FINAL VIDEO

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43. Shazad Edwards, Stephane Bolompa, Nicole Kunaka from 283goswell on Vimeo.

Evaluation Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Conventions of a film opening

A Convention is a type of theme which all teen movies or specific genre movies tend to have.

Film openings tend to be 2-5minutes long, dependant on the type of film, e.g.major blockbusters or independent. 

They usually introduce key characters i.e. protagonist, antagonist, sidekick etc as well as introducing the the pre plot or beginning of a narrative by establishing the platform or scene. 

Explanation of title sequence

There are some standards to title sequences but some minor variations do exist typically when giving more prominence to a more famous person.

Distribution - The company is different from the production company; e.g. 'Distribution Company Name Presents' - Distribution companies are responsible for the marketing of films thus are recognised in the opening credits.

Our distribution company's ident resembles the conventional moving idents seen in blockbusters.

Name of production - Company/companies (always respect the people with the money); e.g. 'A Big Name Production' - opening credits usually name the most significant people/companies that were involved in the production as they contributed the most money towards the film.

Our production company ident similarly resembles those seen in blockbusters, such as Marvel's ident which features in films such as Spiderman. 

Director - (This is optional); e.g. 'A Ridley Scott' - the directors name is usually there as an acknowledgement of their work towards the film. For example, it would state, 'Written and directed by Martin Scorsese'

We challenged the conventions of a title sequence by having our writer's name over moving footage in the film opening

 

Evaluation Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I used my colleague's (Sana Elhaouzi) prezi account as I do not have one thus  she is tagged on the prezi although I created it myself.

Evaluation Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Our film is an Independent British movie, thus being low budget in comparison to blockbusters; this is why we felt the idents we made, which resemble Revolver Entertainment's, would be best suited to distributing our film.

Evaluation - Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Using Camtasia in order to commentate over the conventions that we explored in order to use them in our film opening.

Evaluation - Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Representation refers to the construction in any medium (especially the mass media) of aspects of ‘reality’ such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures. 

When looking at the characters in our film opening 'On Road' we had to make it appeal to the correct target audience by ensuring the characters acted familiar to the teenagers in today's society. Teenagers in today's society are stereotyped as being on the streets, causing trouble and getting up to no good. We took this into consideration and tried to make our characters to act similar to these suggested stereotypes so they can understand and connect more with the protagonist. Our main characters are portrayed differently:

1. Darnell Williams - Darnell is the main character as the story is told from his point of view. He is a ambitious boy who's chasing his dream and does this even with all the things holding him back. Because he lives on a gritty estate that automatically stereotypes him to one of those gang affiliated boys, also because of this appearance and how he dresses. 

2. Skirmz - Skirmz now is stereotyped because of the way he is dressed and his appearance. He is mainly seen on the estate with give him the look that he is gang affiliated. This is also due to the different sort of acts he gets up to on the estate. 

When looking at whether we represented the characters in a negative or positive way, we had to think about how we wanted the characters to be seen. For example, Skirmz was seen in a negative way because of what he is known for and for his acts in trying to stop Darnell to accomplish his dream. Whereas, Darnell is seen in a positive way, because of his drive for success.

Evaluation Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

A Convention is a type of theme which all teen movies or specific genre movies tend to have. An example of this is that, we went with the idea of a boys chasing his dreams, so with the  location such as the Studio helps show this. Also, with the urban estate and house settings it helps to represent the idea of the target audience we set it towards.

When looking at camerawork, editing, mise-en-scene and sound, these showed the conventions of a teen film and particularly to our sub-genre of The Coming of Age. 

For example:

Camerawork:

Different type of camera shots was vitally important when filming the main protagonist, Darnell,  in our film opening. We used shots like close ups, POV, tracking shots, mid-shots, high angle shots to show the emotion and the attitudes of the character. These shots are usually used in teen films to reveal the same sorts of emotion on the character.

Editing:

The use of continuity editing, giving the main protagonist the most camera time means that by giving him all the screen time we follow he's experience and what he's going through, as we get a understanding of what the Coming of Age really is. 

Mise-En-Scene:

We used certain props to show the convention such as:

Headphones

Job application sheets

Hoodies 

Bandanna 

Sound:

Sounds such as Hip Hop and Rap fits in with the urban city landscape we were in, as the audience are familiarise with the different sounds. It also fits in with the theme of The Coming of Age, particularly with ours as his dreams is to be a rapper.

Comparison between our film and a real film

Because are film is towards a British audience we had to adapt and make some changes that would suite that particular group of people. On the other hand, I believe we followed the conventions through the use of Mise-En-Scene, Sound, Editing and Cinematography.

Evaluation Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

I created a Facebook account for a 17 year old girl, who attends the BRIT school and is interested in music and urban films. She lives on an estate in London. I believe that she is a representation of our target audience as she is in education at one of the top performing arts schools in the whole of the UK meaning she is ambitious, in addition to her living in an urban are of London, similar to our protagonist. 

She has liked films such as Shank and Anuvahood which are films which share the same genre as our film.

Wider audience for Teen Films

Often, many people who are not teenagers watch teen movies, simply on the basis of their interests. We believe this applies to our film/opening because of our sub genre: urban drama/coming of age. Our USP is the coming of age genre which can appeals to a variety of people, i.e. adults and young people. Similarly, the urban elements appeal to a certain type of young person, i.e. lives in an urban area, listens to grime music etc.

Below are some members of the general public who are part of target audience speaking about why they are attracted to our film opening

Evaluation - Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Our film production company is called 'Lights Out' and our distribution company is called 'Sound Check Films'

We chose these companies because they are both small independent companies, which will not require a large budget to produce our film, we also chose these films because our film is a British Independent film, so our film opening will not require such a large distribution and production company to get our film out there. We looked to imitate a company like 'Revolver' who produced films like 'Ill Manors', 'Anuvahood' and so forth all these films are small independent films, which particularly don't need a large budget to produce.

These companies appeal to the younger audience and this is in correlation with the target audience of our film opening. 

Evaluation Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Representation refers to the construction in any medium (especially the mass media) of aspects of ‘reality’ such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures. 

When talking about the characters in our film opening 'On Road' we had to make it appeal to the correct target audience by ensuring the characters acted familiar to the teenagers in today's society. Teenagers in today's society are stereotyped for being on the streets, causing trouble and getting up to no good. We took this into consideration and tried to make our characters to act similar to how teenagers are so they can understand and connect more with the protagonist. Our main characters are portrayed differently:

1. Darnell Williams - Darnell is the main character as the story is told from his point of view. He is a ambitious boy who's chasing his dream and does this even with all the things holding him back. Because he lives on a gritty estate that automatically stereotypes him to one of those gang affiliated boys, also because of this appearance and how he dresses. 

2. Skirmz - Skirmz now is stereotyped because of the way he is dressed and his appearance. He is mainly seen on the estate with give him the look that he is gang affiliated. This is also due to the different sort of acts he gets up to on the estate. 

When looking at whether we represented the characters in a negative or positive way, we had to think about how we wanted the characters to be seen. For example, Skirmz was seen in a negative way because of what he is known for and for his acts in trying to stop Darnell to accomplish his dream. Whereas, Darnell is seen in a positive way, because of his drive for success. 


Stereotyping

Evaluation Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We mainly attracted our target audience (16-25yr old londoners/students) by having a protagonist/actor whom they can relate to. In this video he speaks about his fandom, and how much he cares about his fans.

Mise En Scene

 By setting our film opening on an estate in mile end (London), it provides urban scenery which we felt our target audience could relate to. Similarly, the costume, i.e. hoodies, black clothing etc resonate the grime/gritty vibe of the film. 

Actors

The protagonist is a 16 year old male aspiring to be s a rapper; because he is a young boy escaping the troubles of his area to become something big, our target audience can connect to the protagonist and relate to the storyline. Although the protagonist is male, many females can also be attracted to the film opening because it is mainly about getting somewhere and aspiring to become something, and leaving the 'hood'. 

Genre and Storyline

The Genre, 'Coming Of Age', appeals to the audience as it allows the audience follow the journey, many of our target audience think about getting somewhere and not giving up, which is why 'Coming Of Age' is a genre that our target audience can connect with. The storyline attracts the audience because it allows them to go on this journey with the young protagonist who dreams to become something, by escaping the troubles of the road life, troubles of pursuing higher education and even a job, the audience can relate to the troubles of the the protagonist and again go on this journey with him.

Sound/Score

Music used throughout our film is grime/rap which adds to the gritty/'hood' nature of our film. This would appeal to teenagers in particular as rap/grime music is mainly listened to by that demographic. 

Rough Cut Feedback

The rough cut feedback helped us improve our product as we were told that we had too many shots of the protagonist in the studio, making it seem like a music video rather than a film opening. We then decided that using many shots around the estate, weaved in between the studio shots, we would manage to make it look like a film opening because the audience would have already established and connected to the protagonist and can understand what he is going through.

 We changed our film name from 'The Come Up' to 'On Road' because 'On Road' really highlights the stereotypes of young teenagers being on the street due to its colloquial meaning. In our film opening 'On Road' refers to being on the road to success and chasing that dream and never giving up, again a number of teenagers aspire to be somewhere, and the name 'On Road' can appeal to any sort of dream that a teenager wishes to pursue.

Our film opening is also on Vimeo, where it can be viewed by users of vimeo, who tend to be people who fit our target audience, i.e. teenagers/students, aged between 16 and 25. Similarly, the cinema preview, aimed specifically at students, is also a way in which we reached our target audience. What is also noticeable in this screenshot is the production company name which we made in a font which we felt would appeal to our target audience as it looks modern and is compatible with the establishing shot of the estate which it's placed on. 

Evaluation Q6. What you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In the beginning stages of our film opening project, we were introduced to blogger where we blogged about our progress and anything relevant to our project.

Similarly we used google to carry out research on films during the planning stages of our project.

Prezi was also a useful technology in the early stages of our project, when we had to pitch our idea to the teachers and class. This is when I realised the importance of technologies such as Prezi in the making of such a product as they are the easiest and most effective modern form of communication. 

Sound

We used creative commons and soundcloud to locate appropriate copyright free music; this was interesting as it gave us the opportunity to explore thousands of sounds and music. This not only taught me how to use technologies like this, but also the importance of using copyright free music/sounds for the sake of legality.

Evaluation - Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The wider audience for teen movies in general depends mostly on the genre of the film.

for example: a horror film may appeal to teens, because it stereotypes young teenagers in horror films as being naive and curious, and they are the ones that always end up being the victims, presenting them as vulnerable. Horror films appeal both to the male and female target audience from the ages of 15-18, however we can also argue that horror films are targeted towards those who are older than 18.

A Romantic Film  may appeal to young teenagers mostly females who are aged 15-18 also, this is because it is more sensible to come to a conclusion that females are more seen to be enticed and drawn into the relationship convention and can relate to the story about this journey of love.

A Sports Film  may appeal mostly to the male target audience, however this genre of film appeals to a target audience with a wide age range, so from the ages of 15-25, this is because in sports films it is mainly about never giving up, and being persistent, it can be argued that sports films can also appeal to the female target audience as much as the male target audience.

The Target Audience For Our Film Opening

Evaluation Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation - Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Mise-en-scene & Location:
The Mise-en-scene was important when thinking about how to attract out target audience.
We decided to use Mile End, which looked very urban and also ghetto because of the many buildings, the people around and also the sounds and atmosphere.
The protagonist wore vintage clothing so it was all black, black jacket, black t-shirt and black shoes.
The location and costume appealed to the audience because when the audience watch the film opening they get a sense of a gritty East London environment.

Actors:
The protagonist is a 16 year old male aspiring to be something in this case a rapper, because he is a young boy escaping the troubles of his area to become something big, our target audience can connect to the protagonist and relate to the storyline. although the protagonist is a male many females can also be attracted to the film opening because it is mainly about getting somewhere and aspiring to become something.

Storyline:
The storyline attracts the audience because it allows them to go on this journey with the young protagonist who dreams to become something, by escaping the troubles of the road life, troubles of pursuing higher education and even a job, the audience can relate to the troubles of the the protagonist and again go on this journey with him.

Genre:
The Genre being 'Coming Of Age' appeals to the audience once again because it means the audience follow the journey, many of our target audience think about getting somewhere and not giving up, which is why 'Coming Of Age' is a good genre that our target audience can connect with.

Sound/Score:
The music is Hip Hop/Rap, we selected this genre of music because many teenagers listen to this music nowadays, and ironically our protagonist aspires to be a rapper,so recorded music from our very own studio helped with to dig deeper with the thoughts of the protagonist getting somewhere because it is the protagonist's music himself which he wants people to recognise.

Film name:
 We changed our film name from 'The Come Up' to 'On Road' because on road really highlights the stereotypes of young teenagers being on the street, in our film opening 'On Road' refers to being on the road to success and chasing that dream and never giving up, again a number of teenagers aspire to be somewhere, and the name 'On Road' can appeal to any sort of dream that a teenager wishes to pursue.

Rough Cut Feedback:
The rough cut feedback helped us to improve our film opening because our teacher old us that were too many shots of the protagonist in the studio which made it look more like a music video than a film, so by using many shots around the studio we managed to make it look like a film opening because the audience already established and connected to the protagonist and can understand what he is going through.

The Protagonist in the vintage all black clothing.

The Wide Shot of the gritty urban area.

The Film Title.

Evaluation Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back at our preliminary task, we can notice the progress we have made and how we have developed our knowledge of technologies. 

Evaluation Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

When looking at the wider audience for teen movies, the target audience varies depending on the type of Genre the film is, as teenagers or even young adults may have a different type of taste in particular film. This could be:

1. Horror - The target audience of a horror movie is usually teenagers who are mostly curious and daring. This is because most horror films involve unknowing, naive teenagers as the main protagonists, which are normally the target of serial killers or psychopaths. This could be both male and female.  
2. Action - The target audience of a action movie is usually towards teenage and young adult males, with an interest in action, thrills and excitement. This is because the film might contain things that are stereotypically masculine. This may include car chases, explosions, gun fights, male fighting.
3. Romance - The target audience of a romance film is usually towards young teenage and older females. This is because of the light hearted nature of the films that are produced in this genre. Females tend to understand the emotion behind a film better than a male. Although, it can sometimes attract young and older couples. 

Here is a example of the type of people that will watch a teen film:
Teens 13-18 years old
Young adults who are 18 and above
Both male and female gender

When looking at our film opening 'On Road' our target audience is based on teenagers who has a dream and strives for it. This will appeal to teenagers in today's society as it gives them an opportunity to connect and put themselves in the protagonist shoes, as they can relate to their story. The target audience could also be towards young adults. This is because they get the opportunity to see how society has changed over the years, as they can relate to the character and reflex back to when they were a teenager chasing their dream and see the differences to how teenagers now chase their dreams compared to their teenage years. 

Our target audience for our film is based on our Unique Selling Point. Our Unique Selling Point is based on the "Coming of age". This features at least one adolescent main character and follows his/her life experiences up to and sometimes through adulthood. It often emphasizes the lessons the character learned that contributed to his/her personal growth that is exhibited in the story. 

Evaluation - Q6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Shazad Edwards by Slidely Slideshow

Evaluation - Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

When thinking about pre-production and production itself , we can see that not much planning and storyboarding has gone into the prelim task which meant that we didn't produce something of top quality,
however when we look at the film opening and the storyboarding, because, we set the scene, put our ideas down on paper, this helped to produce something of top quality.

Teamwork
Teamwork was very important in the coming up of our film opening, because we merged all of our ideas together and came up with something that the whole group was proud to say 'yeah I helped in the making of this film opening'

What I have learned
The utmost thing I learned about editing the project was that, not a lot of shots were needed in creating our film opening, I say this because we had filmed many shots, thinking that we would of had to use them to make the film opening as good as possible, however because we varied the shots, and made them work together I believe the audience enjoyed the film opening during the viewing in the cinema. I have also learned how to use software like Camtasia, Final Cut Pro, Prezi, to really bring ideas to life when it comes to pointing out the key points in our film opening and the work that was put in.