Thursday, 7 April 2011
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Evaluation, Question 2..
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
First of all, our project is based in a school environment, so social groups is very important for our opening sequence. In schools, there are different stereotypes and labels which we wanted to show; we have done this by dressing our actors/actresses appropriately according to their label. Our main influence was the film Mean Girls, which is all about the different groups in school and the way each group is treated, according to their status. We wanted to reflect their idea in our own project to achieve our audiences' attention, being a light-hearted comedy, but also focusing on some teenage issues that everyone goes through.
This is our first similarity to the film Mean Girls; they have a 'Burn Book' with pictures and labels of all the girls in their year. We have made a yearbook which has the same content. It's iconic for the movie as well as for our project.
Just like in the film Mean Girls, we portrayed girls in the typical view of being obsessed with makeup and their looks. They are both looking in the mirror and being overly conscious about the way people see them. We specifically fitted the music with this clip because the lyrics relate very well; 'all i see, when i look in the mirror, you're looking at me', is a line from our song which is played when the girls are putting on their makeup.
In the film Mean Girls, there is a zoom into a map of the different stereotypes at the high school; Our project is only slightly different as we zoom into the yearbook, but we still have the different groups before going into a clip.
Just like in Mean Girls, we have considered and been very careful when it comes to the rule of thirds and the 180degrees rule. As you can see above, the girls in the clip are positioned in the left and right third. This is the same in Mean Girls, as you can see. Both groups are sitting at a table showing the isolation against the other groups (in the cafeteria) and in our clip it is set in a study centre isolating themselves from others on different tables.
First of all, these are both wide shots; you can establish the setting giving the audience an idea of who they are. Both are set in a gym, and they are both gymnasts; you can tell this by the way they are positioned and by their clothes. The comparison we have used is from Bring It On, which is another typical teenage comedy movie.
This is from the film Goal. We researched what would be appropriate for the shot. We knew of a friend who is very skillful and who already had his own costume which helped a lot. In the clip, he performs a few tricks which shows that he is a footballer; also, the surrounding is at a football pitch.
We have compared the band clip to the film Bandslam. We tried to fit all of the characters into the frame and trying to show their instruments too. We have a drummer and a singer, just like the film. Both scenes are filming a rehearsal which also makes them quite similar.
This is our main character (on the right). We based his geek like character on Napolean Dynamite. The clothes they're wearing are very similar; they're both wearing school uniform (smartly dressed), glasses, and have curly hair! In the clips, we have also tried to make our geek act and sound like Napolean Dynamite after watching many clips of it.
First of all, our project is based in a school environment, so social groups is very important for our opening sequence. In schools, there are different stereotypes and labels which we wanted to show; we have done this by dressing our actors/actresses appropriately according to their label. Our main influence was the film Mean Girls, which is all about the different groups in school and the way each group is treated, according to their status. We wanted to reflect their idea in our own project to achieve our audiences' attention, being a light-hearted comedy, but also focusing on some teenage issues that everyone goes through.
Just like in the film Mean Girls, we portrayed girls in the typical view of being obsessed with makeup and their looks. They are both looking in the mirror and being overly conscious about the way people see them. We specifically fitted the music with this clip because the lyrics relate very well; 'all i see, when i look in the mirror, you're looking at me', is a line from our song which is played when the girls are putting on their makeup.
In the film Mean Girls, there is a zoom into a map of the different stereotypes at the high school; Our project is only slightly different as we zoom into the yearbook, but we still have the different groups before going into a clip.
Just like in Mean Girls, we have considered and been very careful when it comes to the rule of thirds and the 180degrees rule. As you can see above, the girls in the clip are positioned in the left and right third. This is the same in Mean Girls, as you can see. Both groups are sitting at a table showing the isolation against the other groups (in the cafeteria) and in our clip it is set in a study centre isolating themselves from others on different tables.
In this picture, we have taken a still frame from the film Centre Stage. In both pictures, there is a lot of space around the dancers and the lighting is very good. It relates well to their character and the shot gives them a lot of space to be able to move around freely, and still be in the frame. Both characters are wearing appropriate clothing which clearly tells the audience that they are dancers.
This is from the film Goal. We researched what would be appropriate for the shot. We knew of a friend who is very skillful and who already had his own costume which helped a lot. In the clip, he performs a few tricks which shows that he is a footballer; also, the surrounding is at a football pitch.
We have compared the band clip to the film Bandslam. We tried to fit all of the characters into the frame and trying to show their instruments too. We have a drummer and a singer, just like the film. Both scenes are filming a rehearsal which also makes them quite similar.
This is our main character (on the right). We based his geek like character on Napolean Dynamite. The clothes they're wearing are very similar; they're both wearing school uniform (smartly dressed), glasses, and have curly hair! In the clips, we have also tried to make our geek act and sound like Napolean Dynamite after watching many clips of it.
Overall, we used Napolean Dynamite, Centre Stage, Goal, Bring It On and Mean Girls to represent particular social groups in our opening sequence.
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Evaluation. Question 1..
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Titles..
As we came to the end of our two minute opening sequence, we decided to use LiveType to make our credits and titles more interesting. In previous lessons we had been practicing and playing about on it and we really like some of the fonts and animations that were on there and thought that they would look good on our opening. We had to import the still frames we wanted into LiveType to add the title; we also changed the colour, font and added an animation. However, when we imported it back into our opening on iMovie, the quality of the still frame had changed and it looked very unprofessional and it was really obvious that it didn't fit in with the rest of the opening. To get around this, we realised that we had to import the clips before and after the still frame into LiveType. Even though this took us quite a long time, we managed to add exciting titles to all of our freeze frames before the deadline! In addition to the titles, we decided to create our title in Live Type. The title of our film is 'SnapShot'. We chose the font 'Manic', which looked really cool. We used bright colours, orange, red and yellow to make it feel fun and upbeat, which reflects what our film is like.
Re-filming..
When we uploaded the footage of the zooms in and out of the book, we found that they were a little wobbly; this is because it was really hard to try and zoom in, without moving the camera to fit the frame of the picture. So we re-filmed it and this time we put the camera on a tripod, and on some tables, as we did before, but instead of zooming into the book, we started with the frame that we wanted (the camera zoomed into the picture), then we zoomed out. After we imported the clips, we reversed the zooms so that it looked like we were zooming in. It looked a lot smoother than before and it was a lot less wobbly.
Sunday, 6 March 2011
Filming Session.. Geek..
This was the last bit of filming we needed to do. We filmed it in the Art Room in our school because we liked the desks in that room and we were able to use it after school. This was the longest filming session as we had to get everything filmed; we had to film the Geek (Luke Groszewski) turning the pages of the book, gluing this down into the book, writing our names, and also the only bit of speech in our opening. We took several different shots of the 'And That's Me' shot because we wanted plenty to choose from. I think we're going to have a hard time choosing which one as they were all very funny!
I'm pleased with what we filmed and I think we have everything we need to start editing!
I'm pleased with what we filmed and I think we have everything we need to start editing!
Ideas..
Recently, Cindy came up with a very good idea; she suggested that we speed up the beginning of the clip. This will work really well because otherwise it would be very boring for the audience to spend a very long time looking at the geek stick pictures down! Also, it means that the opening sequence won't be really long and we can get more in.
In addition to that, she also thought it would be a good idea to create still frames of the short clips we have taken and have writing popping up with a funny sentance about each one.
All of us agreed that they were really good ideas and we're including them in our final sequence; we will do this in our editing stage.
In addition to that, she also thought it would be a good idea to create still frames of the short clips we have taken and have writing popping up with a funny sentance about each one.
All of us agreed that they were really good ideas and we're including them in our final sequence; we will do this in our editing stage.
Filming Session.. Football & Showoff..
Football:
We had originally planned to film our school football team, however, they didn't want to be in our project. So, in the half term, we met up to do some editing and borrowed a camera from school. I volunteered to film the Kent County Under 18 Football team, who my dad manages, as they were playing against London FA. I got permission from both teams and filmed it on the Thursday evening of half term. The lighting was really difficult; it was filmed in the evening so the floodlights were on. But i think that some of the film has got some good lighting.
Showoff:
Whilst at the football, I asked my dad to choose one of his most skilled players to be our 'showoff'. Ben Lockett volunteered himself and he did a few skills for me. He's very talented and I only needed one shot as I was very pleased with what he did.
We had originally planned to film our school football team, however, they didn't want to be in our project. So, in the half term, we met up to do some editing and borrowed a camera from school. I volunteered to film the Kent County Under 18 Football team, who my dad manages, as they were playing against London FA. I got permission from both teams and filmed it on the Thursday evening of half term. The lighting was really difficult; it was filmed in the evening so the floodlights were on. But i think that some of the film has got some good lighting.
Showoff:
Whilst at the football, I asked my dad to choose one of his most skilled players to be our 'showoff'. Ben Lockett volunteered himself and he did a few skills for me. He's very talented and I only needed one shot as I was very pleased with what he did.
Yearbook..
We have finally finished the yearbook! It took a very long time and we are very proud of it! It was mainly Cindy and Hannah that put it together; I'm not very creative so I stuck to cutting out whereas they glued it all down and have made it look very professional! It's exactly how we wanted it and it has all of the pages we need to film the Geek!
Filming Session.. 'Make-Up' & School Council..
'Make-Up':We chose to film the make-up shot in our school toilets. We had originally asked some friends to be in this shot but they pulled out at the last minute. Thankfully, three girls in our media class (Mel, Beth & Steph) offered to help us and they did great. We took two shots in total; one shot of all three of them putting on some makeup infront of the mirror, and another one of one of the girls (Mel), putting makeup on in the camera, to make it look like the camera was the mirror.
School Council:We had asked some friends to be in this shot as we knew they were prefects, but they let us down at the very last minute. Luckily, we were saved by 4 other girls (Isobel, Eleanor, Kate and Hannah). We took 3/4 different shots in the Study Centre at our school; one quite far away, and three closeups. I think the long shot looked better as we can clearly see their prefect badges and everyone is in the shot.
School Council:We had asked some friends to be in this shot as we knew they were prefects, but they let us down at the very last minute. Luckily, we were saved by 4 other girls (Isobel, Eleanor, Kate and Hannah). We took 3/4 different shots in the Study Centre at our school; one quite far away, and three closeups. I think the long shot looked better as we can clearly see their prefect badges and everyone is in the shot.
Filming Session.. The Disruptive Class..
We filmed this shot in our Media classroom. It involved everyone in our class as they were all willing to help, including our Media teacher, Mr Go. We only needed to take one shot of this as we knew what we wanted. We used a powerpoint that Mr Go had, and put in an extra slide which had the word 'loser', with an arrow pointing to our teacher. We just put Mr Go in the shot as we wanted to see what was on the board. When the board changed to 'Loser -->', we asked our class to throw paper balls and aeroplanes at him! It looked really good and we're really pleased with it.
Filming Session.. Gymnast..
We used our school Gym to film our gymnast (Steph Parker). Fortunately she brought her own costume and it fitted well to what we had planned. We filmed lots of different shots, with lots of different flips and tricks, so we had a lot to choose from. We tried to film it different ways too to try and vary our shots. This didn't take very long as our gymnast had lots of ideas and we were very pleased with what she came up with.
Filming Session.. Actor & Band..
Actor:The location chosen for the Actor (Dom Sauboorah) scene was the Drama Studio in our school. We had a big problem with the lighting at first and we tried lots of different angles to try and get the best one to see the Actors face clearly. We have recorded him saying something without realising that we won't be able to hear him as we're muting the clips to hear the music, but it hopefully won't look too weird. Overall, the filming went well and it didnt take too long at all.
Band:
We filmed the band scene in the Music Studio at our school. It was hard trying to make sure that all of the instruments and people were in the shot as the studio isnt too big. But we eventually did it and the drummer (Conor Fuller), bass guitarist (Hannah McCrossen), guitarist (Claire Brooke) and vocalist (Chloé Byerley) all managed to fit into the shot. We recorded us playing the song so we can hopefully try and edit it so that, in the yearbook, it looks like we're playing along to the track.
Band:
We filmed the band scene in the Music Studio at our school. It was hard trying to make sure that all of the instruments and people were in the shot as the studio isnt too big. But we eventually did it and the drummer (Conor Fuller), bass guitarist (Hannah McCrossen), guitarist (Claire Brooke) and vocalist (Chloé Byerley) all managed to fit into the shot. We recorded us playing the song so we can hopefully try and edit it so that, in the yearbook, it looks like we're playing along to the track.
Screenplay Draft..
INT. MEDIA CLASSROOM. DAY
NDS- upbeat soundtrack starts playing throughout
BARNEY starts work on the yearbook and turns over the front page showing the production company
BARNEY continues to cut out and stick down various newspaper and magazine articles, as well as the credits for the film
BARNEY then turns the third, fourth, fifth, sixth + seventh page showing the cast of the film
NDS- upbeat soundtrack starts playing throughout
BARNEY starts work on the yearbook and turns over the front page showing the production company
BARNEY continues to cut out and stick down various newspaper and magazine articles, as well as the credits for the film
BARNEY then turns the third, fourth, fifth, sixth + seventh page showing the cast of the film
BARNEY
Ah yeah, and that's me!
(laughs till he snorts and falls of his chair)
Filming Session.. Dancer..
The location chosen for this filming session was our school hall; we arranged with the lighting technician to put the spotlights on to make it look more professional. Luckily, Cindy already had her own leotard and tutu which was brilliant and it looked really good; her costume shows her stereotype well. We took several different shots because we wanted to see what her dancing would look from lots of different angles. We took a behind the shoulder shot, and a few different long shots. We decided that the long shot looked a lot better because she moved around quite a lot and it was easier to fit all of her dancing in.
Friday, 4 February 2011
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