Main Task - Retribution

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JK/KDS

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

We set out on completing our preliminary task with very little planning - a few pictures of where we were going to be filming, the camera angles we were hoping to take and also what we were going to say. Looking back on it I could see where this lack of planning effected the task itself. This therefore showed me the vital part which quality planning would take in our final task. So I and my partner made sure that when we went out to film our final piece, we were prepared with everything which would aid us in creating the final product that we had wished for. There were three main topics which I aimed to focus on while filming to overall give us a better final product; these were time management, the technology - camera angles, lighting, sound- and also how I managed our actors. The latter was something I could not attempt to plan for until the day of filming came around, however, the other two my partner and I trialled in our reccee.


The reccee, I saw as being a huge learning curve, as we were able to establish the mistakes and plus points which we had achieved while filming. Most of the technology was fairly new to me, so by giving it a trial run in the reccee, I was then able to film the main task without holding our actors up. We were able to work out the approximate time that it would take to film our main task, and therefore, when it came to the day of filming the main task we were able to determine what time we think we would have to start filming. Next, we had to try out our camera angles, lighting and sound which we had planned for in our shot list and storyboard which we brought with us for guidance. Everything seemingly went well, and we were happy with what we had achieved for our reccee, however, when watching our recordings back we realised that our microphone had been too close to a high electrical power source and therefore gave out a loud, high-pitched screech! Fortunately, with it only being a reccee we were able to correct this for our main piece. The lighting and camera angles we had used came out nicely, and again the importance of in-depth planning was proven to be vital.


When we had shot our main task and uploaded our footage onto a Mac, I felt as though I was learning something new to do with the Final Cut Pro video editing software every day that I used it. The inability to use it would have ended up with an uncut final piece, spanning over 20 minutes and therefore, learning to use the software, which I had no experience in before this year, was one of the most important skills learnt since making the preliminary task. To be specific with new skills I have learnt on the software; starting off I had an uncut preliminary task which had to be captured for it to be uploaded onto the software, then roughly cutting the footage so we had a feeling of continuity editing in my piece. However, since then, for our main task, I have acquired many more skills and uncovered countless effects on the software to try and make my final piece as good as possible. These included having to use a "Hum Remover" effect to, not surprisingly, remove a slight hum which we had with our sound recordings, learning how to apply graphic titles over the top of our footage and also layering these same graphics using "Boris titles". Unfotunately our first sound recordings came back with a strong hum which we decided was too much and therefore, did a re-recording of the sound using digital audio recorders, this was also a new technical aspect which I had learnt since my preliminary task. Finally, for our audio tracks at the beginning of our opening and the music box track, we had to download them off "freeplaymusic.com" and then overlay them over the footage; fading them in and out using special sound effects. This was a completely new are for me and something that I had no experience in just after the completion of my preliminary task.
 JK

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

A wide range of different media and software were used in making our final piece:

Blogger.com – this was used to update and post our individual work in the planning and evaluation stages.

Freeplay music – this is an un-copyrighted website where we were able to search for particular genres and styles of music, therefore easily find sound to suit our film. We could then download it and add it on to the footage.

Google.com – a search engine used to obtain images which could be used to support our planning. It also allowed us to search the internet for films similar to ours so we could be inspired and research different production companies.

YouTube.com – this site allows you to search for videos therefore we were able to look at a variety of different film openings which then gave us ideas for our own film opening. We were also able to analyse these openings in order to see what worked well and what was less effective.

IMDb.com – the internet movie database was a really useful website for research into other films, actors, characters and production companies since it provides a huge amount of information for most films.

Tripods – these were vital when filming since they ensure the camera is held steady so the shot does not appear handheld and shaky. This means the film has a more polished and professional look. We used the tripod throughout our piece, and as the legs were adjustable we were able to film at a range of different heights and angles. The tripods also allowed us to pan, as seen in the opening shot.

Final Cut Express – this is the software we used to edit and produce our final piece. The software was extremely detailed so allowed us to cut each scene down to the perfect time. Furthermore, this software enabled us to add effects to our piece, such as a Low Pass which we added to the scene in the hall in order to make the characters’ voices sound more clear and slightly echoic which we felt helped initially to build the tension. We were also able to add titles using‘Boris’ so had a large choice of fonts which we were then able to edit and add effects to.

Apple Macintosh Computer – we used this computer to edit our film usingFinal Cut. The extra large screens meant the editing process was easier since everything could be cut down really precise.

Panasonic HD Camera – we used this to record our final piece and also for the recce footage so we were able to learn how it worked in order to get the best possible shots.

Kaiser Video Lights – we used both filler and main lights in our final piece to give a more glossy effect and help to set the tone where possible, since at the beginning we used high key lighting where as at the end it was low key as the themes in the film became darker.

Rode Stereo Microphone – this was used throughout the opening to pick up ambient and diagetic sound.

Rode Directional Microphone – we used this in conjunction with the microtrack to record the scenes with dialogue since the sound was much better quality this way.

Boom Pole – the directional mike was attached to this so it could be directed nearer to the sound being recorded in order to obtain a better quality.

Microtrack – this was an incredibly useful piece of equipment regarding sound. We firstly used it to record the music box since this sound was not available on freeplay music. We also used to microtrack to record the dialogue in some scenes so the sound was more audible.

Overall I feel I can now confidently use this equipment/software, a lot of which I had never used before. Since we both have PCs at home, it was difficult to first adjust to using mac computers, however once we learnt the basics we soon found it much easier to control and edit our piece in Final Cut.

KDS

5. How would you attract/address your audience?

We looked at a number of techniques in our planning to attract a specific audience to come and view our film opening. With our film being classified as a 15 this meant that our film is primarily going to be seen by the 15-24 age bracket. Therefore, we looked into the type of characters in our film that we believed most of the audience would be able to relate to and moreover be attracted to come and view our film. For example, having a young teenage actress playing the eldest daughter, this enabled us to attract certain people of the same age and of being given the same responsibilities from parents (looking after younger sisters). Next, our father character would have attracted a slightly elder generation of cinema-goers to come and view our opening, as they can relate to his situation of looking after children and the panic which sets in when one is kidnapped. A niche audience that we have considered for our film to attract to is that of cinema-goers who are keen on thrillers, and having looked at our results from a recent questionnaire that viewers of our film opening filled out, we were not wrong:

A key part of attracting and addressing an audience to come see a film is that of a good advertising campaign. A well known advertising technique to draw in an audience early on is teaser trailers released up to a year before the general film release. Taking into consideration the 15-24 age bracket that is our target audience, we would want trailers to be shown after the water-shed, in advert breaks of a big show (like X-factor), where the majority of our target audience will be watching. Other methods of attracting our target audience to go to the cinema and see our film, is through inviting representatives of the niche audiences to go to preview screenings of our film and in turn beginning the “word of mouth” cycle which will address a much wider audience. In my opinion, the internet plays a big part in addressing an audience as it is available worldwide and is easily accessibly. For that reason, I think creating fan pages for our film and an official film website will engage our audience and attract others to come and see the film.

Below is a bar chart showing what influences those people questionnaired to go to the cinema to see films:

Having analysed our questionnaires and looking at these two graphs, we can determine the two areas which we would focus on for addressing our target and niche audiences. Therefore, in conclusion, advertising on the television, a good set of actors to play characters which your audience can relate to, and a good campaign which draws people in to go to the cinema to see your film - varying from technologies like the internet, or old fashioned magazine/newspaper reviews. Advertising our film as a low-budget british film, but also in the same way and same places as a high-budget hollywood film will specifically address our target audience.

 JK

4. Who would be the audience for your product?

We initially planned for our target audience to be aimed at the 15-24 age group, since this is the largest age band of cinema goers therefore can ensure maximum profits. This was also the target market for films similar to ours, such asChangeling and Taken.

Due to the high levels of violence in our film, we would expect it to receive a ‘15’ certificate having examined the BBFC guidelines, which state that “Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury.” This is relevant to our film since the violence is likely to be stronger than that acceptable in a ‘12’ where it “should not dwell on detail.” A ‘15’ certificate may also attract our target audience since the certificate would suggest this film is aimed at an older audience so they are therefore more likely to see it.

In order to confirm our audience we took a survey, inviting friends and teachers of different ages and genders to give their opinions of our film.

From the surveys taken, we discovered our predictions were correct, as we largely asked people aged 15-24, 85% of whom said they would choose to see this film at the cinema. We also asked roughly the same number of people from each gender and found our film appealed to both a male and a female audience, since girls were able to relate to the teenage daughter while boys enjoy the ‘thriller’ genre.

Our research also confirmed our niche audience we thought the film might also attract, since in our questionnaire we asked whether or not they were a parent. The majority of parents questioned said they would also choose to see this film in the cinema. This therefore shows that our initial predictions were correct and therefore our film is likely to be a success since it was enjoyed by people from a variety of different age groups. 

Finally many of the questionnaires showed people could relate most to Eleanor, the teenage daughter, in the opening. This suggests she is a well-cast character as she is at a similar age to those in our target audience, aged 15-24, so she is a key character within the film. In addition, parents in our niche audience said they could relate to the Dad, therefore we provided characters which appeal to a range of audiences.

Sample questionnaires:

KDS

3. What kind of institution may distribute your media product and why?

  

 

KDS