Prelim Task One

Prelim Task two

Script

Scene one: Main characters neighborhood

• The scene begins with a Establishing shot showing a sequence of houses -Panning left to right, and stops when the camera reaches 'MC Dons' ( Main character) house.
• Music - The Classical/instrumental music ends when chacrater1 opens the gate.
• The music provides normality to the opening title sequence- as a calm atmosphere is created.

Scene two: Alley way 

• Character one: Yasin greets his friends ( friendly tone) " You alright mate"
•  ( shakes characters 2,3 and 4's hands)

•  Character one: Yasin (Questioning tone) "Hey guys have you heard that new song on sbtv"

• Character two: Mahad (negatively) "Yeah i have, its so wet"

• Character three: Aaron (Confused) "Wait what one bruv"

• Character four: Shaharyar (Informatively) "Bruv listen,this one"
• (Reaches down and picks up boom-box, turns dial)
• Music- The upbeat/dance music begins to play

• Characters 1,2,3 and 4 look left to right, then begin dancing in a comical manner.

• Character two: Mahad (embarrassed) "ah this is so moist man, lets go" 

• Character four: Shaharyar ( pleads) "Stop!" 

Scene three: Street pavement ( outside Yasins house)

• Character two: Mahad (angry) "What are you doing man? Hurry up"

•  Character four: Shaharyar (calm tone) "No, I'm dancing man"

Scene four: Green-way

• Character one: Yasin and Character four: Shaharyar- perform a freestyle/improvised rap battle.
• Music ends when dialect begins

Main Task

Props and Costumes

Props

The Props we will be using in our Opening Title Sequence Include: A slim-black Boom-box.

Costume

The Costume in which the charcters in the Opening Title Sequence will be wearing Include:

     

Character one:

• A grey hoodie
• A black  Sleeveless Bomber Jacket
• A Black cap
• Light Denim Jeans
• White trainers

Character two:

• A Dark grey hoodie, with a vivid design on the front
• Denim Jeans
• Black trainers

Character three:

• A Black jacket with white stripes on the side of each sleeves
• A Blue t-shirt
• Dark Denim, baggy Jeans
• White trainers

Character four:

• ANavy hoodie
• A Black cap
• Light Denim Jeans
• Black Trainers

Question 7

Q7 Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression form it to the full product?

During my pre-production of my prelim task, I made an initial decision that the filming of my location should take place in a humanities classroom. This location is ideal because it was set up with appropriate equipment to create a workplace atmosphere. For instance the classroom contained a desk and office with added to the realistic workplace environment. The problems encountered during filming were background noise, created from passing students. This slowed down the process of filming, however we managed to successfully adapt to the problems. My group had done this by politely asking students to make their way down stairs; prior to my group needing to film exterior shots in the humanity corridor. From the problems encountered in the prelim task, we learnt to film in a quieter environment to reserve time, when it came to selecting a location for our main task. Therefore my group and I didn’t encounter in this problem during the production of our main task. We did this by investigating the agreed location, which was the exterior of Aaron’s house, both his street and alley way, before our filming day. This was beneficial for our group because it allowed an insight to what the location could offer. 

And it also gave us the opportunity of planning the variety of shots we aimed in incorporating in our main task. It also allowed us to practice possible camera angles. Despite, the preparation my group took to prevent possible problems from occurring, we still faced slight issues on the day of filming. For example, passing predestines and vehicles were a factor that limited the useable shots we had. Also, because of this the continuity of our film was affected, we were limited to only a few useful shots of our establishing shot.  The key lessons learnt from these continuously experienced issues, is to prevent filming in congested places, especially outside. My group and I can now take away the knowledge and understanding we have gained from these problems.

The initial decision made for the prelim storyboard was a scenario involving one character entering a room, where the second would interact with character one, and they would complete a short dialogue. The storyboard in the prelim task lacked a variety of shots. This meant that we didn’t showcase our media skills as well as we could have. Our prelim task consisted mostly of mid-shots and close ups. This is a clear indication of our lack of media skills. In the main task it showed my expansion of media skills. For instance a variety of shots were used throughout, Including: Mid-shots, long-shots, establishing shots, panning, cut-ins, close-ups and over-the-shoulder shots.

The key lesson learnt from this is to keep in mind I have to portray my media skills by aiming to incorporate a wide variety of shots and camera angles. In the future, I will be able to expand my knowledge of media shots.

An initial decision of cast in my prelim task was to include cast members who were not camera shy. Despite the characters acting ability, they lacked knowledge of how to portray themselves when in front of the camera, this therefore demonstrated the lack of ability the cast had in terms of character adaptation. The problem I encountered as a result was shots weren’t executed perfectly on screen.  I ensured that in the main task, the cast were comfortable on screen and were able to portray there charter to the best of their ability. I did this by carefully selecting cast that were not afraid or limited to portray the immature youth required. For example, Aaron who was initially out of his comfort zone adapted to the situation and was able to deliver the necessary personality of an urban character. The problem that occurred encouraged us to be precious when selecting cast members. The key lesson learnt is to be aware of individual’s strengths and weaknesses in terms of adapting to a character, and assign them to the appropriate role according this.

During my production of my prelim task, I made an initial decision that the timing of the film would be after school. This was because a quiet and undisturbed atmosphere was required to shoot are prelim task in. The problems encountered during filming was in fact the timing as students had just been let out of lessons , so in order to maintain our location without finding an alternative, our group required patience. This kept our group back in terms of starting our exterior shots, in the corridor. Our group had to make an immediate decision and reorganise our shooting schedule. We also needed to establish that we could only use approximately 4-6 minutes per shot, and limited ourselves by only filming 2 takes per shot. This was a major risk because it meant it was essential for our group to get each shot perfectly with few attempts. From the problems encountered in the prelim task, we learnt to film each shot quickly and with few mistakes each time when it came to our main task. For example we used a continuity sheet to note down the useful and useless takes per shot. This saved time when it came to editing. It was also a useful way of remembering how many takes we took altogether, so we could refer back and take more if necessary. The key lesson learnt was to manage our time accordingly and don’t go over time for one shot, because it would affect the overall time remaining, this would put our group at risk of not meeting the deadline.

The initial decision made for the variety of shots used in our prelim was not organised. This showed through the lack of camera angles and creative ways of capturing the action of screen. This became a problem when watching our film because are audience did not remain engaged throughout. This meant we were unable to showcase our interesting narrative of a mysterious occurring incident, as are lack of varied shots over-powered the storyline and acting on stage. We had to find a solution to this problem, during editing is group tried to combine several shots in an interesting and creative order, to make up for our lack of shots. Therefore my group and I didn’t encounter in this problem during the production of our main task. We did this by planning each shot carefully taking into consideration a varied number of shots were to be incorporated. We created a check list to ensure art least of each different shot was used. The key lesson learnt from the problem encountered is that are group should always refer back to the requirements set for us by our media teacher, so in future was are able to show are media skills are abilities more affectively.

Throughout the production of my prelim task, I made an initial decision that continuity was urgent. However this priority became less important when filming our prelim task, because I came across several limiting factors such as lack of time and location issues, the continuity of our film was poor. For instance there were several jump shots and glitches with the exterior shots- of the character walking in the classroom. This meant that the finish product was poor and lack fluency. This gave the audience the impression that the characters actions were not consistent and the same all the way through filming. This problem prepared us for our main task because it allowed us to prevent this mistake from occulting again. I focused more on the continuity of the characters actions and so the fluency of the film was better, in comparison to our prelim task. The key lesson learnt was to instruct the action on stage so that the characters more consistently rather than moving the camera to correspond with the movement. 

The feedback received from my class mates and teacher, after completing my prelim task encouraged me to focus more on timing. However because we were aware the prelim was less important than the main task we didn’t take the feedback seriously at that stage. This mean that was necessary for my group and me to attend several group meetings: in order save time on the day of filming, our main task. During our group meeting my group discussed our shooting schedule, location, cast and script. This was an important factor because previous feedback given to us by our media teacher suggested we lacked time management. However through the filming of our main task we incorporated this feedback as we knew it was an important factor, if we wanted to demonstrate our media skills. Also timing in the sense of editing on time was difficult during the prelim task, in comparison to the main task. This is because more create factors such as sound and credits were included in the main task, but not the prelim. However to improve, in the future my team should come up with an editing timetable to ensure each group member contributed equally.

It I was given another opportunity, I would ensure that me and my group would remain prepared. We would have more group meetings, as this helped us understand what was required, and going to happen on the day of filming.

The sound and music choices were less important in the prelim task, in comparison to the main task, mainly because of the simpler narrative and actions. The sound and choice in music was a significant factor in our main task, this is because we thought the choice in music would help demonstrate the comical message we were aiming to put across to the audience. However there was a limited choice of music to choose from, this limited the creativity of our group. If I was given another opportunity at including music and sound on our opening title sequence, I would research other useable websites which offer copyright free music. My feedback suggested the music was slightly repetitive at times.

Question 6

Q6 what have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this product

The variety of hardware used in the process of producing my main media product includes: The Cannon XHA1 camera and the editing software I used to edit my opening title sequence is: Adobe Premier. After using both the hardware and software facilities to create my media product I learnt that it is important to pay attention to little aspects to prevent errors occurring.

The filming techniques in which I learnt and used throughout the procedure of filming include:

·         Match on action

·         Framing

·         The 180 degree rule                                   

·         Continuity

·         Action reaction shot

·         Different angles

·         Rule of thirds

·         Safety shots

After demonstrating my knowledge and understanding of filming techniques, in which I practiced prior to my main task, I became aware of the importance of ‘Match on action’. I realised in order to present a continuous flow from one shot to another, when filming my group needed to ensure each movement and action of the characters were performed endlessly, until they were out of the frame. This is because it provided action from the previous shot with the upcoming shot to correspond.

The ‘Framing’ of each shot was significant in ensuring the characters actions were correctly captured. For example my group initially decided the use of a ‘Cut-in’ shot would benefit our film, as it puts emphasis on a particular shot. We used this specific type of shot to capture the important event; the dial of the boom-box being turned clockwise to portray the increase in sound on screen. I became aware that a ‘Over the shoulder’ shot is an interesting way of presenting a conversation. By switching the camera angles during the characters dialogue, it engages the audience. My group decided that, by using this shot we would emphasis what the characters were saying, and this was important as it is essential for the audience to listen to the comical dialogue performed by the characters. I ensured the ‘180° degrees rule’ ensures that shots looks professional and that scene flow continuously. For example: Shot 4, we ensured the camera didn’t cross the invisible 180° line, so the movement of the characters was properly sequenced.

 The ‘Continuity’ of our opening title sequence was important in portraying my media skills. This is because the continuity of our opening title sequence, gives the complete action in detail and in the order in which they are to be shown on the screen. This an important factor as it ensures each prop is place permitting to the same position throughout the film. An example of where I confirmed continuity took place was shown through the use of props. For instance I understood the ‘Boom-box’ needed to remain in the same centre position when on the floor, and on characters left shoulder when picked up.

 ‘Action reaction’ was integrated throughout our opening title sequence. An example of when action reaction was taken into consideration is during the cut-in shot of the boom-box. The action is the dial of the boom-box turning in a clockwise direction, and the reaction which follows is the serious facial expressions of the characters. An appropriate reaction takes place; providing understanding to the audience.

My group aimed to include ‘Different angles’ throughout our opening title sequence. I became aware that the audience are more engaged when a series of camera angles are used. This is because it emphasis's the action on screen, encouraging the audience to pay attention. For instance different camera angles were used to show the movement of our main character, both from the sideways and midpoint position. E.g. the change from a two shot to an over-the shoulder shot, throughout the course of one characters dialect. 

The ‘Rule of thirds’ was a key factor that my group took into consideration. For example, during the conversation between two characters, presented in a ‘Two-shot’ we ensured minimal space remained around the characters, and that the frame was full so the characters are positioned in the centre. ‘Safety shots’ were taken by my group to provide security in case shots were accidentally deleted or we wanted to incorporate wide/ long shots later on during editing.

Question 5

Q5 how did you attract/address your audience?

The opening title sequence of ‘Bad Beats’ uses typical codes and conventions of a comedy film. The film begins by setting the scene in an everyday neighborhood and then introduces us to the home of a teenage boy. This creates understanding of where the film is situated and where the action will take place. The audience is immediately introduced to a young boy who is departing from his front door. The body language of the boy is energetic so the audience read his emotions as contented and blissful. High key lighting emphasises the characters innocence and youthful nature, and projects that the film is a family comedy. This is accompanied by non-diegetic sound, the calming sound of classical music with an instrumental attributes is playing at the beginning of the film. This adds a soothing and consoling quality to the title sequence, and continues to engage the audience.

  
There is a strong sense of Mise-en scene integrated throughout the title sequence. For example the bright lighting projects the morning atmosphere and the zooming camera technique magnifies towards the ‘Alley’. Later in which the boy is welcomed by is group of fellow youths; an exchange of handshakes and ‘Hi’s are presented in a contemporary and hip approach. This informs the audience of the current era in which the film is situated. The title sequence continues by showing an undisclosed alley way in which is complete with four young teenage boys. The title sequences consist of on-screen sound. Unlike most films dialect is immediately preformed by the characters. This is effective for this particular genre because a sense of laughter is created by the humorous conversation displayed.  The Positioning of characters at different distances implies character in the foreground have more power and influence, to those in the background. 

 For instance, the Yasin would have authority over his trivial friends. The positioning of the characters highlights their facial expressions. The boys dialect is delivered in a forthcoming tone, while the opposing character’s is witty; conveying possible conflict later in the film. Dialect is performed by the characters near the beginning of the film. This ensures the audience is uninformed to what the plot concerns, although the title sequence indicates the position of the main character. Suggesting the rest of the film is a continuation of the boys’ livelihood in relation to his interest in ‘Hip-hop’ music, and singing. The characters discuss their opinion in music. While majority of the group members like a particular song they are talking about, ‘Mahad’ presents his strong hatred towards the song. 

  
In order to attract our target audience, it was crucial to ensure the costume in which the characters wear would clearly reflect their personalities and behaviour. For example: I ensured each character dressed in casual clothes to reflect their urban and youthful nature. This was an important factor because it ensured the audience had clarity of being able to recognise the genre of the film. This also linked with the specific lines and dialogue carried out by the characters throughout our film. For example ’Mahad’ one of our primary characters says ‘This song is wet’ which would translate as ‘This song is rubbish’. My group decided to incorporate slang throughout our dialogue to add an urban atmosphere to our film.

Question 3

  Q3 what kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Distributor is an organisation who handles the theatrical release of a film in a particular country as well as the marketing and circulation of films for home viewing, for instance they specifically manage: DVD’s, Video-On-Demand, Download and Television.  ‘Entertainment film Distributors’ are an independent British film Distributor both in the UK and Ireland. This production company is currently run by Nigel Green. I think this particular film institution will consider distributing my group’s film because they specifically specialise in distributing films of the Comedy genre. 

INDEPENDENT DISTRIBUTION (ID) is a division of London based production and sales outfit. ID specializes in the acquisition and distribution of independent film across all media channels (theatrical, DVD, VOD, TV etc.). ID has a team dedicated to implementing new and innovative distribution models, with a number of strategic partnerships in PR, marketing and digital distribution to ensure our films get extra special attention. I think this film company would highly consider distributing my group’s product. This is because they specifically admire armature film makers, or ones of a young age. They also hold market and film festival events to promote and marketing new products.

The process in which film distributors pursue  in order to distribute new products is; Distributors will source new films to represent in their distribution catalogue at film festivals and markets around the world such as Cannes, Rotterdam, Berlinale, AFM and Sundance festivals (features) and Clermont-Ferrand, Tampere, Encounters and Toronto Worldwide Short Film Festival (shorts). 

‘Metrodome Group pic’ is a London based film publically traded company that owns, manages and distributes films, TV and digital content. The company operates through two diversions: Metrodome Distribution (features film and home entertainment in the UK) And Hollywood Classics. The company’s library of rights includes over 300 hundred feature films. Metrodome Group pic provides a distribution business which provides its industry expertise to maximise revenues for producers of film both in the UK and internationally through its three divisions - Metrodome Distribution, Hollywood Classics and Cinedome. The official ‘Metrodome’ Website specifically states “We pride ourselves on our unrivalled market knowledge and ability to adapt to our clients' needs in a fast changing media landscape”. Therefore, my group’s media product is highly appropriate to be distributed by this company. This is because they deliver campaigns which release quality movies and TV product that capture the imagination of audiences.

An alternative dispersal outlet is ‘Self Distribution’. There are several advantages of self-distribution:

It allows full control and rights over your film, or media product- giving you the choice over where your film is shown, and the audience in which you want to present your media product to, is entirely your decision

You don't have to give a cut of the money made from any sales of your film to a distributor.

There are also a wide range of online film websites that provide public access to viewing your media product. There are several short film websites which offer this capability, including:

‘Atom Films’ are one of the oldest and most reliable short film screening websites, showing shorts from around the world.

 ‘Britfilms.TV’ is a channel set up to showcase the work of independent filmmakers including: short films, documentaries, animations, trailers, and music videos

‘Films short’ a roundup of the some of the best short films available to watch on YouTube and other websites, embedded directly into the site

‘Trigger Street’ Short filmmakers can upload their films, get reviews from other site members and download numerous screenplays submitted by aspiring writers

‘Lux’ a not-for-profit company promoting artists' moving image work. Includes a showcase of artists' video and clips.

‘My Space: film’ this popular social networking website has a section for films and filmmakers.

‘Vimeo’ The video-uploading website is more credible among creative than its rival YouTube and it's also easier to discover exciting new filmmaking through its curated collections and recommendations

‘You Tube’ whilst this popular video sharing website is largely dominated by homemade videos and user-generated viral, if you know the short you're looking for it might be worth a look here.

Question 4

Q4 who would be the audience for your media product. 

The particular target audience suitable for our opening title sequence would be teens as well as children and adults. This is initially because the title sequence immediately begins with a teenager, so there is a commonality. However young children could also find our title sequence appealing.  The audience remains interested throughout the title sequence because of its musical aspect and because it presents realistic situations in a comical light. The background music is upbeat and fun and so engages the audience. I also think the use of sound effectively interest the audience because of its humorous. The narrative of the title sequence is suitable for all; it lacks complexity so an array of children to adults can understand the film.

Click to view: Statistics for audience popularity of both comedy & action genres

I personally think teenage boys would specifically attract to our film. Firstly because the characters are teenage boys like themselves but secondly because of the narrative. They may have similar interest in rap and hip-hop music, so the film will appeal to them. Altogether, I think our opening title sequence is a family comedy which provides entertaining aspects, by including humorous dialect, singing and dance. Our group’s decision to target teenage boys was based on our research of the typical codes and conventions of a comedy film. Our research strongly suggested that a high percentage of teenage boys watch comedy films. We thought by creating a comedy consisting of similar characters to the target audience it would encourage a wide interest.

 However, beneficially our research also suggested that young adults and children consisting of both males and females were also interested in comedy films.

 The target audience’s expectations of our opening title sequence would of course include comical aspects, in which we included. They would also expect entertaining music and sound. An example is up-beat and energetic songs. This is a key factor in which most comedies contain. They would expect funny and unrealistic scenarios with exaggerated characters, both visually and literally. For instance, the dress sense should strongly emphasis the personality of the characters, and their body language should give an insight to their personality. For example we purposing portrayed ‘Mahad’ as the pessimistic and mature friend. This idea was presented through his dialect, when he shows his dislike towards his friend’s music choice. 

The popularity of the 'Comedy' genre is indicated by a huge '928,398' likes on this Facebook page-which is specifically dominated by young adults and (male) teenagers.

The main aspects in which would attract our targeted audience to watch are films consisting of: The humorous behaviour is characters present, the unexpected dancing scene which will shock the audience, and make them laugh.

 The unpredicted rapping, which is ironic as mockingly the fact that he is talentless but oblivious to this unfortunate reality becomes comical for the audience to watch. We find it comical that although the boy is ambitious and determined he can only dream of succeeding. These aspects would appeal to our target audience.

 

 Other films in which are targeted audience would also be interested in include: ‘The Hangover’, ‘Four Lions' and ‘The longest yard’. This is because all three films contain a common theme of trying to reach an objective, whether tackling a bully at school or winning a football game while overcoming problems in a comical light. The possible films that are target audience may have watched in the last six months include: ‘Fun Size’, ‘the Dictator’ and ‘Ted’. I think the films listed are also targeted at older children and young adults because although they are comedies, they contain adult themes and situations, along with containing crude scenes and language.

Question 2



Q2 How does your opening sequence represent particular social groups?

The key characters in our opening title sequence consist of four compelling youths who are visually similar but diverge in personality. The audience is immediately introduced to James/ Mc Don (played by Yasin) a 17 year old boy with an ambitious demeanour. He has dreams of becoming a successful rap/hip-hop artist despite coming from a deprived and broken home; where he struggles to cope living with only is mother and siblings. Although he is not very academic, he aims to succeed in life hoping to change for the better. However, he is surrounded by naive friends who although support his dream, there optimistic and manipulating attitudes prevent Yasin from knowing the harsh reality of being a talentless adolescent. To portray this character is our opening title sequence my group included several technical aspects when making our film. For instance we ensured our main character ‘Yasin’ was clearly presented in each shot. 

This ensured the audience that the narrative of the film was mainly focused on him. To emphasis this idea further, my group ensured that Yasin’s body language and gestures were captured clearly in each shot. This is important because it allows the audience an insight to the characters personality. A specific example is the mid-shot we used to capture the way Yasin greets his friends. Also, throughout our title sequence we used a range of camera angles to portray the personality of our primary charters: Shaharyar, Aaron and Mahad.  For example we used both a long-shot and mid-shot when capturing the comical dance scene. We also specifically focused on Shaharyar when dancing; this ensured his energetic and fun personality came across to the audience.

When filming each shot are group ensured is a strong sense of Mise-en scene was integrated throughout the title sequence. For example the use of bright lighting projects the morning atmosphere we needed to present the time of day. We used high key lighting to emphasises the characters friendly and youthful nature, and projects that the film is a family comedy. This is accompanied by non-diegetic sound, a sequence of classical music plays at the begging of the film, which later develops into upbeat/hip-hop music. The classical music adds a calming and welcoming presence to the film, while the hip-hop music adds an entertaining quality to the title sequence, and continues to engage the audience. There is a contrast with the appearance and behaviour of our characters, they are dressed to portray rough adolescents but they behave immaturely and ridiculously. This is Comparable to characters from ‘Attack of the block’, ‘Green Street’ and ‘Drill bet Taylor’ in terms of appearance.



 The practicality of casting the roles to each actor was discussed by my group members and I. We decided to cast ‘Yasin’ as our main charter as we thought his appearance and voice strongly portrayed the independent and ambitious leader we required for John/Mc Don. Despite the expectancy of dedication and reliability, we looked for enthusiasm when delivering there lines. We also had high expectations of teamwork and listening skills from each cast member. This was to ensure that each line was clearly delivered. We needed consistency in terms of performing their lines and actions in every take as continuity was key. Apart for the cast, our team also expected equality in terms of the work load and participation.  

 To ensure the representations of the characters were met our team members and I carefully directed are cast to the appropriate character. For example, we discussed that each cast member should dress in a particular way. In order to illustrate a hip and youthful assemble of teenagers we told them to dress in: hoodies, track-suit bottoms, jumpers, caps, and coats. Apart from the visual representation of the characters, we ensured them they needed to portray ‘cool’ individuals. This idea was to be delivered through the casts body language, hand gestures and movement.

Question 1