EVALUATION QUESTION 1

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

 1st - In the first frame there is a screenshot of our production company. I thought it was important to add this picture into the evaluation of this question because it develops forms and conventions of real media products as at the beginning of most other films it comes up with which company is producing the film and which company it is made from, therefore it insinuates on how people wouldn't be able to copy the film or forward it without knowing that it isn't there's due to the fact that the company is placed at the beginning of each film. Another reason why i have added this frame into the evaluation is because it helps break up the two minutes for the film opening and helps to inform the audience who it is produced for and that we have come up with a successful name for our film.

2nd - The second frame takes up most of the 2 minutes Of our film whilst the voice over helps make the audience understand why we have used this time lapse as a base for the opening scene. This section develops and challenges forms and conventions of real media products because this is a unique way of expressing what our film is actually about. It also helps describe where the location is and where our film is based. 

3rd - The 3rd image helps represent who the film is made by. This challenges forms and conventions of media products because it shows who has made the film. It will also help identify the fact that no one else has made the film, again linking in with copy right. The background also insinuates on what type of area the film is based in, so you can identify that it is in a busy town, near local stores and banks which are used everyday.

4th - This is our film title. This helps break up the opening 2 minutes because during the opening scene of a film you need to know what the film is called. This took up roughly 6 seconds of our video which also helped us fill the 2 minute requirement. This challenges the forms and conventions of media products because no other film would have the same title as this one. It implies that we have thought of a successful film name from our own ideas instead of using somebody else's film name from a different producing company. The music after the title appears changes also and this indicates a sense of shock for the audience because it brings you back to the reality that there are rundown areas within areas of towns.

5th - In the 5th frame there is a change of location, implying that our film was not completely based in the same place throughout the whole of the opening 2 minutes. This also helps explain the idea that areas are run down in wealthy places and not everywhere is perfect. This also has the name of others who also helped produce the film and made it how it is now. 

6th - "        " This 6th frame explains what i have said for the above frame apart from the fact that we have used someone else's name who also helped make and produce the film. Moreover, again the location has changed again. The idea of the location change also helps spread out the film and make the audience not feel confused and board on one of the same picture scenes. 

COURSEWORK - Audience feedback on final outcome

Our next task after we had finished our coursework was to arrange for some people to watch it and write down comments on what they thought of our 2 minute film opening video and here were our responses:

• "I liked the script that was used but the screen change was a bit sudden" - anonymous

• "Very moving, professional and the narration was lovely but the sudden loud noise scared me"- anonymous

• "I like the music and narration" -anonymous 

• "The narration works really well and the color correction with how the scheme is dark works really well with how the film is presented"- anonymous

• "BRILLIANT!!! very moving, effective and attention grabbing"- anonymous 

COURSEWORK - Final Cut

 

FINAL CUT - 'BELOW' AS MEDIA COURSEWORK

 

 

 

COURSEWORK - script

We had a an idea for our script to do a voice over using one of our teachers voices. The reason why we used one of our teachers voices was because it was overly powerful and moving which fitted in with our video very well.

The script we used is from a second world war book of poems. The poem we used was called 'The Survivor'. this poem could be interpreted in many ways, and the way we want it to be understood is how people suffer with the idea of being below the breadline and being surrounded by poverty and not being able to afford certain things. This will also affect peoples mental states, developing depression to increase. 

SCRIPT:

THE SURVIVOR 

"I am twenty-four"

"let to slaughter"

"I survived."

"The following are empty synonyms:"

"man and beast"

"love and hate"

"friend and foe"

"darkness and light"

"The way of killing men and beasts are the same"

"I've seen it:"

"truckfuls of lost men" - (originally here it said "chopped up men" but we changed it to fit in with the story of our coursework better)

"who will not be saved."

"Ideas are mere words:"

"virtue and crime"

"truth and lies"

"beauty and ugliness"

"courage and cowardice."

"Virtue and crime weigh the same"

"i've seen it:"

"in a man who was both"

"criminal and virtuous."

"I seek a teacher and a master"

"may he restore my sight hearing and speech"

"may he again name objects and ideas"

"may he separate darkness from light"

"I am twenty-four"

"led to slaughter"

"i survived" 

As you can identify, this poem is describing a man who has gone to war and how it has affected him mentally and physically, but we have changed the idea from war to being below the breadline. 

COURSEWORK - images whilst filming

We filmed in a variety of places around Wymondham in order to fill up the rest of our two minute film opening as we hadn't made it to the exact time limit. we decided to fill it up with filming rough, high poverty areas around Wymondham because this way it would fit into the idea of being 'below the breadline' and the idea that society is changing rapidly over time, and that places around popular areas are not getting used any more and people are ruining areas by putting graffiti on 'nice' areas.

Where we filmed and why?
We filmed in an abandoned warehouse in order to get some good still shots of some rough looking areas. This warehouse was perfect because nobody lives or uses it anymore so it is completely trashed with just old usage. Another good feature of this warehouse was the graffiti on the walls. This made the building look like it had been taken advantage of and used by younger people as a place to 'hang out'. There is hardly any wall space without graffiti on the walls which also insinuates on how rough it looks. As you can see in the image, behind me is a pile of old bricks and rubbish that has just been dumped there, it is like this all over the surroundings of the warehouse which also helps make it look rundown and rough.
The next place we filmed was a rough looking house, with rubbish and rubble left outside. We got a 10/15 second shot of this house because it looks rundown and helps insinuate on which areas around Wymondham are run down. At the warehouse, I also got a shot of rain drops dropping down off the side of the building, I also tried to be as still and as quite I could be when I was filming this section because when filming I want to try and get the audience to hear the rain drops. The rain drops will help show off a sign of depression because rain is not a happy environment to be in, especially when being 'below the breadline'.

We then filmed at Wymondham train station on top of the stairs in order to get a view of the train tracks from a high view point. We got a shot which was not actually shot on the building, we did it the opposite way in order to make the environment look more still and poor in a way of there not being any busy movement.

We got about 5 different shots at around 15 seconds each to fill up the last few seconds that we need in order to finish our coursework for our video around wymondham of all the rough, still looking areas.

RESEARCH - Genre

Genre is
a style or category of art, music, or literature. There are many types of genre such as:

Fiction.

Comedy.

Drama.

Horror.

Non-fiction.

Realistic fiction.

Romance novel.

Satire.

 

Genre may fall under one of two categories: fiction and non-fiction. Any genre can be either a work of fiction (nonfactual descriptions and events invented by the author) or a work of nonfiction (a communication in which descriptions and events are understood to be factual).

 

Subsets of genres, known as common genres, have developed from the archetypes of genres in written expression.

• Classic – fiction that has become part of an accepted literary canon, widely taught in schools
• Crime/detective – fiction about a crime, how the criminal gets caught, and the repercussions of the crime
• Fable – narration demonstrating a useful truth, especially in which animals speak as humans; legendary, supernatural tale
• Fairy tale – story about fairies or other magical creatures
• Fan fiction – fiction written by a fan of, and featuring characters from, a particular TV series, movie, or book
• Fantasy – fiction with strange or otherworldly settings or characters; fiction which invites suspension of reality
• Fiction in verse – full-length novels with plot, subplot(s), theme(s), major and minor characters, in which the narrative is presented in verse form (usually free verse)
• Fiction narrative – literary works whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact
• Folklore – the songs, stories, myths, and proverbs of a people or "folk" as handed down by word of mouth
• Historical fiction – story with fictional characters and events in a historical setting
• Horror – fiction in which events evoke a feeling of dread and sometimes fear in both the characters and the reader
• Humor – Usually a fiction full of fun, fancy, and excitement, meant to entertain and sometimes cause intended laughter; but can be contained in all genres
• Legend – story, sometimes of a national or folk hero, that has a basis in fact but also includes imaginative material
• Magical realism  – story where magical or unreal elements play a natural part in an otherwise realistic environment
• Meta fiction – also known as romantic irony in the context of Romantic works of literature, uses self-reference to draw attention to itself as a work of art, while exposing the "truth" of a story
• Mystery – this is fiction dealing with the solution of a crime or the unraveling of secrets
• Mythology – legend or traditional narrative, often based in part on historical events, that reveals human behavior and natural phenomena by its symbolism; often pertaining to the actions of the gods
• Mythopoeia – fiction in which characters from religious mythology, traditional myths, folklore and/or history are recast into a re-imagined realm created by the author
• Picture book – picture storybook is a book with very little words and a lot of pictures, picture stories are usually for little kids
• Realistic fiction – story that is true to life
• Science fiction – story based on the impact of actual, imagined, or potential science, usually set in the future or on other planets
• Short story – fiction of such brevity that it supports no subplots
• Suspense/thriller – fiction about harm about to befall a person or group and the attempts made to evade the harm
• Tall tale – humorous story with blatant exaggerations, such as swaggering heroes who do the impossible with nonchalance
• Western  – set in the American Old West frontier and typically set in the late eighteenth to late nineteenth century

COURSEWORK -Target Audience

Who is the target audience for your idea:

The target audience for my Coursework 2 minute opening to a film would be around 12+. The reason for this is because it goes into a great depth about 'Below the breadline' and I feel like that may be too confusing for any age below.
We are also using a deep, large range of vocabulary to describe this guys (our character) life which may be hard for ages under 12 to understand. Anyone older may have a wider range of knowledge on what poverty means and what it can lead to.







A POSTER WE CREATED TO EXPLAIN OUR TARGET AUDIENCE:

RESEARCH -research on poverty for coursework

Family and poverty in the UK
There are currently 3.7 million children living in poverty in the UK. That’s over a quarter of all children. 1.7 million of these children are living in severe poverty.  In the UK 63% of children living in poverty are in a family where someone works.

These child poverty statistics and factswill help to give you an idea of the scale of child poverty in the UK and the affect it can have on:

• a child's education
• a child's health
• the day to day lives of families.  

Families living in poverty can have as little as £13 per day per person to buy everything they need such as food, heating, toys, clothes, electricity and transport. Poverty impacts on what families can spend, one in ten of the poorest families can't afford to send their children on school trip, compared to one in a hundred of the richest families, 58 per cent of the poorest families would like to go on holiday once a year but cannot, only 5 per cent of the richest families cannot afford this luxury.

RESEARCH - Film openings that are similar to our coursework:

In our media coursework for our 2 minute film opening we wanted to add a monologue over the top of our chosen music. Here are some films that we are getting motivation from, in order for us to get ideas in what to say for our final video.

OPENING MONOLOGUES OF OPENING SCENES:

The Big Lebowski:

The voice which is used to narrate the opening scene is deep and old, insinuating on how moving it is and how much it inputs the viewer.
He tells this story over shots of the city which the film is based in -'Los Angeles'. This helps develop an idea of which type of genre the film is about and what the character is like in the film. The music which is chosen also helps describe what the film is going to be like and whether it is serios ect.

Lock, stock & 2 smoking barrels:

This opening scene is a little different to the one above because it hasn't got any music in the background until further into the opening scene, and goes straight into dialogue. It's also more humorous and chilled out by the way the character is speaking to other people in the film. When the first thing goes wrong in the opening scene the narrator then steps in and starts to describe the characters.



Trainspotting:

This opening scene starts off energetic and busy with loud music. The narrator starts straight away, and he is the character in the film. This works well because its as if he is talking about his life and his choices.  

RESEARCH - Ken Loach inspiration

 

We are researching Ken Loach because he is the main director of the type of films like the one we have made for our final coursework video. 

 

Here is an interview of Ken Loach about his latest film: DANIEL BLAKE

Ken Loach was born in 1936 in Nuneaton. He attended King Edward VI Grammar School and went on to study law at St. Peter's Hall, Oxford. After a brief spell in the theatre, Loach was recruited by the BBC in 1963 as a television director. This launched a long career directing films for television and the cinema, from Cathy Come Home and Kes in the sixties to Land And Freedom, Sweet Sixteen and The Wind That Shakes The Barley in recent years.

Unlike virtually all his contemporaries, Ken Loach has never succumbed to the siren call of Hollywood, and it's virtually impossible to imagine his particular brand of British socialist realism translating well to that context. After studying law at St. Peter's College, Oxford, he branched out into the theater, performing with a touring repertory company. This led to television, where in alliance with producer Tony Garnett he produced a series of docudramas, most notably the devastating "Cathy Come Home" episode of The Wednesday Play (1964), whose impact was so massive that it led directly to a change in the homeless laws. He made his feature debut Poor Cow (1967) the following year, and with Kes (1969), he produced what is now acclaimed as one of the finest films ever made in Britain. However, the following two decades saw his career in the doldrums with his films poorly distributed (despite the obvious quality of work such as The Gamekeeper (1968) and Looks and Smiles (1981)) and his TV work in some cases never broadcast (most notoriously, his documentaries on the 1984 miners' strike). But he made a spectacular comeback in the 1990s, with a series of award-winning films firmly establishing him in the pantheon of great European directors - his films have always been more popular in mainland Europe than in his native country or the US (where Riff-Raff (1991) was shown with subtitles because of the wide range of dialects). Hidden Agenda (1990) won the Special Jury Prize at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival; Riff-Raff (1991) won the Felix award for Best European Film of 1992; Raining Stones (1993) won the Cannes Special Jury Prize for 1993, and Land and Freedom (1995) won the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize and the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival - and was a substantial box-office hit in Spain where it sparked intense debate about its subject matter. This needless to say, was one of the reasons that Loach made the film!

Here are some trailers which we watched in order to give us inspiration fir our coursework:

  My Beautiful Landrette:

















I, Daniel Blake: