NOTE FOR THE EXAMINER

Hello examiner,
This is my AS blog.
The way you should read this in order for it to be in the correct order is starting from the very bottom of the blog and work your way up to the top.
Hope you enjoy reading this piece of media.

Evaluation Task 7- Directors Commentary

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

After looking back at my preliminary task film, there were several things that I noticed about it that  altered the way I filmed my opening sequence final task. The film was a success, not in the sense that it was a great piece of cinematography, but instead the fact that it helped me develop my film making skills, and see how to simplify for greater effect.


The opening sequence task firstly revealed to me that I was unprepared when I made the film. The poor acting skills of my characters epitomized this failure on my part. The camera I used did capture what I was intending on capturing in the overall scheme of things, however, the clarity of the picture was questionable, and this was another example of lack of preparation by me.

Below are examples of camera work from my preliminary task piece, and my final opening sequence. In the top picture, I used a standard handheld sony HD camera, which did not deliver huge image quality, and did not illustrate the movement that should be present in an action adventure film. The shot below is the opening sequence finalized copy, whereby I used a NIKON HD slow motion camera. This enabled me to capture the movement whilst still capturing good picture quality.

Thus on the back of under preparing for my preliminary task, I was much more prepared for the opening sequence task. I made a draft piece to see areas whereby the filming and acting was poor.

For my final piece, I decided to film in a much more appropriate location given the narrative of the action adventure that my film would follow. Thus, I changed from the dull grey landscape in England, to the warm and vibrant landscape in Australia.

Original Location:



New Location:

Evaluation Activity 6 Final Film Equipment

Evaluation Activity 5- Appealing to target audience

For this part of the task, I attempted to attract the audience by creating a range of film posters, as a form of advertisement. The use of beautiful landscapes, and places of real movement would help to attract people of many different age brackets. The use of the picture in the bottom image will attract many viewers who like to watch sport, as it helps to display his athleticism.

For this stage of the film making process, I decided to make several film posters. I made these as in every successful film, there is a good poster campaign linked with key aspects of the piece. In this case, the beach is an inherant part of my piece, as this is the location of my piece.

I attempted to give this second film poster a much darker look than the first copy. The image shows a skateboarder taking off of a jump. The darkness is a link however, to the opening sequence whereby the boy gets hit by a car on the way to a skating competition. Creating these links was very important to me as it helped make something quite simple have an intricate alternate meaning.

Evaluation Activity 5

How did you attract/address your audience?
My finalized copy of my opening sequence attempts to bring in a wide possible audience through the use of a poster campaign to advertise it. I have also used a story line that will hopefully entertain the viewer throughout, potentially making them spread the word around via a word of mouth marketing campaign. I also addressed a serious issue which is irresponsibility of people crossing roads, and so will hopefully attract families, who are trying to educate their kids on being responsible on the outside world. I also made a facebook profile page, where people could access the videos, and find out news for the film, and also a twitter page, whereby it could receive feedback from my followers.

Film evaluation task 4 Target Audience For Film

Evaluation question 3: What kind of institution might distribute your product and why?

EVALUATION QUESTION 2

How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups:

There are several similarities that are obvious to the viewer between the character in my piece, and Alex, in the film 'Thrashin'. Both characters are young males, who are escaping from their homes, after waking up. Both characters also have been dreaming, however, whilst one is dreaming of skateboarding, the boy in my piece is having a nightmare of what could prevent him from skateboarding.
Their apparels are different as well. The boy in my piece is wearing a pair of shorts and a shirt, whilst the boy in 'Thrashin' is wearing jeans and a long sleeved shirt.
In this sense, my character does fulfill conventional gender and age roles for a young male, however, it also portrays differing messages as well.

Evaluation Question 1

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

I feel that my opening sequence fulfills the conventionalities of a sports based narrative film. The reason why I believe this is that it has a sporting story line, but also has a diverse sub plot, which is shown when the boy gets hit by the car. It also shows a motivated young person, who loves skateboarding. The character has been dealt an unlucky past, but will stop at nothing until he succeeds.

Genre: Action Sports movie entrance

Conventions: to build up excitement to a final event (arriving at the final location)

Format: Opening sequence to a film, 2-3 mins long.

Character and plot summary

Robin Masters = he is a young skateboarder who is bored on his summer holidays





Location and Props: The esplanade in Surfer's Paradise (Australia)

Setting: beach landscape, along the waterfront





Props: Skateboard, watch, car, tooth brush and laptop.





Dialogue: There is no dialogue within this piece, apart from at the end of the piece, where there is a news report talking about the boy being hit by a car.

Other Sound: Waves, wheels rolling, crowds surrounding skateboarder, storms, brushing sounds, alarm, car engine, heartbeat, doors opening and closing and running water.




Technical Construction: I used I-movie for the editing process, and added the titles using final cut pro.




Camera: Nikon HD slow motion camera

Lighting: Natural light (from the sun), headlights from a car, street lights.

Editing Style: cuts, and matches on action predominantly

Representation: he is trapped, and skateboarding frees him

Target Audience: teenagers, mainly young teenagers, who will relate to the boredom of being trapped at home.

Demographic + Psychographic: the boy is 15 years old and is a caucasian male. He is a bored student on his summer holidays. The boys main interests are skateboarding and getting out of his house.

Institution: Serious Pictures Limited - this is my own production company that I designed



Titles: I have added titles and credits into specific points throughout the film, so that they fit in and look like they have been naturally integrated.

Finalised copy of Opening Sequence

For this I took into consideration the points of view of the class, and altered areas which they suggested, of which I agreed with them on. The most significant change in this piece is the alteration of the time laps, whereby I filled the screen, as opposed to the cropped images before. Three members of the class suggested this to be a flaw of the piece, and I agreed with them.

Draft Of Final Opening Sequence Film

For this piece, I filmed and edited some shots that I took on a Saturday afternoon, to see how to improve upon my technical abilities for the final opening sequence piece.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

Here is a screenshot of audience feedback I received via the social networking site facebook. Social media is one of the best ways that the internet has made films so accessible for independent film makers

From my audience feedback, I was able to find out how well I had fulfilled my brief. You can see above that my target audience have really enjoyed what I created.

Opening Sequence Posters

This was one of my original copies of my film poster. I decided to alter the image to make it darker, as it helps to add character and excitement to the piece. The faint graffiti on the end of the skate ramp is my films logo, so I have incorporated in into the piece so that it appears tat it belongs with the setting.