EVALUATION: 7 Questions

Below is the evaluation of my final media product, where I have answered 7 questions:

1) In what way does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?


Here is a film of me discussing the; Titles, Mise-en-scene, sound, camera types and editing in the opening scene of 'Dirty Little Secret' - and how I feel this resembles conventions of real media products:

Please note that tweaks were made the to final video following the making of this video, so not all of it is in context.

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

If you see this picture in large I discuss how my film represent the social group of teenagers:

3) What kind of media distribution might distribute my media product and why?

A media institution is a company which distributes a media product into the public for viewing. Media product's are likely to be distributed to cinemas and then eventually into merchandise such as home DVDs - this can either be on a local, national or even international scale. Having made the opening scene to my film 'Dirty Little Secret' I might take this to an institution along with the plot and see if they would fund the product.

I have conducted some research into media institution in order to decide which might distribute my product. I have found that my product would be unlikely to be published by a film company in Hollywood. This is due to the fact usually these films have huge budgets and are international blockbusters. I feel my product would have a small cost of production and would be successful in England, but perhaps shouldn't be rushed straight to Hollywood.

So, after finding that I wouldn't necessarily go to a major film company in Hollywood, I started to look at smaller British film institutions such as:

• BBC Films
• UK Film Council
• Film Four
• Vertigo Films

My favorite film company and the one I feel most suitable for my film was BBC. This is because they are at the forefront of producing modern teenage dramas for small directors. They like to find new talent so this would be good for me having never produced a movie before. Apparently they are picky on what they publish, however I feel the movie idea of 'Dirty Little Secret' is good enough. The fact the film is set in Britain would be good for a British based institution such as BBC Films.

 In conclusion, I would hope a British institution such as BBC Films might distribute my media product. If this was successful I think it would be suitable for cinema viewing and DVD viewing.

4) Who would be the audience for my media product?

Before making my media product I decided that the target audience for my product would be teenagers of either gender. Now after making the opening scene I have conducted some extra target audience research to make sure of the audience for my film. Here is evidence of me undertaking this piece of research, just simply doing a web search for information via Google:

In the original bit of TAR I undertook with mostly teenagers, I found the following information about their favourite genres:

This was a crucial bit of research in me deciding to aim a romantic genre film at this target audience, as you can see from the table above they like films with romance in. To consolidate this, this is what I found with my most recent genre TAR: 

The graph above displays the market share and ticket sales from the genre Romance/Romantic Comedy. It proves that romance still holds a great share of the film market in 2011, although ticket sales are low. However, this isn't to worrying as this is probably due to factors such as; 2011 is only a third of the way though and new technologies allow for downloads. If you look back to about 1999 in the graph above, you can see this genre was booming. This is good news as this is when my target audience will have been growing up, so they will have a large influence from romantic genre films. So overall, the audience for my final media product is definitely teenagers of either gender.

Where and how will my target audience access my film?

As explained in the question before, my product would be suitable for local cinemas. This would be good for my target audience as they really enjoy going to the cinema for a social activity.

5) How does my opening scene attract/address my audience?

Below is a picture of how my target audience has responded to the opening scene of my film. I asked them to watch the opening scene and took a picture of them, before they gave a response of how they felt about it.

I think my product identifies with all these people because they are teenagers just like the people in the opening scene, that is why the feedback is so positive. One person in the picture above is older but even they liked it! Another way I have addressed this audience in my opening scene is this POV (point of view) shot near the beginning of the scene:

This can be a good technique to immerse the viewer as they feel that they are there.

6) What have I learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Below is a presentation I created answering this question. You might want to use the arrows to view it at your own pace. Also, if you click 'menu' in the bottom left then 'view in fullscreen' you can see it larger so the text is clearer.

Evaluation question 6 presentation.

7) Looking back at my preliminary task, what do I feel I have learnt from the progression from it to the full product?

The preliminary task was all about focusing on the techniques I had previously researched, which were: Match on action, Shot/Reverse shot and 180° rule. I feel it is hard to show how my use of 180° rule, shot/reverse shot and match on action has progressed since my preliminary task. There were no errors in the preliminary task in that department and if you see my final product I just had keep this up which I feel I did. 

However, here is a demonstration of how match on action slightly advanced into my final product:

So above you see the transition of the use of match on action in my preliminary task through to my final video. Both are shots of someone walking through a door. You can see both times the rule has been stuck to, however it has advanced. This is because the shot for the final shot was a lot more ambitious than the simple one in the preliminary task.

In terms of other ways I have developed since my preliminary task, I feel that my general filming is better. In my final product I demonstrated skills such as pans and zooms, which were not tried in the preliminary task. Also, I filmed some shots without a tripod for the first time. When I filmed the boy's memories in the final product I wanted to give a natural effect like the viewer was there, so I held the camera with some movement. Another extra shot I hadn't tried before was the POV (point of view) shot from the boy's POV looking at his iPod:

In conclusion, I think that since my preliminary task the main thing I have learnt is a broader range of filming techniques. In my final product I clearly tried trickier stuff than in the preliminary, as I learnt how to use the technology better and could perform better shots.

EVALUATION: Extras To Film

The video below is an extras part to the opening scene of 'Dirty Little Secret', where the cast and crew review the opening scene:

Please note that some of this is not in context as tweaks were made to the video after these extras were made.

Use of Web 2.0

During my film coursework project, my film partner Alex Saker and I have used Web 2.0 to share information many times. We have shared our work of documents, photos and videos using MSN Messenger and Facebook.

Here is an example of me posting the evidence photos of us recording the film across Facebook, so these are now accessible for Alex Saker:

Now below this is an example of us sharing our final film over MSN Messenger:

Another way I individually used Web 2.0 was to book out equipment when we originally intended to film the project. I did this by tweeting to the Media department at my school. Below is a screenshot documenting evidence of this:

FINAL PRODUCT

Film Title Ideas

In this post there is my finished opening scene for my movie which I decided to name 'Dirty Little Secret'. While deciding on a name for our film, Alex Saker and I drafted a little list of rough ideas as a way of brainstorming. Here are the names we came up with:

• Lies
• Deceit
• The 14^th
• Deception
• Teenage dream
• PS, I (something) you
• When love goes to waste
• Something about Abi
• There’s something about Abi
• Not my girl
• My valentine shock
• My girl, not my valentine
• Teenage fling
• Love hurts
• Only say it if you mean it
• 3 words
• Love you more
• Dirty little secret
• Shh.
• Modern affair

We eventually came to the conclusion that 'Dirty Little Secret' was the most suitable name for our film. I think this title is punchy and to the point, which I hope would entice a viewer into watching the film.

Problems encountered while making the final film

As explained in my shooting schedule, the original actress we wanted to play the female part dropped out when we originally planned to shoot the movie. As a result of this, we had to postpone filming to a different day and use a different actress.

Another problem was while shooting the point of view shot of the iPod, as it was too hard to make the iPod display itself clearly outside in the sun. The background is actually the boyfriend and the girlfriend, and he goes to a playlist stating he is putting on their song - but this can not be seen.

Tweaks made to film after final storyboard

In my final opening scene to a film, quite a few changes have been made from the storyboard. One way it changed is the planned birds' eye view shot which my TAR suggested could be hard. When filming the opening scene, we didn't have appropriate resources to shoot shots from a birds' eye view in those rooms. Instead we cut straight from a scene of the boyfriend being cheated on to a close up of him about to walk in, which still gives the same affect of him about to bust them. 

A big change is the phone call at the start of the clip. This is done because before it was in, the narrative was not clear enough. This meant the film was longer so to shorten we changed the end as well. We cut of the narrative between the boyfriend and girlfriend at the end as this was not very well acted anyway. Instead a slow motion scene was created to build tension, but you don't actually see whether the boy bust them or not.

Another change from my plan was I could not get hold of a rose for the film. This meant it was harder to connote it was Valentines Day. Also, the iPod did not clearly display the date on camera so this was another way we couldn't show the viewer it was Valentines Day. The were two suggestions of Valentines Day during the film, the first is near the start on the phone call where there male mentions that it isValentines Day. The other way in which the film connotes Valentines Day is in the song lyrics, as it sings about the girl being his valentine. Although this isn't quite was I wanted, I still feel this is suitable.

FINAL OPENING SCENE OF A MOVIE

Below is the opening scene of my movie 'Dirty Little Secret', enjoy!

Evidence of shooting

Here is photographic evidence that me and my partner recorded and completely controlled the movie ourselves. These pictures are not posed and were actually during shots.

This is me, Zachary Goodchild, filming the close up of actor Thomas Oriel about to walk through the door into the bedroom:

This final picture is of my partner in filming, Alex Saker, shooting a scene in the bedroom:

RESEARCH: Marketing and Distribution

BBFC Certification Research

There are 6 different ratings that BBFC use, these are: U, PG, 12A or 12, 15, 18 and finally R18. All of these different ratings have different meanings and are given to a film judged on the content in the film. I shall now run through what each rating means...

The first official BBFC rating is 'U', which stands for 'Universal'. This logo indicates that the film is suitable for everyone, in particular for audiences aged 4 and over to watch on their own. BBFC can not guarantee what could upset any particular child, but usually when this logo is given it is very unlikely that the film could upset anyone aged younger than four. Something a 'U' rating movie should do, is offer reassuring counterbalances to anything that could be perceived as mildly disturbing or horror. For children aged under four who probably go to pre-school, the consumer advice report on a film is likely to state whether the film is suitable to view on their own.

Above you can see the logo of the second BBFC rating, where the letters 'PG' stand for 'Parental Guidance'. This means that the film should be suitable for general viewing of most children, but a parent or guardian should consider whether the child needs to be accompanied while watching the film. If a child is aged 8 or over, it is unlikely a parent should feel it is necessary to watch the movie with them, but children aged under 8 could be potentially be upset by the content.

Now we moving on to the the third of the BBFC ratings, where to logos almost mean the same thing but have subtle differences. In terms of film criteria, the same content is needed to classify a '12' or '12A'. These ratings are simply awarded when content of a film is deemed to be suited to a person aged 12 and over. BBFC state the parents are likely to think that the movie material of a 12/12A will upset a child under 12 years old. A '12A' rating comes into things only for cinemas, where a child under 12 years old can get into the movie, but only when accompanied by an adult. Although cinemas will allow a child of under 12 in when accompanied by an adult, this BBFC rating still recommends that content is unsuitable for a child of this age. If an adult accompanies someone aged younger than 12 years old, they assume full responsibility for how the child reacts. Going back to the '12' category rating, this exists on video works and DVDs, and no one younger than 12 years old may go into a store and buy a film rated '12'.

This is the forth BBFC rating, which states that no one younger than 15 years old may see the film in cinema or rent it out at a store. The content of a film rated '15' is likely to be adult with the following things: hard drugs, strong words, moderate-strong violence/sex references, and mild non-detailed sex activity.

As we move on to the next official BBFC rating you can see this is labelled '18'. Similar to a '15' rating, no one younger than 18 may purchase a film from a store or view in cinema a film rated '18'.  This rating is given to a film when it contains some very adult content, such as no limitation on the amount of bad language used. Other factors can be hard drugs generally being allowed, strong violence or sex scenes - with hardcore scenes acceptable if justified by the context.

This final BBFC rating is a very rare one and means the film can only be sold in specially licensed cinemas or supplied in licensed sex shops - and obviously one under the age of 18 is permitted to view it. The rating 'R18' carries legal restrictions and may only be given to films which are primarily for sex shops and contain footage of unleashed sexual nature for adults. The 'R18' rating is so restricted you may not supply this category of film by mail order!

My film rating

After reviewing the certificates above which the BBFC use, I think our film would receive a 12A/12 rating. This is because throughout the movie there might be signs of affection, and that might not be suitable for viewing from children below 12. We also thought that because the title of our film is ‘Dirty Little Secret’, this might carry some connotations to some sexual contact or swearing throughout the rest of film which we think wouldn’t be suitable for a child younger than 12 years old to watch.

PLANNING: Marketing and Distribution

Below is the official poster for my film 'Dirty Little Secret':

I created this poster in Microsoft Publisher, after many drafts and trials with different techniques. I shall now run you through how I came to creating the poster above.

I started with this photo and I wanted to work with this as the main feature of my poster, as they are to be the main stars of the film:

 From here I thought it could be a good idea to try and split up the photo and show try to imply to the viewer that the girl had a dark secret. So I split the photo up into two different photos, and made the one of the girl black and white for a dark effect. Like so:

 So now I had split the photo, I needed to add in the film title 'Dirty Little Secret'. I chose to do this down the middle and actually use that as the thing to split up, this is quite a dominant place for it which is good as it's the title. Next the film production company logo I had made needed to go on it, so I added this to the top. A final idea I had was to add the words 'Dirty Little Secret' over and over again to the right hand side, to really get across the girl has a dark secret.

Putting all this together, I came out with this:

I thought this one to the left was okay but too narrow for a poster so I added in black round the sides to even it out, like this poster shown to the right...

I eventually came to the conclusion of moving the 'AZ Productions PRESENTS' down onto the poster and get rid of all the black. Now I had arrived at the poster at the top of this post, my final film poster!

RESEARCH AND PLANNING: Film Logo For Film Company

This is the final logo for the film company producing my film:

You can see the official film company logo of 'AZ Productions' above, now I shall explain how I came to making this logo. I started trying to think of a name for the production company, and with a bit of research I noticed many companies were named '_____ productions'. Therefore, I wanted to have a word then productions in my film company name. I thought a good idea was to personalize the company by combining my film partner and I's names. My first name is Zachary, and his is Alex, so we decided to combine the first letter of each. Which brought us to the logo below: 

After creating a logo in the form of 'ZA' we decided it was better the other way round so changed it to 'AZ'. We also needed to incorporate the word 'productions' into the logo so we decided tuck this under. I then reviewed the logo and decided the letter 'AZ' should be capital as it would look more effective, and then wouldn't necessarily need a dot. Combining all these factory with some colour and a shadow effect, I came out with the following logo:

I knew I had made steps towards making a good logo at this point, but it still wasn't quite perfect. I felt it was still a bit loose so I tucked the productions right up to the 'AZ'. Also, I thought the logo would be more noticeable and striking if I gave it a black background and reversed the colours, while additionally taking out the red. Finally, following making all these changes I came to the official logo at the top of the post.

PLANNING: Props and Locations

PLANNING: Shooting Schedule

Originally, I had planned for this shooting schedule below:

Unfortunately, due to a lack of actor's we had to postpone filming on these days for another day.

Here is the new and official shooting schedule for my movie:

Another thing which I have kept check on for the day of shooting is the weather. If you look at my final storyboard, I specified a sunny day to symbol the pathetic fallacy of happiness at the beginning. Here is a printscreen of a weather forecast Thursday 24th March 2011. Temperatures look good so it is likely to be sunny which will be good:

PLANNING: Final Storyboard

Below is my final storyboard for my opening 2 minutes to a film, there have been some changes after my TAR 2 to improve it:

Changes I have made from original storyboard

• The final three bits of our storyboards, parts 7,8 and 9 have completely changed. This is due to my partner and I thinking that we didn't want to tell too much of a storylines in the opening 2 minutes, so this was a change we made on our own accord as appose to being due to our TAR 2. Originally, the final 3 parts were going to be the man walking in on his girlfriend cheating on him. Now however, it is made to look like this will happen but then the guy the girlfriend is having an affair with will hide at the point of the boyfriend walking in. Then they greet each other for Valentines Day, hug and tell each other they love each other, with the girl looking guilty. At this point the titles shall come on in order to lead into a film which would be about the boy finding out the girl was having an affair.
• In my second bit of target audience research the first person we spoke to suggested that the memories would be going on for too long if they lastedfor 20 seconds. My partner and I think this is a good idea as it keeps the opening moving quickly, so we have changed it to 15 seconds.
• During my TAR 2 the second person we asked suggested we tried to use some pathetic fallacy in our opening 2 minutes. She suggested using the weather to reflect the mood, as he is only outside once and happy at this time, we are going to try and make sure we shoot it on a sunny day - which i have stated at the top of my storyboard.
• The final person we spoke to during our TAR 2 suggested that maybe the part where we show a birds' eye image could be tricky. Therefore, we have considered how we can do this, and thought of a way so we decided to not change this. We thought if someone records from high up in each room, doing this each time separately. When we put it together we can put some editing in where the screen wipes from one to the other, showing both the birds' eye views at the same time.

RESEARCH: Target Audience Research 2

Below is a video documenting some more TAR (target audience research) me and my partner have undertaken. The target audience for the movie our opening scene is for is people aged about 15-20, also as our genre is 'romantic', it will mainly be girls that our opening scene will be aimed at. For this reason, we undertook this piece of research on 3 girls, all aged within the bracket of 15-20 years old.

For this research, we wanted to record footage of what people thought of our original storyboard. To do this, we showed and explained our storyboard to each person then recorded their immediate response. In which they would give feedback, be negative or positive.

What have I learnt in this piece of TAR?

After completing this second bit of TAR I have discovered several things which will be taken into account while my partner and I construct our final storyboard:

Person 1

• When the main character is reminiscing about time him and his girlfriend have shared, this shouldn't go on for too long as this will distract from the point of the actual opening scene.
• Usually, the main emotion of a movie is at the end, not the beginning, so we should try to not make the opening scene too sad.
• Seems like a positive storyboard, not much needs to improve but obviously make necessary changes as we go along.

Person 2

• Thinks it seems like a good opening to a movie.
• Could include some pathetic fallacy, which is like things like weather reflecting the mood.

Person 3

• Likes the storyboard, thought it would create an interesting movie opening. She said that it would have the audience hooked and feeling like they know the main character, and feel sympathy for him.
• We need to think about weather the birds' eye view bit will be achievable. 
• Likes how it is set out and that the titles aren't until the end, as this leaves the audience open to they're own thoughts.

RESEARCH AND PLANNING: Preliminary Conclusions

What have the deconstructions told you about the openings of movies?

The most important thing to note from my deconstructions is how the opening of a movie seems to work as a theme setter. It sets an idea of a theme and everything in that opening scene seems to link back to that theme. For example, in my second deconstruction of ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ the theme and atmosphere is of magic and mystery, and everything in the opening helps to build this. The 4 tools of ; mise-en-scene, sound, editing and camera types were all used in every opening I saw to create this certain theme.

In terms of mise-en-scene everything on set seems to be deliberately setting the scene, so this is everything in the background of a shot as well as the foreground. A very common occurrence in film openings is music playing over it. I think this is because music is a great way to create a feeling, and interest the viewer as hearing is an important sense to utilise. Editing is used in openings to control the pace of it which is crucial for creating a theme. In my first deconstruction the pace of the opening was very fast and was not a real time event for most of it. The editing was put together so it jump cut between 2 different situations back and forth, which is a good way to make something feel fast. On the other hand, in my second deconstruction as the theme was magic and mystery, they wanted to create a slow and gloomy opening. This is why the editing was just normal and nothing special was used in slide transitions, and it just flowed at normal pace. Camera types were most important in my third deconstruction as it was a stadium event, so the cameras really created the atmosphere by showing a spherical view on it; this showed the viewer it was a momentous occasion.

Although the main goal of an opening scene is usually to set the theme, another important part can be to give some indication of what the movie will be about. In my first deconstruction of ‘Step Brothers’ the opening made it clear what the rest of the movie might have been about. This was good because it made me want to watch it as it wasn’t going to be too complicated and it was easy to understand. On the other hand, in my second deconstruction not much of the plot was given away. This was also fine though, as the theme was mystery so it was meant to mysterious. This is also made me want to watch on to see what might happen.

What has your target audience research told you about likes, dislikes and viewing habits?

Undertaking a questionnaire for my target audience research has been very helpful in showing me the preferences of an average viewer. I asked what I plan to be my target audience to undertake the research, in order to gain the most valuable information. A crucial thing my target audience research has shown me is that people love watching films, and most do it on a regular basis. This is good because everyone will have a developed opinion to help me with making my opening scene of a movie.

There were mixed responses as regards to people favourite genres, but the most popular decision was comedy. Also, people like romance in a film and sometimes like romcoms which combine romance and comedies. This response has shown me a lot about the viewing habits of the age group I asked, as they like to be made to laugh while feeling emotion at the same time. In terms of what genre this age group didn’t like, the majority went for horror. This could show my target audience dislike something scary and too serious, and are looking for something more relaxed. As regards to people’s viewing habits, most people don’t really mind where they watch a movie. Most people responded saying they watched movies at home, but many people picked answers where they were out and about. Therefore, I can see that people sometimes view films for a social event as much as for enjoyment. In my target audience research people revealed that mostly they watch films with someone that is close to them, but then don’t mind watching it alone as well. So this just backs up that people will watch movies for their own enjoyment or for a social event with somebody else.

Something else I found while undertaking my target audience research is that people definitely prefer a soundtrack over the opening over a movie – not one person apposed to this. This backs up the fact that my target audience likes to be moved to feel something, and this is often what music can do. In response to what my target audience liked in an opening scene of a movie, they loved something big to happen to immerse them straight away. Most people wanted a big event or lots of action to have them hooked in the opening scene. However, I shouldn’t misinterpret this that people want lots of stuff like fighting and explosions in the opening, as this contradicts what genre they like. Something big can still happen in the opening of for instance a comedy/romance, just more subtle.

How have you used the above research to make planning decisions regarding your movie?

The research I have previously spoken about will definitely have a big effect on how I approach the making of my opening scene of a movie. During undertaking research of deconstructing other opening scenes from films, this will effect decision I make regarding my movie. It has outlined how I need to make a clear theme and story if it is appropriate for that theme. One thing I want to do as a result of this research is immerse the viewer in the film right away, like the other films I watched did. So I can do this by showing the feeling of the theme and providing a clear picture as to what the story shall be about. When making my opening scene of a movie, I definitely need to think about how everything I do will affect the viewer. I can use different techniques to give the viewer a certain feeling and try to connote the theme best I can.

My target audience research will have a large effect on planning decisions regarding my movie. One clear effect will be on the genre of the opening scene. Before this research I was not sure on what to do, but I now I think I shall either do a comedy or a romance. I am likely to do a romance as I feel this will be easier to do than a comedy, and it’s easy to connote stereotypes in romance. Also, as a result of my target audience research, I have decided to definitely include a song playing over the opening. Hopefully this will help to make my target audience identify with the opening and what to see the rest of them film if it had one. One final way my target audience research will affect planning decisions regarding my film is that I will try to make it suitable for viewing alone with people. I can make this happen by making it easy going yet interesting at the same time. In conclusion, I feel that all research I have done so far has been a vital part in making my opening scene of a film.

PLANNING: Director's Pitch and Storyboard

This is the storyboard for our main task, of creating an opening 2 minutes for a movie. We have made the storyboard quite brief as we are aware many changes could occur when we come to making the clip. However, here is the storyboard which we currently intend to stick to:

Just to summarize the storyboard, I shall now briefly explain our vision for this opening scene. We want to start with a long shot of a boy walking down an alleyway, trekking towards his girlfriend’s house to surprise her on Valentines Day. He will have a rose in his hand the whole time as his gift to her. After we have shown him walking for a bit we will show him going into his pocket and getting out his iPod, which reveals the date 14^th Feb. Then he shall pick a song to play, which will play throughout the scene as this is his and his girlfriend’s song. When he arrives at the house, he shall enter without knocking, in order to surprise his girlfriend. As he walks up the stairs we will show the audience via a birds eye shot, that the female is having relation with another man. Finally, he will walk in and discover he is being cheated on, drop his rose, and walk out and cry as the titles come on. We are also thinking of making that last bit in slow motion to add to drama. We think this can lead onto a film about the girl trying to win the man back.

We decided to make an opening scene for a film of romantic genre, because we feel that we can convey this genre the best using certain methods. For this main task we are going to use other actors because it will be easier to control the outcome to be what we want to happen. For the location of our opening two minutes, we will use either mine or Zach’s house, as we won’t need to gain permission to access s these locations. Also we need to use an alleyway in a village for when he is walking down it looking at his iPod. We won't need many resources except for a camera and a stand; I also don't think we will need an external microphone because whenever someone speaks it will be inside so the background sounds won't have much effect. Although, if we find that the sound is quite loud we will use an external microphone. For our shots we won't need the wheels because we don't need to do a tracking shot anywhere. We think we are going to use three actors in our movie, this will be two boys and one girl, but one of the boys only has a small part as the two main characters are lovers. We need to obtain permission for a song by Boyce Avenue and we have sent off an email for it, it is an acoustic version of Katy Perry’s song 'Teenage Dream' this is the email we sent to their record label. This is the email we will send off:

‘Dear Sir or Madam

For our ‘A’ Level Media Studies coursework we have to make the opening two minutes of a movie with a song over it.  For our project we would like to use Teenage Dream by Boyce Avenue and are seeking your permission.

The resulting two minute film opening will not be used for commercial gain, will be hosted on a private coursework blog and also rendered on to DVD for the attention of our teacher and the coursework moderator.  Should we not hear from you to the contrary within 14 days of the date of this email we will assume that you are happy for us to use this music under a fair use arrangement.

Should you require any further information please contact our teacher, Mr Scargill on scargill@guilsborough.northants.sch.uk

Yours faithfully

Alex Saker & Zach Goodchild’

RESEARCH: Target Audience Research

Before creating my directors pitch of what I intend to do for my final opening scene, I thought it would be a good idea to gather some research on what my target audience would want in it. Here is a copy of the questionnaire I used to research my target audience:

Who undertook this questionnaire?

I needed to make sure my target audience took this questionnaire. At this point I intend to aim my final movie at people around my age of 17, and either gender. These are the details of who filled it out:

• 10 people (7 male, 3 female)
• 9 of these people were aged 16-17, 1 of them was around 30 (I asked one person a bit older just in case I decided to aim the film at a higher age group). 

Questionnaire Results

The answers to this first question were in response to whether they watch films, and importantly everyone who responded did watch films. This shows that films are very popular in the current world, so all opinions of people filling in the questionnaire would be from experience. If no one had seen a film, they would not have seen an opening to a movie, so wouldn't be able to help me much with my final product.

As displayed in the graph above, you can see that not only do people watch films; a lot watch films daily or most at least weekly. The least anyone watched films were monthly, and this was an anomaly which shows the dominance films have on the world today. 40% of my questionnaire responses would be from people that watch films daily, so their opinions will be valued.

For this question, I asked people what their favourite genre was, this will be very important in me deciding which genre to make my opening to minutes of a film to. The majority of people responded saying that they liked comedies, so this would be a genre to seriously consider. Next in line for popularity weremantic films, tied with romcom's. This represents that people like it when romance is tied in with some comedy, so people like to watch something which might make them feel emotional and provide laughter at the same time. Given that 70% of questionnaire responses were from boys, you might expect adventure, horror and action to have been more popular. Therefore, in my final product I think I shall either make it a comedy or romantic.

This question is the opposite to the previous question, discovering what people would see as their least favourite genre. The table shows that it would be a bad idea for me to do a horror as this was many people's least favourite genre. You can see that these results can contradict the previous question, as many people dislike romance. I think this is due to the fact many people who answered 'adventure' in the previous question might be the sort to most dislike romance.

In the table above, you can see that most of the time people watch movies in the convert of a home. People do enjoy going to the cinema, but it is more common for people to watch a movie in a home environment. Therefore, it would make sense for me to make my opening 2 minutes a film to suit being watched at home or at someone else's home.

The results above show that people will watch a film whether they are in company or alone. This again goes to show proof that films are huge and people will watch them in many circumstances. The most popular way to watch a film is with friends, this is probably as it can be fun to discuss a film with your friends, and can be a social activity. The least popular response was 'with your partner', which is probably just due to the fact most the people in the age group wouldn't have a boyfriend or girlfriend.

In this final graph, we can see that a soundtrack should definitely play over the top of the opening scene I create. 100% of people like it when an opening to a movie has a soundrack, so it is very popular. When my friend and I come to making our final product, I think we will have a song playing over it as this is seems to be what people like.

Question responses to which a table wasn't appropriate for:

Question 8 asked what people's favourite opening scene of a movie were. The answers people gave backed up their responses to previous questions, because the genres of the films they picked were the same genres which they liked. Most the films had an opening with sentiment or on the other hand fast moving action.

Question 9 queried into how I could make my own opening scene effective. These were the answers people wrote: 'Teaser, lots of action, dramatic events, background knowledge, music, explosions, women, suggest what the film is about to entice the viewer straight away, scary, explosions, get viewer involved and immersed.' All of these will be taken into account when my partner and I make our final product.

Here is a video, recording evidence that I actually undertook the questionnaire:

RESEARCH: Deconstruction 3

Opening Scene Deconstruction of 'Goal 2: Living the Dream'

Directer: Jaume Collet-Serra
Year: 2007
Certification: 12A
Genre: Sporting drama

In my final deconstruction of an opening scene from a film, I shall deconstruct ‘Goal 2: Living the Dream’. Each film I have spoken about so far has implied a feeling about the genre and atmosphere of the film and this one is no different. The genre is a sporting genre, and dramas about sport can often be taken lightly so I feel the opening tries to rectify this by a serious atmosphere. Between the mise-en-scene, camera types, editing and sound this opening 2 minutes clearly shows the viewer that the movie is based on sport but is a serious drama.

The movie begins with a mix of diegetic and non-diegetic sound. The non-diegetic sound being the music which plays throughout the opening and the diegetic is the sound of a crowd cheering. At this point editing is used to fade in a picture of the top of a very large sporting stadium. This lets the viewer now that this setting is a very large occasion with plenty of passion as you can hear by the sound, although the occasion is not yet clear. Now the camera zooms and spins down onto the pitch, and it is clear that it is a football match.  Also, if you are watching the movie you are probably a fan of football, so you would be made aware this is Barcelona vs Real Madrid. This is a massive Spanish derby with plenty of importance and passion, so anyone with outside knowledge of football will be feeling this is a serious occasion. Here some sound kicks in of the player kicking the football and the commentary. Both of these things you would hear in a football match, so the viewer knows this scene is meant to be like you are watching a football match.

In this first clip you see that Barcelona take the lead in the football match, and their plays burst into elation. This is connoted with a long shot of the players cheering and the fans in the background. The diegetic sound of the roar from the fans in the background also implies the elation. On the other hand, the camera then cuts to Real Madrid players who look very deflated. There is a mid shot of David Beckham, who is seen as a role model figure, looking disappointed. I feel such a massive figure is used so all viewers can relate to his feeling of deflation. You then hear and see a Real Madrid player trying to rally his players with positivity. However, the music contradicts this positivity because it is very glum and serious. I feel this is done on purpose to give a sense of misguided hope, which makes the viewer feel empathy and happiness is not meant to be the overall vibe from the scene.

After Real Madrid concedes, the editing cuts together a series of football highlights of them missing countless chances. The camera angles show that this is meant to be more football highlights than a live match, because a live match can not display such precise angles. Gradually as Real Madrid miss more and more chances to score, you can feel the despair building up on the pitch and the in the stadium. This is implied through sound of an agitated crowd and with Real Madrid with heads in hands. Following these missed chances Barcelona go onto score 2 more to make the score 3-0. The viewer now knows the only tale of this opening scene is misery for Real Madrid. The camera shows a close up of their new signing player, and the commentator comments on how he isn’t doing well, and they need someone else. This is the only implication of the story line as you get the feeling the story might be Real Madrid needing a new player and seeking one.

Overall, I feel this opening clearly displays genre and mood. It goes straight into a football match so this is clear for the viewer to see what kind of movie it shall be. The focus seems to be on misery of Real Madrid rather than elation for Barcelona, so this is a way making the viewer feel downbeat rather than happy. Also, the music which plays throughout isn’t necessarily what you’d expect and tries to offer something to someone watching the film that doesn’t like sport.