Evaluation ~ Joshua Ford

Joshua's Evaluation

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

My media product uses a common convention in real media products which have corrupt police officers beat up suspects in the interrogation room.

For my comparison I will use the film The Dark Knight, specifically where Batman beats up The Joker. I feel this is an interesting reversal of what usually happens because in The Dark Knight Batman is the protagonist and The Joker is the villain but Batman has just reached the end of his patience and proceeds to beat the living daylights out of The Joker, and in my product I am the villain and Jack Whitely’s character is in the wrong place at the wrong time and is thrown into it up to his neck in a world of trouble that he has no place in. 

The actual part in my media product that I am talking is when my character slams Jack’s head on the desk and holds a prop against his throat to get him to agree to my terms.



Q2 ~ How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product shows the seedy underbelly of a typical police force with me as the corrupt cop blackmailing an unlucky suspect to engage in a reverse mole operation.


This is an image of a policemen taking a bribe or blackmailing suspect.


This image is a screen shot of the task my character gives to Jack’s character.

Q 3 ~ What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I feel that 2 of the institutions that might distribute my media product are Lions Gate who distributed The Hunger Games and its sequels and Warner Brothers who released the 2012 Tim Burton version of Dark Shadows due to their similarities in violence and innocence corrupted by an evil government.


The boy in this picture has been shot in the chest by the female protagonist for murdering her friend, which is, to be honest the whole point of the film, to turn children on each other.


In this picture Johnny Depp's character is killing Helena Bonham Carters character because he caught her using his vampire blood to keep herself young so in retribution he takes all blood from her.

Q 4 ~ Who would be the audience for your media product?

The recommended age for our product would be young adult due to violence and dangerous ideas. My project partner and I both felt that the subject matter would be too dark for anyone below the age of 15. Though that didn’t stop my 10 year old brother watching the rough cut I put up on YouTube and he laughed at it.

Q 5 ~ How did you attract/address your audience?

I put the rough cut of the product onto YouTube where my younger brother found it on his Play Station Vita even though he shouldn’t have watched due to the semi-profane language that didn’t deter him he laughed at it and when I asked him what he thought he said it was odd.

I used Jack as the character who is sympathised with, I felt this would be interesting for the audience because if you looked at us it would be Jack who you’d peg as the burly cop and me as the sympathy character. So in that way we challenged that particular convention. But I think we may have conformed to one as well, specifically the convention of the “evil foreigner” that is I am half Indian on my mothers side and I have a “beard of Evil” ( I'm the one in the waistcoat ).

Q 6 ~ What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?



This is the camera with which Jack and I used to film our media product. We learned that these particular cameras are quite temperamental and fragile. We also found that they exceed their charge fairly rapidly.



This is the type of tripods we used when filming our product. We learned that just like the camera the tripod was fragile and could break easily so the director had to be careful and use the tripods properly.



We used this pc tower, usb memory stick, the computer and usb lead to edit our product. We learned that the editing process is a long, tedious and (at times) frustrating one. This proved a bit of a hindrance when Jack tried to edit it and the programme was acting too slowly.

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

In my preliminary project I was the camera man along with Jack though I didn’t do a lot for the group besides that. I feel the I have learnt to take more responsibility with my work and to cooperate with others better I have shown this by putting more work into my finished project then I put into the preliminary one

I came up with the concept and plot of the product and delivered the pitch all while Jack was on holiday though down the line knowing my lack of technological competence he helped to edit the project, with me giving the suggestions on the music used and the pitch of my voice which still ended up to high for my liking.

Research into audience - Audience feedback

Preliminary task

This is a Link to our blog where the Preliminary task is displayed

http://jlmgmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/preliminary-task.html

Preliminary task - Group Roles

Jack Whiteley:

Directing 

Camera Work 

Music 

Maisie Walker:

Directing

Camera Work 

Editing 

Acting

Georgia Skipper:

Directing

Acting

Editing

Josh Ford:

Music 

Camera Work 

 

 

Preliminary task - Script

Maisie: What’s wrong? (Georgia hands over a crumpled letter) Is he allowed to do this?

Georgia: I don’t know

Maisie: what do you mean, you don’t know?

Georgia:  I don’t know if he's allowed to? if he’s allowed to send me letters, but first he kills my brother, now he is coming after me

Maisie: what are you gonna do about it? WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT?

Georgia: I dont know!

Maisie: get revenge

Georgia: what like get him before he comes for me?

Maisie: I guess it’s just an eye for an eye

Group Roles

Roles	People
Actors/Actresses	Josh Ford, Jack Whiteley, Ollie Woodward, Mason O’neil
Cinematographer	Thomas Martin, Jack Whiteley
Director	Josh Ford/ Jack Whiteley
Producer	Jack Whiteley
Editor	Jack Whiteley
Make up and Props	Maisie Walker, Jack Whiteley

Jack's Evaluation

Evaluation:
In what ways does your film use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of existing films, such as the ones you were influenced by?

Note: When referring to 9 frame e.g. first frame second frame etc pictures are ordered left to right

The two logos I used for my media project (Frame 1 and 2) are Court House Films and Atlantis Productions. I chose these because they resembled animations such as the universal logo and other moving logos such as Colombia TriStar. I obtained the short animations from a website called http://www.videvo.net/. This website allows members to download certain videos and animations for free. After downloading the videos I then opened them in Sony Vegas movie studio and inserted text media. From there I overlayed the text on the video on separate tracks. The company that distributed my influential film is Vertigo films, it was formed for the express purpose of distributing and producing two films.The "Football Factory" and It's "All Gone Pete Tong"; it's current stated goal is to produce and distribute four films per year. Vertigo Films's film releases were distributed on home video by Entertainment One.

The next shot is an over the shoulder shot of the interrogation that takes place throughout the project, this is much like how the interrogation scene in The Sweeney(our influential film) starts. It is almost guaranteed that in a crime genre film and sometimes in thriller genre films there is an interrogation scene, so seeing our film was both of these and our influential film had an interrogation we definitely needed to include one. we also wanted to incorporate an aerial shot of the city like the third frame of my influential film, It would be an establishing shot at the start of the clip. However we didn't have the resources or means to be able to obtain these shots so we decided to go straight from the interrogation room. Our aerial shot however would have been in the daytime as the rest of the project is during the day.

The fourth picture shows a title saying "visual editor Jack Whiteley". For all titles involving crew and actors I have put a boom sound fractionally before they appear so that it carries more of an impact to the audience.The fourth frame for our influential film shows a box full of gold bars being opened by some masked thieves. Our initial plan was to have a film about a gold heist but that was later changed to the crown jewels as nobody would know a gold storage building if it was mentioned in the film. Plus the crown jewels are more famous and more valuable.

The fifth shot is a two shot which could be considered a master shot. A convention of crime thrillers are interviews or interrogations and when they  happen in a film they often change between shots to show the expressions of the people involved.

The sixth shot is a black background with a type writer- type title saying Mason O'neil, this is an actor in the project and several other actors' names appear in succession to give the impression of urgency and draws your attention even closer.The font used in my influential film (2nd frame in influential 9-frame) is an office like style or looks like it has been typed with a type writer, we used a similar font as the theme to our film. A link to the font, location and genre can be made here. Both films included crime in them so the font may reflect the type of font on a criminal record or file. Also it may look like it's been typed on a type writer because the majority of London is offices/ business related buildings. Our titles are also in close time matching with the Sweeney so when the "In Association With Exponential Media" title comes up a very similar title appears on our project.

The seventh shot is of the first flash back that occurs in my project, in conventional films there is a white flash and usually a sound that indicates a change in time. I have included the white flash however unlike conventional films I haven't included the sound, I have instead chosen to place media text in to the video explaining the following scene takes part 2 weeks earlier.

The eighth shot is a shot after the camera tilts down, showing the object of significance in a black box in the centre of the frame. Guns are the typical objects of significance in conventional films and usually show this the same way i did, by pushing in on the shot of the gun.

The final shot is of the corrupt detective assaulting the suspect in interrogation, following him holding the suspect in a head lock - type hold he then throws the suspects head on the table. this is the most common confrontation in all interrogation and is a large convention in cop films.

The fifth frame is of a car chase between a Ford Focus ST and a Rangerover. In this scene the police team known as the Sweeney has just stormed a house of suspected criminals and the leader has escaped causing the main character to pursue him. We hadn't planned on having a chase scene in our project but if we had had large amounts of funding and a suitable area in which to film we would definitely have had a chase scene of some kind.

The sixth frame is very similar to our interrogation scene. Our scene starts off with a point of view shot but then later leads to an over the shoulder shot just like the one in frame six, we did this to make the audience feel as though they were positioned in the room with the characters.

We incorporated the conflict from the scene in frame 7 where the interrogator grabs the suspects head and throws it on the desk. This type of conflict is easy to incorporate as you can make it sound like it hurt and appear real by using sound effects.

The eighth frame is of a gunfight that takes place between the criminals and the police force in Trafalgar square (an iconic area of London) in our project, if it were to be a full length film we would include a gun fight between the blackmailed man and the corrupt police. We'd also shoot the gunfight in a place that people would recognise was in London.

The final frame is of a main character when the Serbian criminals hide in a car park, shoot her in front of another main character and drive off. This is a shock to the audience as her death is both unexpected and violent. We planned to use this where a main character that the audience has created an emotional attachment to dies.




How does your film represent particular social groups?

By definition representation is the action of speaking or acting on behalf of someone or the state of being so represented and all media texts are re-presentations of reality. All media representations are artificial versions of the reality we perceive around us.

The groups present in our film are: Police, Criminals and Victims. This film is orientated around a frame job and police brutality. The scenario of the conventional interrogation is being represented here and the preferred audience would be people of 15 years + as to attract the widest audience possible. Here you can see the suspects being "manhandled" by the interrogators and both interrogators in the Sweeney and my project throw the suspects head onto the desk. This "manhandling" is typical convention in crime genre films. These scenes take place in police interrogation rooms in London and the actors are framed mostly as medium shots because they are either sat down or on the table.
The violence in my projects interrogation features the detective throwing the suspects head down on to the table. This is very similar to the violence in our influential film The Sweeney where the suspected criminal pleads innocent and the interrogator resorts to violence to obtain what they need. We also made the suspect where glasses to portray weakness. The characters in this crime thriller are natural e.g. they as we would expect from the conventions of a crime thriller resort to violence. Our project and our influential film are also similar in surroundings. In the foreground there is a suspect and an interviewer  and in the background there is an office like interrogation room.

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

Here is a link to the youtube video I created to answer thus question:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR5Tq_okiIQ

Note: Sound quality would probably be better if headphones are worn




Who would be the audience for your film?

This is Joe Veragea, he is our typical viewer and the type of person who enjoys a good crime thriller. He also plays on his gaming console and goes to the gym in his spare time. His favorite music artists are Nirvana, Linkin Park, Nickleback, Eminem and house mix DJ's such as DJ Earworm. He lives with his parents in Greenwich and has a girlfriend called Susie. Here's a little fact file on him:

Age: 27

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: White British 

Education: Whistlemore Primary school Borstal Grammer secondry school and university of                         Greenwich

Religious and political affiliations: Loves Nigel Farage and Borris Johnson, and attended sunday school at a christian church until of 11. 

Economic status: Joe derives from a middle class family, his father a structural engineer and his mother a secretary for a loaning firm in London. 

Employment: Joe is employed as a bartender in the White Lion  in Greenwich

Sexual Orientation: Joe is very interested in women and loves a good night out on the pull, however he is currently in a relationship with a girl who lives two roads down from him.

Family Background: Joe's family has actually been traced back to France and there are hints that he may even be related to King Louie the sixth! His great great great great grandmother was married to a rich English Barron to settle a debt on the farm in France.

Marital Status: in a relationship 

How did you attract/address your audience?

Our project if it was to be made into a full length film would be filmed in London, so immediately it would appeal to British audiences as they would be able to recognise places in London that they have been to or heard of and relate to it.

The certificate would be a 15 which restricts audience slightly however mid to late teens are the largest group that go to the cinema so this will be our target audience. My film is a crime action thriller so it would appeal to an audience that enjoy films that make you think as well as satisfy you visually.

I also constructed a questionnaire for a test screening of audiences. 

I then converted the data from my questionnaire to pie charts 

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

                                       Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum

                                                               Audacity




I have learnt an abundance of new things about different technologies that have been used in the production of this project. Firstly how to operate a cam corder correctly on a tripod. I had never used a tripod before, and keeping the camera steady whilst panning without any juddery movement was a combination of tightening the right components but with enough give to allow smooth movement.Another aspect of technology that i have learnt about is editing on Sony Vegas Movie Studio. This was a massive challenge for me as I had never encountered programmes as complex as this, the last time i used a computer programme for school work (or any work for that matter) was to draw a 1930's radio on paint. However through trial and error and tutorials on youtube I have managed to get to a level where I am happy with my editing skills and feel confident with editing video clips. I have also learnt to how to use a pod-casting set and how to adjust sound using both audacity and pitch adjusters on Sony Vegas. 

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

If it wasn't clear what I was saying on the video, here is a typed up version you can read

In my preliminary task, my main role was cinematographer. I filmed Maisie Walker and Georgia Skipper in a clip of our film Eye For An Eye. My knowledge of shot types and angles was very minimal and i was quite inexperienced with the camera i was using. We also only used one location so the scene was very basic. Our scene consisted of Georgia walking down a corridor and turning right down another corridor but then collapsing against the wall. Maisie then walks down the same corridor and see Georgia at the corner and runs to see if she is ok. She hands Maisie a note and explains about the man who murdered her brother. The shots haven't varied much until this point only a two shot and an over the shoulder of the note. However I use a technique largely used in the film industry here, I take a shot of Maisie as a close up when she says " Get revenge" and when Georgia replies with "what like get him before he gets me?" I have pushed the camera in to an extreme close up of Maisie's mouth and says "I guess it's just an eye for an eye". So as our preliminary is evident, I had a basic knowledge of camera work and devices to use in cinematography.

Following the preliminary task was my main media project who I was partnered with Josh Ford for. He had a lot of ideas for the 2 minute scene so immediately I had the challenge of trying to find the best ones and a way of fitting them in. Initially we made the entire scene an interrogation between a detective and a suspect. Josh of course wanted to be the threatening 'Bad cop, even worse cop' character so I accepted the role of suspect. This is where another skill was developed: resourcefulness. Josh and I had decided to keep the budget as low as possible if not nothing at all. So for the blood and bruises on my face I went into my house's attic and found some old halloween make up, I also borrowed and old pair of my dads glasses to wear when filming.

I think I learnt a lot of life skills as well as technological skills during this project. Tolerance and negotiation being some of the main ones. One of the main problems for filming was that Josh couldn't be around during break or lunch or after school. So the only time we could film was during school, which would be fine but we didn't have any free periods that were anywhere near each other. So the one and only opportunity we got to film was on an enrichment day when all the school had to come in apart from 6th form. However being the dedicated student I am, I suggested to him that we come in on that Friday and film the scene. I think I also learnt how to prioritise at this point, being allowed to have the Friday off to do anything you want, and I had decided to make the most of it and come into school and film and then sit and edit it, was I thought quite a mature decision as I knew that the deadline wasn't far away.

Speaking of editing I think that is the biggest skill I have leant, only because I went from zero knowledge, to being able to edit any piece of filming to an acceptable level. I now know how to implement transitions and fade outs/ins. I know how to cut the sound out from and video and import any sound effect/ music. I know how to make the selected video go into slow motion, I know how to blue or green screen. I know how to create 3D text. I also know how to make the shot darker or lighter, I know adjust the sound of someone voice so the pitch is high or low, I know how to adjust the volume of someone's voice using an audio track so the volume can go up or down. There are lots more things I could demonstrate I have learnt about editing , and that's just on Sony Vegas Movie Studio, I also learnt how to use audacity, Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Pro.

In our Preliminary task I did use a tripod for panning left (Following Georgia as she turned the corner) however it was not smooth as it turned. Following this task I consulted sir about the problem he told me about adjusting each component so that the tripod would be smooth but would still be stiff enough to hold itself up whilst panning. I loosened and tightened different parts of the tripod and tested it by panning it left and right until I got the perfect balance of all components to allow complete smoothness. This perseverance was a key thing I had to learn as a lot of the things I learnt through this project was through trial and error.

Another thing I learned since the preliminary task was how to structure a scene, using a call sheet etc. For our film especially the elements of it orientated around the flashbacks were organised so that on the day and time stated, the filming happened and all the shots and angles wanted were captured. This required lots of organisation and team building skills, both which I haver improved on since my preliminary task.

Overall I feel as though I am much more prepared for media projects now than I was when I did my preliminary. I feel as though I have gained the skills to produce, edit, or direct any project to a proficient standard.