Looking back at my Preliminary task what do i feel i have learnt in the progression to my finished product.

My preliminary task was very basic and simple. It applied all the points requested in the specification. However the camera work wasnt very good as i was learning how to work the camera for the first time.

During the developement of my finished production i learnt about the importance of finding the correct angles to do each shot and what angles work well with each kind of shot type. Also i learnt which shot types smoothly transition into eachother.

I also learnt that the editing portion of the creation of a film is crucial to create a film that people will want to see. the more advanced knowledge of the editing programme has allowed me to create a final product that is far superior to my preliminary.

Also i learnt that the use of people more accustomed to acting participating in the film while doesnt add to my ability to effectively film and produce my product adds a certain level of authenticity which i feel makes my actual product better than my preliminary.

Also location and lighting also add a greater feel to a film. In my preliminary i used the nearest location that was vacant to film, however with my main task i did extensive research to the best locaiton that not only will set the scene but also brings the audience into the scene itself. the lighting was also thought about thoroughly, as if i learnt that the mood of a scene can in fact be influenced greatly by the levels of light, a dark scene adds a more dramatic and serious tone to a scene which is why i decided to include dark scenes into my production.

What i have learnt about technology in the creation of my production.

Throughout the creation of my production i have learnt that filming of a movie is not necesarily done with expensive flasy cameras that record straight onto a film reel or after editing is transferred over onto the film reel, but that films can also be produced in your own home with a simple digital camera.

Great advances in technology over the years have allowed us to produce and show films more easily and faster than ever before. We used a digital camera in the filming process of our production, this is a cheaper and more reliable and cost intensive way of creating films in modern society.

Also i have learnt a great deal about the programmes that are available during the editing process of a films creation. I worked closely on a programme called iMovie. I learnt that with such editing equipment, cutting out sound and replacing it with extra audio clips from different shoots as i did is remarkably easy. There is also the ability to adjust the lighting and colour of the clips even after filming has occured using editing filters.
Using this programme to the best of its abilities has allowed me to create a much more succesful and powerful scene than merely using filmed footage and has greatly improved upon my production.

Who was our target audience and how did we appeal to them?

The target audience for my production is both male and female people aged 16-45.
We chose this wide audience because through extensive research into the crime thriller genre it was hard to pinpoint a very specific age and gender range of the genre.
The genre appeals to the younger 16+ audience particularly the males because of the action and thrill the genre brings them. The older audience of around 25+ especially the females, enjoy the genre because of the psychological and realistic aspects of it.
We believe that our production has all the elements of a successful crime thriller, and we wanted to greatly appeal to all those of the genres convention.
So to appeal to this audience we needed to include a mystery in our production to entice the older audience and to include plenty of action to appeal to those of the younger generation.
Also to appeal again to the younger audience most of our cast were of their age range to bring in a sense of relatability.

How does my media product represent a particular social group?

 My production shows a representation of modern day teenagers.
In current day society teenagers are conventionally known to be unkempt and usually engage in criminal activities.
 My production represents the views of society on the teenage social group. we incorporated the inept and slightly tattered clothing which is often associated with them, we did look closely at other ideas that the teenage population are often rather proud of their appearances but through extensive research into the subject discovered that actually a larger portion of the teenage populous care very little about their appearances. so we decided to represent this portion.
 Also research into the crime rates showed that crime is most often committed by teenagers. So we decided to also depict this in our production by having the suspect be a teenage boy. Clearly showing a representation of the group.

Comparison of my production with previous productions.

Evaluation of our production in media

View more presentations from karl_d_uk.

What media institution might distribute my media product and why.

The media institution that I believe would distribute my media product would be “Revolver entertainment” They have released a series of independent films from budding producers such as “Silent Scream” by Matt Cantu and Lance Kawas, and “The Zombie Diaries” by Michael Bartlett.

They specifically try to target small independent companies and distribute their work in a hope to get them realised. For example one of the productions that they have distributed that has greatly succeeded is the film “Kidulthood” which was produced by Menhaj Huda which has then proceeded to make a larger scale sequel with more major companies.

I believe that this company is best suited for us as they not only work with small British production companies but they also work quite largely with companies who produce crime thrillers like Sherlock Holmes and Kidulthood.

As we are part of both of the above scenarios that were presented i believe that they would be more than willing to agree to distribute our production.

The Finished Production.

Location planning

We decided the location we would like to film our interrogation scene would be in a class room at our school. We chose here because it is one of the few locations we have easy reliable access to that looks like a stereotypical police interrogation room. We will have easy access as it is a room that is not often used especially not after school hours. There will be no problems in regards to filming in there as there will be plenty of room to maneuver our filming equipment.
Although the majority of our clip will be set in the interrogation room we have also considered St Georges park as a location where we can film our murder scenes as few people would go there and it fits in with the convention of killing occuring in isolated forests.

Visual depiction of scene.

We decided to draw a visual depiction of how we thought one of the scenes in our production may look

Story board.

Team roles.

Me and my partner in this production Liam Gauge have and will continue to equally divide the roles of this production. We shall both equally play the role of camera man and director of the production. we individually made our time plans. we both engaged with seperate focus groups to effectively get the broad thoughts of many people whilst being time intensive.

Actors.

In our production we will feature:
Thomas Winchester-police officer-We chose Thomas as he has had much previous acting experience as well as being a tall dominant character and would play the police officer well.
Karl Dixon-criminal-We chose myself to be the criminal as i have had previous experience with acting as well as a rugged look which is easily relatable to a criminal.
Liam Gauge-hidden killer- We chose Liam as he also has had previous acting experience and has a mysterious air around him perfect for a elusive mysterious character.
Claire Rammelkamp-Sarah Lawrence (victim 1)- Claire has proven to be an excellent actress and has played the role of a victim in previous productions and so would fit the role perfectly.

Prop list

The props we will use for our production are:
Desk.
Chairs.
Folder.
Pictures.
Handcuffs.
Costumes:
                Police officer-suit+tie to look proffesional.
                Suspect- casual and slightly worn clothing.
                Victims- dirty unkept clothing.

Equipment list.

As a small production company without much of a budget, we will have to use the resources as we get them, for example we shall not be able to afford any lighting equipment so we shall have to use natural light throughout our production.
For our production we will be using this equipment:
A camera.
A tripod.
A dolly.

Preliminary filming task.

Mind map of original Ideas.

Timeline to work by.

Focus group feedback thoughts.

After looking through our feedback that we have received, we have decided to attempt to incorporate elements of what we discovered about their views on Crime thrillers into our production.
Our first question of "What do you associate with the film genre "Crime Thriller"?" yielded great results. through examining our results of this question we've decided to include:
Flashback's to murder- We want to include this into our production as it is an effective way of drawing in the audiences attention and also sets up a deep understanding that this is a crime thriller.
Interrogations- This we also decided to include as it allows an understanding of each of the characters as well as also giving a feel of the genre.
Dramatic music- This allows to get a feel of the events very effectively.

Our second question of "What makes Crime thrillers entertaining?" was also closely examined in regards to our results. Because of this we've decided to put in the following:
Mystery- This builds an ambiance of suspense which causes the audience to be enticed to continue watching. Which also meets 2 of the desires of the group "easy to get sucked in to" and "suspense"

Our final question was likely one of the most vital of them all as they will allow us to develope on previous productions within the genre giving the audience exactly what they want from a film as it was "What do you think could improve/advance the film genre "Crime Thriller"?" so we will include:
More background on characters and victims so that the characters are easily to relate to and allows you to full understand the character and why they do what they do.
We will also include more in depth motives as to why the killer does what he does giving more of a back story to the production.

Script and stage directions.

Man 2 - Are you ready to talk?

Man 1 - I told you i didn't do it

Man 2 - How do you explain your fingerprints at every single crime scene?

Man 1 - I didn't do it!

Man 2 - Maybe you've forgotten, Why dont you let me jog your memory

Man 2 takes folder places it on table and opens it to reveal offical looking documents and pictures of three bodies and one (missing) girl.

Man 2 - Sarah Lawrence - Chocked to death
              Margret Cranson - Stabed in the chest... 17 times
              Carly Stuart - Bludgened to death

             Where's The 4th Victim?... Where's Kirsty Colden!

Focus group feedback.

After devising the genre of our film to be a crime thriller. We deduced that the target audience for our film would be men aged from 16 - 40. With this in mind we organised a focus group consisting of people who fall wtihin this category.
We asked our participants a few vital questions to aid progression of our research, taking notes on our participants responses.
What do you associate with the film genre "Crime Thriller"?

• Crime scene investigation
• Flashback's to murder
• Interrogations
• Dramatic Music
• Sirens
• Serial Killer
• Dark/Ominous

What makes Crime thrillers entertaining?

• Suspense
• Mystery
• Easy to get sucked into
• Intriguing Development
• Plot Twist and Turns

What do you think could improve/advance the film genre "Crime Thriller"?

• Increased action
• More Background on killers and victims
• Characters that are easy to relate to
• More indepth motives

What do you expect to see in the first 2minutes of a Crime Thriller?

• Bodies/Victims
• Murder
• Discovery of Body
• Itroducing 1st Victim
• Introduction of Dectective/Protagonist

Textual Analysis of the "Goodfellas" opening scene.

The opening sequence of Goodfellas presents the audience with an impression of the plot, foreshadowing the nature of the events to come. The opening sequence sees a gang brutally kill a man and introduces the central character through a voiceover and camera framing. To begin with, camera angles and movement play an important role in the displaying of events whilst complementing the setting of the tone to the movie. The first shot displayed to the audience is a tracking shot of a moving car. Typically, a tracking shot follows the action and eventually pulls backward from the action. However, this opening scene denies this convention, tracking onward past the moving vehicle.

Original concept.

The original idea for our production was going to be a WW2 interrogation film based on the breaking of the Geneva convention with the prisoners of war in the camps used to hold the P.O.W's. however this was too close to actual events which occurred and many people would take it to be a dramatised documentary that would go against the specifications needed in the course. So with careful consideration we decided to move onto a fictional Crime Thriller movie.

Genre of Film

The genre of film in which i am basing my Coursework on is Crime Thriller.
Films within this genre that I would like to examine are...
Along came a spider.
Se7en.
James bond die another day.