Rating of our film

We feel that in reflection after was have watch our film opening in its entirety that our film should have the rating 12A. This is becuase there is no violence or scenes within our film that would be unsuitable for twele year olds. we have decided not to rate it PG becuase there is some mild swearing included in our film but we think it does not deserve to be a 15.

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

When researching into films genres that our similar to our own film opening we based our inspiration around films such as Mean girls and She’s the Man. Both of these films had large budgets, (Means girls $17 million) (She’s the man $20 million) and are both big budget American films. They were distributed by prominent companies within the film industry. She’s the Man was distributed by the hugely successful Dreamworks and Mean Girls was distributed by Paramount. As our film would be a low budget film and the first of our projects we would not expect such a big prominent company to distribute our film. We feel that a company such as Working Title would distribute our film as after conducting research into this company we have found that they have previously distributed films that have similar things in common to our film. Working Title has distributed low budget films such as Shaun of the dead and Atonement which are a similar category in the British Film industry. As Working Title is a British company we feel that they would be the most interested in distributing our film and would be the most successful in distributing it.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Keeping in mind our target audience, while coming up with idea's and actually filming our opening we always referred back to the social groups that we were trying to represent. As we are representing teenagers with our film, we based our film opening on the typical school/college love story. We wanted to clearly represent different relationships, peers and different situations that teenagers face when at school and college.
When coming up with idea's for characters we again referred back to what social groups we are representing and decided on using a stereotypical geek for our main character. When we had decided this, we then had to brainstorm clear idea's and situations that this character could face whilst at college that would represent the different social groups and link back to the target audience. To add more to the representation of social groups, we also chose to include a few more characters. We added the boy character who the geek character likes and the "bitch" character who didn't like the geek. By doing this we feel that we did well to represent several different social groups within school and college which we also feel our target audience would be able to relate to.
We researched this idea to help aid us with our planning. We decided to use the film Mean Girls as a good example that clearly represents different social gropus.

Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you think you have learnt from the progression for it to the full task?

Something we definatley learnt while filming our preliminary task was how to use the video camera's. Nobody in our group had used one before so firstly we had to ensure we knew where all the different buttons were and we knew how to handle the camera, both on and off the tripod. Also, when we had finsished filming our preliminary task we began editing it. While doing this we learnt how to use the macs and were all introduced to final cut-pro. We went through the different stages of editing, firstly logging and capturing our footage. We then continued this, aswell as cutting out bits we didn't need when the footage was on the time line.
Another huge thing we learnt when filming the preliminary task was about the 180 degree rule. This is a concept in media referring to an imaginary line which cuts through the middle of the scene. If the line is crossed while filming it changes the audiences perspective of the scene which could lead to confusion, this is why crossing the line should be avoided at all time while filming. Our group however did cross the line when filming the preliminary task. We only actually realised this when we came to edit the footage but we decided to stick with it as it is a clear error that we could point out when discussing our preliminary task and also when filming our main task as we knew that it was a mistake that wouldn't be made by us again.
We also learnt about continuity while filming the preliminary task. This is something that needed to be included as it is making sure that the characters, editing, mise en scene and sound all fit in with each scene and had to flow throughout. While filming the preliminary task i think that continuity set us up hugely for our main task, more than our prelim as there was more involved and we had a better idea of what needed to be done then.
There are also a few differences in our preliminary task and our main task. One difference is the sound. When we were filiming our prelim the camera we were using wasn't pickig up any sound. When we edited the footage we didn't really think that this mattered as that wasn't the main point of filming the preliminary task. Also, although the camera we used for the main task didn't pick up sound either we included a voice over and a soundtrack in our film opening, so the fact that the diagetic sound that didn't get picked up actually worked in our advantage.
Also, not much planning went into our prelim storyline which is why it ended up abit basic. In our main task howvever because we created a treatment, storyboard, shotlist etc. we were able to really work with our ideas both while filming and while editing the footage. For example, using different effects on final cut-pro. Also, no titles were included in our prelim task but we made aure that we used them in our main task as they make the film look more realistic and add to the proffessional look of the film.
Another difference when looking at our prelim task and our main task is the locations that we filmed at. In our preliminary we filmed everything in college and alothough we did include the college in our main task, as it linked in with our plot, we also chose to film elsewhere as this would firstly differ from our prelim and also because it gives our film a variety of locations and different dynamics within the film.

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

During the filming both of us, especially Lauren as she was in charge of filming the footage, became familiar with using the video camera to create a professional film. We made sure that the tripod was placed on one side of a 180 degree line so that the continuity of the film was to a high standard. We learnt the majority of our new techniques during the editing process of the film making. For us this was the most interesting aspect of the task as we got to see how our film looked once we had completed the editing and we got an insight into the work it takes to produce a film. To edit our film we used Apple Mac computers and the editing software Final Cut Pro. Excluding the preliminary task it wad the first time that either of us had used this software so it was exciting for us to be able to use it to create our film. We began by using the log and capturing tool on Final Cut Pro to capture all of the footage that we had filmed that we needed for our final version. Once we had decided upon which shots to use we added them to our project. After this we began to place the different shots that we had log and captured onto our timeline and when played it shown us the rough edit of our film. This was helpful as it gave us a clear indication of which shots worked well and which scenes needed to be re shot as the continuity of the film was not up to the standard we expected and because of this we had the chance to re shoot part of our film again to make sure it could be as good as possible. Once we had log and captured the new footage and placed it on the timeline we were happy with the results and we began to include our titles. When deciding upon our titles we used different types of text to make them more interesting. We used the typewriter option for the title of our film to add extra emphasis to it and we played around with the various font and colour options until we were happy with the overall effect created. We then placed the titles onto the timeline and began to create freeze frames. This was an important aspect of our film opening as it added to the effects of the titles created and drew more attention to what we felt were important parts of the film. We used a number of freeze frames in the opening which we created on Final Cut Pro such as the shot where Lauren bumps into Steph and the beginning of the canteen scene. Both of these shots also included titles which had more of an impact due to the freeze frames. After we had created the titles and were happy with them and added the freeze frames we began to add transitions in between the shots we had captured to make the film more appealing and to create an overall professional finish to the film. We used transitions such as fade to create this effect. After we had completed all of this we felt that the overall quality of the film could be improved to we began to change the colouring of the footage by using tools such as colour saturation to create a more professional finish and we feel that this has worked well. We also imported our MP3 soundtrack into Final Cut Pro and added it onto the timeline. We used various tools to change the volume levels of the soundtrack and the digetic sound within the clip to make sure that there was no clashes and that the opening of the film was clear. When capturing the voiceover we used a video camera and a microphone to make sure that there was a high quality sound that was picked up so it was clear. We needed to use a microphone to pick up the sound as the voiceover was key to our film opening and without it our film would not have made sense. After we had recorded the voiceover we log and captured it and separated the visual footage from the sound as we only needed the sound from it. Once we had done this we placed the voiceover on our timeline ad our film was complete.

How did attract/address your audience?

When we began to think of the type of audience that we would like our film to attract we researched into existing films of a similar genre to ours. We found that these films, also aimed at teenage girls, involved comedy. Films such as ‘It’s a boygirl thing’ is centred around a relationship between a boy and a girl in high school. As this was along similar lines to our idea we looked into the different techniques they had used in order to attract their intended audience and we kept these features in mind when making our film. As we did not rely heavily on digetic sound with the opening of our film we wanted the voiceover to create as much humour as possible. We wanted to create the idea that the voiceover was the private thoughts of the central character and what added to the humour of the opening was the fact that she would not want anyone else to listen to her thoughts. The voiceover portrayed and exaggerated stereotype of the ‘loner’ within a college environment and we played upon the features expected to add humour. During the costume ideas we decided to exaggerate certain elements of the characters wardrobe such as her glasses as we wanted the character to create humour visually as well. During the final shot of the opening the audience discovers that the character is wearing pyjamas in front of her crush after going through all of the effort to get ready. We played upon the character’s awkwardness and lack of concentration to again create humour within the opening. We also found that the intended audience watch films based around a relationship between two teenagers. During these films there is often a reason why the characters are not yet in a relationship which makes the storyline for the film more interesting. This was what the main idea for our film was based on and we wanted to reflect this within the opening minutes of the film. We kept the characters at a similar age to our intended audience to make our film more relatable to them. During the planning stages we decided to base our soundtrack on a number of different songs. One of which was ‘Fireflies’ by Owl City which is currently in the charts and another was the ‘Skins’ soundtrack. Both of which are popular with the intended audience and we decided to base the soundtrack that we used during the opening of the film on these. This would create more of an interest and it would be beneficial for us to use a soundtrack that the audience would like. Most people find humour out of other people’s embarrassment so we included many embarrassing moments for the main character in the opening sequence for example the pyjamas scene. We have also used a variety of camera angles such as the panning shot in the canteen scene and the over the shoulder shots use in the bathroom scene. We did this to make the film seem more professional and to make sure our film opening was not monotonous.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The genre of our film is a hybrid Teen RomCom and because of this we feel that the core target audience for our film will be teenage girls. The main character which the audience see throughout the opening sequence and then in the film that would follow is a young, teenage girl in college. As the film is based predominately on her life and her experiences we feel that girls of a similar age will be able to identify with her character and therefore enjoy the film more. As this is a RomCom we feel that people of a younger age will find the film funnier as they can relate to the character and have probably been through similar experiences. When deciding upon the characters for the film we wanted each one to belong to a clear stereotype as every college environment has these groups. The audience will then be able to relate the characters to someone they know or even themselves which makes them feel more involved within the film so they will enjoy it more. We believe that females will be more interested in this film as it is based around the thoughts and feelings of a teenage girl and they will have a stronger connection with her character than males. Although the comedy element of the film will appeal to both genders as both will find it funny. Teenage boys will have an insight into the mind of a teenage girl and the comic thoughts of the character will create humour which they will find funny. Teenage girls will also find the voiceover funny as it is an exaggerated version of the thoughts of a girl in high school/college. The core target audience on which the film is based on will be interested in the latest trends and would be aware of the different dynamics within a school/college environment. We would also expect them to have good relationships with their peers as the film creates humour out of the girl being a ‘reject’ so people in a similar situation to the main character would not find the film appreciate the humour within our film. The audience for the film will be teenage girls in general and they would most likely be in a school or college environment as they would further appreciate the humour in our film. Although we are not restricting the audience in terms of gender as there will be male characters included later in the film which would mean that teenage boys would be more likely to watch our film. We also based our idea for the target audience around research we conducted on previous films with a similar genre. We found that in films such as ‘Mean Girls’ and ‘It’s a boygirl Thing’ the audience was largely teenage girls. We used these films as a reference to ours as they are both based around a girls relationship with her peers in a high school environment.

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

The genre we chose for our film opening was a hybrid teen rom-com. We chose to play on teen relationships throughout school and college as we thought this would be an interesting storyline to come up with and work with and also we thought that this type of film would easily attract our target audience. We also researched other films that linked into our chosen genre, for example Mean Girls and She's The Man. We think that using these films as examples would be helpful as they are similar genres and are directed to the same target audience. Also, the different scenes and film clip's of these films always link back to our original idea's for our own film opening. We also tried to attract our audience by the mise en scene, sound and the editing. We used typical props that linked to the school/college idea's for example, a rucksack and Steph's geek glasses. We thought this would represent our storyline well and link back again to our audience and school/college life. The sound we used is relatively quiet throughout but is also quite upbeat and contempoary which we thought would work as we are targetting a younger audiencce who would be more interested in a more modern type film. Also, again keeping our audience in mind, when editing we eventually decided to cut alot of footage out as we thought that different scenes were taking up too much time overall and they were too long. We decided to delete parts as we didn't want to bore our audience and we wanted to keep them interested throughout the whole film opening.

Main task name: Stereo Typical

We have now thought of the name for our film and we feel that it is appropriate as it conveys the problems the main character is facing.

Re-shooting

After we decided to shoot part of the film again we looked around college to see where the ideal location for the corridoor scene would be. After taking into consideration the previous shots we had filmed and the errors we made in decideding upon the location we made sure that the place we chose had enough natural light to make the shot succsessful. We also wanted to find a time during the college day in which to film the canteen scene as we wanted it to have clear groups within location but also have enough room to be able to film. Once we had decided upon the settings and timings of our film we then went on to shoot them. The filming went well and we got all of the footage done and eradicated our previous errors. We also found when looking back at the first scenes we shot in the corriodoor that we crossed the line making the footage unusable as this would have effected the overall finish of our film. To make sure we did not do this again we payed close attention to where we set the tripod and where Lauren filmed the footage from. We got all the footage needed for our film and we have now started to edit the new footage into our previously captured work.

Filming again

When we finished adding all of our clips onto the timeline on Final Cut Pro we realised that the make-up scene was too long and made our film seem monotonous. We also thought that the lighting in the corridoor scene wasn't good enough as there was not enough natural light in the place that we used. To rectify this we decided to shoot the corridoor scene again in a different location and cut out a large part of the make-up scene. We then went on to do some further planning on how we can create another scene that will work well in our film .We decided to film anohter part in college as this is where the sotry is based on and is a large part of the character's life. We thought that a canteen scene would work really well in our film as it highlights the different stereotypes in college and further shows the characters awkwardness in a college envionment.

First day of editing

Today we began editing the footage we have collected at the various locations for the blog. Due to our previous experience of using Final cut pro in the preliminary task we went straight into editing. We began by watching all of the footage that we had captured to see which parts of it we wanted to include in our final film as we shot the same scene from various angles to make sure that we had a variety of angles in the final film. Once we had decided which shots to use we began to log and capture our footage into Final cut pro. We then began to place the shots that we captured onto a timeline and we got a rough idea of what our film would look like once the editing was completed.

Filming the make-up scene

Today we shot the make-up scene which is a key part of our film. We filmed this at Steph's house as we needed to keep the film as realistic as possible. We kept to the original sotryboard idea of having an over the shoulder shot of Steph putting the make-up on in the mirror. During the filming we experimented with the different make-up styles that the character will be trying to create. When considering this we based our ideas on stereotypes and exaggerated this. During the foundation scene we used orange foundation to create a comic effect for our film. We used bright pink blusher and lip stick to conform to these stereotypes. During the scene we wanted to convey the characters inexperience with make-up which hopefully adds the humor in the film opening so we highlighted her mistakes which will also be brought to the audience's attenition in the voiceover. We also used some close-ups and mid shots during this scene. Lauren filmed all of the footage for this scene. We also filmed the doorstep conversation scene between Ryan and Steph today. We did this as we wanted Steph's make-up to be the same in this shots and in the previous shots and this would be hard to recreate. This was important as we wanted to keep the continuity of our film as seemless as possible.

Weather report for outdoor filming

This was the weather report that we checked before we went out to film the ourdoor scene of our film. We thought that these conditions were ideal so we decieded that this was the best day to film.
13:00 weather
Sunny
12°C 54°F
East North Easterly13mph 21km/h
50% 1013mb Very good

Second day of filming

Before we decided which day we were going to film the park scene we checked the weather report for the weekend to make sure it wasn't raining as this would have ruined the filming and put us behind scedule. We decided to film on Sunday the 21st March as the weather was bright and there would be no rain. This was important as we wanted the lighting to reflect the mood of the character so we needed it to be bright. The outdoor scene was filmed in a park which we found during a reckkie we did during the planning stages of the task. We had to do a number of takes to make sure that the shots linked together seemlessly when w3e came to edit the film once all of the filming was done. The most difficult part we found to film was the conversatation between Ryan and Steph as we realised that the camera angle we originally planned to use would not work well in the film and becuase of this we decided to stray away from the storyboard and use a different angle to make sure the scene worked well within our film. The day went well and we got all of the outdoor scene filmed and we recorded more footage just to make sure that we would not have to go back out to film this scene again and put us behind.

Costumes During Filming

We decided to base the costumes around the original research we carried out. During the filming we made sure that Steph was wearing her glasses at all times to make it clear to the audeicne what stereotype her character belongs to. We also decided to have her wearing a rucksack during parts of the college scene to add to the character. The files were necessary to the opening scene as it drew attention to the bump scene where Lauren bumps into Steph. The only part of this costume that we kept the same throughout the film was the glasses as it is a key part of the costume for the character.