Media Evaluation 1: Brandon Ritchie (Evaluation)

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

(Note: image numbers 1-9 go left to right)

The film we decided to make is a spy thriller film called Oedipus.  The title of the film comes up and the end with a black background and comes up one letter at a time slowly as if it was being typed with the non-diegetic sounds of an old typewriter.  This can be seen in image 6 taken from our opening sequence and is the last shot of the entire sequence.  It follows the primary protagonist Captain John Smith trying to put an end to Sturmeister’s (the antagonist) plans to destroy the school and anything else that he plans to destroy.

We decided on the title of Oedipus because it’s relevance to the context of the narrative:  the terrorist commander Von Sturmeister lost his mother due to the lack of intervention from Britain during post World War II.  From then, he swore to avenge his mother by terrorising innocent civilians, and now he has targeted Britain to carry out his terrorism.  This is similar to the Greek myth of Oedipus in terms of that Oedipus’ mother was killed and he set out to seek revenge.

Our film is set within our Sixth Form:  West Hatch High School, which Sturmeister wishes to destroy.  One of Sturmeister’s plans is to scare the public by targeting schools and eventually other places as well in his attempts to cripple Britain.  The first shot is an establishing shot of the school to show what the terrorist wishes to destroy.  He would accomplish this by planting a bomb in the school.  One of the establishing shots of the school can be seen in image 7.

We used a variety of costumes and props within our sequence which included some guns, a knife, an army uniform and balaclavas. These mise en scene elements of our production help make our final sequence more professional.  However, there was an issue with the guns, and because they were toys, they did not look real enough and made it look perhaps slightly comical in some scenes.  We resolved this by minimising how much the gun was shown on screen.  These guns were used simply because we did not have the money to buy realistic looking guns, which are very expensive.  Other than that however, the other mise en scene elements made the production look professional and realistic.

The majority of the camera work was conducted by myself and Adam Taylor.  We used some establishing shots at the beginning to show to the audience where our scene was set which is typical of a thriller film.  We used quick editing, particularly in the action sequences within our opening to increase the tension for the audience.  This is typical of a thriller film which is to keep the audience at the edge of their seats.  We all contributed to the editing process and wanted to create a slow pace at the start of the sequence, then increase the editing speed, then slow it down again near the end, which is what many thriller films do including the film Jaws.

We used match on action shots within our sequence with Stermeister (me) opening a door.  This was done with me approaching the door, then a close up of my hand pulling the door, then the camera on the other side matched up to the exact amount the door was open in the previous shot.  Another editing technique we used was parallel editing.  This was with the action happening outside with the terrorists (Scott) and John Smith (Adam), then it cut over to Sturmeister (me) planting the bomb in a room.  Eventually, the two scenes met when John Smith came into the room with the bomb.

The title font and style was chosen as it looks quite sinister and evil which fits the theme of Von Sturmeister.  To me, it also looks like old fashioned typewriter letter, but with a slight twist, which again fits the theme of the film.

The opening is set up with some establishing shots of the school which the terrorists wish to destroy.  However, British intelligence has informed Captain John Smith of this organisations plans, and now he must stop them.  Sturmeister is planting a bomb within the building which is has about 1,500 pupils in, while two other terrorists secure the perimeter.  Smith kills the terrorists which are guarding the building while Sturmeister plants the bomb.  Smith then finds the room where Sturmeister was in and shoots the door down.  Sturmeister however has escaped and is nowhere to be seen and the bomb he planted is ticking down.  The enigmatic ending would hook the audience to watch the whole film as they would want to discover the fate of the school.

The protagonist (John Smith) the third character to be introduced, the first two are the terrorists in one point of view shot; one can be seen in the POV shot, and the other one is also in the POV shot as we are looking through his eyes, however, he is not visually seen until later in the sequence.  The protagonist is seen aiming and shooting at one of the terrorists, which then alarms the other terrorist.  Straight away, the audience can see that the protagonist is trying to help by killing the terrorists.  The other terrorist is later seen only while he is being stabbed by the protagonist.  While this action is going on, the antagonist (Sturmeister) goes into one of the rooms in the school and plants a bomb and hacking into a school computer to start the bomb and secure it.

Media Evaluation 2: Brandon Ritchie (Evaluation)

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The image on the left is the antagonist Sturmeister, and on the right is the antagonist Magneto from the X-Men movies.  I believe they both share similar characteristics in terms of motives and they are both terrorists of sorts.

In the films, Magneto’s parents were taken to a concentration camp by the nazis, and he never saw them again.  Because of this traumatic event, he then swore never to let anything like that to happen again as he saw how cruel the humans can be.  As he was a mutant with powers, he wouldn’t want anything like that to happen to his people: the other mutants.  He then set up the Brotherhood of Mutants to terrorise the humans and make them pay for what they did to him.

With Von Sturmeister, it is practically the same.  During post World War II, his mother was killed by the Russians, and he only managed to narrowly escape.  He believed that if other countries like Britain were involved, his mother could still be alive today; he blames them for his mistakes.  This traumatic even triggered him to become deranged and lead him to start a terrorist organisation (like Magneto did with the Brotherhood) and make the other countries pay for not intervening by terrorising them.

The difference between them is that Magneto is not insane or deranged, he is just fuelled with anger towards the humans and wants to protect the mutant kind, but has different methods, such as terrorising, than other mutants that believe his cause.  Sturmeister on the other hand is simply deranged and is bent on destroying the other countries that failed to intervene, no matter what the cost; he has not got something which he wishes to protect like Magneto.

Their costumes are also different; Sturmeister wears black and covers his face with a balaclava, while Magneto wars a cape, and a specially designed helmet which stops people from reading his mind.  Another difference is that Magneto would use his mutant powers to achieve his goals, while Sturmeister, having no powers, would use powerful weapons of destruction, such as his bomb.

Media Evaluation 3: Brandon Ritchie (Evaluation)

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

A production Company are the people that tend to fund the actual film.  This will give the other departments within the project a budget that they could spend on what they need.  Production companies also handle the marketing of the film and are responsible for the advertising.  Without production companies, films would not get the funding they need to complete the film or even start the film.

The type of media institutions that would distribute our film would be ones like BBC Films and Film 4 Productions.  These film distributors would be more willing to take the risk of distributing films made by unknowns or students, whereas the big major ones, like in Hollywood for example, would only choose people that have already made successful films or they know that they could do it because they would invest a lot more money into these projects.  Another example of a popular film distributor in the UK would be Warp Films.  Warp Films have been the distributer of many films since it began in 2001 such as ‘This is England’, ‘Hush’ and ‘Four Lions’.

A film distributor is someone who releases the film to the public by sending to the cinemas and later on, on DVD, Blu-Ray, On demand movies and similar services.  Our film would be rated 15 as it would contain violence, and evil terrorists.  This would ensure that our target audience would be reached as it is from 15 to 35 years old.

The films would first be brought out at the cinema, then after about six months of showings, DVD and Blu-Rays would be released to the general public, as well as rental copies being available from rental companies like Blockbusters, so they can buy the movie for themselves.  At the same time, streaming and online rental services would also have the movie because lots of people now have the internet and subscribe to these services such as Love Film and Netflix, as well as On Demand services which most Sky and Virgin customers have.  Then, after about a year of sales, the film would then be available on subscription services such as Sky Movies, and last but not least, TV.  This would allow profits to be maximised from the film.

Oedipus would be shown at cinemas such as Odeon, Vue and Cineworld as they are the major cinema companies.  These multiplex cinemas are nation wide and would reach the audience all around the country and our target market.  Some art house cinemas will probably also show Oedipus, especially if there are large proportions of our target market within the area.

Media Evaluation 4: Brandon Ritchie (Evaluation)

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target market for Oedipus would be from 15 to 35 aged males.  Males are typically more interested in action movies especially that of the teenage and middle aged males.  The music these people are interested in would be Rock and they would listen to all the popular radio stations such as Heart, Capital FM and Magic 105.4.  These people would also be interested in the thriller genre, and the sub genres spy, crime and action.  The thriller genre would be their favourite genre but also enjoy watching other film genres, perhaps horror and action.  Some would also play video games, particularly that in the army and action genre which would involve guns and fights.  They most probably would be interested in the Call Of Duty series as this contains both.  People that enjoy Call Of Duty would also enjoy our film as the main character John Smith is an army officer and would get the job done at any cost.

Our demographic would read tabloid newspapers such as The Sun and The Star.  They would enjoy reading about the sports news, particularly football.  They would also read the celebrity gossip within these tabloids as well.  Many of the target market would use socialising websites such as Facebook and Twitter to socialise with friends and family, as well as posting status and sending messages to each other via the social website.  They would also watch videos on YouTube, mainly music videos and also film trailers.  They would also use IMDB to see what new movies are coming out, as well as owning an extensive film collection, comprising of many different films, but mainly thrillers.

Our demographic would enjoy watching TV.  The types of programmes they would be interested in are crime dramas such as Spooks, Hustle and Hawaii Five-0.  Most would have or have available to them either cable TV such as Virgin Media or Satellite TV such as Sky, and would therefore have available to them on demand content and movie channels, along with all other channel types.

Media Evaluation 5: Brandon Ritchie (Evaluation)

How did you attract your audience?

Firstly, the music which I chose for the sequence is quite sinister, and evil sounding, along with the sound effects used at the beginning with the low bass sounds which sets the tone of the film, which is evil and sinister, which reflects the antagonist Sturmeister.

The enigmatic ending of the sequence would also hook the audience as they would like to see the outcome of the school and what would become of Sturmeister and if John Smith could stop him.  The opening sequence alone creates questions which the audience would ask themselves, then watch on the get the answer for them.

The context of Oedipus is all about post Word War II, and how that led to Sturmeister’s terrorist organisation.  People who enjoy history or wars/army would also enjoy our film as there is lots of it within.  The whole context relies on historical events, and along with the miss en scene, would attract the audience members particularly interested in the armed forces, spy and terrorist films, as our film contains elements from all.

Another important factor is the action in our opening sequence.  Guns shots, weapons, killing people, this amount of action will also help attract and hook the audience into watching the rest of our film.  Our opening is similar to the opening of ‘The Dark Knight’ where The Joker and his thugs are robbing a bank and causing lots of chaos.  The opening also contains lots of action with people killing each other, gun shots and terrorising the bank workers.

Media Evaluation 6: Brandon Ritchie (Evaluation)

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

Camera:  With the camera, we learnt how to white balance the camera which give the video much better quality colours and it syncs the colours accordingly to the white colour in the shot.  We had to do this each time we went to a new location.

Tripod:  With the tripod, we learnt how to position in correctly, and set it up.  You just extend all legs, (or to the height, angle etc. that you want), then secure the clips.  You can loosen handle which will allow you to reposition the camera and allows you to do a pan shot.  The tripod also allowed you to achieve straight, still and steady shots, and made our film look professional.

Final Cut Express:  This was the editing program which we used to edit our footage.  It was simple enough to use, there was the viewer, the browser, the canvas and the timeline.  The timeline showed the order of all the individual clips, music and sounds, the canvas related to the timeline, so whatever order the shots were in the timeline, you could see what it looks.  The browser allowed you to find you raw footage and select them, from there, your selected footage or music would play in the viewer.  In the viewer, you could cut the footage or music to the desired length, and then drag it down to the place you want in the timeline.  Final Cut also allowed us to add in transitions to make our footage look even more professional.

 

Live Type:  This programme was similar to Final Cut, except it was purely for titles not videos.  You would type the words you would want, for example in our film, the first title is ‘BAS Productions Presents’, and then at the side, you could adjust the font size, letter spacing and the font type.  You could also add in effects to the title as well.  I decided to choose the effect that made it look like it was being typed, then added the sound over it in Final Cut.  The ‘Oedipus’ title at the end was adjusted to be slow as if it was being typed slow, and you could adjust the speed of the effect by dragging the bars at the bottom.  Before you do any of this however, we had to adjust the size of the canvas so it would fit in to our film.  We had to change it to a high definition one as we was using a high definition camera, otherwise, the titles would have not looked consistent.  Once we were happy with the title, we would save it then import it into Final Cut to use in our sequence.

                                                                           

YouTube:  We used YouTube to upload our videos, including our anamatic, preliminary task and our final product.  This is so it can be embedded into our blog.

WordPress:  This free blog was used to upload our work online.  It is where all our work is and is neatly organised into categories.

Photoshop:  This was used to create our logo.  It contains many graphic tools which could allow us to create graphics, but we decided to just use the words “BAS Productions” as our logo.

CCmixter:  This was the site in which we got our copyright free music from.  It was the section called ‘dig’ where the music was located and we used the search feature to look for music.  The music I found was by filtering the music library to film music, and then I scrolled down the list listening to them and eventually found the one I liked.  This was then used in the final film as opposed to the upbeat music used in the anamatic.

Art of the Title:  This was the website in which we used to look and analyse many opening sequences from thrillers.  This site has a massive database of thriller openings such as ‘The Shining’ and ‘Quantum of Solace’.  This helped us see what the conventional opening for a thriller film was and therefore by analysing it, would help us understand how to make one and what to include in it.

Media Evaluation 7: Brandon Ritchie (Evaluation)

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you fell you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?  (Evaluation 7)

One of the main problems which we had was the lighting with the preliminary task.  As we did not have the proper lighting tools, we had to make do with what we had; which was the school lights.  This form of artificial light made the background stand out from the foreground which made the film look unprofessional, and there was not much focus on the main character.

However, with the main film, we white balanced the camera every time we went to a new scene.  This adjusted the colours to the right levels and made them more natural.  We had better lighting mostly as the majority of our filming was done outside, with only the room, and outside the rooms being inside, however, the lighting in there was still much better than that of where the preliminary task was filmed.

Another thing we learnt with the editing of the preliminary task was the match on action shots.  I learnt that the shots had to be lined up exactly so they look natural and followed the rules of continuity editing.  If these shots were out of sync or did not match up, then the action would have look unnatural and the audience would notice it, making the film unprofessional.

We done the match on action shot with Adam going through the door.  It was him walking up to it, then a close up of his hand pushing the door open, then it was the camera on the other side, matched up to where the door was open in the previous shot, and he walked through.

We did a similar technique in the actual film as well.  It was Sturmeiser (me) walking up to a door, then a close up of my hand on the door handle pulling it, then the camera on the other side of the door matched up to the exact amount it was open in the previous shot with me walking through it.

We also followed the 180 degree rule to a certain extent within our preliminary task, by doing over the shoulder shots with Adam and Scott around the table.  It follows the eyeline match technique to get the shot reverse shot looking natural.  The 180 degree rule however, was not properly followed as I later learnt because the camera was positioned on the right side of Adam and Scott while I was filming the shot reverse shot, yet when it went to the mid shot of them both sitting at the table, it was on their left.  If it was to properly follow the rules of continuity editing, then the camera should have been positioned to their right (which would have been the same side of the line) while doing the shot reverse shot.

A new editing technique which we added from the preliminary task was the parallel editing.  This was the two scenes of John Smith outside, and Sturmeister inside planting the bomb.  With correct editing, it looks like the two scenes are happening at the same time.

Also with the film, we added the POV shot of the terrorist on the side of the building looking down.  With the camera, I made it wobble deliberately to make it looks like a POV shot; it was not put on a tripod, I held the camera up to my eyes so it matched my view, then moved my head along with the camera so it looked like a real POV shot.

Activity 1 – In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (Evaluation)

We decided to make a spy thriller which would include terrorism, when we started the planning for the basics of the film I firstly started with similar films which I have watched and which are iconic for the film industry. The film I thought of was James Bond which includes many attempted terrorist attacks on London during the Cold War against the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Russia following the major warnings of Nuclear war against the USA and Britain. Our film is aimed at males aged between 18-35 aged, this is due to the storyline and strong narrative of the script. The title of the Film is very relevant to the plot of the film which is called Oedipus. The group selected this title due to the Leading commanding terrorist Von Sturmeister having his mother killed during the post war Berlin and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The events of that time and the part of which the British Government were involved in during this time meant that he now wishes to kill British innocent citizens and leads a small group of terrorists to attack a School in the London area.

The thriller film opening starts with an establishing shot of West Hatch High School which Von Sturmeister wants to destroy; this shot was filmed at the entrance to the school to show the scale and size of the destruction he wants to cause. The whole of the film thriller opening was shot at West hatch high school this meant that we had a large amount of shot locations due to it being a large school with over 1,500 pupils in the Secondary and Sixth form. The front entrance was used for the establishing shot, the fire escape of the business block for the terrorist to look from and which was the location of the throwing knife sequence which became an important part of our opening because it showed that the protagonist spy was a key and highly skilled man in the military. Also, we filmed inside of the business block of our school for a large number of close-up shots of the characters mainly leading Commander Von Sturmeister planting the bomb and then leaving to attack another location after the failure of his first attack due to Captain John Smith.

I designed the mise-en-scene list for all the roles of the thriller opening (with the budget we set), this meant that we had to find a large amount of the props from home and cheap shops. The props that was used included props and costumes which looked realistic terrorist clothing due to the balaclavas and all black uniforms to represent that they were the villains of the film. The uniform of Captain John Smith is of a British Army Military uniform which looked similar to the uniforms used in the 1982 film The Soldier. Therefore, my uniform which I designed included a belt, beret (which included the rank insignia of Captain) and boots, whilst I was being armed with many forms of weapons to kill the three terrorist. The three terrorists were played by Scott Cracknell and Brandon Ritchie who wore black clothes and balaclavas. They played three characters and not 2 due to them wearing Balaclavas so the audience could not tell that they were the same and only 1 terrorist was in the shot and 1 time to break up the amount of shots you see the group as a team. I filmed a majority of camerawork with Brandon Ritchie which was done to a high professional level. This meant that I could include a lot of the shots I had filmed into the production. However, we included all the ideas which we believed worked well with the film, this included many from Scott Cracknell which we included into the final production piece.

The title font stands on its own in the centre of the frame in white on a black background which connotes the clothes worn by the terrorists with a typewriting sound which is used though-out the opening when von Sturmmeister activates the bomb. The opening sequence of shots builds a large atmosphere of tension with the first stages of the terrorist attack, the non-diagetic music adds to this mysterious plan and the bomb is planted which means that the Captain must act fast to disarm to the bomb and stop the attack. Therefore the action begins with guns firing on all the terrorists. The purpose of this action packed opening is typical of spy thrillers like Mata Hari (1932), British agent (1934) or The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965). The special effects were used of gun shots, groaning sounds and the ticking sound for the bomb to build the background noises to make it more realistic and to build the tension of the film.

This sequence of shots is from the opening scenes of OEDIPUS. The first shot if of the protagonist played by me hiding in a trench and holding my gun ready to shot and kill Scott, The props and costume I am wearing are clearly shown to represent and convey to the audience that they are a military man. The second shot is of a close up of the protagonist; this next shot is of the terrorist leader Von Sturmeister played by Brandon Ritchie shows him planting the bomb in the school full of children. In this frame the spy is preparing to throw a knife at very stereotypical terrorist on the fire exit top of a balcony. After, the shot changes to Scott Cracknell which has been stabbed by a knife. He is holding a knife whilst walking backwards and sliding down on a wall. This was an idea from the horror film ‘Psycho’ from the director Alfred Hitchcock. The frame starts from the Back of the room where the bomb has been planted. The main terrorist as pulled out a pistol to show that he will use violence and kill the Captain. In this frame is the title of the film which is essential when it comes to the opening sequence to any film it is in the same font style as all the credits, so it makes the film look professional. The high angled long shot is a location shot from the opening from the film. The high angled long shot shows an antagonist standing looking out on patrol in the school playground to show the importance of the mission and security for it to be a success. The credits on screen are in the same font style and colour as the title of the film, to show a professional look of the film. Finally, this frame shows an extreme close up of the ticking clock that represents the bomb, and then the shot goes black which creates a cliffhanger for the audience to want to watch the rest of the film.

Activity 2 – How does your media product represent particular social group? (Evaluation)

The person on the right is James Bond the famous frictional character who is an MI5 Secret Service Spy, on the left is Captain John Smith who is the protagonist from my film ‘Oedipus’. Captain John Smith is similar to James Bond because he has a very high knowledge of military tactics and skills which means he is a ‘one man army’ and could kill a large number of enemies on his own. Another, similarity is that both Captain Smith and James Bond both have the best high tech weapons and gadgets; this is a stereotypical of this thriller sub-genre because it shows the importance of the mission to the British Government. However, the difference between them both is that James Bond is secret and wears normal non-military uniform clothes; this is different to Captain Smith because he wears British Military uniform and kills the terrorist going ‘guns blazing with a large amount of causalities.

I have decided to link Captain John Smith to James Bond because I believe that they both share the same values and beliefs about saving and serving Her Majesty and the country. James Bond famously appeared in his role during A Roger Moore James Bond when he has to kill a group of terrorists located at a plumbing station; this is where I came up with the idea to link the opening of the film with Captain John Smith. The differences in appearance are that James Bond never get dirty or hides in trenches because he always wears suits to show he is from an upper class background and so he wears fashionable clothes from makers such as Gucci and the best tailors in London. James Bond is also a famous celebrity spy in the Secret service which is similar to Captain John Smith to show that he is well respected and honored in saving the country. I think Captain John Smith is a famous celebrity spy is because he came from a well off background and he similarly drives sports cars and is surrounded by women, which is the same as James Bond though-out his secret service career.

Activity 3 – What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? (Evaluation)

Oedipus will be distributed to all major cinemas nationally and globally to the United States of America. This means that I will be able to increase my target audience and maximising profits for the film, compared to a limited distribution of just showing it at art houses around the local area. The film company which will produce the film for global launch will be Warp films and Film4 productions due to them having experience and a high standard of launching blockbuster films.

Warp is one of the foremost and most respected companies which now includes Warp Records, Warp Films and Warp Music Videos & Commercials. It is based in London and Sheffield, with a new office now in Melbourne, Australia. Since its inception as a shop and record label in 1989, it has been a record label finding boundary-breaking talent.  Warp films have produced film This is England and Four Lions which had a box office of $4,529,130. Film4 Productions is a British film production company owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The company has been responsible for backing a large number of films made in the United Kingdom such as Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, The Iron Lady and Four weddings and a Funeral.

The film will be distrusted first to the cinemas and then on sale in all retails on DVD and streaming on the internet via lovefilm. This is due to streaming being very popular with large amounts of internet users watching films because they are normally very cheap, instant and easy to access on the computer or games console (Play Station3). Finally, the film will be shown on Television after 1 year DVD and Cinema sales have been collected to maximise the profits from all forms of media sources available.

BASProductions plans on have both institutions of Warp Films and Film 4 Productions for our film ‘Oedipus’. Warp Films is a British based production company that has Studios in London, Sheffield and Melbourne. The production is a modern production company, compared to all the main established United States production companies such as Warner Brothers or Universal Studios. However, in the last few years they since its inception as a shop and record label in 1989, it has been a record label finding boundary-breaking talent.  Warp films have produced film This is England and Four Lions which had a box office of $4,529,130. This is different to Film4 Productions which started as just a film producer of Blockbusters. However, in recent years they have opened a free digital TV channel within the UK.

I will use Entertainment Film Distributors as the British distributor of my film ‘Oedipus’ they were formed and are based in the UK; it is owned by Nigel Green who started the company in 1978, they have made many blockbuster films such as The Grey, The Inbetweeners Movie and SAW II which made a box office total of $103 million. The film distributor is someone responsible from releasing the film to the public via the cinema or DVD. The film distributor can start working when the film studio has agreed the licensing agreement. The distribution company decides with the production company with the amount of copies that will be made for the general public and it is tested using the target audience. The prints given to the theatres soon before the opening day and are shown for a selected number of weeks and at the end of the agreement, the theatre sends the copies are sent back to the distribution company and the payment on the lease agreement.