Film Reviews

The list continued...

 

 

Film Reviews

These are the verdicts of the other students in our media class. 

 

 

Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 

We tried to avoid the convention found in action films of fight scenes being hyper-unrealistic, focusing instead on a crisply choreographed fight scene which still manages to retain its spirited atmosphere.

Our location was not typical of an action film, but more of a horror film. This was because we needed to maintain enough space to shoot our fight scene and in order to stay away from crowded areas.

Our film does conform to several conventions of typical action movies as the main feature of our production is the fight scene. We also used weapon props and used music to build tension through the scenes.

The costumes we used also fitted with the conventions of an action film; the protagonist is dressed in regular clothes to make him accessible to the audience, while one of the antagonists wears an unusual mask that prevents the audience from connecting with him, as does the hood worn by the second antagonist.

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How does your media project represent particular social groups?

Our project can be seen as representing people from a working class background (due to the costumes of the characters) as being violent, as all three characters engage in violent acts that result in two of them being killed.
The use of a mask and hood represents how no one can be truly sure who there enemies are.

What kind of institution might distribute your media project and why?

The type of institution that would distribute our project would probably be a production company such as Film4 or StudioCanal UK, as they have a track record of producing and distributing up and coming independent, gritty, British films.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our main audience for our media project would be

people who enjoy action/thriller films, or those who enjoy films involving choreographed fight scenes (such as martial arts films).

How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our audience by creating suspense with the use of music and various camera angles that do not properly allow the audience to see what is happening initially. This leaves the audience in a state of intrigue as they attempt to piece together what is occurring. 

We also spent a lot of time practising and choreographing the fight scene in order to make it more interesting than a simple brawl. We were inspired to be as gritty as possible after watching the different fight scenes in the film Green Street and we drew lots of other ideas from other films, also. 

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

This project was the first time anyone in our group had handled a high quality, professional style camera. This meant learning how to use the camera properly to collect good quality shots, particularly functions such as focus, lighting and zoom. These small aspects of filming all worked as contributing factors to perfecting our project. 

I hadn't done any of the editing in our groups preliminary task and thus never used Final Cut Pro. The technology was actually relatively simple to manipulate and I found myself successfully editing much faster than I expected.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

Since making the preliminary task I have better learned how to edit films, both in terms of time-effectivity and overall quality of the final piece. 

I have also become much more patient in terms of expectation vs reality. Due to the intricacy of the film making process, not everything that you pictured would contribute to your final production will be featured. Throughout the filming of this project, I realised that the more work needed to perfect a piece, the more likely sacrifices are going to be made. 

Filming

We started the process of filming our project on 18/2/16. It was on this day that we were able to fully experience the hardships that our project could face. In spite of problematic instances and situations, the excursion was a lot of fun and really helped to mould our working attitudes into a machine of potential and productivity. Our production relied on the use of props to some degree as we decided to employ a machete for the opening scene. The large blade obviously stood as a very threatening prop and so all scenes that said blade was involved in were scrupulously choreographed in order to make sure all of the actors involved remained safe during filming. The feature of different camera angles and shots also plays a significant role in the production as the many altering angles makes for a very dynamic and free-flowing portrayal of combat.

One problem that we were confronted by during the filming of our production was a difference in availability for each member of our group. Not only was this an annoyance in general, but it put a cap on the amount of time we had to make use of in terms of filming. Because of these differences, our group was forced to start filming later in the day, ruining some of the shots as it got darker outside. In order to combat this, we set aside a day to make sure each member of the group was free to film and restarted the whole shooting process. Once we had enough time, the filming went very well and we managed to wrap it all up in one day.

Music Copyright

 

We received an email from YouTube, indicating to us that we had the green light to use the music we wanted in our film. The claimant to the copy written content allowed us to use their work. 

W R E N C H (Media Project)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjnyyzmuGJE


The latest blockbuster making millions in my head, WRENCH.
Starring: Callum McLaughlin, Luke Robinson and Mike Corrigan.

KICK ASS

Marketing

Due to Kick Ass being an independent film, their advertising and marketing campaign had a limited budget of an estimated $30 million USD. The film then went on to gross $96.2 million in the box office.

Lionsgate were the first advertisers to sync up its sponsored brand pages on YouTube, Facebook and MySpace under one platform to promote its upcoming comic-book movie “Kick-Ass".

The “Kick-Ass” promotion, courtesy of Silicon Valley startup ThisMoment, let Lionsgate integrate user comments, video streams and Twitter conversations (via a branded hashtag) under one platform, with real-time metrics to show isolated and combined traffic figures. The platform, called Distributed Engagement Channel, was sold to Lionsgate by ThisMoment and YouTube as an upgrade to YouTube’s brand-channel package to advertisers.]

IMDb: 7.7/10

Rotten Tomatoes: 76% of 244 surveyed.

Media Sectors - Music and Videogames

Media Sectors

Music

Spotify
Vevo
iTunes
Aftermath Records
Soundcloud
Radio Stations
LimeWire
YouTube


Videogames
 
Activision
Blizzard
Ubisoft
EA
Riot
Bethesda
Alienware
Rockstar
THQ

Media Sectors - Film and Television

Media Sectors


FILM AND TELEVISION



Hollywood film companies
Universal Studios
Disney
Paramount
Time Warner (Warner Bros)

Independent film companies
Artists Entertainment Complex

Handmade films

Marv films

Film 4

Television

BBC

Channel 4

ITV

MTV

Fox

CNN

HBO

My Opinion

I believe that, although many people have accused the BBC of having too many soap operas, chat shows, lifestyle programmes and comedy programmes on their schedule, the BBC channels must reflect the interest of the viewers. This is because the BBC have many different digital television channels. This means that there are channels that are dedicated to serving all different age ranges and even social classes.

Also, in order for the BBC to remain on top of the other independent television channels in competition for the best ratings, they must be able to compete with all kinds of shows, unless they're willing to allow another channel to take over their dominating role of that particular genre or type of show.

One difference that would be instantly noticeable if there was no BBC would be that coverage of national dilemmas and information. Without the BBC, there would be no effective Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) and so vital information and national news would be spread much less efficiently, potentially upsetting the general speed in which people can prepare for events etc...

BBC and Independent Channels

Similarities between BBC programming and Independent channels:

• Similar kind of shows in order to compete with rival television networks
• BBC and other independent channels use digital services. e.g BBC iPlayer and 4OD.

Differences between BBC programming and Independent channels: 

• BBC programming has set up several channels in the hope of appealing to certain audiences with each, thus enhancing their ability to make money in such a competitive market.
• BBC has the funds to pump hundreds of millions into Digital TV channels and a few more million on radio stations as they have a lot of funding.

Timeline

February 2016 - We start the editing process. Unlike filming, editing can be done over a long period of time and so we don't have to worry about setting out a specific time frame for it. Throughout the month we will continue to edit the film until all of our shots have a fluent order.

Update on filming

Filming Update

We originally aimed to begin filming by January once we received a camera, however our group had trouble finding a time when everyone was available, so we agreed to meet over the half term and begin filming over the course of several days from Tuesday 16th of Feb - Friday 19th of Feb.

Filming

Our group planned on meeting up to begin shooting the film in January, however not everyone was available to meet on any specific day. Now our is planning on meeting up during the half-term break on the 17th  and 18th of February after scheduling to keep our dates free.


We're planning on meeting up around 6pm and then we will set up our filming equipment at our established setting to record with optimum lighting for the storyline of our production.

Media Institutions

Media Institutions

Media institutions are companies which provide some form of media output; this may be:

• Audiovisual
• Print-based
• Internet-based
• Interactive

All are making money for providing a product or service and all media institutions have consumers they rely on for said profits.

Some media institutions are publically owned, whilst others are commercially owned.

Synergy

Ways that the Star Wars franchise uses synergy:

• Costumes
• Comics
• Spin-off TV shows
• Holiday specials
• Posters
• Bed covers
• Video games
• Action figures

Equipment

To record the film, we will be using a digital SLR camera. As a group we are still undecided on whether or not a tripod will be necessary for filming, however, we will be taking one just in case it can help with the filming process.

To edit the film we will be using either iMovie or Final Cut Pro. Our group is most likely to use the iMovie software in this case as it served us well in our preliminary task and was easy for our editor to navigate.

iMovie also provides our group with multiple different features that can help make the film feel as authentic as possible such as opening and ending credit screens and lots of different transition.

This gives iMovie an advantageous lead on Final Cut Pro in terms of which software we are most likely to use.

Representation

My name is Earl

In the show, Ethan Suplee's character, Randy, is portrayed as a bumbling idiot with sweet and usually kind intentions as he follows and accompanies his brother in his daily exploits. Randy is presented as a docile and predominantly innocent character. His appearance backs up the stereotype of overweight individuals being more jolly than people of smaller stature, due to his actions in the show. Randy's scruffy looks make him come across to the audience as more loveable and jovial, causing him to become a fan favourite.

Jaime Pressley's character, Joy, is shown to fit the stereotype of America's "Trailer-Trash". She lives in a run-down trailer park in a small, run-down trailer. Though her living conditions are sub-par, she still runs a family of four. Although she isn't portrayed as particularly dopey, Joy comes across as relatively uneducated with more "street-smarts" than anything else. This is present in her value for aesthetics as opposed to academia, caring more about her looks than most other things.

Eddie Steeples character from the show, Darnell "Crab Man" Turner is a very peculiar character. Due to his former alias, Harry Turner (former government agent), being put into the witness protection programme. Crab Man is represented as a simple man with a happy-go-lucky aura about himself. Often being the voice of reason, Crab Man's docile demeanour makes him the unlikely brains of the cast.

Timeline

January 2016 - Filming begins. A 2 week filming laid out over the course of two weekends provides sufficient time for shots that are necessary to the film. Due to filming in a public space, having the filming take place over two weeks was essential due to different contributing factors that may set us back, for example poor weather conditions or shot disruption from passers-by.