Question 7

AS Media Question 7


Question 7 - From our preliminary task we have learnt that using many different camera angles and shots helped to add to the look of the film opening. This i helps to make the opening look much more professional and more engaging having a wide range of camera angles. We also learnt how crucial it is in getting the the right lighting to create a good shot. We found that through our preliminary task we had trouble creating the correct lighting as well as stability issues with the camera which these made out film not look as professional as it could. Therefore when we filmed our final piece we made sure to use the correct equipment and lighting. When filming each static shot we made sure to have a flat surface with tripods to make each shot look steady and more professional.

Question 7 from flamegrace

Question 6

What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process of Constructing This Product?

We have learnt about technologies during our film opening and the most important thing we learnt was to always back up our recordings as we lost the first set of shots as the camera broke and we lost all our clips. Therefore we had to go back and re-film the whole thing in a week. We learnt always to use a tripod to shoot static shots this kept the camera still and you wont see any unsteady camera work, making the filming look unprofessional.
We learnt a lot  about the whole filming process and the difficulty of different shots. When recording a tracking shot we found it quite hard because it was difficult to maintain a steady had  while following the actor and looking where your going. Close ups and still shots were much easier once they had been set up with the tripod so there wasn't any movement of the camera  so there was less room for mistake. When shooting we used the auto setting on the camera, this sometimes meant that some of our shots were out of focus for a couple of seconds. If possible I would like to learn how to use the manual settings so all the shots are in focus all the time. I learnt a lot from making this film opening and feel much more confident if I had to use the hardware (cameras/tripods)  again. For anyone doing Media, I would advise them to practice using the camera and equipment before to the filming starts also the first preliminary task helped us get used to the equipment and how to use it.



ResearchWhen researching into film openings and into genre of films it became apparent to us that there are a lot of different things we’d be able to do. We were able to attend a BMI conference on the art of film making. This allowed us to get a real insight into the art of film making and also allowed us to understand what the examiners were looking for. The experience was very interesting and enabled us to understand exactly what was expected of us.
 Also when researching into titles we were able to access a website called www.artofthetitles.com This website was extremely useful when looking into the order of titles and the different ways that they would appear on the screen. This is where we learnt the above and below the line for titles, this made me realise what we have to consider for each of the titles that will come up in our opening.

Question 5 evaluation

Question 4 - Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product?

Who would be the audience for your media product?For our film opening we realised we we had a specific target audience, who are youth ranging from 15+ to 21. Whereas we do not rule out that we have a secondary audience ranging from 21+  through  to early 50's. As we thought more into Katie (who is our main character within the film) and things she learns and thrives on in the film, we realised that in terms of reliability it would be easy for our target audience to be teenagers. We decided this as they were more likely to understand the thoughts and emotions that Katie goes through within the film opening. It may be similar to their feelings in their current life, also young Katie is quite naive in the sense that she doesn't have any wisdom or experience in this matter and this whole aspect is new to her. This meaning that the situation that our main character is facing can be daunting for young teens as it maybe something they can relate to. In our film we touch upon a close to heart subject, that Katie's hatred of love stems from her parents extremely messy divorce. Some teenagers may be able to relate to this and uphold similar views to our character, this having a large effect on the amount of people who will interested in our film. However we have not ruled out the possibility that older audiences may relate to Katie's situation as it may be nostalgic for them as they remember their experiences at Katie's age. This gives a warm feel to the film as not only can everyone enjoy but at some point in the possible audience's life everyone has felt like Katie and can relate to something they may see on screen. For Example..

Name: Sara CarterAge: 17She is within our target audience age range for our film, also by having actors and actresses the same age  in the film help the audience relate back to the film and put themselves in their situation.  Interests/jobs: Sara enjoys shopping, fashion, downloading and listening to music, watching films at the cinema or at home and also is at college participating in a course in Musical Theatre.Film preference: Sara's favourite genre is romance because she likes the happy endings, she also likes how she can relate parts of her life to the films she watches. Her favourite films are The Notebook and Sliver Linings Playbook. She likes these films as there is so much drama in order for there to be romance in the end.As Sara is a student she likes to watch TV programs and films online as her lack of money she would wait until the films become available on 'Love Film' rather then go out and spend more money on the DVD's. 

Question 3

Question 3 - What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why? 3: What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why? When focusing on the distribution of our film, we looked at many different distribution companies; some ranging from low budget and high budget institutions. As we are a low budgeted film we would find that only the less known media institutions would distribute our media product. We researched companies that were low budgeted institutions and also ones that have also distributed romance films before.

 The first institution that we found could be suitable for our film was ‘Film District’. This is a leading independent distributions, acquisition and co-production. It has recently become more famous for the film they made called ‘Insidious’ which got them known in the film industry. Before hand they were a known media institution. Unlike well-known film distributions, film direct spend a lot more of their money on promotion and trailers as they’re less known, whereas bigger institutions like Warner Brothers spend a lot of their high budget on special effects, casts and directors. We feel that going to ‘film district’ would be a good idea as they like to take on films with unique story lines and we feel that our story is unique compared to the other entire romance genre films available, for example this happened with their low budgeted from ‘Looper’. Although one downside to this institution is the fact that they do not normal focus on the genre if romance, they focus on action and horror films mainly. I feel that this would lead to some draw backs as they are not specialised in this genre. The second institution that we have focused on and chose for our film is DNA films, which is a British company. It has become one of London’s most successful production companies which have made a variety of films ranging from romance to horror. This means that they have much more experience than some other institutions as it helped them to gain a wider knowledge of all genres. The reason for picking this institution was because it was based in London, which would make distribution much easier as they understand the British film industry wider than US companies may, and secondly because this company has much experience when working with our genre; which is romance. They have distributed films such as Never Let Me Go and Love actually. They are specialised in creating large budgeted films although they like to focus on films with edge and a creative/unique storyline. We feel as though our film ‘Educating Katie’ has enough quirk and edge to catch this institutions eye.

Question 2

Question 2 from flamegrace

Question 1

Genre-
The first part of our opening aims to conform to typical media product but also challenge it at the same time. Katie's character is very anti-love and will not accept any romantic gestures. We thought this character would be intriguing as not many films present characters like Katie. We took inspiration from the character Kat in 10 Things I Hate About You.

Camera-
The first shot of our opening conforms the typical romance genre as it is the candles being put out from a set dinner table. The effect of this shot builds up a sense of mystery and also creates enigma. It leaves the audience with the question for them to think about what is going on?

We used a mixture of shots that contrast but all flow nicely together, the content in the first few shows shows the typical nature of a romance film, flowers being delivered and candles being put out, typical genre signifiers, but when the music changes and the long shot of the delivery girl from the florist come into the shot, the audience then can tell that this isn't the typical romantic film.

Editing-
The transition at the beginning of the opening when the music changes represents the genre shift within our opening. We did this so it was clear for the audience to see the contrast between the two shots. We also added in the disk scratch as it acted as a transition sound between the two songs we used and also fitted with the pace of shots. We edited the shots so you couldn't see the characters face this was done to create enigma which in our feedback session the audience seem to like because of that reason, element of mystery. We also found that after watching the opening the characters wanted to know more about the character.

Lighting-
We used mostly natural low key lighting as we wanted the character and location to look as real as possible so the audience could relate back to the opening. We didn't use any artificial lighting apart from the first scene with the candles as we thought it would set the mood for the opening and them by the end of the opening the mood is different to when it started.

Sound-
The sound and music in the clip immediately signifies the genre. The music at the beginning signifies the typical romantic film and the disk scratch acts is the transition sound as the music goes into Teenage Dirtbag.  The music is a key feature and we thought the song would go well with the scenes as the lyrics match how the character's feeling and as the character comes across quite angry the song also backs that emotion. The song is upbeat and goes well with the pace of the opening as most of the clips are short and cut away quickly.

Form-
An opening sequence takes a typical form. Its aim is to introduce the characters and the setting. It also is meant to give the audience an idea of what the film is going to be about and draw them in so they are interested and entertained. The titles should be displayed in the opening sequence, crediting the production company, director, producer ect..

Introduction of characters-
Our opening conforms to any typical opening sequence. The main character is introduced but we never see her face in the opening. We get a glimpse of what is happening and we can begin to predict what will happen later on in the film. Also in our sequence, not too much is given away, all the time we are withholding information about the character and why she is like this, subtle hints are made throughout the opening which the audience can speculate for what will happen to her throughout the film.

Titles-

The titles also conform to a typical media product. When designing the titles we wanted them to be representative of the film. We were firstly going to use the font 'Arial' for our titles but, after seeing what they looked like in that font we, as a group, decided against it as they looked boring and unoriginal. So we went for a font that looked more like a script writing and made the titles red as red can symbolise love, relationships and also anger and danger.