Evaluation

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Overall, I feel that my film opening uses many conventions of its own film type of football/football casuals. This is due to the fact that my film opening is pretty much exclusively featuring items of football memorabilia, as well as casual items of clothing from brands such as Adidas and CP company. It is important to feature these conventions as it helps the audience to be able to understand the narrative of the story, and to enhance their experience of watching the film.

One way I used conventions is during the editing, as the fast paced editing reflects the nature of a football game in the respect of the speed that the game is played at. This has been done intentionally as it reflects what the rest of the film would be like, and helps to show the audience how the film will go, and what it will consist of.

I have established the main character during the opening scenes, as he features heavily throughout. My opening shows the main character getting ready for a game, whilst it cuts to footage from football matches and jumps between throughout. Straight away, this shows my audience that the main character is a football fan, and that he is preparing to attend a game. I have done this intentionally as it gets straight into what the film is about, and gets the genre across almost immediately. This is needed as it keeps some sort of an enigma code with the fast paced editing, but also sets in the genre and storyline instantly as the conventions and codes are obvious to the genre.

The audience reception theory states how some people may view something in various ways, which means that some members of the audience may perceive my film in different ways and not understand the story or the genre in the expected ways. To counteract this, the importance of utilising common conventions in my opening to help more of my audience to enjoy the film in the intended manner. I have helped this in my opening by using shots of football shirts and tickets which stops some audience members from getting confused.


Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main character in my film opening is a typical football fan, who dresses up in the typical clothing worn by football fans, and starts off the day as a typical football fan. My character isnt really meant to change anybodys opinion on football fans, as this would reduce the usage of conventions, which would also reduce the chance of success for the film.

Most of the time, media products intentionally represent groups of people in certain ways, through different things such as speech, mannerisms, clothing or body language. My aim was to represent the main character as a typical football fan, and I feel that I have done this successfully as the clothing worn by my character is typical for a football fan, so anybody with the external knowledge or an interest in football will understand that he is in fact a football fan. I feel that this will appeal to my target audience as my character will most likely be similar to most of the people in my target audience in the way they dress, similar interests etc.

Overall, I feel that my media product successfully shows football fans in the manner I intended, as football fans usually get a bad reputation for violence, which is not shown in my film opening at any point, which helps to defeat the stereotype which gives football fans a bad name. Hopefully, my audience percieve the main character as a positive role model for football fans, but this all depends if my preferred reading is recieved by the audience in the way i want. I dont want my audience to create their own oppositional readings (as stated in the audience reception theory), as this could mean that my film would have the exact opposite effect on the stereotype as desired.


Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?

There are many different kinds of media institutions, from the huge conglomerates like Walt Disney and Warner Bros, to the small, independent companies such as Warp Films. These are very different as the independent companies tend to create films full of ideologies and different genres that may only appeal to a small amount of people, whereas the big companies opt for films that take little to no risk, as this helps them to maximise their profits. An example of this would be the Harry Potter franchise, as there are many films in this franchise that are all quite similar, but are hugely successful and popular due to the fact that they tell the stories that the audience want to see.

My film is hugely different to the norms, as it was made with no budget by an unexperienced person. This means that I would have to target smaller distribution companies such as StudioCanal. This is because they are more likely to distribute my film to give it more attention and spread it. The company only releases films in the UK, but i feel like that will be large enough as my film is on no budget at all.

I think I would first have my film shown at film festivals, as this is the perfect place to give my film its initial exposure, and ensure that my film has been seen by critics who will be able to give me feedback on my film. This years festival is in November, so my film would be released early in the following year to ensure that there is time to create a hype around the film before the release.

To sum up, I would like StudioCanal UK to distribute my film as they have a lot of experience with smaller films, and usually has a high success rate with this, making it an obvious choice.


Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Every media text has a target audience, which helps to draw in viewers and profits. Not having a specific target audience is a huge risk, as there is a chance that nobody will see the appeal in the film and it will not be recieved well.

 My target audience is football fans between the ages of 15-50 of both genders. This is because my product is a 15 certificate, as strong language would be used in my film, which rules out anybody younger than 15. Anyone older than 50 may not find my film very interesting, as they tend to be interested in other kinds of films. Also, people who are just interested in films in general will be targeted as they will enjoy the storyline, not just the genre. My audience are likely to watch the film for escapism (uses and gratifications theory), to escape from the stress and struggles of everyday life. For Young and Rubicams 4Cs theory, I found that my audience is likely to be part of the mainstream group, as my film tends to stick with the conventions and doesnt really go against many stereotypes apart from the one about violence in football.

The socioeconomic classes that would be most likely to watch my film would be B, C1 and C2 as these working class brackets are the most likely to have an interest in football, therefore they would be more likely to enjoy my film and make it more successful by targeting them.

Overall, having this as my target market gives my film a better chance at success and that they would recieve the preffered reading in the correct way.


Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

I aimed to attract my audience by basing my film solely on football, and I think that I have partly achieved this. This is because my opening shows many items of football memorabillia, as well as footage from football games to instantly show my audience that my sole focus was to base the film on football and only football. On the other hand, I didnt fully achieve this as it would have helped if I included the scenes on my storyboard of the main character walking out the door and down the road, as this would have further helped my audience to understand that my character is off to a football match.

My opening is somewhat of an enigma code, as the characters face isnt seen in the opening, as well as the characters destination or the reason why he is getting ready. This has been done to keep my audience watching the film as they would want to watch on to find out who the main character is and how the rest of the storyline will unfold, as my opening doesnt give away much about the full story of the film. Another thing that may be a enigma is the zip on the coat, for example, as it dangles down revealing the brand name on the zip. This could make the audience wonder why that brand has been chosen for the film.

My audience may be attracted to the fast paced editing used, as it ensures that my film isnt dragged out and gets to the interesting bits faster that people pay to see the film for. This will hopefully make the viewer feel like they are part of the story and that they are the ones attending the match, as they will feel the rush of the experience through the speed of the editing.

Overall, I believe addressing my audience through a main character that is a football fan helps the audience to relate to the storyline more. Its essential that the audience can relate to the characters as it means that they will be more engrossed in the story.


Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the proces of constructing this product?

During my time creating my media product, I have learnt many new techniques that are used in the film industry. First of all, I have learnt a lot about lighting, for example production teams use a key light (the main light), a fill light (other side of the key light to fill in gaps) and a back light, which is behind the subject. I tended to use natural lighting in my film, as it helped to give my film a more realistic feel, which was my aim.

Before this coursework, I had no experience with editing footage, but now I am very confident with this. I know many techniques such as adding transitions, fading audio and how to add effects to footage such as a blur. An example of these in my film would be the song in the background which fades in and out during the scenes of the football matches, and the different transitions betwee shots such as the channel map.

I also have a larger knowledge on hardware, most notably how to use a camera properly. I understand how the different lenses work, and the different shot types that can be used to make a shot look more effective. An example of this in my film is the shot of the ticket, which uses a prime lens to focus primarily on the ticket and blur out the background.

I also learnt a lot about sound, as without effective sound, the product would be difficult to watch and understand, to help this, I faded the audio in and out at precise points to help my film opening flow easier and make it easier to understand the events, as well as getting more of a feel of the film.

Overall, I feel that my technological skills have improved massively, and this can be seen in the difference between my preliminary task and my final film opening.


Question 7:  Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

To sum it all up, My knowledge on many different things has hugely improved since I did my preliminary task. One piece of software that I have mastered is Final Cut Express, as I now now how to edit video and audio precisely on the software that I couldnt use well at the time of my preliminary task. I can now add titles, transitions and precisely edit the sound, which I didnt do in my preliminary task and the improvement can be seen in my final product.

I have also learnt that not all shots require a tripod, as different effects can be given off by using the camera handheld, as I found it gives a more realistic, unmanufactured look to the shots which help with the genre of my film. I also did all of my shots by myself, as it helped me to stay more in control of the footage I was shooting and I felt that I could do it more precisely and accurately.

As well as these, I also know more technical skills such as what effects different shot types give and how to use them in a film, for example I used a blur to give an effect that the main character ws tired after waking up early in the morning. I believe this was successful in my opening as it gives off the desired effect.

The most simple thing I learnt was how to add files to blogger, such as powerpoints and prezis which just made my whole coursework easier to read and understand.

Overall, I believe that both tasks have helped to develop my skills and I will have more of an understanding of what I am doing next time.

A way of life film opening

Green Street Intro - analysis

This is the intro for the film 'Green Street', which is based on hooliganism in football and follows around a set of West Ham fans. The opening scene shows Matt (played by Elijah Wood) travelling to London from America. He is seen central in most shots so the audience focus on him, but the opening also creates an enigma as the audience will not know who he is, due to the lack of dialogue, which means that the audience are going to have to watch on to find out who he is and where he is going. I will be using this in my opening with no dialogue, instead using the sound of football fans and music to create a certain atmosphere.

Audience expectations

For films of the football genre, the audience will have very different expectations of these than others. My film will be aimed primarily at football fans, and they will expect to see things such as footage from games, items that correlate to the football genre, and many other things. I will have to include these things as it will be the first thing that the audience looks out for in the film, so using things that are expected by the audience is key to creating a successful film. There are 3 main audience expectations: To be informed, to be captivated and to be inspired. I feel that my film opening will fall under being captivated, as I am looking to grab the attention of the audience and to entertain.

Storyboard

How a film is made

This is all about how a film is made, and the different stages it must go through to be successful.

Video on mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene is the arrangement of props and scenery on the stage of a theatrical production or on the set of a film. This is vital as it helps the audience to understand the scene and sometimes it can affect how the entire film or production flows.The mise-en-scene is very important for my film as it will help show the audience what the genre of the film is and what the aim of my film is. I want my film to come across as how a match day means so much for so many people and that football is a way of life for many. I am going to do this by using a variety of things in my film opening such as using brands of clothing that are closely connotated with football matches, for example CP company and adidas will be used in my opening as it will show football fans that are watching the film that this is what it is about, and that they will be interested in the film. In the background, I will use items such as signed shirts which will help the audience know that the main character in the film opening is a huge fan and will relate to viewers that have a keen interest in football.

Script

Begin with 2 production company logos
Scene opens with shot of man zipping coat up, and then sorting out goggles on the coat.
Cut to shot of fans celebrating goal
Cut back to close up shot of man putting trainers on
Long shot of man opening door, and stepping outside
Audio of football fans plays in the background of the footage, fans cheering
Cut back to shot of fans walking to the ground
Cut to shot of man walking down road, wearing casual gear.
Fade to black, and show name of film on the screen as well as producer etc.

Equipment needed for filming

For filming, I need a variety of equipment to get the best shots I possibly can. I need: Camera, standard lens, prime lens, tripod, steadicam, and a mic to plug into the camera for the audio. The tripod can be used for shots where no camera movement at all is required, or maybe for a pan/establishing shot which requires only sidewards movement. The steadicam is required for shots where the camera needs to track a moving object with little to no shaking, for example following a skateboarder closely. The prime lens can be used for shots where you only want a part of the scene in focus, as you can change the focus with it.