Question 1

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

 media products?

Our title is positioned in the bottom left of the screen on a black background. The reason we have chosen to have this is that based on similar films from the action genre they do this. Fast and furious 6 have their title at the end of the opening and have a black screen in which in bold they have written the title; this is in the centre of the screen. Our title is also a bold font which is why it is similar to action openings.

The sound used within our opening scene helps to suggest that our genre is action however, the main give away is the generic conventions that can be seen on the desk when the villain is in the office. In this frame, you can see that there are drugs and a gun on the table which are two generic conventions of action as it connotes violence and illegal activity. The character is wearing a dark suit which conveys a dark personality which helps the audience to identify that he is the villain in our film. Like most action films for example, Spectre, ours features these types of generic conventions as these are what an audience would expect to see within an action film. Generic conventions help to set up the viewers expectations of the film and these expectations need to be met, that Is why we have included common conventions.


This is the main establishing shot that features in our film as it helps the audience to identify the type of location that the scene is being set in, with a zoomed out image containing the majority of the room.

There are two characters that feature in our film opening, these consist of  hero and a villain. The villain is the first character that is seen in our film opening and this character is presented using  a tint that created a darner effect on the scenes that he features in to reflect on his character. On the other hand, we left the original footage of the hero character as it was originally as it creates a more innocent feel to the scene and also helps to indicate to the audience that this is the good character and that they should trust him.

We have chosen to use this font because it is a bold heading. Most action films tend to have titles like this as they stand out. Furthermore it is clear. Our titles are all positioned in different places but on the bottom of the screen because therefore it does not intervene with any content on screen.

This shot features in the opening and it helps to establish the story and what is happening. The shot shows a government agent looking through some files while other props are seen on screen like the drugs and the gun. This shows he might not be any normal government agent. The shot also features him rushing in order to clear the drugs out of the way as someone knocks on the door. This signifies the fact he is doing something wrong

Rough Cut 1

What worked well:
*Good logo at the start - Wolfpack
* Variety of camera angles
*Nice font for the titles

Even Better If:
* It needs sound - non diegetic to start and then maybe a voiceover of Nathan saying "ahh yes hello...when he puts his hand out."
*The narrative needs to be clearer
*You need a bigger defintion between Nathan's scene and Owen's scene - we need to see they are two different people
*Some of your shots are held for too long - please cut them down a smidge
*Who is Owen? Make this clearer
*Remember the correct film title order! Check your timelines!

Sam du Berry

Title Timelines (Action)

Fast and Furious 6 is a typical action film which is very popular with a lot of the target audience our film is aimed at. The title sequence shows the production company at the start which is universal pictures, it then goes on to name another 2 producers who had a part in the film. This is very typical of action films to credit the production companies first and then later go onto the big name actors. These production companies have approximately 5/6 seconds on screen each before the actors name come up. Each actor is put into an order of what you could describe as being the most famous ones first and so on. Each actor has a maximum of 2  seconds on the screen because a big film like this has a lot of names to cover in a short opening. This makes them seem less important than the production company who take more credit for the piece. After a while 2 actors names appear underneath each other on each screen as a way of putting the less important ones in. All of the actors names are complete by about 1.10 which is over half way through the opening credits. After the names in the action genre then come the individuals in production who took part in creating the film for example the music composer etc. In this specific action film they have around 3 seconds on screen but the majority of the names come in twos or threes as they are valued less than big name actors. Finally the writer of the film is the penultimate name and has longer on screen, this shows he was very important in the production and so gets more credit in the film. The last name to appear is the director of the film which gets a similar amount of time to the writer because they are the person that made the film happen and are most important when filming it. The title comes last which happens very often in action films as it is the most important part of the film and the last thing the audience want in their head before they actually watch the film. Although it is last on screen it last no longer than 4/5 seconds showing that because it is on a black background they do not want to hold the shot for too long as it can bore the audience.

Rhys Williams

Final Costume Decisions

The final costume decision for the second character in our film is to be a simple school uniform. Our character is supposed to represent a school student who is into law and politics. The costume on the left is perfect for this because it shows someone who looks like a law student with the costumer making it obvious he is part of a school or education system.
This helps me when filming my film because we now know what costumes to use on the days of filming.

This is the costume that the main character in the film will wear on the day of filming. This makes him look like a sophisticated and more of a mature adult. The character will wear this as he is a government agent. wearing a suit makes the character look official and important. This is the final costume decision which is very simple but it gets the clear message across that this character  has stature.







Rhys Williams

Institutional Logo Research

At the start of any film an institutional logo will appear at the start, this is the company who produced the film. These can be mainstream or independent logos which have significant differences. generally, the main difference is that mainstream ones are usually moving animated logos whereas independent tend to be still pictures.

Mainstream


20th Century Fox is a mainstream institution that is one of the big six. This institutional logo is an example of a mainstream logo that is moving. The 20th Century Fox logo has been improved over the years from when it first cam around in 1914 and now it is one of the biggest institutions. In 1914 the 20th Century Fox logo was in lack and white and was virtually a still image with little movement. It wasn't until quite recently that the logo started having a lot of movement/ animation. The most recent logo also features high quality colour and animation.




Independent

Film 4 is an example of an independent logo for the institution who cater their film towards niche film categories. Independent logos are still images mainly because they are simple and easier to budget for. They haven't shown much progression over the time they have been used but they used to black and white and then they were changed to colour more recently when it became available.








Sam du Berry and Rhys Williams

Final Props Decisions

Our final props are similar to the ones we had previously however there are some new additions in order to make the scene and opening more relevant to the storyline and genre.




This prop in our opening will be a gun/pistol that we put on the desk near the drugs. This helps to maintain the image of a bad character who might also be important in order to obtain a weapon like this. The gun will not be used within the opening scene, the main character will only pull it out of his pocket and place it on the desk.


One of the props we will use will be flour. This will be used in the film in order to represent drugs. This sets the atmosphere that the main character who is a government agent will be bad because there are drugs on his desk. There will only be a small amount as we do not want it to be over kill where it would look unrealistic. This prop will be placed on the desk with the bag open so it seems it has been used recently there will also be a shot of the main character taking the drugs.

This conference table shows an important meeting could take place at this table therefore meaning someone important occupies the office. This is where the majority of the opening scene will take place. The main character will be sitting around a table similar to this where he will be reviewing some cases as well as taking the drugs.

These files will be cases on some criminals that the main character will be investigating. This will also inform the audience on his line of work and give them an idea of his background. The folders will be left open on the desk to show that the main character is reviewing the cases. The main characters job may also require a gun as he is an agent which makes the prop even more relevant in the opening scene.

The credit card is pulled out of the main characters pocket and used to chop the drugs that will be on the desk.







 


 The books will not be used by our main character (villain) instead, the hero will be reading these as he is studying. The books will be related to law and politics therefore, he will be studying the different roles of government people including our main character.








A computer will also be used by the hero character in order to continue his research into politics and the government agent (main character) when he stumbles across a picture involving our main character and some drug organisation. This scene features at the end of the opening scene.

 

Sam du Berry & Rhys Williams

Location Scouting

The first room we went to have a look at was this office which belonged to the head teacher of a school. We felt the advantage of this office was that it was relatively big and had a large conference type table. There was also not much on the walls so it was quite clear. The disadvantages of this location were that the things around the room were very unsuitable props which would not fit in our storyline.

The second office we tried we immediately knew would not work because there was too much irrelevant items spread across the room but there was also no big tables in the room. There were no advantages to using this location in our film opening.

The next room we tried was very simple and small and looked quite like an office our type of character would have. The advantages were the props fit in with our storyline with the phone and folders but also lockers/safe to the side makes it look like official things could be locked in there. The disadvantage of using this room would be the fact there wasn't a big table or enough desk space to really be someone who fits in our storyline. They would need a bigger table or desk in order to look more important.

This room was much like the last room in the fact it was a small and simple desk. The advantage of this room is that it was fairly clear and there was a computer so it looked quite good however the same disadvantages as the last room meant it was too small and there wasn't a big enough desk or conference table to do it at.







Rhys Williams And Sam du Berry