As Muhammed was uable to attend the evaluation recording when Iklas and Hedley were recording it, he answered the questions alone in relation to our opening sequence. Question 1:
Question 2:
Question 3:
Question 4:
Evaluation - 29th March 2010
This is the evaluation for 10 bags, were doing it in the form of a podcast, My name is Hedley Wood and Iklas Yousif. 
Question 1: In what ways does the media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? For our opening sequence we used a voice over to engage with the audience. This actually allows them to follow through the opening sequence and understand what’s going on. We also used typical generic conventions of a crime based thriller film; common slang used such as ‘Pikey’ and ‘Nitty’ is all British slang that the audience will be able to recognise. We researched other films such as ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ and ‘Snatch’ where Jason Stratum does the narration for the film. We tried to bring this aspect into our film but still able to give it its own unique twist. Most of these typical British films are set in secret alley ways and warehouses; we had the advantage of using an actual warehouse for our opening giving us the upper hand into making this opening sequence look more realistic. These films are also centred in dark rooms where it needs to be and light when suitable so as a group we contrasted these aspects very well into our film by cutting from one location into another. 
Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups? Our film has very strong comparisons to films today such as ‘Snatch’ and ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ Social groups who enjoy these films will be able to compare 10 Bags to current crime based thrillers. Films on the current market for example ‘Shank’ is based on older generations of film including institutions of drugs and crime. It attracts mostly men from the age of 15 to 25. This provides the opening that will be seen on forums and social networking sites such as Face book, MySpace and YouTube. Question 3: What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why? Our film could be seen on Face book and other social networking sites, this is because it appeals to specific people and specific age ranges. This is a guy Ritchie type film, this can be seen by certain characteristic of 10 Bags. The reason is because it compares to current films on the market at the moment. 
Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product? Before creating our film we made a questionnaire for our classmates to answer. In this questionnaire we asked simple questions such as their age and gender and then went into more depth by asking what genre film they prefer and what aspects of a gangster film stand out to them and make it look more realistic. From the feedback we received that more of the men were interested in crime based thrillers as women were more interested in romantic comedies and other genres of film. We came to the conclusion that we would target to the male audiences, as mentioned before it would range from the ages of 15 and over. To meet the audience’s requirements we needed to set a dark environment for the action to take place and also have a good storyline to follow along with a good cast to create tension around the film. 
Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience? To address our audience we used typical generic conventions of a British gangster film by interpreting slang and commonly used phrases that the audience will be able to recognise and therefore recognise the genre of the film; they will also be able to empathise with the characters situation. I think that the major attraction of our film is the voice over as it really captures the audience’s attention and acts a guide for them to follow throughout the opening sequence. The voice over is an important part as without it the audience will be confused and left to wonder the whereabouts of the protagonists. Finally the music we chose ‘Funky Summer’ really adds to the final detail to the overall opening as it is catchy and suitable for our film. It challenges the reader as they’re expecting a series of events or a big finale to come. 
Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of contrusting this product? From this experience we have learnt to use a varied range of different applications and softwares such as how to edit on Imovie, how to use Garage Band, Photo shop and other Media elements. Physically we have improved our camera skills by being able to shoot from different angles and shots and produce high quality footage. We have learnt the importance of lighting and how much of a difference it can make to the scene you are trying to create. In contrast to this we have learnt to edit the lighting once its been uploaded onto Imovie and to change it from dark to light without making a major difference. Overall we have been able to edit and cut scenes into each other so that they run smoothly. Question 7: Looking back to the ‘Feed the Fish’ task, what do you feel you have you learnt in the progression from it to the full product? When we started using the Macs and software’s on the ‘Feed the Fish’ task we had very limited knowledge to use the equipment, now we have learnt all the different techniques which we can all use in the future. Iklas: She had little knowledge of using media terms and writing on blogging sites, now it’s like another language to her, she is very literate into media terms. Hedley: I have learnt how to use editing software like Imovie HD fluently. It’s a great programme, I really enjoyed cutting shots, using transitions and adding soundtracks. Muhammed: He was He was quite quiet when we started acting; he kept on laughing and was quite immature. Now his acting skills have improved more and his location was great.
Question 1: In what ways does the media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? For our opening sequence we used a voice over to engage with the audience. This actually allows them to follow through the opening sequence and understand what’s going on. We also used typical generic conventions of a crime based thriller film; common slang used such as ‘Pikey’ and ‘Nitty’ is all British slang that the audience will be able to recognise. We researched other films such as ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ and ‘Snatch’ where Jason Stratum does the narration for the film. We tried to bring this aspect into our film but still able to give it its own unique twist. Most of these typical British films are set in secret alley ways and warehouses; we had the advantage of using an actual warehouse for our opening giving us the upper hand into making this opening sequence look more realistic. These films are also centred in dark rooms where it needs to be and light when suitable so as a group we contrasted these aspects very well into our film by cutting from one location into another. 
Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups? Our film has very strong comparisons to films today such as ‘Snatch’ and ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ Social groups who enjoy these films will be able to compare 10 Bags to current crime based thrillers. Films on the current market for example ‘Shank’ is based on older generations of film including institutions of drugs and crime. It attracts mostly men from the age of 15 to 25. This provides the opening that will be seen on forums and social networking sites such as Face book, MySpace and YouTube. Question 3: What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why? Our film could be seen on Face book and other social networking sites, this is because it appeals to specific people and specific age ranges. This is a guy Ritchie type film, this can be seen by certain characteristic of 10 Bags. The reason is because it compares to current films on the market at the moment. 
Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product? Before creating our film we made a questionnaire for our classmates to answer. In this questionnaire we asked simple questions such as their age and gender and then went into more depth by asking what genre film they prefer and what aspects of a gangster film stand out to them and make it look more realistic. From the feedback we received that more of the men were interested in crime based thrillers as women were more interested in romantic comedies and other genres of film. We came to the conclusion that we would target to the male audiences, as mentioned before it would range from the ages of 15 and over. To meet the audience’s requirements we needed to set a dark environment for the action to take place and also have a good storyline to follow along with a good cast to create tension around the film. 
Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience? To address our audience we used typical generic conventions of a British gangster film by interpreting slang and commonly used phrases that the audience will be able to recognise and therefore recognise the genre of the film; they will also be able to empathise with the characters situation. I think that the major attraction of our film is the voice over as it really captures the audience’s attention and acts a guide for them to follow throughout the opening sequence. The voice over is an important part as without it the audience will be confused and left to wonder the whereabouts of the protagonists. Finally the music we chose ‘Funky Summer’ really adds to the final detail to the overall opening as it is catchy and suitable for our film. It challenges the reader as they’re expecting a series of events or a big finale to come. 
Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of contrusting this product? From this experience we have learnt to use a varied range of different applications and softwares such as how to edit on Imovie, how to use Garage Band, Photo shop and other Media elements. Physically we have improved our camera skills by being able to shoot from different angles and shots and produce high quality footage. We have learnt the importance of lighting and how much of a difference it can make to the scene you are trying to create. In contrast to this we have learnt to edit the lighting once its been uploaded onto Imovie and to change it from dark to light without making a major difference. Overall we have been able to edit and cut scenes into each other so that they run smoothly. Question 7: Looking back to the ‘Feed the Fish’ task, what do you feel you have you learnt in the progression from it to the full product? When we started using the Macs and software’s on the ‘Feed the Fish’ task we had very limited knowledge to use the equipment, now we have learnt all the different techniques which we can all use in the future. Iklas: She had little knowledge of using media terms and writing on blogging sites, now it’s like another language to her, she is very literate into media terms. Hedley: I have learnt how to use editing software like Imovie HD fluently. It’s a great programme, I really enjoyed cutting shots, using transitions and adding soundtracks. Muhammed: He was He was quite quiet when we started acting; he kept on laughing and was quite immature. Now his acting skills have improved more and his location was great.
Audience Feedback - 18th March 2010
Overall to reach the potential that we did we had to make a lot of our change throughout the process. When it came to editing and cutting the scenes we wanted to use we realised that the scene of the boiler room we took the fist time with the dark lighting and the night vision effect works really well with the film as a whole. It creates the idea that camera is edgy and foreshadows the events to come as the audience are left to feel uncomfortable in the situation where the camera is shaky and venerable. We also had to go through a series or different sound clips to find one that suited our opening the best.
Questionaire - 15th March 2010
Prior to our filming Ikhlas made a questionnaire as part of research to get an insight into what the audiences expectations are and how we an improve our film to meet these standards. A response from the qestions we asked is as followed:
What is your age? 17
What is your gender? Male
Are you into gangster/crime based films? Yes, slightly, i like to vary between film genres.
What do you look for in a gangster/crime based film?
What kind of scene and atmosphere would you expect gangster/crime based film be set around?
Why do you like this specific genre of film?
We found out from this survey that the majority of people interested in crime based thrillers were men age from 15 and over. This would help as we were filming to keep in mind who are film was targeted at and allow us to come up with certain aspects that the audience would be able to recognise.
Music - 9th March 2010
The track is called 'Funky Summer'
For our opening squence we downloaded a non lisenced track from www.freeplaymusic.com. After looking through many sounds we finally found a track that is relavent to our opening scene as it is catchy and matches the pace of the characters movements allowing the music to follow through the sequence. Athugh at a first glance the title may seem like a jolly song it is infact far more. Its a fast paced soundtrack with a jumpy twist and is quite similar to the sounds used in Oceans Eleven and Tweleve and its upbeatyet hints the idea that theres something crime related going on. It sufficiently recreates the hip slick feel of our opening while still leaving the listener with enough leeway to create their own mood.
Final Edits:
Overall to reach the potential that we did we had to make a lot of our change throughout the process. When it came to editing and cutting the scenes we wanted to use we realised that the scene of the boiler room we took the fist time with the dark lighting and the night vision effect works really well with the film as a whole. It creates the idea that camera is edgy and foreshadows the events to come as the audience are left to feel uncomfortable in the situation where the camera is shaky and venerable. We also had to go through a series or different sound clips to find one that suited our opening the best.
For our opening squence we downloaded a non lisenced track from www.freeplaymusic.com. After looking through many sounds we finally found a track that is relavent to our opening scene as it is catchy and matches the pace of the characters movements allowing the music to follow through the sequence. Athugh at a first glance the title may seem like a jolly song it is infact far more. Its a fast paced soundtrack with a jumpy twist and is quite similar to the sounds used in Oceans Eleven and Tweleve and its upbeatyet hints the idea that theres something crime related going on. It sufficiently recreates the hip slick feel of our opening while still leaving the listener with enough leeway to create their own mood.
Final Edits:
Overall to reach the potential that we did we had to make a lot of our change throughout the process. When it came to editing and cutting the scenes we wanted to use we realised that the scene of the boiler room we took the fist time with the dark lighting and the night vision effect works really well with the film as a whole. It creates the idea that camera is edgy and foreshadows the events to come as the audience are left to feel uncomfortable in the situation where the camera is shaky and venerable. We also had to go through a series or different sound clips to find one that suited our opening the best.
Voice Over - 4th March 2010
Hedley wrote a script for the voice over that we would play over the opening so that the audience can follow through what's happening and get an insight into the main characters and what they plan to do without revealing too much information. We tried to keep with the typical British slang without making it confusing for other audiences it appeals to. By using slang this adds to the generic conventions of a British ganster/drama film. h voice runs smoothly with the film and takes away and really adds the final touches to make it look like a proffesional well thought out piece of work.
The voice over is as follows:
If you’re a faint hearted person I advise you to turn away now. Anyway, introducing Leicester’s finest hard-nut, mostly known as Mo. He is mostly known for his dirty business tactics to get clients to pay up any means necessary. He works for his twin brother who is notoriously known far and wide for his illegal schemes including drug smuggling, trafficking, basically anything illegal he’s included. This duo is not to be disrespected. (Played over the scene in which Muhammed Sacranie's character is being introduced along with his 'twin'.)
(Stops while Muhamme is making a call)
Whitey, a local nitty, seventeen; lives with his uncaring, pikey parents...and this is just another henchman. (Played once Hedley is introduced as the hostage)
We decided that Hedley would record the voice over using a deep voice to take away the idea that he's a Media student and allow him to adapt to the persona of a typical British hustler with a cockey accent. He recorded this a few times so that we had more than attempt to choose from and after completeing this we saved it while waiting for our overall film to be edited and finished to then be able to add the voice over.
The voice over is as follows:
If you’re a faint hearted person I advise you to turn away now. Anyway, introducing Leicester’s finest hard-nut, mostly known as Mo. He is mostly known for his dirty business tactics to get clients to pay up any means necessary. He works for his twin brother who is notoriously known far and wide for his illegal schemes including drug smuggling, trafficking, basically anything illegal he’s included. This duo is not to be disrespected. (Played over the scene in which Muhammed Sacranie's character is being introduced along with his 'twin'.)(Stops while Muhamme is making a call)
Whitey, a local nitty, seventeen; lives with his uncaring, pikey parents...and this is just another henchman. (Played once Hedley is introduced as the hostage)We decided that Hedley would record the voice over using a deep voice to take away the idea that he's a Media student and allow him to adapt to the persona of a typical British hustler with a cockey accent. He recorded this a few times so that we had more than attempt to choose from and after completeing this we saved it while waiting for our overall film to be edited and finished to then be able to add the voice over.
Warehouse Scenes - 1st March 2010
As we previosly dicussed we were going to go back to the warehouse to re-shoot some of the scenes that didnt work out the first time. Over the weekend we talked about more ideas that we could interpret into our opening and Aliya made a storyboard we could use as guidelines to help us film. We borrowed a tripod from school with reference to the shots of last time we kept in mind that in order to make our opening sequence look like a proffesional piece of work we would need steady shots and scenes that run smoothly into each other but still be able to give a edgy twist.
We felt the rooms we chose to film in were pefrect for uro final opening sequence as they were bright when it needed to be and dark when it was suitable. The room we used for the hostage is shown in the photos above with the chair, the room was quite gloomy with only little lighting, fortunatley we had lights that we could set up near by and use to provide the right lighting. Overall the filming went well we feel that we have filmed all the scenes and shots we need for our final opening scene. We dont plan to go ack to the warehouse for any more filming as we have all we need for now and need to concentrate onother aspects but would consider re shooting some scenes that we feel haven't been produced to the best of our ability.
Costume Development:
Prior to our film production we reseahced into eisting crime/thriller films and took a closer look at the characters and their clothes presented in these films. One particular film we studied was ocean's 11 and 12, we chos this film as it stood out alot to us. The characters wear flash suits ad sunglasses perhaps reflecting thei wealth and also their high class status.
We felt the rooms we chose to film in were pefrect for uro final opening sequence as they were bright when it needed to be and dark when it was suitable. The room we used for the hostage is shown in the photos above with the chair, the room was quite gloomy with only little lighting, fortunatley we had lights that we could set up near by and use to provide the right lighting. Overall the filming went well we feel that we have filmed all the scenes and shots we need for our final opening scene. We dont plan to go ack to the warehouse for any more filming as we have all we need for now and need to concentrate onother aspects but would consider re shooting some scenes that we feel haven't been produced to the best of our ability.
Costume Development:
Prior to our film production we reseahced into eisting crime/thriller films and took a closer look at the characters and their clothes presented in these films. One particular film we studied was ocean's 11 and 12, we chos this film as it stood out alot to us. The characters wear flash suits ad sunglasses perhaps reflecting thei wealth and also their high class status.
Car Scenes: Take Two - 26th February 2010
As we mentioned we planned to go back and re-shoot the car scenes as we felt it wasn't as thriving as we would have liked it to be. In order to improve our overall film quality we had to have some sort of lighting but before we went to the warehouse we had to get the lighting equipment from our teachers. We spent the lesson getting a basic understanding of how to set up them and use them in a professional matter so we wouldn't make any mistakes such as have shadows or anything in the background. Mr Roberts explained to us the certain angles and frames we could use to create a good shot and we kept these in mind as we went back to the warehouse to film again.
We came to film the car scenes again but had to face to the problem that there was no where to plug the lighting equipment we had as we were filming outside. We went to another warehouse located right next to the one we were already at to ask if they had a plug extension cord we could borrow and therefore be able to plug the lights from the inside and lead them to the outside so we could film. Fortunately they had one we could borrow and immediately we got straight to filming. Two of Hedley's also came down to help us as we were experimenting with different cars and different styles such sharp edgy driving from different sides of the warehouse to upload later and see what worked the best. Over the weekend we had uploaded the video onto Imovie and spent some time quickly editing it down to the few seconds that we needed. We are really happy with the outcome with the overall scene as the contrast of the gloomy night and the lighting from the car work really well together and again focuses on the idea that the audience are questioning the mans whereabouts what is to come. We feel this works really well with the generic conventions of a gangster/drama as there's always some tension throughout these kinds of films and moments where the audience are left to wonder whats going on, usually a dim background is created to set the scene and night time is always seen as a more scary atmosphere and bad things are more likely to happen and we wanted to bring these aspects into out opening.
We came to film the car scenes again but had to face to the problem that there was no where to plug the lighting equipment we had as we were filming outside. We went to another warehouse located right next to the one we were already at to ask if they had a plug extension cord we could borrow and therefore be able to plug the lights from the inside and lead them to the outside so we could film. Fortunately they had one we could borrow and immediately we got straight to filming. Two of Hedley's also came down to help us as we were experimenting with different cars and different styles such sharp edgy driving from different sides of the warehouse to upload later and see what worked the best. Over the weekend we had uploaded the video onto Imovie and spent some time quickly editing it down to the few seconds that we needed. We are really happy with the outcome with the overall scene as the contrast of the gloomy night and the lighting from the car work really well together and again focuses on the idea that the audience are questioning the mans whereabouts what is to come. We feel this works really well with the generic conventions of a gangster/drama as there's always some tension throughout these kinds of films and moments where the audience are left to wonder whats going on, usually a dim background is created to set the scene and night time is always seen as a more scary atmosphere and bad things are more likely to happen and we wanted to bring these aspects into out opening.
Car Scenes - 25th February 2010
Ikhlas, Muhammed and Hedley went to the warehouse to film the scenes which involved the cars driving into the garage as the door was opening. But once we arrived we found that there some difficulties with what we had intended to film. The scene we wanted to create was supposed to involve a car or perhaps 2 cars driving fast around the warehouse to the main entrance and then entering through the lifting door but this became impossible to film as there was a skip on the other side of the door which we couldn't physically move ourselves therefore preventing us from filming the scene we had hoped for.Another Problem we came across was the fact that the atmosphere we wanted to endure was a dark night allowing only light from the cars to be seen to make it seem more dangerous, but we discovered that when we set up the camera outside the warehouse the lighting wasn't good enough to produce good quality filming as it was very dark throughout. We knew that in order to get a good view of whats happening this scene we would need to come back with proper lighting equipment and re-shoot the scene to improve filming and framing quality. We also feel that if we re-shoot then we will have two attempts to choose from as one portrays a misty night on the basis that audience is left in the unknown and to question what is happening or we could create a professional looking scene where the lighting is used correctly to give a gangster effect to the film .
Final Idea - 22th February 2010
Today we came up with our final idea and heres how it goes:
Film Title: 10 Bags
Genre: Ganster / Crime / Thriller
Main Protagonists: Muhammed Sacranie, Mohedene Masri & Hedley Wood
Plot: Two Jack-the-lads find themselves heavily - seriously heavily - in debt to an East End hard man and his enforcers after a trip to their secret warehouse goes horribly wrong. They must try to escape and redeem themselve of the money they owe.
Storyboard:
- Mo drops a body into the skip. [Voice over plays]
- Muhammeds 'twin' comes out of the car. [Voice over still playing]
- [Voice over stops] Muhammed enters the warehouse on the stairs. [Soundtrack starts playing]
- Outside Window view of Muhammed on the stairs. [Sound track still playing]
- Muhammed enters the room, [Soundtrack still playing, Credits come up]
- Sits on the office chair, waiting to make a phone call. [Soundtrack cuts]
- Shot of the boss with the double doors opening. [Soundtrack continues]
- Cuts back to Muhammed making a phonecall. [Soundtrack cuts]
- Goes to Mohedene receiving the call. Hedley held as a hostage in the background. [Voice over plays again introducing Hedleys character]
- Camera cuts to hedleys view of Muhammed with a mask ready to take action. Last camera shot. [Voice over cuts, soundtrack plays and fades into the title]
Naming our film:
-
Film Title: 10 Bags
Genre: Ganster / Crime / Thriller
Main Protagonists: Muhammed Sacranie, Mohedene Masri & Hedley Wood
Plot: Two Jack-the-lads find themselves heavily - seriously heavily - in debt to an East End hard man and his enforcers after a trip to their secret warehouse goes horribly wrong. They must try to escape and redeem themselve of the money they owe.
Storyboard:
- Mo drops a body into the skip. [Voice over plays]
- Muhammeds 'twin' comes out of the car. [Voice over still playing]
- [Voice over stops] Muhammed enters the warehouse on the stairs. [Soundtrack starts playing]
- Outside Window view of Muhammed on the stairs. [Sound track still playing]
- Muhammed enters the room, [Soundtrack still playing, Credits come up]
- Sits on the office chair, waiting to make a phone call. [Soundtrack cuts]
- Shot of the boss with the double doors opening. [Soundtrack continues]
- Cuts back to Muhammed making a phonecall. [Soundtrack cuts]
- Goes to Mohedene receiving the call. Hedley held as a hostage in the background. [Voice over plays again introducing Hedleys character]
- Camera cuts to hedleys view of Muhammed with a mask ready to take action. Last camera shot. [Voice over cuts, soundtrack plays and fades into the title]
Naming our film:
-
Location: Tolworth Warehouse - 15th February 2010
We spent the following week gathering up different ideas but with 2 story lines in mind we decided it would be best to go to the warehouse first to look at the building as a whole such as the different rooms, offices, the massive fridge with he automatic doors and etc. We also had check what was possible for us film within the space and what other props we would need. We thought this location was perfect forWe all met up on Saturday and got a lift down to the warehouse were we made a video diary as evidence and to give us an idea of the overall location. This was useful as we used the video diary and storyboards alongside each other to plan the opening sequence in as much detail for when we were ready to film. We experimented with some props that we brought and even dressed up in suits to gain better view of the overall genre convention, the idea that there are these men in suits suggests there's something going on, perhaps an illegal drug deal or a kidnapping? We wanted to leave the suspense with the audience.
Warehouse:
Hard at work!
Muhammed and Hedley were acting in the film while Iklas and Aliya directed using a personal video camera. Mohedene Masri was another actor who agreed to be in the film and come down to the warehouse to shoot a few scenes as we needed more variety within the cast. Muhammed wore a plain lack suit along with a mask to add to the idea that its secret and no one really knows what going on. We wanted to leave the rest to the audiences imagination and allow them to ask questions and wonder what is happening and why?
We went to the warehouse without any intentions to film scenes for our opening but we found a boiler room which we automatically thought would be perfect for the film so we started to get everything in place and began to experiment with close ups, over the shoulder shots and other camera angles but found that it wasn't recorded at such a great quality because it was hand held and not on a tripod. Once we finished recorded we went back to school the following day to look back at the footage we had. We noticed some minor mistakes such as i mentioned before, the camera was hand held and therefore shaky at times. Another error was that at one point we had left the night mode on, this left a really bad grainy effect on the video. From this we learnt that for future references when we might go to film again we have to take into consideration the mistakes we made to prevent them from happening again. Overall we believe it was a good learning process and gave us some insight into what to expect from the warehouse as a whole in order to improve for when we came to film the real opening.
Warehouse:
Hard at work!
Muhammed and Hedley were acting in the film while Iklas and Aliya directed using a personal video camera. Mohedene Masri was another actor who agreed to be in the film and come down to the warehouse to shoot a few scenes as we needed more variety within the cast. Muhammed wore a plain lack suit along with a mask to add to the idea that its secret and no one really knows what going on. We wanted to leave the rest to the audiences imagination and allow them to ask questions and wonder what is happening and why?
We went to the warehouse without any intentions to film scenes for our opening but we found a boiler room which we automatically thought would be perfect for the film so we started to get everything in place and began to experiment with close ups, over the shoulder shots and other camera angles but found that it wasn't recorded at such a great quality because it was hand held and not on a tripod. Once we finished recorded we went back to school the following day to look back at the footage we had. We noticed some minor mistakes such as i mentioned before, the camera was hand held and therefore shaky at times. Another error was that at one point we had left the night mode on, this left a really bad grainy effect on the video. From this we learnt that for future references when we might go to film again we have to take into consideration the mistakes we made to prevent them from happening again. Overall we believe it was a good learning process and gave us some insight into what to expect from the warehouse as a whole in order to improve for when we came to film the real opening.
Reseach: Lock, Stock and two Smoking Barrels - 3rd February 2010
As part of research we made a presentation about 'Lock, Stock and two Smoking Barrels' A film about four London working class stiffs who pool their money to put one on a high stakes card game, but things go wrong and they end up owing half a million pounds and having one week to come up with the cash. We felt that the genre of this film was something we could mirror into our opening sequence, the idea of having a plot centered around money would add te the generic conventons of a ganster film. However we thought we ould expand more into this idea and perhaps have hosage stuation going on. Other apects of the film such as the characters, soundtrack and plot were also things we hoped to imitate. The soundtrack reflects a humouress vibe to te film and avoids the typical stereo type of using rap music, as a group we thought this would look more professional and run smoothly with the opening.
The title 'Lock, stock and Two Smoking Barrels' at the end, is a good effect as the audiences are left wondering when the title will appear. The font of the title is lso placed as an old dodgy type writer style, such as how the film will be based on the font, so the audience will figure out the genre without even watching the film.
Narration - the opening of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, starts of with a man named bacon at a stall shouting snappy rhymes as you would see in a market, however the good thing about this opening is that they start the film with dialogue straight away, so the audience are attracted to the film straight away. While bacon who is in the stall is selling of these dodgy items, there is another character who is shown during the opening named ed, such as when the man at the stall says “ one price ten pounds” while the other replies” did you say ten pounds” and to make this realistic bacon at the stalls asks him if he is deaf, then Ed says that’s a bargain, you then see how the other customers are attracted to the item aswell because they think it is a bargain.
This effect is really clever as Both bacon and Ed are working as a team but making a fool out of the public, the other reason why its so effective is that it makes the audience feel as if they are part of their plan, such as only the two characters and the audience know what’s going on.
Ancillary Task: "Have you fed the fish?" - 1st February 2010
Before we could go any further we were given a preliminary task to carry out before we started on our actual film, this would help us understand the simple concepts of working a camera and will enable us to conduct easy shots. We were allowed to challenge the script and make the into any convention we wanted but as a group we decided to keep to the script and emphasise on the camera shots instead. We went up to a classroom in the science block within our school, we thought this would the ideal location as it was very straightforward and kept to the script. We aimed to focus more on the camera skills rather than making a complex storyline, but in our final piece we aim to balance out both effectiveness of our film and still be able to produce good efficient camera shots.
Editing:
Before we could start filming we had to make a storyboard which would enable us to film smoothly and have guidelines to follow and stick by. Aliya created a storyboard with annotations at the bottom as shown in the picture to the left. We realised that when it came down to filming we had to make some changes to our storyboard as the shots we had imagined were not always possible to do. Once we finished filming we arranged to edit the footage we had at a later date. We uploaded the footage we took onto Imovie during our lesson to edit it quickly. We cut the film to the required minutes and added a slide at the beginning with the film title and credits. We feel there wasnt much to edit in this situation as it was a simple task to carry out. We had cuts in all the right places to ensure we didn't cross the line. We then uploaded it to the media archive after we finished.
Here is the final piece of our 'Have you fed the fish?' project:
How we could improve:
If we had to re-produce this task we would make many changes, although this was a good learning process for us we would elaborate on certain areas that didn't go quite as well as we had planned. Looking back now we realised we forgot to include an establishing shot which is essential as it creates an atmosphere to almost welcome the audience into the film or project in this case. An establishing shot is important as it sets the location and allows the audience to understand where the characters are. When you consider the location it actually comes across as very essential because the location creates the genre of a film in such ways, for example, if it was located in a dark alley way or at night in general then you would get a sense of what to expect. If it was set in the daytime or near a beach then as a viewer you immeadietly assume there is going to be normal day to day action taking place like a conversation or an errand. We were very pleased with the shot were Hedley enters the room and grabs the chair and the way the camera sequence follows him along, however, the mistake we made here is that the you can hear the sound of the tripod moving in the background which makes it look quite tacky and unprofessional. The problem here was that the tripod itself was very stiff so caused the sound to be made; the microphone is also placed right next to the camera not the characters so the sound closer to the camera will be captured. To overcome this problem for future purposes we will need to use a better tripod where it moves slowly or record empty background noise and edit it over the footage to block out any unwanted sound such as the tripod moving.
From 0.26 - 0.27 there's a jump cut straight into an over the shoulder shot of Muhammed and Hedley which captures the audiences attention as its a direct cut instead of fading in or cutting smoothly into another shot. It takes away any aspects of realism it had and brings the audience back from believing its a real film.
Editing:
Before we could start filming we had to make a storyboard which would enable us to film smoothly and have guidelines to follow and stick by. Aliya created a storyboard with annotations at the bottom as shown in the picture to the left. We realised that when it came down to filming we had to make some changes to our storyboard as the shots we had imagined were not always possible to do. Once we finished filming we arranged to edit the footage we had at a later date. We uploaded the footage we took onto Imovie during our lesson to edit it quickly. We cut the film to the required minutes and added a slide at the beginning with the film title and credits. We feel there wasnt much to edit in this situation as it was a simple task to carry out. We had cuts in all the right places to ensure we didn't cross the line. We then uploaded it to the media archive after we finished.
Here is the final piece of our 'Have you fed the fish?' project:
How we could improve:
If we had to re-produce this task we would make many changes, although this was a good learning process for us we would elaborate on certain areas that didn't go quite as well as we had planned. Looking back now we realised we forgot to include an establishing shot which is essential as it creates an atmosphere to almost welcome the audience into the film or project in this case. An establishing shot is important as it sets the location and allows the audience to understand where the characters are. When you consider the location it actually comes across as very essential because the location creates the genre of a film in such ways, for example, if it was located in a dark alley way or at night in general then you would get a sense of what to expect. If it was set in the daytime or near a beach then as a viewer you immeadietly assume there is going to be normal day to day action taking place like a conversation or an errand. We were very pleased with the shot were Hedley enters the room and grabs the chair and the way the camera sequence follows him along, however, the mistake we made here is that the you can hear the sound of the tripod moving in the background which makes it look quite tacky and unprofessional. The problem here was that the tripod itself was very stiff so caused the sound to be made; the microphone is also placed right next to the camera not the characters so the sound closer to the camera will be captured. To overcome this problem for future purposes we will need to use a better tripod where it moves slowly or record empty background noise and edit it over the footage to block out any unwanted sound such as the tripod moving. 
From 0.26 - 0.27 there's a jump cut straight into an over the shoulder shot of Muhammed and Hedley which captures the audiences attention as its a direct cut instead of fading in or cutting smoothly into another shot. It takes away any aspects of realism it had and brings the audience back from believing its a real film.
Introduction – 29th January 2010
Today was the first day we became a group, our group consists of the following people:
Hedley Wood
Muhammed Sacranie
Ikhlas Yousif
& Aliya Ellahi
After getting a chance to meet each other we brainstormed a few ideas that we could go on to produce and immeadietly sorted out our location; a warehouse located in tolworth owned by Muhammed Sacranie's dad which was ideal for our film. We had full access to the warehouse and the cars owned by his dad were also availible for us to use. We were really excited as we had completed one of the most difficult stages. We then had to discuss genres, plots and other aspects of our film such as how we could create a surperior opening sequence within the location we had. We had quite a few different ideas and made an agreement to narrow the choices down to 2.
Hedley Wood
Muhammed Sacranie
Ikhlas Yousif
& Aliya Ellahi
After getting a chance to meet each other we brainstormed a few ideas that we could go on to produce and immeadietly sorted out our location; a warehouse located in tolworth owned by Muhammed Sacranie's dad which was ideal for our film. We had full access to the warehouse and the cars owned by his dad were also availible for us to use. We were really excited as we had completed one of the most difficult stages. We then had to discuss genres, plots and other aspects of our film such as how we could create a surperior opening sequence within the location we had. We had quite a few different ideas and made an agreement to narrow the choices down to 2.
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