Opening Film - 24 Hours

This is our completed film opening - 24 Hours. We constructed this opening over a couple of months, as a group each individual developed many skills on different programs including Final Cut Pro and Garage Band. Throughout the task we worked well as a group as we communicated well and helped each other to complete the coursework.

Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you think you have learnt from the progression from it to the full task?

During the process of making the preliminary task we gained a lot of experience in many different areas on making the film and making the opening film look more realistic and professional. We have learned that taking a variety of different shots over and over again from different angles is essential because it creates a greater impact in the film than just filming from one side and one camera shot type throughout the whole film. Also if we have many clips of the same scene in different angles, we have a massive choice in what angle to choose from, some of the clips we won't be happy with but because we have many shots, we have back up and be able to choice different scenes. In the preliminary task we did not use a lot of different shots as we should of done at the beginning and we did not realise this until we had to start editing of the film, therefore we had to re-shoot some of our clips and do more filming to make the scene flow in a better continuity. We took this experience and made a greater improvement when it came to doing the main task (the opening film) and made sure we had as many different type of shots we needed and different angles like for example we used a variety of long shit, medium shots, close up and extreme close up throughout the film and ensured every shot matched and had a continuously flow through the whole opening, this made it easier to edit in final cut pro and we finished filming because we was able to organise the clips in an orderly manner. The strongest experience we gained from the preliminary task, was being able to develop our editing skills rapidly in the main task (opening film) . This is because in the preliminary task some of us did not know how to use the final cut pro because they have never came across that programme before therefore it was difficult for us to understand and use. However, we were able to develop skills quickly because we began to understand the tools on the programme and were able to develop these by participating in the editing of the opening film. We managed to learn and adapt our skills on how to put each clip to go in order as we had it planned in our storyboard. We also learned how to use different effects that can make the opening film seem professionally edited and have a good continuous flow between each clip. Within our group, we created an instrumental on garage band, then inserted it into the film to create atmosphere and to match the flow of the film, this had a great effect on our opening scene has it also creates intensity and makes the viewers (audience), make them think what will happen next. Finally, we learnt how to edit the colour of the clips, as we recognised that it is very important for the level of light to match between different clips, that have been taken from different angles because each of them had a different level of light. We thought if we made each clip the same brightness and lighting, it would look much more professional.

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

Here, we have a directors commentary which will answer the main aspects of this question, we have gone into detail about the split screen used, the sound effects used amongst many other factors.
We believe it was better to answer this question visually as the viewers will remember much more from visual videos explaining factors instead of the answer being written down.

How did you attract/address your audience?

The genre of our filming opening is a thriller. These types of films have different similarities in the narrative elements including action, violence and suspense. In our opening, we used a variety of ways to grab the viewer’s attention, these include different types of shots and scenery to prevent the audience from becoming a passive viewer.

Firstly, our film opening would typically attract both male and females aged 15-24. In order to keep the viewers attention, we introduced the characters slowly, and when the action started, we added a sound track put together by ourselves, to build up suspense. This helps to keep the attention of the audience as it changes from a slow introduction and gradually speeds up. Also, we used lots of short clips of our filming in order to create a sense of urge when Dwayne realizes his girlfriend has been kidnapped.Secondly, we include many flashbacks to subtly inform the viewer what has happened, and why Dwayne is in a rush. The different types of shots, such as long shots and extreme close ups makes the viewer focus on those objects which may be vital later in the film. Also, the extreme close ups allow the viewer to imagine they are the actor, and see it from their point of view. We added a saturated effect to the flashbacks to show the viewers that this has already happened and it is in the past, which also helps to keep the audience interested.

We have a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sound in our opening but to build up the suspense, it was important to add a sound track to our film opening, rather than to leave diegetic sound because our sound track we added plays a major part to building up the suspense. Our diegetic sound includes the start of the ignition, and revving of the engine. This breaks up the non-diegetic sound and these particular sounds emphasise the importance of Dwayne reaching his girlfriend.

This sound in our opening film is diegetic. It was natural sounds within our filming.

This sound in our opening film is non-diegetic. We aded the sound during editing to add the impression it is Emma's heart beating.

Finally, we specifically chose to have very little lighting in order to disguise the kidnapper and by doing this it means the user has to focus closely in order to realize who he is. It means the audience are intrigued and don't want to look away incase they miss something.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our media product is aimed to attract people between the ages of 15-24; this age group are the most frequent cinema goers. We have chosen this age group to indirectly inform young women how powerful men can appear to be. Also this age group seems to be the most popular therefore we have a mass audience into where teenagers will benefit from.

It is aimed to be a British film mainly aimed at British audiences. We have aimed our opening sequence specifically at young adults as it is a crucial time in their life when they are starting to become adults and experiencing life for what it really is. Our film shows that there can be major problems growing up and that life isn't all good and various obstacles can block your way. Our film shows people what is actually going on in every day life, we see many things happening on the television or in the media and our opening sequence shows these in more detail to make people aware, especially children that the world isn't always a safe place.

The film will attract both males and females as it includes and portrays both genders in stereotypical ways. In our film opening, Lucy appears vulnerable and is easily intimidated by boys of a similar age. This relates to society because many young girls feel this way, and in particular by others of a similar age. She has been kidnapped by a thug, dressed in dark clothing, a typical representation for teenagers. Warren is portrayed as an aggressive male teenager who prays on young females. He threatens Dwayne in the opening sequence which makes him seem better than everybody else although they challenge him.

We would give our film a rating of 15 because of the violence throughout the film. A film is attached with a 15 rating usually consists of sexual content, bad use of language and violence. Our film in particular could contain all of these elements in the remainder of the film. Both the films we analysed, Taken and Memento, are rated 15 due to violence.

What kind of media institution would distribute your media product and why?

Taken and Memento are both similar films to our film opening, we have analysed the openings to these films and have looked at the distributors for both. Taken was distributed by EuropaCorp.Distribution, who distributed the film worldwide and 20th Century Fox distributed the film in the UK. These distribution companies are mass market american and EU distribution companies that can enable the film to get a large amount of audience from different markets overseas.

The media institution which would distribute our film would be BBC films. This distribution company would be ideal for distributing our film because they typically distribute low budget films. Some low budget films which BBC films have distributed include "Shifty" and "Bullet Boy". Both these films are aimed at the same audience as our film and therefore BBC films would be a suitable distribution company.

Film 4 also distributes low budget films and would therefore also be a suitable distribution company for our film. Film 4 productions is owned by Channel 4 and aswell as distributing low budget films, it also distributes some larger budget films such as Lovely Bones.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In terms of social groups we have based our piece on typical stereotypes of male and female teenagers aged around 17. We have created this through the use of costume, ethnic background and location. We have used the typical stereotype of a black male, which is seen as the more dominant powerful character. He is the kidnapper who is in control of the whole situation, he is threatening a young Asian boy who is seen as quite week and powerless but still has to be very clever and quick thinking to piece together and find where his girlfriend has actually been taken. Both of these people seem to be very gang related and are both wearing dark hooded clothing which creates a lot of impact on the threatening male stereotype, this again has a massive stereotype on teenagers which are portrayed in the media very negatively, they are related to fear and huge intimidation. The person being kidnapped is young blonde white female; again this is very stereotypical as she is seen as a “dumb blonde” stupid and gullible. She has no control over the situation is also very powerless, weak and vulnerable. Similarly with this the girl is wearing very basic clothing, brown boots, leggings and top, We see her in the opening scene tied to a chair with the kidnapper, there is nothing she can do to prevent the situation.

The whole scene gives the stereotype that teenagers are “troublemakers” and focuses on the negative areas of teenagers rather than looking at the positives however, this has been purposely done to create a lot of impact. This also links in to the stereotype of teenagers in the inner city environment.