We decided to do a running commentary throughout our media product explainin why we used particular shots and mis en scene and how they helped to develop and tell our storyline throughout.

Key shots

This shot establishes the story line in our film. It shows the outline characteristics of the main character and her 'blonde' ways. The protagonist is late and is hitting the alarm clock to be quiet. We also zoomed out from the clock from an extreme close up to a wide shot. This enabled the audience to read the quote "Oh god im so bloody blonde" as our film portrays stereotypoes to the extreme and we felt this was added mild humour to the subject.

This is also another interesting zoom in shot as yet again the protagonist is doing her makeup. She is in the mirror, taking her time, not rushing yet the other character is rushing like crazy. This defines a contrast between the two characters and again displays stereotypes e.g. vanity and perfection.

This shot was crucial to make sure to the audience understood what was happening and which character was portraying which stereotype. The protagonist strutting down the road, and the other character running. We used a zoom in and zoom out shot on both scenes to show their full body outfit and their gestures. This created a impression of each characters appearence, and helped to again show the contrast between the two.

Used programmes

In making our film the main programme we used was (Final cut pro) on the apple macs. Using this software enabled us to put our film together, by selecting different scenes and editing them. This programme was fairly easy to use once each of us got the hang of it. Our group managed to make the movie without any prior knowledge of how to use this software.

Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you think you have learnt from the progression from it to the full task?

The preliminary task was crucial for us as a group to be able to develop and learn new skills for our new production. We learnt various new skills, such as 180 degree rule although we did not really need to worry about this due to there being no scenes of shot reverse shot. This would be another technical term also learnt from filming the preliminary task. This task helped us hugely getting many things correct and for practice mainly, guiding us to success and not failure. As a group together, we all had to learn and use a wider range of shots in our film as otherwise, not using interesting shots and a limited amount only would of consequently turned into our film being boring and blunt.

However, the preliminary task also showed us that Sound can do so much. As the preliminary task looked so uninteresting adding sound to our final movie made a massive difference. It seemed to liven up the atmosphere as the film was very upbeat and fast flowing making the shots look more stimulating to the audience. Trying to make a sound track on the computers was such hard work to suit our film, so in the end our media teacher gave us a CD that was not copyrighted and it suited perfectly.

Sound is a huge aspect in the production as it attracts peoples attention with it being loud and lively so we needed one similar to this to attract the right audiences. Looking back now on the preliminary task and our final production, we are able to see a huge leap in quality in contrast with one another with the final film having a much higher Eminence.

In conclusion, we made mistakes in the preliminary task but we believe these hiccups helped us in order to make a good film. This was due to the fact that upon making several mistakes and noticing them we can then make a greater and more powerful film avoiding all the mistakes we made before hand.

How did you attract/ address your audience?

When filming our footage, we used a number of techniques that defined the genre and grabbed various audience's attention. Firstly, the protagonist in our production is a young female (teenage). On this occasion we chose her to be the protagonist due to the fact not only are young females attracted to comedy dramas but also to do with the fact that she is the correct age for our target audience (12A). However, we feel that by having this character the aspects weve described, the audience would be able to relate to our film and think logically the same if they were in that situation. Other techniques we have used to define our genre and grab the audiences attention is of the following:Sound-Music; In our production we have included a upbeat sound track to blend in with the day as it is fast flowing. This will hopefully allow people to relate yet again as getting ready in the morning for some people is a struggle, yet some others its blissful.Editing- During the editing we have used many fades/dissolves etc. This hopingly will attract our target audience as they will become intrigued by our work and the different techniques we have used.

Mise en scene- On the other hand,in terms of costume, both characters are dressed to suit their role. For example, the character rushing is the one in odd clothing (Jeans,bubble coat and pumps) spilt coffee and running. The protagonist is the one who seems to be without struggle, in a smart clothing (A dress, tights and heels) starbucks coffee and struting down the road. This again is something the target audience can relate too as everyone has different stereotypes. Also we filmed in various locations so yet again the audience can relate to this.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our product included different stereotypes. We felt by doing this it involved and enabled different social groups to watch. The clip uses a sense of humour almost making fun of the stereotypes we have as a community today. One being a blonde, wealthy, well presented girl and a lower class, less presented girl. This is a bold contrast but doing this helps to show the range of social groups and helps to attract a wider audience. We decided to use a female as at that age girls like to do make-up and dress up and socialize with their friends which is portrayed in our film as a positive aspect.
The audience most perceived would be females in our movie due to the fact no males are involved and not many appreciate girly aspects.

What kind of media institution would distribute your media product and why?

"The Devil wears Prada" is a film, which to many lengths is similar to our production. The devil wears Prada's main production company is 20th Century Fox which is a major hollywood company. For our production we would use Working Title to produce our film because it is a British company, this means Universal will be distributing our film as Universal is Working Titles distribution company. Working Title produced other films similar to our genre such as Bridget Jones , Tamara Due. Tamara Drew which is made by BBC films. Distributed by Sony Pictures which is a large Hollywood conglomerate. Working title was founded in 1983. Its based in London and it specializes in British movies.

Our film would be distributed via social networking sites such as facebook. This is because the main target audience for our movie is teenagers. Sites such as facebook are used regulary by this age range. This mean by distributing things such as widjets,links to the movie site, film trailers etc, it would aid in the films reputation. By distributing this way it will enable the film to spread through word of mouth. Moreover, due to the modern genre, the film would be also distributed over radio stations. Youthful stations such as galaxy would be the target as teenagers are attracted to this. Galaxy is a Manchester located station so it will aid in the word of mouth.

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

In the process of constructing our product, our group has learnt about various technologies, most being the camera and using the editing software its self. We learnt how to use different elements of the camera as well as skills such a variety of shots which is appropriate for the mood of our film. Throughout the filming process, we all became extremely familiar with filming gradually extending and making our shots more creative. This would be helpful in the process due to the fact this meant we could be adventurous with what footage we had to film or even re-film. For example, at the beginning of the film, we had filmed at clock but starting with a close up and then gradually zooming out, turning into a long shot. This makes the film more interesting and helps the audience to establish it is set in a girls bedroom.
Moreover, in our original plan we decided to have our whole film about a two contrasting stereotypes of teenage girls getting ready in the morning to attend a dance school. We then decided to change it to two girls getting ready for the days ahead of them, as it seemed more worthwhile and would hold together. This now leads to our finishing product.
Another device that we used was the sound track for the film. As our film was very upbeat we needed a track in the background, this would emphasis the fun and bubbly characters. This was profoundly hard as we were told we couldn't copyright, we had to make our own song. To tackle this problem we used a CD given to us of our teacher which fitted well with our film.
Furthermore, there have been a lot of times where we filmed something and when we edited it, it did not fit in with rest of our film. Therefore we learnt to film as many times as we could to use different angles so that when it came to editing it we had enough footage to rely on.
In conclusion,this experience taught us how to use a camera professionally and use the editing software (Final Cut Pro), which could be used to create a specific effect that we wanted such as the sound and lighting. Learning how to use the technology and different software helped us hugely in the process of construction of our final project, this made us aware of the errors and how we can tackle them if we needed to use the software again.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our film was made to show typical stereotypes, doing this creates humour throughout. The fact it is almost making fun of particular social groups makes it open to all. It would be said it is a negative view of particular people but this part creates the humour. A typical blonde, wealthy and well presented girl is viewed aswell as a more disorganised,lower class, bad presented girl. This enabled the product to relate to a wider audience and attract a range of social groups.

Who would be the audience for your media product ?

The primary audience for our media product in terms of gender would be predominately women and girls in there female young to late teens, as our genre is comedy drama and it contains immature humor and relates to daily teenage dramas. We rated our production a 12A for twelve years and above as it is suitable for under fifteens but may contain mild adult humor unsuitable for anyone under twelve years. We got inspiration for our production from film "Devil Wears Prada" as the opening scenes also contrasting life styles and has similar elements of humor to our production. We wanted our film to have a universal appeal so a wider audience would watch it due to movie watchers tending to go for comedies allowing our production to come under that genre.

Relating movies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0grr0MINhE&feature=fvst

This is the opening scene of Devil wears Prada. We felt this related to the particular genre we picked for our main task. We particularly liked the close ups of the shoes and the way the scene portrayed different stereo types in showing her as a not knowing what to wear and coming to work in unsuitable clothing, yet one day she arrives in designer clothes and work colleagues are thrown back. We feel this is good inspiration and a good focus for us to complete the task we had in mind.

What did you learn about the cameras and editing software during the preliminary task?
We learnt how to use the cameras and using Final cut pro to edit which was seem to be not as easy as it looks. Completing our filming task whilst also remebering the 180 degree rule was difficult in order to allow facial expressions and rections to be in the shot, whilst ensuring they matched and looked professional. We found in the end the preliminary task helped us to understand and establish how to use the cameras and edit much better than we would of if we just jumped straight into the task.

In filming and editing of your project, what worked well and what could have been improved?
We felt that involving different shots worked well in our preliminary task. We enjoyed trying a different range of shots and then deciding what worked best, however we felt that the eye direction was not right for the angle as one character was meant to be looking. Also we feel our editing skills need improvement so it flows more smoothly, but we are going to take these mistakes into account and make sure we dont repeat them in our main task.

Give a detailed, specific example of how you have used a shot/reverse shot combinationin your film?
We have included short reverse shot in our preliminary rask in order to show a conversation was happening. Although it was a clear define view a conversation was happening we failed to make the eyeline look clear as Catherine looks like she is not looking at the protangonist but is making eye contact with the camera which is a fail due to the fact eye contact to the camera should of not been made.

Give a detailed, specific example of how you achieve match cuts during the editing process
We did not involve a match cut in our preliminary task, we tried alot of different match cuts during the filming of our preliminary but didnt feel any of them looked suitable or fitted well. This is something we will work upon in our main task trying to gain the best possible outcome.

How did you make sure that you didnt break the 180 degree rule? Or if you broke it, what have you learnt from this?
In our preliminary task we did not break the 180 degree rule as we didnt pass the line for obvious reasons we wanted to get it correct. It was harder than we thought but we felt it was extremley useful and good practice for the main task we will be filming soon.

Preliminary Task

Today we decided to finish of the editing on our preliminary task, and then to upload it on to our blog, allowing us to become familiar with the blog.

We feel our preliminary task was successful although we found faults. As it is our first attempt we delt this was a good way in noticing and identifying the faults and being able to keep them in mind when we film our main task. One of the most noticable faults in our preliminary ask was the eye direction between the two characters. For example when sat down talking the eye direction was not accurate to were it should be, we will now ensure that we don't do this when making our final piece.