In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The typical conventions in the film I created where;
Ø Establish it’s a Crime genre
Ø To signify the importance of a microchip
Ø To show the main characters characteristics
The way in which my media product has used, developed or challenged forms and conventions of real media products has been accomplished through establishing the genre of the film from the first scene, therefore setting the mood and tone for the audience. As a crime/action genre film the title sequence begins with a stack of cash; a microchip and lastly a phone which rings, clearly showing the audience the contactors information “Client 1 Welling”, this deviates from the curiosity of the contact to a melodramatic shot in which we see a character answering the phone and having a conversation with this client, this scene is shot with purely with diegetic sound as it shows the significance of this conversation (supplier of Cold Fusion). Moreover as a crime film this is effective as it helps to the audience to establish key objects (microchip) and information about particular character of the film which makes them more inclined to ask themselves more questions such as what is on the microchip?; who’s the buyer? And therefore keep them guessing and more engaged to what the narrative has in stock.
In addition, the different media techniques such as micro- elements; cinematography; mise-en-scene and sound all played a fundamental parts in conveying the genre; introducing key characters and setting the location of the film, I have also subtly captured a “Red London bus” in the background in one of the beginning scene to state to the audience what location the film will be set in as this resembles a traditional London l heritage. However it was vital that that I also followed particular codes and conventions by creating fast cuts to increase the pace of the sequence with regards to also using different camera angles and positions to emphasise the irresponsible life of a criminal and how transactions of goods are instigated. I skilfully manoeuvred this by using close-ups of when items were exchanged and enabled the non-diegetic sound too slowly disband to accentuate the dialogue between the two different characters.
In the title sequence there is a number of times whereby the importance of the microchip is signified and is framed in the centre to alert the audience attention towards it, at the beginning we see the microchip enter the characters pocket which is then taken to the check-point in which money is exchanged for this object. This is a key shot as the camera particularly focuses on the exchange of goods and therefore leaves the enigma of what will happen to the main character and also what information is on the microchip.
What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?
The institution that is more inclined to distribute my film would be Lionsgate in co-production with SKA films. The fundamental reason that I chose this particular distribution company is that it has previously created and distributed similar films of this stature such as “Snatch” and “Mean Machine” which are both British low budget films exceeding up to £2.5/£6 million to produce the film with regard to my £3.85million budget. In addition, most of the films these companies produce are of a similar genre and therefore the target audience will be established as they will know what the film will offer due to the company’s past history with related films.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
For my target demographics I chose to base the film towards 15-25 year olds as it is suitable for certificate 15 individuals and therefore would be available to a larger target market. I particularly found this age category suitable as there is references to only moderate foul language and violence within the film and other similar film such as “The Bank Job” are also certificate 15. Also the meaning of the film is also extremely impactful which signifies karma (cosmic principle according to which each person is rewarded or punished accordance to that person's deeds in life.) and therefore can be seen as both an exuberating film but with educational morals. I decided that the target for this media product if the best possible social age category as they showed a more enthusiastic response to any other age category which I surveyed after making the title sequence. Up to a staggering 83% of the 10, 15-25 years stated they would watch it and therefore this primary research showed me that the narrative and the essence of the film would be more applicable with a younger audience. Although, this particular film title would be more suitable for also a male audience as it exuberates and exhibits elements of masculinity, this has been shown through the narrative and also the features with in the scene make the film seem more hoodlum.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I addressed my target audience through showing the title sequence from a first person perspective of the main character in which the film will be based around. This enabled the audience to distinguish and witness the “journey” and process in which the microchip reaches its buyer and its purchased for money and this involves the audience as the clear dialogue states that the recipe for “Cold Fusion” is present on that microchip (Condensation of hydrogen to generate useable energy/ power) and it is being sold to a third party which stereotypically looks mischievous. Also to engage the audience into taking notice of the titles the titles all have the swipe effect and are motion tracked to place them subtly into the scene and swipe of in regards to the characters actions.
What have you learnt about technologies from process of constructing the product?
From constructing this particular media product I have drastically learnt and developed new skills from being able to operate Final Cut to being able to create a video with integrating elements such as sound and typography. The main reason that I have gain an enormous amount of experience from this is as I undertook this project by myself and learnt how to do all the areas such as filming the video; editing the sequence and lastly adding transitions and sound to suit the particular “genre”. After completing the project I feel that I have enhanced my skills on media software’s and has transitioned from a rookie user to an intermediate user. The main trouble that I faced in the beginning was to cut sequences together to make transitions smooth and continuous; once I gained more experience with the software and grasped the importance of camera framing I was able to make shots effortlessly integrate with one another and also add motion tracked titles into scenes.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Since the preliminary task, I feel I have improved in organising, planning and research into the task before physically doing it. The most important part I found that affected the project long-term was planning each shot and scene to see how they will create continuity throughout the media product. I also found that genre must be clearly displayed within the title sequence as I produced a total of 3 title sequences and began to improve drastically as I progressed. By using devises such as story boards it helped me structure what is was film and when, this gave me guidelines to what I was supposed to do and enabled me to understand the chronological order in which particular scene should be placed.
Overall, I am content with the final title sequence that I created as I think it effectively portrayed the genre of the film and also it was well constructed which created a sense of continuity throughout the sequence.
