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

When making a film project, you want it to look professional and have a similar quality as a real media product; you can do this by producing the media project similarly to how people would publish a real media product e.g. using the same equipment etc. Our media product uses various forms and conventions of real media products. Firstly, when filming our product we used a tripod to keep the camera steady, this helps to keep filming smooth and consistent but also gives it a level of professionalism. Without it, our product would lack quality. Even though the equipment we were using was of a lower standard compared to the equipment used in real media products, we incorporated camera angles and different levels of lighting to improve the quality.

To add consistency to our piece we made sure that each shot went into the next and it didn’t jump. Furthermore, if a new scene was to be introduced we added a slow fade into blackness, these transitions and continuity shots are commonly seen in real media products. When filming we tried to make it as continuous and accurate as possible, to do this we filmed in the same type of weather and made sure that anything that shouldn’t be included in the scene was moved out the way, we kept the costume, hair and other things similar unless it was a scene in a different time period.

When it came to editing we used software called ‘final cut pro’, this software is of very good standard, you can distort video clips, add extra colour, speed up clips and add transitions amongst various other things. Even though the software isn’t as complex as software used by professionals you can make any film project near to the quality of real media products. In our project we used various effects to convey feelings and emotion such as the effect ‘earthquake’, this turns the clip shaky and we used it to portray anxiety, to make this feeling even more expressive we made the clip faster so everything sped up. Also, when a flashback occurs we increased the light intensity and also used a video filter called, stop motion blur, this gives the clip a very impressive visual quality and creates suspense.

The genre of our piece is drama. Drama is probably the largest genre and they’re very serious and portray realistic story lines. The characters, settings and life situations involved are all fairly complex and realistic and they don’t usually focus on special effects or humour. Our project is similar and applies this. The pre recorded track created on garage band has been added to muted video clips, it involves a piano piece that adds tension and an eerie track that builds suspense and mystery and informs the viewer that the clip is a flashback. Mise en scene shows abstract scenery which is usually urban; this is also commonly seen in drama genres. However to make ours slightly different to a drama, we decided to put the dramatic scene at the beginning (man committing suicide) rather than at the end.

We have been inspired by other films such as Donnie Darko, as in Donnie Darko they have used effects such as scenes that were sped up to create a unusual atmosphere, we also used a speed effect during the scene when the main character is walking towards the edge of the railings. This created the effect that he was not in his right mind and was disorientated and confused. Furthermore Donnie Darko is a psychological drama and our film is also a psychological drama we chose this genre as we thought it best represented what was going on in our opening scene as when the audience watch it they are at first puzzled by the whereabouts of the main character, its only until there is a establishing (pov) shot looking down on the moving traffic below that the audience are aware that he is on top of a building.

photographs

Rating

We have come to the conclusion that our film would be in the 12/12A category. The BBFC guidelines state that to watch a 12/12A film a child must be aged 12 or over or be accompanied by an adult. The reason for this is because our film is based around the death of the main character, and it was implied that he was suffering from depression, and has committed suicide, as a result we think it would be unwise to show this to children under the age of 12 as they might get upset or the film may have an negative effects on them.

A 12/12A film can contain violence but not extreme violence to the point that it would mentally scar the audience. This fits in with our film as throughout, there will be some scenes of violence, but not to that extreme extent. Hazardous Behaviour by characters is acceptable in a 12/12A such as committing suicide, self harming, or taking an overdose. However if these behaviours become inappropriately dangerous them the rating show be heightened to a ‘15’.

The British Board of film classification takes into account a number of factors when desiding what classification to give a film. It looks at; Discrimination, drugs, horror, imitable behaviour. language, nudity,sex, theme, violence, titles and the frequency of sound. The theme of our film is based around a man killing himself and this has a huge influence on the classification we used, as this type of content may make some people feel uneasy or emotional, also some people are more sensitive to this type of material and it may harm them psychologically to watch material that is disturbing or distresing. Violence also plays a part in our film and again this can lead to some audience members feeling uncomfortable . The violence that is potrayed in our film is not that of a 'extreme' violent film but it does contain some mild violence. BBFC states that strong language in not permitted in trailers or advertisments of a category below '15', as a result we had to make sure our project contained no strong language, this was not a problem as we only used non- diagetic sound on the soundtrack and voice over, and in the voice over we used no inappropriate language.

In a typical '12' film the BBFC states that Discrimination of others or discriminatory behaviour must not be allowed in any part of the film overall. Behaviour or language that is clearly discriminatory is unlikely to be suitable, unless it is clearly condemned. In our project we stuck

by this rule as there was no evidence of discrimination during our opening scene and it is unlikey that there would be and form of discrimination throughout the rest of our film. The BBFC also have problems with using drugs and for a '12' film the use of drugs should only be rare and not be portrayed in a way that may mislead the audience of the true effects of the drugs, also there should be no instructions to to audience on how to use the drugs. Our project stuck by this policy as we had no evidnece of any drug use or information on how to obtain or use drugs. Another

criteria is 'Horror', mild horror is permitted in a '12' film however it should not be frequent or continuous. However to some audience members our project could be seen a a horror as it invoves some shocking scenes (when the main character jumps of the building). this is still within the BBFC guidelines and so it is still suitable as a '12' film. Imitable behaviour is tone of the main

criteria that our film contains and it contains dangerous behaviours such as suicide, however during the film there is no evidence of how others could copy the actions of the character and replicate the dangerous behaviour. A further criteria is 'Language' a '12' film can contain moderate language but strong language must be very rare and infrequent, again our project contains no strong language and so it is keeping with this guideline. Nudity and sex in a '12' film is allowed however it must be discreet our project contains no nudity or sex therfore we did not have ant problems with these guidelines. Themes for a '12' film can be mature but they must be suitable for young teenagers, our theme is primarily a psychological drama and films similar to ours are 'Donnie Darko', this film was very succesful with teenagers and contained a mature theme. The last BBFC guidleline is 'Violence', for a '12' film moderate violence is allowed, however blood or injury should not be highlighted, in our film violence is not emphasised its much more about the psychological emotions the characters are faced with.

Screenshots

Screenshots: Final Cut Pro and Garageband.


This is a screenshot of a clip from a track on Garageband. We cut the track to the clip that we wanted, which we felt would go best with our film and which increases the tension of the scene. The clip of music is from a track called: "Beautiful tension". It involves a main piano riff repeating throughout the track, with drums coming in behind it at different parts. It is very eerie and unsettling, and works perfectly to create tension in our film.


This is a screenshot of our unfinished film on the timeline in Final Cut Pro. The film isn't finished here but it shows the main basic draft of how our finished timeline will look. It has film clips, voice over clips and music encorporated together to make our film look as professional as possible. The only thing that needs to be added here will be the titles for our film, and a sound effect of the wind whistling at the end (where the character is on the roof).


This screenshot a clip of music that we have exported from Garageband and imported into Final Cut Pro so that we can encorporate it into our film. This track is called: "Not so friendly", and is mainly made up of low strings and synths to create a tense, spooky atmosphere. This will go over the top of the flashback scenes to show that these scenes are dark and tense, and are going to lead to bad things. This music gives the perfect sense of underlying suspense and tension, and helps to enhance the characters frame of mind to the audience.

This is a shot of everything that we work with on Final Cut Pro. The shotlist is in the top left corner-these are all the clips that we have captured from the camera and used in the timeline. They are only rough-the finished clips that have been cut and cropped in the right places are on the timeline-this is going across the bottom. The timeline also has music and a voice over integrated into the film, in the right places; therefore the whole film is coming together with effects and music. The box in the top right hand corner is a clip of music that will be cropped and added to the timeline to accompany certain scenes and enhance the atmosphere of them.

This is a zoomed in version of the shotlist-you can see there are a great number of shots that we captured from filming. We didn't use all of these shots-only the best ones made it onto the timeline to be used in the film. This gave the film the best production value, and also made sure that there were no parts in the film that we felt could be better.

This is the starting shot of our film on Final Cut Pro-it starts with the character walking up a flight of stairs. On this we can watch the whole film, complete with music and voice over once they had been added to the timeline. Using this, we can see what works with the film and what doesn't.

Finishing the film...

27/04/10.
Today we are very close to finishing our film. We have completely finished filming, and have the film on the timeline (on Final Cut Pro) all set and ready with effects added and the continuity sorted and flowing. We have added music (from Garageband) to fade in and out of the areas we want music on, and are just finishing adding the titles. The titles will be over the film shots, not by themselves, to take the audience straight into the action rather than teasing them into it. This gives the immediate effect that this is a production they need to be watching, and that needs their attention.

The titles we are putting in are: (in order)
A Rawfootage production
In association with Red Boots Ltd
An Aerial View film

'A Long Way Down'.

We have decided to finally call our film 'A Long Way Down' because this metaphorically represents the decline in the main characters mental health (which is what the film will be about). The opening is just a glimpse of this decline, but the end glimpse, so the rest of the film will lead up to this moment. It also physically represents the characters jump: we see in one of the shots that to reach the floor it is a 'long way down'.

Filming schedule

Filming Schedule

Thurs 25th February: Filming (Graveyard)/Updating blog

Tues 2nd March: Filming (Arndale Car Park)

Thurs 4th March: Editing (Putting clips together) /Updating blog

Editing: Riosin, Stefan
Blog: Beth, Rachel

Tues 11th March: Filming (Phone booth and additional rooftop clips)

Thurs 13th March: Editing (Putting clips together) / Updating blog
Editing: Beth, Roisin
Blog: Rachel, Stefan

Tuesday 17th March: Filming (Café scene)

Wednesday 18th: Filming (Burning letter)

(Camera taken to Stefan’s house)

Thursday 19th: Editing (Putting clips together)/Updating blog

Editing: Rachel, Stefan
Blog: Beth, Roisin

Tuesday 24th: Editing (Adding effects)/Updating blog
Editing: Beth, Rachel
Blog: Roisin, Stefan

Thursday 26th: Editing (Adding effects and sound)/updating blog

Holiday

Tuesday 13th April: Updating blog/ Voice over
Voice over: Stefan
Blog: Beth, Rachel

Thursday 15th April: Editing (Sound)/updating blog
Updating blog: Rachel, Stefan
Editing: Roisin

Editing Process 13th April

We edited our footage on an apple IMac using the program ‘final cut pro’. We first captured our clips by transferring them from the digital camcorders to the computer. Once we had captured all the clips we renamed them in the order we were required to use them. We then transferred each clip individually to the timeline and removed the areas of the clip we did not need. This required a lot of concentration as we had never used final cut pro before and need to get used to it, but once we got to grips with the software we found it easier to edit. Once all the clips were in the timeline and the clips we did not need were removed we then started to work on the transitions of one scene to another. We had to make sure the editing was continuous throughout the clips and ran smoothly as this adds to the effect of realism. However we did use a jump cut on the rooftop scene as we thought this would reflect his feeling at the time as he was nervous and erratic and this is reflected in the shot. The transitions we used mostly faded to black as this is a simple yet efficient transition. Later on in the rooftop scene we added a distortion effect when the main character was walking away from the camera through the puddle; this created an earthquake effect and will show the audience that the character is troubled and frantic.
There were some difficulties when editing as we were new to this software and we experienced problems at the beginning of editing when we were saving our project. We did save our project however when we returned to the computers to open our file we found it was not there. At first we thought we had misplaced it and looked all over the computer in everyone’s files but it was not there. After a while we decided to use the search bar at the top of the computer to find our work , we typed in the date we had last edited and found that our project had been split into many different sections and was spread out in a random file somewhere deep in the computer’s memory. However it was not saved where we had originally saved it. To avoid this problem further we collected all our clips and placed them in a new file and named this file “26th march 2010”. And made sure to save it in the same place every time we changed something to the project, thankfully this problem never occurred again.Once we had all the clips in order on the timeline, had transitions in each clip and had the most effective video effects we had the basic outline for our final project, all that was needed to do now was to add the music in the background and add a voice over. We will then put it all together and see if there are any adjustments we need to make before we send it to the blog via YouTube.