Evaluation- Jack Leonard-Tidy

Q1.) How does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Group?

 In this media production we display woman as equals in the sense that during the gig scene jack has a female drummer in the band, but also there is the traditional sense that the female is the waitress.
we could have made it more traditional, by having a male chase a female through the woods, but we did not do this as it did not fit with our story line.

Q2.) Why have you chosen to represent your characters in this way?

 We chose jake to be the protagonist, in our media production, of a thriller opening. in the synopsis, we describe him as an average guy being dragged down into a bad world of drugs and crime.

Q3.) What kind of media institution distributed your media?

 we are distributing this thriller opening by posting it on youtube and doing interviews with people explaining our film idea, which might encourage them to go watch it.

Our thriller would be distributed by 'Soda pictures' as this is an independent film and they are an independen t film studio. It is going to be shown at the 'Duke of York' Art house, as it shows independent film makers work.

once we released the movie we would try and also release it on tv, on a major tv company such as sky or virgin media, to start expanding on the amount of views.

Q4.) Target audience?

 Although there is no swearing, horrific blood scenes or murder shown in the opening i believe that this film openign should be a 15+ as the story line involves drugs and crime. Also it contained a mild fight between two people, which would not be suitable for a younger audience. We made a movie similar to rock'n'rolla as a source of inspiration with the gig scene, the crime, and the clever plot on how it all pulls together towards the end.

Q5.) How did you attract the audience?

 We kept the start of the movie fast paced, interesting and tried not to give away to much of the plot to keep the audience in suspense.

Also the fact that we started the film with a chase, and then cut to 4 days in the past, would keep the audience geussing how we even got from one place to another, which then hopefully would keep the audience attracted to the film and wanting more.

Q6.) What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing?

I learnt how to change the levels of sound on garage band, by using different tracks and and using different eq levels so i could help the audience hear what they need to hear, rather them being confused and trying top hear over something else.

also i learnt how to use other editing software to make the groups final media piece,(final cut) and learnt how to cut scenes to keep them fast paced, and still understandable to the audience.

http://soundcloud.com/thecrows/ste-014

Q7.) Looking back what have you learned from your prelimanary tasks?

I have learnt how to use garage band more constructively and learned about how to use other editing software like final cut.

Props Update

For the gig scene, Jack used:

• Westfield Les Paul
• Laney Amp With Head Cab
• Pearl Drum Kit
• Sabian Symbols for the drums

Sound

When recording the live gig at the Albemarle center, the sound quality was quite poor, so we decided to re-record the song the band(The Crows) played at the gig.
To re-record that, Jack, recorded the song "Set Your Head On Fire" , originally played by the band the black box revelation, on the recording software, logic pro. he played it as if it was live as well, so he only used one track to record both guitar and drums as it would be live, rather than the studio way of doing it and using multi tracks to put down all the different sounds needed to create a studio version to the song.
Also Jack added in a crowd effect to also make it seem like it was all done live.

Foundation Production Filming Dates

We are going to film on the 17th feburury which is going to be the club scene, we have been given permission by the organiser of the event to film the bands. Also we will film through half term specifically the 19th 20th and 21st for the chase scene; we dont need permision to film here, as it is public land. However we are going to put up notices to let any bystanders know that we are filming.  

Foundation Production Plot Animatic

This is the animatic for our thriller opening, it is in a very simple form, but this is the layout for our plot through out the opening. it is a very basic animatic and it is likely that we will add or get rid of shots depending on whether we come up with new ideas or better ways to shoot specific shots for example a shot revers shot in the club is essential because the audience needs to see and hear both characters however when the pretagonist is begining to feel the effects of the spiked drink, we don't see Dani's character do anything to the drink so we may add a shot of her adding something to it.  

Health and Safety when filming

When we are filming in our locations we need to consider the many potential hazards.

Possible hazards when filming in the Ashdown Forest are:

• The risk of uneven ground and holes(rabbit and badger)  that are potential trip hazards. So we would have to check the ground where we plan to film the shots that are required.
• We must have a clear path for the camera person as they fall and damage the equipment and themselves.
• As we are filming in the forest we must make sure that we do not tresspass onto private property.
• In the forest we could come across some wild animals and must not approach them incase they find us intimidating and could lash out at us.
• We are going to be filming in an old abandoned army barrack, we have to be careful as the ceilings are quite low therefore we would have to make sure we don't hit our heads. We would also need to make sure we would have enough room.
• As the forest is a public place we woulld have to consider that some people may walk past, therefore we would need to make signs so that people are ware of us filming.

Possible hazards when filming the club scene in either the Albermarle or the live room are:

• As there will many extras present in the setting we would have to make sure that nobody damages the equipment or is injured by the equipment.
• We have to ask for permission to film at the venue and so that people agree to us filming them.
• We have to make sure the camera is out of the way of the crowd so the camera doesn't get damaged, lost or stolen.
• As a group we would have to communicate so that we know when we are filming and where we are filming in the venue.

Pre-Production Planning: Possible music ideas

We are using Jack's band 'The Crows' as our source of music. Most of the songs are covers but he has one suitable for the our thriller openning.

Group Roles for pre production planning

We have decided on our group roles:

Locations

• Dom and Jake are in charge of imagery of locations and decisions about locations.

Props research

• Jack and Dani are in charge of prop research this includes organising actors and extras if needed.

Storyboarding and script

• Jake and Jack will be in charge of script writing and storyboarding.
• Dani will be doing the synopsis to our whole film.

Fillming and directing

• As a group we are all going to take part in filiming and acting in our production.
• Dom will be in charge of lighting decisions.

Health and safety

• We will be working as a group to make sure that we stick to health and safety rules when we are filming.

180 Degree Rule in Premlinary Video

We used the 180 degree rule when Jake met Dom in the room for the dialogue scene. We made sure that Dom and Jake were on one side of the camera the whole time, ensuring  that it didn't confuse the audience in the dialogue and continuity of the scene. We set the camera up in the correct position before we took each shot to make sure we didn't break the 180 degree rule.
However we bent the rule during the filming of this scene, when jake moved past the camera to collect the bag and phone. He walked to the other side of the camera, where we then had to film from the other side. We did follow Jake over to the bag though so the audience didn't get confused and knew exactly where he was walking to and once he was on the otherside, we kept the camera to one side of them. This is why we didn't quite break the rule but did slightly bend it.   

Prelimanary shot/reverse shot.

My job in this exercise, was to do part of the camera work so whilst filmin, during the dialogue sequence, i made sure i stayed on one side for the 180 degree rule and always made sure that the characters were in the correct position for continuity whilst filming so, there would be no confusion for the audience.

to keep them in the correct position we always checked back to see where they were originally to make sure that they were in certian positions, so we could move them back. also we checked where the second character would be so that he also wasn't out of place. We sometimes put markers on the floor to make sure  they knew where they were first off, and it was easier and saved more time than having to check back constantly through the footage of what we had done, as some of the footage was not not used, so we had to keep trying different methods to try and match the dialogue sequence up.

So as jake entered throught th door and the music faded out we placed dom in a certian position to make an establishing shot. jake then walked into view of the camera starting an over the shoulder shot and staring the dialogue. Once dom had said his first line, we cut scened it to the next point which was over doms shoulder, and kept jake in the same position to make sure we didn't arouse confusion in the audience.

overall i believe we did well, checking what we had done and trying to make more time of what we had. it made the exercise easier and more fun, but more importantly made it work better. also it made things alot easier to understand in the movie as it made sense, excluding some moments where the characters are probably a little bit out of place with the way they look or are positioned with there body.

Jacks 5 Thriller Openings

Batman Dark Knight opening

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OYBEquZ_j0

Sound

• During the opening you hear a gradual sound build up, building up tension to make the audience start to feel uncomfortable and let them know that something bad will happen, And to snap them into attention.
•  I like how the window then explodes to wake everyone up and think were going straight into the action.
• Also the loud high pace action music whilst the manager of the bank, comes out with the gun to try and confront the robbers is also brilliant.
• Sets the tone of the film, straight away letting us know who the villains are.
• The dialogue is also good as it starts interest in the viewers, when they’re giving little bits of information off.

Editing

• I like the fast paced cut scenes to show a fast pace action and thrill, when the bus comes through the wall, and hits one of the robbers.
• Also I like the cross cutting to show the different scenarios that happen during he robbery.
• Also I like the fast pace cut scenes when the robber is taking all the money from the trolleys to show his greed and need for money.

Mise en scene

• I like the use of the masks, to try and give a little bit of fear into the audience, by creating a mystery and letting the audience think who are they?
• The make up on the joker is a good way to show how this man I insane, as it was poorly applied and show how scary he is.
• I like the guns and grenades as props, to show that they’re ruthless and won’t hesitate, to try and make us feel no sympathy for them as we now know they are the villians

Camera work

• The opening scene is from a birds eye point of view, when it flies into the establishing shot of a certain window on a building
• Also I like the tracking up to the mask to create suspense, to show a certain object and make the audience think what are they going to do with that?
• Also I like the dollying/ handheld part where they all run in  to the bank to show conf

The Departed opening

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4nUFxsZqpA

Sound

• The start opens with the sound of jack Nicholson’s voice, to open up as a narration to show his views things. A narration, usually used in most thrillers, to create suspense and makes the audience think who is it who is talking, and what is his role in the movie.
• The sounds of rioting gives it a sense of violence
• His voice during the narration is a slow drawl, that shows he is at complete ease and makes him seem as though he is in power.
• The screech of the car gives us confusion, as jack Nicholson even looks to see what it was, but merely shakes it off when he looks away to show there is nothing wrong.
• The music ironically is called ‘Gimme Shelter’ by the rolling stones, and that is a 1969 song to show what time period it is  set in, and how it shows that jack Nicholson is collecting the protection money from the deli.

Editing

• The cross cutting with the narration, is also a good way to try and keep the audiences attention.
• The slow motion tracking is also a good way to show calm environment.

Mise En Scene

• Jack Nicholson’s sunglasses also gives him a sense of great importance and power, because he can ultimately look into the eyes of others but no one can look into his.
• The money in his hand shows his essence of power as he got it without asking and then gives some away, as he generally doesn’t need it (but that is my opinion)

Camerawork

• I like the way they never show the full face of jack nicholson’s face they always keep him in the shadows (silhouette shots)
• I like the use of tracking when they follow jack Nicholson whilst he’s smoking his cigarette.

No Country for Old Men

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSyC45584jM

Sound

• The introduction starts with what appears to be the protagonists narration, explaining in a calm manner his thoughts and history.
• The footsteps in the quite space just shows tension as they takes his final steps towards the police car.

Editing

• I like the way the antagonist is kept from view the whole time, that way he has a sense of mystery about him as he is clearly kept hidden.
• The way things are taken in such a slow manner it seems like the whole world is slowing down, like when it shows the sun rising, it looks like everything is stopping and slowing down and it fits well with the narration

Mise En Scene

• The whole dessert, in a calm and subtle atmosphere goes well with the calm narration.
• The police car shows that something or someone has shown reason for some authority to be out there, to keep the peace.

Camerawork

• The smooth pans across the dessert shows calm.
• The camera rarely does any moving during the first few seconds of the opening showing the large dessert and what he has to look after and police (also showing desolation as the dessert is so empty

The Prestige

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLba9pC7qZ8

Sound

• The introduction starts with a very gripping one liner that makes the audience sit up and pay attention instantly ‘are you watching closely?’
• Immediately after, we have a second voice narrating the rest of the introduction, giving a slight insight to what the movie has in store, giving away more of the movie.

Editing

• The cross cutting to the past and present and future is a good way to create confusion in the movie as it makes it hard for the audience to try and keep up with it.
• The dark lighting on the stage and under the stage, then the change of lighting when in the court room after
• The electrical bolts that shoot across the room is a good use of editing as it creates tension as we do not know if it will kill him or not.

Mise En Scene

• The curtains rising to reveal the machine is a good way to create anticipation, and excitement, as the audience really want to know what’s behind it.
• The machine that shoots electrical bolts is also a good prop to create a interest and thought as to what it is.
• The wigs of the judges show that they are judges and instantly lets us know who has the authority.
• The fake beard and moustache is a good use to show his secrecy and how he doesn’t want to be noticed.
• the water tank that drowns the man, is the murder weapon and one that kills the man slowly so we don’t know if he will get out in time or not at first until we are in the court room.

Camerawork

• The opening scene has a handheld style camera shot, dollying on one character, walking along a bird cage
• Also in the opening scene, it has focus pulls where the camera will focus on the birds in the bird cage and then will follow the character

The Goodfellowa’s opening

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJmbvcYKXdI

Sound

• The opening starts with the sound of the single car driving along, showing it is a long journey as the car continuously goes.
• After killing the man in the trunk the man who is (as we see the driver and man who opens the trunk of the car) opens up with  a one liner as a narration ‘Ever since I can remember I wanted to be a gangster’ and as soon as that is said, the music kicks in with a very loud and what appears to be a dischord, which is a collaboration of notes played together that don’t really sound right, which sets a dark atmosphere.

Editing

• Low lighting creates a dark mood, showing us that this is something that isn’t right or could not be right.
• The cut scenes show different periods of time to speed up towards the event, which is good because it throws the audience straight into the story.
• As the car drives on, it cuts to a caption setting the date and place to keep our audiences in the loop.

Mise En Scene

• The knife that is the prop used to kill the man in the trunk is used to scare the audience, as knifes are generally used to hurt people in some senses.
• The man beaten and bloody in the trunk of the car is covered in fake blood that way it shows that he is a victim.

Camera Work

• The camera following the car whilst its moving is used to keep our attentions fixed to the car, and makes us think who is in it.
• The canted camera position on the victim on the shows he is in danger by having the camera placed at an awkward angle and also at a shallow depth of field, which shows he is in more of a helpless position than they are.