Looking back on the Preliminary task, what do you think you have learnt in the progression from that to the actual production?

In the Preliminary task we looked at 3 major techniques of filming. These were:

• 180 degree rule
• match on action
• shot/reverse shot

What have you learned from technologies in the construction of your product?

During the creation of my opening to a film, 'All in Time', I have learned a lot about technologies involved. They have been a major part of the production and distribution of my film.

The camera

To begin with, technology was needed when shooting the opening and gaining the material needed to form my film. We used a DSLR Nikon D3100 camera. This was used to gain all the footage needed to complete our opening to 'All in time'. It was a crucial use of technology, as without it the filming would not be able to be completed. It is a digital camera, which allowed us to track what we had recorded to allow instant rerecording if it was necessary. This means that our production process was very efficient. We also had to use a SIM card reader in order to put these recordings on the computer, to put all the different recordings together to produce the end product. I developed skills on how to use the camera through filming, by getting hands on I learned how to use the different features on the camera, it was a brand new camera into the school so this was a huge learning curve through the process.


7300 4-section tripod- technological equipment
When we first were introduced to the tripod we a few technical difficulties in the assembling of the tripod; this was down to a piece missing from the set. This difficulty in the first recording taught us to prepare before each recording and check all the equipment can be assembled before. This was very important to ensure that we met the deadline of the recording, as we didn't waste any more time. Through this process we learned how much the tripod influenced the stability of the shot, as we recorded it without and then recorded with the tripod, the different was huge.




iMovie on the iMacs
We used iMovie on the iMacs to edit and bring together the aspects of our film. This involved adding a soundtrack that suited the scene, a voice-over and pulling everything together. IMovie was not only used in the final opening only, but also during the research process, for the documentary. This allowed me to practice using the iMac, more specifically the iMovie, which was crucial in the editing process. It enabled me to learn how to use all the different features present on iMovie.

Celtx

When planning the opening of our film we used Celtx. Using this we were able to draw up a shooting schedule, a script, a story board and information on characters. This enabled us to keep organised when filming and meant we were very efficient in producing. During this process I learned the importance of the planning process when producing a film and how the use of technology plays a major role in all aspects in the film including the planning.

Websites
In the research and evaluation sections of my media coursework I have used different websites to present and collect my findings. These included:

• Survey monkey
• Powtoon
• wideo
• prezi

Survey monkey was an important part of the research as it gained a lot of the data that was reinforced into the opening. Prezi, Powtoon and Wideo were used in the evaluation of my media coursework, in both cases I learned how to apply each icons into my film and used the different programs on the website to create the videos for my blog. In this process I learned that there are various different creative ways of presenting findings and information across, along with learning how to navigate very different websites and their importance in today's society. Most of the population now use the internet to find and do all different kinds of things and this is a major part of the technology used.

Blogger
During the process of producing my film I regularly blogged what I had done to present all aspects of my coursework. This includes research, the end product and the evaluation of my product. Towards the deadline for the coursework, my blog was deleted due to the computer generated machines detecting it as spam. I needed to learn how to retrieve my blog and how I would respond if it was to permanently be deleted. Using blogger I also learned different ways of presenting the different aspects of my coursework onto my blog.

Youtube and Youtube converter
We also used Youtube and Youtube converter to upload the music we needed for the opening, it was a very simple and effective way of adding the non-diegetic sound into the backgro
und. We converted the video that was on Youtube to a mp3 file through the website: Youtubecoverter.com.

Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Throughout our opening we have used, developed and challenged different codes and conventions. However, because our film is a mainstream film we used and developed most of the conventions as we needed to make sure that our film suited the worldwide market that current mainstream films do. The conventions of these films allow us to follow what the audience want, hence we can target the worldwide market. Here is a video showing how we have used, developed and challenged the forms and conventions of real media product:

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Throughout our opening we have presented teenagers and female social groups. This video shows how our media products are representing these social groups and whether they challenge or reinforce the stereotypes of the social groups:

Who would be the audience for your media product?

A lot of the research looking into the target audience that we conducted has been incorporated into our film. We wanted the audience feel as though they could relate and connect to the characters and the situations that occurred in the film. To ensure this happened we felt that it was important to make the characters, settings and situations similar to those of the target audience. This way they could understand what the character was feeling and therefore relate to the character. As our film is a teen rom-com, our target audience is teenage girls. We therefore made the film very similar to that of a teenage life. To present who the target audience is and how we fitted our film to suit them I used 'PowToon.com'.

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

Before choosing the Institution we would use to produce and distribute our film we need to ask ourselves a few questions based on what sort of film our opening will be:

Will it be mainstream or independent?

• Our film is very similar to films within the mainstream industry
• It is our very first film and so we will need a big company that will absorb the losses if we were to be unsuccessful
• therefore we will chose a mainstream company.

Which company would be best?

• We researched many different ideas into which companies would be suitable a few were possibilities:
• Universal
• Disney Pictures
• Paramount
• Walner brothers 
• However after looking back at our research we chose Paramount. This was partly due to it being the producer and distributor of mean girls which was found to be the most popular film in our primary research.

Now that we had what institution we were going to use we could look into paramount in more detail. After much research with the use of websites, such as Wikipedia, I put together a PowerPoint to present it all. I used Prezi to do this, which allowed a creative way of producing a PowerPoint.

All In Time

Here is our end product, it is called 'All In Time'. We have used all the camera shots and movements to help tell Ellie's story, one major technique that helped in the telling of the film is the voice over which gives and insight into her inner thoughts and her life.  

Alterations to All In Time.

As we filmed the opening, although we gained all the shots required, we did not have the facilities to have the screen split into 4 separate quarters which meant we had to rethink the beginning part of our opening as it was not realistic to complete. Despite this it was very easy to rectify and change. We decided to just leave out this particular part and go straight into a medium shot of Ellie walking around the bush.

We also found that some of the voice-over was not relevant to what was occurring in the opening and we felt it would be best if we altered it slightly, to ensure the audience did not get confused with what was going on in the film.

These were quite easy to alter as they were quite small changes, however although small, they did help with the overall flow of the film and understanding for the audience.

The Shooting schedule

We drew up a shooting schedule of when we were recording, and what we were recording on each day. This allowed us to plan in advance what needs to be done and allowed organisation. We not only based the schedule on when we could make it but also the cast was considered. We had to ensure that the timings we chose ran parallel to when Shantai also had time free. It was fairly easy to arrange the schedule as we only needed extra cast for one part of the film.

When it came to filming the opening a few of the scheduled days did not work out due to unforeseen problems, such as individuals being ill. This meant that we became behind on some of the filming which altered when the filming was complete. However what was contained in each event was kept the same and we got the filming done of each section all in the same categories.

The Characters

In our opening we only introduce two of the characters. The main character, Ellie, and her step sister, Chloe. Below shows the information about each character that we will try to express in the presentation of the characters. To do this we used Celtx which gave us the outline to which we could place our information.

Script for All In Time

This is a final plan of what we want to happen in the 2 minute opening we will create, including actions that will occur and what is said by the characters. To create this script we used our research into what other films did in the first two minutes. We felt that in the opening we would show binary opposites to set up the scene and then use a voice over to allow an insight into the character. The voice over also creates enigma as we don't understand what has happened to her parents and why her step dad is so horrible to her, along with her step sister. We felt that this opening followed the code and conventions of teenage romantic comedies.

Story Board - All in time

Our own opening

We have now finished our research into our genre and target audience and so we now have started to look into what we will do in our own opening, taking the research into account. Here we have put the different code and conventions to what we will include in our openings, which will give us a clear, precise idea of what we need to do and what sort of thing we will need to organise. We also established what the characters will be called and what characteristics they will hold:

The story Brainstormed

The Premilinary Task

As part of the  Preliminary Task, we had to show continuity in both filming and editing of the situation given to us. We used a long shot to start the scene as this both introduced us to the character and the setting. We then used a Zoom in so that the audience focuses on the character rather then the setting, also the Zoom in allows to connect with the character and what the character is doing. A pan is then used, to introduce the audience to the door that the character is going to walk through. This shows continuity as the new character doesn't just appear and that the audience get an idea of where this character will be coming from. A straight cut then introduces us to a close up of a door handle. This again shows where the character is coming from and the slow introduction to the character shows she is very important to the scene.

A zoom out then allows us to have a full view of the characters back, allowing us to use match-on-action to show the exterior shot of the character opening the door and moving to the interior shot of the character walking into the room. A pan is then used to show the clear 180 degree line ready to use the 180 degree rule, this pan establishes this line and a two shot shows us both character and indicates that the two characters are similar in some way. While the two characters begin to talk a shot/reverse shot is used to show the conversation develop. This is when the character talking is on the screen while the other is off or just the back of the head is on, and then this reverses to show the response of the other character. This shows continuity of the film as it allows the scene to follow the conversation. It is ensured that only the shoulder on the right side of the 180 degree line through the  characters is used, without the line the scene could begin to get confusing for the audience. Towards the end of the conversation a two shot is used again as the characters begin to get up to go to the library.

Throughout this Preliminary Task we were able to use the cameras and get used to using the camera to show continuity in the film, the use of the 180 degree rule used is very good for showing continuity as the characters always remain on the same side as the screen and reduces confusion for the audience. The shot reverse shot is important to use so that the audience can follow the conversation continuously and feel included in the scene.

Documentary

Here is our Documentary of our findings so far pulled together. It looks at the History of Teenage Romantic Comedies which has allowed us to look at how Romantic Comedies have changed and when these started being targeted at Teenagers. This means that we will be able to shoot our opening understanding when it initially started and what films were first brought out, which will help us when filming as we can always look back on some of the great original films that are still successful now.

We included an analysis of the film, Wild Child, and looked at the different code and conventions also found in this film. This allowed us to analyse what we thought is important and what we as teenagers have noticed in the opening. We chose Wild Child as it seemed very popular in our survey and was a film which was out of the ordinary in comparison to the other films, as it is of a girl who starts off very wealthy but gets forced to change her life style. The main character shows key aspects of a typical rebellious teenager who is quite spoilt.

In the documentary we also include the code and conventions found by our interviewees, this worked out very well as we not only got an insight into the code and conventions but also into our target audience. This will be a big help when trying to get the characters so that the audience can relate to them. Also it showed what code and conventions the audience pay attention to, meaning we also will need to pay attention to when incorporating them in the opening.

 We also looked at what our survey found and presented it in the overall decision of what we will use in our own opening and why we chose to do so, using answers from our survey to support our decision. This will give us an overview of what our research has shown so that it will be easier to separate it from the other findings and incorporate it in our opening.

If we were given extra time we would have included more information about the code and conventions and included our own point of view on the code and conventions, however given the time we had we included a lot of the research that we have done so far and we have included some creativity of posted notes. We used posted notes to follow through on the idea that we will set our film in a school and they are commonly used by teenagers for their school and college work. This shows continuity in our whole research.



Interview for Wild Child

Here is an interview of two teenage girls, they are answering a few questions about Wild Child, a very popular Teenage Romantic Comedy. They are also going through the code and conventions found, which again support the earlier findings in my primary and secondary research. This interview allowed us to get and specific insight into what our target audience found about Wild Child and what code and conventions they picked up on. This meant that we could see what sort of code and conventions they specifically pay attention to, so that we know to pay attention to each aspect highlighted.

As found in the previous interviews posted, they not only gave us detail into what they thought about the openings but it also showed us what clothes they wear, how they talk and act. This will help us when choosing the costume, the characters, the dialogue the characters use and the body language we get the character to use. By using Code and Conventions similar or the same to what the target audience also show will help them to relate to the characters, as they see that they are similar to themselves. This is a technique we will use to aim our opening at our target audience.

interview analysis of angus thongs and perfect snogging

Analysis on Angus Thongs and Perfect snogging.

By doing this it enabled us to find out what code and conventions our target audience picked up on in their own opinion and what this caused on the whole film and how they felt. This gave us a glimpse of what they notice and their opinions on those shown. They are talking about the settings shown in Angus, thongs and perfect snogging, most of those stated in this video run parallel to the settings found in my own analysis of various films. This shows again that our results are very continuous and therefore reliable.

The two girls then talk about various aspects within in the film in response to the questions I asked. In most of the questions they reinforced the expectations already found in both my secondary research and primary research. Supporting all the evidence already found, except this gave a more in-depth, specific response including what they thought about it along side. This will show us what are target audience liked and disliked about the whole film so that we can target our film to suit our audience.

This interview also showed what the individuals thought the producers could have done to improve 'Angus, Thongs and Perfect snogging'. Immediately they respond with a voice over, because it will explain how she is feeling in the olive costume. This is something we will try to incorporate into our own opening as it is what our target audience wants.

one to one interview.

Here is another interview into the general ideas about Teenage Romantic Comedies. By doing a one to one interview it enables an insight into the teenagers ideas and expectations, showing use there opinions about what they actually want to see. We have interviewed a teenager so that she fits in with our target audience and therefore by aiming our film opening at her we will be aiming it at our target audience. This is important if our opening is going to be popular for the target audience. She has highlighted her expectations of the genre such as the american setting, the casual clothes, the girl main character with her best friend and enemy. Her expectations follow the research found when analysing the openings below. The continuity of the findings suggest that the findings are very reliable and trustworthy to use in our own opening. She also states how she would improve other teenage romantic comedies, of which we will use in our opening so that the opening we do is better suited for our target audience then current films.

Survey Monkey- Primary research

Part of my primary research involved constructing a survey and asking the population to answer the questions. This link shows the questions asked and the responses we gained. We used both open and closed questions to gain both qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data gained gave is an insight into their thoughts and opinions, however the main problem that arose was that a lot of the responses were very short and didn't really give us in depth answers that resulted in poor quality qualitative data. The quantitative data gave us numerical data that we could then do statistical tests on and put the data into charts. This makes it easier to compare data and it will be presented in a clear way that is easy to understand. To make the Survey we used surveymonkey.com , this website then analysed our responses for us and placed them in tables.We sent this email to various people to make up our sample, the responses were then retrieved and analysed.

Our Target audience is going to be younger than 18 as this made up most of our respondents- we asked those who watched Teenage Romantic comedies to fill our survey out and most of those who responded were under 18. Also our target audience is female 20 out of the 22 respondents were female:

What is your gender?

20 (90.91%)

What interests do you have?

Makeup, nail art, music, exercise

2/6/2014 1:21 PM View respondent's answers

sports food

1/30/2014 2:51 PM View respondent's answers

dance

1/23/2014 4:56 PM View respondent's answers

history sports

1/23/2014 11:12 AM View respondent's answers

Watching TV, Social Networking and Sports

1/22/2014 4:26 PM View respondent's answers

music,art, sport

1/21/2014 8:21 PM View respondent's answers

Photography

1/21/2014 5:57 PM View respondent's answers

Reading Socializing Singing

1/21/2014 2:51 PM View respondent's answers

Books, films, magic

1/21/2014 9:57 AM View respondent's answers

Watching films, doing essays, just a great time

1/20/2014 11:45 PM View respondent's answers

Seeing friends, shopping, travelling, reading, cinema

1/20/2014 7:11 PM View respondent's answers

Cinema, shopping, eating

1/20/2014 7:07 PM View respondent's answers

films, art, twitter

1/20/2014 5:52 PM View respondent's answers

watching tv, films, blogging, making and watching videos, art

1/20/2014 5:31 PM View respondent's answers

Reading, music, film, photography.

1/20/2014 5:21 PM View respondent's answers

running; films; theatre; reading; body boarding

1/20/2014 11:06 AM View respondent's answers

media food religion

1/20/2014 10:44 AM View respondent's answers

Reading, food and fitness

1/20/2014 10:23 AM View respondent's answers

Question too broad. :P

1/19/2014 8:36 PM View respondent's answers

Fitness. Gym. Physics. How the mind works. Reading books. Watching documentaries.

1/19/2014 7:36 PM View respondent's answers

Sport

1/19/2014 5:54 PM View respondent's answers

We will try to involve aspects from this responses into our own opening, to interest our audience. Reading was one of the top responses and so this will most certainly be involved. Including their interests will keep their attention and allow them to relate to the characters and the situations presenting their interests.

How many of these films have you watched?

It was important that we asked our respondents about the current films when asking questions as they are our main inspiration for the opening and will be the main source of analysis will come from. The film that was most popular was mean girls for the female respondents. This suggests that our target audience likes the setting and code and conventions that occur in this film. This means that we will try and make our film to run parallel to Mean Girls. we will do this by having a character that starts out at being an outcast and we will set the film in a school.

What did you think of the openings of these films?

Upbeat, gave brief insight into the main characters whose personality traits will progress as the film develops
2/6/2014 1:21 PM View respondent's answers
good
1/30/2014 2:51 PM View respondent's answers
they were good/ intersting
1/28/2014 5:03 PM View respondent's answers
feel good, chic-flicks
1/23/2014 4:56 PM View respondent's answers
good
1/23/2014 11:12 AM View respondent's answers
The opening were very interesting and made me want to watch the film to the end.
1/22/2014 4:26 PM View respondent's answers
Good, captured my interest
1/21/2014 8:21 PM View respondent's answers
Good opening that made you want to know what happened afterwards
1/21/2014 5:57 PM View respondent's answers
Angus, thongs is terrible, the opening was the only good thing cause it was pretty funny Funny openings which make the audience laugh and feel sorry for the character (main) are the best, because it makes the character seem more real and likable; you can connect with them.
1/21/2014 2:51 PM View respondent's answers
Bright, loud and up-tempo music, repetitive
1/21/2014 9:57 AM View respondent's answers
Fab
1/20/2014 11:45 PM View respondent's answers
All enticing
1/20/2014 7:11 PM View respondent's answers
They made me want to stay and watch the film as they introduced characters and themes.
1/20/2014 7:07 PM View respondent's answers
Effective in introducing plot
1/20/2014 5:52 PM View respondent's answers
they established very exaggerated interpretations of school life for teenagers and it was hard to relate as it was not realistic, although some elements were based on truth
1/20/2014 5:31 PM View respondent's answers
Can't remember them.
1/20/2014 5:21 PM View respondent's answers
engaging and intriguing
1/20/2014 11:06 AM View respondent's answers#


By looking at what people thought about the films gave us an insight into how the audience reacted to the films that were in the selection of films. We can then use there thoughts to alter our own opening to suit them, particularly when looking at the female responses.  

How similar were these films in terms of plot?

Key focus of relationships between characters Minor positive and negative events

2/6/2014 1:21 PM View respondent's answers

a bit

1/30/2014 2:51 PM View respondent's answers

practically the same just different circumstances and setting

1/28/2014 5:03 PM View respondent's answers

mostly similar, girly teenage school movies

1/23/2014 4:56 PM View respondent's answers

not very

1/23/2014 11:12 AM View respondent's answers

The films were not very similar even though they are all 'chick-flicks'. The story lines were very different.

1/22/2014 4:26 PM View respondent's answers

Quite similar, all included a boy whom the main character got with in the end.

1/21/2014 8:21 PM View respondent's answers

Reasonably similar

1/21/2014 5:57 PM View respondent's answers

They were all pretty diverse, but generally they all made me laugh so connect with the main character.

1/21/2014 2:51 PM View respondent's answers

Very similar. Teenage girls who fall in love with some boy and up with them.

1/21/2014 9:57 AM View respondent's answers

Happy endings

1/20/2014 11:45 PM View respondent's answers

Similar in essence (love, boys, comedic value etc) but also have quite varying and interesting plots (of the ones I have seen)

1/20/2014 7:11 PM View respondent's answers

Very similar, generic plots with small variations.

1/20/2014 7:07 PM View respondent's answers

All after a lover

1/20/2014 5:52 PM View respondent's answers

happy endings, girl gets boy and visa versa, very conventional

1/20/2014 5:31 PM View respondent's answers

Mean Girls and Clueless are pretty much the same.

1/20/2014 5:21 PM View respondent's answers

from a relationship\family point of view their are some similarites

1/20/2014 11:06 AM View respondent's answers

teengae girls challanges faced popularit

1/20/2014 10:44 AM View respondent's answers

Quite similar- issues of looks, glamour and friendship issues.

1/20/2014 10:23 AM View respondent's answers

Very

1/19/2014 8:36 PM View respondent's answers

never seen any

1/19/2014 7:36 PM View respondent's answers

Quite similar

1/19/2014 5:54 PM View respondent's answers

The fact that many of the respondents said that the films were very similar suggests a popularity in the plots and characters used for the audience, as there is an increase to use this. Although we do wish to make our film unique we also need to consider what is popular, as bringing something very unique may result in a dislike to the film as it will take a while for the audience to come to like the new introduction of the film. By keeping our film along with the films out at the moment we know it will be a success. However, the fact that they are very similar, there is a gap in the teenage romantic comedy genre market that we may be able to fill.

What do you expect when you watch a teen romantic-comedy film?

Relatively happy upbeat plot with some minor sad moments but overall it is about the developing of relations between characters

2/6/2014 1:21 PM View respondent's answers

soppy crap

1/30/2014 2:51 PM View respondent's answers

romance comedy nothing too deep

1/28/2014 5:03 PM View respondent's answers

cheesy and unserious

1/23/2014 4:56 PM View respondent's answers

group of friends a boy friend school

1/23/2014 11:12 AM View respondent's answers

To be funny, partial sad and want an engaging storyline with twists throughout.

1/22/2014 4:26 PM View respondent's answers

Typical plot of a girl & boy

1/21/2014 8:21 PM View respondent's answers

A happy ending

1/21/2014 5:57 PM View respondent's answers

For them to make me laugh, and not have crap jokes.

1/21/2014 2:51 PM View respondent's answers

Girls trying to get a guy to notice them and funny arguments with friends as they attempt to get theis guy to like them

1/21/2014 9:57 AM View respondent's answers

To make me cry and smile

1/20/2014 11:45 PM View respondent's answers

Love, boys, kissing (lol)

1/20/2014 7:11 PM View respondent's answers

There to be a happy ending, and the 'baddie' to lose.

1/20/2014 7:07 PM View respondent's answers

love interest gone wrong

1/20/2014 5:52 PM View respondent's answers

happy ending, girl gets boy (or visa versa), protagonist matures, relatable protagonist

1/20/2014 5:31 PM View respondent's answers

Cloying, sickly crap OR (rarely) witty, funny, sharp observational humour.

1/20/2014 5:21 PM View respondent's answers

groups - in and the out crowd; complication; some nastiness and jealousy

1/20/2014 11:06 AM View respondent's answers

fights/ fall outs/ disputs social classes clashing

1/20/2014 10:44 AM View respondent's answers

Image is not always everything as a core message.

1/20/2014 10:23 AM View respondent's answers

Boy meets girl

1/19/2014 8:36 PM View respondent's answers

cringey moments lol

1/19/2014 7:36 PM View respondent's answers

Cheesy always ends happy

1/19/2014 5:54 PM View respondent's answers

This allowed us to take a look at the expectations of the teen romantic comedy genre for the audience. This means that we can take what they expect to see and either go in contrast to it, or run parallel along side it. By running parallel to it we will be following what the audience expect and what a lot of the audience chose to watch the film to see. Teenagers chose this genre because of their expectations.

What do you think of when talking about teen rom-com films?

This again was looking at expectations and what people think of when talking about teen romantic comedies. It allowed us to get an insight into how our audience think, and will give us an idea of what they may possibly want us to include.

What kind of characters do you expect in a teen rom-com movie?

This allows us to figure out what characters normally arise and therefore help us decide which of the common characters are most popular. The main character that arose was a female main character which received 100% of the votes. We will therefore use this, and reinforce it into our own film by having a main female character.