Christopher Chalk's Media Studies

Sunday, 1 May 2016

Preliminary Task - Planning

Planning - Preliminary Task

The preliminary task involves recording a person walking into a room, sitting down and having a conversation and requires the shot-reverse shot technique. Since my chosen genre is cop I think it would be effective if my preliminary task involves a detective walking into a room and questioning a suspect about a crime. This would provide practice and brainstorming ideas for my actual piece.

To begin I could have a shot or two of the detective walking to/in to the room, utilizing close-ups of his chest and feet as he walks up, the recording of the feet as they walk may prove difficult, however, keeping the face a secret until a specific point in the short clip will create an element of mystery and draw the audience in so they feel compelled to watch.

The next shots/scenes will be of him sitting down, collecting his papers and then speaking, the first few lines will be over his shoulder, focused on the suspect, continuing to hide his face as he goes over the basic details of the interview, the suspect will then reply at some point saying something along the lines of "Who do you think you are" at for which it will be a close up of his face for. The camera will then pan around to show the detective's face or alternatively a point of view shot of his face, panning from his chest upwards or, I can pan while the camera is still behind the detective's shoulders.

The script will then just be some arbitrary dialogue between the two using shot reverse shot as the owner of the conversation changes, maybe staying behind one character slightly more to provide some change and difference.

A storyboard can be seen below.

The script will be basic, as this is a preliminary task and will not be marked however I will still put effort into the first draft and finalising it. The final script can be seen below.

Scene 1 – Corridor

There is no speaking in this scene, it is just the detective walking towards the ‘interrogation room’ and walking in and closing the door. Camera will follow his feet for a few seconds then a straight edit to following his torso with the arms in shot then a straight edit to his back, the camera will be fixated on this point and follow him until he turns to go into the room where it will rotate but stop moving. The door closing will mark the end of the scene

Scene 2 – Interrogation Room

The detective will walk in and the camera will be positioned just behind the door, focused on the suspect, the detective will walk past the camera to the chair, keeping their face hidden using a hat (preferably a black fedora) and sit down, placing the ‘Case files’ on the table prior to him taking a seat, the camera will straight edit to behind his shoulder as he sits down. After this, a straight edit will put the paper in view, panning down to show the entirety of the page. The detective will play a recorder on the table (in this case a phone), start the recording and then speak.

Detective: “Suspect’s full name, Steve Johnson, correct?” Jester to the suspect that you are asking a question

Steve: “Yes”

Detective: “Age 25 2-5, current address 256 2-5-6 Dunkin Road, Peterborough, Occupation unemployed, correct?”

Steve: “Yes it is all correct; I had to sign to say it was why are you asking me?”

Detective: “Procedure” to be said in a plain voice, no emotion

Steve: “Look, if I’m going to be interrogated I want to know who by, Mr.” hold on to the r sound so it sounds like a question

At this point the camera will focus in on the badge the detective is wearing around his neck and pan up towards his ID badge

Detective: “Me? Oh I’m no one special, just an everyday detective who had a perfect family, a wife and a daughter, but then my daughter was murdered and my wife couldn’t take the grief so she killed herself, so now I’m an everyday detective who has no family and the first thing I’m going to do is to put the man who killed my daughter, away (short pause) but you can call me Detective West”

When he says west the camera should be focused completely on the ID then straight edit to focus on his mouth as he continues

Detective: “It’s not been easy, I had to prove that I could act above board on this investigation, considering it hit so close to home the process was nothing, but then I found out you were our main suspect”

The detective will take his hat off and then it will cut to focus on Steve’s face who should act surprised and a little scared.

Steve: “Bill-“

Straight edit to Bill’s face

Bill: “its Detective West to you” This should be sharp and interrupt Steve, for this line the camera should be focused on his face, a close-up

Bill: “Now, I will begin the questioning, do not interrupt me until I have finished speaking, it will allow the interview to run smoothly”

Straight edit to behind the suspect’s shoulders

Bill: “So, Mr. Johnson, where were you on November 21^st 2015 approximately at 9:00 PM?”

Steve: “I was in my flat washing the dishes after finishing my meal with my partner”

Bill: “Can I ask you to state your partner’s full name please”

Steve: “Why? You know it; I know this is about her I was told prior to being sent in here so I should call my lawyer”

Bill: “I asked you to state her name, we are not aware of people’s personal lives; you could have a second partner or lover who you were with.”

Steve: “Don’t be silly… my partner was Sophia West”

Bill: “And where was she at this time?”

Straight edit to a mid-side shot of Steve

Steve: “I was unaware, after dinner we had watched some TV and she said she was going out and would be back later, no specification on where she was going or how long she would be,” at this point the camera will be a mid-side shot to the side of Bill as Steve continues talking, “I got up to do the dishes, by the time I finished it was nearly half 9, she hadn’t come home so I went out looking while calling her, check my phone records if you don’t believe me, they’ll line up”

Bill: “AM or PM?”

Steve: “PM, who has dinner in the early morning?”

Camera will cut to behind the suspect, slightly to the left and looking at the suspects face, the camera will begin to arc around the head of the suspect, going behind his head, the next lines will be said as this is happening

Bill: “Do you own a gun or a knife not including the kitchen ones”

Steve: “Yes, I own an old revolver, it’s not been used as far as I’m aware, its part of my families lineage,”

Fade out/in will be hidden by the darkness of Steve’s head, will go to behind the detective’s head, the audio from both scenes should play, overlapping one another, one getting quieter and one getting louder as the arc occurs. The arc will continue from the back of bill’s head to the right. A passing of time should be shown in this shot, the detective and suspect removing their jackets, some cups of water on the table.

Steve: “I told you I didn’t kill my own fiancé, why would I, what’s my motive, all these questions have done nothing but establish what I know you’re already aware of.”

Bill: “Well, for now I have no further questions, you will be called in for questioning a second time, so don’t leave the county.”

Steve: “Why am I being called in a second time?”

Bill will get up as Steve starts to talk, he’ll get to the door and open it, the camera should be behind him as he gets up and then as he opens the door the camera should be in front of it so it can watch it open. As the door opens Steve finishes his sentence,

Steve: “You just spent 2 hours questioning me; surely I shouldn’t need to come in again”

The camera should be a mid shot of Bill,

Bill: “These weren’t official questions, I had a few favors to call in, I needed to question you myself, in a situation you though was official.” He then leaves and the camera watches the door close, as it does and thuds close screen goes black.

The End.

Preliminary Task - Final Version

The final version was heavily changed from my initial idea due to time constraints and other issues.

Planning - Initial Ideas

This is a chronological collection of my initial ideas on the planning of my film intro including decision of genre, concepts and storyboarding.

I have decided to create an intro to a cop film, using films such as Hot Fuzz, The Naked Gun and Beverly Hills Cop not only as inspiration but as research material to try and find conventions within these cop/spy films. One convention I have found is that the main characters, the protagonists, often fit into one of two cop personalities (at least in the introduction), they are either a dedicated, serious cop who only acts by the book and does everything he can to seem like a perfect police officer, or they are a laid back or reckless person who doesn't always go by the book, opting to use their own methods of interrogation or fact finding, these characters are also often the comic relief character becoming the source of the majority of the comedy. Often when a film has two protagonists (Hot Fuzz) the main character, introduced first will be a serious officer while the second is the abnormal or more comedic of the two. When a film has a single protagonist (Beverly Hills Cop, BHC) he will be a slightly serious cop but will often lean to the laid back, unorthodox methods of crime-solving. I plan to go with a single protagonist in my opening, with the possibility of introducing a second maybe halfway into the intro but this is yet to be set in stone.

I have two possible ideas for the plot of the introduction, I could use the fact that my actors will be 16-17 and produce an intro that focuses on a sort of high-school police force idea with the only example coming to mind being a cartoon airing in the early 2000's on Disney called 'Fillmore!' where the plot follows a child who is part of his school's safety patrol. In the show they parody hardened police dramas, which is the link between it and my chosen genre, where the safety patrol acts more like a police department and the school being the city. This concept would allow me to get past the barriers of typical cop films like brutal violence and car chases as they are only in school and are still students, it would also allow me to use the elements of my school and explain it in terms of continuity.

The second idea is to have it being based around what seems to be an actual police force, with my actors acting above their age, this would require a more refined plot or a different view and could prove difficult to brainstorm for. In this I would need to find a plot point in which would allow me to not need any police outfits/costumes. It would prove difficult to record as my settings would not be a police station. Appropriate props would be hard to find or expensive to buy and typical conventions like car chases would have to change to be bicycle chases.

As of 02/03/16 I have decided to go with my first idea, the school safety patrol with some conventions of more mature cop films included obviously changed slightly to make it appropriate for the age of my actors.

From now on I will focus on scripting, storyboarding, casting and filming. After all this is done I will make a start on editing the final version. All of these will have their own post bar filming.

Planning - Casting

With the script finished I needed to then cast actors for the parts. Due to the setting of the film the actors would need to suit it, a school, so the first, most basic guideline for casting would be that they had to be young, around the range of 16 years old.

The male lead was a charismatic, smooth talking man, similar to the performance given by Eddie Murphy in the Beverly Hills Cop series of films. This was a very simple casting choice as it was the same male lead that was in my preliminary, Surajkumar. He was easily able to perform in the same method as Eddie Murphy did while putting his own spin on things such as body language and lines. He was an easy casting. While he had very little acting experience, with only a few scenes shot I could tell he would put the effort in to give a great performance and there was no need to replace him.

Next was the female lead, she had to be a confident woman but also be quite clumsy. She needed to be shorter than Surajkumar due to the ideas I had in mind. My male lead, Suraj, proposed a girl called Misha Folkner, a girl who was shorter than him. I considered her and after learning of her involvement with multiple school performances and performances decided to cast her. She had blonde hair which allowed me to play on the stereotype that blonde women are clumsy.

Finally I required some supporting characters to fill some roles, a character to give snarky remarks as Surajkumar asks for direction and a character to give him the information. For the first one I got a person called Calvin Weston who was very skilled at pulling off the sarcasm and attitude I required, as for the last character due to restraints with people willing to help I performed the final role, putting my best effort to be an informative, uptight character.

With that, my casting was complete to the best of my abilities and limitations. The script has already been changed due to the lack of actors and I continue to work around these casting choices in terms of lines and how I can use their body language. I can now focus on producing an electronic version of the script with any and all changes made during recording sessions and then move onto editing the footage together.

Planning - Script

The first thing I had to consider is how I wanted to start my film, how I wanted the audience to be introduced to the film. Using my research I decided I wanted to have an opening shot of my male protagonist walking towards the school building then for it to cross-dissolve into the camera following his side, switching to his other side, following behind him then him walking towards the camera and the cam to pan downwards into a cross-dissolve into the main building's atrium, with him walking in while looking up and for it to zoom out and show a title card.

It will then cut to a shot of my female protagonist walking across a bridge, then a cut to him looking around, seeing the antagonist in the act, chasing after him saying a line or two, a short chase scene will then occur and the female protagonist will interfere somehow, letting the antagonist get away. They will then go back to the scene of the crime and see what was up.

There will then be a big 'Safety Patrol' Meeting with like 4 people other than the protagonists where they discuss the crime, and the suspects with quite a bit of dialogue, setting up the rest of the would-be film introducing the antagonist and establishing the main characters.

To end I will probably use something as dramatic effect such as everyone leaving the room and the room name to be displayed as the door shuts.

The first draft for the script can be seen below.

Scene 1 – The Setup

This scene will contain no dialogue; it will be devoted to setting the scene of the opening, which is a school. Shot 1 will be an extreme long shot of the main Thomas Deacon Academy building, in the morning so that it looks cold, wet and depressing. The camera will follow our main character at first as he walks towards the building, the camera will stay stationary panning to follow (name here), and when he gets perpendicular to the camera it will begin to pan north-east until he is out of shot (or only his head is in shot) and the school building can be seen. It will then quickly pan to the right as a cross-dissolve takes place to just outside the school, it will follow our main character, (name here), as he walks into the school building , the camera should be to his side, a quick shot of his other side, his back and then where he walks towards and facing the camera. When he gets close to the camera, a quick downwards pan to a cross-dissolve to a long shot of the atrium area of the school which should be shot in between lessons to show the hustle bustle of the school, the time between period 1 and 2 would be best as it would be very similar lighting to the first shot. The camera should start as zoomed in on (name here) and he will look up at the camera which starts to zoom out to show the atrium and the students. This is where the title will be shown. A Pan downwards will transition into the next scene.

Scene 2 – Character Establishment

The camera will pan down to show (name here) looking up. The camera should be at the side of (name here). The next shot should be of a female character walking across the bridge with books in hand, the scene should follow her across, in a POV shot. It should start zoomed out but as she walks should straight edit to a close-up of her face. A straight edit should cut to the side of (name here). His head will turn away from the camera and then towards it, like he’s looking for someone. When he turns towards the camera he will turn away but quickly turn back, like a double take,

Suraj: “Hey (or oi)!” walk past the camera,

A straight edit will cut to a POV shot should walk towards him, in the view of (name here) in a corridor where a person can be seen trying to close a door silently, as if they have just left and don’t want to alert people off it. This person will then turn to face the camera, as they do this a straight edit should cut to a close up to their face hidden under a cap. A straight edit to a mid shot of (name here),

Suraj: “Hey man, I know we all want to sneak a peek at those test answers but-“

A straight edit to behind (name here)’s shoulders, the other person should run away from (name here) and turn the corner, (name here) should follow him.

A straight edit to around the corner shows the person running past with (name here) following, when (name here) goes past the camera should turn and follow him.

A straight edit to in front of the culprit, hiding his face and running with the camera staying in front of him, the camera is allowed to be a little shaky. A straight edit to the same thing but with (name here) instead.

Suraj: “Slow down! The refectory isn’t going anywhere”

A POV shot should be shown near stairs where the girl from earlier appears, the culprit grabs her and shoves her into the camera.

A mid shot should be shown of (name here) where the girl knocks into him, stopping him and dropping a folder with paper coming loose.

Girl: “Oh my god, im so sorry, he just came out of-“

Suraj: “Its fine, just,” Looks over her shoulder

POV shot looking over girl’s shoulder, suspect keeps running, gets knocked by an unimportant character who knocks his cap off, suspect will look at the camera, straight edit to a close up of their face, straight edit to a mid shot of him picking up the cap and running.

Straight edit to mid shot of (name here)

Suraj: “hmm,” Turns back he way he came “wonder what he was doing”

Girl: “Sorry again, he came out of no where and just shoved me” as she says this, she should bend down to pick up her papers

Suraj: “That’s fine, I mean what example am I giving the younger years, running through the school and such”

Girl: “Yeah” Looks up, camera does a straight edit to her looking up, from the side “So, you gonna help or gawk like you did this morning”

Straight edit to (name here)’s side

Suraj: “Oh, uhhh, yeah sure” camera will stay still as he bends down.

Straight edit to the corridor where they were earlier, camera should be facing away from the door, facing the entrance to the building. Both (name here) and the girl will pop up as if they have just stood up from picking up the papers.

Suraj: “Your really bad at holding onto these papers, like seriously that’s the second time I’ve had to help you pick them up”

Girl: “Maybe I just enjoy bending down”

A pause between lines

Suraj: "Right.... just wait there a sec"

Misha should wait as Suraj walks past the camera, a straight edit to the camera being in the same position but rotated 180 degrees. Suraj should walk past, as he does the camera slowly follows him, open the door and say after a short pause, looking worried as the classroom has been wrecked.

Suraj: "Well, seems like he really turned the room upside down looking for those answers....literally."

Suraj should turn to the camera, but looking past it at misha or where she would be.

Scene 3 - Plot Establishment and Antagonist Establishment

A transition (straight edit or otherwise decided) shall come to Suraj walking to a room with people walking past. The scene should start behind suraj's left shoulder looking over it and to the right slightly, there should be a pair of people who walk by, A straight edit to the first pair, mid shot.

Person 1 Pair 1: "Hey, did you hear about S03?"

Person 2 Pair 1: "Yeah I heard from Suraj that it had been trashed and he chased him down but lost him-"

Both act as if they are walking past Suraj, should fake smile and then go back to their conversation

Straight edit to behind suraj as they walk past, he should turn to watch them walk and sigh, then turn back, continue to walk and go into a room as the camera follows

Suraj: "Right everyone sit down!"

Door should be pushed closed (because school doors shut too slowly) and there should be a sign saying 'TDA Safety Patrol'

Straight edit to a mid shot of the room, showing the people inside, should include Misha and others.

Suraj: "Right, so the issue today is this vandalism, its delayed classes while its being sorted"

There should be a yay from the crowd. Straight edit to be a mid shot of Suraj, to the right/left of the projector board, by the computer

Suraj: "Let's not be too enthusiastic Jerry, we wouldn't want your lesson to be moved off site because someone didn't want their valuable education compromised"

Jerry: "Aww come on"

Suraj: "Right, so we need to solve this and quick, we know little about the main suspect, so"

A slide will come up on the bored, straight edit to suraj's side displaying the bored

Suraj: "We know the suspect is white, male and owns a cap with CAT on it, any ideas on what CAT is guys?"

Long silence

Suraj: Mutters "Damn idiots," Speaks up "It's a machine manufacturer, more specifically, construction machines, and the hat is given out to employees, who then most likely give them to the kids, thanks to the school Head we know 3 people with parents who work for CAT, so, we'll get them in and ask them some questions, objections? (short pause) No? Good, now stop sitting around like unimportant characters in a terrible student film and get to work!"

The End

With the first draft complete I can now storyboard how the scenes should combine together and their inner-workings as well as casting my actors. This draft of the script was abandoned because I changed the idea for the majority of the film therefore it required an overhaul and this shall be seen in my finalizing stage. The storyboard will reflect the newer version of the script instead of this one which is the cause of inconsistencies.

Planning - Storyboard

This post will be devoted to the showing of my storyboards which will be hand drawn and written. My storyboard can be seen below.

With storyboards finished and angles and transitions thought of, I can now begin filming with my actors as of March 16th 2016.

Planning - Finalizing the Script

This is the final version of the script for my coursework piece and shall be what I use for my actors and the filming, some slight alterations may be made while on set due to limitations or finding better ideas on set.

Scene 1 – The Setup

Scene 2 – Character Establishment

Suraj: “Hey” (walk past the camera),

A straight edit will cut to a two-shot of Suraj and Calvin in which Calvin is lent against the wall and on his phone, when Suraj walks into shot he turns and says

Calvin: Ignores him

Suraj: “Hey, uhh, I was wandering if you knew where the Safety Patrol Office was?”

Straight edit to over Suraj’s shoulder

Calvin: Looks over “Ha, the safety patrol?! The nerd gatherings up the stairs and down the hall, room at the end”

Suraj: “oh um, ok”

Calvin: “Hey, I've not seen you round school before”

Over Calvin’s Shoulder

Suraj: “Yeah, I transferred from across town, our patrol ran pretty smoothly there”

Reverse Shot

Calvin: “Yeah well, good luck, you’ll need it your joining the Geek Guardians”

Suraj thanks him then walks out of shot

Cut to Suraj entering a room labelled Safety Patrol

Cut to a low angled shot showing Chris at a table as Suraj walks over and sits down.

Cuts to a closer shot as Suraj sits down.

Chris: “Suraj I presume?”

Suraj: “Yes sir!”

Chris: “Great! Hope your transfer was smooth and efficient, just like I hope you will be.”

Suraj: "Of course sir, I'm really excited to help fight crime"

Pauses and bends down to get Props

Chris: “I've got your ID badge here, proving your authority above everyone else, Here I have your Handbook, it contains the rules we abide by and detention slips, it’s your weapon against the enemy, so if you're ready, I'm ready.

They shake hands.

Cuts to Suraj walking out the room and looking at his card, then cuts to Misha walking along the corridor

Two-shot of them bumping into each other and talking

Suraj: "Sorry, I didn't see you there"

Misha: "It's ok, Hey, I haven't seen you around before"

Suraj: "Yeah I recently transferred here," Picks up his card "See, I'm already making a name for myself"

Misha: "Oooo, safety patrol, how courageous"

Suraj: "Yeah we sure are, back home I faced many difficulties so hopefully this one will keep

me on my toes, will I see you around?"

Misha: "Maybe"

Misha taps Suraj on the shoulder and leaves as Suraj watches.

The End

With the script finalised I started filming on the 16th March 2016, with the actors;

Surajkumar Patel - Male lead/Main Protagonist

Misha Folkner - Female Lead

Christopher Chalk - Safety Patrol Leader

Calvin Weston - Assist Role

Unfortunately due to a lack of actors which was out of my control, I was required to act as the safety patrol leader providing complications during the recording, which I worked around by using a tri-pod or changing the scenes so an actor would be spare to record the scene. This was the cause of many re-records. The main casting issues was the lack of willing actors, I had begun asking people on Monday 9th March, but had Surajkumar and Misha for actors since the filming of my preliminary task during late February/early March so it was not the issue of late notice that caused the lack of actors.

Media Studies A-Level Coursework Final Piece

This is my final piece. There will be no further edits or tweaks to the project.

Peer Feedback of Final Product

Christopher Chalk Media Studies

Peer Feedback of Final Product

I showed my final product to a couple peers who then gave me feedback on the parts they thought were efficient and of high quality and what they thought was ineffective and could be improved upon if I was to do it again.

Advantages

My peers thought they key area I was most proficient in was my camera work, my use of shots and movement, bringing attention to the tracking shots in the first scene and the scene before the class room, saying how they steady and were effective in creating a sense of integration, having Suraj walk towards the camera made them feel as if he was walking towards him and engaged them in the product.

They also commented on the flow of the opening, saying how the scenes went from on to the other really well and smoothly and showed an efficient passage of time within the product, saying how it portrayed the flow of a real school day.

One commented on the choice of cast, pointing out Calvin as their example saying how he was able to play the role of a bully and a mean guy well, bringing out conventions of those characters well.

Most of them liked the concept of the product saying how it was a unique idea for a film and how the characters fit well into their roles and portrayed the genre well. They also said how the use of a couple of long shots was effective in displaying the setting of the product allowing them to gather information from this setting.

Disadvantages

The first thing a lot of them pointed out was the length of the first scene, commenting on the fact they felt it was too long and drawn out, saying they were on the edge of being bored and losing interest and engagement in the product. They advised that I should have included more events during this scene to engage them more, to grab their attention right at the start instead of a fifth of the way in.

While they commended me on most of the camera work found in the product they thought at points the camera was unnecessarily shaky, saying it made the entire thing look a lot more amateur in general, diminishing the effects I was creating during the scenes with a stable camera.

One pointed out a fatal mistake I had made during the class room scene. They identified a de-sync of audio and video I had not realised in my viewing before processing and submitting the video. While it was only a slight de-sync and it could easily be missed it still affected the quality of the product and again lessened the professional feel of the video even more.

Some were critical of the lighting, and the poor management of it using the scene between Misha and Suraj as an example saying how the shot looked dark and they could not pick out features very well.

There are parts of my product where my proxemics and my angles were ineffective as well as a lack of cuts or cuts where they were not needed. In this context the corridor scene with Calvin was pointed out, saying how I should have cut to Suraj walking over and then talking so to bring attention to him while he spoke. They also pointed out you could not see Calvin's hand when he gave Suraj directions and this diminished the knowledge he was giving directions and would have been more effective if we could see the hand.

The final criticism was in the last 5 seconds or so of the product when Suraj watches Misha walk out away. In this scene he turns to watch her but turns the opposite direction of the one she walks in, making it look awkward for the audience and also causes him to look away from the camera meaning he is unable to display is face and therefore his reactions.

Evaluation of Final Product

Christopher Chalk Media Studies - Evaluation of Final Product

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In terms of my final product, I believe it uses and enforces multiple conventions from the Cop/comedy genre, focusing mainly on those from the cop films already on the market. I also believe that it challenges conventions in some minor ways which overall, add to the general dynamic of the product.
The first major feature my film contains that challenges real media products is its setting. Unlike most cop dramas/comedies which are set in large, well known cities where the audience can make assumptions on their characters based on this alone, my product sees the setting as a secondary school. This was an odd choice as the only assumption the audience can make is that my characters are all students or teachers, depending on their mise-en-scene and body language. I set my opening in a school as I believed it would be effective with the actors I had acquired, with them being young adults, I could build on the idea of a school having students monitoring the halls and add the conventions of hardened cop dramas into the mix to produce an odd yet interesting product which grabs a hold of the audience and intrigues them.
Another feature I decided to include in my opening is the addition of a love interest. A lot of the current action films will have a female lead that will create a sub-plot with the main protagonist which usually involves a relationship and this is not excluded from cop films. A number of cop films will have the main officer, presuming he is a laid back and non-serious officer which I have discussed in my initial ideas section will have a female who he is interested in and will pursue when not dealing with the main plot. This female is not always introduced in the first few scenes of the film, however I introduced her early so I could follow another convention, the main character being a smug and sometimes arrogant individual. It is close to the end, the main character known as 'Suraj' bumps into the female and while being polite at first, he is quick to show off and brag about his introduction into the school's safety patrol, regardless of being new to the school in a whole. Since I don't have a lot of time in the approximately 2 minutes my opening had to be, I wanted to make sure the characteristics of my characters were effectively portrayed, the main character being the focus. The interaction between a fellow student/love interest was the best choice as they wouldn't be an authority figure and it is often shown in other films that the character's true personality comes out when they are talking to a love interest.

During the product I have a shot where the camera follows the protagonist from behind, this scene is quite shaky and this was intentional. It was done like this to display his nerves as he walks towards the 'office' of the safety patrol as, in a number of other films including 'Rush Hour', we see that the camera is shaky in times of action or where the nerves of the character in the shot are very high. I used this so I could portray the character's feelings without having to make the focus of the shot his face or words, doing it via the camera covey's his feelings subliminally which makes it easier on the audience, allowing them to focus on other parts of the shot. I made the camera follow him from behind as it creates an element of mystery and surprise, often in films when they wish to hide the identity or the intentions of a character they will keep them in the dark and looking away from the camera as a form of proxemics and mise-en-scene, and while I have already shown his identity keeping his back to the audience portrays a lack of knowledge, it keeps his intentions with the safety patrol ambiguous, it could be good or it could be bad, to the audience his back being turned to the camera keeps it unknown and ominous.
In the same scene we see the door to the safety patrol, a big ominous black door again, creating mystery and a sense of the unknown. The sign is a low quality piece of paper and this was how it was meant to look. I frame it in the centre of the shot as my research has shown me that the important parts of the shot are best when they are the centre of said shot. The film is set in a school who would not have a lot of money to create and stick a high-quality and professional looking sign to the door, so the shoddy nature of the sign helps to convey this information to the audience, challenging the thought that every police department or in my case, safety patrol, has a large budget and works in a professional environment with a large number of officers or students like Hot Fuzz which shows a large police station filled with a large quantity of officers all with outstanding uniforms and a professional work-space. I do, however, frame a billboard to the right of the shot where certificates can be seen, I aimed to include these in the shot so it would look as the achievements of the safety patrol are clearly on display for everyone to see just as they focus on the awards in Hot Fuzz.
A convention of films based in schools, while I did not research them, I am aware that often in the class rooms the students often leave their class rooms in a mess, especially if they are going to be returning to the room, with their bags left over their tables and their seats un-tucked. Realising this I decided to add a sense of realism to my product and place some coats and bags on the visible tables in the class room scene. This lets my audience know that the base of the safety patrol is inside a class room and allows my product to follow more conventions helping build on the overall dynamic of it.
With looking through many other film openings to then talk about in my research I had noticed another convention. Many films do a few establishing shots to set the scene, for example Beverly Hills Cop, where they show the surrounding area before going into the main film, this is usually where the studios involved are shown as well as the stars and key employees. Following this I decided to start my opening with a shot of my main character walking along a path, which was inspired by the first shot of Hot Fuzz and I changed it slightly so it could turn into an establishing shot. I put in some example title credits as well as my main title. Knowing the title card usually comes after the scene is established I made sure to include it soon after the building was revealed. The title credits simulated the movement of the main character, coming in from the left and leaving on the right. When the shot zooms out and shows the title card, I make sure to position my actor in the centre of the credits, making him the centre of attention besides the actual title, and this is because films such as Beverly Hills Cop aim to show their title in an establishing shot, where the setting of the film is shown behind the title.
Another convention I have gone against is the personality of my main character, as shown in the first few scenes and the classroom scene he is shown as semi-serious but a bit laid back, which goes against the convention I found in a lot of films where if there is one main protagonist, he will be extremely laid back in the way he conducts his work, especially if he is black and if he is a solo act. What I mean by solo act is if in the film he does not have an official partner, examples of this is Axel Fowley (Beverly Hills Cop) and the black man in Rush Hour, while if he has a partner or is white he is often overly serious about work, e.g. Nicholas Angel in Hot Fuzz. My main character is not only alone, but black and breaks these conventions by being serious about his position. He, however, conforms to these when talking to his love interest, showing that he wants to act 'cool' in front of her but when in nature he is serious.

Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My product is based in a school; this allows it to be representative of several social groups which I then narrowed to a few specific ones and focused on those so I could provide emphasis on them and bring those social groups to attention easier.
The first notable one is the main character, Suraj, who is Indian, so therefore is representing the South Asian social group. In my product he is shown to be a hard worker, dedicated to treating his position in the safety patrol seriously, putting a lot of effort into being a good officer. This is typical of Indians; it is often a stereotype that Indians are hard-workers, dedicated to their careers, attempting to advance so they can create a stable environment for their families.
The second social group I represent in my product is the upper-class, shown through my main character and the support character, Calvin. These both represent the upper-class in different, contrasting but yet some similar ways. Firstly, they both are wearing suits that display their authority above the other characters as it is typical for the upper-class to be dressed in formal clothing such as suits and ties as it is believed this shows their class without them having to say it. Suraj, the main character, displays the nicer, polite side of the upper class in which they act, what we could define as 'posh' where he treats everyone with respect and uses a high standard of manners which I display throughout the entire product. Calvin, however, represents his polar opposite of the upper class, the rude, arrogant and head-strong part as shown when he encounters Suraj and begins to make fun of him and the ambitions he has. His general lack of respect for the newcomer displays the side of the upper class that looks down upon everyone else, seeing themselves as the highest of the high and that no one except their peers deserves their respect and manners. His class also comes from the accent, speaking in a clear, to the point tone, not speaking excessively quickly, but not excruciatingly slow either.
I also represent the middle/working class in the film through the female and leader characters portrayed by Misha and myself. Our mise-en-scene, regarding clothing, shows that while we are adhering to the uniform standards of the school, we can not afford to have either full-blown suits in my case, or an expensive dress, female suit, or bag in Misha's case. Misha's prop, the bag, shows her class as it is often shown for upper class women to have designer handbags which are clearly different from everyday bags, which Misha is shown to own. This decision of mise-en-scene allows the audience to mentally profile the characters, assigning classes to each based purely on their clothing, attitude and accessories.
Gender roles and characteristics are also displayed in my product, focusing on men, as 3 of my 4 non-background characters are men. The first stereotype I adhere to is the fact that men enjoy power over women, displayed through the fact that I have a male leader for the safety patrol and when Suraj and Misha are talking she folds her arms, showing her becoming defensive towards Suraj at first and the fact that Suraj dominates the majority of the conversation. The height difference between Suraj and Misha displays an inequality between the twos sexes as it displays Suraj as having power over Misha. I also display the lack of equality of women in society due to the lack of women in the opening.

Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

A Media Institution is a company who would distribute the film to the masses be that a big company like Warner Brothers or Sony Pictures or a TV network. The most appropriate institute to distribute my product I believe would be Paramount Pictures and this is because they are known for distributing and creating films that feature a lot of action, suspense and drama while also sprinkling a bit of comedy into most of the films or the films featuring slight comedy. This is appropriate as my product would feature drama and comedy and Paramount have in the past distributed other kinds of cop films such as Beverly Hills Cop and The Naked Gun which I have featured aspect of in my product and therefore believe with their track record, they to be the most appropriate institute to then distribute a hypothetical product to the masses. I would ask them as they are an incredibly successful institute and I would have no fear in the quality of distribution and advertisement. They would also distribute it in many forms such as TV, DVDs and other ways of watching the film, boosting overall profit as they have done this for previous cop films and on most occasions this has been a success.

They have a great reputation in creating effective, eye-catching trailers and posters for the film and I believe that this will help in the overall profit of a hypothetical film.

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

I would target my product towards the young adults, looking at ages around 14/15 to around 25/26. I would aim it at this range to effectively capture the right audience for the contents of my product, featuring strong language, violence and a certain key of comedy that would be refined to focus on the generation this audience came from, including references to past media products that the majority of their generation has seen. It is also typical for this age range to be interested in action films, especially cop ones, using the recent successes of films such as 21 and 22 Jump Street which is about a pair of cops as an example. This range is also efficient due to the nature of my film, with its setting being in a school the audience could relate to the events in the film with current or recent memory. I think that inadvertently it would be focused towards white males instead of females or people of coloured ethnicity mainly due to the nature of the actors and the events of the film, not featuring a great number of ethnic groups or events these groups can relate to.

Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract my audience I made sure to have the first scene of my film build suspense and anticipation, focusing on creating a sense of mystery that will entice my audience into watching my product and keeping their attention so they enjoy and do not get bored and leave in the middle of the product. I displayed my main character, Suraj during the first shot to gain the attention of my audience, putting focus on a coloured person promoting the racial diversity and also capturing the eye of the females of my audience who would be interested in seeing the male star. I also made sure my soundtrack was ominous and enticing, creating interest in the product which is imperative in such a short piece but also important in major films so they achieve good reviews and create memorable moments.
I met my target audience effectively in my product by basing it in a school in which the audience could see similarities between their secondary education and the one displayed in the product allowing for the audience to relate to the characters and situations.

Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

With the process of creating this product I picked up many key skills which are imperative to the successful filming of any product or film. The first is the use of a video camera, learning how the zoom option would affect quality of the product and how to use the camera effectively to create meaningful shots. I learned about my camera and the different recording options, using the best option for each specific shot to create the best atmosphere. I also learned about sound and microphones and the like, I did not use a specific piece of technology to record my sound; however the camera had an on-board microphone so I needed to learn how to use it and my surroundings effectively to get the best sound. I learned that it is best to record in closed rooms or small corridors as this would provide the best sound quality and the least background noise which could potentially take away from the quality of the product.

I also learned key aspects of editing software and the computers I was using. In the editing stage of the product I found how to effectively manage the creation, using numerous shortcuts and settings to alter the pre-recorded footage and improve factors the original footage lacked on, such as sound or visuals. The creation of this product allowed me to learn how to effectively organise my footage and then how to use brand new software. Using Sony Vegas Pro 13 to edit my project caused the issue that I did not know how to use it, but after research and practice from the multiple drafts of the final product I was able to confidently navigate the software quickly and efficiently, using many different aspects of the software to create the best effect.

Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back on my preliminary task I have improved and developed my understanding of many techniques and conventions of video recording. The greatest development from my preliminary to my final product was the element of casting, and how important it was to the film. In my preliminary I was not bothered about who I got to act so long as I got people who could work with me when I needed them, moving this up to the final product, however, I learnt that casting played a much bigger part in the dynamics of the film, being used to put forward key personality traits in a character and eluding to how they will act in the future.

Another factor that I feel I learnt is the proper user of proxemics. In my preliminary I had just put people where they needed to be so I could have them in the shot but going into my final product I learnt where a character should be placed in the shot to provide the best dynamics and to shift focus onto them, for example learning that if I want to create focus on a character then I would place them in the centre of the shot, if I wanted them to be inferior to another character I would place them behind the main character or off to the side.

I also learnt the importance of a soundtrack in the product. My preliminary was quite bland with only background noise and voices but transitioning into a full blown project taught me that to provide emphasis on certain events or aspects of the product I would need an efficient soundtrack that properly expressed the tone of the scene and properly portray the tone of the scene.

The fact that I decided to give my preliminary task a genre allowed me to practice for the main product and develop my understanding, but the genre of my final product was clearly defined within the 2:30 minutes because I had completed research and I now had a definitive idea on how to display and present my genre.