AS MEDIA STUDIES- FILM OPENING SEQUENCE... COMPLETE :D

PLEASE VIEW MY ENTIRE BLOG FROM THE '2010' LINK, LOCATED UNDER THE BLOG ARCHIVE, AS MY BLOG ASCENDS UPWARDS.

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

The central focus of the preliminary task was to experiment and explore various camera angles to help us adjust to using a camera properly and also giving us an idea of how shots should be taken and established. As we successfully used a various range of shots within the opening of our media product, we felt that we had progressed further as a group since filming the preliminary task. Also establishing the 180 degree rule in the preliminary tasked helped us identify the line between a cameras postion and the audiences perspective. Over the duration time my knowledge and awareness of how to capture certain camera shots and camera angles has improved dramatically,this will contribute in the future when other media products are created, so I can again improve and develop on my knowledge furthermore. I firstly understood the simple basic camera shots such as the: low angle shots, mid shots and close up shots. My curiosity increased when i explored other various shots such as: over the shoulder shots, extreme close up shots and establishing shots. Through my curiosity I managed to develop my skills of camera use evenmore.

I have also learnt about the basic concept of media production and how the filming industry works to achieve its goals and its full potentials. I now realise that if you want a high quality standard product, you have to film in separate stages rather than rushing and trying to film in one day for example. I have also established the fact that you need to construct shots over and over again as the audience pay attention the slightest details and if errors are shown in production, you will lose recognition as a production label. Overall the filming process roughly took around one week. The opening scene was shortened down to 2 minutes and 50 seconds which emphasises the time it takes to produce a whole film.

As the software was unfamiliar to us at first we had no idea of how to edit our piece, but with time and experience, we had finally mastered a majority of the concepts as a group, learning new skills in the process, which will be beneficial in future media productions. Through using this software I have gained knowledge in how to: split shots, adjust colour filters, adjust lighting, add effective transitions, importing music, overlapping footage and many more technical features. I have now identified the skill level needed to produce a media product and also the simple steps that real media producers take before producing their product. But once these basic concepts have been mastered, you begin to familiarise yourself within media production, with aspects of production coming naturally.

In conclusion I believe I have learnt lots of valuable information since filming the preliminary task, which i will take into consideration in the future. I have been fascinated by the establishment of the film industry whilst enjoying the filming process resulting into to more insight into media production.

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

Throughout the process of constructing our media product I have learnt about numerous aspects of technology within media, advancing and progressing further due to my improved knowledge. Firstly from working alongside Josh Thorpe and Jordan Kennedy, I observed how a video camera was correctly operated. Judging from preliminary task, I could identify that the basic 'Sony' handheld camera was quite simplistic to use. I made a few contributions myself when the group appeared to suffer from a few technical difficulties, correcting them in certain circumstances. Whilst the filming for our opening, we were using a more technically advanced piece of equipment coutersy of a friend in the group. This camera appeared more professional due to the numerous buttons and the increase in size. But once we grasped the simple fundamental uses of the camera, filming came to us naturally. We also learnt how to upload footage onto a computer via the USB socket and cable, which became quite a task when using the more advanced camera, but the footage was successfully uploaded.


Here is the comparison between the two cameras we used

I also learnt how to use computer software through the editing process of our media product. To edit our media product we used a program called 'Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9.0'. This software was provided by our school that we could create a quality media product by using sophisticated software. Through exploring and experimenting with various transitions and effects on the software I learnt how to split and postion individual shots to create a smooth flowing sequence within our media product. I also learnt how to adjust lighting and colour contrast filters that we used during the editing process by making our opening appear bleak and dismal through the use of the grey filter. Moreover we also learnt how to adjust and mute sound before we began editing music.



Vegas Studio Platinum 9.0

Finally we had to edit our soundtrack which would overlap over the edited footage, this would hopefully be at the right timing and pace, therefore making our media product flow smoothly. For editing the soundtrack we used a program called Audacity which was again available for our convience. Through using this program I learnt how to cut and split the soundtrack and merge the selected sections together to produce a similar sound but using aspects of our individual flair and creativity. I also learnt how to export our soundtrack into another format which would help reduce the size of KB used within the music. When we overlapped the soundtrack we left a few effective sounds such as the clattering gate and the rattling lock.

Audacity software

Through using various modern technologies I have learnt about the various aspects within media production. Without any knowledge of using modern technologies our group wouldn't have be capable of producing a high quality media product, but by using our own creativity and initiative we produced a successful product.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

To assess how successful our media product was, it was vital that we had audience feedback. This feedback would help us gain more knowledge and insight into what our targeted audience is looking for and how it can be improved. It will also help us progress and advance within filming as our knowledge will increase. I believe that any form of constructive criticism is great as it helps us recognise our mistakes and therefore it shouldn't be frowned upon by the group, if our mistakes weren't corrected how can we identify where we were going wrong? Any type of Compliments or positive feedback would be an extra bonus as it will not only prove that our media product was successful but it will also give us confidence that we can produce a film opening to a high standard.

Our group decided to use the social networking site 'Facebook'. As Facebooks popularity is ever increasing amongst the youth of today on a staggering global scale, we believed that it would be ideal to gain a response or a reaction from our 'Facebook Friends'. To do this we uploaded our rendered video onto the site before posting a link onto our profile to present our media product. From this we instantly recieved replies and comments. The 'like' function is used to represent someones appeal to a certain aspect, here is the feedback of 'likes' from our product:

Here is also some of the positive comments we recieved:

From this we could conclude that our media product was a success. The lack of constructive criticism was a slight disappointment but however we believed as a group we have achieved a successful media product. We then asked a stratified sample of 10 girls and 10 boys a few questions, which we have converted into a pie chart. Here are the results:

The results show that 17 people were aware that it was a zombie apocalypse genre, 2 werent aware and 1 remained uncertain. From the majority of people that voted yes, we could establish the fact that we have conveyed the genre for our media product successfully. Here is another pie chart and these are the results:

From these results our group can conclude that 19 people were engaged and wanted to watch more of our media product, and 1 person decided that the opening wasnt appealing. This again highlights how successful our media product would be if we advanced further than the opening sequence?

If we were to produce the rest of the film we would want to use advertisement as a form of attraction which helps address our targeted audience. This process is called synergy, without it, popularity of films would decrease dramatically, resulting into a lack of profit. Billboards, posters and magazine/newspaper advertisements are only a few examples of synergy presented through various media products which costs to publish but helps establish further recognition and help gain profit. This can also be presented through merchandise of media products, a fantastic example is the 'Grand Theft Auto Franchise' which has over time developed more sophisticated software for gaming products that appeals to its targeted audience, gaining phenomenal profit over the years.

Overall I believe we have attracted our targeted audience successfully through our advertisement of our media product via the internet, which will escalate when our media product is spread by word of mouth and will be sent over the internet generating more recognition.

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

During the planning for our media product our group needed to take the certification label into account. We also needed to acknowledge the fact that the age bracket will be assesed by the level of offensive or violent content within our media product, which will be determined by the British Board of Filming Classification (BBFC) . We needed to base our product around these rules and regulations to maintain its standard as a popular product.

Due to the fact that our film opening was based around the zombie apocalypse genre, our group identified the fact that our media product will not be aimed towards the U,PG or 12 age bracket as it may scare younger viewers which would spoil the openings popularity. This would also cause controversial issues which may be raised by the viewing audience. Also the frightening theme of death would also be most certainly be unsuitable for young childen and even possibly young teenagers. During our research and planning of our media product, we noticed that a majority of zombie apocalypse films were based around the 15 and 18 certificate bracket. We set this as a potential boundary that we took into consideration before filming. As no weapons were used in the process of filming it immediately minimalised the possibilty becoming an 18 certificate. Blood and gore was restricted to a minimum which lowered the possibilty of an 18 age bracket furthermore. Despite using little dialogue in the opening, there were the occassional swear words used by the main character and also aggressive actions used, such as rattling the gate in temper which could represent violence. Also the use of brutality is expressed through the actions of the zombies secured our media product at the 15 age bracket.


15 age certification bracket

I feel that the chosen age bracket fits well with the contents of the opening. I believe that our media product would lose popularity if the age bracket was higher, as teenage audiences enjoy the aspects of death and gore, which has been evidently shown through similar films with the same age bracket such as 'Shaun of The Dead' and 'Zombieland'. The establishment of the Zombie Apocalypse genre is increasingly growing, which will inevitably lead to more of an interest in the genre shown through our film, therefore increasing profits and gaining recognition.

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

Institutions are established global organisations that generate profit through the distribution of media products which focus on advertisement and entertainment. There are various institutions that work within all aspects of the media world from the glitz and glamour of the film industry (Paramount, 20th Century Fox and Universal Studios) to revolution of the world wide web (Google, Facebook, Twitter). An institution can have the power to dictate and command within the media market, an example of this is Sony which has specialises in modern technology, and the institution has advanced further by investing into other companies to produce more sophisticated products. 'Sweetheart' deals are also used between global institutions that partner together to produce a global phenom that gains acknowledgement and recognition through the production of an advanced media product. For our media product to be established within the fim industry we would need an institute that could advertise our product.


a selection of media institutions

Our group have decided to distribute our media product through the advertisement of 'Film4'. Film Four is a well known and well established institution within the UK film industry as they are capable of distributing hollywood blockbluster and low budget independent films. This would be ideal for our circumstances due to lack of funding. The channel is well known for having themed nights or seasons which are centred around either a certain genre, actor or director. As Channel 4 has ownership within Film Four productions it also gains recognition for producing films such as 'Trainspotting', 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' and 'Slumdog Millionaire' including numerous others that have contributed towards its established institution. Filmfour Productions would also gain extra revenue if other channels (such as Sky Movies, ITV and BBC) would be interested in showing their media product.

The titled credits

The titled credits are shown to make the audience aware that Film Four is the institution that is distributing with our media product. Refering back to the themed nights that Film Four sets, we thought that it would be ideal if our film could be associated with the zombie apocalypse genre, with modern classics such as '28 Days Later' and 'Zombieland', which would help establish our recognition further.

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

Media products can represent a diverse range of social groups which is mainly shown through gender, clothing, skin colour, age and status. Various stereotypes enhance the diversity amongst society which in my opinion helps the audience acknowledge the modern world in which we are living in when shown through a media product. In our media product we mainly focused around the youth of today. Our character appears to have a fairly modern, middle class background, but his status can be questioned by the audience through his mannerisms when he spits on the floor due to his frustration. The use of swear words that the main character uses can interpret a bad image of the youth amongst society but we were trying to reflect the frustrated mood that our character was in. The character appears to be roughly around 17 years of age with medium hair (a trend within modern society). As a group we believed that there are too many media products placing bizarre characters amongst iconic surroundings so therefore we decided to position a more down to earth character within more rural surroundings to make our opening appear less glamourised.

stereotypical teenager amongst society

Our group also touched on the lack of groups within the society that our character was surrounded in, as he attempts to enter an abandoned pub, in search of some understanding into what has happened within his environment. This helps demonstrate the breakdown amongst society itself showing the abandoment due to the departure of other social groups. We aimed to create this collapsing world through the imagery of the abandoned pub, the lack of people and traffic. I do that believe that social groups were represented through gender and various stereotypes of the zombies, which shows the diversity in society of the youth. We believed that the mannerisms of the rebelious youth would reflect more chaotic destruction rather than adults and old people. We also believe that the character could have a connection with these zombies as they may have once been associated with him. The reaction of the main character when he sees the dead body emphasises his anger and upset. This could be because this dead body was a close friend to him or it could help emphasise his sudden realisation of this world he is living in.

various stereotypes shown through the 'Zombieland' cast

Whilst doing our research into our genre, we saw very little teenager zombies being used in media products. Our group thought that we could challenge this idea by creating this swarm of teenagers to help define the age bracket of society that is left within the world. Also the portrayal of innocence and purity of the youth is tarnished which creates a more disturbing impact on the audience, as their savage actions highlight their barbaric nature. By presenting our zombies in this way it, it makes the opening appear more controversial, as the audience may question the portrayal of their brutal nature comparing it to within their own society.

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

For our media piece our group experimented with a selection of real media conventions. Firstly our group explored various camera angles which would help to improve our media product in the process. Through exploring with these different camera angles we could establish what looked more dramatic and effective. It was important that we used a variation in camera angle shots to prevent our media product from becoming 'visually boring'. Real media producers test camera angles from certain heights and positions to achieve the perfect shot that would link together smoothly with another shot taken from a different perspective which can be edited smoothly later on. Exploring with these camera angles oursleves gave us an insight into what shots can be included in our media product. By taking various shots from different perspectives gave us extra footage which we could mould or play with during the editing process to see which shots would flow together. However by identifying our mistakes from the preliminary task we could advance a step further by taking some more technical shots which helped us progress through the filming process.


research into zombie apocalypse

We also did some background research into the film genre which is also another media convention that media producers use. After our group chose to base our opening around the zombie apocalypse genre, we decided to focus on aspects such as music and traditonal storyline plots to convey our chosen genre. By doing this we drew inspiration from other media products to help produce our own. A simplistic but detailed storyboard gave us a general idea of the main plot for our opening.

In a real media product the opening scene must follow several principles that helps; introduce the character and establish the setting. This is to make it clear that the audience are aware of the films genre. We decided to portray the main character as an isolated and vulnerable figure to make him a target within the unusual surroundings of a society in turmoil. As his journey is being observed the audience can established that he is the focal point of the opening. The presence of the zombies in our opening can be identified by their rugged appearance, ripped clothes , static hair and their violent and aggressive manner. This is one of the key conventions to help portray the genre. Our group did challenge some conventions making the movements more sharp and rapid compared to their traditional sluggish and deformed actions. This added to the intensity of the chase making our zombies appear more alert and agile. I believe that this helps make our product stand out compared to the tradtional theme of the zombie apocalypse genre.


similaraties shown in another media product.

We also decided to explore locations which is again similar to what real media producers do as well as assesing the risks of the location. We believed that the setting should purposely appear desolate and lifeless to help reflect the society that the main character was trapped within. To help enhance this isolation during the filming, individual shots were taken of the main character, avoiding traffic and members of the public in the process. Many other film openings use fast or slow music to engage the audience within its surroundings to create tension. The slow pace of our music at the start of our opening created an anxious atmosphere portraying the elements of the horror genre. At The start of the chase the intensity was amplified as the sudden fast beats of our chosen soundtrack emerged reflecting their brutality and violence through the music. The zombies themselves, smeared in blood also helped convey the zombie apocalypse genre, alongside the zombie scream. The newspaper article was one of the key fundaments that helped establish the genre, through the use of text.

Overall I believe that our media product does follow the conventions of filming, but we have also developed and avoided certain conventions as well, as these were challenged during the filming process. I belive that our piece is successful as the general fundaments of our genre were portrayed accurately.

Evaluation Questions

1. In which way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt through the progression from it to the full product?