Robert Staines Media AS

Thursday, 10 May 2012

And now the end is near....

And so I've reached, my final blog postttttt.

I'd like to congratulate my good friend Mitchell on us both reaching the end of this brilliant task.

Sing it Frank....

Evaluation: Part 8; Preliminary Task

Looking back at our preliminary task, it's hard to believe that it was done so long ago.

This is my evaluation of the preliminary task

Open publication - Free publishing

The preliminary task was invaluable. We learnt a lot of rules that we applied in our final production.

The 180 degree rule: We needed this in our first scene between Jamie and the teacher. At one point we had shot some footage over the shoulder, we then went to film the two shot but crossed the 180 degree line, we noticed this after reviewing the footage on the camcorder on set. We then re-filmed with the 180 degree rule in mind. This is something we also did in our preliminary task for a two shot, where we had to completely rearrange the set in order to observe the 180 degree rule and maintain continuity and therefore verisimilitude.

The rule of thirds: We observed the rule of thirds mainly in the scene between Jamie and his teacher, though it was observed throughout the opening sequence as you can see in the two screenshots below. This basic composition rule helped our overall finish, giving it professional qualities.

Screenshot from our evaluation

It was good to use the HD camcorder in a test run before the real production, as this was our time for finding out how to get around the device and test how well it captured different lighting and sound. I think our task was successful creative wise, it had a strong simple theme of humour and general high jinx. Post production was a big part of the task too, it's amazing how different the first draft is to the final.

Looking at the differences between the initial draft and final the main improved is the audio. From seeing this I made sure that special attention was paid to the audio in our BSR production. The song used underneath the voiceover is a track a friend of mine, Reece Alexander, produced, he goes by the name of "ReeceA". When we wrote out our treatment I instantly thought of this track as it fits the pace and feel of the themes and the voiceover fits well over it. With the massive bonus that I have full permission to use it as he's completely independent.

The weak point of our preliminary task was the missing footage, which we replaced with this clip:

This ruined the continuity of our task. We remembered this mishap when we were recording our BSR production and was sure to not only film each shot at least three times but to check the footage on set and tick off each shot on the list.

We kept the same flare and creativity that we put in to our preliminary task, maintaining the pace and excitement. I believe that as much as the pieces are completely different they do reflect similar styles and moods.

Wednesday, 9 May 2012

Evaluation: Task 7; Technologies

Open publication - Free publishing - More as

Tuesday, 8 May 2012

Evaluation: Task 6; Attracting/Addressing our audience

Our YouTube video for audience feedback

Monday, 7 May 2012

Evaluation: Task 5; Representation of social groups

Representation of groups was something we spent a lot of time planning in Pre-production.

Also the body language and composition of this shot enforces the subversion of stereotypical authority.

We wanted to both use and subvert stereotypes. In the first scene between the teacher and Jamie we explore the theme of authority, the points that the teacher is making are valid to the insinuated life choices Jamie is making, however with jamie arguing back to the teacher we subvert the stereotype that this authority figure is in fact in power and control. The voiceover furthers this subversion as Jamie challenges the stereotype of the typical "9to5" routined lifestyle. And then the title is brought in to focus at the end "Who are the real wasters here?" to again subvert the social ideology that people who take drugs and live to party are of the worst social group.

Apart from the teacher at the start of the opening sequence this stage dancer is the only other female shown in the production. We chose to conform to Laura Mulvey's theory of "The Male Gaze" which states that women are shown in media products as something for males to look at. Her provocative dancing and minimal costume anchors this connotation.

The meeting scenes show Jamie and his friends as a gang, the graffiti behind them and iconic connotations of stairwells anchor the connotation of these friends being a "gang", conforming to the stereotype of gang culture within urban youth groups. However this initial representation isn't carried on as there is no violence shown, or any other stereotypical "gang" behaviour. In fact the representation we wanted to created for the raving group is that they were just young boys who were only in the pursuit of a good time.

However, this shot at 1:45 of a raver in a bunny mask is quite menacing and could be seen as intimidating to the viewer, signifying that some members of the society are pursuing different things. Although this could be read by the target audience as fun and it could be viewed as a guy just having a laugh and means no harm. This second reading is the one we were going for which was successful from feedback we received from our target audience.

The editing in the first scene between the teacher and Jamie is slow and basic continuity editing, we did this gives the scene verisimilitude. The slow cuts, basic straight on angles, over the shoulder and two shots signify the mundane, boring mood of school life from the perspective of Jamie. This then changes when we meets his friends, the cuts are fast, with jump cuts to insinuate the fast paced, thrill with no fill lifestyle of Jamie and his friends. There is a jump cut (shown above) where Jamie takes a pill, we see the pill go in, this jumps to him drinking, then jumps to shaky footage of a rave. These fast cuts again signify the fast pace of the ravers life and connote the action of the drugs he's taking.