Thursday, 13 May 2010
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
Monday, 10 May 2010
EVALUATION
In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge codes and conventions of existing media products?
Our media product challenge the codes and conventions of existing media products as it uses very common conventions of the horror genre such as use of stereotypical characters for example the 'scream queen' played by Alex Webb, a blonde exposed characters, enforcing the method of the male gaze who is introduced as the first character on screen along with her boyfriend who are both sexually active, she gets killed off first then her boyfriend next as a form of the killers motive as he is jelous/wants to punish the couple for being sexually active. We have then used the final girl character, who survives until the end she is brunette/virgin type played by Beth Cooper such as Laurie Strode in Halloween. Isolated/Desolate locations were used 'The Moors' to show the very open proximity from civilisation and enforce the feeling of being watched, this is seen in ;wronf turn' and 'blair witch project'. We have also composed our own music, set out to interfere with you heartbeat and make you feel uncomfortable which are very commonly used in the horror genre such as 'Jaws' if we were to make the whole film we would then go on to use the music played over the killing, over every killing in the film as a form of repetition and to signify something terrible is going to happen. Whilst editing we also experimented with different stabbing sounds on the internet however found the most realistic was to use Hitchcocks idea in Physco to stab a melon numerous times and found this was the most realistic method.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The main social group we wanted to represent was teenage/youth. We managed to to this by incorparting it in our mise en scene/props using themes such as sex alcohol and drug use. We then went on to dress our cast informally, casually and 'middle/lower class' this invloved wearing tanktops/jeans/hoodys which are all youth orientated, showing piercings and making some of the cast members being slightly more exposed. They also used slang in the dialogue to reinforce the teenage social group, often what is portrayed in the media today and as they has northern accents and set in west yorkshire, it was easier to portray them as working class/lower middle class teenagers due to the yorkshire accents not being particulary belivable or realistic of an upper class set of teenagers.
What kind of media insitution might distribute your media product and why?
As optimum releasing and warp films distribute low budget horror films using northern actors which they have done such as Donkey Punch, they would be ideal for distributing out product or someone who works with them if we were to make it into a full length film. The factors for this is that it is digitally made, a low budegt film, made with northern actors, set in northern england (avoiding the upper class stereotype whch warp films like. However our film would unlikley to achieve box office release and have cross over appeal to america as they are only aware of upper class london stereotypes which our film lacks.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our production contains strong alcohol use and violence therefore would be rated 15-24, due to these factors and many more, we discovered this whilst going through the BBFC guidelines where we discovered it involved the characteristics of a 15 rated film. The top age of 24 was used because of the themes and cats invloved they would not appeal to an older adult audience and the dialogue used may give them an oppostional reading. Both genders however would enjoy our film, due to the male gaze from the scream queen providing entertainemnt to watch her on screen, whilst the female gender would enjoy seeing the final girl surviving as a girl role model. Males typicaly enjoy the horror/gore element to the film and the teenage audience are stereotypically drawn the the horror/slasher genre when it is a teen film as comedy may be invloved and similar age group are invloved which they can relate to. We however did not branch out do different ethnicitys by using an all white british cast this could be improved if we were to make a full length feature film. Adults to not find these type of storylines intresting, they perfer sophisticated and more indpeth storyline intresting, therefore will have an oppostional reading. Younger peers that are under the age of 15, even though they will not be allowed to watch it in the cinema will want to watch this product as they strive to be like their peers who are 15-18 year olds.
What have you learnt about the technologies whilst constructing this media product?
At the beginning of this product i could use the basics of Imovie and vaguely edit a short film whilst on the pre lim task, however i has no knowledge of using music composing interent programmes such as garage band. Throughout this process my knowledge of this has grown through imovie, garageband and Livetype.
Our group learnt how to put blue filters to add to the horror genre and edit the killing scene by putting together quick shots and play music over it. I have learnt how to adjust setting on the cameras, use voice recorders and set up the boom mike and use it to our advantage which has benefited our product hugely, adjusting the focus.
Looking back to your pre-liminary task what do you feel you have learnt to your full final product?
Since the pre-lim task we have used far better and more advanced equipment such as the boom mike, which has helped greatley as throught the pre-lim task background noise/wind was a disruption and made the product less realistic however in our final product we were able to use the boom mike to our advantage blocking out all the background noise enabling our audience to concentrate on the editing and dialogue rather they anything else happening. We have edited every day applying our new knowledge to the film benefiting it as it looks more proffesional.
In the prelim task small mistakes such as lighting, clothing, background noise, dialogue, mise en scene etc mattered very little compared to the amount it does in the realy product and our group has taken much more consideration into these factors. Acting skills have been closely monitored due to our prelim task where the scream queen acting was very uncovincing and unable to be used, we have made sure it is realistic.The variety of shots has also improved as we have realised how important it is to achieve realism putting in poiint of view shots etc compared to the prelim where there was limited choice of shots.
Another factor is that in our pre-lim task we were unable to gain audience feedback giving us an unclear idea on if the audience had a preffered reading or not, so in the final product we were able to gain improvements form the comments made.
Our media product challenge the codes and conventions of existing media products as it uses very common conventions of the horror genre such as use of stereotypical characters for example the 'scream queen' played by Alex Webb, a blonde exposed characters, enforcing the method of the male gaze who is introduced as the first character on screen along with her boyfriend who are both sexually active, she gets killed off first then her boyfriend next as a form of the killers motive as he is jelous/wants to punish the couple for being sexually active. We have then used the final girl character, who survives until the end she is brunette/virgin type played by Beth Cooper such as Laurie Strode in Halloween. Isolated/Desolate locations were used 'The Moors' to show the very open proximity from civilisation and enforce the feeling of being watched, this is seen in ;wronf turn' and 'blair witch project'. We have also composed our own music, set out to interfere with you heartbeat and make you feel uncomfortable which are very commonly used in the horror genre such as 'Jaws' if we were to make the whole film we would then go on to use the music played over the killing, over every killing in the film as a form of repetition and to signify something terrible is going to happen. Whilst editing we also experimented with different stabbing sounds on the internet however found the most realistic was to use Hitchcocks idea in Physco to stab a melon numerous times and found this was the most realistic method.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The main social group we wanted to represent was teenage/youth. We managed to to this by incorparting it in our mise en scene/props using themes such as sex alcohol and drug use. We then went on to dress our cast informally, casually and 'middle/lower class' this invloved wearing tanktops/jeans/hoodys which are all youth orientated, showing piercings and making some of the cast members being slightly more exposed. They also used slang in the dialogue to reinforce the teenage social group, often what is portrayed in the media today and as they has northern accents and set in west yorkshire, it was easier to portray them as working class/lower middle class teenagers due to the yorkshire accents not being particulary belivable or realistic of an upper class set of teenagers.
What kind of media insitution might distribute your media product and why?
As optimum releasing and warp films distribute low budget horror films using northern actors which they have done such as Donkey Punch, they would be ideal for distributing out product or someone who works with them if we were to make it into a full length film. The factors for this is that it is digitally made, a low budegt film, made with northern actors, set in northern england (avoiding the upper class stereotype whch warp films like. However our film would unlikley to achieve box office release and have cross over appeal to america as they are only aware of upper class london stereotypes which our film lacks.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our production contains strong alcohol use and violence therefore would be rated 15-24, due to these factors and many more, we discovered this whilst going through the BBFC guidelines where we discovered it involved the characteristics of a 15 rated film. The top age of 24 was used because of the themes and cats invloved they would not appeal to an older adult audience and the dialogue used may give them an oppostional reading. Both genders however would enjoy our film, due to the male gaze from the scream queen providing entertainemnt to watch her on screen, whilst the female gender would enjoy seeing the final girl surviving as a girl role model. Males typicaly enjoy the horror/gore element to the film and the teenage audience are stereotypically drawn the the horror/slasher genre when it is a teen film as comedy may be invloved and similar age group are invloved which they can relate to. We however did not branch out do different ethnicitys by using an all white british cast this could be improved if we were to make a full length feature film. Adults to not find these type of storylines intresting, they perfer sophisticated and more indpeth storyline intresting, therefore will have an oppostional reading. Younger peers that are under the age of 15, even though they will not be allowed to watch it in the cinema will want to watch this product as they strive to be like their peers who are 15-18 year olds.
What have you learnt about the technologies whilst constructing this media product?
At the beginning of this product i could use the basics of Imovie and vaguely edit a short film whilst on the pre lim task, however i has no knowledge of using music composing interent programmes such as garage band. Throughout this process my knowledge of this has grown through imovie, garageband and Livetype.
Our group learnt how to put blue filters to add to the horror genre and edit the killing scene by putting together quick shots and play music over it. I have learnt how to adjust setting on the cameras, use voice recorders and set up the boom mike and use it to our advantage which has benefited our product hugely, adjusting the focus.
Looking back to your pre-liminary task what do you feel you have learnt to your full final product?
Since the pre-lim task we have used far better and more advanced equipment such as the boom mike, which has helped greatley as throught the pre-lim task background noise/wind was a disruption and made the product less realistic however in our final product we were able to use the boom mike to our advantage blocking out all the background noise enabling our audience to concentrate on the editing and dialogue rather they anything else happening. We have edited every day applying our new knowledge to the film benefiting it as it looks more proffesional.
In the prelim task small mistakes such as lighting, clothing, background noise, dialogue, mise en scene etc mattered very little compared to the amount it does in the realy product and our group has taken much more consideration into these factors. Acting skills have been closely monitored due to our prelim task where the scream queen acting was very uncovincing and unable to be used, we have made sure it is realistic.The variety of shots has also improved as we have realised how important it is to achieve realism putting in poiint of view shots etc compared to the prelim where there was limited choice of shots.
Another factor is that in our pre-lim task we were unable to gain audience feedback giving us an unclear idea on if the audience had a preffered reading or not, so in the final product we were able to gain improvements form the comments made.
Genres openings and codes and coventions.
Horror films tend not to have a central portagonist, as the first person scene on screen is usualy first person killed therefore the main character can't been scene first as they usualy survive until the end.
However they do usualy keep the audience intrested in the first few minitues of the film and invlove a killing such as Scream and Friday 13th.
However they do usualy keep the audience intrested in the first few minitues of the film and invlove a killing such as Scream and Friday 13th.
The dis-equilibrium stage is usally instantly used to keep the audience in a state of tense/fear which anchors them into the film and makes them instantly intrested, creating an atmosphere straight away.
False Scares 'Cat scares' and the location is usaly set at night/ closed/abondaned locations.
General codes and conventions of film openings
SelfContained narrative sections are used commonly in film openings.
The Main character/Central Potagonist is introduced to be the first character on screen, showing their importance and reasoning in the film you are about to watch. This occurs in many films and is a very common factor e.g Anchorman and Hotfuzz.
Voice overs often come on over blank screens to give us a sense of exposition ( Divorcing Jack), they also use titles to give us a sense of expostion e.g what year, location or what time (Halloween, Clerks and Club Dread)
Creative ways to give exposition is used such as putting location on signs/posts and walls or a famous example would be napolen dynamite using food.
Many films do not follow a chronological order, e.g starting with end first then beginning then middle (Severance)
The Main character/Central Potagonist is introduced to be the first character on screen, showing their importance and reasoning in the film you are about to watch. This occurs in many films and is a very common factor e.g Anchorman and Hotfuzz.
Voice overs often come on over blank screens to give us a sense of exposition ( Divorcing Jack), they also use titles to give us a sense of expostion e.g what year, location or what time (Halloween, Clerks and Club Dread)
Creative ways to give exposition is used such as putting location on signs/posts and walls or a famous example would be napolen dynamite using food.
Genre research and interlectual texts
The music in a horror film has one common type which starts off slowly as a build up to usualy when a killing is taking place then quickens up the pace to interfere with your heartbeat to intensify the situation. In all horror films this music is used to show the dramatic effect in one way or another. This music is generaly repeated whenever a killing is taking place to ensure the audience is aware of what is happening and signifys to the audience there is fear/horror related to this piece of music. The most famous example of this is most probably Jaws (imdb)
The theme tune to Jaws.The location of most horror films are usualy romote and abandoned therefore enforcing the atmospheric feeling of being alone/being watched which makes it uncomfortable for the audience to be there as can be realistic in many situations. Scream (house), wrong turn (woods/abandoned road), sorority row (house party/outside middle of nowhere), The shining( in a house)Old school horror is set at night and in locations such as graveyards, woods, moors, beaches, holiday destinations, countryside where stormy/cold weather is frequent unless a comedy factor is introduced where a hot climate may occur such as club dread:
Blue or green Filters are often used over the lense to signfy cold blood/cold atmosphere and to singfy nightime. They are use in Cry Wolf and Bride of Chucky.
There are also many stereotypical characters and factors which a succesful horror film will incllude such as:
1) Scream Queen Blonde 'Male Gaze' Exposed.
2) Teenage Characters- use of slang and comedy.
3) Final girl Brunette Virgin Type,
4)Sex, drugs, music and alcohol use.
5)A weapon such as knife, saw or gun.
6)An unexposed killer.
7)Figure of authority
8)Boyfriend- jokey/immature.
9)False scares for example in Hell night (when window slams)
Teenagers/Adults are generaly aware of the codes and conventions of horror films, however a novelist Seth Graeme smith wrote a book how to survive a horror movie he outlines 7 things a character does to be destined to die they are:
Curiosity
Sex=having sex in care will ensure death
Unattractiveness= makes you a prime target to a killer.
Independance
Doubt
Maschismo
Irresponsibility.
THE KILLERS MOTIVE: In many horror films the killer is jelous/doesnt agree with a couple who is sexually active, so kills them as a form of punishment. In the SAW films, the killers motive is that every person they play games with has done something wrong in their life or that they should be ashamed of and punished them.
The killer also often has a point of view shot which is very commonly used in most horror films, shakey camera work is used to signfy someone is being watched and heavy breathing is usualy used to indicate someone is there, which again messes with yor heartbeat.The killers are generaly male and masked such as halloween and scream.
TARGET AUDIENCE
INSPIRED BY: We watched a number of different horror films throughout the group which we sinpire us such as scream (comical value we used), sorority row (young cast influence) blair witch project (situation of camping) and halloween ( stereotypical characters, final girl and scream queen), and many more.
AGE: Our target audience would be generaly 15-18 year olds and young adults due to the fact that our cast are aged 17-18 therefore a similiar age group and can relate to the young people they see on screen not having an oppositional reading. We tried to use youth orientated props to anchor the young audience is such as use of alcohol, cigarrettes and fashionable clothing. Slang is also incorparated into the dialogue such as 'im going for a slash', where a young audience would follow a preferred reading, an adult/older audience may follow an oppositional reading. The story line is quite unsophisticated in the sense it is fairly simple to follow and discover whats going to happen, therefore an adult audience are stereotypicaly not as intrested in these types of storylines where as younger audiences tend to me drawn to the aspects of the horror/slasher genre.
GENDER: The gender our film targets can be considered both male and female for different aspects we have put in. We put in our blonde 'scream queen' to attract the male audience and applying the theory of the male gaze where the audience will enjoy it due to her being present on the screen. Males may also enjoy it due to the factor of gore and blood as an exciting factor of horror and mise en scene descions such as alcohol use and smoking which relates to their intrests. There is humour within our storyline/plot which when considering the 'comedy genre' both genders are drawn to it. However women are more likley to enjoy it due to our use of the 'final girl' character where a sensible virgin type survives until the end, making this character a strong role model enforcing the old school saying of 'girl power' and female independance, however they may be put off due to the scream queen being brutally murdered from being sexually active.
ETHNICITY: As we didn't include any other ethnicity other than white british this film may not appeal to other ethnicitys such as chinese or afro carribean. However we didn't make this choice as to have an effect on the film and in doing it have realised there are many all white cast horror films which have become very succesful such as sorority row, the last house on the left, scream and wrong turn.
Wrong Turn Trailer
Scream Trailer
NATIONALITY/REGION: Our cast all have northern accents and our setting is set in the north of England, West Yorkshire. Our film is low budget therefore not a completley important factor to anchor the target audience in however still has potential to be succesful as such companies warp x make famously low budget horror films such as 'Dead Mans Shoes and Donkey Punch'.
Dead Mans Shoes Trailer.
AGE: Our target audience would be generaly 15-18 year olds and young adults due to the fact that our cast are aged 17-18 therefore a similiar age group and can relate to the young people they see on screen not having an oppositional reading. We tried to use youth orientated props to anchor the young audience is such as use of alcohol, cigarrettes and fashionable clothing. Slang is also incorparated into the dialogue such as 'im going for a slash', where a young audience would follow a preferred reading, an adult/older audience may follow an oppositional reading. The story line is quite unsophisticated in the sense it is fairly simple to follow and discover whats going to happen, therefore an adult audience are stereotypicaly not as intrested in these types of storylines where as younger audiences tend to me drawn to the aspects of the horror/slasher genre.
GENDER: The gender our film targets can be considered both male and female for different aspects we have put in. We put in our blonde 'scream queen' to attract the male audience and applying the theory of the male gaze where the audience will enjoy it due to her being present on the screen. Males may also enjoy it due to the factor of gore and blood as an exciting factor of horror and mise en scene descions such as alcohol use and smoking which relates to their intrests. There is humour within our storyline/plot which when considering the 'comedy genre' both genders are drawn to it. However women are more likley to enjoy it due to our use of the 'final girl' character where a sensible virgin type survives until the end, making this character a strong role model enforcing the old school saying of 'girl power' and female independance, however they may be put off due to the scream queen being brutally murdered from being sexually active.
ETHNICITY: As we didn't include any other ethnicity other than white british this film may not appeal to other ethnicitys such as chinese or afro carribean. However we didn't make this choice as to have an effect on the film and in doing it have realised there are many all white cast horror films which have become very succesful such as sorority row, the last house on the left, scream and wrong turn.
Wrong Turn Trailer
Scream Trailer
NATIONALITY/REGION: Our cast all have northern accents and our setting is set in the north of England, West Yorkshire. Our film is low budget therefore not a completley important factor to anchor the target audience in however still has potential to be succesful as such companies warp x make famously low budget horror films such as 'Dead Mans Shoes and Donkey Punch'.
Dead Mans Shoes Trailer.
Sunday, 9 May 2010
Distributer Budget and exhibition
Distributor:
As our film is low budget a suitable distributor would be optimum releasing(our film is set in the north of england- suitable) and warp films/warp x digital film companies, warp x have released two succesful horror films such as Dead Mans Shoes and Donkey Punch.
Budget: Our film was entirely free, we borrowed cameras and boom mike, we made our own special effects and blood, we worn our own clothes, used empty beer bottles and all props were from home. We would still be entirley very low budget if we chose to create the entire film as everything would be the same as location is free also.
Existing media product budgets: The Blair witch Project had a budget of $60,000 a very low Hollywood budget, not something you see often showing on 1,101 screen worldwide and bringing in a gross of $140,530 (estimate) in its first month. While Donkey punch was a low budget of $1,000,000.
Exhibition: As our film has few anchorage in it that would appeal to a U.S audience and as it uses english slang in the dialogue an american audience may have an oppositional reading to, it would not have any cross-over to the U.S. So would most probably go straight onto DVD film exhibiton.
As our film is low budget a suitable distributor would be optimum releasing(our film is set in the north of england- suitable) and warp films/warp x digital film companies, warp x have released two succesful horror films such as Dead Mans Shoes and Donkey Punch.
Budget: Our film was entirely free, we borrowed cameras and boom mike, we made our own special effects and blood, we worn our own clothes, used empty beer bottles and all props were from home. We would still be entirley very low budget if we chose to create the entire film as everything would be the same as location is free also.
Existing media product budgets: The Blair witch Project had a budget of $60,000 a very low Hollywood budget, not something you see often showing on 1,101 screen worldwide and bringing in a gross of $140,530 (estimate) in its first month. While Donkey punch was a low budget of $1,000,000.
Exhibition: As our film has few anchorage in it that would appeal to a U.S audience and as it uses english slang in the dialogue an american audience may have an oppositional reading to, it would not have any cross-over to the U.S. So would most probably go straight onto DVD film exhibiton.
National BBFC Rating and our rating.
We classify our film as a 15 rating due to a number of different resons such as:
1)No offensive language against any social/minority or religious groups.
2)The violence is bloody and apparant however it is not not dwelled upon 3)Weapons arn't used frequently and arn't over exposed violently.
4)Underage drinking is portrayed on screen however drugs are not present.
5)Horror is a present theme however expressed not through violent factors except a mild few.
Other films rated 15:
Prom Night
Sorority Row
Club Dread
Mise en scene, props SFX etc.
When considering mise en scene and props we wants to consider representation of social groups, such as youth and young/adult teen which are also our prime target audience. We included relatable and recognisable which our audience could identify but also which represented stereotypes in the 'horror' genre. We want to create verisimlitude throughout the opening through the usage of our props
A number of different mise en scene and props we included were: Clothing, alcohol substitutes, tent, magazines, cigarettes, knife (for killing), mobile phones and other technology.
Characters:
Final Girl: she will be dressed conservatively and unexposed to signify her personality as sensible/bookish, she will wear a jumper jeans and boots hopefuly to make sure she is covered up. It is also to represent she is not as sexually active as the rest of the the girls.
Characters:
Final Girl: she will be dressed conservatively and unexposed to signify her personality as sensible/bookish, she will wear a jumper jeans and boots hopefuly to make sure she is covered up. It is also to represent she is not as sexually active as the rest of the the girls.
First Girl Killed: This girl will be exposed and have a lot of skin on show, she will be blonde and will have a bubbly personality. She will wear a tank top/skirt and wear alot of makeup to show she is exposed and sexually active.
Hooded Killer: Wears a hood to hide identity to represent fear, it will also be in dark colours (black and face will be covered to keep the sense of narrative inigma and all other boy cast members will wear hoods and dark clothing to represent stereotypical views on youth which our audience can relate to as it is the same age group (teens).
We want to then use alcohol and drug subsitutes to represent that they are drinking alcohol and taking drugs therefore getting into a vunerable state. It can also be related to the representation of teenage/youth which our audience will understand being the same age group.
We want to include mobile phones, teenage magazines, logos and uptodate items to signify the age group, the time period and to give expostion into the storyline.
Micro drama and Narrative Theory
Theorist Todorov
states there are three stages a story invloves, at the beginning the equilibrium which is a peacful state, then in the middle dis-equilibrium where an event takes places which disrupts this peaceful state and then there is a new equilibrium at the end where a new peacful state occurs and somethign happens to evolve the disruption.
Another Theorist Vladmir Prop states there are 8 stereotypical characters in any story these consist of:
THE HERO:
THE VILLAN:
THE DISPATCHER:
THE HELPER:
THE DONER:
THE PRINCESS:
HER FATHER:
THE FALSE HERO:
Our micro dramas plot consisted of the villian with a teleporting watch( majic object and doner ) who captures the princess, whilst hurting the false hero. The false hero is then found by the hero and the helper who goes to the dispatcher and gets the message from him to go and defeat the villan and save the princess, they succeed in this mission and save the princess, detroying the watch (majic object) whilst doing it. The father didnt play a part in the film due to the lack of members in our group only being six of us. When everything is done with, the false hero then trys to take recognition for saving the princess however the helper goes on to tell her who the real hero is.
states there are three stages a story invloves, at the beginning the equilibrium which is a peacful state, then in the middle dis-equilibrium where an event takes places which disrupts this peaceful state and then there is a new equilibrium at the end where a new peacful state occurs and somethign happens to evolve the disruption.
Another Theorist Vladmir Prop states there are 8 stereotypical characters in any story these consist of:
THE HERO:
THE VILLAN:
THE DISPATCHER:
THE HELPER:
THE DONER:
THE PRINCESS:
HER FATHER:
THE FALSE HERO:
Our micro dramas plot consisted of the villian with a teleporting watch( majic object and doner ) who captures the princess, whilst hurting the false hero. The false hero is then found by the hero and the helper who goes to the dispatcher and gets the message from him to go and defeat the villan and save the princess, they succeed in this mission and save the princess, detroying the watch (majic object) whilst doing it. The father didnt play a part in the film due to the lack of members in our group only being six of us. When everything is done with, the false hero then trys to take recognition for saving the princess however the helper goes on to tell her who the real hero is.
My filmic tastes
Top 5 films i have recentley seen:
1)Paranormal Activity
2)Be Kind Rewind
3)Love actually
4)Bourne ultimatum
5)Borat
My top 5 favourite films:
1)Shawshanks Redemption
2)Some like it Hot
3)Harry Potter
4)Factory Girl
5)Atonement
The film genres i enjoy the most is Action i like the intensity and uncontrolability it brings, and i also enjoy romance/comedy as the films in these genres that i watch are often very relatable to every day life, using a young teenage cast addressing issues which are often covered up.
Trailer:
1)Paranormal Activity
2)Be Kind Rewind
3)Love actually
4)Bourne ultimatum
5)Borat
My top 5 favourite films:
1)Shawshanks Redemption
2)Some like it Hot
3)Harry Potter
4)Factory Girl
5)Atonement
The film genres i enjoy the most is Action i like the intensity and uncontrolability it brings, and i also enjoy romance/comedy as the films in these genres that i watch are often very relatable to every day life, using a young teenage cast addressing issues which are often covered up.
My favourite film is the Shawshank redemption because it addresses ordinary every day themes such as friendship/conflict, it involves a heart warming happy ending, it is a realistic view into the lives of an inmate in that time period. I also respect the actors used Morgan Freeman (also in Invictus and Million Dollar Baby), Tim Robbins ( also in War of the worlds) and Bob gunton (also in 24 and desperate housewives).
The Storyline:
Set in the 1940's, a succesful young banker is imprisoned on a false accusation of killing his wife and her lover. However as the plot thickens we follow the bankers journey with help from soon to be longtime friend Red Andy defreuee escapes from the warden as a flee of hope and justice.
Friday, 7 May 2010
ANIMATIC TASK
Group: Myself, Emmie Bryett and Emma Graveling.
Genre:Slasher.
This task involved taking still images of key shots of what type of storyline we wanted to create for our final product, making a brief outline of the beginning of the film. We included a number of different types of shots such as longshots, close up and two shot. It was a relativley easy task and i felt we made a clear storyline which our audience could follow through the mise en scene (black hoody covered up face signifies horror,type of shot e.g extreme close up to show expression of terror all signifying slasher genre).
Genre:Slasher.
This task involved taking still images of key shots of what type of storyline we wanted to create for our final product, making a brief outline of the beginning of the film. We included a number of different types of shots such as longshots, close up and two shot. It was a relativley easy task and i felt we made a clear storyline which our audience could follow through the mise en scene (black hoody covered up face signifies horror,type of shot e.g extreme close up to show expression of terror all signifying slasher genre).
Audience Feedback:
Beth Cooper: May be hard to not make it comical being such a stereotypical horror.
The class and John: Movies to watch- Scream, Camp Blood, April Fools Day, Hell Night(just watched) and the opening of warriors.
Dave: include false scare,filters over lense and a killer motive.
Parent advice: different time of time would be of better use such as nightime which is a stereotypical old school horror factor and used in many existing media products therefore a relatable factor.
Parent advice: different time of time would be of better use such as nightime which is a stereotypical old school horror factor and used in many existing media products therefore a relatable factor.
DISTRIBUTER/PRODUCTION LOGO.
Wharfedale entertainment is the name of our Distributer, we wanted to do it in black and white to singnify simplicty and the deep intensity of a slasher genre. We used this font as it is stereotypical for a horror genre.
EME productions is our production label, we added this effect due to the hellish/firey effect it gives off, It also gives an earthy atmospheric feel which is related to our choice of location as it is very much outside in a wood and a suitable choice. Thursday, 6 May 2010
SOUNDTRACK
Original Video - More videos at TinyPic
A member in our group Emmie Bryett experimented with a number of different stabbing sounds which would take the place of the knife killing our first girl killed (Cast member Alex Webb) she found stabbing a melon ( a method used my Alfred Hitchcock) would be the most realistic diagetic sound.
We also experimented with different sources of food such as cabbages,other vegetables and experimented on the internet with different programmes however we found the most realistic sound was to make our own.
SOUND/SOUNDTRACK.
Initially we were going to ask a friend of ours who is a muscian to make us some dubstep/gurnge music to play whilst they were taking drugs/alcohol however we realised we didn't need this music as it wasn't that intense so mad eour own instead.
We experimented on Garage band,,so it is copyright free. The title and credits with the opening scene share the same extract of music which consists of it from the killers point of view to make the audience feel like they are being watched
We hoped the extract of music we created for the killing scene would give the effect that it is messing with your heartbeat whilst creating a tense atmosphere.
As we used the boom mike throughout our dialogue whilst filming it initialy meant that there was no need for re-shooting the dialogue scenes or re-recording as it is all high quality, blocking out the background noise making the operation easier.
The onyl issue we experienced was the rain on a day of the shooting picking up on slight background noise and making the atmoshphere slightly uncomfortable for our cast.
For the dialogue in the killing scene only a high pitched scream occurs so we re-recorded that using a voice recorder to get a high quality sound.
Emma Graveling a member of our group imported sounds from IMOVIE, such as chirping and footsteps to achieve realism due to the setting being in a wood and to signify what is happening.
We also experimented with different sources of food such as cabbages,other vegetables and experimented on the internet with different programmes however we found the most realistic sound was to make our own.
SOUND/SOUNDTRACK.
Initially we were going to ask a friend of ours who is a muscian to make us some dubstep/gurnge music to play whilst they were taking drugs/alcohol however we realised we didn't need this music as it wasn't that intense so mad eour own instead.
We experimented on Garage band,,so it is copyright free. The title and credits with the opening scene share the same extract of music which consists of it from the killers point of view to make the audience feel like they are being watched
We hoped the extract of music we created for the killing scene would give the effect that it is messing with your heartbeat whilst creating a tense atmosphere.
As we used the boom mike throughout our dialogue whilst filming it initialy meant that there was no need for re-shooting the dialogue scenes or re-recording as it is all high quality, blocking out the background noise making the operation easier.
The onyl issue we experienced was the rain on a day of the shooting picking up on slight background noise and making the atmoshphere slightly uncomfortable for our cast.
For the dialogue in the killing scene only a high pitched scream occurs so we re-recorded that using a voice recorder to get a high quality sound.
Emma Graveling a member of our group imported sounds from IMOVIE, such as chirping and footsteps to achieve realism due to the setting being in a wood and to signify what is happening.
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Re-shooting sessions.
Our original plan was to re-shoot over easter then on the first thursday we get back to school, however spanish oral exams were taking place and our main character (Alex=first girl killed) was unable to attend our filming session due to her exam scheduele and revision. we are planning to re-shoot later on in the week when all cast members can attend to achieve the most accurate shots possible.
Re-shooting session 1: Thursday 29th April
We need to re-shoot the camping scene. where the cast are messing around/drinking alcohol and in a vunerable state.Props needed: Tent, youth clothing, Alcohol substitutes, clothing for characters, camping gear, camp fire matireals , mobile phones/magazines etc all to signify representation of age and provide relatable themes and matireal for our target audience (youth audience).
Equipment: Two cameras needed, Two tripods and boom mike to avoid interferences such as wind and background noise.
Cast: 6 characters altogether: three females (Conservative virgin type girl= Final girl, Exposed, 'tarty' type= First girl killed and other girl) three males (First girl killed boyfriend, two other friends)
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Friday, 12 March 2010
CASTING
In this footage that myself and another person in my group Emmie Bryett took, we cast two people to be in our final film who we thought could potentially portray the fictional characters we would like to include in our film.
Fictional Character one: played by Annabel Pryke, a drama student with great acting background. Female, Middle height, slim and brunette. Characteristics of fictional character= sensible, responsible, Leader, cautious, bold, intelligent, caring, helpful, bookish. Very covered up and may be viewed as slightly bossy. Her relationships with other people may be quite distant and she isn't particulary compatible with the other members of the group. The role Annabel will play will be the virginal type, who eventualy survives. Another fictional character from existing media texts i have related her character to is people such as Jamie Lee Curtis is Halloween, fictional character name Laurie Strode.
Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode.
Fictional Character two: played by Rob Cranley, drama background, male, a stocky build. His fictional character will play the part of one of the participants as a couple, himself and his girlfriend will get killed together at very similar times to singify their closeness and love. He is involved in drugs and alcohol use to promote the teen theme and target audience.
We decided not to use the candidatse Annabel Pryke and Rob Cranley seen in the footage and descriptions as part of our cast as they was unavailable to be apart of our production due to timing issues. We have now gone on to cast somebody else who could take on their parts.
FINAL CASTING.
Final Girl (Beth Cooper): virgin, sensible,bookish, unexposed. Has strong morals and can outsmart killer, this is a very stereotypical character and is in the majority of teen horro films. Most famous character Laurie Strode played my Jamie curtis Lee in Halloween.
FINAL CASTING.
Final Girl (Beth Cooper): virgin, sensible,bookish, unexposed. Has strong morals and can outsmart killer, this is a very stereotypical character and is in the majority of teen horro films. Most famous character Laurie Strode played my Jamie curtis Lee in Halloween.
First girl killed (Alex Webb):exposed, sexually active, our 'scream queen' a crucial rolse as it enforces the idea of the male gaze providing for a male audience and giving ancohrage it the film. Typicaly blonde, skin on show, opportunity for nudity. As she is sexualy active this is why the killer chooses her to be killed first. Such as drew barrymore in Scream.
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Location Scouting
Myself and another member of my group Emma Graveling went location scouting to a potential location where we would like to film our coursework. The location we may consider is Ilkley Moor and the cow and calf rocks. We experimented with different shot types, and tried to include a number of different example shots to signify horror that would link into the genre we are working with. This location is safe and legal to use, and we have complete access to it as it is a public free place. We recorded some footage and a Vodcast to show our findings.
We felt this location worked out particulary well because of the vast choice of scenery and mise and scene ( jaggered rocks, rural fields and inclosed spaces) it was perfect for the camping storyline as their are areas and aspects to it which relate to our idea.
Other Locations Considered:
Bluebell Woods Ilkley
Bolton Abbey
We Decided the location we are going to choose is Ilkley Moor due to it ebing the most suitable location and the most accesible.
Friday, 5 March 2010
Thursday, 4 March 2010
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.
Main task: The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.
The coursework counts as 50% of our overall mark and is marked in 3 sections:
RESEARCH AND PLANNING: 20%
PRODUCTION: 60%
EVALUATION: 20%
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
The 7 evaluation questions
These following questions will be the ones we will answer on for our main task at the end of the project and what we will gain our marks on:
. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media product?
.How does your media product represent certain and particular social groups?
.What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
.Who would be the audience of your media product?
.How did you attract/address your audience?
.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
.Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt from the progression from it to the full product?
. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media product?
.How does your media product represent certain and particular social groups?
.What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
.Who would be the audience of your media product?
.How did you attract/address your audience?
.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
.Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt from the progression from it to the full product?
Monday, 22 February 2010
Three Initial Ideas for Final film.
All three of my Ideas are within the Horror genre and have ideas related to that:
Idea 1-
Characters: Brunette Virgin/sensible girl type such as (Rumor Willis in sorority row) , Blonde flirty outgoing girl type such as (Paris Hilton in the house of wax), One couple girl and boy such as ( Omar Epps and Jada Pinkett in Scream 2)And the jokey/class clown type male such as one of the most famous example (Seann William Scott in American Pie)
Young cast of people, both male and female. This is easy to get as are within reach of my own friendship groups and have contacts. It is set in the late evening, on the brink of darkness (darkness/nightime) signifies typical old school horror. They go camping on the moors/woods..could use bluebell woods in ilkley or ilkley moor and the cow and calf rocks(equilibrium). Alot of alcohol and drugs are invloved whilst camping and alot of them become out of control and oblivious to any danger. What they are not aware of is there is a masked murderer (stalker of group of young people) who is mentaly disturbed and seeking to get revenge on the group after an earlier encouter with them a few years before(disequilibrium). Morning comes and the survivor is rescued by the police services (new equilibrium).
What i could include in first few miniutes: Opening Credits, shot of masked face, images of the group of people laughing/general banter setting up camp. then music quickens and evening turns into nightime, shows shots of drinking then turns into screaming/running away. Suddenly shot of campsite but completley silent to signify abandenment. The title of film then appears.
Films that have influenced idea:
Blair Witch Project (storyline/setting) Blair witch trailer1999 Director:Daniel Myrick/Eduardo Sanchez
Shrooms (use of drugs/alchol and involvement of young people) Shrooms Trailer2007 Director:Pearce Elliott.
Friday 13th (masked killer and storyline) Friday 13th Trailer 1980 Director:Victor Miller.
Scream (masked killer and involvement of young cast) Scream Trailer 1996 Director:Kevin Williamson.
Idea 2-
Characters- group of young girls about 5 of them, all 16 years olds. All have a fairly typical teenage/girly and gossipy image. Privileged backgrounds, Middle class. Such as (The girls of sorority row)
Plot- group of young girls having a night in/slumber party at their friends house, they stay up late and act like stereotypical teenagers which is the equilibrium.They tell scary stories and one of the stories is about a young group of girls in their similar situation, one of the girls walks home in the dark and is attacked,No parents are in and they have the house to themselves, it is set at nightime and the house is set in a quiet town. Ironicaly one of the teenage girls feels unwell and decides to leave for him, walking home by herself as she only lives a few blocks away, she makes the wrong descion and is followed by a large/bulky man who attacks her then moves on to the house full of her friends where a terrifying night evolves, the dis-equilibrium. However one of the girls finaly catch the killer and manages to kill him resulting in a new eqilibrium.
What i could include in the first few minutes: Shows the girls telling the scary story of themselves being in that situation, then in reality one of the girls actualy leaving and the other girls telling her not to. A shot of her walking home and being attacked, then a few shots of the other girls hearing noises and seeing flashing images across the window. title of film in blood red letters.
Films that have influenced idea:
Sorority Row(use of cast and related to some idea in storyline) Sorority Row Trailer 2009 Director:Stewart Hendler.
Halloween(People in house get killed same ideas from storyline)Halloween Trailer2007 Director:Rob Zombie.
Idea 3- Characters: Cast in their late teens/early twenties (main characters) however some other older characters are invloved. such as the cast of (shrooms)
Plot:More social realism invloved, set in a club, loud music and adults everywhere (equilibrium).Set in an inner city (Leeds or Bradford could be used as location). A disturbed killer is set on the loose in the club who carries a knife and stabs several people for unexplained circumstances (disequilibrium), the mystery evolves into the club owner being the murderer and keeping his victims in the back room of his club, found out by the police (newequilibrium).
Films that have influenced idea:
This is England(use of social realism ideas)This is England Trailer2006 Director: Shane Meadows.
Club Dread(use of club scene/storyline/mise en scene)Club Dread Trailer2004 Director: Jay Chandrasekhar.
The Idea i have chosen to present in class is idea 1, it is more accesible in terms of location, cast and resources. I have more inspiration leading towards this idea from other films and the surrounding i have around me such as Ilkley moor and the the woods, and i think people will relate to this idea more than the others as a young cast is involved and i included realistic issues such as drinking, partying and drug use.
Idea 1-
Characters: Brunette Virgin/sensible girl type such as (Rumor Willis in sorority row) , Blonde flirty outgoing girl type such as (Paris Hilton in the house of wax), One couple girl and boy such as ( Omar Epps and Jada Pinkett in Scream 2)And the jokey/class clown type male such as one of the most famous example (Seann William Scott in American Pie)
What i could include in first few miniutes: Opening Credits, shot of masked face, images of the group of people laughing/general banter setting up camp. then music quickens and evening turns into nightime, shows shots of drinking then turns into screaming/running away. Suddenly shot of campsite but completley silent to signify abandenment. The title of film then appears.
Films that have influenced idea:
Blair Witch Project (storyline/setting) Blair witch trailer1999 Director:Daniel Myrick/Eduardo Sanchez
Shrooms (use of drugs/alchol and involvement of young people) Shrooms Trailer2007 Director:Pearce Elliott.
Friday 13th (masked killer and storyline) Friday 13th Trailer 1980 Director:Victor Miller.
Scream (masked killer and involvement of young cast) Scream Trailer 1996 Director:Kevin Williamson.
Idea 2-
Characters- group of young girls about 5 of them, all 16 years olds. All have a fairly typical teenage/girly and gossipy image. Privileged backgrounds, Middle class. Such as (The girls of sorority row)
What i could include in the first few minutes: Shows the girls telling the scary story of themselves being in that situation, then in reality one of the girls actualy leaving and the other girls telling her not to. A shot of her walking home and being attacked, then a few shots of the other girls hearing noises and seeing flashing images across the window. title of film in blood red letters.
Films that have influenced idea:
Sorority Row(use of cast and related to some idea in storyline) Sorority Row Trailer 2009 Director:Stewart Hendler.
Halloween(People in house get killed same ideas from storyline)Halloween Trailer2007 Director:Rob Zombie.
Idea 3- Characters: Cast in their late teens/early twenties (main characters) however some other older characters are invloved. such as the cast of (shrooms)
Films that have influenced idea:
This is England(use of social realism ideas)This is England Trailer2006 Director: Shane Meadows.
Club Dread(use of club scene/storyline/mise en scene)Club Dread Trailer2004 Director: Jay Chandrasekhar.
The Idea i have chosen to present in class is idea 1, it is more accesible in terms of location, cast and resources. I have more inspiration leading towards this idea from other films and the surrounding i have around me such as Ilkley moor and the the woods, and i think people will relate to this idea more than the others as a young cast is involved and i included realistic issues such as drinking, partying and drug use.
Monday, 1 February 2010
Notes on Media presentation and powerpoint.
The Film i am presenting on for the first 2 minutes and opening of is 'The Divine Secrets of the Ya-ya Sisterhood'
Directed by Callie Khouri and released in 2002.
Distribution Companies..
Warner home Video = Distributer which is showing one of the BIG SIX(warner bros) and shows hollywoods influence on the film, wanting to appeal to and american audience and global. It isn't surprising they have done this film as distribute many different types of films and genres such as Action 'I am Legend', Horrors 'Ghost Ship' and romantic comedies similar to this one 'Miss.Congeniality'
Fox Warner (BIX SIX), Argentina home video and Warner bros are amongst the many distributers.
Production Companies.
Gaylord productions - feminine name and may be used as a comical factor to signify genre, also fimiliar with making films similar to this genere as they have produced films such as 'A Cindrella Story' and 'What a girl wants' whilst working with familiar target audiences.
All girl productions- signifies female audience, key word 'girl' young female target audience.
All titles are in black and white and there is about 33seconds of them- colour stands out or may singifie old movie style or certain time period. Could also be symbollic as just black and white no shades of grey, you get what you see in this film. The sound played over the titles is a french song - this could signify genre as france is often related with romance 'Paris the most romantic city in the world' which appeals to a female audience. A serif font is used throughout the
The budget of this film came to $27,000,000 compared to Hollywood terms this isn't alot and on its opening week it made in box office $16,167,412 and compared to a similar genre film released in 2002 also for example 'My big fat greek wedding' budget=$5,000,000 and took in for the opening weekend $597,362 . Compared did realy well in the opening weekend. The sound mix includes dolby digital. DTS, SDDS.
Writers include Rebecca Wells and Mark Andrus.
The main plot- A playwright quotes her Mother in a magazine. angering the dramatic and eccentric woman, resulting into a long-distant fight which follows the memories and experiences of a love/hate mother and daughter relationship. The mothers friends finaly come and attempt to save the relationship, easing the friendship and restoring the love by kidnapping the playwright. It concentrates on issues such as love with her boyfriend, drinking and family problems. Set in southern America. Louisiana.
The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood 2
In my final product i think i will step away from this genre and attempt a slasher/horror genre.
Directed by Callie Khouri and released in 2002.
Distribution Companies..
Warner home Video = Distributer which is showing one of the BIG SIX(warner bros) and shows hollywoods influence on the film, wanting to appeal to and american audience and global. It isn't surprising they have done this film as distribute many different types of films and genres such as Action 'I am Legend', Horrors 'Ghost Ship' and romantic comedies similar to this one 'Miss.Congeniality'
Fox Warner (BIX SIX), Argentina home video and Warner bros are amongst the many distributers.
Production Companies.
Gaylord productions - feminine name and may be used as a comical factor to signify genre, also fimiliar with making films similar to this genere as they have produced films such as 'A Cindrella Story' and 'What a girl wants' whilst working with familiar target audiences.
All girl productions- signifies female audience, key word 'girl' young female target audience.
All titles are in black and white and there is about 33seconds of them- colour stands out or may singifie old movie style or certain time period. Could also be symbollic as just black and white no shades of grey, you get what you see in this film. The sound played over the titles is a french song - this could signify genre as france is often related with romance 'Paris the most romantic city in the world' which appeals to a female audience. A serif font is used throughout the
The budget of this film came to $27,000,000 compared to Hollywood terms this isn't alot and on its opening week it made in box office $16,167,412 and compared to a similar genre film released in 2002 also for example 'My big fat greek wedding' budget=$5,000,000 and took in for the opening weekend $597,362 . Compared did realy well in the opening weekend. The sound mix includes dolby digital. DTS, SDDS.
Writers include Rebecca Wells and Mark Andrus.
The main plot- A playwright quotes her Mother in a magazine. angering the dramatic and eccentric woman, resulting into a long-distant fight which follows the memories and experiences of a love/hate mother and daughter relationship. The mothers friends finaly come and attempt to save the relationship, easing the friendship and restoring the love by kidnapping the playwright. It concentrates on issues such as love with her boyfriend, drinking and family problems. Set in southern America. Louisiana.
The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood 2
In my final product i think i will step away from this genre and attempt a slasher/horror genre.
Examples of Film Openings
We looked at a number of different film openings from the Horror genre, the opening should last 2miniutes sometimes a little over on some of the following films. This gave us a bit of an idea for our own film presentations.
CLERKS.
Directed by Kevin Smith-1994.
mise en scene- small room-no wealth.
character lifestyle- clothes everywhere/messy/unorganised=lazy.
get the impression of drunk or stupid character.
TRICK OR TREAT
Directed by Charles Martin Smith-1986.
50seconds of logo/production.
Panning used.
HALLOWEEN.
Directed by Jogn Carpenter-1978.
Purely titles.
One production company logo used.
Exposition and settinf done by onscreen titles and voice overs (background information)
Filterblue-polysemet-cold.
Music interferes with Heartbeat which is intense,
BRIDE OF CHUCKY.
Directed by Ronnie Yu- 1998.
First shot-flag USA
Blue filter-again polysemet and blue=cold.
raining/nightime- old school signifiers of horror.
extreme closeup=exposition.
hockeymask used=refrence to friday 13th.
male gaze included.
False scare and shot variation.
CLERKS.
Directed by Kevin Smith-1994.
mise en scene- small room-no wealth.
character lifestyle- clothes everywhere/messy/unorganised=lazy.
get the impression of drunk or stupid character.
TRICK OR TREAT
Directed by Charles Martin Smith-1986.
50seconds of logo/production.
Panning used.
HALLOWEEN.
Directed by Jogn Carpenter-1978.
Purely titles.
One production company logo used.
Exposition and settinf done by onscreen titles and voice overs (background information)
Filterblue-polysemet-cold.
Music interferes with Heartbeat which is intense,
BRIDE OF CHUCKY.
Directed by Ronnie Yu- 1998.
First shot-flag USA
Blue filter-again polysemet and blue=cold.
raining/nightime- old school signifiers of horror.
extreme closeup=exposition.
hockeymask used=refrence to friday 13th.
male gaze included.
False scare and shot variation.
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Prelim task 'sweded film'
Sweding.
The term sweding means a re-make of a film of whatever you can get your hands on and is what available to you, low budget style, using a camcorder of popular films.
A recent obvious example of a famous swede is 'Be Kind Rewind'(IMDB) a hilarious comedy starring Jack Black as the main protagonist, who finds himself magnatised and results in erasing all the footage of the vhs tapes in his friends store , then re-doing classic video tapes to replace broken VHS tapes and selling them to customers, not aware what a success it would become. This 2008 hit, directed by Micheal Gondry, has recieved two nominations and includes its infamous tagline 'You name it, We shoot it'. A general cast of Male characters signifying target audience.
5films i would consider to swede:
1)StepUp
2)HarryPotter
3)HotFuzz
4)JamesBond
5)Avatar
The film i have chosen to pitch to the class to try and swede:
30second pitch: Directed by Anne Fletcher and released in the UK 27th October 2006 it stars Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan in the lead roles. Set in Baltimore (considering accents- could be used as a comical effect english students playing the part of american teenagers) it follows the story of a troublemaker/street dancer (dancing could be used as a comical effect also immature/wacky) living in a lower-class area who becomes involved in crime with his best friend and little brother resulting in being caught and set to do community service at a presitgous dance school. There he is discovered by a female student for his talent in dancing, and is taken on for her own project at the dance school, changing his life forever. 180 degree rule, match on action and shot reverse shot could be used in this film throughout.
I would achieve this swede project i believe within a lowbudget, as the high majority of it is set in a school/academy which is available to us at our own school or outside on the streets which can be easily achieved mostly anywhere. The characters involved are all to a similar age group to myself and fellow collegues and not many props are required except street/youth clothing which is available to us because of our age group and generation. I would use the most recognisable scenes to make sure the audience can relate to the swede.
OUR GROUP SWEDED FILM.
Our group Myself, Emmie Bryett, Emma Graveling, Beth Cooper, Joel Colborne and Jamie Baldock decided to use Beths favourite idea of Harry Potter. We focused on the most recognisable scenes of the films such as the quidditch game ( Mops/brushes as brooms, binliners as capes, makeup for special effects (scar on harrys forhead), Learning the first spell (classroom used, wands made, memorable quotes from the film used) and getting on the hogwarts express ( train station used, metro trains, trolley used as to put baggage in) Other props/Mise en scene needed :Tennis court/fields/around school use, hagrids beard, baby, wands, brooms, feathers, wizard hats and capes.
For the limited time we had and limited money/resources available we did our best to make a well edited piece of media product and i felt it worked well and was recognisable to the audience, however an improvement to it would be to film more vital parts which make the swede flow better instead of taking so long filming one scene as we had limited time.
Harry potter plot summary: Harry Potter, who lives in an ordinary british community discovers from a young age he is a wizard, as both his parents was aswell and is sent to a famous majic school in the wizadering world Hogwarts. He becomes friends with a wizard, Ron weasley whos father whos at the ministry of majic and Hermionie Granger a muggle born witch. Together they go on a journey from help of grounds keeper Hagrid, discovering a three headed dog who is guarding 'the stone' deep in hogwarts walls. After facing a number of tasks with his two friends to work out this mystery, harry goes onto the final stage and it is revealed to him it is professor quirrel who is behind all the events, whilst incurring a terrifying experience with none other then the dark lord who killed his parents, Lord Voldermort.
Characters Portrayed:
Harry Potter
Hermionie Granger
Ron Weasley
Mr Weasley
Mrs Weasley
Harrys Cousin
Two other hogwarts students
Hagrid
Professor Mgonagoll
Professor Flitwick
Professor Snape
Professor Quirell
Hogwarts Headmaster Professor Dumbledore.
Our sweded film includes examples of match on action, shot reverse shot and 180 degree rule, and it lasts between 6.52 and 7.09 mins.
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK:
Alice Taylor( Ilkley Grammar Student): very recognisable from the scenes chosen, and a good effort throughout as i know there is limited time plus this is a low budget swede, however next time more consideration should be given to the editing and the sound is not realistic due to background noise and the acting isn't particulary helpful to the realism of the product.
Beth Brearley( Ilkley Grammar Student): You may want to look at existing media products and study them in more depth to have a more realistic approach to this project. Also is it meant to be comical, as it is very throughout. However i think there is great shot variation and good understanding of the storyline.
The term sweding means a re-make of a film of whatever you can get your hands on and is what available to you, low budget style, using a camcorder of popular films.
A recent obvious example of a famous swede is 'Be Kind Rewind'(IMDB) a hilarious comedy starring Jack Black as the main protagonist, who finds himself magnatised and results in erasing all the footage of the vhs tapes in his friends store , then re-doing classic video tapes to replace broken VHS tapes and selling them to customers, not aware what a success it would become. This 2008 hit, directed by Micheal Gondry, has recieved two nominations and includes its infamous tagline 'You name it, We shoot it'. A general cast of Male characters signifying target audience.
5films i would consider to swede:
1)StepUp
2)HarryPotter
3)HotFuzz
4)JamesBond
5)Avatar
The film i have chosen to pitch to the class to try and swede:
30second pitch: Directed by Anne Fletcher and released in the UK 27th October 2006 it stars Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan in the lead roles. Set in Baltimore (considering accents- could be used as a comical effect english students playing the part of american teenagers) it follows the story of a troublemaker/street dancer (dancing could be used as a comical effect also immature/wacky) living in a lower-class area who becomes involved in crime with his best friend and little brother resulting in being caught and set to do community service at a presitgous dance school. There he is discovered by a female student for his talent in dancing, and is taken on for her own project at the dance school, changing his life forever. 180 degree rule, match on action and shot reverse shot could be used in this film throughout.
I would achieve this swede project i believe within a lowbudget, as the high majority of it is set in a school/academy which is available to us at our own school or outside on the streets which can be easily achieved mostly anywhere. The characters involved are all to a similar age group to myself and fellow collegues and not many props are required except street/youth clothing which is available to us because of our age group and generation. I would use the most recognisable scenes to make sure the audience can relate to the swede.
OUR GROUP SWEDED FILM.
Our group Myself, Emmie Bryett, Emma Graveling, Beth Cooper, Joel Colborne and Jamie Baldock decided to use Beths favourite idea of Harry Potter. We focused on the most recognisable scenes of the films such as the quidditch game ( Mops/brushes as brooms, binliners as capes, makeup for special effects (scar on harrys forhead), Learning the first spell (classroom used, wands made, memorable quotes from the film used) and getting on the hogwarts express ( train station used, metro trains, trolley used as to put baggage in) Other props/Mise en scene needed :Tennis court/fields/around school use, hagrids beard, baby, wands, brooms, feathers, wizard hats and capes.
For the limited time we had and limited money/resources available we did our best to make a well edited piece of media product and i felt it worked well and was recognisable to the audience, however an improvement to it would be to film more vital parts which make the swede flow better instead of taking so long filming one scene as we had limited time.
Harry potter plot summary: Harry Potter, who lives in an ordinary british community discovers from a young age he is a wizard, as both his parents was aswell and is sent to a famous majic school in the wizadering world Hogwarts. He becomes friends with a wizard, Ron weasley whos father whos at the ministry of majic and Hermionie Granger a muggle born witch. Together they go on a journey from help of grounds keeper Hagrid, discovering a three headed dog who is guarding 'the stone' deep in hogwarts walls. After facing a number of tasks with his two friends to work out this mystery, harry goes onto the final stage and it is revealed to him it is professor quirrel who is behind all the events, whilst incurring a terrifying experience with none other then the dark lord who killed his parents, Lord Voldermort.
Characters Portrayed:
Harry Potter
Hermionie Granger
Ron Weasley
Mr Weasley
Mrs Weasley
Harrys Cousin
Two other hogwarts students
Hagrid
Professor Mgonagoll
Professor Flitwick
Professor Snape
Professor Quirell
Hogwarts Headmaster Professor Dumbledore.
Our sweded film includes examples of match on action, shot reverse shot and 180 degree rule, and it lasts between 6.52 and 7.09 mins.
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK:
Alice Taylor( Ilkley Grammar Student): very recognisable from the scenes chosen, and a good effort throughout as i know there is limited time plus this is a low budget swede, however next time more consideration should be given to the editing and the sound is not realistic due to background noise and the acting isn't particulary helpful to the realism of the product.
Beth Brearley( Ilkley Grammar Student): You may want to look at existing media products and study them in more depth to have a more realistic approach to this project. Also is it meant to be comical, as it is very throughout. However i think there is great shot variation and good understanding of the storyline.
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