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

I don't like this shot as I feel it is too zoomed out and the main feature of the frame isn't in the middle.



This shot was not successful because the actress is looking straight into the camera and smiling. To make this scene look realistic it should look like the actress doesn't know that the camera is there.


I don't like this shot because there is too much empty space in the frame.




During making our preliminary task, an issue we encountered was that the acting skills that we had weren't very good and they kept laughing when they were talking. To improve this problem in our final production we kept the majority of our film dialogue-less as this prevents the actors from laughing. 
             
Examples of improvement in our final title sequence from our preliminary task are my ability to control and use the camera and use a variety of shots. Another improvement that was made to the film was the editing ability which made the film flow more effectively and to make it so the video didn't jump.
             
The skills I have gained over the course of the project are:

•           How to use a camera and tripod.
•           How to use the editing suite to create an effective production.
•           How to use the television studio (lights and green screen)
•           How to replace the green screen with a background on the editing software.
•           To have a back-up plan incase something goes wrong.
•           To communicate well with my group
•           To film more than I think I'll need just incase match-on-action can't be done.
•           180-degree rule.
•           Match-on-action
•           Shot-Reverse-Shot                                                                                             

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

During making and designing my title sequence I used these technologies: 

This is the camera I used to film both my preliminary task and the final title sequence.

I used Adobe Premiere Pro to edit all the footage into order and to add effects.

I used Blogger to write and present my blog.

I used YouTube to research title sequences and exsisting films that are like my film. I also used it to view my title sequence and preliminary task.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Here is an interview I did which was interviewing someone of my target audience about my title sequence:

These are some screenshots from my title sequence that would appeal to my target audience.

This screenshot would appeal to my target audience because it has a dark mise-en-scene and is of a kidnap scene. It also has a sense of mystery because the audience doesn't know what's going to happen to the boy.

This screenshot would appeal to my target audience because the effects that are used add a sense of mystery and action.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

This is a profile of someone I think would watch my film.


Name: Alex Smith
Age: 18
Location: England
Likes/Hobbies: Video Games, watching films, forensic science, puzzles.
What films they like: Taken, Hot Fuzz, Kidnap
Favourite TV programmes: CSI, Criminal Minds, NCIS.

My film would appeal to this person because it is similar to 'Taken' which is one of his favourite films and also fits in with conventions of crime television programmes.

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

A product company is responsible for organising and created the film. The name of our small production company is Fuzzpuff Productions.
A distribution company organises when and where the film is released. For our distribution company we are going to use an independent company because it will be cheaper. We are also going to use social networking sites and iTunes.
Some exsisting films that are similar to ours are; Taken, Kidnap, Ransom and Kiss The Girls.
The money for the making of the film would come from private investors that would get a percentage of the profits when the film is released.

How does my media product represent particular social groups?

My chosen social group to represent in my film was teenage girls that go to college. In this shot they are represented in quite a negaative way because she is walking like she's drunk and she has an alcohol bottle in her right hand. The other teenage girl characters in my title sequence are represented in a positive way because they look intelligent and well presented.

In the shot, I have created a scary mise-en-scene by making the lighting dark and using a typical setting for a kidnapping to take place (an alleyway). This makes the character look vunerable and weak which allows the kidnapper to look like he could kidnap her in a realistic way.

The representation of a teenage girl that is in college is similar in my film to other media forms. For example, the school girls in BBC1's 'Waterloo Road' have a similar look and they all tend to follow the same fashions.

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

The title of our film represents our film well and outlines all of the action in just two words. It is obvious to the audience that kidnappings are going to happen so if they like crime films it will encourage them to watch it.

The black and white colour is a convention of crime because it stands out. The font represents crime because of the jagged edges and the faded areas in the letters as this makes it look rough. It is a typical crime convention to have this sort of title in a film.

This shot shows one of the locations in our title sequence as it is in a house and the boy is asleep on the sofa. This challenges genre conventions because a crime film is normally set in a rough suburban area or in a business area.

The costume we chose for the news reader is typical because every news reader on the television wears formal and smart clothes. Also, in crime films such as James Bond and The Godfather the criminals tend to wear suits so our costume is following genre conventions slightly.

This shot challenged genre conventions for a kidnap scene because it is shot in broad daylight and the mise-en-scene is very happy and summery because the grass is very green and she is wearing bright pink shoes. Usually in a kidnap scene in a crime film it would be dark and in a setting like an alleyway.

The second kidnapper in our title sequence challenges genre conventions because most kidnappers in crime films are strong men and our kidnapper isn't what the audience would expect. We have followed genre conventions by showing him waiting around corners for the victims.

The camera angle we used here is typical for a kidnap scene because it suggests that something is going to happen so it builds suspense. The audience could also think that it is a shot from the kidnapper's point of view.

This shot was filmed in the television studio on a green screen. We edited this so it looked like a proper news report by adding a background and banner at the bottom of the screen. We also added music that sounded like a news broadcast. This follows genre conventions because if we didn't it wouldn't look realistic.

Completed Title Sequence

Editing the Film

During the editing process of our title sequence we used these effects:

• Replacing a green screen with an image
• Transitions
• Crossfades
• Putting the news broadcast over the television.
• Fade to black with the titles on the black screen.
• Black and white on some parts.
• Sound effects (news report music, van screeching)

Production Diary

On Sunday 12th February my group had organised to film our original title sequence at a friend's house. Unfortunately we weren't able to use her house so we had to change our plans of the sequence.

The following weekend filmed the sequence of my brother getting kidnapped at my Dad's house. I used a tripod so it looked steady and fluent. When my brother was being put into the back of the van I took the camera off the tripod to create a more realistic effect and so the audience can feel like they're standing there watching what is happening.

On Monday 20th February my group had a meeting to discuss what we were going to do next. We decided that they were going to film another kidnap scene of a little girl getting kidnapped but they never filmed that.

On Wednesday 22nd February, none of my group were in so I had to try and edit the footage I shot on my own. I made it flow by using Match-on-Action and I followed the 180-degree rule whilst I was filming.

I decided that my group weren't very reliable and I had to organise another dicussion about how we are going to finish filming our footage. We then decided we were going to have multiple kidnappings happening with two different kidnappers whilst a news report was going to be intercut between them.

On Friday 9th March we filmed the rest of our kidnappings and put the footage onto the editing software (Adobe Premier Pro). We put the footage in order and edited it so the footage flowed.

On Friday 16th March we filmed the news report in the television studio using a green screen.

After that we continued editing to make our film look better and so it flowed more. Our actors weren't very good so we had to edit the bad sections out to make it look more professional.

Script

In our title sequence, we chose to only use speech during the news report, all of the kidnappings are speechless because we thought it would be easier for our actors as they are inexperienced. Also, we like the suspense it created. 
This is the script for the actor that played the news reader.

The Pitch

Our pitch was done before we changed our initial idea so none of it makes sense to our final product now. Because we are a shy group, the feedback we got was mostly telling us to talk more and be more confident. We didn't get any feedback about the actual idea. 

The Edit

When we edited our sequence we needed to put visual effects over the footage we shot of Ed infront of a green screen. We added a background and a banner at the bottom of the screen so it looks like a real news broadcast. 

Shot List

Shot	Actors	Props
Boy walking into kitchen	Matt
Boy getting kidnapped	Matt, Steve	Van
First girl kidnapped	Ben, Anna	Alcohol bottle
Second girl kidnapped	Ben, Charlotte	Mobile phone
Third girl kidnapped	Ben, Alice
News report	Ed

This is our shot list.

Location, Casting, Props and Costumes

Locations
We used five locations throughout our title sequence; an ordinary town house, a park, an alley way, a college building and a news TV studio. We chose to use an ordinary town house because the audience wouldn't expect a kidnapping to happen there and that is also why we used all of the other locations. We used a TV studio to film the new report in so it looks professional and realistic.


Casting
The characters in our title sequence consist of two kidnappers, a boy who gets kidnapped (in the house), three teenage girls and a news reader. The first kidnapper that is shown is a tall middle aged man so is realistic that he would be kidnapping someone. The boy that I used is 13, quite short and skinny so when the man kidnaps him it looks realistic and even when he tries to struggle out he can't do it because he's so much smaller than the kidnapper. The second kidnapper doesn't look like a usual kidnapper that people think of because he's a teenage boy. We used him because it challenges genre conventions and ideal ideas of the audience. We used the three teenage girls because they look vunerable and easy to kidnap and as the second kidnapper is quite small it made it easy to make look realistic.


Props
The props we used throughout our title sequence are:

• A van
• An alcohol bottle
• A mobile phone

Costumes
First kidnapper: jeans, t-shirt, barraclava.
Boy: usual clothes that boys wear, trainers.
Second kidnapper: Jeans, hoody, trainers.
Girls: usual teenage/college girl clothes, casual. 

Storyline

Our initial storyline was to have a child kidnapped by a drug dealer, and the child's mother owed the drug dealer money. Our title sequence was going to open with the kidnapper watching the house from behind a tree and then when he sees the lights go off for the night, he breaks in and kidnaps the child. After the kidnapping we were going to have the titles coming up on a black screen with the sound of the kidnapper leaving the mother an answer message saying that he'd taken her child. After the answer message voice over it was going to cut to footage of the mother searching around the house for her child, after this it would cut to another shot of the kidnapper holding the child captive in a shed. 
          When my group had planned to film this a problem came up with our location and we had to change our storyline completely so we could film it. Our storyline changed so that we have multiple kidnappings happening and we have a news report running throughout the title sequence. The first kidnapping is of a teenage boy by a middle aged man. The other kidnappings are of teenage/college girls in public locations being kidnapped by a teenage boy that doesn't look like the usual kidnapper the audience would be expecting.

Audience Research

From my results from my questionnaire, I found out that the people that are the age of my target audience mostly like comedy and action films. I am going to please my target audience by involving a lot of action into my crime film, but not much comedy as it wouldn't suit the storyline.  I also found out that the people of my target audience tend to watch a film once a week but rarely go to the cinema. This could be because teenagers and students don't have much money and they can't afford to go to the cinema as it is so expensive.  Although technology is moving on fast and people assume teenagers download films and music illegally, a large percentage of the people I asked preferred to watch a film on a DVD rather than online. The main way I found out that people decide whether to watch a film or not is through watching the trailer so for my film I'd need to make sure the trailer is very good as this will improve sales.  Out of my questionnaire I found out that the most popular actor is Johnny Depp, this could be because he is in a lot of comedy and action films which is the most popular genre of film my target audience likes.  Every person I asked said that a different film was their favourite other than two girls that said that 'Twilight' was their favourite. Most people said that in a crime film they expect to see voilence, guns and police. This is because these are the conventions and connotations associated with crime and violence. In my film I will make sure I include alot of violence.

Productions and Distribution

A producer is responsible for the funding and spending of money, the idead behind the script and treatment and the organisation of things like the cast, crew, locations and equipment.
          The distribution department are responsible for releasing the film; where the film is released, when, what cinemas it will be shown in and how the DVDs will be sold. Another responsibility that distribution have is to market the film. This includes publicity, trailers, posters, TV adverts and advertising the actual DVD. They also have to actually transport the film to the cinemas and retailers.
          There are two types of distribution; major studio and independent. A major studio usually have a very large budget for a film and they have the resources and equipment to make and distribute a successful film. They can reach audiences on a global scale and can produce a Hollywood film with independent companies in Britain. Independent distribution companies produces small scale, lower budget films and rely on funding and sponserships from major companies.
         There are 3 ways that films are funded in Britain. The first is using equity investors who lend the film company money in return for a percentage of the profit once the film is completed. Another way is for the distributors to lend the company money and then they share the profit. The last way is to negotiate a deal with a broadcaster such as the BBC or Sky TV.
          The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) decide on the age restriction of the film by considering this criteria; discrimination, drug use, horror, imitable behaviour, language, nudity, sex, themes and violence.

For our film we have decided to use an independent production company called 'Fuzzpuff Productions'. The age rating of our film will be a 15 because there is a lot of violence and crime throughout the film. To distribute our film we will use a small distribution company as it will be a smaller cost overall.
 

Mood Board

This is our mood board. We chose these pictures and words because they are all to do with kidnappings and crime and they inspires us to decide on our storyline.

Title Sequences

Panic Room Title Sequence

A traditional title sequence has a certain order of titles that is present in most films. The order is; the producers name, the highest billing, the director, title of the film, the names of more actors, the cast names, names of the crew (editor, sound, lighting, director of photography), the director's name is featured again as the final name.
     In this title sequence follows that structure.

Conventions of the Crime Genre

Each sub-genre of crime have different expectations from the audience but every sub-genre has some of the same conventions. For example, there are usually police involved, a crime that has been committed, expensive cars or houses, guns or knives, diagetic sound (gunshots, car engines) and natural lighting is used.
          My group has chosen to create an action crime film. Our basic storyline is that someone breaks into the home of a woman and small child and kidnaps the child.

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task

In my Preliminary Task, I worked with 2 other people in my class. The aim of the task was to produce a simple edited sequence that didn't break any of the rules of filming, for example, the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot-reverse-shot.
         In my preliminary task, I did the filming of the sequence and helped decide on the plot of the short clip. The things we did well in the task were the variety of different camera shots and angles and made the camera steady by using a tripod. We stuck to the rules of filming and kept it simple like our teacher said to do. The setting we chose worked well with the plot we used.
          In doing the preliminary task I have learnt how to film effectively, using a tripod and a variety of different shots that are approapriate to what is happening in the scene. I have learnt how to use the editing software to produce a good quality edit. I have also learnt the rules of filming and why they are important.
          If I were to do this task again I would shoot more footage from a lot more different angles.

Welcome to my Blog

This blog is for my AS Media Coursework which is to create an opening title sequence to a crime film. This blog will record every aspect of the research, designing, making and editing of the film and show my progress through what I have acheived with my group.