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

Insert Preliminary Task Video V Final Film Opening

When we compare the two, the main difference is the more complex storyline. Also the camera work has improved a lot since filming our preliminary task to filming the film opening scene. The preliminary task initially helped us understand what it took to create a piece, film it, and then edit it all in order to bring the whole piece together.  From this, I learnt a lot as it enabled me to understand what it was I needed to develop and improve on to ensure that my final opening scene was more advanced and looked professional.

• Filming- When comparing my original preliminary task to my opening scene, I can see how I have considered shot types a lot more. This helps make it look professional and well thought out. In order to have included all these shots, planning and storyboarding everything was very important. Also all the research we did this time round into similar and existing films helped as I could build my knowledge which enabled me to produce the best piece possible in my opening scene, which I didn't know when filming my preliminary task. Also when filming, rather than just using the camera, we considered how using tripods and dollies would aid us to add to the professionalism of our piece by making the film quality look better. This is because when using just the handheld camera, like in our preliminary task, it looks very shaky and this in turn makes it look very amateur. In comparison to our final opening scene which we used a tripod to film the majority of films, along with a dolly to film the moving shots where we followed behind our actor. All of the subtle changes to the way we filmed our opening scene, in comparison to preliminary task made our final piece more visually appealing and generally better.

• Planning- I also feel that I have learnt the importance of careful and thorough planning. This is because for our preliminary task, we did create a storyboard, script and shot list, however they were not detailed enough to properly aid us when filming as they should of been. This in turn made it harder for us to film our preliminary task quickly and efficiently. Based on this I new that I would need to make time for planning before shooting our opening scene. This is because it takes a long time to create detailed, helpful storyboards, shot lists and scripts. Therefore my biggest learning curb from creating preliminary to opening scene was to ensure planning was detailed and complete. If not, everything is made a lot harder because instead of looking at the storyboard and being able to see the next scene, shot type, shot length etc, you would have to know it, which isn't easy when also considering everything else you have to when filming a scene.

• Reliable/Flexible Actors- Another crucial part of film making that I found was ensuring you have reliable actors. In our preliminary task we had real struggles ensuring our actors would turn up on certain days, at certain times. We found that when was suitable for us, and suitable for our storyboard based on location and other external problems we may have had due to certain places only being available for filming on at certain times, often the actor couldn't make it. This meant that it made our preliminary task a real rush, making it a lot more stressful than it needed to be. This left us the problem of having to then change actors for our preliminary task, meaning he has to learn the storyline and know his lines in minimal time in order to ensure we had our preliminary task completed on time. Therefore, in our final scene, we ensured we chose a reliable actor who we knew had a track record of being punctual and flexible. This made filming a lot easier as it meant we could say to him that we were going to film it on a certain day at a certain time and we could relax knowing we wouldn't be let down last minute. Therefore, from doing the preliminary I learnt that having reliable actors is very important and from learning this probably helped me avoid this situation again in the filming of the opening scene meaning it was a lot less stressful and more relaxed.

Question 6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

In order to film our piece we used a Canon HD camera. This camera was HD however, even with this, some of the shots still weren't the best quality. This shows me that even though these cameras were expensive, compared to industry standard cameras they are no match. However, for what we needed, it was good enough. The piece we made looked professional and during the filming we experienced no real problems due to the camera. It was very easy to use, playback was very simple to meaning when we wanted to watch the clips back that we had just shot we could do with ease. We also managed to film during the day and were lucky enough to have got two good days when the weather was bright, meaning lighting was good enough for us to film without it causing any problems. The only problems we did face was the wind, we found that it went straight through the camera, therefore when we played our piece back we had some sounds that ideally we didn't want. This wasn't a problem however as in our opening, there is no dialogue from our main character meaning we could mute the clip and get rid of all background noise. This meant the slight wind noises weren't a problem in the end. This has shown me however that when filming for films, institutions must have to consider all these factors, or get specialist equipment in which is very expensive, this shows me the extent of planning that has to be done before filming and also made me understand that filming isn't as easy as it looks.

When editing our piece we used Apple Macs. We used the software iMovie to then edit our piece after uploading our clips from the memory card out of our camera onto the mac. The main reason for using iMovie besides any other software is that I have had some previous experience of using that software, for example when we had to edit our preliminary task. Therefore, it seemed the obvious choice of software to use as it required the least amount of practise prior to editing as we already knew how to use it which made the editing process more efficient. Our other option for editing our piece was Final Cut Express, however, after a little practise on this software, I decided using iMovie would be the better option due to having used it before and having experience using it and due to iMovie simplicity in comparison to Final Cut. Whilst editing we didn't experience to many problems, however it was prior to editing when we were trying to upload the clips from the memory card to the Macs, we encountered a problem in which the file was the wrong type and was not compatible with the Macs. This meant we then had to waste a majority of one day changing them from one file type to another. Other than this we encountered no drastic problems during the editing of our opening scene. A good thing about iMovie is that it allowed us to improve the quality of some of our shots by adjusting the quality by stabilising them. This added to our piece making it look professional. Overall, in the film industry as technology continues to improve, film quality will continue to improve also as editing equipment continues to grow and improve. From what I used when editing, it is already very advanced, and I only used basic editing techniques which added to my piece vastly. I used things like transitions, colour corrections and stabilisation feature which improved our opening scene.
To improve, next time I would consider learning how to use Final Cut Express, as I feel this would have also allowed for an even more advanced edit and meant our final product would have looked even better.

In order to keep and produce a blog of all our work, we used Google Blogger. I found this slightly frustrating to use at first as it often was hard to insert images where you wanted them and also found sometimes when I viewed my actual blog as a whole, text would hang off the side and not be visible or easy to read. However, after I got used to the software, I have actually grown to quite like it as I feel it gives quite a professional look, easy to keep all my work in one place and finally is easy to start a piece, save it and then edit it and add to it at a later date. If I were to do it again, after getting used to the software I would probably use it again as it did help to have all the work in one place and I never once experienced any technical difficulties with the site meaning it was safe and secure to do my blog work on.

Question 5- How did you attract/address your audience?

The video covers the majority of the questions. I got feedback from someone of the demographic of my target audience, a young adult. Like similar other films in the same genre, by using the expected generic conventions that you would expect to find in this genre it entices my target audience to watch the film. Stereotypically crime/dramas are more appealing to a male audience, hence this is our target demographic.

Question 4- Who would be the audience for your media product?

This is an example of my target audience, young adults, aged between 18 and 32.

My target audience would probably shop in quite mainstream shops, clothing would be purchased from stores such as Topman, River Island, Blue Inc etc. They would be up to date with the latest trends and like to always look well groomed and up to date. This is due to their age, they like to always look good, and in turn shop at these shops which they know will have the sort of clothing they look for.

They would mainly listen to rap music- with the like of Eminem, 50 Cent, Kendrick Lamar etc. They would be very into their music and up to date with all the latest songs and gossip from within the music world. Also they would like going to music festivals and seeing there favourite acts live. They also like music festivals for the social side of things, they like to get involved with things and enjoy spending time with their friends and having fun.

There favourite TV programmes would be programmes like..

• Top Gear
• Match of the Day
• Celebrity Juice

They enjoy action packed programmes that change weekly. Have to be jam packed with action to keep them entertained and interested. Like to keep up to date with the top news, hence watching these sort of programmes to understand and be able to share thoughts with friends about the subjects.

There favourite past time would be meeting up with friends and going down town, seeing a movie and playing sports. During the day they enjoy being active and playing sports, of an evening they enjoy either going out in the evenings or having relaxing evenings in watching the telly or putting a DVD on.

Question 3- What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The following is answered in a PowerPoint presentation.

Question 2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In this video I am discussing the question above.

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

Our film includes stereotypical conventions that you would expect to see in Crime/Dramas whilst also challenging these generic conventions in other ways.

 Most Crime/Dramas tend to have a good guy and a bad guy. Usually, in the end we see the ending come without a definite conclusion on what's happen. They are often very good at building tension and grabbing at the audience in order to make them want to watch on. Ours, also includes the majority of these things, besides having a bad guy in it. Our piece is aimed at young adults, because of this we have incorporated an expensive well known car, nice house and nice clothing. This enhances our audience because they can relate to this as they are at the point in their life where they are every interested in these things and want these things too. By being able to relate to things, it means the audience engages better with the film. Title sequences in our piece are very standard, meeting the requirements expected.

Another common convention of Crime/Dramas are for them to connect deeply with the audience and catch their feelings and allow them to relate to the text. This goes hand in hand with the uses and gratification theory that I spoke about in a previous post. By using this it means the audience is constantly looking for something from the text that they personally can relate too, meaning they are always active and aware of what's happening. By using this theory, and making our piece very relatable, people are more likely to want to watch it.

Also stereotypically we have a male as the main character. This is very common in Crime/Dramas as they are portrayed stereotypically to be the stronger gender hence playing the lead role, opposed to woman who are often made out to be seen as being venerable.

The camera work and shot types make our piece look verisimilitude. Again, a very stereotypical generic convention of Crime/Dramas is to make the scene very believable and realistic. By using establishing shots, which immediately show the location of the film and set the scene for the audience, it makes the piece seem very lifelike. Set in a large house, it is a stereotypical rich persons house, and the Jaguar car that Xavier the main character then gets into also is very stereotypical and what you would expect from a character like him. Again, enhancing the pieces realism.

A tension building piece of music is also used throughout, the idea is that it builds tension and almost works in harmony with the scenes as you see them. This means the audience will be more engaged as they are using more of their senses. This is a generic convention too.

Overall, our piece uses conventions that you would expect to find in a real life Crime/Drama product. This therefore makes people more interested in watching it as they are fooled to believe it could actually be a true story and could happen, therefore making it more believable and not so unrealistic that they switch off and don't pay attention.




Final Final Cut

This is our final final cut. We changed the music on it due to copyright reasons on the last piece.

Final Cut

This is our final cut. The finished version.

Rough Cut 2

In this cut we got rid of some of the effects used on the clips. We also added in our institutional logo at the beginning.  This made it look better and more professional. Below is the second clip of our piece.

Rough Cut 1

This is our first cut of our film. We still need to add in some changes to make it up to the standard its expected to be. We also need to add in our institutional logo and sort out some of the titles. This is the building blocks to our final cut.

Filming Diary

Day One: (20/03/2014) Afternoon, 14:00-16:00hrs.

We filmed the scene of Xavier at the construction site.

What went well?

• The actor/s arrived on time. This was beneficial because it meant we could start filming as soon as possible and get filming done before the area started to get busy, which would make it hard to film without people being in the way and getting in the background of shots.

• The actor/s were ready and dressed as we told them to be. This helped ensure the audience, when they watch the piece, understand what character he is playing and that it matches up with how we designed our piece to be during planning and storyboarding.

• We managed to get lots of shots of this to ensure we had plenty of footage; should when it comes to editing parts of some shots aren't as good as others in which case we have plenty of different footage that we can use to ensure our piece is the best it can be.

Negatives?

• Being outside meant that lighting was hard to get correct. It meant that sometimes we would have to wait until the sun went behind a cloud or visa versa in order to make the shot look good. Otherwise it meat we had unwanted shadows in the piece, lighting on the camera was poor resulting in the shot not looking very good and also in order to keep the consistency in all shots we had to ensure the weather was similar in each shoot.

• Again, being outside meant when filming the tracking shot of Xavier walking towards the building site, the ground was quite uneven meaning the shot sometimes looked a bit shaky. This then meant we had to go back and re-film to try and make the shot not look so bumpy and more professional.

• The camera kept on picking up on unwanted sounds from passers by. This unfortunately could not be helped and just means it will have to be cut out during editing. Its not a big problem, just one that could have been avoided by checking to see if anyone was around before shooting.

Day 2:  (21/03/2014) Afternoon, 13:00- 17:00 hrs

We filmed the scene of Xavier leaving his house, driving off in his car, getting out of his car (filming all the close ups of his body) and ensuring all sound we needed to include was filmed.

1. Filming at Springfield House

When here we started by filming the scene of Xavier leaving his house. Once he leaves his house, he then walks and gets into his car, we then see him in the car and leaving the premises of his home.

What went well?

• The majority of this scene went very well. Having had it very well planned and by following the storyboard it meant we efficiently moved through the scenes, filming them all at least three times before moving onto the next location.

• We checked the weather prior to arranging a day to film, luckily we managed to get a day where the weather was very similar to the previous time when we filmed, this after editing the film together, it'll look like it was all shot on the same day making it look continuous rather than being obvious it was shot on two different days.

Negatives?

In the background of one of the shots, their is lots of parked cars. Originally this was not meant to be in the shot and was not part of the scene on the storyboard, however there was nothing we could do about this and on reflection it added to the piece. This is because if you looked at the size of Xavier's house, then considered the storyline of the piece and looked at outfit Xavier was wearing, it would seem fitting for him to own lots of cars (dare I say the cars sitting in the background were mainly Jaguars and Land Rovers, stereotypically richer peoples cars).


    2.  Filming just outside the construction site

When here, we used the car to film the door opening and shutting. We also filmed Xavier getting out of the car, this includes close ups on his feet, cuffs and tie. We also filmed the diegetic sound of the car door shutting and opening.

What went well?

• We managed to film everything that we needed to.

• The lighting was ideal meaning the shots looked good and professional. Filming externally meant lighting was temperamental throughout the day.

Negatives?

There was a busy and noisy road next to where we were trying to film, this meant that trying to shoot was quite hard because it meant conditions weren't great. This means that we will have to edit the sound out.

Auditions for Film Openings

This was our first potential actor. However he didn't seem to concerned about the role and did not seem interested in whether or not he got the role. Also compared to the others, he did not show any personality, nor have any past experience in acting.



This was the second potential actor for our piece. He has been at acting school and therefore will have a better idea of what was expected of him in this role. We also felt he had more of a personality and would fit the role better than the initial candidate.



Our final potential candidate for the role of Xavier was very good. We were impressed with his audition and from the off, felt he would fit the role perfectly.



After looking at all the negatives and positives of all the candidates I felt that the best audition was by Lewis Hale, the 3rd and final person who auditioned for us. Therefore, as a group we all went on to agree this and have decided he will play the role of Xavier.

Possible Locations

Some of the possible locations where we are considering filming our film opening:

Marlborough House, Chelmsford.

QBE, Chelmsford.

Institutional Logo Designs

Some of my logo designs.

The second of my designs, the idea being that Chameleons can change colour in order to camouflage in with their surroundings. Therefore, its fitting having a rainbow, which has lots of different colours in it. The name of our production company then is in the cloud which is directly in front of the rainbow, therefore audiences instantly see our institutions name. The rainbows rounded shape also means that the audiences eye is naturally drawn to the text in front as whatever way they follow the rainbow down, leads to the text. This making it near on impossible to not see our institutions name.

My initial idea was to incorporate an image of the animal within the logo. However, after creating the logo, I thought that having the Chameleon itself in the logo meant the audiences attention is drew away from the institutions name and instead attention is on the image. This means people may not remember the institutions name, and instead just remember the image, which is okay initially, but then they wouldn't actually know the name of the company which isn't great when the idea of an institutional logo is credit and make people aware of the company who produced the film. After this I created another design which is a lot easier to look at and therefore, personally I think its a better logo and would be more beneficial at doing the job that is required from a logo.

Institutional logos- Mainstream and Independent

At the start of films, there is always institutional logo and titles. This is because it allows producers to show off what they have produced. They are identifiable at the beginning of films, and depending on the amount of production companies who were involved, depends on the amount of titles that will be seen.

Independent films usually have more logos in their films, this is because they have more funding from places, meaning they credit these companies. Also they are horizontally integrated, meaning money does not filter through the company, instead goes into over companies who have the technology to be able to distribute the film effectively and so on. This in turn another reason why independent films would have more titles, because they have to credit all these companies too.

Logos have changed over time. As times and technology have developed, so to have logos and titles.

History of Logos:

• Early Days- Very simple, black and white.
• 1922- Studios grew, motions and sounds are added into logos.
• 1976- By now, all major studios, except Universal had switched their logos to celluloid animations. This is when objects are drawn onto a transparent sheet and made to look as though they are moving. Like cartoons.
• 1980's- Still images returned.
• 1990's- Universal became animated.
• 2007- Logos changed to being edited on computers.

Mainstream

20th Century Fox

20th Century Fox Institutional Logo

Universal Pictures

Universal Institutional Logo

 

Independent

Film 4



Film 4 Institutional Logo


Overall, from doing this research it has helped me to see that logos tend to be very simple and basic. This is because it then makes it easier for the audience to remember it, meaning every time they then see it they know which company it is and which company that logo belongs too. Based on this, when creating our companies logo, I will ensure it is quite simple, and that the logo itself has the institutions name within it. This way the audience will know what the logo is showing easily.

Being a mainstream company, it means we will have more surplus cash than an independent company would, meaning we could afford to make a very technical. However, I think it would be better to keep it simple because this way people will remember it easier. If its too complicated and too technologically advanced, people may not pay attention and lose interest. This would then mean they don't even see the logo, therefore never knowing what the institution is anyway. Therefore, I will keep my logo simple, to give it the best chance of people seeing it before turning off and not being interested. 

Our Production Company

Chameleon Productions as a group, decided we are going to be a mainstream production company. We decided that being a larger mainstream company would be better because it meant we have a larger market that we can aim for, meaning we appeal to a larger audience, therefore in turn usually meaning more money (profit) can be taken for the film. This means larger budgets for future films, meaning we can afford better more prolific actors that will also help to sell the film. This could be known as celebrity endorsement.

Another reason for being a large mainstream company is because the piece we are producing is very mainstream meaning the target market that we are targeting isn't as specific as it could be, however this means a wider audience we should increase sales. If we aimed our product at a niche market, the take up would immediately be less because there initially isn't as many in that particular market who we can target and aim our film towards.

Audience Theories

Hypodermic Needle Theory

This is when audiences don't need to pay that much attention, or engage their brain, to understand the film, instead, the information is just fed to them.




The Uses and Gratification Theory

This is where audiences want to feel something from a film. These audiences will select a particular film because they want to learn something from it.

How will this apply to our film?

We will apply these theories in our films by firstly understanding what it is the audience wants to get from our film by doing genre research prior to making our opening scene. Once we understand what it is they want we will use the hypodermic needle theory to feed the information into the audiences. By doing this they will then want to watch the rest of the film because although they may not have been engaged, where the information was fed into them they are now intrigued about what is going to happen next and therefore want to see more. We will use the Uses and Gratifications theory by using stereotypical conventions of which you would expect to find from Crime/Dramas, this will then mean our target audience, who want to see these typical conventions will watch our film opening, notice the typical conventions that they'd expect, which will make them want to see the rest of the film. They will want to watch more as this is what they expected and what they wanted to see.

American Pie: Opening Sequence Timeline

I chose to do a timeline on American Pie because it wasn't the standard opening scene that you would normally expect. This just shows to me the variety of different openings that as a group we could consider doing.                                                  

    

 

American Pie Opening Title Sequence from Venkat Gazula on Vimeo.

The Hangover: Opening Sequence Timeline

Types of Opening Sequences

As technology improves, opening sequences improve and become better. This can be seen by looking at the history of opening title sequences and seeing how they have improved from the 1920's to present day.

Titles superimposed on a blanks screen (1920's)

• Very simple ( White text on a black background) 
• Very cheap to produce
• Some low budget films still use this

Titles accompanied by still images (1930's-1955)

• Make it visually appealing
• Tend to be longer
• Musical score accompanies it

Titles accompanied by moving images (1955- Present Day) 

• Music accompanies symbolic images
• Meaning of images ambiguous until later on in the film
• Normally no dialogue 
• Moving titles often have music in background 
• Range from simple view of clouds to movement of camera

Titles built around animation and motion graphics (Late 1990's- Present Day)

• Animation Text was very popular
• Soundtrack had a distinct sound

Opening sequence titles have changed lots. However nowadays, anything goes and all of these techniques are still used. No doubt in the future as technology continues to improve, the film industry will introduce many new types of opening sequence techniques and it will change the way audiences engage with film.

Research into films of the same genre and how I will attract audiences

Some well known Crime/Drama films..

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)



The Dark Knight (2008)



Both of the above use very intense scenes to help attract the audiences. Although the Silence of the Lambs is slower paced, all the scenes are very tension building and lead the audience to believe something is going to happen. By building the tension up, it holds and engages the audience. This is a good way to ensure your audience are always aware and stay focused throughout. The Dark Knight approach to keeping and engaging audiences is very different. They use very intense fast paced scenes which include lots of cuts from scene to scene. This makes it harder to follow and therefore audiences have to pay attention. The high intensity also builds tension until the film reaches its climax.

Some generic conventions of Crime/Dramas are:

1. Usually set in well known locations (prolific, big inner city areas)
2. Dramatic music to build tension
3. Weapons (Guns, Knifes etc.)
4. Drugs
5. Blood
6. False Accusations
7. Murder

To ensure my film opening attracts my target audience I will ensure that the opening scene interests audiences by building tension and making them want to watch the rest of the film. I will also include as many as the typical generic conventions that you would expect to find in Crime/Dramas into my film opening.

Our Film Remake

We are doing a film remake in order to help us before filming our actual film opening. By producing a remake it allows us to practise and stick to a timeline that we have produced. The reason for this is that it is a good task that will allow us to practise with the cameras, and get a deeper understanding about what it takes to successfully produce an opening scene. It will help us as it will enhance our skills, whilst aiding us to create a piece so that we can get an idea of how long filming will take, helping us with time management for when we have to produce our film opening. Below is the video of our remake.

Why am I doing the remake of the opening titles?

I am doing the remake on Reservoir Dogs opening because it helps me understand exactly what it takes to film a good opening. Also I am doing it because it is good practise to get timings correct, sort out casting for the dance whilst enhancing my knowledge surrounding the camera and equipment. By doing this it should make me more knowledgeable before filming my own film opening.

Independent V Mainstream Film Openings

The main difference between mainstream and independent film companies is money. Mainstream film companies will put a lot more money into their film openings, because they can afford to. This in turn usually means they are better as more money, means they can afford better actors to star in the opening and throughout the film, up to date equipment and technology that enables the film opening to be produced.

 The Dark Knight




This film opening is produced by a mainstream company. Warner Brothers  a subsidiary of Time Warner which is the second largest media company in the world behind Walt Disney.  This means they have a lot of money to put into their films. This means the film openings are considerably better than small companies, such as the clip below which is made and funded by Film 4. By being a mainstream conglomerate, they can afford big names to star in their films, for example Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and Morgan Freeman. This in turn helps sell the film. Rated 12 A, they have lost some market, however the film is targeted at teenagers and adults. The budget for this film was $185,000,000.

East is East



This film is produced by Film 4. It is set in what looks like a dirty and dated street in London.  The shots used are very basic and this may reflect the lower budgets that this film company has got to produce their films with. Being an independent film company, it means they don't have the funding available to be able to afford the top of the range equipment and the money to be able to afford to film in prolific well known settings that can help attract audiences.

From the very beginning; in comparison to the clip above, you can see that the quality isn't as great. Also you can see that the setting isn't as prolific. The above film uses establishing shots showing the skyscrapers and enabling the audience to understand where the film is being shot. Then we see 3 masked men run into a bank and 2 on the top of the bank disabling alarms etc. This shows us that a lot of thought and money has went into the setting in comparison  to this film which is set in an old looking road in East London. A wider age range of characters can be seen in this clip opposed to the above clip. This may also be to do with funding and not being able to afford well known actors who can help entice audiences in via celebrity endorsements.

Overall from the clip, we can see that the mainstream film opening companies quality is a lot better, also the setting, characters and editing is a lot better. The main reason, they had a bigger budget, meaning they could afford to fund all of these things and afford to buy the best of quality things to help aid there film and make it look good.

Audience Profiles

Different audiences view different genre of film. This means that when making a film, it's important to know the demographic of people that will be interested in your film.

I did some research into the sort of films people liked, I took a strategic sample of 15 females and 15 males. I then asked them to then fill out the questionnaire that I made, of which you can see below:

My Questionnaire:

With the completed questionnaires back, I analysed the data, I then inputted it into graphs and tables and this lets me see the sort of people who would be interested in my film.

Results from Survey:

Out of the 30 people who answered my questionnaire, 25 people said that they had watched a Crime/Drama with only a small minority (5) having never watched one. This is good because shows to me that people would be interested in watching my film and therefore engaging with my film opening meaning I should have quite a wide target audience of which I can tailor my film opening to suit what they want from a Crime/Drama.

 

Out of the 25 people who had watched Crime/Dramas, the main age group was between 13-24. Therefore this is the age I should be targeting my film towards. This is the main take up of the market for Crime/Drama films. Closely following this is age 25- 36. Therefore I know that I need to aim my film for ages ranging from 13-36. This will be hard and I will need to refine it down to a more targeted age group because otherwise it's impossible to cater for such a wide range of audiences because things adults (aged 18+) would want to see in a Crime/Drama could not be incorporated in something that a younger audience, which I know from my results do watch Crime/Dramas, would want to see. Also I have to bear in mind film classifications and the sort of things I would be allowed to include and how this would affect where the film falls in terms of ratings and terms of what audiences could or couldn't watch the film.

From this, I can see that the majority of people who watch Crime/Dramas watch it with friends. This is probably because some of the main things we would expect to find in a Crime/Drama would be swearing, illegal activities and quite a lot of gore. Therefore, this probably isn't something you would sit down and watch with your family, as the results show! Quite a lot of people, based on the results, watch these sort of films on their own, being the genre it is, they are usually very full on, action packed and entertaining. This therefore meaning you can get away with watching it on your own because it is very intense and always has your attention so you wouldn't get bored.



Based on my random sample of 15 boys and 15 girls, Crime/Drama's were most popular with 8 people choosing this to be their favoured genre. This was closely followed by Comedies which received 7 votes. From this I can see that based on my results, people are very fond of Crime/Dramas which means as long as I create a good, stand out opening for my film, people should then engage with this, like the look of it and therefore want to see the actual film.



Out of the 30, originally 25 people had watched Crimes/Dramas and 5 had not. This graph shows that 25 people would be interested in a new Crime/Drama, 3 would not be interested, and 2 maybe. This is good because originally 5 people hadn't ever seen Crime/Dramas so now 2 are considering seeing one, meaning after answering this questionnaire they may go and watch one. This is beneficial because it means my target market would be expanding ever so slightly.


This sort of information is beneficial when aiding me to complete my piece because I know that people are interested in the genre my films in already, meaning people will want to see my film. Also it will help me because from my research I can see my main target audience, meaning I can specifically target a certain market. Also it helps me get an idea of the range of ages that people are from in terms of who watches this genre. This means that then I can see the type of things I may want to think about including in my film, and the sort of things I might want to not include, based on age and personal preferences of the majority of my target audience. 

My Chosen Genre

Our chosen genre is a Crime/ Drama. We decided to do this as in our questionnaire (see audience figures blog) it was one of the most popular genres that people enjoy watching. Also, we had an interest in this genre meaning we are more likely to produce a good opening scene.

Importance of Opening Titles

The opening title sequence is what gives the audience their first impressions of the film and therefore is very important. This then prepares the viewer for the rest of the film. They outline the film makers intentions and set up the audiences expectations. The main use is to draw the viewer in and help them engage with the film.

During the production of film openings, companies spend a lot of time and money to produce something unique that will stand out from the rest. This helps people get an understanding of the film and helps the audience understand the story from the outset. 

The order of which names appear in the opening sequence is also very important. Usually, they start with the big actors first, for example, James Bond in Casino Royale. It starts with Daniel Craig who plays 007, then ends with the lower, less prolific actors. However in some circumstances the biggest actors can be left till last and therefore the opening sequence builds up to there name. The directors name will always be the last name you see before going into the film. So opening titles are very important because they determine the hierarchy of actors and crew.

Opening occurs, then first actor introduced is Daniel Craig, the main actor who plays Bond.

 

Jelly Baby Activity

The photos above show me and my group during planning opening titles for a potential film opening. We did this task because it enabled us to see the type of things we need to consider before filming and also shows us the importance of good and accurate planning. By doing this it has helped us become aware of the sort of things we will have to plan before doing our actual final piece. Also it helps us to get an understanding into how we could possibly use this method of planning before creating our piece. This way, it makes it very easy to see the various different scenes that we need to film and exactly when they need to be edited together so that they are in the correct order to make it easy and mellifluous for the audience to follow and understand.

Generic Conventions- How are they shown in different genres of film openings?

Genre is a way of putting media texts into categories which share similar characteristics. Different film genres therefore use different generic conventions, which help the audience categorise what genre that particular film is in. Films of the same genres will therefore, usually, have similar generic conventions. For instance, one of the most popular generic conventions that we associate with a horror would be audio of screaming. This is also known as iconography.


Scream (1996)

 One of the films I looked at was Scream. The genre of this film is horror. At the very beginning we see a black screen, then red titles come up on the screen, this initial title comes up with the name of the film 'Scream'. It is red in colour which has connotations too blood and death, which are generic conventions of horror films. In the background we can hear audio of screaming sounds, and also we get the sound of a phone ringing. These aren't so conventional but all add to the effect of a horror film. From the off the film has low key lighting, this means that there are lots of shadows and the film looks very suspicious and scary from the off. We then hear the phone ring and the girl who is portrayed to be a 'dumb blonde' then answers the phone.

Answering the phone.

When she answers the phone we hear a creepy voice answer, again another stereotypical generic convention of horrors. At this point the camera is on a canted angle otherwise known as a Dutch tilt. This connotes unease and things not being quite right. This gives the audience a sense of tension and 'what's going to happen next, feeling. Next we hear audio of her being in the phone talking to the man, the conversation sounds awkward and she, at this point, has no real concerns and instead is quite intrigued as to who the man on the phone is. In the next two minutes we hear various different noises which are put in to build tension, these range from dogs barking to wind. When the man is on the phone, he start to worry the girl. He is also self referential of the genre by discussing the genre within. He repeatedly calls the woman back, whenever she answers, it appears as though she is in the shadows. This makes everything seem strange and worrying. At 2.18 a bombshell is dropped when the man on the phone says 'you never told me your name'. She replies saying 'Why'd you want to know my name?' He then replies saying 'because I want to know who I'm looking at'.

She turns the light on and looks outside after the man on the phone says 'because I want to know who I'm looking at'.

At this point, the whole situation becomes a lot more dramatic and we can see her emotions change completely. This is effectively portrayed by a zoom onto the face, which gives us a close up of the woman's face, allowing us to understand her emotions at this moment in time.  She is then very panicked by this and we see her pacing it around her house locking all of her doors. The use of expletives, body language and tone show us she is not only obviously very worries by now at every time the phone rings, but also annoyed that he keeps ringing her back. Her tone implies she is upset, her voice turns croaky and sounds as though getting words out is hard. Whenever something dramatic happens, non dietetic background noises are always introduced. This helps dramatize the situation and build tension. By doing this it gets the audience on the edge of their seats and makes them intently watch. Speech is used 'Who's there? Who's there?' This repetition enables the audience to understand exactly how worried and upset she is at this point. It also shows us the unease she is at with not knowing who it is ringing her door bell, especially after the phone conversation she just had. Self referential 'You should never say who's there, don't you watch scary movies? Its a death wish'. This sort of comment is backing up the idea of it being a horror film. This opening scene basically gives the audience a taster of exactly what's going to happen in the rest of the film. After the opening, the genre is very clear too.

Kidulthood (2006)

Kidulthood is a drama. As an audience we can immediately understand where the film is set because within the first 23 seconds, although the screen is black, we can hear lots of voices and shouting which is typical audio of a playground environment. Its a drama throughout, this is connoted by 27 seconds when we have a very regular setting of a playground. This shows us that there is going to be quite a complex storyline which means the audience will be glued to the screen. The genre goes hand in hand with the setting too. Low key naturalistic light connotes the drama genre too.

Naturalistic setting and lighting.

When moving images finally appear on the screen, we see kids in a playground. This allows us to understand that it is going to be a kids drama, to associate this we then get some background music which is known as 'grime'. This type of music is mainly associated or has been mainly stereotyped too be listen too by London gangs. We then see two girls, probably aged between 14-18. These girls have a very poor dialect and this lack of diction connotes underage stereotypes and race. These two girls are dressed very scruffy too. They have there top button undone, with their ties loosely strung around their necks. Big gold ear rings, chains and messy hairstyles can all be seen too. All of these are iconography and are things you expect to see in that particular genre.

Summing up the above. Top buttons undone, ties loose etc.
 

Also from what we can see of the girls and from the dialogue that we hear about the party one of the males of the school is having, we immediately stereotype them to be doing things such as underage drinking, underage sex and smoking. Woman are almost seen to be 'side-lined' as the opening scene continues. Males dominate the camera and appear to 'use' the girls only. Woman are not part of the action and this could also be seen to be stereotypical. Unsteady camera shots also help to add to the verisimilitude of the film. It adds to the real world, naturalistic feel that enhances the documentary drama, 'kitchen sink' dramas that Ken Loach is known for. 'Kitchen Sink' is a term associated with social realism. It came about during the 1950's. The idea is that it depicts the working class to be stuck in very tight and small areas. Therefore a school playground fits into this perfectly.

Stereotypical Kitchen Sink Drama.

Dead Mans Shoes (2004)

This film is a thriller/drama. At the very start, the screen is red. This immediately to an audience connotes pain, blood and hurt. We also have diegetic dialogue which says 'God will forgive them, I can't live with that'. This statement right at the beginning suggests to the audience that perhaps someone has committed a crime and this man can't let him get away with it. It could also suggest the man could have some sort of religious paths, meaning he knows that God will forgive people for their sins, but he can't let someone get away with something that easily. This phrase alone will get the audience thinking and engaging with the film and trying to work out what's going to happen next. Slow pace music can be heard in the background, this suggests a journey within a song, and that maybe the man goes on a journey. It also connotes sadness and death as the song and its lyrics are quite deep. Before the film has really started, we have a hear a whole track of music. This frames the opening and again adds to the 'journey' effect. Also because we see the two men walking throughout the opening, this signifies a journey too and the camera just follows them, using simple movements such as gentle pans from left to right following the protagonist. This all connotes time passing and is almost a story of the journey they endure. The camera throughout this part is handheld, it helps the scene feel realistic. The audience is watching this with an omnipotent viewpoint of the protagonist. The film has been set up North, I can see this from the stereotypical classic stone walls, hilly climate, narrow roads and wide expanses of open fields. The lighting is very naturalistic adding to the verisimilitude of it all. Its is quite a bright day which acts like high key lighting. This makes everything around very easy to identify. This film was directed by Shane Meadows.

Overview

Some directors of particular genres of films are known as auteurs. These are directors that are renowned for the type of film they produce, they usually also use similar generic conventions in all their films too. Generic conventions help different genres of film fit into there particular genres which allow audiences to understand and know what to roughly expect  before actually watching it.