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

In our preliminary exercise we had to include the 180 rule, match on action, dialogue between two people and shot reserve shot. As group i don't think we found these too difficult apart from the 180 rule, where me and Ellie had to be on the right sight of the table in each shot. Now producing a film, we had many more props, objects, nosies and problems in the way however we didn't have any dialogue to deal with as we were concentrating more on emotion.
With continuity, it was harder in real life out about in the city to match each clip. The lighting became very difficult and when we first filmed we got a blue tint and then some days it would be very bright and others grey. Using the white balance and inside and outside on the cameras helped though. Also i had to keep the same costume and make-up throughout the whole film to

ensure continuity.

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Even making sure the light was on and off at the right points.
When we did our first exercise we weren't really aware and concentrating on the background sound as we were listening to the dialogue. When we came to filming we learnt that some scene, such as the office one the there was no noise and there needed to be, so we made some.
Also using the tri-pod became something that we always did, as it gave us a smooth and steadying look which looked professional. In the first exercise we didn't use a tri-pod as it didn't seem important.
When we produced our final product, we looked closer at attention to detail as we wanted everything to look right. In some cases we had to re-shoot parts that we werent happy with and learn from our previous mistakes.
The biggest challenge for us as a group was the raindrop, we learnt alot about how visually it was harder to protray a character then simply using dialogue. The messages where more hidden within the film then more obvious, they were subtext.

What have you learnt about technologies form the process of constructing your media product?

From the process of constructing this film intro i have learnt a lot as i haven't really used an editing programme or a decent camera before. For the preliminary exercise we had to master a few basics which i didn't know existed for example the 180 rule, match on action and big close ups. As an exercise we didn't didn't find these elements to film hard however i learnt the terminology for them.

For our filming we used the camera outside of the classroom and found that lighting became an issue. The weather changed and the white balance on the camera left us with a blue tint on our filming. The lighting from inside Andys flat did not match the light from other areas, for example in the office and outside. Therefore we wanted to add a black and white effect on the intro, however we couldn't as the programme on this Apple Mac wouldn't let us. Also with the camera we came across a problem, we out to film on the one occasion and the camera went out to film on one occasion and the camera died withing a very short period of time. This was annoying and i think out max filming time was 45 mins. With the camera we had to use the tripod this piece of equipment made a big difference to our filming and the quality of it. With the tripod the camerawork was more stable, when Andy did a hand-held effect, we could see the difference in quality. Therefore we used the tripod almost all the time. Throughout the filming we did change cameras and the zoom on the camera we used wasn't very smooth and we found it hard to control.

I also learnt how to use the digital programme on the Apple Mac called IMovie. This editing programme is easy and quick to use, we didn't have to wait long for our clips to load. We used different transitions throughout the intro, dissolves, overlaps and fades in and out. We wanted to put a dissolve at the beginning but we couldn't as our clips were too short. We also played with the speed and slowed down the raindrop once it was on the editing programme. We also applied the effect of fake rain, this looked very real as the grey lighting matched the effect well. The titles we found could not be moved up or down the screen which we found a disadvantage.

How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our audience by using interesting and different music, which can be heard on our storyboard. The music we had to design ourselves as we could not copy write any of our music, we wanted music that would compliment our film and play at the same pace as how the film played. It is calm, emotional and slow which is kind of how the film started, we also wanted to music to change and to become faster as we thought the pace would pick up after the introduction.

We also looked at classification and what age limit we might put on the film. We didn't want an 18, because that would cut out most of our target audience and our film doesn't contain bad language or violence as its a rom com. We also didn't want to place it in a younger age range, such as a 12, as this wouldn't attract our target audience and many people would think it is too old for a 12. So classifying our product at a 15 will attract the audience that we wanted. Its a teenage range which is our target audience, as its emotional, stars familiar characters and many people will be able to relate to it.

By choosing a young female character who has love troubles, people can relate to this and will find it interesting to watch. Females will come and watch this film with other girlfriends or family but they will possible bring their boyfriends. The males may be interested as this they may find comical and may just have come to watch the main character.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our film introduction would be from the ages 17 to 16 mostly a female audience. The lead character is a young woman aged 22-23 who is a business woman that works in a office in the centre of London. The nationality of the actress is British, therefore we are mostly appealing to a British audience. However our film is high production therefore will be realised in America, but may not appeal to an American audience so much because the film does not star American actors.

The main character is single however she is looking for love and she finds it easier than she thought she would. I think single people and people in a relationship would watch Moving On?, as it covers all aspects of emotion. Loneliness, the build up to a relationship and the start of hopefully a long term relationship. Also there are many emotions that are expressed throughout the film, sadness, loneliness, eagerness, confusion, happiness and love. Their mix of emotions would probably attract or help a girl relate to past experience or current emotions.

Also the lifestyle of this young women which is modern, chic, fun and fairly upper class would appeal to others who wish they had this lifestyle. Her life, which is not filmed in the intro is sociable as she does go out to bars and clubs in and around London. People who she socialises with in the film would watch this film, the target audience feature in the introduction.

The type of people or young women that would watch this film would be middle to upper class. Who would be interested in a range of music, RnB, Indie, Pop and retro style music. This audience may follow fashion closely or may make up their own style, with vintage and urban clothes. Other types of films that are similar to Moving On? and attract a similar audience would be Love Actually, The Break-Up, Mr and Mrs Smith, Failure to Launch, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones Diary and 50 First Dates. These films are high production, they are romantic comedies, they are sometimes funny but have a love story within them somewhere. The audiences for these films are appealing to a large are range however mostly women.

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

As we are producing a high production film then this film links to Working Title, and how Working Title distributes their films, such as Bridget Jones and The Break-Up.
Social networks such as Facebook, YouTube and My Space are prime locations to promote our film intro as this is where our target audience spending time. Facebook groups can be made, reviews written and clips of the film promoted on the Internet. This is a very popular media and is commonly viewed by young people, our target audience.

Also big promotion events and premieres to and attract many people by bringing the stars of the film to the opening. Usually there is wide media coverage and interviews are given and photos are taken all to promote the film. This is sometimes on the news and TV shows, many stars are looked at in their acting and in their dress and are recognised when they have acted in before.

Also promoting the film on the TV and in cinemas before other films start. Possibly when other films are advertised, not rom coms, maybe horror or si-fi films are shown so it really shows a contrast. Also actually in the cinema on the floor before you enter the cinema posters and clips of the film can be shown to attract people. Also merchandise such as, the DVD and music sound track can be realised after the film have hit the cinema, to show others who have not yet seen the film, it may attract them. With this genre of film, it is hard to produce any toys, mugs or t-shirts are usually on children's films produce this, these films get more coverage and tend to been known more internationally.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main character of this film represents the main social group that we are targeting. She is representing young women with a young lifestyle, living in a busy city where she has a fast life to keep up with the fast pace of the city.
The people within the film intro are the audience in which we are targeting, later on in the film, as not seen in the intro, when she goes out to bars and clubs the people around her are the audience that would watch this media product. The people on the street that walk to and from work everyday are also our audience as they may be able to relate to work problems in which our main character has.
The ways in which female and male characters are portrayed are very different as their situations change this shows how powerful and non-powerful they are in the film intro. The boss, who we don't see is over powering the main character, as she fills low and under pressure from her male boss. Showing she feels this way not only in her work but this also effect her life. We are not told her boss is male, however this is the feel the audience get, and he is somewhat a stereotypical boss. Not understanding what she feels and only wants whats best for his business and how he feels, being rather selfish.
Also the windowcleaner who is featured at the very beginning of the film could possibly be a romantic interest

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

Forest Gump, with the falling feather, was an idea in which we based our raindrop on. These high production film were a challenge to work towards as we kept trying to get the falling raindrop to look as real as possible, this was our real challenge.
Our film intro Moving On is a romantic comedy and is very similar to films such to the Break-Up and Bridget Jones, this films were produced my Working Title and are American films that are targeted to a English audience. The female character is very similar to our film however there is possibly more emotion within our film and less comedy. Our film has alot more emotion and deep meaning than other rom coms, and it doesn't have as much comedy in is, but comedy may come in the film later on.
The form and how the events in the film intro are very typical of a rom com, this film targets a young British audience. The film intro is portrayed as a young women not happy in her life and job looking for love, this is a convention that is real and therefore can relate to real life people. The character is some what a stereotype of the romantic comedy, she is young, full of emotion and free similar to the lead characters in Bridget Jones and The Break-Up.

We are challenging our audience as there isn't many laughs and it is rather emotional within the intro and this may not be expected by the audience, however this will come later. On the other hand we have also stuck to the close genre rom com and haven't twisted that genre or mixed it, making it rather straight forward.

The Break-up Trailer

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Failure to Launch Trailer

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Forrest Gump Opening

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This opening really inspired the opening for Moving On?, the feather within this opening is the main focus and tells us a little bit about the main character. Forrest Gump like the feather is very light and simple. We follow the feathers journey just like we follow the story of Forests life. It also introduces us to the setting and titles are played as we watch the feather fall. I also wanted to give the audience a little taste of how the main character felt, focusing on the rain drop which was finally seen as a tear drop, showing the audience emotion.

Film DIary

DAY 1
We began filming on the Monday in our hour and a half lesson. We choose to do the outside shots first as we didn't have much time and we knew where we wanted to shoot. We took 6 or 7 shots from outside Anglia Ruskin uni building, walking out of the front doors and putting my umbrella up. Unfortunately it didn't rain, and so we looked at effects on the editing programme to see if we can fake rain, however we have not yet decided what looks best. We did a long shot from outside the door then the camera panned as i walked up the stairs. We also did a match on action as i walked round the corner. Although what we shot looked good, when we came to edit it on the computer it looked too dark and therefore we shot it again.

DAY 2

The next day in our Tuesday lesson, which was only an hour we went back and did some more outside shots, this time of me crossing the road. However this is was not that easy, as its hard to time when the traffic is coming and when we should start filming. The continuity was hard to keep, as the cars where different from shot to shot. We also wanted a busy area where there were lots of people to make the film look more realistic as the film is based in London, again this was a slight problem as the traffic and people made the shots harder to take. Many of the shots we took were too long and we will have to cut them. This scene was me walking across the street and crossing the traffic lights, we did a close up on my face but mostly long shots, as we wanted to show the whole area.

DAY 3
Wednesday afternoon after college, we all went to Andys flat for the flat scenes, which worked out well. The flat and the location was ideal for how we wanted it to look, as his flat was modern and in the city. Our first shots were of me entering the flat and a close up of my keys, which was later edited out as we thought this clip wasn't really needed. When we looked back on our filming, we thought the area just outside the flat was too quite and lifeless, so we are thinking of re-taking that part. Next we did match on action from the inside of the flat, this was a fairly long shot and we did around 4 or 5 takes to see which looks best.
Then moving into the bedroom, we did a close up of me kicking my shoes off and throwing the keys down and then walking into the bathroom, that was a mid/ long shot. Next in the bathroom, where again we did match on action and a close up of me crying in the mirror.
Finally we jumped to me sitting on the sofa, starting with a close up then Andy zoomed out, so there was enough room above my head to fit the title.
Then kuan had an idea that when i pressed stop on the on ipod player that the music stopped altogether, to show the end of the opening and the start of the film, so we did a close up of the me pressing the button to stop the music, bringing the opening to an end.

DAY 4

Then on the Saturday, we all met up and collected the camera to do the office scenes and the outside scene of me walking out from the doors again. We did the outside shots again fairly quickly as we had done that once before. We just wanted to improve the lighting as it different match compared with other shots we had taken.
Then we went and used Sophies dads office, well we actually used two rooms. His office is not situated at the front of the building and so it will be hard to match a window that matches the office window, therefore we cut the window out as it didn't look right when referring back to the storyboard. We did a close up of the window then as the camera zoomed out it panned towards me, looking at my work. We looked back and we agreed that there wasn't enough sound in the background, so we made the phone ring and Kuan was typing on the computer for background noise, and it sounded more realistic and busy. Then we did a match on action with me walking into the room and walking across the room to put the paper on the desk. I had to act upset and annoyed which i found hard in front of the camera and we had to take this shot a few times.

DAY 5
The following week we did some editing on the apple laptop, we imported the clips which we needed in sequence and then cut them to a reasonable length. Our film intro has to be 2 mins max and we needed to ensure we had enough time to put the raindrop at the very beginning, so we left space for that. We also thought we needed more and bigger close ups and so on the Wednesday morning lesson we went to Andy's flat. We re-shot a close up from the mirror and a tear falling into the sink, however we did not use this clip. We felt we needed more of an impact to show the real emotion of the character.




DAY 6
We also needed to shoot the raindrop, we left this part till last as it was the most difficult. We were still not 100% sure how we were going to achieve this effect. After college on the Tuesday evening, we met up and went to the photography room with our ideas, the help of our media teacher and the photography teacher we managed to get some interesting close ups. We tried splashing water into a bowl low down and then from high up, that was inside with the photography light on a white and then black background. However what we tried didn't look right, and the next Friday lesson we shot some more falling and splashing raindrops, this time outside.
We tried to catch one single rain drop falling, but because it was so fast and small we found this hard. We used mirrors and different instruments to drop the water from but nothing seemed to work, so we later wanted to look at animating a few drops of water to made it look as if it was falling.
Luckily it had rained on the Thursday and there we many puddles to choose from. We put the camera nearly on top of the water and Kuan dropped the water droplet from a pipette that we borrowed from the science department. We finally got the close up we were looking for, after about 40 tries.


DAY 7
The week before half term, we still had not captured the raindrop falling or the clouds from the grey sky. We tried to film some clouds, however is was too sunny and hard to film as we were so low down that buildings were in our view. We thought of going to a high building and filming from there such as a car park, as we will be able to see more clearly. The best car park for us to use was the Queen Anne Car park next to the swimming pool over looking Parkers Piece. Therefore in that time we had we looked at cutting and editing the parts in which we hard. We also added the fake rain, which was changed and wind and speed of to make it fit well with our film. The rain didn't look fake as the sky was very grey anyway.

DAY 8

Recently in class we have been editing our film, making the length shorter as we only have 2 mins as a time limit. We added transitions between some clips to make then look more smooth, such as fade in and out and dissolve. We also needed to add our titles, and have been trying make them appear longer on the screen same they can be read. We also have been trying to move the text up, to the top of the clip however we can not do this and have had to use a different effect to try and get what we truly want.

Day 9

The second Monday back from half term, we wanted to capture the external shots of the office. However we wanted a high shot so we used the public car park, filmed from the 8th level and zoomed in over Parker's Piece onto a hotel, which looked like an office, the building in the picture. For the external shot simply zoomed in on over the park onto a window, which matched the following clip. We also wanted to capture clouds but we couldn't as it was a too grey of a day.

DAY 10

In our free time, on the Wednesday afternoon we all met up in the photography room to try and capture the falling raindrop. We tried outside and inside and took a lot of photos, we achieve some decent photos inside and later edited them on photoshop and on moviemaker, but we had a problem as we were not sure how the images from moviemaker would load up on the programme on the apple mac. We manged to edit 10 single rain drops and made them look as if they were falling perfectly. We faded, re-shaped, re-coloured and re-sized them. Once we up loaded what we had done onto the mac it had undone what we had early done on the previous programme, meaning we couldn't use it. Although this is disappointing we we very happy with the splashing drain drop as that made a big enough impact on the rain focus.


DAY 11
We then had to a lovely day to take some photos and running clips or clouds as we hadn't had a chance before because of the weather. We went outside close to college to film a few clouds, we zoomed into one single cloud and made that the very beginning of our film. We also had film from a window cleaner which came to our college and we filmed him, as that was what we needed and it would have been hard to find the props and act as a window cleaner. We got some outside clips of him up the ladder which we used, and that them followed on to the office inside where the main character was working. And a plus was it was raining!


Day 12
By this time we had completed the filming and were happy with the lighting and had solved any problems, we were just focusing on editing and titling on the programme on the apple mac called Imovie. We added title where we thought looked best and fitted with the pace of the music and film. They were very simple and neat because we didn't want to much attention on the title out main focus was the film. We originally, looking back at the storyboard had the title Moving On? and the end, however we thought it looked better at the beginning on the cloud background.

Story board

For the storyboard we wanted to illustrate it, similar to a flow as if a story was being told. We filmed the storyboard from the original paper and simply added fade clips between each picture. It was hard to follow the storyboard at points when we were filming and sometimes the pictures became more or a guideline.

Moving on?

We picked two films as a class and my film intro was chosen, which is a rom com called Moving on ? The people in my team are Andy, Sophie and Kuanduan. We each have a separate roll to play within this production. Andy will do the camerawork, using a tri-pod and possibly hand held camera. Sophie is going to be looking at set design, setting and and props. Kuanduan will be bringing in a selection of music to see which one we think as a group fits the intro the best and will be helping each of us is we need help or some new ideas. Also as we all feel we are not the most confident on the computer, we have decided to help edit and produce credits as a team, to ensure everyone helps out. I will be the main actress, if we need some extras Sophie and Kuanduan have said they will be, if more are needed than we can ask people at the college or friends. I am also in charge of costume design and helping with the credits and editing as well as using to computer to create the raindrop.

We feel our biggest challenge is the raindrop sequence at the beginning of the intro, which involves following a raindrop fall from the sky to another surface. Talking to others and with some help from a student for does graphics and photography i think we should be able to produce a realistic falling raindrop.

i think our team will work well, and we have already planned dates to start filming.

The setting that we are using are busy streets in the centre of Cambridge, Andys flat, the hallway, bathroom and sitting room and also Sophies dads office and outside buildings.

We have very simple props that aren't a problem to find, umbrella, bag, keys, and window cleaner things, and what we think will be needed to be added to the settings.

Costume design, as we don't have many people it will mainly be myself, i will have to be dressed smart for work and the extras within the office will have to be as well.

My Film Introduction

The genre of the film i would like to produce will be romantic comedy, films similar to Failer to Launch, Hitch and The Break- Up. These American films are light hearted, funny and easy to watch, they have fun and well known actors and actoress' in them making them popular and usually successful.
I want to produce a romantic comedy set in a city, London, this is going to be an British film, with British Actors. The main setting will be in a flat in the centre of London, the surrounding area such as bars, restaurants the streets and the tube. The setting with be busy as London is a city.
The narrative of this film is a typical romantic comedy, however instead of the man chasing after the women, the feeling for both of them is the same and they do same amount of chasing.
A women in London working in an office, she doesn't really enjoy her job and is having a really hard time as her boss isn't understanding and puts her under alot of pressure. She lives on her own away from family, as her job is what moved her to London, as its good pay and she thought she would love it. She decides to give up her job as she becomes so unhappy and her parents have invited her back to stay with them. She doesn't want to do that and feels annoyed and alone. She puts her house up for rent, as she thinks this will be her best option, she advertises in bars and public places, for weeks and weeks she hears nothing. Until one night she gets a knock at the door, and he arrives however she doesn't yet know she is going to spend the rest of her life with him. He looks round the flat and leaves a number, she gets no other offers and decides to go with this offer. She regrets backing up and leaving as she really wants to be with him, they get talking and find out that he has replaced her job, he seems outraged at how she was treated and suggests she go back to the company in a different department.
As she begins to pack and leave, he suggest out of the blue that why don't they just stay here together and he will get her job sorted, she takes up the offer.
The target audience for this film would probably be female teenagers and above, it is open to a wide range of people as it will be funny, romantic, offer some good actors and an interesting story line. I wouldn't think it would interest males, unless the went to see it with their girlfriends or family. Because i am targeting a female audience, on of the key factors to attract that audience would be to have a well known attractive actor playing the lead roll.
The style of my film will be light, alot of colour and interesting busy settings. Happy people, smiling, laughing and joking in bars. Showing London at its best, all its attractions and high young vibe.