Final Opening Sequence

Final Opening Sequence directory commentary

Final Focus Group

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

Evaluation Question 7 Natasha

Evaluation Question 6 - What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 5 –

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

The primary target audience of our opening sequence 'Hard Living' are roughly aged 15-20 because it features swearing and some violent scenes, so it is not suitable for those under the age of 15, also the content of the film may be considered as 'childish' or aimed at teenagers, so people over the age of 20 may consider themselves to be too 'grown up' to watch Hard Living.  The gender target audience is mainly men, this is because the audience will be able to relate to the characters seeing as they are all young teenage males- also the content of the film represents masculine themes such as fighting. 

The target audience's other favourite films may include british crime dramas such as Kidulthood & Adulthood, Shank, Attack the Block & Harry Brown.

The social demographics of our target audience are mainly C2 D and E because they will be able to identify to the characters because they live in poor deprived areas such as council estates and they may not have a similar lifestyle to our characters. Also some people from the A & B categories may watch our film because they may see it as an escape route from their ordinary day to day office busy lifestyles.

The research we done into our target audience included questionnaires finding out their preferences on the production of our film;

This document clearly shows what the target audience of our film want to see/hear in our opening sequence. The results made us alter and change some aspects of our sequence so it would appeal to our target audience even further. This questionnaire edged us to call our film 'Hard Living' & it also decided the filming location which ended up to be in a graffiti tunnel in an urban location in London.

Sam from Kidulthood

These results show that the audience want to see more stereotypical characters & locations similar to other British crime/drama films such as Kidulthood & SHANK in which the majority of the main characters are black with an aggressive attitude such as Sam from Kidulthood played by Noel Clarke.

Evaluation Question 3 - What Kind Of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why?

Question 3 Natasha

Evaluation Question 2 - How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

Copy of How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups? on Prezi

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

we used the conventional opening sequence of narrative enigma ,we used this because it makes audience puzzled and left unanswered which builds up the suspense, for example in our sequence we used the narrative enigma when the main character is seen immediately running away looking distressed and in panic, however when the audience spectate this they would be left with unanswered questions such as;
where is he running too?
who is he running from?
why is he running?

Another conventional opening sequence element we used was titles and subtitles. For our titles and subtitles we used a  font which we felt symbolised our stereotypical characters which are young teenagers from the urban deprived streets of London which is why we used a graffiti style of font.

We had quite a few unconventional elements within our opening sequence. One of these were the non-linear narrative that was shown from our voiceover, where we see the main characters fate play out and know that he is going to die, but the sequence itself begins disordered and carries on throughout leaving the unanswered questions. 

Production Diary

Wednesday 28th March

We decided that we need a second batch of filming up London/Banksy Tunnel to have a wider selection of shots:

• Low shots of Roger (Jamal) running 
• Shots of Roger walking away for our final scene of the sequence to incorporate the title into it
• Wide shot of Roger overlooking London bridge to show he's alone and reflecting on life
• Over the shoulder shot of Roger walking to represent paranoia and  how he feels someone is following him
• More shots of the graffiti on the walls so we have alot of shots to pick from to go over the voice over section

Analysis of first Focus Group

We learnt a lot from our focus group and we got from our feed back that we should go with the stereotypical view of characters that they need to be quite rough and aggressive and make you fear them. We also had the idea that we should put a multi-cultural gang in our opening sequence rather than just having one racial group.
From our focus group we determined the name 'Hard Living' as from the feedback we got hard life as one of the favourite options for the film name, and then thought more into it and decided on Hard Living.

Production Diary

Monday 12th March

• Uploaded all of our footage onto the iMac and onto Final Cut Express
• Decided what clips we would incorporate into our sequence
• Made a brief sequence and listed down what other shots were needed and what more could be added 

film motifs

film motifs

A Motif is a recurring element in a film that helps to develop a major theme in a film. A motif is usually symbolic in some way, but does not have to be. In film, a motif is typically a repeated idea, action, pattern, or image.

symbolic motifs are used throughout many films, for example  in the well know film 'The Noir' a dark street in the early hours of the morning clearly indicates a mysterious and sudden  atmosphere and that something will arise, this is then immediately followed up with intermittent flashing of neon signs.

The sense of flashing signifies danger and alert therefore one can assume that something will arise furthermore the director clearly shows this by making every shot in glistening low key, all of these indication just and up to the atmosphere of the whole eerie and mysterious sense of danger which will found out ourselves.

As out of nowhere a man appears covered in darkness this clearly symbolises his emotions and characteristics shows him to be a very dark heartless human being.

another motif found in,'The Noir' are the diverse photographic images used throughout the film is the symbolic image of unsettle disorientation which could symbolise the emasculated darken characters personality in the film.

in particular, the compositional balance within the frame is very disruptive  and very nerving in two shots that show the characters relationships with one another in addition the uncommon off angle which are uncommon in the frame so therefore this creates the symbolic sense of a mind frame  of a psychopath which we see throughout many two shots.

two shot in the frame sets clearly captures the symbolic image of psychopaths disturbed mind set. also the colour of clothing clearly shows 

Choker close-ups, framing the head or chin,; are obtrusive and disturbing. These are sometimes used on the menacing heavy, other  times reserved to show the couple-on-the-run whose intimacy is threatened or invaded.

in addition in these frames we truly witness the idea of a patriarchal society, as throughout frames we see the male character as a dominant figure and authoritative role, to emphasise that men are in a position of authority.

close frame shot clearly shows the amount of difference shows the women being imprisoned and weak.

Production Diary

Saturday 10th March

First batch of filming up London & Banksy Tunnel:

• Various different angles of the fight scene to use quick shots & shot reverse shots to show the difference and tension between the characters
• Different shots of the graffiti tunnel to have a wide range to pick from whilst editing
• Close up shots of Roger (Jamal) & Chidi (Tyrone) to emphasise their facial expressions
• Shots of Roger (Jamal) running to symbolise he is running away from something
• Quick shots of estate blocks to represent the location and the urban street theme of the film
• Various shots of red buses & black cabs to make it clear to the audience this is a London based film

Schedule