In What Ways Does Your
Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms and Conventions Of Real Media
Products?
The
genre of the title sequence we have is created is a Rom-com. Following the
stereo-typical conventions of the Rom-com genre our two main characters are
male and female. The male character is presented as being very unlucky and
geeky in contrast to the female character that is portrayed as being well
groomed and sophisticated. The location of our title sequence is centred in the
city, this again following one of the conventions of a typical Rom-com. The
title sequence starts off with the male character (Aaron) making his daily
commute to work whilst listening to his iPod, this is where the soundtrack
begins, which is very upbeat and has a light-hearted feel to it, relating back
to the Rom-com genre. In this section of the sequence we have used a variety of
jump cuts at the beginning, in order to increase the pace, making the title
sequence relate more to its set genre. There is elements of comedy through out
our title sequence which is also another convention.
One
title sequence which influenced the idea of our title sequence was “Juno” the
element within this title sequence that we was influenced by was the how the
“normal shots” of the main character walking down the street was then edited to
become “cartoonized” which I felt added a sense of comedy and light-heartedness
to the piece. When editing our title sequence we incorporated this idea in to
it, however not in the same way, instead of using a cartoon effect, when the
female character (Hayley) is walking the screen splits into three and over the
top we have layered these shots with bright tint’s creating a “pop” effect,
which we feel relates back to the style of a Rom-com.
When
researching into Mise-en-Scene of Rom-com’s I found that the lighting is
normally very bright or is filmed on a sunny day, in addition the colour pallet
used normally involves a variety of bright, bold and eye-catching colours.
However in our final piece we have decided to go against these conventions in certain areas, for example in scenes where the male's character is present we have used Magic bullet pro, in order to create a black and white effect over these particular sections in the sequence, however when the female character is present we have kept these bright and colourful using tinted overlays, to create the idea to our audience that her character brings light and happiness to his dull and boring/ordinary life.
When
researching into the codes and conventions of a Rom-com and abiding by them in
our title sequence, there are however some conventions that we purposely
subverted, one example of this is that I found that one of the conventions of a
Rom-com was that the title sequence, usually begins from the female characters
perspective, however in our title sequence we have challenged this convention by
starting it from the male characters perspective, by doing this I felt that it
would allow the audience to feel more empathetic towards his character
therefore engaging them more.
The
narrative of our title sequence follows the conventions of the Rom-com genre it
is a love story between a male and female and how their unrequited love
conquers all too finally bring them together. The plot of the film is the two
main characters making their way to work in the city, they have not yet met. In
the title sequence split screens are used to show the contrast between the two
characters however jump cuts are also used to show the similarities between
them for example the walking scenes. The two travel to work together daily on
the same train, however have never acknowledged one another, until on this
particular day they do. From this they arrange to meet up for a date, however
complications arise when the male character gets hit by a moving vehicle whilst
on his way to meet his love interest, resulting in him being induced in a comma
and loosing his memory leaving him with no recollection of his date. Eventually
one day his memory returns and in one last attempt to re-find his soul mate he
returns one morning to the train they used to get to work in hope that she is
on it. To his luck she is and he explains to her what happened to him and why
he never made their date, she understands and is sympathetic yet unfortunately
she is engaged, however she has not moved on, therefore the two begin an
affair.
The
typography we used is very “quirky” I feel this adds to the genre of the film,
giving it a light hearted atmosphere also going well with the soundtrack.
Researching into the typography presented to me the
importance of getting the correct font in order to exemplify the genre of the title sequence.
importance of getting the correct font in order to exemplify the genre of the title sequence.
Camera
shots used was close-up’s in order to present the characters facial expressions
and emotions, this is a stereo-typical convention of a Rom-com along with pan
left shots to show the movement of the characters in addition with wide
establishing shots to present the location, using iconic landmarks.
How Does Your Media
Product Present Particular Social Groups?
My
media product represents particular social groups using a variety of
techniques. One of the representations of a social group my media piece
represent in particular is women. My title sequence presents the stereo-typical
portrayal of a woman, that they are an object there to be looked at. This
relates to Laura Mulvey’s theory of the ‘Male Gaze’ as in my title sequence the female character
is presented as being the “end prize” that the male character is after, this is
presented through the camera shots used which in some scenes only focus on her
legs as she is walking, emphasising the idea that she is there to be looked at.
However my final piece also goes against this theory also as the female
character is presented as being successful and independent, this is presented
by the wide establishing shot, which shows her character walking alone in a big
city, therefore I think this asserts her independence. Furthermore the iconography also presents this
as the clothes she is wearing is very formal creating to the audience the
illusions that she is successful in her career.
Another
social group that is represented in my final piece is men, I think my title
sequence challenges the stereo-typical ideology of men that they are
protective, strong, brave and serious. As the male character in my title
sequence is presented as being weak, clumsy and unlucky. However the illusion
that his character is also successfully career wise is created by his costume
as he is dressed smartly in a grey suit. In addition to this the props also add
to this as his character is holding a laptop bag and also a big umbrella, which
stereo-typically is associated with businessmen, who work for large firms in
the city. The use of the camera shots also only focusing on the male characters
legs, I think create a sense of equalism between men and women as it also
presents the male character as being a object to be looked at.
What kind of media
institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think that the media institution that would release our media product
would be one of the big conglomerates such as Universal pictures. Research into
previous films that they have distributed fits in with the genre of our title
sequence. I think the finance for our film to be produced would use vertical
integration meaning all the finance would be provided by universal studios
itself. From my research into the production of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ I found
that their production budget was $185 million in contrast to this ‘A Field in
England’ had a production budget of £300,000 therefore because my film Delayed
is not a big as the Batman but on the other hand bigger than ‘A Field In
England’ also reaching a more diverse wider audience as my film is more
mainstream, I have estimated a production budget of around £20 million this is
mostly due to the location being set in a open area, Central London.
Who would be the audience
for your media product?
The
audience for my media product would be aimed typically at women of all races
and ethnicities. Moreover in the age range of 25-30 as research shows that this
age category of woman are most likely to go to the cinema to view the film due
to their relationship status, also taking their partners along. More
importantly as they are more likely to have a good stable income, therefore
they are willing to pay for the viewing of the film.
However
my film is also targeted at another age range, teenagers as statistics show
that in the age category of 12-17 most teenagers spend a percentage of their
time at the cinema due to the limited variety of things and places they can go,
as they are not old enough to attend clubs and pubs etc. Furthermore my film
will also attract a wide target audience, as it has become a common stereotype for
people to attend the cinema on first dates, ‘Delayed’ in particular would
appeal to this as it is a Rom-com therefore is a light-hearted comedy film that
both can enjoy.
How did you attract/address
your audience?
When planning my title sequence in order for it to appeal to my target
audience I wanted them to be able to relate to it. This is why I decided the
best location for the title sequence would be in London as many women in the
age category 25-30 are likely to work in the city. Furthermore all women can
relate to previously having a love interest that included complications. When questionnaires were distributed out to
some woman within this category of age, the feedback we received was positive,
the woman particularly commenting on the empathy they felt for the male
character, furthermore that they also liked the plot and would pay to go watch
this in the cinemas. I think my final media piece could be improved by
including more everyday complications that may arise to people on their daily
commute to work in order for my audience to be able to relate more. However I do
think that the element of light-hearted comedy and schadenfreude in my title
sequence acts as escapism for my target audience.
In addition to this in order to attract my target audience through the
different media platforms, due to my research into the marketing campaign of
‘The Dark Knight Rises’ I found they released a number of different social
media interactive sites and apps for their audience.
One of their interactive campaigns was on the official ‘The Dark Knight
Rises’ website that was set up, where on the website a page was set up where
the public could turn themselves into the ‘Bane’ or ‘Batman’ using their
webcams, digitally placing a mask over their faces and capturing it on screen.
Another interactive aspect they created was using stencils and placing them on
walls all across cities etc. the aim of this was to get the public to tweet in
photos they had taken of these stencils, by hash tagging them, each time a
stencil was found and tweeted in, a pixel of the character from the film ‘Bane’
was uncovered, this continued until the full picture was revealed. In other
countries such as China, special buses where released purposely for the ‘Dark
Knight Rises’ these were black and has images of the film poster over them. Figurines
of the characters were also released for public sale, this covered a variety of
different ages groups, mostly being young children but also a adult audience
who are fans of the film and Batman brand.
Therefore in order to attract my target audience there are a number of different
interactive ways in which I could attract my audience, such as personalizing
buses in order to promote my film. Also a website could be created promoting
the film, including a gallery of images taken from the production of the film
and also taster clips, giving an insight into what happens in the film. The budgeting campaign for the ‘The Dark
Knight Rises’ was around $50million therefore because our film is not of as
high a status as the Batman series I estimate a budget of around $15 million to
be spent on the marketing of ‘Delayed’.
What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of constructing this product?
From creating this media product I have learned how to use editing
programs such as final cut pro and the tools within that, moreover I have also
learned how to use Magic Bullet pro, in order to change the colour balance and
effects of the shot taken.
I have become familiar with using the DSLR cameras in order to shoot the
title sequence, using the tripod in order to capture smooth camera shots and
also using the stedi-cam in order to track the characters as they walk capturing
the shots making sure they are smooth and do not jolt. From using these i have also learnt how to focus in and out of frames and shots, furthermore how to focus pull.
I have also learnt how to convert mp4 clips into DV files using MPEG stream clip, in order to import the files we filmed into Final Cut pro and edit them.
When creating the fonts for our title sequence i have also become familiar with "Da Font" which allows me to download into photoshop a particular style of writing and edit this, in order to input into our final title sequence. I have also used a website called "FX sound effects" in order to add in sound that adds to our title sequence.
Further more another technology I have become familiar with is Web 1.0 and also Web 2.0, web 2.0 is the interactive side of the internet, it creates platforms for discussion on new media technologies and also upcoming films that are to be released, this alone plays a huge role of marketing campaigns for future releases. In the future Web 3.0 is to be released this will allow video on demand to allow viewers to stream and download things online, without the buffering. Web 3.0 Is also known as the semantic web this will give the public a higher quality of information and also the answer they are looking for straight away on search engines such as google.
Web 2.0 would be a good technological tool to use in the marketing and distribution stage of my title sequence as it would allow the audience to interact with the social marketing campaign involving them more in the release of the film 'Delayed' therefore connecting to a mass mainstream audience.
I have also learnt how to convert mp4 clips into DV files using MPEG stream clip, in order to import the files we filmed into Final Cut pro and edit them.
When creating the fonts for our title sequence i have also become familiar with "Da Font" which allows me to download into photoshop a particular style of writing and edit this, in order to input into our final title sequence. I have also used a website called "FX sound effects" in order to add in sound that adds to our title sequence.
Further more another technology I have become familiar with is Web 1.0 and also Web 2.0, web 2.0 is the interactive side of the internet, it creates platforms for discussion on new media technologies and also upcoming films that are to be released, this alone plays a huge role of marketing campaigns for future releases. In the future Web 3.0 is to be released this will allow video on demand to allow viewers to stream and download things online, without the buffering. Web 3.0 Is also known as the semantic web this will give the public a higher quality of information and also the answer they are looking for straight away on search engines such as google.
Web 2.0 would be a good technological tool to use in the marketing and distribution stage of my title sequence as it would allow the audience to interact with the social marketing campaign involving them more in the release of the film 'Delayed' therefore connecting to a mass mainstream audience.
Looking back at your
preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it
to the full product?
Looking back at my preliminary the task which was the continuity editing
sequence, I think my skills using final cut pro have developed. I know
understand the importance of getting different camera angles for shots in order
to portray a certain image to your audience, furthermore I never fully realized
how much time the editing process took and how much time would be involved in
editing cutting down shots, researching into music and other title sequences of
the genre Rom-com and furthermore the planning and organisation needed in order
to arrange to meet up to go film the shots and if needed the reshoots.
