Monday, 10 May 2010
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
The reason we feel that a directors commentary would be useful to our blog is due to its efficiency in giving an insight to the work which has gone into a piece of film. Through a director’s commentary we managed to explain what we did but more importantly why we decided to do it. Using the technical codes which are key in producing a quality piece of work so having a director’s commentary is very useful in explaining what is behind our ideas.
Who would be the audience for your media project?
We have decided that our target audience will be between 15 to 29 year olds, with a slight lean toward a female viewer because the protagonist is a female and also because our film opening is based on the emotions of the protagonist throughout as they wake up confused and dazed then get upset as she starts to realise what happened when the flashbacks start. In order to establish the best plot for our film we devised a questionnaire which we gave to a sample of our target audience . The target audience will have to enjoy thriller/social realism films and be able to handle watching events such as rape occur. In addition, if they enjoy movies based on real life events and movies such as: Kidulthood/Adulthood and TV dramas: Shameless/Skins then they should take interest in our movie as our film opening resembles them in many aspects. This gave us an understanding of what they would expect when watching a social realism film. Even though our media product is aimed more at females we are also aiming our product at men as the genre Thriller is particularly popular with men. We tried to target females more as men tend to enjoy thrillers and we wanted to gain a broader audience by attracting the female viewer.
Friday, 7 May 2010
Costumes/Props
The costumes in our film opening was 'party wear' as the protagonist goes to a party before the event takes place. This is effective as it resembles what most people would wear to a party therefore, keeping the film opening authentic. The key prop is the mud as it provides the audience with evidence that something took place that night and also helps the audience distinguish between flashbacks and 'the morning after'.
Setting/Location
Our location is set in Heaton park. There was a lot of empty space and trees to ensure we got the shots we needed without being interupted by people walking past on into our shots. The location provides a sence of vunerablilty as the protagonist is dominated by her surrondings reinforcing the idea that she is alone which invites the audience to feel the emotions of the protagonist as she is lonely, sad, confused and dazed. The main reason why we chose to film in an empty park is because people recognise being alone in the park in the early hours as dangerous.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our film opening could relate to many TV Drama’s and social realism films such as; Skins (E4 TV series), Kidulthood and Adulthood (social realism films) and Shameless (Channel 4 TV series).
Firstly, Skins relates to our film opening as both are social realisms, Skins focuses on a group of British teens that try to grow up and learn about love and life with little adult supervision (And lots of Partying). This relates to our media product as in the plot the protagonist is a young British teen and one of the main flashbacks is the party. We feel that our film opening really reveals the dangers of what could happen if your not careful with whom you mingle with. Most of skins storylines subtly suggest the dangers of drinking carelessly as someone would end up pregnant after a drunken night etc.
Secondly, Kidulthood and Adulthood are both social realism films as they don’t cover up what the real world is like for most people, with the dangers they may face and the troubles they may encounter. Kidulthood is rated 15 as is our film opening and the plot is basically ‘A day in the life of a group of troubled 15-year-olds growing up in west London.’ This is similar to our film opening as the 15 year olds in kidulthood have problems just like adults and we watch them deal with and overcome the problems in the movie. In our film opening we show that teenagers do have big problems just like adults as the protagonist in our media product has a problem on her hands – trying to figure out what happened the night before and how she ended up in an empty park bench.
Shameless is the story of a young group of siblings pretty much abandoned by their parents, surviving by their wits - and humor - on a rough Manchester council estate. It is also a social realism as it relates to the troubles people may face on a day-to-day basis and how they overcome them. The troubles are always related to real life as the storylines in the TV series could actually happen in the real world. This resembles our film opening as the plot could actually happen in real life and it is based in Manchester as our media product was.
Our media product is different to Shameless and Skins as they have a comedy twist on the social realism theme and they do this by using witty remarks and amusing storylines. Our media product would be more like Kidulthood and Adulthood as they are films and Shameless and Skins are a TV series.
However, Kidulthood and Adulthood are male centred films as the male is the protagonist and main character throughout yet in our film opening the female is the protagonist and the movie is female based as it is based on her reaction to that night and emotions, hopefully this will shift our audience from just male dominated to a more diverse and broader audience as it may interest females as the lead role is taken up by a woman. Our film opening fits in well with the thriller genre in which we were trying to represent as we used pans and POV shots to emphasis the suspense and panic in which the protagonist would feel in that situation. We also filmed in an empty park and we never revealed the identity of the antagonist to reinforce the mysterious atmosphere we wanted to create. Also, what is out of the ordinary with our film opening is that we tell the story via the use of flashbacks at the start this will launch the audience into the protagonists shoes at the beginning. Our media product is more original as it displays a different perspective of teenage life and the problems we may face as it is a social realism and although awful rape does occur in the real world.
Firstly, Skins relates to our film opening as both are social realisms, Skins focuses on a group of British teens that try to grow up and learn about love and life with little adult supervision (And lots of Partying). This relates to our media product as in the plot the protagonist is a young British teen and one of the main flashbacks is the party. We feel that our film opening really reveals the dangers of what could happen if your not careful with whom you mingle with. Most of skins storylines subtly suggest the dangers of drinking carelessly as someone would end up pregnant after a drunken night etc.
Secondly, Kidulthood and Adulthood are both social realism films as they don’t cover up what the real world is like for most people, with the dangers they may face and the troubles they may encounter. Kidulthood is rated 15 as is our film opening and the plot is basically ‘A day in the life of a group of troubled 15-year-olds growing up in west London.’ This is similar to our film opening as the 15 year olds in kidulthood have problems just like adults and we watch them deal with and overcome the problems in the movie. In our film opening we show that teenagers do have big problems just like adults as the protagonist in our media product has a problem on her hands – trying to figure out what happened the night before and how she ended up in an empty park bench.
Shameless is the story of a young group of siblings pretty much abandoned by their parents, surviving by their wits - and humor - on a rough Manchester council estate. It is also a social realism as it relates to the troubles people may face on a day-to-day basis and how they overcome them. The troubles are always related to real life as the storylines in the TV series could actually happen in the real world. This resembles our film opening as the plot could actually happen in real life and it is based in Manchester as our media product was.
Our media product is different to Shameless and Skins as they have a comedy twist on the social realism theme and they do this by using witty remarks and amusing storylines. Our media product would be more like Kidulthood and Adulthood as they are films and Shameless and Skins are a TV series.
However, Kidulthood and Adulthood are male centred films as the male is the protagonist and main character throughout yet in our film opening the female is the protagonist and the movie is female based as it is based on her reaction to that night and emotions, hopefully this will shift our audience from just male dominated to a more diverse and broader audience as it may interest females as the lead role is taken up by a woman. Our film opening fits in well with the thriller genre in which we were trying to represent as we used pans and POV shots to emphasis the suspense and panic in which the protagonist would feel in that situation. We also filmed in an empty park and we never revealed the identity of the antagonist to reinforce the mysterious atmosphere we wanted to create. Also, what is out of the ordinary with our film opening is that we tell the story via the use of flashbacks at the start this will launch the audience into the protagonists shoes at the beginning. Our media product is more original as it displays a different perspective of teenage life and the problems we may face as it is a social realism and although awful rape does occur in the real world.
Rating.
The rating for our film would be 15 as the BBFC permits the following within the bounds of the 15 certificate:
Theme: No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate to 15 year olds.
Language: There may be frequent use of strong language; the strongest terms are only rarely acceptable. Continued aggressive use of strong language and sexual abuse is unacceptable.
Nudity: There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
Sex: Sexual activity and nudity may be portrayed but without strong detail. The depiction of casual sex should be handled responsibly. There may be occasional strong verbal references to sexual behaviour.
Violence: Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain, and of injuries. Scenes of sexual violence must be discreet and brief.
Imitable techniques: Dangerous combat techniques such as ear claps, head-butts and blows to the neck are unlikely to be acceptable. There may be no emphasis on the use of easily accessible lethal weapons (in particular, knives).
Horror: Sustained or detailed infliction of pain or injury is unacceptable.
Drugs: Drug taking may be shown but clear instructive detail is unacceptable. The film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug use. And in our media product we subtly hint that a date-rape drug is used (at the drinking scene) and also that the protagonist has been raped the night previous.
In our film the protagonist is seen as vunerable and scared as she wakes up upset and confused about what happened the night before and how she ended up in an empty park in the early hours of the morning. Also in the film as the protagonist is displayed as a victim throughout the film opening we think that the rating of our film should be 15. As we believe that the date-rape drugs and the rape being implied in the film opening isn’t suitable for under 15 year olds. Also, to legally be able to drink you have to be 18 years old and their is drinking in our film opening hence why our rating is not 12. In addition our film opening involves binge drinking and deals with immoral events that take place.
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