Saturday

Closing Post

Thank you for looking at my blog and my title sequence, Hope you enjoy it all! x

Evaluation: Question 7

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

As i said in question 6, i have learnt so much. When we first got set the brief, i knew small pieces about production such as storyboarding, filming etc. I didn't know how important everything was though. Every shot you do, everything in that shot defines the characters, narrative and whole meaning of what you are doing.
Ive also learnt to be very patient. Not to rush anything and take things slowly as you have more time to think and evaluate what you have done and what you are going to do in the future.
I enjoyed working on my own as some people found working with other people caused to many conflicts over decisions etc. However, in the next task i may consider working with a partner as i like to see things from other peoples point of view and experience other peoples ideas. Also, maybe working on a genre that i don't particularly have interest in may teach me alot.
Overall, i enjoyed this task very much and i am very proud of my final piece.

Evaluation: Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product.

In the process of making this product i have learnt a huge amount. I had never experienced blogging before and it is something i have grown to enjoy. i find it much more interesting than creating a sketchbook of all my work.
I also learnt alot about film production. From storyboarding, to Filming, to lighting and creating mise-en-scene etc. I learnt how important every shot is and every angle and that everything in the shot is so important with creating meaning for character and narrative.
The most i have learnt is the post-production such as editing. Although i didn't use final cut pro to edit my Title sequecne in, i used Imovie. This was something i had never done before and it was a big challenge. At the beginning of editing i thought i would never be able to finish my film in time. But as i practiced more and more it became easy and has taught me so much about putting film together and the whole process behind it.

Evaluation: Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my audience by character, narrative and mise-en-scene. The main character of my film represents a normal teenage boy just trying to find his place in the world. This could reflect the audience and address similar issues to them as to what my character experiences in my film.

Evaluation:Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

When we first got set the brief, i immediately wanted to do something different from the Horror genre that everyone was choosing. i decided to do social realism as this is my favourite genre of film; therefore the audience for my media product would be someone who enjoys social realism films.
The audience for my media product would be people who enjoy film that deals with real issues such as race, money, disability, identity etc. and doesn't try to beat around the bush with it but just show it in film in a way that it is in real life. The audience would be someone who likes to see the boundaries pushed and experience the truth through the film they are watching.
I think the audience for a social realist piece of film is someone who doesn't go to the cinema for escapism which is what Hollywood films provide.

Evaluation: Question 3

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

Obviously, this being a school project my film was made on no budget and we had to use the schools equipment such as cameras etc. However if my film was to be distributed i would like the BFI distribute it. I would want this because i wouldn't want my film to become mainstream and have its meaning stripped away from it by people who don't actually care about the issues it deals with.
I know that by making a social realist piece of film i am only catering for a minority so i would only want it to be distributed by a company who would not try to make it something big but keep it simple the way it should be.
Also, the BFI is a British distributor and i have made my film to be British and have all the qualities of a British social realist piece of film.

Evaluation: Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
As i was sticking to conforming to the expectations of a social realist piece of film, my audience was people who enjoyed this genre of film. This basicaly comes down to the issues the genre deals with. Everyday problems such as identity, race, family life etc. not Americanised Hollywood style film.
This is usualy people who are very political, and have strong beliefs about the messages being sent across in these types of film.

Monday

Evaluation: Question 1

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

Whilst doing the research and planning for my title sequence, i looked closely at the typical social realist forms and conventions. I asked myself whether or not i wanted to challenge these or just conform and recreate an average social realist piece of film.
I decided not to challenge the forms and conventions of social realism film. Being a fan of this genre, i wanted to create a film in a similar style of some of my favourites such as This Is England, A Room For Romeo Brass and Kez. I wanted to do this because the audience expect certain features and conventions and thats why they go to see the film; so the audience would be happy with what i deliver in my title sequence as they expect certain connventions which i am feeding to them through my title sequence.
I have used the gritty camera effect by using a hand held camera, this making it feel more real like a social realism piece of film. I have also not had any special effect during the editing process i have just kept it simple and used cuts, no fades ect.
However, i wanted to make it my own and not completely predictable.
I done this by the narrative of my title sequence, by making the audience question certain things.

Changes

I have gone ahead and added the soundtrack over the tapping noise, like people thought would be a good idea in the crit lesson. i think it looks so much better!
I also had a lovley edit of the boy jumping over the fence and then cutting to his feet, however i put a title over it and looking over it i thought it takes the viewer away from the shots and engages them with the title. Therefore i moved the title to a couple of seconds after the shot.
Everything is coming along niceley and i am very pleased with the work i have done so far!

Friday

The Crit Lesson

We had the crit lesson today and we all discussed each others work on what we feel is good and what could be changed.
Many people thought that my title sequence would look better if i cut out the tapping noise when the boy is tap dancing and have the soundtrack continue over the top.
I found this lesson very helpful as other peoples opinions gave me many ideas for changed to be made and there is always room for improvment!

Wednesday

Log Line...

A TEENAGE BOY CHALLENGES TO CONFORM TO HIS TYPICAL 'TEENAGE' STEREOTYPE BY TAP DANCING INSTEAD OF PLAYING FOOTBALL.

Friday

Music

I have chosen my music to go over the top of my film. I got it off www.lgfl.org.uk .
it's not letting me upload the song for some reason.
It is in the Indie genre and is by Gareth Johnson and the song is called Touch Me and its the 2:19 version.

Editing!

I have started editing my project. So far it is coming along smoothly, i have started by putting together the clips i am going to use in full, and going to break them down individualy to gain a smooth flow and continuity.
I am not adding music after i am going to edit it at the same time so i can do my cuts to the music so it fits in time.
After doing much research i have changed my idea on how i am going to have my fonts. I was originally going to have graffiti as my titles however i have watched many social realism openings and the titles are very basic. usualy plain white , simple fonts.
This would also tie in with my theme as my shots and editing are slow and simple.
Thats it for now.

Wednesday

Ken Loach & Shane Meadows

Ken Loach
I am going to look at bit into Ken Loach's work because he is another social realist film director who puts his views and emotions into his work. Loach doesnt use profesional actors in his films, he likes to use people who have had real life experiences and know the characters they are playing.
He tries to make sure that actors express as genuinely as possible the feelings of their characters by filming the story in order and, crucially, not giving the actors the script until a few minutes before the filming.
Two examples: in Kes the boy actor, discovering the dead bird at the end, believed that the director had actually killed the bird that he had become quite close to during the filming (in fact he had used a dead bird found elsewhere). In Raining Stones one of the actresses visited at her house by a loan shark had no idea that he was going to force her to take off her wedding ring and give it to him as part payment. There are many other such examples.


Shane Meadows
Shane Meadows is considered one of the rising starts of British cinema.Much of the content of his films are semi-autobiographical and based on his experiences he has had. Much of the content of his films are semi-autobiographical and based on his experiences in Uttoxeter. Twenty Four Seven was inspired by his youth, both at a boxing club, and also playing in a local football club. Despite some huge losses, the club's coach never lost faith in them. A Room for Romeo Brass was also inspired by his youth. After his best friend, neighbour (and later writing partner) Paul Fraser had a very bad accident and was bound to his bed for two years, Meadows instead hung around with some of the town's more undesirable characters.

Tuesday

Story boards

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Wednesday

Billy Elliot was where i got the inspiration for the narrative of my film from. The ideologies of being a teenage boy and challenging the expectations of your identity. Does being a tap dancer mean your less of a boy than your mate who plays football?

The opening of my film is going to be very unexpected. There are going to be no hints at all at this boy being a dancer. The viewer don't know where my character is going or why they are walking.

The opening of Billy Elliot doesn't give it away that the main character is going to turn out to be a ballet dancer but because i am only making an opening and i want some narrative in it i am going to show the boy dancing in mine.

I've put the opening of Billy Elliot on here although it doesn't have ant music for some reason.


I also watched the opening of Juno when we first got given the brief for this coursework. That gave me the idea of someone just walking along in the opening, just simple.
I've put it up on here aswell.

Monday

Social Realism

The film opening i am making as you know is on the Social Realism genre. I have been looking at a few openings to some Social Realism films and getting more ideas of how i can construct my opening to have some of the characteristics that these have.
The first film i have looked at is A Room For Romeo Brass by Shane Meadows.

What i like about this opening is that at the begining there is no music just digetic sound. It makes it feel more than a film and brings you in. Theres no real dialog just a brief conversation between the two characters. The location in which it is set is very basic just a field, a chip shop.
I also like the titles, as they are just simple plain white fonts. I think this gives it more edge and more 'realism' to it.

At the beggining of my opening im only going to have digetic sound too, but about 10 seconds into it i will have non-digetic sound over the top.


The next opening i looked at was This Is England also by Shane Meadows.

This Is England is one of my favourite films so this had to go on here! My opening isn't going to be like this: clips from documentories etc. but what i do like is 27 seconds into this clip there are some garages with graffiti on them. I like the fact that it's not art graffiti just like someone has written it there.
I want my titles to be like that on a wall as my main character is walking past them. For example the directors name, editor ... you get my drift.
I think that will give it a modern feel as it is not set in another era but today.

Kes was another film i looked at.

I know the clip is 10 minutes long, but i am just looking at the first 3ish minutes.
This film again is very basic, no special effects just basic cuts as edits. this is what i'm going to do with my film, no fancy effects, i want to just keep it simple but effective.
Again the basic white font is being used, i don't think i could use both grafiti and plain white fonts, i don't think the flow would work.
Again, i like the music coming in at 2 minutes not straight away. Something i am going to consider with my opening.

Friday

Continuity Piece



This is our continuity sequence. It's a bit short but as this was the first piece of film production we done we was very pleased with it.
We edited it on i-movie and it was really interesting to see the post production stages of film making.

Filming

I have filmed my project and i think it went very well. I got all the shots and angles that i intended to shoot. We filmed all the footage in the same day to maintain continuity.
I was very lucky that it didn't rain half way through the day but it was freezing!
Bring on the editing!

Thursday

Titleee.............................

Because i got my idea of my film from 'Billy Elliot' i decided to look at the soundtrack names... I ended up deciding between two songs as the title of my film.
So it was between 'Cosmic Dancer' and 'Boys Play Football'.
I decided my film will be called Boys Play Football.

Music la la la...

Thinking about the music has made me consider my character a bit more. I don't really fancy having hardcore R & Bizzle over it. So.... i think of changing my character to a skinhead-indie boy instead of a 'rudeboy'- Just so i can have better music over it!
I'm listening to some music now so when i decide what i'll be using i will blog it!

Fonts!

I have a few ideas for fonts to use as my credits for my opening. I really like the idea of graffiti on the walls as the character walks past them. Not big artistic graffiti but simple, like the picture, which has been taken from 'This Is England'.
E,g. i will have my character walking and he will walk out of the shot and the name of the director will appear on the wall.

Also, in the picture there is posters stuck on the wall, i like the idea of one of them unrolling on the screen and some of the titles will be on there.

This will set the mood of my opening as it shows rebellion and my character is rebelling against the expectations of his stereotype.