Evaluation Comparing Preliminary and G321

For our preliminary task we had to create a storyboard. In our group this was my job as other members had done other things like shot lists and I had to do the storyboard. As we had to change some things after we thought of our storyline I had to create two storyboards this took a really long time and I wish I did it a different way. When we started our opening sequence we drew a rough storyboard but our storyline soon changed. This is when we decided to create a storyboard with post it notes instead. This way we could change bits around and move them over if we needed to. I found this extremely helpful as you didn’t have to draw everything out over and over. Saying this, we did create two storyboards as we needed a final one just to make sure we could follow this exactly. Having it a lot bigger and on post it notes made it extremely easier to follow when filming, we were able to photocopy it and carry around one when filming and also when editing.

 

Obviously our opening sequence took a lot more time than our preliminary task, but I found there were plenty more things that had to be completed before filming, like collecting consent forms, planning out times to film and finding times that we could film all the actors etc. We also had to plan when we would film due to different locations used. Whereas in preliminary we filmed afterschool until 5 one evening and the actors were just friends that lived close. I found that although preliminary was quicker and should have felt more relaxed as it wasn’t as detail, I found our actual opening sequence was more relaxed due to who we had chosen and where we were filming. I also felt more responsible as it was our final piece and everything we had planned and researched was to be shown through our final opening. This made me feel a lot more focused as preliminary was hard and thought out but didn’t feel as important to me. We spent so much time researching, collecting props and planning costumes. Finding locations and timing everything right that I felt it was actually a real film and was our film.

In our preliminary task we specifically used their different types of shots to keep the piece continuous. We used 180 degree rule, match on action and shot reverse shot. This was really interesting to learn and helped us a lot in filming the preliminary. To help us we should have used all of these in our opening sequence but instead we only used 180 degree rule, this isn’t bad as this is the most important one as it helps not to confuse the audience. I think from following the strict rules in preliminary the 180degree rule came natural to all of the people in our group. From this I think we were all a lot more confidant with using the cameras and editing equipment. I found that filming was very similar, if not more interesting as we had to film a lot more shots and from different angles. This made me feel more comfortable with using the equipment and I am now more confidants. After filming our preliminary we had to use an editing programme called iMovie, this was very easy to use and as we were a close group we were all able to put our thoughts in and create something quite quickly and to a good standard. However when we started editing our opening sequences we were given the choice to edit with final cut express or iMovie. As our film contained spilt screens we had to use final cut express. I was happy with this as we were able to learn something new and I’m a lot more confidant with final cut express than I am with iMovie.

I feel that our final opening is a million times better than our preliminary even though I was extremely proud of the preliminary when we first made it. I’ve realised that filming takes a really long time as it is not just the filming but the planning and research behind it. I also like the fact our final product includes different things like split screens, titles and in most comparison the institution logos. Creating these was really hard and very time consuming but I think they make the opening just that extra step better.

Evaluation Attracting Audiance

Evaluation Target Audiance Work

Question 4 emilys

View more presentations from Emily Wallace.

Evaluation of Equipment and Group

Equipment and Technology on Prezi

Evaluation Presenting Social groups

Question 2- Social Groups on Prezi

Evaluation Commenting on Distributuon

After researching into the difference between institutions we got together as a group and realised that our final film would have to be distributed by a mainstream institution. We thought about making our piece fit for a niche market, therefore the distributors would be a smaller company like Film4 or MTV. I would have preferred this as most of the inspiration for our film came from films like Napoleon Dynamite and Four Lions.

Although saying this, our film is really happy and light, whereas these films are odd and dark. Looking at other films related to our film, for instance Superbad (2007) was distributed by mainstream company Columbia Pictures and Step Brothers (2008) also by Columbia. Therefore we decided as a group we would go with a mainstream institution. I then went off by myself and researched some facts about Columbia Pictures and also into Warner Brothers as they make a few popular comedies i.e. The Hangover (2009). I compared the two companies by looking into different facts. Warner Brothers has been active since 1918 and soon after the first start the company then upgrade only a few 5 years later. This shows they have been improve quickly since they started and as they started earlier its likely they have more experience. Although saying this Columbia Picture soon followed by being active since 1919 but upgrading in 1924. Both have headquarters in the USA which is a plus side as this will most likely help our film promotion and distributing. Columbia pictures have had connections with lots of different companies including Coca-cola as they bought the company in 1982. More recently Columbia has been bought by Sony Entertainment. This is a great positive as it means the company could help our film be produced in different ways including BluRay and in 3D. In comparison to this Warner Brothers does have other institutions connected to them, including DC Comics. This is good for our film as DC Comics make quite funny but very geeky films. This really supports our theme and could be helpful to us as if we were with a mainstream institution like Warner Brothers we would be able to use the advantages of DC Comics.

Overall I decided that our group should go with Columbia pictures simply because they have made films similar to ours before and they have good experiences of working in our style. They also have some great advantages like being connected to Sony which could open our film to all sorts of things especially BluRay.

We learnt that we would have to aim our film at a mass audience; we thought this because most comedies are really popular with a wide demographic as everyone like to see something funny, and comedies are especially popular during times of economic downturn, like now. We did some questionnaires and found that this was correct, a lot of people like to relax and they find that comedy enables them do to this the easiest as its gives them a sense of escapism. I would use a mainstream distributor to distribute my film. For instance this would help me get the film into a big company like Odeon or Cineworld, then my film would be played often, and everyday in a multiplex. This would help me reach my mass audience as a lot of people would want to see the film, and this would let them.

As I have chosen to distribute with a mainstream company our film will enable the companies to create new merchandise, therefore making everyone earn more money. This will also be helpful as its promotion for our film. For instance the ‘McLovin’ from the film now has an iconic t-shirt. By having a mainstream distributor this is another positive as it enables us to get more money and more promotion.

As we have chosen a famous, successful company there are many different ways for our film to be distributed after, before or alongside theatrical release? By having successful and distributors with a lot of money as this can enable our film to be promoted on YouTube or Facebook for example taking over Myspace, like The Dark Knight was able to. This includes across all video stores, especially HMV as they are one of the most successful video stores as they have been around since 1921. This isn’t as accessible as for say Amazon, as people all around the world can get onto this website and have films sent to them for a reasonable price. This opens up our distribution to our mass audience. Also we will distribute using things like iTunes as they don’t have to be sent and videos can be downloaded. Over the last few years downloading has risen in popularity, this will also help us to reach our target audience.

Evaluation Challenging Other Media Products

To start my evaluation I looked at what different things our media piece actually used. Looking at not only our final film but all of the research and planning before. I then went on to compare our final product with similar films of the same genre.

I started by researching into what were some of the most famous comedy films. I tried to include films I had already seen so it was easier for me to reflect. I looked at the different types of characters and found that the research we had done before support the way our main characters were all geeky. By looking at characters in SuperBad, McLovin and Evan (Michael Cera) I saw that they were similar to our characters Tom- who wants to be cool and Stu- who is straight edged and plain. A constant convention of a comedy is laughter. With our opening most of the elements are common actions but some are extremely over exaggerated and odd. For instance when the character Stu looks at his watch, he’s clearly waiting for his friends to be ready. Also when the character Bob is getting ready, there is a shot of him ‘checking himself out’ this is comical as its something that is often in comedies as is seen as funny. Later in the film we would plan to have funny lines, something memorable, like in a lot of comedies out at this moment. For instance Step Brothers has some memorable quotes ‘ can we make our beds into bunk beds so there is more room for activities’ this is already a funny quote but when every learns it and it is used in real life, it promote the film and makes people interested in it. Hopefully are film could do the same.

Titles- looking at other my timeline- the same? Better or worse?

The opening for our film clearly shows that its a comedy. By having bits that actually make the audience laugh is what makes the genre most apparent. By using certain scenes and certain techniques (like the cutting of the sound for Stus shots) it shows that the film isn’t a hundred percent serious and you can tell its meant to be like that. I think our group did well in picking out the right actors as they were able to over exaggerate there actions enough so they still looked real, but you knew they should be funny. I found when filming we helped to make this happen as when filming, it was very relaxed and we were already laughing when filming the shots. This gave us an indication that we would be making a Hybrid comedy genre.

Film Diary

This is a short synopsis of the days we filmed our opening sequence and who filmed on what day. This is helpful as it enables us to create a more detailed Diary on our group blog and will help me when i am writing my evaluation.

Saturday
Our whole group met at Charlotte Morrisons house to film the first actor Paige Lyons, we met at charlottes as we had to film two actors in this location. We all started by filming Paige, some bits without Scott Collins as he was the only male and we wanted Paige to bemost comfertable. After filming all of Paiges shots we waited for next actor Stuart to meet us at Charlottes.
We were then able to film all of Stuarts shots including him coming out of the door. This all went very well and was a lot quicker than Paiges filming. As Staurt is a brother of Bob, another actor of ours he was able to walk us to his house. This was convieniant as we felt less rude by going alone. Also as it wasnt our house only Scott Collins and myself went as we didnt want to over crowed someone elses house.

Monday
We then filmed again on Monday
Myself, Charlotte Morrison and Devon Dalton spent one of our free lessons and lunchtimes to go film paige Lyons coming out of her front door. We had to shcedule this as we had to find a time Paige was free and also when Devon was free as we were using her front door as it was closest to school
Myself and Charlotte also filmed after school this day, as we were using my location we couldn't fit all three of the boys and all four of our group. i think this was annoying for the other people in our group but nothing could realyl be done. we filmed the boys walking down the street and Tom getting ready this day.

Thursday
During the week, we rewatched what we had filmed and started to pick out the shots we were going to use and started to edit. When doing this we realised we would have to refilm Bobs shots as they were overly orange tinted and they didnt match with the rest of the film. Charlotte and Scott went to refilm these shots one day after school as they were the only ones that were able to make it that day.

Saturday
Also during that week we realised that we hadn't filmed our institution lgo even though we had planned it all. This properly took the longest time as we werent 100% sure how we were going to make it work. as only Charlotte and myself filmed that day this was a lot harder and ended up taking about 3 hours instead of 1 or 2 it would have taken if at least one other person was willing to help us.

Health and Safety

After having a lesson on health and safety I spent some extra time researching health and safety about filming. This is what I found from the filming council, its list of rules that must be followed.

''It is recognised that most production companies act in a responsible and professional manner. However, all film makers are asked to take their surroundings into consideration.

Productions must be sympathetic to the environment they want to use and work with any restrictions they find with locations that are in areas of outstanding natural beauty and are preserved or with historic buildings or monuments that are considered delicate and fragile.

The local authority has a duty of care towards residents and businesses and will exercise control if a particular production is causing an unreasonable nuisance or noise.

Every precaution must be taken to ensure the safety of the general public at all times and a contact number for the production must be available to the council and the police.

Clear guidelines of what the script or scene involves and appropriate caution must be taken for filming in sensitive areas or at unsocial times

Areas that require any sort of set building, dressing, disguising or are subject to any sort of special effects will require a grantee to be returned to a required standard.

This code of practice sets out the standards that we would ask production companies and/or their sub-contractors to follow while filming in Hampshire."

As i could not find a set of rules for Essex Council filming, I have used Hampshire as they are most likely quiet similar.

I made a simple list of what we would have to do in order to follow the rules :

As a group we will have to make sure all rubbish is thrown away as it is harmful to the public and the habitat it lays in, for instance Bobs can props could be harmful to animals in an outdoors surrounding. As well as being harmful and unpleasant, littering is a crime that is punishable with a fine so as a group we don't want anyone to become criminals.
To not get overly excited and loud. As filming is quiet a fun and enjoyable task, its easy to get carried away. the rules clearly state that you cannot disrupt other members of the public. This means we cannot be a nuisance in any way. Meaning when filming our group will have to be calm as well as keeping the actors calm as they are our responsibility as well. We have to take into consideration the home owners of where we are filming, by being polite and sensible this will help keep us following the rules.
To avoid dangerous and illegal things (even if they appear to be dangerous or illegal but in fact are not). I didn't think this was as important to our group as our opening doesn't show anything dangerous, illegal or offensive. 
Always carry a script, storyboard and shot list. This will give us some evidence that we are a media group ready to film. This way if a member of the public is uncertain about us we can show them what we are planning to do. 
To film at the right time and in the right area. In our group we have chosen good times to film as it should always be daylight, this makes us seem less suspicious and we also decide we would film at more social hours, like after school and the end of the work day (6pm) we also chose the right areas, places with hardly any crime and the people in that area are trustworthy and calm.
Cleaning up the area after we have finished. As we are mainly filming in our own rooms, we decide this wasn't as important as other rules but to do this we would each go around the room and take away our props and equipment. We will make sure we leave everything the way it was found.


As where we are filming is a safe and calm area there are only a few minor rules to be kept when filming:
To not argue back with public. As some of our shots are outside we have chosen a few places to film as if we are asked to move from the first one we are prepared and have a back up. We agreed as a group that if a member of the public tries to argue with us and move us on that we wouldn't argue back and we would simply move. This applies to the home-owners of the homes we are using as well, even though this is unlikely as they have already agreed to let filming happen.


Look after the actors. As a group we decided we wanted our actors to feel the most comfortable they could, by asking them how they were feeling about filming, and letting them watch back there shots this ensured they were comfortable. We also had to ask about allergies as one of the characters will be eating a muffin we wouldn't want them to be in danger of a reaction.

Initial Shot List Work

We had to make a shot list so that we were prepared for filming in the next week. the shot list had to include all information, like who would be in the scene, what props we would need, where it was and how long it would last. We created a simple shot list, with the basics on it so we could use this when filming. I created this shot list with Charly Morrison in my group.

My group later realised we would need to have a more detailed and clear shot list, so we left this to Devon as she has had most experience in making shot lists.

Refilm Parts of Our Film

As we filmed all of our shots early, we were able to check them over on the Mac and see if they were up to the standard we wanted them. We also collected some feedback on them and from this we were able to make our film better by re-filming certain parts. 
The feedback we got was mostly positive and our main issue was with the lighting. This was inevitable to be a problem as this was the part I found the hardest to get right when filming. the worst part was Bobs shots. as we use the unnatural lights it gave the shot a orange tint. when we were filming this wasn't that noticeable but after watching back we realised we would have to do it again. This wasn't hard to re-film as the actor was willing to re-film whenever he could. Although saying this it was hard to find a time when he wasn't busy and we were only able to film him on the Thursday, only leaving the Friday to check it in case we had to re-film once more. Thankfully the second time filming worked really well and we knew we could use this in our final piece. 


We also had trouble with lighting again with Paige's shot coming out of her front door. The sun was just to bright and there was a lot of exposure on her. As her costume is very light (pink top and light blue jeans) she looked completely white in the camera. This really didn't work as the edges of the door were white and as she walks past she simply disappears. As we had already used everyone's front doors, we realised we wouldn't be able to re-film in a different location. This limited us and as a group we had to come up with another idea. We thought about filming out of a back door. This was a good shot, but the only problem I that there was very limited space, so we ended up filming it as a mid-shot instead of a long shot. Although this isn't what we planned, I think it works as when your watching the opening, the female actor stands out slightly more. Which is important to show to the audience as she is the basis of the film.

Recreation of Film Openings

Our media class were given a task to recreate three different films. We were given 3 different genres with 3 different films within them. Only being able to chose one film from each genre our group chose to recreate Juno, Vertigo and The Strangers.

These are the films we recreated

Juno
Vertigo
The Strangers

Type of Character Included in our Film

To help creating the costume designs for the main characters i wanted to research into existing characters and people that were very similar to what our group had thought of.





Stacey
The closest person to Staceys alter ego was popular character Regina George from famous film Mean Girls
Her pink clothing is similar to what we want Stacey to wear when she dresses up for school. Regina George is shown to be extremely high maintenance although we wont expect Stacey to wear such tight tops and defiantly not high heels.





Bob
I found that the character most like Bob was Seth from the film Superbad (played by Jonah Hill) the only thing with this character is that they look similar, but we dont want them to have exactly the same personalities. In Superbad Seth isn't a total computer geek and we want bob to be a lot more intelligent and not act as if hes cool.






Stuart (Stu)
For our character Stu i thought of comparing him to the character in famous film Scott Pilgram vs the World. Scott Pilgram is quite similar to our Stuart character, but different in some ways. I found that Stuart would have to be a lot more neat and tidy and possibly wear more fashionable clothing.








Tom
Tom is meant to be a very quiet and collect charater, hes close to his mum and likes to bake This reminded me of the character Paulie Bleeker from film Juno. It is the same actor as the character in Scott Pilgram (Micheal cera), showing that hes quiet famous for comedy films. The characters are similar as they are both good to there families and they believe in doing the right thing.

Juno / The Strangers Storyboard

Between our group we had to create a Shot list and a Storyboard for each film we were planning to recreate. We spilt these up between our group and i was asked to create the Juno and The Strangers storyboards. These are the storyboards i made:

The Strangers

Juno Storyboard

Analysis of three comedy openings

Pineapple Express Opening


Genre-Comedy
Narrative- Normal guy, smokes weed and the opening introduces his job and his views on weed
Atmosphere- funny, happy and different. Slightly over the top-  shows humour
Titles- yellow connoting happiness and fun
Sound- famous reggae song- reminds audience of weed
Character- introduces main male, he doesnt take his job seriously ' you've been served'
Themes- weed and happiness
Setting- his own car, maybe not a homely character, a variety of common places are shown


The Hangover Opening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKtHA8EFgIo
*the sound on this video is slightly quiet*

Genre- Comedy

Narrative- someone's getting married., the bride is worried about the groom. where is he?

Atmosphere- starts nice and smoothly seems romantic. after phone call its panic but slow and quiet

Titles- match wedding smooth and flowing. change when the setting does possibly connotes something gone wrong

Sound- music starts after the title comes on, gives a eerie feeling its slow and rocky

Character- important female is introduced. then an important male

Themes-  wedding someone is lost

Setting- family home, reception is there? desolate desert don't know where?

Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle Opening


*Only watch to about 1.30*

Genre- comedy

Narrative- about a geek guy who gets bullied where he works

Atmosphere- funny everything is over the top

Titles- plain and white shows the film/characters may be simple

Sound- funky, almost like a pornography music suggesting its funny and odd. a tagline is used as the title is sung over the music

Character- three people are shown but it is obvious who is the main character as the titles appears when he is on screen

Themes- work, bullied, stereotypes

Setting- work place- common and public

Extra research

To help me decide my final genre I decided to analysis the first genre our group wanted to look at. This genre was crime and we wanted it to have a gangster film. I have decided to analysis 'Snatch', 'The Godfather' and 'Trainspotting' I have already also analysed 'Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' when I was looking at famous film openings.

Snatch


Genre- Crime and Adventure
Narrative- there is clearly a con, making money from stealing, gambling. getting into trouble, having to fight with violence and guns
Atmosphere- fast, interesting. Everything seems to be linked
Titles-  Plain, bold. There is a pause when the titles appear, the background colour is changed which makes them stand out more
Sound- just music, no words although you still understand the story. The music is fast but slightly creepy
Character- There are many characters shown in this piece. a short clip of each person is played, then there name appears. This a good way to let the audience learn about the characters but there are a lot of characters in this opening.
Themes- Crime gangsters, con, money, fighting
Setting- Dark places, most likely hidden and unused places

The genre is shown by the titles as they are simple and to the point, And the narrative lets the audience know the film is about money and fighting, suggesting its most likely a crime film.

Trainspotting

Genre- Crime and action
Narrative- Breaking the law, having to run away. About a group of boys
Atmosphere- Fast paced, dangerous
Titles- Plain, very simple. Shot freezes when titles appear
Sound, quiet and fast fun background music. Non diegetic voice over. Chose...
Character- Shows the main people, there is clearly a main character- the man speaking Renton
Themes- Drugs, illegal
Setting- Backstreet, town, Horrible flat- no furniture just a place to stay.
The genre is shown by the music in the background as it suggests a fast fun life. The titles are a good signifier for the genre as they are plain and simple and bold, as they appear when the shot is frozen.


Our group started thinking about an entirely different genre and wanted to start on a comedy piece. As I've only touched on comedy films i started to analysis some extra films so i could see how to convey the comedy genre in the opening sequence
Pineapple Express

Genre- Comedy

Narrative- Finding something new, police sequence, smoking weed

Atmosphere- funny, rude. Something different with the guy smoking

Titles- There aren't any tittles in this opening scene, but it clearly shows the genre without them

Sound- there isn't a background soundtrack to this but only diegetic conversation. This makes the audience concentrate more on what they are saying

Character- there aren't really main characters in this, the main focus is on the man smoking the weed though as its the main theme.

Themes- Weed, illegal, police

Setting- Underground, secret bunker

The genre is shown by the narrative and what the man smoking is doing and saying

Step Brothers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sczh_KjjFNU

Genre- Comedy

Narrative- long opening, but introduces the main characters and what is going on- they don't like each other, mum and dad getting married

Atmosphere- tense, funny

Titles- The titles seem really handwritten, possibly by someone young

Sound- really fun fast and happy background music

Character- there are two main characters introduced and the mother and father

Themes- family, brotherhood, laughing

Setting- Family homes, showing the boys live at home

The genre is shown by the diegetic conversation used between the families