Over the course of our project, I feel that my knowledge of new media technologies has grown from basic the understanding of editing software and that I now am capable of using appropriate, specific programs such as Photoshop to create professional and high quality media work. It is because of this development that I believe we were able to produce our final project at a high standard.
In regards to the construction of our project, we used a 'Cisco Flip video Ultra HD' to film our trailer. As we had used a more traditional camera in our preliminary and 1st year projects, we had to learn how to use the camera as quickly and thoroughly as possible in order to start filming. Fortunately the flip camera has a simple format in which video files can be directly transferred to a computer through the in-built USB, so uploading clips in order to edit them posed no problem for us.
To edit our film we used the program 'Coral video studio Pro' which we had easy access to as it was installed on the school computers. We used this media technology to 'cut' our film clips and re-order them, input sound files and sound effects (such as the door opening), distort the colours of particular clips and adding titles (fading to black for the introductions) and distorting the speed of clips (slow-motion for the car slide scene). We also used the 'fade to black' effect multiple times to ensure the transition of one clip to another was smooth.
The four music tracks that feature in our trailer were all downloaded from 'www.audionetworkplc.com'. We had prior experience with this website as we had utilised it for both of our previous projects. The sound files were all relatively cheap (59p) which meant that they were within our monetary range and we could search the site for the exact type of music we were hoping for.
For our research, we used YouTube to search for examples of professional film trailers and analyse them. This was particularly useful as we could view any trailer repeatedly to ensure we didn't miss any details that may have helped in the construction of our own trailer.
We also used 'www.facebook.com' and 'www.blogger.com' as outlets for our questionnaire research. These websites were used as they are recent forms of media and are currently very popular, and we therefore decided these sites were the best way to distribute our questionnaire to the most amount of people.
To plan our project we used a series of email conversations (as shown earlier in this blog). We did this on order to ensure that we agreed on project decisions (such as which clips would be used) and to determine the time and location of each film clip.
We also used 'Microsoft Excel' to construct a filming schedule so that we could distribute it to each actor and confirm that each required person could be available on the necessary day and time.
To evaluate our trailer we used a combination of 'www.facebook.com', 'www.blogger.com' and 'www.youtube.com', specifically enabling the ability to leave comments anonymously. This therefore allowed us to analyse these comments and use them as feedback for our evaluation.
Tuesday 12 April 2011
Monday 4 April 2011
Evaluation - What have you learned from your audience feedback?
From our questionnaire we learned that the most popular genre was comedy (58%), with the three following most popular genres being related to high tension films (Horror, thriller, and action). We learnt from this that our audience values entertainment highly, and that the combination of action and comedy genres could be the best solution to attract the widest audience. We also learned that the audience regards the narrative as an important aspect in a film, as under 'favourite film and reasons why', 5 votes for the reason why were due to an excellent storyline. We therefore considered focusing upon narrative over humour, but as we were developing a trailer rather than a feature-length film, we decided that the narrative required less attention as we could expose the audience to enigmas and leave them unanswered.
It is important to remember, however, that the results of our questionnaire are likely to be biased. 71% of our participants were male, meaning that our results can generally be applied to males with a good degree of validity, but not to females. We therefore learned that we needed to take greater time considering both genders during the development of our trailer, to ensure our product was not male-orientated and to expand our target audience to everyone.
The age range of our participants could also be a cause for bias, as over half (51%) of those who took part were within the 15-20 age range. As this was also mine and Gareth's age range, we learnt that with this added information we were best equipped to target this age range as our audience.
As we displayed our trailer in front of family and in class, we received some feedback personally. One person told us that were slightly confused as the indoor scene started (36 seconds in), as there was no build-up to that scene and the audience is just 'thrown' straight into the scene. We could understand this point as the thief does just enter into the room with no prior explanation as to how he got there. However, we did have such a scene which showed the thief breaking into the house, using the 'swoop shot' technique that we had practiced beforehand. Unfortunately we had to cut this scene from the finished production, as when we reviewed the shot we decided that the camera movement was too unstable (due to having to avoid mise-en-scene such as wall hangings and a bookcase) and did not look professional when compared with the rest of our scenes. We therefore learned that if we were to repeat the process we should try to use a raised track, to keep the camera stable and at the height that we wanted. We would however need to ensure that the enigmas displayed were not solved within the trailer, just clearly defined, to provide the audience with a greater understanding as to why they might want to see the full film.
It is important to remember, however, that the results of our questionnaire are likely to be biased. 71% of our participants were male, meaning that our results can generally be applied to males with a good degree of validity, but not to females. We therefore learned that we needed to take greater time considering both genders during the development of our trailer, to ensure our product was not male-orientated and to expand our target audience to everyone.
The age range of our participants could also be a cause for bias, as over half (51%) of those who took part were within the 15-20 age range. As this was also mine and Gareth's age range, we learnt that with this added information we were best equipped to target this age range as our audience.
As we displayed our trailer in front of family and in class, we received some feedback personally. One person told us that were slightly confused as the indoor scene started (36 seconds in), as there was no build-up to that scene and the audience is just 'thrown' straight into the scene. We could understand this point as the thief does just enter into the room with no prior explanation as to how he got there. However, we did have such a scene which showed the thief breaking into the house, using the 'swoop shot' technique that we had practiced beforehand. Unfortunately we had to cut this scene from the finished production, as when we reviewed the shot we decided that the camera movement was too unstable (due to having to avoid mise-en-scene such as wall hangings and a bookcase) and did not look professional when compared with the rest of our scenes. We therefore learned that if we were to repeat the process we should try to use a raised track, to keep the camera stable and at the height that we wanted. We would however need to ensure that the enigmas displayed were not solved within the trailer, just clearly defined, to provide the audience with a greater understanding as to why they might want to see the full film.
Wednesday 30 March 2011
Evaluation - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
During our earlier research, we analysed films from similar genres (Hot fuzz, the other guys, etc.) in order to challenge or use the same conventions and techniques that we had seen.
The first convention that we could relate to our trailer is the 'eye stare' scene from Hot Fuzz (4-5 seconds in). This is used in combination with eerie music to build tension as dramatically as possible, suggesting an action sequence is about to take place. We used this technique at the start of our own trailer to build tension in a similar sense. However, we challenged this convention by using the audiences expectation of an action scene and replacing it with a funny one, in order to establish our spoof action/comedy genre.
From the film 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop' (8-15 seconds) we noted how an unexpected change in atmosphere in a trailer, or a scene that does not follow in sequence or with the music, can be humorous to the viewer. This was because at the very beginning of the Paul Blart trailer, we see a character who appears unfit despite the surrounding characters suggesting this location takes fitness very seriously. The fact that the tense music and the sound of the man speaking do not alter, despite his appearance on the scene, provides for a subtle joke for the viewer. We therefore used this convention in our own trailer, in our 'car slide' scene. The action build-up beforehand combined with the music suggests that an action sequence is about to take place, but in fact a funny scene occurs instead. We then followed the convention shown by not altering the sound, and keeping the music as action-orientated. This made the funny slide seem out-of-place, adding to the humour of the scene.
Regarding our ancillary tasks we used a number of conventions found in popular magazines and on posters. In both cases we used a large main image, demonstrating the importance of our trailer. We also used stereotypical images and styles associated with out genre/narrative, i.e. sirens in the poster and stripes on the magazine cover. We used the form of a traditional magazine layout, as we had a large-font title at the top, a main feature in the middle and snapshots of other films (to suggest a review later in the magazine) at the bottom. We also included a barcode and a price on the magazine to add a sense of realism, but developed the convention of having them located next to eachother (which is usually seen on most magazines), and instead had them separated.
The first convention that we could relate to our trailer is the 'eye stare' scene from Hot Fuzz (4-5 seconds in). This is used in combination with eerie music to build tension as dramatically as possible, suggesting an action sequence is about to take place. We used this technique at the start of our own trailer to build tension in a similar sense. However, we challenged this convention by using the audiences expectation of an action scene and replacing it with a funny one, in order to establish our spoof action/comedy genre.
From the film 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop' (8-15 seconds) we noted how an unexpected change in atmosphere in a trailer, or a scene that does not follow in sequence or with the music, can be humorous to the viewer. This was because at the very beginning of the Paul Blart trailer, we see a character who appears unfit despite the surrounding characters suggesting this location takes fitness very seriously. The fact that the tense music and the sound of the man speaking do not alter, despite his appearance on the scene, provides for a subtle joke for the viewer. We therefore used this convention in our own trailer, in our 'car slide' scene. The action build-up beforehand combined with the music suggests that an action sequence is about to take place, but in fact a funny scene occurs instead. We then followed the convention shown by not altering the sound, and keeping the music as action-orientated. This made the funny slide seem out-of-place, adding to the humour of the scene.
Regarding our ancillary tasks we used a number of conventions found in popular magazines and on posters. In both cases we used a large main image, demonstrating the importance of our trailer. We also used stereotypical images and styles associated with out genre/narrative, i.e. sirens in the poster and stripes on the magazine cover. We used the form of a traditional magazine layout, as we had a large-font title at the top, a main feature in the middle and snapshots of other films (to suggest a review later in the magazine) at the bottom. We also included a barcode and a price on the magazine to add a sense of realism, but developed the convention of having them located next to eachother (which is usually seen on most magazines), and instead had them separated.
Evaluation - How Effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
As part of the G324 media brief we had to develop two ancillary tasks, which we chose to be a magazine front cover and a poster. We decided that these two tasks were best suited for us as the other option was a website homepage, and neither of us had any experience within that area. We also had experience with programs such as Photoshop which could be used in the design of posters and magazines.
In order to ascertain a starting point for our poster we looked at film posters of similar genres and narratives, specifically 'Hot Fuzz' and 'The Other Guys'. We noticed how the two main characters stood in the very near foreground, as a typical action-orientated scene took place in the background.
In relation to our trailer, we incorporated 'sirens' behind the title so that the viewer of the poster would instantly recognize that the genre of the film displayed would, at the very least, be part action. This assumption would be enhanced by the background flames, and the unexpected addition of a Mexican-styled costume would demonstrate that the described trailer is actually an action-comedy.
Using our previous research of popular magazines such as 'Total Film' and 'Empire Magazine', we learnt some conventions of magazine front covers and found ways to use and adapt them.
The first thing we noticed during our research was that the magazine title was almost always obscured in some way, usually because of a main character of a new feature film partially blocking it. This is done to suggest to the reader that the magazine is already successful and well known, so the reader should already know or easily work out what the title is. It can also be done to draw attention away from the title and to the main feature itself, suggesting that the magazine holds interesting and valuable content.
We used this convention in the sense that our title is partially obscured, but also challenged it by obscuring it with a tear effect rather than by placing the feature in front of it. We did this in order to make the word 'Torn' autological (a word that describes itself) to have a greater visual effect and to make it more memorable.
In relation to our main product, we kept the same title from the poster to add continuity and to develop a sense of realism, due to the fact that when distributing a film, producers attempt to display the title or slogan of the film as much as possible, to increase awareness of the film.
The stripes located behind the words 'news, reviews and movies!' are also associated with the police, being found on police tape. The colours are usually yellow and black however, but this stood out to much on our magazine cover and drew attention away from the main article. We therefore kept the stripes but changed the colours to grey and darker grey, colours which stand out much less.
I believe we made our magazine cover look professional and realistic, but I would like to have included another image that holds great significance in our trailer, such as the car from the car slide scene. This would have held greater similarity with the magazine covers we researched, and also would have had greater relation to our trailer.
Monday 28 March 2011
Our Finished Film
Here is a link to our finished product:
Bad Cop Bad Cop
We uploaded our film to YouTube originally, where it received 116 views as of today. We then decided that to expand our audience and gain the opinions of our peers/target audience, we would post the film on Facebook where it gained another 46 views. The comments we were given will be further discussed within the 'audience feedback' section of the evauluation.
Bad Cop Bad Cop
We uploaded our film to YouTube originally, where it received 116 views as of today. We then decided that to expand our audience and gain the opinions of our peers/target audience, we would post the film on Facebook where it gained another 46 views. The comments we were given will be further discussed within the 'audience feedback' section of the evauluation.
Friday 4 February 2011
Amendments to The Chief Ispector Dialogue
After discussing the chief inspector scene with the actors involved, it was decided that Mr Aherne would decide upon his dialogue spontaneously. This was done so that the scene would seem genuine, and myself and Gaz could respond accordingly to the unexpected dialogue. We recorded the scene, and are very pleased with how life-like the scene appears. These are the corresponding changes:
Chief Inspector Scene:
Actors: Mr. Aherne, Tom, Gaz
Camera starts behind Tom and Gaz, and is low angle (to make the chief seem more powerful). The chief is in the centre of the shot, between Tom and Gaz.
Mr. Aherne: "Let me get this right. I want to make it plain to you two donuts! You've made a total mess-up of this operation, and frankly you are so pathetic that if I never saw you again it would be soon enough!"
The camera now cuts to a point-of-view shot of Mr. Aherne, showing Tom and Gaz scared.
Mr. Aherne: "However! You've got one chance to get this operation done right. And look at the state of you, get yourself a disguise!"
This is where the scene would end and the disguise scene would begin. We will also edit the scene so that the disguise music starts after Mr. Aherne says 'However'. This way the music could start off quietly, building up, and increasing tension. By the time that the disguise scene begins, the music would be at full volume which will suggest that this paricular scene is fast-paced or exciting.
Chief Inspector Scene:
Actors: Mr. Aherne, Tom, Gaz
Camera starts behind Tom and Gaz, and is low angle (to make the chief seem more powerful). The chief is in the centre of the shot, between Tom and Gaz.
Mr. Aherne: "Let me get this right. I want to make it plain to you two donuts! You've made a total mess-up of this operation, and frankly you are so pathetic that if I never saw you again it would be soon enough!"
The camera now cuts to a point-of-view shot of Mr. Aherne, showing Tom and Gaz scared.
Mr. Aherne: "However! You've got one chance to get this operation done right. And look at the state of you, get yourself a disguise!"
This is where the scene would end and the disguise scene would begin. We will also edit the scene so that the disguise music starts after Mr. Aherne says 'However'. This way the music could start off quietly, building up, and increasing tension. By the time that the disguise scene begins, the music would be at full volume which will suggest that this paricular scene is fast-paced or exciting.
'Setting' scenes
Although Gareth was unable to attend school recently due to the adverse weather conditions, I decided to try out some 'setting' scenes, which is very small clips (0.5-2 seconds) of the outside of where a scene will be taking place. Examples of this can be seen in the dinner for shmucks trailer at (0.08) and (0.15). Despite both scenes being indoors, a shot of the building is shown quickly beforehand.
One such scene is outside of the house that is robbed. I decided that we may need to explain the setting, rather than just starting the scene inside the house, which may confuse some viewers. I therefore filmed just outside of the location. However I decided to try various scenes with 'Pans' and 'Tilts', rather than just simple scene of the setting. These techniques also draw the attention of the viewer to what they're moving towards, i.e. the house, suggesting that something is about to take place within the house.
However, these setting scenes have been filmed in heavy snow. As we film the indoor scenes, sunlight may shine brightly through the window, confusing the viewer as to whether this is the same location.
One such scene is outside of the house that is robbed. I decided that we may need to explain the setting, rather than just starting the scene inside the house, which may confuse some viewers. I therefore filmed just outside of the location. However I decided to try various scenes with 'Pans' and 'Tilts', rather than just simple scene of the setting. These techniques also draw the attention of the viewer to what they're moving towards, i.e. the house, suggesting that something is about to take place within the house.
However, these setting scenes have been filmed in heavy snow. As we film the indoor scenes, sunlight may shine brightly through the window, confusing the viewer as to whether this is the same location.
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