S Leach JRCS Media Blog

Main Task Evaluation - Question 7

2010-02-14T08:24:00.000-08:00

"Looking back at your prliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?"

During our prelim we learnt many things that helped us in our main task. For example we discovered how to use the 180 degree rule. This was important as in a conversation between two people the camera must always stay on the same side. We did this correctly for both prelim and our main task. We also learnt in our prelim that continuity is important. In our prelim we had problems with our continuity as we ended up filming in two different locations so it made our prelim slightly confusing. Therefore we didn't want the same thing to happen in our main task so we made sure that we had a location booked for a whole day, and we also asked one of our friends to come along with us and make notes on continuity and make sure we did it all correctly and no mistakes were made. However, when putting the film together we did notice some mistakes such as the window being closed when it was meant to be open. But overall we were pleased with our continuity results. Other things we learnt from our prelim involved the camera and how to use it. We learnt that to get the best shots the tripod most be used to keep it steady and focused, however hand held shots can become creative too.

Our main task is better than our prelim in many ways. Firstly we believe that it holds more humour which is important to us because we were creating a RomCom. Our plot seems to make more sense and the audience can understand it more. We also found that they enjoyed the story alot more too. We used more shots in our main task than in our prelim so we were really exploring our knowledge of how to use the camera. For example we used panning shots and tracnking shots. Our prelim consisted of minimum shots so it was good to have a range of camera operations in there too. We also had the voice overs in the main task which enabled a more movie effect to our film, whereas in the prelim we didn't have the opportunity to include this. Our credits in our main task are more involved with the film so it looks more like a movie and RomCom, whereas in the prelim we used basic credits and transitions. Once again we were exploring our knowledge whilst using iMovie. Another way our main task was better than our prelim was because of the location. We had booked my mum's work for the day so had no trouble with continuity like our prelim. It also looked the part for the film, as Auntie Babs was at work in her office which is what we managed to get.

There are a few things that could have improved our main task, for example our little mistakes in our continuity, also our positioning of shots. For example when we did a low angle, sometimes it caught the lighting behind the character and caused them to look dark. We would have also prefered a more sexual kind of music for our seductive scene but we couldn't find the right piece. Apart from small changes to film we were happy with what we ended up with. Our main task was complete!

Overall I am pleased with what me and my group produced and Auntie Babs is believed to be a great piece of coursework. Thanks to my PlayHouse Productions group- Courtney Heary and Beccy McTaggart and help on filming day from Sean Firman and Lucy Evers. A great experience!

Main Task Evaluation - Question 6

2010-02-14T02:42:00.000-08:00

"What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?"

When we made our film, we were given the chance to use the new cameras which were given to our media department. These included the actual camera plus the new tripods. This was exciting for us as when we did our prelim the tripod was unsteady and the camera wasn't of great quality. When using the new camera we noticed alot of positive camera work and steadiness from the tripod. This created our film into a better, more professional looking film which improved our confidence of us creating a great film.
Another technology we used was the old iMovie. Even though it was the old version of the programme, we hadn't used it before on our prelim. We used it for one shot and one shot only. This gave us the option to edit the shot- to make it blurry to show that Auntie Babs couldn't see without her glasses. The old iMovie came in handy but we realised that we still prefered the iMovie programme we were using already as the layout was more understandable and the creation of the film was easier to do.
Using the macs in our media classroom was a new technology for myself as I don't own one. Others in my group have one at home, but for me it was a new experience all together. They are at great quality and they gave me great trust in producing my film. They were easy to use and I caught on very quickly on what to do and how to do the simple things. It also produced a wonderful piece of coursework for our group so we are pleased.

The benefits of using the tripod and the new camera was that it allowed us to shoot better shots for our film. We used the tripod to keep the camera still on important and steady shots, for example the seduction scene, and we just used it as a hand held when tension built or we when we produced a track shot when we walked with the camera, for example the opening of the film when making our way to Auntie Babs office.
The benefits of using the old version of iMovie was that it allowed us to create a different point-of-view shot in our film. This would give us another opportunity to put some humour into our film. We could us the old iMovie to make the shot look blurry, therefore showing that Auntie Babs can't see without the glasses she just threw out of the window. This turned out to be a great pan shot of the setting in her office, and at the same time a great point-of-view shot of what Auntie Babs could see or of what she couldn't see.
The benefits of using the macs was that it allowed us to create a film on a modern day computer that included the appropriate software on there for us to use. This software was iMovie which produced us with all different ways of improving our film just that little bit more. For example it helped us lay out all of our shots, trim them, cut them down, introduce sound into our film and credits. Also including the transitions to each shot. This software on the macs allowed us to make the whole film.

The limitations of using the tripod and camera was that we were only allowed to film for our film and it only could be used for about an hour before it had to be recharged again. Therefore we would had to of been quick with our filming or timed our shots so charge time could of been capable. Also, with the tripod we could only go so far with our shots. This is for example up, down, left and right. It wouldn't rotate all the way round or go very high. This meant we either had to shot it hand held or do two shots and place them together to make it look like one big shot. This wasn't a problem however for us because our shot where the glasses come out of the window the tripod reached the window so no hand held was needed.
The limitations for the old version of iMovie was that we only needed for one shot, but we could see what each effect did to the shot. We only needed to blur the shot but we saw different effects such as lightening, fish eye etc. We weren't allowed to make our film on this version of the iMovie however because the newer version produced a better film. This didn't effect us though as we only needed one shot anyway.
The limitations for using the macs was that we were only allowed to go onto iMovie. They were limited to softwares and programmes anyway, as they were school computers and their werent alot on there, for instance there was no internet. But still, we were only allowed to use the iMovie software because it was the only programme relevant to making our movie, and it was the only programme we needed.

Other technologies that could have helped us make our media product successful are stuff like tracks so we could produce good dolly shots. This would of improved our opeing shot to of kept it more steady. We could also of had a light that shot onto the characters as some shots looked very dark. For example the shot where Babs says "only if you are baby!" the shot appears darker than all the rest and it is quite difficult to make out her face. Overall though the technology we used made us proud of the film we ended up with.

Main Task Evaluation - Question 5

2010-02-14T01:52:00.000-08:00

"How did you attract/address your audience?"

When we did our research we noticed that the main way the films attracted the target audience was by their elements of comedy. In the British RomComs especially, they seemed to make a certain character quite clumsy and hopeless when it comes to love. A main example of this is Bridget Jones as she gets herself into all sorts of problems but for the viewers it is humorous so funo to watch. This made it important that we show a big part of comedy in the opening of our film and show a character with similarities to Bridget Jones. Another way we discovered they attracted the target audience was the way they represented a love story. In the British RomComs we researched we found out that they produce the love story around real people and real problems, but add in the funny side to them problems. This however is not the same for American RomComs because they create their love stories as if they were in a perfect word. For example, the perfect man falls in love with the perfect woman, with some humour sliced in between. We felt that our film shouldn't be like this as as a group we prefered to watch the British RomComs so we wanted to create a British one. Therefore we knew we had to apply a love story which involved a clumsy character (Babs) and then fall in love with a normal character (Paolo) and have problems trying to get his love back, which creates the humour element. Another way they attract the target audience is by getting the same actor/actress to be in the films. For example Hugh Grant was in many RomCom films, and the women love him, therefore they would use him as one of the main characters to attract the audience they want- which is women. However, we couldn't make this possible for our film as we were on a small budget and wouldn't of been able to afford him, or even get hold of the film star. So we stuck with a friend of ours in the year above us in our school to play the part of the 'hunk'.

We have shown our film to a number of people and given them a questionnaire to fill out after they have watched it. This audience included the target audience and others such as boy teenagers and our teacher Mr Lawes. When retreiving th questionnaires back we noticed that our target audience did feel that they would continue to watch the whole movie more than the others who viewed the opening- the boys. They also said that they enjoyed the film and thought that it did show a good representation of a British RomCom. Therefore we felt that we had reached our target audience and produced a film that was correctly made to fit women of teenagers and adult women.

Our film was very successful at reaching our target audience as we included lots of humour and our love story had elements used in famous loved films such as Bridget Jones, Music and Lyrics and About a Boy. Overall we believe that our film would be successful in the film business and create lots of money as women love the RomComs and, from our questionnaire feedback, believe that our film is worthy of being a good British RomCom.

Main Task Evaluation - Question 4

2010-02-13T02:50:00.000-08:00

"Who would be the audience for your media product?"

In our group we believe that our main task has a target audience for women. We all agreed with this theory because Romantic films are loved by women, and as women ourselves we felt that this was correct. Whilst adding comedy into it, it brings comedy fans and mixes them with the romantic fans, causing two types of target audience to come together as one. With the comedy element it may even bring men to watch the film, as laughter is for everyone of all ages. Also, it could bring couples to the cinemas as it is a romantic film mixed with a comedy, so it would attract both genders to see the film. We also believe that it is at an age range of teenagers to adults. We thought this because teenage girls like RomCom's as much as adult women, so the variety of ages would create a larger audience. With the help of a questionnaire we gave to people who viewed our opening of the film we created we found out that most of them thought it should be rated a 15. We also agreed with this because in the film their could be scenes of sex and bad language, so the rating is appropriate.

When we researched the RomComs, we discovered that most of the films were either a 12 or a 15. This was because of the same reasons we wanted to set our film at that target audience. There were either sexual scenes shown in the films or inappropriate language that may not be suitable fo anyone younger than 12. For example, Love Actually had scenes involving nudity and included bad language, therefore the rating is a 15. We used this information to help us with our film. We discovered that most films included sexual viewings and bad language so we wanted to show a bit of that in our film to make the rating of our film similar to the films we researched. We did this successfully in our suductive scene. Obviously we couldn't show nudity in our film or sexual intercourse, but we showed a slight bit of stripping actuion when Paolo started to under his top. This was meant to show the audience that that's what would of happened if the day dream continued. It would of also meant that maybe that would actually happen during the film later on. This made our film have a rating of 15, which we were pleased with as other RomComs were similar.

Main Task Evaluation - Question 3

2010-02-11T09:21:00.000-08:00

"What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?"

Companies that have been involved in the production and distribution of RomCom films are ones such as Universal Pictures (Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason, About A Boy), and Warner Bros (Music and Lyrics). These two companies have decided to distribute these films because they believe that they will attract alot of viewers as the target audience is for a large variety. That variety includes adult women and teenagers. This is because they know that RomComs are enjoyed by this gender and have had a good ratings in cinemas. Another reason they might have decided to distribute this films may have been because of the actors and actresses in the film. For example, Hugh Grant is popular with the ladies, and they love seeing him in RomComs. Therefore, if he is in the film it will give them more of a chance to distribute the film as they know he has alot of fans for this genre. If he is in the film then it will create more tickets being bought to see him in the cinemas and more money being created for the distributors. Another reason could be because for example Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason is a sequal, a second film produced after the first hit of Bridget Jones. This would make the distributors believe that the second film will also be a hit as fans of the first film will want to see the second also. Also, About a Boy and Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason were books, therefore the distributors may think that fans of the books will want to see the film. This can also be a bad thing though because people who like the books may be hesitant to go and see the film because they don't think it will live up the the books expectations. However, there was not a problem with these films.

Many companies that we have researched have been involved in the production and distribution of many RomCom films. Therefore, we believe that some would be interested in distrubuting our product. Universal Pictures should be interested because our film has been inspired by Bridget Jones and her character. Therefore, we have the same conventions and comedy structure as that film. So that company should be in agreement to also distribute and even be involved in producing our film. Our RomCom would be another product that they could add to their list of Block Busters.

Main Task Evaluation - Question 2

2010-02-11T08:54:00.000-08:00

"How does your media product represent particular social groups?"

In our final piece we have three different social groups that are represented. The first is shown through the email read out by Auntie Babs. The email is from Auntie Babs' biggest fans called Lucy. It shows her in a good light and makes seem inspired by Auntie Babs' advise and work. She mentions about the email being her "800th letter" to Auntie Babs. This shows that she is a bit obsessed and possibly doesn't leave Babs alone. However she also meantions that she has met the love of her life and is happy. Her social group is possibly placed in the middle of the three that are shown in the opening of our film. This is because Auntie Babs social group is lower than hers and Paolo's is above. Auntie Babs is below because even though she is famous for her emailing and advice to people struggling to find love, she isn't very sociable in real life- when she is Jenny Parker. She finds it hard to talk to her boss so other friends may be difficult for her to find or even communicate with. She may have other friends however who she feels comfortable to speak too. For example a best friend or companion who may be going through the same situation as her. Paolo's social group is the highest out of the three because he is the boss of the company and runs the workplace as soon as he enters the building. This shows that he is popular and could have many friends in and out of his job. He is confident talking to Babs so he must be confident talking to others too.

We can tell that Paolo's social group is the highest out of the three because of many reasons. Firstly, mise-en-scene uses costumes, props and set to show us that he is highly ranked above the other characters and their social group. For example, when he walks in the office we see him throw his coat to another member of staff. This shows that he has power and is the boss of the place. He is also the only character who si smartly dress. He wears a shirt and smart shoes and trousers. This shows his importance and his position in that job, giving the audience the impression that his social group may possibly be wealthy and possibly foreign as he speaks with an accent. Also, certain camera shots we used show that his social group is the highest status because our first shot-our tracking shot of walking up the stairs entering the office, he is the first character you see. This is another reason showing that his character is posh, in his smart jacket and suit, giving the impression that he is wealthy and popular. Also in the seductive scene, their is a point-of-view shot, showing Paolo kissing Babs' hand. This shows him being confident so he should be easy to socialise with. Another way Paolo's social group is showed in a good light is by the seductive music. Even though its being played for Babs and him, he is the more confident character in the scene and is doing alot more of the action. This shows that he is easy to get along with and can be very enjoyable to have round, especially for the ladies.

Main Task Evaluation - Question 1

2010-02-11T07:58:00.000-08:00

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

The main conventions we come across when researching our RomCom films were well used in our final piece. We discovered conventions such as the voice overs of the main characters. Each film we watch we noticed that nearly all openings involved a voice over by the character that the story was mainly based on. We noticed that they either spoke about their life so far or a special moment in their life, which tells the audience of a memory thats relevant to the story. Another convention we noticed was that the films like to show a typical romance in the beginning to show that the story is a RomCom. These however could of been good or bad. For example a couple already happily together in love telling the audience that something may cause this relationship to falter, or a woman/man falling in love with someone at first glance, allowing the audience to realise that they were going to spend this film trying to get that love from that person. Also, we noticed that each film showed a small piece of comedy throughout their film and the beginning needs to start it off. For example, Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason begins with her jumping out of a plane for her job then landing in a pen full of pigs. The humour is shown whilst her voice over explains her love for Mr Darce. Other conventions in RomCom films that we discovered were that each opening had a certain soundtrack to introduce the first scene or characters. We tried to insure that all of these conventions were in our main task so it was a true RomCom start to a film.

Our main task and our research we collected for our coursework are similar in many ways. This is because we interpreted most conventions that we discovered into our film. These conventions were the voice overs- as we made our main character, Auntie Babs, become her own conscience, read an email from one of her fans and talk to the viewers of the film introducing the film. Another similar way we compared our research with our film was we added in music to enter us into Babs office. This was to give a sense of happiness to the audience to think that Babs is a happy character. However the music ends when Babs is revealed as she seems down sitting at her desk reading the email. We put in some sexy music also when she seductively day dreams her perfect day in the office with Paolo. We felt this was appropriate for that scene because it produced comedy and showing that she feels very strongly for him. On the other hand we had one piece of research that we didn't interpret into our piece. This was the timeline of the main character's life, which gave the viewers a straight profile of their personality and lifestyle. We felt this wasn't necerssary for our final piece because we discovered that only American RomComs included this and we were aiming for a British RomCom affect. So we felt best to leave it out.

Our main task sticks well to the conventions of our genre. This is because we used most of them in our final piece and done the conventions the way the British RomComs used them. For example we used music that created the mood for the beginning and fitted the story. We also used a piece of music to show an up beat day dream for Babs. We all agreed that we should include that because alot of the British Romcom's we watched we noticed that the woman do day dream alot about what they wish could happen but don't have the guts to actually push themselves to do it. Another convention we stayed the same was the credits. We noticed that in the films we researched that they slowly faded in over the shots so they didn't distract the audience that much from the actual film. We also kept a good colour scheme as another thing we noticed was that they kepts the same font and style of the credits and the title of the film. We also showed alot of comedy that slightly resembled Bridget Jones and her behaviour in her films, and a love interest which is shown in many other films.

Our main task does deviate from the conventions in some areas. For example, our voice over is slightly different to what we researched in British RomCom's such as Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason and About A Boy. We changed this by having the voice over reading an email. This was appropriate for our film because it fitted in with our story, to show that Auntie Babs is like some sort of Agony Aunt, hense the name. However, in the films we watched their voice overs seemed to be about themselves and their problems they face in life- not about someone elses wonders and delights sent to them by a friend. However, after the email was read out we add in more voice overs to show that she is now thinking about herself and encouraging herself to impress Paolo.

Editing Our Film

2010-01-16T06:16:00.000-08:00

When our group began editing our film we were happy to have finished all of our filming. With all the shots together, we were excited to get started and begin to put all the clips together.
Firstly, after uploading our clips onto iMovie on our macs, we watched through all the clips and picked out the best shots for each scene. We had about 3 to 4 clips for each shot to pick from so we had a variety of really good taken shots and ones not so good. We called these our outtakes. They could include us laughing or somthing going wrong such as the script being wrong or entering the shot at the wrong time etc.
After collecting together all the best shots we placed them onto the timeline so the structure of the film was laid out. This is where our storyboard came in handy. We put each shot in order as what it said on the story board. We had to trim each shot down to cut out the clapper board and any unwanted footage. This didn't take too long as each shot didn't have to be trimmed too much. After this was complete it then gave our group an idea of what our finished film would look like.
Once the structure of the film was in place we then looked for sounds needed for certain parts of the film. For example the opening sequence of the path to the office, the seductive scene and the ending which would officially be the entrance to the rest of the RomCom film. We decided to go for three different music styles for each scene. The opening we went for a simple, calm piece of music to get the story into the flow of the RomCom. It also fitted nicely with the voice over of the email sent to Auntie Babs by her biggest fan 'Lucy'. The seductive scene was given a jungle that sounded a bit sexy. This was to show that Babs had that one her mind while she was daydreaming about Paolo. It also fitted well with what the characters were doing in the scene. Lastly we picked a rocky piece of music for the ending of our film becuase in our research of RomComs we noticed that at the beginning of films they include a good up beat tune to get the story rolling, and putting the characters in a certain light with their entrance.
Other sounds that we included in our films were sound effects such as the record scratching sound when Jen's daydreaming is cut. We thought this was appropriate for our film because RomComs need a bit of comedy and we felt this was a good way of showing some. Also, our voice overs of Jen were added to show the audience what she is thinking and showing that her conscience is a big part of who she is and can be very controlling. Also, in our research we noticed that most of them inlcluded some sort of voice over so we knew we needed to have it in our film somewhere. During putting the sounds in our shots, for some, we needed to make sure that the clip was muted so only the sound entered could be heard and nothing else in the clip. For example rustling in the set or a car going past in the street etc.
After the sounds were included we needed to produce our transitions between shots. These included fade through blacks and fade through whites. The fade through blacks were used for the beginning of the film and also at the end, to show the change in location. This was also a good oppotunity to insert our title of the film, this was so the audience could only take notice of the title and nothing else on screen. The fade through white was used to show the audience that Jen's sudection scene was just a dream and not real. When putting in the transitions, we also put in the credits. We placed the actors names over the clip at the beginning when making the way to the office. We decided to do this because it the RomComs we researched seemed to fade in their credits at the beginning to show that they weren't a distraction to the actual movie. We also included the production name in these credits too. We decided to use the same font as the title of the movie and the same colours. This was because we wanted it all to seem the same theme as RomComs have their own colour scheme throughout the movie, from the titles to the credits at the end and we wanted to do the same. We chose pink and black as it seemed to come across as a girly film so pink was a must.
After adding the correct shots, the transitions, the sounds and the credits we were nearing the end of our editing. The only thing left was to edit one shot to make it look blurry. This was the shot where Jen had lost her glasses by throwing them out of the window so she couldn't see hardly anything without them. We edited this shot by going onto the old iMovie and blurring the shot so it seemed like a point of view shot of the character. Once this was entered into our final piece we were complete.
However, we noticed that our film was well over two minutes, so our next step was to cut certain shots to get it down to two mintues. This was a very difficult stage for us because we liked all of our shots in the film and didn't know what ones to take out without making the film look too confusing and taking away the concept of the scene. In the end we decided to cut shots that were not really needed, for example some of Jen's replying shots and some of her shots that needed voice overs over the top. We then had our main task and a longer version which we called the Directors Cut.
Overall I enjoyed our editing because all of our hard work over a few months had created a great piece of footage for a RomCom film that in our groups eyes could become very successful in the real film world.

Main Task - Dear Auntie Babs (Directors Cut)

2010-01-16T06:14:00.000-08:00

This is our long version of our final piece, this clip hasn't been cut down to two minutes.

Main Task - Dear Auntie Babs

2010-01-16T06:07:00.000-08:00

Here is our final piece.

Filming Day - 5/12/09

2009-12-07T12:52:00.000-08:00

We had our filming on the 5th of December and we reached our aim which was to get all our filming done. This took us overall about 3 to 4 hours.
We followed our shotting schedule and completed all the shots with only a few problems. For example, the shot where we throw the glasses out the window had to have about 5 takes as the we kept hitting the window as we threw the glasses, but as a group we decided on the best take to use for our overall piece.
We also decided to change a few shots which would fit better for the film, for example the seductive scene, we included more parts for Paolo as we believed that in Jen's daydream she would imagine Paolo as a more full on, romantic character.
Another change we decided on was that the shots for the journey to the office at the beginning we combined, as it looked like a good tracking shot to use in our final piece of coursework.
Overall the day run very smoothly and all of our group had fun, including Shaun who played the part of Paolo for us, and the location of my Mum's work was a great choice to use.

Storyboard - Dear Auntie Babs

2009-11-29T10:46:00.001-08:00

Proof Script

2009-11-19T13:33:00.000-08:00

INT. OFFICE – DAY (MORNING)

JEN is at her desk reading an EMAIL from a fan called LUCY.

V/O JEN

Dear Auntie Babs, I know this is my 800^th letter to you but I really don’t think you realise just how much you have changed my life. If it wasn’t for you and your incredible advice, I wouldn’t have met the man who I intend on spending the rest of my life with. I can only hope that one day my life will be as fulfilling as yours- and the huge mansion would be a bonus!

JEN

They don’t have a clue.

V/O JEN

Hope all is well with the girls… and your famous husband PAOLO, of course. All the best, LUCY.

JEN begins to REPLY to LUCY.

JEN

Dear LUCY, all is well in Babs world. I’m glad my advice

helped you. It’s nice to hear that my advice really works. The girls are doing great and mine and PAOLO’s relationship is stronger than ev-

PAOLO appears at JEN’s doorway interrupting her reading aloud.

V/O JEN

Oh my god! It’s him. I could so f-

JEN

PAOLO!

PAOLO

JEN, was wondering if you could work the weekend?

JEN gazes at PAOLO and begins to imagine an idealic flirtation to ask the hunk out. She imagines what she wants to do.

JEN

Only if you are… Baby!

In her imagination JEN acts SEDUCTIVELY towards PAOLO. She throws her GLASSES off and taking out her HAIR then walking towards PAOLO when the embrace.

PAOLO

JEN?

JEN then snaps back into reality and realises she has to try being seductive with PAOLO.

V/O JEN

Right, come on JEN. You need to do this, you are a sex goddess, come on! Just try because he is gorgeous!

JEN tries to remove her GLASSES but they get caught.

V/O JEN

1,2,3… and throw the glasses!

They fly out the WINDOW, now she can’t see where PAOLO is so begins to talk to the WALL. CATS are heard from the street below.

PAOLO reacts to her actions.

V/O JEN

Now go for the big finish! NOW!

JEN

Well… I need to attend a reprographics meeting because the company’s configuration system is becoming rather problematic.

V/O JEN

What the fuck!? Smooth JEN, reallllll smooth.

PAOLO is standing confused as JEN is now trying to locate him by scaling the wall.

JEN finds PAOLO standing near her door as she feels his body.

JEN

Yeah… the weekends fine.

PAOLO is a bit overwhelmed by JEN’s performance but decides to nod and exits.

JEN slowly turns round and slaps her forehead then melting to the ground in utter embarrassment.

V/O JEN

I am Auntie Babs! (title appears, she walks down a street) Ok, my name is Jenny Parker but in my virtual life I am Barbara and this is my world.

Final Piece Treatment

2009-11-12T03:49:00.001-08:00

Title - Dear Auntie Babs

In our final piece, my Playhouse Productions group have decided to use this story line as we mainly aimed for the British RomCom idea:
We begin with a woman who runs a popular website called "Dear Auntie Babs". Its like an agony aunt website where people write in to get advice on love, for example how to get a partner; relationship tips; or anything about romance etc. She is a well known woman who give incredible advice to her clients that email her daily, however she cannot find love herself even though she tells her fans about a life of love and happiness with her 'husband' and huge house. Except she really lives in a flat whilst working in a cramped office. She spends all her time helping her clients find love, but has no courage or confidence to find love herself. She tries all different ways to seduce a man but always seems to fail.
Our opening piece begins with the woman called 'Jen' in her office recieving an email from one of her clients. Whilst reading then replying, her boss enters and asks about her working next week. She immediately gets into a state and imagines what she wishes she could do, for example flirt a little or even ask him out. But when back in reality she snaps out of it, panics, and gives a straight answer without no seduction. Looking back over at the advice she was going to reply to the email, she realises she needs to sort herself out, and get her love life on track as it's making her feel depressed. This will hopefully cause the audience to feel sorry for the character and make them want her to find love.
Through the film she tries various ways to get a man such as blind dates, speed dating etc but still nothing seems to work but slowly progresses when coming to the end of the film:
She starts the pack up her things from her office as her website has become very popular, so moving to her new bigger life could be a big step for Jen, even without a lover. However, before she leaves the boss from the opening scene asks her how she is feeling about going and whilst in deep conversation she picks up the courage to ask him out. This shows that she has developed throughout the film and has become a different character from the opening.

Homework - RomComs

2009-11-05T12:51:00.000-08:00

For this part of our research we watched many openings on Romantic Comedies to experience what our coursework should be like.
We watched films such as

Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason
About a Boy
Music and Lyrics
Rumour Has It...
50 First Dates
Something About Mary

Each of these films had many things in common and very few differences. This gave our group an idea of what to use in our final piece and twists we could add in to make it different.

Our main discovery was that 90% of the films we viewed had voice overs in their opeing sequence. These included commentries about characters in the films, mostly from the main characters. They involved discussing either their situation or life so far or simply discribing love. We found that this may be a good idea to use in our final piece because its a great way to tell the audience what has happened so far, whilst allowing them to view the opening scene. We believe that commentry is a very popular technique in Romcoms, especially for Bridget Jones and About a Boy.

We also discovered that some openings showed a main event that occured recently, or a timeline of past experiences. This allowed the audience to be aware of what has happened already in the story. This has given my group an idea to use photos in our final piece to show our romantic couple through their life, all symbolising good times they have shared. This will also give us a good opertunity to include our credits into our two minute opening.

Lastly we noticed that each opening included music to tell the audience which genre it is. This could be a romantic peice of music (for example in The Holiday) or a song aimed at love (for example Music and Lyrics). This has also giving my group the idea to add in music in our final piece which will allow the audience to realise we are creating a Romantic Comedy.

This Research has improved mine and my groups knowledge but we still have a lot more to do until we begin our final piece.

Prelim Evaluation - Question 5

2009-10-31T08:52:00.000-07:00

What new skills have you developed during the process of filming your prelim?

I have learnt many skills during the process of filming our prelim, from directing, to operating the camera, to editing. They are skills that I will improve through the media course.
Because I was a beginner to filming a prelim I picked up on many skills and techniques that i used during the process of creating our film. For example I now know what its like to be on set behind the camera, and experiencing the shooting process. I experienced this process in different positions of the film crew such as director, camera operator and operating the clapper. Crusial rules that I learnt such as waiting for 3 seconds after 'action' is shouten 'cut' and having the clapper in sight of the camera when it begins to start recording. All rules that I now know, which I didn't, but should of before filming the prelim.
Other skills I have developed are my camera shots, for example I experiemented taking different shots that I have never taken before, and using the tripod with and without to see the difference. It widened my range of views when in the hands of the camera. I also learnt that the 180 degree rule is essential when filming, because if it isn't included it could ruin your films point of view.
My directing skills have developed extremely as its made me feel more confident when organising the scenes and placing props and actors where they are needed. If something wasn't right, I knew how to fix the problem, which was something I couldn't do before.
I have learnt many skills when it comes to editing, even though I am quite good at computer based projects, I enjoyed learning how to add things to my film and put my prelim together. Once all music, transitions and credits were added the film came alive and I knew how each element had been created.
Lastly I have learnt how to keep things consistent in the film. For example always use the same room. If not, I have learnt how to find different locations.

Prelim Evaluation - Question 4

2009-10-31T08:10:00.000-07:00

Think about things you would do differently next time. What will you change when you do your final piece, and why?

My group next time will film in a location which we know we can use without any other people interfering. This was a huge problem during our prelim as we only used the room once which caused continuity to fail. This was because our meeting room was being used after our first day of filming. Therefore next time we will make sure our setting is the same because we want our final piece to look ruined by locations always changing. We don't want our audience to view our piece and notice that our continuity is bad. Next time we will look out for coninuity errors whilst filming so we won't have to face any problems during editing which would cause us to have to film shots over again. This way our film should have little continuity visible as possible.
We will also be thinking about our actors for our final piece. This is because sometimes our teachers we used were not reliable for filming as they were busy with their work, for example maybe in a meeting or be teaching a class. This means that we would therefore have to think about who we would use instead of teachers. We could use pupils, friends or family or ourselves in the group. The only problem with that is we would then not be focusing on our camera shots or directing, but instead consentrating on the acting produced by ourselves and learning lines. However, if we decided to keep with the teachers then we would have to discuss who we would use and what times would be best for filming. Therefore next time we would have to ask them in advance to help us then they can check if they are available, and if so then book us in on them days. This will cause less stress for the group and the staff as they will not be missing any work time.
In conclusion, we know that all the things that went wrong or were not as good in our prelim are going to try and be avoided when we take on the challenge of completing our final piece as my group want to always improve and make our films better.

Prelim Evaluation - Question 3

2009-10-31T07:28:00.000-07:00

Evaluate your prelim. What could be improved? What is already good about it?

Me and my group decided that there were a few things that could of been improved in our prelim. These were things such as continuity; the 180 degree rule; and the actors vocals.
We had many problems with continuity throughout our prelim. For example we had to film in two different rooms for one scene which caused the location to look different, the lighting in the shots are different, the door is a different colour and the desk is a dfferent size and shape to the one in the first room. This causes the audience to notice that there is a continuity problem in our prelim as it is very noticable in our film. If we had shot all of our film in the meeting room, not only would our film of looked better and more professional, but no continuity would have been caused, not so obviously anyway.
Our 180 degree rule was going very well in our filming stages. We were aware that we needed to film every shot on one side of the shots and we were doing this very well. This was important in our shot counter shot as we needed to focus on the conversation being shot all on the same side. We did this successfully. However, when we came to editing our film we noticed that in one shot which was an over the shoulder shot, we had accidentally filmed on the opposite side to ever other shot we had done. This was a disappointment to us as we tried our best to obide the 180 degree rule. This could have been improved be reshooting that one shot, then our 180 degree rule would have been perfect throughout our prelim.
Finally, we had a problem with the actors volume of their lines. For example, when Mr Smith enters the room and says his lines, we then cut to a close up to him, but once he says his next set he becomes more high pitched. This could of been improved if we watched back over his last shot and notified him to speak in a certain way which would of matched his first pronounciation and pitch. Also, when Miss Cook enters the room, she is facing away from the camera when speaking. When we watched our finished piece we realised that it appeared muffled and you couldn't hear or understand what she was saying. This could of been improved if she raised the volume or rotated her head slightly to face the camera more, therefore the speaker would have picked up her line alot better.
Our group believe that our prelim has some elements that make it good already. For example our editing and certain shots chosen to use.
I believe that our editing towards our film was done very well. We cropped each shot to precisely the right part we needed for the film which incuded the entering of the shot and the exiting. the timing had to be perfect for each shot and I believe we did this extremely well. Another editing technique we used was transitions for shots. We used this for the ending, our last shot fades out to the end credits. We believe that this is very cleverly done and looks quite professional. We also added music to play over certain shots. This gave the film certain surroundings and atmospheres which make our prelim more exciting and fun. Our Opening titles and credits are well done as they appear on a plan black background before the film actually begins and after it finishes. However, we have made the title appear over our first shot so it makes the audience not only notice and look at the title, but they will also look at the first shot ans familiarise themselves with the setting and character. So overall, i believe our editing had made our film alot better then we hoped, making look alot more professional.
Lastly, I thing that we had chosen some good shots to include in our prelim. Our group wanted to try lots of different types of shots that we liked for example; over the shoulder; panning; point of view; etc. A good shot that all my group were proud of was our panning shot of the room. This also combined with a point of view shot. We were pleased that we included two types of shots in one shot. We were happy with each shot taken and it made our prelim less of a beginners work. Poor quality was affoided and the outcome of the film was good and my group were happy with our film.

Prelim Evaluation - Question 2

2009-10-31T06:39:00.000-07:00

Explain the creative decisions you made during the process.

Our first creative decision we discovered was our decision on what story to use. This was an important decision because we wanted to decide on a simple story that wouldn't involve alot of complex shots, which would prove difficult for our first time of filming. Because we were only beginners we needed to have shots that were possible to take and a simple story would allow us to be in control of the camera, whilst getting used to the whole filming consept. Me and Courtney had thought of a plot before our group was created. This included us already creating the script and some of the storyboard, so our group continued with that idea. It not only saved time but the plot was already simple.
Another creative decision my group had come across was the decision of our set. We initially were going to use an office, but because of another group wanting it too, we decided on changing our setting to a meeting room. This caused our film to stay the same, as the location stayed similar to the office. Our decision however did cause a few problems as we couldn't use that room again after our first day of filming so we had to find another setting that was also similar to the meeting room. This was difficult but once we settled for a room we realised that continuity of the rooms would be obvious to the audience. This caused our storyboard to be altered a bit to fit the changes of the room. Props were needed in the second room to make it look like the meeting room, but our decision I believe was still a good one as our room suited our story/plot.
That problem also created another creative decision from my group because we had to decide on the second room to film in. This become a very difficult decision for our group because we needed to find a location that wasn't being used and one that was similar to the meeting room. We in the end found a classroom that wasn't occupied so transformed that as much as we could to look like the meeting room. This problem has made it clear in our prelim that our location had changed.
A different creative decision me and my group come up with was to cut some of the opening shots from our story. This was because we felt that it was best to begin with the teacher sitting at the desk than our original opening of the 'orange girl' walking towards the headteachers office. We thought this because it would not only decrease the time of our story, even though that wasn't a problem of our prelim, but we felt it made the audience get straight into the plot and not drag the beginning out. This opening took a few discussions within the group to get it right. We included our production logo and title of the film before any shots were shown. This allowed us to cut two shots out. We all agreed that our beginning fitted our story, along with our opening music which totally set the scene.
Another creative decision that we made was to put in our missing shot counter shot. This was essential for our prelim as we knew that it had to be included. However, we recently had forgotten to include it, so we had to make a creative decision on where to place it in our story. Once we found a good place to put it we needed to film the shots and then insert it into our film that we had already edited and put together. Once the element was in the plot we were happy our decision was made at that time and not any later as we may of easily forgotten to include it.
Our last creative decision was to use some teachers in our film. This meant that most of our group could consentrate on the filming and directing, than focusing on the acting and remembering lines etc. We decided to use trust worthy teachers that we knew well, so we could trust them to take our task seriously so work could be complete.

Prelim Evaluation - Question 1

2009-10-31T05:45:00.000-07:00

Explain, in detail, the process you went through to create your prelim.

We firstly had to decide on our storyline for our prelim. This began with a discussion about different ideas each of the members of our group thought of. This discussion involved the difficulties we believed that could have occured from each idea and the positive aspects that could come out of them. We all decided on creating a story that was simple as it was our first time filming, directing or creating any length of film whilst being taught media. Once we had agreed on our ideas, and began to produce details of our chosen story, we then began on the script. This involved a minimal time as we knew that it wouldn't take too long to complete. This was because we were only planning on creating a less than two minute film. Once we knew our script we began on the storyboard. Our storyboard contained many different shots that each of our members of the group had contributed in giving and also contained the shots that were needed in the prelim. This took a while longer than the script as it had each shot had to be drawn as seen in the film so we knew how to shoot each scene and what angles and shots to use.
Once the storyboard was complete, we began to look around our school, in search of the perfect location for our film. We looked in different offices and classroom and in the end we came across the perfect office. However, we discovered a problem at this point because another group had also wanted that office and they were filming at the same time as our group. Therefore we looked around the school once again. We then found a room that wasn't owned by our school so we had to get permission from its owner, and after the agreement we had found our filming room. We had decided to use our headteacher for one of the characters in the film but he couldn't make it as he was in a meeting so we settled for another teacher. Once we were all ready we began to film.
When we went into the room and set up the camera, we all decided to do all the shots that involved the teacher first because once all her shots were done, she wouldn't be needed anymore and could then get on with her work. So we observed our storyboard and filmed every shot she appeared in once she knew her lines from the script. During each shots we sometimes had to consider the continuity, for example she was always writing on a piece of paper so we had to make sure that she continued this action through to other shots.
Whilst filming, our headteacher who was going to play the main part had entered our room and told us that he could now be in the film as he was available, which was all well as we had a character that he could play. We filmed his shots that were needed and then the shots that him and the other teacher were in so once again- we would keep them for minimal time as possible so they could continue with their work.
Once we finished our filming for that day, as we only had an hour to film, we had realised that we still needed to shoot alot more shots. During our next media lesson we started editing the shots we had already taken. Fitting them together even if there were shots missing. This helped us because we could then see easily what shots were missing and what we needed to do to improve. Also during this lesson, we noticed that our shot counter shot was missing from our prelim so we thankfully put that into our storyboard before our next filming day. Without this mistake being noticed we would have not included the shot counter shot and we wouldn't have been marked to our highest ability for it because we missed out the shot needed in the prelim.
Our editing involved some transitions from shots which we used for the end of our film and credits which we added. Some of our opening titles were placed over our shots to show that it shouldn't distract the audience watching to take their aways away from the film, instead watch whilst reading. We also added in music in some of our shots which created a mood in the film, an atmosphere surrounding our characters. For example, when the 'orange girl' is wondering how to be mischievious, we added an up tempo music so to show the audience that she was thinking about doing something out of the ordinary. During this two hour media lesson we were going to film for the second hour, but continuity problems- such as our teacher not wearing the same clothes, and camera problems- such as low battery had stopped us from filming on that day.
However, the next day in our media class we were given two hours to finish our filming. This was more than enough for us as we were only missing a few shots. But we came across a problem. We couldn't get the same room that we had filmed in before because it was being used for a meeting. This meant we had to search for another room. This became a problem in a finished film as our continuity for the room wasn't very good, as it was obvious that two different rooms were used, but we had no choice. Once in the room we tried our best to make it look the same as the other, for example the teachers desk, her piece of paper, the door etc. Once we had sorted out the room we recovered into our postitions as camera operator and director and shot the vital scenes that we had missed.
Once they were complete we added them to our others and edited the film as a whole. We cut down shots to take out the clapper board and we sliced shots so we could used the shots in the shot counter shot. Once we finished and watched our final piece we noticed that our continuity was disappointing but we were overall happy with our prelim.

Welcome Message

2009-10-29T00:59:00.000-07:00

Hey Mr Lawes...
Blog is ready for use!
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