In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
We have developed an urban teenage film. The film is similar to those of Kidulthood, Adulthood and Shifty. These films of which focus on the lives of teenage males growing up in urban surroundings. In Kidulthood the film uses the "day in the life of" device, beginning with a group of "kidults" getting the day off school after Katie's suicide as a result of being bullied. We have developed this idea into our film with one of the characters suffering bullying from the other two males. We used similar devices that Kidulthood used by using the “day in the life of” feature. This enabled us to open our film with the bullied victim describing his tormenters and showing its result which is then rewound back to show the full story. Shifty is a British urban thriller. It is set on the outskirts of London and follows themes of friendship and loyalty over the course of 24 hours in the life of a young drug dealer, the charismatic "Shifty". This film has a similar plot to the one of Kidulthood with it showing the life of teenage males in 24hours. The camerawork is key to portraying the emotions of characters. The use of close ups on faces distinguishes the fear in each bullied victims character. We used close up on our bullied victim to show his sadness and negativity of his life. Establishing shots sets up the context for a scene. As our film is set in Manchester we used key features of the city including The Big Wheel, Primark, and the well known tram system. This is similar to the other films who use key features of London. The characters themselves needed to be represented correctly to make the film realistic. As we were using an urban theme, the use of hoods were key. The two characters playing the tormenters wear hoods to portray the threat factor.
By introducing the film with the bully victim telling a story through voiceover, which is then rewound back to start with the full story makes the audience want to watch more. This makes the film interesting and original as they automatically want to know why the character is driven to suicide.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our film is based on life in urban environments.
We have developed an urban teenage film. The film is similar to those of Kidulthood, Adulthood and Shifty. These films of which focus on the lives of teenage males growing up in urban surroundings. In Kidulthood the film uses the "day in the life of" device, beginning with a group of "kidults" getting the day off school after Katie's suicide as a result of being bullied. We have developed this idea into our film with one of the characters suffering bullying from the other two males. We used similar devices that Kidulthood used by using the “day in the life of” feature. This enabled us to open our film with the bullied victim describing his tormenters and showing its result which is then rewound back to show the full story. Shifty is a British urban thriller. It is set on the outskirts of London and follows themes of friendship and loyalty over the course of 24 hours in the life of a young drug dealer, the charismatic "Shifty". This film has a similar plot to the one of Kidulthood with it showing the life of teenage males in 24hours. The camerawork is key to portraying the emotions of characters. The use of close ups on faces distinguishes the fear in each bullied victims character. We used close up on our bullied victim to show his sadness and negativity of his life. Establishing shots sets up the context for a scene. As our film is set in Manchester we used key features of the city including The Big Wheel, Primark, and the well known tram system. This is similar to the other films who use key features of London. The characters themselves needed to be represented correctly to make the film realistic. As we were using an urban theme, the use of hoods were key. The two characters playing the tormenters wear hoods to portray the threat factor.
By introducing the film with the bully victim telling a story through voiceover, which is then rewound back to start with the full story makes the audience want to watch more. This makes the film interesting and original as they automatically want to know why the character is driven to suicide.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our film is based on life in urban environments.
This means it will appeal to all people living in these types of surroundings, EG the urban areas of Manchester, London and Birmingham.
Teenagers, mainly male, are stereotypically judged to be troublemakers when in groups. The film is centred on 3 teenage boys in urban Manchester. Due to the gangland features and urban feel, the film will generally represent the teenage male audience of all ethnicities.
Stereotypically it is the black male that is seen as dominant. In ours, these roles have reversed with the white and mixed race males playing the intimidators and the lone black male being victimised. The mise en scene of the two antogonists is them to be hood wearing males. Urban environments with groups of teenage males are typically recognised to wear hooded clothing. This is the social group that is predominantly targeted. Hoods are predominantly associated with fear and intimidation. This is a well known problem associated with teenagers growing up in urban environments due to the problem with gangs and bullying. We have used the aspect of hoods to go with the theme of bullying, which is a common problem faced by teenagers. It is usually girls who are recognised to be depressed from bullying, but statistically more males take their lifes. We have encorporated this idea into our film. People interested in urban music such as Rap, Hip Hop, Grime etc can relate to the urban soundtrack and aspects of the film.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The film we have developed is based on the film Kidulthood. Kidulthood is a British drama centred on the life of a group of troubled 15year olds growing up in an impoverished west London estate. Teenagers living in urbanised areas are the main audience as they can relate to the gang culture being from less civilised backgrounds. Teenagers of all ethnicities ranging from 13 – 19 will be able to understand the story as they experience similar aspects in their everyday lives. Growing up in gangland areas, children are introduced to bullying, crime, knives, guns and drugs. We have centred our film to include these key features. Urban films such as Kidulthood, Adulthood and Shank are all films which relate to our film. People who have watched these and find them interesting will see our film as another one to watch and be intrigued by the similarities. By targeting the main film watching range age of teens, it gives the advantage of more people being entertained. With it being urban its give the advantage of groups of people wanting to see this media product. Manchester has a reputation for being a gangland area. Being based in Manchester it will appeal to all Manchester teenagers. This is because they will understand the diverse disadvantages of everyday life and the situations in which they under come.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
From the preliminary task we were confident about the use of the camera equipment. We developed an understanding about how to undertake different shots with the tripod and camera. We could use a diverse range of shots and angles, including high and low angle, over the shoulder, close up and establishing shots.
To edit our film we used Final Cut Pro. Final Cut Pro is a professional non-linear editing software application developed by Apple Inc.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The film we have developed is based on the film Kidulthood. Kidulthood is a British drama centred on the life of a group of troubled 15year olds growing up in an impoverished west London estate. Teenagers living in urbanised areas are the main audience as they can relate to the gang culture being from less civilised backgrounds. Teenagers of all ethnicities ranging from 13 – 19 will be able to understand the story as they experience similar aspects in their everyday lives. Growing up in gangland areas, children are introduced to bullying, crime, knives, guns and drugs. We have centred our film to include these key features. Urban films such as Kidulthood, Adulthood and Shank are all films which relate to our film. People who have watched these and find them interesting will see our film as another one to watch and be intrigued by the similarities. By targeting the main film watching range age of teens, it gives the advantage of more people being entertained. With it being urban its give the advantage of groups of people wanting to see this media product. Manchester has a reputation for being a gangland area. Being based in Manchester it will appeal to all Manchester teenagers. This is because they will understand the diverse disadvantages of everyday life and the situations in which they under come.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
From the preliminary task we were confident about the use of the camera equipment. We developed an understanding about how to undertake different shots with the tripod and camera. We could use a diverse range of shots and angles, including high and low angle, over the shoulder, close up and establishing shots.
To edit our film we used Final Cut Pro. Final Cut Pro is a professional non-linear editing software application developed by Apple Inc.
First of all we connected our camera equipment. From then we used this programme to ‘Log and Capture’ footage from the camera. Once captured we then selected the footage we wanted.
This footage was then chopped using the 'mark in' and 'mark out' buttons on the keyboard. This was then selected and dragged to be put on the timeline.
When the footage was on the timeline we could then add effects and transitions. This includes fades and dissolves. We chose to use the 'cross disolve' as it worked effectively.
A soundtrack was chosen to represent the story and genre of the film, which we imported, and added to to the timeline.
We scripted a voiceover for the film. This was recorded using a microphone in a camera, from which we captured it into Final Cut Pro. We split the voiceover using the 'Split' tool. This enabled us to input specific parts of the voiceover onto the relevant footage on the timeline.
The text tool enabled us to input credits. To do this we had to chose effects then text and add the specific font we wanted.
To finalise the film we arranged the footage and effects for our end result.
This software enabled us to create an individual unique piece as we could add our own ideas when it came to the effects and transitions meaning it would differ to the rest.
To save our work as text documents and to upload videos, we used Blogger. Blogger is a free blog publishing tool from Google for easily sharing your thoughts with the world. Blogger makes it simple to post text, photos and video. This enabled us to create an online blog containing our work which can be displayed, read and watched.
How did you attract/ address your audience?
Our film has similarities to that of Kidulthood.
This software enabled us to create an individual unique piece as we could add our own ideas when it came to the effects and transitions meaning it would differ to the rest.
To save our work as text documents and to upload videos, we used Blogger. Blogger is a free blog publishing tool from Google for easily sharing your thoughts with the world. Blogger makes it simple to post text, photos and video. This enabled us to create an online blog containing our work which can be displayed, read and watched.
How did you attract/ address your audience?
Our film has similarities to that of Kidulthood.
This means we could develop the ideas Kidulthood used into our own film.
By introducing the Manchester skyline, as Kidulthood did London, and aspects of Manchester such as the big wheel, it automatically attracts that audience. On of the opening credits is titled 'Urban Look Films'. By having this in the opening sequence, the audience can interpret that the film is urban. This means from the start of the film an audience has already been engaged into watching the film. By having two characters in a split screen in the first shots, the audience can determine that these are going to play a key role in the film. The outfits worn by the two antogonists were specific to the film, with them wearing hooded clothing. The soundtrack playing from start introduces a eerie yet depressing tone. By doing this it sets a sense that something is going to happen caused by these characters. When Kyles voiceover is heard it automatically relates to individuals who have or are experiencing aspects of bullying.
With these aspects set in the first shots it sets an urban background audience as Kidulthood did.
The film would be played in art related cinemas such as The Cornerhouse and also Multiplex Cinemas such as AMC Manchester. Attracting a niche audience of urban youths in the UK, the film would also intrest urban youths in America.
What kind of media institution would distribute your media product and why?
The companies which distributed films such as Shifty, Kidulthood and Adulthood are Revolver Entertainment and Focus Films.
What kind of media institution would distribute your media product and why?
The companies which distributed films such as Shifty, Kidulthood and Adulthood are Revolver Entertainment and Focus Films.
Focus Films is a leading independent feature film development and production company. These companies both have experience with urban type films.
Focus Films handles films with a budget of £5 - £25 million.
Due to our film containing aspects similar to the other urban feel films that they previously distributed, these companies would be the type to distribute our film.
The film would be distributed via social networking sites such as Facebook. This is because the main target audience age of the film is teenagers. Sites such as Facebook are regularly used daily by this age range. This means by distrubuting things such as widgets, links to the movie site, film trailers etc, it would aid in the films reputation. By distrubuting in this way, it will enable the film to spread through word of mouth.
Due to the urban genre, the film would also be distrubuted over radio stations. Urban stations such as Peace Fm would be the target. Peace Fm is a Manchester located urban station so it will aid in the word of mouth.
Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you think you have learnt from the progression from it to the full task?
From the preliminary task we learned a lot more advanced features that we could have been applied to the final task. When we did the preliminary, the shots used were not as steady and as good they could and should have been. This would distract the audience as they would be drawn to the bad camerawork than the dialogue or the action in it. From this we learnt that the stability of the shots were important and would give a better quality in the full task. We developed our skills for the range of different camera shots, giving it more realistic flowing effect. The use of different shots such as establishing, close ups and matches cuts allowed us to produce a flowing timeline. The shots were lined properly focusing on the character or the scene. Such as when Mike is introduced, there is a close up on him with the backdrop which is repeated for Jahmel. The only difference is for Kyle who has an extreme close up on him. We improved from the preliminary the dialogue. Now it was better planned what was going to be said and with the use of a microphone, the quality of the sound was better as now it was clearer what was being said. The entire dialogue was used in the form of voiceover and this was done as more of a narrative as the same person is talking about what has happened throughout the shots used. Also this time the soundtrack was improved. In the preliminary we didnt really concentrate on whether the music was suitable for the video. However this time when we finally selected the song, it went with the depressed tone that the film is going to display. The quality of the editing was improved. During the final version of the preliminary the transitions from shot to shot did flow at times then at others seemed stiff. We learnt from the mistake made here and it now has the right type of ways to mix them together by using actual dissolves instead of blending the shots together.
Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you think you have learnt from the progression from it to the full task?
From the preliminary task we learned a lot more advanced features that we could have been applied to the final task. When we did the preliminary, the shots used were not as steady and as good they could and should have been. This would distract the audience as they would be drawn to the bad camerawork than the dialogue or the action in it. From this we learnt that the stability of the shots were important and would give a better quality in the full task. We developed our skills for the range of different camera shots, giving it more realistic flowing effect. The use of different shots such as establishing, close ups and matches cuts allowed us to produce a flowing timeline. The shots were lined properly focusing on the character or the scene. Such as when Mike is introduced, there is a close up on him with the backdrop which is repeated for Jahmel. The only difference is for Kyle who has an extreme close up on him. We improved from the preliminary the dialogue. Now it was better planned what was going to be said and with the use of a microphone, the quality of the sound was better as now it was clearer what was being said. The entire dialogue was used in the form of voiceover and this was done as more of a narrative as the same person is talking about what has happened throughout the shots used. Also this time the soundtrack was improved. In the preliminary we didnt really concentrate on whether the music was suitable for the video. However this time when we finally selected the song, it went with the depressed tone that the film is going to display. The quality of the editing was improved. During the final version of the preliminary the transitions from shot to shot did flow at times then at others seemed stiff. We learnt from the mistake made here and it now has the right type of ways to mix them together by using actual dissolves instead of blending the shots together.
