Question 1- In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products?

Genre-
The first part of our opening aims to conform to typical media product but also challenge it at the same time. Katie's character is very anti-love and will not accept any romantic gestures. We thought this character would be intriguing as not many films present characters like Katie. We took inspiration from the character Kat in 10 Things I Hate About You.

Camera-
The first shot of our opening conforms the typical romance genre as it is the candles being put out from a set dinner table. The effect of this shot builds up a sense of mystery and also creates enigma. It leaves the audience with the question for them to think about what is going on?

We used a mixture of shots that contrast but all flow nicely together, the content in the first few shows shows the typical nature of a romance film, flowers being delivered and candles being put out, typical genre signifiers, but when the music changes and the long shot of the delivery girl from the florist come into the shot, the audience then can tell that this isn't the typical romantic film.

Editing-
The transition at the beginning of the opening when the music changes represents the genre shift within our opening. We did this so it was clear for the audience to see the contrast between the two shots. We also added in the disk scratch as it acted as a transition sound between the two songs we used and also fitted with the pace of shots. We edited the shots so you couldn't see the characters face this was done to create enigma which in our feedback session the audience seem to like because of that reason, element of mystery. We also found that after watching the opening the characters wanted to know more about the character.

Lighting-
We used mostly natural low key lighting as we wanted the character and location to look as real as possible so the audience could relate back to the opening. We didn't use any artificial lighting apart from the first scene with the candles as we thought it would set the mood for the opening and them by the end of the opening the mood is different to when it started.

Sound-
The sound and music in the clip immediately signifies the genre. The music at the beginning signifies the typical romantic film and the disk scratch acts is the transition sound as the music goes into Teenage Dirtbag.  The music is a key feature and we thought the song would go well with the scenes as the lyrics match how the character's feeling and as the character comes across quite angry the song also backs that emotion. The song is upbeat and goes well with the pace of the opening as most of the clips are short and cut away quickly.

Form-
An opening sequence takes a typical form. Its aim is to introduce the characters and the setting. It also is meant to give the audience an idea of what the film is going to be about and draw them in so they are interested and entertained. The titles should be displayed in the opening sequence, crediting the production company, director, producer ect..

Introduction of characters-
Our opening conforms to any typical opening sequence. The main character is introduced but we never see her face in the opening. We get a glimpse of what is happening and we can begin to predict what will happen later on in the film. Also in our sequence, not too much is given away, all the time we are withholding information about the character and why she is like this, subtle hints are made throughout the opening which the audience can speculate for what will happen to her throughout the film.

Titles-

The titles also conform to a typical media product. When designing the titles we wanted them to be representative of the film. We were firstly going to use the font 'Arial' for our titles but, after seeing what they looked like in that font we, as a group, decided against it as they looked boring and unoriginal. So we went for a font that looked more like a script writing and made the titles red as red can symbolise love, relationships and also anger and danger.

Question 3 - What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why?

3: What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why?

When focusing on the distribution of our film, we looked at many different distribution companies; some ranging from low budget and high budget institutions. As we are a low budgeted film we would find that only the less known media institutions would distribute our media product. We researched companies that were low budgeted institutions and also ones that have also distributed romance films before.

The first institution that we found could be suitable for our film was ‘Film District’. This is a leading independent distributions, acquisition and co-production. It has recently become more famous for the film they made called ‘Insidious’ which got them known in the film industry. Before hand they were a known media institution. Unlike well-known film distributions, film direct spend a lot more of their money on promotion and trailers as they’re less known, whereas bigger institutions like Warner Brothers spend a lot of their high budget on special effects, casts and directors. We feel that going to ‘film district’ would be a good idea as they like to take on films with unique story lines and we feel that our story is unique compared to the other entire romance genre films available, for example this happened with their low budgeted from ‘Looper’. Although one downside to this institution is the fact that they do not normal focus on the genre if romance, they focus on action and horror films mainly. I feel that this would lead to some draw backs as they are not specialised in this genre.

The second institution that we have focused on and chose for our film is DNA films, which is a British company. It has become one of London’s most successful production companies which have made a variety of films ranging from romance to horror. This means that they have much more experience than some other institutions as it helped them to gain a wider knowledge of all genres. The reason for picking this institution was because it was based in London, which would make distribution much easier as they understand the British film industry wider than US companies may, and secondly because this company has much experience when working with our genre; which is romance. They have distributed films such as Never Let Me Go and Love actually. They are specialised in creating large budgeted films although they like to focus on films with edge and a creative/unique storyline. We feel as though our film ‘Educating Katie’ has enough quirk and edge to catch this institutions eye.

Question 6- What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process of Constructing This Product?

What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process of Constructing This Product?

We have learnt about technologies during our film opening and the most important thing we learnt was to always back up our recordings as we lost the first set of shots as the camera broke and we lost all our clips. Therefore we had to go back and re-film the whole thing in a week. We learnt always to use a tripod to shoot static shots this kept the camera still and you wont see any unsteady camera work, making the filming look unprofessional.
We learnt a lot  about the whole filming process and the difficulty of different shots. When recording a tracking shot we found it quite hard because it was difficult to maintain a steady had  while following the actor and looking where your going. Close ups and still shots were much easier once they had been set up with the tripod so there wasn't any movement of the camera  so there was less room for mistake. When shooting we used the auto setting on the camera, this sometimes meant that some of our shots were out of focus for a couple of seconds. If possible I would like to learn how to use the manual settings so all the shots are in focus all the time. I learnt a lot from making this film opening and feel much more confident if I had to use the hardware (cameras/tripods)  again. For anyone doing Media, I would advise them to practice using the camera and equipment before to the filming starts also the first preliminary task helped us get used to the equipment and how to use it.



ResearchWhen researching into film openings and into genre of films it became apparent to us that there are a lot of different things we’d be able to do. We were able to attend a BMI conference on the art of film making. This allowed us to get a real insight into the art of film making and also allowed us to understand what the examiners were looking for. The experience was very interesting and enabled us to understand exactly what was expected of us.
 Also when researching into titles we were able to access a website called www.artofthetitles.com This website was extremely useful when looking into the order of titles and the different ways that they would appear on the screen. This is where we learnt the above and below the line for titles, this made me realise what we have to consider for each of the titles that will come up in our opening.

Production Diary for Film Opening 'Educating Katie'

Production Diary

5th September: 
This was my first Media lesson. Where we set up the blog where we blog all of my work that we produce in this lessons. This lesson we learnt how the blogs work and how to make it unique to us.

10th  September: 
Today we learnt about what was included in a film opening. We learnt that  production logo, titles, establishing genre, location and main characters should all be included in the opening. Now we can understand what we have to include to the start of the opening of our film.

11th September: 
We put into practice of what we learnt last lesson, which was film opening conventions. We had to get into groups of 3 and create a presentation on the opening of any film. My group chose to do Drive. We had to link every point back to the genre, from this we could understand how everything that is incorporated in the first 3 minutes tells the audience what kind of genre this film will be.

13th September: 
This lesson we learnt all the different kind of camera shots and angles, which was really helpful as I didn't take Media for GCSE. I learnt from using camera work it can portray how you want the character to look. For example you could use a low angle on a character to make them look strong. Also you could use a canted shot to show that something isn't right with the scene or to show distortion.  This is where we got our homework to make a presentation on a film of our choice and we have to pick out 6 different types of camera work. For mine I chose the film Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows and I picked out 6 camera angles/shots and explained the effect and purpose.

17th September: 
Carrying on with analysing film openings, this lesson we were analysing a still image from a movie. We learnt that when analysing a still image we have to consider; camera shot/ angle, Mise-en-scene, Character, genre, and setting. For example in class today we looked at a still image from “The Shinning” from analysing it we could tell that the genre  was a horror film, while we had another still image from “You've Got Mail” this wasn't as clear because the lighting was dark and one of the characters were holding a knife which first suggested that it was a horror, but then we found out it was a Rom-Com.

19th September:  
We looked at Andrew Tudor’s genre theory- “chicken and egg” dilemma. This has taught us to understand that in different countries everyone has different views on genres. Which means that people will call the genre of my film different things.

23rd September: 
Today we were given the task planning out our own film. This means that we have to plan out the summary of what’s happening in our film, the age that will be appropriate to watch the film, what kind of genre it is, the location of my move, and what characters will play who and why. This will help my when planning my film opening because this is all the things that I have to consider when planning it.

3rd October: 
This lesson I have been told what our preliminary task which was to create a short film but, it has to include a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down on a chair opposite another character. Also we have to use match on action, shot/reverse shot and 180-degree rule.  Before we go out and start filming my group had to draw a story board and create a script of what will happen. In my group it was Chloe, Lily And Ellie.   That lesson we did the storyboard and script, which meant that next lesson we could start filming. From doing this exercise showed that you need to plan everything precisely so when you get to filming you know exactly what you will be doing and there will be no faffing about.

5th October: 
Today we practiced filming our Preliminary task we decided to film a thriller as we thought that he genre could be established easily and all the group had a general interest in these films and thought it would be good to create one ourselves.

7th  October: 
This lesson we started to film. We got a drama students to acts for us so the rest of the group could play extras and direct the film. This was easier because that means that we could concentrate on shot we wanted to get and what we wanted it to look like. However lighting was hard which meant we had to have another person hold a light up to the actors so we could see their faces and what they were doing when it was dark.. Later on that day we had a theory lesson and  studied Todorov’s narrative theory, this is just explaining what the 5 stages of a film is;
The state of equilibrium
Disruption of the equilibrium 
Recognition that the disorder has occurred
Attempts to repair the damage done
Restoration of a new equilibrium
This can be applied to any film, which means for my film opening that it needs to show the state of equilibrium as well as all the other conventions I need to include. Next we looked at Laura Mulvey’s The Male Gaze theory. The points that were brought up were;
How the audience views the people present
How men look at women
How women look at themselves
How women look at other women
It relegates women to the status of objects
This something that I do not wish to be portrayed in my film opening because, I do not want the women watching the film wishing they were like her or upset with what they look like. No one likes this feeling; therefore, I do not want it in my film opening. Lastly we looked at Stuart Hall’s Reception theory. This explained to me that there are 3 ways in which your audience could take my opening. There are;
Dominate- This is how I want the audience to receive my message.
Negotiated- This is when the audience understands the part I want the audience to get, however, they also have views of their own.
Oppositional- They do not like the message that I am trying to get across and, therefore, create their own meaning of it.
This can all be based on different emotions. From learning about this that no one will interpret the film opening the way I would like them to, everyone will have different opinions and what they think of it. I’m okay with this because people aren't the same; we all have different views on everything.


8th October: 
This was the first time we got to use the editing program Adobe Premiere. At first it did look really complicated and we had to ask people for help to find out what each button meant and done. This is going to help me when I have finished filming my finale film opening because, I hopefully should know what most of all the buttons mean so I can edit the footage really carefully and to the best I can make it.

11th October: 
Today we got my second preliminary task which was to film and edit the start of Juno. We spent the rest of the lesson watching the opening of Juno over and over again so we could complete the shot plan to make sure we had all the right shots and know how many seconds each shot was, what the transition was, the camera work and what was happening in each one. This meant when my group went to film everything was precise because we knew what was happening for each shot.


17th October: 
My groups work for the first preliminary task had finished editing the footage and is now on the blog. This has helped me for my finale opening because we now know what settings we have to put it on to get it to convert into the right format.


22nd-24th October:
My group spent these days editing all the footage we got from filming Juno. From editing our first task made editing this a lot quicker because we all knew what we was doing with the software. The problem was picking the right transition for each shot. The program didn't have to same transition but we tried to get it as close as possible. Also we didn't know how to edit the transitions because we couldn't make it swipe to the others side of the screen.  We will find out how to do this so for my finale opening I know how to edit everything. From editing this we found that some shots weren't right and because we had the time we went back out and re filmed it all, which was good so we could get as close as possible to the actual opening.

25th October: 
We  finished editing Juno which meant we could put it on our blogs before we broke up for school. We still weren't completely happy with the finale edit because we couldn't get everything precise and we were tight of time we could do it in. For my finale opening I would like to be fully happy with the final thing. Overall from this task I have learnt that it will take time to edit all the shots that we have filmed because I want it to be the best it can be. Also that a big group isn't the best idea because there will be arguing involved which means that we won't get things done the way we wanted it to.

5th November: 
Today we were told to get into groups and come up with ideas for our film opening. We established what kind of genre we would like to do which was action/thriller this was because it would be a genre that we would enjoy to make which will make us more passionate about filming and creating our opening. But also we thought that it would be a great way to get as many genre signifiers in, plus we thought about how we could add in foley sounds and what we would use as the backing music. We came up with one decent idea do we started to plan out all the different genre signifiers that we could use, for example one of our props would be a gun because this is mostly used in an action movie. However we came across a big problem we couldn’t think of where we could film it and make it realistic. We didn’t want to use any of the school corridors because even if we did decorate it, it would still look like a school. One of our members came up with the idea that we should have it in an abandon house; we all thought that this was a good idea but the problem was that we could get arrested if we started filming there also it could be very dangerous for us because it might collapse.  We learnt from this lesson that deciding to where we want our opening to be set is going to be very hard because if we go to an abandon place we have to get permission to film there. As a result I think that we need to think up more ideas so we can think of a place which is more realistic.

6th November: 
The task we got set today was to study film openings in your genre and why they were successful. From studying action/thriller movie openings I learnt that most of them do not use titles because the makers want your full attention on the action. Also that a gun is the main prop in every opening I have seen which has told me that for our opening scene we must have one to fit in the category. I found it fascinating that most of their enigmas was of the antagonist, in the openings they were the main characters, the audience doesn’t meet the protagonist yet which keeps them engaged.         

11th November: 
Today we looked at script writing. We mostly looked at the headings and parts of the script. For example
The layout is the layout of the page/ how the page is set.


Normally it will start with the transition for example FADE IN/OUT, CUT TO, WIPE TO and DISSOVLE TO.
The next line would be the Scene heading, this tells us where the scene takes place and what time of day, for example
EXT. CARIBBEAN SEA -DAY
EXT- exterior -the scene will be taken outside
INT- interior -the scene will be taken inside
INT/EXT- interior/ exterior -this would be used the scene is happening inside but being shot from outside
CARIBBEAN SEA- This is where the scene will be taken
DAY- What time of the day they will be shooting; you could also have NIGHT, DUSK and DAWN


ACTION/BUSINESS- This basically will describe what we see on the screen. This does not include any dialogue it’s just a brief description.
PARENTHETICAL- is a direction to the actor about how to read the dialogue. For example before there lines in brackets would be (sotto) this means quietly so the script writers would want the actor to say the line quietly.
EXTENSION- This is a technical indication about the character’s dialogue, placed to the right of the character name, for example;
(O.S.) - Off screen
(V.O.) - Voice over
(M.O.S)- Without sound
(P.O.V)- Point of view
(F.G.) - Foreground
(M.G.) - Mid-ground
(B.G.) – Background
DUAL DIALOGUE- This is where two or more characters talk at the same time, normally this is shown when the dialogue is side by side.


What we learnt from today was what each part of the script was and how you use it. Most people in the class found it quite confusing at the start but, once we was taught what everything meant we soon got used to it. This will help us with my final film opening because when we write a script for it, the cameramen and actors will know what will go on and how it will work. Also we can keep track of what we have done by looking back at the script.

12th November: 
 Today we studied how important the title sequence is for a film. For example if you had a slow sequence then you are already showing your audience what the film is going to be like.

15th November: 
We looked at mood boards today. I really liked doing this because you got a feel to what your film opening was going to look like and imagining what it will include and what the characters were doing. I found it quite interesting. We included the location, Mise-en-scene and genre signifiers.

21st November: 
Today the class was out on a trip to the BFI- Making Film Openings for AS Media Studies. In the first session that we did we learnt all about the conventions of a film opening. This made us reflect on what we need to reconsider with my film opening. The points we really need to concentrate on is genre, narrative, character, atmosphere and settings. This has made us think more on what we need to do for each section and how we can show that.  Next we got a talk from Simon Frame who created the title sequence for Da Vinci’s Demons. He explained to us how important titles is for an opening, this has made me realise how much time we should put into making and creating the titles because they are important for an opening. We found out that I need at least 20 titles during my opening, for example the main actors, designer, costume, makeup, editor, music and director. Lastly in session two Making your own Film Opening, We learnt that it can only be 2 minutes long, but we need to sort everything out into task, assessment, time frame and equipment. Also that we shouldn't go straight into filming the opening, we should do practise shots to see what looks good and what doesn't. Foley sounds are very important when editing it because; it’s one of the factors that we need to do to get a higher mark.  When we start filming we need to think about the people, places, props, costumes, rehearsing, directing, and equipment and keep a record of the process.  The person who was taking the session showed us the main sequences that people do for their opening, for example the victim is tied up in a shed, flash forwards or flash backs and someone waking up and cleaning their teeth. This has made us realise that we want to avoid doing any of these because we would like to keep our opening original. Lastly he told us the six common problems that students have; it looks more like a trailer, there is insufficient titles, poor sound/quality, poorly directed and is confusing for the viewer. These are all the points we need to stay away from to do well. Hopefully we will apply everything that we have learnt today in our final work.

22nd -24th November:
During these days the group made research on the type of costume, make up and location that we wanted in the film opening. From studying action/thriller films we found out what the stereotypical conventions are from these areas.. For the location we found out that most of the films start with a establishing shot, for example Jack Reacher and The Dark Knight use it as their first shot. Make up was a hard one, because normally in action/thriller films it’s always the strong man as the main character because they are always seen as the hero in films and the girls are always the sweet and innocent type that always gets into trouble. For ours we wanted a female lead role, so I did not want a lead role that looked innocent. To get what sort of makeup I needed for a strong female lead role I looked at The Matrix and Salt. These films showed us that the makeup is very dark around the eyes and normally but the cheeks were very subtle.

27th November:
In today’s lesson we created the storyboard. This gave us an idea of what shots we wanted the transitions and the timing.

3rd December:  
Today we made a decision to change the genre of our film opening we found it very difficcult to find a loaction of our action/thirller/romance film and decided that it was maybe abit too ambisious to try and fit that many gneres into 2 mintutes.

5th  December:
From changing our genre we realised we had to change a few things as all our other work was on thriiler/actions films we went back and anyalised The Notebook and Dear John openings for research. We already knew a lot about romance films as all the group watched this genre the most.

6th  December: 
Today we made a plan for the titles timeline to plan what titles we was going to include and what order we would put them in, for example from our trip to the BFI we learnt that main actors would normally come first and producers and directors come last.

7th December: 
Today we created the risk assessment for my filming session, because we have learnt that it is very important to understand all the problems that could occur  when filming and how to avoid them, because you do not want anyone getting hurt on set. We realised that we have to take into the smallest problem in consideration  when filming. We also created a questionnaire to find out more about our target audience.

9th December:
Today we started filming and started getting a few shots of our opening, we had our storyboard with us so we could reference to see what we had to do next. Later that day we did some research into costume, lighting and make-up. From this we knew that we wanted costume and make-up natural as we want our character to be relatable and not to over the top. We would only use artificial light if we really needed to but we would film in the daytime so we could use natural light.

10th-13th December: 
During this we edited the footage that we filmed. From putting all the shots together on Premiere we realised that we needed a few more shots as it didn't reach the specified time. 

16th-18 of December: 
This was the day we filmed our other shots to add on to what we already had. We filmed at a member of the groups house so we could show that character in her normal every day life and show a bit more about her. We managed to get all the shots we needed them edited them on Premiere and got the first edit of our film opening.


20th December: 
Today we got the first edit  of Educating Katie. From today we could start getting feedback from the target audience to find out what they think about it . This made us know what they wanted to be improved to make better and know what they liked. We also got feedback from our teacher who said we couldn't use our music because of copyright so we had to look for uncopyrighted music to use, this we found quite disappointing as we thought the music really made the opening and added to the the genre.

7th  January- 7th of February: 
 In this time we did some extra editing to the opening, like adding titles and shortening and lengthening shots so they would fit and flow together better. We learnt that when editing our footage it does take patience because some things we did didn't work or flow properly so we had to take time to make it look like what we envisioned it to be. We also found music that wasn't copyrighted that had the same feel as the last piece of music the group was happy with how the piece of music fitted with the opening. During this time we also started our evaluation questions, this helped us reflect on our whole film opening.

WordCloud -Educating Katie

Word cloud made with WordItOut

We created a word cloud for 'Educating Katie' as we felt that it would be a good way of exploring all of the emotions that our character felt. Doing this helped us to make sure that we included these emotions within our film opening to show the audience what she is feeling and to create enigma, as why she is feeling this way.

Question 7

AS Media Question 7

Question 7 - From our preliminary task we have learnt that using many different camera angles and shots helped to add to the look of the film opening. This  helps to make the opening look much more professional and more engaging having a wide range of camera angles. We also learnt how crucial it is in getting the the right lighting to create a good shot. We found that through our preliminary task we had trouble creating the correct lighting as well as stability issues with the camera which these made out film not look as professional as it could. Therefore when we filmed our final piece we made sure to use the correct equipment and lighting. When filming each static shot we made sure to have a flat surface with tripods to make each shot look steady and more professional.

What have you learnt from your Preliminary Task

Educating Katie

Film Opening-

After our 1st edit, we had fixed and changed all the problems that had actually been found within the edit and when finalising our final edit we solved them all successfully.

If I was to do the film opening again, I would definitely plan to be more organised and back up all work/shots when possible and after every day of shooting. As we came across our shots had been lost and couldn't be recovered, when filming again we have learnt from this and will also back up when needed. 

I would also consider the research side of our film opening to be much more developed, doing this will allow us to gain a wider knowledge of the genre. I feel that although we done loads of research before producing the film opening, it may have helped to gain further amounts of information and research.

Lastly, lighting is a big aspect to any film/film opening. I feel as though we didn't focus enough on this when producing 'Educating Katie' as we could have done. If i was to redo the process of filming the opening I would take into account the lighting more, to make some shot more brighter than they are and to improve the focus/quality.

Question 2 - How Does Your Media Product Represent Different Social Groups?

In our film opening we believe that we represent girls who have had bad past experiences with boys and relationships. In our film opening we put props/objects that would be found in a real relationship like flowers being delivered and rings being given as gifts. We shown how particular girls deal with relationships, stereotypically girls are known to sit in their  bedrooms and cry about a break-up or relationship but with our film we shown the more assertive female that's hates relationships from dealing with her parents messy divorce. We thought that this character will be relatable with these social group of any social class status.