Monday 5 March 2012

Evaluation

Evaluation

For my A level media coursework, we had to create a 2 minute title sequence. In my group was me, Jase and Dom. We had to create a film storyline, do research,

My group and I made the titles for the comedy genre. The reason we decided to go for that genre is because as a group, we are all comical people and also the audience range is wide so we can appeal to more people. If we go for a wide age range, the more we will be able to appeal for.
Second thing we had to do was create a storyline. Our storyline was about an American teenager who is jobless and lives at home with his mum. His mum tells him to get on with his life and get a job but he will not listen. His older brother comes into town and he is extremely successful. He is incredibly jealous as he is his mums’ favourite child.  This makes him more productive and tries to get a job and become more successful. This leads to him failing to get many jobs and he finds himself in many comical situations, which he then overcomes and becomes successful. This is the disequilibrium and equilibrium in our storyline. We planned our storyline because that will give us a better idea of how we can do our titles.

Research
We had to do plenty of research of the codes and conventions of a title sequence. We had to find out the ‘norm’ of a title sequence and abide the most common features. We also researched, order of titles, so we know which order they appear on screen. Even though this is not a necessity, it is something we wanted to abide by so we have professionalism about our titles. This meant we had to watch countless titles to figure out what sort of titles we wanted to go for.

What Age is your target audience and why?
We then picked what age range we were going for. We decided to go for the age range of 12 and 25. In our research, we found out that these are the age ranges that mostly go cinema, and when they do, they preferably like to go see a comedy as it cheers people up. We would make the certificate for the film a 12A because there will be mild violence involved. Also, we don’t think there will be much point in under 12s seeing it as they wouldn’t understand the film. The reason that 12-25 would be our primary audience is because the comedy that is being portrayed in this film is that of which only this age group may laugh at because of the stage that there mind is at in the fact that older people above this age limit might not find the jokes that funny. Also, because the whole situation is that he is trying to make something of his life, after being a lazy, and someone who doesn’t want to achieve in life and then conquers what he wants. This will put the primary audience in ‘Andrew Andersons’ shoes, and make it relative to their life. This will be the moral in our story.

What particular social group does my media product relate to?
When looking at the social groups that I have represented within my media product I can think of one in particular that could be seen as me representing and that is Americans. We have stereotyped Americans, which will make it more appealing, because instead of doing it in an offensive way, we are mimicking a minority of Americans. We are putting the minority of lazy people who don’t want to work into a comical situation. People will not be offended by it but will find it comical and can laugh at the situation.

We have used mise-en-scene to create this stereotype by the way the character dresses and his surroundings in his house. We have dressed him up in tracksuit bottoms, and a baggy top. This shows that he doesn’t take pride in his appearance and he doesn’t take pride in what he does. The setting we had to think about carefully.  We couldn’t just put him in a room for our titles sequence as that does not give off the impression we want. So we decided to surround him in food and mess that way we can show that he is a stereotypical American.

Post Production
Our post production of our title sequence was perfect. We got the exact effect that we wanted for our titles with the ‘swipe’ effect. It took us hours to do but was defiantly worth it.  It took us ages to get it perfect but it defiantly made us stand out to the rest of our class as they just went for the simple pop up titles, we made our appear behind things and it helped us improve our knowledge of Logic Pro. We learnt how to do various cuts and different effects, but we soon realized that if you do strange cuts, it would start to look tacky. To make it look more professional and for it to be made by professionals, we went for the most common form of cut, jump cut. None of us in our group has ever used Final Cut Pro before, and to learn how to use it and put the effects that we wanted to do was a real achievement. There was defiantly a sense of pride after we finished editing. We had minimal criticise after our work which made it seem even better because that was our first draft. So knowing after all the work we did, there wasn’t much to improve on made us a lot happier. 

Codes and conventions
In our title sequence we have used some of the main conventions that exist in most titles and that is that we had the film title, an introduction to character, information regarding mood and tone. Also we helped the audience get in the mood and give a taste of what the character is like in the film by the music we chose. We chose an American type soft rock, as this is the most stereotypical music we could find. It sets up the pace of the film and gets the audience intrigued. It is loud so it will get people’s attention. You need a catchy song because the titles are possibly the most important part of a film as this is where you get people’s attention or lose it. If they are not intrigued by it, they will not be paying much attention to the film if they cannot get into it.

What Institution would you chose to distribute and why?

The two media film industries that we chose to distribute our film were Columbia Pictures and the other is Paramount Vantage. We was not sure which one to pick because Columbia Pictures made great comical films like Step Brothers. Step Brothers was a great film and it made it big and still one of the funniest films of all times. Our film is almost like a sister to our film. This is because they have the same moral to the film and Columbia Pictures would know the best way to distribute it.
The Other institution, who we decided to pick, was Paramount Vantage. After a lot of in-depth research on both film institutions, we felt this was the better institution to distribute our film as they track record of Paramount Vantage is amazing. They have won a  lot of awards and this means they know how to get this out to the audience and get the name out there. Most of their films that they have distributed was comedies. Therefore we thought this is the better option as this was their most focused genre. The decision was made in the group very quickly, even though both industries both have strong parts to them and the vote was unanimous. 

Any Issues overcome?

We had one issue within our filming and that was the initial idea to do a 360 degree movement of the camera around the room. The issue was that we could not find a suitable location to be able to do it. We tried at various locations but the effect we was trying to do was just too hard. We used the dolly and it just wouldn't work. So we decided to change taking single shots and then edit them together in post production and I think it made it a lot better. In a way I am glad it never worked at first because this has made our titles look a lot more professional and it has made me get better at Final Cut Pro. The new final titles which we have made is very good and high standard.

What have I learnt?

I feel that this media project has helped me a lot and has improved my knowledge of Final Cut Pro and now I can use it if need be in other lessons. I also now know a lot more about how films get distributed and about industries and it is nowhere near as simple as it seems. I have accomplished a lot in this task and I now have a deeper understanding of the whole film industry. I worked very hard and stayed behind after school to finish all work to get it to a high standard as I found the whole topic very interesting and it has made me more aware of what goes on in the film industry.

Tuesday 21 February 2012

Final Cut Pro Guidebook


















This is the guidebook that we used to help us whilst editing our title sequence. This come in handy when we was trying to figure out how to do transitions as our group have not used Final Cut Pro before.

Andrew Anderson - First Draft




This is my groups first draft of our titles for our film 'Andrew Anderson'.

Thursday 26 January 2012

Editing Plan

Tomorrow we will be editing in Shauns lesson and I have come up with a plan to do the editing so it does not get too confusing. The order goes like this:


  1. Put all clips into order in the file where it is saved and delete unusable footage
  2. Copy videos into Final Cut Pro in order
  3. Cut the video where necessary and were we want one shot to cut/fade into the next shot
  4. Add in transitions and effects were needed
  5. Add music and make the music link up with the cuts, so it is all in time
  6. Add the titles
  7. Finish up and make any changes to the final video
We will not be able to do this in all day but I think we should finish up to number 3 and we will be in a good position to finish of the editing for next week. We only have an hour lesson tomorrow, so we will have to work quickly and productively.

2nd Time Of Filming

Today we filmed for the second time and it had gone a lot smoother. We decided to not move the camera and decided to just use different shots, which is almost like completely changing our idea. We was worried it was not going to work because even though we planned it, not much thinking had gone into and the footage has come out a lot better than we expected.

We filmed 29 clips, and kept to the same script as before but we cut up the filming. We think this will tie in with the music better. As the music is fairly fast pace, it will suite the cuts a lot better. The music is quite quick and if we decided to use the footage before, it would be contrapuntal, which is not the effect we are after. By doing it the way we have done it, it will make our titles look a lot better.

It took us 2 and a half hours of filming to get, what we think is, right. I was the actor in the titles, and Jason was the camera man and Dom helped out when needed as we only needed one actor and only one camera man. Also by shooting the way we have, we can involve camera techniques we have learnt in class, and one of the most effective ones we are going to use is 'match-on-action'. As a group we think this will add to the effect and it won't just be a bottle dropping on the floor. I think that this is by far a better idea and will increase our grades as it will look a lot more professional.

I have watched all the footage and I think most of it will be useful in one way or another. There is a few clips that can't be used, like were the camera gets jolted and minor mishaps but the rest of it is very good and clear.

Tomorrow in Shauns lesson we will be editing the footage. We will edit it as a group so we all know how to use Final Cut Pro and put our skills from Jacks lesson into use.

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Our New Solution For Filming

What our group have decided to do is to completely scrap the 360degree movement of the dolly, and now we are keeping the camera still and just getting individual shots and editing them together.

The reason for changing our camera movement, is that it is virtually impossible because my front room is very big, but it is still not big enough for the dolly to function. We have thought about this long and hard and we do not think placing cardboard down on the floor will make it any better. We want to make the best title sequence in the class so we have decided to change it, so it will not look tacky.

We have decided to change it to the camera just moving on the tripod and we think this will also look effective.

The only issue with changing our camera movement is that we have to change our:


  • Storyboard
  • Photo Animatic

This is making us have to do more work, and we will have to do some work outside of school, but I am sure it will be worth it by the end of it.

Production Schedule

We have updated our calendar because filming didn't go to plan. We had to change the date of filming to when we was all free and here is our new production schedule.



We are now shooting on thursdays because that is when we have our media lessons, and we can go back to mine and shoot. We have about 2 Hour 30 Minutes to get in, set up and record in each thursday.

If you want to see our full schedule plan, as in the picture it only shows this month; Click on the hyperlink below.

https://www.google.com/calendar/render?tab=mc&pli=1&gsessionid=j-ugXJTkXM14HWI678SEfw

Friday 20 January 2012

Lesson 17

In this lesson, we had Shauns lesson and we was planning to edit our film. We tried editing it but we come across a few problems and this I have explained in the post 'Newer Issue With Location & Solution' so this prevented us from being able to do what we had planned. This issue was not recognized until I tried editing the footage.


Instead I spent the lesson blogging and explaining our issues in full detail. I decided to do this and not waste a lesson so I can get further and try to keep as up-to-date on my blog as possible. I am trying to get ahead and do all my work, so because of this delay and there was nothing else I could do, this seemed the best option instead of wasting a hour. 


Also I decided to sort out my blog and make it look neater and easier to find posts by giving them Labels so if I need to find a certain piece of work that I have done on my blog, I can immediately find it without having trouble routing through all my posts. This will save time and give me more time in my normal lesson time to do more work. It also looks a lot neater on my blog because it is all organized. 

Newer Issue With Location

After a good day of filming yesterday, I was on the duty of editing the footage. All was going well and we was all happy with the results when we was watching the clips back on the camera - they looked really good.

Once I opened it up on logic pro, I noticed that the footage is very jolty and it is not very good. As the camera is moving around, the camera is shaking and bouncy up and down and does not look right. The camera shakes about a lot and it looks extremely distorted.

On my wooden flooring, there are little drops as that is the pattern, and we thought the wheels would be able to glide over them, but it turns out that it doesn't. We noticed this might be the issue in the first place but it turns out that it was an actual problem. When we was watching the footage on the actual camera, it looked perfect and looked like great footage which we was all proud of, but on the mac, were the screen is a lot bigger, you noticed the jolts in it a lot more. Because it is on a larger screen, you notice all the movements a lot more, so if it was on show in a cinema, the jolts would be huge and will not be smooth at all.

Thursday 19 January 2012

First Day Of Shooting

Today was the first day of shooting. We had double media first lesson, so we decided to have an early start and got all the equipment from school that we needed like the camera, tri-pod and dolly and we made our way back to my house.

As soon as we got in we set up our 'set'. We moved about furniture and had a practice run without recording so we knew the camera man would have enough room to do his job properly and precisely how we wanted it to be shot.

Once we got the path sorted out, the next thing we had to do was to set up props. This was very easy as we just chucked all sorts of food on the table, as the character who I was playing was a bit of lazy person who stays in and watches tele all day and eats.

I also decided to put on Jeremy Kyle in the background because that portrays a unnatural life and shows people faults. This ties in with the fact that he is a bit of a slob and doesn't work and doesn't try to do anything about it. He prefers the simple 'do nothing' life and doesn't want to make a living for himself. He is almost watching a programme about himself, the majority of the programme is about people on benefits and do not aim high in life, which he doesn't.

We then started to shoot our titles. It went really well as I have a large front room. I also have laminated wood flooring and this means that the dolly can function properly. I have a large front room, which makes it easier for the dolly to move about and will make the final picture a lot smoother becausae Jason doesnt have to watch his feet and can move freely and not have to worry where he moves so he can keep a consistant shot. Also this makes it possible to make sure he gets all necessarily shots in the camera shot.

We had no problem filming, but the dolly is a LOT bigger than we first expected, so we had to move about furniture, which is a factor we will have to keep in our minds if we need to re-shoot or decide to re-shoot the scenes. If we do not remember this, it will not look good if something that wasn't there appears or vise verca.

Tuesday 17 January 2012

Possible Locations - Doms House

Here are a few pictures of Dominic's front room.




This could be a possible location to shoot our scene.  Our scene needs to be shot in a front room, so we have gone for the easy option and decided to shoot in one of our groups front rooms.

The issue with using Dom's house is that he has carpet on the floor. This will make it hard for the Dolly to be used because it will make the camera all jolty and wont be very smooth.

Also, we need to be able to go behind the sofa because we go round the whole room and the titles appear on the back of the sofa. The Dolly is also a lot bigger than expected and I do not think there will be enough room to be able to move about in the way we need to. Even though this could work, we would have to move about the furniture a lot. We will keep this possible location in mind but we will also look about for more locations.

Overview - How It's Going So Far

I think so far everything is going to plan. Our group is working very hard and we are getting very far with everything we need to do to a high standard. I think our group is getting along well and from a minor few setbacks, like changing location everything has gone to plan. I am now doing well on my blog and keeping updated regularly and doing my work on time and I am not falling behind. I have been doing the work when it has been set and not doing it last minute.

Our group is completing tasks on schedule and we are making sure that everything we need is done in time. Me, Jason and Dom are keeping to all our our dates on our Google Calender.

Final Cut Pro

In todays lesson, Jack taught us how to use Final Cut Pro properly and although it is very complex, it is a very good editing programme which will help us use the effects that we want.

We spent a whole hour learning all the things to do on Final Cut Pro and for the second hour 'playing about' on it and trying out different techniques which we could possibly use once we have filmed all o our clips. After a little while I started to get use to it and learnt how the whole programme functioned. I took a leaflet aswell which tells you what to do, but I think it will take a lot more usage for me to become comfortable with using it. It is very difficult to get at first but once you have use it regulary, you will understand it more and will become easier. On friday we will be trying to edit our first preview of our title sequence to see if what we filmed looks okay and whether we need to change anything which will make the editing side easier, whether we need to change any colours so it is clearer after we have finished editing it.

Change Of Music

Whilst we was making our photo-animatic, we had to keep listening to the same song over and over again, and as a group decision we decided that it was not as good as we thought because of the singing in it. The 'Yeah Yeah Yeah, being sung in the song made it sound a little tacky and didn't sound good.

We decided to re-look for another song, but we come across the SAME song without the lyrics involved in it. Just the music playing without the singing in it sounds a lot better, and we can get across that american themed rock involved more into our title sequence.

If you look at the following link below, and click on 'Yeah Yeah Yeah 2' you can preview our new song we have chosen to use for our title sequence.

https://audionetwork.lgfl.org.uk/production-music/yeah-yeah-yeah_7944.aspx

Change of Location

Me, Jason and Dom have decided to change our location. The reason we have decided to do this is because in Jasons house, he has carpet flooring and because we need a smooth floor to use the dolly, this makes his house un-usable because the main point in our title sequence is that we have one smooth and swift camera shot without making any cuts, and on carpet, the dolly cannot run properly and it will jerk and shake the camera about a lot, and will make the final product not as smooth. Luckily we thought about this early on and noticed the faults so we could adjust our calender so we all knew what day we was shooting and were abouts.

Below it shows that we changed our calender so that our group knew the new details.

Storyboards For Andrew Anderson






These storyboards are for our title sequence. This is our final storyboard and it is 22 frames long. It took our group 3 attempts to complete the storyboard to perfection and the way we wanted it.

Our title sequence will consist of a 360degree show of the room. NOT ON A PIVET, on a track. We tried to show this in our storyboards by showing the change of scenery and using arrows to show which way we are moving the camera. Also within our continuous shot, we will have close-ups, showing the titles on the objects within the scene.

Monday 16 January 2012

Photo Animatic




This is our photo animatic, were we decided to check if the music matches the storyboard. We also wanted to check whether people understood our storyboard, without extra added information.

In conclusion to this mini project, we as a group found out that:


  • Our storyboard is effective
  • The music matches the storyboard
  • People did not need extra information to understand it
  • Images are clear to see

This took us about 2 hours from taking the photos, uploading them, putting them into iMovie, and adding music. Once we had done all these things, we edited fully and made sure the music start appropriately and cut on time. 

As a group we are very happy with all the work we have done so far.

Thursday 12 January 2012

Lesson 15

In this lesson, we started to create our storyboards for our title sequence. At first it went smoothly but then we struggled to draw as our group lacks art talent. We then decided to change our mind and use photos from a camera to explain what we will be doing, but our time got cut short and it took longer than we originally planned and we had to get it sorted so we can make a photo animatic to present to the class.

Our group then decided it would be best to carry on with our original copy using the storyboards, ignoring the pictures. Once we sorted that out and completed our storyboard, we made a new 'final' version of our storyboard. We tried to make it look neat and presentable, so when it is in a photo animatic, everyone in the class will understand. We had to add a lot of detail to our storyboards so if people read it, they will instantly understand.

The photo animatic task was always going to be difficult for our group because our title sequence is not filmed in sections and edited together. It is one 360degree movement, so not much changed in terms of scenery. Also because it is only one shot, this would be hard to show in 2D on a piece of paper. We decided to add more storyboards into it and now it is easier to understand now and the director will understand fully what we want to do.

Lesson 12

Blogging again...

In lesson 12, we was again blogging. I finally had caught up with all the work I had to do. I looked over my work and started to use labels, so I can get easy access to certain files on my blog. If I wanted to go straight to the first lesson we have done, I click on 'journal' on labels and select Lesson 1.

Lesson 11

In this lesson, we had to catch up with our blogging. I was behind in my work at this point and i managed to catch up. There was a lot of work to do but I still managed to do well.

I also decided to go over all my work and use better terminology. I also made the links tab on the side of my blog, so I remember all the websites I have used and important websites that I will need to use possibly in the future. I have made my work more presentable so hopefully I will get a higher grade.

Lesson 8

Film Production research


In this lesson we as the film production company watched the film pitches to see which one best suited our film company. There were three film pitches being presented to three film companies and each pitch matched to one of our film companies. Our job as the film compnay was to do research into our own film company which was Paramount Vantage and to know the film companies ins and outs ready for the film pitches we was about to be given. The film pitchers also had the task of researching the film company they had been given so that when they thought up the idea for their film pitch they had based it around the production company they had been given. 


This was the presentation that my group made up for our film company, Paramount Vantage...




Lesson 7

British version of 'Groundhog Day'

In this lesson we got set in groups of three to five people and the class had been given a brief. What the class had to do, was to get in their groups and create a film based on the film 'groundhog day'.  In those two hours we had in that lesson we come up with our idea for the film.

Our idea was about a man who re-lives the same day every day of his life.  He goes to work every single day and walks into a girl who he likes the look of. Eventually he starts to feel deja vu, and find himself living the same day with no recognition the next day. He realizes he has this issue and he tries to meet the girl. It is a comical story and whenever something happens and he gets close to her, he falls asleep and he finds himself in square one again, and having to restart the next day.

Once we had this information, we had to present it to the class and get feedback from the class, which we took as constructive criticism.

Lesson 6

Blogging Lesson

In this lesson, we was blogging in the mac room and we had to get our blogs upto date. I did not have much to catch up on but there was still work needed to be done. I caught up with the work I was already doing in this lesson.

I also sorted out the design for my blogger, and make it look nicer and more intriguing. I added the title on my blog 'Mikes Media Work' by using a font I got of da-font.

Lesson 1

Codes and Conventions for title sequences




Typically, these are the most common order for titles:

  1. Studio
  2. (Director)
  3. Stars (in order/ reverse order of fame status)
  4. Name of film
  5. Crew
  6. Editor
  7. Writer (screenplay)
  8. Producer
  9. Director
This is not a must order but this is the order in which they mostly get put in.  The reason they put titles in the film is so that people know who is doing what. Also they might realize an actor, or actress is in the film and it automatically makes the film more interesting.  Also people who are not necessarily in the film get a little credit and get some fame and recognition for doing their work.

Tuesday 10 January 2012

Similar Title Sequence - Titles

In our title sequence we will be using a similar theme to when the titles appear on screen. We decided before we saw this title sequence that we would have edited in the titles after we shot the title sequence and edit them in so the titles appear behind objects and when objects move in the scene, like the stamp or the hand, the title will appear behind it. It looks very good and I am sure ours will look just as good, if not better.


Paramount Vantage





Paramount Vantage is the company that will be producing and distributing our film 'Andrew Anderson'.

We have decided to use this because they have made a lot of films. They have produced a lot of films in the genre comedy which gives it more reason to be used because they have made award winning comedy films.

- Son of Rambo
- Margot at the wedding
- Middle Men
- Company Man

These are good comedy films and we would want Paramount Vantage to produce and distribute it. Me, Jason and Dom think that  Paranmount Vantage would help making it successful. 

Music For Title Sequence

This is the music that we have chosen for our title sequence. We think this song fits in perfectly with our film and sums up our character. It is a soft rock/indie song that would fit in with the laid back lifestyle we have aimed for.

 This is copyright free music.

Monday 9 January 2012

Photo Animatic - WIP

In our last lesson - we was given the task to create a photo animatic. This is when you show your screen shots for aslong that shot goes on for and it gets played along with the music for your title sequence. The reason you do this is so that you can run it together and you can see whether the music suites the storyline and it is also helps others in the class understand your title production better and you get to understand it more because there is a visual.

By running them alongside you can see how long it is going to take, does the stroryboard work, is there enough detail in your storyboards, are more storyboards needed so its easier to understand and is it a good idea.

Me, Jason and Dom have decided to use actual pictures for our animatic and have set it out in a similar place/set to were we will film will be made. None of us in our group are good at drawing, so the best idea is to make a mini film set and make a perfect visual than just stick men. By doing this, I will think the audience who we are showing to will have a wider understanding and it will give us a better idea of whether it will be feasible or not, and we will know earlier on than the other groups if we need to make alterations and whether certain camera angles will be too hard to do. After we have done this, us as a group will know if it will go to plan and if we need to change it to make it better.

Continuity Re-make

Me, Jason and Dom had to remake our continuity peice because we realised that we had broken the 180 degree rule.

In this clip, Jason and I was acting and Dom was on the camera filming it all - remembering to stick to the rules.

Making this was fun and it was good to be able to try out all the different camera shots and it gives you a taster of what its like to make and edit a clip all by yourself and once it has been done, there is a great feeling of satisfaction. It was good to test out different camera skills which we will possibly use in the future and which ones we will not use. It is good to see what is effective and what isn't in a certain situation.

It was a good lesson because we got to try things out for ourselves so we become comfortable in what we are doing and not just being told infront of a board. More people learn by doing more than just watching.

And here is our new and improved continuity piece.

Lesson 16

Gmail Calendar


In this lesson me and my group have all set up a Gmail so we can keep intouch with eachother and to keep a diary, so we can make plans and know our deadlines.









The reason we have made a calender is so we know all the dates of what we have to do. It is an organized folder where anyone can add or edit details. We have used this to guide a production schedule on. We will check it on a daily basis and keep contact, so we know when to meet up. We will know when to keep certain days free to be able to sort out our filming days and when we are planning to edit. We can fit all sorts of information on it and keep intouch and email eachother files if need be.

We have also decided to colour code the calendar so that it is easily visible who posted what on the calendar.

I am the colour red.

Jason is the colour green.

Dom is the colour grey/blue.

Music for our Title Sequence



This is the sort of music that our group have agreed on. We have gone for the rock genre as the stereotypical lifestyle for the people who are into this sort of music, is a laid back, relaxing and lazy. This suits our film because it is all about a lazy man who needs to try make a living for himself and the rock song emphasises with this. The whole point in using a similar song is because it is stereotypical. When you see the man and he doesnt make any effort in his life and prefers the 'rock and roll' lifestyle than trying to make a living.

Also this genre of music suits our storyline. If you had any of the following songs as in the title sequence, it wouldn't set the right pace for the film:



This song would not suit our title because it is a high beat, club song. This gives of the information that it will be a film about a party-goer, high in life person whose very active.



This song would also not fit our title sequence, even though it is called 'The Lazy Song' it is not actually a song that you would listen to. It is a very upbeat song and takes a joke side to being lazy. This takes a light hearted look on people when they have a 'lazy day' and makes it into a happy song.

This is the reason why have gone for the rock genre is because it sets the pace and gives the audience a sense of what the film is about. It attracts the audiences attention and gets them interested from the very start.

Friday 6 January 2012

JaMido Logo

This is the logo that I made for our production company. JaMiDo is a mixture of the first two letters in our group members names Ja(son)Mi(ke) and Do(m). I made it like this because it has a comic feel to it. We are a comical production company and I feel this comes across as a comical logo. This will appear at the begining of our titles and this will advertise our company.

We have gone for a blue, red and white colouring of the logo to show that we are a british company.

Monday 2 January 2012

Similar Film To Ours: Step Brothers




Another similar film to ours is Step Brother because it is also about lazy people getting off their backsides and going to try make a living.

Brennan Huff and his step brother Dale Doback, both in their 40's when Brennan's mum and Dale's dad marry. The sons still live with the parents so they must now share a room. Initial antipathy threatens the household's peace and the parents' relationship. Dad lays down the law: both slackers have a week to find a job. Out of the job, they think about what they could do and they notice they both have a passion for music which also leads into them having a friendship but more domestic issues evolve.

Dale's dad and Brennan's mum, both want to retire and sail around the world but implications cause them to split. By the end of the film, the two ex-step brothers meet up at a party. There is an issue and the party is over but the two brothers pull together and pull it of. In the end everyone is happy and they create a career for themselves.

Similar Film To Ours: Happy Gilmore






Our group find happy gilmore absolutely hilarious. We all agree that it is one of the funniest films around and it will be one to show your kids when your older. The reason this is similar, is because the message in the story is similar.

Its about man who is achieving nothing with his life who soon finds he has a huge talent and if he puts the effort in, he will achieve high in life. Once he realises he has a talent and realises he could earn big money, he is definatly up for playing a hobby. His nan then gets kicked out of her house and he has to try raise the money to save the house that his grandfather built with his bare hands as it obviously has sentimental value. So in the film he becomes successful and rich, finds his dream girl, shares his posessions and overcomes his selfishness and lazyness.

Morals Of A Film

Films always put morals in a film because it makes the film more interesting. You may not think that all films do and they are just for entertainment, but in ALL films, you will find something that can help you out in life. The reason of a moral is to help you out in life. It is to teach you right from wrong and how to handle various situations in life, whether it be what to do when your in trouble, or how to be romantic.

There is always a film that you could relate to at sertain points in your own life, even if you dont know it, there will be a film including your situation. Films are almost like a social pleaser. They always put the people in worse of situations that what most people are going through, so that you can then have a feel good factor about yourself and you know that 'your life isn't as bad as theirs'. Once you know this, they will show you how you can handle your situation.

Our moral of our story is 'No matter how much people around you are trying to put you down, and things may not be going your way,you can still accomplish anything you want in life if you put the effort in because at the end of the day, only you know whether you have put 100% into what you do, and it will pay off in the long run'

Target Audience

The target audience for this film will be for teenagers aged 13-18 and the certificate we have chosen is ‘12’. The reason for this is because it will contain mild swearing and references to sexual content.  Our group has chosen this because the moral of the story is to do something with your life and don’t be lazy, and this age range need guidance so they will enjoy it more. They will look back on the film and they will tell themselves that they don’t want to be a nobody, they want to be a somebody and have a lavish lifestyle and have all the nice things they want.  They will watch the film and be inspired by the actors and take a good look at theirselves and will motivate them to do more with their life. If we went for a younger audience they would not understand it and will not have any interest in it at all.

If we went for a older age range, they have experienced a lot about life and already know about how hard it is. They will find it interesting as they can relate to situations within the film and find that perspective funny but the aim of the film is to motivate kids in a comic way, so they do something about their possibly lack of interest to the future. Instead of being argued with and told what to do, they should just do it and reek in the benifits.

Narrative For Andrew Anderson

Equilibrium – Will Ferrell’s character is a failure at life and has no job and his only ambitions is to complete computer games all day and essentially has no life.

Dis-equilibrium – His character is told by his mum to get a life and be more like his successful brother who is perfect in every way.  He then has to take advice from his brother on how to get a job and new more eventful and exciting hobbies.

New-equilibrium – Order has been restored as he does fine a life for himself in the end and finds that he is able to do things he couldn’t do before. He overcomes family issues and peoples put downs and shows his family he can make something of himself and create a life for  himself.

Storyline For Andrew Anderson

Will Ferrell plays an out of work nobody called Andrew Anderson who is told by his mum to go out and get a life for himself and to stop hanging around the house playing video games all day long. When Will Ferrell’s characters older brother Lance Anderson comes into town who he hasn’t seen in 4 years, the mum tells him to be more like his brother Lance, who will be played by Adam Sandler.

Shunted by his family jelousy soon kicks in and Andrew does actually want to do something with his life. He tries to attempt everything Lance does and likes and he fails in a comic way.  He tries all of Lance's hobbies and they all go pear shaped and make a fool out of him and he wants to give up. He also goes to various job interviews that are potentially life changing that fails in comical ways.

As the film progresses Andrew is introduced to soon to be sister-in-law, and he starts to take a shine to her.  As the film continues on, he soon realises that his rich and successful brother is a nasty man and is very spoilt, spiteful and generally unpleasant. He then tries to win Lances fiancĂ© and make her, his own.

Catch Me If You Can Titles




This title is an amazing title. It intrigues the audience from the very start and is easy to follow as their is not a lot going on. It is a continually flowing film and is made by using basic shapes. The typography comes on and flows into the next scene.

I haven't seen this film but when I first saw it, I thought it would be a spy movie because of the clothes the man is wearing, and the way he is acting all secretively and blending into the objects within the scene. He also is wearing a suite in it which spies tend to where even though he changes his clothing throughout the sequence. I also think he is following or after someone because in the sequence he seems to be chasing someone in it.

The music playing along to the sequence is very swarve and is gentlemanly like. It sounds like a mature bond film or in a casino sort of situation.

Pitch Checklist

When presenting a pitch to a film business, you have to make sure you mention every little detail about your film and use exciting words to 'big up' your film. You have to use expressive and be clear about what your film is about and use sophisticated terminology.

In a presentation you should include every aspect of your film. You have to answer all these questions in your presentation...

  • What genre is your film?

  • What other films in this genre have inspired your film/is your film similar too?

  • Who is the target audience for your film?

  • When will the film be released (what season?)

  • How much will your film cost to make?

  • How much will it make?

  • Who will star in the film?

  • Who will direct the film?


  • By answering all these things, it will put your pitch across a lot better as all the boxes will be ticked about what they want to know.

    Things you should definatly mention in the pitch without fail is about the story.  Things to include are:

  • A general outline of story

  • Apply Todorov's narrative theory

  • Consider a whole story for the pitch

  • What the moral of the story is
  • Sunday 1 January 2012

    Title Order

      This is the order that the directors who create the sequences stick to. The TEND to put the titles in this order BUT like all things, nothing is definate and isn't always stuck too. The order is listed below...

      1. Studio
      2. (Director)
      3. Stars (in order/ reverse order of fame status)
      4. Name of film
      5. Crew
      6. Editor
      7. Writer (screenplay)
      8. Producer
      9. Director
       

      Sounds

      These are different types of sounds you can hear on programmes and movies.



      Diagetic Sound: Both audience and characters within the programme and film can hear the sound. It is all the sound that is played in the film/programme.

      Non-Diagetic Sound: Only audience can hear. Played outside of the scene, sound bridge.

      Voiceover: When a voice is heard whilst we see an image. The actors/characters cannot hear this and it gets edited in after the scene is filmed.

      Parallel Sound: When the sound matches what we see on screen.

      Dialogue: A conversation between characters on screen.

      Contrapuntal Sound: What we see on screen and hear don't match. For instance, hearing happy music in a scary horror film. The contradict eachother.

      Storyboarding

      Me, Dom and Jason have just started drawing up our story boards. Our story boards have taken about 4 hours to complete the whole storyboard and put in all the information necissary to begin to create our film title sequence.

      We had to create a plan about what our film would be about, going into a lot of detail so we can think of an accurate and exciting opening sequence to draw in the audience and get them intrigued for the film. After we done this, we brainstormed ideas and after an hour of lots of ideas, we selected the best one.

      We then decided on what typography to use. We reasearched many fonts in different comical films and we found out the most common is white and curvey writing. Two films that we aspire to and can relate to 'Step Brothers' and 'Happy Gilmore' and both of these use white and wavey typography.