Evaluation: Group Questions

As a group we sat down and read through each of the questions together discussing what we felt the answers were. We then together compiled answers to each of the questions within our group:

At a micro, technical level, how well did you observe the conventions of continuity, the language of film and the grammar of the edit?
We observed the conventions of continuity, the language of film and the grammar of the edit by planning the different stages of our task to bring a good quality product which would reflect our knowledge of the language of film and show our progress throughout the course.

In the film opening which our group created, we observed the conventions of continuity by making sure that each time we went out to film the weather, setting, time of day and costumes were similar enough that all of the film would appear as though it was taken on the same day at the same time. We used many different shots to show what our genre was and to show our knowledge of filming. We used high angled and low angled shots to show the different personalities of the characters and panning shots and long shots to establish the setting and to make it more interesting. We also synchronized the shots with the music to make it look more sleek and professional.

Our opening conserved the language of film by having titles to show the different people involved in its making. It had upbeat music which kept it interesting and the storyline makes the audience want to find out what happens afterwards. We also conserved film language by having many different types of shots and different paces of editing to explain the storyline in a different way from the characters. By doing all of these things we conserved film language and kept the opening sleek and snappy so the audience was not bored straight away and got drawn into the film.

How many mistakes did you make, and did you improve in the main task having made errors in the preliminary exercise?
Throughout the production of our film beginning, we made many mistakes with filming and editing but we were still able to create a good quality product. Filming was challenging as we had to provide a range of different shots. Because we are media students and do not have access to proper equipment, we had to find new, creative ways of filming each shot. Each lesson which we were filming in, we filmed each different shot from various angles and filmed them all a few times so that we could use the best one. When we would take the camera back to the classroom and look at what we’d filmed we found that there were a few bad shots. We overcame the errors we’d made by filming far more shots than we needed and then we were able to pick the best shots to use for our film.

We had the same problem in our preliminary task as we had to find different ways to film someone in a classroom. When filming our main task we were far more creative with the shots that we used and our editing. When filming our preliminary task one of the main problems we had was organisation which we believe we improved greatly on when we were filming for our main task. We did this by allocating certain lessons to film

At a more symbolic, macro level, how does your fiction film reflect or challenge the conventions of the genre or type you are working in? Will it fulfil the ‘contractual’ nature of film genre or will it subvert expectations deliberately?
Our film is supposed to fit into the action and crime genre. We think that it was a challenge for us to enter this genre. Action genre means action, and of course as Media students in a school we do not have green screens, we can not use any special effects. But in the opening sequence of an action/crime movie there must not necessarily be a lot of effects. For example in Ocean’s 11, they do not start with the big thing at the beginning. In the opening sequence, they meet each other, get to know each other. The opening sequence is there to introduce to the storyline; you do not need to use special effects in it.

Are there any elements of deliberate pastiche or parody, where you ‘play’ with the genre’s codes and history? Are there any intertextual moments where you hint at a reference to another film?
During the production of our film we did take inspiration from many films which represent the same genre as ours but we did not use any deliberate pastiche or parody. Although we enjoy watching films like ‘James Bond’ and ‘21’ we did not want to create a product which has already been made but instead create something completely new and exciting. This allowed us to include the codes and conventions of the crime and action genres that we like and leave out the bits that we don’t like. We did not choose to include any intertextual moment where we made reference to another film. Although we were only able to create an opening we would like audiences to associate our film beginning with the likes of ‘Ocean’s 11’ and the television series ‘Hustle’.

What kinds of audience pleasure are you trying to provide, and how confident are you that you have delivered on this promise?
Our piece of film is an entertaining production. As in the action genre, there aren’t many films which actually make the viewer think. Nowadays, the films of a high entertaining standard are often more successful than a movie which makes the audience think about something. Something is entertaining, when the audience feels good about it, when they identify themselves with the movie. We tried to achieve this. The audience just gets this feeling if everything fits together. The probably most difficult bit to provide the feeling is the quality of the acting; the actors need to be “believable”. As we are studying Media and not Drama, we decided to focus on other things rather than on the acting. We are confident, that the music is a good soundtrack to provide this feeling. If there is a failure in continuity, the viewer looses the feeling immediately, because he realises that the story is not true. We re-filmed some bits when we realises that we could do something better to provide the “maximum feeling”.


Group Management:
How did you manage the group dynamics, equipment and resources, interim deadlines and the necessary collaborative nature of film making?
When we began working together as a group we weren’t as able to work together well as we are now. During the filming of our preliminary task and throughout the planning process of our film we often found it challenging to distribute the work evenly and get our own share done on time. As our film began to take shape and we decided on a definite idea and began filming, our group management improved greatly. By the end of the filming and editing process we were able to delegate a task to each member of the group for each lesson so we were all constantly sharing the workload. This meant that we were able to meet the deadlines we had set for ourselves on time and enjoy the creative process.

We had easy access to equipment and resources as we would use the camera and tripod during our media studies lessons and they were always available to us. The only other resources we needed to use were costumes which the actors provided for themselves and props which we found within our group.

What health and safety and logistical problems did you solve?
At the beginning of the process of making our product we intended to use some real action as we filmed in the action genre, but then we decided not to do it because action always causes a risk. If we would for example jump from a roof, we would have to repeat that many times as we need several shots, there is a high risk of injury. We are in a boarding school, therefore everything we did had to be okay with the school, we needed permission for everything. We are “just” media students and not real producers, therefore we could not just close the roads for an hour to film our shots, we always had to look out for cars and move for them. That process took a lot of time and was annoying sometimes as we had to stop filming but we were able to get all the shots in the end.

How did you organise your human resources – the people involved in the production?
A movie without any characters is not highly exciting, just shots of the countryside and some music do not tell a story. Therefore the actors are the most important part in the movie. A face can tell so much to the viewer; it can tell things you can not describe. Because the people in the movie are so important, we need them a lot which is difficult to organise. At the beginning of the filming we wanted to use some people to act in our movie outside the class. We realized that it would be difficult to meet up with them and film with them because we are always very busy in school. That is why we chose people from the class. We started filming with Vidur who is in our class but in a different group. We then realized that even this would be not very efficient, because if we choose people from different groups, they always have to interrupt their work to come filming with us. We didn’t want them to do that because they have to do their own product as well, so we ended up with James and Simon starring in the two most important parts in the movie.

We never took everyone out to come filming with us if not necessary. For example, if we need more shots from James in the Bar, James and someone else can go out and film it, the third person can work on other things in the classroom. That allowed us to work very efficiently, no one never just stood there and had nothing to do. This is what saved time for us, in the real media business this is important as well, it saves a lot of money for the production companies, and in the media business everything is about money.

How did you manage actors, locations, costumes and props? Remember that deciding NOT to use a particular strategy [e.g. not to use any props] is also a creative decision.
As the most convenient time for us to film our product was during media lessons, we chose various locations on the school campus to use as locations in our film which mean that they were close and easy to access. The fact that the media studies lessons we attend are around the same time each day was also convenient for us as each time we filmed it was the right time of day. The weather where we live - in the north of Scotland - is often overcast or raining but we wanted the shots to be filmed on a sunny day. This meant that we could only film the scenes which were outside on days where the weather was good which was annoying and challenging at times. The shots we filmed inside were easy to create as we could control the lighting, the weather didn’t matter and we could make sure that nobody else interrupted the scenes. When filming outside, we had to always return to the same section of road to get our footage so that the two characters who were outside appeared in the same place in each shot. Using the school road was inconvenient because during the day it can be quite busy so we continuously had to stop and start filming when cars drove past.

We chose the shirts, jackets, ties, sunglasses and the mobile telephones we used for the actors before we began filming. We also decided which lessons we would use for filming previously so whoever owned costumes or props could bring them to the next lesson. This allowed for us to know what was needed for each lesson depending on what shots we intended to film. As all of the costumes and props were owned by either the actor or group members we always had what we needed at the right time.

How did storyboarding and creating a shooting script work in practice? Did you make creative decisions to depart from the original plan? For what reasons and with what outcomes?
We had already done a storyboard for our preliminary task and so we were aware of the concept behind this when it came time to doing one for our main task. We planned out the storyline for our main task first and putting it down on a storyboard gave us a clearer picture of what it would look like and also it meant we could plan out the different shots we were going to use. When it came to going out and filming we were organised and aware of what we wanted to accomplish and how we were going to do it.

However when it came to going out and filming what we had planned on our storyboard, we realised that we would have to make some readjustments. This was due to the fact that we realised we could get better and more interesting shots from the situation and environment we were in. Looking back at the changes we made we can see that it was definitely the right decision. Our film is of a higher quality with a wider range of shots and camera angles and it makes you stayed interested in it for the whole two minutes.

Although time management may seem a less exciting aspect of the creative media practice, it is possibly the most important – how did you manage your time, and with what success?
Our time management improved greatly over the course of the creation of our product. At the beginning the task as a whole seemed very daunting to us but as we began allocating small tasks to each group member the workload became more manageable. We found time management in filming quite hard because we had set deadlines for our group and on occasion were unable to meet them. This is because we would go out filming during some lessons and when we returned and uploaded what we’d filmed; the shots weren’t what we had wanted them to be for some reason or another. This seemed like a problem at the time but turned out to be of advantage to us as we ended up using some of the shots to improve scenes in which did not have enough.

It was also hard to use our time effectively during the stage in which we were editing our film. This was because we could only have one person editing the film at once because only one computer had all of our work on it. We were able to get all of the editing done on time and to a high standard but while one person was editing, the others did not have enough work to do to fill up the time that we had. This meant that one or both of the other team members were left to write small sections on the blog or complete short simple tasks. If we could repeat the whole production process we would try and make it possible for two people to be editing at once so we were all constantly being challenged.

Creative Tools:
How did digital technology enable you to develop creatively and are there examples of the technology obstructing or preventing your creative flow?
The digital technology we used for the production of our film helped show our different ideas from the planning stage. Using Photoshop to make our titles helped us to convey our genre to our target audience and give across a cool, slick production company logo as well as interesting and effective titles. Premiere Elements allowed us to edit all of the shots we had filmed and create meaning through our film. Using the program we were able to use fast or slow editing at different times to create a feeling of mystery and intrigue and this helped show the audience what genre we were aiming at. Using Premiere Elements also meant that we were able to cut the bad shots we had filmed so that we could showcase our best work.

Having said that, we did have some ideas that were blocked by the digital technology we were using. Premiere Elements would not let us edit to the nearest frame as it is not as advanced as we would hope. This meant that some scenes are not as effective as we would like them to be but we are confident that we have done the best we could with the resources available to us.

Thinking About Audience – making meaning:
How did you respond to the initial brief with the audience in mind?
When we got the initial brief, which was to make a two minute opening of a film, we knew we would have to make it stand out and make it look interesting for the entire time. To do this we chose our genre based on this principle. The genre we chose was Crime and Mystery as the audience who most likes this is younger people. We wanted to make the opening something that would relate to this audience and show them that it was aimed at their age group. With the audience in mind we chose to have many different shots and faster editing so as they didn’t get bored and walk away. We needed to make it so that when the audience watched it they thought wow!

How did your analysis and research into the type of film you selected impact on the creative process in pre-production?
The research actually had an absolute significant impact on our movie. At the beginning, when we first sat together in our group, we all wanted to do a different genre. We started researching in all of them and tried to narrow it down. What will be good for us to do? At the beginning, no one of us expected to do something in the action genre, as we thought that we need action to do that. When we watched the openings of the Oceans, of 21 and all the other movies we actually realized that many of their openings are slow. The action builds up further in the movie. When we watched the series Hustle, we saw a lot of phones in there. We didn’t copy Hustle in that sense, as we have still a lot of bits in our movie which we invented, but Hustle made us feeling confident about doing our idea, so we ended up doing it. Without the research we might have done something completely different, it was very important that we did it.

In filming and editing, how did you ensure that the meaning would be apparent to the audience? What creative decisions did you make in planning, rehearsing, filming and editing that were influenced by your sense of the audience and possible layers of interpretation?
If the audience does not understand what we try to say in the movie, they do not enjoy it and to not respond positively to it. It is essential that they understand it and we focussed on it a lot. If we finished one version of the film we always made people who haven’t seen it before watch that version and we asked them to explain the storyline to me. If they understand it, it is good. The worst comment you can get is: “I don’t really understand what it is about.” With this process, asking people again and again to watch the movie, we ensured that the message would come through.
During the planning process we decided that the way the characters act and talk is very important. They are telling the storyline and we decided that we want to ensure their right appearance.
When we filmed the movie, we always had several different ideas about how we want to present something in the movie. Their appearance is very important. We decided that we want them to wear smart clothes as we want them to appear rich and cool. But also the details, that they are not calling each other with any phone but with an iPhone, was also important to us as we think it is a status symbol.
“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” The music is the first thing which comes up as sound after the production logos. We took our time and looked very carefully for the music, because the first impression is so important.

How did the audience respond when you trialled aspects of your film? Are there a variety of possible interpretations of your opening sequence that will depend on the cultural situation of the viewer?
Throughout the production of our film we would ask our target audience to have a look at what we’d done and to tell us what they thought. As our target audience is people over the age of 15 we were able to ask our classmates to tell us what they thought. The audience always responded well to what we’d done but were always giving us constructive criticism which was helpful for us to create the most effective product possible.
We made sure that our genre and the representations of social groups which were present in our film were definitive so that everyone who was able to watch our film had a similar interpretation. The members of our class are all from different countries and cultures and each of them picked up on the type of film we were trying to create.

( Gabi, James & Simon )