Final Cut.

Evaluation

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

Within our sequence, we did use certain conventions of a typical film opening sequence, for example the use of our production companies and the logo to go with them at the beginning of our sequence made it clear our sequence was not a trailer. These production companies were chosen specifically as one larger company 'Oh Vivian Productions' and a smaller one, 'Pinewood Productions'. Our 'Oh Vivian Productions' logo was made specifically to add humour to it; fitting in with the almost comedy genre of our film.

The two images when sequenced together create a animation of the animated man saying 'Ohh, Vivien'. We created the sound by editing the voice-over on top. Although we experienced some problematic aspects such as background room sounds whilst recording the voice over: we managed to resolve these problems by asking other class members to leave the room or sit without speaking. Overall we managed to achieve the look we wanted quite well.

Within this title, the image as a whole acts almost as a mosaic piecing together. Originally, the sound we used over this was a sharp, deep sound, which we didn't feel was very appropriate. We managed to then change this sound to a softer sound, which fits in well with the movement of the effect.

Also, the use of titles of the actors, editors etc manage to portray that it is a opening film sequence rather than a trailer or other type of media product. We managed to challenge the typical conventions of a real media opening sequence as we managed to combine our opening titles in with our actual filming, by displaying the names on a notice board. We got the idea of this effect from the opening sequence of Napoleon Dynamite, where the titles work within the film sequence in the same way. Using this technique almost emphasises the qwerkyness of our film.

Other typical conventions of an opening sequence would be different camera angles used in order to portray a certain character, or suggest the specificity of the genre we have chosen for our film. We use a point of view shot as the first part of our filming, not only does this depersonalize the character, creating more tension into seeing his appearance: this gives the idea that the main purpose behind our opening sequence is to introduce the main protagonist, we challenged the normal point of view as usually at the opening of films an establishing shot is used to set the scene, we used the point of view shot as our first shot. Also point of view shots are more oftenly used in conflict sequences of action films, as in Robocop shown below..

Our film is difficult to put into a one specific genre zone, there are subtle elements of comedy but the film is also themed around adventure and social diversity. The different camera angles, shots and diverse theme makes our film different and difficult to set in a specific genre. The introduction of Clark's sister is not direct, she contacts Clark on his mobile, this challenges other films which almost always introduce main plot related characters in person, we used this to our benefit to add comedic affect but also once again to build tension as to who his sister is, like with the introduction of Clark through the point of view shot. Non-diegetic sound effects are used to put emphasis on Clark's movement, this challenges the normality of the film being as realistic as possible, to immerse the audience. We aimed to challenge this and use a convention that was different.

2.)How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Clark Epson, the protagonist is represented like typical films that share a similar genre, an outcast at the bottom of the social hierachy(e.g Seth from superbad).
We represent him through the reactions of those around him during the point of view shot. For example the boys who walk by him stare aggresively, the attractive girl who walks by doesnt even glance at him and during his phone ringing every group he looks at looks at him like he is a loser. By using the other characters to represent Clark they also represent themselves, judging Clark because of his adverse clothing. These representations are amplified in our film but are based on realistic situations. This a typical representation for the types of genre our film comes under.

3.)What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Our product is more likely to be distibuted by a more independant film company like Fox searchlight. This is because our film runs outside the normality of it's genre, aswell as the genre being hard to decipher. Also our film used different conventions and challenges normal often-used coventions, e.g. odd camera angles and 'silly' non-diegetic sound effects. However the simpler comedy used in our film may makes it similar to large, widespread, popular films like Waynes world or Superbad, or some aspects even Mean Girls. This means it could also be distibuted by a larger company like 20th century fox, as it has the potential to be popular with a variety of audiences.

4.) Who would be the audience for your media product?

We decided that our target audience range would be specifically for teenagers, so our age certificate would be a 15 rating.‘Party Animal’ will be a 15 rating due to the mild adult humour involved, frequent bad language and mild sex and drugs scenes and references.

The type of teenager we think will watch our film will be the typical late school/college student, due to the humour and content that would have been involved in the entire film. Other types of films relating to this genre that would share the same audience, as ours would be ones such as;

1. Napoleon Dynamite.

2. Eagle vs. Shark.

3. Mean Girls.

The wider audience could expand to any adult who has an appreciation of this younger, more sarcastic than usual humour. Teenagers of a younger age may also enjoy it, but may not have a full knowledge of what is going on entirely.

5.) How did you attract/address your target audience?

We focused on asking for feedback from teenagers in the same year as us due to us being in the prime age barrier for this type of film. We also asked a few people, out of the normal age range.

Audience Feedback:

Sophie, 17: Good use of camera shots and transitions and the music suited the genre.

Bobby, 18: Good editing, nice transitions, well portrayed storyline, easy to understand.

Lauren, 17: I liked the music to it, adds to the imagery well.

Sam, 22: Continuity should have been better.

Will, 16: It was quite difficult to read the titles in the sequence.

We took all of our feedback into consideration for this sequence and have therefore made changes to the sequence altogether in order to improve it. I feel that the feedback was very helpful, and we were able to convey personal ideas from our target age range in order to make an overall better sequence that people will be more than likely to enjoy.

6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of the constructive this product?

The things that we have learnt during the process of filming and editing is first of all a better understanding of Final Cut Pro.

Initially, we already had a basic knowledge of Final Cut Pro, however during our time of editing and producing our sequence we have managed to build on it and able to create overall better transitions and effects. One thing we did have problems was, was the continuity between the shots involving the pin-up board, as the posters kept on changing each day, so we found it hard to portray our continuity to a high level. Although we did not manage to make the transitions between these shots 100% perfect, we still feel that they worked well and we did the best that we could do.

Moreover, other software we managed to increase our knowledge on was Soundtrack Pro and Garage Band. By using different tracks and layering them upon each other we were able to create the soundtrack that suited our specific problematic genre: we aimed for a simple but cheesey soundtrack of which fitted in with our protagonist’s personality. We managed to add in voice overs within our titles and also other non-diegetic sounds including Clarke’s ringtone. It took a while for us to manage to include the ringtone as we found it problematic transferring the specific song we wanted, however we soon managed this by recording the ringtone via the microphone and editing it on top of the shots where we needed it.

We found that the technology we were able to use, in one sense made us more creative as we were able to identify and expand on the techniques we were able to include; however in another sense we also felt slightly limited to the effects we were able to include. For example, we found it difficult to edit in the split screen shot of which we initially intended to include, therefore with our timing being very limited on what we were able to achieve, we did not end up being able to include it.

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

We found the preliminary task gave us basic knowledge in order to carry our successful camera angles, and with this we were able to use them in our final sequence. We found it difficult in order to carry out successful continuity shots within the preliminary task, as one of our mise en scene (the phone) was in a different position with each shot. Funnily enough, our continuity worked in the same way in our final sequence as the posters from the boards would be in different positions due to filming on different days. Our editing, however, has improved since the preliminary task, we all had different techniques that we were able to carry out, so putting them all together seemed to work well.

Further Filming Updates.

Since our last attempt at filming, we have filmed a large section of our opening sequence in one block, however this did take us longer time than originally expected due to technial difficulties with the camera! We found that some of our shots would not act as continuously as we expected: therefore would have to film some of the shots again to ensure a better aspect of continuity within them.

Within editing the shots we have most recently filmed, being the quick action shots of the protagonist, Clark, answering his phone and the social cliques turning around to reveal a dirty look, we have included sound effects in order to emphasise the quickness of the movement in the protagonist's actions: we used a 'Swish' sound in order to do this.

Moreover, we also edited in our protagonist's ringtone over the top of the filming, as we found there were minor faults in attempting to record the ringtone with the microphone as the sound quality wasn't very high. However, after editing in the ringtone to our sequence, we had a problem with the software Final Cut Pro, of which resulted in us losing half of our sound that had been edited in. We aim to put this back in the next chance we get as we ran out of time this time.

First Attempts at Filming.

We began to start shooting our opening sequence within the past few days. The first shot we intended to have a point of view shot from our protagonist, walking through the corridoor. During his walk, we aimed to have other students giving him dirty looks. Followed by this, Clarke is distracted by an attractive student walking past and 'checks her out'.

We finalised in filming this shot around about five times, each time having trouble with the timing and smoothness of the overall shot. In our editing stage, we soon realised that the cut between two of our shots was too 'abrupt', therefore we will have to, again, refilm this shot, along with another shot (or title) to go inbetween the two shots.

This picture shows how we were attempted to edit the shot. As half of the footage we wished to use was in the widescreen setting, the the other half was not, we attempted to crop the shot in order to make the two shots the same aspect ratio. Cropping the shot, however, we feel was too time consuming and we believe that our time could be used much more wisely by just refilming the shot altogether.

The video shown below shows our first attempt at filming the first shot, the only piece of this filming that we felt satisfied with was the clip when Clarke, from his point of view, 'checks out' the girl walking down the corridoor. Although we attempted to cut this into another sequence that went better, the clips still seemed abrupt therefore did not work.

Main Character Costume.

Clark Epsom's costume for the entire of the scene will include:
Red Bandana.
Bon Jovi T-Shirt.
Aviator Sunglasses.
Sleeveless Denim Jacket w/ Studs on Collar.
Stonewash Jeans.

These are all in homage and inspired by the type of dresscode someone of the era Clark wishes he was in,would wear,such as:

But alot less Glamourous as he is simply a wannabe student.

This is how the actor playing character looks in the costume:

Filming Updates.

Along with the changing in filming the first shot of the sequences,we also have to change the amount of people are in each 'cliche' group of friends. This is due to not being able to get suffient people to commit to film at the right times,so we will be using smaller numbers than 4 for each,we also think this could be more affective in the end as it will make it look realistic.

For the shots that were in the main character's (Clark) vision,we needed to get the same realistic view. So as he was wearing tinted aviator sunglasses in the scene,for the filming we simply took out one of the lenses and cellotaped it to the front of the camera,giving it a DIY yet realistic look.
The Camera looked like this:

We also had problems filming in the area that we filmed in due to too many people passing causing interuption,so we may change location for the shot's required in a college corridor near a notice board.

Music to first part of opening sequence.

For the start of the opening sequence of our film,we intend to use orginal music composed on garageband and final cut to help build up to the point of the main character,Clark,having his phone ring.
We have started creating music on garageband that we will fit the mood of the scene. We have started with simple acoustic guitars and percussion building up into a full structure of a song with a low tempo.
It is similar to 0:00-1:22 of the track 'Eraser' by 'No Age',due to the build up of seperate percussion and over dubbed guitar layers, but alot shorter to fit in with the section of the scene it relates to.

First attempt - Opening shot

After filming the continuous shot of which introduces our opening scene, we realised that although we attempted to go for a point of view shot, using a hand-held camera technique, the camera is too shakey in order to show our titles as successfully as we first hoped. We attempted modifying the duration and speeds of parts of the shot, although this seems to make the shot feel unprofessional, and more 'accidental' hand-held camera. We intend to re-film this shot next time we are able to get hold of a camera using a tripod, moreover pausing on each individual title for longer duration of time.

The first attempt at this shot is shown below, however this is not the final product as we do intend to re-capture this.

Animatic

Final Location

After looking round college for a suitable location we came across our spots.

This area would be a good spot to put up our notice board due to it's large spacious wall and well lit corridor.

This area continues into a social looking environment which helps it give a realistic college/high school feel, it also allows to have each social group around the main spot of the protagonist.

Prop List.

In our post-filming situation, we have invented a prop list to organise ourselves when it comes to doing the actual filming.

- 18 actors/actresses (inc. background cast)

- bon jovi t-shirt for protagonist

- red bandana for protagonist

- cork/notice board

- mobile phone

- numerous posters to go upon the notice board

- suitable clothing for each social clique

Once we have managed to get hold of the props needed in order to carry out the filming process successfully, we will be able to begin the process.

Character Casting.

For our opening sequence we need to cast 18 speaking people for roles in our film.

We will also need people to be used as 'mise en scene' walking past our main character,but for this we will use the 4 different groups of people.

We need to cast 4 people as the jock/popular types,4 as ghetto/street kids,4 as emo/goth types and 4 as nerdy kids.

The two main castings needed will be for Clark and Candice.

For Clark we will need a boy our age (17) who is kind of short,and willing to wear very 80s based 'metal' clothing.

For Candice we will need a girl of the same age again,or a little older or younger,who preferably is blonde and willing to act and dress in a very plastic/preppy way.

We have cast Clark,and are using many of our friends and people in our media group as the 16 extras.

We are yet to find a suitable actress to play Candice..

Storyboard.

Script.

(Clark Epson sticks self-made leaflet to a public notice board in his college,he then looks at it with self content knowing he has finally got it on the board. He then briefly looks at the other advertisements on the notice board. diagetic 'college' noise will be constant throughout. He finishes and turns around. His phone rings and he lets it ring an annoyingly large amount of time. Fellow students will start to take recognition and stare and shout abuse at him for this.)

(Possible dialogue for groups of kids in shot)

1st group- answer your phone , Fag

2nd group-(strong 'street accent' Oi MAAAAATTTTTEE--pick up yo phoonneee

3rd group-(all sigh)

4th group- he's totally added an elevated neutron particle to my unstable xeron atom(all snort and giggle)

nice one Lewis

Clark answers his phone

Clark Epson:Hello?

Candice Epson: Mom wants you, fag!

Clark Epson: . . . .there's no reason to call me a fag,fag.

Candice Epson: Shut up or i'll tell everyone about how you tongued your Bon Jovi poster (in aggravated voice) just come home clark.

(candice puts phone down,short call cutting 'brr' noise)

clark: (sigh of disbelief,mumbles)

(clark walks away)

Main Character Name

Our main character will be called:

Clark Epson.

this is inspired by the surroundings of our work space,taking clark from 'clark gable' on a gone with the wind promotional photo and epson,from the 'epson' printer range model R200.

We used this technique so we didn't have to argue between us on potential names.

Chosen Title -Budmo Jiggler and Jigglish

This is an example of Budmo jiggler and jigglish being used in the way we desire.

Between 00:15 - 00:23 is the example. In our opening sequence we intend to produce this effect using photoshop for our final shot, we think that this will create a title that is more attractive to to the viewers instead of a title that is not animated.

Possible font for titles.

party

animal

This font is called 'chinese rocks'. We like this font as it is slightly abnormal, which could justify his personality. Also, this particular font has quite a 'fun' appearance to it, which would work well with the plot of our film.

party

animal

party

animal

This font, 'budmo jiggler and jigglish' is the font we feel is most appropriate for the genre of our film as it is very fun and represents a night life theme, which contradicts the main character's persona. With this font, we intend to have the upper one and lower one alternating between each other to give a 'flashing' effect.

party

animal

This is another possible font, 'destrukt', as it has similar aspects to the initial idea we thought of. We thought this font could be a good possibility as it gives an almost 'quirky' effect, to highlight the protagonist's personality. With this font and the initial idea, we realised we could not be as creative with how we edited it, however with our second choice we feel we will be able to show more creativity.

Update: due to the fonts constantly converting back to normal style on the blog,we are currently unable to find a way to show all four different fonts to maintain on the blog.

Sound.

In our opening sequence the first 3 shots will have no non diegetic music or sounds, it will includes simply background music identical to that of what you'd expect to hear in a college (people walking,people chatting,doors opening and closing etc)

In the fourth shot this will all be interrupted by his phone ringing mid shot, his ringtone will be 'living on a prayer' by Bon Jovi to help introduce his obsession with the band. If we can't use this due to copyright, we will use a random heavy metal style ringtone to make sure it still has a strong association with his personality.

This continues throughout the next 11 shots, until he finally answers the call.

During these 11 shots, the diegetic sound will continue. But will include the first sections of dialogue, coming from the four groups who are shouting at him to answer his phone.

At the point when he finally answers his phone the focus point is on his voice and his sisters(who is on the other end of the phone)

As this cuts away,and leaves only the title on the notice board fading into the main title, The first and only use of non-diegetic music in the opening sequence will be used here. It will be a repetition of the 'heavy metal' based ringtone but clearer and at a louder volume as it's no longer drowned out by the noise from the other diegetic sounds surrounding the scene.

Location.

Our locational requirements:

We are going to look for a spacious room with a notice board.

We will be filming in college somewhere as long as it fits our requirements.

We will have to film it during a time where college isn't busy so there will be less interruptions.

We will post a picture of the location when we find it.

We will also need to find a single shot,in a homely house,to use for the shot of the sister at home calling the main character.

When we find this we will also post a photo and location area.

Shot List

1: Camera panning around different leaflets/posters on a pin-up board, showing titles of the film.

2: Point of View Shot from protagonist putting up a poster on pin-up board.

3: Close Up of his expression on his face.

4: Medium Long Shot from behind in order to show other students walking past. Phone starts ringing.

5: Continuous Point of View Shot panning around the different social cliques. Pans & stops repeatedly. [This scene will probably take around 4 shots in total, however we cannot be sure until we begin filming, when we have a definite number we will include it on a newer post]

6: Close up quick edit zoom from his face, to his phone, hand taking out the phone from pocket, to having the phone next to his ear - acting 'cool'.

We used the 'Planning Scene' from Shaun of the Dead as inspiration for this technique. This video gives a brief idea of how we intend it to work.

7: Close Up of face on the phone with split screen edited in. Sister's face is shown as a Close Up on the other half of the screen in a home environment. Conversation takes place.

8: Split screen disappears after the conversation, leaving a Medium Close Up of the protagonist to the far right of the screen, he then exits the shot, showing only the board how the scene began. It will then zoom into a leaflet/flyer/poster with the title of the film on. [Potential Ending] Similar to the introduction of the titles in the film 'Mum and Dad', the close up of two toilet doors, complete with gender signs, are zoomed in on, with the title 'Mum and Dad' edited underneath them. We inspire to use this editing technique in a similar way in order to portray our title of 'Party Animal'. The rest of the pin-up board will fade away, leaving only the title from a singular leaflet/flyer/poster. We aim to make the background of the title black & the actual font white. We will edit this in postproduction using the software, 'Final Cut Pro'.