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

From the Preliminary task at the beginning to the thriller now, I have learnt a lot about the storyboarding and planning, the production and the post – production of making a film. Obviously the prelim task was just about getting used to the equipment, seeing what it could do and working out the best way of shooting things. Compared to the Prelim task the shooting of the thriller was set over a longer period of time, and the post-production took a much longer time too. Another reason it took longer was because we had to come up with an original storyline and what the most effective way of shooting it would be, in order to come out with a unique, successful thriller sequence at the end. It was important to make sure that the narrative and storyline were clear as there was no dialogue in our opening sequence.

The Preliminary task only required us to use the most basic shot types, as we were just getting used to the equipment. By the time we got to shooting the thriller, we were slightly more experienced and could make the visual narrative sequence more exciting and interesting by using tracking shots, extreme close ups and birds eye shots. The use of these shots shows a clear development in the shot types we used from the preliminary task to the thriller product. The way in which we were shooting and editing has also developed from the preliminary task, we made sure that we did not jog the camera whilst filming, we kept all the shots in focus, we used depth of field shots with parts being in focus and other parts being out of focus, and we made sure that we did not break the 180 degree rule.

We finished putting our final shots together and moved on to sound effects. For this we used a program called ‘Soundtrack Pro’. We have included foley work of gun shots, doors opening and shutting and ambient sounds of a room, to create more of an atmosphere and a sense of tension. In the preliminary task, there was silence in-between the speech and no atmosphere, this made the scene very dead. With the use of Final Cut Pro and the ‘After effects’ program we have made our thriller look sophisticated and professional with brilliant visual effects. We have added titles, transitions and imported shots that we wanted to use. To conclude we realized we needed to make the scene look more realistic, so we used ‘After-effects’. This included the ‘Muzzle-flash’, which adds a flash and smoke from the gun and a splat of blood over the title of the film at the end of the sequence. This made our thriller the best it could be and gave a professional finish to our product. We did not have the chance to do this to our preliminary task, but I doubt it would have benefitted from it as much as our thriller.

Task 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from process of constructing this product?

Task 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

Task 5 How we addressed our audience LTC

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Task 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

The Genre of our media product ‘Ace’ is a gangster thriller. This therefore means it contains violence and some drug references, so we have rated it a certificate 15. Another reason for rating it a certificate 15 is the fact the film includes a murder The target audience age is 15+, it is mainly targeted at a male audience, although females would enjoy the unconventional way women are shown to be superior to the men in ‘Ace’. If it was a certificate 18, the film would be less successful, as we would no longer have the younger audience members.

Task 3 - What kind of media institute might ditribute your media product and why?

We chose to use ‘Lionsgate’ as the distributor of our film. We chose ‘Lionsgate’, because in the past they have produced similar films which include violence and action and are generally masculine themed action films. These include ‘The Bank Job’ and ‘The Gamer’. Therefore this would make ‘Ace’ an interesting and exciting film for them to distribute, as this is what they are used to and what they are known for. ‘Lionsgate’ are a well-known and established distributor within the industry, so for our film this gives us a higher chance of success in all areas from cost, release and making it a profitable product.

Our thriller would be classed as a ‘medium budget thriller’ and is therefore similar to Saw 1’s budget which is another film ‘Lionsgate’ has produced. Due to the film being of a low budget, ‘Lionsgate’ would find it more appealing to take further, as extra money could be spent on the marketing and advertising of the film, which in turn would help make it a bigger success.

Task 2 - How does your product represent particular social groups?

Our media product was cast with very diverse social groups and people from different ethnicities around the world. This effect created a sense of an international atmosphere within the poker game and also made the game, look much more realistic, as in Casino Royale they also have international poker players.

In most American media products these ethnicities are categorized as stereotypes, but we wanted to move away from this. Therefore the oriental gangster was Korean, the eastern European gangster was Ukrainian and the African gangster was Nigerian. By doing this we are subverting the society’s initial views about the looks of people, from the traditional media product. We do this by pinpointing their nationalities. Although in the final cut of our sequence we ended up not using any of the speaking scenes, in which it was made obvious about their nationalities.

We have made all the nationalities equal, and have not singled-out any ethnicity to be better or worse than any other. Whereas in usual or American media products the ethnicity that would be portrayed as the ‘bad guy’ would be the Arabian, as it is stereotypical for people to think of the Arabian as a terrorist figure. This is due to the influence that the media has had on today’s society.

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

Our screen grabs from our titles are following the conventions of real media products. At the beginning we inform the audience of the distributing & Production Company, we then incorporated the title of the film in at the end and then the Director’s name follows that.
We made a decision as a group not to include the titles in alongside the action as we felt that it detracted from the action and it would create a pause in the tension in which all anxiety of what is going to happen next is lost. We also experimented with putting breaks in with black screen with titles on them in-between the action but again it detracted from the sequence and gives the audience ‘time-out’, which breaks up the tension we wanted to build up.

Ace is similar to real media products of this type as we chose not to put the title over the film itself. This is also true in ‘Casino Royale’ and ‘Smokin’ Aces’ where they have put the title sequence in a cartoon sequence. The reason we decided to keep our thriller plain with just black and white was because we did not want to give too much away, so that as the sequence moves on the audience begin to understand what the films about and gain more information that they can piece together as the films plot unfolds.

In conventional media products gender representation is usual steered towards the controlling male being in charge of the situation. We decided to challenge this in our media product and go against the conventions of society. We therefore made the controlling powerful boss, a female. This can be seen as we placed her so she is sitting at the head of the poker table, surrounded by men. Simple gestures such as a ‘click’ suggests a powerful figure and the way the other male, poker players act towards her and react to her entrance also suggest they see her as a powerful, important and influential character.

In our media product Ace, we have incorporated the a 'highlighted' character, or character of interest that the sequence is mainly focused on. We have chosen to make the highlighted character an attractive male, as this is a Unique Selling Point (USP). The audience therefore will be instantly more inclined to follow and watch this characters progression throughout the sequence, without realising it.

Ace - Shooting Script

ACE SHOOTING SCRIPT

ENTER: tracking shot of Nikis shoes (high heels) walking along an external road

PAN SHOT of her walking down the road from the behind.Luke steps into the frame and shows them walking along the street together

ENTER Niki and Luke in the poker room set. Niki shrugs her coat and thrusts it into Luke’s arms. (Camera is placed behind her)Laughing and groaning from the table of poker playersMid shot: their reaction to a woman entering the room

OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT Niki sits down and is dealt a hand

MID SHOT Luke goes and sits at the bar and orders a drink.

CUT IN to Guys shiny loafers walking a long an external road

CLOSE UP of some of the poker player’s eyes and facesShot of the bar and the barman mixing drinks and taking orders.Barman is followed over to the table where he places a drink and walks back to the bar.

CUT IN to another shot of Guy’s feet walking fast this time

CLOSE UPof Lukes eyes gazing at NikiThe money being gambled increases into drugs and car keys

CUT IN to Guys feet walking very quicklyExtreme close up of guns put onto the table

CLOSE UPof on gamblers eyes

CUT IN to Guys feet walking stops. Gamblers are now laying down their cards

MID SHOT of the poker room: Guy bursts through the room and instantly pulls up his arm and fires a shot at Luke

Ace - Set

This is what the set looked like when built. We had a few problems at the beginning of the day as we had confusion over where the door should go. We had started off with no door, and then we had a door put in for us.

On the day i provided a poker set, which had a green felt mat that we placed on the table. We also had a smoke machine, which added a smokey effect. This suited the atmosphere that we wanted to create and made it look more like the players had been smoking. We had a hanging light bulb above the table, which gave a raw feel to the scene.

OPENING THIRILLER SEQUENCE

After, long consideration we have come up with a concept of what we want our sequence to develop into. Beginning with the main action of the poker scene, and then ending with a gunshot, and for a red 'blood' curtain to fill the screen. This is where the credits begin...
Whilst researching similar films we found we like how the James Bond 'Casino Royale' credits are floating around a 'card' animation of the Queen of Hearts, Ace of Spades etc. In order for us to have the ability to do this, we do need to draw some animations to use.
I like the effect that it brings to an actioned scene before, as the card game is the focal point of the narrative. Due to the cards playing a big factor in the film itself. Another reason why I am interesting in us trying this, is because it is not your conventional credits and so will keep the audience interested.

Ace - Lighting

We had a standing light for the key light; at a 90-degree angle to this we had the fill light. The backlights we used got rid of the shadows on the back brick wall. The key light controls the brightness of light on set. Using this we made a low dim light to give the effect of a underground basement. The hanging light was there for effect, to make it look like a backroom. The studio lights above we turned out to represent the bulb. We used a smoke machine, to add some atmosphere to the set. However we couldnt use too much, as it got very smokey, and began to look like a haze machine! But the use of it created a mysterious feeling, and worked very well for the atmospherre we wanted.

Post Production - Sound

Once we got the footage we had shot on the day onto the computer ready to start editing, we found that we had had a failure with the sound whilst filming. All that we can hear is a loud buzzing noise. This therefore meant that we had no sound to work with at all and would have to make another arrangement then what we had originally planned. We then came up with the idea that we would have no speaking throughout with the occasional sound of doors, poker chips being thrown and glasses, loud enough to make out what they are, but so they do not distract fro the scene and what is going on. Adding this sound back in was essential to increase the tension. After partially adding the sound back into the sequence, it needed something more. We added an underlying 'room tone' which creates a mood and brings tension and atmosphere. The software we used to do this was Soundtrack Pro, which allowed us to create and change the sounds into what we feel suited our sequence. It was easy to import the sound into the Final Cut Pro timeline, once we had rendered it.

Post Production - Shots

As a group we have decided to edit our shots together in a clear, straight forward and accurate way, this was essential in order to create the tension that is needed for our sequence to work. The shots are sharply cut between shots of the poker game itself and the players eyes, faces, or actions. We have decided to put some shots in slow motion, which draws the eye of the audience to that shot. This provides a build in tension between the fast motion shots and the slow motioned shots, so as the sequence goes on the audience and feel is getting more tense. Then we introduced the fast paced shots of Guy, walking down the alley. As the colour tone of these shots are very different to the poker scene. This colour difference is clear and makes the contrast much more obvious. So overall the feel we have tried to get by the way that we have edited out shots together creates tension throughout the sequence, building up to the big climax at the end.