What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?
One of the product companies we included in our film was ‘Paramount Pictures’. This was due to the genre and style of our film. The film is a violent gangster/mafia type of movie and therefore we compared it to movies such as The Godfather whose product company was Paramount Pictures. We also made up the name of a production company and named it ‘One Shot Pictures’. This is because we thought our film would be able to get new companies to invest in us and promote us and a company like one shot pictures would therefore be promoting violent gangster type movies. The film may not be totally British so we could be open to a wider audience such as America and Europe. This is because the genre chosen is a popular genre and therefore should be open to the wider market.
If I had the chance I would first like to show my film at a film festival. This is because I am not experienced and would therefore want to learn from other film makers and see how I large diverse audience would react to my film. I could therefore see what I need to improve when starting off at small conventions like these and possibly build up a filming career when bigger events and chances come up.
The film may be released on DVD very soon after being bought out due to the fact that we would have companies such as Paramount Pictures involved. The DVD distribution would make the film more assessable and possibly boost ratings.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
We filmed within Lauren’s house and the area outside where we filmed was very close to her house, therefore we met up at her house each time we filmed and kept all the filming equipment at her house during the periods of not filming. Due to the fact that we thought we were going to film at night we had some lighting equipment to use when filming, however it was a lot more effective and easier to use natural lighting during the day. It took us two days to film the two different sections; the first part was within the house until the ‘Leading to Bell View’ sign. The second day we filmed the rest of the outside shots and used our second actor played by Daniel Wolff.
I filmed some low angle shots and some close ups within the first scene in the house where the detective is gathering some evidence. I wanted to get many angles of our character to show the different aspects of what was happening within the scene and so that in editing we could easily piece our shots together so that our film could flow thoroughly and easily. The close-ups meant the audience could see the detectives facial expressions and hopefully read off his face that he was nervous, however determined. It is important the audience can read these facial expressions so they can relate to what the character is thinking and understand the situation, therefore the camera shots I incorporated are very important. There were some other shots that I filmed that when it came to editing we realised we did not need and therefore are not shown in our finalised film. I shot the over-the-shoulder shots when the detective and Letch are having a conversation. This was partly due to the fact that I am tall and can therefore easily capture the shots, also I was good at holding the camera steady and capturing the characters from the correct angles. When editing we each put our views forward towards each part and pieced the film together in parts, all taking it in turns. I first started to edit the basic outline of what we had which made it easier to pick out the correct shots which we all later edited together and finalised. I chose where we should place the titles within the opening scene and I became good at finalising the music and placing it in the correct spots so that it corresponded with the film.
The digital technology was very helpful as it enabled us to capture the different shots in high quality and in the way we pictured and wanted it. For instance the zooming in and out feature was very useful and we used this quite a lot such as in our first establishing shot when we zoomed into the house. We also used this feature for close ups so that we could capture the perfect shot on the characters face. However some problems with the technology that we encountered was the focus. At some points in our film such as the first scene in the house the camera goes slightly out of focus whilst filming and this was hard to control. The sound was also hard to monitor whilst filming as we could not quite tell what sound we had captured and at one point the sound recorder on the camera broke and did not capture any background sounds.
The internet was a very useful technology when researching ideas and clips for our film. Websites such as ‘YouTube’ were very helpful as we could pick out specific points in a film or a sequence and try and compare it to our ideas and our film. I watched DVD’s as well to gain ideas when researching what different types of characters and genres we could use in our film.

How did you attract/address your audience?
The fiction film was designed to create a sense of disorientation with what was happening within the storyline. When the character is walking towards his destination to make the deal the music we chose proved to be very important in creating the correct mood and tone. The killing at the end of our extract was meant to provide a sense of shock and anxiety. It would prepare our audience for a violent and action-packed movie. At the end of our extract the audience wanted to know what was to happen next, the start of our film certainly proved sufficient enough to prepare our audience to carry on watching our fiction film.
Our first establishing shot was so that our audience could picture where the film was taking place. The zoom towards the window was so that it suggested to our audience that the next scene with our character within a room was taking place in that house. Within the next scene our character spoke on the phone to someone else, he mentioned, “Be at Bell View in ten minutes”. Therefore when we filmed him walking towards his destination we paused the camera on a sign which stated ‘Leading to Bell View’. This therefore reminded the audience of where his destination was and kept them guessing at the reasons why he may be going there. The meaning of this film is to create suspense and to show that things are not quite right in what is being shown. We therefore portrayed this in our filming by always getting our character to look around and to show nervous signs by checking who and what is around him. When rehearsing the different steps with the actors we wanted a lot of focus to be on the gun when it was in view of the camera. Therefore when the first character is sorting out the ‘evidence’ we make sure that he held it up as if he was looking at it, but also so the shape of the gun was in full view of the camera. At this point the gun is also sealed in a plastic bag, this is to interpret to the audience that it is evidence and therefore should be concealed. In the forest again when our second mobster shoots our other character we thought we would focus on the importance of the gun again and therefore took advantage of the lighting in this scene. When taking out the gun, the sun was shining on it, this formed a shadow which perfectly cast the guns outline and shape onto a tree in the scene and therefore emphasised the focus on the gun and enhanced its significance. We wanted to interpret to our audience that our Daniel Wolff mobster character was more superior and stronger than our Robert Kilburn mobster character. Therefore we used our camera angles to show this by including a lot of high angle shots on the superior mobster, also when having the over-the-shoulder shots we made it so the camera was slightly looking down on Robert Kilburn’s character and slightly looking up at Daniel Wolff’s character.
When trialling aspects of my film the audience were attracted to the effect the music had on the filming of our character walking towards his destination. They thought it set the mood of anxiety and suspense very well due to the music being jumpy and intense. The order in which we filmed and how we represented what was occurring in our opening sequence was thought to be very good according to our audience. The way we showed what was occurring in different steps, such as the preparation of the evidence and then the walking to the destination and finally the meeting between the two characters and how they react to each other.
I do believe that there may be different interpretations of our opening extract dependent on the culture of the viewer. In some cultures they may not be used to crime or gun violence and therefore may not understand the plot stirring in the opening few minutes. Some cultures may not understand or see the point of the interpretations and therefore not be interested in our film.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our fiction film reflects a crime and gangster genre. We tried to portray this firstly when picking our actors. We needed tall, well built male actors due to the thriller being based around a violent and opposing group of people. We had our actors dressed in suits and shirts to portray the rich and professional lifestyle a gangster may involve themselves in. There are certain props that symbolise the crime and gangster genre used in our fiction film such as the dark briefcase that is used to transport evidence and supplies used in the gangster world. The crime and gangster genre usually contains violence within it and therefore the gun used in our fiction film is a definite symbol of this genre.
Within the opening to our fiction film the two actors are shown by themselves or in desolate area together, this symbolises the secrecy and the fact that there is a dodgy deal being made. These are conventions of the genre being portrayed in our fiction film.
There are elements where we use the history of the genre in our fiction film, for instance within the movie the godfather they act nice and courteous around their enemies and then suddenly turn and kill them. We did this in our film when the second mobster accepts the deal and then kills the other mobster when they are not looking.
The fiction film may apply more to the past when mobsters and gangsters typically wore the top hat and suits and went around killing each other. Therefore the film may be realistic to the past rather than present day. However the props and scenery such as the mobile phone and modern day style house makes this film more relevant to present day. There is a high level of realism within our storyline, there is a high chance that in the world today dodgy deals are made between different gangs or groups of people and there is certainly a lot of gun crime nowadays. Overall although the conventions and the style of the storyline may be more relevant to the past, it can still be very much applied to modern day and therefore our fiction film does have a high level of realism.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In our fiction film the people we have represented are mobsters and gangsters, people who are part of a gang or a group of people who do not keep in line with the law and make dodgy deals behind closed doors. We have represented these types of people by picking actors who were male and well built. They are wearing suits to represent that these gangsters make a lot of money from what they do. The dark room and the secluded area in which the whole of the first part of our fiction film is shot represents that what the characters are doing is probably wrong and against the law, they therefore do not want a lot of attention or any spectators to what they are doing. The theme of the fiction film is action; this is represented by the killing at the start of the film. This theme is represented also by the use of the gun in the different shots. Within the shot when the man is shot the gun is enhanced by having a perfect shadow of it on the tree as well as it being in the middle of the picture. The storyline is based on the past, a similar time period to ‘The Godfather’ or ‘Bugsy Malone’. However this actual story occurs in the twenty first century. This time period is represented by the modern day house shown in the establishing shot at the start. There are also certain aspects and props that suggest the film is set in modern day such as the use of a mobile phone. Although it may not be noticeable, one of the characters is wearing a modern day watch which also suggests that the time period of the film is twenty first century.

Look back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
When shooting the fiction film we paid attention to the continuity within the shots and how the shots would fit together. We therefore shot lots of different shots from different angles within a scene so we could easily piece the different parts together and cut out any shots which were not needed. We took into account match on action when our first actor left the house that he was in. We showed him within the house and then walking outside of it to suggest to the audience that he had left the house instead of shooting the whole of action. We paid attention to the 180 degree rule when only shooting from one side when showing our character walking and when showing our characters talking to each other. We used over the shoulder shots and shot-reverse-shots to show where the different characters were positioned and what side of the screen they were on.



When taking into account our storyboard we kept to the main ideas that were in each scene, however we used different shot types in the scenes to make it more applicable to the way we represented our fiction film. We used the same shots at the start of our storyboard when showing the establishing shot and zooming into the house to suggest that this was where the next scene was taking place. However when filming our characters we used a variety of different camera angles and shots when it came to filming that we did not include in our storyboard. For example when filming the character on the phone we decided to have a close up of the phone and the face of the character when speaking, this contrasted with our storyboard where we decided to shoot this shot as a medium shot. We changed this because the close up was a lot more effective and we wanted to include a range of different shots in our film.
We wanted to film the whole extract of our fiction film within two to three days. This was also dependent on when our actors were free and what the weather was like due to the fact that we were filming outside for part of our film. Our time management was successful and we managed to complete filming in two days. We captured all the different shots we needed and collected and completed our ideas together on the day.
When it came to editing our film we realised that the sound had been knocked and temporarily broken near the end of filming. This mistake was not as costly as first thought as it occurred after all our characters dialogue. We were therefore able to put some backing music over the scenes with no background sound and this did not affect our film too badly. Within the preliminary exercise we realised that a big priority was to keep the camera straight and steady at all times, we also realised the importance having to capture every single shot in a scene even if we were not one hundred percent sure whether we would use it or not. Therefore we applied these learning curbs to our filming.
When filming we took it in turns to film, however we made sure that we were keeping to the storyline and that we included many angles and shots. Due to the fact that I am tall I shot the high angle shots and the over the shoulder shots. We had part of our crew that held the stands for the camera whilst we moved around to our different locations.
We gave the actors a general outline of what their character should do and what type of person they were. Seeing as the characters were meant to be cold, dark gangsters there was not a lot of dialogue. Before filming we searched the surrounding area of one of my team members houses and found a forest area with not a lot of people, which also created the perfect lighting for our film. Before filming we went to a store and bought a fake, plastic toy gun which we then painted black.