Final - Renegade

Enjoy the Film :)

Evaluation 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I feel that we have definitely come along way since our 30 second prelim task in a few months. Our targets were met from our prelim to our Opening Sequence, we filmed more efficiently, we planned everything down to the last tee and the editing was slicker.

Our prelim was filmed in the lifestyle bar in college, somewhere we did not have control over the light. The opening sequence of Renegade was a lot harder to do this as they were filmed in the dark. We wanted our opening sequence to be more adventurous than our short prelim and the lighting really helped create that tense mood and atmosphere.

During the prelim we used basic camera techniques which were: shot reverse shot, match-on-action shots and the180 degree rule.We took the skills we learned the prelim task and recreated them within our opening sequence to make it look as professional as possible. We were more adventurous with the camera and used a variety of shots and angles in the sequence.

The continuity of our film did suffer slightly as it was hard for the actors to stay in the same position for a while and the movements that had to be re-shot were not matching the previous action. The prelim made us realise that we shouldn't make the same mistakes twice. I feel me and my group have made great progress in completing Renegade as we got to explore more technological ideas and bring our pitch to life.

Evaluation 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Technologies used throughout our project.

Creating the opening sequence allowed us to work with various devices of technology. The first technology we used was "Blogger" the website used to create this blog. Blogger was a completely new experience for me as I had never blogged before. It did come with some hindrances but all in all was an easy experience.

When filming the opening sequence we used two different types of camera. The camera in the TV Studio, a Canon XF 305, was used for the interior shots. It was easy to use as it was a HD and we could control the shot from the remote on the tripod. The second camera was a handheld video camera which we used to film the exterior shots, which came with a tripod to allow control of the filming. After finishing shooting we transferred the footage to the computer in the editing suite to begin the editing process.

The editing software we used was called Adobe Premier Pro. As I am only an AS student, and had not done GCSE Media, the editing was a completely new experience for me. Upon ordering the opening sequence, we experimented around with effects, to enhance the footage and make the camera changes as less obvious as possible. After editing the footage itself we added sound, non diegetic music, and louden the gun clicks, car doors, etc. 

Evaluation 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

Below is a series of screenshots which could be used to attract an audience interested in crime/spy films.

The wheel of the car is shown here to address the audience and hint at them that there may be a car chase or something involving a flash car.

The image of the gun also highlights the crime drama and will intrigue the audience.

The film title is another shot that we used to attract the audience, as they can differentiate between the genre of the film and other films and will address to the audience members who enjoy crime/spy films.

Another shot of the car, this time at an accelerating rate, could be used to attract an audience as the image shows the action/adventure the film has to offer.

Evaluation 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Personal Profile: Jack Riley


Name: Jack Riley
Age: 18
Location: Manchester University
Likes/Dislikes/Hobbies: Football, Going Out, Being with friends
Films they like: James Bond, Bourne Series, Oceans Series, Charlie's Angels.
What TV Shows they watch: CSI, Torchwood
What Music they listen to: The Script, The Kooks




Why would 'Renegade' appeal to them?


Our film appeals to a wide audience as it is not just typical of one genre. Jack is a person who associates himself mainly with the crime/spy genre so would make him an ideal viewer. He also enjoys Charlie's Angels so Renegade may appeal to him as it is of similar context and characterisation.

Evaluation 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

What is a production company?


A production company is something that gives a starting point for films and other media. They provide the funding and equipment to help the project begin filming and provide support as the project pregresses. We named our company Stickman Productions as we felt it was something quirky to add to the film. Stickman Productions specialises in action films and is self funded, and aims to bring action and adventure to the younger generation, to inject excitement and panic into their lives through the media.


What is a distribution company?

A distribution company sells the rights to Cinemas and other media broadcasters so that a film can be viewed by the public. Their job is to make sure they distribute it too the right people in places where it will be noticed and seen. The bigger the film and distribution company, the bigger the release of the film. A major company, such as Universal Pictures or Paramount will get the filmdistributed across the world, too many top cinemas. Smaller Independent companies, such as Working Title, will allow the film to be distributed on a smaller scale. We would aim to have our film distributed by a company similar to Working Title, but also could have it distributed on iTunes so it would be available for advertising and worldwide distribution.


Who would fund your film?


Most of the funding would come from the actors themselves, as smaller film funding groups have been forced to shut down. Other funding could come from Film Four which shows movies from all different parts of the world and all types of budgets, so looking for funding from them could be a good help if we shared the rights and allowed them to screen our film on their television channel.










Order of Titles as they appear in the opening sequence

• Stickman Productions - production company who helped make the film
• Actor's names - as there was no lead role, the actors were in the order they appeared on screen
• Director - the person who had control of how the film looked and what went on in Pre/Post Production and during filming
• Title of Film
• Cinematography
• Sound - the people that added the sound to the film to bring it together
• Editing Director
• Costume Director

Evaluation 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our chosen social group we wanted to reach out for was women as we wanted to portray women as equally able to do the job as men. Our team consisted of 3 women and 1 male, showing the contrast in the genders and how they were doing the same task. Women may look up to this challenging stereotype positively, as it symbolises that women are equal to the masculine role. The way we presented our team was that of strong, independent people who are equal in society. The use of mise-en-scene was clever here as we gave the female characters guns as well as the male character to show equality. Films that challenge the "girl power" convention, even if they don't fit into the crime genre, are: "St. Trinians," "Charlie's Angels" and "Battleship".

Evaluation 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our opening sequence used shots which either challenged or developed the conventions of crime films. I have selected a series of screen shots as examples to show this.


Titles:

Spy films tend to have the action of the film incorporated into the main section of the media so we struggled to add this convention to an opening sequence. They tend to apply the text over the film to allow crediting to happen, but not let the narrative be disturbed. We placed the titles above the footage in available spaces that corresponded with the action e.g. actors names appearing as they did. This worked well as it wasn't overpowering the images on screen. The font style we used for the opening sequence  was difficult to find at first as we wanted it to reflect a computer code and have a spy feel to it. We eventually decided on the text displayed and chose the colour green to incorporate the computer code idea to the film, developing the convention of the titles used in films such as the Bourne series and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.


Location:




We decided to have a mixture of interior and exterior shots in the opening sequence of Renegade, developing spy film conventions set in films such as Charlie's Angels.  We had two different settings we needed to create, an office and the exterior of a house. We used basic equipment  and nothing to over the top that would  make the scene look out of place. Whereas if we used one of our crew's houses for the interior shots, it would not fit the equipment and style we were looking for.  As we did not have the budget or resources to create such an extravagant office or hire a large manor house for the exterior shots, we tried to work the film around this and use our imaginations in the studio to ensure that the audience  saw an office set, not a TV studio. The exteriors we filmed at a group member's house, but edited the footage so that the audience never saw how large the house actually was. 




Costume/Props:

Typically, spy films have a wide selection of props, such as guns, fast cars, guns which always appear during there films, setting the crime convention. As we didn't have the budget for fancy gadgets and extravagant costumes, we stuck to the "all black, slick spy" convention, developing on images we'd seen in Charlie's Angels. Other props were basic things like tables, chairs and furniture to create the office scene, making sure we got a realistic verisimilitude throughout shooting. The main prop problem we encountered was retrieving guns for our characters to use, so we ended up spray painting toy ones to complete the look we wanted. 

Lighting:

The lighting in Renegade proved harder to control than we originally thought. We could not challenge the lighting convention of crime films as most "heists" take place at night, which ours did. After shooting the exterior shots, we discovered that the lighting was too dark and the footage was unusable. After shooting it for a second time, we used a lamp borrowed from the college to supply enough light to illuminate the shots, but still give the impression that it was set at night. The lighting in the interior shots was easier to control as it was a series of lamps we could turn on and off. Spies would not typically turn on the light when undergoing a raid so we tried to keep the shots as dark as possible, only using an overhead lamp to illuminate the frames and make the footage usable.

Characterisation:

As the opening sequence could only be 2 minutes long, we could not characterise the characters as much as would have liked to. We stuck to the stereotype of stock spy character and watched James Bond and both Charlie's Angels films a few times to try and mimic their characteristics. We challenged the convention by having a mixed gender team as oppose to all women or a solo male. 

Camera Angles:

With shooting an action sequence, we had the opportunity to use close-ups, midshots, and wide shots with a variety of other camera angles. We used an ariel shot when the team is shown looking up at the house, midshots when shooting the main task and low angled shots as they escaped the house, and a low shot when the team drove off in their car. The main series of close-ups we used was when the team react to the discovery of a memory device, and we then edited the close-ups to a split screen, to see them all in one shot.

Editing Transitions/Visual Effects

As the editing suite had more technological resources, we managed to achieve a slick feel to the film, without cuts seeming jagged or sharp. We used fades to begin and end our film, so it did not appear too robust a beginning and used dissolves in between some slides as the camera had shifted slightly so the dissolve helped to hide this filming blunder. The editing of the music had to be disguised so we attempted to blend the song together at some parts to achieve a smooth sound.

Genre/Style

The crime genre could be looked at in many ways, but our sub-genre of spy films made it possible for us to both challenge and develop the genre. We developed the genre by sticking to some of the conventions typically used in spy films e.g. costumes, props, location, but then tried to challenge the conventions of the film using characterisation, including having a mixed gender team, which many spy films do not have. 

Construction

Filming:

Week 1: We began the week with filming the interior shots using the TV studio. The week proved most difficult as we were getting used to using the camera and lighting techniques in order to get the style we wanted. These sessions were extremely efficient and we managed to get most of the interior shots done in this week. Unfortunately we could not complete the interior shots as not all the group were available for filming at the available times due to other commitments. The main interior shots we filmed during this week were the characters searching for something in the office, as we felt these were the shots that we needed most importantly to add the titles too. Our main source of light came from the over hanging headlamp, which allowed the actors to be seen when filming the scene.  A problem we encountered was that we could not get too wide shots as it was obvious it was not filmed on location.

Week 2: During the second week we began filming the exterior shots at Meghan's house. These were shot using a single camera, which proved hard to control as it was freehand some of the time. The first time we filmed, the footage could not be seen properly as there was not enough light. We had no control over the lighting due to it being exterior shots. We did attempt to make the darker shots fit into the crime genre our film is set in. We also did not have the props ready to film all of the frames so we decided to reconvene later in the week. We borrowed a portable lamp from the college and a tripod to ensure our shots were not wobbly and had a professional look to them. The shot types we used were not absolutely specific to the genre as we used a wide variety, but they helped create the tense, action mood and atmosphere we were aiming to create. Fortunately though, the weather was permitting enough to let us continue filming and did not hinder us in any way.


Editing:


The editing of the film took quite a long time but the process itself was quite efficient. We had filmed cutaways of various things to make the sequence more interesting. Upon editing, we did discover that we did not have the sufficient shots for the film so went back to re-film and then continue editing. The music that plays over the sequence was quite hard to get on as it was not looping in the way we wanted it to but we overcame this problem to make the film better.

Scheduling

We had a production meeting to establish a shot list and shooting schedule to help speed the process of filming up and make sure we met the deadline. The schedule was stuck to almost indefinitely but we did have to allow for extra filming as our planned slot was not enough time.

The Pitch

We pitched our opening sequence idea to the rest of the class to gain audience feedback and to find out if there was anything we could do to improve our film and make it more appealing to an audience.
     The pitch was successful and most of the class said they enjoyed th efilm idea, with plot and costumes being a recurring positive aspect. The negative feedback wasn't greatly helpful as it was more to do with the way we had pitched the opening sequence as oppose to being about the opening sequence itself. One group suggested we did a comic element to the sequence to appeal to a wider audience and we tried to incorporate that into filming without disrupting the initial idea.

Organisation of Resources

The first thing we set out to organising was costume for the opening sequence. We did extensive research into existing films that fit the sub-genre of spy films that we aimed to conform. This led us to films such as "Charlie's Angels" and "Mission Impossible". We discovered that the traditional attire for spies is nearly always black, tight fitting clothing, so we attempted to add this to our film. We also added sunglasses to add a "cool and suave" aspect to the characters and the female actors wore high heels to make them appear more slick and agile.

 Props were also a huge part of our title sequence as they were key in helping to communicate the crime genre and "spy" sub-genre. Typical props used in spy films are guns, sunglasses, gadgets etc. and this was extremely prominent in "Charlie's Angles" and "Mission Impossible." We incorporated guns and sunglasses into our title sequence but unfortunately did not have the time or budget for expensive and complicated gadgets. We used these to develop the spy sub-genre and to remain in keeping with similar films to attract an already established audience.






















The location scouting was pretty easy for our group to do as we had locations that we wanted to use already planned. We used the TV Studio in the college to film the interior parts of the title sequence, and Meg's house, a member of the group to film the exterior. 

The casting was a vital part of the title sequence as we were first unsure about the type of spy film we wanted to create. After finalising the storyline we decided to cast the 4 group members as the main characters. We were aiming to have the suave edge that Charlie's Angels portrayed and felt this would be better done with the actors we had. We also decided against bringing in extras as they could be unreliable and would disrupt the filming process.


     Our opening sequence did not feature any dialogue so a script was not a vital part of the planning for our group. We used the storyboard to help us create a shot list and used that as our main resource and guide when filming, as oppose to a script.

Storyboard

Our storyboard consists of the basic outline of our opening sequence. We open with a car pulling up to a house, and 4 rebel spies emerging from the car. They are there to steal a piece of government information to expose the corrupt society. They retrieve their gear from the car and make their way to the house. The 4 scale the house to reach the garage roof where they search the office until the information is found. They then swiftly escape the house and drive off. We finished the opening sequence like this so the story could be continued if made into a full length feature film. 

Audience Research

We conducted audience research to get an insight into the minds of the audience. I compiled a questionnaire for  members of the class (the audience) to fill out to help gain knowledge of their understanding. The questions asked the age and sex of each member and their favourite genre of film; favourite film; favourite actor/actress; how often they watch films; if their favourite actor influenced their film choice; if trailers influenced their film choice and what they wouldn't want to see in a film.


From the results it is clear to see that older actors are preferred, most people watch films weekly and trailers influence 100% of the audience surveyed. To improve my readings I would obviously survey a wider range of people. We have tried to incorporate some of the audiences values into our opening sequence but struggled to add in horror or rom-com element, the audiences 2 favourite genres. We did manage to incorporate action into our sub-genre of spy films, but older actors were hard to bring into the project.

Audience Research Results

Media Institutions Research

The are many distribution companies that distribute films internationally. Some are based in the UK and some in the United States. Distribution companies decide the release of the film e.g. date of release, selected cinemas, when it is released on DVD/Blu-Ray. They also decide on the marketing of the film e.g. posters/billboards, trailers, TV spots, publicity - red carpet invites. Finally they decide on the delivery to the cinema.

There are two types of distribution companies. Major Studio companies usually have the money, resources and equpment to produce and distribute films. These include:

• Universal Pictures
• Paramount Pictures
• 20th Century Fox

The other type of distribution company is an Independent Studio company. These produce small scale, budget films and rely on funding from the major studios to produce and release films. Films such as Bridget Jones' Diary, Notting Hill and Love Actually were all produced in Independent Studios and recieved funding from larger companies to be able to release on the scale they did. Independent companies include:

• StudioCanal
• Working Title Films

I feel that our film would be produced by an Independent Company but may recieve funding from studios such as Universal of 20th Century Fox for international distribution.

Films always carry age restrictions on them to determine which audience is deemed suitable to view the film. In the UK the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) determine the age rating of the film through a board of members, who view the film and decide on the classification. In the UK, currently, the age restrictions are:

• U (Universal, suitable for all ages)
• PG (Parental Guidance, suitable for children any age but may require parental supervision)
• 12A (Suitable for children under 12 but only with a parent)
• 12 (Suitable for viewers over 12 only)
• 15 (Suitable for viewers over 15 only)
• 18 (Suitable for viewers over 18 only)

I feel our film would be a 12 or 15 classification as, although the opening sequence does not, the rest of the film may contain explicit language and violence.

Mood Board

Our mood board is a collection of images which reflect our initial ideas and inspiration for our crime opening sequence. We placed inspirational films on it e.g. James Bond as it is in the same sub-genre as our film. We also placed costume inspiration and location and prop examples that we may be able to replicate for our film.

Titles

A title sequence is a major part of the film, as it can set the genre and tone of the film within the first 5 minutes of viewing. Traditional conventions of a title sequence are:

• Producer
• Actors names
• Director
• Title
• Crew

The purpose of the title sequence is to inform the audience of the title of the film and give them some information as to the people that put the film together. It sets up the story, as it is how the film opens, and we need to be wary when making our films as to whether the story can be continued from the opening sequence. Some films choose to integrate their opening titles into the film e.g. Mr and Mrs Smith, Harry Potter etc. However, some films choose to have a title sequence dedicated to just the credits e.g. James Bond franchise and Star Wars.

The genre can also be conveyed through the title sequence in a variety of ways. The typeface and type of titles used can help to convey the genre e.g. spiky, rigid writing for horror or crime films, but a bubbly, softer typeface is more suited to a romantic comedy. How it opens can also convey the genre, whether it be a kiss, a car chase or a death. Another important factor for communicating genre to the audience is the music/sounds played during the opening. Rock, harder music could convey a crime film whereas pop songs or classical music could portray an entirely different genre.

After looking through numerous titles to channel into ours, we have chosen to integrate our titles into the opening action of the film to prevent the audience from becoming bored after watching just titles. The links below are for some film sequences that I found pretty effective.

"The Spy Who Loved Me" Opening Sequence

"X-Men" Opening Sequence

"Mr and Mrs Smith" Opening Sequence

Conventions of the Crime Film

Crime films, like other genres, have conventions that you will typically see appearing in the majority of films. These conventions often include:

• props
• sound
• camera and lighting
• locations
• narrative

A lot of crime films will often feature similar things that tie into these conventions. Examples of props often used are guns, fast cars, and polica badges to tie in with the crime genre. The film noir style of Crime Films often feature low key lighting and very distinct camera angles, shown in films such as "The Third Man". Music and high action sounds, like gunshots; car chases; tyre screeches are again often featured in the genre to heighten the experience of the audience and for them to clearly distinguish the Crime Genre. Also music is sometimes written specifically for films, expecially crime films, like Goldfinger by Shirley Bassey for the James Bond movie by the same name.

The main characteristics of the spy sub-genre we have chosen to do are:

• Black tight clothing
• Guns
• Torches
• Gadgets
• Sports Cars

We are hoping to incorporate all of these conventions into our film to try and produce a film that an audience would be familiar with, yet challenge some of them to give our own unique twist on the film.

Preliminary Exercise

The first part of our coursework we needed to do was the prelim task. This was to test the ability of the three basic rules of film making. Match on action, shot-reverse-shot and the 180 degree rule. We had to film and edit a character sitting down in a chair opposite another character and for them to exchange a couple of lines of dialogue. The purpose was to demonstrate an understanding of continuity editing and edit into purpose.

3 things I feel I could improve on when filming the main task are quite simple. I feel that more efficient filming is needed as the main task will not be completed to the deadline otherwise. Another is to make sure the editing is done properly as your piece can look disjointed and gritty if not done properly. Finally, the last thing i feel we need to improve on is the planning of the exercise. With more detailed planning, we can achieve our Main Task to the best of our abilities and ensure it is meeting the deadline.


Prelim Task