Wednesday, 1 May 2013

Forever Hold Your Piece - Final Cut


After a lot of hard work and effort we finally made it!

Forever Hold Your Piece - coming to a cinema near you.

Well done group 12.21!

Sunday, 28 April 2013

Nasir Ahmad Evaluation Question 7



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


From the preliminary task we learnt how to use the 180 degree rule effectively. This shot is most commonly used when shooting a conversation, which we, in our production did not use. However, it was good to learn this technique and experience its effects.
From the preliminary task we also got used to the software’s and equipment for example IMovie and the tripods.
In summary, these are the main things we covered throughout the portfolio:
-          How to use a camera
-          How to use a tripod
-          How to use a crane
-          How to use lighting effectively, natural and artificial
-          How surrounding noises can be recorded unintentionally
-          The various camera shots such as: close ups, establishing shots, tilts, pans etc…
-          How to use IMovie to an amateur level
-          How to use Garage Band and After Effects to a beginners level
-          The importance of teamwork and individual responsibilities

Overall it was a good experience; I learnt a lot, and improved on what I knew already.
 

Nasir Ahmad Evaluation Question 6

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



Camera
We used a Cannon fully HD ready Camera. We used the basic features of the camera, for example Zoom, record, playback and importing to PC’s. We did not use the more technical features such as the pull focus feature and the night vision mode. This is because we did not need to use these features.
Crane
For the preliminary task we used a crane to get the camera high up. Using a crane enabled us to create a surveillance effect. However we had to be aware of the camera looking down upon the character.
Tripod
 We learnt from the first day footage that using a tripod is a basic tool which can affect the whole of the production. This is because we did not use a tripod whilst filming the first footage, reason being that we were not allowed to take equipment out of school premises without a teacher’s supervision. For this reason we used Georgia’s camera to film but had no tripod to put it on. The problem that arose because we didn’t use a tripod was, the footage was too unsteady. This not only affected the quality of the footage, but it also affected the footage once imported to IMovie. This was because the software detected that the footage was not steady and therefor started to stabilize it. Not only did this take three times more the time of importing it, it also made it lag once played.
iMovie
However, because I movie is a non-linear editing software it was easy for us to just put the shots together to create a storyline. This enabled us to spot our mistakes and reshoot what we needed to, then place it on the storyline.
GarageBand
This is the software Georgia used to make the non-diegetic sounds. She had used the software before but not up to the level we needed to for this production. For this reason she spent a long time composing the music for the opening.
Adobe After Effects
This software was used to create the “Forever Hold Your Piece” effect, the “Ace Pictures” logo and the “Uncut Productions” logo. However, because no one in our group had used Adobe After Effects before Vivien, our group member took matters into her own hands and learnt how to use the software by looking into YouTube tutorials.
YouTube
We used YouTube to post our videos on; this was useful because we could use the URL link or the Embedded Code to post our videos in different places such as our blog. However it was essential that we had a YouTube account which was not a problem, because we could just use our Google account which we needed to make for our Blogger account.
Blogger
This was the blog we used to record our stages of production. From our audience research to Evaluation, it was also easier for teachers to review our progress. I had not used Blogger before this, but now that I have learnt how to use it I might consider starting my own blog.
Prezi
Prezi is a fancy way of presenting a presentation. Not only that but you can embed it into websites and Blogger. It is better than Microsoft PowerPoint because first of all PowerPoint has become too cliché whereas Prezi is still a unique way of presenting presentation. I had not used Prezi before this, however now that I know how to use it and know about it, I might consider using it before doing a presentation.
IPhone
On the IPhone I was easily able to access the blog where I could continually look back at our audience research and reflect upon it. It also meant it was easier to update the blog and post what was going on in our group.
Tablet
The tablet was useful when getting audience feedback, because it was mobile and not time consuming. The feedback was useful because we could then reflect and see how well we did compared to the audience research.



Nasir Ahmad Evaluation Question 5

Nasir Ahmad Evaluation Question 4



Who would be the audience for our media product ?

According to our product research and audience research, our product is a 15 rated product. Meaning our film is to be aimed at people above the age of 15. However, Action Thrillers are not appealing to audiences over the age of 40, so our age range can be 15-40. This is because our media product is aimed at a mainstream audience, giving it the potential to attract a broad audience.

Also, from the research we did, it is also clear that there is no certainty which gender it would be more appealing to, however some research did suggest that people watched movies because of the characters in them.

Nasir Ahmad Evaluation Question 3

Nasir Ahmad Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our protagonist is the typical smart, fit and innocent looking “hitman”. We typically stereotyped him because our film is aimed at a mainstream audience, so keeping in line with the conventions of typical action and thrillers we thought it was necessary to have a typical “hitman”.
The protagonist is typically stereotyped because most action thrillers have a similar protagonist to ours. For example:



 

Our film opening represents men as hardworking and challenges the ideology of “the women taking care of the house”. This is because our film is about a man who is an employed by an undercover agency as an assassin. However, this assassin wants to leave his current employment because he knows his job involves a high risk of being killed and he knows he is the only one who provides for his disabled wife and unborn baby, so if anything was to happen to him his family will suffer. For this reason I believe that this protagonist is challenging the typical ideology of “women taking care of the house”. Firstly the protagonist is ready to sacrifice his experienced and wealthy career for the sake of his family, and partially because theoretically he looks after the house anyway. He looks after his disabled wife who is pregnant, provides for her, himself and the unborn baby. For this reason, the protagonist is seen as “taking care of the house” rather than women.
Other social groups which have been represented are: the group of criminals that cannot be recognised and the group of criminals that are typically stereotyped. For example:
















These are all people found guilty of some sort of crime, making them criminals. However one cannot recognise them as criminals from the way the dress and present themselves. Unlike this social group which is most commonly stereotyped as criminals but actually are not:


They look like criminals because of the ideology of how criminals have a similar dress code to this lot.


He is stereotyped as a criminal because of his body posture, his facial expressions and the chain around his neck.










To sum up, our typical stereotype protagonist is presented as a typical protagonist in a thriller movie because our movie is aimed at a mainstream audience and therefore we made sure he matched the typical conventions of a typical thriller protagonist. However our protagonist does challenge the ideology of “women taking care of the house”. This is not very obvious in the 21st century, but if this media was produced in an earlier century it would have been more noticeable.