Final Product comparisons

Here are the two final films, the first with narration the second w/o. It may be my own voice behind the reasoning, but I prefer the non narrated version.

Both are fantastic and I do like the Narration. However I just feel it isn't as good as can be. And with lack of planning on the audio, the non narrated version is a safe bet. i feel the narration does ruin the piece and fitting it in can be hard. However after listening back it just doesn't feel how i planned, and is maybe something I should leave for the future with better planning. The film is great, i am so happy and confident my Cinematography is complemented by Rubens fantastic characterization, and Composition. I have followed many conventions. Editing was my first major attempt ever, it took me many days, but i feel i have vastly improved and the transitions, cuts and titles all flow. Audio wasn't my best area. only just learning audacity, Also took time but its all new skills, for a first big thing however, for me is good.

Film update

This is most likely to be one of my final video posts, this one and the one WITH narration. When both are up and i have evaluated the two, I will post choosing my favourite one of the two.

*Disclaimer* This vid lasts 7 minutes, something I didn't realise until uploading. Please ignore the film after around 2:40m. As it includes unofficial narration that I will not be using as the quality isn't too good and I feel can be improved.

Evaluation Question 7

There is also photogenic evidence of how progressed I am since the prelim, on the prelim bare in mind Ruben did do the Cinematography and it will be hard to compete as he is a fantastic filmer, however at the time he had as much knowledge as myself, so to prove how different the shots are shows how well I've progressed, there is also the editing. The prelim had little to none (titles - transitions), however that has changed. My product has well placed titles al edited intensely, not too mention the dissolves which work really well. Here are some comparisons to show you how far I have come since the prelim.

*(Prelim task photos are above final)*

Here we can see a huge difference in the first opening shots of each task.
Our prelim nearly follows the rule of 3rds, however due to no establishment we are unsure where the text is set. It's a well framed shot, however there are no titles which are essential and it doesn't really follow the film convention of setting the scene.
Shot rating 5-6/10

Taken from final - For me a much more confident shot, you can see how my progression of camera work has gone. The shot works really well with the titles, and it sets the scene rather well. Unfortunetly the camera quality isn't amazing, but this is something ill improve upon next year. Which brings me to the point that watching this clip, it looks far more professional, there is less unconventional sound and follows non-diegetic and ambient sound in which the prelim shot does
not. Shot rating 10/10

Here with have two door scenes the prelim is an over the shoulder shot (basic camera knowledge we established for the prelim). however when editing, we didn't pay attention to the fact that if you watch the clip slowly our actor behind the door (Jack) is in fact laughing which can impact miss-en-scene as he is out of character. The shot also lacks composition and doesn't follow rule of thirds. Shot rating 4/10

For me this final task shot is clean, its a long shot continued from match on action for effect. The long shot establishes the scene and allows us to see what kind of place our protagonist lives in. It is also a perfect shot for titles which appear after this screenshot which flow very well! For me the lighting is also better, as it is more natural and reflects the mood of the character. Certainly a huge step up and sign of progression from our prelim. Shot rating 8/10

Another error in this prelim shot, despite rule of thirds, it was down w/o a tripod proving to be shaky and lose us marks which we learnt from, by using a tripod for a lll but one scene in our final. In this shot if you watch the mirror closely, you will notice the cameraman is fully visible which doesn't happen in any films.

Shot rating 3/10

This for me is a clean pan, we pan from the window to our sleeping character - after establishing the home place of our character.

Not too much going on but the pan, which made it perfect for us to add in more titles to fill the scene and direct focus on anything but our character (in bed). The use of a tripod made the shot cleaner and by editing out the Audio we made it possible to remove any unnecessary noise. Shot rating 8/10

Here we have to similar shots, both follow rule of thirds to allow audience to adapt to the surroundings. However basic error in the prelim, NO TRIPOD! Therefore the image was shaky. The lighting is also far worse, if you compare the two, the final is brighter and looks cleaner/sharper because the lighting gives added effect. It's also a basic student shot thats very plain.
Shot rating 3/10

The final shot, is a clean product, rule of thirds applies, there is a slight pan as our character rides off of shot, but it doesn't entirely focus on our character, it adapts the audience to the surroundings to give them their stereotype of a kid skating in a rural area.
The added dialogue stops this scene from also being plain and works well with the music.
Shot rating 8/10  

The following shots are comparisons between the original rough cut, and the nearly finalised product. (Finalised-newer product images are above)

There is no titles in this shot. I applied the rule of thirds to create more of an effect, and used cross dissolves to speed up the shot and create a time effect. I think the shot is very clean and speaking to a primary audience member (India - refer to lasted audience post) she especially went on about this shot and that how it looks far better w/o titles.
Shot Rating 9/10

For me this second edit, really isn't as smooth, the added gravel audio isn't really done well, it is essentially louder than the music which ruins the effect. Obviously its a diegetic sound so it should be quieter on the audio to emphasis this. The titles also look poor and are placed far too late. As the distributor is a key role and should be in the first few titles. Rule of thirds applies and so does the dissolve edit that I DID, to create effect.
Shot Rating 6-7/10

Here is a comparison of the first establishing shots in both texts. As you can see, in the later edition the newer edit looks much more cleaner and establishes the scene very well, the colours contrast well, and their is use of both rule of thirds and composition. For the viewing audience (I asked 8 people) 6 said they preferred this edition.
Shot rating 9/10

The less preferred shot by audience and myself, clear to see why, there is a lot of messiness with the lens flare which will only bring down my camera marks, the bridge dominates the shot and doesn't really allow us to establish much of the scene. Has potential but doesn't follow and rule of thirds scheme.
Shot rating 7/10

Examples of titles now, i am aware that in the top frame the titles have changed due to ordering and i plan to follow drama conventions. (Posted before final product uploaded) However both shots have the same to be said, very clean really establish the scene. Long shots in which the focus is on the lower half of our character to emphasise on his skater background.


However, comparing the tiles of the shots, the rough cut really doesn't look very good, there is no edit on their appearance, and they look plain and basic. Therefore looking very student-like, ruining the movie effect of a film.
Whereas in the newer edit, the titles look so clean, they can be re adjusted which is currently in process for the final edition. However the font really flows, they're subtle and don't look bland
Shot rating 10/10 (newer)
Shot rating 6/10 (rough)

Again, two establishing shots. The newer edit looks far cleaner and shorter, their is ambient sound which increases the effect of adapting audience to the environment. It looks smart in that it sets the scene for our audience, a tripod was used (as it was in the others) and helps the stability.
Shot rating 9/10

Just doesn't look as good, the church bell ambience isn't present reducing effect. The titles pop up far too early for a cinematographer. And ruins the shot smoothness as on the left you can make out a purple lens flare, which means the shot isn't following basic miss-en-scene. Also the titles are so out of proportion, they're slap bang in your face, and stop the audience from adapting to the scene/area establishment.

Shot rating 6/10

The purpose of these shot analysis' is to prove my advancement of how far i have progressed since the prelim, the second lot may not be my prelim, but they still show proof of my advancement and progression since the prelim. Simply as i have now progressed in that i can myself evaluate shots and how small things can have big impacts, not only but how i can use the primary audiences opinions to choose my shots so they work in favour of the audience. unlike the prelim and rough cuts.

These two storyboards (reference to animatic post as well), prove how far we have come since the prelim. When making th prelim we just turned up and made a film out of anything. However with weeks of planning i put my arty skills to good use and decided to make a storyboard so we had something to refer to, and help us guide us through shooting to nail shots. Furthermore allowing our shots to be more effective in the final - also with use of a tripod for stability.

The use of tripods and different angles (crab-establishing shots, and the use of multiple takes) have also helped us, as if one shot had something wrong or out of place (mise-en-scene) we had plenty more shots to refer to. Not only but we could reference the various shots of individual places to our audience. Getting their feedback to improve our film drastically. Looking at the rough cut and final edition, you can really see that we have used different shots, and how much sharper the newer one looks. It has also taught us to use great preparation, as in the prelim we had one shot for every take so they had to be good else our product wasn't good. Which is bad planning as had we taken more takes their would have been a choice and possibly better shots to choose from.

Evaluation Question 6

A Powerpoint Mind-map for Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Questions 4 & 5

https://prezi.com/p/zlkqupnnxb7f/

Currently due to technical issues, I am going to have to paste the link to the Prezi which answers both questions 4 & 5. Apologies for inconvenience.

Evaluation Question 3

*Would be Pixton but much prefer Storyboard That*

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1

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

Our media product follows many conventions of a real media product, one way would be in that our titles follow the same conventions of those that are bigger than ours. For example Producers, Director - key actors and the production company first. Followed by the basic smaller roles - Cinematography, Editing and Audio. We then followed the conventions of setting the scene to adapt our audience. By a variety of screenshots of our filmed location.

However we do subvert one aspect of the titles, being the actual name of the film. A lot of Actions - thrillers would share there's at the beginning like Harry Potter or Star Wars - Where as ours shows the title after the end of the opening sequence.

We followed the typical mise-en-scene conventions for a Drama, and developed theme a little, the way we dressed our character in basic stereotypical skater clothing, and the lighting of our film in some areas, where it gets more low key naturally lit as we meet our character. We left the development for the setting, and followed the conventions of a small rural area or town to create the added derma and verisimilitude.

However, we chose to refrain from emotional scenes, we did use a slight enigma for the opening shots that are empty but scenic to represent the characters mind. However our emotional shot is when our character is hit by the car. Without the Drama convention of narration the car scene would not work. As the narration allows the character to relate and warm up to the audience to create his character and give his death a bigger impact on the audience. Which is a necessity in a drama, as if the audience cant relate to a character or forma  movie bond. Then it would be an unconventional piece in which we do not want to follow.

To start the sequence we used dull sad music (Royalty Free from Bensound - Better Days) to suggest a poor atmosphere and give a stronger emphasis on the first few establishing shots and converge with our characters narration. This is then cut out by more upbeat music (Sleepwalking - Chain Gang of 1974) which is usually used in the end of films, or sounds as if it would be to count down to the end till the character 'dies' (enigma) also occurs in a video game. suggesting its not just films you can follow for conventions, it can be any media product, and we've decided to follow the ending style music to the ending of our characters life. It is subverting from other drama pieces as they don't tend to use upbeat music, as well as this, its not a normal convention to have an end of a film, at the start, by which we do. To surprise the audience in a newer kind of way, challenging the drama conventions of a film. The use of the church shot essentially fits a convention of a drama film as it resembles something related to the film, and the connotations of a church are religion, death (graveyards) and peace. Two aspects we have chosen to follow.

Pride and Prejudice - An example of
a Drama with a lead role of
an actress

Unconventionally we chose a male actor (Women normally the lone character in dramas). However we portray our character as a basic teenage guy whom we overlook because boys are always considered to be okay, in which this case (unrealizably) our character is not. It's also as using a male character he fits the context of the film and can draw in a relating male audience. Which is why the audience will be engaged, because its not every day that guys appear as the protagonist in dramas unless they're the villain, the unconventional use of a male character will help us give a better understanding to all ages, and help guys relate to it if they feel the way our character does.

For better realism and verisimilitude, we added ambient sounds like birds and church bells, and as the frames get further so does the sound to create good and realistic audio to put the viewers as if they were in the framed shots.

 

 

Evaluation Questions & Final Product

Film update

Over a divide in the narration opinion, me and Liam will be submitting separate copies for our finals. My credits may involve his name. But we do not share any roles in the separate copies asides from Cinematography. I Edited and controlled sound in my edition (plus Cinematography), just to inform the examiner when marking, and so they are aware when seeing a difference.


This final piece divide is not a major issue nor is it anything against Liam as I love him to bits as a pal. Its been fab working with him and possibly next year depending on what he chooses to do, and obviously we're still a group in that we worked together for enigmas, our overall idea and filming etc. But our pieces will be different for our finals unless he chooses to use mine. As I have chosen the narrative option which I feel can work strongly in my favour. Otherwise that is all and just to inform as to why mine and Liam's finals may appear different.
Obviously things like this happen in teams, but its always better to have a side solution and use all alternatives to compare.


(On a side note, I will be pasting two copies soon. Narrative and not. Where ill just post a quick tally of which my audience prefers and upload the favoured choice).


Thanks.

Audience feeback for final draft

 For my final audience feedback, I asked my audience to choose which final edit they preferred (My latest re-done edit posted this week/ or the original which has mainly been labelled as a rough cut). Not only that, but I asked them to tell me their favourite shot's and have listed the genre of films they watch below their pictures as well. Unfortunately it's a bias source in that it is more male dominated however, there is one audience member of whom I work with that is actually older and just fits into our primary target audience. Their suggested improvements will also be added. (So I can refer back to for my final-final edit which I hope to have finished by next week).




Will Pitcher
Box office hits
Fast & Furious
(Mainly animations)

Overall Feedback: Very clean, looks rather professional! Titles do look very sharp and turn a simple skate edit into a real nice shot. Lots of nice transitions and edits - especially the sequence where Ruben skips across the gravel.

Favourite shot: Most definitely the phone clock to phone shot - a clean transition to a well framed phone image.

Improvement: Perhaps make the titles less 'in your face?' Else it gives an action movie feel, and this is clearly a drama genre film.

Preferred video: definitely the second one - so much more quality!

Harriet Wynn (older audience)
 Comedies & Romances
Such as Hot Fuzz, Paul
Bridget jones etc

 Overall Feedback: Very good for just a simple student film. I really like the use of some of the shots in the sequence! The final scene works really well and without narration leaves me with many questions (So hopefully you can hurry and get the narration in?!)

Favourite shot: 110% Has to be the establishing shot straight after the church, it looks so good. I didn't realise our town could look so good in film - Real good effort (camera wise) there.

Improvement: For me, probably just improve the quality, obviously not possible now, but for future reference use a better camera maybe? When the guy is eating his cereal one shot drags a little more than the others, not a huge issue, just something to watch in case it pans out too long.

Preferred video: Deffo the 2nd! The minute those titles popped up.

India Grigg
Dramas (particularly series)
Orange = New black etc

Overall Feedback: So so good, far better than the last ones I have seen. Big fan of the music, really creates a likeable atmosphere and fits the character and editing so well, as it sounds like the music you'd hear at the end of a film - perhaps a smart decision on your half. Everything flows really well though. No anomalies with Sound, the editing is really sharp and smooth. Everything just fits so so well!

Favourite shot: The shot when the camera is on the floor and the Director credits show, looks clean and emphasises the skate aspect of the film.

Improvement: The end, perhaps make the backing track louder, seems just a little quiet.

Aidan Mitchell
Action films
Kingsman & Guardians of Galaxy

Preferred video: 100% The 2nd

Overall Feedback: What a piece! definitely didn't expect this from a pal of mine. Obviously follows the drama conventions very well. There is plenty of mix (not too much skating - doesn't drag on). Narration should easily complete this piece.

Favourite shot: The cupboard one, quite fancy and just feels so real.

Improvement: Not entirely sure what Black Sheep productions has in relation to the film - but maybe I just haven't been researching. Other than that, there are the odd drags, but they're not crucial to change. Cant say they bother me

Preferred video: The most recent one

Joe Rowlands
Action/Thrillers
X-men/Batman

Overall Feedback: Very good, from an IT point of view the editing is fantastic. Lots of smooth shots that have been made much sharper by the editing transitions and titles. Huge fan of the music really brings the film to life - also creates many questions to why (intentional I believe?)

Favourite shot: The dissolve from the clock to phone - GREAT Editing.

Improvement: I cant say I can think of anything? Apart from the sound at the end, maybe too quiet.

Preferred video: The latest one.. WOW!

Harry Light
Horrors
Elm Street & Purge

Overall Feedback: OMG class Walkee! First there is the great camera shots and angles, all the pans the rule of thirds - great effort. The editing.. Just Wow, having taken IT I can say your editing is fantastic. Real good use of transitions, I love the titles! And from a sound point of view, just really flows. Every little aspect contrasts well with one another - a real top piece!

Favourite shot: Probably when Ruby (Ruben) is laying in bed - the title us removes wandering eyes and it just looks so smooth, especially with the pan.

Improvement: Honestly? Not too much, as much as I love the titles, I feel they could perhaps be smaller, be more subtle as obviously its a Drama, you don't want to break the conventions of  a drama, do you?

Preferred video: Silly question, the latest one.

 

Henry Mutter
Romances & Dramas
Titanic - 12 years a Slave

Overall Feedback: Well, where to start, the music mainly the second music really gives a good vibe to the film. The first does fit but makes me question why use sad music in establishing shots. But maybe that's your plan for a reason. Great camera use, shots look so good and far better in the second, you really establish Ottery well.

Favourite shot: The mirror shot - maybe a tad dark and simple, but looks real good, great acting from Ruben btw to keep the verisimilitude of a teen boy and his hair!

Improvement: Me personally? probably just the ending bit, audio needs playing with and maybe back and forth between the car and Ruben? Could make a real difference, and help you use sound in quick fast paced shots.

Preferred video: You know me, I am an honest chap, easily the second.

Katie Underwood
Like every Genre
Watches anything

Overall Feedback: From a film geek POV, good titles, the titles work, fading in and out, so subtle, if they were maybe a little more discreet? I really like the camera work, you've established some good shots of Ottery - you've sustained good verisimilitude and kept the drama conventions of a establishing shots and rural areas.

Favourite shot: The first few establishing shots- has it all, composition and rule of thirds, need I say more?

Improvement: Like most, probably the ending scene. And my comment about the titles.

Preferred video: Deffo the second - you can really see a quality difference.

I-Dent Update

Here is a newer I-dent for my project. I feel it works better as it has some transition on its entry unlike the old. I do like the older one, however I prefer this one.

Comparing opening sequences of other British films

Here are 3 British films (Kingsman - Grimsby and Shaun Of The Dead), and how they compare with mine, obviously they're shorter, but my film establishes the character far more than the others. As you can see they follow British conventions of titles at the start - Main title included. They all include establishing shots to set the tone and genre. Mise-en-scene in ours is fairly similar to Shaun Of The Dead in the setting and costume uses, maybe even Grimsby as well. However they're all 3 different genres with comedic features which ours don't include. The majority bar Grimsby are all Working title films - Known for hits and comedic success films. Our titles are like Grimsby - subtle for a less action film. And obviously following conventions our is opposite to Kingsman. This being Kingsman is an action so needs to be in your face. Unlike our drama piece. You can really see all the Comparisons and similarities between these 4 British produced film openings.

Final Product Draft

Here is a newer better edited version of our media studies final product. I have to say I am actually quite excited for this one, it would be finalised, but remains a draft (at the moment) due to the narration aspect of the film being a work in progress. I feel the titles are really smooth and consistent. The editing works well, the dissolves help speed up the film and look great! The cinematography goes really well with the titles and it just flows so so well, the only issue I have is the ending bit where I feel it looks alright but I will get audience feedback for reassurance. Other than that all flows, really confident with this version unlike the others, I proposed to have narration unlike Liam, hence the newer refreshed model which we will compare to the old. Other than that looks great, audio being the hardest aspect (In my opinion) went really well, there is nothing out of proportion the sound fits, and enhances the movie to get you involved. 

In our product there is a hidden enigma at the start that I will explain in evaluation question 2, and the sound helps the effect even more.

Final task update

Now applying the final touches, all I lack now is narration which will be recorded soon (blog post to follow when done). However, here is a more up to date edit of the final task with sound and title edits. Once posted I will be asking my target audience (teens) to evaluate and assess it.

Latest Final piece update

After words with teachers and pals of mine, i decided to completely rebrand out film, obviously the same skater kid who is hit by a car, but I wanted to use different shots that I felt were strong, I have used various sound effects that work very well. And the editing is on point. Here is a screenshot to evidence this recent progression. 

As you can see, iTunes is open, for my sound clips of which weren't in our last few rough cuts. i feel my newer piece is coming on rather well.