x x . . Misz. Antoinette Yemzie Seki . . x x

Simply just doing Media . . :)

Prelim Task

AS Opening Sequence

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Mauro Fiore - Cinematographer


In tribute to the film's groundbreaking visuals -- a combination of live-action and computer-generated images -- the award for cinematography went to Mauro Fiore for his work on director James Cameron's "Avatar." The film was shot using high-definition digital cameras and a system for creating 3-D effects invented specifically for the film.

"I want to thank the academy for this unbelievable honor," said the 45-year-old Italian-born Fiore, who received his first Oscar nomination for "Avatar." He then referred to Cameron as a "visionary."

Backstage, Fiore said the "Avatar" victory marked "the first time a film has won that has so much computer-generated imagery and live-action together, so this is a huge revolution for the industry."

Thursday 18 March 2010

Prelim Planning Task

Our Prelim task was to be based on a boy named Tyrone, who was very independent and lonely, however, he had a follower that wanted to be everything like him, although not knowing everything about him. Therefore, to start this off we used a long shot of the girl Lizzie walking through the corridior. This shot enabled us to see the character in full view and in depth, it also enabled us to analyze the character through the costume, hair and make-up. We used a long-shot to introduce everything because we wanted the audience to see who the character was. Also the motion and pace of which the caharcter was walking was also essential, as it also added to the "gangster" look the character was trying to be, however didn't succed as the costume did not denote her character.

Then after the long-shot of Lizzie we had to introduce the other character, we decided to this through a cut-away, as we still wanted the identity of the character to be a bit faint, as we did not want the audience to be informed too quickly.

Then we moved back to Lizzie through a wide-shot which allowed us to see the background which was of a school, we decided to this near the the lockers so the audience will know that it is in a school.

After that, we decide to use a extreme close-up of Lizzie's hand, so that the audience could see that she is opening the door, however, at the same time, still unaware of where she is going.

Again, we decided to use another cutaway of Tyrone, during this cutaway we used a medium close up. We used this so that the audience could see what he is doing. As we were going for the gangster type of look for Tyrone, we had to make him look the part. In addition, we supplied a few props so he could look the part. We gave him a MP3 player and some earphones, so it could look as if he was listening to music. Also as he is gangster, we then decided to make him bop his head to the music, which folows the usual stereotype for most ghangsters as they are normally into that sort of music, and that is usaully the body language that they perform while they are listening to it.

Then we cut back to Lizzie through a long shot, which also allowed us to see her character and see her body language, as she is walsking like she is gangster. Howver, the costume is a contradiction on this part as her costume does not follow the stereotype.

Then we will use a left-angle shot, so we could see the formation of the conversation. Then we would use a shot reverse shot so we can see the foremation of coversation.

After when Lizzie comes in we then decide to place an high shot of Tyrone so we can see Tyrone's response to Lizzie's behaviour.

Then we will ove to an over the shoulder shot of both character so we can see both of their facial expressions towards the conversation.

And then to a two shot so we can see both their position in the frame and their body attitudes.
And then another long shot of Tyrone so we can see his reaction to her comment.

Then fianlly we will end it with a high shot of Lizzie so we can see how she responds.

Prelim Task Plan

Tuesday 16 March 2010

Feedback

My friend, Funmi, told me "the opening was very, very dramtic and the sound added on to that affect, however, i was unaware of the scenario, and id not know what was going on." With this feedback myself and my team decided to make it a little bit more informing so our audience would understand what was going on, however, not giving away the story and the plot too soon.

Moving on, another person from the opposing class told me that "the sound used was a brillant effect, however, there were too many shots on the photo-album which could produce boredom." When my team heard this we acted on it staright away using some cut-away editing techniques and also fading to white, to make it quick and easier.

Another comment that was recieved by my teacher was "the continuity is not accurate, as orange flooring could be seen, whereas in all the other shots we could see black flooring. How does thatw ork out?" Indeed we never noticed it, until we went back and we had realised that even though it was for a small amount of time there was still orange flooring. Therefore, we had to use our editing techniques and cut out that bit and speed it up. Once we had done it, everything was perfect.

Question Seven

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

During our Prelim Task we had to be able to film and edit a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character. A couple of lines of dialogue must then exchange between characters & match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule should be demonstrated.We did this by filming.


While filming we made sure we used a series of shots. We made a storyboard in order for us to know what to do, when to do and how to do it. The shots we used were, single shot, long shot, shot reverse shot, two shot, high-angle shot, low shot, centre shot, medium close up, over the shoulder shot, back shot and side shots. We did this so we could be able to film the character in different positions. However, what we had failed to do was to have safety shots. We had a lot of shots but no safety shots, which deducted a lot of marks from our prelim task.


This enabled us to make progress, as w knew that in the previous task we had failed to have safety shots. So while making our post-production we made sure that we had taken three safety shots for each hot, and we did so at three different angles three times. So at the end of our filming and when it came to editing we had a range of images to choose from, at different positions, this was very handy, as we had noticed that even some of our safety shots were not even good enough. This was due to our camera guy Daniel, who had taken some really good shots, however he had failed to take them accurately. Because during our opening, Claire was on the floor glancing through her photo-album in her living room, but we had taken it in school, so we brought props to make it look like a room. However, during some of our safety shots you could see the orange floor of the class-room and not the grey carpet we had used to cover it. Although it was very small, we could see it. But as we had had other safety shots it did not really matter, as we were able to use the others.Therefore, I learnt that it is always good to have safety shots, as you will defiantly not have enough shots or the shots could be bad. Therefore, back up shots are mandatory.We were also conscious of the mise en scene.


During our prelim task we always had to make sure that the position in the framing was right. This was because we had to film a character walking to open the door. To make it more realistic that the person was walking, we used the trekking device, as this made it a whole lot more realistic and much better. However, the problem that occurred was that it was too fast, and we had not even noticed that someone had walked past, as we were not going steadily with the trekking device.


We were able to make progress because during our post-production we made sure whenever we used any sort of equipment, we made sure it was steady and looked professional as well as realistic. Such as the camera, Daniel the camera guy always made sure the camera was on point. Because during our opening sequence at a particular point the phone drops, and we wanted it to look as effective as possible but professional at the same time. Therefore, we decided that while the phone is falling the camera will fall too, so it would look like the camera is trekking the phone, and when we did so, it just looked awful and unprofessional, as the speed of the camera was too much and there was a massive “thud” on the ground from the phone. Therefore we started thinking of other alternatives that we could use. Then finally we had come up of a solution, which we would leave the camera on the floor, and face it upwards, and so when the phone drops the camera would just trek it until it lands unto the ground. This went well, as it looked good and professional.

Therefore, the prelim task helped us to progress as it enabled us to learn from our mistakes. And we learnt how to use the equipment properly and to its best.


During our post-production task we had to edit. I personally found editing very hard digitising, but as I kept on doing it, I became more confident at it.Once we had finished with our film, we had to start editing. While editing, we realised that we had to cut some scenes out immediately. This was because some of our scenes were just too long. This is because our opening is based on Claire’s photo-album, and instead of us just to glance through a few pictures, we decided to analyse each photo, which was altogether around eight still images. When I asked a few people on their thoughts of the film, they said it was “very emotional but good, however the shots were a bit long and boring” ( Funmi). After hearing some more feedback in relation to the theme of boredom we decided to cut down some scenes, as we did not want our audience to get bored in just the opening of the movie. So to improve this we started using some editing techniques.


We used a fade in and fade out technique for the automation of the images, this was to make it quicker, and so our audience didn’t get bored. We also decided to add credits over the photo-album, however after discovering some feedback that the credits distract the audience from the actual opening we had to delete them and replace the credits somewhere else, which was at the end.We edited because if we had just left the opening the way we had just filmed it, it would not look anything like an opening at all. This is because we have to add credits to inform the audience who we are, and what the film is.


We also have to make major adjustments to our opening if we want it to look professional and realistic. This is because we had a lot of safety shots, and if we did not erase them it would just be repeated. But the main reason why we edit, is to perfect it. We have done the hard work by filming it, we now have to add the final last touches just to perfect it and make it sell. If we do not do this then it will just look unprofessional and no distributor will want to buy it.


Finally, my progression has certainly developed from my prelim task to my post –production, as I have been able to learn from all my mistakes. Such as safety shots, mise en scene, costume, hair and make up and the representation of character. While making my post-production I kept bearing these five criteria’s in mind. This is because during the prelim task we had failed in these five criteria’s and for my post-production we could not make the same mistake, as it will not show any progression neither would it show any improvement. Therefore, I would say without the prelim task as a starting point, my post-production task would not have met the standard it is now, as I would not of known how to represent the character well through her make-up, costume and hair. Neither will I know that I need to have a vary of safety shots to keep myself on the safe-side just incase the photos we took were bad or that the position in the frame has to be just right and so does the movement of the camera.

Question Six

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

Technology played a very vital role while make my pro-production task this is because without it you cannot be able to produce a good film. While I was working as sound, I had realised that the sound picks up on everything single around you, it was so sensitive that things that you couldn’t even hear, could be heard via the sound kit. This is why I had to be attentive at all times. Another reason why sound was so important was because, even the slightest bit of noise could be heard, and this was big problem with my group. Because one scene had to be all quiet, I had to make sure the sound was perfect, which was absolutely the hardest thing I had to do. This was because, right on top of me there was ventilator which could not be turned off, therefore, it was very hard to shoot it, but we were able to shoot anyway. We needed sound so that we could be able to detect all the sound around us and near us, and we also needed sound so that it could sound good and clear.

The camera was the most important equipment of all, because if the camera was not there we will not be able to shoot. The camera enabled us to take shots at all different angles, different positions, sides and ways. The camera was a very productive tool, this was because while our director was directing, the only thing that he would look at was the camera, as he had to be able to spot the mise en scene and outside the mise en scene. Another reason why the camera was very useful was because we can make everything seem very realistic. Such as if we wanted it to seem like someone is walking all we had to was use the trekking equipment and that will enable us to get the look of someone walking.
We had to use the camera so we could be able to record our entire film, and so that we can make it more life-like and interesting.
The editing software is also important as it enables us to erase and improve all the things that we want and don’t want. By us using the editing software, we as a group could decide which clips were
unnecessary and which were not, we could also decide which were clips were very unprofessional and inadequate and which ones were very good and neat. The editing software also allowed us to be able to add effects, fade, colour, lighting etc. It was very useful.
We needed the editing software as it enabled us to perfect our work and make it the best it can possibly be.

While filming I learnt a few techniques
. Had to ensure everywhere was quiet so it could sound good
. While recording make sure everything stayed the same, for good continuity
. Before you start recording you have to say “Sound”, “Camera” and “Actor” then you refer to your clapper board
. Make sure you do not run over your tape.
These few things I learnt may not be a lot but they certainly helped me as I always made sure I bared this in mind before we did anything.

While editing I learnt that everything that had to be consistent. During the time my group and I were editing we had to make sure that everything in the frame was what we wanted to see, such as the floor, we had covered the floor with carpet, but not the entire floor, therefore, I had spotted out some orange spots where green carpet had to be. This was not right, therefore I had to erase this. Another technique I learnt were lighting. This is because while we were fading in and out we had to make sure it looked good. For example, if the background was blue, and it faded out to black, it just wouldn’t seem right. Therefore I made it fade to a lighter blue, then finally to white. Another technique I picked up was slowing down and fastening scenes. This was because some of the feedback that I and team received was that the album was too slow, and they get bored. Therefore, in order to amend this I had to fasten the scenes up, and cut some out as well. This was very helpful has it saved time, and made it look even better, and kept the audience entertained.

While making this opening sequence, I realised that every equipment had to be ready before shooting it, especially sound, a sit was always sound that slowed the progress down. While filming, the sound was a vital key, as it could detect everything, therefore, I had to be very attentive to make sure I cannot hear anything. This was very hard, and I never knew the job could be such handful. Therefore, one lesson I learnt while filming was to be attentive.
Another lesson I learnt was the mise en scene. I had to make sure that everything in the frame was correct and was what we wanted to see in the frame.
Another lesson was continuity, as if the continuity was not right, we would surely lose marks, therefore all of us had to leave our stuff to one side.
Also I learnt while being a sound lady, which the wires of the sound should be glued down and should be carried by me, so it wouldn’t drag on the floor

Question Five

Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

For us to be able to attract our audience we had to make film posters, and by us making these film posters we had to make sure it would catch our audience’s attention. Therefore, we had to make it interesting, yet professional at the same time. So we put an image of Claire in the background but it was quite faint, therefore you couldn’t really see the person in the image, and over that we put “Eternal Beauty” in pink.

Our opening sequence starts off with Claire glancing through her photo album (however Claire is never seen, her identity is anonymous throughout the entire opening), and we analyze each image. This attracts the audience because the audience can just hear her dialogue, but they cannot see who is speaking, so when the audience finally see images of a girl, they are most likely to pay attention, so they can see if it is the narrator. The reason we decided to make Claire’s identity anonymous was because we wanted the audience get engaged, and also because we wanted to challenge normal codes and convention of family drama’s by introducing the main character in the beginning, we wanted the audience to develop a character for themselves.

When she places the album on her lap, we see our production name on the front which is J.A.D Productions in pink. We decided to put our production name there because it will gain attention, as it is the first thing they see. And we decided to do it in pink, because the connotations of pink is that it is a girl colour, meaning that this film is most likely going to be involved around a girl.

Then Claire opens the album and we see the first image of her and her friends getting ready for a party. This attracts the audience as it is the first image they see, and they know straight away from the clothing that they are going to a party, however it makes the audience think.

While that was going on the sound credit came up in pink and California bold font which said “Sound by Antoinette Seki”.

Then it moved on to the next photo on the same page which is her by herself in front of a mirror. Then we moved onto the next page which is the images of her in her prom dress. This attracts the audience; again, because, they are now seeing a picture of a girl own her own, but they do not know who she is, therefore they would carry on watching to find out.

Likewise the camera credit came up and said “Camera by Daniel Motambo”. Then we zoom in then zoom out to the next image, but giving enough time to have a good description of it.

Then we fade out to the next page, but in white, because when we faded out in black it looked messy and just too unprofessional. And the other pictures were of Claire modelling in a casual outfit in front of a car. By now, the audience would have realised that Claire is the main character as she has appeared in three photo’s already. This image attracts the audience because they see her modelling, and this is the first time the audience will be informed that she is model even though they do not know her yet. It also attracts the audience by its costume, because she is modelling her hair and make-up would look glamorous and her costume will also have to look like super-models, which the audience will like to see.

Then a credit appeared of “Directed by Joshua Freeland” and we zoomed in and zoomed out to next image which was an image of her posing in front of a mirror. Then we faded out unto the next page which was of her alone, and of her reading a book then she turns to a blank page, and it fades into the phone-call.

This is very effective and will attract the audience. This is because it will startle the audience as the phone-call just came out suddenly. Also the blank page, leaves the reader blank, as to make them think what is actually going on, which keeps them engaged, as they want to know what will happen will next.

We were able to attract our target audience through the still images. We did this by showing them an image of one in particular girl, then her with other people. We did this because we wanted the audience to stay focused on that girl, as that girl is Claire- the main character.


When it fades into the phone scene all we can see is a wall, a small table with a phone and a lamp. And then we hear a phone ringing, and as it rings it zooms in. Then Claire walks in and picks up the phone. However, the audience does not hear the conversation. After a few seconds, roughly around 2 ½ seconds to be exact all we se see is the phone drop, and as it drops we added in a slow motion effect to add effect. Then Claire says, “Little did I know that this phone-call will change my life”. Then it fades out to black and “Eternal Beauty” appears in pink and in bold capital letters.

This is very, very effective and it automatically demands attention from the audience. This is because the audience are able to see Claire’s body but they are unable to see her leaving her identity anonymous. They are also unable to hear the conversation on the phone; all they can hear is the dialogue, which gives them little clues but not enough. The camera attracts the audience as it keeps Claire identity a secret and makes the audience want to know who she is.

One of the ways we attracted our audience was through the sound. This is because the sound has to suit the desire of our audience as they should enjoy it and understand it. The sound we used was called “Small Planet”, this sound I chose as it was very sad and dramatic, which was the exact effect we were going for. The sound had to make the audience feel sad and depressed, as it is a sad story and emotional, reason being why women will understand it more. And for me to be able to make sure I got that effect I wanted, i asked a few people that I did not know to get their own view on it. When they watched it they said ( this is from a girls perspective) “the sound was very sad and down…and made you have the feeling that someone was going to die and when the narration came in it made me want to cry”. Even though someone wasn’t going to die straight away, Claire was still going to die. This was great! As I have already captured my audience already through the dullness and the sadness of the sound. The denotation of the sound made the audience feel down, sad and make them want to cry. I have attracted them because they felt the sound and the emotion of it.


Another aspect was the editing. The editing was also important as it refers to what the audience will see. Therefore, while we were making the credits, we had to make sure that it was something that our audience will be attracted to reading, which is why we made it in pink. Because we are aiming towards a female audience, and most young females like the colour pink. Also the zooming in and out technique was another way to attract the audience. This is because it is swift and slow; therefore they can really look at it and see what is going on.
The mise en scene did not really help to attract our audience. This was because during our opening all you could see was the photo album and the phone call. But while we were glancing through the photo album, all you could see were the images of Claire. And when the phone call came up all you could see was the environment, and the environment was not really attractive to anyone.

We attracted our audience through our credits. By us making our credits in pink it would attract or primary audience (females) as the connotation of pink is that it is a female colour. This is why we purposely made it pink so the audience could pay attention to it.

The genre of our film is family drama. Our audience should really be interested in drama, and if they are they would really enjoy it. The reason why we chose family drama was because it is something original, and not a lot of movies nowadays make family drama it is normally about horror etc. Therefore, our audience will most likely not be a lot of people but the people that we do have, will definitely enjoy our drama.

The main key themes of our film are:


Love
Family
Friends

Death
Hope/Dreams

These are the five main themes of our film. Most girls seem to enjoy films about friends, family and love. Therefore, our audience will love this movie as they are the key essential things. Even though death is not a major theme in our film, death does take place, and not to make our film too boring we had to make it a little bit more interesting, which will also keep our audience entertained at the same time. However, when the character does die it links into the theme of hopes and dreams. This will make our audience happy again. As most ladies enjoy a happy ending.
The themes of love, family and friends would please our audience as it would make them happy. This is because girls enjoy watching heart-felt movies, as they are emotional.

The theme of death, however, could possibly make them cry, which is also good, as it is evidence that our film has succeeded if they do cry, it shows that they share emotion for Claire, and are sorry for her which links into the theme of Love.
And the theme of hopes and dreams, just leave it as a happy ending. This is because girls hate watching cliff-hangers, as I had asked a few girls on their own opinion and the majority of them don’t enjoy cliff-hangers. Therefore, by the theme of the dream being accomplished makes them happy knowing that even though Claire did not survive cancer at least she is still remembered.
For example Will Smith in “Seven Pounds”. Will Smith committed suicide but before he died he made sure that he had donated 7 things to strangers that needed it more than him. Seven Pounds had the exact same themes we did
Love
Family
Friends

Death
Hope/Dreams

And when he died everyone felt for him. Personally, when I watched it I did cry, as it was very emotional. But then when we saw that a blind man was able to see, a woman that had a heart problem had a good healthy heart, an old woman without a lung but was given a good healthy one, overshadows the death of Will Smith, as you are overwhelmed by the greatness that came out of his death. This is just like our film.

We attracted our audience also through our genre. This is because our genre is based on Family Drama, and as our primary audience are females, they will most likely be able to relate to the themes and emotions that go on in our film. This is because women share more emotion. So by us making it a family based drama it will attract our audience in the sense that they will share emotion, and they would understand as they ca relate to

Question Four

Our target audience would be aimed towards the family this is because, it is a family based drama therefore meaning that the family will be able to relate to it, as it has the key themes that every member of the family could relate too.

Firstly, our primary audience will be females. This is because they will be able to understand the emotional part of this film, as they are more emotional than men. And also because the main character (Claire) is also a woman, therefore females would be able to relate to her pain more, because they can be able to feel the emotions she will be feeling, such as boy problems, family, friends, love, looking pretty, weight issues etc. These are things that a female audience would understand, because they have probably gone through it, or knows someone that is. Therefore, by them watching a movie that high-lights a theme that is going on in their/friends life it would enable them to understand it even more and appreciate the film.

Our secondary audience would be people that have been influenced/affected by cancer. This is because this set of audience will be able to understand the whole story, as they have had a real life scenario with cancer, which would have a massive effect on them, and they would be able to understand and appreciate the film 100%. As they have been through it. They would most likely be able to fit into Claire’s shoes. This is because they have or they know someone that has been in Claire’s predicament, therefore they would know where the main character is coming from, and if our audience can understand where the main character is coming from, it would be easy for them to understand. However, the reason why they are our secondary audience is because they may get a bit too emotional, as it may remind of someone they lost closely. Or they might just not want to watch a film about cancer because they lost someone close to them. This is why they are not our primary audience as they are unreliable.

The demographics of our movie will be for the lower/middle class. This is because; it is about a beautiful girl that is diagnosed with cancer. With the higher class, they could most likely afford to treat her from her disease; therefore they would not really take it seriously as they have money already, so it doesn’t really affect them.
Whereas the lower class has no money at all, therefore they would be able to understand if it was them in her shoes, they would be feeling her pain and grieve for her. However, as they are poor they may not be able to relate from where she is coming from, as they could think, at least she has a modelling career, a lot of friends a lovely house, so they might not understand completely.

But the middle class will. This is because Claire is a middle class girl, even though she has all the wonderful clothes, she is a middle-class girl. And the middle-class would be able to relate to her, because they are living the same life as her. So our main target audience would be a female middle class girl, as she could place herself in Claire’s shoes, and understand the torment that Claire is going through. As they come from the same social back-ground they will share the same life-style.

Our target audience should also be able to share the same psychographics as Claire. Such as:
• Shopping
• Friends
• Socialising
• Singing
• Modelling
• School

All the usual things that teenage girls do. This is because if the audience will be able to enjoy the same psychographics that she does, they could also relate to her when she finds out that she can’t do them again. This is because they would stop and think, if they could never do the things they love doing ever again. It would make the audience feel some sort of compassion for Claire. Which is what we want the audience to feel for her, we want them to feel pity for her.

In addition, our target audience for “Eternal Beauty” would be young women that have lost someone from due to cancer. This would be our ideal target audience. This is because they would be able to understand the story, and understand Claire’s character, and if the audience is able to understand Claire’s character they would definitely enjoy it.

The reason why we chose a group of young girls that have lost or was a victim of cancer as our target audience, is because they would be able to relate to the pain that Claire is going through as they have recently gone through the pain of losing someone dear to them or maybe the person that overcome cancer. Therefore, they would be able to feel her pain, understand her fears and worries and most of all understand how it will be to be Claire, which is the strongest part of the film.

My Sisters Keeper would be the ideal film for this. This is because, there was young girl that was battling with cancer and her sister went through all odds to make sure she survived it. And this also had a huge effect on the family, as the family were apart of this issue. And it was linked towards girls as it was a sister relationship, and their relationship was like they were best friends. Therefore, all girls would be able to relate to it, as girls carry the usual stereotype of best friends and such.

Seven Pounds is also another movie, even though it is not centered on cancer it is centered around the theme of death, family and friends. During this movie Will Smith commits suicide as he cannot bare to live anymore without his wife that he felt he killed. But before he dies he decides to give away his body parts to people that are less fortunate than him.

This links into the theme of dreams and hope in our film, as Claire as a dream that she would survive and overcome cancer, and that she could still be model even if she doesn’t have hair or beauty, as it doesn’t matter what’s on the outside but it matters on what is within. Which we got our name “Eternal Beauty".

Question Three

Question Three – Independent Distributors

Independent distributors are companies that are able to make their own movies, with their own money and their own equipment. An example of this would be Blue Sky Studios, they are not as common and popular as 20th century Fox as they do not have the mainstream status. However, they are able to create their own movies without any help.


Independent distributors are not as popular as mainstream, and most people would rather enjoy watching mainstream than independent. This is because independent distributors have to finance their film, from their own pocket whereas mainstream doesn’t. In addition the quality of mainstream would be far more excellent and of very good conduct compared to independent.


Mainstream movie distributors are movie companies that release mainstream movies, such as “Mean Girls”, “Seven Pounds”, “Sister’s Keeper” these are all mainstream movies, as they are released by major companies such as 20th Century Fox. This company is well known internationally for the quality of film they provide for the audience.


For our movie, we would have to distribute our film with an independent distributor. This is because we do not have the funds to pay for mainstream neither do we have the equipment.

An independent filming company that would most likely be interested in our film could be “Bleiberg Entertainment”. This is an independent movie making company, which generally focuses on family dramas, which is the genre that we are going for.


They have released movies such as “Spree”, “Pavilion”, “Prince of Jutland”, “Rainbow”, “Snide & Prejudice”, “Tom’s Midnight Garden” and loads more. Drama is this company’s key drama. This is why I personally feel that this company would be the best for my group to distribute their film.


However, just in case Bleiberg does not go according to plan, our back up would be, WWE Revamps Film Distribution Strategy. This company, just like Bleiberg is also committed to family-friendly movies (PG).

However, there are other ways we can distribute our media product and not just by filming companies. We could simply do it by the Internet and resources we have. Such as Facebook. We could Facebook, to distribute our film, by simply uploading it unto our profile or making a group. This is because Facebook is one of the most visited sites in the entire world. Therefore, if we are able to place our media production unto Facebook, we would get other a million views, and with this we could later go unto apply for company or even a mainstream company!


Another site that would be useful could be YouTube. YouTube is also on of the most popular sites visited in the world. So just like Facebook if we are able to upload our movie there we good gain a lot of ratings, and just like that we have published our movie.

We should this because, funding movies is a lot of money, and if the movie does not receive as many rankings as we had wanted it too, then we would a lot of money. Therefore, publishing it on to websites could be seen as a test-run? As we are able to see if the public would like it or not, and either way, we are not losing neither are we winning.

Question Two

Question Two

In our film, our main character is Claire. And Claire is the typical, young, pretty, popular girl and was also a model that the entire boy’s in school love to adore and all the girls love to hate. Claire is the main character as we wanted it to appeal to teenagers as well as the family. By Claire being there it makes it more interesting for the audience to watch as she is a very exciting young girl.

Claire’s representation had to be popular and beautiful. This was because the social group we were aiming to represent was gender and social class. This is because she is a female popular rich girl. Therefore we had to make her look like a pretty popular girl, even though in the beginning of the film the audience will not be able to catch that, but while they look through the photo album they would get the image of a popular girl through her costume.


Claire’s costume had to be smart, sexy and glamorous. This was because our social group we were aiming to represent were rich, popular girls which will fall under gender and social class category. Therefore, to be able to this her costume had to represent her character. So we decided to use the colour pink for her top, this is because the denotation of pink is that it is a girls colour and the connotation will be that she is a “girly girl” because during the photo album (prop) her pictures are of her in different costumes in "girly" colours such as pink, purple, blue which would emphasise the kind of girl she is.


For example in Mean Girls the only colour they ever wore was pink as it represents the colour for girls and their sexuality, which is another social group we were representing as well.

Finally, by Claire wearing pink it represents that she is a "girly" girl that likes fashion, shopping, make-up and all the other stereotypes that come along with the colour pink. This was the exact image we were trying to get of Claire, the usual stereotypical pretty, blond rich popular girl.


Moving on, as we were going with the stereotypical view of popular girls, we had to make sure that the hair and make-up of our character was also in correspondence with the character’s costume. Therefore, the hair and make up we had applied to our character had to look glamorous.

Which is also linked to Mean Girls again, as make-up was one thing they all loved, as it also goes with the character’s profile.



As we can see from the image, the 3 main popular girls are all wearing pink and are all wearing make-up, also their hair is done so they can look beautiful.


This is why during Claire’s photographs we had to make her look as glamorous as possible, although we had given her make-up, it couldn't’t be too obvious, because at the same time, she is still representing her social class which is first-class, and their make-up is discreet but plenty. As they have to look smart as well as pretty.



Her make-up denotes that she is concerned with her appearance this connotes that she is body conscious as she cares what people think of her.

The setting of our opening was a complete contrast from the costume and hair/make-up criteria. Our setting was Claire’s living room. But the audience were unable to see the full frame, as we didn’t want too much to be given away.


In addition, we had followed the same sort of concept in which Seven Pounds followed. The opening was just a medium close-up of the main character. This is because we did not want the audience to focus too much on the setting but just on the dialogue.

For us to be able to do this we had to make her dress like one. As our opening is about glancing through the album, we made sure that all the photo’s we had taken were pictures

Make-up was also added as well, this was to make her look more pretty and more of a model, as most models usually where make up. We also did this to make her look a bit older. This is because Esma our cast had a bit of a baby face, therefore we had to makeup to look a bit more older and more mature.


Another aspect that helped with the representation of the character was the camera. This is because by us using the camera to take shots we were able to know at which angle to take them, in order for us to see where it would look better. Such as taking a picture through the mirror. By us using that, it made it look more of a teenager look. And also the camera enabled us to catch her facial expressions. By us using a close-up we were able to see her face.

Before making our film, we wanted to make sure we had one person that we wanted Claire to plagiarize. And this was Regina from “ MEAN GIRLS” this is because Regina was young pretty and the most popular girl in the school. And this was the exact image we wanted Claire to have. And while making the film we always bared this mind, we had to make sure that the way Claire dressed was the way that Regina dressed. Therefore I had to watch it to make sure we were following the same steps in Regina was doing.

Once we had made the film, we knew the exact person that we wanted for our film. We had wished to have had a white, blond girl around 5”8, slim and very pretty. However, as we were only allowed to choose from the other media class our options were very limited. In addition to this we were not able to find a slim, pretty medium height, blond girl, instead we found a medium height, pretty, slim brunette girl instead. Even though it was not our first option, we were very pleased with this, as she still fitted all the other criteria’s. However, in the beginning before we had signed a contract she was not reliable. This is because we had scheduled a few hours during school and after school to take some pictures for the storyboard but she was just refusing to meet and giving silly excuses. But after meeting with the head of media and signing a contract she has been on time and showed up for every scheduled meeting with no complaints.

Even though I was sound, I was the only girl in the group therefore I had a major role to play. I had to make sure that she looked like a popular girl in every way possible. Even though she was not seen in the film, her hands were, therefore I told her to paint her nails in pink in order for her to connote with her character.

Wednesday 20 January 2010

USE, DEVELOP, CHALLENGE the codes and conventions of media products?

Question 1

Our opening sequence follows the normal kind of codes and conventions. This is because it introduces you with the main character, however at the same time it also leaves the audience very confused as you cannot see the main character. "Eternal Beauty" is a Family Drama genre as it is a movie that will appeal to the family audience, and that a family could relate too. However, as it is just an opening sequence we didn't want to give too much away, as we still wanted to leave a a bit of a mystery.


Our opening sequence follows the same codes as most movies such as:

  • Introducing the main character
  • Showing you the theme
  • Narrative of the main character



Even though we had similar aspects of most films, we still managed to allow our sequence to be unique. This is because the narrative that was said, was something that you would not usually hear in opening sequences, we did this purposely to draw the audience in, also while the narrator was speaking you could not see her, another factor that made it different from other movies.


Moving on, our film also has a few themes in it to keep the audience entertained, however at the same time it has those themes to also make the audience think. These are the themes of:

Love
Loss
Family and Friends
Hope
Death
Dreams

These themes are regular themes that you would see in most family drama's. But our main one is the theme of hope, as it revolves around the main character which also inter-links with the theme of dreams, as they are very similar but carry very huge and different roles. The theme of hope comes from the main character as she believes in something and has to make it happen which is also linked to "My Sisters Keeper" 2009 as her dream was to make something happen regarding her current problem.

How opening sequence of our film is centred on hope. However, in the beginning half of the film you would not catch that as we are trying to make it as vague as possible so we can make the audience confused, which will lead them to carry on watching. However, the narration within the opening does give the theme away a little as it talks about her life.


Another theme in our film is the theme of dreams. This is because through-out the whole movie, Claire has one dream, one hope, and one ambition... one goal! So dream is a theme in our film as the film is also centred on it just like the theme of hope.

In the opening of the film, you can see that it is about dreams. This is because the narration talks about her life and how she wishes and dreams that she never picked up the phone call. Then we see a little scene about her looking over her past life, and how she wishes and dreams she was back there, and we also use a few camera effects to add it and make it a little bit more believable and make it seem as if it really is dream.

I would say that our opening sequence does not really challenge any codes and conventions of opening sequences. This is because it is normal but it is original, even though we introduce the opening with our main character we do not revel the identity of our character therefore the audience is left in wonder, for the only thing the audience knows about the character is that the person is a girl and is in a very serious dilemma. Making out opening original and interesting, at the same time simple!


We used codes and conventions so we could be able to attract our audience. We did this by introducing the main character Claire, whom is the girl that is suffering from cancer. However, we had to be discreet in the amount of information we gave away as it had to be as little as possible. This was because it was just the opening, and we still wanted to keep the target audience engaged but not entirely informed.

An example of this will be in the similar movie Seven Pounds. Seven Pounds was effective, yet discreet, as it gave as little information as possible but kept the audience engaged, which is the exact effect we are going for, for our opening.

They were able to this by the little dialogue the main character had with a 911 person mentioning something about death. They also input the main character’s name and showed his face so we could know who the main character is.

However that differs from our as we didn’t show the character’s face as we wanted to keep that anonymous.

The reason why we used codes and conventions like this was because we didn't want to give too much away just yet. However, this was a bit tricky as we wanted to make sure that it was long enough, however not too long, therefore we had to keep on cutting some scenes in order to make this effective. But at the end we got there.

We developed codes and conventions of real media products by our editing techniques. Even though we had used them well, we had to make sure that we developed it to make it even more effective.


In order for us to do so, we started cutting off some selected scenes. This was because as a group we had decided that these particular scenes were unnecessary, therefore we just cut them out. This made the opening in general much more effective, because in the beginning the opening had been too long, and my critics were complaining that it was too long and they were getting bored. This is not engaging the audience, therefore to make sure we had out audience engaged we made it shorter, simpler and quicker so it was convenient for everyone.


This developed our codes and conventions on real media products as we were able to edit our opening to improve the quality, codes and conventions on our opening.


Finally, our opening challenges other media products as we never reveal our character. Normally, in most openings the main character is revealed to the audience so they are informed. However we were not going with this theme, we wanted the identification of our character to remain anonymous to add to the suspense.


Majority of all family movies normally introduce the main character therefore, I am unable to give an example of a movie. This is why we chose to be unique and challenge media products by this.

By us not introducing the main character, it adds suspense, mystery and most importantly it draws, connects and engages the audience. This was the exact theme we were going for.


This challenges codes and conventions of media products, as the audience will be expecting the narrator to be introduced, but she never is. You can hear the dialogue but the protagonist is never revealed. This is challenging media products as the audience will be expecting to see the main character I the beginning but she is never revealed.