1. In what way does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products.
In our film opening we have used the action genre which also contains various conventions from movies such as skyfall. The typical action involves fights, chase scenes, life threatening situation, gun, explosions and an evil villain. Like Big action based Hollywood Blockbusters we also chose to show our audience our story through fights explosions, car chases. During the pre-production stage of our film opening, we found inspiration for the fight scene from the film ‘Merantu Warrior’. The elevator fight scene shown in this film, is similar to the elevator fight scene in our film opening. When comparing our fight scene to the opening fight scene in ‘skyfall’, we have successfully achieved the stereotypical idea of the antagonist initially being represented as the dominant figure. Inspiration for the role of the antagonist in our film opening had came from ‘Frank Martin’ from the transporter series. Throughout the transporter series it was seen that Jason Statham (Frank Martin) was a man of very few words, he only spoke when needed to and we wanted our antagonist to be similar. This led us to develop upon the transporter series, as the antagonist did not speak at all in our film opening. Like most action films based in a business context, the antagonist is mostly dressed in suit and tie. This is seen in films such as Transporter 2 and Skyfall. It can be seen that our film has successfully achieved this convention as our film was based in a business city (London) and our antagonist was dressed in suit and tie. Similarly to typical action films, we decided to go with a dominant good-looking antagonist to help attract a female audience but still attract a large male audience due to the action genre. In real life, we would use Christian Bale, this is because his role as the antagonist in ‘American Psycho’ was a successful business man, which shows he will suit our character profile.
In our film opening we have used the action genre which also contains various conventions from movies such as skyfall. The typical action involves fights, chase scenes, life threatening situation, gun, explosions and an evil villain. Like Big action based Hollywood Blockbusters we also chose to show our audience our story through fights explosions, car chases. During the pre-production stage of our film opening, we found inspiration for the fight scene from the film ‘Merantu Warrior’. The elevator fight scene shown in this film, is similar to the elevator fight scene in our film opening. When comparing our fight scene to the opening fight scene in ‘skyfall’, we have successfully achieved the stereotypical idea of the antagonist initially being represented as the dominant figure. Inspiration for the role of the antagonist in our film opening had came from ‘Frank Martin’ from the transporter series. Throughout the transporter series it was seen that Jason Statham (Frank Martin) was a man of very few words, he only spoke when needed to and we wanted our antagonist to be similar. This led us to develop upon the transporter series, as the antagonist did not speak at all in our film opening. Like most action films based in a business context, the antagonist is mostly dressed in suit and tie. This is seen in films such as Transporter 2 and Skyfall. It can be seen that our film has successfully achieved this convention as our film was based in a business city (London) and our antagonist was dressed in suit and tie. Similarly to typical action films, we decided to go with a dominant good-looking antagonist to help attract a female audience but still attract a large male audience due to the action genre. In real life, we would use Christian Bale, this is because his role as the antagonist in ‘American Psycho’ was a successful business man, which shows he will suit our character profile.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our film opening had contained 4 actors, although we were restricted in terms of the availability of actors, we all agree that the actors (to a large extent) represented the social group in which they are contained in. For example, the antagonist in our film opening was a hitman who is represented to be dedicated to his field of work and is a professional in the work that he does, this became evident through the way in which the antagonist was not reluctant to fight/challenge the security guard, he reacted quickly and did not hold back the anger that was boiling inside of him. His profession became evident when he had won the fight against the security guard therefore showing that he is powerful than the average man. Common conventions show that the antagonist should be male as this gives the feel that the antagonist is dominant throughout the film. The antagonist in our opening is similar to Frank Martin (Jason Statham) in The Transporter series, this is because they are both dedicated to their job and they only speak when required to do so. In addition to this, they are dressed in similar attire and win the majority of the fight scenes they are in. Furthermore, the actor who portrayed the security guard successfully achieved all of the connotations attached to being a security guard. He was dressed in appropriate attire and it was evident through his body language that he was not an ordinary member of the public. The ID badge shown in the opening further reinforces his role as the guard. In contrast to this, security guards generally show keen interest in things that do not appear normal, it is required for them to investigate a developing situation before things turn sour. Our film opening had achieved this as the security guard had followed the antagonist as a result of seeing a gun tucked in within his trousers. The two news reporters were stereotypical of those seen in the public image. Across the board in all channels, there is both male and female news reporters whose mood fits in the news being presented. The mood presented by our reporters was sympathetic and depressed, this is because the news that they were presenting was tragic and it was evident that the male news reporter was affected by the news. A successful dress code was achieved as, the male was wearing suit and tie and the female was wearing a shirt and blazer, this can be seen as formal attire and this is similar to what many news reporters wear.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
As a group we argued that Warner Bros. Would be the best institution to distribute our film. This is because we looked at previous films that Warner Bros. Have distributed and these films are generally successful action films. For example, The book of eli, Argo and the dark knight rises. This shows that Warner bros have a keen interest in distributing action films which is one key reason as to why they would distribute our film. We wanted our film to be distributed by a well known company, preferably one of ‘the big five’ and the fact that Warner Bros was founded in 1923 means that, over the 91 years that Warner Bros have been in the limelight, a respectable reputation has been applied on them. Our film had successfully shown key connotations of big blockbuster films. For example, our film required large amounts of editing because of the bomb explosion and the fight scene, if an unpopular distribution company were to consider our film, the certain media craze about the film would not be achieved. The book of Eli and Argo received huge media attention and we would wish for something similar. Another reason why we would choose Warner Bros to distribute our film is because our film is a high budget action film, low budget independent distribution companies such as Film4 may not have the ability to adequately distribute a high budget film such as ours.
Our film opening had contained 4 actors, although we were restricted in terms of the availability of actors, we all agree that the actors (to a large extent) represented the social group in which they are contained in. For example, the antagonist in our film opening was a hitman who is represented to be dedicated to his field of work and is a professional in the work that he does, this became evident through the way in which the antagonist was not reluctant to fight/challenge the security guard, he reacted quickly and did not hold back the anger that was boiling inside of him. His profession became evident when he had won the fight against the security guard therefore showing that he is powerful than the average man. Common conventions show that the antagonist should be male as this gives the feel that the antagonist is dominant throughout the film. The antagonist in our opening is similar to Frank Martin (Jason Statham) in The Transporter series, this is because they are both dedicated to their job and they only speak when required to do so. In addition to this, they are dressed in similar attire and win the majority of the fight scenes they are in. Furthermore, the actor who portrayed the security guard successfully achieved all of the connotations attached to being a security guard. He was dressed in appropriate attire and it was evident through his body language that he was not an ordinary member of the public. The ID badge shown in the opening further reinforces his role as the guard. In contrast to this, security guards generally show keen interest in things that do not appear normal, it is required for them to investigate a developing situation before things turn sour. Our film opening had achieved this as the security guard had followed the antagonist as a result of seeing a gun tucked in within his trousers. The two news reporters were stereotypical of those seen in the public image. Across the board in all channels, there is both male and female news reporters whose mood fits in the news being presented. The mood presented by our reporters was sympathetic and depressed, this is because the news that they were presenting was tragic and it was evident that the male news reporter was affected by the news. A successful dress code was achieved as, the male was wearing suit and tie and the female was wearing a shirt and blazer, this can be seen as formal attire and this is similar to what many news reporters wear.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
As a group we argued that Warner Bros. Would be the best institution to distribute our film. This is because we looked at previous films that Warner Bros. Have distributed and these films are generally successful action films. For example, The book of eli, Argo and the dark knight rises. This shows that Warner bros have a keen interest in distributing action films which is one key reason as to why they would distribute our film. We wanted our film to be distributed by a well known company, preferably one of ‘the big five’ and the fact that Warner Bros was founded in 1923 means that, over the 91 years that Warner Bros have been in the limelight, a respectable reputation has been applied on them. Our film had successfully shown key connotations of big blockbuster films. For example, our film required large amounts of editing because of the bomb explosion and the fight scene, if an unpopular distribution company were to consider our film, the certain media craze about the film would not be achieved. The book of Eli and Argo received huge media attention and we would wish for something similar. Another reason why we would choose Warner Bros to distribute our film is because our film is a high budget action film, low budget independent distribution companies such as Film4 may not have the ability to adequately distribute a high budget film such as ours.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for our media product is a range of people, males and females however generally males. This is because the action genre appeals to a wide angle of an audience however targets mainly young adolescent males. For males the attraction behind our film is the typical codes and conventions of an action film such as fighting, violence and explosions, also males of this age are generally more interested in fast pace stories with allot of filled action scenes. Furthermore they like to imagine themselves as the main character. Stereo typically men in action films tend to take on the action role. The reason we included these things was because we wanted to attract our male audience to view our product. Even though our film is mainly targeted at males we wanted to also attract a female based audience through the use of a young attractive male actor and later on the film a female news reported is presented, not making our film dominated by males. Our film is rated at a 12A. This was because we had researched many films such as 'Skyfall' which was a similar representation of our film opening and also rated at 12A making our choice appropriate, as its an action film the scenes of violence containing fighting and guns may be harmful for younger viewers.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
We attracted our audience through many different ways by using a variety of different codes and conventions of an action film that were familiar with our target audience but not cliché however unique and interesting. When thinking of an idea for our film opening we decided to go upon our audience feedback. When asking our target audience which scenes do they prefer in an action film, our most popular answers were explosion, fight and kidnapping. Therefore we decided to incorporate some of these ideas into our film. Through the story line of our film it gives the audience a chance of escapism as our audience don't get to witness a bomb attack in central London. This is one way we attracted our audience because its gives them a chance to escape their own lives and be apart of an action packed story. Another way we attracted our audience was through the professional look of our final product. As the mise en scene of our film is quite eerie and mysterious through the colour correction adding to the tension and building up to the action. Also through our characters clothing we made it clear to as which who was the protagonist and antagonist as they were dressed in business style clothing. When asking our audience which preferred style of clothing is best for our characters formally dressed was the most popular answer. Additionally through the range of camera shots for example the establishing shot of London at the very beginning and special effects makes our film opening seem more professional and less amateurish grabbing the attention of our audience. Our film contained a range of locations also attracting our audience as it makes our film opening more interesting as they get to see the journey our protagonist makes to plant the bomb and its not just filmed in one location. Furthermore through the sound and music and how it created the perfect atmosphere for our film opening. The opening soundtrack is very slow and mysterious, which builds up the tension and unease of the action from the very beginning. As the action builds up the for example to fight scene the soundtrack speeds up emphasizing the action and with the diegetic sounds of a punching also exaggerates the fight scene making it more attention grabbing. Our main aim was the engage our audience in our film opening by making it look professional as possible furthermore we had used a Nikon D3200 HD DSRL. Although it is made for great photography, there is no doubt that it also records very good 1080p video. Lastly Warner Brothers was our main distributor company for our film opening which attracts a large range of an audience as many people are familiar with the successful films it has produced and distributed.
The audience for our media product is a range of people, males and females however generally males. This is because the action genre appeals to a wide angle of an audience however targets mainly young adolescent males. For males the attraction behind our film is the typical codes and conventions of an action film such as fighting, violence and explosions, also males of this age are generally more interested in fast pace stories with allot of filled action scenes. Furthermore they like to imagine themselves as the main character. Stereo typically men in action films tend to take on the action role. The reason we included these things was because we wanted to attract our male audience to view our product. Even though our film is mainly targeted at males we wanted to also attract a female based audience through the use of a young attractive male actor and later on the film a female news reported is presented, not making our film dominated by males. Our film is rated at a 12A. This was because we had researched many films such as 'Skyfall' which was a similar representation of our film opening and also rated at 12A making our choice appropriate, as its an action film the scenes of violence containing fighting and guns may be harmful for younger viewers.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
We attracted our audience through many different ways by using a variety of different codes and conventions of an action film that were familiar with our target audience but not cliché however unique and interesting. When thinking of an idea for our film opening we decided to go upon our audience feedback. When asking our target audience which scenes do they prefer in an action film, our most popular answers were explosion, fight and kidnapping. Therefore we decided to incorporate some of these ideas into our film. Through the story line of our film it gives the audience a chance of escapism as our audience don't get to witness a bomb attack in central London. This is one way we attracted our audience because its gives them a chance to escape their own lives and be apart of an action packed story. Another way we attracted our audience was through the professional look of our final product. As the mise en scene of our film is quite eerie and mysterious through the colour correction adding to the tension and building up to the action. Also through our characters clothing we made it clear to as which who was the protagonist and antagonist as they were dressed in business style clothing. When asking our audience which preferred style of clothing is best for our characters formally dressed was the most popular answer. Additionally through the range of camera shots for example the establishing shot of London at the very beginning and special effects makes our film opening seem more professional and less amateurish grabbing the attention of our audience. Our film contained a range of locations also attracting our audience as it makes our film opening more interesting as they get to see the journey our protagonist makes to plant the bomb and its not just filmed in one location. Furthermore through the sound and music and how it created the perfect atmosphere for our film opening. The opening soundtrack is very slow and mysterious, which builds up the tension and unease of the action from the very beginning. As the action builds up the for example to fight scene the soundtrack speeds up emphasizing the action and with the diegetic sounds of a punching also exaggerates the fight scene making it more attention grabbing. Our main aim was the engage our audience in our film opening by making it look professional as possible furthermore we had used a Nikon D3200 HD DSRL. Although it is made for great photography, there is no doubt that it also records very good 1080p video. Lastly Warner Brothers was our main distributor company for our film opening which attracts a large range of an audience as many people are familiar with the successful films it has produced and distributed.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
For filming we used a Nikon D3200 HD DSLR. The HD DSLR meant we would get very high quality video which would help get ‘professional’ look to our film. There was also a large LCD display on the camera which allowed us to frame our shots very well before starting to film. There were two main lenses that we used to film. Lenses played a big part in the video recorded since its size affects how the video is recorded and what the audience sees. We used a 35mm f/1.8 prime lens. The low f/stop number allowed us to get very good footage in low lighting for example when we filmed our elevator fight scene at night. We also used an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. Since this was a zoom lens it is very useful for establishing shots where we had to decide on what parts of the locations we were filming. We also used a tripod for filming. This allowed us get very good panning shots as well as some stable still shots. We also made a DIY slider which helped us get smooth tracking shots of our character walking. To record our dialogue we used a smartphone since the audio recorded by the DSLR was not very good. For editing we mainly used 2 softwares; After Effects and Sony Vegas. After Effects was used for our special effects such as the bomb explosion and also the colour correct and colour grade our main footage. Sony Vegas was used to combine all our edited clips from After Effects since it was much easier program to use for the basic editing like adding titles and transitions like fades and cuts. Editing with Sony Vegas also helped us arrange our clips in a chronological order, making our footage flow which helped add continuity to the opening too. At some places we used Sony Vegas to speed up the footage to make the fight scene look quick and more realistic as well as add more excitement to the scene. We also used Sony Vegas to add Diegetic and Non-Diegetic sound. Sound played a very big part in certain scenes of our opening like the Fight Scene where we added fight sounds in post to help make the scene look more believable. The Non-Diegetic Sound was vital in helping add a mood to certain scenes. For example the fast-paced non-diegetic music in the fight scene helps create tension and excitement between the audience. We got our music from Royalty Free Websites such as SoundJay for the SFX and Incompetech.com for our non-diegetic music.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back at our preliminary task we feel that we have improved and developed a lot of skills. When looking at our camerawork in our preliminary, we realised that it is very basic containing 3 different shots with most of them being static which in some instances seem boring.When compared to our the shots in our film opening, we see that they have much more movement which helps signify certain things such our character walking. There are also some interesting shots like focus pulls and tilts which helped give our film a more cinematic look. When paying attention to mise-en-scene in our preliminary task we saw that the lighting in our shots was different which didn’t make the footage flow as well. When compared to our final opening, due to the colour correction all our shots looked evenly lit making the transition from one shot to the next much better, helping add flow and continuity to our film opening. We also didn’t pay too much attention to other elements of mise-en-scene such as costume and props. Therefore in our final film we paid more attention to our costumes to help it fit our genre. We also used props such as a briefcase and a gun to help represent the typical conventions of the action genre. When looking back at the editing in our preliminary we saw how we only used cuts in the editing. Compared to our Preliminary we saw that we did a variety of transitions in our final opening such as fades and blackouts to create certain effects like tension on the audience. Despite the scene being only 30 seconds it gave us something to build upon allowing us make a better film opening.
For filming we used a Nikon D3200 HD DSLR. The HD DSLR meant we would get very high quality video which would help get ‘professional’ look to our film. There was also a large LCD display on the camera which allowed us to frame our shots very well before starting to film. There were two main lenses that we used to film. Lenses played a big part in the video recorded since its size affects how the video is recorded and what the audience sees. We used a 35mm f/1.8 prime lens. The low f/stop number allowed us to get very good footage in low lighting for example when we filmed our elevator fight scene at night. We also used an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. Since this was a zoom lens it is very useful for establishing shots where we had to decide on what parts of the locations we were filming. We also used a tripod for filming. This allowed us get very good panning shots as well as some stable still shots. We also made a DIY slider which helped us get smooth tracking shots of our character walking. To record our dialogue we used a smartphone since the audio recorded by the DSLR was not very good. For editing we mainly used 2 softwares; After Effects and Sony Vegas. After Effects was used for our special effects such as the bomb explosion and also the colour correct and colour grade our main footage. Sony Vegas was used to combine all our edited clips from After Effects since it was much easier program to use for the basic editing like adding titles and transitions like fades and cuts. Editing with Sony Vegas also helped us arrange our clips in a chronological order, making our footage flow which helped add continuity to the opening too. At some places we used Sony Vegas to speed up the footage to make the fight scene look quick and more realistic as well as add more excitement to the scene. We also used Sony Vegas to add Diegetic and Non-Diegetic sound. Sound played a very big part in certain scenes of our opening like the Fight Scene where we added fight sounds in post to help make the scene look more believable. The Non-Diegetic Sound was vital in helping add a mood to certain scenes. For example the fast-paced non-diegetic music in the fight scene helps create tension and excitement between the audience. We got our music from Royalty Free Websites such as SoundJay for the SFX and Incompetech.com for our non-diegetic music.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back at our preliminary task we feel that we have improved and developed a lot of skills. When looking at our camerawork in our preliminary, we realised that it is very basic containing 3 different shots with most of them being static which in some instances seem boring.When compared to our the shots in our film opening, we see that they have much more movement which helps signify certain things such our character walking. There are also some interesting shots like focus pulls and tilts which helped give our film a more cinematic look. When paying attention to mise-en-scene in our preliminary task we saw that the lighting in our shots was different which didn’t make the footage flow as well. When compared to our final opening, due to the colour correction all our shots looked evenly lit making the transition from one shot to the next much better, helping add flow and continuity to our film opening. We also didn’t pay too much attention to other elements of mise-en-scene such as costume and props. Therefore in our final film we paid more attention to our costumes to help it fit our genre. We also used props such as a briefcase and a gun to help represent the typical conventions of the action genre. When looking back at the editing in our preliminary we saw how we only used cuts in the editing. Compared to our Preliminary we saw that we did a variety of transitions in our final opening such as fades and blackouts to create certain effects like tension on the audience. Despite the scene being only 30 seconds it gave us something to build upon allowing us make a better film opening.