Wednesday 22 April 2009

evaluation Q7

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

One of the main things i have learnt is actually how much work it takes to get a film permit and that some  times its better to  risk it a little and go in head first. editing is easy when you have time so the sooner its filmed the better due to dead lines limiting the time.

evaluation Q6

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

well this was really my first on location filming so one of the first things i had to learn to do was research and react to filming permissions on the Internet as well as having a further understanding with the camera itself, such as knowing what light will work and what wont. previous films i have made have been edited on i movie so final cut pro was all new to me, Ive still got a lot to learn but the basics are covered.

evaluation Q5

How did I attract/address my audience?

we decided to attract the audience with an opening sequance thats requires concentration and also to set the audience into a mood which will almost force them to continue watching the film with the slow eary start. as i have mentioned befor the economicle downfall in the world will also help the audience relate to the film.

evaluation Q4

Who would be the media audience for my media product?

the audience would defiantly be the older audience possibly from the late 20s to late 40s as those maybe the ages that would connect with the main character of the a man falling through the classes thanks to lack of funds, or possibly even relating with family problems as the character suffer separation with his family. A younger audience would probably not be as interested due to some may not understanding the situation and some simply not having the patients, however the title itself would defiantly not appeal to the younger audience as they may not have the patients to watch a rather slow mood making start

evaluation Q3

What kind of media institution might distribute my media product and why?

I would like to think that the film would be distributed by company's based in the UK such as the British film institute, however I think the film would be good for a television film distributed by company's such as the BBC or even film four, because all people could access the television and would probably suit more with the British audience because of the areas in England as well as identifying the social classes.

evaluation Q2

How does my media product represent particular social groups?

The opening sequence introduces a character well dressed with a suit and briefcase perhaps showing signs of a upper/middle class citizen, class is also shown through location with the travel around the canary wharf area possibly representing upper class and middle class thanks to the reputation of a wealthy finical district, however we also show times where almost everyone of every class may be found which is the shopping center where the suited character walks around, showing possible future of the character de-classing.

evaluation Q1

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

my media product forms the basic conventions of what a title sequence should consist of with showing certain key features of the film such as mise-en-scene, main character, etc while at the same time not giving too much away leaving the audience intrigued to find out what events will follow. scenes of London's skyscrapers famous for financial usage should hopefully give the audience a sense of what the films about, as well as images of a man in a suit and brief case(possibly the main character)and the individual reading the financial times should confirm to the audience the key theme of the film.

Saturday 4 April 2009



This is the final complete version of our film canary with the little error of joes bag edited out, it has been a pleasure working on this opening sequence and we hope you enjoy it.

Friday 3 April 2009


this is the poster I've started designing for the our title sequence although this is not required for the examiners i felt i had to do this though because it just rounds my bog off really.

evaluation

CANARY
Evaluation essay

Canary is a film of an emotional rollercoaster during this economical downfall of a man who through greed in his career in the financial district of canary wharf mistreats his family forcing them to leave him. But when a big gamble doesn’t pay off and he loses his fortune he has nobody to turn too so he starts from scratch living in homeless shelters and working at the bottom seeing scenes which are hard to imagine, the experience opens his eyes then his attention into making up for lost time with his loved ones.

However the task was to create an opening sequence so it was hard to think of how to translate this situation into the sequence. However this wasn’t our original plot as we had a number of ideas, the first one was a typical action film roaming around in the forest in Danson Park Rambo style causing all kinds of trouble. However we wanted to do something current and different so I came up with the idea of the credit crunch, we started brainstorming ideas on what we were going to do; the idea of a documentary came into place however the exam question request a short title sequence of our own fiction film, so we decided to make a drama which led to the plot above.

Just after Christmas we organised the test film day where we were going to look at several locations of where to film, before all this we done some research into films with similar plot and look at the mise-en-scene especially, the two films I looked at were pursuit of happyness (miss spelt on purpose) and fun with dick n jane. The main thin we notice in the two films is the use of shots of tall sky scrapers, modern areas and men with suits. so the first place I think of straight away is canary wharf itself and the surrounding areas. After getting some test shots we thought “nope this is an opportunity not to waste.” We gathered some amazing shots so there was no need for any other location, we were extremely lucky that day with the weather and the low sun gave us some amazing light and reflections of buildings, reflecting on other buildings and so on. We were also lucky as no one complained and nobody asked for filming permits so the day went extra smooth.

After collecting the amazing shots we started editing where we had an idea to make a place look extremely busy by filming people in the same place twice then overlapping the shot while speeding them up as well as adding an affect called ghost trail. However the idea just didn’t look right at all so we decided to scrap it and think of something new.
That’s when the idea of the down shots came in, after being advised to add at least one character we decide to play with the whole going down theme representing the downfall. But this meant more shots, so after I agreed to be the man to dress up and carry a briefcase around we need to find a modern place with plenty of escalators and elevators. So we sent off planning permission to blue water shopping centre twice, with both attempts being un-successful and time running short we decided to dash up to Broadway Bexleyheath where we got nice shots which were simple to apply.

Joe created the perfect slow and catching theme tune which to be honest makes the opening sequence then it was the time to get it checked out by the class to see if any improvements were needed, the sequence was a hit with one tiny miner glitch which was quick and easy to complete.

In conclusion it has been a pleasure working with Adam and Joe to create this sequence which I must say I am proud of it and personally fell we achieved far greater than expected and manage to make it fit the plot. There were no regrets and no ideas for improvement for me and now I wish we as a team could go out there and create the film its self.

By Ross Wood