Introduction Page Genre: Drama Comedy Crime Sci-Fi

Certificate: Actors:

Sam McDowall Vincent Onuegbu

Reggie Chelsom Olivia Turner

Synopsis: Whilst a group of ‘reckless’ teenagers are hanging out in an alley way, a lonely girl on her way to a friends house take a short cut through the alley. What happened after they would never forget.

Above are 4 films that have inspired the making of ours.

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

�  Filmic Conventions �  Introducing Narrative context �  Enigma �  Continuity editing

�  Genre conventions �  Comedy �  Action �  Sci-Fi

Comedy is used to subvert the conventions of Action and Sci-fi.

To introduce the stereotypical hooded characters we have approached our treatment of the characters in the same way as they have been treated in the opening scene of, ‘Anuvahood ’.

We have also stereotyped a middle class teenage girl and have used the same techniques (such as clothing and shots) as in ‘ Attack the Block ‘. Watch short clip bellow to see how.

Introducing Narrative Context

Enigma

We have created enigma in our film by filming at a time of night where there is not much lighting and brief spots of London are lit up with street lamps.

We have also tried to create enigma in making the location an alley way.

Lastly, we have tried to create enigma as the girls walk is obviously heading into trouble as the hooded boys are cross cutting with her. We are following the girl as she is the main character in our film. She is entering an alley to shorten her journey where she will then cross paths with a group of boys.

Continuity Editing

�  We have created continuity in our film by simply cutting the scenes together.

�  We have used editing techniques such as ‘fade in’ whilst creating continuity within our titles.

�  Light continuity was a challenge but for every shot we filmed the time we made sure was the same as other shots so it would like it was all shot in one go.

�  It is conventional to have invisible editing, match on action and a swipe.

Genre Conventions

Our film is a hybrid genre. We have tried to parody films such as ‘Kidulthood’ and ‘Attack the Black’. We have also attempted to achieve a grimy feel by filming behind bars at the beginning. This is conventional for socially realist films about kids in hoodies. To see other shots using similar techniques click here.

Comedy within the film is not properly displayed at the beginning as it seems serious due to camera shots, location and time of day. The crime side of the film is emphasized due to the bars at the beginning and also from the alley way shots. Titles however help to create a high class status for the girl, our main character.

Our title, we feel, helps to immediately show the film has aspects of crime, blood and sci-fi. However the black and white background emphasizes the seriousness of the film.

Our boys compared to theirs

We have used the same clothes and conventions as ‘Attack the Block’, for examples, hooded teenagers and dark settings.

Final cut pro and Soundtrack pro

Final Cut Pro Soundtrack Pro

Click on an image! Continue with show

Final cut Pro

�  Final Cut Pro is a non-linear video editing software developed by Macromedia Inc. and then Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro X, runs on Mac personal computers powered by Mac OS X version 10.6.7 or later and using Intel processors. The software allows users to log and transfer video onto a hard drive (internal or external), where it can be edited, processed, and output to a wide variety of formats.

�  Since the early 2000s, Final Cut Pro has developed a large and expanding user base, mainly video hobbyists and independent filmmakers. It has, in later years especially, made inroads with film and television editors who have traditionally used Avid Technology's Media Composer. According to a 2007 SCRI study, Final Cut Pro made up 49% of the US professional editing market, with Avid at 22%.[1] A published survey in 2008 by the American Cinema Editors Guild placed their users at 21% FCP (and growing from previous surveys of this group), while all others were still on an Avid system of some kind

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Soundtrack Pro

�  Soundtrack Pro was a music composing and audio editing application made by Apple Inc. featured in Logic Studio, which includes a collection of just over 5000 royalty free professional instrument loops and sound effects. It was discontinued with the release of Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, and Compressor 4.

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How does your media product represent particular social groups?

�  There are two stereo-types in our film.

�  The ‘hoody’ has been stereotyped here to wear all black and tracksuits. As they are in an alley way they are also stereo-typed by their location. The way they speak and act also helps to stereo-type them. To see our inspiration click here.

�  The other obvious stereo-type would be the late teenage girl used in the film. She has been shown as upper class and confident as she is wearing a black leather jacket, heels and jeans. This is a simple stereo-type as the way she is speaking on her phone as if her social life is a priority and everything has to be more complicated then it is also shows a stereo-type teenage girl. To see how we originally pictured her looking, click here.

Negative Stereotypes

�  ‘Kidulthood’ reinforces a negative view of young people. They are made to look like they have nothing to do other than smoke pot and hang around on street corners mugging people. Whereas attack the Block made them seem bad at the beginning but then challanged the stereotype as they turned out to be the heroes. We have used a negative stereotype at the beginning of our film, however as it is only the first 2 minutes there is room to challenge the stereotype as they have in ‘Attack the Block’.

What Kind of media Institution might distribute your product and why?

�  Our film was made on a small budget and we paid nothing for our actors. We would also not expect it to be shown in cinemas, therefore we would expect a company such as WARP films to manage our film. A small distribution company owned by a multi-media conglomerate.

�  We may also look specifically at companies with experience distributing crime/comedy/sci-fi films.

p.s. the link to WARP is a direct link to their website

Distribution

�  Our film was made on a small budget and we have limit appeal to the audience distributor for our film. ‘momentum’ or ‘revolver’ deal with independently produced films and would be a distributor we would use.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

�  As our film is directed towards 16-24 year olds we would expect them to be our largest audience.

�  It would not be appropriate as a family film as violence and bad language would be used throughout. The film has a 15 certificate and would be inappropriate for children under the age of 15.

�  We would also aim our film at sci-fi audiences as it is rare when a sci-fi film is released and there are fewer fans for that genre. To see class ratio click here.

Would you watch a sci-fi?

Boy 1 yes

Boy 2 yes

Boy 3 maybe

Boy 4 no

Boy 5 yes

Girl 1 no

Girl 2 no

Girl 3 no

Girl 4 yes

Girl 5 no

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How did you attract/address your audience?

�  The use of a contemporary sound track the average teenager would enjoy listening to is a technique we have used to draw in the audience. This works to our advantage as it also helps to create suspense.

�  Our setting and time of day have made it easy for us to create an enigma in the first 2 minutes of our film helping us to draw the audience in and wait for our point of action (usually would occur after 15 minutes).

�  The fact we have also used a young cast who seem to have interesting lives within the film is another way we would have attracted our audience.

�  We have used techniques the audience would expect to see in this scene in terms of character representation and location.

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

�  To research our film and find out how to stereotype aspects of it to fit our genre we used a computer and the internet, and the website www.imbd.com to find out more about our film and what the audience would expect.

�  We used Celtx, an open air software anyone can download for free. On this we wrote our script and highlighted the props and so on. We also used a digital camera to take photos of the shots we pictured on our storyboard. We created an anamatic of our storyboard.

�  During the production we used a Sony HdD camera so that our footage would be in the best possible quality.

�  Post production

Technologies have helped at every stage of the production process and without them our film would not have been possible

Post-Production

�  Form the process of constructing the project we have learnt many things about the process of pre-production and what happened after shooting the footage.

�  We had to use the system Final Cut Pro to edit our film and re-order clips we had previously shot. We also had to use technologies such as Soundtrack Pro to create the soundtrack.

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

product?

�  Lighting

�  Planning & Organization

�  Different technologies

�  Enigma

�  Shots

�  Editing

�  Soundtrack pro

Soundtrack Pro

�  We used Sountrack pro to create the soundtrack after selecting it of Free Music Archive. We went through about 16 different songs and found the one we thought best created enigma and would relate to our film. Once we had chosen our song we edited certain parts of it on Soundtrack Pro so that it would fit around the film. It made a difference.

�  The music helped to build the film, the soothing yet dangerous effect at the beginning whilst London is being shown and the way it gradually builds up as the viewer believes the girl is heading towards trouble.

�  We picked a track we thought our audience would be able to relate to and spark an interest in them to want to carry on watching. To do this we emphasized certain parts of the track such as the bassline.

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Editing

�  We have learnt a lot about editing since our preliminary tasks. For our preliminary tasks we used a simple cut to get from shot to shot. There were no titles and continuity was absent.

�  Now we use a variety of different effects, such as fade in/out, to navigate around our shots and are able to use a variety of different effects to work around our film and create continuity.

�  Within editing we have also been able to show a multiple view point perspective as we have cross cut the boys in the alley way with the girl walking down the road. We have also used 2 different locations but the audience cannot tell because they have not seen what is behind the corner in the alley way. The boys in the alley way we filmed in Hampstead, however the girl going around the corner into the alley way was filmed in Golders Green. Due to the editing and cross cutting the viewer is unable to tell if the alleyway is in a different location.

Shots

�  Since our preliminary task we have learnt how a variety of shots can play to your advantage in everyway.

�  This applied to location for example. We used still establishing shots of London behind bars at the beginning to show the grotty and contained yet peaceful side of London.

�  Shot sizes help expose or hide as much as you want them to.

�  We used a wide worms eye view shot of the girl to show her vulnerability yet we used a dark silhouette shot of the boys all together to show their strength.

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Lighting

�  As our film was mostly shot at sun set the lighting was tricky.

�  First we learnt that in order to shoot at night when you don’t have custom lights, its important to use reflective surfaces in your surroundings to help amplify light. E.g. street lights, cars..

�  We also had to create continuity with the lighting. This meant that we needed to organize and time when we would shoot. As many of our clips were shot on different days, if not in different weeks, the light would always change so we would time when we shot one scene and use the same time to shoot other scenes or adjust the time due to the time of year.

Planning & Organisation

�  When making this film communication was key. We had to organize the actors and tell them a location, time and what to wear in order to be in our film. We sent texts to communicate this message.

�  On a few occasions our actors could not make it because we were late in organisation or we were not clear enough about what we expected. This meant we had to improvise and use the people around us in the film.

�  As we did not have our own camera or tri-pod, the most key part in filming was renting out the camera from the media department for a weekend or whenever we were filming before anyone else could. The issue here was that if we left it too late it could be rented out by someone else. Purchasing our own tape was also an issue as we needed to figure out where to buy one, cost ect.

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Different Technologies

�  I shot my preliminary task on my mobile phone. Since then I have learnt a lot about the importance of what equiptment you use and how you use it. An example of this is the tri-pod. A steady shot is necessary in order to cleanly establish your characters and location. Without a tri-pod this would have been near impossible. I have learnt how to set it up and best locate it, also how to make sure it is level.

�  I have also learnt that shooting on an HD camera allows you to see much more much clearer than you would be able to on a standard camera.

�  The microphone was also important in order to capture what our characters said on set.

�  Although it did not work for me, I have also learnt how to do a voiceover to dub in alternate voices.

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The Creation of Enigma

�  Since our preliminary task we have learnt how to create enigma. The key to this is not giving too much away and we applied this throughout our whole film.

�  This is amplified by the absence of much dialogue and our use of music to build tension.

�  There is a connection between the girl walking and the boys in an alley but you never see them in the same shot together so anything could happen at the end.

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THE END

THANK YOU FOR WATCHING