My media product used many different forms of conventions used in real film openings. This was achieved by researching real film openings and how different conventions have been used throughout them. The opening credits I use in my film opening have been created and placed in they way of that of a real film opening, by making them simultaneously fade in and out in the bottom left corner of the screen. The non-diegetic music used has been chosen from listening to several openings of romantic comedies and selecting a song of similar sound and rhythm. At the beginning of the film super bad the non-diegetic music played is similar to the choice of mine, it is an upbeat sounding song which means its going to be quite a light-hearted film and isn’t going to be a horror or action movie. Romantic comedies usually start their narrative by establishing the two main characters in their lives apart from each other and that the audience can predict the fact that they will soon meet and fall in love because they can see the two characters coming together in some way. I feel that my film definitely does this but in a very different way as we see the unexpected car crash at the very beginning, and because one of my characters almost dies their love interest is a particularly clever obstacle to their romance. My film opening in some way compares to the film “While You Were Sleeping” which is about a lonely woman who pretends to be the girlfriend of a man who she serves at work every day at the train station where she works after he has an accident and ends up in a coma.
The particular social group my media product tries to represents is teenagers and young adults; this has been achieved by many different aspects of my film. Firstly the choice of actors is to achieve a piece that will be made eye catching to a target audience, so I chose to use youthful actors thus then making the film more appealing to younger people as the storyline would not have the same effect if someone over the age of 35 was to play the main protagonists. They characters have been represented through what they are wearing and how they act; the characters are wearing casual clothes showing that they are your average middle class people. Teenagers and younger people are usually associated with spending a lot of time making an effort on how they look, so using this stereotype I chose to portray the two persona's as though they were looking into a mirror brushing their teeth and sorting their hair. I have chosen to do this to show the representation of the pressures of modern life but also how younger people are stereotypically in a rush. The choice of camera shots and movements I used suits the kind of media product as a romantic comedy is a modern piece of filming so using a montage of different clips to insinuate the rush the male persona is in the piece, usually getting ready in a morning is done at a fast pace at people are scared of being late so the use of shots used in the openings scenes are a good representation of this. This effect has been used in the “Shaun of the Dead” film this was done to show how much of a rush Shaun was in before he started work.
If a media institution were to distribute my media product it would be either Universal Pictures or New Line Cinema. From doing research of distribution companies I have found that’s these two distributors are involved with a lot of romantic comedies and I feel that my media product is of similar likenesses to some of the films that they have distributed. And a lot of the movies distributed by these companies are like mine in the way that they have actors and actresses in them that have not really been heard of and could be making their debut into the world of media, Such as Keira Knightley how stared in the film “Bend It Like Beckham”. She then went out to star in bigger films such as the “Pirates of the
I chose to make a romantic comedy as these kinds of productions entice a lot of the teenage target audience I have chosen. I think by using a narrative such as mine it attracts them because a lot of the people around the age group I have chosen like to watch romantic comedies. I think it appeals to them more as they like the characters are also searching for Mr or Mrs right which then results in them being able to see parts of themselves in the characters. I feel that the audience needs for enjoyment and relaxation need to be met so I wanted them to be entertained whilst watching my film but also that they connect to the characters as there is a recognition of themselves in the characters. The features I feels are the most engaging with the audience are how the fast paced montage fits with the catchy music, and also the shock factor of the collision at the end which using enigma codes makes them ask questions and want to keep watching as its an unexpected twist so early into the narrative but the good feature of it is it bring both the characters together.
From constructing my product there are several technologies I have learnt how to use. Firstly I had a basic knowledge of using Premier Elements from creating my preliminary task, but from choosing a difficult choice of narrative I have been able to try and test different methods to get the best finish that I could. For example in the scene where the car runs down the male protagonist I had to cut the clip in a specific place so that using Premier Elements I could speed up the pace that the car was travelling so that it had continuity and appeared to be travelling at the same speed as the car had been moving in the earlier shots but also to make the collision realistic. This was also made a lot better by learning how to put sound effects into my video, but the problem I encountered was that the sound clip was not short enough so using audacity I learnt how to cut the sound clip of screeching brakes to make it short enough for the collision to sound realistic.
Instead of using titles that where built in I chose to experiment using Adobe Photoshop I created spaghetti looking titles which would fit in with the alphabetti spaghetti which was knocked out of the fridge. I feel that it creating my alphabetti spaghetti title on the floor was a fantastic feature, a very different way to show the title of a film and that what I was aiming for to interest the audience by doing something different as I feel this has from looking over my audience reviews. Using the spaghetti font in Photoshop was a good was to make all the titles as well and that then made all the title connect together.
My filming went great, I felt that the shots I got were very at very good angles and they all flowed together well keeping the continuity. I ensured I got the best from my filming by making several takes of a scene so that I was happy with the final piece. I feel that the shot of Matt is a interesting and effective shot as it the audience feel as though the camera is inside the mirror, and because I also did the same shot with the girls this helps the audience see the connection between the two characters.
From looking at my preliminary task I feel that I have excelled in my media product. As in my preliminary task I focused on using the correct shots and making sure there was a good flow of continuity. In my full media product I focused on the same aspects but used a more imaginative choice of shots and methods to attract my target audience at the same time of keeping the continuity. I have learnt how using different shots you can get a better finish for your film, as in my filming I filmed a few of my scenes at different angles to see which angle would work better but also keep the continuity and flow of the piece. I have also learnt in the progression of my preliminary task to the full product that you can get a excellent standard of continuity from using just using one camera as well as two, you just have to make sure that you are following the 180 degree rule as without using it, it could make two different shots from the camera look un even as they flow from one to the other and it doesn’t work because it looks very jumpy and poorly filmed.
Finally, I feel that I have done very well in the making of my media product and I have followed and carried my idea out to a standard that could be compared to that of an actually filming company. I also think how I have used the parallel shots of the morning routine which was very good as it showed the link between the two characters and making sure that one sequence ended with a door shutting and the other starting with a door opening was another good link. If I were to do this task again I would have filmed all of the outside parts at once thus keeping the continuity in weather the same throughout the piece. I would have also spent more time on the collision scene to make sure that it was the best that I could have been in the allowed time. I think the importance of planning was a key in this task as my good quality planning was a good way to ensure I got the best filming and story I could in the time allowed, planning is a good method to create something of such a good quality of my film opening so it compares to that of a real film.
