Production Report

1. Production Report Keisha Radway

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups? We have started the film with a close up of the main gang leader, Melanie. The camera then zooms out to show the whole gang. A voiceover is played over this scene. This is unconventional to the ‘typical’ gangster film. As they usually open with an establishing shot. We have centrally used a female gang leader, which subverts the conventional ‘gangster ‘film with a male gang leader. This makes our film appeal to females which is not conventional for the ‘typical’ gangster film. Our cast members are mostly of ethnic minority backgrounds. This is conventional to the ‘typical’ gangster movie. This makes our film seem more realistic. This is the effect we tried to put across because we didn’t want to form a stereotypical ‘gangster ‘ movie. Therefore the film would appeal to people of different ethnic minorities. Our cast members are all relatively young and ages range between 16-19. We chose to include people of these ages because it makes the gang seem realistic. We edged over into the gang stereo-type slightly which gave the film a ‘real’ effect. Stereo-types were portrayed but not in a negative way i.e. they were not behaving anti-socially or committing any crimes.

3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Our film has used some aspects of conventions from real media products of the ‘gangster’ genre. The Mise-en-scene we used was very conventional to a real ‘gangster’ movie. Our main prop was a toy gun which is used in many ‘gangster’ films. We have centrally used a female gang leader, which subverts the conventional ‘gangster ‘film with a male gang leader. This makes our film appeal to females which is not conventional for the ‘typical’ gangster film. Our cast members are mostly of ethnic minority backgrounds. This is conventional to the ‘typical’ gangster movie. This makes our film seem more realistic. This is the effect we tried to put across because we didn’t want to form a stereotypical ‘gangster‘ movie. Therefore the film would appeal to people of different ethnic minorities. Our camera work is sharp, we use close-ups, long shots and tracking shots which adds to the conventional gangster film. We have used fast paced editing which is quite conventional for the gangster genre. We have used rap music over part of our film which shows the youth culture. This is conventional but also crosses into the stereo-types of gangster films.

4. Who is your target audience andhow did you attract/address your audience? Our film is for people aged between 15 and 30. This is because our cast members are relatively young. The plot of our film will attract a younger audience especially as the genre is ‘gangster’. We used a young cast who use quite informal language which younger people would understand and be able to relate to. We also used modern day ‘typical’ teenager clothing, such as tracksuits and bright colours. The gang wear yellow bandanas which show their youth. This is would more likely appeal to a younger audience. Our film is fast paced and sharp. We have purposely edited our film in this way so that the film has a ‘music video’ effect. This attracts younger people rather than a long dragged out type film. This effect helps to keep the audience intrigued and wanting to watch more. I think we attracted our target audience well through the use of Mise-En- Scene, Camera Shots and Sound. However I still feel like there is room for improvement, for example the film could have included people of different ethnicities which would help to expand our target audience.

5. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? Throughout this process I have learnt how to efficiently use cameras, and how to develop camera shots. I have learnt a vast amount of new camera shots which have helped to develop our film. I have learnt how boom mics work and how they help to make our sound clearer. Our independent work has helped me learn a lot about how to set up equipment and how to use it efficiently. Prior to A Level Media I used Final Cut Pro and made two short movies. This previous experience helped me to teach members of my group how the use the program and to better my own editing. Time management was one of the main things I learnt during this process. I feel that as a group we managed our time fairly well but could have set more specific time limits on different parts of the project. We filmed in the space of four hours which helped us to gain more time in editing. However I feel that we should have had more organisation throughout our editing procedure. With regards to working in a group I learnt how to incorporate everyone's ideas to form one main idea. I have learnt that in order to be part of a successful team/group, you need to communicate a lot more than just lesson time. I think we could have been more organised as a group by allocating set job roles in the preparation process of this project.

6. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression it to the full product? I think I have improved significantly since the preliminary task in all areas. I have learnt what it takes to make a full product e.g. storyboard drawing and blogging our process. The main task has improved my organisation and time management skills. This is because in the preliminary task we were more dependant on the teacher telling us when exactly to do specific tasks but in the main task we worked very independently. I feel that we have used better camera shots in our main task which contributes to our editing. The editing used in the main task has been much more professional and clean than in our preliminary task. Looking back on the preliminary task I feel that as a group we took into account each others strengths and weaknesses and used them to develop each others knowledge and understanding of equipment, final cut pro and topics of discussion. This has helped us to become a more stable group that can work together well and accomplish a good project together. Since the preliminary task I feel that I have learnt more about the technical side of filming and have discovered my own strengths and weaknesses.

7. Peer Evaluations Sara: Very good and smooth editing with creative effects and dissolves. I thought the way that you structured the film was excellent and the different technologies e.g. voiceovers and audio that you brought in was very good. Sophia: I really liked the narrative that was used at the beginning of the film and I liked the fact that you used snapshots to highlight different areas of the film that are supposed to stand out. The editing and dissolves that you used were really nice and looked somewhat professional. The film related to your target audience really well. Overall I really enjoyed it. Sarah: I thoroughly enjoyed the film and think you brought great creativity to the film. You used some good transitions and effects throughout the film and bought about the theme of a flashback well. You also used the different stages of events to build up to the main scene. The distortion effect at the end of the film was fantastic. Although there were some parts that I think could have been sharpened up and smoothened out some more. Michael: It was put together really well and some really creative effects and add ons were used. However at times it was quiet and sometimes not understandable. The storyline was generally easy to follow but there was no evidence to show that Melanie and Kaley were sisters You reached out to your target audience well. Rubecca:

8. Evaluation Overall I think that this project went very well because developed a good plot to fit our genre. We chose good actors that would represent our film well and who would the parts the best. However I think that if we put more time into our planning and ideas of the film our piece could have been a lot better. The written side of this process has been quite difficult because I have had to do more research and evaluations than I am used to. It has allowed me to progress in my written and analytical skills. However I think that if I had put more effort and precision into researching and evaluating it would have made great impact on the standard of organisation our group had. Group work has been quite difficult but it has taught me how to work under pressure and how to give and take positive criticisms regarding work. If we had developed our ideas earlier and finalised them it could have made a big difference to the final project. However, we used equipment and editing time very efficiently in order to make the best product we could. We used a hand held camera in many parts of our film, this was to portray ‘realness’. The shaky effect also tells the audience that the film is quite rough and edgy but also shows that something bad will happen. We used this to build tension for the shooting. We had a few problems with using a fake gun. We had to obtain permission from the police, which was granted. However we faced problems when the care taker of the park objected to the use of the gun on public premises. This meant that we could only shoot the gun scene on our college grounds. Which had a knock on effect on our film as we had to change settings halfway through the film. This project has shown me how much time, effort and planning it takes to make a real successful film. If I was going to do this again I would improve my organisation and time keeping skills greatly. I would also allocate precise job roles to each group member in order to keep our organisation up to date. I would also work more independently in order to gain more knowledge and understanding.