Wednesday 3 April 2013

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


In our preliminary task, the aim was to create a sequence which involved a 'match on action shot’, 'shot reverse shot' and also to make sure that we stuck to the 180 degree rule. We decided to create a fight sequence in which we used all of the shots correctly. We had a rough idea of what we wanted to film but didn’t know exactly what shots we wanted which led to us shooting things as they came to us but also shooting the scenes more than three times which proved to be very time consuming. From this I would say that I learnt how important planning and storyboarding is therefore when planning the title sequence our storyboards proved to be very crucial because although we didn't follow them entirely without a rough guide to follow our sequence would not have been as well developed and thought out as it is. We also made sure that we made timed schedules so that each group member new the days which we was going to be filming which proved successful as we was always organised.

The shots that we was asked to incorporate in this task proved to be very helpful as they not only helped us understand what they meant for example a high angle shot to show the weakness of a certain character but also helped when we was filming for the title sequence because we now knew what shots to include in certain places to make them as effective as possible. In the preliminary task we tried to make sure that all of the shots used gave out the correct messages to the audience however they may not have been 100% accurate due to the lack of experience which we had had as it was very early in the year. However as we now had a wider range of knowledge and experience we made sure that our title sequence was to include as many significant camera angles as possible and made sure that the messages that they expressed were as clear as possible.


In another task which we participated in we had a lesson on Foley sound to widen our knowledge on what to include in different sequences. We produced different sounds out of raw meat and vegetables which would sound like a slap/punch and the vegetables would act as leg or arm being snapped. When it came to using these sounds in our title sequence as a group we decided that it wasn’t necessary as their wasn’t a certain part in our sequence where they would be relevant nevertheless it was important that we learned about these sounds because if we was to use them in our title sequence it would have proved to be very important that we knew how to use the correctly.


When editing this small task it was hard for us all to get a chance to edit because again we was inexperienced and it was mainly trial and error when attempting different things. As a group one person did the editing and we all contributed ideas to which we felt would make the piece better. When editing for our title sequence the preliminary task came in very convenient because we used what we had already learnt and showed this when editing the title sequence. The editing was delegated between our group pretty well as we all made sure that we had all done some sort of editing. Some of my group members were better at certain parts of editing whereas another member would be better at something else this showed that we all worked together as a team to teach another member of the group something that they didn’t know which shows that we could all work together cleverly. In the end we all managed to learn how to edit using final cut to a very capable standard.


Overall the preliminary exercise proved to be a great start off point to then show how we could improve the mistakes that we had made to ensure that when included in our title sequence they will be to a near professional standard. This task also shows how important planning is and that if you don’t have a clear narrative idea of what to do it could prove to be a downfall of your title sequence. Making sure that all group members are involved and contributing was also very key to us producing a good quality title sequence.

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



Whilst creating this project I have learnt a lot about different technologies which have benefitted me for the better. When creating the playing cards which we made using Photoshop on the apple mac computers we found this quite challenging as we had to make sure that all of the measurements were perfect and matched a real sized playing card. We also had to make sure that all of the color alterations were perfect otherwise the cards would not look the same and would not give the right effect which we want. It was difficult because when making the cards as a group we made some mistakes which proved to be time consuming for example we printed onto the wrong paper therefore we had to then make sure that the correct photo paper was placed into the printer so that the cards looked as realistic as possible. The task was challenging because no group member new exactly how to alter anything on Photoshop therefore we was all trying to change certain things which proved to be wrong, we eventually managed to make the cards to a very realistic and professional standard in the end, however we wouldn't of learnt how to do it if the mistakes hadn't taken place.

 When filming we used a flip camcorder which we then attached to a tri-pod to give better stability. Whilst filming certain scenes these flip cameras proved to be unreliable as they switched off many times whilst filming which prevented us from catching the shots that we wanted which was frustrating. This proved to be time consuming as we now had to either change the batteries or switch the camera on and off again to see if it was still able to work. When filming a scene at Harrys house the camera unexpectedly switched off and left us in an awkward situation as we now had to think of an alternate so that the filming session didn’t go to waste therefore we used Harrys digital camera which proved to give off a better quality than the flip camera, from that day we always used the digital camera as it was more reliable and produced better quality video. Even though the flip camera wasn’t as good as the digital camera it proved to give us a better quality of picture than we had expected.


When editing the videos which we had shot to turn into our main title sequence we again used the apple macs and used a program called ‘final cut pro’. The group had a rough idea of how to use the program due to the preliminary task however it was all pretty new to us and we had to try many new things which led to mistakes before having an overall good standard edited piece. This program allowed us to cut certain clips to make them shorter and then apply transitions so that the clips flowed nicely one after another. Problems that we faced was that some clips which we entered into final cut had not been rendered which therefore was time consuming as we needed to do it before we could edit them individually into the piece. Through us trying new things it benefitted us and made our sequence look better for example we learnt how to alter the color and brightness of certain shots using color corrector which created the right mood and atmosphere for certain shots. Final cut pro allowed us to easily edit pieces of music which we had downloaded from ‘www.audionetwork.com’ into our sequence which we could then collaborate with our clips to create a very tense and suspenseful sequence. We used ‘www.dafont.com’ to download a font to then add into our title sequence which will be used at the end to let everyone know the name of the title sequence.

5.How did you attract/address your audience?


We addressed our audience by firstly making sure that the genre strictly follows the codes and conventions of a gangster/crime thriller which is something that the audience will want so that they can understand and interpret the genre clearly throughout. We included lots of recognisable props such as card games which represent gambling and also large amounts of money which represents corruption which again is a convention for the gangster/crime thriller genre.

 
By us using the correct actors again is how we addressed the audience because it was very important that we get the right actors to play the role and portray it correctly because if we had picked the wrong actors to portray a role which they are not familiar with it would not give it the right effect which we wanted. The actors in our movie are all rather big stars and have starred in popular crime movies/tv series such as Tom hardy in 'The Take' a successful tv series and also Ray Winstone in 'The Departed' therefore they could be seen as the main selling point for the movie.

 

As a group we decided to get the audience involved by carrying out small research tasks. We took two separate shots of a certain scene in our sequence and then asked the audience to pick their favourite scene which they would prefer to see in our movie, this proved to be successful so we then created small graphs plotting our results and took the audiences advice and decided to pick their decision to go in our sequence. This was how we addressed our audience because it shows that we was very interested in seeing what they felt was best and what they would prefer to see. This way the audience were engaged with our sequence and giving their advice on what they felt would be most successful.


The title sequence itself is hopefully enough to attract the audience as we have used a very interesting soundtrack which fits perfectly with the great use of shots included and also the transitions that go with them. The titles used hopefully have a positive influence on the title sequence and also represent the genre very well as they are very simplebut effective as the colours used ‘black and white’ stand out very loud and clear to the audience. By us using all of this an enigma is created because throughout the title sequence they will hopefully get more gripped to the title sequence and will certainly be curious to what is going to happen next.

4.Who would be the audience for your product?


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


2.How does your media product represent particular social groups?


1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge formsand conventions of real media products?



The title sequence that we produced we tried to follow as many typical codes and conventionsof a title sequence as possible, however it also challenged some conventionswhich I will explain throughout.
Our title sequence aimed to indicate the genre clearly throughout by including typical props and characters in which you would see in a Crime thriller movie. By us including actors who would star in these genres of movie such as Ray Winstone again shows that we have followed the conventions of atitle sequence.


In our title sequence we included a mix of conceptual and narrative scenes, which shows how we have challenged the typical codes and conventions of a title sequence however they can be seen as a positive as it is constantly changing the atmosphere and scene for the audience which then enables the audience to get a better understanding of what type of men these characters are and also how they go about life. Each of the shots help with this as they tell a story , each shot represents a location of each character and how they are always on the move when living a life like this. The locations are also important because it sets the scene for the audience and shows that the movie will take a place in London. We decided to use significant props such as stacks of money which represents that the men are living a life of corruption and avery fraudulent lifestyle. Significant scenes involving props such as theburning money create an enigma for the audience as they will want to know why all of this money is getting burned and wasted.  However by using the mixof conceptual and narrative scenes could be seen as a negative as it is too confusing as it may not allow the audience to concentrate on the rest of the title sequence as they are too busy trying to work out what is going on. We hoped that by doing this the audience wouldn’t experience this problem and that they could easily work out what the title sequence is about, but from watching the clip repeatedly it is understandable that our clip could come across as confusing because the hospital scene proved to baffle people. The change from London scenes and then to a burning briefcase and then to a hospital can be confusing this would be our only main problem with the title sequence. Nevertheless as a group we felt that by using both conceptual and narrative elements did work and had a positive effect throughout. When we receive final feedback we will then evaluate whether we should rearrange the scenes so thatit comes across more clearer to the audience.

 We also hoped that the lack of dialogue could be made up by the soundtrack which fits perfectly with the style and also the pace of the title sequence. The soundtrack definitely proved to be one of the most successful parts of the title sequence if not the most successful because it links everything together and gives it a beneficial flow. Each tick of the clock on the soundtrack fits very cleverly and has a very distinguishable effect. The soundtrack also creates such suspense during the title sequence and also tension as the tick acts as timer for Anton in which he doesn’t have a lot of time to sort out the problems before they come on top of him. We still followed typical codes and conventions of a title sequence by including a narrative scene at the end in the form of a flashback conversation involving Anton and Luther. The conversation was the last conversation before Luther’s death.


 We also researched into typography as we wanted our titles to fit the genre perfectly we found out that most gangster/crime thriller movies had block capitals for their titles therefore it made sense for us to follow and use a similar font. We wanted our titles to be bold and made sure that they were simple but effective to the audience. Overall The main intentions of our title sequence was to keep the audience engrossed and focused throughout by including affective shots and also by creating enigma's for the audience which will get them thinking about the title sequence throughout.


Tuesday 12 March 2013

Inherited Empire Final - Number 2





Here is the final title sequence that our group produced. After receiving some feedback on our title sequence we decided to re-arrange the structure of our title sequence and the order of which the clips are shown. In our first attempt, we put the hospital scene at the end of the sequence and it ended on a shot of Anton looking into the camera which gave it a dramatic and serious effect. However we were told that it looked out of place and gave the wrong impression to the audience therefore we were advised to include the hospital scene at the beginning instead of the end.  Therefore, as a group we decided to bring it to the beginning and we now feel it fits in better and gives such a better effect as it has improved the title sequence. 

Friday 1 March 2013

Final Title Sequence




Here is our title sequence that we was asked to produce for our coursework. We hope that it fits all of the necessary criteria which was needed. In this title sequence we included all of the information which we put onto the storyboards so that we followed a good structure. As a group we feel that our sequence was successful and included some very interesting shots which benefitted the sequence. If our sequence did need any alterations we will be receiving final feedback from our teachers therefore we will include a new version of the sequence which has been finally altered.

Tuesday 26 February 2013

Final Title Font


This is the font that our group has chosen which was influenced by our school members who participated in our survey. We all decided that this font did definately look very good and stood out very well when placed on a black background this makes the font bold and impressive. Even though we did use basic colours such as black and white they work very well together to create a dark atmosphere. By using such simple colours like white on black makes the 'INHERITED EMPIRE' look highly noticeable and catch the eye of people. This will be used at the end of the sequence we hope that this logo will also stay in the auidences mind.

Monday 25 February 2013

Audience Research For Fonts

When we was deciding which fonts to use for our main title sequence we decide to carry out an audience research task to see what they felt was best. We asked our class members for there feedback and then also asked other students to see what they felt was best overall. It was clear that two fonts were most popular and there suggestions were that the they looked the most bold and would stand out the most. Overall the final choice that the students made was Font 2 they felt that it fitted best with our sequence and also looked bold and stood out , they also stated that it would fit well with the genre as most gangster crime films use bold fonts. I have included a graph to show the results of the research carried out.







Saturday 9 February 2013

Burning Of The Briefcase

This shoot was very important for us as a group as we only had one briefcase therefore we didn't have the opportunity to re-shoot if we made mistakes like we was able to do in other scenario's this meant that we had to make sure that everything we done on the shoot was near on perfect. As we was using fire in this sequence we had to prepare and make sure that it was all safe we also had a bucket of water to hand just incase the flame got uncontrollable. As we was filming outside and it was dark it was very important that the lighting was good so that the footage on the camera didn't look to dark or to bright. As you can see from the photos extra lamps were used so that the lighting looked perfect. The whole idea behind the money burning in a briefcase is to show how Anton Lewis is trying to get rid of all of the corrupt money that his dad still had and to show that he now wants to forgot all about the previous dishonest life that his father had lived. Overall we were all very happy with this footage and felt that we caught some excellent shots whilst filming. When editing we are going to introduce this footage towards the beginning and also towards the end so that audience don't forget about how important it is. As a group we also suggested that this footage could also be used as our last shot as it shows Anton Lewis closing the briefcase lid with smoke coming from small gaps on either side. This would look every effective however this was just a suggestion and we may think of a better idea.



















Friday 8 February 2013

Audience Research On Hospital

As previously mentioned our group decided to carry out an audience research task to see which hospital they felt fitted best with our sequence. Firstly we showed our class and then we asked a few other classes for their opinions. We showed them what each hospital shot would look like in our sequence and 'St Thomas Hospital' got more votes. Most people said that they preferred it being shot in the night therefore thats why the majority chose 'St Thomas Hospital'. To record peoples choices Harry made a tally chart on a piece of paper which he then transferred to the computer and produced our results in a pie chart. Below are pictures of both the tally chart and also the pie chart.



Thursday 7 February 2013

Feedback from class


Here are the feedback sheets that we received from class. Overall the feedback we received was positive and helped us to improve our title sequence. We received two and three stars on our sheets which means that the class felt that our title sequence definitely had potential if it was improved to a better standard. The main criticism that we was given was that our ending which is the hospital scene come across as confusing because it didn't quite seem to fit with the rest of the sequence. Our sequence includes lots of short videos from famous landmarks in London and by us cutting to a hospital scene it may have come across as confusing to the audience. To improve on this our group is going to travel to London and get a shot of the front of St Thomas hospital so that it signifies that it is set in a hospital. We will then include this shot into our title sequence so that our ending is a lot more understanding for the audience. The class also said that each of our shots were to slow therefore we decided to speed them up but struggled doing this therefore we found out how to do it we corrected them and it looked alot better. A piece of positive feedback we received from the class was that our soundtrack we chose was very good. All of the groups commented on how they felt the pace of the ticking clock fitted in well with each of our different shots. They also said that the sound of the ticking clock creates tension for the audience which is what we wanted.
Overall the feedback we received was generally positive therefore we was pleased with it. We also agreed with the feedback about the pace of the shots which we have now corrected. By us listening to the feedback it has made us think about what else we might want to change to our title sequence to make it better.









Wednesday 6 February 2013

Shoot of Hospitals

Below are the pictures that we took of two hospitals in London. When showing our title sequence to the class they all agreed that the hospital scene was rather confusing therefore we decided that we should include a photo from the front of the hospital to make it more clear to the audience that it is going to be shot in a hospital. We decided to shoot 'St Thomas Hospital' and also 'Chelsea and Westminster hospital' as a group we thought that if we shoot two separate hospitals it will give us more of a choice when deciding what one we want to include in the title sequence. 'St Thomas's' looks very effective where it has been shot at night which fits perfect with our film and it creates quite and tense atmosphere but on the other-hand 'Chelsea and Westminster hospital' also works quite well as it includes a London taxi which is very iconic for a british movie and that is also what we want to portray to the audience. We have decided that we will carry out an audience survey to help us decide what hospital will look best for our sequence.







Wednesday 30 January 2013

Shoot of London

As a group we travelled to London and filmed lots of footage. The photos that i have included are screen shots from the videos that we took. As a group we decided to shoot iconic places in London such as Tower bridge , the Shard and also the London Eye. The sites that we travelled to will signify to the audience the location of our movie and will also set the scene for our movie. These scenes will also be used to credit the 'editor' and 'photographer' for example. Overall we are pleased with the footage that we shot as it came out as planned. We have decided to replace the map scene with the photos because they both still represent where the film is going to be set.









Monday 28 January 2013

Journal : Hospital Scene Take 3

We showed our title sequence to both of our teachers today and they both instructed us to film our final scene again. We also felt that as a group it was a good idea as we want our title sequence to look as good as possible. We all agreed that the head movements from Thabo were to repetitive and that it wasn't creating the right effect. Although when we was filming the second time we felt that what we had shot looked good but when was editing and watching back over our title sequence we could notice that it did need some improvements so therefore decided to shoot again the third time.

In the photos that i have included show me in a white cloak which represents me acting as a doctor. We felt that if i walked past Thabo as an extra looking like a doctor it would make the sequence look a lot more realistic and also make it more obvious to the audience that it is a hospital waiting room. Another photo i have included shows Harry positioning the camera above Thabo's head on the tripod to catch a shot of him looking up. It was hard to try and keep the camera still and film at the same time. The last photo shows how low we had to position the tripod so that the camera could catch a shot of Thabo with his face in his hands.

Overall this shoot was successful and hopefully we managed to get every shot which we needed. We also tried to catch some other shots from different angles of Thabo sitting down which we will keep as spare as they may come in useful. We felt that it was a better option to have more shots which we could include instead of not having enough.





Saturday 26 January 2013

Journal : Script


We had to write a small script to be included in the first scene we shot, which will be used at the end of the sequence in our hospital scene. Thabo played the son (Anton Lewis) and a teacher at our school played the father (Luther Lewis). The script is a short conversation just before Luther died. This conversation is going to be edited into our sequence as a voice over and is going to be running through Anton's head whilst he is in the hospital waiting room. Luther was trying to explain to his son about 'the books' and is trying to imply to his son that he now needs to watch himself in life.

Son- "Take it easy Dad"....

Dad- "The books"....

Son- "The books are done,dad. They're okay. I took care of it"......

Dad- "I'm Sorry".....

Son- "You don't need to be"!

Dad- "The Books,... I'm ... I'm Sorry"

Son- "NURSE"!!!

Friday 25 January 2013

Journal : Filming the hospital scene part 2

As a group we decided that our hospital scene which we shot in the science needed some improvements. We decided to that we wanted Thabo who is acting as Anton Lewis in our title sequence to stand up and move around whilst he was acting to show that he was worried about his dad. In our last shoot we didn't think about this and by him doing this it makes it seem a lot more realistic. In this shoot the facial expressions used by Thabo also express his emotions which makes this part of the sequence look good this creates good tension for the audience. Thabo uses a very firm looking face which makes the audience want to know what he is thinking about/planning to do.
Overall this shoot was a lot more successful than the previous shoot. The acting Thabo did was also a lot better as we was able to catch good shots of his facial expressions.







Filming of the new cards

Here are some photos from our second shoot of the cards scene. Our group all went back to Harrys house and filmed the scene again in his cellar. We set up the cards again to create the casino look. We decided to film the scene again because the first cards which we made didn't look professional enough to put into our main title sequence.
 This shoot went much better than our first shoot and we are happy as a group that we decided to make new cards to make the title sequence look a lot more better and professional.







Friday 18 January 2013

The new cards

Here is a photo of our new cards which we designed on photoshop. We made these cards from scratch and decided to add the actors name on them. We printed them onto photo paper and then cut them out to the correct measurements and then glued them onto a real card so that they look identical to a normal playing card.

We designated each character with the card with best represented them. We gave Ray Winstone the king of spades as he is the leader of the gang. We then gave all of the other gang members black cards which represents that they are the antagonists of the movie. We then gave Idris Elba and Ashley Walters the king and ace of hearts this then makes these characters the protagonists as the audience will feel sympathy for them.

Thursday 17 January 2013

Film Studio


As a group we decided to choose 'Lionsgate' to be the studio our film. We was asked to research into different studios and then to put their titles into our title sequence. These will feature at the beginning of our title sequence. We chose Lionsgate because they have worked with actors who star in our film for example Jason Statham (Transporter 3) , Tom Hardy (Warrior) , Tamer Hassan (Blood Out) , Ray Winstone (Tracker) , Idris Elba (Daddy's Little Girl). Therefore this shows that the actors we have chosen may have a good relationship with the studio and like the way that they work as a studio. Lionsgate are also well known for being a very successful studio due to films such as Hunger Games which made $408,010,692 and the 'Expendables which made $103,068,524.

Lionsgate also distributed 'Harry Brown' which is a famous British crime film which in some aspects is similar to ours due to the setting and also the violence used within the movie.

Also Lionsgate tend to focus mainly on foreign and independent films, and is perhaps best known for distributing films that are too controversial for the large American companies. Therefore we felt that due to the storyline it may appeal to 'Lionsgate' the most out of the well known studios.


Wednesday 16 January 2013

Making of the cards

Below are the cards that we made. the first image shows how we printed the cards onto paper to check if they was the correct size. However, they wasn't this meant we had to alter and resize them. We used photoshop and then used the constuction lines to get them to the correct size. Once we finally got it right we printed them onto photo paper and they came out how we wanted them. However, Ray Winstone's card wasnt edited properly and came out a different colour to the rest as we didn't make it white enough. This ment that we had to apply the change and make it the same colour as the other cards.. Overall I think these cards came out really well and looked a lot better than our first idea which was to just write the actors names on using a pen. We then cut out the cards and glued them to a real card this then made the cards look very realisitc and professional. 




Friday 11 January 2013

Filming the Maps


Filming the maps

On 9th January we went to Harry’s house to shoot the scene involving the map. We wanted to film it from a bird’s eye view to establish the scene and also to show the locations of each of the opposing characters. The plan was to pan across slowly including the thames to show to the audience that the setting is London. We struggled to get it perfect and tried to do it freehand to see if this was a better solution we soon found out that by filming freehand it was very hard to keep the camera still and the end footage came out very shaky and blurry. We decided as a group that this footage was very unprofessional and wasn't good enough to put into our title sequence.

 We all agreed that we still wanted to keep the idea of using a map as it sets the location and also shows the location which is very iconic for our film.

 
We are currently thinking of a new idea still involving maps but haven't quite made a decision.




Monday 7 January 2013

Sound Track




Sound Track Research


 

The website we used to research for our sound track was ‘Audio network’. The website was very useful as it gave us a very wide range of tracks to choose from. The track we chose is called timeout by Igor Dvorkin and Duncan Pitttock this is perfect as the clock rhythm is just what we was looking for. The ticking of the clock fits perfectly with our scene as it creates tension which is what we want our title sequence to do. The pressure of the songs builds slowly which also creates good tension.

Friday 4 January 2013

Journal Post : Burning the book


Burning the book

On Friday the 4th January we went to Harry’s house to do some more filming for our title sequence. Our initial idea was to have blood dripping down the inside of the book to represent the death of a character. As a group we decided that by using blood it may make the film come across as a horror and the blood gives the element of gore which is not what we wanted, therefore we decided to burn the page to represent how Luther Lewis (Idris Elba) had 'Cooked the books' and led a life of corruption which ruined his life.

 

In the book we decided to credit the producer whilst the page was burning which creates good effect because as the page is burning the producers name will also be burning away along with the page.

 

When we set up the book we were supervised so that the flame didn't get out of control. We placed a black sack on a small table which created a dark back ground which was what we wanted so that the flame stood out more. The positioning of the lighting was also important as we didn't want the setting to be either to dark or to light. The camera positioning was also important because we needed it just higher than the table so that the effect of the flame was caught and so that writing on the page was visible to the audience who need to read it.

 
Overall this shoot was successful and the footage that we filmed will be used in our title sequence once it is edited.