Evaluation.

As our genre is action, we researched three films, Mission Impossible, Watchmen and Next, in order to get some ideas and popular conventions we will need to incorporate into our final product. Conventions we noted were things such as titles appearing whilst the film continues. For example in Next, a slow montage of clocks is shown the titles appear at the bottom of the screen. Another convention, the identity of the attackers are kept to the minimal however this particular rule only emerged in one of the opening sequences, Watchmen. Although it does occur further on in the other researched films. Also noted was the use on music that opened the films were fairly up beat and to create some form of suspicion. The antagonists have been men in these films and we thought it would be good to break this convention and have a female in our film to slightly twist the story and possibly interest the audience more. Whereas the main characters, who were introduced almost immediately, seemed to generally be men. An important convention we saw, we observed closely as it was a valid part of our film, was the fight scenes. It was obvious to us that we could not get such advanced footage as we didn’t have access to highly developed editing software such as CDI/CAD and therefore could not add special effects, for example in Watchmen, the protagonist throws a porcelain mug at the attacker and its dodge and looks as though it’s going to hit the camera but instead flew past it. The fight scenes are also shot very carefully so that the audience views the fight watching every movement as though they are there and watching each physical gesture. Because this is commonly used and very effective we tried our best to do the same and it showed me how frustrating and time consuming filming and editing a fight scene is, as I previously explained.

Our film s based on one of our researched films Watchmen in respects to the story. A group of colleagues are killed off one by one however our story differs because our main character is not murdered. This also brings attention to another convention. The ‘top dog’ antagonist generally dies at the end of the film. Our film sticks to this convention despite it will never be made. When editing the titles it took some time and experimentation as what we wanted was not very realistic and not what would be seen in an A list action movie. This was to have a black transition appear sharply between each murder at the very beginning of the sequence. Mr. Lawes saw this and brought to our attention and asked, “How many films have you seen title sequences like this in?” Our answer to this was, none. We took this on board and I looked back over the researched films and noticed the titles were set of centre and out of the way of the continued action. We played around with positioning of each title and finalised it with the influence of Next.

The music we used to open out film was not like other action films. We decided to bend this convention. The majority of action films use fairly upbeat music to show something exciting is going to happen whereas our opening sequence involves discrete, suspicious murders so we used a softer slower song yet still works with the genre and introduction to the title ‘FATAL SCORN’.

What I enjoyed most about doing this project was to experiment with new technology. Using the Macs was very interesting because when I have previously used Mac software it was confusing however with a little guidance it became simpler to use. For example if I was given a Mac and told to upload a film, I would have struggled whereas when I observed my peers using it I picked things up easily and adapted to it quickly and found editing easy and very enjoyable. Also what was new to me was the use of a blog. I have never kept a blog as I haven’t had the need but I think it is very useful for this project. It works so well because as a teenager I am familiar with computers and the internet and would be more motivated to comment on a blog rather than write everything down. It's also easy access to the other group member’s blogs.
By using computers is a big advantage because it allows us to use the USB technology to transfer files from computer to computer with no trouble. This allows us to take home any work to make changes to then quickly upload it to the school computers. Another advantage of using computers is the opportunity to use Bluetooth. This was handy because it was an alternative way of transferring files from each computer. It also enables us to send files to our phones and personal devices so we have backups of all our work. We only encountered one problem with ICT which limited us from putting a logo, that group member Luke McAdams, made for ‘Popcorn Productions’. He did not have a Mac or software that was compatible with the Macs so he had created a very professional logo but when trying to upload it onto the Macs, was unable to open due to the format.

I am happy with what the group had produced and am proud of myself for the skills I have learnt and my contribution to the product. The group and I worked to the best of out ability with the help and technology provided however I believe we could have improved the quality of our film if the Macs used were networked as it would have been easier for us to search for music and soundtracks in one room instead of having to keep running down to the sixth form ICT suite then transferring the music onto USB then back up to the media classroom to transfer it on to iTunes. This was annoying as it used up a few valuable minutes that could have been used to experiment more with the programs tools. Also the school uses small personal camcorders which are not designed for the type of footage we wanted to film however we had to make do. Because of the low quality we was receiving from the camera during the fight scene we had to change the original location from the park to outside a nursery centre as it had outdoor low level lighting which enabled us to capture as much detail as possible. The end part of the two minute sequence when ‘James Dillan’ walks, picks a piece of paper up and looks at it, the camera aimlessly, auto focused however we did not notice how blurry it had came out until we viewed it on the Mac. By this time it was too late to film that shot again so we had to work with what we had. Although it did not ruin or negatively affect the sequence because it makes the viewer think about what information was on the paper and that the blurriness possibly represents James’ eyesight, maybe that he had to focus to see it if what he had found was correct.

Our products story/plot was written in order to represent women in a different way that usual. In a lot of films and real life, women are perceived as the home and family orientated, caring type with a stable job and generally a nice loving person. We however wanted to change this view and show that women can be the protagonist and stronger than men.
We thought we could lucratively do this by immediately making the antagonists female and the victim’s men. This was to make the viewers more interested in the film and want to see how it ended, whether the woman accomplished their vice plan. To do this we ensured we clothed the women in, not so feminine, clothes such as a black baggy jumper, black combat trousers and pumps. Also in the last murder or the montage, the assassin Li, played by Jessica Johnson, was pretending to be a person who sells their self so to do this we wanted her too look slightly cheap therefore explaining why she wore ankle boots heels with short leggings with a short sequin dress. Despite the audience actually being able to see all the detail of the outfit I believe we got the image across by having a close up of Li’s feet walking towards the car. Also what we considered to contrast the genders was the voices and the way the characters acted towards each other in certain shots. For example in the shop scene where James talks to the shop keeper, the atmosphere is calm and casual between both men whereas as soon as James steps outside into the dark, the mood instantly changes to a tenser more solemn feel and you can tell something is about to happen. This continues up to the fight scene where it’s unusually to see a man and woman fighting, what was interesting about this scene was that we wanted the assassin, LI to be in power and dominant and show women can be stronger than men however with the narrative James had to get the upper hand but not necessarily defeat the assassin. I feel the final product does display a distinct opposition in the typical roles of men and women usually found in films and that this would engage the audience’s attention and yearning to see the rest of the film.

When we was coming up with a treatment for our film we did not pay much attention to what certificate it would be as we were just excited about what would actually be in the film and how it would be shot. When we completed the editing we then had to decide what certificate it would be, we was struggling to settle on whether it fits into the 12A/12 bracket of 15. Firstly I would say 12A/12 because the film doesn’t have any swearing, nudity, discrimination, imitable behaviour, drugs and the fighting it not drastic or graphic. However on the other hand, it could simply fit in 15 because of the fighting and weapons used. We could not shoot an extreme fight scene due to time and lack of props and we simply did not need such a radical brawl. In order for the group to categorise the film I researched how film certificates are applied and what the film need to have to fit into that group. I found that 12A/12 allows moderate material in all criteria’s for example violence is allowed but not to dwell on detail. Also it allows strong language such as ‘fuck’ but must be in frequent. Our film doesn’t include any of this so I looked at the next category below which in PG, this made me then think that our film belongs in between PG and 12A/12 because the criteria for violence in PG says moderate violence without detail may be allowed if justified by its context for example, history, comedy or fantasy. I feel that our fight scene does belong here but I’m not 100 percent sure because we show the use of guns and this comes under imitable behavior as PG says there should be no detail of potentially dangerous behavior which young children are likely to copy or easily accessible weapons. Guns would not be easily accessible to young children however they may recognize the object then want a toy version. After reading further into each certificate I concluded that it belongs in the 12A/12 group because the content may be too influential on young children as they will not have learnt or have been familiar with such activities which could give out the wrong message. Whereas people from the age of 12 will know more or just starting to be aware if it as they will be entering secondary school and further education.

To attract the attention from the right audience, which for us were people from the age of 12, we had to make sure we knew what was going in our film and how we could apply this to that age group. We mad our film without clearly knowing exactly what our audience particularly wanted to see. It came to me once the film was shot and edited that we could have produced a short questionnaire and quickly distributed them to a random sample of pupils in the school and asked what they would like to see in an action film. Although having not done this we produced a questionnaire for a number of people, different genders and ages, to see their responses. We created a questionnaire,

and asked for a number of people to come to a screening. Everyone filled them out then as a group we scanned them and each group member chose a criteria to analyse.

I chose gender as I thought it would be interesting to see how females respond to the film in contrast to males as I personally would not choose to watch an action film and other females may think the same. 27 questionnaires were filled out, 15 of these were by males and 12, females. Equally, 7 of the males were 11-16 and 7 were 17-18, 1 was also over 19. When analysing the results I notice a fault in the questionnaire, our film was a 12A/12 and therefore not suitable for people aged 11 so the option should have been 12-16 instead of 11-16. Again, equally 6 of the females were 11-16 and 6 were 17-18. Our film is an action film and what I found interesting was that more males were indecisive about what genre they thought the film belonged to. For example 13 of them said the film was action, 6 of them said it may be crime and 1 said gangster. Whereas 11 of the females said action and 2 said crime, this says to me that women may be more observant and aware of what an action movie involves. However, 13 of the 15 boys did chose action but 4 of them also put more than one choice which implies they were not completely convinced that the film was action. This may simply be because they needed to see the rest of the film. Despite this, our film did succeed in satisfying our target audience as at the bottom of the questionnaires they would pay to see the rest of the film and thought the production, i.e. camera angles, music, fight scene, was generally exceptional. Here are a few of the responses we got.

From looking at these responses, when I next make a film I will ensure I include some of the points raised such as the clarity of the filming, a couple of people commented on this and sais it needs to be clearer. Also along with this point is the darkness of the film, this was down to the quality of the camera and the location as there was not enough of it during the fight scene. To improve this I will research locations more and see what they look like in the state and time they will be used. Another thing I would do is study the story and what the target audience personally wants as several people was not totally convinced what genre the film was and could not get a rough idea of what the film was about, one viewer suggested this is because more dialogue was needed. One more thing I noticed and found intriguing was that one male picked up on when the assassin, Li, was shot in the arm, the glass behind her had not effect from the impact which none of the group, including me observed. I was shocked when I found this because it seems so obvious now and it was something we possibly should have picked up on as directors, editors and directors of photography.

Looking back at the group’s preliminary task I feel we have improved and gained skills such as extended creativity. I was very pleased with the prelim produced as we stuck to the 3 main points which were to stick to the 180° rule, include a match-on-action shot and shot-counter-shot, we carried these on to our main task. I found having done the prelim was very helpful because it gave me an insight on what to expect, what responsibilities there are and it made me realise how difficult making a big blockbuster must be as we struggled with timing, scheduling and scouting locations, big movie companies have a lot more roles, a lot of tasks to tend to and has practically gamble so need to make sure they are producing a great film.

I would say our main task is better than the prelim simply because we had briefly experienced what we needed to do and could prepare as we knew it would be harder. Looking at both of the final pieces I wouldn’t say we improved a great deal but knowing what we did in preparation for the main task I know we improved. For example in the prelim we did not have to form a shooting schedule or storyboard which meant we had to improvise when filming it. The main task however was more directed and everyone knew what and how we were filming because we did have a schedule and storyboard to guide us. Also we had more time to plan and prepare with the main task which meant we could do some more research of genres and think more carefully about our story and merely take more care which enabled us to choreograph the fight scene that was suitable for the two actors, Jessica Johnson and Jamie Lawes. I think the key thing that made our final piece stand out and exceed the prelim was the fight scene because we showed our ability and attempt to create a fast, exciting scene which would engage a lot of people’s interest. However if I was to do another fight scene I would make sure I each shot was perfect and then re shoot any that will not work when editing together. Also I would scout more locations and make sure all detail is visible to the viewer.

As our film is an action film, we researched 3 films, Mission Impossible, Watchmen and Next. I thought the best way to decide what media institution(s) would get involved with the production and distribution of our film would be those previously involved in these particular action movies. So I researched them and found for Mission Impossible there were 2 production companies, Paramount Pictures and Cruise/Wagner Productions and 28 distributor companies, they had so many simple because the film was released in multiple countries. A couple of these companies were Paramount Home Video, United International Pictures (UIP), American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and Pioneer. Watchmen however had 5 production companies, 2 of which very popular, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, the also had 28 distribution companies some the same as Mission Impossible. Our final film, Next, had 6 production companies, one of which I recognise, Revolution Studios, Next had a slightly smaller number of 21 distributing companies. All three action films were supported by Paramount Pictures which says to me they get involved with a lot of films in this genre. I researched further into Paramount Pictures and found that they have been involved in the distribution of over 5000 films in almost a century, such as The Lovely Bones, Men with Wings and The Longest Yard. They also were involved in the production of over 3000 films, some being Without a Paddle, Transformers and War of the worlds. I looked for more film production/distributor companies that are interested in action films and came across a widely used institution called Film4. This is a virtually integrated UK company that works with British film-making, US independent films and Hollywood blockbusters. They have produced a number of films in a variety of genres; some of Film4’s films include The Lovely Bones, which Paramount Pictures were also involved in, The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, Another Year and Four Lions.

From my research I considered whether Paramount Pictures would be a suitable production company for our film because they have a very large successful history and I feel could make our film a thriving independent film or a blockbuster. However I like the films Flim4 have produced because they feel more realistic and tend not to focus on escapism and I would not like our film to be this sort of film, I want it to look as real as possible. This makes me think that these companies would be interested because we already have basic story and they can improvise and add their own touch, I think Film4 will also like to be involved on the production and distribution side.