13A2 Advanced Production

Mise-en-scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F57P9C4SAW4

The video to Katy Perry's song, 'California gurls' has made a great impact on me, as I think its an extremely eye catching video with a lot of interesting, fascinating aspects about it. The Mise-en-scene within the video explains why i think this, for example the lighting in the video is really bright and vibrant which emphasizes the colourful setting around. The target age group for this video I believe is between 16-25 because it has a very fun, young vibe to it which i don't think the elderly people will enjoy. I also don't think its suitable for people under 16 as the nudity included in the video may be taken to offence and seen as inappropriate. The costume worn by the artists such as the; colourful wigs, cupcake shaped bra's and glittery pants also attracts my attention, I think it's appealing and unique it's just different to what we are use to seeing. The sound within the video has a fun, upbeat, energetic vibe to it which represents the whole idea of 'having a good time' and enjoying life no matter what your age is. 

Camera work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnVUHWCynig

The Music video 'Halo' by Beyonce has made a great impact on me. I think it's very touching and has a deep meaning to it, The lyrics describe a sublime love. The genre of this particular song is 'pop', It includes drum, piano, keyboard, string, synthesizer and percussion instrumentation. The camera work throughout this video contains the use of close-ups, mid-shots and high angles quite frequently. In this video we are able to identify a load of close-ups for example at point 0.20, we see Beyonce and another male actor in an extremely close-up shot were they are seen to be very affectionate. The close-up denotes the intimacy between the two very clearly and emphasizes the idea of love and affection. The facial expression seen on both of their faces connotes that perhaps they are passionate about one another which is accentuated by the slow camera movement.


Editing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnpyRe_7jZA

 
The music video to Nicki minaj's song 'High school' has made a great impact on me as I think its really appealing and engaging for my type of age group (teenagers). 'High school' is a hip hop and R&B song, The lyrics are about nicki minaj being attached to a male (Lil wayne), it connotes how they both have given up on love and enjoy each others company as they understand one another and make a great team together. The editing techniques used within this video include fades, dissolves, cutaways and slow motion. Techniques such as the slow motion gives the video an extra sense of dramatic-ism and exaggeration. The music video uses a lot of cutaways especially at the beginning which establishes the different settings/locations and actors. Cutaways are very typically seen in music videos which are within this genre (R&B and hip hop).


Performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR0v0i63PQ4

The music video to Rihanna's song 'Cheers' has had a great impact on me, I think the video is really fascinating to watch as it's so hectic with so much going on! The genre to this song is 'pop rock' The lyrics have multiple references to drinking alcohol. This song includes a mixture of music video and live performances at her own concerts, which portrays the amount of entertainment Rihanna has to offer to her fan-base. Overall this song is extremely catchy and powerful which suites the chaotic video which comes along with it.

Mise-en-scene, Camera work, Editing & Performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m1EFMoRFvY

The music video to Beyonce's song 'Single Ladies' has made a great impact on me mainly due to the performance within it, (Dance routine) it is incredibly memorable and very alluring to watch, It almost makes everyone want to get up on their feet and dance! It's a very skillful dance routine with many difficult moves to it which not everyone can carry out. The genre within this song is R&B and dance pop, The lyrics in the song signify female empowerment and the ability of them being able to move on from a man who doesn't commit to them. Editing techniques such as fade ins are seen frequently within the video, in this case they use it instead of cutaways as we see that after every fade in the lighting changes. Camera work such as wide-shots, zoom-ins, zoom outs and panning are used often throughout this video, by doing this we can see her dance routine from all different angles and perceptions. The mise-en-scene goes appropriately with the music video, as the lyrics perhaps aim to make females feel 'sexy' which is very well denoted through the costume worn by beyonce and the other two females besides her. The costume is incredibly tight and revealing which emphasizes the idea that she feels seductive and all women around the world should feel the same about their selves.

part 8

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


Here is the footage from my preliminary task

The preliminary task was a continuity editing exercise, where we had to make a short clip called 'The Encounter'. The scenario for this clip was given to us; we had to include the action of a character entering a room then sitting opposite another character and creating a conversation. During this process the key media language skills we were asked to demonstrate were; match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.

What was successful/unsuccessful about your preliminary task?
Digital Technology

The high quality of the camera is denoted through this shot as
 the detail on her face is clearly visible.

In terms of Digital technology, we had to use a Digital HD camera and the iMovie software on the iMac's when creating this short clip. The fact that we got the chance to film using a HD camera was very useful as the shots came out in a much higher quality making the footage look extremely clear and well-defined. This was successful because the high quality of the camera made our clip look more appealing and clearer for the audience to watch. 

I think the Editing within my preliminary task was unsuccessful as I found it quite difficult using the Imovie software. Even though I was a past GCSE media student there were a lot of techniques I forgot about as it felt quite new to me at the beginning of this year. We got set the preliminary task right at the beginning of the year, I think that my skills at using this software weren't so great back then which explains the weak editing on the finished piece. For instance there were couple shots that didn't flow too accurately and also the sound was quite jumpy at times.
I noticed a massive improvement within my editing skills on the BSR film compared to the preliminary task. I felt like at this point I was more familiar with using the Imovie software and knew how to handle it a lot better which is evidently shown through the accurate continuity flow within my BSR opening sequence. I think that the weak continuity flow and editing skills on the preliminary task made me and my partner more conscious when it came to editing the BSR film.

I think that the action in my preliminary task from, 0:53-0:55,
 evidently denotes the fact that the shots are incredibly jumpy with hardly any continuity flow.

The continuity flow has improved a huge amount within our bsr film, this is denoted below.

The continuity flow is very accurate between these two shots of our bsr film. (0:14-0:18)

Creativity

I think that the great amount of creativity we used within our preliminary task was quite successful. I think that we made the scenario that was given original and unique as well as keeping within the rules. The scenario that was given didn't have too much going on, so me and my partner developed it into something more interesting as we decided to go through with the idea of a person getting bullied. We thought that this would be appealing as the idea of bullying can be quite interesting to watch as an audience to see the effect of it. I think that my preliminary task was quite unique as there was a lot of unexpected action going on, for instance the situation in the scene jumped from being calm to crazy and loud. 

The fact that we had to keep within the rules for this brief and stick to the scenario that was given, limited the creativity. I found this unsuccessful as it restricted me from coming up with a different storyline which probably could have been presented in a better form and made to look more original. 

The creativity was improved incredibly within our BSR film, I felt that it was very much original. The fact that we got to do a lot of research on the BSR genre, and watch various existing bsr films we managed to gather different ideas which was explored within our own production. Overall I noticed a great improvement on the creativity within our bsr opening sequence in comparison to the preliminary task. 

Below here, is my final production piece of the BSR opening sequence.

Next year i will mainly focus on using a variety of shots whilst filming and improving on my editing skills even more by getting that continuity flow on point. 

Part 7

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

part - 6

How did you attract/ address your audience?

part 5

Camera, angle, shot movement and position 

In this shot you can clearly see that Ayesha subverts the stereotypical representation of a 'Religious' girl that she portrayed herself to be. Ayesha is represented as a rebellious, Confused, troubled young girl, this is shown through this close-up of her as she strips her hijab off in a broken down, gritty alley way. In this close-up shot you are able to identify her facial expression clearly, we see that she has a sad, worried look on her face which connotes that she may not want to go against her family and do prostitution but she is willing to do so purely due to the fact that she is in need of money. The fact that Ayesha goes against her religion and extremely religious family just for money, it signifies how much they are suffering from poverty because it shows that she goes to a far extent of 'selling' herself simply to earn money. 

This extreme-close up shot of one of Ayesha's clients calling her, inquiring about where she is clearly portrays the idea of prostitution. This conforms to the stereotypical representation of women being sex objects as we see that it only takes a phone call and money to sell her body off.

Editing

This is a Long take of the protagonist walking through the middle of the road and heading towards the alley way in a dull, gloomy day. This shot is able to create questions and enigma as it makes the audience wonder where she's going and why she's rushing so much. The editing in this shot is fast paced as we see the girl walking in extra speed, it gives out a dramatic feel and keeps the audience in suspense. As we showed Ayesha walking from her house to the alley way in many different angles it emphasizes her superiority and highlights the fact that she is an important character. 

The Editing here was really well thought out as we switched the shots between Ayesha's mother praying whilst Ayesha is getting changed in a dirty alley-way for prostitution. This emphasizes the harsh reality of Ayesha's lifestyle, It exaggerates the fact that she is doing something incredibly wrong and rebelling against her family. The editing is incredibly fast paced whilst Ayesha is getting changed it connotes that she is in a rush and doesn't want to get seen by anyone. Also the fact that she isn't spending much time to get ready and look elegant it portrays the idea that all she wants is  money, The men are not relevant.

Sound

The sound score in my opening sequence is heard right from the beginning which represents her dull lifestyle as it has a low, depressing tone to it. The soundtrack has an Asian tone to it, which portrays a clearer identity as it represents the protagonists background and ethnicity. As the music goes on it gets louder and busier which engages the audience with the fast paced action that is going on and engrosses them within the film. She is willing to get changed in an alley-way with the risk of exposing herself, this conforms to the common ideology that prostitutes barely have any self respect. 

Mise-en-scene

Location; The stereotypical representation of working class people living in poverty is represented through the location of our film. The broken down, gritty alley way connotes that Ayesha lives in an urban area, it represents the theme of poverty evidently. This location emphasizes the harsh reality that working class people are suffering through, it highlights the idea that she is financially unstable as she cannot afford to live in a better area.

Iconography

The iconography displayed in our opening sequence, such as the prayer Matt evidently portrays the Family's faith and religion. It connotes to the audience that Ayesha's family is extremely religious and reminds them about how rebellious and wrong Ayesha's behaviour towards them is. 

part 4

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

                      Click the link below to view The annotations for our opening sequence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-hq4i0TkvI

Part 3

What impact did the media institution Film 4 have on each production stage and why?

part 2

Who would be the audience for your product?

Click the link below to view our evaluation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl-qIbyLtHo

Part 1 - Brief

Here is the Brief we were working to.

THE BRIEF; 'You have been approached by Film 4 to make a new British social realist film aimed at British 16-24 year olds. To give Film 4 an idea of how your film will develop they have asked you to produce the first two minutes of the film. providing a clear sense of the graphical, editing and musical style your film will use. To protect Film 4's reputation as a leader in British cinema the Film must conform to the conventions of the social realist genre, and meet all audience expectations for this type of film. Finally, to keep costs low, all visual and audio material used in the film must be entirely original, with the exception of stock sound effects.'

I feel that me and my partner done a good job of meeting the requirements of the Brief. For instance we made it clear that we are making the film for our institution company film 4, as the logo is included within our opening sequence and is evidently displayed right at the beginning. The protagonist within our film is 17 years old which meant that the target audience, which are aged around16-17 will be able to relate to her lifestyle and the situation that she is in. In pre-production we done major research on the British social realist genre to conform to the conventions and maintain the audience expectations for this type of film. We watched and analysed a range of British social realist films such as; kidulthood, adulthood, Fish tank, yasmin and few more, this helped us recognize the essential conventions of the BSR genre, and include it within our own production. The feedback we recieved on our opening sequence was mainly the fact that we kept it original as we showed religion and poverty from a different perspective.

THE TITLE; 'Fake ID'

The title of our opening sequence is called 'Fake ID', This title simply connotes the fact that the main character is living with a 'fake' identity, which not everybody knows about. Me and my partner have decided to use this as our title because it represents the theme and narrative of our film which is about the protagonist, living in two separate lives, one of which she implies to be a well-behaved, religious girl and the other secret side to her is that she is a westernized prostitute. This title creates confusion, enigma and questions, as the audience would gain more interest on wanting to know about the storyline and why she has a 'Fake identity'. The reason why we decided to call it 'Fake ID' rather then 'Fake identity' was purely due to the fact that 'Fake ID' sounds much more unprofessional and improper, which again represents the BSR theme and the characters within it, accurately. 

THEMES OF BSR; Throughout our opening sequence, me and my partner have portrayed clear, British social realist themes. Fake ID includes themes such as; Religion, Poverty, sex, Rebellion, isolation and exclusion; All themes are portrayed evidently. The main themes of 'Religion' and 'rebellion' is obviously displayed in the powerful, effective scene (0:30-1:22) of when we see the main characters mother praying whilst switching shots to Ayesha (protagonist) stripping her religious gown & hijab off and getting changed into something much more revealing and westernized. Another key theme; 'poverty' is also denoted within our opening sequence, this is seen through the typical bsr conventions that i have included. For instance we see Ayesha getting changed in a filthy, broken down alley way which connotes that she may be un-wealthy or financially unstable. The gritty location gives out a sense of realism and emphasizes the harsh living conditions of working class people.

                                                                       Yasmin

During pre-production we had a chance to research on British social realist themes, this made a great impact on our own production. Researching on this made me realize that most of these themes display the hardship and reality of working class people, themes such as; Sexuality, Sex, Poverty, Violence, Drugs, Rebellion, Domestic abuse and so on, all portray the struggle that the working class people live in. When researching into how British social realism themes are used, I analysed the themes within five different BSR films. I looked at existing BSR films such as; Fish tank, Anuvahood, Trainspotting, Yasmin and London to Brighton. Having watched all these films I came across many themes, I identified the themes of; Dysfunctional families, Rebellion, Drug abuse/Drug experimentation, religion, Isolation and exclusion. I watched the film 'Yasmin' couple times for inspiration, which is how I got the idea of portraying the theme of 'Religion' within my production. In the Film Yasmin we see the main character going against her religion as she prefers to be more westernized, this influenced our opening sequence a little, as we decided to have the protagonist go against her religion, but we made the storyline original as we had a deeper meaning, the fact that she is a secret prostitute. 

production Log 18

I feel that our production process was very well executed overall, as me and my partner kept to more or less every deadline and planned our entire production process out quite well. At the beginning of the year I was confused on the idea of 'British social realism' but by now, I feel that I have made a huge progress and almost know all the BSR conventions and themes off by heart. I feel that I will be able to explain the definition of British social realism to a new learner quite clearly for them to understand.

I believe that I contributed towards my production process quite well. The storyline line was Written entirely by me, Me and my partner chose this storyline as it was original, something that occurs within reality but isn't shown as often as the typical themes that are shown, such as; drugs and violence. Halima directed the film, then we both composed the music and done the editing together. 

I think that my group functioned very well, as me and my partner are close friends we had similar ideas and opinions when it came to creating the film. Due to the fact that I was close friends with Halima it was good when it came to making last minute changes or plans as we always had a way of contacting one another. Although we worked really well together, me and my partner sometimes got distracted during class time whilst working on the iMac's, as we often went off topic quite easily. Overall, I believe that I wouldn't have accomplished this production without the strong cooperation that I had with my group. 

The key strengths of my progress would have to be the editing of the footage. I think that this stage was very easy to do, in fact I enjoyed doing it as it was interesting to see the scenes in different pace and lengths. 

In the future to improve my production, I think that I would re-shoot each scene more then 2 times so that when it comes to the editing if one doesn't look right I would have more choices and options that I can use to edit together. Another thing I would do is to make sure that my footage meets the required time of 2 minutes long, because this time round me and my partner went overtime and had to cut a lot of the scenes out to make it 2 minutes.

Production log 17

The sound editing within our footage wasn't too difficult, it was quite straightforward. Me and my partner decided that we wanted sound score within our sequence which had an cultural Asian tone to it, because we wanted to represent the characters background and ethnicity clearly. We composed a soundtrack with the help of our music teacher Mr duplesis, The completed soundtrack was ideal, as it had a traditional vibe to it and fitted in perfectly with the Asian family we have portrayed within our opening sequence. This music we have composed is very memorable and has a unique, original sound to it, which is what we wanted to achieve. 

We came across one big issue with the sound editing, which was the overlapping music towards the end of our sequence. This problem made the sound within our footage seem quite jumpy and odd, for that reason we had no choice but to fix it immediately even if it took a while. This issue was eventually fixed, as we decided to insert the soundtrack twice within the sequence, to make it flow accurately. 

Composing music on the iMac

Production log 16

This week was very unplanned for me and my partner, as we had to re-film almost our entire opening sequence all over again. Whilst we thought our sequence was finished, Mr philipson watched our footage back and pointed out that some of the scenes were quite jumpy and also specific shots should have been close-ups and mid-shots rather then long-shots. After talking to Mr philipson we decided to re-film our footage to make it upto the high standards that we planned in pre-production, this included; better continuity and a variety of shot types. Considering the fact that we had to re-film very last minute I think me and my partner did well, as we finished just on time and met the deadline! 

The feedback me and my partner recieved was basically, the fact that we made the scenes faster, made our footage look quite unrealistic and forced. This feedback made a great impact on our sequence, because after receiving the feedback we realised it ourselves and immediately made the scenes normal speed which made it look more believable and realistic.   

Fake ID

production log 15

This week me and my partner got to upload our entire film footage onto the iMac. Firstly we had to arrange each individual clips into the correct order of the film, to see if it made sense and had a continuity flow. Once we completed putting the scenes in order we decided to watch it all before starting to edit, this way we were able to realise if any shots/scenes of our film was missing. Thankfully, all scenes were included and had a great sense of continuity which meant that we were able to start editing the footage immediately and cut out the excess scenes that we did not need. When it came to editing the sound and graphics my partner and I thought that it would be better for us to get the graphics put in and out of the way, before creating the music/soundtrack. This way we will be able to come out with a soundtrack that is appropriate and goes well with our entire finished, footage. 

iMac

iMovie

Production log 13 & 14

Throughout the two weeks holiday me and my partner aimed to finish filming our entire footage, which was quite successful. We followed our plan and managed to finish it off within two days, On the first day we filmed all the outdoor footage which turned out quite impressive, mainly due to the typical British weather conditions. The weather on this day was rainy, dark and dismal which went perfectly with our British social realism theme as it emphasized the depressing reality of the working class peoples lifestyle. The outdoor footage is almost our entire opening sequence, so the fact that we managed to finish filming all of it within 2/3 hours was a great accomplishment for me and my partner. On the second day, we filmed the rest of our opening sequence which was all the indoor footage, which was our main character 'Ayesha's' household. The house we filmed in was quite clean and tidy which was quite a mission for my partner and I as we had to make it look as rough and messy as we could, so that it can represent the theme of 'poverty' evidently. As soon as we created the set of our filming the way we wanted it to be; portraying hardship and poverty, we started filming our scene. This indoor footage was entirely Faiza playing the role of Ayesha's mother. We see Ayesha's mother praying dressed in a burka(religious gown), this represents the main theme of our film; 'Religion'. Within this scene you are able to see few religious symbols such as; the Islamic writing on the wall, the quran placed on the window seal and also the prayer Matt. All this extra detail is taken into consideration as it connotes to the audience that Ayesha's family is very religious, which emphasizes Ayesha's rebellious actions of going against it all.

We completed our opening sequence within the two days. overall most of the footage was filmed following the script, although some shots were changed, because we realised other angles and shots would suite certain scenes better.

Here are couple images of the locations we filmed our opening sequence in; Indoor and outdoor.

OUTDOOR

INDOOR

production log 12

Production log 12

This week me and my group created the graphics of our opening sequence, on fireworks. The graphics included all the roles that are taken place within the film and also the title of our BSR film; 'Fake ID'.

As the British social realism genre is based on real life situations of ordinary working class people it aims to be quite basic and simple without Hollywood stunts and anything extraordinary. Due to this we tried keeping the same effect on the graphics seen in the opening sequence, for instance; we went for plain bold colours and no effects at all, as we wanted it very straightforward. Our text will be superimposed within our opening sequence, although if the colour blends in with the background action we have other colours in mind which will be able to replace it. 

Our research into BSR and title conventions really helped us shape our ideas into our own graphics, as it gave us a clear concept on what it should be like and how it should be presented. Previous films we watched such as; Fish tank and Kidulthood displayed their opening credits in an extremely basic and simple form which encouraged me to keep mine more simple as I originally wanted it to be quite upfront and detailed, which would have not represented the BSR genre well. 

Here are examples of the opening credits in the two BSR films; Kidulthood and Fish tank.