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Evaluation Questions

We've recorded our evaluation, which will upload asap.
Here are our answers that we developed on in our evaluation.


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

Well the main idea of our opening was to completely subvert all stereotypes. For this reason, we used a female lead in our comedy, similar to Juno where we got a lot of our inspiration from (whereas its usually played by a male); such as Superbad, Napoleon Dynamite and Year One. We chose to have her listening to a heavy rap song , which is something you would not expect from our character as she is girly, awkward and quite shy.


2. How does your film opening represent particular social groups?

It represents the younger generation and fits the recent trend of teen comedies such as superbad where the film is not your typical American pie.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your film opening and why?

We feel that our film would be distributed by a smaller independent company such as the companies supported by Film4.
Our opening doesn’t have the perfected glossy finish that most films produced by major companies such as Universal have which is why we feel it would be better suited to an independent company.

4. Who would be the audience for your film opening?

Our target audience is teenagers and young adults of both sexes, although our character is made to be very girly the comical factor appeals to males as well. Elements like the song and the genre of films it fits in to make it appeal to both sexes.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We think the main attraction to our audience would be the fact that it’s a comedy and that it’s similar to the recent trend we spoke about earlier. We also think the song we used would immediately grab the audience’s attention because its so well known however we’ve used it in a situation they wouldn’t expect it to be used.
Also, we feel our credits stood out massively for example the animations and the bright colours used throughout.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this film opening?

We all learnt how to use iMovie to the best of our ability, the new Mac computers, the Flip and Sony Cameras and how to construct successful blogs online.

7. Looking back at your prelim task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the final film opening?

We learnt to have fun with this course and not take ourselves too seriously. It was about getting on and achieving the best final piece we could. Obviously, we learnt how to use iMovie a lot better (rather than throwing an effect at any possible moment). We have learnt that A LOT of research and planning must be put in to our film.


Here's the video:

Fast and Furious 5

Fast Five (also known as Fast & Furious 5 and Fast & Furious 5: Rio Heist) is a 2011 street racing action film written by Chris Morgan and directed by Justin Lin. The film stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster and Dwayne Johnson and was first released in Australia on April 20, 2011 followed by a domestic release on April 29, 2011 as the fifth film in the The Fast and the Furious franchise. Fast Five follows Brian O'Conner (Walker), Dom Toretto (Diesel) and Mia Toretto (Brewster) as they plan a heist to steal $100 million from corrupt businessman Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida) while being pursued for arrest by DSS agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson). Though it is the fifth entry in the series, the events of the film take place between those of Fast & Furious (2009) and The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)

Jumper

Jumper is a 2008 American science fiction film, loosely based on the 1992 science fiction novel of the same name by Steven Gould. The film is directed by Doug Liman and stars Hayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson, Max Thieriot, Annasophia Robb, and Diane Lane. The film follows a young man capable of teleporting as he is chased by a secret society intent on killing him.

I personally enjoyed the film jumper. I believe it was a very creative storyline and the special effects really stood out in my opinion.

Last Night's "Premiere"

Last night was the "premiere" of our films. We all gathered in the hall with family and friends to watch the AS and A2 final pieces of coursework.

Everyone seemed to laugh in the right places and loved the soundtrack!
We've read through the audience feedback sheets and everyone really seemed to enjoy our film. The comments were all positive and it was our credits that seemed to get mentioned the most. Although it would be my best friend's sister that writes "um..you've spilt jelly beans everywhere?!?" :(

Here is our final film.

Audience Feedback

As our films will be shown on the 7th of April to other media students, parents and students, we would like to get an idea of what they thought of our coursework.
The media teachers have put together an audience feedback sheet for people to fill out. This will include questions like "what was your favourite shot?" and so on.
Will post a copy of one, once we have our hands on it!

Evaluation Sheets - AS and A2

Submarine

Really want to see this! But reading the book first - films are never the same as the book.

Thinking about A2..

Lana and I are obsessed with this video! This is definitely the kind of thing we'd like to achieve for A2..



Here's another video which I feel would be cool for A2

Opening Shot

At the beginning of our film, we have thought about putting the title of our film over a sketch of our first frame, which could then fade into the actual frame.
We created this by taking a screen shot of the frame and using an app on Lana's iPhone to turn it into a sketch.
We're not 100% on this idea at the moment, so will have to have a play around and see what looks best.

Title of Film

This is the screen shot which we will turn into a sketch.

Renault Advert

My favourite advert at the moment!

Animation

Just found this video....



Im determined to make one.

Logo - Production Company

Here's a very rough version of a possible logo.

The person will be dressed as a doll and the colours and font are yet to be finalised.

Animation

So we've had another go at a stop animation credit for our film.



The credit will be sped up, as it takes up 17 seconds of our film, and we'll be able to get it down to about 8 seconds. The writing at the end will also be different but it was just a rough idea.

The Rite

So with my media class we went to see The Rite (not my choice!). I usually don't like exorcism films and that kind of genre and unfortunately this was no different. I wasn't sure if it was the horse with red eyes or the random scenes with frogs that had no connection to the film?! The only thing I did like was the credits and the opening scene. I thought the camera angles were impressive and the crucifixes for "t"s looked really good.

Here's the trailer.

Film Certificate

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), originally British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom.[1] It has a statutory requirement to classify videos, DVDs and some video games under the Video Recordings Act 2010.
Here you can see the clear classifications for all films.

I feel our film would be rated either a 12A or a 15. I feel think this would be suitable as there could be stronger language and scenes of a sexual nature if we were to continue our opening into a full length film.

Animation

This video, Precious Time by The Maccabees was the inspiration for our stop animation in our film...



And here's the stop animation we created.

Never Say Never!

Okay, I know it's a Justin Bieber film but it was 3D and my obsessive "Bieliber" friends dragged me along on an Orange Wednesday!

Just Go With It

Just Go with It is a 2011 romantic comedy film starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. The film was released on February 11, 2011, Aniston's 42nd birthday.
The film is based on the 1969 film, Cactus Flower, which was adapted from an earlier Broadway stage play, written by Abe Burrows, which in turn was based upon the French play Fleur de cactus.

This is the most I've laughed at a film - would definitely recommend! The story line was original and couldn't pick a better combination than Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston!

Logo - Production Company

Obviously, at the beginning of every film, there is the logo of the company producing the film, otherwise known as the production company...

I spotted this advert in a magazine, which sparked an idea for our logo.

Psycho, One Hour Photo and Sunshine Cleaning

Psycho is a 1960 American psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch.
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in his native United Kingdom in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood.

Although when watching Psycho, I laughed at the poor effects and simple plot, I was able to appreciate how in the 1960's the film was a big hit.



One Hour Photo is a 2002 American psychological thriller written and directed by Mark Romanek and starring Robin Williams. Fox Searchlight Pictures distributed the film in the United States. One Hour Photo also starred Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan, Gary Cole, and Eriq La Salle. Williams won a Saturn Award for Best Actor (2003) for his work in the film.

I really enjoyed this film but couldn't look at Sy without thinking its Mrs Doubtfire!



Sunshine Cleaning is a 2008 film starring Amy Adams and Emily Blunt. Directed by Christine Jeffs and written by Megan Holley, the film premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2008. It was purchased by Overture Films for distribution and opened in limited release in the United States on March 13, 2009. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 25, 2009.

A really good film - and saw our own opening using a similar style.

Black Swan

So yesterday, a few us went to see Black Swan and as a Media student I feel that I was able to appreciate the film that little bit more.

Here's the trailer.



At first, I really did not know what to expect from this film and the only reason I wanted to see it so badly was because of my dance background. However, I held high expectations of the film due to its flattering reviews.

And the reviews were right. This has to been one the best films I have seen in a long time, although I'm not sure if it's because I can appreciate the ballet in the film.

Oh my god..or this!!

Slightly leaning more towards this one!

Cinema Trip!

Original plan was to go see Catfish, but after poor reviews, we thought it would be wasting our time.
I definitely think this film could qualify as fussy-media-students-at-enfield-county-decent-enough-film material.



Release date: 28th Jan.

Thoughts??

Credit..again

Here's another attempt of making a credit, to be fair, it does look a bit crap but it's just an idea. I don't feel that the darkness of the credit fits our film and so it needs re-filming, perhaps with a brighter background (same reason applies to why we changed our opening shot). The "strobe light" effect also proved difficult in editing as continuity was difficult to maintain.


Anyway, here is the credit.





Here is the video about our opening shot.



Thoughts??

Music!

      Too get the effect we want for our film, we have to use a copyrighted song! Miss Foster emailed Pete, an official OCR moderator, for his okay and....

yay! :)

Credits

Here's a very rough idea of a credit we could use in our film!
So far, the editing of our film is going really well and we're really happy with the results. I wanted to upload our film so far but Foster won't let me :'( too impatient!!!

Anyway, here's the credit...

17th Jan

JUST FINISHED FILMING WOOHOOOOOOOO
just uploading our footage now :D

Here's a video of our day filming!

Finally the BFI Trip Video!

Favourite Advert!!

Not only is this my favourite advert at the moment, but also my favourite song. I'm completely mesmorised everytime it comes on!



The effects in this amaze me, especially these:

Also...

Supposed to be doing maths revision...exam tomorrow, howevever fronter is now impossible to use due to my brother.
Curse older siblings.
Resorted to blogging.

IMPOSSIBLE TO BLOG!

So once again, blackberry has broken. Now using the coolest nokia which the whole media class seemed to be jealous of.
Also, because my brother is doing media and post production and something else computery at university, when he comes home for a night he feels it is his duty to do something new or download some other programme for the computer...it is now slower than ever.
Thinking of establishing the Buy-Joely-A-Laptop fund.
Thoughts???

127 Hours

Last night I went to see the film 127 Hours which has recently come out at the cinema.
Here is the official trailer.

***FILM SPOLIER***



It's now impossible to watch a film without thinking about media! I'm seriously undecided about this film and can not work out if the ending lived up to my expectations. There were however, a few things that really did stand out for me (as the film is so new I won't be able to post screen shots etc.)

The credits in the opening scene fit the genre well but it was the title of the film that stood out and I didn't realise that we hadn't actually seen the title of the film until it appeared. After the credits and the opening scene, the film goes straight into the story, the character (based on Aron Ralston's real life story) begins his journey (this also produced some amazing shots which you see in the trailer, along with the split screen effect) and you become engaged. He meets two women, shows them around, promises to meet up with them again and moves on. Its not until he falls and realises that he's stuck that the title "127 Hours" appears boldy on the screen, and this is at least 15 minutes into the film. After the title appears, everything goes silent (including the audience) and you realise just how stuck he is.

The soundtrack to this film also stood out and some what shocked me. You would expect there to be heart pumping tension music as Aron (played by James Franco) tries to free his arm. But no, much like Mark Ramely suggests in his article "Creative Film Making For The Creatively Challanged", the film breaks the rules of the genre and instead uses upbeat acoustic folk music throughout.

The shots, mentioned before, throughout this film were amazing. The location obviously made this possible however they were practically breath-taking. When the film is released and if I am still blogging then, I will try to find some screenshots of these shots.

The end  perhaps was dissappointing. Throughout the whole film you experience with Aron his horrific story and practically feel as if you are with him. You and the character are physically and emotionally drained after watching it! I had high hopes that at the end, he'd be freed in a way that we would never expect. However instead, he chops his arm off.
Would not recommened to those who are squeamish. Definitely should of followed Se7en in the idea that less is more with the ending and how much gore should of been shown!

Here is Aron Ralston speaking about the events.

Back to Blogging!

My beloved blackberry broke and mother hijacked the computer :(
But now, it's back to blogging! Now awaiting Lana's arrival to storyboard our film :D will post videos and pictures throughout the day!