1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? The narrative of my group and I’s film opening is similar to those formed by well known production companies. Films such as ‘Leon: The Professional’ and ‘Watchmen’, very much inspired my group and I due to the way in which the films themselves challenge the film industries own set conventions. For example in ‘Leon: The Professional’ the film narrative involved the upbringing of a child who was taught to kill as an act of reprisal. Not only is the main character first shown as a child, she is also a female. Having a female lead character defies the stereotypical view of women portrayed in many media products. As our film opening possesses a comparable storyline, a main feature of our film is also having a female play the lead role. Not many film products emphasize the fact that women can play such a forceful and vigorous lead character, especially not action/thriller based films; where women are continuously shown as weak and incapable. That is why my group and I decided to look at the female characters in the films ‘Tomb Raider’ and ‘Kill Bill’ and how they break these conventions in terms of costume as well as the position they play within the movie. What we had researched about these films had inspired us with our main character and the way in which our film opening challenges the typical representations associated with women.
The ‘old school’ feel to a ‘new school’ movie makes our film opening stand out to those exhibited by real media products. By this I mean how props and other characters (the Benassis) are shown as ‘old school’, whereas the character (Antonia) present in the film opening is dressed modern as well as the setting of the film opening being located in a contemporary environment. The costume of the characters (the Benassis) showcased on the hit-list resemble traditionally dressed ‘Italian mafia members’ who wear fedora hats and black suits. This was done to show (in terms of the storyline) what had occurred with her father and these mafia members was in the past - it still persists in the modern-era in which Antonia lives in. 2) How does your media product represent particular social groups? One social group that our film opening stereotypically represents are Italians. As our idea is based around ‘mafia’ like themes which a lot of people are interested in, films such as ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Goodfellas’ have been a success in the film industry because of this. In the audience feedback sheet my group and I handed out, we asked the question ‘What is it about the storyline that appeals to you?’ many of the replied answers consisted of the concept of ‘conflict’ and ‘tragedy’ as well as the ‘revenge’ and ‘gangster element’ of the movie. This highlights that although our subgenre is Italian ‘gangster’ related and represents Italians in a negative light, there is the potential that our film can become popular. Overall, the outcome of the way in which Italians are commonly represented is as hired guns, both in my group and I’s film and in mainstream film products just like the ones mentioned previously. Our media product ‘Vendetta’ represents the particular social group females (gender) differently to how society and the film genre action/thriller represent women. The main female character (Antonia) is represented as fierce, determined yet influential to the female audience, not because of her quest throughout the movie but how she has been represented as quite the vigilante. Relating back to the audience feedback we obtained, one of the questions asked was, ‘Does the female character ‘Antonia’ suit the stereotypical women’s role in this genre of film?’ three out of the three queried said ‘No’, with reasons such as the female character being represented as ‘independent’ and ‘going against the passive, sexual, object’, in which they’re viewed as in most media products. One piece of feedback received by our target audience in response to this question, is that the ‘mafia are mostly patriarchal’ and the female character has placed herself in a ‘male dominant world’. This particular comment appreciates our attempt to challenge social stereotypes about female characters within our film, however comparing it back to the views contained by society our film narrative still faces critics who considered our character to be in an underlined ‘male dominant world’. Therefore these comments made justify the much dignified way in which women are represented in our film product however; there are still doubts about the acceptance of our leading female character within society. 3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? The type of institution who would be ideal in distributing our media product is Columbia Pictures. The reason we have chosen them is because they have previously distributed many similar films in regards to how the opening scene is presented, for example they have distributed the film ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’. As our film is quite unusual it was hard to find a distribution company who has released films with a similar opening to ours. ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ film opening consists of close-ups of many unusual objects created using special effects. Not only does the use of close-ups relate to our film opening, the fact that ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ has become a successful movie inspires our film opening to have the same qualities. The way in which films are produced are just as important as how they are distributed, therefore Columbia Pictures was the distribution company to choose. We felt that Columbia Pictures would be able to represent our film due to our film having Italian features within the title, the characters and narrative. We found this out when researching the company, that they have distributed many foreign films such as ‘Putiferio va alla guerra’ a 1970 movie with its country of origin being Italy. Even though the genre of this film is different to our own, we know that Columbia Pictures would be able to take on a slightly ‘foreign’ film like ours due to their reputation. 4) Who would be the audience for your media product? Our target audience consists of men mainly as the genre choice and narrative surrounded by gang/ conflict related themes, would attract the male audience. The use of props such as the weapons used in the first scene of our film is an immediate indication to what the rest of the film has to offer. Men are mostly associated to watching films with this type of genre (action/thriller) therefore are more likely to take an interest in our film opening. There are not many movies out there with a slight fusion (of ‘old school’ meets ‘new school’) to the mise-en-scene which we have attempted to create in our film opening (mentioned in question 1); by including this we want to appeal to the older audience who we also want to target. Also our film narrative is very complex and isn’t a film in which you can escape straight into without having to think a little. Providing a film where there are many different levels of engagement and suspense may be best suited to an older audience. My group and I’s second most targeted audience is the female audience. We wanted to target this social group as our lead character is also a female who goes against the stereotypical view of women and comes across as a strong character that possess will, ambition and power. This factor may be able to influence females to watch the film. Watching a dominant female on screen would hopefully inspire other women and overall bring in our target audience as they acknowledge the diversity of this film. |
5) How did you attract/address your audience? The shadowed effect created through the use of lighting was important in attracting our audience as showcasing this effect in our film opening added mystery to the actions initialized by our character (Antonia). The props displayed on screen of our film opening hints to the audience the intensity of the action which is going to take place. The props used (guns and metal weaponry) alongside key lighting techniques create a dark and secretive atmosphere. This would surely tempt the male/older audience as ‘violence’ within films has said to interest the male gender. The costume used for our main character has a hint of feminine charm to appeal more to the male audience, however it is considerably dignified so that she didn’t come across as a ‘passive, sexual, object’ (the response received in our audience feedback) this was done to ensure our important female audience was not lost.
Naming our film 'Vendetta' compliments the narrative and genre of this film. When translated back into English it briefly means ‘revenge/vengeance’ which could attract to action film fans. Although our film comes across as the stereotypically perfect film for men, with the weaponry used, the ‘attractive’ female character and the Italian ‘gangster’ features, the film contains a love story which took place with the lead character’s father and mother before she was born. And the relationship the lead character (Antonia) had with her father before he died shows that there is more meaning to the films narrative. This relationship was illustrated in a close up of an old picture in our film opening of Antonia and her father. This part of the narrative should have been more evident in our film opening as it would of appealed more to the female audience, this could have been done by included the script/voice over (which we never got round using). As a result more male audience members would appeal to our film opening than women, which was not entirely intended. As we wanted to evenly appeal to both genders even though we knew the male audience would probably take a preference to what our film opening offers, since overall they are our primary audience. 6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? The way in which a scene is captured through the use of camera can represent different meanings due to the positioning of that camera, for example using an over-the-shoulder shot like the camera shot used in my group and I’s film opening hints to the audience the side in which they’re routing for, hence making the character more likeable. Obtaining audio through the internet using copyright free websites are very useful as non-diagetic audio was needed in order to set the scene for my group and I’s film opening. Because of the technology used today, many choices of soundtrack were available. Our choice of soundtrack changed due to the reason that ‘Playing in the shadows’ by Example did not fit the pace and narrative of our film opening. Many other issues surrounded this choice of sound; one of them was not being able to download the instrumental to use for our film opening. Although the lyrics tie in with the narrative, an attempt was made to detach the lyrics from the original soundtrack of ‘Playing in the shadows’. Technology wasn’t entirely the problem as my group and I did not acquire the skills to manage such a problem. Using software such as ‘Final Cut Pro’ to edit plays an important role in the coming together of the final product, as it requires you to order the recorded clips to create a watchable end product. There were plenty of transitions and effects to choose from which can be layered on to a scene, producing a unique piece of ‘art’ work. Many of these transitions and effects were easy to apply, thanks to the help from other media sources such as ‘Youtube’ which provided useful tutorials, which our group were able to learn from. Therefore making external sources of technology just as useful as the ones supplied (i.e. Final Cut Pro) in constructing our final product. 7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? Looking back at my group and I’s preliminary task, three key filming techniques had to be displayed in order to show an understanding in the art of continuity; shot/reverse shot, the 180 degree rule and the match on action rule.
No trouble was found during the preliminary task when taking into account the shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule. In terms of the shot/ reverse shot, the rule applies more to a scene where a conversation between two people takes place. Because of this, our film opening didn’t require a conversation between two or more characters therefore a shot/reverse shot was not needed. One rule used in the preliminary task which helped a lot when filming my group and I’s film opening was the match on action rule. The skills developed in the prelim on how to use match on action effectively had a significant outcome on our final product because many shots used involved a variety of different close ups of props being handled. Quick cuts were made when editing our prelim video; this resulted in a video which did not reach its target time limit. This mistake was improved in our film opening by using slower cuts and more transitions therefore reaching our target time limit and ending up with film opening rather than a film trailer. Another thing my group and I learnt whilst doing the preliminary task was the importance of dialogue. If dialogue is used it should be embraced instead rushed with irrelevant words which are not needed. Reflecting back on our preliminary task this was done and came across quite amateurish. Fortunately dialogue between two people was not needed however the script written would have been great to include, especially in a voice over. Overall filming our film opening was made easier due to the practise received in the preliminary task however it would have been more beneficial if mistakes were made during our preliminary task so mistakes can be recognised and prevented in our film opening. |