Evaluation Question 7

Evaluation Question 6

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Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 4

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Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1

Media Evaluation Question 7

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

Our Preliminary task was a Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she?he exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. In this task we had to demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and 180-degree rule.

Whereas our Main Task was to create the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.

While the preliminary task was completely different to the main task, I would say I have used some of the skills I learnt from that to help create our final film. Before taking A level Media Studies I had very little knowledge on the subject and little knowledge on how to create a media product.

But in doing the preliminary task I learnt what match on action is, which we used when opening doors in the final task and throwing folders off the desk. This makes the film run smoother and makes sense.

I learnt what 180 degree line was which was used throughout both tasks. This ensures that the shots do not get reversed as the film progresses. We used this rule because it helps to make our film makes sense and flow in a more understandable order.

Also I learnt what shot reverse shot entailed. This is vital when filming conversations as it involves filming shots that look like one character is facing another. This makes conversations between characters believable and therefore makes the film more realistic.

Throughout the year I have learnt many things, which has helped me improve my skills. Looking back at the preliminary task, I feel that I have get better all round in terms of cinematography. But I have get especially better at sound bridges and lighting. In our final film we used many sound bridges. This is where a outgoing sound (either dialogue or sound effects) in one scene that continues over into a new image or shot. We have used these to good effect in our film in order to achieve good continuity and dramatic effect. Also I have got better at lighting. In the preliminary task, we did not focus on lighting at all, however in the final film we focused on getting the lighting perfect. We used a small lamp to get the lighting that we desired to get good dramatic effect.

While we have used the same methods to produce our film (180 degree line, shot reverse shot, match on action) we have altered them to create an effect. In our final film we have used low angle shots and high angle shots to show the personality of a character. Shepp Flanagan when on camera is seen by a low angle shot meaning he dominates the screen making him look powerful. Whereas the character Marcus Finn is shown through a high angle shot, making him look small and vulnerable.

Media Evaluation Question 6

Media Evaluation Question 5

Media Evaluation Question 4

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Media Evaluation Question 3

Media Evaluation Question 2

Media Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (Media Evaluation Question 1)

Before creating our two minute opening sequence, we conducted some research into existing films that we thought were similar to ours. One of the films that I looked at during this research was James Bond Casino Royale.

In this research we discovered that in action films there are a few things that occur in all films of this genre:

• Themes of death
• Strong and confident protagonists that the story follows
• Gunfighting
• Car Chases
• Fast paced editing
• Occasional Flashbacks (To show what has happened to a character and why they are doing what they are doing.)
• Plots of Death/Assassination/World Domination

The opening sequences in action films tend to be fairly slow and actionless. The opening being slow and steady helps the audience to understand the storyline quickly and prepare them for action to come.

By using forms and conventions in the way we do we want the audience to feel suspicious and intrigued as well as tension.

In our film ‘The Aggregator’ we have a non-linear narrative. This means that it doesn't follow the normal flow of time, it jumps forwards and backwards in time. We do this for the audiences benefit, the jumps in time help the audience to understand what is currently happening easier .In the two minutes of our film we introduce three character, two of which are important to the storyline (Jason Kable, Shepp Flanagan). However the audience will not be able to tell this as the storyline is not clear until later on in the film. Before the title flashes on the screen we see the less important character (Marcus Finn) get held at gunpoint. At which point the screen fades to black. This is an attempt to build tension, like many other action films do. An example of this is on James Bond Skyfall, Bond get shot and falls into a river at which point the starting titles come on to delay us from knowing what has happened.

Our film is an action/thriller film, although it is fairly hard to tell this from the footage that you see. An action film would be described as fast paced with combat , a thriller would be described as a film using tension and suspense. No action really takes place in our film other than a character being held at gunpoint at which point the screen fades to the title shot, which could be seen as an element of thriller and action. We planned to make the genre clearer as the film went on.

In an action film you would expect the editing to be fast paced which give the film a fast flow and keeps the audience guessing. We have purposely made the film fairly slow for an action film as it makes the start slow and steady helping the audience to understand the narrative and it prepares them for future action. This is a convention that most action films follow. Also from an action film you would expect combat meaning that more long shots/mid shots will be used to show punching etc. As our film doesn't contain much action (At the start) these shots aren't common, however in the part of the film with the only bit of recognisable ‘action’ a mid shot is used to show a gun being held to someone's head.

The sound of a film is important. It can help change the perspective of the audience. There are certain sounds you would expect from a action film. Firstly in terms of diegetic sound in an action film you would expect combat sound effects such as gun noises and punches.Secondly in terms of non-diegetic sound you would expect a slow, tense and serious soundtrack over conversation, to give the words an extra meaning but then a fast paced soundtrack over action to make the film appear to flow faster and make it rhythmic. We have followed this convention. When the characters are talking we have a slow violin soundtrack to make things tense but then a faster paced guitar and drums soundtrack when the action is taking place, this helps the audience to know what is going to happen before it actually does. While the title is on the screen, we hear a voice over from one of the characters and then a gunshot, which in this case is non-diegetic sound as you can't see the source of the sound. This makes the audience think that the character who owes the money is dead, but that could not necessarily be the case. This is done to keep the audience guessing and asking questions to make them want to watch on.

In our film, we focused on making sure the mise-en-scene was perfect. Mise-en-scene refers to the use of costumes, props and locations. These are the things that make your film look believable. We made sure our characters we dressed smart as you would expect from a loan shark and debtor, we surveyed many locations before picking the small room with a table and chairs to see which one was most suitable to be a loan sharks office. And we also brought in any props we needed like the cheque book and gun to ensure the story made sense. These are the things that you would expect from a typical action movie like James Bond.

                                                               

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For our titles we used the American Typewriter font. This font looks like it the font that you see from a old fashioned typewriter. This gives the film a vintage appearance. We were attempting to get this nostalgic feeling as our film could be likened to a gangster film, and this is something you would expect in a gangster film.

If you were to explain the iconography of the genre action you would say combat with guns and car chases. The two minutes of the film we produced there isn't much action, you could say it is unconventional. The only major convention we followed was the use of the gun. This was done to make the start fairly slow. We intended to return to the conventions of an action film later on once the audience has grasped the storyline, which would make the action more of a surprise and hard hitting.

Question Answers

Post Film Results

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aj7SoTd2N20UdFdwWldHT09XVUozVEdzT2VwdktoNHc&usp=sharing

Post Film

EVALUATION QUESTIONS Courtney Smith

Evaluation Question 1 ^

Q2 Evaluation Tumblr

Q3


Question 4 Evaluation

Q5 Evaluation Courtney Smith

Q6 Evaluation Courtney Smith

Question 7 Evaluation

For our preliminary exercise, we had to perform a continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom the character then exchanges a few lines of dialogue. This task demonstrated match on action, shot-reverse-shot and the 180 degree rule.

For our main task, we had to perform an opening sequence for a new fiction film with titles, to last a maximum of two minutes. This also demonstrated a range of different shots, including shot-reverse-shot and 180 degree rule.

From our preliminary exercise we learned about how to operate the cameras, how to set up tripods, we learned about 180 degree rule, shot reverse shot and match on action shots. From learning these we were able to transfer these skills we had learned and apply them to our two minute film.

Preliminary Exercise

 
                                                                                           Match on Action - Preliminary Exercise
 

 Shot Reverse Shot - Preliminary Exercise

 


Two Minute Film Opening
 Match on Action - Two Minute Film



 Shot Reverse Shot - Two Minute Film



These pictures show the progress between our preliminary exercise and our two minute film, we have improved and learned a lot and they have shown us how to successfully film using cameras, we have improved and shown our understanding of 180 degree line, shot reverse shot and match on action.

Preliminary Exercise

Final Film