Sound

City Breaks

The rhythm to this beat will suit our film really well because it's slow with a gangster beat which will suit the location we did & time in the foggy morning in the ghetto place. The song also feels like it's telling a story especially when we see it with the film itself. The advantage of using this song is that the crime drama genre is expressed in a strong way as it sounds like stereotypical soundtrack which would associate a youth (gangster) interested in this particular type of music. However, the disadvantage of using this is that we do not achieve the constant flow which was essential to match with the shots of our opening sequence.

Do the Damn thing

This song has a fast hiphop gangster rhythm to it. I chose this song because it will suit the the opening of my film because it's based in a gangster environment.

Slow Jams

This beat is a steady tempoed beat that features a couple of second pause. I chose this song because it represents the area and culture of the gangsters and the seconds pause could be used showing closeups of the gang meaning the audience will be thought provoked thinking into the character's lifestyle. This was the final soundtrack we used for our opening sequence. This due to the dramatic effect being achieved and also the constant repitition of the tune which also represents that everything that has been shown is done on a regular basis as it is the character's daily lives.

Maybe

This beat features a big sound base like a drum and continues to a instument being played later. I chose this song because it matches the scene that the openng scene will be in.

Feedback

During Post-Production:

As we were editing our opening sequence, we constantly asked for feedback. Such as the effect of the font of our title. We wanted it to be bold and in red capital letters as the colour connotes that there is blood and crime involved in this film, which creates seriousness. In order to ensure this effect was achieved, we asked for feedback. Also during the process of making the titles for our statistics, we were advised to show each fact separately so it is more pleasing to the audience's eye and make them want to read it, as they play an important role in the narrative. To solve this we used transition effects to display each fact separated as this enables the audience to easily what is on the screen rather than a huge amount of writing we started off with before. Many negative feedback was given for the final shot, which was a mid pan shot of a wall full of graffiti. To make it more suited to our sequence, we lengthened the duration of this shot. This gave the final effect of a slow end rather than a quick pan shot.

Script

Shot 1: Production company title: A.D.A Productions (3 seconds)

Shot 2: Blank Screen – pause for 2 seconds - “Based on a true story”

Shot 3: Statistics (5-6 seconds)

Shot 4: We see an establishing shot of a rough area. A R&B soundtrack starts playing. High view of houses near a railway. A title rolls onto the shot “Barking, London” (2 seconds)

Shot 5: Shot of a busy main road. (2 seconds) Quick pace.

Shot 6: Long shot of a gang in an alley way then credits roll onto the shot “Sound by Akin Smith” (4 seconds)

Shot 7: Low angle shot taken in the middle of the gang, facial expressions shown. (4 secs)

Shot 8: Black background - quote is shown (4/5 secs)

Shot 9: Close up of a police line banner and credits rolled on “Camera by Astijus Kazlauskas”

Shot 10: Mid shot of the gangster’s legs and someone drops the alcohol bottle. Litter on the floor. (5 secs)

Shot 11: Wall of graffiti shown. Pan shot. Soundtrack fades away with the shot. Credits rolled on “Directed by Dhara Syal” (4/5 secs)

Shot 12: Blank Screen and sound effects of gun shots are heard (7 seconds)

Shot 13: Title fades onto the screen “GRANTED” (4 secs)

Evaluation Question Seven

Evaluation Question Seven

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

Preliminary Brief: Film and edit a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character. A couple of lines of dialogue must then exchanged between characters & match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule should be demonstrated.

Main Task: The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes (all video and audio material must be original, produced by candidates, with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source)

Pre – production

Preliminary Task

I feel that this task seemed very simple, but to execute it as a group we found it quite difficult as there were many things yet to be learnt. As a group we were satisfied with the idea of a school boy being hit by a car and a school girl helps him. The scene was set in a classroom (school environment). As part of pre- planning, we drew up a storyboard and wrote a script for our cast. We chose to keep the location simple and easy to find, as we easily found a free classroom. However we later found out that the classroom was booked for another purpose and so we had to look for another free room immediately. It caused inconvenience as we had to complete filming but a set deadline. From this I learnt to make sure for definite if it is fully possible to use a place to film through a location recce. But luckily we did not have to re-shoot as the rest of the shots were inside the class room. We did not have many problems with filming in the corridor both as we filmed after school and not many people are about. But when we had to film in the corridor of the classroom we had to look for again, a school event was taking place around the location and therefore there was some disturbance. To solve this we asked them to be quiet for a few minutes as we explained to them it was for a media project. The better solution of this would be to film at a quieter time, but due to limited time we didn’t have the chance. Again I learnt to next time make sure that the location chosen would be available to film.

While deciding how to film each shot, we considered where to keep the camera and the character’s movements but we did however focus on the problems that could occur. As the character’s positioning changed, the 180 degree rule confused us and it wasted time. From this I learnt to think about all the possible pros and cons of each shot and think realistically rather than having a vague idea of executing the shots. We solved this issue by thinking through it and then we finally managed to put the camera at a good angle. I also realised that our pre- production stage for the preliminary task was very similar to our main task pre- production and this helped us a lot as the preliminary task was our first step. For our cast, we didn’t have the chance to look for good actors and we didn’t have time for auditions as each group was told to cast for a group. We had to rehearse a few times for each shot with the cast as they sometimes did not know what to do. From this I learnt that too much rehearsing while filming is time consuming and so in our main task we made sure not to over rehearse. Casting was an important part of our main task although we did not include our main characters in the narrative. This is because we had to show a variation of shots of a teenage gang as the rough location shown suits the type of people that stereotypically live there.

The shooting schedule helped us to make sure how much time we need for every shot. We also had a continuity sheet which enabled us to keep a record of good and bad shots, which came handy when digitizing. As we were making the shooting schedule it did not seem like we needed over 15 minutes to film one shot, but as it came to filming we struggled to stick to the 15 minute time given to each shot. This was because we needed to include some safety shots and try and take each shot from different angles. From this I learnt to realistically set times for each shot and always add a little extra time just in case an issue occurs. As we were filming there were two shots we could not do. We realised that it wouldn’t be possible to film our last shot as it was a reflection shot and the camera would be easily seen. The shot before the final shot was not filmed as well as we realised it was a similar to a shot we had done before. To solve this we replaced them with the girl walking towards the door and a tracking shot of the girl running out of the room. However, when it came to editing and digitising, we discovered that we did not record sound in the first two/three shots. This was our major mistake and we learnt to next time check if the sound is working as well as everything else, because we didn’t really think to check the sound. For the main task we did not want to make the same mistake so we ensured that the sound was working at the beginning of filming every shot.

The pitch for my preliminary task evaluation, to be honest it did not go well. The main reason for this is because I was not prepared and while speaking I was confused and lost of what to actually say. To solve this I tried my best to speak about my opinions about the task and what went well and what didn’t. However I got the feedback that I referred to very good media terminologies and can speak quite confidently. By pitching I did not only learn how to improve on it and the important things to say, but I learnt things that I could apply in future reference and if I had to pitch for anything, especially for a job. I learnt that you have to really present yourself and know what you are talking about and show the audience that you are enthusiastic about it, which makes a good pitch. Skills such as good communication, such as speaking clearly also make a strong pitch. Also I learnt that you need to be prepared and you need to really know your product inside out and this shows in the way you speak. Although I feel that my pitch was the biggest mistake I made, it was also the most important thing I learnt. For the main task I ensured I would not make mistakes in the pitch and I did this by rehearsing the pitch before.

Main Task

The pre-production stage for the main task I think was immense. A lot of work had to be put in for just planning and this made the execution and filming a lot easier. The initial decision made for the task was to make a story for our film out of song lyrics. As a class we came across many varieties of possible ways to create our story, and we chose that making a story from song lyrics would be a good idea. Individually we then researched about 8 – 10 song lyrics and think of a narrative and characters for each song. Personally I enjoyed this part of the pre-production as the idea of having song lyrics opened up many different creative ideas and concepts that could be used to make a film narrative. We were then put into our groups and discussed each other’s story ideas. At the time one person in our group was not with us to discuss with us, however we informed them later and he was satisfied with the decision. We decided that our film will be of the crime drama genre. As a group we had one main idea, but as we thought about things like location and cast we kept changing some ideas. We spent a lot of time together as a group to think about our narrative. The main issue we had after pitching our final story was that we were told that the ending of our film was too complicated and not simple. We struggled because we had gone through many ideas before and it was hard to think of another one. We even came to a solution of changing the whole story but we knew that would not be possible so to solve this we spent a lot of time thinking about a creative and simple ending. We finally came up with a good ending and then moved on to creating a storyboard. To identify the themes of our film we individually created a mood board. By doing this I discovered all the possible themes such as “death” and “gang crime” which were important to include as our genre is crime drama.

I feel my group and I performed well while pitching for our treatment, as I think it was better than my individual pitch in the preliminary task. This is because we worked well as a team by splitting the topics like target audience between ourselves. However, I personally thought we were well prepared but when it came to executing the pitch a lot of mistakes were made. For example, while we were talking we got lost for words which made us seem like we were not sure about our own film. Also we went into a little too much detail and the pitch was quite long as it was supposed to be quite short and simple. From this I learnt that next time rehearse over and over again until I am fully sure about what I am going to say and my team members.

We created three storyboard ideas before our final storyboard. I learnt that we had to keep our opening short, interesting, creative and simple and so we decided not to introduce the main characters and just introduce the location. We did not need a script as there was no dialogue. As our storyboard ideas changed, it made it a lot easier for us as a group to search and film in a certain area. As for our pre-lim task, we stuck to one storyboard. This was because in our main task we were aware about all factors more than our pre lim task as we had little knowledge. I also learnt that I was thinking of too many advanced ways in terms of our narrative and filming, which were too complicated. So I then started to think in simple and realistic ways which helped us find the perfect location for our film opening. We did a location recce which helped a lot with the storyboard. Such as, we took the shots of the location like we would film and this linked to our photo storyboard as well. This shows progression as we did not use a photo storyboard for our pre lim task and in our main task it helped. We had no problems once we found our location. This is because for each part of our location we made a list of the possible problems and risk assessments. This prepared and made us think in advance about our decision to film there. This also shows major progression as we did not think ahead in our pre- lim task which caused problems.

Whilst we did our photo storyboard, it was the chance for our cast to rehearse and they were told what they will be required to do on the shooting day. We have some cast as we wanted to show gangsters in the area, but they are not the main characters. The issues we had with this was that one of the cast members could not make it and therefore we had to look for someone else to replace her for just two photos. We found a replacement as the task was done successfully. As there was no dialogue, it made it easier for me to explain to the real cast member of what has to be done. I learnt that having no dialogue made our opening sequence a lot easier to film and it was a good decision. The shooting schedule also helped and the timings were kept for a good length as I learnt from the preliminary task to add some extra time to each shot. This was effective because it gave us time to film safety shots so we did not run out of a variety of shots while editing.

Production:

Preliminary Task:

For the production of our short film, props were not needed. The equipment we did need such as some paper and pens were already in the classroom so we just used them. There were no issues with the camera however the reason our sound was not monitored was because our sound person was not available on the filming day. This caused a lot of inconvenience to the other person and I as we had to share out his responsibilities between just the two of us. However I think personally we did quite well and we were organised which helped us to accomplish our filming. We shot a variety of shots but not many safety shots as we only had a limited time to finish our filming. This task set the basis of the start of building our production skills in many ways. For example, we had to make sure we are keeping continuity in our shots. We did this by making sure no extra props have been added in the shots and also the positioning of the characters. It is important to keep continuity as it makes more sense to the audience of what is going on. It also helped us gain creativity skills, such as keeping to the story board and trying to make our shots as effective as possible. We did this by making sure our characters did exactly what we drew in the storyboard. However sometimes we had difficulty executing some shots as I have said before, we did not think about the shots realistically enough. We had trouble using the equipment, especially the camera as it was the first time we had ever used it. For example, we did not know how to rewind the tape, and to solve this we asked for help and were shown a demonstration. This enabled us to increase our knowledge on the equipment which we can as a team and individually use in our main task. Also in our main task we had gained a lot more practice with using the equipment which shows the progression from the little knowledge we knew, to using the equipment confidently.

Main task:

For the main task we used an extra piece of equipment which was the microphone on the boom pole for sound. We did not encounter any issues with the equipment on our filming day. We were filming outside and luckily the weather was dry. However because it was quite a sunny day (and we wanted a gloomy atmosphere to go with the cinematography to link with our genre of crime drama) we had to re shoot some shots to avoid the bright light from interfering with what we were filming. To solve this we came back a later time during the day and the shots came out like we wanted them to. Like in the preliminary task I kept a record of the good and bad takes. This was because when it came to editing we have a record to refer to and it saves time so we did not have to watch the useless takes. I also kept referring to the photo story board which helped in reminding the cast what they need to do and also to remind camera how to film the shots. This was different to the pre-lim task because we only referred to the storyboard, and I think this inhibited the quality of our shots as the shots did not look realistic enough. But in our main task we were confident with the decision of the shots as we knew they were simple to film. While filming we also took some safety shots for the shots that could be possible to film another way, but as it came to editing we realised that we did not take as many as we think we did. From this we learnt not to limit the amount of safety shots as most of them could be needed.

The shooting schedule once again helped a lot as we grouped all the shots together with each part of the location. For example, for all the gangster shots, although on our storyboard the shots are all separately shown, we filmed them together. We did this because we learnt that it saves time and truthfully speaking it did. We also recorded the sound of everything you could hear in the area such as the cars and trains, so that if we wanted to include the diegetic sound with the soundtrack we had that option. This kept our options open about the sound while editing.

Post production & Feedback

Preliminary Task:

I had the role of a Director in this task and the main task. Personally I feel that I tried my best in fulfilling the role especially the first time as the main responsibilities are on the Director. The main issue I had with this task was time as we were running over schedule and started to cause panic. But this issue was later solved as we were given some extra time. I think we were given more feedback individually than as a group, especially when filming. This is because we were being taught the basics on how to take on the roles, and in our main task we had to incorporate the basics we personally know with the group. I think the preliminary task was very helpful as it was our first time and the more mistakes I have made I have learnt from.

As we were editing we were again given a lot of feedback from teachers and other students. We incorporated this feedback into our short film so that we could improve on it and make the changes we needed to. For example, we asked for some advice on which shot was better to use than another one. By doing this I learnt that from constantly asking for feedback will increase the quality of the film as they would look at it from an audience’s perspective. We also learnt how to create a title page and we included it at the beginning of our short film. Also as we were editing we realised that there was no sound in the first few shots. This was another major mistake we learnt from and made sure that a mistake like that would never happen in our main task. I wasn’t very familiar with the software either but to solve this I asked or help. For example I didn’t know how to “fade” the beginning of a shot and when I was shown, I knew that this effect had to definitely be used in my main task. We also received more feedback in our main task than the preliminary task which helped us improve our opening. I also gained the basic skills of digitizing our rushes and applying shots onto our timeline.

Main Task:

I was happy with the role of Director given to me again as I am familiar and confident with the roles and responsibilities the director takes on. My responsibilities increased in the main task as it was a larger task and I had to make sure everything went according to plan. Truthfully speaking, I did my best not to repeat the mistakes I made in my preliminary task. I did this by making sure the sound was working with the sound person and I directed the cast in a more professional manner. However in the process of the post production I learnt many new technical skills regarding the software “Adobe Premier Pro”. I used my previous knowledge which was quite basic and made it more advanced by experimenting with the effects and other functions. Personally I think post production is the best part of the whole project as everything is planned, filmed and now all is left to do is just putting it all together. As a group we gave each other feedback including other students and teachers, which helped us incredibly. Our storyboard is now a little different as we decided to re order some shots and add a few more titles for effectiveness. We did this to include creativity and to make our opening sequence really interesting.

We already had a choice of what soundtrack we were going to use, but while editing we made our final choice. This is because we wanted to keep an open choice so we could match the pace of our sequence with the soundtrack. This helped us make sure that our sound suited the whole sequence. A problem we had with the soundtrack and the sound effects of gunshots was that every time we disconnected the USB the sound would disappear. To solve this we imported the sound again and transferred the mp3 files onto the lacie drive we saved our work on. Also every time we saved our work and disconnected the lacie drive, the sequence would re order or delete a few things that we had already done. It wasted time to restore some things but in the end all was well as the problems stopped occurring. The main thing I would have done differently which I regret not doing in our main task was to take as many safety shots as possible. However overall I feel that our group was very organised and organisation enabled us to reach the final product. As we were given a day to film, it taught me how fast real film makers have to work in the media industry as time is money. From the preliminary task I feel I have progressed because I was a lot more organised in the main task. More planning went into the main task than the pre-lim because as a group we had regular meetings to discuss each stage of our main task. By doing so, as a group we were always connected and we constantly add our ideas to make our main task a success.

Evaluation Question Six

Evaluation Question Six

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

Through the process of producing our film opening, I have improved on my technical skills with the technologies we have used. We used the Canon XHA1 Camera, like we did in our preliminary task. I feel that I have learnt a lot more on how to use the camera than I did in the preliminary task. Such as connecting the mains battery pack to the camera – it connects the same way as a battery is place inside the camera in the same slot. I am a lot more familiar with the camera’s function now than I used to be and feel more confident in using it. For example I know how to use the “VCR Play” function now to playback rushes as I was not sure how to do this at first. Although my role was a Director in our production, I noticed that the camera was quite light weight and portable to carry as we had to carry it to numerous locations as we filmed. The Vinten Pro Touch Black Tripod was also easy to attach and we did not encounter any problems with the camera or tripod. I learnt that every time we attached the camera and move the tripod you have to check if the spirit level is balanced. Otherwise the shots will come out tilted. The tripod enables us to film steady shots which are important as it shows of professional skills, rather than what you would see in a handy cam, the footage is all shaking as it is hand held. The Cannon XHA1 is also quite compact as it is used by real film makers and has good professional quality.

The sound equipment we used was also of very high quality. We used the Sennheiser K6 Microphone which was placed in a Rycote Windshield System connected to the Boom pole. I learnt that as you connect the XLR Lead from the microphone to the camera, the lead can be easily taped to the boom pole to prevent the disturbance of the lead hitting the pole. This makes the sound quality a bit more efficient as well. The sound person in our group Akin, used the Sennheiser HD 205 headphones to listen out for any loud interferences which would ruin our sound quality for our film. We decided to record sound as well as a second option if we decided to keep diegetic sound with the soundtrack. But we decided to keep just the soundtrack in the end as our final decision. This equipment was very lightweight but we had some difficulties with its portability as we had to look it very carefully and because the sound is always connected with the camera we had to carefully manage the two together when moving with them. It was easy to set up as we did not encounter any difficulties.

To edit our film we used Adobe Premier Pro software. The advantages of using this software are that it is very efficient and once you know how to use it its quite simple. However the disadvantages are that it can be quite overwhelming and complicated to use at first. We used the Firewire lead to connect the Cannon XAH1 Camera to the computer to digitize our rushes. We saved the film onto an 80GB Lacie Drive which enabled us to edit our film on any computer rather than saving it onto the hard drive of a computer. By experimenting with the software I learnt how to use many different effects onto shots such as “Fade” and “Dissolve”. I also became more confident in digitizing and creating a flowing linear sequence of shots together when we had to assemble edit all of our shots. We encountered some problems with the soundtrack being lost as soon as we disconnected a USB stick with the soundtrack on it. To solve this we saved the soundtrack onto the lacie drive as well. This time we used a lot more titles than we did in our preliminary task and once again this broadens the range of skills and knowledge I have learnt during editing. These are technical skills like connecting the camera to the computer and digitizing. Also learning how to use the software increased my knowledge. As now we are in a generation that we have technology for film-making, it’s possible to edit footage in any way. Without technology it would not be possible to create films with special effects and films would not be in a great quality.

Evaluation Question Five

Evaluation Question Five

How did you attract/address your audience?

To promote our film to the public we would make posters that would give people a good idea of the genre of the film. We would follow the codes and conventions of crime drama by:

Having a large red title on the top “GRANTED”

· Main characters (Trey and Nicholas) back to back, Trey wearing his CID uniform and holding a gun where as Nicholas wearing street wear (hoody) also holding a gun. Their facial expressions will both be serious

T The background would be black and a spotlight would be on both characters.

· The names of the actors, production company (“A.D.A PRODUCTIONS PRESENT”) and the director would be at the top in white font. The release date would also include at the bottom.

Our film poster would look like something similar to this “Sherlock Holmes” film poster which recently has been released:

Our posters would be seen in all public places such as:

 Underground tube trains/stations - as a lot of people use public transport, crime drama film fans would be interested in watching

 Subways- because many youths hang around in subways and we would like to grab the attention of young people to watch our film.

 In cinemas – people are always looking forward to see posters of soon to be released movies and as our poster would look appealing, audience’s pre plan films that they are interested in seeing.

All these public places are very commonly used for film posters as we always see film posters in these places. The aim is to grab as much of public attention as possible to increase the audience population for our film. As it is an independent film, the funding would be quite expensive to advertise on TV, billboards etc, so we chose to advertise in these certain places as they are not as costly.

The first shot of our opening sequence for our film “Granted” is the production company title called “A.D.A Productions”. The title would attract our audience as it sounds quite serious and hints what the narrative could be about. This is because the C.I.D agent takes the gangsters and their trust for “granted”, and therefore we thought this title would be best suited for our film. The title is in a white font and a black background, normal text to convey the seriousness of our crime drama genre.

The next five shots are followed by statistics which are shown one by one using flowing transitions. Again they are in a white font but the numbers are in a bigger size and in bold red font with a black background to show the bloodshed, and as “red” is represented as a dangerous colour and so it can be associated with crime. It also gives a serious effect on the audience of the serious mood. The statistics that come up are “London crime statistics for 2009, Homicides – 128, Gun Crimes - 3 315, Robbery -32 954, Violence against person-174 806”. We left each statistic up for a few seconds so that the audience would be able to easily read it. As our statistics flow one by one it also keeps the audience hooked to carry on watching as we do not just show a bunch of statistics but creatively make them look appealing to read and consider.

After the statistics we see a shot faded on saying “Based on a true story” in a white font again on the right hand side of the screen. We chose to add the element of saying our film is based on a true story to prepare the audience to take the film seriously. From seeing crime statistics the audience would guess the genre of the film straight away which was one of our main goals. The shot fades out after a few seconds.

In the next shot we see is an establishing shot of our location, and the non-diegetic soundtrack of a R&B tune starts as we see the shot. This attracts the audience as the soundtrack is quite loud and up-beat. An example we looked at that gave us this idea was the opening of the film “Adulthood”. The soundtrack is effective as it suits the “ghetto” location shown, which links to our opening. The shot is not faded on as we want to grab the audience’s attention straight away from the start of our shot sequence. This establishing shot consists of a railway and houses around it and is during daytime. The shot action is a pan from the moment we see the train and then the train going past. Then we see the location title “Barking, London” (in white font-our main colour theme for most texts) to tell the audience where the film is set and what area they are seeing. This also follows the codes and conventions of a crime drama as films such as “Scarface” also introduce the location. The start of the soundtrack and the fast motion of the train in the establishing shot keeps the audience interested as the setting of our film is introduced and the audience can see that the area is quite rough. The pace of the opening sequence then becomes steadier and the beats of the soundtrack also supports this. This shot lasts for a few seconds as well and ends as soon as the train has gone past.

After the establishing shot we see a close up shot of a building of apartments and then gradually zooming out to show the busy main road of the area. Originally, our idea was to have a long shot of cars driving past on a busy main road, but as we took some safety shots we decided to try a zoom out shot and see everything gradually. This attracts the audience as it is not just a normal shot where everything is shown, but instead it shows the location by zooming out gradually. The reason for showing an apartment was because it relates to our story as the C.I.D agent goes on a mission to live with London’s most wanted gang. As we viewed this shot we preferred to use it as it looked a lot more interesting to watch than our original idea for this shot. The speed of the zoom is at a medium pace as well and this supports the soundtrack and the overall pace of our opening sequence. It also keeps the audience watching as the speed of the shot suits the beat of the soundtrack.

Next shot is a long shot of the gang in an alley way. Three teenagers (two males and one female) are meeting up and talking. They are easily identified as gangsters as we see that they are all wearing hoodies and are in a very dirty alley way. However we made the alley way more dirty than usual for the cinematography of the location, and it also shows how rough the area is. They are drinking shown through holding alcohol bottles and smoking which one character lights up a cigarette. This attracts the audience as people are shown and they are in quite an unusual setting. The credit of “Camera by Astijus Kazlauskas” is rolled on to the shot in the right hand corner of the screen, again in white font. This also attracts the audience as it informs the audience about who filmed the film. We decided to fade the credits onto the shots as well to keep the flow of our opening at a steady pace. The credit then fades out and this shot is quite quick as not much action is happening.

The next shot is a cutaway shot of another train going past but this time we have shown an underground tube train, as the tube can bring a more “ghetto” mood to the atmosphere of the sequence. This attracts the audience as it gives a break to the sequence and shows the daily routine of the operation of this town. Another reason for showing this (as it is not the original idea) is because we realised that the shot after would break continuity and therefore we added this extra shot. This shot is shown for few seconds as well.

Following on from the shot before the cutaway scene, the opening goes back to the gangsters as we see a low angle mid shot of them, and only their upper body is shown. As the audience seems to be looking up at them it suggests the sense that these gangsters are more superior and have power. This shot personally my favourite shot as I think it attracts the audience by showing the character’s point of view. They are shown as antagonists as they are part of a gang which tend to search and cause trouble. Two gangsters are making a drug deal in this shot as we see the hands while they are dealing in the forth ground of the screen. The gangster in the middle in the background is looking around to make sure no one sees this happen as the audience can see him look around. The gangsters also slyly make the gestures as they deal and make it look like a normal hand shake when it really isn’t. This shot also lasts for a few seconds.

To give the sequence another break, we decided to add a quote from the Metropolitan police, “Gun crime in London has soared due to a new wave of teenage respect shootings” This is on a separate shot on a black background with white font to keep the same theme of our crime drama genre to add to the seriousness. This shot shown for a readable amount of seconds’ as well. The effect of this quote gives quite a statistical view of crime in London caused by teenagers, which links to what we see in our opening. We used this shot to keep the audience watching as it is a different shot from the location shots that are shown. It also shows the social issue of young people getting involved in gang related crimes from early teens and then becoming part of large dangerous organisations, which is how our antagonist “Nicholas” grew up to be the leader of. Films such as “Scarface” also have quotes in the opening sequence, and this also gives the audience some knowledge they should know in order to understand key things in the film.

The next shot is just a quick mid shot of a police line saying “Police line DO NOT CROSS”. It is a still shot to show that a serious incident has happened which is a typical incident in an area like Barking. This attracts the audience as a police line has been shown that is restricting the public from accessing the certain area and this makes the audience curious to know what happened. An example we looked at was the opening of the film of “Bad Boys 2”, where right after the statistics a “stop” sign is shown which connoted that as people we need to put a “stop” to gang violence. Then we see the credits “Sound by Akin Smith” faded on to the shot. This shot only lasts for a few seconds as well.

The next shot goes back to the life of these gangsters and we see a mid shot of their legs and a lot of litter and alcohol bottles on the floor. We first see one of the gangsters holding the alcohol bottle and then throwing it on the floor. This shot attracts the audience as a quick action is taking place of the bottle thrown on the floor. This shows the anti social behaviour of these youths and adds to what some of the people are like living in this area. This shot is also quite quick as we just wanted to show a quick action of throwing the bottle which creates the bad impression we want the audience to feel as there is not many positive things about this area.

The next shot is another cutaway shot of a wall full of graffiti which again represents the gang culture. This shot is quite effective in attracting the audience as we see another side to anti social behaviour within the area, and it also informs the audience on how dangerous this area is. This shot is a pan and we edited the shots speed to a very slow pan as the shot was too fast. The final credits fade on to the shot “Directed by Dhara Syal”. This shot pans slowly towards the next shot.

The next shot is another quote but this time from a gangster, once again in white font with a black background. “We’re jus mandem reppin our endz” We chose to write it in slang as it gives a more personal effect on the audience and the way they speak is shown in the way the quote has been written. This quote simply means that these gangsters feel that they are representing the place they live and are quite proud about it too. This shot attracts the audience as it is very different from the previous quotes and statistics shown as it is an opinion from a gang member. It also represents a view that could be the main reason why there is so much violence and rivalry within this area. This shot lasts a bit longer than the other shots as the soundtrack starts to fade away.

The final shot is the film title “Granted” as we hear the soundtrack faded away as the sound of loud gunshots take over. The final “bang” is heard as the title slowly fades onto the screen. This creates a surprising effect on the audience and suddenly brings tension into the sequence and makes the audience ask questions of who has just been shot. This is good as the opening sequence is not at all giving away our story and by creating this enigmatic feel to the audience, the audience have many questions about what they have just seen and heard. This means that we have grabbed the audience’s attention instantly which was one of our main goals. As we kept the opening quite short, unlike the opening for “Scarface” which was quite long, we wanted to keep the audience hooked to continue watching so we basically did not want to bore the audience by showing shots of just the location. Our opening is like just a quick introduction the rough area and the type of people that live here and what incidents occur.

Our audience would relate to most of the themes in our film. The theme of gang crime is easy for the audience to relate to as many people have experienced gang crime violence or have even been part of a gang. The film “Adulthood” shows this theme quite well as we see a lot of crime, drug dealing and violence like we would continue to show in the rest of our film. The theme of brotherhood is also easy to relate to as the audience would empathize and feel the same pain and shock we have in the end. The theme of death is also quite understandable and usually sympathy is already created whenever the protagonist dies in a film and has a very emotional impact on the audience. Personally I think we were successful in attracting our target audience as it is aimed at teenagers mainly, and there are many issues that have been highlighted in our film such as drugs, which a majority of teenagers are quite vulnerable nowadays.

Evaluation Question Four

Evaluation Question Four

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Primary audience profile:

Age: 16 – 30 year olds

Gender: Both

Ethnicity: All ethnicities and race

Social Class: Young adults and teenagers from working class families

Lifestyle: People who are interested in watching crime drama genre films, interested in real life issues, appealing to young people as it shows youth culture.

We have associated our film’s target audience with the demographics ( such as class, location etc) of the film with the people living in the area, and similar people living like that in reality who go through the social issues shown, such as gang crime and drugs. We chose to target 16-30 year olds as, as we have shown a group of young people in a gang. Also statistically this age group is more prone to be involved in gang associated crimes as we researched for the production of our film. Our film “stereotypically” applies to the male audience but in today’s generation the female audience would be just as entertained so therefore both genders would be interested in watching our film and other crime drama films. We have also shown men and women in our opening and this shows that the film appeals to both male and female audiences.

As for ethnicity and race, we were careful not to aim at a particular group as it would cause issues regarding racism. To tackle this we had a cast of all races and crime can be committed by anyone of any race. We also decided that young adults and teenagers from working class families would be interested in watching our film. This is because people who live in areas like the location we have shown (Barking and Dagenham, Hackney) in the opening can relate to it well as they know what places like these are like. But it is not necessary for the audience to live in such areas because they may already have some knowledge and understanding of them already. If they don’t then by watching our film they will gain the experience of how working class young adults struggle financially and the reasons for turning to crime.

Secondary audience profile:

Age: 16 – 40 year olds

Gender: Both

Ethnicity: All ethnicities and race

Social Class: People from all class (upper, middle, working class)

Lifestyle: People interested in a variety of films to watch and the crime drama genre could appeal to them

The secondary audience for our film are people with all interests and wouldn’t mind watching any genre. The following films would also be appealing to both our primary and secondary audience as they follow codes and conventions of crime drama films:

• The Dark Knight
• American Beauty
• Law and Order
• Kill Bill: Vol.1

Other films our audience may be interested in watching would be “Adulthood” and “Kidulthood” which both focus on young adults and teenagers lives living in rough areas of the UK. They both focus on the similar social issues and themes like our film such as, gang crime, violence, drugs and death. A film typical of the crime drama genre our audience would watch is “Scarface” as it is also about violence, crime and drugs. Also a film released in the last six months that would appeal to our audience would be “Public Enemies” as it is again about crimes being committed due to financial reasons of the Great Depression.