Evaluation Question 7

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

       The contrast between filming the preliminary task to shooting our coursework opening has been vast. We faced many differences between a short, 30-second piece and a much more demanding 2-minute opening, which required extensive refinement in comparison to the roughness of the preliminary task, and I feel I have learnt a lot in the process of overcoming these obstacles.

       Firstly, the planning and preparation was much more demanding for the opening task than what I needed for the preliminary. I developed my skills in creating shot lists and storyboards, giving the opening much more structure and development before shooting that the preliminary ever had. Because of these planning techniques, when it came to shooting I had a much clearer idea of the shots needed and angles required to complete a certain sequence, and whilst editing I could refer to the storyboard for guidance. For example whilst shooting the dream sequence of the opening I filmed many shots we had not thought of in the planning stages, however during editing I learnt how useful the storyboard was in helping me effectively use these shots without loosing the narrative of the opening.

       Logistically, I learnt a lot in the difference of shooting on sight in the school for the preliminary to filming on different locations around London. The group and I had to continuously over think in our preparations for days of shooting, especially when preparing the equipment, whereas for the preliminary all out equipment was on sight and easily accessibly. These concerns combined with additional actors created some tense moments during shooting, however we quickly learnt to thoroughly ensure the equipment was correct and therefore filming became a lot smoother and effective.

       My use and knowledge of the equipment also progressed in the time between the preliminary task and the opening task. For the preliminary, I simply used one camera with no extras equipment. However in the opening task, I used multiply lights, microphones and a micro track simultaneously to achieve the desired effect. This required a drastic increase in knowledge and capability with the equipment than I needed for the preliminary; therefore I quickly progressed in order to utilize all these benefits.   

       The area I progressed most in was during the film editing. For the preliminary, my editing skills were noticeably amateur and choppy, resulting in a jittery piece that did not run smoothly and was extremely simple. In order to make the opening task seem more professional and run generally smoother, I learnt a great deal about using final cut pro and quickly developed my editing skills. This resulted in a much smoother, sharper piece, with equalized sound, subtle effects and the incorporation of graphics. My continuity editing also improved, with techniques such as match on action, sound bridges and fades all being used to improve the opening task.

       Overall, I fell I have learnt a lot in my progression from the preliminary to the opening task, in all aspects of filming. I feel I have especially learnt the benefits of thorough preparation in the planning stages, which I have seen have a great effecting in both the shooting stage and finally the editing, leading to the smooth creation of the opening task.

       

Evaluation Question 6

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this film opening?

       From the practise in the preliminary task, we already knew how to roughly use the camera and tripod. However, when trying to produce a slicker film, we encountered some problems with the equipment. For example when attempting to pan or track the camera, we realised we could not get a smooth shot as we always discovered a shaky effect when reviewing the footage. After regrouping, we managed to cut and reshoot some shots in order to give our film a smoother look.

       We also tried to use a variety of lights to intensify out shots. However when using them we realised that they were too unnatural to use and we also struggled with coordinating them with the power packs, therefore most of the time they ran out of battery on set.

       Generally, using the filming technology such as the camera and lights proved fairly challenging, as no one in our group was specifically talented at understanding the different technologies. However once we read every single on the equipment before shooting, we learnt how to effectively use the equipment to the best of our ability.

       As we had all used macs before, and one member of our group was doing a computing AS level, using that technology was not difficult. However none of us had used final cut pro before to edit our film, other than a brief rough cut of our preliminary, in which we barely had to know about the software. When editing the final piece, we learnt how to use various tools and effects in editing, such as using filters, slowing down footage, inserting titles and overlaying music. This proved the most challenging of all the technologies, as whilst editing the final cut pro would regularly shut down, though our work was saved. Finally we managed to use final cut pro and the majority of its tools to produce our final piece, overcoming our issues with the technology.

Evaluation Question 5

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxnwloZSCtY

Evaluation Question 4

4. Who would be the audience for your film?

       Due to the mature themes in our film, such as the drug use and perhaps violence after the opening, we would expect a certification of 15 for our film. A 15 certificate would cover our film, allowing drug use, frequent strong language and strong violence throughout the duration of the film. The BBFC describes the guidelines for the portrayal of dangerous behavior in films as that ’’dangerous behavior such as … suicide … should not dwell on detail that could be copied’’. As we would most likely have scenes such as this in our film, and already in the opening drug use is mentioned, we could not qualify for a 12 or 12A rating as drug use must be ’’infrequent’’ and scenes of violence must be ’’moderate’’ and should not put ’’emphasis on injuries or blood’’. Therefore, our audience must be from the age 15 and up, as it would be inaccessible and inappropriate for a younger audience.

       This is what we expected, and knew that our target audience would be in the category of 15-24 years. This is the most popular category for attending the cinema, and we felt the subject matter, themes and characters would be easily accessible for those in their teenage years, whilst also ensuring maximum profits for the film.

       Another insight to our target audience was comparing it to other, similar films such as Black Swan and Girl, Interrupted. These films shared similar themes with ours, and therefore we would most likely attract the same type of audience. The two comparable films attracted mainly a female audience, with Girl, Interrupted attracting a younger audience of 18-30 yrs whilst Black Swan more likely attracting a slightly older audience due to director Aronofsky credits bringing in older generations. With this information, and comparing both films to ours, it is reasonable to suggest that the audience for our film would be predominantly female, with a younger age target as it is classified under both films as a 15.

       We also used a survey to assess our target audience. The majority of the surveyed were female, with 4 males attending. From this we learnt that our target audience was exclusively in the 16-24 age category, with their cinema attendance usually from once a month. We also saw that their main attraction to films was through featured actors, followed by either the director or subject matter attracting them to a film. All the surveyed also said they would continue watching our film after viewing the opening two minutes.


       In conclusion it is fair to say that our target audience for our film would be those 15-24 years old, with a mainly female demographic. However seeing as we did not survey anyone above the age of 16 due to complications, we cannot certainly say what our audience would have been if older people had taken part in the survey.

Evaluation Question 3

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your film and why?

       It would be hard to get a large media institution to distribute our film because it is low budget and targeted at a small audience. An institution such as Fox Searchlight Pictures would not be interested because they look for films that will please a large audience and which they can produce and distribute to large cinemas. Our film would not thrive in such a situation because it would not fill a large cinema's seats. A student film is usually disregarded as it is low budget and lacks the experience of major film makers. Two films who we drew inspiration from are the Black Swan and Girl, Interrupted. Girl Interrupted is distributed by Columbia Pictures which is also a large film distributor looking for high grossing films starring Hollywood actors. Obviously we do not have a Hollywood cast and this means that they will not be very interested, again we must look for smaller individual distributors for an audience who are not looking for a mainstream film. An example of a low budget media institution that might be interested in distributing our film might be momentum pictures, they have distributed many films in the past few years such as Let The Right One In, The Girl Who Played With Fire and Dark Skies. These are not high budget films starring a multitude of Hollywood actors and this is why we might be interested in them distributing our film, this is still quite a large distributor for our film and we might aim  for a smaller one because they would be more likely to accept our film.

Evaluation Question 2

2. How does your film opening represent particular social groups?

       Eponymous character Margot is from a white middle-class background. Her mother is a workaholic single mother who has a high-flying career in the city, affording them a comfortable existence in a pleasant residential area. We established this location by filming her wandering through a fairly wealthy part of London. Margot's father lives abroad, and is distant in his relationship with his daughter which may account for the isolation she feels.

       Margot resembles Effie in Skins due to the fact they both grew up in a affluent household, yet have a dysfunctional family and deal with mental health issues. They are both aloof and possess an air of mystery, although Effie indulges in a lot of drug-taking and provocative activities, Margot prefers to be more solitary. She has a few friends, but steadily removes herself from them and the rest of the world throughout the film, a lot of the time because of misunderstanding. We chose to represent our main character in this way because teenage audiences usually react well to anti-heroes, particularly because rebellion against parents and conventional lifestyles is an ever present theme amongst adolescents. Because of the broken relationship with her family she represents the conflict that many others experience, and subsequent formation of an intense friendship with another figure that becomes a family-figure to her and replacement for the support and affection that she feels she missed out on.  Therefore we deliberately chose not to represent her mother in the opening so we could we could show her absence as normal and focus on the character development of Margot, particularly as it appears that her usual routine does not require any interaction with her mother and she is comfortable with that. However this representation of parental figures challenges certain stereotypes about middle class lifestyles as being a nuclear families, and the single-mother-no-father figure is instead habitually used in 'gritty' realism dramas about low-income families. Yet we acknowledged the idea that parents who are obsessively-career orientated often are not able to maintain functional relationships with their families.

       With her pale skin, blonde hair and blue eyes, Margot's looks are reminiscent of characters from typical Gothic literature because of their ethereal qualities. The character of Eva is a deliberately an 'exotic' contrast to Eva so as to represent the fact that she personifies all the characteristics that Margot feels could make her complete as a person. Thus Margot becomes obsessed with 'possessing' Eva. This theme is similar to the plot of Robert Altman's Three Women. We liked the idea of using unknown actors in our film because that way the audience is able to fully realise them as the character, and not just as a famous and recognisable actor playing yet another role.

Evaluation Question 1

1. In what ways does your film opening use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real films?