Task 7 Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

With both of our tasks we were set out to do there was a very big difference between the two, as well as the time we were given was different we also had a very big difference in shot choices.

For example we were given a sheet to follow for our prelim task and we made our own more interesting shot choices for the final task

We were given 10 days for our prelim task for planning, shooting and editing. It took a very short amount of time and our shot choices were ordinary and following a structure given to us.

We were taught, wide, medium, close up and extreem close ups, establishing shots and over shoulder shots.

These were all very simple shots that kept the prelim task its self very simple.

With our final task we created our own story board made of eight pages

etc...

when we were editing the prelim task we were very new to the idea of final cut pro and any kind of editing, we were taught the basics of cutting and putting together but adding things like sound and effects we had no ideas how to or when it was needed. When it came to the final task we used a lot of sound, and effects. For example the door sound, the foot steps, the Churchill speech, the music in the second half, the hammer noise when he was breaking in to the bunker, the bombs, and air raids and airplanes. These were especially key to our sequence because of the twist. It is noticed that the little girl is more scared of the man coming than the bombs upstairs.

In our prelim task we had no sounds added on top at all. We used on effects to cut the scene together either however we used primary sound, like dialogue and the natural door sound.

In our final task the only transition effects we used were the fade. This was to show a certain amount of time has past. As well as making a smooth and professional transition into the tracking shot

Prelim Task

Task 6 What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Task 5 How did you attract/address your audience?

Audience powerpoint for blog task 5

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Task 4 Who would be the audience for your media product?

We believe that blitz would attract a very wide age range of audience but in the safe boundary i think that between 12 and 24 year olds of both sexes. the film is set in the past so would be popular for students studying the blitz in history.

Blitz is set in the second world war, 1940, it would therefore be attractive to a wide range of audience, the period set could be attractive to a very niche audience, howeverthe young girl in the play could be a selling point to the younger audience as well as our actor being attractive to the older women.

The main audience would definitely be British as the film is set and based in Britain using a British cast. Although the film would hopefully show in America, the main audience would not be from America. British children would have been taught about the Second World War and probably even have close family members who were involved. This would be another reason for the British population to see this.

The majority of the audience would still be in education. We would want to target the audience from this age group because, they have no children or income and are still young enough to go out and see a film without, money or children as a worry, however we believe that the older generation who know more about that time period would want to come to, so the older generation may be interested too.

Task 3 What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

'Blitz' is British made thriller film. After looking at film distributors like  'Paramount', 'Lionsgate', and '20th Century Fox’ 'Film Four' we decided that ‘Vertigo’ would be the best match for our film ‘Blitz’. A British film distributor would be ideal as our film is aimed at a niche British audience. We are looking at low budget distributors as it’s the first film and we is not likely to be in the cinema for a long time there for the company will mainly focus on a DVD release.

VERTIGO FILMS

Vertigo films is a UK media company founded in 2002, to distribute independent cinema 

In addition to its production and distribution activity,

 

We believe vertigo would be interested in taking on our film because unlike other British film companies they target a very wide audience, in age and gender, for example 'monsters'. This film is targeted generally at age’s 12 to 24 year old boys. It is a low budget alien film that boys of a young age would equally enjoy the film like older boys up to the age of 24 leaving room on both ends.

 

Street dance is another film, targeted at the similar audience age targeted at but unlike monsters targeted maybe more towards girls of that age group, however we believe blitz is targeting both sexes of that age which makes both these films good to compare to ours.

Task 2 How does your product represent particular social groups?

This is a young girl; she represents a positive representation of a girl of an eight year old living in the 1940's during the time of the blitz. She seems capable of reading and writing with the bombs and air raid alerts above her.
This is a similar representation of a the young girl

This man is a very small character at the beginning, we have no idea of his characteristics, he may be a bad tempered man or have a very sweet disposition about him, all we know is he is a young adult in his thirties, and investigating this bunker, this is why he doesn’t represent an age group stereotype.

This man is very mysterious to us, we know he is a man from his shadow however, we know nothing of his age or character, all we know is the girl is frightened of him more than the bombs.

Task 1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?



The first screen grab is of the film company, we see piping in the background and the frame moves down into a bunker, this opens the audience with a unique idea that it is set in the time of the bombing. Thriller films are usually set in modern day



This shot invites is into the bunker with an establishing shot of what is in here, they see a bed with a young girl, imagining that this point is key to the film, this may take the audience by surprise as she is alone in the place with no adults present.



We then have a long tracking shot in which we show propaganda posters and old positions that the norm would have kept. There are valuable things down in the bunker as well this could show that they are keeping their nice things safe, they may be a wealthy family

 

This shot is very off the general mood of the rest of the sequence so far, showing a man come in however the girl is afraid, we wanted to keep the man a mystery so you only see a shadow. This is also another unusual point that the audience may find different to the normal ways of a thriller.



This is just a title, we wanted to make it known that a lot of time had past, this is also a unique thing as a big time had past very early on in the film, opening the idea that the film ahead is set in two different time periods.



After establishing that we are in the same place as we were in the first half the books have moved and still look in reasonably good condition

This is the first time the audience see the man’s face. The whole scene was lit only by a torch light and so his face is still in a lot of shadow

.

This moment is meant to be the most surprising moment, when we see what is the girl but hidden in a gas mask, the sounds help the element of surprise be more frightening to the audience as well as you see her eye in the socket.



The title is typed out in type writer font and sounds the sounds in this last frames are the most important with a young girl singing and laughing, this frame is meant to be a the mood setter before the film starts, unsettled and frightened, the usual thriller mood.





 

EVALUATION OF POST PRODUCTION

When we were in post with my prelim task the process was quick and very little detail was involved however with the main task the post production was a whole new way of editing. Each shot was a lot more important we were following our own structure instead of the one given to us and we were given a lot more freedom with it as well.  We found that our set structure changed a lot during editing because we did a lot of shots. This meant that a lot of decision making between shots had to take place so we could decide the best shots suited.

Also with our prelim task we didn’t have the issue of time.

One of our main shots in the sequence was the tracking shot, this was because it showed our set off and we really liked the props we had taken so long to collect, this meant we had to sacrifice other shots that we could afford to loose.

Because the only editing we had don’t before our knoll age on using final cut pro was very limited however we learnt a lot very quickly. I learned to develop my skills during the editing process by learning it when I came to it. The rest of my group were equally new to the editing process as me but each of us developed skills on different things for example, we were all good by the end of it at sound and syncing it with the scene. We spent a lot of time making sure the type writer sound and the bangs in the second scene were all in the right places and fading them in and our when necessary for example with the radio we made sure that then the camera was near the radio the volume was at its loudest. We also helped a lot with finding the appropriate sounds. my group were perfectionists we were very particular on the cuts and the smooth transitions, with the continuity of the whole sequence put together, also the titles we worked out how to fade them in and out at the appropriate times. The sounds are what took our time up mostly as we made a rough cut very quickly. The amount of sounds we layered took a long time but helped the whole scene become more life like I felt. Before finished we added in some after effects for example the pipe and we layered the eye in the gas mask at the end.

This film sequence was obviously a thriller as well as it has a restrictive narrative. We don’t want the viewers to know a huge amount about the story at the beginning with our long tracking shot we let them know that it is set in 1940 and our title letting them know that 60 years has passed are the two main pieces of information they should know. However what should come up as a UN answered question in this sequence is, who this girl is? Why did she hide when the man came in? Was she killed? And, how is she still there after 60 years? If so she must have been killed but was it the bomb or the man that killed her?

The mood we are trying to set is to begin with a relaxed beginning into the story one the bombs have gone off at the end of the first half the mood should change to be a little bit more uncomfortable. Our shot showing the girls feet walk by should unsettle the mood and we want to finish with a jump, as well as the eerie singing and scratchy noises. This is the idea to enter the film with an idea of what the viewer is in for opening the title with an unsettle audience.

Going back to the sounds in our sequence, they were essential to our sequence as well as showing a range of skills. We included digetic and non digetic sounds. In the second half there is little digetic sound, the only sounds are his torch, the bricks and the clown that we close up on these are naturalistic sounds that helps the scene come alive however we has more non digetc sounds for example background music and bangs, this is because the audience need to feel as unsettle as him and this being a naturalistic scene the eerie music is only playing for the audience only, however in the fist half we include sounds like the pencil writing, the radio playing, the door opening and the bombs from above.

As our whole second half of the scene was lit by the torch only we needed very little else in editing the only thing we added to the scene was the eye in the gas mask.

To conclude our whole post production process we decided it was finished when we found no more to do with it, I am very please with the finished product as are the rest of my group. We were well organised in our editing, we took a long time but we found time to finish and the group got a long and allowed each of us to voice their opinion over others so everyone got their way at some point in the editing process leaving it a well balanced effort film sequence.