1. In what way does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
As
our film is an urban-thriller it easily fits in with the codes and
conventions of the genre. The genre commonly contains drugs, and
violence in an urban setting which are common features within our 2
minute opening to a film. Other films within the same genre also
feature these props, settings, and themes include; Kidulthood,
Trainspotting, and Lock Stock and Two Smoking barrels. These films
are great to compare our films with as they are also British.
Our project, M1, was
displayed in a linear fashion which is a good representation of the feature
length film. There will be no flash backs or events happening in a non-linear
fashion. Although this usually makes a film more interesting it would stray
away from the genre. Urban thrillers are usually linear as they are supposed to
be gritty and true to life as though the audience are watching the events as
they happen to keep the film more entertaining and exciting.
The main feature in our project was drugs which
immediately shows the audience what the film is about, this is what most urban
thrillers are based around. Although our film is partly in an urban setting it
also shows some greenery which is almost never featured in this genre. This is
one way in which our project goes against convention.
Our feature has selected to some shots based on the ideas they will present to the audience about certain characters and events. We used an insert shot of the drugs being handed over.
This close up on the drugs shows how important the drugs are showing the audience how crucial they are to the storyline. This shot also presents a match on action which makes the production look and feel more professional. The inclusion of the graffiti in the background also shows how this is a deprived, and urban area.
Using a low angle shot we filmed James stamping on the victims head.
This helped to make him seem like a powerful character as the audience are looking up at him.
A camera movement we used, that is incredibly conventional to the genre, is a free-hand shot.
We used this shot/movement because it throws the audience into the action, its unsteady and shaky visuals help to excite the audience.
At first the editing is rather slow, utilising fades between titles and shots to create a disorientated feel to the sequence. This is to show a relationship between the characters and drugs as they too disorientate. The music during the opening is slow and quiet but when the chase begins the music becomes fast and load to make the chase seem fast paced and create excitement among the audience. The edits during the chase become very fast and choppy rather than the fades which were previously used to disorientate and show a change of location.
This scene from, the urban-thriller, Adulthood is similar to ours in soundtrack and editing style.
This font is rather typical of the genre as it looks similar to perhaps a graffiti stencil which you would expect to find in an urban area like the one this is set in.
These titles from Trainspotting are very close to the ones we selected for our production.
2. How does your media product represent a particular social group?
Our product represents young males around the age of 18 as either drug addicts or drug dealers which both challenges and reinforces stereotypes. It reinforces them because the majority of the media would like people to believe that this is the kind of thing most young people are involved in. However this does go against the much more believable statistic that only around 7% of young people have anything to do with drugs.
Another way in which we have challenged a stereotype is through our representation of drug dealers. Usually a drug dealer is presented either wearing tracksuits or a business suit. However our media shows the drug dealer being dressed really casually.
Our choice of location only partly conforms to the typical ideas of where an urban thriller should be set as it shows both urban housing as well greenery. The latter would not usually be in this style of film. However an urban thriller which does show greenery is Dead Mans Shoes.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Based on the previous research we have conducted into possible distributors (Possible distributors) the two main contenders would be Metrodome, and Studio Canal (previously Optimum Releasing) as a distributor for our film.
Metrodome previously distributed Shifty the urban-thriller starring drugs and violence. With a plot line closely related to our own.
Studio Canal have previously distributed Dead Mans Shoes which is a film about a man taking revenge on drug dealers for murdering his brother.
Metrodome would be the best company to use as the audience, plot, and style of shifty was closest to that of our product.
A large Hollywood company such as Universal would not have been a very good choice for our production as their previous films are not in anyway similar to ours, as they have never produced a gritty British film.
Similar films
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our production will be aimed at males aimed around 15-25 year olds. This age range allows the audience to identify with the main characters as they too fall between this age range. This will also allow the audience to understand the colloquial language. Those from older generations may be turned away by the use of swearing, equally those younger than this age range will not meet the age requirements of the BBFC.
As part of our pre-production research we looked into possible film certifications for our film in order to establish what content we wished to show as well as what age range would enjoy this style of film the most.
Certificate 12
Certificate 15
Certificate 18
Also as part of our preproduction we produced a questionaire in order to find what the target audiences opinion of the treatment we wrote. This was made in the form of a video-questionaire where the audience left comments about the video as an answer to the questionaire.
We used the positive feedback we recieved in the comments sections as a reason to proceed with the original idea that is presented in the video.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
Our product has reached the target audience as it utilises the themes and styles that they enjoy. This can be seen in the linear narrative which allows the audience to follow the story easily and simply enjoy the action, violence, and plot without having to think too much about whats actually happening which is very appealing to the target audience.
While planning this production we first created a treatment, an idea for a film, that we felt would appeal to us as we ourselves fall into the age range of the target audience. We then used this in a questionnaire to find out others opinions of our film. If the feedback had been negative we would have altered the story until we received positive feedback, this would allow us to know that our film would likely be a success once produced.
We showed the opening of our film to 10 people and asked them their opinion of our opening. One person commented
"I enjoyed it, I really liked that cigarette shot where they run past"
this positive feedback shows that the more interesting shots such as the insert of the cigarette hitting the floor were enjoyed. We also showed the film to someone in their 40's to check we had made the right decision of the target audience, he commented
"Its not really for me, there is far too much swearing"
this shows that those outside the target audience will not enjoy the film so our choice of target audience was correct.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Due to not having any budget we were limited to the technologies we could use in our production as we had to borrow everything from the college. During Pre-production we used the free software program Celtx to create the script, this allowed the fonts, and font sizes to be typical of a script and this allowed us to apply the 1 page= 1 minute of screen time, so we knew how long the script had to be.
During production we used a handheld, digital, camera for filming coupled with a tripod. As the camera was small it allowed for maneuverability. During post-production we used Final Cut Express we edited the film to the best of our ability.
The new technologies I have learnt about have included using Final Cut Express to create a match on action which helps create a professional look.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it, to the full product?
During the preliminary task I believed that almost any problem could be fixed in editing but after the product was finished I realised that this is not the case. So I used this information during the main task to ensure that we filmed everything correctly.
We also learnt to use titles during the main production as well as plot development. Before, the preliminary task was to create a short film of someone entering a room, sitting at a table and having a conversation. All we had to include in the film was a match-on-action (which we used in the final product) a shot-reverse-shot, and the 180 degree rule (which we did not break)
In conclusion I feel that our product worked really well as it was well received by the target audience, which was the of the product.
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