Evaluation Task 7

What have I learned from the preliminary task?

After watching this, i realised i made a mistake in mentioning I followed the 180 degree rule. However, this is what the preliminary task is for, and I have made sure I did not make this mistake in my final product.

This is a over the shoulder shot we used in our preliminary task, which we inputed into our final film.

As you can see from looking at the previous camera shot. This is where we break the 180 degree camera rule. This shot should have been shown from the opposite side.

Final Film.

Evaluation Task 5

How did I attract/address my audience?

In this video i explain how i attracted my audience by using specific soundtracks and storyline which will be familiar towards them.

Evaluation Task 3

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

Evaluation Task 6

I have learned alot about the technologies I have been using since i have been constructing my product. I have learned about how to use Apple Mac's efficiently for making movies.

Me (Top) and Suleyman using the Apple Macs whilst editing our final movie. 

Using camera and tripod

Using camera and tripod 2

While my group mate and I were using the camera as seen the pictures above, with a minor introduction to the camera we learned to operate the camera and tripod. While using the camera we learned how to use zooms, inserting tapes and using effective camera shots like close ups.

The use of Final Cut Pro while editing the Recce, as you can see there are no transitions used, as it was just basically a test video, on the timeline is where you would input music and edit the actual sound of the video clips.

Evaluation Task 4

The main target audience of my film is 15-19 year olds. However, the film can be watched by anyone over the age of 15, who would have a taste for Uk dramas like Kildulthood as they can usually relate to the storyline. They would shop in places like JD sports, Footlocker and Primark as this would appeal to a working class background and would like Uk grime, Pop & Hip-Hop. Their favorite TV programmes might be Waterloo Road, Shameless, The Wire & Eastenders.

 Target audience

An example of the type of clothing my target audience will wear

Evaluation Task 2

We can see the similarities between the two characters, character 1 (Trey) is wearing clothes very similar to Trevor from Adulthood. They are both wearing black and grey which helps to present their characters personalities, the black helps to show that they are not saints, they will take part in some form of bad activity, which is what happens in both films. The grey helps to show their innocence and confusion as grey is a dull colour. Both their dialogues are similar as they both speak with colloquialisms.

 Trey

Trevor

Evaluation Task 1

My film uses and develops a few films in the sequence that it begins in. It begins straight into the action, I think this could be seen as a typical way to start a film, but I think is thew best way to immediately draw the audiences attention into the film.

My film is about two friends Trey & Anton, Anton tells Trey he had sexual relations with Treys girlfriend, and they end up having a fight in which Trey accidentally kills Anton hence the title Manslaughter. Trey then calls his friend Rio to help him hide the body. The setting is in a council flat estate in my area, this helps for mise-en-scene to tell the audience the type of background the characters are from, I got this idea from the films Bullet Boy and Kidulthood. The costumes are vital to my characters as the colours help to show their personality. For example, Anton is wearing a black jacket to show his dark side of sleeping with his friends partner, and the white t shirt shows his innocence as he is about to be killed.

Similar Texts

My film has been inspired by two of the most popular films amongst young people Kidulthood directed by Menhaj Huda and Bullet Boy directed by Saul Dibb. I feel as if these two films show and tell an urban story which is what my group and I want to do with our film.

Kidulthood is a British drama about the life of several teenagers who live in west London. A suicide, impregnation and murder takes place. Written by Noel Clarke. The reason this film inspired me is because of the story behind it, i felt as if young people who live in London really can relate to the story and this is the same effect I want to have on my audience. Also the main characters are all presented in the same age group as the characters of my film so I feel as if the two can be seen as similar.

Bullet Boy is a Britiish drama starrting Ashley Walter who plays Ricky. He was just left prison and decides he wants to establish himself in the neighborhood again but wants to turn his life around for the better. His friend Wisdom starts up a conflict with a local gang member Godfrey about hitting his car mirror. Godfrey shoots Wisdoms dog in revenge, so Wisdom takes revenge and attempts to kill him. He fails and results in him and Ricky getting killed.

This film inspired me because, I feel it is the best British urban film to date, the story does a good job at drawing the audience in, which is what any film maker wants to do, the film also constructs representations, class and stereotypes through mise-en-scene very well. Each of these skills are what I have tried to input into my film.

Camera Shots & Film Analysis

Using good and specific camera shots for particular scenes are one of the key skills I need to input into my film. It is something I have realised as I watch films since I was taught the skill in my AS Media lessons.

Training Day
Director- Anton Fuque
Genre- Police Drama
Starring- Denzel Washington & Ethan Hawke

From the picture above we can see there is a two person shot "2 shot" being used. From this shot we can work out who plays the roll of "being in charge". Ethan  Hawke is in the background indicating that he has a lower status than Denzel and the positioning of his hands can be interpreted as "hey, what are you doing?". Also, Denzel is walking in front wearing all black clothes to emphasise his sinister mind, he is holding a gun and walking away from what seems to be a murder he has just committed. From this one camera shot alone it is very easy to work out who plays what roll and it shows how important camera shots are as they too tell a story.



Batman - dark knight
Director - Christopher Nolan
Starring - Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart & Heath Ledger

In the above picture we can see an over the shoulder shot, this shot is usually used during a conversation to show a persons point of view, and to show the facial expressions of the person while speaking. This shot switches between two people during the whole conversation.

These are just two of examples of two camera shots I will be using in my film and these are just two of many films which have inspired me to do so. 

Equipment

The equipment I am using is very popular amongst people who enjoy filming and editing for whatever reason, it could be blogging, broadcasting or just freelance film making, it does the job perfectly. I am using the latest apple mac 21 inch, Sony hdv mini camera with microphone attachment that records in full 720p HD and Final cut pro to edit the films.

I used Final cut pro on the Mac to edit my footage, I has never used Final Cut before so it was really tricky to get my head around. However, after an induction lesson and a few tries of editing videos, i got the hang of it. I found it hard to do transitions and make them look smooth. Now my final edit of my film should look very good for a beginner editor.

Apple Mac










Sony Hvd mini with mic attachment









Final Cut Pro

Recce

A recce is a rough run through of a film to work out its suitability for filming and assessment of any potential lighting or sound issues. Quentin Tarrintino  the director of  Reservoir Dogs uses a recce. In the first scene of the recce version its was a long shot in a empty warehouse with a man lying on the sofa. The characters were quite distant from the camera. This recce version was focusing on the audio rather than visual probably because he thought he would have more problems with the sound compared to camera shots.


We only shot the opening scene of our film and it turned our pretty decent. Which was the opening conversation and the fight scene. We did take costumes into account, as well as mise-en-scene. The film was not scripted but a rough storyboard was used. we only shot the opening scene of the film due to the fact that we had a time limit with the equipment so we did not want the film to seem rushed. 


 We ended up using the same location for our main task as the location said a lot through "mise-en-scene", sound was good and there was no   potential distractions to disturb us whilst we were filming.

Here is the Recce for my film. 

Brief - To Film & Edit The Opening Of My Own Film

My group and I have been briefed to create a 2 minute opening of our own films of any genre and including titles. My group and I decided on a film with the title of "Man slaughter"  as it will be about two friends who have a serious fight and one ends up dying. It is based on the average teen living in the "Urban London", the average and most extreme situations they might encounter. By doing this task I hope I improve my camera skills, editing skills and develop my knowledge of how to use camera shots to grab the viewer's attention as well as making a good film. However, i have developed a good knowledge of mise-en-scene´which is basically everything you can see but not hear in the film along with iconography which is costumes, props and their meaning and how I can input my knowledge in my film.

I will also have to film and edit a Recce along with a preliminary task.

Introduction to editing

Since I have begun my media course I began to learn how to edit videos so we can apply the skills to edit our movies. We began to learn basic skills such as: titles, transitions and effects. The equipment I will be using is a Apple mac computer, Sony HDV camera & Final Cut Pro. I begun to learn the equipment I have access to use, it's very popular amongst people who like shooting and editing films for their own pleasure.  The first bit of filming we done was our preliminary task, which you can find on the relevant post. I also learned a few tricks off Youtube tutorials.


Once all the footage is filmed, I would upload each clip to Final Cut Pro by using a fire-wire. Making sure its in HD for the best quality. I would then cut each clip down to the parts I want and put each clip together in a sequence on the timeline, then use transitions to fade clips where necessary. Finally I would add music and titles and export the footage.   

This is one of the videos I watched.

Audience Types

The audience I am aiming for ranges from the ages 15-24 and living in an urban area. Simply because I feel these are the ages the characters will most appeal to. However, anyone from the age of 15 can watch the film and hopefully enjoy it. From my general knowledge and friends, films like Bullet Boy, Kidulthood & Adulthood are some of their favorite UK urban films. I thought if i can make my film similar to them then maybe I would have a bigger audience, and generate a big fan base if my film to be done properly and hit box office. The genre of our film is Urban Drama, so people that do live in urban areas will be able to relate the story more and will be able to understand why certain parts of the story is being told the way it is.

Script Writing, Storyboard and Treatment

For the making of my film I was required to write a script for my first film idea, which I had learned skills from my AS media classes, as I also study A level English I feel like I have the upper hand. I used "scriptorama" as a guide so I had something to refer back to.


Here is part of the script used for 3 Kings..

This is the actual script for Manslaughter.

Anton:  Alright look, you’ve been my boy since I was like 5 years old, you know you and Alisha broke up the other night,….well the same night she came over…she was vulnerable.

FADE IN

Trey: angry What do you mean she was vulnerable?

Anton: Let me cut the point, we slept together

Trey: turns head in dissapointment

Anton: Look you’re my boy man, we cant let a girl come in between us

Trey: angry and shouting What do mean you’re my boy?

Anton: alright look, fam, shit happends, you get me?

Trey : Grabs and pushes anton towards wall :Shut up!

Trey: angry and shouting Fucked my girl yeah? punches anton 4 times

Trey: Prick! stomps on antons face

Trey realised anton is not breathing, and runs off to call his best friend Rio. Rio is in his house playing PS3 realises his phone is ringing and picks up.

Rio: picks up Yo cuz

Trey: Yo I killed him! I killed him!

Rio: Killed who?

Trey: Fam I killed Anton, we had a fight and I must of hit him in his temple

Rio: Nah fam, am not involved in this, im not sitting in court explaining what happened, turn yourself in, im telling you, leave me out of it

Trey: Nah  man, I got too much goin for me right now…….you know what fuck it,  im gonna hide the body.

Rio: that’s a big thing, don’t get me involved fam, do what youo gotta do and leave me out of it.

Trey: desperation Please man I need your help you’re the only one I can come to

Rio: What do you need, your asking for a lot, what do you need?

Trey: I need you to help me hide the body

Rio: What! No way, fuck that, fuck that

Trey: Please man, if we get caught ill take all the blame

Rio: alright fam ill do it for you, coz you’re my boy, ill do it

Trey: alright  cool runs off

FADE OUT/IN

Rio: Oh shit! Is that the body?

Trey: fam we got to go now!

Rio: Come lets go

Trey and Rio carry the body in a bag to the graveyard

FADE OUT/IN

Trey: Cuz what have we done!?

Rio: Calm down, just get rid of it

Trey: Rest in piece fam

FADE OUT

Here is the storyboard

Manslaughter Treatment

Trey – Boy who commits murder

Rio – Boy who dies

Anton – Boy who helps Trey dump the body

London Council Estate, Daytime

Trey and Rio are laughing and having a conversation they turn into an alleyway.

Rio then reveals to Trey that he slept with his recent ex girlfriend. Trey then starts to argue with Rio, but Rio tries to apologize and calm him down. Trey then starts to become physical and pushes Rio into a wall. Rio tries again to apologize and calm him down but that then only raises Trey’s anger. Trey then begins to hit Rio and gives him a number of head blows to the face. Rio then falls to the ground begging for mercy whilst Trey is staring down upon him. Trey then gives him a lethal kick to the face which ends up killing Rio. Trey realises what he has done and runs off, while his running of he calls his friend Anton and explains what he just done. He convinces Anton to help him dump the body. Trey and Anton then meet up and they dump the body in the local grave yard. 

Preliminary task

My preliminary task was to shoot a shot 30 second clip of simple sequenced movements, someone walking into a room having a short conversation and leaving. I was required to use specific camera shots such as: over the shoulder, close up and 2 person shot. The purpouse was to help me understand the physically shooting the shots and gain experience so I can be prepared to use the skills in my final film.

While I was shooting the film everything went well, I found it slightly tricky whilst editing the film and I was new to the software, and discovered a few minor problems with the footage such as having parts of the actors body being cut off.  I felt lighting was a slight issue but I asked for other peoples views and I was told that is was okay.

The preliminary task was useful as it helped me to get introduced to using the camera, filming and editing, which was the whole point of doing a preliminary task.

Here is my preliminary task.

180 Degree Rule - Dark Knight

..During my film I will be following a term called "The 180 degree rule" which  is a basic guideline in film making that states that two characters in the same scene should always have the same left and right relationship to each other along a 180 degree angle  (on a straight line). This skill is used effectively in Batman - The Dark Knight during the interrogation scene between Batman and Joker. 

More of an insight on the 180 degree rule