7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to your final product?

This midshot shows two character sitting opposite from each other with a table, this was used in our final product, but the camera angles were changed so it was an over the shoulder shot and noddy shot. This was to see the reaction of a specific character in more dertail, which is shown in the other prelim shot below.

• Issues encountered in Preliminary task

The issues that we encountered was keeping the continuity whilst filming, not having a script before hand, and not knowing enough about the camera functions.

• Improvements made in the final product

We used a script for the actual product which helped us become more organised, also we learnt how to use the camera functions so no footage would be erased and filmed correctly.

• The skills I have improved or gained over the course of this project

The skills I have improved over the entire course was how to use a handheld camera correctly and using a tripod to not make shots unnecessarily shaky. The skills gained was the different and wide range of camera angles that can be used in a video, also how to edit a piece of footage with specific transitions and effects.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

There were several technologies used whilst filming which included these:

• Cameras

For the cameras throughout the film, two were used. A small handheld camera which was used frequently to shoot quick shots. A bigger handheld was also used in the recording studio to shoot just a few other scenes with more detail. Both were put on a tripod to keep continuity between the shots and not get a shaky piece of film.



• Adobe Premiere Pro

 

This programme was used to edit all of the shots that were taken, so cut out all the bad shots, create the black and white effect, sounds effects and specific transitions created.

This image above shows an example of what the screen looked like on the computer using this programme.



• Blogger

Blogger has been used throughout my media coursework, I have been able to create these blog posts with it and help get feedback from my tutor with it. I was able to upoad images and videos in my blog and give descriptive detail about how I wanted to portray my film and the ideas conveyed throughout that were developed and used.



• Youtube

Youtube was the website I used to get my research from certain scenes in previous films to help make initial ideas for my groups film. I also was able to use this to get my prelim video which my tutor uploaded onto the college's private account on youtube.

• Powerpoint

Powerpoint was only used for my pitch where I showed my class the initial ideas to my film.

• Microsoft Office Word

Word was only used to collect images and create my group's script.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

This is an interview of a person who fits our audience profile who talks about what they thought of the opening sequence to the 'GodDaddy'.

With the use of the moustaches, it created a comedy aspect which would appeal to the specific type of target audience.

Action was also used to appeal to the target audience as they would still prefer the GodFather type of violence involved.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Profile:

-Jimmy
-15
-Lives in the city/urban area
-Likes films, sport, travelling abroad, learning new cultures
-Dislikes documentaries
-Hobbies are being involved in active sports
-Films he likes are action and/or comedy films
-TV programmes he watches are Scrubs, NCIS, Eastenders
-Music he listens to is mainly R&B and rap

Our film would appeal to this person for a nuumber of reasons. His age is 15 which we are associating the age limit around due to the drug dealings and murder crimes. He likes sport and is active so would like to watch the action scenes throughout the film, also the type of films he prefers to watch are action and comedy  which both of those are associated in the film. Living in a urban area he might be more accustomed to the crimes involved in the film so could relate. The liking of rap music can be seen as a good thing due to rap today having a serious but also comedy aspects throughout just like the film. NCIS is a crime based type of programme, so would link to the crimes involved in the Goddaddy, also Scrubs is a comedy programme so he would like the humorous parts of the film.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

• A production company is responsible for the development and filming of a specific production of a film. It is mainly involved in funding, helping to facilitate the making of, and distributing films and/or television programs. My production company for my film is called 'C&S Productions', which would obviously be on a small budget if my group were to actually make the whole film.

• A distributor is the link between the film-makers and the public, and allows a film to reach the public via cinemas, DVD/video and on television. There are a number of distribution companies in the UK, all with different styles, funding structures, aims and market plans, all trying to sell their films in a competitive environment. Due to the fact that we do not have anywhere near the amount of funding that would be needed in order to produce and distribute a mainstream film, the most realistic option would be to sell our finished product to an Independent distributor rather than a larger studio.
  Examples of independent film distributors are:
  
  • Pathe
  • The Film maker's co-operative
  • IndiePix films
  • MusicBox
  
  Youtube has also been known to have short films and some low budget films placed on their website under featured in order to gain publicity. Realistically I think we would use youtube to distribute our film.
•  The major existing film that is very much similar to our film is obviously the Godfather, however we have made it our own style by creating a comedy aspect with it and changing the storyline and script.

• To get the money to fund my film there are several ways, but would probably use one of these:

UK Film Council/British Film InstituteUntil recently the first place to look for funding on a national level was the UK Film Council.

Local CouncilsLocal councils will often put money towards a short filmmaking initiative, especially if it deals with social exclusion or aids the local community in some way.

CharitiesA number of charities fund short films.If we were interested in getting funding from a charity, we would think about the type of film we are trying to make and contact organisations that are in some way linked to the topic/goal of your film.  For example the Wellcome Trust (UK's largest medical research charity) has an Arts Award that funds projects (including short films) inspired by biomedical science.

• For the people included in the film, mainly they did have several parts throughout.

There was the highest billing actors- Jake Lewesy as Vinny, Scarlet Bellis as the GodDaddy and Connie Brunskill as Pauly
Connie Brunskill was the Editor,
Connie Brunskill was the Sound Effects artist,
Connie Brunskill created the Screenplay,
Scarlet Bellis and Connie Brunskill both were the Producers.
Connie Brunskill was the Director.

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

Our opening sequence represents several social groups. The major one is that is has criminals, what with drug dealings and murder. Class has also a part as the characters, especially the 'Goddaddy' has a very high status and reprents the upper class aspect in society.  The Italian mobster social group was also portrayed as well. The cigar and suit used by the GodDaddy we believe conveyed the higher status atmosphere, which is a comparison to the original GodFather.

I have represented my chosen social groups with the keeping the storyline to a criminal and ganster type of film with drug dealings, murder and very intense interrogation.

 For the mise-en-scene we kept to the same type of costumes that were used by the italian mobsters during the Godfather period. By using suits, hats, and sophisticated moustaches it shows the high class society that the characters are classed in throughout the film. To represent the comedy part to the film, certain props were specifically used to create a humorous effect. These are, the toy cat that is situated on the Goddaddy's lap, also the chocolate gold coins and toy gun.

 I have created the meaning of the italian gangster atmosphere that is tense and dramatic, that surround the whole idea of being respectful to the hirarchy, and if you are not serious implications will happen, usually death. With this severe serious effect of the film, it is lightened with a humorous part that is hopefully enjoyable to the audience.

 This compares to existing representations in the media as I feel that our film would be a unique aspect on the original Godfather and a parody of the film has never been actually created, making our representation different from any other.

 

Evaluation


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

• The title of the film is called 'The Goddaddy', which is a parody to the first film of the 'Godfather'. By changing the word 'father' to 'daddy' created a humorous aspect to our film and gave the audience the understanding of that our film portrayed conventions from the original film. We wanted to put the title where it would seem more realistic and like most real film. This was where some of the film is shot then half way through the opening sequence, the title appears.

• For the opening titles that appeared in the opening sequence, a certain font and style was kept consistently. Unlike the original film we had to put the opening titles much earlier, than the actual six minutes in Godfather which challenged some of the real media products. Whilst the title were showing, some were shown at the very beginning with the gangster type music, others were in the shots that were filmed between characters. The font and style used was called '28 days later- Bold Condensed' and 'Birch White-Regualar'.

• For the Location shots we tried to link as much of them with the Godfather films to show that our film was a parody of the first Godfather film. By looking at the image below, this is a shot taken from the first scene in one of the Godfather films, very much like an office type room with low key lighting used. To do this we used the recording studio in college to develop this interrogation effect like the real mobster scenes.

The two shots above show how we tried to use the existing shots from the original GodFather, but put our own aspect towards our final product.

For the outside shots, we thought that to keep the intense and dramatic atmosphere where violence and crime usually takes place, we decided to use a dark alley on the college campus to film this.

• Costumes had to portray this classy yet mobster feel, which we did with using suits and ties, shown by the image below. Hats were also used for certain characters. Moustaches were also added to the characters to create a humorous aspect to the film which is what we intended to do throughout.

• For Props, the convention of the old mobster, violent stereotype was needed to be conveyed so we used cigars, drugs, money and guns. However to get the element of comedy put across as well, we used the use of marshmallows in some of the characters mouths to copy the Godfather’s look of slurred speech. Also a toy cat was used to convey the cat that was seen in the first scene of the Godfather as well. For the drugs, sherbet and icing sugar was used wrapped up in clingfilm with chocolate coins for the money.

Scarlet demonstrated in the image below of the 'Goddaddy' with marshmallows and cigar.

• For the lighting in the film, we focused on the low key lighting which is shown in the opening sequence of the actual Godfather film. This was one of the key elements throughout our film. 

• The Characters in the film were 'The Godaddy' who plays a guy who has comedy aspects about him (when he throw the cat and blows smoke in other guy's face) though he has got a serious ,element about him also. He doesn't like being disrespected, especially from people who are meant to be in his 'gang'.  'Vinny (interrogated guy)' conveys a lower status than the GodDaddy as he pleads for favours, to begin with he seems innocent and desperate but throughout the film it is clear that he is sneaky. 'Pauly the drug dealer' is the GodDaddy's enemy who steals clients and his sherbet drugs. Like the first scene of the original film we had an interrogation part with a scared guy pleading for help from the powerful guy with the high status, which in this case was the Goddaddy.

• The Camera angles were very much simple, mainly the camera was in midshot throughout, however there were a few close ups, a wideshot and a zoom out. We did use the cat shot with the Goddaddy like the original film, however we challenged this convention used by using it at the end of the opening sequence to create the comedy aspect.











•  In order to create the 'old time' effect, it was decided to change the all of the colour of the film to black and white. Sound effects such as gun shots, and a cat sound were used to give it more of a parody edge throughout, also we used a voice over in one of our scenes to create a flashback but yet having a conversation in the present. The main transition that was used was the fade in/out effect, also the mirage type transition to make the flashback understandable to the audience.The image below shows the transitions used on the Adobe programme, shown in the bottom right hand corner of image.







•  The Genre and style in the film is a parody to the italian/american mobster crime. Which was portrayed well with the costumes, props and video effects put together.

Completed Title Sequence

Production Diary

15/01/12- I had completed the preliminary task, and had grasped the concepts of using the camera to take certain shots. I am now onto starting the initial ideas for the opening sequence.

21/01/12- My group and I have been informed by our tutor that the opening sequence must be based on a new crime fiction film. We decided to choose the subgenre of an Italian Gangster Parody. The usual things that we will hope to include to represent the American gangster area are the upper class type of people, guns, cigarettes, tuxedos/suits, hired help and low key lighting.

28/01/12- We thought of how we would be able to use low key lighting in our film and where the location may be to shoot this effect. The decision had been made to use the recording studio on the college campus to do this. The problems with this may be that the studio may not have the sufficient equipment to create this effect. However, this was overcome by asking Andy the man in charge of filming if this would be possible and he agreed that this could be possible.

04/02/12- With completing our moodboard this week, it has given us the specific ideas of the costume and props we wil use to the film to represent the stereotypes that must be portrayed. The problems encountered was that for the suits needed to be used, we first decided on using different coloured suits to show the difference in gang leaders, but there was only one suit in the  college's media costume box. We sorted this problem by deciding on not using different coloured suits and bring our own suits and create our own props to use for the film.

19/02/12- The storyboard has been completed so we now have an actual narrative and have decided who will act what. There were some disputes on who will play what, though the group decided to have a vote for each position/ role of the characters that will be used, also the roles in making the film.

26/02/12- After completing the storyline, scheduling when our group could film was the next thing to do. We setted up a table on what each person should be doing each week and the location we would be meeting to film specific shots. The issues on the scheduling was that not everyone was able to meet the times needed to shoot the required shots, but was overcome by working around this problem by contacting everyone in the group the day before filming making sure they were able to film.

05/03/12- The script was typed up on a college computer, the main issue with this was making sure that it was typed the certain way that met the requirements. This issue was sorted by looking at the template that the media tutor had placed on the college website to help us.

12/03/12- After creating the script, we started filming which we kept doing until 10/04/12. The problems wa sthis was most of our shots were needed to be filmed in the recording studio, which other groups were using aswell so must be booked and sometimes we couldn't film. This was overcome by making sure we booked in advance, and had organised what we were doing each time in the studio so we used all the time we could have.

11/04/12- Once all the filming had been done, we imported the film onto a computer in the editing room so we could start editing the film. As it was only imported to one computer we had to wait for when that computer was free, so some of the group came in their spare time to make sure the film was edited in time.

18/04/12- We had finished editing our film and uploaded it to Youtube.

The Edit

 There were some effects that we used during the edit stage of the film. In order to create the 'old time' effect, it was decided to change the all of the colour of the film to black and white. Sound effects such as gun shots, and a cat sound were used to give it more of a parody edge throughout, also we used a voice over in one of our scenes to create a flashback but yet having a conversation in the present. The main transition that was used was the fade in/out effect, also the mirage type transition to make the flashback understandable to the audience.

The Pitch


Our group pitched our ideas to the class using a power point presentation. Each member had certain clips to talk about which described our initial ideas of what our film was based and how and who would we distribute it to. The pitch lasted around 5 minutes and used several pictures and not a lot of detailed paragraphs on the clips to make it easier to the eye for the audience and make sure it was well understood. At the end of the pitch we asked the class on whether they had any questions, and was given useful feedback about the presentation and our ideas.
 Most of the feedback was very much positive though some did state the areas for improvement that we could develop on. This was that because we are doing a parody to make sure we kept to the comedy aspect and not make it too serious. The narrative was changed slightly to make the story more exaggerated to create a more humorous edge to the film and the production name and certain costumes were changed too.
 This is the copy of the power point presentation we pitched our ideas on:

Costume, Props, Locations, Casting

For the potential resources needed for filming an American/Italian Gangster stereotyped film, there are certain aspects that need to be considered. Firstly, certain locations are needed to create a realistic effect throughout the film. We are basing our film more towards the Godfather type atmosphere so by viewing certain locations in the films it gave us a good understanding on where we should film. By looking at the image below, this is a shot taken from the first scene in one of the Godfather films, very much like an office type room with low key lighting used. To do this we are going to use the recording studio in college to create this interrogation effect.

For the outside shots, we thought that to keep the intense and dramatic atmosphere where violence and crime usually takes place, we decided to use a dark alley on the college campus to film this.

Costumes like I have discussed before in some of my previous posts will need to portray this classy yet mobster feel, which we did with using suits and ties, shown by the image below. Hats were also used for certain characters. Moustaches were also added to the characters to create a humorous aspect to the film which is what we intended to do throughout.

 

For Props I have also discussed in some of my previous posts but yet again the convention of the old mobster, violent stereotype was needed to be conveyed so we used cigars, drugs, money and guns. However to get the element of comedy put across aswell, we used the use of marshmallows in some of the characters mouths to copy the Godfather’s look of slurred speech. Also a toy cat was used to convey the cat that was seen in the first scene of the Godfather aswell. For the drugs, sherbet and icing sugar was used wrapped up in clingfilm with chocolate coins for the money.

We had a variety of casting since half we through filming two people left the course, which sadly did make filming more difficult. For the actors we used people in the media course to help.

The script is shown in the image below, not much dialouge was used but we did try to make as much speech possible in the maximum of two minutes of filming space that was required.