My Evaluation Video Blogg & Essay

In what ways does your media product use, develope or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product developes on other products by taking two genres, both action and thriller, and put them together. However it challeneges other films like this by the twist to my product. It gives the audience a clip of what happens at the beggining, being the car race, but then it does a graphic match to the interview scene which is the ending. leaving the film to work back on itself and keeping the audience interested beacuse they want to know what happens from one point to another.
its also the same as other real media products, by the use of colours. in all other films with the genre being horror, it has a main colour, usually being red as this represents blood. i have also used orange making it relate to action aswell, because together the red and orange look like a fire affect, relating to danger.
My film is also familiar to others due to the titles at the begining, having directed by me, Kelsi Clark, and the stars acting in the film.
How does your media product represent Particular social groups?
My video product represents a particular social group, mainly teenagers as a stereotype because teenagers are seen to like lively energetic films same as mine. Whereas th people in the story are also teenagers that are shown to be in trouble and constant rivalry for popularity and to be the best. resulting in getting into trouble with the police who are portrayed as serious and sensible and havinghigher authority this is also shown through the camera shots on the detective as they consist of low angled shots and the detective taking up most of the frame.
What kind of media institution might dispute your media product and why?
universal may be interested in my film because it is similar to a film they have recently released in 2009, being Law Abiding Citizen, this being such as good success my film would be interesting.
Who would be the audience of your media product?
My video would be suited for an audience of teenagers and a younger generation, however it will have an age certificate on it due to having a complicated story line, however the older generation may enjoy the film aswell.
How did you attract/address your audience?
i attracted my audience by the type of things my video contains such as the drag race at the begining. this would attract the attention of teenagers however it would be suitable for other older generations. due to its fast paced and lively storyline it would help to keep the audience interested, as well as the twists in it, such as the story telling itself backwards. i mainly got this idea from a play that i had recently studied and been to see, called "blood brothers" it wored well and kept the audiences full attention, by telling the ending, the audience was intruiged to find out how it came to that result, as im hoping mine will.
What have you learnt about technologies afrom the process of constracting this product?
From making my video i have learnt how to use the video camera and what angles i can acheive with it.
i have learnt how to use abdobe premiere of how to cut the parts of the film up so that they fit perfectly together, this is by using different affects in the program such as the cross fading.
another program is abdobe after effects where i have used youtube to find tutorials for the effects such as cosmic power as used at the begining of the film.
Looking back at your Prelimary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
from doing my prelim i feel that i have learnt alot, i have learnt how to use the camera affectively, i have learnt more camera angles of how to make people feel like they have more authority, such as the detective by doing a low angled shot and giving him most of the camera frame makes him appear as an important camera. whereas in my prelim i had very limited knowledge of how to use a camera only using the 180 degree rule. i have also used this in my final task as it is a basic camera movement.
Another thing i have learnt is how to do effects, such as to make the cut up shots fit perfectly together, i have used a cross fade to make the transactions from one clip to another smoother.
i have also had to edit parts in the audio. to put in an over voice i have used key frames to lower the volume in some places, making it fade out smoothley and then fade back in to normal.

My Video Evaluation

Faults

One main fault when filming is when Mike Hornby leans down into his hands, Aiden Tate sits back up, becuase it changes character and each one of them has committed a different crime. Mikes crime is maing Aiden crash during the race, and in the end Aiden gets his own back by going after Mike and murdering him.
However the in the shots, when trying to fit them together Danny Waites (the Detective) arms kept changing position it would be up with him touching his face and then down leaning over the chair. Therefore i had to re capture different parts of the film, to make sure his hand is perfect.
Another difficulty i had during filming is to get the perfect positions when aiden and mike swap people. Danny had to stay in the same exact position and Aiden had to sit back up to where Mike had just been.However i did manage to resolve my problems.

The last problem is weither the audience can see the character change from Mike to Aiden, and i hope the audience continue to follow the story line.

Wanted Camera Angles

My camera angles that i would like to acheive in my interview scene is some over the shoulder shots.This is so it can be like a tense and important conversation. This will turn into a shot reverse shot as it keeps jump cutting to the other person as they speak in turn. To the right is an example of an over the shoulder shot.

i would also like some low angled shots so the camera is looking up at the detective, making him appear to have more authority and the most powerful character in the scene. An example is to the left.

i would also like to get an extreme close up of the detectives face so that the audience can see his stern and serious look on his face making them aware that something terrible has happed. therefore leaving them intrigued, wanting to know what has happend. To the right is an example of a close up of angelina as an example of the close up intenseness i would like to create.

Editing

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Interview Scene of Law Abiding Citizen

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Story Board

This is a story board of pictures of the camera angles i would like to get and use. there is also a video of some shots i would like to achieve in the real thing.

Faults While Filming

I had some problems while filming...not only did i have to stop filming due to the rain and having to keep the camera dry, i wasnt able to get some shots i would have liked to.

i wouldve liked to have got a shot of the car over taking, or follwing from behind, from a higher angle, such as out of the top of the sun roof, but neither car that i chose to use had a sun roof that fully opened. therefore to resolve this problem i took the shot looking out of the front windscreen. On one level it works becuase you can see the race from the drivers perspective and from his point of view. However it also has a shakey effect due to it being a hand held shot, that i am not fully happy with, but it does give the car a sense of speed that its driving faster then it was.

Another thing that i found difficult to film, was giving the car an affect like it had crashed. i couldnt actualy crash the cars (i dont think the drivers would be to happy about it either) therefore i am showing the car before it actually hits anything and making it go to a white screen,, suggesting that it has crashed annd then dealing with any camera movements, colours, sound effects etc in editing.

Lights...Camera....Action!

After trying to find the perfect place to start filming (after enquiring at the 3 sisters race course...what was £50 for an hour, what i could not afford, we hunted down industrail estates, soon to come across a long road near the DW statium in wigan)...i was ready to begin!

My first shot i did was filming the two cars driving towards me, coming from a distance. this was followed by another shot nearly the same but reverse i had the camera looking into the distance and the cars drive from behind the camera in to infront of it.

Ready to start Filming??

I have attempted many times to begin my filming, however for a long time the car scene was put of therefore i had to start with my interview scene.

The car scene was put of due to being able to find another car to race against a Datsun, because a corsa racing it just wouldnt look right in my opinion, and would ruin the affect of the movie. i wanted to use older cars, to give it a more racing car feel rather then just using boy racer cars. i dont think it would have the same effect.

My next problem to put of filming was one of the cars would be broken down, and in the garage and when that was fixed the next one would break. however when i did manage to get both cars together...i had forgotten my tape after all the effort of getting to the perfect scene.

Finally!!! when i had everything perfect, i had decent weather, two cars, and a tape...i was ready to film!

Car Scene Idea's

I would like to begin the car scene with close ups to help draw the attention of the auidence in. I particulary like the idea used at the beginning of cars, however i would like the noise of the car to be the noiticeable thing, such as the reving of the engine.

The first shot i would like is of the exhuast from an angle. i would also like the car to be revving loudly to gain more attention and make it seem like the driver is in prepartion for a race.

Next i would like the sound of the car engine carrying on to the next frame, like a soundbridge, as the camera jump cuts to an extreme close up of the dails inside the car going up.

Finally the last close up i am determined to get is for a wheel spin, or at least a shot from behind the wheels of the car pulling away from the starting line. i think a wheel spin would be more dramtic and show the enthuasiasm of the driver more, but it may be harder to capture.

Faults with Script

The are bits of the script (as shown below) that i am not happy or sure about.

The over voice is something i am not keen about doing, however due to the deadline drawing closer it is a back up plan incase anything goes wrong.

I have already had one problem. The yellow Datsun, belonging to Louis Howard, has been in the garage quite a bit and when filming some practice shots down a industrail estate the car flooded it self when doing a sharp turn and as seen on the practice shots, what is rather amusing aload of smoke and petrol spills out of the exhaust and tank. Therefore we had to put filming on hold ready for another day!

Script

Key:
BLACK – Camera work/editing
RED – Over voice
BLUE – Speech
GREEN – Music
PURPLE - Maybe

Script:
Start with a black screen - Christopher Otcasek - Real Wild Child
(‘Power’ - on a black screen)
Shot of inside the car, of the details and revving the engine – shows some text for the title page, director etc.
(‘Speed’ - on a black screen)
Shot of the exhaust rumbling and revving the engine again, more text for the tile page, editing etc
(‘Success’ – on a black screen)
Shows the wheels and wheel spin ad drive off – more title pages
Black screen with the title of the film – (Music end?)
Thats me, a couple of days ago,
180 degree rule, shows the two cars going past, showing the opponent in front
I got challenged to race...
Interior shot showing the opponent driver
Him
Inside the opponents car, looking through the mirror from behind in the back seat showing his eyes
............................................................................................................................................
Shows the opponent throw something out of the window, at the other car, from the front passenger seat
Shot from outside showing something fall out of the opponent car is slow motion, while saying
I can’t remember much, his car driving into the distance, but then....
As the object hits the floor in slow motion a flash of white of white over the screen
Nothing
The opponents car squeaks to a stop, showing the wheels stopping, this becomes a graphic match into a interrogation light with the police
So you’re saying you don’t know.......(Name)........
That’s right, I’ve never heard of him in my life.
You may not have heard of him before, but you know you’ve sent him to hospital, that you left him, when he was injured!
You don’t know it was me
We’ve got the evidence,
Slams the prop of what was thrown on the road onto the interrogation desk
Close up of the opponents eyes, he moves his heads down into his hands, but when he sits back up its the person that crashed
We have the knife you killed him with and your blood samples to put you at the scene,
....you better start rehearsing your story, you’re going to be in jail a long time

Research

Tokoyo Drift - Opening Scene

At the begginning of "Too Fast To Furious, Tokoyo Drift" the music begins to play as the film comes up, stright away showing the titles to the film.

the film begins with showing massive groups of people, however at first the picture is blurred, soon sharpening and coming into focus, as if a camera has just been turned on. Next the camera begins to pan across the crowds as if its looking for someone inparticular, due to the speedthat its moving and the film has been undercranked, meaning it has been speeded up.

The titles fly onto the screen, and begin to slowly get smaller, fading into the distance. The films then begins to slow down as the camera zooms in on people at a metal detector, mainly focusing on one man who gets pulled aside and searched sperately, this makes the audience think that he is the bad guy, seen as he is one out of millions that is getting searched.

The screen then changes through a pixeled type of effect to a bigger tiled television screen, like a secuirty camera setting, suggesting the whole time he was the one being watched.

The Race Scene

The race scene begins with a medium shot showing the cars speeding of into the distance, but also showing the setting of Tokoyo around, before jump cutting to show a close up of the drivers face. this focuses on his expression of concentration, soon jump cutting to show that he is concentraing because he is in a race and is drawing with a car right next to him. The cars are driving towards the camera, but they are not getting closer, this maybe bacuase the camera maybe on a track travelling at the same speed the cars are.

Some of the Shots captured in this clip are the ideas of what i am hoping to achieve, such as the shot (14 seconds in) looking out of the car front window. i like this becuase it is a camera shot as if the people in the audiance are the drivers and helps them to empathsis with him and see things from his perspective.

Another shot i would like (38 seconds in) is as if the camera is on the floor and the cars drive past. It has a shaking affect to the camera making the auidence feel the danger and the impact of the cars driving so close to the camera.

Walt Disney Pixar - CARS

Walkt Disney Pixars film Cars begins with a black screen while the main character, Lightning McQueen is speaking. This is to help the audience focus on, and for their fulll attention to be on his words. This is because it helps to introduce his character. Lightning McQueen is desprate to win the piston cup therefore he keeps reminding himself he has to win and he is powerful and confident he can win!

Next it jump cuts to scene with cars racing, so the audience can identify his speaking as an over voice is relating to him winning this particular race. It is then followed by another dark screen with dialouge and follwed by a short fast racing scene again, however McQueen is then interupted by another voice leading to an opening of a door, linking to why Mcqueen was sat in the dark. Also as the door opens music begins to play.

The camera then jump cuts to differnt close ups of different places on Mcqeen. First it shows his name badge and as he begins to pull out of the truck the camera moves along his body work in order showing his stickers of his number and sponsers, his sports wheels and lastly his rumbling exhuast!

It then jump cuts back to the front view of Mcquuen as he appears out of the lorry to the surrounding stadium of cars. Mcquuen takes up most of the screen frame, this emphasises that he is the main character. The camera then follows on doing a long shot and panning around the stadium to help set the scene, shortly followed by another jump cut to a large banner saying "Piston Cup", having the full frame focus on these words it suggests to the audience that the piston cup is going to play an important role within the film.

The titles to the film are wriiten in the centre of the screen in white with the background of a close up of the cars racing, weither it be of the exhaust or a wheel of a racing car. The ttles inform the audience of the producer and the next being the specialist (DisneyPixar, due to it being an animation film)

Finally the main title "Cars" is written across the road that appears as all the cars speed over the finish line, making it look like a sort of sponser and blending in with the film.

Recky Photos

These are pictures of one of the cars i am using:

Due to my actors being to young to drive, i have had some of my other friends fill in the driving for me, and during filming it turned out to be quite difficult as i wasnt able to show any of there faces, and had to resort into maaking a clear link that the driver ends up as the murderer by putting in a voice over to fill in more parts of the story.

Recky Photos

These are recky photos of some of the angles i would like to include in my film. I have also included a video of some practice shots to see how well my idea works. the only difficulty with my practice video is that it had snowed.

Analysing Opening Scene - Comedy

American Pie:

Analysing Opening Scenes - Action

Law Abiding Citizen:
The main character, plyed by Gerard Butler, after seeing his wife and daughter killed infront of him, he decides to take justice into his own hands. He decides to kill the people resposible for their death, as well as a district attornyinvolved in the deal. The twist in this story is he does it all from inside his jail cell.
The first bit of this clip shows the credits in a stone like font and a scratched away effect, like it has erdoded away over time, this is relevent to the film because as you find out through the feel he has spent alot of time creating a plan of revange. Also digging the tunnels is involved in the film, helping to contribute to the eroded effect.
The film begins with happy music and close up of both gerard and his daughters activities. Due to it being filmed as an extreme close up, this could represent the relationship between them both as being close.

Next the colours of all the littles girls toys represent the innocence and shes in the light whereas her dad played by Gerard Butler is in the darker area and his equipment for soldering is grey.

This is then followed by both characters talking with the camera moving in shot reverse shot as they talk together, making it more realistic they are having a realistic conversation.

However this is soon interupted by a loud knocking on the door. The knock on the door is enhanced so it is louder for the audience to recognise, and makes it the audience expect something to happen.

When Gerard moves upstairs to answer the loud knocking on the door, the interior of the house is painted in yellows and uses bright colours suggesting happiness and there a good family, however outside it is night time, and this is where the thugs (bad guys come from).

As soon as the thugs are inside the house and begin to beat up and assault Gerard Butler, tense music begins to play over the top of the scene. Sound effects, such as smashing and the previous knocking are added in to make the scene be more realistic, as well as sound more violent. Next the sound begins to echo and the picture jump cuts quick to make the scene seem more dramatic and the sound makes it seem as if the characters are hurt, low on energy and passing out.

Finally, eventhough the opening scene does not tell the full story, the film explains itself as it goes along. This technique jelps to keep the audience interested, for example in this scene the audience doesn't know why the thugs are after Gerard and killing his family. Eventhough nothing much happened in the begining clip, the sound and music helps to add effect and contributes to the film getting stright into the story.

Film Genre's

A film genre is how each type of film can be categorised. these will be assesed by similar aspects of the film. Such as:

• Setting - the environment where the film takes place. For example a haunted house can be seen as a horror setting.


• Theme - this is about events that happen withing the film. Such as falling in love can be interpretated as romance.


• Mood - is the emotion that runs throughout the film. For example a high level of energy can be seen as action.

Action:
Action films have a high rythm of energy constantly running throught them, as well as an exciting theme. A certain event or more usually happend during an action film, such as a battle, rescue, escape or crisis (flooding, fire, explosion). Actions films have a steroypical view of good guys fighting bad guys.

Examples of these types of films are 'James Bond', 'Crank' and 'Tomb Raider' .

Adventure:
Adventure films are usually set as a group or individual set in a new environment (jungle, desert), with new experiences. Adventure films can be closely related to an action Film.

Examples of this film genre is 'Indiana Jones'.

Comedy:

Comedies are light hearted laughable films, this may include jokes being told or one liners, otherwise the relatioonship between two characters, (such as the popular cheerleader and the geeky nerd).

Comedies can also include picking fun at other films such as 'Not Another Teen Movie', 'Date Movie', 'Epic Movie'. Other examples of comedies are 'Yes Man', 'The invention of lying' and 'American Pie'.

Drama:

Drama films have a serious storyline and have a realistic theme to them and the characters. they can be a biography or a life story. Drama films are mainly aimed at adults.

Horror:

Horror films are created to frighten people and create fear for the veiwers. the plots of the films are mainly based around, death, murder, mental illness, or supernatural events. Old horror films ideas were drawn from literature such as dracular and frankenstein. However the more recent films are made from insecurities and inspiration of modern life.

Examples or forror films include: 'Saw' 'The Crazies' and 'Dawn of The Dead'