In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our camera shots, sound and editing all contribute to the positive representation of young black males.
Camera Shots
These still shots illustrate the representation of black youth, which challenges the negative stereotype as the young black male is running away from the gang, instead of being part of it.
At the end of our production, we placed the camera still and 'Ryan' is escaping gang life, which is represented in the way he escapes the camera as he gets further and further away.
We used a high angle shot, when 'Ryan' is looking down on gang to show he is better and more important than they are.
Sound
The lyrics in the song 'Black Boys' (Bashy) is positive and so is contrapuntal when the music is played over footage of the gang, as there appearance demonstrates a negative representation. However, it is parallel when the audience sees Ryan becasue he is trying to live his life in a positive way.
Our film is called 'Making Movements' which is taken from the song 'Black Boys'. We chose this name as Ryan is 'Making Movements' towards a better life and is trying to avoid being influenced by the behaviour of his peers.
We used PowerDirector to edit and add sound and titles to our production.
'Ryan' is our main character so in the opening two minutes most of the camera time is focused on him. This means the audience know who the main characters is and who they will build a relationship with.
We edited in close-ups of Ryan's face so the audience can clearly see the emotion on his face. When Ryan notices the gang, he doesn't look scared but almost smurks. This informs the audience that he is used to the the situation and must happen regularly.
'Ryan' is our main character so in the opening two minutes most of the camera time is focused on him. This means the audience know who the main characters is and who they will build a relationship with.
We edited in close-ups of Ryan's face so the audience can clearly see the emotion on his face. When Ryan notices the gang, he doesn't look scared but almost smurks. This informs the audience that he is used to the the situation and must happen regularly.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our film would be marketed and exhibited in British cinemas as I believe is there enough demand for British social realism films and so the British market increases the chances of the film being profitable.
The film might be distributed by Vertigo Films, who are a vertically intregated film company who produce and distribute social realism films, such as 1 Day, which deals with gang culture as does our production. We will use a combination of the long-tail exhibition and multi-platform release. Our film will firstly be exhibited in cinemas across Britain, in order to make money from ticket sales. The second stage will involve the film being made accessible on all possible types of media e.g. internet download and rental (iTunes), Box Office TV rental and purchase, and DVD, across Europe and America. People in these countries are more willing to buy a DVD or download a British social realism film instead of watching it in the cinema.
The target audience will be young males aged 15-30, who is also the target audience for all Vertigo Films. The film centres around the lives of young males of working class so the target audience will be able to identify their own lives with those of the characters.
The target audience will be young males aged 15-30, who is also the target audience for all Vertigo Films. The film centres around the lives of young males of working class so the target audience will be able to identify their own lives with those of the characters.
Profile of target audience: Young males aged 15-30
The target audience for our film would be teenagers and young men because the film is about the lives of our teenage characters. Blumler and Katz suggest in the Uses and Gratification model that people watch films for 'identification'. By applying this to our film, we have targeted teenagers as they will be able to identify their own life/experiences to those of the characters, who are of similar age.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Based upon my research into other social realism films, Screen West Midlands and the BFI (who now distribute lottery money to the film industry) are likely fund our production because it is British and filmed in the West Midlands. A recent announcement indicates the government will be changing the way British film is financed, this will impact on my production as finance will no longer be distributed by the UK Film Council.
The BFI will contribute to the distribution of our media product
The BFI will contribute to the distribution of our media product
Vertigo films will be the main distribution company behind our film. Verigo is a vertically integrated company which produce and distribute films, such as the one we have produced.
How did you attract/address your audience?
Viral Marketing
SB.TV is an online broadcaster whos videos are viewed by young people. Some videos have reached over 1 million views on Youtube.
By marketing our video on SBTV.co.uk a high number of people who would be interested in our film will see it when they visit the SBTV website. Many people visit the site on a daily basis.
By contacting Jamal Edwards (Founder & CEO) he may also be willing to upload the trailer for our film to SBTV.co.uk and to the SB.TV youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/smokeybarz which has over 46 million upload views.
We could also advertise our film on Facebook by creating a Facebook ad at: www.facebook.com/advertising/
Facebook has more than 500 million active users so advertising on the site is highly valuable when trying to attract a high number of people to watch the film in the cinema. However this can be very costly, especially for a low budget British film.
Attracting our Target Audience
We would attract our target audience (males aged 15-30) as they will be able identify with 'Ryan' as he is of similar age and is just 1 person against the crowd. This makes our film unique when compared to other realism films, such as Bullet Boy, which also deals with gang culture as the young males characters are or have been involved in a gang at some point in their lives. 'Ryan' has never followed the crowd and been involved in the gang the audience see chasing him in the opening two minutes.
The audience will aspire to be like 'Ryan' as he is fashion conscious and looks much better than the gang who are wearing washed out clothes. The red of Ryan's clothes attracts the audience to him. The phone call to his mother shows he cares about his mother but isn't seen as a 'mommy's boy' due to the way he presents himself to the audience.
Our audience would go to the cinema to see our film as it will be the latest thing for them to talk about, and don't want to be left out of conversations. Socialisation is part of Blumler and Katz's model of audience behaviour. They may buy a DVD when made available but are more like to download it as they are able to use technology with ease.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
How to upload a picture/photo
When editing a page or post click on the icon of a picture (Next to the 'Link' icon) on the toolbar at the top. Then click on browse and find the file you want to upload.
How to upload a Video
When editing a page or post click on the video icon (Left of the paragraph alignment tool) on the toolbar at the top. Choose where you wish to upload from. To upload a video from Youtube, click on the from Youtube tab and type the title into the search box and then select the video you want.
If you wish to upload from the computer or memory stick, click 'Browse' and select the file you want to upload.
How to blog
Search for http://www.blogger.com/. Sign in on the homepage. When on your dashboard, choose whether you want to edit a page/post or start a new one. When you have selected want you want to edit, begin blogging by typing and/or uploading files.
How to use Power Director
When creating a new video on Power Director you need to click on 'import media' in the top left corner (arrowed below).
Then select the files you need to edit.
How to make a commentary over the top of our film
We recorded our voiceover using a mic, which pugged into the computer.
The finished film was imported into Power Director. We then muted the sound and imported the recorded voiceover over the top. The production was saved and uploaded to Youtube.
How to use a camera
We used a digital camera and tripod to film our production
We used the camera to record sound which lead to poor quality sound and traffic noise. If I was to film another production in the future, I would use a microphone that could be attached to the camera.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
In both the preliminary task and the full production we used natural lighting throughout. However, after the preliminary task and whilst planning the full production, I learned how to use natural lighting to my advantage when filming.
Screen shot of natural lighting:
In our main task, we decided to use different coloured clothing to clearly inform the audience that Ryan was in no way part of the gang. In the beginning of the film, the audience may believe that Ryan is part of another gang, due to his red clothing, and not trying to escape the pressure placed upon him to join the gang.
Screenshot of contrasting colours:
In the preliminary task, we used a limited number of different shots. After watching the preliminary task I realised our main production will need a much wider variety of shots, in order to be more realistic and achieve a higher grade.
We used a close-up of Ryan's face to show the emotion he felt at the sight of the gang. I instructed the actor to look straight faced, in order to create an action code. The close-up enables the audience to see that the character does find the situation extremely worrying or abnormal, which suggests this kind of confrontation is regular. This contrasts with the audiences current feeling of fear, as the character seems relatively unmoved by the danger he faces.
Close-up
Mid shot
Screen shot of natural lighting:
In our main task, we decided to use different coloured clothing to clearly inform the audience that Ryan was in no way part of the gang. In the beginning of the film, the audience may believe that Ryan is part of another gang, due to his red clothing, and not trying to escape the pressure placed upon him to join the gang.
Screenshot of contrasting colours:
In the preliminary task, we used a limited number of different shots. After watching the preliminary task I realised our main production will need a much wider variety of shots, in order to be more realistic and achieve a higher grade.
We used a close-up of Ryan's face to show the emotion he felt at the sight of the gang. I instructed the actor to look straight faced, in order to create an action code. The close-up enables the audience to see that the character does find the situation extremely worrying or abnormal, which suggests this kind of confrontation is regular. This contrasts with the audiences current feeling of fear, as the character seems relatively unmoved by the danger he faces.
Screenshots of different shot types:
Close-up
Long shot
Mid shot
In our preliminary task, we used shot-reverse-shot and decided to also use it in the full product, when 'Ryan' is confronted by the gang. We also used over the shoulder shots as the main character, Ryan, descended the two flights of stairs and effectively whilst looking at the gang when he was being pursued. We used match on action throughout, both our main production and our preliminary as we knew it is very important in aiding continuity.
Screenshot of shot reverse shot:
Organisation is a key part to producing a successful media product. This is why we ensured everything we did was carefully and clearly planned in order to reduce discepticies. We spent along time planning our film, for example using storyboards, mood boards and visiting locations and taking photographs so we were able to compare the locations to those in other social realism films, such as Kidulthood and Bullet Boy.
