My 2-minute film was not just an idea that I had on the spot; I first had to refer to current films and media for inspirations and ideas. From doing my textual analysis I watched Johnny English, Hot Fuzz and Happy Gilmore. Now from these films there were two main inspirations from the start 2 minutes.
The first inspiration was from Johnny English. The idea of a daydream about him fantasizing about him being a top secret agent infiltrating a mansion and then seducing a woman, I thought would be a good idea to use and develop. In my movie start I used this but developed it as if it was a look into the future. This is because in the dream he sees the drug deal going on and he sees it again out of the dream. I wanted to create a binary opposite between him and his fantasy self, as it shows the difference of how he deals with a situation as a fantasy form and then how he wants to conform to this fantasy and tries to attack the situation in the same way but fails. This also reinforces to the audience that he isn’t who he wants to be and that he escapes from his ‘uncool’ self to his fantasy self.
The second inspirations I took from the textual analysis came from Hot Fuzz. In Hot Fuzz the main character is a policeman and is serious about his job that he does not have a social life. I wanted to use and develop this but instead of him being a police officer I wanted him to be a security guard. Also, I wanted to twist it and instead of him swapping his social life for success and succeeding, I wanted him to swap his social life for success but him failing. I wanted to create a contrast between success in life and failure in life.
Another device I used was binary opposites, which is the theory of Levi Strauss. These binary opposites appear in all films as they add atmosphere, action and tension. This was apparent in my film, as I made sure that there was a sufficient amount of binary opposites to create the atmosphere, action and tension but not overload it and make it seem as there was a war going on between everything. This is because if everything has a binary opposite in the picture it could represent to the audience that evil and pain is everywhere as there are opposites everywhere.
Now using these sources from other films allowed me to captivate my audience on a higher level, as they would think that this is used from another film, and if they enjoyed that movie they may believe that they will enjoy this film too. Although if you have someone who links it with another film and says I didn’t life that film, they will be reassured that it will not be copied but manipulated and improved as using exact sources and ideas from other films is unoriginal and boring and would therefore making the audience loose interest.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In my project, I used 2 main social group stereotypes in the first 2 minute. The first stereotype is the 2 'thugs'. The social group stereotype I used for them is the lower class. This is because they are wearing black, concealing cloths which are baggy. The costume consists of track suit bottoms, hooded tops and flat peak caps. This is a typical stereotype of a lower social class. Furthermore this is backed up by the location that they are in. they are situated in a back alley which is dark and hidden. This is the stereotypical location for teenage ‘thugs’ and this is therefore conforming to this stereotype. In addition they are also drug dealing which is stereotypically related to the lower class.
The other class I involve in the start is the class of the security guards. Now he is the stereotypical working class. This is because he has a job as a security guard. Stereotypically working class people don’t have the most attractive jobs and he therefore conforms to this stereotype as he is a security guard. Furthermore he has a house which is like a stereotypical working class house. The bedroom is not big; it’s not that glamorous and basic, conforming to the working class home.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
At the start of every film there is an organizational clip, for example, 20th Century Fox or Universal. This is there to show the audience that this is behind the making of the film. Without this organizations help and funds, this film would not be here today. Although I do not need any help and funds to make my film, I want to have an organization. This is because when you see one of these clips at the start and you recognize that a company backs the film, this gives reassurance to the audience that the film is going to have quality in it. This is because this clip signifies that if a multi million company has put their faith into this film then we know that the film will therefore have to meet there high standards which tells the audience that it will be good. Another quality that an organization will give to a movie is that it will give the audience a rough idea of the genre of the film. This is because we will associate the organization to different genres. For example, Twisted Pictures back the horror genre, like saw.
For my institution, I have chosen Columbia pictures. This is because this is a very prestigious company and therefore triggers the thought of class and distinction into the audiences mind and therefore promotes the film before it had even started, giving the audience that positive mindset and reassurance. Also I chose this organization because looking at the list of movies that Columbia has backed great comedies like; Mall Cop, Men in Black, Pineapple Express, The Longest Yard and so many more. Therefore, as Columbia pictures backs comedy’s which turn out to be a really good success, this will portray to the audience that this film will be good and re-assure them that the film will be good.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for my media product is for the mainstream audience. The target age would be from 12-20 and is aimed at male and female. I aimed it at a mainstream audience, as the storyline is similar to other mainstream films so other audiences like reformers and aspirers may not go for this movie because they do not watch this kind of movie. Furthermore, it has mainstream humor like swearing, stereotypical puns and jokes and most reformers don’t find this humor acceptable and therefore would not be interested in this type of film. The reason I aimed it at a 12-20 audience as it has quite immature humor, for example swearing and typically that is the most popular humor for this age group. Furthermore, if the film were to carry on it has a difficult plot and a younger audience may have trouble understanding therefore loosing interest in the film.
The reason I chose to aim it at both genres is because a comedy is stereotypically a film you can go to with your girlfriend or partner or go out with mates and a comedy is usually what is in the middle between ‘chick flicks’ and ‘action packed’ films. It is the medium between girl’s interests in film and boy’s interests in film. Therefore opens it up to a wide audience and a wide market.
Now it was important that I reached my target audience because they will be the ones who will watch it and review it to their peers and others. Their view and comments may mean someone going to watch it or someone being put of by the comments. Therefore I had to make sure that my target audience was being met by asking my peers – who are the target audience – to check my work every time I changed a major part when editing, filming and presenting.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
In all movies you have to have a hook to the start 2 minutes, because these 2 minutes are metaphorically your first impression to somebody. If you don’t impress then the audience are not going to watch on with enthusiasm and be engaged in the movie. This could therefore lead onto them telling their peers that it didn’t impress and therefore lead to your target audience disliking your film. As I knew that these 2 minutes were incredibly important to the future of the film then I needed a hook. A hook is created in many ways. You can get the audience and characters to have a bond between each other and then this will then lead to them being further engaged into the movie as they can see themselves as him. Other ways would be to have an interesting storyline and will hook the audience into watching more but the main device I feel is the best for hooking the audience in is questions. If at the start of the movie you have questions for the audience then they will subconsciously ask questions to themselves and try to answer them but want to know what really happens because the mind will be intrigued to know more, it will therefore make the audience switch on and concentrate on finding the answers out. Therefore I wanted the audience, after watching the start, to have questions in their mind and want to know the answers. Questions that I wanted unanswered before making my movie was; who is the guy? Why was he a secret agent at the start? Another device I used was that I made sure that I made the audience connect with the characters. To make them fit in I needed to get the stereotypes correct and then make the audience want to be like them. At the start of mine there is not much desire to be the security guard which meant I needed to make them connect with the his ‘fantasy’ self because then they will want to see him and wonder if he turns into him in the end. They don’t want to be the security guard but want him to become his fantasy so they can connect with the character. The use of this device I thought was incredibly useful because this also reached out to the audience on a new level.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
When we did the preliminary task, this was the first project we were introduced to that included using apple iMacs to do our editing on. When doing the editing at this point it was difficult as this was the first time the class had used iMacs and the first time I had ever used iMovie HD to edit a movie. This was therefore difficult to do and took a while to find out the controls and get use to it. Now when coming to edit a movie on iMovie HD it was easier to do because we had gained the experience from the preliminary task and our continuity exercise. Although, to make my final piece I did not use iMovie HD because I have the opportunity to use Adobe PremierePro 4.0. This software is specialized software that even professionals use to make media today, and getting used to this software was even more difficult. This is because as it is specialized software everything seems more difficult and totally different at the start. Although, I had been given some tasks from other lessons and courses that would exercise my skills on PremierePro. This experience was vital as it gave me the chance to really understand how it all works. After doing these other tasks I found when coming to edit my movie it was so much easier and more efficient then iMovie HD. I think overall I created a better project because I had the experience of the software.
Furthermore, I feel that from the preliminary task that it is best for me and others that I work on my own. This is because in the preliminary exercise I kept trying to be in control and when it cam down to the editing I was very picky with the continuity, the music and the whole project in general. I didn’t think it would be fair on others to take the chance of making their own movie only to be picked apart by me. Therefore I decided to work on my own to give me the freedom of being in control of only me and making sure that everything was perfect and the way I wanted by not effecting others. I feel that working on my own made me realize that working on my own is better and that I have learnt that I am more of an independent learner than working with others.
below is my preliminary task and continuity project.
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