FINAL CUT EVERYONE!

This is the final product of our 2 minute opening 'In Another Life', its all been edited and ready to watch! 

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

                                      https://prezi.com/g6tm1wvkfl2z/as-media-studies-evaluation/

Question 6-What have you learnt about technologies from the process of construction this product?

At the start of the year our understanding of media and technology was vague, but since then we have used and experimented with a wide range to stretch our understanding. We have gained ability in areas that will help us in school and later life. Our coursework would be held on Blogger, whenever we did work or coursework preparation it would be put on here, kind of like a notebook/diary, this was the technology we used the most.We have learnt how to use Photoshop in recreating a movie poster at the start of the year, getting used to cutting and replacing images etc, which would help later on in in the project.

Most of the technology we used was in the creation of our 2 minute film opening 'In Another Life'. We used a Nikon D3200 (SLR camera) to film,it had multiple settings to get the best outcome and quality. As we are all quite familiar with photography and camera's, it was lucky we knew which was best for the filming. A Tripod was very helpful as it kept the camera straight and was sturdy, we used the internet to research and learn how to use certain software's, also what we were actually going to do for our film. Once the filming was completed we used a program called Adobe Premier Pro, this would help us edit our film opening by cutting, adding music, rendering it, change the order and actually make it into a film. We went into this software not knowing how to use it, so YouTube was a great help! Natalie did most of the editing, we learnt how to rendered the shots to make them less shaky, cut out certain bits to make them shorter as the opening had to be 2 minutes as we had about 3 minutes of footage in total, we used the black and white effect in 'Emma's' sections to show a dull and sad life in which she lives.The credits were added, this wasn't as difficult because you had to cut the shot and type what you wanted, The music that was added was called 'Story of a Girl (Absolutely)' by Nine Days we also used Premier Pro to do this, we felt this song would fit in well as it is also used in many American teen romance movies. As we know conducted from our research music is very important in a film as it tells the audience what mood to feel in a certain scene. Premier Pro overall was one of the most important technologies we used as it brought together everything which created our coursework.

To create an I-dent which would be our company logo in our opening we used another Adobe software called After Effects, this allowed us to create animation and other special effects for graphic related projects.Once again we had no knowledge on this program but luckily we had an ex- sixth former who also was a media student come and teach us the ropes, this was really helpful as it gave us opportunities to ask questions for later on if we needed to use it later. Prezi was also used to create question 2 and 7 of the evaluation, its a great way to feed information out rather than a word document or power-point. We used YouTube to import our video and then to our blog, its a helpful way to show evidence of movie clips, music and our film opening. We also used YouTube to watch tutorials to help us gain understanding on programs we had never used before. Technology has been a big part of the process on the construction of this product and learning how to use them is very important, we have learnt alot which will be able to help us later on in work or the rest of sixth form.

Question 4- Who would be the audience for your media product? Question 5-How did you attract/address your audience?

We merged question 4 and 5 together because they were pretty similar and felt that we could answer them together. To complete this question we did a PowerPoint with main points and a script elaborating on our answers. We had a few problems so only myself and Natalie spoke during this question.

This is the PowerPoint which was shown on the screen, since you cant really see it in the video, we screenshot each slide.

Question 3- What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?

This is the script for our radio show, for question 3.

We has a script in order to conduct our radio interview, we used a friend who is also at Wymondham high Sixth Form to be our interviewer, she has a clear voice which would work well with the media we were answering this question in, a radio show. All 3 of us took part in answering the question, by which Natalie edited the song in at the end which is in our 2 minute opening, so it faded in and out. 

This is the YouTube upload:

Question 2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

This is our BBC News script and video for our evaluation for question 2.

 

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

                                               https://prezi.com/oubq1cgqyshg/presentation/

Preliminary Task

This is our Preliminary task:
"Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom he/she exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.
I worked in a group with Phil, Matt and Kayla to complete this. We decided on the idea of a strange man purchasing a keyboard in a music shop. 
This was our first real opportunity to use the cameras to film and then the editing software in post-production, we had very limited knowledge on film at this point.

Below is the finished product..

Feedback-Coursework prep

I posted our opening on Facebook to receive feedback from our target audience, its all positive which is great, it particularly focuses on the contrasting lives of Emma and Oscar which is what we wanted! Overall we are all pleased with the outcome of it after alot of hard work has be put into the process of making our 2 minute film opening 'In Another Life'.

Films that have black and white scenes- Coursework prep

We decided to edit Emma's parts of the opening on black and white, this was to expand on the contrast of the boy and girl. i found it quite difficult to find a film what has a black and white scene in it while all the rest of the film is in colour. In James Bond Casino Royale the opening few minutes is a black and white fighting scene, this was a great example as it was at the start of the film, which is what we have to create, here is the video.

Rough Cut!!!- Coursework prep

This is a rough cut of our final 2 minute opening, we still need to add the music in, and for Emma s parts we decided on changing it to black and white to show the dullness and problems she has in her life, this is also a great way to contrast the 2 characters. The start of the 2 houses will fade in and out, we may also take away some shots to make it shorter.

Location changes- Coursework Prep

As part of our film opening at the start we panned up and down onto both of the houses, we used a random house in Wymondham as the exterior of Emma's house, this was because Laura's house was too nice and pleasant to film the outside of a poor persons house. For the up stairs of it we used Natalie's spare room because it was quite bare, to film the downstairs of Emma's house we used Laura's kitchen which originally was where it was going to be filmed this fitted in well with our idea of a run-down kitchen.

This was the original location (top), the exterior wasn't what we wanted so chose a different house in Wymondham we got permission from the owner (bottom).

For Oscars house, all of the interior filming was done inside our initial location (my house), but for the outside shot of the house we needed to use a different location (Natalie's house) because we didn't shoot the outside of our original location.

This was the original location (left) we filmed the inside shots in here but the exterior was done at Natalie's house (right).

Change in Music- Coursework prep

We changed our song to ' Absolutely (Story of a Girl)' by Nine Days because we felt it fitted in better with the introduction and sounded better. This song has been used in numerous American Teen Films such as 'American Pie', we felt this worked well with our audience, as its aimed at Teenagers.
This is the YouTube video for the song its from their 2000 album 'The Madding Crowd'.

  Nine Days are an America rock band from Long    Island, New York. Its was formed in 1994 by John  Hampson and Brian Desveaux, and released three  independent albums in the 1990s before their  mainstream debut album, The Madding Crowd,  released in 2000. The band scored a hit in the United  States from the Madding Crowd, with the single  "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)", which reached  number one.




LYRICS

This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looked so sad in photographs
I absolutely love her
When she smiles

Now how many days in a year
She woke up with hope
But she only found tears
And I can be so insincere
Making her promises never for real
As long as she stands there waiting
Wearing the holes in the soles of her shoes
Now how many days disappear
When you look in the mirror
So how do you choose

Your clothes never wear as well the next day
And your hair never falls in quite the same way
You never seem to run out of things to say

[Chorus:]
This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looked so sad in photographs
I absolutely love her
When she smiles

Now how many lovers would stay
Just to put up with this shit day after day
Now how did we wind up this way
Watching our mouths for the words that we say
As long as we stand here waiting
Wearing the clothes or the soles that we choose
Now how do we get there today
When we're walking too far for the price of our shoes

Your clothes never wear as well the next day
And your hair never falls in quite the same way
But you never seem to run out of things to say

[Chorus:]
This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looks so sad and lonely there
I absolutely love her
When she smiles

[Guitar solo]

Well your clothes never wear as well the next day
And your hair never falls in quite the same way
You never seem to run out of things to say

[Chorus:]
This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world        
And while she looks so sad in photographs
I absolutely love her

This is the story of a girl
Whose pretty face she hid from the world
And while she looks so sad and lonely there
I absolutely love her

This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looked so sad in photographs
I absolutely love her
When she smiles
When she smiles!

Songs in Teen Romance Openings- Coursework Prep

These are all opening scenes from American teen movies, all the songs are quite upbeat which is what we want in our opening. 


The Breakfast Club opening (1985)- Don't You (Forget About Me)//Simple Minds










Easy A opening scene (2010)- Change of Seasons// Sweet Thing

Clueless opening scene (1995)- Kids in America//Kim Wilde

Music Research-Coursework Prep

We had an idea to change the music of our opening it originally was going to be 'The Rubens//Never Be The Same' but felt this didn't really fit in with opening of both characters getting ready for school. So had the idea of changing it to a song by 'Nine Days// Story of a Girl (Absolutely)' this kind of music was more upbeat and worked better with the opening.
We got some feedback from people of all ages mainly from our target audience but felt we could get a response from a wider audience.

Charlotte Day (aged 17)- "the second song (Nine Days) definitely works better with the story opening, its more teenage rather than depressing in the start you want people to be exited about watching a film and the opening is very important to catch the attention".

Tim Baker (aged 24)- "I prefer the song 'Story of a Girl' it fits alot more into the opening, its upbeat and gets you wanting to watch it. The Rubens song would fit alot better further on in the movie when something bad happens to the boy and girl"

Louise Gately (aged 17)-"I think the song by 'The Rubens' sounds better with the genre, the other song is a bit typical American movie and think you should do something different moving away from the traditional music".

Mandy Read (aged 43)- " I think the second song works thousands times better in a teen romance film opening, if you watch teen rom-coms then the openings have upbeat music.
                                                                                                                                                                   

We decided to change the music after suggestions from our audience and what we thought would work best with the opening, the music will now be 'Nine Days// Story of a Girl (Absolutely)'. 

Evaluation Plan- Coursework prep

For our evaluation we need to answer 7 questions in different formats, is key to get the best grade by exploring a variety of technologies to show range and detail.

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

-How does your media product represent a particular social group?
BBC INTERVIEW

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

-Who would be the audience for your media product?

-How did you attract/address your audience?
(4 and 5 are to be done TOGETHER)
POWERPOINT AND SCRIPT

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

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

Editing- Coursework prep

This is our screenshot of our editing on Adobe Premier Pro, changes needed to be made including adding our I-dent into it and the name of the 'movie', which is 'In Another Life'.

Media Trip

 On the February the 10th we went to London and visited the Warner Bros for a Harry Potter tour. It shows how the films are made using special technology and props. I found it very interesting as i'm a Harry Potter fan. We got to see how they make the broomsticks fly and use the wands, all the props and costumes which are obviously very important because each holds a value. We also had an A-level media day at the British Film Institute and learnt information to help us in our exam. We visited the BBC Studios which was interesting, we visited the theatre, One show studio, the news lounge and saw all the reporters at work. We also spotted Stephan Fry and Fiona Bruce.

This is our group of year 12 students along the Southbank before the BFI day.

Some photos of my day at the Studios!

Our BBC Trip

FINISHED FILMING!

On the 8th February we filmed the second half to our opening at Laura's house. We are pleased with how all aspects of the filming went and soon will edit and cut parts to produce a final product. The props and costumes were appropriate for Emma's circumstances.
We took photos while we were filming of the angles/shots and location.

This is the opening shot of Emma getting ready for school. We used a close up for when she wakes up, after her mother shouts her to get up, the sudden open of her eyes through shock and surprise.

STARTED FILMING!!

We filmed Oscars part of the opening on Sunday 1st February, the weather was changing frequently so the outside filming of the shot of the house and then panning to the sky is not yet completed. We were very happy with the shooting, it shows the life Oscar lives portrayed by his uniform, the house and kitchen.
Here are some shots of the filming day!    
 This is the shot of the table where Toby sat to eat his breakfast as 'Oscar' .

A shot of after filming, a nice cup of tea!

   

Laura and myself setting up the kitchen for the shots of breakfast.

These are shots of Oscars room, where most of the filming was completed, it shows the wealth of his lifestyle by the furniture, colours and surroundings.  

Music used in Films- Coursework Prep

Why is sound/music used in movies?
Music is used in films to create a mood and to tell the audience the theme of that certain scene, for example in a horror movie, when a tense moment is approaching the sounds increases, gets higher pitched or a heavy beat, to tell the audience what feeling they should be experiencing. Sometimes music overpowers the acting if it is poor, without sounds the audience would be lost with emotion and not know how to feel. In the 2007 horror Paranormal Activity, audiences reported toweringly high fear levels despite a lack of action onscreen. It is believed this was caused by the low frequency sounds waves.
Music from films can be very recognizable, creating stigma about that film. Just few notes can make the audience instantly know what movie or scene it is from.
Jaws- just the 2 notes played and anyone knows in a flash what its from. the sound strikes terror as the audience know what is going to happen.
Indiana Jones- The theme song of courageousness and fast beat sound, to make you watch Jones complete his task.
Ghostbusters- the cheeky, jokey theme song with limited words makes the audience know the movie its from.
Titanic- one of the greatest love stories of all time, which the music plays a huge part in, the iconic Celine Dion song brings a tear to the eyes of the audience. The music transports you to the grandness of the ship and to the grittiness of the basement dwellers. It welcomes you aboard The Titanic.

Music for our film opening- Coursework prep

For our film opening, we were doing some background research on how teenagers are portrayed in television series and their acting skills, in order to give our actors some advice. While watching a series called 'Home and Away' (Channel 5), we came across and song which was playing in the background of one episode which would be ideal for our film opening. It is called 'Never Be The Same // The Rubens'. This is because the song gives the feel that (in terms of our film opening sequence) that both Emma and Oscar feel alone. For example, Oscar is starting at a new school and Emma has bad experiences which shows her what she has and appreciates what she's got - hence the lyrics fit.


Lyrics
I found myself that day
There was no other way
I'd spent some time away
I'd never be the same

I finally was awake
Like water to my face
I'd finally found my place
I'd never be the same
I'd never be the same

It took something bad, to show me what I had
It took something sad, to remember who I am
I was forced to change
I'm not sure who to thank
Yeah I was such a waste

I'd never be the same
I'd never be the same
It took something bad, to show me what I had
It took something sad, to remember who I am

I found myself that day
There was no other way
I'd spent some time away
I'd never be the same


In order to use this song, we had to contact the band themselves, so we looked at their website (http://therubensmusic.com) could only find them on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. The only social networking site in which we would contact them directly was their Facebook page, in which we messaged them.

This is the official music video to 'Never been the Same'.