FINAL COURSEWORK

This is a compressed version of our final coursework, which can be viewed to get an approximate idea of our product although we would prefer viewing on DVD for full quality:

Evaluation of How we Have Aimed to Attract Target Audience

Please see our group presentation below. This is intended as a kind of DVD extra feature - the producers discussing how they hoped their film would go down - so it is better to watch it at full resolution on the DVD. We have had to compress to meet Blogger's upload maximum. However, it is also viewable here and is easier to read if you don't open full screen as this affects resolution:

 

Evaluation of Learning About Technologies

Please find our link to our presentation on Slideshare:

Our Slideshow on Technologies Used

Please be aware that the quality of images is not as good on Slideshare as on the original. We followed their advice and converted to a PDF but this has not upgraded the quality. Please see the CD sent with other coursework to see the quality of the original presentation.

Evaluation of Progress from Prelim Task to Main Task

1. Progress In Research and Planning

Prelim Task -

There was no obvious preparation for the prelim task; no target audience in mind, no script made, no desired music and no following story. We used a variety of techniques but only to practice them for our real pieces, they were not needed for portraying the task.

Final Task -

However, for the final task a lot of preparation went into it. Each of us researched a numerous amount of film openings in order to see how they target their audience and establish their genre within the first 2 minutes; from camera angles, sound, mise-en-scene and editing. We also researched titles and credits, production company idents, the features of an opening sequence, music - anything we thought we would need to make our own product authentic.

As we had an 80s setting, this also required research, from costumes and make up to how 80s news reports looked. So overall, our research was very extensive and detailed in comparison with the prelim task and gave us a much greater sense of control over the product.

Examples of film research

Genre Research

80s Research

 
Titles and Credits Research

We planned out the camera angles and movements we would need to highlight the atmosphere needed for our juxtaposing scenes, for example, very little movement is required other than close ups and different angles in the opening scene as we want to focus on the emotions of Jimmy rather than the surroundings, however, in the flashback scene there is a lot more panning and tracking to emphasise the differences between their lives in this time. Also, non-diegetic sound and dialogue is an essential part of the flashback, whereas there is silence for the majority of the opening.

Progress -

This helped us to acquire the components needed for making our opening as close to the genre as we can possibly get it. It also made us feel much more confident as the research clarified for us what we wanted to achieve and we were able to break down achieving it into smaller tasks.

2. Progress In Storyboarding and Scripting

Prelim Task -

For our prelim there was no storyboarding done as we planned on the spot; not knowing what to say or how the shots would turn out meant that our task turned out to look disorganised.

We had to film outside because we had not organised a room for ourselves:

The dialogue was also thought of on the spot which made it difficult to match when we had to repeat it, therefore making the continuity of the piece not match very well. The dialogue tends to ramble on:

Final Task -

The storyboard was a key part to our piece as it was very detailed to begin with and then continued to be added to.

By presenting our storyboard we were able to get feedback on what we could adjust and what worked well.

By then producing an animatic of our storyboard we were able to judge where dialogue and music suited.

Through having a script to go by we were able to repeat the exact same lines therefore making editing and continuity less of an issue.

We thought carefully beforehand of the locations we would have to use, particularly because of the era our genre was set in; the 80's. So we had to choose locations with a 'This is England' feel and which reflect the 80s in their look:

Progress - 

Having an outline for how the filming day was to go meant that it ran smoothly and less time on the day was spent thinking of new ideas or altering old ones.

However, dialogue was a slight issue because in our flashback scene it was small talk between the characters therefore sometimes a word can be subconsciously changed - this is something we will need to be even more vigilant about next year. We were also unprepared for all the bad weather we had - we were very unlucky and filmed on many separate occasions and each time were affected by weather, so next year we need to have an indoors alternative for key scenes.

The overall piece had more sense to it as the audience would want to know what's going to happen next, rather than what's actually happening 'now'.

3. Progress In Camera Work

Prelim Task - 

Our panning shots are often wobbly because we hadn't been moving the camera softly enough.

Due to our awkward setting we found the POV shot from Harry difficult to do as we couldn't find the right height and angle to be able to make it look effective.

Whilst trying to decide on what to do/say next, we would leave the camera running which resulted in low battery and a lot of unwanted footage.

Final Task - 

After a lot of different practice tasks we became more confident with the movement of the camera.

We looked more realistically at what we could do and achieve with camera angles and movements - we originally had tracking shots including for our walking shots but had to change them to panning shots for more realistic approach

We then practiced these panning shots a lot to ensure that we could carry them out and would be smooth and clean in our final piece

We also generally used a greater range of camera angles and movements including; close ups, mid shots and longs shots with the different distances all creating the right effect (i.e Mid Shot to see enough of surrounding, close ups to engage with characters emotions) and downwards tilts, panning shots, shot reverse shot and so on:

Range of shot types, distances, angles in final task:

4. Progress in Editing 

Prelim-

When first editing our prelim task, we were very inexperienced with Final Cut Express so were very slow at editing whilst trying to figure our way around the programme.

We did not have titles or credits in our prelim as we did not know how to create or import them.

The only editing we did for the prelim task was trimming our clips and ordering them on the timeline. Our only real focus was trying to create continuity - beyond that we did not look at creating meaning for the audience in other ways.

Final-

By the time we came to our final piece, we had a lot more editing experience and were more able to see it as a way of adding layers of meaning for the audience and not just about putting clips in the right order.

Of course, the sequencing of shots is still important and we still concentrated on continuity and the impact of the way shots are sequenced:

Hand positions noticed so this shot matches on action...

... with this shot

Footage of band carefully chosen from around half hour of material for maximum emotional impact

For example this shot illustrating a key relationship

 

 

Careful choice of images in editing - juxtaposition of images of Ruby

 



Also juxtaposing her life and happiness in the band footage with Jimmy's stillness and despair

 

 

However, we worked hard with the editing to achieve other effects and meanings too:

Layering video and png images to create news report

Using After Effects to create logo

LiveType and Photoshop for news report following 80s conventions

LiveType with sound effect (typewriter) beneath

After Effects to create title / credits

Example of credits

 

 

Our editing of music was also important - we wanted to contrast the silence and stillness of the opening scene with the loudness of upbeat music as we go back in time to happier moments.

Overall, we made great progress from the prelim task to the final sequence, but you can see a clear line of development because many of the improvements we made are related directly to what we learned from the prelim task and the mistakes we made.

Evaluation of Our Use of Genre Conventions

Mise-en -scene

3.

• We watched 80’s news to get an idea so we could recreate it for our piece, we gathered that it was quite different to the news today as it didn’t contain much content in terms of outside footage. 

• The use of the old BBC logo is another way to portray to audience that everything is set in the 80’s.
• After looking our research we concluded that an actual news report would be the best way to present the news of ‘Ruby’s’ death. (The kind that would be shown on the 6 o’clock news the day of her death) This is due to that fact that most of the reports followed the same format and we can replicate this to present our own script and footage; this will therefore help make our report have as much verisimilitude as possible as this creates authenticity needed for social realism genre. This is important in films such as "Green Street" and "Football Facory" which rely on authenticity.

Verisimilitude in Green Street

• This report for example only involves a main news reader sitting at his desk whilst communicating with other reporters. A simple graphic slide is put on the screen whilst they speak about Ruby. This is very minimalistic and all the effects are similar to the ones used in the 80’s.

5.

• We used this shot during the flash back in our piece which was a common convention used in coming of age movies.
• This was inspired by the movie ‘This is England’, as there is a similar shot in which we can see the character walking past old garage doors.
• This kind of location was often used in the 1980’s, which is why we used it and also it had a retro feel to it.

This is England '86

6 & 8

 

• During this mise en scene is important as both the characters had an 80’s look, for example Ruby was wearing a Parker coat which was a common trend/casual during that type period, we used this specifically as well as the hair cut of Sam, he had a quiff. The use of costume followed the conventions of real media products which try to establish an authentic feel in what is a kind of period drama.

7.  

 

• This is an important eye line match, we used this in our opening two minutes, and this involves Jimmy staring at a photo of his sister as a child.
• The use of photo frame is common in coming of age movies, as it can be used to show remorse or innocence of a character. A significant photo or film footage is common in social realism genre of movies to bring up memories of happier times and uses this to make the contrast clearer, an example of this is in ‘Stuart: A life Backwards’

• The use of this prop can also leave the audience intrigued how an innocent child like that changed into a possible drug addict.
• This is the exact reason as we wanted to create juxtaposition, so the striking difference between the before and after of Ruby. We edited the picture to make it appear that it was taken during the late 70’s. This is one of the ways we improved our piece’s verisimilitude, the absolute key feature of our genre. 'This is England' uses a montage of 80s footage to do this but we have more limited resources.

Sound

2 & 4 & 5
 

• The sound use in coming-of age films varies. Non-diegetic sound is often used at various points throughout most movies and the genre of this music is often ‘alternative’ or ‘indie’ as it is targeted at a youth market e.g. "juno" which released a popular soundtrack album, as our film probably will.
• We used characters that were the same age group, also during this close up of Jimmy during this we had complete silence which we used to create an emotional environment.
• In picture 2 we had the news flash running on top, during the close up of Harry. This is common as it shows Harry’s emotion during it. Also during the close ups of Jimmy we edited the sound of the news report, so that its gives a sound perspective of it being played from a TV.
• In pictures 4 & 5, we have a song during the flash back, this is used for juxtaposition. Its fast paced, and it fits in with the pace of the walking, also this is a common convention used in all genre of films which has flashbacks. Moreover this completely contrasts with the previous tone and ‘resets’ the film.
• This is also used to represent the transition from the sadness to happiness, in our case to show when life was better for them.

General

2.

•  A typical plot outline consists of a main teenager, usually a male, or a group of teenagers who are ‘coming of age’.  
• We didn’t follow the common convection of coming of age to have main character that is a male; we had both a male and female, Jimmy and Ruby Maverick.
• In coming of age movies, things normally start of all flourishing but then starts to take a downwards spiral as the movie progresses, they soon begin to realise the world isn’t as amazing as they thought it could be.
• The stories typically feature a mid-teen male and are often told in flashback form.  This is something that we chose to do but then taking a flash back to 1983 to begin the story of the band. 
• The teens are the protagonists of the story and there is usually some kind of catalyst who causes problems.
• In our piece, Sam is the catalyst as he will be having a relationship with Ruby.

Camera angles/movements

2 & 9

• We used a series of different shots of Jimmy during the initial stages of the piece, we used close ups and mid shots to do this.
• The use of these shots are typical in social realism as it is important to highlight who the story is going to be about and close ups/screen time can be used to do that.
• Use of close ups can help you cause an emotion, which the character can infer, for example the close up of Jimmy during the new flash which announces the death of Ruby Maverick automatically links them together, moreover this causes the audience to have sympathy for his character. This is a common method used in emotional films.

Editing

• We put a filter on top of our piece to create an 80’s feel by changing the colouring and saturation of the film, this adds to the verisimilitude of the piece as well.
• For our piece we also used cross cutting in the flash backs to create a fast paced mood - this helps move the opening sequence along.

Evaluation of our use of Genre Conventions

Opening Sequence

Still Shots

Genre Enables Audiences to Make Predictions

• Starting from the end result only leaves the audience to wonder how this result happened
• Persuades audience to find out more.
• Audience feedback made accurate predictions, with one or two interesting takes - so we must have established our genres clearly enough for this to happen.
• We feel as though the mix of genres has been conveyed well.
• Importance of how characters end up there, not what the ending is

Title - 1

• Similar font and extras to posters of ‘Quadrophenia’.

• Emphasises the type of band ‘Nostalgia’ is – whilst also emphasising the time change.
• Suits the part of our ‘coming of age’ genre

Credits - 2

• Matches the title
• Appears with zooms on brick walls/garage doors
• As ours is based in the 80’s focusing on a rock band, the credits needed to be lively as music-based films follow the style of the videos of their band type at times.

Characters - 3, 4

• Coming of Age films generally use characters in their teens as this is when rebellious stages tend to occur

Perks of Being a Wallflower

• Also teenage years are creative as you decide what you want to do in the future
• This is shown through our choice 3 teenagers pursuing dreams to become a famous band
• Through their success it can be seen that they were previously of middle class as opposed to working class through the equipment they must have had to form the band
• There are normally two sides to the characters portrayed in order to show contrast through the events of the film
• The flashback shows the innocent side to our characters whilst the opening shows the downfall

Mise-en-scéne - 5, 6

• Coming of Age films have been popular through all decades
• Our film is set in the 80’s therefore our mise-en-scéne had to emphasise this  
• Our casting choices would be, hypothetically, as our genre relies on having a sense of verisimilitude, the audience has to relate to the characters
• The clothing, props, and make-up (for the sister), portrays the 80’s setting through the bright colours and the prop of a satchel bag [5]
• The setting is simple and rough as streets in the 80’s would not have been particularly polished and modernised - also this kind of setting suits the social realism element of our genre as in "This is England".  [5]

This is England mise-en-scene

• The opening setting was in a house that has not been overly modernised since the 80’s which helps create the theme we intended, although you do not see a lot of the house
• Therefore, our two news reporters were cast wearing 80’s style ties and suits, and the actual news broadcast had the 80’s BBC logo edited in with the overall simple layout in order to create the 80’s atmosphere we needed [6]
• An essential prop to our piece was the photo frame seen in the first scene as it portrays the contrast between how the sister changed, further shown through the news report in the background announcing her suspected overdose - photos are often used to show happier times in the past in our genre.
  
  

Camera Work - 7, 8, 9

• The very start of our piece is a close up of one of the main characters because we wanted our audience to automatically identify him as being important - this is a convention of opening sequences 
• Through our audience feedback, this appeared to work
• A zoom into the photo frame, ending with a close up, identifies, again, another main character: the sister [7]
• We needed these close-ups so often because our genre relies on the audience’s connection with the characters
• We filmed the brother from many different angles, from the side, a high angle [8], the rule of thirds etc. in order to emphasise his importance and his emotions  - the closeness is a feature of the social realism genre which has a warts and all approach to filming its actors - they are not overly polished or airbrushed.

Actors from Green Street

• In the flashback we used panning, [9], to create more screen time for Sam, the best friend of the brother, as this identifies his crucial role too - also a longer shot distance more common of film openings as this is where the story actually begins.
• However, our camera work choices did not have a crucial role to the genre we chose, they were simple and not too extravagant because our piece is supposed to be overall a type of transparent editing to create the verismilitude needed for the genre, so the audience isn’t meant to be aware of the camera as it helps keeps engaged with the action and the characters

Editing - 10

• We use fade-ins and outs to move the piece along as we don’t want to give unnecessary information away in the first 2 minutes
• We also use a lot of sound perspective in the first scene, by altering the way the audience would hear the news report, because we want the audience to feel as though they are in Harry’s position, not watching the television
• However, cross-cutting was occasionally essential, particularly with the fan of Ruby’s
• We needed other forms of mise-en-scéne because you do not see a lot of the house itself
• The main editing technique used in the flashback scene is shot/reverse shot because Ruby and Sam are having a conversation for the majority of it which is a crucial part of the opening because Ruby is supposed to have some feelings for Sam therefore we need to see both of their facial expressions separately

Reverse shot to show feelings, Perks of Being a Wallflower

Sound - 11, 12

• Both of our scenes juxtapose to each other, which is shown mainly through the sound In the first scene, there is no music, only the diegetic sound perspective of the news report which emphasises the intensity of the events within it
• However, to contrast this, there is loud, 80’s style, non-diegetic music as soon as the flashback appears  - popular music is often used in the coming of age genre as it is associated with youth
• This is to highlight how the fame of the band changed their lives from being so upbeat to being miserable
• The dialogue is also essential to our piece, but particularly in the flashback scene, as it shows the relationship between Ruby and Sam
• The silence used in the opening is essential in creating the emotional atmosphere of her brother's mood
   

Evaluation - Our product and real media genre conventions

Evaluate how your product used, developed or challenged the forms and conventions of real media products:

Title/Credits: 1 & 2

Font of the title fits with the conventions of a 1980s band poster – theme for all of the credit and fonts to follow the kind of font found on this kind of band concert poster

Suits the at times gritty feel of the genre, but also the dream like ambition of the band wanting to gain success – ambition and wanting to achieve something is a main feature within coming of age films

Written on garage door and brick walls – fitting with convention of backstreets and run down areas featuring in coming of age and social realism films

This is England

Name credits in block hand written styles – animation writes them out like being hand written, with an added ‘wobble’ effect, so not too static, to make credits appear asynchronous with music

These credits would also make for more complex genre representations – film insinuates a negative representation – credits however would help to add to the relief and light hearted aspects of the film to prevent this stereotyping

We originally intended to have really simple credits but these credits seem to fit better with the feel of the film being set in the 80’s, the plot of the film and the conventions of  coming of age drama – wanting to gain success (with the band in this instance)

These credits also help emphasis the juxtaposition of a solemn matter and atmosphere, to a flash back of a much happier and prosperous time

Characters: 3, 4 & 5

Characters found in coming of age films are typically teens that age coming of age themselves; therefore teenagers were used for the main characters

These characters appear to be from a working class background and this is important as their rise to fame would appear even more of an achievement as they have started on ‘the back foot’

The characters that face the problems in social realism films are typically male but we have broken the convention by making the main sufferer a female

Male characters in Stand by Me

The characters in the flash appear young and prosperous, something that is typically found in coming of age films as the aim of them is showing teenagers discovering life

However the film starts in the present day which reveals that something drastic has taken place to one of the main characters which is unusual for this genre to reveal so early on. This helps make the product interesting and attracts the audience attention.

Mise-en-scene: 3, 6, 7 & 8

Mise-en-scene is vital for our product as it is set in the 1980s

Therefore the house that ‘Jimmy’ is sitting in has 1980s decor and the props shown within the house (i.e Photo frames) were all from the 1908’s. This then created an authentic and believable atmosphere as most things appeared in place.

This creates a sense of reality and the cast of unknown actors achieves this as well as they are more believable in their roles. The casting of the characters also makes them feel like they are really from this time i.e. their hairstyles, again makes them appear authentic.

Mise-en-scene in This is England

The location for the filming outside for the news report, walking and conversation, also fitted as these outside areas are timeless and can fit into most modern decades.

The brick walls and garage door behind ‘Sam’ in the walking scenes, create a familiar back drop for social realism films fitting in with their conventions

The weather was always against us whilst we were filming but the rain on the day of the news report now actually helps to create a solemn atmosphere to match the news of Ruby’s death. This is something that some products would seek to create artificially to help create the ideal of pathetic fallacy, but our piece had it naturally. (!)

However the then needed use of an outside coast and umbrella took away from the sense of verisimilitude as they appear slightly too modern for the scene. On the other hand, having no outside coat or umbrella in this situation would have appeared completely unrealistic as it is not something that a news reporter would do.

The costume of the characters also fit in to the conventions of what would be worn in a 1980’s film to again make sure they appear to fit naturally in this decade

However the weather of the snow meant that one of the costumes planned for this scene, which contained bright colours and appeared overtly 80’s had to be covered. This was again by an overcoat, which took away from creating an 80’s atmosphere. On the other hand it also would have appeared unrealistic to have both of the characters outside in the snow with no overcoats, so the costumes had to be adapted.

Camera Work: 9, 10, 11 & 12

We used a lot of close ups to show the emotions of our characters, to allow the audience to identify the main characters and feel an early connection straight away

The coming of age genre relies heavily on the portrayal of emotion and emotional response and the close ups allowed us to show the necessary emotion. For example, we used many close ups on ‘Jimmy’ to show the depth of sadness on his face, inferring that he must be the brother of the girl who has died, showing why he is so deeply affected.

Similar use of close up in "Perks of Being a Wallflower"

A high angle at one stage is also used to show him as being vulnerable, something the characters of coming of age films often are, with this technique used to highlight it

We also used two shots to show ‘Sam’ and ‘Ruby’ together, to foreshadow the possible idea of a relationship between the main characters. Relationships are a theme that is often explored in the coming of age genre and is shown through the use of this shot.

Two shot from "Perks"

 Shot-reverse shot was also used to show ‘Ruby’ and ‘Sam’ a conversation which is something that is found in all types of film genre as the technique enables a conversation between to charters to be shown, whilst at the same being able to see the other parties facial expressions from the other characters point of view.

From the very simple close ups and mid shots in the first half of the sequence, which creates a demure atmosphere, this changes in the second where panning shots are used. This helps shows a change in time and is also a typical way of establishing the surroundings of the characters; the shots also show us that the character on screen is going somewhere as panning with the character we see he is obviously walking to a destination. It changes the pace of the sequence as well which helps create a new mood and atmosphere.

Editing: 14

Creating a new mood and atmosphere is also achieved by changing the pace of the editing. In the first half the shots are long, where as when we move into the second half, they become much shorter takes.

Cross-cutting is also used in both halves, with in the second helping to create a faster pace mood.

In the first half however the cross cutting enables the audience to see the news report and ‘Jimmy’ the brother so the audience can get a good idea of what is going on. This is a common technique to give the audience all the information they need and is also used to help create tension.

Ellipsis and Fade to black are also used at points to switch between times, the present day and flash back, as our film is a non-liner story line. The ellipse also enables the story to be moved along so we can see the conversation between ‘Ruby’ and ‘Sam’ to gain the sense of relationship.

‘Sam’ and ‘Ruby’ also gain equal screen time at this point between the walking and sitting on a bench and through shot reverse shot. This is a common way of showing how at this point they are ‘equals’ as people, something that would go on to change.

A filter is also used to change the colouring and saturation of the film to give it an older feel; this again helps create the verisimilitude feel along with the adding of logos and photographs for the news report

Sound: 15 & 16

Silence plays a major part in our sequence at the beginning as it helps to build tension and create a sensitive atmosphere.

The ambient sound helps to do this too as at times; this sound appears heightened due to the sensitivity. For example the sound of the rain can at points appear louder than it would normally to help show the state and emotions of ‘Jimmy’.

Dialogue is also essential as this, combined with a voice over, is what informs the audience of ‘Ruby’s’ death and the way in which we did this develops the forms and conventions of real media products as we chose to show this through a news report. We therefore tried to make this as authentic as possible by looking at research in detail, to make the product as verisimilitude as possible.

The sound perspective changes as well as we hear the news report as if it is coming out of a TV. This shows how it is being heard through Jimmy’s perspective, so is a way of letting the audience know he can hear it too.

The general ambient sound throughout the whole product also enables it to seem like a real media product as the hearing of natural sound makes it appear verisimilitude.

Dialogue is also used for the conversation between ‘Ruby’ and ‘Sam’ as it demonstrates how ‘Ruby’ appears to be keener on ‘Sam’ than he is on her. He is still seen to be a good person as he is willing to talk to her, however he does bring us ‘Jimmy’ at many points showing how he is loyal to his best friend.

A major sound point is where non-diegetic music starts at the flashback of the piece as this is a clear way of showing the time change but it also creates a completely different atmosphere. The product changes from something much harder hitting, to something more light hearted. This is something coming of age genres balance throughout.