Age Ratings

Age ratings can be an important implication as to whether a film is suitable for any audience.
This means that the film is suitable for all ages. This is usually used for children's films, or some less crude family comedies. Examples of films with U ratings include many Disney films such as The Jungle Book and The Lady and the Tramp.

 A PG rating usually refers to a film that is not suitable for the ages below 7. This may be due to some mild violence or very mild swearing. Films which have this rating include Star Wars Episode 2: The Attack of the Clones.


A twelve rating is given to films that include some action scenes involving blood, or some swearing, occasionally dropping the F bomb in a few films. Other reasons for this rating also include minor sexual innuendo.


15 rated film certificates are given out to a wide variety of films, for many reasons such as some horrors, action and comedies. These may contain gore, a lot of swearing or minor sexual encounters- e.g. partial nudity. Films with these rating include- Role models, or any number of horror movies. This is also the intended rating for our own project.

Opening 2 minutes- Vigalante

This is the opening scene for the film of our creation- Vigalante. The opening shows the first crime and how the news reports on it, and the public opinion towards it potentially.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 7

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


Looking back on our initial preliminary task and comparing it to our final piece, there is a clear improvement of our skill, and how we have used extra resources to help gain this brand new look for our final piece. 
With our new equipment we were able to take much more detailed shots of our work. There was however a major difference between each task. It was the fact that there was a lack of 180 degree rule. This was because of the lack of dialogue used in our final piece. This meant that the 180 degree rule would not be in effect for our project. However in our original plan for the final idea, which was foiled by lighting problems, there was going to be a lot of dialogue which would have included the 180 rule. In this shot of our final piece we can see that it is a low angle shot of the hero looking down upon the victim of the previous attack. This kind of shot is drastically different from most shots used in the preliminary task, as this would represent more of a morbid look, rather than just a straight forward conversation. This shot gives a feel of empowerment held by the hero, despite the fact that he is not responsible for the killing. This goes to show how different camera angles purvey a deeper sense of self in this scene, rather than showing emotion of a conversation.

This is an over the shoulder shot of a conversation in the preliminary task. There where no over the shoulder shots in the final task, again, mainly because of the lack of conversations. This would have been good if the there was a scene involving an important and serious conversation, otherwise it would be obsolete.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 5

This is our annotated piece, relating to audience attraction and ways to draw that attraction via different shot, editing and other means incorporated into the opening.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 6

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

When filming this project, we used a larger variety of equipment than in our preliminary tasks. This is because we needed a better assortment of equipment in order for us to get greater shots for  the final piece, otherwise this would look more unprofessional and disarranged.
This camera stand was used for medium shots, as this shows the majority of the actors bodies. This was vital for the piece as its legs can retract to lower lengths. This can be used for lower shots, such as when the vigilante is running towards the victim. I learnt how this can have an effect on various shots and how they would be able to fit together with a smooth and easy transition, as the tripod would be in the same place, but at a different altitude.

This is the Flip camera that we used for actual filming. This was a very good camera for our film, as it showed pristine quality video's, which could be made into HD footage. This would allow for less grainy shots, which would improve the overall video quality. This camera is less reliable in areas of little or low light. The picture does not come out,even with the assistance of local street lamps, which lead to a complete re film. However, this then led to a successful final piece.

Instrumental for the piece as without it, there would be no way of putting it up on to the internet, and then onto the blog. This will be used for annotations on the video as well. YouTube has also been used in the blog to gather You Tube video's to review and revise various clichés of cinema, and video's used to gain an idea of our own film ideas.
Adobe premier elements was the single most important piece of equipment used in the creation and development of the film. This was the reason behind our films successfully creation. It taught me how to edit and how to make a film more nice looking and pristine. This had also been used for various other tasks such as the preliminary tasks, and 180 degree rule pieces as well.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our film is aimed at an older teenage audience who enjoy action films, as well as ones who stay away from the usual conventions of similar films.
Here is someone who may enjoy this sort of film. He appears to enjoy clothing from areas such as Topman or Burtons, as shown by his T-shirt, which I know comes from Burton as I have the same one. Music that they could listen to could be older music from the 90's, judging soely by looks here. However it is more likely that it may be rap or maybe drum and base and dubstep. You can obviously see that he does listen to music because of his high rate headphones.One possible choice of music.

His stance could tell us that he is quite a cool guy who is very chilled out and relaxed. I believe that he could be interested in an action film,or comedy depending on the mood. I believe that he may like our film because in ours we showcase many clothing ideals and we would use more bassy music if we where continuing to make more than 2 minutes of footage for the opening. Other tastes which could sway his opinion towards the film include television favourites, and other movies that he could have seen. Movies such as the Dark Knight are very popular for people this age and with similar likes, infact we partly based our film around the non conventional superhero movie, so it is entirely possible that our film could strike a cord with him. T.V. may not have as large an impact on his decision, for example, shows like Skins appeal to this age bracket, yet is widly different to the film that we are trying to purvey. Overall however, I believe that someone like this would enjoy our film as it includes different elements of teenage popular culture in terms of music and film ideals.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 3

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

Production and distribution of a film should be the primary objective to any film maker hoping to aspire for their movie to be great. Without these two crucial things, the movie wouldn't even start the production stage. For example a lack of funding would completely ruin the chances for this to be attempted.

A production company provides the physical basis for works in the areas of... new media art, film, T.V., radio and video.The production company could be directly responsible for fundraising for the production or may accomplish this through a parent company or a private investor. It handles budgeting, scheduling, scripting, the supply of talent and resources, the production itself, post-production, distribution, and marketing. In all a very busy job.

We would need a renowned distributor in order to make the movie a wide success, one with world renown such as Warner Bros. Pictures, or Momentum Pictures otherwise it wouldn't get much notoriety. Funding would come from one of the afore mentioned production companies. There is of course the risk of them not funding because of a potential loss of money from their end. However our film will not require as much funding, and a smaller company would be much more suitable. 

The cast and crew are in a simple font in the order of production companies, then director and then actors. The reason why the production company's logo is at the beginning of most films and including ours; is because we wish for the audience to know that we have gained the acceptance and partnership of a well known brand, therefore increasing the films notoriety. 

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

These two characters are both vigilantes who fight crime on their own accord. There are multiple differences however, such as Kick-ass eventually works with a team of other vigilantes. This is different to our main movie character, as he is a lone wolf who also fights crime, he prefers to work alone, as solitude as can be . This was an important distinction to make between the two, as in a way this can show a weakness of  our character, as an unwillingness to accept help, whereas kick-ass can rely on back up. Other significant differences would include that of the costume design. Whereas kick-ass's character wears a bright bold costume to make a statement, the main hero of our film wears dark clothing  to disguise his appearance. This could show a contrast between their methods of operation. One has an explosive and loud method of operation, which tends to work as a distraction agent, whereas the other acts as a sneak, who takes to the shadows to defeat his enemies as quickly and quietly as possible. 


There are some similarities as well. They are both of the same age and the same ethnicity, this is because of similar views, and their locations in the world. Each live in the west of the world, meaning that they see crime at face value rather than the more detailed aspects of it. This would therefore lead them to discover more to do with the crime, leading to a detection kind of film/ event. Their role in the films are also almost identical. They stop crime, whilst trying to avoid detection by the police. They tend to not stick to the rules whilst fighting crime. Later though, they begin to develop into their own, becoming a more responsible fighters.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

Title of film

The Title of this film is Vigilante. This one word title can be perceived as straight to the point. From the very start you could guess what direction this film would be taking, and what occupation the lead character will have. The smeared blood effect on the title would hint at a content of violent, yet nothing too gory, in other words, this is definitely not a horror gore-fest.

Genre and opening suggestions towards it
The genre of this film is that of a super hero action film. The opening suggests this by the instant murder of a citizen minding his own business. The kill not on scene, which would lead us to believe that it may not be a horror, as many horrors tend to have their kills on screen, in order to obtain a shock factor. The introduction of a masked man defeating the murderer would probably be the biggest hint towards the genre, as it is a stereotypical image of a non super powered hero.

Opening and how it sets up the story
The opening sets the story about crime fighting. It shows the introduction of how the hero works, and his opinions on crime and how people should deal with it. This would originally have shown an introduction to the main villain group, but this was not seen in the opening.

How are characters introduced?

The characters are introduced in two moves. The first being the murder of an unimportant character, the second move is the tracking down of the villain by the hero. The final few shots of the hero beating up the villain introduce the idea of a hero who does not care about the rights of the villains, and a total lack of humanity on the villains behalf.




Setting

The setting of this piece is in a back alley, which is secluded apart from a few houses seen over the tops of the bushes. This adds to the loneliness and fear of the victim of the murderer. An example of an alley used to similar effect would be that of "The Crow", where a crime also takes place in an alley central to the main character in that film.

Costume and props
The costumes for our piece are very simplistic and are just casual clothes used for an every day situation. Every character in the opening has a distinct look about them though. The villain covers pretty much all his face with the hood, hiding his features to remain undetectable. The hero does cover his face, but with another piece of material, which allows him to remain anonymous.

Editing and camera work
We used edited transitions a lot between action shots of the hero running towards the villain. The voice over overlapping the scene was used at intermittent moments. This was to go with the direction of the scene happening at the time. An example of this is when the hero uses the phone, and at the same time the voice over announces this in the form of a news announcement.

Special effects
There was a lack of special effects on this piece, purely because it wouldn't work with the piece and there was a significant lack of budget towards the film. Then we could have added some sprayed fake blood or something similar.

Costume

With costumes we have decided to go for a simplistic approach, by steering away from the usual superhero conventions,such as capes or body armour. We have decided to go for a simple hoody and trainers, to show that he is a makeshift hero, and one that plays on the negative view of hoodies in the media.

This costume analysis was meant to be featured a lot earlier, but there was an issue with my blog page, in which it was accidentely saved as a draft, so this isnt in order of timeline i am afraid.

Brand New Script

(As the intro plays, a radio report of what is happening is heard in the background)

Anchorman: (NEWS JINGLE) Hello and welcome to the 12 o’clock news, our top story today is the investigation into the murder of a young couple, who have yet to be identified, the young couple were walking out late yesterday evening in the rural village of Ashtead

when they were ambushed by a group of young adults with sharp implements (the hero hears the screams in a flashback fashion) the victims suffered multiple lacerations to the throat and torso and were announced dead before the ambulance had arrived (Hero pays his respects and stands)However the culprits were strangely found near the scene unconscious with multiple bruises to the forehead and neck (Hero ambushes them one by one) the culprits would not have been found if not for an anonymous suspect calling 999 to the location, the phone was found in the pocket of the perpetrators with no traces to the owner (the hero puts the phone in the pocket of the criminal) the police are currently also searching for connections between the crime and the unknown vigilante attempting to take the law into his own hands (the hero free runs off while the main titles appear)


The reason for the changes are designed to cut down on the time in the piece, and also doesnt require a great lighting change This makes all of the prievious problems easier to fix, and with the voice over over the top, it actually reports the scene from another persons point of view.

Storyboard

 This was the storyboard to the original idea, until the massive overhaul, now it has only just been updated, because of email adress related problems. This would have shown the complete beating up extract, yet now we have had to completely change this idea, possibly for the better. This storyboard would have been very well done, if the lighting was chosen better, this could have been successful in showing how cruel man can really be, and how it can only take one person to make a difference.  

A massive redo

Once it came round to editing the finished piece, there was one enormous flaw. All of the shots were in incredibly low light, so that you could only see a few scenes perfectly. As there really wasn't enough time left to re-shoot the entire opening in the way we had planned, we made some extremely drastic changes. For one, there is to be a voice over on the entire piece, of a news reporter reporting a murder. In the back ground, the screens would come up black, with the occasional bits of footage of news teams, and of course, the vigilante finding out about the murders and beginning to round them all up. In other words, an almost complete overhaul of the idea, especially as it is now in a lighter light as well. Although this wildly different, the story maintains what we where aiming for, although, from the view of the public.