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

Since I shot my preliminary task I believe the quality of my camerawork has come on in leaps and bounds due to the things I have learnt along the way. One aspect that I believe I have improved from my preliminary task is framing; in my preliminary task I did not make use of the rule of thirds and I didn't pay much attention to where the different aspects of the shot were in the frame. After the preliminary task however I learnt how to utilise the rule of thirds and how to improve my framing. I believe that this is very apparent when comparing my preliminary task to my final piece.

I have also learnt a number of different editing techniques which I believe have improved the quality of my work greatly. For example in my preliminary task, all I did was cut the clips together into a sequence with match on action included. Between then and producing my final piece I have learnt how to use a number of different editing techniques such as applying filters and colour balancing my footage; I believe this has given my final piece a much more sophisticated and professional look.

As part of my audience feedback I asked a section of my target audience whether they could notice a change in the overall quality of production from my preliminary task to my final piece. All of them agreed that there was a clear improvement in quality and that this showcased the progression I have made from when I produced my preliminary task to when I produced my final piece.

6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During the process of constructing this product I had to use two different technoloogies; blogger.com to record the process and the physical element where I used camcorders and Apple macs to produce my actual product.

I had previously used camcorders quite extensively and I didn't encounter any real problems when I was filming my final piece and so I didn't really learn anything new about this technology. I did however learn a lot when it came to the editing of our film; I hadn't  previously used Final Cut and so I faced a steep learning curve when it came to editing. The only other editing program I had used previously was Windows Movie Maker which is extremely simple compared to Final Cut and so I learnt how to perform a lot of new actions such as cutting footage up, putting it into a timeline, overlaying filters, overlaying sound and colour correcting the footage.

I also learnt a lot about technologies when it came to recording my progress using blogger; I hadn't previously used any blogging software but I found blogger relatively easy to find my way around and in a short space of time I had learnt how to create a post, embed images into posts and embed videos from youtube and other video hosting sites into posts. These basics were all I really needed to know how to do throughout my project.

5: How did you attract/address your audience?

To make it easier for my target audience to relate and connect to the characters in the film I decided that the three main characters should be of a similar age to my target audience; all three are also male and so are also the same sex as my target audience. My film also contains a degree of violence which should appeal to my young, male audience; as should the drug use which is a theme throughout. Another element of the film that we considered carefully in order to address our audience was the music; in the end we chose to use music of the Dubstep genre as it is very current and has an audience that is very similar to that of our film, teenage/young adult males. We also included a number of close up action shots which we hope will keep our audience engaged and make the film more fast paced which we hope will be something that will appeal to our audience.

4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience of a film is an important point that must be considered from the very beginning of production before many other decisions about the film can be made; I decided that the target audience of my media product should be young adult/teenage males. I chose to target this group as it is the traditional audience of the British Gangster genre. This meant that there was already a sub-group that I could target and this meant that it was much easier for me to decide what I needed to include in my film in terms of content and also general camerawork and editing technique.

As my media product includes graphic drug use at the beginning and a running theme of violence throughout I have decided that it should probably be rated as an 18+. I came to this conclusion after doing some research on the film classification board website and watching a number of films to help me decide the appropriate rating. This rating could be to my advantage as I believe that the connotations involved with 18+ rated films of drug use and violence could attract my target audience.

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

My media product is the opening of a Gangster film and so it seems likely that the media institution that would distribute my media product would be a film institution such as Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount Pictures or Columbia Pictures.

These are all large international organisations that are known for releasing international blockbusters and for this reason I wouldn't want any of them to distribute my media product as, as my film is of the British Gangster genre it seems suitable that the institution to distribute my film would be a British film company as the target audience is likely to be mainly British.

I have done some research into British film institutions and the one that I have found that seems to be most suitable is Film4; a British film production company owned by Channel 4. Film4 has been responsible for backing a large number of films made in the United Kingdom including 127 hours, Slumdog Millionaire, This is England and Trainspotting. I believe they would be the most suitable company to produce my film as they have a history of producing big British film hits, have a similar target audience to that of my film (young adults and teenagers) and due to them being associated with Channel 4 they have massive advertising power which I could utilise.

I believe that the most effective method of distributing my film would be a screening on Film 4's television channel which is freely available to the public and would therefore build awareness for my film and thereafter through DVD's or alternatively through download which would be a more current and efficient method of distribution as a pose to DVD's which are starting to become outdated and could well become completely redundant in the near future.

2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The characters that feature in the media product I have created are all young men of a white, working class background. It provides a representation of young males who are involved in crime and street culture. British Gangster films typically include a representation of young male criminals who are part of street culture, increasingly so in recent times. My media product represents this social group through the use of current underground music; dubstep, which is extremely popular with young males involved in street culture at present. It also provides a representation of them through the drug use that features as the recreational use of illegal substances is a prominent part of street culture at present and the distribution of these substances is something that has always been assosciated with the criminal underworld; the social group to which the characters in my film belong.

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

To answer this question I need to look at the conventions that already exist in the British Gangster genre, the genre in which I chose to make my film. Typically in a British Gangster film the main character starts of with a low status and works their way up, gradually gaining more and more power through taking it; usually through killing others. Typically the locations used are urban areas such as seedy alleyways and abandoned warehouses, costume is very current and is usually the street wear of the time.

There is also usually a theme that runs throughout of the main character being very independent and single minded, not trusting or caring anyone but themselves. Success is measured in material goods such as flashy cars, expensive clothes and big houses; women are also measures of success too.

I have carefully considered these forms and conventions throughout the process of making the opening to my scene and because of this I think that my media product largely uses and develops the existing forms and conventions that exist for the British Gangster genre.

Editing - Completion

Today we completed the editing of our opening by adding a few final touches.
-We made a couple tweaks to the sound in our opening by fading the music out to include more dialogue and playing with the sound levels. We decided to include more dialogue as we think it adds to the overall effect and just generally makes our opening more engaging for the audience.
-We shortened the length of time that our titles appear for; partly to make our opening more fast paced and interesting and partly to make our opening come in as close to the 2:00 time limit imposed as possible.

Editing - 3

We have had a few oppurtunities to edit our opening this week and s we've managed to get quite a bit done and I believe we are well on our way to completing the editing.
-We began to incorporate filters, different effects and cross-fade between various cuts where apropriate throughout our opening.
-We started incorporating titles into our film using an external program to take a freeze frame of the footage at the points we wanted titles and then overlaying text to create the effect that I have discussed previously which takes inspiration from 'Trainspotting'.
-We looked at the sound in our clip and began to add music over certain points, this proved to be quite difficult as we had to cut the music so that it fitted with the action that was taking place in the footage and with the titles that we had just added.

Final Music Choice

The song that we have decided to use in our opening sequence is Nero's 'Innocence'; the song is licensed by MTA records and at the beginning of the week we emailed them requesting permission to use the song in our opening. We heard back from them yesterday and they happily agreed to let us use it as our project is not for profit.

Editing - 2

At this point we have finished putting all of our clips in order into the Final Cut timeline; we have also started to cut the clips down as currently the clips add up to well over the two minute time limit that we have to abide to. We have also put the double image effect over the opening part of Sam S taking the drugs and used jump cuts to give it more of an edgy feel.

Editing - 1

Over the past week Danny and myself have been using Final Cut Express to edit our opening sequence. We have learnt a number of basic techniques including how to import and render clip, how to use the cutting tool to cut clips and how to fade audio in and out. We have also experimented with a number of different effects including a double image effect that we plan to use at the very beginning of our opening when Sam S is taking the different drugs as it gives the audience an impression of the kind of drug induced haze that he is in.

Unsuccessful Second Filming Session

Unfortunately, through no fault of our own, we were unable to complete our second filming session as one of our actors didn't turn up. However, we have taken a second look at the footage that we did manage to get in our first filming session and we have decided that it will be ok to use and that the dark, gritty feel it has to it could in fact add to the overall effect of our film in a positive way.

Second Filming Session Plans

We plan to go back to our location and re-film the parts that we decided were too dark on Sunday 9th of January; we have checked with all of our actors and they have said they are available on this date and will come to the location on time, dressed in the same costume that they were wearing for the first filming session. As we will only be re-filming shots that occurred towards the end of our scene the only prop we will need to remember to take with us is a carrier bag, for the part where our main character is suffocated.

First Editing Session

Today we had our first editing session in which we uploaded all of the footage we got from our first filming session onto the macs, imported it into final cut and put the clips in a rough order to get an idea of whether we needed any extra footage to complete our opening and whether any re-filming of certain parts was needed. We were very pleased to see that we had managed to film all of the parts we needed and that they all fitted together and followed on from each other well, with good continuity throughout. The issue of some of the footage being dark and grainy that i discussed earlier did come up though and although the footage isn't terrible we have decided it would be best to go back and re-film some of the shots that suffered the most from the lack of light.

Technical Analysis

First Filming Session

Yesterday we went to our location, the empty warehouse, and had our first filming session.  All of the actors turned up on time in costume, we had all of the equipment and props that we needed and as a result we were very pleased with what we managed to get done. We were able to film the whole of our opening sequence  however towards the end of our filming session, as it got dark outside, the amount of light in the warehouse started fall and we were left with quite dark, grainy footage. The next step will be to upload everything that we managed to film onto the mac's and see whether we need to do a second filming session.