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

My media product uses several forms and conventions seen throughout the crime thriller genre used by large studios. Often considered 'no risk' films, these do little to develop or challenge forms and conventions and merely present a proven formula of film making. These are not heralded as award winners, and do not make the audience question anything, they do however ensure the company little risk and often an assured profit. We designed our film in this style as we believed it would be interesting to create a media product in this manner and to ensure we followed conventions set by the genre, we interviewed a small group of people, and asked them what they would expect from a crime thriller. We then incorporated what they had said into our opening sequence, many people had said that they expected a film in our genre to start with a lot of action, and to contain a chase sequence. It therefore seemed a logical choice to start the film with a chase scene. Another comment we received was that the protagonist would be close to death at some point during the story. To incorporate this I had the idea that the protagonist would be shot at the end of the opening sequence, and wake up in a hospital in the next scene. This would allow some character development to occur in the next scene, whilst the audience is introduced to the action straight away. This allows the audience to know the genre instantaneously even if they know nothing about the film prior to watching it. In this way it is similar to thrillers such as the 'James Bond' series of films, developed due to their low risk, and the high amount of action contained within them. This series of films are also age rated similarly to what we wanted to rate our product (12A).

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product represents two social groups in the form of both the protagonist and the antagonist. The obvious social groups would be that both are characters are depicted as being different ages. The protagonist wears a hoodie and is supposed to be in his late teens, whereas the antagonist wears a suit and this suggests that he is older than the protagonist. The protagonist is running from the antagonist and is living on the run, our opening occurring when the protagonist is finally found. The antagonist can also be seen as representing a businessman or someone higher up in society. The protagonist could be seen as slightly stereotypical due to the costume he wears.

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

I believe that our media product would be distributed by a very large media institution, such as the likes of 20^th Century Fox as they distribute a lot of low risk films that do little to challenge the forms and conventions of their genre. The film could be distributed both through Cinemas, DVD and Fox's TV channels, allowing them to show it earlier than other channels. By doing this the film gets a distributor and Fox get the rights to show the film early. In the past Fox have distributed several low risk films, and we ensured our film would fit the target audience that Fox caters to with these films. I also believe that Fox are an ideal media institution to distribute my product because they already cater for the audience of our film in almost every type of media. This means they have an existing understanding of our audience and this would help when advertising the film. However there are other means of distribution aside from cinema and DVD, an ever growing and popular means of distribution of video products is the internet, with several video hosting sites such as youtube. This would be difficult to obtain a profit from however, as main revenue would have to be devised through online advertising and could lead to the film losing money. Whilst not very plausible for large films, internet distribution is perfect for low budget films, and rising directors to portfolio their work.

Who would be the audience of your media product?

We targeted our audience of mainly males between the ages of 15-25 before we began filming, as we felt we had to ensure we knew who we were creating the film for. Similar films catering for our target audience are rated 12 and we wanted a similar rating. To achieve this we ensured all the content contained within our opening was appropriate to our audience. We used a questionaire before filming so that we would know who our audience would be, and could therefore design our opening for this audience.

My product is comparable in this respect to other films, distributed by similar films such as the James Bond Series and Ocean's Eleven. Both of these are rated 12 and are aimed at the same audience as my film.

How did you attract/address your audience?

We knew who our audience were before we began filming, through the use of research, both similar films and asking several people our questionnaire.  By researching both of these it allowed us to shape what our final product would become. This also allowed for us to plan our storyboard extensively and therefore improve our final product. Without our research it would be incredibly hard for us to attract and address our audience. We addressed our audience by using members of our audience for our opening, allowing our audience to relate to them. This allows the audience to feel connected to the film and increases the level of immersion. I felt that we addressed and attracted our audience well, using the methods mentioned earlier. This should increase revenue for the film, as more people will want to see it, and those that do will recommend it to their friends and family.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have learnt a lot about the technologies used in the film industry during the process of construction my opening to a fiction film. Firstly, the usage of a video camera and an SD card. I had never used a video camera for an extended period of time before and this was a very interesting and useful experience. Within using this I also learnt several techniques whilst using it to obtain different shots and camera angles. 

When we began editing we worked on an Apple iMac using the program final cut express. I had again used neither of these before. I feel that I have learnt a lot in the development of my product.  I think that the most important thing that I have learnt is how to edit match on action perfectly, and how to sync the audio with what’s happening on screen, like the gunshots fired in my finished product. 

I think that I have learnt a lot about the technologies used in the film industry, especially with the production. Without having editing software our final product would have been of a very poor quality, and would not be of the same standard. This has made me realise how important the technology is to the industry.

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

During the progression from the construction of the preliminary task to the construction of the opening to our fiction film I have learnt a lot within several areas of film making. I believe that the most notable of these is working with a camera, as before I started the course I had never filmed anything before, and am now confident to discuss and describe different camera shots and angles. Another area I feel I have progressed in is that of a greater understanding when creating a product in this medium. Before I started this course I didn't understand the sheer amount of work and effort that goes into creating a two minute sequence let alone a two hour film. I feel that this has helped me progress both as a producer and a consumer or to use a better word, prosumer. I also think that planning played a far more vital part when filming our opening sequence as we did very little planning when filming our preliminary task. I also learnt from this that you can never do too much planning for something like this. I also feel that I have become more proficient in the use of technology, both with the editing software and with the cameras when filming.

Finished Product

After several weeks of work Myself and Paul have finally finished the two minute opening to our fiction film. In comparison to the storyboard I think that the finished product is a very accurate rendition, and is what I had visualised when I began drawing it.  We finished editing on the 17^th February, roughly three weeks after we finished filming. This obviously took a lot longer than the filming itself, which was completed in a day. This was enlightening and allowed me to fully understand and appreciate the film making process. In context to the opening itself I am very pleased with how much I have improved since the construction of our preliminary task (see first post) and the amount of varied camera shots and angles we used. This gave a real fluidity to the chase sequence, and allows the audience to follow the action with ease. However some limitations caused the overall quality of the piece to suffer. Limitations such as technology and time were the largest and most persistent. For example we discovered that with the technology we had it would be difficult to edit a muzzle flash every time the gun is fired. I did some research and discovered that it would be difficult to see this during the time of day we filmed. However we did sync the sound of the gunshot almost perfectly with the recoil of the weapon on screen. This particular aspect, match on action is something that was displayed well both in the preliminary task and our finished product. Overall I’m pleased with our final product and a lot of the aspects of it however there are some small parts of it that could be improved, particularly one of the shots at the beginning, depicting the antagonist which is a little blurry.

Music

When editing our opening we decided that we really needed music and sound effects to accompany what was happening on screen. The first half of the video, or the entirety of the chase scene will have a track playing called “Ten Feet Below Two Million”. The end of the video will also have music, “Toxic Shock” slightly moodier, and representing the protagonists internal conflict and serving as ending the opening.  Both these tracks are used with permission from Derek R. Audette and the artist will be credited in the titles. http://derekaudette.ottawaarts.com/music.php.

"Ten Feet Below Two Million"

Written & Performed by:
Derek R. Audette
©MMX Derek R. Audette (SOCAN)

"Toxic Shock"
Written & Performed by:
Derek R. Audette
©MMV Derek R. Audette (SOCAN)