Evaluation Question Five || How did you attract/address your audience?

For Evaluation Five, I have annotated my film opening to show how I have attracted my audience and what film techniques I used to do so.

Evaluation Question Six || What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

When I started this project I only had vague knowledge about the technology I would be using. I had never used an Apple laptop or any of the software that I have been using such as Final Cut Pro and Motion.

I have been filming school events since I was in year 7 and therefore had reasonable experience with using the camera. The tripod was more of an issue, having never really used it due to having always filmed handheld. This meant that I learnt a lot more about using the tripod due to filming 'Black Sands' as well as still doing filming for school events such as the production of Bugsy Malone and the year 10 coursework.

At the beginning of the course I purchased an Apple Macbook and I was amazed at how different an Apple laptop is to a normal laptop. After a couple of weeks, I finally started to get the hang of it. After getting to grips with iMovie I decided that I wanted to expand my editing ability further and purchased both Final Cut Pro and Motion. I had no idea how advanced Final Cut Pro actually was and it took me a while to get to grips on how to actually use it to the extent that I needed. When I designed my film ident on Motion it similarly took me a little while to figure out how to use it. I had been told that it was a lot like using Photoshop - which I am useless at using. However, I didn't let this get me down. Embarrassingly, after taking a couple of days to actually figure out how to just add text, I started to properly start designing my ident. Within a couple of days it was finished and I was happy with how it had turned out.

Also, I had never actually blogged before. I had been part of the media team on Makewav.es at school however I had always written proper articles and posts instead of using Makewav.es as a form of blogging. Blogger was a completely new website for me to use and it was completely new for me.

Alike to never having had a Blogger account, I had never actually had an account on YouTube either. I had been wanting to set up an account on YouTube for a couple of years and now I have one I can actually show YouTube my film editing skills as well as post my coursework online.

St Mary's Coursework Premiere

Today we did a screening of our media coursework for year 10 and upwards during a lunchtime screening. During this handed out a small sheet for the audience to fill in containing these questions

• On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being excellent and 1 being not at all, how much did you enjoy the film as a whole?
• What do you think the film is aimed at?
• On a scale of 1-10, how effective do you think the music is?
• On a scale of 1-10, how much effective are the actors and setting?
• On a scale of 1-10, how likely would you be to watch this film?
• If you could change anything about the film, what would it be?

This will help me with my audience research as well as my overall evaluation (evaluation question four)

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

Film Experience || Shadow in the Dark

Black Sands || Voice Bloopers

Film Experience || One Misstep, You're Mine

Recently, I have been working on this project alongside my media coursework and it has been taking ages to edit. I spent most of the time discovering things I didn't know about Final Cut Pro and using this new found knowledge to try and improve my video.

I had really wanted to make another film with horror, mad or creepy elements to it and I thought what better song to make a video to than 'Monsters' by Ruelle. I've had the song stuck in my head for weeks and decided it was time to put it to a video.

Year 12 Trip to the BFI || Part Two

We were also shown a screening of the film ''71' which is set in Northern Ireland and tells the story of a British soldier who becomes separated from his unit during a riot in Belfast at the height of the period called the Troubles in 1971. It was actually funded by the BFI as well and was nominated for numerous awards:

Overall, although very graphic, I enjoyed the film. I decided that it fell under the social realism category as it exposed the harsh reality of the Troubles as well as the dark side to the lives of the people stuck in the conflict and catharsis.

Year 12 Trip to the BFI || Part One

Today, my media class took a trip to the London BFI for a film conference on UK cinema, audiences, and institutions. It was packed day full of interesting facts and I believe that I, as well as my class, learnt a lot from it.

We first had a talk on audiences and institutions. We learnt that many films will be watched by a UK audience if there are familiar characters and situations which the audience can relate to, the film is full of 'Britishness', being marginally stereotypical and reaching out towards the UK's patriotic pride. They also like crowd pleasers and films that have had film nominations, being full of glamorisation, spectacle, escapism, adrenaline and catharsis. We then compared the expectations and preferences of a UK audience to an American audience. It showed that alike to a UK audience, the American audiences loves historical and literary figures, crowd pleasers and films that are award nominees, as well as portraying the subcultures and spectacle, escapism, adrenaline and catharsis. It also showed that American audiences like to have characters alike to contemporary celebrities or royalty. For instance, the Americans love British novels such as Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice'. They have now gone and made a film out of the spoof novel 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies'.

We also looked at films which are considered to be UK films such as 'The Man from UNCLE', 'The Imitation Game' and 'The Avengers'. 

We then evaluated how British the film 'Kingsman: The Secret Service' was. Ideas that I noted down were that it appealed to a young adult audience, it combined elements of the UK such as the lower class and upper class and that it was full of adrenaline and patriotism.

We then looked at the film 'A Royal Night Out' which would have appealed to a UK audience due to its historic and patriotic themes. This would have also appealed to an American audience as well as being full of characters that were part of royalty and links to Americas origins from the UK. This film fitted under the heritage category, meaning that it would stereotypically have a museum aesthetic.

After this, we looked at a film which came under the category of social realism called 'The Selfish Giant'. This means that it would be critical of British life, challenge the comfort zones of day to day life as well as portraying an explicit, dark side of human nature. I noted down that the film would appeal to a UK audience as it was full of colloquial terms, had links to the lower classes of people such as gypsies. It was also dark and serious, exposing the harsh reality of the UK as not as posh and peaceful as many people believe. It would also appeal to an American audience as it is full of catharsis (emotional intensity) and marginalised groups are represented.

We took a look at 'The Woman In Black'. This film fitted under the horror category meaning that stereotypically it is traditionally gothic. It would appeal to a UK audience as it is full of adrenaline and horror, as well as being influenced by national pride and containing patriotic, historical edwardian/victorian elements which fit well under the gothic genre. It would also appeal to an American audience as it was a successful novel and screen play in both the UK and America as well as being a crowd pleaser.

We finally took a look at the film 'One Day' which fits under the urban fairytale rom-com category. This means that is a romantic comedy and that it is stereotypically about a close group of friends who don't immediately get on before the film transforms into a love story and throws obstacles at the romantic relationship within urban life.

Even More Film Openings

Recently, I have been attempting to finish my film opening called 'Black Sands'. After having looked at the film opening from 'The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials' I decided to take a look at other film openings which I like and have compared 'Black Sands' to.

Firstly, I looked at the 'Kingsman' film opening. I like how in it the credits role off with the rubble of the building under fire. I also like how the camera continues to surge forwards past the film company title as if the audience are part of what is happening. Although this is nothing like my film opening it is interesting to contrast two different action films together to emphasise just how different they are.

I then compared it to 'Guardians of the Galaxy'. A similarity in both my 'Black Sands' opening and 'Guardians of the Galaxy' is that both use dull tones such as grey, blue and pale brown however the use of the bright credits introduces the comic element of the film as well as the accompanied song 'Come and get your Love'.

After that, I looked at 'Dark Shadows'. Immediately I noticed the same dull colours that are used in film openings such as 'Guardians of The Galaxy' and 'The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials', as well as my own film opening: 'Black Sands'. 'Dark Shadows' and 'Black Sands' also use simple pale titles which I think is effective as it does not attract the direct attention of the audience yet the viewer is aware of the credits being there which I think is very clever. 

Now, before I explain the similarities between 'Rush' and 'Black Sands' I would like to point out that I am not a fan of F1. When my family wanted to watch it I decided to give it a shot and was actually very impressed with the filming and the overall film in general. Again, it uses a cold tone filter but I think that is very effective and sets the scene - which is what I hope it will do for 'Black Sands'. The distant voiceover of the different radio and television presenters is effective for this film however I do not believe that it would be suitable for my film due to it's storyline. However, I am still debating whether or not to add the original voiceover I had planned at the start of my coursework or the newest one.

Now it is back to my editing software to continue with 'Black Sands'...