Coursework Evalutation : Question 1

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

Plan:

I did some research into the genre to find out the typical conventions included in media products within it.

Costume and props:
Usually within the sci-fi genre the costume and props are futuristic and imply a sense of space or otherworldliness, such as the light saber in star wars to give a science fiction effect of something unusual . In this aspect I strayed from the usual conventions as although I used technology as a focus within the opening (which could be seen as sticking to the conventions) I only used typical things from 21st century period in time; such as a mac. It is not unusual to see a teenage boy on his laptop therefore it adds more of a sense of realism than what one would stereotypically expect from the genre. Furthermore, his costume is also not typical of the genre, as one would expect it to be again futuristic, but my character is dressed eccentrically in smart clothes, as seen in frame 7, but not so much that he looks startlingly out of place; therefore again defying the conventions.

Title:
Usually the titles of this genre are very simple; they define what is in the film quite outrightly, for example Monsters vs Aliens lets the audience know exactly what the film is going to be about simply from reading the title. In this case, I think I develop this convention slightly as my title does let the audience know about what the film is going to be about but in a far more subtle manner, integrate is a word used in technology which lets them know that will be the premise for the film; but can also be used for as integrated into a new place or environment, which if the film was to be made in full the plot would carry on to show how teenagers had been taken into this new universe; therefore the title implies the plot rather than straight out inform as typical of the genre.

Title font:
For this genre, it is usually simple and static typography. My title, as seen in frame 9, fits into this convention as it is very simple white writing, in a static font that very sharp and separate so the title is easy to read and understand therefore conforming the the typical conventions of the genre.

Camera work and editing:
This typical contains a lot of special effects and close up of unusual or futuristic objects within the sci-fi genre, to again show the audience a different sense of time or space. Within my opening I stray from this convention as I tried to give my opening a more realistic feel than typical from science fiction. Although there is a large focus of the camera following the laptop, the main camerawork has  emphasis on character his movement. Furthermore, as shown by frames 2 and 6, the editing does use some special effects such as over lay and a glitch, as well as time lapse in earlier shots within the opening. However the time lapse and over lay are more to show time passing and give the audience a sense of character rather than add other worldly feels, therefore conflicts the typical conventions. However the glitch effect is meant to portray something unusual and therefore is more conventional.

Character:
The typical character of this genre is 'geeky' or defies the norms of society in some way, or fits into a different society which has different rules and regulations to ours. My character, as shown in frame 3, is very nerdy and quite isolated from the rest of society, therefore fits the conventions to a certain extent as he is an introvert that acts in a very exaggerated version of the normal teenager.

Setting/ location:
This is usually alternative/parallel universes or in a different time period. The locations used in my film challenge this as they are set in modern times, frame 1, but also develop this as they then transfer into a parallel computer setting, frames 6 and 7. This therefore makes it a more stereotypical setting as it makes the audience aware that the character it not in a normal location; even if started off in one.

Sound:
The sound in my  opening develops upon the typical conventions of sci-fi openings. Usually there is some form of narration to introduce the audience into the concept of the film, which my opening has, but it does it after the use of a soundtrack which conflicts the normal conventions of the order of the sound in the opening. It also switches from diegetic sound to non diegetic sound, which goes against the conventions of how sound is introduced. It also included dialogue at the end, which follows the normal order as it sets up the rest of the film, so this fits the conventions of sound within the genre.

BFI : Wix page

For my arts award as part of doing the bfi film academy, I had to make a website documenting everything that we have done. So here is the finished website, with all the work we did during the academy.

https://tasminlucascwe.wixsite.com/film

Here is the link to the finished documentary we created in production week, which was only 4 days long:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZyTz-U-baw

Coursework Construction : Final cut changes

After my audience feedback I decided to make a few more alterations to my video. It was clear that some of the issue with my video was the fact some people didn't understand the storyline, so to try counter act this I made a short piece of narration that will hopefully make the plot more obvious and easy to understand. I have also made some changes to the titles to make them fit in more with the feel of the opening, they are more sophisticated and there is also a more complex ident to add to the level of professionalism in the opening.
Here is the script for the narration I have added:

Most people think of technology as just that. Technology. A man made creation, which supports us through our daily lives, a pre written software, programmed to carry out instructions ordered by us. Most people do not think any further then that, it simply is just a group of mindless machines, a collection of cells carefully constructed for our benefit. My name is Alex Heath, and well I, I found out different.

Coursework Construction : Final cut feedback

Here is some audience feedback from my peers:

Coursework Construction : Final cut

Here is the final cut of my opening:

Courswork Construction: Audience feeback of rough cut

After showing some friends and family the rough cut of my coursework I was given some feedback:

Positives;

• Interesting concept
• A range of shots
• Cool lighting in the parts where he was trapped in the screen
• Appropriate to target audience

Negatives:

• No title/titles
• Music doesn't fit very well
• Bumpy transitions between shots
• Not completely clear what is going on

Changes to make upon feedback:

• Add titles
• Add some video effects to make the transitions smoother
• Edit the music and sound to make it fir the opening better
• Film some extra cutaways of the back of the computer to add in during the shots where he is trapped inside the computer, to make it more clear what the plotline is.

Coursework Construction: Explanation of final cut

Here is a summary of why I have done the different aspects of my film opening in this way and the thought process behind it.


Sound:
 I have chosen to make the sound in this opening what the character would be hearing. So it starts of with just the general background sound of  a city and then when he puts his headphones on the music he is listening to starts. This song then continues until he gets into his bedroom, where it still is playing but slightly quieter as he has taken his headphones out; so it is like he is playing out of his computer. I chose the song Feel Good as  I though it suited the characters personality from the profile I did during the planning process. When it moves to the computer shots, the sound is predominately the humming sound of a computer, which is loudest when he is inside the screen and gets quieter when it is from his sisters perspective. This is to try and make the audience aware of what they are listening to is what the character is listening to.


Lighting:
The lighting starts of as the natural light from outside when Alex is moving around the different places, but as soon as he gets into his bedroom it is the artificial lights in his room. This is meant to represent the predominance of technology in his life, and the contrast between the natural lighting to that in his room is meant to amplify that. The lighting when he is trapped in the computer screen is meant to be very clean and artificial, to suggest that wherever he is inside some form of technology. I wanted the background to be blocked out so it was more ambiguous as to where he is.

Props:
The  main prop is the laptop, and I  made it so that Alex is never seen without it, he has it on him all the time and never stops using it. It is shown in pretty much every shot to show the dominance is has on his life. The other prop that is important are the headphones, as not only do they just allow the audience to hear what the character is hearing but they are almost like a form of protection for him, as he wears them when out in public but as soon as he is in the safety of his own bedroom then he doesn't have to wear them anymore.

Titles:
The titles are in a very electronic typography to fit in with the theme of the video. The name Integrate was inspired by the fact it is a word that can be used in computer terms as lots of different files being brought together, which links to the rest of the plot of the film if it were to carry on as it is lots of teenagers being sucked into this same technological world.

Editing:
I chose to do the time lapses to try and suggest how much time was passing whilst Alex was sat on his laptop. Also the glitches on the computer screen to try and suggest that something had gone wrong, just before Alex gets sucked into the computer. I also tried to make it appear a bit like it  has a glitch  when he is trapped inside the computer screen to try and show that he is somewhere else, perhaps where the connection isn't that strong. I also have chosen to export it so there are black bars around the screen, to make it look like we are watching in on him through a screen.