Evaluation Question : Who would be the audience for your media product?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The product was designed for young adults due to the aspects of popular dramas in the youth culture. It has the right amount of tension, action and mystery to captivate an audience of teenagers aged, 13-17+. I wanted to target this audience because I feel that they will be able to relate to it most. I don’t like to point out the obvious, but violence and rebellion is almost certainly part of our culture and I decided to build off of that. However, I also incorporated the idea of a hero going against the odds and succeeding. I hoped that would inspire others and put across a positive message, which would lend itself to my production in a good way. I also felt that this audience would probably be the most connected, in terms of communication through social media, allowing for easier promotion. My film would probably have an age rating, as it does incorporate some violence and other mature themes. If I were to give it a rating, it would probably be rated 15 (by BBFC standards) but I don’t think that would convince anyone younger not to see the film. As I said previously rebellion is part of my target audiences culture, so why shouldn't the case for seeing a film when they aren't necessarily old enough to be able to see it legally.

Evaluation Question : How did you attract/address your audience?

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

Film : Fight Night

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

Pre-Production and Research:

Pre-production was possibly the hardest part of this course, as it required took the most time. I never really appreciated the amount of research required for creating any media-based product. Google was an amazing tool to use as it was my main means for researching anything media related. For example, in the beginning it was very helpful when looking for shot examples and tips for Final Cut. Due to the unfathomable amount of information available at my fingertips, I could find these things quickly and easily. Speaking of Google, YouTube was another very helpful tool, especially for anything to do with filming. Since all AQA Media productions were uploaded to YouTube, I could easily find any film I wanted. For example, I found that if I wanted to find a sports drama or gangster film, there were a lot of options to choose from. This was especially helpful for deciding what codes to use in my film. Blogger is essential for showing the extent of my research. For example, this evaluation is going up on my blog. I learnt that it also serves as a host for other blogs, so I can see what other have done in terms of pre-production and research. Adobe Photoshop was also very helpful as it was my method for creating a prop that was supposed to be used in the film, but wasn’t. However, it did evidence that I had done some pre-production that wasn’t just research.

Construction:

Construction wasn’t easy either. My biggest hurdle was finding the time to film and being able to get everyone together to record. I had a few mishaps in the beginning. For example, I found that shots looked much better if a tripod was used rather than trying to keep your hands steady. I also made used of the many modes and settings that were available. For example, the black and white option was especially useful when we wanted to take a shortcut in the editing process. Carrying on from that, Final Cut X was instrumental in the creation of the media product. While I could have used freeware like iMovie to edit the shots together, Final Cut X made the outcome look amazing. Not only did I find out that the titles included in the package were very helpful for creating a dynamic piece, the layout was easy to use and simple to learn. The Royalty free music sites were also very helpful. I mainly used Kevin Macleod’s music, from his site http://incompetech.com/. Not only does he give away his music for free, he has an amazing amount of genres suited for any product that is created on a budget.

Evaluation:

While the examiners don’t give out many marks for essay based Evaluation answers, typing straight on to Blogger is very quick and easy to do. However, mediums like Photoshop and Prezi generate more marks due to the diversity of the presentation. Even using SlideShare to host a Powerpoint Presentation gives more marks than a long, boring essay. In retrospect, I should have made time to make a video for one of the questions. For example, I could have layered some notes over my original video that explained some of the technical/symbolic codes I included.

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

Evaluation Question : How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

Editing : Title Card Moodboard

Our title card is an important part of the edit as it is the transition between the intro and the first scene. It also introduces our film after the credits. We might make an actual title card or just stick with something in Final Cut. In a perfect world, I'd use something from Adobe After Effects, but something made in Photoshop will have to do.

As you can see, 4 of the title cards are text on black while the other 3 are text on a background. I want to go for something like the Vertigo title card but use a graphic to make it a bit more interesting. The Final Cut titles can do this pretty well, but if I want something I can be proud of, Photoshop is the way to go. The only problem is making the text see-through.

American Psycho Narration Scene : Application in Fight Night

We wanted to apply a narration over our film, similar to what they did in American Psycho with the intro to Patrick Bateman.

Something like this is appropriate because our protagonist is putting on an act. While on the surface he may seem indifferent or apathetic inside he is really worried, much like Patrick Bateman minus the psychopathic tendencies. I feel it would give our film a more dramatic feel and begin to build tension for the rest of the film up until the fight.

Settings : Gym

We used a gym setting for our more fast-paced edit. We have our protagonist working out with on different machines with different angles for each shot. We also had an extra working out in some of the shots to make it more authentic.

We used these two treadmills for one of the shots with two people in it. The music is fairly important here as the sound of feet thumping on a treadmill doesn't really put anything across to the audience. Some fast paced music would work better with it. An argument could be made for purely diegetic sound to give the film a more realistic edge, but our film relies on the music to put across meaning since there isn't any dialogue to do that. 

Representation of Disability

The media continue to enforce disability stereotypes portraying disabled individuals in a negative un-empowering way.

In his 1991 study, Paul Hunt identified 10 stereotypes that the media use to portray disabled people:

1.            The disabled person as pitiable or pathetic

2.            An object of curiosity or violence

3.            Sinister or evil

4.            The super cripple

5.            As atmosphere

6.            Laughable

7.            His/her own worst enemy

8.            As a burden

9.            As Non-sexual

10.        Being unable to participate in daily life

Disabled people over the years have been marginalized within and through the media.

These areas are as follows:

1.            The media still tends to use the medical model of disability

2.            The focus is on the impairment more than the individual

3.            Disabled people are under-represented both in terms of employment in the media &

                portrayal in the media

4.            Lots of media forms are inaccessible and broadcasting tends to be at inaccessible times           

5.            Mainstream media do not recognize the disabled art, media culture

Though the media are beginning to change, it is evident that the media industry and the

disabled community need much more work, where both need to work and learn from each

other. Particularly mainstream media learning from the disabled media and arts sub culture.

Props : Making the Poster

Firstly, I developed my photoshop skills to suit the nature of the poster. I had to use a variety of skills to accurately portray the meaning behind the poster. Since the poster was retro by nature, I had to work with gradients and hue/saturation levels. By modifying these I could get the right blending options so the pictures would work with the stock background:

Next I had to get the pictures I'd taken and cut them down to an outline to make it neater and not have an uneeded background with he image. Plus it looks unprofessional. I used these pictures at first:

But changed it so both fighters were facing forwards:

After I had got all the pictures cut out and positioned, I had to desaturate and change the layering options, I had to add all the miscellaneous information, as was common for posters back then. I made up a date and venue along with a ticket price. All the red and black boxes severed as filler/background so the poster wouldn't look so empty.

Mise en Scene Homework : The Fighter

The Fighter - 2010 - David O. Russell

Story:

The Fighter is a drama about boxer "Irish" Micky Ward's unlikely road to the world light welterweight title. His Rocky-like rise was shepherded by half-brother Dicky, a boxer-turned-trainer on the verge of being KO'd by drugs and crime.

Setting

The film is set somewhere supposedly somewhere small in the USA. Bale has a cross hanging off his neck, which would suggest he was religious. From that we may assume that the film is somewhere in the South, where religion is taken more seriously. In this screen-cap, it is very obviously sunny. This may allude to a lighthearted film or at least this scene is a happy one. 

In this shot however, the focus is directed on the boxing ring, suggesting this is the center point of the scene. the audiences attention is drawn here and we see that there is a very tense standoff happening. Since there is little else to distract the audience, the tension grows exponentially. The audience is faded into he background, implying that there is no real reason for them to be there at this point. This could also indicate how the characters have zoned out of what else is happening outside of the ring. This add to the tension, as we can see how the characters are feeling. 

Costume

Due to how dirty the characters shirts are, we can assume that they are hardworking or are involved in something dirty. this is more accurate for Bale's character as he is shown to be involved in drugs and crime. Wahlberg's character is seen here in a sweat stained shirt, so we can assume he has been training, showing dedication and giving some insight to the character; he is hardworking, tough and willing to put in effort. this along with his smile would also indicate a gentler side to him.

Props : Boxing Poster

This is one of the main props that we are going to use in our film. I used Photoshop to make the picture with pictures I took previously. I used various techniques to cut the pictures I took together with the stock texture that I downloaded from a royalty-free stock site. I made up some boxer names on the spot. 'The Tank' represents an immovable object, making it a fitting name for a champion. 'The Star' represents a rising star, meaning he is slowly rising through the ranks in the boxing world to face off against the champion. 

The information is fake, including the radio station presenting the fight and the boxing arena it is set in. The 'Proceeds to Charity' bit gives the fight an official air, but compared with the rest of the film it provides a stark contrast as the film goes on to a more dark and gritty plot.

I wanted to give the poster a retro feel as it would give some background to how long boxing has gone on for and they are bringing it back to it's roots since it is the 25th championship, so I wanted the poster to look like it was made 25 years ago.

Group/Self Assessment - 14/01/14

Slowly getting up to date with posts. They might need some more detail if I want a higher grade, but they are satisfactory so far. The filming has come to a slight standstill as we didn't do any over the Christmas break as some group members were inaccessible. We have the beginning out of the way for the most part, but it may need some adjustment in the next few weeks. We are getting the hang of editing now and we are agreeing on when to cut clips for the most part. Personally, I would cut some clips a bit shorter, but our soundtrack still requires some work before we can edit further. I found a really good site for royalty free music site that will give us some variety when we are choosing music. We need some clips before we can make any final judgments, though. I'm still working on our main prop. The photos are good and will be easy to manipulate, but I still need to decide a style. I was thinking of something like this:

Maybe not to this level, but along these lines.

Voiceover Script For 'Dave Starr' Intro

Script: My name is David Starr. I live in south east London in a small house owned by my parents. I’m 18 years old, and tomorrow is the most important day in my life in terms of my boxing career. This fight could make or break me, i'm facing the toughest guy in London and I know my family are depending on me to win this match or we face financial ruin. Life is rough right now but boxing and my family are going to pull me through this. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
This may need to be adjusted depending on how long it is in actual speaking time as it needs to match the length of the clips. It also needs fit in with the soundtrack and be at the right volume to get a good ratio between diegetic and non-diegtic sound. Too loud and it drowns out the soundtrack nd too quiet it doesn't have the same impact.

Final Soundtrack Ideas

I found a really good royalty free music site that has a variety of music tracks available for download. Incomptech will be the site I use to find music. I settled on this piece for our opening sequence. Regardless of whether we actually do a voice over, it will still serve to set the atmosphere. While only 60 seconds long, we can play the sped and pitch if we need to extend the duration. It doesn't exactly fit the genre of our film, but it does give a nice contrast to how the rest of the film will play out. We were originally going to use this piece for the opening:

If my choice doesn't work out, then we can always fall back on this. It sets the same atmosphere as the other one but seems to intense for me and may not work well with a voice over.