Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Before my preliminary task I did not have a clue about technology used for filming, editing or camera shots. We got given a booklet with the different camera shots and a sequence to copy. This told us all about the main shots and taught us how to use some of them in certain situations, for example to use a close up shot, which focuses on just the face, when you want to show emotion. It also helped me develop my understanding of the camera we were using for both tasks and I learnt how to operate the tripod, including turning it round to do a pan, and adjusting it to hold the camera higher and lower positions to do high angle and low angle shots. It also keeps the camera steady, meaning you can do moving shots without the footage looking shaky. I have learnt about lots of different types of technology including the programmes on the iMacs that we used to edit our film. I now feel that I would be confident to use these programmes again on my own and so this has progressed me a lot using new technologies.





Prelim task link- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH0c1QDossA

Main task link- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fOcBIJuYfw

Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

We chose Warner Brothers studios because they have been the company to support other film noir genre films in the past. They did different genres of films and one of them was film noir's, these are films that are produced at night in the dark, in hidden alleyways and specific locations. They contain a detective and a femme fatale also. An example of a film noir is the 'maltese falcon'. 

Warner Brothers are now a conglomerate with Time Inc, which made TimeWarner. This would have been beneficial for Warner brothers as it would mean that they would be able to advertise for free through the TimeInc company because they own companies which produce magazines so therefore they can advertise in there for free. 

As a company they have a lot of money and power through to them owning a lot of smaller companies. They could promote the film through traditional marketing which would include film premieres and interviews on celebrity chat shows, etc. Another way of distributing the film could be through viral marketing as this is cheap and can be accessible to a very wide audience. This includes Tumblr, Twitter and youtube clips such as trailers and short films. 

Q6. What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

When we started our AS media subject we got given the task of completing a preliminary task. We got given a Sony handycam and a tripod and were sent on our way to film this task. There is a picture of this below.


This was set so that we could show our basic skills with not having much practice with a camera. It helped us get used to the feel and how the camera works so it would be easier to do our main project. It was a short clip of basic camera shots that we got taught about. Comparing what we did in this task, compared to our main project there is a big difference, which shows how we have improved. 

To the left is an image of our tripod used throughout our prelim task and main film. The tripod we used along with our camera helped us to stabilise our filming and make sure the footage was clear and not shaky. 









After we had finished this task, our future lessons were set with clips of films to watch, such as "se7en", "blue velvet", and we had to analyse them and then record what we analysed on our individual blogs. This then got us used to using 'www.blogger.com' as we were reporting in it weekley. It also kept all our work organised and it is an easy type of format to work on. 

After this topic had been completed we got told about our main task, to produce our film. We had lots of planning and research to do to help guide us to do the best we could. This included storyboarding our scenes. We drew the scenes out on paper and then so that we could put them on our blog, we scanned our storyboard from the photocopier to our email addresses so that we could put it on a blog post and talk about it. This was also a new piece of technology for me to learn how to use. 


Producing our actual film with the technology being the camera and tripod we had previously used was fairly easy, as long as the use of the 180 degree rule was remembered. However transferring the filmed footage and editing it on the iMacs was very difficult for me as I had never done anything like that before. We used premier pro to edit our film and so this made putting our film together was much easier once we knew how to do it. 

Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We chose our target audience due to the people who we thought would watch our film. We addressed them through our strong story line as we have a thrilling enigma. Our femme fatale is mysterious and she presents herself in a way that would not be dignified in this modern world. We think that the majority of our audience would be male so we focused on that, which is why we have a beautiful femme fatale to draw them in and so they would be interested to watch the film to see her character. 
We also decided to make our story unique and quite mysterious so that the audience would want to carry on watching to find out what happened throughout the film.

Coursework feedback

Appropriate institutional title for Warner Brothers at the start and then a title using colour and appropriate font .  A production company  logo could be added. Ambient sound of birdsong is added to create an atmosphere of suburbia and a range of shots demonstrate continuity editing. As the edit builds through a range of shots of the detective walking the voice-over establishes the narrative in the convention of film noir. The voice-over sets up the enigma and a close up then reveals his state of mind.  Transitions are used well such as a fade to black to indicate the end of the introduction. 

The next scene is in a bar and shows proficiency in scripting and storyboarding and organizing actors, settings and props.  Careful attention is given to filming a range of shots. Music enhances meaning further and codes and conventions of the genre are clearly followed. The enigma is then set up with the femme fatale raising the issue which will then drive the narrative.

Evidence of proficiency in most of the skills and clearly fulfills the task.

45/50

Coursework feedback response

Thank you for my feedback. I know now that i need to:
- finish my film
- Complete my evaluation questions
- check my research and planning is thorough

Detective Dale

Coursework feedback

You are currently working at level 3 for your coursework but time management is a real factor and the film needs to be completed this week.  Your edit is very promising and is almost complete. 

Ensure creative technologies are employed in the evaluation.

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our film, there aren't many social groups showed. The femme fatale is high classed and isn't from around the area so she comes to the detective alone. This is because she is trying to play with the detective and get him to feel sorry for her as she needs his help. 

The detective is of a high class also which is why he is shown to talk to the femme fatale in quite a patronizing way. He presents himself in a suit and hat which is the clothing of a typical detective and this conveys his occupation and age. He is an isolated man who doesn't really have a wide circle of friends, there is only him and his buddy detective. 

Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our primary audience is middle aged adults (30-50) as younger people (20-30) may not understand the adult issues that go on in the film. This is because younger people may not understand the 'film noir' type of film and so the anigma and the conditions of a film noir would not be appreciated and would not make sense. Our secondary audience is young adults as although they may not understand the film noir theme they may enjoy the thrill of our film as it has a good story and has a strong anigma which draws them in to want to watch the rest of the film. It could also retain their attention quite easily as they will be interested to know what is going to happen next. Another reason why younger adults my be interested in watching this film is because it shows a bit of the typical 1940's lifestyle which could be interesting for them to learn about.

To know what audience would appeal to our media product we researched and looked in to the different types of films and thought about which age group would be interested. We knew it wasn't children as it is aimed at older people due to there being a story to follow and it is a fairly old fashioned type of film. We searched the typical type of person who would watch a film noir and we got 30-50 year old males who enjoyed mystery. This is the audience we targeted and that we would hope to watch our film. 

Although this is stereotypical it could be true. However there are females that will also be interested in this type of film as they could enjoy the same factors as a male.

Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

We used a variety of conventions to suit our film noir genre. We went with the stereotypical male detective and femme fatale. We chose their costumes to fit the conventions of a film noir; the detective wore a suit and hat and the femme fatale wore a long fur coat and looked glamorous. Over the years the detective has always been represented in a familiar way for the audience to recognise. 2 films i have analysed are 'Se7en' and 'The Maltese Falcon' which are both film noirs and include a main detective role. Even though the time periods are different and you can tell more previous detectives are slightly more modern, the main attire is still the same. 'Se7en' has challenged the roles of the detective however because they have used a different ethnicity compared to a typical white ethnic man. 

'Se7en' detective somerset, 

'Maltese Falcon' detective, more dated but
still clear detective image

                                       

















Films like the Maltese Falcon  emphasize the main detective and femme fatale roles. In my opening sequence I looked at other femme fatales images for inspiration. This included the one from the 'Maltese Falcon', she is demonstrated as a vulnerable character who commonly wears expensive looking clothes, such as fur and leather, and we used this image to decide the outfit of our femme fatale. Even though in this image the femme fatale 


The lighting we used was low key and we tried to use just natural light or a single light source to film in. This creates a contrast of shadows on the face and portrays a dark atmosphere. The music we chose fit to the mood of our film. It also showed the time era we were demonstrating throughout our film. 
We were going to challenge the conventions of a film noir by using a female detective, but when we went to film using her, it didn't look right. So we decided to stick to the traditional male detective. 

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment

Some risks are:-
-Tripping over a wire
-Dropping the tripod on your foot
-Getting your finger caught in the camera. Between the camera and the holder
-Tripping over the tripod

Those at risk are:-
- actors
- team
- public

Prevention:-
-Make sure all wires are put somewhere people wont be at risk
-Make sure participants are informed about the dangerous objects