Blackout

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.

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.

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.

What kind of media institution would distribute your media product and why?

Our media product is based on the genre of a ‘thriller’ and social realism targeting a young audience. Therefore in our opinion the company that may distribute this film would be one that may be privately owned, on the other hand having the genre be a ‘thriller’ the production company may be a well-known one. The plot of the story is based on a teenage girl who wakes up baffled about what happened the night before and having a female teenager acting in this film opening; it would represent the dangers teenagers may face on nights out in the real world.

This trailer has the teenage girl be the subject of rape and in films similar to ours, such as ‘Fish tank’, the company that had distributed it was ‘BBC Films’ and so perhaps this company may be interested in distributing our finished media product as the genre of this film may be seen as social realism. Our trailer shows a more subtle approach to a young girl being raped, as you do not actually see the event take place but you may assume that rape has occurred due to the mise-en-scene used. In addition, in ‘Fish Tank’ the victim is of a younger teenage age like the protagonist in our trailer. She also is a victim as she gets hit and in our trailer the protagonist is victimised and is vulnerable. The two films show major similarities in the sense that you don’t actually know what has happened to the victim, if she has indeed been raped or not.

All in all we think ‘BBC Films’ would potentially be interested in distributing our film opening as it is within the same genre as ‘Fish tank’. As both media products are social realisms, about teenage life and the troubles teenagers may face. Also, ‘BBC Films’ distributed another social realism named ‘Shifty’ this resembled our trailer as both are social realism and the troubles people may face in real life settings. Another company that may be interested in this production may perhaps be Channel Four Films, as they have distributed low budget British films within the U.K such as ‘Bhaji on the beach’. This was mainly based on women and the challenges they face in life.

How did you attract/address your audience?

The audience for our trailer would be 15-29 year olds with a slight lean towards females. And as it social realism it would be really anyone interested in the action that may occur during the finished product. Also it has a thriller element due to the sound, camerawork, mise-en-scene and the editing techniques we used in our filming opening which therefore engage the audience.

The uncopyrighted music we chose was called ‘Beautiful tension’. We chose this music because it suited the atmosphere we were trying to create in our trailer which was tension, suspense and a general ‘thriller’ theme. The music provided us with a slow beat that gradually got faster and faster as the trailer went on. This suited our trailer as the beat peaked at the same time as the action in our trailer did (pouring of drinks) which would entice the audience into questioning what is going to happen and keeping their attention on our trailer as the music produced the mysterious and sinister mood was aiming for in our trailer. We liked this music as it was eerie and would grasp the audience we were trying to reach as it sounded much like the music used in other movies that were like ours in genre.

The camerawork we used to attract our audience consisted of numerous shots. Mainly close-ups of the protagonist’s facial expressions were used as they emphasised the emotions of the protagonist to show that she is dazed, confused and afraid as she wakes up in an empty park on a bench in the early hours. This would give the audience an insight into how the character feels and tug on their heart strings, leading to the trailer keeping the audiences attention in tact and also reaching out to the female audience that aren’t normally fans of thrillers as they usually dominate the rom-com market as our trailer is based on the protagonist’s emotions throughout the trailer. We also used a POV shots to put the audience in the protagonists shoes and see the surroundings that the protagonist sees (empty fields, forest floor) and we would eyeline match these shots when editing.

We focused a lot on the mise-en-scene; as our trailer was social realism we wouldn’t rely on a lot of special effects etc. (As we wanted to keep the trailer as ‘real life’ as possible). We filmed most of our trailer in an empty field to reinforce the sense of loneliness and tension therefore ensuring that the audience believes the trailer is authentic (as a rape in real life wouldn’t happen in a packed out park). At the beginning of our trailer there are shots of the protagonist covered in mud lay on a park bench. The mud was a key prop as the audience will be wondering why she is muddy and will want to find out why and as a result this will keep the audiences attention as they have to wait till the end of the trailer (when the protagonist falls in the mud as she flees from the trees) to find out why she was muddy. It was also a good technique as you could tell which shots were flashbacks in the trailer as she wouldn’t be muddy and wet in the flashbacks as that were before the protagonist fell in the mud.

The editing techniques we used would make sure the audience’s interest remained on the trailer as slow-motion used in key parts of the trailer emphasised the significance of the drama in the trailer (falling in the mud). We also used fades to black as that is what horror/thrillers generally use on their trailers meaning that the audience could watch our trailer and automatically know it resembles that genre (thriller) but with a social realism twist. We also used Gaussian blur’s and altered the contrast on the video to show the difference between which shots were flashbacks and which were ‘the morning after’ The Gaussian blur worked well as it resembled how the protagonist couldn’t remember the details of the what happened the previous night as her thoughts are blurry and she slowly gets flashbacks as she recognises key places within the park (e.g. forest). The dramatic title at the end answers all the questions on the audience’s minds as it sum-ups why the protagonist is confused, and wandering round looking lost and vague. The title of the trailer is ‘Blackout’ and this will stop the audience probing at what could have happened and why she ended up there as the protagonist ‘blacked out’ hence the title and they would have to watch the full movie to uncover what happened that night.

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

In the preliminary task we learnt a lot of skills which we applied to our main task (film opening). In our preliminary task we realised a few shots had objects in the background as we did not notice them until we started editing (in the classroom there were bags on the tables). This helped us with our main task as tried to make sure there was nothing in each shot before filming them, leading to us having more useable footage when editing in the main task. We also learnt how to follow the 18O degree rule as we found in the preliminary task if we crossed the 18O degree rule it could confuse the audience watching it (during the dialogue). This crossing of the 18O degree rule helped us a lot with the main task as there were a lot of walking shots which could have went wrong if we hadn’t made the mistake during the preliminary task. If we had made the 18O degree rule wrongly in the main task the viewers would be confused as the protagonist would have been walking in all different directions and the plot would not have made sense (when she walks over the hill).

In editing we learnt new skills from the preliminary task such as inserting titles, matching shots, and keeping the continuity of the film seamless. We also learnt how to fade in and fade out (both cross-fade and dip to black) and also how to fade titles in and out which helped with the continuity of the main task. The match shots in our preliminary were not great as a result we made it key that all our shots would be matching by filming everything outside in one day to keep the same weather conditions, same clothing, same lighting etc. All of which helped with the matching of our shots whilst editing in the main task. The preliminary also helped us improve the main task by teaching us how to edit with the sound as in the preliminary during the dialogue there was a shot we wanted to use but not the audio of that shot as we wanted to use the audio of another shot. Therefore, in the main task as we added diagetic and non-diagetic throughout the film opening, we have diagetic sound in the bushes and as the protagonist falls over. This was to promote realism and keeps it authentic.

We also learnt how to log and capture the video we recorded during the preliminary task so we could cut out the parts that weren’t needed or that we re-filmed. This helped throughout the main task as we had to know how to log and capture on Final Cut Pro in order to edit as we learnt how to do it in the preliminary it didn’t take as long to capture in the main task as we already knew how to do it. We also learnt about shot/reverse/shot in the preliminary task which we used during the preliminary as the teacher and parent had their discussion. We used over the shoulder shots so we could see the expressions on the other persons face whilst being told how their child was doing. We also improved the shot variations in our main task by using a variety of shots during the preliminary such as pans, tracking, close-ups, and low/high angle shots and we saw the result of using these shots and how they presented the character in the scene so for example, high angle makes the character look inferior.

How does your media project represent particular social groups?

In our film production we have decided to represent the teenage generation who attend “wild house parties.” In order to create tension we determined that our protagonist (Nicole) would be female, as they looked at as weak and vulnerable as this helps spark a reaction of sympathy from the audience.

The gender is represented in this production by reinforcing the stereotype of female as a victim ,and the male is the attacker, showing he is living up to the stereotype of being strong and aggressive. These are very typical representations of males and females in thrillers so the purpose of this is playing to the audience expectations.

We have tried to fulfil the stereotypical view which adults hold towards teen drinking culture by suggesting that her action later in the piece are solely due to the amount of alcohol she has consumed. The reaction adults will have toward it will be different to those of people of a similar age and background .

Due to the fact that our film opening depicts a teenage lifestyle we thought it would be relevant to analysis a clip from the hit television show Skins, as it focuses on a group of young adults and what they do in the spare time. It gave us ideas for the costumes that the characters should wear but also how they may behave in a party situation.

Shot List Of Film Opening

We have produced a shot list for our opening, we may alter this slighty in future by adding more shots to this. We have used a wide range of shots to give variety to strengthen the emotion which the characters are feeling.

*SOUND BRIDGE*

Fade in from black to a blurry vision of girl texting.
Low angle close up of mobile in grass (shallow focus)
Zooming out from mobile to look around the surrounding area
Pan from girl’s feet to face showing her clothes
Extreme close up of girls eyes opening
Mid shot of girl lying on park bench
Girl gets up mid-shot
POV shot looking at surrounding

BEGINNING OF FLASHBACKS

Establishing high angle shot of getting ready
Close-up of makeup on desk
Over shoulder shot of girl in the mirror
Long shot of girl getting ready (choosing clothes in wardrobe)

**FLASHBACK**

Close-up of hand on alcohol bottle
Tracking shot of guy handing glass to girl
Zoom out from Extreme close up of girl mouth drinking alcohol to medium close up

**FLASHBACK**

Pan shot of guy and girl walking in park
Extreme close-up of characters holding hands
Two shot of characters being intimate
Long shot of them walking towards camera (walk past)

END OF FLASHBACKS

*SOUND BRIDGE*

Master shot of surroundings including the girl on bench
Close-up of facial expression
Long shot of girl getting up while looking confused
High angle shot of girl walking (insert credits)
Extreme long shot of girl walking (insert credits)
Close-up of feet walking
Wide angle shot of girl walking
Sudden black screen (silence) with fade in title ‘Black out’ then title fades out.

Outline Of Our Film Opening

We have decided that our film genre will be a social realism/ thriller and have called it ‘Blackout’. Due to the plot surrounding the opening we are using flashbacks to symbolise the pinnacle events leading up to the climax. As we do not want to show everything in the opening we have decided to keep the male characters identity unknown and focus solely on our protagonist (Nicole)

In order to portray this we feel that our settings are key, we have decided to film in a park in the early hours of the morning to catch the sunrise which is paramount in out opening. This will also prevent disruptions in filming as there will be very few people around at this time.

We will incorporate sound bridges and voiceovers in our clip to ensure the continuity editing is of a high standard. Also the dialogue used during the flashbacks will give the audience an insight into the plot.

Opening of Film Evaluation

Bhaji on the Beach

From the opening scene we can tell that the film is a Social realism drama with issues like; racism and Family dynamics involved.
Juxtaposition is used in the tracking shot on the shops situated on the main road as there were Asian shops right next to English butchers selling pork. The sound bridge supported this by the fact that the radio played Asian music and spoke in English when passing these shops. There were also contrasts when Mrs.S hallucinates and has visions of both Asian and English films, coke cans and Bollywood posters.

Racism is hinted through the white male spray painting a swash sticker motive on a boarded up window, also when the newspaper delivery man states that it is hot outside and assuming that she is used to the temperature. When Mrs.S looks at the newspaper the headline reads ‘they curried my budgie’ which implies that Asians eat household pets.

The Usual Suspects

From the opening scene we can tell that the film is a Thriller due to the fact there is a low key lighting which connotes a scene of mystery in addition it has eerie sound bridge throughout.
We are asked the question who is the antagonist after we see a dead body lying on the ground. Through the use of medium shots we see a dark mysterious figure whose face is never revealed therefore, adding to the suspense of the opening scene.

The Mise-en-Scene is late 195O’s attire with the unknown character in long coat and trilby hat. We also see the key props of cigarettes and guns which symbolise danger and support the period of the film. The mode of address used by him creates tension as he is matter of fact and frank to the man on the floor. Even though we do not actually see the man being killed we hear two gun shots which are then followed by a scene of a male figure escaping down a ladder.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

Throughout the duration of our preliminary task we have learnt numerous things related to camera work and editing software such as; match cuts insuring seamless continuity, inserting titles into frames and adding fades ins and fade outs. We also made sure we used shot/reverse/shot during the dialogue between the two characters this enabled us to see the characters emotions. Although we found it difficult because of our settings [classroom] we made sure to not break the 180 degree rule.

There were many things that worked well when completing the task, as we filmed during the day we did not need to add any extra lighting this made our job of filming easier. Overall the continuity of the film was reasonably seamless. However, if we had more time we could have made the beginning less static between shots.

To enable the clip to appear seamless we used match cuts as they flow together smoothly. A specific example was when the teacher opened the door from the inside then we saw the reverse of the door with the parent stood outside.

During planning and filming of preliminary task we felt that we understood the 180 degree rule but didn’t truly understand how it could effect the audience of the clip or how it disturbs the audience (especially in chase scene, etc)

As we edited our footage we found that the 180 degree rule was being broken when over shoulder shots of Joe were captured. To rectify this mistake we made a group decision to leave to the camera angle out of the final product.

We feel that this preliminary task has strongly raised our awareness of this 180 degree rule and how we should incorporate it through pre-production (storyboarding), production (filming) and post-production (editing).

Parents' Evening

Main Task

For our main task we have to produce an opening for a new fiction film which will last for a maximun of 2 minutes and should incude opening credits and a range of shots.

Preliminary Task

The preliminary exercise consists of a continuity task involving filming and editing a person opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom they will then exchange a couple of lines of dialouge. We will try to demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 18O degree rule.

AS Foundation Portfolio Brief

Welcome to our blog, in our group we have: Nicole Hamilton, Ross Taylor and Joe Lynch.
We have called our production team NRJ Productions.