going to be a challenge for us as we did not want to move our product so far away from the Ganster theme that it was unreconisable, yet we also did not want our product to maintain only the sterotypical Ganster events which would be copying other peoples work basicly. A Sterotypical Ganster film normal involves mobsters which are run by one family, and would fight in the streets yet also run there own underground buisnesses which brings in all of the money. Normally these are what the different mobs our fighting for until they gain full control over everything or the all get busted by the police. The films are normally very dark and have dull lighting, the camera angles also normally show another person point of view although they are not actually present in the film, this allows the viewer to feel apart of the film and almost of the feeling they have some sort of part to play themselfs. This can be done by the camera being slightly unsteady showing that it is not on a tripod or track, but as in the audience are just seeing what a third party present may be wittnessing. However our film oppennig uses both point of view shot where the camera moves just as someone is there wittnessing the events, yet we also have some shots which are as still as postible when using a tripod. These shots can be shown by our CCTV shots which would not be realistic if the were moving or seeming the move up and down as if he CCTV camera was breathing.

Another way we challenged the conventions of Ganster Films is the lighting that we have used. repeating what I have mentioned earlier normally the Ganster Films have dark lighting, We on the other hand start with the dark fading in to daylight via a lamp which is present behing the main focus at the start. The lighting stays like this throughout with the eseption of the CCTV shots.

 

 2. How does your media product represent a particular social group?

Our product is aimed at the younger side off teenagers/young adults. Our Characters are dressed in casual clothing and look more up to date than a conventional  ganster would look like, although we cannot really pick on one individual social group as in our film they are all merged together to produce this and this couldnt be depicted in a everyday situtaion as it was styled to be out of the ordernary, for example you would never get a 18year old assasin jumping over a back garden fence to assainate two 16 year olds playing poker in a house. This is one thing that I believe that we should have made clearer in the planning of the film early in the year.


3. What media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Although our film is low budget; close to no budget and has been produced and filmed by a very small British group we could possibly draw up a small amount of  interest from major American distrubuters, but this is very unlikely to get even a response from these companies and the budget would need to be through the roof to be able to use them. Although this could be seen as a set back, we are more likely to get interest from a small British copany such as Film4 and other smaller companies which work together with Film4, this may be good because they may not expect our production to bring in a major turnover or for us to have a big budget and plan. However, this could end up having its benefits as if Film4 and its partners distributed our film we wcould possibly have exposure to their television channel, internet site and there is also the possiblilty that the film could turn big because of the previous films that Film4 has brought the British screens. Film4 already have an established fan base among the British population, and this would allow our film the promotion it would have needed to attract as much attention to become profitable. Film4 have distributed low budget British films, therefore I believe this media institution would be more beneficial to our film than a big Hollywood distubuter such as 20th Century Fox or Warner Brothers.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our chosen audience was an age group of 15-25 year olds, with us thinking that our film would more likely to want to watch our film. This is because we believed that this age group were most likely to watch newer gangster/thriller films that developed on ideas already set up by media like The Sopranos, Scarface and the Godfather.

As we had decided to aim the film at an age group of 15-25 year olds, we decided to have the film rating at a 15 so it would be available to a wider range of people, even though this meant making some of the violence and drug scenes less obvious and not the main target at all times of the film. This allows us to widen the target audience.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract our audience we needed to think of a way to make the opening so eye catching that they wanted to see the rest of the film. We did this by comming up with the idea of having an event at the begining of the film that would be of significance later in the film. This almost leaves a cliff hanger at the begining of the film leading the audience wanting to find out why the events happened and what will happen after then. To do this we had the assain shoot both the poker players at the begining of the film and then shoot out the camera ending the scene this shows the events and then a brief glimps of the emotions running threw the assain. We believe that the cliff hanger will make our audience want to know why he had shot the other charcaters.


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

I have learnt a lot about technology while constructing the film, in particular the use of cameras, editing software. Although I wasnt present in the final production and therefore couldn't be filming, I still played a big part in finding locations and different angles, and also filmed much of the preliminart i did  with my previous group and our  Juno spoof. I learnt how to film professionally and that I must have a few seconds of film before and after the action to allow time for editing. The editing software was the part I found most  difficult to use and I think we did well to edit the film together after facing difficulties such as our original setting for our film began to have problems fitting us in and we had to change to Luis's house, and struggling to find appropriate titles. However I would now be much more confident using this software, and feel that our final product shows we had a good understanding of the software. Blogging was also very new to me, and although it was a struggle to get images and links onto my blog, I think I overcame these problems using the help given by our class teacher and learnt to blog quite well.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

I feel that I had learnt a lot since my preliminary task, and when comparing that to my final piece you can see the difference in quality and skill behind it. When filming the preliminary we only filmed just more than what we needed, so I learnt from this and in our main task our group filmed lots of different angles of the same clip, for example the first shooting at the resturant we had loads of extra shots that we ready to be used.

We also learnt that the microphone and editing software were not easy to use, and the microphone did not have a good enough quality to put in our final piece. This was a problem through out our filming and editting. In some cases we just didnt put any sound in at all.

New Risk Assessment

Action Carried Out	Risk		How this can be prevented or changed
Filming the first shot of the opening scene.	The fence in the back garden which can cause injury on the fall down or even getting cut from the wood. There was also on one side thrown bushes, could also be sharp objects in the bushes which could cause cuts.		Placing a mat at the bottom of the fence. This can be resolved by cutting certain areas to prevent these and using common sense
Lighting up the inside	The inside is dark which could cause picture quality problems as the camera may not be able to pick up low lighting		Using a reflector to reflect light from a lamp in the room helps bring light for the camera for a better picture quality
Props and Clothing	If the clothes are baggy the clothes could catch on something and cause an accident		Get actors to wear tight clothes to prevent this happening.
Incense stick	The stick could fall off and cause injury by heat		Not lighting the stick or placing it away from the actors
Cat	The cats walking all over the place from garden to house and maybe they could trip up		Placing the cats out of the way
Bread Knife		The Knife could maybe cut someone.	If someone gets cut get plasters and we could cut the bread before the filming

One Step Closer

After all the problems that we have had with the construction of our final piece we finally got back on track, although its a little bit behnind the rest of the class. The venue for our filming was changed to Luis's house due to a lack of comunication which happened between the resturant and our group. This is the last draft before we should have finished the openning all together.

Although we have improved greatly in our filming techneques, there are still some problems which came up and were spotted after we had finished editting. The first main problem is the continuity break within Zygi's hood. This because when he walks into the french doors he has his hood up, but when he comes through the door from the shot of inside the livingroom his hood is down. Then when he leaves and is outside the house once again his hood appears to be up, this breaks the contunity rule.
Another problem is the timer on the CCTV as throughout the openning the timer is in sync, but when the shot moves away from the CCTV inside and jumps to a point of view shot then to the CCTV outside the timer had gone back in time once again breaking the continuity rule.
There is once again another problem aswell. We were unable to add any sound into the opeening at this time but when we go back and edit the openning we should be able to correct this and post the final production on youtube before our deadline.

Once we have corrected these problems and made sure Zygi keeps his hood either up or down we shoulod be finished and can start to evaluate our product.

Sound Track

We will have to get a song from audionetwork for a small fee, but this will make sure that the song is copyright free

Production

My group is not here today so i do not know if we can get the the final filming done this weekend. If we get the filming finished it would give me couple of days to do all the editing. The other members of my group will do an edit, we will then choose the best edit to show sir.

Production

We chose to film in a restorant which proves to be a challenge due to getting the right time for filming due to the opening hours.
We have to get some more shots done from different angles and to retake some shots as the camera did not focus due to lack of light. We are thinking of having more lights so the camera can auto focus.
We did not use a tripod when we filmed so some shots are not steady.
Hopefully we can finish the filming this weekend so we can finish the editing before Easter.
Our rough cut looks more of a trailer than a opening of a film as it cuts back and forward.

Returning to Media Studies

I have been off and missed a hole week of media studies because of an injury i withstained. When I came back today I easily sliped in to my group to help with the powerpoint presentation which has been set to complete for tomorrows lesson. This is why I have not posted on my blog for a while as I have been unable to even sit at the computer at that moment, but I am back now and I am ready to continue with my Media Studies, and catch up with everything that I may have missed.

Media Mag: Openning Scenes

Today I  logged onto the mediamagazine that we were given to look through to help us with our coursework. While I was reading through i noticed an article about how the film Kick Ass created an openning scene which was very similar to other blockbuster super hero films. The openning to kick ass starts as many super hero films do; with a super hero wearing a costume and jumping off a building with a twist as instead of the hero flying off like superman or batman would do, this superhero crashes to the ground on top of a car failing at what he is trying to do horribly. This shows that with a slight tweek to what you would expect from a film you can keep the audience on the edge of their seats and will them onto to wtaching the rest of the film. Kick Ass used this so they could create a humouress film where as we could do the same but to catch the audience off guard to make them want to watch the rest of the film... Too bad there isnt going to be one.

The Sopranos Opening Theme

The Soprano's title sequence shows only one person throughout the sequence showing that he is the main importance of the story. As the driver is on his journey you see alot of items that are linked with the stero type of what people would expect a mafia boss to have. The character shows that he has a chain round his wrist and rings on his fingers and at one point he even starts smoking his cigar. The location of which the character is driving through does not link with what people would expect of a mafia member as the driver is on a journey through New Jersey which is not seen to be involved in the mafia. This gives an idea that he may be an outsider of the big families that run the mafia, and makes the audience think about the possible outcomes of what is to happen next in the story.

The Godfather: Title Sequence

The Godfather's titles consist of just the name strips which appear over police records of the mug shots that appear onto the screan. Or the names will appear as autographes on the back of pictures as they come onto the screen. All the titles are in white upon a blackbackground, other than the autographes. These tiltes are very small and slighlty draw just as much attention to them as needed. The shots many depict some irony, by showing mug shots, which are also used by police when someone is caught offending. They also show a gang, or gang culture and crime, as they are shown one after the other. Throughout the sequence the colours remain grey and dark to show that the pictures are old and possible to show what has been shown is in the past in the storyline of the film. The lack of colour also shows there may be some sort of darker side of the men shown.

Main Task risk assessment

Action Carried Out	Risk	How this can be prevented or changed
Filming the first shot of the opening scene.	The weather being different than forecast (snow) or a reflection in the windows which shows the film crew in the background from the windows.	Check the weather consistently and if the weather was to change, we can sweep any snow away out of the shot or break and remove any ice. We also shall angle the camera away from the door so there is not a direct reflection of the camera.
Lighting up the inside of the restaurant.	Wires on the floor causing health and safety risks. The angles of the lights may be difficult to produce and also in some cases depending on what is in the restaurant	Using proper ladders and stand if needed for the lighting and tape the wires to the floor to insure that there are no hazards of people tripping and injuring themselves.
Props and Clothing	All props and clothing may not match the theme and this would ruin the atmosphere. The clothes may also make the characters had to see in the light because of the colours used.	All clothing and props must be decided on and if this problem occurs the colours must be changed.
Glass Breaking in the shooting of the gun shot	Breaking glass would be really dangerous and this would be a health and safety hazard as someone could be cut or seriously injured.	There will be no real glass used in this shot but sugar glass alternative to resemble the smashing of real glass but with no hazard to anyone who is taking part in this scene.
Shooting of a gun inside a restaurant	The public outside of the restaurant maybe able to see into the scene while the shooting is occurring and may be distressed to see  gun being shot even though it is not a real one but a look alike. This could cause problems as a member of the public may do the correct thing and call the police although they are un knowing of what is going on. This coul get our whole shot into alot of trouble	As we are in a private place we should have no problems gaining permission to use guns on set although with this issue we will need to tell the authorities of the area of the restaurant that we are going to be using a look alike firearm to insure that there are no miss under standings and that no one is forced to waste their time

Inital Ideas

Title/working title	Clear Bets         (?)
Plot/outline summary	Due to the assassins actions 3 years ago, a gang rivalry has been created, two mafia families fight each other over the money being taken 3 years ago.
Opening sequence outline/summary	Assassin receives a phone call, and is told to murder 6 rival mafia guys who owe money. He then walks into a closed restaurant through the back door, and proceeds upstairs where an illegal poker game is taking place including thousands of pounds. This money is owed and the assassin then pulls out two guns and shoots everyone there, except the waitress who hides and survives, the assassin then takes the money.
Characters (consider genre, role, image etc)	1 – Main Assassin 5/6 – Gangsters gambling 1 – Barman 1 – Waitress
Mise en scene Setting: Locations: Costumes: Props: Lighting (what mood are you trying to create? etc)	Guns, Money, Poker related things, drinks. Dark, empty, closed restaurant. Upstairs. Restaurant Dark, not to reveal much character. Shirts, waistcoats, blazers. Guns, shot glasses,money, poker. Toplighting, backlighting to create a sense of being superior. Low ambient lighting. Few lights used with mise on scene.

Lighting

Key Light

Its the most important light, its mostly the highest intensity light.

Filler Light

Used to soften the harsh shadows created by the key light and the back light. There can be more than one filler light.

Back Light

This light is set at the back of a character or an object. It makes the character or an object standout. Back light also helps to counteract the effect of key light 

Top Lighting 

Top lighting is when the light source is lighting the character or an object from above.

Under-lighting

 Under-lighting is when the main source of light is bellow the character or an object

High Key Lighting  

Hight key lighting is when most of the shot is brightly lit with few shadows.

Ambient Light
The light already present in a scene, before any additional lighting is added.

Incident Light
Light seen directly from a light source (lamp, sun, etc).

Reflected Light

Light seen after having bounced off a surface.

Spot

A controlled, narrowly-focused beam of light.

Flood

A broad beam of light, less directional and intense than a spot.

Tungsten

Light from an ordinary light bulb containing a thin coiled tungsten wire that becomes incandescent (emits light) when an electric current is passed along it. Also known as incandescent light.

Incandescent

Incandescent lamps produce heat by heating a wire filament until it glows. The glow is caused by the filament's resistance to the current and is called incandescence.

Halogen

Type of lamp in which a tungsten filament is sealed in a clear capsule filled with a halogen gas.

Fresnel

A light which has a lens with raised circular ridges on its outer surface. The fresnel lens is used to focus the light beam.

Codes and Convetions

Opening
This is the first few minutes of a film which is placed so that the audience watching the film know what the plot is, as the plot of the movie is in these first few minutes. If these few minutes are not good than these can make the audience feel confused and lost when the rest of the film is playing.


Gangster Movies
Motifs of The Gangster Genre

1. The hero is an immigrant who dislikes his low status in life and wants more.

2. Unlike the Western, this story takes place in the big city. The wide open plains have been traded in for the seedy alleyways and wharves of the urban jungle.

3. The gangster can only gain power by taking it. It is survival of the fittest, and the only law is the law of the jungle.

4. The only loyalty the gangster feels is for his own immigrant roots.

5. Success is measured in material goods - flashy cars, expensive clothes, and mansions. Women are measures of success as well.

6. The hero's antagonist is society, and the enforcers of the law. The police, the FBI, the CIA represent the enforcers of societal status quo.

7. The end justifies the means.

Juno

After been given a practise task to basicly create a SPOOF of the film JUNO which we have renamed JUDO as we replaced the girl charceter with a male. This excersise is to help us practise skills that we can use in our final mian production. The task was alot of fun but we were also faced with some challenges that has helped us think about how to over come them for our final production.

The main problem was that during the shooting of this task the weather changed twice. We managed to overcome this by showing the charcater JUDO putting up his hood when it started to try and rain which allowed him to have his hood when rain started appearing in the shot. Then later on in the day the rain stoped, and we showed this by the character taking off his hood. Luckly the weather stayed the same throughout the rest of the shooting.

Research: Back Light

The back light is sometimes called hair or shoulder light, because when lighting an actor or an actress, backlighting will cause the edges of his or her hair to glow if he or she has fuzzy hair. This gives an angelic halo type effect around the head. This is often used in order to show that the actor or actress so lit is "good" or "pure". In television this effect is often used in soap operas and has become something of a cliché of the genre. It is also sometimes called the kicker or rim light.

Backlighting helps to provide separation between the subject and its background. In the theatre it is often used to give a more three-dimensional appearance to actors or set elements, when front lighting alone would give a two-dimensional look. In chiaroscuro effects in painting, such as the candlelit paintings by Joseph Wright of Derby (illustration, left), backlighting helps separate subjects in the foreground and emphasizes depth.

Research: Key Light

The key light is the first and usually most important light that a photographer, cinematographer, or other scene composer will use in a lighting setup. The purpose of the key light is to highlight the form and dimension of the subject. The key light is not a rigid requirement; omitting the key light can result in a silhouette effect. Many key lights may be placed in a scene to illuminate a moving subject.

The key light can be "hard" (focused) or "soft" (diffused), and depending on the desired setup can be placed at different angles relative to the subject. When part of the most common setup—three-point lighting—the key light is placed at a 30–60° angle (with the camera marking 0 degrees). In addition to the horizontal angle, the key light can be placed high or low producing different effects. The most common vertical position for the key light is at a 30° degree angle (i.e. slightly above the eye line; the nose should not cast a shadow on the lips).

Research: Lighting

Today we were taught how different types of lighting are used when filming. We had a guy called scott come in with two lights and defusers. He demenstrated different types of filming and who it effects the way the audience looks at what is on screan.

the different types of lighting that are used by industries are:

Key Light
Back Light
Filler Light
Low Key Lighting

Change in group

After talking with my group we all decided to split I am now in a group with

Luis Mendes
Zygimantas Pukas
Luke Sheridan