Question 7
Q - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Question 6
Q - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Question 5 -Part 2
Audience Feedback-
I gathered a sample from my target audience and got them to watch my opening sequence and then asked them to fill out an audience feedback sheet to see if I had attracted my target audience to my film here are the results :
I gathered a sample from my target audience and got them to watch my opening sequence and then asked them to fill out an audience feedback sheet to see if I had attracted my target audience to my film here are the results :
From my audience feedback , I think I have been successful in attracting my target audience to watch my films as they wanted to view the rest of the film. I think that my opening sequence was effective in conveying the genre and also the themes of the story which was my main intention.
Question 4
Q - Who would be the audience for your media product?
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A similar film 'The Fault in our Stars' which is a Drama/Romance received the following rating on IMDB. From the following ratings genders enjoyed the film but the female audience preferred the film slightly more. The majority of votes are from a younger audience showing that the Drama/Romance that has a younger cast are enjoyed mainly by an audience of young adults. From these results I think that the target audience that I have chosen will be interested in watching my film.
Question 1
Q - In what ways does your film opening use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Audience feedback
I asked someone from my target audience to watch my opening sequence and give their opinion. Here is a video of the feedback:
From this audience feedback i feel that I have been successful in achieving my aims of capturing the themes and complex plot of my film and have effectively shown the genre, by taking inspiration from other Drama films.
Choosing the music
A difficult task , I found, was choosing the music, I had a few ideas of what music I would have like to have used for my opening sequence. However I had to choose music that was copyright free, this made searching for music a long task. Because I already had in mind an ideal style of music for the opening sequence of something quite calm and soft, I searched for this.
I found that YouTube offers free music that you are able to use on your projects, so I listened to a lot of the tracks from the classical genre. After listening to many tracks that did not suit my themes or I felt just didn't sound right with my voice over, I finally decided on 'Clouds'.
Editing Process
After filming, I had to edit my footage and add the music and voice over. When combining my voice over and my music, I changed the volume of both to make sure that the speech could always be heard and not drowned out by the music. Putting the voice over onto the opening sequence was quite a long process because I had to split up the audio into multiple sections and keep constantly adjusting the placement of each section so it related to the action taking place.
When editing my footage, I felt that the clips that I had filmed were too dark as I wanted to create a dreamlike atmosphere where like colour and lighting represented Arya feeling like she was slipping away. To brighten my footage, I edited the clips curves and increased the brightness, I did this for all of the footage on the beach, I did not edit the brightness for the footage before this as I felt that if these clips were bright it would look very non-naturalistic.
It took me a long time to settle on the font that I wanted to use for the title of my film Let Me Go.
I wanted the title to not be too bold and jarring on the screen but to still be bold and noticeable at the title of my film. I was unsure of what colour to pick and at first I chose a pink colour in swirly writing but I feel that it looked quite vintage and represented a romance genre more than drama, so I played around with the font again.
The font that I decided on, I think would attract my target audience more because it looks free and relaxed.As I did not want the text on screen to be too harsh, I edited the transparency of the text and added a glow effect around the outline, this made the text compliment the footage better than it had before.
Day Three of Filming
Although I had only planned to have one day of filming, after showing my opening sequence to the class I was aware that I had not used a variety of different shots. From this feedback, I went away and planned further camera shots than I had originally planned on my storyboard that I could incorporate into my opening sequence without loosing the simplistic theme which people said worked well.
The camera shot that I planned to add were the following:
Match on Action
Over the shoulder shot and Shot reverse shot
I decided that I would film these on a tripod to have a stable image to show Arya travelling to a location alone in contrast to the latter scenes that have a hand held shaky effect to give the impression of a Arya being filmed by a friend.
The filming of these extra shots was made easier because I was aware of the costume and makeup my character was wearing, this ensured there was continuity within my opening sequence.
My Title sequence
By looking at and analyzing other titles on opening sequence I have decided on the credits for my opening Title Sequence. I wanted to make sure that my opening sequence mirrored that of a real media product, so I researched into the what cast and crew are commonly given credit to.
Here is a list of credits that I will using on my opening sequence:
- Name of production company/companies – Starlight Entertainment, Rising Star Films
- Top Billing Actors - Introducing Emma Dewsbury and Ollie Brooke.
- With - Aaron Stevens, Natalie Garcia and Connie Lowman
- Casting by – Ella Ray
- Visual effects supervisor – Harry Brood
- Edited by – Joanna Mason
- Director of Photography – Primrose Jade
- Co-Produced by - Wendy Adams, Amelia Pond, Joe Thatcher
- Executive Co-Producers- Skye Ball, Lily Rose
- Film Editor – Bethany Preece
- Music Supervisor - Natasha Jackson
- Production Designer- Mae Foster
- Costume Designer- Abby Furmston
- Cinematography by – Helena Glass
- Screenplay by- Karalene Day
- Director - Directed by Samantha Hows
- Film Title - Let me Go
Day one and two of Filming
On the day of filming me and Emma, my actor, went to our location on Brighton Beach. We took a slow train so I could get plenty of footage of my main character on the train, this allowed me to use a variety of angles that i had not initially thought would work. On the train there were a couple of children screaming and running about so the extra time for footage allowed my actress to be comfortable and relaxed once the children had left the train without having to rush to complete filming.
Unfortunately as it was during the half term, the train station was very busy and it was extremely difficult to get a desired shot of my protagonist standing on the train platform looking isolated and lost from reality as other passengers kept walking in front of the camera blocking my view entirely. So instead I felt that representing her on a calm beach with only her friend worked well. I feel that these shots also work better with my desired effect of the audience seeing from her friends viewpoint.
Initially I had only planned to go to Brighton and film on one day because of expenses and I had planned for my footage to only take a short amount of time. Although the weather forecast was set to be fine, it started raining as we were filming, this made it a lot harder to film as the camera I was using kept shutting off. As a consequence less footage was taken on the sea front. After viewing my footage back when I got home I realized there were some clips that I was unhappy with. I arranged another day when the weather was much better to re shoot some of the footage, this meant having to refer back to my costume, hair and makeup list to ensure my actress looked as she did the previous filming date.
Thankfully it was not raining the second time I filmed on the seafront so I managed to take plenty of footage and because of writing down how my actress was styled there was no problem with continuity. The only problem was that the natural lighting was a lot brighter than before but as I plan to edit the lighting in Serif MoviePlus to reflect a dreamlike/ flashback state this shouldn't be a problem.
Example Title Sequence Timeline
To get an idea of what I wanted to include in my opening sequence, I looked at a film in the genre of Drama.
Film: Submarine
Director:
Genre: Drama
00.02 - Film 4
00.11 - Uk Film Council - The National Lottery
00.20 - Film 4 and the UK Film Council Present
00.30 - In association with The Wales Creative IP Fund and The Film Agency Wales
00.34 - In association with Optimum releasing and protagonist pictures
00.42 - In association with Red Hour Films
00.46 - A Warp Films Production
01.38 - Submarine
Story Board for Opening Sequence
The idea for my opening sequence is that Arya will be by the beach with her friend (who is revealed later). I want the use of shaky cam effect rather than a stable image to give the idea that Arya's friend is filming her, reminiscent of a home video. Arya is talking about her illness and how she feels like she is slipping away and feeling distant from this world but despite this she wants to carry out the adventures she has always wanted to do with the little time she has left.
Script for opening sequence
For my opening sequence the dialogue will be an internal monologue from the character Arya. The action in the opening sequence will be silent and the dialogue will a voice over, recorded after and added on to the action taking place.
The dialogue should give the audience a sense of who the protagonist is and give hints as to what the films story line will be but leave the audience wanting more.
My footage will be of Arya being filmed by a friend this will be shown through a shaky cam effect and Arya's friend will be revealed later on in the film.
Arya V.O:
I felt like I'm slipping away, life was leaving me, but I wasn't afraid. Of course I don't want to leave this life behind, but If anything I feel regret, regret that I didn't do what I had wanted sooner. That's why I have my list, of all the things I want to do before I drift away completely... But this isn't a story about cancer, it's about finding myself and my place in this world in the limited time that I have left.
My name is Arya Lark, I am 17 years old and I was 14 years old when I was diagnosed with cancer. I was here for a moment, and then I was gone.
Our Production Company logo
This is the logo for our production company, it was created using the drawing program 'Serif DrawPlus X5. I animated my logo so that the glint of will expand and contract.
I got the idea for my logo my researching other production companies such as Universal or Disney and their logos to make sure ours was appropriate and looked professional.When I had finished the initial design for my logo, I decided I wanted to animate it using Serif Drawplus X6 using stop frame animation because from my research I had found that many professional film company logo's were animated. The animating of my logo took a long time but I am proud of the result as I feel that it has similar qualities to real media production company logo's.
Researching Production Company Logo's
Before I start to create my production company logo. I am going to research professional production company logo's. Here is a slide share of my research below.
BBFC classification
Here are the classifications for Films in the Uk
Personally I think my film will be rated as a 12A, due to infrequent use of strong language, but due to the themes and the references to sex and drugs even not explicitly would mean a 12A classification.
Deciding on a Production Company name
After getting a group of 9 of my target audience, I explained to them the genre of my film and what type of films my production company would make, I asked them to decide on which name for a production company would attract them the most. I used the most popular name as my production company name.
Planning my Opening sequence
I decided before doing my shotlist and planning my story board I would write down a few of my ideas for shots and what the costume and makeup of my actress will be so I can refer back to this before filming.
Location
My ideal location for the opening sequence is Brighton beach, because of the calming location of being by the sea, my opening sequence will be reflective so the shots by the sea will reinforce this atmosphere.
My film should give of a vibe of being a very British Film, so I feel this location would suit my film.
In Brighton there is a train station, which I want to include shots of the protagonist, to get a sense of them travelling and a sense of loneliness when the character is standing alone.
I would like to also have a location of on the train with my protagonist staring out the window of the train.
Character
In my opening sequence there is a single character Arya Lark. There viewpoint of the audience will be on a second character who is filming Arya but we are not yet introduced to them.
Name: Arya Lark
Age: 17
Occupation: Student, enjoys schools so works hard and has good grades
Diagnosed with: Leukemia
Birthday: 23rd August
General physical description: Brunette, pale, 5ft 4", pretty
Hometown: London, from the city
Father’s name, background, and occupation: Jack Lark, office job
Mother’s name, background, and occupation: Maria Lark, office job
Siblings: sister who is eight, who she is close to, Cara
Position in family: The eldest child, cares for her little sister
Hobbies: reading, pop punk music, helps decorate set as the local theatre
Never Let Me Go
Title- Never Let Go (2011)
Genre - Drama
Director- Mark Romanek
Box Office
Budget:
$15,000,000 (estimated)Opening Weekend:
£625,496 (UK) (11 February 2011)Gross:
£1,473,603 (UK) (18 February 2011)
Company Credits
Production Companies:
DNA Films, Film4, Fox Searchlight Pictures
DNA Films produces films such as
- Far from the Madding Crowd (2015)
- Ex Machina (2015)
- Sunshine on Leith (2013)
- Dredd (2012)
Fox Searchlight Pictures produced films such as
Research the audience for Drama genre
I have researched films of the drama genre and found on IMDB user ratings for each film. This helps me understand what the audience's opinions of the films were and what age and gender they are. Using this it will make it easier for me to understand my target audience and what films they prefer.
Submarine (2010)
Cyberbully (2011)
The Help (2011)
From this data I can see that both Female and Male audiences do enjoy watching films of the Drama genre, however Females are more likely to enjoy these type of films.
Audience Research
I researched into my target audience to what type of film genre they would prefer to watch, here are the results
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Deciding on a Film Title
After getting a group of 15 people that are representative of my target audience, I explained to them the genre of my film and the synopsis. I then asked them to choose which name they felt best suited the film and would also attract them to watch the film. Here are the results:
Synopsis of my film
Film Title - Before I Go
Genre - Drama
Synopsis -
Arya Lark is a 17 year old girl who was diagnosed with Leukemia when she was 14 years old. Arya has been undergoing treatment, traveling to back and forth to London for appointments with many doctors. Arya has decided to stop undergoing treatment, and wants to try and live her life to the fullest within the limited time she has left. Arya has created a bucketlist of things she wants to do before she dies, simple things perhaps to a normal teenager, but to Arya they mean a lot as she hasn't had much chance to live like other teenagers. Things on her bucketlist are things such as; go on a date, find love, go to parties, ride in a hot-air balloon, skydive, sleep under the stars, and others that will be revealed as the film progresses. Arya's parent's are forever concerned about her health and make it difficult for her to break free, so Arya is determined to find a way to live life to fullest and break free from her world of responsibilities. Arya finds love and the story follows how they deal with the inevitable death of Arya and their love story within the limited time they have. The film ends with Arya dying having trying to complete her bucketlist and enjoying her last moments with the boy she loves.
Research into female main characters
I have decided that in my film, I would like to present a strong female character as the protagonist, therefore I think some research into female characters in modern films will help my decisions.
Katniss Everdeen-The Hunger Games
Katniss in 'The Hunger Games'is a strong female character because she does everything in her power to protect her family. She is independent and prefers to be alone and not have to rely on others. Despite romantic interest from other characters Katniss is adamant that she has no time to think about herself only about her sister and mother. Katniss is seen as a symbol of hope for people to look up to when protesting about their treatment from the authorities. From a young age she had to put her family first and take care of her family since her father's death and her mother's decline.
Kathy- Never Let Me Go
Skeeter - The Help
Skeeter in 'The Help' is a strong woman as even as she is born into privilege she starts a project writing about black maids and their unfair treatment from the majority of the white community, Skeeter defying social norms of the time, is isolated from the community because of her views on the civil rights movement.
Looking at these examples of strong female characters I would like to have a combination of these characteristics in my character. I would like to portray my character mainly being similar to Kathy from Never Let Me Go, being strong enough to accept her fate but not letting herself be consumed by her sadness, and also Katniss' ability to put others before herself. I think by taking inspiration from these characters, my protagonist will be interesting and likable.
Drama Films
Popular films of the Drama genre are:
The Imitation Game
Synopsis: In 1939, newly created British intelligence agency MI6 recruits Cambridge mathematics alumnus Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) to crack Nazi codes, including Enigma -- which cryptanalysts had thought unbreakable. Turing's team, including Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley), analyze Enigma messages while he builds a machine to decipher them. Turing and team finally succeed and become heroes, but in 1952, the quiet genius encounters disgrace when authorities reveal he is gay and send him to prison.
The Breakfast Club
Synopsis: Five high school students from different walks of life endure a Saturday detention under a power-hungry principal (Paul Gleason). The disparate group includes rebel John (Judd Nelson), princess Claire (Molly Ringwald), outcast Allison (Ally Sheedy), brainy Brian (Anthony Michael Hall) and Andrew (Emilio Estevez), the jock. Each has a chance to tell his or her story, making the others see them a little differently -- and when the day ends, they question whether school will ever be the same.
Never Let Me Go
Synopsis: Friends Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Tommy (Andrew Garfield) and Ruth (Keira Knightley) grow up together at a seemingly idyllic boarding school in the English countryside. When they leave the school and the horrible truth of their true purpose is revealed to them, they must simultaneously confront deep-seated feelings of love, jealousy and betrayal that threaten to tear their friendship asunder.
Cyberbully
Synopsis: A woman (Kelly Rowan) tries to help her teenage daughter (Emily Osment) when she becomes the victim of online bullying.
A common feature in all these films is the complex plots dealing with realistic characters and their emotions. The films explore the characters journey's and development within realistic situations whilst still being entertaining.
By researching other films from the same Genre as mine (Drama) I think I will be able to use a variety of techniques to be able to convey the themes of my film. I have taken inspiration from the complex characters and how they are presented in an exciting and interesting way.
Audience Profile
Although my film is targeted at a wider audience, my ideal audience member would be;
Name:
Ella Foster
Age:
16
Gender:
Female
Ethnicity:
Caucasian
Socio-Economic status:
Has a disposable income, perhaps from a part time job or pocket money.
Education:
State school
Taste in Music:
A wide range of Pop music but especially indie pop
Taste in Film (preferred genres):
Romance, Drama, adventure, sci-fi, Dystopian and Utopian
Other interest:
Reading, socializing with friends
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